The Algorithm Age

Male sports stars are the subject of sanitised hagiographies all the time – so it is probably unfair to expect more of Mary Earps: Queen of Stops, a slick, shallow profile of England’s Euro 2022-winning goalkeeper. She certainly deserves the praise. Earps is widely regarded as one of the world’s greatest shot-stoppers, playing a crucial role in England’s Euro 2022 win – that once-in-a-lifetime occasion where the England football team lived up to the “It’s Coming Home” hype/nonsense. As her Paris Saint-Germain coach, Mickael Grondin, says: “Very few goal keepers – and I’m talking about men – have that intuition. That’s what makes Mary one of the world’s best goal keepers”. But while there is no doubt about either her talent or her determination, the film nonetheless has the fluffy aura of a puff piece. There is nothing about her abrupt retirement this May from international football, just 36 days before the start of the 2025 European Championship (which began on Wednesd...

Iga Swiatek opened her 2025 Wimbledon campaign with a confident 7-5, 6-1 victory over Polina Kudermetova . The world No. 4 was sharp throughout, breaking her opponent three times and saving the only break point she faced. The win marked another strong showing on grass following her recent performances. After the match, a light-hearted moment unfolded when Swiatek was teased about the number of Wimbledon towels she took with her. The playful exchange added a fun twist to her solid start and reflected her comfort at the All England Club. Her continued success on grass comes on the heels of reaching the final in Bad Homburg, where she pushed Jessica Pegula in a close match . Swiatek said in her post-match interview at Wimbledon : Every time I come back from a Slam, I think I have like 10 friends and 10 family members wanting towels. So sorry guys. Sorry Wimbledon. I don’t know if I’m supposed to do that, though, so…I mean, I have a lot at home. Trust me, I ...

Boycotts, protests and even a hunger strike. These are not events normally associated with the aftermath of winning a World Cup. But for Spain, triumph was overshadowed by controversy. What should have been a moment of celebration - the team's historic triumph at the 2023 Women's World Cup - turned into something else entirely. Instead of celebrating their first major trophy, the squad found themselves at the centre of a sexism scandal. Nearly two years later, the dark cloud over Spanish football seems to have shifted. But have things changed for the better in Spain? And are the world champions entering a new era as they begin their pursuit of a European crown? How did we get here? Just as Spain were getting ready to lift the World Cup trophy, Luis Rubiales - the country's football federation president - kissed striker Jenni Hermoso on the lips. It was a kiss that Rubiales said was consensual, but Hermoso said was not. What followed was a storm o...

Billionaire philanthropist Melinda French Gates says there’s one surprising skill Gen Alpha girls can build in high school to boost their chances of becoming a CEO—and it’s not coding or straight A’s. It’s playing sports. Research backs her up: 94% of women in the C-suite were once athletes. Want to increase your chances, or perhaps your child’s odds, of one day becoming a female CEO? Sign up for high school football, gymnastics, tennis (or any sports team for that matter), pronto. That’s because when it comes to the few women who actually make it to the top, there’s one striking pattern they all share. “The only correlation they can find of women in the C suite, the CEO spot, it that they all played sport—or the majority played sport,” Melinda French Gates recently explained at the Power of Women’s Sports Summit presented by e.l.f. Beauty. “And the thesis is (we don’t know why that is) they didn’t mind failing,” the 60-year-old billionaire philanthropist a...

Billionaire philanthropist Melinda French Gates says there’s one surprising skill Gen Alpha girls can build in high school to boost their chances of becoming a CEO—and it’s not coding or straight A’s. It’s playing sports. Research backs her up: 94% of women in the C-suite were once athletes. Want to increase your chances, or perhaps your child’s odds, of one day becoming a female CEO? Sign up for high school football, gymnastics, tennis (or any sports team for that matter), pronto. That’s because when it comes to the few women who actually make it to the top, there’s one striking pattern they all share. “The only correlation they can find of women in the C suite, the CEO spot, it that they all played sport—or the majority played sport,” Melinda French Gates recently explained at the Power of Women’s Sports Summit presented by e.l.f. Beauty. “And the thesis is (we don’t know why that is) they didn’t mind failing,” the 60-year-old billionaire philanthropist a...

Lionesses star Lucy Bronze could take on Spain's Ona Batlle at Euro 2025 Rumours have recently circulated that the pair are in a relationship together LISTEN to Whistleblowers: Are Arsenal fans right to feel they've been aggrieved by the fixtures? Lionesses star Lucy Bronze has fuelled romance rumours with Spain's Ona Batlle. Bronze, 33, who plies her trade for Chelsea , is currently preparing for this summer's European Championships where she may come up against Batlle. The pair were team-mates in the 2023-24 season when they were at Barcelona having previously been rivals after Spain beat England in the World Cup final in 2023. Between 2020 and 2022 Bronze and Batlle also played in Manchester for City and United respectively. Over recent times, there has been increasing speculation they are a couple, with fans publicly acknowledging and celebrating any potential relationship. However, neither Batlle nor ...

Lionesses star Lucy Bronze could take on Spain's Ona Batlle at Euro 2025 Rumours have recently circulated that the pair are in a relationship together LISTEN to Whistleblowers: Are Arsenal fans right to feel they've been aggrieved by the fixtures? Lionesses star Lucy Bronze has fuelled romance rumours with Spain's Ona Batlle. Bronze, 33, who plies her trade for Chelsea , is currently preparing for this summer's European Championships where she may come up against Batlle. The pair were team-mates in the 2023-24 season when they were at Barcelona having previously been rivals after Spain beat England in the World Cup final in 2023. Between 2020 and 2022 Bronze and Batlle also played in Manchester for City and United respectively. Over recent times, there has been increasing speculation they are a couple, with fans publicly acknowledging and celebrating any potential relationship. However, neither Batlle nor ...