The Associated Press began compiling a ranking of the Top 20 college men’s basketball teams during the 1948–1949 season.
It has issued this poll continuously since the 1950–1951 season.
Beginning with the 1989-1990 season, the poll expanded to 25 teams.
Before 2024, the AP released its final Top 25 poll in mid-March before the NCAA Tournament. Since then, the final poll has appeared after the champion has been crowned.
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The table below list the total number of final AP poll appearances for teams in the West, with the most recent appearance and rank, plus the highest-ever rank and the year that ranking was achieved.
In cases where a school has achieved their highest ranking more than once, we have listed the most recent.
NEW DELHI: Virat Kohli was seen training with his left knee heavily strapped ahead of Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s IPL 2026 clash against Lucknow Super Giants at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Tuesday.In a video shared by LSG’s social media handle, Kohli was seen walking with his left knee strapped while meeting New Zealand great Kane Williamson. He greeted Williamson, who is part of LSG’s support staff, and also hugged LSG skipper Rishabh Pant.
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Krunal Pandya on RCB’s performance and key turning points
Kohli, who has been in ominous form in IPL 2026, had walked off the field with an ankle niggle during the previous match against Mumbai Indians, raising concerns about his availability for Wednesday’s game.However, the star batter spent time in the nets with a strapped knee, easing concerns over his fitness for now. He also had an extended batting session during practice.In four matches so far this season, Kohli has scored 179 runs at an average of 59.66 and a strike rate of 162.72, including two fifties, with a highest score of 69*.In the previous outing against Mumbai Indians, he struck a 38-ball 50, hitting five fours and a six.RCB will once again rely on their formidable batting line-up as they aim to overcome an inconsistent Lucknow Super Giants side and move clear of the mid-table congestion.The Bengaluru outfit are currently third on the points table with six points, while four other teams trail closely with four points each. RCB are two points behind leaders Rajasthan Royals and one point adrift of Punjab Kings.
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Krunal Pandya on RCB’s performance and key turning points
Squads:Royal Challengers Bengaluru Squad: Philip Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar(c), Jitesh Sharma(w), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Duffy, Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Salam Dar, Venkatesh Iyer, Jacob Bethell, Swapnil Singh, Mangesh Yadav, Josh Hazlewood, Jordan Cox, Nuwan Thushara, Vicky Ostwal, Vihaan Malhotra, Abhinandan Singh, Kanishk Chouhan, Satvik DeswalLucknow Super Giants Squad: Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Ayush Badoni, Nicholas Pooran, Abdul Samad, Mukul Choudhary, George Linde, Mohammed Shami, Avesh Khan, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Prince Yadav, Manimaran Siddharth, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mayank Yadav, Matthew Breetzke, Anrich Nortje, Josh Inglis, Himmat Singh, Mohsin Khan, Arjun Tendulkar, Akash Maharaj Singh, Akshat Raghuwanshi, Arshin Kulkarni, Naman Tiwari.
The Miami Heat and Charlotte Hornets look to extend their seasons when they meet in a 2026 NBA Play-In Tournament matchup on Tuesday night. The winner will play the loser of Wednesday’s Magic-76ers matchup for the eighth seed on Friday, while the loser is eliminated. Miami won the season series 3-1, but Charlotte won the most recent game, 136-106 on March 17. The Heat (43-39), who were fourth in the Southeast Division, are 17-24 on the road this season. The Hornets (44-38), who finished third in the Southeast, are 21-20 on their home court.
Tipoff from Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C., is set for 7:30 p.m. ET. Charlotte is a 6-point favorite in the latest Heat vs. Hornets odds, while the over/under for total points scored is 230.5. Before making any Heat vs. Hornets picks, check out the Heat vs. Hornets predictions from the SportsLine Projection Model.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every NBA game 10,000 times and has returned well over $10,000 in betting profit for $100 players on its top-rated NBA picks over the past eight-plus seasons. The model entered the 2026 NBA playoffs on a sizzling 23-9 roll (72%) on top-rated NBA spread picks this season. Anyone following its NBA betting advice at sportsbooks and on betting apps could have seen huge returns.
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Top Heat vs. Hornets predictions
After 10,000 simulations of Heat vs. Hornets, SportsLine’s model is going Under on the total (230.5), which has incresed by three points since the opening line. Charlotte has trended heavily to the Under this season with 63% of its games hitting that side of the total.
The SportsLine model is projecting the Heat to have six players scoring 10.6 or more points, led by Bam Adebayo’s 20.9 points. LaMelo Ball is projected to lead the Hornets with 24.6 points scored, while five Charlotte players are projected to score more than 10.5 points. The teams are projected to combine for 226 total points as the Under hits 58% of the time. See the spread pick at SportsLine.
Semenyo’s case is the latest in a growing list of racist abuse suffered by Premier League players this season, with four players targeted during a single weekend in February.
The UK Football Policing Unit (UKFPU) is investigating the abuse of the four players in February, which included Sunderland defender Lutsharel Geertruida, Burnley midfielder Hannibal Mejbri, Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana and Wolves striker Tolu Arokodare.
Years after winning gold medals at the Paralympics and various World Championship titles, Heinrich Popow believes the future for disabled people is brighter than it has ever been, thanks in part to the success and growing popularity of the Paralympics. But there is one particular societal issue the lower leg amputee would like to see change: Adults should view people with disabilities through the same eyes and curiosity as children.
“The biggest change I would love to see is to break the barriers of having this, we call it in German, Berührungsangst, being afraid to come too close,” Popow told DW. “The way that kids interact with people with a disability, and also with stuff they see for the first time. That is what I would like to see adults do.
“So when I, for example, go to Kindergarten with shorts in the summer, I’m the coolest daddy in the world because kids accept me. And then they ask me, ‘What do you have?’ So I explain. And because my two daughters, always put some new stickers on my legs, every day I have a different leg.
“What I really would love to see is that we accept each other the way we are and learn from kids.”
One of Germany’s greatest para athletes
Popow maintains that the amputation of his lower leg was tougher on his parents than on his 9-year-old self. He stayed active in sports, and eventually settled on athletics at the sports club, Bayer Leverkusen. In 2002, at age 19, Popow won a bronze medal at the International Paralympics Committee World Athletics Championships in Lille, France. Three bronze medals in the T42 category followed at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, a silver in Beijing 2008, and a gold medal in the 100-meters in London Paralympics. He won gold in the long jump in the 2016 Games in Rio. “Sports gave me the opportunity to push barriers and limits,” said Popow. And it still does.
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Heinrich Popow won gold at the London 2012 Olympics and has also seen long jump successImage: Volkmann/IMAGO
In addition to pushing and prodding those who may be newly disabled toward sport these days, he actively promotes and defends people with disabilities in Germany and around the world. He is often seen in clinics and other engagement opportunities for the mobility firm, Ottobock (which employs him), which focuses on, among other things, prosthetics for those who have had amputations, injuries, or neurological diseases.
Inclusivity breeds success
Popow’s travels have led him to believe that countries that do well at the Paralympics usually do well with the inclusivity of the disabled back at home. Germany finished a disappointing 11th in the 2024 Paralympics medals table. Popow believes he has a clue why.
“Grassroot sports in Germany are not improving the way they need to improve,” he told DW. Federal government research in 2022 suggested more than half of disabled people in Germany avoided sports. Part of the reason could be that 90% of all playing fields and gymnasiums were not barrier-free. Meanwhile, insurance companies often do not cover medical devices for sports.
“I feel the government and insurers can save a lot of money if they realize paying for disabled sports is better than the bill from a pharmacy. Sports is the best medicine.
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“I do running clinics, and I see activity all over the world. The Netherlands is doing a great job. It is the size of the German state of North Rhine Westfalia, and it is more successful than our whole country.” The Netherlands was 4th in the 2024 Paralympics medal table.
Does the International Day of Persons with Disabilities help?
Popow is an avowed booster for the disabled. He is sure that the one day of the year set aside by the UN to promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities is positive in ways that go far beyond simple awareness. “I forget the day of my marriage sometimes,” he joked. “But this UN day becomes more and more special.”
Yet he acknowledges that having lived with his disability since 1992 (he was nine when a rare form of cancer in his left calf led to his lower leg being amputated), the day personally matters less to him than it previously did. Those who are recently disabled see things much differently, and the acknowledgment of that fact is important, he said.
“I have no restrictions from my disability in my daily life. It is packed with kids, job, and everything, but no further movement is important.”
“But to be honest, and this is something also the (disability) community thinks about, it’s more important if we think about disabilities every day, like the awareness we should have every day. A special day is nice, but it is only one step. We need that second and third day,” he says.
A little tired but with a smile on her face, Kathrin Marchand arrives for her first training session of the day. Together with her rowing partner Valentin Luz, the para-athlete will spend the first few hours of the day on the water in a double scull. A few quick stretches, and then they’re off.
“Five years ago, I never would have thought I’d be rowing this much again,” Marchand told DW. “I consider it a privilege that I can still compete at the elite level.”
Now 35, Marchand made her Olympic debut in 2012 in London as part of the German women’s eight. Four years later, she competed for the second time at the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Marchand made her Olympic debut at the London Games in 2012 (seen here) and also competed in Rio de Janeiro in 2016Image: Rainer Jensen/dpa/picture alliance
After the Olympics in Brazil, Marchand ended her sporting career, completed her medical degree and then began working as a doctor in 2018 — until a stroke in 2021 turned her life upside-down.
During an indoor cycling class, the left side of her body suddenly went numb, she recalled. “I didn’t immediately think of a stroke back then because I was simply far too young. I was 30 years old and had no preexisting conditions,” she said.
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Marchand didn’t call an ambulance until an hour after the incident. An MRI scan at the hospital then confirmed the stroke. “In that moment, you think: ‘What did I do to deserve this?’”
Adjusting to a new reality
The medical bolt from the blue changed the young doctor’s life. Since then, Marchand has had problems with concentration and forgetfulness, and difficulty orienting herself, as well as a limited field of vision. It has taken her a long time to get used to her new reality and come to terms with her limitations.
“It’s really hard when you’re suddenly torn away from your everyday life,” she said. “I’ll never be healthy again. I’ve learned that the body isn’t a machine, even if I sometimes wish it were.”
The stroke has meant she has had to scale back on a number of fronts. “I have to lower my standards. I set fewer goals for myself, but I’ve also learned not to be quite so hard on myself.”
But Marchand is determined to make the best of her situation. “I’ve changed my perspective. Of course my limitations annoy me, but in the end, it comes down to how you deal with them.”
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From Rio to Paris and Olympics to Paralympics
Just a few months after her stroke, Marchand was back in a rowing boat — this time, however, as a para-athlete. “Sports teach you a lot about how to cope with negative events. A sports career isn’t always smooth sailing, there are some lows but also positives,” she said.
Marchand didn’t have to wait long for her first successes in her “new” discipline. She won her first medals at the European and World Championships and also qualified for the 2024 Paralympics in Paris, where she took fourth place in the German mixed four-person boat.
Marchand and her para-rowing partner, Valentin Luz, have progressed rapidly in the sportImage: Tobias Lackner/BEAUTIFUL SPORTS/picture alliance
“I used to have nothing to do with para sports and had no connection to it at all,” said Marchand.
“But then I spoke with para-athletes and started looking into it. I went to my first training session and it was absolutely wonderful. Everyone there had a disability, and then you see: ‘Hey, having a disability isn’t so bad.’ It was a totally positive experience.”
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Marchand makes sporting history
After several years competing in summer Paralympic sports, Marchand took it a step further with a new challenge: para cross-country skiing. Her first winter training sessions on the narrow skis weren’t easy, but she adapted to such an extent she qualified for the Milan-Cortina Games earlier this year.
In doing so, she became the first athlete in history to have competed in the Summer Olympics, the Summer Paralympics and the Winter Paralympics.
Since then, Marchand’s profile has grown. She has become a public figure in Germany — and wants to use that to encourage others facing similar challenges.
Marchand’s participation in the 2026 Winter Paralympics gave her a place in sporting historyImage: Martin Schutt/dpa/picture alliance
“I’m just living my life and find it amazing when I can inspire other people or serve as a role model,” she said. “I’m always happy when I get messages saying, ‘Hey, we love what you’re doing, and it’s helped us get through a difficult time.’”
Aiming for 2028 Paralympic medal
Marchand tries to wring as much from her own life as possible, and believes that “in the end, the stroke has given me more than it has taken away.” She admits that often sounds strange to other people.
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“I used to be healthy, and now I’m sick. Why would anyone want to be sick when they can be healthy?”
Her explanation is simple: “Before the stroke, my life was much more stressful; I worked a lot and took much less joy in the things I did.”
It’s sad to admit to that, she said. “I could have turned my life around before, but I didn’t. It’s a shame that it takes a moment of fate to realize so many things.”
Today, Marchand is content with her life and knows her limits. Nevertheless, she has set herself a major goal at the Los Angeles Summer Games in 2028, where she hopes to finally win her first Paralympic medal in the para-rowing boat.
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This article was originally written in German.
Meet a successful amputee equestrian pursuing her dream
As Rory McIlroy put the finishing touches on his second straight Masters win, 144 miles away, James Holley watched with the TV blaring from a TaylorMade Tour truck.
He was already on-site for this week’s RBC Heritage on Hilton Head Island, but he couldn’t miss this moment — especially since he played a part in it.
“It’s always fun to see a putter you have a little bit a part of win on Sunday,” says Holley, TaylorMade’s putter rep and the man responsible for maintaining McIlroy’s Spider putter, the same one he used to win a green jacket last year as well. “And especially in a major it’s awesome.”
Holley will be a busy man on the putting green at Harbour Town as well, but it won’t faze him. That’s basically been the case every week this season on the PGA Tour.
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In a lot of ways, it’s fitting that a Spider putter won the Masters yet again. The putter family has won all but two Masters since 2020 and won three of the four majors last season. It was the winningest putter on the PGA Tour last year with 15 victories.
But the hype around the putter has hit a fever pitch to begin 2026 as pros seek to copy what is working for others. With McIlroy’s win at Augusta, that marks six wins by five different players already this season, including five of the first six events of the year.
McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler, who finished second at the Masters, account for the majority of those victories last season, but the residual effects of their success are evident in other players.
New pros are adding the putter seemingly every week, including names like Brooks Koepka and Collin Morikawa, who won with a flow neck Spider Tour X after years of waffling between putters, mostly blade models.
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TaylorMade Spider Tour X Custom Putter
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THIN WALL UNDERCUT CONSTRUCTION
We’ve engineered a super stable structure by removing excess weight to create high MOI and legendary Spider performance.
STEEL WIREFRAME
Allows engineers to better control weight distribution and CG location.
HYBRAR ECHO® DAMPENER
HYBRAR is behind the face to dampen unwanted vibrations, delivering premium sound and feel on every putt with the best possible sensation.
DIFFERENT CG LOCATION
Each Spider Tour model features different CG locations for optimal putter fitting.
TSS WEIGHTING
TSS weights provide balanced weighting and help optimize performance for all various putter lengths.
GUNMETAL PVD FINISH
The durable PVD coating creates a beautiful high-quality finish.
TRUE PATH™ ALIGNMENT
The patented alignment system provides visual clarity and helps golfers better envision the line to the hole.
WHITE TPU PURE ROLL™ INSERT
Made from a combination of Surlyn and aluminum, the white TPU Pure Roll™ insert creates a softer feel. Grooves are angled at 45° to encourage optimal forward roll as well as better sound, feel and overall roll characteristics. The white insert also creates better symmetry with the white True Path alignment.
REFINED HOSEL DESIGNS
Spider Tour Series includes two different hosel shapes and designs. The small slant produces toe hang, and the double bend produces a face balanced design.
“It’s definitely the hot putter and a lot of players you wouldn’t necessarily think want to try to tinker and switch into the putter have come up and we’ve built putters for them,” Holley said during an interview in March, just after Jacob Bridgeman won the Genesis Invitational with a Spider Tour. “It’s a good spot to be in.”
Holley sits firmly in the middle of all that success as TaylorMade’s putter rep, a job he’s had since the summer of 2024. In that time, Spider usage on the PGA Tour has exploded, in part led by Scheffler’s switch earlier that spring.
But just about everyone who has switched since, like Tommy Fleetwood, who got “Spidered” last spring, Holley has been the one helping them through the fitting and building process on the practice green.
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Holley had aspirations of being the guy fitted for putters, not necessarily the one doing the fitting.
He was a standout junior golfer and played at San Diego State from 2013 to 2015, the same time Xander Schauffele was an Aztec. In the spring of his junior season, he captured his only collegiate victory at the WIU/Carlton Oaks Invitational.
While he was in school, he also did product testing for TaylorMade, whose headquarters are in nearby Carlsbad. That introduced him to TaylorMade Tour reps Ryan Ressa, who took care of Holley’s club needs in college, and Bucky Coe, TaylorMade’s putter rep at the time.
Holley played the mini tours and worked as an instructor on the side, but he found out that life wasn’t for him.
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“I have a family, so it got kind of old,” Holley says. ”You know, making a lot of money one month and then no money the next month.”
It was around this time when Coe transitioned out of his role as TaylorMade’s Tour putter rep and posted the job on his Instagram. A lifelong putter nerd, Holley pounced on the opportunity.
“I’ve always kind of been a putter-tinker and would always jump on like the Quintic here and test a bunch of different stuff,” Holley says. “That’s probably what makes me a good tour rep but didn’t make me a good tour pro. The amount of putter knowledge I have is probably not super great for, you know, playing golf.”
He got the job on a Monday in August 2024 and flew to Memphis that evening for the first round of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs. The first person he was introduced to was Tommy Fleetwood, who ended up being one of his first major success stories.
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Fleetwood testing the Spider ZT with Holley at the 2025 RBC Heritage.
TaylorMade
At the end of 2024, Fleetwood was beginning his search for a new putter to replace his longtime Odyssey White Hot Pro 3 blade. The first try was a TaylorMade Prototype Truss Soto blade. The Truss putter line was released in 2020 and featured a unique triangular hosel that was aimed at reducing the twisting forces of the putter on mishits while retaining a traditional look.
Fleetwood had two different versions of his Truss prototype before Holley approached him in early 2025 about switching into a Spider.
“That’s the kind of art of being the rep of trying to go up to a guy who’s maybe been struggling, and if it’s the right time to ask him if he wants to try a putter or not,” Holley says. “I had been watching him putt for the last six to nine months, an hour each day during the week.”
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The key, Holley says, is never pushing a move on a player. While much of his job revolves around being ready for when a curious player walks up to his bag stationed at the putting green, the real work is biding his time to know when he’s going to approach a player.
The results for Fleetwood speak for themselves. He was 84th on the PGA Tour in SG: Putting entering the RBC Heritage and was 15th at the end of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. The putter change sparked the best summer of Fleetwood’s career, culminating in his first PGA Tour win at the Tour Championship, another victory at the DP World India Championship and a career-high World Ranking (3rd).
At his breakthrough at East Lake, he led the field in putting, picking up more than eight shots over the week on the greens.
Holley helped find Collin Morikawa a Spider Tour X putter earlier this season.
TaylorMade
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Fleetwood liked the milled True Path alignment aid on the Spider ZT, so Holley drew Sharpie lines on the top of the Spider Tour and Fleetwood liked it so much he stuck with that version until the Texas Open this season. (Holley redrew those lines by hand every few weeks, but it was worth it.)
The same success story holds true for TaylorMade’s two other top-ranked athletes. Scheffler was 143rd in SG: Putting during the 2024 season before making the switch to the Spider at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He improved to 69th by the end of 2024 and 18th by his final start of 2025.
McIlroy was 97th in 2018, the year before he started dabbling with the Spider. In the 2019 season, when he won three times, including the Players Championship and Tour Championship, he was 25th. Last year, his first full season using the custom torched Spider Tour X, he finished in the top 10 in putting for the first time in his career.
What makes the Spider so successful at taking long-time blade users and turning them into some of the top putters on the PGA Tour?
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Take it from Holley himself, who was a blade guy most of his playing career until he started using a Spider.
He was — and still is, as his Handicap Index is +5.4 — an extremely high-level player, giving him a unique perspective to pitch the Spider to Tour pros.
But the thing that makes the Spider tick, Holley says, is TaylorMade’s Pure Roll insert.
The insert is made from a blend of Surlyn and aluminium and has grooves angled at 45˚ that are supposed to help you produce immediate forward roll on your putts instead of skidding. The most common insert on Spiders on Tour is the 80/20 variant with 80 percent Surlyn and 20 percent aluminum, but Holley can also do a fully Surlyn insert to soften the feel or add more aluminum to make it more responsive.
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Holley preparing to glue a Pure Roll insert in a Spider ZT.
Jack Hirsh/GOLF
“Any of the guys that have switched like Scottie or Tommy, they see such a big improvement inside that 20 feet,” Holley says. “Especially out on Tour, that’s where those guys make their money. Statistically, the best putter and the worst putter from 30 feet, there isn’t that big of a difference from a strokes-gained perspective.”
After Scheffler’s putter switch, he went from 151st from inside 10 feet in 2023 to 33rd last season.
That kind of statistical success is crucial for Holley, whose job is much different than a Tour rep dedicated to full swing clubs.
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Early in the week on a PGA Tour practice green, the perimeter is lined with staff bags, each with dozens of putters leaned up against them, just asking to be rolled. The putter reps stand nearby, waiting to spring into action. But because of the Spider’s success, players visit Holley often, curious about what so many pro are using and winning with.
Technically, Holley’s first putter switch was McIlroy’s move to the torched Spider Tour X at the 2024 Tour Championship.
“All I did on that was punch in the email,” he jokes. “So that was the extent of the switch that I had there.”
Holley also plays a role in the week-to-week maintenance of the putters. He takes care of loft and lie checks and regrippings, like the one he did for McIlroy at Bay Hill last month, the same putter that’s now responsible for two consecutive Masters wins and potentially many more victories.
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While McIlroy probably won’t change any time soon, these things have a domino effect. Not only will more players be curious to try a Spider after yet another win, but TaylorMade is launching a whole new line of Spiders on the PGA Tour this week, presumably the first step of a new retail release later this year. (From what Holley and TaylorMade are willing to divulge at this point, it doesn’t look like there’s been much of a change to the shape of the uber-successful Spider Tour or Tour X shapes, nor the Pure Roll Insert. But a new Spider Tour V and Spider Tour X are joining the fray.)
But for Holley, there’s little time to celebrate. Back on Hilton Head Island, his week just got a whole lot busier.
FIFA executives are considering asking President Donald Trump to suspend Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids during the World Cup, according to a new report.
A nationwide ICE moratorium for the duration of the 39-day tournament could be framed as a win-win for both the Trump administration and the international soccer organization, FIFA insiders told The Athletic.
The move could ease countries concerns about ICE operations during the World Cup, which kicks off in June across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico and is expected to draw more than one million international fans.
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons previously signaled that the agency would serve as a “key part of the overall security apparatus” for the tournament.
Since returning to office, Trump has overseen a nationwide immigration crackdown which the Department of Homeland Security says led to the removal or departure of nearly three million undocumented immigrants in his first year. As part of this effort, ICE agents have deployed across states, resulting in the deaths of two American citizens in Minnesota in January, and sparking public protests over aggressive tactics.
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Trump with FIFA President Gianni Infantino at the World Cup draw. A nationwide ICE moratorium for the duration of the 39-day tournament could be framed as a win-win for both the Trump administration and the international soccer organization, FIFA insiders claim (Getty Images)
The pitch: ‘FIFA Unites the World’
With less than two months until the tournament begins, senior FIFA executives have discussed with Gianni Infantino, the organization’s president, the prospect of him reaching out to Trump directly to ask for an ICE moratorium, four people with knowledge of the matter told The Athletic.
The initial plan was to ask that federal immigration agents stay clear of World Cup sites in the 11 American host cities but the proposal later expanded to include the cities themselves. And since the tournament will extend across more states — including base camps throughout the country — officials ultimately concluded that the request should call for a nationwide moratorium.
FIFA executives talked about crafting a tailored pitch for the president: that his administration and the soccer organization could jointly announce a temporary pause on immigration enforcement, framing it publicly as “a positive news story” built around the slogan “FIFA Unites the World.”
Insiders told The Athletic, owned by The New York Times, that Infantino is open to the idea and would attempt to engage the president.
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The 2026 World Cup will see games in 11 US host cities, including Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami and Boston. The inside of the Dallas Stadium pictured on April 13 (Getty Images)
Infantino, a Swiss‑Italian with a background in sports law, appears to have developed a close relationship with Trump and the pair have met on several occasions at the White House. In December, Infantino gave Trump the first-ever FIFA Peace Prize, which Trump has proudly displayed in the Oval Office.
Given this, FIFA insiders believe Infantino may be able to translate his rapport with the U.S. president into a substantial policy change. Still, it’s not clear whether Infantino has spoken to Trump, or if he plans to, The Athletic reported.
Spokespeople for FIFA and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Independent.
It’s unclear how the White House will respond to FIFA’s proposal. A month-long ICE moratorium would represent a major departure from one of the Trump administration’s core priorities and campaign promises. It could also suggest that the administration views its immigration enforcement tactics as problematic, a notion that Trump officials have largely rejected.
Following the fatal shootings of two American citizens by federal immigration agents, Trump described ICE agents as ‘great patriots that have been abused’ (Getty Images)
In February, following the deaths of Americans, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, Trump said that immigration agents “could use a little bit of a softer touch.” But, he added: “You still have to be tough.”
Last month, he said that ICE agents are “nice guys” and “great patriots that have been abused.”
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When asked for comment by The Athletic, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle didn’t directly address the prospect of an ICE moratorium during the World Cup.
“Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, the FIFA World Cup 2026 will be one of the greatest and most spectacular events in the history of mankind, right here in the United States of America,” Ingle said. “This event will generate billions of dollars of economic impact and bring hundreds of thousands of jobs to our country. The president is focused on making this the greatest World Cup ever while ensuring it is the safest and most secure in history.”
Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House FIFA World Cup Task Force, said that the president had told him to “ensure a safe and secure World Cup.” The task force, he said, will bring together local, state and federal partners.
Cast your mind back to August 2022. Tottenham defender Cristian Romero tugged back Chelsea‘s Marc Cucurella by his hair.
The VAR, Mike Dean, opted not to intervene for an obvious red card.
It created a line in the sand. From that point on, a zero tolerance approach was adopted.
Has the hair been tugged? Then it is a red card for violent conduct.
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A strict application means we have to accept that there are cases, like Keane and Martinez, where the punishment appears too severe.
It is a bit like handball in the Champions League. People do not like some of the penalties, but they know what they are getting.
If you want consistency then you cannot have common sense too.
After the Keane red card, referees’ boss Howard Webb was very clear that hair pulling was “quite an offensive thing”.
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“It was the appropriate outcome,” Webb said. “It was unusual but if we see it again next week it will be the same outcome.”
It took a few months before we did see it in similar circumstances with Martinez, and Webb was proved to be correct.
There has only been one other VAR red card in the Premier League, for Southampton’s Jack Stephens on Cucurella.
There have been several other instances in the Club World Cup, Women’s Super League and Women’s Euros.
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Hair pulling is one of those dark arts which is usually only spotted through video evidence.
It happens off the ball but is more identifiable than the subtle elbow to the chest or a nip to the stomach.
Even in the EFL, which does not have VAR, Ipswich’s Leif Davis was recently banned after being picked up on camera pulling the hair of Leicester’s Caleb Okoli.
Evidence is not always clear, however.
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McGeeney admits Armagh were below par despite dramatic extra-time win over Tyrone
Kieran McGeeney admitted Armagh were far from their best despite securing a dramatic 1-17 to 1-16 extra-time victory over Tyrone in their Ulster Senior Football Championship preliminary round clash at the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds.
The Orchard County needed every ounce of resolve to get over the line against their old rivals, with Conor Turbitt landing the decisive late point after a tense and bruising encounter. Armagh were also forced to dig deep after Darragh McMullen was sent off for a second yellow card in the closing stages of normal time.
Speaking afterwards, McGeeney was honest in his assessment of the performance and conceded it had been one of Armagh’s poorest displays of the season.
“We weren’t great, to be honest I thought it was probably our worst performance of the year,” McGeeney told RTÉ.
Even so, the Armagh boss was pleased by the resilience his side showed when the game was in the balance, particularly after going down to 14 men for a significant period of extra-time.
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🗣️”To be treated in that way is very hard to take.”
🗣️”Needless to say, we won’t be back.”
Armagh manager Kieran McGeeney wasn’t pleased as his side were forced to abandon their training camp plans at Carton House recently due to Manchester United using the same venue. pic.twitter.com/JHepC8xgzA
“In saying that, it would have been easier to put the heads down. We were down to 14 men for a big part of the game in extra-time.
“The most important part is the fellas dug really deep and you have to be proud of them in that regard. They’re not playing well and being able to work out a game, especially against Tyrone.
“It wasn’t our best performance, but definitely showed a lot of character.”
While Tyrone came into the championship under pressure following an underwhelming Allianz Football League Division Two campaign, McGeeney said he never expected anything other than a fierce contest.
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Armagh and Tyrone have built up a fierce rivalry over the years, and McGeeney said he had warned beforehand that the tie would be decided by the finest of margins.
“I’ve never played against Tyrone where it hasn’t gone down to the wire. I was telling everybody this week it’ll be down to a one-point game, a two-point game.
“I suppose all the experts know better but we’re delighted to come out of it; showed real composure,” he added.
The result sends Armagh into the next stage of the Ulster championship, but McGeeney will know there is plenty of room for improvement if his side are to make a serious impact over the coming weeks.
For all the quality within the Armagh panel, this was a day when grit and nerve mattered more than fluency. Against a Tyrone side that refused to go away, the All-Ireland champions had to scrap for every score and every possession.
In the end, Turbitt’s late intervention proved decisive, ensuring Armagh survived a major scare and kept their provincial ambitions alive.
The Associated Press began compiling a ranking of the Top 20 college men’s basketball teams during the 1948–1949 season.
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Will San Diego State contend for a Playoff spot? 
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