BREAKING: F1 TO RETURN TO AFRICA FOR BRAND NEW GRAND PRIX

Formula 1’s return to Africa will become a reality as an important decision has been made, RacingNews365 has learned.

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Formula 1 is to return to racing in Africa, RacingNews365 has learned from multiple sources. 

It is understood from well-placed sources in the paddock that Rwanda will be granted the opportunity to host a grand prix, with the race set to join the calendar in 2030. 

According to our information, an agreement has been reached, and an official announcement could come later on this year - potentially in the coming weeks. 

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has made significant efforts in recent years to secure an opportunity for his country to join the top tier of motorsport. 

At Kagame’s initiative, the Rwandan capital Kigali hosted the FIA General Assemblies and Prize Giving Ceremony in 2024. Following months of speculation, Kagame used the event to announce that his country would bid to host a Formula 1 race.

As Rwanda currently has no circuit capable of hosting such an event, Kagame’s announcement was met with some scepticism within the F1 community. Nevertheless, the plans did not disappear. The president attended the 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix and has maintained close contact with both FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem and F1 President and CEO Stefano Domenicali.

According to information obtained by RacingNews365, it has now been decided that Rwanda will build a permanent racing circuit, based on the plans that were previously leaked. 

The complex will be constructed approximately 40 kilometres from Kigali, near Bugesera International Airport, based on designs by WurzDesign. 

The company belongs to former F1 driver and circuit designer Alexander Wurz and is currently working - together with Tilke Engineering - on the Qiddiya Speed Park circuit in Saudi Arabia.

F1’s return to Africa has been a longstanding topic of discussion within the series, which last raced on the continent at the 1993 South African GP at Kyalami. 

Several attempts have been made in recent years to bring F1 back to Africa. 

In South Africa, the former host venue Kyalami, as well as Cape Town, have sought the opportunity to host a race, while there have also been rumours about the intention of Morocco and Nigeria.Although there is no shortage of interest in hosting grands prix around the world, prominent figures within the sport have long agreed that the African continent should return to the F1 calendar. 

Among the drivers, seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton has been one of the most vocal advocates for the initiative, which has also regularly received support from ben Sulayem and Domenicali.

- Sàndor Mészáros

LANDO NORRIS UNVEILS BRAND NEW F1 FEEDER SERIES TEAM CALLED 'LN4 FUSION'

Norris announces new Motorsport Venture

Reigning Formula 1 World Champion Lando Norris is looking toward the future of Motorsport, co-founding a junior single-seater team and development programme called LN4 Fusion.

It’s been a big week for Norris, with the Briton announcing a contract extension to remain with McLaren until at least 2030, as well as launching a new pathway to help young racing talent on their way to the coveted F1 series.

LN4 Fusion is currently participating in a unique British Formula 4 testing programme, hoping to secure a grid spot in the coming seasons. Additionally, the team has entered the F2 team selection process ahead of the 2027 season.

But the British team has already secured entries into some of Motorsport’s most coveted Feeder Series. In the coming season, LN4 Fusion will feature in Italian F4, the Formula Regional European Championship and even Formula 3. Crucially, the team have acquired select assets of the current AIX Racing team, ultimately securing its place on the grid until the end of 2027.

Ahead of its inaugural season, LN4 Fusion has secured some of motorsport’s most exciting names. Leading the charge is Rene Rosin. The Italian has had 40 years of Motorsport experience, most well-known for his involvement with the iconic PREMA Racing team.

Meanwhile, Dan Hazlewood will lead LN4 Fusion’s UK operations. Hazlewood has successfully led the Fusion Motorsport Karting team in recent years, serving as a crucial figure for the upcoming team.

Alongside the new team, Norris is launching the LN4 Legacy Programme, an independent and fully funded driver development programme operated by ADD Management. Julian Rouse will lead the programme. It aims to identify and support outstanding young Motorsport talent, giving them access to elite coaching, mentoring and career support, all of which Norris deemed crucial on his journey to becoming an F1 World Champion.

Reactions from the LN4 Fusion team

When reflecting on the team, Norris highlighted the importance of this project to him. Emphasising that whilst Motorsport is a difficult path to follow for many, he hopes this new venture can create ‘new opportunities’ for the next generation.

“I’ve been really lucky to have some amazing people around me throughout my career, and I know that getting to Formula 1 takes so much more than just talent,” Norris explained.

“You need the right people around you, the right support and the right opportunities at the right time. That’s what these two projects are all about. LN4 Fusion is about building a race team that can compete with the best in junior motorsport, with great people and a great environment for drivers to develop.

“The LN4 Legacy Programme is about helping talented young drivers get opportunities they might not otherwise have.

“For me, they naturally fit together. I want to help create opportunities for the next generation, both on and off the track, and hopefully make a real difference to young drivers coming through the sport.”

Team Principal Rosin explained the importance of Norris’ involvement in the new venture. Claiming he is excited to build the team in the right direction.

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to contribute my experience to an independent, vision-driven sporting programme with strong backing, a clear long-term vision and the resources required to build it properly.

“Having Lando on board adds a further dimension to this project. He has come through the junior single-seater ranks and understands its demands. His involvement will make a real difference to the team.”

- Tiana Soans

LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS, STEVE BALLMER AND KAWHI LEONARD HANDED BRUTAL PUNISHMENT AS NBA INVESTIGATION ENDS

The Los Angeles Clippers have been stripped of five first-round draft picks and fined $30million for breaching salary cap circumvention rules.

Additionally, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer has been banned from all NBA and team activities for a year and player Kawhi Leonard has been ordered to pay the league $700,000.

The Clippers have had the book thrown at them by the NBACredit: Getty

The punishments come following the conclusion of an investigation that found the Clippers got around salary cap rules to sign Leonard as a free agent back in 2019.

NBA statement

An official release from the NBA read: "The NBA announced today that the LA Clippers and Kawhi Leonard have been penalized for violating the salary cap circumvention rules contained in the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA).

"This determination was based upon information developed through an independent investigation conducted by the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz.

"The investigation found a pattern of misconduct and multiple significant rules violations by the Clippers organization, a prior offender of the salary cap circumvention rules. As described in a summary report prepared by Wachtell Lipton, available here, the Clippers broke the rules by:

"Affirmatively initiating off-court income opportunities between Mr. Leonard and four companies doing business with the team: Aspiration Partners, Boingo Wireless, Daktronics, and Lockton Insurance;

"Facilitating endorsement agreements between these companies and Mr. Leonard;

"Inducing the companies to enter into these agreements by offering them business from the team;

"Paying personal expenses on behalf of Mr. Leonard and his representatives; and

"Failing to report improper solicitations for off-court income opportunities made on Mr. Leonard’s behalf through his then-business manager, Dennis Robertson.

"Mr. Leonard, through the conduct of Mr. Robertson on his behalf, violated the circumvention rules by pressuring the Clippers to assist him in obtaining off-court income opportunities, successfully obtaining those opportunities, and failing to reimburse payments by the Clippers for personal expenses.

Ballmer must cough up an eye-watering $30mCredit: Getty

"Based on this misconduct, the NBA has imposed the following penalties:

"The Clippers shall forfeit five first-round draft picks, one in each of the 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032, and 2033 NBA Drafts.

"The Clippers are fined $30 million.

"Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is suspended from all league and team activities for one year for knowingly seeking to help Mr. Leonard obtain off-court income opportunities, for approving a business deal that he knew was a precondition for Aspiration to enter into an endorsement agreement with Mr. Leonard, and for his failure to create conditions under which his organization abided by the NBA’s circumvention rules.

"Clippers President of Business Operations Gillian Zucker is suspended without pay for one year for being primarily and directly culpable for the impermissible endorsement arrangements and for providing false and misleading statements to investigators.

"Clippers President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank is suspended without pay for six months for his involvement with the impermissible endorsement arrangements and for approving impermissible expenses incurred by Mr. Leonard and his family.

Leonard, meanwhile, has been hit with a six-figure fineCredit: Getty

"The Clippers organization and personnel are subject to a compliance and monitoring program overseen by the league office for a period of five years.

"In connection with his violations, Mr. Leonard is required to pay the league $700,000.

"Mr. Robertson is banned from conducting business or otherwise engaging with NBA teams and their affiliates on behalf of or with respect to any player, employee, or other league or team personnel for a period of five years."

It was also revealed that the NBA and National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) made an agreement confirming the penalties.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said: “The NBA’s collectively bargained system for determining player compensation is a fundamental component of the basketball competition that the league oversees for the benefit of the teams and players and ultimately the fans.

"I am deeply disappointed by the flagrant violations of our rules and by the Clippers’ institutional and leadership failures that led to this misconduct. The severity of the penalties reflects the seriousness of the violations."

- Tom Hancock

SIX TEAMS HAVE ALREADY QUALIFIED FOR THE 2030 WORLD CUP DUE TO UNIQUE FIFA RULE

The winners of the World Cup will not qualify automatically for the next tournament

Spain absolutely battering Argentina in the World Cup final isn’t the reason why they will automatically qualify for the next tournament in 2030.

Six host nation countries have already secured their places in the next World Cup.

The tournament's three main co-hosts, Spain, Portugal and Morocco, as well as Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay will automatically qualify for the next edition in four years time.

FIFA’s 2030 competition will be held from Saturday, 8 June to Sunday, 21 July, with the opening three matches taking place in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay.

These South American countries have been chosen to play first to commemorate 100 years of the World Cup, which was hosted and won by Uruguay in 1930.

Where will the opening 2030 World Cup game be played?

Spain were the best team in the tournament by a mile (Carl Recine/Getty Images)

The opening game will be held at the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which boasts a capacity of 100,000.

Estadio Osvaldo Dominguez Dibb, a brand new venue in Paraguay, and the Montevideo in Uruguay will also host opening matches.

After those three games, the World Cup will shift to the Northern Hemisphere in 18 stadiums across Spain, Morocco and Portugal.

Ugly scenes at full-time (Marvin Ibo Guengoer - GES Sportfoto/Getty Images)

It comes after FIFA boss Gianni Infantino wants to controversially expand the World Cup to a 64-team tournament in 2030 following the success of the expanded 48-team competition this year.

"These are all issues that we will be examining after the World Cup," Infantino told Blue Sport.

"When organising a World Cup, it's important to organise it for the whole world - not just Europe and South America, but effectively the entire world. Every nation should be allowed to dream of participating in the World Cup.

"You can see that the quality of the teams is extremely high, and it's getting higher and higher, all over the world. If you don't give smaller countries a chance to participate in the World Cup, they'll lack the incentive to keep improving."

No Messi or Ronaldo

The end of an era (Paul ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images)

Sadly, the squads of host nations Argentina and Portugal are unlikely to include the two greatest players of all time in Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

After Spain’s convincing 1-0 final, Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni was full of praise for Messi: “He is 39 years old, it is unbelievable. It was always crystal clear to me that he would play until he chose to stop and that everyone would support him.

“I hope everyone is proud of him, because he is the best football player ever to set foot on a pitch.”

Both Messi and Ronaldo are yet to comment officially on their international futures.

On the result, Scaloni added: “I feel sadness but knowing that we left everything out there.

“I have a lot of things to say about how we got here, but it’s not worth it.

“I want to thank these guys eternally for giving us another World Cup final and for competing until the end. They were better, that’s the truth.

“But I’ll hold on to an enormous memory of what they have done, of what it’s worth to get this far. We have to give it huge validity because it takes a lot to get here.”

Featured Image Credit: Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images

- Anish Vij

JÜRGEN KLOPP RETURN 'DONE' AS LIVERPOOL LEGEND AGREES GERMANY MOVE

Liverpool legend Jurgen Klopp is set to return to management with Germany, with reports suggesting that his move is now complete, with an official unveiling to come next week

Liverpool legend Jurgen Klopp during the World Cup game between France and Morocco in Boston.(Image: Harry Langer/DeFodi via Getty Images)

Liverpool legend Jurgen Klopp's move to take over from Julian Nagelsmann is now fully completed, according to reports in Germany.

A report from Sky Germany says he will sign with the German national team until 2030, meaning he will oversee the next European Championship and World Cup, with a public unveiling said to be planned for Friday if all goes to plan.

Klopp will exit his position at the Red Bull group as part of the move. He left Liverpool two years ago and this will be the first time he has coached a team since, with Die Mannschaft set to face the Netherlands in his first match at the helm.

The former Hoffenheim and Bayern Munich head coach candidly acknowledged that his squad could no longer be considered among the elite sides on the world stage.

"If you are eliminated by Paraguay, you are just not a first-class football team. I am very disappointed," he said.

Klopp will offer fresh hope for Germany as a figurehead for the DFB. But Gary Neville warned this week that things will not be easy for the ex-Reds man.

Jurgen Klopp is set to return to management with Germany(Image: (Photo by Johnny Fidelin/Icon Sport via Getty Images))

"The thing is about international football is you’ve got a fixed pool of players that you can pick from whereas with clubs you can sign players from different nationalities," Neville said during a Q&A session for The Overlap.

"I wouldn’t say [club management] is easy but you’ve obviously got the pick of the world, you can go and sign players from everywhere.

"With Germany, if they haven’t got a good crop coming through and they haven’t got a good talent base for the next four or five years then there’s nothing he can do really."

Florian Wirtz, Jamal Musiala and Kai Havertz are among the star names that Klopp will be able to call upon. Bayern Munich starlet Lennart Karl is one to pin hopes for the future on too, but Neville isn't convinced.

"I look at England’s front players like [Bukayo] Saka and [Phil] Foden and [Cole] Palmer and [Harry] Kane and [Morgan] Rogers and [Jude] Bellingham, and I think our players are better than Germany’s," Neville continued.

"‘You can never write Germany off just because we’ve got their history of seeing them win but I wouldn’t be thinking he’s going to go in there and be able to get [them firing]."

- Matt Addison

DORTMUND SIGN CHUKWUEMEKA FROM CHELSEA UNTIL 2030

Berlin (AFP) – Borussia Dortmund's summer Premier League recruitment drive continued on Tuesday with the signing of midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka from Chelsea until 2030.

England under-21 representative Chukwuemeka, 21, joins for a reported fee of 25 million euros ($29 million).

He spent the second half of last season at Dortmund on loan, staying on as the club made the quarter-finals at the Club World Cup.

Chukwuemeka played 17 times for Dortmund in all competitions, scoring once and impressed despite struggling with injury.

In a statement, Chukwuemeka said he was "happy Borussia Dortmund is now my footballing home. I will give everything to make sure we achieve our goals as a team".

Born in Austria, Chukwuemeka moved to England at a young age and came through Aston Villa's youth academy before signing with Chelsea in 2022.

Dortmund sporting director Lars Ricken said the club was "delighted" to sign Chukwuemeka, who "further increases the quality and creativity of our attacking midfield".

Dortmund also signed Jobe Bellingham from Sunderland and Yan Couto from Manchester City this summer.

Jobe's brother Jude joined Dortmund from boyhood club Birmingham City in 2020 aged 17, moving to Real Madrid three years later for a fee estimated at 100 million euros ($117 million).

German tabloid Bild reported on Tuesday that two further Premier League signings could arrive before deadline day on Monday -- Chelsea defender Aaron Anselmino and Wolves striker Fabio Silva.

Manchester United winger Jadon Sancho, who has had two previous stints at Dortmund and just ended a loan spell at Chelsea, has also been linked with a return to the Westfalenstadion.

On Tuesday morning, Dortmund extended coach Niko Kovac's contract by one year until 2027.

- © 2025 AFP

TRUMP ANNOUNCES WASHINGTON D.C. TO HOST 2027 NFL DRAFT

Reuters 

WASHINGTON - The National Football League will host its 2027 draft in Washington, D.C., U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Monday at the White House, bringing the league's biggest off-season event to the nation's capital for the first time since 1940.

The three-day event that regularly attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors is expected to take place on the National Mall, a stone's throw from the White House

"The draft is a celebration of one of our country's most cherished cultural institutions," said Trump, speaking from inside the Oval Office.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told reporters he expects more than one million visitors at the 2027 draft, far more than the estimated record 775,000 who attended the 2024 edition in Detroit.

The announcement comes days after the Washington Commanders struck a deal with the District of Columbia to return to the site of the club's former RFK Stadium, where Washington played from 1961-1996 and enjoyed the most successful era in franchise history.

The new stadium is expected to open in the nation's capital in 2030.

Commanders owner Josh Harris, who agreed to buy the team in 2023 after a turbulent period under previous owners Dan and Tanya Snyder, was in attendance to present the U.S. president with a team jersey with "Trump" emblazoned on the back.

"You are the ultimate commander, so it is a Commanders jersey," said Harris.

The draft has rotated through multiple cities since the NFL ended New York's five-decade-long reign as host in 2015. The three-day 2025 draft was held last month at Lambeau Field, in Green Bay, Wisconsin, home of the Green Bay Packers, with next year's selection of college players joining the NFL to be held in Pittsburgh.

Reuters 

Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to attend a Super Bowl in February, where the crowd at the Superdome in New Orleans greeted him with a mix of cheers and boos, but he has a long and complicated history with the league.

Trump bought into the doomed upstart United States Football League in the 1980s and sought to have it compete directly with the NFL.

In 2017, during his first term in the White House, he spent weeks attacking the NFL over players who knelt during the pre-game playing of the national anthem in protest over police brutality and racial inequality.

Goodell, who stood next to Trump as the president addressed the media, in February had defied Trump's calls for private companies to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs, saying the league would continue its DEI efforts.

Trump's current term will overlap with several major international sporting events in the United States, with the Club World Cup set to take place in 11 U.S. cities from June 14-July 13.

The United States will co-host the 2026 World Cup with Mexico and Canada, while the 2028 Summer Olympics are set for Los Angeles.

Reporting by Gram Slattery in Washington, D.C., writing by Amy Tennery in New York, Editing by Bill Berkrot

- Reuters