Sorrow in the world of mountaineering due to the death of the renowned mountaineer Nirmal Nimsdai Purja, 43 years old. The British-Nepalese hiker was part of an expedition to Broad Peak – one of the highest mountains in the world – when on Thursday the group was surprised by an avalanche. His body was found this Sunday. So far, the deaths of nine out of ten missing mountaineers have been confirmed. Among the fatalities is also Nadhira Al Harthy, the first Omani woman to reach the summit of Everest.

With the third project of the Hansi Flick era already underway and awaiting the return of the internationals and the resolution of the signing of the center forward – for now it does not seem that Atlético de Madrid is willing to loan Julián Álvarez – there is a not insignificant issue that is not monopolizing media attention: the captaincy of Barça. It is an important aspect because it is not just about negotiating bonuses or deciding who lifts the trophy, but about leadership in the locker room, a key element for a team that aspires to compete for all titles.

Cata Coll is the goalkeeper for Barça women's team. After a year on loan at Sevilla, the Balearic footballer knew how to wait for her moment until she became the undisputed starter – at Barça and for the Spanish national team. Hard work, consistency, and patience paid off for Cata Coll, considered one of the best goalkeepers of today. This, however, is a very delicate area in football and the blaugrana club has worked during the summer to strengthen the position.

Tight game. Growing emotion. The Minnesota Lynx and Los Angeles Sparks are battling for victory in a very close match. Kayla McBride visits the free-throw line, at which point the entire arena hears the shouts of a fan. "Rickea!", he exclaims. He says it with so much energy that the television broadcast picks it up. Oblivious to the game's score, the fan implores Rickea Jackson, forward for the Sparks, to try and score more points because he needs to win his parlay bet.

Gianni Infantino has backtracked on his proposal to create a subsidiary to sell part of the World Cup and Club World Cup to private investors. "After listening to all opinions, it has become clear that the project has created divisions in such a way that, regardless of support, it is no longer in the interest of the objective initially set out," explained the FIFA president in a statement distributed through social networks.

Evoking the name of Miguel Ángel González (Terrassa, 1980) at Montilivi still causes a tear or two. The former Catalan center-back was the author of the goal with which Girona returned to the Second Division almost fifty years later, on a very special matchday against Ceuta in 2008. His seven years and 249 matches at the club are summarized in that shot, which elevates him to the altar of the chosen ones. That Girona was the embryo of the Girona that would reach the Champions League. The goal turned eighteen a few days ago. So it is now of legal age.

It was a preseason match, just Barça's second –the first in front of a crowd after the 4-1 victory against CE Europa–, but the tiny St Andrew's Stadium in the Bordesley district of Birmingham was packed to the rafters. Birmingham City FC, a historic English football club that will fight for another year to return to the Premier League, hosted the blaugrana team in the reenactment of a match full of history: both had rivaled in the past in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, with the Catalans beating the English in the two-legged final for the edition played between 1958 and 1960.

New chapter in the battle shaking up the world of football. After Gianni Infantino's proposal to sell part of the World Cup and the Club World Cup, which has met with an unprecedented boycott from UEFA, the FIFA president finds himself a little more alone. Carlos Cordeiro, one of the main advisors to the European football governing body and the president's right-hand man, announced his resignation this Friday after disagreeing with the latest decisions made by the world football's top leader.

In Girona, the name Minsu Kim (Gwangju, 2006) is on everyone's lips these days. The great performances of the pearl of the white-and-red academy during preseason, including a brace in Olot, are advocating for him to secure a place in the first team squad managed by Quique Álvarez, who already coached him in the reserves before he went on loan to Andorra last season, where he exploded in the Second Division, with 6 goals and 4 assists in 40 games. The Korean, however, is out of contract next year and has the interest of several teams on the table. If Girona, which has already started talks, doesn't act quickly, they will lose him.

Barça will begin their league title defense on August 23rd at Elche's ground. It will be one month and five days after the World Cup final in which a large part of the the backbone of the Barça team was crowned champion.This means that Lamine Yamal, Pedri, Dani Olmo, Pau Cubarsí and company will hardly be able to compete at their best. They would risk suffering injuries just by resuming sporting activity after the success achieved with the Spanish national team. In place of these essential players, Hansi Flick will have to rely at the start of the season on footballers who will have completed a full preseason. Among them, two prominent names stand out: Marc Bernal and Gerard Martín, two young talents who the Barcelona club has had to re-register with the League.

The 55 UEFA member countries have voted in favour of supporting a boycott of the World Cup in protest against FIFA's proposal to sell stakes to private investors. The announcement comes after the member federations of the European football governing body met remotely. In this way, next year's Women's World Cup, to be held in Brazil, and the men's, which is to be held in 2030 jointly between Spain, Portugal and Morocco, would not include teams from Europe.

The Football World Cup – which now FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, plans to sell partially to private investors– it is an event that, despite being accompanied by millions of figures and statistics, always reserves space for unpredictability and epicness. Paraguay and Morocco were two examples. After eliminating Germany and the Netherlands in the round of 16, respectively, the two Global South selections defied the forecasts that limited their options to reach the end of the tournament.

Five weeks of competition paralyzed the world during the celebration of the men's Football World Cup. It has been the most important event of recent years and the Spanish team of Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsí, Ferran Torres, Pedri and company celebrated the triumph in a final decided in extra time against Argentina (1-0). La roja was the best squad of the 48 that took part in the most extensive edition in dates and teams. FIFA, governed by Gianni Infantino, doubled down on the bet compared to the Qatar World Cup. More countries involved, more matches (104) and, ultimately, more money at stake. Even hydration breaks were normalized in the middle of both halves for advertising reasons.The revenue pie of this World Cup in the United States, Mexico, and Canada amounts to 15 billion dollars, according to data provided by FIFA itself, an amount that represents double (+100%) the figures obtained in the 2022 tournament. The prizes for the 48 participating federations amounted to 655 million, 50% more than in Qatar. Spain, as the winning team, pocketed 50 million, of which a large part went to the players and coaches. 750,000 gross euros per footballer, that is, around 377,000 net in the case of those who play for Barça, where taxation is a bit higher than in other regions of the state such as Madrid, Galicia, Navarra or the Basque Country.

The intention of FIFA president Gianni Infantino to partially sell the World Cup and the Club World Cup has shaken the football world and caused an avalanche of criticism led by UEFA, the body that regulates European football. If this Tuesday the British newspaper The Times reported that Infantino plans to sell stakes to transform the World Cup and the Club World Cup into a kind of public limited company and thus allow the entry of private investors, this Wednesday he has taken a further step by sending a letter to the 211 federations that make up FIFA explaining how their budgets would be increased.

"They weren't good years for Barça. It was a difficult, transitional era. But for me it was a beautiful stage because I wasn't expecting it. I was already 31 years old. With time, one values it even more and lives it as something even more positive," acknowledges Roberto Tito Bonano (Rosario, Argentina, 1970). He landed at Barça just 25 years ago. He already had one foot in Alavés, but suddenly an offer from Barça arrived. "At first I didn't believe it. I asked my agent if it was a joke. I wasn't expecting it because they said they would sign Oliver Kahn, Buffon, or someone like that. But I was the cheapest because I was South American and had been released by River Plate," he says.

At the restaurant of the Reial Club Nàutic de Barcelona, they put up a wooden sign with the name Pere Millet Soler (Barcelona, 1952) when he dines there. A gesture of deference towards one of the historic names in sailing, one of the first Catalan athletes to win an Olympic medal. He did so 50 years ago, on August 8, 1976, with a silver medal in the 470 class at the Montreal Games, partnered with Toño Gorostegui. Half a century later, he recalls that achievement speaking with ARA with sea views.

Xevi Pujol will land at Barça next week with almost all the work done. The Barça club expects to announce the incorporation of the new technical secretary from August 3, when two months will have passed since he announced his departure to Baskonia. The Culer team, led by Xavier O'Callaghan and Mario Fernández, has made many moves in what has become the busiest summer in the entity's history.Barça has already closed nine player signings, but there will be more. Olivier Nkamhoua, Justin Robinson, Josh Nebo, Umoja Gibson, Agustín Ubal, Stanley Umude, Olek Balcerowski, Tyrese Martin, and Tosan Evbuomwan are already confirmed. In addition, the club has incorporated Aleksander Sekulic as coach. “I know what my idea is and I know how to execute it. My main desire is to convince the players to represent the club's colors with sacrifice, fight, and a desire to win titles. The team has been formed with this idea in mind. The truth is that the average age of the squad was quite high, around 34 years old. The renewal was the first logical step. Barça needed a new impulse to strengthen the club's identity and culture,” he assures in an interview with Sportklub.The Slovenian coach acknowledges that he did not expect to sign for the Barça club. “I assumed that Barça already had an agreement with a new coach, but it turned out that this information was not correct. They were interested in me, as the club had an idea to impose a new direction and were looking for a coach to undertake it. It seems that in me they have seen a coach with a similar vision”, assures Sekulic, who has already spoken with Joan Laporta. “He wanted to meet me in person”, he says.The bad news are the departures. If we add first team players, coaches and young talents from the academy, more than fifteen people will not continue with Barça. The most painful departures are those of people who had contracts, like Xavi Pascual, Juani Marcos, Will Clyburn, Toko Shengelia and Moses Wright, who paid his termination clause before the club announced his signing. The center, who will leave 900,000 euros to the coffers of the Barça club, will play for Olimpia Milan. The non-arrival of Mike James is different, as it was Barça who backed down. The player had signed his contract, but the Barça entity did not.Shengelia's departure is also very painful. Although it had not been made public, the Georgian small forward had renewed for three years just a few months ago, when he still thought that Xavi Pascual and his friend Will Clyburn would remain on the team. Despite not wanting to abandon Barça, the player has decided, after a complex period of reflection, to move to Dubai Basketball. His clause is also 900,000 euros.

August 30. This is the date marked in red on Aitana Bonmatí's calendar. The Barça footballer is working against the clock to arrive in the best possible conditions for the start of the new season for Barça women's team. On the weekend of August 29 and 30, Pere Romeu's team will debut in the Women's League in a match against Costa Adeje Tenerife at the Johan Cruyff stadium. With just over a month to go until the premiere, this Monday the Blaugranas began their pre-season with all available first-team players.

The history they have built together is so strong that it is now impossible to understand Girona and Cristhian Stuani separately. Neither the relegation to the Second Division nor the economic differences, in a negotiation that has dragged on longer than expected, have managed to break a relationship that will live its tenth chapter after the Uruguayan's renewal until June 2027. The agreement is a positive shock for the enthusiasm of a team that faced the summer with desperation, because until now, at Montilivi, optimism has been conspicuous by its absence: the squad is not being cleared out and this means that new faces are taking their time.

The world of football is cyclical, it tends to revisit itself. And Real Madrid is a great example to remember this. 17 years after Florentino Pérez returned to the white presidency and signed Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Xabi Alonso and Ricardo Kaká in one go to dethrone Pep Guardiola's triumphant Barça, Leo Messi and company, the white leader, legitimized at the polls at the beginning of last June, is once again reaching for his wallet to challenge his eternal rival's reign.