Sports

By Ben Church, CNN Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo has become the highest paid athlete in the world, with a move to Al-Nassr nearly doubling his salary, according to Forbes. Ronaldo joined the Saudi Arabian club in January after leaving Manchester United last year and, despite rumors suggesting he’s already looking to move on, the five-time

By George Ramsay, CNN Cycling’s governing body — the UCI — has defended its transgender policy after Austin Killips won overall victory in the recent Tour of the Gila in New Mexico. Killips is the first openly transgender woman to win an official UCI women’s stage race, according to the Tour of the Gila website.

By Thomas Schlachter, CNN The Los Angeles Lakers have taken a 1-0 lead in their best of-seven Western Conference semifinal against the Golden State Warriors with a big 117-112 road win. In a clash that was billed as LeBron James back against Steph Curry, it was the King’s LA teammate Anthony Davis who put on

By Amanda Davies and David Close, CNN Paris Saint-Germain has suspended Lionel Messi for two weeks after the Argentinian’s unauthorized trip away from the team to conduct personal business, according to a club source. CNN has reached out to Messi’s representatives for comment. The source said Messi missed Monday’s training session to attend promotional events

By Matias Grez, CNN Described as “vile” and “unacceptable” and fueled by “the need to hurt,” ‘tragedy chanting’ is becoming an increasing concern to soccer authorities. In England, the phenomenon is defined as the singing of songs about disasters that have befallen other clubs or their fan bases. ‘Tragedy chanting’ has marred a number of

By Kevin Dotson, CNN Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers has been named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player for the 2022-23 season. Embiid beat out the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokić in a battle between three of the NBA’s premier big men for the inaugural Michael Jordan trophy. Embiid averaged

By Thomas Schlachter, CNN The NBA MVP race has reached its conclusion and the winner of the inaugural Michael Jordan Trophy will be announced Tuesday evening. The three finalists for the coveted prize are back-to-back scoring champion Joel Embiid, reigning back-to-back MVP Nikola Jokić and two-time MVP winner Giannis Antetokounmpo. This means that, for the

By Sammy Mncwabe and Ben Morse, CNN FIFA President Gianni Infantino has threatened a Women’s World Cup broadcast blackout in five major European countries over unacceptable offers of media rights for the tournament. “The offers from broadcasters, mainly in the ‘Big 5’ European countries, are still very disappointing and simply not acceptable based on four

By Ben Morse, CNN The Colorado Avalanche’s Andrew Cogliano fractured his neck during a NHL game last Friday and returned to complete the game. The team later announced he is “out indefinitely.” Cogliano was injured in the second period of the Avalanche’s Game 6 of the Western Conference first round of the NHL playoffs against

By Matt Foster and Mostafa Salem, CNN The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has “strongly condemned” the behavior of football fans at two CAF Champions League matches in Tunisia and Morocco on Saturday, it said in a statement released Monday. According to Raja AC, one of the clubs involved, a supporter of the team died

By George Ramsay, CNN Wolfsburg earned a spot in the Women’s Champions League final with a 3-2 victory against Arsenal in front of a record English domestic crowd thanks to Pauline Bremer’s goal in the final minutes of extra time. Playing in front of 60,063 fans at the Emirates Stadium — a record crowd for

CNN By George Ramsay, CNN When Dane Jackson turned around and looked back at the tower of frothing water above him, he could scarcely believe what he had just experienced. The American has taken his trademark pink kayak to some of the most remote waterfalls in the world, but few, he says, compared to the

By George Ramsay, CNN When Dane Jackson turned around and looked back at the tower of frothing water above him, he could scarcely believe what he had just experienced. The American has taken his trademark pink kayak to some of the most remote waterfalls in the world, but few, he says, compared to the Santo

By Thomas Schlachter, CNN Expectations were low for the Philadelphia 76ers without MVP candidate Joel Embiid but, led by James Harden, the Sixers secured a huge 119-115 win against the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal clash. There have always been question marks surrounding Harden’s performances in the playoffs. Critics

By Thomas Schlachter, CNN The Akron General Medical Center, Ohio — the birthplace of the modern NBA‘s greatest matchup and where our story starts. On December 30, 1984, LeBron James was born in that very hospital and, in a script that only the basketball gods could have written, just four years later so was Stephen

By Matt Foster, CNN After retiring from professional football in the NFL earlier this year, JJ Watt is turning his hand to soccer as he and his wife Kealia announced their investment in English club Burnley FC on Monday. In a statement released by the club, JJ Watt said: “When you invest in a club