NEW EURO SUPER LEAGUE PROPOSED
Nearly two years after the collapse of the European Super League, the breakaway soccer tournament that sparked widespread reproach in 2021 before its brisk demise, the tournament’s organizers have proposed a new European soccer competition that may include as many as 80 teams. A22 Sports Management, the company tasked with sponsoring and assisting the creation of the prospective Super League, said it should feature no permanent members and that membership would be based on domestic performance.
A22 conducted a months-long review during which the company said chief executive Bernd Reichart spoke to nearly 50 European clubs and stakeholders and found “the vast majority of them share the assessment that the very foundation of European football is under threat, and it is time for change.
Outlining its suggestions for the prospective league, A22 said it should be “open, multi-divisional competition with 60 to 80 teams, allowing for sustainable distribution of revenues across the pyramid. Participation should be based on annual sporting merit and there should be no permanent members. Open qualification based on domestic performance would grant rising clubs access to the competition while maintaining competitive dynamics at domestic level.”
A22 said clubs should continue to participate in domestic competition, and that the league, focused on continental competition, should increase competitiveness and financial sustainability through at least 14 guaranteed European matches each season.
More soccer
Cristiano Ronaldo scored four goals for his new Saudi Arabian team bringing his career tally in domestic leagues to 503. Four days after his 38th birthday Ronaldo scored twice in each half to help Al Nassr defeat Al Wehda 4-0 in a Saudi Pro League game.
• FIFA announced a
three-man shortlist for its Best Men’s Coach award. It includes World Cup winner Lionel Scaloni of Argentina, UEFA Champions League winner Carlo Ancelotti of Real Madrid, and English Premier League winner Pep Guardiola of Manchester City. Voters worldwide left out Walid Regragui, who led Morocco to the World Cup semifinals. The women’s shortlist is England’s Sarina Wiegman, Sonia Bompastor of Lyon and Brazil’s Pia Sundhage. The awards ceremony is Feb. 27 in Paris.
Winter sports
Canadian skier James Crawford edged Aleksander Aamodt Kilde by one-hundredth of a second to win the men’s super-G at the world championships. Alexis Pinturault finished 0.26 seconds behind to take bronze.
• Yelim Kim breezed through a near-flawless short program to build the slimmest of leads over 15year-old American rival Isabeau Levito at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Colorado Springs, Colo. The 20-yearold from South Korea, performing to the moody piano piece “Mercy,” was fluid through an opening triple lutz-triple toe loop before landing a double axel and triple flip. When her score of
72.84 points was read inside Broadmoor World Arena, Kim first expressed surprise, then clapped her hands and pumped her fists in delight.
Colleges
Texas and Oklahoma are heading to the SEC in 2024 after Big 12 officials cleared the way for the storied programs to exit their league a year earlier than planned. Texas and Oklahoma will leave behind the $50 million each school would have received over the next two seasons under the Big 12’s media contracts.
• The SEC says it distributed an average of just under $50 million to its 14 member schools for the fiscal year that ended last August. Commissioner Greg Sankey says the league divided $722 million of total revenue among its members.
Locally
The San Diego State baseball team was picked to finish third in the 2023 Mountain West preseason poll, as announced by the conference office. In addition, Aztec outfielder Cole Carrigg earned a spot on the preseason all-MW team in a vote of the league’s seven head coaches.
• Behind 21 points from Asia Avinger, the San Diego
State women’s basketball team (19-7, 9-4 MW) won at Nevada (9-15, 6-7) 67-51.
• The SDSU softball team opened its season with a 5-4, eight-inning win over visiting Cal State Northridge.
Also
John Isner extended his record by winning a 499th career tiebreaker. Isner advanced to the quarterfinals of his hometown Dallas Open with a straight-sets victory over Daniel Altmaier. The big-serving Isner won the final seven points after falling behind 1-0 in the tiebreaker. The fifth-seeded American will face Ecuador’s Emilio Gomez, who rallied to oust fourth-seeded Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic in three sets.
• Ten retired players are accusing the NFL of lying and flagrantly violating federal law in denying disability benefits. The allegations are found in a potential class-action lawsuit that was filed in Baltimore. The players say they left the game with lingering physical or cognitive injuries that make their daily lives difficult if not excruciating.
• Katherine Legge will attempt to qualify for her third Indianapolis 500 this year in a car fielded by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.