After Victoria withdrew in 2023, Glasgow answered the SOS call – and organisers say the past 11 days in the Scottish city have “exceeded all expectations”.

Yes, there have been grumbles – including from those who have seen parking spaces outside their houses taken – and taxi drivers and shop owners the Games have passed by.

On the ground, though, this felt like a meaningful event.

Ticket sales of 434,000 were well down from 1.5 million for Birmingham 2022, but they were always going to be given the smaller venues for this scaled-back edition. It has been rare to enter a venue and not find a joyful, engaged crowd.

There was plenty of excitement for fans, too – Josh Kerr’s golden homecoming at Scotstoun, Angharad Evans making the swimming pool floors shake, and Neil Fachie’s emotional victory on his return to the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome.

They also celebrated Jamaica’s seismic netball win over Australia. Live sport rarely fails to deliver.

But a nagging question has remained throughout: is anyone else watching?

Big names such as Kerr and Adam Ramsay-Peaty – with his emotional reaction to taking bronze in the pool – broke out of this Glaswegian bubble, but what else?

Organisers said their social media views passed those of Birmingham within the opening few days and highlighted record-breaking television figures in Australia and New Zealand, where the Games were free-to-air.

Still, without that same coverage in the UK, these Games have – at times – drifted by.

Glasgow 2026 was also hurt by the absence or late withdrawal of big-name competitors, particularly in athletics, which missed Keely Hodgkinson, Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Dina Asher-Smith.

The Games’ differing relevance between sports was again clear – for netball, this remains the pinnacle and is treated as such; for others, it is a stepping stone. Many narratives focused on the “next generation”.

Eighteen-year-old Jersey swimmer Filip Nowacki was perhaps the most exciting name to emerge, but gymnasts Ruby Evans (Wales) and Reuben Ward (Scotland) and England track cyclist Henry Hobbs, who won two golds and a bronze, were others.

Swimmer Faye Rogers impressively brought her success at the Paralympics back to Glasgow with gold in the pool – and then competed in the non-para event as well.

Cyclist Emma Finucane turned her three Olympic medals in Paris into four Commonwealth golds in Glasgow.

All will have their eyes on Los Angeles in 2028.

It was a fifth successive mid-table finish for the Welsh club, who have not mounted a serious promotion push since Steve Cooper’s team were beaten in the 2021 play-off final by Brentford.

Having been among the Championship’s biggest spenders in the 2025 close season, Swansea’s hierarchy have once again shown ambition this summer.

The club are believe to have spent in the region of £15m on Elijah Just, Joseph Opoku and Moussa Yeo, while Stephen Welsh has signed on a free transfer.

They are also working on deals for a left-back and central midfielder and may look to add another centre-back before the window closes.

“The focus is improving the team, improving the players, put the team in a level that we can compete against everyone,” Matos added.

“There are strong teams [in the Championship] with a lot in terms of budget and a lot of expectations.

“So it doesn’t mean that we need to be the best team, but it means that we need to be able to compete against everyone and be able to win against everyone.

“That’s the good thing about sports. You don’t need to be the best one, but you need to be able to beat the best one. That’s what we want to be.”

The final medals of the 2026 Commonwealth Games have been won after athletes from 74 nations and territories vied for gold in Glasgow.

Glasgow stepped in after the Australian state of Victoria backed out three years ago due to the cost of hosting the Games, meaning the Scottish city staged the event for the second time in 12 years.

A slimmed-down 10-sport programme, as well as six Para sports, included athletics, gymnastics, cycling, and swimming, spread across four Glaswegian venues.

Team England had the honour of taking home the first gold of the Games as Mark Swan secured a dramatic victory in the men’s lightweight category of the men’s para powerlifting, hauling up 222kg – more than three times his body weight – but Australia went on to surge clear of the rest of the field.

Here are the final medal standings from the 2026 Commonwealth Games

Chelsea have signed Argentina international Valentin Barco from sister club Strasbourg on a seven-year deal.

The 22-year-old, who played seven times for Brighton including six Premier League appearances during the 2023-24 season, becomes the seventh arrival of new manager Xabi Alonso’s reign.

A versatile player who can be used in central midfield as well as his regular position of left-back, Barco was in the Argentina squad that finished as runners-up at the World Cup, winning his fifth cap in the 3-1 group-stage win over Jordan.

He moved to Strasbourg initially on loan from Brighton in 2024 but signed permanently a year later having helped the club to qualify for the Conference League.

In all he made 53 appearances for the Ligue 1 side.

He was involved in a heated exchange with England’s Jude Bellingham immediately after his side’s 2-1 World Cup semi-final win in Atlanta, with Bellingham appearing to clip Barco around the head. An unused substitute, the Argentinian had earlier run onto the pitch to celebrate after Enzo Fernandez had equalised.

He is expected to join up shortly with his new team-mates on their tour of Australia and Hong Kong.

It continues a busy summer in the transfer market for Chelsea as they look to remodel under Alonso.

On Saturday they confirmed the signing of veteran striker Danny Welbeck from Brighton, following the signings of Crystal Palace’s Maxence Lacroix and Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa.

Marco Palestra, Emmanuel Emegha and Geovany Quenda have also been signed.

Team Nigeria finished the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow as Africa’s highest-ranked nation after winning 24 medals.

Nigeria ended the Games in seventh place on the final medal table with 10 gold, seven silver and seven bronze medals.

The performance saw Nigeria finish ahead of several traditional sporting nations, including Jamaica, Wales, Malaysia and South Africa.

However, Nigeria’s overall medal haul was lower than its performance at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where the country won 35 medals.

The 24 medals in Glasgow represent a drop of 11 medals, while the 10 gold medals were also two fewer than the 12 gold medals won in Birmingham.

Australia topped the final medal table with an impressive 70 gold medals, followed by England and Canada.

South Africa was the second-best African nation, finishing 11th with seven gold, 11 silver and 10 bronze medals.

Kenya finished 13th with three gold, four silver and five bronze medals, while Mauritius placed 15th with one gold, two silver and one bronze.

Cameroon finished 16th with one gold, one silver and three bronze medals. Uganda won two silver and one bronze medal to finish 27th, while Namibia placed 29th with one silver and two bronze medals.

Ghana finished 30th with one silver and one bronze.

Other African countries that won medals were Lesotho, Zambia, Gabon, Rwanda and The Gambia.

A total of 13 African nations won at least one medal at the Games.

Although Nigeria’s medal tally was lower than in Birmingham, finishing as Africa’s number one nation once again highlights the country’s strength across different sports and its place among the Commonwealth’s leading sporting nations.

Moses Itauma has weighed in on the hardest hitting heavyweight of all time debate, naming a formidable puncher who ended his career with a 92% knockout-to-win ratio.

When it comes to discussing the most powerful heavyweights in boxing history, fans will often mention Mike Tyson, George Foreman, Earnie Shavers and Deontay Wilder.

Tyson was particularly ruthless before and during his first world title reign, which came to an end when he suffered a stunning stoppage defeat to James ‘Buster’ Douglas in 1990.

Foreman, too, was capable of delivering highlight-reel knockouts at the top level, as evidenced by his stoppages of Joe Frazier and Ken Norton in 1973 and 1974, respectively.

As for Wilder, it could be argued that, while boasting a 95% knockout-to-win ratio, he, unlike ‘Iron’ Mike and ‘Big George’, does not have the resume of an all-time great.

In terms of raw power, though, prodigious talent Itauma has told DAZN that he believes Shavers is the greatest heavyweight puncher of all time.

Moses really has been studying the greats 😮

🎟️ Buy #MosesHrgovic NOW at https://t.co/FoiaUucafv | Aug 29 | Watch only on DAZN 🤳 pic.twitter.com/8FbWnfhTXE

Advertisement

— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) July 29, 2026

While never winning a world title, the ‘Black Destroyer’ fought in an era that was brimming with world-class operators, including Hall of Famers Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes.

And while he did, of course, lose to both of those champions, Shavers nonetheless gave a tremendous account of himself on each occasion.

Two of his most notable stoppages came against Norton and Joe Bugner, with this generation’s Itauma clearly an admirer of the American’s career.

And with the 21-year-old swiftly becoming a prolific knockout artist in his own right, perhaps he will eventually be mentioned in the same breath as Shavers, Tyson, Foreman and Wilder.

Tottenham Hotspur are reportedly considering a move for Victor Osimhen as they look to strengthen their attack ahead of the new season.

Spurs are searching for a new striker, with manager Roberto De Zerbi keen to improve his forward line. Richarlison’s future at the club is also uncertain.

Reports on Sunday claimed that Osimhen has emerged as a new name on Tottenham’s transfer wishlist.

The Nigerian striker has been linked with a move to the Premier League for several years. Chelsea were strongly interested in him two years ago, but talks broke down in the final days of the summer transfer window.

Osimhen is now at Galatasaray and is reportedly keen to move to the Premier League. According to CaughtOffside, personal terms are not expected to be a problem, with the 27-year-old said to be open to joining Tottenham.

Turkish journalist Ekrem Konur claims Tottenham have made an opening offer of between £50 million and £55m for the Super Eagles striker.

However, Galatasaray are reportedly looking for around £65m before agreeing to sell Osimhen.

It remains unclear whether Tottenham will make a serious move for the Nigerian, but De Zerbi is expected to push for a new striker before the transfer window closes.

The Spurs boss also admitted on Saturday that Richarlison’s future remains uncertain.

“I like him as a player, as a guy,” De Zerbi said after Richarlison scored a late winner against Chelsea in Sydney.

“He has an unbelievable attitude and behaviour, but in the end we have to respect what he wants to do. We all know what he wants to do.

“But for me, he’s still an important player because it’s not so easy to find another striker like Richarlison. He scores goals. He scored 12 goals last season, not through luck, because he knows how to score.”

With Richarlison’s future still unclear, Osimhen could become an attractive option for Tottenham as they look for a proven goalscorer.

Terence Crawford is excited about the prospect of William Zepeda potentially facing one man in particular next.

Zepeda cemented his status as one of the best 135lb fighters on the planet when he won the vacant WBC lightweight title on Saturday with a unanimous decision victory over Lamont Roach.

It saw the Mexican star return to winning ways after a defeat to Shakur Stevenson last year, and hand Roach just the second loss of his professional career, having drawn with Isaac Cruz and Gervonta Davis in his last two bouts.

Crawford was in attendance to witness Zepeda’s victory, and speaking on the TNT broadcast following the bout, he praised the performance of the new champion.

“Zepeda caught me off guard. I wasn’t ready for that. I was looking for a straight come forward type fighter, but from round one I said ‘damn look at his movement.’

“Look at his footwork. His distance, his range, his angles, his faints, his jabbing, his counter ability, his punch placement. How he was controlling the fight. Roach would hit him with a good shot, but he would eat it and come right back.”

The TNT panel then discussed a potential clash between Zepeda and current unified super-featherweight world champion Emanuel Navarrete, and Crawford made it perfectly clear what a war he thinks that could be.

“That’s CTE at its finest. You talk about a bloodbath, it’s a bloodbath waiting.”

Three-weight world champion Navarrete added the IBF super-featherweight title to his WBO crown when he defeated Eduardo Nunez back in February, and may be interested in the chance to claim gold in a fourth division by moving up to take on Zepeda.

Chelsea Green’s biggest career victory at WWE SummerSlam 2026 received an immediate reaction from someone who knows her journey better than anyone else. Shortly after Green captured the Interim Women’s Championship, her husband, Matt Cardona, took to social media to celebrate the historic moment.

The Interim WWE Women’s Championship was introduced after reigning champion Rhea Ripley suffered a torn meniscus while successfully defending her title against Jade Cargill in their rematch at Clash in Italy. Ripley had originally won the championship by defeating Cargill at WrestleMania 42, but her injury forced the sports entertainment juggernaut to crown a temporary champion until she is medically cleared to return.

Following Adam Pearce’s announcement that Ripley would miss SummerSlam, WWE held a series of qualifying matches on SmackDown. Tiffany Stratton, Jade Cargill, Charlotte Flair, Chelsea Green, and Lash Legend all earned spots in the high-stakes Five-Way Ladder Match.

The championship bout lived up to expectations. Late in the match, Tiffany Stratton appeared close to victory before Green shoved the ladder, sending her crashing onto the other competitors outside the ring. Moments later, B-Fab and Michin tried to stop Green and assist Cargill, only for The Queen to intervene as the action descended into complete chaos.

After Flair and Cargill neutralized one another at the top of the ladder, Green recovered while the rest of the field was down. She climbed the ladder uninterrupted and unhooked the championship to become the Interim WWE Women’s Champion.

While Matt Cardona did not compete at The Biggest Party of the Summer, he shared a congratulatory message on X after watching The Hot Mess climb the ladder and secure the championship on Night Two of SummerSlam.

“Here is your winner and NNNEEEWWW @WWE Women’s Champion…my hot wife…@ImChelseaGreen!”

Chelsea Green can now call herself Interim Women’s Champion, but her reign comes with a major challenge waiting in the future. Once Rhea Ripley returns from injury, the two stars will eventually collide in a Championship Unification Match to determine the undisputed titleholder.