Nigeria’s D’Tigers’ quest for a second Afrobasket title received another boost following the team’s emphatic win over Tunisia in the 2025 men’s Afrobasket, beating the North Africans 87-66 in a one-sided encounter on Friday.
The victory came on the back of a victory over Madagascar earlier in the week.
Arsenal face an immediate test of their title credentials against a revamped Manchester United, while a new-look Liverpool launch the new Premier League season at home to Bournemouth on Friday.
Newcastle are set to be without wantaway star striker Alexander Isak for a tough trip to Aston Villa.
AFP Sports looks at the key talking points ahead of the first weekend of the 2025/2026 season.
Benjamin Sesko and Viktor Gyokeres are set to make their Premier League debuts for United and Arsenal, respectively at Old Trafford after a summer that could have seen them line up for their opposition on Sunday.
Arsenal were linked with a move to Sesko for over a year before deciding to bet on Gyokeres as the man to fire them to a first Premier League title since 2004 for a fee that could rise to £66 million ($89 million).
The Gunners have finished second for the past three seasons and were lacking a clinical finisher to take that final step towards being champions
Gyokeres netted a remarkable 97 times in 102 games during two years at Sporting Lisbon, much of which came under the orders of United boss Ruben Amorim.
Instead of being reunited with the Swede, Amorim has been given the resources to overhaul his attack with the signings of Sesko, Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha at a combined cost of over £200 million
United endured their worst season since being relegated in 1974 during Amorim’s first year in charge.
The Red Devils finished 15th in the Premier League and failed to qualify for Europe after losing the Europa League final.
Both clubs desperately need a fast start and the battle between the two new number nines will go a long way to deciding the outcome.
READ ALSO: Arsenal Have ‘Belief’ To End Trophy Drought, Says Arteta
Liverpool have bucked the trend by outspending their rivals with a squad overhaul fresh from winning the league.
Only once, Manchester City in 2019, have the Premier League champions been the biggest spending English club in the market since 2007.
A £260 million outlay on Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez is far from over with Isak and Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi linked with moves to Anfield.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez are among those to have been sold to raise funds, while the club are still reeling from the tragic death of Diogo Jota in a car accident last month.
The transition has exposed some teething problems in pre-season as a slick attacking force has been picked off on the counter-attack.
Arne Slot, though, is confident his side are ready as they look to defend the title for the first time since 1984.
“I think we’ve lost five to six players that played quite a lot of minutes for us last season and we brought in four new ones, so then it’s normal that there’s a little bit of adaptation,” said Slot.
“But we are definitely ready for the league to start.”
As the Premier League’s traditional “big six” of Liverpool, Manchester City, United, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Tottenham have flexed their financial muscle in the transfer market, Villa and Newcastle have been squeezed out.
Constrained by the need to meet financial sustainability rules, Villa’s only major signing has been Ivorian striker Evann Guessand from Nice.
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe has had to field constant questioning on the status of Isak, who sat out pre-season preparations in a bid to force through a desired move to Liverpool.
The Magpies’ attempts to replace the Swede have repeatedly fallen down with Sesko, Mbuemo, Hugo Ekitike, Liam Delap and Joao Pedro among those to opt for moves elsewhere.
But both Villa and Newcastle have consistently outperformed some of the “big six” in recent seasons and will be targeting Champions League qualification again this season.
Premier League Fixtures (all times GMT)
Friday
Liverpool v Bournemouth (1900)
Saturday
Aston Villa v Newcastle (1130), Brighton v Fulham, Sunderland v West Ham, Tottenham v Burnley, Wolves v Man City (1630)
Sunday
Chelsea v Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest v Brentford (both 1300), Man Utd v Arsenal (1530)
Monday
Leeds v Everton (1900)
Reigning champions Liverpool kick off the Premier League season on Friday with Europe’s richest league strengthened by a remarkable £2 billion ($2.7 billion) spending splurge.
Liverpool will include £100 million midfield signing Florian Wirtz and new forward Hugo Ekitike in their squad to face Bournemouth at Anfield, among a handful of new recruits.
They are favourites to retain their crown, but the unknown factor is the potential effect of the tragic death of Portuguese forward Diogo Jota in a car crash in Spain in July.
Arsenal, one club hoping to topple Liverpool, face an immediate test of their title credentials against a revamped Manchester United on Sunday.
Newcastle are set to be without unsettled star striker Alexander Isak for a tough trip to Aston Villa — the Swede is wanted by Liverpool.
Here are several issues to watch on the opening weekend:
Liverpool have changed their careful shopping habits and suddenly outspent their rivals, overhauling a squad fresh from winning the league.
Only once since 2007, when Manchester City did it in 2019, have the Premier League champions been the biggest-spending English club in the market.
A spree that has already seen Liverpool’s US owners approve £260 million on Wirtz, Ekitike and defenders Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez, is far from over with Isak and Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi linked with moves to Anfield.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez have been sold.
The transition has shown teething problems in pre-season with a slick attack let down by a porous defence.
Manager Arne Slot is confident his side are ready as they seek to retain the title for the first time since 1984.
“I think we’ve lost five to six players that played quite a lot of minutes for us last season and we brought in four new ones, so then it’s normal that there’s a little bit of adaptation,” said Slot.
“But we are definitely ready for the league to start.”
READ ALSO: India To Bid For Commonwealth Games As Part Of Olympic Push
Benjamin Sesko and Viktor Gyokeres are set to make their Premier League debuts for United and Arsenal, respectively, at Old Trafford after a summer that could have seen them line up the other way on Sunday.
Arsenal were linked with a move to Sesko for over a year before deciding to bet on Gyokeres as the man to fire them to a first Premier League title since 2004 for a fee that could rise to £66 million.
The Gunners have finished second for the past three seasons, lacking a clinical finisher to take that final step towards being champions
Gyokeres netted a remarkable 97 times in 102 games in two years at Sporting Lisbon, much of which came under United’s now-manager Ruben Amorim.
Instead of being reunited with the Swede, Amorim has overhauled his attack with the signings of Sesko, Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha at a combined cost of over £200 million.
United, one of the world’s richest clubs, had to spend big after their worst season since being relegated in 1974.
In Amorim’s first year in charge, the Red Devils finished 15th in the Premier League and failed to qualify for Europe, losing the Europa League final.
Both clubs desperately need a fast start and the battle between the two new number nines will go a long way to deciding the outcome.
As the Premier League’s traditional “big six” of Liverpool, Manchester City, United, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Tottenham have flexed their financial muscle in the transfer market, Villa and Newcastle have been squeezed out.
Constrained by the need to meet financial sustainability rules, Villa’s only major signing has been Ivorian striker Evann Guessand from Nice.
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe has had to field constant questions about Isak, who sat out pre-season preparations in a bid to force through a move to Liverpool.
Despite having Saudi owners, the Magpies’ attempts to replace the Swede have repeatedly fallen through, with most of their targets going elsewhere.
But both Villa and Newcastle have consistently outperformed some of the “big six” in recent seasons and will be targeting Champions League qualification again this season.
RB Leipzig on Friday announced the signing of Brazilian striker Romulo Cardoso from Turkish side Goztepe to replace Benjamin Sesko, who has left for Manchester United.
Romulo, 23, has signed until 2030 for a reported fee of 25 million euros ($29.2 million) including bonuses.
Leipzig badly needed a forward after Sesko’s big-money move to United.
The Slovenian, 22, reportedly cost United 85 million euros.
Romulo scored 13 times and laid on nine assists in 29 league matches last campaign.
Leipzig finished seventh last season, missing out on European football for the first time in the Bundesliga top flight, and have undergone a rebuild in Jurgen Klopp’s first off-season as Red Bull’s global head of football.
The club have signed several promising youngsters ahead of next weekend’s Bundesliga kickoff, including winger Johan Bakayoko and midfielder Arthur Vermeeren.
Fresh from storming to a record-equalling 19th English top-flight title, Liverpool have not held back in transforming Arne Slot’s squad in pursuit of an era of Premier League dominance.
On top of retaining veteran stars Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah to new contracts, the Reds have splashed out £260 million ($350 million) and are reportedly far from finished in the transfer market.
Two of the Bundesliga’s most promising talents Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike have arrived at Anfield to add extra creativity and goals.
Jeremie Frimpong has also made the move from Germany with the daunting task of replacing Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back, while Milos Kerkez joined from Bournemouth as the long-term successor to Andy Robertson at left-back.
More defensive reinforcements are imminent with the club closing in on deals for Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi and 18-year-old Italian centre-back Giovanni Leoni from Parma.
But it is the potential addition of Newcastle striker Alexander Isak for a British transfer record fee in excess of £115 million that is the transfer saga of the English summer.
READ ALSO: India To Bid For Commonwealth Games As Part Of Olympic Push
Liverpool were among the lowest Premier League spenders last year as Slot oversaw a steady transition from Jurgen Klopp in spectacular style.
A huge investment this time round is also possible because the Reds are among the slickest movers in the market when it comes to sales.
The departures of Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez, Jarell Quansah, Caoimhin Kelleher, Alexander-Arnold and Tyler Morton have raised around £200 million.
Liverpool’s bold strategy of tearing up a title-winning team is a risky and rare experiment.
Only once, Manchester City in 2019, have the Premier League champions been the biggest spending English club in the market since 2007.
After years of battling against the financial power of Abu Dhabi-backed City, Liverpool are now flexing their muscles thanks to years of commercial growth and prudent ownership.
“It doesn’t feel Liverpool-like to me,” said former defender Jamie Carragher at the thought of a new £69 million striker Ekitike playing second fiddle to Isak.
After decades in the doldrums prior to Klopp’s arrival, Liverpool are aiming to bring back the glory days the club has not had since the 1980s.
The last time Liverpool won back-to-back titles was in 1984 and doing so this season would come with the added bonus of overtaking Manchester United as English football’s top dogs.
To do so, Slot has recognised the need to strike the right balance that still harnesses the best from his side’s extra firepower.
A pre-season trend of high-scoring encounters continued in losing the Community Shield to Crystal Palace on penalties after twice blowing the lead.
“Now we are better in creating and getting promising situations than we were, in my opinion, throughout the whole of last season,” said Slot.
“What made us really strong last season was we only won mostly by a margin of one goal and that had mostly to do with us keeping a clean sheet or as a maximum conceding one goal.”
Liverpool also have extra motivation to defend their title as they try to honour a lost friend and team-mate in Diogo Jota.
The Portuguese international was killed aged just 28 alongside his brother after a car accident in northern Spain last month.
Tributes to Jota will continue throughout the season with “Forever 20” — his shirt number, which the club have now retired — printed on Liverpool’s jerseys.
Defending champions Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka booked quarter-final berths at the rain-hit ATP-WTA Cincinnati Open on Wednesday with straight-set wins.
Sinner shrugged off a mid-match rain interruption lasting nearly three hours as he advanced with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) victory over Adrian Mannarino.
He next faces Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime, who beat Benjamin Bonzi of France 6-4, 6-3.
Sabalenka, taken to three sets in her previous match with Emma Raducanu, defeated Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 6-1, 7-5, winning a season-leading 50th match of 2025 and reaching her 29th career last-eight at the elite 1000 level.
Sabalenka had to work after surrendering a second-set break, but she broke Bouzas Maneiro in the final game to seal the victory.
“The key was to focus and put as much pressure as possible on her serve,” Sabalenka said. “I was up a break, made a couple of mistakes and she broke me back.
“I’m glad to win in straight sets – I didn’t want to stay for three hours.”
World number one Sinner, playing his first tournament since lifting the trophy at Wimbledon, notched his 24th consecutive hardcourt match win to gain his fifth quarter-final of the season.
The victory required patience, with the Italian who turns 24 on Saturday passing some of the afternoon weather pause by playing cards with his team.
Sinner had won the first set and they were on serve in the second when they returned, but the Frenchman’s tricky game took a toll as Sinner was broken while trying to serve out the match.
The second set instead went to a tiebreak, with the Italian firing his 11th and 12th aces to clinch victory.
“He’s a very difficult opponent, different from the other payers,” Sinner said. “He can read the opponent well.
“It was a struggle to close it out, but I’m happy to be in the quarter-finals.”
Earlier former champion Alexander Zverev polished off a weather-hit third-round victory, winning the final four points of a 6-4, 6-4 win over Brandon Nakashima.
The entire one-game exercise, with 2021 Cincy winner Zverev leading 6-4, 5-4 when play resumed, took less than two minutes, with the third seed set for a later fourth-round encounter against Toronto finalist Karen Khachanov.
Fifth seed Ben Shelton, last week’s Toronto winner, reached the fourth round with a 7-6 (7/3), 6-3, victory over Roberto Bautista Agut in a match rescheduled from Tuesday.
READ ALSO: India To Bid For Commonwealth Games As Part Of Olympic Push
Swiatek advances
Women’s third seed Iga Swiatek and men’s seventh seed Holger Rune both booked quarter-final berths before afternoon showers struck.
Wimbledon champion Swiatek beat Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 6-3, overcoming 33 unforced errors in a 95-minute victory.
“I wanted to be more solid than in my last match,” Swiatek said. “I’m happy with the level of my focus and the consistency.”
Rune advanced as 2024 finalist Frances Tiafoe retired with lower back pain with Denmark’s Rune up 6-4, 3-1.
The match was a re-run of a quarter-final here a year ago, won by the American who went on to fall to Sinner in the final.
Tiafoe received treatment on his back but it didn’t seem to help as Rune gained control.
The American walked dejectedly off court, carrying only a pair of shoes while an official carted away his massive tennis bag.
Rune, bothered this season by his own injury worries, secured his 100th career hard-court win and his first defeat of a top 20 opponent since he beat Carlos Alcaraz in the Barcelona final in April.
In another match interrupted on Tuesday, Magda Linette reached the fourth round at Cincinnati for the first time with a 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-3 upset of fourth-seeded American Jessica Pegula.