Updates ahead of Saturday’s World Cup qualifiers Get in touch! Email Matchday live here Your World Cup qualifying action today: 7.45 pm BST unless stated Group F: Armenia v Portugal (1700BST), Republic of Ireland v Hungary Group H: Austria v Cyprus. San Marino v Bosnia and Herzegovina. Group K: England...
Record-breaker: Leonard Barden’s chess column celebrates 70 years and a place in history
Now 96, this week marks a milestone for our columnist, whose astonishing career has set a Guinness World Record September 1955. The dying embers of one era, the dawning of another. It’s been five months since Sir Winston Churchill retired as prime minister. In another four Elvis Presley will release...
Deadlifting beef adds unnecessary weight to world of inspirational beefcakes | Barney Ronay
Game of Thrones star ‘Thor’ Björnsson aims to lift 510kg this weekend but has cast gentle giant Eddie Hall as his nemesis There are probably sound structural reasons why the Eddie Hall deadlift world record video from July 2016 is so hard to stop watching, why it has become a...
Sinner sees off Auger-Aliassime to reach historic US Open final with Alcaraz
Sinner defeats Auger-Aliassime 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 Italian joins Laver, Federer, Djokovic with slam feat Alcaraz showdown will decide world No 1 ranking Jannik Sinner will meet Carlos Alcaraz for the US Open title after the defending champion survived an injury scare to repel a spirited challenge from Félix Auger-Aliassime...
From Birmingham to Sunderland, which teams are set for WSL2 title tilt?
England’s rebranded second tier begins on Friday and our club-by-club guide features all the pre-season news Last season: 2nd. Predicted finish: 2nd After missing out on promotion on the final day of last season, finishing just two points behind London City Lionesses, Birmingham looked virtually WSL-ready on and off the...
Chess: Gukesh wins impressively on Silk Road as Grand Swiss starts in Samarkand
The contest in Uzbekistan will qualify two of the eight 2026 world title Candidates, but Nakamura, the world No 2, has controversially preferred a low-rated qualification route The 11-round $625,000 Fide Grand Swiss, which began on Thursday in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, the capital of the Silk Road, will decide two of...
Eagles squeeze past Cowboys as Carter ejected for spitting on Prescott six seconds into season
Dallas Cowboys 20-24 Philadelphia Eagles Philadelphia DT thrown out after confrontation The defending Super Bowl champions got their title defence off to a winning start as they beat the Dallas Cowboys 24-20 in the NFL season opener on Thursday night. But the game may well be remembered for an incident...
Rope hope: meet the 72-year-old heaving hard for England’s tug of war team
After helping Great Britain win gold at the World Games last month, lifelong puller Richard Keightley is competing again in the world championships in Nottingham this weekend It is Richard Keightley’s 50th wedding anniversary in early December, and he could really do with planning something special to placate his longsuffering...
Aston Villa ‘killed’ by spending rules in transfer window, says Ezri Konsa
Club affected by Premier League and Uefa financial fair play ‘It’s crazy. We’re going to have to deal with what we’ve got’ Ezri Konsa has said that football’s spending regulations “killed” Aston Villa during a difficult summer transfer window. The club, who have started the season badly with one point...
Georgia Stanway: ‘If England win the World Cup I’ll happily retire – that’s all my dreams’
Lionesses and Bayern Munich midfielder on ‘stressful’ Euro 2025 success, ‘world-class’ Sarina Wiegman and online abuse suffered by players Georgia Stanway has more than 100 tiny tattoos inked into her skin and, stretching out her arms to show me some of them, she reveals that since helping England win a...