Sports, in brief

Stephen Curry, the Golden State Warriors' 38-year-old star, agreed a two-year contract extension worth $116m on Friday. [1][2]

He could have signed for up to $136.7m over the same two years. He took about $20m less, roughly $10m a season. [1][2][3]

The NBA limits how much each team can spend on its players in total. So the money Curry left behind is about $10m the Warriors can spend on other players next summer. [1][2]

The idea came from the club. When Curry became eligible on 29 August, the Warriors showed him several options, including a slightly smaller salary. [2][4]

Two big contracts end next summer: Jimmy Butler's $56.8m and Draymond Green's $27.6m. ESPN puts the Warriors' spending room then at $38m to $55m. [2]

Curry's pay falls from $62.6m this season to $55.7m in 2027-28. He can choose a third year at $60.2m, when he will be 40. [1][2]

The deal takes his career pay to $652m, the first NBA player past $600m, and puts him top of the list of the best-paid players in the league's history. [2][6]

He played only 43 games last season because of a sore right knee, and still scored 26.6 points a game. The club still worries about the knee. [1][3]

The Warriors missed the playoffs last season and failed to sign LeBron James this summer, so the extra room is how they plan to add talent. [1][2]

On Wednesday Curry had said he was not going anywhere. He signed three days before training camp starts in Hawaii. [5][2][4]

Why it matters. The next test is next summer, when Butler's and Green's contracts end and the Warriors have $38m to $55m to spend on players good enough to win while Curry still plays. [2]

The Brisbane Lions beat Fremantle 96-89 in the Australian Football League Grand Final on Saturday, in front of 100,023 people at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. [7][8] The AFL is Australia's top league in Australian rules football. Fremantle led by 17 points with about four minutes left. [8][9] Brisbane then kicked four goals in a row, the last two by Logan Morris. [7][8] It is Brisbane's sixth title and their second run of three in a row, after 2001 to 2003. [7]

Why it matters. Fremantle finished top of the table and are still waiting for their first title; this was their first Grand Final since 2013. [7] Their captain, Alex Pearce, was hurt in the third quarter. [7][8] Their Shai Bolton became only the fifth player on a losing side to win the medal for the best player in the final. [8]

Spain, the world champions, beat England 3-2 at Wembley on Saturday in the Nations League, a competition between European national teams. [10][11] It was their first match since they beat Argentina to win their second World Cup. [12] Lamine Yamal scored inside two minutes after taking the ball off Marc Guehi. [10] England led 2-1 at half-time. Then Harry Kane slipped and hit the crossbar with a penalty, and Alex Baena and Mikel Oyarzabal scored for Spain. [10]

Why it matters. Spain have now gone 39 games without a defeat, a run that started in 2018. [10] Two England mistakes came from Manchester City players, the day after City were found guilty of breaking the Premier League's money rules. [11] England's coach, Thomas Tuchel, said he could imagine the verdict was a distraction for them. [11]

Demi Vollering of the Netherlands won the women's road race at cycling's world championships in Montreal on Saturday. [13][14] She beat Poland's Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney in an uphill sprint at the end of 180km, the longest women's race in the championships' history. [13] Elisa Longo Borghini of Italy was third. [14] About 15 riders crashed early on, and the defending champion, Magdeleine Vallieres of Canada, had to stop. [14][15]

Why it matters. Vollering, 29, has won the Tour de France Femmes, the Giro d'Italia and the Tour of Flanders, but had never won the world title. [13][15] The men race 273.2km on the same Montreal circuit on Sunday. [16]

Ashlin Barry of the United States won the under-23 men's road race at the world championships in Montreal on Friday, his birthday. [17] He rode alone for the last 30km, the longest winning solo in the race's history. [17] Spain's Hector Alvarez was second and Norway's Jesper Stiansen third. [17] Barry's mother, Dede Demet, won an Olympic silver medal for the United States, and his father, Michael Barry, raced as a professional for Canada. [17]

Why it matters. Four days earlier Barry was fourth in the time trial, 22 seconds off a medal, in the race he had thought was his better chance. [17]

The Philadelphia Phillies lost 2-0 to Tampa Bay on Friday, their third defeat in a row, while the Arizona Diamondbacks won their sixth game in a row. [18] That cut the Phillies' lead for the last National League playoff place to one game, with two left to play. [18] On Tuesday the lead had been four games. [18] The San Diego Padres and the Chicago Cubs had already taken the other two wild-card places, the playoff spots for good teams that did not win their division. [19][20]

Why it matters. The Phillies have scored two runs in their last three games. [18] Luis Arraez, one of their regular hitters, twisted his left ankle on Thursday and is out. [18] The playoffs start on Tuesday. [23]

The Chicago White Sox reached baseball's playoffs on Thursday by beating Kansas City 9-1. [21] They are the first team to get there straight after two seasons of 100 or more defeats. [21] The Cleveland Guardians clinched a place the same night by beating Boston 1-0. [22] The Chicago Cubs also clinched that day, the first time both Chicago clubs have done it on the same day. [21]

Why it matters. The Guardians led the White Sox by one game in their division going into the last weekend. [22][23] The division winner skips the first round, a best-of-three series, so the last three games decide who has to play it. [22]

In baseball's American League, the two byes past the first round go to the division winners with the best records, not to the two best teams. [24] So the New York Yankees, second-best in the league at 89-66 on Tuesday, must play a best-of-three wild-card series. [24] The Cleveland Guardians, then 81-75, held the second bye as leaders of a weaker division. [24] If the table holds, it will be the second year in a row, and the third time in four years. [24]

Why it matters. The Boston Red Sox would rather finish as the third wild card than the second, because the second has to play the Yankees. [23] Whoever wins that series then meets the Tampa Bay Rays, the top seed. [24]

Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs reached 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases for the season on Thursday. [23] It is only the seventh season like that in Major League history. [20] He is the favourite to be named the National League's most valuable player. [23][20] The Cubs score more runs than any other team in the majors. [20]

Why it matters. The Cubs start the playoffs as a wild card on Tuesday, with the most runs in the majors and, most likely, the league's most valuable player. [20][23]

The Detroit Pistons raised their offer to Jalen Duren, their 22-year-old centre, from $190m to $200m over five years, fully guaranteed, The Athletic reported on 21 September. [25] Duren, named to an All-NBA team last season, could be paid up to $287m and has said no so far. [25] If no deal is signed, he can take a one-year offer of $9.6m by 1 October and become a free agent next summer. [25]

Why it matters. The Sacramento Kings have signalled they would pay him the maximum next summer. [25] A $2m rise in next season's spending limit means one year at $9.6m and then a four-year maximum elsewhere would pay about $198.8m, almost the same as Detroit's offer. [25]

The Los Angeles Sparks, a team in the WNBA, the US women's basketball league, fired coach Lynne Roberts on Friday after two seasons and a 37-51 record. [26][27] The Sparks have now missed the playoffs six seasons in a row. [26] Roberts was halfway through a four-year contract. Because she was fired without cause, the club owes her $950,000, her pay for next season. [26]

Why it matters. The Sparks traded their best player, Kelsey Plum, on 2 August, and went 8-20 after her last game for them. [27] Their general manager was let go in July, so the club is replacing both people who built this team. [26]

Maryland lost 54-3 at home to UCLA on Saturday in American college football. [28] It was their 10th defeat in a row against teams from the four richest conferences under coach Mike Locksley, now in his eighth season. [28] Locksley earns $6.4m this year and is signed until 2028. [28] Firing him now would cost the university about $9.94m, half of it within 60 days. [29]

Why it matters. Maryland's athletic director, Jim Smith, did not hire Locksley but kept him after a second 4-8 season. [28] Locksley said he would have to earn back people's confidence. [28]

The Green Bay Packers lost 35-14 at home to the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday and have won one of their first three games. [30] On Kalshi, a website where people trade on the outcome of events, the price on coach Matt LaFleur being gone by 1 March jumped from 12% before the game to 90% after it. [30] LaFleur has coached Green Bay since 2019 and won 77 games and lost 41. [30]

Why it matters. He has taken the Packers to the playoffs six times in seven seasons, but not deep into them. [30] On Thursday his defence let Atlanta's Bijan Robinson run for 194 yards. [30]

Georgia's football federation sacked its manager, Willy Sagnol of France, on Saturday after a 1-0 home defeat by Northern Ireland in the Nations League on Friday. [31] Sagnol took over in 2021 and led Georgia to their first major tournament, Euro 2024, where they reached the last 16. [31] They then lost five of six qualifying games and missed the last World Cup. [31] Ramaz Svanadze, coach of the under-21 team for five years, takes over on a contract to the end of 2028. [31]

Why it matters. Svanadze's first game is at home to Ukraine on Monday, so the federation changed its coach between two matches of the same week. [31]

Peterborough United, in English football's third tier, sacked manager Luke Williams on Saturday 19 September after a 2-0 home defeat by Doncaster Rovers. [32] It was their fifth league game without a win and left them second from bottom. [32] Williams had been in charge for 11 months. [32] The club, run by chairman Darragh MacAnthony for 20 years, is now looking for its eighth permanent manager in ten years. [32]

Why it matters. Peterborough won two of their last 22 league games under Williams. [32] In two home games this season they did not have a single shot on target. [32]

Martin O'Neill, Celtic's 74-year-old manager, says he will use the international break to think about his future after two defeats by Rangers, Celtic's Glasgow rivals. [33] Celtic also lost at home to Ferencvaros in the Europa League, and threw away a 4-0 lead over two games against LASK in a Champions League qualifier in August. [33] They are still two points clear at the top of the Scottish league. [33]

Why it matters. O'Neill won the league and the Scottish Cup last season as a stand-in manager. [33] Paul Lambert, a former Celtic captain, said he would be shocked if the club sacked him, but not surprised if he left. [33]

Indiana, ranked fifth in American college football, beat Northwestern on Saturday but lost running back Turbo Richard to a right leg injury. [34] Richard had run for 315 yards and four touchdowns in the first three games. [34] His replacement, Lee Beebe Jr., ran for 203 yards. [34] Coach Curt Cignetti said Richard was hurt by a hip-drop tackle and then hit out of bounds, and no penalty was called. [34]

Why it matters. Northwestern closed to 22-20 in the fourth quarter, so the fifth-ranked team needed its backup runner to win. [34]

Nick Bosa, the San Francisco 49ers' star pass rusher, strained a calf in practice on Thursday and will miss a few weeks, coach Kyle Shanahan said. [35] That would put 16 of the team's players on its injured list. [35] Players put on injured reserve sit out four weeks, and a team can bring back only eight of them during the season. [35] Six of the 10 defensive linemen who made the team have been hurt in two weeks. [35]

Why it matters. So the club has to choose between spending one of its eight returns on Bosa or keeping him on the roster while he cannot play. [35]

The Baltimore Ravens and the Dallas Cowboys play on Sunday at the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro, the first NFL game in the city. [36] The 78,000-seat stadium has hosted two football World Cup finals and Olympic gold-medal matches. [36] It is one of a record nine NFL games outside the United States this season. [36]

Why it matters. The Maracana is best known for football, the other kind, and for matches between South America's biggest clubs. [36]

NFL team owners have no plans to let private-equity firms, investment funds that buy stakes in businesses, own more than 10% of a team, three sources told Front Office Sports. [37] Baseball raised its limit this summer from 15% to 20% for one firm, the same as the NBA. [37] The NFL first let such firms in with a 31-1 owners' vote in August 2024. [37] The Patriots, Chargers, Bills, Browns and Dolphins have all sold them stakes. [37]

Why it matters. Forbes values the average NFL team at about $9.5bn, up from $7.1bn a year ago, so even a 10% stake costs close to $1bn. [37]

Warwickshire won English cricket's County Championship this season, and Hampshire were relegated to the second division for the first time since 2014. [38] In the last round Sussex beat Hampshire heavily and finished with seven wins, as many as the champions. [38] Many Sussex players are leaving the club after this season. [38]

Why it matters. Hampshire earned only four batting points all season, the points a county gets for making big totals. [38] They start next year in Division Two with two new signings, from Sussex and Leicestershire. [38]

Cardiff beat the Scarlets 21-15 in Llanelli on Saturday in the United Rugby Championship, the league Wales's professional rugby clubs play in. [39] All three Cardiff tries came from driving line-outs, where the forwards push the ball-carrier over the line from a throw-in. [39] Only 7,073 people came to a game that kicked off at 7.45pm on a Saturday. [39]

Why it matters. Cardiff were the only Welsh team to reach last season's play-offs, and the Scarlets finished 14th. [39] Scarlets hooker Ryan Elias played his 200th game for the club. [39]

Pedro Acosta won his first race in MotoGP, the world championship for motorbike racing, at the Austrian Grand Prix on 20 September. [40] He passed Jorge Martin for the lead on lap nine. [40] Martin finished second and leads the championship with 306 points, 12 ahead of the reigning champion Marc Marquez, who was fifth. [40] Acosta rides for KTM and moves to Ducati's factory team at the end of 2026. [40]

Why it matters. The next round is the Japanese Grand Prix in October, with the title between two Spanish riders. [40]