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.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
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