Michigan State University (MSU) fired head football coach Mel Tucker on Wednesday amid accusations of sexual harassment.

Declan Rice’s ambition to play “at the very highest level” was behind his “tough” decision to leave West Ham. The 24-year-old’s departure from the club he joined a decade ago in a club-record £105million deal – making him the most expensive English player in history – was confirmed by the Hammers ahead of his imminent move to Arsenal. Rice’s last act as a West Ham player was to become only the third captain in their history, behind Bobby Moore and Billy Bonds, to lift a major trophy after last month’s Europa Conference League victory over Fiorentina. But the England international wants to play in the Champions League and that is something Arsenal can offer. In a letter to fans, Rice said his goodbyes after “an absolute whirlwind of emotion” over the last few weeks. “I want you to know how tough a decision it has been for me to leave an environment that I have loved and cherished so much,” he said. “This club and its supporters will always be in my heart, and forever a part of who I am. “Ultimately, though, it has only ever been about my ambition to play at the very highest level of the game. “Playing on the opposite team to West Ham for the first time will be an unusual experience. “I’m not sure yet exactly how I will feel, but I also know you will all understand and respect that my professional loyalties have to now lie with my new club.” Joint-chairman David Sullivan revealed last month the club had a gentleman’s agreement with Rice to allow him to leave this summer after the player turned down the offer of a highly-lucrative new contract. “I am sorry to see Declan leave us but I believe that everyone at West Ham United should be very proud of the part we have played in his journey from the Academy of Football at Chadwell Heath to becoming the most valuable young player in English football,” he said in a statement. “I would like to make it clear to our supporters that we did not want to sell Declan. We wanted to build our team around him and made a series of improved, long-term contract offers to secure his future. “However, once Declan made it clear that he wished to move on and seek a new challenge, the club felt it would not be right to stand in his way, acting in the best interests of West Ham United.” Rice made 245 appearances for the club, his last helping secure a first trophy since 1980, and manager David Moyes was understandably sad to see him leave. “I’d like to personally thank Declan for everything he has done during his time at West Ham United,” he said. “Obviously it is sad when we say goodbye to someone who has been with us for so long but we must now look forward. “As history shows, no player is ever bigger than the club. “Our entire focus now is on building upon the success we enjoyed last season, adding to our talented Europa Conference League title-winning squad as we enter our third consecutive season in Europe, and continuing to develop the best young talent through our successful academy.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Declan Rice leaves West Ham for record fee with Arsenal move imminent Alex Greenwood happy with ‘humble’ England’s chances at Women’s World Cup Ireland’s Niamh Fahey says nothing can truly prepare team for World Cup opener

The Mega Millions jackpot has risen to an estimated $720 million after no winning ticket was sold — again

The host nations for Euro 2028 and 2032 will be announced by the Uefa Executive Committee on Tuesday 10th October. The meeting will begin at 9am BST with the announcement expected to follow at approximately 11-11:30am BST. The United Kingdom and Ireland currently have an unopposed bid to host the competition as Turkey withdrew to form a joint bid with Italy for 2032. As a result, the UK and Ireland are set to be named as hosts for 2028. Turkey’s bid was officially withdrawn on the 4 October which meant the home nations and the Republic of Ireland have the final remaining bid. The five nations put in a bid for the 2028 competition after they decided not to bid for the 2030 World Cup. It is possible however that some of the host nations not qualify despite hosting as automatic qualification is unlikely to be given to all five. The proposal includes matches across ten stadiums: Wembley Stadium, National Stadium of Wales, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, City of Manchester Stadium, Everton Stadium, St James’ Park, Villa Park, Hampden Park, Dublin Arena, and Casement Park. With almost three million tournament tickets available, the proposed tournament will have more tickets available than any previous UEFA EURO. Spread across five nations and ten cities with an average stadium capacity of 58,000, the sporting event has the potential to be the biggest in the UK since the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. A focus has been made on sustainability in the bid with transport plans allowing more than 80 per cent of ticket holders to the stadiums by public transport. The proposal is backed by all five national governments and National Football Associations. The final bid presentations followed by the announcement ceremony will take place on Tuesday at the UEFA Headquarters in Switzerland. The bid sets out a vision of "Football for all, Football for good. Football for the future" which aims to diversify the game and make it more inclusive, as well as connect with the next generation of fans. England and Scotland previously hosted matches at EURO 2020 including the final between England and Italy at Wembley. The match caused major chaos and organisers will be looking to provide a far safer and more positive event this time around. Turkey and Italy are set to be announced as hosts for the 2032 tournament as they too have an unopposed bid for the following tournament. Read More Euro 2028 venues: UK and Ireland name 10 stadiums as Anfield and Old Trafford miss out Gareth Bale part of Welsh delegation to help UK and Ireland Euro 2028 bid Gareth Southgate positive about UK and Ireland bid for Euro 2028 Uefa postpones matches in war-torn Israel Uefa torn over plans to reinstate Russian youth teams Gareth Southgate positive about UK and Ireland bid for Euro 2028

Seattle center fielder Julio Rodríguez and right-hander George Kirby, Tampa Bay shortstop Wander Franco and Houston outfielder Kyle Tucker were added to the American League All-Star roster as injury replacements and Pittsburgh closer David Bednar was picked for the National League team

Kick It Out chief Tony Burnett says the government’s new online safety bill is “brilliant news” but only “a small piece of the jigsaw”. The new legislation, which could help prevent discrimination and abuse on social media platforms, passed its final parliamentary debate on Friday. The football authorities played a significant part in the development of the bill, and a joint statement from The FA, Premier League, EFL, PFA and Kick It Out shortly after the announcement described the legislation as “a significant moment for those who participate in the game”. Only last weekend, Sheffield United goalkeeper Wes Foderingham was subject to online racist abuse after a match against Tottenham Hotspur, which was swiftly condemned by both clubs. While the new bill provides a vehicle to hold social media platforms to account through regulator Ofcom, Kick It Out chief Tony Burnett warns this should not be seen as the end of the issue. “It’s brilliant news,” the CEO of the equality and inclusion charity told the Independent. “We’ve been campaigning for over two years on football governing bodies to try and influence not just the legislation, but also the content of it. So it’s a really positive move. “This is the first step, and now we’ve got to move really quickly from celebrating what’s been achieved to making sure that the way that Ofcom structures the regulation of social media organisations is fit for purpose and they are effective in holding them to account. “We’ve all seen lots of examples where regulators are not as effective as they should be.” Kick It Out recorded a 65.1 per cent rise in reports of discriminatory behaviour in 2022/23, with the 1,007 reports received including a 279 per cent increase in online abuse. Burnett believes while the numbers represent the fact fans are becoming less tolerant of discriminatory behaviour and more likely to report it, the current climate is still seeing a worsening of the state of affairs. “Discriminatory behaviour is absolutely rising – we also saw a double-digit increase in hate-related incidents. It’s absolutely on the rise. “Rather than stoking culture wars, we should be trying to stoke inclusion. But I just don’t think we’ve got the maturity as a society to think that way at the moment.” “What this legislation doesn’t change unfortunately, is the fact there is a significant increase in people pressing the keys. So we still have a massive job to do as a society and culture to try and work out how we got to a position where people with toxic views now have a voice and feel more comfortable than ever to share this in broader society.” Although Kick It Out record their own set of statistics, neither the 92 clubs in the Premier League and Football League, nor the governing bodies are obligated to share their own data on how many discriminatory incidents take place every year. Burnett says this makes it difficult to get a full understanding of the extent of the issue, and take subsequent steps to try and deal with it. “We still can’t get a picture right across the sport as to how many discrimination cases are raised every year to develop a comprehensive understanding of the state of play across football. That’s just madness. “We’re not really interested in making people look bad. We’re interested in the facts. We can’t address the challenge until we really understand the facts. If clubs are open and honest with us and say we’ve got a problem, we can help them to solve it. “The football industry, over the last three years, has done more than ever to try and tackle some of these issues, but our worry is that we’re doing the safe stuff. We’re sending people on training courses, and we’re running campaigns, which have got a place, but we’re not doing the hard stuff. “The online safety bill is brilliant, because it gives us a start to hold social media organisations to account – but that’s only a small part of the jigsaw.” Read More Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp: Too soon to herald return of my mentality monsters First ever Lioness captain’s legacy lives on as England face Scotland Tottenham once again have hope – but Ange Postecoglou must learn from Arsenal lesson Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp: Too soon to herald return of my mentality monsters First ever Lioness captain’s legacy lives on as England face Scotland Tottenham once again have hope – but Ange Postecoglou must learn from Arsenal lesson

The New York Mets were swept at the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend and now have to head to Atlanta to take on the Braves in a three-game series.Carlos Carrasco will get the start for the Mets and things have not gone well for them through his first six starts this season, sittin...

Follow live coverage as Stuttgart take on Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga today. Bayern Munich remain the team to beat in the German top flight with Julian Nagelsmann's juggernaut side 31-time winners of the competition. Boasting some of the best players in the world such as Sadio Mane, Thomas Muller and Manuel Neuer they are always favourites to retain their league crown. Rivals Borussia Dortmund traditionally push them the closest and have won the title five times, most recently back in 2012 under Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp. Borussia Mönchengladbach were a force in the Seventies winning the league five times but are without a champion team since while Werder Bremen, Hamburg and Stuttgart are all multi-time winners too. RB Leipzig are the newest kids on the block and backed by energy drinks manufacturer Red Bull are now threatening to challenge for a first title of their own. We will bring you all the action and updates from today's game in the live blog below:

A lot can happen in a year, so we took a stab at ranking all 32 teams' passing attacks with the bulk of the offseason moves in the rearview mirror.We are now at the point of the NFL offseason where it's a waiting game. Free agency is long gone, the 2023 NFL Draft has come and gone and ...

Shakira has been associated with other celebrities in recent weeks after her highly publicized breakup with former Barcelona player Gerard Pique

The Colorado Rockies placed outfielder Kris Bryant on the 10-day injured list with a fractured left index finger

Robert Salah recently offered comments that, while well-intentioned, appear to carry a critical tone regarding Zach Wilson's performance in the most recent game.