Sports

Serge Blanco after his victory in the second round of the Biarritz municipal elections, March 22, 2026. PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP The full back holds a special place on the rugby field. His position keeps him away from the scrum, giving him the freedom to step forward, disrupt the defense and exploit any opening. With the number 15 on his back, Serge Blanco was the undisputed king of sudden breakthroughs. Now 67, the French rugby legend has channeled that instinct into a new career: politics. In less than four months since announcing his candidacy, he won the mayorship of Biarritz, southwestern France. In the second round of voting, on Sunday, March 22, Blanco (independent centrist, 41.92%) finished ahead of incumbent Mayor Maider Arosteguy (Les Républicains, LR, right-wing, 32.2...

Antoine Griezmann in Madrid, Spain. on January 18, 2026. OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP Antoine Griezmann will leave Atletico Madrid for MLS side Orlando City at the end of the season, the two clubs announced on Tuesday, March 24. Atletico's all-time record goalscorer has agreed a two-year deal with Orlando and will become the latest veteran star to move to North America. "The forward travelled to Orlando, with the club's permission, during the two days of rest granted to the first team, to finalise his contract with the Florida side," Atletico said in a statement. The 35-year-old Griezmann will be hoping to sign off in style and cap his 10th season as an Atletico player with a second major trophy at the Rojiblancos, after the 2018 Eur...

The Allianz Riviera stadium at night in Nice, southern France, on March 21, 2026. MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP The 2030 Winter Olympics in the French Alps, already bedevilled by several senior executives quitting, faces another potential headache with the election of far-right politician Eric Ciotti as mayor of Nice. As with the recent Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, the proposed venues for 2030 will stretch from the Alps to the southern Mediterranean city. The new mayor, elected on Sunday, has no issue with Nice hosting the ice hockey, the figure skating, curling, short track skating and the closing ceremony, along with the Olympic Village, but he is opposed to where the venues have been allocated. Ciotti wants the ice hockey to be m...

Chelsea's Mamadou Sarr challenges Paris Saint-Germain's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, in London, England, on March 17, 2026. KIN CHEUNG / AP Paris Saint-Germain snuffed out any chance of a Chelsea comeback with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia among the scorers in a clinical 3-0 victory at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday, March 17, which took the holders through to the Champions League quarter-finals 8-2 on aggregate. The Georgian's early opener was soon followed by a brilliant Bradley Barcola strike, quickly ending Chelsea's hopes of turning around their 5-2 deficit from the first leg of the last 16 tie last week. Substitute Senny Mayulu then fired in PSG's third in the second half, as Luis Enrique's men march on to a last-eight fixture next month against either Li...

Former French footballer and coach Claude Le Roy, on the sidelines of the Africa Cup of Nations match between Algeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo at the Moulay-Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, January 6, 2026. GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP Two months after the final whistle of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), the appeals jury of the African Football Confederation (CAF) stripped Senegal of its title on Tuesday, March 17, and awarded it to Morocco, even though Morocco had lost (1-0) in extra time. The governing body justified its decision by referring to AFCON regulations, which state that if a team "refuses to play or leaves the pitch before the official end of the match without the referee's permission, it will be considered to have lost and will be permanently eliminated from ...

The final of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations between Morocco and Senegal at the Moulay-Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, on January 18, 2026. FRANCK FIFE / AFP Frenchman Hubert Velud, the newly appointed coach of the Comoros national team, hesitated for a long time before answering. "Today, the image of African football is destroyed. I fear there may soon be nothing left of it." The decision by the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) appeals jury to strip Senegal of the African championship title on Tuesday, March 17, and award it to Morocco – two months after the chaotic AFCON final in Rabat – sparked an unbroken wave of outrage and ridicule, extending far beyond the continent. The CAF's board decided that Senegal "is declared to have forfeited the final match," therefore h...

Matthieu Jalibert during France's victory in the Six Nations match against England at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, March 14, 2026. GONZALO FUENTES/REUTERS For a long time, every time he pulled on the French jersey, Matthieu Jalibert struggled to find consistency, and at times was even sidelined. But in the 2026 Six Nations, which France won on Saturday, March 14, after a hard-fought victory over England, he stepped up to a new level for the national team. From the pitch at Stade de France, the Union Bordeaux-Bègles (UBB) fly-half watched Thomas Ramos kick the winning penalty, before celebrating this second consecutive title with his teammates. Back in Gironde, he will start against Stade Toulousain on March 22 in the 19th round of the Top 14. How did you ...

Liverpool's Mohamed Salah celebrates with Hugo Ekitike after scoring his team's fourth goal during the UEFA Champions League on March 18, 2026. PAUL ELLIS / AFP Barcelona hit Newcastle United for seven to reach the Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday, March 18, while Liverpool overturned a first-leg deficit to beat Galatasaray in their last-16 tie and both Bayern Munich and Atlético Madrid advanced to the next round. Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski both scored twice as La Liga leaders Barcelona tore apart Newcastle at the Camp Nou, winning 7-2 in the second leg of their last-16 encounter to progress 8-3 on aggregate. A spectacular match saw Anthony Elanga twice score for Newcastle inside the opening half-hour to canc...

FIFA World Cup 2026 Draw at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC, United States, on December 5, 2025. CARLOS BARRIA / REUTERS Iran will "boycott the United States" but "not the World Cup," Iranian football federation president Mehdi Taj said in a video released by the Iranian press agency Fars. Iran is currently scheduled to play its group matches in the US in this year's tournament. "We will be preparing for the World Cup. We will boycott the United States but not the World Cup," Taj said in the video released on Wednesday, March 18. Iran's football federation has opened talks with FIFA about potentially relocating its matches from the United States, though the global governing body has so far maintained that the...

The president of the Senegalese Football Federation Abdoulaye Fall speaks during a press conference in Dakar on March 19, 2026. SEYLLOU / AFP The Senegalese Football Federation announced on Thursday, March 19, that it has instructed its lawyers to lodge an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after the national team was stripped of its Africa Cup of Nations title. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) reversed Senegal's win Tuesday, awarding the title to Morocco two months after the final. "Senegal will remain standing and will legitimately defend this victory on the field, which we acquired on the field with the talent of our players," the federation's president, Abdoulaye Fall, told a press conference. "...