The Guardian

KC Current forward scored 15 goals in 23 games Washington’s McKeown wins defender of the year Kansas City Current forward Temwa Chawinga won the National Women’s Soccer League’s Most Valuable Player Award for the second straight year Wednesday after leading the league’s top team in goals this season. Chawinga is the first player to win MVP in consecutive seasons. Although she was sidelined after …

Months after close shave with relegation, North End face Blackburn on Friday night with second spot in their sights There is a refreshingly unfamiliar feel to the Championship top six. None of the incumbents have played in the Premier League this decade, a rarity in the modern-day second tier where those in receipt of parachute payments tend to rule the roost. In fact, of the top 11, only seventh…

The Arsenal and England forward is backing new global campaign because talent and teamwork should decide the game – not the climate I’ll never forget stepping out on to the pitch in Switzerland for the Euro 2025 tournament. The air felt heavy – not with pressure or expectation, but with heat. It was more than 30C (86f) that day. It makes your lungs sting, makes you feel like you’re running throug…

US network made largest bid at this week’s auction Amazon Prime will have first pick of Tuesday matches The US media and entertainment giant Paramount Skydance has won the auction for the rights to broadcast most Champions League matches in the UK from 2027 to 2031 in a major shake-up of the domestic rights market. The Guardian has learned that Paramount, whose subsidiary company Paramount+ owns …

Caribbean island nation is the smallest to reach the finals tournament after appointing the wily coach and drawing on diaspora The delay in Dick Advocaat becoming Curaçao’s head coach might have been ominous but instead it was the foundation for glory. Frustrated by the national federation’s financial problems, he deferred starting until January 2024, when the problems were resolved and players p…

F1, FIA and Bernie Ecclestone are defending the claims Brazilian former driver says he is the rightful winner Felipe Massa’s £64m claim against Formula One, its governing body the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone over Lewis Hamilton’s first F1 world championship in 2008 can go to trial, a high court judge has ruled. Massa claims he is the rightful champion after the Brazilian lost by a single point when…

Do you know fine leg from third man? Test your knowledge of cricket fielding positions with this interactive quiz Cricket is full of jargon. Someone can be out for a duck, fooled by a doosra or fielding in the gully. If you are listening to a game on the radio, it can be hard to interpret the vocabulary – silly, short, square etc – used to identify the positions of the fielders. Test how well you…

Spearheaded by their younger contingent, it’s not just that the Blues are winning; ahead of a preliminary final, it’s how they’re winning Momentum is a dangerous thing in sport. It can’t be acquired with any real success; it simply decides to arrive, announced only by the inexplicable way it shifts the air around a team. And something has certainly shifted down at Princes Park. If there had been …

Our cartoonist reflects on Tony Popovic’s team’s recent friendlies against Venezuela and Colombia Continue reading...

Wales and Northern Ireland could meet for finals place Ireland to face Denmark or North Macedonia if they win Wales and Northern Ireland will do battle for a place at the 2026 World Cup if they navigate playoff semi-finals of differing toughness in March. The pair would fight it out in Cardiff for a ticket to next year’s showpiece if Wales win a home tie against Bosnia & Herzegovina and Northern …

Gotham are underdogs against a potent Spirit side but they have the talent and resilience to cause another upset At the close of quintessential NWSL playoffs rife with last-minute goals and upsets, the eighth-placed underdogs Gotham FC play second-placed Spirit for the ultimate trophy. Both teams have won the NWSL Championship once before: the Spirit in 2021 and Gotham two years later. Washington…

Former defender on his challenge as sporting director at Ligue 1 club and using Arsène Wenger as an inspiration Returning to Brittany was the obvious choice for Laurent Koscielny. Having left Lorient for Arsenal in 2010, the former defender is back at the Ligue 1 side as the sporting director. “My wife and I were keen to come back, it’s a beautiful region, and the people are welcoming and kind,” …

The Spaniard’s style of possession football is not easily defined by stats and data. We tried to do so anyway Tell us: have you bought tickets for the 2026 World Cup yet? Sergio Busquets didn’t expect to last this long. More than a decade ago, he predicted he’d retire by his early 30s. But when he finally announced in September that he’ll hang up his boots at the end of Inter Miami’s season, he d…

Australia and England could win or lose in a number of critical areas including Joe Root’s ability to fend off Pat Cummins and which No 5 will shine brightest Before Bazball, there was Travis Head. He was the one playing on fast-forward during the 2021-22 Ashes, sprinting to 152 at the Gabba in a career-shifting innings. The southpaw has since slashed tons in two finals against India, excelled in…

Former Wimbledon champion on how taking accountability for his crimes allowed for rehabilitation, watching Novak Djokovic from his cell and the new era of brotherhood in the sport “I heard the screaming and I didn’t know what it was,” Boris Becker says as he remembers staring into the dark in Wandsworth prison, just over two miles from Wimbledon’s Centre Court where he won the first of his three …