Sports, in brief

EuroLeague, Europe's top club basketball competition, is owned by 13 of its clubs, and their owners met at Cernobbio, near Italy's Lake Como, on Tuesday. [1][2]

They turned down an offer from the NBA, North America's top basketball league, to work together. [1][2][3]

Barcelona, Fenerbahce and Olympiacos were among the clubs that voted no, two sources told Front Office Sports. [2]

Owners felt the offer valued EuroLeague at far less than the $3bn it wants, the same sources said. [2]

The NBA also asked EuroLeague to stop growing, which it plans to do, sources told Front Office Sports and Gazzetta dello Sport, an Italian sports paper. [2][3]

On the same day the owners agreed to turn their ten-year licences into permanent franchises: places in the league that never run out. [1][2]

The 13 clubs would not pay any fee for that change, and a final decision is due within about 60 days. [1][2]

EuroLeague now has 20 teams: the 13 owners plus 7 that win a place or get a short licence. It wants 24 by the 2027-28 season. [2]

The NBA is planning its own European league with FIBA, world basketball's governing body, from October 2027, with 12 permanent places. [1][3]

More than 20 clubs bid $500m or more for those places in June, Sportico reported. [1]

On Tuesday Eric Menell of JPMorgan, one of two banks hired to help the NBA, said places in some cities will sell for at least $1bn. [1][4]

A source at a likely NBA Europe club told The Athletic that an October 2027 start is impossible without EuroLeague. [3]

Why it matters. Watch whether EuroLeague's owners approve their permanent places inside 60 days, and whether the NBA returns with a bigger offer or starts alone. [1][2]

Lionel Messi, 39, played his 208th and last match for Argentina on Tuesday, a 3-0 friendly win over Benin in Buenos Aires. [5][8] He scored his 126th goal for his country from a penalty, in front of 85,000 people. [5] He also set up the first goal for Nicolas Otamendi, who was playing his last game for Argentina too. [7][8] Benin's injured captain, Steve Mounie, paid for his own flight to be there. [9] Messi announced on 31 August that he would stop, six weeks after Argentina lost the World Cup final 1-0 to Spain. [5][6]

Why it matters. Messi still plays for Inter Miami, a US club, under a contract that runs to 2028. [5][6] He has bought two Spanish clubs, one still waiting for approval, and Forbes put his wealth at about $1.1bn in June. [6]

Several Premier League clubs want Manchester City punished both for the past and for seasons to come, sources told BBC Sport. [10] An independent panel found City guilty of breaking the league's money rules from 2009-10 to 2017-18, and City have appealed. [10] At least four clubs think one points deduction that drops City into the second tier would not be enough. [10] One club source said City should lose their titles from those years. [10]

Why it matters. Clubs worry City would come straight back up, so some want points taken over several seasons and long bans on signing players. [10] Shaun Harvey, a director at Wrexham, said a demotion must not punish second-tier clubs that spend within the rules. [11]

FIFA, world football's governing body, let DR Congo play at this summer's World Cup even though its own lawyers found a player ineligible, the New York Times and Le Monde reported. [12][13] Goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi was born in France and had not finished switching countries, the reports say. [12] FIFA rejected Nigeria's complaint about him because it came in too late. [12] DR Congo had knocked Nigeria out on penalties in a play-off. [12]

Why it matters. An official at Nigeria's sports commission told ESPN the country may ask FIFA to pay for the World Cup money it lost. [13] It adds to the questions around FIFA's president, Gianni Infantino, whose former university associate now runs DR Congo's football body. [12]

Jannik Sinner, the world's top-ranked men's tennis player, will not play again in 2026 because of his right knee. [14] He has not played since he won Wimbledon in July, and pulled out of the US Open and then Beijing and Shanghai. [14][15] Sinner said he and his doctors chose a course of treatment, and he wants to protect his long career. [14] He won 44 of his 47 singles matches this year. [14]

Why it matters. Alexander Zverev, the German ranked second, is now almost sure to finish the year as world number one. [14] Sinner also cannot defend the ranking points he won late last year, including at the ATP Finals. [14]

Novak Djokovic, 39, won the China Open in Beijing this week when Alex de Minaur stopped injured early in the second set. [16][17] It is his 102nd title, and only Jimmy Connors, with 109, and Roger Federer, with 103, have won more. [17] He has won at least one title in each of the last 21 years, and has never lost in Beijing. [16][17] In Tokyo, Carlos Alcaraz beat Jiri Lehecka 7-6, 6-4 for his first title since February. [16]

Why it matters. Alcaraz was playing only his third event after four and a half months out with a wrist injury. [16][18] Djokovic beat Zverev, the world number two, on the way to his title. [17]

The IOC, which runs the Olympics, named seven countries on Tuesday that want the 2036 Summer Games: Qatar, India, South Africa, Hungary, Turkey, Germany and South Korea. [20][21] Others have until 31 October to join. [20][21] Each will present its case in November, and IOC members vote in 2029. [19][22] South Africa would stage the first Olympics in Africa, across Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. [19][22]

Why it matters. Qatar is seen as the favourite, the Guardian reported, though Doha's heat would push the Games out of July and August. [19] India's bid centres on Ahmedabad, which hosts the Commonwealth Games in 2030. [20][21]

The NFL Referees Association, the union for the league's game officials, said on Tuesday it will challenge the suspensions of two officials. [23][24] The NFL, American football's top league, banned line judge Jeff Seeman for two games and referee Adrian Hill for one, for how they spoke to players on Sunday. [23] The union says both did fall short, but the bans are bigger than past cases. [24] Seeman's two games is the longest ban for an official since 1988, CBS Sports reported. [25]

Why it matters. The union also wants to meet the players' union about growing anger between players and officials. [24] Officials suspended for clashes with players in the past each missed only one game. [25]

Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal's 41-year-old captain, said on Tuesday that coach Jorge Jesus twice broke promises to him. [26][27] He said Jesus first agreed he would rest, then told him he would play, then left him on the bench against Norway. [26] Ronaldo said a later deal for the coach to explain this in public was not kept, so he left the camp. [26] He asked Portugal's football federation to punish him, and said he is not retiring. [27]

Why it matters. Portugal won both games without him and play Denmark and Wales in November. [27] Ronaldo has 146 goals in 234 games for Portugal, both world records. [27]

The first round of the playoffs in the WNBA, the top US women's basketball league, averaged 1.3 million viewers a game over 10 games, the league said on Tuesday. [28][29] That is 37% more than last year's 944,000. [28] It beat the 2024 record of 1.1 million, set in Caitlin Clark's first season. [28] The deciding game between the Las Vegas Aces and Clark's Indiana Fever drew about 2.3 million. [28][29]

Why it matters. Clark missed last year's playoffs injured, and the Fever's games drew the biggest numbers again. [30] The Fever went out to the Aces, so the league now has to keep the audience without its biggest draw. [30]

An immigration judge ruled on Tuesday that Aminata Seck, a basketball player at Kentucky State University, can leave detention on a $2,500 bond. [31][32] Seck, 26, from Senegal, was arrested by ICE, the US immigration agency, at Louisville airport on 7 August while travelling with her team. [32] Her lawyer said she had seizures in detention and was kept in isolation for days. [31] The US government had 24 hours to appeal. [31]

Why it matters. Her case moves to a slower list for people not in detention, so her next hearing is likely after 20 November. [32] She was moved four times and taken to hospital during two months in custody. [32]

Lane Johnson, 36, who blocked for the quarterback as the Philadelphia Eagles' right tackle for 14 seasons, retired on Tuesday. [33][34] The Eagles picked him fourth in the 2013 draft, and he never played for anyone else. [33] He said he needed to put his mental health and family first. [33] He made the Pro Bowl, the league's all-star game, six times and won two Super Bowls. [33][34]

Why it matters. His contract ran to 2027, so the Eagles lose a starter a month into the season. [34] They are 2-2, and their coach Nick Sirianni is under more pressure without him. [35]

Harry Kane played his 125th game for England on Tuesday, equalling the record set by goalkeeper Peter Shilton 36 years ago. [36][37] He scored twice in a 3-0 Nations League win over Czechia at Wembley. [36][38] That takes him to 91 goals, already an England record. [36][37] The win almost certainly sends England to the Nations League quarter-finals. [36]

Why it matters. Shilton wrote that Kane will beat his record in November. [37] Under coach Thomas Tuchel, England have won 15 and drawn one of 16 games against teams outside the world's top 20. [36]

The Connecticut Sun played their last game last month and have been sold to a group in Houston led by Tilman Fertitta, owner of the NBA's Houston Rockets. [39] The Mohegan Tribe, a Native American nation, bought the team for $5m in 2003, and agreed to sell it for $300m. [39] It had first agreed a $325m deal with a Boston group that would have kept the team in New England. [39] Connecticut's state government is considering legal action. [39]

Why it matters. Native fans told the Guardian the move feels like another loss of land and history, after the tribe fought until 1994 to be recognised. [39] New England no longer has a WNBA team. [39]

London Broncos won rugby league's Championship, the second tier, beating Doncaster 78-6 in the final on Sunday. [40] But winning does not promote them. [40] Super League decides who goes up using a grading system that scores clubs on and off the field, and whether to grow to 15 teams. [40] Bradford, who finished last in Super League, are not going down. [40]

Why it matters. London were dropped before the 2024 season under the same grading system, and the club nearly folded a year ago. [40] Australian investors Grant Wechsel and Darren Lockyer have since paid for its rebuild. [40]

Ted Goldthorpe, whose firm BC Partners is putting money into LIV Golf while it is bankrupt, said on Tuesday that its teams could soon be worth over $100m each. [41] LIV is a men's golf tour with team events, and went into bankruptcy protection in September after Saudi Arabia's wealth fund stopped paying for it. [42] BC Partners' money is the first part of a planned $300m. [41][42] LIV must sign up half the golfers it owes money to, and Goldthorpe said that is the work of the next 22 days. [41]

Why it matters. Under the plan the players would own shares in the league and its teams. [42] The golfers are owed at least $45m, and none has to sign on. [42]

Kalshi, a US exchange where people buy contracts on sports results and other events, offered on Monday to cap its own trading firm at 5% of trading each quarter. [43] It made the offer to the CFTC, the US regulator for these markets, which has proposed rules on companies that run an exchange and also trade on it. [43] Kalshi agreed for the first time that this set-up carries risks. [43] It opposes the CFTC's idea that such firms should always wait behind outside traders. [43]

Why it matters. Several of Kalshi's rivals use the same set-up, so the cap would become a rule for all of them. [43] The trading firm takes bets on the exchange, so the cap limits how much the exchange's owner trades against the people using it. [43]

A US judge refused again on Friday to revive a case brought by four former Michigan football players, including Denard Robinson and Braylon Edwards. [44] They sued the NCAA, which runs US college sport, the Big Ten league and its TV channel, saying they were made to sign away the right to earn from their names. [44] They played between 2001 and 2012. [44] The judge said such claims must be brought within four years, and they sued in 2024. [44] They can still appeal to a higher court. [44]

Why it matters. The same time limit has ended similar cases by Terrelle Pryor, Mario Chalmers and others. [44] Players from before college athletes could earn from their names keep losing on the time limit, not on what happened to them. [44]

Gavin McKenna, 18, the first pick in this year's NHL draft, scored his first goal as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Nashville Predators 5-4 on Tuesday. [45][46] The NHL is North America's top ice hockey league. [46] Toronto came back from 3-0 down, and Auston Matthews won it with 14 seconds left in overtime. [45] Nashville's Steven Stamkos scored twice. [45]

Why it matters. Toronto got the first pick by winning the draft lottery after missing the playoffs for the first time in ten years. [46] McKenna was playing his fourth professional game. [46]

Semyon Varlamov played in goal for the New York Islanders on Tuesday, his first NHL game in 676 days. [47] He had two partial knee replacements on the way back. [47] The Islanders lost 5-2 to the New York Rangers, whose Alexis Lafreniere scored three goals, two into an empty net. [47] The Rangers have won four games in a row. [47]

Why it matters. He had not played since 29 November 2024, and let in three goals from 22 shots. [47] The Rangers are 3-0 at home, a year after losing their first seven home games. [47]

The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 3-1 in Atlanta on Tuesday to lead their baseball playoff series 2-1. [48] Yoshinobu Yamamoto, their Japanese pitcher, allowed one run in seven innings and struck out ten. [48][49] The Dodgers had moved their star Shohei Ohtani down to fifth in the batting order, the lowest of his time with them. [50] Enrique Hernandez hit a two-run home run off Chris Sale. [48]

Why it matters. One more win sends the Dodgers to the next round. [48] In the other series the San Diego Padres were without their closer, Mason Miller, who left to be at the birth of his first child. [51]

Singapore's air was rated unhealthy on Tuesday, days before Sunday's Formula One night race. [52] Smoke has drifted from huge wildfires in Indonesia. [52] A strong El Nino, a swing in Pacific weather, has left rain in the region about 80% below normal since June, a Singapore scientist said. [52] The FIA, which runs Formula One, said it has a back-up plan if the haze gets worse. [52]

Why it matters. Organisers said they will have N95 masks, which filter smoke, if needed. [52] Any limits on outdoor events would fall on the concerts and fan areas, not the race, the FIA said. [52]

Australia's all-rounder Cameron Green will miss the first cricket Test against South Africa, starting on Friday in Durban, with a stomach muscle strain. [53] The team may bring in Nic Maddinson, 35, who last played a Test in 2016. [53] Maddinson was called up after a one-day century, a year after he beat testicular cancer. [53] Coach Andrew McDonald defended the choice after criticism from former opener Matthew Hayden. [53]

Why it matters. Green may return during the three-Test series but is not expected to bowl. [53] The choice for Durban is between Maddinson and Cooper Connolly. [53]

Harmanpreet Kaur, 37, has stepped down as captain of India's women's cricket team in all three forms of the game. [54] She led India to its first world title, the 50-over World Cup, last year. [54] Her last game in charge was the Asian Games final on 22 September, which India won. [54] Opener Smriti Mandhana, who has already led the side in shorter games, takes over. [54]

Why it matters. Harmanpreet wrote that she often put her own batting second to the team's needs as captain. [54] She will keep playing. [54]

UEFA, European football's governing body, opened a disciplinary inquiry on Tuesday into a claim that an Israel player spat at a member of Ireland's staff. [55][56] The claim was made at half-time in Sunday's 1-1 Nations League draw, played behind closed doors in Serbia. [56] Ireland's fitness coach, Damien Doyle, is understood to have made it. [55][56] Israel's football association denied it. [55]

Why it matters. Both games between the teams were moved to neutral grounds after the draw in February put them together. [56] Many Irish fans had wanted their team to refuse to play Israel. [55]

Lee Gi-hyuk, captain of South Korea's Asian Games football team, apologised for saying he was not going to the military after winning gold. [57] South Korean men must usually serve 18 to 21 months before the age of 28. [57] Asian Games winners and Olympic medallists only do basic training, which lasts less than a month. [57] Lee wrote that he was sorry to fans who are doing their service now. [57]

Why it matters. The rule spared Son Heung-min, who did three weeks in 2020 after winning the Asian Games in 2018. [57] Golfer Tom Kim earned the same exemption this year. [57]