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  Italian sports publication Tuttosport has officially released the final 25-man shortlist for the prestigious 2026 Golden Boy Award, celebrating the finest young talent in European football. Barcelona’s defensive stalwart Pau Cubarsí heads the list as the frontrunner for the accolade. He is joined by high-profile young stars such as Yan Diomande, who completed a summer transfer from RB Leipzig to Real Madrid, alongside other standout talents across Europe’s top leagues. The complete list of the 25 finalists for the 2026 Golden Boy Award features:   Pau Cubarsí (Barcelona) Ayyoub Bouaddi (Manchester City) Warren Zaïre-Emery (Paris Saint-Germain) Yan Diomande (Real Madrid) Luka Vuškovic (Brighton) Victor Froholdt (Porto) Myles Lewis-Skelly (Arsenal) Rayan (Bournemouth) Jorrel Hato (Chelsea) Lennart Karl (FC Bayern) Estêvão (Chelsea) Endrick (Real Madrid) Junior Kroupi (Bournemouth) Gianluca Prestianni (Benfica) Kōnstantinos Karetsas (Borussia Dortmund) Saïd El Mala (Köln) Jon M...

  The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has confirmed that at least seven members of the Super Eagles squad will be unavailable for Tuesday's international friendly match against Russia due to injuries, club refusals, and administrative complications involving residence permits. The depleted roster will miss several key figures, including captain Wilfred Ndidi, Raphael Onyedika, Moses Usor, Akpe Victory, Bright Osayi-Samuel, Ridwan Abdulrasaq Popoola, and Suleiman Mubarak. According to the federation's official update, captain Wilfred Ndidi sustained a knock during the team's recent Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Guinea-Bissau.    In response to the growing absentee list, technical staff called up Vince Osuji to replace the injured Akpe Victory, while Reims midfielder John Otomewo was drafted into the squad to cover for Ndidi.     Meanwhile, European and regional clubs have blocked several other call-ups from traveling. The quartet of Raphael Onyedika (...

  President Donald Trump has approved the execution by firing squad of Nidal Hasan, a US Army psychiatrist who shot dead 13 people at a military base in 2009.   Hasan's execution for the attack at Fort Hood in Texas -- which also wounded more than two dozen people -- will be the first carried out by the US military since 1961. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth "has recommended -- and President Donald J. Trump has approved -- death by U.S. Army firing squad for convicted terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a post on X.   "The Secretary of the Army will set the time and place of the execution. Judgement day for Hasan has finally come," Parnell wrote. Hasan was sentenced to death by a military jury in 2013 for carrying out the Al-Qaeda inspired mass shooting at Fort Hood.   He chose to conduct his own defense during the trial but called no witnesses, gave no testimony, and made no attempt to deny the charges.   Court-appointed defense...

  Halle Berry has denied allegations that she physically harmed her 13-year-old son, Maceo, as a court amended a temporary restraining order to preserve her final decision-making authority over his mental health and education, according to TMZ. The actress filed a response to former husband Olivier Martinez’s request to replace their joint legal and physical custody arrangement with temporary sole custody for him and visitation for her. Martinez alleged that Berry placed Maceo in a headlock and choked him during an incident involving a virtual reality game. Berry denied choking her son, putting her hands around his neck or restricting his breathing. In her account, Berry said she told Maceo to stop playing and later recorded him on her phone. She said he approached her and grabbed the device, after which they began “playfully roughhousing”. Berry acknowledged that the encounter escalated, alleging that Maceo pushed her and later shoved her again when she tried to remove his headset...

  Jim Bakker, the American televangelist who built a multimillion-dollar Christian television ministry before his career collapsed over a sex scandal and fraud conviction, has died at the age of 86. The death of Bakker, whose journey from the TV pulpit to a prison cell in the 1980s was announced on social media by his second wife, Lori Bakker. "It is with a broken heart that I share that my beloved husband, Jim Bakker, went home to be with the Lord this evening," she wrote on the Facebook and Instagram pages of her husband's latest television ministry.     She added, “For 66 years, Jim gave his life to preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He was a pioneer of Christian television, but to me, he was my husband, my best friend, and the man I was honored to walk beside through so many seasons of life and ministry.”     But the cause and circumstances of his death were not revealed.     Bakker rose to prominence alongside his then-wife, Tammy Faye Bakker, ...

  Piers Morgan has launched a fierce criticism of Portugal head coach Jorge Jesus, accusing the veteran manager of showing “shocking disrespect” towards Cristiano Ronaldo.   The controversial broadcaster claimed the dispute between Ronaldo and Jesus centres around broken promises by the Portugal boss, who he branded as the '[Erik] Ten Hag of international football'. Ronaldo previously gave Morgan an explosive interview in 2022 that effectively ended his Man United career, saying he did not respect then Red Devils boss Ten Hag.     Morgan, speaking on Sports Uncensored, has claimed Jesus tried to 'belittle and embarrass Ronaldo' and went back on his word over the star's playing time.    'What this goes down to is nothing about money or fame or any of these things,' Morgan said. 'He was given absolute guarantees about how he would be used, it was one of the reasons he decided to continue his international career.   'The new guy Jorge Jesus, who knows h...