Michigan outlasts UConn to win first NCAA men’s basketball title since 1989

• Elliot Cadeau scored 19 points and won Final Four MOP

• Foul trouble haunts Huskies in low-scoring affair

• As it happened: Read Beau Dure’s live play-by-play

High-scoring Michigan had to get down and dirty to dig out the national title Monday, making only two three-pointers all night but still muscling its way to a 69-63 victory over stingy, stubborn UConn.

Elliot Cadeau led the Wolverines with 19 points, including the team’s first basket from beyond the arc, which came 7:04 into the second half. He was later named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four.

Published: April 7, 2026, 3:38 am

Jason Day hits out at ‘selfish’ Tiger Woods after DUI charge

• Australian golfer saddened by his ‘hero’ facing struggle with addiction

• Five-time Masters champion to miss first major after car crash and arrest

Australian ace Jason Day has expressed sadness at Tiger Woods’ plight but taken issue with the golf great’s “selfish” judgement for driving under the influence.

Woods has reportedly checked himself into rehab in Switzerland after being arrested and charged on 27 March after crashing his car near his home on Jupiter Island in Florida.

Published: April 7, 2026, 12:38 am

The FA Cup still has an important place. This weekend was proof

From exposed anxieties to unexpected heroes, this weekend’s cup contests papered over a weird three-week Premier League break

• Sign up for our World Cup newsletter

• Live in a World Cup host city? Tell us your stories

The soccer calendar has been particularly quirky this year. There’s always an international break in March, but because this year’s edition involved World Cup qualifying playoffs, most games were scheduled for the Thursday and the Tuesday, which meant there was very little soccer played over the weekend; barely even a smattering of friendlies.

For a Saturday in early spring, it all felt very weird; it was a day for pacing the floors, wondering how on earth people who don’t like soccer fill the time. And with the Carabao Cup final falling the previous Sunday, and the FA Cup sixth round this weekend, that has meant a three-week hiatus in the title race. Which has been disorienting and, perhaps, not entirely to Arsenal’s benefit.

Published: April 6, 2026, 3:45 pm

USMNT striker Patrick Agyemang leaves Derby County game on stretcher

• Agyemang went down with a non-contact injury

• US striker scored in friendly v Belgium

Patrick Agyemang left Derby County’s match on a stretcher after an apparent non-contact injury. The US international striker rose to settle a ball in the 37th minute and collapsed to the ground, with photographs from Pride Park showing the Derby medical staff tending to his left ankle.

On-site accounts reported that the 25-year-old leapt to control the ball with his chest before landing awkwardly and falling to ground. Play was stopped for five minutes before Agyemang was stretchered off. His replacement, Jaydon Banel, scored the opening goal to boost the Rams’ chances of promotion.

Published: April 6, 2026, 4:42 pm

Pogacar among riders under investigation after running red light during Tour of Flanders

• Slovenian cyclist said signal to stop came too late

• Riders could face fine and suspension if found guilty

Tadej Pogacar is among the riders being investigated for running a red light at a railway crossing during the Tour de Flanders on Sunday. Pogacar, who won the race for a record-equalling third time, was in a group of riders who went through the crossing without stopping. Most of the peloton behind them had to stop before the railway.

Belgian officials confirmed on Monday there was an investigation into the riders who allegedly ran the red light. They said no further details were immediately available. Local media said the riders could face a fine and driving suspension if found guilty.

Published: April 6, 2026, 2:06 pm

Retirement gnome? Masters miniatures rumoured to have short future at Augusta

• Gnomes have become collectors’ items since 2016 debut

• 2026 edition retailing at $49.50 inside Augusta National

Everyone says goodbye to the Masters eventually. Sandy Lyle, Ben Crenshaw, Ian Woosnam and Bernhard Langer used recent years to wave goodbye. Will 2026 be the end for a renowned Augusta National element of more recent times … the Masters gnome?

Speculation is rising that this Masters will be the final time gnomes will be on sale inside Augusta’s merchandise outlets. On face value, this hardly feels dramatic. The quirk, though, is that the household essential for any golf lover has become a victim of its own success. Augusta National has offered no comment when approached on the gnome’s future but the race feels on to collect the final batches of stock before the 14-inch ceramic doll is consigned to Masters history.

Published: April 6, 2026, 1:28 pm

MLS weekend wrap: Revel in the joy and agony of absurd long-range goals

In the era of VAR where most goals get picked apart, strikes from distance offered a much-needed immediate emotional hit

In an era where the sport’s biggest moments are scrutinized in slow-motion to find an inch of infraction, the long-range goal has become a necessary thrill. VAR only comes into play if a loitering teammate is caught between the shooter and goalkeeper. They also hatch a comfortingly familiar point of debate: was there anything that could’ve been done to save it?

We can safely count Zavier Gozo’s wonder goal this weekend among the unsaveable. The Real Salt Lake homegrown has been one of the best players in Major League Soccer’s early weeks, a 19-year-old danger down the right flank who can slot in as a winger or wing back with similar impact. He’s quickly become one of the most proven progressive dribblers in the entire US player pool, and has shot up the scouting priority queues of several major European clubs.

Published: April 6, 2026, 11:00 am

‘Mum, I have to go to Moscow as I am fighting a bear’: Makhmudov on Russia’s grizzlies, God and Tyson Fury

The heavyweight from Dagestan now lives in Canada and describes Saturday’s opponent as the ‘professor’ of boxing

“This guy is the professor,” Arslanbek Makhmudov says of Tyson Fury as he looks forward politely to their fight on Saturday night at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. There is none of the usual bluster and malice of heavyweight boxing as the huge Russian from Dagestan shows considerable respect for the former world champion who is making yet another comeback to the ring.

“Tyson Fury is the professor of mind and boxing,” Makhmudov continues in his functional but effective English. “A lot of boxing is mental and he is a master. But boxing is also spiritual. I am going to be strong, spiritual and smart. You can say this is a war between mental and spiritual and we’ll see who is more successful. Inshallah it is spiritual.”

Published: April 6, 2026, 11:30 am

Hockey fans pack Madison Square Garden as PWHL breaks US women’s attendance record – in pictures

A sold-out crowd of 18,006 electrified Madison Square Garden on Saturday night when the New York Sirens hosted the Seattle Torrent, setting a new US attendance record for women’s hockey

Published: April 6, 2026, 8:00 am

Viktor who? Sporting’s new Gyökeres has sights trained on Arsenal

The Sweden striker’s goals had inspired Sporting for two years but in Colombian Luis Suárez they have found an equally prolific target man

In Portugal, two of the most familiar sayings claim that “green is the colour of hope” and that “hope is the last thing to die”. For Sporting, a club draped in green, those proverbs are not merely poetic – they are operational.

After a humiliating 3–0 defeat in Norway by Bodø/Glimt in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie, logic suggested it was all over. Sporting disagreed. Backed by about 50,000 supporters, the team surged with belief and delivered a 5–0 victory that carried the club to their first quarter-final in the tournament in 43 years. Arsenal come next, as does an old question: is hope a cultural relic or Sporting’s most powerful ally?

Published: April 7, 2026, 7:00 am

A violent waiter and Joselu’s heroics: six of Bayern and Madrid’s finest games

As the most played fixture in European competition looms once more, we look back on 50 years of thrills and spills

The Champions League’s answer to el clásico resumes in Madrid on Tuesday. Real Madrid v Bayern Munich is the most played fixture in European competition: 28 matches and counting, including 13 knockout ties. Here are six of the best.

Published: April 7, 2026, 7:00 am

Championship roundup: Coventry stay 12 points clear at top despite Hull stalemate

• Results elsewhere favour Frank Lampard’s side

• Norwich deal blow to Millwall’s promotion push

Coventry crept closer to promotion to the Premier League despite an off-colour display in a goalless draw at Hull.

Setbacks for promotion rivals Millwall and Middlesbrough meant a win for Coventry would have moved them to within two points of guaranteeing a return to the top flight for the first time in 25 years. While the Sky Blues were second best for large spells at the MKM Stadium and fortunate to avoid defeat, they retained their 12-point lead at the top of the table.

Published: April 6, 2026, 9:24 pm

EFL roundup: Lincoln promoted to Championship with win at Reading

• Lincoln up with five games to spare after 2-1 win

• Bolton draw with Stockport leaves Imps’ result moot

Lincoln celebrated promotion to the Championship with a hard-earned 2-1 victory at the playoff chasers Reading as they returned to the second tier after 65 years.

Lincoln, needing only a point, made a bright start and went ahead in the fifth minute through Ryan Oné and seemed destined for a 1-0 win, only for Reading to level in the second minute of stoppage time from a Lewis Wing free-kick. However, Jack Moylan snatched the winner four minutes later, seconds after promotion had been secured by Bolton v Stockport finishing in a 2-2 draw, meaning neither could catch the Imps.

Published: April 6, 2026, 4:46 pm

‘Something you only see in films’: Czech case yet another example of sexual abuse crisis

Petr Vlachovsky’s non-contact sexual abuse has had long-term effects and could finally be the catalyst for safeguarding policy change for women and girls in the sport

Kristyna Janku answered the phone to a police officer, not sure what she was going to hear. She had heard the rumours, the gossip, and was not sure what was true and what was not.

The defender’s former coach Petr Vlachovsky, who coached women and girls at FC Slovacko for almost 15 years and was once voted the best women’s football coach in the Czech Republic, had been arrested and she was about to find out why.

Published: April 7, 2026, 6:30 am

Buurman strikes late against Spurs to send Chelsea into Women’s FA Cup semi-finals

Sonia Bompastor believes national team managers will need to be “smart” with her Chelsea players after a gruelling block of games concluded positively, with a 2-1 defeat of Tottenham, earning a place in the FA Cup semi-finals.

Chelsea’s hopes of retaining two of their three titles remain alive after Veerle Buurman’s wonderful drive and strike earned the Blues a win in an end-to-end battle with Tottenham.

Published: April 6, 2026, 3:01 pm

Kasey McAteer seals controversial win over Birmingham to lift Ipswich up to second

With his winner against Birmingham, Kasey McAteer gave Ipswich supporters something to talk about other than Nigel Farage – namely the growing prospect of a return to the Premier League at the first attempt. At the ground where the Reform UK leader had been allowed two weeks before to parade with a “Farage 10” Ipswich shirt, the hosts moved into the automatic promotion places, albeit thanks to a controversially disallowed goal that left their opponents furious.

“I’ve never been as frustrated in my time in football at a decision. We’ve been robbed today,” said Birmingham’s head coach, Chris Davies. A second-half equaliser was chalked off when Ibrahim Osman was ruled to have run the ball out of play before his pullback from which Dara O’Shea turned into his own net, yet replays showed the ball never crossed the line. Davies said: “I asked [the official] after the game: ‘Why did you make that decision?’ and he said: ‘I can assure you the ball was out of play.’ And he was wrong.”

Published: April 6, 2026, 4:12 pm

Mallorca’s Pirate puts Kosovo playoff pain aside to stun Real Madrid | Sid Lowe

Kosovo’s Vedat Muriqi broke down in tears after a late winner that took his side out of the relegation zone

For one magical moment in the sunshine and the spotlight, the roughest man in Spanish football was the smoothest, the toughest, its most vulnerable. With his ponytail and the stubble covering a face that’s been lived in, they call Vedat Muriqi the Pirate and he’s supposed to have the turning circle of a galleon. But here there was grace, all 6ft 4in and 14st 8lb of him moving as if he were wearing slippers, not a pair of size 15s. The first touch, with the left, couldn’t have been softer; the second, with the right, couldn’t have been harder, all that emotion unleashed with the violence. The ball crashed into the net and the Kosovan crashed on to the turf, where he wept.

Muriqi had just scored the goal that may have brought the league title race to an early close, Mallorca defeating Real Madrid 2-1 with his 91st-minute goal a couple of hours before Barcelona went to Atlético Madrid and won in the 89th. But that wasn’t why he lay there, everyone going wild around him. It wasn’t why his face was hidden but his feelings couldn’t be, huge frame heaving. Muriqi was sobbing so hard it was a wonder Son Moix didn’t shake with him; some of the 23,015 inside it certainly did. Teammates came to him, embracing him briefly from behind then leaving him to let it out: first Omar Mascarell, then Sergi Darder, then Johan Mojica.

Published: April 6, 2026, 1:06 pm

‘Use that fuel’: Mikel Arteta and David Raya urge Arsenal to feed off cup losses

• Team will not panic in wake of City and Southampton defeats

• Raya set to return in goal for Tuesday’s first leg at Sporting

Mikel Arteta has insisted that Arsenal will not panic after losing successive games for the first time this season but admitted that they must rediscover their identity to get their campaign back on track.

The Premier League leaders face Sporting in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final in Lisbon on Tuesday after seeing their hopes of an unprecedented quadruple crumble with defeats by Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final and the Championship side Southampton in the FA Cup. Bukayo Saka and Jurriën Timber have been ruled out as they continue to struggle with injuries, although there was better news for Arteta with Gabriel Magalhães, Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard all expected to feature against the Portuguese champions.

Published: April 6, 2026, 7:55 pm

Middlesbrough held by Swansea, Manchester City to meet Chelsea in Women’s FA Cup: football – as it happened

Ipswich gained ground in the promotion race by beating Birmingham before Middlesbrough dropped points at Swansea

Thanks John, afternoon everyone. I’ll start with a very modern story from Spain.

La Liga on Monday condemned threats and intimidation by Sevilla fans aimed at their own players and directors after they fell to a third straight league defeat.

Sevilla, 17th in the Spanish top flight, lost 1-0 away at bottom side Real Oviedo on Sunday and some supporters met the team at the airport on their return to insult them, while others wearing masks were at the club training ground.

Published: April 6, 2026, 6:56 pm

Sir Craig Reedie, key London 2012 Olympics figure and former BOA chair, dies aged 84

• Reedie also served as president of World Anti-Doping Agency

• Sebastian Coe hails ‘mentor, wise counsel and passionate advisor’

Sir Craig Reedie, a giant of the Olympic movement, who served as chair of the British Olympic Association for more than a decade and was instrumental in bringing the Games to London in 2012, has died at the age of 84.

Tributes have poured in for the Scots-born Reedie, who was also president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) when Russia was found guilty of state-sponsored doping across “a vast majority” of winter and summer sports, including at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. During this tumultuous period, Reedie and Wada recommended that Russia be banned from the 2016 Rio Games – a call that was ultimately rejected by the International Olympic Committee.

Published: April 6, 2026, 6:00 pm

County cricket: Sussex beat Leicestershire, Yorkshire draw against Glamorgan – as it happened

The champions Nottinghamshire batted out a draw at Somerset, while Northampton’s last pair defied Lancashire

Hampshire’s Ben Brown was a disappointed man last night.

“It is a really poor start. The boys are really flat. You come into the season really looking forward to it so to put in that performance at home is hugely disappointing.

Published: April 6, 2026, 5:47 pm

Courtney Lawes to return to Prem from Brive and would be again eligible for England

• Veteran announces return to Prem and would be eligible

• Forward will ‘never forget’ time at French second-tier club

The former England captain Courtney Lawes is returning to the Prem at the end of the season after two years at French club Brive.

The 37-year-old retired from international rugby after the 2023 Rugby World Cup and made the move to France after winning the 2023-24 Premiership title with Northampton Saints.

Published: April 6, 2026, 2:54 pm

Reece James on track to deliver England World Cup boost with Chelsea return

• Right-back is recovering from hamstring injury

• He could be back at the end of April or start of May

Reece James could boost England’s World Cup hopes by returning from a hamstring injury at the start of next month.

The Chelsea defender has been out since picking up a problem during last month’s defeat by Newcastle, raising doubts over whether he will be fit to represent his country this summer. There were initial fears that James, who had not sustained a hamstring injury since November 2024, was facing up to two months on the sidelines and was in danger of not playing again this season.

Published: April 6, 2026, 10:26 am

Watch Sha’Carri Richardson's thrilling finish in the Stawell Gift women’s final – video

USA sprint star Sha’Carri Richardson storms home from scratch to win the 2026 Stawell Gift, chasing down rivals despite giving them up to a nine-metre head start. One of the world’s fastest women, Richardson joins thousands of spectators and athletes in the small rural town 200km north-west of Melbourne to compete in the 120-metre handicap grass race for the first time

• Aerial view of American sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson winning her Stawell Gift heat - video

Published: April 6, 2026, 6:36 am

The Masters is a welcome oasis in golf’s fractious world, despite its stuffy foibles | Ewan Murray

No phones, no littering, no cheering bad shots – ‘patrons’ face strict rules at Augusta, but what a contrast to last year’s disgraceful Ryder Cup

It is easy to poke fun at the prissy traditions of the Masters. Golfers, never mind spectators, enter a state of panic over what horrible fate may befall them should they break the rules inside Augusta National. It is preposterous in so many ways; adults consumed by fear over missteps at a golf tournament. People do not typically feel this way inside the Sistine Chapel.

This year, there are reasons to be grateful for Augusta’s unapologetic approach. The Masters provides a welcome break from the ear-bashing noise of the modern world. The United States is an especially fractious place. This major also offers a timely escape from the racket within golf itself. Brief serenity should be appreciated.

Published: April 7, 2026, 7:00 am

Michigan defeats UConn to win NCAA men’s basketball championship – as it happened

Elliot Cadeau scored 19 points as the Wolverines held off a late rally by UConn to capture their first title since 1989. Read Beau Dure’s live play-by-play

UConn 4-9 Michigan, 15:42 left, first half: Solo Ball works inside to get two for UConn, but then he gets called for blocking at the other end. Questionable call, to be honest. He seemed set.

Cadeau misses a three, but Michigan get a second and third chance. Johnson converts the tip-in.

Published: April 7, 2026, 3:34 am

NCAA Tournament 2026 men’s final predictions: will UConn or Michigan cut down the nets in Indy?

From the key matchups to the bold predictions, our writers assess how Connecticut’s system stacks up against Michigan’s size in Monday night’s championship game

The Huskies must lean on discipline and patience to avoid getting dragged into a high-possession shootout. They have to execute their off-ball actions cleanly, force Michigan to defend across the full shot clock and get efficient production from star center Tarris Reed Jr inside. If they can limit the Wolverines’ second-chance points and drill timely threes, the upset is there for the taking. BAG

Published: April 6, 2026, 9:00 am

Can the USMNT and USWNT become ‘America’s favorite sports teams’? Their CEO thinks so

JT Batson is hopeful the influx of funds and interest around the home World Cup will have a transformative effect on American soccer

US Soccer chief executive JT Batson has set the men’s and women’s national teams the ambitious target of becoming America’s favorite entities in sports.

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Batson added mass popularity for Mauricio Pochettino’s and Emma Hayes’s teams to US Soccer’s goals ahead of this summer’s men’s World Cup, a list that already included making soccer the biggest participation sport in every community in the country.

Published: April 6, 2026, 9:00 am