business

The Rugby Football Union’s commercial director has resigned in another setback for the beleaguered ­governing body. ­Stuart Ramsey, who was ­instrumental in securing a £100m naming rights deal for Twickenham with Allianz last year and recently agreed a partnership for England teams with Apple, will leave the RFU next month for a new role in … Read more

“It’s maddening and sad to think that, not so long ago, women were banned from being fighters,” says Lauren Price as she prepares to face Natasha Jonas in a fascinating world welterweight title unification bout that headlines Friday’s all-female bill at the Royal Albert Hall. But, first, the Olympic gold medallist and world champion pauses … Read more

Arne Slot hailed Alisson as the best goalkeeper in the world after the Liverpool No 1 produced a magnificent one-man show to thwart Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League. Alisson described his display as arguably the finest of his career having made nine saves against Luis Enrique’s dominant team and played a part in Harvey … Read more

Manic March has certainly begun for Chelsea and Manchester City and the packed schedule is clearly taking its toll on both. While Chelsea relished in home comforts on this occasion, registering their 14th WSL win of the season against Leicester, Gareth Taylor’s side faltered and could only return from Dagenham with a point against a … Read more

Raphinha struck a second-half winner to give Barcelona a lion-hearted victory at Benfica on Wednesday as they overcame a red card for Pau Cubarsí early in the game to steal an advantage in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie. Barcelona’s teenage defender Cubarsí was given a straight red card for a last-man … Read more

Dolphins duo Kodi Nikorima and Mark Nicholls have withdrawn from the clash with South Sydney as Cyclone Alfred makes a beeline for the southern Queensland coast. Kenny Bromwich, who was slated to be 18th man, has also pulled out of Friday night’s clash in Sydney. Sean O’Sullivan comes into the side to replace Nikorima while … Read more

Liverpool are fluid. Liverpool are polyvalent. Liverpool press and sit, then strike like jet fighters. Maybe they really are, as Luis Enrique enthused before this game, “a perfect team”. But sometimes, well, sometimes you just need a really good goalkeeper too. Alisson wasn’t just good here in the conventional sense, bullocking around his area like a … Read more

The Lyon head coach, Paulo Fonseca, has been suspended for nine months after his heated confrontation with referee Benoît Millot. Ligue de Football Professional (LFP), the governing body which oversees Ligue 1, announced the ban on Wednesday. Fonseca angrily confronted Millot during his team’s 2-1 league victory over Brest on Sunday. The LFP said in … Read more

Something seemed to break here, and it was not just Xabi Alonso’s proud unbeaten record over Bayern Munich. For Vincent Kompany are cruising to the Bundesliga title and now they are cruising to the Champions League quarter-finals too. They may well sign Leverkusen’s best player Florian Wirtz in the summer, but here they played him … Read more

Liverpool are alive and well in the Champions League when they should have been buried in Paris. Arne Slot’s team did not simply secure a precious first-leg lead against Paris Saint-Germain, they committed grand larceny on a night that belonged to Alisson. Harvey Elliott grabbed a late winner entirely against the run of play and … Read more