AP-Newswatch

Soccer star Dani Alves found guilty of rape, sentenced to four and a half years in prison

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Soccer star Dani Alves has been found guilty of raping a woman in a Barcelona nightclub and sentenced to four years and six months in prison. The Barcelona Provincial Court convicts the 40-year-old former Brazil and Barcelona defender of sexual assault for the incident on Dec. 31, 2022. The court considered it proven that the victim did not consent to sex and she was raped. The court ordered Alves to pay 150,000 euros in compensation to the victim, banned him from approaching the victim’s home or place of work, and from communicating with her by any means for nine years. David Sáenz, a member of the victim’s legal team, says, “We are satisfied.” Alves’ lawyer Inés Guardiola says she will appeal the decision.

Tiger Woods’ son is taking his first step toward trying to play on the PGA Tour

HOBE SOUND, Fla. (AP) — Charlie Woods is taking the first step toward trying to play on the PGA Tour. The 15-year-old son of Tiger Woods is in the pre-qualifier Thursday for the Cognizant Classic. Roughly the leading 25 players advance to the Monday qualifier. Only four players get into the tournament. Charlie Woods is no stranger to the spotlight. He’s been playing with his father in the PNC Championship the last four years. That’s the 36-hole event in which major champions team up with a family member. Charlie Woods will be on his own this time at Lost Lake Golf Club.

Texas regents approve Sarkisian contract extension and raise to more than $10 million

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Steve Sarkisian is college football’s latest $10 million man. The University of Texas System Board of Regents on Thursday approved a raise and contract extension for the Longhorns coach to boosts his guaranteed salary to $10.3 million this year and sign him through the 2030 season. The four-year extension makes Sarkisian one of the highest paid coaches in the country. Texas won the Big 12 last season and made the College Football Playoff. Sarkisian’s original contract paid him $5.8 million this year. The board’s approval was expected. The extension was announced in January. The board published financial details last week.

Burst of high-profile coaching departures leaves 3 iconic European clubs scrambling for replacements

Three of Europe’s major soccer clubs will be needing a new coach at the end of the season after a turbulent past month. It started with Jurgen Klopp making the bombshell announcement he was leaving Liverpool. Xavi Hernandez then declared his intention to quit his beloved Barcelona. Bayern Munich and Thomas Tuchel made it known this week that they’d be parting ways. It means three high-profile coaches will be joining the ever-growing list of acclaimed, title-winning managers out of work. That includes Zinedine Zidane, Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte. Spicing things up even further is the growing status and reputation of Xabi Alonso, the next big thing in soccer coaching. Alonso might be better placed to fill the vacancies than anyone.

Column: Red Bull’s mysterious investigation into Christian Horner overshadowing start of F1 season

Testing for the upcoming Formula 1 season began this week and there was Christian Horner, the head of Red Bull Racing, in street clothes but still leading his team as it begins its bid for a fourth consecutive championship. Horner was also front and center a week ago at Red Bull’s launch of its 2024 car. But as he continues with “business as normal” — Horner’s own words at the launch last week — nobody else can figure out how he’s remained on the job during an internal investigation into inappropriate conduct that parent company Red Bull announced on Feb. 5.

Rivers hasn’t been what the doctor ordered yet and struggling Bucks have work to do down the stretch

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Doc Rivers’ arrival was supposed to ensure the Milwaukee Bucks would develop into one of the NBA’s most dangerous teams by the postseason. But they sure don’t look like contenders so far. The Bucks will return from the All-Star break on Friday at Minnesota having won just three of 10 games under coach Rivers after owning a 32-14 record beforehand. Their last game before the break was an embarrassing 113-110 loss to a Memphis Grizzlies team missing most of its top players due to injuries.

The stretch run of the NBA season has arrived. It’s time for the playoff push

There’s no NBA player who is a bigger fan of harness racing than Denver’s Nikola Jokic. He owns horses, goes to tracks whenever he can and even accepted one of his MVP awards while riding around at his farm in Serbia. He knows the stretch run often decides races. And the same holds true in the NBA, which is entering its stretch run. The All-Star break is over, games resume on Thursday and the defending champion Nuggets are hoping that this is the time when they can start hitting their best stride.

Maple Leafs’ Matthews scores 50th goal in 54th game, fastest to mark in 28 years

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Auston Matthews scored his 50th and 51st goals of the season Wednesday night in the Toronto Maple Leafs star’s hometown return, breaking a tie as the fastest U.S.-born player to reach 50 goals at 54 games. Matthews scored the milestone goal on a power play at 5:01 of the first period in a 6-3 victory over Arizona. Matthews added his 51st — giving him 350 career goals in 535 games — late in the second period. Matthews shared the previous U.S.-born mark with Kevin Stevens at 62 games. Matthews is the fastest to 50 since Mario Lemieux since did it in 50 games in 1995-96. Wayne Gretzky holds the record, scoring his 50th in his 39th game in 1981-82.

With 12-team playoff set, CFP already discussing possibly more teams for 2026 and beyond

DALLAS (AP) — There are already discussions about possibly expanding the College Football Playoff again. A day after the yearslong process was finalized for how the 12 teams for the expanded playoff will be selected for the next two seasons, the potential of a 14-team bracket for 2026 and beyond was brought up during a meeting of the CFP management committee in Dallas on Wednesday. Governance of the playoff, the format and the distribution of growing revenue after the next two seasons were all discussed in the meeting that lasted nearly nine hours. ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips says it was a productive and collegial meeting.

Lionel Messi gets an assist, Inter Miami opens MLS season with 2-0 win over Real Salt Lake

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Lionel Messi had an assist and Inter Miami opened the Major League Soccer season with a 2-0 win over Real Salt Lake on Wednesday night. It was the first match of MLS’ 29th season. Robert Taylor and Diego Gomez had the goals for Inter Miami. Messi was in midseason form, darting through and around defenders, almost giving the sellout crowd what they wanted to see by nearly scoring on a free kick and then a corner kick midway through the first half.