Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - Watford have named former England and Liverpool coach Roy Hodgson as manager the day after sacking Claudio Ranieri.

Hodgson has been brought in to keep Watford in the top flight, a task he achieved for four seasons in a row with Crystal Palace, the last team he managed.

Ranieri was sacked after just over three months in charge following a dreadful run of results which has left the club in the Premier League's relegation zone.

The 70-year-old Ranieri took charge in October after Xisco Munoz parted ways with the club just seven league games into the season and with the team in 14th place.

Watford, promoted to the top flight last season, are now second-bottom on 14 points from 20 games after seven defeats and a draw in their last eight matches. They are two points behind Norwich in the safety zone, albeit with two games in hand.

Watford are the well-travelled Hodgson's 17th club in a 46-year coaching career. He has also managed four national teams, including England.

Hodgson's coaching career began in 1976 in Sweden and he has since managed the likes of Inter Milan, Malmo, Blackburn Rovers, Liverpool, West Bromwich Albion, Fulham and Switzerland.

The 74-year-old led England to the Euro 2012 Championship and the 2014 World Cup, but left after they were knocked out of Euro 2016 by Iceland in the first knockout round.

While Hodgson has not won any silverware in England, he took Fulham to the Europa League final in 2010.

-Reuters

No Team orders in DTM

The German Touring Car Championship has announced a complete ban on team orders in an effort to avoid the situation last year that cost New Zealander Liam Lawson a chance for the title last year.

The Championship ended in controversial circumstances last year after Mercedes orchestrated a swap between its three leading drivers in the season finale, allowing championship hopeful Maximilian Gotz to improve from third to win and pip Lawson for the title.

"Teams and drivers who influence the race action by means of a team order, may face exclusion from the championship in future," DTM said in a statement.

Lawson won't compete in the Championship this year, instead he'll concentrate on F2.

19 year old Lawson has swapped F2 teams, moving from Hitech Grand Prix to Carlin where the Red Bull junior will join Williams Academy driver Logan Sargeant at the Surrey-based outfit.

Robinson misses top ten

Queenstown skier Alice Robinson has finished 13th in her favoured Giant Slalom discipline at a World Cup race in Italy.

Robinson was ninth after the first run.

Swede Sara Hector won from Slovakian Petra Vlhova with Tessa Worley of France third.

The win extends Hector's lead in the Giant Slalom World Cup standings, while Robinson is 28th overall.

Robinson now heads to China to prepare for the Winter Oympics.

Africa Cup of Nations venue closed

The Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final due to be held at the Olembe Stadium in Cameroon will be moved after a fatal crush outside the ground yesterday.

At least eight people were killed and 38 injured as fans struggled to get access to a match between hosts Cameroon and Comoros in Yaounde.

All Nations Cup matches will remember victims with a minute's silence.

The Confederation of African Football and world governing body Fifa have sent condolences to the affected families.

Two children, aged eight and 14, were among the dead, and seven people were seriously injured in the crush.

The Olembe Stadium, newly constructed to host the tournament, has a capacity of 60,000 but was not meant to be more than 80% full because of Covid-19 restrictions.

However, match officials were quoted as saying that as many as 50,000 people were trying to attend the match.

Sunday's quarter-final is now set to be played at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaounde.

-BBC

Bernal out of surgery

Cyclist Egan Bernal is in intensive care after undergoing two operations following a crash in his native Colombia.

The 25-year-old had spinal surgery and other procedures after he sustained back, leg, knee and chest injuries.

The Ineos Grenadiers rider, who won the 2019 Tour de France, crashed at high speed.

The team said: "Egan remains in a stable condition after two successful surgeries."

The statement added: "Egan suffered a fractured vertebrae, a fractured right femur, a fractured right patella [knee-cap], chest trauma, a punctured lung and several fractured ribs in the crash.

Last year's Giro d'Italia winner - who recently extended his contract with Ineos Grenadiers to 2026 - was widely expected to contest the Tour de France this year.

-BBC

Wim Jansen dies

Former Netherlands international Wim Jansen, who was part of the Dutch squad that reached consecutive finals in the 1974 and 1978 World Cups, before going on to manage Feyenoord and Celtic, has died at the age of 75.

Jansen won the Eredivisie on four occasions with Feyenoord as a player, as well as the European Cup in 1970. He returned to manage the Rotterdam-based club in 1991, leading them to two KNVB Cups.

Jansen took charge of Scottish club Celtic for the 1997-98 season, in which they claimed a Scottish league and cup double, preventing rivals Rangers from winning a tenth championship in a row.

He was also responsible for signing Celtic great Henrik Larsson, who scored 242 goals in 313 games for the Scottish side.

Jansen revealed in his 2021 biography "Mastermind" that he had been living with dementia.

-Reuters

Man U send Martial to Spain

Manchester United have agreed a deal which will see Anthony Martial join Sevilla on loan for the rest of the season, subject to a medical.

There is no option to buy and no loan fee but the Spanish club will cover the striker's wages.

France forward Martial, 26, has been targeted by the Spanish club for a number of months.

It is thought he has indicated a willingness to take a pay cut to allow the deal to go through.

Martial, who joined from Monaco for $70 million in 2015, has told Ralf Rangnick he wants a change of scenery.

That view has not changed even though Martial featured for the first time since interim United boss Rangnick took charge when he came on as a substitute in Saturday's 1-0 win against West Ham.

-BBC

Rafiq struggles with comments about lack of diversity

Former Yorkshire cricketer Azeem Rafiq has criticised Middlesex County Cricket Club chief Mike O'Farrell's comments attempting to explain English cricket's lack of diversity, saying it was indicative of an "endemic problem" in the sport.

The county cricket chairs of Middlesex, Yorkshire, Hampshire and Glamorgan appeared before a Digital, Culture, Media & Sport select committee as part of an ongoing investigation into cricketing governance.

The committee was formed after a number of players, including Rafiq, alleged they were victims of institutional racism at their clubs.

Speaking before the DCMS committee, O'Farrell suggested that a lack of diversity in English cricket could be attributed to minority communities focusing on other interests.

"In terms of the South Asian community, we're finding that they do not want necessarily to commit the same time that is necessary to go the next step.

"They sometimes prefer to go into other educational fields and then cricket becomes secondary, and part of that is because it's a more time-consuming sport than some others."

Rafiq responded to O'Farrell's comments on Twitter, saying it was a "painful listen".

"Shows how far removed from reality these people are," Rafiq said.

-Reuters

World swim champs off

The FINA world swimming championships, due to be held in Fukuoka in May, will be postponed until next year, the Japanese city's major has said.

The competition, which was originally slated for 2021 but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic and the delayed staging of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, had been set to run from May 13-29, but will now be rescheduled once again.

"With the Omicron variant spreading across the world, it has been impossible to hold competitions to select athletes representing each country," Fukuoka mayor Soichiro Takashima told a news conference.

FINA declined to comment.

-Reuters