Joey Porter Sr says former Steelers teammate Ben Roethlisberger is not ‘a good person’

• Former linebacker questions QB’s character

• Duo won Super Bowl together in 2005 season

Joey Porter Sr says Ben Roethlisberger, the quarterback he won a Super Bowl with at the Pittsburgh Steelers, is not “a good person”.

Porter was speaking on a podcast during Super Bowl week when he made the comments. He and Roethlisberger won Super Bowl XL with Pittsburgh at the end of the 2005 season.

Published: February 12, 2026, 4:09 am

A Pochettino-Spurs reunion would need patience from an impatient club

Thomas Frank’s dismissal leaves a desperate Spurs looking to its recent past, among other places, for answers

Tottenham Hotspur have tried everything. After sacking Mauricio Pochettino in November 2019 – five months after the club’s first Champions League final, with Spurs sitting 14th in the league and sleepwalking to second place in a weak UCL group – There came a pair of chronic (if cantankerous) title winners: José Mourinho and Antonio Conte. They gave a pragmatist (Nuno Espírito Santo) a Big Six test and moved on when performances instantly stagnated. Then arrived Ange Postecoglou; a staunch tactical ideologue whose principles excited at first before becoming a liability.

Thomas Frank, though, seemed like the appointment most reminiscent of Pochettino’s 2014 arrival. Both raised relatively unfancied clubs to prominence and established firm operational bedrocks. Both spoke about the importance of culture as much as on-field Xs and Os. Neither had been tested at a club of this caliber.

Published: February 12, 2026, 11:00 am

FA to look at whether Jim Ratcliffe broke football rules by saying UK ‘colonised’ by immigrants

• FA assessing whether he brought game into disrepute

• Manchester United co-owner told by Starmer to apologise

The Football Association will look at whether Jim Ratcliffe brought the game into disrepute through his claims that the UK has been “colonised” by immigrants.

The Manchester United co-owner, a billionaire based in Monaco, caused widespread anger with his comments and has been called on by Keir Starmer to apologise. His remarks have not gone unnoticed within the FA, which will examine further before deciding whether he has broken any rules. It is too early to say whether any formal investigation will follow.

Published: February 12, 2026, 12:00 pm

‘It’s emptiness’: banned Ukrainian athlete accuses IOC of fuelling Russia’s propaganda

• Vladyslav Heraskevych: decision ‘a terrible mistake’

• Skeleton racer told of ban minutes before competition

Vladyslav Heraskevych has accused the International Olympic Committee of doing Russia’s propaganda for them after he was barred from racing in the Winter Games because he wanted to wear a “helmet of memory” in honour of Ukraine’s war dead.

In one of the most controversial decisions in recent Olympic history, the Ukrainian skeleton racer was informed only minutes before he was due to compete that his accreditation had been rescinded.

Published: February 12, 2026, 12:40 pm

Pellegrino Matarazzo: the American manager revitalizing Real Sociedad

After just eight games, it’s fair to ask if the former Columbia University math major is having the best-ever season for a US coach in Europe

Pellegrino Matarazzo stood there, still and composed. Brown pants. Black sweater. Arms crossed, one hand to his chin and grey beard. The New Jerseyan looked less like the manager of Real Sociedad, a club that placed in La Liga’s top six for five straight seasons before last year, than a math professor. That’s what he well might have been, had his life taken only a slightly different turn; he graduated from Columbia University with a degree in applied mathematics, after all.

Instead, he was there on Saturday, at the Anoeta Stadium, calmly coaxing his side past Elche, 3-1, pumping a single fist when La Real scored, occasionally waving those arms to push his side further upfield. As if Matarazzo’s being there, as if his team taking yet another lead, was all just a matter of course. Just a big-time manager at a big-time club, doing big-time things.

Leander Schaerlaeckens’ book on the United States men’s national soccer team, The Long Game, is out on 12 May. You can preorder it here. He teaches at Marist University.

Published: February 12, 2026, 12:30 pm

Winter Olympics 2026: Ukrainian athlete kicked out of skeleton over helmet tribute, Brignone wins women’s Super G – live

• Medal table | Live scores and schedule | Results | Briefing

• Follow us over on Bluesky | And get in touch: mail Yara

Women’s Super G 11.30am GMT

Men’s moguls 12.15pm GMT

Published: February 12, 2026, 1:41 pm

Italian renaissance: does ‘home-ice’ give Winter Olympic hosts a competitive advantage?

With 13 medals through the first five days – surpassing their total at Turin 2006 – the Italians are the surprise stars of these Games. What’s different this time?

From Milan to Cortina and beyond, the star of the first Olympic weekend in Italy was … Italy.

The electric celebrations started Saturday in Bormio, close to the Swiss border, with a silver and bronze in the men’s downhill. They echoed a few hours later in Milan, where Francesca Lollobrigida set an Olympic record in women’s 3000m speed skating for the host country’s first gold.

Published: February 12, 2026, 1:01 pm

Finnish ski jump coach sent home from Winter Olympics over alcohol scandal

• Igor Medved sent home by country’s Olympic committee

• ‘Alcohol was consumed in violation of our team rules’

Finland’s ski jumping head coach, Igor Medved, has apologised after being sent home for violating team rules by drinking alcohol at the Winter Olympics.

The news was confirmed by the Finnish Olympic committee, who said that Medved had left Italy due to “alcohol-related issues”.

Published: February 12, 2026, 11:23 am

Lindsey Vonn says success has ‘completely different meaning’ after third surgery on broken leg

• American crashed out of Olympic downhill event

• Bryan Graham: Crash a violent but honest ending

• Medal table | Live scores and schedule | Results

Lindsey Vonn says she has had a successful third surgery on the broken leg she suffered during the women’s Olympic downhill on Sunday.

Vonn posted an update on Instagram that included photos of her giving a thumbs up in her hospital bed with a metal frame attached to her leg.

Published: February 11, 2026, 6:54 pm

French biathlete guilty of fraud wins Olympic gold while scammed teammate comes 80th

• Julia Simon holds finger to lips as she crosses line

• Simon found to have spent €2,000 on rival’s credit card

An athlete convicted of committing credit card fraud against one of her national teammates has won an Olympic gold medal for France in the women’s 15km biathlon, beating her victim to do it.

Julia Simon, 29, was handed a €15,000 fine and a three-month suspended sentence last October after she was found to have spent more than €2,000 using card details belonging to Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, also 29, who finished in 80th place in the same race. A third member of the French team, Lou Jeanmonnot, won the silver.

Published: February 11, 2026, 4:46 pm

Former Super Bowl champion Darron Lee held without bond after death of girlfriend

• 31-year-old faces first-degree murder charge

• Former linebacker could face death penalty

Former New York Jets first-round draft pick Darron Lee has been kept in jail without bond as he faces a first-degree murder charge over the death of his girlfriend in Tennessee.

The ruling by Judge Tori Smith came after Lee was arrested and charged late last week. He also faces a charge of tampering with or fabricating evidence. Lee is due back in court for a preliminary hearing on 9 March.

Authorities identified the victim in the case as Gabriella Perpétuo. The couple had been living in a home they rented where the incident occurred for about 10 days, Brian Lockhart a detective in Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office testified on Wednesday.

Published: February 11, 2026, 9:48 pm

‘Casey should resign’: Abby Wambach leaves Wasserman after Epstein files

• Wambach is first major sports figure to depart agency

• Agency founder had emailed with Ghislaine Maxwell

• LA 2028 Olympics board says it backs chairman

Former US soccer star Abby Wambach has announced she is leaving the Wasserman talent agency and called for its founder and 2028 Los Angeles Olympics chairman, Casey Wasserman, to resign after emails between him and Ghislaine Maxwell were revealed in the Jeffrey Epstein files.

The two-time gold medalist and World Cup winner shared a statement on Wednesday saying she was leaving Wasserman, an agency that represents an extensive roster of athletes and celebrities across the sports and entertainment industries.

Published: February 11, 2026, 6:44 pm

Jordan Stolz crushes Olympic 1000m record to begin four-gold pursuit after reskate

• US star forced to wait through rival Wennemars’s reskate

• Stolz delivers 1:06.28 finish in his signature event

Jordan Stolz had to wait a little longer than expected on Wednesday night. But when confirmation finally came, the 21-year-old American could celebrate his first Olympic gold medal – and the opening chapter of what could become one of the defining campaigns of the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.

Skating in the second-to-last group, Stolz powered to an Olympic record time of 1min 6.28sec in the men’s 1000 metres, using a devastating final lap to deliver in his signature event and launch his pursuit of a potential four-gold haul across these Games.

Published: February 11, 2026, 7:35 pm

The five most noteworthy MLS kits of 2026: Tie-dye, Tina Turner and more

The Grateful Dead and some other interesting influences define the best and worst of this year’s crop of tops

Major League Soccer’s 31st season is nearly upon us, and fans across the league are busy offering takes. Takes on roster building, on relevance, on playoff potential. And, of course, on kits.

It at times feels like there is nothing soccer fans across the globe like more than discussing kits and kit culture. Supporters, even those entirely bereft of any fashion sense to speak of, start offering up terms normally reserved for the catwalk come release day.

Published: February 11, 2026, 4:45 pm

Bring on the old guard to beat the drop: can Ange’s recall be right twist for Spurs? | Max Rushden

If Tottenham are waiting for Pochettino part two, then season three of Postecoglou might bring the right survival vibes

It’s panic time at the bottom of the Premier League, and if the past couple of days are anything to go by, probably don’t go following Ange Postecoglou into a job any time soon. Others who’ve followed it more closely can do Nottingham Forest and their 4 (four) managers. This is a piece about Tottenham Hotspur, or as I like to call them, my big team who win things.

November 2023 feels like a lifetime ago. Spurs were top of the league. Angeball was at its peak. Dynamic free-flowing football – they were 1-0 up against Chelsea thanks to Dejan Kulusevski (injured). It’s the 14th minute, Spurs neatly play themselves out from back down the right, it breaks to Pape Sarr who rolls the ball to Destiny Udogie (injured), and Brennan Johnson (Crystal Palace) steams down the left. He plays a perfect first-time ball with his left foot into the path of Son Heung-min (LAFC), who rolls it home. Tottenham are 2-0 up against a team they lose to at least twice a season.

Published: February 12, 2026, 12:30 pm

QPR and Crawley sued for £11.1m by former player who claims they did not protect him

• Amrit Bansal-McNulty claim relates to alleged racism

• Clubs deny wrongdoing in case being heard at tribunal

Queens Park Rangers and Crawley Town are being sued for more than £11m by a former player who is claiming they failed to protect him from alleged racist banter that he says destroyed his career.

The Championship club are joint defendants with Crawley in a claim currently being heard at the Central London Employment Tribunal, brought by the former Northern Ireland Under-21 international Amrit Bansal-McNulty, who is suing for £11.1m for a loss of opportunity and personal injury. Both clubs have denied wrongdoing.

Published: February 12, 2026, 1:37 pm

Thomas Tuchel signs England contract extension to stay as head coach until 2028

• Head coach’s deal was due to finish after World Cup

• Tuchel keen to lead team at Euros co-hosted by England

Thomas Tuchel has signed an extension to his England contract that will keep him in charge of the national team until after Euro 2028.

The fresh deal means Tuchel, who took over in January 2025, will remain manager regardless of England’s fate at the World Cup this summer. He originally signed an 18-month deal but will now be at the helm for a home European Championship in two-and-a-half years’ time.

Published: February 12, 2026, 9:10 am

Nottingham Forest target Vítor Pereira after late-night sacking of Sean Dyche

• Strugglers seek fourth manager of the season

• Home stalemate with Wolves prompts latest firing

Nottingham Forest are keen to appoint Vítor Pereira as their fourth head coach of the season after sacking Sean Dyche in the early hours of Thursday. The former Wolves manager worked under Forest’s owner, Evangelos Marinakis, at Olympiakos and would be open to taking the role.

Forest have acted fast to find a replacement for Dyche, who lasted 114 days after the disastrous spell of Ange Postecoglou, who lasted 40. Dyche lost only one of his final six Premier League games but had a strained relationship with the squad and bore the brunt of the fans’ displeasure during the goalless draw with Wolves on Wednesday.

Published: February 12, 2026, 7:50 am

Do the Strand: the Manchester United haircut guy exposes our lust for content | Jonathan Liew

As ‘the pressure of the haircut’ enters the game’s lexicon, the extent to which football revolves around winning and losing games appears to be fading

“I don’t care about his haircut at all,” Matheus Cunha said this week. “I don’t really look at other people if they need to go to the hairdresser or not,” Bruno Fernandes said at the weekend. Michael Carrick, for his part, said he was aware of the haircut issue. But the Manchester United coach insisted it would not factor into his team’s preparations for their game against West Ham on Tuesday night.

And so, here we are. Many games of football end up being remembered for reasons far outstripping their original significance: the 1914 Christmas Truce, the 1962 Battle of Santiago, the 2020 pandemic curtain‑raiser between Liverpool and Atlético Madrid. To these we can add the Haircut Game: a mildly arresting 1-1 Premier League draw at the London Stadium that posterity will nevertheless recall as the game when a man did not get his hair cut at the end.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Published: February 12, 2026, 8:00 am

TNT Sports finds viewers more drawn to FA Cup than Premier League matches

• Manchester United v Brighton tie had highest figures

• Data shows value to broadcasters of later kick-offs

The FA Cup third round generated higher viewing figures for the main rights holder, TNT Sports, than any of their Premier League games this season in an indication of the competition’s enduring appeal before the fourth round, which begins on Friday.

Data obtained by the Guardian reveals that Brighton’s third-round win over Manchester United last month attracted an average audience of 876,000, with a total reach of 2.1 million, based on viewers watching for a minimum of three minutes.

Published: February 12, 2026, 10:59 am

‘We want this movement to be massive’: how Chilean women’s football is leading the way

Chile’s female players are newly protected under labour law and are hoping their official status can help the game thrive in South America

The Chilean players’ association officially became a union in December, and its president, Javiera Moreno, believes there needs to be women’s representation in players’ unions around the world.

“We want this movement to become massive,” says the former Universidad Católica captain. “Our goal is to spread this to other countries. I don’t know if in other places the path will be to have a specific union for women. This was needed here, but I think there needs to be at least representation of women’s players within every country’s footballers’ union.”

Published: February 12, 2026, 12:23 pm

Manchester City make quick work of Fulham but Haaland off early with ‘niggles’

Manchester City’s week is ­moving along sweetly, this win closing the gap to three points to Arsenal, who travel to Brentford on Thursday. On ­Sunday, they defeated Liverpool at Anfield, on Wednesday they downed ­Fulham at home to reel off a 20th consecutive victory against them.

The rosiest moment for the title challengers was Erling Haaland’s 39th‑minute strike, a first in the competition from open play in nine games, though more con­cerning was his removal at the break, when City led 3-0.

Published: February 11, 2026, 9:47 pm

Team GB’s Matt Weston leads golden charge as skeleton rivals unite behind banned Ukrainian

• British racer poised for podium after opening rounds

• Sledder turned in back-to-back Cortina track records

This was the race that will always be remembered for the one man who didn’t make the start. Exactly 21 minutes before the men’s skeleton was scheduled to begin the IOC put out their press release announcing that they had revoked the Olympic accreditation of the Ukrainian slider Vladyslav Heraskevych after he refused to compete without his helmet decorated with the images of his fellow athletes who have been killed during the Russian invasion of his country. It was so late the two British competitors, Matt Weston and Marcus Wyatt said they didn’t even find out about it till after they had finished.

By then, the news had already spread around the world, and the one Ukrainian journalist present, Stanislav Oroshkevych, from tribuna.com, found he was suddenly surrounded by colleagues from Germany, Britain, Japan, and a dozen other countries, all asking him for public comment on what was going on. Soon, the Ukrainian press attache arrived to save him and announced that Heraskevych would come to give an impromptu press conference himself. The photos of Heraskevych standing behind the barriers near the finish, his helmet tucked under his arm, addressing a crowd of 30 journalists, will be one of the iconic images of these Olympics.

Published: February 12, 2026, 1:39 pm

Ange Postecoglou claims Tottenham are ‘not a big club’ in damning assessment

• Club’s former manager says Spurs reluctant to take risks

• Spending and wage structure holding them back, he feels

Ange Postecoglou says Tottenham are “not a big club” because of their refusal to pay the major wages for top-level signings. The manager who led them to Europa League glory last season before being sacked also feels the dreaded “Spursy” tag is “100%” real and is another factor holding them back.

Postecoglou finished fifth in his first campaign in charge in 2024 but missed out on Champions League qualification, the revenues from which he suggested are fundamental to Spurs in the transfer market. When he wanted to strengthen in the summer of 2024, the Australian was unable to land many of the players he targeted. Spurs added Dominic Solanke and three teenage talents – Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall and Wilson Odobert.

Published: February 12, 2026, 10:00 am

Manchester City and Villa win, Burnley shock Palace: Premier League – as it happened

There were big wins for City at the top of the table while Nottngham Forest fell short against Wolves and Burnley stunned Palace

Alessia Russo has just scored Arsenal’s fourth goal of the night. Sarah Rendell has the details.

That last news item makes this next email even more topical. “The LA Galaxy vs Los Angeles FC derby,” says Marek Wojenski in Connecticut, “is known as El Tráfico.”

Published: February 11, 2026, 11:18 pm

US midfielders Bethune and Hutton move in pair of blockbuster $1m NWSL trades

• Bethune traded from Spirit to Kansas City for $1m

• Hutton departs Current for Bay FC in $1.1m move

• Moves shake up landscape a month before season

Two of the best young midfielders in US women’s soccer were on the move Wednesday in a pair of seven-figure trades, shuffling up the NWSL landscape a month before the season begins.

Croix Bethune, the 2024 rookie and midfielder of the year, was traded from the Washington Spirit to the Kansas City Current for $1m. In a separate move, Kansas City traded Claire Hutton, a 2025 midfielder of the year finalist, to Bay FC in a $1.1m transaction.

Published: February 11, 2026, 10:23 pm

Winter Olympics 2026: France beat USA to figure skating gold as GB’s wait for medal goes on – as it happened

• Medal table | Live scores and schedule | Results | Briefing
• Follow us over on Bluesky | Get in touch! Mail Geoff

The riders are having to squint into the sun to see their scores come up. There’s lots of USA support on the slopes, first for 19-year old Bea Kim, who looks happy to settle into fifth, then for the queen of half pipe, Chloe Kim, who is aiming for her third consecutive gold medal in this discipline. Oh and she’s also just finished a degree at Stamford. It’s a cracking start – a big backside 720, frontside 900, and something floaty and turny which the commentators describe as “the penny black” of halfpipe. She immediately settles into first.

Women’s halfpipe qualifying: Thinking about my attempts to stand on a skateboard as young women in baggy snow trousers zig-zag and float across the halfpipe.

Published: February 11, 2026, 10:11 pm