East London played host to two very different versions of the ‘beautiful game’ on Sunday.
Just a stone’s throw from the London Stadium, where 58,669 fans turned out to see West Ham beat QPR in the FA Cup, about 4,000 supporters watched close to five hours of football as season two of Baller League UK concluded.
Wembley Rangers – managed by former England strikers Ian Wright and Alan Shearer – won the title by beating defending champions SDS in Sunday’s final.
And Baller League chief executive Felix Starck believes his six-a-side competition has surpassed what the Premier League can offer for the younger generation.
He claims the top flight is “not even close” to the age group following Baller League.
“In the younger audience, we are leading that market share – between 16-28 we are more watched than the Premier League when it comes to live games,” he says.
The figures are hard to verify – but it is worth pointing out Baller League matches are more accessible than Premier League fixtures shown solely on subscription channels.
Baller League is broadcast simultaneously across Sky, Twitch and YouTube, and the league says it had more than two million live viewers per matchday in season one.
It is yet to release figures for its second season in the UK but just one of the 11 matchdays hit one million views on YouTube – compared to eight matchdays in season one.
Premier League games shown on Sky Sports attracted an average audience of about 1.57 million per game during the 2024-25 season – down 10% from the previous campaign.
Baller League leans on former Premier League players, content creators and celebrities to attract the masses, with Wright, Shearer, England Euros winner Chloe Kelly and actor Idris Elba among those managing teams.
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Starck acknowledges Baller League still has “room to improve”.
He has ambitions to raise the pay structure over the coming years and is looking to ensure players are cared for financially if they are unable to play because of injuries sustained on the field.
Goalkeeper Serine Sanneh is one such example.
Sanneh plays for Southern Counties Eastern Division side Rusthall FC but sustained a broken finger playing for the 26ers in season two of the Baller League.
The former Crystal Palace academy player also has a day job as a delivery driver, and Starck wants to ensure he – and any others in a similar situation – have financial security.
“Every player who plays for us is insured in the world of Baller League, but if you can’t do your job then we are working on solutions,” Starck said.
Is Baller League at odds with non-league clubs?
Most of the 12 clubs have at least one player who can tell a tale of almost making it at the highest level of the 11-a-side game, having spent time in Premier League academies.
Alfie Matthews falls into that category.
Matthews was one of just four boys – alongside Bukayo Saka – to be handed a pre-scholarship contract two years early, aged 14.
The 24-year-old now plays for National League South club Dover Athletic in the sixth tier of English football and also turns out for Baller League side SDS.
Baller League offers players like Matthews the opportunity to gain exposure and benefit financially, with contracts ranging from £300 to £800 per game.
But it is also stepping on the toes of non-league clubs.
Matthews and Dover team-mates Francis Mampolo and George Nikaj fell foul of manager Jake Leberl in December when they played in the Baller League just 24 hours before losing in the league against Kent rivals Ebbsfleet.
“We’ll manage it and I’m sure they’ll be even more desperate to do well for the football club,” Leberl said. “It doesn’t need to be a circus act around it.”
‘Like comparing Mario Kart and Formula 1’
Reuters
Starck has cast his eye far and wide to look for other emerging leagues across sport that could offer insight as to how to forge a successful future.
He dismissed any suggestion that Baller League is similar to Kings League – a seven-a-side format launched in Spain by former Barcelona defender Gerard Pique in 2022.
“It’s like comparing Mario Kart and Formula 1,” Starck said.
Kings League captured a huge audience when it first launched and held a sold-out event at Barcelona’s Nou Camp, but interest has waned over the past couple of years.
The decision to branch out to new territories such as Mexico, Italy, France and Brazil has not proved successful.
Starck has similar ambitions. He is launching Baller League USA in the first quarter of 2026 and said he “would love” to do a Champions League and women’s-only version.
In order to ensure he continues to sustainably grow the Baller League, Starck has been looking at cricket’s short-format game The Hundred.
After the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by the United States on January 3, nearby countries that host large Venezuelan communities, including Colombia and Peru, have warned of a potential new influx of refugees if the country is distabilised.
The Venezuelan diaspora remains one of the largest in the world with at least 7.9 million people living outside the country as of early 2026, primarily due to nearly a decade of ongoing political and economic crises.
In this visual explainer, Al Jazeera unpacks where Venezuelans are living abroad, what protections they have and what the abilities are for Venezuelans wishing to travel.
Which countries host the most Venezuelans?
Venezuelan migration started with a small group of mostly professionals leaving the country after leftist leader Hugo Chavez became president in 1999, promising to change the old political system, which was stacked against the poor and the Indigenous people, with more than half of the population falling below the poverty line.
During one decade of Chavez’s rule, the country ramped up government spending using the revenue from oil sector. Millions of people were lifted from extreme poverty.
In 2013 after the death of Chavez, Maduro came to power and inherited high levels of debt and rising inflation. By 2014 as oil prices plummeted, these challenges escalated into an economic collapse.
The resource-rich nation experienced a deep depression and soaring inflation, making the cost of living unbearable. This situation led hundreds of thousands of people to flee abroad, primarily to countries within South and Central America as well as a significant number migrating to the US.
By June, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had tracked nearly 8 million refugees and migrants around the world with 6.7 million (85 percent) of them in Latin America and the Caribbean.
(Al Jazeera)
The top host countries are:
Colombia – 2.8 million
Peru – 1.7 million
US – 987,600
Brazil – 732,300
Chile – 669,400
Spain – 602,500
Ecuador – 440,400
Argentina – 174,800
Mexico – 106,000
Dominican Republic – 99,700
What protections do Venezuelans have?
UNHCR lists Venezuelans under a unique category of displaced persons due to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in their home country.
This classification allows them access to essential services, such as legal assistance, healthcare and shelter in host nations.
In Colombia, the region’s primary host with 2.8 million Venezuelans, the Temporary Protection Statute provides a 10-year residency permit. In the United States, a temporary protected status for Venezuelans was revoked in late 2025 by the Trump administration, leaving more than 600,000 Venezuelans uncertain about their future and legal status to live and work there.
The Trump administration also deported hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants, some of them to notorious prisons in El Salvador. Rights groups say many of them were tortured and sexually abused there.
According to the UN, nearly half of the Venezuelans who have left the country rely on informal, low-paid work, 42 percent struggle to afford enough food and 23 percent live in overcrowded housing.
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Venezuelans who previously lived in the US under temporary protected status are now eligible to apply for asylum [File: Yuki Iwamura/AP]
How strong is the Venezuelan passport?
Despite Venezuela’s unstable political and economic situation, its passport remains one of the stronger travel documents in the world, according to the 2026 Passport Index.
It currently ranks 42nd globally, providing visa-free, visa-on-arrival or e-visa access to 124 countries.
Venezuela has a longstanding visa waiver for the Schengen Area, allowing 90 days of visa-free travel to most of Europe. Additionally, Venezuelans may enter and work across much of South America due to decades-old regional mobility treaties.
It has long been thought that Meghan Markle would not want to return to the UK on a visit – but a source has dismissed this idea explaining why she would want to come back
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Meghan Markle could be set to make a bombshell return to the UK – and an insider has revealed the exact reason why. It has been claimed that the Duchess of Sussex could travel to Britain as early as this summer, along with husband Prince Harry, for an event tied to his Invictus Games – but it hinges on one major decision.
It is said that Meghan will only make the trip if Harry’s automatic police protection when in the UK is restored – with a decision on this said to be imminent following a new review by the Home Office. The issue of security has seemingly long been a stumbling block for Harry bringing Meghan and their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, to the UK to potentially see their grandfather, the King.
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Harry himself has said he would love to bring his children to his homeland so they can learn about their heritage, but currently feels it’s too dangerous. The Duke is set to return to the UK in July for a series of engagements to mark one year until the 2027 Invictus Games in Birmingham. If his automatic police protection is restored, many have speculated he could bring his children to the UK at the same time.
But it has been thought that Meghan would be less keen given her popularity in the UK. But now a source close to the Sussexes has dismissed the idea she will never come back to Britain – and revealed the reason why she would return.
They told the Sunday Times: “I think she would come back with him [and the children]. They love to do stuff as a family whenever they can, and when they do things as a couple philanthropically, they often do take the kids along privately. I can’t see a reason why he’d come over with the kids without her.”
They added: “There will be all kinds of considerations, like the children’s school and other commitments. But if the security is sorted, then yes, of course that would open up the door to come back more with his family and bring the family over more. He’s been clear on that.
“His desire is to show his kids where he grew up and the UK. If security is sorted, he’ll want to sit down and think about what does that look like? How should we show up? We’d all hope for and love that to happen.”
It comes as Harry is reportedly set to extend a major ‘olive branch’ to his estranged father King Charles on another UK trip. The Duke is said to be offering him a special role at the Invictus Games next year.
It means the father and son could appear on stage together at the opening ceremony at the NEC in Birmingham next June, marking a significant thawing in their relationship after years of near-silence.
The move would be a “dream” for the 41-year-old were it to happen, it is claimed, after he said last year that he “would love reconciliation” with his family.
Harry is set to fly back to London from California for the opening of his High Court case against Associated Newspapers later this month, with the case scheduled to open on January 19 – but is not expected to meet his father while staying in Britain.
The pair reunited for the first time in 19 months on his last visit in September, and had afternoon tea at Clarence House, with the duke describing his father as ‘great’.
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But the monarch is expected to be in Scotland for his traditional post-Christmas stay when the trial is due to start , although the date and timetable have yet to be finalised.
The Telegraph reported that royal sources acknowledged the King did not wish to be linked to any court proceedings, so will give his son a wide berth on this occasion.
Protests in Iran that began in late December over soaring prices have evolved into a broader challenge to its religious rulers, who have governed Iran since the 1979 revolution.
More than 100 security personnel have been killed in recent days, state media reported, while opposition activists said the death toll is higher and includes dozens of protesters. Al Jazeera cannot independently verify either figure.
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We take a look at Iran’s main opposition groups:
What shape are Iran’s opposition groups in?
The establishment in Iran is facing mounting pressure from a fragmented opposition movement.
While some groups and individuals in the movement are inside Iran, others are voicing opposition to the rulers from outside the country. They are mainly leaders who are living in exile or members of the Iranian diaspora.
Groups in other countries, including the United Kingdom and Germany, have started to rally on the streets in solidarity with the protesters in Iran.
Why don’t the protests have clear leaders?
Iran currently lacks a uniform opposition group which could form a government, Shahram Akbarzadeh, a professor in Middle East and Central Asian politics at Australia’s Deakin University, told Al Jazeera.
Opposition groups in Iran and outside are disjointed and have different aims. Some have clear leaders while others do not. No individual inside Iran, however, has emerged as a clear opposition leader in the ongoing protest movement.
A possible reason for this is that opposition members are fearful of reprisals if they have identifiable leaders.
Iran’s “Green Movement” in June 2009 was a spontaneous mass demonstration by white collar workers, women’s rights activists and civil society activists against the officially declared victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in perhaps the most publicly contested presidential election in the history of the country. The day after these protests began, Ahmadinejad and his supporters staged an official demonstration in support of his declared victory. He served as president until 2013.
Ahmadinejad had been president since 2005. He was a hardline conservative, controversial for some of his opinions, including repeatedly denying the Holocaust.
The 2009 presidential election was also contested by former Prime Minister Mir‑Hossein Mousavi, who became a symbolic leader of the Green Movement. Since February 2011, however, he has been held under strict house arrest for rejecting the official election results.
Another candidate, Mehdi Karroubi, a reformist Muslim scholar and former parliament speaker, also took a leading role in challenging the election results and supporting the protests. He was placed under house arrest in 2011.
In March last year, the Iranian authorities officially lifted Karroubi’s house arrest.
Neither man is thought to be a focus of the current protests, but as a result of their examples, Iranian protesters inside the country tend not to organise themselves around a single, identifiable leader.
In line with other protest movements around the world, protesters inside Iran increasingly rely on networked organising. Mobilisation through student groups, social media platforms such as Discord and neighbourhood networks has resulted in the creation of numerous local groups and local leaders rather than just one or two central figureheads.
This was recently seen in the “Gen Z” youth protests in Nepal, which took place in September, and the youth protests in Bangladesh, which took place in July 2024 and resulted in the overthrow of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
“[The] Iranian government has actively and effectively suppressed any attempt for organised opposition at home over the past decades and arrested and silenced its leaders,” Maryam Alemzadeh, an associate professor in the history and politics of Iran at the University of Oxford, told Al Jazeera. “Even nonpolitical NGOs, unions, student groups and anything that could resemble a bottom-up order has been quashed.
“As a result, neither leadership nor grassroots organisation can be expected, and protests are left contingent on ad hoc individual or collective decisions of the protesters.”
Which are the different groups among the opposition?
Besides the mass-organised movements going on inside Iran now, there are some other opposition groups based both inside and outside the country.
Reza Pahlavi and the monarchists
Pahlavi, 65, is the son of the deposed shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and the heir of the former Pahlavi monarchy.
After Mohammad Mosaddegh, Iran’s prime minister who was democratically elected in 1951, nationalised the British-controlled oil industry in Iran, he was overthrown in a 1953 coup backed by the United States and UK to reverse that move and secure Western oil interests. A repressive royal rule was reinstated until 1979 when the last shah fled the country as the Iranian Revolution took hold. He died in Egypt in 1980.
Living in exile in the US, his son now leads a prominent monarchist movement known as the Iran National Council but claims not to be insisting on a return to a monarchy. Instead, he says he advocates for a secular, democratic system to be decided by a referendum.
However, Pahlavi is supported by members of the Iranian diaspora and groups that do support the return of a monarchy. He is strongly opposed by other opposition groups, including republicans and leftists, so Iran’s opposition remains fragmented.
Many people who currently live in Iran do not remember the era of the monarchy. While some Iranians who do view the pre-revolutionary era with nostalgia, many others remember it for its inequality and repression.
Alemzadeh said Pahlavi emerged as the most prominent opposition leader in the aftermath of the Woman, Life, Freedom protest movement, which began in 2022.
“He enjoys support within [the] Iranian diaspora, especially the generation that left Iran with the 1979 revolution, like himself, but in parts of the younger generation as well. He does have some appeal in Iran as well, as there were chants in his support on the streets of Iran among other chants in this round of protests, but the extent of it is debated.”
Pahlavi’s appeal, she added, stems less from any credible plan or leadership of the protests than from years of nostalgic promotion by diaspora media and social media campaigns that have elevated him as the “loudest available alternative” amid widespread frustration and a lack of other visible leaders.
“Aided by an online campaign on social media, which was also assisted by Israel, according to Haaretz, Reza Pahlavi was then highlighted as the key to return to that ideal past,” Alemzadeh said.
She added that although Pahlavi is the best‑known opposition figure, there is little evidence he has a realistic plan or organisational base to manage the security apparatus, entrenched corruption, remaining government supporters and basic state functions in a post-Islamic Republic Iran.
“Calling for Pahlavi’s return is a nostalgic reaction to the economic and diplomatic deadlock created by the Islamic regime. It is more about rejecting the rule of the clergy, than calling for the restoration of the monarchy,” Akbarzadeh from Deakin University told Al Jazeera.
Protesters in London display images of Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the last shah of Iran, as they support the nationwide protests in Iran on January 11, 2026 [Isabel Infantes/Reuters]
Maryam Rajavi and the People’s Mujahideen Organisation
The Mujahideen was a powerful leftist group that carried out bombing campaigns against the shah’s government and US targets in the 1970s but eventually fell out with other groups.
It is often known by its Persian name, the Mujahideen-e Khalq Organisation, or by the acronyms MEK or MKO.
Many Iranians, including sworn enemies of the Islamic Republic, say they cannot forgive the group for siding with Iraq against Iran during the 1980-1988 war.
The group was the first to publicly reveal in 2002 that Iran had a secret uranium-enrichment programme.
However, the Mujahideen has shown little sign of any active presence inside Iran for years.
In exile, first in France and later in Iraq, its leader, Massoud Rajavi, has not been seen for more than 20 years and his wife, Maryam Rajavi, has taken control. Rights groups have criticised the group for what they call cult-like behaviour and abuses of its followers, which the group denies.
The group is the main force behind the National Council of Resistance of Iran, led by Maryam Rajavi, which has an active presence in many Western countries, including France and Albania.
Solidarity for a Secular Democratic Republic in Iran
A number of groups based outside Iran and calling for a democratic republic joined together in 2023 to form the Solidarity for a Secular Democratic Republic in Iran (Hamgami) political coalition.
It gained some popularity among the Iranian diaspora in the wake of the 2022 protests over the killing of Mahsa Amini, 22, who died in police custody after being arrested by Iran’s so-called morality police for not wearing her hijab correctly – part of the strict dress code that was made obligatory shortly after the 1979 revolution.
The coalition advocates for the separation of religion and state, free elections and the establishment of an independent judiciary and media.
However, it has not gained much traction within Iran itself. “I don’t think it has any weight in the public sphere,” Alemzadeh said.
Kurdish and Baluch minorities
Persians make up about 61 percent of Iran’s 92 million people while significant minority groups include Azerbaijanis (16 percent) and Kurds (10 percent). Other minorities are Lurs (6 percent), Arabs (2 percent), Baluchis (2 percent) and Turkic groups (2 percent).
Iran is predominantly Shia Muslim, making up about 90 percent of the population, while Sunni Muslims and other Muslim sects account for roughly 9 percent. The remaining 1 percent includes roughly 300,000 Baha’i, 300,000 Christians, 35,000 Zoroastrians, 20,000 Jews and 10,000 Sabean Mandeans, according to the Minority Rights Group.
Iran’s mostly Sunni Muslim Kurdish and Baluch minorities have often clashed with the Persian-speaking, Shia Muslim government in Tehran.
Several Kurdish groups have long opposed the government in western Iran, where they form a majority, and there have been periods of active rebellion against government forces in those areas.
In Sistan-Baluchestan, along Iran’s eastern border with Pakistan, opposition to Tehran includes supporters of Sunni leaders seeking better representation within the country and armed groups with links to al-Qaeda.
Israel is set to advance two major illegal settlement plans for occupied East Jerusalem, which Palestinian officials and experts warn will serve as the final blow to hopes for a contiguous Palestinian state.
The Jerusalem governorate announced on Sunday that Israeli authorities will discuss approving 9,000 settlement units on the ruins of the Qalandiya airport, also known as Atarot, and a separate project in Sheikh Jarrah to displace 40 families.
To understand the strategic implications of these moves, Al Jazeera spoke to Suhail Khalilieh, a political analyst and expert on illegal Israeli settlements.
The Trump factor
The Atarot plan was briefly shelved in December 2025 but has now returned to the table. According to Khalilieh, the timing is directly linked to the shifting geopolitical landscape following the recent meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and United States President Donald Trump.
“The meeting … served as a green light for continued settlement expansion,” Khalilieh told Al Jazeera.
“The American position, which treats Jerusalem as being outside any negotiation process … has encouraged the occupation to put this project into direct implementation,” he added, noting that international criticism has been reduced to mere “verbal objections without any deterrence”.
Severing the north
The airport project is not just about housing; it is a strategic chokehold, Khalilieh said.
He explained that the Atarot settlement is one of the three major axes designed to complete the “Greater Jerusalem” vision:
North: The Atarot project will link East Jerusalem with the Givat Zeev settlement bloc, effectively severing the city from Ramallah.
East: The E1 plan aims to create a bridge between East Jerusalem and the Maale Adumim bloc.
South: Expansions in Har Gilo and the new Nahal Heletz settlement will connect the city to the Gush Etzion bloc.
“This will increase the area of Jerusalem … by adding 175sq km [68sq miles],” Khalilieh said.
“The current area of East Jerusalem, according to the Israeli definition, is 71sq km [27sq miles]. With these additions, Greater Jerusalem under Israeli control will reach 246sq km [95sq miles], 4.5 percent … of the West Bank’s area, aiming to abort any possibility of establishing a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem.”
Encirclement of the Old City
In parallel, the “Nahalat Shimon” plan in Sheikh Jarrah targets the historic “Holy Basin” area north of the Old City.
“This falls under the old-new Israeli efforts to expand the settlement ring around the Old City,” Khalilieh said.
The goal, he argued, is to dismantle geographical continuity between Palestinian neighbourhoods like Silwan, the Mount of Olives, and Sheikh Jarrah, transforming them into “isolated population islands”.
“Today, the takeover of the Old City has begun through this ring … aiming to empty these areas gradually through intensified demolitions.”
‘Silent transfer’
Khalilieh warned that Israel is using neutral planning terms like “urban renewal” and “land settlement” to camouflage a policy of forced displacement.
“Development for Israelis means demolishing Palestinian homes under the guise of ‘building without a permit’,” he said, noting that more than 300 Palestinian homes were demolished in East Jerusalem in 2025 alone.
He also pointed to the unification of the “Arnona” property tax, which forces residents of neglected Palestinian neighbourhoods to pay the high rates as those in affluent Israeli areas.
“This puts them under cumulative pressure to leave Jerusalem … it constitutes a silent forced transfer.”
Is it too late?
Khalilieh stressed that legal and diplomatic intervention must happen “before construction begins”, as reversing facts on the ground is politically “nearly impossible”.
He called for activating provisional measures at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and targeting international companies involved in the projects.
England Under-20s wing Sophie Hopkins, who is combining a year abroad during her biochemistry degree with a season at French top-flight side Lyon, is among 11 uncapped players included in a 47-strong Red Roses training squad.
Four Trailfinders Women forwards – Jasmine Adonri, Haidee Head, Hayley Jones and Annabel Meta – are included as they seek to seek to win their first caps.
Loughborough Lightning’s 19-year-old number eight Haineala Lutui, who leads the PWR in carries so far this season, is promoted from the age-grade set-up, with Harlequins’ Nicole Wythe, part of the English top-flight’s team of the year last campaign, another back row call-up.
Whyte’s team-mate Sarah Parry is also rewarded for her good form, with the centre a key part of Quins’ rise to third in the table.
All 32 of the squad that won the Rugby World Cup in September are included, bar the retired Emily Scarratt and Abby Dow.
Hooker Lark Atkin-Davies, who is pregnant and expecting a child in June, will join up with the squad and follow a personalised training programme.
While Parry may have benefited from Scarratt’s decision to hang up her boots, Bristol’s 20-year-old Millie David, who finished as joint top try-scorer in the PWR last season and is in the same position this campaign, bolsters back-three options in the wake of Dow’s departure.
With Gloucester-Hartpury’s Mia Venner also included, Bo Westcombe-Evans, who has scored five tries in eight games since making her comeback from a serious knee injury, is overlooked.
“As we enter a new cycle, this camp will focus on aligning our communication and resetting our culture to win,” said head coach John Mitchell of his team’s first get-together since their Rugby World Cup triumph.
“It is natural for a rugby cycle to go through regeneration which presents exciting opportunities for young players over the next four years. The quicker they can adapt and contribute to the environment will enhance their opportunities.”
England could be on course to break the attendance record for a Womens’ Six Nations match when they meet Ireland at Allianz Stadium Twickenham in their tournament opener on 11 April.
While a record 81,885 fans – the most ever for a women’s rugby match – watched England beat Canada to win the 2025 World Cup, the 58,498 who watched the Red Roses’ 38-33 win over France in the 2023 Women’s Six Nations finale remains the tournament’s record.
