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Gianni Infantino now has a credible rival for the Fifa presidency. Kozo Tashima, honorary president of the Japan Football Association (JFA), announced on Thursday that he will stand in the March election, less than two weeks before nominations close on 18 November.

Who is Kozo Tashima?

Tashima, 68, is a former Japan international and coach who currently sits on the Fifa Council. He led the JFA from 2016 to 2024. He is the second person to declare against Infantino, after the former Tottenham defender Ramon Vega, who announced his intention in October.

Tashima framed his candidacy around values rather than a manifesto. He spoke of the “sincerity, integrity and high ethical standards” that Japanese football has built up. He told the Japanese newspaper Sports Nippon that “it’s not about winning or losing”, a notable admission for someone entering an election. JFA president Tsuneyasu Miyamoto said the bid would show the world “the ideals and attitudes that Japanese football has cherished.”

Why the Fifa presidency is suddenly contested

The challenge follows a bruising summer for Infantino. His plan to sell a stake in Fifa’s commercial rights, reported as 20%, to private investors drew heavy criticism across the game. The proposal, known as Fifa Forward Enterprise, was dropped at the end of July. Uefa said it had “lost confidence” in the Swiss and promised to find a credible alternative candidate.

Since then Infantino has recovered much of his footing. At last month’s Asian Football Confederation congress in Tokyo, its president, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa, reversed course and publicly endorsed him. Salman had previously sided with Uefa and Concacaf in trying to push Infantino out. Infantino has told BBC Sport he has the support of the “vast, vast majority” of world football. Reports say he also has Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Africa and South America behind him. He is expected to reach the 106 votes needed for a fourth term.

What Tashima’s candidacy could change

A candidate needs the backing of five of Fifa’s 211 member associations to get on the ballot, and the Guardian reports that Tashima will have no trouble securing them. It describes him as widely respected and says he is understood to have acted with Uefa’s blessing, having held talks with its officials in Tokyo. The Press Association, however, reports that Uefa’s search is continuing and that several candidates are still being sounded out. Uefa had not commented on Tashima’s announcement at the time of reporting.

The choice of a non-European may be deliberate. The Guardian suggests Uefa could have concluded that such a challenger would fare better given resentment over its perceived dominance of the sport. Tashima could also split the Asian vote, which Infantino appeared to have consolidated in Tokyo, and is expected to draw support from Europe and Concacaf. Whether Vega can reach the five-association threshold remains unclear.

Realistically, the arithmetic still favours the incumbent. But a contested ballot in Rabat, with a respected Fifa Council member as the main alternative, makes the race for the Fifa presidency more than a formality. The coming fortnight will show whether other names enter before the deadline and whether Tashima’s bid grows into a broader campaign against Infantino.

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Cristiano Ronaldo’s international retirement closes one of the longest and most prolific careers in the history of the men’s game. The 41-year-old announced on Thursday that he is handing back Portugal’s number seven shirt after 23 years. He leaves as the country’s leading scorer, with a men’s world record of 146 international goals and 234 caps.

A farewell shaped by a falling-out

The timing was not what many fans hoped for. Weeks of speculation followed a public dispute with Portugal head coach Jorge Jesus, who also managed Ronaldo at Al-Nassr. Ronaldo spent the whole of a 2-1 Nations League win in Norway on the bench in late September. He later said the manager had agreed he would miss that game and the next one against Denmark to manage his fitness, but then told him he would play 30 minutes. According to Ronaldo, he warmed up from half-time and was never used.

Ahead of the Denmark game, Ronaldo left the squad’s training camp after a news conference in which Jesus confirmed he would again be left out of the starting lineup. He accused the coach of breaking his word twice. Jesus said the door remained open and that Ronaldo should decide how his time with the national team ended. His last appearance was the 1-0 home win over Wales.

In his farewell address, posted across social media, Ronaldo did not give a reason for stepping away and made no mention of the dispute. He said only that it “was not an easy decision” because it was made “with the heart” as well as the head. He spoke of Portuguese people living abroad who “felt a little closer to home” for ninety minutes, and added: “Goals fade, trophies end up in museums, records are eventually broken.”

The numbers behind the legacy

The statistics explain why this international retirement carries so much weight. His 146 goals are 20 more than Lionel Messi, the next man on the list. His 234 caps are 26 more than Messi’s. He scored for Portugal in 23 consecutive calendar years, from his first goal against Greece at Euro 2004 to a penalty against Croatia at this summer’s World Cup. He was also the first man to score 10 international hat-tricks.

He is the only man to score at six World Cups, finishing with 11 in total, including four at the 2018 tournament. This summer’s three goals took him there, but Portugal lost to eventual champions Spain, and he left saying he had given his all. The one prize he never won was the World Cup, which also eluded Messi’s great rival in a different way, given that both played in every tournament from 2006.

Defining moments before the final chapter

His Portugal story began in August 2003, when he came on at half-time against Kazakhstan to replace Luis Figo. The same summer, a pre-season friendly changed his club career. Ronaldo set up two goals for Sporting in a 3-1 win over Manchester United in Lisbon, and Alex Ferguson’s players reportedly urged their manager to sign him on the flight home. He joined for £12m.

The peaks came quickly. He won the Premier League and player of the year awards in 2006-07, then the Champions League in 2008. His 40-yard strike against Porto in 2009 won the first Fifa Puskas award. A move to Real Madrid for £80m followed, and he went on to become the club’s all-time top scorer. He finished with 450 goals in 438 games and became the first player to win five Champions League trophies.

For Portugal, the defining night was 2016. Ronaldo went off in tears injured in the first half of the European Championship final in Paris, then acted as an unofficial coach from the touchline as his team beat France 1-0. He retires as the top scorer in the tournament’s history with 14 goals. Portugal also won the Nations League with him.

What remains: the 1,000-goal chase

Ronaldo’s playing career is not over. He remains at Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, where he has won a league title, and he has said he is driven by the goal of reaching 1,000 career goals. He currently stands on 985 for club and country, so he needs 15 more. The 146 he scored for Portugal count towards that total, but they will no longer grow.

How he is remembered will depend partly on whether people focus on the bitter final weeks or on the longer story. That story runs from a teenager catching Ferguson’s eye in Lisbon to a captain who delivered the nation’s first major tournament win.

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File photo: Cristiano Ronaldo Croatia v Portugal 2 July 2026-075 (cropped).jpg by Bryan Berlin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Alan Jones, the 1980 Formula 1 world champion and the man who made Williams a title-winning team, has died at the age of 80. His death came just three days after his birthday on 2 November. He remains the last Australian to win the drivers’ championship.

His wife, Amanda Butler-Davis, announced the news in a statement released through Motorsport Australia. Jones died on 5 November “following a short illness”. “He will be dearly missed and fondly remembered by those closest to him, as well as the many fans whose support he was always grateful for,” she said. Jones is survived by Butler-Davis and his six children.

How Alan Jones became a Williams legend

Jones was born in Melbourne, the son of a racing driver, and left for Europe in 1970 to chase a career in the sport. He made his F1 debut with Hesketh at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix. His first win came in Austria in 1977 with the Shadow team, a victory over Niki Lauda’s Ferrari that hinted at his talent. The Independent notes that his career had been largely undistinguished until he moved to Williams in 1978.

The team was still young and had yet to win a grand prix. Jones, together with co-founders Frank Williams and Patrick Head, helped change that. BBC Sport’s Andrew Benson describes a close, almost brotherly bond between the three men. Williams and Head admired his pugnacious, no-nonsense style, and later Williams drivers were often measured against him, usually unfavourably.

The breakthrough came with the FW07 car in mid-1979. Jones won four of the last six races that season and finished third in the standings. In 1980 he won five races, in Argentina, France, Britain, Canada and the United States. He was on the podium in all but one of the grands prix he finished, and he beat Brabham’s Nelson Piquet to the title with a race to spare. Williams had taken its first drivers’ championship in only its fourth season in F1. As F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali noted, the team also took its first constructors’ title that year.

Retirement, comebacks and a second career

Jones finished third in the standings again in 1981, winning the opening race at Long Beach and the finale in Las Vegas. He retired at 34, and the Independent says homesickness and a dislike of British weather played a part in his return to Australia, where he bought a farm. Cattle breeding did not hold him for long. He made a one-off return with Arrows in 1983 and raced a full season for the new US-based Haas team in 1986, after a late-1985 start. The car was not competitive, and his best finish was fourth.

The sources differ slightly on his race tally: BBC Sport counts 116 starts and Yahoo’s report 117. They agree on 12 wins. Yahoo also credits him with 24 podiums and six pole positions.

Away from the F1 grid, Jones won the 1978 Can-Am title and finished third in his only IndyCar race in 1983. He kept competing in Australian touring car and endurance racing until 2002, when he was 55. He then became a well-known television pundit at home, known for blunt analysis. He was critical of modern drivers, whom he called “prima donnas” and “too corporate”. He was a member of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame and was made an MBE.

Tributes for a “true Australian icon”

Williams called him “a true Australian icon and a Williams legend”. It said he “set the standard for Williams champions: a fast, uncompromising racer with a challenger mentality”. Domenicali called him “a formidable competitor, a natural leader and an icon who inspired generations of fans, particularly in his beloved Australia”.

McLaren chief executive Zak Brown offered a personal note. The first race he ever attended was the 1981 Long Beach Grand Prix, which Jones won. He said that day sparked his lifelong love of racing, and that he is proud to own Jones’s championship-winning car.

The Australian Grand Prix said his 1980 title “inspired a generation of Australian motorsport fans”. Jones also remains the last Australian to win the Australian Grand Prix, taking the 1980 race at Calder Park when it was not part of the world championship. He and his father Stan are among only three father-and-son pairs to have won the event.

Alan Jones’s F1 peak lasted barely three seasons. Yet he put Williams on the road to becoming one of the sport’s great teams, and he has had no Australian successor as champion in the four decades since.

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File photo: Alan Jones 1980 (cropped).jpg by Original: NL-HaNA, ANEFO / neg. stroken, 1945-1989, 2.24.01.05, item number 930, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Harry Kane contract question is settled. Bayern Munich announced on Thursday that the England captain has signed a new deal running to 2029, just days after he was crowned the world’s best male player at the Ballon d’Or ceremony.

What the Harry Kane contract covers

Kane, 33, was in the final year of the four-year deal he signed when he left Tottenham in 2023 for a reported £86m (about €100m). The extension keeps him in Munich until shortly before his 36th birthday. That takes in Euro 2028 and comes within a year of the 2030 World Cup. Bayern have not published financial details. German media reported it is the most lucrative contract in the club’s history, and the Standard reported a base salary of around £400,000 a week. That would make him the highest-paid player in Europe on base pay, and place him alongside Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe. Those figures come from reports rather than the club.

The sources differ on how close the old deal was to expiry. The BBC described it as the final 12 months, while the Standard said the final six. Either way, Bayern moved before the situation could become awkward.

Why Bayern moved quickly

The timing matters because Kane had suitors. The BBC reported that Barcelona had a long-standing interest and that clubs in Saudi Arabia had also been linked with him. Signing him now removes that threat. It also ends any lingering hope of a return to the Premier League. Kane remains 47 goals short of Alan Shearer’s record of 260, and the BBC noted that a longer stay in Germany makes catching it less likely.

Kane said the outcome was never really in doubt. According to a quote carried by Yahoo Sports, he said the decision “was pretty much made quite a long time ago”, and that he and the club held off discussions during the World Cup. In the club’s statement he said: “I was keen to stay,” adding that his family is happy in Munich. Sporting director Christoph Freund called him “a team player, a leader, the best all-round striker in the world”.

The numbers behind the reward

Bayern’s confidence rests on the record. Kane has scored 156 goals in 161 appearances since arriving, with two Bundesliga titles and a DFB Cup in the Guardian’s tally. Last season he scored a club-record 61 goals in 51 games as Bayern won the league and cup double. Across club and country, the BBC and Standard put his 2025-26 haul at 73 goals in 65 games.

In September he became the fastest player in German history to reach 100 Bundesliga goals, doing so in 98 games. He is also the first Englishman to win the Ballon d’Or in 25 years. The BBC noted that he arrived in Germany without a major trophy and has since lifted five with Bayern.

For Bayern, the new Harry Kane contract is a bet that a striker who has kept improving into his thirties can keep delivering. For Kane, it offers stability and a place at a club he says is competing for the biggest trophies. He has said he wants “to win many more titles” there.

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File photo: Harry Kane England v Ghana 23 June 2026-219 (cropped).jpg by Bryan Berlin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Rory McIlroy has thrown his weight behind the DP World Tour’s hard line on LIV Golf, saying he agrees with the claim that the Saudi-backed breakaway wanted to “destroy” the European circuit. His comments come as LIV scrambles for survival after losing its main source of funding.

Speaking at Yas Links before the Abu Dhabi event, McIlroy was asked about remarks DP World Tour chief executive Guy Kinnings made in an interview with the Scotsman. “I agree with everything that Guy said,” McIlroy said. “They took players; they took sponsors; they turned professional golf into an arms race.” He then added a claim of his own: “They were going around Augusta saying they wanted to destroy the European Tour.”

What Kinnings said and why it matters for 2027

Kinnings said he had heard from many people he has known for more than 30 years and trusts “implicitly” that destroying the DP World Tour was one of LIV’s aims. He said LIV had spent, “so we are told,” more than $7bn. That figure is attributed hearsay rather than a confirmed number. The Independent, by contrast, reports that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund withdrew after spending $5bn.

Kinnings used that claim to justify the tour’s membership and invitation policy for 2027. Anyone who signs up for a “LIV 2.0” will not be eligible for the DP World Tour next year, he said. The message is to play on one tour or the other, not both. He framed this as a duty to protect members of a tour that has existed for more than 50 years. He also stressed that it pays staff, suppliers and contractors on time.

Kinnings has also said he understands the sensitivity around players who want to return. Any route back, he said, should be as fair and merit-based as possible, though “there is probably no perfect solution.” Players, he added, must prove themselves within the system regardless of who they are.

LIV’s funding collapse and the player exodus

LIV has filed for bankruptcy protection, with reports describing a Chapter 11 filing, while it looks to “begin the next chapter.” Reports say it has lost a string of marquee names since the season ended. Jon Rahm, who is playing in Abu Dhabi this week, and Sergio García are among them, and the Independent also lists Ian Poulter.

McIlroy, 37, said the outcome was predictable. In his view, the project was “always going to be good for a few years” until the backers either saw no return on their investment or moved on to something that would actually make money.

McIlroy’s case for a reset

The Northern Irishman did not dismiss everything LIV brought. He noted that players have never been better paid and said golfing greats such as Jack Nicklaus would have “loved LIV to come around in their day.” But he argued that the upheaval handed players “a lot of leverage over the tours,” which he does not see as healthy for the wider game. “There has to be a bit of give and take,” he said, calling for a reset. He predicted the sport will look back on this period as “a very strange time.”

The timing is pointed. McIlroy, who plays both the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour, is in Abu Dhabi chasing a record-equalling eighth Race to Dubai title. He is also one of the game’s most prominent voices on how the tours should treat those who left.

Note that the Augusta claim rests on McIlroy’s word alone. The sources do not say who made the remarks or when, and no LIV response was included in the coverage. What is clear is that, with the money gone, the DP World Tour’s leadership and its biggest star are aligned on one point: the way back will not be automatic.

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File photo: Rory McIlroy watches drive flight (portrait orientation).jpg by TourProGolfClubs, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Detroit Lions linebacker Jack Campbell says he has full movement in his lower body and is making progress in his upper body, a hopeful update on the Jack Campbell neck injury that stopped Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings and left players on both sidelines visibly shaken.

The 26-year-old, who remains in hospital, shared the news Wednesday in a statement released through the Lions’ social media channels. “I’m incredibly encouraged by the progress I’ve made in such a short period of time,” he said. He added that he knows “there’s still work ahead” but remains “very optimistic,” taking things “one day at a time.”

What happened on the field

The injury came early in the fourth quarter of Detroit’s 19-15 win over the previously unbeaten Vikings. Campbell had just made his third tackle of the game, stopping tight end TJ Hockenson, and then stayed face down on the turf. Reports put the time spent on the field with medical staff at about nine minutes.

He was placed on a backboard and lifted carefully onto a cart as the crowd applauded. Sky Sports reported that Detroit’s entire team and most of the coaching staff gathered around the cart. He was taken to a hospital in the Detroit area, and his statement thanks the medical team at Henry Ford Hospital. Accounts differ slightly on the mechanics of the play. Most describe it as a tackle, while BBC Sport says he was struck in the head. None of the reports gave a formal diagnosis.

A recovery measured in hours

Head coach Dan Campbell, who is not related to the player, said hearing the news directly from the linebacker and his family carried extra weight. “That’s powerful in itself,” he told reporters, adding that at this stage the only thing anyone wants to know is that his player is improving. He said the situation was changing “every eight hours, 10 hours, in a good way.”

The statement itself was as much a thank-you note as a medical bulletin. Campbell praised the athletic trainers and medical personnel who treated him on the field, acknowledging that “those were difficult moments.” He also thanked his teammates and the Lions organisation, and he spoke of his faith. He described Detroit as a city “built on toughness, resilience, and grit,” and said that is how he will approach his recovery.

Why the Lions’ captain matters so much

The reaction around the team reflects Campbell’s standing in the locker room. He was voted a captain this season, and the coach said the honour was fully earned. “He’s trustworthy, he’s dependable, he’d give you the shirt off his back,” Dan Campbell said, calling him “all heart” and “all effort.” He added that there is not a man on the team who doesn’t respect and care about him.

His on-field résumé is just as strong. Detroit drafted him 18th overall in 2023 out of Iowa. Last season he was an All-Pro, recording 176 combined tackles, 89 of them solo, along with five sacks, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. Sky Sports noted he was the first player in seven years to reach 150 tackles, five sacks and three forced fumbles in a season. In May the Lions rewarded him with a four-year extension worth $81 million, tying him to the club through 2030.

What we still don’t know

Football questions are secondary for now, and the sources do not address them. The team has not given a timeline for his recovery, a detailed diagnosis, or any indication of when he might leave hospital, let alone play again. Campbell’s own wording is cautious. He reports full lower-body movement but says upper-body movement is still “progressing,” and he acknowledges there “may be challenges ahead.”

For now, the Jack Campbell neck injury story has moved from fear to cautious encouragement. The player is moving, is talking to his team and the public through his statement, and has the full backing of a club that calls itself a family.

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File photo: Campbell 10 2 (53231836896).jpg by Jenn G from Seattle, WA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Nadal Real Madrid board appointment, announced on Wednesday 4 November, will bring one of the most decorated athletes in tennis history into the boardroom of the club he has supported since childhood. The move still needs a vote from the club’s delegate members, which is expected later this month.

Real Madrid said its directors agreed to put Nadal’s appointment to the General Assembly of Delegate Members for ratification. The club called the 40-year-old “one of the greatest legends in the history of sport.” His record includes 22 Grand Slam singles titles, a record 14 of them at the French Open, plus 92 singles titles, two Olympic gold medals and five Davis Cup wins with Spain. He retired in 2024.

What Nadal and the club have said

Nadal responded on social media, thanking president Florentino Pérez and the board for proposing him. He said he accepted “with great excitement, a desire to learn, and a willingness to contribute everything I can.” He attached a childhood photo of himself in a Real Madrid kit, along with an image from the Santiago Bernabéu. Though he comes from Manacor in Mallorca, he grew up a Madrid fan. He is already an honorary member and holds member number 67,778.

The club’s statement went beyond trophies. It said Nadal’s humility, respect for opponents and commitment to charity mirror the club’s own identity, and described his arrival as a source of “immense pride.”

Unanswered questions about the role

What Nadal will actually do is not yet clear. Reports on the announcement say the club has not spelled out his responsibilities, so it is uncertain whether he will have a specific portfolio or a broader advisory presence. The members’ vote appears to be a formality, but it has not yet taken place.

The appointment also feeds a long-running theme: speculation that Nadal could one day succeed Pérez. Al Jazeera, citing Reuters, notes that he has long been touted as a potential successor but has played down the idea. Earlier in 2026 he dismissed rumours that he might run for the presidency. A board seat is not the presidency, but it gives him a front-row view of how the club is run.

The wider context at the Bernabéu

The Nadal Real Madrid board news arrives at a delicate moment. Pérez, 79, secured another four-year term in June after the club’s first contested presidential election in two decades. Challenger Enrique Riquelme, who opposed plans to bring outside investment into the member-owned club, won more than a third of the votes. Bringing in a figure of Nadal’s popularity could be read as a strengthening of the leadership’s standing, though none of the sources say that was the intention.

On the pitch, Real have gone two seasons without a major trophy. Pérez brought back José Mourinho as head coach after his re-election. After 11 league games, Real sit third in La Liga, three points behind champions Barcelona.

For now, the Nadal Real Madrid board story rests on a single pending vote and a lot of goodwill. How much influence he will have, and whether the appointment is a step toward something bigger, will become clearer once the role is defined.

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File photo: Rafael Nadal en 2024 (cropped).jpg by Barcex, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Wilder vs Opetaia is now official, and it gives the Tyson Fury v Anthony Joshua night in Cardiff a second major attraction. Former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder will meet Australia’s unbeaten cruiserweight Jai Opetaia at the Principality Stadium on 11 December. Opetaia will make his heavyweight debut, and the card streams live worldwide on Netflix.

Why Wilder vs Opetaia matters

The appeal is in the contrast. Wilder, 41, is 45-4-1 with 43 knockouts and has spent his whole professional career at heavyweight. He is 6ft 7in and widely regarded as one of the most feared punchers of his era. Opetaia, 31, is 31-0 with 24 knockouts and has been the dominant force at cruiserweight, the 200lb division, since winning the IBF title against Mairis Briedis in 2022. The two men’s knockouts total 67, a figure Zuffa Boxing’s Dana White used on social media to sell the fight.

The BBC notes that Wilder is almost ten years older than his opponent. It also reports that the WBA “super” heavyweight title is on the line, though the other sources do not mention a belt.

Two careers at different points

Wilder held the WBC belt from 2015 to 2020 and made ten successful defences before losing it to Fury. Their trilogy ended with one draw and two defeats for the American. After a one-sided loss to Joseph Parker and a brutal knockout defeat to Zhilei Zhang in 2024, retirement looked likely. He has since won twice, against journeyman Tyrrell Anthony Herndon and then Derek Chisora, whom he beat by split decision in London in April.

Opetaia’s situation is more complicated. The BBC reports that his move to Zuffa Boxing has brought difficulties. He stopped WBC cruiserweight champion Noel Mikaelian in September but could not claim the belt because of a sanctioning dispute. After that win he faced off with David Benavidez, and a cruiserweight fight between them could still happen if the Mexican gets past Michal Cieslak in a three-belt unification bout. A win over Wilder would give Opetaia a heavyweight scalp and make him the first man to beat him. It would also do no harm to his bargaining position.

The bigger picture in Cardiff

The headline act is Fury (36-2-1) against Joshua (30-4). The fight was confirmed in September after years of failed negotiations. They came closest in 2021, when a US arbitrator ruled that Fury had to fight Wilder a third time, and the fight collapsed. Both men have since lost twice to Oleksandr Usyk, who relinquished his remaining world title belts in June but insists he has not retired. Fury has won twice since coming back, and Joshua has spent the year rebuilding after his 2024 knockout loss to Daniel Dubois.

The schedule is unusual. The undercard runs on Friday night, and the main-event ringwalks are expected in the early hours of Saturday 12 December. The BBC says around 01:00 GMT, while the Guardian cites reports of about 2am, and the stadium will stay open until 03:30. The timing is meant to suit a prime-time American audience on Netflix. The Guardian reports that the streamer’s preferred plan to stage the fight at Madison Square Garden fell through. The BBC says tickets for the main event sold out in under an hour.

The rest of the undercard has yet to be announced. The BBC says Welsh former IBF super-featherweight champion Joe Cordina is thought to be negotiating a fight with Manny Pacquiao.

For a co-main event, Wilder vs Opetaia carries real risk on both sides. Wilder’s power has ended fights in an instant throughout his career, and Opetaia has never lost. Something has to give in Cardiff.

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File photo: Deontay Wilder 2018 (cropped).jpg by Zach Catanzareti Photo, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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Rachel Apa, a 24-year-old former college field hockey player running her first New York City Marathon, collapsed near mile 24 on Sunday and died at a Manhattan hospital that night, about two miles short of the finish line. Her family says doctors told them the cause was rhabdomyolysis, a rare muscle condition, but the city’s medical examiner has not yet confirmed that.

A race that began with “I’ve never felt this good”

Apa, from Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, had trained for months, her father Steve told The New York Times. He described her as in “perfect health, perfect shape.” He stayed home and followed her on the race’s tracking app while exchanging texts with her. Her mother, Michelle, was in New York with friends.

Early messages were upbeat. Several miles in, Apa wrote that she felt amazing and had never felt so good, according to NBC News. Her mother filmed her smiling and waving at around mile 14. Later texts were shorter and more worrying, among them “ugh” and “ow.” Accounts differ on exactly where each message arrived, with outlets placing the “ow” texts anywhere from mile 18 to mile 21. Steve Apa said the messages stopped around that stretch, though the tracker showed her still moving until it halted at mile 24.

Bystanders, CPR and a six-hour fight

Police said officers assigned to the race saw a woman having a medical episode near the mile 24 marker at about 1:40 p.m. Reports say bystanders, including two people who identified themselves as doctors, began CPR before medical crews arrived with a defibrillator. The sources vary on the timing, with one placing the collapse at about 1:33 p.m. and another saying crews took roughly seven minutes to arrive.

Apa was taken to Mount Sinai in critical condition. Her father told the Times that doctors worked for more than six hours to save her, and that she was declared dead at about 9:40 p.m. Her mother, who had rushed to the scene and learned from an EMS worker that her daughter had already been taken away, followed in a separate ambulance.

What is known about the cause

Multiple outlets report that the family was told Apa died of rhabdomyolysis, in which damaged muscle cells release a substance into the bloodstream that can lead to kidney failure. The Mayo Clinic lists marathon runners among those who can be affected. Yahoo Sports, citing a spokesperson, reported that the Office of Chief Medical Examiner is investigating and has made no final determination, so the diagnosis remains the family’s account of what doctors said.

The condition is uncommon. The Cleveland Clinic estimates about 26,000 people in the U.S. develop it each year, with runners at higher risk. A 2022 study found dozens of runners had been treated for it at the New York City Marathon, though the Independent noted there appears to be no data on marathon deaths from rhabdomyolysis specifically. Cardiac events are the better-studied danger. An Emory School of Medicine study published in 2025 put the risk of cardiac death at roughly one in 500,000 runners, and found that the risk during long-distance races has halved since the early 2000s.

Who Rachel Apa was

Apa spent four years on the Bucknell University field hockey team, making 42 starts in 63 games and scoring 17 goals. She earned Academic All-Patriot League honors and graduated in 2024 with a business degree. (One report says she played through 2023.) She worked as a product manager at TE Connectivity and had started an MBA at Charleston Southern University. Bucknell called her a “key contributor” to the program and said its community “mourns her loss.”

She ran with the Parkinson’s Champions team in honor of her grandfather, who died in 2022 after living with the disease. “He taught me to stay active, push my limits, and embrace challenges,” she wrote on her fundraising page. She had set a $4,000 goal. The sources give different totals, from about $7,600 to more than $21,000, and the figure may have risen after news of her death spread. One source mistakenly called the relative her father, but the others consistently identify him as her grandfather.

New York Road Runners, which organizes the New York City Marathon, said it was “deeply saddened” and offered sympathy to her family, friends and the running community. More than 61,000 people took part this year in the world’s largest marathon. The Independent reported that the last death tied to the event was in 2024, when a man fell from his Brooklyn apartment window while trying to watch the runners. Other coverage describes the 2024 case differently, and the sources do not agree on when a participant last died after a medical emergency during the race.

For now, the facts are limited: a healthy young runner, a sudden decline in the final miles, and a medical examiner’s review still under way. Her father’s description of the loss as “unfathomable” is likely to hang over the next New York City Marathon conversation about how runners are monitored and educated about exertion-related risks.

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Fifa has agreed to let its ruling council examine “key documents” on Gianni Infantino’s abandoned World Cup sell-off, but only in person, only in Zurich and only under tight confidentiality rules. The offer came hours before a deadline set by Uefa, and it falls well short of the full public answers Uefa’s leaders have been demanding.

What Fifa has actually offered

In a letter sent on Monday, Fifa secretary general Mattias Grafstrom told the 37 members of the Fifa Council, a body that includes Infantino and eight vice-presidents, that they can view the paperwork at the organisation’s Zurich headquarters. They must register within two weeks. According to the BBC, which saw the letter, the material will be available “under strict review protocols to preserve confidentiality.” It is not yet clear which documents will be included, and nothing is being released to the public.

Debbie Hewitt, chair of the English Football Association and a Fifa vice-president, is known to intend to take up the offer. She criticised Infantino for a lack of transparency after the council’s last meeting. The FA itself has declined to comment.

Why Uefa set a deadline

The Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal would have opened Fifa’s premium competitions, including the World Cup, to private investors. Reports differ on the details. One put the scheme at $4.2bn, while another described a minority stake in a new $20bn entity managing World Cup commercial rights. Sources also differ on whether it was dropped in July or August. They agree that it was withdrawn after a fierce backlash.

The row did not end there. At a council meeting on 15 October, Infantino apologised for the plan but did not explain how it was devised, and he asked members to submit questions in writing. Uefa then sent a lengthy letter with eight pages of questions, giving Fifa until 2 November to respond. Accounts of the number of questions vary, from 42 areas of concern to more than 100. The topics included who approved the plan, why the council was not involved at the proper stage and why exclusivity was reportedly awarded to Thrive Capital. They also covered the Fifa Peace Prize given to US President Donald Trump and the suspension of a ban on American striker Folarin Balogun at the World Cup.

Uefa argued that the withdrawal and the promise of “potential governance reforms” do not answer how the decisions were made. It said those answers “cannot be deferred until the next meeting of the Fifa Council.”

Fifa’s defence and the legal backdrop

Grafstrom’s letter called the demand “significantly more questions than the Fifa administration could reasonably have anticipated.” He said a fuller response would go to all council members “in due course.” He also argued the FFE could not have proceeded without approval from the council and a majority of member associations, and that Fifa faces no penalty for pulling out.

Fifa has described the two-week deadline as unfeasible, pointing to its work on a new youth World Cup in Azerbaijan and preparations for an extraordinary congress later this month. BBC Sport was also told that Fifa’s room to answer some questions is limited by legal action Uefa began in the United States. That action seeks evidence for a possible criminal mismanagement complaint against Infantino in Switzerland. No complaint has been filed, and nothing in the sources establishes any wrongdoing.

The election clock

The timing matters politically. Candidates have until 18 November to declare against Infantino in the presidential election, set for 18 March in Rabat, Morocco. He is seeking a fourth term. Uefa has so far struggled to find a credible challenger. Concacaf president Victor Montagliani has said he wants another term at his own confederation, and former Switzerland defender Ramon Vega has said he is willing to stand but may lack the necessary support. The Asian Football Confederation’s backing for Infantino on 23 October was a significant boost to him.

The document-viewing window, which runs to roughly the same period as the candidacy deadline, gives council members a chance to scrutinise the World Cup sell-off at first hand. Whether a supervised read-through in Zurich changes any votes, or satisfies Uefa, remains to be seen. Uefa has not said what it will do next, and it has been approached for comment.

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File photo: FIFA-Garden.jpg by MCaviglia, digimen.ch, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.