Penulis: Agus S

Glitzy Euro squad launch helps the feelgood factor but there are still questions over squad harmony, strength in depth and player welfare

Music thumping, quick transitions, a host of celebrities and inspirational words. There’s nothing like an England squad announcement video to get you in the mood for a major tournament. “I hope you can feel it from the streets to the stands, the summer is in the safest hands,” the poet Sophia Thakur tells us, exactly one month out from England’s first game of Euro 2025 against France.

The slogan is “It’s time to go again” and the squad is announced by a host of big names, from Maisie Adam, Daisy May Cooper and Keely Hodgkinson, to David Beckham, Alex Scott, Bukayo Saka and Harry Kane.

Is the Lionesses’ title defence in the safest hands, though, how strong are those hands andhow much damage has the last week of turmoil done?

Sarina Wiegman’s 23-player squad is pretty much what many expected; Lauren James is winning her battle to be fit and ready, according to the manager, Lotte Wubben-Moy and Esme Morgan have received the nod in defence and the youngArsenal forward Michelle Agyemang is the wildcardpick.

There are gaps, though. Looking down the list there is a lack of experience in goalwithout Mary Earpsand there are only five named midfielders for the month-long tournament in Switzerland and one of those is Georgia Stanway, who has played only an hour of football since December (45 minutes against Spain on Tuesdayevening and15 minutes against Portugalon Friday night).

“We have to announce it as strikers, midfielders and defenders, but you can move players around, into different positions,” said Wiegman. “So it looks like there’s not much depth on paper, but in the team we have enough depth in midfield.”

That is true. James can operate at No 10, the captain Leah Williamson and Manchester United defender Maya Le Tissier can operate in the deeper midfield role that Phil Neville also tried Lucy Bronze in, and Lauren Hemp can play more centrally if needed. However, it is hard to look at those possible shifts as anything more than emergency moves given the weakening that would take place in the positions those players would be vacating.

These types of positional changes are not something that Wiegman has experimented with to any great extent. That said, the loss of Keira Walsh to injury and unexpected switch to a back five for England’s final World Cup group game in Australia in 2023 was hugely successful and brought an air of unpredictability to an increasingly predictable team.

Theretirement of Fran Kirbyand Earps andwithdrawal from selection of Millie Bright, all for their different reasons, has taken a hefty chunk of experience out of the squad and rocked the narrative around the Lionesses in the past week.

In 2022, the air of unity around the home Euros was strong. Players, staff, the public, the media all sang from the same hymn sheet. In 2023 the vibe at the World Cup wasn’t quite as harmonious, theplayers’ dispute with the FA over bonusestaken public, such was their frustration at a lack of progress.

This time thebonuses issue has been resolved, but the abrupt departures of Earps, Kirby and Bright just over a month before the tournament, despite the big differences in their nature, has left question marks over squad harmony.

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After the announcement of the 23-player squad, Wiegman was dismissive of any suggestion of friction in the camp, laughing off any mention of a possible crisis.

“That is not the case,” she said. “We know what’s going on in the team. There’s competition going on in the group, and I hope there’s competition going on. We’re going with this 23 to the Euros now and I feel very comfortable with this team, very happy with this team and I’m very excited. For me, it doesn’t feel like a crisis at all.”

Crisis may be way too strong a word, but the sky is definitely a little less blue and a little more overcast over England. Why did Earps not want to stay and fight, or at least usher the next generation through a major tournament? How did we reach a point where Bright’s mental and physical health have been so eroded that she has had to step back? There is work to be done here. A holistic approach to player welfare must be a priority.

Wiegman was praised by players for her straight-talking approach and for providing clarity on positions and strategy when she first came into the head coach role in the run-in to the Euros in 2022. It is inevitable, though, that that approach will be potentially fractious when the news is less good.

“For me, it’s really important that I am honest and that I treat people in the right way,” said Wiegman. “Sometimes you have very good news, sometimes you don’t have good news, I don’t go around the bush about that. I just give the message, I can’t control how people respond to that. I just hope they have clarity and we can move on.”

The nature of the conversations between Earps and Wiegman, or Kirby and the manager after she was told she would not be going to Switzerland, or how aware Wiegman was that Bright was struggling will remain, of course, unknown. Now, though, it is time to move on. The impact on the defending champions of the last week will only show come the end of July.

Britain’s performance in the Olympics and Paralympics has been transformed, but UK Sport must produce results on its promise of ‘social impact’ from that success

Sighs of relief accompanied theappointment of Prof Nick Webborn as chair of UK Sportafter a lengthy delay and rumours of existential threats from Whitehall’s latest quango bonfire. It is a tricky time to take over as sport hangs in limbo without a strong advocate at the cabinet table as impossible funding and policy decisions are being made.

At the same time, attitudes and expectations towards public bodies are changing as social needs and demands change. The need to justify the benefit to society of funding those who are world class at their sport is greater than ever. Arguably, there can be no organisation more suited to taking on difficult questions and reaching new heights than the agency that funds and masterminds Olympic and Paralympic high performance. So what’s top of Webborn’s in-tray?

There is always the need to check in with the vision, the purpose, theraison d’être. Set up in 1997 after Great Britain won one gold medal in the Atlanta Olympics, UK Sport’s mission was to ensure Team GB produced performances commensurate with the nation’s size and potential with consistent funding to create a world-leading system. In short, to become world class. It was unacceptable to finish 36th in the medal table and no longer a reasonable strategy to rely on outlier athletes to win largely through their own efforts. The best athletes from that point on would receive the best technical, physiological and medical support in return for medals.

The system worked beyond the wildest dreams of its architects, Sue Campbell and Peter Keen, who had never imagined reaching tallies of29 gold medalswould be possible at a single Olympics. Mind you, nor had they envisaged the cultural abuses that might accompany a newfound focus on medals above all else.

Over recent years, UK Sport adjusted its strategy to the aim of “winning well”, but leaders and coaches complain this remains poorly defined, while the clarity of medal expectations still dominates. A mantra of “medals and more” was introduced though this seemed largely to emphasise that medals came first and the rest was rather vague and secondary.

Bringing teeth to what “winning well” looks like – after checking whether the phrase still has credibility across theelite sports world, its athletes, coaches, leaders – feels essential for steering high-performance sport through its next phase. It is interesting to note the energy and passion the Australian system is putting into bringing this phrase to life.

There was a clear and striking vision in 1997 that fitted the wider social context – a different vision is needed for a very different era. The next issue in the in-tray may help. UK Sport has been talking more about increasing “social impact”. Recent organisational changes at UK Sport led to the social impact team being reduced and merged into the communications team, but this area needs to have greater substance, and less rhetoric, to seriously explore what “lasting positive social impact” could come beyond the Olympic and Paralympic medal table.

UK Sport’s strategy refers to “the powerful platform sporting success has to inspire and effect lasting positive change for individuals and society”. Those deeply invested in the current system or who have excelled through it fully buy into this. Yet serious evidence of this happening at scale is hard to come by. Recentresearchshowed that any minor uplifts in the form of increased physical activity or subjective wellbeing during London 2012 fizzled out once the event had finished. The narrative that Olympians inspire the next generation is often fuelled by stories that are told energetically, while on a larger scale, evidence shows that young people are often more inspired by a teacher or local coach than an Olympic champion who is simply too distant to relate to.

In these tumultuous times, it is surely essential to explore how money spent on medals and “inspirational moments” could produce something deeper and longer lasting. Webborn brings vital relevant experience as chair of the British Paralympic Association, which has set a social impact strategy through to 2032 with clear ambitions to improve access to sport and help break down societal barriers for those with disabilities.

Here’s hoping Webborn and his team have insights into how to be more effective than in the past. Sport doesn’t have a great record on changing the lives of disabled people for the better, a point Tanni Grey‑Thompson has been vocal about for years.

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Understanding the need to move on from Olympians showing medals in school assemblies, UK Sport launched a pioneering programme,“Powered by Purpose”, to support athletes to become agents of change for causes they care about, enabling them to use their platforms and role-model status for good effect beyond winning medals, while also bringing to life the theory that flourishing athletes perform better and more sustainably when there is a wider meaning in their sporting journey beyond the scoreboard.

It is a great move but this is social impact one stage removed, effectively outsourcing it to a few athletes without UK Sport holding itself accountable beyond medals. The question for Webborn is how could UK Sport use its innovative talents and peerless determination to explore what lasting social value could come from those medals.

There are no existing solutions as it hasn’t really been tried. The past 28 years have proved that medals can be won without much lasting positive social change. The challenge is to prove that the same or greater levels of performance can be achieved in a way that brings greater positive outcomes for others. That will require a different mindset and belief that says winning matters but is not enough on its own; and it will require a whole different set of impact-focused skills within the organisation.

This will also require a different and much more integrated working relationship with its sister organisation that looks after grassroots sport, Sport England, to learn from their ongoing experiences (and failures) about how sport can be an effective tool for social change.

But what an opportunity for UK Sport, which exists to dare to make the impossible possible. UK Sport’s stated purpose and mission is to create “extraordinary moments” over the next decade. Webborn’s challenge and opportunity is to use the funding and talents of the country to create something much longer lasting.

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Jacob Bethell’s pure talent puts him in high demand, but Shoaib Bashir is the real freelancer in cricket’s deeply confusing world

Bruised skies, sun through clouds, dualism, life in death. Welcome to the bloom of another England Test Match summer, the summer, this time around, of Bethell and Bashir. But of Bethell first because he’s the easy bit.

The battle for Jacob Bethell is of course just beginning. Everyone wants a piece of England’s most thrillingly talented young cricketer. The broadcasters are frothing. The papers want to know whose shirts he wears. Actually the papers don’t really care. Maybe the Daily Telegraph wants to know this at a push. But Bethell is still kind of perfect right now, a future-bomb, all promise and new things, in a sport that is always desperate for these.

Even the words “Jacob Bethell” sound hopeful, the name of a wise young hobbit or a courtly medieval blacksmith. The look is good: Matt Dillon eyes, jaw, shoulders, bleach blond hair for the white ball months, but now puritanically dark for the Tests because he knows where his off stump is and Respects The Game.

This is the wider promise of Bethell. He seems to express some idea of order, a chance to make sense of a deeply confusing cricketing world, out there standing on a hill in Tatooine, twin suns sinking behind him, bringing balance to the force.

The fact Bethell is yet to score any kind of hundred is key to this. Ideally he will never score a hundred, because while this feels hot, progressive, titillating, it is also totally fine because of the shapes and the orthodox mechanics. Bethell has the modern sex-stuff, the slogs and the dinks. He also has check drives and a perfectly aligned defence. He left the ball a lot in New Zealand and people got husky and brave and pretended to have things in their throat.

In this context having Bethell in England’s Test match top five feels like a weapon of reactionary consensus. The logic goes: I like Jacob Bethell, and therefore I also understand and feel comfortable with modernity and new things.

You might worry that this image of Jacob Bethell is conjured out of need, a way of making rock and roll acceptable to the squares, like a record company has manufactured a fake punk band with a lead singer called Dave Dangerous, who actually do good old-fashioned tunes you can hum along to.

Of course you like Jacob Bethell grandad. But can you handle a jazzed-up 14-year-old who plays the kung fu uppercut to every ball? Can you handle an impact No 8 and left-arm filth-master called Yooskens Van De Wild (answer: no)? The point is, we have a golden hobbit with a high elbow. And maybe the world is still good.

There is no sense of blame here. No one should feel bad about being unable to navigate this state of format-confusion, because cricket is basically an insane landscape now, dying but furiously alive, stocked with talent but criss-crossed with illusory pathways.

Virat Kohli wins the IPL then rages about the primacy of Tests. People in England and Australia still prefer the dying stuff, no matter how hard the hard-sell. Even writing a newspaper column about Test cricket feels a bit subversive. Fine, but will anyone notice it on the internet? (Answer: yes but make sure you get Matt Dillon in high up for the SEO.)

And by now even the cross-format Player Of Hope is probably an illusion. The best versions, Kohli, AB de Villiers, David Warner, tended to come from that generation where you still had time to learn hard technique then expand from there. Whereas these days the world is a deeply confusing place for a talented young cricketer.

Jake Fraser-McGurk, for example, came grooving on to the scene looking like a hoverboard pilot, all shape, hands, mullet, talent, but averages 14 since last year’s IPL and has now taken a step back to try and remember what cricket actually is. The most recent Unity Player for England, Jofra Archer, was ruined by having to bowl 42 pointless overs in one innings in New Zealand and is now basically a collection of broken china wheeled out on to the field on a trolley every six months.

It seems likely Bethell will be able to exist across this world because he is just pure, fluid, fungible talent. For now it is probably more interesting to talk about Shoaib Bashir, who was also picked in England’s first Test squad this week, who is also 21 years old, and who is the exact opposite of Bethell, the opposite of the unity player, a mono-format, old-tech red-ball bowler, out there plonking away on his harpsichord and just hoping somebody wants to listen. Can he have a future too?

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There are plenty of cricket watchers who won’t approve of the Bashir selection. He hasn’t earned it on hard county numbers. It feels very Baz, very boys club. Bashir was picked initially off a social media clip, picked on release point, height, arms.

Do England even need a spinner? And is Bashir good enough if they do? Answering this must be balanced against lousy county figures, against 50 Test wickets, the fact at his best he gets both dip and rip, the fact Stokes actually seems to enjoy captaining him and understand how to do it.

But the idea he is some favoured princeling also doesn’t really stand up. Bashir ground his way up through the Surrey age groups, hard-working, totally focused, but basically out of of time because Surrey didn’t have any real interest in orthodox right-arm spin. He didn’t take the message, didn’t go away, took every trial he could.

And now he’s out there engaged in one of the strangest of Test careers, proving himself at England level to earn the step down to county cricket, with no parachute or pathway, just the current summer and if he’s lucky an Ashes gig where he might well end up a cautionary anecdote or a youtube clip with laughter emojis next to it.

There is a kind of category mistake here. Franchise cricket will tell you it’s the opposite of the old, safe grind. In reality that life is its own kind of treadmill, a blur of colour, noise, content, flown from one bubble to the next, a comfort zone of junk cricket, fireworks on top of fireworks.

Bethell can play in this world as long as he chooses now. Opportunities will thrust themselves into his hands. But Bashir is the real freelancer here, a cricketer struggling to bloom in a living, dying major sport, for whom every ball matters, every off-break this summer a referendum on his own future. It is by far the more perilous of these two paths. Do or die, in a thing that we’re told is dying. It feels like actual, high-jeopardy sport.

Either way the Test grounds will be full again in June and July. Jacob Bethell under bruised skies scratching his way to 17 in two hours against a rampant Jasprit Bumrah: this is basically the sporting summer, a perfect little square of light, a sense of old stuff working, like noticing that bees still exist.

But perhaps there might still be a place too for specialists, for twin codes, for an off-spinner who gives it a straight rip, who provides a note of quietly artful variation, who could no longer have a career once Stokes retires; but who is also doing something a little wild and brave out there, walking the finest of lines, and whose fate is in many ways the more gripping.

Organisation’s former president has no regrets over what was lowest grossing film in US history when released a decade ago

There are movies that bomb at the box office. And then there is theFifabiopic United Passions, starring Tim Roth, Sam Neill and Gérard Depardieu, which was hit with the cinematic equivalent of a thermonuclear strike when it opened in the US 10 years ago this week.

You might remember the fallout; the fact it took only$918 (£678) in its opening weekend, making it the lowest grossing film in US history at the time, and the stories detailing how two people bought tickets to see it in Philadelphia, and only one in Phoenix, before it was pulled by distributors.

Then there were the reviews. “As cinema it is excrement,” Jordan Hoffman wrote in the Guardian. “As proof of corporate insanity it is a valuable case study. United Passions is a disgrace.” Admittedly, there was never going to be a good time to launch 109 minutes of soft-sheen history and propaganda about Jules Rimet, João Havelange and Sepp Blatter. But when14 Fifa members were indicted on corruption chargesjust days before the $26m (£19m) film’s US release, the film became a byword for hubris and excess. Only in Russia, where it made £140,000 at the box office, did it muster any sort of audience. Although what they made of Neill’s attempt at Havelenge’s accent, which veered wildly between Brazil, New Zealand and Ireland, is anyone’s guess.

The 10th anniversary seemed like the perfect time for me to grit my teeth and watch United Passions for the first time. I also hoped that those involved might have got over their collective embarrassment and would be prepared to talk about it. Was it really the worst sports movie in history? Worse than Rocky V? Or the Love Guru, which starred Mike Myers as a bearded Indian whose task, in thewords of the Observer’s then critic Philip French, “is to counsel a black ice-hockey star whose wife has run off with a French Canadian goalkeeper known as “Le Coq” for the prodigious size of his membrum virile”.

Having watched it, I can say that United Passions really is right up there. The script feels like it was written by a 2015 version of ChatGPT that has been programmed to hate the English, who come across as universally pompous. The dodgy stuff in Fifa’s history is danced around, or ignored. And some of it is so cringey it makes you gasp. At one point, for instance, Blatter expresses his fears over the 1978 World Cup in Argentina because the military government is murdering its opponents. “Who cares,” Havelange replies. “During the World Cup they only dream of one thing, that ball. Because football brings consolation to all tragedies and sorrows!” That is the same Havelange who took millions in bribes and kickbacks from Fifa’s deals withthe marketing company ISL.

In fact, United Passions is so comically awful the Internet Movie Database gives it 2.1 out of 10, a ranking so dismal it would qualify for its worst 100 films of all time list if it had the 10,000 votes needed to qualify.

When the film came out Roth, who plays Blatter, admitted: “This is a role that will have my father turning in his grave,” before confessing he did it only to put his kids through college. You can fault his performance, but not his honesty. A decade on, however, few others want to revisit it. The publicist sent me a lovely email but didn’t remember many specifics. An ex-Fifa employee jokingly referred to the film as a “blockbuster” but had only vague memories of its genesis. Fifa, meanwhile, didn’t want to comment.

The only exception? Blatter himself. When I spoke to his official spokesperson, Thomas Renggli, he asked me to fire over a few questions. A day later, he came back with the replies. “Obviously the movie was not a success,” Blatter, who turns 90 next year, told me. “A movie about Fifa is always controversial, so for me it was not a surprise that the opinions were so different in Russia and in the US.”

Blatter also insisted that the concept of United Passions had not come from him and, contrary to internet rumour, he had not tinkered with the script to make himself the hero. “The idea came up after there was a small movie called Goal,” he said. “And in this environment, the Fifa management brought up the idea of producing a big movie. It was definitely not only me behind it. And concerning my part in the production, I was only an adviser. I was not involved in the script.”

Which is just as well, because it is bad. Really, really bad. A few minutes into the film, for instance, Rimet tries to get Football Association bigwigs to join Fifa while speaking to them at half-time during a game. “Our boys are two goals down gentlemen!” Rimet is told. “There are things much more important than life and death. There is football. And at half-time things are deadly serious!”

Blatter also insisted he was OK with how the film turned out, but Renggli told me that there was befuddlement when it was shown to Fifa employees before its premiere at the Cannes film festival. “We were all sitting there in this big auditorium and everybody was thinking, ‘what do they want to tell us with this film?’ To me it did not make sense at all.”

There are some, of course, who think Fifa will be making another expensive mistake in the US this weekend when it launches its 32-team Club World Cup. The early signs are not positive, with tickets for the opening game between Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami and Al Ahly going for $55 – 16% of the original asking price of $349.

There are also concerns with player welfare, given the increase in the number of games and Blatter, who was recentlycleared of fraud by a Swiss court, is not a fan of the tournament, or next year’s expanded 48-team World Cup. “Havelange once told me that I made a monster when I created this wedding between TV and football,” he told me. “But now it’s all too much. There are too many games. And too many teams in the tournaments. Sooner or later, we will have 128 teams, like in a tennis grand slam.”

And whatever you think of Blatter, or indeed United Passions, it is hard to disagree too much with those sentiments.

Flanker Ted Hill has been called ‘a freak’ by his captain as the 26-year-old waits for another chance with England

Is it a bird or a plane? No, it’s probably “SuperTed”. If Bath win this year’sPremiershipfinal the chances are their rangy, athletic flanker Ted Hill will have played a prominent role. This week his captain, Ben Spencer, called him a “freak” and various seasoned judges have compared him with illustrious former back-rowers ranging from Kieran Read and Jerome Kaino to Pierre Spies and Tom Croft.

During this year’s Six Nations Maro Itoje suggested similarities between the 26-year-old and “Captain America or Superman” and suggested he was “a man carved out of Greek stone”. Bath’s head coach, Johann van Graan, believes likewise. “I think he’s one of the best players in the league and his athletic ability is special. There’s not a lot he can’t do, really.”

So you might have expected this standout performer – even the backs agree he is the quickest member of Bath’s talented squad – to have represented England on multiple occasions since his debut off the bench against Japan in 2019. In fact he has just four caps, all as a replacement and totalling 49 minutes, and has yet to start a Test after six years of national-squad involvement.

Injuries and the intense competition for back-row places have both played their part but Hill’s family – and particularly his mum, Jan – have long since felt their boy deserves more of a chance. As Hill says: “It’s beyond fair to say they think I should have started for England before now. But that’s parents, isn’t it? They’re my biggest supporters and seeing it from their point of view is sometimes difficult. They’re always more emotional about it than I am.”

Hill’s own view, with England due to tour Argentina and the United States next month, is that he is better off focusing on things he can control. “I’ve always been of the mindset that coaches have their opinions. Who they like, who they don’t like. I feel like I do have a different game to a lot of the 6s in the country but I’m in a position where there is more depth than anywhere else. That’s a blessing for England but it can be a curse for an individual.”

Hill could not have done much more to nudge the selectors this year. He even managed to catch the incredibly swift Adam Radwan last month and pulled off another remarkable cover tackle to stop the rampaging Kalaveti Ravouvou in Bath’s semi-final win over Bristol. The startled gasps from the commentary box, though, have been prompting some wry amusement in the Hill family. “It’s something my mum and dad find funny. ‘Have they only just found out that you’re quick?’”

Allied to his defensive work rate and lineout ability, the former Worcester captain also has a thoughtful side: the son of a police officer and an art teacher, he was a choirboy in Worcester Cathedral and is fascinated by history. Off the field he is not the world’s fastest driver – “My missus always says to me: ‘Why are you in the slow lane, why can’t you speed up a bit?’” – but things are very different on the field. “I’ve definitely got a competitive, stubborn edge to me. I think I should be playing and involved in the England stuff. You’ve got to have that confidence that you’re better than this or that person. But you’ve also got to have the realism to understand that sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn’t.

“What will be will be. If they pick me they pick me. If they don’t I’m not going to be sitting in the corner crying about it. Luckily I’ve got great people around me. I don’t necessarily have to bank on one person’s opinion to make me happy. I’m in a good spot with that.”

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Perhaps his time will come in the not-too-distant future given the value of versatile players who can operate as a forward or a back. As Van Graan said this week: “I predict somebody will go 8-0, or 4-4, on the bench at some stage.”

For the time being, though, the 6ft 5in Hill is having to settle for burning off his mates in training – “I’ve been racing Alfie Barbeary but he’s been having a 10-metre head start” – before the big showdown withLeicester. “The biggest thing is how quickly we can find some momentum and get that feeling where we look at each other and go: ‘We’re here now, we’re in it.’ When we get on that level of togetherness we feel like we’re tough to beat.”

From bloody noses to body-check complaints, the league’s physicality is under the microscope. But players and historians say the toughness isn’t new – we’re just finally watching

Last July, Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson took a shot to the face from Seattle’s Nneka Ogwumike that left her nose gushing. Wilson later said she’d never seen so much of her own blood. It didn’t affect her game too much though: she finished with 24 points and 20 rebounds,telling reportersof the jab, “I think it made me great.”

When Caitlin Clark entered the league in the same season and was almost immediately swattedaround like a fruit flyby veterans with years of experience and plenty of size on her, she didn’t complain (though many of her fans sure did). Clark came back this seasonbigger and better, delivering her own message to the veterans who knocked her around as a rookie.

Wilson and Clark’s stories came to mind after Kelsey Plumlit into the refsafter the Los Angeles Sparks’ loss to the Golden State Valkyries on Monday night. “I got scratches on my face, I got scratches on my body, and these guards on the other team get these ticky-tack fouls, and I’m sick of it. I get fouled like that on every possession,” she said.Plum likely had a point – the Valkyries had few other ways to slow her – but her frustration tapped into a broader narrative.

This season is young and has already been dogged by complaints that the league is too physical (whatever that means), complaints that boggle the mind when one considers the way theWNBAhas always been played.

“Physicality hasalwaysbeen a WNBA thing,” says Jordan Robinson, who hosts The Women’s Hoop Show alongside Sheryl Swoopes, and is writing a book on the history of women’s basketball. “It’s a sports thing! It’s been a women’s basketball thing since the beginning.” The first recorded women’s basketball game was in 1892 – and by all accounts, it wastough.

People in 1892 were “surprised at women playing basketball in general”, she says, “and later in the 1920s were appalled that women were playing a physical sport – and then! – on top of that, they were aggressive.”

At various points in history, women’s courts were divided into sections. The thinking was that it would keep players from sweating too much or using too much energy, Robinson says. The women’s game didn’t even include unlimited dribbling until the 1960s, out of a head-scratching belief that the players would get too tired.

The idea that the women’s game isn’t, or shouldn’t be, physical confounds the mind, longtime WNBA reporter and author of Becoming Caitlin Clark,Howard Megdal, says. “This is a league of skill and strength and speed – it’s amazing – and to me, that is a great thing. This is something I enjoy.” In other words, a WNBA without physical confrontation is a WNBA that far fewer fans would actually want to watch.

Robinson agrees. “When I watch the WNBA, when I watch professional athletes at the very top of their craft, I see competitors, point blank,period.” To Plum’s point about the fouls called (or not called) during Monday’s game, Robinson says, “What she’s saying is, ‘I’m going to bulldoze through you if I have to, but, hey, there are actually rules in place so I don’t get hurt.’”

Anyone who believes the WNBA has somehow ramped up the physicality only in recent years needs only look back on the league’s history. South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley is known forher fiery sideline responsesduring crucial games, responses that she certainly displayed when she was in the W. Staley, her former Houston Comets teammate Tina Thompsononce said, “play[ed] with an unbelievable toughness” due to her 5ft 6in size.

If anything, the physical nature of the WNBA hasdecreasedin recent years as more player protections and rules have been put into place. In an interview withSports Seriouslythis week, Diana Taurasi attributed the increased attention on physicality to “more eyeballs on the game” but added that players who have been in the league for a decade or more would agree it’s “less physical” than ever before.

Swoopes would likely agree. During her 10th season in the league in 2006, the longtime Comets great referenced the very problem that’s still being discussed today. “As far as the physicality of it, I’m glad I’m not a referee because you just never know. Sometimes they’re calling every little bitty thing and you’ve got people complaining about that, ‘Because that’s not what the fans want to see,’”she saidat the time. “Now, it’s very physical and people are complaining about that, ‘It’s too physical. That’s not what the coaches want; that’s not what the players want.’ So you’ve gotta give and take. You’ve got to give a little and take a little.”

If hard contact makes some fans uncomfortable, maybe it’s time they found another pastime. Of course, one would be hard-pressed to find a professional women’s sport that isn’t just as physical (or even more physical) than the WNBA; American soccer star Heather O’Reillyonce praisedAbby Wambach as her “dream player” after the latter had her head stapled back togetherwhile still on the pitch. Even a sport that’s often considered “feminine” can demand a perseverance and grid that would test the hardest NFL player (just ask gymnast Kerri Strug).

Or maybe it’s time for women’s basketball fans to leap into 2025, a moment in space and time in which we recognize professional female athletes go just as hard as their male counterparts – and we can finally stop wringing our hands and enjoy every aspect of the game, even the hits.

The Indiana Pacers star spent most of the Paris Olympics on the USA bench. This postseason he has become a ruthless stealer of dreams

Self-awareness may be Tyrese Haliburton’s greatest attribute. That was obvious at last summer’s Olympics as the 25-year-old All-Star was confined to the Team USA bench.

Instead of hitting out at online fans who kept tabs on Indiana Pacers star’s smiles, high fives and other displays of team spirit to make up for his lack of on-court statistics, Haliburton seized on the chance to dunk on himself. After the US pipped France in the final, Haliburtonposted a selfie with his gold medal. “When you ain’t do nun on the group project and still get an A,” he wrote.

Best-of-seven-games series. All times US eastern time (EDT).

Thu 5 JunGame 1:Pacers 111, Thunder 110

Sun 8 JunGame 2:Thunder 123, Pacers 107

Wed 11 JunGame 3:Pacers 116, Thunder 107

Fri 13 JunGame 4:Thunder 111, Pacers 104

Mon 16 JunGame 5: Pacers at Thunder, 8.30pm

Thu 19 JunGame 6: Thunder at Pacers, 8.30pm

Sun 22 JunGame 7: Pacers at Thunder, 8pm*

In the US, all games will air on ABC. Streaming options include ABC.com or the ABC app (with a participating TV provider login), as well as Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, fuboTV, DIRECTV STREAM, and Sling TV (via ESPN3 for ABC games). NBA League Pass offers replays, but live finals games are subject to blackout restrictions in the US.

In the UK, the games will be available on TNT Sports and Discovery+. As for streaming, NBA League Pass will provide live and on-demand access to all Finals games without blackout restrictions.

In Australia, the games will broadcast live on ESPN Australia. Kayo Sports and Foxtel Now will stream the games live, while NBA League Pass will offer live and on-demand access without blackout restrictions.

This year, however, Haliburton has proved that he’s no joke. His late-game heroics are the main reason why the Indiana Pacersare just two wins from the NBA title. Time and again during these playoffs Haliburton has snatched the Pacers back from what had looked like certain defeat – and with every M Night Shyamalan twist he orchestrates on court, he shows that no moment is ever too big for him.

Where another player might struggle to addoneclutch playoff bucket to his highlight reel, Haliburton has made a game-tying or game-winning shot inevery round of this year’s postseason– a heady accomplishment only Reggie Miller, Haliburton’s Pacers archetype, can match. In the first round against Milwaukee, Haliburton beat Giannis Antetokounmpo for a layup to steal Game 5 in overtime and close the series. Late in Game 2 of the conference semi-finals versus Cleveland, Haliburtonsank a three-pointer off his own missed free-throwto stun the home crowd and take a 2-0 series lead. In the opening game of the conference finals, Haliburton not onlybounced in a buzzer-beater twoto force overtime against New York. He celebrated by grabbing his neck and reprisingMiller’s notorious choking gesturefrom the 1994 conference finals series, triggering Knicks fans all over again as Miller looked on approvingly. Then, in the Game 1 victory over the Thunder in the NBA finals, the Pacers achieved their only lead when Haliburtonhit the game’s last shotwith 0.3 seconds left to cap his team’s fifth comeback while trailing by 15 points or more these playoffs – the most since Miller’s Pacers stormed through the brackets in 1998.

Counting the regular season and the playoffs this year, Haliburton is a robust 86.7% onshots taken inside the final two minutes(including overtime) to tie or take the lead. The same fans who once joked about Haliburton’s smiles-per-game at the Olympics have shifted to likening his uncanny talent forupending win-probability trend linesto basketball terrorism. Nicknames for Haliburton on social media include The Haliban and, when he beat Thunder in Game 1 of the finals,Himothy McVeigh, a play onthe Oklahoma City bomber(It should go without saying that such wordplay is in questionable taste.)

All of this has put the league, already under fire for itsmuted NBA finals spectacle, in the unfortunate position of having toastroturfanother Haliburton nickname, The Moment, in hopes of stopping the more charged ones from spreading further. (Newsflash: it hasn’t caught on with fans.) That Haliburton has suddenly emerged as the man for the moment is a development few outside Indianapolis saw coming. At the Olympics, Haliburton struggled to break a Team USA point guard rotation that included all-time great shooter Steph Curry and Derrick White, the freshly minted NBA champion from the Boston Celtics.

Altogether, Haliburton sat out three of six games and played 26 total minutes in Paris – the fewest of anyone on the team. Speaking to ESPN’s Jamal Collierlast month, he’d call his Olympic experience an “ego check” and said the online jokes hurt. (The smile, it turns out, was just a cover.) “It got to the point where all that conversation was weighing on me in a negative way for the first time in my life, which was weird,” Haliburton said. “Basketball has always made me happy. And for the first time I wasn’t happy.” Adding to the insults: Haliburton was nursing a hamstring injury suffered during a Cinderella run through the 2024 playoffs that was cut short when the top-seeded Celtics swept the sixth-seeded Pacers in the conference finals.

The hits didn’t stop there. As the playoffs began in April, The Athletic asked NBA players who they considered the league’s most overrated player. With 158 anonymous replies (or more than a quarter of the locker room population), Haliburtonwon handily– with 14.4% of the vote – over Minnesota big man Rudy Gobert and Atlanta pest Trae Young. But Haliburton, who further confessed to learning a lot from how USA teammates Jayson Tatum (who also went overlooked in the Olympic rotation) and Joel Embiid handled criticism on their respective NBA squads, didn’t let the disrespect get him down this time. “I must be doing something right,” Haliburton said in response to the poll. “My focus is on this locker room and securing victories. I know who I am. I’m confident in myself and not concerned with what others think.”

Haliburton has shown as much throughout the season, wearing a goofy smile as he rips hearts out from coast to coast. All the while he has navigated the ancillary controversies around his game – from the NBA banning his father, John, from attending games as punishment fortaunting Antetokounmpo; to Haliburton himselfnearly upstagingPascal Siakam’s acceptance of the conference finals MVP award – with grace and maturity. “When we brought him here, we had a vision,” Haliburton said of Siakam, shrugging off his unwitting echo of a popular meme from apast NBA All-Star celebrity game. “We envisioned doing something like this, doing something special.” It just confirms what teammates already know about Haliburton: he’s not playing for the spotlight.

That was obvious again in the Pacers’ 116-107 victory over the Thunder on Wednesday night – a nip-tuck affair in which Haliburton made the difference with his defense and distribution of the ball, and Indiana’s benchcarried the day. In one late-game sequence, he managed to outfox Gilgeous-Alexander – a solid off-ball defender – in a clever half court set piece from the left elbow. Instead of dishing the ball off to a cutting Miles Turner, who only had SGA to beat in the lane, Haliburton fired the ball past Turner to Aaron Nesmith on the opposite wing – who thenburied a three over a wrongfooted Shai Gilgeous-Alexanderto give the Pacers an eight-point lead with three minutes left. No, the play wasn’t as sexy or as seismic as a Haliburton desperation heave. But there’s no doubt it was clutch.

“I mean, I was like three months old last time they made the finals,” Haliburton joked to NBA TV while considering the significance of helping the Pacers to their first finals trip first finals trip in 25 years. “As a group, every year we’ve taken a jump. We’re here now, and we don’t want to take this time for granted.” Now two wins from delivering the Pacers’ first ever NBA championship (they had previously won three titles in the defunct ABA), Haliburton is on the brink of turning a series thatbegan with low expectationsinto one that may forever live in NBA lore. It’s quite the turnabout for a player who seemingly couldn’t make the grade.

Already controversial because of extra fixtures and Fifa involvement, the new tournament in the US is likely to be played in temperatures above 30C

Across this weekend, the US National Weather Service is predicting “moderate” heat risk for Miami and Los Angeles. With temperatures likely to exceed 30C, the agency warns “most individuals sensitive to heat” will be affected, a group that contains those “exercising or doing strenuous activity outdoors during the heat of the day”. This weekend is also when theClub World Cupbegins.

When Lionel Messi and Inter Miami kick off the tournament on Saturday night against Al Ahly of Egypt it will be 8pm in Miami and, although the humidity is predicted to be high, the day’s peak temperatures will have passed.Paris Saint-Germainand Atlético Madrid, however, will play under the full height of the California sun on Sunday, with their Group B fixture a midday kick-off at the famously uncovered Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

Fifa’s Club World Cup has become a lightning rod for debate over any number of aspects of men’s elite football. The expansion of the fixture calendar, Fifa’s incursion into the club game, the use of dynamic pricing to sell match tickets – all have proven controversial but each is resolvable. This summer’s shiny new tournament is, however, about to confront another challenge over which the game’s governing bodies have less control: our changing climate.

The United States is renowned for having hosted one of the hottest World Cups: high temperatures were a constant at USA 94, with the Republic of Ireland’s match against Mexico played out in temperatures reaching 40C (the Women’s World Cup in 1999 was cooler, with temperatures close to the 60-year average). During the past 30 years, however, the average temperature in the US has risen by more than 1C and the country has experienced nine of the 10 hottest years in its history.

Last year, when the Copa América was staged in the US, the Uruguay defender Ronald Araújo had to be substituted at half-time against Panama owing to dizziness and a drop in blood pressure caused by dehydration, at an evening match in Miami. When Canada played Peru in Kansas City, the assistant referee Humberto Panjoj collapsed on the field, a medical emergency also ascribed to dehydration. The “feels like” temperature was 38C and the Canada defender Alistair Johnston called the 5pm kick-off unacceptable, saying: “Honestly, it’s not even safe for the fans.”

At the Club World Cup, 35 of the 63 scheduled matches will be played earlier than 5pm. According to research by the group Fossil Free Football, eight of the 11 stadiums have no or limited cover from the elements and four locales have experienced “notable heat events” (with temperatures at least in the high 30s) over the past five years. In a not-unrelated detail, Fossil Free Football has calculated that travel to the Club World Cup by the teams alone will result in 564,877km of air travel.

Notable heat events are not guaranteed during the Club World Cup but they are more likely to happen than in the past because of climate breakdownand there is a question over whether enough is being done to adapt to a new reality. The sole reference to extreme weather in Fifa’s regulations for the Club World Cup relates to the use of cooling breaks, which allow players to take on extra fluids once in each half if the wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) (a measure of heat stress that includes humidity and air movement) exceeds 32C on the pitch. This is the protocol in place since 2014, and for the international players’ union, FifPro, it is insufficient. It argues that the threshold for cooling breaks should be between 28C and 32C under the WBGT, with options for a second drinks break per half. If the heat rises above 32C, FifPro argues, matches should be rescheduled.

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“FifPro has consistently advocated for comprehensive heat protection measures including mandatory cooling breaks, adjustments to kick-off times to avoid the most intense heat, and the postponement of matches when conditions pose a serious health risk to players,” a spokesperson told the Guardian. “With tournaments like the Club World Cup featuring dense match schedules and hot climates in locations such as Orlando and Miami, extreme heat is becoming an increasingly important health and safety issue in professional football. Fifpro will closely monitor the situation in the coming weeks with a view to prioritising player welfare over other considerations.”

Fifa will also be monitoring tournament and stadium operations daily, according to sources close to the organisers, which could result in additional measures being introduced to protect players and spectators. But at the time of writing there are no new measures in place to deal with heat. The possibility of rescheduling matches away from the hottest parts of the day remains minimal, with the 32-team tournament largely staging four matches a day during the group stage and the needs of broadcasters one of the criteria by which Fifa has organised its schedule.

Much of the Club World Cup can feel as if it has been designed on the hoof, with the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, still promoting the event to a largely unaware American audience. But it could prove a crucial test run for a much more challenging event: next year’s 48-team World Cup, with 104 matches and multiple venues across the south of the US and in Mexico. It is not impossible that the weather could be cool but the data suggests otherwise and any lessons on how to protect players, officials, spectators and anyone else will be vital. Alongside the growing political concerns over these tournaments, the risks of rising heat to human health also deserve serious consideration.

Trent Alexander-Arnold impressed with his Spanish at unveiling and maintains Real are the only club he would have left Liverpool for

Well, that was unexpected.Trent Alexander-Arnoldtook out the earpiece, made his way to the stage at Real Madrid’s training ground and said: “Buenas tardesa todos.” Good afternoon everyone. So far, so standard. But then he delivered the next line in Spanish too, then the one after that, and the one after that.

He kept going until he got to the end of his speech, when he delivered the one line everyone invariably does on the day they are presented here:“Hala Madrid!”It wasn’t long – one minute and one second, in all – but it was long enough to win them over already.

“I think it surprised a lot of people,” Alexander-Arnold said when he had made his way over to the press room. “For me it was important to do that, to have a good start.” He wasn’t wrong: there had been a kind of double-take as he went on, an increasing admiration, and this was averygood start: delivered smoothly, with no cue cards, only the tiniest pause at one point and in genuinely good Spanish, accent and all. “Perfect,” one sports daily called it. “Impeccable,” another said. Suspiciously good, some inevitably suggested.

“How long have you been learning for?” he was asked. There was a smile, an awareness that this question could be a little loaded. “A few months, a few months,” he replied. “This is very, very exciting for me, a day I’ve been looking forward to for a long time – by ‘waiting a long time’ I mean a couple of weeks, not years.”

There were those who wondered whether Alexander-Arnold’s departure fromLiverpoolhadn’t been longer in the making, the quality of his Spanish something to celebrate but also becoming exhibit A. His decision to leave, after all, had not been accepted by everyone, some supporters booing him. But the defender, raised in West Derby and at the club since he was six, said he was happy with the sendoff and the club’s owners told him he would be welcome back. He would be “for ever indebted”. He would only have ever left for Madrid, he said.

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“There’s a contrast of emotions, two different ends of the scale,” Alexander-Arnold said. “Experiencing everything I did [at Liverpool], what I had done. It was an honour, it was always going to be emotional for me. I am happy with the sendoff, the way the club treated me, the way the fans were. That was outstanding, I couldn’t say a bad word.

“I was speaking to players, the manager, the owners, and they were all incredible. I had a lot of support, a huge amount of help, and an amazing conversation with the owners that last couple of days. They thanked me for everything I gave, wished me well on my future journey and said they would have me back at the club at any point.

“To have those words was amazing. And to be here now facing a new challenge is equally exciting. I’m over the moon, absolutely over the moon, Not many players get to experience this. I am very lucky and very proud. To play forReal Madridis a fantastic honour, an achievement in itself.”

He added: “Ten or 11 years ago, this is not something you dream of because it is just out of reach: there’s only a select handful that get a chance to be part of this.” The dream had become real. “It was not a question of where to go; it was whether or not to go. I knew that if I was ever to leave Liverpool, it would only be to Real Madrid. And it gets to the point where you have to make a decision whether to go or stay. It wasn’t an easy decision. I had been there so long. But in my mind it is the right one.

“I am fortunate to have played for the biggest club in England and now the biggest in Spain, and both have massive histories. I am much happier playing with these players than against them. I am sure we can strike up a good connection and get the chemistry going. Hopefully I can give them many, many assists.”

“I feel mature, ready, experienced enough to go and be successful somewhere else. It’s an opportunity you have to think about seriously and I did.”

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Asked if his attacking qualities might be more appreciated in a Spanish football culture, rather than in England where focus perhaps falls on defensive flaws, Alexander-Arnold replied: “That’s not something I have really thought about, to be honest. I do what I am told; I did that with two managers at Liverpool. If people don’t appreciate the way I play, it is what it is. As long as the manager and the players appreciate me, then: whatever.”

There will be two familiar faces waiting for him in Madrid: his close friend Jude Bellingham and the former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso,who has just taken over as coach. Alexander‑Arnold, though, denied that agent Bellingham had played a key role in bringing him to the Bernabéu.

“It wasn’t exactly what people thought it was,” he said. “We spoke. We spoke a lot about Liverpool and Madrid. That’s just the kind of conversations we have as players and friends. In the national team, he was the only one who knew what it was like to be at Real Madrid so everyone was asking questions. A lot of people think he played a huge part in me coming here but the club speaks for itself.”

Of Alonso he said: “I grew up a Liverpool fan watching Istanbul [the 2005 Champions League triumph, in which the Spaniard scored] and now he is a manager and doing incredible things. I have spoken to him and it is good to have that communication. I told him he was a big idol growing up so to be able to work with him is a dream. Watching him pass a ball influenced me to train harder at that and set standards – I explained that to him as well. I will be a sponge around him, trying to soak up all the information I can.”

On the back of the new shirt is a No 12 and just “Trent”. “That’s easily explained,” Real Madrid’s new signing said. “I always found that in Europe the whole name thing confused a lot of people. Double barrelled. Some called me Alexander, some called me Arnold, some both, some Alex. Some Trent. I thought: ‘Let’s make it simple. Trent’s my name. Trent on the back, let’s make it Trent. That’s what people can call me.’”

Of the 32 clubs at the men’s Club World Cup, Palmeiras have the only female president, a billionaire businesswoman who pulls no punches

“People think women are the weaker sex, and we’re not. I fight back. If they hit me, I hit back – but much harder. The way I hit back is by continuing to work and by showcasing Palmeiras’s work.”

Leila Pereira is in full flow as she sits in the Palmeiras president’s office in São Paulo. In the 110-year history of a club founded by Italian working-class immigrants, she is the first woman to hold the post. The male dominance of global football is laid bare once again when you look at the lineup for the revampedClub World Cupin the US: of the 32 participating clubs, representing six continents, Pereira is the only female president.

“It brings two emotions,” she says. “On one hand, I’m thrilled. On the other, I wish there were more women in football. My joy and my hope are that by seeing me in this position, other women are inspired to pursue their own space in football. This didn’t fall into my lap. It took years and I had to overcome many challenges to get here. It’s no use calling someone an inspiration if you’re not prepared to roll up your sleeves and fight for what you want.”

Since being elected president in December 2021, Pereira has emerged as one of the most influential figures in Brazilian football – a world still fraught with political manoeuvring behind the scenes. Her reach extends well beyond Palmeiras. Last year she became the first woman to lead the Brazil men’s national team delegation, during their European friendlies against Spainand England– a role appointed directly by the Brazilian football confederation’s president. While largely symbolic, the appointment underscored her rising influence within the game and in the notoriously political Brazilian confederation.

She has never been afraid to show a firm hand – even when it involves a Palmeiras hero. In June last year, Dudu, the club’s joint-most decorated player with 12 titles, sought a move to Cruzeiro after struggling for game time following a lengthy recovery from a cruciate ligament injury. Having agreed terms, he then reversed his decision, prompting Pereira to publicly call on him to “honour his commitment” to the Belo Horizonte club. Although Dudu stayed until December, the situation soured. It culminated in what Pereira described as a departure “through the back door”. Dudu responded on Instagram with abuse.

Pereira feels he would not have responded in the same way to a man. “Why do you think he acted that way? No doubt, because I’m a woman. He felt free to be rude.” She has filed a lawsuit against him seeking “no less than R$500,000 [£67,000]” in damages. Within five months, Dudu had joined Cruzeiro’s rivals Atlético Mineiro, citing a lack of playing time.

A billionaire businesswoman, Pereira was ranked fourth in Forbes’ 2023 list of the richest women in Brazil, with a fortune then estimated at R$8bn. But her wealth wasn’t made in football. Until 2015, her main focus was chairing a financial company specialising in high-interest personal loans to mainly lower-income individuals, founded by her husband, Roberto Lamacchia, and serving as rector of a university centre also owned by the couple.

Born in Cambuci, Rio de Janeiro, she was raised in Cabo Frio, another municipality in the same state, by her father, a doctor, and her mother, a housewife. The middle child between two brothers, she had little interest in football, despite growing up in a family of diehard Vasco da Gama fans. While her brothers went for kickabouts, she played with dolls.

Palmeiras entered her life at 18, when she met her future husband. At the time, she was studying journalism at a university in Rio de Janeiro. After two years working as a trainee at TV Manchete, she decided to switch paths and study law. “I always had this strong desire to be independent,” she says. “And that’s why everything I do today is rooted in this personal drive. I’ve always had this feminist streak, even before I knew what feminism really meant.”

Her rapid rise to the top of Palmeiras’s hierarchy has drawn scrutiny. Her professional relationship with the club began in January 2015, when Palmeiras were short on cash, without a permanent shirt sponsor and having avoided relegation on the final day of the previous season. She suggested her husband’s company should sponsor the club he loves as a way to lift his spirits after a period of ill health. And that is what happened.

Over a decade-long partnership, Palmeiras rose to the summit of Brazilian football as the dominant team, winning 14 major titles, including back-to-back Copa Libertadores, four league championships and two Brazilian Cups. This golden era spanned three club presidents: Paulo Nobre, Maurício Galiotte and Pereira herself.

Her tenure as both club president and principal sponsor between 2021 and 2024, however, was not without controversy, with critics raising concerns over potential conflicts of interest – allegations she firmly denies. Since January, her company has stepped away from its sponsorship role, with the club now backed by a different company.

Her current term runs until 2027 and Palmeiras are in far better shape than many of their rivals. Last year, the club posted record revenues of R$1.2bn, over a third of which came from selling academy-developed talent.

A decade ago, Palmeiras’s youth system was largely unremarkable. Now it leads the field. Gabriel Jesus paved the way, with a £27m move to Manchester City, followed by Endrick’s £61m transfer to Real Madrid. Danilo joined Nottingham Forest for £18m, Luis Guilherme went to West Ham for £25.5m,Vitor Reis was sold to Citythis January for £29.6m – a record for a Brazilian centre-back – and Estêvão is bound for Chelsea in a deal worth up to £53m.

That stream of income has allowed Palmeiras to flex their financial muscle. In February, they signed the striker Vitor Roque – then on loan at Real Betis from Barcelona – for £21.7m, making him the most expensive signing in Brazilian club history.

“I have no doubt that Palmeiras are the best-run and most credible club in South America,” Pereira says. “But of course, that level of excellence isn’t down to me alone, it’s thanks to the incredible professionals we have. No one achieves anything by themselves.” She adds, with evident pride: “European giants now trust us to do business. Today, we’re a global reference. And it’s a woman at the helm.”

She says: “Palmeiras are one of the few clubs in Brazil that meet all their financial obligations on time – staff, players, transfer fees. That’s non-negotiable for me. I come from a business background and football will not tarnish my name. I want to walk into our training ground and hold people accountable without owing them anything. It’s absurd that some [Brazilian] clubs can’t pay wages yet keep signing players. That’s why I advocate for financial fair play in Brazil.”

At the Club World Cup, Chelsea supporters will get a closer look at Estêvão. Widely seen as the most electrifying export since Neymar first lit up the late 2000s, it will be the 18-year-old prospect’s last dance in green and white before making the move to Stamford Bridge. “He’s a phenomenal player and I understand why my husband didn’t want to let him go. This boy will one day be the best in the world. He’s that good and will always be one of our academy’s own. Just like Endrick, Vitor Reis, Luis Guilherme … ”

While Pereira has maintained the philosophy laid down by her predecessors, it is Abel Ferreira who has shaped the club’s golden era on the pitch. The Portuguese coach is both the most successful and the longest-serving manager in Palmeiras’s history. Appointed by Pereira’s predecessor, he has won 10 trophies in just over four years, an extraordinary feat in a country where managerial turnover is common.

A Sporting full-back who began his coaching career in the club’s youth ranks before spells at Braga and Paok, Ferreira will lead Palmeiras into their opening Group A match against Porto at MetLife Stadium in New York on Sunday. They will then face Al Ahly on Thursday, before rounding out the group stage against Inter Miami in Florida on 24 June.

“The Club World Cup is a major challenge, and we’re excited about it. Just because some clubs are European giants doesn’t mean we can’t compete. After all, it’s our players who get signed by those clubs.”

Whatever the outcome on the pitch, Palmeiras arrive in the US not only as a dominant force in South American football, but as a club reshaped by modern management, and fronted by a woman who has refused to be defined by it. She is outnumbered by men, but not outpowered.