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Ares Management is investing an extra $75 million in Inter Miami CF, the Major League Soccer club that’s

When Chloe Kelly scrambled home England’s winner against Germany in the Euro 2022 final last July, Sarina Wiegman achieved a feat only dreamed of since Sir Geoff Hurst’s stunning hat-trick against the same opponents at the same venue in 1966: she brought football home. Since succeeding Phil Neville as the Lionesses’s coach in September 2021, the Dutchwoman, 53, has barely put a foot wrong, winning 28 of her 35 games in charge, drawing just six and losing only once: a chastening 2-0 friendly defeat to Australia in Brentford in April that may actually have served as a timely reality check ahead of this summer’s Women’s World Cup in the Matildas’ backyard. It’s three out of three for her team in Australia and New Zealand so far, with the Lionesses’s putting two nervy 1-0 wins over Haiti and Denmark behind them with the 6-1 trouncing of China, which saw them top Group D in style and head into a round of 16 clash against Nigeria brimming with confidence. But while success might appear to come easily to Sarina Wiegman, matters were not always so straightforward. Born in The Hague on 26 October 1969, she played street football from a young age but, incredibly, had to pretend to be a boy in order to turn out for Wasserman side GSC ESDO at junior level. “When I started playing football as a six-year-old girl we weren’t allowed to play, so I played illegally,” she told BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast recently. “I had very short hair, looked a little bit maybe like a boy, my parents were really OK and I had a twin brother, so we just started to play and everyone said that’s OK. It wasn’t normal then and now it’s just normal, whether you’re a boy or a girl, you can play football and that’s just great. It was actually crazy before, that you couldn’t, but that’s just the way it is in development I guess.” Subsequently playing as a central midfielder for the women’s teams HSV Celeritas and KFC ‘71 in the 1980s, she made her debut for the Dutch national side in 1987 against Norway, aged 17, when the well-travelled future Rangers manager Dick Advocaat picked her for what would turn out to be his only game in charge. She would ultimately make 104 appearances for the Netherlands, becoming their first female centurion when she appeared against Denmark in 2001, prompting Louis van Gaal to pay his respects to her extraordinary accomplishment in an era in which the women’s game had been so badly neglected. Long before that moment, Wiegman’s performances at the 1988 FIFA Women’s Invitation Tournament in China had caught the eye of then-US women’s coach Anson Dorrance, who subsequently invited her to enrol at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to play for the North Carolina Tar Heels. She accepted, making 24 appearances in 1989 and scoring four times for a team that featured such future American greats as Mia Hamm. Three members of her current Lionesses squad – Lucy Bronze, Alessia Russo and Lotte Wubben-Moy – would later follow in her footsteps and turn out for the Tar Heels. Returning to the Netherlands, Wiegman worked as a PE teacher at Segbroek College secondary school in her hometown before signing for Ter Leede in Sassenheim in 1994, whom she would play for until 2003, picking up two championships and a domestic cup along the way. After retiring as a player, she returned to Ter Leede as the club’s manager in 2006, leading them to a league and cup double in her debut season before joining ADO Den Haag for the inaugural Women’s Eredivisie. She would spend seven years with Den Haag, again winning the double in 2012 and another cup the following year (Wiegman’s husband Marten Glotzbach, incidentally, is the current manager of the ADO Den Haag’s men’s side). Wiegman would then serve the Dutch women’s team as assistant manager between 2015 and 2017, twice stepping in as interim boss during that period while also becoming the first woman to hold a coaching role with a men’s team when she joined Sparta Rotterdam as an assistant in 2016. That same year, she also became the first woman to complete her Uefa Pro coaching licence. Finally promoted to manager of the Netherlands women’s side in 2017, she quickly led them to Euros glory that summer and the World Cup final in France two years later, where they were unfortunate to come up against an imperious Megan Rapinoe-inspired USA Joining England as the Covid-19 pandemic subsided, her impact on these shores was just as immediate, with players like Mary Earps later speaking movingly about Wiegman’s positive influence on her game and personal life, the new manager arriving at a time when the goalkeeper was suffering a crisis of self-belief and seriously considering hanging up her gloves. Bringing clear communication and direct attacking football to the Lionesses, Wiegman enjoyed the ideal approach to last summer’s Euros with an emphatic 5-1 win over the Netherlands, the reigning champions and her own former side. Speaking after that game, Wiegman was characteristically disinclined to get carried away, commenting: “We stick to our strategy and plans, and whether we would lose or win now, we’re not going to all of a sudden sit, we call it, on a pink cloud. We stay grounded.” Despite losing her sister weeks before the Euros got underway, Wiegman refused to lose focus and England would go from strength to strength as the tournament progressed, thrashing Norway and Northern Ireland in Group A, finding a way past a tricky Spanish side in the quarters before trouncing Sweden 4-0 on the way to that historic showdown with Germany. “The world around us will be changed,” she reflected in the aftermath of that famous extra-time victory, without hyperbole. “It’s positive but we have to be aware of it too. But we’ve changed society. That’s what we want. It’s so much more than football. We want to win, but through football you can make little changes in society and that’s what we hoped for. This has done so much for the game and for women and society. In England, but also across the world. It’s so nice to see how enthusiastic everyone was, inside and outside the stadium.” While she benefitted from a settled first-team at the Euros and at times appeared reluctant to make changes, Wiegman has had her preparations for the World Cup disrupted by injuries, first to Beth Mead, Leah Williamson and Fran Kirby and now Keira Walsh, having already lost Ellen White and Jill Scott to retirement. But, as usual, she has simply taken adversity in her stride and given opportunities to promising understudies like Lauren James and Katie Zelem, both of whom excelled against China. Can Wiegman’s England go one better this time than her Dutch side of four years ago? With Brazil, Germany and Canada already knocked out and the USA decidedly unconvincing and up against a free-scoring Sweden next, the dream has rarely looked closer to becoming a reality. Read More Women’s World Cup LIVE: Latest news and updates as England prepare for last-16 clash with Nigeria How the Women’s World Cup delivered its greatest ever group stage — against all the odds Wiegman hails England’s adaptability after tactics change sparks big win over China Watch England train ahead of Women’s World Cup last 16 clash with Nigeria Wiegman hails England’s adaptability after tactics change sparks big win over China Lauren James delighted to ‘carve out’ her name with superb displays at World Cup

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Chelsea have signed France defender Axel Disasi from Monaco. The 25-year-old has signed a six-year deal at Stamford Bridge as the Blues moved quickly to cover the injury to Wesley Fofana. Disasi has played 130 times in Ligue 1 and was part of the France squad that were runners-up in last year’s World Cup. The centre-back told the club’s official website: “I am so happy to be here, at this big club. I am really proud to be able to be a part of this great family, and I hope to achieve very big things here. To win titles. “I will do everything I can to achieve those objectives. I am very ambitious. “It’s a club that has been very popular for French players because they have all done well here – (Frank) Leboeuf, (Marcel) Desailly, (Nicolas) Anelka, (N’Golo) Kante, (Olivier) Giroud. And the colour is blue like the national team! It’s good. “It’s a familiar club for French people, and I hope all the French players here now can join that line of great players.” Co-sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley added: “Axel has showcased his quality over several seasons in France and that has deservedly led to recognition on the international stage. “He is ready to take the next step in his career and we are delighted that will be with Chelsea. We welcome him to the club and look forward to him joining up with Mauricio Pochettino and his new team-mates in the days ahead.”

Ipswich midfielder Massimo Luongo believes the Sky Bet Championship new boys can take the division by storm thanks to a manager “setting the bar” for modern coaches. The Tractor Boys are back in the second tier for the first time in five seasons after they scored 101 goals to secure promotion from League One and travel to Sunderland this weekend. Former Manchester United coach Kieran McKenna is the man behind Ipswich’s revival and Luongo, currently nursing a minor groin strain, admitted the draw of working with the 37-year-old was the decisive factor in a return to Portman Road after a loan spell in 2012. Under the stewardship of McKenna, in his first senior managerial role, Ipswich entertained League One last season with a brand of attacking and possession-based football not usually associated with success in England’s lower-leagues. While Luongo is under no illusions about the Championship being a big step up, he is fully swept up in the excitement that has been present at the Suffolk outfit since McKenna’s arrival in the winter of 2021. He told the PA news agency: “We have a good blend of boys ready to make the jump up and boys prepared to do the normal business. It is definitely one with a lot of anticipation and we’re all excited. I am definitely excited. “It is definitely a step up, physically it is a step up. The difficult thing is how you compare because we dominated so many games in League One so physically they are not as demanding as games in the Championship. “Everyone has the typical Champ game references when you watch Championship football and it comes around a lot. “But I think with Ipswich, after Burnley last year, we will try to be the exception where you are not saying that. “We want to play out from the back, play good football, be entertaining, so it will be a challenge but the players we have got are all looking forward to it.” Australia international Luongo is delighted to be established at a club for the start of this season after enduring a difficult time last summer. Luongo had to wait until September to find a new club before he failed to make an appearance during his short stint at Middlesbrough and had largely “written off the season” when Ipswich registered their interest before January. The lure of being managed by ex-Tottenham Under-18s boss McKenna, after crossing paths at Spurs, helped the 30-year-old get over a largely disappointing 2022 to become a key figure for Ipswich and he netted in the 6-0 victory over Exeter that clinched promotion in April. “With Ipswich there was some history there, I enjoyed it last time and probably the manager was the biggest pull. I came across him a little bit at Tottenham and over my career he kept track of me. I had also heard a lot of good things,” Luongo said. “What is striking for me is his detail in how he wants to play. On the pitch, the detail is at a really, really high level, like the information we receive and the feedback we receive from the coaches. We want to play out from the back, play good football, be entertaining, so it will be a challenge but the players we have got are all looking forward to it. Ipswich midfielder Massimo Luongo “And the way he conducts himself. He is in early, watches every second of training and loves football, I feel like he watches every single game because he pulls out games like that. “His knowledge of modern football is really good and he is obsessed with football to be honest. That bleeds into the team and we can all see it. “You can tell he loves football, is obsessed with it and wants to improve as a coach and manager so you can imagine what he wants for us and demands from us. “I enjoy coming in every day, for sure. The coaching staff and him have definitely created an atmosphere where we are firstly humble. “We don’t leave any stone unturned, it doesn’t matter who we play against. Then when we win, stay humble and when we lose, don’t get too low. They have done a really good job of that. “The manager has mixed with good people at Man United, his background with where else he has learnt and stayed, so I think the football we are playing is probably setting the bar for modern day managers of what is required. “It is interesting because I have had a little spell of (Michael) Carrick and I can see the same with Kieran as well, so it is a good place to be.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Football rumours: Chelsea’s Romelu Lukaku player swap bid hits snag On This Day in 2008 – Kevin Pietersen appointed England Test and one-day captain World Cup winning coach Jill Ellis blown away by ‘unpredictable’ tournament

For a team whose first three fixtures back in League Two are MK Dons, AFC Wimbledon, and Walsall, it feels somewhat out of kilter that three of their last pre-season games saw them face Chelsea, LA Galaxy and Manchester United. Such is the Wrexham way. Fresh off a nail-biting National League campaign, Las Vegas promotion party and sell-out Stateside pre-season tour, Wrexham fans and players, if only momentarily, might be brought back down to earth by the prospect of a 46-game slog as they look to pick up where they left off back in the Football League for the first time since 2008. Perhaps if this were a Hollywood script, Wrexham’s journey under owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney would continue unperturbed; the Welsh side coasting to League Two glory and continuing their march up the English football pyramid. But football isn’t always that straightforward. Ask Salford City. The Manchester club, owned by class of ‘92 teammates Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt, Phil Neville and David Beckham were the original celebrity-owned lower-league club and arrived in this very same league back in 2019 to similar fanfare. Four seasons and four managers later, they still remain. In their quartet of campaigns since promotion from the National League, their best finish has been last season, placing seventh before ultimately bowing out in the play-off semi-finals. Ask Mansfield Town. The Stags will now enter their 11th straight year in the division after their promotion from the then-Conference League. After four unsuccessful promotion challenges in the last six seasons as one of the league’s bigger spenders, Nigel Clough’s side have become part of League Two’s furniture, last year missing out on a spot in the play-offs to Salford courtesy of goal difference. Ask Stockport County. Last season’s shiny new toy, having pipped Wrexham to promotion in 2021, Stockport were many people’s favourite to achieve back-to-back promotions with their National League record and stellar squad. However, a play-off final penalty-shootout defeat to underdogs Carlisle means that Dave Challinor’s side will again compete in the fourth tier this season. None of this is to suggest that Wrexham can’t achieve back-to-back promotions for the first time in the club’s history. They are clear favourites with the bookmakers to do just that after their record-breaking points tally (111) last season in the fifth tier. But even with four promotion spots on offer, rather than the two in the National League, history has shown that nothing can be taken for granted in a league full of clubs looking to move up the pyramid. In that sense, Parkinson can be grateful that Wrexham’s riches and big-spending in the past gifts him a squad full of League Two know-how with no better example than talisman and last year’s Player of the Season, Paul Mullin. Although a punctured lung, suffered in a pre-season friendly against Manchester United, will see the striker miss the start of the season, the 28-year-old will need no time to acclimatise to the division. It was in League Two, after all, that he first caught the eye of Wrexham having fired 32 goals in 46 games to guide Cambridge United to an unlikely promotion in 2021. His move back down the pyramid to Wrexham was an early sign of Reynolds and McElhenney’s pull and pockets. Then there is Ben Tozer and Jordan Tunnicliffe. Tozer captained Cheltenham out of League Two the very same season that Mullin burst onto the scene while Tunnifcliffe made it into the division’s team of the season that same year for his performances at Crawley. This year, Tozer will be reunited with fellow centre-back, Will Boyle – Wrexham’s lone signing so far this window – with whom he formed a sturdy partnership at Cheltenham. Add to that Eoghan O’Connell, signed last January from League One Charlton Athletic, and recent Premier League goalkeeper Ben Foster, who has postponed a second retirement to sign a new contract, and it’s clear to see the enviable quality that the Welsh side have in defence. The creativity of fan-favourite and former Luton Town midfielder Elliot Lee, alongside the goalscoring prowess of Ollie Palmer, who joined for a club-record £300,000, is further evidence of why Wrexham went on to smash the record points tally last season. It is perhaps also why, other than Boyle, the club have not made any signings in the transfer window. There is money available, especially after new, lucrative shirt and stadium sponsorship deals with United Airlines and US coffee brand, Stok, but it also points to a squad that was ready to compete with League Two’s best long before they reached this point. They are by no means out on their own, though. Wrexham’s great title rivals in the National League, Notts County, look likely to challenge them again, especially after the coveted signing of veteran striker David McGoldrick who scored 22 goals for Derby County last year in League One. And there is also Stockport, last year’s Wembley losers, who have recruited Nick Powell from Stoke City, the 29-year-old returning to the league where he first caught the eye of Manchester United aged 18. Gillingham, fresh off their own US investment, and those teams relegated from League One last season – MK Dons, Morecambe, Accrington Stanley and Forest Green – could all contend as well in what promises to be one of the most intriguing and high-quality seasons the league has ever seen. Wrexham will continue to attract global eyeballs and bring renewed pride to their local community, that much is assured. On the pitch, though, nothing is guaranteed. As League Two has shown before, no amount of money or high-profile ownership is a guarantee of success. Wrexham will be wary of that and Parkinson will have his work cut out against any number of fancied promotion rivals but with a squad built for the level, the Welsh club and its owners will surely be dreaming of another Hollywood ending. Read More Wrexham fume at Man Utd goalkeeper after striker Paul Mullin hospitalised with punctured lung Ryan Reynolds’ Wrexham is on its way to the United States after being given the Hollywood treatment Why Wrexham? How Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney came to buy a club they’d never heard of Ryan Reynolds reaches out to Manchester United keeper after Paul Mullin injury Extraordinary – Wrexham director says reception in US has exceeded expectations Women’s World Cup LIVE: Latest news and updates as England prepare for last-16

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Chelsea have signed France defender Axel Disasi from Monaco. The 25-year-old has signed a six-year deal at Stamford Bridge as the Blues moved quickly to cover the injury to Wesley Fofana. Disasi has played 130 times in Ligue 1 and was part of the France squad that were runners-up in last year’s World Cup. The centre-back told the club’s official website: “I am so happy to be here, at this big club. I am really proud to be able to be a part of this great family, and I hope to achieve very big things here. To win titles. “I will do everything I can to achieve those objectives. I am very ambitious. “It’s a club that has been very popular for French players because they have all done well here – (Frank) Leboeuf, (Marcel) Desailly, (Nicolas) Anelka, (N’Golo) Kante, (Olivier) Giroud. And the colour is blue like the national team! It’s good. “It’s a familiar club for French people, and I hope all the French players here now can join that line of great players.” Co-sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley added: “Axel has showcased his quality over several seasons in France and that has deservedly led to recognition on the international stage. “He is ready to take the next step in his career and we are delighted that will be with Chelsea. We welcome him to the club and look forward to him joining up with Mauricio Pochettino and his new team-mates in the days ahead.”

South Korea showed its age in the Women’s World Cup and is now looking toward necessary changes to get to the soccer’s next level

Australia’s game against Denmark on Monday in the round of 16 will be its second must-win game in the Women’s World Cup