分类： sports

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Later this June, a groundbreaking cross-sector gathering will bring together top stakeholders from 10 key fields spanning athletics, commerce, tourism, public policy, investment, media, technology, education and athlete development to Kingston for the first ever Made4Goal Jamaica Global Sports Summit.

Hosted across two full days on June 29 and 30 at the University of Technology, Jamaica, the landmark event centers on a bold strategic question: how can Jamaica translate its long-standing global reputation for producing elite, world-beating athletes into a fully developed, globally competitive domestic sports industry?

In an official statement shared publicly, summit organizers framed the gathering as one of the most ambitious collaborative initiatives ever undertaken for Jamaica’s sports sector. It forms a core part of a broader national and regional strategy to position Jamaica as the leading sports hub of the Global South.

The summit is organized by Absolut Ventures Limited, the creative team behind the world’s first and only televised freestyle football reality competition. Programming will focus on untapped opportunities that emerge at the intersection of sports, tourism, direct investment, emerging technology, infrastructure development, media, health and wellness, youth empowerment and broad-based national economic expansion.

“Jamaica has already proven time and again that we can compete and outperform the very best nations on the global sporting stage,” noted Alrick McKenzie, founder and summit director of the Made4Goal Jamaica Global Sports Summit. “Our next critical step is building out the foundational systems, cross-border partnerships, scalable investment opportunities, and modern infrastructure that will allow sports to evolve into a far more powerful economic engine for our country. This summit exists to bring the right stakeholders into one room to hold these critical conversations and deliver tangible, meaningful outcomes for Jamaica.”

Simon Preston, a veteran sports consultant, analyst and media officer with deep ties to Jamaica’s athletic sector, emphasized that the summit comes at a critical juncture for the nation’s sports ecosystem. He called it a timely and essential step toward building a more structured, sustainable future for the entire sector.

“Jamaica already holds an extraordinary, globally recognized sporting brand, but the current opportunity lies in building a stronger, more interconnected ecosystem to support that brand,” Preston explained. “We host nearly 50 distinct sporting disciplines across the island, and this summit offers the perfect space for leaders across different disciplines to gather, share insights, learn from one another, and collaborate to build a stronger Jamaica.

Preston went on to highlight the depth of Jamaica’s underleveraged sporting success beyond its globally famous sprinters: “Jamaica ranks eighth in the world for lacrosse, third globally for netball, and is home to the fastest male and female sprinters alive today. These impressive achievements are powerful assets we can leverage to help every domestic sporting discipline reach its full potential.”

“The Made4Goal Jamaica Global Sports Summit creates a dedicated platform for substantive, solution-focused conversations around athlete development pathways, investment attraction, infrastructure improvement, technological integration, governance reform, sports tourism and commercial expansion,” Preston added. “If Jamaica is to fully maximize the global influence its sporting talent has earned, we must connect our world-class talent to real, scalable opportunities, and this summit is designed to lead that charge.”

Attendees can expect a full schedule of dynamic programming, including keynote addresses from industry leaders, intimate fireside chats, interactive panel discussions, hands-on skills-building workshops, dedicated networking sessions, and high-level strategic working sessions. Participants will include representatives from national sporting associations, elite active and retired athletes, C-suite corporate leaders, global venture capital and impact investors, senior tourism sector executives, national and local policymakers, and leading education stakeholders.

EAST RUTHERFORD, U.S. – Ahead of Brazil’s opening Group C match against Morocco this Saturday in New Jersey, iconic Italian manager Carlo Ancelotti has expressed firm belief that his five-time World Cup-winning squad has what it takes to outcompete the world’s best national teams and bring an end to the nation’s 24-year wait for a new global football title.

At 67 years old, Ancelotti boasts one of the most decorated resumes in club football management, having lifted the UEFA Champions League trophy five times across his career. This tournament, however, marks his first ever appearance as a head coach at the men’s World Cup, taking the reins of a Brazilian side that has not claimed the sport’s biggest prize since their 2002 victory.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the high-stakes opener, Ancelotti framed the opportunity as a one-of-a-kind milestone in his decades-long career. “It’s a new experience, it’s a new responsibility to represent the country of football,” he said. “At the end of the day, this role boils down to two words: responsibility and honour. This is a unique, incredibly beautiful moment in my career.”

The veteran manager made clear that his squad enters the tournament with quiet confidence, backed by a healthy mix of top-tier talent and proven veteran leadership. “We have a team that can compete with every team in the world, we’re convinced of that. It’s a team with quality and experience, and with absolute confidence that it can compete with anyone,” Ancelotti added.

Looking ahead to the broader tournament landscape, Ancelotti predicted that this 2024 World Cup will be one of the most evenly matched competitions in recent memory, noting that his side has put in the work needed to hit the ground running against Morocco. Brazil’s Group C also includes Scotland and Haiti, two sides the manager did not dismiss as lower-tier competition.

The path to the World Cup has not been smooth for Brazil, however. The team’s qualifying campaign was far from solid, dropping six of their 18 matches to finish fifth in the CONMEBOL standings – a result that would have sent them to intercontinental play-offs under previous qualifying formats. The squad has also faced significant roster setbacks heading into the tournament: key forwards Rodrygo and Estevao were forced to withdraw due to injury, and star veteran Neymar will miss Saturday’s opening clash.

Neymar, 34, has not featured for the Brazilian national side since 2023 after picking up a right calf injury in mid-May. Ancelotti confirmed that the star is on track to return to team training as early as next week, and emphasized that Neymar remains a critical part of the squad’s plans even as he recovers.

“Neymar is working very hard to recover as quickly as possible,” the coach said. “We called him up not only for his football ability, which is indisputable, but also for the experience and example he can give to the younger players in the group.”

EUGENE, Ore. — The 2024 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field delivered a historic day for Jamaican athletics Friday, as national record-holder and reigning champion Ralford Mullings of the University of Oklahoma successfully defended his men’s discus throw title in spectacular fashion.

Competition against a stacked field of top collegiate throwers, Mullings got out to an early lead, holding the top position on the leaderboard from the very first round of throws. His lead did not go unchallenged, however: Air Force’s Texas Tanner surged past the defending champion in the middle rounds, pushing Mullings to deliver a career-level performance to retain his crown. Responding to the pressure in the fourth round, Mullings unleashed a winning throw of 65.81 meters, enough to secure his second consecutive national title and cement his status as one of the top young discus throwers in the world.

The men’s discus event turned into a Jamaican showcase, as compatriots filled multiple top-six finishing positions. Racquel Broderick of the University of Southern California took second place overall, notching a new personal best of 64.15 meters to complete a one-two sweep for Jamaican athletes. Two more Jamaican competitors hit new lifetime best marks to finish in the top five: University of Alabama’s Christopher Young placed fifth with a throw of 62.30 meters, while Florida State University’s Shamar Reid tied Young’s mark to take sixth place. Two additional Jamaican athletes also competed in the final: Alabama’s Trevor Gunzel finished 14th with a 58.90-meter throw, and LSU’s Chad Hendricks recorded a throw of 55.40 meters to round out the Jamaican contingent.

Jamaican athletes also turned in strong performances in other men’s events on the third day of competition, though not all claimed top spots. In the men’s 800-meter run, an upset shook up the final results: Colin Sahlman of Northern Arizona outpaced two Jamaican teammates from the University of Arkansas to take the national title. Sahlman crossed the finish line in 1:44.22, edging out Arkansas’ Tyrice Taylor, who finished second in 1:44.30. Taylor’s teammate Rivaldo Marshall took third place with a time of 1:44.93. In the men’s 110-meter hurdles, Baylor University’s Demario Prince clocked a time of 13.25 seconds to secure sixth place in the national final.

Reporting by Paul A Reid

One of the most iconic artifacts in soccer history, the 1958 World Cup winner’s medal awarded to Brazilian legend Pele, is poised to go under the hammer later this month in the United Kingdom, with auction experts projecting it will draw bids reaching as high as £500,000, or roughly $670,000.

The piece of sporting history is one of 450 World Cup-themed collectibles being offered by UK-based sporting memorabilia auction house BUDDS. The entire collection is estimated to bring in a total of £2 million in sales, spanning decades of the most prestigious tournament in global soccer.

A separate, high-profile auction taking place on another continent will feature an equally prized Pele artifact: the match shirt the soccer icon wore during the 1958 World Cup final. Sotheby’s New York will host this online-only auction, running from June 29 through July 16. The event is timed to conclude just three days before the 2026 World Cup final, and experts currently predict the shirt could sell for more than $6 million.

Pele, who was just 17 years old when he led Brazil to victory in the 1958 tournament hosted by Sweden, scored two of Brazil’s five goals in the decisive final match against the host nation. This victory marked the very first of Brazil’s five record-setting World Cup titles, three of which were captained and led by the striker affectionately known around the world as “The King of Soccer.” Born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Pele passed away in December 2022 at the age of 82, following a years-long battle with colon cancer.

Beyond Pele’s medal, the BUDDS auction features a roster of historically significant items that capture key moments in World Cup history. Among the standout lots is the match shirt worn by legendary English goalkeeper Gordon Banks during his iconic 1970 World Cup match against Brazil in Mexico, where he made what is widely considered one of the greatest saves in soccer history against a Pele shot.

The auction also showcases an array of memorabilia from England’s own 1966 World Cup championship run, held on home soil. Highlights of this section include Banks’ own 1966 winner’s medal and the match shirt Alan Ball wore during that tournament’s final match.

David Convery, head of sporting memorabilia at BUDDS, emphasized the unprecedented scale and importance of the upcoming sale. “This is the largest collection of World Cup memorabilia ever offered at auction, and it would be hard to find many past or future sales that could rival it in terms of historical significance,” Convery said.

The auction will unfold in two phases: an online bidding period open to global collectors from June 1 through June 21, which will also feature shirts from every national team qualified for the 2026 World Cup. Following the online bidding window, a live in-person auction will be held on June 25 at BUDDS’s auction rooms in Wellingborough, located in central England.

Nineteen-year-old Jamaican football prodigy Jaileah McPherson has entered a new milestone in her young athletic career, securing a one-year official brand ambassadorship with Gatorade Jamaica. As the current captain of the Jamaica Reggae Girlz Under-20 national squad, McPherson will step into the spotlight as the public face of the beverage giant’s localized Jamaican campaign, titled “No Shortcuts, Wi Sweat Hard.”

The partnership announcement arrives at a pivotal moment for McPherson, who has just advanced her career by transferring to the University of Miami, home to one of the top-tier NCAA Division I women’s football programs in the United States. The young athlete is also gearing up for a high-stakes international summer competition, where she will represent Jamaica at the upcoming Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games hosted in Santo Domingo, marking another key step forward in her progression through the country’s national football pipeline.

Alongside the ambassadorship reveal, Gatorade Jamaica has announced the official return of its fan-favorite limited-edition Green Mango flavor to retail shelves across the entire island. The product’s promotional rollout will prominently feature McPherson’s image across all digital campaign assets, tying the product launch directly to the new ambassador partnership.

At the core of the “No Shortcuts, Wi Sweat Hard” campaign is a straightforward, powerful message: elite athletic achievement is rooted in consistent hard work, unwavering discipline and relentless effort, not luck or unearned advantage. By aligning the brand with McPherson’s rising career, Gatorade Jamaica aims to resonate with young Jamaican athletes, reinforcing that the drive and ability to reach the top tiers of global sport already exists within them.

Stephan Bennett, Brand Coordinator for Gatorade Jamaica, expanded on the brand’s strategic vision behind the partnership. “Partnering with Jaileah is part of our intentional, ongoing effort to lift up not just young Jamaican athletes, but the entire sporting ecosystem across Jamaica,” Bennett shared. “As we prepare to support more football events throughout this dynamic upcoming season, teaming up with homegrown talent like Jaileah makes clear our commitment to fueling the sport from grassroots community levels all the way to the international stage.”

For McPherson, the ambassadorship represents more than a brand partnership—it’s a validation of the years of work she has put in to reach her current position. “I’m incredibly excited and honored to be named a Gatorade ambassador here in Jamaica,” she said. “To represent a brand that stands behind athletes at every step of their journey means the world to me. Being the face of this campaign is a reminder to believe in the work my team and I have put in, and the strength we build together. It encourages all of us to trust our preparation, trust each other, and trust ourselves when the pressure is on—because everything we need to perform at our best is already inside us.”

Bennett emphasized that the selection of McPherson was a deliberate choice to deepen the brand’s investment in homegrown Jamaican football talent, noting that her trajectory as a rising young star perfectly mirrors the campaign’s core ethos. He added that this partnership is not a one-off marketing effort, but the launch of a sustained, long-term investment by Gatorade’s local team to champion young Jamaican athletes and advance football development across the country through the coming season and beyond.

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — The United States co-hosts delivered a dream opening to the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Friday, picking up a dominant 4-1 victory over Paraguay in a sold-out match that drew a star-studded crowd of A-list Hollywood celebrities at the Los Angeles venue. It was the first match of the tournament held on United States soil, co-hosted alongside Mexico and Canada, and the home side turned in a performance that exceeded even the most optimistic fan expectations.

The game’s first goal came just seven minutes after kickoff, from an unlikely source: Paraguay defender Damian Bobadilla turned the ball into his own net while attempting to clear a pass from Weston McKennie to United States striker Folarin Balogun. The sequence began when McKennie drove upfield from the center circle, fed the ball to attacking talisman Christian Pulisic, who darted between two defenders and returned the pass to McKennie to set up the chance. The packed 70,492-seat stadium erupted, setting off a first-half offensive onslaught from the hosts that Paraguay could do little to stop.

United States dominated possession, holding a staggering 75% share in the first 45 minutes, with creative play from midfield and consistent attacking build-up. Although Balogun had a 28th-minute strike ruled out for offside, the Monaco-based forward found the back of the net three minutes later, after Antonee Robinson played a perfect ball down the left flank to Pulisic, whose deflected cross fell straight to Balogun for the finish.

Balogun completed his brace right on the stroke of halftime, collecting a pass from Malik Tillman down the right wing, evading a challenge from Omar Alderete, cutting inside Gustavo Gomez, and curling a clinical strike into the top left corner of the net. By halftime, the home side held a comfortable 3-0 lead, with United States supporters already celebrating a dream start to the tournament. The only low point of the opening half was Pulisic being withdrawn at the break as a precaution, leaving fans waiting for updates on the fitness of the team’s star attacker heading into future group matches.

Paraguay showed more attacking threat in the second half after the United States stepped back to protect their lead, pulling a goal back through substitute Brazil-born forward Mauricio, who finished off a setup from hamstring injury-hit star Julio Enciso. But the hosts put the result beyond doubt in stoppage time, when Gio Reyna curled a stunning fourth goal into the far corner of the net with the outside of his right foot, sealing the 4-1 rout.

Among the sold-out crowd were global entertainment icons including Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Paris Hilton, who watched the match from premium positions. Before the match, the host city held a glitzy, Hollywood-themed opening ceremony for the first United States-held match of the tournament, headlined by pop superstar Katy Perry. She was joined on stage by collaborators Future, Tyla, Anitta, and K-pop superstar Lisa, with performers dancing around a giant replica FIFA World Cup trophy under oversized gold “FIFA” letters. Former U.S. President Donald Trump did not attend the event, but he extended a message of good luck to the United States team via phone ahead of kickoff.

With the emphatic opening win, the United States now sits atop Group D, which also includes Australia and Turkey, putting them in an extremely strong position to advance to the knockout stage of the tournament. The co-hosts are aiming to make a deep run in the competition, with their best World Cup performance dating back to a quarter-final appearance in 2002, and this opening victory has already built massive momentum for the team as the tournament progresses.