Category: Sports

Jude Bellingham has expanded his sporting footprint beyond football by acquiring a minority stake in The Hundred franchise Birmingham Phoenix, marking a notable crossover investment into cricket from one of England’s biggest stars.

The Real Madrid midfielder, who was born in Stourbridge and raised in Birmingham, has purchased a 1.2% share in the franchise.

The stake has been split evenly between Warwickshire County Cricket Club and Knighthead Capital Management, the latter already a major investor in the team and owner of Birmingham City FC.

Warwickshire continue to hold majority control of the franchise with 50.4% ownership, while Knighthead’s share now stands at 48.4%.

The move further strengthens the Phoenix’s local identity, with Bellingham becoming one of the most high-profile athletes to invest in The Hundred.

Despite his global football commitments, the 22-year-old has never hidden his affection for cricket. Having played junior cricket at Hagley Cricket Club during his teenage years, Bellingham has often spoken about his admiration for the sport, even once naming Ben Stokes as the athlete he would swap careers with for a day.

Speaking after the investment was confirmed, Jude Bellingham underlined his emotional connection to the city and his desire to give back.

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“I love Birmingham. I’m very grateful for what the whole city of Birmingham has done for me. I love cricket as well, so when I got the opportunity to get involved, I didn’t really think twice about it, so I’m so happy to be on board,” he said.

“I’m so grateful to Birmingham, the Stourbridge area and the West Midlands as a whole. I got the best upbringing into football, into life through Birmingham City. I feel like I owe the city something. Right now, it’s difficult with how busy I am with football, but if there’s a way in which I can help then I want to and this feels like a good way.”

Beyond the financial aspect, his role is expected to extend into community engagement and social initiatives.

Warwickshire highlighted that Bellingham will contribute to projects aimed at increasing sports participation across Birmingham, particularly among young people.

“I think it’s so important to get kids out there playing sports. I think it’s crucial and the opportunity of me being a part of Birmingham Phoenix is to try and help people realise there’s different avenues,” he added.

“Some people will enjoy football, some will enjoy cricket — it’s about creating opportunities.”

READ: Rawalpindiz owner breaks silence on Mohammad Rizwan’s captaincy

Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior scored as Real Madrid beat Alaves 2-1 on Tuesday to cling on to their slim hopes of catching Barcelona in La Liga.

Mbappe struck his league-leading 24th goal, but first since early February, with a deflected shot on the half hour at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Vinicius lashed in a second from distance early in the second half, which proved crucial as Alaves pulled a goal back in stoppage time through Toni Martinez.

The victory ended a two-match winless run in La Liga for Madrid and moved them back to within six points of leaders Barcelona, who host Celta Vigo on Wednesday.

“We have six matches coming up, the next one in three days. The aim is to win those matches, that’s the goal we’ve set ourselves as a team,” said Madrid coach Alvaro Arbeloa, whose position is under increasing scrutiny.

“I don’t care much about what’s at stake for me personally. What matters to me is what’s at stake for Real Madrid.”

Real Madrid are staring down the barrel of a second consecutive season without a major trophy following last week’s Champions League quarter-final exit at the hands of Bayern Munich.

Mbappe scored in both legs of that 6-4 aggregate defeat, but a barren patch in La Liga, in part because of a knee injury, coincided with arch-rivals Barcelona streaking clear at the top.

Madrid faced early pressure from relegation-threatened Alaves, who were unbeaten in four matches.

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Angel Perez broke in behind the home defence before strangely opting to pass instead of shooting, with just Andriy Lunin blocking his path to goal. Martinez then tested the Real keeper after finding a pocket of space.

Mbappe put Madrid ahead when his effort from just outside the box clipped a defender and wrong-footed Antonio Sivera.

The France captain then had an attempt beaten away by Sivera, and Eder Militao clipped the crossbar, injuring himself in the process and having to go off before the break.

Martinez nearly levelled for Alaves when he poked a cross against the post, with his follow-up strike clawed out by Lunin.

Vinicius hammered in from 25 yards to give Madrid breathing space, and Brahim Diaz was denied by a brilliant headed clearance off the goalline.

Alaves continued to toil away as Victor Parada’s diving header hit the upright. Martinez netted a consolation with an inventive flick in stoppage time before loud jeers greeted the final whistle in Madrid.

Elsewhere, Real Betis came from behind to triumph 3-2 at Girona as Rodrigo Riquelme bagged the winner 10 minutes from time.

Gorka Guruzeta’s first-half goal lifted Athletic Bilbao to a 1-0 home win over Osasuna, while Mallorca and Valencia drew 1-1.

READ: Former Premier League champions Leicester relegated to third tier

Former Premier League champions Leicester were relegated to the third tier for only the second time in their history after a 2-2 draw against Hull on Tuesday.

Gary Rowett’s side needed a victory at the King Power Stadium to keep alive their slender hopes of avoiding relegation.

But the Foxes were denied by Oli McBurnie’s second-half equaliser, which condemned them to League One just 10 years after they were crowned English champions in a fairytale triumph.

Liam Millar put Hull ahead in the 18th minute before Leicester equalised through James Justin’s 52nd-minute penalty.

Luke Thomas put Leicester ahead two minutes later, but McBurnie extinguished their dreams of a great escape with his 63rd-minute leveller.

Second-bottom Leicester are seven points from safety with just two games left. Leicester will play in the third tier for the first time since 2008-09 following an astonishing decline over the last five years.

“We have to learn. I think the club have to accept this is the horrible part of the journey of a football club,” Rowett said.

“This club won the Premier League not too many moons ago. That was an incredible high at the time for the fans, for everyone associated with the club.

“I think everyone saw that as an amazing achievement. I think we can be equally as disappointed with how poor this moment is.”

It is a third relegation in four seasons for Leicester, who dropped out of the Premier League in 2023 and 2025.

After Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez, N’Golo Kante and company defied 5,000-1 odds by winning the Premier League in 2016, Leicester reached the Champions League quarter-finals the next season and won the FA Cup in 2021.

But Leicester’s golden era is a distant memory as they face the unpalatable prospect of playing the likes of Bromley, Mansfield and Wycombe next season.

“The bigger picture is you don’t get relegated over three or four games, you get relegated over a season,” Rowett said.

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“The club has to rise again, but it has to learn its lessons because it’s certainly been a season of an awful lot of regret.”

Crashing out of the Premier League in limp fashion three years ago should have been a wake-up call for Leicester’s Thai owner Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha and much-maligned sporting director Jon Rudkin.

But Leicester’s hierarchy were painfully slow to address numerous flaws on the pitch, while the club’s ruinous finances have cost them a six-point deduction this season for breaching spending rules.

Vardy’s departure at the end of last season severed the last tie with the title-winning squad.

Marti Cifuentes, hired to lead a promotion push, struggled to rebuild an unbalanced and inexperienced squad before his sacking in January.

Interim boss Andy King was unable to turn the tide, and relegation fears began to mount after Leicester blew a 3-0 half-time lead in a dismal 4-3 defeat against Southampton.

By the time Rowett was hired in February, the Foxes were two points from safety, and the former Leicester defender has mustered only one win from his 12 matches since.

Boardroom blunders have been the defining influence on Leicester’s plummet towards League One.

Claudio Ranieri, architect of their title-winning campaign, was sacked just months after lifting the trophy, with Craig Shakespeare and then Claude Puel proving inadequate replacements.

Brendan Rodgers, who masterminded the club’s FA Cup triumph and two fifth-placed finishes in the Premier League, was dismissed as relegation beckoned in 2023.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, Coventry clinched the Championship title with a 5-1 rout of Portsmouth.

Frank Lampard’s side had sealed promotion back to the top flight after a 25-year absence with a draw at Blackburn on Friday.

Millwall climbed to second place with a 3-1 win at Stoke, while fourth-placed Southampton’s bid for automatic promotion was dented by a 2-2 draw against Bristol City.

READ: Venus Williams exits in first round of Madrid Open

Venus Williams was knocked out of the Madrid Open in the first round on Tuesday as the 45-year-old went down in straight sets to Kaitlin Quevedo.

The 20-year-old Spanish wild card beat the seven-time Grand Slam champion 6-2, 6-4.

Ranked 479th in the world, Williams has now lost all seven matches she has played this season. It was her first match on clay since Roland Garros five years ago.

Every game was closely contested in a first set marked by numerous unforced errors due to the wind blowing across the Estadio Manolo Santana, but the world number 140, playing in her first 1000-level event, was the more consistent of the two.

Williams got off to a better start in the second set, taking a 3-0 lead, before Quevedo began to fight back and the match was then interrupted by rain while the roof over the centre court was closed.

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Quevedo won five consecutive games to seal her passage to the second round.

Last year’s French Open sensation Lois Boisson lost 6-1, 6-3 to American Peyton Stearns in just over an hour on her return from injury.

Boisson, who lit up Roland Garros with her stunning run to the semi-finals as the world number 361, won only four games in her first match since September.

Stearns goes on to play top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, the reigning champion and three-time winner in Madrid.

Earlier, former world number two Paula Badosa lost 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 6-0 to Julia Grabher as the Spaniard exited her hometown event in the opening round.

Beatriz Haddad Maia, a 2023 Roland Garros semi-finalist, went out 6-1, 6-1 to Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.

READ: New batch of FIFA World Cup 2026 tickets to go on sale

A new batch of World Cup 2026 tickets to all 104 matches will go on sale this Wednesday, just 50 days before the tournament kicks off, FIFA said Tuesday.

Tickets to games across the United States, Mexico and Canada will be available via FIFA’s website “on a first-come, first-served basis” from 1500 GMT, the sport’s governing body said in a statement.

“Along with this set of tickets, additional tickets will continue to be released to the public on an ongoing basis up until the final on Sunday, 19 July (subject to availability),” it said.

The latest batch of tickets comes after FIFA President Gianni Infantino said more than five million tickets have already been sold to the tournament, which begins June 11.

The most tickets ever sold previously for a World Cup were 3.5 million, when the event was last held in the US back in 1994.

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Based on the capacity of the 16 stadiums hosting this tournament, approximately seven million tickets are expected to be available in total for the 2026 edition.

FIFA has come under fire for the sky-high prices of tickets, with the most expensive ticket for the World Cup final surpassing $10,000, excluding the resale market.

Organizers have defended the pricing of tickets, which Infantino attributed to “crazy” demand, and used a “dynamic pricing” strategy where prices are automatically raised for high-demand matches.

On Tuesday, the Athletic reported that ticket sales were lagging for the United States team’s high-priced World Cup opener against Paraguay in Los Angeles — a claim disputed by FIFA.

“Ticket sales for the FIFA World Cup remain strong with a high degree of interest for all matches,” a FIFA spokesperson told AFP.

READ: Wasim Khan to leave role as ICC General Manager

KARACHI: Mohammad Rizwan shared his thoughts after Rawalpindiz eight consecutive defeat in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 11.

Rawalpindiz posted 166 in their 20 overs, thanks to a half-century from Daryl Mitchell and a late cameo from Dian Forrester.

In reply, Sultans chased down the target within 18 overs, losing four wickets in the process.  Steve Smith starred with the bat, scoring 56 off 31 balls with the aid of three sixes and five fours.

The loss marked Mohammad Rizwan’s Rawalpindiz eighth consecutive loss in the tournament.

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Following the match, Rizwan highlighted the shortcomings and praised Steve Smith for his half-century.

“We had targeted 170 on this pitch, but credit to Steve Smith for his [match winning] innings,” he said to the presenter.

“We had them under pressure, but it was his knock which took them over the line. We are looking for a win despite losing eight out of eight,” he added.

Catch all the PSL 11 updates here!

Rizwan remained confident of sealing their maiden win in the tournament while rueing dropped chances and luck.

“We are making mistakes and at times things are also not going in our favour, like a dropped catch today. We will try to win our next match against Islamabad United,” he concluded.

Rawalpindiz will play Islamabad United on April 23 at the same venue.

READ: Steve Smith reflects after Multan Sultans win over Rawalpindiz

KARACHI: Multan Sultans batter Steve Smith reflected on his half-century against Rawalpindiz in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 11 clash at the National Bank Stadium on Tuesday.

Smith scored 56 off 31 balls, leading Sultan to beat Rawalpindi by six wickets and chase down a challenging 167-run target inside 18 overs.

The right-hander hit three fours and two sixes in his second half-century of the season. Smith, playing in the PSL for the first time, has amassed 231 runs in eight matches at an average of 28.87.

Speaking in the post-match press conference, Smith said he is enjoying his time in Pakistan and is happy with the overall experience

“I am very happy here and enjoying myself,” he told reporters.

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He said the team’s goal is to finish in the top two and praised Multan Sultans for playing high-quality cricket. He added that playing in Karachi required extra effort, especially in conditions where batters had to work hard for runs, and said it took time for him to settle into a rhythm.

“Our goal is to finish in the top two. Multan Sultans are playing very good cricket. PSL is proving to be a good event. In Karachi, you really had to put in a lot of effort to hit the ball,” he added.

The cricketer noted that several players have impressed him in the tournament, saying there is plenty of talent in Pakistan and that every team is trying to deliver quality performances.

The 36-year-old expressed disappointment that fans could not attend the match in the stadiums.

“It is disappointing that fans are not present in the stadiums to watch us,” he concluded.

READ: Wasim Khan to leave role as ICC General Manager

Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief executive Wasim Khan is set to step down as International Cricket Council (ICC) General Manager after four years in the position.

Wasim assumed the office in May 2022, taking over from Geoff Allardice after serving as the PCB’s CEO.

During his tenure in PCB, he oversaw administrative reforms, commercial growth, and the successful hosting of international cricket in Pakistan following the gradual return of foreign teams.

He was also instrumental in the return of international cricket to Pakistan, overseeing the successful hosting of series involving teams such as South Africa, New Zealand, and England. In addition, he supported the growth of domestic cricket structures and the continued expansion of the Pakistan Super League.

Following his retirement from cricket in 2002, he made a reputation as an impressive administrative career, The 55-year-old has started his administrative career, serving as CEO for Leicestershire County and the Cricket Foundation.

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One notable aspect of Wasim’s tenure as ICC General Manager was the increase in international fixtures despite an already packed cricket calendar. The latest Future Tours Program (2023–27), finalized during his time in office, featured an expanded international cricket schedule. Moreover, the first-ever women’s FTP was also introduced during his tenure.

He will remain in the role till the end of June, marking another departure of senior officials from the cricketing governing body over the past two years.

For the unversed, Wasim was born in Birmingham in 1971 and became the first British-born Muslim to play county cricket, featuring in 58 first-class matches and 30 List A matches collectively for Warwickshire, Sussex, and Derbyshire.

READ: Rawalpindiz owner breaks silence on Mohammad Rizwan’s captaincy

Pep Guardiola has eased Manchester City’s fears that Rodri could be ruled out for the remainder of the Premier League season, but the Spain midfielder is set to miss Wednesday’s trip to Burnley.

The 2024 Ballon d’Or winner was instrumental to City’s critical 2-1 win over title rivals Arsenal on Sunday before being forced off late on with a groin problem.

Rodri, 29, is unlikely to feature as City aim to go top of the table for the first time this year at Turf Moor.

But City then have 12 days until their next league game at Everton as they face Southampton in Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final.

“I think for tomorrow he will not be ready,” Guardiola said at his pre-match press conference on Tuesday. “We’ll see for next games, the semi-final against Southampton or against Everton.”

Rodri’s return to form after an injury-disrupted 18 months has played a major role in City’s surge back into the title race as he has formed a dominant midfield partnership alongside Bernardo Silva.

“Both are experienced, they have a huge special personality,” added Guardiola.

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“They are not young guys anymore, experienced guys, but played a lot of this type of games and know how it must be played. They were exceptional.”

Even if City win to condemn Burnley to relegation, they will still only be level on points with Arsenal with five games to go.

Momentum is with Guardiola’s men, but he is wary of a tougher run-in for his side, which includes visits to Everton and Bournemouth, who are both in the running to qualify for Europe next season.

“Both teams know we cannot lose or drop points,” said Guardiola, who is aiming to win a seventh league title in nine seasons.

“It will be difficult to recover and our calendar is so demanding. The opponents are really tough.”

READ: PSL 11: Fakhar Zaman stars as Lahore Qalandars edge Quetta Gladiators

KARACHI: Steve Smith scored a brisk fifty as Multan Sultans outplayed Rawalpindiz by six wickets in the 31st match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 11 here at the National Bank Stadium on Tuesday.

After limiting Pindiz to 166, Sultans chased down the target within 18 overs, losing four wickets in the process.

The opening wicket added 29 in 3.3 overs before Asif Afridi castled Sahibzada Farhan, who made 20 from 17 balls.

After an early wicket, Steve Smith took control of the innings, forging a 69-run stand with compatriot Josh Philippe. The pair made light work of the chase and brought the team’s total to 98 at the halfway mark of the innings.

Smith took young bowler Razaullah to the cleaners, smashing him for a four and three consecutive sixes. However, Afridi provided Pindiz the much-needed breakthrough in the form of Philippe’s wicket, who made 17 from 19 balls.

In the next over, Saad Masood snared Smith to revive Pindiz’s hopes of sealing a first win. Suddenly, the scorecard read 100-3 in 11.3 overs.

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The quick wickets brought two new batters — Shan Masood (20 off 22 balls) and Ashton Turner at the crease. Both batters soaked up the pressure, adding a 57-run partnership that took their side close to the finishing line.

Turner remained unbeaten at the end, hitting three fours and a six in his calculated knock.

For Rawalpindiz, Asif Afridi took two wickets each.

Earlier, A fighting half-century from Daryl Mitchell and a late cameo from Dian Forrester propelled Rawalpindiz to a fighting total

Opting to bat first, Rawalpindiz managed to post 166-4 in 20 overs, despite a sluggish start.

Mohammad Imran Randhawa and Veteran Peter Siddle combined to jolt winless Pindiz in the opening overs. Shahzaib Khan was caught behind without scoring, while Yasir Khan only managed four.

At the end of the powerplay, Rawalpindiz were reeling at 33-2 with Mohammad Rizwan and Daryl Mitchell at the crease.

Catch all the PSL 11 updates here!

The pair took their side out of trouble with a 63-run partnership, albeit coming off 50 balls. The scorecard read 69 in 10.2 overs when Rizwan departed after scoring 26 from 29 balls.

Meanwhile, Mitchell kept the scoreboard ticking, stitching a half-century stand with Sam Billings that took the score over the 100-run mark. Billings made 29 off 20 with the aid of two fours and a six.

The highlight of the Rawalpindiz innings was an unbeaten 45* run partnership between Mitchell and Forrester that propelled the team’s total from 121 to 166 in 20 overs.

Mitchell scored 58 off 46 deliveries, striking two sixes and three fours. On the contrary, Dan Forrester hit three maximums and three fours in his 37 off just 15 balls.

For Multan Sultans, it was an all-round bowling show with Imran Randhawa remaining the pick of bowlers. He finished with one for nine in three overs.

READ: Rawalpindiz owner breaks silence on Mohammad Rizwan’s captaincy