UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin labelled the crowd trouble at the Euro 2020 final between England and Italy as unacceptable and warned it must never happen again.

Italy secured their first European Championship since 1968 with a penalty shoot-out victory over England at Wembley Stadium in July, but the game was marred by clashes before the final.

Hundreds of supporters without tickets attempted to gain entry prior to kick-off, with an independent review later concluding it was clear we were close to fatalities and/or life-changing injuries for some, potentially many of the fans in attendance after 17 mass breaches of Wembley s gates.

UEFA punished the Football Association (FA) with a two-game stadium ban, one of which is suspended for two years, and an £84,5…

Week 2 featured a slew of high-profile injuries across the league and, in turn, we now await the game-day status of many of those players and more ahead of Sunday.

This week’s NFL Cheat Sheet will give you all the information you need for Sunday, as Covers checks in on NFL Week 3 injuries, weather, consensus picks, and more.

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Monday Night Football doesn’t end in the regular season this year — that honor goes to Wild Card weekend, which wraps up with a clash between the Arizona Cardinals and Los Angeles Rams tonight. These NFC West rivals split a pair of meetings earlier this season and NFL betting lines opened with the Rams as 4-point home favorites for the grudge match.

Here are our best free NFL picks and predictions for Cardinals vs. Rams on January 17, with kickoff at 8:15 p.m. ET. 

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NFL playoff betting is a double-edged sword. 

The urgency and gravitas of the postseason ups the intensity and interest to peak levels, as you have elite-level teams squaring off in do-or-die contests. But with a smaller slate of games, oddsmakers can laser focus their energy on those matchups, meaning these NFL odds are the sharpest you’ve seen all season.

For a few years, betting on the NFL playoffs (especially betting on the NFL Wild Card round) was as simple as taking the points with the underdogs. From 2017-18 to 2020-21, Wild Card pups were a profitable 15-3 against the spread. 

Then last year happened. 

After a 28-17 ATS overall run by dogs (62%) the previous four postseasons, the 2021-22 Wild Card round produced only …

The Buffalo Bills are back from across the pond following a disappointing loss to Jacksonville. Now they get a primetime matchup in the SNF odds when they face off against the struggling New York Giants. 

The Bills are massive favorites in the Week 6 odds and set up nicely for a big Josh Allen performance. He will be looking for a big bounce-back game to get himself back into the MVP conversation and for his team to remain Super Bowl contenders.

We take a closer look at the Josh Allen odds and give our best free NFL picks for Giants vs. Bills on October 15. 

Also, be sure to check out our full Giants vs. Bills predictions and SNF prop picks!

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The Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals wrap up their regular season on Sunday at Paycor Stadium. With the Browns locked into the fifth seed in the AFC and the Bengals eliminated from the playoffs, the Week 18 odds will likely showcase a boring affair in this one.

With nothing to gain from a victory, the Browns are expected to rest multiple starters, which has led to the NFL odds for this contest growing from Bengals -4 to -7. Here are my best free NFL picks for Browns vs. Bengals on January 7.

Browns vs Bengals odds

Browns vs Bengals predictions

Considering how many injuries the Cleveland Browns have dealt with, it makes sense to rest as many key starters as possible in this spot. This offense had bee…

Monday Night Football “goes to the birds” when the Philadelphia Eagles host the Atlanta Falcons in the Week 2 finale.

The leaders of those two flocks are under the prime-time lights, with Jalen Hurts at the wheel of a dynamic Philadelphia attack and Kirk Cousins questioned about his health after a dud debut for Atlanta.

I look at the quarterback props for Monday Night Football and give my best Falcons vs. Eagles predictions and NFL picks for this September 16 tilt.

Kirk Cousins odds and props

My best bet: Kirk Cousins Over 1.5 passing touchdowns (+148 at FanDuel)

My analysis:I’ll say this is a “best lean” rather than a best bet. 

The state of Kirk Co…

There will be no smoke engulfing the doorway of the hotel Lebreros and no crowd of supporters, squashed in and shouting, waiting for the players to walk through them like gladiators into the ring. No fireworks as the bus edges its way through the flares to the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán, one of the noisiest stadiums in Spain on its noisiest night. There will be no bus at all unless one of the managers decides to park one. There will not be thousands of fans at training or any at the match but at least there will be a match, football returning behind closed doors after 93 days in limbo.

“Playing without fans is as sad as dancing with your sister,” the Spain manager, Luis Enrique, said. Everyone knows that by now but there may be no fixture …

Swedish Olympic champion Sarah Sjostrom is thrilled to be challenging Zlatan Ibrahimovic as the nation s sporting hero after her success at Rio 2016.

Sjostrom, 22, became the first female swimmer from the country to win gold at the Games with her victory in the 100 metre butterfly on Sunday.

Sweden s eyes are generally fixed on Manchester United recruit Ibrahimovic, their all-time leading goalscorer in football.

Sjostrom was happy to be compared to the striker, saying: He is one of a kind.

It is usually always male athletes who get this stuff, the biggest name in sport so it is nice a woman can come up and challenge him.

Sjostrom may yet add to her gold, with the 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle events to come.

Fellow swimmer Simon Sjodin sa…

Dignity and restraint, even in the wake of a scintillating victory or a disastrous loss, are essential during Euro 2008, says Austria s etiquette guru Thomas Schaefer-Elmayer.

The director of the prestigious Elmayer dance school, which prepares dozens of debutantes annually for the traditional Viennese Opera Ball, has laid down ten rules on how to behave during the Euro.

And dress is of course a primary concern, he says, noting that it is no longer necessary for men to wear a tie to the stadium, as was the custom up until the 1960s.

Today, casual attire is enough, he told the daily Die Presse.

But of course, one must come clothed to the stadium, even on hot days. Arriving only in swimming trunks or bare-chested is not appropriate, he said.

M…