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England’s Ella Toone and Beth Mead are more than just team-mates, after bonding over the grief of losing parents.

Both players were on the scoresheet in England’s 6-1 victory over Wales, with midfielder Toone saying she is sure her dad and Mead’s mum “will be up there with a few pints in their hands watching us”.

Forward Mead, the player of the tournament at Euro 2022, lost her mum, June, to ovarian cancer in January 2023.

Toone has previously spoken about the impact of losing her dad on an episode of The Tooney & Russo Show, stating she didn’t “actually grieve” until she was sidelined with a hamstring injury last November.

Speaking after England’s final Euro 2025 group match, she praised the support she has received from Mead, adding that she was “buzzing” that they could “both celebrate to the sky” against Wales.

“She has been amazing,” said Toone, who scored England’s second goal and provided two assists. “We have really bonded over such a terrible thing but it’s nice to have someone who has been through it as well and who understands and knows exactly what is going on and what is going on in my head.

Mead, whose mum was her “biggest motivation”, came off the bench to score England’s fifth against Wales and described their goals as “special”, particularly after both players struggled with their emotions in the tournament opener.

“We both said the first game we really struggled. You look to the stands for your person who was standing there and they are not there anymore. My mum was the first person I would look for in the stands, so I understand what Ella felt in that moment,” said Mead.

“It’s special to be able to have that moment to think about them and dedicate it to them.”

On her bond with Toone, she added: “I’ve been a shoulder to be there for her. There have been moments where she has asked, ‘is this normal? Does that feel normal? Why am I thinking this?’. I’m like, ‘it’s completely normal, I’ve been there and I still feel it now’.

The Club World Cup has had its critics but for the clubs involved the competition’s $1bn prize pot has proved a lucrative incentive.

With the first edition of the new-look tournament now complete, we are able to analyse the financial rewards reaped by those competing clubs.

The new look competition had a prize pot of $1bn (£726m) to give out to the 32 competing clubs, with $525m divided between all clubs for participation and $475m awarded on a performance-related basis.

Money awarded for participation for European clubs was weighted by a ranking based on sporting and commercial criteria, meaning some were awarded more than others for taking part.

European clubs were handed between $12.81m and $38.19m just for turning up, while teams from other continents were given a set fee – that was $15.21m for South America, $9.55m for North and Central America, and Asia and Africa, and $3.58m for Oceania.

Fifa has not confirmed the individual amounts given to European clubs for taking part, so we have used estimates from football finance website The Swiss Ramble based on Uefa’s club coefficient system.

Tournament winners Chelsea were by far the most financially successful team, earning about £84m, while Paris St-Germain made about £78.4m in their run to the final.

European clubs, who generally enjoyed larger participation fees, made an average of around £39m while impressive runs from the likes of semi-finalists Fluminense meant that South American clubs made £24m on average.

Money was on offer for results in the group stage, with around £1.5m for a win and £730k for a draw.

The £3.3m taken home by Auckland City was around seven times their overall 2024 revenue of approximately £488,000, while the £67m made by Real Madrid was just 4% of their 2024 figure of £901m.

While this is a huge positive for the part-time club, football finance expert Kieran Maguire has concerns for the impact on other sides from New Zealand.

He said: “They have earned so much money that it’s difficult to see anybody being able to compete with them if they invest in the playing squad.

“And there’s a huge incentive for them to do that because it enhances the chances of them qualifying for the next Club World Cup.

For the European clubs, the extra revenue has been welcomed as a way of increasing their transfer budget.

In line with Uefa rules, clubs are limited to spending 70% of their revenue on wages, transfers and agents’ fees – so for every £50m earned, an extra £35m is available for recruitment.

More than 65% of Borussia Dortmund’s £57.9m transfer business so far this summer has been paid off from their participation in the United States after they reached the quarter-final stage.

The £27m Dortmund paid to Sunderland for Jobe Bellingham has already been completely paid off.

Chelsea have spent £198m on reinforcements so far this summer on the likes of Joao Pedro and Liam Delap – £84m of that has been covered by their impressive run at the Club World Cup.

Despite Manchester City’s surprise last-16 exit to Al-Hilal, they still earned around £38m from the tournament – which equates to 35% of the summer business they have conducted so far.

In more simple terms, it has paid for their £31m acquisition of Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolves.

Real Madrid paid Liverpool a fee of around £8.4m for Trent Alexander-Arnold to get him a month early to be part of their squad for the competition – that was paid off after just three matches.

“It’s welcome for the accountants at football clubs. The business will be happy,” said finance expert Maguire about the competition’s lucrative incentives.

“But I’m not sure fans will be happy, particularly of European clubs, and it’ll be the same for players and managers.

Three championship points. Jannik Sinner had been here before. Just 35 days earlier, to be exact.

Nerves would have been understandable as he once again stared across at Carlos Alcaraz, with whom his enthralling rivalry entered the stratosphere following their epic French Open final.

But this was a different Sinner to the one who had suffered that devastating loss in Paris.

After winning his first Wimbledon title, the 23-year-old Italian stood with his arms aloft, before crouching to the grass in a moment of deep contemplation.

The 15,000 people present – and those watching from afar – understood his reaction.

“Only me and the people who are close to me know exactly what we have been through on and off the court, and it has been everything except easy,” Sinner said.

“[It is] very emotional, even if I don’t cry.

Sinner said he would only know the true impact of his French Open heartbreak when he walked out for Sunday’s final.

Five weeks ago he lost one of the all-time great Grand Slam showpieces in a way that could have derailed some players’ careers, seeing the title wrenched from his grasp after leading by two sets and holding three championship points.

Sinner gave himself just three days off to process the longest French Open final, seeking out friends and family, playing ping-pong and having barbeques when he returned home, before returning to training.

And then he bounced back emphatically to dethrone Alcaraz as Wimbledon champion, ending a five-match losing streak against his main rival in the process.

“Today was important for many reasons. He needed that win today,” Darren Cahill, one of Sinner’s coaches, said.

“He knew the importance of closing this one out when he had the opportunity.”

Sinner lost in the second round at his only pre-Wimbledon grass-court tournament in Halle.

That defeat by Alexander Bublik was Sinner’s first exit before the quarter-finals of an event in 20 months and remains his only loss to someone other than Alcaraz in the past 11 months.

But something appeared to have clicked on his arrival at Wimbledon. After what Cahill described as an “awesome” practice week, he won nine successive sets for the loss of just 17 games in his first three matches.

But, as he posed with his trophy on Sunday evening, it was easy to forget that Sinner came within four games of a shock exit.

He was two sets down against Grigor Dimitrov in the fourth round and struggling before the Bulgarian suffered a match-ending injury.

Sinner also injured his elbow in a fall during the match, but he withstood the lingering discomfort to dismiss American 10th seed Ben Shelton and seven-time champion Novak Djokovic in straights sets to reach the final.

“I would say mostly emotionally [it took a lot] because I had a very tough loss in Paris,” Sinner said on court, before exchanging a smile with Alcaraz.

“It doesn’t matter how you win or lose, you just have to understand what you did wrong and work on that.

Sinner has also had to overcome challenges off the court.

Such has been the consistency he has shown over the past 12 months, Sinner has kept hold of the world number one ranking despite serving a three-month doping ban earlier this year.

Sinner accepted the ban after the World Anti-Doping Agency found he “did not intend to cheat” but still bore responsibility for the negligence of members of his team after he twice tested positive for banned substance clostebol in March 2024.

That ban was served between the successful defence of his Australian Open title in January and the French Open – now the only trophy separating him from becoming just the ninth man to achieve a career Grand Slam.

Wimbledon women’s champion Iga Swiatek also served a one-month ban after testing positive for heart medication trimetazidine, which the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) accepted was caused by contamination.

Cahill previously described Sinner as being worn down physically and mentally by the investigation.

“His year has been challenging for everybody involved,” Cahill said on Sunday.

“The person that you see on the tennis court – this focus and attention to detail – is not the same guy off the court.

“He’s a fun-loving guy who is joking around all the time and loves the company of the people around him.

“He’s cooking, messing up stuff, making mistakes all over the place, and we’re laughing about it.”

Wales midfielder Jess Fishlock says she has not made a decision on whether to retire from international football.

A 6-1 defeat by England confirmed their exit from Euro 2025, finishing bottom of Group D in their first major tournament appearance.

After the game Fishlock waved to fans and made a heart shape with her hands.

At the age of 38 and having finally achieved her dream of representing Wales at a major finals, she is now pondering her international future.

Fishlock, Wales’ record appearance holder with 165 caps, underlined her importance to the side in Switzerland, scoring their first major tournament goal against France and providing the assist for Hannah Cain’s consolation effort against England.

While proud of playing in her country’s first major tournament, the Seattle Reign midfielder said she was hurt by the manner of their defeat by England.

“That was a tough one,” she added. “We gave away a penalty, they get a goal out of nothing and I think it just really hit us. That’s not what we wanted to happen.”

Fishlock told ITV: “It’s disappointing with that scoreline and we have to just keep learning and move on now and in the next campaigns keep moving forwards and keep getting to major tournaments.

“This is the beginning of a journey for us and we have been here and played three of the best teams in the world and found how big that jump is. We have to keep investing and keep building to make sure this isn’t just a one-off.

Wales boss Rhian Wilkinson has told her team it was “too early” to make any decisions on what comes next.

“What I’ve said to all my players is to take a breath,” she said. “We right in the thick of something. There is so much emotion, there were great moments and there were really hard moments and painful moments and big lessons.

“It is not the time to look at future plans. I want the players to stick together as a team. Bigger life decisions can be made in the future.”

Former Wales manager Jayne Ludlow said the Cardiff-born Fishlock would leave a void Wales simply cannot fill.