Club América announced that Mexico national team goalkeeper Luis Ángel Malagón suffered an Achilles tear during Tuesday’s Concacaf Champions Cup win over the Philadelphia Union. The non-contact injury requires surgery and will rule him out of the World Cup.

“The medical tests performed on Luis Ángel Malagón show a rupture of the Achilles tendon,” revealed the Liga MX team on Wednesday. “Our goalkeeper will undergo surgical treatment. His recovery time will be determined by his progress.”

Malagón hit the ground in pain during the first half of the 1-0 win over the Union after sustaining a non-contact injury to his left foot. He was forced off the field on a stretcher and replaced in the 42nd minute by backup Rodolfo Cota.

The Club América star had been a fixture in Javier Aguirre’s Mexico squads, and he had emerged as a candidate to start in goal for the national team at the 2026 World Cup.

“I feel hurt, sad, and with my soul in pieces. Trying to make sense of it all and asking, ‘Why?'” the 29-year-old keeper wrote on Instagram just hours after suffering the injury.

“There are moments in life that are hard to understand, especially when you have always walked a straight line and acted in good faith. Today, with all the pain in my heart, I want to thank everyone and my teammates for their kind words and prayers,” Malagón added.

With Malagón out, Chivas goalkeeper Raúl “Tala” Rangel appears to have a slight lead for Mexico’s No. 1 spot in the World Cup. Santos Laguna‘s Carlos Acevedo and 40-year-old legend Guillermo Ochoa are also options to start in goal for ‘El Tri’ at the tournament.

As for Club América, Cota is now set to be the new starter for the Mexico City side, which will host Mazatlan at home in Liga MX play this Sunday, and then host the Union on March 18 in the second leg of their Concacaf Champions Cup round of 16 series.

Former Michigan assistant football coach Chris Partridge, fired during the Wolverines’ 2023 sign-stealing scandal only to be later cleared of wrongdoing by the NCAA, sued the university, its board of trustees and athletic director Warde Manuel in federal court Wednesday.

Partridge, now the Seattle Seahawks‘ linebackers coach, was fired Nov. 17, 2023, amid the investigation into an advanced scouting operation run by then-staffer Connor Stalions. Partridge was never alleged to have known about the sign-stealing scheme, let alone participate in it.

But in a 46-page complaint filed in the Eastern District of Michigan, Partridge alleges he was made a “scapegoat.”

The lawsuit alleges Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti “presented [Michigan athletic director Warde] Manuel with uncorroborated, second-hand, inflammatory information” that Partridge had told an unnamed student-athlete to “not be forthright with information” when speaking with NCAA investigators.

The complaint alleges that Petitti “threatened to embarrass Michigan by presenting” the information during a pending injunction hearing concerning a suspension of then-coach Jim Harbaugh.

Both Michigan and the Big Ten declined to comment.

Citing unnamed sources, local and national news organizations reported at the time that Partridge had “destroyed evidence.”

Partridge denied all claims, stating he never destroyed any evidence, never had any evidence to destroy in the first place and had only told the player who sought his guidance to “get a lawyer.”

“A Michigan football player approached Partridge, told him he was nervous about his upcoming interview with the NCAA, and asked for advice,” the lawsuit says. “Partridge … advised him to speak with his parents about getting a lawyer and to just be honest with the NCAA.”

In 2025, the NCAA Committee on Infractions sided with Partridge on three separate alleged violations, including the “failure to cooperate” charge reference in his lawsuit, offering a near total exoneration.

“The panel concludes that the case record does not demonstrate that these violations occurred,” the committee wrote.

By then, the complaint contends, the damage was done. Partridge, despite his job with the reigning Super Bowl champions, told ESPN he still aspires to work in college football but the scandal in which he was cleared of any wrongdoing hangs over him.

Partridge, 45, is the former head coach of New Jersey high school powerhouse Paramus Catholic and became a college assistant at Michigan (twice) and Ole Miss.

Partridge told ESPN that the lawsuit is designed to continue clearing his name in the hopes he can return to the college level as a head coach. He is seeking the recovery of lost wages as well as for damages due to the impact the firing had on his professional reputation, career prospects and personal health.

“I always believe that the truth will eventually come out,” Partridge said. “I went all the way through the process with the NCAA and the truth prevailed. And I feel I have to go all the way through the process with Michigan for the truth with Michigan to prevail.”

The lawsuit offers a window into the intense and contentious back-and-forth between the Big Ten and Michigan during the 2023 season.

The sign-stealing scandal broke Oct. 18, when the NCAA was presented with evidence by a still-unidentified third party that Stalions was sending individuals to opponents’ stadiums to film sideline signals. Over the ensuing weeks, additional information came out almost daily, dominating the headlines as the Wolverines steamrolled to a 15-0, national championship season.

Things came to a head when the Big Ten levied a three-game suspension on Harbaugh, citing its “sportsmanship” clause. Outraged by the suspension, Harbaugh and the university sought an injunction.

Partridge’s complaint says that Petitti told Michigan that revealing the new “information was likely to result in the Washtenaw County Circuit Court denying Michigan and Harbaugh’s request for an injunction.”

The lawsuit contends that information, however, was merely “uncorroborated, second-hand, false information about Partridge.”

Regardless, according to the complaint, “​​Manuel offered to fire Partridge and to dismiss Michigan and Harbaugh’s legal claims against the Big Ten and Petitti.”

Meanwhile, per the complaint, “in exchange, Petitti agreed not to publicly disclose the sensationalized information he had shared with Manuel, to issue a positive public statement about the parties resolving their dispute, and to do nothing further regarding the NCAA’s ‘sign-stealing’ investigation.”

Partridge was fired but always maintained his innocence and mounted a significant defense when the NCAA’s official allegations were levied.

Not only did the NCAA Committee on Infractions side with Partridge, but the lawsuit alleges that during the hearing, Manuel told the committee “he was under immense pressure at the time he fired Partridge” and “because of this pressure, he made hasty decisions.”

Manuel, per the lawsuit, approached Partridge at the end of the hearing, “shook his hand and told him he was sorry Partridge had to go through this.”

“My passion is to be a head college coach,” Partridge told ESPN. “That has always been a dream of mine. I’m not going to give up on that just because other people made bad decisions.”

The lawsuit also notes that had Manuel provided proper oversight of Harbaugh and Stalions, none of this scandal would have occurred in the first place, since Partridge had nothing to do with the advanced scouting operation.

It also cites how Manuel’s immediate firing of Partridge is inconsistent with how Manuel dealt with allegations against other athletic department staff members, including former head coach Sherrone Moore, dismissed in December for having an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.

Soon after Moore’s firing, the university hired Jenner & Block, a Chicago-based law firm, to conduct a full-scale review into the culture, conduct and procedures of the entire athletic department after a series of scandals. It is expected to share its findings this spring.

Syracuse and Toledo athletic director Bryan Blair have agreed to terms to make him the school’s next athletic director, sources told ESPN.

The deal is still subject to final board approval tomorrow, and is expected to be announced soon after that happens.

It’s the latest significant move for Syracuse, which in the last 10 days has named a new chancellor, Mike Haynie, and fired basketball coach Adrian Autry.

Blair has been the AD at Toledo since 2022. And he’ll face an important decision immediately upon starting at Syracuse, as he’s expected to lead the search to select Autry’s successor.

He’ll replace the departing John Wildhack, who retired after 10 years and uneven results in the school’s major sports. Wildhack’s final major action as athletic director was the dismissal of Autry, which happened on Wednesday morning.

He inherits a basketball program that hasn’t reached the NCAA tournament in five seasons, with the last appearance coming in 2021. Syracuse’s football program won 10 games under Fran Brown in 2024 before slipping to 3-9 last year in the wake of an injury to quarterback Steve Angeli.

Blair brings a reputation as a fundraiser, a strong football background and comes from an athletic department that won 13 MAC championships in his tenure. Toledo was the first MAC school with a collective and has a full-time executive for NIL strategy.

Blair has worked in the athletic departments at Washington State, Rice and South Carolina in various roles prior to coming to Toledo. He holds a law degree from South Carolina and played football in college at Wofford.