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  • Manny Pacquiao

Pacquiao replaces Lope Santos III and will coordinate poverty programmes across national agencies

The Manny Pacquiao poverty reduction role places the former senator at the head of the agency that coordinates anti-poverty policy across the

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Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is sold out
  • Formula 1

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix tickets are already gone, and Formula 1 says the season finale will run on schedule despite unrest across the Middle East. Stefano Domenicali, the sport’s President and CEO, told reporters the race stays on the calendar. A final decision, he added, comes by the middle of September.

What Domenicali confirmed

He said: “For us today, the races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi are confirmed. By the way, they are already sold out. That is an incredible sign of how much the sport is bigger than the problem that our world is living.”

Speaking after the Hungarian Grand Prix, with the season now in its one-month break, Domenicali said Formula 1 stays in contact with other championships about the end of the year. The plan is simple. Take the maximum time, watch how the situation develops, then decide at the right moment. That call will not come before mid-September.

For now, the races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi are confirmed. Abu Dhabi is set for 3-6 December, with the main race on Sunday, 6th of December 2026. Both have sold out. Domenicali called that a sign of how the sport has grown bigger than the trouble the world faces right now. Demand tells its own story. Fans searching for Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ticket prices found nothing left to buy.

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix tickets question

Yas Marina Circuit has closed the F1 season almost every year since 2009. The track runs a twilight race that starts in daylight and finishes under floodlights. That finale slot is exactly what the September decision puts in question.

If tensions do not ease the way Formula 1 expects before mid-September, the plan changes. Domenicali was clear on the backup. The end of the season would move to Europe instead. Such a shift would reshape the closing weeks of the F1 calendar and pull the traditional finale away from Yas Marina Circuit.

Worth knowing if you hold a seat for the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: a sold-out race gives the event weight, but the September check still decides where the year ends. So the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix tickets you already hold come with a date the sport has yet to lock fully.

Bahrain race finds a new home

One race has already moved. The Bahrain Grand Prix, cancelled after unrest in the region, will now run at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia from October 2 to 4. It slots between the Azerbaijan and Singapore rounds.

Bahrain’s race was meant to be the fourth stop of the year, set for April 10 to 12 at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir. That plan fell through, and Formula 1 also dropped the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah the week after.

Domenicali thanked the Kingdom of Bahrain and Malaysia for making the switch work. He framed it as cooperation and as thinking wider than others might. Malaysia brings back a track that carried the championship in years past.

What it means for the F1 season finale

For fans, the picture is clear enough. The F1 season finale in Abu Dhabi is confirmed and sold out, and so is Qatar. Yet the mid-September call could still send the year’s final rounds to Europe. Anyone holding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix tickets should watch that date. Your seat stays valid for the day printed on it, but that day is not yet fully fixed. Formula 1 says it will decide when the time is right, and not a moment sooner.

  • 3 min read
Besiktas' offer for Mohamed Salah
  • Mohamed Salah

Besiktas’ offer for Mohamed Salah now rests on a single decision, with the Istanbul club setting a 24-hour window for the Egyptian forward to reply. The proposal runs across two seasons and reflects a level of spending rarely seen in the Turkish Super Lig. According to a report carried by beIN Sports, the club put forward a guaranteed annual salary of €15 million, along with performance bonuses of around €4 million. The agreement is also said to include clauses covering image rights. These figures come from Turkish media, and neither side has confirmed them in public.

What do the numbers show?

If every incentive triggers, Salah’s yearly income could climb to between €19 million and €20 million. Across the full term, that would take the total Mohamed Salah Besiktas contract commitment past €40 million. Reports describe the guaranteed figure as a net €15 million, a request Salah’s side raised early in the talks. The Salah salary on the table would place him among the highest earners in the league by a wide margin. Besiktas appears ready to absorb that cost to bring in a forward of his standing.

The Mohamed Salah Liverpool departure earlier in the summer sent one of the game’s most productive forwards onto the open market. His nine-year spell at Anfield brought more than 250 goals and a full set of domestic and European honors. That record explains the interest that followed his exit. Salah’s free agent status removed any transfer fee from the picture, which widened the field of possible destinations and shaped the terms now under review.

Rival interest in the background

Before the Turkish talks advanced, Salah drew interest from the Saudi Pro League and from clubs in Major League Soccer, according to widely reported accounts. Those options let the 34-year-old weigh location, level of competition, and long-term plans against the Istanbul proposal. For now, reports place Besiktas as the most concrete of the suitors. Besiktas’ offer for Mohamed Salah reaches a deadline.

After the financial package landed, attention shifted to Salah and his agent, Ramy Abbas, as Besiktas waited for a final answer. Journalist Sercan Dikme reported the two sides had moved forward on several points before the club asked for a clear response within 24 hours. Club president Serdal Adali framed the proposal as the club’s final offer and said Besiktas weighed each requested change against its own interests. Besiktas’ offer for Mohamed Salah carries a firm timeline, and Adali told Turkish media the decision now sits with the player. That deadline points to Monday evening.

What the Besiktas transfer means

For a club measuring itself against Galatasaray and Fenerbahce, adding Salah would signal clear intent. The latest Besiktas transfer news suggests the gap between the two sides narrowed through repeated rounds of talks. Besiktas has worked to build a stronger front line, and a forward with Salah’s output would change the club’s attacking shape. Whether Besiktas’ offer for Mohamed Salah closes will depend on how the forward reads the choice in front of him. A response is expected soon.

  • 3 min read
Messi equals Maradona
  • Sports

Messi equals Maradona on one of the World Cup’s harder statistical tests, a comparison that returned after Argentina beat England 2-1 to reach the World Cup 2026 final. A dribble, in match data, counts each time a player takes the ball past a direct opponent while keeping control. Opta logs every successful take-on. By that measure, Messi delivered one of the knockout stage’s clearest individual displays.

How Argentina beat England

England led first. Anthony Gordon scored in the 55th minute of the Argentina vs England World Cup 2026 semifinal. Messi then set up both Argentine goals. Argentina trailed until the 85th minute, when Enzo Fernandez equalized, and Lautaro Martinez won it deep into stoppage time, in the 90th minute plus two. At 39, Messi became the oldest outfield player to appear in a World Cup semifinal, per Opta. His two assists carried Argentina into another final.

Where Messi equals Maradona

The claim rests on Opta match data. Against England, Messi completed 10 dribbles, and Opta noted he became the second player in the last 60 years to reach that figure against England in a World Cup match. The other was Maradona, in 1986. A dribble counts only when a player beats a direct opponent while keeping the ball, which makes double figures in one game rare. That shared line is where Messi equals Maradona in the record books, and it points back to the fixture that shaped Maradona’s 1986 title run. The 10-dribble tally also extended the Messi dribbles record at the World Cup. Messi set up both Argentine goals as well, lifting his creative numbers further. Across World Cup history, he has moved ahead of Maradona on chances created, 99 to 71. He is tied for most goals at the 2026 tournament, with eight, and holds 33 goal contributions in 33 World Cup matches, the highest total on record. Mbappé sits next with 25.

The Spain vs Argentina final

Spain stands between Argentina and a title defense. Opta rates the Spain vs Argentina final at 56.05 percent in Spain’s favor, with Argentina at 43.85 percent. Those figures are projections and can shift on the day. Luis de la Fuente coaches Spain, whose squad Transfermarkt values at 1.22 billion euros. Argentina’s squad carries a value of 807.5 million euros. The three host nations, the United States, Mexico and Canada, share the tournament, and the final closes it. Messi equals Maradona in reaching a World Cup final as the central figure of an Argentine side, a role Maradona held in 1986.

Head-to-head history

Spain and Argentina have met 14 times. Each nation has won six, with two draws. Only one meeting counted as a competitive fixture, at the 1966 World Cup group stage, where Argentina won 2-1. The rest, played between 1952 and 2018, were friendlies. Their last meeting ended 6-1 to Spain. That scoreline came in a friendly, not a tournament match, which limits its weight for the final. The 1986 reference still frames Argentine expectations, since Maradona scored twice against England in that tournament, drove his team past the quarterfinal, and lifted the trophy. Argentina will try to close 2026 the same way.

  • 3 min read
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