This weekend promises to be packed with lots of Sporting activities! However, here is a run down of some of the biggest sport news this week.
The top leagues in Europe will resume action after being on a month winter break. Barcelona will resume action with a new coach at the helm of its affairs. Its crunch time in the NBA, as the first of Four Grand Slam kicks off in Down Under.
Conor McGregor returns to the UFC octagon!
These are the top stories from the week to prepare you for all the sports hitting you this weekend
NADAL, FEDERER, WILLIAMS TEAM UP FOR BUSHFIRE RELIEF
On the 15th of January, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer rallied the rest of the tennis world to an event to help raise fund for those affected by the Australia bush fires.
Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka, Novak Djokovic, were among other tennis stars who attended the Rally for Relief at Rod Laver Arena, in Melbourne to raise money for the victims of the ongoing bush fires in Australia.
Rafael Nadal had earlier announced that he along with Roger Federer had decided to raise $250,000 to help the Australian bush fire.
Eventually, almost $ 5,000,000 (Actually 4.5 AUD) was raised to help victims of the serious fires in Australia. Volunteer fire personnel were invited on the court to play against the tennis stars. The fund raising efforts included various amounts for aces served during the tournament and the sale of merchandise donated by players.
Fundraising will continue when the Australian Open begins on Monday.
Kudos to Faderer, Nadal and the others!
BARCELONA END VALVERDE’S REIGN
Barcelona finally got rid of Ernesto Valverde whose time in charge of the Catalan club was marked by a frosty relationship with the fans.
The club was eliminated by AS Roma and Liverpool in the Champions League in varied heart breaking circumstances. Despite holding three goals advantage in both ties, Barcelona still managed to scuttle their UCL chances twice.
BARCA also lost the final of the Spanish King Cup to Valverde’s reign. All Barcelona could boast off during valverde’s time at the club was two consecutive domestic league titles. The straw that broke the camel’s back was the defeat to Atletico Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup despite being ahead at the start of the game.
That was one too many for the Catalan giants and the club hierarchy had to put a plug on his reign as the club’s coach. 61 year old Quique Setien was subsequently installed as his replacement.
BARCELONA IS FOOTBALL’S MONEY KING
Deloitte released the list of football clubs with the most revenue in the league this week and Barcelona upstaged their arch rivals, Real Madrid on the list.
Barcelona raked in over $741 million dollars, while Real’s revenue was $667 million. Deloitte says it expects Barcelona to retain top spot for next year also and predicts the Catalan club will become the first to achieve all year revenue of €1 billion. Manchester united, Bayern Munich and PSG made up the rest of the top five on the list.
Credit – www.fcbarcelona.com
GSW stretch losing streak to 10 games!
Following one of the best five-year stretches in NBA history, the Warriors have plummeted to the bottom of the league standings.
The five-time reigning Western Conference Champions won’t even reach the playoffs to defend their conference title this year. Golden State lost their tenth game in a row to Denver Nuggets.
They’re trying to avoid their first double digit losing streak but they will have to dig in to do that without key stars like Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and D’Angelo Russell. This is the Warriors’ first 10 game losing streaks since the 2001-02 season, when they finished 21-61.
Credit – Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports
MCGREGOR EYES MAYWEATHER RE-MATCH
Conor McGregor is returning to the UFC Octagon this weekend.
This is pretty exciting since he hasn’t ruled out a return to the boxing ring in a while. He has possible marches /fights with Manny Pacquiao or a rematch with Floyd Mayweather.
McGregor indicated that he was excited to have a rematch with Floyd Mayweather this weekend.
The two previously fought back in August 2017 with Mayweather coming out on top.
Conor said: “I certainly would love the rematch with Floyd. It could very much happen this year, yes. It could very well happen. I know the Manny one is there whenever.”
McGregor said he’d be willing to box other fighters, too, not just Mayweather and Pacquiao.
That will be all on sports this week. Do let us know what you think and other sports news you are excited about!
See you next week…