Sports, in brief

David Kogan chairs the Independent Football Regulator, a watchdog the UK government set up in 2025 to judge who may own an English football club. [1][2]

Kogan said the regulator has 'absolute power' to make Manchester City's owners sell, if it finds they ran the club in a way that is not 'fit, fair' or proper. [3][4]

Asked if an owner could refuse, he said 'No, no, no'. He also said it was too early to act, because City are appealing. [3][4]

An independent panel found City guilty last month of breaking the Premier League's money rules from the 2009-10 season to 2017-18. [5][6]

The panel found City used 'sham' sponsorship and other deals to make their income look bigger or their costs smaller, by more than £900m. [3][5]

It also found City made 'concerted efforts' to 'stop and frustrate' the league's investigation. [3]

Separately, the Financial Reporting Council, the UK watchdog for accountants and auditors, said it took over the case on 30 September. [5]

It is making early enquiries, not a formal investigation. It can examine BDO, the firm that checked City's accounts, and punish staff who belong to accountancy bodies. [5]

Liam Byrne, the MP who chairs Parliament's business committee, said the watchdog cannot force the club to hand over evidence or pursue directors outside its rules. [5]

City's appeal follows a set 12-week process, and Kogan expects it to be heard by the middle or end of January. [6]

A separate hearing will set the punishment, which could range from a large fine to lost points or expulsion from the Premier League. [1]

On the pitch, City beat AEK Athens 5-1 in the Champions League with a Phil Foden hat-trick, in front of 20,000 fewer fans than at their last home game. [7][8]

Why it matters. Watch whether City's appeal is heard in January as Kogan expects: only after it ends will the regulator decide whether to open its own investigation into the owners. [6][3]

NFL team owners approved a new investment fund at their meeting in New York on Tuesday. [18] The league's own investment arm, 32 Equity, will put money in alongside General Atlantic, a private equity firm that manages about $130bn. [18] Both will also raise money from outside investors, and the NFL would not say how big the fund will be. [18] 32 Equity began in 2013 with $1m from each owner. Its stakes include Fanatics, which sells sports shirts and merchandise. [18]

Why it matters. Profits from 32 Equity are split among the owners and sit outside the income they share with players under the salary cap. [18] A bigger fund means more money in which players get no share. [18]

The NFL will not punish the Philadelphia Eagles over how they handled blood clots in their quarterback, Jalen Hurts. [21] Hurts played in London in Week 5 with a clot in his leg and was not listed on the injury report. [21] On Monday the team said clots had been found in his lungs and he is expected to miss the rest of the season. [21] Allen Sills, the league's chief doctor, called claims that doctors put him in harm's way 'nonsense'. [22]

Why it matters. The players' union said there must be a full investigation, and that the league had told it no review was planned. [22] So far the only judgment is the league's own, of one of its own clubs. [21]

The NFL said security will be 'heightened' at Sunday's game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New Orleans Saints at the Stade de France, near Paris. [23] Protests across France over schools and living costs have turned into riots, clashes with police and fires. [24] Peter O'Reilly, a senior league executive, said the NFL was never close to moving or postponing it. [23] Paris Saint-Germain played Barcelona in the city on Tuesday without trouble. [23]

Why it matters. It is the first regular-season NFL game ever played in France. [24] League staff have been in Paris for 10 days, working with French police and the US State Department. [24]

Jed York, who runs the San Francisco 49ers, came back to an NFL owners' meeting on Tuesday after his six-game ban ended. [11] The league banned him and fined him $500,000 after he was arrested in Ohio in August in a prostitution case. He pleaded no contest to two minor charges. [11] Steve Tisch, the New York Giants' chairman, also attended. Papers released in February showed he was in regular contact with the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. [11]

Why it matters. The 49ers won all six games York missed and are the league's only unbeaten team. [11] Tisch no longer owns any of the Giants; his family moved its shares into trusts for their children. [11]

Turkey's football federation banned 147 club officials for 45 days for placing bets while in their jobs. [10] They include Ertugrul Dogan, president of Trabzonspor, one of the country's biggest clubs. [10] In September it had suspended 448 officials from clubs in the top two divisions over the last five years. It found too little evidence against the other 301. [10] Under Turkish, FIFA and UEFA rules, officials may not bet, just like players and coaches. [10]

Why it matters. It follows bans on 149 referees and 1,204 players in November 2025. [10] Turkish football has now banned referees, players and club officials for betting within a year. [10]

Japan won the men's team final at the world gymnastics championships in Rotterdam on Tuesday with 251.928 points. [25] Daiki Hashimoto, the world and Olympic all-round champion, landed the last routine of the night. [25][26] It is Japan's third straight team title across the Olympics and world championships. [26] Russia won silver under a neutral name, after the sport's world body lifted a ban linked to the war in Ukraine. China took bronze. [25]

Why it matters. It was Russia's first big team event since the 2020 Olympics. [25] Japan, Russia and China are the first men's teams to qualify for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. [26]

Great Britain led the men's team final after four of six rounds but finished fourth. [27] Only the top three here were sure of places at the 2028 Olympics. Britain's next chance is the 2027 world championships in Chengdu, China, where a top-nine finish secures a place. [27] The United States, bronze medallists at the 2024 Olympics, came sixth. [28] It is their worst world finish since 2006, when they did not reach the final. [28]

Why it matters. Britain's Joe Fraser said the team showed it can compete with the best in the world. [27] Several US gymnasts still go on to this week's individual finals. [28]

Clubs in England's top five men's divisions paid football agents £547.8m last season, 13% more than the season before, Football Association figures show. [29] Premier League clubs paid more than £460m of it, and Chelsea topped the list for a third year with more than £65m. [29] David Kogan, chair of the football regulator, called the fees 'ridiculous' and said he would rather the money went to players. [29] He said the regulator does not back a salary cap and has no power to bring one in. [29]

Why it matters. Europe's top court sent a cap on agents' commissions back to national courts this summer, and the UK no longer follows that court. [29] So in England a cap would need new powers from the UK government. [29]

Real Madrid want the six Premier League clubs that signed up to the European Super League in 2021 to pay part of its setup costs, The Athletic reports. [30] One source put those costs at up to 80m euros. [30] The Super League was a breakaway competition for Europe's richest clubs that fell apart within days after fans protested. [30] Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham pulled out, but they had signed an agreement as part-owners of the company behind it. [30]

Why it matters. Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus have shared the costs so far. [30] Whether the English clubs owe anything will depend on how that agreement is read. [30]

Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, which runs world football, meets Asia's football confederation in Tokyo on Wednesday. [31] He wants a fourth term in a vote in March. [31] A count by the AP news agency shows 87 of FIFA's 211 member countries have backed him, and he needs a simple majority. [31] Last week he apologised to FIFA's council for 'mistakes' in a scrapped $4.2bn plan to sell part of the World Cup. [31]

Why it matters. Europe holds the largest group opposed to him, so some deciding votes could come from Asia. [31] Qatar backs Infantino and Jordan has said it is against him. [31]

The NBA season opened on Tuesday with the Philadelphia 76ers beating the champion New York Knicks 106-100 at Madison Square Garden. [32] Before the game the Knicks raised the banner for their first title in 53 years. [33] LeBron James began a record 24th season with 14 points for Philadelphia, and Jaylen Brown, who came from Boston, scored 19. [32] Oklahoma City won 116-104 in San Antonio, and Detroit came back to beat Boston 121-113. [34][35]

Why it matters. The cheapest resale ticket topped $2,000, the most for any regular-season NBA game on record. [15] The old record, $1,137, was for Kobe Bryant's last game in 2016. [15]

The NBA earned about $14.5bn in the 2025-26 season, Sportico estimates. [19] Team income ranged from $895m at the Golden State Warriors to $339m at the Memphis Grizzlies, after about $400m was moved from richer teams to poorer ones. [19] The league's national TV deals now pay $6.9bn a year, against $56m a year 40 years ago. [19] The average team is worth $6.64bn, up 157% since 2021. [19]

Why it matters. The league says it will decide by the end of the year on new teams in Las Vegas and Seattle. [19] Each existing owner could get more than $500m from their entry fees, which players do not share. [19]

Adam Silver, the NBA's commissioner, has mentioned that eight different teams won the last eight titles in 10 of his last 13 press conferences at home, Sportico counted. [36] The 2023 deal with the players brought much harsher penalties for teams that spend over a set payroll line. [36] The Celtics, Thunder and Knicks each traded or let go key players within a year of winning, and said money was the reason. [36]

Why it matters. Over the last 50 years the NBA has averaged 5.3 different champions in a 10-year span, fewer than the NHL, NFL or baseball. [36] A prediction market makes a ninth different champion in a row slightly more likely than not. [36]

Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors will earn about $203.6m over the coming year, Forbes estimates. [20] That is $62.6m in salary and about $141m from sponsors and his businesses. [20] He is the first active NBA player above $200m in a year. Only Floyd Mayweather, Cristiano Ronaldo and Jon Rahm have done it since Forbes began counting in 1990. [20] Curry left Under Armour last autumn and signed with Li-Ning, a Chinese shoe brand, in June. [20]

Why it matters. LeBron James fell to fourth, with about $93.9m, after taking the league's lowest salary, $3.9m, to join Philadelphia. [20]

LeBron James lives in New York and flies to the 76ers in Philadelphia in a helicopter supplied by Fanatics, the sports merchandise company. [37] Michael Rubin, who founded Fanatics, owned part of the 76ers until 2022. [37] Adam Silver said on Tuesday the perk is 'perfectly appropriate', because it is a deal between James and a sponsor with no team involved. [37] The NBA is not investigating. [37]

Why it matters. The NBA fined the Los Angeles Clippers $30m and banned their owner, Steve Ballmer, for this season. [38] The team had helped Kawhi Leonard earn millions through sponsors. [38] Silver says the line is whether a team arranges the deal. [37]

The NBA deadline for extending players' contracts passed on Monday night. [39] None of the eight Indiana Pacers players who could have signed did. Two young players, Ben Sheppard and Jarace Walker, can now become free agents in 2027. [39] The Knicks stopped talks with Karl-Anthony Towns, Josh Hart and two others before the season. [40] Towns said he would take less than the most he could earn, to keep the champions together. [40]

Why it matters. The Pacers already pay more than the luxury tax line, the payroll level above which teams pay a penalty, and are near a second, higher line. [39] Forbes says that makes long new deals less likely. [39]

Seventy European players were on NBA rosters on opening day, and 17 Europeans have been top-10 draft picks since 2015. [41] Many grew up in club youth academies. Luka Doncic joined Real Madrid at 13 and played for its first team at 16. [41] When a player leaves for the NBA his club is paid a fee to release him, and Real Madrid has earned more than $20m that way since 2014. [41]

Why it matters. Nearly one in three NBA players last season was born outside the US, up from under one in five in 2010. [41] Training young players is central to how those European clubs make money. [41]

NBC and Amazon's Prime Video began their second season showing NBA games on Tuesday, as two of the league's three TV partners with ESPN. [42] Last season NBC averaged 2.8 million viewers over 100 regular-season games. [42] Prime Video averaged 1.0 million over 67 games, and 6.53 million for a deciding playoff game between Cleveland and Detroit. [42] The NBA says 170 million people watched its regular season, its best ratings in 24 years. [42]

Why it matters. The deal runs 11 years, to the 2035-36 season. [42] Amazon is adding cameras that use AI to cut highlights. [42]

The Knicks received their championship rings on Tuesday night. [43] None of the big North American leagues has an official ring maker: each year's champion picks its own jeweller. [43] That makes the ring one of the last moments in pro sport without a sponsor's name on it, Sportico reports. [43] Jostens and Jason of Beverly Hills have made most recent rings, for teams such as the Dodgers, Chiefs and Celtics. [43]

Why it matters. Jewellers now compete hard behind the scenes to win each year's order, says Vikki Tobak, an author who studies sports objects. [43]

The Milwaukee Brewers apologised on Tuesday for how they handled their 'Timeless Ticket' offer before their first World Series in 44 years. [17] In 2015 the club sold 1,000 of these tickets at $1,000 each, each good for a seat at any future home game. [17] Several hundred holders asked for World Series seats and were offered upper-level or standing places. [17] All can now keep this year's ticket and still use their Timeless Ticket later. [17]

Why it matters. The 2015 terms promised the 'best available' seat, depending on what was free. [17] The club says seats for the World Series were extremely limited. [17]

The cheapest resale ticket for Friday's Game 1 of the World Series in Milwaukee costs $3,107, the ticket tracker TicketData says. [16] For Games 3 and 4 at the Tampa Bay Rays' ground the cheapest is $766, down nearly 20% since the Rays won their league on Monday. [16] If Milwaukee's price holds, it will nearly double the World Series record set in Chicago in 2016. [16] Forbes found Game 1 seats from $2,842 on another site. [44]

Why it matters. The $2,341 gap is more than a flight and a hotel, so some Brewers fans may watch in Florida. [16] Milwaukee is baseball's smallest TV market, yet 2.79 million fans came to its games this year. [16]

The Champions League has produced 187 goals this season, 4.16 a game, the highest rate in its history, BBC Sport counted. [45] Tuesday's nine games produced 40 goals. [45] Since 2024 the first stage has been a 36-team league in which 24 teams go through after eight games each. [45] Paris Saint-Germain, the holders, beat Barcelona 4-2, ending Barcelona's run of 11 wins. Vitinha scored the deciding goal in the 81st minute. [46][8]

Why it matters. Some argue that with so many teams going through, an early defeat costs little, so teams attack more. [45] The Guardian called PSG against Barcelona an 'exhibition-style' game. [47]

Liverpool came from two goals down to beat Villarreal 4-3 at Anfield, with two goals from Alexis Mac Allister. [48] They and PSG are the only teams with three wins from three. [8] Scott McTominay scored twice in Napoli's 4-3 win over Bodo/Glimt of Norway, a month after surgery for an irregular heartbeat. [49] Atletico Madrid held on for a 1-1 draw with Stuttgart after a red card left them with ten men. [49]

Why it matters. Rio Ngumoha, Liverpool's 18-year-old winger, set up the equaliser and helped make Mac Allister's second goal. [48]

Michael Carrick, Manchester United's manager, said the club's board still backs him, but he must start winning. [50] United are 13th in the Premier League with one league win, and play Como in the Champions League on Wednesday. [50] Carrick denied there is a 'toxic culture' at the club. His predecessor, Erik ten Hag, said there had been one in his time. [50] Ten Hag managed United from April 2022 to October 2024. [50]

Why it matters. Ten Hag has said the club's bosses did not support him on some discipline matters. [50]

Howard Webb, who runs Premier League referees, called Sven Botman's tackle on Nicolas Jackson a 'high-end reckless challenge'. [51] Newcastle's Botman got a yellow card in Saturday's 1-0 loss to Aston Villa. [51] The video referee did not step in, because the tackle had no 'scissor action' and the studs did not make contact. [51] Jackson said he 'nearly broke' his leg. [51]

Why it matters. Webb said the video referee would have backed either card, which leaves the call with the referee on the pitch. [51]

PETA, an animal rights group, has asked Crystal Palace to stop using a live bald eagle as its mascot. [52] In a letter to the club's chief executive, Sharon Lacey, it said bright lights, noise and crowds can leave the bird 'frightened, disoriented and panicked'. [52] Palace, nicknamed the Eagles since 1973, first used a live eagle in 2010. [52] The current bird, Phoenix, first appeared in August 2024. [52]

Why it matters. PETA also said a live animal at a match could put fans at risk. [52] Plans for Phoenix to fly across the pitch were dropped at a game this season. [52]

Pakistan beat England by 87 runs in Rawalpindi in the first match of a three-team one-day series. [53] Arafat Minhas, 21 and in his fifth one-day international, made 59 and took six wickets for 40 runs. [53][54] England dropped three catches and were all out for 215, chasing 303. [54] Pakistan have won both their games, and England play Sri Lanka on Thursday. [54]

Why it matters. It is the first of up to 21 one-day games England plan before next year's 50-over World Cup in southern Africa. [54]

South Africa's captain, Temba Bavuma, made 179, his highest Test score, against Australia in Gqeberha. [55] He batted for 552 minutes over three days after coming in at 12 for two. [55] South Africa recovered from 110 for six to declare at 425 for nine, then took an Australian wicket in the first over. [55] Australia won the first Test of the series in Durban. [56]

Why it matters. Bavuma averages 54.36 with the bat as Test captain, against 34.53 before. [55] Ten years ago he became the first Black African to score a Test century for South Africa. [55]