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Temperatures are expected to peak at 46C in Sardinia as a heatwave continues in parts of Europe.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said China was coming with more openness to the debt relief

Scotland is aiming to host the women’s Champions League final, Europa League final or Europa Conference League final in either 2026 or 2027. Hampden Park, which has staged six previous European finals, is the stadium at the centre of one of the declarations of interests Uefa has received from nine different countries for the showpiece events. Final bids will have to be received by February 2024 with the eventual decision being announced next May. The two venues bidding to host the men’s Champions League finals over the two years are Milan’s San Siro and Budapest’s Puskas Arena, which staged this year’s Europa League final. If successful, it would be the first Champions League or European Cup final held in Hungary while San Siro has hosted four, the last of them in 2016. Hampden Park’s capacity is now too small for Uefa’s requirements for a Champions League final, though a record crowd of 127,621 were at the 1960 match where Real Madrid beat Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3. The Glasgow stadium also hosted the 1976 European Cup final, won by Bayern Munich, and the 2002 Champions League final, where Real Madrid beat Bayer Leverkusen 2-1, as well as two Cup Winners’ Cup finals and one Uefa Cup final, but none since 2007. Hampden faces competition for the women’s Champions League final from Norway, with the Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo, and Germany, with Gelsenkirchen, Munich and Stuttgart lined up as potential venues. The other countries interested in hosting the Europa League final are Romania, at Bucharest’s National Arena, Germany and Turkey. There are five possible host cities in Germany – Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Gelsenkirchen, Leipzig and Stuttgart – and three Istanbul grounds in the reckoning, those of Besiktas, Fenerbahce and Galatasaray, but in each case, it will have to be narrowed down to one when the bid is submitted. The Conference League final could be played in either Glasgow, Istanbul, Oslo, Leipzig, Israel – at the Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem – or Switzerland, at the Stade de Geneve. Uefa was criticised for using smaller venues for the first two Conference League finals, meaning fewer fans could attend, and each of the eight possible venues has a larger capacity, of at least 28,000. Read More Confident Rory McIlroy ‘could not ask for better preparation’ ahead of the Open Embracing the limelight all part of World Cup experience for Ruesha Littlejohn Trans athletes banned from women’s events by world cycling’s governing body

Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. declined to confirm whether it plans to invest $10 billion in

Victoria's decision to walk away from 2026 hosting duties could be a "death knell" for the Games.

European Central Bank Governing Council member Klaas Knot said monetary tightening beyond next week’s meeting is anything but

TNT Sports’ football coverage will be led by four female presenters in the new season as it seeks to “push the boundaries” of sports broadcasting. TNT Sports replaces BT Sport from Tuesday, with Laura Woods confirmed as host of its Champions League coverage alongside Reshmin Chowdhury. Jake Humphrey, who fronted BT’s Champions League coverage last season, announced he was stepping back from his role in May. Lynsey Hipgrave will continue to host live Premier League coverage on TNT Sports, having done so since the start of last season, while Jules Breach replaces Des Kelly as the broadcaster’s pitchside reporter. Ally McCoist joins the TNT punditry line-up for Premier League and Champions League matches, which will still feature the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Peter Crouch and Joe Cole. “We do want to be contemporary, we do want to be bold, we definitely want to push the boundaries of what sports broadcasting has been in this market over the previous years,” Andrew Georgiou, the president and managing director of Warner Bros Discovery Sports Europe, said. “It’s a really good opportunity for us to reflect on what’s happened and it’s almost like, ‘Okay, we’ve got a moment in time to refresh and rethink’.” The rebrand follows the completion of a deal in September last year to form a joint venture that combines the assets of BT Sport and Eurosport UK. From Tuesday, TNT Sports is available to stream via the discovery+ platform. UK subscribers with a premium plan will be able to access TNT Sports and Eurosport via the discovery+ platform, allowing them to watch both networks’ live sport in the same place as well as discovery+ entertainment content. The cost of the premium plan is £29.99 a month, the same as was previously charged for the BT Sport Monthly Pass. Eurosport’s live rights include the Olympic Games and the Tour de France. Georgiou said TNT Sports would be keenly focused on the Premier League’s invitation to tender for its next set of domestic television rights later this year. “We are a premium sports broadcaster and our 100 per cent stated ambition is to remain a premium sports broadcaster, and reviewing our rights portfolio to make sure that remains (the case) is in the bullseye of our agenda,” he said. “We look at everything that comes up. Obviously the Premier League tender is up at the end of the year. That is a key part of our rights portfolio and something we’re focused on.” It is understood the new domestic offering will feature at least 60 more live matches than the current deal but split into a smaller number of packages available for broadcasters to buy, from the current seven down to five. Read More Why is BT Sport being rebranded to TNT Sports? Eurosport merger explained TNT Sports reveals first Premier League game after Eurosport merger Leeds gamble on £100m loan spree highlights broken transfer market Football rumours: Harry Kane rules out PSG move, open to Bayern Munich switch France’s Women’s World Cup advert makes powerful gender statement with surprise twist

The £100m spending spree has lost its novelty value. When it may only yield a solitary player, when the biggest buyers’ summer expenditure could be double or even triple that, when £100m was far less than promoted Nottingham Forest paid out last summer, it may not feel like such an extraordinary event after all. But the £100m loaning spree represents an altogether newer development. The dynamic is different, too: the nine-figure sum may reflect the purchase prices of the players being borrowed, not the amounts their temporary employers will have to fork out to acquire their services for the season. Leeds United spent well over £100m buying players last season. The chances are that, by the time the window closes, they will have loaned out some £100m of signings – in terms of transfer fees paid rather than resale value now – this year. Which, in part, reflects the reality they could not sell them all, and perhaps any, for similar sums now. But Rasmus Kristensen, who cost around £10m, has joined Roma. Marc Roca, an £11m addition, headed to Real Betis for the season. The £13m defender Robin Koch has sealed his move to Eintracht Frankfurt. The £18m centre-back Diego Llorente is back at Roma, where he spent the second half of last season. The £25m Brenden Aaronson has gone to Union Berlin for the campaign, trading the Championship for the Champions League. Between them, they cost around £77m of Leeds’ Premier League revenue. Another loan or two – and if, for different reasons, Tyler Adams, Luis Sinisterra, Jack Harrison, Junior Firpo and Georginio Rutter might be expected to either be sold or stay but could yet prove contenders – then maybe Helder Costa and Dan James could take the total over £100m. All of which would reflect a shift in the transfer market. Relegated clubs have long been raided for players, sometimes for cut-price fees, but they tended to be bought, not borrowed. So far, Leeds’ only sale is Rodrigo, a scorer of 13 Premier League goals last season leaving – albeit in his thirties and with a lone year left on his contract – for just £3m. But they have been busier in a newer market: for loanees. It highlights several elements. Premier League clubs have had increasing difficulty selling to mainland Europe for meaningful fees in recent seasons; Championship clubs with footballers acquired for the top flight and caps for major countries stand still less chance of trading on their preferred terms. Perhaps Leeds came to that pragmatic conclusion early in the window; certainly opportunistic continental clubs realise they can acquire high-calibre players for nothing more than their salary and the occasional loan fee. In addition, there seems a recognition that players who signed up for a newly promoted outfit – as Koch and Llorente did in 2020 – or one who had just dodged the drop, as Leeds had when Aaronson, Kristensen and Roca joined in 2022, would not be expected to brave the EFL. With a dramatic drop in income, even with parachute payments softening their fall into the lower leagues, Leeds needed to reduce the wage bill. In some circumstances, it can be more of a priority than the prospect of transfer fees. Leeds will not recoup £77m for the quintet, but there are different tales among them: with Koch entering the last year of his deal, his Leeds career is in effect over; Llorente signed a new deal until 2026 in December, when demotion was a possibility and shortly before being loaned out; Aaronson, a 22-year-old, with four years left on his contract, could yet have plenty of Premier League football ahead of him at Elland Road. If part of the gamble is that Leeds can come back up, perhaps allowing them to inject loanees back into their squad with their (supposedly) greater quality in 12 months’ time, there is also the prospect that if they do not, then they are sent out for a further year elsewhere in 2024 because there are no buyers. It underlines an economy of risk: if some purchases don’t just lose some but all of their transfer value when a club is relegated, the money spent by the bottom-half Premier League clubs is likelier to end up wasted. In the meantime, there is a logic to Leeds’ actions, disposing of players who may not want to play in the lower divisions early in the window, to rebuild around their core of Championship stalwarts, young players and Brits, to giving new manager Daniel Farke something of a clean slate. For now, their squad is looking slender. There is a way to alter that. Because the recent history of the Championship shows one of the keys to exiting it in the right direction is to make astute loan signings – as Burnley did with Nathan Tella, Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Ian Maatsen, Sheffield United with Tommy Doyle and James McAteer or Luton with Ethan Horvath, Marvelous Nakamba and Leeds’ Cody Drameh last season – from Premier League clubs. If the age-old wisdom was to neither a borrower nor a lender be, Leeds may hope it will pay to be both. Read More Harry Maguire’s fall from grace shows Manchester United captaincy is a hospital pass Looking back with pride and forward with anticipation – Friday’s sporting social NBA star Russell Westbrook joins Leeds United ownership group It’s done – Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas take minority stake in Leeds

What the papers say Harry Kane does not want to join Paris St Germain which means Tottenham face a battle with Bayern Munich for the striker’s services, the Telegraph has said. Despite only having one year left on his contract, Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy wants more than £100million for the 29-year-old, who Bayern believe is open to a move to the German giants. Chelsea are hoping Moises Caicedo could help turn around their form from last season but the Evening Standard says it will come at a hefty price. Chelsea are set to make a bid of more than £70million for the 21-year-old Brighton and Ecuador midfielder, who has reportedly agreed to personal terms with the Blues. West Ham’s bid to fill the void left by Declan Rice is yet to come to fruition after their £45million offer for Fulham midfielder Joao Palhinha was rejected, according to the Guardian. The club also had a loan deal for Harry Maguire from Manchester United turned down. The Evening Standard says Brighton are reportedly set to win the race to sign Fiorentina defender Igor, with Fulham also interested in the 25-year-old Brazilian. Fulham had a £7million offer rejected by the Italian club last week. Social media round-up Players to watch Ivan Toney: The Brentford striker will return from a ban from football in January and Tottenham could make a bid for the 27-year-old if they lose Harry Kane, Football Transfers said. Kylian Mbappe: Sky Sports reported the French superstar will meet with the president of Paris St Germain for the first time since he sent a letter to the club declaring that he will not be extending his deal after next season. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

British households and businesses are bracing for UK inflation figures on Wednesday that are expected to keep the

European Central Bank Governing Council member Ignazio Visco said inflation may come down more quickly than the institution

A South Korean fund whose bets on stocks tied to electric vehicles helped it outperform most of its