SOCCER
Ronaldo to run for CBF
Former Brazil striker Ronaldo is to run for the presidency of the country’s soccer confederation, the 48-year-old said on Monday. Ronaldo, who won the World Cup with Brazil in 1994 and 2002, would run as a candidate in the Confederation of Brazilian Football (CBF) elections to replace current president Ednaldo Rodrigues in 2026. He told Globo Esporte he wanted to recover the “prestige and respect that the Selecao [Brazil’s national team] always had and today nobody else has.” He also said he expects to sell his stake in Spanish top-flight side Real Valladolid so it would not be an obstacle to his candidacy.
CYCLING
MotoGP rider joins Lidl-Trek
Former MotoGP rider Aleix Espargaro is to join cycling outfit Lidl-Trek next year having only retired from motorcycling last month, the team announced on Monday. Spaniard Espargaro clinched three MotoGP race wins during a 15-year career on the motorbike. The 35-year-old begins his Lidl-Trek contract on Jan. 1 and would join the side as an ambassador for unspecified “prestigious” cycling races. “After a back injury forced me to give up running I turned to cycling for recovery and training. Over time, it became more than just preparation — it became my passion,” Espargaro said. His new teammates include former Giro d’Italia winner Tao Geoghegan Hart, Belgian veteran Tim Declercq and 2019 road race world champion Mads Pedersen.
SOCCER
Women’s Euro purse doubled
Prize money for the UEFA Women’s European Championship would more than double compared with the previous edition, with the 16 teams sharing 41 million euros (US$42.98 million), UEFA said on Monday. Each federation would get a minimum of 1.8 million euros for playing at Euro 2025 in Switzerland and is obliged to share at least 30 percent of the money among the players, UEFA’s executive committee decided on Monday. The men’s Euro tournament last year had a total prize fund of 331 million euros, from overall revenue of about 2.4 billion euros.
GOLF
PGA to pay Ryder players
US golfers would be paid to play in the Ryder Cup for the first time after the PGA of America on Monday unveiled a program that would give each team member a US$200,000 stipend and US$300,000 to distribute to charity. The PGA of America said no players had asked to be compensated, but the issue of pay for play in the prestigious event has reportedly been a source of tension within the US team in previous editions.
MIXED MARTIAL ARTS
Covington decries bout call
Colby Covington on Monday decried that his UFC bout against Joaquin Buckley on Saturday in Tampa, Florida, was stopped in the third round due to excessive bleeding from a cut above his right eye. However, UFC legend Chael Sonnen, who was in Covington’s corner during the fight, said on his YouTube channel that Covington was “busted open so bad that the doctor has to look at it three times.” Covington (17-5 MMA) had a different perspective after his first bout in a year. “I was just getting warmed up in that fight,” he said on his YouTube channel. “I think it was tied up 1-1 [in rounds], and I was starting to wear on him.”
‘AWFUL PERFORMANCE’: Golden State were always chasing the game after failing to threaten from long range, making just eight of 33 three-point attempts Aaron Gordon on Monday scored 38 points as the Denver Nuggets shrugged off the absence of Nikola Jokic to halt the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak with a 114-105 victory over their Western Conference rivals. A dazzling display from Gordon inspired what was ultimately a comfortable win for Denver, who were missing regular starters Jokic and Jamal Murray from their lineup. The absentees were barely felt by Denver, who startled the Warriors early at San Francisco’s Chase Center and led for most of the game. The Warriors threatened to stage a late rally after slashing the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter lead from 15 points
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
Paolo Banchero on Sunday scored 24 points as the Orlando Magic overturned a 13-point deficit to end the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 16-game unbeaten streak with a gutsy 108-103 road victory. Cleveland, the runaway Eastern Conference leaders, had looked poised to extend their franchise-record winning run after surging clear of Orlando early in the third quarter, but after a season where they have staged hefty winning comebacks of their own, the tables turned on Cleveland in the face of a furious burst of Orlando scoring. The Magic outscored Cleveland 35-23 in the third quarter, with Franz Wagner leading the charge with nine points and
Chris Wood has fired Nottingham Forest into surprise UEFA Champions League contention and now the striker wants to score the goals to help New Zealand make history at the FIFA World Cup. New Zealand are strong favorites to qualify out of the Oceania region over the next week and reach the World Cup for only the third time. At the country’s two previous appearances at the finals, in 1982 and 2010, they have failed to win a match in six attempts. With Wood captaining the side and leading from the front, he told local media yesterday that the current squad can finally deliver
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