Scout’s Overview
📡 🚨 Weekly Sports Radar: Fireball

Fireball Soccer, or Sepak Bola Api, is a real game played in parts of Indonesia where players kick around a ball literally set ablaze. The ball is often made of dried coconut soaked in kerosene, and matches are usually held during special events or festivals.

It’s more ritual than sport in some areas, rooted in local tradition:

Before the match, players undergo important rituals believed to protect them from harm. They ignite the dried coconut ball, soak themselves in a mixture of salt and non-flammable spices, recite a short prayer, and then begin kicking the flaming ball with their bare feet. It's said that players train their spirit and complete a special ceremony that supposedly makes them resistant to fire.

🏋 Athlete of the week: Eberechi Eze

Eberechi Eze is a football player who plays for the English team Crystal Palace. You might remember him from our previous newsletter, where we informed you that he won a $20,000 chess tournament. This week, he scored the winning goal in the FA Cup to secure the first major trophy for his club in its 120-year history. Insanity.

🏟️ Venue of the week: Zorb Roturua Arena

The Zorb Rotorua Arena (New Zealand) is the world’s only dedicated Zorbing track. In Rotorua, you can roll downhill inside a giant inflatable ball on specific Zorbing tracks, some with water, some zigzagging, and some dry.

🧤 Fit Check: Florida Panthers Reverse Retro 2.0

With the Panthers beating the Leafs to secure a spot in the Eastern Conference finals, let's look at one of their Special Edition jerseys. As the NHL's southernmost team, it makes sense that the Florida Panthers put a palm tree right in the centre of their jersey on a sky-blue background for a very Miami moment. Love the design and its simple symbolism.

From the bench
🗞️ In case you were injured:

• A Chinese schoolgirl, Yu Zidi, recently set the fastest time ever for a 12-year-old in the 200m individual medley at China’s national championships. If she had achieved this same time at last year’s Olympics, she would’ve made it to the semi-finals. She’s only 12. We’re witnessing history.

• Last week, we reported that Coco Gauff has become the youngest tennis player in history to reach multiple quarterfinal stages. Well, this week, she made it to the semi-final, AND the final. Unfortunately, she lost the final to this week’s highlight:

• Italian Tennis star Jasmine Paolini beat Coco Gauff to become the first Italian in over 40 years to win the Italian Open

🎯 In overtime:

• Afghanistan has banned Chess, stating that there are religious considerations regarding the sport of chess. Out of all the sports out there, chess was not on my to-ban list

• I’m not sure if this is a sport or not, but Leila Noone broke a world record after hanging by her hair for 25 minutes

📊 Analyst’s Corner:

Every year, Forbes releases a list of the highest-earning athletes in the world. This makes it 3 years in a row that Cristiano Ronaldo has topped that list, earning an estimated $275 million this year. Here’s the top 10:

1. Cristiano Ronaldo, Football: $275m

2. Stephen Curry, Basketball: $156m

3. Tyson Fury, Boxing: $146m

4. Dak Prescott, American Football: $137m

5. Lionel Messi, Football: $135m

6. LeBron James, basketball: $133.8m

7. Juan Soto, Baseball: $114m

8. Karim Benzema, Football: $104m

9. Shohei Ohtani, Baseball: $102.5m

10. Kevin Durant, Basketball: $101.4m

🏆 Sports Calendar

Here’s a look at the ongoing and upcoming sports events this week: