Category Sports News

Sweden have sacked manager Jon Dahl Tomasson following a poor start to their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign.

They are bottom of Group B with one point from four games following a 1-0 defeat against Kosovo on Monday.

Sweden – who have an all-star forward line of Liverpool’s Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyokeres of Arsenal – drew with Slovenia and lost against Kosovo and Switzerland in their opening three group games.

The former Blackburn Rovers manager, who played for Newcastle United during a distinguished career, became Sweden’s first foreign coach when the ex-Denmark striker took over in February 2024.

“The decision is based on the fact the men’s national team has not delivered the results we hoped for,” said Swedish Football Association’s chairman Simon Astrom in a statement.

“There is still a chance of a play-off in March and our responsibility is to ensure we have as optimal conditions as possible to be able to reach a World Cup play-off.

“In this, we assess that a new leadership is required in the form of a new coach.”

Daniel Kristoffersson, football reporter for Swedish newspaper Sportbladet

Everything has gone wrong. He has implemented a system and tactics that we do not have the players for. We have lost to Kosovo twice having not scored a goal – even though we have world-class players like Viktor Gyokeres and Alexander Isak.

He has made players like Lucas Bergvall, Gyokeres and Isak look like Sunday League footballers. We could have expected a lot more from the Swedish national team. He hasn’t got anywhere near what the players are capable of. He was a dead man walking after the Kosovo game.

Before the qualification we were comparing this team to the one that was close to beating the Netherlands in the 2004 Euros quarter-final. Then, we had Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrik Larsson, Freddie Ljungberg, Olof Melberg – a fantastic team. If you look at the clubs the players play for and how they have performed, this is one of Sweden’s best teams. But the results are some of the worst. That’s 90% up to the coach.

Not content with having one major young prodigy, darts has hit the bullseye again – as Beau Greaves’ win over Luke Littler demonstrates.

Greaves may be a new name to some but has been recognised for years within the sport as an outstanding prospect.

Appropriately nicknamed ‘Beau ‘n’ Arrow’ the 21-year-old from Doncaster beat PDC world champion Littler in a thrilling decider on Monday to become the first woman to reach the final of the World Youth Championship.

The venue was a leisure centre in Wigan, but bigger stages await for Greaves, with the Grand Slam, PDC World Championship and a professional tour card on the horizon.

Victory over Littler came a day after the 18-year-old had won the World Grand Prix, his seventh major title in under two years.

“It was no surprise to me,” says Deta Hedman, a three-time women’s world championship-runner up who has played darts with Greaves since she was aged 10.

“Once in a while you have a talent that comes through like you had Luke, and Beau is now showing what she can do.

“I’ve not seen another woman who can play darts like Beau can – she’s such a natural. If Beau is in a competition with the rest of the women, normally we are playing for second place.

“Nothing seems to faze her at all and she just does her thing, that’s what I love. When she is on that oche, she is just another being.”

It was no fluke, with Littler – who averaged 107.4 to Greaves’ 105 – calling her “some talent”.

The double irony of her win over the teenager is some thought his participation was unfair on other players, and Greaves had previously questioned her ability to compete against the top men in the World Championship at Alexandra Palace.

“Men’s and ladies darts should be separate. I don’t think any lady will ever go to Ally Pally and win that. If you think that, you’re being silly,” said Greaves last July.

“I just don’t think we will ever be good enough to play against the likes of Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen or Littler.

“When I go to the Grand Slam I don’t look forward to it because I know I have got to play men. I don’t fancy my chances at all – I am just realistic.”

That was part of the reason the three-time WDF women’s world champion had declined to take part in the PDC’s main event – plus rules prevented her playing in both – since her debut defeat in 2022.

Greaves started playing with her older brother Taylor, who had a dartboard in his bedroom, and quickly showed her aptitude for the game.

“When she was 11 she went to Jersey with her mum and I remember her beating top women’s player Lisa Ashton and me,” Hedman told BBC Sport.

“Even then, I knew she was someone very special.”

Hedman was the first woman to beat a man in a televised major when she defeated Aaron Turner in the 2005 UK Open and says Greaves can compete at the highest level.

“I do believe Beau will do some damage. Some men do not like playing women even in this day and age as there’s more pressure,” she said.

“Whether she will ever win one of the big majors remains to be seen. She has the game to beat them.

“And she’s such a sweet down-to-earth lady from a lovely family. You couldn’t find a nicer young person.

“Within darts there is always going to be back-biting, jealousies but what you see from Beau is what you get and she has time for everyone, whoever you are.”

World number one Humphries has been among those to praise Greaves, who made history in February as the first woman to reach the fourth round of the UK Open where she led him 7-5 before eventually losing 10-7.

“I think she’s an amazing player and she deserves it,” Humphries said during his run to Sunday’s World Grand Prix final. “I predict that she’ll flourish playing in it [PDC Pro Tour].

“She’s been a really great player on the secondary tours this year. She’s good on the challenge tour, good on the development tour and she’ll be a real threat going forward for all the players. Not just for me but for everyone.

“I think she’ll do really well. If she’s relaxed and she’s got no pressure on her shoulders yes, I believe she will be top 64 within the two years for sure.”

Greaves will face defending champion Gian van Veen of the Netherlands in the youth final at Minehead in November.

The next instalment of Greaves v Littler could potentially come as early as next month too at the Grand Slam in Wolverhampton.

Manager Michael O’Neill felt had Northern Ireland beaten Germany at Windsor Park in World Cup qualifying on Monday night that they would have been in a “strong position to achieve something amazing”.

It was not to be with Nick Woltemade’s somewhat fortuitous goal the difference between the two sides in Belfast.

When the dust settles on a window during which his young side also beat Slovakia 2-0 on Friday, O’Neill will surely feel encouraged that such a possibility remains on the table as he seeks to take the side to the game’s biggest stage for the first time in four decades.

For the second time in five weeks, Northern Ireland’s players left the field against the four-time World Cup winners believing they could and perhaps should have taken something from the game.

In Cologne last month, it took until after the 70th minute before the visitors tired and quickfire goals from Nadiem Amiri and Florian Wirtz secured an unconvincing 3-1 win.

Back in Belfast on Monday night, it was Northern Ireland who finished the stronger side, but they could not find an equaliser during a final 25 minutes played largely in Germany’s third of the pitch.

The result ends any realistic chance of O’Neill’s side topping Group A, but the performance, allied with wins in their other two matches to date, means they can have real belief that they can both make and then succeed in the play-offs.

A draw in next month’s seemingly crunch fixture in Slovakia followed by a win over Luxembourg, provided as O’Neill put it “Germany take care of business at home when they play Slovakia” in the final matchday, would be enough for second place.

Even should that not come to pass, there remains a likely backdoor into the play-offs as an otherwise unqualified group winner from last year’s Nations League, although that would potentially mean a considerably stronger opponent in an away semi-final.

“We’ve gained some momentum and picked up some good results,” said defender Paddy McNair, one of two players in O’Neill’s squad who played for Northern Ireland in their last major tournament at Euro 2016.

“If I was the opposition, I would not like to face us in the play-offs.

It was only really Germany’s surprise loss to Slovakia in the opening round of fixtures that raised hopes of automatic qualification for the tournament in the USA, Mexico and Canada next summer.

Two-thirds of the way through the campaign, six points and two encouraging performances in defeat have offered plenty of positives.

The return of Daniel Ballard to the defence after injury in this window showed a player already benefitting from his brief exposure to the Premier League with Sunderland, while in a green shirt, Southampton midfielder Shea Charles continues to look like a top-flight player in waiting.

Against Slovakia on Friday night, Liverpool’s Conor Bradley put in one of the best individual performances for a Northern Ireland side in recent years and his suspension for the game against Germany was keenly felt.

Bradley’s link with Ethan Galbraith – who has started the past four games as an increasingly prominent member of the squad after a four-year wait between his second and third caps – was especially dangerous.

With Bradley able to return against Slovakia, it is a shame for Northern Ireland that the partnership will not get another run with Galbraith having picked up a second booking of the campaign himself against Germany.

For a side who had an average age of 25 years and 100 days against Germany, there continues to be signs of growth game on game and window on window.

“I think again it’s been another really positive camp. I think the full campaign sort of kept building, made more strides going forward, and the atmosphere around the place is brilliant. To be a part of it is class,” said midfielder Ali McCann.

“I think everyone’s just really looking forward to coming back in and it’s another massive game against Slovakia in November. We’ve shown that we can beat them, and I thought we were brilliant on Friday night.

Galbraith’s emergence as the obvious first-choice midfielder alongside the double-pivot of Charles and McCann gives the feeling that 10 of 11 names are inked on O’Neill’s team sheet when everyone is fit. The only exception remains a number nine.

Northern Ireland are, of course, not alone in that boat.

Woltemade’s winner, an attempted header from a corner that came off his shoulder, ended a 525-minute run going back to Tim Kleindienst’s strike against Italy in March without a German centre-forward scoring at international level.

England’s options behind Harry Kane have been a topic of conversation this month too. Oh what O’Neill would give for headaches such as those.

Jamie Reid, 31, started against Germany and was replaced by the recalled 35-year-old Josh Magennis at half-time. Both are playing their club football at League One level this season.

Callum Marshall, who made his West Ham debut this month but spent last year on loan at Huddersfield Town, came on in the 75th minute.

All three had half chances to equalise that they could not take on a night Northern Ireland drew a blank for the first time since a 0-0 draw with Belarus in October 2024.

Magennis, who has been a great servant for the side across an 84-cap career, noted that it’s “not like” Northern Ireland to fail to score, but believes the feeling among the players after the final whistle is a sign of progress itself.

“I have been fortunate to be in this squad a long time and played the so-called ‘bigger nations’ and to come off the pitch with a team of that calibre and be genuinely disappointed to not get at least a draw shows how much we have come on as a squad,” he said.

Britain’s Emma Raducanu struggled physically in a three-set loss to world number 219 Zhu Lin in the first round of the Ningbo Open in China.

Raducanu, 22, faded badly against the Chinese wildcard, losing 3-6 6-4 6-1 in two hours 26 minutes.

She had her blood pressure and vital signs taken during the second set and was given something to eat and drink by the physio.

She also had a medical timeout in the third set for treatment on her back, with her movement and service motion visibly hindered from then on.

Raducanu has two tournaments – the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo and the Hong Kong Open – left on her schedule this year.

Francis Roig, who has an agreement to coach Raducanu until the end of the season, is not with her in Ningbo.

Raducanu has played 50 matches on the WTA Tour this year, the most since her breakthrough US Open triumph in 2021.

The physical demands may be starting to show, with Raducanu’s movement falling away as former top-40 player Zhu extended the rallies to keep her on court for longer.

Raducanu won only 51% of points on her first serve and 38% on her second.

She raced into a 3-0 lead and served out the opening set despite four breaks of serve in the final five games.

She and Zhu exchanged breaks early in the second set before Raducanu asked for the physio. She left the court after Zhu forced a decider.

Raducanu grabbed at her back early in the third set after running for a forehand, and she made more errors as the match went on.

The season is not ending as Raducanu had envisaged.

In Ningbo it appeared she had not fully recovered from last week’s illness, and her lower back problem, which flares up from time to time, hindered her mobility.

It is only two weeks since she had three match points to beat world number five Jessica Pegula in Beijing. But since that deciding set, life has been a struggle.

Ningbo was Raducanu’s 22nd tournament of the year, which represents a very full schedule.

Striker Robert Lewandowski has a hamstring injury and could miss Barcelona’s game against Real Madrid later this month.

The 37-year-old, who scored for Poland in a 2-0 World Cup qualifying win against Lithuania on Sunday, will not feature in his club’s La Liga game against Girona this weekend.

Barcelona then face Olympiakos in the Champions League next Tuesday before taking on Real Madrid in El Clasico at the Bernabeu on 26 October.

Barcelona have not indicated how long Lewandowski is expected to be missing for, but Spanish media have suggested it could be about four weeks.

“Robert Lewandowski has suffered a hamstring injury in his left thigh. He will be sidelined, and his recovery time will depend on how the injury progresses,” Barcelona said in a statement.

Lewandowski, who has scored four goals in nine appearances for the La Liga champions this season, joins Raphinha, Gavi, Dani Olmo, Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Joan Garcia on the sidelines.