The three-part series airing on BBC Radio Wales and BBC Sounds tells the story of the women’s international team in Wales, from their unofficial first matches in 1973 through to the modern day when they are on the brink of reaching the finals of a major tournament for the first time.

McAllister, along with her then international team-mates Michele Adams and Karen Jones, successfully lobbied the Football Association of Wales to form an official side in 1993.

Under Jarmo Matikainen they twice came close to a play-off place for Euro 2013 and the 2015 World Cup, before his successor Jayne Ludlow took the team to the brink of the 2019 World Cup and Euro 2022 play-offs, missing out on a place in the latter on away goals scored in a head-to-head record against Northern Ireland, despite having a vastly superior goal difference.

Wales were then beaten in the final moments of extra time in the play-off final by Switzerland for a place in the 2023 World Cup under Gemma Grainger in their last qualifying campaign.

Grainger says qualifying for a major finals would be a landmark moment not just for women’s football in Wales, but for all female sport.

McAllister, who is now a Uefa vice-president, said: “If you look at the way in which women’s football is organised now in Uefa, we’re talking the strategy of it being a multi-billion-pound industry by 2030.

“I think this platform that we’d have by being in Switzerland next summer would be transformative really for how we run women and girls’ football in Wales.

“Obviously, there’d be financial returns which are very welcome for an association like us, but qualification would bring incredible attention, incredible dividends.

“We saw when England won in the last Euros just what they would be able to do to capitalise on that for school sport for girls and for club development.

“I think we’re savvy enough in Wales, we’ve got a strong enough strategy and a good enough leadership to make sure that we don’t waste that opportunity.

“For me, I think it’ll probably be the single most important historical thing to happen, maybe even in women’s sport, not just football, if we get there.”

BBC Sport chief football news writer Simon Stone:

It is not known exactly what compensation would be paid to Ten Hag if his contract was terminated.

In 2021, Ten Hag’s predecessor Ole Gunnar Solskjaer received a £7m pay-off when he was sacked, with an additional £3m going to other members of his staff. This sum goes directly to a club’s accounts under the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability rules, reducing the amount they have to spend on players.

As with transfers, any compensation payable for a new manager can be amortised over the period of the contract. It would depend on the length of contract and the compensation how much of that goes into the current year’s accounts.

However, a club may calculate an anticipated upturn in performance could generate more money in TV revenue, gate receipts and prize money to be worth making a move.

And, as happened last summer, clubs have until 30 June to submit their accounts so any who are at risk of exceeding the Premier League’s limit of £105m of allowable losses over three seasons can sell players.

Last month United announced a net loss of £113.2m to 30 June 2024. The previous years’ losses were £28.7m and £115.5m.

Some of the losses can be clawed back for PSR purposes and United say they are committed to abiding by the rules.

SALT LAKE CITY – Dana White heaped praise towards Alex Pereira after UFC 307.

Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) was tested early, but ultimately overwhelmed Khalil Rountree (13-6 MMA, 9-6 UFC) for a brutal fourth-round TKO to retain his light heavyweight title in Saturday’s main event at Delta Center.

Pereira has now defended his title three times in the span of seven months, and plans on taking a break after battling through adversity to make it to the fight.

“What this guy has done is unbelievable,” White told MMA Junkie and other reporters at the UFC 307 post-fight press conference. “And the way that he’s done it, this guy destroys everybody. … This guy always wants to fight. He’s (37), too – it’s not like he’s 28 and he’s got this many fights (left). But we’ll see how it all plays out.”

White said Pereira vs. Rountree was a no-brainer Fight of the Night, and delivered despite many people’s skepticism toward the matchmaking.

“What a hell of a fight. Khalil Rountree, I mean – another level of tough,” White said. “You have to respect this guy, but did this not play out the way everybody thought it would? Everybody at first was like, ‘Oh he’s ranked No. 8.’ But you knew that it was going to be a badass fight. You knew it was going to be badass fight. You can never measure heart. You don’t know how that’s going to go. Well, now you know (with Rountree).

“I felt like the difference was the low leg kick, and when (Pereira) started calf kicking him, he was destroying that leg and he was having trouble putting pressure on it, and he was having trouble with his punching power, his movement, everything. He systematically just started picking him apart.”

White also gave Rountree big props for his aggressive approach, in which he was on the attack from the get go.

“He had no fear from the first round,” White said on Rountree. “Khalil Rountree went in there and started going at it the minute that the bell rang. No fear, no jitters, no nerves. Maybe had some jitters and nerves. If he did, he didn’t show it. He went right in against one of the baddest dudes of all time and just started mixing it up with him. It was awesome.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.

Wells: I don’t like to throw the label of a “robbery” around lightly, especially in a fight swayed by one round. However, in this case, I believe it’s appropriate.

I don’t understand scoring the first round for Peña, even if she did land a higher striking total. The difference in power was clearly in Pennington’s favor. In fairness to the official judges, I must consider they only have one perspective from cageside. Perhaps the viewing angle of Sal D’Amato and Mike Bell made it appear Peña was landing the more effective strikes. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

What made this result even tougher to swallow was the fact the incoming champion, Pennington, closed out the fight in such a decisive manner in the championship rounds. She scored the most significant moment of the fight with the Round 4 knockdown and then poured on the pressure in Round 5 to ensure she finished strong while Peña appeared fatigued.

Allow me to say the thing: “If we were using PRIDE’s scoring system …”

If you’ve been around the game long enough, you know how that sentence ends. Credit to Peña for toughing it out and securing a couple of solid rounds in the fight, but Pennington should still be the UFC women’s bantamweight champion today.

Wells’ overall score: 48-47 Pennington

Hannoun: It all comes down to Round 1, which was very close. Do you count Peña’s volume or the impact of Pennington’s strikes? Pennington’s strikes definitely had more impact, but after rewatching the fight, Peña was the busier fighter who landed more.

Rounds 2 and 3 were clearly Peña’s for her ground control, with Pennington taking Round 4 with ease after outstriking her and landing a big knockdown. Pennington also outlanded Peña in Round 5 and was able to hurt her again.

With Round 1 being so close, this fight definitely does not scream robbery. It all depends on whether you think Pennington’s shots warrant more weight than Peña’s volume, which would be totally understandable as Pennington had the much better moments on the feet. I just think Peña did better work in Round 1, which is why I gave her the fight. She outstruck Pennington overall in the fight, landed two takedowns to none, and had more control time. The visual of Pennington’s strong finish had me thinking she won the fight on the first watch, but in a round-by-round scoring system, Peña did just enough.

Hannoun’s score: 48-47 Peña

King: Upon second watch, this was a closer fight than I thought the first time around – but only ever so slightly.

It’s no secret the scoring really came down to how you viewed Round 1. Peña may have landed more, but Pennington clearly landed the two most impactful – and most importantly – the only damaging strikes of the round.

It was close and there is an inherent element of subjectiveness that comes with the exchange rate of more populous, less damaging strikes against less populous, more damaging strikes. But for me, Peña’s Round 1 strikes did not appear to do any damage at all.

It stinks for Pennington. I think it was the wrong decision. But ultimately, I’m not sure I’d call it a robbery.

King’s score: 48-47 Pennington

Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor says the decision to postpone their Women’s Super League match against Manchester United was “not good”.

They were due to face United at home on Sunday but it was postponed with a week’s notice due to a conflict with Chelsea’s European schedule.

Chelsea face Real Madrid in the Women’s Champions League group stage on Tuesday, just two days after the United game was set to take place.

“We were disappointed as players and staff. I think everyone has to understand we were supposed to play,” said Bompastor.

“We were in a very good team dynamic and I think not having the opportunity to play changed everything in preparation for the game with Real Madrid.

“When you have the opportunity to play one game a week, with this decision being made to postpone the game, now we have been out of competition for 10 days which is completely different.

“If you look at the situation, the decision is not good. I think it is not good for all the English clubs who are in the Champions League competition.”

Chelsea are joined in the group stages by WSL rivals Arsenal and Manchester City this season.

The WSL has been taken over by a new independent company this season – Women’s Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL) – and Bompastor says the league “need to know about the rules”.

“For them it’s good to have our feedback and as I always said to the league, I think we should be proud to have three English clubs in the Champions League this year,” added Bompastor.

“All the decisions in the league this year have to be made in order to help the English clubs compete in the Champions League.”