Whether it's through watching matches on TV featuring various national teams and our own players in action, or following stars representing other top European clubs, we're all exploring a completely new landscape. All eleven stadiums hosting the 2026 World Cup in the United States bring a certain grandeur and energy inspired by the NFL and American professional sport into football. These are architectural masterpieces, defined by record-breaking design, cutting-edge technology, and one-of-a-kind logistics. From the largest venue, Dallas' AT&T Stadium, to the stage for next July's World Cup final, MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, each one reflects that same sense of ambition. It's a world that AC Milan have been well acquainted with, perhaps even ahead of its time in engaging with it. During the 1994 World Cup, which was the first to be held in the United States, the Rossoneri were ambassadors of 'soccer' to a rapidly growing American audience. 

That historical significance was reflected in AC Milan's only official trophy won on US soil: the 1993 Supercoppa Italiana, when they beat Torino 1-0 in Washington thanks to a goal from Marco Simone. A decade earlier, the Club had also reached the same final in New York but fell on penalties to Juventus in what was the first time an official Lega Calcio trophy was decided outside Italy. The Rossoneri have been regular visitors to the United States for decades, with tours to prepare for the season and connect with fans. In recent years, AC Milan have consistently featured in the Soccer Champions Tour and the International Champions Cup. Under the current ownership, the Club has strengthened its commercial presence in the USA, including through a partnership with the New York Yankees. Christian Pulisic has also driven a surge of attention and shirt sales in the American market. In 2023, AC Milan opened its first official youth academy in Virginia.

ThenewAC Milan 2026/27 Home Kit is available: buy it now!

The Grade 1 Stephen Foster Stakes returns to Churchill Downs on Saturday, June 27, with one of America’s premier older-horse contests once again taking centre stage in Louisville.

Run over 1 1/8 miles on dirt, the Stephen Foster has long been regarded as one of the most important summer races for older horses, regularly attracting leading Grade 1 performers and serving as a stepping stone towards the Breeders’ Cup Classic later in the year.

With the Stephen Foster Stakes purse now up to $2m, after Churchill Downs announced in May the race prize money would be doubled.

The 2026 Stephen Foster Stakes is scheduled to take place on Saturday, June 27 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky.

The meeting forms part of the track’s popular Stephen Foster Day card, which features several graded stakes races alongside the headline event.

Gates are scheduled to open at 11:30am local time, with the first race due off at 12:45pm ET. The Stephen Foster itself is expected to take place during the latter part of the horse racing card.

The official post time for the 2026 Stephen Foster Stakes at Churchill Downs will be 6:03pm ET.

Racegoers can expect the Grade 1 contest to be one of the final major events on the programme, with the full running order and post times confirmed closer to race day.

The 2026 Stephen Foster Stakes is expected to receive national television coverage in the United States, with FanDuel TV and NBC platforms typically carrying coverage of Churchill Downs’ major summer meetings.

Live streaming options are also usually available through major racing services and advance-deposit wagering platforms. Final television schedules are generally confirmed during the week of the race.

The 2025 running of the Stephen Foster Stakes was won by Mindframe, who produced a powerful performance for trainer Todd Pletcher to secure his first Grade 1 victory against older horses.

The victory established Mindframe among the leading dirt performers in North America and gave the colt an automatic berth into the Breeders’ Cup Classic through the race’s “Win and You’re In” status.

The Stephen Foster Stakes was inaugurated in 1982 and is named after the famous American composer Stephen Foster, whose song ‘My Old Kentucky Home’ has become synonymous with Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby.

The race is contested over 1 1/8 miles on dirt and carries Grade 1 status, making it one of the most prestigious races for older horses in the United States.

Over the years, many outstanding runners have captured the prize, including Saint Liam, Curlin, Gun Runner and Knicks Go.

Its position on the summer calendar makes the Stephen Foster an important target for leading stables, with many winners going on to compete in the Breeders’ Cup Classic later in the season.

Few races for older dirt horses carry as much significance during the summer months as the Stephen Foster.

The race regularly attracts elite performers from the major Kentucky, New York and Florida barns and often provides an early indication of the horses capable of challenging for the Breeders’ Cup Classic in the autumn.

With Churchill Downs once again hosting a strong supporting card and a substantial purse on offer.

The 2026 renewal looks set to remain one of the standout races of the American summer season.

With top horses like Sovereignty, White Abarrio, Magnitude and Baeza lining up.

• 2025 – Mindframe (Todd Pletcher/Irad Ortiz Jr.) 15/8 fav
• 2024 – Kingsbarns (Todd Pletcher/Luis Saez) 10/1
• 2023 – West Will (Power Brad Cox/Flavien Prat) 41/20 fav
• 2022 – Olympiad (Bill Mott/Junior Alvarado) 6/4 fav
• 2021 – Maxfield (Brendan Walsh/Jose Ortiz) 2/5 fav
• 2020 – Tom’s d’Etat (Al Stall Jr/Miguel Mena) 13/10 fav
• 2019 – Seeking the Soul (Dallas Stewart/John Velazquez) 23/5
• 2018 – Pavel (Doug O’Neill/Mario Gutierrez) 68/10
• 2017 – Gun Runner (Steve Asmussen/Florent Geroux) 1/2 fav
• 2016 – Bradester (Eddie Kenneally/Joe Bravo) 92/10

Notable Stephen Foster Trends

• Todd Pletcher has won two of the last two runnings with Kingsbarns (2024) and Mindframe (2025)
• Short-priced favourites have enjoyed considerable success, with Gun Runner (1-2), Maxfield (2-5) and Mindframe (15-8) all winning as market leaders
• Six winning favourites in the last 9 runnings
• Only two winners in the last decade started at bigger than 6-1: Kingsbarns (9-1) and Bradester (9-1)
• Florent Geroux, Jose Ortiz, Luis Saez and Irad Ortiz Jr. have all won the race during the past decade
• Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen captured the race with eventual Horse of the Year Gun Runner in 2017

The Stephen Foster has regularly produced top-class older dirt horses.

Backed up with Gun Runner, Maxfield, Olympiad and Mindframe all using the race as a springboard to further Grade 1 success.

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St. Louis' Hayden Patriquin keeps on rolling, as does his team.

Major League Pickleball (MLP), presented by DoorDash, headed to St. Petersburg, Florida last weekend for the fifth week of the 2026 MLP season. They head back inside to play at the fabulous new St. Pete Athletic Club, the home club of Florida Smash owners Travis Rettenmaier & Graham D’Amico that was opened to great fanfare earlier this year.

The St. Pete event featured six of the top seven ranked teams in action, with eight playoff position teams competing. This was easily the most competitive event the league has held thus far, as evidenced by the large number of great, competitive matches from the get-go, as well as four different teams being picked to win it all in our media pick’em contest (more on that down below).

Key links for tracking the event this weekend, which feature livestreams from the primary courts at the facility on MLP’s YouTube channel and on PickleballTV.com. I also have data-centric links at the bottom of this recap.

• MLP St. Petersburg Week 5 Event home page
• League Standings and Team/Player Stats
• MLP 2026 Schedule along with Rosters for the 20 Premier League Teams

Ahead of the weekend, the following transactions were announced:

• Just after the Dallas Flash shockingly finished in last place in their Austin group, they made a major move. They traded Hurricane Tyra Black to Columbus for Danni-Elle Townsend and cash. This move makes a ton of sense for both sides. Townsend really starred in the absence of Columbus’ star player Parris Todd in week 1, but (like Todd) is a left-side dominant player. You can’t have two left-siders and be successful. Meanwhile, Todd played most of 2025 on the PPA tour with Black, with much success (1 gold, 3 silvers, and 8 bronzes in their careers playing together). They also improve greatly in Mixed. Meanwhile, Dallas gets a player they can build around for 3 years who can go back to owning the left side, and they get some cash to work with.
• Early week reports are that Black, who sat out last week’s event recovering from a long-term illness, is practicing with her new team and will play this weekend. Per Jim Kloss tweets, she may sit out some of New Jersey’s early matches but should be ready to go for the highlight match of the weekend on Saturday, when New Jersey faces off against St. Louis in a battle of the two teams most every pundit picked as the two best teams heading into the season.
• Riley Newman, who had to withdraw from Brooklyn’s matches two weeks ago in St. Louis, should be fully fit to power his squad as they try to beat out the LA Mad Drops for the group title.
• Palm Beach’s Dekel Bar was injured early, forcing their bench player and singles specialist into action. However, Goldin fell ill after Thursday’s matches, and Palm Beach was able to add newly signed Casey Diamond for Friday and Saturday’s matches. Diamond is Sofia Sewing’s regular mixed partner on the APP and is a solid player, perhaps even an upgrade over even Bar, and other GMs may be grumbling.

Day 1 Observations

• The event kicked off with the hosts playing above their pay grade and really pressing the veteran Chicago team. They split gender doubles, then Zane and Travis came to faux blows as Chicago ground out a lead by winning Mixed-1. Florida’s Weil and Campbell got a clutch win in Mixed-2 to send the match to the DreamBreaker. Florida's crew played well, but Chicago's top singles player Hunter Johnson came through in the end and Chicago eked out a 21-15 DB win to open the weekend.
• Palm Beach’s ladies came out on fire, blasting the Texas women 11-4 to open. Then their veteran men’s team quieted the upstart Oncins/Acevedo team to take a 2-0 lead. Oncins and Sleeth surprised the PB No. 1 mixed team of McGuffin and Sewing, who have been solid this season, to try to pull back the match a bit. This led to an 11-2 drubbing in Mixed 2 by Texas’ veterans Pisnik and Bar for an emphatic 3-1 win.

Day 2 Observations

• Palm Beach blew out the STL Women’s team 11-2, maybe their worst result ever. STL's men took advantage of an injury to Dekel Bar to cruise to a Men's win, evening the match heading into mixed. There, McGuffin and Sewing (who have been excellent together all season) worked through a Tyson injury but couldn't stop the loss to STL's Patriquin and Bright 11-7. From there STL pulled away as their sub Goldin couldn't keep pace, and STL wins 3-1.
• LA got their weekend started with a closer-than-they wanted female doubles win, and then LA's Johns & Freeman had to come back from 1-8 down to beat Garnett & Tama to take a 2-0 lead in this match. Utah got one mixed match back, but the Johns/Kawamoto mixed pair cruised to a win to clinch the match.

Day 3 Observations

Sewing and McGuffin split up for part of the weekend, but are still part of a MLP revelation this season for Palm Beach.

• Opening Friday was a banger; Palm Beach’s ladies Sewing and Pisnik had a come-from behind win in ladies doubles over Todd & Black to set the tone. With injuries and illnesses taking out both Bar and Goldin, Palm Beach was able to pick up newly signed Casey Diamond, who just happens to be Sewing’s regular Mixed partner on the APP. Diamond had to slot in directly with Tyson, who is playing through an ankle concern suffered yesterday, so the Royals are banged up across the board. Columbus’ Daescu & Klinger jumped on Diamond/McGuffin fast as they isolated Diamond, eventually winning 11-0 to even the match. McGuffin and Pisnik got a solid come-from-behind win to go up 2-1, then Diamond & Sewing did the same, taking advantage of a slew of errors from Klinger to come back from 1-5 down to an 11-6 game win to seal the huge upset. Palm Beach is now in control of the group. Oh, not for nothing, thanks to all the player subs ... PB started each game a point down on top of everything else.
• LA took no mercy on the host Florida team, breezing through gender doubles and the first mixed match to sew up the win. In the last, player-owner Travis Rettenmaier called his own number, and he played inspired, maniacal pickleball to play to the crowd and pull out a come from behind win in the last. LA moves on 3-1 but Rettenmaier wins the crowd.

Day 4 Observations

His home team may have struggled, but Florida Smash and St. Pete Athletic club owner Travis Rettenmaier played to the crowd and got his wins this weekend.

• In one of the marquee group stage matches of the event, Brooklyn gave LA everything it could handle, losing three games 12-10 and 13-11 twice. However, LA secured the win, which gave them the group and a spot in tomorrow's final. This was a lot closer than the 4-0 scoreline indicates.
• Well, that was a statement. St Louis absolutely pulverized last year’s champion Sliders, winning two of the games 11-1 and not letting up in mixed 2 even after securing the win. The Shock win 4-0 to secure the group and avenge a loss to Columbus earlier this season.
• Orlando moved past the under-manned Palm Beach Royals, who played on-site sub Stefan Auvergne today instead of McGuffin, who clearly succumed finally to the ankle rolling he took earlier in the event. Jack Sock continues his MLP-renaissance by going 2-0, then the superior Orlando singles squad dismantled the Royals 21-8. Note to conspiracy fans: still no Greyson Goldin, who was "sick" yesterday and continues to be out of the lineup today.

At the end of the group stages, here were the standings, which drive the final day’s competition.

• Group A: LA, Brooklyn, Chicago, Utah, Florida
• Group B: STL, Palm Beach, Columbus, Texas, Orlando, Miami

For 2026, the final day features the Event Standings matches, where the winner of Group A players the Winner of Group B, the 2nd place teams play for 3rd, the 3rd place teams play for 5th, and so on. Here’s a review of those final matches.

• Event 1st Place match: In a rematch of the St. Louis event final, we saw the same result. The Shock cruised to a 3-0 win, never really leaving any of the matches in doubt, to firmly establish themselves as the class of the league right now They ascend to 1st place in both total points and points/per/event.
• Event 3rd Place match: Palm Beach’s women shocked Rohrabacher & Kawamoto to win the first game 11-3. Brooklyn's men Alshon and Newman just pulverized McGuffin & Diamond to even the score 11-1. From there, Brooklyn's superior mixed teams took over and ended the match 3-1 to claim 3rd place.
• Event 5th Place match: Columbus did not mess around, blowing Chicago's doors off three straight to claim 5th place, but obviously going home disappointed in their result.
• Event 7th Place match: Texas was missing Layne Sleeth, then lost Acevedo to injury, and with bench players Marcela Aguila Ampon (previously known as Marcela Hones) and Matthew Barlow subbing in Utah cruised to a 3-1 win to steal 7th place and the valuable points that come with it.
• 9th & 10th place goes to Orlando and Florida, who earn 1 point a piece. 11th place goes to Miami, who finished last in the group with 6 teams. They receive 0 event standing points.

Here’s the teams who made notable moves up or down the season Standings in this event. Because of imbalanced schedules, we’ll use Points per Match to determine the “standings” in this analysis.

League Standings ordered by Points per Event after this week.

• St. Louis moves to 1st place, in both total points and Points per Event.
• Los Angeles drops to 3rd in the standings, but the top 3 teams of STL, NJ, and LA have now separated themselves from the rest of the pack.
• Palm Beach is now “the best of the rest,” sitting in 6th place outside of the top five title contender teams.
• Orlando drops into 11th, just on the cusp of playoff eligibility, with a poor weekend.

Here’s a quick look at the players who played best (and worst) this weekend. Too often the per-event stat leaders are just the four players from the winning team, so we’ll look deeper to find impact players that aren’t that obvious.

• Dekel Bar started off the weekend on fire, winning his first 4 matches with a solid 71% point rate before heading out with injury.
• Ben Johns is back: he led his LA team with an 8-1 record and a solid 63% points rate. His only loss? In the finals.
• It was a rough weekend for Texas’ Lea Jansen, who went just 3-9 with a 33% points won clip.

What were our top Takeaways from the competition this weekend?

1. MLP continues to play the substitution rules fast and loose. While I get that Palm Beach had major injury issues all weekend, the shenanigans they pulled to be able to play (and win) with Casey Diamond, who signed a UPA deal approximately 45 seconds before he was on the court, seem a bit shady. Lots of reporting that the team had Goldin claim illness so as to get Diamond on the court, which is really unsporting if true.
2. That being said, Palm Beach can really make some noise. They started from scratch this off-season and leave this event in 6th place in the league. They’re the best team that’s not talked about as a title favorite. It did not take Sofia Sewing long after her APP poaching to show that she’s already one of the best women in the sport.
3. Both New Jersey and Los Angeles need to make a trade to upgrade their Men, if they want to win this league and beat St. Louis. After losing in a DreamBreaker to LA in the opening week, they’ve now swept the Mad Drops twice in event finals, not really threatened in either match.
4. St. Pete Athletic may be the best facility in the country. I had heard about it from players and one of its pros (Chrishawn Spackman, who used to play with with us in Richmond before relocating to Florida), but the pro reaction has confirmed it. Bravo to the owners for creating such an amazing space.

We have a slew of influencers and members of the traditional pickleball media participating in a season-long pick’em contest. Here’s the link to track the competition online, and I’ll be tweeting out the pick matrix and updates, so follow me on Twitter if interested.

MLP Media Pick’em Competition Weekly Summary: yours truly somehow won the week, getting 10 of 11 picks right. The Dink’s Alex Weaver takes over the season lead.

MLP Pickem standings post Week 5.

Next up on the Pickleball Calendar? According to my Master Pickleball Schedule ...

Next up for the MLP next week is New York! Hosted by the Brooklyn Pickleball Team, who have a new mascot needing a name, which somewhat resembles the NYC subway tokens they have since deprecated. The New York event is looking like a New Jersey-Brooklyn final, but there’s a couple frisky teams that could mix things up.

We also have another waiver period on 6/23/26, one that surely will see Casey Diamond picked up, and perhaps some down-roster moves by other teams. We may also continue to see teams making trades, especially ones involving Dallas, who seem to be moving everyone for assets and cash right now.

MLP-specific stats mentioned herein come from PickleKey.com, which has done a great job collecting detailed MLP player data for the league and went through an off-season re-design that includes a slew of new ways to slice and dice the data.

My colleague Erik Tice at the Dink (who does double duty as the GM for the California Black Bears) is back to maintaining his Public MLP Data sheet, which has all sorts of awesome data.

Any Tour-level match stats quoted in this article are courtesy of PickleWave. Visit picklewave.com for the premier source of Pro Pickleball data, including match replays, highlights, stats, and discussion. PickleWave has more than 31,000 matches in its database across all the pro tours.

This article was originally published on Forbes.com

Germany defender Nico Schlotterbeck has been ruled out of the rest of the World Cup with an ankle injury.

The 26-year-old left-footed centre-back suffered the problem in his side's 2-1 win against Ivory Coast on Saturday and was replaced by Antonio Rudiger at half-time.

A Germany national team statement said Schlotterbeck had "suffered an injury to the medial collateral ligament in his left ankle" and "will be out for several months".

It added that the Borussia Dortmund player would "remain with the team in the USA for the time being".

Germany, who have already secured top spot in Group E and their progress into the last 32 before they face Ecuador on Thursday (21:00 BST), cannot call up a replacement as the tournament has started.

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Schlotterbeck had played the entirety of Germany's opening game at the 2026 World Cup - a 7-1 win against Curacao - scoring their second goal.

"Schlotti will be greatly missed on the pitch as an outstanding defender, especially his excellent build-up play," said Germany manager Julian Nagelsmann.

"It could have been his World Cup. Yesterday, we all tried to lift his spirits - fortunately, he is a very positive character who is already looking ahead again.

"It is a very positive sign that he will initially remain here within the team, because he also has an influence off the pitch."

Germany's remaining centre-back options are Jonathan Tah, Rudiger, Waldemar Anton and Newcastle's Malick Thiaw.

Schlotterbeck had been linked with a move away from Borussia Dortmund but signed a contract extension with them until 2031 in April.

• Play BBC Sport's new World Cup predictor game
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• How to watch the World Cup on the BBC
• Everything you need to know about the World Cup