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Germany’s Woltemade not yet in team training after flu

BERLIN: Germany striker Nick Woltemade returned to light individual training on Wednesday after recovering from a flu, as the national team prepare for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Luxembourg and Northern Ireland. The Germans, third in Group A on three points, host Luxembourg on Friday before traveling to Belfast to face Northern Ireland, second on goal difference, three days later. Slovakia are top on six points with Luxembourg bottom on zero. The 23-year-old Woltemade, who has made a strong start since joining Newcastle United this season, scoring in the Premier League and Europe, including Sunday’s 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest, missed Germany’s training on Tuesday after joining the team a day late due to his illness. Woltemade is firmly in the spotlight ahead of the qualifiers after quickly becoming a crowd favorite in Newcastle.

Serie A chief dismisses Rabiot concerns over Milan’s Australia fixture

MILAN: Footballers should respect the money they make and their employers, Serie A Chief Executive Luigi De Siervo said on Wednesday in response to AC Milan midfielder Adrien Rabiot’s concerns over his club’s planned league match in Australia. Italy’s Serie A have turned the unavailability of the San Siro in February due to the Winter Olympics into an opportunity for Italian football to increase international visibility, and Milan’s fixture with Como will be played in Perth. Rabiot, currently on international duty with France, called the decision crazy when he spoke to French newspaper Le Figaro on Tuesday. “I was surprised when I learned that AC Milan will be playing a Serie A match against Como ... in Australia,” Rabiot said. “It’s completely crazy.

Cristiano Ronaldo becomes football’s first billionaire, says Bloomberg

RIYADH: Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo has become football’s first billionaire player, according to figures released Wednesday in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Calculators at the ready to determine African World Cup aspirations

CAPE TOWN: African fans will need their calculators over the next week of World Cup qualifiers to figure out if their favored team remains in contention for a place at next year’s finals in North America. The nine group winners all qualify automatically and will be determined when the group qualifying program ends on Tuesday. While that is simple enough, there is the possibility of an additional 10th African team reaching next June’s finals in Canada, Mexico and the United States via a lengthy playoff route. The four best runners-up from the nine groups will go into a playoff next month to determine a sole African representative for a further intercontinental playoff planned for March. Calculating the four best runners-up from the nine African groups would have been easy had Eritrea not withdrawn before the start of the campaign, but after the draw was made, and left one of the groups with five teams instead of six. Therefore, because the five countries in Group E played eight qualifiers instead of 10 in all the other groups, the four best runners-up will be determined not by their overall points tally but by their results only against the third, fourth and fifth-placed sides in their respective groups. In other words, any points that the runners-up accumulated in matches against the last-placed finisher are expunged, the Confederation of African Football has confirmed. The penultimate round of qualifiers began on Wednesday and with two rounds to play, there are only two confirmed group winners, no confirmed runners-up and four teams condemned to last place. Morocco and Tunisia last month secured top place in their respective groups, and a ticket to the 2026 World Cup, while Djibouti (Group A), Seychelles (F), Somalia

A new 'Answer': Iverson discusses lowest point in life, sobriety - ESPN

Allen Iverson, discussing his new memoir, «Misunderstood» on ESPN's First Take, discussed the lowest point of his life — and it didn't involve anything that happened on a basketball court.

Barcelona reject Israeli basketball team training facility request

BARCELONA: Barcelona rejected a request from an Israeli basketball team to train at their facilities next week, a club source confirmed to AFP on Wednesday. The Catalan club said it was for logistical and public order reasons that they would not allow Hapoel Jerusalem to train on their Palau Blaugrana court before a match against Baxi Manresa on October 15 in the EuroCup competition. “We don’t want to have any problems,” explained the club source, after an increase in protests against Israel because of the Gaza war. The source said on that day preparations would also begin for a Barca handball match in the Champions League, and that Manresa were obliged to allow their opponents use of their court. Valencia Basket are due to face Hapoel Tel Aviv, another Israeli team, in the EuroLeague competition on the same day. The pro-Palestinian BDS movement, calling for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel, has called for that match to be canceled. Spain’s government has labelled Israel’s actions a “genocide” and prime minister Pedro Sanchez in September called for Israeli teams to be excluded from international sport. Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 67,183 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the United Nations considers credible. They launched their Gaza offensive in October 2023 in retaliation for an unprecedented cross-border attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

Ex-WNBA star implores players to find additional revenue source after OnlyFans success

Women's basketball and USC legend Cheryl Miller joins Keyshawn Johnson to discuss why there is no single WNBA comparison to her game.

NBA trade guide: How 14 teams will approach the 2025-26 season - ESPN

Just over one year ago, the New York Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves made a rare blockbuster move that involved seven players, including All-Stars Karl-Anthony Towns and Julius Randle. The trade was one of only two deals before the 2024-2025 regular season, and the next trade did not happen until Dec. 15.

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Germany’s Woltemade not yet in team training after flu

Serie A chief dismisses Rabiot concerns over Milan’s Australia fixture

Cristiano Ronaldo becomes football’s first billionaire, says Bloomberg

Calculators at the ready to determine African World Cup aspirations

A new 'Answer': Iverson discusses lowest point in life, sobriety - ESPN

Barcelona reject Israeli basketball team training facility request

Ex-WNBA star implores players to find additional revenue source after OnlyFans success

NBA trade guide: How 14 teams will approach the 2025-26 season - ESPN