The Guardian

Scotland branded ‘unprofessional, weak’ John McGinn: ‘Our job is to look after Scotland’ Scotland’s return to the World Cup after a 28-year absence has been immediately overshadowed by a war of words with Norway. Steve Clarke and Scotland were branded “unprofessional”, “embarrassing” and “weak” by the Norwegians after the cancellation of a training game planned for Monday in Charlotte. After the …

Governing body looking into ‘a breach of team protocols’ Incident in early hours of morning after Lord’s Test Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson are being investigated by the England and Wales Cricket Board for a “breach of team protocols” following the first Test win over New Zealand. The ECB confirmed in a statement Stokes and Atkinson “were in a nightclub in the early hours of Monday morning when an …

Mondo’s three-year unbeaten run ended at Diamond League meet Cameron Myers and Matthew Denny also secure podium finishes Kurtis Marschall has pulled off one of the upsets of the sporting year as the Australian beat the seemingly unbeatable pole vault king Armand Duplantis in front of his home fans in the Stockholm Diamond League meeting. And though the world’s top athlete was not happy his 40-eve…

Micheal Barwagen is part of an all-Canadian crew at this World Cup, and says the new offside system makes his job easier in some ways The 2026 World Cup will be the first edition of the tournament to feature semi-automated offside technology, utilizing a dozen cameras to track player movement at a rate of 50 stills per second. In theory, it sounds like an effective, if dizzying, way to cut down o…

Former Chelsea and Real Madrid midfielder wanted €65m He was denied a transfer to Charleroi in Belgium in 2014 Lassana Diarra has reached a settlement with Fifa and the Belgian Football Association over claims for compensation after his landmark transfer case. The former Chelsea, Real Madrid and France midfielder had initially demanded €65m from the two bodies, arguing the sum covered damages inc…

‘Do not have sufficient funds to operate in 26-27 season’ Talks with potential investors ‘have fallen away’ Durham, the Women’s Super League 2 side, have issued an urgent plea for funding and warned that they will have to “cease operations” if they cannot find fresh investment within the next 21 days. The independently run club, who are not affiliated to a professional men’s side, have been compe…

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now! Geopolitics World Cup Week is upon us, baby. We stand on the edge of greatness. Who will dream, who will dare to stay up on Friday night for the 3am (BST) kick-off of South Korea v Czechia, and live to tell the tale? Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone. Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone. Silence the pianos and, with muffled d…

Nottingham Forest rejected City’s £80m bid for midfielder United’s Jason Wilcox also monitoring Mateus Fernandes Manchester United remain intent on signing Elliot Anderson, with the club’s executives optimistic they can beat Manchester City in the race to acquire the 23-year-old midfielder, who is valued at about £100m by Nottingham Forest. Jason Wilcox, United’s director of football, is also mon…

Sunday Sport’s ‘Countdown to 16’ used revealing photoshoots with young girls to trail topless pictures published after their 16th birthdays In 1987, the tabloid press in Britain was at the peak of its powers. The Sun newspaper, with its brash celebrity scoops and strident support for Margaret Thatcher – who won her third general election that year – was selling almost 4m copies a day. Competition…

Melbourne and Collingwood let their attacking football do the talking as 90,000 at the MCG felt the absence of the AFL great and MND advocate There were more than 88,000 people at the MCG on Monday. But there was an absence, a void. There was lots of money raised, and celebrities and comedians of various grades sliding for laughs and donations. There were entire bays of supporters wearing blue be…

Established squad stays true to Ralf Rangnick’s methods with Konrad Laimer and bright new talent Paul Wanner lending some star quality This article is part of the Guardian’s 2026 World Cup Experts’ Network , a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 48 countries who qualified. theguardian.com is running previews from three countries each day in the run-up to the tourname…

From high-altitude training to made to measure kits, teams have resorted to all manner of things to adapt to conditions at the tournament • Predict the winner | Daily podcast | Download our app The heat and the altitude worried everybody. The 1970 World Cup in Mexico would not be a normal one. So the Bulgarian authorities sent their squad south of Sofia to get used to playing several thousand fee…

The England captain has finally assumed his place at the pinnacle of the game – it has been a long road to this point The Bayern Munich president, Uli Hoeness, has a propensity for hyperbole, so when he labelled Harry Kane as the best transfer the club has ever made in the wake of the DFB-Pokal cup final, which Bayern won 3-0 thanks to a Kane hat-trick , you wondered whether he was simply diallin…

Other drivers are trying to remain upbeat but the Italian is untouchable on present form, and his Mercedes team principal is in awe Kimi Antonelli reached new heights at the Monaco Grand Prix , his talent and potential made abundantly clear as he became the race’s youngest winner. The question now in Formula One only six races into the season is increasingly whether anyone can catch the teenager.…

Croatia head coach says England game crucial to hopes Kovacic, Gvardiol and Modric lacking match sharpness Zlatko Dalic sees Croatia’s World Cup opener against England as pivotal to their summer fortunes, admitting a softer first match may have been preferable for a team struggling with form and fitness issues. Croatia beat Slovenia 2-1 in their final friendly before flying to the US but Dalic is…