Florence
ACF Fiorentina appointed a new president on Tuesday, ten days after the passing of club owner and Mediacom CEO Rocco Commisso.
Rocco’s son, Giuseppe Commisso, will succeed his father as the head of the club. Giuseppe had previously been a member of Fiorentina’s board of directors, and Catherine Commisso, Rocco’s widow, was named to the board alongside Giuseppe’s announcement.
Rocco Commisso died “after a prolonged period of medical treatment” on Jan. 16 at the age of 76. He owned Fiorentina for nearly seven years after finalizing the purchase in June of 2019. As president and owner, Rocco commissioned the creation of a new sports training center for Fiorentina’s teams, officially named the Rocco B. Commisso Viola Park. He was an alumnus of Columbia University and a four-year member of the Lions’ soccer team, earning three All-Ivy League honors.
“I am deeply committed to carrying forward my father’s legacy and the vision he has built for Fiorentina,” Giuseppe said upon his appointment.
Giuseppe had followed in his father’s footsteps at Columbia, graduating with a degree in civil engineering in 2006. After graduating, he took up work in Mediacom.
“We will continue to work with determination to strengthen the club, in full respect of its values, its history, and its bond with the city and its supporters, just as my father has done to date,” Giuseppe said.
London
The inaugural FIFA Women’s Championship Cup kicked off on Jan. 28 in GTech Stadium in Brentford.
The competition was introduced by FIFA after the start of the Women’s Club World Cup was postponed to 2028, the organization’s first major women’s club football championship. The Championship Cup and upcoming Women’s Club World Cup come in a major period of growth in women’s sports, on the heels of recent expansions in the North America-based WNBA and PWHL.
The final four matchups had New York City’s Gotham FC facing off against Brazilian team Corinthians and Arsenal meeting Moroccan team ASFAR in Wednesday’s competition.
Gotham, which was last seen winning the NWSL championship on Nov. 22, fell 1-0 to Corinthians. Arsenal shut out ASFAR 6-0 later that evening, earning a spot in the final.
Gotham’s players have spoken out against the scheduling of the Champions Cup, as the tournament cuts right in the middle of the NWSL’s offseason. The 2026 season is set to begin on Mar. 13.
“You’re asking players to cut their offseason short when everyone’s just had competitions and Euros and traveling across the world,” Gotham defender Jess Carter said. “And then we come in after very limited time off and have to play again.”
Gotham FC is eyeing a bronze medal in Sunday’s third-place play-off against ASFAR. The final between Arsenal and Corinthians will take place at the Emirates Stadium on Feb. 1 for a record $2.3 million prize.
“Just take care of us, look after the players,” Carter said. “We all want to play, we want to give everybody the highest level of entertainment, and we can only do that if we’re all fully fit, and that goes across the board for every single women’s game.”
Washington, D.C.
Just days after the Washington Post initially cancelled its contingent for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, the publication has reversed its decision.
Over a dozen reporters were part of the initial group planned to report on the scene in Milan. The group was informed of the cancellation on Friday, just two weeks ahead of the start of the games, through an email from Kimi Yoshino, a managing editor of the Post. According to The New York Times, many of the reporters had already finalized and paid for their travel arrangements, and the Post itself had already expensed a majority of the costs to the publication, including housing for its reporters.
“As we assess our priorities for 2026, we have decided not to send a contingent to the Winter Olympics,” Yoshino’s email read. “We realize this decision and its timing will be disappointing to many of you, so please reach out to me if you want to talk further.”
Christine Brennan, a former Olympics beat writer for the paper for nearly a decade, reacted to the sudden turnaround in a post on X.
“Tonight I’m thinking about my talented friends and colleagues at the Post who were getting ready to travel to Italy to tell the important stories of the Winter Olympics,” Brennan wrote. “This is just a stunning and awful development.”
On Monday, The New York Times reported that the Post is currently working to send four journalists to the Olympics. The new contingent is significantly downsized from the paper’s typical 10 to 20 employees sent to cover the events. The decision comes amongst a period of uncertainty for the Jeff Bezos-owned publication as reporters are expecting significant cuts in the coming weeks.
Contact Kiran Komanduri at [email protected].