Category: Sports

BBC Sport NI will show five Allianz League games in 2025, starting with a big Division One football clash on Saturday as champions Derry travel to face Ulster rivals Tyrone. Joining Thomas Niblock and Mark Sidebottom for the Healy Park contest (18:00 GMT) will be former Tyrone and Derry manager Mickey Harte, who masterminded the Oak Leafers’ league triumph last year. It will be Derry and Tyrone’s first competitive outing with Gaelic football’s new rules as envisaged by Jim Gavin’s Football Review Committee, which are set to be introduced after being passed at a Special Congress in November. Saturday’s game will also mark the start of Malachy O’Rourke and Paddy Tally’s managerial reigns with Tyrone and Derry. Recently retired Derry defender Chrissy McKaigue, who won two Ulster titles with the county, will also be part of the BBC’s coverage this year, joining the returning Philly McMahon and Jamesie O’Connor. The BBC’s second game is Davy Fitzgerald’s first home match as Antrim hurling boss with the Saffrons taking on Westmeath at Corrigan Park in Division One B on 2 February (14:00). On 15 February, Tailteann Cup champions Down host Meath in football’s Division Two with Conor Laverty’s Mournemen targeting another move up the ladder after earning promotion from the third-tier in 2024. There is a double-header of action on the weekend of 22/23 February. First, Derry travel to Croke Park to face Dublin in a repeat of last year’s Division One final, which the Ulster side won on penalties. The following day, the Antrim hurlers are back in the spotlight when they host Fitzgerald’s former side Waterford. All five games will be shown live on the BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport website. Source link

With the greatest of respect, it perhaps sums up where Young Boys are right now when you learn their top scorer is Cedric Itten, whose Rangers career never really took off, with just eight goals in his 48 appearances, though he can point to two victories over Celtic in the pair of brief appearances he made against them in Rangers’ title-winning campaign of 2020-21. One of the issues for Itten and his team-mates looks to be the lack of a settled team as each manager has searched for a winning formula. Injuries have also not helped their cause. So for Saturday’s game, Contini opted to play 22-year-old Marvin Keller in goal instead of stalwart David von Ballmoos, young French defender Tanguy Zoukrou returned from three months out injured to partner captain Loris Benito, who himself is not long back from a lengthy spell out while neither fullback – Jaouen Hadjam or Lewin Blum – has been a mainstay in the team. To be fair, Filip Ugrinic in central midfield has started all but one this season and Lukasz Lakomy alongside him has been a regular since recovering from injury at the end of October. Behind Itten, Darian Males and Joel Monteiro do offer a scoring threat as well as creativity while Ebrima Colley, who also got the nod at the weekend, is still to find a first goal since making last season’s loan move from Atalanta permanent. As Contini tries to mould a team to stop the rot, a trip to Celtic Park where the hosts are unbeaten in five in the Champions League and 29 in all competitions is probably not top of his wish list. Source link

Mark Chapman, Rory Smith and Chris Sutton on the Monday Night Club discuss potential consequences of Ruben Amorim’s comments. This comes after the manager claimed his side could be “the worst team, maybe, in the history of Manchester United” during a news conference. Listen to the best bits of the Monday Night Club on the Football Daily podcast. WATCH MORE: We are maybe worst team in Man Utd history – Amorim Source link

Watch Alexander Zverev argue with the umpire after he halts play mid-rally because of a feather on court during the German’s Australian Open quarter-final victory over Tommy Paul. READ MORE: Zverev earns hard-fought win over Paul to reach semis Available to UK users only. Source link