Category Sports News

After obtaining the rights for five years, Disney+ will continue to broadcast the Women’s Champions League starting in 2019.

The streaming service will offer the entire 2025-26 campaign’s 75 matches.

The competition will have an entirely new format starting with an 18-team league before moving on to the knockout phase.

The Uefa Women’s Champions League, according to Disney+ EMEA general manager Karl Holmes, is the best in terms of performance, commitment, and passion.

Disney+ reportedly had 125 million subscribers worldwide in March.

Netflix obtained the rights to watch the USA Women’s World Cups of 2027 and 2031 live.

2025 World artistic European gymnastics competition

Messe Leipzig, Germany Date: May 26-31

The Mixed Team Final will make its competitive debut at the European Gymnastics Association.

The Leipzig, Germany championships will take place on Monday.

Ruby Evans, a British Olympian, describes the mixed-team competition as an “exciting” addition to the Los Angeles Olympics program for 2028.

Evans claims that it “adds a different challenge and a little variety to the championships.”

But how does it operate and what is it?

The event will feature one female and one male gymnast from each federation, who will add their individual performance data to the overall team total.

The 16 mixed teams with the highest individual qualification scores advance to the final while female gymnasts compete on floor, parallel, and horizontal bars. The teams’ composition is determined by the qualification scores, not in advance.

It’s a great way to combine men’s and women’s gymnastics, said Jake Jarman, who won the Olympic floor bronze medal at the Olympics last year for Team GB in Paris. Watching the debut of the mixed team event and how it fares with both the audience and the fans will be very interesting.

A sizable group of athletes from Leeds Gymnastics Centre includes Luke Whitehouse, Harry Hepworth, and Jonas Rushworth.

Olympian Jarman, British all-around champion Jamie Lewis, and world champion Courtney Tulloch will join them in the competition.

Whitehouse will try his hardest to keep his European floor title, insisting to BBC Sport. If I do, I try to use it as a boost.

Pressure is a right, they say. It would be incredible to go out there and capture the title twice in a row.

A less experienced women’s team, which includes new British all-around champion Alia Leat, Ruby Stacey, and Ruby Evans, joins the men.

Thursday, 29 May: Women’s all-around – 13: 00-15: 00 on BBC Two, and men’s all-around 17: 25-20: 20 on BBC iPlayer.

Friday, 30 May: Apparatus finals – 15: 00-18: 00 on BBC Two, and rings final 18: 00-18: 40 on BBC iPlayer.

Saturday, 31 May: Apparatus finals – 12: 00-16: 00 on BBC Two.

Play-off finals are always tense, but Sheffield United fans could be made to feel extra anxious ahead of Saturday’s Championship game against Sunderland.

The Blades’ play-off record makes for disappointing reading. They have failed to score in any of their previous attempts and have never succeeded in any of the finals they have reached.

There is also a lot to be desired about their Wembley record, which hasn’t been won since 1925.

If you’re a fan of football, there’s a good chance you’ve noticed that clubs have laid their ghosts to rest in 2025.

Newcastle United celebrated its first domestic trophy triumph in 70 years with the Carabao Cup victory in March.

Crystal Palace, for the first time in their history, won the FA Cup final last weekend to win significant silverware.

Tottenham’s 41-year quest for a European trophy came to an end with victory in the Europa League on Wednesday, perhaps in the vein of the Magpies and Eagles.

Longing for glory has also been ended in other countries as well, including England.

In their 122-year history, Go Ahead Eagles won the Coppa Italia for the first time in Bologna’s victory after 51 years, and in the Netherlands, Bologna won the Coppa Italia.

Sheffield United fans might not want to or need to be reminded that their current standing is their worst record in the play-offs.

Nine attempts have been made.

However, they can be encouraged by the fact that both the other teams, who had zero from nine records, now both boast one from ten.

Preston’s 4-0 defeat of Swindon Town in the League One play-off final in 2015 put an end to Preston’s miserable play-off campaign, and Brentford, who are now Premier League legends, also made it 10th time lucky when they defeated Swansea in the Championship play-off final in 2021.

The Blades will attempt to give Lincoln City, who have lost seven of their attempts, the unwanted title of worst play-off record.

Unsurprisingly, Chris Wilder, a veteran United boss, doesn’t get bogged down in the past.

Everybody talks about our play-off record locally, and perhaps nationally, but not a single word of it has entered my or the players’ minds, Wilder said on BBC Radio Sheffield.

They are “absolutely optimistic and determined,” and they look forward to the challenge of attending Wembley and hoping to win.

There is one man who holds the key to Sheffield United’s hopes, even though they may have a terrible record in the play-offs and indeed at Wembley.

Boss Wilder has won promotion to the top four tiers despite never having been able to win the EFL play-offs.

With a 3-1 victory over York City at the national stadium in 2010, he resurrected League Two.

The 57-year-old hasn’t performed as well in the second-tier play-off campaign this season, either; their 6-0 aggregate victory over Bristol City is their largest winning margin to date in a play-off semi-final.

As everyone else has it said, “Wembley is no place to lose.”

This play-off final is the first to be contested by teams that finished more than 12 points apart in the regular season due to United’s 14 points split with Sunderland in the Championship table.

The negative aspect of Sheffield United is that, in 1994, Burnley made fun of amassing a dozen fewer points than Stockport to advance to the second tier.

However, there have only been two (from eight) instances in which a team has finished 10 or more points behind the team they defeated in the final before coming out on top.

It’s one apiece in each of the two games this season, with both teams winning at home.

The team that handles the situation and plays the game will win any big game, Wilder continued.

“I have no idea what kind of game to expect from them,” she said. We will have to disassemble them if they are seated.

They have threats all over the pitch and are a young side with plenty of energy and personality. Without their bad side, they wouldn’t have gotten the points they did.

Charles Schwab Challenge first round

-7 Pak (US), -4 Wallace (Eng), Cauley (US), Griffin (US), Hossler (US), Poston (US), Rodgers (US), Spaun (US), Schmid (Ger), Hisatsune (Jap)

Other notables: -2 Scheffler (US), -1 Spieth (US), and E Fowler (US).

Matt Wallace, who scored a four-under-par 66 in the first round, and is now tied for second place in the Charles Schwab Challenge, is in second place.

At Colonial Country Club, he leads PGA Tour rookie John Pak by three shots to the left. He is one of nine members of the chasing pack.

Wallace’s round ended with another birdie after the front nine, but he made three birdies on the back nine’s first five holes.

American Pak, who finished in the top 25 this year, birdied five birdies and eagle in a career-best 63.

“On&nbsp, a&nbsp, day&nbsp, where&nbsp, I&nbsp, didn’t&nbsp, hit&nbsp, a&nbsp, lot&nbsp, of&nbsp, fairways&nbsp, on&nbsp, a&nbsp, golf&nbsp, course&nbsp, where&nbsp, you&nbsp, have to&nbsp, hit&nbsp, a&nbsp, lot&nbsp, of&nbsp, fairways, &nbsp, I&nbsp, posted&nbsp, a&nbsp, decent&nbsp, score”,&nbsp, he said.

What is happening with Chelsea’s women’s team’s ownership?

Chelsea’s sale to parent company BlueCo for £198.7 million in April helped boost the company’s profit.

Then it was revealed last week that Alexis Ohanian, a Reddit founder and author who has a history of supporting women’s sports, had purchased an 8-10% stake for £20 million.

The agreement appears to be a clever move to navigate the rules governing profit and sustainability, as well as a huge improvement for Chelsea’s already impressive and dominant team.

What’s the background, then? Has the sale identified a need to close a loophole? What does it mean for Chelsea’s men’s transfer funds? And how might this ground-breaking investment help Chelsea women advance?

The new owners have been known to profit from Premier League rules since consortium BlueCo’s £4.25 billion purchase of Chelsea in 2022.

First, long-term contracts: In the five years to 2024, Chelsea spent almost $1.7 billion on transfers. After dividing those fees among six, seven, and eight-year deals, they were given the right to continue spending. Amortization is a term for the tactic.

Transfer fees could only be spread across a player’s initial contract for a maximum of five years, according to Uefa’s reacted in 2023 by changing its regulations. Later that year, the Premier League followed suit.

Chelsea has also benefited from PSR by selling local players for “pure profit.” In 2023, Chelsea sold Conor Gallagher for £33 million to Atletico Madrid and Mason Mount for £52.5 million to Manchester United for £33 million.

Enzo Maresca, the head coach of Chelsea, demanded that the Premier League change its financial guidelines last summer when he was questioned about the sale of Gallagher.

In order to maintain its PSR compliance, Chelsea’s financial accounts from April 2024 revealed that the club had sold two hotels to another sister company.

According to the associated-party transaction rules, the Premier League ratified the sales in accordance with what is known as a “fair market valuation.”

The club made a pre-tax profit of £128.4 million, and it also successfully sold the women’s team and other subsidiaries to themselves for around £198.7 million.

Will this flaw be fixed? The Premier League made a June 2024 attempt that failed to receive enough votes.

Both Uefa and the English Football League (EFL) have said they will not allow it to be sold, along with selling training facilities and other assets.

Under the leadership of Chelsea’s domestic rivals, head coach Sonia Bompastor, who replaced Emma Hayes over the summer, has reached a new height this year.

An unbeaten domestic campaign and a second treble in four years were completed with the FA Cup victory over Manchester United at Wembley. Six consecutive Women’s Super League titles have been won by them.

As he watched Sunday’s victory alongside his wife Serena Williams, Ohanian called Chelsea the “queens of global soccer” who would “billion-dollar franchise.”

Bompastor praised Ohanian’s investment, saying it represented “values” and demonstrated respect for Chelsea’s accomplishments and the women’s game.

Prior to joining American club Angel City FC in 2024 for £192.3 million, the 42-year-old had previously been the largest shareholder in the women’s soccer team. Prior to this deal, the 42-year-old had previously invested in women’s football.

Chelsea made it known that they had ambitious future goals and that they wanted to find a private investor for the women’s team in the summer.

By breaking records in the women’s transfer market and hiring one of Europe’s top coaches in Bompastor, they kept their word despite the fact that the men’s team will benefit from it.

Naomi Girma, a female football player from the USA, made a world-record move to Chelsea in January. The fee is believed to be in the region of £900, 000 ($1.1m).

The money will be significant for English and European women’s football. The United States has largely played a role in selling minority stakes in a club.

Angel City recently attracted investments from Natalie Portman, America Ferrera, Mia Hamm, Sophia Bush, Abby Wambach, and Eva Longoria.

With WSL Football, the company overseeing the nation’s top two tiers, continuing to advance the game’s professionalism, there is a sense of growth in England.

WSL Football’s top priorities include expanding marketing opportunities, securing better sponsorship deals, and developing a financially viable brand.

Before assuming the leadership of London City Lionesses and advancing them to the WSL this season, they have backed US billionaire Michele Kang’s influence. Kang was in charge of the organization’s ownership of French giants Lyon.

The WSL champions’ worth is believed to have been evaluated against Angel City’s valuation. Chelsea’s women’s team made a loss in their most recent accounts, despite The National Women’s Soccer League club’s £30 million-a-year profit.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire remarked, “I believe it cannot be justified using a conventional valuation metric.

Despite facing crisis and defeating Manchester United seven times, they were sold for “twice their revenue,” making them the biggest football brand.

The growth potential is unknown, according to the women from China who sold for 18 times their income.

Dr. Christina Philippou, a woman’s football finance expert, believes that the new ownership structure at Chelsea demonstrates the “unreal potential” of women’s football, despite questions about how it will work.

Dr. Philippou remarked, “It is a high valuation for a lack of control.” Given who the investor is and what Angel City and the celebrity tie-in have done in women’s sport. What kind of shareholding is to be questioned?

It serves as a gauge of the direction the market is headed. There is a lot of untapped potential, according to buyers.

Although Dr. Philippou believes some WSL clubs will have raised questions about west London developments, similar investment in the women’s game has both benefits and drawbacks, he cautioned against it.

She continued, “Women at Arsenal make more money than women at Chelsea.” Last year £11m Chelsea, Arsenal £15m.

“You would be looking at that (£200 million) valuation if you were Arsenal,” said the statement. They are more organized and on time.

“My antenna would be up and looking into that possibility if I were Arsenal.” A positive outcome for large investors is showing interest. Others will be willing to make investments and form partnerships.

There are those who are willing to invest in their women’s teams, but there are those who are not.