In the spookiest night of the competition, Karen Carney delivered an incredible Peaky Blinders themed dance in Halloween week of Strictly Come Dancing. 

In the most iconic week of the competition, it was unfortunately the end of one of our football stars’ journey on Strictly Come Dancing after one of the most closely matched dance offs so far this series. 

LOUISA BEUNDERMAN 

Chelsea’s captain Reece James: beloved and praised throughout England and across the whole world. But who is Reece James?

Aitana Bonmati is one of the biggest stars in women’s football for both club and country, she is a leader in midfield and has the ability to get into the box also. At the start Aitana was the only girl amongst a lot of boys playing for CD Ribes, her local football club, after 4 years at Ribes she joined CF Cubelles which she played for 2 years before joining La Masia at 14. Aitana started in the youth cadet ranks (the second highest youth development tier) and with them she won the Catalan Youth league in both 2013 and 2014 and the Copa Catalunya championship in 2013. She stated in ‘The Players’ Tribune (a platform for professional athletes to share their stories and insights) ‘Back then Barca Femeni were not on TV. They were not on social media. There was definitely no chance of women playing at the Camp Nou (FC Barcelona's main football stadium). For a long time, the best female teams in Spain were not professional, either. So when I was playing for the Barca U15s, I couldn’t see a way of making a living off football here.’ Because of this lack of professional opportunities in women’s football Aitana considered moving to the US to play football or to quit entirely, she decided not to do either but to stay playing at Barca after they made their women’s team professional in 2015. At the age of 17 Bonmati advanced to Barcelona B and during the 2015/16 season she captained them to their first even league title in the second division of Spanish football, earning her a call up to the top tier squad. Aitana has gone on and helped Barcelona win multiple titles: 7 Spanish cups, 5 leagues, 2 Spanish super cups, 4 Catalunya cups and 3 champions leagues. Alongside this she has many personal honours such as being 3 time ballon d’or winner (and being the first women’s player to do so), the Best FIFA women’s player, being apart of FIFA FIFPro women’s world XI and many more. There is no doubt Aitana is a star of women’s football and she will probably go onto win more awards individually, with her club and country. Unfortunately, earlier this year during the 2025 euros, Aitana was hospitalized with meningitis meaning she missed the beginning of the 2025 women’s European championship. With her international team, Aitana has represented Spain from U17s, after her meningitis at the start of the Euros, Aitana shortly after returned to Spain's starting eleven and won player of the match twice throughout the tournament and achieved player of the tournament. With Spain she has won the UEFA women’s euro championship (2014/15), U19 Euro championship (2017) before going in and making her senior debut in 2019. The Spanish women’s national team have been in a few finals and managed to win the Women’s World Cup in 2023 whilst there were ongoing issues with the national teams management and the federation.

Strictly’s football stars turned into movie stars in the ballroom on Saturday night as they faced even more glitz and glamour in week three of the competition!

Born in Melbourne, Australia in 2001, Oscar Piastri is an F1 driver for Mclaren.

In week two of Strictly Come Dancing, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Karen Carney continued to shine in the ballroom as they took on their next dancing challenge with the hopes of making it through to movie week by surviving the public vote. Read on to see how they got on!

Cathinka Tandberg is a 21-year-old forward from Oslo, Norway, whose career is just getting started. After being spotted playing for Hammarby IF, she has completed the deadline day signing to Tottenham Hotspur.

With the first live show last night, the two footballers in the Strictly cast of 2025 are off to a flying start with their first solo dances with their partners. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink stunned with an impressive, Chelsea themed quickstep and Karen Carney closed the show with a spectacular jive and an exceptional week one score of 31 points. 

London City Lionesses will play in the WSL for the first time and have been very busy this summer, bringing in 17 new faces to their squad. The Lionesses are the only team – in the history of the league – not to be affiliated with any other club or organisation.

The summer transfer window has been a busy one for the entire Premier League, but reigning champions Liverpool have led the way in terms of spending. The Reds have made six signings so far, spending a grand total of around £270 million this summer.