England defender Lucy Bronze has said that she wants to win the Champions League with new club Chelsea and that the move to the west London club was the “perfect fit” after joining the Women’s Super League (WSL) champions last month.

The 32-year-old right-back’s transfer to Chelsea on a two-year deal marks one of the club’s most high-profile moves so far as they enter a transitional phase, with former Lyon manager Sonia Bompastor taking the helm after Emma Hayes’ departure.

Bronze, one of the most decorated players in women’s football, has lifted the Champions League trophy five times and told ESPN that she is ready for a new challenge.

“I finished the season at Barça, I knew that I was ready to leave there, and I was looking for another new challenge,” Bronze told ESPN in an exclusive interview on Monday.

“I spoke to Sonia and Cami [Camille Abily, assistant coach] literally at the end of the Champions League final, and they were like: ‘Well, why don’t you come to Chelsea?’ I thought, you know, why not?

“I knew that they [Bompastor and the coaching team] wanted me to come here. I felt like that was a good decision coming back to England, coming back to the best team in England, a team that I can add to both on and off the pitch, a…

Only days after Team USA won Olympic gold, players will pick up the basketball again as the second half of the WNBA season returns. Not only will fans get to celebrate Olympic champions, but they’ll see players and teams make a final push with a month until the playoffs.

And, of course, it means Caitlin Clark is back. The Fever take on the Storm in their second game after the Olympic break.

Clark, Aliyah Boston and the rest of the Fever will suit up on Sunday, Aug. 18 as they face Seattle for the fourth and final time this season. They’ve yet to take a game off the Storm, coming within 12 points in their last meeting, but August could be full of surprises in the WNBA as everyone settles into the season again.

A top-dog in the league, the Storm will bring, well, a storm, to Indianapolis as they polish things in the last month. They’re a favorite to make it all the way to the WNBA championship, but Indiana would love to play spoiler in preparation for what it hopes is its first playoff appearance since 2017.

Ready to get back to Gainbridge Fieldhouse? Here’s everything to know about tickets for the Fever-Storm game on Sunday.

BUY NOW: Get tickets to the Fever vs. Storm game on StubHub

Fever vs. Storm tickets

Tickets for the Fever-Storm matchup are available now on…

Los Angeles Sparks forward Dearica Hamby filed a federal lawsuit against the Las Vegas Aces on Monday alleging intimidation, discrimination and harrassment over her pregnancy. Hamby previously filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Sept. 2023. 

“The WNBA is, at its core, a workplace, and federal laws have long shielded pregnant women from discrimination on the job. The world champion Aces exiled Dearica Hamby for becoming pregnant and the WNBA responded with a light tap on the wrist.” Hamby’s attorneys said in a statement. “Every potential mother in the league is now on notice that childbirth could change their career prospects overnight. That can’t be right in one of the most prosperous and dynamic women’s professional sports leagues in America.”

In January 2023, Hamby was traded from the Aces to the Sparks. Shortly thereafter, she released an emotional statement on Instagram accusing the Aces of “traumatizing” her. 

The WNBA later conducted its own investigation into the situation and suspended Aces coach Becky Hammon for the first two games of the 2023 season for violating the league’s respect in the workplace policies. Furthermore, the Aces had their first-round pick in…

The United States was a heavy betting favorite to claim the most gold medals at the Olympics, a race that would come down to the final event and end in a tie.

The U.S. entered the Olympics with -600 odds to win more gold medals than any other country at ESPN BET. China had the second-best odds at +350.

The U.S. women’s basketball team held off France 67-66 in the gold medal game Sunday, giving the Americans their 40th gold medal and tying them with China for the most at the games. The U.S. garnered approximately 64% of the money wagered on the gold medal market at ESPN BET.

Sportsbooks took varying approaches to settling bets on the gold medal market. ESPN BET, DraftKings and FanDuel each settled gold medal bets with a “dead heat” rule, generally meaning half the amount of the bet is paid out at the odds offered.

BetMGM included a tiebreaker in its gold medal betting rules and deemed the U.S. the winner due to winning more silver medals than China. Sportsbooks Prime Sports and the South Point in Las Vegas elected to pay out bets on both the U.S. and China, although South Point sportsbook director Chris Andrews acknowledged on social…

Hi there! The summer of soccer officially came to a wrap over the weekend with the U.S. women’s national team’s gold medal win on Saturday, while the European season is officially underway after the EFL opened up. I’m Pardeep Cattry with the latest to kick off the week.

Footy fix

All times U.S./Eastern

Monday, Aug. 12
EFL Championship: Luton Town vs. Burnley, 3 p.m. Paramount+, CBS Sports Golazo Network
Leagues Cup: Seattle Sounders vs. Pumas, 10:30 p.m. Apple TV+

Tuesday, Aug. 13
EFL Cup: Sheffield United vs. Wrexham, 3 p.m. Paramount+, CBS Sports Golazo Network
Leagues Cup: Columbus Crew vs. Inter Miami, 7:30 p.m. Apple TV+

The Forward Line

USWNT go back to winning ways

The U.S. women’s national team won their first Olympic gold medal in 12 years on Saturday, beating Brazil 1-0 in Paris and turning the page on last year’s disappointment at the Women’s World Cup in the process.

Things were not straightforward for the USWNT on…

Angel City have confirmed the signing of former Manchester United captain Katie Zelem on a deal through to 2026.

Zelem, 28, joins after leaving United following the expiration of her contract at the end of June, bringing an end to a chapter that saw her make over 160 appearances for the club.

A product of United’s academy, Zelem initially left in 2013 due to the absence of a senior women’s team, moving on to Liverpool and later Juventus. However, she rejoined United in 2018 when the club re-established its women’s side, quickly becoming a cornerstone of the squad.

Named as captain ahead of United’s debut season in the Women’s Super League, Zelem played a pivotal role in the team’s rise, leading them to promotion in 2019 and their first-ever Champions League qualification in the 2022-23 campaign. She also helped United clinch the FA Cup with a victory at Wembley last season against Tottenham Hotspur.

Welcome to LA, Katie!
#AngelCityFC announces that England WNT midfielder Katie Zelem has signed with the club through 2026 via free agency. Zelem, former team captain for Man Utd, joins the club as the first signing of the August transfer window.https://t.co/T4nF5Qx2nH pic.twitter.com/KU2QpNTRA9

— Angel City FC (@weareangelcity) August 12, 2024

United finished fifth…

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A foot on the line guaranteed 61 consecutive wins for Team USA’s women’s basketball squad, which now means six gold medals for Diana Taurasi – six!

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The Golden Dagger

Steph Curry put the entire tournament to bed

Nuit nuit! Four years of French honors in high school told me that translates to “Night, night.” That’s what Steph Curry said to Serbia and France in consecutive games on Team USA’s way to the gold medal. The men’s team took home gold for the fifth straight Olympics and the eighth time in nine Olympic Games since NBA players were allowed to compete.

I’ve openly been an arrogant American basketball fan, daring the rest of the world to beat Team USA. And while some might want to focus on close contests as proof of the world having caught up, I will disagree vehemently. The gold medals are hanging around Team USA’s collective necks, and I can thank Curry, who went crazy against Serbia and did it again in the gold medal game against France. To recap:

• He had 36 points (one shy of Team USA’s Olympic single-game mark set by Carmelo Anthony) and went 9-of-14 from deep in the 95-91 semifinal win. USA outscored…

MINNEAPOLIS — In applying for U.S. citizenship at age 78, the latest chapter in his fascinating life, Rod Carew used the same approach that made him one of the best pure hitters in Major League Baseball history.

The Hall of Famer diligently prepared for the 10-question citizenship test the same way he might if he were getting ready to face Bob Gibson. Carew put himself on alert for any and all possibilities as he spent months breaking down the citizenship test question by question.

Carew officially became a U.S. citizen on Aug. 2 and will be sworn in at a later date. The native of Panama revealed the accomplishment this weekend to friends during festivities surrounding a Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame event at Target Field.

“I’m so proud of my husband,” said his wife, Rhonda Carew. “He studied those questions and the answers to those questions like there was no tomorrow. He was not going to miss a question.”

“I love this country,” Rod Carew said. “It has given me everything and more.”

The news of Carew’s newly gained citizenship surprised just about everyone. Carew’s family moved to Washington…

SAINT-DENIS, France — On the final night of competition at the Stade de France, the Americans torched the purple track in their relays, setting a pair of records and pulling off another gold medal sweep in the men’s and women’s events.

It’s the third straight Olympics both U.S. 4×400-meter teams have won gold medals. For the women, it has now been more than 30 years since they didn’t capture gold in the event.

“We got the real quarter horses,” women’s lead leg Shamier Little said. “We really do. And it’s amazing to be part of history, and to kind of add on to that. To see the dominance lay before you, and then fall in line with that.”

Such dominance was on full display Saturday in the middle of the women’s relay, when Little handed the baton off before any other team’s first leg. When she put the stick in Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s hands, the race was effectively over.

McLaughlin-Levrone, the 25-year-old now four-time gold medalist hurdler who seemingly gets faster every time she’s on the track, sprinted hard into the first turn. Almost instantly, she created a massive gap between Team USA and the…

While the United States returned to the top of the women’s football echelon by taking home the gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics, there was an individual award to be won as well.

France went home disappointed after a Round of 16 exit at the hands of silver medalists Brazil, but forward Marie-Antoinette Katoto would not finish the tournament empty-handed as she won the competition’s top goal scorer award. The 25-year-old scored five goals, all in the group stage, to end the tournament atop the charts.

Mallory Swanson of the United States and Barbra Banda of Zambia finished second on the list with four goals each. Swanson scored her last in the final, securing gold for the USA in a 1-0 victory over Brazil.

The goal meant Swanson finished one ahead of her “Triple Espresso” teammates Sophia Smith and Trinity Rodman, who ended the tournament with three goals each. Katoto’s win meant that still no American has ever finished an Olympic tournament as the competition’s top goal scorer, despite their five gold medals in women’s soccer.

MORE: Full schedule, results, bracket for 2024 Olympic soccer tournaments

Top goal scorers in 2024 Olympic women’s soccer

Top goal scorer list updated following final on Saturday, Aug. 10.

Pos.

Player

Nation

Goals…