On the first day of practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Valtteri Bottas knocked Formula One title leader Max Verstappen off the top of the timesheets, setting the pace ahead of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.
The Finn lapped the 4.3km Hungaroring track in one minute, 17.012 seconds, 0.027 seconds faster than Hamilton. In third place, Verstappen was 0.298 seconds behind the leaders.
Marcus Rashford, a Manchester United forward, will have surgery on his shoulder soon, the Premier League club announced on Friday. Rashford had been sidelined with a shoulder injury for the majority of the 2020-21 season, and he only played a minor role for England in their run to the Euro 2020 final, where they were defeated by champions Italy.
According to Sassuolo CEO Giovanni Carnevali, Juventus, Arsenal, and another English side are in talks to sign Italy international midfielder Manuel Locatelli. The 23-year-old was a standout for the Azzurri at Euro 2020, scoring twice in a 2-0 win over Switzerland in the group round.
Juventus announced on Friday that it had signed a pre-underwriting agreement with a group of Italian and international banks for a capital increase of up to 400 million euros (US$475 million).
The Asian Football Confederation confirmed on Friday that the city of Jeonju in the Republic of Korea will host the two quarter-finals and the semi-final of the Asian Champions League’s eastern side in October. Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, the matches will be played on a centralised basis rather than as home and away legs, with the quarter-finals taking place on Oct. 17. Three days later, the semi-final will take place.
Blessing Okagbare, a Nigerian sprinter, was provisionally suspended on Saturday after testing positive for human growth hormone before the Tokyo Olympics, according to the Athletics Integrity Unit. She tested positive on July 19. Okagbare, who won silver in the long jump at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, had raced in the 100m heats on Friday and was scheduled to run in the semi-final on Saturday.
The 2017 A-League season’s schedule will contain breaks to accommodate Australia’s bid to qualify for next year’s World Cup, and the season will conclude for the first time with the Football Federation Australia (FFA) Cup final. The new schedule will begin on Oct. 29 with the start of the A-League and will last for a full year, concluding on Oct. 28, 2022, with the FFA Cup final.
Both Premier League teams announced on Friday that England defender Ben White has signed a long-term contract with Arsenal after leaving Brighton & Hove Albion. The transfer fee was not revealed by Arsenal, however British media reported that it was £50 million (US$69.53 million).
Villarreal midfielder Dani Parejo is expected to miss next month’s European Super Cup match against Chelsea due to a calf injury, according to a statement released by the Spanish club on Friday. “Medical checks on Dani Parejo showed that he suffered muscle damage to his right calf during yesterday’s (Thursday) friendly match against Levante UD,” the letter added.
The Spanish football league declared on Friday that British footballers Gareth Bale and Kieran Trippier will keep their status as EU squad members in La Liga. According to La Liga rules, each club can have three non-European Union nationals in its 25-man playing squad, and there were concerns that Bale and Trippier’s status would change following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU on January 31 last year and the end of the transition period in December.
The uniforms of Formula One racing drivers are currently available at the following websites for a reasonable price:
