Sports 13 September 2026

Rybakina's third major, and the first US Open final a defending champion has lost since 2002

6-4, 5-7, 6-2 in two hours and 21 minutes on Arthur Ashe. Rybakina had already locked up the world No. 1 ranking in the quarter-finals; Saturday night ended Sabalenka's two-year run in New York.

Elena Rybakina finished the US Open with an ace. It was her twelfth of the night, and it beat Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 in two hours and 21 minutes on Arthur Ashe Stadium on Saturday.

New York was the one that had got away. Rybakina won Wimbledon in 2022 and the Australian Open in January, and the trophy she lifted on Saturday is her third major, her fourteenth career title and her third of this season alone. The world No. 1 ranking was already hers, secured in the quarter-finals against Zheng, so this was the piece still missing.

Across the net stood the two-time defending champion. Sabalenka had won the last two editions and was chasing a third in a row, and by the tournament’s own count no defending women’s champion had lost a US Open final since Serena Williams in 2002.

The second set was where it might have turned. Rybakina was serving with the lead, Sabalenka answered the way she usually answers, took the set 7-5 and sent the match back to the start. In the third Rybakina broke for 2-1, broke again for 5-2, and gave nothing back.

One more number puts her season in place. Since 2000, only three women have won the Australian Open and the US Open in the same year: Angelique Kerber in 2016, Sabalenka herself in 2024, and now Rybakina.

For Portuguese viewers the tournament had ended much earlier. Nuno Borges went out in the opening round and the national hopes came down to Jaime Faria, in a men’s draw that ran on to Sunday. Next up on the women’s tour is the race to the WTA Finals, and Rybakina arrives there with nobody in front of her.

By Vasco Almada

Photo: Ocoudis / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

Sports 19 September 2026

Watching the clássico from abroad? Porto host Benfica at 20:30 Lisbon time on Sunday

Round seven of the Portuguese league at the Estádio do Dragão. Porto arrive with six wins from six and two goals conceded, Benfica two points behind and fresh from a first ever win over Milan at San Siro.

Sunday, 20:30 Lisbon time, Estádio do Dragão. It is the season's first meeting between the two clubs at the top of the Portuguese league, and Benfica's own fixture list carries the date and the kick-off for the round-seven trip north. If you are reading this from Newark, Toronto, London or Paris: Lisbon and the UK and Ireland share a clock right now, so it is 20:30 there too. That makes it 21:30 across most of continental Europe, 16:30 in Rio, 15:30 on…

Sports 18 September 2026

Samuel Soares, Nuno Tavares and Fábio Silva come into Jorge Jesus's first Portugal squad

Portugal's new head coach named his 25 for the start of the Nations League title defence on Friday at the Cidade do Futebol. João Palhinha returns, and only six of the players picked are at Portuguese clubs.

Twenty-five names, and three of them had never been on a Jorge Jesus list before. Portugal's head coach named his squad at midday on Friday at the Cidade do Futebol for the first four games of the Nations League, and the arrivals that stand out are goalkeeper Samuel Soares, full-back Nuno Tavares and forward Fábio Silva. João Palhinha, left out of the most recent squads, is back in midfield. Much of the rest is the spine that went to the World Cup. Diogo…

Sports 17 September 2026

Benfica had faced Milan twice, both times in a European Cup final. At the third attempt they won

Dodi Lukébakio scored after sixteen minutes and Jakub Kaminski added a second early in the second half at San Siro. The only previous competitive meetings were the 1963 and 1990 European Cup finals, and Benfica lost both.

Benfica won 2-0 at San Siro on the opening matchday of the Europa League league phase. Dodi Lukébakio put them ahead after sixteen minutes and Jakub Kaminski, who had made the first goal, scored the second shortly after the interval. It is the first time the Portuguese club has beaten Milan in a competitive match. The two had met only twice before in a real fixture, and Benfica lost both: the 1963 European Cup final at Wembley and the 1990 final in…

Sports 16 September 2026

Benfica open their Europa League at San Siro against two of their own

Milan host Benfica at 20:00 Lisbon time on Wednesday in the first round of the league phase. Gonçalo Ramos and Diego Moreira both came through Benfica's academy, Rúben Amorim coaches the Italian side, and Sport TV 5 has it in Portugal.

Benfica begin the Europa League league phase on Wednesday, and they begin it somewhere loud. Kick-off at San Siro is 20:00 Lisbon time, an hour later locally in Milan. In Portugal the match is on Sport TV 5, which holds the rights to Portuguese clubs in European competition. The team sheet does most of the talking here, and a lot of it is in Portuguese. Gonçalo Ramos and Diego Moreira, both products of Benfica's academy, will be wearing red and black on…

Sports 15 September 2026

Portugal beat Costa Rica 3-0 and reach a U-20 Women's World Cup last 16 for the first time

Anna Marques scored in the 7th and 58th minutes and Carolina Tristao in the 34th. It is Portugal's first ever win at this level, and Spain are next, on Wednesday in Katowice.

Portugal went into their third Group E game needing a win, and got one: 3-0 against Costa Rica at Arena Sosnowiec in southern Poland. Anna Marques headed in after seven minutes, Carolina Tristao beat two defenders and finished into the bottom corner on 34, and Marques added her second on 58 from a scramble inside the box. It was Portugal's first ever win at a U-20 Women's World Cup, in a tournament that is also their first ever appearance at the level.…

Bar chart of points for the Liga's top four after six rounds: FC Porto 18, Benfica 16, Sporting 14, Santa Clara 14.

Sports 14 September 2026

Porto have won all six. Benfica come to the Dragão next

Six rounds, six wins, two goals conceded. Sporting drew at Famalicão, slipped to third and now trail the leaders by four, with the clássico waiting one week later.

Round six closed on Sunday night and left one very tidy sum behind it. FC Porto have played six and won six: eighteen points from eighteen, fifteen goals scored, two conceded, all of it there in the official Liga Portugal table. This start has not been built on weekly thrashings. It has been built on never slipping. That is the whole gap to the chasing pair: Benfica have won five and drawn one for sixteen points, while Sporting have now drawn two.

Sports 12 September 2026

Porto answered a Casa Pia penalty with four goals in Rio Maior

Casa Pia led 1-0 through a 43rd-minute Henrique Araújo penalty. Porto equalised in first-half stoppage time and then scored three more, winning 4-1 on the sixth matchday.

For forty-three minutes in Rio Maior, Casa Pia were beating FC Porto. Henrique Araújo scored from the spot and the home side looked like going in ahead. They did not get that far. André Silva levelled in the third minute of first-half stoppage time, and that goal turned out to be the first of four in a row. Jakub Kiwior made it 2-1 on the hour, Borja Sainz added a third on 67 minutes, and Santiago Giménez converted a penalty deep into stoppage time. Final…

Chart of professional players per club in the 2026/27 Liga BPI: Sporting 34, Benfica 29, FC Porto 23

Sports 11 September 2026

236 of the 412 women in Portugal's top league now get paid to play

The Liga BPI returns with ten clubs, FC Porto among them for the first time, and Benfica chasing a seventh straight title. Sporting carries the largest professional squad.

Portugal's top women's football league is back, with ten clubs and one new name on the list: FC Porto, entering the Liga BPI for the first time. Benfica start as champions and are going for a seventh title in a row. The number that says most about where the game stands, though, is not in the table. Of the 412 players registered for this season, 236 hold a professional sports contract. The other 176 are still amateurs. That puts 57.2% of first-division…

Sports 11 September 2026

One point, and it took Portugal until 2026 to get it at a Under-20 Women's World Cup

A goalless draw with Colombia in Lodz gave Portugal its first ever point at the tournament. Qualification for the last 16 comes down to Sunday's meeting with Costa Rica in Sosnowiec.

Portugal drew 0-0 with Colombia in Lodz on Thursday and collected the first point in its history at a FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. This is the first time the country has played the tournament at this age group at all. It felt like a point dropped rather than won. Goalkeeper Nair Pina was probably the best player on the pitch, with two decisive saves before the break, and Portugal created enough to take all three: Rita Melo hit the crossbar, and in the…

The men's 400m freestyle S11 podium at the World Para Swimming European Championships in Kocaeli, Türkiye

Sports 10 September 2026

Portugal's first two medals in Kocaeli came off record pace. The record that did fall finished sixth

Marco Meneses took silver in the 400m freestyle S11 and Diogo Cancela bronze in the 100m butterfly S8 at the European Para Swimming Championships in Türkiye. Susana Veiga cut nearly two seconds off her own national mark and placed sixth.

Portugal got off the mark at the European Para Swimming Championships in Kocaeli with two medals in Wednesday's finals session. Marco Meneses finished runner-up in the 400m freestyle S11 in 4:41.52, and Diogo Cancela took bronze in the 100m butterfly S8 in 1:04.66.

Sports 9 September 2026

Diogo Costa held City off for 46 minutes. Haaland needed two chances

Porto lost 0-2 at the Dragão on the opening matchday of the Champions League league phase. Both goals came from crosses in the second half, and Porto had not put a single shot on target before the break.

Half-time said 0-0, and half-time was lying. Porto went in level with Manchester City without having put a single shot on target; the two efforts they did produce were flagged offside before they could count for anything at all. What was holding the scoreline up had a name. Diogo Costa made three high-class saves in the first half, two of them denying near-certain goals to Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki. It was the best thing about Porto's night, and it…

Bar chart of Portugal's Mediterranean Games medal totals: 24 at Tarragona 2018, 25 at Oran 2022 and 32 at Taranto 2026

Sports 8 September 2026

Portugal came home from Taranto with 32 medals, 16 of them gold

The Mediterranean Games ended with Portugal eighth in the table and a national record — 16 gold, seven silver, nine bronze from a squad of 172. The total is the smaller half of the story.

Portugal finished the Taranto Mediterranean Games with 32 medals — 16 gold, seven silver, nine bronze — and eighth place in the table. In three appearances at these Games, the country has never done better. The figure that travelled was 32. It is the least interesting of the three. Tarragona 2018 produced 24 medals. Oran 2022 produced 25. Seven more in four years is quiet progress, and if that were the whole story the line would be close to flat.

Sports 6 September 2026

Leandro Barreiro scored twice at the Barreiros and Benfica finally kept a clean sheet

Barreiro struck on seven minutes and again on 71, Prestianni curled in a third on 82, and João Palhinha made his first start. Benfica ended Saturday on ten points with a game in hand on Porto.

Benfica won 3-0 at the Estádio dos Barreiros on Saturday afternoon and left Funchal with what they needed without ever looking comfortable. Marítimo's own match report sums the day up neatly: the scoreline does not reflect the ninety minutes. The first goal came on seven minutes. Gianluca Prestianni cut inside from the left and shot, Alfonso Pastor spilled it, and Leandro Barreiro pounced on the edge of the box to force it in.

Sports 4 September 2026

Seven years, 278 games, and a fee Arsenal will not name

Arsenal's statement on Gabriel Martinelli's move to Al-Hilal counts the appearances and the trophies and stops there. The 60 million pounds everyone is printing is reported, not confirmed.

Gabriel Martinelli has left Arsenal after seven years. The club confirmed the permanent transfer to Al-Hilal in a statement that adds up his time in north London — 278 appearances, 62 goals, last season's Premier League title, the 2020 FA Cup, the 2023 Community Shield. What the statement does not add up is the money. No figure, no valuation, not even the usual line about undisclosed terms. He arrived from Ituano in July 2019 as a teenager nobody outside…