Arteta dedicates Arsenal's victory over Lille to the late honorary president Ken Fryer

Iga Szwiłtek, ranked ninth in the world, began her journey to 1,000 points with a crushing victory over Magdalena Frisch, 6-2, 6-1, in an all-Polish match in the second round, on Wednesday.

It is the 40th victory this year for the woman who has won six Grand Slam titles, and she is still on her way to a possible confrontation in the quarter-finals with Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, ranked “first” in the tournament and second in the world, who has won the title three times (2018, 2019, and 2024).

Shevuntek, ranked seventh in the tournament, who needed an hour and 42 minutes to win against her compatriot, who qualified for this round as the “lucky loser,” said: “We know each other well, so I wanted to focus on consistency and providing the best performance possible.”

The Polish woman, who is seeking to qualify for the season-ending WTA Masters Championship, scheduled to be held in Indian Wells between November 8 and 15, added: “I know that she always runs to every ball, and sometimes takes advantage of her opponent’s strength, so I wanted to play with consistency and balance, and I am happy that I did that.”

Despite the overwhelming result, the first set was close, and lasted for more than an hour and required Świjontek to recover from a 0-2 deficit and save 7 chances, out of 8, to break her serve, before she finally took the lead on the fourth set point.

By constantly pressing with her powerful forehand, Švūntek won the tenth game in a row and took a 4-0 lead in the second set.

The former world number one briefly lost her momentum, as Frisch broke her serve, but she regained her balance to qualify for the round of 16, where one of the two qualifying players awaits among the lucky losers, Thai Lanlana Tararudi or American Ashlyn Kruger.

British Sunay Kartal, ranked 170 in the world, who missed six months this year due to a stress fracture in her spine, surprised Swiss Belinda Bencic, ninth, and beat her 6-0 and 7-5 to secure a date with either Italian Jazmine Paolini or Czech Nikola Bartonkova.

The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) is preparing to present an unprecedented financial proposal to distribute more than $6 billion to national and continental federations during the financial cycle extending from 2027 to 2030, in a step that would double the allocations that were previously allocated to develop football around the world, months before the presidential elections during which Gianni Infantino is seeking to retain his position.

According to “The Athletic,” the proposal expected to be presented to the FIFA Council on Thursday includes raising the financial allocations for each national federation to $25 million over four years, an increase of $15 million from the previously planned amount of $10 million, in addition to allocating $99 million to each of the six continental federations during the same period.

The plan is based on the unprecedented commercial success achieved by the 2026 World Cup, with the participation of 48 teams, which was hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, after the tournament’s revenues reached about $15 billion, exceeding initial expectations of $11 billion, which were later raised to $13 billion.

In order to finance this huge increase, FIFA intends to withdraw more than $3.5 billion from its financial reserves, while maintaining a cash reserve of $1.7 billion, according to a source familiar with the details of the proposal, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he does not have permission to speak publicly.

The proposal represents a major shift in the amount of funding that national federations have received since Infantino’s arrival to the presidency of FIFA in 2016, as the allocations for each federation amounted to one million dollars, before it gradually increased, reaching $25 million in the next session, if the new plan was adopted.

These moves come after a letter sent by Infantino last September to the presidents of the six continental federations, during which he opened the door to increasing the funds distributed to the member federations, at a time when he was facing mounting pressure against the backdrop of an investment project that sparked a crisis within the international institution.

The “FIFA Forward Enterprise” project, which was later abandoned, was to provide a 20 percent stake in the international federation’s commercial operations and event organization to private investors, which raised widespread objections within international football circles and placed Infantino under intense scrutiny.

The repercussions of the crisis reached the point that the President of the European Football Association, Alexander Ceferin, and the President of the North, Central American and Caribbean Federation, Victor Montagliani, called on Infantino to resign, in a position that reflects the extent of the division that the project caused among football leaders.

The President of the Asian Football Confederation, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, also adopted a position in support of Infantino stepping down, before signs emerged of him retreating from his previous extremism, including abandoning his demand that an independent body review the governance system within FIFA.

On the other hand, Ceferin and Montagliani had sent letters to Infantino asking him to release part of the International Federation’s financial reserves and distribute them to the national federations, an approach that intersects with the content of the new financial proposal.

On Thursday, the FIFA Council is scheduled to discuss the plan to increase funding in its first meeting since the crisis of the canceled investment project. If it is initially approved, it will be subject to a consultation process before it can be approved by the Council next December.

The plan will then need final approval from the FIFA Congress, which is scheduled to be held next March, before the new allocations enter into force during the 2027-2030 financial cycle.

On the electoral level, neither Ceferin nor Montagliani translated their demand for Infantino’s resignation into direct competition for the presidency of the International Federation, as they both decided to remain in their continental positions, without presenting an alternative candidate to run in the upcoming elections.

Thus, Infantino is heading to run in the presidential race without a competitor for the third time in a row, unless another candidate comes forward before the nomination period closes on November 18, at a time when electoral preparations overlap with one of the largest redistribution of financial resources in the history of the International Federation.

Spain's Villarreal snatched a valuable victory over its Italian guest, Napoli, with a score of 3-1 in the second round of the Champions League, on Tuesday evening.

The visitors took the lead with an early goal scored by Amir Rahmani after 8 minutes, after he followed a rebound from the crossbar with his foot into the net.

But Villarreal corrected its position, and equalized with a goal scored by Georges Mikautadze in the 23rd minute, taking advantage of a ball returned by mistake from the middle of the field, to elude the Italian team’s goalkeeper, and shoot into the empty goal.

Three minutes later, the Spanish team took the lead with a wonderful shot from Santiago Moreno from outside the penalty area.

In the second half, the hosts confirmed their superiority and widened the gap with a third goal scored by Tani Oluwase with a powerful left-footed shot from inside the penalty area in the 86th minute.

With this result, Villarreal achieved its first victory in the Champions League, and compensated for its loss to the German Borussia Dortmund with a score of 2/3 in the first round.

As for Napoli, they remained without points, after losing in the first round at home to Arsenal, England, with an unanswered goal.

Villarreal is scheduled to host Liverpool at Anfield in the next round, while Napoli will play at home against Norwegian Bodo Glimt.

In the German city of Leipzig, German Leipzig achieved its first victory in the Champions League this season by defeating its Dutch guest, PSV Eindhoven, with a score of 1-0, on Tuesday evening.

The two teams came out with a clean sheet in the first half, in which Leipzig goalkeeper Martin Vandevoordt excelled, saving a penalty kick taken by veteran Croatian Ivan Perisic in the 19th minute.

The Germans snatched the winning goal with a wonderful left-footed shot by Brian Gruda in the 75th minute.

With this valuable victory, Leipzig compensated for its heavy loss to the Italian Como with a score of 1/4 in the first round, and will be a guest of the Spanish Real Madrid (the most crowned European champion - 15 times) in the next round.

As for Eindhoven, it remained with one point after drawing 1-1 with Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine in the first round.

Eindhoven will be a guest against Porto in the third round.