Lisbon (AFP) – Rui Pinto, the hacker linked to the Football Leaks whistleblower website, arrived in Lisbon on Thursday after his extradition from Hungary, Portuguese officials said. Portuguese television broadcast images of Pinto's arrival at 1856 GMT on a TAP flight from Budapest. "His arrival is scheduled today late afternoon," a spokesman for the prosecutor's […]

Almaty (Kazakhstan) (AFP) – Alex McLeish refused to quit as Scotland manager after their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign got off to a "horrible" start with a humiliating 3-0 defeat against Kazakhstan on Thursday. The Kazakhs, ranked 117th in the world, struck twice inside 10 minutes through Yuriy Pertsukh and Yan Vorogovskiy to leave an under-strength […]

Milan (AFP) – Federico Chiesa has been ruled out of Italy's opening Euro 2020 qualifiers against Finland and Liechtenstein because of injury, the Italian football federation (FIGC) said on Thursday. The 21-year-old left the Italian team's national training centre at Coverciano, outside Florence, to return to his club Fiorentina for treatment on a recurring muscle […]

Astana (Kazakhstan) (AFP) – Alex McLeish slammed his Scotland flops after their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign got off to the worst possible start with a humiliating 3-0 defeat against Kazakhstan on Thursday. The Kazakhs, ranked 117th in the world, struck twice inside 10 minutes through Yuriy Pertsukh and Yan Vorogovskiy to leave an under-strength Scotland […]

London (AFP) – England manager Gareth Southgate expressed his support for Declan Rice after the West Ham midfielder apologised on Thursday for old social media posts that appeared to express support for the IRA. Rice, 20, is in the England squad for the first time for Euro 2020 qualifiers against the Czech Republic on Friday […]

Astana (Kazakhstan) (AFP) – Scotland's Euro 2020 qualifying campaign got off to the worst possible start with an embarrassing 3-0 defeat by Kazakhstan in Nursultan on Thursday. The Kazakhs, ranked 117th in the world, struck twice inside 10 minutes through Yuriy Pertsukh and Yan Vorogovskiy to leave an under-strength Scotland shell-shocked. Alex McLeish's men secured […]

Lausanne (AFP) – Cristiano Ronaldo was fined 20,000 euros ($22,738) by UEFA on Thursday for mimicking Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone's crotch-grabbing celebration in Juventus' Champions League last-16 win last week. The 34-year-old scored a second-leg hat-trick as the Italian champions overturned a 2-0 first-leg deficit to progress to the quarter-finals. He replicated Simeone's gesture […]

Milan (AFP) – Cristiano Ronaldo's Juventus will play the pre-season International Champions Cup in Asia and not in the United States amid the Portugal star's rape investigation there, the New York Times has reported. Most of the matches take place in the United States but organisers are planning to play Juventus' elsewhere amid Ronaldo's legal […]

Johannesburg (AFP) – Defending champions Cameroon are among 21 countries hoping to fill one of 10 places up for grabs this weekend in the final 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. The Indomitable Lions will be among the 24 finalists in Egypt this June provided they avoid defeat at home against the Comoros in Yaounde. […]

Milan (AFP) – Disgruntled Inter Milan striker Mauro Icardi returned to training with the club on Thursday after a month on the sidelines amid a protracted contract dispute. The 26-year-old Argentine has been absent since February 13 after being stripped of the captain's armband. He had complained of a knee injury but the club insisted […]

Berlin (AFP) – Euro 2016 winner Renato Sanches says he is considering leaving Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich at the end of the season because of a lack of playing time. The Portuguese midfielder joined the club as an 18-year-old in 2016 for 35 million euros ($39.9m) — a Bundesliga record for a teenager. "I'm not […]

Milan (AFP) – Former Croatian international Igor Tudor will oversee his first training session on Thursday after being appointed for a second spell as coach of Serie A strugglers Udinese. Tudor returns to Udine almost a year after he replaced Massimo Oddo, saving the club from relegation with two wins in the last four games […]

Adelaide (Australia) (AFP) – German coach Marco Kurz's contract with Australian club Adelaide United will not be renewed when the season ends, with the two sides sharing no "common vision". The former Borussia Dortmund defender has been increasingly at loggerheads with the A-League team's hierarchy, frustrated at a perceived lack of funding to recruit players. […]

London (AFP) – Jordan Henderson says England are ready to fulfil the growing expectations around their vibrant young team as the Euro 2020 qualifying campaign starts with the Czech Republic's visit to Wembley on Friday. Gareth Southgate's squad are back together for the first time in 2019, with the Czechs their first test before a […]

Wrexham (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Wales needed a stoppage-time goal from Liverpool teenager Ben Woodburn to beat Trinidad and Tobago 1-0 in friendly on Wednesday after Ryan Giggs left Gareth Bale out of the home side in Wrexham. Bale was one of several players, including Aaron Ramsey and David Brooks, omitted by Wales manager Giggs […]