Category: Sports

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Lionel Messi accused of breaching $7 million contract by sitting out a Florida soccer friendly

Lionel Messi is being sued by a Miami-based event promoter who says the soccer icon violated terms of a $7 million contract by missing an exhibition match last year.

Vid Music Group filed the lawsuit for fraud and breach of contract against Messi and the Argentine Football Association in Miami-Dade circuit court last month, according to court records.

Messi and the AFA didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Considered one of the greatest soccer players ever, Messi appears with both his Major League Soccer club Inter Miami and Argentina’s national team, and fans routinely pay much higher prices for the chance to see him play.

According to the lawsuit, Vid signed a deal with the AFA last summer for exclusive rights to organize and promote Argentina’s friendlies last October against Venezuela and Puerto Rico in exchange for ticket, broadcast and sponsorship revenue. Vid claims that Messi was supposed to play for at least 30 minutes in each match, unless he was injured.

The 38-year-old Messi watched Argentina’s 1-0 win against Venezuela on Oct. 10 from a suite at South Florida’s Hard Rock Stadium, according to the lawsuit.

The next day, Messi scored two goals in Inter Miami’s 4-0 MLS win over Atlanta. That match was important to Inter Miami, since it gave them home-field advantage for Round 1 of the playoffs.

Then, on Oct. 14, Messi played in Argentina’s 6-0 win over Puerto Rico. That game was originally supposed to take place in Chicago, but low ticket sales in the city where Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were making more than 1,000 arrests led organizers to move the game to Florida. AFA blamed the immigration crackdowns when the smaller venue in Fort Lauderdale didn’t sell out, even after ticket prices were reduced to $25 each.

Vid hasn’t specified damages they’re seeking in the lawsuit, but they claim they lost millions between Messi failing to appear in one game and low ticket sales at the other. (JapanToday)

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Dembele sends PSG past Liverpool into Champions League semis

Ousmane Dembele’s double guided Paris Saint-Germain into the Champions League semifinals as a 2-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield on Tuesday completed a 4-0 aggregate win for the holders.

To compound the English champions’ woes, Hugo Ekitike suffered a serious-looking injury that could end his season and hinder Liverpool’s chances of being back among Europe’s elite next season.

Arne Slot’s men sit fifth in the Premier League and will end the campaign trophyless after being kept at arm’s reach by a PSG side that did not need to be at their brilliant best to reach a third consecutive semifinal.

Defeat means there will be no glorious goodbye for Mohamed Salah after nine memorable years on Merseyside.

Slot showed little sentiment as he dropped the Egyptian to the bench on his final Champions League appearance in red.

Alexander Isak was preferred up front as the most expensive player in Premier League history started for the first time since breaking his leg in December.

However, Salah was forced into action after just half an hour as Ekitike suffered a nasty-looking injury that could ruin his World Cup hopes with France. The former PSG striker crumpled in a heap holding his lower right leg with a suspected ruptured Achilles.

Salah nearly made an immediate impact as from his cross Matvey Safonov made a fine save from Milos Kerkez before Marquinhos produced a remarkable block to deny Virgil van Dijk the opening goal.

PSG had plenty of chances to have put the tie to bed in the Parc des Princes last week and were profligate once more in the first half.

Giorgi Mamardashvili scrambled back towards his line to punch away Dembele’s attempted chip before the Ballon d’Or winner blazed over from close range with just the Georgian to beat.

Slot admitted before kick-off that Isak could only last for 45 minutes due to a lack of match practice and the Swede made way for Cody Gakpo at half-time in a further blow to Liverpool’s firepower up front.

Kerkez had the best chance to set up a grandstand finale when he sliced wide another inviting Salah delivery.

Liverpool thought they had been gifted a lifeline when Alexis Mac Allister was awarded a very generous penalty for minimal contact by Willian Pacho, but VAR intervened to instruct referee Maurizio Mariani to reverse his original decision.

But as Liverpool poured forward in desperation, they became a sitting duck for the rapid PSG counter-attack.

Dembele finally killed the tie off 18 minutes from time when he cut onto his left foot and curled into the bottom corner from outside the box.

The French international then inflicted the final blow with a cool finish from Bradley Barcola’s cross in stoppage time.

PSG will face a tougher test against the in-form Bayern Munich or 15-time winners Real Madrid in the last four.

But after ending the Qatari-backed French champions’ long wait to conquer Europe last season, Luis Enrique’s men remain on course to become the only side other than Madrid to retain the competition in the Champions League era. (JapanToday)

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Man City closes in on Arsenal in Premier League title race with 3-0 win over Chelsea

Manchester City issued a huge statement of intent in the race for the Premier League title with a 3-0 win at Chelsea on Sunday.

Pep Guardiola’s team moved to within six points of leader Arsenal ahead of next weekend’s top of the table clash between the two teams. City also has a game in hand.

Nico O’Reilly, Marc Guehi and Jeremy Doku all scored in a blistering second-half performance at Stamford Bridge as City took full advantage of Arsenal’s shock defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday.

“We know that we still have everything in our hands,” Doku said.

Tottenham’s survival fight took another blow after a 1-0 loss to Sunderland left it rooted in the relegation zone.

In coach Roberto De Zerbi’s first game in charge, Spurs fell to a 16th league loss of the season. Its 14-game winless run in the league dates back to Jan. 1.

Nordi Mukiele’s deflected shot sealed the game at the Stadium of Light and plunged Tottenham’s campaign deeper into crisis.

Tottenham is two points adrift of safety with six games to go. Its plight wasn’t helped by relegation-fighting Nottingham Forest drawing 1-1 with Aston Villa.

Crystal Palace came back from 1-0 down to beat Newcastle 2-1 at Selhurst Park.

While Arsenal’s form has hit a slump at the worst possible time, City made it three statement wins in a row after rolling over Chelsea.

Victory followed triumph against Arsenal in the English League Cup final and the 4-0 rout of Liverpool in the FA Cup last week.

While those three results all came in different competitions, City’s charge has an ominous feel about it after twice chasing down Arsenal’s lead to win the title in 2023 and ’24.

Second-placed City has the chance to cut the gap at the top to three points with victory against Arsenal at the Etihad. Guardiola called for respect for Arsenal when looking ahead to that title showdown.

“They have been the best team in this country, in Europe, so far. Beating Arsenal once is so difficult, imagine beating them twice in a few weeks,” Guardiola said. “I would like to say to my fans — respect Arsenal a lot, they are an extraordinary team. Come to join us from minute one because the players will do the maximum.”

Rayan Cherki was the inspiration at Stamford Bridge — setting up goals for O’Reilly six minutes after halftime and Guehi in the 57th.

Doku rounded off the win in the 68th.

The result didn’t help Chelsea’s bid to qualify for the Champions League, leaving it four points behind fifth-placed Liverpool.

Liam Rosenior’s team has won just one of its last seven league games.

Now on its third coach of the season, it’s more than three months since its last league win and just one point from a possible 24. This was a seventh defeat in eight games.

If the hope was that De Zerbi would provide an immediate bounce in form after replacing Igor Tudor, it didn’t come in a typically toothless display at Sunderland.

While the new coach could point to bad luck, given the nature of Mukiele’s 61st-minute winner, which took a wicked deflection off Micky van de Ven, his team rarely looked like finding a way back into the match — even during 11 minutes of added time at the end.

An injury to Cristian Romero made a bad day worse for Spurs, which next faces Brighton, one of De Zerbi’s former clubs.

Forest moved three points clear of Spurs after a draw at the City Ground. Neco Williams’ long-range shot leveled the game after a Murillo own-goal gave Villa the lead. (JapanToday)

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Sinner beats Alcaraz to win Monte Carlo Masters

Jannik Sinner beat Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets to win the Monte Carlo Masters for the first time on Sunday and reclaim the world number one ranking from his Spanish rival.

Sinner downed Alcaraz 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 to capture his third ATP 1000 title of the year after completing the “Sunshine Double” last month with victories in Indian Wells and Miami.

The 24-year-old Sinner joins Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal as only the third player to win four successive ATP 1000 titles. He also triumphed in Paris at the end of last season.

“We came here trying to get as many matches as possible, getting good feedback before other big tournaments coming up. Today was a high level from both of us,” Sinner said. “It was a bit windy, a bit breezy. Different conditions from what the tournament has brought. The result is amazing.

“Getting back to No. 1 means a lot for me… I am very happy to win a big title on this surface, I haven’t done it before.”

It was the first meeting between Sinner and Alcaraz since the Italian prevailed at the ATP Finals in November. Sinner, who is now 7-10 in his career against Alcaraz, will return to the top of the rankings on Monday.

He has won his last 17 matches and becomes the first man since Djokovic in 2015 to win the first three ATP 1000 titles of the season.

“It is impressive what you are achieving right now,” Alcaraz said to Sinner during the trophy ceremony. “Just one man had won the ‘Sunshine Double’ and Monte Carlo and you are the second.”

Alcaraz had won his past 17 matches on clay, dating back to last season when he lifted titles in Rome and at Roland Garros.

He admitted Sinner performed better when it mattered most on Sunday.

“I would say that the important moments, the important points, I didn’t play well. I think I had so much opportunities in the match that I didn’t take,” said Alcaraz.

Alcaraz jumped out to a 2-0 lead when Sinner pushed a forehand long in blustery conditions, but the Italian broke back in the following game as he gradually found his rhythm.

The Spaniard fought off a break point in the fifth game and three more at 4-4, but Sinner’s greater consistency paid off in the tie-break, which he secured when Alcaraz hit a double fault down set point.

Alcaraz won a sensational rally to break Sinner’s serve early in the second set, but the second seed continued to pile pressure on his opponent and rallied from 3-1 down, taking the last five games to clinch the biggest clay-court title of his career.

“It was an incredible week,” said Sinner, pleased with the smooth transition he made from hard courts.

“I am surprised in a very good way. I guess I still need a little bit of time to realise what happened.”

Sinner has hinted he might skip the Madrid Open, where he has no points to defend after missing last year’s tournament while serving a three-month doping ban, to focus on his main goal of winning the French Open.

He held three championship points in an epic 2025 Roland Garros final but was unable to convert as Alcaraz mounted a miraculous comeback – though Sinner looks primed for another title challenge.

“I think he’s reaching a level on clay that is going to be really dangerous for everybody,” said Alcaraz.

Alcaraz will head to Barcelona next week and intends to play a full clay season, health permitting, after injury forced him out of Madrid 12 months ago.

“I hear my body much better than last year, for sure,” said Alcaraz. “If my body stays healthy, I’m going to do whatever it takes to be healthy and take care of my body. If I don’t have any problems, I will play everything on clay.” (JapanToday)

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McIlroy makes major warning after Masters triumph

Rory McIlroy joined more elite company Sunday at the Masters when he pulled away with a pair of birdies around Amen Corner and, as usual, saved a little drama for the end before taking his place in Augusta National history as only the fourth back-to-back champion.

In a final round where three players had a two-shot lead, McIlroy seized control for good with a bold shot over Rae’s Creek to 7 feet for birdie on the par-3 12th. Then he blistered a 350-yard drive on the par-5 13th that set up another birdie to move three shots ahead.

There were a few dicey moments, including a shot over the par-3 16th green that required him to use the slope to get in close for par, and a wild drive on the 18th that wound up closer to the 10th fairway. He tapped in for bogey and a 1-under 71 for a one-shot victory over Scottie Scheffler.

A year ago, his playoff victory over Justin Rose made McIlroy only the sixth player with the career Grand Slam. With another green jacket, McIlroy joined Tiger Woods, Nick Faldo and Jack Nicklaus as the only repeat winners of the Masters.

“A few guys made a run, but nothing like Justin last year with that 66,” McIlroy said. “Some good play by me and fortunately some guys didn’t come after me this year.”

McIlroy stood tall when he tapped in the final putt to finish at 12-under 276. There was no relief like last year of going 17 years trying to win the Masters. This was pure joy.

It was more heartache for Rose, and frustration for the others who had a chance.

Rose had a two-shot lead that evaporated around Amen Corner with two bogeys and a three-putt par. He couldn’t make up enough ground the rest of the way and had to settle for a third close call at the Masters.

Cameron Young lost his two-shot lead much earlier with a long three-putt bogey on the par-3 sixth and taking bogey on the next hole when he hit wedge from the fairway into a bunker. One shot behind going to the back nine, Young closed with nine straight pars.

As for Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 player was in position to shatter the Masters record with the largest 36-hole comeback in history. He was 12 behind going into the weekend. He was two shots behind as he approached the turn. But he ran off 11 straight pars — that wasn’t going to cut it during a final round with accessible pins to create excitement.

Scheffler had to settle for his third runner-up finish in the majors to go along with four titles. His 65-68 weekend made him the first player since 1942 to go bogey-free on the weekend at Augusta.

“I put up a good fight in order to give myself a chance,” Scheffler said.

Rose, at age 45 trying to become the second-oldest Masters champion behind Jack Nicklaus (46) in 1986, made it feel as though this was going to be his time. He made a most improbable birdie with a shot out of the trees to a foot on the seventh. That was the start of three straight birdies to close out the front nine and give him the lead.

But his approach to the 11th was well to the right and he failed to save par. His tee shot on the 12th was long, and his delicate chip didn’t reach the green, leading to another bogey. And then his 30-foot eagle putt on the par-5 13th ran 8 feet by the hole and he missed the birdie putt.

“Chance that got away,” Rose said. “I was by no means free and clear and was nowhere kind of close to having the job done, but I was right in position. … I was really in control. And the mentality was to run through the finish line, not just try and get it done.

“I was playing great, but just momentum shifted for me around the Amen Corner.”

At the end it was a now familiar champion, McIlroy, once tormented by his chase for the green jacket and now a two-time winner whose love for the Masters only deepens.

He was so ecstatic a year ago that he asked the media when it was over, “What are we going to talk about next year?” Now the topic is easy. No one has ever won three in a row. (JapanToday)

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FIFA adds new even more expensive World Cup ticket categories


FIFA added new, even more expensive tiers of tickets for this year’s World Cup, asking up to $4,105 for a front category 1 seat at the U.S. opener against Paraguay in Inglewood, California, on June 12.

Last week, FIFA had asked for a top price of $2,735 for category 1 tickets for the match but added new “front category” pricing.

FIFA also added a front category 2 tier to its ticket sales website without public announcement, asking $1,940 to $2,330 for those tickets for the U.S. opener. The new categories were first reported Thursday by The Athletic.

The World Cup will be held from June 11 to July 19 in 16 cities in the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

Soccer’s governing body had in its Sept. 9 “ticket products and categories” information called category 1 “the highest-priced seats, located primarily in the lower tier” but appears to have withheld some seats from that category. It had labeled category 2 as “positioned outside of category 1 areas, available in both lower and upper tiers.”

FIFA did not respond to an email sent to its media office seeking comment.

FIFA added seats at up to $3,360 in front category 1 for Canada’s opener against Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 12 in Toronto.

For round of 16 games, it added $905 seats in Philadelphia.

FIFA last week raised its top ticket price for the World Cup final to $10,990 during the glitch-hampered reopening of sales. The price had been $8,680 when FIFA sold tickets after the tournament draw in December.

FIFA’s category 2 tickets for the July 19 game at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, were $7,380, up from $5,575, and category 3 cost $5,785, an increase from $4,185.

No tickets appeared to be available for the final on Thursday on FIFA’s ticket site. (JapanToday)

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Prosecutors move to subpoena Tiger Woods’ prescription drug records after Florida DUI arrest

Prosecutors are seeking Tiger Woods’ prescription drug records from a pharmacy, a week after his vehicle crashed in Florida and he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Prosecutors in Florida on Tuesday said they planned to issue a subpoena seeking copies of all prescription medication records for the legendary golfer on file at Lewis Pharmacy in Palm Beach, FUnited lorida.

Prosecutors in Martin County, Florida, want the times the prescriptions were filled, the number of pills, the dosage amounts and any instructions that accompanied the pills, such as warnings about driving while taking them, according to documents in an online court docket.

Neither Lewis Pharmacy nor Woods’ attorney, Doug Duncan, immediately responded to an emails seeking comment.

Woods pleaded not guilty in his driving under the influence case in Florida last week, hours after a sheriff’s report said deputies found two pain pills in his pocket and he showed signs of impairment after his SUV clipped a trailer and rolled over on its side.

Woods said last week that he is stepping away to seek treatment.

It’s the second time Woods has taken a leave following a car crash. In 2009, after his SUV plowed into a fire hydrant and tree outside his home near Orlando, he took a leave of absence to work on being a better person. That lasted four months and he returned at the Masters.

He also was in a 2021 car crash in Los Angeles that damaged his right leg so badly he said doctors considered amputati(JapanToday)

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Italy’s football chief resigns after World Cup disaster

The head of Italy’s football federation resigned on Thursday, falling on his sword after the men’s national team failed to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup.

Gabriele Gravina revealed he would step down as the country’s top football official following a meeting held at the FIGC’s headquarters in Rome on Thursday.

Italy fell at the play-offs again on Tuesday, this time after a penalty shoot-out against Bosnia and Herzegovina and will miss this summer’s finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The shock waves of the latest humiliation for one of the world’s most important football nations forced Gravina, 72, to go back on his initial plans to wait until a FIGC board meeting next week to announce a decision on his future.

The FIGC said in a statement a vote for a new president will be held on June 22, with Giovanni Malago, the former long-time head of the Italian Olympic Committee, who was president of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics organisation committee, among the names in the hat.

Gravina’s resignation also means Italy coach Gennaro Gattuso could resign, as it was Gravina who asked the 2006 World Cup winner to stay on beyond the end of his current contract, which expires in the summer.

He was elected FIGC president in October 2018, becoming the permanent replacement for Carlo Tavecchio, who stepped down following Italy’s first World Cup play-off defeat to Sweden the previous year.

The highlight of his reign was Italy’s thrilling triumph at Euro 2020, when an Azzurri team that under Roberto Mancini went unbeaten for 37 matches beat England at Wembley to be crowned kings of the continent.

But two World Cup qualification failures and a dismal defence of the European title left Gravina with little choice but to resign as Italy shines in other sports while being left behind in football.

Gravina also caused anger on Tuesday by referring to other sports as “amateur” and “state sports” compared to football due to the large number of athletes, particularly Olympians, who are nominally employed by different arms of Italy’s armed forces and police.

Italy claimed a record 30 medals at the recent Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, including 10 golds, and left the 2024 Summer Games in Paris with 40 medals.

The Mediterranean nation also has top performers in a wide variety of other sports, with tennis star Jannik Sinner, a four-time Grand Slam winner, the most obvious example. (Punch)

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Italy out as Bosnia and Herzegovina reach World Cup 2026 on penalties

Four-time champions Italy will miss out on a third consecutive World Cup final after losing on penalties to Bosnia and Herzegovina in their European qualifying playoff for the 2026 edition.

With the match level at 1-1 after extra time, Bosnia secured the spot kicks 4-1, as the Italians, reduced to 10 men in the first half of normal time, crumpled under the pressure.

Esmir Bajraktarevic hit the winning spot kick in Zenica, where the Bosnians booked a place in Group B, as well as matches against cohosts Canada, Switzerland and Qatar, and plunged Italy into a new nightmare.

Italy took the lead in the 15th minute through Moise Kean’s fine first-time finish, curled home from the edge of the box.

The Italians were reduced to 10 men, however, when Alessandro Bastoni saw red for a professional foul, denying the home side a clear goal-scoring opportunity by chopping down Amar Memic four minutes before half-time.

After relentless pressure thereafter, they found their way to level terms, with Haris Tabakovic pouncing on a loose ball in the box following a corner.

Italy missed their first and third kicks of the shootout, while the home support were electrified as their side rifled in the four kicks they were required to take.

Italy are the first former winners to fail to qualify for three consecutive World Cup finals. Their last win in the tournament was in 2006, when current manager Gennaro Gattuso was part of the national team.

Bosnia, meanwhile, reached their second World Cup finals, and first since 2014, in front of a passionate crowd, which was sent delirious by Bajraktarevic’s decisive penalty. (AlJazeera)

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World Cup 2026: Iran and Infantino talks progressing as war darkens US trip

Iranian football had a good week on its troubled path to playing World Cup games in the United States in June.

A first face-to-face meeting with FIFA President Gianni Infantino since the US and Israel started a war against Iran on February 28 made genuine progress in football diplomacy at the end of a fraught month.

The Iranian football federation’s upbeat readout of the meeting in Turkiye made no mention of moving World Cup games to Mexico — a subject Infantino has repeatedly shut down for the past two weeks.

Infantino also offered tangible help for the squad to prepare for the World Cup in the next two months. Most Iran players are with clubs in the national league, which has shut down during the war.

Iran’s World Cup hosts in Arizona in the US said this week that they were pressing on with training-camp upgrades plus local and federal security plans – echoing the “stick to the schedule” mantra that FIFA has used.

Infantino stayed on in the Turkish coastal resort of Antalya to watch Iran rout Costa Rica 5-0 in a warm-up.

Clearly, the next two months are full of uncertainty for Iran’s team and for the nation itself amid mixed messages about US intentions for the war.

Still, talk of Iran boycotting football’s biggest event or seeking to move its games from Los Angeles and Seattle to Mexico has faded.

The Iranian delegation is due at its Tucson, Arizona training camp no later than June 10 for the June 11-July 19 tournament.

The war immediately cast doubt on Iran’s ability and willingness to fulfil a World Cup entry that it secured in March 2025 as one of the best teams in Asia.

In the first half of March, government officials variously suggested that the team could not play at the World Cup, that it could not travel to the US, and that FIFA should move Iran’s games to cohost Mexico.

A spokesman for the Iran Football Association did not respond on Thursday to a request for comment. Iran has not withdrawn its entry with FIFA.

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum appeared to suggest hosting Iran games was possible, without advocating for an unprecedented late change to the World Cup schedule.

US President Donald Trump added to the confusion with mixed messaging. He said, “I really don’t care” if Iran comes to the World Cup, then said that players were not safe, seeming to mean they were at risk from regime reprisals at home. He then went on to promise that the players would be treated like stars.

FIFA has been the most consistent commentator, and Infantino the only top soccer official openly talking about the delicate diplomacy: That Iran will come to the US, that the schedule will not change, and that no formal negotiations about Mexico had or would take place.

Iran, therefore, is on track to come to Arizona and start preparing for a first game on June 15 against New Zealand at the Los Angeles Rams’ SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. (AlJazeera)