Carlo Ancelotti has extended his contract as Brazil manager, committing to lead the national team through to the 2030 World Cup.

The Italian took the Selecao job after leaving Real Madrid at the end of the 2024-25 season, and has since guided them to this summer’s finals in the US, Mexico and Canada.

Despite suffering six defeats during their CONMEBOL qualifying campaign, the former Chelsea and Everton boss secured a fifth-place finish.

Brazil are drawn into Group C, alongside Scotland, Morocco and Haiti, with Ancelotti aiming to guide the South American nation to their first World Cup success since 2002.

Speaking on the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) website, Ancelotti expressed his dedication: “I arrived in Brazil a year ago. From the first minute, I understood what football means to this country.

“For a year, we have been working to bring the Brazilian national team back to the top of the world, but the CBF and I want more: more victories, more time, more work.

“We are very happy to announce that we will continue together for another four years. We will go together until the 2030 World Cup. I want to thank the CBF for their trust. Thank you, Brazil, for the warm welcome and for all the affection.”

Brazil have won the World Cup on five occasions, making them the most successful nation in the tournament’s history. However, it has been almost a quarter of a century since their last triumph.

They have been eliminated at the quarter-final stage in the last two World Cups, losing to Belgium in 2018 before being knocked out on penalties by Croatia four years ago.

Brazil did reach the semi-finals of their home World Cup in 2014, but they suffered humiliation in the last four as they were thrashed 7-1 by eventual champions Germany.

In the Premier League, Manchester City beat Crystal Palace 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium and are now just two points behind Arsenal in the title race.

In Italy, Inter Milan won the Italian Cup with a 2-0 victory over Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico, completing the third league and cup double in the club’s history.

In Spain, Alavés defeated Barcelona 1-0, reigniting the relegation battle in La Liga with just two matches remaining in a very tight table.

In tennis, Casper Ruud and Iga Swiatek both reached the semi-finals in Rome, while Elina Svitolina produced an upset against Elena Rybakina (2-6, 6-4, 6-4).

In the EuroLeague, Valencia qualified for the Final Four after eliminating Panathinaikos (81-64).

For the first time, the football World Cup final in July will feature a star-studded Super Bowl-style halftime show. FIFA has announced that the concert will be headlined by no less than Madonna, Shakira and boys-band BTS. Story by Emerald Maxwell.

You know how you aren’t supposed to talk about a no-hitter while it’s going on? That’s kind of how it feels to talk about a starting pitcher who is both pitching well and is currently healthy. We’ve had so many pitchers go down with injuries (including a couple more big names on Wednesday, of course) or supposed aces struggling this season that it feels risky to even mention when a pitcher is thriving. 

But I’m going to do it. I’m going to take the risk, because it needs to be said: Jacob Misiorowski is ascending to the highest tiers of the position. 

This might not strike you as a particularly bold take. Misiorowski has some of the most overwhelmingly dominant stuff we’ve ever seen from a starting pitcher, and he entered Wednesday’s start against the Padres with a 2.45 ERA and absolutely massive strikeout numbers. For many of you, saying this in mid-May might be saying it too late. But let’s not forget that Misiorowski was very much a question mark just two months ago, coming off a rookie season where he put up a 4.63 ERA and was largely not all that useful for Fantasy in the second half. 

But it’s hard to argue against him as a true ace at this point. He shut down the Padres for seven innings Wednesday, his third straight start without allowing a run, and the fourth time in nine starts he has gone at least six innings – something he did just three times in 14 starts last season. And after serious issues throwing strikes for much of his rookie season, Misiorowski seems to have turned a corner, with two or fewer walks in four straight starts and six of nine overall. And, obviously, the strikeouts are plentiful, with 10 more in this start to give him four starts with double-digits on the season – the same number Paul Skenes has for his career after Tuesday’s gem. 

I’m not saying Misiorowski is a better pitcher than Skenes, though I don’t think it’s an overreaction to say he’s a better strikeout pitcher than Skenes. But I do think we’re at the point where it doesn’t really make any sense to have performance concerns about Misiorowski. He probably won’t sustain a 45%-plus whiff rate on his four-seamer, but … he might! It is genuinely one of the best four-seamers we’ve ever seen from a starting pitcher. And he’s showing a basically unprecedented ability to sustain that heat late into games, as his last three pitches of the game tonight were 102, 101.9, and 103.2 mph, giving him 12 pitches of at least 101 mph for his career in the sixth inning or later, the second-most of any pitcher in the pitch-tracking era behind Justin Verlander. 

And the rest of the arsenal is pretty good, too! Misiorowski’s slider isn’t really a huge bat-misser; it’s more like a monster, contact-suppressing cutter, and it generated nine batted balls Wednesday with just a 79.1 mph average exit velocity. The curveball operates more like a slider for Misiorowski; only the first two pitches are so good that he hardly ever needs it. 

It’s fair to wonder how sustainable this all is, mostly from a health standpoint. Nobody has ever sustained the kind of velocity Misiorowski is routinely generating while staying healthy. But here’s the thing: He’s healthy right now. Every pitcher has a fairly high baseline level of injury risk, and I don’t think it’s especially fair to assume Misiorowski’s is significantly higher than other pitchers who are also presumably pitching at max effort, just because his max effort produces higher readings. Yeah, he’s an injury risk. So is every pitcher, as you may be aware.

I’m moving Misiorowski up to the SP6 spot in my rankings this week. In trades, I think the only pitcher I would be willing to trade Misiorowski straight up for is Skenes, but I’m not sure I’d be willing to give up any of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Cristopher Sanchez, Chris Sale or Jacob deGrom for him, either, if that makes sense. I’m buying the performance with Misiorowski, but there’s still the open question of how this is all going to look 150 innings in. The rest of those guys might not be as good as Misiorowski right now, but they have shown they can be dominant for a full season. It’s really the only question Misiorowski has yet to answer.

O’Reilly’s “unbelievable talent” was spotted at the age of six, according to Riley, who says he had a “great left foot”, was “good on the ball” as well as having “determination”.

Even at that young age, there were scouts from Manchester United, Liverpool, Everton and Blackburn Rovers watching him in action for Moston Tigers and Failsworth Dynamos.

O’Reilly was first recommended to Riley by local scout Joe Yates, who would keep in touch with the family about his progress.

Riley said: “It was so competitive in their younger days – it still is now at the moment – because all the top clubs in the North West want all the best boys, so it’s so hard.

“This is where you’ve got to work quite hard with the parents and work as a team at the club. When he has signed on to the under-nines, your job’s not done.

“You carry on keeping in touch with parents, the recruitment team take over, the physios get involved. It’s a massive job getting these boys through but it is all about teamwork.”

O’Reilly grew up in Collyhurst and lists Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldinho as players who he “loved watching”, while his City idols include Kevin de Bruyne, Yaya Toure, David Silva and Sergio Aguero.

Asked about his early days in football, O’Reilly told BBC Sport: “[We played] a bit of everywhere – on the grass, on the streets. We used to go to the little cage and play there.

“There used to be about 30 of us that used to go out and play and just have a good time. I was a good kid, I just love playing sports. I love being out doing activities.”

Punjab Kings openers Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh became the first uncapped opening pair to cross 1,000 partnership runs in the IPL. The milestone was reached when the team score moved to 24 during PBKS’ match against Mumbai Indians on Thursday.The duo also added a 50-run stand in the match before the partnership was broken by Deepak Chahar, who dismissed Priyansh Arya for 22.Prabhsimran Singh, who scored 549 runs in 2025 and 439* in 2026, also became only the third uncapped Indian player to score 400 or more runs in multiple IPL seasons. The other two are Suryakumar Yadav (2018, 2019 and 2020) and Abhishek Sharma (2022 and 2024).Earlier, Mumbai Indians skipper Jasprit Bumrah won the toss and chose to field first against Punjab Kings in their IPL 2026 match in Dharamsala on Thursday.Bumrah is leading Mumbai Indians for the first time in the IPL. Regular captain Hardik Pandya is recovering from a back spasm, while stand-in captain Suryakumar Yadav is unavailable due to personal reasons.Punjab Kings came into the match after four straight defeats at a key stage of the season. After seven matches, they were at the top of the table, but have since dropped momentum in the race for a top-two finish.Mumbai Indians have also had a poor season overall, with three wins from 11 matches and ninth place on the points table.At the toss, Bumrah said: “We have decided to bowl first. We saw the last game and felt that maybe with the cold weather coming down, the wicket would settle down. I didn’t think that I would be a Test captain before becoming MI captain (smiles). As much as we can, we can play three games left, and we want to enjoy and maybe ruffle a few teams. Surya is not here for personal reasons, and Allah is not there as well,”PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer said: “We would have bowled first as well. The wicket looks a bit drier. Still don’t know how the pitch will play, so just being positive about it. We should stop thinking about what has gone wrong. We have to think about being in good shape and having a positive mindset. Harpreet Brar, Xavier Bartlett and Azmatullah Omarzai come in.”

The ACC reportedly has “consensus” regarding expansion of the College Football Playoff.

Would the league benefit from having 24 teams make the Playoff each year?

On today’s episode of Locked On College Football, Spencer McLaughlin and ‘Locked On Canes’ host Alex Donno discuss the commitment of 5-star DB Donte Wright Jr., who flipped from Georgia.

Where does the landscape for high-end DB recruits sit on the NIL front?

San Diego State enters its third season under HC Sean Lewis and its 1st year in the new-look Pac-12.

The Aztecs should expect to be a conference title contender.

00:00 Discussing college football playoffs
04:10 Changes in college football playoffs
06:58 Big Ten influence on expansion
14:26 Recruitment surprise with Donte Wright
20:17 Discussing college football recruiting
21:44 Importance of offensive tackles
27:18 Texas State’s standout quarterback combo
28:17 San Diego State football analysis

/ @lockedoncollegefootball