Messi, Ronaldo, Serena, Novak: What sport stars dodging retirement tells us Sport Business Sport heroes used to retire at the top but now the likes of Messi, Ronaldo, Serena and Djokovic have other ideas, writes Matt Readman. Sport is nothing if not storytelling. And every athlete wants the perfect ending to their own story. The crowning moment. The final wave to the crowd. Departing with dignity on your [...]
London Marathon’s staggering popularity isn’t about running at all Sport Business Why does one in 50 UK adults want to run the London Marathon? Maybe because it’s an oasis of joy in a desert of doldrums, says Matt Readman. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, as breadlines lengthened and unemployment spread across entire cities, something unexpected happened: people laughed more. Or at least, they looked [...]
Enhanced Games, Lance Armstrong and the truth about why we hate doping Sport Business There is an irony in the fact that sponsors and broadcasters won’t touch the Enhanced Games, explains Matt Readman. Last month it was announced that the 2026 Winter Olympic Games was the first Olympiad in 28 years to have zero failed drugs tests. The “cleanest Games for a generation” is a big moment for an [...]
Rugby resists modern marketing but Les Bleus have created a blueprint March 24, 2026 The sport of rugby union can be confusing. I don’t mean the rules – although they are part of the problem – but more how a sport can both thrive and struggle to survive almost simultaneously. Nowhere has this been more evident than in the 2026 men’s Six Nations. It was a tournament many claim [...]
Fifa’s credibility is shot because it can’t decide what it wants to be March 6, 2026 Does Fifa want football to be pure sporting competition floating serenely above politics, or a global force for peace? Its current approach is dumbing down, writes Matt Readman. On 21 June 1998, Iran faced the United States at the Fifa World Cup in what was billed as the most politically charged football match in history. Fifa later declared it the match that “football [...]
Australian Open’s One Point Slam shows that merit still makes the best stories January 20, 2026 The Australian Open officially got under way this week, but the most talked-about moment of the year’s opening tennis slam may already be behind us. Before a ball had been struck in the main draw, a little-known tennis coach from Sydney, Jordan Smith, walked away with A$1m after winning the One Point Slam — a [...]
How sport and athletes can show the realities of neurodiversity December 21, 2025 Sport and athletes like Simone Biles, Lewis Hamilton and Lucy Bronze can play a key role in reframing attitudes on neurodiversity, writes Matt Readman. Earlier this month Wes Streeting announced a review into how the UK is currently diagnosing mental health conditions, jumping on the bandwagon of those questioning whether normal feelings have become “over-pathologised”. [...]
LIV Golf is the clear winner of tussle with PGA Tour – it forced change November 29, 2025 Those who see the convergence between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour as a victory for the old order fundamentally misunderstand how disruption works, writes Matt Readman. “What are we even doing here anymore?” That was the reaction of golf journalist and vlogger Dan Rapaport to the news that LIV Golf was shifting from its [...]
How sport can take tackle Gen Z’s problem with gender polarisation October 21, 2025 Gender is as becoming as divisive as race, politics and economics among but sport can play its part in fixing a growing problem among Gen Z, writes Matt Readman. It’s been 25 years since Nelson Mandela famously said that sport could “unite people in a way that little else does”. While sport has sometimes mirrored social [...]
Gianni Infantino, Jay Shah and the rise of sport’s super-execs August 5, 2025 Infantino at Fifa and Shah at the ICC are styling themselves as super-execs like Musk and Zuckerberg but it won’t end well, warns Matt Readman. In sport, the best referees go unnoticed. They quietly manage the game, letting play flow and leaving the athletes to shine. Occasionally they must enforce the law, but they are [...]
