Threat of clubs going bust because of coronavirus not gone away - EFL
Football
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) is expected to announce its decision on Manchester City's appeal against their two-year European ban in the first half of July.
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Image source, Getty ImagesTokyo 2020 will be a "simplified" Olympics, according to the chief executive of the organising committee.
The Games, scheduled to start in July, were postponed for a year in March because of fears over the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tokyo 2020 chief executive Toshiro Muto added that the Olympics will "not be done with grand splendour".
Organisers said that they are working on more than 200 ideas to simplify and reduce costs for the rescheduled Games.
Image source, Getty ImagesSome good news from the Snooker....
Promoters have confirmed that all 116 tests carried out on players, officials and staff at the Championship League snooker in Milton Keynes have returned negative results.
The non-ranking tournament at the Marshall Arena is being played without fans and, as there is an on-site hotel, players and staff can be contained on the complex without having to leave.
Stuart Bingham and Ben Woollaston have already qualified for Thursday’s Final Group.
While the likes of Judd Trump, Dave Gilbert, Barry Hawkins and Luca Brecel are all in action today.
Image source, Getty ImagesThe United States has changed its qualifying criteria for this year's Ryder Cup, which is currently due to take place between 25-27 September at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin.
Six players will now earn selection through its points list while the remaining six will be chosen by captain Steve Stricker.
Previously, eight players would qualify via the points system - based on prize money won in important tournaments – with the captain's picks forming the rest of the team.
However, the cancellation of 11 PGA Tour events due to the coronavirus pandemic has prompted a rethink.
"With all the various changes to the 2020 schedule, it quickly became apparent that we would need to amend our selection criteria," Stricker said.
"These changes were sparked by circumstance, but conceived with integrity in mind. In the end, we believe they will allow us to put our best team together to compete at Whistling Straits in September."
The BMW Championship, which concludes on 30 August, will mark the cut-off for points accrued through the season for US selection the biennial match against Europe.
Major League Soccer will restart its season with a tournament between 8 July - 11 August at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
The MLS season was suspended in March due to the coronavirus outbreak.
"The opportunity to have all 26 clubs in a controlled environment enables us to help protect the health of our players, coaches and staff as we return to play," said MLS Commissioner Don Garber
The tournament which will be played behind closed doors will count towards league standings and earning a place in the Concacaf Champions League.
Image source, Getty ImagesWest Indies captain Jason Holder says his players feel safe after arriving in England and "at some point", some kind of normal must return.
West Indies landed in the UK on Tuesday for their three-match Test series which begins on 8 July at bio-secure venues.
They are the first international sports team to visit since the coronavirus lockdown but Holder said his team had not felt pressured into playing.
"A lot of people were crying out for cricket," Holder told BBC Sport.
Image source, Getty ImagesPeterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony has criticised the English Football League's handling of the process which saw the League One and League Two seasons ended.
The Posh narrowly missed out on a place in the League One play-offs after placings were decided on a points-per-game system.
"Every letter from the EFL stated that we wanted to finish the season and we went along with that," MacAnthony told Sky Sports.
"I spoke to Rick Parry, the chairman, in May and I said to him, 'What are we doing? Things seem to be improving' and he said, 'We want to finish the season, there's no reason not to finish the season' so again we went along with that.
"We voted for football. We will always vote for football. I understand health concerns but we've now been told football is back - the Premier League is back, the Championship is back. The EFL is 71 clubs and we've been told we can't play football so it's devastation and disappointment."
Image source, Getty ImagesEngland's rugby players are heading towards a "significant legal dispute" with clubs over salary cuts.
On Monday, Premiership clubs voted unanimously to cut the salary cap by £1.4m from the 2021-22 season.
The majority of top-flight players took a 25% pay cut in March because of the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Players will take legal action unless urgent talks are held on the matter, the Rugby Players' Association says.
The Italian MotoGP, a permanent fixture on the calendar since 1991, has been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The race becomes the eighth casualty of this year's schedule following the cancellations of the Qatar, Dutch, German, Finnish, British, Australian and Japanese rounds of the world championship.
The season is currently set to start in Spain on 19 July.
Image source, Getty ImagesAtletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo says he would be happy for city rivals Real Madrid to use their stadium while they renovate the Bernabeu.
With matches expected to be behind closed doors when the season resumed, Real elected to accelerate renovation work at their stadium and play their remaining home matches at their training ground.
But the Spanish government is now open to allowing fans back into grounds at a reduced capacity once all regions in the country have been given the all-clear to hold mass gatherings.
And that means that Real face the prospect of only being cheered on by around 1,800 fans at their training base, while title rivals Barcelona could play in front of around 30,000 fans at the Nou Camp.
Cerezo said: “No-one should doubt that we are ready to help out Real Madrid,” when asked about allowing them use of the Wanda Metropolitano stadium.
Real loaned Atletico their Bernabeu stadium for the first match of the 1996-97 season as the pitch at Atleti's then Vicente Calderon stadium was unplayable.
Image source, Getty ImagesThe European Badminton Championships has been cancelled due to unavailability of dates in a calendar that has been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.
The tournament, which was originally set to take place in Ukraine’s capital Kiev between 21-26 April, was postponed after the badminton season was suspended in March.
Badminton Europe and the Ukrainian Badminton Federation will retain the right to host the championship in 2021 between 27 April - 2 May.
Badminton’s World Tour is set to resume with the Taipei Open in September while the season-ending World Tour finals in Guangzhou, China have been pushed back a week to finish on 20 December.
Every Scottish football league club will be able to access a £50,000 grant to help them through the coronavirus crisis after a donation worth more than £3m.
Edinburgh-based investment manager James Anderson has pledged to donate £2.5m which will be topped up by gift aid to reach a figure around of £3.1m
Some of the money will also be used for two funds to help projects in the clubs' communities.
Anderson, who has previously donated money to Hearts says access to the grants will be available to clubs who can provide "support for the wider community in which they are based".
"I've seen first-hand over the last few years what a difference clubs can make to people's lives, and so I am very pleased to have been able to offer my support at this difficult time.”
Image source, Getty ImagesBoxing was back in Las Vegas on Tuesday night but not quite as we know it.
At deserted MGM Grand, undefeated American Shakur Stevenson stopped Felix Caraballo in the sixth round in the first major boxing event held in North America since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Forget the glitzy ring walks, the noise of fans to drown out the winces of pain this was an altogether different scenario where the sound of punches landing were crystal clear.
You can read all about that here
Tottenham will continue to allow their stadium to be used by the NHS even after the Premier League restarts.
Spurs still have five home games to play, starting against Manchester United on Friday, 19 June.
However, apart from the actual matchdays, the club will continue to allow North Middlesex University Hospital to use the stadium for COVID-19 drive-through testing and its Women’s Outpatient Services.
Although some of the areas that have previously been used, such as the away changing rooms, are no longer available, Tottenham will offer alternative areas within the stadium.
Club chairman Daniel Levy said: “We are delighted that, with the imminent return of Premier League football, we have been able to ensure that the vital NHS work can continue to be housed at our stadium during the fight against COVID-19.
“We have been overwhelmed by the response we have received from hospital staff and patients who have been using our stadium facilities in recent months and how much they have enjoyed being at our home during such a challenging time.”
Watford trio Jose Holebas, Heurelho Gomes and Adrian Mariappa have all agreed short-term deals to cover the remainder of the delayed Premier League season.
The contracts of the three players were due to expire on June 30 but they have agreed to the Fifa-approved extensions which were put in place due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement Watford said talks were “ongoing” over the long-term futures of the players.
Mariappa, 33, tested positive for the virus during the first round of the Premier League's testing programme in May.
Image source, Getty ImagesSocial distancing isn't a huge problem when it comes to many recreational golfers, who are well used to be separated by the width of fairways or more after errant shots.
But this week's tournament (starting on 11 June) at Colonial Country Club in Texas is more than a mere test of whether big time sport can be successfully held at a time of global pandemic.
It returns not only at a time when public and economic health have been savaged by Covid-19 but amid widespread civil unrest following the death in police custody of George Floyd in Minneapolis on 25 May.
Read more here
Now their may not be any fans present when the Premier League resumes so how exactly are goal celebrations and more importantly possible title celebrations going to go down...
Given Liverpool are 25 points clear at the top of the table, who better to ask then Reds manager Jurgen Klopp....
How would Liverpool celebrate a title win without fans? Klopp tells 5 Live
Image source, Getty ImagesA senior Merseyside police officer has urged Everton and Liverpool supporters to "stay at home" after the clubs were given the go-ahead to play their remaining fixtures on Merseyside.
The hotly anticipated Merseyside derby on 21 June is among those games, and a date when Liverpool could seal their first English top flight title for 30 years.
Assistant chief constable Rob Carden said: “We are still in unprecedented times due to the Covid-19 pandemic and there are strong concerns in Merseyside, and the wider north west, due to the fact that the R rate here is still higher than the rest of the country.
"For that reason we would urge supporters to do the right thing - stay at home, enjoy the opportunity to watch every second of the derby game free of charge on your own TV, in your own living room and keep yourself, your family, friends and neighbours safe.”
Liverpool have welcomed the decision of the ground safety advisory group to support football matches being played behind closed doors on Merseyside.
It means that Liverpool and Everton can now play their remaining home fixtures in their own stadiums, with the Reds set to travel to their local rivals on 21 June in a game that could see them wrap up the Premier League title.
Liverpool can win their first league title for 30 years by beating Everton - if second-placed Manchester City lose at home to Arsenal on 17 June.
In a statement Liverpool said: "we would like to thank the chair, the elected members of GSAG, and all those people who have been working tirelessly in the background for their support as we take the next step to completing the 2019-20 Premier League season."
Southgate 'tremendously proud' of his players - England boss tells 5 Live Sport
Now if you fancy a little listen to the England manager Gareth Southgate he has told the BBC about how "tremendously proud" he is that his players have spoken out on racism and campaigned for charity in recent times.
Raheem Sterling and Tyrone Mings have both voiced their opinions on the Black Lives Matters movement.
Jordan Henderson led a players' initiative to raise money for the NHS, while Marcus Rashford has worked with a charity that helps feed children.
Southgate said he has "great admiration for the maturity they are showing".