The world’s best players showcased their sport at the Women’s Basketball World Cup in Berlin, which wrapped up on September 13.

Germany, led by Leonie Fiebich and Nyara, improved with every game throughout the preliminary and intermediate round of the 10-day tournament. In the quarterfinals, Germany beat European champions Belgium, delivering what was arguably their best-ever performance.

The final weekend though, revealed the team still isn’t quite ready to compete with the world’s elite over a full 40 minutes. Germany lost to France in the semifinals before losing to Spain in the match for third place. Despite their disappointment, the Germans still saw the tournament as a huge success.

“We simply aren’t good enough yet,” said Fiebich after the Spain match.

“We played the tournament with a lot of euphoria and beat the European champions, Belgium. But it’s hard to keep overperforming. Still, we will get better.”

The World Cup marked a climax of the positive development seen in German women’s basketball in recent years. In 2024, the team qualified for the Olympic Games for the first time, where the women also won a surprising gold in the 3×3 basketball. At the 2025 EuroBasket, Germany’s women finished fifth. The next women’s EuroBasket is next year and if Germany qualify, they should be medal contenders.

“I think it’s important to harness the pain the players are feeling right now,” Germany head coach Olaf Lange said.

“Because in our day-to-day work over the coming months and years, we need to improve individually. That requires a lot of motivation, and this pain acts as fuel for improvement.”

The support from Germany fans could hardly have been greater. A total of around 230,000 tickets were sold for the World Cup and although visiting fans were present, the crowds were made up primarily of Germans.

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Only three play for German clubs

While the national team is just a few steps away from establishing itself among the world’s elite, Germany’s top women’s basketball league (DBBL) lags well behind the international competition.

Most players from the World Cup squad play abroad. Fiebich, Nyara Sabally and her sister Satou, who missed the tournament due to injury, as well as Luisa Geiselsöder and Frieda Bühner, play in the WNBA. Team captain Marie Gülich is moving to a club in Australia after the World Cup, having previously played in Taiwan. Emily Bessoir, Lina Sontag, and Alexis Peterson-Smalls play in Spain. Clara Bielefeld currently plays US college basketball.

Only three Germany players; Alexandra Wilke, Emma Eichmeyer, and Britta Daub, play for DBBL clubs, although both Eichmeyer and Daub have previously played abroad.

In Germany, they simply can’t earn a living from playing basketball. Wilke, for example, works as a teacher at a secondary school.

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DBBL level ‘semi-professional’

Lange, who was a coach in the league from 1995 to 2002, describes it as “semi-professional,” and says it has gone downhill since he left.

“Back then, the top clubs had better structures than they do today—and we are in 2026. That says it all. Things are really going backwards,” he lamented during his post-tournament press conference.

“I have to ensure that our top players go abroad. As long as nothing changes in the league, it will be difficult to sustain this success.”

Professionalization efforts

Changes are needed to ensure the national team’s continued success. Ireti Amojo took over as DBBL president in March. The former Germany player is a TV pundit and podcaster and has also worked in management of the women’s program of top men’s club ALBA Berlin. She has introduced several measures aimed to professionalize conditions at DBBL clubs.

“We aim to hire full-time youth development coaches. We also want to increase arena capacities,” Amojo told daily newspaper TAZ prior to the World Cup.

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“Currently, some venues hold a maximum of 600 spectators, and if interest grows – as it is now – we will need larger arenas.”

‘Too late to capitalize on a World Cup boom’

However, the top division is not the whole story; even if the Women’s Basketball World Cup were to trigger a surge of young girls taking up the game in Germany, most clubs would be ill-prepared to handle them. This is partly due to a shortage of coaches, but also because there is a lack of basketball facilities, making court time scarce.

“We should have started five years ago so that we could say now: ‘We are capitalizing on the momentum of the World Cup and ensuring that all these kids who have become basketball fans can play the sport in clubs across Germany,’” Amojo told Magenta Sport after the World Cup final.

“We are too late. We lack the structures to harness this interest and provide all the children fascinated by basketball with the opportunity, under perfect training conditions, to develop into the next Leonie Fiebich or Nyara Sabally.”

Still, Amojo thinks the World Cup may just prove to be a much-needed spark for future development.

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“It was the kind of proof we all needed, because people are quick to dismiss it, claiming that no one in Germany is interested in women’s basketball. Now we’ve seen that people in Germany are interested in women’s basketball,” she said.

“We already have a few levers we want to use to work on the structures. And this certainly shouldn’t be the end of things.”

This article was originally written in German.

Edited by: Jonathan Harding

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Howard Webb is to go public to outline why VAR gave Manchester City and Erling Haaland a controversial second-half goal against Manchester United on Sunday

Howard Webb is set to explain on Tuesday how the Manchester derby VAR blunder unfolded. Erling Haaland scored a controversial second-half winner to secure a 1-0 win for 10-man Manchester City against Manchester United.

The Norway international bundled the ball home at the back post after getting on the end of Josko Gvardiol’s deflected cross. The assistant referee initially put up his flag and deemed it as offside.

However, VAR overruled the on-field decision as they ruled that Haaland was onside and Enzo Fernandez, who was positioned in an offside position, did not touch the ball in the centre and did not interfere with Lisandro Martinez, who was the United defender closest to both City players.

Pro Ref have since contacted United do admit there was an ‘error of judgement’ in giving the goal and that they should have stuck with the on-field offside call, claiming that Fernandez interfered with Martinez.

Now, Webb, who is the Chief Refereeing Officer for Pro Ref, is expected to go through the entire incident in front of the TV cameras and be the focal point of the first edition of this season’s Match Officials Mic’d Up show, reports The Sun.

Webb is able to play out the communication between VAR duo Matt Donohue and Blake Antrobus – who have both been dropped from duties – in the Stockley Park video booth before Michael Oliver was told to give the goal.

Oliver recognised the scale of the mistake, apparent to Pro Ref bosses almost as soon as the goal was awarded. Webb, meanwhile, gave the green light for Pro Ref to make a statement on the error three hours after the full-time whistle and he is now poised to give out steps they are making to avoid something similar happening in future.

A Pro Ref spokesman said: “Matt Donohue and Blake Antrobus have not received appointments this weekend following the Manchester derby on Sunday.

“The decision made by Chief Refereeing Officer Howard Webb and the management team comes as the latest match official appointments are released, meaning the VAR and AVAR respectively from the Manchester United v Manchester City fixture will not officiate until at least after the international break.”

Michael Carrick pulled no punches with his assessment of the decision post-match and was far from pleased with the officials, and said the explanation from VAR “makes it worse”

Carrick said: “We put things in place in the game now to help – to layer referees’ decisions, how many screens, how many offices, how many people in an office somewhere to make a decision?

“It’s more worrying if that’s the interpretation of the game of football. If we’ve got people in place that are meant to understand the game and make decisions, if that’s the interpretation of not interfering with play or not having an impact on an attack – when you’re throwing your body at it within an inch or two of the ball, with our defender next to him who has to react to that – it’s really worrying for me if that’s how that’s interpreted.

“It’s a staggering decision, I have to say. I couldn’t understand it once I seen it, and then the explanation almost makes it worse.”

The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has decided to hold two-stage trials for the 2026 Senior World Championships, giving wrestlers selected for the Asian Games a chance to also compete for a place in the World Championships team.

According to a WFI circular, wrestlers selected to represent India at the upcoming Asian Games in Japan will not be barred from participating in the Senior World Championships selection trials.

Instead, they will have the opportunity to challenge for a World Championships berth through a “final trial”.

The move is particularly significant because the Asian Games are scheduled for later in September, while the Senior World Championships will be held soon afterwards in Astana, Kazakhstan, from October 24 to November 1.

First phase on September 14 and 15 WFI’s first round of Senior World Championships trials will be held in the six Olympic weight categories on September 14 at IG Stadium in New Delhi while trials for the men’s freestyle and Greco-Roman style will be held on September 15 at SAI Centre in Lucknow.

How the second phase will work If an Asian Games-selected wrestler does not participate in the September 14-15 World Championships trials, the winner in that weight category will subsequently be required to face the Asian Games-selected wrestler in a “final trial”.

However, an Asian Games-selected wrestler is not barred from taking part in the first trial.

If that wrestler chooses to compete and finishes first, WFI says he or she will be selected for the World Championships and “no final trial” will be conducted in that weight category.

In effect, the September trials establish the challenger, while a second contest will determine the final World Championships representative where the Asian Games selection creates an overlap.

The dates for the final trials are yet to be announced.

The men’s freestyle 86kg and 130kg Greco-Roman categories will not follow this final trial provision.

The wrestler finishing first in these two categories in the September 15 trials will be selected to represent India at the Senior World Championships. This is because India will go unrepresented in these two weight classes at the Asian Games due to failed dope tests of Mukul Dahoya (86kg) and Deepanshu (130kg).

The WFI had earlier decided to field separate teams for the U23 and Senior World Championships.

The U23 World Championships are scheduled in Las Vegas from October 12 to 18 while the Senior World Championships in Kazakhstan begin just six days later, on October 24.

The unusually short gap prompted WFI to conclude that asking the same wrestlers to compete at both championships would leave insufficient time for recovery and preparation.

WFI said that wrestlers found guilty of indiscipline during the current year at the National Coaching Camp will not be permitted to participate.

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A potential rematch between Ryan Garcia and Gervonta Davis has been dealt a blow.

Garcia is currently plotting his next move following his dominant second round knockout win over Conor Benn on Saturday to retain his WBC welterweight title.

A possible unification clash against WBA champion Teofimo Lopez looks the most likely option, but there has also been rumblings over the last 24 hours about a possible second meeting with former foe Davis.

Garcia and Davis met back in in April 2023, with ‘Tank’ claiming the seventh round stoppage win, in a bout that was set at a 136lb catchweight.

‘King Ry’ has stated ever since that bout that the weight restrictions limited him in the fight, and so has regularly campaigned for a rematch in a higher division.

According to ‘The Ring’, Davis made his offer for the second clash with a comment on social media on Monday, stating that he would have the rematch at 140lbs, but not at 147lbs.

That suggestion has been rejected by Garcia though, as he responded on social media claiming that Davis ‘doesn’t want the smoke.’

“Gervonta cool but he don’t want the smoke. What’s up with you I went to 136 you can’t come to 147 don’t be shaky now. I need that if you want it. If not there’s nothing to be said.”

Ryan Garcia reacts on social media after Gervonta Davis wrote an Instagram comment about a potential rematch 👀 pic.twitter.com/0zWB5lWGaD

— Ring Magazine (@ringmagazine) September 14, 2026

Davis hasn’t fought since he was held to a majority decision draw in a WBA lightweight title defence against Lamont Roach Jr in March 2025.

For now it appears unlikely that Garcia will be the opponent when ‘Tank’ eventually does return to the ring, but boxing fans will just be hopeful that the three-division world champion returns soon.

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Tuesday said that the 2026-27 Indian Football League (IFL) season will commence on October 30, after meeting with representatives of all 11 participating clubs.

The meeting reviewed the 2025-26 season, noting that viewership figures and overall broadcast performance were hugely encouraging, surging to four times higher than the 2024-25 campaign.

As part of regulatory updates for the upcoming season, the Council approved a rule permitting a maximum of three foreign players on the pitch at a time during matches. The league’s footprint will also expand with the inclusion of Nagaland and Odisha as new venues.

Additionally, the IFL Charter, proposed budget, and sponsorship packages for the new season came under detailed discussion.

AIFF Deputy Secretary General M Satyanarayan described the gathering as a very cordial meeting.

“Last season, despite being a truncated campaign, the league generated a lot of interest, and the viewership figures were very encouraging. We are now looking forward to a full-fledged home-and-away season,” Satyanarayan said.

“With new entrants and new venues coming into the league, there is a lot to look forward to, and all of this will add to the excitement around the IFL.” Ahead of Tuesday’s formal meeting, representatives of the IFL clubs and Satyanarayan met Prasar Bharati CEO Gaurav Dwivedi in New Delhi on Monday to discuss the broadcast partnership for the upcoming season, with both sides expressing optimism regarding another successful collaboration.