Despite a two-week extension due to COVID-19 delays and a current military conflict in Eastern Europe, the EuroLeague regular season has officially wrapped up, the playoffs are set and several WNBA stars are in contention for league MVP.

While WNBA players who were competing in Ukraine, such as the Washington Mystics’ Ariel Atkins, have safely returned home after Russia invaded Ukraine last week, those posted in Russia and elsewhere in Europe remain abroad. As of Sunday night, several athletes in Russia were making plans to return stateside through their agents.

As the wartime situation unfolds, Jonquel Jones and Natasha Howard, both playing in Russia but on different teams, are on the list of MVP hopefuls and are set to face off in the first round of the playoffs in a best-of-three series starting March 8. Jones and Howard are joined by Kahleah Copper, Brionna Jones and Kayla McBride as those who have set themselves apart in EuroLeague action this season.

Let’s take a closer look at each of the top five WNBA candidates for MVP as they look to lead their teams to the EuroLeague championship game scheduled for April 10.

Jonquel Jones

The 6-foot-6 Bahamian-Bosnian power forward, in her fourth consecutive season with Russia’s UMMC Ekaterinburg, is striving to match Breanna Stewart’s 2018-19 feat by following up the WNBA MVP crown from the fall with EuroLeague MVP honors in the spring. Jones is tied with Howard for the most double-doubles this season with seven and is averaging 17.1 points, 9.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. She’s first in the league in both overall shooting percentage (62.3 percent) and second in average efficiency per game (23.5).*

📊 24 PTS | 10 REB in 22 minutes@jus242 is sending a message to the rest of the league ahead of the Quarter-Finals! 😤#EuroLeagueWomen pic.twitter.com/G4XlBbP5en

— EuroLeague Women (@EuroLeagueWomen) February 23, 2022

On a stacked UMMC roster that includes Brittney Griner, Courtney Vandersloot, Allie Quigley and Emma Meesseman, Jones has had to improve her accuracy in order to rise above the rest. One factor working against Jones in the MVP race is that she missed a couple of games at the start of the overseas season. Still, the fact that she’s followed up her stellar WNBA MVP season with a solid run at the EuroLeague equivalent speaks volumes to what her WNBA colleagues have known for some time: Jones is the real deal.

It also aligns with her “win now” mentality. After receiving the Connecticut Sun’s core designation guaranteeing her a one-year, $228,094 supermax deal, Jones agreed to a two-year deal for less than the supermax. Her team-first decision gave the franchise the cap space to bring back Courtney Williams, a player Jones believes is crucial to the Sun winning a championship in 2022.

Kahleah Copper

The reigning WNBA Finals MVP has continued to shine over in Europe. After taking some time off after leading the Chicago Sky to a WNBA championship in October, Copper joined Perfumerias Avenida and has been a dominant force with the Spanish club.

Through eight games, Copper is leading her team in scoring, rebounding and efficiency. Her 23.3 points per game also lead the league by a large margin (Brionna Jones is in second at 20.9 points per game), and she’s earned it while maintaining a 54.2 shooting percentage, seventh best in the league. Her 21.5 efficiency is tied for fifth overall, proving she’s doing her part on the defensive end while minimizing turnovers.

📊 32 PTS | 7 REB@kahleahcopper was born to be unstoppable in basketball.@CBAvenida | #EuroLeagueWomen pic.twitter.com/hltDm8OlhS

— EuroLeague Women (@EuroLeagueWomen) February 24, 2022

Copper’s claim to the 2022 EuroLeague MVP trophy faces the same problem as Jones’ since she has played only eight games, while other stats leaders are now at 13 or 14 games apiece. Still, it’s fun to speculate whether the WNBA’s seventh overall draft pick from 2016, who exploded into the national spotlight last season, could have maintained these numbers if she’d played the full season this year. Her Avenida team is a solid bet to make it to the EuroLeague championship game, so we could still get the pleasure of watching her earn another Finals MVP award.

Kayla McBride

Kayla McBride, averaging 19.3 points per game in 14 EuroLeague games, was the league’s leading scorer for the majority of the regular season until Copper and Brionna Jones very recently caught up to her. She’s tied for 10th overall in average efficiency with 4.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game. The three-time WNBA All-Star played on four different European squads before joining Fenerbahce in Turkey last season and returning this year.

The former Notre Dame sharpshooter spent her first seven WNBA seasons with the Las Vegas Aces (previously the San Antonio Stars) before being traded last offseason to the Minnesota Lynx. Head coach Cheryl Reeve worked McBride into her system right away and she was the only player to start all 32 games for the Lynx last year. Across the water, McBride and her Fenerbahce teammates, including Elizabeth Williams, Satou Sabally and back-to-back reigning EuroLeague MVP Alina Iagupova, secured their spot in the playoffs as the top team in Group B.

In addition to leading all scorers for most of the year, the 5-11 guard joined the exclusive 50-40-90 club by shooting 54.7 percent from 2, 46.7 percent from 3, and 97.4 percent on free throws. Joining the 50-40-90 club is easier to do in the EuroLeague’s 14-game regular season than when Elena Delle Donne did it in 31 games in the 2019 WNBA regular season, becoming the first player in the league to achieve the feat before leading the Mystics to their first WNBA championship. Despite the asterisk, a 50-40-90 season gives McBride a strong case to win EuroLeague MVP.

Brionna Jones

The WNBA’s Most Improved Player in 2021 is the third WNBA award-winner from last season who has carried the momentum into Europe this winter. Currently first in the EuroLeague with a 24.1 average efficiency rating and fourth with a 60.1 total shooting percentage, Jones surpassed McBride to finish the season second in points per game at 20.9 while also snagging just under eight rebounds per game.

📊 32 PTS | 5 REB | 4 STL | 36 EFF@_bjones18 had herself a night as ZVVZ USK Praha finish the #EuroLeagueWomen Regular Season on a high note! pic.twitter.com/Vi6POgCaMW

— EuroLeague Women (@EuroLeagueWomen) February 19, 2022

Stateside, Jones has been with the Sun since they drafted her eighth overall in 2017 and earned her first WNBA All-Star appearance last season by putting up 14.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game alongside frontcourt teammate Jonquel Jones. Brionna Jones highlighted her strong showing this season for the Czech Republic’s Praha with a EuroLeague MVP honor for the month of December. Praha clinched their playoff berth weeks ago, giving Jones a chance to add to her rising stock.

Natasha Howard

Howard is the only EuroLeague MVP contender whose team was very much on the cusp of not qualifying for the postseason. Thanks in large part to Howard’s on-court efforts, Dynamo secured its playoff berth with a 2-0 head-to-head advantage over Group B’s Spar Girona.

Returning to Russia’s Dynamo Kursk after a half-season stint with the club in 2019, Howard has been surging in the second half of the season and was named EuroLeague’s MVP for the month of January. Currently tied for fourth with 19 points per game, and right on Jonquel Jones’ heels with a 22.5 average efficiency rating, Howard is leading all players in rebounding (11 per game) and is tied for first in double-doubles (seven). Coming off a knee injury that caused her to miss 15 games in 2021, her first season with the New York Liberty, Howard will ride the momentum of her MVP-caliber EuroLeague campaign into the WNBA season, where she’ll share the paint with free-agent signee Stefanie Dolson.

Notable stat rankings

Points per game

1. Kahleah Copper
2. Brionna Jones
3. Kayla McBride
4. Natasha Howard
8. Jonquel Jones

Efficiency per game

1. Brionna Jones
2. Jonquel Jones
3. Natasha Howard
T5. Kahleah Copper
10. Kayla McBride

Rebounds per game

1. Natasha Howard
6. Jonquel Jones
12. Brionna Jones
36. Kahleah Copper
T44. Kayla McBride

Double-doubles

Natasha Howard and Jonquel Jones (7)
Brionna Jones (2)
Kayla McBride (1)

*Efficiency is a total performance statistic that attempts to measure a player’s performance by adding positive actions (points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks) and subtracting negative actions (missed field goals, missed free throws and turnovers).

Tessa Nichols is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports.

The host of the 2022 Men's World Cup is back in the headlines, with Middle East nation Qatar reportedly in talks with FIFA to house the inaugural Women's Club World Cup in January 2028.

Despite recent gains on the men's side, the Qatar women’s national team is currently unranked due to a lack of official matches — founded in 2009, the squad has not competed in any official capacity in 12 years.

The lack of support for the nation's women's team is unsurprising given Qatar's concerning human rights record — one that the soccer world has long called into question, particularly concerning the treatment of women, migrants, and the LGBTQIA+ population.

The reported aim to host the 2028 Women's Club World Cup would constitute another example of Qatar sportswashing those international human rights concerns using the country's close relationship with the international soccer governing body — one bolstered by the fact that FIFA president Gianni Infantino resides in the Qatari capital, Doha.

Despite this week's reports, FIFA said they have yet to receive a formal bid for its first-ever women's club competition.

With 16 teams expected to compete from January 5th through 30th, 2028, European clubs are already bracing for calendar disruptions thanks to the Women's Club World Cup's winter kick-off.

At least five teams from Europe and two each from Asia, Africa, South America, and North America will compete, with the remaining three clubs determined by a 2027 qualifying tournament.

US Figure Skating is hoping to make Olympic history this year, naming powerhouse trio Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn, and Isabeau Levito to the official 2026 Winter Games roster on Sunday as Team USA aims to end a 20-year medal drought in Milan next month.

Glenn earned her spot after winning her third-straight national title on Friday, with reigning world champion Liu and 18-year-old 2024 Worlds runner-up Levito chasing her onto the 2026 US Figure Skating Championships podium.

"Just so grateful. That was terrifying," Glenn said after her win. "And I had to skate after two incredible ladies brought down the house."

Liu is the only US women's singles skater returning with Olympic experience — at just 16 years old, she took sixth place in Beijing — but the group's national podium tally adds to Team USA's renewed confidence.

"All we've got to do, is do our job," said 26-year-old Glenn. "I think the US ladies have come so, so far in the last two decades that if all three of us do our jobs in Milan, then more than likely someone's going to be up there [on the Olympic podium]."

How to watch the 2026 Olympic figure skating competition

While the US women will first take the ice in the team competition on February 6th and 8th, the trio will begin contending for individual glory by skating their short programs at 12:45 PM ET on February 17th, airing live on USA Network.

The 2026 Olympic podium will then be finalized in the free skate competition at 1 PM ET on February 19th, with live coverage on NBC.

Incoming Denver Summit FC rookie Jasmine Aikey capped her Stanford career by earning the top honor in NCAA women's soccer, lifting the 2025 MAC Hermann Trophy last Friday.

Aikey is now the sixth Cardinal to win the award, joining fellow alums and USWNT standouts like Kelley O'Hara (2009), Christen Press (2010), Catarina Macario (2018, 2019), and Andi Sullivan (2017).

"I am so happy that Jasmine's hard work and dedication paid off, as she is one of the most talented and competitive student-athletes I have ever coached," said Stanford head coach Paul Ratcliffe in the school's Friday announcement.

The 20-year-old topped both Stanford and the ACC in goals scored this season with 21, tallying 11 assists as she led the Cardinal to both the 2025 ACC Championship and last month's College Cup Final.

Even more, her dominant season saw Aikey claim the 2025 MAC Hermann Award over fellow finalists and ACC stars Jordynn Dudley, a junior forward for reigning NCAA champion Florida State, and Izzy Engle, a Notre Dame sophomore attacker and the 2025 ACC Offensive Player of the Year.

With her Friday win, Aikey also made history as just the second student-athlete to win both the Hermann Trophy and the Academic All-America Team Member of the Year, joining Portland alum and international soccer's all-time leading scorer, Canada legend Christine Sinclair.

The forward won't be resting on her laurels for long, however, with Aikey now gearing up for next month's NWSL preseason after signing a two-year deal to join 2026 expansion side Denver Summit last Thursday.

"I'm ready to get to work and help set the standard in Denver," remarked the newly minted pro in a club statement.

As top tennis talents turn toward the 2026 Australian Open, this week's WTA rankings refresh hints at the drama to come as the year's first Grand Slam nears.

Following her strong 2026 United Cup showing against world No. 2 Iga Świątek, Team USA favorite Coco Gauff jumped to No. 3, leapfrogging fellow US star No. 4 Amanda Anisimova along the way.

Meanwhile, reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys hit a slight skid, falling two spots to No. 9 after unwavering No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka ousted her from last week's Brisbane Open quarterfinals.

Sabalenka aside, Switzerland's No. 10 Belinda Bencic might have the hottest hand heading into Melbourne, busting into the Top 10 after winning all five of her 2026 United Cup singles matches — including a dominant three-set victory over Poland's Świątek.

Bencic also made history in this week's rankings update, becoming the first returning mother to crack the WTA's top tier since US tennis icon Serena Williams did so in 2021.

"I think it's been a huge goal, maybe a huge ride after the whole comeback, to come back and prove this to myself, that it's possible," Bencic said this week.

How to watch top WTA ranked tennis players this week

Next up for the WTA rankings' elite will be the record-breaking 2026 Australian Open, with the main draw of the season's first Slam kicking off down under on Sunday.

Live coverage from the Melbourne hardcourt will air across ESPN platforms beginning at 7 PM ET on Saturday.