It has been announced that former Birmingham City defender Sam Oji has died.

Starting his career as a youth player with Arsenal in 2000, he joined the Blues in 2004 in search of first-team football, before featuring for Doncaster Rovers, Bristol Rovers and Leyton Orient. In July he became assistant manager of Highgate United.

The creative team that will deliver the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games has been unveiled.

Taking place on 28^th July 2022, and broadcast to 1.5billion people around the Commonwealth, the Opening Ceremony will host a live audience of 30,000 at the newly redeveloped Alexander Stadium. 

Twenty-seven athletes from West Midlands have been selected to compete at the 2021 School Games National Finals – a major multi-sport event for talented young athletes across the UK, taking place at Loughborough University from the 2nd to the 5th of September.

The School Games National Finals will be the first multi-sport event for young athletes following the lifting of lockdown restrictions. The event will celebrate the athletes’ achievements in working hard to maintain training and motivation over the last year and a half of restrictions.

Former England and Sussex captain Ted Dexter has died. Nicknamed 'Lord Ted', Dexter was an aggressive batsman and useful seam bowler who played 62 Tests for England and was captain between 1961-1964.

He led Sussex to victory in the first two editions of the limited-overs Gillette Cup and went on to make a surprise two-Test comeback in 1968. In a statement, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) described Dexter as "one of England's greatest ever cricketers.

The long-term future of indoor athletics in Birmingham is set to be secured through a proposed 10-year partnership agreement between UK Athletics and Birmingham City Council.

A decade-long deal, due for discussion by the council's Cabinet on September 7, would see Birmingham host the Indoor Grand Prix and British Indoor Championships on consecutive weekends annually from February 2022 to February ‘32.

A UEFA delegation visiting Qatar to assess workers' rights says progress has been made but more work is needed ahead of the 2022 World Cup. Human rights issues in the host country have been under scrutiny since Qatar was awarded the tournament in 2010.

UEFA established a working group in May to work with FIFA on the issue. The visit came as Amnesty International published a report claiming "thousands" of migrant deaths have not been properly investigated.