UEFA is preparing a criminal complaint against FIFA President Gianni Infantino in Swiss courts for possible financial mismanagement over his failed plan to sell future World Cup profits to private investors. The governing body of European football announced its intentions in court documents filed Thursday in the U.S. seeking access to possible evidence related to the sell-off plan, which was withdrawn after a furious backlash by UEFA and other global football leaders. The move increases the pressure on Infantino, who is facing the biggest crisis in his 10 years as FIFA’s leader. UEFA filed documents in a Manhattan court requesting discovery of potential evidence from the New York investment fund, Thrive Capital Management, founded by Josh Kushner — the younger brother of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

UEFA also filed a request in a southern Florida district for authorization of discovery “in a foreign proceeding” against FIFA itself, which has offices in the Miami suburb of Coral Gables.

Under the plan revealed in late July, Thrive and Kushner were to be the anchor investors intending to pay FIFA $4.2 billion for a 20% stake in a subsidiary that would run the football body’s commercial events, including the World Cup.

“UEFA and its counsel are contemplating a Swiss criminal proceeding against Infantino and possibly other FIFA officials for criminal mismanagement under Article 158 of the Swiss Criminal Code,” UEFA’s lawyers state in a 56-page document seen by The Associated Press.

The document suggests the $4.2 billion figure could be a “fraudulently off-market price promoted by Infantino for his own benefit.”

FIFA is expected to have about $5 billion in cash reserves after the World Cup in North America boosted its revenue to a record $15 billion over the 2023-26 commercial cycle.

Infantino dropped the sell-off plan on Aug. 1 after intense criticism led by football officials in Europe.

UEFA first threatened to take legal action on Aug. 3 when it warned FIFA against destroying or hiding any “relevant materials” related to the plan. Thursday’s legal move was revealed to its member federations in Monaco just two hours before the Champions League draw began.

“Infantino claimed that the plan would ‘unleash the commercial potential and opportunity that FIFA has,’” UEFA lawyers told the courts. “In truth, it was a vehicle for Infantino and that small circle to acquire a permanent stake in and otherwise profit from FIFA’s most valuable assets to the detriment of FIFA, its members, and other parties within the football family.

“Under the terms Infantino announced, those investors stood to acquire a permanent financial interest in FIFA’s commercial arm for $4.2 billion, implying an absurdly low enterprise value of only approximately $20 billion, a figure that was neither the product of an open, competitive auction, nor tested by any independent valuer.”

Thrive declined to comment. FIFA was approached for comment.

It was unclear if UEFA would send a potential criminal complaint to the Swiss federal prosecution office in Bern or to local prosecutors in FIFA’s home city Zurich.

The Swiss attorney general’s office has a poor record in recent years prosecuting cases of alleged corruption linked to FIFA and football officials.

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, former UEFA president Michel Platini and the influential Qatari president of Champions League title holder Paris Saint-Germain, Nasser al-Khelaïfi, all were acquitted twice at trials in Switzerland.

The crisis has raised questions about Infantino’s future. Just months ago, he was widely expected to win another four-year term in the FIFA election set for March 2027, but a growing number of football federations around the world but mainly in Europe have withdrawn their support, with some joining UEFA in calling on him to step down.

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UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin says he won’t run against FIFA President Gianni Infantino but warned the beleaguered head of world soccer that he must either quit or face a leadership challenge in March.

Infantino has come under increasing pressure to step down over his plan, now aborted, to sell stakes in soccer’s biggest tournament, the World Cup, to private equity investors. Three of the sport’s continental confederations accused him of “deception” and European soccer body UEFA threatened a boycott of FIFA competitions.

“One option is that he realizes that he doesn’t have the support, and that’s not only a political support of the ones who vote, but the political support of football community, the political support of fans, the political support of the players, former players, coaches,” Ceferin said in an interview with “The Rest is Politics: Leading” British podcast which is set to be broadcast Monday.

“And the second option is that he goes to the elections in March, but in that case, I think he will have a candidate against him. I don’t know yet who.” 
Ceferin’s comments were in excerpts from the podcast that were published Sunday in the British media.

November deadline 
Infantino has been FIFA president since 2016 and, until the backlash over his proposals, seemed sure to be reelected unopposed next year in Morocco. FIFA has set a Nov. 18 deadline for challengers to nominate.

Despite being widely seen as a potential challenger to Infantino, the 58-year-old Ceferin expressed his commitment to UEFA.

Ceferin told the podcast: “I’m not interested because of two reasons. One reason is that I love UEFA and I love working here, and I think that at a certain point it’s time to also enjoy life a bit.

“And the second point is, my credibility is much, much higher if I’m not interested in the position.

Manchester City defender Stephen Mfuni is poised to leave on loan before the transfer window shuts on Tuesday with Premier League new boys Coventry City leading the race.

The Sky Blues are long-term admirers of Mfuni, an 18-year-old capable of playing left back and centre half. Frank Lampard’s side recently signed defender Ethan Pinnock from Brentford with that signing seemingly ending their interest in Mfuni.

But Coventry remain keen on a deal for the England age-group international who impressed during a loan spell at Watford in the Championship in the second half of last season before injury prematurely ended his campaign.

The Hornets would be interested in re-signing Mfuni while Sheffield United and Swansea City are also keen on the youngster.

Asked directly about the reported interest in Mfuni ahead of Coventry’s weekend game with Hull, Lampard told Coventry Live: “I won’t comment on it until players are ours and it’d be wrong to comment.”

Mfuni was part of City’s pre-season tour of Asia and featured in the opening two games, playing 45 minutes in each against Inter Milan and the K-League All-Stars.

He is highly rated at the Etihad and is seen as a potential first-team player in the future. But opportunities for senior minutes will be hard to come by with Vitor Reis set to stay at City as the fifth centre-back while Nico O’Reilly, Josko Gvardiol and Rayan Ait-Nouri are left back options.

Mfuni, who hails from Wigan, joined City at a young age and has progressed through the ranks at the Etihad. He has already made his senior debut for the Blues and has been capped at Under-19 level by England having come through the international age groups.

The German Ice Hockey Association (DEB) presented former Germany player Andre Rankel as the new coach of the men’s national team at a press conference in Munich on Thursday.

Rankel, who spent the past three seasons as an assistant coach with Eisbären Berlin, champions of Germany’s top division (the DEL), has never served as a head coach. DEB sport director Christian Künast stressed that he does not see this as a problem.

“Andre is here today because he was the best [of the candidates interviewed for the job]. That’s the main point,” Künast said.

“I simply don’t see Andre as a rookie coach. I’ve known him for a long time and I have had a lot of conversations with him about how you lead a team. He is ready to take over the national team and that’s the most important thing.”

Rankel said he was “incredibly proud” to be named Germany coach. 

“What I learned as a player and captain over all these years, what constitutes team cohesion and commitment, I now want to pass on as head coach. My goal is to develop a clear idea together with the players and the coaching staff of how we want to play, and to grow step by step based on that.

Although this will be his first job as a head coach, he is highly respected in German hockey having played 17 seasons in the DEL for Berlin. In the capital, he was captain for many years, won seven titles as a player and three more as assistant coach. He also made 46 appearances as a winger for Germany, including at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.

DEB CEO Frank Lutz said Rankel had been given a four-year contract, a reflection of the fact that the organization is looking to him to help further develop the national team in the longer term. 

A generational change for German hockey

The appointment of Rankel, who turned 41 on Thursday, marks a generational change for Germany. Rankel replaces Canadian-born Harold Kreis, 67, who after leading the national team to a silver medal at the 2023 World Championship had a disappointing series of tournaments. Perhaps the most damaging was the 2026 Winter Olympics. The Germany team that entered the tournament was considered the greatest ever and was led by NHL superstar Leon Draisaitl, but it crashed out against Slovakia in the quarterfinals.

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While appointing someone with no head coaching experience may seem like a risky move, the DEB have been down this road before. Marco Sturm also had no head coaching experience when he was appointed in 2015. He went on to lead Germany to a silver medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeonchang – their greatest achievement and which marked an upward turn in the national team’s fortunes.

With this progress having stalled in recent years, the DEB are betting that Rankel is the man to get Germany’s men back on the right track.

Rankel’s first tournament behind the bench will be the Deutschland Cup in Düsseldorf, a four-team invitational held annually during the November international break. His first major test will come next May, when Germany host the World Championship in Düsseldorf, Mannheim and Gelsenkirchen.

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Edited by: Jonathan Harding

For three parties that have hit the headlines for the wrong reasons so far in this cricketing summer, here was a day of partial image rehabilitation. Neither England nor Pakistan could claim at all to be totally in the ascendancy, but each side could be pleased with their efforts after a week of strain and scrutiny – off the field, in the case of the former, and on it for the tourists. After a mismatch at Headingley came a much more even contest between two teams looking more like equals; a good toss to win made use of by Pakistan in helpful bowling conditions, but England scrapping their way up to something resembling par to close at 248/9.

For Lord’s, too, this was a welcome occasion. Fears of a wipeout from the weather – and accompanying compensation – did not materialise, while the most scrutinised 22 yards in the country delivered a better balance between bat and ball. This surface may be on the slow side, but there was none of the undue movement and variability of bounce that had blighted and truncated the New Zealand Test in June.

That encounter had been overshadowed by the breach of curfew of Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson that followed it; this, by Brydon Carse’s misdemeanour in Derby. This wasn’t quite an England performance to douse the flames, but there was a maturity to their manner on the sort of day upon which they might previously have folded. In testing times against a vastly improved visiting attack, their resistance was led by half-centuries from Jordan Cox and Jamie Smith, with a useful unbeaten cameo from Gus Atkinson late on. 56 overs are too few to draw any strong conclusions, but a more measured pace felt both evident and effective.

“I think being put in on that sort of surface with the conditions we were faced with, we are reasonably happy,” Smith said. “We feel there is enough in that surface that hopefully we can put Pakistan under the pump a little bit.

“I thought they bowled really nicely up top. It showed that if you can take wickets with the new ball, that is key.”

Pakistan, mind, will be confident they can turn this position into one of strength, even if they may be light on a seamer. Two dropped catches, a number of edges falling short and nine no-balls were nonetheless bugbears from an otherwise better day.

With the summer of sun abdicating in favour of the onset of autumn gloom, it was a seam bowler’s day – particularly with the rain relenting earlier than anticipated. A twice-delayed toss fell the way of a beaming Babar Azam, Pakistan’s captain fit to feature and all too happy to insert his hosts. There would have been bitter disappointment that the tourists did not give a better account of themselves at Headingley; it said plenty that stand-in skipper Salman Agha was stood down for Azam.

The rest were given a second opportunity – and Abbas made sure to make the most of it. Very English conditions befitted a very English-style seamer, and Pakistan’s attack leader soon winkled out Emilio Gay (8), Ben Duckett (17) and Joe Root (4) in a probing opening spell. The second of those three wickets was Abbas’s 900th in his first-class career, a good number of those taken here during County Championship stints with Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Hampshire. “This is my favourite ground,” he said. “Hopefully I get on the honours board. The slope helps me.”

Root looked a man who had been dealing with a lot in another uncomfortable week for English cricket, prodding with incertitude throughout his short stay while trapped in his crease by Mohammad Rizwan, up to the stumps. A more promising period for Pakistan was confirmed by the shivering of Harry Brook’s timbers by Mohammad Ali – having struggled to land a blow in Leeds, a nip-backer proved a persuasive, potent punch.

80/4 suggested the sort of trouble and strife that England usually reserve for the early hours, though a swift scoring rate suggested hope of a speedy rebuild. Pakistan bowled tightly, though, and Jordan Cox and Dan Lawrence preferred to progress more serenely, steadily adding 43 together. They were parted by a mid-wicket miscommunication; Shan Masood, who had earlier put down Lawrence on 10, sure of hand this time as he ran out the man he had reprieved for 17.

That strangle continued, though a 15-over spell without a boundary was snapped by an edge from Jamie Smith. Soon after, back-to-back fours off the otherwise miserly Ali Usman took Cox to a well-judged half-century from 88 balls. His steadiness and solidity allowed Smith to up the tempo; the keeper-batter’s 50 was brought up from 63 deliveries. It was a necessary return to form for a player who could yet come under pressure for his place from his partner once Jacob Bethell is fit to return at No 3; for now, though, Cox and Smith were a happy union.

“I’ve gone through a lean period of the bat,” Smith admitted. “How could I read the situation a little bit better? That’s what I’ve tried to do since the summer began, taking my time a little bit more.”

Their stand of 67 was shattered by a moment of brilliance. Cox will reflect that he was a little loose in driving on the up to try and break the shackles, though it did only present the toughest of chances to second slip. Almost more astonishing than the fact it was taken was the fact that it was the dropped Agha, on for Imam-ul-Haq, grasping it – talk about a super-sub. Smith (61) saw his stumps splayed soon after by the impressive Ali, who then kerplunked Robinson’s off peg with another nip-backer.

Abbas cleaned up Jofra Archer before fading light brought play to a premature halt at 10-past-six to the crowd’s displeasure – the day ending in boos, rather than booze. Pakistan would have been happy enough not to face England’s seamers in such conditions; brighter times with the bat must be to come if they are to turn an encouraging start into something more substantial.

Defending champions Paris Saint-Germain were handed meetings with Barcelona, Manchester City and Aston Villa among their eight matches in the league phase of this season’s Champions League, as the draw took place on Thursday.

PSG, who beat Arsenal on penalties in May to retain the trophy, will play Barcelona, Roma, Turkish champions Galatasaray and Slovan Bratislava of Slovakia at home.

Read morePSG parade Champions League trophy as they celebrate back-to-back titles

Luis Enrique’s team will travel to England twice to face City and Villa. They beat both teams on the way to winning their first Champions League title in 2025. The French champions will also go to Spain to play Villarreal and Italy to take on a Como side coached by Cesc Fabregas.

The first matches in this season’s league phase will be played between Tuesday, September 8 and Thursday, September 10, with the final games in late January. UEFA is expected to announce the full fixture schedule on Saturday.

Last season’s runners-up Arsenal, the Premier League champions, will notably host Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Lille as well as Sabah, the club from Azerbaijan who came through four two-legged qualifying ties to reach the league phase for the first time.

The Gunners have a tough list of away ties against Bayern Munich, Real Betis, Napoli and Slavia Prague.

Andoni Iraola’s Liverpool will be at home to Atletico Madrid, Porto, Villarreal and Lens, while playing Inter Milan, Club Brugge, Fenerbahce and Austrian league phase debutants LASK away.

Manchester United, who were not in the first pot of seeds, have home games against Bayern Munich, Roma, RB Leipzig and Sabah and also a series of difficult away fixtures against Atletico, Sporting of Portugal, Villarreal and Como.

Other notable games include Manchester City visiting Barcelona and Real Madrid entertaining Inter, while last season’s Europa League winners Villa must go to Barcelona and play Dortmund at home, while also tackling Istanbul giants Galatasaray and Fenerbahce.

The latter are appearing in the Champions League proper for the first time since 2008/09 after beating Lyon in the play-offs this week.

New names in this season’s competition are Como, who have upset the traditional order in Serie A, and Sabah, while LASK made it to this stage for the first time after a stunning comeback win over Celtic in the play-offs.

Last year’s Norwegian champions Viking have reached the Champions League proper for the first time too, and they have a glamorous fixture schedule that includes Bayern, Atletico, Villa and Napoli.

This is the third season since the introduction of the new format for the Champions League, with 36 teams now all pooled together in one giant league and each playing games against eight different opponents.

This season’s final will be played at the Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid on June 5, 2027.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Go Media Stadium will play host to Sunday’s
Round 26 NRL game between New Zealand Warriors and
Newcastle Knights. The game kicks off at 2:00 pm with New Zealand Warriors heading into the game as favourites with the bookmakers. Continue reading for our in-depth preview of the New Zealand Warriors vs.
Newcastle Knights
game and give you our free tips and bets.

When: Sunday August 30, 2026 at 2:00 pm

Where: Go Media Stadium

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New Zealand Warriors vs Newcastle Knights Odds

New Zealand Warriors vs Newcastle Knights Preview

The Warriors return to Auckland after an impressive 45-26 victory over South Sydney, a performance that reinforced their attacking momentum before the finals. Newcastle’s 44-24 loss to Manly halted a three-match winning run and exposed defensive problems against speed on the edges. The Warriors again field Taine Tuaupiki at fullback, with Luke Laulilii and Alofiana Khan-Pereira providing finishing power outside a mobile back row led by Kurt Capewell and Jacob Laban. Newcastle retains a dangerous spine featuring Kalyn Ponga and Fletcher Sharpe, while Bradman Best and Dane Gagai give the visitors strike in the centres. The Knights can threaten if they create broken-field opportunities, but the Warriors’ forward platform, recent scoring form and familiarity with Go Media Stadium make them the more reliable selection.