Assistant coach Ryan Mason, 31, will take over head coach duties with immediate effect while the club continues to look for a permanent manager alongside their search for a director of football following Fabio Paratici's resignation this month.
* Atalanta kept alive their hopes of finishing in the top four with a 3-1 home win over AS Roma on Monday thanks to goals from Mario Pasalic, captain Rafael Toloi and Teun Koopmeiners that ended the visitors' three-match Serie A winning streak. Gian Piero Gasperini's seventh-placed side have 52 points, two points behind Inter Milan who occupy the last European qualifying spot and four off Roma and fourth-placed AC Milan.
* A new group aiming to represent the interests of European soccer clubs outside the global elite launched in Brussels on Monday (Apr 24), seeking greater distribution of funds to smaller clubs and open and more balanced European competition. Representatives of 40 clubs from 25 countries attended, including England's Aston Villa and Brighton & Hove Albion, Spain's Sevilla and Valencia and Germany's Borussia Moenchengladbach.
* England's Premiership Cup will include Championship sides from next season in a new and expanded format, the country's rugby union (RFU), the Premiership and second-tier clubs said on Monday. The 2023-24 season will have 24 teams - more than double the number this season - and they will be split into four pools of six based on league standings at the end of the current campaign.
* Defending champion Ons Jabeur said on Monday (Apr 24) she had withdrawn from the Madrid Open with a calf injury after retiring from the Stuttgart Open at the weekend. The Tunisian world number four retired after three games against Iga Swiatek in the Stuttgart Open semi-final, where she was injured during the last point of the first game on Saturday.
* Karolina Pliskova has withdrawn from the Madrid Open due to a knee injury but the former world number one said she hopes to recover in time for next month's event in Rome ahead of the French Open. Pliskova, 15th in the world rankings, said on Twitter she suffered the injury during her quarter-final defeat by Iga Swiatek at the Stuttgart Open last week.
* FC Barcelona have secured a financing deal worth €1.45 billion (US$1.6 billion) that will enable the club to renovate its iconic but outdated Camp Nou stadium and its surroundings after having renegotiated the initial terms, they said on Monday (Apr 24). Barcelona added that they signed the agreement with 20 investors, including Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.
* Germany will play three friendly matches in June with their 1,000th international match set to be a charity game against Ukraine, the country's football association (DFB) said on Monday (Apr 24). With Germany hosting the European Championship next year, the hosts are not involved in the qualifying campaign and will be playing friendly matches instead in the buildup to the tournament.
