Check out soccer star Erling Haaland's latest business venture, in chess

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Check out soccer star Erling Haaland's latest business venture, in chess

2026-03-20 19:14 Last Updated At：19:31

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Goalscoring phenomenon? Check.

Investor in chess? Check.

Manchester City and Norway striker Erling Haaland wants to bring new audiences to the board game after becoming a strategic investor in a world chess championship tour scheduled to launch next year.

Haaland has helped to establish a company called Chess Mates, which will be a “significant owner” of Norway Chess — the owner of the Total Chess World Championship Tour.

“Chess is an incredible game,” he said in a Total Chess statement. “It sharpens the mind, and there are clear similarities to football. You have to think quickly, trust your instincts, and think several moves ahead.”

Haaland is starting to branch out with his business interests, launching his own YouTube channel last year that has more than 1.4 million subscribers.

The 25-year-old Haaland has combined with Norwegian businessman Morten Borge for their undisclosed investment in chess, and said he wants to turn the game “into an even bigger sport for spectators around the world.”

The new tour will be hosted in four new cities and combine different disciplines in chess — fast classic, rapid and blitz — to crown a combined world champion with a minimum annual prize pool of $2.7 million.

Norway Chess chief executive Kjell Madland said Haaland had “already contributed with several great ideas.”

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Jo Adell robs 3 homers in what Torii Hunter calls the `greatest defensive game I've ever seen'

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — You’ve done something special when Torii Hunter, a nine-time Gold Glove Award winner known for his acrobatic catches, calls what you just did “probably the greatest defensive game I’ve ever seen.”

That was the praise Hunter heaped on the Los Angeles Angels' Jo Adell after the right fielder made three homer-robbing catches, the last a spectacular leaping grab while crashing into the seats near the right-field foul pole in the ninth inning, in a 1-0 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday night.

“I’ve never seen three home run robberies in one game, and I’ve never seen a guy on the third one fall into the stands, catch the ball and keep his feet in like he’s a wide receiver,” said the 50-year-old Hunter, a special assistant to the general manager who watched the game from the bench. “I was jumping up and down. I almost passed out.”

Adell, who struggled on defense for several years before transforming into a Gold Glove finalist in 2024, leaped high above the yellow line on the wall in straight-way right field to deny Cal Raleigh of a solo homer in the first inning, and made a nearly identical catch to against Josh Naylor in the eighth.

J.P. Crawford then led off the ninth with a drive toward the right-field corner, where Adell raced toward the ball, leaped to glove it, flipped over the low wall and fell into the first row of seats before holding his glove up to present the catch, which was upheld after a replay review.

“After the first one, I was pretty fired up,” Adell said. “When I got to the second one, which looked identical to the first, I thought, ‘Wow, my routes are on point tonight.’ The third one was just grit. Top of the ninth, you have to get it done. It was crazy.

“You just get there, then it’s decision-making. The ball was hit high enough to where I could get there. I watched it (into my glove), fell over and ended up in somebody’s lap. I don’t know who it was, but it was a softer landing than I expected. The fans were as fired up as me.”

According to Inside Edge, Adell has 10 home run robberies since 2020, tied with Kyle Tucker of the Dodgers for the most in the big leagues. The outfielders with the most home run robberies in the entire 2025 season were Jacob Young of the Nationals and Fernando Tatis of the Padres. Both had four.

This was believed to be the first time in baseball history a player has robbed three homers in one game.

“It was like a movie scene,” Hunter said about Adell’s third catch. “It was like the music was playing, then he caught the ball, then he went down and we didn’t see him anymore. The music paused, he came up and said, ‘Yeah!’ I started cheering and almost blacked out.”

Hunter, the former Minnesota Twins, Angels and Detroit Tigers star, has worked extensively with Adell on defense during the past few years.

“His impact has been huge,” Adell said. “It’s mental when you’re out there — it’s a mindset of going to get the baseball, being aggressive. Early, I was caught in between on some plays, and sometimes that happens.

“When you err on the side of being aggressive and trying to make the plays, you’d be surprised at how many plays you make. That’s the mindset Torii had all those years, winning all those Gold Gloves.”

P MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb