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Cardiff will host the opening match of the 2028 European Championship on June 9, with the final scheduled for London's Wembley Stadium on July 9, tournament organisers UEFA announced on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

The tournament, co-hosted by England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, will feature 51 matches involving 24 nations across nine venues in eight cities, also including Birmingham, Dublin, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle.

The semi-finals and one quarter-final will also be held at Wembley, while the other last-eight matches will be staged in Dublin, Glasgow and Cardiff, according to Reuters.

Novak Djokovic said the shortness and timing of Jannik Sinner's ban this year for an inadvertent doping violation was "odd" and the case would hang over the four-time Grand Slam champion like a cloud for the rest of his career, Reuters reported.

Sinner served a three-month suspension following a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency in February after authorities accepted the anabolic agent clostebol had entered his system inadvertently via massages from his then physiotherapist at Indian Wells in March 2024.

Djokovic said he did not believe Sinner had acted deliberately, but added the controversy over the perceived disparity between Sinner's treatment and that of lesser-known athletes would linger around the Italian, much like his own deportation from Australia in 2022 over his refusal to take a COVID-19 vaccine, according to Reuters.

Cristiano Ronaldo has put a timeline on his cryptic retirement hint, saying on Nov 11 he will hang up his boots in “one or two years”.

The Portugal forward, who has scored over 950 goals for club and country, made his debut as a teenager at Sporting Lisbon in 2002 and said in an interview that he would retire soon to spend time with his family, Reuters reported.

In June, Ronaldo extended his contract with Saudi Arabian side Al-Nassr until 2027 and the 40-year-old is also targeting the 2026 World Cup, the only major title missing from his trophy cabinet.

The Premier League has agreed to rejig the calendar to avoid league leaders Arsenal and Crystal Palace playing two games in three days including their League Cup quarter-final clash, Reuters reported.

With both London clubs also juggling European commitments -- Arsenal in the Champions League and Palace in the Conference League -- fixture congestion created a player welfare headache.

Last week, the English Football League said the League Cup was being undermined by fixture congestion

 due to expanded European cup competitions when they confirmed Palace's quarter-final with Arsenal would be played on December 23, according to Reuters.