Category Sports News

Ellie Carpenter from Lyon has been signed for an undisclosed fee by women’s super league champion Chelsea.

After five years with Chelsea, Carpenter, 25, won the Champions League in 2019-20 and 2021-22, played for Sonia Bompastor at Lyon before quitting.

“I’m very pleased to join such a large club, one of the biggest in women’s football,” Carpenter said.

“I’m delighted to be a part of Chelsea’s success in England,” he said.

The following day, Canada’s Ashley Lawrence, 30, left the Blues for Lyon, the club that also won the FA Cup and the League Cup in 2024 and 2025.

Carpenter, who made her senior Australia debut at the age of 15, is a vastly experienced player with 87 international caps.

She became the youngest woman to play football at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio when she was 16 years old.

Her professional career includes a stint with the Portland Thorns in the United States.

The club’s board was fired one day after Morecambe owner Jason Whittingham announced that the club would go into administration if it wasn’t sold.

The board of the troubled Lancashire club issued two statements on Tuesday that gave Whittingham’s Bond Group Investments until 18:00 BST to complete the lengthy sale of Panjab Warriors.

However, the agreement was not finalized, and Whittingham has now stated that he has “started the process with immediate effect” so that we can “take control of the situation.”

He added that this would allow the Bond Group to spend “the necessary additional time to ensure that the club has the best chance of avoiding administration.”

After being demoted from League Two, the Shrimps will return to the National League next year.

Lizzi Collinge, a MP for Morecambe, said Bond Group should “get on with” the sale of the 105-year-old club on Monday.

The directors initially stated on Tuesday that they would allow Whittingham until 16:00 BST, before giving an additional two hours once “new information came to light.”

The board stated in a third statement of the day that they would be contacting administrators “at the earliest opportunity” on Wednesday that this second deadline did not result in the sale being completed.

The club, which qualified for League One in 2021 after that, will now play in the National League for the first time since 2007, which means they will play in the National League next season.

The EFL earlier in June approved the sale of the club to the Panjab Warriors.

The Panjab Warriors announced last week that they had already paid Bond Group £3.8 million and a separate £630, 000 payment to clear club outstanding loans.

BBC Sport football expert Rachel Brown-Finnis is predicting the outcome of all 31 games at Euro 2025.

She starts with the opening games in each group, including holders England against France, first-time qualifiers Wales versus the Netherlands and hosts Switzerland against Norway.

Do you agree with her scores? You can make your own predictions below.

Brown-Finnis has also picked her two teams to go through from each group into the knockout stage, and given her reasons why.

Brown-Finnis’s pre-tournament picks: Norway (winners) and Switzerland (runners-up).

Iceland are the highest-ranked team in Group A but the Fifa rankings are quite slow to reflect current form and I certainly don’t see them as favourites to progress.

Norway have the likes of Caroline Graham Hansen and Ada Hegerberg in their team and they also have to shake a monkey off their back after getting battered 8-0 by England at Euro 2022 and failing to make it out of their group.

Historically, both of these teams have a strong record of qualifying for the European Championship, although they have found it harder to make progress at recent tournaments.

Neither of them won a game at Euro 2022 – Iceland drew all three of their group games, while Finland lost all of theirs – and this match probably offers both sides their best chance of a victory this time.

My initial thinking was that Finland would edge it but tournament openers are often very cagey, so I am going to go with a draw.

Norway will want to rectify what went wrong for them at Euro 2022.

They have got Guro Reiten’s goals from midfield as well as Hegerberg and Graham Hansen up front, but they have not been scoring as heavily as you’d expect from a team with that kind of firepower.

I do think their attack will click at this tournament, though, which is why they are my pick to top the group.

Still, taking on the hosts is a tough way to start any tournament, and I can see this game being extremely close.

It will be interesting to see how Switzerland approach this – do they go out to not get beaten because they see this as their hardest game in Group A, or do they want to put down a marker as hosts and show what they can do?

I don’t expect them to be too open, but I do think we will see a winner here… and I am going to go with Norway.

Brown-Finnis’s pre-tournament picks: Spain (winners) and Portugal (runners-up).

Spain are nailed on to win this group, but after that it gets tricky.

Italy and Portugal are ever-improving, in terms of their domestic leagues as well as their national teams, and Belgium have got a lot of experience in their squad.

Both of these teams will fancy their chances of getting out of the group, and three points here would be massive for whoever gets them.

I don’t think there is too much between these sides quality-wise, but Belgium’s experience – like striker Tessa Wullaert, for example – might make the difference.

Portugal are the underdogs here but with the momentum they have from their recent results, they won’t necessarily feel that way.

Instead, they may see this as an opportunity of a major scalp, by getting something out of the world champions.

They will definitely believe they can run Spain close, because they did the same they when they drew with the holders, the United States, at the 2023 World Cup.

I still think Spain will win, though. They will go at this at full tilt because they will want to win their first two games and book their place in the last eight as quickly as possible.

Brown-Finnis’s pre-tournament picks: Germany (winners) and Sweden (runners-up).

Germany will still be licking their wounds after losing to England in the final of Euro 2022 and they have definitely got a point to prove at this tournament.

Sweden have already beaten Denmark twice in the Nations League this year, including a 6-1 win in Solna in June, and I am going for the same outcome this time.

I don’t see Sweden as being particularly good at shutting up shop but they are pretty relentless at going forward, and they will outscore Denmark one way or another here.

This is Poland’s first game at any major finals and it couldn’t be much tougher – Germany are looking very strong and could be in contention to win the entire tournament.

Poland scored first in both games when these sides played each other in qualifying, but Germany fought back on both occasions to win quite comfortably.

I think that going behind twice like that will have annoyed Germany so we might see a reaction here – they will want to be flawless in this group stage, and they won’t want a narrative that involves them having to fall behind before they get going.

Brown-Finnis’ pre-tournament picks: England (winners) and France (runners-up).

I had to take a sharp intake of breath before I tried to predict who will finish where in Group D.

The first task for Wales is to try to control the emotions and adrenaline rush that comes with playing your first game at a major tournament.

They can still enjoy themselves, though. I am so excited for Jess Fishlock because she has done so much to showcase Welsh football around the world for many years, and has worked so hard to get here.

It will be a proud moment for her and lot of the other Cymru girls and, as much as they have a lot to learn on this stage, it could be a very quick learning process.

Once they deal with the emotional side of things, they will focus on executing their game plan at the level they need to against a team that has been European champions in the past decade.

Wales are certainly capable of making things difficult for the Netherlands, but the Dutch probably have enough quality to find a way through in the end.

I keep changing my mind about how this game might work out for England, and I am sure that will continue right up until kick-off.

I feel like the Lionesses will probably need to be a little conservative if they are to start the defence of their title with a win, but I can see them keeping a clean sheet if they get things right at the back.

Even in this week’s friendly win over Jamaica, England showed some vulnerability at set-pieces, so they are going to have to tighten up and be sharper in those situations.

England lost two key defensive players, goalkeeper Mary Earps and centre-back Millie Bright, in the run-up to the tournament and while our backline is still at world-class level without them, replacing them has caused some disruption to our defensive unit.

So, I am sure there will still be a few issues that will need to be ironed out as this tournament progresses, but hopefully that won’t cost England any goals or points here.

The key for England winning this game will be them being tight at the back – maintaining possession, controlling the game and reducing the number of mistakes.

If they can do that and also create some chances for our forward line then our attackers are so ruthless, they will take care of the rest.

Great Britain’s Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix says she will not be compete at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships, which start this month, because she is struggling with “mental blocks”.

Spendolini-Sirieix, whose father Fred is a TV personality and stars in First Dates, won bronze alongside Lois Toulson in the synchronised 10m platform at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The World Aquatics Championships take place from 11 July to 3 August in Singapore.

“Unfortunately, I won’t be attending the World Championships this year in Singapore,” said Spendolini-Sirieix in a social media post.

“I’ve had a tough battle with mental blocks in diving this season, and I’ve tried to fight through them, but I’ve decided it would be best for me to take a break from the pool.

“I am getting all the help I need from my family, my coach and my support team at Aquatics GB and I am so thankful for their love and support.

“As an athlete, the words ‘rest’ and ‘break’ are foreign, but I know that this period will greatly help me in the long run.

Bayer Leverkusen have signed defender Jarell Quansah from Liverpool in a £35m deal.

The 22-year-old centre-back has joined the German Bundesliga club on a five-year contract.

Quansah was part of the England side that won the European Under-21 Championship by beating Germany in the final on Saturday.

Newcastle wanted to sign Quansah last summer, as part of a deal to send winger Anthony Gordon to Liverpool, but the Reds turned down the proposal.

As Quansah is a homegrown player, the fee Liverpool received from Leverkusen will be recorded as ‘pure’ profit with regards to profit and sustainability rules (PSR).

Quansah came through the Liverpool academy and made 58 appearances for the club, scoring three goals.

He helped the Reds win the League Cup in 2024 and made 13 league appearances last season as Arne Slot’s side won the Premier League.

“He has already made an impressive impact in a Liverpool defence dominated by world-class players,” said Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes.

“With Jarell, our defence gains significant dynamism, pace and toughness in tackling, and he’s another very important building block for the future.”

Liverpool are interested in Crystal Palace centre-back Marc Guehi, amid uncertainty over Ibrahima Konate’s future.