Sports & Casinos UK

After years of frustration as an NBA owner, the basketball legend’s 23XI Racing team has surged to the front of the Cup series, reshaping his legacy as an executiveMichael Jordan the basketball player is success personified, the legend against whom all others are measured. Michael Jordan the sports executive, on the other hand, has spent much of the past three decades falling short of his own impossible standard.In 1999, Jordan joined Abe Pollin’s Washington Wizards ownership group as a history-making minority partner, but neither his star power nor a brief return from retirement translated into sustained team success. Eleven years later, he took over the Charlotte Bobcats, replacing BET co-founder Robert Johnson as the league’s only Black majority owner – but poor roster moves, questionable hires and three playoff appearances in 13 years, with nary one series victory, ultimately became his legacy as the principal steward of the retro-branded Charlotte Hornets. Continue reading...

The New Zealand striker provides a welcome boost as Forest face crunch games in the league and in EuropeNobody has scored more goals in the Europa League this season than Igor Jesus and yet the overwhelming source of interest surrounding Nottingham Forest on arrival in northern Portugal on Wednesday was another striker. Only Erling Haaland, Mohamed Salah and Alexander Isak outscored Chris Wood in the Premier League last season and the New Zealand frontman has been slowly building fitness and working towards a long-awaited first-team return.All eyes were on Wood at last weekend’s interactive open-training session, staged at the City Ground. He has been ticking off different targets since knee surgery in December and at the end of last month the 34-year-old made a welcome goalscoring comeback 11 minutes into his return to action for Forest under-21s against Newcastle, in modest surroundings at Loughborough University’s stadium in front of a crowd totalling a couple of hundred: students, Forest fans, a few from the north-east. Continue reading...

World champions England will be favourites to repeat last year’s grand slam but France and Ireland will eye an upsetCoach John Mitchell Captain Meg Jones Last year’s finish Grand slam champions Continue reading...

Another Anfield miracle in the second leg will be talked up, but the gulf in class between the two sides was undeniableThese are strange times for Liverpool Football Club, still, and until anyone specifically says otherwise, the champions of England. It is a mark of where the team is that on an oddly tension-free night in Paris there were reasons to be pleased, but also not to be pleased about being pleased.Pleased that Liverpool’s players didn’t give up or stop trying. So that’s a tick. Pleased that they only lost 2-0 against a Paris Saint-Germain team who were able to approach this first leg carelessly, to showboat a little, to approach the scoring of a goal in the style of a temperamental high-end Parisian pastry chef, always trying to create the perfect deconstructed mille-feuille tour de vanille infinite, when all you really need is a biscuit. Continue reading...

World No 10 suffers heavy loss to Matteo BerrettiniRussian committed 27 unforced errorsDaniil Medvedev smashed his racket several times and placed the remnants in a courtside dustbin during his humbling 6-0, 6-0 loss to the Italian wildcard Matteo Berrettini at the Monte Carlo Masters on Wednesday.It was the world No 10’s first tour-level defeat without winning a game and he capitulated in 49 minutes, failing to earn a game point on his own serve and committing 27 unforced errors. Berrettini will face João Fonseca in the last 16 after the Brazilian teenager beat Arthur Rinderknech 7-5, 4-6, 6-3. Continue reading...

When the final whistle went, the man in black disappeared out of sight and set off running up the tunnel. For the first time since he took over at Atlético Madrid 15 long, transformative years ago, Diego Simeone had just led his team to a victory at the Camp Nou, reviving the dream of taking them back to a European Cup final a decade later.In 2014 and 2016 Atlético knocked out Barcelona en route to Lisbon and Milan and while there is much to be done at the Metropolitano in six days’ time, they have put themselves in a superb position to repeat that in 2026, maybe even to finally lift the trophy that resists them. Continue reading...

Benches and bullpens cleared in fifth inningPlayers will appeal suspensions and finesThe two had played together on the 2024 BravesLos Angeles Angels designated hitter Jorge Soler and Atlanta Braves pitcher Reynaldo López each received seven-game suspensions from Major League Baseball on Wednesday, a day after they were ejected following their participation in a brawl.Michael Hill, MLB’s senior vice-president for on-field operations, also announced that the players received undisclosed fines. The suspensions were scheduled to begin with Wednesday’s game but will be on hold as each player is appealing. Continue reading...

One of the great lessons of the Masters is money only goes so far, with strict rules designed to keep out ticket toutsJeffrey Epstein’s web of influence stretched from European palaces to Ivy League universities and Wall Street banks, but there was apparently at least one little corner of the establishment that seems to have been beyond his reach: Augusta National. In July 2019, Epstein sent an iMessage to Steve Bannon asking for his help with a particularly difficult problem. “Need to work magic to get brad Karp admitted to augusta golf club,” Epstein wrote. “The head of Paul Weiss Brad Karp?” Bannon replied. “Yes.”Karp, the former chair of the legal firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, stepped down from his position in February because of his ties with Epstein. Continue reading...

Italian side defeated Roma in Europa League last 16Emery has won competition four times as a managerUnai Emery has warned his Aston Villa side to respect Bologna, and the Europa League itself, if they are to continue their progress in the competition with victory over their Italian opponents.Describing the Serie A side as “a winner team”, Emery said Villa could not be considered favourites for this quarter-final as he sought to ensure his players’ heads are in the game following the extended international break that means Villa haven’t played a competitive match since 22 March. Continue reading...

A huge fire ripped through the roof of the velodrome in Rio de Janeiro's Olympic Park, built for the 2016 Olympics, on Wednesday. Officials confirmed that the blaze had been brought under control, with no risk of it spreading to other parts of the complex and no injuries reported Continue reading...