Sports Groove

The governing body announced on Wednesday that the judging visualisation system, developed by SEIKO watches, will come into force at the World Cup taking place next weekend in Sofia. The competition in the Bulgarian capital, which runs from 28-30 March, will provide a preview ahead of the system's introduction at the 42nd Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, from 12-16 August. According to World Gymnastics, the SEIKO system is expected to make the process more transparent and consistent by displaying the timing and details of each judge's deductions in real time, making every decision clearer and easier to understand for everyone involved. The Superior Jury will be able to view all evaluations at a glance and instantly replay any relevant action, which the governing body says "provides a strong and reliable overview and enables quicker, more informed decisions". "By making the process more open and account...

Rio 2016 legacy plan completed as Olympic Aquatics Stadium pool opens for community use. After being dismantled and relocated, the main swimming facility from the 2016 Summer Games held in Brazil reopened its doors to the public last December in Parque Oeste Ana Gonzaga, offering free activities for residents. The return of the pool marks the end of a reuse process that has stretched on for almost a decade and was shaped by governance, financial and political difficulties in the aftermath of the Games. During that time, the circulation of images of abandoned venues fuelled the perception of paralysis, even though legacy projects continued to be carried out gradually. With this reopening, the reuse plan for the Games' temporary pools is now complete. The reopened facility was once the setting for some of the most memorable moments of the Olympic competition, including Michael Phelps's final races and the farewell of current International Olympic Committee President K...

The doping case of the American track and field champion from 9 February was resolved with a minor sanction, as the United States Anti-Doping Agency accepted the athlete's explanations despite her not having a medical prescription Alia Armstrong was part of the United States national athletics team that competed at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Toruń, in Poland last week, and she took part despite testing positive three days before the start of the competition. Analysis of an out-of-competition sample provided by the sprinter revealed traces of spironolactone, a prohibited substance as it can act as a diuretic and masking agent. The drug has several medical uses, but Armstrong argued to the USADA and stated on her social media that she was taking it as part of her hormonal treatment for acne due to polycystic ovary syndrome, a condition she has managed for years. The key to the potential controversy surrounding the leniency of her sanction, a formal warnin...

The American, the youngest world champion in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, has joined the International Boxing Association and will act as a guest co-host at the bare-knuckle boxing tournament in Saint Petersburg on Saturday. Jones, 38, made his professional mixed martial arts debut in 2008 at the age of just 21. His career in combat sports then took off, and his collaboration with the IBA marks a new chapter for both the fighter, who is embarking on a new project, and the rapidly growing bare-knuckle boxing industry. Following a transitional period in his professional career, the veteran champion is embarking on a new journey as part of the global IBA Bare Knuckle project. On Tuesday, the IBA announced his arrival, highlighting its commitment to providing a 'top-level platform for elite talent'. Jon Jones explained his reasons for joining the project, which will expand his extensive professional career by introducing him to a new sporting disci...

The 11 U.S. host cities for this summer’s World Cup have finally been awarded $625 million in security funding, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), following months of delay that have left local organisers scrambling to finalise plans. The funding, distributed through FEMA’s FIFA World Cup Grant Program, is intended to “hold operational exercises, conduct staff background checks, and strengthen cybersecurity defenses.” The late release has had real consequences, though. The money was originally pledged in President Donald Trump’s domestic policy bill last summer, but processing stalled during the partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in early 2026. That delay has compressed timelines for host cities, particularly around fan zones and large-scale public viewing areas that require extensive permitting, staffing, and security planning. With matches now less than 90 days away, organisers are racing to finalise layouts, secure ven...

World Cup sponsor Coca-Cola North America has unveiled a collaboration with Panini America, embedding official World Cup stickers directly inside Coca-Cola bottle labels. The activation transforms buying a Coca-Cola product into an entry point into one of football’s most enduring rituals. Panini’s iconic World Cup stickers will be distributed through select Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar 20-oz bottles. Fans peel back the label to reveal a randomly inserted sticker. “Coca-Cola has always played a role in bringing people together during the world’s biggest moments in sport,” said Shakir Moin, chief marketing officer, Coca-Cola North America. “As the FIFA World Cup comes to North America for the first time in more than three decades, we saw an opportunity to introduce a global fan ritual to a new generation – one that celebrates the joy of collecting, the thrill of the reveal, and the shared passion that unites fans everywhere.” More than one billion special-edition sticke...

Erling Haaland has become a major investor in a new global chess tour set to feature fellow Norwegian Magnus Carlsen. The investment, agreed shortly before Manchester City’s recent trip to West Ham United, went largely unnoticed at the time. At the heart of the move is the Total Chess World Championship Tour, a new circuit with an annual prize pool of $2.7 million, designed to elevate chess as a global spectator sport. “Chess is an incredible game,” Haaland said. “It sharpens your mind, and there are clear similarities to football. You have to think quickly, trust your instincts, and think several moves ahead.” The crossover between elite football and chess has been growing. Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah has previously described himself as “addicted” to the game, while Arsenal’s Eberechi Eze won $20,000 in an online celebrity tournament. Haaland, however, is the first active top-level player to invest directly. He has partnered with Norwegian businessman Morten Borge to launch ...

China is set to host the AFC U20 Women’s Asian Cup in both 2028 and 2030, with their appointment to be ratified by the AFC’s executive committee. It will see China stage the tournament for a record seventh and eighth time. The decision was taken by the AFC Women’s Football Committee meeting before the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup final Sydney, Australia. The 2026 edition of the U20 competition will be held in Thailand, kicking off April 1. The committee has also backed a series of structural reforms to its youth competitions. Following changes to the men’s pathway earlier this year, the committee endorsed similar updates across the women’s U17 and U20 Asian Cups . For the AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup, qualification will be via a regional model from 2027 – meaning regional Associations will run their own competitions, with places split ASEAN (4), East (4), Central (1), South (1), West (1), plus the host, who will be the only automatic qualifier. It’s a tweak aimed at narrowing the ga...

The FIFA Council has approved a new rule requiring women’s teams at its tournaments to have at least one female coach on the bench, late last week. The measure comes into force immediately, covering the upcoming U17 and U20 Women’s World Cups as well as the Women’s Champions Cup. Under the new guidelines, teams must include at least two women in their backroom staff, with one serving as either head coach or assistant coach. The rule applies across all FIFA women’s competitions – from youth to senior level, and across both international and club tournaments. “There are simply not enough women in coaching today. We must do more to accelerate change by creating clearer pathways, expanding opportunities, and increasing the visibility for women on our sidelines,” said FIFA chief football officer Jill Ellis (pictured). “The new FIFA regulations, combined with targeted development programs, mark an important investment in both the current and future generation of female coaches.” ...

The UK government has opened the door to talks with Roman Abramovich, offering fresh negotiations over the £2.35 billion of frozen fund generated from the sale of Chelsea, despite threatening the Russian with legal action just days ago. Treasury officials have reportedly approached Abramovich’s representatives via lawyers in an attempt to break the ongoing deadlock, but the initial feeling is that both sides are keen to stick to their guns. The UK government is expected to continue its insistence that the funds must be directed exclusively towards humanitarian efforts in Ukraine, while Abramovich maintains they should be used for “all victims of the war” – including those from his native Russia. ]The renewed push for dialogue comes in the immediate aftermath of yet another missed deadline, with ministers publicly stating the 59-year-old had “failed” to honour commitments made at the time of the 2022 sale. “We gave Roman Abramovich his last chance to do the right thing,” a g...

Head of Global Football at Red Bull, Jurgen Klopp, has dismissed speculation linking him with a return to management at Real Madrid this summer, describing the reports as ‘nonsense’. Klopp, who voluntarily stepped down as manager of English Premier League side Liverpool at the end of the 2023/24 season, has not returned to the dugout since and is currently head Red Bull’s multi-club model. His name has continued to circulate whenever a high-profile vacancy is mentioned – Madrid included – but the German says there has been no contact. “If Real Madrid had phoned, we would have heard about it by now,” Klopp said in Munich. “But that’s all nonsense. They haven’t called even once, not once. My agent is there, you can ask him. They haven’t called him either. “Right now I’m not thinking about that, luckily there’s no reason to. For my age I’m quite advanced in life, but as a coach I’m not completely finished. I haven’t reached retirement age. “Who knows what will happen in the co...

FIFA has tweaked the schedule for its 2026 FIFA Series, adding a fourth women’s group in Kenya and making minor adjustments on the men’s side.  The headline change sees Kenya step in as a new host, taking the women’s line-up to 16 teams. FIFA announced yesterday that Australia, India and Malawi will join the hosts in Nairobi, with every match to be played at the 18,000-seater Nyayo National Stadium.  Australia will face Malawi on 11th April, followed by Kenya against India, before a third-place play-off and final four days later.  Elsewhere, the other women’s groups have remain unchanged and will still be staged in Brazil – hosts of the 2027 Women’s World Cup – as well as Côte d’Ivoire and Thailand to create a truly international affair.  On the men’s side, FIFA has kept the overall structure intact, but there have been some late changes. Gulf nations Kuwait and Oman have withdrawn for safety and political reasons, forcing late adjustments in Azerbaijan a...

European Football Clubs (EFC) and EA SPORTS FC have combined to announce the 2026 Symbol of Change Grant recipients, as the two organisations continue to position football as a driver of social impact across Europe. “The Symbol of Change Grants are about celebrating the clubs that are using football’s platform to make a real difference in people’s lives,” said EFC CEO Charlie Marshall. “As EFC grows to over 800+ Member Clubs, it is important that we continue to build on our central mission of being a united voice for change, for all our clubs and their fans.” Marshall added: “Through our partnership with EA SPORTS FC, we are empowering clubs to think creatively about how they can serve their communities and deliver lasting impact, ensuring football’s reach is matched by its impact.” Symbol of Change Grants recognise EFC Member Clubs using football to address some of the most pressing challenges facing their communities – from inclusion and education to gender equality and g...

InPost has teamed up with The Football Association to roll out parcel lockers at grassroots clubs across England, offering a new income stream and a way to drive more regular footfall.  Under the agreement, England Football Accredited clubs and County FAs will be invited to host lockers on-site at no cost. In return, clubs will be able to generate revenue from space that would otherwise sit unused, while bringing more people through the gates outside of matchdays and training. With more than 15 million people involved in grassroots football each year, clubs are seen as well-placed community hubs – something both parties are looking to tap into. For clubs, the pitch is straightforward: the lockers will bring in more visitors, so there’s in theory more potential spend. The lockers will operate 24/7 without the need for staff, which Inpost says will give local residents, players and parents a convenient way to send, collect and return parcels, while also increasing exposur...

The AFC has re-scheduled its West Region club competition knockout matches that were suspended in March when the US and Israel began their war on Iran and the Iranians responded with attacks on Gulf states. Originally scheduled as two leg ties, matches in the AFC Champions League Elite 2025/26 Round of 16 West Region will now be centralised in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and played as single leg ties. The West Region ties will take place on April 13 and 14 at the King Abdullah Sports City and the Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Sports City Stadium. This is just two days before the AFC Champions League Elite Finals Jeddah 2026, which are scheduled to be held from April 16 to 25. The AFC’s rescheduling announcement comes as domestic leagues in the region tentatively start to return to play. Qatar suspended its domestic league in early March, but play has now restarted, however the restart was too late to save the cancelled the national team Qatar Festival of Football that included the Fi...

Canadian Soccer Media & Entertainment (CSME) has acquired more rights for its OneSoccer streaming channel, securing a multi-year deal for the UEFA Women’s Champions League in Canada. The agreement, struck with UC3 – UEFA’s commercial arm for club competitions – will see coverage of the tournament delivered via OneSoccer, starting with the quarter-finals of the 2025-26 campaign. “Our strategy is to bring together the best of Canadian and international soccer under one roof, while making Canadian players more visible and accessible to fans across the country,” said CSME Group CEO James Johnson. “By aligning world-class competitions within a unified ecosystem, we’re not only increasing access to the game, we’re building a platform that puts Canadian players and stories at the centre of the global game.” Canadian internationals are increasingly embedded across Europe’s top clubs. 20-year-old Olivia Smith was the women’s game’s first £1 million transfer when she moved from L...

Newly launched platform H3R is aiming to fill a critical gap for women, and young girls in particular, across a broad platform of social, career and life opportunities, including sport and football, media, technology, and financial literacy. A women-led global movement, the focus is on growing a network to equip girls – particularly those excluded by cultural or economic barriers – with leadership skills, digital literacy, and narrative power. The ultimate objective is to create and showcase pathways that can lead to financial ownership and participation at senior levels, whether in sport, media, technology, or business. Founded by Nichelle Gainey, a global sports and media strategist who has worked across international football, media, and partnership development, H3R is built on storytelling, sport, technology engagement, digital literacy, and the creation of a safe community designed to help women and girls move from access to opportunity and ultimately to ownership. H3R...

Returning players from the Women’s Asian Cup in Australia will immediately find themselves in international competition again at the weekend in the quarter finals of the AFC Women’s Champions League (AWCL) 2025/26. In only its second edition, the AWCL quarter finals will be played as single leg knockouts. On Saturday March 28, Group C winners Tokyo Verdy Beleza, who clinched their maiden Japanese league title in 2024/25, will meet tournament newcomers Stallion Laguna FC of the Philippines at Stadium Tokyo. In 2019 Verdy Beleza won the AFC Women’s Club Championship. Later in the day Ho Chi Minh City Women’s FC will host North Korea’s Naegohyang Women’s FC, at the Lao National Stadium KM16 in Vientiane. Naegohyang are the only North Korea women’s club to ever play in AFC competition. They won a second domestic league title in 2023/24 bur were runners-up in 2024/25. Their Vietnamese opponents won a domestic double in 2024/25, and reached the semi-final finish of the Champions ...

With the dust settling on the record-breaking Women’s Asian Cup Australia 2026, the women’s game in the region has only a brief time to reflect before the return this weekend of the AFC Women’s Champions League (AWCL) 2025/26 and the quarter final knockout stage. The AFC and local organisers, from launch, set goals to create a new era and benchmark for the women’s game across the confederation. The tournament delivered a number of firsts: ✓ Introduction of WAVEMAKER, the first bespoke Official Match Ball in the tournament’s history ✓ Naara as the competition’s first-ever official mascot ✓ Debut of That’s How We Winas its first Official Tournament Anthem Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology implemented from the Group Stage for the first time. ✓ The largest-ever panel of match officials with 45 referees and officials from 20 Member Associations overseeing matches throughout the tournament. ✓ Attendances broke multiple records from the opening game when 44,379 fans packed ...

Czech football has been rocked by a wide-ranging match-fixing investigation, with polices swooping to detain dozens of players, referees and club officials as well as other individuals linked to the Czech game. Reports from the Czech Republic say that police carried out coordinated raids on Tuesday morning, targeting suspected match-fixing and bribery activity linked to betting. More than 50 people have reportedly been detained, with operations taking place across the country and abroad. Prosecutors are calling for jail sentences of nine to 14 years for the individuals arrested, with the cases being classified as organised crime group activity that under Czech law receives harsher sentencing. The Football Association of the Czech Republic (FAČR) said they moved quickly to respond, calling an emergency executive committee meeting. The arrests come just days before the country’s World Cup 2026 play-off. Their first play-in match takes place tomorrow evening in Prague against ...

The Palestinian FA (PFA) has once again called for Israel to be banned from the game.  Recognising last week’s FIFA disciplinary sanction against Israel as “substantial”, PFA president Jibril Rajoub nevertheless said it didn’t go far enough as a sanction to merit the crime. “We maintain our right and continue our efforts to ensure that the Israeli Football Association is expelled from all international institutions,” said Rajoub at a news conference. Rajoub cited the IFA’s “racist nature”, alleged criminal activity by some Israeli sports officials, and the inclusion of football clubs from Israeli West Bank settlements in the Israeli federation as grounds for a ban. “Some figures within Israeli sports either participated in or openly supported what has been happening,” Rajoub said. He highlighted that 1,007 athletes and coaches were killed in Gaza and 265 sports facilities were damaged since the war started in October 2023. Last week FIFA slapped Israel with a fine of $1...