Indian FA confirms job applications from Xavi and Guardiola were hoaxes

  • Team director had previously announced Xavi interest

  • Statement reveals ‘email applications were not genuine’

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) confirmed on Saturday that a job application attributed to the former Barcelona manager and Spain midfielder, Xavi Hernández, for the India head coaching role was a hoax.

The Indian FA’s national team director told the Times of India on Thursday that Xavi’s name was on the list of applicants. The report also quoted an AIFF technical committee member saying that his candidacy was deemed too expensive to pursue.

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‘She’s an inspiration to the youngsters’: the rapid rise of Michelle Agyemang

Lioness has gone from prospect to superstar at Euro 2025 – and she’s got more than just football in her locker

Four years ago, Michelle Agyemang was a ballgirl at Wembley stadium, witnessing the Lionesses’ rule the pitch in a 4-0 victory against Northern Ireland. Now, at just 19 years old, she no longer finds herself retrieving balls that have veered out of play, but is an integral part of the team she once admired from the sidelines.

The forward, who football fans hope will be showing off her on-pitch magic on Sunday as the Lionesses’ face off against Spain in the Euros 2025 final, began her journey to the top of the sport in her Essex home town of South Ockendon.

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Graham Thorpe’s care had ’failings’ in last months of his life, says coroner

An inquest into the former England cricketer’s death last year has recorded a conclusion of suicide

There were “failings” in the provision of former England cricketer Graham Thorpe’s care in the months before he died, a coroner has said, as a conclusion of suicide was recorded at an inquest.

Thorpe, 55, died on 4 August 2024 after being struck by a train at a railway station in Surrey.

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US Olympics officials quietly bar trans women from competing in women’s sports

Olympic and Paralympic committee tells federations it has ‘obligation to comply’ with executive order issued by Trump

The US Olympic and Paralympic committee has in effect barred transgender women from competing in women’s sports, telling the federations overseeing swimming, athletics and other sports it has an “obligation to comply” with an executive order issued by Donald Trump.

The new policy, announced on Monday with a quiet change on the USOPC’s website and confirmed in a letter sent to national sport governing bodies, follows a similar step taken by the NCAA earlier this year.

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Ibiza venue cancels music events after deaths of two British men in two weeks

Ice hockey player Gary Kelly died at Ibiza Rocks Hotel as did fellow Scot Evan Thomson, who fell to his death on 7 July

An Ibiza hotel and music venue has cancelled a number of music events after the deaths of two British men on its premises in the space of two weeks.

Gary Kelly, 19, who was a professional ice hockey player for the Dundee Stars, died at the Ibiza Rocks hotel on Monday. His club paid tribute to the “hugely talented and charismatic individual” who “had a great future ahead of him”.

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