Hayes wins FIFA Best coach of year award​​

The NWSL is closing in on Denver as its latest expansion franchise, having entered into exclusive negotiations with an investment group led by IMA Financial Group CEO Rob Cohen, a source told ESPN.

The source, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly on the negotiations, added that the expansion fee will likely be between $105 million and $120 million, which would be a record for the league.

But the source stressed that the deal hasn’t been finalized, adding that the league hopes to have the deal completed sometime in early January. The previous record expansion fee was the $53 million paid by Bay FC in 2023 and Boston earlier this year. An NWSL spokesperson declined to comment.

Sportico was the first to report the news.

Last month, prior to the NWSL Championship final, league commissioner Jessica Berman identified Denver, Cincinnati and Cleveland as the three finalists, but barring a late snag in the deal, Denver is poised to become the league’s 16th team. Boston is set to begin play in 2026.

The investment group includes include an entity called For Denver FC, which is comprised in part of Ben Hubbard, the CEO of insurance company Parsyl, and Tom Dunmore, a former soccer executive with USL side Indy Eleven and until recently the vice president of marketing for Major League Cricket. Phos CEO Nicole Glaros and former NWSL player and soccer broadcaster Jordan Angeli is also involved.

But Cohen is expected to provide the bulk of the financing, and he will serve as controlling owner. Cohen has long been involved in sports endeavors in the Denver area, including as a board member of the Denver Sports Advisory Committee and as a board member of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation, which is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Marta won the inaugural FIFA award for the best goal in women’s soccer — named after the Brazil great herself.

The 38-year-old was given the Marta Award at The Best FIFA Football Awards on Tuesday for her goal for Brazil in an international friendly against Jamaica in June.

Prior to this year, the FIFA Puskas Award covered all of soccer but it was decided to award it to the best goal in the men’s game — won this year by Manchester United forward Alejandro Garnacho — and create the new Marta Award for the women’s game.

“To compete against so many great players — we had some fantastic goals,” she said. “It’s been a wonderful season, too. But I’m even happier to receive an award that bears my name; this is undoubtedly the greatest honor.”

Marta is widely regarded as the greatest female soccer player of all time and had won the award for the women’s player of the year on a record six occasions.

She scored a record 119 goals for Brazil in 185 appearances for her country, spanning six World Cups and six Olympics, before retiring from international soccer after the Paris Games — where Brazil lost to the United States in the final.

Marta won the first NWSL title of her career last month when Orlando Pride beat Washington Spirit 1-0 in the final. She had scored another wondergoal in the semifinal, that could have also been a candidate for best of the year.

Marta was asked the day before the title match if she thought it was possible she might give the award to herself.

“You guys need to decide, because who votes for the best goal in the year? It’s you. It’s the people in the public. So it should be really interesting, like Marta’s Award goes to Marta!” she said with a laugh.

The Marta Award was voted for by fans and a panel of FIFA legends.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this story.

Barcelona are already working internally on the possibility of a return to Spotify Camp Nou being delayed until next season, a source told ESPN, despite president Joan Laporta insisting the intention remains to play there from March.

Barça originally planned to be back at their Camp Nou home by November to mark the club’s 125th anniversary, but that date has passed.

Laporta has said the club now hope to be back in the stadium by March, coinciding with the knockout phase of the Champions League, but a source said even that date looks unlikely.

Progress in redeveloping and modernising the ground has been slowed due to the fact more work was required on the second tier than initially planned.

The pitch, meanwhile, will require up to three months to be properly installed to ensure it is at the level required to host elite football.

The playing surface is still covered in machinery, though, as the revamp of the stadium continues, meaning the installation of the pitch has still not begun.

Laporta is targeting a March date because once Barça have played a home knockout game in the Champions League, they cannot change the venue where their home matches are played in Europe.

The only window to switch stadiums is between the league phase and the knockout stages, per UEFA’s regulations, although there are no such restrictions domestically in LaLiga.

Barça are planning on a staged return to Camp Nou. They will initially return with the attendance capped at around 60,000 as work continues.

The stadium should then be completely finished by the summer of 2026, with the capacity increased to around 105,000, the highest in Europe.

Barça left Camp Nou in 2023 and have been playing at the Olympic Stadium in the city since. They recently extended the lease on the stadium until March and would be able to prolong their stay again if required.

Vinícius Júnior hit back at his critics after winning FIFA’s The Best men’s player of the year award on Tuesday, accusing his detractors of trying to “invalidate” and “diminish” him.

Real Madrid and Brazil forward Vinícius, 24, took the 2024 prize — which is voted on by a combination of national team coaches and captains, journalists, and fans — with 48 points, ahead of Manchester City midfielder Rodri who earned 43 points and Madrid teammate Jude Bellingham with 37 points.

It comes after Rodri beat Vinícius to the Ballon d’Or, which is organised by France Football and UEFA, leading Real Madrid to boycott the ceremony in protest.

“Today I write to the child who has seen so many idols lift that trophy,” Vinícius posted on Instagram. “His time has come. Or rather, my time has come. The time to say … yes, I am the best player in the world and I have fought hard for it.

“They have tried and tried to invalidate me, to diminish me. But they are not ready. No one is going to tell me who I should fight for, how I should behave. When I was at São Gonçalo, the system didn’t care about me. It almost swallowed me up.

“I won for myself, for my family. With a lot of support along the way: Flamengo, Real Madrid, the Brazilian national team, my hundreds of teammates over the years … the people who accompany me every day in my routine, those who admire me … The best player in the world.”

Vinícius won The Best — for the first time — after a 2023-24 season which saw him help Madrid win a LaLiga and Champions League double.

Barcelona‘s Aitana Bonmatí won the women’s award, with Carlo Ancelotti being named men’s coach of the year.

In October, Vinícius reacted to missing out on the Ballon d’Or: “I’ll do it 10x if I have to. They’re not ready,” he wrote.

Madrid’s delegation had opted not to travel to the Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris when it emerged that Rodri was likely to win, with none of the club’s multiple nominees or officials attending.

President Florentino Perez criticized the Ballon d’Or voting system — which involves 100 journalists from different countries — in a speech at Madrid’s AGM last month, saying “nobody knows who they are” and arguing the award should be “independently organised” and voted on by “people who are well-known.”

Neymar was among the stars to praise Vinícius after his triumph on Tuesday, encouraging his compatriot to “keep flying” in an Instagram story.

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has admitted that he has tried to influence referees in games this season, adding that his attempts have not worked.

The former Feyenoord coach talked of wanting to create a siege mentality at Anfield in order to make officials give his team more favourable calls.

“You try to influence as much as you can,” Slot said in a news conference on Tuesday. “The mistake I have made two times already here, and one or two times in Holland, is sometimes you think that creating an atmosphere that the whole world is against you can lead to some positive decisions at the end of the game.

“But here, until now, in the Chelsea game and the Fulham game for the whole 90 minutes it stayed the same. It wasn’t like after I tried to influence things a bit, the referee all of a sudden gave us one or two free kicks.

“No, he just kept the whole game the same. I know that it doesn’t work, but sometimes you think: ‘Can I influence that a bit?’ But it didn’t help at all.”

Slot took over from Jürgen Klopp at Anfield in the summer and is to serve a touchline ban during Liverpool’s clash with Southampton on Wednesday in the Carabao Cup after accruing three bookings so far this season.

The Dutch coach said the disciplinary record is at odds with his normal manner, though added he can get emotional during games.

“You always reflect but I think, in general, I am calm,” he said. “I don’t know if it is smart to say this, but there is also a limit for me — let’s put it that way. And then I can get emotional and, unfortunately, that limit is only reached by refereeing decisions or the decisions my players make.”

Sipke Hulshoff, Slot’s first assistant, is set to lead the coaching staff on the sideline for the game with Southampton, who will be looking to rebound after losing 5-0 to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday and firing their head coach Russell Martin.