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Magic to Retire Shaquille O’Neal’s No. 32 Jersey in Ceremony Feb. 13 

Orlando Magic center Shaquille O'Neal (32) hangs from the rim after a slam-dunk during the first quarter of their NBA basketball Eastern Conference semifinal game against the Atlanta Hawks, May 8, 1996, in Orlando, Fla. (AP)
Orlando Magic center Shaquille O'Neal (32) hangs from the rim after a slam-dunk during the first quarter of their NBA basketball Eastern Conference semifinal game against the Atlanta Hawks, May 8, 1996, in Orlando, Fla. (AP)
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Magic to Retire Shaquille O’Neal’s No. 32 Jersey in Ceremony Feb. 13 

Orlando Magic center Shaquille O'Neal (32) hangs from the rim after a slam-dunk during the first quarter of their NBA basketball Eastern Conference semifinal game against the Atlanta Hawks, May 8, 1996, in Orlando, Fla. (AP)
Orlando Magic center Shaquille O'Neal (32) hangs from the rim after a slam-dunk during the first quarter of their NBA basketball Eastern Conference semifinal game against the Atlanta Hawks, May 8, 1996, in Orlando, Fla. (AP)

Shaquille O'Neal's number will be retired Feb. 13 by the Orlando Magic, who will become the third NBA franchise to give that tribute to the four-time champion and Basketball Hall of Famer.

O'Neal will be the first player to get a jersey number — he wore No. 32 in Orlando — retired by the Magic. The Los Angeles Lakers retired his No. 34 jersey in April 2013, and the Miami Heat retired his No. 32 jersey in December 2016. O'Neal won three titles with the Lakers, and another with the Heat.

“When someone asks who was the first player to officially put the Orlando Magic on the map, the answer is simple — Shaquille O’Neal,” Orlando Magic CEO Alex Martins said. “He took this franchise to new heights, both on and off the court, and his legacy is still felt within our organization today. On behalf of the DeVos family, we are excited to honor Shaquille by raising No. 32 into the rafters of the Kia Center, where it will remain forever.”

O'Neal was the No. 1 pick in the 1992 NBA draft by the Magic, and he spent his first four pro seasons in Orlando before leaving for the Lakers in 1996. He was the NBA's rookie of the year for Orlando in 1993, was an All-Star in all four of his seasons with the Magic, led them to their first NBA Finals in 1995 and still ranks among the franchise’s career leaders in several categories, including blocked shots (second, 824), rebounds (third, 3,691) and points scored (sixth, 8,019).

The decision was announced on TNT's “NBA Tip-Off” on Thursday, the show that O'Neal has been part of for several years. O'Neal said he was particularly thankful for Rich DeVos — the original owner of the Magic, who died in 2018 — for bringing him to Orlando.

“It was a great four years there,” O'Neal said on the show. “I just wanted to come in and just make a name for myself. ... I'd like to thank the city of Orlando, like to thank the Orlando Magic organization. Appreciate you very much.”

The Magic have seen three other players wear No. 32 since O'Neal left there in 1996. Jeremy Richardson donned it for 12 games in the 2008-09 season, Justin Harper wore it for 14 games in the 2011-12 season and C.J. Watson had it for 95 games over two seasons from 2015 through 2017.

The retirement ceremony will follow Orlando's game against Oklahoma City, one that will be televised on TNT. O'Neal went into the Magic Hall of Fame in 2015, the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016 and was named to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team in 2021.

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Algeria’s Luca Zidane Doubt for World Cup After Jaw Fracture

Luca Zidane. (AFP)
Luca Zidane. (AFP)
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Algeria’s Luca Zidane Doubt for World Cup After Jaw Fracture

Luca Zidane. (AFP)
Luca Zidane. (AFP)

Algeria goalkeeper Luca Zidane is a doubt for the World Cup after suffering a jaw and chin fracture while playing for his club Granada in Spain's second tier.

The son of former France great Zinedine Zidane was taken off with a concussion after colliding with an opponent during his team's 4-2 home defeat by Almeria on Sunday.

The 27-year-old is expected to miss the rest of the season and could be out for even longer if he needs surgery.

"The player, in consultation with the club's medical staff, will decide in the coming hours on the course of treatment to be followed," said the club in a statement late Monday.

Luca Zidane is Algeria's first-choice goalkeeper and their back-up options Anthony Mandrea and Melvin Mastil are also currently out injured.

Algeria's World Cup campaign begins on June 16 against reigning champions Argentina.

Sports

A Bird Leaves Nothing Behind: The Lesson Behind Japan’s World Cup Stadium Cleanups

Japan supporters clean the stands at the end of the World Cup group E football match between Germany and Japan, at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2022. (AP)
Japan supporters clean the stands at the end of the World Cup group E football match between Germany and Japan, at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2022. (AP)
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A Bird Leaves Nothing Behind: The Lesson Behind Japan’s World Cup Stadium Cleanups

Japan supporters clean the stands at the end of the World Cup group E football match between Germany and Japan, at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2022. (AP)
Japan supporters clean the stands at the end of the World Cup group E football match between Germany and Japan, at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2022. (AP)

If there's one country guaranteed to clean up at the World Cup, it's Japan.

Literally.

Scenes of Japanese football fans sweeping stadiums and picking up trash after a match first drew public attention in France in 1998 — Japan's first appearance in the World Cup.

The tradition has continued every four years. It happened at the World Cup in Qatar in 2022, and it's certain to continue when Japan opens play in June with group games in Arlington, Texas, and Monterrey, Mexico.

The cleanup astonishes non-Japanese who might be accustomed to leaving stadiums and stepping over half-eaten food, shredded paper wrappers, and cups — empty or with liquid dribbling out.

At the World Cup in Russia in 2018, Japanese players famously cleaned the dressing room after a loss and left a thank-you note in Russian. In 2022, fans left thank-you notes on rubbish bags written in Arabic, English and Japanese.

Why do Japanese behave this way? It's not that complicated. Beginning in elementary school, students are socialized to behave this way — in the classroom, in the school yard or on a playing field.

“Japanese sports fans at world events who clean up the stadium are behaving much the same way they did when they learned how to enjoy sports as school boys and girls,” Koichi Nakano, who teaches politics and history at Sophia University, told The Associated Press.

There is a phrase in Japanese that explains it.

“Tatsu tori ato wo nigosazu.”

The literal translation is: “A bird leaves nothing behind.”

Rendered in English the message is: “Return it the way you found it.”

Many Japanese elementary schools don’t have janitors, so the clean-up work is left to students. Office workers often dedicate time to sprucing up their areas.

Also, there are relatively few trash containers in public spaces in Japan, so people take their waste home with them. This keeps the sidewalks cleaner, saves the cost of emptying trash cans, and keeps away vermin.

“The way most ordinary soccer fans experience soccer at school is no different from other sports, and the emphasis is not just on physical education but also on moral education as well,” Nakano added.

Collective vs. the individual

Raised in Germany, Barbara Holthus is the deputy director of the German Institute for Japanese Studies in Tokyo. A sociologist, she agrees it's prudent not to put Japanese on a pedestal. Japan, like any country, has its own challenges and shortcomings.

“An academically sound explanation is that people in Japan just happen to be socialized different,” she told The AP. “If you grew up with a certain way of how things are being done, you apply that to even cleaning up a stadium afterwards.”

At work here is also the Japanese concept of “meiwaku,” which implies not causing trouble or annoying others. From the Japanese point of view, leaving rubbish piled up in a stadium would be a bother to others.

Japan is a relatively crowded place, and greater Tokyo alone has about 35 million people, almost the population of the entire state of California. People need to get along.

“Japanese learn early on that you don't want to inconvenience other people,” Holthus said.

She said the focus is often on the collective, compared with the West where the emphasis is on the individual and individual rights.

“You don’t want to bother people. It goes to all areas of life in Japan,” Holthus added. “We are raised (in the West) that we don’t have to clean up after ourselves in public spaces because there is going to be some kind of public service doing that.”

And because Japanese people have received widespread praise for the clean-up, the behavior has been reinforced.

“Now that the media has latched onto the story and lavished praise on Japanese fans, they have made it a point of pride to display those values and norms,” Jeff Kingston, who teaches history at Temple University in Japan, wrote in an email.

A Japanese tradition

The clean-up tradition is not limited to football’s marquee tournament. The same thing happened last year at the Under-20 World Cup in Chile as Japanese fans cleaned up after a match. And even more recently last month at Wembley Stadium in London where Japan defeated England 1-0 in an international friendly.

“It’s one of our traditions,” said Toshi Yoshizawa, who was leading the cleanup in Chile. “We grew up with the teaching that we should leave a place cleaner than when we arrived.”

William Kelly, an emeritus professor of anthropology at Yale University and a specialist on Japan, said the tradition is linked to football more than other sports. He speculated it's tied to the establishment of Japan's professional football league more than 30 years ago.

“It (the J-League) was trying to distinguish itself from baseball by emphasizing teams’ community embeddedness and commitment,” Kelly wrote in an email. “Soccer fans felt, and feel, more a part of the club and its stadium.”

Sports

Riyadh to Host Joshua vs. Prenga Showdown in July

Boxing - Jake Paul v Anthony Joshua - Kaseya Center, Miami, Florida, US - December 19, 2025 Anthony Joshua after winning his fight against Jake Paul. (Reuters)
Boxing - Jake Paul v Anthony Joshua - Kaseya Center, Miami, Florida, US - December 19, 2025 Anthony Joshua after winning his fight against Jake Paul. (Reuters)
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Riyadh to Host Joshua vs. Prenga Showdown in July

Boxing - Jake Paul v Anthony Joshua - Kaseya Center, Miami, Florida, US - December 19, 2025 Anthony Joshua after winning his fight against Jake Paul. (Reuters)
Boxing - Jake Paul v Anthony Joshua - Kaseya Center, Miami, Florida, US - December 19, 2025 Anthony Joshua after winning his fight against Jake Paul. (Reuters)

Chairman of the Board of Directors of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority Turki Alalshikh announced the return of British boxer Anthony Joshua to the ring in “The Comeback,” scheduled for July 25 in Riyadh.

The 36-year-old Joshua will fight Kristian Prenga, an Albanian with 20 victories and one loss.

Joshua’s last fight was a knockout victory over YouTuber Jake Paul on Dec. 19. Ten days later, he was injured in a car crash in Nigeria that killed two of his friends.

“It’s no secret I’ve taken some time to consolidate and rebuild to be ready for stepping back into the ring,” Joshua said in a Matchroom statement, “and today is the next step on that journey.”

In the statement, Joshua said the fight with Prenga is the first in a “multi-fight deal."

The event forms part of the Kingdom’s continued hosting of major international boxing matches, further cementing Riyadh’s status as a premier destination for global sports and entertainment.

The bout will be broadcast live worldwide on DAZN.