The Guardian

Former England striker on retiring from the Lionesses, being a role model, and taking on Chelsea in the WSL A year after taking up golf, Rachel Daly has already reached a handicap of 19. “I think that’s too generous, I was playing really well in the summer,” she point outs before politely declaring that further questions about her pastimes are out of bounds. “I’m not that exciting, to be honest,”…

Kai Spears incorrectly linked to death of young mother Times says it had not lost libel case in more than 50 years An Alabama jury has awarded $9.25m in damages after finding that the New York Times defamed a college basketball player by incorrectly reporting that he was at the scene of a fatal shooting . Kai Spears, who played for the University of Alabama men’s team, sued the Times in 2023 afte…

The code-hopping winger is one of the hottest properties in world rugby but says she feels ‘vulnerable’ ahead of her eagerly-anticipated first 15s Test cap Maddison Levi is widely considered the most exciting rugby player in the country. But this weekend the Gold Coast 24-year-old is a “vulnerable” rookie as she faces up to the biggest challenge of her career: finally making her hotly-anticipated…

Governing bodies had asked for ruling to end cases Judge says claimants ‘blameless’ for missing documents More than 500 former rugby union and league players’ lawsuits ⁠over neurological injuries can continue, London’s high court ruled on Friday, despite their former lawyers’ failure to disclose ⁠key medical evidence ⁠to governing ​bodies. World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby…

Signings of Tielemans and Santos have addressed an area that has been problematic since the manager himself stopped playing Ed Woodward to MUTV in July 2015: “When people see Bastian Schweinsteiger on the teamsheet, that’s going to send some shivers down the spine.” This prediction by Manchester United’s then executive vice-president, about Louis van Gaal’s new midfield signing, proved to be badl…

Optimism abounds that De Zerbi and new signings can lead to a big improvement after two 17th-place finishes Guardian writers’ predicted position: 6th (NB: this is not necessarily John Brewin’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips) Last season’s position: 17th Continue reading...

Club ‘not here by accident’ and revamped squad return to Premier League against Manchester United on Saturday On a baking spring bank holiday, Sergej Jakirovic basked in the glory of Hull’s fairytale promotion to the Premier League in an address to 40,000 ecstatic supporters from the balcony of Hull City Hall. “I only had one task before the season – to stay in the Championship … I failed. We’re …

Updates from Headingley; play starts 11am BST D2 report | Sign up for the Spin Jordan Cox was one of four half-centurions as England maintained control of the first Test against Pakistan – but there were a few regrets as no one reached three figures on day two in Leeds. “We were hoping one of us would have kicked on and instead of make it just a hundred, make it 150, 160, 170,” said Cox, who hit …

Updates from around the grounds Day one roundup | Sign up for the Spin | Mail Tanya After weeks of drought, the rain arrived, like a tolling bell, just in time for the County Championship restart. Josh Thomas hit the only century of the day on a bonny day for title chasers Somerset . Thomas’s sprightly second first-class hundred, together with 96 on debut from New Zealand’s Henry Nicholls, left T…

Bob Iger and Josh Kushner’s $12.5bn bid to buy the Lakers shows that NBA teams are no longer family dynasties, but quick flips for private equity sharks For years, the NBA was built on the alliance of patient money and marketing pizzazz, and no team captured that curious mixture better than the Los Angeles Lakers. Through Showtime in the 1980s and the dominance of the Shaq-Kobe years, the Lakers …

10-man Rangers hang on for 1-0 win against Jablonec Tromsø 0-0 Brighton; Hearts 2-2 Rapid Vienna Ryan Naderi’s second-half strike gave an unconvincing Rangers a narrow 1-0 win in the first leg of their Conference League playoff tie against Czech side Jablonec at Ibrox. Derek McInnes got his first win as Rangers manager at the fifth time of asking with a 5-1 thumping of St Mirren on Sunday but the…

Biennial tournament could launch as early as 2028 Confederations are seeking to oust Gianni Infantino Uefa and Concacaf have begun talks about setting up a combined Nations League tournament featuring all 96 European and North and Central American and Caribbean countries, in another direct challenge to Fifa. The Guardian has learned that having come together to push for Gianni Infantino’s removal…

Slovenian is aiming to become the ninth rider to win all three Grand Tours, and it doesn’t look like anyone can stop him Who’s coming second? That’s the question being most frequently asked as the peloton convenes for the final Grand Tour of 2026, the Vuelta a España, which rolls away from the start line in Monaco on Saturday. The unrelenting Tadej Pogacar, making his first appearance in the Span…

Boxing’s most mercurial star is putting an old friendship aside as he moves up to 147lb to challenge Rolly Romero for the welterweight title he won from Ryan Garcia For more than a decade, Teófimo López’s friendship with Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero endured through amateur tournaments, Las Vegas sparring sessions and the mismatched peaks and troughs of two volatile careers. That friendship ended, López…

⚽ All the latest football news, comment and previews ⚽ This weekend’s fixtures | Read Football Daily | Mail Tom Why not start the day right with some transfer tittle-tattle? There’s some tasty morsels in today’s Rumour Mill, including this little treat: After Vinícius Júnior signed a shiny new deal at Real Madrid, Arsenal are having to look elsewhere for a new winger. Turkey’s Kenan Yildizm who p…