Sport

Infantino’s idolisation of Trump has left football with blood on its hands | Barney Ronay
Posted on Monday March 02, 2026

The Fifa president’s sycophancy towards the US president has left the organisation facing a new nadir, but any reckoning seems a distant prospectMr President. Fellow exco members. We’re going to need a bigger Board of Peace. How many mini‑pitches are we up to now? Gaza got 50 of them last month. What will it take to football-fix the global conflict being set in train by Fifa’s own Peace Prize Boy? A hundred mini-pitches? Four billion mini-pitches? All the mini‑pitches in the universe?In a more sane version of what we must, out of habit, call the real world, it would seem absurd to talk about sports administration in the context of the US, Iran and the airborne conflict being played out across the borders of their allies. Continue reading...

Ian Holloway: ‘If you can’t hear other people, you are isolated from the world’
Posted on Tuesday March 03, 2026

To mark World Hearing Day, the Swindon manager talks about wearing hearing aids, his family’s experience of deafness and communication in footballIan Holloway is talking about one of the telltale signs, away from frontline management, that led to him wearing hearing aids. “I became more and more aware how loud I was having to put the volume on the telly,” he says, before delivering the punchline. “My neighbours must be delighted.” The other giveaway came courtesy of his wife, Kim. “How often I had to say: ‘Sorry? Pardon?’ It started to really annoy both of us. At first I thought I was just deliberately not listening after 37 years of marriage.”This Saturday, when his Swindon side visit Crawley hoping to maintain their League Two promotion push, Holloway, who turns 63 this month, plans to wear his hearing aids at a game for the first time. “Unfortunately ageing happens to all of us – your body does deteriorate – so put the ego down and get the best hearing you can. I want to be the best I can be for as long as I can be.” Continue reading...

Everton fans left in the dark with need to find home comfort at new stadium
Posted on Tuesday March 03, 2026

Dockside site will transform club’s finances, but fans are frustrated with kick-off times and results at venue so farDavid Moyes has numerous theories on why Everton do not yet feel completely at home at Hill Dickinson Stadium, beyond the fact that change is inevitably strange after 133 years at Goodison Park. Wins would be instrumental, but his team have managed only five in 16 matches. Supporters connecting to the magnificent venue through a new matchday routine would help too, but for many that is proving nigh on impossible.One season-ticket holder, who lives in the south of England, said on social media recently that they expect to miss seven or eight home games this season owing to the curse of the modern fixture schedule. The club are aware that this is not an isolated case. The problem is not new nor confined to Everton, who of course reap the benefits of every game that is switched for live television purposes and, let’s be frank, have not held as much appeal for broadcasters in recent years as they do this season. But in their inaugural campaign at a new home, Everton’s schedule has proved to be peculiar and, in turn, detrimental to fans adapting to new surroundings. Continue reading...

Borthwick plans England overhaul with Fin Smith expected to start against Italy
Posted on Monday March 02, 2026

Back-line may feature one survivor from Ireland defeatBen Spencer, Cadan Murley and Seb Atkinson in frameSteve Borthwick is ready to radically overhaul his misfiring England side for the Six Nations clash against Italy on Saturday, with Fin Smith expected to be handed the No 10 jersey.The Northampton fly-half sat out training on Monday because of illness but England have been quick to allay fears that his participation against Italy is in doubt. Provided he recovers, Smith is expected to start at fly-half in place of George Ford. Continue reading...

Williams team principal on pre-season travails, why McLaren are an inspiration and closing the gap to the top“I didn’t realise it until I saw the notice,” James Vowles says of the third anniversary in January of his arrival at Williams as their team principal. On a rainy afternoon he smiles wryly in his London office. “I probably should have allowed myself a moment to reflect, but you are too caught up in the work. That reality defines Formula One.”Vowles is one of the most interesting men in F1 and not just because, as the director of strategy, he helped two teams to win nine constructors’ championships and eight drivers’ titles. He will soon reveal a reflective side to his character and touch on the adversity he overcame at the outset of his career. His relish for a challenge in pure racing terms is obvious because in 2022 he left Mercedes, who had finished second in the championship, for Williams, after they ended that season in 10th and last place. Continue reading...

Lord Allen to become latest casualty of horse racing’s intractable politics
Posted on Monday March 02, 2026

It was possible to spin his 2025 arrival as a clean slate but the former businessman soon lost the confidence of key playersThe wait continues for confirmation that Charles Allen’s brief, troubled – and ultimately ineffectual – tenure as chair of the British Horseracing Authority is over. In racing terms, however, he is nine-tenths out of the saddle, his backside inching towards the turf and gravity is about to take over.Even in the thankless and intractable world of racing politics, few stars have waned as rapidly as that of Lord Allen of Kensington, a former businessman and senior broadcasting executive who arrived in September at the BHA promising to restructure the sport’s governance and, in the words of his day-one mission statement, “develop British racing into a modern commercial and cultural powerhouse”. Continue reading...

Getafe deal blow to Real Madrid’s La Liga title hopes with Bernabéu victory
Posted on Monday March 02, 2026

Martín Satriano’s superb first-half volley earned Getafe a shock 1-0 victory at Real Madrid in La Liga on Monday, a result that left Barcelona four points clear at the top.Real dominated possession from kick-off and controlled the game but failed to turn pressure into goals, squandering several chances in an ill-tempered contest. Álvaro Arbeloa’s side were left exposed in the 39th minute when a half-cleared cross dropped on the edge of the box and Satriano struck a fierce volley into the top left corner. Continue reading...

Targett double sets Middlesbrough on the path to victory against Birmingham
Posted on Monday March 02, 2026

Matt Targett’s first-half double helped Middlesbrough return to winning ways with a 3-1 victory over Birmingham and further boost their hopes of promotion to the Premier League.Third-place Millwall’s triumph against Preston at the weekend cut the gap to just the one point coming into the match, but Kim Hellberg’s side responded to restore their four-point advantage in second place. Birmingham lost just their second league game at St Andrew’s since May 2024, meaning their chances of finishing in the playoffs have slipped further away. They remain eight points off the top six. Continue reading...