Bayern Munich announced on Tuesday they had extended their partnership with the Japanese Football Association until 2024 to encourage young Japanese players to join the club’s academy. “Japan is one of the strongest countries in Asian football. I was able to experience the Japanese enthusiasm for football at the 2002 World Cup,” Bayern chief executive … Read more
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said on Tuesday Karim Benzema is “not crying” about missing out on winning his first Ballon d’Or. Lionel Messi, who left Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain last summer, won the Ballon d’Or for a record seventh time on Monday. The 34-year-old Messi led Argentina to the Copa America title in July … Read more
Neymar is expected to be sidelined for between six and eight weeks after sustaining ligament damage to his left ankle, Paris Saint-Germain said on Monday. The Brazil star was stretchered from the pitch in tears after suffering the injury in the final minutes of Sunday’s 3-1 victory at Saint-Etienne. “The examinations carried out last night … Read more
The FIFA Club World Cup, initially set to be held in Japan in December, will now be held in the United Arab Emirates in February, world football’s governing body announced Monday. The Club World Cup will run from February 3-12, featuring eight matches between the champions of the six continental confederations along with the top … Read more
Bobby Wood came off the bench to score a stoppage-time goal and lift Real Salt Lake to a 2-1 victory over favored Sporting Kansas City Sunday and into the MLS Cup Western Conference final. Salt Lake, who shocked the Seattle Sounders in a penalty shootout in the opening round, erased an early deficit to gain … Read more
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman on Monday said it was “difficult to understand” why local authorities in Cologne allowed 50,000 fans to pack a stadium at the weekend as Germany grapples with soaring coronavirus infections. Images of the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd at Saturday’s first division football match between Cologne and Monchengladbach sparked nationwide headlines, with many commentators … Read more
Manchester United’s new interim manager Ralf Rangnick once mentored Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel and now “The Professor” will use his studious approach to revive his troubled Premier League club. United hired Rangnick on Monday after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was sacked last week following a humiliating 4-1 defeat at Watford that featured the kind of … Read more
Eddie Howe says it would be “foolish” for him to promise that bottom side Newcastle will buy their way out of Premier League relegation trouble in the January transfer window. The new boss celebrated his 44th birthday on Monday by preparing his team for Tuesday’s clash with Norwich, with the club still seeking their first … Read more
Paris Saint-Germain overturned an early deficit to beat 10-man Saint-Etienne 3-1 away in Ligue 1 on Sunday, with Lionel Messi setting up all three goals. The match also featured the long-awaited PSG debut of Spanish defender Sergio Ramos, while Neymar left the pitch sobbing in agony, stretchered off with an ankle injury. Still in November, … Read more
Spanish defender Sergio Ramos will make his long-awaited debut for Paris Saint-Germain in Sunday’s Ligue 1 game at Saint-Etienne. The 35-year-old joined the club back in July, but has suffered from a nagging calf injury since. Ramos arrived at PSG with a glittering CV, having won the 2010 World Cup and two European Championships with … Read more
Federico Chiesa will be out of action until after Serie A’s Christmas break with a thigh injury, Juventus said on Sunday. Italy forward Chiesa played just the first half of Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat to Atalanta and in a statement Juve said that he had picked up a low-grade tear in his left thigh. “His … Read more
The Premier League match between Burnley and Tottenham was called off a little under an hour before kick-off on Sunday because of heavy snow at Turf Moor. Attempts to clear the pitch proved in vain as the undersoil heating struggled to cope and snow fell as quickly as it could be removed. The announcement was … Read more
SAO PAULO: Jakson Follmann remembers the moment the plane’s engine died and everything went black. Then, intense pain and cold rain fell on his body. Drifting in and out of consciousness, he called out for help, until he saw the beam of a flashlight shining through the wreckage of the fuselage. It has been five … Read more
English Championship club Sheffield United announced on Thursday they had parted company with manager Slavisa Jokanovic just six months after he was appointed and replaced him with Paul Heckingbottom. Jokanovic was installed as the permanent replacement for Chris Wilder, who had left in March with the club bottom of the Premier League. The 53-year-old, who … Read more
Ministers on Thursday backed the creation of an independent regulator for English football after it was recommended by a fan-led review of governance but one Premier League chief warned of the dangers of too much meddling. The wide-ranging exercise, chaired by former sports minister Tracey Crouch, has called for changes to ensure the long-term financial … Read more
Australia’s Martin Boyle was sent off following Hibernian’s 1-0 loss at Ross County on Wednesday, just days after his hat-trick sent the Edinburgh club into the Scottish League Cup final. Boyle’s treble was the centrepiece of Hibs’ 3-1 semi-final win over Rangers at Hampden Park on Sunday that secured an appearance in next month’s final … Read more
A Kenyan court on Thursday dropped corruption charges against the suspended head of the national football body and declared the case closed after the state failed to provide any evidence against him. Nick Mwendwa was arrested on November 12, a day after Sports Minister Amina Mohamed set up a caretaker committee to run the Football … Read more
Mikel Arteta hopes to bring former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger back to the Emirates in some capacity after revealing on Thursday that initial talks had taken place. The 72-year-old Frenchman won three Premier League titles and seven FA Cups during his 22-year spell in charge of the London club, which ended in 2018. One of … Read more
The world will on Thursday mark the one-year anniversary of the death of Diego Maradona, regarded by some as the best player of all time and a man adored in his home country Argentina despite, or perhaps because of, his human flaws. Argentine club matches are to mark a minute of silence and players will … Read more
Aleksandr Sobolev’s first-half double helped Spartak Moscow to a 2-1 home victory over Serie A leaders Napoli on Wednesday which moved the Russians top of their Europa League group. All four teams can still progress from Group C and the winner of Leicester’s game against Legia Warsaw at the King Power Stadium on Thursday would … Read more
Fabrizio Miccoli, a former Italy international, has been sentenced to prison for his role in the extortion of a nightclub owner along with a son of a reputed Sicilian Mafia boss. Italy’s highest court of appeal confirmed to AFP that Miccoli’s initial 2017 conviction and sentence had been upheld, meaning three years and six months … Read more
Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers will put aside speculation linking him with the vacancy at Manchester United to focus on beating Legia Warsaw on Thursday to ensure the Foxes keep their hopes of automatic qualification to the Europa League knockout stage alive. The 48-year-old Northern Irishman has been linked with the United role after Ole … Read more
London’s High Court on Wednesday ruled that a book which claimed Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea football club at the Kremlin’s behest were defamatory after he sued for libel. “Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On The West” alleges Russian President Vladimir Putin has overseen a vast exodus of … Read more
Norway summoned Qatar’s ambassador on Wednesday to discuss the arrests of two Norwegian TV reporters in Doha where they were covering preparations and controversies around the 2022 World Cup. Their employer, public broadcaster NRK, said Halvor Ekeland and Lokman Ghorbani were arrested without any explanation on Sunday night, just before their flight home. The detention … Read more
Nasser Al-Dawsari scored the fastest ever goal in an Asian Champions League final as Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal swept past South Korea’s Pohang Steelers 2-0 to win the continental title for a record fourth time on Tuesday. Both teams were aiming for an unprecedented fourth triumph but it was the hosts who made history with … Read more
Napoli’s Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen seems certain to miss the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations as he needs three months to recover from surgery to a smashed cheekbone, the Serie A leaders said on Tuesday. Osimhen suffered multiple face fractures following a clash of heads during Napoli’s defeat at Inter Milan on Sunday. The 22-year-old … Read more
Pep Guardiola said the presence of director of football Txiki Begiristain is the reason he is into his sixth season with the English champions and has extended his deal to 2023. City’s structure off the field has been brought back into the focus by the chaos at rivals Manchester United, where outgoing executive vice chairman … Read more
RB Leipzig’s American head coach Jesse Marsch and captain Peter Gulacsi will both miss Wednesday’s Champions League match at Brugge after testing positive for Covid-19. The absence of goalkeeper Gulacsi is a further blow to Leipzig in Belgium with forwards Yussuf Poulsen and Dani Olmo already sidelined by injury. With Marsch also out, assistant coach … Read more
