Sam Darnold: after five teams and plenty of mockery, ‘Ginger Cuz’ reaches the Super Bowl

The Seattle Seahawks quarterback has endured a rocky NFL career. But in the biggest game of his career, he delivered the performance of a lifetime

Moments after clinching a Super Bowl berth, Sam Darnold strolled over for his obligatory television interview. He was thrilled; the Seattle Seahawks had just toppled the Los Angeles Rams in a 31-27 thriller. But he was also measured. Unlike receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who would follow and was teeming with emotion, Darnold simply spoke about his love for his teammates. And when asked about his improbable journey, he replied, “I haven’t really thought about it that much.”

He may not have, but the rest of us have. And whether Darnold likes it or not, his comeback story will be the prevailing storyline of Super Bowl 60. How can it not, especially after the quarterback saved what may have been the best performance of his life for Seattle’s third, and most important, tilt with the Rams this season.

Published: January 26, 2026, 8:15 am

Shedeur Sanders set to better father Deion by reportedly making Pro Bowl as rookie

• Browns QB to replace Super Bowl-bound Drake Maye

• Sanders threw seven TDs and 10 interceptions this season

Shedeur Sanders will reportedly become a Pro Bowler in his rookie season as a replacement for Drake Maye.

ESPN reported on Monday that the Cleveland Browns rookie has bettered his Hall of Fame father, Deion Sanders, who was drafted in 1989 but had to wait until 1991 to receive the first of his eight trips to the Pro Bowl.

Published: January 26, 2026, 7:39 pm

Sepp Blatter suggests fans should not travel to US for World Cup

• Ex-Fifa boss shows support for boycott calls

• Security concerns over tournament have risen

Former Fifa president Sepp Blatter on Monday suggested he supports fans boycotting World Cup matches in the United States this year due to security concerns.

Blatter gave his support to comments from Swiss anti-corruption lawyer Mark Pieth, who worked with Fifa on potential reforms when Blatter was president, saying fans should stay away from the US for the tournament.

Published: January 26, 2026, 5:09 pm

A Saturday and a state killing: soccer as Minnesota is torn apart | Jeff Rueter

On the whims of Fifa’s Peace Prize winner, a life usually so focused on sports has found anything but peace

It’s Saturday morning, and news breaks shortly after the Premier League kickoff window; another member of your community has been brutally killed in the streets by ICE. There are already a few videos on social media, depicting multiple angles of the grotesque scene. This killing, like the one before, has felt inevitable – because of the actions of the federal government, and in spite of the diligence and peaceful pushback by you and your neighbors.

For more than a decade, watching soccer has been a staple of your Saturday routine, as it is for millions of others. Given that, it was hard not to think about a prize awarded by the sport’s most powerful organization just eight weeks prior, to the president overseeing and encouraging all of this. You know, the medal meant to reward “exceptional and extraordinary actions for peace.” Plenty of people have been joking about this “honor” online since the day it was announced. You were among them in December. Today, you find it hard to laugh.

Published: January 26, 2026, 11:00 am

Pegula ends Keys’ Australian Open reign with serve of apple pie and cheese

Sixth seed marches into quarter-finals with 6-3, 6-4 victory while the defending champion must pay forfeit agreed on with her podcast co-host

On a podcast before her big match against Madison Keys, Jessica Pegula was discussing their battle last January in the Adelaide final. Keys’s performance, she said, had prompted her to predict accurately to their mutual friends that Keys would win the Australian Open two weeks later.

It is normal for players to discuss future opponents, but they do not usually do so in conversation together. With a chuckle, Keys said: “Jess is like, ‘I hope I don’t see that level [tomorrow].’”

Published: January 26, 2026, 3:32 am

Thierno Barry makes profligate Leeds pay to earn Everton a point

Thierno Barry’s debut season in English football must have tested the patience of David Moyes at times but the Everton manager’s perseverance is being rewarded.

The £27m summer signing from Villarreal struck his fourth goal in five Premier League games as Everton turned the tide on Leeds. A point apiece reflected a dominant half apiece, though both managers felt they could have had more.

Published: January 26, 2026, 10:05 pm

Carrick’s cult of common sense gets Manchester United believing again

There is no special trick to the interim manager’s early success, just a commitment to sound and sensible thinking

What must Ruben Amorim make of it? Maybe that 3-4-2-1 might not be the answer for this Manchester United team? Perish the thought. The club’s recently sacked manager was clear that not even the pope would make him change – presumably because Leo XIV is also a big fan of three centre-halves. Saying that, Amorim did come close to losing his religion towards the bitter end, however brief and unconvincing his dalliance with a back four was. He reverted to a three for his final game at Leeds in early January.

As the dust settles on Michael Carrick’s second thrilling win as the United interim manager in two matches, the last-gasp triumph at Arsenal following the home win against Manchester City, it is a moment, first and foremost, for the club’s supporters to savour.

Published: January 26, 2026, 7:00 pm

Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action

Casemiro is thriving under Michael Carrick, Newcastle look short of ideas and Sean Dyche takes aims at … towels?

Casemiro will depart Manchester United this summer. His four years in English football have been mixed but he may yet go out on a high. At one point in his first season, such as his performance in the 2023 League Cup final, he was hailed as the club’s best signing since Eric Cantona. He never lived up to that billing, the accusation that United had overpaid for someone who left his legs in Madrid. At the Emirates in 2026, just as against Manchester City the previous week, he showed his muscle memory endures. Kobbie Mainoo is a project player for Michael Carrick. Mainoo can learn much in his remaining months alongside Casemiro, who completed the 90 minutes at Arsenal and retained his influence. United are linked with younger midfielders in Carlos Baleba, Adam Wharton and Elliot Anderson. They may now have something to live up to. John Brewin

Match report: Arsenal 2-3 Manchester United

Match report: Newcastle 0-2 Aston Villa

Match report: Burnley 2-2 Tottenham

Match report: Manchester City 2-0 Wolves

Published: January 26, 2026, 8:00 am

Barcelona left angry after Dro Fernández rejects contract and agrees €8m PSG move

• 18-year-old was expected to stay with Hansi Flick’s side

• Joan Laporta describes move as ‘an unpleasant situation’

Barcelona have confirmed the departure of talented young midfielder Dro Fernández to Paris Saint-Germain with the club president, Joan Laporta, describing the situation around his move as “unpleasant”.

Dro, who joined the club at 14, made his first-team debut in September, and turned 18 on 12 January, arrived in the French capital on Sunday night for a medical. Considered one of the outstanding players of his generation, his representatives had appeared to agree a new contract with Barcelona, due to be signed after his birthday, but he informed the head coach, Hansi Flick, of his decision to depart the same week.

Published: January 26, 2026, 10:44 pm

Replacing a manager midseason is a big call, and not as simple as it sounds | Jonathan Wilson

Liverpool and Tottenham are in different situations but face the same problem: a manager in the hot seat but few ideal options

• Sign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson here

Another weekend, another few days of soul-searching for Liverpool and Tottenham. Liverpool had been on a 13-game unbeaten run before Saturday’s defeat to Bournemouth, but nobody could claim a string of results that included home draws with all three promoted clubs was convincing. Spurs had won just two of their 13 league games before Saturday’s away draw at Burnley, which was salvaged only thanks to an injury-time goal from Cristian Romero.

For both, European competition had offered some relief – Liverpool looked very good in a 3-0 win away to Marseille while Spurs, at least in the first half, produced probably their best performance since August in beating Borussia Dortmund 2-0 – but the sad truth is that the vast majority of European sides these days simply cannot live with the physicality of the Premier League. That’s not to say that Bournemouth or Burnley are better than Marseille or Dortmund, but it is to say that the challenge they pose a Premier League side is less.

Published: January 26, 2026, 4:44 pm

Nottingham Forest make £35m bid for Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta

• French forward has told Palace he wants to leave

• Forest also interested in Wolves’ Strand Larsen

Nottingham Forest have made a £35m bid to sign Jean-Philippe Mateta from Crystal Palace. The France striker, who has told Palace he wants to leave, is among Forest’s targets as they look to strengthen in attack.

Forest signed the 6ft 7in forward Lorenzo Lucca on loan from Napoli last week with an option to make the deal permanent. Only Wolves (15) have scored fewer top-flight goals this season than Forest (23).

Published: January 26, 2026, 6:50 pm

Mature decision to deny Manchester City a penalty for handball sets example for referees | Chris Foy

Farai Hallam trusted his own judgment on Yerson Mosquera incident despite a VAR review and, in doing so, showed the way forward

I refereed professional football for 25 years. We were talking about handball when I started and it remains one of the most discussed topics in the game.

One reason for this is that we’ve had a number of law changes by the International Football Association Board (Ifab) over recent years. All were made in an effort to achieve consistent outcomes for the benefit of the game, but we can sometimes end up with different interpretations of the laws.

Published: January 26, 2026, 5:11 pm

Iran football great Ali Karimi leads call for Infantino to speak up on protest deaths

• Open letter to Fifa and all football associations

• Killings, arrests and threats against athletes are condemned

A group of prominent Iranians with links to football have called on Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, to condemn the killing and arrest of footballers and the threats made against players in the country. The demand was made in open letter also addressed to the presidents of Fifa’s 200-plus national associations.

Among its 20 signatories are Ali Karimi, who played 127 times for Iran, and three other former full internationals. The list also includes a coach, a referee and sports journalists.

Published: January 26, 2026, 6:42 pm

La Liga’s late, late shows set up a bottom-half battle royale for survival | Sid Lowe

If there’s one thing more beautiful than a goal in the 92nd minute it is a goal in the 96th, however ugly it actually is

The most romantic line ever written was sprayed on a dirty old wall somewhere in Italy and repeated everywhere else. You’re as beautiful as a goal in the 90th minute, the graffiti goes, and this was as beautiful as it gets until it got better. The board had gone up at the Ciutat de Valencia stadium on Friday night when Elche embarked upon a move that could have come from a cartoon or a console, the final scene in a film. Escape to Victory only more so, it started the way Michael Caine planned it, all arrows and crosses and ping-ping-ping, and finished the way Pelé actually played it: a picture of perfection which earned them a 2-2 draw in the derby at Levante. Or so it goes.

From one end to the other Elche had gone, the edge of their area to the heart of Levante’s. There had been a dribble out, a dozen passes, a touch for all of them. A superb assist, three defenders sent the wrong way. And then, two minutes into added time, the finish, Adam Boayar’s astonishing overhead kick sailing into the corner to complete a goal so good it was silly, so pristine as to be almost surreal. As the Ciutat fell silent, teammates piled on and fans in the away corner didn’t so much celebrate as put their hands over their mouths and try not to laugh, barely able to believe this.

Published: January 26, 2026, 4:08 pm

Everton 1-1 Leeds United: Premier League – as it happened

Thierno Barry cancelled out James Justin’s opener in a draw that resulted in hosts moving into the top half of the table

We are underway!

The teams are out! Everton in their blue shirts and white shirts, blue socks. Leeds in their famous all-white kit.

Published: January 26, 2026, 10:23 pm

England captain Maro Itoje absent from training camp to attend mother’s funeral in Nigeria

• Borthwick: ‘We are deeply saddened for him’

• Itoje misses launch of 2026 Six Nations

England will kick off their Six Nations training camp in Spain this week without their captain, Maro Itoje, who has travelled to Nigeria for his mother’s funeral. Itoje was absent from the official Six Nations championship launch in Edinburgh on Monday and is not expected to join his squad until Wednesday evening.

With the tournament commencing on Thursday week every team is scrambling to be ready, but the Saracens lock has been given permission to miss the start of the training block in Girona this week.

Published: January 26, 2026, 6:34 pm

Aston Martin become second F1 team to miss vital testing in Barcelona

• AMR26 car will not run until Thursday and Friday

• Williams unable to take to the track at all in Spain

The Aston Martin team have admitted they are to miss at least one day of their allotted three at Formula One’s first pre-season test in Barcelona and will not run their car before Thursday at the earliest. They are the second team to fail to take full advantage of the opening test after Williams also announced they would be unable to take to the track at all in Spain.

Testing is taking place from Monday to Friday this week at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with teams able to use three of the five days to assess their cars. They have been designed to entirely new regulations and with new engines this season and consequently three full pre-season tests are being held. But as the track running began, Aston Martin conceded they would not be there at the off and issued a statement.

Published: January 26, 2026, 6:26 pm

RFU targets transport revamp and undercover police to sway Twickenham residents over concert plan

• Fresh proposals to address road issues and bad behaviour

• RFU needs gigs to pay for £660m Twickenham upgrade

The Rugby Football Union is hopeful that a proposed overhaul of Twickenham rail station and the deployment of undercover police officers on matchdays will help to sway opponents of plans to host more concerts to pay for the £660m stadium upgrade.

The union is seeking to increase the number of non-sporting events held at Twickenham each year from three to 15 in order to pay for the stadium overhaul, but it encountered a roadblock last year when Richmond council expressed “significant concerns” over transport links. The council also determined in October that a limit of three concerts – and only one not on a Saturday – would remain as part of its new licence amid considerable opposition from residents.

Published: January 26, 2026, 1:46 pm

Ødegaard admits Arsenal title tilt fuelled by pain of three runners-up finishes

• Captain says it is a ‘good factor’ in Premier League push

• Arsenal ‘not good enough’ against Manchester United

Martin Ødegaard says Arsenal’s near misses in the Premier League over the past three seasons are on the players’ minds – but only in a way to motivate them to go all the way this time.

The captain sought to push a line that Mikel Arteta has also mentioned – the need to stay in the moment and blot out the external noise – as he reflected on the 3-2 home defeat against Manchester United on Sunday. However, the Norwegian midfielder did admit that the run of three successive runners‑up finishes was a part of the picture.

Published: January 26, 2026, 1:00 pm

West Ham verbally agree deal for Flamengo to buy Lucas Paquetá

• Brazilian club would not have to loan midfielder back

• Sale would allow further transfer spending

Flamengo have verbally agreed a deal with West Ham to buy Lucas Paquetá without having to loan back the Brazil international. The fee is expected to be between £36m and £40m and the Premier League club are awaiting a formal offer.

West Ham initially insisted they would sell Paquetá only if he returned for the rest of the season to help their fight to avoid relegation. Paquetá, though, is desperate to return to Brazil and Flamengo want him as soon as possible.

Published: January 26, 2026, 12:32 pm

Australian Open 2026: Shelton beats Ruud, Swiatek swats aside Inglis, Sinner defeats Darderi – as it happened

Ben Shelton came from a set down to book his place in the last eight, after Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner had eased through too

Down break point at 0-2 1-2, Darderi locates an ace, but he must soon handle another, Sinner dashing in to put away a volley having cracked a forehand to the corner. But a netted return restores deuce and from there he closes out the game before celebrating by petulantly throwing down a towel next to his coach. Meantime, Swiatek is doing all she can to prevent Inglis getting on the board, an overhead dispatched with prejudice saving game point at 3-0.

Swiatek breaks Inglis immediately for 2-0 and though, as she seeks to consolidate, she’s taken to deuce, she eventually prevails. She can play a lot better than this – and if she wins, against Rybakina, she’ll have to.

Published: January 26, 2026, 1:06 pm

NFC championship game: Los Angeles Rams 27-31 Seattle Seahawks – as it happened

• Seahawks earn place at Super Bowl LX against Patriots

• Darnold and Stafford shine in high-scoring slugfest

Super Bowl LX? Wasn’t Super Bowl L just a few years ago?

Cute ad in which a young girl mimics figure skater Ilia Malinin. I’m duty-bound to inform you that I will indeed be in the commentary position for some Winter Olympics action in a couple of weeks, and that Malinin is from my town.

Published: January 26, 2026, 3:13 am

Seahawks set up Patriots Super Bowl clash after beating Rams in barnburner

• Los Angeles Rams 27–31 Seattle Seahawks

• Darnold and Stafford shine in high-class QB duel

• Patriots grind out AFC championship in snow

Sam Darnold threw for three touchdowns, the Seahawks’ “Dark Side” defense came up with a critical fourth-down stop, and Seattle advanced to the Super Bowl, beating the Los Angeles Rams 31-27 in an electrifying NFC championship game on Sunday.

“It’s amazing,” Darnold said. “To be able to do it with these guys in this locker room, though, with this coaching staff, that’s why it means the world to me.”

Published: January 26, 2026, 3:12 am