Nine-time Rally Champion Loeb Signs for Hamilton's Extreme E Team

Formula One F1 - Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia - March 14, 2019 Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton during the press conference REUTERS/Edgar Su
Formula One F1 - Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia - March 14, 2019 Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton during the press conference REUTERS/Edgar Su
TT
20

Nine-time Rally Champion Loeb Signs for Hamilton's Extreme E Team

Formula One F1 - Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia - March 14, 2019 Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton during the press conference REUTERS/Edgar Su
Formula One F1 - Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia - March 14, 2019 Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton during the press conference REUTERS/Edgar Su

Lewis Hamilton on Friday revealed he had signed nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb for his Extreme E team, a motorsport series aimed at raising the profile of global environmental issues.

Also joining the seven-time Formula One world champion's team is Spain's Cristina Gutierrez, who in 2017 became the first woman to finish the Dakar Rally.

Loeb and Gutierrez will race for the X44 team in the inaugural Extreme E season which begins in 2021.

"I'm delighted to welcome Sebastien and Cristina to X44," said Hamilton.

"They are both incredible drivers and I'm looking forward to seeing what they're going to do out there at each race.

"Cristina is an upcoming talent with a great future ahead of her, and Sebastien is a driver I have admired for so many years so I'm so proud and excited to have them on board."

The championship, which features electric off-road SUV vehicles, will start in March.

It will be raced in five remote locations deemed to be already damaged or severely under threat of climate change from a range of issues including melting ice caps, deforestation and rising sea levels.

The five sites chosen include races in the Amazon region of Brazil and in the Arctic in Greenland.



Brighton Signs Teenage Forward Kostoulas from Champions League-Bound Olympiakos 

Olympiacos' Charalampos Kostoulas, right, in action during the Youth League Final against AC Milan at the Colovray Sports Center in Nyon, Switzerland, Monday, April 22, 2024. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP, file)
Olympiacos' Charalampos Kostoulas, right, in action during the Youth League Final against AC Milan at the Colovray Sports Center in Nyon, Switzerland, Monday, April 22, 2024. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP, file)
TT
20

Brighton Signs Teenage Forward Kostoulas from Champions League-Bound Olympiakos 

Olympiacos' Charalampos Kostoulas, right, in action during the Youth League Final against AC Milan at the Colovray Sports Center in Nyon, Switzerland, Monday, April 22, 2024. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP, file)
Olympiacos' Charalampos Kostoulas, right, in action during the Youth League Final against AC Milan at the Colovray Sports Center in Nyon, Switzerland, Monday, April 22, 2024. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP, file)

Brighton has signed teenage forward Charalampos Kostoulas, who gave up a Champions League season with Olympiakos to play in the Premier League.

The 18-year-old Kostoulas signed a five-year contract, Brighton said, with the transfer fee reportedly set at an initial 35 million euros ($40.4 million).

“It is a dream for everybody to come here and play football,” the Greece Under-21 striker said in an interview published Friday by Brighton.

He scored seven goals in 22 games in the Greek league as Olympiakos won a record-extending 48th title and completed a trophy double in the domestic cup.

Olympiakos was elevated directly into the lucrative Champions League opening phase because title-holder Paris Saint-Germain already secured a place by winning the French league and will play eight games in the single-standings league.

Brighton finished eighth in the Premier League and did not qualify for European soccer.

Kostoulas was the central striker in Olympiakos’ Under-19 team that won the 2024 UEFA Youth League, one month before the senior team won the Conference League.