Sports
Leverkusen Defeat Freiburg, Extend Unbeaten Run To 38 Matches
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Florian Wirtz scored after 84 seconds as Bayer Leverkusen made it 38 games unbeaten in all competitions with a 3-2 victory in Freiburg on Sunday.
Leverkusen’s seventh league win on the bounce kept them 10 points clear of serial champions Bayern Munich with eight games to play in their quest for the club’s first ever Bundesliga crown.
“It was a good performance, a deserved victory. It’s not easy to win in Freiburg but we keep going,” Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso told DAZN before praising the performance of his playmaker Wirtz.
“It’s not just the goal he scored, he has a super game. He has real quality and I am very happy for his development.”
Wirtz, one of Leverkusen’s key performers this season, got things moving in style. The Germany forward cut in from the left and unleashed a perfect shot with his right foot, chalking up his seventh league goal of the campaign.
The early goal stunned Freiburg, who came into the game fresh from a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of West Ham in the Europa League, with Leverkusen to face the Londoners in the quarter-final of the competition next month.
Freiburg responded against the run of play though, with Japan forward Ritsu Doan exchanging passes neatly with Lucas Hoeler to drill a low shot beyond the unsighted Lukas Hradecky.
Leverkusen put their noses back in front before half-time though, with Adam Hlozek tapping into an empty net after a mistake by Freiburg goalkeeper Noah Atubolu.
Patrik Schick put the gloss on another convincing victory for Alonso’s team, with a sensational finish to a scintillating Leverkusen counter-attack.
Jeremie Frimpong’s cross from the right was caressed into the top corner by the Czech striker, who was the Leverkusen hero on Thursday with two stoppage-time goals against Qarabag in Europe.
Yannik Keitel pulled one back for Freiburg but the damage was already done, leaving the hosts in ninth and with European qualification slipping away.
In the final game of the weekend, Borussia Dortmund left it late against Eintracht Frankfurt but eventually secured a 3-1 win to stay a point ahead of RB Leipzig in the race for fourth spot.
Dortmund, who beat PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League last week to set up a quarter-final showdown against Atletico Madrid, fell behind to a breakaway Frankfurt goal by former hero Mario Goetze in front of the Yellow Wall.
But the hosts struck back through Karim Adeyemi before the break.
Mats Hummels’ diving header from Julian Brandt’s free-kick put Dortmund ahead for the first time in the 81st minute, with Emre Can’s stoppage-time penalty adding the gloss.
“We’ve now won our last four games and go into the international break with a much better feeling than we had two weeks ago,” Hummels said.
“We’re all very satisfied to be in the quarter-finals of the Champions League but, in the Bundesliga, of course we’re lagging behind.”
AFP
Sports
Liverpool Legend, Mo Salah Joins Tranzonspor On Two-Year Deal
MOHAMED SALAH has agreed to join Turkish side Tranzonspor on a free transfer.
The Liverpool legend had been a free agent since his contract at Anfield expired at the end of the 2025/26 campaign.
Salah, 34, has agreed to move to Turkey on a two-year contract.
Tranzonsport confirmed that they were in negotiations with the attacker on social media.
The club then revealed that Salah would be arriving in Istanbul on Wednesday ahead of finalising the transfer.
A statement read: “Professional footballer Mohamed Salah, with whom we have begun transfer negotiations, will be at Istanbul Atatürk Airport General Aviation Terminal at 12:00 on Wednesday, August 5 (tomorrow).
“The player is scheduled to arrive in Trabzon on the same day in the evening hours.
“The time and other details regarding the welcome program in Trabzon will be shared with the public through our club’s official communication channels during the day.”
It read: “Professional footballer Mohamed Salah, with whom we have begun transfer negotiations, will be at Istanbul Atatürk Airport General Aviation Terminal at 12:00 on Wednesday, August 5 (tomorrow).
“The player is scheduled to arrive in Trabzon on the same day in the evening hours.
Sports
Infantino Could Have Earned £47m Annually From Abandoned World Cup Proposal
FIFA president Gianni Infantino could have earned nearly £47 million ($63 million) annually if his controversial proposal to sell a stake in the FIFA World Cup had gone ahead, according to reports.
The proposed deal was abandoned following widespread opposition from football governing bodies and member associations, with reports suggesting it could have increased Infantino’s annual earnings by about £42 million from his current salary of approximately £4.5 million.
That would have taken his total annual compensation to almost £1 million per week.
The plan involved raising about £3.1 billion in private investment for FIFA’s Football Future Enterprise (FFE) project. Investment bank JP Morgan was reportedly advising on the initiative, while Thrive Capital, backed by Jared Kushner, was among the investors expected to acquire a 20 per cent stake.
Infantino had repeatedly insisted that “nobody is selling football” as criticism of the proposal mounted.
UEFA reportedly spearheaded the opposition, with its member associations threatening to boycott FIFA competitions, including the World Cup. Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation also voiced their opposition, while England’s Football Association backed UEFA’s position.
The FA called for a comprehensive review of FIFA’s leadership and governance, stressing the need for greater transparency and long-term protection of the global game.
Facing mounting pressure, Infantino eventually announced that the proposal would not proceed, saying the project had created divisions that were no longer in the interest of its intended objectives.
“Having listened carefully to all the views, it has become clear that the project has created divisions of a nature that, regardless of the level of support, are no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place,” he said.
Infantino added that FIFA’s purpose remained to unite and improve the sport, while pledging to bring football stakeholders together and rebuild unity.
Despite the collapse of the proposal and the criticism surrounding his leadership, reports indicate that Infantino intends to seek another term as FIFA president at the organisation’s 2027 election.
Sports
Oshoala Scores As 10-Woman Super Falcons Defeat Zambia In WAFON 2026 Cracker
After loosing to Malawi in there Opening match of 2026 WAFCON cracker, The Super Falcons dig deep to secure a vital victory over Zambia in Rabat, despite playing the entire second half with 10 players.
The Super Falcons stumbled to a catastrophic loss in their July 28 opener against Malawi but put up a disciplined display against Zambia, a tournament favourite, to earn their first three points of the tournament on Saturday night.
Head Coach Justin Madugu made five changes to the side, bringing in six-time CAF Women’s Player of the Year winner Asisat Oshoala in place of Toronto-based Esther Okoronkwo, and Rofiat Imuran for Shukurat Oladipo.
The Copper Queens of Zambia came into the side with a lot of confidence after thrashing Egypt 6–0 in their opener, and it showed from the first blast of the whistle.
A misplaced possession move led to a turnover, with Super Falcons captain Rasheedat Ajibade sending a long ball toward Oshoala, whose speed helped her beat the Zambian defence and allowed her to get to the ball before the Zambian goalkeeper, who saved the initial attempt but was unable to stop the ball from ricocheting off Oshoala for the only goal of the encounter.
It was Oshoala’s 15th WAFCON goal in a storied career.
The Super Falcons went a woman down when Oluwatosin Demehin got sent off for bringing down the Copper Queens’ captain, Barbara Banda.
The game plan changed from then, as the Super Falcons maintained a strong defensive shape and only attempted forays into the opponent’s half on the counter.
In the end, their defensive grit, captain Ajibade’s disciplined play, and good goalkeeping from Chiamaka Nnadozie helped the Super Falcons to secure their first three points of WAFCON 2026.
Attention will now turn to the Cleopatras of Egypt, whom they face on Wednesday for a chance to progress to the next round.
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