Global Pulse

分类： sports

  • Why Wimbledon is serving Indian ice cream and Bollywood beats

    Why Wimbledon is serving Indian ice cream and Bollywood beats

    For more than a century, Wimbledon has guarded its iconic, time-honored traditions fiercely: from the mandatory all-white player dress code to understated court advertising and the cult classic pairing of strawberries and cream. But this year, the world’s oldest Grand Slam made a deliberate break from its signature reserved brand identity to crack one of the world’s most cricket-dominated sports markets: India.

    With tennis still holding niche status among Indian sports fans, Wimbledon’s organizers rolled out a hyper-localized engagement strategy designed to bridge cultural gaps rather than lean into its distant, exclusive global brand. The tournament partnered with KUReMAL’S, a century-old Delhi kulfi (traditional Indian ice cream) maker, to reimagine its signature strawberries and cream treat with an Indian twist. Its official Instagram channel began sharing short-form reels of tennis legends like Roger Federer set to chart-topping 1990s Bollywood hits, and hosted top Indian cricketers and local social media influencers in the prestigious Royal Box to leverage their widespread domestic appeal. Content was also tailored and distributed across multiple regional Indian languages to reach audiences beyond the country’s English-speaking urban elite.

    Early data suggests the strategic gamble has paid off. Early reports indicate that Jannik Sinner’s men’s singles final victory over Alexander Zverev drew roughly 2.7 million concurrent livestream viewers in India, despite the match kicking off after midnight local time. Average viewership across the entire tournament climbed 18% year-over-year to 853,000, according to local Indian media. JioStar, the domestic streaming platform that holds exclusive Indian broadcast rights for Wimbledon, declined to release official viewership figures to the BBC.

    Industry analysts emphasize that Wimbledon’s push into India is no random marketing experiment, but a calculated long-term strategic move. India is already Wimbledon’s largest international market by total reach, and 2026 brought a landmark milestone for Indian tennis: Arnav Paparkar became the first Indian player in 36 years to reach the under-18 boys’ singles quarterfinals at the tournament.

    “India now has its strongest pipeline of young tennis talent competing on ATP and ITF circuits in nearly a decade, and premium urban sports consumption is rapidly expanding beyond cricket, thanks to streaming platforms’ ability to target niche audiences at scale,” explained Darshana Bhalla, a New Delhi-based sports branding expert, in an interview with the BBC.

    Sally Bolton, chief executive of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, confirmed earlier to the *Financial Times* that India now ranks alongside the United States as a core focus for growing the Grand Slam’s global audience. This shift comes as India projects to become the world’s fastest-growing sports market over the next decade: KPMG estimates the Indian sports sector will grow at a compound annual rate of 12-14% through 2030, nearly double the projected global average. To tap into this growth, global sports properties must adopt culturally specific engagement strategies, rather than relying on one-size-fits-all global content.

    Bhalla notes that Wimbledon’s approach upends decades of premium global branding logic: “For generations, premium brands believed exclusivity came from distance and inaccessibility. Today, they’ve learned that true exclusivity for new audiences comes from belonging. What Wimbledon changed was the entry point: instead of asking young Indians to adapt to Wimbledon’s world, they meet fans where they are, using familiar cultural cues to draw them in – the kulfi collaboration, Bollywood soundtracks, regional language content, partnerships with local creators.”

    Upasna Dash, founder of Jajabor Brand Consultancy, adds that this approach addresses a key barrier for new fans: for many younger Indians, Wimbledon feels aspirational but culturally distant, so reducing that gap is critical to growing lasting fandom. The tournament’s social media-first strategy also aligns with how younger audiences discover new content today: “Young fans often encounter global events on social media long before they engage with the event itself. Instead of asking consumers to enter Wimbledon’s world, this campaign steps into theirs.”

    The pivot also makes strong strategic sense for JioStar, which holds exclusive broadcast rights. The platform has faced public financial pressure recently, with widespread reports that it sought to renegotiate its $3 billion 2024-2027 broadcast deal with the International Cricket Council amid sustained losses. While the original deal remains in place, diversifying its sports content portfolio reduces overreliance on cricket and opens up new audience segments.

    “For JioStar, tennis expands the annual sports engagement calendar, attracts affluent urban audiences, and diversifies its advertiser base beyond cricket-focused brands,” Bhalla explained. “In India, cricket delivers mass scale, but tennis delivers premium audiences. Wimbledon brings a demographic that cricket cannot consistently attract: a premium, affluent, English-speaking urban audience that luxury, automotive, banking, fintech, travel, and premium consumer goods brands actively target.”

    Despite the strong early viewership results, industry experts warn that converting casual curiosity from this campaign into long-term sustained fandom will require ongoing investment. “If these engagement efforts are treated as one-off campaign tactics tied to the annual tournament, their impact will be short-lived,” noted Aryan Anurag, co-founder of Delhi-based social media agency Binge Labs. Dash added that sustained growth will require deeper grassroots engagement with Indian tennis and consistent market investment beyond the two-week tournament every summer.

    Even so, the global sports industry is closely watching Wimbledon’s experiment. If culturally contextualized storytelling can deliver meaningful, lasting engagement growth in India, Bhalla says other major global sports properties will quickly follow suit: “Expect F1, the NBA, the NFL, the UFC, La Liga, and the Premier League all to deepen their India-first content strategies if Wimbledon’s model proves successful.”

  • Australian swimmer celebrated gold with ‘no words – just a hug from my Scottish gran’

    Australian swimmer celebrated gold with ‘no words – just a hug from my Scottish gran’

    When Victoria, Australia announced its withdrawal from hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games earlier this year, hundreds of Australian athletes were left reeling, their dreams of competing for glory on home soil dashed. But for 20-year-old backstroke specialist Iona Anderson, the last-minute relocation to Glasgow, Scotland has turned into a fairy tale run that blended career-first success with a long-awaited family reunion.

    Named after the Scottish Inner Hebrides island of Iona, the rising swimming star stormed to her first senior individual international gold medal in the women’s 100m backstroke at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre on Sunday. Just two days later, she followed up the historic win with a silver medal in the 50m backstroke, cementing her status as one of Australia’s breakout talents of the Games.

    Waiting to wrap Anderson in a celebratory hug immediately after her gold medal win was her grandmother Pam, who alongside Anderson’s grandfather lives in Grangemouth, Scotland, just 20 miles west of Glasgow. The moment, captured by Swimming Australia photographers, has become one of the most heartwarming images of the 2026 Commonwealth Games so far.

    Speaking to BBC Scotland News after the win, Anderson joked about her grandmother’s overwhelming excitement: “I think my mum was having a heart attack worrying gran was going to get too excited watching it. It was really emotional – there weren’t a lot of words said when I went over, just a lot of emotion and a big hug.”

    Anderson, who was born in Australia to parents with deep Scottish roots – her mother’s side of the family hails from Grangemouth, while her father’s relatives are from Dumfries and Galloway – said she carried extra pressure into the race because she wanted to perform well for the family members who rarely get to see her compete. “I was so psyched. I maybe put extra pressure on myself beforehand as I wanted to do them proud, but it was so great to hug her as I don’t get to do that often.”

    This trip to Scotland marks only the fourth time Anderson has visited the country of her family’s origins, and it is just the second time many of her Scottish relatives have gotten to watch her race in person. Despite the limited number of visits, Anderson says she has always felt a deep connection to her Scottish heritage, even going so far as to paint her competition nails in a green and gold tartan design to celebrate the Games’ host nation. She also quipped that she has embraced local culinary traditions, saying “I do like black pudding and link sausages when here, they’re much better than what you get back home. I know they might be unhealthier too!”

    Anderson joked to Australian media after her gold medal win that the switch to Glasgow turned out better than hosting the Games in her home state of Victoria would have been, noting that the close proximity of the cheering crowd to the pool at Tollcross gave her an extra burst of energy during her race. The young swimmer added that bouncing back from the high of winning gold to compete in the 50m backstroke heats just one day later was a surprising challenge. “It’s been a whirlwind of emotions,” she laughed. “My roommate got bronze in the 1,500m on Sunday [Molly Walker] and we kind of pinged off each other a bit – so getting to sleep was pretty hard. But it’s a great atmosphere and that gets you going.”

    Anderson’s success comes as the Australian team continues to dominate the swimming competition at the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, with multiple medal wins across individual and relay events in the first week of competition.

  • Athlete witnessed knife incident during Commonwealth Games training

    Athlete witnessed knife incident during Commonwealth Games training

    As the 2026 Commonwealth Games prepare to kick off in Glasgow, a startling incident has put a temporary spotlight on athlete security, after Australian middle-distance runner Olli Hoare encountered a person brandishing a knife during a pre-competition training run in the city centre.

    Initial reports incorrectly linked Hoare’s experience to the fatal stabbing of 44-year-old Paul McMinigal, who was found dead on Burgher Street in Glasgow’s east end the day before the runner’s sighting. That early narrative was later corrected following a review of GPS data from Hoare’s smartwatch, which confirmed the knife incident he witnessed took place the day after McMinigal’s death, at a separate location in the city.

    Following the incident, circulating reports claimed that Australian team officials had ordered all athletes to only train in small groups and avoid wearing the team’s iconic green and gold uniform during outdoor runs. However, BBC Scotland has since clarified that this guidance is not a specific response to the Glasgow incident, but rather standard security protocol implemented for all major international championships.

    Despite the unsettling encounter, Team Australia, which currently sits atop the Commonwealth Games medal table, has stated it holds no major concerns over athlete safety for the duration of the event. A spokesperson for the Australian delegation confirmed that organisers and team officials are working in close coordination with Glasgow 2026 planning committees to prioritise the wellbeing of all athletes, coaches, officials, and visiting family members.

    “Our regular Games security briefings are keeping us comprehensively informed on potential risks across the city, and we’re sharing applicable information with Team Members to ensure their awareness and safety,” the spokesperson added in an official statement. After the incident, team welfare officials checked in with Hoare to confirm his wellbeing, and confirmed there are no ongoing safety issues linked to the encounter.

    Hoare is still set to compete as scheduled in the highly anticipated men’s mile event at Scotstoun Stadium this Saturday, where he will face off against a stacked field of top Scottish competitors. The race is expected to be led by current world record holder Josh Kerr, who enters as the favourite for gold, alongside former 1500m world champion Jake Wightman and Neil Gourley, a decorated athlete with both world and European indoor 1500m medals to his name. Rising Australian track star Cameron Myers, who set a new under-21 1500m world record in July, will also join the starting line-up.

    This article has been corrected from its original publication, which misattributed Hoare’s sighting to the aftermath of McMinigal’s killing, following the emergence of new GPS evidence that clarifies the timeline and location of the two separate incidents.

  • FIFA says it hopes to sell $4.2bn stake in its tournaments

    FIFA says it hopes to sell $4.2bn stake in its tournaments

    Global football’s governing body FIFA has ignited a fierce debate across the sport after officially confirming plans to offload a minority stake in the commercial operations of its flagship competitions, including the World Cup, through a newly created semi-private subsidiary. The announcement, made Tuesday, came just hours after details of the confidential proposal were leaked to British newspaper *The Times* by two anonymous sources, forcing FIFA to break its silence on the initiative early.

    Under the plan, FIFA will retain a majority controlling share in the new entity, named FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE). The organization aims to raise $4.2 billion by the end of 2021 by selling non-controlling minority stakes to pre-vetted long-term investors, with an projected initial equity valuation of $20 billion for FFE, per FIFA’s internal estimates. In an effort to build buy-in across its global membership, each of FIFA’s 211 national member associations will be offered the opportunity to purchase a $20 million one-off stake. While that holding amounts to just 0.1% of FFE’s total equity, FIFA notes the sum could represent a transformative financial opportunity for leaders of smaller or lower-income member federations. The governing body added that the proceeds from the stake sale, when combined with existing development programs, would push its total planned global football development funding past $10 billion over the next four years.

    FIFA has moved quickly to address concerns over loss of governance control, emphasizing in its official statement that it will “retain sole control of FFE and exclusive authority over football governance, competitions, match calendar, and all regulatory and sporting decisions.”

    The leak published by *The Times* painted a far more controversial picture of the plan, however. The report alleged that FIFA president Gianni Infantino, 56, stands to personally benefit from the scheme after his current expected term ends in 2031, when he could take on a leadership role as FFE commissioner. The newspaper also named early parties that have already held preliminary discussions with FIFA, including Joshua Kushner — brother of Jared Kushner, former U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law — and an investment division of JPMorgan Chase, the American bank that infamously tried to finance the collapsed 2021 European Super League breakaway. *The Times* quoted one unnamed senior football industry figure calling the FFE plan “potentially much worse than the European Super League,” arguing it would reshape the foundation of football at every level globally. A second anonymous source added that the structure creates “unacceptable” conflicts of interest for both FIFA and Infantino personally.

    UEFA, European football’s governing body and a longstanding critic of Infantino’s leadership, was among the first to issue a sharp rebuke of the plan following the report’s publication. “This crosses a line that football’s governing institutions should never cross. UEFA takes it extremely seriously,” the organization said in a statement. “The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade — especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially. None of us are the owners of football. It is not FIFA’s to sell.”

    The FFE proposal is not Infantino’s first attempt to bring large-scale private capital into FIFA’s top competitions. In 2019, a FIFA stakeholder committee rejected an Infantino-supported plan to secure $25 billion in private investment for an expanded Club World Cup, with reported backers including Japan’s SoftBank Group and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. Despite that rejection, FIFA still moved forward with expanding the Club World Cup from 7 to 32 teams, set to launch in 2025. *The Times* speculates that the creation of FFE could open the door to further expansion of both the World Cup and Club World Cup, as well as pressure to hold the tournaments more frequently than the current four-year cycle.

    FIFA, a not-for-profit organization formally owned by its member associations and holds tax-exempt status in its home base of Switzerland, has a history of past complications with spinning off commercial rights to private partners. In 2001, the collapse of International Sports Licensing (ISL), the firm that negotiated World Cup broadcast rights deals for FIFA, left the governing body with losses estimated between $30 million and $115 million.

    In recent months, FIFA has already signaled soaring expected revenues amid ongoing World Cup expansion: earlier this June, ahead of the 2026 men’s tournament — the first to feature 48 teams, up from 32 — Infantino announced that FIFA projected 2026 full-year revenues would surpass a record €7 billion ($8 billion), and confirmed early discussions have already begun about expanding the 2030 World Cup field to 64 teams.

  • Idi Amin’s boxer grandson determined to become new King of Scotland

    Idi Amin’s boxer grandson determined to become new King of Scotland

    The 2024 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow draws over 3,000 elite athletes from across the globe, all chasing national pride and international recognition. For most, their family histories remain private, overshadowed by their athletic ambitions. But for 25-year-old Ugandan super-heavyweight boxer Aziz Abdul, competing under the shadow of an infamous family legacy has defined his journey to the quarterfinals.

    Abdul never met his grandfather, a man whose name is synonymous with one of the 20th century’s most brutal authoritarian regimes: Idi Amin, the former military dictator of Uganda who ruled from 1971 to 1979 after seizing power in a coup. Widely known as “The Butcher of Uganda,” Amin’s eight-year regime is estimated to have killed up to 500,000 political opponents, civilians and ethnic minorities, and he infamously expelled the entire South Asian population of Uganda during his rule. A polygamous man with six documented marriages and at least 60 acknowledged children, Amin died in exile in Saudi Arabia in 2003, when Abdul was still a toddler, never facing trial for the widespread human rights abuses that occurred under his leadership.

    Beyond his brutal rule, Amin carried a well-documented fascination with Scotland. As a young man serving in the King’s African Rifles, he developed a love for Scottish cultural traditions, often wearing a kilt, playing bagpipes during his time in power, and even infamously declared himself the “King of Scotland” in a 1976 stunt. This eccentric chapter of his life inspired the 2006 Oscar-winning drama *The Last King of Scotland*, which cemented the connection between the dictator and Scotland in popular culture. That makes Abdul’s run for a medal in Glasgow all the more extraordinary.

    Amin was no stranger to boxing himself: he held Uganda’s national light-heavyweight title for nine consecutive years starting in 1951, with a controversial legacy even in the sport. After losing an early match, he reportedly ordered a rematch once he seized power, and staged a knockout victory while wearing a full suit and tie. Abdul has previously stated that he draws inspiration from his grandfather’s boxing career, though he has declined to elaborate on whether his admiration extends beyond the ring. When asked if he feels pride in being the grandson of a man with such a sinister reputation, Abdul offered a measured response, avoiding public judgment of a man he never knew.

    “Sometimes people say positive things about him, but others say negative things about him,” he told BBC Sport Scotland. “That’s why I don’t want to talk more about him. It’s not good to say something negative about someone who is not here, and it’s not right to pass judgment on events that happened long before I was born.”

    Abdul, who fights under the nickname “Ringo,” will take on England’s Damar Thomas in the 90+kg quarterfinals on Wednesday. A win would guarantee him at least a bronze medal, marking Uganda’s first Commonwealth Games boxing medal since the 1990 Auckland games. When asked what a gold medal win in Glasgow would mean, Abdul leaned into the quirky history of his grandfather’s connection to the country, joking “I might be the new King of Scotland. It’s possible. When I arrived, I put up the [Ugandan] flag, because I like Scotland so much.”

    Unlike his grandfather, who left Uganda with a tarnished global reputation, Abdul says his only goal is to build his own identity, carry pride for his country, and bring home Uganda’s first medal of this year’s games. “Our first medal will be won tomorrow. No excuse,” he said. “That’s why I’m here. I have that dream that I’m gonna go back with a gold medal. I want to do something for my country. I think tomorrow is the day for them to recognize me, and for the world to recognize me. I want to be known as Ringo the boxer.” He carries confidence in his signature “Ringo punch,” which he believes is strong enough to overpower his opponents and carry him to the top of the podium.

  • Uefa reacts with fury to Infantino World Cup plan

    Uefa reacts with fury to Infantino World Cup plan

    Global football’s governing body Fifa has triggered a major backlash from European football’s top regulator Uefa after unveiling controversial plans to open up its commercial and event operations to third-party private investment, a move that has thrown the future governance of the sport into question. The plan, first broken by the *Financial Times* and *The Times*, centers on creating a new Fifa-owned subsidiary called Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE), which will offer minority non-controlling stakes to outside investors. Fifa says the core goal of the initiative is to grow its total football development funding to more than $10 billion, with every member association set to access up to $20 million in one-off capital for grassroots and regional development projects.

    If approved, the investment round is expected to be led by Thrive Eternal, a United States-based venture capital firm founded by Joshua Kushner — brother of Jared Kushner, former US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor. Early reporting from *The Times* raised questions about potential personal financial gains for Fifa president Gianni Infantino, claiming the plans could earn him tens of millions of pounds. But Fifa sources have denied any suggestion that Infantino or any other senior leader is in line to take the chief executive role at the new subsidiary, while the organisation has only confirmed that Infantino and Fifa’s leadership retain a duty to oversee the project’s development, declining to outline the exact scope of his involvement.

    In his official comments on the plan, Infantino framed the move as a push for equitable growth across global football. “Parts of the game have turned that popularity into remarkable commercial value — and we celebrate that success and want it to continue, because it lifts the whole game,” he said. “Our job is to make sure the rest of football grows with it: Fifa exists to support sustainable, inclusive development in every corner of the world.” He added that Fifa’s model mirrors the private investment structures already adopted by governing bodies in other major sports, pointing to examples like 2018 partnership between Premiership Rugby and investment firm CVC Capital Partners.

    But Uefa has rejected that comparison, issuing a scathing public statement that accuses Fifa of crossing a fundamental red line for the sport. The European regulator argues the plan opens the door to Fifa expanding the size and frequency of its international competitions to drive higher revenue, a shift that would directly threaten the commercial viability of Uefa’s own highly lucrative club and international tournaments. “This crosses a line that football’s governing institutions should never cross,” Uefa said in its statement. “Uefa takes it extremely seriously. So should every National Football Association. So should every stakeholder who cares about the future of the game. The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade — especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially. None of us are the owners of football. It is not Fifa’s to sell.”

    Fifa has pushed back on Uefa’s concerns, emphasizing that it will retain full control of FFE and hold exclusive authority over all core football-related decisions, including competition structure, the international match calendar, governance rules, and regulatory matters. The proposal will first be discussed at the upcoming Fifa Council meeting this autumn, and will later be taken up during the Fifa Intercontinental Cup in December. A final vote by all 211 Fifa member associations is scheduled for the Fifa Congress in Morocco next March, where the future of the controversial plan will be decided.

  • Mancini reappointed Italy boss after Pirlo controversy

    Mancini reappointed Italy boss after Pirlo controversy

    In a sudden turn of events that concludes weeks of leadership upheaval for Italian men’s football, Roberto Mancini has been reappointed as head coach of the Italian national team, just 24 hours after former candidate Andrea Pirlo withdrew from consideration and senior technical figure Paolo Maldini resigned from his post.

    The chaos that preceded Mancini’s return traces back to April, when former boss Gennaro Gattuso parted ways with the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) by mutual consent. His departure came after Italy suffered its third consecutive World Cup qualifying play-off defeat, extending the Azzurri’s absence from the sport’s biggest international tournament, a drought that stretches all the way back to the 2014 finals in Brazil. Following Gattuso’s exit, Under-21 manager Silvio Baldini stepped in to lead the side on an interim basis.

    Pirlo, a beloved Italian football legend, was widely expected to claim the vacant head coaching role, but pulled out of the process on Monday amid growing public controversy over his existing business connections to a Russian betting company. Before Pirlo emerged as the leading candidate, the FIGC had already reached out to two of the game’s most respected elite managers, Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti, both of whom declined interest in the position.

    In the wake of Pirlo’s withdrawal, Maldini — who had been appointed the federation’s technical director only two weeks prior — and senior advisor Leonardo resigned their posts in protest of the decision not to appoint Pirlo. Stepping into Maldini’s vacated technical director role will be Claudio Ranieri, the journeyman manager who famously guided Leicester City to a historic, against-all-odds Premier League title in the 2015-16 season.

    Explaining the federation’s choice to bring back Mancini, FIGC president Giovanni Malago made his position clear: “I believed that the best person to become head coach was Roberto Mancini.”

    For the 61-year-old Mancini, this return marks a homecoming to a role he already held from 2018 to 2023. During his first tenure leading the Azzurri, he delivered one of Italian football’s most celebrated recent trophies: the UEFA Euro 2020 title, secured with a penalty shootout win over England in the final at Wembley Stadium. He also guided Italy to a world record 37-game unbeaten streak that stands as one of the most impressive extended runs in international men’s football history. That historic run came to an abrupt end, however, when Italy lost a shock 2022 World Cup qualifying play-off to North Macedonia, a result that forced Mancini to resign from his post in August 2023.

    Mancini’s resume extends far beyond his international coaching achievements. As a club manager, he led Manchester City to their first-ever Premier League title in 2012, ending the club’s decades-long wait for a top-flight English championship. He also claimed three Serie A titles during his time at Inter Milan, and lifted the Coppa Italia with both Inter and Lazio, proving his ability to deliver domestic silverware across multiple top Italian sides. Before his first Italy appointment in 2018, he also held senior roles at Turkish side Galatasaray and Russia’s Zenit St Petersburg. After leaving the Azzurri in 2023, he spent a short tenure as head coach of the Saudi Arabia national team before taking over Qatari club side Al Sadd. While he led Al Sadd to the Qatar Stars League title during his time in charge, the club exited the AFC Champions League Elite before the semi-final stage and lost the final of the Qatar Cup, prompting Mancini to leave the post in June 2025.

    Mancini now faces an immediate test in his second tenure: Italy is set to kick off its 2025-26 UEFA Nations League campaign on September 25, with a home opener against Belgium, followed by an away fixture against Turkey just three days later. All eyes will now be on the returning title-winning coach to steady a federation that has been rocked by weeks of public instability, and end Italy’s painful World Cup qualifying drought ahead of the next cycle of international competition.

  • Euro 2020 winning coach Roberto Mancini returns to rescue Italy after third straight World Cup miss

    Euro 2020 winning coach Roberto Mancini returns to rescue Italy after third straight World Cup miss

    MILAN, Italy – In a dramatic U-turn that has rocked European football, Roberto Mancini is set for a second stint at the helm of the Italian men’s national team, called back to rescue a program mired in deep crisis almost exactly three years after his abrupt first exit.

    The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) president Giovanni Malagò confirmed the appointment in an official announcement Tuesday, revealing that legendary Italian manager Claudio Ranieri will take up the newly created role of technical director. The reshuffle comes just 24 hours after Paolo Maldini stepped down from the technical director position, a mere 16 days after he accepted the post.

    At 61, Mancini is no stranger to turning Italy’s fortunes around. He first took charge of the Azzurri in 2018, after the team suffered a humiliating failure to qualify for that year’s World Cup at the hands of Sweden. Over his three-and-a-half-year first tenure, he rebuilt the squad by injecting young talent and attacking flair, leading the side to a sensational European Championship title in 2021 (the tournament was delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic), beating England on home turf at Wembley Stadium in a tense penalty shootout. Between 2018 and 2021, Mancini’s Italy set a world record of 37 consecutive unbeaten matches, earning admiration from football fans across the globe.

    Yet that success quickly unraveled. In 2022, a shock 1-0 home semi-final playoff defeat to 67th-ranked North Macedonia saw Italy miss out on a second consecutive World Cup. Mancini retained his job for another year, but stunned the football world by resigning abruptly in August 2023, just two weeks later taking the top job with Saudi Arabia’s national team. He departed the Saudi role in 2024, and most recently had a short spell as manager of Qatari side Al-Sadd, leaving the club last month. Beyond his international work, Mancini boasts a decorated club career, having won top-flight league titles with both Inter Milan in Italy and Manchester City in England.

    Mancini’s return comes after a chaotic week of negotiations for the FIGC, which is still reeling from Italy’s third consecutive World Cup qualifying failure. That latest disappointment forced the resignations of former FIGC president Gabriele Gravina and ex-head coach Gennaro Gattuso back in April. Top-tier candidates Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola had already turned down approaches to take the Italy job, while leading candidate Andrea Pirlo was pulled from consideration on Monday over political concerns tied to a sponsorship deal with a Russian betting company.

    “Time was running out to fill the position… I was convinced that the right person for the Italy head coach job is Roberto Mancini, for a whole host of reasons,” Malagò said in his statement Tuesday, adding that a full joint press conference with both Mancini and Ranieri will be held Wednesday.

    Italy’s next competitive fixtures are scheduled for September and October, where the side will face Belgium, Turkey, and France in the upcoming UEFA Nations League campaign.

  • India names Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja in Sri Lanka cricket test squad

    India names Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja in Sri Lanka cricket test squad

    MUMBAI, India – Cricket fans across the subcontinent have received fresh confirmation that two of India’s most impactful international stars, pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and elite all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, have been included in the 15-man Test squad set to travel to Sri Lanka for a high-stakes two-match series kicking off August 15. The fixtures, to be held at the iconic Galle International Stadium and Colombo’s R. Premadasa Stadium, carry critical weight as counting fixtures toward the 2025–2027 ICC World Test Championship (WTC), a tournament where both sides sit on the cusp of qualification for the 2027 WTC final.

    Current WTC standings place India in 5th position, with Sri Lanka just one spot behind in 6th. Both nations enter the series desperate to claim the valuable ranking points that will keep their campaigns on track for a spot in the decider, set to take place in two years.

    Sri Lanka enters the contest coming off mixed recent results: the side claimed a 1–0 home series win over Bangladesh in June 2025, before dropping an away series 1–0 to the West Indies earlier this July. For India, the lead-up has also been uneven: the side suffered a disappointing 2–0 home series defeat at the hands of South Africa early in 2025, before bouncing back with a comfortable solo Test win over Afghanistan in June. That Afghanistan match, however, did not count toward WTC standings, and both Bumrah and Jadeja were rested as part of the team’s ongoing workload management strategy.

    Not all roster spots are finalized ahead of the tour, however. Both Bumrah and rising batting prospect Sai Sudharsan will be required to pass a formal fitness assessment before they are cleared to join the traveling touring party. Behind Bumrah, India’s pace attack includes experienced international campaigners Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna, alongside up-and-coming fast bowler Gurnoor Brar, who recently turned heads with a 10-wicket haul for India A in an unofficial second Test against Sri Lanka A in Galle.

    In the spin department, selectors made a late adjustment to the squad, calling up 33-year-old off-spinning all-rounder Saransh Jain to replace Washington Sundar, who suffered a hamstring injury during India’s tour of England earlier in July. Jain, who has consistently performed at the domestic level over the past season and previously featured for India A, brings a strong first-class track record to the squad, having claimed 188 wickets across 54 first-class matches to date. He joins Ravindra Jadeja, Manav Suthar – who picked up seven wickets on his debut against Afghanistan in June – and star left-arm chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav in the spin group. Notably, the squad carries three left-arm spinners, marking a strategic choice tailored to Sri Lanka’s traditionally spin-friendly turning pitches.

    Leading the Indian side will be captain Shubman Gill, with veteran batsman Lokesh Rahul stepping into the role of vice-captain. Wicketkeeping duties will be split between experienced international keeper Rishabh Pant and young prospect Dhruv Jurel. This tour will mark India’s first Test visit to Sri Lanka since 2017, when the side swept a three-match series 3–0 in a dominant performance.

    The full 15-member India Test squad for the Sri Lanka tour is: Shubman Gill (captain), Lokesh Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Sai Sudharsan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Manav Suthar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, Devdutt Padikkal, Saransh Jain.

  • Can lightning strike twice? Cape Verde set for Wafcon debut

    Can lightning strike twice? Cape Verde set for Wafcon debut

    As Cape Verde prepares to make its historic debut at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) in Morocco, star forward Sandra Martins is warning opponents and football fans alike: do not write off the underdog Blue Sharks before a ball is kicked. The Atlantic archipelago nation’s women’s team is one of the youngest international sides in global women’s football, only contesting their first official senior match in 2018 and skipping both the 2020 (ultimately canceled by COVID-19) and 2022 Wafcon tournaments entirely. But the side defied expectations in qualification, putting six goals past Guinea across two legs to advance before pulling off a stunning upset against Mali to seal their spot at Morocco 2026.

    Drawn into Group D, Cape Verde will kick off its Wafcon campaign against Ghana on Tuesday at 17:00 GMT, followed by back-to-back matches against familiar qualifying foe Mali and Cameroon to close out the group stage. For Martins, who currently plies her trade with England’s fourth-tier side London Bees, the squad is far more prepared than most observers give them credit for as first-time participants. “I think we would do well, probably better than what people would think as new participants,” Martins told BBC Sport Africa ahead of the opening match. “We are aiming to win two games [and] possibly go into the quarter-finals. I think if everyone applies themselves and we really work together, we could stand a chance of going to the next stage.”

    This year’s Wafcon doubles as African qualification for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil, adding extra stakes to every fixture. The four tournament semi-finalists will secure automatic spots in the global showpiece, while the four losing quarter-finalists will compete for two additional berths in intercontinental play-offs. The tournament was originally scheduled to kick off in March, but the Confederation of African Football (CAF) drew widespread criticism when it postponed the event just 12 days before the opening match, citing a need to “ensure the success” of the continental competition. For Cape Verde, currently ranked 120th in the world and among the four lowest-ranked teams at the tournament, the delay proved far more beneficial than anyone could have predicted, Martins said. “I think [it] was actually a blessing in disguise. We were talking about it as a group and we needed more time to prepare. We recently played twice against Ivory Coast in friendlies and these two games were really useful for us. We worked on a few different things, had a few new team-mates and they blended super well into the team. Spending the extra time together has really allowed us to understand each other more on the pitch.”

    The road to Wafcon has been a decades-long journey for Martins herself. Born in Portugal to Cape Verdean parents, she picked up football at age six and moved to the United Kingdom at 15, building a club career that includes stops at Leeds United, AFC Wimbledon, Dorking Wanderers, a spell in the U.S. with Charlottesville Blues, and her current role at London Bees, where she has notched four goals in 17 appearances this season. Though she grew up speaking Portuguese and Cape Verdean Creole, representing her parents’ homeland on the international stage was always a distant dream. “The dream was there but how to get there was the part that was not so clear,” she explained. “You just take it season by season. Eventually I started doing well and picking up on my own performance patterns and said ‘What do I need to work on?’.”

    Her breakthrough came after a friendly tournament appearance, when she caught the eye of the Cape Verdean Football Federation’s technical director, who was actively scouting talented diaspora players to strengthen the nascent national program. Martins felt an immediate connection with the squad from her first day in camp. “Meeting the girls for the first time, it was surprisingly very easy. I broke the ice and was like ‘Girls, yes I speak Creole but I live abroad. I have a different twang’. They laughed at my accent but that was fine. They were really welcoming and we just laughed straight away.”

    Martins won her first senior international cap in the first leg of the Wafcon qualifier against Mali last October, a 1-0 home defeat in Praia. She missed the dramatic second leg in Bamako after falling ill, where the Blue Sharks fought back to win 4-2 despite a second-half floodlight failure that halted play. “When the final whistle went it was amazing. Everyone was euphoric, screaming how happy we were. A true sisterhood has formed. When we got back to Praia loads of locals travelled to the airport to celebrate what we had achieved.”

    2026 is already a landmark year for Cape Verdean football, following the men’s senior team’s dream debut at the 2026 FIFA World Cup earlier this year. The men’s side became the tournament’s darling underdog story, stunning the football world by reaching the round of 16 and pushing defending champions Argentina all the way to extra time before a narrow 3-2 defeat. Now, Martins hopes the women’s team’s Wafcon debut will build on that momentum to grow the women’s game across the Cape Verde islands. “The popularity (of women’s football) has definitely grown. I think we picked up a lot of momentum from the men’s [qualification]. In general, any time there’s a sport event going on, the country does well in getting behind any team. On social media, everyone’s being supportive. I hope some of them can come to watch us in Morocco, but if not I’m pretty sure that energy will come all the way across to Morocco.”