A record 94,199 spectators turned up to the MCG on Boxing Day and none will forget what they witnessed. By @ali-martin.bsky.social

Here’s this week’s cartoon for @sport.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/football/pic...

Big interview with Zvonimir Boban in Zagreb. On his stormy departure from Uefa, the shame of Infantino's peace prize and why galvanising his beloved Dinamo will be the final task of an incredible life in football: www.theguardian.com/football/202...

'So this is Christmas. And what have we done? The Ashes is over. With two Tests still to come.' By @barneyronay.bsky.social

Jesse Lingard's Korean adventure and what comes next

This year's top 100 male footballers list is out now

West Ham are poised to part company with manager Rehanne Skinner, per @tomjgarry.bsky.social

It’s understood that several architecture firms awarded contracts to build World Cup stadiums in Saudi have been asked to resubmit plans because their designs have been deemed too expensive, and contractors due to start work next year have been told the build will not begin on time

Another year in the can: it's the Football Daily Christmas awards

The UK will formally issue instructions to transfer £2.5bn from Roman Abramovich’s sale of Chelsea to humanitarian causes in Ukraine, telling the billionaire to commit the funds or face court action. By @jessicaelgot.bsky.social

Here for the big questions: which football match were Wham! watching when they wrote Last Christmas?

Another 12 months, another raft of sporting scandals: it’s the Anti-Sports Personality of the Year awards

‘This is the pact, the dark side of darts’s golden age. Take a man with a history of mental health problems, throw him on stage in front of people who have seen him bleed on TV, chuck in some morning pints and a little petty English nationalism, and see what happens.’ By @jonathanliew.bsky.social

'All the things this so-called new era was meant not to be, it turns out we are.' Two long years since Argyle beat Rotherham on the penultimate Saturday before Christmas

‘I have just one question for you …’

Gorgeously framed shots of football training by the Angel of the North? Lee Smith has you covered 📸

The promoters were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should

Lionel Messi’s tour of India has started well, then

'It's not normal to walk into the tornado.' To fans, there was only one Ricky Hatton. To those who loved him, there were many. Powerful and poignant piece by @donmcrae.bsky.social

Chloe Kelly: 'There’s definitely misogyny when women are successful. People don’t like women being successful. People don’t like women being in an environment where maybe you don’t think we should be. We are exactly where we should be, and we’re here to stay'

This is great: Stephen Bunting with @jonathanliew.bsky.social

Gorgeous colours from this shot of swimmers taking a dip in the North Sea at Cullercoats Bay. 📸 Owen Humphreys

Thanks Michael van Gerwen for talking so openly about his painful year in which he dealt with divorce from his wife, his father's ravaging cancer, intense scrutiny from the Dutch media & loss of form. He still believes he can win the world championships next month www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/d...

Here's @davidsquires.bsky.social on Mo Salah and that interview

The story of Lando Norris’s F1 title

‘This is the golden age of women’s sport. What British women have achieved over the past couple of years will shape the next generation.’ Ellie Kildunne on winning the World Cup and much more, with @shattenstone.bsky.social

Mo Salah: ‘I have done so much for this club down the years, especially last season. Now I’m sitting on the bench and I don’t know why. It seems like the club has thrown me under the bus. That is how I am feeling. I think it is very clear that someone wanted me to get all of the blame’

The weather really hates Blackburn Rovers

Solid Christmas jumper game 📸 Paul Currie

The big World Cup draw takeaway, beyond that, that and, er, that …

What an abomination …state of that trophy

Given the event's host, still waiting to learn if it's a World Cup Windup. Either way … it's the draw for the 2026 finals, live with @brewin.bsky.social and @barryglendenning.bsky.social, plus some fellow all-stars over in Washington DC

Our 100 best female footballers in the world for 2025. No change at No 1, four WSL players make the top 10

Revealed: Myanmar junta ‘crony’ (per US state department) Zaw Zaw given key role behind Fifa peace prize

Robin Smith, former England cricketer, dies aged 62

Up the pods

Infantino and Trump. By @jonathanliew.bsky.social

Float like a 🦋 📸 Mark Robinson

Fascinating story from @nickames82.bsky.social: Vålerenga have called for anti-doping regulations to be strengthened after an extraordinary case in which a player from their women’s team was found to have ingested a banned stimulant from rubber crumb in an artificial pitch

England Rugby World Cup winner Abby Dow retires aged 28: 'I feel the pull of my other passion, engineering, so I have decided to hang up my boots and try my luck in a different world'

Tom Heaton interview: 'My outlook can sometimes be bordering on deluded. I understand the optics of it … The logical side of my brain knew that coming back here at 35 was probably more to fill this role. But I have zero regrets. I’ve loved being here.' By @samdalling.bsky.social

The north London derby that was. By @davidsquires.bsky.social

Cricket Australia has insurance to cover for the impact of wet weather, but there is no such safety net for the whims of Bazball. One former cricket administrator tells @jacksongs.bsky.social: ‘If I were an insurer I wouldn’t be underwriting Tests with England’

The WSL is concerned about the 12pm slots allocated by its main rights partner, Sky Sports, after 71,000 people watched TV coverage of Arsenal v Chelsea. Briefer views and social media engagement understood to be more encouraging

Well, wasn't that fun? Oh. By @ali-martin.bsky.social

'England played their supporters back at home, a collapse to 172 all out like waking up to a horse’s head in the bed, only for Ben Stokes and his stable of quicks to deliver a more telling statement of their own.' By @ali-martin.bsky.social

Big interview with Boris Becker: 'Whoever says a prison life is easy is lying. It’s a real punishment.' By @donmcrae.bsky.social

‘Smith insisted the comments “didn’t really bother me”, but apparently demonstrated the opposite by raking over Panesar’s notoriously miserable appearance on Mastermind in 2019’

It wouldn’t be Turkish football without drama and drama is what the hardline president of the Turkish Football Federation has delivered

NEW: Following our @us.theguardian.com investigation, Major League Soccer is reopening its own investigation into Philadelphia Union sporting director Ernst Tanner. The club says Tanner has since been placed on leave. Details here: www.theguardian.com/football/202...