French footballer Michael Olise Pelening provided an assist in the third-place match of the FIFA 2026 tournament, in which the French national team played. This pass led to a goal by Kylian Mbappé.
Thanks to this action, Olise registered his seventh assist in the tournament, thus becoming the player with the most assists in a single World Cup.
Previously, this record belonged to Brazilian legend Pelé, who scored six assists at the 1970 World Cup.
In the final match of the tournament today, the national teams of Spain and Argentina will meet.
Messi broke his silence after Argentina's dream of winning the World Cup collapsed on Sunday. Spain won the 2026 World Cup final at the New York-New Jersey stadium.
Argentina's captain, Lionel Messi, admitted that the pain of losing the title is very strong. At the same time, Messi also expressed pride in his team's journey, which reached the final twice in a row.
The day after the defeat, Messi shared his thoughts on this failure on his Instagram social network. He noted that accepting the result will take time and emphasized that the team's achievements cannot be ignored.
Messi wrote: 'The pain is very deep, and it will take time to heal this wound. But I will keep all the good memories, the matches we turned around by putting our whole soul into, the matches that will forever remain in our memory, the support of the entire country, which, together with the hard work and efforts of this group, once again included us among the best teams in the world. It is difficult to fully appreciate what we achieved today, but this group made it to the World Cup final twice in a row.'
Furthermore, Messi congratulated Spain. The Argentine captain thanked the fans for supporting the team throughout the tournament and also sent congratulations to Spain for winning the trophy. He added: 'From the bottom of my heart, thank you for every wish and every message. Once again, we united as a country and felt proud to be citizens of Argentina. I also want to congratulate Spain on their victory in the championship.'
E-sports attract millions of viewers globally in tournaments across various titles, including VALORANT, League of Legends, Counter-Strike, and Street Fighter. Similar to conventional sports, hosting each championship requires a large team of professionals.
One of the crucial roles in this process is the caster. The term derives from 'broadcast caster' in English and designates the specialist who conducts the e-sports broadcast. This work ranges from narration and commentary to detailed analysis and contextualization of events occurring inside and outside the game.
Although the term caster encompasses multiple tasks, each professional has a specific responsibility. The narrator, known as play-by-play, focuses on describing in real-time everything that happens during the match. The commentator, or color caster, enriches the broadcast with analyses, providing context about the teams, strategies, and interesting facts, helping the audience better understand every move.
In practice, the caster's work begins well before the official start of the broadcast. The professional dedicates time to researching the teams, studying the players, monitoring the latest game updates, and organizing their notes. They often use a personal notebook to record statistics, trivia, and relevant information that may arise during the competition.
Part of the routine is preparing one's voice and aligning details with the team to ensure the best possible execution. During the week, it is common to follow players' broadcasts to observe training, identify the most used agents, and fundamentally, know the 'comfort picks'—those choices in which each player demonstrates greater confidence and better performance.
Besides casters, an e-sports broadcast features several other specialists working in collaboration. The broadcaster is the technical person responsible for going live with the broadcast, managing scene changes, displaying graphics, statistics, and replays so that the audience has a complete view.
The League Operations professional, or League Ops, manages the operational side of the event. Their duties include organizing match lobbies, confirming the readiness of all teams, solving any technical problems, and ensuring that the championship strictly follows the established schedule and regulations.
Observers have the function of controlling the camera within the game environment. They decide which players should be followed, anticipate the most important movements, and capture decisive moments so that no crucial play is missed by the viewer.
By understanding what happens behind the live signal, an invitation is extended: anyone who has never watched an e-sports competition in real-time should choose a game they prefer, such as League of Legends, VALORANT, Fortnite, or another competitive title, and watch a broadcast. It is likely that the viewer will discover that, besides the matches themselves, there is a vast team dedicated to turning every championship into a complete spectacle.
Goalkeeper Gabriel Batista has become a new reinforcement for the Brazilian club Botafogo. He is moving to the team coached by Portuguese Franklim Carvalho after four seasons spent at Santa Clara, which belongs to the Portuguese I League of football.
In his statement, the club from the Azores highlighted Gabriel Batista's significance in the team's historical journey, which concluded with the II League championship title in the 2023/24 season, as well as the club's best league classification (fifth place) in the following season.
The athlete himself emphasized that although he is leaving the club, he will forever remain a supporter of Santa Clara, promising to always support and rejoice in every victory and achievement of the club. Batista played 138 matches for the Azorean club.
Botafogo also announced the contract signing on social media, specifying that the goalkeeper signed an agreement valid until the end of 2029. Gabriel Batista joined Santa Clara in the 2022/23 season, coming from Flamengo.
Batista is among the group of players who have left the club, including Gabriel Silva (Sporting Braga), Clisman (Neftichi), João Afonso (FC Porto), Sérgio (Levski Sofia), Venansiu (at the end of his contract), and Carter (Viseu).
Santa Clara, which finished 13th in the I League in the 2025/26 season, will start the new championship by hosting Nacional in the first round, which will take place on August 10.
