Five-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo said Saturday the individual honour should be awarded to a player who won the Champions League.

Speaking ahead of Sunday’s Nations League final in Munich between Portugal and Spain, the veteran said “trophies” should determine who wins the Ballon d’Or.

“In my opinion, whoever wins it should be on a team that has won trophies. The Ballon d’Or winner should be in a team that has won the Champions League,” the 40-year-old forward told reporters.

First awarded in 1956 by French magazine France Football, the Ballon d’Or is awarded to the player considered the best over the previous season.

Paris Saint-Germain’s 5-0 thumping of Inter Milan in the Champions League final last Saturday led to growing calls for Ousmane Dembele to win this season’s gong.

Spain starlet Lamine Yamal’s superb display in Thursday’s 5-4 Nations League semi-final win over France however had some arguing the teenager should be awarded the Ballon d’Or, which would make the 17-year-old the youngest winner in its history.

France coach Didier Deschamps backed Dembele for the award, saying “considering the season Ousmane is having, he deserves it and that’s all I wish for him”.

At a press conference in Stuttgart on Saturday, France captain Kylian Mbappe told reporters he backed Dembele.

“Does anyone really need me to explain? Right now we’re talking about Lamine Yamal and Ousmane Dembele, but I’m voting for Dembele.”

Ronaldo said he “cannot tell you who deserves it” this season.

Ronaldo’s five wins is bettered only by Argentinian Lionel Messi, who has won the award eight times.

The duo had a monopoly on the award for a decade from Ronaldo’s first win in 2008 to his last in 2017.

The current holder is Spain and Manchester City midfielder Rodri.

Source:  AFP

Saudi officials are in “difficult” talks to keep Cristiano Ronaldo in the country, a source with knowledge of the negotiations told AFP on Thursday, after the star footballer suggested he was leaving Al Nassr.

The Portuguese superstar, whose arrival in 2023 heralded a rush of late-career players to the oil-rich country, could transfer to Al Hilal and feature at the upcoming Club World Club, the source said.

“There is an ongoing difficult negotiation to convince Ronaldo to stay and play” in the Saudi Pro League next season, said the source from the Public Investment Fund (PIF), a major investor in Saudi football.

“First option is a transfer to Al Hilal with an opportunity to feature in the FIFA Club World Cup or to Asia champion Al Ahli,” the source added.

The oil-funded PIF, the sovereign wealth fund behind a number of big-ticket Saudi investments, controls a group of Pro League clubs including Al Nassr, Al Hilal and Al Ahli.

Ronaldo posted “This chapter is over” hours after the Saudi Pro League wrapped up this week with Al Nassr finishing third and trophyless once again.

A special transfer window opens from June 1-10 to allow the 32 teams involved in the newly expanded Club World Cup to sign players.

Last week, FIFA president Gianni Infantino said “there are discussions” over the former United, Real Madrid, Juventus and Sporting Lisbon star playing at the tournament in the United States from June 14.

Portuguese forward Ronaldo, 40, joined Al Nassr in early 2023 from Manchester United and his contract expires at the end of next month.

“Ronaldo’s presence is a key factor in developing the Saudi league in the last two years and a half. He opens the door for elite and young players to come to Saudi Arabia,” the PIF source said.

‘Ronaldo might play’

Ronaldo’s announcement comes just months after Brazilian star Neymar ended his injury-plagued 18-month stay in January, after playing just seven times for Al Hilal — on a reported salary of around $104 million a year.

Although Ronaldo was the Pro League’s top scorer with 25 goals, he has been unable to win a Saudi or continental trophy with Al Nassr, who lost in the Asian Champions League semi-finals last month.

Last year, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner said he could end his career with Al Nassr, the Riyadh team favoured by a number of Saudi royals.

Meanwhile, Ronaldo’s great rival Lionel Messi will play at the Club World Cup with Inter Miami.

During a recent interview with YouTuber and streamer IShowSpeed, Infantino said: “And Ronaldo might play for one of the teams as well at the Club World Cup.

“There are discussions with some clubs, so if any club is watching and is interested in hiring Ronaldo for the Club World Cup… who knows, who knows.”

Saudi Arabia has shaken up football by spending heavily on stars from Europe, starting with Ronaldo’s move, and the desert nation will host the World Cup in 2034.

Source:  AFP

Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti is set for more talks about taking over as Brazil coach before the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in June.

The 65-year-old Italian will meet representatives acting on behalf of the Brazilian Football Federation (CBF).

Ancelotti said his future was “a topic for the next weeks, not today”, following Real’s stormy Copa del Rey final defeat by Barcelona in Seville on Saturday.

However, Brazilian businessman Diego Fernandes, who has been acting on behalf of the CBF, was spotted at the match.

It is understood Fernandes’ latest visit to Europe includes a plan to try to persuade Ancelotti to take the Brazil job as soon as the Spanish domestic season is over.

That would mean Ancelotti leaving Real before this summer’s Club World Cup in the United States.

Ancelotti is the number one choice to replace Dorival Junior, who was sacked after Brazil’s 4-1 defeat by old rivals Argentina in Buenos Aires last month.

Brazil are fourth in the South American World Cup qualification table.

While they are not in any danger of failing to qualify for the expanded 48-team tournament to be jointly held in the United States, Canada and Mexico next year, the CBF feels Ancelotti would give Brazil the best chance of winning it.

The CBF previously wanted to appoint Ancelotti for last summer’s Copa America but failed in its pursuit.

Ancelotti has won two La Liga and three Champions League titles across two spells at Real, including both trophies last season.

However, his side are four points behind La Liga leaders Barcelona with five matches remaining and were beaten 5-1 on aggregate by Arsenal in the Champions League quarter-finals.

Bayer Leverkusen’s Xabi Alonso is reportedly a candidate to replace Ancelotti at the Bernabeu.

Source: BBC

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and former UEFA president Michel Platini won again in court Tuesday and now lead 2-0 in trial verdicts against Swiss federal prosecutors.

The former football officials were acquitted for a second time on charges of fraud, forgery, mismanagement and misappropriation of more than $2 million of FIFA money in 2011.

Blatter, now 89 years old, gave little reaction listening to the verdict of three cantonal (state) judges acting as a federal criminal appeals court. Sitting in the row in front of Platini, Blatter alternately tapped his fingers and held his left hand over his mouth.

Platini sat with his arms folded or rubbing his hands as he listened to a translator sitting beside him relating the court’s verdict in German into his native French.

The attorney general’s office in Switzerland had challenged a first acquittal in July 2022 and asked for sentences of 20 months, suspended for two years.

Blatter and Platini have consistently denied wrongdoing in a decade-long case that swung on their claims of a verbal agreement to one day settle the money in question.

Blatter approved FIFA paying 2 million Swiss francs (now $2.21 million) to France soccer great Platini in February 2011 for supplementary and non-contracted salary working as a presidential advisor from 1998-2002.

The latest win for Blatter and 69-year-old Platini came exactly 9.5 years after the Swiss federal investigation was revealed and kicked off events that ended the careers of soccer’s most powerful men.

That September 2015 day in Zurich, police came to interrogate them at FIFA after an executive committee meeting when Platini was a strong favorite to succeed his one-time mentor in an upcoming election.

Though federal court trials have twice cleared their names, Blatter’s reputation likely always will be tied to leading FIFA during corruption crises that took down a swath of senior soccer officials worldwide.

Platini, one of soccer’s greatest players and later Blatter’s protégé in soccer politics, never did get the FIFA presidency he often called his destiny.

Source: AP

Golfer Tiger Woods has announced he is dating Vanessa Trump, the former daughter-in-law of US President Donald Trump.

Vanessa, 47, was married to Donald Trump Jr for 13 years. The pair, who have five children, divorced in 2018.

On Sunday, Woods, 49, posted pictures of Vanessa and himself on social media saying: “Love is in the air and life is better with you by my side! We look forward to our journey through life together.”

“At this time we would appreciate privacy for all those close to our hearts.”

It is unclear what prompted the public announcement, but rumours of their relationship had been reported in gossip magazines in recent weeks.

Woods, who has won 15 major championships, is known for being guarded about his personal life after exposure of his marital infidelities and sex scandals damaged his public standing in the 2000s and affected his playing career.

He admitted himself into a sex addiction rehab clinic, and went through an acrimonious split from his first wife Elin Nordegren months later after six years of marriage. The couple have two children together.

US media outlets report that Tiger Woods’ children attend the same school as Vanessa Trump’s.

As the former wife of Donald Trump’s eldest son, Vanessa had been a regular attendee at official events involving Trump’s extended family during his first term in office.

Woods, the former world number one, is also known to have played golf with President Trump on several occasions, including last month. Trump loves golf and owns more than a dozen courses.

In February, Woods attended a meeting with Trump and Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) heads at the White House about the future of the sport’s tournaments and current division with the Saudi Arabia-LIV league.

Woods wore his Presidential Medal of Freedom, which was bestowed on him by Trump in 2019 during the president’s first term.

Woods announced an achilles tendon injury earlier this month that has sidelined him from professional competition. He has not suggested a timeline for when he might return to the courses.

He has not competed in a PGA Tour event this season, following the death of his mother, Kultida, in February.

The new couple both have children who are junior golfers.

Kai Trump, 17, has announced her commitment to playing collegiate golf at the University of Miami in 2026.

She and Charlie Woods both played at a junior invite-only tournament in South Carolina last week.

Woods has previously announced relationships with World Cup champion ski racer Lindsey Vonn and Erica Herman, his former restaurant manager.

That relationship ended badly – Herman filed law suits against Woods and his trust in 2023, which she later withdrew.

Source: BBC

Former heavyweight champion George Foreman, who lost to Muhammad Ali in boxing’s iconic 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle” before reclaiming the title two decades later, died Friday aged 76, his family said.

Fondly known as Big George, Foreman dropped out of school as a teenager and went on to become an Olympic champion and later a legend of boxing.

He fought 81 times as a professional, winning 76, 68 of those by knockout.

As well as boxing he put his name to the “George Foreman Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine,” appearing smiling and friendly in the TV ads, becoming a celebrity outside the sport.

“With profound sorrow we announce the passing of our beloved George Edward Foreman Sr, who peacefully departed on March 21, 2025, surrounded by loved ones,” Foreman’s family said in a statement on Instagram.

“We are grateful for the outpouring of love and prayers, and kindly ask for privacy as we honor the extraordinary life of a man we were blessed to call our own.”

Legendary boxing promoter Bob Arum saluted Foreman as “one of the biggest punchers and personalities the sport has ever seen.”

Born in Texas on January 10, 1949, Foreman grew up in Houston.

The man who raised him was frequently absent and often drunk. Foreman only found out that J. D. Foreman was not his biological father after he won the world heavyweight title when his real father, a decorated World War II veteran, got in touch.

As an adolescent, Foreman flirted with crime and left school at 16.

“At 13-years-old, George was about 6-foot-2, 200 pounds and the terrorist in the neighborhood,” his younger brother Roy told the BBC in 2024. “And when you’re bigger and stronger and think you’re better than everyone else, you take things.”

Foreman took up boxing.

“I tried boxing just to show my friends that I wasn’t afraid,” Foreman said later. “Well, 25 fights and one year later, I was an Olympic gold medalist.”

At the Mexico Games in 1968, the 19-year-old Foreman bludgeoned his way to the super-heavyweight gold.

As he celebrated his final victory, 10 days after fellow African Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos had made a black power salute following the 200m track final, Foreman waved an American flag in the ring.

Bigger, stronger

At 6-foot-4 (1.93m), “Big George” was larger and stronger than the other leading heavyweights of the time. He was light on his feet, but slugged his way through the professional ranks to earn a heavyweight title shot against champion Joe Frazier, demolishing the champion in two rounds.

By the time he fought his third title defence over 15 rounds against Ali in October 1974 in Kinshasa, Foreman was unbeaten in 40 professional bouts.

He had won all but three inside the distance and had not needed to develop stamina.

Ali’s “rope-a-dope” tactics exhausted the big man, who lost in eight rounds.

The defeat punctured Foreman’s intimidating aura, not least in his own mind.

“I just couldn’t believe I’d lost the world title,” he said later. “It was the most embarrassing moment of my life. It went from pride to pity. That’s devastating.”

His campaign for another title shot ended when he lost on points to another contender, Jimmy Young, in March 1977 on a hot night in Puerto Rico.

Foreman fell ill after the fight and said he sensed God telling him to change his life.

He retired aged 28 and became an ordained minister.

When he announced his comeback 10 years later, bald where he had once sported an Afro and flabby instead of chiseled, it seemed like a boxing gimmick. He wrote later that he needed money for his youth center.

Knockout

Over the next three years he fought 21 times, mostly against mediocre opponents, winning every bout, 20 of them inside the distance.

A big name in a weakened and fragmented division, he earned a title shot against Evander Holyfield in 1991 and then against Tommy Morrison two years later, losing both on points.

In November 1994 he faced Michael Moorer, who had dethroned Holyfield. In the same shorts he had worn 20 years and six days earlier against Ali, Foreman was trailing badly when he caught Moorer on the chin in the 10th for a knockout.

At 45 years and 299 days old he was the oldest heavyweight world champion.

He was stripped of first his WBA title and then his IBF crown for refusing to fight nominated opponents but won three more fights and was still “lineal” world champion when he lost on points to Shannon Briggs in 1997, aged 48, and retired again.

Foreman, who hosted a 1996 TV programme “Bad Dads,” married four times, fathering 10 children and adopting two.

He named all his five sons George Edward, explaining that he wanted them to know, “‘If one of us goes up, then we all go up together, and if one goes down, we all go down together!'”

Source: AFP

Tiger Woods’ teenage son Charlie hit his first hole-in-one during the final round of the PNC Championship – but they were beaten to the title in a play-off by Bernhard and Jason Langer.

Charlie Woods, 15, holed out at the par-three fourth to send the father-son team into the lead at the tournament, which features 20 major champions playing with a member of their family.

But it was Team Langer who celebrated a second consecutive trophy – and fourth overall – in Orlando, Florida when German Bernhard made eagle on the first play-off hole to seal the win.

“It was awesome,” Charlie said. “No one made a mistake today, so that was some of the most fun I’ve ever had.”

He added: “On top of that, I made an ace. I don’t think I can top that.”

Tiger Woods was playing in his first competitive event since the Open in July.

The 15-time major winner had back surgery for the second time in 18 months in September and conceded he was “nowhere near competitive shape” at the PGA-backed exhibition tournament.

However, he did think he and son Charlie “made a great team this week”.

“And that’s the whole joy of it, is to be out here with family and bonding and just the enjoyment of each other’s company,” the 48-year-old added.

The younger Woods was not the only player to make a first career hole-in-one on Sunday.

Some 30 minutes after Charlie holed out, Paddy Harrington – the 21-year-old whose father Padraig is a three-time major winner – aced the eighth hole.

“I’ve never hit a shot and been that excited before,” Padraig Harrington said.

Source: BBC

The boos from a crowd wanting more action were growing again when Jake Paul dropped his gloves before the final bell, and bowed toward 58-year-old Mike Tyson.

Paying homage to one of the biggest names in boxing history didn’t do much for the fans that filled the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys on Friday night.

Paul won a unanimous decision over Tyson as the hits didn’t match the hype in a fight between the 27-year-old YouTuber-turned-boxer and the former heavyweight champion in his first sanctioned pro fight in almost 20 years.

All the hate from the pre-fight buildup was gone, replaced by boos from bewildered fans hoping for more action in a fight that drew plenty of questions about its legitimacy long before it happened.

The fight wasn’t close on the judge’s cards, with one giving Paul an 80-72 edge and the other two calling it 79-73.

Tyson came after Paul immediately after the opening bell and landed a couple of quick punches but didn’t try much else the rest of the way.

Even fewer rounds and shorter rounds, along with heavier gloves designed to lessen the power of punches, couldn’t do much to generate action.

Paul was more aggressive after the quick burst from Tyson in the opening seconds, but the punching wasn’t very efficient. There were quite a few wild swings and misses.

Tyson mostly sat back and waited for Paul to come to him, with a few exceptions. It was quite the contrast to the co-main event, another slugfest between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano in which Taylor kept her undisputed super lightweight championship with another disputed decision.

It was the first sanctioned fight since 2005 for Tyson, who fought Roy Jones in a much more entertaining exhibition in 2020. Paul started fighting a little more than four years ago.

The fight was originally scheduled for July 20 but had to be postponed when Tyson was treated for a stomach ulcer after falling ill on a flight.

Source: AP