Australian captain Mitchell Marsh on Friday described the team's group-stage exit from the T20 World Cup as a "missed opportunity" but still believed he had the squad to go all the way in the tournament.
Australia, one of the giants of limited-overs cricket with six ODI and one T20 World Cup title triumphs, failed to progress beyond the group stage in this edition of the T20 showpiece following defeats to Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, but ended their campaign with a nine-wicket drubbing of Oman.
"Probably just the sense of a missed opportunity," Marsh said when asked what's going on in his mind as the team leaves the tournament earlier than expected.
At the presentation ceremony after the game against Oman, the skipper added, "As I've said a few times, it's a bitterly disappointed change room. Like every team, we built towards this for two years.
"Unfortunately, in a couple of key games, we just didn't play our best cricket - and that's tournament play. You lose a game like the one against Zimbabwe, and suddenly you're under pressure.
"Credit to them, they played well, but we're a very disappointed group right now."
The tournament is being held jointly by India and Sri Lanka, and the conditions have been different in both countries. Marsh, however, refused to read much into the conditions as his team was grappling with injuries, poor form of players, and a few questionable selections.
"I don't think conditions were the main issue. In Colombo, it was slow, but we had prepared for that. I still believe we had the squad to get the job done. But in tournament cricket, if you're even slightly off, you can lose a game that puts you on the back foot.
"Over the last couple of weeks, there were good opportunities for us, but we just weren't able to deliver when it mattered most," Marsh said.
Oman failed to win a single match in the tournament, and skipper Jatinder Singh said they will reflect on the preparation and performance, which was "not up to the mark".
"It is a proud moment for all of us that we got a chance. The result and the journey, it did not go our way. Will reflect on the preparation, it was not quite up to the mark.
He added, "Could not get the full members' support. Wanted to play competitive cricket but could only play domestic cricket.
"Now, everyone has experienced it (top-level cricket), we know what ingredients are required for this stage. We have taken a lot of learnings from this stage and have taken a lot of positives, from the opposition as well."
Seasoned leg-spinner Adam Zampa was named player of the match for returning excellent figures of 4/21, which resulted in Oman getting bowled out for 104 and Australia chasing it down in just 9.4 overs with Marsh scoring a sparkling half-century.
Needless to say, Zampa was not chuffed about the tournament as a whole for his team.
"It has been a rough few days. Few quiet voices (in the dressing room). Feeling pretty flat about the World Cup ending so soon.
"We built something around the brand of cricket we felt would work. Unfortunately, it did not work for us," Zampa said.
"Looking back, could have done more in the Sri Lanka game. My contribution to that game was not where I wanted it to be. My job is to take wickets through the middle. Was able to do that in a couple of games but not in others.
"Unfortunately, we could not get it done when it mattered. Really disappointed, wherein I am not yet ready to fly back home tomorrow," he added.
The final will take place on Feb. 22 at 7:10 a.m. CT at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena in Milan, Italy.
Canada advanced by beating Finland 3-2 in the first semifinal game on Feb. 20. Nathan MacKinnon scored with 35 seconds remaining to break a 2-2 tie, sending Canada to the gold medal game for the first time since 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Sam Reinhart and Shea Theodore also scored for Canada.
The United States advanced by beating Slovakia 6-2 in the second semifinal game. Jack Hughes led the way with two goals, while Connor Hellebuyck made 22 saves in the win. Dylan Larkin, Tage Thompson, Jack Eichel, and Brady Tkachuk also scored for USA.
Canada is seeking its first goal medal since 2014, when they beat Sweden in Sochi. United States is seeking its first gold medal since 1980 and its first Olympic medal since 2010, when it won silver at Vancouver.
Finland and Slovakia will play in the bronze medal game on Feb. 21 (1:40 p.m. CT). In 2022 at Beijing, Finland won the gold medal and Slovakia took home the bronze.
Alex Daugherty is the Predators beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Alex atjdaugherty@gannett.com. Follow Alex on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @alexdaugherty1. Also check out our Predators exclusive Instagram page @tennessean_preds.
Richard Hughes makes genius Liverpool play as Reds look to avoid same mistake with wonderkid
Liverpool have made contact with Kees Smit's entourage
Most Liverpool fans would say that the Reds' midfield is the last area that their club should be looking to upgrade.
Players such as Curtis Jones can't even get a look in which proves just how stacked Arne Slot's midfield ranks actually are.
Despite this, according to a report from Spanish outlet Defensa Central, Hughes has already made 'contact, with Kees Smit's entourage with view to sign him in the upcoming summer transfer window.
Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal are just some of the other clubs interested in acquiring the 20 year old's services, but, since the Reds have already made their move for the wonderkid, they're the ones leading the way with their moves being 'decisive.'
The report outlines that one of the main reasons why Liverpool have already made their move for Smit is so that they don't miss out on their ideal target due to Real's interest.
This has happened twice in the past with Jude Bellingham and Aurelien Tchouameni both opting to join Los Blancos over the Reds.
Richard Hughes forcing Liverpool to be the first team to make contact with Kees Smit's agents was a genius move
He may only be 20 years old but, his quality is second to none and, if the Reds end up being the ones to lead the way, they're likely to have first dibs on the midfielder.
It's hard to deny the fact that Smit's future is going to be the talk of the summer, especially if Alexis Mac Allister or Jones end up exiting L4.
Last term, Liverpool were one of the most dominant teams in the world and, although things only just seem to be clicking between some of their new signings, once everyone is fit and ready to fight next season, they could become dominant once again.
If Hughes manages to sign Smit in the summer, his proactiveness in the market could be one of the best things to happen to the club, especially if he turns out as good as he's said to be.
Kamila Sellier after getting cut by a skate during the 2026 Winter Olympics
Henk Jan Dijks/Marcel ter Bals/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty
NEED TO KNOW
Polish speedskater Kamila Sellier was stretchered off the ice during the women's 1500-meter quarterfinal at the 2026 Winter Olympics
Sellier was cut below her eye by a competitor's blade
Racing paused for several minutes as she received medical attention
Polish speedskater Kamila Sellier had to be stretchered off the ice at the 2026 Winter Olympics after a crash caused an opponent to inadvertently cut her right beneath her eye.
Sellier, 25, was competing in the women's 1500-meter quarterfinal in short track speedskating on Friday, Feb. 20 when she and two competitors — Italy's Ariana Fontana and American Kristen Santos-Griswold — went down, due in part to an illegal lane pass from Santos-Griswold.
The Polish skater fell to the ice, bleeding severely, as medical staff ran out to help. They held up a white sheet to block her from the crowds as they loaded her into a stretcher, with Sellier giving a thumbs up as she left the Milan arena. The event was paused for several minutes as ice crews worked to clean up her blood on the ice.
Kamila Sellier (second from right) is cut by a competitor's blade
Henk Jan Dijks/Marcel ter Bals/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty
Sellier was taken to the hospital for tests, but her eye is okay, Polish officials said, according to the Associated Press.
Kamila Sellier is stretchered off the ice
Henk Jan Dijks/Marcel ter Bals/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty
In the aftermath of the crash, Santos-Griswold was disqualified for her lane pass and did not make the finals. Fontana, meanwhile, had nicks on her speed suit but continued racing, finishing second in the quarterfinal and in the semifinal.
Fontana, a 14-time Olympic medalist, ended up finishing fifth in the final. American Corinne Stoddard took bronze, while South Korea's Gilli Kim and Minjeong Choi won gold and silver, respectively.
Several competitors complained of soft ice that caused problems with racing, including the Netherland's Suzanne Schulting, who did not make it past the semifinals.
"The ice was breaking away," she said. "You saw it when the other girls, they fell too."
To learn more about all the Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, come to people.com to check out ongoing coverage before, during and after the games. Watch the Milan Cortina Olympics and Paralympics, beginning Feb. 6, on NBC and Peacock.
Yahoo Sports’ 26-and-under power rankings are a remix on the traditional farm system rankings that assess the strength of MLB organizations’ talent base among rookie-eligible and MiLB players. By evaluating all players in an organization entering their age-26 seasons or younger, this project aims to paint a more complete picture of each team’s young core. Our rankings value productive young major leaguers more heavily than prospects who have yet to prove it at the highest level, and most prospects included in teams’ evaluations have already reached the upper levels of the minors.
To compile these rankings, each MLB organization was given a score in four categories:
Young MLB hitters: scored 0-10; 26-and-under position players and rookie-eligible hitters projected to be on Opening Day rosters
Young MLB pitchers: scored 0-10; 26-and-under pitchers and rookie-eligible pitchers projected to be on Opening Day rosters
Prospect hitters: scored 0-5; prospect-eligible position players projected to reach MLB in the next 1-2 years
Prospect pitchers: scored 0-5; prospect-eligible pitchers projected to reach MLB in the next 1-2 years
We’re counting down all 30 organizations’ 26-and-under talent bases from weakest to strongest, diving into five teams at a time. In addition to the scores for each team in each category, we’ll highlight the key players who fall into each bucket and contributed most to their organization's place in the rankings. Below, we dig into Nos. 20-16.
20. Atlanta Braves (total score: 14/30) | 2025 rank: 7
Young MLB hitters (6/10): C Drake Baldwin, OF Michael Harris II Young MLB pitchers (5/10): RHP Spencer Schwellenbach, RHP Hurston Waldrep, RHP AJ Smith-Shawver Prospect hitters (0/5): 1B/3B David McCabe, SS John Gil, SS Alex Lodise, OF Pat Clohisy Prospect pitchers (3/5): RHP Didier Fuentes, RHP J.R. Ritchie, RHP Owen Murphy, LHP Cam Caminiti, RHP Lucas Braun, RHP Ian Mejia
Few teams have tumbled further down our rankings over the past few seasons than the Braves, who have seen the Spencer Strider/Ronald Acuña Jr./Austin Riley core graduate from eligibility. What’s left is a much less certain future. The Braves have struggled to develop and promote minor-league reinforcements, particularly on the position-player front, which has hurt them in recent seasons.
But it’s not all bleak. DrakeBaldwin is the reigning NL Rookie of the Year, for Pete’s sake. The 24-year-old backstop was magnificent at the plate last season and offered more from a defensive perspective than some prognosticators expected. He’s probably never going to win a Gold Glove, but Baldwin absolutely rakes and should settle as one of the better catchers in baseball over the next decade. Sean Murphy’s injury and Atlanta’s decision to move on from longtime DH Marcell Ozuna should provide Baldwin ample playing time going forward.
Michael Harris II is coming off one of the weirdest campaigns in recent memory. The fleet-footed outfielder was his typically excellent self defensively but battled through an all-time awful first half in 2025. His .559 OPS at the end of June was dead last among qualified hitters. But he rebounded enough in the second half (.789 OPS) to finish the year with a respectable statline. Harris’ elite defensive chops mean he has more leeway to struggle at the plate, but he’s always going to be a streaky hitter due to his swing-happy approach. As a whole, that probably makes him more of a great complementary piece than a cornerstone.
In an earlier draft of these rankings, before the spring training injury bug came a’biting, we had the Braves slotted in a few spots higher. Then news broke that both Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep are to undergo surgery to remove loose bodies in their elbows. That procedure is not nearly as concerning as Tommy John, but it’s certainly not good news. And Schwellenbach’s issue comes on the heels of an elbow fracture that derailed the second half of his 2025 season. Both guys could still contribute in 2026, but we were inclined to round down based on their recent injuries.
Down on the farm, Atlanta has a handful of arms primed to climb up the ladder. J.R.Ritchie, a 2022 first-rounder, is the likeliest to make a significant impact this season. He experienced a nice velocity bump last year and now projects as a solid No. 4 starter type. DidierFuentes, still just 20 years old,was unfairly thrust into the rotation as an emergency option last season and got absolutely obliterated. More minor-league seasoning could turn him into a usable big-league starter. CamCaminiti is much further away — he hasn’t pitched above Low-A — but the long-limbed lefty might have the highest ceiling of any arm in this system. It’s a strong group.
That’s not the case on the position-player front, where the Braves’ hitting prospects were the only group in all of baseball that received a zero. Atlanta was one of three organizations, alongside Houston and Anaheim, that didn’t have a single position-player prospect on any of the major prospect sites’ top-100 lists. And unlike the Astros and Angels, the Braves didn’t even have a hitter honorably mentioned. It’s a bleak situation. Their second-rounder last year, Alex Lodise, has real juice but tons of chase. Diego Tornes, their top signing from the 2025 international class, is 17 years old. Pat Clohisy stole 99 bases last season but might not have the impact power necessary to be more than a fourth or fifth outfielder.
Some of this drought is defensible. Atlanta’s run of contention has relegated it to the back of the draft’s first round for much of the past decade. The Braves have also used six straight first-round picks (2020-2024) on pitchers. And Baldwin (a third-rounder) turning into what he has turned into almost evens the equation. Still, the team’s issues with hitting development are striking, as are its failures in Latin America. — J.M.
19. New York Yankees (total score: 15/30) | 2025 rank: 26
Young MLB hitters (5/10): OF Jasson Domínguez, C Austin Wells, SS Anthony Volpe Young MLB pitchers (5/10): RHP Cam Schlittler, LHP Ryan Weathers, RHP Cade Winquest Prospect hitters (2/5): OF Spencer Jones, SS George Lombard Jr. Prospect pitchers (3/5): RHP Ben Hess, RHP Bryce Cunningham, RHP Carlos Lagrange, LHP Elmer Rodriguez, RHP Chase Hampton
All three of New York’s young big-league hitters had 2025 seasons to forget. JassonDomínguez failed to capitalize on a batch of early-season playing time and eventually ceded his job to an ascending Trent Grisham. He’s likely to spend much of this year in Scranton or the Yankee Stadium dugout. AustinWells regressed after a breakout 2024, finishing his campaign with a putrid .275 on-base percentage, the ninth-worst mark among players with 400 PAs. He still cranked 21 long balls and remains an elite pitch-framer/game-caller.
Then there’s AnthonyVolpe, the local boy, the prospect prince that was promised. Three years into his big-league career, the offensive impact he showcased in the minors has yet to emerge on a consistent basis. Most concerningly, Volpe’s defensive numbers backed up big-time in 2025. That’s mostly due to a batch of errors on routine plays and not necessarily a decline in his physical abilities, but it’s worrying nonetheless. Offseason surgery to repair a shoulder issue that reportedly dogged him for much of last season could help Volpe get back on track, but the gap between what he is and what he was supposed to be remains enormous. This might be his last year to prove that he’s the Yankees’ shortstop of the future.
Cam Schlittler’s emergence was a major story of New York’s 2025 season, culminating in a historically dominant Game 3 shutout against Boston in the wild-card series, in which he sat 100 mph and punched out 12. His more forgettable outing against Toronto in the ALDS was a reminder that Schlittler, like many other arms, can be a bit too reliant on his high-octane fastball. When that heat is a bit frostier (95-97), Schlittler is hitable, particularly when he can’t find the zone. Whether he can maintain his velocity deeper into starts or find more consistent secondaries will determine whether he’s a midrotation piece or a frontline arm moving forward. Either way, this is a massive win for a seventh-rounder out of Northeastern.
As is often the case with Yankees prospects, GeorgeLombard Jr. and SpencerJones have gotten a ton of press relative to their small-market counterparts. Both are immensely talented but come with unavoidable concerns. For Lombard, it’s all about his ability to hit for average. Few evaluators doubt the raw juice or his defensive skills at short, but he hit just .215 last year across 469 Double-A plate appearances. Even if it clicks for him, he’s going to be a Trevor Story, Willy Adames, Cubs-era Dansby Swanson type of shortstop. If it doesn’t click, he’ll look like a less extreme version of Gabriel Arias.
Speaking of extreme, let’s pivot to Jones, one of the most polarizing hitters of the decade. The 24-year-old clocked 35 homers and posted a .274 average across 116 minor-league games last season. He also struck out at a preposterous 35.4% clip. It is very, very difficult to be an impact big leaguer with that much swing-and-miss, especially if you aren’t a sensational defender. Jones isn’t a butcher in center, but he’s not Pete Crow-Armstrong. The range of outcomes here is cavernous. Jones could be a lefty Aaron Judge clone. Or he could also be in the KBO in two years. It all depends on how he fares against big-league pitching. Evaluators are almost universally skeptical, but we can’t wait to see how it goes.
As always, the Yankees have a handful of pop-up arms down on the farm. Few organizations are consistently better at minor-league pitching development than the Yanks, who frequently flip their pitching prospect depth at the deadline to supplement the big-league club. Elmer Rodriguez was drafted out of a Puerto Rican high school by Boston in the fourth round in 2021 and dealt to the Yankees for Carlos Narváez last winter. He has a nasty, bowling ball sinker that pushed him to a 54.5% ground-ball rate last year (the seventh-highest mark among minor leaguers with at least 100 innings). He probably won’t win any Cy Youngs, but Rodriguez should pitch in the bigs for a long time.
Carlos Lagrange is a different story. The 22-year-old is a mountain of a man, officially listed at 6-foot-7, 248 pounds. His fastball regularly touches triple digits, and his slider is a true bat-misser. He also doesn’t always know where the ball is going. That’s why, despite having thrown 120 innings last year, Lagrange is probably a reliever when it’s all done and dusted. If it plays out that way, he could become one of the best back-end arms in the league, in a Dellin Betances mold. His stuff is that good. There’s a non-zero chance he contributes to the Yankees’ bullpen this season. — J.M.
Can Munetaka Murakami, James Wood and Anthony Volpe take steps forward and deliver on their potential in 2026?
Taylor Wilhelm/Yahoo Sports
18. Chicago White Sox (total score: 15/30) | 2025 rank: 28
Young MLB hitters (6/10): SS Colson Montgomery, INF Chase Meidroth, C Kyle Teel, INF Miguel Vargas, 1B Munetaka Murakami, C Edgar Quero, UTIL Luisangel Acuña, UTIL Brooks Baldwin, INF Lenyn Sosa, OF Everson Pereira, INF Curtis Mead Young MLB pitchers (3/10): RHP Shane Smith, RHP Sean Burke, RHP Jonathan Cannon, RHP Grant Taylor, RHP Mike Vasil, RHP Wikelman González, RHP Alexander Alberto, RHP Jedixson Paez Prospect hitters (2/5): OF Braden Montgomery, 2B Sam Antonacci, INF Caleb Bonemer, INF William Bergolla Jr. Prospect pitchers (4/5): LHP Hagen Smith, LHP Noah Schultz, RHP David Sandlin, RHP Tanner McDougal, LHP Christian Oppor
Few teams, if any, can match the White Sox in terms of the sheer quantity of 26-and-under players expected to contribute at the major-league level in 2026, a predictable product of Chicago’s rebuild. It’s rare for a team coming off 102 losses to be burgeoning with hope and anticipation for the season ahead, but Chicago has assembled several promising building blocks and is now far enough removed from the catastrophe that was 2024 that vibes on the South Side are surprisingly good. While there’s still ample work to be done (and money to be spent) before this team will be considered a viable contender, the White Sox can no longer be shrugged off as years away from relevance.
A position-player group bereft of talent not long ago has experienced an infusion of upside via all three avenues of acquisition: the draft and development of a potential homegrown star in Colson Montgomery, the hefty Garrett Crochet trade return including Kyle Teel, Chase Meidroth and Braden Montgomery, and the shocking free-agent addition of Munetaka Murakami. Let’s start with the franchise shortstop Montgomery, whose climb to the majors was a slow burn but whose arrival was well worth the wait. His power has long been his calling card, and that was immediately on display, with 21 home runs in 71 games as a rookie, but it was Montgomery’s huge strides with the glove — he rated as a plus defender at shortstop after years of evaluators pegging him as a soon-to-be third baseman — that amplified his star potential. The strikeouts might always be an issue, but shortstops with his kind of pop don’t grow on trees.
Teel and Edgar Quero (also acquired via trade) project as above-average bats for their position, but both catchers will need to improve as defenders for the White Sox to feel comfortable with them as the no-doubt backstop tandem of the future. Meidroth’s elite contact skills and defensive versatility make him one of several useful role players (Brooks Baldwin, Luisangel Acuña, eventually Sam Antonacci) for manager Will Venable to deploy. Miguel Vargas and Lenyn Sosa have notably more offensive upside than the aforementioned role players, but their defensive deficiencies could squeeze them off the roster soon unless they really start to rake.
Then there’s Murakami, arriving from Japan with a legendary NPB résumé and enormous questions about how his skill set will translate against MLB arms. That skepticism surrounding Murakami makes his value within this project far different than, say, that of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, whose proven ace status significantly boosted the Dodgers’ young MLB pitchers score the past two years. That said, Murakami’s upside is unrivaled in this org outside of Montgomery, so his presence still bolstered Chicago’s case for a strong score in the young MLB hitters category.
While the bats are in a much better place compared to a year ago, progress on the mound was more uneven for Chicago in 2025. Rule 5 pick turned All-Star Shane Smith was an undeniable win for the front office and coaching staff, but he still projects more as a midrotation or back-end arm than a frontline force; the same can be said about Jonathan Cannon and Sean Burke. Grant Taylor can be an impact reliever if he can stay healthy, but that has proven to be quite a big if.
There’s enviable depth at the upper levels of Chicago’s system, but the most prominent prospect arms turned in a mixed bag of results last season. It seemed likely that at least one of Hagen Smith or Noah Schultz would debut for Chicago in 2025, but Smith’s command struggles and Schultz’s recurring injury interruptions determined otherwise. Getting those two talented southpaws back on track is pivotal for Chicago’s long-term outlook on the mound. On a more positive note, the less-heralded and later-drafted duo of Tanner McDougal (fifth round, 2021) and Christian Oppor (fifth round, 2023) turned in terrific campaigns and have put themselves on the prospect radar. — J.S.
17. Washington Nationals (total score: 15/30) | 2025 rank: 10
Young MLB hitters (7/10): OF James Wood, SS CJ Abrams, OF Daylen Lile, OF Dylan Crews, INF Luis García Jr., 3B Brady House, INF Nasim Nuñez, INF José Tena, CF Jacob Young, OF Robert Hassell III Young MLB pitchers (2/10): RHP Brad Lord, RHP Cole Henry, LHP DJ Herz, LHP Mitchell Parker Prospect hitters (3/5): C Harry Ford, 1B Yohandy Morales, SS Seaver King, OF Christian Franklin, OF Andrew Pinckney, SS Eli Willits, INF Gavin Fien, 1B Abimelec Ortiz Prospect pitchers (3/5): RHP Jarlin Susana, RHP Travis Sykora, RHP Luis Perales, LHP Alex Clemmey, LHP Jackson Kent
It’s a time of substantial change in the nation’s capital, with a new leadership group helmed by 36-year-old president of baseball operations Paul Toboni taking the reins in October. The forward-thinking exec has already begun the long process of modernizing this organization’s processes. That bodes well for the long run, even if this turns out to be a rough year at the big-league level.
But even if the 2026 Nats have no chance to win the World Series, the club can still take meaningful steps forward. That starts and ends with this core of young hitters. James Wood earned an All-Star nod in 2025 but looked exhausted throughout a statistically poor second half. A player this tall and long-limbed is always going to run a high K rate, but his 32.1% mark from 2025 needs to tick down if he’s going to evolve into an MVP candidate.
Trade rumors have swirled around CJAbrams all winter, but he looks primed to begin the year in D.C. It’ll be interesting to see how he fares with a new, upgraded coaching staff. Abrams hasn’t quite reached his offensive ceiling and remains a very flawed defensive player. Still, there aren’t many 25-year-old shortstops who can hit at an above-average clip. DaylenLile (.845 OPS) was one of the few pleasant surprises of Washington’s abysmal 2025. His bat looks legit, but his defensive numbers were dreadful. Improvement on that front could make him a real difference-maker.
Dylan Crews, the No. 2 pick in the 2023 draft behind Paul Skenes, has had a start-and-stop first few years to his MLB career, mostly due to injuries. The talent hasn’t gone anywhere, though, and we think Crews will have a breakout 2026. The rest of this impressively deep group has more warts, as we have big questions about BradyHouse’s hit tool, RobertHassell III’s power and LuisGarcía Jr.’s glove.
A total dearth of young MLB pitching is part of why most prognosticators have the Nats pegged for the NL East cellar. MitchellParker was the second-worst qualified starter by ERA last season. BradLord could develop into a back-end rotation piece but needs to upgrade his secondaries. ColeHenry will start the year as Washington’s closer but is probably more of a seventh- or eighth-inning arm on a contender.
This farm system has taken a big step forward over the past 12 months, thanks to a strong 2025 draft and a handful of big-leaguer-for-prospect trades. HarryFord, acquired this winter for reliever Jose Ferrer, might finish this season as Washington’s primary catcher. He’s tracking like a capable every-day option, with a patience-over-power profile. EliWillits was the No. 1 overall pick last summer, but he only just turned 18 and, despite his immense promise, is years away from big-league impact. The same is true for GavinFien, a 2025 first-rounder acquired in the Gore deal.
Jarlin Susana might have the highest ceiling of any pitcher in the minor leagues, with a triple digit heater and a soul-snatching slider. He’ll miss the first few months due to an injury and might end up in the bullpen. TravisSykora, also injured,is built like an oak tree. He was tracking like a potential No. 2 starter before he hit the shelf.
We believe in this new leadership group and some of the interesting player development hires they’ve made. There’s a chance this system, bolstered by another big draft and maybe an Abrams trade, looks even more stacked a year from now. — J.M.
16. Chicago Cubs (total score: 15/30) | 2025 rank: 17
Young MLB hitters (6/10): OF Pete Crow-Armstrong, INF/OF Matt Shaw, C/DH Moisés Ballesteros Young MLB pitchers (5/10): RHPCade Horton, RHP Daniel Palencia Prospect hitters (2/5): OF Kevin Alcántara, 1B Jonathon Long, 3B Pedro Ramirez, 2B James Triantos, INFJefferson Rojas, OF Ethan Conrad Prospect pitchers (2/5): RHP Jaxon Wiggins, RHP Brandon Birdsell
Fresh off one of the more hot-and-cold offensive seasons in recent memory — 27 homers and 29 steals with a .868 OPS through the end of July; just four homers and six steals with a .533 OPS over the final two months — Pete Crow-Armstrong is a difficult player to forecast. 2025 was an exaggerated manifestation of his immense raw talent being undermined by his swing-at-everything approach. PCA’s game-changing defense in center field and havoc wreaked on the basepaths afford him multiple ways to make the Cubs a better ballclub no matter what he’s doing at the plate. But for the soon-to-be 24-year-old to become more valuable than volatile, he’ll need to dial in a more dependable offensive game plan.
Matt Shaw finished his rookie year strong at the plate but is transitioning to a superutility role in the wake of Alex Bregman’s arrival at the hot corner. Can manager Craig Counsell find Shaw enough at-bats for him to remain a key cog moving forward, or will he ultimately become a trade chip sent to flourish elsewhere? Moisés Ballesteros’ bat is even more promising than Shaw’s, but his defensive polish as a backstop lags far behind, which could limit him to DH duty in the short term, capping his overall value. On the farm, Kevin Alcántara’s physical tools continue to tantalize, but his production has yet to demand at-bats in the majors. Conversely, all Jonathon Long has done in the minors is rake, including a full season of mashing at Triple-A in 2025, but his corner-only glove makes his path to playing time in Chicago rather narrow.
It’s hard to put too much stock into any reliever because of their inherent volatility, but Daniel Palencia finally translating his elite velocity into reliable high-leverage results was an encouraging development last season; now let’s see if he can do it again. Cade Horton’s 2.67 ERA across 118 innings earned him a narrow runner-up finish to Drake Baldwin in the NL Rookie of the Year race. The run-prevention speaks for itself, but the shape of Horton’s effectiveness, featuring a sharp decrease in strikeout rate from what he demonstrated in college and the minors, was an odd quirk of his introduction to the majors and is worth monitoring entering Year 2. Horton’s season also ended on a sour note, with a rib fracture that rendered him unavailable for October. A healthy Horton should be a fixture in Chicago’s rotation for years to come, but his ability to find more swing-and-miss could determine whether we underrated him in this exercise or properly assessed him as more of a midrotation starter than a frontline one.
The upside of hard-throwing and near-ready right-hander Jaxon Wiggins helps Chicago avoid an especially low score in the prospect pitching category, but beyond him, there’s a severe lack of impressive arms in this system. Wiggins dominated High-A and Double-A hitters last summer before a brief taste of Triple-A in September. Chicago’s rotation looks set with veterans for now, but Wiggins could be a factor later in 2026 — if injuries don’t necessitate his arrival even sooner. — J.S.
One day after being sued by Joe Gibbs Racing over an alleged 'brazen scheme' to steal data from the organization while negotiating his employment separation and a job opportunity with Spire Motorsports, Chris Gaebhart responded with a statement that suggests he intends to challenge his longtime employer in court.
“Yesterday afternoon, Joe Gibbs Racing filed a lawsuit claiming - falsely - that I shared JGR confidential information with Spire Motorsports and/or other unnamed third parties. I feel compelled to speak out today and forcefully and emphatically deny these frivolous and retaliatory claims.”
The claim from Joe Gibbs Racing is that Gabehart, while serving in the capacity as competition director for the organization in 2025, created a folder called ‘Spire’ and synced proprietary information with his personal Google Driver.
Joe Gibbs Racing also accused Gabehart of taking photos of proprietary information with his cell phone and also backing it up to his personal accounts. The lawsuit says that Gabehart continued to access these files even on a day where he had a meeting with Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson.
The lawsuit says JGR was made aware of a discussion for Gabehart to join Spire as Chief Motorsports Officer. JGR claims that it learned much of this information after a third-party forensic examination.
In his statement, Gabehart said that Joe Gibbs Racing was offered an opportunity to conduct a forensic examination on Spire Motorsports but declined. Gabehart said he and his legal representation intend to file a detailed response to the lawsuit in the days to come.
“I look forward to the opportunity to demonstrate to the Court that I have not shared JGR's confidential information with anyone. In fact, I have already demonstrated that to JGR. A third-party forensic expert retained by JGR recently examined my laptop, cell phone and personal Google Drive and found no evidence to support the baseless allegations in JGR's lawsuit. We even offered JGR the opportunity to do a similar review of Spire's systems. JGR refused that offer and filed this spiteful lawsuit instead.
“Stay tuned. We will have much more to say in the legal response we will be filing in the coming days.”
Iowa State’s women’s golf team, known as the “Cyclonitas”, pose with trophies following their win of the Texas Golf Throwdown on Tuesday. | Iowa State athletic communications
HOUSTON — The No. 40 Iowa State women’s golf scorched the grounds around The Woodlands Country Club on Monday and Tuesday of this with a team total of -2, 39 shots better than second place Nebraska who as a team shot a +37.
Nichakorn Pinprayoon captured medalist honors, earning her first career tournament title with a 6-under-par total over three rounds. She posted three consecutive rounds under par and sealed the victory with a bogey-free final round that included two birdies.
Karisa Chul-Ak-Sorn finished second overall after shooting a 1-under-par final round, her best performance of the season. She recorded five birdies in the closing round.
Pammy Chookaew tied for fourth at 2 over for the tournament. She carded four birdies in the final round and finished with a 2-over-par score for the day.
Isabella Yan tied for eighth, marking her best career finish. She shot an even-par final round with multiple birdies to close at 5 over.
Alexandra Vidal posted her lowest round of the tournament at 2 over in the finale, finishing tied for 18th at 10 over. She tallied four birdies in the final round.
Competing as an individual, Keeley Marx also tied for 18th at 10 over. She recorded her best round of the tournament in the final round, shooting 1 over with four birdies.
The Cyclonitas return to the Lone Star state – Humble, specifically – for the Chevron Collegiate hosted by the University of Houston. The two day event is at the Golf Club of Houston and will feature the following universities: Texas State, North Texas, UNC-Wilmington, University of Houston (host), Oregon, North Carolina, Baylor, Maryland, SMU, TCU, UL-Monroe, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa State, UTSA, Arkansas and Mississippi State.
Texas Golf Throwdown
Feb. 16 and Feb. 17
The Woodlands Country Club
Houston, Texas
Team Scores (Total-Round 1-Round 2-Round 3) (-/+):
1. Iowa State 862 (294-281-287) (-2); 2. Nebraska 901 (302-294-305) (+37); 3. Cincinnati 903 (308-296-299) (+39); 4. Texas State 910 (301-301-308) (+46); 5. Middle Tennessee 913 (303-313-297) (+49); 6. Tarleton State 917 (300-311-306) (+53); 7. UT Arlington 919 (311-298-310) (+55); 8. Oral Roberts 925 (311-305-309) (+61); 9. Texas A&M (B) 926 (311-306-309) (+62); 10. Sam Houston 937 (312-304-321) (+73); 11. St. Thomas (MN) 939 (316-314-309) (+75); 12. Eastern Kentucky 947 (324-308-315) (+83); 13. Austin Peay State 952 (312-316-324) (+88); 14. Murray State 966 (330-318-318) (+102); 15. Montana State 969 (311-332-326) (+105).
Ahead of Rose Basketball Club’s Feb. 20 matchup against Hive Basketball Club, the WNBA Chicago Sky forward shared a series of media day photos across Instagram and X, giving fans an early look at her game-day presence. The post, uploaded on Feb. 18, featured Reese in Rose BC’s teal uniform, along with a preview of her signature Reebok sneakers, the Angel Reese 1.
“BARBIE HOOPS ARE BACK!” Reese wrote in the caption, pairing the statement with an eight-photo carousel that quickly drew reactions from across the sports and entertainment worlds.
Minnesota Lynx guard DiJonai Carrington was among those who responded, commenting, “Literally stunning, WOW!!!” Reality TV personalities Jana Craig and Olandria Carthen also joined in, with Carthen adding, “Let’s go 5!!!!” Reese replied directly, inviting her to a future game: “@olandria so i need you in my jersey at a game soon boo.”
The post arrives just before Reese’s latest appearance with Rose BC, where she’s set to rejoin the team during the ongoing Unrivaled season. The league, which opened its 2026 campaign on Jan. 5, features a 3-on-3 format that highlights fast-paced play and individual production.
Reese made a major impact during Unrivaled’s inaugural season in 2025. She averaged 13.3 points and 12.4 rebounds per game, leading the league in rebounding while also earning Defensive Player of the Year honors. Her performance helped establish her as one of the league’s most dominant interior players.
Outside of Unrivaled, Reese has continued to expand her profile. The Maryland native recently traveled internationally, with stops in Berlin, London, and Sydney, and has also stepped into acting with a role in Season 2 of The Hunting Wives. She’s also maintained her presence in media through her podcast, Unapologetically Angel.
MIAMI GARDENS, FLORIDA - JANUARY 19: Fernando Mendoza #15 of the Indiana Hoosiers throws a pass against the Miami Hurricanes during the first quarter in the 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship at Hard Rock Stadium on January 19, 2026 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images) | Getty Images
With the Las Vegas Raiders starting to build their coaching staff, they will begin preparing for the 2026 NFL draft next week at the NFL Combine. While they try to build up their draft boards, the number one pick in the draft is uneventful. Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza is the likely pick and will be able to grow with Klint Kubiak as the head coach.
One of the reasons Mendoza will be the pick is his ability to throw the ball downfield accurately. Kubiak is known for explosive plays, with the Seattle Seahawks ranking 3rd in explosive play rate. Whether in the run game or through the air, the team is always finding a way to get chunk plays on offense.
This could allow Mendoza to thrive with his skill set and with the addition of play-action. Check out Mendoza’s deep stats below. He has been consistent when throwing the ball down the field, ranking 5th in completion percentage according to PFF in 2025.
In the play above, you see how Mendoza’s throwing downfield is a plus for his game. Just a beautifully placed football on the post route allows the receiver to run right under the football.
With players who can win downfield, such as Tre Tucker, already on the roster, the Raiders’ offense can finally get the boost it needs with the combo of Mendoza and Kubiak.
Diogo Dalot highlights key edge Michael Carrick holds over Ruben Amorim
Manchester United defender Diogo Dalot has revealed a critical advantage that Michael Carrick has over former head coach Ruben Amorim.
Carrick flying
Carrick was named caretaker boss in December last year, temporarily replacing Amorim, who was sacked after a turbulent 14 months in charge.
Amorim arrived at United in November 2024 to much fanfare and expectation, but he failed to live up to the hype. Inconsistent results and performances as he went about implementing his controversial 3-4-3 formation were a highlight of his troubled spell.
The Portuguese coach led United to a disappointing 15th-placed finish, the worst in the club’s Premier League history. He also lost the Europa League final to Tottenham Hotspur. Despite overwhelming evidence that he probably wasn’t cut out for the Old Trafford hot seat, the top brass backed him heavily in the summer window.
While there was a slight improvement this term, humbling losses like the 3-1 defeat at Brentford proved that United were far from being out of the woods. This, combined with Amorim’s treatment of some players like Kobbie Mainoo and his explosive press conferences, ultimately prompted United to pull the trigger and relieve him of his duties.
It later emerged that Amorim’s relationship with the United hierarchy had broken down. He was frustrated by what he saw as broken promises in the transfer market, while the club’s chiefs, led by director of football Jason Wilcox, were pushing him to compromise on his tactical approach.
Carrick is enjoying a dream start to life in the dugout.
The United legend has taken charge of five games, winning four and drawing one. In a short span of time, Carrick has implemented a front-footed, aggressive and attack-oriented style of play that has quickly galvanised supporters. At present, the Red Devils are fourth in the table and firmly in the frame to finish within the Champions League spots.
Carrick’s calm and relaxed demeanour has been a welcome sight, a stark contrast to the combative and over-emotional reactions United had become accustomed to under his predecessor.
Dalot said, “I think… the biggest advantage of Carrick right now is him knowing exactly what it is to play for Man United, what it is to be around Carrington, what the people need from you, what the fans expect from you, what this type of game will be, and I think that’s the idea.”
“One of his biggest strengths is the balance that he has. He will never be too high, never be too low. That energy, when he came, he knew exactly what to say to us. And then you can talk tactically. Very key messages, one or two things that you need to go to the game and be aware of, and then just play the game.”
“I think that’s been how we’ve been these last couple of games, and we are being fortunate enough to be playing better than we were playing before.”
Asked to describe Carrick’s DNA, Dalot answered, “I think it’s something that, without the ball, we are closing the middle very well. So we’re allowing them to play a bit more on the outside, and then we make them press.”
“I think we’re defending the box really well, one of the things that we already spoke about, and we have to try to improve is a little bit more intensity pressing, like the middle third, a little bit help up higher the pitch.”
“We can be a little bit more intense pressing, but when we have to defend our box, we defend our box with our lives.”
The defender continued, “And then when we attack, he’s like… you know, if you ask Man United fans what they love about this – fast play, direct, that high tempo, it’s lifting the stadium, and you could see against City the way we played.”
“Even against Spurs, against 10 men, which can become even more difficult than playing against 11, but we had that intensity. We were playing on the front foot, and I think that’s ultimately the DNA of the club.”
Dealing with criticism
Dalot also told Ferdinand how he handles criticism and pressure from outside.
“I think it became a little bit more difficult because of, obviously, what is happening online nowadays. Everybody can say whatever they want.”
“And unless you live in a cave, you’re going to be aware of what is being said or what is happening. But to be honest, because my football career, professional career, was all the time here, I had to learn how to balance that. I had to deal with it.”
Dalot further stated, “What I always say, and I always try to pass to my teammates, [is that] as long as I wear this shirt, I will not hide and I will not play the victim. People will talk about you every single week, and if you play well, they will say you play well.”
“It’s one of the things that I try to put in my head all the time.”
“That’s why you see me, if we lose a game, I will be there. And now, having this responsibility, a little more of being one of the leaders at the club and in the squad, I think that’s my responsibility also.”
Dalot and United are next in action on Monday when they take on Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Featured image Justin Setterfield via Getty Images
“Training with these players too is very good. I’m happy. It’s different. It’s another level.
“There is more pressure. It’s a very good dressing room.
“I remember I spoke to Riyad Mahrez before I came, and he said the guys are incredible. When I came, everyone was welcoming and it was very important for me.”
The Algerian full-back is one of several fresh faces in the squad to arrive in the last three transfer windows.
While he’s getting to grips with life at the Etihad, he reiterated that every day’s a school day when working with Pep Guardiola.
“Every day, you learn a lot. It’s a pleasure to work with him and his staff – Kolo Toure and Pep Lijnders,” said Ait-Nouri.
“We try to give our best every day to push our limit. It’s very good to train with them every day and I feel I have improved a lot of aspects of my game.”
City are still in the hunt for all four major honours, with a Carabao Cup final to come next month while being handily placed in the Premier League and safely through the Champions League and FA Cup so far.
Rodri has featured across all competitions while continuing the final stages of his recovery from a knee injury sustained in September 2024.
Guardiola has acknowledged that the Spain international hasn’t yet hit the heights that saw him win the 2024 Ballon d’Or, but insisted that his character has already been a benefit to the side.
With so much to play for before the end of the campaign, Pep says Rodri’s spirit will help drive the side on as he has done in the past.
“Rodri is Rodri. At his age he’s wiser and understands the game,” he said.
“There are players like Phil that say when he’s on the pitch, he’s not just a mate, he’s a manager and we are better, we feel better. That is experience and timing.
“There are players who are defined on bigger stages in difficulties and Rodri is one of them. Like Bernie [Bernardo Silva], Ruben [Dias] and many I had in the past.
“That defines the biggest teams and clubs. We can’t achieve what we have without huge personalities.
“We have seasons and we don’t win 5-0 every weekend. This is a fairytale. People say how good are Man City won a lot of 1-0 games playing rubbish.
“But the personality is there, how they handle this moment comes from them. That’s why we had success.”
Having joined City in 2019 and been a linchpin to some of our biggest ever successes, Rodri is well versed in what Guardiola expects of his players.
With a fresh squad after a raft of new signings in recent transfer windows, Pep is clear on the importance of having experienced players who understand his methods intuitively.
“I have to tell them less because we’ve had 1000 million meetings and games we’ve had together,” he said.
“They can analyse what we’ve done good and bad. I feel meetings now they say ‘Pep, you talk about this same subject?’.
“But there are new players and new details. How many times Rodri and Bernardo play Eddie Howe’s Newcastle?
“Of course, now Gordon is a striker before he was a winger. Woltemade, Wissa and Gordon as the striker so it’s details but know how they will play.”
After making an initial return at the FIFA Club World Cup last summer, Rodri then had to sit out another period through November and December with a hamstring injury.
However, the Spaniard is now putting together a run of games, playing the full 90 minutes in five of our last seven Premier League fixtures.
Guardiola said he was reintroduced too soon first time around, but that the patience to help him recover fully now appears to be paying off.
“We came back too early,” said the boss.
“Our desire to get him back and him. We came back too early and that’s why it was long.
“It was a good lesson. Human has a process, time to recover and others can do it earlier like a Bernardo or Phil and others need more time.
“That’s why it’s 18 months now but he came back earlier. He played at the World Cup and needed more time.
“Still not his best but his mood and how he’s training, he’s a special player.”
Be at City v Nottingham Forest!
We welcome Forest to the Etihad Stadium at 19:30 (UK) on Wednesday 4 March.
And you can be there to see it as Pep Guardiola’s City continue to chase Premier League glory.
Tickets for this game are now on sale to all fans, starting from just £43 for adults and £23 for U18s.
Team USA has blistered Slovakia in Friday's semifinal matchup, setting up the highly-anticipated matchup with Canada. Though, an injury question mark about one of the American stars has risen to the forefront.
Tage Thompson did not return for the 3rd period after suffering an apparent foot injury and was seen walking in the stadium hallways without his skates on. The U.S. star had a power play goal earlier in the game, and his status is now the biggest storyline heading into the final.
Here's the latest updates on Thompson's status ahead of the Canada game.
Thompson, who missed the Four Nations Faceoff in 2025 (roster decision), has been a revelation this tournament. He had two more points (1G, 1A) in the Slovakia game.
While early speculation pointed to a shot block off the foot, Team USA has yet to confirm the exact nature of the injury. Whether it’s a break or just severe swelling, the 'precautionary' label is being tested with the Gold Medal game just 36 hours away.
Recent matchups: MNUFC went 1-1-1 against Austin in 2025, but the most painful game came in the U.S. Open Cup semifinal in September. The Loons allowed a goal in the 120th minute and the 2-1 loss ruined the club’s best chance to win its first trophy.
Scouting report: Austin finished sixth in the West last season but was dead last in MLS with only 37 goals scored. Austin forward Brandon Vazquez will be sidelined with an ACL injury suffered in July, but Verde signed Facundo Torres from Palmeiras in Brazil for a $9.5 million transfer fee.
Torres will test the Loons’ back line and coach Nico Esteves might see an area to exploit at right back, where MNUFC had a rotation of players in preseason and then signed Kyle Duncan.
Big question: When will James Rodriguez play? Short answer: not on Saturday. The Colombian star just received his work visa on Wednesday and is back in Minnesota working out. His first full week of practice with the first team will be next week.
“It’s hard to put a fixed timeline on any one player because they are all different,” head coach Cameron Knowles said. “But he’s been working hard, and he has a great attitude and he’s been a really good teammate.”
Note: MNUFC has terminated its loan with 21-year-old midfielder Alexis Farina, a source said. He joined in August and didn’t appear for the first team.
Top storyline: Former Loons left back Joseph Rosales was traded to Austin in December and Rosales has this game circled after how he apparently felt wronged Minnesota didn’t complete his transfer to Mexican club Tigres last season.
Absences: Rodriguez (fitness) is out. Diaz (U.S. Green Card) is questionable.
Predicted starting lineup: FW Kelvin Yeboah; AM Tomas Chancalay, AM Joaquin Pereyra, AM Bongi Hlongwane; CM Nectar Triantis, CM Wil Trapp; LB Anthony Markanich, CB Morris Duggan, CB Michael Boxall, RB Carlos Harvey; GK Drake Callender.
Prediction: Knowes’ first game as interim head coach in 2024 — before Eric Ramsay took over weeks later — was a 2-1 win at Austin. Now as the permanent head coach, he can build on the same result. Minnesota, 2-1.
💣Bombshell: Zidane set to take charge of France after the World Cup
The news that all of French football had been waiting for has finally broken: Zinedine Zidane will be the next head coach of the French National Team. According to the latest reports, there is already a full verbal agreement between the French star and the French Football Federation (FFF) for "Zizou" to take the reins of "Les Bleus," thus putting an end to years of speculation about his future on the national bench.
The succession after the World Cup
Although the agreement is a fact, the change of command will not be immediate. The plan is for Zidane to take over right after the 2026 World Cup, which will be held in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. In this way, the former Real Madrid coach will succeed Didier Deschamps, marking the beginning of a new era for the world champion team of 1998 and 2018.
A long-term project
Zidane's arrival represents a strategic move for the FFF, which aims to refresh its sporting project with a man who commands absolute respect from both players and fans. After turning down multiple offers from top clubs in recent years, Zidane will fulfill his personal dream of managing his country's team, with the goal of keeping France at the top of international football.
Boca arrives with the urgency to win, after drawing against Platense and losing to Vélez.
The Xeneize are in seventh place in Group A, and earning three points is of vital importance to stay close to the top of the overall standings.
Boca's Starting XI
The coach made several changes, highlighting Cavani's place in the starting lineup, hoping he will find the goals that will bring joy to the fans at La Bombonera.
Leeds Rhinos taught newcomers York a harsh lesson in the quality of the Super League with an eight-try thrashing of the newly-promoted Knights at Headingley.
Meeting for the first time since 1995, York, who stunned champions Hull KR in their opening game, competed well in the first half an hour, with the scores level at 6-6 through tries from James McDonnell for Leeds, and Paul Vaughan for York.
But two tries in three minutes from Maika Sivo and Ryan Hall pushed Brad Arthur's side clear, before Chris Hankinson gave the Rhinos a comfortable 22-6 lead at the first-half hooter.
The hosts scored quickly after the restart through veteran Hall again, before further tries from Brodie Croft, Harry Newman, and another from the irrepressible Sivo, gave Leeds their first win of the Super League campaign in front of a raucous home crowd.
York head coach Mark Applegarth will have been well aware of the challenge the top flight would pose to his side, but this was put in sharp focus by the composure and ruthlessness of Leeds' attacking sets.
On occasion they got over with pure brute force, epitomised by Sivo, who scored two tries on his first match in a year with bruising carries.
Hall, who scored his 348th and 349th career tries, demonstrated the experience and guile required at this level, scoring one try from a free-flowing move, and with the second, running 45 metres to run in from an interception.
Jordan Thompson scored a try for York on his 200th appearance, with Scott Galeano going over at the end of the game.
However, this was a performance that highlighted Leeds' potential this season, after an opening weekend loss to Leigh Leopards.
They will hope to take the efficiency and quality of their performance to Las Vegas next week, as they prepare to take on last season's treble winners Hull KR.
head coach Mick Cronin of the UCLA Bruins yells during the first half against Gonzaga Bulldogs at Intuit Dome on December 28, 2024 in Inglewood, California.
With just a few minutes left in the game and the Bruins already trailing by over 20 points, redshirt senior forward Steven Jamerson II went up to block a dunk attempt by Michigan State senior center Carson Cooper and fouled Cooper in the back. The two players squared up right away, but UCLA head coach Mick Cronin wasn't having any of it.
In a moment that's now gone viral, Cronin summoned Jamerson II to the bench, yelled in his face, tugged on his jersey and sent his own player to the locker room before officials had even made any announcement.
Since then, there has been a lot of discourse around the moment, with many criticizing Cronin for shaming Jamerson II in front of not only his teammates, but television cameras. The Michigan State game was a homecoming for Jamerson II, who once unsuccessfully tried to walk on to the Spartans basketball team.
Michigan State's Carson Cooper, right, and UCLA's Steven Jamerson, left, stare each other down after Jamerson's flagrant foul on Cooper during the second half on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.
Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Michigan State's Carson Cooper, right, and UCLA's Steven Jamerson, left, stare each other down after Jamerson's flagrant foul on Cooper during the second half on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.
"I don't think the entire world has seen that in a game," sophomore guard Trent Perry said (via UCLA Athletics). "But, it happened and I'm just glad we're able to move forward."
At UCLA's first media availability since the incident, Cronin took the time to apologize for his outburst and mixed in a little humor about Jamerson II's NIL compensation.
"I apologize to Steve," Cronin said (via UCLA Athletics). "It gives me a chance to tell you guys what a great guy Steve is. He asked me for $10,000 more in NIL because of that, but I told him I'll try to get him another commercial."
Cronin explained that at the time, he thought that Jamerson II had committed a dirty play on the foul and tried to take out Cooper. The idea of doing that while UCLA trailed so much is what led to Cronin's reaction, he said.
After the game when he had access to the game film, Cronin realized that the play wasn't at all what he thought it was and he even said that he thought the flagrant foul that Jamerson II received for it was excessive.
"I thought he tried to wipe the guy out, which to me, that's a bad play. You can't be down 25, you're getting your butt kicked, don't try to take somebody out, hurt somebody on the other team, which is what I thought," Cronin said. "I'm short. I was blocked. I'm on the other end. Their reaction, I thought he tried to crush this kid."
Jamerson II wasn't interviewed during Friday's media availability, but both Perry and senior guard Skyy Clark said that after the game Cronin brought the whole team together and apologized to Jamerson II behind closed doors.
Perry, who is Jamerson II's roommate, applauded his teammate's maturity in the situation while Clark said that Jamerson II was "in his head about it," but moving forward with the rest of the team.
Clark also said that the team had a player's only meeting after the game to help clear the air, and likely will have another one ahead of their next game on Saturday against No. 10 Illinois.
Cronin has never been one to hide his emotions and with UCLA's rather lackluster season, emotions naturally run high. Cronin's off the cuff nature has made him the star of countless soundbites this season alone, which can inform the public on their opinion of him.
He's among a dying breed of old-school coaches and that approach to the game doesn't always mesh with the heightened media presence of the modern era, but Clark, who's in his second season playing at UCLA under Cronin, describes his coach as someone that has consistently stood up for his players and while his communication may be abrasive, it's not malicious.
"I say just listen to the message, and not how it's being conveyed," Clark said. "I say if you do that, then you really hear what he's trying to say instead of how he's trying to say it."
Hockey fans in North America are throwing up their arms in frustration:
Why does the upcoming gold medal men's hockey game on Sunday start so early?
It'll be Canada and the United States playing for the Olympic championship in Milan. The game will begin at 8 a.m. ET, which is 5 a.m. on the West Coast.
That's earlier than either team has had a game begin all tournament.
But as the more measured among us have pointed out, there's a clear and obvious reason for this.
Why does the gold medal men's hockey game start so early?
It's all about logistics in the host country.
The game will have an opening faceoff of 2 p.m. in Italy, which is a fair start time. It just happens to be six hours ahead, or more, of many of the people watching these two nations from back home.
For starters, they can't predict who will be in that match, so there's only so much they can do.
The Winter Olympics also always schedules the men's hockey gold medal game for the final day of the Games, the same day as the Closing Ceremonies.
The Closing Ceremonies get underway at 8:30 p.m. in Italy (2:30 p.m. ET), and so there would be no way to also have the hockey game be a night game specifically for American viewership.
This is also relatively standard. Past gold medal men's hockey games have begun in the early afternoon on the final day of the Olympics. It'll just vary what time that is in North America depending on what country is hosting the Games.
Maybe it's a tough break for fans of these nations. But alarm clocks were invented for a reason. Apparently that reason is gold medal hockey.
COLLEGE STATION — The history between Texas A&M baseball and Penn is limited, but not in the Aggies' favor.
The last time A&M (4-0) and Penn (0-0) met for a weekend series was 2022, when the Quakers took the series 2-1 in College Station. Aggies head coach Michael Earley was part of that staff that season and remembers the weekend all too well.
"I admire their program a ton," Earley said Thursday. "Honestly, it started when they came in here and beat us. The type of players they had... Just talking to Jackson (Appel) and Wyatt (Henseler), like, why were you guys so team (oriented)? Like, it's such a buy-in, and you feel it, and you feel like they're never out of it."
Texas A&M pitcher Shane Sdao throws against Tennessee Techn on Feb. 14, 2026 at Blue Bell Park in College Station. (Micah Richter/Micah Richter/Texas A&M Athletics)
Both Appel and Henseler began their careers with the Quakers before joining the Aggies in 2024 and 2025, respectively. What A&M saw that during that weekend -- one of the few series losses for a 44-win Aggies team -- led the staff to recruit the pair, Earley said.
Henseler, now with the Washington Nationals organization, is scheduled to throw the ceremonial first pitch at Friday's game. Appel, a first-team All-SEC selection, is now in the Chicago White Sox farm system.
Penn kicks off its season this weekend against an A&M team looking to extend its four-game winning streak. The Quakers were 21-20 in 2025, finishing third in the Ivy League.
BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA - NOVEMBER 29: Head coach Darian Devries of the Indiana Hoosiers watches during the NCAA basketball game between the Indiana Hoosiers and the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on November 29, 2025 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Indiana men’s basketball (17-9, 8-7 Big Ten) is set to take on Purdue (21-5, 11-4 Big Ten) on Friday night on the road in the second of two matchups in the annual in-state rivalry series between the two programs.
The Hoosiers’ last outing was a 71-51 road loss at Illinois. That didn’t hurt Indiana’s bubble positioning too much, there’s only so many teams that can hang with Illinois in Champaign, but there’s value to these opportunities down the stretch and the Hoosiers have to make the most of them to feel good on Selection Sunday.
The Boilermakers’ last outing was a 91-80 home loss to Michigan. That probably sealed Purdue off from competing for the Big Ten’s regular season title, but the Boilers still have quite a bit to play for between rivalry pride and seeding in the coming NCAA Tournament.
Here’s what to know about the game:
Indiana Hoosiers at Purdue Boilermakers
Game Time/Date: 8 p.m. ET on Friday, February 20
Game Location: Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Indiana
CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS - FEBRUARY 15: Reed Bailey #1 of the Indiana Hoosiers brings the ball up court during the game against the Illinois Fighting Illini at State Farm Center on February 15, 2026 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Purdue’s seniors have their final regular season game against Indiana tonight with this one taking place in the friendly confines of Mackey Arena. Purdue’s seniors need this win to go to 4-4 overall against the Hoosiers. Purdue needs this win for a number of reasons. First, revenge for the loss in Bloomington. Second, to even up that career total as I said. Three, keep the team on the right track with just a few games remaining. Lastly, it’s IU, we can’t lose to them again. We just can’t. You can check out Casey’s preview of this one to get a closer look at the Hoosiers.
Who: #7 Purdue vs. Indiana
When: Friday, February 20, 2026 – 8:00 p.m. ET
Where: West Lafayette, IN – Mackey Arena – Capacity – 14,240
TV: Fox
Purdue Radio: Purdue Global Radio Network (Rob Blackman, Bobby Riddell)
So come and join your fellow Boilermaker fans in our fan discussion (formerly known as the open thread) as we talk about Purdue versus the Indiana Hoosiers.
BYU guard Robert Wright III (1) celebrates his 3-pointer against Utah during an NCAA basketball game held at the Marriott Center in Provo on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026.
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Isaac Hale, Deseret News
Luckily for the Cougars, being the oldest of 10 siblings has provided Wright with lifelong preparation for such increased responsibility.
“You have to learn how to relate with so many different people,” Wright said Thursday on the “BYU Basketball with Kevin Young” show, referring to his family dynamic.
“It’s kind of similar to being a point guard, honestly. I think that’s what helps me a lot.”
Wright is riding a hot streak, averaging 22.0 points across the past six games — including performances of 30 and 39 points each — while making 54% of his attempts from behind the arc in that same span.
In all, his first campaign in Provo has been outstanding, scoring 18.5 points with 4.8 assists per night and shooting nearly 46% from 3-point range.
Of course, his most famous 3 came back in December at New York City’s famed Madison Square Garden, beating the buzzer to secure a dramatic comeback victory over Clemson.
While Wright’s game-winner at the Garden is now an iconic BYU moment and arguably the high point of the season thus far, it was especially meaningful for the Delaware native considering so many of his family members were in attendance to witness the shot live.
“It was super crazy. My whole family was there because it was close to home, (New York) is probably two hours from my house,” Wright said. “So just to have an experience like that and have an opportunity like that, it’s amazing.”
But before he was entering BYU program lore with his heroics, Wright was torching the Cougars as an opponent.
As a freshman at Baylor a year ago, Wright scored a then career-high 22 points with six assists and four rebounds in his first appearance at the Marriott Center, helping the Bears push BYU to overtime before eventually falling to his future squad.
“Like most teams in our league, we couldn’t keep him out of the paint, we couldn’t keep him away from the rim and off the foul line as well,” Cougars coach Kevin Young said of Wright’s electric outing against BYU.
“He’s been able to grow from his experience in our league last year. We talked about how much more efficient he’s playing this year, I think having that year under his belt certainly, you know, points to just how much he’s growing and how mature his game is becoming.”
After earning both All-Big 12 Honorable Mention and All-Freshman status at Baylor, Wright entered the transfer portal last spring and found a fit at BYU, saying he’s glad to have chosen the Cougars.
“I was kind of looking for something new, and then when I got the offer and heard about everything, I just thought that (BYU) would be a nice place for me just to grow both on and off the court,” Wright said.
“... It’s been great. Obviously, we’ve had some adversity this season with a lot of injuries. But I mean, it’s been a good experience for me, the fans have been great. Honestly, I’m enjoying it.”
BYU’s season is clearly at a crossroads, having lost six of its past nine games and now being forced to “reinvent” itself following Richie Saunders’ torn ACL.
But despite the past month of adversity, Young trusts that his point guard can help right the ship before tournament time.
“I had a conversation with (Wright) the other day when Richie went down just talking about how much we need from him as a leader across the board with not just his voice, but his example, you know, and helping to empower the other guys that we need to step up,” Young said. “I sleep great at night knowing that the ball is in his hands.”
Wright, meanwhile, finds excitement in the daunting stretch ahead, with the Cougars hosting No. 6 Iowa State on Saturday as the first of four Quad 1 chances out of five remaining regular-season games.
“(It’s exciting) still having a huge opportunity in front of us,” Wright said. “I mean, the season is not close to being over. We’ve still got five or six games, and then we’ve got the Big 12 tournament. We could build some momentum going into March.”
BYU Cougars guard Robert Wright III (1), center, celebrates after winning 90-86 in overtime against the Colorado Buffaloes at the Marriott Center in Provo on Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026.
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Tess Crowley, Deseret News
Dec 22, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) dribbles in the first quarter against the Charlotte Hornets at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images | David Richard-Imagn Images
The Cleveland Cavaliers are coming off an impressive win against the Brooklyn Nets. We’ll see if they can keep that going as they take on a surging Charlotte Hornets squad.
I’ll be in the comments throughout the game sharing my thoughts. Come talk with me and the rest of your fellow Cavs fans there.
Gold medalist Alysa Liu of Team United States poses for a photo during the medal ceremony for the Women's Single Skating on day thirteen of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Milano Ice Skating Arena on February 19, 2026 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
American figure skater Alysa Liu won the gold medal Thursday skating her long program to Donna Summer’s classic tune “MacArthur Park,” and the song’s writer, Jimmy Webb, couldn’t be happier.
“Alysa Liu’s energy and youth breathes yet another life into my song 'MacArthur Park.' I am unbelievably proud to play some small role in her inspiration,” he wrote on Instagram next to video of her performance. “I am so impressed with her demeanor, she makes America proud again. Congratulations on your gold medal, Alysa!”
The late Donna Summer’s official Instagram account also acknowledged Liu’s performance, sharing a clip of her skating on its Instagram Story.
Released in 1978, Summer’s version of Webb’s song spent three weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified double Platinum by the RIAA. It appeared on her album Live and More, with the disco hit running over eight minutes long. It earned Summer a Grammy nomination for best female pop vocal performance.
TAMPA, FL - FEBRUARY 18: New York Yankees Outfielder Giancarlo Stanton (27) warms up during the spring training workout on February 18, 2026 at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, FL. (Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Good afternoon everyone, it’s time to dive back into the mailbag and answer some of your questions. Remember to send in your questions for our weekly call by e-mail to pinstripealleyblog [at] gmail [dot] com.
ReadingYankee asks:I am starting to worry about the production of Stanton. He is aging and proved less effective in the postseason last year, although it would be foolish to expect his 2024 production again. He has another year or two, and he has not been trusted in the outfield more than a game or two in the last couple seasons. At what point do the Yankees pull the plug on an oft-injured, DH-only type player? And when that happens, what will be their plan for the DH spot?
Much like the offense at large, I’m willing to give some grace to Giancarlo Stanton’s performance in the postseason because of the heater he was on in the regular season, especially given the strong performances he’s shown in nearly every other October run. The team isn’t going to cut bait on one of the veterans of this clubhouse while he still has some juice left in his bat, and his absences aren’t that big of a hit because they free up space for the rest of the team to cycle through quasi-rest days as a DH. Between getting their superstar Aaron Judge some half-days, flexing Ben Rice’s spot in the lineup around, and working in playing time for Jasson Domínguez should he be on the major league roster, there’s plenty of options to fill the gap.
The concern going forward, however, is just how much mileage is actually left on those legs. Stanton’s been a notorious slow-returner from his injuries (which makes the run he put on in 2025 even more incredible), so if he has a season where he’s a frequent flier on the IL instead of going through one big injury, that could spell disaster for his productivity. There’s also the concern that Stanton’s good year was a product of how little he actually had to play, and while there’s a running assumption that he’s going to miss time in every season going forward the goal is to still field the best team possible — if Stanton is gassed from the rigors of a 162-game season by the end of it all, he may not find himself penciled in when the chips are down.
jmack1775 asks:Why did we get Goldy to platoon with Rice when Rice should be an everyday player and learn to be at least passable against lefties? And if the plan is for Rice to catch a significant amount of games and Goldy to fill in at 1b, isn’t Rice’s value diminished at catcher?
Paul Goldschmidt’s place on the team this year is more of a mentor figure for Rice to learn the position, as the Yankees likely see him as their everyday first baseman of the future. He’ll get the lion’s share of starts at the position, and then for the games where Goldschmidt takes over against lefties that frees Rice up to see time behind the plate and still get in the lineup for the experience (and hopefully, improvement). It shouldn’t be a significant amount of games where Rice is catching, since J.C. Escarra is still the backup catcher and Rice will be going in as the defined starter at first as opposed to bouncing around looking for playing time. Was it the ideal fit? No, and the Yankees outright acknowledged this when Aaron Boone discussed the signing, but there are ways that it can work out quite well for New York.
Shoducky asks:What would it take to pry Mason Miller away from the Friars? Would a package of Dominguez and Gil do it?
Trade packages are generally a tricky thing to speculate on considering the strengths of one system aren’t going to be the same as another, and organizations have internal scouting on prospects that differ from the outside publications — that being said, the Padres traded the No. 3 prospect in baseball at the time to acquire Miller as the headliner of a four-player package at last year’s deadline. The Yankees don’t have a prospect anywhere close to that ranking on any board, and even considering that the cost would be lowered with one less year of control on Miller’s contract it’d be a tough pitch for the Padres to listen in on. New York has also shied away from the flashier bullpen additions as of late, both in terms of free agent deals and in trades, with their deal for David Bednar being an exception that still only cost the team their eighth-best prospect. If they wanted to change direction on that they certainly could, but that’s likely a discussion for the summer when there’s a clearer field of targets to acquire.
Arne Slot could have reasons to enjoy comparisons with the distinguished figures who came before him. Even with his side languishing in sixth in the Premier League, he still has the highest win percentage of any Liverpool manager. Unlike Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley and Jurgen Klopp, to name but three, he claimed the league title in his first season at Anfield. Unlike Rafa Benitez or Gerard Houllier, he has won it at some point in his tenure.
And yet Slot can feel trapped between the reality of his immediate predecessor and the idea of his possible successor. Some Liverpool fans can be seduced by the thought of Xabi Alonso. All will have fond memories of Klopp. Is it a problem for Slot? Not for him; perhaps not for his employers, though the ultimate measure will be whether the Dutchman is still in charge next season.
But an outsider whose allegiances lie with both Everton and Manchester United said Slot lacked both the aura of Klopp and the aura required of a Liverpool manager. Wayne Rooney’s own managerial career could have offered Slot the scope to retort with references to wretched spells at Birmingham and Plymouth, but a reasonable man instead offered a considered answer.
"Comparing people with each other is something everyone has the right to do, but is it fair to compare people with each other? We are all different,” Slot said. “The only thing we have in common, Jurgen and me, is that we both won the league, and that’s not too bad, is it?
“I think the more a manager wins, the more aura he has. I don’t know if this would be the general opinion, then I think people would probably tell you last season I had more aura than this season.”
That was self-deprecating and Slot is conscious that there is a group of managers who have won the World Cup or the Champions League and have a special status. Klopp reached four finals, three of them with Liverpool, making them European champions in 2019. It is a reason why it is not as simple as saying that Slot has won the Premier League as many times as the German.
Equally, with Klopp it was never just about the win percentage or the medal collection. “I think it’s fair to say that Jurgen definitely has aura, yeah,” said Slot. “I can talk about him, not about myself.”
Slot has spoken about the aura surrounding Liverpool managers (Reuters)
Klopp, along with Shankly, ranks as the most charismatic figure in Liverpool’s history. It was how each galvanised a club. Klopp wielded wit, a capacity to conjure a memorable phrase, and a rare ability to carry people with him, whatever he said and did. Physically huge, he has a force of personality that made him the face of Liverpool more than anyone since Shankly. His brand of charismatic leadership might have equipped him to make a mark in many another field. Slot is a football coach, one who initially prospered with the team Klopp left.
Slot has not tried to be Klopp. Before his first game at Anfield, he insisted there would be none of his predecessor’s trademark fist-pump celebrations. He is less quotable, a man who does not discuss certain topics, who can stick to stock answers on others. He is normally good humoured; a theme in his praise of players can be a wish for them to improve again, whereas, in public, Klopp would often eulogise them, sometimes in exaggerated or entertaining fashion.
Jurgen Klopp retains an aura around Anfield due to his legacy (AP)
Slot’s name has been sung at Anfield, and there are banners about him. Yet online, anyway, some fans have turned against him. He may be more dependent on results to retain support, and Real Madrid’s decision to sack Alonso provided a possible king over the water. For eight-and-a-half years, few Liverpool supporters contemplated regime change.
But it is worth noting that no Borussia Dortmund manager in the last 11 years – not even Thomas Tuchel, hugely talented a tactician as he is, or Edin Terzic, the lifelong fan who took them to the Champions League final – has had the popularity of Klopp. Perhaps that renders any comparison with him unfair.
Alonso, meanwhile, won a Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen in extraordinary, unbeaten fashion, but has twice visited Anfield as a manager, losing 4-0 to Slot last season and 1-0 to him this season.
Some Liverpool fans are intrigued by the idea of Xabi Alonso returning to Anfield as manager (AP)
The latter came during a run of 12 games when Liverpool lost nine. It did not prompt them to sack Slot then. Now they have only lost two of the subsequent 19. That run has nevertheless been mixed, as Liverpool’s league position shows. They visit Nottingham Forest on Sunday and, asked if their 3-0 defeat to a side then managed by Sean Dyche was the low point of the season, Slot instead nominated five other games, two of them drawn. As he noted, there have been quite a few lows.
His season has scarcely been straightforward but, unlike Alonso, he has survived. The chances are that many of the Liverpool fans who hope for Alonso’s return in the dugout remember the cerebral, stylish midfielder and have seen rather less of the sides he has managed. They have witnessed Slot’s side, improving but imperfect. They have their history with Klopp. Slot doesn’t have an aura quite like Klopp’s. But then again, neither does anyone else.
Bradford Bulls marked their first Betfred Super League home match for 12 years with an emphatic 28-10 win over Catalans Dragons.
Converted tries from Andy Ackers, Waqa Blake and Caleb Aekins were added to by three penalty goals by Rowan Milnes for a 24-0 lead at half-time.
Quickfire scores from Solomona Faataape and Toby Sexton threatened a stunning Dragons comeback in the second half.
But Blake scored again to secure a famous win for the Bulls at Odsal Stadium.
Bradford took an early lead through Ackers, who twisted and turned before powering over the line from close range after Joe Mellor kept the move alive.
Milnes kicked two penalties from under the sticks inside 22 minutes, punishing a string of errors by the Dragons.
The visitors were denied by a no-try call when Iszac Fa'asuamaleaui crossed over but the video referee could not be sure he had successfully touched the ball down on the line.
It proved to be a key moment as Milnes added a third penalty goal before Blake raced away after a swift team move from right to left to score the Bulls' second try.
Aekins then darted through a gap left by the Catalans' front row for a third try.
Three minutes after the break, the Dragons were given a gift when Ethan Ryan's loose pass was pounced on by Faataape, who could not believe his luck as he ran in to score.
Suddenly, momentum was with the visitors, and another Bradford error, this time from Aekins, was punished as Sexton went over, but the conversion attempt went wide to leave the deficit at 14 points.
Ryan almost made amends for his mistake by catching a long Milnes kick inside the Catalans half before setting Esan Marsters away, but the video referee disallowed the try, ruling that Ryan had been tackled during the play.
Blake added his second try moments later after Ryan combined with Milnes to cap an impressive victory.
The tale of a gentle soul and a kind heart. Of an observer of the human condition and a chronicler of foibles and triumphs. Of a deeply spiritual man and a deeply weird fascination with the rock band Kiss. Of a father and a friend.
This is a story Joey Knight would have loved to have written.
Instead, he lived it.
Right up until Friday morning.
The longtime sports writer at the Tampa Tribune and Tampa Bay Times passed away at 57 after a two-year tango with cancer. He leaves behind two daughters, a son and an encyclopedic knowledge of all things sports-related in, and around, Tampa Bay.
“I know so often when someone passes away, people will say what a nice or kind person they were. Joey, genuinely, had the kindest heart,” said longtime NASCAR writer Holly Cain, who worked with Knight in the Highlands and Polk County offices of the Tampa Tribune in the early 1990s. “He always made sure everyone around him was kind of in a good place.
“As a journalist, there’s two ways you can go about things. Joey always took the high road and still managed to get whatever he needed. He proved that you don’t have to be tough and hard scrabble to get information. Once he covered somebody long enough, they came to realize that he was just this nice person they could talk to.”
He was the University of Florida beat writer at the Tribune in the late 1990s before coming to the Times, where he covered high schools, the Bucs and USF. Yet, no matter what beat he was on, he always seemed to come back to stories of local characters and athletes. Maybe that’s because he was a fourth-generation Floridian. Maybe it was because his father Alan was the football coach at Zephyrhills High School (and later the principal) in the 1970s.
Whatever the reason, he seemed most content telling stories that would otherwise go unnoticed.
“You have no idea how many people you’ve touched in this business. Hundreds or thousands of locals that he’s written about,” said USF senior writer and sideline reporter Joey Johnston, who worked with Knight at the Tribune. “It’s a crazy thing, and I guess this is a dinosaur-age view, but you would write an article about somebody and then just move on to the next story, but they would clip it out of the newspaper and press it in their scrapbook and consider it one of the highlights of their lives.
“Joey would take the time to find those people, and talk to them and tell their stories.”
His roots in the community ran deep enough that Joey would often call writers with tips about their own beats. He didn’t care about credit; he was more concerned with making sure the information got in the hands, or the phones, of readers.
Was he upbeat? Absolutely. Was he a pushover? Not at all. And there are plenty of people on social media who got into sparring matches with him when he saw posts that he considered incorrect or unfair.
“As a journalist, you can’t be a cheerleader. But I would put his sense of community pride up against anybody’s,” said USF CEO of athletics Rob Higgins. “When we got a big event, he wanted the community to know what a big deal it was. When we hired a new coach, he wanted to make sure (readers) knew the person behind the coaching resume. When one of our local athletes accomplished something great, he wanted to make sure the community knew the trials and tribulations behind it.
“I just have so much respect and admiration for the way he went about his job.”
The last two years were difficult, although anyone outside of Joey’s inner world would have been hard-pressed to recognize this. He kept showing up. At games, in locker rooms, at news conferences. Even after multiple surgeries and treatments that could drain your very essence.
Sitting in the press box at Raymond James Stadium not long ago, he was more at ease than bitter or stoic about his situation.
“I’m OK with this,” he told me. “I’ve had a good life, I’ve got no reason to complain.”
Not long ago, he ventured to Sarasota for a visit with ESPN broadcaster Dick Vitale, who was returning to the air after his own battle with cancer and throat issues.
“Great guy who helped me big-time in raising dollars for kids battling cancer,” Vitale wrote in a text message. “Came to my annual gala and wrote about what I wanted to achieve. I really believe Joey’s articles helped us in raising $105 (million) for pediatric cancer research thru the V Foundation. I am so saddened to learn about his passing.”
Maybe he understood it better than those of us always chasing the next headline or scoop. Newspapers turn yellow and fade and end up in the trash or the corner of the garage. It’s relationships that last. It’s your character that people will always recall.
“I don’t think he ever lost his love for local high school kids and the prep scene,” said Tampa Prep’s Joe Fenlon, the winningest basketball coach in state history. “I know prep coverage has gone by way of the Dodo bird and he had to move in a different direction, but he always kept his tentacles local.
“I know this sounds crazy, but he was a very humble humanitarian. Those stories meant something to him. Yes, it was a job and he collected a paycheck. But it was more than that. When you talked to Joey, you felt like you were important.”
A Knoxville judge denied a preliminary injunction, which could have halted NCAA eligibility rules in Aguilar's case, on Feb. 20. The decision means Aguilar won't be playing for the Vols in 2026 barring a speedy and successful appeal to reverse the order, which appears unlikely.
Faizon Brandon was Tennessee's first commitment of 2026 class
Brandon committed to the Vols in August 2024 as Tennessee's first commit of the 2026 class. He held offers from virtually every power conference program and chose UT over Alabama, LSU and North Carolina State.
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said Brandon was one of the Vols' most effective recruiters and helped the Vols land a top-10 class. Brandon brought talented wide receivers with him, including five-star Tristen Keys and four-star Tyreek King (from Knoxville Catholic).
Faizon Brandon rated as five-star, top-10 recruit in 2026
The 6-foot-4, 206-pound Brandon is rated as a five-star prospect and ranked as the No. 3 quarterback and No. 10 overall prospect in the 2026 class in the 247Sports Composite.
At the time of his commitment, 247Sports had him ranked as the No. 1 overall player of the 2026 class. Brandon was ranked as the No. 4 quarterback and No. 31 overall prospect in the 247Sports Composite when he committed.
Faizon Brandon starred for Grimsley High School in North Carolina
Brandon starred for Grimsley High School in Greensboro, North Carolina, and he ended his career there with a second straight state championship. He was named MVP after with 191 yards of total offense and two touchdowns.
Brandon injured his hand in the season opener of his senior season, but returned for the playoffs. In five games, he completed 52-of-83 passes for 949 yards with 10 touchdowns and just one interception. He also rushed for 186 yards and two touchdowns.
Brandon completed 72% of his passes for 6,374 yards and 79 TDs during his high school career. He also rushed for 1,261 yards and 21 TDs, and had a 33-1 record as a starter.
Faizon Brandon already involved with Knoxville community
Brandon enrolled early at Tennessee, and he's already given back to the community in Knoxville.
"It's been great, just being able to see that we put a smile on their face," Brandon told Knox News. "They could be going through hard times or something like that, but I think it's been great to put a small smile on their face."
A Knoxville judge denied a preliminary injunction, which could have halted NCAA eligibility rules in Aguilar's case, on Feb. 20. The decision means Aguilar won't be playing for the Vols in 2026 barring a speedy and successful appeal to reverse the order, which appears unlikely.
Faizon Brandon was Tennessee's first commitment of 2026 class
Brandon committed to the Vols in August 2024 as Tennessee's first commit of the 2026 class. He held offers from virtually every power conference program and chose UT over Alabama, LSU and North Carolina State.
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said Brandon was one of the Vols' most effective recruiters and helped the Vols land a top-10 class. Brandon brought talented wide receivers with him, including five-star Tristen Keys and four-star Tyreek King (from Knoxville Catholic).
Faizon Brandon rated as five-star, top-10 recruit in 2026
The 6-foot-4, 206-pound Brandon is rated as a five-star prospect and ranked as the No. 3 quarterback and No. 10 overall prospect in the 2026 class in the 247Sports Composite.
At the time of his commitment, 247Sports had him ranked as the No. 1 overall player of the 2026 class. Brandon was ranked as the No. 4 quarterback and No. 31 overall prospect in the 247Sports Composite when he committed.
Faizon Brandon starred for Grimsley High School in North Carolina
Brandon starred for Grimsley High School in Greensboro, North Carolina, and he ended his career there with a second straight state championship. He was named MVP after with 191 yards of total offense and two touchdowns.
Brandon injured his hand in the season opener of his senior season, but returned for the playoffs. In five games, he completed 52-of-83 passes for 949 yards with 10 touchdowns and just one interception. He also rushed for 186 yards and two touchdowns.
Brandon completed 72% of his passes for 6,374 yards and 79 TDs during his high school career. He also rushed for 1,261 yards and 21 TDs, and had a 33-1 record as a starter.
Faizon Brandon already involved with Knoxville community
Brandon enrolled early at Tennessee, and he's already given back to the community in Knoxville.
"It's been great, just being able to see that we put a smile on their face," Brandon told Knox News. "They could be going through hard times or something like that, but I think it's been great to put a small smile on their face."
Tuesday night’s loss to Georgia is as frustrating as it gets. It’s not a good loss at all. Every ounce of goodwill that Kentucky built up by sweeping Tennessee, beating Arkansas, and taking Florida 12 rounds is temporarily gone. The same pitchforks aimed at Mark Pope earlier this season are now back in full force, albeit temporarily.
However, and this may be a minority opinion, I think Tuesday night may have been more about Georgia winning the game than Kentucky losing the game. Even though the Bulldogs had lost five of six coming in, with four of those losses by 15+ points, we may have underestimated them.
Earlier this season, the Bulldogs were leading the country in averaging nearly 100 points per game. They were getting up and down the court at will, which led to a top-25 ranking late in non-conference play through mid-January.
Georgia is big, athletic, and well-coached. They were due for a bounce-back performance, especially with Jeremiah Wilkinson, their leading scorer, back after missing multiple games with an injury.
That said, Tuesday night’s loss is inexcusable for the Wildcats. Leading 27-19 midway through the first half, that was the time to put the Bulldogs away. Instead, the Bulldogs seized control, eventually growing their lead to as many as 12 points in the second half.
It’s just disappointing all the way around. Missed lay-ups, free throws, turnovers. They all add up. The same issues that plagued this team earlier this season have resurfaced in the last two games. Against Florida is one thing. Georgia? Again, they are better than they appeared coming in, but those issues cannot happen against Georgia.
The reality is, Kentucky got a taste of humble pie Tuesday night. They thought they were in cruise control midway through the first half. Oh, were they wrong. People locally and nationally thought highly of the Wildcats’ effort in Florida to the point that some in the national media were saying this team could make a run to the second weekend.
Two things. One, Mark Pope didn’t sound like a head coach who took Tuesday night’s loss personally. He sounded like he was owning it. I like that.
Two, I think this team has another response in them. They didn’t play poorly Tuesday night. There were multiple times it looked like Kentucky was going to flip the game in their favor in the second half. Then, they had the lapses that featured the issues we’ve been talking about all season.
The last time this team lost two in a row this season, they won five straight games and eight of nine. They can do it again. I think Mark Pope has this team’s attention, and the veterans on this team have the attention of the role and the younger players.
This is still a team capable of beating anybody in the SEC and nationally. It truly is a game-to-game team. There’s still time remaining in the regular season, and plenty of opportunities for Quad 1 wins and résumé boosters.
Still, though, Tuesday night’s loss is inexcusable. Kentucky got a taste of humble pie and a reality check, regardless of whether Georgia is better than we thought.
Wisconsin guard Jack Janicki will be out for the “foreseeable future” after suffering a wrist injury and undergoing surgery, head coach Greg Gard told reporters on Feb. 20.
“He had a break in his wrist, so we were able to repair some things yesterday, and he’ll be out for a while,” Gard said. “We’ll see if he’ll be back. We don’t know the length of the recovery. … I don’t foresee him back at all in the regular season. It’ll be after that, if it happens at all.”
The redshirt sophomore guard had appeared in each of the Badgers' first 26 games. He averaged 16.5 minutes per game. He hardly had any scoring, but he played a key defensive role and often matched up against much bigger players when UW went with smaller lineups off the bench.
"He can switch a lot of things,” Gard said after the Jan. 28 win over Minnesota. “He’s very astute. He covers up mistakes at times from others. He’s always typically in the right position.
Janicki suffered the injury in the Badgers’ 86-69 loss to Ohio State on Feb. 17. He checked out of the game late in the first half, with freshman guard Hayden Jones receiving many of the second-half minutes that would have gone to Janicki.
Jones finished the game with six points on 3-of-4 shooting, four rebounds and one assist in 16 minutes. He played more against Ohio State than he did in UW's previous eight games combined. His only game with more minutes was on Dec. 22 against Central Michigan, when he played 24 minutes while John Blackwell was out with an injury.
"For somebody that hasn't had consistent minutes, I thought he did a lot of good things," Gard said of Jones. "But it's exactly what I've been seeing in practice. ... Now, he'll have an opportunity for more."
The growing war between Dana White and Eddie Hearn just escalated after a big signing for Zuffa Boxing today.
When the UFC CEO decided to enter the boxing game last year, White made it seem like he would build a powerhouse boxing brand modeled after what he did with his wildly successful MMA company. Which was to give UFC fighters meager wages compared to what many boxers earn.
However, he has already broken away from that UFC strategy with an interesting deal with one of the welterweight division’s top stars. On Friday, Zuffa Boxing announced a deal with English star Conor Benn.
“I’m filled with excitement and hunger for what’s ahead with Zuffa Boxing,” Benn said in a press release. “I want the legacy fights, the biggest nights, the biggest stages. I fear no man at any weight, and I’m ready to give the fans the fights they’ve been calling for. I’m in my prime, and together we have bold, ambitious plans.”
The 29-year-old is 24-1 and avenged his lone loss to Chris Eubank Jr. in November by unanimous decision, and scored a pair of knockdowns in the 12th round.
“Conor Benn is an absolute beast and a superstar,” White added. “He shows up every time and destroys people, and now some of the best fighters in the world are calling him out. He’s ready for a world title next, and I can’t wait to see him compete in Zuffa Boxing. He’s going to be a huge addition to a growing stable of very talented boxers.”
Some rumors suggest the deal is for just one fight and $10 million. However, that has not been confirmed. Either way, it is a big loss for Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing, which served as the home promotion for the last decade.
NEW YORK — The NBA’s push to curb tanking shifted from theory to urgency Thursday, a change that feels especially relevant for the Nets.
Commissioner Adam Silver informed the league’s 30 general managers that the NBA intends to implement anti-tanking rule changes as soon as next season, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. The message wasn’t subtle. Silver was described as forceful in stressing the need to safeguard competitive integrity, with league executives continuing a series of conversations that began months ago and have only intensified.
Back in December, the league began floating ideas during Board of Governors discussions, gathering input from owners and general managers on how to eliminate incentives tied to losing. The focus wasn’t on rebuilding itself, but on the gray area that emerges late in the year when draft positioning, protected picks and lineup decisions intersect in ways that can blur competitive intent.
Thursday’s update reflected that same direction, but with sharper edges. Multiple concepts were discussed, including limiting first-round pick protections to only top-four or outside-the-lottery selections, freezing lottery odds at the trade deadline or another late-season checkpoint and preventing teams from drafting in the top four in consecutive years or after consecutive bottom-three finishes. Other proposals included allocating lottery odds based on two-year records, extending the lottery pool to include play-in teams and flattening odds across the board.
The throughline is simple. The league wants fewer incentives to manipulate results once draft math starts to outweigh on-court priorities.
Silver’s comments during All-Star weekend underscored the urgency, calling tanking “worse this year than we’ve seen in recent memory” and noting that every possible remedy was under consideration. That sentiment has extended beyond the league office. Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia publicly called the issue “much worse than any prop bet scandal,” while the NBA recently fined the Utah Jazz $500,000 and the Indiana Pacers $100,000 for sitting healthy players, reinforcing that moves perceived to compromise integrity won’t be tolerated.
For Brooklyn, the conversation lands differently than it might for some of its peers.
The Nets are rebuilding, but their approach hasn’t leaned on shutdowns or strategic losses. Healthy veterans have played, for the most part. Young players have earned opportunities through performance. Losses have largely come as a byproduct of growth rather than a calculated slide down the standings. That matters in a league trying to protect teams that compete while still developing. Stricter anti-tanking rules could, in many ways, reward that approach.
If late-season results become less tied to draft odds, teams have less reason to manage availability for positioning purposes. A lottery freeze at the deadline, for example, would disconnect April outcomes from draft placement entirely, allowing rebuilding teams to prioritize development without worrying about harming long-term assets. Limiting pick protections or preventing consecutive top-four selections would similarly remove the incentive to hover in the middle ground between competing and quietly preserving draft value.
For a Nets roster built around young guards gaining real-game reps and a coaching staff emphasizing effort, pressure and accountability, that shift would align with habits already in place. The organization’s rebuild has centered on evaluation through competition, not avoidance of it, and a league-wide move toward discouraging manipulation would make that philosophy less of an outlier.
None of the proposals discussed Thursday have been finalized, and Silver made clear that dialogue will continue through the coming months. But the direction feels unmistakable. The league is searching for structural ways to separate rebuilding from tanking, to remove incentives that distort late-season basketball and to restore clarity around player availability.
The Nets have spent this season learning, losing and competing in equal measure, navigating the difficult space between development and results without abandoning effort. If the league succeeds in shrinking the reward for losing on purpose, teams operating in that space may find themselves better positioned than ever.
And in a season defined by growth more than wins, that may be the point.
Conor Benn has 24 wins and one loss in his 25-fight professional career [Getty Images]
Britain's Conor Benn has left Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing organisation to join Dana White's Zuffa Boxing promotional company.
The 29-year-old had been with Matchroom since turning professional and beat long-time rival Chris Eubank Jr in a blockbuster rematch at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in November, having lost their first bout in April.
In a statement on Instagram, Benn said he was "filled with excitement and hunger for what's ahead with Zuffa Boxing" while paying tribute to his former promoters.
"First and foremost I want to thank Eddie and the entire team at Matchroom for everything they have done for me over the past decade," wrote Benn, the son of former two-weight world champion Nigel.
"From guiding me when I first turned pro, to headlining stadium shows. They were not only with me for those highlight moments but stood shoulder to shoulder with me during the tough times."
Benn and Eubank Jr were originally set to fight in 2022 but the bout was called off when Benn failed a voluntary drugs test - twice testing positive for the banned substance Clomifene.
Conor Benn celebrates with Eddie Hearn after beating Chris Eubank Jr in November [Getty Images]
'I want the legacy fights, the biggest nights'
Benn has won 24 of his 25 professional bouts, with his only loss coming against Eubank - whose father Chris Sr fought Nigel Benn twice in the early 1990s.
Victory over Eubank Jr in November has left Conor Benn on the verge of challenging for a world title.
Zuffa Boxing, backed by UFC chief White and Saudi Arabian money, staged its first event in January and has vowed to transform professional boxing.
White's ultimate aim is to sideline the four traditional sanctioning bodies - WBO, WBC, IBF and WBA - and make Zuffa's belt the premier world title alongside the Ring Magazine title, an organisation owned by Saudi boxing powerbroker Turki Alalshikh.
"Conor Benn is an absolute beast and a superstar," said White. "He shows up every time and destroys people, and now some of the best fighters in the world are calling him out.
"He's ready for a world title next and I can't wait to see him compete in Zuffa Boxing. He's going to be a huge addition to a growing stable of very talented boxers."
Benn said he hoped Hearn could still be involved in future fights, adding: "I want the legacy fights, the biggest nights, the biggest stages. I fear no man at any weight and I'm ready to give the fans the fights they've been calling for."
Analysis: A move that shocks boxing
Benn won by a unanimous points decision in his second fight with Eubank Jr [Getty Images]
Absolutely nobody in boxing had this on their bingo card. There were no whispers, rumours or cryptic social media hints.
Usually when a fighter jumps ship, the outgoing promoter gets ahead of it with a statement or some kind of warning shot - not this time.
White has made no secret of his desire to disrupt boxing's power structure, and securing Benn - a fighter with genuine mainstream appeal, albeit still with doubters - is a statement signing.
Hearn had stood firmly behind Benn throughout the doping saga and was actively manoeuvring him towards a world-title shot. Benn is the mandatory challenger for the winner of Mario Barrios v Ryan Garcia, and has made no secret of his ambition to become a world champion.
So what does this mean for those plans? Zuffa recently signed reigning cruiserweight world champion Jai Opetaia, yet the long-term vision is one belt, a Zuffa title, and no reliance on the traditional sanctioning bodies.
If that is the direction, what does Benn do now? Will he target becoming the first Zuffa welterweight champion?
Over the past week, White dismissed Hearn's credentials and quipped he works for his father Barry - prompting the younger Hearn to fire back that White's boss is Alalshikh.
From a pure PR standpoint, this is a major win for White. This brewing promotional rivalry just got a whole lot louder.
"Speedball" Mike Bailey, "Hangman" Adam Page, and Kevin Knight stand on the stand, AEW World Trios Championships held high, after their victory on "AEW Collision." - AEW/Lee South
"Speedball" Mike Bailey and Kevin Knight are ready to jump in at a moment's notice to help the third member of the AEW World Trios Champions at a moment's notice, and they're looking for some new challengers for their gold. Bailey posted his latest "Speed Vlog" on YouTube, filmed from the "AEW Dynamite" taping in Ontario, California, and he and Knight chatted about Page, and who they could be facing next in the trios division. Bailey explained it was going to be a "chill night" since Page was already in Australia ahead of Grand Slam.
"Hangman, we've always got your back," Knight said. "We're one call away. One flight away. We know that's about, what, 24 hours, but we can get there."
Bailey said they needed some new challengers for the trios championships. Knight said there were a lot of teams ducking them backstage, including one of AEW's most recent signings.
"I mean, we just got the Rascalz. There's a lot more other combinations in there," Knight said. "CRU just got Lacey [Lane] with them, so they can get in there with us, too. I'm waiting for any challenger."
"There's any combinations of the 94 Don Callis Family members... Maybe do LFI again for some gold," Bailey said. "Jet Set Rodeo versus Sky Team. That's a dream match. That's a banger."
Page, Bailey, and Knight won the AEW World Trios Championships on the January 14 edition of "AEW Collision." They defeated The Opps' Samoa Joe, Katsuyori Shibata, and Powerhouse Hobbs, ahead of the latter's departure from AEW for WWE. The team, now dubbed "Jet Set Rodeo," have yet to defend the titles.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Speedball" Mike Bailey on YouTube and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
The Texas A&M women’s basketball team (11–11, 4–9 SEC) has taken its share of lumps throughout conference play. In 13 SEC games, the Aggies have suffered multiple 20‑point losses, and the promise they showed in November and December seemed to evaporate by mid‑January. But over the last two weeks, something has finally clicked. A&M has won three of its last four SEC matchups—including two victories over ranked opponents—and suddenly looks like a team rediscovering its identity.
The Aggies have now won back‑to‑back games, most recently taking down No. 21 Tennessee on the road for their first ranked road win since 2011. Finishing games has been one of the program’s biggest issues this season, with several second‑half collapses defining their SEC struggles. While the fourth quarter in Knoxville wasn’t perfect, the overall performance was one of their most complete outings of the year. A&M shot 55.9% from the field and 57.9% from three, answering every Tennessee run with timely buckets and never surrendering the lead.
It was a true team effort: 12 steals, 18 assists, and three players scoring in double figures. The decisive stretch came in the third quarter, where the Aggies outscored the Lady Vols 22–9 to build a cushion big enough to survive a late Tennessee push. Even after being outscored 23–13 in the fourth, A&M held firm and left Knoxville with an 82–74 win.
Head coach Joni Taylor has taken plenty of criticism this season—and some of it has been warranted—but she also deserves credit for stabilizing the group and guiding them to quality wins when the season could have spiraled. With only three regular‑season games remaining, the Aggies suddenly have a path to finishing above .500. And if they can steal a win or two in the SEC Tournament, an NIT appearance—something that felt impossible a month ago—may now be within reach.
Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Jarrett Johnson on X: @whosnextsports1.
OLD WASHINGTON — Stop calling Josey Rome a "feel-good story."
While her journey navigating physical birth difficulties is undeniably remarkable, opposing coaches in the Inter Valley Conference aren't looking at her with sympathy — they're looking at her as someone they need to formulate a plan to shut her down.
They have to. You don't ignore a player who leads her team in total points with 270 and has emerged as one of the most prolific 3-point threats in the state. Averaging 12.3 points per game, while burying 69 3-pointers this season while shooting 30% from beyond the 3-point arc, the Buckeye Trail senior has transformed herself from a sideline spectator into a scouting report headache. To understand that transformation, you have to understand the grit that was forged long before she ever picked up a basketball.
The foundation: Survival and Columbus routine
Josey's journey began in a hematology ward, not a gym. Born with TAR Syndrome (Thrombocytopenia Absent Radius), she faced immediate, life-threatening stakes. Her body lacked the radius bone in both arms, resulting in shortened ulnas and clubbed hands, but the most urgent battle was her blood.
For the first two years of her life, "normal" meant a trek to Children's Hospital in Columbus every 7 to 10 days for platelet transfusions just to keep her stable. Her father, John, credits the local medical team for keeping her in the fight.
"Without Dr. Douglas Rush and Medical Associates of Cambridge, Josey would not be here," he said.
The pioneer and the Florida stints
Once her health stabilized, the focus shifted to her "orthopedic differences." The Romes traveled to Florida to find Dr. Dror Paley, a pioneer in "unimaginable procedures." At 18 months old, Josey lived in Florida for three months for a groundbreaking ulnarization procedure to correct her clubbed hand. Later, at 8 years old, she returned for another three-month stint for limb lengthening, adding three inches to each arm.
"Without Dr. Paley and my wife Christy's dedication to treating Josey with a 'you can do anything' attitude, she would not be where she is today," John said.
Beyond the physical: A mental edge
John is adamant that TAR Syndrome might be something Josey has, but it will never be who she is.
"Josey never wanted to be felt sorry for," John said. "TAR Syndrome is something she has, but it doesn't define who she is."
Josey credits her mother, Christy, who has served as her "rock" through years of physical therapy and surgeries. Christy's message was self-reliance — famously insisting Josey learn to tie her own shoes so she would become more self-reliant.
"My mom has been my rock on the physical stuff," Josey said. "She's always told me, 'I won't always be here to tie your shoes. You need to be able to do it yourself.' She was great about not letting me be lazy and taking the easy way out. Making sure I become more self-reliant."
That upbringing is why Josey never viewed herself through the lens of a disability. This defiance even led her to turn down a later limb-lengthening surgery because the recovery would have cost her a basketball season.
"I could not miss the basketball season...no way," she insisted.
The Rome blueprint: Hard work while no one's watching
For years, Josey was a fixture on the Buckeye Trail sidelines, a young girl chasing rebounds and putting up shots during her brother Franko's halftimes. But the 'little sister' label has been retired as Rome looks out to see the little kids sitting in the stands, watching as she once did.
That love was forged in basement on a miniature hoop and perfected in the backyard and countless hours in the gym, where Josey's father, John, and brother, Franko, instilled a "no-shortcut" mentality. Franko, a 12-letter standout at Trail who now is in his final semester at Marietta College and competed in both football and track for the Pioneers, sees his own grit in his little sister.
"I'm beyond proud of my sister. Seeing her grow up and overcome the challenges she has faced has been one of the most impressive things I have seen in my life," Franko said. "She has never let anything or anyone stop her from doing what she loves. She is who she is, and has never been apologetic about it. She shouldn't be, because she's a pretty great person.
"As her brother I think it's unique to see a situation like hers. Growing up I have never really tried to complain about much because you see what Josey has endured. Josey was born with a disability, but we have never viewed her as disabled. Because we have always known what she could be."
Josey credits that family foundation for her ability to handle the offensive load, contributing 1.6 assists per game alongside her scoring.
"Franko is my biggest role model," Josey said. "He and my Dad instilled in me a belief that you have to put the work in yourself while no one's watching for it to show up out on the court when it matters. They helped me understand, that if you truly want to be successful you have to put in the hard work."
"I hope people see the joy and passion I have for basketball," Josey said. "That's where it all starts ... you can't be great at anything you do unless you truly love it. I just hope they see that love I have for the game of basketball."
Everyone knows her name
All the time spent in the family basement with the miniature hoop with Franko and Dad, and countless hours of getting up shot after shot in the gym have paid off in a big way now.
"This isn't to take anything away from Josey, but my first year here at Trail as AD watching her play, it seemed like some teams would hesitate to guard her fully," Buckeye Trail head coach and Athletic Director Craig Taylor said. "But you don't see any of that now. They attack her and have a game plan to try to slow her down. You have to get out on her quickly or she will knock down a 3-pointer or hit a teammate with sharp pass for a layup. She has the respect of everybody we play. They know who Josey Rome is and what she can do."
And Franko points to her high basketball IQ, as one of her strengths he would put up against anyone. And it also serves her well in her quest to enter the college coaching industry in the future.
"I think the most impressive skill Josey possesses is understanding the game from the neck up," Franko added. "It's her mental fortitude and her ability to really understand the X and O's of the game. She understands schemes and the nuances of the game of basketball.
"She may not beat everyone in a foot race, but in terms of X's and O's I put her up against anyone. I personally think our family takes pride in our work ethic and trying to be decent people. I love that about Josey and I love that about my family."
The future: Learning from a legend
The basketball court has always been Josey's "happy place," and she is already preparing for her next chapter. Next fall, she will attend Ashland University to serve as a team manager for the Eagles' women's basketball program under head coach Kari Pickens.
"I really want to get into coaching basketball," Josey said. "I figured being around it as a manager next year at Ashland would be a great experience and helpful in that goal. I've had a couple good talks with Coach Pickens about my future goals. I'm looking forward to it."
Coach Taylor, who describes Josey as a gym rat with a high basketball IQ, tells a story from senior night that proves she's already thinking like a coach. When asked to fill out a form for the PA announcer regarding her favorite career memories or moments, Josey used the back of the form to draw up an out-of-bounds play she had designed, writing: "This would be a good play to run." Josey knew that Taylor would be the one doing the announcing in his role as Buckeye Trail AD.
"With her out on the court, it's like having another coach on the court," Taylor said. "She sees things play out on the court and really understands the game. She's going to Ashland next year to be manager of the women's team and wants to get into coaching. I have no doubt she could be successful with that career."
One final push
The immediate focus, however, is on the now for the Warriors' basketball team. Despite being heavy underdogs as they enter the OHSSA girls Division IV basketball tournament as the No. 8 seed with an 11-11 record, the Warriors and Rome are hopeful of pulling off the upset this Saturday, Feb. 21, at 1. p.m. They will trek to formidable No. 2 seed Monroe Central (18-5), ready to prove one last time that the scoreboard rarely tells the whole story of a player's heart.
In Old Washington, the inspiration is a bonus. The real story is a young life dedicated to the game of basketball.
Ireland leapfrogged England into second place in the Under-20 Six Nations table with a well-deserved win over their rivals in Bath.
It was Ireland's first victory at the Under-20 Six Nations over England in three years and ended the hosts' Grand Slam hopes, while also seriously boosting their own title chances.
Ireland took an early lead through Lee Fitzpatrick's 11-minute try but England soon levelled after 24 minutes when George Pearson went over.
England, who could have gone top with a win, took a 14-7-lead shortly before half-time through Connor Treacey's try.
But Ireland responded through Josh Neill and Daniel Ryan's scores to go up 21-14 before extending their lead even further when Noah Byrne crossed with 10 minutes to go.
Nick Lilley went over for England with nine minutes remaining only for replacement Charlie O'Shea to kick a 76th-minute penalty to put Ireland on the cusp of their win.
England pushed for a late consolation try which would have given them a losing bonus point and a try bonus point and thought they had both when Will Knight crossed, but the television match official intervened and the score was chalked off for a forward pass.
England, who could be as many as six points behind leaders France if the reigning champions beat Italy on Saturday, face Italy in Treviso on Friday 6 March, while Ireland host Wales the following day.
Olympique de Marseille captivated by Hicham Boudaoui
Hicham Boudaoui appeals to Marseille
Olympique de Marseille captivated by Hicham Boudaoui
Olympique de Marseille is already looking ahead to the next transfer window and is closely monitoring the situation of Hicham Boudaoui. The OGC Nice midfielder, under contract until 2027, will enter the final year of his deal in the summer of 2026—a scenario that could prompt Les Aiglons to consider a sale to avoid losing him on a free transfer.
In Marseille, Boudaoui's profile is winning fans thanks to his ability to anchor the midfield and consistently put in hard shifts. The negotiations could be eased by a notable relational factor: Classico agency, which represents Boudaoui and already has strong ties with the Phocaean club.
The financial aspect remains to be resolved. Nice reportedly values the Algerian international at around €30 million, while Galatasaray is also closely tracking the situation.
The legendary Stallions striker pursues his dream of coaching at the highest level.
Aristide Bancé at the CAF B License school
Aristide Bancé continues his journey towards becoming a football coach. After earning his A License from the Ivorian Football Federation, the former Burkina Faso international has now embarked on a new path to obtain the CAF B License.
Aristide Bancé is currently undergoing his training in Côte d'Ivoire to secure the CAF B License. According to information from Foot Africa, he is part of the new cohort recently launched by the Ivorian Football Federation, which includes 50 trainees split between Abidjan and Yamoussoukro.
Aristide Bancé is among the 25 trainees based in the Ivorian political capital. Having already completed all federation levels and obtained the CAF C License, the former Mainz 05 and ASEC Mimosas star is preparing for a decisive stage in his new career and his ambition to coach at the top level.
Leeds United Have To Help Valencia For A Summer Transfer: Does The 24-Year-Old Still Have A Future At Elland Road?
Spanish news outlet El Desmarque, via Sport Witness, reports that Valencia urgently need help from Leeds United. They want to keep winger Largie Ramazani for good during the next summer transfer window. The Belgian attacker joined the La Liga giants on a season-long loan last summer. However, his first few months at the Mestalla were a real struggle.
He couldn’t find a regular spot in the lineup during that time. In fact, reports in early January suggested the Spanish club even thought about cutting the deal short. The player had stayed stuck at the very bottom of the pecking order. Everything changed when February hit. The forward suddenly found his spark and became a key part of the starting eleven.
Ramazani has recently played a big role in several huge wins for the Spanish side. He even got a nod for the February Goal of the Month after a run of great strikes. This sudden turnaround means the talk around his future has changed completely. It went from a likely January exit to the club desperately wanting him to stay long-term.
Leeds United originally set up the loan without an option to buy. They included penalty clauses that would kick in if the player didn’t get enough time on the pitch. Valencia now find themselves in a tough spot financially.
A permanent move looks unlikely unless the bosses at Elland Road agree to drop their price or change the terms. The Spanish club hope to talk the English side into backing down. Even so, any deal mostly depends on the forward’s performance. He has to keep up this high level until the season ends.
Does Ramazani Still Have a Future in the Leeds United Premier League Project?
VALENCIA, SPAIN – FEBRUARY 15: Largie Ramazani of Valencia CF celebrates scoring his team’s first goal during the LaLiga EA Sports match between Levante UD and Valencia CF at Ciutat de Valencia on February 15, 2026 in Valencia, Spain. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
The 24-year-old Belgium Under-21 international presents a tricky tactical puzzle for Leeds United. The club currently sit comfortably in the middle of the table as they look toward the 2026/27 season. When the club let him go, many saw it as a sign that his style didn’t fit.
Observers felt he didn’t have the defensive work rate the first team needed. Yet, his recent hot streak in Spain shows he has that X-factor. The squad often misses that kind of spark when games get stale. Analysts suggest Leeds United should see this jump in his value as a big win. They should not feel forced to sell to a cash-strapped Valencia.
If the Belgian keeps scoring and celebrating with his usual somersaults, the recruitment team at Elland Road has a choice to make. They have to decide if they want a big transfer fee or a refreshed player for their own attack. Selling him now might help the finances. However, bringing back a player who has proven he can handle top-tier Spanish teams could give them the extra edge they need.
This variety could help the team push for European spots next year. The Elland Road hierarchy has all the power here. They refused to put a fixed price in the original contract. Keeping him lets the manager look at a more mature, confident winger.
The player has finally learned to perform under pressure in a big league. Leeds United may choose to stand their ground. They could turn down any lowball offers from Valencia, as the player’s current form suggests his price tag will only go up before the summer window opens.
Kristaps Porzingis made his Golden State Warriors debut on Thursday, Feb. 19, during the team's 121-110 loss to the Boston Celtics. Coming back from injury, Porzingis found himself operating on a minutes restriction, allowing him to see the court for 17 minutes of playing time. As he continues to ramp up, that minutes restriction will undoubtedly be tweaked.
When speaking with the media after the game, Porzingis spoke on his eagerness to get past his minutes limitation as quickly as possible. The 2024 NBA champion is clearly keen to develop an understanding with his teammates and begin helping the Warriors climb the Western Conference standings.
"I mean, honestly, as quickly as possible. Even tonight, I would have liked to go a little bit longer...I want to still, push myself," Porzingis said. "But I know I have to take it step by step... Just take one game at a time. Had a couple of minutes. Next game, hopefully more, and keep moving from that point on. I felt all right. Far from being in perfect shape."
Porzingis managed to drop 12 points on his former team. However, the Warriors will need from him on the glass, as he begins to get his legs back under him. The hope is that Porzingis will be ready to provide some more solid minutes when the Warriors face the Denver Nuggets on Sunday.
In the coming weeks, Porzingis will undoubtedly start to get his conditioning back. That's when we will get to see the true impact he can have on Steve Kerr's rotation, and gauge how much of a threat this team can be as we move closer to the postseason.
After years of speculation, the Seattle Seahawks are officially for sale. The Paul G. Allen estate announced they would begin the process of selling the team less than two weeks after their triumph in Super Bowl LX. It will be the dawn of a new age for the Seahawks, and that means plenty of unknowns will be on the horizon. But there is one "unknown" that is actually closer to being a "known" and the 12th Man should be aware of it: no, the team is not going to relocate.
I get it, I really do. The trauma inflicted by the SuperSonics leaving town is still an open wound, and it will remain as such until the NBA finally brings an expansion back team to the Emerald City. I also understand the concerns some fans have over this proposed "millionaire tax" that seems to be on the fast track to becoming law in Washington, which would theoretically make it appealing for a new owner to move the team to a more business-friendly state. But the NFL of 2026 is a far different beast than the NBA of 2006. These are night and day different scenarios.
First off, the Seattle-Tacoma media market is the 13th largest in the country. All twelve above them have at least one NFL team, as do five of the next seven after them to round out the top 20. The Seahawks are the only team for four states, and are the team with considerable viewership interest from our friends in Alaska and even British Columbia. There is simply no way the NFL is going to willingly abandon their only presence in such a large region of the country.
For those concerned about the Seahawks relocating, let me say it’s EXTREMELY unlikely! The NFL is not going to give up their only presence in such a massive region of the country.
The Seattle-Tacoma market is the 13th largest in the country. All 12 above them have *at least* one… pic.twitter.com/7nmo1jIr76
Secondly, the Seahawks are one of the league's most successful franchises since the last division re-alignment in 2002. They are tied with the Philadelphia Eagles for most Super Bowl appearances from an NFC team, and most playoff wins by any squad - trailing only the New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs. If the Seahawks were a largely irrelevant team, then maybe a new owner mi.... no, wait, that's not true either. In the mid-90's, then-owner Ken Behring attempted to move the team to southern California, and the NFL basically forced him to sell the franchise. And that's when the Seahawks had only one division title and four playoff appearances to their name!
Not to mention the Seahawks still have a lease with Lumen Field through 2031, with three ten-year options to extend their tenure in the stadium. Lumen Field will also be getting roughly $20 million in upgrades this year to meet FIFA World Cup standards.
So rest easy, 12's. The boogieman of Clay Bennett is not going to return. A punitive tax from the state also isn't likely to scare away any mega-billionaires looking to purchase the Seahawks. The team is going to be in the Emerald City for years to come.
That bill is likely to pass Indiana's House by next week.
The Bears called Indiana lawmakers move a "meaningful step forward" in efforts to build a stadium in the Wolf Lake area.
"We've known for the last three to four weeks that we are running out of time in Springfield to get a bill done. And I think the Bears statement yesterday while carefully crafter was intended to send a message," Ernie Rose of the group Touchdown Arlington, said.
Hammond leaders believe the move is a win for Indiana and Bears fans in the Chicagoland area.
"Downtown Chicago or on the South Side, of Chicago, they should be applauding this move because we're going to be much closer to you, the fan, than if the Bears move to Arlington Heights," Mayor McDermott Jr. said.
The "mega project bill" was supposed to go before an Illinois House committee Thursday, but was suddenly canceled.
That bill could pave the way for a stadium in Arlington Heights.
But it would require lawmakers across the state to get on the same page says Ernie Rose from Touchdown Arlington.
"Something unusual is going to have to happen to keep the Bears here," Rose said. "We're going to need all of leadership to get on board, one with moving the Bears to Arlington Heights. I'm still hearing comments about a possibility of a Chicago statement coming from leadership and we've got to disabuse that notion. There's one option and the only option at this point is Arlington Heights."
Illinois officials said they wanted to tweak the bill and believe they are close to a deal on bringing the Bears to Arlington Heights.
Governor JB Pritzker again addressed he stadium talks with the Bears Friday.
"These are complicated matters and sometimes things are unintended that happen so I am hopeful that every will be able to get back on track and get what the I think what bears want and what the people of Illinois want, but again, we are not going to overpay or take advantage of the taxpayers to get it down," Governor Pritzker said.
A hearing for the mega project bill has been rescheduled for next Thursday.
Time is ticking for Illinois lawmakers to make a counter-offer to the Chicago Bears.
This comes after Indiana advanced legislation that clears the way for the Bears to build a new stadium in Hammond.
That bill is likely to pass Indiana's house by next week.
The Bears called the move out of Indiana's "meaningful step forward" in efforts to build a stadium in the Wolf Lake area.
Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. believes this is a win for Indiana and Bears fans.
"Downtown Chicago or on the South Side, of Chicago, they should be applauding this move because we're going to be much closer to you, the fan, than if the Bears move to Arlington Heights," Mayor McDermott Jr. said.
However, Governor JB Pritzker said he was disappointed by the Bears statement Thursday.
Pritzker said two days ago his team and the Bears had a three-hour positive discussion about plans in Illinois.
"I've been a Bears fan for a very long time, and I wanted them to, you know, perform, stay play here, continue to believe that that's the best thing for them. I believe they understand in their hearts that that may be the best thing for them," Governor Pritzker said.
The mega project bill that was supposed to go before an Illinois House committee Thursday has since been rescheduled for next Thursday.
State officials said they wanted to tweak it and believe they are close to a deal on bringing the Bears to Arlington Heights.
The name synonymous with Xbox—Phil Spencer—is leaving Microsoft after nearly 40 years at the company. He started as an intern back in 1988 and has been with the Xbox team since 2001, helping the project thrive in the following decades. According to the announcement, Microsoft is overhauling its Gaming division with some new names, while the old executive team has left the company. In addition to Phil Spencer, Xbox president Sarah Bond has also left the company. From now on, Asha Sharma, who currently serves as the company chief for the CoreAI product, will be taking on the new role as the CEO of Microsoft Gaming. Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella shared a memo with all Microsoft employees about the status of this update.
Satya NadellaLast year, Phil Spencer made the decision to retire from the company, and since then we've been talking about succession planning. I want to thank Phil for his extraordinary leadership and partnership. Over 38 years at Microsoft, including 12 years leading Gaming, Phil helped transform what we do and how we do it.
Tesla's latest features an estimated 325 miles of range and features coil springs with adaptive damping, steer-by-wire with four wheel steering, a powered frunk, and heated first-row seats. The 6' x 4' bed includes a powered tonneau cover and multiple power outlets (two 120v and one 240v) with Powershare capability....
Travellers across Australia and New Zealand are navigating a challenging day as major aviation hubs face widespread disruptions. Significant delays and cancellations have hit Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra, leaving many passengers stranded. Key gateways in New Zealand, including Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington, also report a high volume of scheduling shifts. QantasLink and Air New Zealand currently lead the tally of affected flights, impacting hundreds of travel itineraries. There’s a total of 31 flight cancellations and 594 delays reported. Passengers should monitor their flight status closely before heading to the terminal. These operational hurdles highlight the current strain on the trans-Tasman aviation network. This report breaks down the specific data behind the chaos to help you stay informed.
Major Airports Affected
The scale of the disruption has been felt most acutely within the interconnected corridors of Australia and New Zealand.
In Melbourne (Tullamarine), 10 cancellations and 126 delays were reported, signaling a pressurized environment for one of the region’s busiest ports. Simultaneously, Sydney emerged as a focal point for scheduling setbacks, recording a staggering 200 delays—the highest individual delay count among all surveyed locations—alongside 3 cancellations. In the Australian capital, Canberra faced a distinct set of challenges where 7 cancellations and 14 delays were documented.
Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand airports also reported substantial figures. Auckland recorded 2 cancellations and 147 delays, while Christchurch saw 6 cancellations and 54 delays. Wellington completed the regional snapshot with 3 cancellations and 53 delays. The geographic spread of these figures indicates a widespread impact on the trans-Tasman aviation sector.
Impacted Airlines
The operational data reveals that several major carriers have been caught in the midst of these scheduling irregularities. Air New Zealand has been highlighted as the most heavily impacted in terms of volume, particularly within New Zealand hubs like Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington. The airline recorded a total of 11 cancellations and 200 delays across these three locations.
In Australia, QantasLink was observed to have faced significant hurdles, particularly at Melbourne Tullamarine and Canberra. A total of 16 cancellations and 22 delays were attributed to the carrier. Meanwhile, Virgin Australia was noted for its high delay frequency in Sydney and Melbourne, totaling 2 cancellations and 75 delays. Mainline Qantas operations and Delta Air Lines also recorded minor disruptions in Sydney, with each reporting a single cancellation. The concentration of these delays and cancellations among market leaders suggests a broad impact on passenger movement throughout the day.
Probable Impact on Local Tourism
When hundreds of flights are delayed or cancelled in key tourist destinations like Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland, the ripple effect on local tourism is often immediate. Travellers arriving in Australia or New Zealand for short-stay vacations or business commitments may find their itineraries truncated by these scheduling shifts.
In Christchurch and Wellington, where flight frequencies are lower compared to major hubs, cancellations can lead to significant bottlenecks. Since tourism-reliant businesses such as hotels, tour operators and local transport services depend on the timely arrival of passengers, these disruptions often result in missed bookings and logistical strain. The high volume of delays in Sydney and Auckland—totaling 347 between just two cities—implies that a vast number of visitors are spending more time within airport terminals than exploring the local attractions and contributing to the regional economy.
What Affected Passengers Can Do Now
For those currently navigating the disruption at airports like Melbourne, Canberra or Christchurch, several professional recommendations are offered to manage the situation. Passengers are advised to remain in close communication with their respective airlines—be it Air New Zealand, Qantas or Virgin Australia—to receive the most current updates on rescheduled flight times.
In cases of significant delays, travellers are encouraged to review the specific conditions of carriage provided by their airline. Documentation of all delays and cancellations should be maintained for potential travel insurance claims or compensation requests where applicable. Furthermore, those at major hubs like Sydney or Auckland are urged to utilize digital check-in tools and mobile apps to monitor gate changes in real-time, as high delay volumes often lead to rapid shifts in airport terminal logistics.
-The information provided is sourced from FlightAware.
The Turkish government has unveiled a transformative approach to international destination marketing, signalling a bold intersection of the entertainment and travel industries. A comprehensive incentive programme was recently launched, with the goal of leveraging the enormous global popularity of Turkish television dramas, also known as dizi, as a primary vehicle for tourism promotion. This new framework provides financial grants of up to $100,000 per episode to qualifying productions that successfully showcase the country’s cultural and geographical assets to an international audience.
This strategic initiative was formally announced during a high-profile event at Istanbul’s Atatürk Cultural Centre. It was emphasised that the scheme will be carried out in collaboration between the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Türkiye Tourism Promotion and Development Agency (TGA). Türkiye aims to capitalise on a decade of unprecedented soft-power growth in the global media landscape by putting television narratives at the heart of its national promotion strategy.
Harnessing a Billion-Viewer Reach
The scale of the “Turkish series phenomenon” is difficult to overstate. It is reported that these productions currently reach audiences in approximately 170 countries, engaging nearly one billion viewers across the globe. This massive viewership is viewed by officials not merely as a commercial success for the media industry but as a potent catalyst for travel interest and cultural curiosity. Türkiye has solidified its position as one of the world’s three largest television exporters, with annual export revenues now exceeding the $1 billion mark.
Beyond the financial figures, these dramas are described as serving the role of a global Turkish-language classroom. It has been observed that international fans frequently adopt Turkish phrases, names, and cultural customs after consistent exposure to these shows. Consequently, the new incentive programme seeks to formalize this organic influence into a structured promotional tool.
Financial Architecture and Eligibility Criteria
The financial structure of the programme is meticulously detailed to ensure maximum impact. For series broadcast within Türkiye that meet the required promotional standards, support of up to $100,000 per domestic episode is provided, paid in the Turkish lira equivalent. Because Turkish dramas are typically edited into shorter formats for international distribution, this amount translates to roughly $33,000 for each episode aired abroad.
Eligibility for these funds is not granted to all productions; rather, it is contingent upon several measurable performance indicators. These include the production’s measurable contribution to the promotion of the Turkish language and culture, the total number of countries where the series has been sold, audience ratings, and the overall export value. Furthermore, the alignment of the series’ target markets with Türkiye’s strategic tourism priorities is heavily weighted during the evaluation process. The administration of these funds is managed jointly by the Cinema General Directorate and the TGA.
Integrating Storytelling and Destination Marketing
A central component of this initiative is the “promotional film purchasing model”, which moves away from traditional, disruptive advertising. Instead, tourism messaging is to be integrated directly into the storytelling through sophisticated product placement and narrative weaving. Historical landmarks, breathtaking natural landscapes, authentic gastronomy, and significant archaeological sites are expected to be featured prominently within the plotlines of supported series.
As part of this framework, 30-second promotional films and short-form digital “reels” are to be purchased from the production companies. These clips are intended to be created using original scenes or concepts developed within the series’ narrative world. These high-quality digital materials will then be utilized by the TGA in international marketing campaigns. It is expected that these digital assets will adopt creative, narrative-driven approaches to showcase diverse tourism experiences rather than relying on conventional commercial formats.
Incentives Beyond Financial Grants
The programme offers more than just direct monetary support. To facilitate high-quality production, bureaucratic hurdles related to filming permits are being streamlined. Furthermore, the free allocation of historical and cultural sites under the control of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism is being offered for eligible projects. Priority is also given to productions that feature leading actors who are willing to participate in promotional materials, effectively transforming these stars into official tourism ambassadors.
This initiative is not limited to television; similar support mechanisms are currently being developed for cinema films that represent Türkiye at prestigious international festivals. The broader objective is to expand global awareness of Türkiye’s “destination diversity”. By embedding elements of coastal beauty, health tourism, nature experiences, and winter sports into widely consumed narratives, a stronger, more multifaceted national brand is being built through the power of storytelling.
Transforming Viewers into Visitors
Ultimately, the goal is to redirect the viewer’s path from the television screen to Turkish soil. By showcasing the country’s rich culinary heritage and diverse landscapes through the eyes of beloved characters, potential visitors form a deeper emotional connection. This strategy represents a modern evolution of cultural diplomacy in which the line between entertainment and invitation is elegantly blurred, ensuring that Turkey remains a top-of-mind destination for a billion-plus people around the world.
Jaipur, Rajasthan, India February 20: As Indian outbound travel to Europe continues to expand, the way travellers experience the continent is undergoing a noticeable transformation. According to new travel insights shared by Jaipur-based travel company Thrillophilia, Indian tourists are steadily moving away from tightly packed, multi-country itineraries toward slower, more immersive journeys across regions such as Switzerland, Italy, France, Austria and Central Europe. The company has officially introduced its 2026 Europe multi-day travel portfolio, built around longer regional stays, improved pacing and personalised trip design. The move reflects evolving preferences among Indian travellers who increasingly value comfort, flexibility and depth over rapid sightseeing.
Data Signals Growing Preference for Depth Over Coverage
Based on internal travel data from 2025, the company observed a 38% rise in preference for slower-paced travel, indicating that Indian tourists are prioritising meaningful exploration over aggressive multi-country coverage. In response, the newly launched portfolio reduces frequent city transitions, introduces buffer days, and limits travel fatigue. Instead of moving across five or six cities in quick succession, itineraries now focus on extended stays within one or two regions, allowing travellers to engage more deeply with local culture, cuisine and landscapes.
The company also recorded:
14% shift toward fewer destinations at a relaxed pace
19% increase in comfort-first holiday preferences
These behavioural changes have directly influenced the structure of the 2026 offerings.
Region-Specific Itineraries for Distinct Traveller Segments
A seven-night Swiss Alps programme centred on alpine villages, scenic rail routes and lakeside landscapes in Switzerland has seen strong uptake among families from Jaipur, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar and Indore. For couples in Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Gurugram and Hyderabad, a Tuscany countryside circuit in Italy focuses on rural landscapes, regional cuisine and historic towns rather than rushed capital-city visits.
This follows:
42% increase in demand for cultural and local experiences
14% decline in landmark-only sightseeing trips
The shift indicates that Europe is increasingly being explored region by region, rather than being “covered” in a single fast-paced journey.
Micro-Escape Europe: Shorter, Flexible International Breaks
Young professionals across Tier 1 cities are contributing to a 35% increase in demand for itineraries covering two to three cities with relaxed pacing. To address this trend, the company introduced six-day “micro-escape Europe” itineraries, including combinations of Paris and Swiss scenic rail journeys. These have gained popularity among travellers from Gurugram, Noida and Bengaluru.
Key booking trends include:
43% rise in weekend-style international travel
51% increase in multiple short trips per year
Growing demand for Vienna–Budapest cultural weekend circuits
The Vienna and Budapest routes reflect a 47% increase in nightlife-focused experiences, particularly among young working professionals from Hyderabad and Chennai.
Importantly, this pattern extends beyond metros. Tier 2 cities such as Jaipur, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Indore and Chandigarh are showing similar travel behaviour, driven by a rising Gen Z workforce.
Multi-Generational Travel on the Rise
Travellers from Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara are increasingly planning multi-generational Europe holidays, aligning with:
21% growth in customised itineraries
16% increase in advance planning
To cater to families travelling with children and seniors, the company has incorporated:
Private transfers
Longer city stays
Simplified logistics across Switzerland and Northern Italy
Fewer hotel changes
These comfort-first designs aim to reduce strain while preserving scenic and cultural exposure.
Local Experiences Take Priority Over Landmark Checklists
A defining feature of the 2026 programme is its emphasis on regional authenticity and immersive experiences rather than heavy landmark schedules.
Experiences include:
Family-run vineyard visits
Regional food trails and cooking sessions
Small-town walking tours
Lake cruises and mountain rail journeys
Built-in buffer days to prevent fatigue
Among honeymoon travellers from Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad, there has been:
38% rise in demand for mid-premium stays
34% increase in preference for flexible, remote-work-friendly itineraries
The new routes intentionally avoid peak-hour sightseeing and overcrowded circuits, offering a calmer and more immersive European experience.
Rail Partnerships Strengthen On-Ground Execution
Rail travel has become central to the 2026 portfolio, particularly in alpine and Central European regions. Scenic rail corridors are now integrated more deeply into itineraries.
Recent booking insights highlight:
18% growth in Switzerland rail journeys among luxury travellers
24% rise in Gen Z multi-country Europe trips
Increased demand for alpine and cross-border rail routes
To support this, the company has partnered with Rail Europe, enabling improved access to scenic train routes, seat availability and competitive pricing across European countries.
Technology-Enabled, Human-Led Customisation
The 2026 Europe programme combines AI-assisted itinerary planning with human destination expertise.
AI systems evaluate combinations based on:
Travel time efficiency
Rail schedules
Hotel logistics
Traveller fatigue indicators
Destination specialists then refine plans to ensure comfort, realistic pacing and operational feasibility.
Internal performance data indicates that this feasibility-first model results in:
Fewer mid-trip changes
Higher satisfaction levels
Stronger appeal among families, repeat travellers and premium leisure segments
A Structural Shift in Indian Outbound Travel
Central Europe routes covering Prague, Vienna and Budapest are increasingly popular among friend groups from Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata, reflecting:
58% rise in adventure-focused trips
47% increase in nightlife-driven itineraries
Across demographics families, honeymooners, young professionals and Gen Z travellers priorities are shifting toward:
Comfort and flexibility
Regional depth
Scenic rail journeys
Authentic local engagement
2026 Europe Portfolio Now Live
The 2026 Europe portfolio by Thrillophilia spans Switzerland, Italy, France, Austria, Central Europe and select Nordic and Alpine regions, supported by expanded on-ground partnerships and end-to-end execution. By emphasising fewer destinations, longer stays, comfort-first planning and immersive regional experiences, the programme aligns with the evolving mindset of Indian travellers. The overall direction suggests that for 2026, Europe is no longer about speed it is about slowing down and experiencing each region with intention.
Century Cruises collaborates with Ensemble to launch the 2026 Beyond Extraordinary Experiences program, commencing in Beijing from August 18-26. Participants explore the Great Wall and Temple of Heaven, immersing in imperial legacies that define China tourism. This exclusive itinerary will supercharge Beijing tourism by attracting high-net-worth travelers, boosting luxury hotel occupancy and cultural site revenues through curated private accesses.
The capital’s role as a tourism gateway facilitates seamless transitions to river adventures, positively impacting China tourism recovery. Beijing‘s ancient wonders gain renewed global spotlight, encouraging extended stays amid festive Year of the Fire Horse celebrations.
Chongqing Emerges as Yangtze Tourism Hub
Travelers proceed to Chongqing, a riverside metropolis blending skyscrapers with misty gorges, boarding Century Voyage for luxury Yangtze River sailings. The ship’s state-of-the-art amenities host bespoke onboard events, positioning Chongqing tourism as a launchpad for Three Gorges explorations. Impacts include heightened port activity and demand for hotpot dining, injecting vitality into local tourism economies.
The journey concludes in Shanghai, where futuristic skylines meet colonial Bund elegance, capping the Beyond program with cosmopolitan flair. Participants navigate Nanjing Road and Yu Garden, amplifying Shanghai tourism through premium group experiences. This finale will propel China tourism by showcasing modernization alongside heritage, drawing repeat international visitors.
Century Cruises’ Yangtze itineraries traverse Three Gorges, from Qutang’s sheer cliffs to Wu Gorges’ misty peaks, offering panoramic tourism immersion. Luxury vessels like Century Voyage provide sundeck views and cultural lectures, elevating river tourism standards in China. The partnership impacts Chongqing-Shanghai flows by increasing capacity for experiential voyages, reducing land-based congestion.
Ensemble‘s Beyond Extraordinary Experiences honors top performers with tailored China journeys, partnering Century Cruises for seamless logistics. This rewards-driven tourism model attracts elite advisors, indirectly marketing Beijing-Chongqing-Shanghai circuits globally. China tourism gains prestige, as curated events spotlight UNESCO sites and foster loyalty.
High-value itineraries set benchmarks, encouraging operators to upscale tourism offerings amid post-pandemic rebounds.
Great Wall Access Revolutionizes Beijing Tourism
Private Great Wall traversals in Beijing unveil restored sections and cable car panoramas, blending adventure with history. Temple of Heaven rituals highlight cosmic alignments, enriching spiritual tourism. China tourism surges as these exclusives go viral, spiking individual bookings to Mutianyu and Badaling.
Beijing‘s UNESCO density positions it as cultural epicenter, impacting ancillary sectors like tea houses.
Three Gorges Majesty Fuels Adventure Tourism
Sailing Three Gorges reveals terraced farms and ancient trackers’ paths, with optional sampan rides into side canyons. Century Cruises enhances tourism via onboard historians, deepening passenger engagement. Chongqing tourism benefits from upstream extensions to Fengjie, diversifying beyond urban cores.
Smaller gorges like Shennong Stream amplify eco-tourism, preserving fragile ecosystems.
Shanghai’s Futuristic Facade Drives Urban Tourism
Shanghai‘s Bund juxtaposes art deco with Pudong towers, ideal for evening light shows. Nanjing Road pedestrian zones buzz with retail therapy, boosting luxury tourism spending. China tourism evolves through Shanghai‘s role as modernity ambassador, linking river arrivals to high-speed escapes. Yu Garden’s classical pavilions contrast skyscrapers, perfecting hybrid tourism narratives.
Cultural Dining Enriches Gastronomic Tourism
Beijing‘s Peking duck feasts transition to Chongqing‘s spicy riverside banquets, culminating in Shanghai‘s xiaolongbao mastery. Century Cruises curates multi-course Yangtze galas, elevating onboard tourism. Regional cuisines impact China tourism by fueling food trails that extend port times. Dim sum workshops foster hands-on tourism, building memorable connections.
Luxury Accommodations Anchor High-End Tourism
Century Voyage‘s balcony staterooms overlook gorges, while Beijing‘s palace hotels and Shanghai‘s skyline suites pamper guests. Ensemble’s selections prioritize five-star immersion, transforming tourism into status symbols. Chongqing‘s riverside resorts thrive on cruise synergies. Spa treatments with Yangtze views pioneer wellness tourism.
Sustainable Practices Safeguard Tourism Viability
Century Cruises employs low-emission propulsion through gorges, aligning with China‘s green river policies. Shore excursions minimize footprints, promoting community homestays. This ethos bolsters tourism sustainability in Three Gorges, attracting eco-luxury segments. Protected zones like Shennongjia integrate conservation into itineraries.
Economic Multipliers Propel China Tourism
The program generates port fees, guiding revenues, and supply chain boosts across Beijing-Chongqing-Shanghai. Tourism boards report amplified FDI, funding infrastructure. Century Cruises partnerships signal market maturity, spurring capacity expansions. High-spend travelers elevate GDP contributions from tourism.
Inbound Surge Revitalizes Post-Pandemic Tourism
2026 timings coincide with visa relaxations, funneling Western groups to China. Yangtze tourism rebounds surpass 2019 peaks, with Ensemble amplifying advisor networks. Shanghai‘s conventions link seamlessly to cruises. Digital platforms streamline tourism visas, easing access.
Family and MICE Tourism Expands
Intergenerational packages suit Beijing‘s walls for kids, while Chongqing‘s mountains thrill adventurers. MICE extensions to Shanghai expos diversify tourism. China balances leisure with business, stabilizing revenues. Group dynamics foster cultural exchanges.
Tech Integration Streamlines Tourism Logistics
Century Cruises apps track gorge sailings in real-time, enhancing personalization. AR overlays decode Great Wall history, revolutionizing edutourism. Shanghai‘s facial recognition speeds customs, optimizing tourism flows. WeChat payments unify transactions across cities.
Heritage Preservation Funds Tourism Future
Revenues safeguard Three Gorges relics and Temple of Heaven restorations. Beijing tourism invests in intangible cultures like shadow puppetry. Sustainable models ensure China tourism longevity.
Beyond August peaks, Century Cruises schedules extend tourism seasons. Beijing‘s autumn foliage and Shanghai‘s cherry blossoms diversify timings. Off-peak deals broaden accessibility.
Luxury Benchmark Sets China Tourism Pace
Beyond itineraries pioneer ultra-premium tourism, influencing competitors. Century Cruises elevates Yangtze as must-sail, rivaling Europe. China tourism claims luxury throne.
In a significant achievement for the global maritime and cruise tourism industry, China’s Beihai Shipbuilding has finally delivered the Lucayan, a state-of-the-art floating dry dock, to its new owner, Grand Bahama Shipyard. This state-of-the-art dry dock will soon be relocated to the Bahamas, where it is expected to start working with cruise ships later this year. This is a significant achievement not only for the shipyard but also for the entire cruise tourism industry, as the Bahamas is further developing its infrastructure to accommodate the increasing demand for cruise tourism in the Caribbean region.
The official signing and delivery ceremony of this significant event took place on February 6, 2026, in Qingdao, China, in association with CSSC Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding and China Shipbuilding Industry Trade Co., Ltd. This move is part of a larger strategy by Grand Bahama Shipyard, which is supported by major cruise operators such as Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean Group, and MSC, to make the Bahamas a leader in the global cruise ship maintenance and maritime industry.
A Powerful New Asset: The Lucayan Floating Dock
The Lucayan floating drydock stands out as one of the largest drydocks in the world, with a length of 413.96 meters and a width of 85.11 meters. Its size and lifting capacity make it capable of accommodating ultra-large cruise ships, including Icon-class vessels, which represent the pinnacle of modern cruise ship design.
With cutting-edge technology, including a fully automated dock control system, intelligent ballast systems, and digital twin technology, the Lucayan ensures precise and efficient operations for drydocking. These innovations enhance the safety and accuracy of ship lifting and submersion processes, significantly reducing turnaround time for repairs. The drydock’s automated systems ensure that maintenance work on the largest cruise ships is completed with speed and safety, directly supporting the growth of cruise tourism by minimizing the downtime of major vessels.
Meeting the Growing Demands of Cruise Tourism
The delivery of the Lucayan is directly tied to the explosive growth of cruise tourism in the Caribbean and the global cruise industry. As cruise ships continue to grow in size and capacity to accommodate larger numbers of passengers, the need for more advanced maritime infrastructure becomes increasingly urgent. The Lucayan’s specifications have been designed to meet the maintenance and repair needs of these larger vessels, ensuring that Grand Bahama Shipyard can service the world’s largest cruise ships.
This new capacity allows the Bahamas to play a crucial role in meeting the demands of the global cruise tourism market. By expanding its drydocking capabilities, the Bahamas is positioning itself as a key destination for maintenance services, which in turn bolsters the overall cruise tourism experience for visitors to the Caribbean.
A Dual-Dock Project: Strengthening the Bahamas as a Maritime Hub
The Lucayan is part of a strategic dual-dock project commissioned by Grand Bahama Shipyard, which is set to transform the facility into one of the most advanced maritime service centers in the region. The 93,500-ton East End, a sister dock to the Lucayan, was delivered earlier and began commercial operations in the Bahamas in January 2026. Together, these two floating drydocks will significantly enhance the shipyard’s ability to cater to a growing fleet of large cruise ships, ensuring that the Bahamas remains a global hub for cruise ship maintenance and servicing.
This development has wide-reaching implications for cruise tourism in the region, as it enables the Bahamas to handle more vessels and larger ships, keeping the flow of tourism seamless. Cruise lines will be able to rely on the Bahamas for maintenance services, enhancing the overall operational efficiency of the industry, and keeping tourism growth on track.
Supporting the Growth of Cruise Tourism in the Caribbean
The Lucayan floating drydock will have a tangible impact on the region’s growing cruise tourism sector. With the capacity to handle the world’s largest cruise ships, this drydock will ensure that these vessels remain in prime condition, allowing cruise operators to maintain high-quality services and safe operations. This, in turn, helps the Bahamas remain a primary destination for cruise ships, which boosts tourism revenue and supports the local economy.
Additionally, with the ability to service ultra-large ships, the Lucayan allows Grand Bahama Shipyard to position itself as an essential part of the global cruise network, attracting cruise companies that seek reliable maintenance hubs. The Bahamian shipyard is now poised to benefit from increased tourism activity, as large cruise lines will continue to make the Bahamas a vital stop in their operational schedules, further strengthening the island’s tourism infrastructure.
Technological Advancements and Their Impact on Cruise Tourism
The technology integrated into the Lucayan drydock represents the future of ship maintenance. With systems such as digital twin technology, the drydock can provide real-time data to enhance maintenance planning and predictive repairs. This advancement is crucial for the cruise tourism industry, which relies on minimizing downtime to maintain schedules and ensure customer satisfaction.
By offering cutting-edge maintenance solutions, the Lucayan enhances the tourism experience for passengers by ensuring that cruise ships remain in optimal condition. This further solidifies the Bahamas as a key player in the global cruise tourism industry, where reliable maintenance services are vital for long-term growth and competitiveness.
Looking Ahead: A Bright Future for Grand Bahama Shipyard and Cruise Tourism
The Lucayan floating dry dock delivery is a game-changer for Grand Bahama Shipyard and the Bahamas, as it cements the company’s role as an important player in the cruise tourism and maritime services industry. The cutting-edge technology and enormous capacity of the Lucayan dry dock mean that Grand Bahama Shipyard is fully equipped to handle the rising demand in the global cruise tourism industry.
The Bahamas’ decision to invest in maritime infrastructure is a shrewd move to take advantage of the rising cruise tourism industry. As more and more tourists pour into the Caribbean on ever-larger cruise ships, the demand for high-quality maintenance services will continue to rise. The Lucayan and its sister dock, the East End, will ensure that the Bahamas is at the forefront of the global cruise tourism industry, fueling economic growth and cementing the region’s role as a maritime services hub.
Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ Balmoral commences its 2026 season in Rouen, France, marking a pivotal moment for Seine River tourism. The mid-sized vessel arrives at Rouen’s historic port, strategically positioned between Paris and Normandy’s coast, to launch itineraries blending medieval charm with coastal escapes. This deployment will profoundly elevate Normandy tourism by funneling affluent British and European passengers into local heritage sites, hotels, and excursions, sustaining year-round economic vitality.
Rouen’s quay infrastructure supports Balmoral’s thirteen hundred-passenger capacity, optimizing turnarounds for efficient tourism flows. France tourism authorities note such river operations counteract seasonal dips, injecting consistent revenues into Rouen‘s hospitality ecosystem through pre- and post-cruise extensions.
Strategic Port Positioning Powers Tourism
Rouen‘s Seine River location, ninety minutes from Paris, positions it as a tourism nexus for inland waterways, facilitating seamless access to Versailles gardens and Monet’s Giverny. Balmoral’s 2026 schedule emphasizes overnight stays, allowing deep Normandy tourism engagements like Rouen Cathedral explorations and Joan of Arc trails. Impacts include heightened occupancy in boutique inns, amplifying Seine River cruise tourism as a preferred alternative to crowded ocean routes.
The port’s 2025 record, nine hundred eighty-three river calls, forecasts one thousand ninety-five in 2026, with Balmoral contributing to ocean-river hybrids that broaden tourism demographics. Rouen tourism thrives on this blend, drawing culture enthusiasts who extend visits to nearby abbeys.
Cultural Immersions Drive Normandy Tourism
Balmoral passengers disembark into Rouen‘s half-timbered streets, igniting demand for guided walks to Gros Horloge and Musée des Beaux-Arts. Normandy tourism surges as cruises coincide with Fêtes Jeanne d’Arc, channeling visitors to medieval reenactments that showcase Rouen’s legacy. This synergy boosts artisan markets and gastronomy tours, positively impacting local tourism through elevated per-passenger spending on Norman cheeses and ciders.
Extended port times foster authentic encounters, differentiating Seine River tourism from fleeting stops and encouraging off-ship investments in heritage preservation.
Honfleur Linkages Amplify Coastal Tourism
Itineraries link Rouen to Honfleur, Normandy’s picturesque harbor famed for Impressionist painters, via scenic Seine sails. Balmoral’s boutique scale enables intimate dockings, spurring tourism to Honfleur’s wooden church and seafood bistros. Normandy tourism benefits from bidirectional flows, as Honfleur day-trippers venture inland, balancing coastal overload.
Cruise extensions to Etretat cliffs enhance adventure tourism, with Balmoral’s agility navigating shallow drafts to access exclusive viewpoints.
D-Day Beaches Boost Heritage Tourism
Balmoral voyages incorporate Normandy D-Day beaches, positioning Rouen as a launchpad for Omaha and Utah commemorations. Passengers explore American Cemetery and Pointe du Hoc, fueling reflective tourism that honors WWII history. This niche elevates France tourism profiles, attracting history buffs who combine Seine culture with solemn sites, sustaining demand beyond summer peaks.
Rouen port tourism gains from packaged excursions, supporting coach operators and interpretive centers.
Paris Connectivity Supercharges Tourism
Proximity to Paris, via high-speed train or river transfer, transforms Rouen into a pre/post-cruise hub for Eiffel Tower and Louvre visits. Balmoral guests leverage this for hybrid tourism, extending Paris immersions with Norman authenticity. Seine River cruise tourism explodes as seamless logistics draw urban escapees seeking countryside respite.
Rail links ensure efficient dispersals, mitigating Paris congestion and bolstering Normandy tourism infrastructure.
Sustainable Cruising Enhances Eco-Tourism
Fred. Olsen’s environmental protocols align with Rouen‘s Seine sustainability initiatives, minimizing wake impacts on river ecosystems. Low-emission maneuvers promote green tourism, appealing to eco-aware Europeans prioritizing heritage over mass volumes. Normandy tourism advances through certifications that safeguard wetlands and bird habitats along cruise paths. Quiet operations preserve Rouen’s acoustic charm, enhancing guest satisfaction and repeat tourism.
Culinary Experiences Fuel Gastronomic Tourism
Balmoral ties into Rouen‘s Michelin-starred scene, with passengers sampling Calvados distilleries and seafood at La Couronne. Shore-side dinners extend onboard indulgences, positioning Seine River tourism as a gourmet trail. France tourism diversifies as cruises spotlight regional terroir, boosting farm-to-table suppliers. Themed food walks impact local vineyards, fostering wine tourism circuits from Rouen outward.
Retail and Artisan Spending Stimulates Tourism
Quayside boutiques thrive on cruise traffic, selling Rouen faience pottery and linen textiles. Balmoral’s upscale clientele elevates transaction values, injecting luxury tourism revenues into heritage crafts. Normandy tourism resilience strengthens via diversified shopping, countering online retail threats. Pop-up markets during calls amplify vibrancy, drawing spontaneous purchases.
Event Synergies Maximize Peak Tourism
Balmoral timings overlap Rouen’s 2026 Tour de France stage and Rouen à Table festivals, supercharging attendance. Tourism multipliers emerge as cruisers fill secondary accommodations during sell-outs. Seine River cruise tourism integrates with cycling events, creating multi-faceted packages. Medieval fairs align perfectly, immersing passengers in living history.
Infrastructure Upgrades Support Tourism Growth
Rouen Port Authority’s dock enhancements accommodate Balmoral’s beam, ensuring safe berthings amid rising tides. Normandy tourism scales efficiently, with expanded gangways and signage streamlining debarkations. Investments in shuttle services connect to rail hubs, optimizing tourism mobility. HAROPA Port unification streamlines operations, enhancing reliability.
Family and Wellness Tourism Expands
Balmoral’s intergenerational appeal draws families to Rouen’s interactive museums and Seine bike paths. Wellness cruises incorporate spa days with Normandy thermal springs, pioneering health tourism. France tourism broadens as relaxed itineraries suit silver travelers exploring cloisters. Yoga on deck overlooks cathedrals, blending serenity with scenery.
Economic Multipliers Transform Local Tourism
Each Balmoral call generates jobs in piloting, provisioning, and guiding, with spillovers to agriculture. Rouen tourism metrics, 8.91 million 2024 nuitées, project further gains, supporting thirteen percent foreign share. Cruise tourism fortifies off-season stability, funding public realm improvements.
Luxury Positioning Elevates Premium Tourism
Fred. Olsen’s small-ship intimacy rivals mega-lines, offering uncrowded Rouen Cathedral access. Normandy tourism shifts upscale, attracting connoisseurs who value authenticity over volume. Balmoral sets benchmarks for personalized Seine River tourism.
Year-Round Operations Stabilize Tourism
2026 season kickoff ensures continuous calls, mitigating winter lulls. Rouen evolves into a perennial tourism port, with Balmoral anchoring loyalty programs. Regional partnerships flourish, weaving cruises into holistic Normandy experiences.
Future Horizons for Seine Tourism
Balmoral’s Rouen base heralds expanded itineraries, eyeing Brussels extensions. Normandy tourism readies for elite status, blending river legacy with modern sustainability. Cruise resurgence cements Rouen as Europe’s premier inland gateway.
The landscape of corporate travel safety is being fundamentally reshaped through a significant strategic partnership recently announced between BCD Travel and Riskline. A commitment to providing superior duty of care services is demonstrated by this collaboration, ensuring that the safety of mobile workforces is prioritized across all international jurisdictions. By leveraging advanced travel risk management protocols, the ability for organizations to monitor potential threats is greatly enhanced. This integration of real-time security alerts into the BCD Travel ecosystem allows for a more proactive approach to global crisis management and traveler communication. Through these innovative travel technology solutions, a seamless flow of intelligence is maintained, providing peace of mind to both travel managers and employees navigating the complexities of modern international transit.
The Evolution of Global Security Monitoring
The necessity for high-level security intelligence has never been more apparent than in the current global climate. A sophisticated infrastructure for the dissemination of critical information is provided by Riskline, which is now being fully utilized by BCD Travel. The complexities associated with international travel are addressed by this system, where information is gathered from a multitude of verified sources to ensure accuracy and timeliness.
Every potential disruption, ranging from geopolitical instability to localized environmental hazards, is monitored with meticulous detail. By shifting the focus to a passive, information-heavy narrative, it is observed that the traditional methods of manual risk assessment are being replaced by automated, data-driven insights. These insights are delivered directly to the stakeholders who require them most, ensuring that no traveler is left without guidance during unforeseen circumstances.
Integration of Advanced Intelligence Systems
Within the framework of this partnership, the technical integration of Riskline’s intelligence into BCD Travel’s existing platforms is considered a cornerstone of the initiative. A comprehensive database of world-watch alerts is maintained, which is then filtered and localized to be relevant to specific traveler itineraries.
The process of risk assessment is streamlined through this integration, allowing for a more cohesive response to emerging threats. Data is processed in real-time, ensuring that the latency between the occurrence of an event and the notification of the traveler is minimized. This systematic approach to information distribution ensures that corporate entities remain compliant with legal safety requirements while fostering a culture of security and reliability.
Enhancing the Scope of Duty of Care
The responsibilities of a travel management company are extended beyond mere logistics through this enhancement of security features. A holistic view of the traveler’s journey is taken, where safety is interwoven into every stage of the trip lifecycle. The burden of monitoring global events is shifted from the individual traveler to a centralized, expert-led system.
By utilizing the extensive reach of Riskline, BCD Travel is able to offer coverage that spans across hundreds of countries and territories. This global footprint ensures that even those traveling to remote or high-risk locations are supported by the same level of rigorous intelligence as those in major metropolitan hubs. The passive nature of this support system allows travelers to focus on their professional objectives, while the underlying security framework operates continuously in the background.
Strategic Benefits for Corporate Clients
For the organizations served by BCD Travel, the benefits of this partnership are multifaceted. Risk mitigation strategies are strengthened, leading to a reduction in potential liabilities and an increase in operational continuity. When a crisis occurs, the response time is significantly shortened by the availability of pre-vetted, actionable intelligence.
Furthermore, the reporting capabilities provided by this collaboration allow travel managers to analyze trends and adjust travel policies accordingly. High-risk zones can be identified with greater precision, and preventative measures can be implemented before travel even commences. This forward-thinking methodology is indicative of a broader shift in the industry toward comprehensive, preventative risk management.
Technological Synergy and Future Outlook
The synergy between BCD Travel’s logistical expertise and Riskline’s intelligence capabilities represents a new benchmark for the industry. Advanced algorithms and human expertise are combined to filter out noise and deliver only the most pertinent information. This ensures that alert fatigue is avoided, as travelers and managers are only notified when an event truly impacts their safety or itinerary.
As the world continues to face unpredictable challenges, the reliance on such integrated systems is expected to grow. The foundation laid by BCD Travel and Riskline is seen as a blueprint for future developments in travel security. Continuous updates to the system ensure that the latest technological advancements, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, are harnessed to improve the accuracy of risk predictions and the efficiency of communication channels.
Conclusion of the Strategic Initiative
In conclusion, the partnership between BCD Travel and Riskline is recognized as a pivotal development in the realm of corporate travel management. A higher standard of protection is afforded to global travelers through the seamless integration of world-class intelligence and logistical support. The commitment to safety, transparency, and technological excellence is reflected in every aspect of this collaboration.
As this new system is rolled out across the BCD Travel network, the impact on traveler confidence and organizational resilience is expected to be profound. The narrative of travel safety is moved away from reactive measures toward a state of constant, informed readiness. Through this endeavor, the complexities of the modern world are navigated with greater ease, ensuring that the global business community remains connected and secure.
The emerald fringes of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are taking on a new light as the local administration shifts towards a future defined by ecological mindfulness. On February 21, 2026, Wright Myo will unveil a transformative journey into the heart of the coastal wilderness. This initiative, known as the Mangrove Creek Tourism programme, is being developed to elevate the conversation about environmental stewardship. By expanding beyond traditional “sun and sand” itineraries, the Department of Tourism, in collaboration with the Department of Environment and Forests, invites visitors to witness the silent power of the archipelago’s most important guardians: the mangroves.
A Synchronized Vision for Conservation
The logistics of this inaugural event have been meticulously structured to ensure a balance between accessibility and environmental sanctity. Between the hours of 10 am and 12 pm, the intricate waterways of Wright Myo are to be transformed into an outdoor classroom. The significance of this event is underscored by its collaborative nature, where government departments are unified in their goal to foster a deep-seated appreciation for the islands’ “RootsofLife”.
This tagline is not merely a branding choice; it represents the philosophical backbone of the entire project. The delicate balance of the islands’ biodiversity is being showcased through guided interactions, ensuring that the footprint left behind by visitors is minimal. Rather than the chaos of unregulated exploration, a refined, guided experience is being offered to ensure that the ecological integrity of the creek remains uncompromised.
The Science of Coastal Guardianship
During the two-hour excursion, the complex biological functions of the mangrove ecosystem are to be explained to an audience of both residents and global travellers. These salt-tolerant forests are often described as the “nurseries of the sea”, and their role in coastal protection is being highlighted as a cornerstone of the islands’ climate resilience strategy.
The physical structure of the mangrove roots, which acts as a natural breakwater against erosion and storm surges, is to be observed firsthand by participants. Furthermore, the role of these forests in sequestering carbon and providing a sanctuary for a myriad of marine and terrestrial species is being emphasized. By shifting the focus from passive sightseeing to active education, the administration is ensuring that the conservation value of these fragile habitats is communicated with clarity and urgency.
Empowering Local Communities Through Ecotourism
One of the most compelling aspects of the Mangrove Creek Tourism programme is the socio-economic framework upon which it is built. The initiative is being leveraged as a catalyst for local empowerment. By involving nearby communities in the execution of the programme, new avenues for self-employment are being generated.
The traditional knowledge held by residents is being integrated into the tourism model through eco-guiding opportunities. This approach ensures that the economic benefits of tourism are shared directly with those who live alongside these ecosystems. It is being envisioned that by aligning conservation goals with livelihood security, a long-term commitment to habitat protection will be fostered within the local populace. The transition from resource extraction to nature-based service provision is being hailed as a vital step toward a truly sustainable island economy.
Seamless Logistics for the Conscious Traveller
To ensure that the message of sustainability reaches a diverse audience, logistical barriers are being systematically removed. For the first thirty individuals to register for the event, complimentary transportation is being provided by the Department of Tourism. A dedicated bus service is scheduled to depart from the Main Bus Depot at Mohanpura at 8 am, allowing for a scenic transition from the urban hub to the tranquil wilderness of Wright Myo.
For those who prefer a more independent pace, provisions have been made for participants to arrive at the venue using their own arrangements by the 10 am commencement. By keeping the event open to the general public, the administration is signalling that environmental awareness should not be confined to academic or specialized circles. Instead, it is being democratized, allowing every visitor to become a stakeholder in the preservation of the Bay of Bengal’s natural heritage.
A Blueprint for the Future of Island Travel
The Mangrove Creek Tourism programme is being marketed as more than just a one-day event; it is a blueprint for the future of tourism in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In an era when global tourism is frequently chastised for its environmental impact, this “controlled access” model is being promoted as a sustainable alternative.
By combining rigorous environmental education with community participation and government oversight, a new standard for ecotourism is emerging. The islands are being reimagined not only as a tourist destination but also as a sanctuary for actively repairing humanity’s relationship with nature. As the sun sets over Wright Myo’s stilt roots, the hope is that a lasting sense of public appreciation will have been instilled, ensuring that these vital ecosystems thrive for future generations.
Thousands of travelers grounded in Asia today as 2,375 delays and 77 flight cancellations hit 16 major Asian and Middle Eastern airports. The most affected airlines included Air China (2 cancellations, 75 delays), United Airlines (2 cancellations at Narita, 5 delays), IndiGo (2 cancellations, 145 delays), Air India (2 cancellations, 136 delays), Batik Air (46 cancellations across four Indonesian airports, 50 delays), PAL Express (5 cancellations, 22 delays), and Royal Jordanian (3 cancellations, 5 delays). Other prominent airlines experiencing disruption included Japan Airlines (85 delays at Haneda, 10 at Narita), All Nippon Airways (72 delays at Haneda, 4 at Narita), AirAsia (125 delays at Kuala Lumpur, 4 at Phuket), Cebu Pacific (77 delays at Manila, 3 at Narita), and Thai Airways (69 delays at Bangkok, 10 at Phuket). Airports affected included Jakarta Soekarno–Hatta International Airport (196 delays, 26 cancellations); Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport (92 delays, 10 cancellations); Halim Perdanakusuma International Airport (5 delays, 7 cancellations); Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International Airport (3 delays, 4 cancellations); Indira Gandhi International Airport (385 delays, 4 cancellations); Kolkata Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport (62 delays, 4 cancellations); Singapore Changi Airport (199 delays, 3 cancellations); Ninoy Aquino International Airport (186 delays, 5 cancellations); Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport (26 delays, 4 cancellations); Queen Alia International Airport (16 delays, 4 cancellations); Kuala Lumpur International Airport (275 delays, 2 cancellations); Beijing Capital International Airport (127 delays, 2 cancellations); Narita International Airport (114 delays, 2 cancellations); TokyoHaneda Airport (232 delays, 0 cancellations); Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport (318 delays); and Phuket International Airport (139 delays). Countries impacted: Indonesia, India, Singapore, Philippines, China, Jordan, Malaysia, Japan, and Thailand.
Update today: 2,375 delays and 77 cancellations were recorded across 16 airports.
Delhi recorded the highest delay volume at 385 flights.
Bangkok Suvarnabhumi followed with 318 delays and zero cancellations.
Kuala Lumpur logged 275 delays with only 2 cancellations.
Haneda and Suvarnabhumi reported zero cancellations despite high delay counts.
Batik Air recorded the highest cancellation concentration across multiple Indonesian airports (46 total).
Narita and Haneda together recorded 19 U.S.-linked delays.
Indonesian secondary airports showed higher cancellation ratios relative to delay counts.
Major full-service carriers in Japan and India accounted for the largest delay volumes.
Most Affected Asian Airports
Indira Gandhi International Airport
Recorded 385 delays and 4 cancellations, the highest delay total in the dataset, primarily involving IndiGo and Air India.
Suvarnabhumi Airport
Logged 318 delays, largely concentrated among Thai carriers.
Kuala Lumpur International Airport
Registered 275 delays and 2 cancellations, with AirAsia contributing the largest share.
Haneda Airport
Reported 232 delays and no cancellations, dominated by Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways.
Singapore Changi Airport
Recorded 199 delays and 3 cancellations, with Scoot and Singapore Airlines leading delay totals.
Ninoy Aquino International Airport
Logged 186 delays and 5 cancellations, mainly involving PAL Express and Cebu Pacific.
Soekarno–Hatta International Airport
Registered 196 delays and 26 cancellations, largely attributed to Batik Air.
Narita International Airport
Reported 114 delays and 2 cancellations, including 8 U.S.-linked delays.
Airlines Most Affected by Asia Flight Cancellations and Delays
Batik Air
46 cancellations and 50 delays across four Indonesian airports.
IndiGo
2 cancellations and 145 delays at Delhi.
Air India
2 cancellations and 136 delays at Delhi.
Air China
2 cancellations and 75 delays at Beijing Capital.
United Airlines
2 cancellations at Narita and multiple delays across Japan and Manila.
PAL Express
5 cancellations and 22 delays at Manila.
Thai Airways
69 delays at Bangkok and 10 at Phuket.
AirAsia
125 delays at Kuala Lumpur and additional delays at Phuket.
What Can Affected Passengers Do?
Check airline apps or official airport websites for real-time updates.
Arrive early at the airport during peak disruption periods.
Monitor connecting flight status frequently.
Contact airline customer service for rebooking options.
Keep travel insurance documentation accessible.
Retain boarding passes and delay notifications for compensation claims where applicable.
Major carriers most affected included Batik Air, IndiGo, Air India, Air China, United Airlines, PAL Express, Thai Airways, and AirAsia. High delay concentrations were recorded in Delhi, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo (Haneda and Narita), Singapore, Manila, and Jakarta. Secondary but notable disruption occurred in Makassar, Palembang, Shijiazhuang, Amman, Phuket, Kolkata, and Beijing.
Countries impacted were Indonesia, India, Singapore, Philippines, China, Jordan, Malaysia, Japan, and Thailand. The operational pattern shows high delay volumes at major hubs such as Delhi, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo, and Singapore, while Indonesian regional airports experienced comparatively higher cancellation ratios.
Travel between Los Angeles and Melbourne is scheduled to become significantly more accessible in the final quarter of 2026, as Delta prepares to transition the route to daily operations. The increase will be implemented gradually, with multiple frequency adjustments planned across October and December. The route, currently served three times per week, will see structured growth designed to accommodate rising travel demand.
Daily Airbus A350-900 Operations Scheduled by 20 December 2026
By 20 December 2026, service between Los Angeles and Melbourne is planned to operate daily. All flights on the route are scheduled to be conducted using the Airbus A350-900, aligning the expansion with a consistent long-haul aircraft deployment.
This daily schedule will represent the culmination of a phased increase that unfolds earlier in the quarter. The structured rollout reflects a measured approach to capacity growth, allowing additional travel opportunities to be introduced progressively rather than in a single adjustment.
For travelers planning late-year journeys, especially during a traditionally busy seasonal period, the move to daily flights is expected to provide greater scheduling flexibility. More departure options typically allow itineraries to be aligned more efficiently with individual travel plans, whether for extended stays or shorter visits.
Gradual Frequency Growth Through October
Before daily service begins, two interim increases are scheduled in October 2026. A fourth weekly flight is set to be introduced from 11 October 2026. Shortly thereafter, a fifth weekly frequency is planned from 25 October 2026.
These adjustments will expand the current three-times-weekly operation in stages. The incremental additions are positioned to steadily increase seat availability while maintaining operational continuity on the Los Angeles–Melbourne corridor.
The structured timetable of changes suggests that the fourth quarter will serve as a transitional period for the route. Rather than a sudden capacity jump, the frequency growth unfolds in defined steps, offering travelers progressively more options as the year advances.
What More Frequencies Mean for Travelers
An increase from three weekly flights to daily service represents a noticeable shift in travel flexibility. For passengers planning journeys between Los Angeles and Melbourne, the availability of additional weekly departures can influence how itineraries are structured.
With more frequent flights, scheduling constraints may be reduced. Travelers who previously had to align plans around limited weekly departures may find that expanded frequencies allow for more adaptable arrival and return dates. As service transitions first to four, then five weekly flights, and ultimately to daily operations, the range of booking possibilities broadens gradually.
From a tourism perspective, steady capacity growth can encourage smoother travel planning cycles. Incremental increases often allow demand to be absorbed progressively, giving travelers more room to choose departure dates that align with personal preferences rather than fixed operational limitations.
Tourism and Seasonal Travel Dynamics
The final increase to daily service by 20 December 2026 places the expansion within a period often associated with heightened travel activity. Expanded frequencies during this timeframe may support travelers seeking long-haul journeys between Los Angeles and Melbourne toward the end of the year.
Additional departures can contribute to a perception of improved accessibility. When routes operate daily, the connection between cities tends to feel more consistently available. For tourism flows, daily operations can simplify trip coordination, especially when multi-day planning is involved.
Current Service and the Transition Ahead
At present, the Los Angeles–Melbourne route is scheduled three times weekly. The fourth quarter of 2026 will therefore mark a defined shift in service levels.
The introduction of a fourth weekly flight on 11 October 2026 begins the transformation. Two weeks later, on 25 October 2026, a fifth weekly service is set to follow. These additions collectively bridge the route from limited weekly operations toward full daily frequency.
By 20 December 2026, daily Airbus A350-900 operations are planned to be in place. This progression from three weekly flights to seven per week reflects a structured scaling of capacity across a defined timeframe.
For travelers monitoring long-haul availability between Los Angeles and Melbourne, the phased rollout offers clear milestones. Each October adjustment builds toward the final December expansion, ultimately reshaping the route’s operational profile as 2026 concludes.
Samsung is likely to become the main supplier of new HBM4 memory chips for NVIDIA’s upcoming top AI graphics cards, Vera Rubin. NVIDIAplans to release these powerful chips in the second half of this year.
HBM4 is a special type of memory used in AI chips. It is built by stacking several memory chips. This design helps the chip work faster and handle large amounts of data.Because of this, the quality of the memory chips inside is very important.
NVIDIA plans to offer two types of HBM4 products. One will focus on stable and reliable performance. The other will focus on very high speed for large AI systems used in data centers. Even though most sales may come from the regular version, the high-speed version is expected to be much more expensive and bring higher profits.
Source – Samsung
Samsung focused early on making a high-performance version of HBM4. It used a newer and smaller manufacturing process, 1c DRAM. Other companies, like SK Hynix and Micron, used an older 1b process. Smaller and newer technology helps memory run faster, use less power, and work more efficiently.
Samsung’s new memory is said to use 10 to 20 percent less power and run about 10 percent faster than older versions. It can reach speeds of up to 13Gbps, which is much higher than normal standards.
However, future demand depends on how much big tech companies like OpenAI, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon spend on AI systems. If they reduce spending, standard models may sell more than high-end ones. Stay tuned for more information.
If you’ve been thinking about buying a premium phone, now is a great time. With the SamsungGalaxy S26 Ultra launch coming soon, prices for last year’s flagship model are dropping fast. One of the best offers right now is on the Galaxy S25 Ultra, and it’s worth checking out.
Usually, the 512 GB version of the Galaxy S25 Ultra is priced at around $1,420. But on Amazon, it’s now available for about $1,165. It is a big discount and a good saving if you want a premium phone for less. Even the 256 GB model is going for around $1,150, which means the larger storage option now costs almost the same.
This discount is live only for the Titanium Black colour. Other colours are also on sale, but not as good a discount as the black version.
Source – Samsung Mobile Press
This deal is a chance to get a premium phone for much less. Usually, Samsung flagship phones cost a lot, but discounts like this make them more affordable. If you like big storage and a powerful phone, the 512 GB Titanium Black is the best choice right now.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra comes with a powerful Snapdragon processor, an amazing 200MP camera, new AI features, a big battery, S Pen and more. If you want to grab this deal, you can check it here.
The next Pokémon Day looks jam-packed with new and announced creature-catching titles. Still, the rumored Pokémon Gen 10 could steal the show, with an open-world island-hopping adventure. Fans have anticipated a reveal for the Switch 2 game since the Teraleak data breach.
The Saudi Pro League has caught the attention of a World Cup winner with Germany, who admitted his interest — especially in Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr.
The Saudi Pro League has been the fastest-growing league in world soccer over the past decade. Cristiano Ronaldo has played a major role in that rise, as his move to Al Nassr encouraged many other stars to follow the same path. Now, a World Cup winner with Germany has weighed in.
During a recent interview on MBC, as reported by Diario AS, Mario Gotze discussed the recent growth of the Saudi Pro League. “The development of Saudi soccer is positive, and there are many young players who want to play there; this will increase the pace of the matches and the technical level,” the midfielder explained. “It’s important to give young players the opportunity to become professionals and experience new things.”
In the same conversation, Gotze was asked which club he would like to join if a move to the Saudi Pro League were to happen. He did not hesitate: “If it were up to me, I’d choose Al Nassr.” He immediately explained why: “Because Cristiano Ronaldo plays there.”
Gotze’s comments highlight the impact CR7 has had in recent years. He remains the main attraction for dozens of players who are even willing to leave the comfort of Europe to try a new experience in Saudi Arabia — along with the lucrative salary offers, of course.
Mario Gotze won the 2014 FIFA World Cup with Germany.
Where is Mario Gotze now?
At 33, Mario Gotze’s career has not quite lived up to the expectations many had a decade ago. He burst onto the scene with Borussia Dortmund, delivering performances that earned him a transfer to Bayern Munich for more than $40 million and a call-up to the Germany national team.
On the international stage, Gotze authored the most iconic moment of his career when he scored the goal that gave Germany a 1-0 victory over Argentina in the 2014 FIFA World Cup final. That moment cemented him as one of the brightest talents in world soccer, but much of what followed marked a gradual decline.
Inconsistent performances and health issues significantly impacted the German midfielder’s career. After three seasons, he left Bayern Munich to return to Borussia Dortmund, where things also failed to fully click. That led to moves to PSV Eindhoven and later Eintracht Frankfurt. Since joining the German side in 2022, Gotze has recorded 146 appearances and 12 goals.
Gotze discusses his priorities at this stage of his career
After experiencing both the highest peak and the difficult downturn that followed, Mario Gotze now has a clear understanding of what truly matters to him in the years he has left as a professional player. “Winning titles is no longer my primary goal. What matters now is enjoying the game and staying physically ready to perform at my best on the pitch,” he said in the same interview.
In that context, it remains to be seen whether those priorities align with a potential move to the Saudi Pro League to make that possible partnership with Cristiano Ronaldo at Al Nassr a reality. For now, at least, the club appears well covered in that area of the field, with stars such as Kingsley Coman, Sadio Mane and Joao Felix.
Cristiano Ronaldo of Al Nassr looks on prior to a Saudi Pro League match.
Erling Haaland and Harry Kane were named by a French legend and Champions League winner to join Barcelona.
When it comes to strikers, very few have the expertise that Thierry Henry had. His time with Arsenal was fantastic, and his spell with Barcelona was successful as well, winning a Champions League. The former player named the forwards the club should target, focusing on Erling Haaland and Harry Kane.
The Frenchman said striker is the position the club must focus on. With Marcus Rashford having a buy clause that Barcelona is unsure about paying and Robert Lewandowski’s future in doubt because of his age, he named three replacements, according to Sport.
Henry said: “Barcelona needs an authentic number 9. A world-class level player. I’m referring to formidable strikers like Victor Osimhen, Erling Haaland or Harry Kane. Proven scorers, not prospects.”
Henry on Lamine Yamal’s influence
Barcelona has been a goal-scoring machine since Hansi Flick arrived. That has been the most reliable part of the team considering the defensive issues they have shown.
Lewandowski isn’t a sure presence in the team anymore (Judit Cartiel/Getty Images?
Even so, the Frenchman believes they are not fully taking advantage of Lamine Yamal’s talent. He thinks that with all the movement, distractions, and assists the Spanish player provides, there should be greater efficiency.
Henry explained: “When you have a talent like Yamal, who makes those passes, you must score. It’s simple. At this level, one opportunity is enough. I have seen matches where many chances are wasted. In Barcelona, that can’t happen. That’s what marks the difference between being competitive and becoming champions.”
Barcelona’s strikers’ numbers
Injuries have limited Barcelona’s attack this season. Yamal has missed matches, and even with him available, Lewandowski and Rashford have not matched their usual scoring standards.
Rashford, who primarily plays on the left wing, has 4 goals in 21 La Liga appearances and 5 in 8 Champions League matches. Lewandowski has produced 10 league goals in 19 games but just 2 in 7 European outings, while Ferran Torres leads the group with 12 in 22 La Liga matches and has added 2 more in 6 Champions League appearances.
Haaland and Kane could be great options for Barcelona
Cristiano Ronaldo remains at the center of attention in Saudi soccer, not just for his goals and influence at Al-Nassr, but also for the growing Golden Boot rivalry sparked by Ivan Toney’s latest stunning hat-trick.
Cristiano Ronaldo remains at the center of attention in Saudi soccer, not just for his goals and influence at Al-Nassr, but also for the growing Golden Boot rivalry sparked by Ivan Toney’s latest stunning hat-trick. With Jorge Jesus managing a squad chasing domestic and continental glory, every decision surrounding Ronaldo’s availability has taken on added significance.
The Portuguese icon is fighting on multiple fronts: pushing his club toward the title, chasing personal scoring milestones, and responding to the rising challenge from Toney, who has surged ahead in the scoring charts. As the league enters a decisive phase, even squad selection decisions carry narrative weight.
Ivan Toney delivered a statement performance by scoring a hat-trick in a dominant 4-1 win, firmly placing himself at the top of the Saudi Pro League scoring charts. The English striker now has 23 goals for the season, opening a five-goal gap over Ronaldo, who sits on 18 goals, with Julián Quinones also level on 18. It was Toney’s third hat-trick in seven league matches, underlining his devastating form and intensifying the Golden Boot pressure on Ronaldo.
Cristiano Ronaldo recently missed another match as his club progressed in the AFC Champions League Two, with Jorge Jesus opting to rotate his squad. The decision came amid a complex backdrop that included fitness management and off-field tension following the 41-year-old’s protest over transfer activity and perceived lack of support compared to rivals.
The club insisted that recruitment decisions fall within financial frameworks designed to ensure competitive balance, stating that even a player of Ronaldo’s stature cannot dictate policy beyond his own team. Despite that, the Portuguese superstar returned to action in the league and scored, demonstrating his continued influence. His absence from continental action was widely seen as a tactical move to preserve him for the title race.
Jorge Jesus’ decision revealed
In the middle of all the speculation, the decision regarding Ronaldo’s availability for the upcoming league clash finally emerged. According to Saudi journalist Ali Al-Anzi, Cristiano Ronaldo has returned to the squad and is set to be available for the match against Al-Hazem, signaling that Jorge Jesus is ready to rely on his captain again as the title race intensifies.
This marks a crucial moment in the campaign, as the club sits just behind the league leaders and cannot afford dropped points. Ronaldo’s presence not only boosts the attack but also sends a psychological message to rivals and to Toney in the Golden Boot battle.
Cristiano Ronaldo of Al-Nassr (L) and team head coach Jorge Jesus of Al-Nassr (R)
Pressure on Ronaldo: Personal and collective
The club enters the match in strong form, having won nine consecutive games across competitions. They are just a point behind the league leaders, with a squad that combines attacking firepower and defensive stability. Their home ground has become a fortress, with nine wins in ten league matches.
Ronaldo’s return comes at a critical time. The Golden Boot race is heating up, and Toney’s surge has shifted momentum. At the same time, the club’s title ambitions demand consistency and leadership from their captain. For Ronaldo, the challenge is twofold: reclaim ground in the scoring charts and drive his club toward silverware. Every goal now carries extra significance, both for the league standings and for his pursuit of career milestones.
Cristiano Ronaldo of Al-Nassr and Ivan Toney of Al Ahli.
At the 2026 Algarve Tournament, the spotlight naturally followed Cristiano Ronaldo Jr., yet another young name with a legendary surname quietly stole headlines by lifting his first international trophy — and doing so with a different national team than many expected.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcelo have shaped modern soccer history with their achievements on the biggest stages, but now their sons are beginning to carve out their own paths in the game. At the 2026 Algarve Tournament, the spotlight naturally followed Cristiano Ronaldo Jr., yet another young name with a legendary surname quietly stole headlines by lifting his first international trophy — and doing so with a different national team than many expected.
The tournament became a showcase of soccer’s next generation, with youth academies and national team structures pushing new talents into the limelight. While Ronaldo Jr. offered flashes of promise, it was Marcelo’s son, Enzo Alves, who delivered a decisive statement that hinted at a future star emerging beyond the shadow of his father.
The Algarve International Tournament served as a key developmental step for Cristiano Ronaldo Jr., who represented the Portugal youth national team. He made an early impression in the opening match, coming on as a substitute against Japan and immediately adding attacking impetus.
His first start came against the Netherlands, where he played roughly 45 minutes on the left wing. Analysts highlighted his improved tactical discipline, intelligent movement, and willingness to combine with teammates rather than relying solely on individual flair. Portugal secured a narrow win, and Ronaldo Jr.’s performance reflected steady development within a structured system.
Cristiano Ronaldo Jr. in action for Portugal U-16
In the final against Germany, he came off the bench as the Selecao secured a victory to lift the tournament’s U-16 trophy. While he did not register a goal or assist in the decisive match, his contribution across the tournament formed part of an unbeaten campaign that added another youth title to his growing résumé.
The breakthrough of Marcelo’s son
However, the Algarve tournament produced another headline story, one that resonated across youth soccer circles and social media alike. In the middle of the competition, it became clear that Enzo Alves, the son of Marcelo, had lifted his first international trophy not with Brazil, but with Spain’s U-17 national team.
The young striker delivered a defining performance in a dominant 7-0 victory over Finland, scoring a brace that helped secure the Algarve International Tournament title. The result crowned his national team champions on goal difference, highlighting both their attacking ruthlessness and mental strength under pressure.
Enzo Alves lifting the 2026 Algarve International Trophy with Spain U-17
Developed in the Real Madrid academy, Enzo Alves displayed a blend of finishing instinct, dribbling ability, and creativity; traits reminiscent of the attacking soccer environment he grew up in. Yet his performances suggested he is more than just a famous surname.
New narrative beyond the surname
The tournament triumph was not simply about one player. The national team produced a collective statement, delivering a ruthless attacking display that reflected both identity and evolution in youth soccer philosophy.
Since the current coaching staff took over, the team has remained unbeaten with nine wins and one draw, a statistic that has fueled optimism ahead of the upcoming elite qualifying round for the U-17 European Championship. For Enzo Alves, the Algarve triumph represents a symbolic turning point.
Marcelo and his son Enzo Alves
Much like Cristiano Ronaldo Jr., he has lived under constant scrutiny due to his famous father. However, his brace in the final and the title-winning campaign have begun to shift perceptions. Rather than being seen solely as Marcelo’s son, he is increasingly viewed as a forward capable of defining his generation. His technical profile, creativity, and finishing ability suggest a player with genuine potential to shape youth soccer narratives.
Cristiano Ronaldo (L) of Real Madrid CF celebrates scoring with teammate Marcelo (R)
In an exclusive interview, Barcelona presidential candidate Xavier Vilajoana discusses Joan Laporta’s management, Lionel Messi’s departure, La Masia’s decline, Lamine Yamal, and his vision for the club’s future.
Unlike clubs such as Manchester City, PSG, and Manchester United,FC Barcelona operate under a rather particular management model. As they are owned by their 141,390 members, they have the power to elect the president who will lead the club every six years. In 2021, Joan Laporta took the reins of the club, but he recently stepped down in pursuit of re-election. In this context, Xavier Vilajoana has taken on significant prominence as a presidential candidate.
Vilajoana has spent more than 20 years at Barcelona, first as part of the squad as a player and later serving as a board member under Joan Laporta, Sandro Rosell, and even Josep Maria Bartomeu. With his experience, Xavier is now positioning himself as a candidate for the presidency. At World Soccer Talk, he chose to grant us an exclusive interview, discussing key aspects of his electoral campaign, addressing Joan Laporta’s management, Lionel Messi, La Masia, and several other relevant topics.
Xavier Vilajoana has spent over 20 years at FC Barcelona
WST: Could you tell us more about your roles during the presidencies of Joan Laporta, Sandro Rosell, and Josep Maria Bartomeu?
Vilajoana:“During Laporta’s first term, I was responsible for futsal, with the goal of professionalizing the section. Since I had retired two years earlier as a futsal player and team captain, I took on that role. Then, in 2010, Sandro Rosell brought me back for the same purpose: to support the section. That was when the futsal team won its first two Champions League titles. In 2015, I became responsible for youth football, La Masia, and the women’s team.”
Barcelona presidential candidate Xavier Vilajoana speaking infront of an audience.
WST: Did any of that experience with previous presidents motivate you to become a candidate for the presidency of Barcelona?
Vilajoana:“I believe that in a club like Barça, having a joint vision and a transversal vision is very important. Knowing the club in all its areas and, in the end, completing a kind of life cycle. I think the best way to continue serving the club is as president. There are always aspects left to contribute. Also, the club is not made up of isolated departments, but rather communicating vessels: the economic side, the sporting side, and the social side. I believe this is the way to complement and contribute all the knowledge and experience.”
Vilajoana delivers bold take on Joan Laporta’s tenure
WST: How do you assess Joan Laporta’s management in recent years?
Vilajoana: “What this board (Laporta’s) has done in recent years is the following: they have not been able to apply the 1:1 rule since they took over, and they have accumulated losses of nearly €300 million while selling assets and bringing forward revenues worth €900 million. We are talking about a board that, in four years, would have lost €1 billion, which is the current value of the first-team squad.
That is not opinion, those are official club figures. We are talking about stagnant ordinary revenues, with virtually no innovation in revenue streams. Everything was bet, at the time, on the exploitation of the Camp Nou. Barcelona is much more than that, or at least it should be. This board has been incapable, over all these years, of rethinking the model.
Ordinary revenues are the same as pre-pandemic levels. And people should also be told that we went through a terrible pandemic that caused a drop in revenues of almost €400 million, which brutally affected all European clubs. The difference is that clubs in Europe, since they have shareholders, asked for capital increases. But that is part of Barça’s unique model, which belongs to its members.”
Barcelona’s ownership model is non-negotiable
WST: Do you believe Barcelona should move toward a hybrid ownership model, like Bayern Munich?
Vilajoana:“No, that is non-negotiable. I also believe that our club model and legal structure are not incompatible with efficiency and sustainability. A brand like Barça has the potential to compete at the level of clubs that are privately owned or state-owned. Without any doubt. In fact, we have done so throughout our history.
Only in recent years have we been unable to sign players as we wish and have been constrained. Therefore, I believe the legal debate should not exist. This is about efficient management, surrounding yourself with the best professionals, and thinking about serving the club. I don’t believe the model is the problem—actually, I know it is not.”
Lionel Messi’s departure and his potential comeback
WST: Do you believe there was a possibility of renewing Lionel Messi’s contract despite the club’s financial urgency?
Vilajoana:“Definitely, yes—Messi could have been renewed. The problem is that he was not renewed before June 30, 2021. From that point on, he became a new signing. That is a very important factor, because from there the 1+1 rule came into play in a different way. An attempt was made to renew him as a new signing. This was negligence on the part of the president (Joan Laporta) and the board of directors. Negligence.
Then, looking at the facts, the economic excuse was extremely cheap. Because if the solution to Barça’s problems was not renewing Leo Messi, where is that economic solution? Where has it been seen? We have just said that if they had not sold certain assets, they would have lost €1 billion. So where is it? Therefore, I sincerely believe it was a cheap excuse. This would have to be explained by the current president. It was not an economic reason.”
Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona faces the media during a press conference at Nou Camp.
WST: We know that Lionel Messi’s return as a player is difficult due to his contract with Inter Miami until 2028, but do you have a plan for his return in another role?
Vilajoana:“Leo is Barça and Barça is Leo. I was lucky enough to coincide with him for five years, and I believe his image or name should not be used for electoral gain. That would be a major mistake. I know him very well. He is a mature and intelligent person.
He will come back when he wants, and with any president—except the current one, who has already shown that he does not want him, and that if he were to come back under him, it would be at night. That must be very clear. I am very clear about it because I know him.
He will come when he wants, where he feels comfortable, and where he can contribute the most to the club. It is a matter of talking it through. Obviously, you can set certain red lines. I already have an idea of what he likes, but it would be somewhat opportunistic, knowing him, to use that kind of information. I keep it to myself because I know that, in due time, it will happen.”
Vilajoana criticizes Joan Laporta’s management of La Masia
WST: How do you assess La Masia’s management since your departure?
Vilajoana:“It has gone downhill. And we are seeing it. If La Masia ends up being the solution to everything, I always say it should not be the solution, it should be the priority. Always look at home first, and if pieces are missing or players need to be complemented, then look outside. In recent years, investment in La Masia, in player development, has been cut by nearly 40%.
That shows what is really thought of it. I believe they are mistaken. They think talent sometimes develops on its own, that it evolves on its own, and that it doesn’t need close attention. That is not true. It’s not just about finding talent, but about training it and helping it grow so that, when the time comes for the first team, the player is ready. That is exactly what has happened in recent years. Nobody thought Cubarsí, Gavi, or Balde would be there just because they had talent. They were worked on, trained, and prepared for when this moment arrived.”
WST: How would you explain to fans that investment in La Masia dropped by 40%, yet talents like Pau Cubarsí, Gavi, Fermín López, and even Lamine Yamal emerged?
Vilajoana:“These players were found. In fact, they were found already prepared. I am delighted that they have established themselves and that the first-team coach has given them opportunities. I am delighted because, selfishly speaking, well-done work bears fruit. And the work done in the past is reflected now.
What happens is that the lack of work now will be noticed in the coming years. In the end, results come after sustained work. If that work stops, and right now La Masia is at risk, we will notice it later. Then we will pull our hair out. We have to be very careful and very responsible—and they have not been.”
Xavier Vilajoana’s key role in Lamine Yamal’s move to La Masia
WST: How was Lamine Yamal La Masia’s arrival process handled at a family, sporting, and personal level?
Vilajoana:“I have always said that I don’t like to take credit. Not because recognition isn’t nice—it is—but it’s not my goal. Whenever I have been at the club, it has been because the club called me, needed me, and thought I could contribute my knowledge and experience, and there I was. With Lamine, I like to emphasize the more personal and formative aspect—helping the person more than the player. Well-formed players are always better players.
I believe it is the club’s responsibility not only to help players grow and protect them sportingly, but also personally and familially. At the time, Lamine was going through a complicated situation, as his parents were separating, which affects any child. We decided to break internal club rules and convince his parents to let him stay overnight at La Masia, to give him structure and closer personal follow-up because we believed he needed it as a child. In the end, time has proven us right.”
WST: We also witnessed the departure of Ilaix Moriba. Why did he leave the club?
Vilajoana:“With Ilaix, it is something I include in my program: At those ages, players sare still children. Then there are agents and agreements that parents reach with agents. That famous ‘environment,’ which is difficult to manage because, in many cases—especially with agents—the priority is not the player but the economic aspect, since they make a living from it. I don’t believe that helps the player.
We encountered that problem quite often. In the end, it was the player’s decision, conditioned or not, and he ultimately signed for RB Leipzig. The positive thing is that La Masia is a great academy that must continue producing talent, and it does. Therefore, we don’t need to tear our clothes over a player leaving or staying.”
La Masia as a cornerstone on Vilajoana’s project
WST: Are decisions to renew La Masia players made by the coach or by the board? We saw the departures of Nico González and Marc Cucurella.
Vilajoana:“It is neither one nor the other on their own. The club has the ability to set a line and a strategy. Mine has always been—and will always be—that the priority is homegrown players.
Two or three players per position are made available to the first-team coach, and it is discussed with him. But it cannot be that he dismisses 100% of the players presented to him. There must always be an initial trial under the coach.
On paper, it is difficult to measure whether a player will perform at the first-team level, because other factors come into play, such as pressure and how it is handled. All of them have potential, but performance is only shown by testing it.”
WST: We have seen world-class players like Lionel Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Pedrito González, Busquets, Gavi, Balde, Lamine, and others, La Masia has always struggled to produce forwards. Why?
Vilajoana:“Because it is one of the most complicated positions in our style of play. Think about the profile required: a player who can combine, create space, play in tight areas—because in positional football at Barça you usually pin teams back—and also score goals.
Writing the letter to the Three Wise Men is easy, but getting all the gifts you ask for is difficult. These things have to be worked on, but it is not easy, because goals cannot be trained too much. That famous goal instinct—you either have it or you don’t. Everything else can be worked on.”
Harry Kane’s potential arrival
WST: Do you think there is still a possibility of signing Harry Kane? Because according to Max Eberl, Bayern Munich’s sporting director, his release clause has already expired.
Vilajoana:“This ultimately has to be discussed, because it depends on the player’s willingness. When I mentioned Harry Kane, it was because we are looking at different profiles, and we believe he is a very interesting profile for Barcelona.
From there, there have been approaches.We agree on the type of player that fits us, but there are others, in different positions, that we believe need strengthening after looking at the players coming through La Masia and analyzing the potential market.”
Hansi Flick’s future may rest in his own hands
WST: Do you consider Hansi Flick to be the ideal coach for Barcelona? Would you seek continuity or opt for another profile?
Vilajoana:“He has a contract (which expires in June 2027) and he is doing well. It is not easy to get performances out of such young players. What is true is that Hansi needs reinforcement from the club, and he has not been given it. When in January you need to sign players and, with all due respect, the reinforcement is João Cancelo—I do not doubt his quality—but I believe there should have been much stronger options.
I think what works must be reinforced, and what doesn’t work must be changed. In this case, Hansi has understood the club’s philosophy, is getting good performances, but I believe he needs support because there is room for improvement.”
Barcelona presidential candidate Xavier Vilajoana speaking infront of an audience.
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Trendyol Süper Lig'in 23. haftasında sahasında Kocaelispor'u 2-0 yenen Çaykur Rizespor'da teknik direktör Recep Uçar, uzun zamandır taraftarları mutlu edemediklerini, bugün itibarıyla onları da mutlu ettiklerini söyledi.
Uçar, maçın ardından düzenlenen basın toplantısında, önceki maçlarda genel olarak iyi oyunlar ortaya koyduklarını ama sonuca yansıtmakta zorlandıklarını belirtti.
Son haftalarda kazanamadıklarını dile getiren Uçar, "Bunun bilinciyle hazırlandığımız bir maçtı. Belki geçen haftaki 2-0'dan dönüş, 2-2'ye geliş bizim adımıza bir sinyal, mesaj olmuştu. Belki bazı yeni başlangıçların, bazı şeylerin miladı olabilecek, tetikleyebilecek bir kıvılcım olabilecek bir sonuç olarak değerlendirmiştim." dedi.
Uçar, evlerinde uzun süredir kazanamadıklarını aktararak, "Mutlak kazanmak parolasıyla çıktığımız bir maç. Diğer maçlardan farklı olarak belki iyi başladığımız, iyi götürdüğümüz, bence hem de iyi de bitirdiğimiz bir maç oldu. Bundan dolayı oyuncularımı canı gönülden, yürekten kutluyorum. Uzun zamandır taraftarlarımızı mutlu edemiyorduk. Bugün itibarıyla onları da mutlu ettik. Ondan dolayı mutluyuz." ifadelerini kullandı.
Kocaelispor'un ligin iyi takımlarından birisi olduğunu vurgulayan Uçar, sözlerini şöyle sürdürdü:
"Şu anda 30 puanda, ligin en az gol yiyen takımlarından. İyi oyuncuları ve oyun gücü olan bir takımdı. Evimizde baskılı bir oyunla oynamak istiyorduk ve nitekim öyle başladık. Mihaila'nın bulduğu golle öne geçtik. Sonrasında geri çekilmedik. Gerek oyun kurulumunda onların nasıl basabileceğini öngörüyorduk. Birkaç planımızda vardı. Genel olarak üçüncü bölgeye kolay gittiğimiz bir oyundu ama maalesef yine bizim belki en büyük sorunumuz sezon başından beri benden önce benim olduğum süreçte de sonlandıramamak. Sonlandırabilsek devreye biraz daha farklı girebilirdik. İkinci yarıda geriye çekilmeden oynamak istiyorduk. Nitekim öyle aynı mantalite ile başladık."
Maçta 2-0 öne geçtiklerini ve skoru korumasını bildiklerini kaydeden Uçar, "Bundan dolayı hak edilmiş bir üç puan bence. Her yönüyle daha iyi mücadele eden, daha iyi oynayan daha iyi savunma yapan takımın bugün üç puan aldığını düşünüyorum." diye konuştu.
Uçar, Kocaelispor'un bugüne kadar çıktığı müsabakalardan farklı olarak daha ofansif bir 11'le sahayı çıktığına işaret ederek, genel itibarıyla bugün uzun bir aradan sonra gol yemeden bitirebilmenin güzel olduğunun altını çizdi.
Haftaya Kasımpaşa ile mücadele edeceklerini anımsatan Uçar, "İyi transferler yapan bir Kasımpaşa deplasmanımız var. Umarım Gençlerbirliği'ni ve bu maçı milat kabul edip, geri kalan bölümde hem iyi oyunlar, hem iyi sonuçlar alarak camiamızın yüzünü güldürmeye devam ederiz." şeklinde konuştu.
Maçta bütün oyuncularının iyi oynadığına dikkati çeken Uçar, "Şurada da zorlandığımı açık ve net söyleyeyim. Yani oyun bizim adımıza iyi gidiyor. Onlar değişiklik yapıyor. Ama sahadaki performanslardan genel olarak memnun olduğum için 70'inci dakikaya kadar da değişiklik yapacak şey bulamadım. Biraz Mihaila olduğu için ilk planda Zeqiri değişikliği yaptık." dedi.
Uçar, Ali Sowe'un da oyunda olmadığını, bunun kendisi tarafından alınan teknik bir karar olduğunu anlatarak, "Açık ve net söyleyeyim, Ali Sowe önemli bir oyuncumuz. Bundan sonra da bize ciddi katkılar sağlayacak. Ama bana göre kendisi için de takım için de doğrusu buydu. Bazen ileri gidebilmek için bir geri adım atmak iyi olur. Ama aldığımız bütün kararları Rizespor'un menfaati için alıyoruz. Ali Sowe da Taha da kadromuzda bulunan bütün oyuncuların da bundan sonraki süreçte bize katkı sağlayacaklarını düşünüyorum." değerlendirmesinde bulundu.
Uzun zamandır kazanamamanın kendilerini üzdüğünü belirten Uçar, "Belki hepimizi geriyordu. Belki öz güvenimizi aşağıya çekiyordu. Kolay değil bu süreçleri yönetebilmek, oyuncular açısından da kolay değil. Bizler açısından da kolay değil. Ama şükürler olsun bugün itibarıyla 24 puana çıktık. Geçen haftaki bir puan da değerliydi. Daha yolumuz uzun, kazanılacak çok maçlar var." dedi.
Fenerbahçe, Kante'ye imza attırarak sadece bir yıldız transfer etmedi, Avrupa'nın en yüksek maaşlı 34 yaş üstü oyuncusunu kadrosuna kattı. Ronaldo, Messi ve Benzema'nın ardından dünyanın en çok kazanan kıdemli yıldızı olan Kante, 57 milyon Euro'luk paketiyle Avrupa'nın zirvesine oturdu. Ittihad'ın indirim talebini reddeden Fransız yıldız, Fenerbahçe ile tarihi bir sözleşmeye imza atarak hem servetini hem de rekabetçi ruhunu tazeledi.
Fenerbahçe dünyaca ünlü Fransız yıldız Kante transferiyle futbol dünyasını sallamaya devam ediyor. Al-Ittihad’dan ayrılıp rotasını İstanbul’a kıran tecrübeli yıldız, saha içindeki performansıyla değil, imzaladığı dev sözleşmeyle de tarihe geçti.
Kante, Fenerbahçe ile yaptığı 2.5 yıllık anlaşma sonucunda toplamda 57 milyon Euro’ya ulaşabilecek dev bir servetin sahibi olacak.
- 2.5 yıl için toplam 41.9 milyon Euro net maaş.
- Sezon başına yaklaşık 5 milyon Euro değerinde performans primi.
- Eğer Fenerbahçe bu süreçte 3 lig şampiyonluğu yaşar ve 2 kez Şampiyonlar Ligi'ne katılım sağlarsa, Kante’nin cebine 15 milyon Euro ekstra girecek.
Bu sözleşme ile Kante, dünya futbolunda 34 yaş üstü olup en çok kazanan futbolcular listesinde 4. sıraya yerleşti. Avrupa'da ise zirvede yer aldı. Önünde sadece Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo ve Karim Benzema bulunuyor. Ancak 3'ü de Avrupa'da oynamıyor. Kante maaşıya Robert Lewandowski ve Neymar gibi yıldızları geride bıraktı.
Al-Ittihad, Kante’ye 2 yıllık yeni bir sözleşme teklif etmiş ancak yaşı nedeniye yıllık 25 milyon Euro olan kazancını 15 milyon Euro’ya düşürmeyi teklif etmişti. Suudi Arabistan'da kalsaydı 2 yılda toplam 30 milyon Euro kazanacaktı. Kante, Türkiye’ye gelerek hem finansal olarak çok daha karlı bir anlaşmaya imza attı hem de Avrupa futbolunun heyecanına geri döndü.
Yeni macerasına hızlı bir giriş yapan Kante, taraftara ve geleceğine dair umutlu konuştu:
- Fenerbahçe'ye alışıyorum, çok sıcak bir karşılama aldım. Beklentilerin farkındayım ve umarım hedeflerimize ulaşırız. Suudi Arabistan benim için iyi bir deneyimdi ama Türkiye başka bir meydan okuma, başka bir macera.
- Dünya Kupası bambaşka bir seviye. Buna teknik direktör karar verecek ama ben şu an sadece kulübüme ve lige odaklanmış durumdayım.
Galatasaray, Juventus zaferiyle "Avrupa Fatihi" kimliğini perçinleyip camiayı kenetlerken; Fenerbahçe'de Nottingham şoku, şampiyonluk hasretiyle birleşen sabır taşını çatlatmak üzere. Fotospor danışmanı, spor psikoloğu Aylin Çevikkaya, ezeli rakiplerin ruh halini ve bekleyen tehlikeleri analiz etti.
Galatasaray’ın Şampiyonlar Ligi'nde Juventus gibi bir devi 5-2 ile geçmesi ve Fenerbahçe’nin sahasında Nottingham Forest’a 3-0 mağlup olması, saha içinden ziyade saha dışı dinamikleri nasıl etkileyecek?
Fotospor danışmanı ve spor psikoloğu Aylin Çevikkaya süreci psikolojik olarak değerlendirdi.
Fenerbahçe'de "Dev Koalisyon" için düğmeye basıldığı iddia ediliyor. Gelen haberlere göre Aziz Yıldırım ve Hakan Bilal Kutlualp aynı masada! 200 milyon Euro bütçe taahhüdüyle yola çıkan Hakan Bilal Kutlualp'in, efsane başkan Aziz Yıldırım ve kulübün ağır toplarıyla bir araya gelerek seçim startını verdiği iddia edildi.
Fenerbahçe camiası, sezon sonunda yapılacak genel kurul öncesinde hareketli günler geçiriyor. Kulüp kulislerinden sızan son iddialar, dengeleri tamamen değiştirecek devasa bir koalisyonun sinyallerini veriyor.
Seçim sürecinin en dikkat çeken ismi haline gelen Hakan Bilal Kutlualp'in, Fenerbahçe'nin efsane başkanı Aziz Yıldırım'ı kendi yanına çekmeyi başardığı iddia ediliyor. Taraftarın ve camianın da sevdiği Kutlualp'in seçimlere 200 milyon Euro gibi devasa bir bütçe taahhüdüyle girmeye hazırlandığı bir süredir zaten konuşuluyordu.
Kulislerdeki iddiaları güçlendiren en somut gelişme ise geçtiğimiz günlerde gerçekleştiği söylenen zirve oldu. Fenerbahçe’nin önde gelen isimleri bir araya geldi.
- Aziz Yıldırım
- Tahir Kıran
- Hakan Bilal Kutlualp
- Aykut Kocaman, Oğuz Çetin ve Cemil Turan
Bu geniş katılımlı buluşma, camiada "seçim startı verildi" şeklinde yorumlandı.
Son seçinde Sadettin Saran’ı seçtiren Hakan Bilal Kutlualp’in, Saran’ın seçim kararı sonrası hayal kırıklığı yaşadığı ve artık kesin olarak sezon sonunda bir değişim yaşanacağına inandığı belirtiliyor.
Kutlualp'in seçilmesi durumunda futbol şubesinin başına camianın efsane ismi Aykut Kocaman’ı getirmeyi de planladığı belirtiliyor.
Galatasaray, Napoli ile Noa Lang pazarlığında masayı yeniden kurdu! İtalyanların 30 milyon Euro'luk taksitli planına karşı yönetim, 20 milyon Euro nakit teklifiyle 'Hemen tapu' harekatını başlattı. Ailesini İstanbul'a getiren 'Hollandalı Neymar' için geri sayım başladı.
Galatasaray gelecek sezonu düşünmeye şimdiden başladı. Napoli'de eleştiri oklarının hedefi olan ancak sarı-kırmızılı formayla çıktığı ilk maçlarda devleşen Noa Lang, hem saha içinde hem de saha dışında tamamen İstanbul’a odaklanmış durumda.
Noa Lang, Türkiye’ye sadece oynamaya değil, yerleşmeye geldi. Hollandalı yıldız, eşini ve iki çocuğunu da İstanbul’a getirerek kariyerine Galatasaray’da devam etmek isteğini kanıtladı. Oyuncunun bu hamlesi, kulüple olan bağlarını şimdiden güçlendirmiş durumda.
Napoli Başkanı De Laurentiis ile yürütülen görüşmelerde finansal detaylar şekillendi. Mevcut sözleşmeye göre Galatasaray, Lang'ın bonservisini almak isterse 30 milyon euro'yu 3 eşit taksitte ödeyecek.
Galatasaray yönetimi ise rakamı 20 milyon euro bandına çekip bu tutarı "tek seferde nakit" ödeyerek transferi bitirmeyi hedefliyor. Amaç De Laurentiis’i taksit zahmetinden kurtarıp indirim koparmak.
Napoli Sportif Direktörü Giovanni Manna, Lang’ı transfer ettiği için "karaktersiz ve etkisiz bir oyuncu aldığı" gerekçesiyle sert eleştiriliyordu. Ancak Lang, Şampiyonlar Ligi play-off maçında Juventus’a attığı iki golle tüm bu eleştirileri tersine çevirdi.
La Gazzetta dello Sport, Napoli’nin oyuncuyu sadece 6 ay sonra gönderme kararını sorgulamaya başladı. Türkiye’de taraftarların "Hollandalı Neymar" yakıştırması yaptığını iddia ederek, Lang'ın yarattığı etkinin büyüklüğünü okurlarına anlattı.
Noa Lang, zorlu Juventus maçında aldığı "intikamla" hem Avrupa’da hem de Türkiye’de rüştünü ispatladı.
Galatasaray yönetimi, İtalyan ekibindeki bu kafa karışıklığını fırsata çevirip bonservis operasyonunu noktalamak istiyor.
İngiliz basını, İstanbul'da dağılan Fenerbahçe'yi yerden yere vurdu. "Yırtık para gibi yapıştırılmış bir takım!" ifadesi dikkat çekti. Kante ve Asensio gibi yıldızlar için "içi geçmiş veteranlar" benzetmesi yapıldı. İngilizlere göre Vitor Pereira, eski evinde Nottingham Forest ile tarihi bir zafere imza attı.
Fenerbahçe'nin Avrupa arenasındaki ağır mağlubiyeti, İngiliz medyasında geniş yankı buldu. Özellikle Nottingham Forest’ın yeni teknik direktörü Vitor Pereira’nın tanıdık olduğu bu atmosferden zaferle çıkması ve Fenerbahçe’nin "yıldızlar topluluğu" görüntüsünün kağıt üzerinde kalması manşetlere taşındı.
İngiliz medyası, Fenerbahçe’nin yüksek profilli kadrosunun saha içindeki uyumsuzluğuna ve fiziksel dirençsizliğine odaklandı. Haberlerdeki ortak vurgu; isimlerin büyüklüğünün, sahadaki organize oyunu karşılamaya yetmediği yönünde oldu.
Nottingham Post, maç öncesi duyulan "İstanbul deplasmanı" korkusunun yerini rahat bir galibiyete bıraktığını belirtti. Kante ve Asensio gibi isimlerin performansları üzerinden "futbolda geçmiş yoktur" (sadece bugüne bakılır) yorumu yapıldı. Fenerbahçe’nin oyun yapısı, ne yaptığı belli olmayan ve zoraki bir araya getirilmiş "yırtık bir paraya" benzetildi. Eski teknik direktör Vitor Pereira’nın stadı ve camiayı yakından tanımasının, Forest için büyük bir avantaja dönüştüğü vurgulandı.
Telegraph, Fenerbahçe’nin ligdeki yenilgisiz unvanının Avrupa arenasında bir karşılığı olmadığını yazdı. Forest’ın tecrübeli oyuncularının İstanbul’da sergilediği özgüven övüldü. Fenerbahçe'nin kendi taraftarı önünde çok daha ağır bir skorla mağlup olmaktan "şans eseri" kurtulduğu ifade edildi.
Sky Sports, "Pereira İçin Rüya Başlangıç" derken Sean Dyche’ın ayrılığından sadece dört gün sonra göreve gelen Pereira’nın performansı "etkileyici" olarak nitelendirildi. Üç maçlık galibiyet hasretinin İstanbul gibi zorlu bir deplasmanda, gol yemeden sonlandırılması City Ground’daki yeni dönem için umut verici bulundu.
BBC, Fenerbahçe’nin son üç yıldaki en ağır iç saha yenilgisini almasında Forest’ın bireysel performanslarına dikkat çekti. Murillo’nun dönüşüyle savunmanın sağlamlaştığı belirtildi. Sangare ve Elliot Anderson’ın oyunun temelini kurduğu vurgulandı. Igor Jesus ve Morgan Gibbs-White arasındaki uyumun, Fenerbahçe savunmasını çaresiz bıraktığı ifade edildi.
Maçın Adamı Morgan Gibbs-White'ın şu sözleri öne çıktı:
- Bugün sahada gerçek bir kimliğimiz vardı. İnanılmaz savunduk, çok ürettik; hatta daha fazlasını da atabilirdik.
Asıl hedef Noa Lang değildi, Okan Buruk'un gerçek prensi İtalya'da ortaya çıktı! Galatasaray'ın Roma kapısından dönen dev transfer operasyonunun tüm detayları deşifre oldu. Eğer Matías Soulé ile imzalar atılsaydı, bugün Noa Lang'ın patlaması belki de hiç konuşulmayacaktı!
İtalyan basınına yansıyan haberler, Galatasaray'ın transfer operasyonlarına dair çarpıcı bir gerçeği ortaya çıkardı. Corriere dello Sport kaynaklı habere göre Galatasaray, sağ kanat için Noa Lang'dan önce AS Roma forması giyen Arjantinli genç yetenek Matías Soulé için resmi bir girişimde bulundu. Ancak İtalyan kulübü bu teklifi geri çevirdi.
Sadece Galatasaray değil; Borussia Dortmund ve bazı Premier Lig ekipleri de oyuncu için devreye girdi. Fakat AS Roma yönetiminin oyuncusuna olan güvenini koruyarak tüm teklifleri masadan kaldırdığı ifade edildi.
Eski bir Juventus oyuncusu olan Soulé, bu sezon sergilediği istatistiklerle dikkat çekiyor. 2.307 dakikada 7 gol ve 6 asistle oynadı. Arjantinli kanat oyuncusunun son dönemdeki form düşüşünün arkasında ise kronikleşen bir kasık ağrısı olduğu ortaya çıktı.
Friedkin ailesinin özel güvenini kazanan ve St. Moritz'den gelen dünyaca ünlü uzman Dr. Ahlbäumer, AS Roma tesislerine giderek oyuncuyu özel olarak inceledi.
Sağlık heyetinin raporuna göre, Soulé bir süredir bu ağrılarla mücadele etmesine rağmen Roma yönetimi oyuncuyu "satılamaz" listesinde tutmaya devam ediyor.
Galatasaray eğer Soule'yi transfer etseydi belki de bu günlerde adı sık sık konuşulan Noa Lang'ı almayacaktı.
Süper Lig'i ve Avrupa'yı sallayan Victor Osimhen için geri sayım başladı. Napoli'de hayal edilen 130 milyon Euro'luk rekor bonservis bedeli, Galatasaray'ın Şampiyonlar Ligi'ndeki tarihi yürüyüşüyle gerçeğe mi dönüşüyor? Al-Hilal 70 milyon Euro ile pusuda beklerken, Nijeryalı yıldızın değeri her geçen gün katlanıyor.
Galatasaray taraftarın sevgilisi Victor Osimhen, transfer piyasasını altüst etmeye devam ediyor. Nijeryalı yıldızın kariyer planlaması ve bonservis bedeli hakkındaki iddialar futbolun gündeminden düşmüyor.
Suudi Arabistan ekibi Al-Hilal, Osimhen sevdasından vazgeçmiş değil. Nijerya basınında çıkan haberlere göre; Arap ekibi, golcü oyuncu için 70 milyon Euro'yu kasasında hazır tutuyor.
Al-Hilal’in stratejisi ise sabır üzerine kurulu... Osimhen, Galatasaray'da 3-4 sezon daha forma giyse dahi, "Suudi Ligi zamanı geldiğinde" istenen bonservisi ile alacaklarından eminler.
İlginç bir detay ise Osimhen'in piyasa değeriyle ilgili. Napoli ile Serie A şampiyonluğu yaşadığı dönemde 130 milyon Euro gibi astronomik rakamlar konuşulsa da, bu bedeli resmileştirecek bir teklif gelmemişti. Ancak uzmanlar, Nijeryalı yıldızın asıl patlamayı bu sezon sonunda yapabileceğini öngörüyor.
Galatasaray'ın Avrupa arenasındaki başarısı bu rakamı hayallerin ötesine taşıyabilir. Sarı-kırmızılıların önce Juventus'u, ardından muhtemel rakipler Liverpool veya Tottenham'dan birini elemesi durumunda, Osimhen için telaffuz edilecek rakamların tahmin edilemez boyutlara ulaşacağı belirtiliyor.
Nijeryalı eski milli oyuncu Odion Ighalo da konuyla ilgili Winwin'e dikkat çeken açıklamalarda bulundu:
- Benim için keşke Al-Hilal'e gitseydi; ancak Galatasaray büyük bir kulüp, Türkiye'nin en büyüğü. Şampiyonlar Ligi'nde yer alıyorlar ve çok iyi performans sergiliyorlar.
- Belki şu an değil ama Galatasaray'daki deneyimi sona erdikten sonra ilerleyen zamanlarda Al-Hilal'e geçebilir.
Dünya yıldızı Mesut Özil, Bangladeş'teki Cox's Bazar mülteci kampında Rohingyalı futbolcularla bir araya geldi. Maçın başlama düdüğünden önce taktik disiplini unutup telefonlarına sarılan futbolcu ve hakemler, Özil ile selfie çekilmek için adeta birbirleriyle yarıştı. Zorlu yaşam koşullarının ortasında futbolun birleştirici gücüyle yeşeren bu saf mutluluk, saha dışındaki iftar sofrasında kurulan gönül köprüleriyle perçinlendi.
Mesut Özil'in Bangladeş'teki Rohingyalı mültecilerin kaldığı kampı ziyaret etmesi sadece bir insani yardım gezisi değil, aynı zamanda futbolun birleştirici gücünü gösteren unutulmaz anlara sahne oldu.
Maçın başlama düdüğünden hemen önce yeşil sahada alışılagelmişin dışında bir manzara vardı. Genelde taktik disiplinle poz veren futbolcular ve hakemler, karşılarında dünya yıldızı Mesut Özil’i görünce heyecanlarına yenik düştü. Rohingyalı futbolcular ve maçın hakemleri, Özil ile el sıkışmak ve o anı ölümsüzleştirmek için adeta birbirleriyle yarıştı.
Başlama vuruşu sonrası şortlardan çıkan cep telefonları, mülteci kampındaki zorlu hayatın ortasında küçük ama saf bir mutluluk karesi oluşturdu. Dünyanın en büyük mülteci kamplarından biri olan Cox’s Bazar'da Mesut Özil, sadece bir izleyici olarak değil, sahanın içine girerek bu heyecana ortak oldu.
Özil’e bu anlamlı ziyarette, Türkiye İlim Yayma Vakfı Mütevelli Heyeti Başkanı Necmettin Bilal Erdoğan başkanlığındaki 11 kişilik bir heyet eşlik etti. Heyet, maçın ardından Türk hükümeti tarafından yürütülen insani yardım faaliyetlerini yerinde inceledi.
Futbol heyecanı sahayla sınırlı kalmadı. Maçın yorgunluğu, mülteci kampında kurulan kalabalık bir iftar sofrasında atıldı. Rohingyalı bir futbolcu, yerel BSS News'e "Onunla aynı sahada olabilmek bir hayaldi. Özil’i karşımızda gördüğümüz anı asla unutmayacağız" açıklaması yaptı.
1000'den fazla futbolcunun PFDK'ya sevk edildiği, yıldız isimlerin tutuklandığı dev bahis soruşturmasında ikinci dalga, basketbol parkelerine sıçrıyor. NBA'i sarsan skandalın bir benzeri Türkiye yolunda: Listede sadece dev kulüplerin yıldız oyuncuları değil, ünlü koçlar ve yöneticiler de var!
Türk spor kamuoyu, futbol dünyasını sarsan bahis soruşturmasının ardından şimdi de basketbol parkelerinden gelecek haberlere kilitlenmiş durumda. Futbolda aralarında yıldız isimlerin de bulunduğu çok sayıda tutuklama ve sevk kararı sonrası, operasyonun ikinci dalgasının basketbol liglerini hedef alacağı iddia ediliyor.
Gelen bilgilerine göre, soruşturma aşamasında sadece basketbolcuları değil tüm paydaşları kapsayacak.
İddialar arasında şu isim grupları yer alıyor:
- Basketbol ligindeki kritik öneme sahip yerli ve yabancı oyuncular,
- Hâlihazırda Türkiye’de görev yapan veya yurt dışında çalışan üst düzey koçlar,
- Dev kulüplerin yönetim kademelerinde yer alan yöneticiler.
Operasyonun, 2025 yılı sonlarında NBA'i sarsan Terry Rozier ve Chauncey Billups vakasına benzer bir derinlikte olacağı konuşuluyor. Hatırlanacağı üzere NBA’de patlak veren skandalda, oyuncuların maç içerisindeki spesifik istatistikleri üzerinden kurulan bahis tuzakları deşifre edilmişti.
Türkiye’deki soruşturmada da özellikle şu detayların mercek altına alınacağı belirtiliyor:
- Bir oyuncunun kaç ribaund alacağına dair oynadığı bahisler
- Kaç üçlük atacağına dair oynadığı bahisler,
- Belirli bir periyotta kaç sayı kaydedeceğine dair bahisler.
Bu tür "oyuncu özel bahisleri" üzerinden yapıldığı iddia edilen manipülasyonların, soruşturmanın odak noktasını oluşturduğu gelen bilgiler arasında.
Basketboldaki bu beklenti, futbolda yaşanan ağır tablonun ardından geldi. TFF’nin yürüttüğü soruşturma kapsamında şu ana kadar şu sonuçlar ortaya çıktı:
- 1000'den fazla futbolcu,
- 100'ün üzerinde teknik direktör,
- 500'e yakın kulüp profesyoneli PFDK'ya sevk edildi.
Aralarında Mert Hakan Yandaş ve Metehan Baltacı gibi kamuoyunun yakından tanıdığı isimlerin de bulunduğu çok sayıda futbolcu, soruşturma kapsamında tutuklanarak cezaevine gönderildi. Basketbol camiası, futbolun ardından gelecek bu "ikinci dalga" ile nasıl bir sarsıntı yaşanacağını endişeyle bekliyor.
Fenerbahçe, Olağanüstü Genel Kurul Toplantısı'nın 23 Mart Pazartesi günü saat 14.00'te yapılacağını Kamuoyu Aydınlatma Platformu'na bildirdi.
Fenerbahçe Kulübü, Olağanüstü Genel Kurul Toplantısı'nın tarihiyle ilgili bir açıklama yayınladı.
Kamuoyu Aydınlatma Platformu'na gönderilen açıklamada, toplantının 23 Mart 2026 Pazartesi günü yapılacağı ifade edildi. Chobani Stadyumu'nda gerçekleştirilecek toplantı saat 14.00'te başlayacak.
Sarı-lacivertli kulüpten yapılan açıklamada gündem maddeleri şu şekilde:
1 - Açılış ve toplantı başkanlığının oluşturulması.
2 - Yasal izinlerin alınması kaydıyla Şirket Esas Sözleşmesi'nin; "Şirketin İşletme Konusu" başlıklı 3. Maddesi, "Paylar/Türü ve Grubu" başlıklı 7.maddesi, "Yönetim Kurulunun Oluşum Tarzı, Seçilme Ehliyeti Ve Yönetim Kurulunun Yapısı Ve Bağımsız Yönetim Kurulu Üyeleri İle İlgili Hükümler" başlıklı 12. maddesi, "Yönetim Kurulu Toplantıları, Nisaplar" başlıklı 15. maddesi ve "Kurumsal Yönetim İlkelerine Uyum Ve Uygulanacak Hükümler" başlıklı 36. maddesi ile kayıtlı sermaye tavanının artırılmasına ilişkin "Paylar" başlıklı 6.maddesi tadilinin görüşülerek karara bağlanması.
3 - Şirketimiz Esas Sözleşmesi'nin 12. ve 13. maddeleri gereğince, Türk Ticaret Kanunu'nun 363 üncü maddesi hükmü çerçevesinde Yönetim Kurulu kararı ile yapılan yönetim kurulu üyelik seçimlerinin Genel Kurul onayına sunulması.
Ziraat Bankası Türkiye Kupası'nda Türk Telekom'u yenen Fenerbahçe Beko, kupa finalinde Beşiktaş GAİN'in rakibi oldu.
Ziraat Bankası Türkiye Kupası'nda finalin adı belli oldu. Türk Telekom'u 86-78 yenen Fenerbahçe Beko, finalde Beşiktaş GAİN'in rakibi oldu. Fenerbahçe üst üste üçüncü kez kupa şampiyonluğu için parkeye çıkacak. İki İstanbul devi arasındaki mücadele 22 Şubat Pazar günü saat 20.00'de Sinan Erdem Spor Salonu'nda oynanacak. Karşılaşmanın çeyrek sonuçları şu şekildeydi...
Beşiktaş'ta "Mali Özgürlük" operasyonu için düğmeye basıldı. Siyah-beyazlılar; Beko sponsorluğu, Nike anlaşması ve dev gayrimenkul projelerinden gelecek sıcak parayla Mart ayında Bankalar Birliği defterini tamamen kapatmaya hazırlanıyor.
Beşiktaş ve Fenerbahçe’nin basketbol sponsorluklarındaki hareketlilik, her iki kulübün de mali stratejilerinde önemli bir dönüm noktası olacak.
Beşiktaş Basketbol’da Gain döneminin sona ermesi beklenirken, siyah-beyazlıların yeni ana sponsorunun Beko olacağı konuşuluyor. Uzun yıllardır Fenerbahçe ile özdeşleşen Beko’nun yerini ise sarı-lacivertli camianın köklü destekçisi Ülker’in alması öngörülüyor.
Beşiktaş Başkanı Serdal Adalı, kulübün en büyük mali yükü olan Bankalar Birliği borcunu Mart ayında tamamen kapatmayı hedefliyor. Bu tarihi hamle için kulüp, üç koldan gelen sıcak para girişine güveniyor:
Basketbol branşından gelecek Beko sponsorluk geliri.
Forma tedarikçisi Nike ile yapılan yeni anlaşmadan 15 milyon euro gibi ciddi bir gelir elde edilmesi de bekleniyor.
Emlak Konut ile yürütülen projeden gelecek %20'lik ön ödeme, borç kapatma planının ana sütunlarından birini oluşturuyor.
Dikilitaş Projesi’nden toplamda 150-200 milyon euro arası bir gelir hedefleniyor. Başkan Adalı, bu projeden gelecek ilk kaynağın doğrudan faizli borçların temizlenmesine aktarılacağını belirtmişti.
Fenerbahçe cephesinde ise basketbolun lokomotif sponsoru Beko’nun Beşiktaş’a geçmesiyle doğacak boşluğu, kulübün "basketbol vizyonunu" inşa eden markalardan biri olan Ülker dolduracak. Bu hamle, sarı-lacivertliler için bir anlamda "yuvaya dönüş" olarak nitelendiriliyor.
Beşiktaş ve Trabzonspor arasında kış transfer döneminde Ernest Muci görüşüldü. Sezon başında "İhtiyacım yok, Trabzonspor'a hayırlı olsun" diyen Sergen Yalçın'ın onayıyla geri alma operasyonu başlatan siyah-beyazlı yönetim, bordo-mavili duvarı ve Muci'nin inadını aşamadı.
Beşiktaş ve Trabzonspor arasında Ernest Muci konusunda Ocak ayında sürpriz bir transfer süreci yaşandı. Siyah-beyazlı yönetim, hücum hattındaki boşluğu doldurmak için sürpriz bir hamle yaparak Muci’nin dönmesi için hamle yaptı. Sezon başında Trabzonspor’un ödediği kiralama ücretinin geri verilmesi ve Muci’nin ilk yarıda aldığı tüm maaşın Beşiktaş tarafından üstlenilmesi teklif edildi.
Bu cazip görünümlü teklif, bordo-mavili ekipte karşılık bulmadı. Teknik direktör Fatih Tekke ve Başkan Ertuğrul Doğan, oyuncunun takımdaki rolü nedeniyle bu ayrılığa kesin olarak karşı çıktı.
Operasyonun kilit noktası ise bizzat oyuncunun tavrı oldu. Beşiktaş’ın ilgisine rağmen Ernest Muci’nin, "Beşiktaş’a geri dönmek istemiyorum" diyerek son noktayı koyduğu öğrenildi. Bu gelişmeyle birlikte Beşiktaş’ın geri dönüş operasyonu tamamen rafa kalktı.
Muci’nin geleceği artık tamamen Trabzon’da. 8.5 milyon Euro'luk bonservis bedeli 4 yıla yayılmış 6 taksit halinde ödenecek. Sergen Yalçın’ın "İhtiyacım yok, hayırlı olsun" dediği Muci için Beşiktaş yönetiminin yaptığı son dakika hamlesi, hem kulüp direnci hem de oyuncunun isteksizliği nedeniyle başarısızlıkla sonuçlandı.
Fenerbahçe camiası yıllardır süren başarısızlığın nedenlerini ararken, Meksika Milli Takımı Teknik Direktörü Javier Aguirre'den "acı" bir itiraf geldi! Mourinho ile arasında geçen Edson Álvarez diyaloğunu anlatan Aguirre, sarı-lacivertlilerin transfer süreçlerinin veri ve izleme yerine, sadece bir telefon görüşmesi ve kişisel referanslarla nasıl yönetildiğini gözler önüne serdi.
Fenerbahçe camiasında yıllardır bazı transferlerin nasıl yapıldığını ortaya çıkaran acı bir itiraf geldi. Meksika Milli Takımı Teknik Direktörü Javier Aguirre, sarı-lacivertlilerin yıllarca neden şampiyon olamadığını adeta itiraf eden bir açıklama yaptı.
Aguirre’nin anlattığı hikaye, geçmiş dönemdeki bazı transfer süreçlerinin nasıl bir ağ ve referans sistemiyle işlediğine dair çarpıcı bir örnek sunuyor.
Jorge 'Burro' Van Rankin'e konuşan tecrübeli teknik adam Javier Aguirre, Jose Mourinho ile arasında geçen ve Edson Álvarez’in transfer sürecini belirleyen o telefon görüşmesini şu sözlerle aktardı:
- Mourinho beni bizzat telefonla aradı. 'Javier, bana Edson Álvarez'i öneriyorlar. Onu milli takımdan tanıyorsun, sence nasıl bir oyuncu, hangi pozisyonda oynar?' diye sordu. Ben de ona oyuncunun özelliklerini anlattım. 'Rekabet edebilir mi?' dediğinde, 'Gayet iyi, hiç düşünmeden al onu' cevabını verdim.
Aguirre’nin anlatımına göre süreç olumlu sonuçlandı ancak futbolun cilvesi peşlerini bırakmadı. Edson Álvarez, Aguirre’yi arayarak "Teşekkürler, Mourinho seninle konuştuğunu söyledi" dedi.
Bu arada Mourinho’nun yoğun ısrarıyla gerçekleşen bu transferden sadece bir maç sonra Portekizli teknik adamın görevine son verildi.
Galatasaray karşısında İstanbul'daki 5-2'lik tarihi hezimet Juventus'ta deprem etkisi yarattı. Soyunma odasında kıdemli oyuncular ile gençler arasında sert rüzgarlar esti. Spalletti'nin "Üç adım geri attık" sözleri krizi derinleştirdi.
Juventus cephesinde sular durulmuyor. Şampiyonlar Ligi play-off ilk maçında İstanbul’da alınan 5-2’lik ağır Galatasaray mağlubiyeti, Torino ekibinde taşları yerinden oynattı. Inter ve Galatasaray yenilgileri sonrası İtalyan oyuncular, sezonun geri kalanı için kritik bir "ittifak" kurdu.
Tuttosport’un haberine göre, Galatasaray maçının hemen ardından soyunma odasında sert bir tartışma yaşandı. Takımın liderleri, genç ve tecrübesiz oyuncuları fırçaladı. Gençler de isyan etti. Sonundan ortak bir karar çıktı:
- İstanbul'daki ikinci yarıdaki gibi oynarsak Şampiyonlar Ligi'ne katılamayız. Kendimize gelmeliyiz.
Teknik direktör Luciano Spalletti maç sonu yaptığı "Üç adım geri attık, tavrımızı hemen değiştirmeliyiz" açıklamasıyla oyuncularına olan güveninin sarsıldığını gizlemedi.
Takım içindeki kıdemli oyuncular, özellikle genç isimlerin oyunun ritmini okumakta zorlandığını savunuyor.
Takım içinde yapılan analizlerde şu metafor dikkat çekti:
- Ne zaman kask takıp savaşmaları gerektiğini, ne zaman teknik becerilerini kullanmaları gerektiğini henüz ayıramıyorlar.
Juventus'un öncelikli hedefi ligdeki Como maçını kayıpsız atlatıp, ardından tüm enerjisini Galatasaray rövanşına saklamak. Torino ekibi, 5-2'nin rövanşında bir mucize gerçekleştirmek için şu inanca tutunuyor:
- Takım içindeki tüm gerilimler son buldu; grup hiç olmadığı kadar kenetlenmiş durumda.
- Galatasaray'ın hücum hattının gücü kabul ediliyor ancak savunma zaaflarına odaklanılıyor.
- Soyunma odasında yankılanan son söz ise Galatasaray’ın yenilmez olmadığına dair.
- Osimhen ve takım arkadaşları güçlüler ama mükemmel değiller.
Napoli'yi yıllar sonra şampiyonluk kürsüsüne çıkaran Victor Osimhen, İtalya'dan Galatasaray'a uzanan meşakkatli yolculuğunu bir "haysiyet mücadelesi" olarak tanımladı.
Napoli’yi yıllar sonra şampiyonluk kürsüsüne çıkaran Victor Osimhen'in, İtalya’dan Galatasaray'a uzanan hikayesi aslında bir "haysiyet mücadelesi." Gazzetta dello Sport’a konuşan yıldız oyuncu, parçalıyı giymeden önce geçtiği dikenli yolları, maruz kaldığı ağır muameleyi ve nihayetinde bulduğu huzuru ilk kez bu kadar açık seçik anlattı.
Napoli yönetiminin kendisine karşı olan tutumunun profesyonellik sınırlarını aşan bir boyuta ulaştığını savunan Nijeryalı yıldızın o sözleri:
- Beni her yere göndermeye çalıştılar ve bana köpek gibi davrandılar. Napoli o videoyu (TikTok) yayınladıktan sonra her şey tamamen kırıldı. Irkçı hakaretlerin kurbanı oldum ve kararımı verdim: Ayrılmak istedim.
Haberin devamında şunlar yazıldı:
Napoli'nin yeni hocası Antonio Conte'nin "Kalmanı istiyorum" çağrısına rağmen, Osimhen kendisi için gururun her şeyin önünde olduğunu söyledi. "Mutlu olmadığım bir yerde çalışmak istemiyorum" diyerek rest çekti.
Napoli’nin "kapı dışarı etmeye" çalıştığı o dev yetenek, aradığı saygıyı ve profesyonelliği Galatasaray’da buldu. Meşakkatli yolculuğun sonunda; ırkçılığın, sadakatsizliğin ve "köpek" muamelesinin bittiği yer Galatasaray oldu.
Röportajında "bazı teknik direktörler önce insan olarak gelişmenize yardımcı olur" diyen Osimhen için Galatasaray ve Okan Buruk, sadece bir kulüp ve hoca değil; insani değerlerin yeniden inşa edildiği bir kale.
Süper Lig'de fırtına gibi esen Marco Asensio'ya İspanya'dan kötü haber geldi! Milli takım yetkilisi Karanka'nın 'Türkiye Ligi kriter değil' çıkışı ve Real Betis'in transfer yalanlamasıyla sarsılan yıldız oyuncu için Avrupa defteri de kapanmak üzere. Fenerbahçe'nin Avrupa'daki zor durumu, Asensio'nun milli takım hayallerini tamamen çıkmaza soktu.
Süper Lig'de sergilediği performansla yeniden İspanya Milli Takımı'na döneceği iddia edilen Marco Asensio için İspanya cephesinden gelen açıklamalar, oyuncunun milli takım hayallerine kısa vadede set çekti. Fenerbahçe formasıyla 11 gol ve 8 asistlik (toplamda 19 gol katkısı) müthiş bir istatistik yakalayan Asensio için İspanya Milli Takımı yetkililerinden Karanka, beklentileri düşüren açıklamalarda bulundu.
Karanka, oyuncunun çıkışını yakından takip ettiklerini doğrulasa da Türkiye Ligi’ndeki performansın milli takım seçimi için tek başına yeterli bir kriter olmayacağını savundu.
Türkiye gibi "daha az görünür" kabul edilen liglerdeki oyuncuların kalitesini ölçmek için asıl olarak Avrupa kupası maçlarını baz aldıklarını belirtti.
Asensio'nun İspanya'nın Arjantin ile oynayacağı Süper Final kadrosunda yer alma ihtimalinin şu an için bulunmadığını kesin bir dille ifade etti.
Transfer piyasasında da adı sıkça geçen yıldız oyuncu için İspanyol ekibi Real Betis cephesinden bir hamle geldiği iddia edilmişti. Ancak kulüp bu haberleri kısa sürede noktaladı.
Betis'ten, Asensio için 15 milyon Euro’luk bir teklif yaptıkları yönündeki haberlerin gerçeği yansıtmadığı açıklandı. Kulüp, gelecek sezon için herhangi bir transfer görüşmesine başlamadıklarını vurgulayarak spekülasyonlara son verdi.
Asensio, Türkiye'de küllerinden doğdu. Ancak İspanya teknik heyeti Süper Lig'in seviyesini kriter olarak kabul etmiyor. Oyuncunun milli takıma dönüş bileti Avrupa arenasında göstereceği performansa bağlıydı. Ancak Nottingham Forrest maçından önce yapılan bu açıklama Asensio için kötü haberden de kötü. cÇünkü Fenerbahçe, UEFA Avrupa Ligi'ne (sahasında İngiliz ekibine 3-0 yenildi) veda etmenin eşiğinde.
Voleybolda 2026 Kadınlar AXA Sigorta Kupa Voley çeyrek final karşılaşmaları programı açıklandı.
Türkiye Voleybol Federasyonundan yapılan açıklamaya göre tek maç eleme usulüne göre oynanacak çeyrek final müsabakaları, 2-4 Mart tarihlerinde gerçekleştirilecek.
Organizasyonda maç programı şöyle:
2 Mart:
17.00 Eczacıbaşı Dynavit-Göztepe (Eczacıbaşı)
3 Mart:
20.00 Fenerbahçe Medicana-Aras Kargo (TVF Burhan Felek Vestel)
4 Mart:
17.00 VakıfBank-Zeren Spor (Vakıfbank)
20.00 Galatasaray Daikin-Kuzeyboru (TVF Burhan Felek Vestel)
Milli eskrimci Alara Atmaca, Gürcistan'da düzenlenen Avrupa Yıldızlar Şampiyonası'nda flöre branşında altın madalyanın sahibi oldu.
Türkiye Eskrim Federasyonundan yapılan açıklamaya göre Gürcistan'ın başkenti Tiflis'te devam eden Avrupa Yıldızlar Eskrim Şampiyonası'nda flöre branşında milli sporculardan Alara Atmaca, final mücadelesinde Rumen rakibi Adoch Alexandra'yı 15-8 yenerek şampiyonluğa ulaştı.
Bu gün basketbol üzrə Azərbaycan Kubokunda 2025/2026-cı illər mövsümünün yarımfinal mərhələsinin görüşləri keçirilib.
Arena.az xəbər verir ki, hər iki finalçı eyni gündə müəyyənləşib.
Bakı İdman Sarayında “Ordu” ilə qarşılaşmış “Sabah” rəqibinə 83:66 hesabı ilə qalib gələrək həlledici mərhələyə yüksəlib.
Yarımfinalın ikinci matçı isə “Gəncə” və “Şəki” komandaları arasında keçirilib. Bakı İdman Sarayında təşkil olunmuş matçda rəqibini 97:71 hesabı ilə məğlub edən Gəncə kollektivi adını finala yazdırıb.
Qeyd edək ki, basketbol üzrə Azərbaycan Kubokunun final qarşılaşması fevralın 22-də keçiriləcək. Bakı İdman Sarayında keçiriləcək həlledici oyuna saat 17:00-da start veriləcək.
“Sumqayıt”in baş məşqçisi Saşa İliç Azərbaycan Premyer Liqasının 21-ci turunda “Qəbələ”yə qarşı keçirdikləri oyunu şərh edib.
Arena.az xəbər verir ki, sözügedən komandaların bu gün Sumqayıtda baş tutmuş görüşündə qapılara qol vurulmayıb – 0:0.
Saşa İliç matçdan sonra təşkil edilmiş mətbuat konfransında bunları söyləyib:
“İlk 20 dəqiqədə yaxşı oyun göstərdik. İlk hissənin sonlarına yaxın səhvlər edirdik. İkinci hissədə bir az toparlansaq da, sonda bərabərliklə matçdan ayrıldıq. Bəzi epizodlardan yararlana bilmirik. Amma bunun məsuliyyətsizlikdən irəli gəldiyini düşünmürəm. Bundan sonra çətin oyunlarımız qalsa da, əlimizdən gələni etməyə çalışacağıq. Mübarizə qarşıdadır. Hələ heç nə bitməyib”.
İliç bu oyunda zədə almış Roi Kehatın durumundan da söhbət açıb:
“Hələ dəqiq məlumatımız yoxdur. Bazar ertəsi müayinələrdən sonra daha dəqiq bir şey söyləmək olar”.
“Qəbələ”nin baş məşqçisi Kaxaber Sxadadze Azərbaycan Premyer Liqasının 21-ci turunda “Sumqayıt”a qarşı keçirdikləri oyunu şərh edib.
Arena.az xəbər verir ki, sözügedən komandaların bu gün Sumqayıtda baş tutmuş görüşündə qapılara qol vurulmayıb – 0:0.
Kaxaber Sxadadze matçdan sonra təşkil edilmiş mətbuat konfransında bunları söyləyib:
“Hər iki komanda yüksək səviyyəli oyun nümayiş etdirdi. Meydanda sürət və mübarizə var idi. Bu mövsüm 3-cü penaltini vura bilmədiyimizə görə təəssüflənirəm. Amma futbolda belə hallar olur. Məşqlərdə bunun üzərində çox işləyirik, lakin oyunda alınmır. Futbolçuların mübarizə aparmasından razı qaldım. Onlara təşəkkür edirəm. Bu cür işləsək, daha çox xallar qazana bilərik.
Qışda heyəti gücləndirdik. Bəzi futbolçular komandaya gec qoşulsa da, adaptasiya olduqlarını düşünürəm. Qış fasiləsindən sonra, müdafiədə daha yaxşı oynayırıq. Həyat özü bir mübarizədir. Biz də bu mübarizəni buraxmamalıyıq və sona qədər əlimizdən gələni etməliyik”.
Futbol üzrə Azərbaycan Premyer Liqasının 21-ci turunun “Sumqayıt” – “Qəbələ” matçı bərabərliklə (0:0) başa çatdı.
Arena.az Sumqayıtda baş tutmuş bu matçın yekun protokolunu və icmalını təqdim edir.
Azərbaycan Premyer Liqası 21-ci tur 20 fevral
“Sumqayıt” – “Qəbələ” 0:0 Qolla nəticələnməyən penalti: Adriel Ba Lua, 34. Sarı vərəqələr: Mehdi Cənnətov, 33 (qeyri-idman hərəkəti). Ronaldo Vaskes, 39 (qeyri-idman hərəkəti) – Xayme Syerra, 90 (qeyri-idman hərəkəti) Artırılan vaxt: Birinci hissədə 2 dəqiqə, ikinci hissədə 3 dəqiqə. Saat 19:30. Mehdi Hüseynzadə adına Sumqayıt şəhər stadionu, 1000 tamaşaçı.
Baş hakim: Fərid Hacıyev. Baş hakimin köməkçiləri: Rəhman İmami, Tərlan Talıbzadə. Dördüncü hakim: İslam Məmmədov. VAR: Cavid Cəlilov. AVAR: Eyyub İbrahimov. Hakim-inspektor: İmanxan Sultani. AFFA nümayəndəsi: Eldəniz Musayev.
Sumqayıt: 1. Mehdi Cənnətov (k), 7. Rüstəm Əhmədzadə, 19. Roi Kehat (8. Səbuhi Abdullazadə, 69), 72. Rayan Senhadji, 6. Sedrik Badolo (10. Nikola Ninkoviç, 46), 33. Danilo Beskorovaynı, 23. Ronaldo Vaskes (95. Nsana Simon, 86), 71. Masaki Murata, 80. Keffel Resende, 11. Aleksa Yankoviç (29. Emil Mustafayev, 81), 25. Abdul Raşid Mumini (75. Nadir Orucov, 81). Ehtiyat oyunçular: 22. Xəyal Fərzullayev, 12. Murad Ağamalıyev, 3. Höccət Haqverdi, 24. Sənan Muradlı, 37. Nihad Orucəli, 97. Vüsal Paşayev. Baş məşqçi: Saşa İliç.
Qəbələ: 93. Rza Cəfərov, 7. Turan Manafov (66. Nuğay Rəşidov, 61), 13. Nicat Əliyev (k) (27. Eşqin Əhmədov, 71), 24. İsmael Akinade (12. İbrahim Sanqare, 71), 33. Seydina Keyta, 50. Adriel Ba Lua (14. Domi Massumo, 61), 3. Eduardo Kunde, 6. Xayme Syerra, 8. Sambu Sissoko, 16. İsaak Amoa, 30. Prins Ovusu (70. Paulo Kimbila, 90+1). Ehtiyat oyunçular: 1. Səlahət Ağayev, 11. Asif Məmmədov, 28. Murad Musayev, 22. Fərid İsgəndərov, 74. Süleyman Damadayev, 10. Şahin Şahniyarov, 21. Ziya Şəkərxanov. Baş məşqçi: Kaxaber Sxadadze.
Fabio Grosso’s side leapfrogged Bologna and Lazio to go temporarily 8th, pending the rest of the weekend’s fixtures. Lazio travel to Cagliari on Saturday night whilst Bologna host Udinese on Monday.
Verona arguably started the stronger of the two sides, as they sought just their third Serie A victory.
SASSUOLO, ITALY – FEBRUARY 20: Victor Nelsson of Hellas Verona competes for the ball with Domenico Berardi of US Sassuolo during the Serie A match between US Sassuolo Calcio and Hellas Verona FC at Mapei Stadium Citta del Tricolore on February 20, 2026 in Sassuolo, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)
After about a quarter of an hour, Amin Sarr was quick to pounce on a loose rebound but the shot was blocked, before five minutes later, Verona January signing Kieron Bowie had a shot cleared off the line after a nice piece of play inside the Neroverdi box.
However, that was about it as far as Veronese optimism was concerned.
Sassuolo 3-0 Verona – Neroverdi put Gialloblu to the sword
In the 40th minute, nice interplay between Lauriente and Pinamonti, led the Italian to taking a shot that took a deflection and went in.
A few minutes later, Sassuolo were given a penalty after Cheikh Niasse committed a foul inside his box. Montipo ended up guessing correctly to deny Berardi from the spot but the Italian pounced on the rebound to give Grosso’s side a healthy lead headed into half-time.
ITALY – FEBRUARY 20: Domenico Berardi of celebrates after scoring his team’s third goal during the Serie A match at Mapei Stadium Citta del Tricolore on February 20, 2026 in Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)
Berardi put the game beyond any doubt around the hour mark, after a quick break in which the Italian converted a simple one-on-one against Montipo.
Things went from bad to worse for the Gialloblu in the closing stages when Al Musrati was shown a second yellow card with five minutes to go, taking the visitors down to 10 men and eliminating any chance of a dramatic comeback.
The match finished with a comfortable three points for the team in green and black, led by a spirited display from their captain.
Leonardo Bonucci has paid a glowing tribute to AC Milan head coach Massimiliano Allegri, describing his former Juventus manager as the greatest he has ever worked under.
Speaking in an interview with Cronache di Spogliatoio, via MilanNews, the retired Italy international, who had a brief and largely difficult spell at Milan earlier in his career, was asked to reflect on the coaches who shaped him.
His words on Allegri were unequivocal.
“In terms of intuition, Allegri was the greatest coach I ever had,” Bonucci said.
ITALY – FEBRUARY 18: Massimiliano Allegri looks on prior to the Serie A match between AC Milan and Como 1907 at Giuseppe Meazza Stadium on February 18, 2026 in Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
“Sometimes he made decisions that seemed absurd, but they produced results. Being a coach allows you to see the full picture, as a player and as a human being. In that sense, Max is a master, a phenomenon. He never speaks negatively. Complaints? Never. He knows how to put players in the best possible conditions.”
Not just Milan coach Allegri, Bonucci has kind words for Gattuso
The retired defender also reflected warmly on another figure with strong Milan connections, Gennaro Gattuso, who coached Bonucci during his time at San Siro.
The defender recalled a period of difficulty and credited the former midfielder’s straightforward approach with helping him rediscover his best form.
“When I had the fortune of being coached by him at Milan, we were coming through a difficult period,” Bonucci said of Gattuso.
ITALY – NOVEMBER 16: Gennaro Gattuso, Head Coach of Italy, looks on prior to the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier match between Italy and Norway at San Siro Stadium on November 16, 2025 in Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
“He told me: ‘Leo, when you’re going through a tough time, you have to keep things simple.’ And so that’s what we did, a 4-3-3, nothing complicated. He gave confidence to all of us.”
Both Allegri and Gattuso remain prominent figures in the Milan conversation, making Bonucci’s reflections particularly timely.
Mattia De Sciglio has broken his silence over his failed transfer to Czech side Hradec Kralove, firmly rejecting the club’s suggestion that he did not pass his medical.
The 33-year-old former Milan and Juventus defender had travelled to the Czech Republic earlier this month, completing medical tests and taking part in two training sessions over a three-day stay, before being told the move would not be going ahead.
Hradec Kralove, whose ownership group includes former Juventus director Pavel Nedved, issued a statement saying the club had evaluated “all results and circumstances” before deciding against signing De Sciglio, with sporting director Petr Pojezný adding that the defender would not have provided the “immediate help” they were looking for.
TURIN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 02: Kenan Yildiz of Juventus battles for possession with Mattia De Sciglio of Empoli during the Serie A match between Juventus and Empoli at Allianz Stadium on February 02, 2025 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images)
Ex-Juventus & Milan full-back De Sciglio: ‘Here’s the truth’
De Sciglio took to Instagram to offer a starkly different account of events.
The Italian insisted he passed all medical examinations, with his physical condition certified by official medical reports.
He also revealed he had been persistently approached by the club and received multiple versions of his contract over several weeks, often incomplete or requiring amendments, yet maintained full professionalism throughout.
In a pointed statement, De Sciglio wrote that he “firmly rejects any reference or insinuation” regarding the medical tests, calling the club’s conclusion surprising given the weeks of negotiations, the checks carried out, and his confirmed medical fitness.
He concluded by calling for mutual respect, transparency and professionalism to form the basis of any working relationship, expressing hope that similar situations would not be repeated, for himself or any other professional.
Manchester City goalkeeper James Trafford has been linked with a move away from the club at the end of the season.
The 23-year-old has struggled for regular opportunities since joining the club, and he needs to move on in order to play more often. Newcastle United and Aston Villa are keen on the player.
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James Trafford wants Villa move
However, a report from The Shields Gazette claims that a player would prefer to join the West Midlands club instead. It will be interesting to see if Aston Villa can wrap up the move in the summer. They could use a quality goalkeeper, especially with Emiliano Martinez being linked with an exit. The South American is expected to depart in the summer, and Trafford could be the ideal replacement.
He has shown his quality with Burnley in the past, and there is no doubt that he is good enough to start for Aston Villa. He could help them improve. Regular football at the West Midlands club could help the goalkeeper fulfil his potential as well.
James Trafford in action for Manchester City (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Aston Villa are pushing for Champions League qualification, and they will be an attractive destination for players if they manage to finish in the top four. Newcastle have an ambitious project as well, but they are unlikely to compete in the Champions League next season. It is no surprise that the goalkeeper wants to join Aston Villa instead. It will be interesting to see how the situation develops.
Trafford will have to compete with Marco Bizot for the starting spot at the West Midlands club. At Newcastle, he would have to compete with Aaron Ramsdale. The move to Aston Villa certainly makes a lot more sense for the player.
Manchester United and Liverpool are keeping tabs on the Newcastle United defender Malick Thiaw.
According to a report from SportsBoom, they are impressed by the German defender’s performances and could look to make a move in the summer.
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Malick Thiaw has excelled at Newcastle
The player joined Newcastle for £30 million in the summer, and he has been excellent for them. He has a long-term contract with Newcastle, and they are under no pressure to sell him. They are likely to demand a lot of money if Liverpool or Manchester United decides to come calling in the summer.
Liverpool need more quality in the defensive unit, and there is no doubt that German could be a useful acquisition. The 24-year-old is entering the years of his career, and he could be attracted to the idea of joining an elite club like Liverpool.
Ibrahima Konate will be out of contract at the end of the season, and Joe Gomez has been linked with an exit as well. Liverpool need to invest in a quality central defender at the end of the season. The Newcastle star could be ideal for them.
Lewis Miley and Malick Thiaw celebrate for Newcastle. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
Similarly, Manchester United would also need to add more depth to the defensive unit. Harry Maguire is in his 30s, and they need to start planning for his succession.
It will be interesting to see whether either club is willing to pay a premium for him. Newcastle will not want to lose the player easily. They are looking to build a formidable team and retain their best players.
Meanwhile, the interest from top clubs could turn heads, and it will be interesting to see how the player reacts.
Real Madrid and Liverpool are interested in signing the Tottenham defender Luka Vuskovic.
The 18-year-old is currently on loan to Hamburg and has been exceptional for the German club. According to a report from SportsBoom, the two clubs have been monitoring his progress and scouting him extensively.
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Spurs do not want to lose Luka Vuskovic
They could look to make a move in the summer, but Tottenham consider the Croatian talent “unsellable”. The report claims that they would only entertain negotiations for an offer of around €70 million. It will be interesting to see if Real Madrid or Liverpool comes forward with an acceptable offer for the player.
Real Madrid have looked vulnerable, defensively, and they are looking to improve in that area of the pitch. Signing the 18-year-old would be a major coup for them. He is regarded as a generational talent, and he could develop into a world-class player with the right guidance.
Luka Vuskovic of Hamburger SV (L), currently on loan from Tottenham (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
The €70 million investment might seem expensive right now, but the player has the quality to justify the outlay in future. Similarly, Liverpool needs more depth in the defensive unit. They need to start planning for a Virgil van Dijk replacement, and the Croatian could be a superb acquisition.
It remains to be seen how the situation develops. Tottenham must keep players like him at the club if they want to build a formidable team for the future. Selling him to Real Madrid or Liverpool could prove to be a huge mistake. The 18-year-old has all the attributes to become a future star, and Tottenham could regret the decision in the future.
Leicester City playmaker Bilal El Khannouss is currently on loan at German club VfB Stuttgart.
The 21-year-old Moroccan has been excellent for them, scoring five goals in his last eight European appearances. He has three goals and three assists in the Bundesliga as well. His performances have attracted interest from Tottenham and Newcastle United, according to SportsBoom. It would be interesting to see if they decide to make a move for him at the end of the season.
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Bilal El Khannouss to join Stuttgart permanently
The German outfit will be able to sign him permanently for around €20 million. They have an obligation to make the move permanent should certain conditions be met. It remains to be seen whether they are prepared to sign him permanently and sell him for a quick profit again.
Tottenham could use more quality in the final third, and the 21-year-old attacking midfielder could be a useful addition. He has played in the Premier League with Leicester City, and the opportunity to join a big club like Tottenham could be exciting for him. He can operate both centrally and on the flanks. He will help create opportunities for his teammates and find the back of the net as well.
Bilal El Khannouss in action for Leicester CIty (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
On the other hand, Newcastle could use more quality in the final third as well. They are looking to build a team capable of competing in the UEFA Champions League regularly and fighting for domestic trophies. They need cutting-edge in the final third.
Leeds United and Crystal Palace are also monitoring his situation. However, it seems unlikely that the player will want to join them. If he returns to the Premier League, he would hope to secure a move to a big club with an ambitious project.
Manchester United are hoping to sign the Brazilian attacker Gabriel Veneno.
According to a report from TEAMtalk, they have already begun work in the background to sign the Brazilian sensation. The 16-year-old recently became the first player in the history of Brazilian youth football to score more than 80 goals in a single calendar year. He is a “generational” talent, and clubs like Arsenal and Chelsea are also interested in signing him.
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Man United keen on Gabriel Veneno
Manchester United have been scouting him extensively and maintaining regular contact with intermediaries.
It will be interesting to see if they can beat Arsenal and Chelsea to his signature. They have a tremendous track record in grooming young players, and they hope to sign the Brazilian and nurture him into an important player for the club.
Arsenal and Chelsea have also done well to groom players in the past. It remains to be seen whether they can sign the 16-year-old in future.
Manchester United appear to be the most interested right now, and they are already working to get ahead of their rivals. If they manage to get the deal done, it could prove to be a solid long-term investment for them.
Veneno is a tremendous talent with a bright future, and he could establish himself as an important player for Manchester United with the right guidance. He could help them save millions in the market.
Manchester United are looking to build for the future, and signing the 16-year-old would be a step in the right direction. It remains to be seen whether they can wrap up the move quickly.
Last month, a UK judge ruled that Valve would have to face its day in court over a £656 million class-action lawsuit being led by Parent Zone chief executive officer, Vicki Shotbolt, over the 30% cut that the company takes from all transactions on Steam. It's not a dissimilar case to what Epic Games brought against Apple, as Shotbolt has called Valve's 30% cut "excessive" and that the company "is rigging the market and taking advantage of UK gamers." In a new report from GamesIndustry.Biz, Shotbolt further explained her case against Valve and Steam, adding that Valve is "clearly not" […]
A new report from IGN reveals that Microsoft's gaming division and Xbox are going through a major leadership shake-up. Phil Spencer will retire this coming Monday, February 23, 2026, after first joining Microsoft all the way back in 1988 as an intern. He's not the only one departing: Sarah Bond, current president of Xbox at Microsoft, is now the former president of Xbox at Microsoft, as she will resign from her role. Lastly, Microsoft's current president of its CoreAI division, Asha Sharma, will take Spencer's place as the new chief executive officer of Microsoft Gaming. Back in July 2025, we […]
The Snapdragon X series of chipsets has carved its place in the computer industry, but Qualcomm has a ton of ground to cover in both adoption and technological improvements. The recent Snapdragon X2 Elite and Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme are ideal examples of the San Diego firm’s desire to take on its chip rivals, but it needs that extra boost that could be fulfilled by the recent hiring of former AMD executive Jason Banta. He will now serve as Qualcomm’s Vice President of Global Compute Sales, putting him in charge of consumer and commercial ‘go to market’ channels. Banta’s 23-year career […]
It's been nearly nine years since the launch of NieR: Automata, the highly acclaimed action RPG developed by PlatinumGames and published by Square Enix. Fans have long been waiting for news of a sequel. Today, as part of a celebration for the game's latest sales milestone (it has now sold 10 million units across all platforms), they at least got a teaser. It sounds like the gears are finally moving. But why did it take so long? Well, it seems like Game Director Yoko Taro and Square Enix found it hard to reach an agreement. The outspoken creative first said […]
For centuries, philosophers and psychologists have argued that art does more than please the eye. It serves as a bridge between minds, allowing viewers to step into the experiences of others and develop a shared sense of humanity. A new series of experiments suggests that this bridge may be broken when the artist is a machine.
Researchers found that when people believe a work of art was created by artificial intelligence, they feel less awe. This reduced emotional response leads to a decrease in empathy for the subjects depicted in the work. The findings were published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
The study explores a psychological chain reaction that begins with the creator’s identity. Art is traditionally viewed as a deeply human act of expression. When we engage with a painting or a poem, we are not just processing visual or linguistic information. We are often attempting to understand the intent and perspective of another person. This process can trigger a sense of awe. Awe is an emotion we feel when we encounter something vast that challenges our current understanding of the world. Psychological theory suggests that awe diminishes our focus on the self and encourages us to feel connected to others.
Artificial intelligence has rapidly entered the creative sphere. Algorithms can now generate paintings, poetry, and music that mimic human styles with high fidelity. Michael W. White, a researcher at Columbia Business School, and his colleague Rebecca Ponce de Leon sought to understand if these AI-generated works function the same way human art does. They wanted to know if the knowledge of an artwork’s origin changes the emotional payoff for the viewer. They hypothesized that without a human mind behind the curtain, the sense of awe would evaporate. Without awe, the subsequent feelings of empathy might fail to materialize.
To test this, the researchers conducted five separate experiments involving over 1,500 participants. The first study took place in the real world rather than a laboratory. Research assistants recruited patrons at two major art museums in a large Northeastern city. These patrons viewed paintings depicting human suffering, such as miners, garment workers, or survivors of natural disasters.
The researchers used a deceptive experimental design to isolate the effect of the label. All the images shown were actually generated by AI. However, half the participants were told the art was created by a human artist named Jamie Kendricks. The other half were told the art was created by an artificial intelligence program. Participants then rated their empathy for the suffering people depicted in the images. The results showed a clear divide. Patrons who believed they were looking at AI art reported lower levels of empathy than those who thought they were viewing human art.
The second study aimed to ensure that the quality of the art was not the deciding factor. This time, the researchers used paintings actually created by human artists. They again manipulated the labels. Some participants were told the human-made art was the work of AI. The pattern held firm. Even when looking at human-created work, the mere belief that it came from a machine reduced the empathy participants felt for the subjects. This confirmed that the bias stems from the viewer’s beliefs about the creator, not the aesthetic properties of the image itself.
In the third study, the team expanded their scope to literary art. Participants read poems about love, nature, or family. The researchers also introduced a specific measure for awe. They asked participants how much wonder or amazement they felt. The data revealed that people experienced less awe when they attributed the poetry to a computer program. Statistical analysis showed that this lack of awe was responsible for the drop in empathy.
The fourth study moved back to a field setting to see if these feelings influenced behavior. The researchers set up a station in the lobby of a large office building. Passersby viewed a painting of disaster survivors. Afterward, they were given the opportunity to donate part of their compensation to charity. Participants who believed the painting was AI-generated reported less awe and empathy. Consequently, they were less likely to donate any money compared to those who believed a human painted the image.
The final study dug deeper into why AI art fails to elicit awe. The researchers measured two specific components of awe: perceived vastness and the need for accommodation. Vastness refers to the sense that something is larger than the self or ordinary experience. Need for accommodation is the feeling that a new experience challenges one’s existing mental structures. Participants viewed a painting of tsunami survivors. Those who thought it was AI-generated rated the work as less vast. They also felt less need to mentally accommodate the work. This lack of cognitive challenge stifled the experience of awe, which in turn suppressed empathy.
These findings align with a growing body of evidence regarding human reactions to AI creativity. A separate meta-analysis authored by Alwin de Rooij and published in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts examined nearly 200 effect sizes from various studies. De Rooij found that knowing an image is AI-generated negatively impacts how people process the work. This bias affects deep interpretation and even changes how viewers perceive basic visual features like color and brightness.
Similarly, a study authored by Kobe Millet and colleagues in Computers in Human Behavior found that people perceive AI art as less creative. Millet’s team identified “anthropocentric creativity beliefs” as a driving factor. This is the conviction that creativity is a uniquely human trait. People who hold this belief strongly are more likely to downgrade their appreciation of AI art. They experience less awe when viewing it. White and Ponce de Leon’s work builds on this by showing that the deficit in awe has social consequences. It stops the art from functioning as a tool for moral and emotional connection.
There are limitations to the current research. The studies primarily used art depicting suffering or serious subjects to measure empathy. It is unclear if the same blunting effect would apply to art meant to evoke joy or whimsy. Additionally, attitudes toward AI are shifting rapidly. As younger generations grow up with generative tools, they may not harbor the same biases against machine creation. Their capacity for awe in the face of algorithmic output might differ from the current norm.
Future research could investigate whether different types of art, such as music or film, suffer the same penalty. It could also examine if collaborative works, labeled as human-AI partnerships, manage to preserve the emotional impact. For now, the data suggests a hidden cost to the automation of creativity. We may gain efficiency in generating images, but we risk losing the profound connection that comes from witnessing another human’s expression.
Beşiktaş GAİN, 22 Şubat Pazar günü Türkiye Kupası finalinde Fenerbahçe Beko ile oynayacakları karşılaşmanın saatinin değiştirilmesi için talepte bulunduklarını ancak bu isteğin kabul edilmediğini açıkladı.
Türkiye Kupası Dörtlü Final organizasyonunun ikinci maçında Fenerbahçe Beko, Türk Telekom'u 86-78 yenerek finale yükseldi ve finalde Beşiktaş GAİN'in rakibi oldu.
Ziraat Bankası Türkiye Kupası'nda Türk Telekom'u yenen Fenerbahçe Beko, kupa finalinde Beşiktaş GAİN'in rakibi oldu. İşte detaylar... | Son dakika spor haberleriDevamı için tıklayınız
Ziraat Bankası Türkiye Kupası yarı finalinde Türk Telekom'u 86-78 mağlup ederek finale yükselen Fenerbahçe Beko'da başantrenör Sarunas Jasikevicius, mücadele sonrası A Spor'a özel değerlendirmelerde bulundu....Devamı için tıklayınız
Azərbaycan Premyer Liqasının XXI turunun “Turan Tovuz” – “Zirə” oyunundan (2:0) sonra meydan sahibi komandanın baş məşqçisi Kurban Berdıyev jurnalistlərin suallarını cavablandırıb.
Futbolpress.az xəbər verir ki, mütəxəssis əvvəlcə görüşlə bağlı fikirlərini bildirib…
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Mercedes' George Russell is the pre-season favourite - but it does not look good for Fernando Alonson and Aston Martin [Getty Images]
The final pre-season test confirmed there will be a new Formula 1 when the new season starts in Australia in two weeks' time.
New in the sense of who is at the front - and new in terms of many aspects of the sport and how it works.
So what did the last three days of running in Bahrain, before the teams decamp to Albert Park in Melbourne, say about the reshaped sport - and who are the winners and losers within that?
A best guess at the competitive order
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc ended the test with the single fastest lap time in an emphatic way - 0.811 seconds quicker than the next best time, set by Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli.
Headline times in testing are usually not the place to look to gauge the competitive order, but this did reflect the picture in one important way - Mercedes and Ferrari look like they are going into the new season in the best shape.
Andrea Stella, team principal of world champions McLaren, said on Friday evening: "This test has confirmed that Ferrari and Mercedes look like the teams to beat. McLaren and Red Bull [are] probably very similar, Ferrari and Mercedes a step ahead."
This picture, an impression reflected by many other senior figures up and down the pit lane, comes less from the headline lap times - even if they did show the teams in the order Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren, Red Bull - than the so-called race-simulation runs.
Because the teams fill up their cars with fuel and run a grand prix distance, these have far fewer variables to muddy the picture than single laps.
On Friday evening, Leclerc did the best race simulation of the week, slightly quicker than Red Bull's Max Verstappen and McLaren's Oscar Piastri the day before, when they set more or less exactly the same time.
Mercedes did not do any race simulations in the second week, only in the first, when track conditions were up to a second slower.
Antonelli set comfortably the fastest race simulation of the first week - a lot faster than Piastri, who was running at the same time.
And his team-mate George Russell - the bookies' pre-season championship favourite - was also impressively quick when running in the hotter, slower conditions earlier in the day.
This is not an exact science, but the cumulation of data is what led to the conclusion reached by Stella and many others.
A complication was that McLaren were not running the latest specification of Mercedes power-unit, which Mercedes were proving out, so can expect an uplift when they switch in Australia to the latest spec.
Another is Red Bull's new engine is said by Russell to have the best deployment of energy, which is such an important facet this season.
Mercedes' biggest concern is reliability. This hit Antonelli much more than Russell, but it's probably fair to say that Mercedes suffered more problems than their major rivals, although Red Bull's new recruit Isack Hadjar did lose a fair bit of his running to issues of one kind or another.
There is no question as to the prize for biggest disappointment so far this year. Aston Martin, starting their new works partnership with Honda, are runaway winners of that.
With design legend Adrian Newey at the helm, Honda - world champions with Red Bull as recently as 2024 - and the money of their billionaire owner Lawrence Stroll and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), all the ingredients for success seem to be there.
But the new car, delayed by the fact Newey did not arrive until March last year, is uncompetitive and difficult, and the engine is lacking power and unreliable. Aston Martin completed the fewest laps of testing, and look like they may even be in worse shape than Cadillac.
Both the internal combustion engine and hybrid elements of the new Honda power-unit are said to be well behind the best.
Several sources told BBC Sport this week that Newey said at Wednesday's meeting of the F1 Commission - a rule-making body comprising all the teams as well as F1 and the FIA - that the Honda power-unit could not even recover energy at the lower limit of 250kw, let alone the higher one of 350kw, which comes into force under certain circumstances in the highly complex rules.
Reliability was so bad that by the start of the final day of the test, Honda had only one battery left, and took the decision to limit running to only short runs. A statement said that was to allow them to study data in between track outings, but in the end Lance Stroll did only six laps all day.
The problems with the engine make it difficult to make any judgement on the car - the Honda is running so badly that it's hard for the team to work out where the car is, and therefore how to improve it.
This is exacerbated by the fact Aston's first in-house gearbox - they have bought them in previously - is not communicating with the engine properly, and keeps behaving oddly, making life even more difficult for the drivers.
For Fernando Alonso, this all must come with an agonising sense of deja vu. He spent three painful years at McLaren when Honda were underprepared when they re-entered F1 in 2015.
And now he faces another one, at the age of 44, and with his contract running out at the end of the year.
Publicly, Alonso is staying optimistic as he said: "Short and medium term, I don't think there is anything that is impossible to fix."
How long it takes, though, is another matter. And one thing Alonso does not have much of is time.
Alpine on the rise
While all the teams are reluctant to say exactly where they think they stand in the competitive order, all are clear that there appears to be three groups of teams - the top four, the midfield, and then Aston Martin and Cadillac at the back.
Among the midfield runners, who are in the region of at least a second a lap slower than the big four, the team poised to make the biggest step seem to be Alpine.
They finished last season last, by the biggest margin ever, partly because they devoted extremely limited resource to last year's car, so they could focus on this year.
Alpine have switched to a Mercedes power-unit, following parent company Renault's decision to end its F1 engine programme. And with the combination of this and a much-improved car appear to have jumped up to the top of the midfield fight.
There is some debate as to whether they or Haas are in the best shape, but either way this is huge progress for the French team.
Racing Bulls are also in this mix at the top of the midfield.
Pierre Gasly's Alpine appears to be best placed of the teams outside the top four [Getty Images]
But Williams disappoint
Among the midfield teams, Williams seem to be the biggest losers. Their 2026 car has been a disappointment so far, overweight by a significant margin - said to be anywhere between 25 and 40 kilos - and lacking downforce.
Williams finished fifth last year, and this season was supposed to be the next step in their ambition of a return to the top of F1.
Team principal James Vowles has been saying for two years how much of an opportunity the new rules are to move forward, and was vocal last season as to how early they had switched to the 2026 design and compromised 2025 for exactly this reason.
So this is a major blow.
Audi, which has taken over Sauber for the start of its brand new works programme with its own in-house engine, were expected to have difficulties.
But they appear to be in decent shape and have been quietly impressive in the midfield context, and could well be ahead of Williams, even if a long way from their ultimate ambitions.
Pros and cons of the new cars
The leading drivers have all at various points expressed their dissatisfaction with the new rules, especially the amount of energy management required with the new hybrid power-units.
These feature a near 50-50 split between internal combustion engine and electrical components.
With the amount of hybrid power increased three-fold, a component of the engine that helped recovery energy removed, and the batteries more or less the same size as last year, the cars are energy starved.
This has led to some unusual aspects being added to driving.
These include not going flat out in the run up to the start of a qualifying lap, taking corners in higher gears than is optimum for lap time to keep the turbo spinning, lifting and coasting in qualifying, and even not going flat out at the end of a qualifying lap because it is more time-effective to use the energy elsewhere.
At some circuits, there will be a lot more energy recovery required than others by the various means available. These include recovering while at full throttle, known as "super-clip", and lifting and coasting, as well as the standard method, during braking.
Albert Park is one of these energy-poor circuits.
Lando Norris won the season-opening race in Melbourne in 2025 - who will come out on top in 2026? [Getty Images]
For a purist, and drivers who want to be on the limit at all times, this is not ideal.
But F1 as a sport has known this was coming ever since the power-unit regulations were created in 2022. And, for now, the drivers are going to have get used to a new normal.
Behind the scenes, meanwhile, there are ongoing discussions as to how to allow the drivers to drive in a more conventional way, but it remains to be seen how these will resolve.
However, having seen the cars on track, and watched them on television, it is highly unlikely the average viewer will notice any difference. They still look like F1 cars, and in some ways are more appealing than last year's.
They are smaller and have less downforce, so they slide more in corners, and look more agile. Many of the fast corners that were rendered bends in straights by last year's cars will become a driving challenge again, such as Abbey at Silverstone.
Russell, while acknowledging the differences from previous cars, said: "The guiding principles are still very much the same. You're pushing the car to the absolute limit. You're trying to brake as hard and late as possible, and carry as much speed through the corners. So far, I'm quite enjoying it."
Mercedes set to win engine row
Off track, one of the main focuses of pre-season has been a row between the engine manufacturers over the rules governing the engines' compression ratio.
It split the engine suppliers into two groups, Mercedes versus the rest - Ferrari, Honda and newcomers Red Bull and Audi.
The row was dismissed earlier this week by Vowles - a Mercedes customer - as "noise that will probably go away", and by Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff as "a storm in a teacup".
And it looks like both will end up being right.
Why have Mercedes been targeted? Because their rivals believe they have found a way of exploiting the rule restricting the compression ratio - a measurement of the cylinder displacement between the two extremes of the piston stroke - to 16:1. The rules dictate it is measured at ambient temperature.
Typically, the compression ratio reduces when engines heat up, and the belief was Mercedes had found a way using materials technology to limit this loss.
Mercedes' rivals have been pushing for a rule that measures it at a higher temperature, in the hope of restricting their perceived advantage.
This could also have allowed the others to set their ambient temperature compression ratio higher than 16:1 so that it was at the limit at a higher temperature, and so improve the performance of their engines relative to Mercedes.
Governing body the FIA has proposed a compromise whereby the ratio is measured both at ambient temperature and 130C.
As this does not achieve the aim Mercedes' opponents wanted, the signs are the other companies may even vote against the proposal that came out of their own campaign. Even if it passes, it seems it will make no difference.
Wolff added: "The way it works, you know, either we stay with the regulations like we are or the e-vote goes ahead with the proposal that came from the FIA. Both are OK for us."
Start-line variability
Practice starts have been an important feature during this year's pre-season testing [Getty Images]
The new engines are also much harder to get off the line, which many expect will lead to unpredictability at starts.
There were safety concerns about this at the start of the first test - especially the risk of a car slow away being rear-ended by another at high speed.
But these were largely assuaged by a new start line procedure that was trialled at the test, which gives the drivers more time to get the turbos spinning at the optimum speed.
On the face of it, the Ferrari-engined cars seemed to have an advantage - they rocketed past rivals on several occasions during these tests.
But Williams driver Alex Albon said: "I don't think what you're seeing is really what's going to happen. You've got drivers who are finishing long runs, going into a practice start, on a high-mileage tyre that's already gone. So you've seen this chaos of some people getting good starts, bad starts, but actually it's not as bad as that."
And data seen by BBC Sport showed that, actually, of all the starts performed in testing, the Mercedes-engined teams as a bloc had the best starts on average - they were ranked in four of the top five places - followed by Ferrari-powered cars.
Strangely, Racing Bulls were second and Red Bull last, despite having the same Red Bull Powertrains/Ford engine.
Fastest times by team in second pre-season test
Ferrari (Charles Leclerc) one minute 31.992 seconds
Gilbert Burns is coming off four straight losses, two of which ended by knockout, but the promotion believes the former welterweight title challenger still has enough equity in his name to headline the upcoming UFC Winnipeg event on Paramount+, recently made official for Sat., April 18, 2026 at Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
His opponent will be unranked local hero Mike Malott.
Malott (13-2-1) is 6-1 since graduating Dana White’s “Contender Series” back in late 2021 and is currently the winner of three straight. That includes his unanimous decision win over Kevin Holland last fall in Vancouver. As for Burns (22-9), he’s looking to bounce back from a brutal knockout loss to welterweight wunderkind Michael Morales at UFC Vegas 106.
MILAN (AP) — The United States is 40 minutes away from playing for the gold medal in men’s hockey at the Olympics.
Dylan Larkin and Tage Thompson scored in the first period of the semifinal against Slovakia to give the U.S. a 2-0 lead. Thompson is one of just a handful of newcomers on the team who did not play at the NHL-run 4 Nations Face-Off a year ago.
Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck has stopped all eight shots he faced so far including on a couple of power plays made possible by U.S. penalties.
The U.S. last reached the final in 2010 when it lost to Canada in overtime on Sidney Crosby’s famous golden goal. Canada also awaits this time after rallying to beat Finland in the other semifinal when Nathan MacKinnon scored with 35.2 seconds left.
Arteta praises Arsenal reaction after Wolves defeat ahead of north London derby
Mikel Arteta sees a “tremendous reaction” from his players ahead of a feisty North London Derby as the Gunners look to rectify a disappointing draw away at Wolves.
The players and many fans were left bitterly disappointed after having the chance to go seven points clear of title rivals Manchester City.
The point gap is now five points; however, the Cityzens have a game in hand and could close it to two points as they host Newcastle before they play this weekend.
Asked about the reaction to the result at Molineux and ahead of the derby, Mikel Arteta said, “What I’ve seen is a tremendous reaction again, and I’m not surprised at all.
He added, “We have a long season. Chapter 27 says we draw against Wolves in this manner. What I’m very interested in is the next one, it’s what we are made of.”
Arteta was in good spirits about the new deal, he said, “Bukayo’s news, obviously, is great, he’s one of our own. We got him here since he was little. For him to make that decision and the club to be so aligned with him, I think it’s a really positive thing.”
Having been at the club for over six years, Arteta’s tenure has brought the FA Cup since August 2020, but they’re itching for more major glory.
Despite failing to get over the line in the Premier League for three consecutive seasons, potential history can be made as the league leaders are still competing in all four competitions this season.
While questions remain over the mentality, Mikel Arteta sees the opportunity to win trophies and compete in title races repeatedly as an exciting time. He elaborated: “I think it’s becoming more and more exciting [to be in title races] because that means that you are closer.
“The more repeatedly you are in these kinds of positions, the more you’re going to win it. The same in the Champions League.
“First of all, you have to be there, and then in April or May, it will be decided who is the best and who can get over the line.”
On availability, there was confirmation of no new injuries and a “big possibility” of Arsenal captain Martin Ødegaard and German Kai Havertz returning to the matchday squad this Sunday.
The Cowboys waived linebacker Logan Wilson on Friday, the team announced.
The move will save the team $6.5 million against the salary cap.
The Cowboys traded with the Bengals for Wilson at the trade deadline, giving up a seventh-round pick.
Wilson played 224 snaps in seven games, one of those a start, and totaled 24 tackles, a forced fumble and a pass defensed. He had no snaps in the Week 16 game against the Commanders.
The Bengals benched Wilson for rookie Barrett Carrett, prompting the veteran to ask for a trade. In eight games with Cincinnati, Wilson had 46 tackles and four pass breakups.
The Bengals made Wilson a third-round pick in 2020, and he started 65 of 76 games he played for the team.
PEORIA, Ariz. (AP) — San Diego Padres reliever Yuki Matsui's status for Japan in the World Baseball Classic could be in doubt after the left-hander ended a batting practice session early due to left groin tightness.
Matsui is considered day to day with what isn't expected to be a long-term issue coming out of Thursday's session, but it could affect his buildup for the WBC, with the opener against Taiwan two weeks away.
“We’ve got to see how he comes out of this day off, and then how he feels tomorrow,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said Friday. “Honestly, I think it puts the WBC in question.”
Defending WBC champion Japan would take a hit in the bullpen without Matsui, a reliable middle-inning option in two seasons with the Padres. The 30-year-old has a 3.86 ERA over 125 appearances.
Stammen said Matsui could be back to playing catch this weekend.
Vanderbilt basketball coach Mark Byington would support NCAA tournament expansion, he said Feb. 20.
NCAA president Charlie Baker said he would support expanding the tournament on Feb. 19. He did not say what number of teams the NCAA would target.
However, if the tournament is to expand, news of expansion isn't imminent. Dan Gavitt, the NCAA's senior vice president, told reporters the same day that a decision on expansion won't come until after this year's NCAA tournament.
Byington led the Commodores to the NCAA tournament in his first season in 2024-25 and Vanderbilt is on track to make its second straight March Madness appearance in 2026.
"I'm a believer they should (expand)," Byington said. "I think the game has changed and there's more teams deserving. I know there's always a fear of having to water down if you have too many teams in there, but we've seen teams in the First Four make it to the Final Four. I think there's so many players now, when you talk about the international players that are coming, right now, college basketball is as good as it's been. NIL, got some things that don't make things perfect, but there is a high level of player in college basketball right now, so I think there's more teams deserving."
Vanderbilt basketball coach Mark Byington would support NCAA tournament expansion, he said Feb. 20.
NCAA president Charlie Baker said he would support expanding the tournament on Feb. 19. He did not say what number of teams the NCAA would target.
However, if the tournament is to expand, news of expansion isn't imminent. Dan Gavitt, the NCAA's senior vice president, told reporters the same day that a decision on expansion won't come until after this year's NCAA tournament.
Byington led the Commodores to the NCAA tournament in his first season in 2024-25 and Vanderbilt is on track to make its second straight March Madness appearance in 2026.
"I'm a believer they should (expand)," Byington said. "I think the game has changed and there's more teams deserving. I know there's always a fear of having to water down if you have too many teams in there, but we've seen teams in the First Four make it to the Final Four. I think there's so many players now, when you talk about the international players that are coming, right now, college basketball is as good as it's been. NIL, got some things that don't make things perfect, but there is a high level of player in college basketball right now, so I think there's more teams deserving."
Gus Kenworthy is competing at his fourth Olympics [PA Media]
Team GB's Gus Kenworthy says he is "on the right side" after he received death threats for posting a graphic message about the United States' Immigration and Customs Enforcement organisation.
Freestyle skier Kenworthy shared the image - in which 'ICE' was preceded by an expletive - on Instagram a week before he was due to compete at the Winter Olympics in Italy.
In January, intensive care nurse Alex Pretti, 37, and fellow Minnesota resident Renee Good, 37, were both killed by ICE agents in the city, sparking protests across the US.
Speaking to BBC Sport about the threats he received, Kenworthy said: "It was tough. No-one wants to read bad things about themselves, things that are threats and violent and scary and homophobic.
"I also took it with a grain of salt. I couldn't imagine writing something like that about someone, especially on a public forum, anyone who does that has something wrong with them.
"I think I'm on the right side."
Kenworthy, 34, was born in Chelmsford but grew up in the US and won silver in the ski slopestyle at the Sochi 2014 Games, before switching allegiance to Team GB in 2019.
He finished sixth in Friday's halfpipe final, while US skier Hunter Hess, who had also spoken out against the actions of ICE, placed 10th.
Before the Games, Hess had said: "Just because I'm wearing the flag doesn't mean I represent everything that's going on in the US."
During qualifying earlier in the day, he made an 'L' sign against his forehead after completing his first run, in response to US President Donald Trump calling him "a real loser".
Speaking to reporters after Friday's qualifiers, Hess said: "I worked so hard to be here. I sacrificed my entire life to make this moment happen.
"I'm not going to let controversy like that get in my way. I love the United States of America. I cannot say that enough."
President Trump's border tsar said earlier in February that the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota will end.
Tom Homan said Operation Metro Surge had resulted in many illegal immigrants who had committed violent crimes being detained for deportation. But the surge also sparked nationwide protests when US citizens Good and Pretti were killed by immigration officers.
More than 4,000 undocumented immigrants had been arrested, according to Homan, who added that ICE has always had a presence in Minnesota and will continue to have one.
Kenworthy retired after the 2022 Olympics in Beijing and completely walked away from skiing.
He then turned his hand to acting, with credits in Will & Grace and American Horror Story, as well as guest-judging on Ru Paul's Drag Race.
However, the itch to return grew stronger, and last year he announced his return to the sport, though he has had to self-fund his way to the Games given GB Snowsport's athlete funding had already been allocated.
"I called it quits partly because I'd been doing it a long time and I had burnout and was over it, but I was also having some bad head injuries and so it made it easier to walk away," said the five-time World Championship medallist.
"Months after, when those symptoms started to subside and I started to feel myself again, I started [thinking] it wasn't the way I wanted it to finish.
"I kept pushing that feeling away, and finally I was at a point where I was like 'OK, well if you're having that feeling, it's now or never', and I didn't want to live to regret it and wonder what if.
"I decided to just give it a push and make it go, and try and get there. It's been pretty tough, because I didn't have any funding, I wasn't on any national team in order to get assistance, so it's been totally self-funded, myself, my coach, both of our travel, training camps, lift tickets, insurance, all of it, food, lodgings.
"I struggled deciding if it was the right thing to do, but ultimately, money comes and goes, this opportunity won't."
Kenworthy will be 38 when the next Winter Olympics take place in the French Alps in 2030.
When asked by BBC Sport if he will be there, he replied: "I hope so. I'm having fun, I'm not done."
Andy Reid and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs.
Jeff Bottari/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid shared an update on Travis Kelce's future as he contemplates retirement after a 13-year NFL career entirely with the team
The coach made it clear that he didn't want to "put words in [Kelce's] mouth" when speaking on the star tight end
Kelce's two-year extension contract with the Chiefs, signed in 2024, ends next month
The Kansas City Chiefs head coach shared an update on the team's communication with their star tight end, 36, who's yet to reveal his anticipated decision on retirement after a remarkable 13-year career in the league.
"There is communication. That’s the main thing," Reid told media during a press conference on Friday, Feb. 20. "That means people want to move forward. I think that's where Trav is," he said of Kelce, whose contract with the Chiefs ends in March 2026.
Andy Reid and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs.
Michael Owens/Getty
"I’m not trying to put words in his mouth at all, and I try to give him some space here," continued Reid. "He’s been doing this a long time, and he can sort all that out as he goes forward. We’re proceeding with that, and there is communication."
Kelce has been with the Chiefs since he was selected in the third round with the 63rd overall pick of the 2013 NFL Draft. He recently wrapped his 13th season with the team, where he's won three Super Bowl titles to date.
The Ohio native's most recent season didn't end on the same high note the franchise has become used to after the last three years. Not only did the team miss playoff contention for the first time in a decade, but Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes suffered a season-ending ACL tear.
Kelce, too, was admittedly frustrated with his own game, which he's spoken about at length in various episodes of his New Heights podcast with his brother and co-host, Jason Kelce.
The Chiefs ultimately finished the season 6-11.
Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs.
Kevin Sabitus/Getty
With his two-year contract extension up next month, all eyes have been on Travis since before the team entered its offseason. Various players, staff members, front office folk and Travis himself have commented on his potential retirement.
“Well as an organization, we certainly hope that he will come back,” Chiefs CEO and Chairman Clark Hunt said in a guest spot on NFL Network’s Good Morning Footballon Jan. 27.
"He had another great year, maybe not on par with where he was four or five years ago, but still had over 800 yards, and was really one of the leaders on the offensive side of the ball for us. So there’s no doubt in my mind that he can still play," he continued.
Travis Kelce hugs head coach Andy Reid after the Chiefs win Super Bowl LVII on Feb. 12, 2023 in Glendale, Arizona.
Tammy Ljungblad/The Kansas City Star/Tribune News Service via Getty
Hunt added, "We’re trying to be respectful and let him have the time that he needs to make a decision."
Travis' mom, Donna Kelce, also shared her thoughts on what she'd like to see her son do next season.
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"I just want him to do what he feels comfortable doing," she told TMZ in a video released on Friday, Feb. 13. "He's gotta talk to people in his life to decide what he wants to do."
She added, "So I’m not sure. We’ll see what happens!"
While Kelce has yet to make an explicit decision, he's not against a return. "I feel motivated, but I got to make the right decision for me," he previously said.
Due to a lack of salary cap space, the Atlanta Falcons had no choice but to let starting center Drew Dalman walk during the 2025 free agency period. Dalman, a former fourth-round pick who worked his way up to a starting job, signed a three-year, $42 million contract with the Chicago Bears.
This departure left the Falcons in need of a new starting center. Without many options available, the team turned to former backup Ryan Neuzil, signing the veteran to a two-year, $9.5 million contract extension. While Neuzil started eight games in place of an injured Dalman in 2024, he was unproven in a full-time starting role.
When the regular season rolled around, Neuzil more than held his own along Atlanta's offensive line. The 28-year-old finished as Pro Football Focus' sixth-rated center in 2025, earning a PFF grade of 77.4.
Neuzil even outperformed Dalman, who finished two spots behind him in PFF's center rankings. Here's what PFF had to say about Neuzil's performance last season.
Ryan Neuzil ranked No. 6 center in NFL by PFF
"Neuzil took over as the Falcons' starting center in the wake of Drew Dalman’s departure to Chicago, and he emerged as one of the best zone run blockers in the league (83.3 PFF run-blocking grade, fifth)," wrote PFF's Lauren Gray. "Neuzil generated the fourth-best impact-block rate among players on this list (18.4%), as well as the fourth-lowest defeated rate (11.4%)."
Neuzil struggled in pass protection, but so did Dalman, who allowed the third-most QB pressures in 2025. Dalman was ranked No. 8 on PFF's center rankings.
Drew Dalman ranked No. 8 center in NFL by PFF
"Dalman spent his first four seasons in Atlanta before signing a three-year deal with the Bears in 2025," wrote Gray. "Not only did he play every offensive snap for the team this season, but he was also named to his first Pro Bowl. Dalman is another center on this list who has struggled in pass protection, although he earned a career-best 67.3 PFF pass-blocking grade this season. He allowed the third-most pressures at the position (31), at a rate of 4.2% (third highest on this list)."
The Bears have to be happy with Dalman's performance, especially having just made it to the divisional round of the playoffs. However, the Falcons must be feeling great about Neuzil's production, which came at a fraction of the cost.
Atlanta's offensive line is one of the best units in the NFL, and it should only get better with time. Neuzil is proof that you don't always have to break the bank to find production. Drafting and developing talent can be just as effective when done correctly.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have become the standard for any organization looking to build and expand its reach in the Japanese market over the years.
Dating back to the addition of Hideo Nomo, through the time of Hiroki Kuroda as a starting pitcher, to the emergence of fan favorite Kenta Maeda, the Dodgers carry a rich Japanese history that has been developing for more than two decades.
However, things have really taken off over the past few years, with the addition of bona fide Japanese star Shohei Ohtani, then subsequently Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki.
Shohei Ohtani turned into a samurai in a new ad for the 2026 WBC made by Japan Airlines ?
The results from those three additions, along with the franchise leaning into the Japanese market, have been staggering — SponsorUnited projects that the Dodgers surpassed $200 million in sponsorship revenue, with 20 Japanese brands among their 76 total sponsors.
Oct 27, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) celebrates with pitcher Roki Sasaki (11) and pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (18) after winning in the eighteenth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays in game three of the 2025 MLB World Series at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
As a result of the Dodgers’ financial success and on-field achievements, other teams are paying attention and have been quite up front about wanting to replicate their model for overseas expansion.
The Chicago White Sox, who signed Japanese power hitter Munetaka Murakami to a two-year, $34 million contract, have seen positive results from tapping into Japan.
Brooks Boyer, the White Sox’s executive vice president and chief marketing and revenue officer, names the Dodgers as a source of inspiration.
“We certainly are not going to get to the Dodgers’ level of things that they do, but we want to craft some partnerships with some Japanese companies to be able to let the country get a chance to see ‘Mune’ in his new home,” Boyer told Sports Business Journal.
“And hopefully we have the brand of baseball that they enjoy watching and they want to follow, because that would certainly add to our sponsors and our reach.”
The Dodgers are helping other teams get into Japan
Additionally, Boyer revealed that Dodgers executive vice presidents Lon Rosen and Bob Wolfe spoke with him about helping guide the organization into their expansion plans.
“They obviously have the unicorn in Shohei, but they have not shied away from teaching us what we should be doing and considering,” Boyer said.
“They’ve been really great with us in giving us a playbook on how to maximize our opportunity here with ‘Mune.’
“What you’ll see is certainly some Japanese companies behind home plate, like you do with any of the other teams that have a prominent Japanese player.
“But we’ll find out if other sponsors are interested in marketing in the local market. We certainly aren’t opposed to that.”
The Dodgers, while constantly being pegged as “bad for baseball,” are bringing eyes and ears to the sport of baseball that have long been ignored.
Dodgers fans should take pride in the standard the organization has set, and the unity the team brings not only across Los Angeles but across the world as well.
NBA star LaMelo Ball opened up about the car crash that he was involved in while addressing reporters at a Feb. 19 press conference
The 24-year-old Charlotte Hornets star said that was "alive and blessed" after the crash, which saw him allegedly collide with another driver while leaving practice on Feb. 18
Ball was not injured in the crash, but his car did take some damage and reportedly lost its left front wheel in the collision
On Thursday, Feb. 19, the 24-year-old NBA star spoke to reporters following the team's 105-101 loss against the Houston Rockets.
After answering questions about the team's performance, Ball was asked about the two-car crash he was involved in after practice in uptown Charlotte, N.C. on Wednesday, Feb. 18. According to reporting by the Associated Press and WSOC-TV, the athlete's custom camouflage-colored Hummer clipped a Kia sedan while trying to execute a left turn.
When first asked about the accident, Ball said, "Fortunately, everybody is cool, so blessings. God is great."
A member of the press asked Ball about the driver of the other car, who was reportedly "treated for non-life-threatening injuries" at the scene, per The Charlotte Observer.
"I seen her get straight out of the car," he said of the other driver involved.
Addressing the 24 hours between the accident and his return to the court for a game, he said, "I'm just alive and blessed, for real. God is great, like I said."
Sports Illustrated reporter Sean O'Connor denied allegations that Ball cut the interview short after talking about the crash.
"That’s not what happened. The press conference ended and he left. He answered multiple questions about the accident and then left after it was announced that we were done," he wrote in a post shared to X.
LaMelo Ball during a game against the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Nov. 19, 2025 in Indianapolis
Dylan Buell/Getty
NBC Sports corroborated O'Connor's reporting, writing that those present confirmed he'd left the room after the conference was called to a close by a member of the Hornets' PR team.
"It is common at these post-game press conferences for some journalists to still have questions when the team representative ends it," the outlet noted.
Ball was reportedly uninjured after being involved in the accident, which seemingly took place shortly after he was leaving a Hornets practice. The front left wheel of his car came off as a result of the accident.
The Charlotte Sun reported that Ball left the scene of the crash with police permission. He was reportedly picked up by his teammate Brandon Miller and received support from a Hornets security staff member.
LaMelo Ball during the first half of a Hornets game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Paycom Center on Jan. 5, 2026 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Joshua Gateley/Getty
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NBC reported that a police report for the accident has not yet been made public.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department told PEOPLE that a public report will not be released "as there was no criminal component in this case."
Auburn football is on the shortlist for a top 25 quarterback ahead of the spring practice season.
Will Mencl, a four-star quarterback from Chandler, Arizona, has included Auburn on his top four list as spring football gets underway, alongside Oregon, Miami, and Penn State.
Mencl recently spent time with the new coaching staff at Auburn in January. He recalled his visit to Auburn with Steve Wiltfong of Rivals, describing the visit as "comfortable."
“It was a family feel,” Mencl said in an interview with Rivals. “I enjoyed my time there. I was in a meeting with the OC Joel Gordon for an hour and then we went to lunch and came back for another two hours and it felt like only 15 minutes had passed. He’s someone that is super easy to learn from. Coach (Alex) Golesh is a great person. Had really good conversations with him.”
If Auburn were to sign Mencl to its 2027 signing class, he would be in the mix of a heavy quarterback battle ahead of the 2027 season. USF transfer Byrum Brown is expected to win the starting quarterback job for the 2026 season, his final year of eligibility, and the 2027 race is slated to be between Oregon State transfer Tristan Ti'a, USF transfer Locklan Hewlett, and true freshman Rhys Brush.
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NEW ORLEANS - The Milwaukee Bucks conclude their two-game season series with the New Orleans Pelicans tonight at the Smoothie King Center, and the Bucks look to match their longest winning streak of the season against one of the worst teams in the NBA.
Milwaukee is 23-30 overall and in 11th place in the Eastern Conference but come into the contest against New Orleans having won two straight and five of six. The Bucks’ longest, and only, win streak of the season was three in a row from Feb. 3-6. They beat the Pelicans in overtime on Feb. 4 as part of that run.
New Orleans is 15-41 and tied with three other teams for the second-fewest wins on the season. The Pelicans did win two of three heading into the break, however.
Is Giannis playing?
No.
Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo is getting closer to a return from the soleus muscle strain in his right calf, though, as he participated in half of a practice Feb. 19. Antetokounmpo said at the all-star game Feb. 15 that he feels 100% but admitted he needed to go through some live practices before being cleared. Antetokounmpo re-injured the calf Jan. 23.
Milwaukee has won five of those games since Antetokounmpo reinjured the calf Jan. 23.
Bucks vs. Pelicans has NBA draft implications
Beyond just securing a much-needed victory, it is in the Bucks’ best interest to beat the Pelicans from an offseason perspective. The Pelicans have the right to swap draft position with the Bucks as a remainder from the 2020 Jrue Holiday trade.
That means if the Bucks were to earn the No. 1 pick, the Pelicans would swap their higher position.
Unfortunately for New Orleans, it traded its right to that swap to Atlanta. That means the Pelicans are not in a position to “tank” and win fewer games than the Bucks.
Heading into league action Feb. 20, the Pelicans had a 52.1% chance of winning a top four pick in the draft lottery. The Bucks had 13.9% chance.
NEW ORLEANS - The Milwaukee Bucks conclude their two-game season series with the New Orleans Pelicans tonight at the Smoothie King Center, and the Bucks look to match their longest winning streak of the season against one of the worst teams in the NBA.
Milwaukee is 23-30 overall and in 11th place in the Eastern Conference but come into the contest against New Orleans having won two straight and five of six. The Bucks’ longest, and only, win streak of the season was three in a row from Feb. 3-6. They beat the Pelicans in overtime on Feb. 4 as part of that run.
New Orleans is 15-41 and tied with three other teams for the second-fewest wins on the season. The Pelicans did win two of three heading into the break, however.
Is Giannis playing?
No.
Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo is getting closer to a return from the soleus muscle strain in his right calf, though, as he participated in half of a practice Feb. 19. Antetokounmpo said at the all-star game Feb. 15 that he feels 100% but admitted he needed to go through some live practices before being cleared. Antetokounmpo re-injured the calf Jan. 23.
Milwaukee has won five of those games since Antetokounmpo reinjured the calf Jan. 23.
Bucks vs. Pelicans has NBA draft implications
Beyond just securing a much-needed victory, it is in the Bucks’ best interest to beat the Pelicans from an offseason perspective. The Pelicans have the right to swap draft position with the Bucks as a remainder from the 2020 Jrue Holiday trade.
That means if the Bucks were to earn the No. 1 pick, the Pelicans would swap their higher position.
Unfortunately for New Orleans, it traded its right to that swap to Atlanta. That means the Pelicans are not in a position to “tank” and win fewer games than the Bucks.
Heading into league action Feb. 20, the Pelicans had a 52.1% chance of winning a top four pick in the draft lottery. The Bucks had 13.9% chance.
Undrafted out of Georgia in 2024, Milton has been a staple of the Bengals practice squad for two years. His most recent practice squad contract with the Bengals expired in mid-January.
Now, Milton joins the depth chart with Chase Brown, Samaje Perine and Tahj Brooks before the Bengals make any other additions in free agency or the draft.
Juventus take on Como as they attempt to secure a victory after four unsuccessful outings, in what has become a challenging period for the club. Their disappointing defeat to Galatasaray in the Champions League in midweek marked the fourth consecutive match in which they have failed to register a win.
Such a run is far from ideal for a side with ambitions of finishing the season with silverware. As a result, this fixture carries significant importance, with Juventus under pressure to respond positively and restore confidence within the squad.
Pressure Mounts on Juventus
Dropping valuable points in recent weeks has placed Juventus in a difficult position. A team with their expectations cannot afford prolonged inconsistency, particularly at this stage of the campaign. The match against Como, therefore, represents an opportunity to steady the ship and demonstrate renewed focus.
However, the task will not be straightforward. Como has enjoyed an impressive season and has emerged as one of the overachieving teams in Serie A during this campaign. Their objective is to secure a European place, and their performances suggest they are capable of competing with established sides. Notably, they defeated Juventus in the reverse fixture, underlining the challenge that awaits.
Joao Mario (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
A Crucial Test Against Como
Recent form further highlights the contrast between the two teams. Como have recorded two wins from their last five matches, while Juventus have managed just one victory in the same period and are without a win in their previous five games. Although Juventus won both meetings last season, current momentum favours their opponents.
Juventus will nevertheless view this encounter as a pivotal moment. Securing three points would not only halt their negative run but also encourage them ahead of their upcoming contest against Galatasaray. Failure to deliver, however, would deepen concerns about their ability to end the season on a positive note.
Pundit breaks down why Arsenal do not have a world-class player
Rafael van der Vaart has outlined his view of what defines a world-class player, agreeing with Wayne Rooney that Arsenal do not currently possess one. The Gunners are on course to win the Premier League, Champions League and Carabao Cup titles this season, and many observers believe their squad contains several individuals worthy of world-class status.
Despite their obvious quality, these players have yet to lead the club to a league title or a major honour in recent seasons. On the pitch, however, they have often demonstrated attributes that supporters argue are sufficient to justify such recognition. Arsenal fans would insist that their team is filled with world-class talents who simply require silverware to validate that label.
Debate Over World-Class Status
At the back, William Saliba has consistently been described as one of the finest defenders in the world, which explains why he was linked with a move to Real Madrid for an extended period. In attack, too, supporters believe there are players capable of being regarded among the elite.
However, Van der Vaart does not share that assessment. He believes the distinction between a star and a genuinely world-class footballer lies in more than technical ability or isolated performances. According to his view, mentality and attitude under pressure are equally decisive factors.
(Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
Van der Vaart’s Assessment
As reported by the Metro, he said, ‘Arsenal do not have any world class players – I agree with Wayne Rooney.
‘Perhaps it is better to say that Arsenal have ‘stars’ in their team – they have really good players, but nobody is world class.
‘To be a world class footballer, it’s not just about your performances, you need the attitude on the pitch.
‘When I look at this Arsenal team, they are all ‘Ideal son-in-law’s,’ as we say in Dutch – they can play well but I don’t think any would succeed if they went to Real Madrid because the mentality is much harder and there is a lot more pressure.’
Van der Vaart’s comments add further fuel to the debate surrounding Arsenal’s squad, particularly as expectations continue to rise during a crucial stage of the campaign.
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Oregon’s Ian Umlandt pitches against the Toledo Rockets at PK Park in Eugene Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. | Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 19: Ryan Garcia poses during a weigh-in at Barclays Center on April 19, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Ryan Garcia vs. Mario Barrios weigh-in video features Ryan Garcia, Mario Barrios, and a host of others stepping on the scale Friday evening in Las Vegas.
In the main event, Ryan Garcia and WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios have to hit the limit of 147 pounds for their title fight. Garcia is 1-2, 1 no-contest over his past four fights. Barrios has two straight title defenses thanks to draws, including against 47-year-old legend Manny Pacquiao in his last performance last July.
IBF welterweight champion Richardson Hitchins and WBA super lightweight champion Gary Antuanne Russell will also compete on the pay-per-view undercard Saturday evening.
The Garcia vs. Barrios weigh-ins happen at 6 p.m. ET.
Check out Garcia vs. Barrios weigh-in results below.
The Indianapolis Colts' Chris Ballard and Shane Steichen will be speaking at the NFL combine on Tuesday.
Ballard will meet with the media at 4:30 PM ET and Steichen at 5:30 PM ET.
This will be the first time that either has spoken publicly since each of their respective end-of-season press conferences.
After ending the 2025 season on a seven-game losing streak, the Colts missed the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season. However, the belief internally is that the success this team had through the first half of the season can be replicated and sustained, which is in large part why both Ballard and Steichen are back for another season.
Offensively, we saw the full capabilities of the Steichen offense through 10 games, with this unit being one of the most productive in football. And while injuries will never be an excuse, they were a harsh reality for the 2025 Colts.
Owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon also mentioned how Ballard adapted his roster-building approach last offseason, which included being more aggressive. From the sounds of it, we could see a similar approach this offseason, with the Colts positioned relatively well with the salary cap.
Although Ballard and Steichen will be returning, that doesn't mean there won't be changes made to the roster.
There are some veterans on the team whose statuses for the upcoming season could be viewed as up in the air if the Colts choose to pursue additional salary cap savings.
The defensive side of the ball, in particular, also needs to be reshaped at a few positions. As Ballard put it, there is a need for "more fuel" up front, while getting younger and faster overall on defense will be a priority.
Beyond any roster changes that are made, this Colts team has to learn how to be at its best down the stretch. Irsay-Gordon stressed the need for this team to be able to better handle adversity. Not only last season, but in a few others in recent years, in those must-have-it games late in the year, the Colts have failed to come through.
Jeremiah Fears has already exceeded expectations in his rookie season. Point guards typically need time to earn a coach's trust, but despite being the fourth youngest player in the league, the seventh overall pick has looked like the franchise PG New Orleans envisioned.
Fears stopped by the Panini Prizm VIP lounge during All-Star Weekend, to talk about how his rookie year has been coming along, what Zion Williamson has meant to him and the other rookies, learning to control his emotions on the court, going from winning at every level to losing in the NBA, and more.
How was your experience at the Rising Stars game?
Jeremiah Fears: It was great being out there having fun, competing, obviously. But at the end of the day, we were still out there having fun, playing against the people we came in with, or the people that came in a year before us. But at the end of the day, it's a brotherhood.
Unfortunately, my team didn't get the championship. But we still ended up making it, and we had so much fun out there playing, and being able to see ourselves, our last name, and stuff like that on the back of those Rising Stars jerseys. It was cool.
How has your rookie season been going for you so far?
JF: It's been pretty good. I've been really excited about how it's been going. It's a long season, so being able to adjust on the fly, being able to adapt, I think that's huge. And just continuing to go out there, have fun, and compete. Because at the end of the day, you dream of playing in the NBA as well, and everybody don't get an opportunity to play in the NBA.
What's the biggest adjustment that you've had to make this season?
JF: Definitely traveling, on the road every two days, every other day. So being able to adjust to all the traveling, getting in late nights, you got to get up, you got to practice at nine in the morning, and stuff like that.
You got to be able to read the scouting report. You got to know tendencies and things players like to do, the opposing team, and their coverages and stuff like that. So being able to adjust on the fly, it's been huge. I think I've been doing an amazing job of adjusting on the fly. So, just looking forward to continuing to keep learning and keep exploring and keep getting better eventually.
In terms of just being on the road, there’s a special connection of bonding with teammates, right? Who do you bond with most on the team?
JF: I would definitely say the rookies, only because we came in together. But I also got a good relationship with all my other teammates as well. They do a pretty good job of keeping the rookies up to date with certain stuff and just talking to us and being in our ear and being that moral support that we need.
How is your relationship with Derik Queen?
JF: He's great. We talk a lot. Just being able to learn each other a lot more. Obviously, we went to different universities, but now we're on the same team, and we're going to be here for a while. So being able to understand each other and figure each other out before it's too late, and just continue to build our relationship and our chemistry.
Do you feel like it's beneficial to you that you both came in together, where you guys have a certain set of expectations coming your way, and you guys go through similar struggles and can talk with each other about them?
JF: Yeah, I think it's huge. Having somebody that you come in with. You guys are both rookies, you know a lot, but you don't know everything, so being able to learn.
Like you said, it's going to be struggles here and there, but at least you have somebody to talk to experiencing the same thing or maybe already experienced what you're going through. So I'm gonna ask him how did he feel about the whole situation, how did he go about the situation. So being able to talk to him about some struggles and how we could get better moving forward, I think that's huge and I think it goes a long way for both of us.
I was talking to Kyshawn George the other day and asked him who was one of his vets on the team last year and this year for him, the most beneficial to him. And he named Jordan Poole, who’s now your teammate. He said the biggest thing Jordan helped with was his confidence - to keep shooting. What has Jordan Poole meant to you?
JF: Man, Jordan Poole's been huge. I mean, he's just been talking to us each and every day, pouring into us. He don't have to do that because he's been in the NBA for a while now. Guys like that, when you prove yourself, you win a championship, and you've shown everybody years and years of what you're capable of, you don't have to continue to pour into the young guys.
But I think that just shows his character and who he is as a person. Because like I said, he won a championship, and he's proven himself many years. So he don't have to give us the advice he does. And he don't have to talk to us and help us out. He could be somebody that's just sitting there and just along for the ride. But I'm kind of glad that he's here, and he continues to help us each and every day.
You were in the starting lineup earlier in the year, and now you're on the bench. What has that been like for you in terms of that adjustment?
JF: Just being able to adjust. I think you can't control every situation. And sometimes the coach might think that the team needs to go in a different direction to help better the team. So I mean, you've got to be able to adjust and go out there and play hard - however many minutes you do get. And I think that'll take you a long way.
At the end of the day, the more you produce with the minutes you do get, coach will eventually realize, yeah, we need him on the floor. We need to continue to keep him on the floor. So I think that's been huge. And just never let something like that shake your confidence. Stay confident. Coach might feel like the older guys should be starting. You got to roll with that. And you got to be ready when your name is, when your time is, if you feel like it's your time.
Has Kevin Looney had a positive impact on you this season?
JF: Yeah, Kevin Looney and DeAndre Jordan. They've been in the NBA a pretty long time. Both won championships. So, I mean, just listen to every piece of advice they give us as well. Maximize questions, picking their brain a little bit, and continue to have fun.
I think that's been the most important thing that they've been telling us. It's not always going to be bad. I mean right now we don't have the best record, so they try to keep us motivated and tell us to continue to stay positive and we can change this thing around. So we're looking forward to changing this thing around and just continuing to stay confident and continue to have fun with it. That's the most important thing.
Some of your counterparts around the league don't have the benefit of having vets on their teams. They can be there simply to give you guys advice on the road, they don't even have to be on the court. How fortunate do you feel having guys like that on your team?
JF: Yeah, very fortunate. Like you said, some people don't have vets that can tell them right from wrong and kind of tell them, give them a heads up what to look out for. And I think that's huge, especially in this era and this day and age. I think you need somebody like that on your team just to be that support and somebody that's constantly in your ear telling you to do the right stuff and making sure you're doing the right stuff.
Me, Derik, and our other rookies, I mean, we are very grateful for our vets because they help us out. And they help us a lot more than they know. It might be something they feel like was so small, but they still in there wanting to tell us. But it just goes a long way.
We just going to continue to keep learning. And then eventually, it's going to be our time to pour into our rookies.
With Zion Williamson, there are a lot of people out there who don’t see what he’s like on a day-to-day basis. You get that opportunity being his teammate. Do you think the public persona of him is 180º from what you see?
JF: Yeah. I think it’s a little biased with some of the stuff you see on the Internet. People might have their own opinions about Zion and who he is as a person, try to attack his character. But I mean, being able to get to know him a little bit, I mean, Zion's been great. He's been talking to us a lot as well. And he's not the person people see on the Internet.
We're just thankful that we got somebody like him to be there to talk to us. And being able to understand his character has been the most important part, though, because you see stuff on the Internet, and you get around him like, 'Oh, I wonder, does he really do stuff like that?' But just being able to understand who he is as a person, not only from basketball, but off the court as well.
With Zion, there was that scuffle you had with Lu Dort, and cameras showed in the hallway how he ran over to comfort you while you were being walked back to the locker room. To have someone like him there for you, what does that mean to you?
JF: Yeah, it's huge. Just knowing he got my back, no matter the situation or what's going on. And I think I could learn a lot from him. And just continuing to put myself around people that want the best for me. And that's gonna continue to teach me the way how it should be done. And I think, like I said, Zion having my back no matter the situation is something that I can take from him and have my teammates back or have maybe my friends or the coaches back, no matter what's going on.
Is that why you have the number zero on your jersey, no fears because you don’t step back to anyone on the court?
JF: Yessir. Being able to attack those challenges, it's going to be some situations and stuff that you just got to face. And you got to make the right decision in those situations, even though you might feel like in a moment you got to do something else. But just being able to make the right decision each and every time, that’s huge.
Are there any teammates that watch anime with him?
JF: Haha, for sure. JP watches anime with him. Trey Alexander, our other rookie. Sadiq [Bey], a little bit. And then there's one more, one or two more that watch a little bit of anime with him. I mean, they talk about it all the time on the plane, getting ready to go to the away games, asking about the new series and stuff like that. But I haven't really got into it as much but I'm pretty sure Zion's gonna try to put me on with a couple shows.
Have they been trying to get you to watch with them?
JF: Yeah, it's like Zion and the rest of those guys like, 'Man Fears, you gotta watch it'. I'm like, I don't know bro, but I think I'll give it a try and see how I like it.
Coming from AAU, high school, college, where you won at all those levels. How difficult has this year been for you in terms of the wins and losses?
JF: Very difficult. You're not used to losing as much. But it's something you can learn from. Being able to lose to understand how to win, I think that's huge. We've been in a lot of very close games. We just got to learn how to finish. And I think once we learn how to finish, we'll be really, really good and we'll end up flipping the switch.
Which goals have you accomplished so far this year and what goals do you have beyond?
JF: I accomplished the Rising Stars so far. There's a couple more that you got to wait till the end of the year to see. Just looking forward to continue to accomplish my goals each and every year. Just try to help my team be the best we can be. And in the future, looking forward to being an NBA champion, being an NBA MVP, and just being able to retire a Hall of Famer.
What goal do you have for this year to finish off?
JF: Rookie of the Year for sure. All-Rookie 1st Team. And I would say probably leading the NBA for rookies in some sort of stat or category.
What are you doing here with Panini during the All-Star weekend?
JF: Man, I'm here at Panini, at the Panini Lounge, just signing cards, meeting new people, having fun. It's a little arcade over there as well, so just having fun and signing some cards.
Did you collect trading cards as a kid?
JF: I definitely did. I had a couple. It was the majority of the Chicago players I had, though. Derrick Rose, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen. I had a Dennis Rodman card. I had a Ron Harper card. And then after that, I ended up losing them 'cause I ended up moving to another house. So I ended up losing all my cards.
Joakim Noah maybe, no?
JF: Ah, I was close. I didn't get it, but I was close. I was trying to collect all the Bulls players that I knew. I know Joakim, but I ended up losing our cards and then I'm like, all right, I'm done collecting.
How did it feel seeing yourself on one of these cards?
JF: It was a dream come true. Obviously collecting those cards and now being in a position where I have my own card, that's super exciting. I have a couple in my house right now and in my car. And I was just super excited to see myself on one of those cards and then I ended up signing them as well. And I end up giving my parents a couple just because, like I said, it's something every kid dream of. And luckily, I was able to be in a position like this to have my own card.
CAMDEN, N.J. -- The Philadelphia 76ers have been busy as of late as they decided to convert Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker to standard deals which opened up the opportunity to add more depth with the two-way slots that were opened.
One player brought in was 4-year guard Dalen Terry. A former 2022 first-round pick, Terry has yet to find his footing in the league as he averaged only 3.5 points and 1.7 rebounds while shooting 31.9% from deep in his 3.5 seasons with the Chicago Bulls.
Joining the Sixers on a two-way deal, Terry is now looking forward to what's to come and finding his niche in the league.
"I got excited," Terry said on Friday about the opportunity to join the Sixers. "I feel like me coming out of the draft, the 76ers was a team that I liked, and I believe that they loved me too. So just me coming here—obviously, me being in Chicago for a few years, opportunity there was slim, and I think I was just ready for a new start no matter where it was in the NBA."
The Bulls had a number of guys blocking him at his position whether it was Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan in the past or Josh Giddey, Ayo Dosunmu, and Isaac Okoro in this current season. That left Terry with limited opportunity and he is looking forward to new beginnings with the Sixers.
"I feel like I'm just looking around like these guys, they match my energy," he added. "I knew a few of these guys too, just playing against them. Just being NBA, being NBA, being AAU, high school, all that. So it was just cool to come and see a few familiar faces and some new faces as well."
A player with a ton of athleticism and a terrific mindset and attitude, Terry will be looking to help the Sixers in any possible way. It can be a tough transition to join a team midseason, but he is ready for whatever challenge Philadelphia throws at him.
"It's a process," Terry said of the transition. "I think that's what we get paid to do, though. It's just part of the business. Me being traded, obviously, and I find my way here. That's something that you got to learn, and obviously me playing a lot of different positions is pretty tough, but, I mean, that's what we get paid for. That's why we’re the best basketball players in the world."
Kristen Santos-Griswold of United States, Kamila Sellier of Poland and Arianna Fontana of Italy fall during the Women's 1500m Quarterfinal 6.
REUTERS / REUTERS
MILAN — Polish skater Kamila Sellier suffered a serious injury in the sixth quarterfinal of Friday night’s 1500m short-track speed skate and was taken from Assago Ice Skating Arena to a nearby hospital. Polish officials indicated that she was in good spirits, even raising a thumbs-up as she left the arena.
Late in the quarterfinal, Sellier appeared to lose her footing and slipped, colliding with the United States’ Kristen Santos-Griswold. In the ensuing accident, Santos-Griswold’s skate caught Sellier on the face. Sellier slid into the protective retaining wall, and medical crews raised a sheet around her to protect the scene from the audience. She was stretchered from the ice.
Masakra .... Fatalnie wyglądał wypadek Kamili Sellier podczas rywalizacji w short tracku na igrzyskach olimpijskich. Polka została uderzona płozą w okolice oka podcazs upadku . pic.twitter.com/eXfVLDMCTx
Konrad Niedźwiedzki, press attache for the Polish speed skating team and a 2014 Olympian, informed reporters at the arena that Sellier had suffered a cut on her cheek and eyelid that required stitches. Other reports indicated that Sellier had potentially fractured a cheekbone and suffered severe swelling.
“We are waiting for what the hospital tests will show,” Niedźwiedzki said, via translation.
One of Sellier’s teammates, Natalia Maliszewska, appeared visibly shaken as she spoke with reporters. “My thoughts are with her,” Maliszewska said in Polish. “I can’t think of anything else.”
“These aren't common accidents, but they do happen,” Sellier’s teammate Gabriela Topolska said in Polish. “Kamila already has one of them, from a skate on her face. Kamila has a cut in her skin, with stitches.”
Sellier has won several European speed-skating medals, most recently a silver medal in the 2000m mixed relay at the European short track speed skating championships in January.
Santos-Griswold was disqualified from the race, which continued after the injury timeout.
Michigan State football is the latest power four school to extend an offer to a big-time wide receiver prospect from the Windy City.
Lawrence Carr of Chicago announced on Friday that he's received an offer from the Spartans. Carr made the offer from Michigan State known by posting on his social media X account on Friday.
Carr is listed at 5-foot-11 and 170 pounds, and plays for Kenwood Academy. He has recently seen an uptick of offers on the recruiting trail based on 247Sports.
Carr is currently unrated and unranked on 247Sports, but has received a ton of interest on the recruiting trail. He holds offers from 10 schools, including Michigan State, Arizona State, Louisville, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Purdue, Wisconsin, Miami (OH), Buffalo and Ball State.
Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page onFacebookto follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Robert Bondy on X @RobertBondy5.
Lexington (Ky.) four-star cornerback Jordan Haskins has seen enough.
After a handful of visits to schools this fall, a couple more this winter, and stops from coaches at his home, Haskins is ready to announce his commitment. On Friday, he posted on Twitter that he is down to six schools and will make his decision official on March 6.
Among the remaining contenders are: Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Louisville, Kentucky and Virginia Tech.
The wife of NBA veteran Russell Westbrook received a message wishing death upon her and her family after the Sacramento Kings guard failed to cash an angry sports bettor’s player prop wager.
Nina Westbrook posted a screenshot of an email she received on Thursday night.
Key Takeaways
Russell Westbrook failed to cash the bettor’s prop line of 10 points scored on Thursday.
Nina Westbrook said that she is growing more concerned for athletes’ safety.
The NBA is strongly linked to the gambling industry.
Westbrook and the Kings made their return to the court on Thursday against the Orlando Magic, ending their weeklong hiatus from the All-Star break. The 2016 MVP was held to five points on 2-8 (25%) shooting in an uncompetitive 131-94 loss.
The result prompted a violent written assault from “Joel Molina,” whose vitriol was captured in a screenshot posted to Nina Westbrook’s Instagram story late on Thursday evening.
The email contains vulgar language.
Nina Westbrook captioned the picture, “The negative effects of sports betting. Brings out the worst in ppl smh.”
Russell Westbrook’s wife shared this disturbing email she received titled “F**k you” pic.twitter.com/OTNPTOvaQp
Sports betting is not legal in California, where the Kings reside, and where they played the Magic on Thursday.
'Not an isolated incident'
Early on Friday morning, Nina Westbrook posted a follow-up addressing the email and its public response. She noted that it was not her family’s first time dealing with harassment from angry sports bettors.
“Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident,” she wrote. “It’s something my husband and I consider routine. With that said, I’m sharing this now because I’m growing increasingly concerned for athletes.
“Gambling is a highly addictive behavior, and people should understand the risks associated with it, especially before introducing it to their children. I don’t claim to have all the answers, but the threatening behavior directed toward athletes and their families after games has proven to be one of the early results of amped up sports betting.”
A growing number of amateur and professional athletes have documented their encounters with angry sports bettors. Cases have ranged from Olympic champions being stalked and verbally assaulted at their competitions to professional athletes being confronted in person over their performances.
The NCAA also found in a study last year that 36% of men’s basketball players reported experiencing social media abuse from sports bettors within the last year.
Despite the growing wariness, the NBA is still firmly entrenched in the gambling industry.
The NBA has primary sports betting sponsorships with DraftKings, FanDuel, and BetMGM. Commissioner Adam Silver was also an early proponent of legalizing sports betting, writing in 2014 an op-ed titled “Legalize and Regulate Sports Betting.”
Champions League Round of 16 draw details: Who could Liverpool face?
Liverpool await UEFA Champions League draw details as Round of 16 picture sharpens
Liverpool head towards another decisive moment in the UEFA Champions League season, with the upcoming draw details beginning to take shape after a dramatic set of play off fixtures. While Arne Slot’s side enjoyed a rare week without European action, the results elsewhere have helped narrow the field and offered supporters an early sense of what might lie ahead.
The Reds finished strongly in the league phase, ensuring a seeded position and the comfort of knowing their Round of 16 journey will include a second leg at Anfield. That advantage could prove significant once the knockout intensity rises and margins become tighter.
Round of 16 landscape becoming clearer
Even without kicking a ball, Liverpool’s week carried plenty of intrigue. The bracket alignment alongside Tottenham means the club will face one of four sides emerging from the play off paths, Galatasaray, Juventus, Club Brugge or Atletico Madrid. Each result from the first legs added fresh context to the upcoming UEFA Champions League draw details.
Galatasaray appear to have seized control of their tie with an emphatic three goal first leg lead, placing them firmly in the conversation as a potential Liverpool opponent. Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid’s 3-3 draw away at Club Brugge leaves that route finely balanced, although Diego Simeone’s team remain widely tipped to finish the job in the Spanish capital.
From a tactical perspective, Liverpool’s coaching staff will already be weighing stylistic matchups, travel demands and recent form. Knockout football rarely offers straightforward paths, yet the current trajectory suggests either Galatasaray or Atletico Madrid could be waiting once the dust settles.
Photo: IMAGO
Draw details and streaming options
Attention now shifts to the official UEFA Champions League ceremony in Nyon. UEFA will stage the Round of 16 draw on Friday, February 27, with proceedings expected to begin around 12:00 CET. For supporters keen to follow every twist, the draw details include free streaming through UEFA’s digital platforms, including UEFA.com and the official YouTube channel. UK viewers will also find coverage via major rights holders such as TNT Sports and Discovery+.
These draws tend to move quickly, with seeded teams already placed into predetermined slots on the bracket. That structure means Liverpool will learn not only their opponent but also the order of legs, an element that can subtly influence preparation and rotation plans.
Possible opponents in focus
Galatasaray’s attacking flair and passionate home environment would present a unique challenge, particularly given the club’s recent European pedigree. Atletico Madrid, by contrast, bring a familiar blend of defensive organisation and knockout experience that has troubled English sides before.
Juventus cannot be dismissed either, even if their path currently looks less certain, while Club Brugge’s resilience in earning a 3-3 draw shows they are far from mere outsiders. From Liverpool’s viewpoint, the key will be maintaining momentum domestically while preparing for whichever tactical puzzle emerges from the bowls.
Key dates ahead for Liverpool in Europe
Once the UEFA Champions League draw details are confirmed, focus will quickly return to the pitch. First legs in the Round of 16 are scheduled for March 4-5, with second legs on March 11-12. Those dates mark the true beginning of Liverpool’s latest European push, where squad depth, game management and Anfield’s atmosphere will all play decisive roles.
For now, anticipation builds. The draw may be a ceremony filled with formalities and familiar faces, yet for Liverpool it represents the opening chapter of another high stakes European story.
“We will see” – Oliver Glasner speaks out on Crystal Palace future
Oliver Glasner Speaks Out on his Future at Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace find themselves at a delicate point in the season, and Oliver Glasner’s latest press conference did little to quiet the speculation. With results sliding and the Austrian already confirming he will leave at the end of the campaign, questions now centre on whether his tenure could end sooner. For supporters and observers alike, the situation feels less about grand statements and more about the everyday reality of Premier League management, where results shape everything.
Press Conference signals uncertainty
When asked directly about his future, Oliver Glasner offered answers that reflected both honesty and caution. Responding to whether he felt confident about leading Crystal Palace until the end of the season, he said: “Let’s see. I always said, as a manager, you always depend on your players. They will get all the support, like always and then we will see.”
That theme continued when the question turned to his own desire to remain in charge. “Let’s see. What the future brings, we never know.” The language suggested a manager aware of the situation around him, yet unwilling to add drama to an already tense environment.
Photo IMAGO
Results driving pressure at Crystal Palace
Football remains brutally simple when form dips. Glasner acknowledged that reality without hesitation. “In football, it’s easy. As a manager, you will stay and you are allowed to stay when the results are OK.
“Football is all about this, and the last months, the results were not good. The performances were not consistently good and that’s it.”
Those words underline why speculation around Crystal Palace continues to grow. Poor performances have dragged the club into a difficult run, and the lack of consistency has left fans wondering whether a change could spark a late improvement.
Dressing room responsibility highlighted
Despite the pressure, Glasner remained clear that the focus stays on the players rather than his own position. When asked about maintaining his standards, he replied: “No. No. Never. That’s why I feel pretty open to talk about because it’s the situation. It’s never about Oliver Glasner. Oliver Glasner’s life will continue in the summer wherever and however it is. Crystal Palace’s life will continue.”
It was a reminder that, in his view, the club’s long term future outweighs any individual storyline. That perspective has defined much of his messaging since confirming his summer departure.
What happens next at Selhurst Park
For now, Oliver Glasner insists he retains the motivation to guide Crystal Palace through the closing months. Asked if he still has the drive to lead the side, his answer was short and direct: “Yes. I feel so. Yes.”
Whether those words translate into a turnaround on the pitch remains the key question. With rumours of an early exit circulating and results yet to improve, the coming weeks could define how this chapter at Crystal Palace is remembered. Stability, performance, and clarity will shape the final stretch, and every match feels significant as the club looks to steady itself before a new era begins.
DENVER, COLORADO - DECEMBER 21: Trevor Lawrence #16 of the Jacksonville Jaguars interacts with Christian Braswell #21 prior to an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field At Mile High on December 21, 2025 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Brooke Sutton/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Good afternoon!
The Jacksonville Jaguars have officially re-signed cornerback Keith Taylor, and they also re-signed cornerback Christian Braswell, per his agency. Braswell recorded a career-high 3 pass breakups in 2025 as a backup and primary special teams player. Are you glad to hear the news? Tell us in the comments!
Now, for today’s full roundup.
Jacksonville Jaguars News
Study up before your next trip to the watercooler.
Life in Starkville has been tough the past few seasons. But wide receiver Brenen Thompson made a wise decision leaving Oklahoma for Mississippi State last year, enjoying a breakout campaign that saw him break 1,000 yards receiving. Key to that production was his unparalleled speed, with many expecting him to challenge Matthew Golden’s 4.29 second forty from last season. Thompson’s average depth of target (aDOT) last season was an outrageous 18.4 yards – for context, the NFL average is around 11.0.
The Jacksonville Jaguars have re-signed CB Keith Taylor, the team announced today. Taylor joined Jacksonville in December. He was originally selected by the Carolina Panthers in the fifth round (166th overall) of the 2021 NFL Draft and has played in 47 games (five starts) for the Panthers (2021-22), Chiefs (2023-24) and Falcons (2025).
According to GPS tracking data provided by the NFL’s Next Gen Stats, the Jaguars ranked 29th with an average targeted separation of just 3.2 yards. Truthfully, even that is a bit overscored as none of the Jaguars starting receivers averaged more than 2.7 yards.
Yes, Gardeck is very much a part-time player, but when that time comes, he is a relentless pass rusher with a fun mix of speed and spin moves. He had three sacks in just seven games in 2024 and six sacks in 2023 (when he had an 18.3% pressure rate). He’s 31, but there’s not a ton of tread on the tires, and in his role, he brings a ton of value. Some team is going to be very happy it added this high-effort player.
The Jaguars were 18th in pressure percentage last season and 27th in sacks. That sack ranking would have been even worse without Arik Armstead posting 5.5 sacks … Trading for Gervon Dexter Sr. could give them a long-term replacement for Armstead and upgrade the unit as a whole.
The Jaguars will trade Brian Thomas Jr. — While it would not seem likely given that Travis Hunter is, indeed, not changing football forever and will be relegated mostly to defense in 2026, Liam Coen needs wide receivers suited specifically for his system. Trevor Lawrence preferred Parker Washington in gotta-have-it situations a year ago and his specificity may lead him to exploring options that make up for the draft capital Jacksonville lost on the Hunter deal.
It is a total rock star year at the linebacker position. Three huge names are entering the fray. Two are rookies from Ohio State: Sonny Styles and the previously mentioned Arvell Reese. One is a free agent out of Jacksonville: Devin Lloyd.
I’ll start with just a dash of cold water. Lloyd is probably not a top-five linebacker in football; I’d say he’s more LB10 or LB12. But he’s almost certainly about to get paid like it. Last year was an enormous offseason for linebacker contracts, as four of the six biggest deals currently in the market were signed by Fred Warner, Zack Baun, Jamien Sherwood and Nick Bolton — and Lloyd comfortably outperformed the latter two last season. I’d argue he outplayed Baun, as well. Lloyd is going to clear $15 million per year, and at that price tag, I’d likely pass if I was a general manager. With that said, Lloyd is still an impactful player. He’s great on blitzes and made a huge step forward in coverage last season.
Today’s NFL Media
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Top 5 NBA PG of all time Rajon Rondo playing flag football and making it look easy…
Could you imagine if he had played football?.. we talking a heisman trophy winner and multiple Super Bowl mvp..
Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar (6) leaps over Illinois defensive back Tanner Heckel (16) for a touchdown in the first quarter of the Music City Bowl in an NCAA football game on Dec. 30, 2025, in Nashville, Tennessee. | Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Joey Aguilar will not return to Tennessee football for the 2026 season, a Knoxville judge ruled on Friday afternoon. The veteran quarterback was fighting to follow the same path that Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia took last season, which allowed him to return last fall. Aguilar will not get that same chance.
Judge Chris Heagerty filed his 29-page ruling Friday after the hearing last Friday in Chancery Court. Aguilar can request an interlocutory or interim appeal but the appellate court doesn’t have to grant it. He plans to attend the NFL Combine next week. https://t.co/83P8Rooiw8
Any appeal here is unlikely, according to most who are familiar with the case.
Aguilar arrived in Knoxville last May following Nico Iamaleava’s decision to transfer after spring practice. With both sides forced into a tough spot, they found each other and it ended up working nicely. Aguilar threw for over 3,500 yards and 24 touchdowns, sparking a revival of the downfield Tennessee passing attack.
However, the NCAA grabs seemingly a rare win in court here. Aguilar now moves on to the NFL Combine where he’ll look to make an impression and find a professional opportunity.
Tennessee now moves on to a quarterback competition. It’ll be redshirt freshman George MacIntyre as the perceived leader, while 5-star, No. 2 overall player Faizon Brandon enters the picture as a true freshman. This puts Josh Heupel in an unfamiliar spot, forced to play a player without any experience at the position. Tennessee also added a depth piece, grabbing Ryan Staub from Colorado out of the portal.
Tennessee’s quarterback battle officially begins now, and will hit the field next month as spring ball begins.
Harris' magnificent second half strike came from around 35 yards out of his own goal and made it 2-0 to Robbie Stockdale's side at Whitley Park, with Sean Neave - fresh from his midweek Champions League bow at Qarabağ - having opened the scoring from the spot before the break.
Substitute Michael Mill's confident finish added extra gloss to the scoreline and secured three Premier League 2 points for the Magpies, who were rarely troubled by their opponents on a chilly evening on Tyneside.
There wasn't much in it in the opening stages, though Harris did produce two fine saves to deny Alfie White in the opening 45. His first stop came after just a couple of minutes when the hosts surrendered possession in the middle of the park, allowing the Cottagers midfielder to advance before firing in a low save which Harris did well to push away.
But Stockdale's charges carried the greater threat. Anthony Munda shot just wide from the edge of the box after Leo Shahar and Neave combined well following a poor clearance from Fulham stopper Alexander Borto, with Shahar then firing in a dangerous cross across goal that narrowly evaded Neave following good work from Seung-soo Park on the left.
The Magpies went ahead after 12 minutes, when Neave's drive to the byline was halted clumsily, leaving referee Garreth Rhodes to point to the spot. The frontman picked himself up to beat Borto with a powerful, low penalty which nestled in the bottom left-hand corner.
The opener gave Newcastle a lift, with Shahar lifting a shot just over shortly after when Kyle Fitzgerald played him in - though the chance was created by a piercing run from Neave, who cut through the visitors' backline at speed. The teenager was involved again, seeing an effort blocked before Scott Bailey lashed an effort just past the upright.
Harris' second fine save from White came after Rory Finneran was robbed of possession in midfield, with the 19-year-old repelling a stinging effort from 25 yards, but it was just a fleeting moment of danger for United, who ended the half on top, with Neave and Bailey both going close.
Just a minute after the restart the contest's defining moment arrived, and in sensational style. With Fulham forward Tom Wingate chasing down a long ball, Harris came out of his box to snuff out the threat - and his perfectly-struck clearance, from deep in his own half, flew over the stranded Borto and bounced in.
It was a remarkable moment and one which further punctured Fulham's hopes of taking anything from the game, with Stockdale's young side in control thereafter. Michael Mills - who was introduced at half time along with Mason Miley in place of Neave and Shahar - had a sight of goal after wriggling past his marker, but Borto did well to smother his attempt.
Finneran took a swipe from distance with his unfavoured left foot and saw a shot charged down after Mills' superb endeavour won the ball back in the corner with Newcastle sought a third, and it duly arrived just after the midway point in the second half when Mills was played in. He cut inside and took aim, with the finish taking a slight deflection on its way in.
Thomas Olyott squandered a glorious chance for a consolation just moments later, skewing horribly wide after a deep cross found him at the far post, but it would have been harsh on Newcastle and on Harris, who added a clean sheet to his stunning goal on a memorable night for the Houghton-le-Spring-born keeper.
Newcastle United Under-21s: Aidan Harris, Leo Shahar (Mason Miley 46), Ciaran Thompson (c), Miodrag Pivaš, Logan Watts, Rory Finneran, Scott Bailey, Anthony Munda, Kyle Fitzgerald (Darren Palmer 76), Seung-soo Park (Isaac Moran 86), Sean Neave (Michael Mills 46)
Feb. 20—TACOMA — On day one of the Mat Classic Washington's best from the 3A and 4A competed at the Tacoma Dome, Thursday. Across the boys and girls teams of the Moses Lake Mavericks, seven wrestlers are headed to the semifinals.
"I think the kids did great," Boys Head Coach Jose Tanguma said. "Some matches didn't go our way. Some of our guys thought they were going to go further, but they lost some close matches, but they're holding their heads up high. We've got five in the semis right now, and winning in the constellations. All the guys did great today. They all gave points to the team, but we have a young team still."
Heading into day two, both teams were ranked in the top five out of about 60 schools. The boys are fifth with 83 points and the girls are third with 102.
Boys
Despite having a young team, Tanguma said he was not surprised to see his wrestlers performing so well.
"It doesn't surprise me at all, because I knew what these wrestlers could do, and they showed it today, and we're going to keep fighting to try to climb up that ladder tomorrow," he said.
The semifinalists for the boys are Ian Anderson, Eli Anderson, Conner Duvall, Ian Garza and Jose Villafana. For Eli, making the semifinals in the 215-lb class was an act of redemption. According to him, he just missed out on the placing rounds at last year's Mat Classic.
After a 13-3 majority decision win against Corban Patchett from Spanaway Lake, Eli is headed to the semifinals with a chance at a state championship. Since last year's loss, he has gone to work in the offseason with the goal of making it further this year, he said.
"A lot of summer practices," he said. "Just trying to get myself out there (to get) exposure to different kinds of wrestling and wanting to be the best person out here is something that I've worked to achieve. Like my football coach says, he always says, every day, 'Get 1% better every day.'"
While he is excited to be heading to the semifinals, Eli also earned his 100th win as a Maverick. Tanguma has watched him work for this moment since last year and was complimentary of him at the end of day one.
"I'm proud of the kid. For a freshman wrestling at 215 and getting 100 wins his junior year is a very huge accomplishment. His attitude today for this state tournament is exactly what he's been saying. He's going to leave everything on the mat, and he's going to take what he wants," Tanguma said.
The long days of competition at the Mat Classic challenges a wrestlers endurance. This something Tanguma said he prepared his wrestlers for throughout the season so they would be ready when the time came.
"We had a lot of close matches, and what showed in those is that our kids had the heart today. We put them in the situation in the practice room, and they felt comfortable in the situation, they came out on top today," he said.
Ryder Janke is the only Maverick competing in the consolation bracket on day two, where he can compete for third place. After a competitive 6-3 decision victory over Eastmont's Adrik Kiedrowski, the two had a show of respect.
"Go get third," Kiedrowski told Janke.
Girls
Elyssa Armendariz and Emma Thompson are heading to the semifinals in their respective classes for the Mavericks girls team.
Armendariz competed in the 100-pound class where she earned three wins throughout day one to advance to the semifinals. Her quarterfinals match was against Belyini Pascasio-Umana from Mariner. It was a slow but competitive battle from the start, with neither wrestler scoring a point in the first period.
In the second Armendariz earned a point after an escape. From there, the pace remained stagnant. In the third round, she earned two points for a reversal which gave her a 3-0 lead in the match. She was able to milk the clock until it hit zero, which secured her the victory.
Thompson competed in the 155-lb class where she earned a pinfall victory to advance to the semis. Her opponent Nivayah Henry from Skyview scored most of her points in the first round, which put Thompson in a challenging predicament.
Thompson managed to score four points in the second round to cut the deficit to 4-7, but with the pinfall victory the points became irrelevant as she now will have a chance to pursue a state title on day two.
Competing in the consolation brackets are Anahi Garcia, Izzabella Fredley and Naomi Cruz, who all still have an opportunity to earn third place.
After some rest Thursday night, the Mavericks return to the Tacoma Dome for day two of the Mat Classic as several wrestlers aim to finish strong and bring home some hardware. On day two, the expectations remain the same, Tanguma said.
"I'm going to expect the same thing. What they did today broke a lot of kids' dreams, and tomorrow they're going to continue doing (that)," he said.
Top-of-the-table clash in Munich: FCB Women host Wolfsburg
A top-of-the-table match at the FC Bayern Campus! On Sunday afternoon, FC Bayern Women host direct rivals Wolfsburg in front of a home crowd for Matchday 19 of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga. The game against the Wolves kicks off at 16.20 CET.
Latest news from Bayern
Following the last-minute postponement of FC Bayern Women's away match at Werder Bremen scheduled for Monday evening due to the pitch being unplayable, the double winners used the unexpected break for an intensive week of training. They prepared for their 50th Bundesliga clash with VfL Wolfsburg with real focus and a high workrate.
FC Bayern members’ magazine ‘51’ spoke to head coach José Barcala about how he’s developing the team, among other things:
Bayern could hardly have got off to a better start to the year: Three games, maximum points - with a commanding 3-0 win over RB Leipzig, a convincing 4-1 at SC Freiburg and a 6-0 thrashing of Carl Zeiss Jena, the Munich side made a strong start to the new calendar year. That means their confidence ahead of the top-of-the-table clash is very high. With 49 points and an impressive goal difference of +62, the German champions are ensconced firmly at the top of the table and head into the matchday's standout fixture with a comfortable cushion.
The opposition: VfL Wolfsburg
The Wolves suffered a setback in their last Bundesliga match before the top-of-the-table clash with Bayern: Despite taking an early lead in the fourth minute, Stephan Lerch's team were held to a 1-1 draw at second-bottom side Essen. As a result, FCB Women's lead in the table was extended to 11 points - although VfL do have a game in hand.
In the UEFA Women's Champions League, however, things went much better: the team from Lower Saxony faced Juventus in the play-offs to qualify for the quarter-finals. After trailing 2-0 in the first leg, Wolfsburg equalised in dramatic fashion with a last-minute goal from Sarai Linder and booked their place in the next round thanks to a hard-fought 2-0 win in the second leg.
The record of previous meetings between the two teams promises an exciting encounter: in 62 games, the Wolves have won 25 times and Bayern 24 times. FCB Women have won five of the last six matches in the German top flight against the team from Lower Saxony. The Reds also won three consecutive Bundesliga home games against VfL for the first time.
Barcala: "We'll have to deliver a strong performance"
José Barcala: "This game is not a final, but another step in the competition. We're in a good position, but that will no longer count once the whistle goes. It's crucial that we put in a strong performance. It's in our hands and that's what we're focusing on. When things get emotional, we'll have to stay calm, act clearly at key moments and take things one step at a time."
Barbara Dunst: "Games like this always have a high level of intensity. We know what makes them special and look forward to them. It's a head-to-head between two teams that have always been on an equal footing in recent years and have fought hard for every point. I have great respect for Wolfsburg and what they've achieved , but we still want to leave the pitch as winners on Sunday."
🏟️✨ FC Bayern Women face Manchester United in the quarter-finals of the Champions League - get your tickets for the home game at the Allianz Arena here!
Feb. 20—TACOMA — The Mat Classic is underway in the Tacoma Dome. The Moses Lake Mavericks boys and girls squads took to the mats Thursday in the 4A brackets. Here are some highlights from the first day of action. Additional coverage of the state tournament will be available in a later edition.
If you cast your eyes over the FC Bayern women's squad these days, ahead of the next big clash against VfL Wolfsburg (Sunday, 16.20 CET), you'll see international careers, German champions, a two-time European champion. And then your gaze lingers on one year: 2017. Only one player has been with the team without interruption since then and has witnessed every sporting high and low, every reorganisation, every change of coach, every title celebration and every defeat in a final. Jovana Damnjanović is the longest-serving member of the Munich squad. In a business that thrives on acceleration, she has epitomised consistency. For years. Yes – for almost a decade.
Her first Bundesliga match was on 7 September 2013. Back then, Jovi, as everyone calls her, came off the bench for VfL Wolfsburg. Her opponents were Bayern Munich, of all teams. For the 18-year-old from Belgrade, it was the start of a chapter that would later make her one of the Munich side's most recognisable figures. She can still remember that day very clearly: "I came on just after the start of the second half. Bayern were clearly better; we were lucky. Lena Lotzen headed for goal, rounded the keeper, and fluffed her shot. The game finished 1-1. I still have the images in my mind's eye." Now, ahead of the next clash against VfL, her career has once again come full circle.
The one who stayed
Eight and a half years at a club is anything but the norm in modern professional football. The Munich club has invested, created structures and developed international appeal. Anyone who joins FCB today will find a club that sets standards. When Damnjanović arrived in 2017, many things were still in the making. She was 22, had spells at Wolfsburg and SC Sand behind her and had won the Champions League with the club from Lower Saxony. She could perhaps have signed elsewhere, but she opted for Munich. "I was convinced by the project. I was at the Campus on day one and have been part of the development right from the outset. You can't compare what's happening now with back then. Even the Bayern we know today, the players we have, that's a huge difference. We weren't like that back then."
Belgrade in her heart, Munich in everyday life
She was born in Belgrade in 1994. Football isn’t a sport there, but a state of mind. "My childhood was very nice. We, my brother, mum, dad, cousins, all lived in one house. It was noisy, lots of children. I'm thinking of our garden and all the games we played together." The path to football had a random start. "There were a few boys playing in first grade. They ended up with an odd number, so the coach said: 'You, get in goal'. That's how it all started. At home, I said to my mum: 'I'm going to play football now.' She said, 'But you're already doing karate and playing basketball.' I said: 'No, I want to play football'. After two sessions, she came to training for the first time - and saw my passion. Since then, my parents have supported me every day."
Apprenticeship years and triumph in Wolfsburg
The move to VfL Wolfsburg in 2013 was the step up to the European elite. In 2014, she won the Champions League there, albeit as a substitute. A triumph that shaped her self-image and ambitions. At the same time, that period was a school of hard knocks. "I was 18 and spoke no German. I came from Belgrade, a big city of two million people, and moved to a small town in Lower Saxony. It was a big change, football-wise and beyond. But I learnt a lot and won trophies. It was a good start to my career overseas"
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Then, via a spell at Sand, came the move to the other side, the step to the Bavarian capital. There have been a few favourite moments against VfL since then: "In February 2019, we played here on Campus and ended up winning 4-2 at a time when Wolfsburg were very dominant. We very quickly went 3-0 up. That was our first clear win against them." And: "Two years ago, we won 4-0 in Wolfsburg. It was clear then that we would be champions. Games against them are always special."
The nine in flux
Damnjanović used to be the classic centre-forward, lurking in the penalty area, trapping medium-height crosses and using her physicality. Today, she's more flexible: she switches sides, drops off, overloads wing zones, makes herself available in half-spaces, presses and closes down passing channels. "The coach knows I'm flexible, whether it's on the wing, as a number ten or up front. He puts his trust in me - and I'm currently making the most of it." Our game plan has also changed somewhat: "We used to pass the ball back more often in the final third. Today, we're more daring, take risks and are more direct in front of goal."
Jovi has no need for grand gestures. She shows her loyalty by standing in the dressing room corridor after losing matches, giving younger teammates a pat on the shoulder and completing training sessions with the same intensity as Champions League nights. In a squad brimming with international stars, she is a constant, a reminder, often a driving factor. "I don't want to praise myself, but I don't think I'm unimportant for the team, on and off the pitch." She's right about that, as her teammates consistently confirm her importance within the team.
Coffee as culture
Damnjanović feels at home in Munich. She lives for FC Bayern, for football. And for coffee. Over the past few years, she has gradually developed into the expert she is today. "I slowly got into the world of coffee: first portafilter machine, home roaster, training. Step by step. At some point I thought: it makes sense." Curiosity turned into a project: her own online shop for coffee was launched in 2024, followed by the café in Neuhausen-Nymphenburg in January 2025: "I opened the Nine Fine Roastery." The name is biographical: "I have the number nine. 'Fine' stands for the quality of our beans. My mum was born on 19 September, hence the reference to nine."
Alongside football in the afternoons and mornings, the café is her second great passion. Despite her entrepreneurial spirit, her priority remains clear when asked about her career choice: "I always say: 'I'm a footballer'. That's my main job. Everything else started as a hobby and is now a bit more than that. But as long as I’m playing, football will remain my main job." Despite her professionalism, Jovi never seems aloof, laughs loudly and speaks openly. It's also this special collaborative nature that her teammates and fans have appreciated so much about her for years.
Dieser Inhalt kann hier leider nicht dargestellt werden. Zum Anschauen kannst du die Website des FC Bayern München besuchen:Artikel auf fcbayern.com
She incorporates this form of interaction into her café. You could also say it's a tangible team culture. "When I created the menu, I also incorporated my teammates' ideas about what they like to eat and what was missing in Munich." This resulted in something concrete: “The Stahlmann Bowl is from Linda Dallmann; we developed it together, with berries and oatmeal, among other things." And: "Of course there's also the Gigi Special from Giulia Gwinn."
Even the coffee blends she offers in her online shop carry meaning: "We launched 'Double Meister' when we became champions. Giuli, Lea [Schüller] and I are on the label. A reminder of our friendship." This is how they combine competitive sport, passion and community. Cup for cup.
The clash as a mirror
Now the focus will turn to Sunday. Wolfsburg vs. Bayern is more than just a game: it's a question of supremacy in German women's football, a reminder of finals, league titles won, but also bitter defeats. For Damnjanović, it's also an assessment of the situation. "They are two comparable teams with enormous quality. I don't enjoy these games any more than others, but this clash is always special nonetheless." She clearly expresses her respect: "I'm not saying that we're here and Wolfsburg are there. We're both top teams, it can go either way. We'll have to be at 100 per cent." And the ingredients for victory? "We'll need every player, the starting XI and the bench. We'll have to be efficient, allow Wolfsburg few chances and be extremely careful at set-pieces, where they're very dangerous. But: We are Bayern."
Legacy and the present
Eight and a half years at FC Bayern is a commitment in modern football. Ahead of the clash with VfL, it won't just be a striker taking to the pitch, but a story. It started in Belgrade, gained momentum in Wolfsburg, and found its home in Munich. In a sport that is constantly looking for the next player, she's the one who stayed. This chapter is far from over.
🏟️💫 FC Bayern Women face Manchester United in the quarter-finals of the Champions League - get your tickets here!
Polish short-track speed skater Kamila Sellier’s Olympics came to a sudden end on Friday due to a serious injury.
Sellier was cut in the face by an opponent’s skate during the women’s 1,500-meter short-track quarterfinals, forcing her to withdraw from the race. The USA’s Kristen Santos-Griswold, whose blade caused the injury, was penalized for an illegal lane change and did not advance.
Medical staff attended to Sellier immediately as the race was paused.
Here’s what you need to know about Sellier’s condition and the collision.
Sellier was immobilized on a stretcher after the injury on Friday. Officials blocked her from view of the crowd with a white sheet as medical staffers tended to her, but she was fortunately seen giving a thumbs up as she was taken off the ice.
The injury impacted the area near Sellier's left eye. Santos-Griswold's blade cut Sellier near the eye, and the Polish speed skater quickly started bleeding. Officials had to clear a trail of blood from the ice after the injury.
Fortunately, Sellier's eye appears to be unaffacted. CBC's Devin Heroux reported the 25-year-old avoided an injury to the eye, but he reported that Polish officials believe she might have suffered a facial fracture.
I just interviewed one of the member of the Polish coaching staff.
He tells me he believes Kamila Sellier suffered a facial fracture in the crash.
Sellier took a blade to the face when Santos-Griswold kicked up her leg during a quarterfinal race on Friday. Sellier was already falling to the ice as Santos-Griswold's leg went up, and she collided with Italy's Arianna Fontana after being struck by Santos-Griswold.
Santos-Griswold was penalized for an illegal lane pass, while Fontana was able to continue racing and finished second.
The injury marked an unfortunate end to Sellier's medal hopes, as she was unable to finish and would have been too injured to compete in the semifinals anyway, but she appears to have escaped without an injury to her left eye itself.
Nebraska (16-11, 5-11) visited the Pacific Northwest on Thursday night to face Oregon (19-9, 7-8). The Huskers, despite holding a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter, fell to the Ducks, 80-76, dropping their sixth straight game and remaining winless in February.
Nebraska started strong, shooting over .500 from the floor in the first half to head into the locker room up 37-33. The Huskers expanded their lead to 63-52 less than a minute into the fourth, before everything crumbled. Eliza Maupin suffered an injury, and Amiah Hargrove fouled out, leaving the team shorthanded at forward.
Foul trouble also added to the collapse. Nebraska suffered 10 in the fourth, leading to Oregon shooting 15-of-18 from the line. The Ducks totaled 6-of-8 from the floor in the fourth and 1-of-2 from long range. The Huskers, meanwhile, hit just 3-of-17 in total, 0-of-12 from beyond the arc and 9-of-9 at the foul line.
On the night, Nebraska finished 29-of-68, 6-of-25 and 12-of-13, respectively. Oregon finished 26-of-52, 7-of-17 and 21-of-24. The Huskers coughed up 21 fouls in the loss, 16 in the second half. The Ducks surrendered just 16 fouls all game.
Britt Prince scored a team-high 18 points for Nebraska, shooting 8-of-13 with five assists. Logan Nissley tallied 15 points after going 4-of-10, 3-of-9 from beyond the arc and 4-of-4 from the line. She hauled in a team-high five rebounds and five assists.
Jessica Petrie delivered 12 points off the bench, leading the team at the line by going 5-of-5. Petra Bozan and Hargrove both totaled 11 points, but also four fouls or more. Bozan hit 5-of-6 in the loss, including 1-of-1 from three-point range. Hargrove finished 5-of-10.
Nebraska concludes its road trip in the Pacific Northwest on Sunday against Washington in an afternoon battle. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. CT on the Big Ten Network.
Contact/Follow us @CornhuskersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Nebraska news, notes and opinions.
Constitution Hill took victory by nine-and-a-half lengths [PA Media]
Constitution Hill - one of National Hunt racing's biggest names - returned to winning ways with a commanding switch to the Flat at the Road To Cheltenham Novice Stakes.
Having triumphed in his first 10 races, the once-seemingly unbeatable horse had fallen three times in four outings.
In an attempt to get back on track, trainer Nicky Henderson entered him in the mile-and-a-half Flat race at Southwell, before a possible tilt at March's Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, which he won in 2023.
Starting 6-4 favourite and with five-time champion jockey Oisin Murphy in the saddle, the move paid off as the nine-year-old took to the front well before the line and held firm to win by nine-and-a-half lengths from Square Necker and Gambino.
"He felt like a machine," Murphy told ITV afterwards.
"It went to plan. It would've been very easy for me to blast off in front, but I wanted to get in among them and give him an idea of what a Flat race is like.
"For a big horse that's been jumping, he has a lot of speed and he's a joy to ride."
Henderson, meanwhile, said the emphatic display under the Nottinghamshire course's floodlights would "open up a lot of doors".
"We've been through a few tears over the last year or so," he admitted. "It's nice to be back with positive vibes.
"We've got lots to look forward to and lots of decisions to make. There are all sorts of options, including the Champion Hurdle."
He was swiftly made favourite with some bookmakers for this year's race, with The New Lion and Brighterdaysahead also well backed.
Before Friday's contest at Southwell, organisers had increased the prize money to £40,000, but a random ballot left Constitution Hill needing others to withdraw to get a run, with his participation only confirmed on Wednesday.
ARLINGTON, TX - DECEMBER 14: Logan Wilson #55 of the Dallas Cowboys takes the field before kickoff against the Minnesota Vikings during an NFL football game at AT&T Stadium on December 14, 2025 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Dallas Cowboys have waived linebacker Logan Wilson according to multiple reports.
The Cowboys waived LB Logan Wilson. Acquired in a trade from Cincinnati, Wilson had a limited impact. Team saves $6.5 million against the cap.
Wilson was acquired on the day of the 2025 trade deadline (a little bit before Quinnen Williams) and for the low cost of a seventh-round pick in the upcoming NFL draft. It never really worked out for him as he was unable to play his way onto the field after battling a calf injury, and with a new defensive coordinator in place in Christian Parker plus the cap savings that this move provides, the writing was on the wall.
It should be noted that the trade was hardly a failure for the Cowboys. They paid a late draft pick to get a look at a player, they got one, and now they are moving on before being financially tied to him. That is the proper way to assess and try to improve your roster, and sometimes you are going to have misses.
The campaign for the FC Barcelona presidency is heating up. Running against Joan Laporta, Xavier Vilajoana has brought up a high-profile name: Harry Kane.
According to Vilajoana, the English striker would be the perfect candidate to succeed Robert Lewandowski, whose contract expires this summer. Vilajoana insists he wants to focus on developing homegrown talent while also bringing in world-class players to reignite the club’s sporting ambitions.
As is often the case during election season, transfer promises are part of the campaign rhetoric. But in reality, a move for Kane from FC Bayern Munich to Catalonia appears unlikely in the short term.
Transfer: Lamine N'Diaye takes charge of USM Alger
It's official now!
Transfer: Lamine N'Diaye takes charge of USM Alger
USM Alger (USMA) officially announced on February 20 the appointment of Lamine N'Diaye as the team's head coach until the end of the season.
Lamine N'Diaye is the new head coach of USM Alger. The Senegalese coach has signed with the Algerian club until the end of the current season, with an option to extend his contract if the club's management is satisfied with the results at the season's conclusion.
Just two weeks after leaving TP Mazembe, the 69-year-old coach embarks on a major new challenge. With his vast experience and deep knowledge of African football, he has been chosen to lead the Red and Black back into the race for the Algerian league title. A continental mission also awaits him in the CAF Confederation Cup.
Bonucci hails Milan coach Allegri: ‘A master, a phenomenon’
Leonardo Bonucci has paid a glowing tribute to AC Milan head coach Massimiliano Allegri, describing his former Juventus manager as the greatest he has ever worked under.
Speaking in an interview with Cronache di Spogliatoio, via MilanNews, the retired Italy international, who had a brief and largely difficult spell at Milan earlier in his career, was asked to reflect on the coaches who shaped him.
His words on Allegri were unequivocal.
“In terms of intuition, Allegri was the greatest coach I ever had,” Bonucci said.
ITALY – FEBRUARY 18: Massimiliano Allegri looks on prior to the Serie A match between AC Milan and Como 1907 at Giuseppe Meazza Stadium on February 18, 2026 in Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
“Sometimes he made decisions that seemed absurd, but they produced results. Being a coach allows you to see the full picture, as a player and as a human being. In that sense, Max is a master, a phenomenon. He never speaks negatively. Complaints? Never. He knows how to put players in the best possible conditions.”
Not just Milan coach Allegri, Bonucci has kind words for Gattuso
The retired defender also reflected warmly on another figure with strong Milan connections, Gennaro Gattuso, who coached Bonucci during his time at San Siro.
The defender recalled a period of difficulty and credited the former midfielder’s straightforward approach with helping him rediscover his best form.
“When I had the fortune of being coached by him at Milan, we were coming through a difficult period,” Bonucci said of Gattuso.
ITALY – NOVEMBER 16: Gennaro Gattuso, Head Coach of Italy, looks on prior to the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier match between Italy and Norway at San Siro Stadium on November 16, 2025 in Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
“He told me: ‘Leo, when you’re going through a tough time, you have to keep things simple.’ And so that’s what we did, a 4-3-3, nothing complicated. He gave confidence to all of us.”
Both Allegri and Gattuso remain prominent figures in the Milan conversation, making Bonucci’s reflections particularly timely.
Odegaard To Start, Madueke On The Bench | 4-3-3 Arsenal Predicted Lineup Vs Tottenham Hotspur
Arsenal will lock horns with Tottenham Hotspur at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday as they look to secure a good result in the North London derby. The Gunners were held to a frustrating 2-2 draw away at Wolverhampton Wanderers recently, so they would be eager to return to winning ways this weekend.
Mikel Arteta will set his side up in a 4-3-3 formation and is expected to make one change to his first team for this clash. Martin Odegaard could play from the start of this game if he can recover in time from a knock.
4-3-3 Arsenal Predicted Lineup To Face Tottenham Hotspur
Defence
David Raya will feature in goal for the Gunners after he conceded two goals in his last appearance. Gabriel will function alongside William Saliba at the centre of the Arsenal backline as they look to keep things solid at the back during the game.
Jurrien Timber will hope to catch the eye as the right-back, while Piero Hincapie hopes to prove his worth on the other flank as the left-back. Both of them will have to pick and choose their moments to join in on the attack.
Riccardo Calafiori and Ben White will offer cover for the defensive positions on the bench.
WOLVERHAMPTON, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 18: David Raya of Arsenal during the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Arsenal at Molineux on February 18, 2026 in Wolverhampton, England. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Midfield
Arteta could opt for a midfield three of Declan Rice, Martin Zubimendi and Martin Odegaard as they focus on winning the 50-50 duels at the centre of the park and creating some inviting chances in the final third.
Eberechi Eze and Christian Norgaard will have to settle for a spot on the bench and might come on to influence the game in the second 45 minutes if required.
Attack
Gabriel Martinelli will hope to put his pace to good use on the left flank, while Bukayo Saka looks to make a difference as the right-winger if he can pass a late fitness test. Viktor Gyokeres will lead the line for the Gunners up top. He has to find a way to be a constant menace in the final third.
Leandro Trossard, Noni Madueke and Gabriel Jesus will be named on the bench as they wait for their chance to make an impact in the final quarter of the game if the Gunners are in need of a goal by then.
Jan 8, 2026; Glendale, AZ, USA; Miami Hurricanes offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa (61) against the Mississippi Rebels during the 2026 Fiesta Bowl and semifinal game of the College Football Playoff at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Happy Friday one and all.
The Arizona Cardinals have a lot of question marks heading into the offseason and the 2026 NFL Draft will be a chance to change some perceptions.
My buddy Charles McDonald and his running mate Nate Tice had a new 2026 NFL Mock Draft on Yahoo! Sports and have the Cardinals adding offensive line talent.
3. Arizona Cardinals — Francis Mauigoa, OT/OG, Miami
The Cardinals have question marks at quarterback under new head coach Mike LaFleur, and could feasibly draft just about any position here and it would make sense given the state of their roster. Other players in this class might rise as pure offensive tackles, but Mauigoa has earned the right for a chance at right tackle at the next level. Mauigoa is a mauling run blocker with clean technique who seldom gets caught out of position. Whether he ends up at right tackle or kicks inside to guard, he is a great fit for a Cardinals team that desperately needs more talent up front to complement left tackle Paris Johnson Jr., who has shown flashes of future stardom but got caught up in this franchise’s messiness.
Boring, but makes sense. When you look at the Cardinals offseason needs, fixing their offensive line is a big portion of it.
The Kansas City Chiefs saw their dominant streak in the AFC come to an end in 2025. After making the postseason every season since 2014, including five Super Bowl appearances and three wins, the Chiefs missed the playoffs and finished with a 6-11 record. The lack of true No. 1 receiver hurt Kansas City more so than it had in previous seasons since trading Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins.
Hill, however, has been released by Miami. This comes after suffering a season-ending leg injury in 2025, and Miami looking to begin rebuilding. When asked about a potential reunion with Hill, Andy Reid kept things rather close to the vest.
“I don’t even know if Tyreek [Hill] is healthy right now to do anything," Reid said via Adam Schefter. "I’m sure he’s working hard on that part of it, trying to get all that straightened out. We talk about everything so there’s nothing happening there, but we know what you know and he’s out there cranking away trying to get himself back to where he can play, period.”
Hill was with the Chiefs from 2016-21, earning six Pro Bowl appearances. He helped the Chiefs defeat the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV.
Bill Connelly’s Top 100 quarterbacks of the 2000s is an enjoyable, thoughtful read. It’s data-driven, historically aware and bound to spark debate, which is exactly what a list like that should do. But the ESPN rankings also reveal something interesting.
At Ohio State, championships apparently do not move the needle the way statistical dominance does.
Three Buckeye quarterbacks who won national championships as starters are not on the list: Craig Krenzel, Cardale Jones, and Will Howard. Meanwhile, these Ohio State quarterbacks are ranked: C.J. Stroud (No. 22), Justin Fields (No. 34), Troy Smith (No. 40), J.T. Barrett (No. 75), and Braxton Miller (No. 89).
This is not personal. Every Buckeye quarterback on the list earned his place. Smith won the Heisman. Stroud was a two time finalist. Fields finished third in the Heisman voting in 2019 after accounting for 51 total touchdowns. Barrett rewrote the Big Ten record book. Miller was one of the most dynamic players of his era and a two time Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year.
Were there Buckeyes snubbed from the list?
Ohio State offers a fascinating case study. The list celebrates sustained excellence, but does not appear to value championship execution in the same way.
Take the case of Cardale Jones. He was thrust into the starting job late in 2014 as Ohio State’s third string quarterback and responded with one of the most difficult postseason runs in college football history, winning the Big Ten Championship, the College Football Playoff semifinal and the national championship.
The following season, Jones opened as the full time starter and went 8-0 before eventually being replaced by J.T. Barrett. All told, he finished 11-0 as a starter. His overall numbers were modest, but an undefeated record across 11 starts, including three postseason victories on the biggest stage, is rare air. His career numbers do not scream Top 100.
Hype over stats for the top 100 QBs?
But if peak matters, and it clearly does elsewhere on the list, that stretch qualifies as one of the most consequential quarterback runs of the era.
Krenzel’s resume is even more straightforward. He went 24-3 as a starter, quarterbacked Ohio State to the 2002 national title and was a two time Fiesta Bowl MVP. He was not a statistical marvel. He was a winner. And in Columbus, that season still defines a generation.
Howard’s resume goes beyond one championship run. At Kansas State, he appeared in 34 games and left as the program’s all time leader in passing touchdowns with 48, helping lead the Wildcats to a Big 12 title in 2022. He then transferred to the Ohio State Buckeyes for his final season, started all 16 games and guided the Buckeyes to a 14 win campaign and a College Football Playoff national championship. He was named MVP of both the Cotton Bowl and the national championship game.
Ohio State exposes the list’s philosophical trade off. Is it ranking quarterbacks based on how much they produced, or how much they won? Because in Columbus, those are not always the same thing.
This is not about tearing anyone down. At Ohio State, the list rewards production and accolades. It just does not appear to reward the one thing Buckeye fans ultimately remember most, championships. And that is worth examining.
Bethesda's Todd Howard revealed the Fallout TV show was originally going to start in New Vegas, but he told the writers to wait to do it until Season 2.
Yves Guillemot recently made an appearance in an interview with Variety, in which the Ubisoft CEO spoke about both the ongoing cost-cutting measures and in-development projects at the French gaming giant. When asked about upcoming projects in the Assassin's Creed and Far Cry franchises, Guillemot responded that there are "several" Assassin's Creed titles in development at Ubisoft, and that those titles will involve both single-player and multiplayer gameplay. Similar is true for the Far Cry franchise, in that Ubisoft currently has two Far Cry projects in development, although Guillemot declined to specify any further on what those projects were. One of the upcoming Assassin's Creed projects is almost certainly the much-rumored Assassin's Creed Black Flag remake that is slated to launch sometime in 2026.
This interview and the promises of new Far Cry and Assassin's Creed games comes the same week as Ubisoft confirmed a round of layoffs at its Toronto studio as part of its heavily criticized company-wide restructuring and cost-savings plan that will likely see up to 18% of the company laid off in order to save €200 million in five years. That same plan has seen Ubisoft divide development efforts into five creative houses, each of which will be responsible for a handful of IPs. When asked about this and the necessity for the cost reduction, Yves Guillemot blamed rapid post-COVID growth and flat-lining demand where continued growth had been anticipated. He goes on to say that "our priority today is to build a more focused, agile company, with stronger teams that strike the right balance between senior expertise and young talent and who are well positioned to deliver the highest quality games." If recent game cancellation trends at Ubisoft are anything to go by, nothing is set in stone, and the projects that have been in the pipeline for the longest seem to be the most likely to be cancelled or delayed, as was the case with the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake.
Thanks to a new table specification matrix published by a known leaker Jaykihn on X, we are seeing the final specifications of Intel's long-rumored "Bartlett Lake-S" Core 200E family of CPUs with P-Cores only. This platform is designed to fit inside Intel's LGA-1700 socket, but from a consumer standpoint represents a non-existent product that will not reach their hands, as Intel has abandoned the plan to launch this highly anticipated gamer CPU. Instead, Intel will only offer it for its edge and embedded products. At the top of the stack is the Core 9 273 PQE SKU, which is a 12 P-Core variant with 24 threads and a base frequency of 3.4 GHz. This model can boost all of its 12 cores to 5.3 GHz, while a single thread can go up to 5.9 GHz independently for tasks that require intensive single-threaded performance. It is equipped with 36 MB of L3 cache and an integrated GPU with 32 EUs of Xe-LP graphics.
Interestingly, the entire lineup is separated into three categories. One is a high-TDP PQE with a base power of 125 W, while the middle PE models are 65 W designs with lower clocks. The weakest models are the PTE SKUs that have a TDP of 45 W, which are more ideal for edge deployments where power/efficiency is the most important factor. Across the lineup, there are versions with 8, 10, and 12 cores, all with Hyper-Threading for 16, 20, and 24 threads. Some SKUs from the PE and PTE lineups do not enjoy Intel vPro and ECC memory support, while the PQE high-power SKUs are all equipped with vPro and ECC memory support. You can check out the complete table comparison and product segmentation below for more specific information on different models.
fuelOS helps you track what you eat without friction. Capture meals by speaking, snapping a photo, or typing, and keep your nutrition organized on iOS. Build consistent logging habits and see a clear picture of your daily intake.
Snapveil lets you create private, shareable photo galleries for weddings and events. Guests upload by scanning a QR code—no app required—while you control permissions, set passwords, and manage collaboration. It organizes images with AI tags and location data, supports custom albums, and delivers fast browsing even with thousands of photos. Pay per event with flexible storage and download options, from SD to original quality.
Despite bearish pressure and weak US economic data, Bitcoin's recovering hashrate and new onchain security protocols raise the chance for a surge to $70,000.
As Bitcoin and altcoins continue to sell off, venture capital is raising millions for blockchain-based financial infrastructure, while real-world assets continue to draw capital.
Crypto illiquidity is pressuring DeFi lending companies, but Wall Street giants continue to increase their exposure to the world’s largest Ethereum treasury company.
The failure of the bulls to start a strong recovery in Bitcoin and the major altcoins suggests that the bears intend to remain active at higher levels.
Bitcoin’s mining difficulty climbed to 144.4 trillion after January storms briefly slashed hash rate, while some US miners offset downtime by selling electricity back to the grid.
After four years contributing, BGD Labs said it would be leaving the DAO, citing changes to the organization and taking an “adversarial position“ to its liquidity protocol.
Bitcoin stayed rangebound within a "downward trajectory" as the Supreme Court concluded that some US trade tariffs were illegal and liable for a refund.
Tanzania is well-known for its majestic peaks of Kilimanjaro and sprawling plains of the Serengeti, but a new frontier is being carved out in the heart of East Africa. The landscape of domestic travel is being reshaped as the Ministry of Health leads a campaign to position the country as a top international healthcare destination. A significant milestone was recently achieved in Dar es Salaam, where a diverse group of stakeholders met to discuss the future of the Medical Tourism Programme. This initiative is more than just a local effort; it is a comprehensive national endeavour aimed at combining the strengths of the government, the private sector, and various institutional bodies into a single, robust strategy.
A Collaborative Vision for Excellence
The evolution of a nation’s healthcare sector into a global attraction requires more than just modern facilities; it necessitates a shared vision. During the recent consultative sessions, a collaborative atmosphere was fostered where perspectives from across the socioeconomic spectrum were gathered. The preparation of the strategic plan is being guided by the collective wisdom of industry experts who are tasked with identifying the unique opportunities inherent in the Tanzanian landscape. By bringing together these various voices, the Ministry of Health ensures that the resulting strategy is not only ambitious but also grounded in the practical realities of the medical and hospitality sectors.
The dialogue in Dar es Salaam was centred on the necessity of a unified front. It was emphasized by officials that for Tanzania to be perceived as a credible hub for medical services, the synergy between public health objectives and private sector innovation must be seamless. The insights provided by stakeholders are being utilized to bridge the gap between current capabilities and the high standards expected by international medical travellers. This collaborative approach ensures that the strategic roadmap will be comprehensive, addressing everything from specialized surgical procedures to the nuances of patient aftercare in a tropical setting.
Addressing Challenges and Seizing Opportunities
No strategic transformation is without its hurdles, and the meeting served as a vital forum for the identification of existing challenges. It was acknowledged by the participants that while the potential for growth is immense, certain infrastructural and regulatory obstacles must be cleared. These challenges are being systematically reviewed to ensure that the final strategic plan contains actionable solutions. By candidly discussing the limitations currently faced by healthcare providers and travel facilitators, the Ministry of Health is better positioned to create a resilient framework that can withstand the pressures of a competitive global market.
Conversely, the opportunities identified during the sessions were multifaceted. Tanzania’s existing reputation as a peaceful and welcoming destination is being leveraged as a cornerstone of the medical tourism agenda. The integration of world-class medical treatments with the country’s renowned wellness and safari experiences is seen as a major competitive advantage. The intent is to offer a holistic journey where medical procedures are complemented by the restorative power of Tanzania’s natural beauty. This dual-pronged appeal is expected to attract visitors not only from neighbouring African nations but also from across the globe, seeking both physical healing and mental rejuvenation.
Presidential Momentum and the Road Ahead
The momentum behind this initiative has been significantly amplified by the overarching vision of President Samia Suluhu Hassan. The inclusion of medical tourism in the national agenda is seen as a pivotal move that provides the necessary political will and motivation for the strategy’s success. This high-level endorsement ensures that the development of the medical tourism sector is treated with the urgency and importance it deserves. The government’s objectives are being aligned with international best practices to ensure that when the strategy is fully implemented, Tanzania will stand as a beacon of medical excellence in the region.
As the strategic plan moves toward finalization, the focus remains on the ultimate goal: establishing Tanzania as a central hub for medical services. The experiences and ideas collected from stakeholders are being distilled into a solid strategy that prioritizes quality, accessibility, and the unique Tanzanian touch of hospitality. The world is being invited to witness a transformation where healthcare meets heritage and where the “Haven of Peace” (Dar es Salaam) becomes a sanctuary for those seeking health and wellness. The future of Tanzanian travel is being rewritten, and it is a future where the stethoscope and the suitcase go hand in hand.
Strategic Foundations and International Standards
The Ministry of Health is pursuing international accreditation and service standardisation to ensure the programme’s long-term viability. It is understood that an international patient’s trust is based on proven quality. As a result, the strategic plan is expected to establish rigorous benchmarks for participating hospitals and clinics. Tanzania is preparing to compete with established medical tourism giants by bringing its medical facilities up to global standards. This rigorous focus on quality control is intended to reassure visitors that the care they receive in Dar es Salaam or Arusha is comparable to that of any global metropolis.
Furthermore, the logistical aspects of medical tourism, such as visa processing for patients and the training of specialised medical “concierges”, are being integrated into the national plan. The ease of entry and the comfort of stay are regarded as critical components of the medical service itself. As the strategy nears completion, the world can expect a more streamlined, patient-centred approach that will make choosing Tanzania for healthcare a simple decision for international travellers.
Imagine the tears of joy when a grandmother in Abu Dhabi hugs her grandson from Charlotte for the first time. This dream becomes a reality on March 20, 2026. Etihad Airways is opening a golden gate between these two vibrant cities. This is not just a flight; it is a bridge built on love and curiosity. Travelers will feel the warm embrace of Southern hospitality and Arabian grace. This connection promises to change lives and create memories that last forever.
Etihad Airways Makes History in North Carolina
The North Carolina Department of Transportation often highlights the value of global reach. Etihad Airways is now the first Middle Eastern carrier to serve the state. The airline will fly from Abu Dhabi to Charlotte four times a week. These flights will run on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. This route covers a massive 7,407 miles. It is now the longest nonstop flight from Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
Boosting Tourism and Local Economy
The U.S. Department of Commerce tracks how international travel impacts local growth. This new route will bring thousands of visitors to the American Southeast. Charlotte is famous for its banking, technology, and NASCAR heritage. Visitors from the UAE can explore the lush Appalachian Mountains. They can also enjoy the beautiful Atlantic coast beaches. Every new visitor helps local shops, hotels, and restaurants thrive. Tourism officials expect a significant rise in international spending across the region.
Seamless Travel with U.S. Customs Preclearance
Travelers will enjoy a very smooth journey. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) operates a facility in Abu Dhabi. This is located at the Zayed International Airport. Passengers clear U.S. immigration before they even fly. This means they land in Charlotte as domestic passengers. They can skip the long lines and head straight to their loved ones. This convenience makes Abu Dhabi a preferred gateway for global explorers.
A Modern Marvel in the Skies
Etihad Airways will use the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner for this route. The aircraft features a special two-class layout. There are 28 private Business suites for ultimate comfort. These seats turn into fully flat beds. The Economy cabin offers 262 ergonomic seats. Every passenger gets access to high-speed Wi-Fi and great movies. The Federal Aviation Administration ensures these planes meet the highest safety standards.
Connecting the World Through Abu Dhabi
The flight schedule is designed for easy connections. Flight EY15 leaves Abu Dhabi at 3:35 AM. It arrives in Charlotte at 10:40 AM. The return flight, EY16, leaves Charlotte at 3:10 PM. This timing is perfect for people coming from India or Australia. It connects the “Queen City” to over 40 global destinations. Travelers can reach the Maldives or Bangkok with just one stop. This opens the world to residents of North Carolina.
Strengthening Cultural Ties
Tourism is about more than just sightseeing. It is about understanding different cultures. The U.S. Department of State encourages cultural exchange programs. This flight allows students and artists to travel more easily. It fosters a deeper bond between the United States and the UAE. Business leaders can now meet face-to-face more often. This will lead to new innovations and shared success.
Quotes from Leadership Perspectives
Airport officials state that this route is a milestone for the region. They believe it proves Charlotte is a top-tier global hub. Etihad leadership mentions that North Carolina is a vital market for growth. They aim to provide a service that feels like home. Tourism boards say they are ready to welcome the world with open arms. They see this as a new era for North Carolina travel.
A Future Full of Wonder
The launch was moved forward due to very high demand. This shows how much people want to explore new horizons. The “American Southeast” is ready for this influx of global energy. Families will no longer feel worlds apart. Business travelers will find new opportunities across the ocean. The sky is no longer a limit; it is a path to friendship.
Your Adventure Starts Here
As the sun rises over the Charlotte skyline, a new era begins. You can almost feel the excitement in the crisp morning air. This flight represents a promise of new beginnings and grand adventures. Whether you seek the desert sands or the rolling hills, the path is now clear. Travel heals the soul and broadens the mind. Let Etihad Airways take you on a journey that fills your heart with wonder. The world is waiting for you to take that first step toward discovery.
The strengthening of diplomatic and cultural bonds between nations is often reflected in the ease of movement and the promotion of educational exchange. Recently, significant announcements have been made by the French government regarding the facilitation of travel for Indian nationals and the long-term integration of Indian scholars into the French academic system. In a move designed to simplify international journeys, visa-free transit has been established for Indian citizens traveling through French airports. Furthermore, a bold initiative has been launched to ensure that 30,000 students from India are hosted within French higher education institutions by the year 2030. This dual approach is viewed as a cornerstone of the strategic partnership between India and France, fostering a deeper level of cooperation in both the tourism and education sectors.
New Provisions for International Transit
The logistical hurdles often faced by Indian travelers during international layovers are being addressed through specific policy changes. It has been confirmed that an Airport Transit Visa (ATV) is no longer required for Indian passport holders when they remain within the international zone of a French airport while waiting for a connecting flight. This exemption is particularly significant for those traveling to destinations outside the Schengen Area. By removing this administrative layer, the transit experience is made more seamless, and the attractiveness of French airports as global hubs is significantly enhanced.
The decision is seen as a gesture of trust and a recognition of the growing volume of Indian travelers who utilize European gateways for global commerce and leisure. This policy change is expected to benefit thousands of passengers annually, reducing the time and financial resources previously allocated to securing transit documentation. It is important to note that while the transit visa requirement is waived for the international zone, standard entry requirements still apply for those wishing to exit the airport and enter French territory.
Ambitious Targets for Academic Integration
Beyond the realm of short-term travel, a visionary goal has been set for the academic sector. The French administration has expressed a clear desire to welcome a substantial number of Indian students over the next decade. By the year 2030, the target is set at 30,000 enrollments, a figure that represents a significant increase from current levels. This objective is not merely about numbers; it is about creating a diverse and vibrant intellectual environment where Indian talent can flourish and contribute to the global knowledge economy.
To facilitate this growth, specialized programs and support structures are being developed. The Classes Internationales (International Classes) initiative is one such program designed to assist Indian students in transitioning into the French education system. These classes provide intensive French language training and academic preparation, ensuring that students are well-equipped to succeed in their chosen fields of study, whether in engineering, management, arts, or the sciences.
Strengthening the Educational Pipeline
The commitment to Indian students is further evidenced by the organization of large-scale events such as the Choose France Tour. This event serves as a platform for Indian students and their families to interact directly with representatives from leading French universities and grande écoles. During these sessions, detailed information is provided regarding scholarships, course structures, and the lifestyle awaiting students in France.
Education is viewed as a vital bridge between the two nations. By inviting Indian youth to study in France, a generation of professionals is created who are familiar with both cultures. This familiarity is expected to lead to increased collaboration in research, business, and technology. The French government has also introduced measures to allow Indian alumni of French institutions to maintain a connection with the country through extended post-study work opportunities and specialized visa categories for former students.
Strategic Implications for Bilateral Relations
The announcements regarding visa-free transit and student mobility are part of a broader narrative of cooperation that has been cultivated over several decades. The relationship between India and France is characterized by mutual respect and a shared vision for a multipolar world. These policy shifts are timely, coinciding with renewed efforts to boost people-to-people ties and economic synergy.
The focus on the year 2030 provides a clear roadmap for stakeholders in both countries. For Indian educational consultants, airlines, and students, these updates provide a stable framework within which future plans can be made. The emphasis on hosting 30,000 students is complemented by the creation of specialized visa pathways for Indian professionals, ensuring that the benefits of a French education can be translated into meaningful career trajectories both in Europe and back in India.
Enhancing the Student Experience
A significant portion of the strategy involves making France an accessible destination for those who may not have previously considered it due to language barriers. The introduction of more English-taught programs across various disciplines is a testament to the adaptability of the French higher education system. While the learning of the French language is still encouraged as a means of social integration and professional advantage, it is no longer the sole gatekeeper for entry into world-class institutions.
Support services for international students are also being prioritized. From assistance with housing to navigating the local bureaucracy, efforts are being made to ensure that the arrival and stay of Indian students are as comfortable as possible. The presence of a large and growing Indian diaspora in France further provides a sense of community and support for newcomers, making the transition to a new country less daunting.
Future Outlook and Connectivity
As the global landscape of education and travel continues to evolve, the proactive stance taken by France positions it as a preferred partner for India. The removal of transit visa requirements and the focus on academic expansion are indicative of a long-term investment in the Indo-French relationship. The impact of these decisions will be monitored closely by both governments to ensure that the goals are met and that the quality of the exchange remains high.
In conclusion, the path toward 2030 is marked by a clear intention to open doors and build bridges. The convenience of visa-free transit and the ambitious student recruitment targets are more than just policy updates; they are a reflection of a deep-seated friendship and a commitment to a shared future. Through these initiatives, the movement of people and ideas between India and France is set to reach unprecedented levels, benefiting the economies and societies of both nations in the years to come.
Across major cruise destinations such as the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, an interesting travel trend is gaining traction. While port days traditionally signal exploration historic towns, beach excursions, and guided tours an increasing number of seasoned cruise travelers are opting to remain onboard when their ship docks. According to guidance from official tourism authorities and maritime regulators such as the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Cruise Lines International Association, port days are designed to provide flexibility for passengers. While shore excursions remain a highlight of cruising, travelers are not obligated to disembark at every stop. In fact, remaining on the vessel during docking hours can offer unexpected advantages. As cruise ships berth in bustling ports from tropical Caribbean harbors to centuries-old Mediterranean cities thousands of passengers often head ashore simultaneously. For some travelers, this creates the perfect opportunity to experience the ship itself in a calmer, more relaxed environment.
A Slower Morning Without the Rush
Port-intensive itineraries frequently require early wake-up times to maximize time ashore. Many cruise lines publish detailed docking schedules and shore excursion timelines in advance through their official portals and onboard daily programs. Travelers planning excursions typically rise early to prepare, attend meeting points, or catch tender boats to shore. However, passengers who choose to remain onboard can enjoy a dramatically different pace. Without the need to meet excursion departure times, travelers can sleep in and ease into the morning. Breakfast venues whether buffet-style dining rooms or seated restaurants are significantly less crowded once most guests have disembarked. Lines shorten, reservations are easier to secure, and service can feel more personalized. Official cruise guidance provided through line-operated apps and daily bulletins often notes that while onboard casinos and certain retail shops close in port due to local regulations, restaurants, lounges, and wellness facilities typically remain open. The result is a quieter, unhurried start to the day an experience many frequent cruisers value just as much as exploring a destination.
Pool Deck Peace and Open Lounge Chairs
Pool decks and sun lounges are among the most competitive spaces on sea days. Cruise industry best-practice policies discourage reserving lounge chairs for extended periods without use. Even so, high demand often creates early-morning competition. On port days, this dynamic shifts.
When the majority of guests leave the ship, expansive sundecks become noticeably less crowded. Lounge chairs that are typically claimed at dawn remain available well into the morning. Hot tubs and pools see lighter usage. Travelers can read, nap, or relax without the constant movement and noise common on full sea days. For passengers who prioritize onboard relaxation, port days can transform the vessel into what feels like a private resort.
Spa Discounts and Hard-to-Book Appointments
Wellness facilities rank among the most popular amenities on modern cruise ships. According to industry information shared by the Cruise Lines International Association, onboard spas are one of the fastest-growing segments in cruise guest spending. On sea days, appointments for massages, facials, and other treatments are often fully booked. With everyone onboard and limited time between ports, demand peaks quickly. Port days, however, present a different scenario. Cruise lines frequently promote port-day spa specials through their official daily programs or cabin communications. These promotions may include discounted massages, pedicures, and skincare treatments. Availability tends to improve as many guests opt for shore excursions instead of onboard services. Travelers who remain onboard often find it easier to secure preferred time slots without waiting lists. Wellness areas including thermal suites and relaxation lounges also tend to be less crowded, creating a more serene environment.
Gyms, Specialty Areas, and Premium Upgrades Feel More Exclusive
Modern cruise ships increasingly resemble floating resorts, offering state-of-the-art gyms, private lounge decks, and specialty-access areas that require an additional fee. Fitness centers are particularly popular during sea days. On port days, these facilities experience a noticeable drop in traffic. For guests who value structured workouts, dock days provide uninterrupted access to equipment and a more comfortable exercise environment. Premium-access areas can feel especially elevated during port stops. For example, guests who have purchased access to private lounge areas offered by Norwegian Cruise Line may find the space significantly quieter while the ship is docked. With fewer occupants, these areas deliver on their promise of exclusivity: upgraded loungers, dedicated bar service, and a tranquil atmosphere.
Understanding What Closes in Port
While many amenities remain open, certain facilities typically close while a cruise ship is docked. Casinos must suspend gaming operations in port to comply with local jurisdiction laws. Similarly, some onboard retail shops may close due to customs and tax regulations. Official maritime and port authority regulations often coordinated through national transport agencies and local governments require these closures to ensure compliance with international and domestic law. Passengers who plan to stay onboard should review the daily program to understand which venues remain accessible and which will temporarily pause operations.
When Skipping a Port Makes Sense
Choosing to remain onboard is not ideal for every traveler or every itinerary. First-time visitors to iconic destinations may prioritize exploration, guided tours, and cultural immersion.
However, experienced cruisers often identify circumstances where staying aboard enhances their vacation:
Revisiting a port they have previously explored
Limited interest in available excursions
Long itineraries with multiple consecutive port days
A desire for dedicated rest and recovery time
Government tourism boards consistently emphasize that cruise travel is designed to offer flexibility, allowing guests to tailor their experience. For travelers seeking balance, skipping just one port stop during a busy itinerary can create space for deeper relaxation.
The Ship as the Destination
Modern cruise vessels are engineered to function as destinations in their own right. According to industry data shared by the Cruise Lines International Association, cruise lines continue investing heavily in onboard experiences expanding wellness centers, culinary offerings, entertainment venues, and private-access spaces. For many travelers, the ship itself becomes a central attraction. On port days, when crowds thin out, guests can fully appreciate features that might otherwise feel busy. Quiet lounges, panoramic observation decks, specialty dining venues, and private cabanas become easier to enjoy without advanced planning. Instead of navigating crowded tourist streets ashore, some passengers prefer uninterrupted ocean views from a near-empty deck.
The Bottom Line
As cruise ships dock across the Caribbean and Mediterranean, thousands of passengers continue to head ashore in search of adventure. Yet a growing segment of experienced travelers is discovering that remaining onboard at least once during a voyage can transform the cruise experience. A relaxed morning without alarms, empty lounge chairs under the sun, easier spa appointments, quieter gyms, and a heightened sense of exclusivity combine to create a different kind of vacation day. Cruising has always offered choice. For some travelers, the most rewarding port day may be the one spent entirely on the ship while it is docked.
The towering Great Wall and the neon-lit skylines of Shanghai have suddenly become much closer for thousands of families across Canada. For years, the dream of walking through the Forbidden City was often sidelined by the daunting hurdle of biometric appointments, complex itineraries, and the $140 application fee that felt like a wall of its own. But as of February 17, 2026, that barrier has crumbled. There is a profound sense of reconnection in the air; you can hear it in the excited chatter at Vancouver International Airport and see it in the eyes of grandparents in Toronto who can finally book a flight to see their grandchildren on a whim. This isn’t just a policy shift; it’s a human story of families being reunited and entrepreneurs finally having the freedom to shake hands on a deal across the Pacific without a three-week wait for a stamp in a book.
The Breaking News: 30 Days of Freedom in the Middle Kingdom As of Tuesday, February 17, 2026, the People’s Republic of China has officially launched a unilateral visa-free pilot program for ordinary passport holders from Canada and the United Kingdom. Announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on February 15, the policy allows Canadians to enter mainland China for up to 30 days without a visa. This exemption covers tourism, business meetings, family visits, cultural exchanges, and transit. According to official notices from the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa, the policy will remain in effect through December 31, 2026, marking a significant—albeit temporary—diplomatic thaw.
The “Carney Effect”: A New Strategic Partnership The roots of this travel revolution lie in the “New Strategic Partnership” forged in January 2026. Following the first official visit to Beijing by a Canadian Prime Minister in over eight years, Mark Carney and President Xi Jinping reached a consensus to revitalize bilateral ties. The partnership resolves a year of retaliatory tariffs on steel and electric vehicles while opening massive doors for Canadian agri-food and energy sectors. Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand confirmed the news on social media, stating that the move will make travel easier, support business exchanges, and strengthen the essential people-to-people ties that define the two nations.
Travel Logistics: What You Need to Know Now While the visa requirement has vanished for stays under 30 days, travelers must still adhere to standard border protocols. Upon arrival at any Chinese port of entry, biometric fingerprinting is still mandatory. Experts recommend carrying proof of accommodation and an onward or return ticket, as border inspectors retain the discretion to verify the purpose of the visit. For those planning to stay longer than 30 days or those seeking employment or long-term study, a traditional visa issued by a Chinese consulate in Canada is still required.
Economic Impact: A “Bigger and Better” Trade Corridor The elimination of visa hurdles is expected to cause travel between the two nations to “explode.” Industry analysts at Kensington Tours have already reported a 100% growth in inquiries for China trips over the past week. Beyond tourism, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce estimates that removing processing delays could save frequent-flyer executives over $2,000 annually and shorten deal-closing timelines by several weeks. This is especially vital for the canola and beef industries, which are seeing a resurgence as tariffs drop from 85% to 15% under the new strategic alignment.
The Countdown: A Limited-Time Opportunity It is important to note that this policy is currently a pilot program with a hard expiry date of December 31, 2026. While officials have hinted that the waiver could be made permanent if visitor flows rebound, travelers are being urged to capitalize on the opportunity now. As of February 18, Global Affairs Canada (travel.gc.ca) was still in the process of updating its official travel advice, which previously warned of the cumbersome and expensive visa process.
A Cultural Bridge Across the Pacific Ultimately, as the first visa-free flights from Canada touch down in Beijing this week, the real success of this diplomacy is measured in the human connections it fosters. We are witnessing a moment where “Great Power” politics takes a backseat to the simple, universal desire to explore, learn, and reconnect. Whether it’s a student from Montreal heading to a cultural exchange or a business leader from Calgary exploring clean-tech opportunities, the sky has truly become the limit. The “New Strategic Partnership” has built a bridge that reflects the world as it is today—divided in some areas, but more connected than ever in others. For the Canadian traveler in 2026, the Middle Kingdom isn’t just a destination on a map; it’s a neighbor that has finally left the porch light on.
Qatar Airways, a leading airline operating from Hamad International Airport, has shifted its strategic focus under the leadership of its new CEO, Hamad Al-Khater. Appointed in December 2025, Al-Khater’s priority has been mending ties with Airbus, the European aircraft manufacturer, which had been strained in recent years due to disputes regarding the condition of its A350 aircraft.
In his inaugural interview after taking office, Al-Khater detailed his first official overseas trip to Airbus’ headquarters in Toulouse, France. The trip, which occurred in January 2026, involved in-depth discussions with Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury. The two leaders focused on essential issues such as aircraft delivery schedules, technical coordination, and the long-term stability of their business relationship.
The Airbus A350 Conflict and Resolution
Qatar Airways was one of the early adopters of Airbus aircraft, and a significant portion of its fleet is made up of Airbus models. However, their partnership hit a rough patch in 2022 when Qatar Airways raised concerns about flaking paint on the Airbus A350. Airbus initially disagreed with the airline’s assessment, leading to legal disputes that even attracted political attention.
At the height of the conflict, Airbus canceled Qatar Airways orders for the A321 aircraft, further straining the commercial and diplomatic channels between the two companies. The tensions between the two entities persisted for several months, but by the end of 2023, both sides reached a resolution, and the canceled orders were reinstated.
Al-Khater has since described his meeting with Faury as “brilliant” and “fantastic.” He noted that it was a key moment in rebuilding their critical aircraft partnership. The positive tone continued with Faury visiting Qatar in the company of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to further solidify the renewed cooperation between the two companies.
A New Era for Airbus Aircraft in Qatar Airways Fleet
Despite the turbulence in their relationship, Qatar Airways continues to rely on Airbus aircraft to a significant extent. The airline has more than 60 Airbus jets on order, with deliveries expected for both the A350 widebody and A321 narrowbody aircraft. Al-Khater emphasized that the A321LR model, expected in the fourth quarter of 2026, will play a critical role in expanding the airline’s network. The new A321LR aircraft will allow Qatar Airways to efficiently serve secondary cities in Europe and emerging Chinese destinations, all while maintaining the airline’s capacity for long-haul flights with its widebody fleet.
Qatar Airways has long been known for its commitment to fleet harmonization. The airline aims to gradually phase out older aircraft and replace them with newer, more efficient models. The goal is to expand its fleet to nearly 400 aircraft by 2040, ensuring that the airline remains competitive in the ever-growing global aviation market.
Rolls-Royce and Engine Reliability Concerns
As part of the ongoing fleet development, Qatar Airways also faces challenges with engine reliability. The Airbus A350-1000 models rely on Rolls-Royce XWB-97 engines, which have faced criticisms regarding their durability. Tim Clark, the president of Emirates Airlines, had previously expressed concerns about the engine’s performance, citing it as one of the reasons his airline did not place orders for Airbus’s larger aircraft.
Al-Khater acknowledged these challenges, specifically noting that there was a “slightly acute challenge” with the engine’s durability. However, he reassured that the airline continues to monitor engine performance closely in collaboration with Rolls-Royce. Regular technical assessments are being conducted to address and resolve any issues, ensuring the continued safe operation of the aircraft.
Boeing and the Expanding Fleet Commitments
While Airbus remains a key player in Qatar Airways fleet, the airline has also deepened its commitment to Boeing. Following a record order placed during U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East in May 2025, Qatar Airways secured 210 twin-aisle aircraft from Boeing, including the highly anticipated 777X program. The first batch of Boeing 777X jets is expected to arrive in 2027, marking a significant step forward for Qatar Airways in terms of fleet modernization.
Al-Khater expressed confidence in Boeing’s leadership under CEO Kelly Ortberg, noting that the company had provided stronger assurances regarding delivery reliability. This expanded partnership with Boeing further diversifies Qatar Airways fleet, which continues to evolve in response to growing demand for air travel.
Strategic Vision for Growth and Fleet Expansion
As Qatar Airways charts a path toward future growth, its strategic vision involves maintaining balanced relationships with both Airbus and Boeing. The airline is committed to managing its fleet expansion with discipline, ensuring that its aircraft orders align with market demand. Additionally, Al-Khater identified emerging markets like India, Australia, Africa, and Gulf states as key regions for growth, positioning Qatar Airways to capture premium demand as these economies diversify away from oil dependency.
Under Al-Khater’s leadership, Qatar Airways remains focused on meeting the growing demand for international travel while maintaining a competitive edge in fleet modernization, operational efficiency, and customer satisfaction. The airline’s continued investment in its fleet and strategic partnerships ensures it will remain a leading player in the global aviation industry.
The Buddha’s profound footprints have shaped Asia’s spiritual geography for centuries. In a significant step towards revitalising these ancient connections, the Indian Embassy in Cambodia, the Union Ministry of Tourism, and the Bihar Tourism Department recently convened a high-level strategic dialogue. This collaborative effort, carried out via a sophisticated digital forum, was intended to strengthen bilateral ties and elevate Bihar’s “Buddhist Circuit” as a top destination for Cambodian pilgrims and international visitors alike.
A Shared Heritage Reimagined
The profound historical significance of Bihar was elegantly articulated during the session, with particular emphasis placed on the state’s status as the epicentre of Buddhist philosophy. It was within the boundaries of modern-day Bihar that Prince Siddhartha attained supreme enlightenment and began the dissemination of teachings that would eventually shape the cultural fabric of Southeast Asia. The meeting served as a platform to remind global stakeholders that the spiritual roots of Cambodia and Bihar are inextricably intertwined.
Through a comprehensive presentation, the Cambodian government and various tourism investors were briefed on the sacred geography of the region. The state’s role as a global guardian of Buddhist traditions was highlighted, reinforcing the idea that a journey to Bihar is not merely a vacation but a return to the source of one’s spiritual identity.
Strategic Infrastructure and Heritage Preservation
A significant portion of the discussion was dedicated to the extensive physical and structural transformations currently being undertaken by the state government. It was noted that substantial investments are being directed toward the modernization of visitor facilities and the enhancement of connectivity between sacred landmarks. The development of a specialized corridor in Bodhgaya was showcased as a flagship project, intended to streamline the experience for the thousands of devotees who congregate at the Mahabodhi Temple annually.
Furthermore, the architectural landscape of Bihar is being enriched through the construction of monumental replicas and new centres of learning. It was revealed that stupa replicas are being developed at Kesaria, while the Buddha Samyak Stupa in Vaishali and the Pataliputra Karuna Stupa in Patna are nearing various stages of completion. These sites, along with the dedicated Vipassana Centre in the capital city, are being positioned as centres of both historical reflection and contemporary practice.
Expanding the Map: Beyond the Known Landmarks
While Bodhgaya remains the heart of the pilgrimage, the scope of the “Know Bihar” initiative extends to the far reaches of the state. It was emphasized that locations such as Rampurwa, Lauriya Nandangarh, and Areraj are being integrated into comprehensive travel itineraries. The ancient educational legacy of the region is also being revitalized, with the ongoing renovation of the Vikramshila University ruins in Bhagalpur cited as a key priority.
The rugged beauty of Vanavar in Jehanabad and the lush serenity of Venuvan in Rajgir were also presented as essential stops for the modern traveller. By diversifying the available destinations, the tourism department aims to encourage longer stays, proposing itineraries that range from ten to thirty days. This approach is intended to provide visitors with a deeper, more immersive understanding of the diverse landscapes that hosted the Buddha’s travels.
Cultural Synergy and Culinary Diplomacy
In an effort to make Cambodian visitors feel a sense of home while abroad, a unique cultural initiative was announced: the planned establishment of a dedicated Cambodian restaurant in Bodhgaya. This move is viewed as a form of “culinary diplomacy”, designed to cater to the specific tastes of Southeast Asian travellers while simultaneously fostering a cross-cultural appreciation for Cambodian traditions among the local population.
The strengthening of ties is not limited to physical infrastructure. A joint branding exercise was proposed, aimed at linking the majesty of Angkor Wat with the spiritual sanctity of Bodhgaya. This dual-destination marketing strategy is intended to position the two regions as complementary pillars of the world’s Buddhist heritage, encouraging a seamless flow of travellers between India and Cambodia.
Collaborative Growth and Future Prospects
The response from Cambodian representatives and tourism stakeholders was overwhelmingly positive, indicating a strong appetite for closer collaboration. It was confirmed that the Bihar government will provide full institutional support for a variety of promotional activities. This includes organising “familiarisation trips” for travel agents and the media, planning mega-events, and maintaining a strong presence at international travel and trade fairs.
The meeting ended with a shared vision for a revitalised spiritual corridor. By combining modern amenities with ancient history, Bihar is positioning itself as a welcoming, secure, and profoundly moving destination. The collaboration between the Indian and Cambodian governments is expected to result in a significant increase in spiritual tourism, ensuring that the Buddha’s teachings continue to serve as a link between these two historic nations.
The landscape of international mobility has been significantly altered as China implements a bold new strategy to welcome the world. Through the expansion of the visa-free entry program, a total of 50 countries are now permitted to access the mainland for durations of up to 30 days. This development is viewed as a monumental step in the nation’s post-pandemic recovery, aimed at stimulating international tourism and fostering deeper global economic ties. By removing traditional bureaucratic hurdles, the Chinese government has streamlined the process for millions of potential visitors, ensuring that the travel industry receives a much-needed boost in the coming fiscal quarters.
A Significant Policy Transformation
A dramatic shift in diplomatic and entry protocols has been observed as the list of eligible nations continues to grow. What was once a restrictive environment characterized by complex application processes and stringent requirements has been replaced by a more inviting framework. It is noted by experts that the duration of stay has been doubled from the previous 15-day limit in many instances, allowing for a more comprehensive exploration of the country’s vast cultural and commercial landscapes.
This policy is not merely a temporary measure but is seen as a cornerstone of a broader initiative to re-establish China as a premier global destination. The expansion is directed at a diverse array of nations, ranging from European powers to Southeast Asian neighbors, creating a multilateral bridge that facilitates easier movement for business, leisure, and family reunions.
The Scope of the Expanded Visa Waiver
The specifics of the announcement reveal that the 30-day window is designed to accommodate a variety of travel purposes. Whether the intent is for transit, tourism, or visiting relatives, the administrative burden has been effectively neutralized for citizens of the 50 designated countries. This extension is particularly beneficial for long-haul travelers who previously found a two-week window insufficient for navigating the geographical scale of China.
Furthermore, the integration of these changes into the national immigration system has been completed with efficiency. It is reported that port-of-entry procedures have been optimized to handle the anticipated surge in arrivals. The focus remains on providing a seamless transition from the aircraft to the city streets, ensuring that the first impression of the country is one of modernization and hospitality.
Economic and Tourism Implications
The revitalization of the hospitality sector is expected to be a primary outcome of this legislative update. Hotels, transport services, and local attractions are being prepared for an influx of visitors who now have the liberty to plan more extensive itineraries. By allowing a full month of stay without a visa, the potential for per-capita spending is greatly increased, which directly benefits local economies and SMEs within the tourism supply chain.
Moreover, the business sector is anticipated to reap significant rewards. Short-term trade missions and corporate meetings can now be organized with much shorter lead times, as the necessity for consular visits has been eliminated for many. The ease of entry is projected to strengthen supply chain collaborations and encourage foreign investment by making the country more accessible to international executives and entrepreneurs.
Strategic Global Positioning
From a geopolitical perspective, the move is interpreted as a signal of openness. At a time when global travel trends are shifting, China’s decision to lower barriers is a proactive attempt to maintain competitiveness. The selection of the 50 countries reflects a strategic balance, targeting key markets that have historically contributed to the nation’s tourism revenue while also reaching out to emerging partners.
The passive nature of this policy rollout ensures that the benefits are felt universally across all provinces. Major hubs like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou are expected to see the most immediate impact, but the 30-day duration also encourages travel into the interior regions. Cultural sites in Xi’an, the natural beauty of Yunnan, and the technological centers of Shenzhen are now within easier reach for the global community.
Navigating the New Entry Requirements
While the requirement for a physical visa sticker has been removed for these 50 nations, certain protocols remain in place to ensure security and order. Travelers are still required to hold valid passports and may be asked to provide proof of onward travel or accommodation details upon arrival. The oversight provided by the National Immigration Administration ensures that while the door is open, the integrity of the borders is maintained through sophisticated digital monitoring.
It is emphasized by officials that the 30-day period is strict, and extensions must be handled through the appropriate local channels should an emergency arise. However, for the vast majority of travelers, this timeframe is considered the “sweet spot” for balancing a deep-dive cultural experience with the practicalities of international travel schedules.
Future Outlook for International Mobility
As the world watches the results of this expansion, there is speculation that further countries could be added to the list in the future. The success of this phase will likely be measured by the increase in total visitor numbers and the absence of regulatory complications. If the current trajectory continues, the model used for these 50 countries could become the standard for China’s engagement with the rest of the world.
The long-term vision involves a China that is more integrated into the global travel network than ever before. By fostering an environment where spontaneous travel is possible, the country is rewriting the narrative of its relationship with international guests. The cultural exchange facilitated by these millions of interactions is expected to yield dividends in soft power and mutual understanding for decades to come.
Conclusion and Global Impact
In summary, the decision to expand the visa-free entry to 50 countries for a 30-day duration represents a landmark change in policy. It is a reflection of a nation confident in its ability to host the world and eager to showcase its progress. The ripples of this decision will be felt across the global travel industry, setting a precedent for how major economies can utilize visa policy as a tool for economic and diplomatic growth.
Florida Joins Hawaii, Texas, California, New York, Nevada and More US States in Becoming Major Economic Driver in US Tourism, This is What You Need To Know
Florida Joins Hawaii, Texas, California, New York, Nevada and More US States in Becoming Major Economic Driver in US Tourism, This is What You Need To Know is no longer just a headline. It is the reality shaping the future of the US tourism sector. Florida joins Hawaii, Texas, California, New York, Nevada and more US states in becoming a major economic driver in US tourism, and this is what you need to know right now. Across the USA, momentum is building. Across the Americas, US travel is accelerating.
First, Florida leads with record-breaking numbers. Then, Hawaii strengthens high-value travel. Meanwhile, Texas, California, New York and Nevada reinforce their positions as pillars of US tourism. As a result, Florida joins Hawaii, Texas, California, New York, Nevada and more US states in becoming major economic drivers in US tourism in ways that are transforming the broader US tourism sector.
Moreover, domestic US travel remains powerful. International demand continues to reshape the USA travel map. Consequently, the US tourism sector is not slowing. It is expanding. It is evolving. It is competing globally across the Americas.
Travel And Tour World urges readers to read the entire story because Florida joins Hawaii, Texas, California, New York, Nevada and more US states in becoming major economic drivers in US tourism, and this is what you need to know to understand the full impact.
Tourism remains one of the most powerful economic drivers in the United States. Each year, millions of travellers move across state lines for leisure, business, family visits and major events. In 2025, the US tourism sector continued to demonstrate both scale and resilience, with early government releases confirming record performance in at least one major state and sustained strength in others.
While final annual figures for many states are still pending publication, preliminary data already provide important insight into travel patterns across the country. Florida has officially confirmed a record-breaking year, welcoming 143.3 million visitors in 2025 — the highest annual total in its history. Hawaii has published detailed partial-year statistics showing continued high visitation levels and stable visitor spending. Other major tourism states, including California, New York, Texas and Nevada, are expected to release their full annual reports later in the year.
The available data illustrate several key trends. Domestic travel remains the foundation of the US tourism economy, accounting for the overwhelming majority of state-level visitation. International arrivals continue to contribute meaningfully, particularly in gateway states with strong global connectivity.
This report presents a structured overview of 2025 tourism statistics across selected US states, based strictly on officially released government data. It aims to provide clarity on confirmed figures, highlight emerging trends and identify where final data remain forthcoming, offering a transparent snapshot of the US travel landscape in 2025.
Florida Sets New Tourism Record in 2025 with 143.3 Million Visitors, Governor DeSantis Announces
Record-Breaking Year Reinforces Florida’s Position as America’s Top Travel Destination
Florida has achieved another historic milestone in tourism, welcoming an estimated 143.3 million visitors in calendar year 2025, according to preliminary figures released by VISIT FLORIDA and announced by Governor Ron DeSantis. The total marks the highest annual visitation in the state’s history, further cementing Florida’s status as the leading domestic travel destination in the United States.
The 2025 total represents a 0.2 percent increase over 2024 levels. Officials noted that final confirmed figures are expected later in the spring as additional data becomes available.
Fourth Quarter 2025 Delivers Highest Q4 Visitation on Record
The fourth quarter of 2025 proved especially strong, with an estimated 33.5 million visitors travelling to Florida between October and December. This marks the highest fourth-quarter visitation ever recorded for the state and reflects a 0.6 percent increase compared to Q4 2024.
Of the Q4 total, domestic travellers accounted for approximately 30.31 million visits, while international travellers contributed around 3.2 million visits. Domestic visitors represented 90.5 percent of total fourth-quarter arrivals, with international travellers accounting for 9.5 percent.
Air travel activity also rose during the period. Enplanements at 19 Florida airports reached 27.4 million in Q4 2025, an increase of 2.8 percent compared to the same quarter in 2024.
Domestic Travel Continues to Drive Florida’s Tourism Growth
Domestic visitors remained the dominant force behind Florida’s tourism performance in 2025. Americans accounted for 131.1 million trips to the state, representing 91.5 percent of total annual visitation. This share increased slightly from 91.4 percent in 2024.
Overseas visitation reached 9.3 million in 2025, while Canadian travellers accounted for 2.9 million visits. Canadian travel remained consistent with historical patterns, typically representing around two percent of Florida’s total visitation.
Preliminary data also show a shift in transportation patterns. Approximately 35.8 percent of domestic visitors travelled by air, while 64.2 percent arrived by non-air modes, reflecting a slightly smaller share of air travel compared to the previous year.
International Markets Show Strong Year-Over-Year Growth
Florida recorded notable growth from several key international markets in 2025. Visitation from Brazil increased by 10.4 percent compared to 2024, making Brazil the second-largest international source of visitors to the state. Argentina recorded a 17.8 percent increase in visitors year over year.
Spain also experienced 10.4 percent growth and entered the top ten overseas origin countries for Florida. Additional European markets, including the United Kingdom, France, Italy and the Netherlands, contributed to continued international strength.
VISIT FLORIDA officials stated that the organisation remains focused on expanding international visitation through targeted marketing strategies.
State Leaders Credit Strategic Investments for Continued Success
Governor Ron DeSantis attributed Florida’s record-setting performance to strategic investments in infrastructure, public safety and environmental stewardship. He emphasised that these efforts ensure Florida remains a destination where families can travel with confidence while supporting sustained tourism industry growth.
Bryan Griffin, President and CEO of VISIT FLORIDA, highlighted the role of local businesses and tourism partners in delivering high-quality visitor experiences. Secretary J. Alex Kelly of the Florida Department of Commerce described Florida as the nation’s leading domestic travel destination and linked the milestone to investments supporting job growth, small businesses and infrastructure improvements.
With preliminary estimates confirming a historic year, Florida’s tourism sector continues to demonstrate resilience and leadership within the national travel economy.
Hawaii: Sustained High Visitation and Strong Economic Contribution
Hawaii has not announced a record-breaking annual total for 2025. However, official state reporting confirms sustained high visitor volumes and steady economic contribution. According to the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s official 2025 visitor statistics report, the islands continued to attract millions of visitors throughout much of the year.
From January to October 2025, O‘ahu welcomed approximately 4.76 million visitors. Maui received around 2.07 million visitors. Kaua‘i recorded roughly 1.19 million arrivals. Hawai‘i Island attracted about 1.46 million visitors.
These figures confirm that Hawaii remains one of the most visited destinations within the US tourism sector. The report also indicates increases in average daily visitor spending on several islands. This suggests that overall economic impact per visitor remains significant.
Tourism is central to Hawaii’s economy. It supports hospitality employment, aviation routes, small businesses and public revenue streams. Although Hawaii has not declared a new annual record for 2025, its consistent visitor flows illustrate the resilience of US travel demand.
The data reinforce that the USA tourism economy is not dependent on one single state. Hawaii continues to contribute meaningfully to the broader US tourism sector across the Americas.
California: Awaiting Official 2025 Annual Totals
California is traditionally one of the largest tourism markets in the United States. The state attracts domestic travellers and international visitors to major cities, coastal regions and national parks. However, as of early 2026, California has not yet published a complete annual tourism total for 2025 on its official government platforms.
This absence does not indicate decline. Annual tourism reports require extensive data collection and verification processes. Historically, California has ranked among the top states for international arrivals within the US tourism sector.
California’s tourism economy is diverse. It includes urban tourism in Los Angeles and San Francisco, coastal leisure travel, wine region tourism and national park visitation. International visitors frequently enter the USA through California’s major airports, contributing significantly to inbound US travel statistics.
When California releases its official 2025 annual tourism report, it will provide clearer insight into state-level performance. Until then, there is no confirmed record-breaking figure for the state in 2025.
California remains a structural pillar of the US tourism sector. Its long-term significance within the USA travel economy continues, even as official 2025 totals are pending.
New York: A Major Gateway State Pending Final 2025 Data
New York is one of the most internationally recognised tourism destinations in the United States. It serves as a primary gateway for inbound international US travel. However, like California, New York has not yet published a final annual tourism total for 2025 on its official state government platforms.
Historically, New York attracts millions of domestic and international travellers annually. Urban tourism in New York City plays a central role in the US tourism sector. Visitors travel for leisure, business, conferences and cultural experiences.
The absence of confirmed 2025 annual totals reflects reporting cycles rather than confirmed performance decline. Comprehensive tourism reporting requires finalised data from airports, hotels and economic surveys.
New York’s significance in the US tourism sector remains substantial. International travellers frequently enter the USA through New York’s airports. The state contributes meaningfully to service exports and economic output.
Until official 2025 totals are released, there is no government confirmation of record-breaking visitation for New York in 2025. However, its position within the broader US travel economy remains strong and historically influential across the Americas.
Nevada: Entertainment Tourism Leader Awaiting 2025 Confirmation
Nevada plays a distinctive role within the US tourism sector. The state, particularly Las Vegas, is globally recognised for entertainment, conferences and leisure travel. However, as of early 2026, Nevada has not yet published a complete official annual tourism total for 2025.
Historically, Nevada attracts significant domestic and international travel flows. The state’s tourism economy is centred around hospitality, conventions and large-scale events. It represents a unique segment of the USA travel ecosystem.
Like other major states, Nevada’s final annual tourism figures require detailed reporting processes. Until official 2025 totals are released, there is no confirmed record-breaking annual figure for the state.
Nevada remains strategically important within the US tourism sector. Its visitor economy supports employment, state revenue and infrastructure development. When final 2025 data become available, a more comprehensive assessment of Nevada’s performance can be made.
For now, Florida remains the only state with confirmed record-breaking tourism statistics in 2025.
Texas: A Large Domestic Tourism Market Awaiting Full Reporting
Texas represents one of the largest domestic tourism markets in the United States. The state combines business travel, cultural heritage tourism and urban leisure markets. However, as of early 2026, Texas has not yet released an official annual tourism total for 2025 on its government platforms.
Texas benefits heavily from domestic US travel flows. Major cities such as Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio attract visitors for conferences, business and leisure activities. The state’s size and population support a substantial internal tourism economy.
Although Texas remains a significant contributor to the US tourism sector, no official record-breaking 2025 total has been confirmed at this stage. As with other large states, finalised annual reporting requires time for data consolidation and verification.
Texas continues to play an important role in the broader USA tourism system. Its domestic travel strength contributes to the resilience of the US tourism sector across the Americas.
Avora Residences has officially announced the launch of its flagship vessel, Lumina, set to debut in January 2028. This groundbreaking luxury residential cruise is poised to redefine what it means to live at sea, offering a unique blend of opulence, exclusivity, and adventure. Designed for those who seek the ultimate in comfort and freedom, Lumina promises to deliver an unparalleled living experience aboard a state-of-the-art vessel. With luxurious villas, world-class amenities, and the freedom of the open ocean, Avora is setting a new benchmark for high-end cruising and residential living. This innovative concept combines the finest elements of modern luxury with the freedom of travel, making Lumina a revolutionary addition to the world of luxury living at sea.
Avora Residences is setting sail with an ambitious vision to redefine luxury living at sea. The brand has officially launched its website and unveiled its debut vessel, Lumina, which will embark on its first journey in January 2028, departing from Lisbon, Portugal. Combining world-class residences with the unparalleled freedom of the open ocean, Avora Residences offers a truly exclusive lifestyle for those seeking comfort, elegance, and adventure.
A key milestone in Avora’s journey is a strategic collaboration with Villa Vie Residences, a contemporary luxury brand offering residential living. This partnership positions Avora as the ultimate luxury counterpart to Villa Vie’s ground-based properties, creating an extraordinary synergy between the two brands. Through this alliance, both brands aim to elevate the concept of modern luxury, focusing on expanding access and freedom, core elements of today’s most coveted lifestyles.
The Lumina Experience: A Floating Luxury Oasis
Aboard Lumina, residents will have access to seven exclusive villa categories, with sizes ranging from 301 to 1,173 square feet. Every villa has been meticulously designed to cater to those who demand the finest in quality, blending sophisticated design with exceptional comfort. From private retreats to spacious, expansive living spaces, Lumina offers a range of options that ensure each resident’s needs are met.
The journey to ownership begins with the Dawn Villa, starting at $545,000, providing an accessible yet luxurious introduction to life aboard Lumina. For those seeking more lavish accommodations, the most opulent offering—the Lumina Villa—comes with a price tag of $4,288,000. Additionally, for those looking for flexibility, five-year ownership options are available, starting at $219,600. This allows potential residents to enjoy the lavish lifestyle of Avora Residences without long-term commitments.
Monthly fees reflect the size and exclusivity of the villa, ranging from $8,355 for a Dawn Villa to $28,525 for the grand Lumina Villa. Each fee ensures access to an unparalleled range of amenities and services designed for a life of comfort and sophistication.
Onboard Amenities: A World of Luxury and Comfort
Living aboard Lumina is an extraordinary experience, with an array of premium amenities designed to cater to every desire. Residents can enjoy a diverse selection of world-class dining options, each helmed by renowned chefs committed to delivering unforgettable culinary experiences. The spa, featuring a sauna, hot tub, and steam room, offers the perfect sanctuary for relaxation and rejuvenation after a day of exploring the seas.
Fitness enthusiasts can stay active in the state-of-the-art fitness center, which includes yoga classes and personalized training programs. For those with a passion for culture, Lumina offers live theater performances, a curated art gallery, and guest lectures on various topics, ensuring that the onboard experience remains enriching and engaging.
Business travelers will appreciate the fully equipped business center, complemented by Starlink internet connectivity, ensuring a reliable and fast connection no matter where in the world the ship sails. This connectivity allows residents to balance work with pleasure, making it easier than ever to remain productive while enjoying life on the open ocean.
Inclusive Luxury Services
As part of the Lumina experience, residents will enjoy an array of luxurious services that elevate everyday living. From premium cocktails, wine, beer, and freshly brewed barista coffee included in the package to white-glove housekeeping and laundry services twice a week, no detail is overlooked. All gratuities and port charges are covered, further enhancing the carefree lifestyle that residents can enjoy.
A dedicated concierge service will cater to every need, whether it’s arranging personalized excursions or fulfilling more specific requests. This all-encompassing service ensures that residents can immerse themselves fully in the luxury cruise experience without concern for day-to-day logistics.
A Unique Partnership: Reciprocal Access with Villa Vie Residences
The partnership between Avora Residences and Villa Vie Residences offers an added bonus: reciprocal access privileges for residents of both brands. This collaboration extends the luxury experience across multiple locations, giving residents access to Villa Vie’s high-end residential offerings, further enriching their lifestyle options. This reciprocal access provides residents with an integrated luxury experience that seamlessly blends land and sea living, offering unparalleled flexibility.
Setting New Standards in Luxury Living at Sea
Avora Residences and its flagship vessel, Lumina, are reshaping what it means to live luxuriously aboard a cruise. By combining the finest elements of residential living with the flexibility of cruising, Avora offers an extraordinary lifestyle for those who desire a life of comfort, adventure, and opulence. With its wide range of villas, all-inclusive amenities, and unique partnership with Villa Vie, Avora Residences sets a new benchmark for luxury living on the water, offering residents an unprecedented way to experience the world.
The Gigabyte MO27Q28GR is a new 280Hz Tandem OLED monitor, now with a glossy panel for improved clarity and colors. Available now for $599.99, it arrives as a budget alternative to similar models already on the market.
The James Webb Space Telescope has mapped the auroras of Uranus in 3D for the first time. And this is a major breakthrough in this field, which could help astronomers better understand ice giants.
Deal | Humble Bundle has refreshed the game bundles section, and a new package has been added: Focus Entertainment Bundle 2026. It delivers six well-rated Steam Deck-playable games for $25, and some of them are multi-award winners.
Citizen Europe has now added a fourth reference to the new slim Series 8 collection: the two-tone NB6084-50A. This 39.3 mm model features a textured white dial, the anti-magnetic Caliber 9051, and a 20-bar water resistance rating - similar to other watches in the lineup.
Pebble’s comeback is delayed, at least slightly. The company has confirmed the current production schedule for the Pebble Time 2 and the new Pebble Round 2. Both smartwatches use open-source software and sport a rather unconventional design.
Waveshare is now offering a 7-inch round touchscreen display with an IPS panel, HDMI input, and 10-point capacitive touch support, targeting smart home systems, in-vehicle infotainments systems, and other interactive embedded HMI hardware.
Xiaomi is rumoured to be launching its Pad 8 and Pad 8 Pro tablets soon. At the same time, the company has now shared an official teaser hinting that the 'future of computing' is on the horizon, potentially even before the end of the month too.
Retailers have indicated that Asus will be bringing its first Strix Halo-powered 14-inch gaming laptop to the US soon. Thanks to AMD's Radeon 8060S iGPU, the gaming laptop does without a dGPU altogether. Retailers have confirmed that the FA401EA version of the TUF Gaming A14 will not be available in the US with the option of setting 48 GB VRAM like in other countries.
The Uperfect Uplays C10 is a new portable monitor that offers a high 4K resolution and can also be connected with a single cable. The included cover doubles as a stand, but the monitor can also be mounted on a compatible monitor arm.
Google introduced its Titan M2 security chip with the Pixel 6 devices back in 2021, and it's still present in the Pixel 10 family, but it's obviously getting a little bit long in the tooth after more than four years.
The good news is that a new rumor claims the Titan M3 is coming later this year to the Pixel 11 series alongside the Tensor G6 SoC. It's unclear exactly what will be new in the Titan M3, but it is allegedly codenamed Google Epic, so clearly it will be a massive improvement over its predecessor - otherwise why call it that?
For reference, note that the Titan M2 handles...
Motorola's Razr 2025 and Razr Ultra 2025, also known as the Razr 60 and Razr 60 Ultra outside of North America, are now finally being updated to Android 16 in the US, days after Google launched the first beta of Android 17. So we definitely can't praise Motorola for being fast with this release - Google rolled out Android 16 in June of last year.
Anyway, if your Razr or Razr Ultra (2025) is from T-Mobile or Verizon, you should be notified about the update very soon, if you haven't been already. The new build number for Verizon is W1UC36H.96-35-1 for the Razr and W1VL36H.59-55-5 for the...
While Pulisic once set the benchmark for American success in Europe, Balogun has now written his name into UEFA Champions League history, signaling a generational shift in American attacking talent at club level.
Christian Pulisic and Folarin Balogun have become central figures in the United States’ soccer renaissance, each carrying the weight of expectation from fans dreaming of a historic run on home soil at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. While Pulisic once set the benchmark for American success in Europe, Balogun has now written his name into UEFA Champions League history, signaling a generational shift in American attacking talent at club level.
Across the Atlantic, their clubs have served as proving grounds for two different eras of U.S. soccer excellence. Pulisic’s early breakout years redefined what was possible for an American in elite European competition, while Balogun’s latest feats show that the new generation is not just catching up, but surpassing previous standards.
Pulisic’s breakthrough season in 2016 remains one of the most influential chapters in modern American soccer history. At just 17 years old, he became a regular starter at Borussia Dortmund, quickly setting a cascade of youth records with both the national team and his club.
His rapid rise included becoming the youngest American to appear in a World Cup qualifier, the youngest U.S. player to score for the senior national team, and the youngest American to score in the UEFA Champions League. Pulisic’s impact was immediate, blending technical brilliance with fearless attacking play against Europe’s elite defenses.
Christian Pulisic #10 of the United States.
He also made history by becoming the first U.S.-based player in Germany to score in the Bundesliga, domestic cup, and Champions League in the same season. By the end of his teenage years, Pulisic had already accumulated a record list that positioned him as the face of American soccer’s European breakthrough. Years later, his move to Milan further elevated his Champions League legacy, where he continued to deliver on the biggest stage and set benchmarks for American attackers in Europe.
Balogun’s breakthrough moment in the Champions League
While Pulisic laid the groundwork, Folarin Balogun has emerged as one of the leading symbols of the next U.S. generation. The striker delivered a defining performance for Monaco in a high-profile UEFA Champions League playoff clash against Paris Saint-Germain, scoring twice inside the opening 20 minutes.
Balogun struck after just 55 seconds, heading in a cross from Aleksandr Golovin before doubling the lead minutes later, sending shockwaves through European soccer. His explosive start against the French champions highlighted his predatory instincts and composure at the highest level.
However, despite Monaco’s early dominance, the match swung dramatically after Golovin was sent off. PSG mounted a comeback to secure a 3-2 victory, leaving the tie finely balanced heading into the second leg.
The record revealed
Midway through the season, Balogun’s scoring spree led to a landmark achievement for American players in Europe. He surpassed Christian Pulisic’s mark for the most goals scored by an American in a single UEFA Champions League season, reaching five goals in nine matches.
Pulisic had previously set the standard with four goals in a single Champions League campaign for AC Milan, a record that stood as a symbol of American progress in Europe’s most prestigious club competition. Balogun’s brace against PSG pushed him past that milestone, rewriting the history books. The achievement marked the highest single-season Champions League goal tally ever recorded by an American player.
Folarin Balogun and Christian Pulisic of AC Milan.
Certain players command respect not just through goals and assists, but through the way they adapt, connect, and elevate those around them. At Milan, American star Christian Pulisic has done exactly that, earning admiration from a teammate who also shares the dressing room with Cristiano Ronaldo at international level.
Certain players command respect not just through goals and assists, but through the way they adapt, connect, and elevate those around them. At Milan, American star Christian Pulisic has done exactly that, earning admiration from a teammate who also shares the dressing room with Cristiano Ronaldo at international level.
In a recent interview, тхе Portuguese winger spoke warmly about Christian Pulisic, highlighting not only his soccer qualities but also his intelligence, professionalism, and rapid adaptation to Serie A. The praise adds another layer to Pulisic’s growing influence at the club, where he has quietly become one of the most decisive figures in recent seasons. Before delving deeper into his words, it is time to reveal the identity of the admirer.
Rafael Leao, Milan’s Portuguese star and Cristiano Ronaldo’s international teammate, delivered glowing praise for Christian Pulisic in an interview with CBS Sports. His words painted a picture of a player who has integrated seamlessly into Italian soccer while maintaining a decisive impact on the pitch. “Now we know each other on the pitch. This season we’ve had a few injuries, we haven’t had great opportunities together,” Leao said.
“He’s a great player, one of the best in recent seasons“, he added. The Portugal international ace went even further, emphasizing how much trust he has in the American when they share the field. “I expect a lot. When he plays, and I’m on the pitch, I’m like: ‘Yeah, Christian will do something.’”
Perhaps the most striking part of his praise came when he highlighted Pulisic’s adaptation off the pitch. “When he arrived, he understood the league fast. He speaks Italian almost perfectly, even with an American accent.”The 26-year-old also described Pulisic as “a great player, one of the best in recent seasons,” underlining his status as a key figure at the club.
Pulisic’s impact at Milan despite injury challenges this season
Christian Pulisic’s influence at Milan has been undeniable, even during periods of physical setbacks. He is currently the club’s top scorer this season, with 10 goals and two assists in 22 appearances, a remarkable return given his intermittent fitness issues.
The American has struggled with bursitis in recent weeks, limiting his availability and rhythm, and he has yet to score in 2026. Still, his contributions earlier in the campaign laid the foundation for Milan’s attacking output, and his presence remains vital for the club’s ambitions. Leao’s comments reflect the perception inside the dressing room: when Pulisic plays, he is expected to create something decisive.
Rafael Leao of AC Milan (L) celebrates after scoring his goal with Christian Pulisic of AC Milan (R)
Growing reputation in Italy
With both Pulisic and Leao returning to fitness, Milan’s attacking options look significantly stronger. Their availability could allow the coach to deploy them in their natural positions, unlocking the attacking trident that was initially envisioned at the start of the season.
Beyond statistics and formations, Leao’s words highlight something deeper: The American’s growing reputation in Italy. Adapting quickly to Serie A is no small feat, particularly for a foreign player arriving with massive expectations. His linguistic and cultural integration, combined with his performances, have made him a respected figure among teammates and fans alike.
For a USMNT player in Europe, such praise from a Portuguese star who plays alongside Cristiano Ronaldo is particularly significant. It reinforces the idea that Pulisic is no longer just a high-profile signing; he is a trusted, influential leader within the squad.
Christian Pulisic of AC Milan celebrates his goal with Strahinja Pavlovic that was later disallowed
A Manchester United player with a decorated UEFA Champions League past could soon join Lionel Messi at Inter Miami.
As they prepare to begin their 2026 Major League Soccer season, Inter Miami are already looking ahead. Lionel Messi’s team could sign a Manchester United star who is a five-time UEFA Champions League winner.
According to SunSport, Casemiro is being considered by the Herons as a potential reinforcement this summer. “Miami are one of several clubs weighing up a move for the former Real Madrid midfielder,” the report states.
That interest, apparently, is mutual. “Casemiro, who turns 34 next week, was spotted enjoying a mini winter break in Miami with wife Anna this week,” SunSport added, before claiming that the midfielder “was in Florida to scout the area as he weighs up his options after the World Cup in the summer.”
Casemiro is under contract with Manchester United through June 30 of this year and, although he had the option to extend it for one more season, he recently announced his decision to leave the English side at the end of the current campaign. At that point, he will become a free agent and be free to negotiate with any club in the world.
Casemiro of Manchester United during a Premier League match.
Inter Miami would benefit from Casemiro’s arrival
It makes perfect sense that Inter Miami would be interested in signing Casemiro. At the end of last year, they lost one of their biggest stars, Sergio Busquets, who decided to retire after winning the MLS title in early December.
That departure left a major void in central midfield, a key position for any team, and one that will not be easy to fill. During the current transfer window, the Herons signed a player in that role: David Ayala, a 23-year-old Argentine midfielder who stood out over the past four seasons with Portland Timbers.
Ayala’s contribution will undoubtedly be valuable, considering his MLS experience and his youth, which provides more physical range than Busquets offered. However, the young midfielder lacks the European pedigree and overall quality of Busquets, and that difference could become evident over time.
Given that scenario, Casemiro’s profile would be a natural fit in Miami. Like Busquets, he brings vast experience at the highest level of European soccer, having played a key role in five UEFA Champions League titles with Real Madrid and remaining a prominent figure in the Premier League with Manchester United.
Inter Miami face competition for Casemiro
Naturally, a player of Casemiro’s caliber becoming a free agent will attract interest from multiple clubs. Beyond Inter Miami’s reported pursuit, other teams are said to be targeting the 33-year-old Brazilian star.
“The five-time Champions League winner has also drawn interest from FC Porto and Sao Paulo, who he joined as a schoolboy and turned pro,” The Sun reports. “Sao Paulo are set to offer Casemiro a two-year deal with an option to work for the club at the end of his contract.”
Emotional ties could ultimately play a decisive role in Casemiro’s decision. In that regard, Sao Paulo and Porto may hold an advantage, as the midfielder previously played for both clubs. Other options reportedly include a move to Saudi Arabia, as well as interest from LA Galaxy, Inter Miami’s MLS rival.
Carlo Ancelotti admits he called out Vinicius after is reaction with Xabi Alonso during a La Liga Real Madrid-Barcelona.
Back in October, Real Madrid defeated Barcelona after four losses to them in the current La Liga. However, the focus turned to Vinicius‘ reaction after then-manager Xabi Alonso substituted him for Rodrygo with around 20 minutes left. Carlo Ancelotti recently revealed he spoke with him.
Vinicius’ reaction was notably loud for a player of his importance, yelling “Me?” several times before leaving the field and even making a gesture toward Alonso that came across as disrespectful. Former Real Madrid player Jorge Valdano raised the issue with Ancelotti on his Universo Valdano show.
Ancelotti didn’t shy away: “The reaction was bad. I spoke with Vini about this. The player must respect the manager, who can make mistakes, his teammates, and the players coming on. He’s very passionate. I think he has improved a lot in his attitude. The Vinicius who plays for Brazil is different as a person from the one at Real Madrid.”
Ancelotti speaks on his time with Álvaro Arbeloa
Ancelotti was the manager of the club until he left in 2025 to take charge of Brazil. He was finishing one of his most successful runs with Real Madrid, including a pair of Champions League titles in his second stint at the club.
Vinicius didn’t complete the match (Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
The Italian had already managed the club from 2013 to 2015 before returning years later. In that period, he worked with the current Real Madrid manager Álvaro Arbeloa.
Asked about Arbeloa as a player he said: “He didn’t play very much because it was Daniel Carvajal’s spot. But he was an important presence in the dressing room, a great professional. I wish him the best.”
The difference for Vinicius from Arbeloa to Alonso
There seemed to be a colder relationship between Alonso and the players from the first day. Arbeloa has taken a different approach, trying to be close to them and at times acting more like a teammate than the manager.
Arbeloa was very complimentary when talking about Vinicius at his most recent press conference: “Since I took over, he has been sensational. He decides matches, scores great goals, and puts the team on his back. He isn’t afraid.”
Ancelotti was critical of the reaction Vinicius had with Alonso
Amid rumors about a possible move to Barcelona, Julian Alvarez has been praised by Pau Cubarsi.
Speculation over Barcelona’s center forward position for next season has been a hot topic for months. Julian Alvarez has been linked to the role, and now Pau Cubarsi has given his explicit approval regarding the Argentine’s qualities.
During an interview with Mundo Deportivo, Cubarsi was specifically asked about Alvarez and didn’t hesitate to share his opinion. “Julian, as everyone knows, is a spectacular player. I’ve played against him a lot and had to mark him,” the center-back began. “He’s a top-level striker, and I think he’s Barça level.”
Indeed, Cubarsi and Alvarez have faced each other several times, always in matches between Atletico Madrid and Barcelona. They have met six times across La Liga and Copa del Rey, with three victories for Los Blaugranas, two for Los Colchoneros, and one draw. In those encounters, Alvarez scored three goals.
Beyond the praise for Julian, Pau Cubarsi also emphasized that Barcelona’s current options at center forward — Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres — are up to the task. “Rober and Ferran are also at a spectacular level. They’re doing very well and help us in every aspect,” the 19-year-old defender explained.
Julian Alvarez of Atletico de Madrid celebrates scoring against FC Barcelona.
The future of Julian Alvarez
Although Julian Alvarez’s current season is far from his best since arriving in Spain — registering 13 goals and six assists in 35 appearances — that hasn’t stopped his name from being linked to several major European clubs.
In addition to rumors of a possible return to the Premier League with Arsenal, the most persistent reports point to Barcelona’s interest. Even the interim president of the Catalan side commented on Alvarez’s potential signing. “There has already been some rapport. We have known everyone for years, and so one day, as always, it will be very nice,”Rafael Yuste said last week.
Cubarsi also talks about Lionel Messi
In the same interview with Mundo Deportivo, Pau Cubarsi also mentioned another star from the Argentina national team besides Julian Alvarez. In a rapid-fire Q&A segment, the Barcelona defender was asked who he would like to take a photo with, and he didn’t hesitate: “Messi.”
Finally, when asked about a dream he still wants to achieve, Cubarsi surprisingly didn’t mention winning the UEFA Champions League with Barcelona or the World Cup with Spain. Instead, he pointed to a goal much closer in time. “Well, the Finalissima. Trying to be there and play alongside Messi,” said the young defender.
Barcelona center-back Pau Cubarsi and Atletico Madrid forward Julian Alvarez.
Boca Juniors face Racing Club to La Bombonera for Matchday 6 of the Liga Profesional de Fútbol Apertura 2026. Below is everything you need to know about kickoff time, venue details, and full broadcast information to catch the action live in the United States.
Here are all of the details of where you can watch Boca Juniors vs Racing Club on US television and via legal streaming:
WHO
Boca Juniors vs Racing Club
WHAT
Liga Profesional Argentina
WHEN
6:00 PM ET / 3:00 PM PT • Friday, February 20, 2026
Matchday 6 of the Liga Profesional Argentina delivers a marquee rivalry showdown as Racing Club and Boca Juniors (2-1-2) collide in a matchup loaded with early-season implications. Boca enter after a frustrating draw against Platense and are still searching for consistency, knowing a strong result could reignite their push up the standings.
Racing, meanwhile, have rebounded from a three-game skid with consecutive victories and look determined to keep their momentum alive. With both clubs aiming to position themselves firmly in the title race, this clash could prove pivotal in shaping the championship picture—don’t miss one of the most anticipated games of the round.
More details about watching the game on Fanatiz
With Fanatiz, you can watch Boca Juniors vs Racing Club and tons more games. With the legal streaming service, you can watch the game on your computer, smartphone, tablet, Roku, Apple TV, Fire Stick or hook it up to your TV with Google Chromecast.
In addition, standard Fanatiz plans include access to beIN SPORTS – the network with the rights to Ligue 1, Copa Libertadores, Copa Sudamericana, the Turkish SüperLig, African club and international competitions, and more. It also has GolTV, the hard-to-find channel that airs the Portuguese Primeira Liga, Ecuadorian Serie A, Peruvian Liga 1, and Uruguayan Primera. The service also has Spanish language coverage of the Argentine Primera and Brasileirão leagues, as well as Colombian and Honduran leagues.
The Fanatiz app is available on iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV.
How to watch anywhere with VPN
If you’re abroad, you may need to use a virtual private network (VPN) in order to watch games using your usual streaming service. A VPN, such as NordVPN, allows you to establish a secure connection online when streaming. If you are not sure which VPN to use, check out World Soccer Talk’s guide to the best VPNs for streaming soccer.
To find out when soccer games are on, download the free Soccer TV Schedules App which includes listings of all of the live soccer matches available in the United States (available on Apple iOS devices and Android devices).
The upcoming showdown between and has finally been confirmed. Benavidez was last in action in November when he successfully defended his WBC light heavyweight title for the first time with a seventh round stoppage victory over Anthony Yarde. ‘The Mexican Monster’ was initially expected to return with another title defence for his next bout as […]
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Bitcoin and most altcoins, including popular names like Dogecoin, Shiba Inu Coin, and XRP, were in the green today, February 20, as investors bought the dip after some key catalysts. Bitcoin (BTC) jumped to $68,000, while Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu…
Bu gün futbol üzrə Azərbaycan çempionatında (Premyer Liqa) 2025/2026-cı illər mövsümünün 21-ci turuna start verilib.
Arena.az xəbər verir ki, ilk oyun gününün sonuncu qarşılaşması Sumqayıtda baş tutub.
“Sumqayıt” doğma meydanda “Qəbələ” ilə üz-üzə gəlib. Mehdi Hüseynzadə adına Sumqayıt şəhər stadionunda baş tutmuş görüşün baş hakimi Fərid Hacıyev olub. Bu oyunda qapılara qol vurulmayıb.
Xatırladaq ki, turun ilk oyununda “Turan Tovuz” “Zirə”yə 2:0 hesabıyla qalib gəlib. 21-ci turun qalan görüşləri fevralın 21-də və 22-də keçiriləcək. Bu turun “Neftçi” – “Qarabağ” matçı isə təxirə salınıb.
Premyer Liqa 21-ci tur 20 fevral
“Sumqayıt” – “Qəbələ” 0:0 Hakimlər: Fərid Hacıyev, Rəhman İmami, Tərlan Talıbzadə, İslam Məmmədov. VAR: Cavid Cəlilov. AVAR: Eyyub İbrahimov. Hakim-inspektor: İmanxan Sultani. AFFA nümayəndəsi: Eldəniz Musayev. Mehdi Hüseynzadə adına Sumqayıt şəhər stadionu, 19:30.
Sumqayıt: 1. Mehdi Cənnətov (k), 7. Rüstəm Əhmədzadə, 19. Roi Kehat, 72. Rayan Senhadji, 6. Sedrik Badolo, 33. Danilo Beskorovaynı, 23. Ronaldo Vaskes, 71. Masaki Murata, 80. Keffel Resende, 11. Aleksa Yankoviç, 25. Abdul Raşid Mumini. Ehtiyat oyunçular: 22. Xəyal Fərzullayev, 12. Murad Ağamalıyev, 3. Höccət Haqverdi, 29. Emil Mustafayev, 8. Səbuhi Abdullazadə, 24. Sənan Muradlı, 75. Nadir Orucov, 37. Nihad Orucəli, 97. Vüsal Paşayev, 10. Nikola Ninkoviç, 95. Nsana Simon. Baş məşqçi: Saşa İliç.
Qəbələ: 93. Rza Cəfərov, 7. Turan Manafov, 13. Nicat Əliyev (k), 24. İsmael Akinade, 33. Seydina Keyta, 50. Adriel Ba Lua, 3. Eduardo Kunde, 6. Xayme Syerra, 8. Sambu Sissoko, 16. İsaak Amoa, 30. Prins Ovusu. Ehtiyat oyunçular: 1. Səlahət Ağayev, 11. Asif Məmmədov, 28. Murad Musayev, 22. Fərid İsgəndərov, 74. Süleyman Damadayev, 66. Nuğay Rəşidov, 10. Şahin Şahniyarov, 27. Eşqin Əhmədov, 21. Ziya Şəkərxanov, 12. İbrahim Sanqare, 14. Domi Massumo, 70. Paulo Kimbila Baş məşqçi: Kaxaber Sxadadze.
Como have confirmed their squad for Saturday’s Serie A fixture at Juventus, and Cesc Fàbregas will be without three notable players for the trip to Turin.
Nico Paz misses out after picking up a yellow card in the draw with Milan and reaching the limit.
The suspension comes as a timely blow for Como given the Argentine‘s influence in their attacking play.
Addai and Goldaniga also remain sidelined through injury, though Alvaro Morata returns to the squad after serving his own suspension, as per IlBianconero.
ITALY – AUGUST 16: Alvaro Morata looks on before the Coppa Italia match at Stadio G. Sinigaglia on August 16, 2025 in Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
Como suffer injury blows for Juventus clash
Fàbregas himself will be in the dugout after escaping a touchline ban, despite a heated altercation with Milan boss Massimiliano Allegri that attracted considerable attention in the build-up to the match.
The stakes are high for both sides, though perhaps more so for Como.
Fabregas’ men drew 1-1 with Milan in their last outing and currently sit four points behind Juventus in the table.
ITALY – FEBRUARY 14: Cesc Fabregas looks on during the Serie A match at Giuseppe Sinigaglia Stadium on February 14, 2026 in Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
A win on Saturday would cut that gap and put significant pressure on those around them, while defeat would see Juventus pull seven points clear, a potentially decisive margin at this stage of the season.
For Juventus, the match is the first in a demanding run of fixtures that also includes the Champions League second leg against Galatasaray and a crucial Serie A encounter with Roma, making maximum points against Como all the more important before the schedule intensifies.
Antonio Conte could hand Alisson Santos a surprise start when Napoli travel to Atalanta on Sunday.
The Serie A clash kicks-off at 15:00 CET on Sunday and January addition Alisson looks set to start, according to Sky Sport, via IlNapolista.
The Brazilian forward, formerly of Sporting Lisbon, has made an immediate impression since arriving at the club, netting a late equaliser off the bench in last weekend’s 2-2 draw with Roma.
That cameo appearance may have been enough to convince Conte to hand him a place in the starting XI, with Santos potentially lining up in the front three alongside Antonio Vergara and Rasmus Højlund.
NAPLES, ITALY – FEBRUARY 15: Antonio Conte SSC Napoli head coach celebrates their side second goal scored by Alisson Santos during the Serie A match between SSC Napoli and AS Roma at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on February 15, 2026 in Naples, Italy. (Photo by Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images)
Napoli team news: Conte keeps things fresh amongst injury crisis
In midfield, Eljif Elmas could drop into a deeper role to partner Stanislav Lobotka, with Scott McTominay dropping to the bench as a result.
Fellow Scot Billy Gilmour would then be among the substitutes, likely to feature from the bench.
Matteo Politano may also find himself left out of the starting lineup, with Mazzocchi set to take his place on the right flank.
Gutiérrez is expected to operate on the left side.
NAPLES, ITALY – FEBRUARY 15: Alisson Santos of SSC Napoli scores his side second goal during the Serie A match between SSC Napoli and AS Roma at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on February 15, 2026 in Naples, Italy. (Photo by Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images)
At the back, Conte looks set to continue with a back three of Sam Beukema, Juan Jesus and Alessandro Buongiorno, providing the defensive foundation the Napoli head coach demands.
Between the posts, Vanja Milinkovic-Savic is again expected to be preferred to Alex Meret, continuing what has become an established pattern in recent weeks.
Sassuolo could move up into eighth place tonight with a win over last-placed Verona, as the Neroverdi look to take advantage of a struggling Gialloblu side.
Fabio Grosso’s side can leapfrog both Lazio and Bologna this evening, with those two sides playing later in the weekend.
Despite Sassuolo‘s negative goal difference, they have been performing well under Grosso and look destined for a mid table finish.
ITALY – JANUARY 06: Fabio Grosso, Head Coach, reacts during the Serie A match at Mapei Stadium Citta del Tricolore on January 06, 2026 in Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)
Verona, meanwhile, are more fragile. With just two wins from 25 games this season, the Veronese side are in troubled waters and currently float nine points adrift from safety.
Verona have conceded 43 goals this season and have not been efficient at the other end either, scoring just 19.
Arsenal and Liverpool are interested in signing the PSG attacker Bradley Barcola at the end of the season.
The 23-year-old has struggled to secure regular opportunities at PSG and needs to leave the club to play more often. Moving to the Premier League would be ideal for him. Liverpool and Arsenal need more quality on the flanks, and the French International could be ideal for them. He will add explosive pace, technical ability and unpredictability in the final third.
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He needs to play regularly at this stage of his career, and sitting on the bench at PSG will not benefit him.
Liverpool and Arsenal eye Bradley Barcola
Liverpool needs a player with his skill set. They have not been able to replace Luis Diaz properly, and Barcola could be the ideal alternative. Similarly, Arsenal need more quality on the flanks. They have invested in players like Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze, but they have been quite underwhelming since joining the club. Arsenal need more cutting-edge from the flanks, and the French attacker could help them improve.
The report from Fichajes claims that Liverpool and Arsenal would not hesitate to pay a premium for the player in the summer. It remains to be seen how the situation develops. He has the technical attributes to succeed in the Premier League, and he will look to establish himself as a key player for either club.
Bradley Barcola of PSG in action against Manchester City (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Regular football in England could help him improve further and fulfil his potential. The move would be ideal for all parties.
Despite not starting regularly, the 23-year-old has recorded 13 goal contributions already this season. His numbers will only improve when he plays regularly at a high level.
Sint-Truiden striker Keisuke Goto has been linked with a move away from the club at the end of the season.
The 20-year-old has been excellent since joining the Belgian club on loan from Anderlecht. He has been able to find the back of the net regularly, and his performances have attracted the attention of Chelsea and Tottenham. According to a report from Sports Boom, both clubs are interested in the 20-year-old Japanese international, and it will be interesting to see where he ends up.
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Goto has shown that he has the physicality and technical attributes for English football, and he could prove to be a very useful acquisition. He is a young player with significant potential, and he could develop into a star with the right guidance. The player could be available for €15-20 million, and it will be interesting to see if Chelsea or Tottenham decide to pay up. He has 16 goal contributions this season.
Chelsea need more cutting-edge in the final third. They need someone who can lead for them and find the back of the net regularly. The 20-year-old Japanese attacker could be the ideal fit.
Similarly, Tottenham needs more quality in the final third. They have struggled to find the back of the net regularly, and it needs to be seen whether the 20-year-old can solve that problem.
The asking price is quite nominal for a player of his potential, and the deal could look like a major bargain in future. It remains to be seen where he ends up. Both Premier League clubs have the finances to get the deal across the line.
Verdict: Away win Best odds: 4/5 Bookmaker: ZetBet Both fresh from emphatic 3-0 victories, Nottingham Forest and Liverpool meet again at the City Ground on Sunday for another Premier League showdown. The Tricky Trees ushered in the Vítor Pereira era with a superb European triumph over Fenerbahçe, while Liverpool enjoyed a commanding FA Cup win […]
Well, it appears that the chip startup Taalas has found a solution to LLM response latency and performance by creating dedicated hardware that 'hardwires' AI models. Taalas Manages to Achieve 10x Higher TPS With Meta's Llama 8B LLM, That Too With 20x Lower Production Costs When you look at today's world of AI compute, latency is emerging as a massive constraint for modern-day compute providers, mainly because, in an agentic environment, the primary moat lies in token-per-second (TPS) figures and how quickly you can get a task done. One solution the industry sees is integrating SRAM into their offerings, and […]
The MSI GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8G Ventus 2X OC Plus and the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5060 Ti WindForce 8G are the only Blackwell-based graphics cards still at their MSRPs.
Here's how we're updating our GPU Hierarchy and Bench database for 2026, with a breakdown of our setup, the current state of play, and our test suite, which includes many new games—but no upscaling or framegen.
New research suggests that when given the option between marriage and domestic partnership, same-sex couples in the United States overwhelmingly choose marriage. The findings indicate that marriage retains a distinct and powerful status due to its legal benefits, social clarity, and perceived level of commitment. This study was published in the Journal of Marriage and Family.
Social scientists have debated the status of marriage in American society for decades. One prominent theory, known as deinstitutionalization, suggests that the social norms and rules surrounding marriage are weakening. This theory posits that marriage is becoming less distinct from cohabitation, or living together without being married. For same-sex couples, this question has been particularly complex. Historically excluded from marriage, many couples relied on alternatives like domestic partnerships to secure legal recognition.
Domestic partnerships are legal relationships available in some jurisdictions that grant couples some of the rights and responsibilities of marriage. Before marriage equality was established federally, debates occurred within the gay rights movement regarding the value of marriage.
Some activists argued for assimilation into the tradition of marriage. Others advocated for domestic partnerships as a way to reject what they viewed as a patriarchal or overly traditional institution. The researchers aimed to understand if same-sex couples viewed these two forms of union as equivalent or if they preferred one over the other when both were legally available.
“The percentage of American adults who are married has been steadily declining in recent decades. One question we need to ask ourselves is: is the institution of marriage in decline or perhaps even dying?” explained study author Michael J. Rosenfeld, a professor of sociology at Stanford University.
“One way to think about the question is to ask: what are the alternatives to marriage? Domestic partnership laws in some states, California as an example, were designed to offer the same rights and benefits as marriage. So when given the choice between marriage and domestic partnership, what did couples choose and why?”
For their study, the researchers utilized two primary sources of data. The first was an administrative dataset from the California Secretary of State. This included records of all domestic partnerships filed in California from January 2000 to November 2020. The researchers identified same-sex couples within this data by analyzing the first names of the partners. They used a database from the Social Security Administration to determine the probability of a name being male or female.
Couples were categorized as same-sex if both names had a greater than 95 percent probability of belonging to the same gender. This process identified 48,310 same-sex domestic partnerships. The researchers then compared these registrations with data on same-sex marriages from the American Community Survey. This allowed them to track how the uptake of domestic partnerships changed after same-sex marriage became legal in California in late June 2013.
The second data source was the 2022 “How Couples Meet and Stay Together” survey. This is a nationally representative survey of adults in the United States. The sample included 92 individuals currently in same-sex relationships. These participants were asked explicitly whether they would prefer to be married or in a domestic partnership. They were also asked to write open-ended responses explaining the reasons for their preference.
The analysis of the California administrative data showed a dramatic shift in behavior following the legalization of same-sex marriage. In the years prior to 2013, thousands of same-sex couples registered as domestic partners. However, immediately after the Supreme Court decision that allowed same-sex marriage in California, new domestic partnership registrations dropped significantly.
In the second half of 2013, same-sex couples in California chose marriage over domestic partnership at a ratio of more than 22 to 1. This preference persisted over time. Even years later, between 2016 and 2018, new same-sex marriages outnumbered new domestic partnerships by a ratio of about 13 to 1. This suggests that for the vast majority of couples, domestic partnership was a temporary substitute rather than a preferred alternative.
The national survey results supported the findings from the California administrative data. Among the respondents in same-sex relationships, the preference for marriage was dominant. About three times as many respondents preferred marriage compared to those who preferred domestic partnership.
When asked to explain their reasoning, participants provided clear distinctions between the two institutions. The most common reason for preferring marriage was practical and legal. Respondents noted that marriage offers federal benefits and tax advantages that domestic partnerships do not. They also highlighted portability, which refers to the ability of their legal status to be recognized in other states or countries. Domestic partnerships often lack this recognition outside the jurisdiction where they are performed.
Beyond legal rights, the social and symbolic nature of marriage played a major role. Many participants described marriage as signifying a higher level of commitment than domestic partnership. They viewed domestic partnership as a “marriage-lite” option or a status that implied a less serious bond. Respondents also noted that marriage is a term that is immediately understood by families, friends, and coworkers. This social intelligibility allows couples to communicate the nature of their relationship without needing to explain complex legal terms.
A minority of respondents did prefer domestic partnership. Their reasons often aligned with the theories of those who critique traditional marriage. Some viewed marriage as having too much historical baggage or religious connotation. Others preferred domestic partnership specifically because it felt like a lower level of commitment. This aligns with the idea of a “menu of options,” where couples can choose the legal status that best fits the intensity of their relationship.
The researchers concluded that marriage remains a highly resilient institution. Rather than fading in importance, the distinctiveness of marriage appears to have been reinforced by the fight for marriage equality. Same-sex couples, having studied the institution from the outside for years, appear acutely aware of the specific advantages marriage provides.
“My findings show that same-sex couples overwhelmingly chose marriage over domestic partnership, even though many in the gay rights movement predicted that same-sex couples might prefer the newer and less traditional option of domestic partnership,” Rosenfeld told PsyPost. “Marriage is a durable and flexible institution that is thousands of years old and is not going away.”
As with any study, there are some limitations. California was unique in offering a domestic partnership system that granted nearly all state-level rights of marriage. Most other states did not offer such a robust alternative, making direct comparisons difficult in other regions. Additionally, the number of same-sex couples in the 2022 survey was relatively small, which limits the ability to generalize the survey findings to the entire population with high precision.
Future research could examine how these preferences shift for younger generations who have grown up in a world where marriage equality is the norm. It remains to be seen if the specific legal and cultural distinctions between marriage and other forms of union will continue to hold the same weight as the political context evolves.
Milli eskrimci Alara Atmaca, Tiflis'te düzenlenen Avrupa Yıldızlar Şampiyonası'nda flöre finalinde Rumen rakibini 15-8 mağlup ederek altın madalya kazandı.
Beşiktaş'tan ayrılarak eski takımı Benfica'ya geri dönen Rafa Silva, Portekiz basınının iddiasına göre takıma olumludan çok olumsuz bir etki yarattığını öne sürdü.
Fenerbahçe Teknik Direktörü Domenico Tedesco, Nottingham Forest maçında Milan Skriniar'ın yaşadığı sakatlık sonrası yeni planı devreye alacak. İşte detaylar...
Barcelona efsanesi Thierry Henry, takımın en büyük eksiğinin üst düzey bir santrfor olduğunu savunarak "Osimhen, Haaland ya da Kane gibi kanıtlanmış bir 9 numara şart" dedi.
Üst üste üçüncü kez kupa şampiyonluğu hedefleyen Fenerbahçe Beko, Türkiye Kupası yarı finalinde Ankara’nın güçlü temsilcisi Türk Telekom ile kozlarını paylaşıyor. Dokuz kupayla organizasyonun en başarılı...Devamı için tıklayınız
Son dakika Galatasaray haberleri: Galatasaray'ın sezon başında bonservisini aldığı Nijeryalı süper yıldız Victor Osimhen, gösterdiği performansla gündem olmaya devam ediyor. Fransız efsane futbolcu Thierry...Devamı için tıklayınız
Fenerbahçe-Nottingham Forest maçında sakatlanarak oyundan çıkmak zorunda kalan Milan Skriniar, taraftarlara verdiği mesajda, "Bana sadece birkaç hafta verin. Her şeyi tekrar devralacağım" dedi. İşte o...Devamı için tıklayınız
Trendyol Süper Lig'de 23. haftanın açılış maçında Çaykur Rizespor, sahasında Kocaelispor'u 2-0 mağlup ederek 8 maçlık galibiyet hasretine son verdi. İşte detaylar...Devamı için tıklayınız
Galatasaray kafilesi, Süper Lig'in 23'üncü haftasında oynayacağı TÜMOSAN Konyaspor maçı için geldiği kentte taraftarın coşkusuyla karşılandı.Devamı için tıklayınız
Beşiktaş Futbol Takımı, Trendyol Süper Lig'in 23. haftasında 22 Şubat Pazar günü sahasında Göztepe ile yapacağı maçın hazırlıklarını sürdürdü.Devamı için tıklayınız
Azərbaycan Premyer Liqasının XXI turunun “Sumqayıt” – “Qəbələ” oyunundan (0:0) sonra meydan sahibi komandanın baş məşqçisi Saşa İliç jurnalistlərin suallarını cavablandırdı.
Futbolpress.az xəbər verir ki, mütəxəssis əvvəlcə görüşlə bağlı fikirlərini bölüşdü…
– Oyunun ilk 20 dəqiqəsində yaxşı oyun göstərdik. Lakin fasiləyə yaxın katastrofik vəziyyət yarandı. İkinci hissədə bir az oyunu düzəltdik, amma qələbə qazana bilmədik.
– Futbolçular sanki şanslara məsuliyyətsiz yanaşırlar… Belə şey var, ya bizə elə gəlir?
– Belə deməzdim. Sadəcə ötürmələrdə, qərarlarda səhvlik olur. Bu, məsuliyyət məsələsi deyil.
– Roy Kehatın durumu necədir?
– Hələ dəqiq nəsə deyə bilmərəm. Birinci gün dəqiq bilinəcək.
– Ardıcıl üç oyundur, qələbə qazana bilmirsiniz. Bu, avrokubok mübarizənizə necə təsir edəcək?
– Qarşıda oyunlar var. Ciddi, çətin matçlar olacaq. Çalışacağıq ki, yaxşı nəticələr əldə edək.
According to the Telegraph, Aston Villa are very keen to sign Harry Wilson on a free transfer when his contract at Fulham expires at the end of the season. The attacking midfielder/winger is also believed to be of interest to Everton, and while it’s not easy to imagine a product of Liverpool’s academy opting to […]
Celtic interim chairman Brian Wilson has vowed to "continue to seek an end to this debilitating and unnecessary atmosphere of conflict" after a fan protest during Thursday's Europa League game left the Scottish champions fearing disciplinary action.
European governing body Uefa's disciplinary body will review reports from officials at the game against Stuttgart before deciding what, if any, action will be taken after it was held up for more than three minutes when tennis balls were thrown on to the Celtic Park pitch.
It is the latest in a long line of protests this season as fans expressed disappointment at the direction the board of directors have taken the club.
And it proved to be sobering night on the pitch too as Martin O'Neill's side lost the first leg of their knockout play-off 4-1.
"Last night was deeply disappointing for the club in many respects," Wilson said. "This started with an orchestrated disruption of the game, causing a delay to an important match.
"Over the past two weeks, I have met with a range of supporters groups and individual supporters.
"I have met in good faith with representatives of the Green Brigade and was hopeful that progress could have been made; indeed this remains the case. I also met in good faith with representatives of the Celtic Fans Collective.
"When I came into this role, I asked for unity inside the stadium to support the team while trying to resolve other issues. I want to see suspensions lifted and differences set aside, but this cannot be unconditional."
Wilson had taken over as interim chairman after former chief executive Peter Lawwell stood down in December citing "abuse and threats".
However, relations appeared to be thawing in January when the Celtic Fans Collective praised Wilson's appeal for unity and appealed for common ground while again calling for changes to the club's hierarchy.
However, the latest tennis ball protest led to criticism from team boss O'Neill.
"Last night's disruption and the reasoning behind it illustrate the difficulty we face and have repeatedly had to contend with," Wilson added.
"This is not intended to deflect from other issues that affect the club and are fully recognised. However, the possibility of further disruptions needs to be addressed urgently.
"Surely the priority must be to give Martin and our players every opportunity to achieve their objectives within the remainder of the season.
"On that basis, I will continue to seek an end to this debilitating and unnecessary atmosphere of conflict."
Top Los Angeles Dodgers prospect Ryan Ward is in his fourth spring training with the team, but after a dominant year in Triple-A last season, he’s hoping to fully break through to the majors.
Ward, an outfielder, played for the Oklahoma City Comets last year, leading the Pacific Coast League in home runs (36), RBIs (122) and total bases (315).
Oklahoma City’s Ryan Ward (10) throws to first for an out during the minor league baseball between the Oklahoma City Comets and the Tacoma Rainers a the Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, April, 16, 2025.
With him turning 28 years old in the coming days, Ward has experience in the organization, though he told Dodgers Nation’s Doug McKain an expiring contract left him with doubts about the future.
Fortunately, “all got answered with one phone call.”
“I’ve been here for seven years, this will be my eighth year,” Ward told Sonja Chen of MLB.com. “It was starting to get real, like, is it gonna be staying here or going to free agency? So when they called me, and being able to stay here and be with this organization and all the people here, it was really exciting.”
What Does Ward Bring to the Table?
As mentioned, Ward has years of experience in professional baseball, and it was initially thought he could replace Michael Conforto, who left in free agency, but the big-ticket signing of Kyle Tucker filled in that spot.
That said, Ward could be the top option to step in if Tucker, Andy Pages or Teoscar Hernandez are unable to take the field.
Ward told McKain that he realizes this spring training could go a long way in determining his baseball future.
“To me it’s like, ‘Okay, you’re going to get your opportunity, you better be ready.’ So [I’m] really taking advantage of all this time and getting myself into the best spot possible to earn that opportunity,” Ward said.
It’s a continuation of his mindset last season. Even as he drew fans’ attention for his MVP season, he was more focused on trying to “kick the door down” and get into the majors.
“I love the sport, I appreciate it more than anything,” he said. “But I’m trying to control what I can control … keep your feet where they are, focus on what’s at hand.”
Wisconsin’s House on Thursday passed a bill that would allow for statewide online sports betting, after Indian Country in November had put the brakes on the bill and its Senate counterpart due to heavy opposition by the commercial industry.
Using a “special order of business,” General Assembly Speaker Robin Vos called the lightly amended HB 601 on the final day of the regular session, and it passed through second and third readings. All votes were by voice, and there was no discussion. The bill was set to immediately be sent to the Senate.
The General Assembly is set to adjourn Friday, leaving little time for the Senate to react, though a “last general floorperiod” session is set for March 17-19, and a “limited business floorperiod” is set April 14-16, so it’s possible that the issue could come up during one of those sessions.
Should the Senate take up the bill — its version was also put on hold in the fall — and Gov. Tony Evers sign it, the state’s tribes would have exclusivity for online sports betting. The bill allows for any bet placed in the state of Wisconsin to be considered made on tribal land if it flows through a server in Indian Country. The only other tribe in the U.S. with such an agreement is Florida’s Seminole Tribe, which has a monopoly on online sports betting in the Sunshine State.
In November, Potawatomi Hotel & Casino CEO and General Manager Dominic Ortiz told the audience of a tribal podcast that the Wisconsin tribes pulled the bill from a floor vote after a heated hearing during which Sports Betting Alliance (SBA) lobbyist Damon Stewart testified against the bill, saying, “This bill won’t get the job done because national brands cannot operate.”
Concern from the commercial industry stems from a requirement in the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) that requires a revenue share of 60% to the tribes and 40% to the operator for a partnership agreement. In Wisconsin, tribes are the only qualified wagering license holders, and companies like bet365, BetMGM, DraftKings, Fanatics Sportsbook, or FanDuel — all SBA members — would have to partner with one for market access. The split would mean that operators would pay a partner tribe 60% of revenue — a number higher than any state tax rate in the U.S.
If passed, Wisconsin would be unique
In Florida, the same situation exists, and the Seminoles have been live with their Hard Rock Bet platform since November 2023. While the tribe and Hard Rock have indicated that they are open to partnerships, no other commercial operator has entered the state, likely due to the cost from the IGRA-required split.
Ortiz in November said that the commercial industry is “paddling against Niagara Falls in a canoe” due to the rights afforded state-compacted tribes under IGRA. In Wisconsin, the tribes have long had control of Class III gambling via compact, and in 2021, the Oneida Nation was the first to renegotiate its compact to add in-person sports betting.
Each tribe in the state has a “Me-Too Clause” in its compact, meaning that if one tribe renegotiates a new situation, others can follow when their compacts are opened. Since 2021, other tribes in the state have added retail sports betting. The current legislative proposal would apply to all tribes.
HARRISON, NEW JERSEY - OCTOBER 05: Josefine Hasbo #5 of NJ/NY Gotham FC arrives at the stadium prior to the NWSL match between NJ/NY Gotham FC and Seattle Reign at Sports Illustrated Stadium on October 05, 2025 in Harrison, New Jersey. (Photo by Dustin Satloff/NWSL via Getty Images) | NWSL via Getty Images
Danish international Josefine Hasbo has signed a new contract with Boston Legacy Football Club. After being traded from Gotham FC at the beginning of February, Boston has secured her for the next three years, the Massachussets club announced today.
Hasbo's in it for the long haul ✍️
Boston Legacy FC announced today that Josefine Hasbo has signed a new contract with Boston on a three-year deal, running through December 2028. pic.twitter.com/owh9ym9tyl
After playing collegiate soccer for Harvard University (helping them win the Ivy League in 2023) and representing Denmark in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and the 2025 UEFA Women’s Euro, she’s ready for NWSL.
“Joining Boston Legacy FC is a very special moment for me,” said Hasbo. “Boston is a city that lives and breathes sports, and I’m excited to help build something that reflects that energy and pride. My time at Harvard gave me a deep connection to this city, and I cannot wait to be part of creating a team that the entire community can believe in.”
Feb. 20—Libby native Konnor Ralph capped his first Winter Olympics with a fifth place finish in Freeski Big Air Tuesday at the 2026 Milano Cortina games. The 23-year-old, who now calls Helena home, was part of a group of outstanding performers in the finals that left broadcasters and fans awestruck. Ralph was seeded last entering the Freeski Big Air medal round, but scored an 86.5 in his first jump. He didn't land his second jump, putting the pressure on for his third and final jump. Ralph didn't disappoint, scoring 91.5 and giving him a total score of 178 that vaulted him into fifth. Norway's Tormod Frostad claimed the gold medal with a total score of 195.50. He landed all of his jumps, including a final round 98.50. Ralph's teammate, Mac Forehand, also enjoyed an outstanding finals as he landed all of his jumps on the way to a silver medal. Forehand scored 193.25, including 98.25 on his last jump. Austria's Matej Svancer grabbed the bronze medal with a 191.25. American Troy Podmilsak was fourth with a score of 184.50, giving the U.S. three of the top five in the event. Ralph has steadily improved his World Cup rankings since he began competing internationally in 2021-22. That season, Ralph ranked 78th overall, including 40th in Freeski Slopestyle. He jumped into the top 20 next year with a No. 19 ranking in Slopestyle. This season, Ralph is ranked No. 4 in Slopestyle and No. 5 in Big Air. Last week, Ralph finished ninth in the Freeski Slopestyle, his first Olympics. Through Wednesday's competition, Team USA is third in the medal count with 24. Seven are gold, 11 are silver and six are bronze. Norway is first with 33 medals, including 15 gold. Host Italy is second with 26, including nine gold medals. Montana's other Olympian, 23-year-old Jake Sanderson of Whitefish, is part of a team that will play in the semifinals Friday with a berth in the gold medal game on the line. Slovakia is the opponent. Sanderson, who plays for Ottawa in the NHL, had two assists against Germany. The U.S. romped through the Group C preliminary round, outscoring Latvia, Denmark and Germany by a combined 16-5. Sweden gave the Americans a tougher game in Wednesday's quarterfinals, with the U.S. winning 2-1 in overtime on Quinn Hughes' goal. The Americans will play Slovakia at 1:10 p.m. Friday in the semifinals. A win puts them in the gold medal game against the winner of the Canada-Finland game, set for 8:40 a.m. Friday. The gold medal game is scheduled to be played at 6:10 a.m. Sunday.
Mario Barrios (L) and Ryan Garcia (R) face off ahead of their WBC welterweight title fight in Las Vegas.
Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy via Getty Images
Ryan Garcia is one of the biggest stars in boxing — and still, he has yet to win a world title.
In an era of the sport that crowns Lewis Crocker, Mario Barrios and Rolando "Rolly" Romero as welterweight world champions, the opportunity has never been greater for Garcia to finally claim one of the sport’s ultimate prizes. On Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Garcia challenges WBC welterweight champion Barrios with the chance to change the narrative of his career.
Barrios enters the fight on the back of successive draws with Abel Ramos and a 47-year-old Manny Pacquiao — results that have done little to cement his authority as champion. If Garcia is ever going to win a world title, this has to be the moment. The question now is whether he can seize it — and in doing so, legitimize himself not just as one of boxing’s biggest attractions, but also as one of its top fighters.
WBC welterweight title: Mario Barrios vs. Ryan Garcia
After failing a drug test for the banned substance ostarine following his no-contest with Devin Haney in April 2024, Garcia was banned from the sport for a year. He returned to challenge Romero for the WBA (regular) welterweight title this past May at Times Square, losing a decision in an easily forgettable fight.
Garcia claimed to have sustained a hand injury going into the Romero bout and required surgery afterward, keeping him out of the ring for another nine months, meaning he has registered just one bout in the past 22 months. Now, coming off a defeat and a drug ban, Garcia somehow walks into another world title shot.
Barrios, the former interim champion, was upgraded to full WBC champion in 2024 and has fought twice since, drawing with Ramos in November of that year and Pacquiao this past July. Fun fact: Neither man involved this weekend has had their hand raised in victory in almost two years — and this is a world title fight.
Garcia's fight with Romero was historically dreadful, with the pair recording the third-lowest combined punch output (490 punches) for a 12-round fight in CompuBox's 40-year history. Although Garcia's fight with Haney was a lot more dramatic, it also set the record for the third-fewest punches thrown in a 12-round fight (499 punches) at the time it took place.
Garcia-Barrios will almost certainly be another low-output encounter. Both are tall welterweights who are unlikely to close the distance with regularity in this matchup, nor will they force the pace — that isn't what Garcia does, and Barrio will be wary of his foe's power and speed. I expect to see both men utilizing their jabs in this matchup and for it to be fought at long range. Both men can also be hit and hurt, although it is unknown how Garcia's power will carry to 147 pounds. Barrios is not a puncher.
Garcia has been hurt in the body before in fights, as is common for tall fighters with long torsos, most noticeably in a seventh-round knockout defeat at the hands of Gervonta "Tank" Davis in April 2023. Barrios also fought Davis in 2021 and was taken out in the 11th round of their 140-pound title bout.
Barrios' body work and his jab will be his keys to victory. Barrios is slow, which gives Garcia a significant advantage in hand speed. Garcia needs to counter Barrios and land his money punch, which is his lightning-quick left hook.
Barrios is unlikely to just walk into Garcia's power shots, though, and so Garcia will need to set them up behind feints and jabs — something he was unable to do against Romero. Garcia didn't use his right hand much at all in the Romero fight. The right hand will be key against Barrios because it can help set up the left hook after it.
But the most important factor in this fight: What version of the unpredictable Garcia is going to show up? At times, he has looked unfocused and caught between styles. Garcia is training with his father, Henry Garcia, for Saturday's fight. The elder Garcia was Ryan's first-ever trainer and could be the man to provide him with the stability and mental comfort that he requires.
If Garcia is focused, disciplined and comes with a game plan, he should get the job done against the unimpressive Barrios.
Garcia has spent years as one of boxing’s biggest names without the résumé to match. On Saturday night, against one of the weakest champions in the sport, he finally has no excuses left.
Pick: Ryan Garcia
Richardson Hitchins (L) and Oscar Duarte face off ahead of their IBF super lightweight title fight.
Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy via Getty Images
IBF super lightweight title: Richardson Hitchins vs. Oscar Duarte
Richardson Hitchins makes the second defense of his IBF super lightweight title against the highly-rated contender Oscar Duarte in the night's chief support.
Duarte edged Kenneth Sims Jr. in a Fight of the Year candidate in an August WBA title eliminator. The Mexican has won four straight fights since being knocked out by Garcia in December 2023.
Hitchins vs. Duarte features one of boxing's most common style matchups — pure boxer vs. pressure fighter. While Hitchins is a tremendous long-range boxer and mover, he will be tested fiercely by Duarte's pressure, volume and body-punching.
Duarte can look to Hitchins' IBF final eliminator with Gustavo Lemos in April 2024 for inspiration. In that fight, Hitchins struggled with Lemos' front-foot aggression and ability to close the space. Ultimately, Hitchins eked out a razor-close decision, but many were left unconvinced. The fight gave weight to the argument that Hitchins struggles with competent pressure fighters — and it's a debate Duarte will put to bed one way or another on Saturday night.
Lemos had faster feet than Duarte and was able to overwhelm Hitchins with volume at times. Duarte, on the other hand, focuses more on power rather than volume. He is muscle-bound and very strong on the inside. Duarte, however, has slow feet and could struggle to close the gap on the longer Hitchins.
One of the most important factors in this fight is the training teams. Duarte has one of the world's best trainers, Robert Garcia, in his corner. Garcia only recently guided Raymond Muratalla to an upset win over Andy Cruz and had a terrific November 2025, with Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez adding another world title to his collection and Vergil Ortiz Jr. making easy work of Erickson Lubin.
Hitchins' corner, on the other hand, has been more chaotic: A mix of voices, Shakur Stevenson on the phone giving advice, and a lack of clear, tangible instructions in contests where adjustments are necessary — namely, the Lemos bout.
Both men will struggle with the IBF's 10-pound rehydration clause, as both are considered big for the weight class. Hitchis, in particular, has publicly declared that his time 140 pounds is limited and he plans to go up to welterweight. To his advantage, he has experienced the second-day weigh-in for his past three fights, while Duarte has never had to restrict his rehydration.
When Duarte makes the 140-pound limit on the day before the fight, he will then have to be careful about how much food and fluid he can put back into his body. If he wakes up on the morning of the fight above 150 pounds, he may need a trip to the sauna to cut weight less than 12 hours before he is scheduled to step into the ring.
It's a very tough fight to call. How Hitchins deals with pressure and the weight could be decisive. But the champion has to have the edge in this one.
Pick: Richardson Hitchins
Gary Antuanne Russell poses for a photo during a press conference ahead of his WBA super lightweight title defense against Andy Hiraoka.
Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy via Getty Images
WBA super lightweight title: Gary Antuanne Russell vs. Andy Hiraoka
Saturday's third world title fight between Gary Antuanne Russell and Andy Hiraoka was almost canceled on fight week.
Japan's Hiraoka was dealing with a visa issue that was only resolved late Tuesday, so he'll be in the U.S. for just over 48 hours when he enters the ring. Japan is a 10-plus-hour flight from the U.S. and is 17 hours ahead — Hiraoka has very little time to acclimate to the timezone and shake off the jet lag. He will no doubt be doing so while trying to make championship weight, as well. It's far from an ideal situation for Hiraoka, who was already heading into the bout as an underdog.
Russell won a dominant unanimous decision over Jose "Rayo" Valenzuela this past March to capture the WBA super lightweight belt. In the fight before, Russell lost a close split decision to Alberto Puello.
Hiraoka, who has never tasted defeat, challenges for world honors for the first time. Hiraoka is also suffering from inactivity after recording just one bout in the last two years, which was a ninth-round TKO win over Ismael Barroso in September 2024.
Russell, a southpaw volume-puncher with crunching power, was able to pour on the pressure on Valenzuela in the second half of their bout, hurting him on multiple occasions. Russell's output and stamina will be an issue for anyone in the 140-pound division.
Russell's lone loss comes against a left-hander, Puello. In that fight, Russell struggled to let his hands go. He was beaten to the punch by Puello and couldn't pin him down consistently. Hiraoka is a tall, sharp southpaw with the footwork and skills to give Russell some of the same problems.
Hiraoka's defense will need to be on point to avoid Russell's volume and power. Puello had success punching in between Russell's attacks and countering Russell enough to make him hesitant to throw. Even so, the fight between Russell and Puello was very close and Russell has improved since then. Hiraoka will no doubt attempt to utilize some of the same tactics Puello had success with, but the Japanese fighter is not as compact defensively as Puello, hasn't fought at the world level before, and risks suffering from ring rust due to his prolonged inactivity.
Hiraoka is a very live underdog, but Russell's experience at the top level, coupled with Hiraoka's less-than-ideal fight week circumstances, should tip the odds in favor of the champion.
Pick: Russell
Undercard quick picks
Super lightweight: Frank Martin def. Nahir Albright
Super middleweight: Bektemir Melikuziev def. Sena Agbeko
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) — Venus Williams is getting a wild card into the singles and doubles draws for the BNP Paribas Open next month in the Southern California desert.
The 45-year-old will be making her first appearance in the tournament since 2024, when she lost in the first round as a wild card. She's a three-time semifinalist, most recently in 2018. She boycotted the event between 2002 and 2016 after a controversial incident in 2001.
“It’s an honor to award the first wild card of this year’s event to Venus Williams,” tournament director Tommy Haas said Friday. ”Venus is a legend of the game, and one of the most accomplished players our sport has ever seen."
It will be Williams' 10th career appearance in the tournament, which runs March 4-15. A year ago, she was given a wild card, but didn't accept it.
“I’m so excited to be heading back to Indian Wells and can’t wait to return home to play in California,” Williams said.
Report: Liverpool interested in move to sign Bundesliga defender
Liverpool Eyeing Bundesliga Defender as Planning Begins Ahead of Summer Window
Liverpool’s recruitment team appear to be preparing for an important reshuffle on the left side of defence, with a fresh report from German outlet Bild placing Eintracht Frankfurt’s Nathaniel Brown firmly in the frame. As Andy Robertson edges closer to the final year of his current deal and uncertainty surrounds the wider depth chart, the need for long term succession planning has become increasingly obvious.
Bild claim Brown has emerged as one of Europe’s most closely monitored young defenders, attracting attention from several elite sides. Barcelona and Manchester City scouts are reportedly regular visitors, drawn to a profile that combines attacking ambition with composure in possession. The same report adds that the 22-year-old is also “on the list” at Liverpool, alongside Arsenal and Real Madrid, suggesting the race remains wide open heading into the summer.
From a recruitment perspective, the link makes sense. Liverpool’s model under Arne Slot has leaned towards technically confident full backs capable of stepping into midfield areas, and Brown’s evolving role at Frankfurt aligns with that tactical shift.
Photo: IMAGO
Squad Planning Shapes Recruitment Strategy
Robertson’s contract situation inevitably colours the conversation. With no extension agreed and the 2025-26 expiry looming, Liverpool must decide whether to refresh the position or risk entering a transitional phase without a clear successor. Kostas Tsimikas returning from Roma will present another decision point, while academy option Owen Beck’s injury setbacks have limited internal solutions.
Brown’s development trajectory offers intrigue. Bild report that Frankfurt sporting director Markus Krösche views the defender as the club’s next major sale, continuing a model that has previously seen high value departures. A reported valuation of around 65 million euros reflects both the competition for his signature and the premium placed on modern full backs who can influence play in central areas.
Under new head coach Albert Riera, Brown has even been deployed as an inverted playmaker during build up phases. That tactical flexibility will not have gone unnoticed at Anfield, where positional fluidity has become a key requirement for defenders operating in advanced systems.
Market Competition Could Drive Summer Battle
Liverpool’s interest, as outlined by Bild, arrives within a crowded field. Barcelona’s stylistic fit and Manchester City’s track record of developing technically gifted defenders represent significant competition. Arsenal and Real Madrid being mentioned reinforces the sense that Brown’s next move could shape a major European storyline.
Frankfurt appear resigned to a departure, mirroring last year’s Hugo Ekitike situation. Brown and Ekitike developed a strong understanding during the 2024-25 campaign, a detail that may further pique Liverpool’s interest given their familiarity with the forward’s trajectory. For Frankfurt, the expectation of a sizeable transfer fee aligns with a business model built on strategic player trading.
From Liverpool’s perspective, any move will hinge on broader squad priorities. A left back capable of inverting into midfield would suit the evolving tactical demands under Slot, yet the club’s recruitment team are known for patience rather than reactionary spending.
Our View – Anfield Index Analysis
For Liverpool supporters, this report sparks immediate curiosity. Nathaniel Brown’s profile sounds tailor made for the tactical evolution many fans have noticed under Arne Slot. The idea of a left back who can drift centrally, dictate possession and still provide width feels aligned with how the current side has begun to reshape its attacking structure.
There is also an emotional element to any discussion around the left back position. Andy Robertson remains a hugely respected figure at Anfield, and supporters will naturally feel conflicted about planning beyond him. Yet football moves quickly, and proactive recruitment has often defined Liverpool’s strongest eras. If Brown truly sits “on the list”, it signals the club are thinking ahead rather than waiting for a decline before acting.
The reported valuation would raise eyebrows among fans who remember more measured spending in previous windows. Some may question whether that fee represents value, especially with other areas of the squad potentially needing reinforcement. However, the growing importance of multifunctional full backs in modern systems means elite options rarely come cheap.
Ultimately, supporters will watch this story closely. Competition from Barcelona, Manchester City and Real Madrid suggests Liverpool would need a compelling sporting project to win the race. For many fans, the prospect of a young, technically gifted defender learning within Slot’s system carries genuine excitement, even if the deal remains at an early stage for now.
The San Francisco 49ers have one of the best running backs in the NFL in Christian McCaffrey. He's been a superstar since his debut, and he's on the Hall of Fame track.
But, he's not the only McCaffrey in the NFL. Luke McCaffrey is a wide receiver with the Washington Commanders, but his other brother, Max McCaffrey, is not a player in the NFL. And yet, he's still involved in the league.
The Los Angeles Chargers announced their coaching staff for the 2026 season, and Max McCaffrey, the eldest McCaffrey brother, is now the Chargers' running backs coach.
Max McCaffrey named Chargers RB coach
"Max McCaffrey joins the Bolts as running backs coach after spending the last three seasons (2023-25) as an offensive assistant with the Miami Dolphins under current Chargers Offensive Coordinator Mike McDaniel," the Chargers announced.
He didn't have the most successful playing career, but since becoming a coach, he's been carving out a solid resume. McDaniel bringing him to the Chargers is a good sign that he's trusted and has a role in the NFL as a coach.
The McCaffrey family has very strong ties to the NFL, dating back to Ed McCaffrey's time in the league as a wide receiver. While Christian has been the best player of the McCaffrey brothers, Max is putting together a solid coaching resume.
What makes this such a fun hire for the Chargers is that Christian will be able to play against his brother and the Chargers in Los Angeles during the 2026 season.
49ers-Chargers doesn't have a set date, but it should be a fun matchup between two Super Bowl hopefuls in 2026. And, both teams will have a McCaffrey involved in the running backs, one as a player and the other as a coach.
The tournament favorite had trailed 2-0 before Sam Reinhart cut the deficit in the second period and Shea Theodore tied it midway through the third period.
Canada was awaiting the result of Friday's other semifinal: United States vs. Slovakia.
The final is Sunday afternoon in Milan, hours before the Olympics closing ceremony.
Sidney Crosby did not play for Canada because of an injury. It was not immediately clear if the 38-year-old Pittsburgh Penguins star would be available Sunday.
Crosby appeared to injure his right knee in the second period of the quarterfinals against Czechia on Wednesday night.
Finland will play in the bronze medal game on Saturday night.
Rijpma-de Jong gets Dutch another speedskating gold
Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong of the Netherlands won her first Olympic gold, and sixth career medal overall, by finishing first in speedskating’s 1,500 meters.
Rijpma-de Jong finished in 1 minute, 54.9 seconds, as thousands of Dutch fans roared in the stands. She was 0.06 faster than silver medalist Ragne Wiklund of Norway. Canada's Valerie Maltais took bronze.
Earlier at these Games, Dutch women also took gold at shorter distances — Femke Kok in the 500 and Jutta Leerdam in the 1,000.
Japanese star Miho Takagi, who won consecutive silver medals in the 1,500 meters at the past two Olympics, finished sixth.
Canada women stunned in curling semifinals
Sweden beat top-ranked Canada 6-3 to advance to the gold medal game in women's curling. The Swedes, ranked No. 12, will face Switzerland in Sunday's final.
Sweden has won the women’s competition three times since curling returned to the Olympic program in 1998.
Switzerland beat the United States 7-4 in Friday's other semifinal and will be aiming for its first women’s gold at the Olympics.
As spring quickly approaches and summer visits are right around the corner, there's no better time to take a look ahead at the top prospects in the 2027 class.
No position is sought after more than the quarterback position, regardless of level. A team's success rests on the shoulders of their signal-callers whether it be in high school, college or the NFL.
As good as the 2026 QB class was, the 2027 class looks like it could rival and maybe even surpass that talent.
Standouts like Elijah Haven have been shining for years while rising stars like Andre Adams have quickly taken the spotlight and risen up the rankings in the last few months.
1. Elijah Haven
School: Dunham School (Baton Rouge, LA.)
Height: 6-5
Weight: 215
Commitment Status: Uncommitted
Summary: The 2025 Gatorade and MaxPreps Player of the Year in Louisiana, Haven led Dunham to a Division III state title in the program's first appearance since 2004. On the season, he completed 72.3% of his passes for 3,931 yards, a state record 62 touchdowns, while also rushing for 794 yards and 11 touchdowns.
2. Kavian Bryant
School: Westwood (Palestine, TX)
Height: 6-4
Weight: 187
Commitment Status: Texas Tech
Summary: A Red Raider pledge since November 1, completed his junior campaign 201-of-277 passing for 3,407 yards and 37 touchdowns with only one interception. He also ran for 740 yards and seven more touchdowns.
3. Jayce Johnson
School: Lowndes (Valdosta, GA)
Height: 6-3
Weight: 210
Commitment Status: Texas A&M
Summary: Johnson committed to the Aggies last August ahead of his junior season. A true dual-threat quarterback, he passed for 1,182 yards and 11 touchdowns while also rushing for 658 yards and 14 more touchdowns.
4. Andre Adams
School: Antioch High School (TN)
Height: 6-2
Weight: 180
Commitment Status: Uncommitted
Summary: Adams put up video game-like numbers for the Bears in what was a 10-2 season. He completed 71% of his passes for 3,418 yards and 35 touchdowns with only one interception while also leading the team in rushing with 855 yards and 13 more touchdowns.
5. Trae Taylor
School: Millard South (Omaha, NE)
Height: 6-3
Weight: 186
Commitment Status: Nebraska
Summary: Taylor has been a longtime Nebraska pledge, committing to the Cornhuskers last May. He transferred to Millard South from Carmel Catholic (Mundelein, Ill.), where he threw for 3,571 yards and 38 touchdowns and also rushed for 12 touchdowns for the Corsairs.
6. Israel Abrams
School: Montini Catholic (Arlington Heights, IL)
Height: 6-4
Weight: 187
Commitment Status: Uncommitted
Summary: There aren't many quarterbacks in the country who had a better year than Abrams, the Illinois MaxPreps Player of the Year. Leading Montini Catholic to a 14-0 record and the 4A state championship, he completed 68.5% of his passes for 4,072 yards and 40 touchdowns. On the ground he also totaled 10 touchdowns.
7. Gunner Rivers
School: St. Michael Catholic (Fairhope, AL)
Height: 6-3.5
Weight: 205
Commitment Status: Uncommitted
Summary: Having the last name of Rivers and having a dad who spent several years in the NFL, Gunner has big shoes to fill. So far, he's proven that he can live up to those expectations. For the 13-1 Cardinals, he threw for 3,176 yards and 46 touchdowns while throwing only five interceptions.
8. Peter Bourque
School: Tabor Academy (Marion, MA)
Height: 6-4
Weight: 220
Commitment Status: Uncommitted
Summary: Bourque earned Gatorade Player of the Year honors in Massachusetts, leading the Seawolves to a 9-0 record. During that stretch, he completed 63.3% of his passes for 2,241 yards and accounted for 33 total touchdowns.
9. Peyton Houston
School: Evangel Christian Academy (Shreveport, LA)
Height: 5-10.5
Weight: 200
Commitment Status: LSU
Summary: While he may be smaller than other quarterbacks on this list, that didn't stop Houston from producing last season. He threw for 3,836 yards and 42 touchdowns, along with 942 yards and 12 more touchdowns on the ground, for the nine-win Eagles.
10. Colton Nussmeier
School: Marcus (Flower Mound, TX)
Height: 6-3
Weight: 185
Commitment Status: Uncommitted
Summary: The younger brother of LSU standout quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, Colton appears to be on his way to a successful college career as well. In eight games, he threw for 1,390 yards and 12 touchdowns.
The all-time great, and the captain for Canada at these 2026 Winter Olympics, didn't play in Friday's semifinal against Finland due to a lower-body injury sustained two days earlier.
Canada nearly didn't make it through. They trailed Finland 2-0 before rallying and winning on a Nathan MacKinnon goal with 35 seconds left.
But with that late winning goal came the chance for Crosby to still make it back on the ice for these Olympics.
The gold medal game is on Sunday, a 2 p.m. local start in Milan. Canada's game on Friday finished about 7:30 p.m. locally in Italy.
Crosby's got a bit of time to get out there, but not a lot.
NHL insider Elliotte Friedman shared from Canada coach Jon Cooper the simple fact that Crosby has a better chance of playing on Sunday than he did on Friday.
Jon Cooper on Sidney Crosby’s availability for Sunday:
We have 48 hours to determine…he has a better chance of playing that then he did of playing today.
It seems like it's probably worth it for Canada to dress Crosby on Sunday.
He's the captain, for one, and international roster rules actually provide a bit of cushion.
Canada has been dressed 13 skaters for each game. That means that if Crosby ends up being unable to take all his shifts, you can still have four fully stocked forward lines for Canada.
And if Crosby shows off his clutch gene in the gold medal game, all the better.
Long-serving Sheffield Wednesday captain Barry Bannan (left) joined Millwall in January to end a decade with the club in January [Shutterstock]
Barring a highly unlikely series of results, administration-hit Sheffield Wednesday will become the first team in English Football League history to be relegated in February at some point in the next week.
The foundations for this relegation were set last summer when former owner Dejphon Chansiri's chaotic tenure came to a head with numerous missed wage payments.
A large number of the senior squad and manager Danny Rohl left in the summer before the Owls were eventually placed into administration in October.
Two separate points deductions - totalling 18 points - followed, and it has always been a case of when, not if they went down from the Championship this season.
A preferred bidder for the club was selected in December but the Owls remain in administration and are operating under tight restrictions, leaving them with a threadbare squad ill-equipped to compete at this level.
However, few would have thought relegation could come quite as early as this and, to make matters worse, it could in fact now be confirmed at bitter cross-city rivals Sheffield United on Sunday.
How can Owls delay inevitable?
How the bottom of the Championship table looks before Blackburn face Preston on Friday [BBC]
If Sheffield Wednesday win all of their remaining 14 games of the season, they will finish the campaign on 35 points.
Despite that, the Owls will be relegated before Sunday's derby if:
Blackburn Rovers avoid defeat against Preston North End on Friday and West Bromwich Albion beat Coventry City on Saturday
Blackburn lose to Preston on Friday, Leicester avoid defeat by Stoke City, and West Brom beat Coventry on Saturday
Another twist is that Blackburn host Leicester on the final day of the season, meaning that if the Foxes draw at Stoke it will guarantee that either one of Blackburn or Leicester will finish on at least 36 points.
Should things fall into place for the Owls, who are still on -7 points, they must then win at Bramall Lane to stop the 'R' from being placed next to their name this weekend.
Winning a derby away from home is a tall task at the best of times but when you consider that Wednesday's only win all season came at Portsmouth in September, they have lost their past nine games in the Championship, and have not so much as scored in the past six Steel City derbies, you get some idea of what Henrik Pedersen's beleaguered men are up against.
"Nobody understands what this group has been through in the past many months.
"I have a group with a big belief and big motivation, and a group of senior players who are ready to do everything for our fans and stand up and perform.
"They know that 95% will not be enough."
The 18 points Sheffield Wednesday have been deducted are the third highest in a single Football League season.
Derby County were deducted 21 in the 2021-22 campaign but took their fight for Championship survival through to April, while Luton Town were hit with a 30-point penalty in the 2008-09 season but finished on a creditable 26 points as they dropped out of League Two and also won the Football League Trophy.
Looking to avoid the history books
With 14 games to go, Wednesday are also in danger of setting several more unwanted EFL records, including:
No team has ever ended a season on minus points. The Owls, who have won 11 points from 32 games so far, need seven from 14 matches to avoid this.
Allowing for three points a game, the fewest points a team has ever picked up in a Football League season is Loughborough with nine in 1899-1900. In more recent times, Derby County went down from the Premier League with 11 points in the 2007-08 season. The all-time low for a 46-game season is Doncaster Rovers' 20 points in 1997-98.
The record for the most defeats in a 46-game league season also belongs to Doncaster with 34 in the 1997-98 campaign. Wednesday have lost 23 of their first 32 games, meaning 12 defeats in their remaining 14 matches would see them break that record.
The most consecutive defeats suffered by a team in one season was by Darwen way back in the 1898-99 season with 18. Since the second tier was rebranded as the Championship, the record for the most successive defeats is Rotherham's 10 in the 2016-17 season. Pedersen's side have lost their past nine games.
In a 46-game season, the fewest wins a team has ever managed is Rochdale's two as they were relegated from the third tier in 1973-74.
Wednesday's only win this season came away from home, meaning the Owls are now just six games from becoming the first Football League team to go an entire season without a home win.
The farthest adrift a team has finished is Stoke City in the 1984-85 season. They finished 33 points from safety in the top tier. At present, the Owls are 41 points behind 21st-placed West Brom.
Wednesday have scored 19 goals in their 32 games. The fewest goals scored by a team in a 46-game season is Stockport County's 27 in 1969-70. [Shutterstock]
'The game isn't decided on team sheets'
Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder has said the prospect of relegating their cross-city rivals is "not in his thought process at all".
The Blades fan, who is unbeaten in his seven games against the Owls, said he disagreed with the notion that his side, who are 15th in the table, should cruise to a win.
"We'll have done more preparation on this game than we have on any game this season and all the games other than the play-off final last season," he told BBC Radio Sheffield.
"I've got complete respect for Henrik and a group of players... there's talk of it being a mismatch or a gimme, whether it's bookies' odds or the narrative in the city... football just doesn't work like that.
"The players have to play with a discipline and a control to win a game of football, to win a local derby."
Wilder added: "We put a slide up about Macclesfield v Crystal Palace and Bodo/Glimt v Manchester City. There are all sorts of examples recently, let alone [in] the 100 years plus of football, the game isn't decided on team sheets.
"We understand it's basically their season on the line, we're not daft. But we've got our fight, and ours has to be bigger than theirs."
If the Dolphins believe Kyler Murray can be their quarterback of the future, they should go for it.
If the Dolphins want to take a reclamation flier on Anthony Richardson or Will Levis at an extremely low relative cost, they should go for it.
If the Dolphins want to use one of their draft picks on a rookie quarterback, they should go for it.
What the Dolphins should absolutely not do is add an average, middling, adequate, decent, respectable or passable, journeyman or veteran quarterback this offseason!
Either add a young/ish exciting potential upgrade with a high ceiling or…
Just roll with youngsters Quinn Ewers and Cam Miller in 2026.
No, the Dolphins are not running it back with Tua Tagovailoa.
That era is over. That movie has ended.
It might not be easy for Miami to sign Willis if he ends up in the $30 million-or-more range, and frankly, that seems a bit unreasonable considering his pro experience.
What Miami does not need ― and we say this with ultimate respect ― is Ryan Fitzpatrick of 2019.
Ryan Fitzpatrick is one of my favorite Dolphins. He was smart and honest and fun.
Dolphins should not add another Ryan Fitzpatrick
But when Chris Grier and Brian Flores chose Fitzy to lead the don't-call-it-tank season of 2019, they added a veteran quarterback who was too good.
Yes, the Dolphins went 5-11 and still landed Tua Tagovailoa with the No. 5 overall pick.
If they don't sign Fitzpatrick, they likely finish No. 1 overall and secure Joe Burrow.
Fitzpatrick was 5-8 as a starter in his Age 37 season. (Thankfully for Miami, 22-year-old Josh Rosen went 0-3).
This is not to say first-year coach Jeff Hafley will tank.
Just let this play out organically. The Dolphins can explore trading away some veterans, including youngish veterans, but most importantly, just roll with Ewers and Miller if a clear upside option is not manageable.
The focus for 2026 should be on establishing a culture of hard work, toughness, discipline and effort.
Hafley doesn't need a 34-year-old quarterback to help him do that.
If the Dolphins believe Kyler Murray can be their quarterback of the future, they should go for it.
If the Dolphins want to take a reclamation flier on Anthony Richardson or Will Levis at an extremely low relative cost, they should go for it.
If the Dolphins want to use one of their draft picks on a rookie quarterback, they should go for it.
What the Dolphins should absolutely not do is add an average, middling, adequate, decent, respectable or passable, journeyman or veteran quarterback this offseason!
Either add a young/ish exciting potential upgrade with a high ceiling or…
Just roll with youngsters Quinn Ewers and Cam Miller in 2026.
No, the Dolphins are not running it back with Tua Tagovailoa.
That era is over. That move has ended.
It might not be easy for Miami to sign Willis if he ends up in the $30 million-or-more range, and frankly, that seems a bit unreasonable considering his pro experience.
What Miami does not need ― and we say this with ultimate respect ― is Ryan Fitzpatrick of 2019.
Ryan Fitzpatrick is one of my favorite Dolphins. He was smart and honest and fun.
Dolphins should not add another Ryan Fitzpatrick
But when Chris Grier and Brian Flores chose Fitzy to lead the don't-call-it-tank season of 2019, they added a veteran quarterback who was too good.
Yes, the Dolphins went 5-11 and still landed Tua Tagovailoa with the No. 5 overall pick.
If they don't sign Fitzpatrick, they likely finish No. 1 overall and secure Joe Burrow.
Fitzpatrick was 5-8 as a starter in his Age 37 season. (Thankfully for Miami, 22-year-old Josh Rosen went 0-3).
This is not to say first-year coach Jeff Hafley will tank.
Just let this play out organically. The Dolphins can explore trading away some veterans, including youngish veterans, but most importantly, just roll with Ewers and Miller if a clear upside option is not manageable.
The focus for 2026 should be on establishing a culture of hard work, toughness, discipline and effort.
Hafley doesn't need a 34-year-old quarterback to help him do that.
While Gary Player has never been short on confidence, Jack Nicklaus once questioned how well the South African legend would stack up against today’s players.
There is no doubting Player’s place among the greats of the game. He captured nine major titles and added another nine on the senior circuit later in his career.
Player is one of just six golfers to complete the Career Grand Slam. He even went as far as to rank himself third all-time, behind only Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
It is always a challenge comparing players from different generations, with advancements in equipment and changes across the sport. Today’s PGA Tour also boasts incredible depth compared to previous eras.
Jack Nicklaus once questioned whether Gary Player would thrive in today’s game
Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images for Payne’s Valley Cup
Nicklaus probably has a better sense than most of how his peers might have handled the modern era. And when it comes to Player, he has not always sounded convinced that the game suits him as well as it did back then.
Back in 2008, ‘The Golden Bear’ spoke to Golf Digest and suggested that the South African legend might not have found the same level of success if he were coming up today.
“The pro game used to be 80 percent shotmaking and about 20 percent power. There were certain courses where power was a bigger factor, when the rough was down or the fairways were wide, and I absolutely tried to take advantage of it, because I had that element. I remember one round in New Orleans I drove the ball on the green of three par fours. I used power when it was prudent, and I could switch gears in the middle of a round.
“But from what I see, the pro game has switched to where it’s about 80 percent power and 20 percent shotmaking. Today, a Gary Player, a Ben Hogan, as talented as they were but with smaller statures, would have much less of a chance of being the best in the world.”
How Gary Player’s driving distance compared to Nicklaus and Palmer
Player’s remarkable talent is evident in his career, particularly his international record, which no one can match.
His game was never built around power. According to Golf Monthly, Player once mentioned in an interview that he always expected to be the first to hit into the green when paired with Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.
Palmer typically drove the ball between 265 and 270 yards, so it is fair to assume Player’s drives were consistently shorter than that range.
Nicklaus recognised early on how much more important distance was becoming in the game. But you would expect someone like the South African star – who always adapted – would have found a way to adjust if he needed to.
He mastered the game as it was played in his time, and the best players tend to find ways to succeed, no matter when they play.
Foxborough, MA - October 26: New England Patriots wide receiver Mack Hollins stiff-arms Cleveland Browns cornerback Denzel Ward in the fourth quarter. The New England Patriots played the Cleveland Browns at Gillette Stadium on October 26, 2025. (Photo by Danielle Parhizkaran/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) | Boston Globe via Getty Images
While a lacerated spleen kept Mack Hollins off the field from December into January, a payday remained in play.
Hollins, 32, finished his inaugural regular season in Foxborough just four catches shy of hitting a $400,000 incentive. But what was missed has since been honored by head coach Mike Vrabel’s organization as sights set on the new league year.
At the time of his placement on injured reserve, Hollins stood with 46 receptions for 550 yards and two touchdowns. He stood there while leading New England’s wideout depth chart with 657 offensive snaps through 15 appearances, including 13 starts.
Activated from injured reserve on the eve of the AFC Championship Game, which marked the earliest return date under NFL rules, Hollins went to catch six passes for 129 yards and one touchdown through playoff starts versus the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks.
Arriving at Gillette Stadium last March on a two-year, $8.4 million contract featuring $3.5 million guaranteed, Hollins now moves forward with a cap number of $5.55 million when factoring in the $400,000 sweetener.
Per PatsCap’s Miguel Benzan, that upcoming cap number features $2.9 million in base salary and $1.15 million in signing bonuses. It also features a $150,000 offseason workout bonus, $600,000 in receptions incentives, as well as up to $750,000 in active roster bonuses for the 6-foot-4, 221-pound target.
Entering the NFL in the fourth round of the 2017 draft at No. 118 overall, Hollins spent previous campaigns with the Philadelphia Eagles, Miami Dolphins, Las Vegas Raiders, Atlanta Falcons and Buffalo Bills. The North Carolina Tar Heels product, who earned a Super Bowl LII ring as a rookie, has caught 220 passes for 2,861 yards and 19 touchdowns through 135 career games, counting postseason.
Photo by Ryan Crockett/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty Images
Rio Ngumoha believes that while Mohamed Salah has accomplished a lot for Liverpool since joining from AS Roma, he’s not the best winger in history.
Salah has become one of the most important players in modern Liverpool history, standing out as a major figure over the past decade.
This season, even with his form not always at its peak, Salah has played an important role throughout much of the campaign.
His performance against Brighton was especially impressive. He scored, provided an assist, and won a penalty in Liverpool’s 3-0 victory.
Beyond his contributions in attack, he’s also made noticeable improvements to his defensive work this season.
Rio Ngumoha picks Neymar over Mohamed Salah
Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images
Now 33, Salah has scored 251 goals and provided 121 assists during his time at Anfield. He’s also near the top of the Premier League’s all-time scoring charts.
But despite those numbers, Ngumoha doesn’t see him as the greatest winger ever. During a quick-fire Q&A with ESPN, Ngumoha chose Neymar when asked who he thought was the best winger of all time.
Neymar is now playing for Santos back in Brazil but has only managed one league appearance in 2026 due to a knee injury.
Virgil van Dijk among top defenders, says Rio Ngumoha
Elsewhere in the same interview, Ngumoha picked Brazilian Ronaldo as his choice for the best striker ever.
For midfield, he gave the nod to Zinedine Zidane, and didn’t hesitate to name Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk as his pick for top defender.
As expected by many, Lionel Messi rounded out his selections as the greatest overall player in football history.
The NHL is full of familial connections, and one of the most popular families in the league right now is the Hughes family.
The Hughes brothers have taken the NHL by storm, with two representing the United States at the Winter Olympics. The big stage is no stranger to the Hughes family, as all five members have experience playing hockey at a high level.
Moving forward, the Hughes brothers are expected to grow even more in popularity as they find success both individually and together. Here’s what you need to know about the Hughes family.
Quinn Hughes is the oldest of the brothers, born in October 1999. He was drafted seventh overall by the Vancouver Canucks in 2018 and, after spending two seasons at the University of Michigan, joined Vancouver full time in the spring of 2019.
Quinn spent parts of eight seasons with the Canucks, totaling 432 points in 459 games, and he won the Norris Trophy in 2023–24 as the NHL's best defenseman. In December 2025, the Canucks traded him to the Minnesota Wild.
During the 2026 Winter Olympics, Quinn made his Olympic debut for the United States, scoring the game-winning overtime goal in the quarterfinals against Sweden.
The middle Hughes brother is Jack, who was born two years after Quinn in May of 2001. Jack is also the highest-drafted brother in the Hughes family, as the New Jersey Devils took him first overall in the 2019 NHL draft.
Jack skipped college and went straight to the NHL, as he made his Devils debut just months after the draft. As a center, Jack has established himself as one of the top forwards in the NHL, but he has dealt with injuries during the first part of his career.
Like Quinn, Jack is representing the United States at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Luke Hughes is the youngest of the three brothers, as he was born in September of 2003. A defenseman like Quinn, Luke was drafted fourth overall in 2021 by the Devils, joining Jack in New Jersey. However, Luke also attended Michigan for two years before making his NHL debut in 2023.
Unlike his two brothers, Luke didn't find immediate success in the NHL, as he's struggled to find his footing in his first few professional seasons. His best year was his first full season in 2023-24, when he made the all-rookie team for the Devils.
Quinn Hughes and influencer Olivia Bonn are in a rumored relationship, although nothing has been made official. Bonn is a model and an influencer, primarily based in New York.
Is Jack Hughes dating Tate McRae?
Jack Hughes and Tate McRae have not made any official declarations about the relationship, but the two have been spotted in public together. McRae is a Canadian pop star from Calgary who previously dated NHL player Cole Sillinger.
Jim Hughes was a hockey player himself, as he played college hockey at Providence College. After his playing career, Jim worked in hockey in other ways, first as an assistant coach for a minor league team in Orlando.
Then, Hughes became an assistant for the Boston Bruins from 2001-2003 before he joined the Toronto Maple Leafs organization. Hughes started as a minor-league coach for Toronto but soon became the director of player development for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
In 2016, Jim left the Maple Leafs to become the director of player development for CAA, working with many of the agency's best hockey players, like Macklin Celebrini.
Jack Hughes explained how his dad's hockey experience impacted the three brothers growing up.
"The things he was telling 20-year-old prospects, he was telling to us when we were 12," Jack said, via ESPN. "Whenever we got the chance to watch a game with my dad, it was like watching video with an NHL coach."
Ellen Weinberg-Hughes
Ellen Weinberg-Hughes is actually the most decorated hockey player in the family. Weinberg-Hughes was born in St. Louis but raised in Dallas, and attended the University of New Hampshire as a three-sport athlete, playing lacrosse, hockey and soccer.
In 1992, Weinberg-Hughes played for the United States women's hockey team, winning a silver medal at the 1992 World Championships. After she retired, Weinberg-Hughes got into broadcasting, working on both women's soccer and hockey. She was sideline reporter for ESPN at the 1999 Women's World Cup, and at one point also worked for the big ten network.
Weingberg-Hughes most recently joined the United States Women's ice hockey team as a player development consultant, which is a year-round job. Jim Hughes explained why Ellen was such a strong addition to the women's team.
"Her athletic experience as an athlete and a Hall of Famer at UNH, she's got all that playing experience and all that competitive experience. And then she had 15 years of raising-three-boys experience," Jim told The Athletic. "So when [they] brought Ellen on board, it's been a wonderful addition to the women's Olympic team."
The Hughes family moved around to accommodate Jim's job changes as an NHL coach. Quinn and Jack were both born in Orlando, but Luke was born in New Hampshire when Jim worked for the Bruins. Eventually, the family settled in Toronto, which is where the three brothers picked up their hockey careers.
UCLA coach Mick Cronin issued a lengthy apology Friday after ejecting his own player during a blowout loss earlier this week, acknowledging he misread the situation and allowed his emotions to spill over.
Cronin said he apologized directly to center Steven Jamerson after sending him to the locker room late in the Bruins’ 82-59 loss to Michigan State Spartans men's basketball on Tuesday night.
Cronin believed at the time that Jamerson had committed a dirty play when he fouled Michigan State center Carson Cooper on a breakaway dunk with UCLA trailing by more than 20 points.
“It’s the only reason I sent him to the locker room,” Cronin told reporters via SoCal News Group. “I thought he literally made a dirty play and tried to wipe the guy out. … You can’t be down 25 or getting your butt kicked and try to take somebody out.”
After reviewing the tape and hearing public criticism, Cronin said he realized he was wrong. Jamerson was called for a foul and assessed a technical, as was Cooper following the play.
But before officials could review it further, Cronin summoned Jamerson to the bench, grabbed his jersey and escorted him off the floor himself. It was a rare scene that drew national attention.
After the foul, UCLA HC Mick Cronin ejects his own player, Steven Jamerson III. pic.twitter.com/KOFMCDRYjg
“In this climate, you have to be careful what you say,” Cronin added. “The brand matters here. The school matters. The last thing I want to do is bring negative publicity to UCLA.”
However, the damage seems to be significant this time around. "John Wooden would be ashamed," LA Times columnist Bill Plaschke wrote this week about Cronin's antics.
"Cronin is light years from the aura of Coach, and if UCLA cared a whit about the legacy of its legend, it would care that his flame has been completely snuffed by this unworthy keeper. Wooden’s home is now decorated with a pyramid of poop, and one wonders how many humiliations will be required to convince administrators to clean things up."
Kelly Poppinga looks on during Big 12 championship game against Texas Tech Dec. 6, 2025.
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Aaron Cornia, BYU Photo
David Nixon wreaked havoc on the field with Kelly Poppinga for two seasons at BYU. The pair of linebackers combined for 277 tackles, including 31.5 tackles for loss during a 24-month stretch between 2006-07 when the Cougars went 22-4.
Nineteen fast years later, Poppinga is preparing to run his first spring practice as BYU’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. Head coach Kalani Sitake elevated the former assistant to succeed Jay Hill, who left the Cougars to join Kyle Whittingham’s new staff at Michigan.
Poppinga inherits enormous expectations and a veteran defense that is on their own impressive 23-4 run over the last two seasons. Nixon expects the success to keep flowing.
“When you talk about Jay Hill leaving, no doubt it’s a loss. Jernaro (Gilford) as well. But for the coaches left behind, these are guys that have been an integral part of what those game plans were,” Nixon told the “Y’s Guys” livestream show this week. “They understand what his defense was trying to accomplish and now they are probably going to put their own spin on it. I think they have some fresh ideas that maybe they had to suppress a little. I’ve challenged (Kelly). He’s excited. He’s learned a lot from different coordinators along the way.”
Playing and developing under Bronco Mendehall’s tutelage, and with star Cameron Jensen lining up next to them in 2006 and Bryan Kehl in 2007, the Cougars’ linebacker-led defense was nearly unbeatable.
BYU finished 11-2 in 2006 and routed Oregon 38-8 in the Las Vegas Bowl. The defense allowed just 14.7 points per game with 24 sacks. In 2007, the Cougars went 11-2 again and knocked off UCLA 17-16 in the Las Vegas Bowl. That BYU defense allowed 18.5 points per game with 32 sacks.
As an assistant, Poppinga has been schooled by Mendenhall, Sitake and Hill and additionally mentored by Gary Andersen, who remains on the BYU staff as a senior analyst.
Last season, the No. 11 Cougars allowed 19.1 points per game with 30 sacks. Every mover and shaker is back except for NFL targets Tanner Wall (safety) and Jack Kelly (linebacker). Poppinga replaced Kelly with Cal’s Cade Uluave, the No. 1-rated linebacker in the transfer portal. BYU also retained Raider Damuni and Faletau Satuala to secure the safety spots.
“I think K-Pop brings the same aggressiveness and mentality that Jay had. I think they were aligned when it comes to the physicality and accountability on the defensive side of the ball,” Nixon said. “If I’m Kelly, I’m licking my chops. I think this defense is going to be elite next year.”
“The story of spring ball is on offense, getting guys out there getting reps to replace Kingston, who is absolutely dynamic. There is no doubt about it,” said Nixon, a BYUtv football analyst. “Trying to find guys who can step up and be that dude. I wouldn’t be surprised going into the fall to see a lot of Bear (Bachmeier) and LJ (Martin) similar to last year and a lot of play-action off of that and that’s where you find your open receiver.”
New faces
Including Uluave, the Cougars will kick off practice next Friday with 33 newcomers. With Carsen Ryan graduated, USC transfer Walker Lyons and Oregon transfer Roger Saleapaga II bring immediate strength to the tight end position. Oregon transfer Kyler Kasper is expected to add instant help to the receivers room.
In addition, freshmen Enoch Watson (quarterback), Jaron Pula (receiver), Legend Glasker (receiver) and Devaughn Eka (running back) are all eyeing opportunities to make early contributions.
“There are a lot of those pieces that have to understand this offense,” Nixon said. “I think that’s where spring ball reps are huge. You can go into the playbook and watch film to try and learn it all, but you have got to get out there in live reps, especially against a solid defense. That’s how you really learn and demonstrate whether you are a playmaker or not.”
Utah receiver Brian Hernandez is pursued by BYU defenders Kelly Poppinga, left, and David Nixon.
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August Miller, Deseret Morning News
Nixon’s top 5 games of 2026
BYU will play seven home games this fall, beginning Sept. 5 against Utah Tech. The Cougars will face five opponents on the road. Here is David Nixon’s top 5 games on the slate.
5.Arizona at BYU, Sept. 12: “It’s the second game of the year. It’s a game where you set the tone. Arizona isn’t a cakewalk. I like those Big 12 games early in the season because you are still fresh out of camp and you are not banged up yet.”
4.BYU at Kansas, Nov. 21: “Second-to-last game of the year. This one scares me a little bit. BYU has struggled against Kansas. Kansas is in our head a little bit. I don’t love playing at Kansas that late in the season. I feel like the weather can get really weird there. That’s the last road test to pass. If you get that one, hopefully BYU is in the Big 12 championship game again. That is a tricky one.”
3.BYU at TCU, Oct. 3: “You look at what BYU did to them last year (44-13), that’s a revenge game. You don’t get smacked like that and take it easy. They will have it circled on their calendar. TCU on the road, I’ve played in that stadium. It’s loud. That’s a tough road game.”
2. BYU at Utah, Nov. 7: “It’s a really interesting game. Everything builds up to that game and to think what could be on the line there, especially this year with what the Utes have coming back as well, I put Utah at No. 2.”
1. Notre Dame at BYU, Oct. 17: “When you talk about having Notre Dame in your stadium, BYU has waited for them to come to (Provo). The fact that BYU was able to get them this year is just awesome. I put that above the Utes. As hard as that it is for me to say because I love that Utah game, I think you have to put Notre Dame up there.”
Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.
Napoli team news: Alisson Santos could make surprise start for Conte against Atalanta
Antonio Conte could hand Alisson Santos a surprise start when Napoli travel to Atalanta on Sunday.
The Serie A clash kicks-off at 15:00 CET on Sunday and January addition Alisson looks set to start, according to Sky Sport, via IlNapolista.
The Brazilian forward, formerly of Sporting Lisbon, has made an immediate impression since arriving at the club, netting a late equaliser off the bench in last weekend’s 2-2 draw with Roma.
That cameo appearance may have been enough to convince Conte to hand him a place in the starting XI, with Santos potentially lining up in the front three alongside Antonio Vergara and Rasmus Højlund.
NAPLES, ITALY – FEBRUARY 15: Antonio Conte SSC Napoli head coach celebrates their side second goal scored by Alisson Santos during the Serie A match between SSC Napoli and AS Roma at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on February 15, 2026 in Naples, Italy. (Photo by Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images)
Napoli team news: Conte keeps things fresh amongst injury crisis
In midfield, Eljif Elmas could drop into a deeper role to partner Stanislav Lobotka, with Scott McTominay dropping to the bench as a result.
Fellow Scot Billy Gilmour would then be among the substitutes, likely to feature from the bench.
Matteo Politano may also find himself left out of the starting lineup, with Mazzocchi set to take his place on the right flank.
Gutiérrez is expected to operate on the left side.
NAPLES, ITALY – FEBRUARY 15: Alisson Santos of SSC Napoli scores his side second goal during the Serie A match between SSC Napoli and AS Roma at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on February 15, 2026 in Naples, Italy. (Photo by Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images)
At the back, Conte looks set to continue with a back three of Sam Beukema, Juan Jesus and Alessandro Buongiorno, providing the defensive foundation the Napoli head coach demands.
Between the posts, Vanja Milinkovic-Savic is again expected to be preferred to Alex Meret, continuing what has become an established pattern in recent weeks.
BREAKING: Chelsea announce new shirt sponsor and “principal partner
Chelsea have just announced a new “principal partner” in the form of IFS, an “industrial AI” company. They become our front of shirt sponsor for the rest of this season.
Friday evenings are typically where you bury bad news – making this interesting timing for Chelsea to announce a new “principal partner”.
Well, that’s just what they’ve done. The new ownership has been rightly battered for failing to find a long term, lucrative front of shirt sponsorship deal, and… they haven’t managed it. IFS industrial AI will be our “principal partner,” but their front of shirt sponsorship, for now, will only be until the end of the season. So don’t open the champagne just yet.
Chelsea make big claims about “statement of intent” with AI
A man with a headset waffles about AI.
“We are incredibly proud to partner with IFS and leverage their leading edge AI software to help propel the club to even greater success,” club president Jason Gannon is quoted as saying on the club’s official website.
“This partnership is a statement of intent to keep leading in this field, harnessing the opportunities advanced technology brings and unlocking the power of AI to improve everything we do on and off the pitch.”
Which is much the same as they said about “Infinite Athlete” a couple of years ago… whatever happened to them?
In other news…
One Chelsea player has turned down a new contract offered to them recently – we’re not sure who it was, but we have a good guess…
Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo are at the front of the queue for new deals – unsurprising given their status in the squad. It will be very interesting to see where common ground is found in terms of their salary.
Check out the latest edition of Simon Phillips’ SPTC podcast here:
Oklahoma County District Judge Richard Ogden granted a motion for summary judgment on Friday, Feb. 20, in favor of five private high schools that sued the OSSAA, claiming the its Rule 14 is unconstitutional.
An attorney for the private schools said Rule 14 will no longer be enforceable once the judge's verbal decision is made official in a written order.
The lawsuit was filed in December 2023 by four Oklahoma City private schools, Bishop McGuinness, Mount St. Mary, Heritage Hall and Crossings Christian, and one Edmond private school, Oklahoma Christian School.
The OSSAA has said Rule 14 aims to create competitive balance between public and private schools in athletics.
Private schools previously had to move up in classification no matter their enrollment under Rule 14 if they met certain success criteria in a sport. In some sports in which both boys and girls teams compete, both of a private school’s teams had to move up, even if only one of them met the success criteria.
OSSAA Rule 14 states that private schools are required to move up in classification, regardless of its enrollment, if the school meets certain thresholds of athletic success. The goal of Rule 14 was to create competitive balance between public and private schools.
Which schools filed lawsuit against OSSAA?
Bishop McGuinness, Mount St. Mary, Heritage Hall, Crossings Christian and Oklahoma Christian School sued the OSSAA in 2023, claiming Rule 14 was "unconstitutional" and should be voided.
When did private schools join the OSSAA?
Private schools started joining the OSSAA in the 1967-68 school year.
BEREA, OHIO - FEBRUARY 03: Todd Monken poses for photos after being introduced as head coach of the Cleveland Browns during a press conference at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus on February 03, 2026 in Berea, Ohio. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images) | Getty Images
In the official press release, Monken spoke about what he was looking for in his coaches:
“You’re always looking for coaches that never forget that we have a job for our players,” Monken said. “That’s first and foremost, and our job is to maximize our players’ measurable skill set. I always say to aspire to be the best coach they’ve ever had.”
Cleveland fans will love that Monken noted that offensive football under him and Switzer will start with running the ball:
“He was our run game coordinator, and that’s where it all starts with your ability to run the football,” Monken said. “So, he’s ready for this challenge. He’s intentional, he’s intelligent and he can teach.”
With Rutenberg, Monken notes that there are differences between his defense and what former DC Jim Schwartz ran, but enough similarities:
“He’d been in a similar system, but not the exact system because Jim (Schwartz) was unique,” Monken said. “And they can say attacking style, but then there’s attacking style, which is what they’ve done here up front. And I think that background of being a four-down attacking style, but not exact, (and) to add some things that they had done before that I thought would mesh really well with the current staff, was a big part of that. And I thought his energy, his ability to teach, his juice, I mean, it popped. It was what I was looking for.”
After a lot of special teams gaffes and struggles under former coordinator Bubba Ventrone, Browns fans are hoping Storer’s “journey” will set the team up better:
“First off, his journey – going to Cal, playing special teams little bit in the NFL, into coaching, out of coaching and into the business world, then back into coaching. Being with one of the best special teams to ever do it in Rich Bisaccia. Matt LaFleur just absolutely standing on the table for him was huge,” Monken said. “Unbelievable presentation when we interviewed him, he was more than ready. It was obvious when I got done interviewing him that we had to have him here.”
Los Angeles Dodgers southpaw Jackson Ferris is getting a chance to earn a spot on the 40-man roster with an early starting opportunity in Spring Training.
Ferris, a 22-year-old who was taken in the second round by the Chicago Cubs, has been a quickly emerging prospect with the Dodgers.
He came over via the Michael Busch trade, which sent the infielder to the Cubs, along with reliever Yency Almonte, in exchange for prospects Zyhir Hope and Ferris.
While Ferris and Hope have not made the major league roster yet, both are considered top prospects, while Busch has thrived in Chicago in a trade that looks like a true win-win.
Mar 23, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Jackson Ferris (93) throws in the first inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Now 22 and with a solid season of Double-A baseball under his belt, Ferris is hoping to finally break through a crowded position within the Dodgers organization.
Los Angeles has great pitching depth on the whole, with star arms that have experience at the top, and young, promising pitchers waiting in the wings for opportunity.
Ferris is one of those names who are on the bubble and could be next in line to step up during the long regular season.
Jackson Ferris gets his chance
On Friday, Dave Roberts announced that Ferris will start their second minor league game against the San Diego Padres, getting an early chance to make a good first impression.
Jackson Ferris will be the Dodgers starting pitcher in their second Cactus League game this Sunday vs the Padres.
During an interview with Dodgers Nation’s Doug McKain, Ferris made it clear he wants to force the organization to promote him.
“It’s just trying to like force their hand kind of thing, just go out there and do what I can do, just kind of be the best that I can be and hopefully at the end of the day, like this year could be the year, but like who knows, just go out there and do what I can do,” Ferris told McKain.
Also, he detailed what pitches he is specifically working on to improve.
“I’ve been working on my changeup a lot lately because I just feel like I was fastball-slider mainly the last couple years, so working on my changeup and then adding a spike to my curveball,” Ferris added.
“It’s really helped it like, just get sharper later movement. So both of those two things are what I worked on a lot this past offseason and then early on here in spring.”
Dodgers fans should be excited about Ferris’ potential and what he could do if he makes the roster.
Fansided’s Robert Murray believes the Braves should sign former All-Star Lucas Giolito, as he could be acquired for a bargain, and brings an arm that performed well in 2025.
“The Atlanta Braves are already dealing with injuries to their starting rotation, and there’s a solution staring them right in the face: Giolito. Part of what gave the Braves pause with pursuing other starting pitchers, such as Zac Gallen, is that they were attached to the qualifying offer. Giolito, meanwhile, is not. The fact he’s stayed on the market this long would seemingly suggest that he’s likely to sign a short-term contract that would allow him to test the market next winter. Which could be the perfect opportunity for Alex Anthopoulos to strike, especially with promising young right-handers Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep sidelined with elbow injuries,” Murray wrote.
Giolito finished 2025 with a 10-4 record, a 3.41 ERA, 121 Ks, and a WHIP of 1.290 over 145 innings pitched. Pair him up with Chris Sale and hopefully a bounce-back season from Spencer Strider, and the Braves would have a solid front end for their rotation.
Giolito’s projected to receive a three-year, $61 million deal, but as mentioned earlier, the Braves could get him on a bargain, as his market is pretty much non-existent.
Hopefully, the Braves grab him soon, as there are a couple other teams out there that still need another decent starting pitcher.
What the future holds for Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce remains up in the air, but he appears to be leaning in one direction as a decision looms in the coming weeks before free agency begins in the second week of March.
Kelce, 36, may have seen a dip in production, but he still recorded 76 receptions for 851 yards and five touchdowns this past season, ranking fourth among TE's in receiving yards.
As it stands, he is set to enter unrestricted free agency, meaning a reunion with the Chiefs would require negotiating a new contract. However, head coach Andy Reid said the two sides remain in steady communication — which appears to be an encouraging sign.
“I’ve said this before, as long as there’s communication, I’m good,” Reid said Friday. “That means people want to move forward, and that’s where I think [Travis] is. I’m not trying to put words in his mouth at all, and I try to give him some space. He’s been doing this a long time. He can sort all that out as he goes forward, but we’re proceeding with that, and there is communication.”
HC Andy Reid says he doesn’t want to put words into Travis Kelce’s mouth… but there’s a lot of positive communication happening. Sounds to me like there’s a great chance he’ll be back for the 2026 season! pic.twitter.com/3aMMpoadUw
The Chiefs could be headed for significant changes this offseason after missing the postseason for the first time in a decade.
Star quarterback Patrick Mahomes — who is rehabbing a torn ACL — restructured his contract this week to free up $43.5 million in cap space ahead of free agency. Since 2021, Mahomes has created roughly $132 million in cap space by restructuring his deal, underscoring both his and the organization’s commitment to remaining competitive.
For Kelce, that commitment will be pivotal. He isn’t coming back for stats, regular-season awards, or even money. If he returns, it will be to compete for another Super Bowl — something he has made clear is the only thing driving him at this stage of his career.
LONDON (AP) — Maro Itoje's debut for England was just a matter of time in February 2016.
Eddie Jones was England's brand new coach and trying to manage expectations around the stand-out Saracens second-rower.
Always armed with a colorful phrase, Jones thought of his father's car when he said of Itoje, “He's like a Vauxhall Viva now, we want to make him into a BMW. He's got a lot of work to do but he's got potential.”
Itoje had to Google what a Viva was. He was a 21-year-old politics student writing poetry.
Two days later, he debuted off the bench against Italy in Rome in the Six Nations, replacing James Haskell on the flank. Almost to the day a decade later, Itoje plays his 100th test for England on Saturday against Ireland at Twickenham.
Asked on Friday at the captain's run what was going through his 21-year-old mind at the Stadio Olimpico, he said, "I guess he was thinking how to upgrade from a Vauxhall Viva! I don’t want to drive a Vauxhall Viva for too long!
"It's easy to sit back now and and create a narrative or a story around it, as if it was all planned, etc. At that time I was just looking to try and cement my place in the team. The team was going really well and there was a number of really high-quality locks — Courtney Lawes, George Kruis and Joe Launchbury were all there.
“To reach 100 caps feels amazing. I'm full of pride, full of happiness, joy and excitement.”
Itoje started the next Six Nations match against Ireland, was man of the match against Wales when England clinched the title, and was celebrating a Grand Slam in Paris after his fourth test.
Jones noted how Itoje, at the time, was academically smart but not street smart. And London-born Itoje, a late starter to rugby in high school, admitted he had to learn how to control his emotions before a test match.
“I remember thinking I'm not sure if I can do this every week because I was putting myself through emotional turmoil,” he said. “The game's a huge occasion but obviously building so much emotional energy towards it I probably would have had a heart attack or stroke if I didn’t change my prep.”
‘Sets the standard’
He's got the routine down pat now. Renowned for his durability, relentless energy, can-do attitude and composure under fire, he has carved out one of the great careers.
He added Six Nations titles in 2017 and 2020. He was the youngest British and Irish Lion on the 2017 tour of New Zealand, the Lions player of the series on the 2021 tour of South Africa, and the first Black captain of the Lions last year in Australia.
He's been nominated multiple times for player of the year for the world, Europe and Six Nations.
Jones, while still the England coach, questioned in a 2021 book whether Itoje was suited to be a captain, calling him “very inward-looking.” Itoje thought the claims wrong and unfortunate. He'd captained England to a world junior championship when he was 19. Saracens gave him the captaincy in 2024 and England last year.
He has used his platform to lead off the field, too. He runs a fund to help educate children in Nigeria and Africa, and has an art gallery in Lagos, Nigeria, to showcase young talent.
Itoje will be the ninth Englishman to 100 caps, and the third on the current team after George Ford and Jamie George.
“Maro leads through his actions every day, sets the standard for others and cares deeply about representing his country,” England coach Steve Borthwick said. “We're all incredibly proud of what he has achieved.”
Sometimes NFL storylines write themselves. When a star player has history with a coach, that coach changes jobs, and a contender suddenly needs help at the player's same position, speculation becomes inevitable. That's exactly what has happened with Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown and New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel. The connection is obvious, the logic is easy to follow.
For months, the dynamic between the two has fueled speculation about a potential reunion. This time with the New England Patriots instead of the Tennessee Titans.
But speculation and reality aren't always aligned. Brown is firmly established as a cornerstone of the Eagles' offense, and despite outside chatter, there hasn't been much credible indication that Philadelphia is motivated to move him.
Still, when Vrabel's Patriots surged to a Super Bowl appearance behind young quarterback Drake Maye, the dots were too tempting for many to ignore. A proven No. 1 receiver paired with a rising franchise passer? On paper, it made sense.
A.J. Brown shares his true feelings about Mike Vrabel, which have recently evolved.
Brown and Vrabel's relationship has been interesting. Vrabel didn't seem too happy about that draft-night trade in 2022 that sent Brown to the Eagles in the first place. Ultimately, that helped lead to further Tennessee offensive inefficiency, which became part of the reason Vrabel lost his job as Titans head coach in the first place.
It also didn't help that Brown went off in his 'revenge game' of sorts vs. Tennessee in 2022. He was targeted ten times, leading to eight receptions, 119 yards receiving, and two TDs. Vrabel finished the 2023 NFL season with a 6-11 record. The Titans moved on, but there has often been a theory that he was swimming upstream with them.
Those arguments have since been strengthened by his ability to lead a turnaround in Foxborough. The New England Patriots represented the AFC in the Super Bowl earlier in February. Now, the plan transitions to improving on what Vrabel has already built. One of the first tasks seems obvious. Upgrade the receiving corps that will serve as Drake Maye's supporting cast.
Then, there was that practical joke with the Number 11 Patriots jersey. Remember that? The tease suggested he had been traded, but he was only teasing. He had actually been gifted with a Julian Edelman jersey.
He also called Tom Brady "the best to ever put on a pair of cleats." Brady was also nice enough to send him a jersey, but don't rush into conversations about a trade being a forgone conclusion. Those have been short-circuited lately. Derrick Gunn doesn't see it happening, and Adam Schefter agreed. Brown seems committed to this new direction for the Eagles. He also offered a take recently on Mike Vrabel that we didn't see coming.
That doesn't sound like a guy who's interested in a reunion, does it? But a more mature Brown admits now that he understands him better. A great coach saw greatness in a young player and wanted to help him achieve it. Here's his full quote on the subject.
"Vrabe is the type of coach that he's going to call on you in the meetings. He wants to make sure you're staying engaged and he's going to go over the keys to victory of the week. You better know them by the back of your hand. I used to write in my notebook because at the time, I really didn't like Vrabes. I didn't like him, and I admit that he knows that. So, I used to write, 'I hate Vrabes, I hate Vrabes, I hate Vrabes.' I was doing that to pretend like I was taking notes to look like I was engaged. But because he was so hard on me when I was a rookie and I really didn't understand it. So, at the time I told Vrabes like, 'Hey, like I'm humble already. You don't got to humble me.' But I really didn't understand what he was trying to, you know, push me to be."
What makes Brown's recent comments compelling isn't the headline about his dislike of his former coach. It's the growth behind the admission. Time has a way of reframing experiences, especially for elite athletes who later recognize that hard coaching often comes from belief, not criticism.
Brown didn't suddenly rewrite history. He simply acknowledged that what once felt personal was actually developmental. That perspective says as much about his maturity as it does about Vrabel's coaching style.
Still, Brown's stay in Philadelphia seems a reality that will continue. More importantly, none of this sounds like a player preparing to force his way out.
If anything, it reinforces the opposite. Brown understands who helped shape him, but his present, and likely his future, remains with the Eagles. Trade rumors will continue because that's the nature of the NFL spotlight, especially when star players and successful coaches share history.
Still, actions speak louder than speculation, and right now, all signs point to Brown staying exactly where he is, as a centerpiece of Philadelphia's championship pursuit rather than the subject of someone else's rebuild.
Team USA and Slovakia meet Friday in the men’s ice hockey semifinals at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, with a berth in the gold medal game on the line. It’s a matchup between a tournament favorite and a surging underdog playing its best hockey at the right time.
Feb 18, 2026; Milan, Italy; Brady Tkachuk of United States and Dylan Larkin of United States celebrate after the match against Sweden in a men’s ice hockey quarterfinal during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-Imagn Images
The United States punched its ticket to the semifinals with a dramatic 2–1 overtime win over Sweden in the quarterfinals. After the U.S. opened the scoring and absorbed pressure late in regulation, Sweden found an equalizer to force overtime. In sudden death, defenseman Quinn Hughes delivered the game-winner, sending the Americans into the final four.
The United States entered the knockout round after going undefeated (3–0) in group play with wins over Denmark, Latvia, and Germany. Throughout the tournament, balanced scoring and elite goaltending from Connor Hellebuyck have anchored the team’s success. Key offensive contributions from Dylan Larkin and the Hughes brothers have provided the timely production needed in tight playoff settings.
lovakia comes into the semifinal after a 6–2 quarterfinal victory over Germany. The Slovaks controlled tempo with aggressive forechecking and quick puck movement, producing multiple goal scorers in what turned into one of the more decisive knockout performances of the round.
Slovakia’s tournament identity has centered on speed and transitional offense. NHL-linked forwards like Juraj Slafkovský and Pavol Regenda have driven the attack, consistently generating chances off turnovers and rush opportunities. Their ability to capitalize on limited scoring windows has been a major factor in reaching their first Olympic men’s hockey semifinal in decades.
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Surprise Anfield return is exactly what Arne Slot needs at Liverpool
Arne Slot should consider reintegrating Harvey Elliott into Liverpool's squad
When Harvey Elliott joined Aston Villa on loan during the dying embers of the summer window, most Liverpool fans thought that would be the last time that the Englishman would be a Liverpool player.
The Villans agreed to pay £35 million for the Fulham academy graduate after he'd played 10 games for the club, but, since Unai Emery has changed his tune on the midfielder, it doesn't seem like he's going to hit that number, resulting in a Liverpool return.
Most fans are expecting him to be moved on by Arne Slot and Richard Hughes in the summer but in reality, he could probably put in a good shift for Liverpool if the Dutchman kept him around.
Elliott was Jurgen Klopp's star boy and even though Slot didn't trust him as much as the German, his talent is undeniable.
The fact that he can be used as a midfielder as well as a winger would also be a massive help for Liverpool, especially since Mohamed Salah could end up exiting L4 when his contract expires in June 2027.
Harvey Elliott could help turn things around at Liverpool
Although injuries may have hindered Elliott's progress throughout his career, when he's on form, there's no stopping him.
The midfielder is only 22 years old and has plenty of time to grow into an even better player than he already is.
He would also help Liverpool out regarding their homegrown situation.
Due to how many foreign players Liverpool have among their ranks, Federico Chiesa had to miss out of Liverpool's Champions League squad because they didn't have enough players in their team who were trained in England before their 21st Birthday.
However, since Elliott was and most of his academy years were spent with Liverpool, he'd be classed as homegrown at the club which is an even bigger bonus.
Slot only has a 23-man squad available to him at the moment but, if someone such as Elliott was brought back, he'd give Slot another option to choose from and he'd also help fill a much needed place in Liverpool's squad.
Of course, there's no knowing what the Reds' plans are for the Englishman but, if they do manage to find a place for Elliott in their team next term, he could end up being exactly what Slot is looking for.
Scott McTominay: Man United’s top summer target addresses persistent Old Trafford links
Manchester United are preparing for a major midfield overhaul this summer.
The Red Devils’ engine room has been steady, but it has rarely operated at its absolute best. The prevailing view is that standards in the centre of the park must rise, and rise quickly, if the 20‑time English champions are to reclaim their glory days.
With INEOS’ intention to reinforce United’s midfield now football’s worst‑kept secret, several of Europe’s most in‑form players are being linked with a move to M16.
Napoli raid
One of those names is Scott McTominay. The United academy graduate, now starring for Italian champions Napoli, continues to be linked with a sensational Premier League return.
At Old Trafford, he was more of a squad player, yet in Naples he has blossomed into Serie A’s Most Valuable Player, inspiring the Partenopei to the Scudetto at the first time of asking.
McTominay’s numbers underlined the transformation: 12 goals and four assists in 34 league games, coupled with commanding displays that made last season arguably the finest of his career.
This campaign has been less explosive, with six goals and three assists in 23 league outings, though many attribute that dip to Napoli’s collective struggles rather than his own decline.
Even so, the Scotland international remains one of Europe’s standout midfielders, fuelling speculation of a Premier League homecoming and even a return to Manchester.
McTominay responds to United talk
As anticipation grew among United fans, McTominay poured cold water on the idea with his latest remarks.
“My agent has not communicated with anyone regarding my future,” he told Il Corriere dello Sport.
“He only speaks with me and with the club. He hasn’t said anything to the newspapers. I am extremely happy here and, as far as I am concerned, I am a Napoli player; it is all I think about.
“The future is very important, and I could see myself in Napoli for a long time.” Those words have dashed hopes of a reunion at Old Trafford.
With McTominay seemingly off the table, INEOS have little choice but to look elsewhere. Fortunately, brilliant midfielders such as Elliot Anderson, Carlos Baleba and Sandro Tonali remain firmly on their radar, each offering the quality and potential to strengthen United’s midfield.
Attention now shifts to which of these players the club will ultimately pursue, as United aim to assemble one of the most formidable engine rooms the Premier League has witnessed in years.
Four absentees confirmed — PSG reveal squad issues ahead of Metz clash
Luis Enrique faces selection headache at Parc des Princes
Four absentees confirmed — PSG reveal squad issues ahead of Metz clash
Paris Saint-Germain will host Metz at Parc des Princes with four player unavailable including injured winger Ousmane Dembele.
Injury problems for Luis Enrique before Metz game
Paris Saint-Germain preparing to face Metz at Parc des Princes in Ligue 1 matchday 23 but head coach Luis Enrique must deal with several absences.
The biggest concern is Ousmane Dembele who will miss the match after suffering calf injury during PSG’s recent Champions League game against Monaco.
The winger is continuing his recovery indoors and is not yet ready to return to action.
Updates on other injured players
PSG also confirmed that midfielder Fabian Ruiz has returned to individual training after being sidelined for around month. However he is still not fit enough to rejoin full team sessions.
Young players Senny Mayulu & Quentin Ndjantou remain on personalized recovery programs. Both players are ruled out of the Metz match as they continue their rehabilitation.
Medical report confirms absences
In updated medical statement released ahead of the game, PSG confirmed that Dembele will stay sidelined while Mayulu & Ndjantou continue treatment. The club added that Fabian Ruiz is making progress but will need more time before returning to group training.
The absences leave Luis Enrique with limited options especially in wide areas,as PSG look to maintain momentum in the league.
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - OCTOBER 13: Victor Oladipo #52 of Guangzhou Loong-Lions looks on against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the third quarter during the preseason game at Target Center on October 13, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Timberwolves defeated dthe Loong-Lions 134-74. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Cleveland Charge, the G League affiliate of the Cleveland Cavaliers, have acquired guard Victor Oladipo, according to the official G League transaction board. Oladipo, the former number two overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, was playing with the Wisconsin Herd. In exchange, the Charge sent Jacob Gilyard and Drake Jeffries to Wisconsin, as well as 2026 second-round and international draft picks.
In 26 games with the Herd, Oladipo is averaging 14 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game, though he does appear to be playing in a somewhat restricted capacity (28.7 minutes per game). Oladipo has a long, long history of leg and knee injuries, including a ruptured quad (which he re-ruptured two years later), followed by a torn achilles. The team, naturally, has displayed caution with the former lottery pick.
Oladipo last appeared in an NBA game during the 2023 playoffs as a member of the Miami Heat, logging 19 minutes. He missed the following season rehabilitating that torn achilles, getting traded (or more accurately, his contract) multiple times over before being waived by the Memphis Grizzlies almost two years ago. Oladipo played briefly in the Chinese Basketball Association with the Guangzhou Loong Lions.
The Charge now feature a back court of former top-seven draft picks in Oladipo and Killian Hayes, the latter of whom is averaging 24.6 points and 7.7 assists per game. Hayes is just the latest reclamation project for the Charge, who have sent several players to the NBA over the last several seasons. Olapido figures to be the next, as he works toward a return to the NBA.
‘Tennis World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz won his quarterfinal match at the 2026 Qatar Total Energies Open in Doha against Karen Khachanov in come-from-behind fashion, needing three sets on Thursday.
That was not the main takeaway from the match. Instead, it was Alcaraz’s animated discussion with the chair umpire about the ATP time rules.
Alcaraz was penalized for a time violation when getting his towel after a long point. Even Khachanov thought it was uncalled for and asked the chair umpire to cancel the time violation. She said she was unable to do that.
He called the ATP rules “sh*t” several times in his discussion with her. She explained that she did not start the 25-second clock until he got his towel, but he was skeptical.
Jan 31, 2026; Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Carlos Alcaraz of Spain with the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup after his victory over Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the final of the menís singles at the Australian Open at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne Park. Mandatory Credit: Mike Frey-Imagn Images
The ATP rules are subjective. The chair umpire is in charge of the clock and can use discretion about when to start it, especially after long physical points, to allow the players to catch their breath.
Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev have also complained about what they believed were improper time violations against them in recent years.
Towels create problems. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the ball kids could bring players their towels between points. Now, the players have to walk to the side of the court to get their towels. Alcaraz was heard repeatedly telling the chair umpire that he understands he is not allowed to go to his towel because of the time constraints.
Ironically, the WTA does not have persistent time violation issues, and the chair umpire for Alcaraz’s match, Marija Cicak, is typically a WTA umpire.
Winning did not cure everything. Alcaraz commented on the time violation in his post-match press appearances. He said the ATP does not like to hear player complaints and is trying to make the matches entertaining to attract fans; however, Alcaraz does not think the players can put on a good show if they are rushed in circumstances like this.
The Los Angeles Rams closed the NFL’s final offensive coordinator opening with an in-house move.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that pass-game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase will step into the OC role. Quarterbacks coach Dave Ragone adds co-offensive coordinator duties.
Scheelhaase replaces Mike LaFleur, who left for a head coaching job with the Arizona Cardinals. The 35-year-old enters his third NFL season and continues a fast rise under Sean McVay. He interviewed for five head coaching jobs this cycle and drew strong reviews across the league.
“The NFL’s final OC opening has been filled in a uniquely LA way.” Schefter wrote.
The Rams trust their system and pipeline. McVay assistants often move on to top jobs, and the tree keeps growing. Scheelhaase now inherits an offense that ranked No. 1 in the NFL last season.
Los Angeles finished 12-5 and reached the NFC Championship Game. The team averaged 30.5 points and led the league in passing yards at 268.1 per game. Matthew Stafford threw for 4,707 yards and 46 touchdowns, driving one of the most aggressive attacks in football.
Scheelhaase joined the Rams after coordinating at Iowa State in 2023. He also coached at Illinois, his alma mater, where he once started at quarterback. His background in the pass game fits a roster built around Stafford and a deep receiver group.
Rams’ move on Sean McVay and GM Les Snead
In early February, the Rams secured their leadership core. Sean McVay and general manager Les Snead signed multiyear extensions. Owner E. Stanley Kroenke praised their partnership and commitment to competing for titles.
“As we enter their 10th season together, it is only fitting to reflect on the tremendous success Sean and Les have brought to this franchise, and the indelible impact they have made on Los Angeles and the NFL,” Kroenke said in his statement.
“They continue to embody the standard of this franchise to compete for championships… we are thrilled they will be leading the Los Angeles Rams for years to come.”
The Rams’ defense ranked 10th in points allowed, and it was a major hurdle in the NFC title loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Now the focus shifts to keeping the offense sharp while chasing another Super Bowl run next season.
So, as the moves make it clear, in Los Angeles, continuity remains the plan.
Team USA bobsled stars Elana Meyers Taylor and Kaillie Humphries try to position themselves for more medals and the American men vie for podium spots in freestyle skiing on Friday's NBC "Primetime in Milan" show.
Every day of the Winter Games, The Sporting News will let you know what's coming on that night's primetime broadcasts — without spoilers — so you can plan your evening viewing if you can't watch all the action live.
Friday night's show will start and finish with women's 1500m speed skating, first long track and then short at the conclusion of the broadcast. In between, Team USA's two-woman bobsled teams will make their first two runs in Cortina, as sleds piloted by Meyers Taylor, Humphries and Kaysha Love jostle for position with German star Lisa Buckwitz.
Medals will be handed out in freestyle skiing, where veteran Alex Ferreira leads a strong U.S. contingent in the halfpipe. Ferreira took silver in the event in Pyeongchang and bronze four years ago in Beijing.
Beyond NBC, fans can watch curling highlights on CNBC along with USA-Slovakia men's hockey, the women's curling semifinals and men's biathlon on USA Network.
See below for the full broadcast schedule tonight and enjoy all the memorable moments from Milan Cortina.
NBC Olympics schedule tonight: Spoiler-free primetime TV lineup for Friday
Schedule is subject to change. Watch it all on NBC or stream it via DIRECTV.
Time (ET)
Event
8 p.m.
Speed skating women's 1500m
8:20 p.m.
Two-woman bobsled runs 1 and 2
8:40 p.m.
Short track speed skating women's 1500m semifinals
9 p.m.
Freestyle skiing men's halfpipe final
9:50 p.m.
Short track speed skating women's 1500m final
Olympics schedule tonight: USA, CNBC lineups for Friday
Here are the events scheduled to be rebroadcast on delay this evening:
Primetime in Milan will air live on NBC every night, with host Mike Tirico presenting a package of competition from earlier in the day, highlights and interviews.
Primetime in Milan and the rest of the delayed broadcasts on USA Network and CNBC can be streamed live via DIRECTV, which offers a free trial so new subscribers can try before they buy.
Catch Every Game – Try DIRECTV FREE Today! Stream live Soccer, MLB, and more with must-have sports channels like TNT, TBS, truTV, ESPN, FS1, and NFL Network—all included with DIRECTV.
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Detroit Lions fans have watched Aidan Hutchinsonevolve from a promising rookie to a full-blown defensive nightmare. Now, one of the best offensive tackles of the past two decades has confirmed what Detroit already knows: Hutchinson is a problem no lineman wants to deal with.
During a recent appearance on the St. Brown Podcast, now-retired five-time Pro Bowl left tackle Terron Armstead offered one of the strongest compliments imaginable—by admitting he never wants to see Hutchinson across the line of scrimmage again.
“He’s an alien, bro”
Armstead was originally discussing how modern edge rushers—specifically Jared Verse—contributed to his decision to retire after the 2025 season. His point was simple: players are bigger, faster, smarter, and more technically refined than ever.
Then, unprompted, he brought up Hutchinson.
“I played Aidan his rookie year, and he’s an alien, bro,” Armstead said as quoted by Pride of Detroit. “I had no idea he was 6-(foot)-7. I’m thinking he’s 6-3, 6-4. I see the kid, he’s like 6-9.”
For a veteran tackle who’s faced elite rushers for over a decade, that physical shock alone says plenty.
What really stood out: Hutchinson’s mind
Armstead made it clear that Hutchinson wasn’t just overwhelming because of size or effort—it was his ability to process at an elite level as a rookie that caught his attention.
“And with most rookies, I can change up sets, they can’t read it. Jump sets, all of that,” Armstead said. “He’s seeing all of it. He was fire, bro. His rookie year? He was fire, crazy.”
That detail matters. Veteran tackles survive by manipulating inexperienced rushers. Armstead saying Hutchinson saw everything as a rookie is about as strong an endorsement of football IQ as you’ll hear.
“I don’t want to play him again. Ever.”
Here’s the quote Lions fans will bookmark forever:
“I locked his ass up, but—in Detroit, in Detroit—he was fire, bro. I don’t want to play him again. I never want to see that kid again, ever. I’m happy I never played him (again).”
And to be fair, Armstead isn’t lying about the results. In that 2022 matchup—when the Dolphins beat the Lions, Hutchinson was held to one tackle, three pressures.
But that’s exactly what makes the praise so telling.
Respect from the best hits different
Elite players know when they’ve encountered something special—even if the box score doesn’t show it. Armstead shutting Hutchinson down that day didn’t blind him to what was coming next.
Since then, Hutchinson has:
Made two Pro Bowls
Recorded 43.0 sacks in 56 games
Finished second in the NFL in pressures in 2023
Led the entire NFL in pressures in 2025
Armstead didn’t see a fluke. He saw a rookie who already had the tools—and the brain—to become dominant.
From “fire” rookie to league-wide problem
This story perfectly captures Hutchinson’s trajectory. Even when he didn’t win every rep, he was already forcing elite tackles to dig deep into their bags.
Now? Those bags aren’t enough.
When a five-time Pro Bowler openly says he’s relieved he never had to line up against you again, that’s not hype. That’s earned fear—and earned respect.
Final thoughts
Detroit has watched Hutchinson grow in real time. But moments like this—unsolicited praise from a retired star who’s seen it all—validate everything the Lions believe they have in their franchise edge rusher.
Aidan Hutchinson isn’t just winning with effort anymore. He’s winning with size, skill, intelligence, and inevitability.
And according to Terron Armstead? That’s exactly why he’s glad his playing days are over.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Mike Conley reunited with the Minnesota Timberwolves this week as if he hadn't ever left. That's about right, because he was barely gone.
The 38-year-old point guard was back at Target Center with the Timberwolves on Friday when they hosted the Dallas Mavericks, their first game after the All-Star break. Conley was off the roster for a mere two weeks, having been traded to the Chicago Bulls on Feb. 3, sent to the Charlotte Hornets on Feb. 4, and waived on Feb. 5.
He re-signed on Tuesday with the Timberwolves, whose maneuvering made it possible to cut about $20 million off their luxury tax bill, move below the first apron to gain the flexibility to acquire Ayo Dosunmu, and bring back the revered Conley on a prorated minimum contract. Though he briefly left the official text message thread with practice times and other logistics, Conley stayed in the players-only group chat.
“The two weeks off, that was great. The first two days off, it wasn’t so great. It was a lot of — I call it — stress, but it’s a little crazy,” Conley said after practice on Thursday. “But after that, once I heard that I’d be bought out and be a free agent, I was like, 'Man, I won’t have to come to work. Like, I don’t have to do a dang thing. Stay-at-home-dad for a few days, got out to go on All-Star break a little early, got to enjoy some time with the family.”
Timberwolves coach Chris Finch joked that Conley's absence left the team lost, because the 19th-year veteran usually leads the breakout from post-practice or in-game huddles with the, “One, two, three, Wolves!” chant.
“We had a few of those quiet moments,” Finch said, before transitioning his quip to praise. “Honestly, he's meant so much to us. We don’t have the success that we’ve had without him. It’s great to have him back for all the reasons — the leadership and the maturity and the experience that he brings. So fortunate.”
For the first time in his career, Conley had found himself in a reserve role before the trade, his on-court value diminishing even if the overall benefit of his presence has continued to be appreciated throughout the organization. Averaging just 18.4 minutes per game this season, Conley fully realizes his playing time down the stretch will be even less with the arrival of Dosunmu and the emergence of Bones Hyland. Jaylen Clark and a now-healthy Terrence Shannon are in the mix for backup guard minutes.
“All these guys have earned their time and minutes on the court to get their opportunities and do what they do. I’m going to be ready and be prepared for whatever role that is, whether it’s in the rotation or spotty, whatever it is. I’m just thankful to be back around these guys,” Conley said.
As the Timberwolves reached the Western Conference finals in each of the last two years, players mentioned how badly they wanted to win for Conley, a four-time winner of the NBA Sportsmanship Award and a two-time teammate of the year honoree by the league. He's glad to get one more run at a title with this group, no matter his level of contribution over the next few months. The fact they're 149-92 in the regular season with him on the roster with four playoff series victories can't be discounted.
“It’d have been really unfulfilling not to be able to be a part of whatever happens, whether we win, lose or not,” he said, adding: “This would be really awkward for me to go somewhere else, and have to leave that behind, you know? I kind of go all in wherever I’m at.”
Dylan Stewart/Image of Sport/Newscom/The Mega Agency; Instagram/Lindsey Vonn
Lindsey Vonn, who suffered a terrifying accident 13 seconds into her run for the women’s downhill at the 2026 Winter Olympics, is sharing details from her latest surgery.
The 41-year-old skier, who returned to the U.S. on Tuesday, February 17, after a stint in an Italian hospital, shared photos and videos to her social media accounts on Friday, February 20, and said surgery took “a bit more than 6 hours to complete.”
“As you can see, it required a lot of plates and screws to put back together but Dr Hackett did an incredible job,” explained Vonn, whose Instagram post included X-rays of her leg that appears to have screws attached to the bone.
“Thank you Dr Viola for the surgery assist as well!!” she continued. “With the extent of the trauma, I’ve been struggling a bit post op and have not yet been able to be discharged from the hospital just yet… almost there.”
“Baby steps,” she concluded. “Will explain the injury and what it all means soon.”
Instagram/Lindsey Vonn
Over on her X account, Vonn posted the X-ray photo and simply captioned the post, “I’m bionic for real now 🦾.”
On February 8, Vonn was evacuated from the scene at the Olympics by helicopter and, according to Reuters, she underwent surgery on a broken leg immediately after arriving at Ca’Foncello Hospital in Italy.
As Star previously reported, the athlete suffered a complex tibia fracture and underwent multiple surgeries following the crash, which left her with injuries typically found in motorcycle crash patients that can sometimes result in amputation.
In the comments section of her latest Instagram post, Vonn received will-wishes from fans and friends.
Comedian Chelsea Handler wrote, “Love you, you tough b***h! Unreal what your body has been through and come back from,” while Olympic gold medalist Jutta Leerdam said, “You got this strong woman.”
Instagram/Lindsey Vonn
One day after the crash, Vonn’s father, Alan Kildow, told the Associated Press that his daughter is done racing — at least if he has anything to do with it.
“She’s 41 years old and this is the end of her career,” said Kildow. “There will be no more ski races for Lindsey Vonn, as long as I have anything to say about it.”
Napoli Eye Bayer Leverkusen and Olympiacos Starlets
Despite their early elimination, Napoli are keeping tabs on the UEFA Champions League to scout for some targets for the summer. They anticipate continuing with Antonio Conte, but they plan to maintain their policy of primarily adding U-23 players, as they did in January with Giovane or Alisson Santos.
According to Il Mattino, the Partenopei have laid eyes in particular on Ernest Poku and Kostantinos Tzolakis. The former moved to Bayer Leverkusen from AZ Alkmaar for €10M last summer. He has registered 6 goals and 9 assists in 35 games this campaign. He has 19 caps with the Netherlands U-21 under his belt, during which he has hit the net 5 times.
Napoli already have two starting-caliber goalies, but it remains to be seen whether Vanja Milinkovic-Savic and Alex Meret are fine with their dualism and will both stay. The Olympiacos shot-stopper is on the radar of a few big clubs, as he’s had back-to-back convincing campaigns since bursting onto the scene. He has kept 57 clean sheets and allowed 119 goals since taking over the starting job. He has featured 7 times with Greece.
Per Tuttomercatoweb, Juventus are monitoring the 23-year-old as well, along with Roma, should they cash in on Mile Svilar and reload, and Bayern Munich, which might search for a Manuel Neuer heir at the end of the season.
Our Take on Napoli, Poku, and Tzolakis
The brass’ vision prevailed in the last window, when they really couldn’t do much because of some nonsensical financial rules. One of the ways to avoid the injury bug would be to add younger players who can better handle the load, but surely Conte would have something to say about that.
The Major League Baseball Players Association had a major shakeup this week after union head Tony Clark resigned from his position following an investigation into an inappropriate relationship with his sister-in-law. This shocking news has caused a ripple effect with collective bargaining agreement discussions set to begin next offseason.
On this episode of Baseball Bar-B-Cast, Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman discuss why this controversy is such a big deal as the players’ union looks for strong leadership ahead of upcoming negotiations. They then dive into the newly elected leader, Bruce Meyer, and why he is an interesting choice to lead the players at a crucial moment as the league prepares for 2027 and beyond.
Later, Jake and Jordan are joined by Yahoo Fantasy analyst Scott Pianowski, who gives his expert opinion on whether Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani or Bobby Witt Jr. should be the number one overall pick in your draft — and which sleepers you should have your eye on. Then, the guys discuss the Milwaukee Brewers giving Pat Murphy an extension and why Tony Vitello felt the need to clarify his move to the majors. To close the show, Jake and Jordan make their picks for this week’s edition of The Good, The Bad & The Uggla.
Everyone loves trade fodder. Maxx Crosby's angry response to being sat down for the final two games for a meniscus injury he insisted he could play through sparked the fire and his refusal to say anything about it since has only added fuel to the blaze since then. And, of course, the NFL media loves this because they get to create a whole lot of content surrounding it. And, in some cases, come up with some wild trade scenarios.
Walder never explains why the compensation is so slim, saying only that the Raiders would be taking draft capital from a rival. Never mentioning that failing to even get anything higher than the 55th overall pick without so much as a star player included is not nearly enough. Not in any universe. The Chargers would simply be stealing a Pro Bowl edge rusher who would no doubt wreak havoc on his former team twice a season for several years. This laughable deal would absolutely never happen and we should all feel dumber having read it.
The other deals don't come close to reaching the Micah Parsons trade level (two firsts and a star player) some might have expected/hoped. All seem to be fairly similar deals, however.
In each case, the interested team sends the Raiders a much-needed receiver plus a top pick and, in two cases, a future pick as well. Still, not massive hauls like the Parsons deal, but there seems to be some consensus here of the compensation being a receiver, top pick, and a future pick.
We don't know at this point if Crosby even will be traded, and what the Raiders would get and from whom.
TESERO, Italy, Feb 20 (Reuters) - When the Varesco family headed off to watch the biathlon at the Winter Olympics on Wednesday they left their two-year-old Czechoslovakian wolfdog Nazgul locked in his kennel at home in Tesero.
In their absence, Nazgul became the most unlikely star of the Milano Cortina Games after escaping from the house and wandering onto the nearby Olympic cross-country course before sprinting down the finishing straight alongside the skiers.
"We were on the train to Anterselva to watch the biathlon," Alice Varesco told Reuters on Friday.
"We were three hours from home when friends started sending us videos. That was the panic moment. We realised we could not do anything."
For a few surreal seconds during the qualifying races, spectators thought a wolf had wandered onto the course.
Instead, it was Nazgul, lean and silver-grey, ears pricked, locking onto the skiers ahead of him and instinctively joining the chase.
He even appeared in an official photo finish image, which was how Alice and Ernesto Varesco ultimately confirmed it was their dog.
"Concern, for sure," Alice said of her first reaction. "It was with us the whole day actually. Even after they told us he was safe, we kept thinking about what could have gone wrong."
Nazgul had never previously got out of the house on his own and the Varescos think that, frustrated at being left behind, he may have nudged a lever repeatedly until it gave way before managing to get the door to the house open.
"He wanted to look for us I think because he's used ... to going in that direction with us when we go for a walk," Alice said. "He likes to stay with his crew."
NAZGUL CAUGHT INSIDE VENUE
Race officials reacted quickly to the incursion. The race director managed to catch Nazgul inside the venue, and family members brought him home within half an hour.
By early afternoon, the footage had travelled around the world.
"Everyone was sending us videos and pictures. At a certain point we just closed the phone because it was impossible," Alice added. "We were in Anterselva with small kids and we said we need to be here and we'll look at everything later."
Security around Nazgul's kennel has been tightened to prevent any repeat for the 50-kilometre races this weekend, which the family will watch from the balcony at home with their wolfdog firmly in sight.
The Varescos are most of all relieved that Nazgul's day out did not result in any injury or serious disruption.
"We did not think this could be possible, but generally the reaction was people loved him," Alice said.
"And it's good that nothing happened and it was going in a positive way, so everybody was happy."
(Tommy Lund and Liz Hampton in Tesero; Editing by Nick Mulvenney)
As one of tennis’ brightest and most popular stars, Coco Gauff has seen her form dip in recent months, raising a few questions about where things are headed.
Issues with her serve and forehand have really held her back, making it tough for her to compete against the top players on the tour.
Her ability to keep grinding out wins is a testament to her determination, but even that can only carry her so far.
During Coco Gauff’s Dubai Open semifinal against Elina Svitolina, a moment of frustration highlighted just how much those areas of her game are weighing on her.
Frustration boils over for Gauff during Svitolina match
Photo by Karim JAAFAR / AFP via Getty Images
What’s even more frustrating for the American superstar is the fact that, in an effort to remedy the situation, Gauff hired Gavin MacMillan to her coaching staff back in September of last year.
Brought in specifically to help fix these issues, MacMillan was seen as someone who could bring more consistency and confidence back into her game.
MacMillan hasn’t yet delivered noticeable results. After another double fault against Svitolina, the 21-year-old voiced her frustration loud and clear.
The American directed this frustrated message toward her coaching box: “I’ve been doing everything you’ve wanted for the last 6 months, and it’s not getting any better.”
And it’s not hard to see why she feels that way.
Gauff’s game hasn’t moved forward under MacMillan
The progress simply hasn’t been there. She seems no closer to fixing either stroke than when they first started working together.
Her forehand still breaks down too often, and double faults continue to show up at critical moments. Comparing now to two years ago, she looks less reliable across both shots.
MacMillan was hired specifically for these areas but has yet to deliver any real progress after half a year together. Gauff’s recent comments suggest patience might be wearing thin.
The New York Jets have a major quarterback problem. Justin Fields was a disaster, and they don't have a good rookie worth drafting early this year.
Darren Mougey and Aaron Glenn will have to look to free agency or the trade market to land a new quarterback this offseason. Fortunately, there are some interesting trade options other than the expensive Tua Tagovailoa and Kyler Murray.
Dan Parr of NFL.com shared that NFL Draft expert Daniel Jeremiah is urging the Jets, instead of taking a QB in the draft, to "kick the tires" on a trade for a backup QB from the Philadelphia Eagles or the Houston Texans.
Jets urged to 'kick the tires' on trades for Eagles, Texans QBs
"Instead, Jeremiah said the Jets should be kicking the tires on a couple of veteran backups to gauge their availability on the trade market: the Eagles' Tanner McKee and the Texans' Davis Mills," Parr writes.
Both of these quarterbacks are backups behind quarterbacks who won't have their starting jobs in jeopardy this offseason.
Jalen Hurts is a Super Bowl MVP and isn't going anywhere. And while C.J. Stroud had a rough playoffs, he's also staying the starter for now.
Of these two, McKee is a bit more of an unknown. The Eagles' backup is a Super Bowl champion. He'll be 26 years old at the start of the season and was a 2023 sixth-round draft pick by the Eagles.
In his career, McKee has a 1-1 record, a 61.4% completion rate, 597 yards, five touchdowns, and one interception across the last two seasons.
Mills, on the other hand, is more of a known QB. He was a 2021 third-round pick and is 27 years old. He's made 29 starts in his career, with a 61.8% completion rate, 7,082 passing yards, 40 touchdowns, and 26 interceptions.
His lows are tough, in a 17-TD, 15-INT season in 2022 in 15 starts. But this past season, he went 3-0 for the Texans with a 57.2% completion rate, 915 passing yards, five touchdowns, and one interception.
Both of these quarterbacks would be nice options for the Jets to trade a mid-round pick for. They're cheap, solid quarterbacks who've shown enough to be quality starters in the NFL.
Jeremiah is urging the Jets to, instead of taking a QB in the first few rounds of the 2026 NFL Draft, to "kick the tires" on these two backups with the Eagles and Texans to be their new QB for the 2026 season.
Think you can quickly identify fake faces generated by AI models? Think again. According to a recently published study by Australian researchers, AI-generated faces are now essentially too difficult to spot – except for a small minority of people who are exceptionally skilled at analyzing facial features. As a result,...
Using data transmitted wirelessly from roughly one million PHEVs produced between 2021 and 2023, the researchers measured actual fuel consumption across diverse driving conditions and found an average of six liters per 100 kilometers – roughly three times the officially certified figures.
God of Startups is an AI-powered venture architect that turns raw ideas into professional, investor-ready business documentation. The platform guides founders through structured Discovery workflows covering problem validation, customer analysis, market research, competitors, risks, and strategy. Unlike generic AI tools or expensive consultants, it continuously aligns hypotheses and key decisions in one dynamic system of record. God of Startups supports validation by prompting critical questions, identifying risks, and updating strategy as insights emerge. The result is faster, more consistent decision-making that turns uncertainty into validated, actionable business plans.
United Airlines has announced a major overhaul of its MileagePlus loyalty programme, introducing higher mile earnings, automatic discounts on award flights and expanded access to its lowest-priced reward seats for credit and debit cardholders, with […]
Antarctica21 has launched “An Expedition to Planet Earth,” an original web series offering a look behind the scenes at an expedition to Antarctica. The series follows the full journey south, inviting viewers to discover the company’s air-cruise experience starting in Punta Arenas, the Chilean gateway to Antarctica. “An Expedition to Planet Earth is an invitation...
Blue Ridge Beats Fredericksburg, York County, Charlottesville, Albemarle, Alexandria and More Virginia Destinations Smashing US Tourism Records, Now Expecting Even Bigger Surges in This Year
Virginia’s Tourism Explosion: Why the World is Watching. Move over, traditional hotspots. Blue Ridge beats Fredericksburg, York County, Charlottesville, Albemarle, Alexandria and more Virginia destinations in a stunning display of charm, yet both Virginia destinations are currently smashing US tourism records like never before. From the historic streets of York County to the bustling energy of Alexandria, the Commonwealth is on fire. Travelers are flocking to Charlottesville and Albemarle, finding that these Virginia destinations offer a magic that simply cannot be replicated.
Why is York County suddenly the talk of the town?
How did Blue Ridge manage to beat Fredericksburg in visitor growth? As Charlottesville and Albemarle welcome thousands, experts are expecting even bigger surges in this year than anyone predicted. Even the sophisticated docks of Alexandria are smashing US tourism records, proving that the entire state is a powerhouse.
We are expecting even bigger surges in this year, so the time to plan is now. Travel And Tour World urges you to dive into our exclusive report to see how these icons are redefining the American getaway. Don’t miss out on the secrets behind the success of Alexandria and beyond.
Virginia’s Record-Breaking Tourism Surge: How US Cities Are Dominating in 2025 and Beyond
The US tourism sector is booming like never before, and Virginia’s cities are leading the charge! In 2025, Virginia shattered records, captivating tourists from across the globe, and it’s only just the beginning. As US travel thrives, these Virginia cities are emerging as unstoppable tourist magnets, fueling the US tourism sector’s incredible comeback.
From Roanoke to Fredericksburg and Charlottesville, cities across Virginia are on fire with tourism growth. The floodgates are wide open, and the US tourism sector is racing toward new heights. Let’s dive deep into how Virginia is setting the stage for the most incredible tourism expansion the US has ever seen.
Virginia’s Explosive Growth: The US Tourism Sector Reaches New Heights
In 2025, Virginia achieved a tourism milestone that has left the entire US tourism sector in awe. Virginia tourism hit a record-breaking $35.1 billion in spending — a monumental feat for any state. The surge in visitor numbers is not just a blip, but a significant shift that proves US tourism is more than just recovering. It’s thriving.
Virginia’s remarkable growth is propelled by the state’s ability to tap into both domestic and international markets. Tourists flocking to Virginia from across the USA and the Americas are contributing to a global boom in US travel. With Virginia cities at the heart of this growth, it’s clear that US tourism is only just getting started.
The numbers are staggering, but what’s even more impressive is the diversity of tourists. From history buffs to food lovers and adventure seekers, Virginia is attracting all types of visitors, driving US tourism growth like never before.
Virginia’s Blue Ridge Leads the Charge: Roanoke and Beyond Spark US Travel Surge
The breathtaking beauty of Virginia’s Blue Ridge has taken the tourism world by storm. Roanoke, nestled in the heart of this mountainous region, has seen incredible tourism growth in 2025. Hotel revenues soared by a staggering 5.8%, with room demand increasing by 3.4% compared to the previous year. Visitors are flocking to Virginia’s Blue Ridge to experience its outdoor adventures and cultural offerings. From hiking trails to world-class museums, Roanoke is quickly becoming one of the US’s top travel destinations.
As US travel continues to flourish, Virginia’s Blue Ridge is capitalising on its scenic landscapes and rich history, drawing tourists from across the globe. With targeted marketing campaigns pushing the region to new heights, it’s clear that Roanoke and Virginia’s Blue Ridge will continue to be pivotal players in the US tourism sector. Expect this region to dominate the Americas travel scene in 2026 and beyond.
Fredericksburg: A Historic City Booms as US Travel Continues to Surge
The historic city of Fredericksburg, with its timeless charm and significant Civil War history, has become a major hub for US tourism. In 2025, visitor spending skyrocketed by 12.9%, marking a dramatic rise in tourism interest. Fredericksburg is not just drawing in domestic visitors but also attracting international tourists eager to explore America’s past. US travel experts have noted that the city’s rich historical heritage, combined with its growing food and cultural scenes, is making it a must-visit destination in 2025.
Virginia tourism continues to surge in Fredericksburg, with the city seeing an influx of visitors year after year. The US tourism sector is thriving on the back of Fredericksburg’s commitment to preserving its heritage while offering a modern travel experience. The Americas is watching as this city sets new records, and with Fredericksburg’s strategic investments in tourism infrastructure, it’s poised for even more explosive growth in 2026.
Charlottesville & Albemarle: US Tourism’s Secret Weapon – A City on the Rise
Charlottesville, home to Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and the University of Virginia, is experiencing a tourism boom that has left US travel experts in awe. In 2024, Charlottesville saw $990 million in tourism spending, and the numbers for 2025 are expected to exceed $1 billion. The city’s cultural scene, coupled with its world-renowned wine regions, is a magnet for US and international visitors alike.
The future of Charlottesville tourism is brighter than ever. With a new conference centre and hotel opening in 2025, and the city’s commitment to expanding its tourism offerings, Charlottesville is on track to be a key player in US tourism in 2026. Virginia tourism experts predict that Charlottesville will become one of the top destinations in the US, drawing millions of tourists eager to experience its mix of history, culture, and natural beauty.
Alexandria: A Major Player in US Tourism – How This City is Shaping the Future of US Travel
Just across the river from Washington, D.C., Alexandriais experiencing a tourism renaissance. In 2025, hotel tax revenue soared as international visitors flocked to the city’s historic waterfront and museums. The US tourism sector is witnessing a shift as Alexandria becomes a key destination for travellers seeking both history and modern experiences. Alexandria’s 17.6% growth in visitor spending has firmly established it as one of the fastest-growing cities in the US tourism landscape.
As Alexandria continues to capitalise on its proximity to Washington, D.C., and its investment in cultural and heritage tourism, it’s clear that this city will continue to play a major role in the US travel industry. With 2026 set to be another banner year for US tourism, Alexandria is perfectly positioned to ride the wave of success in the Americas travel boom.
York County: Hidden Gem of US Tourism – How This Virginia Destination Is Flourishing
While not traditionally as well-known as other Virginia cities, York County has quietly become a major player in US tourism. In 2025, York County saw an impressive 5.6% increase in tourism revenue, thanks in part to its proximity to Williamsburg and the Historic Triangle. The region’s appeal to tourists looking for American history and outdoor activities has driven consistent growth.
York County’s tourism potential is undeniable, and with new accommodations and events slated for 2026, it’s set to become a key destination in the US tourism sector. This hidden gem in Virginia is drawing increasing attention from US travellers and international visitors, making it one of the most exciting up-and-coming destinations in the Americas.
2025 US Tourism Market Scenario: A Deep Dive into the Travel Boom and What Lies Ahead for 2026
The US tourism market in 2025 is a tale of resilience, challenges, and growth. As the US tourism sector continues its recovery from the pandemic, there are several key trends driving this shift — and some hurdles that remain. According to the U.S. Travel Association and National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO), the US is still adjusting to post-pandemic tourism trends, with changes in international travel patterns and a booming domestic tourism market. While international arrivals faced some challenges, domestic travel surged in the US, and there are high expectations for 2026.
This in-depth report looks at the factors shaping the US travel market in 2025, from the surge in domestic tourism to the decline in international inbound visits. The analysis is built around authoritative sources and projections, offering a clear picture of where US tourism is headed and how it will evolve in the near future.
The US Tourism Market in 2025: A Record-Breaking Year for Domestic Travel
2025 marks another banner year for US tourism, particularly in the domestic travel sector. According to the latest data from the U.S. Travel Association, over 90% of Americans planned to travel in 2025, a significant jump compared to previous years. This surge in domestic tourism is mainly driven by a combination of pent-up demand and Americans’ growing desire to explore their own country. The US tourism sector is booming, and this surge is expected to continue through 2026.
While international visitors slowed in some parts of the country, US residents have more than made up for it, making domestic travel a cornerstone of 2025’s tourism growth. This is evident in increased hotel bookings, flight reservations, and tourism spending, as Americans flocked to both traditional and emerging destinations across the country. From national parks to bustling cities, domestic tourism continues to dominate, becoming a vital contributor to the US economy.
One standout statistic is the $35.1 billion in tourism spending achieved in 2024, with early reports showing the same momentum in 2025. This growth highlights the US travel market’s robust recovery and showcases the Americas’ increasing reliance on domestic travel.
Inbound Travel Trends: International Tourism Faces Slower Growth
The story of international tourism in 2025 tells a different tale. Inbound international visits to the US, according to the National Travel and Tourism Office, saw a 6.3% decrease in 2025 compared to the previous year. As the world adjusted to the new normal, US tourism experienced some challenges with international arrivals.
In particular, key markets such as Western Europe and South America saw slower growth, with factors like political unrest, visa restrictions, and economic downturns dampening demand. For instance, the UK, Germany, and Brazil — major sources of tourists to the US — all showed signs of slowdown in visitor numbers. These trends have led experts to predict a 6% dip in inbound visitation for 2025.
However, despite the challenges, there were some bright spots. Visitors from the Middle East and certain parts of Asia showed notable growth in 2025. Tourists from countries like India, China, and the United Arab Emirates continued to flock to the US, primarily for leisure, business, and educational purposes. This growth helped partially offset the decline in visitation from other regions.
Spending Growth in US Tourism: A Silver Lining Amidst Declines
Even though international arrivals showed a slight dip, spending by international tourists remained strong in 2025. According to theInternational Trade Administration, international visitors spent $126.9 billion in the US during the first half of the year, marking a new record for that period. The overall spending figure is expected to be $260 billion by the end of 2025, surpassing previous years’ totals.
Interestingly, spending on domestic travel has been just as significant. Americans’ travel spending is at an all-time high, thanks to the pent-up demand following the pandemic. With more people exploring destinations in the US, total tourism spending is expected to hit $38 billion by the end of 2025.
These impressive figures illustrate the resilience of US tourism. The travel spending growth shows that while the number of inbound visitors may have decreased, the total economic impact of tourism remains substantial, driven largely by domestic travel.
US Business Travel: A Slow Yet Steady Recovery
The US business travel sector faced a slower recovery than leisure travel in 2025. As hybrid work models continue to dominate, many companies are still holding back on full-scale corporate travel. However, corporate spending on travel has started to recover, with business travel expenditure growing at a steady but moderate pace.
According to US Travel Association, business travel spending is expected to grow by 3.5% in 2025, although it remains significantly lower than pre‑pandemic levels. Many companies are focusing on virtual meetings and limiting in-person conferences, which has reduced the need for frequent business trips.
Despite this, the US tourism market is adapting. Corporate tourism is expected to recover at a faster pace in the coming years, especially in key business hubs like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. 2025 is a year of adjustment for the business travel market, but with the increase in domestic business meetings and events, it is on track for further recovery by 2026.
Travel Competition: The US Faces Global Pressure in Attracting International Tourists
While US tourism continues to show strong growth, it faces increasing competition from other global destinations. As travel resumes globally, countries like France, Spain, and Japan are vying for the attention of international tourists. The US is not the only destination on the radar for travelers looking to visit the Americas. This shift in traveler preference is largely due to price fluctuations, political dynamics, and competition from other regions.
Some reports show that despite strong economic activity, international visitor growth in the US has slowed compared to other parts of the Americas, particularly in Canada and Mexico. US tourism faces a challenge to keep pace with the increasing appeal of neighboring countries that are offering attractive packages and travel incentives.
However, US tourism officials remain optimistic. Projections for 2026 expect growth in US international tourism, especially with the spotlight on key events like the FIFA 2026 World Cupand the US 250th anniversary celebrations. The US tourism sector is preparing for a resurgence in international visitors, with major cities and iconic destinations rolling out special promotions.
Tourism Outlook for 2026: The US Tourism Market’s Bright Future
Looking ahead, 2026 promises to be a pivotal year for the US tourism market. Inbound travel is expected to recover and exceed pre‑pandemic levels. This is largely due to upcoming high-profile events like the FIFA World Cup 2026, the US 250th Anniversary celebrations, and the ongoing recovery of the business travel sector.
With global events and a rising interest in US cities as tourist destinations, there is no doubt that the US tourism sector will experience stronger growth in the coming years. As international tourism rebounds, US cities are investing heavily in improving infrastructure, creating new attractions, and offering more competitive travel packages to attract tourists from all corners of the world.
The US Tourism Market in 2025 and Beyond
The US tourism market in 2025 is a mixed yet promising landscape. While international arrivals may have faced setbacks, domestic tourism has more than filled the gap, contributing to record levels of tourism spending. Looking ahead to 2026, the US tourism sector is poised for continued recovery, with major international events on the horizon and growing domestic tourism.
The US travel sector remains one of the most resilient and dynamic industries in the world. As the world continues to reopen and global travel resumes, the US will remain a leading destination for millions of tourists, both domestic and international. Virginia and other US cities are preparing for an even bigger year in 2026, as tourism numbers rise, and spending continues to break records.
Conclusion: US Tourism’s Explosive Growth – What’s Next for Virginia Cities in 2026?
Virginia is leading the charge in US tourism growth, with cities like Roanoke, Fredericksburg, Charlottesville, Alexandria, and York County pushing the limits of what’s possible. With record-breaking visitor spending and explosive tourism growth in 2025, Virginia’s cities are positioned for even greater success in 2026. As the US tourism sector continues to soar, these cities will remain at the forefront of the Americas travel boom.
2026 is set to be another year of unprecedented growth for Virginia, as these cities continue to capitalise on their unique offerings and increase their tourism appeal. With tourism at the heart of Virginia’s economy, the state’s cities are ready to take US travel to new heights, attracting millions of tourists from around the world and cementing their place in the future of the US tourism sector.
Grocery store tourism is taking the U.S. by storm in 2026, with food lovers across the country discovering hidden grocery storehotspots that offer authentic local flavours. New York is now joining other iconic states like California, Illinois, Washington, Oregon, Louisiana, Texas, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania in embracing this exciting travel trend. From bustling food markets to artisanal grocery stores, these destinations are attracting food enthusiasts who are eager to explore the unique, fresh ingredients and gourmet delights available in each city. These grocery store hotspots are not just places to shop but experiences that showcase the heart of American food culture. With so many incredible options, food lovers can find something new in every city, making grocery store tourism the ultimate way to experience the U.S. in 2026. Travel and Tour World urges you to read on and uncover the best grocery store experiences you’ve never heard of!
The Rise of Grocery Store Tourism in the United States in 2026: The Food Adventure of a Lifetime!
Grocery store tourism is traveling to grocery stores across the country to experience the local culture and food of that city. Food enthusiasts, thrill seekers, and grocery store tourists are quickly discovering this new travel trend across multiple cities in the country.
Not all tourism is the same. Markets and food stores give each city its own heart and personality. From the landmark attractions in New York City to artisanal goodies in San Francisco, grocery store tourism is changing how we explore, shop, and eat. Excited about the grocery store tourism craze hitting America? Let’s go!
America’s Grocery Store Tourism Mecca: New York City
New York City is rightfully the mecca of grocery store tourism. The city’s amazing food diversity and range of iconic grocery stores and food markets draw visitors from every place on earth. Food lovers wander from the popular middle of the city, Chelsea Market, to the gigantic Eataly in the Flatiron District. New York really is the food lover’s paradise.
At Chelsea Market, the smell of freshly baked bread and artisanal cheeses wafts around, enticing both the locals and the visitors to peruse the market and take home some gourmet products. Want to go to Italy but don’t want to leave New York? You’re in luck. Eataly is the perfect spot. With fresh, made-in-house pastas, gourmet Italian meats, Italian wines, and more, this huge Italian marketplace is not just shopping but also a journey.
New York City has unique multicultural and multi-ethnic cuisines. The adventurous food lover has plenty to explore and experience. We assure you, this place will start a new love affair between you and food.
San Francisco: Local Food Heaven for Grocery Store Tourists
Food lovers have also found a perfect place in San Francisco, located on the west side of theUnited States. The famous Ferry Building Marketplace offers a large variety of organic and sustainable local products. In this historical food hall, you can find local cheeses, fresh seafood, baked goods, and artisanal chocolate. Enjoy a walk on the shore while eating some of the baked goods sold by the waterfront vendors.
But wait, there’s more! The Bi-Rite Market and The Market at the Ferry Building have a fantastic array of locally sourced seasonal products, meats, and wines. Grocery stores in San Francisco are not just places where you buy food, but where you experience the unique tastes of the city. It’s not just a trip to the market, it is a trip into the city’s food culture!
Los Angeles: Grocery Store Tourism at Its Best!
There are grocery stores in Los Angeles, and then there’s grocery store tourism in Los Angeles. This sprawling city is complemented by a variety of ethnic grocery outlets and food markets, making the city’s immensity feel multicultural. One of the best places to experience the variety of food offerings in Los Angeles is the Grand Central Market, located in Downtown LA.
The food hall serves Mexican street food and Mediterranean cuisine, and it is a great place to start your adventure. At 99 Ranch Market, you can experience authentic Asian grocery stores. Tienda La Reina is a great place to shop if you are looking for authentic Mexican grocery products.
Grocery shopping in Los Angeles lets you travel the world without leaving the city. You can find stores with a huge variety of foods from many different countries that reflect the cultural diversity of Los Angeles.
Chicago: Taste the Past
Chicago combines delicious food with rich history, making it a special tourist destination. The old and new grocery stores in Chicago show the history of food in the city. The Chicago French Market is a good example of a store that sells a mix of local and international foods. You can find many types of food, including fresh vegetables, cheese, and pastries.
Chicago also has many amazing farmers’ markets. You can find the best food in any city in the grocery store tourism markets in Chicago, whether you are buying food or just tasting it.
Seattle: Pike Place Market – Mariners Family Shows at Market Place
While at Pikes, don’t forget that there are plenty of seafood loving to-go grocery store tourists who will visit this place in Seattle, which makes for the most awe-inspiring sensory experience. The famous fish-throwers, the servers, store patrons, street performers, and live artists offer fish, local produce, farmstead cheese, local specialty foods, and handmade seasonal products. The smells, sights, sounds, and flavors of Seattle grocery stores will engage customers at every turn.
Most people probably didn’t know that Seattle had two Whole Foods Markets, to be honest. And on the other end of that side, there is a small but mighty set of Pacific Northwest specialty grocery retailers that adds that extra Pacific they are aiming for to the Northwest. The produce section is in the Northwest. The meat department is all local. The deli, chef’s collection, placed by the inbox on top, is upscale. And the grocery is Northwest Plus. Most wonderful little stop stores in the Northwest, complete with local seafood and Pacific Northwest deli meat, Northwest cheese, and above all, the entire world of grocery perfection located at the top end.
Portland: The One And Only
Portland is the only place dedicated to saving Planet Earth’s self grocery store tourist in that every single store is dedicated to the welfare and well-being of their self store regular grocery customers who care about the self store regular grocery customers. The Portland Farmers Market is a place where one will see the best that the state of Oregon can produce in the Timberland region, with their non-chemical engineering produced farm products, with artificial knees, baked with artificial yellows, and stop counter schools. And on and on and on, the entire state of Oregon, and the state of Oregon, and the state of Oregon.
Portland New Seasons Market and Food Front Cooperative have an emphasis on eco-friendly initiatives. Grocery store tourism in Portland is a must for those wanting to have an eco-friendly culinary adventure.
New Orleans: A Grocery Store Tourism Experience of Creole and Cajun Heritage
New Orleans is the only place in the country that offers this kind of grocery store tourism experience. Central Grocery is one of New Orleans’ oldest grocery stores. It has been serving the public since 1906. While there, you will be able to experience the history of the city and its Creole and Cajun cuisine by purchasing some of the best local foods.
The Market at the French Market and The St. Roch Market both allow you to experience the cuisine of New Orleans. For those wanting to take part in grocery store tourism in New Orleans, some of the things you will find include local fruits and vegetables, genuine Cajun products, and fresh packaged food.
Austin – A World of Grocery Delight
Austin, Texas, is a city known for its bold flavors, and its impressive culinary scene is just one of the many offerings to be experienced. Grocery store tourists will also enjoy visiting the Texas Farmers’ Market, where fresh and locally sourced ingredients are showcased. At Central Market and Whole Foods, there are also upscale offerings to explore.
Crafted grocery store tourism in Austin effortlessly combines locally available grocery store ingredients and treats with the distinct culinary flair of the city. Farm-to-table real experiences with culinary creations are also a piece of the grocery store tourism in the city. It is truly a great experience for all to enjoy the diverse and delightful offerings of Texas.
Boston – Where History And Food Sync
For those with a passion for food and a serious interest in history, Boston becomes a very interesting city. Grocery store tourism is serious in Boston. Quincy Market, the historic marketplace formed over 200 years ago, is one of the major tourist points of interest within the city. An incredible array of offerings is available, including fresh local seafood, groceries, and international gourmet products. The diversity of the food culture in Boston is astonishing.
Boston’s ethnic grocery stores give you a chance to learn a bit more about Boston’s diverse history. Whether you go to Haymarket or any of the other ethnic food stores around the city, grocery store tourism in Boston combines history, diversity, and food uniquely.
Philadelphia, A Food Lover’s Paradise
Philadelphia is known as America’s birthplace of independence, but it is also home to a delicious food culture. Visitors can enjoy a great selection of local food, like the Philly cheesesteaks and soft pretzels at The Reading Terminal Market, which is one of the first and most popular public markets in the country.
But the grocery store tourism does not end here! Di Bruno Bros. is a gourmet grocery store selling fine cheeses, meats, and other imported goodies. When you visit, you will see why Philadelphia is one of the best cities for grocery store tourism!
Final thought: Grocery Store Tourism is a Chance to Explore New Cuisines
The grocery store tourism craze that hit the U.S. in 2026 is here to stay. Food lovers and curious tourists are captivated by the vibrant New York markets and the historic grocery stores in New Orleans. Grocery tourism provides a different way of engaging in a city’s culture and history by sampling an artisanal cheese or locally sourced vegetables. So, mark these grocery store hotspot destinations in the U.S. and get ready to eat and explore.
Travelling through Peru currently requires extra patience as flight disruptions impact the nation’s busiest hubs. Recent data reveals a surge in cancellations and delays across Lima, Cusco and Arequipa. These operational hurdles primarily affect LATAM Peru, the country’s leading carrier. Consequently, hundreds of passengers face unexpected changes to their itineraries today. Strategic hubs like Jorge Chávez International Airport in Lima report the highest volume of diverted schedules. Meanwhile, the high-altitude gateways of Cusco and Arequipa also struggle with grounded flights. There’s a total of 14 flight cancellations and 25 delays reported. This situation creates a challenging environment for international and domestic travel alike. Travellers must now navigate rebooking processes and potential delays in their exploration of the Andean region. Fortunately, staying informed remains the best tool for any passenger. Active monitoring of flight statuses helps mitigate the stress of these sudden changes. This report breaks down the specific numbers to help you understand the current scope of the disruption.
Major Airports Affected
The disruption is centered around three of the most vital gateways for travel in Peru. Jorge Chávez International Airport, serving the capital city of Lima, has been identified as the most heavily impacted facility. A total of 8 cancellations and 22 delays were logged at this hub today alone. As the primary international entry point for the country, the ripples of these delays are being felt throughout the regional network.
Further south, the Andean hub of Cusco is also facing operational hurdles. At Subteniente FAP Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport, 4 cancellations and 1 delay have been reported. Given the high-altitude nature of the region and its reliance on tight flight windows, these disruptions represent a notable portion of the daily schedule.
Similarly, the city of Arequipa has not been spared. Rodríguez Ballón International Airport reported 2 cancellations and 2 delays. While the volume of flights in Arequipa is lower than in Lima, the impact on local connectivity remains a point of concern for those managing regional logistics.
Impacted Airlines
While several carriers operate within the region, the burden of these disruptions has been felt most acutely by LATAM Peru. The airline, which serves as a cornerstone for both domestic and international travel within the country, accounts for the vast majority of the recorded issues.
Across the three affected cities, LATAM Peru has seen 12 of its flights cancelled and 17 of its scheduled services delayed. The breakdown of these figures reveals a concentrated impact in Lima, where the carrier faced 6 cancellations and 15 delays. In Cusco, all 4 reported cancellations were attributed to LATAM Peru and in Arequipa, the airline recorded 2 cancellations and 2 delays.
Beyond the domestic giant, international carriers have also been drawn into the fray. United Airlines recorded 1 cancellation at Jorge Chávez International Airport, while the low-cost carrier Flybondi also saw 1 cancellation at the same terminal. Interestingly, neither United nor Flybondi reported any delays, suggesting their disruptions were isolated to specific flight segments.
Beyond these figures, minor delays were being experienced by several other Airlines, like Air France, JetSMART Peru, KLM, LATAM, Plus Ultra, Sky Airline and Air Canada.
Probable Impact on Local Tourism
The concentration of flight disruptions in Lima, Cusco and Arequipa might have a direct correlation with the rhythm of local tourism. Cusco, widely regarded as the historical heart of Peru, relies heavily on the steady flow of arrivals at Velasco Astete International Airport to populate its world-renowned archaeological sites. With 4 major cancellations reported today, it is anticipated that hotel check-ins and pre-booked tours may see a sudden wave of rescheduling.
In Arequipa, known for its colonial architecture and proximity to the Colca Canyon, the disruption of even a few flights can lead to a bottleneck effect for travellers on tight itineraries. Because many tourists utilize a circuit style of travel—moving from Lima to Arequipa and then to Cusco—a delay in one city often manifests as a missed connection or a shortened stay in the next.
Lima, as the culinary and corporate capital, serves as the anchor for the entire industry. When 22 delays are recorded at Jorge Chávez International, the throughput of the entire tourism value chain is slowed, impacting everything from airport transfers to local hospitality services.
What Affected Passengers Can Do Now
For those currently caught in the midst of these cancellations and delays, several professional steps are recommended to mitigate the inconvenience. Passengers are advised to maintain constant communication with their respective airlines, particularly those flying with LATAM Peru, as the situation remains fluid.
Monitor Flight Status Remotely: Rather than waiting at the terminal, travellers are encouraged to use official airline apps and airport websites to track real-time updates for Lima, Cusco and Arequipa.
Verify Rebooking Options: In instances of cancellation, airlines are typically required to offer the next available flight or provide a full refund. Given the volume of cancellations reported today, it is suggested that passengers explore these options via digital channels to avoid long queues at physical service counters.
Documentation for Insurance: For those whose travel plans have been significantly altered, it is essential to request written confirmation of the delay or cancellation from the airline. This documentation is vital for any subsequent travel insurance claims regarding missed hotel nights or non-refundable tours.
Assess Ground Transport: In some regional cases, if a flight is delayed significantly, ground alternatives between cities like Lima and Arequipa may be considered, though the geographic distances in Peru often make air travel the only viable option for those on a strict schedule.
-The information provided is sourced from FlightAware.
For adventure seekers, Ireland’s coastline is a playground, especially after the sun goes down. Night kayaking allows you to see an Ireland few have experienced, complete with twinkling stars overhead and glowing water beneath you. This is a rare combination of natural beauty, serene waters, and an opportunity to disconnect and immerse yourself in the wilderness.
A Magical Experience on the Water
Night kayaking in Ireland, especially along Cork’s Wild Atlantic Way, lets adventurers see the world through a different lens. Imagine paddling on calm waters under the glow of a crescent moon while the sky transitions from blue to dark velvet. As darkness sets in, the stars begin to shine brightly, providing the only light apart from bioluminescent waves.
What to Expect
These kayaking trips are designed for all skill levels, whether you’re a first-time kayaker or an experienced paddler. Most tours last about two to three hours, starting just before sunset and continuing through the night. No torches are used to preserve night vision, allowing you to fully immerse in the sights and sounds of nature.
The Wonders of Bioluminescence
One of the highlights of night kayaking is bioluminescence. When you dip your hand into the water, tiny glowing sparks follow your movements, creating a magical trail. This natural phenomenon occurs when organisms like plankton emit light as a response to movement. The phenomenon can’t be captured on camera—it must be experienced firsthand. On these tours, the water glows around your kayak, enhancing the feeling of floating through a fantasy world.
Wildlife in the Night
While paddling through the still waters, you might encounter various wildlife. The darkened surroundings bring out creatures that are typically elusive during the day. You might spot otters, seals, bats, or even a heron taking flight. The night’s silence is occasionally broken by the call of a fox or the rustling of leaves as animals roam the forested shores.
Stargazing from the Water
The night sky is another stunning feature of the trip. Away from the lights of urban areas, Ireland’s dark skies reveal an unfiltered view of the stars. On clear nights, Jupiter and Saturn shine brightly, while the International Space Station may be visible speeding across the sky. The stillness of the water mirrors the stars above, creating a surreal, almost dreamlike atmosphere.
Cork’s Marine Reserves and Protected Areas
Cork’s Lough Hyne and Castlehaven Bay are part of Ireland’s network of protected marine reserves. These areas are pristine and provide a habitat for a variety of marine life. Kayaking through these areas means you are not only experiencing a unique adventure, but you’re also helping preserve Ireland’s rich natural heritage. Guides are well-versed in the history and ecology of these areas, offering fascinating insights into their past, including tales of pirates and shipwrecks.
Nighttime Serenity
For many, the most significant aspect of night kayaking is the chance to disconnect from the distractions of daily life. With phones left behind, the trip becomes a sensory experience, focusing on the natural world around you. The serenity of floating on water in complete darkness, accompanied only by the sounds of nature, offers a much-needed escape from the digital age.
Safety on Night Kayak Tours
While night kayaking offers unparalleled beauty and tranquility, it also requires safety measures. Guides are well-trained in navigation, water safety, and weather patterns. The kayaks used on these tours are stable and designed to ensure participants’ safety throughout the adventure. In the event of unexpected tides or weather, the guides are prepared to respond quickly and efficiently.
When to Go and How to Book
Night kayaking trips in Cork are available from April to October, with tours running in both Castlehaven Bay and Lough Hyne. The best time to see bioluminescence is during the warmer summer months when the water temperature is ideal for plankton to emit light. Tours usually last between 2 to 3 hours, and reservations are recommended, especially in peak season.
Guides for Travelers
Booking a Tour: You can book night kayaking tours with local companies such as Atlantic Sea Kayaking and Outdoors Ireland. They provide all necessary equipment and a guide who will lead you through the experience.
What to Bring: Wear comfortable clothes that can get wet. Even though it’s a night tour, temperatures can vary, so bring layers for warmth. Guides typically provide buoyancy aids, kayaks, and safety equipment.
Travel Tips: Cork is easily accessible by car from major cities like Dublin, with transport options to the coastal areas. Staying in nearby towns like Skibbereen or Bantry will give you easy access to the kayaking tours.
Conclusion
Kayaking under the stars is one of the best things to do in Ireland. You can relax while experiencing the adventure of looking at Ireland’s beautiful night sky while getting the chance to see the glimmering waters. You will never forget the magical experience found in the waters of Cork. You will get a chance to experience Ireland’s one of a kind bioluminescent waters at night. Don’t miss out!
Istanbul is the bridge between two worlds, and now its flagship carrier is the bridge to your best memories. Turkish Airlines has just captured the “Best in Entertainment in Europe” title at the 2026 APEX Official Airline Ratings. This is not just a win for a company; it is a warm invitation to every traveler. For four years in a row, passengers have chosen this airline for its heart and soul. When you step onto a flight to Istanbul, you are not just a passenger. You are a guest entering a world of stories, music, and joy. This award proves that the journey can be as beautiful as the destination itself.
The Power of Passenger Voices
The APEX ratings are unique because they come directly from you. Over one million flights were rated by travelers across the globe. These neutral and verified reviews show that Turkish Airlines leads with excellence. The airline excelled in five major areas: seat comfort, cabin service, food, Wi-Fi, and entertainment. By focusing on the passenger, they have turned long flights into short adventures. This “passenger-centric” approach keeps travelers coming back to the beauty of Türkiye.
Fueling a Tourism Revolution
This recognition is a massive boost for Turkish tourism. The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism views the airline as its greatest ambassador. High-quality flights lead to happy tourists who stay longer and explore more. From the blue waters of Antalya to the fairy chimneys of Cappadocia, more people are choosing Türkiye. In January 2026 alone, the airline carried a record 7.6 million passengers. This surge in travel is filling hotels and supporting local shops across the country.
A World Class Standard
Turkish Airlines did not stop at one award. They earned the “World Class” title for the fifth year straight. This honor is reserved for the very best in safety and service. The airline also took home the “Best in Food & Beverage” global award. They serve traditional hospitality with every meal. Additionally, their focus on sustainability shows they care for our planet’s future. Even their low-cost brand, AJet, won a four-star rating this year.
Official Perspectives on Excellence
Prof. Ahmet Bolat, Chairman of Turkish Airlines, expressed great pride in these results. He stated that the “World Class” award reaffirms their leadership in the global aviation industry. He noted that their commitment to dining and innovation remains unwavering. He also shared his deep gratitude to the entire airline family and their valued guests.
Dr. Joe Leader, CEO of APEX, observed that Turkish Airlines is making history. He mentioned that they are the first to capture two World Class service awards in one year. He highlighted their balance of culinary excellence and environmental leadership. He remarked that the airline continues to set a new global benchmark for authentic hospitality.
Connecting Hearts Across the Globe
Travel is about more than just moving from one place to another. It is about the smiles we share and the comfort we feel. Turkish Airlines understands this deeply. Every movie you watch and every meal you eat is a gift from Türkiye to you. As the airline grows its fleet to over 500 aircraft, the world gets a little smaller. Whether you are flying for business or a dream vacation, you are in good hands. The future of travel is bright, and it starts the moment you board. Come and see why the world has fallen in love with the Turkish way of flying.
The morning sun over Anaheim is currently shining on a different kind of crowd as the “Happiest Place on Earth” finds its most loyal protectors right in its own backyard. For the families of Southern California, Disneyland has always been a weekend sanctuary, but in 2026, those local residents have become the vital heartbeat keeping the magic alive. There is a profound sense of homecoming in the air; as international flight patterns shift, it’s the California neighbors who are filling the queues, savoring the churros, and ensuring the castle remains a beacon of joy. This isn’t just a shift in business strategy; it’s a human story of a community reclaiming its local landmark, proving that no matter how far global travelers might stray, the magic is always home-grown in the Golden State.
The Breaking Reality: California Residents Now Majority Stakeholders As of February 20, 2026, Disneyland Resort has officially confirmed a significant shift in its visitor demographics. Thomas Mazloum, President of Disneyland Resort, revealed during a media event at the Grand Californian Hotel and Spa that more than 50% of the park’s current audience consists of California residents. This local surge is proving critical as the Walt Disney Company navigates “headwinds” in international visitation—a trend first identified during their fiscal first-quarter earnings call earlier this month. While global travel to U.S. domestic parks has seen a modest cooling, the Anaheim resort has successfully pivoted its marketing machine to target the millions of residents within driving distance.+1
The Strategic Pivot: Golden State Deals and Military Honors To solidify this local support, Disney has expanded its legendary Southern California resident deals to encompass all residents of the Golden State. Furthermore, the park has made its budget-friendly $104 entry ticket available year-round for active-duty U.S. military members. According to the California Department of Tourism (visitcalifornia.com), these aggressive pricing strategies are designed to offset the decline in high-spending overseas visitors. A standout summer promotion has also been introduced, offering kid’s park-hopper tickets for as low as $50 a day, signaling a fierce commitment to keeping the park accessible for young families.
Bluey Arrives: Capturing the Youngest Generation Disneyland is doubling down on its appeal to young families with the launch of an immersive theater experience titled “Bluey’s Best Day Ever!” on March 22. Taking over the Fantasyland Theatre, the show capitalizes on the global phenomenon of the Australian animated series. Mazloum emphasized that expanding the audience is a top priority, noting that there are still countless people who have yet to discover the unique magic of the Anaheim parks. The “Bluey” experience is expected to be a viral sensation, drawing in a demographic that seeks interactive, character-driven storytelling.+1
Ride Reprieve: Monsters, Inc. Stays Open Until 2027 In a move that has delighted fans of Disney California Adventure, the Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! ride has received a two-year life extension. Originally slated for retirement this year to make way for a massive “Avatar”-themed expansion, engineering and operations teams have found a way to continue running the attraction into 2027 without hindering the new construction. This logistical win allows the park to maintain its ride capacity during a period of heavy development, ensuring that local pass-holders still have access to their favorite “monstrous” adventures.
A New Era of Spontaneity: Park-Hopping Limits Vanish Disneyland is also stripping away some of the post-pandemic rigidity that has frustrated some guests. Later this year, the park will eliminate the 11 a.m. start time requirement for park-hopping. This change will allow guests to move between Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure at their leisure from the moment they enter, restoring a sense of spontaneity to the visitor experience. According to the U.S. Travel Association (ustravel.org), reducing friction in the guest journey is a key trend for 2026 as theme parks compete for domestic leisure time.
A Magical Future Built on Local Roots Ultimately, as the fireworks burst over Sleeping Beauty Castle tonight, they illuminate a park that is evolving with its people. We are witnessing a moment where “The Happiest Place on Earth” is being held up by the hands of its closest neighbors. The transition to a local-heavy audience isn’t just a fiscal hedge; it’s a deepening of the bond between a global icon and the California community. As the park looks toward its 70th anniversary celebrations, the message is clear: the magic doesn’t require a passport to be powerful. For the California residents walking through the gates this spring, the park isn’t just a destination—it’s a neighbor, and in 2026, that neighborly love is what’s keeping the dream alive.
Today, hundreds of passengers are facing massive disruptions across Canada as Air Canada, Jazz, WestJet, Inuit, PAL, and other airlines struggle with 39 cancellations and 342 delays. Airports like Montreal, Calgary, Ottawa, Toronto, and St. John’s are at the center of this chaos. The travel industry is feeling the strain as flights are canceled and delayed, leaving passengers frustrated and uncertain about their plans. These disruptions are not just inconveniences—they’re affecting both domestic and international travelers. Air Canada, Jazz, and other major carriers are leading the charge in cancellations, impacting numerous routes. Travelers are urged to stay in constant contact with their airlines for rebooking options and compensation, as the situation evolves throughout the day.
Massive Flight Disruptions Across Canada
In an unfortunate turn of events today, travelers across major Canadian airports are experiencing significant disruptions, with hundreds of delays and cancellations reported. Passengers traveling through some of Canada’s busiest airports are being severely impacted by delays and flight cancellations. According to the latest data, a total of 342 delays and 39 cancellations have been recorded, leaving many passengers stranded and uncertain about their travel plans.
Airports Facing the Worst Disruptions
The disruptions are widespread, impacting major airports including Toronto Pearson International, Montreal-Trudeau, and Calgary International, with delays being the most frequent issue. Specifically, Toronto Pearson has reported the highest number of delays, with a total of 166 delays and 10 cancellations. Montreal-Trudeau and Calgary International airports are also experiencing severe delays with 58 delays and 65 delays, respectively.
Other airports including Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International, St. John’s International, CFB Goose Bay, and Deer Lake Regional have also been affected, though on a smaller scale. Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier has reported 22 delays and 8 cancellations, while St. John’s International faces 12 delays and 4 cancellations.
Airlines Most Affected
As for the airlines, Air Canada seems to be hit the hardest, with 94 delays and 7 cancellations. Jazz (ACA), a regional carrier, also experienced a substantial number of delays, totaling 49 delays and 9 cancellations. Other affected airlines include WestJet Encore, WestJet, and Air Canada Rouge (ACA), with WestJet reporting 67 delays and 1 cancellation, while WestJet Encore faced 32 delays and 2 cancellations. Smaller regional carriers like Air Inuit, PAL Airlines, and Air Borealis are not immune to the disruptions, either, with Air Inuit reporting 18 delays and 1 cancellation.
Analysis of Affected Passengers
The disruptions are impacting not only business travelers but also families, vacationers, and anyone relying on timely flights. The Toronto Pearson International Airport, one of Canada’s busiest hubs, is facing the bulk of these disruptions, creating ripple effects across other airlines and connecting flights. Passengers traveling through Montreal-Trudeau and Calgary International are also facing similar challenges, with long wait times, crowded terminals, and potential missed connections.
Airlines like Air Canada, Jazz (ACA), and WestJet have been especially affected, leading to confusion and frustration for passengers. These airlines are some of the largest carriers in Canada, meaning the sheer volume of delays and cancellations has a major impact on both domestic and international travel.
What Affected Passengers Can Do Now
For travelers affected by these disruptions, there are a few steps that can be taken to alleviate the situation. Passengers should immediately check the status of their flights through the airline’s official website or mobile app. Most airlines offer rebooking options, so it’s important to act quickly and explore alternate flight options.
If a flight is canceled or significantly delayed, travelers may be entitled to compensation or alternative accommodations, depending on the airline’s policies and the cause of the delay. For example, Air Canada and WestJet are known to offer rebooking, meal vouchers, and hotel accommodations when necessary.
In addition, passengers should stay in close contact with their airlines and check the airport’s website for real-time updates on delays or cancellations. If possible, travelers may also want to explore other nearby airports or connecting flights to get to their destinations sooner.
Total Flight Disruptions: A Comprehensive Overview
The total number of delays across Canadian airports and airlines today has reached an alarming 342, with 39 cancellations reported overall. This disruption is a major inconvenience for many, especially considering the ongoing busy travel season. Passengers should be prepared for more delays, especially at Toronto Pearson International, Montreal-Trudeau, and Calgary International, which are seeing the highest levels of disruption.
Given the high number of delays across major airports and airlines, passengers are encouraged to monitor the situation closely and stay in touch with their respective airlines to avoid any further confusion or inconvenience.
The Boca Raton, a world-class resort nestled within the vibrant heart of South Florida, is celebrating a remarkable milestone in 2026: its 100th anniversary. The 200-acre property, renowned for its exceptional service and breathtaking accommodations, has earned a prestigious quadruple Five-Star rating from Forbes Travel Guide, making it the only resort outside of Asia to achieve this extraordinary feat. With this recognition, The Boca Raton has firmly cemented its position as a premier destination for travelers seeking unparalleled luxury and memorable experiences. As the resort commemorates this significant anniversary, it continues to push the boundaries of excellence, ensuring that every guest enjoys a bespoke vacation experience that combines relaxation, adventure, and indulgence.
A Remarkable Achievement: Four Forbes Five-Star Awards
The Boca Raton’s recent accomplishments underscore its commitment to exceptional hospitality. The resort has earned the prestigious Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star awards for its four standout facilities: Beach Club, Yacht Club, Spa Palmera, and Flybridge restaurant. This remarkable achievement is a testament to the resort’s unwavering dedication to offering the finest in luxury accommodations, wellness treatments, and gourmet dining. With its latest accolades, The Boca Raton joins an elite group of resorts around the world that have demonstrated consistent excellence in hospitality, setting the standard for luxury destinations globally.
Centennial Celebrations and Curated Experiences
In 2026, The Boca Raton invites guests to join in the celebrations marking its 100th year of operation. Throughout the year, the resort is hosting an array of curated events to honor its rich history and legacy. Guests can enjoy immersive experiences such as visits to the newly opened Cloister Inn Museum, where they can delve into the resort’s fascinating past. For those looking to take home a tangible memento of their stay, the resort is offering a beautifully designed coffee table book that encapsulates the essence of The Boca Raton’s enduring appeal and legacy.
An Oasis for All: Luxurious Amenities and Activities
The Boca Raton offers something for everyone, whether you’re seeking relaxation or adventure. Guests can unwind at one of the resort’s luxurious pools, enjoy a variety of fitness activities, or explore the surrounding South Florida landscapes. The resort features an extensive range of world-class amenities, including 14 tennis courts, a championship golf course, and state-of-the-art fitness centers. For those looking for a more serene experience, tai chi and sunset yoga sessions are available, offering guests a chance to rejuvenate both body and mind. The Beach Club and Yacht Club also provide exclusive spaces for guests to enjoy stunning ocean views while indulging in first-class service. Meanwhile, the newly opened retro arcade, a 5,000-square-foot space brimming with classic games like pinball, foosball, and air hockey, ensures fun for the whole family. This nostalgic space provides the perfect opportunity for guests of all ages to engage in friendly competition and create lasting memories.
Family-Friendly Fun and Exclusive Activities
Families visiting The Boca Raton will find a wealth of activities to enjoy together. The retro arcade offers an exciting escape for both children and adults, with a variety of games that bring the charm of bygone eras to life. The resort’s focus on family-friendly fun extends beyond the arcade, with the opportunity to explore the property on electric bikes or even sign up for Volvo test drives available exclusively to Beach Club guests. For those with a taste for adventure, The Boca Raton offers opportunities to discover the beauty of South Florida. Guests can enjoy biking through the lush grounds of the resort or venture into the surrounding neighborhoods to explore the local culture, cuisine, and attractions.
Commitment to Excellence: Preparing for 2027 Ratings
As The Boca Raton celebrates its 100th anniversary and its latest achievement of four Forbes Five-Star awards, the resort remains focused on maintaining its impeccable standards. The resort’s leadership recognizes the importance of continued excellence, as the Forbes Travel Guide is known for its rigorous inspections and high expectations. In fact, the resort’s management team is already focused on ensuring that the resort’s offerings exceed guest expectations in the coming years, with the 2027 ratings on the horizon. The Boca Raton’s commitment to providing exceptional service is evident in its meticulous attention to detail, ensuring that every guest receives a seamless and unforgettable experience. As the resort continues to grow and evolve, its dedication to excellence remains at the core of its operations.
Why The Boca Raton is a Must-Visit Destination in South Florida
The Boca Raton is a destination that offers something for everyone, from luxurious accommodations and award-winning dining to world-class wellness facilities and exciting activities. With its recent accolades and centennial celebrations, the resort continues to set the bar for luxury hospitality in South Florida. Whether you’re visiting for a relaxing getaway, an adventure-filled family vacation, or a romantic retreat, The Boca Raton delivers an unforgettable experience that will leave you wanting to return year after year. The resort’s 100 years of history, combined with its modern-day luxury offerings, make it an exceptional destination for those seeking both relaxation and excitement.
Final Thoughts: A Landmark Year for The Boca Raton
2026 marks an extraordinary year for The Boca Raton, as it celebrates its centennial milestone and continues to deliver exceptional luxury experiences to its guests. With its prestigious quadruple Five-Star distinction from Forbes Travel Guide, and a year-long calendar of curated events, The Boca Raton is set to remain one of the premier destinations in South Florida. Guests can look forward to a wealth of activities, exceptional amenities, and unforgettable experiences throughout the year, all while enjoying the elegance and charm that have defined this iconic resort for a century.
Cruise passengers planning to explore Mexico in 2026 must understand the Cruise Vape Ban Mexico 2026 rule. This new law now affects thousands of global travellers who dream of enjoying the Caribbean heat, pristine beaches and coastal culture without disruption. Mexican authorities have introduced strict regulations banning vaping products from being taken ashore at popular cruise ports. As a result, travellers must prepare differently. Knowing about the Cruise Vape Ban Mexico 2026 before your holiday can save you from huge fines and legal hassles. This article explains the ban from a travel and tourism perspective so you can enjoy your trip safely.
What the Cruise Vape Ban Mexico 2026 Means for Voyage Packing
One of the most crucial travel tips for cruise tourists is to review what you pack. The Cruise Vape Ban Mexico 2026 means that carrying vape devices off your ship when you reach Mexican ports is treated as illegal importation. This includes all types of e‑cigarettes and vapour devices. Cruise travellers must leave these items in their cabin or onboard safe when going ashore. Mexican customs officials have the right to impose fines or penalties for non‑compliance. In a destination where travel experiences are meant to be carefree, this new rule underlines the importance of knowing local laws. You must rethink your packing list with the Cruise Vape Ban Mexico 2026 firmly in mind.
Why Mexico Introduced the Cruise Vape Ban Mexico 2026
Mexican tourism authorities introduced the Cruise Vape Ban Mexico 2026 as part of a wider public health policy. They want to reduce exposure to vaping and nicotine products on their soil. Mexico has already restricted smoking in many public spaces like beaches and hotels. The escalation to a full ban for cruise passengers reflects a stricter stance on vaping. For global travellers, this emphasises respect for local laws and customs. Land excursions should be enjoyed without breaking rules. If you ignore the Cruise Vape Ban Mexico 2026, you risk fines and confiscation of your device. This law shows why smart travellers research country rules before arrival.
Top Cruise Ports Affected by the Vape Restriction in Mexico
Cruise enthusiasts often plan voyages that stop in vibrant ports such as Cozumel, Costa Maya and Cabo San Lucas. All these places now enforce the Cruise Vape Ban Mexico 2026. Imagine stepping onto a sun‑drenched pier only to find yourself in trouble for carrying a vape. Cruise ships dock for culture, beaches, shopping and adventure. However, if you carry restricted items, including vapes, you could face serious penalties. Local immigration and customs enforce the vape restriction firmly. Smart travellers will learn these port rules and leave prohibited items on the cruise ship. Always remember the Cruise Vape Ban Mexico 2026 every time you disembark.
How Cruise Lines Are Guiding Passengers on the Vape Ban
Cruise lines are now updating their traveller advice to include the Cruise Vape Ban Mexico 2026. Most operators inform passengers that vaping devices are permitted onboard within designated areas. But, the moment you step onto Mexican land, the ban applies. Cruise staff often remind guests during safety briefings and pre‑arrival notices. They also recommend packing electronic vapour devices securely in cabin luggage and leaving them behind when going ashore. The tourist industry stresses that the Cruise Vape Ban Mexico 2026 is not a suggestion. It is a legal requirement. You must follow these rules if you want a smooth, worry‑free holiday.
Traveller Safety Tips Under the Cruise Vape Ban Mexico 2026
Understanding the Cruise Vape Ban Mexico 2026 is only part of smart travel planning. Cruise tourists should also check official travel guidance. Government travel advice from sites such as the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office or Australia’s Smartraveller explains local laws and safety tips. Travel insurance should be reviewed to cover legal support abroad. Medical precautions, sun safety, local transport guidance and health checklists add to a safer holiday. When you align your trip with the Cruise Vape Ban Mexico 2026, you protect yourself from trouble and fully experience Mexico’s beauty.
Enjoying Mexico Without Vape Worries After Cruise Arrival
More than ever, the Cruise Vape Ban Mexico 2026 highlights how travel and local legislation intersect. Cruise tourists who follow this rule protect their itinerary from disruption. Mexico offers dazzling beaches, Mayan ruins, cultural festivals and world‑class cuisine. The last thing a traveller wants is a fine or legal issue at a port of call. By simply leaving your vaping devices onboard whenever you go ashore, you avoid penalties. Most cruise visitors find this one small adjustment worth the trouble. Understanding and respecting the Cruise Vape Ban Mexico 2026 makes your journey smooth, memorable and fully focused on the delights of Mexican travel.
The Cruise Vape Ban Mexico 2026 is now part of the essential knowledge base for any cruise holiday planner. It reflects how global travel continues to change. Travellers who prepare, respect local laws and pack wisely will maximise every moment of their trip. Cruise tourism thrives on unforgettable experiences. With the right planning around the Cruise Vape Ban Mexico 2026, your adventure to Mexico’s famous ports will be seamless and trouble‑free. Set your itinerary, revise your packing, and look forward to beaches, culture and sunshine without the stress of avoidable penalties.
STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. — Experience a unique blend of culture, history, and adventure with our Stone Mountain Lunar New Year 2026 travel guide. Each February, Stone Mountain Park comes alive with dazzling fireworks, traditional Asian performances, and K‑Pop competitions, welcoming the Lunar New Year against the iconic backdrop of the mountain’s massive Confederate carving. Travelers from around the world can explore festive parades, vibrant music, and cultural displays while enjoying outdoor activities and scenic trails, making it an unforgettable destination in the heart of Georgia.
A Travel Experience With a Complex Past
Stone Mountain’s giant carving of Confederate figures remains an iconic part of the landscape and a point of deep discussion. While the monument’s origins link to Civil War history, the surrounding park offers many other attractions that appeal to travelers.
Visit the Summit Skyride for panoramic views of Atlanta’s skyline. Hike scenic trails that wind through forests and around lakes. Enjoy family‑friendly activities, from mini‑golf to the Scenic Railroad. Explore history at Historic Square or picnic by the water.
Whether you’re drawn by outdoor adventure or cultural celebration, the park provides varied experiences that make it an excellent travel stop when visiting the Atlanta area.
Modern Beats at an Old Landmark
The Lunar New Year celebration’s K‑Pop elements have drawn fans of all ages. The rising popularity of K‑Pop, boosted by global hits and series experiences, has expanded festival attendance and added a contemporary pop culture angle.
This vibrant infusion of music and dance highlights Atlanta’s evolution as a multicultural hub — blending global cultural trends with local celebrations.
Beyond Stone Mountain: Explore “Seoul of the South”
Just a short drive from Stone Mountain is Gwinnett County, a diverse travel destination officially promoted by local tourism authorities. The county markets itself as “Seoul of the South” due to its thriving Korean‑American communities and rich Asian food scenes.
Here, visitors can:
Join guided Korean food tours through authentic restaurants and bakeries.
Explore international markets and cultural events celebrating Asian American heritage.
Take part in festive celebrations that amplify global culture and community life.
This makes Gwinnett a compelling add‑on for food lovers and cultural travelers exploring North Georgia.
Outdoor Adventure and Heritage
Stone Mountain Park’s 3,200 acres offer outdoor fun year‑round. Hike up to the summit for breathtaking views. Walk wooded trails. Rent kayaks on the lake or challenge a zip line adventure.
Don’t miss the drone and light shows, especially after sunset, which turn the massive granite face into a glowing canvas of color and sound.
Whether you’re here for its cultural festivals or outdoor recreation, the area delivers a memorable mix of adventure and community celebration.
Travel Tips: Visit between mid‑February and early March for Lunar New Year festivities. Check event calendars at Stone Mountain Park before booking. Pair your trip with a guided food tour in Gwinnett County.
This travel‑friendly destination offers culture, history, nature, and culinary discovery — all within reach of Atlanta and perfect for global tourists seeking a layered yet joyful Southern experience.
A Celebration for Every Traveler
Whether you’re drawn by vibrant festivals, outdoor adventures, or culinary exploration, Stone Mountain and nearby Gwinnett County offer a travel experience unlike any other. The Stone Mountain Lunar New Year 2026 travel guide shows visitors how cultural traditions and modern entertainment coexist in a setting rich with history and natural beauty. From K‑Pop competitions and traditional performances to hiking trails and panoramic views, travelers can immerse themselves in activities that appeal to all ages.
This celebration is more than a festival—it’s a chance to witness a dynamic, multicultural South, experience authentic Asian cuisine, and enjoy family-friendly attractions in one destination. Global tourists can plan a trip that blends learning, adventure, and entertainment while exploring Georgia’s iconic landscapes. Whether visiting for a day or staying for the weekend, Stone Mountain Park promises memories that last a lifetime and a vibrant glimpse into the future of Southern culture.
Samsung is expected to benefit from a new $200 million US program that aims to support non-Chinese smartphones in the Indo-Pacific region.The plan, the Edge AI package, will help provide affordable, good-quality smartphones that use US operating systems like Android and iOS.
The US State Department says the program will help about 1 billion people in the Indo-Pacific join an “open and innovative” internet system. While China is not mentioned by name, the plan is seen as a way to compete with Chinese phone companies.
Chinese brands now control more than half of the smartphone market outside China. According to the research firm Omdia, Chinese brands surged from 11% in 2013 to 52% in the first half of 2025.
Image: Samsung
Jacob Helberg, a US State Department official, said China uses its large population of 1.4 billion people to sell low-cost phones abroad. The new US program is meant to make the market fairer and ensure a reliable supply of smartphones from other companies.
Samsung is in a good position to benefit. The funding is mainly for companies from countries in the US-led “Pax Silica” AI alliance. Apart from Apple, Samsung is the main phone maker that fits these rules and can compete with Chinese brands.
The plan is not just about phones. It is part of a bigger USstrategy to strengthen technology and AI in the Indo-Pacific. The USwill reportedly accept proposals from phone makers and telecom companies over the next 90 days, and after that, the funds will be distributed. Stay tuned for more information.
As OpenAI prepares to launch an adult mode for ChatGPT, the firing of a top internal critic has intensified concerns about safety, governance, and the company’s willingness to embrace internal dissent
Citizen Japan has announced three new models in its Series 8 collection, sporting a reduced 39.3 mm case size. These watches are powered by the 9051 automatic caliber, alongside 200 m water resistance and a slim 10.4 mm profile.
Just ahead of the already announced Apple event on March 4, macOS 26.3 code has provided new indications that the launch of the first lower-priced MacBook with an iPhone processor is imminent. Apple might also release two new Studio Displays.
Deal | Synthetik: Legion Rising is a top-down shooter with roguelike mechanics in which you face enemies and bosses in different ways. And if you want a bigger challenge, several difficulty levels are available, but you will have to give the best of yourself.
US pricing information for Samsung's Galaxy Buds4 and Galaxy Buds4 Pro earbuds has leaked online. Simultaneously, the same earbuds have started appearing at other retailers, with one Italy retailer confirming the price of the Galaxy Buds4 Pro in the Eurozone too.
Deal | Gamers who wish to build a new gaming PC will definitely have to hunt for exciting deals, considering the sky-high prices right now. For such folks, Newegg is currently offering an enticing 45% discount on a X870E-Plus motherboard and 32 GB V-Color Manta XSky memory combo.
There have been quite a few leaks and rumors about the specs for the Nothing Phone (4a) and Phone (4a) Pro, some of which may not have been the most accurate. The latest piece of information sheds more light on the two upcoming budget friendly phones.
Apple is all set to unleash a new cheap MacBook variant early next month, likely to arrive with multiple color options previously unseen on modern MacBooks. Interestingly, a tipster claims that this might not be the first time Apple has considered bright and fun colors for its notebook lineup.
In a massive blind test conducted by a popular publication, it was found that gamers prefer Nvidia's DLSS 4.5 over AMD's FSR 4 and native rendering. In fact, nearly half of the respondents picked DLSS 4.5, while less than 15% chose FSR.
Samsung just announced that it successfully completed testing of a crucial technology, considered to be the staple of the future 6G network. For those who don't know, Samsung is also involved in the research and development of telecommunications networking equipment, not just smartphones.
Samsung has partnered with KT Corporation and completed a test of the eXtreme multiple-input multiple-output (X-MIMO) technology in the 7GHz band. They achieved a peak download speed of a whopping 3Gbps by using an ultra-high-density antenna system. The said system incorporates four times the number...
Throughout his spell as interim coach, Michael Carrick has managed to impress fans with his performances. Although Manchester United are reportedly active looking for more candidates, the Englishman gets honest about the possibility of taking on a permanent role at the club.
Even though he arrived as an interim coach, Michael Carrick is pleasantly surprising fans. In the five games he has been in charge of the team, they have managed to accumulate four wins and one draw, drastically changing the shape of the roster. However,Manchester United are reportedly still looking for other candidates, creating uncertainty. Given this, the Englishman has been completely honest about his chances of securing a permanent role with the Red Devils.
“It’s not a stock answer – for me, it’s the ultimate role. I’m really enjoying it, I love what I’m doing. I’m fortunate. I feel privileged to be in the position I am, but it’s not the fact that I believe I can do it and I’m here to do it… I don’t decide how long that’s going to be but I love being here and and while I’m here, I’ll give everything I can. And I always plan for the long-term future for the benefit of the football club,” Michael Carrick said, via BBC.
After implementing a well-balanced style of play, Michael Carrick has restored belief among the Red Devils’ supporters and brought competitiveness back to the team, while also helping develop young talents such as Amad Diallo and Kobbie Mainoo, and reviving the best version of Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire and other experienced players; as a result, the Englishman has reportedly received the backing of two key Manchester United players to remain in charge.
Michael Carrick could have his future secured in the Premier League, even if his continuity at Manchester United remain unclear. According to Mike McGrath of The Telegraph, the Englishman has attracted interest from Tottenham Hotspur and Crystal Palace, as both clubs prepare for a restructuring ahead of the 2026–27 season. Following his impact at the Red Devils, he is viewed as an ideal solution to build a long-term project.
Michael Carrick, Manager of Manchester United, talks with Luke Shaw.
Red Devils hit hurdle in elite coach chase, Carrick gains ground
With José Mourinho’s departure from Manchester United, they have not opted for truly world-class managers, turning instead to names such as Ralf Rangnick, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Erik ten Hag, and Ruben Amorim. Following each of their failures, the Red Devils were reportedly targeting head coaches like Thomas Tuchel and Luis Enrique. However, the difficulties in securing their appointments could move Michael Carrick closer to the job.
Both Tuchel and Luis Enrique have reportedly rejected the option of managing the Red Devils, as they prefer the project stability they currently enjoy. Although Oliver Glasner and Julian Nagelsmann are also being mentioned, there appear to be obstacles in convincing them to sign a contract. In light of this, Michael Carrick could emerge as the leading candidate, having shown an impressive impact and reportedly willing to commit to a long-term deal with the club.
Michael Carrick, Head Coach of Manchester United, shows appreciation to the fans.
Columbus Crew have signed a former Barcelona teammate of Lionel Messi ahead of the 2026 Major League Soccer season.
Official action for the 2026 Major League Soccer season kicks off this Saturday with the matchup between Los Angeles FC and Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami. However, some clubs are still making moves in the transfer market to complete their rosters. Columbus Crew are among them, finalizing the signing of a former Barcelona player.
“The Columbus Crew have acquired free agent midfielder André Gomes, who most recently played for Ligue 1 side LOSC Lille and has competed with SL Benfica, Valencia CF, FC Barcelona, Everton, plus Portugal’s national team,” the MLS club announced in a statement on their official website.
“Gomes is signed through June 2027 with a club option for the 2027-2028 MLS season,” the Crew added, before clarifying: “He will occupy an international roster spot pending receipt of his International Transfer Certificate (ITC) and P-1 Visa.”
André Gomes aims to relaunch his career in MLS
The last stop in André Gomes’ professional career was in Ligue 1 with Lille. He initially joined the club on loan from Everton for the 2022-23 season, then returned to the Premier League for a year before moving back to France permanently, where he played the last two seasons.
Bem-vindo Maestro André Gomes 🎩🪄
The Crew have acquired free agent midfielder André Gomes, who most recently played for Ligue 1 side LOSC Lille and has competed with SL Benfica, Valencia CF, FC Barcelona, Everton plus Portugal’s national team.
However, the Portuguese midfielder has struggled recently, seeing almost no action this season. Gomes played just seven minutes for Lille across two Ligue 1 matches. In five other games, he was on the bench but did not enter, and in the remaining 25 matches, he was not even called up.
Given this situation, his departure as a free agent from France was expected, as he looked for new opportunities. Joining Columbus Crew will give him a chance to relaunch his career and play an important role again, even if the competitive level of MLS is far below what he experienced in Europe.
From teammates to rivals: Gomes and Messi
Andre Gomes joins a growing list of players leaving Europe to try their luck in MLS. Lionel Messi is obviously part of that group, having arrived in the summer of 2023 from Ligue 1 side Paris Saint-Germain.
Messi and Gomes were teammates for two seasons at Barcelona. The Portuguese midfielder joined the Catalan side from Valencia in 2016 in a deal worth around $65 million, including add-ons. During that time, Andre played 78 matches and scored 3 goals alongside Leo, winning La Liga 2017-18, Copa del Rey 2016-17 and 2017-18, and the Spanish Super Cup 2016.
Now in MLS, Andre Gomes will face Lionel Messi again — this time as rivals in the Eastern Conference. The first matchup of the season between Inter Miami and Columbus Crew is set for August 1 at Miami Freedom Park.
Midway through the growing hype surrounding his performances, attention shifted to a viral image of Cristiano Jr. standing next to his grandmother, Dolores Aveiro.
Cristiano Ronaldo and his oldest son have dominated soccer conversations in February, as the next generation of the Ronaldo legacy continues to take shape. The teenage forward has been making waves with the Portugal U-16 national team, not only through his performances on the pitch but also through his rapid physical development, which has sparked intense curiosity among fans and analysts alike. A recent viral image featuring Cristiano Jr. alongside his grandmother, Dolores Aveiro, has reignited one intriguing question that refuses to go away.
While Cristiano Ronaldo Jr. continues to develop his game at youth level, the internet has been buzzing with speculation about his growth, fueling debates about whether the teenager could eventually eclipse his legendary father both physically and athletically. The photo, shared widely on social media, triggered widespread discussion about how fast he has grown and what it might mean for his future in soccer.
The 15-year-old winger recently participated in the 2026 Algarve International Tournament, representing the Portugal U-16 squad. Despite the enormous pressure that comes with carrying one of soccer’s most famous surnames, he delivered performances that justified the growing hype surrounding his development.
He began the tournament with a standout cameo against Japan, providing a decisive assist in a 3-0 victory and nearly scoring twice shortly after coming on. He then started against the Netherlands, playing the first half of a 1-0 win, before coming off the bench in the final against Germany, where the team secured a 3-1 victory to lift the trophy.
Cristiano Ronaldo Jr. in action for Portugal U-16
His most eye-catching moment came against Japan, when he produced a dazzling back-heel assist, a moment that showcased both flair and soccer intelligence. Even without scoring, his presence reinforced his growing importance within the youth setup and highlighted his ability to influence games in multiple ways.
What is Cristiano Ronaldo Jr.’s real height?
Midway through the growing hype surrounding his performances, attention shifted to a viral image of Cristiano Jr. standing next to his grandmother, Dolores Aveiro. The photo, which compared his stature at age eight and again at age 15, stunned fans and triggered widespread speculation about his physical development.
Post United’s report suggests that Cristiano Ronaldo Jr. is estimated to be around 190 cm (6 ft 3 in) tall at just 15 years old, a figure that would make him taller than his father, who stands at 187 cm (6 ft 2 in). Other platforms like Sofascore and Transfermarkt have suggested more conservative estimates of 183 cm to 185 cm (6 ft 0 in), highlighting how difficult it is to verify exact measurements at the youth level.
What is clear, however, is that Cristiano Jr. has experienced a dramatic growth spurt, with analysts pointing out that elite athletes’ children often grow slightly taller due to genetics, nutrition, and professional training environments.
🇵🇹🚨 𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐎 𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐃𝐎 𝐉𝐑 (𝟏𝟓) is approximately 6'3” (190 cm) tall at 15 years old.
The viral height debate has also led to speculation about whether Cristiano Jr.’s physical growth gives him an advantage over his peers. Experts note that elite training, nutrition, and genetics can contribute significantly to early physical development, but they caution that growth patterns vary widely during adolescence.
Cristiano Ronaldo and his son Cristiano Ronaldo Jr
Still, a teenage forward approaching or surpassing 190 cm (6 ft 3 in) at 15 years old would be exceptional, placing him among the tallest prospects in his age group. Combined with his technical ability and soccer upbringing, the physical profile adds another layer of intrigue to his long-term potential.
Dolores Aveiro, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Cristiano Ronaldo and his son Cristiano Ronaldo Jr.
Cristiano Ronaldo and his son, Cristiano Ronaldo Jr., shared a rare and emotional chapter in soccer history, as both found themselves lifting trophies for Portugal in the same calendar year.
Cristiano Ronaldo and his son, Cristiano Ronaldo Jr., shared a rare and emotional chapter in soccer history, as both found themselves lifting trophies for Portugal in the same calendar year. For the global icon, it was another milestone in a career defined by longevity and relentless success. For his teenage son, it was an early signal that the Ronaldo legacy may stretch into a second generation.
Across two different squads, two different stages of development, and two vastly different career trajectories, father and son achieved something soccer almost never produces: parallel international triumphs within the same year. It was a moment that blended legacy, ambition, and destiny; one generation nearing the twilight of greatness, the other just stepping into the spotlight.
In a season filled with records, goals, and unforgettable moments, the 2025 calendar year became symbolic for Portuguese soccer. Across two generations, wearing the same crest and representing the same nation, Cristiano Ronaldo and Cristiano Jr. both lifted trophies for Portugal in the same year. For the father, it was another entry in an already legendary résumé. For the son, it was the beginning of a story that could one day mirror that legacy.
Midway through the previous year, Cristiano Ronaldo once again led Portugal to international glory at senior level, adding another title to his extraordinary international collection. The veteran forward captained the national team to a major international trophy in June 2025, further cementing his status as the country’s greatest-ever player.
Cristiano Ronaldo and team mates of Portugal pose for a photo with the UEFA Nations League trophy
Even in his 40s, Ronaldo remained a decisive figure, offering leadership, experience, and a psychological edge that few players in soccer history have matched. His influence extended beyond goals as his presence alone continued to elevate the nation’s mentality and belief on the biggest stages. For Ronaldo, the victory was familiar but meaningful. He had already delivered historic titles for Portugal earlier in his career, but winning again in 2025 underscored his unprecedented longevity at elite international level.
Cristiano Jr.’s double youth international breakthrough
While Ronaldo was lifting silverware with the senior national team, his son was writing his own chapter in Portugal’s youth system. Cristiano Jr. won trophies with Portugal’s U15 squad in May 2025 and later with the U16 squad in November 2025, completing a remarkable year across two age categories.
Competing in multiple age groups within the same year highlighted how highly rated he is within the Selecao’s youth structure, often playing above his natural age group. For a player still in the early stages of development, collecting trophies at international level provided both confidence and credibility.
Cristiano Ronaldo Jr. in action for Portugal U-16
Winning multiple international youth titles in a single year is rare for any prospect. Doing so while carrying the most famous surname in soccer history added another layer of pressure—and significance.
Rare father-and-son international milestone
Soccer has produced many legendary family dynasties, but a father and son both winning international trophies for the same nation in the same year is almost unheard of. The 2025 calendar year became a unique milestone not just for the Ronaldo family, but for Portuguese soccer as a whole.
Cristiano Ronaldo and his son Cristiano Ronaldo Jr
For Ronaldo, the title represented endurance and legacy. For Cristiano Jr., it represented promise and beginnings. Together, their achievements created a generational narrative arc rarely seen in sport. It was not a passing of the torch, but rather a symbolic overlap—one generation still shining while the next begins to emerge.
Cristiano Ronaldo and his son Cristiano Ronaldo Jr
Although Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr’s complaint against Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni is already under investigation, José Mourinho’s remarks continue to generate controversy. Bayern Munich head coach Vincent Kompany even decided to deliver strong criticism of the Portuguese coach.
Following Vinicius Jr.‘s complaint of racial discrimination against Gianluca Prestianni, he has received support from numerous players, former players, and even coaches. UEFA has already announced investigations into the case. However, José Mourinho‘s remarks have been heavily criticized and described as inappropriate. Bayern Munich head coach, Vincent Kompany, broke his silence and delivered a strong critique of the Portuguese coach.
While Mourinho decided to remain neutral on the Brazilian’s accusation, he did strongly criticize the player’s behavior: “I told him that when you score a goal like that you just celebrate and walk back. And then, when he was arguing about racism, I told him the biggest person in the history of this club was black. This club, the last thing it is is racist…There is something wrong because it happens in every stadium,” he said, via Amazon Prime.
Far from easing tensions, mentioning Eusebio sparked Vincent Kompany’s anger. In response, Bayern Munich coach strongly criticized Mourinho. “Jose Mourinho has basically attacked the character of Vini Jr by bringing in the type of Vini’s celebration to discredit what he was doing at that moment.It was a huge mistake in terms of leadership… He said Benfica cannot be racist because their best ever player was Eusebio… Was he there to travel with Eusebio every away game and see what he went through,” he said, via DAZN.
Not only was Kompany upset with the Portuguese, but legend Lilian Thuram also spoke out strongly. In light of this, Mourinho’s response has not been favorable. While Vinicius has always had a provocative attitude, his words appeared to justify the incident with Prestianni, which was inappropriate. However, the coach now has a chance to clarify his remarks ahead of the Champions League playoff’s second leg against Real Madrid.
Jose Mourinho, Head Coach of Benfica.
Report: Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr. furious over José Mourinho remarks
In recent weeks, José Mourinho has been strongly linked to Real Madrid, as a clause in his contract could have brought him closer to the club. However, his potential arrival may have fallen through, as his comments following Vinicius Jr.’s racism complaint against Gianluca Prestianni did not sit well across the soccer world, including within Real Madrid. In light of this, the Brazilian forward is reportedly quite upset with the Portuguese coach.
According to Marcos Benito on El Chiringuito, Vinicius Jr. is extremely upset with José Mourinho due to remarks that he found offensive. He believes that such statements are unbecoming of a soccer leader of Mourinho’s stature. The Brazilian winger a finds the comparison of a provocative celebration to a racist insult to be deeply objectionable and is reportedly quite shocked by it.
Vincent Kompany, head coach of FC Bayern Munich and Jose Mourinho, Head Coach of Benfica.
A new report from Business Insider reveals that high-level engineers at xAI were pulled off other projects to make sure Grok could answer detailed questions about the video game Baldur's Gate.
A Ukrainian man has been sentenced for helping North Koreans gain fraudulent employment at dozens of U.S. companies and funnel that money back to the regime to fund its nuclear weapons program.
Google Ads PMax placement reporting is now populating with data for more accounts, revealing Search Partner domains and impression counts for brand safety review.
Futbol üzrə Azərbaycan çempionatının (Premyer Liqa) oyunları bundan sonra bir yox, iki telekanalda yayımlanacaq.
Arena.az bu barədə AFFA-nın rəsmi saytına istinadən xəbər verir.
Futbolun kütləviliyinin artırılmasını, dünyada bir nömrəli idman növünün daha geniş auditoriyaya çatdırılmasını və yayım keyfiyyətinin yüksəldilməsini hər zaman prioritet vəzifə hesab edən AFFA Azərbaycan Premyer Liqası oyunlarının iki telenakalda yayımlanacağını açıqlayıb.
Azərbaycan Premyer Liqasının yayım coğrafiyasını genişləndirmək məqsədilə AFFA turnirin eksklüziv yayımçısı “CBC Sport” və ölkənin ilk idman telekanalı olan “İdman TV” rəhbərliyi ilə müzakirələr aparıb.
Danışıqların nəticəsi olaraq qərara alınıb ki, bu mövsümdən etibarən Misli Premyer Liqasının hər turundan bir qarşılaşma “CBC Sport”la paralel olaraq “İdman TV” vasitəsilə də canlı yayımlansın. Yeni əməkdaşlıq çərçivəsində ilk yayımın 22-ci turda keçiriləcək “Qarabağ” – “Sabah” matçı olması nəzərdə tutulur.
Danışıqların uğurla yekunlaşmasını və hər iki telekanalın məsələyə göstərdiyi həssas yanaşmanı yüksək qiymətləndirən AFFA rəhbərliyi həmkar tərəfdaşlarına təşəkkür edib.
AC Milan are quietly but decisively building their plans for the summer transfer window, and according to reports emerging from Belgium, Club Brugge striker Nicolo Tresoldi has emerged as one of their primary attacking targets for 2026.
Milan sporting director Igli Tare and CEO Giorgio Furlani have been tracking the young forward for some time, and the situation has now developed to the point where concrete steps have been taken to secure a deal.
BRUGES, BELGIUM – SEPTEMBER 18: Nicolo Tresoldi of Club Brugge shoots on goal in front of Eric Dier of AS Monaco during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Phase MD1 match between Club Brugge KV and AS Monaco at Jan Breydelstadion on September 18, 2025 in Bruges, Belgium. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
Perhaps most significantly, Milan already submitted a formal offer to Tresoldi’s camp during the January window, a move that has given them a clear competitive advantage heading into the summer.
Milan eager to wrap up move for Club Brugge’s Tresoldi
Contacts between the club and the player’s entourage are described as frequent and ongoing, with Milan keen to wrap up an agreement before a potential international bidding war develops.
A key factor working in the Rossoneri’s favour is Tresoldi’s own position. The forward is said to be firmly set on a move to San Siro, with Massimiliano Allegri’s project and the allure of one of Europe’s iconic stadiums having convinced him to place Milan at the top of his wishlist.
ROSTOCK, GERMANY – SEPTEMBER 09: Nicolo Tresoldi of Germany scores his team’s fourth goal past Nikita Parfjonovs of Latvia during the 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualifier match between Germany U21 and Latvia U21 at Ostseestadion on September 09, 2025 in Rostock, Germany. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
Should the deal go through, Tresoldi would be considered a leading candidate to fill the number nine role.
Indeed, a position that could see significant change this summer, with the prospect of a free transfer for Robert Lewandowski still lingering in the background.
Juventus have been dealt a defensive blow after the FIGC rejected their appeal to have Pierre Kalulu’s suspension overturned, ruling the Frenchman out of Saturday’s Serie A clash with Como.
The Italian Football Federation, led by president Gabriele Gravina, dismissed Juventus’ request to have Kalulu reinstated following the controversy of the Derby d’Italia, as per reports from Goal Italia.
The Turin club had argued the ban was unjust in light of what they considered a simulation by Inter’s Alessandro Bastoni, which led to the red card shown to their defender.
ISTANBUL, TURKEY – FEBRUARY 17: Lloyd Kelly and Pierre Kalulu celebrate after Teun Koopmeiners of Juventus (obscured) scored their sides first goal during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Knockout Play-off First Leg match between Galatasaray A.S. and Juventus at Ali Sami Yen Spor Kompleksi on February 17, 2026 in Istanbul, Turkey. (Photo by Burak Kara/Getty Images)
Kalulu will therefore miss the Como fixture before returning to the fold for Juventus’ trip to Roma on 1 March.
Kalulu ban upheld as Juventus prepare to do without
His absence is a notable one, the Frenchman has been ever-present this season, featuring in every competition including the Champions League, Serie A and Coppa Italia.
Since August, Kalulu has made 36 appearances under both Igor Tudor and Luciano Spalletti, contributing two goals and five assists.
Saturday will mark the first time he has missed a match in the entire 2025/26 campaign.
BERGAMO, ITALY – FEBRUARY 05: Luciano Spalletti speaks to Pierre Kalulu during the Coppa Italia Quarter-Final match at the New Balance Arena on February 05, 2026 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
Juventus will look to their squad depth to cope without him, though history offers some encouragement.
The last time Kalulu was absent, across the final two rounds of last season against Udinese and Venezia, serving a suspension, the Bianconeri won both games.
Whether they can repeat the trick without their defensive cornerstone remains to be seen when Como arrive at the Allianz Stadium on Saturday.
According to the Telegraph, Aston Villa are very keen to sign Harry Wilson on a free transfer when his contract at Fulham expires at the end of the season. The attacking midfielder/winger is also believed to be of interest to Everton, and while it’s not easy to imagine a product of Liverpool’s academy opting to […]
Under the command of Thomas Frank in 2022-23, Brentford finished ninth in the Premier League with 59 points on the board – their record so far. At this point of 2025-26, they are on 40, with 12 matches left to play. Will they set a new club record? Manager Keith Andrews believes his players are […]
David Moyes and Michael Carrick, who obviously know each other very well from the time Moyes coached Carrick as a player at Manchester United, will be in the opposite dugouts at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Monday evening, as Everton welcome United for a Premier League clash. The work Carrick has done since replacing Ruben […]
Alongside watching Ruben Amorim’s 14-month Manchester United tenure come to an end last month, a string of Premier League clubs swung the axe and elected to make a change in their respective dugouts. With Enzo Maresca completing a messy festive divorce from Stamford Bridge and Thomas Frank’s nightmare spell at Spurs coming to a long-over […]
The Supreme Court told the Trump administration that the term "regulate" in the IEEPA does not give White House authority to impose tariffs on imports.
Recent research has identified a substantial genetic overlap between the risk of developing major depressive disorder and the biological regulation of testosterone levels. The analysis suggests that the hereditary factors influencing total testosterone and a specific protein that transports sex hormones share a negative correlation with the genetic risk for depression. These findings were published in the journal BMC Psychiatry.
Depression is a pervasive mental health condition marked by persistent sadness and a loss of interest in daily activities. While environmental and psychological stressors play a role in its development, biological factors are also primary drivers. Researchers have observed that depression occurs roughly twice as often in women as in men. This disparity has led scientists to suspect that sex hormones may influence the disorder. Testosterone is one of the primary sex hormones in humans. It affects various aspects of physical and mental health.
Previous observational studies have attempted to link testosterone levels to depression, but the results have been inconsistent. Some data suggest that low testosterone in men correlates with depressive symptoms. Other studies indicate that high testosterone in premenopausal women is associated with depression. This contradiction makes it difficult to determine if the hormone causes the mood disorder or if the two simply co-occur due to other factors.
To address this uncertainty, researchers are increasingly looking at the genetic blueprints that dictate both hormone levels and depression risk. By examining DNA, scientists can bypass the fluctuations of daily hormone levels to see if the underlying biological architecture is shared. Wen Lu, a researcher at The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University in China, served as the first author on a study investigating this genetic connection. The correspondence for the study was addressed to Jian Yang, a researcher at the same institution.
The team focused on three specific traits related to testosterone. The first trait was total testosterone, which refers to the aggregate amount of the hormone in the blood. The second trait was sex hormone-binding globulin, or SHBG. This is a protein that latches onto testosterone and transports it throughout the body. When testosterone is bound to SHBG, the body cannot immediately use it. The third trait was bioavailable testosterone. This represents the fraction of the hormone that is either free-floating or loosely bound, making it easily accessible for the body’s tissues to use.
The researchers utilized data from genome-wide association studies to conduct their analysis. A genome-wide association study involves scanning the genomes of many people to find genetic variations associated with a particular disease or trait. For the depression data, Lu and colleagues used a massive dataset from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. This dataset included genetic information from hundreds of thousands of individuals of European ancestry. For the testosterone and SHBG data, they accessed the UK Biobank, a similarly large biomedical database.
The team employed a statistical method known as linkage disequilibrium score regression to estimate genetic correlations. This technique allows researchers to determine if the genetic variants associated with one trait correlate with the variants associated with another. They also used a method called MiXeR. This tool helps estimate the total number of genetic variants shared between two traits, regardless of whether the correlation is positive or negative.
The analysis revealed a negative genetic correlation between major depressive disorder and total testosterone. This means that the genetic variants associated with higher levels of total testosterone tend to be associated with a lower risk of depression. A similar negative correlation appeared between depression and SHBG. However, the researchers found a negligible genetic correlation between depression and bioavailable testosterone. This lack of connection for the bioavailable form was unexpected given the other results.
Beyond simple correlations, the study uncovered an extensive polygenic overlap. The term polygenic refers to a trait that is influenced by many different genes rather than just one. The researchers estimated that approximately 49 percent of the genetic variants that influence total testosterone also influence the risk of major depressive disorder. For SHBG, roughly 32 percent of the variants overlapped with depression risk. This suggests that the biological pathways regulating these hormones are deeply intertwined with the pathways involved in mood regulation.
To identify the specific locations on the genome responsible for this overlap, the team used a statistical framework called the conjunctional false discovery rate. This method identified a range of 28 to 79 genomic loci shared between depression and the testosterone traits. A genomic locus is a specific fixed position on a chromosome where a particular gene or genetic marker is located.
One specific locus stood out in the analysis. A gene known as NT5C2 was simultaneously associated with total testosterone, SHBG, and major depressive disorder. NT5C2 encodes an enzyme that helps maintain the balance of nucleotides within cells. Nucleotides are the basic building blocks of DNA and RNA. Previous research has linked this gene to other psychiatric conditions, such as schizophrenia. Its presence here suggests it may play a broad role in brain function and mental health.
The researchers also performed a functional annotation to understand what these shared genes actually do in the body. They looked at the biological pathways where these genes are most active. A biological pathway is a series of actions among molecules in a cell that leads to a certain product or change. The analysis showed that the genes shared by depression and testosterone traits were predominantly enriched in immune-related pathways.
This connection to the immune system aligns with existing theories about depression. Scientists have long noted that people with depression often exhibit signs of inflammation and immune system activation. Glucocorticoids are steroid hormones that regulate immune responses. They are released by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, or HPA axis. The HPA axis is the body’s primary stress response system.
The study authors propose that the HPA axis acts as a bridge between testosterone regulation and depression. Long-term stress can dysregulate the HPA axis. This dysregulation leads to abnormal release of glucocorticoids. Testosterone acts as a negative feedback inhibitor for this system. This means testosterone helps tell the HPA axis to calm down. If the genetic factors regulating testosterone are faulty, the HPA axis may remain overactive. An overactive HPA axis is a known contributor to the development of depressive symptoms.
There are limitations to this study that require consideration. The genetic data used in the analysis came primarily from populations of European ancestry. Genetic associations found in one ancestral group do not always translate perfectly to others. The findings may not fully apply to populations in Asia, Africa, or other regions.
Another limitation involves the complexity of age and sex differences. The relationship between testosterone and mood can change as people age. It also differs fundamentally between males and females. The current genetic analysis pooled data in a way that makes it difficult to parse these specific demographic nuances.
The study also focused on genetic predisposition rather than real-time hormone levels. While genetics provide a blueprint, environmental factors heavily influence actual hormone levels and mental health status. Knowing that a genetic correlation exists does not predict with certainty who will develop depression based on their hormonal genetics.
Future research will need to explore the biological mechanisms of the identified genes. The discovery of the NT5C2 gene’s involvement provides a concrete target for laboratory experiments. Scientists must determine exactly how this gene influences both hormone transport and mood regulation in brain cells.
The findings also open new avenues for understanding why some patients do not respond to standard antidepressants. Current treatments primarily target neurotransmitters like serotonin. If a subset of depression cases is driven more by hormonal and immune dysregulation, different treatment strategies might be necessary.
This research reinforces the idea that mental health disorders are systemic issues involving the whole body. The separation between “brain” disorders and “hormonal” disorders is becoming increasingly blurred. By mapping the shared genetic architecture, scientists are slowly assembling a more complete picture of human physiology.
The crypto market has been bleeding red over the past few weeks, with Bitcoin hovering below $70K. This has resulted in a strong selloff in the altcoin market, with the ETH price now trading around monthly support levels. Things have worsened recently, as crucial on-chain data now points toward a potential significant decline in the ETH price in the coming weeks. As a result, this could trap bulls and cap any short-term recoveries.
ETH Whale Profit Turns Negative
Ethereum has been declining for over the past few weeks and it lost over 34% in a month. According to Coinglass data, ETH faced over $40 million in liquidation and sellers liquidated nearly $24 million as the altcoin rebounds.
However, the overall sentiment for Ethereum remains negative, as revealed by Cryptoquant data. Ethereum (ETH) whales are now facing rising pressure as their unrealized profits have slipped into negative territory. Recent on-chain data indicates that Ethereum’s largest investors are no longer in profit. Whales are now seeing small unrealized losses instead of paper gains.
Unrealized Profit Ratio
Looking at the breakdown, wallets holding between 1,000 and 10,000 ETH currently have an average unrealized profit ratio of -0.21. Those with 10,000 to 100,000 ETH are at -0.18. Meanwhile, the largest addresses, holding more than 100,000 ETH, are also slightly underwater, with a ratio of -0.08.
Unrealized profit refers to the gain or loss investors would have if they sold their ETH at today’s market price. When this number drops below zero, it means the current price is lower than the average price at which these whales accumulated their coins.
Historical data shows that it is not common for whale unrealized profits to stay negative for long periods. Similar situations in the past have usually happened during major market pullbacks, when prices were under heavy pressure.
As a result, Ethereum might face another decline in the coming days as whales might soon sell their holdings. This will be because of the continuous failures of Ethereum to surge above $2000 level.
What’s Next for ETH Price?
Buyers have managed to keep Ether above the key support level of $1,755, which shows that traders are stepping in to buy when the price dips. As of writing, ETH price trades at $1955, surging over 1.6% in the last 24 hours.
ETH Price Chart
The next challenge for buyers is to push the price above the 100-day EMA at $2,100. If they can break through that level, ETH/USDT could gain momentum and move higher toward the 50-day SMA at $2,795.
On the other hand, if Ether fails to surge above the EMA100 trend line, it would suggest that sellers are gaining control. In that case, the price could slide toward the important support level at $1,750. Buyers are likely to strongly defend the $1,750 level, because if the price closes below it, ETH/USDT could decline further to around $1,500.
Barcelona efsanesi Thierry Henry, takımın en büyük eksiğinin üst düzey bir santrfor olduğunu savunarak "Osimhen, Haaland ya da Kane gibi kanıtlanmış bir 9 numara şart" dedi.
Türk kadın futbolunun geleceğini şekillendirecek olan Süper Lig Kadın Futbol Birliği'nin temelleri, Tüpraş Stadyumu'nda gerçekleşen toplantıyla atıldı.
Napoli forması giyen Scott McTominay, modern futbolun "fazla yumuşaklaştığını" savunarak Napoli'de hem taktik hem fiziksel olarak geliştiğini ve şehirle güçlü bir bağ kurduğunu söyledi.
Azərbaycan Premyer Liqasının XXI turunun “Sumqayıt” – “Qəbələ” oyunundan (0:0) sonra qonaq komandanın baş məşqçisi Kaxaber Sxadadze jurnalistlərin suallarını cavablandırdı.
Futbolpress.az xəbər verir ki, mütəxəssis əvvəlcə görüşlə bağlı fikirlərini bölüşdü…
– Çox danışmayacağam. Hər iki komanda yüksək səviyyədə oyun sərgilədi. Bu mövsüm üçüncü dəfə penaltini vura bilmirik. Məşq prosesində bunun üzərində işləyirik, amma oyunda alınmır. Futbolçuların mübarizəsindən razı qaldım. Belə işləsək, mövsümün sonuna kimi daha çox xal toplayacağıq.
– Penalti məsələsini həll etməyin nəsə yolu var?
– Bu, psixologiya məsələsidir. Ba Lua yüksək səviyyəli, təcrübəli oyunçudur. Futbolda belə hallar olur. Belə anlarda psixologiya mühümdür. İndi elə vəziyyətdəyik ki, hər oyun xal qazanmalıyıq, bu da futbolçulara təsir göstərir. Futbolçularıma təşəkkür edirəm. “Sumqayıt” yaxşı komandadır. Baxımlı oyun oldu. Belə komandalara qarşı oynamaq xoşdur. Biz də meydanda oyun göstərməyə çalışdıq. Qol olmasa da, zövq alınası oyun oldu. Penalti vurmağı da öyrənsək, daha yaxşı olacaq.
– Qış fasiləsində komandanı istədiyiniz kimi formalaşdıra bildiniz?
– Heyəti gücləndirdik. Bəzi oyunçular komandaya gec qoşulsa da, uyğunlaşa bildilər. İndi müdafiədə də yaxşı oynamağa başlamışıq. Qışdan əvvəl arxa xətdə problemlər var idi. Hazırda həm hücumda, həm müdafiədə yaxşı çıxış edirik. Hər oyun döyüşməliyik ki, xallar qazanaq, mövsümü istədiyimiz yerdə bitirək.
– AFFA Hakimlər Komitəsi “Sabah”la oyunda sayılmayan qolun izahını verib. Bundan razı qaldınız?
– Oyun artıq bitib. Qərara hörmətlə yanaşıram. Amma mənə elə gəlir, qol var idi.
Azərbaycan Premyer Liqasının XXI turunun “Turan Tovuz” – “Zirə” oyunundan (2:0) sonra qonaq komandanın baş məşqçisi Rəşad Sadıqov jurnalistlərin suallarını cavablandırıb.
Futbolpress.az xəbər verir ki, mütəxəssis əvvəlcə görüşlə bağlı fikirlərini bildirib…
– Oyuna çox pis başladıq və qapımızda iki qol gördük. Oyunun əvvəlində sanki komandada çaşqınlıq var idi. Birinci hissəni çox pis keçirdik. İkinci yarıda isə tam əksi oldu. Rəqibin sıx müdafiəsini yara bilmədik. Fasilədən sonra futbolçular çalışdılar. Amma matçın əvvəlində buraxılan səhvləri sonradan düzəltək alınmadı.
– Birinci hissədə dəyişiklik etdiz. Səbəb nə idi?
– Oyunun əvvəlində İsmayıl İbrahimlidə müəyyən narahatlıq var idi. Onu meydana buraxıb-buraxmamaq barədə fikiləşirdik. Hiss olunurdu ki, oyununa təsir etdi. Hesabda geriyə düşdük və dəyişikliyə getdik.
– “Zirə”nin əvəzedici komandasını izləyirsiz? Bu mövsüm əsas komandaya əvəzedici heyətdən oyunçu dəvət etmirsiz deyəsən…
– Mütəmadi olaraq uşaqları dəvət edirik. Əvəzedicilər Liqasını izləyə bilmirəm. Amma oradan komandaya oyunçular dəvət edirik. Kimi hazır görsək, şans verəcəyik.
– “Turan Tovuz” azarkeşləri sizi qarşı şüarlar səsləndirdi, atmacalar atdılar. Bunu nə ilə əlaqələndirirsiz?
– Açığı, mən də başa düşmədim. “Turan Tovuz” mənə doğma komandadır. Fikir bildirməyəcəm. Çünki səbəbini bilmədim.
Does that mean teams shouldn't at least inquire about an asking price? And if so, which team could be the most aggressive.
Sports Illustrated's Connor Orr recently revealed his 32 bold predictions of the 2026 offseason, recapping one move that every team will make before the upcoming NFL Draft. For the Texans, he has them addressing the offensive line by adding two linemen ahead of the draft, giving them flexibility to maneuver around the draft for a specific player.
As for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Orr has the AFC North franchise reaching out to Nick Caserio about the fourth-year passer.
"I’m not saying Houston will pick up, but I am saying that the Texans will receive a phone call. Stroud is the perfect pipe-dream reclamation project for a Steelers team that never plans to rebuild and is still probably too good to project for a top-10 pick in 2027," Orr wrote. "Would he be worth a pair of late first-round picks to a Texans team that can find a veteran bridge starter in this year’s class (Jimmy Garoppolo paired with Nick Caley?) and add to that vicious defense?"
Before going any further, the two sides must agree on a price to even start a conversation. Two first-round picks would have to be the starting point for the franchise quarterback to leave this offseason, but even that might not be enough for the Texans to pull the trigger.
Even though Stroud struggled in the playoffs, he's still guided the Texans to 32 wins in three years. Even with an underwhelming Year 3 compared to his breakout rookie season, it still wasn't terrible enough to warrant trade rumors.
Living in the moment, Stroud looks like a project entering the 2026 offseason. A reset with franchises might benefit him, though any regression would actually have Houston swindling the Steelers for two picks that could help elevate the franchise. But the Texans are in win-now mode after making the divisional round three straight years, so whoever came in to play quarterback would have to be capable of leading the franchise to its first conference title.
The odds are slim of that happening. Just like the odds of Stroud being shipped off are even lower.
Garland has not played since Jan. 14 but told Andscape he plans to make his Clippers debut “really, really soon.” The 6-foot-1, 190-pounder has averaged 18.0 points and 6.9 assists in 26 games this season. He said the Clippers’ medical staff will determine when he makes his debut. Garland, who missed four playoff games in 2025, believes his toe issues played a “big part” in him being traded from Cleveland. “It was going to happen regardless, either at the [trade] deadline or this summer. [My agent] Rich [Paul] had that conversation with me last summer,” Garland said. “But yeah, the toe definitely had a factor in it. They didn’t know if I was going to be healthy for this season, which I will be. But they thought that James had something that I didn’t, I believe. He has experience in playoffs and All-Star numbers still to this day, even though he wasn’t an All-Star this year. But yeah, they want to win right now. They have a group, too. And I guess I really wasn’t part of the plan. “But now, I’m over here in a really good situation. I have the ball in my hand a lot more where I could do me a little bit more. I have another superstar [Leonard] next to me. I can go get it as well.”
Team Recruiting Rankings are built on individual prospect grades, and those grades matter. But roster building is much more nuanced than simply stacking stars and calling it a day. Talent usually wins. Fit, development, and lineup balance can decide how long the winning lasts.
Every cycle, a handful of recruiting classes sit outside the top 10 in February, only to look dramatically different one or two years later. When looking at class impact, I’m looking at multi-year upside, translatable tools, positional balance, and how pieces can scale together.
So take a look at Rivals’ 2026 Industry Team Rankings, and let’s discuss five programs that are ranked outside of the top-15 who could see their futures shaped with this 2026 high school recruiting class.
The headliners of this class are Webber and Ertel. In Webber, you have the highest upside shooter in the cycle. Deep shooting touch with unconscious range. In the 6-foot-5, 6-foot-6 range, he will need to continue getting stronger and rounding out his game, but there is immense upside here as he gets accustomed to the speed of the game. Ertel is possibly the best pick-and-roll point guard in the class. He is strong on the ball and can make every read from the teeth of the defense, keeping his balance. He could make the offense hum. Matt Painter identified him early and locked him in quickly. Huan has touch, some intriguing offensive skills, and excellent timing around the basket. A bit heavy-footed, the speed of the game could be interesting for him, but the natural tools are certainly there with patience. Knight could be a solid long-term depth piece.
While this group lacks that five-star pop, the development of multi-year players has been Purdue’s sweet spot over the past decade-plus.
Allmond is the tone-setter. The one who will bring physicality and toughness from day one. He can guard up or down a line-up, and someone who attacks the rim with a purpose. The McDonald’s All-American was a big recruiting win for the Cowboys. Then they added shooting. With the up-and-down-style they play, getting spacing from the wings will be imperative. Montonati is a Cowboy legacy, someone with USA Basketball experience, and a state high school player of the year. Robinson is someone who is comfortable off the ball or as a secondary-type initiator. He also brings toughness to the table as someone who elevates the floor of the team around them.
Steve Lutz is out to a 16-10 start this season, building a lot out of the portal. Here is a class that could bring stability to Stillwater as they grow.
Mark Byington has seemingly found his groove in Nashville, jumping out to a 21-5 start and a No. 19 ranking. While his high school class is within the top-25, the pieces he fit together could outplay that number in their time at Vanderbilt. In Mgbako and Brown, who brought in two scoring perimeter players who are high-volume, and high upside bucket-getters. Brown plays more on the ball, and Mgbako more off the ball, but both are capable of getting theirs from multiple levels, both touching the paint or knocking down shots. Then there is the physicality factor that Sheffield brings. A big man who doesn’t need the spotlight, but he hunts contact and hustle stats.
Vanderbilt plays an attractive style of ball in a great city, and now they are pushing for a second consecutive NCAA Tournament and top-four finish in the SEC.
It is rare for a mid-major program to land a top-100 prospect in this modern era of recruiting. However, in this cycle, VCU went out and got two players ranked among the top-60 in the 2026 cycle. Jackson might be one of the more unique prospects in the class. Many programs liked him, but didn’tparticularly know what to do with him. That panned out well for Phil Martelli Jr. Jackson is a lengthy 6-foot-6 on-ball player. He is a quick processor and at his best as a ball-in-hand decision maker. The son of former NBA center Marc Jackson, Sammy isn’t a great shooter at this point and an average athlete, but he is able to consistently create advantages at multiple levels of the half-court, and that should bode very well for his floor as he continues to get stronger. In Ross, the commedores get one of the best defensive big men in the class. A late-bloomer, he is lengthy and mobile at 6-foot-10, and he is someone who can protect the rim while also sliding his feet and switching up a lineup. Just breaking into his upside, Ross’ best basketball is ahead of him.
The A10 is one of the toughest mid-major leagues in the country. Martelli is currently 12-2 in the league, sitting at No. 2 in the standings. It is no surprise that success brings quality.
The centerpiece of this class is Sadler. Someone who plays with a consistent chip on his shoulder. And despite being consistently overlooked The 5-foot-10 lead guard has produced at the FIBA, high school, and EYBL levels of the game. He is capable of bending a defense as well as any lead guard in this class, with an array of finishes at the rim or the ability to toss any live dribble pass necessary in the teeth of the defense. Ross Hodge hung in there with Sadler and ultimately earned the recruiting win. He also has range that extends beyond the three-point arc. Dioum is one of the best defensive big men in this class. He has excellent timing as a rim protector and can slide his feet and guard down a line-up or get in the passing lanes if necessary. He needs some offensive polish and strength, but there is a lot to like with his natural abilities on the defensive end of the floor. Whitty could be a solid long-term depth piece.
West Virginia is in year one of the Ross Hodge era, and for his first full recruiting cycle, what better way to go about it than bookend your team with a high upside one and a five?
The Philadelphia Phillies are coming into the 2026 MLB season with some pessimism thanks to the lack of Bo Bichette and the lack of changes to the offense.
Alec Bohm and J.T. Realmuto are back and the focal points of the offense. There are fears the team is simply running it back, and those might not be unfounded fears. But if there were one area of the team to have confidence in, it would be the bullpen.
Sean Kane of NBC Sports Philadelphia shared a quote from Rob Thomson, in which the Phillies manager said this year's bullpen is the best he's had since he's come to Philadelphia.
Phillies' 2026 bullpen is 'best' Rob Thomson has had in Philly
"It's probably the best group of arms that we've had since I've been here," Thomson said. He's not wrong; this group has what it takes to be great.
Jhoan Duran is the closer, and he's one of the best relievers in all of Major League Baseball. He was great for the Phillies after they acquired him from the Minnesota Twins at the last trade deadline.
After him is a strong group of relievers. Jose Alvarado, looking to play a full season after his 80-game PED suspension, has the ability to be a dominant reliever with a 100-mph fastball and great off-speed pitches.
Brad Keller, the $22 million new addition to the bullpen, is a great righty who's coming off a 2.07 ERA season with the Chicago Cubs.
Orion Kerkering, while he had the NLDS blunder against the Los Angeles Dodgers, is still a great reliever. Tanner Banks showed a lot of promise, enough for the Phillies to justify moving on from Matt Strahm this offseason.
Then Jonathan Bowlan, Kyle Buckhus, Zach Pop, and Zach McCambley are all intriguing depth options in the bullpen.
Buckhus has one of the more unique arm slots, as he's a pseudo-submarine pitcher. Bowlan has impressed this spring, and as the trade return for Strahm, with a lot of control, there's plenty of optimism with the former Kansas City Royals reliever.
This bullpen is in a much better spot than it's ever been since the Phillies made Thomson the manager in 2022, and it might be one of the best the Phillies have ever had if these relievers live up to their potential.
Norway has been the gold standard at the Winter Olympics, and that continued with another record-breaking performance in 2026.
When Johannes Dale-Skjevdal earned a gold medal on Friday, he helped the country break the record for most gold medals won by one nation at a single Olympics. Unsurprisingly, Norway broke its own record in the process, continuing to rack up gold medals at the Winter Games.
Norway's dominance at the 2026 Winter Olympics is apparent, as it is the only country with double-digit gold medals in Milan-Cortina. While the country leads the way in total medals, the gold medal disparity is even more eye-popping.
Here's how Norway broke it's own record in Milan-Cortina.
Most gold medals in a single Winter Olympics, by country
Country
Year
Location
Gold Medals
Norway
2026
Milan-Cortina
17
Norway
2022
Beijing
16
Norway
2018
Pyeongchang
14
Germany
2018
Pyeongchang
14
Canada
2010
Vancouver
14
Norway beat its own record for most gold medals by one country in a single Olympics, as biathlete Johannes Dale-Skjevdal became Norway's 17th gold medalist in 2026. Previously, Norway set the record at the last Winter Olympics, winning 16 gold medals in 2022 in Beijing.
Norway has dominated the Winter Olympics in recent memory, producing double-digit gold medals in seven of the last nine events. Additionally, Norway has led the overall medal count in three-straight Winter Olympics, looking for a fourth in Milan-Cortina.
As of Johannes Dale-Skjevdal's gold medal win on Friday, Norway produced 17 golds, 10 silvers and 10 bronze medals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, with a leading total of 37 medals. The United States and Italy are behind Norway, with nine gold medals each and 27 and 26 total medals, respectively, but no other country was close to Norway.
Celta de Vigo currently have 34 points and lie in 7th position. In their last match, Claudio Giráldez's team prevailed 1-2 against PAOK (UEFA Europa League 2025/26).
Mallorca have won 24 points to date and are placed in 18th position. In their last encounter, Jagoba Arrasate's team were beaten 1-2 by Real Betis (La Liga 2025/26).
The last meeting between the two teams ended in a 1-1 draw.
Claudio Giráldez has faced Jagoba Arrasate on three occasions, recording two victories and one draw
Jagoba Arrasate has faced Celta de Vigo on 16 occasions, recording five victories, six draws and five defeats
Claudio Giráldez has faced Mallorca on three occasions, recording two victories and one draw
TEAMS
Away from home, Mallorca currently has one victory in the last nine games.
Away from home, Mallorca comes from five consecutive games conceding goals.
Away from home, Mallorca comes from six consecutive games without winning.
Away from home, Mallorca comes from three consecutive defeats.
Mallorca comes from ten consecutive games conceding goals.
Mallorca comes from two consecutive games without winning.
Mallorca comes from two consecutive defeats.
At home, Celta de Vigo currently has one defeat in the last five games.
At home, Celta de Vigo comes from six consecutive games scoring goals.
Celta de Vigo currently has two defeats in the last 13 games.
Celta de Vigo currently has one victory in the last six games.
Celta de Vigo comes from three consecutive games scoring goals.
Celta de Vigo comes from three consecutive games conceding goals.
Celta de Vigo comes from two consecutive games without losing.
HEAD TO HEAD
Celta de Vigo and Mallorca have faced each other 51 times, there is no advantage between Celta de Vigo and Mallorca: 19 victories for each team in 51 games.
At the Balaídos Stadium, Celta de Vigo has an advantage in the clashes against Mallorca: 14 victories in 25 games. Mallorca has five victories.
In the Spanish League, there have been 37 matches between the two teams, with Celta de Vigo winning 13, 11 draws and 13 victories for Mallorca.
The Oklahoma City Thunder will be back in action for the first time after the All-Star break when they travel to Brooklyn to take on the Nets on Friday night.
Unfortunately for the Thunder, they won’t have their best player available for the contest.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ruled out vs. Nets due to abdominal strain
Star guard and reigning NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been ruled out of the game in Brooklyn due to an abdominal strain.
It will be the sixth consecutive regular season game missed by Gilgeous-Alexander due to the injury, which also sidelined him for the All-Star game despite being selected as a starter in the exhibition.
HOUSTON, TEXAS - FEBRUARY 20: Phil Rowe poses on the scale during the UFC Fight Night official weigh-in at the Westin Galleria Houston on February 20, 2026 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
Phil Rowe was tripped up by the scale again.
The veteran welterweight came in a pound over the limit (including the one-pound allowance for non-title fights) at the official weigh-ins for his bout with Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani, which takes place at UFC Houston on Saturday. Rowe was the last fighter to weigh in and registered at 172 pounds, while Lebosnoyani came in at 170.5.
This is the third time Rowe has missed weight for a UFC bout. He previously came in 2.5 pounds over the limit for bouts against Niko Price and Orion Cosce, both of whom lost to Rowe via knockout. It should be noted Rowe accepted this booking on a month’s notice, following Lebosnoyani’s original opponent Austin Vanderford withdrawing for undisclosed reasons.
It is not yet known if the bout will proceed at a catchweight and, if so, what percentage of Rowe’s purse will be forfeited as penalty.
Headliners Sean Strickland and Anthony Hernandez were on point for a pivotal middleweight fight. Strickland weighed in at 185 pounds, while Hernandez used the one-pound allowance to come in at 186.
Check out UFC Houston weigh-in results below.
Main Card (Paramount+ at 8 p.m. ET)
Sean Strickland (185) vs. Anthony Hernandez (186)
Geoff Neal (170.5) vs. Uros Medic (171)
Dan Ige (145.5) vs. Melquizael Costa (145.5)
Serghei Spivac (251.5) vs. Ante Delija (239)
Jacobe Smith (171) vs. Josiah Harrell (171)
Zachary Reese (185.5) vs. Michel Pereira (186)
Prelims (Paramount+ at 5 p.m. ET)
Chidi Njokuani (171) vs. Carlos Leal (170)
Ode Osbourne (126) vs. Alibi Idiris (126)
Alden Coria (125.5) vs. Luis Gurule (125)
Nora Cornolle (136) vs. Joselyne Edwards (135.5)
Ramiz Brahimaj (170.5) vs. Punahele Soriano (171)
Phil Rowe (172)* vs. Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani (170.5)
Jordan Leavitt (145.5) vs. Yadier del Valle (145.5)
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO - JANUARY 16: Alexa Huerta of Pumas UNAM battles for possession with Lucy Ortiz of Mazatlan during a match between Pumas UNAM and Mazatlan FC as part of the Torneo Clausura 2026 Liga MX at Olimpico Universitario Stadium on January 16, 2026 in Mexico City, Mexico. (Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Weeks 8 and 9 in Liga MX Femenil brought grit, scandalous refereeing, an angry coach, and so much more.
Toluca and Pachuca divide spoils
Week 9 was upon us and brought a clash of two Titans. Unfortunately, Charlyn Corral was absent due to a two-game suspension for pulling an opponent’s hair in week 8, though.
Tuzas got ahead when Andrea Pereira scored from the penalty spot before minute 15, and while Toluca tried to get the equalizer right away, it didn’t happen until the second half. It was Diablas’s most dangerous striker, Eugénie Le Sommer, the one who received a long, aerial pass between the center backs and finished it. It was Betzy Cuevas who sent the pass, which showed her great game vision and precision.
It is worth mentioning that Swedish Sofia Jakobsson started this match for the first time after being signed by Toluca at the end of January. Although the forward couldn’t contribute to the final score, the team will rely on her to get back to winning ways in the following games. And more so after this draw as Toluca is now winless in the past two weeks – after the loss against Monterrey in week 8, and it is 5th in the table.
Coach Patrice Lair
French coach Patrice Lair has been questioned league-wide after what happened in the last two post-match press conferences. Toluca suffered a defeat in week 8 against Rayadas de Monterrey (0-2) and after the game, coach Patrice Lair didn’t want to answer any questions, arguing he doesn’t speak Spanish.
“Big disappointment. Have a good night,” he said and immediately after that, he left the room.
El DT de Toluca Femenil, el francés Patrice Lair, dijo en conferencia que no habla español y solo dijo "grande decepción", no permitió preguntas y se fue. pic.twitter.com/DNMXITAVKp
Also, after the draw against Tuzas, Lair was asked why he made an early substitution in the 32nd minute subbing off Karla Martínez and putting Diana Guatemala instead.
“In the first half, Karla was overwhelmed on the right wing, and I spoke with Guatemala, who was subbed in and was good, better. The one who will start the match against Santos won’t necessarily be Karla,” the coach answered.
Lair’s declarations didn’t sit well with many in the league, alleging he’s throwing players under the bus.
Chivas wins in “El Clásico Tapatío” after a loss against Pumas
Even though Chivas’s fans and the people in the league in general are not happy with coach Antonio Contreras, he’s keeping the team not only afloat but also amongst the top teams.
Most recently, in week 9, they faced their rivals, Atlas, in “El Clásico Tapatío.” The Rojinegras scored in the first minute and then put the 2-0 in the 28th minute from a free kick. Guadalajara woke up in the second half and leveled things in just five minutes. They tallied two more to finish the game 4-2. That score is surely a huge boost in confidence for them ahead of week 10 clash against rivals, Club América.
Mazatlán keeps pushing, and is Tigres losing its path?
After the loss against Juárez and the draw against Mazatlán in weeks 8 and 9, Tigres’ supporters are not happy. Juárez is currently 8th in the table, and the Amazonians have a winning record against them. On the other hand, Mazatlán keeps giving teams a run for their money in its last season and is having the best season of the club’s history.
It was incredible to witness how they held Tigres scoreless after goalkeeper Daniela Solera was sent off and center back Fernanda Canseco suited up to be on goal since the team was out of subs. Mazatlán was able to put an end to Tigres’ nine-game win streak against Las Cañoneras and divided the spoils, something that didn’t happened since 2021.
Aquí todas defendemos, sin miedo y con el corazón por delante.
Let’s see how both teams do in week 10, when Tigres faces Pumas and Mazatlán plays Puebla on the road.
Club América can’t score
The match against Monterrey in week 9 wasn’t easy for Ángel Villacampa’s side. Although they dominated, they couldn’t find the back of the net, no matter the many chances they had. They opened the score through an own goal in the 32nd minute. However, in the 80th minute Rayadas would find the equalizer.
This match created some controversy after captain Scarlett Camberos got sent off for complaining, and then the referee didn’t see a handball inside the box made by Rayadas’ defender, Valeria del Campo. Those errors enraged fans and kept the conversation about the low-quality refereeing in the league.
Camberos being sent off is far from ideal since she’s going to miss “El Clásico Nacional,” the next game against América’s fiercest rival, Chivas de Guadalajara.
The table
Así marcha la #TablaGeneral tras 9 jornadas. 🧨 La pelea por los primeros lugares está 🔝 y cada punto cuenta rumbo a la Liguilla. 😮💨
MUMBAI: More than 50 Pakistan players (men and women) have registered for The Hundred auction, which will be held at Piccadilly Lights in London on March 11 (women’s competition) and March 12 (men’s competition).
“The auction list includes more than 50 players from Pakistan,” a source tracking developments told TOI.
As per the ICC Future Tours Programme (FTP), Pakistan are scheduled to have an away Test series against West Indies in August.
A full list of players registered for The Hundred auction will be released at 1 PM UK time (6.30 PM India time) on Friday.
Last season, only two Pakistan players, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Wasim, featured in the tournament (for Northern Superchargers), while Pakistan-born Zafar Gohar was part of the Oval Invincibles squad.
Six of the eight franchises, London Spirit (owned by US-based tech investors), MI Oval (Reliance Industries), Manchester SuperGiants (RPSG Group), Southern Brave (GMR Group), Sunrisers Leeds (Sun TV) and Welsh Fire (US-based Sanjay Govil), have Indian owners.
Of these six, four teams are owned by Indian IPL franchises Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, Lucknow SuperGiants and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
“The Hundred Auction will see over 200 players go under the hammer, with the sixteen men’s and women’s teams picking up to 14 players each as they take a big step towards filling their squads ahead of the sixth edition of The Hundred this summer,” the England & Wales Cricket Board stated in a media release on Thursday.
The women’s auction register includes India’s swashbuckling opener Shafali Verma, Beth Mooney, Nadine de Klerk, Amy Jones and Davina Perrin.
The men’s teams will bid for players with Joe Root, Quinton de Kock, Jason Holder, Haris Rauf and Adil Rashid potentially among the early contenders. Auctioneer Richard Madley will run proceedings across both days.
The men’s teams have a salary pot of £2.05m, while the women’s teams have a salary pot of £880,000. Each team has already spent a portion of their pot on pre-auction direct signings and retentions.
Teams are allowed up to four pre-auction signings from mid-November to the end of January. A maximum of three can be direct signings and must be overseas or England centrally contracted players. A minimum of one will be a retention, which can be any player — England centrally contracted, overseas or domestic.
Across the auction, teams will compete to sign players across three phases: Hero Players, Ranked Players and Nominated Players. Teams will each provide a long-list of players they are most interested in signing ahead of the auction, with the phases reflecting aggregated interest in each player.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Rams are promoting assistant Nate Scheelhaase to offensive coordinator, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press on Friday.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the Rams haven't made a full announcement of coach Sean McVay's new staff for the upcoming season. Scheelhaase replaces Mike LaFleur, who became the Arizona Cardinals’ head coach this month.
The 35-year-old Scheelhaase became a rising star in NFL coaching circles last season. He interviewed for at least five head coaching vacancies in the past two months. He spent the previous two years as a top offensive assistant to McVay and LaFleur, receiving the title of pass game coordinator last season while the Rams went 14-6 and reached the NFC title game.
Although McVay calls Los Angeles’ plays and leads the design of their offense, Scheelhaase will be the Rams' fifth offensive coordinator during McVay's 10 seasons in charge. All four assistants who previously held that title have gone on to become head coaches, as did Rams quarterbacks coach Zac Taylor.
All five of those former top Rams assistants — Matt LaFleur, Taylor, Kevin O’Connell, Liam Coen and Mike LaFleur — still hold those head coaching jobs. The number might have been even higher, but McVay spent two seasons without a designated offensive coordinator after Matt LaFleur's departure.
The 35-year-old Scheelhaase is a former Illinois quarterback who was on Matt Campbell's staff at Iowa State from 2018 to 2023, eventually becoming the Cyclones' offensive coordinator in his final season and leading a dramatic improvement that caught McVay's attention.
Among his responsibilities in Los Angeles, Scheelhaase was tasked with literally drawing the offensive plays taught to the Rams for each week's game plan — a detail-oriented job previously held by several Rams assistants who went on to bigger things.
The Rams' offense was the NFL's best by many metrics last year, leading the league in scoring and total yards during the regular season with AP NFL MVP Matthew Stafford at the controls. Stafford has announced he is returning for an 18th NFL season. The Rams will be among the preseason favorites to contend for a Super Bowl berth in their home SoFi Stadium in February 2027.
As NBC builds a year-round Sunday night live-sports portfolio of NFL, NBA and — coming next month — MLB, ESPN is rolling out its own innovative Sunday night programming strategy, hubbed around the top two women’s pro sports leagues.
Weekly throughout the summer, “Women’s Sports Sundays” will feature WNBA or NWSL games on nine Sundays in primetime, extending a trend of women’s pro sports leagues receiving prominent recurring primetime schedule slots on broadcast, cable and streaming networks.
“This franchise is about more than showcasing games,” ESPN programming executive Roslyn Durant said in a statement. “It’s about building a consistent, high-profile destination that reflects the passion, excellence and cultural impact of women’s sports today, while giving athletes and leagues the stage they deserve.”
NWSL has a pair of notable weekly primetime deals: Friday nights Amazon Prime Video, which launches March 13 for the 2026 season, and Saturday nights on ION. NWSL TV ratings were up 22 percent from 2024 to 2025, and the league’s 2025 championship game set a new NWSL TV record with nearly 1.2 million viewers.
Don’t be surprised by the entirely realistic scenario that a compelling ESPN Sunday night WNBA game — say, Caitlin Clark vs. Paige Bueckers — draws a bigger TV audience than “Sunday Night Baseball” on Peacock, or even possibly NBC itself. (For context: “Sunday Night Baseball” drew an average of around 1.8 million viewers in 2025, the highest mark since 2017, a number that should increase on a broadcast network like NBC but decrease on a streaming platform like Peacock. ESPN averaged 1.3 million viewers per regular-season WNBA game in 2025, and that was largely without the benefits of the “Caitlin Clark effect,” due to her absence from injury last season.)
ESPN’s announcement of the new live-sports property drew attention from all corners of social media, with a lot of sentiment being positive but some uninformed responses related to ESPN replacing baseball on Sunday nights with women’s sports.
The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand produced a helpful series of points clarifying why ESPN’s new strategy makes sense:
• They now have open Sunday night spring and summer windows.
• The WNBA and NWSL are their best options — ESPN already broadcasts these leagues — so they branded the night around “women’s sports.” It is not some “woke” move as it was portrayed by some. They already had these sports on, but now are making a set destination for some of these games in light of opting out of SNB.
• A kind portrayal is this move offends some because they love ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball.” NBC is expected to hire Jason Benetti and have local analysts. So if you are sincerely upset and not acting, just put on Peacock and NBC. They’ll do a nice job. Play ball!
• ESPN is a for-profit business. They aren’t putting these sports on out of the kindness of their heart. Post-SNB, they believe this is their best option. You put a Caitlin Clark game up against a mediocre “Sunday Night Baseball” matchup and they may be proven very correct.
Another day, another surgery for Lindsey Vonn, though this one appears to be different from all the rest.
Three days after touching down in the U.S., Vonn posted a series of photos and videos that now seem quite familiar — her being wheeled around on some sort of gurney, or on a bed, her leg stabilized by any number of soft surfaces or contraptions.
“Made it through surgery … it took a bit more than 6 hours to complete. As you can see, it required a lot of plates and screws to put back together but Dr Hackett did an incredible job.
“With the extent of the trauma, I’ve been struggling a bit post op and have not yet been able to be discharged from the hospital just yet … almost there. Baby steps.
“Will explain the injury and what it all means soon.”
The image is pretty harrowing. A severely broken leg with a series of circles and lines that are likely all those “plates and screws” that Vonn references in her post.
“Dr. Hackett” is Thomas Hackett, a renowned orthopedic surgeon who works with the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association. Hackett works out of The Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colo., one of the skiing capitals in America and a go-to place for skiers and top athletes in need of orthopedic surgery.
Three turns in, she cut her line too close to a gate as she headed into the air. The gate hooked her arm and sent her twisting. She hit the snow hard and off-balance, and never had a chance of landing upright. She tumbled down the slope in a cloud of snow and ice, her screams of pain echoing across the mountain.
She was evacuated by helicopter and spent more than a week in a hospital in Italy, where she underwent multiple surgeries before she could be loaded onto a private jet and flown back to the U.S. earlier this week.
Vonn was skiing with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee, the one that broke when she crashed, and with a right knee with a chunk of titanium in it from a partial knee replacement surgery she underwent in 2024. That surgery allowed her to attempt a comeback after five years of retirement.
She has insisted her previous injuries did not cause the most recent crash.
Two days ago, Vonn also posted sad news that her 13-year-old dog, Leo, died a day after her crash. Leo had recently been diagnosed with lung cancer and had a heart ailment.
It's a Thursday night in November. A pub in Glasgow's Merchant City. Four men, all about the age of 30, are squeezed around a small table, eating and talking about what the next few months might bring. Nobody recognises them.
That same pub three months later. Screens showing a Celtic game are changed so the patrons can watch the curling. Almost everyone is anxiously staring at the TVs, willing those same four men to reach a Winter Olympic final.
Chances are they will be doing the same on Saturday (18:05 GMT), when Team GB's Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Hammy McMillan and Bobby Lammie take on Canada with a gold medal at stake.
"Our gold medal," as Mouat referred to it after the epic semi-final win over Switzerland in northern Italy on Thursday - a contest which drew 3.4million viewers to the BBC at its peak.
And fulfilling what they believe to be their destiny - by upgrading their silver medal from Beijing four years ago - is what these four Scots have travelled to Cortina to do.
Since that 2022 near miss, Team Mouat have come to dominate men's curling, winning two World Championships and adding another couple of European crowns, as well as a record 12 Grand Slam titles.
At times, they have been unbeatable.
That cloak of invincibility slipped during the round-robin stages here - leaving qualification out of their hands - but that fright has now been forgotten, replaced with the return of a clear-eyed focus on the task in hand.
But who are these four young men who have now caught the country's attention? And what makes them more than the sum of their parts?
To understand the dynamic between the quartet, you have to go back almost nine years to when they first came together as a team.
With the world of curling being as small as it is, they weren't strangers to each other. Hardie and McMillan are 33-year-old cousins from south-west Scotland. Lammie, 29, hails from there, too, and played in a rink previously with 31-year-old Mouat, who knew the others from their shared school days in Edinburgh.
Approaches were made, conversations had, culminating in a meeting.
"That first time we met, the thing we wrote at the top of our list of goals was to win Olympic gold," Mouat told BBC Sport.
After that, the die was cast. The boys told British Curling they were only willing to join the elite programme as a unit and not individually. Their ultimatum was accepted, success has followed, and now they are considered the best in the world.
Mouat is thought to be among the greatest skips to have played the game. Hardie has a reputation as a high-grade tactician and shot maker, while McMillan and Lammie are credited with reinventing the role of a sweeper.
Once just 'the lads with the brushes', their physicality has evolved the position to the extent that the curling cognoscenti consider it to now be "a sweeping game" rather than a throwing one.
Will GB quartet make history?
But it is the coalescence of their personalities that amplifies all that sporting talent. And underpinning the team are two key things - total honesty and trust.
As McMillan puts it, "if one of us is being a dick, the rest can say so", while the more-measured Mouat describes it as "knowing the different things to say to get the best out of each other".
Individually, they are all very different.
McMillan is lively enough for all four of them; Hardie is the logic guy, an engineer by trade; Mouat is thoughtful, reflective and calm - while Lammie is the quiet, reliable presence in the background.
It might be labelled as 'Team Mouat' - as per the convention of naming a rink after the skip - but this is very much a collective. In fact, Mouat is keen to share the spotlight.
"Bruce is so compassionate and calm and he's very different from a lot of skips," explains BBC Sport pundit and 2022 gold medallist Vicky Wright.
"A lot of them are clearly the leader but the GB team operates so well because they function on a level playing field.
"The dynamic they've got works so well because they all bring a different aspect to the table and they all respect that. That's a massive part of why they're so successful."
It's instructive to see how comfortable the four of them are in each other's company and with the position they find themselves in.
All four - and alternate Kyle Waddell - have been right in among it in Cortina this week, be it stopping for a chat in the street or in restaurants, meeting friends and relatives, watching other British athletes compete. Or - in Mouat's case - going pillowcase shopping and "spending far too much money" on the morning of the semi-final.
Even in the moments before that crucial match, there was a relaxed focus about them. McMillan and Hardie were sharing a laugh, Mouat picking out familiar faces in the crowd for a smile and a wave, and Lammie was casually studying the Swiss warming up.
All of that will culminate on Saturday night in the quirky Cortina Curling Stadium, first built as an open-air venue to host the 1956 Games.
In a place where history looks down from the wooden bleachers, these four will attempt to make their own by becoming the first GB men's rink in 102 years to win Olympic gold.
Achieve that, and maybe the next time they go into that Glasgow pub they might just draw a few glances of recognition.
BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing will stage its ceremonial weigh ins and fighter face offs today for the upcoming BKB 51: “Heavy Lies The Crown” bare knuckle boxing event, streaming LIVE at 12:30 p.m. ET in the embedded video above. Headlined by the Bridgerweight title fight pitting Marko Martinjak (c) against Ike Villanueva, BKB 51 airs live on VICE TV this Saturday (Feb. 21) from inside O2 Arena in London, England.
Complete BKB 51 weigh ins text results below:
Super Lightweight (140 lbs.): Ollie Sentance (139.5) vs. Nico Earwaker (140) Cruiserweight (185 lbs.): Nathan Conroy (185) vs. Josh Horler (183.6) Welterweight (147 lbs.): Ash Devenport (146.4) vs. Liam Blackwell (145.6) Light Heavyweight (175 lbs.): Liam Teruel (175) vs. Jamie Haley (173.6) Bridgerweight (225 lbs.): Aaron Ashton (221.7) vs. Brad Donovan (224.2) Heavyweight (265 lbs.): Dan Matthews (228.3) vs. Mark O’Neill (249.9) Light Heavyweight (175 lbs.): Will Dermietzel (174.4) vs. Tom Pratt (175.8) Welterweight (147 lbs.): Dan Gittens (147.9) vs. Corey Healey (144.5) Super Welterweight (154 lbs.): Harvey Dossett (152.8) vs. Hector Galbraith (152.9) Bridgerweight (225 lbs.): Anthony Scotford (221) vs. Joe Cokayne (220.8) Super Cruiserweight (200 lbs.): Kevin Greenwood (192.5) vs. Tony Barratt (192.5) Super Welterweight (154 lbs.): Adel Altamimi (156.8) vs. Jay Eggleston (149.4) Super Welterweight (154 lbs.): Scott McHugh (154.8) vs. Martin Reffell (154.7) Bridgerweight (225 lbs.): Marko Martinjak (224) vs. Ike Villanueva (223)
For much more on this weekend’s BKB 51 fight card click here.
La Liga giants Real Madrid have set their sights on the signature of a highly-regarded up-and-coming attacking talent.
The player in the sights of the Blancos brass? Owen Mira.
Mira, for his part, is a 16-year-old attacker who chiefly lines out on the left wing, before cutting inside onto his trusty right foot.
He is currently plying his trade on the books of Granada, called up for reserve team duties despite his tender years.
The starlet has long been hailed for his abilities in the final third, giving rise to transfer interest from not only Spain, but across much of Europe.
And as alluded to above, at the front of the queue for Mira’s services with a view to the summer are none other than Real Madrid.
THE WEEKEND'S SCHEDULE: TEST AGAINST FIORENTINA FOR WOMEN'S PRIMAVERA
The highlight of the Rossoneri Youth Sector's weekend schedule is the Women's Primavera home fixture, their first match as league leaders. It is a significant test for Coach Zago's side, who host Fiorentina at the PUMA House of Football. The Men's Primavera are also in action on home soil, welcoming Napoli as they look to build on their victory away to Genoa who, in turn, will face the Under-18s. Elsewhere across the weekend, there are multiple fixtures involving the Women's youth teams and the younger age groups, with a packed programme at the PUMA House of Football.
THE WEEKEND'S SCHEDULE:
SATURDAY 21 FEBRUARY
UNDER-9: League fixture, Alcione v AC Milan, 09:30 CET - CS Kennedy, Milan
MEN'S PRIMAVERA: Matchday 26, AC Milan v Napoli, 11:00 CET - Sportitalia Village, Carate Brianza (MB)
WOMEN'S UNDER-17: Matchday 3, Como 1907 v AC Milan, 15:00 CET - CS Comunale, Casate con Bernate (CO)
UNDER-12: League fixture, AC Milan v Pro Sesto, 15:00 CET - PUMA House of Football
UNDER-10: League fixture, AC Milan v Franco Scarioni, 15:00 CET - PUMA House of Football
UNDER-13: League fixture, Pro Vercelli v AC Milan, 16:30 CET - CS P. Rossini, Briosco (MB)
UNDER-14: League fixture, Pro Vercelli v AC Milan, 17:00 CET - Comunale "Tavano", Trino (VC)
UNDER 11-WOMEN: League fixture, Baggio Secondo v AC Milan, 17:00 CET - Via Olivieri 11, Milan
SUNDAY 22 FEBRUARY
WOMEN'S UNDER-13: League fixture, AC Milan v Villa, 11:30 CET - PUMA House of Football
WOMEN'S UNDER-15: League fixture, AC Milan v Südtirol, 13:00 CET - PUMA House of Football
UNDER-18: Matchday 24, Genoa v AC Milan, 15:00 CET - CS Begato 9, Genoa
WOMEN'S PRIMAVERA: Matchday 16, AC Milan v Fiorentina, 15:30 CET - PUMA House of Football
Shaquille O’Neal has broken his silence on his newest role supporting Team USA in the 2026 Winter Olympics, expanding his influence beyond basketball into athlete health and recovery.
The NBA legend is set to contribute in a performance and wellness capacity for Team USA during the Milan-Cortina Games, aligning himself with a major global company focused on sports recovery innovation.
It marks another high-profile chapter in O’Neal’s post-playing career, where business, sport, and mentorship increasingly intersect.
Photo by CFP/Getty Images
Shaquille O’Neal confirms new Team USA Winter Olympics role
In comments shared via Anne Marie Tiernon, O’Neal addressed his involvement with Team USA’s Winter Olympics preparations, outlining his commitment to supporting athletes through a partnership with Eli Lilly.
While O’Neal is best known for his dominance on the basketball court, his new position centres on recovery and performance sustainability, areas he has long spoken about since retiring from the NBA.
The partnership reflects a broader movement within elite sport, where marginal gains in rehabilitation and conditioning can define podium finishes. O’Neal’s profile and experience add credibility to an initiative designed to keep athletes physically prepared during the intense Olympic cycle.
Shaquille O’Neal explains the focus on recovery and health
Discussing why this role resonates with him, O’Neal said, “I’ve dealt with injuries my whole career, and I know recovery is what makes comeback stories possible. Putting health first. That’s how you keep going.”
“In the pursuit of better health? You guessed it, that’s never over,” O’Neal added.
The message is consistent with O’Neal’s long-standing advocacy for proactive rehabilitation and athlete care. Throughout his NBA career, injuries shaped several stretches of his seasons, and he has repeatedly highlighted how proper recovery extended his longevity at the top level.
By lending his voice and experience to Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics, O’Neal positions himself as more than a figurehead. His involvement signals an emphasis on sustainable performance as American athletes prepare for one of the most demanding global stages in sport.
Alysa Liu. Screenshot from teamusa via Instagram. Used under fair use for commentary.
When Alysa Liu stepped onto the ice at the 2025 World Figure Skating Championships, she wasn’t just skating for medals. She was skating into a drought that had lasted more than two decades.
With her gold-medal performance, Liu became the first American woman to win a world title since Sara Hughes in 2002, a 23-year gap that had quietly weighed on U.S. women’s figure skating for years.
For longtime skating fans, the number 2002 carries enormous symbolic weight. That was the year Hughes became the last U.S. champion to win this title in Salt Lake City.
Liu’s win doesn’t just end a statistical drought. It marks a generational reset. But to understand why this moment matters, you have to understand who Alysa Liu really is and how improbable this comeback was.
From Teenage Prodigy to Olympic Finalist
Alysa Liu. Screenshot from alysaxliu via Instagram. Used under fair use for commentary.
Born in Clovis, California, in 2005, Alysa Liu grew up in a household unlike almost any other in elite sports. She is the eldest of five children raised by her father, Arthur Liu, a former political refugee from China who obtained U.S. citizenship and built his family through surrogacy.
Arthur Liu has been unusually open about his path to parenthood, explaining that he wanted a large family and used egg donors and gestational carriers. Alysa has described her upbringing as loving but unconventional, one in which independence and humor were central.
She began skating at age 5. At 13, she became the youngest U.S. women’s champion in history, winning the 2019 U.S. Championships and landing triple Axels, then rare in American women’s skating. At 14, she repeated as national champion and became the first American woman to land a quadruple Lutz in competition.
But here’s something many people forget: her early technical dominance came at a time when the international women’s field was being reshaped by Russian teenagers landing multiple quads. The scoring system had shifted to the International Judging System (IJS), introduced after the 2002 Olympic judging scandal. Technical base value now ruled.
Liu’s jumps were competitive, but the landscape was brutal.
Before Alysa Liu’s historic victory in 2026, the last time an American woman stood atop the Olympic podium in figure skating was at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and the name etched in history from that moment was Sarah Hughes. What makes her win especially memorable is that it was widely considered one of the biggest upsets in Olympic figure skating history.
Hughes, then just 16 years old, didn’t enter the competition as the top favorite. Skaters like teammate Michelle Kwan, a legend in American skating, and Russia’s Irina Slutskaya were widely expected to medal based on their technical prowess and consistent results leading up to the Games. But Hughes brought something rare to the ice: flawlessness under pressure.
After finishing fourth following the short program, Hughes delivered a near-perfect free skate on February 21, 2002, that featured seven triple jumps, including two triple-triple combinations. That technical difficulty, combined with artistic flow and solid performance quality, allowed her to tie with Slutskaya on points.
She won the gold on a tiebreaker for having won the free skate segment. Kwan and fellow U.S. contender Sasha Cohen both made costly mistakes in their free skate programs, opening the door for Hughes’s surge.
Her victory was remarkable not just because of the outcome, but because of how it happened: she became the first woman in Olympic history to land two triple jump-triple jump combinations in a four-minute free skate.
Her Olympic gold in Salt Lake City remained a defining moment in U.S. figure skating, one that stood unmatched for over two decades until Alysa Liu’s breakthrough in 2026. That’s the drought Liu just ended.
The Olympic Chapter and a Shock Retirement
Alysa Liu. Screenshot from alysaxliu via Instagram. Used under fair use for commentary.
At the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, Liu finished sixth overall, solid, but not a podium breakthrough. And then she did something shocking. At just 16, she announced her retirement.
In April 2022, Liu posted on Instagram that she was stepping away from competitive skating, saying she had achieved her goals and was “happy and content” with her career. For a prodigy who had carried U.S. hopes for years, it felt abrupt.
Liu had often said she didn’t want skating to define her entire identity. She spoke about college, curiosity, and normal teenage experiences. In interviews, she projected a calm detachment rare in elite sports. Her retirement wasn’t dramatic; it was self-assured.
The Comeback Nobody Predicted
Alysa Liu. Screenshot from alysaxliu via Instagram. Used under fair use for commentary.
Then came the twist. After time away, Liu returned to training. The details of her re-entry were measured and low-key. No flashy announcement. No dramatic teaser. Just steady rebuilding.
Her skating style evolved. There was increased maturity in edge work and performance quality. Her jump content recalibrated strategically rather than chasing the most difficult elements.
And at the 2025 World Championships, it all came together.
Under the IJS scoring system, cumulative technical element scores (TES) and program component scores (PCS) determine outcomes. Liu’s programs reportedly combined clean triple Axels with refined choreography and improved transitions, an evolution from her earlier, jump-heavy layout.
The win wasn’t built on reckless difficulty. It was built on balance.
Did Stepping Away Make Her Better?
Alysa Liu. Screenshot from alysaxliu via Instagram. Used under fair use for commentary.
In American sports culture, retirement, especially early retirement, is often seen as failure or burnout. But what if Liu’s hiatus was strategic?
Many teenage champions peak too early under the intense physical demands of quads and triple Axels. Bodies change. Injuries mount.
By stepping away at 16, Liu avoided the burnout cycle that has ended many careers before age 20. When she returned, she wasn’t chasing validation. She wasn’t the “next big thing.” She was simply skating.
In a sport that often compresses careers into narrow teenage windows, Liu’s arc suggests something radical: longevity may require pause.
Arthur Liu’s parenting philosophy has long been unconventional. He encouraged independence and famously allowed Alysa to maintain perspective about wins and losses. She has described her siblings as grounding forces, reminding her that skating was just one part of life.
Unlike many elite skaters who relocate permanently to training hubs, Liu’s support structure remained anchored in family. That stability may explain her emotional composure during both retirement and return.
The Broader Impact on U.S. Figure Skating
Alysa Liu. Screenshot from alysaxliu via Instagram. Used under fair use for commentary.
Ending a 23-year drought isn’t just symbolic. It reshapes funding, development pipelines, and belief.
U.S. Figure Skating relies heavily on international success to drive sponsorship and grassroots participation. A world champion creates ripple effects in local rinks nationwide.
Historically, U.S. women’s skating has surged after landmark wins: Peggy Fleming in 1968, Kristi Yamaguchi in 1992, Tara Lipinski in 1998, and Sarah Hughes in the early 2000s.
Liu now enters that lineage. But she does so in a sport transformed by the post-2002 scoring system, global technical arms races, and evolving athlete mental health conversations.
Why This Moment Feels Different
Sarah Hughes’s 2002 victory came at the end of an era. Alysa Liu’s 2025 victory may signal the start of a new one. Her career arc, prodigy, Olympian, retiree, comeback world champion, is almost unheard of in modern women’s figure skating. And perhaps that’s the real history she made.
Not just being the first U.S. champion since 2002. But proving that stepping away doesn’t mean stepping down. Sometimes, it means stepping back so you can return on your own terms.
It took years for the Atlanta Falcons to get out of the salary cap hell after trading away Matt Ryan, and once they did, the team used that cap space give Kirk Cousins a four-year, $180 million contract. Cousins' play did not match up to his paycheck, though, and the Falcons missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons.
Team owner and chairman Arthur Blank cleaned house at the end of the year, hiring a new head coach, general manager and president of football. Next up, the Falcons must decide what to do with key free agents, including tight end Kyle Pitts.
The former No. 4 overall pick is set to enter free agency following arguably the best season of his NFL career. The Falcons could use the franchise tag on Pitts if they don't want to commit to giving him a long-term contract, or they could let him walk altogether.
NFL.com's Kevin Patra put out a new feature breaking down the most overvalued and undervalued players in the 2026 free agency class. Pitts was listed among the most overvalued NFL free agents:
If the Falcons don’t franchise tag Pitts (estimated $16 million), the tight end will hit the market as the top playmaker at the position. The question is, which Kyle Pitts will a team be signing? Is he the player who generated 469 yards and four TDs on 39 catches over the final six games of 2025? Or, is he the inconsistent, drop-prone player who had 459 yards and one score on 49 catches through the first 11 games of the season? In the right system, one that uses him as a matchup target and asks him to block less, he could finally find the consistent upside that eluded him over his first five seasons. In the wrong offense, a team could rue spending big on the former No. 4 overall pick. -- Kevin Patra, NFL.com
Pitts' up-and-down production throughout his five years in Atlanta may scare off some potential suitors, but the tight end has performed well when the quarterback play has been up to par. During Pitts' rookie season when Matt Ryan was still the quarterback, Pitts was one of the best tight ends in the league.
He struggled when Marcus Mariota took over in 2022 before injuring his MCL at mid-season. Things didn't get much better when Desmond Ridder stepped in the following year. Pitts seemed to forge a connection with Michael Penix Jr. later in the 2024 season, and that carried over to 2025.
However, there is undoubtedly some risk in paying a player who performed well in a contract year. And while the Falcons have to be aware of this, Pitts was the team's leading receiver last season. Losing him would make things harder on Drake London, Bijan Robinson and the rest of Atlanta's offense.
Pitts is just 25 years old and entering his physical prime. Letting him walk for nothing in free agency could come back to bite Atlanta. We'll see what general manager Ian Cunningham has up his sleep when free agency starts on March 11.
Well folks, we were once again duped by “Big California” this week, where it allegedly never rains except for every time there’s a signature event on TV. Funny the way that works. Anyhoo, while we wait for Riviera to dry out, flip over to YouTube, where the sun is always shining but the golf content never stops pouring down from the heavens.
Turn the Paige
The big headline this week isn’t some video where Bobby Fairways wrestles a bear while trying to break 100 or a big celebrity cameo (we’re still waiting, LeBron). Instead, we begin with the news that Paige Spiranac, after a decade of operating as a largely one-woman enterprise, has teamed up with Chad Mumm’s Pro Shop to launch her very own brand, Paige Co.
On the surface, this news might seem a bit dry. The press release reads like a corporate merger and Spiranac says the goal is to “let me be me,” so the content itself, at least to start, may not be all that different. There is, however, A LOT of context to unpack. The announcement came on the heels on Spiranac’s recent comments about her struggle with anxiety. Those mental health challenges led to her posting less and less over the last several months, and it appeared that after 10 long years, she might be ramping down. Instead, she was just retooling.
We don't know what sort of content we’ll see from Paige Co. and Pro Shop—the production company behind series like ‘Full Swing’ and outlets like Skratch—but week one of the partnership did drop a few hints. Clearly, growing YouTube is going to be a big emphasis for the fledgling brand. Spiranac soft launched the collaboration on Thursday with an announcement-meets-LA travel vlog on the platform, revealing that a Paige Co. YouTube series is already in the works. The video also showcased a new, more laidback production style that seemed to resonate with her fans who enjoyed seeing her what her life is like off the course as well as on it.
Spiranac also appeared, leather pants and all, in a video on sister company Skratch’s X account discussing her favorite things about Riviera Country Club, the site of this week’s Genesis Invitational. In other words, it seems like we can expect plenty of crossover content between Paige Co. and Pro Shop’s other ventures as well.
All in all, this is good news for both Paige fans and golf fans in general. It will mean more production resources for Spiranac and the full-fledged introduction of her brand on YouTube, plus merchandising, collabs and a whole lot more. What it means for her Instagram, where Spiranac has amassed 4 million followers and counting, is the only question mark. Spiranac has hard posted on her Instagram profile just three times since October, one of which was this week’s Paige Co. announcement. Part of that, she admitted, was due to her anxiety struggles, but the quiet truth is that Instagram’s relevancy has waned thanks to TikTok’s vice grip on short-video content and YouTube and X’s reemergence as major social media players.
While Paige Co. might be a fresh start for Spiranac on a personal level, it seems to be a calculated business move as well. Driving fans to other forms of content from Instagram has always been challenge—how many times have you read “click the link in the bio” and kept scrolling?—and Paige Co. seems like a savvy, and frankly long overdue, way to cut out the middleman … or should we say middle woman?
Quick Hits Bryson DeChambeau
Bryson DeChambeau meets up with “failed professionals” (his trash talk, not ours) Luke Kwon, Sam Heung Min and Taco Golf for a 2v2 de-buff match. Every hole a team loses inflicts a new punishment, including but by no means limited to “milk shoeys.” Hard pass on that, B-dawg.
Taco Golf
Better than drinking milk out of a shoe is swigging soju—the national spirit of Korea and that tastes sort of like a cross between vodka and sake—out of the bottle. That’s what Taco Golf and co. got up to this week, taking gulps of soju for every bogey. Soju typically ranges between 15% and 25% ABV, so if you’re mid-handicapper, definitely don’t try this at home.
Grant Horvat
Horvat joins Rory McIlroy for a day of ball testing as the reigning Masters champ compares the TaylorMade TP5 and TP5X. If you just want to watch one of the world’s best drivers launch missile after missile, we don’t blame you, but for those looking for more steak with their sizzle, McIlroy allegedly “changes Grant Horvat’s golf game” in a single session. We’ll let you be the judge of that.
Bob Does Sports
The BDS gang are on a heater. Over the last several weeks, they’ve landed Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler and now Tony Finau. This one is apparently just a standard 3-1 match—no competitive donut eating involved—but if you’re a fan of Bob, Joey, FP and Tony, then make sure to check it out.
Good Good Golf
Do you hate golf courses? Do long to watch them suffer in the same twisted ways they've made you over the years? Then rub those vindictive little palms together and watch as Brad Dalke, Sean Walsh and Andrew Kozan tear up Palm Beach National, allegedly the easiest course in Florida.
The Postman
Over the past six months, Ian Poulter has been steadily building a YouTube presence, and this week he stars in his biggest video yet alongside his son Luke and the Bryan Bros. Will this be the video that cements Poults as LIV’s next great YouTube export? We don’t know about all that, but it’s clear Poulter still possesses his gift of gab.
Gabby the Golf Girl
What would you do if a random walked up to you and your buddies just before a tee time at Streamsong and offered you $100 skins per hole? Would you lock in? Would you try to play it cool? You can ponder those big questions while you watch Gabby the Golf Girl live out this admittedly pretty awkward hypothetical in real time.
Baltimore Ravens GM Eric DeCosta joined The Inner Circle Podcast with Aaron Donald, and at 18:53, Donald asked him how he feels about the roster coming back in 2026. DeCosta didn't hold back, giving a thorough breakdown of the team, the players he's excited about, and what he thinks needs to improve.
"Well, I think this was a disappointing season for us this past year. Probably below our standard, below the line for us. I think we have a lot of good players coming back, and I believe in these guys, and I think we've got to get a better job at getting after the quarterback for sure. I think we have some young guys who can do that. I think losing Nnamdi Madubuike was a big blow for us this year. Terrible that we lost him early in the season as we did, but I think we've got some other guys on defense we're excited about. Travis Jones, we've got some young outside linebackers that we feel strongly about. Of course, we've got Roquan (Smith). Then our secondary has a lot of good players with Kyle Hamilton, Nate Wiggins, of course, Marlon Humphrey is a great player for us, too. I think there's a strong nucleus coming back. I'm really excited to see Jesse Minter's influence on our defense. That's his specialty as a defensive coach. I think that'll make a big, big impact. Then offensively, I think all the pieces are there. We've got some skilled guys. We've got a tight end in Mark Andrew, running backs, Derrick Henry, Zay Flowers. Really, really good about Zay, Rashod Bateman. A lot of good players.
I think on the offensive line, we've got two good tackles in Roger Rosengarten and Ronnie Stanley. We've got some work to do with Tyler Linderbaum's contract. He's a free agent. We strongly hope to have him back. He's a great player for us and a great leader, and then we just need to augment the guard position, which is something we can do. We've got some good young guys that we really believe in this year. They're going to make a big, big jump this year for us. Emory Jones is a guy we drafted last year in the third round, and we feel really strongly about as being a guy that's going win a spot for us at the guard spot. But I love our team. I think our special teams is strong. We've got two good kickers, a good kicker, and a good punter. I think our coaching staff, what I've seen from our coaches, our new coaches, is very, very exciting. I think something change can be good. With change comes innovation and new ways of doing things or practicing, a new scheme, and all these different things. That's going to give us an advantage, I think, this year. When you do the same thing every year, and you're playing the Bengals twice, the Steelers twice a year, the Browns, these guys know us like the back of their hands. I think sometimes a change is a positive thing."
DeCosta's take makes it clear: the Ravens see a lot of pieces in place to bounce back, but there's also work to do. Between young talent ready to step up, key free-agent decisions, and a new defensive mindset under Jesse Minter, Baltimore is aiming to turn last year's disappointments into a stronger 2026.
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Credit: WWE/Apple Music
WrestleMania 42 is rapidly approaching, and as the WWE allegedly scrambles to find a reason to get butts in seats and generate more hype around the event, lots of rumors are circling about big names. We've heard since the Super Bowl that Bad Bunny might be appearing, and we've been waiting for Bianca Belair to return, and now there are updates on both.
Bad Bunny last appeared in the WWE when Backlash was in Puerto Rico in 2023, and he had a street fight against Damian Priest. As for Bianca, she's been out with a broken knuckle since after WrestleMania 41. Now, it's looking like one may be showing up to Las Vegas for a big match, and it may not be the person readers expect.
Bianca Belair Posts Update On Injured Finger
I think once the Royal Rumble came and went and Bianca Belair still hadn't returned to the WWE, wrestling fans began to be really concerned. She's approaching close to the year mark for being out with a broken knuckle, which may not sound all that bad to the average person. Unfortunately, Belair revealed it's much more complicated than one might think, and she just had surgery that will keep her off television and PLE's for a while:
This doesn't seem like a work, because what could the WWE stand to gain from Bianca Belair unexpectedly returning at WrestleMania 42? This injury is legit, and apparently it's going to take a while for her to get right and back in the company. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery, because she's too good and too much of an icon to be sidelined for this long.
A New Report Shares Update On Bad Bunny Returning To The WWE
Word is that the WWE is talking with Bad Bunny's team about him appearing at WrestleMania 42, and that conversations are said to be "positive." I'm not too surprised to hear that, especially considering that the singer openly stated he wants to return.
Of course, even if Bad Bunny wants to return to the WWE, I'm sure there are a lot more factors at play than just his want. He has a whole team behind him, and is just on the heels of winning a Grammy and performing in one of the most-viewed Super Bowl halftime shows in NFL history. As wild as it is to say, he'd be doing the wrestling company a huge favor by showing up to its event on such short notice, especially with little time to prepare. It has to make sense for both sides, so I can understand why it isn't immediately a done deal.
WrestleMania 42 streams live on ESPN Unlimited on April 18th and 19th. We'll see how the two nights play out and what other unexpected faces end up showing up for a match.
The 2026 Winter Olympics have seen many wild stories unfold, but a Chinese couple have social media buzzing over their rare accomplishment in Milan-Cortina.
Wang Xindi and his wife Xu Mengtao achieved an unheard of feat this winter after both members of the family secured gold medals in Italy.
The even wilder part about their accomplishment is that the Chinese couple medaled in the same discipline in the men’s and women’s aerial events.
Mengtao previously won an Olympic gold medal back in 2022 and successfully defended her title this time around. Meanwhile, Xindi secured his first gold at an Olympic Games on Friday, which had fans cheering online.
For Xindi, the rare Olympic moment was made even sweeter given that 2026 marks his third Winter Olympics he has competed in.
“We celebrated her gold, but I was also quick to refocus on to my own event”, Xindi said following the event (via The Strait Times). “We’ve battled together for years, but we’re also professionals.”
Mengtao Xu of China celebrates after winning the women’s freestyle skiing aerials at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images
The Chinese couple aren’t done with their Olympic escapades though as they prepare to compete in Saturday’s mixed team final which could yield their country more glory.
The road to the 2026 Olympic semifinals was -- to say the very least -- a winding one for Slovakia.
The nation gained its independence on Jan. 1, 1993, separating from what had previously been Czechoslovakia. Once it became a sovereign state, it was allowed to compete under its own identity in international competitions.
More than 33 years later, here we are.
Slovakia debuted at the 1994 Winter Games and has qualified for men's ice hockey at every Olympics since then. In its first year in the competition, it finished sixth.
The Slovaks tend to have the deck stacked against them because, while they have several professional hockey players, most play in Europe and not in the NHL. Despite limited success in the Olympics, Slovakia has already won one medal, taking bronze in 2022.
Here is more on Slovakia's 2026 Olympic men's ice hockey roster.
Many of the nations competing in the Olympics are made up of players who are currently under contract with an NHL team. Slovakia doesn't have that benefit. A lot of them play professional hockey, but just not in the NHL. Of Slovakia's 25 players, only seven are active in the NHL.
Slovakia was previously part of Czechoslovakia from the 1920 Olympic Games through the 1992 games. After becoming independent, Slovakia represented itself starting in the 1994 Winter Games. 2026 marked the ninth Olympics where they played.
Here is more on how Slovakia has fared in men's Olympic hockey.
AJ Cunningham took to social media to share a video confirming the end of his career.
Recently, several fighters have been released from the UFC roster, each for their own reasons.
Javid Basharat reflected on his time in the bantamweight division, saying he is proud of what he achieved during his 4-2 run.
Another fighter from the same weight class is leaving as well, but under very different circumstances.
While Basharat’s departure came after his contract was not renewed, another athlete had no choice due to health concerns.
AJ Cunningham hits back at critics while announcing his retirement
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
After a loss on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2023, AJ Cunningham earned another shot with the UFC the following year, thanks to a rebound win.
Taking a fight against L’udovit Klein on short notice was always going to be tough, but even though it ended in a first-round knockout, it helped get his foot in the door.
Cunningham later dropped down two divisions after facing Klein at lightweight but still could not secure his first victory inside the Octagon.
He has now explained the reason for his absence in a video posted on social media, following his last fight, a unanimous decision defeat to Su Young Ku in March of last year.
The 31-year-old confirmed that he is stepping away from MMA due to an injury he has not been able to recover from. He broke the news in a video posted online.
Cunningham explained: “Hey guys, it’s with a great deal of sadness that I will be announcing my retirement from the UFC and the sport of MMA overall.
“I ruptured a disc in my back back in August and unfortunately, it has not healed properly where I can compete or even train at the level I need to to win fights. I’m grateful for everything. I’m grateful that I was able to make the walk 31 times with my amateur and pro career combined.”
He thanked Dana White and the UFC for giving him those chances but spoke openly about how disappointed he was not getting a win in either of his two appearances. His message then shifted toward those who try to tell him how he should act or what he should say.
“I’m gonna be me, man, until the end. God bless you all, take care and I’ll keep you updated on what comes next,” AJ concluded.
Controversial social media posts dominated AJ Cunningham’s time in the UFC
The final moments of AJ Cunningham’s retirement video probably captured what many fans will remember most about his stint with the UFC.
The initial emotional message delivered to his supporters quickly shifted: he was then seen wearing a Burger King crown and laughing at those who attempted to shame him for his previous remarks.
Cunningham took down his Instagram account last year after facing backlash over some highly controversial posts.
It got to a point where people were more aware of his online behaviour than anything he accomplished during his brief run in the promotion, which ended without a victory.
The future is bright for the Chicago Bears, which has everything to do with their head coach-quarterback duo of Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams. The pair played a key role in the team's impressive 2025 season, where they went from worst to first, won the NFC North and earned their first playoff win in nearly two decades.
Williams is one of the biggest reasons why Johnson wanted to come to Chicago, and in just one season we saw the young QB's potential working with an offensive mastermind like Johnson. From the beginning, the relationship between Johnson and Williams has been a hot topic of conversation, and they quickly hit it off as they share a similar mindset and goals.
Johnson has earned a reputation of being a mad scientist of sorts as an offensive play caller and how he's never truly satisfied, which is evident when he's all business on the sideline. Johnson's fire and passion has endeared him to his team, which is something Williams opened up about during a recent appearance on "The Rush with Maxx Crosby," and Williams explained exactly what Johnson is like as a head coach.
"I told Maxx this," Williams said. "I was like, 'He's like us.' He wants to whoop everybody's ass. He's like a player in a sense because it's like he's out there. Obviously, he knows he's not out there. He always tells me players make coaches, and players are everything. More than scheme, more than anything. He does a good job of adapting to his players, but he's like a player. He wants to whoop everybody’s ass, every coach, every defense. And for me, I love it because I feel the same way. I’m on the same wavelength. I’m on the same vibe.”
When Johnson was hired by the Bears, there was never a question about his ability as an offensive play caller, as he's established himself as one of the best in the NFL. But Johnson more than answered any doubts about his ability to lead a team after getting his players to buy in to a new culture, and it produced results. Johnson's ability to relate to his players while demanding excellence and accountability has been the perfect recipe for success for Chicago.
Vero “The Kayan Leopard’s” composure and world-class counter-striking were the difference in her tightly contested ONE Friday Fights 143 main event battle against fellow contracted star, Shir Cohen, helping her claim a split decision on February 20 at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
Their Asia primetime atomweight Muay Thai battle was fireworks from start to finish. When the bell sounded, the Israeli brought the fight to the Myanmar slugger at a ridiculous pace with big combinations.
But the 29-year-old kept her composure, reading the pressure and using lateral movement to create angles. Whenever Cohen pressed too hard and jammed herself up in close range, “The Kayan Leopard” made her pay, timing the clinch and driving knees into Cohen’s body to neutralize the aggression.
Cohen came out just as hungry in the second round, but the Tiger Muay Thai representative found her rhythm right off the bat. As she flung combinations, Vero slipped and responded with crisp punches that accumulated damage.
It was still anyone’s fight heading into the final frame. Cohen’s confidence was second to none, but Vero’s ability to drive away the Fairtex Training Center athletes’ offense with her counters were effective.
The Israeli continued to dig deep, raising her volume and refusing to let the Myanmarese settle. Despite having her back consistently against the ropes, Vero stuck to her counters and used Cohen’s forward momentum against her.
At the end of the nine-minute limit, two of the three judges at ringside awarded the contest in favor of Vero, who nudged her all-striking record to 30-4 and made it three back-to-back wins on the global stage.
Stories of athletes who lived in one country then decided to compete for another are nothing new to international sports. Throw some Olympic rings on it, then add a high-profile athlete enjoying tremendous success the way Gu has, and it turns into someting messy, even political.
“So many athletes compete for a different country," Gu said after Thursday night's qualifying put her in the mix for her third medal of these Games. “People only have a problem with me doing it because they kind of lump China into this monolithic entity, and they just hate China. So it’s not really about what they think it’s about.”
She was responding to a question stemming from the latest comments that drew her into the headlines: U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance told Fox News earlier in the week he would hope someone who benefitted from growing up in the United States, the way Gu has, would want to compete under its flag.
None of this is new to the 22-year-old Bay Area native, who recognizes she absorbs her share of vitriol not just because she competes for her mother's homeland, but also because of her success both on and off the snow.
Not long after the Olympics are over, Gu will be back in Milan attending a fashion show.
Before that, on Saturday, she will be going for her sixth Olympic medal and trying to make it 3 for 3 at two straight Games. That's something no one else has done since the addition of big air to the program four years ago gave freestyle skiing a third head-over-heels event in the snowpark.
“Like, if I wasn’t doing well, I think that they probably wouldn’t care as much, and that’s OK for me," she said.
After the Olympics, action sports stop caring about countries so much
The Olympic charter says athletes must be a “national” -- a word similar to citizen but with different legal connotations -- of a country to compete for it. Athletes who are nationals of more than one country have to go through a “cooling-off” period if they want to switch, though neither Gu nor Atkin have changed over their Olympic careers.
It is not a surprise: Athletes in freeskiing and snowboarding — two lifestyle sports that champion individuality and are cultivated at X Games, Dew Tours and Burton U.S. Opens where nary a flag can be seen — spend most of their time traveling the globe caring very little about countries or anthems.
“We’re all going to the same place, all traveling together,” said Nick Goepper, the American three-time medalist who competes for his home country. “There’s 25 guys who do this at a high level across the world and it’s better to hang out and mingle with each other, just like people do.”
Besides Vance's comments, a newspaper report about a 2025 document showing the Chinese government funded Gu and another of its athletes to the tune of millions drew headlines at these Olympics. Gu never mentions money when she discusses her reasons for choosing China, instead saying she did it to increase visibility and bring more girls into a sport that wasn't as developed in China as it is in the United States.
“I’ve never received criticism from anybody in the ski industry about any of these decisions,” she said in an interview with The Associated Press last month. “But that’s because I’m friends with all of them.”
Atkin, from Massachusetts, made a choice that flew under the radar
Atkin has enjoyed plenty of success but faces none of the same issues. She is a Massachusetts native who has held dual citizenship since birth. (Gu's citizenship status is another source of constant conjecture, though she has never revealed it.) Atkin's father is British. Like Gu, Atkin attends Stanford.
The 23-year-old, who won last year's world championship, has competed for Britain her entire career. She explained its smaller team has afforded her a chance to train and compete at a pace that works well for her.
“It also has a lot to do with my family and I guess I don't really care what anybody else thinks," she said. "Obviously, we compete for our nation, but at the end of the day, this is an individual sport and I'm trying to do my best show and my best skiing. To me, that's all it's really about.”
Somewhere between Gu and Atkin sits Gus Kenworthy — the halfpipe skier who got famous at the Olympics when he competed for the United States, then kept his career going by signing on with Britain.
He took some flak when he swtiched teams. One reason he did it was because of the perennial depth of the U.S. team. This year, the U.S. placed all four of its men in Friday night's final and left two others with top-10 rankings — including two-time gold and one-time silver medalist David Wise — at home.
“You could be the fifth best person in America, ranked seventh in the world, and still not make the team,” said Kenworthy, who won the silver medal in 2014. “It's great to have all these different countries represented. But sometimes it sucks to be in that position, and I've been in that position.”
That's not the only math that changes when the action-sports world gets tossed into the deep end at the Olympics.
As Gu says frequently and said again Thursday, “people are entitled to their opinions.”
Mark Patterson On Bolton, Sheffield United And Playing Under Bruce Rioch And Howard Kendall
An interview with Mark Patterson, by Callum McFadden for WFi.
You started your career at Blackburn Rovers and played over 100 times for the club. What are your memories from playing at Ewood Park?
“First and foremost, it was my own team – my own town club. Making my debut when I was about 18 years old was just great, playing at home. Of course, in the Blackburn End, all my mates used to congregate there, and then we’d go to the pub after the game. Just great times, a lot of good memories there. Later on, things went a bit pear-shaped.”
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When things did go a bit pear-shaped, how did you handle that?
“To be honest, it was difficult. I was still a young man, around 22. Being a local lad and not having the best of times, supporters do tend to turn on you a bit, and they did with me. Even going downtown on a Saturday night in Blackburn, if you’d not had a particularly good game, you’d get reminded of that in most of the pubs you went in.
“That was how it used to be. It made me grow up a bit, made me stronger, and you learn to deal with it. When they told me I could leave the club, I felt it was time for a fresh start anyway. Looking back, it was probably a good thing.”
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That fresh start came at Preston. Why did you choose Preston at that time?
“It wasn’t really a case of choosing. John McGrath, the Preston manager, got in contact with Don McKay. He fancied me going down to Preston. At the same time, Ronnie Aldersley, who played for North End, went to Blackburn. I think Don McKay probably instigated the move because he wanted Ronnie.
“It turned out to be a good move. I went to North End on the old plastic pitch, which actually was great for me because it meant lots of pure football.
“John McGrath insisted on us playing football – he was so fond of playing out from the back. For the 18 months I had at Preston, I’ve got nothing but great thoughts and thanks to John McGrath and Les Chapman.”
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After Preston, you played for Bury in the first of two spells. How was it playing for the club in both spells, and how sad were you with what eventually happened to Bury?
“In my first spell, I played about two or three months of proper old-school football. I really enjoyed playing there at that time. We had good players like David Lee on the right wing. There was a lot of socialising, a lot of alcohol.
“After 18 months or two years, though, the money dried up.
“Mike Walsh pulled me in one day and said, ‘We need to pay the wages for the next couple of weeks. Christmas is coming and Bolton want you. Would you go? And by the way, we can’t pay you what we owe you because we can’t afford to. But if you go for £60,000, we can pay the wages.’
“That was the first spell.
“The second spell wasn’t as nice. Stan Ternent was in charge. He’d had success with promotions and had players he trusted.
“When I arrived, coming off spells at Sheffield United and Bolton, we had a practice match. Stan had the keeper throwing it out, us lumping it into the channels, and chasing it.
“After about 10 minutes, I asked Lenny Johnrose and Nicky Daws if we could get it down and play. Lenny said, “Not a chance – we’ll be out of the door if we do.”
“Then, during the practice match, the ball dropped to me, I controlled it, and passed sideways. Stan stopped the game, asked what I was doing, and when I said, ‘Getting it down to play,’ he told me to get in the stands and watch how Bury played.
“I was just over 30, recently out of the Premier League under Howard Kendall, and now I’m in the stands watching a training session. It wasn’t the best start – and it didn’t go very well after that.”
⸻
“He wasn’t the sort of manager who barked orders. He was laid back, didn’t say a great deal. A lovely fella and we had massive respect for him because of what he achieved – what a fantastic player he was.
“But he wasn’t the sort of manager I was used to. Mickey Brown sort of ran the show. I don’t think Phil managed again after that. Lovely man, but not the right manager for me.”
⸻
When Bruce Rioch came in, was it obvious right away that he was the manager?
“Absolutely, Bruce was similar to Sam Allardyce in his philosophy. When he came to Bolton, he sat us down and said, “This is what you’re going to be eating. This is what you’re going to be drinking. This is when you’re going to drink it.”
“This was 1992 in the third division. We were sitting there thinking, ‘I play golf in the afternoons; McGinley goes to the pub; Phil Brown goes to the snooker hall.’ But Bruce had us doing two or three sessions a day.
“We all bought into it. After a few months, we could play with our eyes closed because we knew exactly where we needed to be. If you didn’t meet his expectations, you were out of the team.
“The success that followed – promotions and FA Cup runs – shows that it worked. He brought in good players like McGinley, and Andy Walker was already there. His methods took us to a different level.”
⸻
How did you find the younger players coming through, like Alan Thompson and Jason McAteer? Did the senior pros wind them up?
“Oh yeah, we did.
“Jason McAteer made it public once. He’d only been at the club two minutes. He dragged the ball back, nutmegged me, and ran away. Well, that wasn’t happening again. The next time he tried it, he was put in his place!
“We used to have initiations – lads standing naked on tables, singing songs, while we flicked boiling tea bags at them. The tea urn had six or eight tea bags in it, so they were getting hit with hot tea bags while trying to sing.
One day, Bruce walked in and said, ‘Stop it, this is ridiculous.’ And the initiations ended right there.
“Stubbs had all the ability in the world. Once he stopped playing ‘World Cup’ balls from centre-half to the wings and learned to defend properly, he became a very good player, which his career shows.”
⸻
You can’t comment first-hand on Bruce’s time at Arsenal, but given his tough style, do you think that works at Bolton but not with big characters like Ian Wright?
“Yeah, absolutely.
“It’s well documented. Football was changing. Arsenal had success under George Graham, and then Bruce came in with a different way. It didn’t quite work for him there.”
⸻
Bolton were successful under him. You then moved to Sheffield United and worked with Howard Kendall. What was he like at that stage?
“Fantastic. An honest man. His way was a mix of football and the social side.
“He’d known me since I was 15. One day after training, he dragged me back onto a train and told me I’d been magnificent. Years later, he took me to Sheffield United when they were in the Championship. He said, “I want you to get us out of this league.”
“He trusted you. If you worked for him, he’d be great with you. He was a legend in Magaluf – I don’t think he missed a year between about ’74 and ’97.
“When he finished me at Sheffield United, he was brutally honest. We’d just signed Nicky Henry. On the bus going to Barnsley on a Friday, he sat next to me and said, ‘You’ve done very well for us, son, but now you can go because I’m going to play Nicky Henry.’
“He said he’d pay what they owed me. He didn’t beat around the bush. That was the type of man he was.”
⸻
After working under managers like Bruce and Kendall, what was it like entering coaching and management yourself?
“I enjoyed coaching with Russell Slade as his assistant. But when I tried managing, I wasn’t very good.
“I’m a disciplinarian, but things changed from the 90s onwards. You couldn’t treat young part-time players the way we were treated. You couldn’t be Bobby Saxton.
“I was too set in my ways, couldn’t relate to the younger lads. When you push too far, they stop performing. I tried, but I wasn’t a very good manager.”
⸻
Let’s finish by talking about your book, Old School: A Proper Football Education. How do you think fans of your old clubs will react to the book?
“It’s frank and honest.
“It’s not just the stats, promotions, and good times. It’s about stories – managers nearly drowning in rivers, dogs attacking each other, fights down tunnels. It’s an honest read.
“For example, playing against Sheffield United, I was running down the left wing, and Kevin Gage punched me. I’m thinking, ‘What the hell was that?’
“Things like that happened. The book covers them all. It’s an easy, honest read, we’re selling plenty, and I’d recommend it to anyone.“
PREVIEW | Milan vs Parma - team news, lineups, predictions
Milan and Parma clash this Sunday at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza for matchweek 26 of the Serie A.
Milan have won 54 points to date and are placed in 2nd position. In their last game, Massimiliano Allegri's team drew 1-1 with Como 1907 (Serie A 2025/26).
Parma have 29 points to their name this season and occupy 12th position in the table. Last time out, Carlos Cuesta's team triumphed 2-1 against Hellas Verona (Serie A 2025/26).
The last meeting between the two teams ended in a 2-2 draw.
Real Madrid defender set to miss Osasuna clash due to calf issue – report
Just when Real Madrid’s defensive injury problems seemed to be easing up, they have been dealt with a fresh concern.
Indeed, according to journalist Ruben Martin of AS, Dean Huijsen did not train with the rest of the team today and is set to miss the game against Osasuna.
As per the report, the 20-year-old centre-back is dealing with a calf problem that had already caused him some issues in the past.
At this point it is unclear if there is a serious injury. But appears to be clear is that the Spanish international will miss tomorrow’s La Liga encounter against Osasuna at El Sadar.
This comes as a blow for Alvaro Arbeloa, who was finally close to having a near full-strength squad at his disposal.
Out with a calf problem. (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)
So far this term, the €58 million summer signing from AFC Bournemouth has made 27 appearances for Real Madrid in all competitions, even chipping in with one goal and two assists.
Huijsen’s form had been on the decline in recent weeks, though, with the Spaniard not looking as sharp as he had upon arriving.
With Huijsen set to miss out, Antonio Rudiger appears primed to start his third game in a row since returning from injury.
The veteran German is likely to be partnered up with Raul Asencio, who will be back in the squad after missing the Benfica clash on Tuesday due to suspension.
The list of long-time college golf coaches who are calling it a career keeps getting longer.
On Friday, the University of Georgia announced that men’s coach Chris Haack will be retiring at the end of the 2025-26 season. Haack has been overseeing the Bulldogs program since July 1996. During his 30 seasons on the job, his teams have won two NCAA championship, eight SEC crowns and a school-record 70 tournament titles.
“After much reflection and a whirlwind of emotions, I've made the decision to retire,” Haack said in a press release. “While it's bittersweet to step away, I'm genuinely excited for the next chapter and deeply confident in the bright future ahead for this storied program.”
Haack is the third Golf Coaches Association of America Hall of Fame member who has decided to step away from the college game in recent months. In December, Georgia Tech men's coach Bruce Heppler announced his retirement after 30-plus years with the Yellow Jackers effective at the end of the season. And last month Mike McGraw, an NCAA winning coach at Oklahoma State who most recently oversaw the Baylor men’s program, announced he was stepping down immediately to take care of his ailing wife after more than 30 years as high school and college coach.
Along with winning the NCAA title in 1999 and 2005, Haack’s Bulldog squads have garnered nine top-10 and 17 top-20 finishes at NCAAs. Along the way, he coached 70 players to a combined 119 All-America honors, including two national players of the year (Chris Kirk, 2007, and Russell Henley, 2010). In 2001, the Bulldogs became the first college golf program to have all five starters named All-Americans in the same season.
“For the last three decades, I've had a front-row seat to watch some of the finest golfers in UGA history develop, not just as players, but as men,” Haack said. “I love every one of them like a son. The memories we've created, the relationships we've built and the triumphs we've shared will stay with me forever. I've also been incredibly fortunate to work alongside so many exceptional people in the athletic department and with a remarkable coaching staff.”
Haack said that he’s looking forward to spending more time with his wife Ronda and their soon-to-be seven grandchildren. He will remain with the program as a special advisor for the 2026-27 seasons.
The school has not announced a replacement for Haack, who acknowledge that he’s leaving behind “an excellent” coach in assistant (and former Georgia player) Mookie DeMoss. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that DeMoss is likely to be named Haack’s successor as early as Friday.
Frequently Haack’s players built on their college success when they turned pro. Twelve of his former players have combined to win 46 PGA Tour titles, including two Masters wins from Bubba Watson and an Open Championship victory by Brian Harman. According to the school, Haack’s players have claimed more than $350 million in career earnings on the course.
Among Haack's players who went on to successful pro careers is Brian Harman, seen here with his Georgia coach in 2007.
Haack’s players also performed well in the classroom, with 32 scholar All-American honors and eight times being recognized at Georgia for having the highest team grade point average of any sport.
"Chris Haack has guided the men's golf program with excellence over the past 30 years," said UGa Athletic Director Josh Brooks. "His impact extends far beyond Athens. He is a giant on the national stage, respected by coaches, players and the entire golf community for his integrity and commitment to his student-athletes. We are forever grateful for his leadership."
Super Bowl 60 was only a few days ago, but the sports betting world doesn't sleep — and so season win totals have already been released at BetMGM.
Remember that there is still a lot of the NFL offseason to come, including free agency, the NFL draft and the schedule release, so these are just initial numbers.
The Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks are one of 10 teams that share the highest win total at 10.5.
The Arizona Cardinals and Miami Dolphins (over/under of 4.5) have the lowest win total among NFL teams, with two teams (Las Vegas Raiders and New York Jets) at 5.5.
Florida baseball hosts the Kennesaw State Owls this weekend for its second three-game series of the year.
The two teams have never met before, but the Gators enter as overwhelming favorites, which is usually the case when an SEC program plays a mid-major team. After dropping the first game of the season, Florida is riding a four-game win streak thanks to a home-and-home sweep of Stetson.
Friday night starter is looking for a bounce-back performance after allowing five runs (four earned) in the season opener. He lacked control early, and the offense hadn't found its rhythm yet. Since then, Florida has outscored opponents 38-6, including a pair of run-rule victories.
Blake Cyr, Kyle Jones and Brendan have led the team offensively, but the biggest surprise has been freshman outfielder Cash Strayer, who has the second-highest OPS (1.633) and five extra-base hits through four starts. Aidan King and Cooper Walls were strong in their first starts last weekend, so there's plenty of confidence that they can repeat and give the Gators a chance to take another series.
Liam Peterson struggled in his 2026 debut, but associate head coach Tom Slater chalked it up to an off night and reinforced the team's confidence that Peterson would return to form moving forward. Peterson needs to control his fastball a bit better. He may be overthrowing early in the season. Peterson seemed to locate his heater better when he kept at or under 95 mph.
While he can run it up to 98-99 mph, there's no need to push for it during the first few weeks of the season. Being a successful starting pitcher requires rhythm, and Peterson needs to get a few clean innings under his belt this week before reaching back.
Sophomore Cooper McMullen went five scoreless innings with five strikeouts and two walks in his first start against Evansville. Florida will be a much greater challenge, and maintaining a 1.00 WHIP seems unlikely. McMullne features a 93-94 mph fastball with easy velocity and has both a cutter and slider to mix in.
Probable Starters: Game 2 - Saturday (5:30 p.m. ET)
Team
Pitcher
Record
ERA
FLORIDA
RHP Aidan King
1-0
0.00
KENNESAW STATE
RHP Ty Bayer
0-0
22.50
NOTES: Aidan King was dominant over six innings in his season debut, allowing four hits and zero walks with four strikeouts. Across his last six starts dating back to last season, he is 4-1 with a 0.78 ERA and 33-to-10 K-to-BB ratio over 34 2/3 innings. There's little reason to expect anything other than dominance from King against the Owls. It should be business as usual for the sophomore right-hander.
Ty Bayer, a sophomore, only went two innings last week against Marshall. He gave up five earned runs on five hits and four walks. Florida should feast offensively and get to the bullpen early in this one. Bayer has a 92-94 mph fastball, an 86-88 mph slider, another breaking ball at 81-83 with more depth and an 82-84 mph changeup. Walks have always been an issue for him.
Probable Starters: Game 3 - Sunday (1 p.m. ET)
Team
Pitcher
Record
ERA
FLORIDA
RHP Cooper Walls
1-0
1.69
KENNESAW STATE
RHP Cole Royer
1-0
0.00
NOTES: Cooper Walls looked very good in his Gators debut. The Hawaii transfer went 5 1/3 innings and allowed one run on four hits and one walk while striking out four. His slider looked really strong and should lead to plenty of swings and misses this year. He held opposing bats to a .200 average and has a sub-1.00 WHIP. Staying consistent is the only question mark for him at this point.
Sophomore right-hander Cole Royer threw two scoreless innings on Tuesday after seeing his weekend start pushed back due to cancellations. There's not much to say about a 29-pitch outing, but Royer will have his work cut out for him on Sunday. He throws a 90-02 mph fastball with a high-70s breaking ball. A lack of a true third pitch could do him in against an SEC lineup.
Other Players to Watch
Besides the starting pitchers, Kennesaw State has a few arms worth knowing in the bullpen. Ethan Osada, a 6-foot-7, 228-pound righty, runs his sinking fastball up to 97 mph, even if it lacks some control. Left-hander Pete Jezerinac doesn't have the same velocity, but he's an effective southpaw who could give Florida's lefties trouble.
Offensively, outfielders Wes Alig, Chris Cole and Jackson Chirello lead the Owls. Alig has five RBIs already and more walks than strikeouts so far. Cole is off to a slow start, but he shouldn't be dismissed. Chriello has four doubles on the year with a 1.357 OPS. Utility man Cooper Williams has the highest OPS (1.456) and leads the team with six RBIs and a home run. Freshman third baseman Grayson McCollum has started his college career hot, with seven hits and a 1.267 OPS. He's batting .583 through three games.
I expect Peterson to bounce back and Florida's offense to dominate Kennesaw's pitching. Three run-rule wins are hard to come by, but this could be the series where it happens. Aidan King will be dominant, and Walls' slider should be enough to get through another five innings without much damage being done.
Series prediction: Florida sweeps the series convincingly, 3-0.
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LaMelo Ball said he was "alive and blessed" after walking away from a frightening-looking accident in Uptown Charlotte on Thursday.
Ball played 31 minutes Friday night (11 points, seven rebounds and assists) in Charlotte's loss at Home to Houston. That he was on the court after a nearly head-on collision after practice earlier in the day was fortunate.
The other driver was treated for non-life-threatening injuries on the scene and did not go to the hospital, according to the Charlotte Observer.
"Fortunately, everybody is cool, so blessings," Ball said of the crash, taking several questions on the topic after the game, via the Associated Press. "God is great."
"I'm just alive and blessed for real. So, God is great," Ball said.
(Note: While some online reports said Ball walked out of the room mid-interview, people actually in the room said that was not the case, that he answered several questions about the game and accident, then left when it ended.)
No police report for the accident has been made public yet. The front driver's-side tire on Ball's custom Hummer came off, and the car was towed away. While Ball left the scene fairly quickly, he was given permission to do so by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, according to the Charlotte Observer.
As Formula 1's pre-season testing ends in Bahrain, here are all key figures from the last day of running ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
ELLISVILLE, Fla. (Feb. 19) — Settle for a podium finish and valuable points on opening night of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series season? Or throw caution aside in a last-ditch bid to run down Brandon Sheppard for the win at All-Tech Raceway?
Running second and within striking distance of Sheppard in the closing laps of Thursday’s 40-lap, $10,000-to-win feature, Clay Harris faced that exact decision. He had little interest in playing it safe.
“I did not want to ride,” the 25-year-old Harris said as the laps wound down. “You know, as soon as I got to second … it’s hard. I didn’t want to run second.”
Pushing his No. 6 Longhorn Chassis to the limit, the Jupiter, Fla., driver charged into turn one along the half-mile’s notoriously treacherous top side in search of one final challenge for Sheppard. On lap 30, he quickly knew a slight lapse in precision had cost him. Missing the groove, Harris couldn’t rotate through the corner, triggering a slide up the racetrack and hard collision into the outside wall, ending his opening-night gamble with a thud.
“I entered, like, a tire width too low, and it just four-wheel slid to the wall,” Harris said. “I couldn’t get back in the gas fast enough to get it sideways — it was already too tight.
Even in hindsight, Harris felt the gamble was worth taking. While every point matters toward the season-ending points fund, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series counts only a driver’s best five finishes across the nine Georgia-Florida Speedweeks events: Feb. 19-21 at All-Tech Raceway, Feb. 26-28 at Ocala (Fla.) Speedway and March 5-7 at Golden Isles Speedway near Brunswick, Ga.
That makes Harris’s 22nd-place finish Thursday one of four mulligans he can afford during Speedweeks.
More importantly, Harris believes he’s positioned for his strongest Speedweeks showing yet, backed by deeper resources and more manpower than he’s ever had. A year after nursing a single serviceable open-competition engine through Speedweeks, Harris arrived in Florida with five race-ready engines, plus a sixth on order.
He’s equally well covered on the crew side. Josh Raymond and Kameron McGauley return full time this season, joined by Chad Dishman through March 7’s Speedweeks finale at Golden Isles, with Hunter Peacock assisting through Saturday. Together, the four make up the wrenching unit on Harris’s Florida Peanut Federation-backed No. 6 this weekend.
That level of insurance has Harris energized entering his third season on the Lucas Oil tour, looking to improve upon his 13th-place points finish last year on the circuit.
“I got plenty of crew help, so thank God,” Harris said. “I think we have a good piece to work with. Good first night out with the Super. … I told my sponsors, I told my dad, ‘I’m pumped about this year.’ I think we have something figured out.
“We got enough equipment this year. We got two race cars. We got some motors, so I’m excited. I’m not gonna hold back. I’m gonna give it all I have. I always liked to, but last year I didn’t have the opportunity. Now I’ve got the opportunity — and I’m not gonna hold back.”
Thursday’s incident ending up breaking the J-bar, steering rack and right-front spindle, among all the other cosmetic damage that came with pounding the wall between turns one and two. Harris is thankful the damage wasn’t worse.
“It didn't get the rear end, thank God,” Harris said. “But when we got it back together almost, it didn't take us long.”
Harris showed speed from the outset Thursday, charging from his fourth-starting spot into third in the opening laps. From laps 7-12, he hounded second-running Hudson O’Neal before slipping around him amid traffic on lap 13, moving into second just ahead of the lap-14 caution with Brandon Overton leading. Harris briefly slipped back to third on the ensuing restart as Sheppard surged forward on what became his race-winning charge. But Harris quickly regained momentum, and second, on lap 21 when he drove around Overton.
From there, Harris thought he had began reeling Sheppard in, trimming the leader’s advantage from 2.2 seconds to nearly a second-and-a-half before his late-race miscue ended his night.
“I probably should have tried to get to the lead faster. I felt like I had the faster race car there,” Harris said. “The track was really demanding there. I got up on the wheel. I felt like I didn't know what I was doing, but, you know, I was trying as hard as I could, man.
“When I got in a second, I was riding there, I was pretty good at the bottom in three and four, and really good on the high side. In one and two, I was good top to bottom. I just didn’t want to run second. I didn’t want to run second. I was trying to run down Sheppard. I think I was for a little while.”
Having grown up racing across the Sunshine State, Harris is well-acquainted with All-Tech Raceway and its unforgiving nature. He finished fifth in a Lucas Oil Series feature there in 2024 and added a 10th-place result last season.
It’s a track Harris has always enjoyed, even if it’s one drivers tend to have a love-hate relationship with given how technical and demanding it can be. This year, however, All-Tech features a slightly different surface after new clay was added, and Harris said the changes were apparent almost immediately. So far, he’s adapted well.
“The track is really great tonight, though. I had fun. I like it when it’s like that,” Harris said. “I mean, it's obviously a good bit different from last year. It held the moisture a lot longer, I thought, like, 2 or 3 o’clock today, I looked at the track and it was hard and dusty, and I'm like, ‘It's gonna be a lot slower tonight.’
“And then, come practice time, we were running pretty good. Like, time-wise, we weren't too slow, and (the track) wasn’t too fast. So, I mean, they did the track pretty good. Hopefully, it's like that again tomorrow so we’ll have a shot.”
DUISBURG, GERMANY - SEPTEMBER 09: Ajay Tavares of England looks on during the Men's U17 International between England and Germany at Sportschule Wedau on September 09, 2025 in Duisburg, Germany. (Photo by Frederic Scheidemann - The FA/The FA via Getty Images) | The FA via Getty Images
Barcelona are reportedly set to finally clinch the signing of highly-rated English youngster Ajay Tavares from Norwich City.
According to Diario Sport, Tavares has been given the green light to jet out to Barcelona and understake a medical with the Catalan giants.
The deal has been in the works for a little while, and it seems the requisite paperwork has now been completed, FIFA are happy, and Tavares will become a Barcelona player.
The 16-year-old is an exciting winger who has been playing for Norwich’s Under-18 teams. He holds a Portuguese passport which has allowed him to move to Barcelona before he turns 18, per Sport.
🚨💙❤️ Barcelona sealed deal to sign Norwich 2009 born talent Ajay Tavares after verbal agreement in January!
Tavares had already rejected German clubs approaches, only Barça.
Tavares will become the latest youngster to join the club following a winter window that saw Hamza Abdelkarim, Juwensley Onstein and Patricio Pacifico arrive.
Barcelona are also thought to be hoping to land Jesse Bisiwu as they aim to continue to bring in the most exciting young talents in the game.
The NFL off-season is underway, and the Ravens are officially ready for business after announcing a new staff that included 25 coaches, including three holdovers from John Harbaugh's staff. The Ravens will initially have 22 unrestricted free agents, according to Over The Cap, with big names like Tyler Linderbaum, Isaiah Likely, Kyle Van Noy, Dre'Mont Jones, Alohi Gilman, Chidobe Awuzie, and Ar'Darius Washington among those Eric DeCosta will have to decide on. Odafe Oweh was one of the biggest names on the list, but he was traded, while Kyle Hamilon and Mark Andrews signed huge contract extensions.
The new league year is fast approaching, and there are 14 days until the legal tampering period begins. The NFL released key dates for the calendar year. The most important date after the Super Bowl is the early negotiation window. That'll open on March 9, giving teams two days to negotiate before free agency and the new league year kicks off on March 11.
With free agency fast approaching, we're looking at the impending free agency decisions that could reshape the Ravens' draft board.
C Tyler Linderbaum: UFA
Age: 26
Linderbaum, the team's top pending free agent, said he "absolutely" wants to return. The Ravens did not pick up his fifth-year option last offseason, but he still could return on a deal that puts him in the top five highest-paid centers. If Linderbaum departs, Baltimore could look to add a center or offensive guard who can play center in the second or third round.
DT Dre'Mont Jones: UFA
Age: 29
Entering Week 16, Jones was leading the Ravens in pressures (20) and quick pressures (8) since they acquired him in Week 10. Among Ravens defenders with 150 pass rush snaps, Jones led all Baltimore defenders in Pass rush win rate. Overall, Jones had 2.5 sacks and 15 quarterback hits for the Ravens, which, coupled with his production in Tennessee, gave him seven sacks and 24 quarterback hits total in 2025, both career highs.
If Jones re-signs, Baltimore could look towards an offensive guard or cornerback in the first round.
DB Ar'Darius Washington: UFA
Age: 27
While the Ravens' depth chart lists Washington as the backup strong safety behind Kyle Hamilton, he's a key contributor at other positions in the defensive backfield. If Washington and Alohi Gilman depart, Baltimore could target a safety in rounds two or three.
DB Chidobe Awuzie: UFA
Age: 31
The 31-year-old cornerback had his moments in 2025, and his 74.7 grade from PFF was 14th best in the NFL. If Awuzie departs, Baltimore could target a cornerback in Round 1.
P Jordan Stout: UFA
Age: 28
Stout earned a Pro Bowl nod after his 50.1 yards per punt average was 5th in the NFL.
TE Isaiah Likely: UFA
Age: 26
Likely had his training camp derailed by a broken foot and was inconsistent thereafter. His training camp was cut short after he broke his foot in late July during a one-on-one drill. He missed the start of the season and finished with 27 catches on 36 targets for 307 yards, all career lows. Still, he's a dynamic playmaker and one of Jackson's most explosive targets. He's talked about wanting to blossom, and his departure could see Baltimore target a tight end early on.
Sarah Hawkshaw will captain Ireland [Getty Images]
Ireland head coach Gareth Grundie has named a settled squad for his side's upcoming FIH Hockey World Cup qualifiers in March.
The Irish women travel to Santiago, Chile with hopes of securing a third-straight appearance at the world's top hockey competition that began with a silver medal campaign in 2018.
Grundie's side scored a first-ever victory over Australia in Hobart on Sunday which was also Ireland's first win in the Hockey Pro League and the head coach keeps faith with the majority of that squad.
In defence, Amy Handock replaces Caitlin Sherrin for what will be her first major international tournament after captaining Ireland at Junior World Cup, while in attack, Emily Kealy is in for the injured Mikayla Power.
Roisin Upton was named player of the match against Australia and is joined in the defensive unit by by Ellen Curran who found the net in Hobart.
Team captain Sarah Hawkshaw, who also scored against the Aussies, is set to lead from midfield once again with Katie Mullan leading the line in attack.
"We are really looking forward to the FIH Hockey World Cup Qualifiers, and while we take confidence from two positive FIH Hockey Pro League stages, this will be a different challenge and one where we must control the tempo and impose our game," Grundie said.
"There is absolutely no room for complacency and we must be at our best to achieve our goal of qualifying. Every game will be tough given the size of the prize up for grabs."
Ireland begin their Group B schedule against Malaysia on 2 March (18:15 GMT) before facing Japan the following day (18:45).
The final group game against Canada on 5 March (18:15) is a first meeting between the nations since Ireland's historic penalty shootout win in Dublin in 2019 that secured a first ever Olympic place for the women's squad.
A top-two finish is required to advance to the semi-finals where they will face either a rematch with Australia or meet either Chile, France or Switzerland.
Victory would book their spot in August's World Cup which is to be held in Belgium and the Netherlands, while defeat and winning a third-place playoff would also be enough.
Ireland squad
Charlotte Beggs, Michelle Carey, Niamh Carey, Ellen Curran, Christina Hamill, Sarah Hawkshaw, Mia Jennings, Katie Larmour, Emily Kealy, Sarah McAuley, Hannah McLoughlin, Jessica McMaster, Holly Micklem, Lisa Mulcahy, Katie Mullan, Elizabeth Murphy, Caoimhe Perdue, Sarah Torrans, Roisin Upton
CCO of WWE, Triple H, points to the WrestleMania 41 sign (not pictured), firing up the Las Vegas crowd - Ethan Miller/Getty Images
All signs are pointing that this year's WrestleMania 42 and its ticket purchases remain low, if not worse than from reports made last week, according to this week's Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Last weekend, WWE offered what it considered to be a generous discount to generate more purchases for its two-night blockbuster on April 18 and 19 at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. However, there appeared to be no movement even when it promoted its lowest combo offer yet, with both nights at $738.75, before taxes. As it stands now, only 35,690 tickets have been purchased for Saturday's show and 36,372 for Sunday's. So far, this year's "Showcase of the Immortals" is down 17,252 in total sales. An anonymous source, who's near the top in WWE, told WON, "The audience is there...Are they inclined to pay ten gazillion dollars for tickets?"
As previously noted by Dave Meltzer, outside of higher daily expenses, there are other reasons to factor in as to why fans aren't eagerly purchasing tickets right now, including the fact that tourism is down and the negative political tension brewing within the United States. What's surprising to compare, is that last year's 'Mania saw over 113,412 tickets sold, profiting WWE $66,074,558. The average ticket price last year was $582.61.
Thermal Grizzly is now selling delidded versions of AMD’s most powerful gaming processor Thermal Grizzly has officially released delidded versions of AMD’s new Ryzen 7 9850X3D gaming CPU, offering users pre-delidded CPUs that have been thoroughly tested and backed by a 2-year warranty. These processors ship with their IHS (Integrated Heat Spreader) removed, allowing users […]
Akasa, a leading provider of thermal solutions, introduced the Euler CMX, a compact, aluminium, fanless case designed for Mini-ITX motherboards. The Euler CMX supports Intel Core (8th-14th Gen) and Core Ultra (15th Gen) processors up to 35 W TDP and integrates a 220 W DC-to-DC power converter, delivering reliable performance in space-constrained environments while ensuring long-term durability for industrial automation, point-of-sale (POS), kiosk, digital signage, surveillance or other commercial systems.
This case is compatible with Mini-ITX motherboards with Intel LGA1851, LGA1700, LGA1200 or LGA115X sockets, supporting Intel Core (8th-14th Gen) and Core Ultra (15th Gen) processors up to 35 W TDP.
Thermal Grizzly announced its TG Delidded CPUs, which would see the company sell delidded AMD Ryzen 9000 CPUs for enthusiast use with direct-die cooling solutions. The program started with the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and has since expanded to include the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D, with the latest addition being the recently released AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D. The delidded 9850X3D comes in at $876.33 on the Thermal Grizzly store, which is a marked increase over the $500 MSRP, but it also includes a warranty in the case of any manufacturer defects or issues that might arise during the delidding process. The aforementioned warranty is valid for two years and covers material defects of the CPU and even extends to overclocking within manufacturer spec, as long as adequate cooling is provided. It does not cover any physical or liquid damage to the silicon, SMDs, or the PCB.
Roman Hartung, aka Der8auer, famous overclocker and CEO of Thermal Grizzly, published a YouTube video demonstrating the delidding process and documenting potential performance and thermal improvements as a result of delidding and direct-die cooling. In the video, Hartung tests the 9850X3D in Cinebench R23, demonstrating a 90.2° C peak temperature on one CCD, with the average die temperature getting as high as 88.1° C with a peak power draw of 182.35 W in the 10-minute CPU benchmark run. Individual peak CPU core temperatures ranged from 78 to 88.2° C, whereas after applying liquid metal and a direct-die cooling solution resulted in peak CPU core temperatures of 66.1-75.3° C and a peak average CPU temperature of 75.3°C—temperatures were down around 15° C across the board following the delid. Power draw was slightly lower during this test, at 178.09 W peak package power, although the same settings were applied in BIOS ahead of the tests. Hartung also goes on to test the overclocking capabilities of the delidded CPU on the direct-die cooling solution, which can be seen in the video below.
Luckfox, a small Chinese company mostly known for its development boards and kits, expanded its portfolio with two new 16-inch 4K (3840 × 2400) and 2K (2560 × 1600) portable touch monitors. The 4K model uses an IPS panel with a pixel pitch of 0.0897 mm, 120 Hz refresh rate, and HDR support. Brightness is rated at 350 cd/m² while the 178° viewing angles are typical for a standard IPS panel. The display uses optical bonding and supports 10-point capacitive touch through a toughened glass surface. Connectivity includes Mini HDMI and USB Type-C for display input, plus a USB touch interface. A 3.5 mm audio jack and built-in Hi-fi speakers are also present. The enclosure is CNC-machined, and the monitor supports VESA 75 mm mounting. It ships with a detachable magnetic protective case that doubles as a stand with two viewing angles. The 4K model is priced at $319.99.
Luckfox also offers a more affordable 2K variant that keeps the IPS panel, HDR support, optical bonding, and 10-point touch, but increases the refresh rate to 165 Hz. It comes with the same magnetic case and multi-device compatibility, including support for full-featured USB-C PCs and smartphones, as well as boards such as Raspberry Pi and Jetson. Worth mentioning that both monitors are powered via USB-C with support for 20 W PD. The 2K version is listed at $189.99.
According to Vijaya Kaza, Google's VP of app and ecosystem trust, the company rejected more than 1.75 million potentially harmful apps during the review process and blocked over 80,000 developer accounts for various policy violations. Both figures are significantly lower than in 2024, when 2.36 million apps were rejected and 158,000 developer accounts were blocked.
Sun PhuQuoc Airways has placed an order for up to 40 Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets, marking the largest widebody aircraft purchase in Vietnamese aviation history. The Vietnam-based carrier will use the ultra-long-range aircraft to build […]
Avolta AG expands its airport presence in Italy by entering Verona Valerio Catullo Airport under a 10-year food and beverage contract and extending its operations into dining at Florence Amerigo Vespucci Airport through a 6-year […]
The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off on 11 June 2026, all the way to 19 July 2026, spanning across 16 host cities in Canada, Mexico and the United States. That geography is the point, […]
Travel today is no longer just about visiting famous landmarks or taking photos for social media. It’s about slowing down, noticing details, and choosing experiences that feel meaningful. More travelers are looking for places and […]
The Carnival Conquest has returned to Miami after a 12‑day drydock at Grand Bahama Shipyard, the company said in a statement. Now that drydock refurbishment is complete, the ship will resume year‑round sailings from Miami. The ship debuts several upgrades, one of which is the addition of the Heroes Tribute Bar & Lounge which honors...
The advancement of sustainable tourism development is being prioritized as a foundational pillar for the economic and social revitalization of Myanmar. By focusing on the delicate balance between visitor influx and resource preservation, a more resilient framework is being constructed. It is recognized that the long-term viability of the industry depends heavily on strengthening Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) to act as the primary coordinators at the local level. These organizations are designed to bridge the gap between government policy and community-based implementation. Through these efforts, the natural landscapes and cultural heritage of the nation are being safeguarded for future generations. A collective approach is being adopted to ensure that the benefits of travel and exploration are distributed equitably across various regions.
The Significance of Destination Management Organizations
The management of diverse tourist sites is being enhanced through the formalization of DMO structures. These entities are viewed as the essential engines for local governance within the tourism sector. By empowering these organizations, a more structured approach to site maintenance, marketing, and safety is being established. It is understood that a central authority cannot oversee every minute detail of a remote destination, and thus, the decentralization of management is being facilitated. The roles of these organizations are being expanded to include environmental monitoring and the regulation of visitor behavior to prevent the degradation of sensitive areas. Through this localized focus, the unique identity of each destination is being preserved while international standards of hospitality are being met.
Collaborative Frameworks and Stakeholder Engagement
A significant emphasis is being placed on the participation of both public and private sectors in this developmental journey. The collaboration between government ministries, local businesses, and community leaders is being fostered to create a unified vision. It is observed that when stakeholders are aligned, the implementation of sustainable practices becomes more efficient. Workshops and seminars are being conducted to provide these groups with the necessary tools and knowledge to manage their resources effectively. The voices of local residents are being incorporated into the decision-making process to ensure that tourism development aligns with their social and cultural values. This inclusive strategy is being utilized to build trust and shared responsibility across the industry.
Capacity Building and Knowledge Sharing
The improvement of human resources within the tourism sector is being treated as a matter of urgency. Training programs are being implemented to elevate the professional standards of those involved in destination management. This includes the acquisition of skills related to digital marketing, crisis management, and environmental conservation. Knowledge is being shared across different regions of Myanmar to ensure that successful models in one area can be replicated in another. By investing in the people who manage these destinations, the overall quality of the visitor experience is being elevated. Furthermore, the use of data and analytics is being encouraged to better understand travel patterns and to make informed decisions regarding infrastructure development.
Environmental Stewardship and Resource Protection
The protection of Myanmar’s natural beauty is being positioned at the forefront of the DMO mandate. Policies are being drafted to limit the environmental footprint of tourism activities in ecologically sensitive zones. Waste management systems are being overhauled, and the use of renewable energy sources is being promoted within the hospitality sector. It is being argued that a destination which loses its natural appeal will eventually lose its economic value. Therefore, the conservation of forests, rivers, and coastal areas is being integrated into the core strategy of tourism planning. Awareness campaigns are being directed at both tourists and service providers to encourage responsible behavior and the reduction of plastic consumption.
Enhancing Global Competitiveness
By adopting international best practices in destination management, Myanmar is being positioned as a competitive player in the global travel market. The focus on sustainability is being used as a key differentiator to attract conscientious travelers who prioritize ethical and eco-friendly experiences. Standards are being set to ensure that the infrastructure developed today does not become a burden tomorrow. The integration of technology in promoting these destinations is being explored to reach a wider audience. Through the efforts of strengthened DMOs, a narrative of safety, authenticity, and environmental responsibility is being shared with the world. This strategic positioning is expected to result in a steady and manageable growth of the tourism sector.
Policy Integration and Future Outlook
The alignment of tourism goals with national development plans is being carefully orchestrated. Legal frameworks are being updated to provide a clear roadmap for DMOs and their operational boundaries. It is anticipated that as these organizations become more autonomous and financially stable, they will play an even larger role in regional development. The progress of these initiatives is being monitored through regular assessments and feedback loops. A future is being envisioned where tourism serves as a catalyst for peace, prosperity, and environmental harmony. The ongoing commitment to strengthening these management structures is seen as the most viable path toward achieving a truly sustainable and flourishing tourism industry in Myanmar.
Rio de Janeiro positions itself as a prime hub for cruise tourism with MSC Splendida introducing new departures during the 2026-27 season. This development at Pier Mauá in Guanabara Bay promises to elevate visitor numbers to the city’s iconic landmarks like Copacabana Beach and Sugarloaf Mountain. The addition strengthens Rio de Janeiro‘s role in Brazil’s growing cruise sector, drawing international travelers eager for sun-soaked adventures.
Local port operations, managed efficiently under established protocols, facilitate seamless arrivals and departures. This expansion aligns with broader efforts to revitalize urban waterfronts through projects like Porto Maravilha, blending modern infrastructure with cultural attractions. Tourism in Rio de Janeiro stands to gain significantly as these sailings inject economic vitality into hotels, eateries, and excursion providers.
Expanded Itineraries from Rio Ignite Coastal Tourism
MSC Splendida will offer eight-and-nine-night voyages from Rio de Janeiro, connecting to Ilhabela, Búzios, Ilha Grande, Balneário Camboriú, and Punta del Este in Uruguay. These routes cater to diverse preferences, from quick tropical escapes to extended explorations of Brazil’s emerald shores. Such connectivity amplifies tourism flows across regions, benefiting lesser-visited spots with increased footfall.
Passengers can immerse in Brazil’s vibrant coastal culture, with stops highlighting pristine beaches and lush rainforests. The itineraries encourage overnight explorations, deepening engagement with local ecosystems and communities. This surge in cruise traffic will undoubtedly propel tourism revenues, supporting sustainable growth in these destinations.
Strategic Homeport Shift Enhances Accessibility
The decision to base MSC Splendida departures in Rio de Janeiro alongside Buenos Aires expands options for South American travelers. Brazilian passengers now access eight embarkation points, including Santos, Salvador, Maceió, Paranaguá, Balneário Camboriú, Itajaí, simplifying travel logistics. This flexibility broadens tourism participation, attracting families and first-time cruisers from across the continent.
Rio de Janeiro emerges with dual vessels offering MSC Yacht Club exclusivity, featuring premium routes to Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil’s tropical islands. Port enhancements ensure smooth handling of larger crowds, fostering a welcoming environment. Overall, these changes position Rio de Janeiro as a cornerstone for regional tourism revival.
MSC Fleet Amplifies South America Tourism
Five MSC ships, including MSC Splendida, MSC Virtuosa, MSC Divina, MSC Musica, and others, deploy for over one hundred sailings from November 2026 to April 2027. Offerings span three-to-nine-night trips across thirteen destinations, blending mini-cruises with immersive journeys. This robust lineup intensifies tourism across Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, channeling visitors to cultural and natural hotspots.
MSC Splendida complements flagships like MSC Virtuosa in Rio de Janeiro, providing modern amenities tailored for leisure seekers. The fleet’s scale boosts capacity while diversifying experiences, from beach hopping to urban discoveries. Tourism authorities anticipate heightened economic impacts through onboard spending and shore activities.
Tourism Impacts on Brazil’s Iconic Destinations
Ilhabela and Ilha Grande benefit from direct access, promoting eco-tourism amid Atlantic rainforests and clear waters. Búzios gains from its bohemian vibe, drawing yacht-like crowds via cruises. These influxes stimulate local businesses, from artisanal crafts to seafood dining, fostering year-round tourism vitality.
Balneário Camboriú and Punta del Este see elevated profiles with international sailings, enhancing their status as beach paradises. Cross-border routes to Uruguay invigorate binational tourism, easing travel barriers. Brazil’s coastal economy thrives as MSC Splendida funnels visitors into adventure sports and heritage sites.
Economic Ripple Effects on Regional Tourism
Cruise arrivals at Rio de Janeiro‘s Pier Mauá will spur job creation in hospitality and transport sectors. The 2026-27 season’s expanded capacity promises millions in tourism spending, bolstering post-pandemic recovery. Sustainable practices onboard align with Brazil’s green initiatives, ensuring long-term environmental health.
Adjacent ports like Santos and Itajaí experience spillover effects, distributing tourism benefits nationwide. Government-backed port upgrades support this growth, prioritizing efficiency and safety. Ultimately, MSC Splendida‘s presence catalyzes a virtuous cycle for Brazil’s tourism infrastructure.
Future Outlook for Cruise Tourism Surge
The 2026-27 deployments signal MSC’s commitment to South America, with Rio de Janeiro as a linchpin. Enhanced itineraries promise record passenger volumes, transforming seasonal peaks into sustained tourism momentum. Stakeholders prepare for infrastructure expansions to match demand.
MSC Splendida‘s versatile routes appeal to varied demographics, from luxury seekers in Yacht Club to adventure enthusiasts. This positions Brazil favorably in global cruise markets, rivaling Caribbean hotspots. Tourism in Rio de Janeiro and beyond enters a golden era of accessibility and excitement.
On February 23, 2026, Visa Direct and Iris launched a global B2B marketing campaign that highlights real client stories to showcase how Visa’s digital money‑movement solutions help banks and fintech partners navigate complex cross‑border payments. The creative work centres on Visa Direct’s ability to move money globally — a critical service for travel‑related businesses, financial institutions, and platforms integrating payments across currencies and markets. Visa Direct’s “Client Stories” platform brings forward authentic use cases, including how companies like Checkout.com leverage the technology to offer seamless access to more than 150 currencies across 195 countries and territories via a single provider. The campaign runs globally across LinkedIn, YouTube and Visa’s website, aiming to strengthen Visa Direct’s B2B positioning among financial partners.
What the Campaign Is About
The campaign — developed in collaboration with the creative agency Iris and media handled by Publicis Pro — shifts marketing emphasis from technical jargon to the real, practical ways Visa Direct helps businesses solve financial complexity. It positions Visa Direct as an indispensable partner for banks and fintechs that support travel payments, remittances, travel bookings, settlement systems and cross‑border cash movement. By using real client narratives instead of abstract brand messaging, Visa Direct aims to connect more directly with C‑suite and payments decision‑makers.
The creative includes visuals by artist Yukai Du and highlights stories like how Checkout.com uses Visa Direct to power real‑time global money flows, strengthening interoperability across markets and currencies — an asset for travel platforms requiring fast, secure payout or refund capabilities.
Advantages for Travel and Payments Ecosystems
1. Supports Cross‑Border Travel Payments
Visa Direct’s real‑world use cases spotlight how banks and fintechs can integrate instant global payments — a key component in modern travel platforms that need efficient transfers for bookings, refunds, supplier payouts and traveller services.
2. Helps Banks & Fintechs Innovate
By highlighting real success stories, the campaign encourages financial institutions to adopt Visa Direct’s APIs and frameworks, enabling new travel‑related services like global loyalty rewards payouts, cross‑border mobile money and real‑time settlement.
3. Increases Visibility in B2B Travel Networks
Running across LinkedIn and professional platforms increases awareness among travel tech leaders, airline partners, payment processors and enterprise travel planners who rely on friction‑less money movement as part of customer experience.
4. Bridges Technical Understanding and Business Value
Using real client stories helps demystify complex payment mechanics for travel businesses that may otherwise struggle with technical messaging and integration barriers.
Disadvantages and Challenges
1. B2B Messaging May Not Translate to End Users
While the campaign is powerful in B2B segments, travellers themselves may not immediately grasp how Visa Direct’s capabilities translate into better travel experiences, such as faster refunds or cross‑border payouts.
2. Competitive Payments Landscape
Visa Direct operates in a crowded fintech ecosystem with competitors like SWIFT, Ripple, and local real‑time payment networks. Real‑world case studies help, but differentiating value beyond brand recognition remains challenging.
3. Integration Complexity for Smaller Partners
Despite compelling stories, smaller banks or travel start‑ups may still lack resources or technical capacity to integrate complex APIs or to leverage Visa Direct fully, which could slow adoption.
Travel and Fintech Industry Context
Visa Direct has been positioning itself as a global real‑time money movement solution that supports bank‑to‑consumer and business‑to‑business transfers, making it relevant to travel companies that manage cross‑border transactions, travel insurance payouts, visa processing fees and partner settlements. ∙ Checkout.com’s involvement underscores the importance of cross‑border capability, as travel bookings increasingly span currencies and jurisdictions.
The campaign builds on Visa Direct’s existing “Move Money Your Way” platform — introduced in October 2024 — expanding its narrative for enterprise partners. This aligns with broader trends in the fintech and travel payments space, where real‑time global transactions are integral to customer experience and operational resilience.
Conclusion
The Iris‑Visa Direct global B2B campaign launched on February 23, 2026 is authentic and designed to strengthen Visa Direct’s positioning in the global payments ecosystem by using real client success stories to communicate practical value for banks and fintechs. While the campaign’s primary focus is on enterprise partners rather than end travellers, its implications for travel‑related financial flows, cross‑border payments and integrated travel payments systems are significant. As travel commerce continues to globalise, seamless money movement becomes an essential backbone — and Visa Direct is using this creative platform to highlight how real partners are harnessing the technology to streamline complex financial demands in a global economy.
Luxury travellers are in for a remarkable adventure as Explora Journeys opens bookings for its 2029 World Cruise. Spanning 128 days, this journey begins in Dubai and concludes in Barcelona, offering an exceptional opportunity for travellers to experience the globe in a single, continuous voyage. For those seeking the ultimate exploration of culture, nature, and luxury at sea, this expedition sets a new standard for world cruises.
A Journey Across Continents and Cultures
The 2029 World Cruise is meticulously designed to connect multiple continents, taking passengers through Asia, Oceania, South America, North America, and Europe. The itinerary features 63 destinations, including 44 ports new to Explora Journeys, providing both familiar and undiscovered locations for travellers to explore.
Starting in Dubai, the cruise passes through the cultural richness of India and Sri Lanka, the vibrant islands of Southeast Asia, and the natural splendour of Australia. From there, the journey explores New Zealand, the South Pacific islands, and South America’s Pacific coast before transiting the Caribbean and finally reaching the historic cities of Europe. This route is crafted to offer travellers a seamless, immersive experience of diverse cultures and landscapes.
Seven Segments for Flexible Exploration
To cater to different travel preferences, the cruise is divided into seven bookable segments:
Dubai to Singapore – Exploring India’s coasts, Sri Lanka, and Singapore’s modern marvels.
Singapore to Sydney – Showcasing Indonesia’s islands, tropical seas, and the Great Barrier Reef.
Sydney to Auckland – Combining urban sophistication with New Zealand’s natural beauty.
Auckland to Tahiti – Immersing travellers in Fiji, Tonga, and French Polynesia.
Tahiti to Valparaíso – Crossing the Pacific to South America’s iconic landscapes.
Valparaíso to Miami – Traversing the Panama Canal and Caribbean gems.
Miami to Barcelona – Highlighting the Atlantic passage and concluding with Mediterranean charm.
Each segment includes overnight stays in key ports, allowing travellers to fully engage with local culture, cuisine, and landmarks. This approach ensures a richer experience than traditional cruise itineraries, which often prioritise quantity of destinations over depth of exploration.
Luxury at Sea with a Travel-First Focus
Passengers onboard Explora I can expect an elevated level of comfort, combining luxurious amenities with a focus on cultural discovery. The cruise is designed to allow unhurried exploration, letting travellers immerse themselves in each destination without the rush typical of shorter itineraries.
The onboard experience includes curated excursions, educational presentations, and opportunities for personal enrichment. From guided tours of heritage sites to culinary adventures reflecting local flavours, every aspect of the cruise is tailored to ensure travellers gain meaningful insights into the places they visit.
Flexible Options for Global Travellers
While the full 128-day cruise offers the ultimate experience, travellers have the option to embark on or disembark at intermediate ports such as Miami or New York. This flexibility appeals to those who may wish to experience only a portion of the journey while still enjoying world-class luxury and curated experiences.
Luxury travel experts emphasise that such flexibility aligns with current trends in high-end tourism, where personalised itineraries and choice of travel duration are increasingly important to discerning travellers.
An Immersive Travel Experience Beyond Ports
This world cruise is not simply a series of stops; it’s a guided journey of cultural, environmental, and historical discovery. From pristine beaches in the South Pacific to bustling markets in Asia, passengers are encouraged to engage deeply with each destination.
Overnight stays and extended port calls provide opportunities to explore local traditions, sample regional cuisine, and experience authentic cultural activities. The itinerary also incorporates natural highlights, including tropical reefs, fjords, and UNESCO heritage sites, allowing travellers to connect with the planet’s remarkable diversity.
Planning for the Ultimate Adventure
Bookings for the 2029 World Cruise open years in advance, reflecting the journey’s exclusivity and scope. Travel experts recommend early planning to manage visa requirements, seasonal weather considerations, and personal travel logistics.
For global travellers seeking an all-encompassing adventure, the Explora Journeys 2029 World Cruise offers a rare chance to circumnavigate the globe with unmatched luxury and convenience. From the golden deserts of Dubai to the Mediterranean allure of Barcelona, every leg of this journey provides a carefully curated experience designed for lasting memories.
Why Travellers Will Remember This Journey
The 128-day expedition represents the pinnacle of travel and tourism innovation, blending culture, natural beauty, and luxury seamlessly. This cruise offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience the world with unparalleled comfort, flexibility, and depth. For anyone seeking to explore continents, immerse in cultures, and enjoy life at sea, this journey is a must-consider bucket-list adventure.
Royal Caribbean is set to launch its latest Icon-class ship, Legend of the Seas, promising an unforgettable culinary journey at sea. With 28 dining options, the vessel is designed for travellers who love food, culture, and discovery. From casual cafés to themed restaurants and gourmet experiences, every meal is crafted to delight. This is not just a cruise; it is a floating food adventure, offering travellers from the UK, USA, Europe, and beyond a chance to taste global flavours while exploring iconic destinations.
Global Flavours Onboard: A Culinary Voyage Like No Other
The Legend of the Seas introduces travellers to a world of cuisine without leaving the ship. The ship features themed dining experiences inspired by global cultures. For example, the innovative Silk Route concept takes diners on a journey through Asia and Europe, with dishes influenced by Chinese, Indian, Persian, and Mediterranean traditions. This immersive experience turns dinner into an exploration of history and flavour, appealing to travellers eager to discover international tastes while at sea.
Themed Dining Experiences: Entertainment Meets Cuisine
One of the standout offerings is the Hollywood Supper Club, where diners enjoy multi-course meals alongside live music and cinematic entertainment. This restaurant combines fine dining with storytelling, making every meal an event. Guests can also enjoy family-style feasts, interactive kitchens, and themed culinary journeys designed to entertain as well as satisfy appetites. Royal Caribbean’s approach shows how cruise dining has evolved into a full sensory experience, attracting both families and couples looking for something special.
Casual Dining for Every Traveller
Not every meal needs to be formal. Legend of the Seas offers casual, complimentary options for travellers on the go. Guests can stop at cafés, casual eateries, or quick-service counters for sandwiches, salads, fresh juices, and snacks. These venues, including a 24-hour café, ensure that families, solo travellers, and night owls always have something tasty to enjoy, no matter the time of day. The range of casual dining complements the themed and fine-dining options, giving passengers complete flexibility.
Specialty Restaurants for Gourmet Lovers
For those seeking premium dining experiences, the ship delivers with several signature restaurants. Steakhouses, Italian kitchens, seafood bars, and dessert-focused venues provide travellers with gourmet options beyond standard cruise fare. From tender cuts of steak to freshly made pasta, seafood platters, and decadent desserts, every speciality restaurant is crafted for food lovers who want memorable meals. This approach makes Legend of the Seas a destination not just for travel, but for culinary exploration.
Indulgent Treats and Sweet Experiences
No cruise is complete without dessert. Guests can enjoy towering milkshakes, artisanal candies, and cakes, as well as coffee and light treats. These indulgences allow passengers to experience small but memorable pleasures throughout their voyage. The variety ensures that everyone, from children to adults, can find something to satisfy their cravings while on board.
Destinations that Complement the Culinary Journey
The ship’s itineraries combine exceptional dining with iconic destinations. Early voyages include the Mediterranean, visiting ports in Italy, Spain, and France, while later cruises focus on the Caribbean, departing from Florida and including stops at Royal Caribbean’s private island. This combination of culinary variety and bucket-list locations enhances the traveller experience, making the journey as exciting as the destinations themselves.
A Cruise Designed for Modern Travellers
Legend of the Seas reflects a growing trend: travellers now value experiences that combine food, culture, and leisure. The ship is designed to appeal to global tourists, families, and couples alike, offering entertainment, relaxation, and gourmet dining in one comprehensive experience. With 28 dining venues, themed restaurants, casual options, and specialty eateries, it offers a unique selling point in the competitive cruise market. Travellers can enjoy a journey that satisfies both wanderlust and appetite, creating lasting memories on the open sea.
Why This Cruise is a Must-Experience
Modern travellers seek immersive, enriching experiences, and Legend of the Seas delivers just that. Every meal is an opportunity to explore new flavours, every venue offers a different story, and every itinerary links exceptional dining to world-famous destinations. This cruise redefines the meaning of travel and dining, making it an essential journey for anyone who loves culture, food, and adventure.
Royal Caribbean’s latest innovation proves that cruise ships are no longer just a place to sleep; they are floating destinations of discovery, indulgence, and global gastronomy, ideal for travellers seeking experiences that go beyond ordinary tourism.
Summer 2026 is shaping up to be a season of unforgettable travel experiences as Celestyal Cruises unveils its Summer Savings promotion. Designed for global travellers, this offer opens the doors to incredible adventures across the Mediterranean and Arabian Gulf. Whether you are seeking sun-kissed Greek islands, historical cities, or luxury escapes along the Arabian coast, this promotion makes premium cruising more accessible. Families, couples, and solo travellers alike can enjoy substantial discounts, onboard perks, and special cabin deals, making it the perfect opportunity to plan a memorable vacation on the high seas.
Discover the Wonders of the Greek Isles
The Mediterranean Sea has long been a favourite for travellers seeking beauty, history, and culture in one trip. With the Celestyal Cruises Summer Savings 2026, visitors can sail roundtrip from Athens and explore some of the world’s most iconic islands. Popular routes include short 3- and 4-night trips ideal for newcomers, as well as 7- and 14-night itineraries for those who want a deeper exploration of Greece. Passengers can witness whitewashed villages, turquoise waters, and ancient ruins while enjoying the convenience and comfort of a modern cruise ship. This promotion offers a unique way to experience the charm of the Greek Isles without the usual high cost.
Arabian Gulf: A Modern and Cultural Escape
Travellers seeking warm waters, futuristic skylines, and cultural richness can turn to Arabian Gulf cruises. The promotion includes sailings from key ports such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Doha. These itineraries combine relaxing days at sea with immersive experiences in cities renowned for their luxury, architecture, and heritage. Passengers can enjoy everything from desert excursions to beachside relaxation, with plenty of opportunities for shopping, dining, and sightseeing. The Arabian Gulf is a destination that blends modern comfort with rich traditions, making it ideal for both first-time visitors and seasoned travellers looking for a unique cruise experience.
Incredible Savings and Onboard Perks
The Summer Savings 2026 promotion provides unmatched value for global travellers. Selected sailings are available at up to 50% off, allowing families, couples, and solo explorers to enjoy luxury cruises without overspending. Additional perks include onboard credits, which can be used for dining, excursions, and spa treatments. Families benefit from deals where the third and fourth guests in a cabin sail free, making it an economical choice for family vacations. These savings make it possible to explore multiple destinations in comfort while keeping travel costs manageable, turning a cruise into an affordable luxury experience for everyone.
Why Celestyal Cruises is Perfect for Global Travellers
Celestyal Cruises Summer Savings 2026 is more than just a discount; it is a gateway to convenience and exploration. Cruise itineraries allow passengers to see multiple countries in one seamless journey without the hassle of packing and unpacking multiple times. Whether visiting ancient ruins in Greece or enjoying the modern architecture of Dubai, travellers can maximise their experiences while enjoying all-inclusive amenities onboard. Modern ships offer entertainment, fine dining, and comfortable cabins that make each voyage relaxing and memorable. These cruises cater to all types of travellers and ensure that every day at sea is as enriching as each port visit.
Tips for Planning Your Summer Cruise
To make the most of the Summer Savings promotion, travellers should plan early. Booking ahead ensures access to preferred cabins and the best itineraries. Passengers are encouraged to use onboard credits strategically for dining, spa treatments, and excursions. Longer port stays allow for deeper cultural immersion, giving travellers time to explore historical sites, enjoy local cuisine, and discover hidden gems. Families can maximise savings by taking advantage of free fares for additional guests. Careful planning ensures that the cruise experience is not only luxurious but also cost-effective, offering excellent value for money.
Highlights of Mediterranean and Arabian Gulf Cruises
The promotion includes a wide variety of cruises to cater to different tastes. In the Mediterranean, passengers can explore iconic Greek islands, historical landmarks, and coastal cities renowned for their culture and cuisine. The Arabian Gulf offers a mix of modern skylines, luxury resorts, and desert landscapes, appealing to travellers looking for both adventure and relaxation. Cruises are designed to balance onboard leisure with immersive shore experiences, ensuring that each passenger enjoys a rich, diverse, and unforgettable travel experience. The Summer Savings 2026 promotion ensures that these experiences are accessible to a wider audience of global travellers.
Why Booking Now is Essential
The Celestyal Cruises Summer Savings 2026 promotion is available for a limited time. Travellers are encouraged to book early to secure preferred cabins and itineraries. The promotion is valid for voyages throughout 2026 and into 2027, giving ample options for scheduling. With up to 50% off, free fares for additional guests, and onboard credits, this is one of the most attractive cruise deals of the year. For travellers seeking a combination of adventure, culture, and luxury, now is the perfect time to plan a memorable summer escape on the Mediterranean and Arabian Gulf.
In the early months of 2026, Russia has outpaced several key countries—Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Georgia, India, and others—in contributing to Azerbaijan’s tourism growth. This shift can be attributed to several factors: longstanding cultural and economic ties, ease of travel between the two nations, and an increasing number of Russian tourists seeking both leisure and business opportunities in Azerbaijan. With over 42,000 Russian visitors recorded in January alone, Russia’s dominance highlights Azerbaijan’s enduring appeal to its northern neighbor, reflecting a pattern of sustained growth from this key market. This surpassing of other top markets, including Turkey and Saudi Arabia, underscores the growing importance of Russian tourism in Azerbaijan’s strategy to expand its global visitor base.
Azerbaijan’s tourism industry has seen a significant boost in early 2026, with more than 181,000 international visitors arriving in January alone. This figure marks an impressive 5% increase compared to the same period in 2025, demonstrating the country’s growing appeal as a tourist destination. A total of 181,637 foreign nationals visited Azerbaijan in January 2026, representing an increase of nearly 9,000 visitors over the previous year. This upward trend in tourism underscores Azerbaijan’s expanding role in the global travel market, as it continues to attract tourists from diverse regions and industries, including business and leisure travelers alike.
A notable aspect of this increase in visitors is the strong growth in tourism from Central Asia, particularly from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Kazakhstan, in particular, has shown a sustained interest in Azerbaijan, with 5,676 visitors arriving in January 2026. This represents a 2.5% growth from the previous year, highlighting the deepening cultural, historical, and economic ties between the two nations. Kazakhstan’s proximity to Azerbaijan and shared linguistic and cultural heritage are key factors driving this upward trend.
Similarly, Uzbekistan has seen an increase in its citizens traveling to Azerbaijan, with 5,130 visitors in January 2026. The influx of Uzbek tourists reflects an emerging trend of Central Asian countries seeking out international travel opportunities, with Azerbaijan’s rich history, vibrant culture, and geographical proximity making it an attractive destination. The growing number of Uzbek travelers further illustrates Azerbaijan’s rising prominence as a key player in regional tourism.
Beyond Central Asia, Azerbaijan has also seen strong tourism figures from other neighboring and distant countries. Russia, historically a significant source of visitors, remains one of the top contributors, with 42,342 Russians visiting in January 2026. The enduring appeal of Azerbaijan to Russian nationals is a reflection of shared cultural connections and the popularity of Azerbaijan as a destination for both leisure and business. In addition, Turkey, a key partner with Azerbaijan, contributed 36,536 visitors in January 2026, further solidifying the strong relationship between the two countries. The geographical proximity and shared cultural heritage between Azerbaijan and Turkey continue to foster tourism between the two nations.
Iran, another neighboring country, also saw a steady stream of visitors, with 15,399 Iranian nationals traveling to Azerbaijan in January 2026. Given the close ties in culture, religion, and geography, Iran remains one of Azerbaijan’s primary tourist markets. Azerbaijan offers an accessible and culturally resonant destination for Iranian travelers seeking short trips abroad, particularly given the geographic and economic proximity.
In addition to these traditional markets, Azerbaijan is witnessing growing interest from other regions, with India being a prime example. The number of visitors from India rose to 9,070 in January 2026, signaling a rising trend of interest from the Indian subcontinent. Similarly, Saudi Arabia has seen a dramatic increase in tourism to Azerbaijan, with 8,976 visitors in January 2026—an impressive 44.9% rise from the previous year. This surge highlights a growing appetite among Saudi nationals for exploring new and culturally rich destinations beyond traditional options.
Other countries contributing to Azerbaijan’s tourism growth include Georgia, Pakistan, and Israel, which saw 8,734, 6,758, and 4,972 visitors, respectively. These figures illustrate Azerbaijan’s expanding reach, attracting travelers from diverse corners of the world, from neighboring countries to more distant regions.
Looking ahead, Azerbaijan’s government is planning to ramp up its marketing efforts in 2026 to maintain and accelerate this growth in tourism. The country is set to leverage a combination of traditional and digital marketing strategies to attract even more international visitors. By focusing on online platforms, social media campaigns, and traditional advertising channels, Azerbaijan aims to boost awareness of its cultural attractions, natural beauty, and modern infrastructure.
In early 2026, Russia has surpassed Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Georgia, India, and others in driving Azerbaijan’s tourism growth, fueled by strong cultural ties, proximity, and a steady flow of both leisure and business travelers. This shift highlights Russia’s continued dominance as Azerbaijan’s top tourism market.
As the tourism landscape continues to evolve, Azerbaijan is positioning itself as a premier destination for global travelers. With its rich history, stunning landscapes, and strategic location bridging Europe and Asia, Azerbaijan is on track to remain a top choice for tourists seeking diverse experiences, whether for relaxation, exploration, or business. With sustained efforts in marketing and promotion, Azerbaijan’s tourism industry is poised for continued growth in the coming years.
South Africa welcomed 110 travel agents and media representatives from Australia and New Zealand for the third and most ambitious Mega Lekker Escape in 2026. This event, a vital part of South African Tourism’s ongoing efforts, was designed to immerse participants in the country’s rich cultural heritage, conservation efforts, and vibrant tourism destinations. With a goal to rebuild destination knowledge post-pandemic, the Mega Lekker Escape showed Australian and New Zealand agents firsthand what South Africa offers as a premier travel destination.
The 2026 Mega Lekker Escape was a pivotal moment in South Africa’s tourism recovery. The event, featuring 11 simultaneous familiarisation trips, gave participants the unique chance to explore everything from iconic wildlife reserves to lesser-known destinations. The event’s focus was on engaging travel agents with South Africa’s sustainability efforts, conservation programs, and diverse cultures.
Showcasing Iconic Attractions and Lesser-Known Regions
The Mega Lekker Escape brought participants across various iconic attractions and unique destinations. From the bustling streets of Cape Town to the vast wilderness of the Pilanesberg Game Reserve, the familiarisation trips aimed to offer a balanced perspective on South Africa’s diverse offerings.
With each carefully curated itinerary, agents explored wildlife reserves such as Shamwari’s Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre and the De Hoop Nature Reserve, while also discovering cultural gems like the !Khwa ttu San Heritage Centre. These experiences were crafted to highlight South Africa’s commitment to sustainability, conservation, and community engagement. Visitors also participated in activities supporting local communities, including donating school supplies with Pack for a Purpose and camping at Cape Vidal, where participants left behind sleeping bags for local children.
Training and Networking at Sun City Resort
The event’s conclusion took place at Sun City Resort in the Pilanesberg Game Reserve. Here, travel agents and operators took part in two days of training, which included one-on-one meetings with local suppliers, wholesalers, and destination management companies (DMCs). This focused session aimed to deepen agents’ knowledge of the destination’s offerings and equip them with the tools to sell South Africa more effectively.
The Sun City training event was a melting pot of networking, with a focus on both leisure and business tourism. It also hosted a variety of activities, such as trivia competitions and evening events hosted by local comedians Tumi Morake and Mojak Lehoko, designed to lighten the mood while encouraging collaboration. These events gave travel agents a deeper understanding of South Africa’s tourism products and fostered meaningful connections with key stakeholders from South African Airways, Qantas, and FedAir.
Sustainable Tourism and Economic Impact
The emphasis on sustainability was a key feature throughout the 2026 Mega Lekker Escape. By engaging with South Africa’s various SMMEs (small, medium, and micro enterprises), the event contributed significantly to the local economy. In total, 60 SMMEs received valuable exposure, helping them connect with international markets and further establishing South Africa as a sustainable tourism leader. This emphasis on sustainability is expected to boost future bookings and create long-lasting economic opportunities for local businesses.
The economic impact of the Mega Lekker Escape is substantial. South African Tourism estimates that the event contributed ZAR12 million (~AUD1.2 million) into the country’s economy, with projections suggesting that future bookings could add another ZAR5 million (~AUD500,000) within the first year. These numbers highlight the growing importance of Australia and New Zealand as key tourism markets for South Africa.
Impact on Australian and New Zealand Tourism Markets
Australia and New Zealand are among South Africa’s fastest-growing inbound markets. In 2025, Australia recorded 121,361 arrivals to South Africa, an increase of 23.2% from the previous year. New Zealand’s tourism figures were similarly impressive, with a 15.8% year-on-year increase. These numbers reflect an ongoing trend of rising interest in South Africa from both countries, with the 2026 Mega Lekker Escape set to further cement this growth.
For many Australian and New Zealand travel agents, this was their first experience of South Africa, and the impact was immediately noticeable. Reports indicated that 90% of the agents who attended the event had already booked travel to South Africa by the end of the first year. This significant conversion rate underscores the effectiveness of experiential marketing in tourism and the power of firsthand experiences in shaping travel decisions.
Boosting Destination Knowledge and Overcoming Misconceptions
The Mega Lekker Escape also aimed to break down misconceptions about South Africa, particularly following the disruptions caused by the pandemic. For many agents, this was their first time experiencing South Africa’s regions beyond the well-known hotspots. By introducing them to less familiar regions, the event highlighted the country’s diverse tourism offerings and dispelled outdated stereotypes.
Many agents were impressed with the country’s commitment to sustainable tourism, a value that resonated deeply with travelers from Australia and New Zealand. South Africa’s eco-tourism initiatives, wildlife conservation efforts, and cultural diversity made it a more attractive destination for agents eager to promote responsible and enriching travel experiences.
Looking Ahead: The Future of South African Tourism
The Mega Lekker Escape 2026 has proven to be an invaluable marketing tool for South African Tourism. It has brought awareness to the country’s unique offerings, generated strong economic returns, and contributed to the growth of tourism from Australia and New Zealand.
As South Africa continues to rebuild and recover from the pandemic, events like the Mega Lekker Escape play a pivotal role in driving tourism and creating a positive impact on local communities. With sustainability and cultural diversity at its core, the 2026 event has set the stage for a new era of travel to South Africa.
A High‑Level Symposium on Advancing a Visa‑Free Africa for Economic Prosperity convened in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as a key side event to the 39th Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Assembly of Heads of State and Government. Organised by the African Union Commission’s Department of Health, Humanitarian and Social Affairs and the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, the symposium brought together policymakers, regional economic community leaders and development partners to chart momentum on the visa‑free Africa agenda — a central component of continental integration and economic growth.
Speakers emphasised that free movement of people within Africa is not only a travel reform but a strategic economic transformation tool that can unlock trade, investment, tourism, labour mobility and deeper regional cooperation. Despite progress, only a small number of countries have ratified the AU Free Movement Protocol, underlining gaps that still need political action for implementation.
This article explores the event’s significance, travel‑sector implications, and policy prospects for Africa’s economic future. Country focus: Ethiopia (location of the symposium) and Africa as a whole.
Symposium Context and Objectives
The symposium is part of broader AU Agenda 2063 goals, specifically related to the Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community on Free Movement of Persons, Right of Residence and Right of Establishment — adopted in 2018 to progressively eliminate visa barriers across the continent.
Held in mid‑February 2026 on the margins of the AU summit, the symposium emphasized that advancing a visa‑free Africa extends beyond policy rhetoric to collective economic action and harmonised immigration policy, aligned with initiatives like the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Panelists argued that easing visa requirements must be coupled with improved border management cooperation and political commitment from AU member states.
African Union and AfDB representatives reiterated that a visa‑free regime could boost intra‑African trade, attract foreign investment, expand tourism and labour mobility, and facilitate knowledge exchange across borders — positioning mobility as a catalyst for job creation, youth opportunities and growth.
Advantages for Travellers and the Travel Industry
1. Easier Mobility for Tourists and Business Travelers
If implemented, the visa‑free framework would allow simpler cross‑border travel for millions of Africans and international visitors, eliminating costly and time‑consuming visa processes that currently inhibit intra‑continental trips. This would lower travel barriers and boost tourism flows between popular destinations such as Kigali, Accra, Nairobi and Cape Town.
2. Expanded Intra‑African Tourism
With fewer visa requirements, travellers can plan multi‑destination tours across Africa without repeated embassy visits. Regions like East Africa, West Africa and Southern Africa — which already have some degree of visa reciprocity agreements — stand to benefit from an expanded travel market.
3. Boost to Cultural and People‑to‑People Exchanges
Visa‑free travel enhances cultural exchange and connectivity among Africans and between Africa and the rest of the world. For festivals, heritage tourism and business travel, simplified mobility would lead to increased participation and more robust intercultural ties.
4. Strengthened Air and Ground Transport Networks
Airlines and transport operators could benefit from higher passenger volumes driven by freer movement, prompting route expansions, new service launches and increased connectivity across regional hubs.
Disadvantages and Implementation Challenges
1. Slow Ratification and Political Commitment
Despite formal adoption of the free movement protocol, only a handful of countries have ratified it. Fulfilling the 15‑country ratification requirement for entry into force is still pending, stalling practical rollout efforts.
2. Border Management and Security Concerns
Visa‑free travel requires harmonised border security systems that can manage increased mobility without compromising safety. Countries may need significant investments in technology, training and infrastructure to support effective migration management.
3. Economic Disparities Between Countries
Freer movement may accentuate economic differences if stronger economies attract disproportionate migration flows, potentially straining social services and labour markets in host nations without systems to balance migration. Policy frameworks must address these dynamics to ensure win‑win outcomes.
4. Needed Legal and Administrative Reforms
Countries will have to synchronize immigration laws, visa categories and entry requirements — a process that involves complex negotiations and legislative adjustments that can delay implementation.
Strategic Importance and Continental Integration
The visa‑free initiative is deeply embedded in AU Agenda 2063 — “The Africa We Want”, which envisions an integrated, prosperous, peaceful and people‑centric Africa. Free movement of people is seen as a cornerstone of continental unity, economic integration under AfCFTA, and broader socio‑economic transformation.
Experts and civil society groups like the Africa Prosperity Network advocate that mobility reforms should be a key policy priority for AU member states, as they underpin economic opportunities, youth entrepreneurship and regional competitiveness.
Conclusion
The High‑Level Symposium on Advancing a Visa‑Free Africa for Economic Prosperity highlighted the significant economic and mobility opportunities that a visa‑free regime could unlock across the African continent. While the goals align with wider regional integration frameworks like AfCFTA and AU Agenda 2063, slow ratification, border security readiness and administrative coordination remain key constraints. For travellers, deeper policy alignment could one day mean seamless travel experiences across borders, expanded tourism markets, and easier access for business and youth mobility alike. These reforms mark a strategic interplay between travel freedom and economic empowerment for the continent.
Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Conquest has completed an exciting 12-day dry dock refurbishment at Grand Bahama Shipyard. This transformation brings fresh upgrades to the ship’s casino, adding larger spaces, new gaming options, and a dedicated non-smoking section. These changes promise to elevate the cruise experience, making it more appealing for tourists heading to The Bahamas.
Carnival Cruise Line’s strategy of expanding smoke-free gambling environments reflects a broader initiative to improve the cruise experience for all guests. For tourists visiting the Bahamas, this expansion ensures they can enjoy a cleaner, fresher air environment while experiencing the excitement of the casino onboard. Carnival Conquest’s latest changes will not only enhance its appeal but will play a significant role in boosting tourism for The Bahamas as well.
Casino Enhancements: What’s New
The 12-day refurbishment of Carnival Conquest brought dramatic upgrades to the onboard casino. These improvements include:
A Larger Casino Space: The revamped layout offers more room for games and guests to enjoy the atmosphere of the casino.
Additional Gaming Options: More slot machines and table games are now available, ensuring that guests have a wider variety of options to choose from.
Non-Smoking Section: Carnival has dedicated a special area within the casino for non-smoking guests. This move is an important step in aligning with the preferences of tourists who value cleaner air and healthier spaces.
These changes are expected to enhance the onboard experience and increase satisfaction for tourists, making Carnival Conquest a more attractive option for vacationers in The Bahamas.
New Amenities Beyond the Casino
The upgrades extend beyond just the casino. Carnival Conquest now features several additional amenities aimed at enhancing family fun and relaxation.
Heroes Tribute Bar & Lounge
A new lounge area has been introduced to honor U.S. military veterans and active-duty service members. The lounge, known as the Heroes Tribute Bar & Lounge, will also feature fundraising initiatives for Operation Homefront, a charity supporting military families. This addition will attract tourists looking to enjoy a meaningful and unique atmosphere while supporting a worthy cause.
Family and Teen Spaces
Carnival Conquest has also revamped its Club O2 teen space, introducing new gaming areas and a fresh décor, adding more interactive opportunities for younger guests. Additionally, the WAREHOUSE video arcade has been renovated to provide upgraded gaming experiences. These updates will appeal to families, ensuring that Carnival Conquest is a family-friendly destination for tourists of all ages.
Service Resumption and Itinerary Details
After the dry dock refurbishment, Carnival Conquest is now back in action, departing from PortMiami. The ship is set to operate three- and four-night cruises to The Bahamas.
Four-night sailings will depart every Monday and visit destinations like Half Moon Cay, Princess Cays, and Nassau (or Celebration Key).
Three-night cruises will depart on Fridays, offering exclusive stops at Celebration Key, Carnival’s private island in The Bahamas.
These short yet exciting cruise itineraries will attract a diverse group of tourists, eager to enjoy the beauty and relaxation of The Bahamas.
Expanding Non-Smoking Casino Areas Across the Fleet
Carnival Cruise Line’s move to expand non-smoking gambling areas is not just limited to the Carnival Conquest. At least ten Carnival ships now feature non-smoking casino sections. Some ships, including Carnival Jubilee and Carnival Celebration, offer entire non-smoking casinos, while others have dedicated non-smoking areas within traditional casinos. These changes are expected to improve air quality and enhance the overall guest experience.
For example:
Carnival Splendor (when sailing from Australia) offers a completely non-smoking main casino.
Other ships, such as Carnival Vista, Venezia, and Dream, also feature non-smoking zones for guests to enjoy.
Boosting Tourism in The Bahamas
The upgrades to Carnival Conquest’s casino and the addition of non-smoking areas will directly impact tourism in The Bahamas. Tourists will now have more reasons to choose The Bahamas as their cruise destination, thanks to the enhanced onboard experience offered by Carnival Conquest. These changes demonstrate Carnival’s commitment to creating a healthier, more enjoyable environment for its guests.
With additional amenities, larger spaces, and cleaner air, tourists can expect a more luxurious and enjoyable cruise experience, directly benefitting The Bahamas’ tourism industry. As more guests flock to PortMiami for these incredible itineraries, the Bahamas will continue to see a steady increase in tourism, thanks to Carnival’s ongoing investment in its ships and its guests.
The Future of Non-Smoking Casinos on Carnival Ships
Carnival Cruise Line’s smoke-free initiatives are making a big impact on tourism, especially for tourists concerned with air quality. The continued expansion of non-smoking areas across the fleet is a step toward ensuring that every guest can enjoy a casino experience on their terms.
This initiative will likely set the tone for other cruise lines to follow suit. Carnival Conquest’s non-smoking section and newly designed casino space offer the perfect blend of excitement and comfort for tourists who want the best of both worlds.
A New Chapter in Bahamas Tourism
Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Conquest has made significant upgrades to its onboard casino and amenities, creating a healthier, more enjoyable experience for its guests. These changes will make the ship even more attractive to tourists heading to The Bahamas, ensuring that every guest enjoys cleaner air, more space, and a wider range of entertainment options.
As Carnival continues to expand its non-smoking areas across its fleet, tourists will have even more reasons to choose Carnival Cruise Line for their Bahamian getaway. Whether traveling with family or looking for a quieter, smoke-free casino experience, Carnival Conquest is setting the standard for modern, tourist-friendly cruises in The Bahamas.
Threat actors have been observed exploiting a recently disclosed critical security flaw impacting BeyondTrust Remote Support (RS) and Privileged Remote Access (PRA) products to conduct a wide range of malicious actions, including deploying VShell and
The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-1731 (CVSS score: 9.9), allows attackers to execute operating system commands in the context of the
Samsung held a special event, Hwaiting Night, at Samsung House in Milan on February 19. The event brought together athletes, influencers, and content creators.More than 130 people joined to celebrate the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.
One of the main guests was freestyle skier Alex Hall. He took photos with his Galaxy Z Flip 7 Olympic Edition. Other guests included Italian snowboarder Ian Matteoli, Swiss snowboarder and content creator Nicolas Huber, and Italian influencer Ludovica Frasca. Everyone was excited to be there.
The event was inspired by the Korean word – Hwaiting. It is a word people use to cheer someone on and give them strength. The event was a way to encourage athletes and celebrate their hard work.
Image via Samsung
Guests enjoyed several interactive programs during the night. They joined guided tours around Samsung House and listened to athletes share personal stories about their road to the Olympics. They also saw special TeamGalaxy videos showing behind-the-scenes moments from the Games.
Hwaiting Night was more than just a party. It showed Samsung’s idea that being open brings people together. Athletes, influencers, and fans could connect and share their experiences.
Samsung is facing a class action lawsuit in the United States. Two Galaxy S22 users have taken the company to federal court in New York. They say a recent software update made their phones completely stop working. They are asking for money and help for all affected users.
The issue with the Galaxy S22 series is linked to the One UI 6.1.1 update. In late 2024, this update was released. And after installing it, many Galaxy S22, S22+, and S22 Ultra phones began restarting again and again. Some phones eventually became totally dead and unusable.
Users say their phones got stuck in a “boot loop.” This means the device kept turning on and off without stopping.In some cases, people also lost their photos, contacts, and other important data. Complaints about this issue started appearing online in December 2024.
Some reports said certain models were affected more than others.Many users believe the update caused the problem. The lawsuit claims Samsung knew, or should have known, about the issue. However, the company still continued to push the update.
After their phones stopped working, many users contacted Samsung support. Some were told the motherboard had failed and needed replacement. They were asked to pay around $500 for repairs. Since most Galaxy S22 phones are out of warranty, customers had to pay on their own.
One of the people who filed the lawsuit said she could not afford the repair. She ended up buying a new phone instead. The lawsuit says Samsung should take responsibility and compensate affected customers. Stay tuned for more information.
The Pokémon Company has announced thatthe next Pokémon Presents will air next week on February 27, coinciding with Pokémon Day 2026 and the series's 30th anniversary.
Paradise season 2 on Hulu and Disney+ has bigger twists, turns and emotions than season 1 — and it’s the most invested you’ll be in a TV show in years.
Proton has warned that fake VPN extensions using its branding appeared in the Chrome Web Store, with takedowns taking weeks. Here’s what happened, the risks for users, and how to protect yourself.
Capcom has asked players not to leak Resident Evil Requiem spoilers ahead of the game's official launch next week after physical copies of the game leaked.
The Drop + Epos PC38X could almost be considered old now, but it’s still great. If you can find it in stock, then it’s an easy recommendation for those looking for a wired gaming headset that can make your games’ audio sing.
Deal | With QD-OLED technology, the 65-inch Samsung S90F delivers extremely bright and accurate colors. An improved processor minimizes stuttering in frantic movies and games while modernizing older content. Reduced in a new Amazon sale, only the lack of Dolby Vision limits this OLED TV.
Aventon has launched the Ramblas ADV, an electric hardtail mountain bike with 29-inch wheels. The company’s new e-bike houses its in-house A100 mid-drive motor and a 708 Wh battery, which is said to offer 100 Nm of torque and up to 90 miles (145 km) of range on a single charge. Plus, it features four assist modes, including Eco, Trail, Auto, and Turbo.
The Casio Edifice EFB-109D-3AV and EFB-109D-5AV watches have been officially confirmed for release in various EU countries. These motorsports-inspired watches have slim stainless steel casing with a matching bezel and strap, with different colored gradated dials. Features of the analog model include three hands, a basic date display and 100 m water resistance.
A new update for the Rivian app brings a companion app for the Apple Watch. The watch app allows users to lock and unlock car doors, set cabin temperature, and view battery status right from their wrists.
Garmin has finally released its long-awaited next stable update for one of its high-end smartwatches. Available globally, the new firmware differs from a similar update that recently debuted on other smartwatches in key areas. The new update should reach the Tactix 8 as an OTA download.
The OnLogic Factor 101 is equipped with a 7-watt octa-core Qualcomm Kryo 670 CPU, allowing the mini PC to function without requiring a fan, ensuring silence and longevity, thanks to the lack of moving parts. The industrial mini PC is already available for purchase, starting at $599.
The Casio Oceanus Manta OCWSG1000CN1A watch is now available at the brand’s online store in the US. This limited edition timepiece has a hand-cut sapphire glass bezel and a dramatic black titanium casing and strap. Features of the watch include radio-control, Bluetooth connectivity and enhanced solar charging.
JapanNext may not be as well known as its competitors in the productivity monitor arena, but the brand's offerings have received generally favorable reviews from critics. Its latest 31.5-inch 6K monitor aims to bring a pixel-dense experience for high-end customers, and packs a respectable set of features.
Huawei is holding a big launch event on February 26 where we’ll see a handful of devices announced for the global market. One of these is the all-new Watch GT Runner 2, which has finally been confirmed by Huawei.
Watch GT Runner 2 is the successor to 2021’s Watch GT Runner and was co-developed alongside two-time Olympic marathon gold-medalist Eliud Kipchoge. The wearable will cater to runners and features an “intelligent marathon mode” which will help users prepare for marathons.
The event will also see the debut of the Huawei Band 11 Pro alongside the global launch of the Mate...
As he gradually begins to log more minutes with Santos, Neymar opened up about the possibility of retirement.
This year could be very special for Neymar for several reasons. After multiple consecutive seasons dealing with injuries, he appears determined to fully recover with Santos in order to return to the Brazil national team ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. But it could also mark the end of his professional career, as he himself admitted.
“This year is very important for Santos and for the Brazil national team because of the World Cup, so for me it is as well. It’s a very big challenge,” Ney said during a recent interview with CazeTV, making it clear that his goal is to reach top form again on the field.
However, the 34-year-old forward was brutally honest when discussing his future beyond the current season. “Right now, I’m taking things year by year. I don’t know what’s going to happen from here on out. I don’t know what will happen next year,” he acknowledged before delivering a striking line: “By December, I might want to retire. I don’t know. It will be whatever my heart decides.”
This is not the first time Neymar’s retirement has been part of the conversation. In fact, his father revealed that the Brazilian star seriously considered that possibility a few months ago, when his physical issues became unbearable. “I don’t even know if it’s worth operating. For me, that’s it,” were the words Ney himself reportedly said at the time, according to his father.
Neymar’s last appearance for Brazil was in October 2023.
Neymar focused on returning to full strength with Santos
While it is clear that Neymar’s main goal this year is to represent Brazil at the 2026 World Cup in North America, he understands that in order to secure a spot on Carlo Ancelotti’s 26-man roster, he must first deliver consistent performances with Santos and prove he is fully healthy.
“I wanted to return this season at 100 percent, which is why I held back in some matches and took extra care of myself. I know a lot of people say a lot of nonsense, but they don’t know what happens day to day. They don’t know what it’s like,” Ney explained in the same interview. “Santos had a very good plan, and that helped me a lot in that sense.”
That is exactly how it played out. After missing the club’s opening matches of 2026, Neymar played 45 minutes and recorded an assist in Santos’ win over Velo Clube in the Campeonato Paulista on Monday. “Obviously I wanted to come back and help my team in the best way possible, but I ended up waiting a little longer to return at 100 percent — without pain, without fear, without anything — and I was able to come back very well in this last match,” the forward said.
Neymar targeting the World Cup
Getting back to full fitness was the first step Neymar needed to take this year in his pursuit of returning to the Brazil national team ahead of the World Cup. Now the next step is to show his best level on the field again, and he is confident he can do it.
“With a lot of training and a lot of perseverance, which is what drives me, I’ll be able to reach 100 percent. That’s what I want,” Ney explained. He now has roughly three months of club competition ahead, during which he will need to stay healthy and perform at a high level to convince Carlo Ancelotti that he deserves another opportunity with Brazil.
Meta said it's shifting focus for Horizon Worlds to be "almost exclusively mobile" and that it will separate its Quest VR platform from the virtual world.
AI expands access to filmmaking for resource-constrained creators. But as efficiency becomes the industry’s north star, creativity risks being overwhelmed by a deluge of low-effort, AI-generated content.
Nominations for TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 200 are open. Pitch at Disrupt 2026 in October in front of top VCs and the full TechCrunch audience. Nominate your startup or for one that's deserving.
“Turan Tovuz”un baş məşqçisi Kurban Berdıyev Azərbaycan Premyer Liqasının 21-ci turunda “Zirə”yə qarşı keçirdikləri oyunu şərh edib.
Arena.az xəbər verir ki, sözügedən komandaların bu gün “Azərsun Arena”da baş tutmuş görüşündə “Turan Tovuz” 2:0 hesablı qələbəyə sevinib.
Kurban Berdıyev matçdan sonra təşkil edilmiş mətbuat konfransında bunları söyləyib:
“Birinci hissədə oyunumuz pis alınmadı. Əvəzetmələrdən sonra təşəbbüsü bir qədər əldən verdik. Şükürlər olsun ki, yekunda qələbə qazandıq.
“Zirə”ni turnir cədvəlində qabaqlamağımıza gəlincə, biz turnir cədvəlinə fikir vermirik. Oyundan-oyuna növbəti matça hazırlaşmağa çalışırıq. Hər növbəti oyuna köklənirik”.
“Zirə”nin baş məşqçisi Rəşad Sadıqov Azərbaycan Premyer Liqasının 21-ci turunda “Turan Tovuz”a qarşı keçirdikləri oyunu şərh edib.
Arena.az xəbər verir ki, sözügedən komandaların “Azərsun Arena”da baş tutmuş görüşündə “Zirə” 0:2 hesabı ilə məğlub olub.
Rəşad Sadıqov matçdan sonra təşkil edilmiş mətbuat konfransında bunları söyləyib:
“Oyuna çox pis başladıq və qapımızda iki qol gördük. Həmin dəqiqələrdə komandada çaşqınlıq var idi. Birinci hissəni çox pis keçirdik. İkinci yarıda isə tam əksi oldu. Rəqibin kompakt müdafiəisini yara bilmədik. Fasilədən sonra futbolçular çalışdılar. Amma matçın əvvəlində buraxılmış səhvləri sonradan düzəltmək alınmadı.
Oyunun əvvəlində İsmayıl İbrahimlidə müəyyən narahatlıq var idi. Onu meydana buraxıb-buraxmamaq barədə fikiləşirdik. Hiss olunurdu ki, oyununa təsir etdi. Hesabda geriyə düşdük və dəyişikliyə getdik.
Əvəzedicilər Liqasını izləyə bilmirəm. Amma oradan komandaya oyunçular dəvət edirik. Kimi hazır görsək, oyuna buraxacağıq. Mütəmadi olaraq əvəzedici komandamızdakı uşaqları əsas komandaya dəvət etməyə çalışırıq”.
Rəşad Sadıqov “Turan Tovuz” azarkeşlərinin bu oyunda ona qarşı şüarlar səsləndirib, atmacalar atmasına da münasibət bildirib:
“Mən də bilmədim, başa düşmədim onu. “Turan Tovuz” mənə doğma komandadır. Buna fikir bildirməyəcəyəm. Çünki onların bu addımının səbəbini bilmədim”.
Bu gün futbol üzrə Azərbaycan çempionatında (Premyer Liqa) 2025/2026-cı illər mövsümünün 21-ci turuna start verilib.
Arena.az xəbər verir ki, ilk oyun günündə iki qarşılaşma baş tutub.
Turun açılış oyununda avrokuboklara vəsiqə uğrunda mübarizə aparan iki komanda – “Turan Tovuz”la “Zirə” üz-üzə gəlib. “Azersun Arena”da baş tutmuş görüşün baş hakimi Rəvan Həmzəzadə olub.
Qarşılaşma Tovuz təmsilçisinin inamlı qələbəsiylə yekunlaşıb. Nominal meydan sahibləri hər iki qolu ilk hissənin əvvəlində vurublar. Nəticədə Tovuz təmsilçisi “Zirə”ni yarış cədvəlində qabaqlayıb.
Italy’s chances of attaining an additional spot in next year’s Champions League remain slim despite a Europa League and Conference League victories for play-off victory for Bologna over Brann on Thursday night, as Inter added to Juventus and Atalanta losses with their 3-1 defeat against Bodo/Glimt.
Where Italy stands in race for extra Champions League spot after play-off first legs
As things stand, Italy remains in fifth place in UEFA’s season association coefficient ranking, which is used to determine the nations that receive an extra spot in the following year’s Champions League. Only the nations that finish the season in the top two will receive an additional Champions League place.
BODO, NORWAY – FEBRUARY 18: Jens Petter Hauge of Bodo/Glimt celebrates scoring his team’s second goal with teammate Kasper Hogh during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Knockout Play-off First Leg match between FK Bodo/Glimt and FC Internazionale Milano at Aspmyra Stadion on February 18, 2026 in Bodo, Norway. (Photo by Martin Ole Wold/Getty Images)
These results leave Italy in fifth place in UEFA’s season association coefficient ranking with a score of 16.071 points.
England top the rankings with 21.513, Germany are currently second with 17.071, Portugal are third with 16.600 and Spain are fourth with 16.156.
How is the extra Champions League spot determined?
LONDON, ENGLAND – JUNE 01: Zinedine Zidane places the Champions League Trophy onto the plinth after the UEFA Champions League 2023/24 Final match between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid CF at Wembley Stadium on June 01, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)
The nations that finish the season in the top two on UEFA’s season association coefficient are awarded one additional spot each in the following season’s Champions League.
So, how does the coefficient ranking work?
Teams competing in the three UEFA competitions (the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League) are awarded points based on their results in the European competitions. Nations are awarded two points for each of its teams’ wins, one for a draw and zero for a defeat. Those points are halved for qualifying matches.
Bonus points are also awarded depending on each team’s finish in the league phase table. The team that finishes top of the Champions League pile gets an additional 12 points, the team in second gets 11.750, the team in third gets 11.500 and so on all the way down to the team in 36th. The winner of the Europa League league phase is awarded 6 points and 4 for the team at the top of the Conference League table. Points are awarded for places 1-24 in both the Europa League and Conference League.
MILAN, ITALY – MARCH 11: The UEFA Champions League trophy is cleaned as it is displayed on a plinth at the side of the pitch prior to the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 UEFA Champions League 2024/25 Round of 16 Second Leg match between FC Internazionale Milano and Feyenoord at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on March 11, 2025 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
Additional bonus points are also awarded for each knockout stage that a team passes through.
All of those points are added up and are then divided by the number of teams that the nation in question has competing in UEFA competitions.
Italy’s collective points tally stands at 112.500, which comes to a coefficient score of 16.071 when divided by the number of Italian sides involved in European competition this season (seven).
That score of 16.071 keeps Italy in fifth place in this season’s association coefficient ranking.
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