List of All Articles with Tag 'sport'

Here's more proof of how fast legal sports betting is spreading in the U.S. A company that most of the industry uses to verify that its customers are where they say they are reports a record number of transactions over the first weekend of the NFL season

Nottingham Forest full-back Harry Toffolo has been given a suspended five-month ban after admitting 375 breaches of Football Association betting rules. The FA said the 28-year-old had also been fined £20,956.22 by an independent regulatory commission. Toffolo was charged by the FA in July, and the player has admitted breaches of FA betting rules between January 22, 2014 and March 18, 2017. The ban is suspended until the end of the 2024-25 season. The FA said the written reasons in the case would be published in due course. The sanctions on Toffolo follow the imposition of an eight-month ban on Brentford striker Ivan Toney in May for breaches of FA betting regulations. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

Sam Whitelock will equal Richie McCaw’s New Zealand caps record in a much-changed side facing Namibia in the Rugby World Cup on Friday

The 12 members of Europe’s Ryder Cup team will know each other pretty well by the end of this week’s BMW PGA Championship

The NFL Players Association wants the league to switch all its fields to natural grass, calling it the easiest decision the NFL can make to protect players

Hundreds of Milwaukee bar patrons who hoped to score free drinks through its offer to pay their tabs whenever the New York Jets, and former Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, lose had to pay up after the Jets got an overtime win despite an injury that took Rodgers out of the game

Rugby World Cup organizers have apologized again to fans who missed the start of matches in Marseille and Bordeaux last weekend

Germany needs to act fast in its search for a new coach for its troubled men’s national football eam. The new coach is expected to be in charge by 14 October when Germany will face the United States in a friendly in Connecticut. And after that there is only eight months to put his stamp on the team before Germany opens the European Championship as host in front of 70,000 spectators in Munich on 14 June next year. Germany’s awful recent form — no wins in five games and a group-stage exit at the World Cup — forced out Hansi Flick following Saturday’s 4-1 loss to Japan. Rudi Voller oversaw a 2-1 win over France on Tuesday but is due to return to his post as sporting director. Without an obvious successor to Flick, the post of Germany coach appears wide open. That could result in Germany’s youngest coach in nearly a century. Or its oldest ever. Or the first foreign coach. Here is a look at some possible candidates: Julian Nagelsmann At 36 years old, the former Bayern Munich coach would be the youngest man to coach Germany since 34-year-old Otto Nerz was appointed back in 1926. Since Bayern replaced him with Thomas Tuchel in March, Nagelsmann has been linked with some of Europe’s biggest clubs. He knows the Germany team’s big Bayern contingent, and worked with other players at Leipzig too. However, Nagelsmann reportedly remains under contract with Bayern and the club could demand compensation from the German soccer federation, the DFB. Nagelsmann’s attack-first tactical style could win back fans who have soured on the team, but much like Flick, his teams aren’t known for their robust defending. Louis van Gaal The 72-year-old Dutch coach is a specialist in international tournaments and his lengthy resume — Ajax, Barcelona, Manchester United — includes two years at Bayern Munich, where he reached the Champions League final in 2010. His last job featured an impressive unbeaten run with the Dutch national team before losing on penalties in the World Cup quarterfinals in Qatar to eventual winner Argentina. Van Gaal has notably not ruled himself out of taking the Germany job, telling broadcaster Sky Germany that he was “honored” to see his name mentioned. The oldest man appointed Germany coach until now was 61-year-old Erich Ribbeck in 1998. Oliver Glasner Glasner is another possibility if the team decides to appoint its first non-German coach, and the Austrian already speaks the language. Glasner is best known for winning the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt and qualifying the club for the Champions League for the first time. However, Frankfurt removed him as coach last season after a drop in form and Glasner hasn’t coached since. Matthias Sammer Well-connected from advisory roles at the DFB and Borussia Dortmund, Sammer has the backing of 1990 World Cup-winning player and prolific TV pundit Lothar Matthaus. He’d be the first Germany coach to have played for the former East Germany during the Cold War. One problem is that Sammer last coached a team in 2005 before taking on successful sporting director and advisory roles, including at Bayern. Health issues in 2016 caused Sammer to cut back on his workload. Stefan Kuntz Flick was fired after his team conceded four goals to Japan. Could his replacement be a coach whose current team just did the same thing? As a player, Kuntz won the European Championship in 1996 as a teammate of Sammer. His best-known coaching achievement is winning the European Under-21 Championship with Germany in 2017 and 2021. Kuntz is coaching Turkey but is under pressure following a 4-2 friendly loss Tuesday to Japan. Other candidates The former Bayern Munich coach Felix Magath put himself forward Monday, pointing to his record turning around “unsettled teams” in comments to local broadcaster NDR. The DFB has a history of promoting from within — Flick and Low each worked as assistants to their respective predecessors — but the three-man interim coaching team for the win over France doesn’t offer an obvious solution. Voller seems happy with his DFB director job, Hannes Wolf is a youth specialist with a mixed club record, and Sandro Wagner has only coached in the fourth division. AP Read More Germany beat France in first game since sacking Hansi Flick as Italy reignite Euro 2024 hopes Steve Clarke insists Scotland remain in positive mood despite England defeat Aaron Ramsey rolls back the years to keep Wales’s Euro 2024 hopes alive Germany beat France as Italy reignite Euro 2024 hopes Football rumours: Jadon Sancho looking to leave Manchester United Germany boss Hansi Flick under pressure following home defeat to Japan

After Aaron Rodgers suffered a shock injury just moments into his highly anticipated debut for the New York

France’s top financial prosecutor says that investigations into the organization of the 2024 Paris Olympics have not revealed any serious corruption or influence peddling

The Hampden roar has often been heard of late for a Manchester United player who was born in England. Just not this particular one. Scott McTominay, after all, was the scourge of Spain and is the joint top scorer in Euro 2024 qualifying, level with Romelu Lukaku and Rasmus Hojlund, just ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Kane. Yet this wasn’t a McTominay goal that Scotland’s support were enjoying. The announcement of their scorer over the tannoy was met with the sort of noise that stems from schadenfreude. Harry Maguire, the most prolific centre-back in the history of the England national team, had struck for Scotland. In one respect, it was the product of a teasing cross by Andy Robertson, into the corridor of uncertainty, luring Aaron Ramsdale off his line, forcing Maguire to commit himself, resulting in an unstoppable finish that bisected goalkeeper and near post. And in another way, it had a sad inevitability. These things happen to Maguire. Were his form or luck or touch better, he would have diverted the ball past the goal, or straight to Ramsdale; perhaps missed it altogether. Now his last two goals have come for Scotland and Sevilla. “Just unfortunate,” said Gareth Southgate of his latest mishap, but Maguire can seem the most unfortunate of footballers, the sport’s equivalent of Unlucky Alf from The Fast Show. If something can go wrong, it often does when Maguire is around. For all his shortcomings as a defender – a lack of pace, particularly on the turn, and a capacity to look cumbersome – he seems on an extended run of bad luck that has lasted for around two years, since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign at Old Trafford started to unravel, since his career nosedived. He has lost the United captaincy; but for Southgate’s stubbornness, he may have lost his England place. But now so much with Maguire has a symbolic feel. When Andre Onana made his United debut in pre-season, when a goal was conceded and both Christian Eriksen and Maguire were culpable, it was the world’s most expensive centre-back he subjected to a very public lambasting. When Declan Rice scored the decisive goal for Arsenal against United last Sunday, it took a telling deflection off Maguire. And when it deflects off him, it somehow seems destined to go in. Such is the unrelenting cruelty of being Maguire; in the highest standard of tournament football, he has proved arguably one of the best centre-backs in England’s history and yet is now a figure of fun. “A joke,” said Southgate, though he was referring to the treatment of Maguire, to the unwanted reputation he has acquired, rather than the player. Yet the Scotland faithful bought into it. They cheered when he was brought on at half-time. They spent much of the next 45 minutes taunting him, making every five-yard square pass an event. They sang about Maguire and, ultimately, so did the England support, trying to reclaim him and hail him. “From a Scotland fan’s point of view, I get it, I have no absolutely no complaints of what they did,” Southgate said. “It is a consequence of ridiculous treatment of him for a long period of time, frankly, and I think our fans recognised, ‘Ok, there might be a bit of heat from our own supporters but we are not going to have it from others getting into him.’” Despite England’s ultimate 3-1 victory, it felt like 45 minutes of relentless torment. Perhaps unnecessary torture: Southgate sent him on at half-time when Marc Guehi went off. If Maguire has been barracked by some opposing fans, it was foreseeable that none would be as keen to heckle him as the Scots. England have had a restorative effect on him at times, amid his troubles with United, but there was nothing rejuvenating about this hostility. And Southgate, often the diplomat, became outspoken. He is his favourite defender’s foremost defender. A scapegoat culture has developed. “It is a joke,” he added. “I have never known a player to be treated the way he is; not from the Scottish fans, by our own commentators and pundits. They have created something that is beyond anything I have ever seen. “He has been an absolute stalwart for us in the second-most successful English team for decades. I have talked about the importance of our senior players, he has been crucial amongst that and every time he goes on the field the resilience he shows, the balls he shows is absolutely incredible. So he is a top player and we are all with him. I feel fairly strongly about it, yes.” Southgate’s argument is that Maguire will not hide. “He has fronted up as he always does, which is enormous credit to his character,” he said. The wider argument is that Southgate should hide him, that the rustiness of not playing enough for United will hinder England, that this seems a case of a player being afforded preferential treatment in selection. And thus one of the most torrid nights of Maguire’s career ended up with a resounding endorsement from his manager. But only after the sort of pratfall that may bring more jokes at Maguire’s expense. Read More Jude Bellingham makes centre stage his own as England’s youngest star sees off oldest rivals Terrible football or bad luck? Social media debates Harry Maguire’s ongoing decline Gareth Southgate says Harry Maguire criticism ‘beyond anything I’ve ever seen’ Criticism has not affected Harry Maguire, says England team-mate Aaron Ramsdale ‘Top-level’ England are the benchmark for improving Scotland – Lewis Ferguson Gareth Southgate says Harry Maguire criticism ‘beyond anything I’ve ever seen’

UEFA has opened a disciplinary case against Croatia after fans displayed a World War II-era fascist flag at a European Championship qualifying game