Sports 21 July 2026

Sporting have put €10m on the table for Irankunda — Watford say he only leaves for 15

Sporting CP bid 10 million euros plus 3 in add-ons for Nestory Irankunda, the 20-year-old Australian winger who impressed at the 2026 World Cup with Watford.

Sporting have found their man to sharpen the attack and moved straight from interest to numbers: 10 million euros up front, plus 3 in add-ons, is the bid sent to Watford for Nestory Irankunda. The English reply, so far, is a shrug — the Championship club value the Australian winger at 15 million and had already turned down 10 from newly promoted Hull City.

Who is Nestory Irankunda?

A 20-year-old winger born in Tanzania to Burundian refugee parents, raised in Australia and developed at Adelaide United. Bayern Munich brought him to Europe early, loaned him to Grasshopper in Switzerland and eventually sold him to Watford, where his contract runs to 2030. His shop-window moment came at the 2026 World Cup: a starter for Australia, he scored against Turkey in the group stage and left the tournament tagged as one to watch.

How much do Watford want for Irankunda?

Fifteen million euros — five times what they paid a year ago. That is the price of a good World Cup and a market where quick wingers cost a fortune. For Sporting, the deal would fit a summer in which the team already looks lively: the 7-0 demolition of Strasbourg in the Algarve left good signs, but also the feeling that fresh legs are needed out wide.

The Lions believe the gap can be bridged with bonuses; Watford are betting on an auction. In the meantime, Sporting’s official site has nothing to announce just yet — but the window runs to the end of August, and these arm-wrestles are rarely settled in July.

By Vasco Almada

Image: Timmy96 / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

Sports 21 July 2026

Zidane is finally taking the France job — and he starts in September

Zinedine Zidane has agreed to succeed Didier Deschamps as France head coach after the 2026 World Cup. He takes over on 1 September, with Euro 2028 his first big test.

People have whispered about it for eight months, and now it is done: Zinedine Zidane will be the next France head coach. The deal is agreed, the paperwork gets signed this month, and the former midfield genius takes charge on 1 September, once Didier Deschamps steps aside. Deschamps had said long before a ball was kicked in the United States that the 2026 World Cup would be his last stop in the France dugout. He kept his word — France lost the…

Sports 20 July 2026

Sporting beat Strasbourg 7-0 in pre-season — and Zalazar christened his new shirt number with a goal

Doumbia struck early and Sporting demolished Strasbourg 7-0 at the Estádio Algarve, their second pre-season test. Zalazar scored from the spot.

Sporting demolished Strasbourg 7-0 on Monday night at the Estádio Algarve, in the second big test of their pre-season — a rout with a bit of everything: early goals, a debut penalty for a new arrival, and half the squad putting a hand up. Issa Doumbia opened after just four minutes with a firm finish inside the box, and from there it became a procession: Sergi Altimira added a second before the break, Silas Andersen a third after it, and Rodrigo Zalazar…

Sports 20 July 2026

FC Porto have gone to Norway for Mame Niang — 1.6 million euros for a 6ft 5in striker

FC Porto agreed a deal with HamKam for Mame Niang, a 20-year-old Senegalese striker. A 1.6 million euro fee, a five-season contract and a 20 million release clause.

FC Porto's transfer market keeps pointing north. The Dragons have reached an agreement in principle with Norway's HamKam to sign Mame Niang, a 20-year-old Senegalese striker who stands 1.97 metres tall — and the player is already in Porto to sort out the final details, having flown in on Sunday. Nobody, it seems, wants to waste time. The deal comes to 1.6 million euros up front, plus 700,000 in add-ons, with HamKam keeping 15 per cent of a future sale.…

Sports 20 July 2026

Spain beat Argentina 1-0 to win the World Cup 2026 final — Ferran Torres settled it in extra time

Spain won the World Cup 2026 final 1-0 over Argentina, Ferran Torres scoring in the 106th minute at MetLife Stadium. It is Spain's second title, sixteen years after 2010.

It ended the way Spain played the whole tournament: unhurried, unbothered, and utterly airtight. At MetLife Stadium, Spain beat Argentina 1-0 in extra time to win the World Cup 2026 — their second title, sixteen years after South Africa 2010. The defending champions went out without doing the one thing nobody thought possible a month ago: Argentina did not manage a single shot in the ninety minutes. The night turned crueller still before extra time began.…

Aerial view of a football pitch during a match

Sports 19 July 2026

World Cup 2026 — the results, the full bracket and how Spain won it

Our running World Cup 2026 tracker: results from every round, the updated knockout bracket and the day's big stories, updated through the 19 July final.

This is our running World Cup 2026 tracker, updated after every round through the final on 19 July at MetLife Stadium. Instead of hunting for the day's article, you'll find the results that matter, the stories shaping the tournament and the road to the final here — with the official schedule and results always available on FIFA's site. For the first time there is a round of 32 before the round of 16: the top two in each group advance along with the eight…

Sports 19 July 2026

World Cup final fever swallowed New York — Times Square turned sky blue and the MetLife queue never ended

Thousands of Argentina and Spain fans took over New York on World Cup 2026 final day. At MetLife Stadium, 80,000 people faced hours-long queues with security beefed up for Donald Trump.

Long before kick-off at MetLife Stadium, the World Cup 2026 final had already been played out on the streets of New York. Thousands of Argentina supporters turned Times Square into a sea of sky blue, drums and flags bouncing off the giant screens, while Spain's fans answered in smaller but no less noisy pockets. Anyone walking through midtown in the early afternoon could be forgiven for thinking Buenos Aires had moved to Manhattan wholesale. Around 80,000…

Sports 19 July 2026

Josh Kerr ran the mile in 3:42.66 and erased a 27-year-old world record

Josh Kerr broke the mile world record with 3:42.66 in London, taking 0.47 seconds off the mark El Guerrouj had held since 1999. He is the first man ever under 3:43.

Some records become furniture: they have been around so long nobody can picture the room without them. The mile was one of them — 3:43.13, Hicham El Guerrouj, Rome, 1999. On Saturday night in London, Scotland's Josh Kerr took 27 years of history and ran straight over it: 3:42.66, a new world record, in the Emsley Carr Mile at the Diamond League's London meet. He is the first man ever to break 3:43. El Guerrouj's 3:43.13, standing since 7 July 1999 — the…

Sports 19 July 2026

The World Cup 2026 final kicked off at 8pm Lisbon, free-to-air on RTP1 — and Spain won it

Argentina vs Spain, the World Cup 2026 final, kicked off on 19 July at 8pm Lisbon time at MetLife Stadium, free-to-air on RTP1 and on Sport TV. Spain won 1-0.

This is it. A whole month of football comes down to ninety minutes (or a hundred and twenty — nobody's ruling that out) between Argentina and Spain at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, near New York. And if you're watching from Portugal, it won't cost you a cent. The final kicks off tonight, Sunday, at 8pm Lisbon time (7pm in the Azores) — 3pm on the US east coast, a late-afternoon slot built precisely to catch European prime time. You can watch the…

Sports 19 July 2026

England beat France 6-4 for World Cup 2026 bronze and Mbappé still broke records

England beat France 6-4 in the World Cup 2026 third-place match in Miami after leading 4-0. Mbappé scored twice, reached 22 career World Cup goals and now leads the Golden Boot with 10.

England beat France 6-4 in the World Cup 2026 third-place match in Miami on Saturday night — ten goals, half a historic comeback, and two records falling along the way. It's England's best World Cup finish since the 1966 title, and the first time the bronze game has ended in an English party: the only previous attempt, in 1990, ended in defeat. A game in two acts that nobody scripted. With Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham starting on the bench and a heavily…

Sports 18 July 2026

The World Cup 2026 Golden Boot is tied — and Messi and Mbappé have until Sunday to settle it

Messi and Mbappé enter the final weekend of the 2026 World Cup level on eight goals in the Golden Boot race. Assists break the tie — here is how the duel plays out.

The tightest race left at this World Cup isn't for a podium place — it's for a boot. Messi and Mbappé reach the tournament's final weekend level on eight goals apiece, and the fixture list has turned it into a near-perfect long-distance duel: the Frenchman had tonight's third-place game in Miami, the Argentine gets Sunday's final in New Jersey. As we write, Messi and Mbappé share the lead on eight goals, with nobody else still playing anywhere near them.…

Sports 18 July 2026

The 2026 World Cup is closing on a record — and Trump gets to hand over the trophy

World Cup 2026 ends with a record 6.7 million spectators. On Sunday, Trump joins Infantino for the trophy ceremony at MetLife and FIFA debuts championship rings.

Before anyone lifts the trophy, World Cup 2026 has already claimed one title: biggest ever. By the time Argentina and Spain settle Sunday's final, roughly 6.7 million spectators will have passed through the turnstiles — more than the previous two World Cups combined. That is 104 matches across 16 cities in three countries, with fans from 200 nations, and there is still tonight's third-place game between France and England in Miami to add to the pile.…

Sports 18 July 2026

Messi plays the last final of his life tomorrow — and spent the eve promising to 'give it our all'

On the eve of the World Cup 2026 final against Spain, Messi turned up at Fanatics Fest in New York, posed for selfies with Brady and Djokovic, and left one promise: Argentina will give everything at MetLife.

Messi has one match left. One. And it happens to be a World Cup final. At 39, Argentina's captain walks into MetLife Stadium tomorrow for what everyone — himself included — treats as the last World Cup game of his career, against a Spain side arriving unbeaten in 37 matches. Around 1.5 billion people are expected to watch how it ends. The eve was not spent in monastic silence. On Friday night Messi appeared at Fanatics Fest in New York, where he was…

Sports 18 July 2026

Portugal's World Cup squad flew on an ICE deportation plane — and nobody knew

Portugal's national team travelled to Dallas at the 2026 World Cup on a GlobalX aircraft regularly used for ICE deportation flights, including the removal of Venezuelans to El Salvador's mega-prison.

On the eve of the final, the 2026 World Cup has one more uncomfortable story — and this one lands close to home. Portugal's squad flew to Dallas on 4 July, for the match against Spain, aboard an aircraft belonging to Global Crossing Airlines, better known as GlobalX: a charter company that spends much of its time flying deportation missions for ICE, the US immigration enforcement agency. Because of the registration number, visible in videos of the trip…

Sports 17 July 2026

Spain reach the World Cup 2026 final having conceded once — now Messi's Argentina must solve the unsolvable

Spain kept six clean sheets and conceded a single goal on the road to the World Cup 2026 final. On Sunday at MetLife Stadium, that wall meets the champions.

One number explains why Spain go into Sunday as favourites: one. A single goal conceded across seven World Cup matches. No side had ever arrived at a final like this — six shut-outs in one edition, something no World Cup had seen before — and that is the wall Lionel Messi's Argentina have 48 hours to figure out. Just one in the entire campaign — six of their seven games ended without Simón picking the ball out of his net, a first for a single World Cup.…