Playing behind closed doors in Germany’s Bundesliga feels like taking part in friendly matches, Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Ramy Bensebaini has said. Germany’s Bundesliga is now well into its return after being suspended for coronavirus – having restarted in mid-May – but without crowds.
Arsenal players wore Black Lives Matter T-shirts and took a knee ahead of their friendly against Brentford on Wednesday night.
Major League Soccer will return to action at Florida’s Disney World Resort on 8 July with a month-long tournament. The MLS season was suspended in March after two rounds of fixtures because of the coronavirus outbreak.
A game in Spain which started last December before being stopped because of offensive chanting was finally completed on Wednesday as the country’s football season restarted. The concluding 45 minutes of the second-tier match between Madrid side Rayo Vallecano and Albacete were played out in the capital – 179 days after the game started – without spectators.
World heavyweight champions Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury have agreed to a two-fight deal, says promoter Eddie Hearn. Talks over a historic bout for the undisputed title began in early May. Joshua, 30, holds the WBA, IBF and WBO belts while 31-year-old Fury is the WBC champion.
US Soccer has overturned a ban on football players kneeling during the national anthem. The rule was introduced in 2016 after women’s star Megan Rapinoe kneeled in solidarity with ex-NFL player Colin Kaepernick, who began kneeling during the anthem in protest against racial injustice.
Roger Federer will miss the rest of the 2020 season after having a further operation on his right knee. The 20-time Grand Slam winner had the initial arthroscopic surgery in February but said he suffered a “setback” with his rehabilitation. Professional tennis has been suspended since March because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Odion Ighalo has vowed to do whatever he can to take Manchester United “higher and higher” after his loan from Shanghai Shenhua was extended. The Nigerian striker is set to stay at Old Trafford until January 31, 2021 after United struck a new deal with his parent club in China. Ighalo initially joined United in a Deadline Day move in January and scored four times in eight appearances in all competitions prior to the suspension of the Premier League.
Brazil has withdrawn its bid to host the 2023 Women’s World Cup. The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) said the government did not consider it wise to offer financial guarantees in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Brazil will now support Colombia’s proposal, which is up against Japan and a joint bid from Australia and New Zealand to host the 32-team tournament.
Lady Janet Okwaraji, octogenarian mother of late Green Eagles Superstar, Samuel Okwaraji is dead. The death of the matriarch of Okwaraji family was confirmed to newsmen by his eldest son, Patrick Okwaraji on Monday. She was 83 years old.
The trial of Lamine Diack, the disgraced former head of athletics’ world governing body the IAAF, will get under way in Paris on Monday. The 86-year-old Senegalese faces corruption and money-laundering charges linked to the Russian doping scandal. Diack was investigated by French authorities for four years over claims he took payments of more than 3m euros to cover up cheating.
World heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua described racism as a “pandemic” when he addressed protesters at a Black Lives Matter march. The 30-year-old, wearing a knee brace as a “precautionary measure”, read a poem and spoke in front of hundreds of people in his home town of Watford.
Victor Osimhen is the Mastiff of the season by Boulanger! He won this trophy co-organized with our faithful partner, Boulanger, and rewarding the Lille player of the year, according to the supporters. The Nigerian international striker (21) is ahead of Benjamin André and Renato Sanches, respectively second and third of your votes.
World 400m champion Salwa Eid Naser has been given a provisional suspension for failing to make herself available for anti-doping tests. The Bahraini, 22, ran 48.14 seconds – the third-fastest time in history – to claim the world title in Doha in 2019. She could face a ban of up to two years for the whereabouts violation.
Michael Jordan says he will donate $100m to groups fighting for racial equality and social justice. The NBA legend said in a statement that he and his Jordan Brand would distribute the money over 10 years. The money will go to a number of organisations in a bid to tackle “ingrained racism”.
Bundesliga teams showed their support for the Black Lives Matter movement with a range of protests on Saturday. Borussia Dortmund and Hertha Berlin players took a knee together around the centre circle before their meeting at Signal Iduna Park.
The rest of the NBA season is set to be played at Florida’s Disney World Resort from 31 July. The season was suspended on 11 March because of coronavirus measures. Thirteen Western Conference teams and nine Eastern Conference teams will contest eight games each to determine seedings for the play-offs.
Premier League teams will be able to make five substitutions, rather than three, in each match to the end of the season after clubs approved new rules. Teams will also be able to name nine substitutes instead of the usual seven. Football’s international law-makers gave competitions the option of increasing substitutes to protect player welfare on the sport’s resumption. Premier League football will return on 17 June after a three-month absence.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has proposed two different dates to resume the closing stages of both the 2019-20 African Champions League and Confederation Cup. A leaked document has revealed that CAF is targeting two scenarios, with the return to action either starting in late July/early August or in September.
Turkey’s Trabzonspor have been given a one-season ban from European football over Financial Fair Play breaches. UEFA said the Super Lig leaders had failed to meet an agreement reached in 2016, when the club were found to have breached the rules.
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