The biggest professional sports leagues in the United States have dealt with hazing issues over the past decade

American freestyler Katie Ledecky has never gone home with anything other than a gold or silver medal in the Olympics or world championships dating from the 2012 London Games

Spain fired a warning shot to their Women's World Cup rivals with a 3-0 defeat of Costa Rica on Friday, with superstar Alexia Putellas making...

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With three goals in four minutes in the middle of a lopsided first half, Spain shattered Costa Rica’s resistance and created the foundation of a resounding 3-0 win that sent a warning to rivals at the Women’s World Cup

Man Utd hold talks with the representatives of Fiorentina midfielder Sofyan Amrabat over a potential summer move. Atletico Madrid are also interested in signing the 26-year-old, who is valued at around €30m by his club.

England captain Millie Bright has been cleared to start the Lionesses’ Women’s World Cup opener against Haiti

Stonewall's director of external affairs releases a statement thanking Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson, who is set to move to Saudi Arabia, for his support of the LGBTQ+ community.

The Women’s World Cup has barely had time to get going, and already organisers at FIFA have managed to drop the ball when it comes to, well, women. FIFA announced its English language commentary team on 18 July, two days before the tournament kicked off, and out of nine commentators it contains exactly zero women. The list of commentators is as follows: Simon Hill, Robbie Thomson, Simon Brotherton, Kevin Keatings, Mark Scott, John Roder, Paul Walker, Chris Wise, Steve Wilson. Not exactly a beacon of gender diversity, eh? Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Unsurprisingly, the announcement left fans fuming, while others could scarcely believe that FIFA had managed to mess up on such an obvious opportunity to spotlight women commentators who often struggle to get a look-in on men’s broadcasts. Sports journalist Manasi Pathak wrote on Twitter: “So you’re telling me FIFA could not hire a single female commentator for what’s expected to be the biggest women’s sporting event?” Sally Freedman, another sports writer, said: “Seriously… are we in 2023 or 1950? It’s the *women’s* World Cup, yet here is our allsinging, all dancing all male commentary team!” Despite the backlash, FIFA also managed to annoy people with its response, which was to appoint a smaller team of women as “co-commentators” the next day. They are Amy Chapman, Melissa Barbieri, Izzy Christiansen, Laura Bassett and Rehanne Skinner. One person suggested FIFA was still discriminating against women. They said: “‘Co-commentators’ aka women, know your place behind the men, okay?” It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time FIFA has faced criticism for somehow managing to discriminate against women even at the Women’s World Cup. It still offers a significantly smaller prize pool for the tournament versus the men’s edition, with prize money standing at only $150m. Men’s World Cup prize money was $440m last year. England’s Lionesses will kick off their campaign against Haiti on Saturday. Also in their group is Denmark and China. Hopefully we’ll get to hear some women’s voices on commentary by then. Is that really too much to ask? Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

England boss Sarina Wiegman vowed the Lionesses would do “everything” they can to bring home a first World Cup when they begin their campaign against Haiti in Brisbane on Saturday. Wiegman also provided a welcome update on captain Millie Bright, who is fit to start tomorrow’s contest after concerns she was still recovering from the knee injury she sustained in March which required surgery. The World Cup trophy is one that has so far eluded both England and Wiegman, who led the Netherlands to the final four years ago in France but fell to defeat at the hands of the United States. Asked if England could lift the trophy this year, she said: “We’re here and we have a dream, and of course there’s always a chance to win the World Cup, and many more countries can win the World Cup I think, but of course we’re going to give our everything starting tomorrow.” FIFA world number four England are ranked 49 places above Saturday opponents Haiti, who beat Chile in the qualifying play-off to reach a maiden World Cup. The Lionesses are heavy favourites to top Group D, which also includes 13th-ranked Denmark and number 14 China. Wiegman, however, was quick to dismiss the idea that facing lower-ranked opposition puts England in a position of having more to lose, perhaps more so than when they kicked off their winning Euro 2022 campaign against Austria last summer. “The pressure is always something. Everyone expected England to win anyway. This is for tomorrow and also last year, and that was also for the Austria game for the European Championships,” she added. “So that’s not different. What we’re just trying to do is play our game and focus on what we have to do and how we can win, and that’s basically what we do all the time, so bring it back to what actions we need to take as a team.” Wiegman said she has “basically decided” on her starting XI for tomorrow but would not reveal whether or not the players had already been informed. The Lionesses begin their sixth World Cup still having not come to an agreement with the Football Association over issues surrounding performance-based bonus payments and commercial structures. On Tuesday, Bright posted a statement on Twitter on behalf of the team which said they were “disappointed that a resolution has still not been achieved” but would “pause discussions, with full intentions of revisiting them following the tournament”. The skipper, who will wear a FIFA-sanctioned ‘Unite for Inclusion’ armband in Saturday’s contest, reiterated that those discussions are now fully parked. “Obviously it’s not a situation everyone wants to be in, but I think as players we’re not just programmed to play football,” Bright said. “Sometimes we have to have these conversations. But we have a very professional group and football is always at the front of everything. So as players now our heads are in the game, they always have been on the game. “Everything is on hold with those sorts of questions. We’ll address the situation at a later date, but for now it’s all about the tournament.” Earlier, Haiti manager Nicolas Delepine took a lighthearted stab at the Lionesses, who have not scored in their last three matches including the behind-closed-doors training game with Canada on the Sunshine Coast a week ago which ended in a goalless draw not for official records. He told a press conference: “It’s going to be a difficult game, for sure. And if I have to talk about the strengths of England, I’ll be here all day. “In big competitions England are tough opponents. They played well in the European Championships. “We’re expecting a high intensity game. They are a difficult team to play against, they are attacking with threats everywhere but they maybe have a problem with finishing.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Natalie Grinczer hopes to take advantage after late switch to Lifeplus-Wahoo Early starters battle overcast conditions as Tommy Fleetwood shares Open lead Football rumours: Harry Kane will not sign new Tottenham deal

Friday's football transfer rumours include PSG fighting to keep Kylian Mbappe away from Real Madrid, Harry Kane's Tottenham future, Victor Osimhen, Federico Chiesa, Moises Caicedo & more.

Real Madrid have unveiled their new away kit for the 2023/24 campaign.