The headlines focus on money, but the gigs were great and I think there are different ways to achieve progress. Art, especially comedy, can be part of that, says stand-up comedian, Omid Djalili.

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

Former captain says circumstances for this year's trip are 'completely different' from Covid tour of 2021-22

The Oman coach, Carlos Queiroz, is among those who are questioning the AFC’s decision for the upcoming games

Gary Neville has angered some middle-aged white men...but what do Sky Sports think of it all?

It was our duty in office to warn of dangers when we found them. We’re doing that again today.

People in an Essex village are upset the sport has been banned after a passer-by was hit by a ball.

Response to strained schedule has been more football than ever, and a danger that the best will have nothing left to give at the World Cup Cole Palmer and Ousmane Dembélé looked great when they were photographed sitting on Top of the Rock on the eve of the Club World Cup final but it is not being wise after the event to suggest that both might have been better off spending their summer lying on sunbeds. Top players struggling with fitness issues was foreseeable before the first edition of Fifa’s expanded tournament took place. “The worst idea ever,” was Jürgen Klopp’s take, citing concerns over the long-term impact of squeezing even more football into an ever expanding calendar. “Last year it was the Copa [América] and the European Championship, this year it’s the Club World Cup, next year it’s the World Cup. That means no recovery for the players involved.” Continue reading...

In an extract from a new book, international referee Jonas Eriksson describes how top officials were made to strip down to be weighed and have their body fat checked * To ask Jonas a question, go to the bottom of the article I went down to the basement, dusted off the scales I had avoided for several years and looked at the display: 99.2kg. Over the past eight years, I had lost nearly 10kg. I had gone from being a referee who was heavy and untrained to being light and well trained. It had taken time, filled with patience, tough decisions and priorities. But it was also the beginning of a change that gradually meant stress, pressure and discomfort around the tests that Uefa’s top management had introduced. You didn’t just need to be a good referee, it was also about prioritising diet, looking like a top-level referee, that the weight and fat percentages were right, otherwise you risked being reprimanded, getting fewer matches and ending up in the cold. Continue reading...