Chelsea defender Levi Colwill talks to BBC Sport’s Liam MacDevitt about giving back to his boyhood club Sholing FC where he has invested financially, his aims for Chelsea this season, and playing for England.
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Sunderland are up against the odds, but they are still dreaming.
They are the only team from outside the top flight who remain in the Women’s FA Cup and face the in-form holders Manchester United away from home.
But their ambition for Saturday’s quarter-final (17: 15 GMT kick-off) is simple – to upset the odds and reach the last four.
“In an FA Cup game, anything can happen”, defender Amy Goddard says. “We’re going to go there and hopefully put in a performance.
” We’re not going to go there and expect to lose – we’re going to go there and expect to win and that’s the mindset that we’ve got to have. “
Like some of her team-mates, 26-year-old Goddard has top-flight experience.
She has featured in the Women’s Super League for Yeovil Town and has even faced United in this competition before when she was at Bridgwater United – something she says gives her hope for Sunderland’s chances.
” We only lost 2-0 so I think in terms of that and the strength of the team that we’ve got now is completely different, so we can definitely put on a good performance and show them what we’re about, “she adds.
She is not the only person who will be familiar with United – manager Melanie Reay has recently been completing her Uefa Pro Licence course alongside Red Devils boss Marc Skinner.
Reay told BBC Radio Newcastle:” We’ve had a lot of banter over the last 48 hours! They’re going to take the game seriously as I would expect.
“We’ve got full respect for each other so I am expecting a very strong Manchester United team on Saturday night”.
Sunderland will be without top scorer Eleanor Dale on Saturday, who was ruled out after injuring her knee last month.
However, the Black Cats head into the cup fixture in a positive mood after winning a local derby against title challengers Durham last weekend.
United may be in the division above – but Saturday’s cup game isn’t a total mismatch. Sunderland, like many other second-tier outfits, are now fully professional and finished just five points shy of promotion last year.
The Women’s Championship is rapidly becoming more professional – Goddard’s side train four days a week as well as competing in their games at the weekend.
They will relish the opportunity against United, but are not just viewing it as a big day out. Goddard says Sunderland want to feature in high-profile fixtures more regularly in the future.
Victories over Portsmouth, Exeter and Huddersfield have got Sunderland to this stage, winning £169, 000 in prize money in the process.
Another £90, 000 is up for grabs for the winner on Saturday, while a defeat would net the losing side a further £22, 000.
Recent increases in the total prize fund makes the FA Cup an important source of income for clubs – especially those further down the pyramid.
“I think as the game’s growing, more of a financial boost is great for the club”, says Goddard.
“In terms of the club point of view, regardless of whatever competition you’re in, you want to win and when there is the financial part to it that’s obviously a little bit more important”.
While they are away from home at the weekend, Goddard says the Black Cats ‘ vocal support will give them a boost.
Sunderland have benefited from strong attendances this term, especially when games have been played at the Stadium of Light – with 15, 387 attending their league derby against Newcastle.
“I think in the north east, it’s just different”, she says. “They live and breathe football. That’s important for us as players.
” When you play on a Sunday, they are the 12th player on the field and every time something goes right you can hear them.
Friday’s all-female card at London’s Royal Albert Hall will mark International Women’s Day by celebrating the depth of women’s boxing in the United Kingdom.
The event is headlined by the unification fight between welterweight world champions Natasha Jonas and Lauren Price.
Unbeaten lightweight champion Caroline Dubois defends her WBC title against Bo Mi Re Shin.
In homage to the female code, BBC Sport – with the help of Scotland’s former middleweight champion Hannah Rankin – has compiled the top 10 pound-for-pound rankings for active British fighters.
“These rankings are not solid, though”, Rankin says.
9. Rhiannon Dixon (Former WBO lightweight champion – 10 wins, 1 loss, age 29)
8. Sandy Ryan (Former WBO welterweight champion – 7 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw, age 31)
7. Caroline Dubois (Current WBC lightweight champion, 10 wins and 1 draw, age 24)
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Newport-born Price is flying the flag for Welsh boxing. After capturing gold at Tokyo 2020, she made the transition to the paid ranks with real ease.
In just her seventh fight, Price become her nation’s first professional female boxing world champion and 14th world title holder beating welterweight champion Jessica McCaskill.
Price would raise her profile even further with a win over veteran Jonas.
“I’ve sparred hundreds of rounds with Lauren and to see her achieve everything she has done in such a small time is incredible”, Rankin says.
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Knockouts are generally tough to come by in women’s boxing, but Hartlepool’s 33-year-old Savannah Marshall is the exception to the rule.
The former undisputed super-middleweight world champion, who also won a title at middleweight, has stopped 10 opponents in 13 fights.
“It’s what makes Savannah so special”, Rankin says. “It’s why we all tune in – you’re expecting the knockout blow at any point”.
Marshall is the only woman to beat the self-proclaimed GWOAT, Claressa Shields, as an amateur.
Shields did avenge that defeat in 2022, though, which is the only blemish on Marshall’s record.
Londoner Ellie Scotney is an unbeaten WBO and IBF super-bantamweight champion who quietly goes about her business.
Unlike Marshall, there is a lack of knockout power with all of 10 of her bouts going the distance.
But the 26-year-old more than makes up for that with some exceptional boxing ability. She is a fluid mover who glides around the ring and, as Rankin puts it, “showcases what being a boxer is all about”.
Scotney retained her title in October and has eyes set on Australia’s WBC featherweight champion Skye Nicolson.
“Ellie has been matched so hard throughout her career – she’s never had an easy fight. She has fought different styles of fighters and has improved and shown something different in each of her wins”, Rankin says.
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Natasha Jonas is is a fighter who has crossed eras in women’s boxing. In London 2012 she became the first British female boxer to compete in the Olympics.
She, alongside the likes of Ireland’s Katie Taylor, has spearheaded the sport’s rise in popularity ever since.
The 40-year-old – who has won 16 pro fights, lost two and drawn one – is now enjoying a golden period in the twilight of her career.
After capturing the much-sought-after world title in February 2022, she has not taken a step back. Her next two wins were in unification bouts and she then moved to light-middleweight to win two more titles.
” Natasha is a real role model for all young fighters. She suffered a crippling defeat early on in her career and rebuilt, showing just what it takes to overcoming adversity, “Rankin says.
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The top spot goes to Chantelle Cameron – a former undisputed world champion with 20 wins and one draw and a fighter who stunned the great Katie Taylor in her own backyard.
Cameron, 33, is a terrific boxer with a solid jab, timing and ability to control the distance.
She won her first world title- the WBC light-welterweight strap – in her 13th fight to very little fanfare.
She would become England’s first undisputed champion in the four-belt era, but still very few were talking about the Northampton fighter.
Cameron’s breakout moment, however, came in the most emphatic fashion when she inflicted a first career defeat on Taylor in 2023.
” I had absolutely no hesitation in putting Chantelle at number one, “Rankin says.
Pope Francis has released an audio message thanking well-wishers around the world who have been praying for his recovery, his first public sign of life since he was hospitalised three weeks ago.
The short, two-line message was recorded by Francis on Thursday from Rome’s Gemelli hospital and broadcast to the faithful who had gathered in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican for the nightly recitation of the rosary prayer.
“I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your prayers for my health from the square, I accompany you from here”, the pope said, speaking softly in his native Spanish and with laboured breaths.
“May God bless you and the Virgin protect you. Thank you”.
Pilgrims had been gathering in St Peter’s Square every evening since the 88-year-old pontiff’s hospitalisation on February 14. The hundreds of people there applauded when they heard the message.
On Friday, the Vatican said the pope had a “calm night” of rest and woke up just before 8am.
Francis was initially diagnosed with bronchitis but this developed into pneumonia in both lungs, requiring continuously evolving treatment and prompting alarm across the globe. Double pneumonia is a serious infection that can inflame and scar both lungs, making it difficult to breathe.
The pope has not been seen in public since entering hospital, his longest such absence since his papacy as head of the Catholic Church started 12 years ago. His doctors have not said how long the treatment might last.
The Vatican has been providing twice-daily updates on his health, one in the morning and in an evening medical bulletin. On Thursday, it said Francis was in “stable” condition for a third day in a row.
Nonetheless, “the doctors are still maintaining a reserved prognosis”, said the Vatican, as they are not sure how his condition will evolve.
Pope Francis releases an audio message to thank everyone who has been praying for his health.
The audio clip was broadcast in St. Peter’s Square on Thursday, March 6, as Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime led the nightly Rosary prayer. https: //t. co/owgis4dsGX pic. twitter.com/bi7nTAzDRs
Francis missed the formal Ash Wednesday celebrations in Rome marking the start of Lent, the six-week period leading up to Easter, but took part in a blessing in his private suite.
During previous hospitalisations, the pope had appeared on the hospital’s balcony for his weekly Angelus prayer at noon on Sundays. He has missed the last three, however, and no announcement has yet been made about whether he will make an appearance this weekend.
The Vatican confirmed on Thursday that senior cardinal Michael Czerny would stand in for Francis and lead the mass marking the first Sunday of Lent this weekend.
Francis has experienced several bouts of ill health over the past two years and is prone to lung infections because he had pleurisy, an inflammation of the lungs that can cause sharp chest pain, as a young adult and had part of one lung removed.
Four years after the death of Argentinian football legend Diego Maradona, seven healthcare professionals will go on trial accused of negligence during his final days.
More than 100 witnesses, including members of Maradona’s family and doctors who tended to him over the years, will take the stand over the course of the four-month trial, which starts on Tuesday in the Buenos Aires suburb of San Isidro.
The seven defendants risk between eight and 25 years in jail if convicted.
Diego Armando Maradona died on November 25, 2020 at the age of 60 while recovering from brain surgery for a blood clot, after decades of battling cocaine and alcohol addictions.
He was found dead in bed at a rented house in an exclusive Buenos Aires neighbourhood where he was brought after being discharged from hospital two weeks after surgery.
He was found to have died of a heart attack.
The night nurse said he had seen some “warning signs” but had “received orders not to wake him up”.
Maradona’s death, which came in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, plunged Argentina into deep mourning.
Tens of thousands of people queued to bid farewell to him as his body lay in state in the presidential palace.
Neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, psychologist Carlos Diaz, medical coordinator Nancy Forlini, nursing coordinator Mariano Perroni, doctor Pedro Pablo Di Spagna and nurse Ricardo Almiro will all stand trial next week.
Another nurse, Gisela Dahiana Madrid, asked to be tried by jury separately.
Her trial is set for July.
Prosecutors have accused the medical professionals of providing “reckless” and “deficient” home treatment to Maradona, alleging he was abandoned to his fate for a “prolonged, agonising period” before his death.
A panel of 20 medical experts convened by Argentina’s public prosecutor concluded in 2021 that Maradona “would have had a better chance of survival” with adequate treatment in an appropriate medical facility.
The investigating magistrate in the case said each of the accused played a role in the events.
The accused all deny any responsibility for the star’s death.
Vadim Mischanchuk, lawyer for the psychiatrist Cosachov, said he was very optimistic of an acquittal given his client was in charge of Maradona’s mental rather than physical health.
Maradona’s family claim that leaked audio and text messages show the star’s health was in imminent danger, Mario Baudry, a lawyer for Maradona’s son Dieguito, said.
He said the messages showed the medical team’s strategy was to try to ensure that Maradona’s daughters did not intervene “because if they did, they]the medical staff] would lose their money”.
Maradona is immortalised in countless murals, statues and exhibitions across Argentina, as well as in the tattoos sported by his legions of fans.
He will also soon have a mausoleum on a 1, 000-square-metre (11-square-foot) site in the heart of Buenos Aires.
“We want our father to be close to the love of the people”, his daughter Dalma Maradona said in a video presentation of the site, which is expected to receive up to a million visitors a year and will be free of charge for Argentines.
Here is the situation on Friday, March 7: