Portugal’s elimination by Spain in the Round of 16 at the 2026 World Cup marked Cristiano Ronaldo’s farewell to the World Cup tournaments. It was a journey of 27 matches and 11 goals, starting in Germany and ending in the United States.

Much of the focus of the Argentina v Egypt World Cup Round of 16 clash is likely to be centred on how influential Lionel Messi and Mohamed Salah will be for their respective countries.

The USA bowed out of the World Cup with a humbling defeat to Belgium, whilst Spain saw off rivals Portugal as we near the quarter-final stage of this thrilling tournament.

The World Cup headed into its third week on Thursday, as Ecuador picked up a historic win over Germany to qualify for the knockout rounds, whilst a rotated USA side failed to win all three group games for the first time.

Wednesday saw the conclusion of the first three groups in the World Cup. Brazil shone against Scotland and secured the top spot, while South Africa advanced to the knockout stage for the first time. Mexico, Switzerland, Canada, and Morocco are also through; South Korea, Bosnia, and Scotland must wait.

Tuesday evening sees the return to action of a confident England team on the back of one of the best wins in their recent history against Croatia.

The race for the top scorer title continued with matches from Groups I and J. Lionel Messi overtook Miroslav Klose, while Kylian Mbappé caught up with him… will he do even better against a certain Erling Haaland in a few days?

Our regular tennis feature, The Base Line, looks to keep you up to date with the relentless and fast-paced nature of the ATP and WTA Tours. Who were crowned champions, who struggled to make an impact, and what moments stood out?

Frans Hoek is something of a World Cup expert, having been an assistant coach specialising in goalkeeping (he prefers the term goalplayer - "Keeping is keeping the ball out of the net, goalplaying is keeping it out of the net and building up") and set-pieces for the Netherlands at the 2014 and 2022 editions, and for Saudi Arabia at the 2018 edition. For this year’s tournament, he’s analysing his home country’s matches in an exclusive column for Flashscore.

It took until the last day of the 2025/26 Premier League season, but Roberto De Zerbi kept Tottenham Hotspur in the English top-flight at the expense of London rivals West Ham.