Ukraine great Andriy Shevchenko has thanked the Polish people for their support during the war against Russia, hailing sports stars Iga Swiatek and Robert Lewandowski for their efforts.
An ambassador for Laureus Sport for Good, Shevchenko surprised children who had fled the war with a visit to a school in Warsaw.
The world has rallied around Ukraine following Russia's invasion, with sporting stars and celebrities using their platform to raise awareness of the situation in the country.
On Saturday, WTA world number one Swiatek organised a charity tennis match, where Shevchenko was a special guest, while Lewandowski has been vocal in his support – and will wear a Barcelona shirt featuring the UNHCR logo, the United Nations' main agency for refugees, this season.
Following his appearance in Warsaw, Shevchenko thanked Poland as a nation for taking in a flood of refugees from their European neighbours.
"I want to thank you, [the] Polish people, for being very kind to my country. For hosting us here. For providing all the needs," he said, as per Laureus Sport for Good.
"Thank you so much for your support. Also, I want to thank Iga Swiatek and Robert Lewandowski for taking a big part in initiatives helping my country to raise the funds and support against the war in Ukraine."
Shevchenko also praised compatriot Oleksandr Zinchenko for speaking out against the war, something numerous Ukrainian athletes have done.
"Like many, everyone Ukrainian, his reaction against the war, he stood up and then he spoke loud," he added of Zinchenko, who last week signed for Arsenal from Premier League champions Manchester City.
"He expressed his view, he's expressed his very hard feelings against the war for Ukraine, because he loves Ukraine, he loves people.
"And we did a lot of activities together, we've been involved in a few fundraisers. I know he's a very generous person and he did a lot for Ukrainian people."
Ansu Fati is confident he can return to his previous heights after an injury-plagued couple of seasons for Barcelona.
Fati burst onto the scene as a 16-year-old in 2019, becoming the second-youngest player to feature for Barca in LaLiga and the third-youngest to find the back of the net in Spain's top flight.
He set records as the youngest goalscorer in the Champions League, for Spain and in El Clasico – though his international record has since been surpassed by Gavi.
Fati sat out almost a year with a serious knee injury sustained in November 2020 and hamstring problems limited him to just 15 appearances in all competitions last season.
However, he is confident he will eventually be the player he was before his torrid time with injuries.
"I'm working to achieve it and I have no doubt that with work and sacrifice I will achieve it," Fati told TV3. "Right now I'm not 100 per cent, but I'm very close.
"It's normal that when you come back from an injury you play very cautiously. But that's only the first minutes of the first game, then you forget it. Right now, I'm playing without fear.
"I know where I've come from and everything I've done to be here. I never thought about quitting. I'm very young, and I have my whole future ahead of me."
Fati will face increased competition for game time following the arrivals of Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha at Camp Nou, but he feels such competition can help restore Barca to their former glories.
"We are building a very good team, very competitive. The new signings will give us a lot throughout the season. They are great players who will help us," said Fati.
"We have a very powerful forward line and a lot of competition. It's very good for the team and the players that we can't relax. We know that if we don't work hard, we're not going to play because someone else can take out place. This is good because it will always keep us on edge.
"This is a team that wants to win titles. We know that in recent years we've only won the Copa del Rey and that cannot be enough at Barca."
After spending much of his offseason recovering from a right elbow injury, veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford resumed throwing as the Los Angeles Rams opened training camp on Sunday.
"It feels good to get out there," Stafford said. "Definitely knocking some rust off and feeling it again. It's good to get out there and stress it a little bit and see how it reacts."
Stafford, who helped lead the Rams to a Super Bowl title last season, has rested his arm since February and received an anti-inflammatory injection in his elbow.
Stafford and head coach Sean McVay have said that the 14th-year quarterback will have to ease back into a full workload after taking so much time off.
"It's an interesting thing trying to have a little bit of governor on there, and at the same time, just trying to be as smart as I can," Stafford said. "It's a process. Just going to have to sit there and work through it, trust it. We'll figure it out as we go."
McVay told reporters that while Stafford is on a pitch count, it didn’t come into play in Sunday’s camp-opening session.
"[Stafford] was a full participant today," McVay said. "Like him having as much experience as he does, we will continue to build him up.
"We're aware of what that pitch count is, but it didn't restrict him from being able to do anything today."
Acquired last offseason from the Detroit Lions, Stafford was a key reason why the Rams got over the hump to win their first Super Bowl since the 1999 season.
Stafford tied a career high last season with 41 touchdown passes and registered a 102.9 passer rating, starting all 17 games.
He added nine more touchdown passes during the Rams’ postseason run, including six to Super Bowl MVP Cooper Kupp.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have appeared to have found their replacement for the retired Rob Gronkowski, signing tight end Kyle Rudolph to a one-year contract on Monday.
The deal is reportedly worth $2million and Rudolph can earn an additional $1.5million in incentives.
Gronkowski retired for the second time in his career last month despite having the chance to play another season with Tom Brady, who announced his retirement on Feb. 1 before changing his mind March 13 and returning to Tampa Bay.
In Rudolph, the Buccaneers land a tight end who had 26 catches for 257 yards and one touchdown last season for the New York Giants.
That was Rudolph’s only year with New York after spending his first 10 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, who selected him with the 11th pick of the second round (43rd overall) in the 2011 NFL Draft.
Rudolph earned two Pro Bowl selections while playing for Minnesota, including being named the MVP of the game in 2012 after having five catches for 122 yards and a touchdown.
Rudolph has appeared in 156 regular-season games, hauling in 479 passes for 4,745 yards and 49 TDs.
Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior has underlined his partnership with Karim Benzema as an important part of his team's success last season.
The two were vital to Los Blancos as they won LaLiga and became European champions once again, with Vinicius scoring the winner to beat Liverpool to earn the club's 14th Champions League.
Benzema scored 44 goals in the 2021-22 campaign, second only to Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski (50), who has now joined Real Madrid's fierce rivals Barcelona.
Vinicius was keen to emphasise the importance of his relationship with the France international, telling UEFA Media: "It's always important to have influence in games and Karim always tells me to be brave.
"You have to shoot to score or pass to assist. If not, keep the ball.
"Our connection has been very good and we have been able to win many games together."
In LaLiga last season Benzema and Vinicius combined for 66 goal involvements, with the latter contributing to 21 more goals than he had in the previous campaign.
Benzema's goal involvements in the league won his team 29 points, more than any other player in Europe's top five leagues while he scored 0.98 goals per game, better than any other season in his career.
Since he made his top-flight debut, Benzema's goal tally has been bettered by only five other players, with some calling for him to win his first ever Ballon d'Or after only Kylian Mbappe (60) had more goal involvements than him (59) in Europe's top five leagues last season.
Benzema and Vinicius were part of some remarkable Champions League comebacks in their run to lifting the trophy, namely against Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City.
And the 22-year-old believes the determination and never-say-die attitude is inherent to Real Madrid.
"It's the DNA of this club and of this shirt and it always shows up in big games," he added.
"Some games become an emotional roller coaster. We have players who know how to approach Champions League games."
Third seed Elise Mertens suffered a first-round exit at the Prague Open, while Caroline Garcia dispatched of Misaki Doi in the Poland Open.
Mertens, who reached the fourth round at Wimbledon at the start of July, succumbed to a 6-3 2-6 6-2 defeat to Magda Linette – her first loss to the Pole after three straight-set victories in their previous encounters.
The Belgian got just 52 per cent of her first serves in and won 38.5 per cent of points behind her second serve while only converting one of the five break points she earned.
Sixth seed Alison Van Uytvanck retired in the first set of her match against Dalila Jakupovic, while eighth seed Marie Bouzkova overcame Sinja Kraus 6-2 7-6 (7-2).
In Warsaw, fifth seed Garcia by no means had it easy in a 7-5 6-4 success over Doi.
The Frenchwoman committed eight double faults and only got 55 per cent of her first serves in, but by saving six of the eight break points she faced she was able to get the job done in straight sets.
Polish wildcard Maja Chwalinska was a 7-5 6-2 victor over qualifier Rebeka Masarova in only her second Tour-level tournament.
Lewis Hamilton has backed Max Verstappen to ease towards another Formula One world championship after the Red Bull driver extended his advantage with victory in France.
The defending champion came in ahead of Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate George Russell, capitalising on Charles Leclerc's error that saw him crash out while holding the lead in the race.
That marked the third time in 2022 that Leclerc's Ferrari has retired from the lead and leaves the Monegasque driver 63 points adrift with just one race remaining before F1's mid-season break.
Leclerc took responsibility for his latest setback and Hamilton offered his condolences to the 24-year-old by admitting he was "gutted" by his departure at the Circuit Paul Ricard.
Though he's urging Ferrari to keep up the fight, he admitted that he does not see any alternative outcome to Verstappen successfully defending his crown.
"It's been great to see the pace of Ferrari this year. I'm gutted for Charles, who's been doing a great job, as has Carlos [Sainz]," he told reporters.
"It's not easy though, having that pace and that performance and maintaining it.
"It's a tough job and I feel for the whole team because I know what that can feel like. But they're a great team, and they'll continue to keep their heads down.
"[There's] massive gaps, obviously pretty huge so that's pretty smooth sailing in that space [for Verstappen] generally.
"But a lot can still go wrong up ahead so I would just advise them to just continue to push."
Cristiano Ronaldo is travelling back to England to hold talks with Manchester United over his future, according to a report.
Ronaldo missed United's tour of Thailand and Australia and has yet to take part in any pre-season training sessions, with that being put down to family reasons.
The 37-year-old, who is said to have asked for a move away from Old Trafford, has instead been training in Portugal.
With United back at their Carrington training base this week after returning from Australia, The Athletic has reported that Ronaldo is due to fly into England on Monday.
It is not known if the five-time Ballon d'Or winner will take part in training on Tuesday, but United are said to consider the latest development a positive one.
The ongoing speculation over Ronaldo's future comes less than a year after he returned to the club from Juventus.
Ronaldo scored 18 Premier League goals last season – only Mohamed Salah and Son Heung-min (both 23) netted more – but United still finished in sixth with their lowest ever points tally in the competition.
He scored 24 goals in all competitions in 2021-22, which is 14 more than next-best Bruno Fernandes. No other United player reached double figures in a dire season.
Ronaldo has yet to link up with Erik ten Hag, but United's new head coach reiterated this week that the former Real Madrid star is part of his plans for this season and possibly beyond.
"It is clear – he is not for sale," Ten Hag told reporters on United's pre-season tour of Australia. "I planned with having him and I am looking forward to working with him.
"I am well-informed he also has an option [for a further season]."
United have just two more friendlies to go, against Atletico Madrid and Rayo Vallecano next weekend, before kicking off their Premier League campaign on August 7.
New West Ham signing Nayef Aguerd has undergone surgery after sustaining an ankle injury in a pre-season friendly.
The Hammers spent a reported £30million to sign Aguerd from Rennes in June but he is now a doubt for the start of the new season after being forced off in the first half of last Tuesday's 3-1 loss to Rangers at Ibrox.
West Ham did not give a time frame for the Morocco defender's return to action, with David Moyes' side entertaining Premier League champions Manchester City in their opening game of the season on August 7.
Aguerd was signed after playing a role in 19 clean sheets in Ligue 1 over the previous two seasons with Rennes. The only defenders with more were Wout Faes (20), Marquinhos (26), Sven Botman (28) and Jose Fonte (29).
Across the 2020-21 and 2021-22 Premier League campaigns, Aaron Creswell (18) was the West Ham defender with the most clean sheets.
At the other end of the pitch, the Hammers could well be boosted by the arrival of Gianluca Scamacca from Sassuolo.
Sassuolo chief executive Giovanni Carnevali confirmed at the weekend that a deal was in place, with the transfer believed to be worth £35.5m.
Italy international Scamacca was reported to be set for a medical in London on Monday.
Sekou Mara is hoping to make an instant impact at Southampton after completing his move from Bordeaux.
The France Under-21 international has signed a four-year deal at St Mary's and is rumoured to have cost £11million (€12.9m) when including add-ons.
Mara made 34 appearances for Bordeaux in Ligue 1 – just 10 of those being starts – and scored five of his seven goals in his final seven outings for the French side.
He is Southampton's sixth signing of the window and the Paris Saint-Germain youth product, who turns 20 on Sunday, believes the club will provide the perfect place for him to further his career.
"I'm really happy to sign for Southampton and to be a Saint for the next years," he told the club's official website. "Southampton have given me a good opportunity to progress.
"I'm a young player and I have to work. I think Southampton is the best club for me to develop myself and progress to be one of the best. I'm impatient to begin and score goals."
Mara, who had previously been linked with a return to PSG, could make his Southampton debut in Wednesday's friendly with Monaco.
Raheem Mostert has confirmed he is fit to feature in the Miami Dolphins' training camp.
Mostert has been out of action since Week 1 of last season due to a knee injury.
The running back and his team-mates are scheduled to report for training camp on Tuesday, and on Monday Mostert used his official Twitter account to declare his fitness.
"Wanted to give you all an update," he wrote on Monday. "Yah Boy is CLEARED!!! It's go time!!"
Mostert has been rehabbing his knee since chipping cartilage in the San Francisco 49ers' 2021 season opener.
He underwent surgery in October and signed a one-year contract with Miami this offseason, reuniting him with first-year coach Mike McDaniel, who served as the 49ers' run game coordinator as well as offensive coordinator in San Francisco from 2017 to 2021.
"Being told you may never step on the field again isn't easy to hear," Mostert went on to write. "But when you bet on yourself, your faith, your determination, and modern medicine, good things happen. Hard work pays off! Beyond thankful!!"
The 30-year-old enjoyed his best season with the 49ers in 2019, when he rushed for 772 yards and eight touchdowns with an average of 5.6 yards per carry – the best by a running back with a minimum of 100 attempts – but injuries have limited him to just nine games these past two seasons.
Now entering his eighth season, Mostert is one of three new running backs signed by the Dolphins this offseason, along with Sony Michel, who led the Super Bowl-winning Los Angeles Rams with 845 rushing yards last year, and Chase Edmonds, who rushed for 592 yards and averaged 5.1 yards per carry last season for the Arizona Cardinals.
The Dolphins, who brought back Myles Gaskin and Salvon Ahmed from last year's backfield, struggled mightily to move the ball on the ground last season as only the Houston Texans averaged fewer yards per carry than Miami's average of 3.55 and had fewer plays of 10+ rushing yards than Miami's 34.
Known for his speed, Mostert led all running backs with a minimum of 100 rushes in 2019 in percentage of carries gaining at least 10 yards at 16.8 per cent.
The recently concluded 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene saw the Caribbean region grab the opportunity to represent themselves well on a global stage with both hands.
The region took home 17 medals in total including five golds, nine silvers and three bronzes with Jamaica leading the Caribbean medal count with 10 ahead of Grenada and the Dominican Republic who got two each while the Bahamas, Barbados and Puerto Rico all took home one apiece.
There were a number of standout performances throughout the 10 days starting with Jamaicans Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson.
Fraser-Pryce produced a championship record 10.67 to defend her 100m title and win her fifth in total. Fraser-Pryce also won her second 200m medal in her World Championships career, a silver in a season’s best 22.81.
Jackson ran a personal best 10.73 for silver in the 100m behind Fraser-Pryce and followed that up with one of the performances of the championships in the 200m. She produced a time of 21.45 to win her first global title and become the fastest woman alive over the distance.
Double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah came third in the 100m in 10.81 to complete Jamaica's second consecutive 100m clean sweep at a major championship.
Fraser-Pryce, Jackson and Thompson-Herah then teamed up with Kemba Nelson to win silver in the 4x100m in 41.18 behind the USA (41.14).
We now move to the 400m where the Caribbean women swept the medals. Bahamian Shaunae Miller-Uibo became the first female to complete the world event cycle (gold medals at the World Youth Championships, World Junior Championships, World Indoor Championships, World Championships and Olympics) by finally winning her maiden world title with a world-leading 49.11.
The Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino, the world leader coming into the Championships, followed up her silver medal in Tokyo last year with 49.60 to claim silver once more.
Barbados’ Sada Williams produced a brilliant personal best and national record 49.75 to take home bronze, becoming the first Barbadian woman to win a World Championship medal.
In the men’s equivalent, Grenadian superstar Kirani James ran 44.48 for silver behind American Michael Norman (44.30). This was James’ third World Championships medal and first since 2015 when he won bronze.
Paulino was also part of the brilliant quartet that took the Dominican Republic to gold in the Mixed Relay. Paulino combined with Fiordaliza Cofil, Lidio Andres Feliz and Alexander Ogando to run 3:09.82 for gold.
Staying on the track, Jamaica’s Britany Anderson followed up on the promise she’s shown all season to secure a silver medal in the 100m hurdles.
Anderson ran a new national record 12.31 in the semi-finals before running a wind-aided 12.23 to secure the silver medal behind Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan who clocked an astounding 12.06 for victory after running a legal world record 12.12 earlier in the semis.
Puerto Rican Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn ran the same time as Anderson to take home bronze.
Jamaica picked up silver medals in both the men's and women's 4x400m relays. The men comprising of Ackeem Bloomfield, Nathon Allen, Jevaughn Powell and Christopher Taylor registered 2:58.58 to finish behind the USA (2:56.17) while the women with Candice McLeod, Janieve Russell, Stephenie Ann McPherson and Charokee Young produced 3:20.74 to finish behind the Americans (3:17.79).
In the field, Grenada’s Anderson Peters became only the second man to defend his javelin world title.
The 2022 world leader produced a best throw of 90.54m to successfully defend his title from Doha three years ago, replicating a feat only matched by Czech world record holder Jan Zelezny who won consecutive world titles in 1993 and 1995 before returning to top spot in 2001.
Peters produced an amazing series, registering 90.21m, 90.46m, 87.21m, 88.11m, 85.83m and 90.54m in his six rounds.
Jamaica’s Shanieka Ricketts produced a season’s best 14.89m to take silver in the women’s triple jump behind Venezuelan world record holder and Olympic champion Yulimar Rojas (15.47m).
Ricketts produced jumps of 14.89m, 14.86m, 14.37m, 14.40m, 14.62m and 14.80m for one of her best series of her career.
The region will be hoping for an even better showing at the 2023 World Championships scheduled for August 19-27 in Budapest, Hungary.
Tottenham youngster Troy Parrott has extended his contract with Antonio Conte's team until 2025 before heading to Preston North End on a season-long loan.
Promising 20-year-old forward Parrott scored nine goals as he helped League One side MK Dons to a third-place finish as a loanee last season, and will now make the step up to the Championship with Preston.
Parrott already has 15 senior caps for the Republic of Ireland, and scored the most recent of his four international goals against Scotland in June.
Having come through the ranks at Tottenham, Parrott has made just four senior appearances for the club – two in the Premier League – as he struggles to break into a star-studded frontline, which has been boosted by the arrivals of Ivan Perisic and Richarlison this transfer window.
Manor Solomon has reached an agreement to sign for Fulham until the end of the 2022-23 season, after a FIFA ruling on Ukraine-based players.
The ruling stipulates that Ukraine-based players, who aren't Ukrainian nationals, can suspend their contract with their club.
The 22-year-old scored four goals in 16 league appearances for Shakhtar Donetsk last season before the competition was cancelled due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Another FIFA regulation means that players who cancelled contracts with their Ukrainian clubs cannot be registered before the start of August, but Fulham have stated that they will be applying for an international transfer certificate on the first day of the month.
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