Before facing England on the field, Wales have been taking on their neighbours by trying to convince Tottenham Hotspur winger Mikey Moore to switch international allegiance to play for them.
Moore, who is on loan at Scottish Premiership side Rangers, has represented England Under-19s but qualifies for Wales through a grandparent.
“We look at every player that’s available,” he said. “I’d prefer it if it wasn’t aired, if I’m being honest, it does us no favours.
“We do our work behind the scenes. We do it for every player we feel is going to offer us something, but I’m always against pressure from the outside.
“I’ve spoken to a lot of players we feel would definitely benefit us in the future – we need a big squad, so we’re always aware of that. We would be naive not to be aware of it.
“No individual, I don’t believe, especially young players, should be in the public domain. I understand it but it’s not how I go about it. For me to mention individuals, I never do.
“But for us, we’re always aware of who can represent us. Do they have the mentality, do they have the ability to add to us? And if they do, then we’re always aware and always trying to be as active as we can, as we have been for a number of years.”
THE world’s best will step up to the oche once again for this year’s Swiss Darts Trophy – and the action is underway!
Martin Schindler pulled off an incredible comeback against Ryan Searle to win the 2024 crown.
1
Martin Schindler won the Swiss Darts Trophy in 2024
However, the German returns to Basel as a 16th seed, meaning he could face a potential banana skin in his opening encounter.
World No1 Luke Humphries is also competing in Basel and will be determined to bounce back from his shock quarter-final defeat in last weekend’s Hungarian Darts Trophy.
But teen sensation Luke Littler will not be participating in the 13th stop on the PDC European Tour.
When is the Swiss Darts Trophy 2025?
The Swiss Darts Trophy 2025 got underway on Friday, September 26.
It then concludes two days later – Sunday, September 28.
Afternoon sessions take place from 12pm BST while the evening sessions start at 6pm BST.
St.Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland is the chosen venue for the penultimate PDC European Tour event.
What TV channel is the Swiss Darts Trophy 2025 on and can I live stream it?
Swiss Darts Trophy 2025 schedule and results
Friday, September 26 First round Afternoon sessions from 12pm
Connor Scutt 1-6 Callan Rydz
Niels Zonneveld 6-3 Dalibor Smolik
Krzysztof Ratajski 6-0 Owen Bates
Andrew Gilding 3-6 Cor Dekker
Ryan Joyce 6-0 Rocco Fulciniti
Luke Woodhouse 6-5 Lukas Wenig
Ricardo Pietreczko 6-3 Oskar Lukasiak
Mensur Suljovic 6-2 Martin Lukeman
Evening sessions from 6pm
Chris Landman 6-3 Denis Schnetzer
Wessel Nijman 5-6 Ritchie Edhouse
Raymond van Barneveld 6-3 Ansh Sood
Richard Veenstra 6-5 Niko Springer
Jermaine Wattimena 6-1 Stefan Bellmont
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-2 Jitse van der Wal
Daryl Gurney 1-6 William O’Connor
Nathan Aspinall 6-0 Andreas Toft Jorgensen
Saturday, September 27 Second round Afternoon sessions from 12pm
Alcaraz returns to number one spot after winning his sixth Grand Slam title and second of 2025 in four sets in New York.
Published On 7 Sep 20257 Sep 2025
Carlos Alcaraz pulled off a calm yet ferocious performance to end his great rival Jannik Sinner’s reign and win the US Open men’s singles final in four sets in front of a sellout crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City.
Alcaraz claimed his second US Open title with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 win on Sunday as United States President Donald Trump watched along with his entourage. Trump’s presence delayed the match start time due to the extensive security checks for the spectators.
Recommended Stories
list of 2 itemsend of list
In a perfect echo of the triumph that first propelled him to the number one spot in 2022, Alcaraz’s second New York title lifted him back to the top of the world rankings, as the 22-year-old Spaniard displaced Sinner and took his Grand Slam trophy haul to six.
“I want to start with Jannik. It’s unbelievable what you’re doing the whole season; great level during every tournament that you’re playing… I’m seeing you more than my family,” said Alcaraz, who took his win-loss record with Sinner to 10-5.
“It’s great to share a court, to share the locker room, to share everything with you.
“I’m just really proud about the people I have around. Every achievement I’m having is because of you, thanks to you… This one is yours.”
As grey clouds hovered over the iconic Arthur Ashe Stadium, Alcaraz continued to deliver the sunshine tennis that has lit up Flushing Meadows over the last two weeks, consolidating an early break by faking a drop to hit a winner that wrong-footed Sinner.
He beamed after pulling off an outrageous half-volley at the net, and wrapped up the opening set shortly afterwards, finishing it off with a big serve, which Sinner crashed into the net as the Italian’s metronomic precision briefly deserted him. But Sinner hit back to take the next set after saving an early break point.
It was the third straight Grand Slam final between the duo this year.
After missing a few steps to drop his first set of the championship, Alcaraz blasted his way to a 5-0 advantage in the third set before Sinner got on the board, and the Spaniard closed it out with a monster serve.
Sinner conjured up two breathtaking volleys in the opening game of the fourth set to roaring applause and held serve after being pushed to the limit again. But he cracked under the pressure and handed the crucial break to Alcaraz in the fifth game.
Resembling a flamingo in full flight in his bright pink vest, Alcaraz soared ahead to secure the victory on his third match point, and celebrated by raising his fists before a warm embrace with his rival and wild celebrations with his team.
A dejected Sinner was left to contemplate another Grand Slam final loss to Alcaraz this season after coming up short in their French Open epic in June. Although, he beat the Spaniard to take his Wimbledon crown the following month.
“A lot of big stages and matches we played this season,” Sinner said, after quickly composing himself.
“I tried my best today. I couldn’t do more.”
Alcaraz celebrates after defeating Sinner [Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP]
Before MLB’s newest trophy was offered up as the prize in a competition between the Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres, it had to pass through the hands of Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder.
The custom Fender Telecaster guitar, named the Vedder Cup, is said to have been played by its namesake for “about an hour” before it was shipped off to T-Mobile Park in Seattle.
“He gave it a good run through,” George Webb, Pearl Jam’s equipment manager, told the Seattle Times on Monday. “He always likes to feel like he puts a little energy, you know, spiritual energy, into an instrument. Not just hand off something that’s brand-new, never-touched kind of thing. So yeah, jammed on it for about an hour. Had a good time.”
The trophy features many nods from the 60-year-old musician, including a hand-drawn “cresting wave” illustration and an arrow and mod symbol — an allusion to Vedder’s tribute to the Who on his personal guitar. On the back, the Padres and Mariners logos appear alongside text hand-written by the singer and guitarist: “The Vedder Cup Established 2025 by Major League Baseball.”
The Vedder Cup, a guitar shown off Monday by Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners, will go each year to the winner of the full-season series between the Mariners and the San Diego Padres.
(Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press)
It also contains a logo from EB Research Partnership, a nonprofit co-founded by Vedder and his wife, Jill, after a childhood friend’s son was born with the painful skin condition epidermolysis bullosa. The nonprofit funds research on the disease.
The cup is intended to bring “meaningful awareness” to the rare disorder, Mariners Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Trevor Gooby said in a statement in March, when the longtime rivalry became official.
“We can’t wait to see this rivalry series grow and look forward to battling the Mariners for the Vedder Cup,” Padres Chief Executive Erik Greupner added.
The rivalry, such as it is, arose from forces both real and manufactured, apparently. Vedder has strong ties to both cities, having grown up in San Diego, then moved to Seattle to start Pearl Jam with Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament — hence, the “Vedder” Cup.
Also, upon the introduction of interleague play in the late ’90s, MLB looked for “natural” rivalries between teams like the Padres and Mariners. This year, the league canonized the rivalry, which is said to have begun as geographic, given both teams’ West Coast homes, Reuters reports.
The two teams have met almost annually since 1997. In the informal all-time series, Seattle currently leads 68-63. Additionally, they share a training complex in Peoria, Ariz.
Some fans are still left with questions as to why the competition has turned official, with one claiming on Reddit that “padres and mariners fans literally give no s— about each other.”
Still, they conceded it is “likely the most meaningless and yet kinda fun thing in MLB.”
The trophy was in the spotlight Monday when the teams met for the fourth time this season. The Mariners notched a 9-6 victory over the Padres, taking the season series after three previous wins in San Diego. The Padres beat the Mariners Tuesday, 7-6, and the final game is Wednesday, but the contest has already been decided. Cal Raleigh, the Mariners’ switch-hitting, homer-hammering catcher, known as “Big Dumper,” hoisted and played the trophy in celebration Monday night.
The name and logo for the cup were first shown off in March, but its final design wasn’t finished until the weeks leading up to the fixture.
“Typically on a custom build like this it will take us six months or so to source the wood, get everything mapped out ready to go and take our time to vet the process, apply the graphics, do some test runs,” Chase Paul, director of product development for Fender, told the Seattle Times. “On this we just kind of headed into it in parallel with testing and the production version at the same time, and kind of getting it ready to go.”
In all, it took Fender eight or nine weeks to get the work done, which Paul called a “really incredible effort by the team in the shop.”
Naturally, Vedder doesn’t want the trophy guitar to sit on a shelf for the next year while it’s in the Mariners’ possession. According to Webb, “He wants it to be played.”
“That’s his attitude with everything. It’s a living, breathing instrument. It sounds great,” he added.
As an added bonus to fans, the league announced it would give away limited-edition Vedder Cup hats during the last 2025 game between the two on Wednesday.
To no surprise, the exclusive ticket package that included the hats has sold out.
The Community Shield is usually played between the Premier League and FA Cup winners
Emlyn Begley
BBC Sport journalist
Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician
Premier League champions Liverpool take on FA Cup winners Crystal Palace in the Community Shield – but would success at Wembley on Sunday indicate a successful season ahead?
Only one of the past 14 winners of the season opener have gone on to lift the Premier League trophy at the end of the campaign.
And what of the goalscorers?
BBC Sport crunches the numbers of recent Community or Charity Shields to see what we can learn.
Do Community Shield winners usually win the Premier League?
The answer to this question is surprisingly no.
In the Premier League era, only eight of the 33 winners of the Charity or Community Shield have gone on to win the title.
And five of those happened in a six-year spell from 2005 until 2010.
Manchester City, in 2019, were the last team to do so – and before that it was Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United in 2011.
In fact, since 1992 the teams who lose the Community Shield have won more league titles that season – 10 in total, including City for three years in a row between 2021 and 2023.
Last year City beat rivals Manchester United to win the curtain-raiser, but ended up having their worst season since 2016-17.
Some 45% of the time (15/33) the upcoming season’s Premier League winners had not been involved in the Community Shield.
And 55% of the time (18/33) the Shield winners have finished above the losers in the league that season.
On 10 occasions the two teams have finished as the top two in the Premier League – with four of those times being the Shield winners top and the losers as runners-up.
Do Premier League winners usually win Community Shield?
The other question is how many Community Shields are won by the previous season’s Premier League winners.
The answer is 18 out of 33 times – so 55%.
But a cause for optimism for Crystal Palace is that the FA Cup winners have won seven of the past 11 Shields, something that had only happened five times in the previous 22.
And on three occasions in the Premier League era, neither the league nor cup winners have won it.
Arsenal (1999 and 2023) and Manchester United (2010) qualified as Premier League runners-up and beat the Double winners in the game.
Do Community Shield goalscorers go on to have good seasons?
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Cole Palmer’s breakthrough season came after his 2023 Community Shield goal – albeit for a different club
This one is a bit of a mixed bag.
In 2023 Cole Palmer netted for Manchester City in their game against Arsenal (a match they would go on to lose on penalties after Leandro Trossard’s injury-time equaliser).
He would go on to score 22 Premier League goals and be named young player of the season… for Chelsea, having joined them for £42.5m.
The previous season, Darwin Nunez scored on his Liverpool debut – and Erling Haaland failed to notch on his City bow.
That led to post-match discussion about Nunez looking the better player.
However, Haaland went on to 52 goals that season, with Nunez netting only 15.
Kelechi Iheanacho only scored four Premier League goals after his 2021 Community Shield winner.
But back in 2019 Raheem Sterling’s Shield strike for City against former club Liverpool kick-started the most productive season of his career (31 goals).
LONDON — Iga Swiatek won her first Wimbledon championship with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Amanda Anisimova on Saturday in the first women’s final at the tournament in 114 years in which one player failed to claim a single game.
Swiatek’s victory on a sunny, breezy afternoon at Centre Court took just 57 minutes and gave Swiatek her sixth Grand Slam title overall. She is now 6-0 in major title matches.
The 24-year-old from Poland finished with a 55-24 edge in total points and accumulated that despite needing to produce merely 10 winners. Anisimova was shaky from the start and made 28 unforced errors.
Swiatek already owned four trophies from the French Open’s red clay and one from the U.S. Open’s hard courts, but this is the first title of her professional career at any grass-court tournament. And it ended a long-for-her drought: Swiatek last won a trophy anywhere more than a year ago, at Roland-Garros in June 2024.
Catherine, the Princess of Wales, was sitting in the Royal Box on Saturday and took part in the on-court ceremony afterward.
Swiatek is the eighth consecutive first-time women’s champion at Wimbledon, but her triumph stands out from the others because it came in a stunningly dominant performance against Anisimova, a 23-year-old American who was participating in her first final at a major.
Anisimova eliminated No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals but never looked like she was the same player Saturday. When it was over, while Swiatek climbed into the stands to celebrate with her team, Anisimova sat on the sideline in tears.
All the way back in 1911, Dorothea Lambert Chambers was a 6-0, 6-0 winner against Dora Boothby.
Swiatek never had been past the quarterfinals of the All England Club and her only other final on the slick surface came when she was the runner-up at a tuneup event in Germany right before Wimbledon began.
Swiatek spent most of 2022, 2023 and 2024 at No. 1 in the WTA rankings but was seeded No. 8 at Wimbledon after going more than a year without claiming a title anywhere. She served a one-month doping ban last year after failing an out-of-competition drug test; an investigation determined she was inadvertently exposed to a contaminated medical product used for trouble sleeping and jet lag.
Anisimova, who was born in New Jersey and grew up in Florida, was a semifinalist at age 17 at the 2019 French Open.
She took time away from the tour a little more than two years ago because of burnout. A year ago, she tried to qualify for Wimbledon, because her ranking of 189th was too low to get into the field automatically, but lost in the preliminary event.
Anisimova will break into the top 10 in the rankings for the first time next week.
The City Section perpetual football trophy is missing — again.
The last time this happened was after Narbonne received the trophy in 2018 for winning the Open Division title. Birmingham won the trophy in 2019 but never got to display it because it went missing until discovered in 2021. It was sticking out of a dumpster in Torrance, handed over to the Southern Section office, then presented to the City Section and cleaned up.
Great Britain and Ireland defeated the Continent of Europe to seal a first Vagliano Trophy victory since 2005.
Following the Curtis Cup win over the United States last September, the GB&I women again held their nerve in the biennial match, winning 12½-11½ at the Royal Hague Golf & Country Club in the Netherlands.
Led by non-playing captain Maria Dunne, GB&I found themselves trailing by one heading into the singles with Europe claiming two early wins.
However, the GB&I team fought back with the English trio of Patience Rhodes, Nellie Ong and Isla McDonald-O’Brien all scoring wins before Ireland’s Aine Donegan and another England player, Sophia Fullbrook, took GB&I over the winning line in a remarkable finish to claim a first win in 20 years.
“It’s been an unbelievable day,” said Dunne.
“I said to the team early this morning that I had a really good feeling about today. They did the job in the foursomes, momentum went our way and they just fought. I told them last night ‘just keep fighting, keep fighting for every single point or half point’ and that’s exactly what they did.”
Rhodes, Donegan, Beth Coulter, Lottie Woad and Hannah Darling were all part of the team which won the Curtis Cup and all played their part once again.
Woad and Coulter lost to Paula Martin Sampedro and Carolina Lopez-Chacarra Coto respectively, but things began to turn GB&I’s way with Ong’s 6&5 victory, and McDonald-O’Brien edged out Camille Min-Gaultier 2&1 to pull the visitors closer, before Rhodes delivered another crucial point with a two-hole triumph over France’s Sara Brentcheneff.
Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck has won the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP and the Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goaltender, becoming the first at the position to do so since Carey Price a decade ago.
Hellebuyck was unveiled as the top MVP vote-getter on an awards show Thursday night prior to Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final, hosted by actor and former Arizona State wide receiver Isaiah Mustafa.
Kings captain Anze Kopitar won the Lady Byng for sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct for a third time.
Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl finished second in the Hart voting and Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov third, a single point ahead of Colorado’s reigning MVP Nathan MacKinnon, as chosen by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association. Hellebuyck was a landslide winner of the Vezina as picked by general managers, receiving 31 of 32 first-place votes.
Hellebuyck won the Vezina for a second year in a row and for the third time in his career. He backstopped the Jets to the Presidents’ Trophy for the best regular season and the William Jennings Trophy for the fewest goals allowed before losing in the second round of the playoffs to Dallas.
Price was the last to pull off the Hart-Vezina double in 2015. Hellebuyck is just the sixth goalie to do it, joining Price, Jose Theodore in 2002, Dominik Hasek in 1997 and ‘98 and Jacques Plante in ’62.
Kucherov, the Art Ross Trophy winner for leading all scorers with 122 points this season, was also chosen for the Ted Lindsay Award as most outstanding player, as voted on by his peers. The Russian winger was MVP in 2019 when the Lightning finished atop the standings.
Draisaitl, the Rocket Richard Trophy recipient for scoring a league-high 52 goals, won the Hart in 2020 after the season was cut short by the pandemic. He became the first German player to be MVP.
A majority of the awards were already presented over the past few weeks, given out as surprises for the first time with no advanced notice. Colorado’s Cale Makar got the Norris as the top defenseman, Florida’s Aleksander Barkov the Selke as the best defensive forward and Washington’s Spencer Carbery the Jack Adams as coach of the year.
LEAH WILLIAMSON urged Arsenal to keep on winning silverware following fans’ raucous celebrations of their Champions League triumph.
Like fellow club icons Tony Adams and Thierry Henry, the Gunners star wants to be remembered for major trophies wins as well as loyalty to the team.
6
Leah Williamson and her team-mates celebrated their Women’s Champions League with fans gathered outside the Armoury in front of the EmiratesCredit: Getty
6
Thousands had flocked to the stadium celebrate the club’s second Women’s Champions League tourmanent winCredit: Alamy
6
Williamson paid tribute to skipper Kim Little after revealing they both broke down in tears following their defeat of Barcelona in the Champions League finalCredit: Getty
6
Chloe Kelly was serenaded by fans who chanted “we want you to stay” with the England forward currently out of contractCredit: Getty
6
Alex Scott invited Arsenal striker Stina Blackstenius to say a few words to the crowd gathered outside the EmiratesCredit: Alamy
Williamson, who broke down in tears after her side’s Champions League final defeat of Barcelona, joined team-mates for a public celebration of their triumph at the Emirates today.
Her efforts helped her side secure Arsenal’s second Women’s Champions League trophy win following the club’s first triumph in 2007.
And the lifelong Arsenal fan wants her legacy to be about loyalty combined with winning the biggest prizes with the Gunners.
Read More Football Stories
Williamson said: “You have to win trophies and I’m so proud of what we do off the pitch, who we are, how we lead and how we carry ourselves.
“I’m so proud of that but I want to win and Arsenal should be winning.
“I’ve looked at that legacy all my life and I’ve been aware of that and I wanted to contribute to it.
“I don’t want to end my career just being loyal.
“Loyalty is great but loyalty with trophies is just something else.
“This week I’ve spoken to Tony Adams and Thierry Henry, people I watched (when I was young).
“They were incredible and they won and that’s why they are remembered the way they are.
“I’m proud that we’re the only team in the land (to have won the Women’s Champions League).
“Anybody that’s Arsenal – red and white – is going to have a summer to remember.”
This morning thousands of fans flocked outside the Armoury in front of the stadium as Williamson and her team-mates held their European trophy aloft.
And Republic of Ireland captain Katie McCabe had supporters cheering following her leading expletive laden chants concerning rivals Tottenham
After a mix of lighthearted and moving short speeches delivered by several players and head coach Renee Slegers, Williamson shared her reflections on her team’s success.
And she paid a touching tribute to skipper Kim Little, who is currently the team’s long-serving player having made more than 300 appearances.
Williamson added: “If you look at this celebration today, the turnout and what we’ve done over the last couple of years, this is the stuff that makes you stay.
“(After our win) I dropped to my knees because of the tears and then I went to look for Kim. We were just sobbing.
“Kim Little is everything I would want to be as a person.
6
Williamson, who spoke to Thierry Henry and Tony Adams this week, wants to be remembered for more than just her loyalty to ArsenalCredit: Reuters
“I’m just glad (for her) because you don’t get recognised sometimes and that’s unjust.
“You need to win trophies and to win the biggest things to get what you deserve. Kim deserves everything.
“People had the game of their lives and I genuinely don’t know if anyone (on the team) that put a foot wrong in terms of the game plan and what it was meant to be.”
The Qalandars chase a record target of 202 against the Gladiators as Raza returns from Test duty to hit the winning runs.
All-rounder Sikandar Raza has written his name in Pakistan cricket folklore after hitting the match-winning six as the Lahore Qalandars beat the Quetta Gladiators by six wickets to win the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2025 final at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
Raza, who was part of Zimbabwe’s Test team until Saturday afternoon, joined the Qalandars’ playing XI 10 minutes prior to the toss for the final on Sunday evening in Pakistan’s eastern metropolis.
The Pakistan-born off-break bowler and lower-middle-order batter took one wicket and scored 22 runs off seven balls as Lahore chased a target of 202 with one ball to spare.
Lahore’s run chase was largely built around Kusal Perera’s 62 runs, with support from top-order batters Mohammad Naeem and Abdullah Shafique, but it was Raza’s whirlwind journey from the United Kingdom to Pakistan and his subsequent role in hitting the winning runs that stole the show and Lahori hearts.
The 39-year-old recounted his last 24 hours by saying he had “dinner in Birmingham, breakfast in Dubai, lunch in Abu Dhabi and flew straight to Lahore for the PSL final”.
Raza bowled 25 overs in the Test on Friday and batted for 20-plus overs on Saturday before leaving for Pakistan.
“To have a victory like this, I just have no words,” he said after the match.
The hosts finished on 204-4 from 19.5 overs to lift their third PSL trophy in four years, making Shaheen Shah Afridi the only captain to win three PSL titles.
Earlier, Quetta posted a formidable total of 201-9 in their 20 overs as young batter Hasan Nawaz scored 76 runs off 43 balls and Faheem Ashraf cracked three sixes and two fours in an innings of 28 off eight balls.
Afridi was the pick of the Lahore bowlers, taking 3-24 in his four overs.
Perera was named player of the match for his instrumental innings that kept Lahore in the match until the last over.
Meanwhile, Nawaz was named player of the tournament for amassing 399 runs in the competition.
Lahore Qalanders captain Shaheen Shah Afridi lifts the Pakistan Super League trophy after the final [Aamir Qureshi/AFP]
Little and England captain Leah Williamson were two of the Gunners best players in Portugal and they jointly lifted the trophy amid the celebrations on the pitch.
For Williamson, who held the Women’s Euros trophy aloft three years ago following England’s 2-1 win over Germany at Wembley, it was a special moment at the club she has always supported.
When Arsenal won the title in 2007, a 10-year-old Williamson had been one of the mascots for the second leg match against Swedish side Umea.
“Eighteen years is a long time to wait for something,” said the now 28-year-old. “I’ve won every domestic trophy with Arsenal now so on a personal level I’m proud of that.
“We turned up to try and do a job and we did it and we’re taking the trophy home. I have a rule not to look at the scoreboard and I broke it three times.”
Barcelona, who won the competition in each of the past two seasons, put Arsenal under pressure for large parts of the final.
However, the 67th-minute introduction of Beth Mead and Blackstenius proved crucial as the England forward set up the Swede to score the winning goal.
“A lot of happy tears,” said an emotional Mead, who celebrated with her family. “I’m proud of being able to do what we did and see my dad at the end.
“It’s been a rough few years, obviously missing my mum [who passed away in January 2023] and it’s the first time I’ve had a big final without her being here. She very much was watching over me.”
TOTTENHAM fans will welcome home their Europa League winners back to North London TODAY.
The Spurs faithful have flocked onto the streets to witness Ange Postecoglou‘s side parade the European trophy that ended their 17-year wait for silverware.
The parade will run from Edmonton Green, past the stadium, loop around Northumberland Park and then return to the ground.
Start time: From 5.30pm BST
FREE live stream: Tottenham’s official YouTube channel
No wonder, given how special it was for him and his club. The goal was Johnson’s 20th of the season for club and country – his best return in a single campaign – and gave Spurs their first piece of silverware since 2008.
“I’m so happy right now,” he said. “This season has not been good at all, not one of us players care about that now.
“This team has not won a trophy for 17 years, it means so much.
“All the fans get battered, we get battered for not winning a trophy. We had to get the first one. I’m so happy. Ever since I came here it has been ‘Tottenham, good team but can’t get it done’, but we got it done.”
Finding himself 17th in the Premier League was not what Johnson would have expected when he joined Spurs from Nottingham Forest for a fee in excess of £45m in the summer of 2023.
While his old club have been one of the stories of the season, challenging for a Champions League spot, his current employers and boss Ange Postecoglou have been ridiculed for their dismal domestic campaign.
But Johnson, who also scored in Spurs’ Europa League semi-final win over Bodo/Glimt, said he and his teammates owed Postecoglou a debt of gratitude for “trusting in us” over the course of a successful European campaign that defied their struggles in the Premier League.
“He has done his job,” said Johnson. “He said he wins in the second year and he has, if there’s ever a time for a mic drop, it’s now [when he speaks to the media].
“I can’t thank the manager enough for how much trust he has in us, and he has a really good way of getting us up for it.”
Johnson added: “Tottenham Hotspur being 17th in the Premier League is not good enough. We had an unbelievable Europa League run. The fans have been so good, home and away, and they had the edge over the United fans. They were all here an hour before the game, they got us through the game.”
Tottenham’s victory sparked emotional scenes among their fans, with the club set to have an open-top bus parade on Friday before their final Premier League game of the season at home to Brighton.
By winning the Europa League, Spurs will also have a chance to win the Uefa Super Cup when they face the Champions League winners, either Inter Milan or Paris-St Germain, on 13 August in Italy.
However, whether Postecoglou is still in charge of the club then is unknown.
“I would be disappointed if we don’t continue on this path,” he added in the post-match news conference. “It is difficult to buy into one person’s vision. I have been a serial winner. I know people dismiss what I have won because it didn’t happen here, but they were hard earned.
“There is huge relief. You carry the weight of responsibility and 150 times I have been a spokesman for this club.
“There are no planned meetings. I’ll go back to my hotel room with friends and family, open up a nice bottle of scotch, a massive parade on Friday, game on Sunday against Brighton and then holiday. Then que sera, sera.”
Postecoglou joined Tottenham in June 2023, having won five trophies in two seasons at Celtic, including back-to-back Scottish Premiership titles.
In September, he said he “always wins things in his second season,” a statement which was true when he had been in charge of clubs for two full seasons.
He maintained that record in Bilbao and said: “People misinterpreted me. It was not me boasting, just me making a declaration and I believed it. I had this thing inside me more than anything else.
“I know our league form has been unacceptable, but coming third was not going to change this football club, winning a trophy would, that was my ambition and I was prepared to wear it if it did not happen.
“People kept reminding me of it because we were getting closer but I’m happy with that.”
CRYSTAL PALACE are taking on Manchester City in a stunning FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium!
The Eagles headed into the match on the back of a mixed season in the league, but have ended the campaign in good form.
2
Ian Wright playing in 1990 FA Cup final for Crystal PalaceCredit: Getty
Palace boss Oliver Glasner has had a huge impact on the side since his arrival at Selhurst Park in February 2024.
Glasner said ahead of the FA Cup final: “I’m very pleased. Not just with the improvements, but I think with the environment we have created here at the training ground and also in the club.
“We are very ambitious, everyone is working very hard to progress, and this is the main reason why we are where we are now at the end of the season.
Pep Guardiola will be without Rodri, Nathan Ake, Oscar Bobb and John Stones for this afternoon’s FA Cup final.
Kevin De Bruyne is set to feature in his fourth FA Cup final with the likes of Mateo Kovacic, Ilkay Gundogan, Bernando Silva and Nico Gonzalez battling to join him in midfield.
Guardiola will have a decision to make on the flanks, will he stick with Phil Foden and James McAtee or roll the dice with Jeremey Doku and Omar Marmoush?
Crystal Palace team news
The headline team news from the Palace camp is that Adam Wharton IS fit and available for selection after missing last weekend’s win at Tottenham with a twisted ankle.
Wharton will likely replace one of Will Hughes or Jefferson Lerma in the Eagles’ midfield two.
Eddie Nketiah will be pushing to get the nod ahead of Jean-Philippe Mateta with his impressive record in the FA Cup this season.
The 2020 FA Cup winner has been involved in a goal in each of his past three appearances (2G, 1A) in the competition, all as a substitute.
Good afternoon and welcome to SunSport’s live blog of the FA Cup final!
Crystal Palace take on Manchester City in today’s blockbuster Wembley showpiece.
The two sides are looking to get their hands on the iconic trophy for very different reasons.
Palace can claim the first piece of major silverware in the club’s 120-year history, while City are hoping to save their rare poor season.
The Eagles have fell at the final hurdle in the FA Cup twice, losing on both occasions to Manchester United in 1990 and 2016.
This Palace team is made up of a flurry of internationals and in-demand stars, and many fans believe this year could well be their year.
City are in search of their eighth FA Cup triumph and their second under Pep Guardiola.
The Cityzens have reached the final of the oldest football competition in the world for three straight years.
They will be looking to bounce back from their 2-1 defeat to bitter rivals Manchester United in last year’s final.
