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Welcome

… to our weekly roundup, featuring highlights from our coverage over the past seven days. If you like it, why not pass it on? New readers can subscribe by following the very simple steps right here.

The best of the week

Rumble in the Jungle 50 years on: Ali dances rings around apartheid

Donald McRae

Interview
Marcel Desailly: ‘I don’t know if I was a star, but I’m now a legend’

Amorim saved Sporting from despair but United are a new test

David Hytner

'We've surprised a few teams'
Ramsbottom women’s XI make waves in men’s Lancashire League

Interview
Tupou Vaa’i: ‘Playing for All Blacks helps me show love for my brother’

World Series champion Dodgers have everything except complacency

Hannah Keyser

Comment and analysis

Moving the Goalposts
Bonmatí reigns for Spain with Ballon d’Or contest getting closer

Barcelona star won race with two of her clubmates, but more categories at award ceremony should include women's game

Marler’s haka remark offers added incentive for All Blacks

Andy Bull

Saudi World Cup bid gathers pace – at what cost to human life?

Nick Ames

Watch and listen

Video explainer
What went wrong for Ten Hag at Manchester United?

Jamie Jackson explains why Erik ten Hag was sacked in October after being backed by the club in the summer

Women’s Football Weekly
Leaky Lionesses, Euro 2025 playoffs and Ballon d’Or

More from our newsletters

Try our other sports emails: there’s daily football news and gossip in Football Daily, our weekly women's football roundup Moving the Goalposts, and weekly catch-ups for cricket in The Spin and rugby union in The Breakdown.

From the vault

The Joy of Six
Spooky sporting ghost stories

Coming up this weekend

We kick off the weekend with a big Premier League game at 12.30pm on Saturday (all times GMT) as Newcastle host Arsenal. There's also live cricket action from Antigua as England take on West Indies (1.30pm) in the second men's ODI. The top-flight football action continues with our Saturday clockwatch (2pm) featuring Liverpool v Brighton and Bournemouth v Manchester City. In rugby union, the autumn internationals begin with England v New Zealand (3.10pm) at Twickenham, and the day's football is rounded off with a Premier League six-pointer as Wolves host Crystal Palace (5.30pm).

Sunday begins with Women's Super League action as Manchester United host Arsenal (12.30pm), before a Premier League double-header as Tottenham host Aston Villa (2pm) and Manchester United welcome Chelsea (4.30pm). The weekend's sport concludes with lap-by-lap updates from the Brazilian Grand Prix (5pm) as Max Verstappen and Lando Norris resume their world title battle.

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