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Getty Images SportOct 04, 2026 08:40-04:00The Asian Football Confederation has detailed plans for a new biennial Nations League tournament starting in 2030. The proposed three-tier competition aims to replace uncompetitive friendlies while directly integrating with World Cup and Asian Cup qualification. AFC details draft proposal for biennial Nations LeagueThe Asian Football Confederation has outlined draft plans to launch a biennial AFC Nations League starting in 2030. According to draft documents seen by ESPN, a proposal presented to member associations details a three-tier system comprising Asia's 47 member nations, with 18 teams each in the top two divisions and eleven teams in tier three. The competition will directly streamline qualification pathways for both the FIFA World Cup and the AFC Asian Cup. According to the proposal, a standalone tournament was rejected due to operational costs and calendar congestion. XinhuaDirect World Cup qualification tied to Tier 1 performanceUnder World Cup-aligned editions—starting in 2032-33—tier-one teams will play six home and six away fixtures, with the top six finishers earning automatic World Cup qualification.

Screw-worm fly (Cochliomyia hominivorax) that has been coloured with fluorescent powder at a breeding program used to study and help control this parasitic insect. (Science Photo Library | Reuters) Last updated: Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026 7:00 p.m

‘Stop sleeping on gen X.” I heard this on TikTok recently. I misinterpreted it, with a guilty start, as: “Stop sleeping, gen X,” because I am 51 (peak X), so always tired; while not sleeping at the time, I may have been resting my eyes. In fact, Joel Marlinarson, a marketing guru, was suggesting my generation have become a powerful, if underrated, force online. Aged between 46 and 61, gen Xers with proper jobs are peaking, career-wise (although it’s a different story for those out of work, as a report last month on the struggles of over-50s jobseekers made plain). We’re more likely to own homes than the following generations; we’re emerging from the trenches of childrearing and, the argument goes, ready to indulge in some me-time. “If gen X were a country, it would be the world’s second-largest consumer market,” the World Economic Forum reported last year, with gen X women in particular influencing 70% to 80% of all consumer spending. That makes us great customers – witness the tidal wave of menopause-washed wellness guff (Which? reported last month that many pricey supplements were no better than a cheap multivitamin) and beauty brands for people suddenly horrified by their necks.

At the final race of 2026, Canadian national champion Ryder Wilson has his first World Cup win. The Vancouver Island rider smoothed out the relentless tech of Lake Placid’s World Cup track to set the fastest junior men’s time on Saturday. It’s a huge result for Team High Country’s resident Canuck. Wilson nearly had his first World Cup podium last week in Whistler. Wilson finished fourth in his home World Cup, even after a crash in the final section of woods just a couple hundred metres from the finish line.

The Asia-Pacific Sixes Lacrosse Championships begin Monday, with 21 teams — 11 in the men’s competition and 10 in the women’s — competing in Sunshine Coast, Australia, over six days. The championship will serve as the second continental qualifier on the Olympic pathway, with the top five teams per gender advancing to the 2027 World Lacrosse Sixes Championships (WLSC) in Colorado Springs. Teams can qualify directly from the WLSC to the LA28 Games.

Ruck sits fifth overall heading into second of three-stop Tour BAKU, Azerbaijan — Taylor Ruck led a strong showing by the Canadian contingent at the opening stop of the 2026 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup, collecting four podium finishes as seven Canadian swimmers opened their three-stop fall tour in Baku, Azerbaijan.

After the Angelus catechesis, Pope Leo once again invited the faithful to pray the Rosary, joining the initiative of Aid to the Church in Need: “In particular, let us pray for the Holy Land and for the innocent victims of violence.” He expressed his joy at the many initiatives dedicated to Saint Francis of Assisi and announced a period of synodal discernment on the family that will take place at the Vatican, ten years after Amoris Laetitia An appeal for wars to end and for peace to be built. The Pope renewed this appeal following the recitation of the Angelus prayer he led from the window of the Apostolic Palace. As he did during his recent visit to Lourdes, France, he again urged everyone to pray the Rosary for peace and unity in the world, standing in solidarity with children who have already begun doing so through the initiative of the Aid to the Church in Need Foundation, “One Million Children Praying the Holy Rosary.”

Saturday was new kit day for the second time in a week for Demi Vollering. The new world champ wrapped up a remarkable season with another major championship win, taking the European road race title in Slovenia one week after winning the world championship. Add in the Tour de France Femmes and the FDJ Suez rider has had a helluva year. And although she was clad all year in white-and-blue, she won’t be able to wear it–but it will make for a solid training jersey. (Rainbow>Euro.) The world champ made the winning move on the final climb of the 130-km race from Ljubljana to Šencur, riding clear of a select group and this time making it all the way to the finish alone.