Sports News

The deaths - so soon between each other - of two great stalwarts of Nottingham Forest and Sheffield Wednesday sent studders of sadness and disbelief around the East Midlands and South Yorkshire - and far beyond.

Former player, then player/manager Trevor Francis passed away after suffering a heart attack – at the age of 69. Only hours later, fellow ex-Forest and Wednesday player, Chris Bart-Williams also passed away. He was just 49.

Led by Zharnel Hughes’ (GBR, coach: Glen Mills, club: Shaftesbury Barnet) astonishing take down of the long-standing British 200m record, the world’s best showed up in style on a day of world-class athletics at the sold-out London Athletics Meet in Stratford, London.

On a day which once again showed that London helps athletes bring their very best, continent records also fell in the women’s 400m hurdles, men’s 200m, women’s 5000m and women’s 800m ahead of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest next month. And as one of the most-discussed races pre-meet, the men’s 200m lived up to its billing in some style, with each of the top three producing astonishing runs of their own.

There was plenty of suspense in this year's voting for the audience award of the German Football Ambassador 2023. Dzsenifer Marozsan and Melanie Leupolz were in a neck-and-neck race for the coveted trophy until the very end. Well over 5,000 fans took part in the vote and chose Dzsenifer Marozsan of Olympique Lyon with 31.77% ahead of Melanie Leupolz of Chelsea FC with 31.13% as this year's German Football Ambassador and thus Ilkay Gündogan's successor.

The 2026 Commonwealth Games are in doubt after the Australian state of Victoria cancelled its plans to host due to budget blowouts. The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) struggled to find a host before Victoria volunteered in April 2022.

But the premier said the projected cost had now tripled and become "well and truly too much" for the state to bear. CGF called the decision "hugely disappointing" and said it is "committed to finding a solution". Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto called the decision a massive humiliation for the state and hugely damaging for its reputation as a global events leader.

Qatar Airways presented its world-class hospitality and commitment to excellence as the Official Airline Partner for the highly anticipated 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup Final. The thrilling match took place on 16 July at the SoFi Stadium in California, USA.

In a remarkable showcase of talent, the Final crowned the men’s national team champion of North America, Central America and the Caribbean, with Mexico emerging victorious, defeating Panama with a scoreline of 1-0.

UK Athletics have appointed Sportsbeat and PRTNR Strategies to deliver a comprehensive content, digital, communications and PR brief, in an exciting new partnership for the sport. The two agencies, both part of Beat Media Group, work with some of the biggest names and brands in sport, including Team GB, The Open, FIFA, Six Nations Rugby and the National Lottery, as well as a host of other national and international governing bodies. 

The 2026 Commonwealth Games are in doubt after the Australian state of Victoria cancelled its plans to host due to budget blowouts. The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) struggled to find a host before Victoria volunteered in April 2022.

But the premier said the projected cost had now tripled and become "well and truly too much" for the state to bear. CGF called the decision "hugely disappointing" and said it is "committed to finding a solution". Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto called the decision a massive humiliation for the state and hugely damaging for its reputation as a global events leader.

Aled Davies (coach: Ryan Spencer-Jones, club: Cardiff) completed a decade of dominance in the men’s F63 shot put at the World Para Athletics Championships in Paris, becoming the ninth British athlete to win gold while a trio of bronze medals from Danny Sidbury (Chris Parsloe, Sutton & District), Kevin Santos (Mike Utting, City of Norwich) and Maria Lyle (Team East Lothian) ensured the British team end with a total of 29 medals.

Davies, competing in the shot put for just the fourth time this year and fifth time since retaining his Paralympic title in Tokyo September 2021, won his fifth successive world title in the event dating back to Lyon in 2013, with a fifth-round best of 16.16m on his return to France.

The biggest FIFA Women's World Cup finally gets under way today, with Australia and New Zealand co-hosting the ninth edition. And, for the first time, it will feature 32 nations including defending world champions the United States.

New Zealand is launching the tournament against Norway at Eden Park before Australia play the Republic of Ireland at Stadium Australia, in Sydney, to get what could be the most-watched Women's World Cup, with more than 1.3 million tickets bought in advance for the 64 matches at 10 venues across nine cities. Organisers are targeting a record two billion television viewers for the 2023 edition, a figure that would double the audience that watched the 2019 World Cup in France.

World title number 14 for Hannah Cockroft (coach: Paul Moseley, club: Leeds) led the way for the Great Britain & Northern Ireland team on night nine of action in Paris, while there were unforgettable silver medal moments for Kare Adenegan (Job King, Coventry), Michael Jenkins (Ryan Spencer-Jones, Pembrokeshire) and the 4x100m Universal Relay team. The success on the penultimate night takes the team’s medal haul to 23 overall ahead of tomorrow’s final day of action.

Henry Searle is lauding it after becoming the first British boys' singles champion at Wimbledon since 1962 after beating Yaroslav Demin at the tournament in SW19.

The Wolverhampton-born 'wonder kid' won the Junior title after a straight 6-4, 6-4 win on Court One, making him the country's first junior champion since Laura Robson won the girls' event in 2008. His win equals that of Stanley Matthews, the son of the famous legendary footballer of the same name, who became a junior champion 61 years ago.

A year after being ringside to watch world-class boxers compete at the Commonwealth Games, a group of young people from Urban Heard youth centre in Fordbridge, Solihull, are now pulling on the gloves themselves as part of its legacy.

Andy Street, the Mayor of the West Midlands and chair of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), visited Urban Heard as part of his one-year Games anniversary tour to see how communities across all parts of the region are already benefiting from the legacy. Urban Heard is one of 300 grassroots sport and community groups that shared 16,000 pieces of sports equipment used by elite athletes last summer as part of a kit giveaway.

Somersets 14-runs victory in the Vitality Blast 2023 final, capped off a day of exciting, swashbuckling cricket that befitted the tournament – at large – and the final itself – in particular - as Essex pushed them hard in a game that was full of thrills, spills, tension and first-class cricket, at the Edgbaston Stadium, in Birmingham.

The world's oldest professional footballer at 56, has extended his stay with Portuguese second-tier side Oliveirense. Ex-Japan striker, Kazuyoshi Miura, joined Oliveirense on loan in January from Yokohama and will continue with them on that basis for an undisclosed duration.

He’s played just 28 minutes of football this year, spread over three substitute appearances. Miura was named man of the match on the final day of the Portuguese season after a 26-minute cameo in a 4-3 win over Leixoes. The opposition manager said that the decision was offensive and turned it into a "circus".

Birmingham Phoenix has used the local talent at their disposal to finalise their squads ahead of the third edition of The Hundred, which gets underway on Tuesday 1 August.

With their Vitality Wildcard selections, Phoenix men chose Birmingham Bears fast bowler Henry Brookes and batting all-rounder Jacob Bethell, whilst the final round of signings in the women’s competition include Central Sparks batter Davina Perrin, wicket-keeper Abbey Freeborn and all-rounder Charis Pavely. All five will be recognisable names for Edgbaston regulars with Pavely, who was part of England’s U19 World Cup finalist squad in January, the only player not to have experienced the competition already.

Sabrina Fortune (coach: Ryan Spencer-Jones / Ian Robinson, Deeside) became the latest Brit to win back-to-back World Para Athletics Championships titles in Paris with a performance the global event has never seen before on a night when Sammi Kinghorn (Rodger Harkins, Red Star), Maria Lyle (Team East Lothian) and Sophie Hahn (Leon Baptiste, Charnwood) all won medals to keep the GB&NI team rolling.