As always, Flashscore's news editors have pored over the sporting calendar to pick out the events you shouldn't miss in the next few days. Here are our Weekend Highlights:
Friday, October 2nd
We had to include one UEFA Nations League match from the weekend, and the pick of the lot comes on Friday evening as France host fellow European giants Italy at Stade de France in Zinedine Zidane's first home match in charge of Les Bleus.
Coming out of Didier Deschamps' historic 14-year reign as manager was never going to be easy for the French, and certainly not for whoever followed in his footsteps. But if there's one man who had the gravitas and respect to take on the task elegantly, it was probably 'Zizou', who has kicked off his stint in charge with two 1-0 road wins in the Nations League.
Considering neither Belgium nor Turkey are pushovers at all, it's been a solid start to the Zidane era, and that's despite losing Kylian Mbappe to an injury partway through the first of those matches, and having to do without his captain for the remainder of this break.
Next up for France are an Italy side that have a new (old) boss themselves in Roberto Mancini, who took over to restore some pride after the Azzurri's disastrous failure to reach the recent World Cup.
Mancini was the man who led them to European glory in 2021, and although his second term started with a loss at home to Belgium, his side bounced back on Monday with a 4-1 reversal of Turkey in Bursa.
A young and raw Italian side will need to carry all that momentum into Friday's match, where they'll be the rank underdogs. However, they will be buoyed by the fact that the last time Italy played France in Paris, they ran out 3-1 winners.
Pat Dempsey
Saturday, October 3rd
Los Angeles Dodgers vs Atlanta Braves - 22:00 CET
With the MLB's Wild Card series now finished, we are one step closer to finding out who will win the World Series in 2026.
Only the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies went to a Game Three, with veteran pitcher Chris Sale slamming the door on the Phillies' season. Every other side won in two games, joining the four teams who went straight into the Division Series.
The best match-up across the four games is arguably the Braves taking on the reigning champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Despite their October dominance, the Dodgers have struggled against Atlanta this season, winning just one of their six encounters. However, this team is built for the playoffs and will have last season's World Series MVP, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, on the mound as he looks to repeat his incredible feats of 2025.
History is with the Braves, though. They last met in the Postseason back in 2021, when they bested the Dodgers in seven games on their way to the World Series. Freddie Freeman won it all with the Braves five years ago, and returns to face his former side in what will be a fun narrative line to watch.
The spotlight will, as ever, be on Shohei Ohtani. He was imperious in the play-offs last season, but injuries have hampered him in recent months - will he be able to find his form with the bat this time around?
Elsewhere, there are two pure divisional ties in the American League. The New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays face off in an AL East clash, whilst the revitalised Chicago White Sox take on the Cleveland Guardians.
Josh Donaldson
Sunday, October 4th
Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia - 09:00 CET
The Bahrain Grand Prix often isn't the best race on the Formula 1 calendar, but you don't need to worry about that heading into this weekend, because the 2026 edition is in Malaysia!
It may be called the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia (catchy!) for commercial and contractual reasons, but after being moved due to the current instability and safety concerns in the Middle East, it's a Malaysian Grand Prix in all but name, and that's an exciting prospect.
As a stalwart of the F1 calendar from 1999 to 2017, it produced some thrillers, including Fernando Alonso's dramatic win in 2012 and the famous fallout between Red Bull pair Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber a year later.
The track is much trickier than Bahrain's, and the weather makes the race a serious challenge. The tropical climate guarantees gruelling humidity for the drivers to contend with, and there's also always a real threat of sudden and torrential rain.
All eyes will be on how the Mercedes pair handle their first time at the circuit. After outclassing championship leader Kimi Antonelli last time out in Baku, George Russell can keep the title fight alive by doing so this weekend. On the flip side, a win for the young Italian would surely bring an end to an all-Mercedes championship battle just as it did when Lewis Hamilton's engine failure handed victory to Nico Rosberg in 2016.
It's unlikely that the two will have the luxury of only having to worry about one another, though. Max Verstappen won the last edition of the race, and Red Bull are looking strong, with the Dutchman topping the first practice session and teammate Isack Hadjar finishing both the first and second inside the top three.
At a circuit that has featured famous intra-team battles between Mercedes and Red Bull drivers over the years, history is likely to repeat itself one way or another.
Finley Crebolder
Women's football 'Super Sunday' - All day
While the international break is going on in men's football, the women have been going forward with non-stop action. The last two weeks have seen the UEFA Women's Champions League and Europa Cup feature, but now attention turns back to the domestic leagues, and Sunday serves up three huge games!
In the Women's Super League, Manchester City take on Arsenal as both teams look for a vital three points early on in the campaign. The Cityzens, who ended Chelsea's run as champions last term, have picked up from where they left off. They are the only team in the league with a perfect record from four games. They will have it tough against an Arsenal side that have struggled thus far. A defeat to Chelsea last week was coupled with a late collapse at Paris FC in the UWCL. They will need to pick things up quickly, especially since pressure is mounting on coach Renee Slegers.
The women's version of El Clasico is also on Sunday in Liga F, where Barcelona host Real Madrid. Last season's meetings were lopsided, with all six ending in the Blaugrana's favour. With that said, Real's last victory over Barca did come away when they stunned Europe's most dominant side 3-1 in March 2025. That remains Las Blancas' only competitive win over their arch rivals. Sitting two points back in the standings after five games, this is a rare opportunity for Real to pull off a sizeable scalp and take down a Barca team who lost just once in the league last term.
Finally, we head across the pond to Canada, where AFC Toronto and Vancouver Rise square off in the Northern Super League. The country's professional women's league, now in its second season, will see a repeat of last year's final, where the Rise stunned Toronto 2-1 at BMO Field. Both teams have won twice against the other across the other four regular season matches, and with AFC competing for the regular season title while Vancouver look to claim the final playoff berth, there is much on the line.
There is even more significance to the match, which will double as a quarter-final tie in the inaugural W Canadian Championship. If the match ends level during normal time, both teams will get a point in the league standings, but the game will continue into extra time and possibly penalties. This also happened in the first match of the cup competition between the Halifax Tides and Ottawa Rapid, won by the latter. They, alongside the Calgary Wild and Simcoe County Rovers, are the other teams to win their quarter-final matches.
A couple of other exciting games to look forward to this weekend in women's football include a crucial NWSL six-pointer between the Seattle Reign and North Carolina Courage, a Frauen Bundesliga clash between Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayern Munich, and a Toppserien battle between the top-two sides Brann and Aalesund.
David Parkes
World Grand Prix of Darts final - 21:00 CET
Darts’ World Grand Prix draws to a conclusion over the weekend, with eight men targeting a place in Sunday’s showpiece event in Leicester.
One of the sport’s most prestigious tournaments, the World Grand Prix is a truly unique event as it uses the 'double-in, double-out' format. This requires players to start and end every leg with a double, and can often lead to a greater number of shock results.
This year has been no different, with defending champion Luke Littler falling in the opening round to Luke Woodhouse, while Michael van Gerwen and Josh Rock also suffered early exits.
Despite Littler's absence from the quarter-final lineup, four former champions remain in a stacked draw (Luke Humphries, Gerwyn Price, Jonny Clayton and James Wade), while Gian van Veen, Nathan Aspinall, Ryan Joyce and Niels Zonneveld will all be keen to secure a maiden Grand Prix crown.
With £150,000 up for grabs for the winner, Sunday’s best-of-11 final promises to be a thrilling spectacle!
Danny Clark
Kansas City Chiefs @ Las Vegas Raiders - 22:25 CET
This historic rivalry makes for the best NFL matchup of the week as both teams head into Sunday with a 3-0 record. Both are just two of the five remaining undefeated teams in the league, joining the San Francisco 49ers, Buffalo Bills, and Minnesota Vikings.
The Chiefs are 21-5 in their last 26 meetings dating back to 2013, with the Raiders coming off the most recent win on January 4th (14-12). Although Patrick Mahomes wasn't playing in that game.
This matchup presents an opportunity for the Raiders. Should they win, it will be the first time they've started a season 4-0 since 2002 - the same year they finished 11-5 and lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl XXXVII. It would also mark the first time in QB Kirk Cousins' 15-year career that he ever started a season with four straight wins.
As for the Chiefs, they started the 2024 season 4-0 and went on to put up a 15-2 record - also losing in the Super Bowl, but to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Kansas City are rolling into the matchup with the No. 2 offense (416.3 YPG) and No. 8 scoring offense (29.3 PPG). Meanwhile, the Raiders offense ranks 20th, averaging over 100 yards less than the Chiefs at 311.7 per game, but tying them in scoring (29.3 PPG). Both teams are also bringing top-10 defenses.
Las Vegas rank seventh in YPG (316.7) and eighth in scoring (18.0), while the Chiefs rank fourth in yards (278.0) and third in scoring (16.7).
But the Raiders have forced the most turnovers (9) and have the best turnover differential (+5) of any team in the league. If they want to win this game, containing Chiefs running back Kenneth Walker III, who leads all running backs with 360 yards on the ground, and forcing Mahomes into bad passes will be their key to success for this matchup.
Eric Himmelheber