SOCCER
Three teams qualify
BSC Young Boys, Salzburg and AC Sparta Prague on Tuesday secured their places in the new-look, 36-team UEFA Champions League after coming through playoff ties. Swiss champions Young Boys returned to the competition following a 1-0 win away to Galatasaray SK that clinched a 4-2 aggregate victory. Salzburg are set for their sixth straight appearance in the main phase after a 1-1 draw at home to Dynamo Kyiv wrapped up the tie 3-1 on aggregate. Sparta Prague also made it through qualifying as a 2-0 win over Swedish side Malmo completed a 4-0 overall triumph for the Czech champions. The four remaining spots were to be filled yesterday before today’s draw.
FOOTBALL
NFL owners approve deal
NFL owners on Tuesday voted to allow private equity investment in a landmark move that could see billions of dollars in new funding pumped into the sport, the US-based league confirmed. At a meeting in Milwaukee, the owners of the NFL’s 32 teams approved a plan that would allow a group of handpicked private equity firms to purchase up to a 10 percent stake in a team. The vote represents a significant departure for the way NFL teams are funded. Historically, franchises have been run as family businesses or owned by wealthy individuals. The move to allow private equity investment potentially puts billions of dollars of new cash on the table to help pay for new stadiums and other projects for the most popular sport in the US.
HORSE RACING
Kelce buys Swift horse
Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, the boyfriend of pop star Taylor Swift, has acquired an ownership share in three-year-old thoroughbred Swift Delivery, the Team Valor International stable said on Tuesday. Kelce, along with his friend Alex Zoldan and family, had purchased a “significant share” of Team Valor’s interest in the gray gelding, who is set to race in Saturday’s Toronto Cup Stakes. “It’s very exciting,” Team Valor International CEO Barry Irwin said. “I met him [Kelce] at the Kentucky Derby and got to spend some time with him and stuff, and we talked about horses and everything. When this horse came to light and it was owned by one of my partners already, with the name, I figured this has got to be a no-brainer.” Irwin said the horse was not named after Swift — just “a total coincidence.”
SOCCER
Dutch games called off
Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb on Tuesday called off this weekend’s match between archrivals Feyenoord and AFC Ajax due to a police strike, saying public safety “cannot adequately be guaranteed.” The call comes after police unions on Monday said they would not be present at the highly charged game, which was scheduled to be played at Feyenoord’s De Kuip stadium in Rotterdam on Sunday. “The safety of players, as well as the public cannot be adequately guaranteed without the involvement of the police,” Aboutaleb said in a statement. A new date for the clash has not yet been set. Dutch police unions have run industrial actions for several months to protest the dropping of a scheme for early pensions for officers next year. Rivalries among the hardcore support of both clubs has led to clashes, resulting in a ban on visiting supporters for the fixture, called De Klassieker in Dutch.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures
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