Category Sports News

Cardiff City have been placed under a transfer embargo by the EFL for “non-submission of annual accounts”.

The issue has arisen during the January transfer window.

The EFL regulation that applies to Cardiff’s case comes under the governing body’s ‘Profitability and Sustainability’ rules which state accounts must be submitted “no later than 31 December” in any season.

Cardiff City say the embargo is a short administrative delay and they expect the embargo to be lifted by the end of next week.

The Bluebirds added they do not expect it to impact the club’s plans for the transfer window.

England international Georgia Stanway will leave Bayern Munich upon the expiry of her contract at the end of the season.

The 27-year-old moved to Bayern from Manchester City in 2022 and has won three league titles.

During her time in Germany, she has won two European Championships with the Lionesses and has become recognised as one of the best midfielders in the world.

Stanway, who has 87 caps for England, is permitted to sign a pre-contract agreement with another club this month with a view to joining in the summer.

“I am incredibly grateful to Bayern. Thankfully, my time here isn’t over yet,” Stanway said in a club statement on Saturday.

“The decision to leave was incredibly difficult. I definitely didn’t make it lightly. I’ve made friends and memories here that will last a lifetime, and I’ve been able to develop enormously as both a player and a person.

“I will give absolutely everything for Bayern and our sporting success until the very last day – just as I have for the past three and a half years.”

Should Arsenal agree a deal with Stanway, it would be regarded as one of the biggest transfers of the January window.

Arsenal are looking to build a squad capable of winning the Women’s Super League, having lifted the Champions League trophy in May, and are working to secure additions for the summer.

England international Georgia Stanway will leave Bayern Munich upon the expiry of her contract at the end of the season.

The 27-year-old moved to Bayern from Manchester City in 2022 and has won three league titles.

During her time in Germany, she has won two European Championships with the Lionesses and has become recognised as one of the best midfielders in the world.

Stanway, who has 87 caps for England, is permitted to sign a pre-contract agreement with another club this month with a view to joining in the summer.

“I am incredibly grateful to Bayern. Thankfully, my time here isn’t over yet,” Stanway said in a club statement on Saturday.

“The decision to leave was incredibly difficult. I definitely didn’t make it lightly. I’ve made friends and memories here that will last a lifetime, and I’ve been able to develop enormously as both a player and a person.

“I will give absolutely everything for Bayern and our sporting success until the very last day – just as I have for the past three and a half years.”

Should Arsenal agree a deal with Stanway, it would be regarded as one of the biggest transfers of the January window.

Arsenal are looking to build a squad capable of winning the Women’s Super League, having lifted the Champions League trophy in May, and are working to secure additions for the summer.

Oscar Onley still feels “very far away” from winning the Tour de France despite last summer’s historic fourth-placed finish but believes he is capable of making the podium “in the next couple of years”.

The 23-year-old equalled the best result by a Scottish rider, previously achieved by Philippa York (then known as Robert Millar) in 1984.

It’s been a steady progression by Onley since the London-born cyclist joined the Netherlands-based team, Team Picnic–PostNL, in 2023.

His first individual professional win came the following January in an uphill finish on stage five of the 2024 Tour Down Under, ultimately finishing fourth overall.

Onley, though, came into that year’s Tour de France “just trying to go for stage results, which meant there is certain days when I would sit up and take it a bit easier”.

That was with the knowledge that he was not in a position “to be fighting for a top-five finish overall”.

That all changed last year.

“It really feels like it came quite quickly in the last few months before the Tour,” he said.

“Everything started to click into place and so I was starting to gain a lot more confidence in myself as well.”

While he was initially targeting stage wins in his second Tour de France, with the general classification being a secondary aim, it soon became clear that a podium finish was a possibility.

Onley would finish just over a minute behind third-placed Florian Lipowitz of Germany. Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard was eight minutes in front in second, while winner, Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia, was 12 minutes better off.

“I still feel very far away,” the Scot said as he looked forward to the coming season. “To the front two, there is a big gap from the rest of us, but I definitely feel that, in the next couple of years, a podium finish is definitely possible if things go the right way for me.

It is no surprise Onley is especially dreaming of success in 2027, when the Tour de France will start in Edinburgh.

“It is something I’m really looking forward to,” he said. “I think the UK and Scotland really put on a good show whenever big events come to the country, such as the Commonwealth Games or the road world cycling championships in Glasgow a couple of years ago.

Performance-enhancing drugs in cycling hit the headlines with the banning of Lance Armstrong in 2012 and remains a hot topic despite fewer cases in recent years.

“I can’t speak for other sports, but I know how much we get tested and how much I personally get tested as well throughout the year and throughout the tour,” Onley said.

The Scot has “a lot of trust” in the systems in place trying “to keep the sport clean” and ensure a level playing field.

“I believe the sport’s come a long way in the past 10-15 years,” Onley said. “I also don’t believe it’s completely clean.

“I think it’s quite naive to think it’s clean throughout the whole world, but I think it’s in a better place than it was before I started cycling.

“It’s not much I think about. I can only compete with who I am up against. I am not riding along thinking, ‘this guy might be getting an advantage over me’. It’s not really the thought process I or many other riders have.

Onley was speaking while preparing for the new season in Andorra, where he lives in the mountains between France and Spain.

“There is a big culture of professional cyclists up there and I have a lot of friends who live close by and we can always go out training together or do other things,” he explained.

“It’s quite peaceful and it’s a nice place to come back to in between races.”

Among those fellow cyclists, recently retired Welsh Commonwealth Games gold medallist and 2018 Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas “is someone I always looked up to”.

“The way he can focus on a certain goal every year he’s been professional,” he said. “In the last few years racing beside him has been quite inspiring.”

Brought up in Kelso, Onley also admits that, amid his globetrotting lifestyle, the biggest thing he misses about Scotland is a certain brand of fruit squash.

Kevin Durant moved past the great Wilt Chamberlain on the NBA all-time scoring list but his 30 points could not guide the Houston Rockets to a win against the Portland Trail Blazers.

Durant, 37, has 31,435 points in his career and is now seventh on the all-time list. LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers leads the way with 42,601.

The Trail Blazers triumphed 111-105 at Moda Center in Portland.

Chamberlain, who died in 1999, is the only player to score 100 points in an NBA game and was a two-time champion with the Philadelphia 76ers and the Lakers.

“You see the numbers. You just can’t comprehend somebody putting up 50 a game with 25 rebounds,” Durant said before Friday’s game.

“You want to compete with that and try to match that as much as you can.

“It’s amazing just being in the top 10 with him, but to have the opportunity to pass him up, it’s pretty sweet.”

Giannis Antetokounmpo blocked a shot by James and stole the ball from him on consecutive possessions in the final minute as the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Lakers 105-101 in LA to claim a fifth win in seven games.

Stephen Curry finished with 27 points and a season-high 10 assists as the Golden State Warriors triumphed 137-103 at home against the Sacramento Kings.

World number one Aryna Sabalenka reached the final of the Brisbane International for the third year in a row with a 6-3 6-4 win against Karolina Muchova.

Sabalenka is aiming to win a third Australian Open title in four years later this month and continued her preparations with a dominant victory to set up a final against Marta Kostyuk, who beat fourth seed Jessica Pegula 6-0 6-3.

A French Open runner-up in 2023, Czech Muchova had won her previous three matches against Sabalenka.

But Muchova had no answer to the Belarusian’s power at the Queensland Tennis Centre and, although three match points slipped away, Sabalenka sealed victory when a Muchova shot sailed long.

“She is such a great player and I always enjoy battles against her.”

Sabalenka has not lost a set in four meetings with Ukrainian Kostyuk, the world number 26. The final takes place on Sunday.