Sports
WA bullish Serie A game in Australia will proceed
The West Australian government remains adamant that Perth will host a Serie A match between AC Milan and Como next year, despite the cancellation of a planned fixture between Barcelona and Villarreal in the United States.
With the San Siro set to be unavailable due to the Winter Olympics, Italy’s football federation (FIGC) gave the green light for the Rossoneri to stage its Feb. 6 clash with Como in Perth in July, describing the opportunity to bring a Serie A fixture to Australia as “historic.”
UEFA “reluctantly” gave its approval for the fixture, as well as a LaLiga game between Barcelona and Villarreal in Miami, earlier this month. However, following widespread backlash in Spain, LaLiga announced on Tuesday that it had cancelled its planned fixture, citing the “uncertainty” generated by the protests.
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No such announcement, though, has been made on Serie A’s attempts to bring a game Down Under, and the West Australian government remains confident that the game will go ahead as planned.
“The WA Government is committed to bringing Serie A to Australia for the first time and we’re confident in the support shown by Football Australia, both teams and Serie A to date, as we await sign off from the AFC and FIFA to make this a reality,” Rita Saffioti, who serves as West Australia’s deputy premier in addition to being its minister for sport and recreation, told ESPN in a statement.
“Following the success of AC Milan’s recent visit to Perth for their preseason, we saw how successful the friendlies were for AC Milan and AS Roma, and we know that European football has a huge following in WA.”
While UEFA has given its approval for the fixture to proceed, it also requires the assent of FIFA, the Asian Football Confederation, of which Australia is a member, and local federation Football Australia, before it can be officially approved and contracts signed.
Speaking to West Australian media on Wednesday morning, Saffioti, who flew to Italy to help seal the deal to bring a game to Perth, indicated that she believed those approvals to be imminent.
“We’ve had some very supportive comments [on Tuesday] from the Italian league, so we’re very confident,” she said. “Every hour I’m checking my phone, or basically every 10 minutes I’m checking my phone.
“It should happen in the next week, next few days, but that’s why we’re waiting.”
Milan has twice previously toured West Australia in recent years, playing a friendly with Roma in 2024 and local A-League Men outfit Perth Glory earlier this year.
These visits have been part of a significant investment by the West Australian government in sport and major events. Perth is set to be one of the three host cities for next year’s Women’s Asian Cup, it will stage the return of State of Origin in the AFL, and is partnering with TKO to bring multiple UFC and WWE events to the city.
But the plan to host a Serie A game, something Como has declared is about “ensuring survival” for Serie A, has been controversial with Milan midfielder Adrien Rabiot labelling the move “completely crazy.”
Football Supporters Association Australia has joined opposition to the game with Football Supporters Europe, declaring “domestic league fixtures are intrinsically linked to their home territories” and raising concerns over its potential impact on the local A-League Men’s and Women’s competitions.
Superb centuries from Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal powered India to a 53-run win over New Zealand and into the Women’s World Cup semi-finals on Thursday.
Co-hosts India joined defending champions Australia, England and South Africa in the final-four of the eight-nation tournament.
Openers Mandhana and Rawal put on 212 runs as India posted a mammoth 340-3 in 49 overs at a rain-hit DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
The left-handed Mandhana hit 109 and Rawal struck 122 as the pair started cautiously but soon bossed the opposition bowling with boundaries galore.
In reply, New Zealand finished on 271-8, chasing a revised target of 325 in 44 overs to bow out of the semi-final race with a match remaining.
The White Ferns, led by Sophie Devine, have been unlucky with two abandoned matches due to rain in Colombo.
“We are incredibly disappointed and gutted, not just for ourselves but for our friends and family,” said Devine, who will play her last one-day international against England on Sunday.
“Frustrating tournament — would have loved more opportunities to play.”
India bounced back from three defeats in a row to put up a clinical all-round show in their bid to win their first World Cup title.
“Whenever you’re playing at home, everyone expects a lot from us,” said skipper Harmanpreet Kaur. “Our discussions are that the crowd is with us and this is the time to enjoy rather than taking pressure.”
Mandhana and Rawal took the match away from New Zealand during their marathon stand — India’s best for any wicket in the women’s ODI World Cup.
Valiant Halliday and Gaze
Mandhana reached 100 with a single off Jess Kerr for her fifth hundred in 2025 and go level with South Africa’s Tazmin Brits for most tons in women’s ODI matches in a calender year.
She finally fell to Suzie Bates and walked off to a standing ovation from a raucous home crowd. The star batter hit 10 fours and four sixes in her 95-ball knock and was named player of the match.
Rawal kept up the charge with Jemimah Rodrigues, who made 76 not out, to raise her maiden World Cup hundred and the pair put on 76 runs to further push New Zealand on the backfoot.
Amelia Kerr dismissed Rawal with her leg-spin but Rodrigues stood firm and hit regular boundaries.
Rain interrupted India’s innings after the 48th over and it took over 90 minutes for the 49th and the last over to be bowled.
New Zealand’s reply was delayed due to light drizzle and lost an early wicket when Bates departed for one off medium-pace bowler Kranti Gaud in the second over.
Georgia Plimmer hit back in her 25-ball 30 but fell bowled to Renuka Singh’s medium-pace bowling.
Renuka struck again to send back Devine bowled for six as New Zealand slipped to 59-3.
A late push by Brooke Halliday, who hit 81, and Isabella Gaze, who made an unbeaten 65, infused some life into the chase in their sixth-wicket stand of 72 but the asking rate always kept India in control.
India play their final league match on Sunday against Bangladesh at the same venue.
In two frustrating months, the Commanders’ quarterback has gone from a star on the rise to a weekly question mark because of multiple injuries.
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Yes, just like in “Game of Thrones,” “Winter Is Coming” for the Premier League. But in this case it’s not hordes of the undead, it’s a new hi-vis ball so that players and fans can see it on the pitch just in case it snows.
The first time a winter ball was introduced in England’s top tier was back in 2004-05, which we can only assume was a particularly chilly winter, and it coincided with the official time zone switch from British Summer Time (BST) to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) every late October.
Then from 2008-09 onward, the marketing gurus figured that they should probably look to update the ball once a year. And here we are.
So all that means this 2025-26 version is the 20th offering of winter ball, coming as it does in PUMA’s first season as the official ball supplier for the Premier League.
Winter is coming. 🥶
Introducing the @pumafootball Under The Lights edition of the Premier League Ball!
— Premier League (@premierleague) October 23, 2025
The “Under the Lights” edition of the Puma Orbita Ultimate PL will debut on Nov. 8 when Tottenham Hotspur host Manchester United, and as you can see, we’ve been promised “a striking, high-visibility colorway … engineered to shine brightest under stadium floodlights — ensuring every pass, strike, and goal is impossible to miss.” Handy for VAR, then.
This season’s Premier League has seen 209 goals already across 80 matches played, with 11 won by stoppage-time goals — the highest share in history.
We can only assume that having a shiny new ball will help goalkeepers trim this down a bit for the rest of the campaign.
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