Everton forward Martin Sherif has been charged with breaching Football Association betting rules.

The 20-year-old, who moved from the Netherlands to join the Toffees academy at the age of 13, is accused of placing 61 bets over a 16-month period.

“It’s alleged that the player breached FA Rule E1.2 in respect of 61 bets placed on football matches between 20 November, 2024 and 12 February, 2026,” said an FA statement.

The Liberian-born Everton U21 player has until Monday 17 August to respond to the charges.

A former Netherlands youth international who played in the 2023 European Under-17 Championship, Sherif spent last season on loan at League One sides Rotherham and then Port Vale, his first spells away since arriving at the Everton setup in 2019.

He scored twice in each respective spells for the two clubs, and was part of the team that suffered relegation at Port Vale.

Sherif has never made a senior appearance for Everton but spent time in the first-team under David Moyes in February 2025 after much of his front line went down with injuries.

A brief beneficiary of other players’ fitness problems then, Sherif struggled with injuries himself last year, with his time at the New York Stadium ending prematurely as a result of hamstring issues, which caused three prolonged absences and resulted in Everton recalling him ahead of the January transfer window.

Additional reporting from PA

What has long been rumored has now been reported as reality: LIV Golf’s team championship in Michigan has been canceled.

The season finale, which was scheduled for the end of August in Michigan, was already believed to be on the chopping block as early as July. Various reports suggested no on-site buildout at The Cardinal at Saint John’s, even as recently as this weekend. And now LIV is moving on, according to a report from The Telegraph, which said the league finally told its players it would not be held.

In recent weeks, most LIV players had little to say about the event, although Martin Kaymer told Today’s Golfer in late July that the team championship had about a 5% chance of happening. Now that reality finally arrived. Staffers were told to book travel home from next week’s event in Indianapolis rather than to Michigan, just a few hours up the road. And despite the dark clouds over its team championship, LIV itself has refused to announce it publicly. (When contacted by GOLF, the league declined to comment.) The event is scheduled to begin in two weeks.

The final LIV event of the season is now set for the greater Indianapolis area and will likely fold-in elements to finalize the season-long team competition with it. LIV Indy was a rambunctious scene just 12 months ago, setting record-breaking attendance figures in the U.S. But in 2026, it will be the 12th and final event of what was scheduled to be a 14-event season. LIV’s New Orleans tournament, originally scheduled for June, was postponed and not rescheduled. The multi-million arrangement between the league and Louisiana saw LIV receive $1.2 million from the state. As of late July, that amount had not been repaid.

This all comes amid a rollercoaster time for the league. In late April, it was confirmed that the Saudi Public Investment Fund would be pulling its funding at the end of the season. LIV executives have scrambled to create a plan they’re calling “LIV 2.0”, which would feature a trimmed down schedule —10 events instead of 14 — with “Team Majors” and half of its schedule located abroad.

Importantly, the purse sizes for LIV 2.0 are expected to decrease by a significant margin. The league, which once pulled in talent via hundred-million-dollar contracts, could see its $30 million purses from 2026 shrink to half of that for 2027.

The runway for LIV remains incredibly murky. Last week, CEO Scott O’Neil held a press conference from the league’s New Jersey event, sharing that LIV had come to an agreement with a “lead investor” that would help the league sustain its business into next year. According to various reports, that investor is BC Partners’ credit division, and the investment is not for equity of the league, but is rather a lending mechanism. When asked for comment, BC Partners declined, but the head of its credit team, Ted Goldthorpe, was on-site at the LIV event Sunday, meeting with LIV’s previous boss Yasir Al-Rumayyan and walking inside the ropes with O’Neil. 

The agreement, to this point, is simply a signed term sheet — in essence, an agreement to try and come to an agreement. Various reports marked a finalized agreement contingent upon LIV’s biggest names returning to the league for 2027. The hope internally is that a definitive agreement would be settled sometime in September. 

New Test captain Joe Root has abolished the midnight curfew imposed on the England teams – only seven months after it was introduced.

The removal is the latest update to rules surrounding the behaviour of their players – regulations that have come under scrutiny across this year.

The curfew was introduced in January after a number of late-night incidents on the tours of New Zealand and Australia.

Following the first Test of the home summer – a win against New Zealand – former Test captain Ben Stokes broke the curfew in a nightclub in London, sparking a series of events that eventually led to his retirement from international cricket.

In the aftermath of the nightclub incident, director of cricket Rob Key considered imposing a total alcohol ban on the England players.

Then-Test coach Brendon McCullum admitted to “ambiguity” surrounding the communication of the curfew, with new guidelines on it and the consumption of alcohol issued to the England players last month.

But before Root’s first Test back in charge, against Pakistan at Headingley next week, he has relaxed the rules and said: “Let’s be adults.”

The curfew has also been lifted for the white-ball team, despite no change in the leadership of the one-day and T20 sides.

Led by coach McCullum and captain Harry Brook, the limited-overs sides will also no longer have to abide by the midnight rule.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Root said: “There’s not going to be a curfew. I don’t think this needs to be a big deal, to be honest.”

A curfew was first put in place during Root’s first spell as Test captain, between 2017 and 2022, and introduced after drinking incidents on the Ashes tour of 2017-18.

It was abolished when Stokes took over as captain in 2022, only to then be reintroduced earlier this year.

Now it has been scrapped again as Root begins his second spell as captain.

McCullum has been replaced as Test coach by fellow New Zealander Stephen Fleming, although he will not be in place for the three matches against Pakistan, with Marcus Trescothick acting as the interim coach.

“My view on curfews is that I don’t think they work and if you want guys to take responsibility on the field, they’ve got to feel like they can be grown adults off it and make good, strong decisions off it,” added Root.

“And that’s for us as a team to manage well, and self-police well, for me and Flem to manage well in many ways.”

The curfew was first imposed on the white-ball team in January for their tour of Sri Lanka and the T20 World Cup that followed.

It came after Brook was punched by a nightclub bouncer in Wellington and opener Ben Duckett was filmed, apparently drunk, on England’s mid-Ashes holiday in Noosa.

The curfew remained in place for the Test team in the home summer, although there was confusion surrounding the terms and how it was communicated.

Stokes and pace bowler Gus Atkinson were out past midnight following the victory over New Zealand at Lord’s, when a member of the England security staff was punched by a Saracens rugby player.

The pair missed the second Test against the Black Caps while the incident was investigated, and were ultimately cleared of wrongdoing. After he returned for the third Test, Stokes announced midway through the match at Trent Bridge it would be his last for England.

Root said: “Ultimately, you’re grown adults, you know what it takes to play for England, you know what your responsibilities are off the field and we need to make sure we don’t find ourselves with any of those situations, off the field, to manage.

“We should be known for how we play our cricket and what we do on the field. We should be on the back page of the papers, and people reading about that sort of stuff. So, that’s as much as I’ve got to say on it.

“Let’s be adults. Look after yourselves, look after each other, create a good, strong culture where you know the right time is to celebrate and enjoy a win, or to have a sensible beer or whatever. And remember you’re playing for England.”

A statement from the England and Wales Cricket Board added: “We have a Test captain and coach, who are looking at how they set team standards and culture.

“As part of this, the curfew will no longer be in place. We will ensure all players have a clear understanding of expectations when they come together for the upcoming Test series.”

The removal of the curfew is a partial U-turn on behavioural guidelines that were issued last month and also recommended no alcohol be consumed on the day immediately before, during or on the day immediately after a match.

If players do choose to drink in the period before, during or after matches, it should not be in public.

They have also been strongly discouraged from drinking in private, in order to aid preparation, recovery and professionalism.

The guidelines apply only to the England senior men’s teams. All other England sides – the women, Lions and age-group teams – have their own rules. England women do not have formal rules on alcohol.

Last week, Stokes denied the England team has a problem with alcohol, but instead said “cricket has a drinking culture and that has not changed”.

Billionaire Mark Walter is reportedly selling the Los Angeles Lakers to former Disney CEO Bob Iger and venture capitalist Josh Kushner for a record-breaking $12.5 billion.

“As lifelong NBA fans, we are deeply honored for the opportunity to become stewards of the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the most iconic sports franchises in the world. We have immense respect for the leadership and vision of Jerry and Jeanie Buss,” Kushner and Iger told ESPN in a statement Wednesday. “Our long-term commitment is to build on that foundation, compete at the highest level, and serve this extraordinary team, its fans, and the city of Los Angeles.”

The shocking sale comes just one year after Walker acquired a controlling stake in the Lakers from the Buss family.

“Owning the Los Angeles Lakers has been one of the great honors of my life – an extraordinary investment, but what I will carry with me is the community, the fans, and a city that treats this team as family,” Walter, who purchased the franchise just last year, said in a statement to ESPN. “I am grateful to Jeanie Buss, the Buss family, the players, and the staff for welcoming me into this chapter. The Lakers belong to Los Angeles, and I have every confidence the best is still ahead.”

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Rangers are being “proactive” in seeking a new striker after Youssef Chermiti was ruled out long term, says manager Derek McInnes, who warned defensive injuries have left the club “playing with fire”.

Chermiti, 22, sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury in Saturday’s defeat by Hibernian, shortly after McInnes confirmed a bid had been rejected for the Portugal Under-21 cap. Galatasaray have been linked with the former Everton player.

A specialist in London will be consulted, with a possible operation next week.

Chermiti is joined on the sidelines by left-back Tuur Rommens, who has been ruled out for up to eight weeks with a groin problem suffered in the same game.

McInnes, whose side will attempt to overturn a 2-1 first-leg deficit at home to Jagiellonia Bialystok in their Europa League third-round qualifier on Thursday, said of Chermiti: “Obviously, really disappointing for ourselves.

“Selfishly, he’s a big part of what we wanted to do this season and he’s obviously a talented boy.

“For Youssef himself, obviously he’s very young. It’ll be difficult for him to accept and understand what’s happened to him.

“The only saving grace from our point of view as a club is the fact it’s happened in a transfer window and we’ve got the opportunity to react to that.

“The plan was for Youssef to stay in. Obviously it was a big number that was reportedly bid for him. I don’t know exactly what the figure was. Obviously the club rejected that. It’s neither here nor there now, to be honest. It’s done.

“We are obviously looking at maybe strengthening that area of the pitch. We’re trying to be quite proactive with that and seeing what is available. Number nines are normally the most difficult ones to get.”

Lolo Jones is not backing down after a harrowing experience with Team USA.

In February 2025, Jones climbed into a team-issued bobsled at the Olympic training complex in Lake Placid, New York. The U.S. team was testing equipment before the World Championships. The sled accelerated down the ice at speeds approaching 90 mph.

At the bottom of the track, Jones knew something was wrong.

Her lower back burned. She could not bend over. She had lost control of her bladder.

“I’ve never had that happen to me ever in (my) life,” Jones said. “I immediately went up to the athletic trainer and told him what was happening.”

Jones was no inexperienced athlete struggling to read her body. She competed at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics as a hurdler and the 2014 Winter Olympics as a bobsled brakewoman. She had won world championships in both sports.

She understood pain. This felt different.

Lolo Jones of Team United States poses for a portrait during the Team USA Beijing 2022 Olympic shoot on Sept. 12, 2021, in Irvine, Calif. (Getty Images for Team USA)

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A trainer arranged a treatment for her, but Jones says the head of sports medicine at the Lake Placid training center canceled it because she had already received treatment that week.

Jones arrived for the appointment without knowing it had been canceled.

She was hurt, frightened and days away from the biggest race of the season. 

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Lolo Jones of the United States looks on after competing in the Women’s 60m Hurdles during the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on February 04, 2023 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Then Jones received notice that officials had revoked her access to sports medicine, she says, and a broader ban later kept her out of the Olympic training facility, including its rehabilitation areas, weight room, housing and push track.

The notice said her behavior violated the facility’s code of conduct, she says, but Jones claims officials never identified the specific rule she broke or gave her a formal hearing before imposing the punishment.

According to reporting by the Southern California News Group, Jones and other people familiar with the case said USOPC officials later acknowledged that the approved treatment should not have been canceled. Jones apologized during a meeting before the World Championships.

The restrictions remained.

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“I voiced my frustration that athletes should have medical access,” Jones said. “It just continued to escalate.”

The symptoms Jones described demanded more than a routine massage.

Severe back pain combined with bladder dysfunction can signal compression of the nerves at the base of the spinal cord. 

The American Association of Neurological Surgeons lists urinary incontinence, leg weakness and severe lower-back pain among the warning signs of cauda equina syndrome, a medical emergency that can cause permanent paralysis or loss of bladder control.

Jones says no one at the center examined her, ordered imaging or explained the possible severity of her injury.

Without a diagnosis, she made the decision elite athletes often make. She kept going.

Jones obtained pain medication from her doctor in Louisiana and returned to the sled for the World Championships in Lake Placid. She completed four runs with pilot Elana Meyers Taylor. They finished sixth.

“If someone would’ve told me, ‘Your spinal fluid is leaking out of your back. If that pilot hits a wall, you will be paralyzed,’ there is no way I would’ve gotten back in that bobsled,” Jones said.

After the championships, Jones paid for her own MRI. She says the imaging revealed a herniated disc, another disc bulge, several lumbar tears and a cerebrospinal-fluid leak. She later underwent spinal surgery.

She also paid for rehabilitation, travel and private medical help while she remained barred from the training center. She estimates the injury and its aftermath cost her about $100,000.

For Jones, the cost exposes a larger imbalance inside Olympic sports.

Lolo Jones reacts after competing in the first round of the women’s 100 meter hurdles on Day Eight of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Track & Field Trials at Hayward Field on June 28, 2024 in Eugene, Oregon. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Many bobsled athletes survive on modest stipends while absorbing significant training and travel expenses. Jones had income from work outside the sport, but she says the bills still devastated her finances.

“I make good money, but I’m not making Michael Phelps money,” she said.

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Jones now argues that Olympic athletes need stronger due-process protections and an affordable way to challenge the institutions that control their medical care, funding and competitive futures. She says the current grievance system costs too much and gives athletes little realistic power against governing bodies.

The experience has also changed how she views the Olympics themselves.

Elana Taylor Meyers and Lolo Jones of the United States compete during heat 1 of the two-woman bobsleigh at the 2025 IBSF World Championships at Mt Van Hoevenberg in Lake Placid, N.Y., on March 14, 2025. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Jones once imagined that a future daughter might follow her into elite sports. She no longer sees that possibility as a dream.

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“I will not let my daughter be an Olympic athlete,” she said. “She will not be treated like this.”

For more than 20 years, Jones pushed her body for Team USA. She raced through injuries, changed sports and represented the country in both the Summer and Winter Games.

When her body finally forced her to ask for help, she says the system treated her pain as a disciplinary problem.

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“I’ve given so much to Team USA and represented this country as best I can,” Jones said. “And when I needed Team USA back, they absolutely abandoned me.”

In desperate need of new direction (again), the Atlanta Falcons unveiled new uniforms in April, creating a sleek look to match a potentially high-octane offense.

More important will be the new faces that accompany the fire attire.

Owners of the league’s second-longest postseason drought, the Falcons cleaned house after an eighth straight losing season. General manager Terry Fontenot, head coach Raheem Morris and free agent quarterback-bust Kirk Cousins were all dismissed, ushering in a new era in Atlanta.

Replacing Fontenot and Morris were no-brainers for longtime owner Arthur Blank, who picked up Bears assistant general manager Ian Cunningham and two-time NFL Coach of the Year Kevin Stefanski to take the reins.

“We found a coach with the right vision, focus and demeanor to lead our team into the future,” Blank said of Stefanski. “He has a great plan for his staff, and he’s learned many things during his stops in Cleveland and Minnesota (as an assistant) that have prepared him for this moment. Our objective is to win games and contend for championships every year and that is where our shared focus will remain.”

While the quarterback battle is still a question mark, there are certainly reasons for Falcons fans to be optimistic. Making a splash in his first offseason in charge, Cunningham inked superstar running back Bijan Robinson to a three-year contract extension worth up to $75 million, solidifying the 24-year-old as the highest-paid rusher in NFL history. The first-team All-Pro had 2,298 yards from scrimmage a year ago, marking the most ever by a Falcon.

Atlanta’s run-game will again anchor the offense after finishing with the league’s eighth-most rushing yards (2,138) in 2025.

Stefanski is no stranger to dominant backs, having coached Nick Chubb in Cleveland and Adrian Peterson in Minnesota. With the addition of offensive coordinator Tommy Rees and veteran offensive line coach Bill Callahan, there’s no reason why Robinson won’t flourish as the team’s best player.

“The run game is going to be as good as we make it,” Robinson said. “All five of our o-linemen are built to run the football. I’m very happy about it and it’s something I’ve been looking forward to since Bill came in. He’s had a lot of great running backs and he knows how to use them in the right situation. Stefanski and Tommy know how to call it; it’s going to be very exciting.”

Barring an unforeseen injury, running the ball won’t be an issue. Where the Falcons have to win over their fanbase will be under center.

The unprecedented decision to draft injury-plagued Michael Penix Jr. eighth overall just a month after signing Cousins to a $180 million contract in 2024 defined the Fontenot era as a major failure. Cousins’ star fizzled out quickly, while Penix has started just 12 games in two seasons and suffered a partially torn ACL in Week 11 last season.

With Cousins off to Las Vegas, Atlanta signed fellow left-hander Tua Tagovailoa to a one-year deal in March. While the Falcons still have a month to decide who will take the opening snaps in the season-opener in Pittsburgh, the starter will have a solid receiving corps to fall back on.

Despite having to acclimate with five different quarterbacks – likely to be six when Tagovailoa makes his Atlanta debut – in four pro seasons, Drake London continues to emerge as a true No. 1 wide receiver. The 25-year-old was primed for a career-year before missing five games due to injury a season ago.

London, joined by recently extended tight end Kyle Pitts and rookie third round pick Zachariah Branch, spearheads a unit that should again be among the best in the NFC South.

“I think it makes us feel good that we’re part of something that’s growing and building,” said London, who signed a four-year, $141 million deal in June. “It means they have trust in us. We’re walking in the right direction towards being legendary. It’s cool to have (the extension), but there’s work to do and we’re focused on that.”

What should give Falcons fans the most optimism heading into 2026 is what lies ahead on the schedule – and the recent trend that’s on their side.

It’s no ‘hot take’ to label the NFC South as one of, if not the easiest, divisions in the league. And it’s been that way for a while.

Of the last four division winners, the 2024 Buccaneers (10-7) were the only team to reach double-digit victories. As woeful as the Falcons have been across that stretch, they’ve finished two games out of first or closer in each of those seasons.

A division that’s perennially up for grabs, paired with the fourth-easiest 2026 schedule based on opponent win percentage (.465), a new front office, coaching staff and a returning core ready to put points on the board – there’s reason for hope in Atlanta.

FIFA has issued a statement defending its president, Gianni Infantino, against what it calls a “concerted and ongoing effort” to undermine his leadership of the organization.

The statement was released Saturday, a day after a report by British newspaper The Daily Telegraph raising questions about an exit package paid by UEFA to a female staffer who worked with Infantino when he was general secretary of European soccer’s governing body.

UEFA confirmed that a “departure payment” was made to the employee and said it was “in line” with regulations at the time.

Infantino worked at UEFA for 16 years before being elected FIFA president.

In the statement Saturday, FIFA accused Infantino’s critics of trying to weaken his authority and remove him from office without due process.

“It is increasingly evident that there is a concerted and ongoing effort by some to undermine FIFA and its president,” the FIFA statement said. “Those who do not have the support of FIFA’s member associations should not seek to achieve through allegation, insinuation or misinformation what they cannot achieve through FIFA’s established democratic processes.” 

 
It said some reporting has included “unsubstantiated assertions and demonstrably false claims” which shouldn’t be presented as fact.

“Change inevitably challenges established interests, but disagreement with that change cannot justify efforts to undermine the democratic mandate of FIFA’s president or the institution he was elected to lead.” 
Infantino faced intense backlash after details of his plan to sell World Cup profits to private equity were published. UEFA and two other continental confederations – North America’s CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation – rejected the plan.

He did receive backing from FIFA’s management board last Wednesday following a meeting in Morocco, and he apologized over the process. UEFA’s threat to have its 55 member countries boycott FIFA competitions until the plan was scrapped remained, with UEFA saying Thursday that the announcement “changes nothing.” 
While confirming the exit payment “was in line with the regulations that existed for departing staff at the time,” UEFA said the rules had been tightened since 2016 and currently “reflect those found in a modern, high-profile organization.