Former Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy has submitted an application to play in an independent football league in April, a person with knowledge of the situation tells The Associated Press.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Monday because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the application. Hardy’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, didn’t immediately return a phone message.

Hardy didn’t play last season following a tumultuous 2015 with the Cowboys that began with a four-game suspension for Hardy’s role in a domestic violence case in North Carolina.

Hardy, 28, would not receive a salary for playing in the Spring League, which is designed to give former NFL draft picks a shot to display their talent. The league isn’t affiliated with the NFL but NFL teams plan to send scouts to games and workouts.

Hardy was suspended the first four games in 2015 and his production dropped significantly after photos were released of his bruised ex-girlfriend. Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones didn’t re-sign him after initially saying he wanted to give Hardy a long-term deal.

Hardy was convicted by a judge in the North Carolina case, but prosecutors dropped the case during his appeal because his ex-girlfriend couldn’t be located to testify. Prosecutors said they believed Hardy and the woman had reached a settlement.

Hardy had six sacks in 12 games in his only season with Dallas. He had 15 sacks for the Carolina Panthers in 2013 when he was picked for the Pro Bowl.

Agence France-Presse

January 10, 2017 12:22pm

Reuters

Madrid – Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed he had to overcome media “campaigns” against him to win FIFA’s inaugural “The Best” prize for the world’s best player in 2016.

Ronaldo lifted the award at a star-studded ceremony in Zurich on Monday after a glittering year on the pitch saw him lead Madrid to Champions League glory and captain Portugal to the country’s first ever major international triumph at Euro 2016.

However, Ronaldo’s year was blighted by reports from an international consortium of media organisations in December that claimed a huge data leak involving 18 million documents showed the Portuguese hid €150 million from image rights in the British Virgin Islands.

Ronaldo, 31, has strongly denied all claims of wrongdoing.

“There were many doubts, many campaigns against me from inside and outside football,” Ronaldo told Spanish radio station COPE.

“They wanted to hit me from all sides and the truth is The Best was The Best and that is me, so I am very happy.

“They wanted me to feel bad, but as I have said ‘he who owes nothing, fears nothing in life’. As always, I have shut up a few mouths once again.”

The Spanish tax authorities have committed to investigating the allegations against Ronaldo and a series of other Spanish-based sports stars named in the “Football Leaks” investigation.

However, the four-time World Player of the Year insists he is calm and believes justice will be done in his favour.

“It bothers me because when you do things well, when you help a lot of people and I am going to mention the award for charity work, which is one of the best awards I have in my museum.

“I have helped so many people and you do so many good things, but people want to hit you to camouflage the bad things that others do.

“It bothered me and it continues to bother me, but justice is always done in the end and so we are going to wait and see what happens.”

For the second straight year, the New England Patriots are the most disliked team in the NFL.

This according to a new poll taken last week and released Monday by Public Policy Polling.

In the poll, taken of 378 NFL fans representative of the US population, 21 percent of people disliked the Patriots — once again edging the Dallas Cowboys (19 percent).

Of those polled, 42 percent said they feel negatively about the Patriots, compared to only 19 percent who said they think of their Super Bowl LI opponent Atlanta Falcons negatively. As far as who those polled are rooting for to win the Super Bowl, 53 percent are pulling for the Falcons, 27 percent for the Patriots.

Bigger is apparently better for FIFA.

The football governing body has elected to change the format of the 2026 World Cup from 32 teams to 48 teams for the first time.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino and his ruling council agreed that the format will be expanded to include 48 different nations playing in 16 groups of three teams.

This format will replace the current 32-team structure which calls for eight groups of four teams.

This expansion would offer an additional 16 places up for grabs and although the continental allocation has not been confirmed, recent reports suggest a merged qualification for the CONCACAF and CONMEBOL regions.

Instead of 16 teams progressing to the knockout phase, the new format is expected to see 32 teams battle it out.

Here’s how it will look:

(Courtesy: @RobHarris)

According to Rob Harris of the Associated Press this increase in size will generate an additional $975 million ($640 million after cost increases) for FIFA.