France’s Olivier Giroud (right), Paul Pogba, Laurent Koscielny and Antoine Griezmann train for Euro 16.
REUTERS
France’s performance at Euro 16 could provide the country with a much needed boost – if its footballers can stand up to the test, that is.
Supporting an infant industry.
EPA/HOW HWEE YOUNG
A new industry is being created under President Xi Jinping. Meet the two men making it happen.
Hands on heads.
PA
Our reactions on the terraces show we all come from the same side.
Reigning World Cup winners Germany will prove hard to beat at this year’s European football championships.
Reuters/Darren Staples
Based on goals scored at the 2014 World Cup, goals emerge when teams develop small and rapid passing networks comprising only a few players.
Tennis star Nick Krygios has withdrawn himself from possible selection for the Rio Olympics, citing ‘unfair’ treatment by the AOC.
EPA/Ian Langsdon
Three potential Olympians have been sent “please explain” letters from the Australian Olympic Committee, but there is little ethical justification for this.
Muhammad Ali is still front of mind in any discussion of the most important sportsman ever.
Reuters
Muhammad Ali was much bigger than boxing. He came, from the late 1960s onwards, to symbolise resistance to racism, militarism and inequality.
Various boxing authorities have ranked Muhammad Ali as the best heavyweight boxer in history.
Reuters
Central to the celebrity Muhammad Ali achieved was his exceptional ability as a boxer.
The party was over before it started for Louis Van Gaal.
Nick Potts / PA Wire/Press Association Images
The sacking of Manchester United’s Louis van Gaal shows football really is a funny game. But was anyone else to blame?
On their knees. Scrutiny and stigma for athletes has ramped up.
Phil Roeder/Flickr
The history of the fight against drug taking in sport shows us why we’re in such a mess right now.
England team position called into question.
Mike Egerton/PA Wire/Press Association Images
Some have questioned whether the England captain should be in the starting squad – here’s how Rooney compares to his rivals.
Klip Klopp, watch him pop.
Jurgen by Shutterstock
Four football managers who made it to the top of their game with talent, and just a little charisma.
French authorities investigating.
EPA
There are days when you just want to think about buttercups and Jamie Vardy.
Eventing is a sport enjoyed by many Australians, but what are the risks?
alan feebery/Flickr
How dangerous really is horse riding and sports like eventing? While there are risks, they can be managed, especially if we learn to understand horses better.
Horse wearing crank noseband.
Luise Thomson
With the 2016 Olympics in Rio on the horizon, the practice of clamping together the jaws of horses has still gone unchecked.
Choosing the right tactics?
EPA/MARK
Xi Jinping is spearheading an extraordinary bid to dominate the world’s favourite sport. But will he take the Chinese people with him?
Fans who go to the stadium or barrack from their living rooms need to be assured that sport is real.
Shutterstock/Oleksii Sidorov
As the business of sport booms why does this come with an increasing frequency of integrity scandals of bribery, corruption and cheating?
Integrity in sport should start from the bottom up.
Shutterstock/Paolo Bona
Efforts to wipe out doping, match fixing, corruption and other threats to sport integrity need to start at the local level.
Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA
Exactly how does one structurally define a fairy tale, and can we accurately describe The Foxes’ win as such?
The association representing AFL players is a good example of using a union model to give workers a voice.
AAP/Dan Peled
In an increasingly individualised workplace, unions can no longer rely on organising tactics to survive. Instead, they need to undertake a major “rebranding”.
from www.shutterstock.com
There’s clearly a growing enthusiasm for the sport but our experts crunched the numbers to see if this is just more middle-aged men in lycra (Mamils).