Global Pulse

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  • After Messi’s farewell, what is next for Argentina’s national team?

    After Messi’s farewell, what is next for Argentina’s national team?

    BUENOS AIRES – After a storied 21-year international career that culminated with lifting the 2022 FIFA World Cup trophy, Argentine football icon Lionel Messi has formally announced his retirement from the national side, closing one of the most legendary chapters in the history of the global game.

    The 39-year-old, who leaves the side as Argentina’s all-time leading goalscorer with 125 international strikes, made the announcement public via an Instagram post this Monday. “I gave it my all; I have nothing left to give,” Messi wrote. “Besides, there are young players coming up who deserve to be here.”

    Messi made his senior international debut for the Albiceleste in 2005, and went on to make a record-breaking mark on World Cup history: he appeared in six editions of the tournament, holds the all-time record for most World Cup matches played (34) and most World Cup match victories (23). While the timing of his international departure had long been anticipated given his age, the official confirmation has sparked an outpouring of emotion from current teammates and generations of fans who grew up watching him lead Argentina’s line.

    For Enzo Fernández, the 25-year-old star midfielder who made his international debut just months before the 2022 Qatar World Cup, the reality of a national camp without Messi is difficult to imagine. “I was just a kid, calculating the age gap between us to see if I might one day get to play alongside you,” Fernández said. “It’s hard for me to picture the next training camp without you — stepping onto the pitch and not seeing you up front in that No. 10 jersey. … We’re going to miss you dearly, Captain.”

    With Messi’s era officially over, all attention now turns to what comes next for the Argentine national side, a program that reached the latest World Cup final just six weeks prior to Messi’s announcement. The biggest question hanging over the side is simple: can Argentina’s renowned youth development system produce another generational talent to fill the void left by the greatest player of his era?

    This is not the first time Argentina has faced this challenge. The same uncertainty gripped the nation in 1994, when Diego Maradona’s international career ended abruptly after a positive drug test at the U.S. World Cup. It took more than a decade for a player of Messi’s caliber to emerge to claim the iconic No. 10 role, and 36 years before Argentina lifted the World Cup trophy again following Maradona’s retirement.

    Jorge Valdano, a 1986 World Cup champion and veteran sports analyst, told the Associated Press that Argentina’s deep football culture creates the perfect conditions for elite talent to emerge. “Argentina has a deep-rooted culture. Players grow up learning the craft on the street and at local clubs; football permeates everything,” Valdano said. “In that environment, a genius is far more likely to emerge. But to become Messi, you need to win both the genetic lottery and the social lottery.”

    At present, no active Argentine player matches Messi’s unparalleled technical brilliance and on-field impact. But there are several promising young prospects already in the senior squad in contention to step into the playmaking role that Messi dominated for two decades. Both Nico Paz and Thiago Almada shared the pitch with Messi during the 2026 World Cup, and while neither delivered a standout performance during the tournament, both have shown strong club form. Paz earned recognition as the best midfielder in Serie A last season with Como, while Almada recently joined Argentine powerhouse River Plate after a stint at Atlético Madrid.

    Argentina has already proven it can collect results when Messi is unavailable: in the final years of his international career, recurring injury issues forced Messi to miss more than 20 national team matches, and the side still maintained a strong winning record in his absence. During World Cup qualifying, manager Lionel Scaloni adjusted his tactical setup to pair center-forwards Julián Álvarez and Lautaro Martínez, while giving Almada and Paz opportunities to fill the traditional attacking playmaker role long held by Messi.

    Even with that proven adaptability, the magnitude of the gap Messi leaves remains undeniable. His match-winning performances throughout the 2022 World Cup, where he repeatedly dragged a collectively struggling Argentine side to victory, underscore just how impossible it will be to replace his impact on the biggest stages.

    Finding a successor to Messi is not the only question facing Argentine football’s next chapter. Scaloni, the manager who led the side to its most successful era in modern history – including two Copa America titles and one World Cup crown – has already hinted he could step down from his role by the end of the year, following Argentina’s 2026 World Cup final defeat to Spain. With Messi’s retirement now official, retaining Scaloni, whose current contract runs through December, has become a top priority for the Argentine Football Association (AFA) to steer the squad through this uncertain transition period.

    Fortunately for the Albiceleste, much of the current core roster is young enough to remain in peak form for the 2030 World Cup, which Argentina will co-host alongside Uruguay, Paraguay, and Chile. Key young pillars of the squad include defenders Cristian Romero and Lisandro Martínez (both 28), full-back Facundo Medina (27), midfielders Enzo Fernández (25), Alexis Mac Allister (27), and Valentín Barco (22), and forwards Giuliano Simeone (23) and Julián Álvarez (26).

    The first major test for the transitioning side will come at the 2028 Copa America. For the immediate future, Scaloni – who currently resides in Spain – is set to travel to Buenos Aires in the coming days to finalize plans for a series of friendly matches scheduled for September, October, and November. The AFA has not yet confirmed the opponents for these fixtures.

  • Man Utd fail in attempt to sign Ait-Nouri from Man City

    Man Utd fail in attempt to sign Ait-Nouri from Man City

    On the final day of the summer transfer window, Manchester United saw two high-stakes, last-minute attempts to strengthen their squad collapse, leaving the Premier League side empty-handed in their late push to address defensive and midfield depth gaps.

    For weeks leading up to the deadline, United’s coaching staff under manager Michael Carrick had prioritized shoring up the left-back position, an area identified as a key squad weakness. After ruling out moves for Barcelona’s Alejandro Balde and Racing Santander’s Jorge Salinas, with less than 12 hours remaining before the window closed, United pivoted to a surprise target: Algerian full-back Rayan Ait-Nouri from cross-city rivals Manchester City.

    United exclusively explored a loan arrangement for the 25-year-old, ruling out any permanent purchase up front. However, Manchester City’s only acceptable terms for a temporary exit included a mandatory obligation to buy Ait-Nouri at the end of the loan spell — a condition United rejected outright. City later confirmed that Ait-Nouri would remain at the Etihad Stadium for the current season.

    Ait-Nouri joined City from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a £31m transfer fee in June 2025, but his debut campaign at the club fell short of expectations. He made just 12 starts in Premier League play and 31 total appearances across all competitions, and currently sits third in Enzo Maresca’s left-back depth chart, behind starter Josko Gvardiol and young prospect Nico O’Reilly. He has been named to the matchday squad for all three of City’s opening 2026/27 fixtures but has yet to take the pitch this season.

    Notably, a completed transfer for Ait-Nouri would have made him the first player to move directly between the two Manchester rivals for an agreed transfer fee in more than 27 years. The last such direct transfer saw Terry Cooke leave United for City for a £1m fee in January 1999. In recent decades, only Owen Hargreaves and Carlos Tevez have made the cross-city switch, both joining City after their United contracts expired — Tevez’s arrival famously included City’s provocative “Welcome to Manchester” publicity campaign that stoked the already fierce rivalry between the clubs.

    United’s failure to land an experienced new left-back has forced a last-minute change of plans for the club’s own young prospect, 19-year-old Harry Amass. Amass served as backup to first-choice left-back Luke Shaw through most of pre-season, but has not been named to Carrick’s matchday squad for either of United’s opening two Premier League games. He had been widely expected to leave on a loan deal to gain first-team minutes, but will now remain at Old Trafford to provide defensive cover. He is still expected to be third in the depth chart, however, after Noussair Mazraoui filled in for the injured Shaw during United’s 5-2 opening weekend win over Ipswich Town.

    Alongside the collapsed Ait-Nouri deal, United also saw their pursuit of highly-rated 18-year-old Leicester City midfielder Louis Page fall through. United’s interest in Page, who plays in England’s League One with the Foxes, was first revealed by BBC Sport back in August, but the writing was on the wall for the deal when Leicester named Page in their starting line-up for a league fixture against Plymouth Argyle on transfer deadline day itself. Multiple sources later confirmed the transfer would not be completed, and Page will remain at Leicester for the coming season.

    Leicester held firm on their valuation of the teenage prospect, demanding more than £10m to sanction the sale. Page only made his senior first-team debut in August 2025, but has already earned a strong reputation after 25 first-team appearances for the club. It was widely understood that United had planned to loan Page straight back to Leicester for the remainder of the season to continue his development, as the Red Devils have already spent more than £150m on senior international midfield reinforcements this summer.

    United’s new midfield signings Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos have already made their debuts for the club, while £70m summer addition Carlos Baleba, signed from Brighton & Hove Albion, will miss the next two weeks of action with a minor ankle injury.

  • Brighton sign winger Azeez from Millwall

    Brighton sign winger Azeez from Millwall

    As the summer 2026 Premier League transfer window drew to a dramatic close, Brighton & Hove Albion pulled off two high-profile deadline-day acquisitions, locking in Nigerian winger Femi Azeez from Championship side Millwall and Spanish young defensive midfielder Chema Andres from Bundesliga club Stuttgart in a combined deal worth almost £28 million before extended administrative deadlines expired. The capture of Azeez comes after weeks of prolonged negotiations, with Millwall rejecting at least three previous offers from the Seagulls before the sides agreed on an initial fee of £12.5 million that can climb above £15 million through performance-based add-ons. This transfer marks a historic exit for Millwall, as it stands as the highest-value sale in the club’s history.

    The 25-year-old winger, who earned a spot in the 2025/26 PFA Championship Team of the Year after an outstanding breakout season that saw him net 11 goals and provide 8 assists across 37 competitive appearances, has signed a four-year contract with Brighton. Azeez, who had long publicly targeted a move to the top flight of English football, becomes Brighton’s 11th new arrival of what has been a frenzied summer transfer window for the south coast club. This window has already included the club’s record-breaking £45 million capture of Croatian centre-back Luka Vuskovic from Tottenham Hotspur.

    Azeez first joined Millwall from Reading for roughly £1 million in 2024, and made a total of 77 first-team appearances during his two-year stay at the Den, leaving with two years still remaining on his original contract with the Championship club. Club officials confirmed that the negotiating teams submitted the required deal paperwork to the Football Association shortly before the 23:00 BST statutory transfer deadline on deadline day, and finalized all regulatory checks to complete the signing during the 2-hour extended administrative window that closed at 01:00 BST on Wednesday.

    Not long after confirming Azeez’s transfer, Brighton announced a second major deadline-day signing: 21-year-old Spain Under-21 international Chema Andres, who joins from Stuttgart for an undisclosed fee confirmed to be £15.5 million, signing a five-year contract with the Seagulls. A product of Real Madrid’s renowned youth academy, Andres made his La Liga debut for Real Madrid’s first team in January 2025, before moving to Stuttgart that same summer. In his single season with the Bundesliga side, he went on to make 41 total first-team appearances and played a key role in helping the club secure qualification to the 2026/27 UEFA Champions League.

    Brighton’s aggressive summer recruitment drive has been supported by a series of major player sales that generated substantial transfer revenue for the club. Most notably, top midfielder Carlos Baleba completed a £70 million move to Manchester United earlier in the window, freeing up significant funds for the Seagulls’ new signings. Fans can access exclusive pre-match, post-match and original analysis content about Brighton & Hove Albion through BBC Sounds, with dedicated subscription feeds for regular updates on the club.

  • European tour heads to Switzerland as the only main pro tour in action; Walker Cup held in Ireland

    European tour heads to Switzerland as the only main pro tour in action; Walker Cup held in Ireland

    Golf fans around the world have a stacked slate of elite tournament action to tune into this week, headlined by two marquee events across two continents. The European Tour’s annual Omega European Masters is set to get underway this week at the iconic Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club in the picturesque alpine town of Crans Montana, Switzerland, while the 2025 Walker Cup, the top amateur team competition between the United States and Great Britain and Ireland (GB&I), kicks off at Lahinch Golf Club in County Clare, Ireland.

    The Omega European Masters, widely regarded as one of the most visually stunning stops on the entire European Tour circuit, will carry a total prize purse of $3.75 million, with the champion taking home a $625,000 winner’s share. The 6,814-yard par-70 alpine course has played host to the event for decades, and this year’s field brings a mix of rising stars, seasoned veterans, and highly ranked competitors. South Africa’s Thriston Lawrence will return to defend his 2024 title, and the tournament marks the opening leg of the European Tour’s “Back Nine” stretch, where all but the final two events of the season will be held across continental Europe.

    Heading into the event, Ryan Gerard holds the distinction of being the highest-ranked player in the field at world No. 22, fresh off a third-place finish at last week’s Tour Championship at East Lake. Current Race to Dubai leader Patrick Reed, ranked 35th globally, is making his first appearance at the tournament in 11 years, competing in his sixth consecutive start to close out his season. Overall, the 2025 field features 10 of the top 100 ranked golfers in the world, and includes notable names such as Miguel Angel Jimenez – who is competing despite the PGA Tour Champions taking a scheduled break this week – John Daly II, making just his second career European Tour start after a tied 30th finish at the Nexo Championship in Scotland two weeks ago, and Sudarshan Yellamaraju, who earned his spot via the top-70 FedEx Cup exemption category.

    For U.S. viewers, all four rounds of the Omega European Masters will air exclusively on Golf Channel, with broadcast windows running 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET on Thursday and Friday, 6:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. ET on Saturday, and 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. ET on Sunday. Next week, the European Tour will travel to Northern Ireland for the Amgen Irish Open.

    Over at the Walker Cup, the biennial (now returning to an even-year schedule after a one-time odd-year adjustment) amateur team competition will see the defending champion United States look to extend their historic dominance over GB&I at the 6,950-yard par-72 Lahinch Golf Club, a links course that previously hosted the 2019 Irish Open (won by Jon Rahm) and the 2024 Palmer Cup college competition. The United States currently holds a commanding 40-9-1 lead in the overall series, and have claimed victory in the last five consecutive Walker Cup matchups, with GB&I’s last win coming in 2015 at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

    In 2024 at Cypress Point, the Americans dominated play, winning eight of 10 singles matches to secure a 17-9 victory, and return to compete this year with captain Nathan Smith at the helm, same as the 2024 event. GB&I will be led by returning captain Dean Robertson. The American side is led by top-ranked amateur Preston Stout of Oklahoma State, and features Stewart Hagestad competing in his sixth consecutive Walker Cup, with three returning players from the 2024 winning squad. GB&I brings six returning players from last year’s team, including Luke Poulter, son of legendary Ryder Cup competitor Ian Poulter, who is playing in his second straight Walker Cup, while Englishman Jack Whaley, the reigning U.S. Amateur champion, will make his first appearance in the competition. As defending champions, the U.S. needs 13 total points to retain the Walker Cup, while GB&I needs 13.5 points to claim the trophy. The competition format features four foursomes matches on both Saturday and Sunday, eight singles matches on Saturday, and 10 singles matches on Sunday.

    Broadcast coverage of the 2025 Walker Cup will also air on Golf Channel for U.S. audiences, with coverage running 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, and split windows of 3:30 a.m. to 8 a.m. ET and 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. ET on Sunday. The next Walker Cup is scheduled for 2028 at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon.

    Beyond these two headline events, this week also brings a full slate of action across every major professional golf tour. On the PGA Tour, fresh off Scottie Scheffler’s win at the Tour Championship and his second consecutive FedEx Cup title – a victory that pushed him past Tiger Woods’ 26-year record for career PGA Tour earnings – the tour is on a break before the Biltmore Championship in Asheville kicks off September 17-20. On the LPGA Tour, Ruoning Yin claimed victory at last week’s FM Championship, and the tour will head to the Solheim Cup next week, with Nelly Korda entering the week as the leader of the Race to CME Globe. The PGA Tour Champions saw Steven Alker secure his second consecutive win with a victory at the Ally Challenge last week, and will compete in the Sanford International next week, with Stewart Cink holding the lead in the Charles Schw Cup standings. The Korn Ferry Tour’s most recent event was won by Yuta Sugiura, with the circuit next heading to the Simmons Bank Open, and Ross Steelman leading the overall points race.

    Lower-tier and amateur tours also have full competition schedules this week: the Challenge Tour hosts the Rosa Challenge Tour at Rosa Golf Club in Konopiska, Poland, with Hugo Townsend returning as defending champion; the United States Golf Association hosts both the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Montclair Golf Club in West Orange, New Jersey (with Ina Kim-Schaad defending) and the U.S. Senior Amateur at Baltimore Country Club’s East Course in Lutherville, Maryland (with Mike McCoy defending); the Legends Tour hosts the NI Legends at Galgorm Castle Golf Club in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, with Markus Brier defending; the Japan LPGA hosts the Golf5 Ladies at the Golf5 Club in Mizunami, Gifu, Japan, with Yuna Araki defending; and the Korea LPGA hosts the OK Savings Bank OK Man Open at Adonis Country Club in Pocheon, South Korea, with Shinsil Bang defending.

  • PSG cashes in again as Ibrahim Mbaye joins Aston Villa as part of a $460 million summer sell-off

    PSG cashes in again as Ibrahim Mbaye joins Aston Villa as part of a $460 million summer sell-off

    PARIS – On the final day of the 2025 summer transfer window, French Ligue 1 giant Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), a two-time European champion, confirmed its latest high-profile outgoing deal: promising Senegalese forward Ibrahim Mbaye will make a permanent move to English Premier League side Aston Villa. The transfer marks another milestone in the Parisian club’s dramatic strategic shift, moving away from its decades-long identity as soccer’s biggest spender to a new model focused on generating massive revenue through player sales.

    This summer, PSG has outperformed every other top European club in transfer revenue generated from outgoing player moves, with cumulative earnings surpassing 400 million euros ($464 million). That figure puts it ahead of fellow big spenders Aston Villa and Manchester City of the Premier League, capping a wildly successful window for the club’s new commercial strategy.

    Contrary to some fan concerns that PSG is selling off its core talent, club insiders emphasize that every player moved out this window, including Mbaye, was a rotational substitute under head coach Luis Enrique. Even the summer’s largest outgoing deal, the 145 million euro transfer of Bradley Barcola, fits this deliberate framework: the club has only offloaded players not central to Enrique’s starting XI plans, allowing it to cash in on valuable assets while keeping its core competitive squad intact.

    A product of PSG’s renowned youth academy, the 18-year-old Mbaye has already built an impressive resume on and off the pitch for club and country. He has earned 15 senior international caps for Senegal, and earlier this summer at the World Cup, he made history as the youngest African player ever to score at the men’s World Cup, finding the back of the net in Senegal’s 3-1 group stage defeat to host nation France. Back in 2023, Mbaye became the youngest player in PSG history to make a Ligue 1 debut, stepping onto the pitch at just 16 years, six months and 23 days old. Over his time in the first team, Mbaye lifted eight major trophies with PSG, including two Champions League titles, two European Super Cups and two Ligue 1 crowns. Mbaye’s transfer package is valued at up to 60 million euros ($69 million), adding to PSG’s massive summer haul.

    Beyond Mbaye and Barcola, PSG has offloaded a host of other squad players this window, including defender Noham Kamara, South Korean midfielder Lee Kang-In, striker Randal Kolo Muani and Portuguese forward Gonçalo Ramos. The club used less than 210 million euros ($243 million) of its transfer sales revenue to bring in new signings: Ferran Torres, Maghnes Akliouche, Mika Godts, Lucas Lucas, Lucas Digne and Alessandro Longoni. The result is a net capital gain of nearly 200 million euros ($232 million) from this summer’s transfer activity alone.

    This strategic shift is a dramatic departure from the club’s approach for more than a decade. Since Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) completed its takeover of PSG in 2011, ownership spent lavishly to attract global superstars including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Lionel Messi and Neymar, turning a mid-tier French club into one of the richest and most competitive sides in European soccer. The turning point came after Kylian Mbappe’s high-profile departure to Real Madrid in 2024, when Enrique pushed for a new recruitment model focused on signing less high-profile but high-potential talent to build depth across every position, creating healthy competition for starting spots and flexible squad rotation.

    The overhaul has already delivered tangible on-pitch results: PSG has won consecutive Champions League titles under the new structure. Off the pitch, the financial results are equally impressive. PSG reported last October that it closed the 2024–25 season with a record 837 million euros ($970 million) in total revenue, a milestone that came on the back of the club’s first ever Champions League title. Since QSI’s 2011 takeover, the club’s annual turnover has increased ninefold, underscoring the long-term success of its evolution.

  • South Africa reappoint Mosimane as head coach

    South Africa reappoint Mosimane as head coach

    Veteran South African football manager Pitso Mosimane has been formally unveiled as the new head coach of the country’s men’s senior national side, Bafana Bafana, marking a surprise return to the role he left more than a decade ago. The 62-year-old, whose decorated career spans club and continental success across Africa and the Middle East, steps into the vacancy left by Belgian manager Hugo Broos, who departed the post in late July after his five-year contract reached its natural expiration.

    Broos leaves behind a notable legacy during his tenure, guiding South Africa back to the FIFA World Cup finals for the first time since the nation hosted the tournament in 2010, and securing a third-place finish at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) — one of the team’s strongest continental performances in recent years. While Mosimane’s first spell in charge of Bafana Bafana, which ran from July 2010 to June 2012, ended in disappointment, his subsequent club track record has cemented his reputation as one of the most successful managers in African football.

    During his first national team tenure, Mosimane’s side infamously missed out on qualification for the 2012 Afcon after incorrectly assuming a draw in their final group match against Sierra Leone would secure their spot in the tournament finals. His departure came just two years into his first contract, following a 1-1 home draw against Ethiopia in the opening qualifier for the 2014 World Cup. In the 12 years since he left the post, Mosimane has collected an impressive array of silverware, including three African Champions League titles — two with South African powerhouse Mamelodi Sundowns and one with Egyptian giant Al Ahly. Most recently, he held a managerial role at top Iranian club Esteghlal, with previous stints also including roles in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi.

    The South Africa Football Association’s executive committee approved Mosimane’s reappointment on 8 August, but the official public reveal was delayed until Tuesday in Johannesburg, as the club worked to finalize contract details and assemble Mosimane’s supporting technical team. As of the announcement, the length of Mosimane’s new contract with the national federation has not been disclosed to the public. Football fans and analysts across the continent are now watching closely to see whether the decorated club manager can translate his decades of continental success to the international stage, and lead Bafana Bafana to continued progress after the team’s recent breakthrough under Broos.

  • Transfer deadline day for Europe’s top soccer leagues with Balogun expected to be among the movers

    Transfer deadline day for Europe’s top soccer leagues with Balogun expected to be among the movers

    Tuesday marks the final day of the summer transfer window for Europe’s top five soccer leagues, and the 24 hours have shaped up to be one of the most frantic deadlines in recent memory, with a string of high-profile deals expected to cross the line before clocks run out. Among the most anticipated outgoing moves is American striker Folarin Balogun, who is on the cusp of a transfer from Ligue 1 side AS Monaco to Premier League club Everton, multiple industry reports confirm.

    Across the Premier League, defending champion Manchester City continues its aggressive spending spree, closing in on a £60 million ($81 million) deal to sign Everton winger Iliman Ndiaye. The agreement for Ndiaye is expected to put an end to City’s widely reported pursuit of Liverpool attacker Cody Gakpo. City has also been linked with a blockbuster move for Chelsea midfield star Enzo Fernandez throughout the entire window, but time is rapidly running out for the Etihad Stadium side to get a deal over the line before the window closes. In outgoing business from City, winger Jack Grealish is set to return to Everton on a season-long loan deal, sources confirm.

    So far, the summer 2025 transfer window for the Premier League is on track to break all previous spending records, with total outlay across league clubs already hitting £2.82 billion ($3.8 billion). The current all-time record for a single Premier League transfer window stands at £3.14 billion ($4.25 billion) set back in 2023, a mark that is expected to be surpassed before Tuesday’s closure. The Premier League window will officially close at 22:00 GMT, while rival top leagues across the continent have earlier cutoff times: Germany, France and Italy all close at 18:00 GMT, with Spain’s window shutting one minute before 22:00 GMT at 21:59 GMT.

    One of the first high-profile deals completed on deadline day sees Aston Villa add 19-year-old winger Ibrahim Mbaye from Paris Saint-Germain, a transfer that continues PSG’s massive summer sell-off that has now brought in a combined $460 million in transfer revenue for the French giants. Mbaye joins a reshaped Villa attacking line that has already added Nicolas Jackson and Alejandro Garnacho this window. Unai Emery’s side, which qualified for the Champions League last season, has endured a rocky start to the new domestic campaign, dropping all three points in its opening two league matches.

    In La Liga, one of the biggest deadline-day moves sees Brazil striker Gabriel Jesus complete a three-year transfer from Arsenal to FC Barcelona. Jesus struggled with repeated injury issues during his tenure at the Emirates Stadium, but still contributed to Arsenal’s 2024-25 Premier League title triumph. Jesus is the latest forward to exit Arsenal this window: Leandro Trossard already completed a move to Turkish side Besiktas, while first-team winger Gabriel Martinelli and young star Ethan Nwaneri are both expected to finalize exits before the Premier League window closes.

    Across Serie A, Newcastle United forward Nick Woltemade is reported to be finalizing a season-long loan move to Juventus, just 12 months after he moved to the Premier League from the German domestic league.

    In the Bundesliga, the biggest deadline-day signing to date sees 20-year-old Spanish center forward Marc Guiu move from Chelsea to RB Leipzig on a permanent five-year contract, for a total fee that could rise to 17 million euros ($19.7 million). Guiu was part of Chelsea’s 2024 Conference League and Club World Cup-winning squad, but never managed to secure a regular first-team spot at the London club, failing to score a single Premier League goal during his tenure.

  • Hopes high, expectations low for Germany as it prepares to host Women’s Basketball World Cup

    Hopes high, expectations low for Germany as it prepares to host Women’s Basketball World Cup

    BERLIN – A series of pre-tournament setbacks, including multiple key player injuries and three consecutive warm-up losses, have failed to dampen the competitive spirit and medal ambitions of the host German national team ahead of the 20th FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup, kicking off this week in the German capital.

    This year marks only the second time Germany has qualified for the quadrennial global tournament, 28 years after the country last hosted the event in 1998. On that historic first appearance, Germany advanced to the second group stage, and this year’s squad has set its sights on exceeding that achievement by claiming a podium finish. That goal, however, comes with significant hurdles: the team will be missing its biggest star, Satou Sabally of the WNBA’s New York Liberty, who continues to recover from a concussion – her second brain injury of 2026, sustained during a June match against the Las Vegas Aces.

    Injury struggles extend beyond the elder Sabally. Her younger sister Nyara Sabally, who plays for the Toronto Tempo, has yet to return to action from a calf injury, while another key WNBA-based German player, Leonie Fiebich of New York Liberty, only recently resumed training following a prolonged foot injury recovery. Team captain Marie Gülich also just made her return to the court from a serious knee injury, stepping back into play during Germany’s 65-60 warm-up loss to Spain.

    Germany’s preparations for the expanded 16-team tournament have been far from ideal, with the squad dropping three straight warm-up matches to Spain, Hungary, and most recently a narrow 63-62 defeat to Turkey in Cologne last Thursday. Despite the disappointing run of results, German guard Luisa Geiselsöder emphasized that warm-up results do not define the team’s tournament outlook. “Of course, we were hoping for a win but it was just a friendly,” she noted.

    A major factor in the team’s underwhelming warm-up form is the absence of three WNBA-based players – Satou Sabally, Fiebich, and Portland Fire’s Frieda Bühner – who missed the exhibition matches due to club commitments. Head coach Olaf Lange says their arrival will transform the squad’s dynamic. “We learned a lot today,” Lange said after the Turkey defeat. “But with the three (WNBA players yet to arrive) we’re a completely different team.”

    Lange also added that recent MRI results give him confidence Nyara Sabally will be fit enough to feature in the tournament. When the event gets underway, Germany will rely heavily on veteran combo guard Alexis Peterson to anchor the team’s offensive playmaking as key contributors work their way back to full match fitness.

    Germany opens its 2026 World Cup campaign on Friday with a rematch against familiar rival Spain at the 14,000-capacity Berlin Arena, the main tournament venue renamed temporarily for the competition to avoid confusion over the venue’s frequently changing commercial sponsor naming rights. A second group stage match will follow on Saturday against Japan at Berlin’s historic Max-Schmeling-Halle, a 9,000-seat multipurpose venue named after legendary 1932 German heavyweight boxing champion Max Schmeling, which will also host additional tournament matches. Germany closes out Group A play against Mali on September 7, a match most analysts project as a winnable contest for the host side.

    Ahead of the opening tip, Germany faces an uphill battle against Spain: the two sides have met seven times in competitive play, and Germany has never come away with a win. Their most recent matchup came during the EuroBasket group stage in Hamburg last year, where Spain claimed a comfortable 79-60 victory. For this tournament, only the bottom-placed team from each of the four groups will be eliminated from competition. Group winners earn an automatic spot in the quarterfinals, while second and third-placed teams advance to knockout playoffs to claim the remaining quarterfinal slots.

    Despite the on-court challenges facing the host team, organizers are celebrating unprecedented public interest in the tournament. Officials confirmed earlier this week that more than 200,000 tickets have already been sold – a new record for the Women’s Basketball World Cup, surpassing totals from every previous edition. The September 13 final is already completely sold out.

    German Basketball Federation president Ingo Weiss hailed the milestone as a sign of growing global popularity for women’s basketball. “We’re witnessing an extraordinary evolution of our sport, and this World Cup in Berlin will mark another major milestone,” Weiss said. “200,000 tickets is a fantastic sign, and we’re far from finished yet.”

  • Robert Moreno hired as interim head coach as South Korea aims for calm after a turbulent summer

    Robert Moreno hired as interim head coach as South Korea aims for calm after a turbulent summer

    After a season of unprecedented turmoil that shook the foundations of South Korean men’s football this summer, the Korea Football Association (KFA) has formally named former Spain national team head coach Robert Moreno as the program’s new interim leader. Announced in a press statement Tuesday, Moreno’s initial contract covers six scheduled friendly and qualifying matches set for the September and November 2024 international match windows, with KFA officials confirming the deal could be extended to lead the squad through the 2027 Asian Cup, which kicks off in January next year.

    Hyun Young-min, who leads the KFA’s National Teams Committee, highlighted the key reasons behind the governing body’s selection, noting that Moreno stood out from other candidates thanks to his deep, nuanced grasp of Korean football and his knack for designing flexible, diverse tactical approaches tailored to the squad’s strengths. “We hope he and his new supporting staff will help lift our national team’s performance and put us back on a positive trajectory,” Hyun added.

    Moreno brings a wealth of top-tier coaching experience to the role. He took the helm of the Spanish men’s national team for a stint in 2019, and has since held senior head coaching positions at prominent European clubs including Ligue 1 side AS Monaco, La Liga outfit Granada, and most recently Russian Premier League club Sochi, where his contract concluded in August 2023.

    The top job for South Korea’s men’s national team has sat vacant since late June, when former manager Hong Myung-bo stepped down in the wake of the team’s unexpected group-stage elimination from 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying. Widespread public anger over Hong’s 2024 appointment boiled over this summer, forcing not only Hong’s exit but also the resignation of long-time KFA president Chung Mong-gyu. Both figures were later called to testify under questioning during a parliamentary hearing held in July, capping a period of intense public and political scrutiny of the country’s football governing body.

    One of Moreno’s core mandates, KFA officials confirmed, is to reset the culture and mood of the national team as it works to rebuild following a brutal stretch of off-field and on-field disappointment. Moreno will make his debut on the South Korean sideline on September 24, when the team hosts Ecuador in a friendly match in Suwon, a major city just south of the capital Seoul.

  • It’s taken me a long time to process Olympic experience – Raygun

    It’s taken me a long time to process Olympic experience – Raygun

    In the summer of 2024, breaking made its long-awaited debut as an official medal sport at the Paris Olympic Games, and one unexpected Australian competitor became the center of a global firestorm that extended far beyond the dance floor. 38-year-old Rachael Gunn, known professionally to the breaking community as Raygun, is far from a typical elite Olympic athlete: by trade, she is a university lecturer, who only stepped into full-time athletic training months before the Games.

    Gunn’s Olympic journey was fraught with personal struggle long before she stepped onto the Paris competition stage. Just hours before she marched alongside the Australian delegation in the Paris opening ceremony, the weight of her unexpected opportunity crashed down on her as she walked through the Olympic village, surrounded by some of the most experienced competitive athletes in the world. In an upcoming Netflix documentary chronicling her Games experience, Gunn recalled the overwhelming moment that left her questioning her place at the event.

    “I felt like an imposter,” Gunn shared in the film. After spotting a familiar Australian team member, she was unable to control her panic. “I just could not stop crying… I had a panic attack. ‘What am I doing? What have I done? Should I be doing this?’” Within hours, she had pulled herself together to sail down the River Seine in the opening ceremony parade, waving to crowds of spectators lining the riverbanks.

    Less than two weeks later, Gunn’s competitive run at the Paris Games came to an end. She failed to secure a win in any of her three round-robin battles, but the athlete said she left the competition proud of how she showed up. When she finished her final routine, reigning world champion Dominika “Nicka” Banevic publicly praised her movement, the event emcee celebrated her performance, and the overall atmosphere in the arena was overwhelmingly positive, she told BBC Sport.

    What Gunn could never have anticipated was that her signature routine, which featured playful, unconventional moves including a sprinkler and a kangaroo hop that paid homage to her Australian identity, would spread like wildfire across global social media. The clip of her performance spawned thousands of memes, earned a parody spot on *The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon*, was referenced by global pop star Adele during one of her concerts, and drew a public show of support from Hollywood star Chris Hemsworth during an interview on *Jimmy Kimmel Live!*. Even Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stepped forward to publicly praise Gunn for taking the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and giving it her all.

    “It was pretty wild the way I became a topic of conversation in spaces I never thought I would be,” Gunn said of the sudden global attention.

    Beneath the lighthearted viral attention, however, a darker wave of harassment and misinformation began to spread online. Baseless conspiracy theories emerged claiming nepotism had secured Gunn her Olympic spot, falsely alleging that her husband and personal trainer Samuel Free had sat on the national selection committee that approved her spot on the Australian team – a claim that was entirely untrue. “It was really tough when mine and Sammy’s credibility, ethics and motivations were being called into question,” Gunn said. “You could just spend 30 seconds researching and find plenty of sources to debunk these conspiracies, but that’s not how people use the internet anymore.”

    The unrelenting scrutiny and online trolling took a severe toll on Gunn’s mental health. “I felt like my whole life was just kind of crumbling before me… and I was just trying to get through the day,” she says in the documentary. But working with filmmakers to chronicle her experience has helped her regain control of her story after months of being defined by online criticism. “It’s taken a long time for me to process what happened,” Gunn told BBC Sport. “It’s really exciting for me to finally have a voice again.”

    Gunn’s path to Paris began after breaking was confirmed for the 2024 Games, when she secured her spot on the Australian team by winning qualification at the 2023 Oceania Breaking Championships in Sydney. “I’ve never participated in anything of such high stakes before. It was all international judges, but I was relieved and excited when I qualified. And then the next whirlwind happened,” she recalled.

    After qualification, Gunn quickly made the decision to adapt her life to meet the demands of Olympic competition, something she had never done before. In February 2024, she earned a scholarship from the New South Wales Institute of Sport, which allowed her to begin a structured strength and conditioning program. “That was great, but also overwhelming because I was training with people who had been doing that stuff since they were kids,” she noted.

    The documentary also uncovers additional personal struggles Gunn navigated during her pre-Games training: her mother suffered three separate brain aneurisms while she was preparing for competition, and Gunn began taking anti-depressants to manage chronic anxiety. As she competed in pre-Olympic qualifying events, she began to fully grasp the scale of the challenge she had taken on, competing against athletes who had trained at the highest level for decades. Even so, she committed to stepping onto the Olympic floor and giving her best performance.

    With that context, Gunn made a deliberate creative decision to lean into her unique strengths rather than trying to match her competitors’ elite athleticism. She designed a routine that leaned into creativity – one of the official judging criteria for Olympic breaking – that leaned into playful, distinctly Australian flair. “I was aware that I was never going to beat my competitors on athleticism,” she explained. “For me, my strength is creativity. With that being one of the [judging] criteria, our thinking was, ‘why don’t we put all our eggs in that basket and really try and wow them? Maybe we can make a moment.’ We never, ever expected the impact it might have.”

    The documentary also reveals that limited support was available to Gunn during her training: Lowe Napalan, head of the Australian Breaking Association, only worked with Gunn a handful of times before the Games, as he was overwhelmed by administrative duties for the new Olympic program. That meant Napalan saw Gunn’s viral routine for the first time when she stood side-stage waiting to compete in Paris. “I had to not have a face of shock,” Napalan admitted in the film.

    In late 2024, multiple reports claimed that the controversy surrounding her Olympic performance had pushed Gunn to quit breaking entirely. She is quick to correct that false narrative. “I don’t know where that came from,” Gunn said. “I wouldn’t let what happened take dancing away from me. I love breaking, I’ll always break, I’ll always be a part of the community.”

    Now, Gunn hopes her upcoming documentary will help reframe the conversation around her Olympic experience, allowing her to move forward after a year of turmoil. “It feels nice to lay it all out there and now be able to look to the future. I’m actually excited about what’s to come, which is the first time for a while,” she said. For anyone struggling with the mental health impacts of online harassment, support resources are available via the BBC Action Line.