Sports & Casinos UK

League ends flag football and skills competitionsOnly original 88 selections will earn Pro Bowl statusPlayers to be honored at Super Bowl week in LAThe NFL is ending the Pro Bowl Games after repeated format changes to its annual all-star event.Beginning ⁠with the 2026 season, 88 Pro Bowlers will be selected but the NFL no longer plans to stage an ⁠AFC-NFC game, a ⁠flag-football matchup ​or an accompanying series of competitions. The players chosen will instead be invited to next year’s Super Bowl site in ⁠Los Angeles for an in-person celebration in February. Continue reading...

Kylian Mbappé scored a hat-trick as Real Madrid beat Real Sociedad 4-1 at the Bernabéu on Wednesday ⁠in their first home match since the return of José Mourinho as head coach.Mbappé put Madrid ahead in the 40th minute before Luka Sucic levelled four minutes later, but the ⁠France forward restored the ⁠hosts’ lead on ​the hour. Vinícius Júnior added a third in the 68th minute before Mbappé completed his treble 10 minutes from time. Continue reading...

Blues consider making offer for Argentina goalkeeperVilla agree £65m Jackson deal as Watkins nears £50m exit Manchester City expected to make bid for FernándezChelsea have been offered Emiliano Martínez and are considering a bid for the goalkeeper. The club are in talks with Martínez’s camp, and are also braced for a bid from Manchester City for the World Cup winner’s Argentina teammate Enzo Fernández.Martínez has told Aston Villa he wants to leave but a move to Juventus collapsed last week after Villa had signed his replacement, Zion Suzuki, from Parma for £30m. Continue reading...

A new season at the snazziest modern stadium in England and something extremely welcome for Tottenham. A home win over domestic opposition. There were only four of them last time out; three in the Premier League with the final one – over Everton on the last day – helping them to avoid relegation. Had they lost that, this Carabao Cup fixture against Charlton would also have been played in the Championship.Spurs needed this tonic for another reason – to begin the clean-up operation after Saturday’s awful 3-0 defeat at Brentford. Continue reading...

Thierno Barry resembled a striker reborn, and the goalscorer David Moyes desperately needs, as the first hat-trick of his Everton career plus an assist for new signing Brennan Johnson delivered a resounding win for the Scot on his competitive return to Preston.The France under-21 international scored eight times in a difficult debut season in England but has half that amount two games into this fledgling campaign. Barry followed up his header against Crystal Palace with a poacher’s hat-trick to give Moyes a convincing victory back at the club where he made his name before leaving for Everton in 2002. Continue reading...

Around this time last week Matthias Jaissle wore a sorrowful look as he spoke of his “disappointment” at the “negativity” surrounding a transitional young Newcastle side.Fast forward seven days and a team slightly unlucky to have been held to a draw at home by Liverpool last Sunday have now provided Jaissle with his first competitive win since replacing Eddie Howe as head coach. It is safe to say the doubters are being confounded. Continue reading...

Playoff second leg: Rapid 2-2 Hearts (aet, 3-4 on pens)Kara 34, Cvetkovic 119; Kabore 79, Miller 100Beau Reus made two penalty saves as heroic Hearts overcame Tomas Magnusson’s red card to pull off a stunning shootout victory away to Rapid Vienna, and book themselves a return to the Conference League’s main phase.Following a 2-2 draw in the first leg at Tynecastle, the Jambos’ European journey looked to be fizzling out when they were reduced to 10 men in the 75th minute of the playoff round second leg, while already trailing to Ercan Kara’s first-half goal. Continue reading...

Third qualifying round, first leg: Chelsea 5-2 Real SociedadGirma 29, Buurman 54, Malard 67 88, James 74; Marín 7, Marcos 59Chelsea’s sluggish start in the first leg of their Champions League qualifier against Real Sociedad will have made far from satisfying viewing for their suspended head coach, Sonia Bompastor, but two goals from the new signing Melvine Malard contributed to a five-goal haul as the Blues came from behind to give themselves a three-goal cushion going into next week’s return fixture.“It was a tough game, a tough first half because Real Sociedad is a really great team but I think we had a good reaction,” said Camille Abily, the assistant coach to Bompastor, who was serving a one match ban following her red card in Chelsea’s quarter-final second leg against Arsenal last season. “We were so much better in the second half, there was more space also. It’s a good win – a tough win but a good win.” Continue reading...

Durham bowler dropped from England squadUnclear whether Carse involved in alleged assault Derbyshire police are investigating an alleged assault in connection with the arrest of Brydon Carse last weekend, which led to the Durham fast bowler being dropped from the England squad for the second Test against Pakistan.Carse was filmed by a member of the public in handcuffs outside Molly Malone’s Irish Tavern in Derby in the early hours of Sunday morning with several other Durham players, including the former England captain Ben Stokes, also present. Continue reading...

Joe Root’s side have golden chance to claim first series win since 2024 but are dealing with familiar off-field issuesHere we go again, then. It feels like every Test involving England these days is one of critical importance in some way or other. On one level, this is good for business, showing the depth of interest compared with other, ahem, products. But it is not necessarily a good thing for the team in this instance.Since Ben Stokes retired and the last of Bazball’s many funerals in June, the players left behind have been trying to wriggle free from their recent past. Problem is, they are finding certain aspects trickier to shake off than others. For the second time this summer, a thumping win to go 1-0 up has been doused instantly by a late night on the drink and the headlines inevitably generated. Continue reading...