Striker Simone Magill has been named the new captain of Northern Ireland before the Euro 2025 play-off with Croatia.

Magill succeeds midfielder Marissa Callaghan, who stepped back as captain in May.

The 29-year-old has won 85 caps and scored 25 goals.

Only record goalscorer Rachel Furness has netted more times for Northern Ireland than Magill, who made her debut as a 15-year-old in 2010.

Magill was key as Northern Ireland qualified for the Euro 2022 finals, but cruelly picked up a knee injury in their opening match with Norway.

She spent most of the first of her two seasons at Aston Villa recovering and signed for Birmingham City in the summer window.

Midfielder Callaghan, who was not included in the squad by manager Tanya Oxtoby, stepped back from her long-term role as captain in May – stating it was the “best decision” for the squad.

Defender Laura Rafferty had been handed the armband by Oxtoby on a regular basis but the Australian has now settled on Magill as her permanent skipper.

“From our point of view we have gone through a diligent process,” said the manager.

“We have really defined what leadership is and what behaviours leaders in our group should have and, essentially, Simone epitomises everything a leader is in terms of her professionalism and behaviour, and also the way that she looks at how we develop, which is a massive part of what we’re trying to do.”

The first leg of the opening play-off round with Croatia takes place on Friday before the home leg at Windsor Park on Tuesday, 29 October.

Norway or Albania await the winner of the tie in the final play-off round in November with the victor then qualifying for the Euro 2025 finals.

Bruno Silva is still mad at Chris Weidman for what happened in their fight, and hopes to get a chance to meet him inside the cage again.

Weidman was awarded the TKO victory over “Blindado” at UFC Atlantic City this past March, a result that was later overturned to a technical decision when replay showed that Silva went down due to eye pokes, not punches. Silva filed an appeal to overturn it to a no-contest instead, but the commission denied his request.

Silva said he temporarily “lost 30 percent of my vision in one of the eyes” due to the foul, and tried to convince UFC matchmakers to book an immediate rematch. Instead, the Brazilian returns against Ismail Naurdiev at Saturday’s UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi, while Weidman meets Eryk Anders on Nov. 16 at UFC 309.

“We were asking for this fight,” Silva said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “When I go to bed at night, he’s the opponent I hate the most. I’ve fought many people, I have more than 30 MMA fights, but every time I think of him and Cormier, I feel anger.”

Weidman was part of the UFC 300 weigh-in show alongside Daniel Cormier, Laura Sanko and Dan Hellie, who made fun of the recent eye poke situation.

“[Weidman] is fighting a month after me, and my focus is on knocking this guy [Naurdiev], and then then I’m calling him out on the mic,” Silva said. “I could ask for other opponents, but I like to deal with things my way. He’s fighting next month, and I have a score to settle with him. It’s personal. I’ll ask the UFC, and I hope they send him my way. He’s not on a great run, but he has a big name. He’s a former champion, and it brings good media. If we both win, maybe that’s interesting for the UFC. I want that fight back. But if that’s something that’s gonna slow me down, f*ck that dude.”

Days after the controversial bout, Weidman said Silva overreacted to the eye pokes and celebrated getting back to the win column following a two-fight skid. Silva, on the other hand, has now lost three straight in the UFC with previous defeats to Brendan Allen and Shara Magomedov.

“My biggest mistake was that I respected Chris Weidman too much, and I’ll live with that for the rest of my life,” Silva said. “He deserved no respect. Even [coach Andre] Dida said I respected him way too much. The fight was over, we spoke in the locker room because I didn’t want any bad vibe. And then he grabs the mic and starts talking crap, him and Cormier. My God. Cormier, talk about an insufferable person.”

Months later, Combat Sports Anti-Doping announced that Silva received a six-month suspension but what was a “likely unintentional” anti-doping violation for a metabolite of drostanolone. Silva had already been suspended before, a two-year ban imposed by the United States Anti-Doping Agency in 2020.

“And when the doping [news] came, brother, what am I going to say?” Silva continued. “Let’s suppose you don’t know me and hear I tested positive. How am I going to defend myself? The full story is out there, but people only read the headline. The crap he said, that pisses me off, but how am I going to say anything? He already doesn’t respect anybody, and now I’m [testing] positive. I stayed quiet.

“Life will get back at him, like it did when he made fun of Anderson Silva and then broke his leg. He reaps what he sows. Unfortunately, I didn’t beat him. If I knock him out, then there’s no more argument. But he defeated me that way and I can’t say anything. It bothers me a lot, man. Sometimes I can’t believe people can be so disrespectful, but there’s always bad people out there.”

“Blindado” admitted that a longer suspension would have led to his retirement from the sport, and thanked the UFC and the in-house doping agency for “being on my side and believing me.” Silva remained active during the suspension, competing in three grappling matches and an amateur boxing bout in his gym in Curitiba, Brazil, and now turns his focus back to the UFC.

“I feel light going into this fight,” Silva said. “I’ve left wins and losses in the past and nothing will interfere. I’m surrounded by good people, and I’m ready to be back. If someone asks me how motivated I am, I say motivation is bullsh*t. What I feel right now is freedom to go there and fight. I have nothing to prove to anyone. My only goal is to go there and submit him, beat the crap out of him, knock him out, or win by points. I’m not coming back from Abu Dhabi without the win, and my team happy on the plane.”

LAS VEGAS – Su Mudaerji has a theory that Charles Johnson will lead him to think he wants to stand and trade Saturday, but quickly will change his mind.

Mudaerji (16-6 MMA, 3-3 UFC), at media day for UFC Fight Night 245, said he fully expects a takedown from Johnson (16-6 MMA, 5-4 UFC) when they have a featured flyweight throwdown Saturday. But that flies in the face of what Johnson said he wants.

And what he wants, he said, is a $50,000 performance bonus after he puts Mudaerji away.

“I’m thankful for another opportunity,” Johnson said at Wednesday’s media day at the UFC Apex. “I’m sad it wasn’t a ranked opponent, but understanding that it’s my third fight on this contract, it’s going to allow me to get to my next contract, and I think it’s a great moment for me to show the UFC exactly what I can be in this promotion.”

When he heard what Mudaerji thinks, he intimated a plan to make sure he leaves Vegas disappointed – no matter how it unfolds.

“I think that’s just insecurity,” Johnson said. “I think that I dominate everywhere in the fight. I think that he hopes that I stand with him. That’s his only means to win this fight. He’s not going to beat me in wrestling or jiu-jitsu, so he hopes to stroke my ego (saying he thinks I won’t stand and trade).

“But I’m going to pressure him from the go. It doesn’t matter what he wants to happen. I’m going to dominate him in every facet of this game. He may have a couple moments. But overall, when people see this fight and it’s over with, they would say Charles should be fighting for a title very soon.”

Check out Johnson’s full media day interview in the video above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 245.

LAS VEGAS – Su Mudaerji has been down this one particular road in MMA, and he isn’t sure he wants to trust taking it again.

On it, against Tim Elliott this past December, he maybe kinda sorta thought he had a gentleman’s agreement in place to stand and trade in their flyweight fight. Instead, he soon found himself on the canvas and was submitted in the first round. Credit to Elliott, certainly, but Mudaerji knows now, he says, that hoping to stand and bang and actually standing and banging are two different things.

“Those promises often are broken, even like my last fight – Tim was telling me the same thing: Let’s bang. Let’s (go for a) knockout.’ And within a minute and a half, he start taking me down relentlessly. So I don’t believe in that anymore,” Mudaerji said Wednesday at a media day at the UFC Apex.

The next flyweight who might try to have Mudaerji (16-6 MMA, 3-3 UFC) think he wants to stand and trade is Charles Johnson (16-6 MMA, 5-4 UFC). The two meet on the UFC Fight Night 245 (ESPN+) main card at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

“I was very excited when I found out the opponent was him because he’s also a striker – a standup fighter like me, so I think we’re going to put on a show for the fans,” Mudaerji said. “But I do think my opponent will fear striking with me because he’s seen my videos. Most likely, he’ll try to take me down. He wouldn’t want to stand with me, striking with me.”

Hear Mudaerji discuss that, his recent layoff, marriage and family life and more in the video above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 245.

Just 10 points separate Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia heading into the Australia-Thailand-Malaysia triple header.

Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez are now virtually out of the title fight, but are involved in their own duel for third place in the standings.

Event	Date
	10:45
Australian GP FREE PRACTICE 1
Australian GP PRACTICE Advertisement
Australian GP FREE PRACTICE 2
Australian GP QUALIFYING 1
Australian GP QUALIFYING 2
Australian GP SPRINT Advertisement
Australian GP Warm Up
Australian GP Race

2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix session timings in different timezones

2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix session timings in the UK and Portugal

Friday 18th October 2024

• Free Practice 1: 00:45 – 01:30 BST
• Free Practice 2: 07:00 – 08:00 BST

Saturday 19th October 2024

• Free Practice 3: 00:10 – 00:40 BST
• Qualifying: 00:50 – 01:30 BST
• Sprint: 05:00 BST
• Warm up: 23:40 – 23:50 BST

Sunday 20th October 2024

2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix session timings in Europe 

Friday 18th October 2024

• Free Practice 1: 01:45 – 02:30 CEST
• Free Practice 2: 06:00 – 07:00 CEST

Saturday 19th October 2024

• Free Practice 3: 01:10 – 01:40 CEST
• Qualifying: 01:50 – 02:30 CEST
• Sprint: 06:00 CEST

Sunday 20th October 2024

• Warm up: 00:40 – 00:50 CEST
• Race: 05:00 CEST

2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix session timings in the US (Eastern Time)

Thursday 17th October 2024

• Free Practice 1:  19:45 – 20:30 ET

Friday 18th October 2024

• Free Practice 2:  00:00 – 01:00 ET 
• Free Practice 3: 19:10 – 19:40 ET 
• Qualifying: 19:50 – 20:30 ET 

Saturday 19th October 2024

• Sprint: 00:00 ET 
• Warm-up: 18:40 – 18:50 ET
• Race:  23:00 ET 

2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix session timings in the US (Pacific Time)

Thursday 17th October 2024

• Free Practice 1:  16:45 – 17:30 PT
• Free Practice 2:  21:00 – 22:00 PT

Friday 18th October 2024

• Free Practice 3: 16:10 – 16:40 PT
• Qualifying:  16:50 – 17:30 PT
• Sprint: 21:00 PT

Saturday 19th October 2024

• Warm-up: 15:40 – 15:50 PT
• Race:  20:00 PT

2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix session timings in Australia

Friday 18th October 2024

• Free Practice 1: 10:45 – 11:30 AEDT
• Free Practice 2: 15:00 – 16:00 AEDT

Saturday 19th October 2024

• Free Practice 3: 10:10 – 10:40 AEDT
• Qualifying: 10:50 – 11:30 AEDT
• Sprint: 15:00 AEDT

Sunday 20th October 2024

• Warm-up: 09:40 – 09:50 AEDT
• Race: 14:00 AEDT

2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix session timings in Japan

Friday 18th October 2024

• Free Practice 1: 08:45 – 09:30 JST 
• Free Practice 2: 13:00 – 14:00 JST 

Saturday 19th October 2024

• Free Practice 3: 08:10 – 08:40 JST 
• Qualifying: 08:50 – 09:30 JST
• Sprint: 13:00 JST

Sunday 20th October 2024

• Warm-up: 07:40 – 07:50 JST
• Race: 12:00 JST

2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix session timings in India

Friday 18th October 2024

• Free Practice 1: 05:15 – 06:00 IST 
• Free Practice 2: 09:30 – 10:30 IST

Saturday 19th October 2024

• Free Practice 3: 04:40 – 05:10 IST 
• Qualifying: 05:20 – 06:00 IST
• Sprint: 09:30 IST

Sunday 20th October 2024

• Warm-up: 04:10 – 04:20 IST
• Race: 08:30 IST

Can’t find your country or region in the list? Check the MotoGP schedule page for the broadcast times in your local timezone.

Can I stream the Australian Grand Prix?

MotoGP has its own on-demand streaming service, offering live broadcast of practice, qualifying and the Sprint, as well as highlights. The MotoGP Video pass is available for an annual fee of 139.99 euros. Several local broadcasters also stream MotoGP races on their official websites

England midfielder Grace Clinton said it was “a bit unsettling” not knowing which club she would play for this season, but now feels “really positive” after carrying her impressive form back to Manchester United.

The 21-year-old spent last season on loan at Tottenham Hotspur where she thrived and was named PFA Young Player of the Year.

She returned to United in the summer amid transfer speculation, but has scored three goals in four matches.

“Towards the back end of last season there was a lot on my mind,” said Clinton, when asked about the uncertainty during the transfer window.

“It isn’t a nice feeling not knowing where you are going to be and what is going to happen. It’s a bit unsettling.

“But going into the season now, United were keen on me staying so that’s been a lot better for me mentally I would say.”

Clinton has been a key player for Manchester United at the start of the season and hopes to cement a place in England’s starting XI for this month’s friendlies with Germany and South Africa.

“I’m feeling really good and really positive on the pitch,” she added.

“Every time you step on to the pitch you want to impact the game positively and get goals and assists. No matter who I play for I want to do that.”