MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester United women’s team has one month to find a new coach before the Women’s Super League season begins after Marc Skinner stepped down by mutual consent on Monday.
Skinner departed the club after five years in the role, despite having another season to go on the contract extension he signed in 2025.
United begins its season against London City Lionesses on Sept. 4.
“Marc leaves having made a significant contribution to the continued progress of Manchester United Women,” United said in a statement. “The club places on record its sincere thanks for his professionalism, commitment and dedication throughout his time at United, and wishes him every success in the future.”
Under Skinner, who succeeded Casey Stoney in July 2021, United reached four domestic cup finals in four seasons and won the FA Cup in 2024 for its first major honor in women’s soccer.
United also finished runner-up in the WSL in 2023 to qualify for the Women’s Champions League for the first time.
Last season, United lost to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarterfinals. It failed to again qualify for Europe’s premier club competition after finishing fourth in the WSL, 15 points behind crosstown rival Manchester City, which won the title.
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FILE - Marc Skinner in Manchester, Jan. 19, 2025. (Richard Sellers//PA via AP)
MADRID (AP) — Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar is returning to the Spanish Vuelta after a seven-year absence to pursue a Grand Tours hat trick of titles.
The Slovenian rider’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG team announced its lineup for the three-week race on Monday, confirming Pogačar will take part after claiming a record-equaling fifth Tour de France crown last month.
“It was my first ever Grand Tour back in 2019 and an amazing experience,” Pogačar said. “Spain is a country I love to visit and race in and I think the time is right to go back.”
Pogačar joined Belgian Eddy Merckx, Spaniard Miguel Indurain, and Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault as the only riders with five Tour de France titles to their names.
Unlike male riders including Hinault, Anquetil, Merckx and Jonas Vingegaard, however, Pogacar has not won the Spanish Vuelta for a hat trick of Grand Tours wins.
Pogačar, who won the Giro d’Italia in 2024 by a big margin, is also bidding to become just the fourth male rider to win the Vuelta and Tour de France in the same year after Anquetil, Hinault and Chris Froome.
The 81st Vuelta starts on Aug. 22 with an individual time trial in Monaco – where Pogačar lives – before making its way through France and Andorra to Spain. It concludes in Granada on Sept. 13 after nearly 3,300 kilometers of racing.
The 27-year-old Pogačar won three stages when he finished third on his last and only appearance so far at the Vuelta.
“Joining Pogačar are João Almeida, Jay Vine, Pavel Sivakov, Pablo Torres, Kevin Vermaerke, Domen Novak and Ivo Oliveira,” UAE Team Emirates-XRG said.
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Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, races through the cobbled streets of Montmartre during the last stage of the Tour de France cycling race with start and finish in Paris, Sunday, July 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Etienne Garnier/Pool Photo via AP)
Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, celebrates as he crosses the finish line of the last stage of the Tour de France cycling race with start and finish in Paris, Sunday, July 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
