American football, NFL: The Green Bay Packers go to the playoffs of the National Football League (NFL) as the best team in the National Football Conference (NFC). With the 37:10 against the Minnesota Vikings, the team around quarterback Aaron Rodgers improved their record to 13: 3 wins and is therefore no longer top of the seed list of their conference – even if they lost to the Detroit Lions on the last day of the The Packers are allowed to suspend the regular season in the first round of the play-offs and then have continuous home rights until the Super Bowl on February 13 in Los Angeles.
For the first time since 2015, the Cincinnati Bengals have reached the playoffs. The young team around quarterback Joe Burrow defeated the Kansas City Chiefs after a temporary 14-point deficit by a field goal shortly before the end with 34:31 and secured first place in the North Division of the American Football Conference (AFC). Participation in the playoffs earned on Sunday in the AFC after the already qualified Chiefs also the Tennessee Titans, Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots. The Patriots defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars with 50:10.
In the NFC, in addition to the Packers, Los Angeles Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals, the Philadelphia Eagles have also been playoffs since Sunday. The Eagles won 20:10 at the Washington Football Team and at the same time benefited from the Packers’ victory over the Vikings.
The biggest drama on the penultimate game day, however, occurred at 28:24 for the Buccaneers at the New York Jets. Quarterback Tom Brady led his team to victory after an intermittent 10:24 with his third touchdown pass 15 seconds before the end, but the sporting was overshadowed by the scandal over Antonio Brown. The Buccaneers wide receiver took off their jersey, protective clothing, shirt and gloves during the game, threw everything into the audience and jogged topless through the end zone into the dressing room. “He’s no longer a Buc,” said head coach Bruce Arians, “that’s the end of the story.” Brown had previously been suspended for three games because he had presented a forged vaccination certificate. Brady, on the other hand, asked for understanding. “We all love him. Unfortunately, he will no longer be part of our team, but we have a lot of friendships that last.”
FC Bayern: Paul Breitner is relieved about the reconciliation with Bayern patron Uli Hoeneß. “The fact that I occasionally approached you and FC Bayern publicly was because both you and the club were always important to me – and still are today. I criticized some decisions because I was the only one who dared has to give you against. I wanted to draw attention to things for the good of our FC Bayern. If I hadn’t cared, I would not have even considered it, “wrote the former national soccer player in a letter to Hoeneß on the occasion 70th birthday on Wednesday. “Dear Uli, I’m glad that we both came to our senses and woke up: It would have been bad if we couldn’t still enjoy our walk together. For your birthday, I wish you a brilliant idea for your personal wish that You, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and I will tear something big together again, “wrote the 70-year-old Breitner. Hoeneß and Breitner had broken up in the meantime – on the occasion of the death of Gerd Müller (75) last year, the buddies from early kicker years at Bayern and the national team reconciled.
“We hit it off right away because, despite fundamentally different interests and sometimes opposing views on key values such as will, commitment and diligence, we are like identical twins,” said Breitner, remembering the common teenage times. “Our magnet was mutual respect: We knew that we could rely 100 percent on each other, on the pitch and in life.”
Olympia: Egypt wants to be the first African country to host the Olympic Games in 2036. Sports Minister Ashraf Sobhy presented corresponding plans on the TV channel Sky News Arabia. Germany, along with several other countries, has also expressed interest in the summer games.
Egypt is currently working on the first “documents that will soon be submitted to the International Olympic Committee,” said Sobhy. IOC President Thomas Bach had recently expressed his wish for an application from Africa. The continent is the only one inhabited that has not yet hosted any games. A multi-million dollar project called “International Olympic City” is currently being built in Egypt’s new capital, which has been under construction around 50 kilometers east of Cairo since 2015. A stadium for 90,000 spectators, an Olympic swimming pool, tennis courts and other sports facilities are planned there.
In addition to Egypt, there is also interest in the 2036 Games in Russia, Spain, Turkey and the Ukraine. In Germany, too, there are plans to try again after the failed application for 2032. The South African city of Cape Town was the last African city to apply for the 2004 Games, but Athens was awarded the contract.