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The Spanish coach Felix Sanchez of Al Sadd emphasized the significant importance of the upcoming match against Al Gharafa, scheduled for Thursday, in the marquee fixture of the third round of the Doha Bank Stars League.Speaking to the media ahead of their 2025-2026 season Doha Bank Stars League Week 3 match against Al Gharafa, Al Sadd coach Felix Sanchez said, "We expect a difficult match. Al Gharafa have started the season strongly, but we are confident of putting in a good performance on home turf and in front of our fans towards achieving a positive result."It's important for us to regain our balance after the first match. I think we performed well last week and showed improvement, and we want to continue building on that to compete at our best in front of our fans."It is important for us to win the last match before the FIFA international break. It's important to enter the break feeling positive. We certainly want to achieve another good result for the team."Al Gharafa coach Pedro Martins said, "Koeman's return to training will give the team greater options. The match will be exciting and difficult against the defending champions. We must focus defensively without compromising our style and identity. Calm and focus are our path to achieving our goals.""Your support makes the difference. We rely on you in difficult moments, and I trust your strong presence to support the players."

The draw for the unified group stage of the 2025-2026 UEFA Champions League will take place on Thursday, in Monaco, France.The same procedures as last season will be adopted, featuring a league phase comprising 36 teams in a single group.Twenty-seven teams have already secured their qualification for the competition based on their league standings, along with the winners of last season's Champions League and Europa League, and seven teams that advanced from the qualifiers.The teams have been divided into four pots based on their UEFA coefficients, starting with Pot 1.Each team will be drawn individually, and then eight opponents will be selected for them via UEFA's automated system.Pot 1 includes reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain (France), Real Madrid (Spain), Manchester City (England), Bayern Munich (Germany), Liverpool (England), Inter Milan (Italy), Chelsea (England), Borussia Dortmund (Germany), and Barcelona (Spain).Pot 2 features Arsenal (England), Bayer Leverkusen (Germany), Atletico Madrid (Spain), Atalanta (Italy), Villarreal (Spain), Juventus (Italy), Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany), and Club Brugge (Belgium).Pot 3 comprises Tottenham (England, Europa League winner), Ajax Amsterdam (Netherlands), Napoli (Italy), Sporting CP (Portugal), Olympiacos (Greece), PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands), Slavia Prague (Czech Republic), Bodo/Glimt (Norway), and Marseille (France).Pot 4 includes Monaco (France), Pafos FC (Cyprus), Kairat Almaty (Kazakhstan), Galatasaray (Turkey), Union Saint-Gilloise (Belgium), Athletic Bilbao (Spain), and Newcastle (England).The remaining four teams for the league phase will be determined later today through the second leg matches of the qualifying round.

Pole vault world record holder Armand 'Mondo' Duplantis will aim to win a fifth successive Diamond League title Wednesday in Zurich, the Swiss city hosting the circuit's finals just two weeks before the world championships in Tokyo."I have to be focused, I can't slack," said the US-born Swede, who has been in electric form, setting a 13th world record, of 6.29m, in Budapest earlier this month."High expectations are better than no expectations. It's a good problem, honestly," he said of the public's perception of the current state of the pole vault competition."It's bringing people to watch us, jumping high."Asked whether the 6.30m barrier could soon be breached, Duplantis played a straight bat."I try to maximise my days as much as I can. And if I feel like that on the day, it's a day that I have the possibliity to break the world record, I'll go after it."It would be amazing to do it here, it'd probably even more amazing to do it in Tokyo."It really is just a beautiful circus act that we do and I think we can entertain anyone anywhere in the world."Duplantis will compete in one of six field disciplines held at a street event on Zurich's Sechselautenplatz, directly in front of the city's iconic opera house.Olympic champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh will resume her rivalry with Australia's Nicola Olyslagers in the women's high jump while there is also the men's long jump, the women's pole vault, and the shot put for both male and female throwers."I'm ready to jump!" said Mahuchikh, the Ukrainian who set a world record of 2.10m last year."I started my season very well. The main thing now is to get in shape for Tokyo," she added in reference to the September 13-21 worlds in the Japanese capital."It's exciting, it's the main competition of the season. I'm going to Tokyo to protect my title."Lyles v TebogoThe remaining 26 Diamond League champions will be crowned in the course of a bumper programme at the Letzigrund Stadium tomorrow.The array of global stars on show includes the likes of Olympic 100m and 200m champions Noah Lyles and Letsile Tebogo.They face off in the men's 200m, with Botswana's Tebogo hunting a first ever Diamond League title and US sprinter Lyles looking to win the trophy for a record-breaking sixth time."With Weltklasse Zurich being the last race before the world championships, I am looking to run something special," said Lyles, who had to be happy with 200m bronze at the Paris Olympics in a race won by Tebogo.Olympic and Diamond League champion Julien Alfred also lines up in the women's 100m, while 800m star Emmanuel Wanyonyi and 400m hurdles ace Femke Bol will also be looking to defend their series titles.The majority of athletes have qualified for the Diamond League finals thanks to points accrued in the 14 meets to date, while a handful will compete in Zurich on global or national wildcards.There is, however, no place for Jakob Ingebrigtsen in the men's 1,500m.The Norwegian, who has struggled with an achilles injury since winning double world indoor golds in Nanjing in March, was refused a wildcard because rules stipulate that he must have competed in at least one Diamond League meet during the outdoor season.He instead heads to a training camp in the Japanese city of Kyoto ahead of Tokyo to fine-tune preparation for a tilt at a 1,500-5,000m double.

The Qatar Stars League continues with preparations for the 2025-26 QSL Cup aligning with modern formats used in several continental and international tournaments. This is part of a development plan that includes raising technical standards, increasing the number of matches, enhancing competition and exposure, providing young players with the opportunity to gain experience, and developing competitions for Second Division teams. To clarify all details related to the tournament, the match system, and the levels, the organization held a meeting with the participating clubs (First Division and Second Division) on Monday. The meeting was attended by representatives from the Qatar Stars League: Ahmed Salman al-Adsani, Director of Competitions; Abdullah Saleh al-Sulaiti, Director of Media and Communications; Ahmed Abdullah al-Sayed, Head of Football Operations; and representatives from several clubs and media outlets. The meeting included the following: - An explanation of the tournament system and the draw mechanism. The participating teams (20 teams) will be divided into five levels, each containing four teams. The process of determining the five levels will be based on the final standings of the teams in the First Division and Second Division Leagues for the previous season (2024-2025). A draw will be conducted to determine the matchups. According to the tournament system, during the league stage, each team will play 10 matches over 10 weeks against teams of different levels (two matches from each of the five levels). The tournament will begin on September 1, 2025. A Technical Meeting for the tournament was also held, attended by representatives of the Foundation, the participating clubs, and the Referees Department of the Qatar Football Association. The new conditions and system were reviewed, and it was emphasized that the first and second-placed teams will qualify directly for the quarter-finals. Teams ranked third through fourteenth will also advance to the next stage, with six knock-out matches played, from which six teams will advance to the quarter-finals. The organizational procedures, guidelines for match-day operations, and confirmation of the home and away kits for each team were also discussed.

Manchester United remain without a Premier League win this season after being held 1-1 at Fulham Sunday, while a Jack Grealish-inspired Everton opened their new stadium with a 2-0 victory over Brighton.Ruben Amorim's United were left to rue Bruno Fernandes' wayward first-half penalty as they were pegged back at Craven Cottage.Rodrigo Muniz's own-goal put United in front on the hour mark, but Emile Smith Rowe came off the bench to rescue a point for Fulham.Amorim is seeking an upturn on a disastrous 15th-placed finish last season, but so far his new £200mn ($270mn) forward line of Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko, who again started on the bench, is yet to fire.Despite an encouraging performance, United lost 1-0 to title-chasing Arsenal in their season opener last weekend and will feel another two points slipped away in west London.Fulham, though, felt the visitors got the better of two controversial calls.United's penalty was awarded after a VAR review for grappling by Calvin Bassey on Mason Mount.Fernandes is normally reliable from the spot, but blasted his effort high over the bar.When United did finally get their first goal of the season it came via a Fulham body as Muniz deflected Leny Yoro's header into his own net.However, the home side were furious that this time VAR did not intervene for a push by Yoro on Bassey.Fulham still managed to rescue a point when former Arsenal midfielder Smith Rowe's run into the box was not tracked and he turned in Alex Iwobi's cross 17 minutes from time.Everton's new eraAfter an emotional goodbye to Goodison Park, the club's home since 1892, Everton are hoping the move to a new 53,000 capacity stadium will rekindle their bygone glory days.Only four clubs have won more English top-flight titles than Everton's nine.However, they have not won a major trophy for 30 years and spent their final seasons at Goodison battling relegation."We're trying to find a way of moving the club on. I think this is a big step forward for Everton," said manager David Moyes.Grealish has so far been the marquee new addition to Moyes' squad and showed glimpses of the talent that saw Manchester City pay Aston Villa £100 million for him four years ago, providing the assist for both goals.Iliman Ndiaye scored the final goal at Goodison against Southampton in May and made more history with the first goal at Everton's new home.Grealish was the creator with a drilled left foot cross that Ndiaye timed his run perfectly to meet at the back post on 23 minutes.Brighton should not have come away from Merseyside empty-handed but wasted a series of chances.Kaoru Mitoma struck the bar and Jan Paul van Hecke's effort came back off the post, while Danny Welbeck spooned over with the goal gaping.James Garner doubled Everton's lead early in the second period with a blistering strike from Grealish's lay-off.Brighton still had the chance to set up a nervy finale, but Jordan Pickford saved Welbeck's poor penalty to round off a memorable afternoon for the Toffees.Nuno no goNottingham Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo insisted he wants to remain in charge after his side's 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace.Callum Hudson-Odoi rescued a point for Forest after Ismaila Sarr's first-half opener for Palace.Nuno said on Friday his relationship with owner Evangelos Marinakis had deteriorated as odds on him being the first Premier League manager of the season to be sacked were slashed."That is nonsense. That does not make any kind of sense," said the Portuguese coach on whether he is trying to engineer an exit from the club.