Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery has vented at the injustice of his failure to win the 2013 Ballon d Or, claiming he did not have the support of his own country.

Ribery finished third with 23.36 per cent of the vote, behind Cristiano Ronaldo (27.99 per cent) and Lionel Messi (24.72 per cent), despite having won the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal, Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup with Bayern that year.

The prize was voted for by a journalist from each FIFA member federation, along with the coach and captain of the national men s team.

And former France international Ribery believes a lack of support in his homeland cost him the honour.

The Ballon d Or was difficult, he told Canal Football Club. It was incomprehensible.

I won all the…

The reeling Carolina Panthers will hit the road in Week 8, as they get set to face divisional foes the Atlanta Falcons. Carolina’s 3-0 start is a distant memory at this point and fades further with every week, while Atlanta will try to extend a two-game win streak against a fellow NFC South team.

Here are our free NFL betting picks and predictions for Panthers vs. Falcons, with kickoff on October 31.

…

The Buffalo Bills offense may be headlined by an NFL MVP candidate in Josh Allen and a bona fide superstar in Stefon Diggs, but for the season opener of the 2022 NFL season, I’ve got my eye on some Gabriel Davis props.

In case you forgot, the last time we saw Davis in action, he only dropped 201 yards and four touchdowns against the Kansas City Chiefs in a wild Divisional Round defeat.

Considered by many to be one of the league’s biggest breakout candidates this season — and I’m looking at three Gabe-focused NFL picks as he gets right down to business in Week 1 with some favorable matchups against the Los Angeles Rams’ secondary.

…

With the boom of analytics in the NFL, there is seemingly a new metric every week that swears to redefine how we interpret and value team and positional performance. 

With the continued swarm of these metrics, it can be hard to discern which help handicap a game. 

No singular metric is perfect and all-encompassing, so it is vital to use and reference several in your process. Outlined below are some that we’d recommend adding to your arsenal.

…

I got back to my winning ways last week with a 2-1 record by hitting a pair of +210 touchdowns to drive the season’s winnings to +17.345 units.

We’re now entering Week 10 odds and there is no slowing this TD wagon down. In my latest NFL picks, I’m double-dipping on a player who is doing it all in the red zone, getting the most efficient RZ runner at a great price, and backing an underrated tight end whose role continues to grow.

Read more as we break down the latest NFL odds in our favorite touchdown prop picks. 

…

There are just two weeks of NFL action left this season — the Super Bowl on February 11… and the AFC and NFC Championship games (which will determine who plays in the Big Game) that are set to happen this Sunday.

After a Wild Card Round that was lacking in competitiveness, the Divisional Round brought us plenty of late-game drama, and now we have two incredible matchups on tap:

The No. 1 seed 49ers host a Detroit side that’s looking to reach its first Super Bowl ever.

Lamar Jackson and the No. 1 Ravens look to quiet their doubters… but need to do so against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, who are hunting for their fourth SB appearance in the past five seasons.

Covers NFL betting expert Jason Logan has free NFL picks for both of these ma…

We’ve made it to October, which is not something many NFL survivor pool players can say this season.

The first four weeks of football were like the bubonic plague for pools, with the Covers 10K Pro Football Survivor Contest down to just 75 of its original 3,789 entries. That’s less than a 2% survival rate. Perhaps I’m giving the “Black Death” too much credit.

(BTW: if you’re among the 98% of survivor pool players who got wrecked in September, the good guys at Covers are offering redemption. Check out the “Second Chance Survivor Contest” for a shot at $5,000.)

While Week 4 wasn’t as bat-shit crazy as the previous slates, a good chunk of remaining players were dusted by the Denver Broncos’ upset …

Entering the final race before the cut to the final eight drivers in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, only 27 points separate No. 6 from No. 11. That makes for a potentially dramatic race to the checkered flag in Sunday's Bank of America ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. Sitting precariously in the sixth position is regular-season champion Martin Truex. He has remained above the cutoff line in large part due to the 36 playoff points he started off with. Truex has not finished better than 17th in the past five playoff races, with an average finish of 21.6. He is just 17 points ahead of Tyler Reddick, who enters Charlotte in ninth place, just two points behind Brad Keselowski for the final spot to advance in the playoffs. Keselowski has never won a Cup Serie…