Sports News

It’s one month to go until the UK Athletics Indoor Championships return to the Utilita Arena in Birmingham across the weekend 18-19 February 2023.

With the event acting as the Official Trials for the 2023 European Indoor Championships in Istanbul, athletes will be looking to book their places on the plane to Turkey.

The Women’s British Basketball League (WBBL) has today announced a new board structure as the league enters its most exciting phase in its history. Current WBBL Chairman Jim Saker will continue in his role, with two other Independent Directors and two representatives from the league’s clubs making up the remainder of the new structure.

The Midlands Legends Charity Golf Day and Dinner will return on Thursday 30 March 2023, and will again support West Bromwich based charity, the Kaleidoscope Plus Group. The star-studded event will take place at Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel and Country Club and will feature teams made up of ex-professionals representing the Midlands' eight biggest football clubs on the golf course, as well as the opportunity to enter your own team.

The Professional Fighters League (PFL), the fastest growing and most innovative sports league, today announced the cities, venues and dates for the inaugural PFL Europe season in 2023 to be shown live on DAZN, the ultimate sports entertainment destination and global home of combat sports.
 
“PFL Europe’s inaugural season schedule is set, and MMA fans in 2023 will experience Europe’s best MMA fighters competing in the PFL’s true sport format live on DAZN,” said Professional Fighters League CEO Peter Murray.

London Lions bow out of the FIBA EuroCup Women competition following a 77-64 loss to French side Villeneuve d’Ascq, a 148-141 loss on aggregate.

Having led for the majority of the game both on the night and over the two legs, a 10-0 run in the early stages of the final period proved to be London’s undoing. The WBBL champions attempted a last-gasp fightback, but the French side were too composed down the stretch.

Tenerife will host three important professional tennis tournaments on the ATP Challenger circuit between January and February 2023. Specifically, from 15 to 22 January, an ATP Challenger 100 will take place, while from 29 January to 5 February and from 5 to 12 February, two ATP Challenger 75s will be played.

Anticipation is building as a star-studded line up of talent heads to Birmingham’s Utilita Arena for the first showpiece event of the British Basketball calendar, the WBBL/BBL Cup Finals. Fans will be treated to two electrifying match ups and local pride is at stake as London Lions clash with Leicester Riders in both the men’s and women’s matches on Sunday January 29th. 

Celebrated broadcaster and Olympic athlete Dame Denise Lewis OBE has said more inclusion and representation at senior management and board level must occur in UK sport, whilst attending a graduation ceremony to receive an honorary doctorate from Birmingham City University (BCU). The celebrated West Bromwich-born presenter, Gold Medal-winning heptathlete and President of Commonwealth Games England also gave an emotionally charged speech to graduates and academics, as the University’s highest accolade was conferred on her at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall – just days after it was announced Lewis would become a damehood in the New Year Honours list.

Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin thanked fans for their overwhelming love when he posted on social media for the first time since suffering cardiac arrest in an NFL game. The Bills said that Hamlin is making progress, yet remains in a critical condition.

The Las Vegas Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs showed support for Hamlin in the first game since his collapse. Players wore 'Love for Damar 3' T-shirts during their warm-ups.

This month's Para-snowboard World Championships in Spain have been postponed because of a lack of snow. The event, due to take place in La Molina in the Pyrenees from 21-29 January, has been rescheduled for 9-18 March.

The International Ski and Snowboard Federation said: "The unseasonable warm temperatures across much of central Europe over the holidays have created a current critical snow situation in La Molina, forcing the postponement of the competitions."

Schoolchildren have formed a guard of honour in memory of a footballer who was stabbed to death on a nightclub dancefloor on Boxing Day.

There was also a minute's silence for Cody Fisher at his club's match. The Stratford Town game was the first since his death at the Crane venue in Digbeth, Birmingham.

Rugby League action will be coming to Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium complex after a partnership was agreed by the Midlands Hurricanes and Birmingham City Council.

The Hurricanes, who compete in League One, will play their home fixtures during the 2023 season at the Perry Barr venue – starting with a tie against Cornwall on February 19. 

As people were still trying to get their heads around his passing, former Sampdoria team-mate Graeme Souness was in tears as an interview with him was cut short during Gianluca Vialli tribute. They were both at the opposite ends of their respective football careers, but, even so, the impact that the young, thoughtful, Italian had the then 31-year-old medal-laden Scottish international will, as he said himself, remain with him for ever.

The ambitious plan for a pioneer top quality golf course built near the world-renowned Africa’s premier national park of Serengeti was unveiled, with an 18-hole golf course being constructed within 400 acres at Fort Ikoma, an area that serves as a buffer zone for Serengeti District and the Serengeti National Park. It will be among the world’s few golf courses within or near a national park.

Thousands of mourners lined the streets as Brazilian football icon Pele was laid to rest in Santos, the city of his former club.

Pele had been lying in state for 24 hours in the centre of the pitch at the club's Urbano Caldeira stadium for the public to pay their respects. People crowded the streets as his coffin was carried on a fire truck to a private family funeral.

Hundreds of thousands of highly emotional mourners gathered for the 24-hour memorial wake to pay their final respects to Brazil legend Pele who is lying in state at the Urbano Caldeira stadium – home of his former club Santos, in Sao Paulo.

His coffin was placed in the centre of the pitch as fans lined the streets to get inside the ground, with a procession through the streets of Santos to a private family burial set for today.