London (AFP) – Swansea's Ghanaian forward Andre Ayew hit back at West Ham's sacked director of recruitment Tony Henry for calling into question the attitude of African players. Henry was dismissed by the London club on Friday following an investigation into a report by the Daily Mail newspaper that Henry said West Ham wanted to […]

London (AFP) – Chelsea playmaker Eden Hazard believes the English champions' defence of their title was always going to be compromised by a return to Champions League football this season. Despite the Belgian's 13th goal of the season, Chelsea crumbled to a 4-1 defeat at Watford on Monday night to remain fourth in the Premier […]

London (AFP) – The social media frenzy surrounding Alexis Sanchez's high-profile move to Manchester United dwarfed interest shown when Neymar moved from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain, executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward said Thursday. Sanchez joined United from Premier League rivals Arsenal last month in a deal that saw Henrikh Mkhitaryan go the other way and has […]

London (AFP) – Leicester manager Claude Puel says he hopes Riyad Mahrez can "get his head right" and rejoin the team, confirming the Algeria international will not feature against Manchester City on Saturday. The match at the Etihad will be the third consecutive league game the winger has missed since Pep Guardiola's City failed to […]

Berlin (AFP) – Injury-prone German international winger Marco Reus could make his return after torn cruciate knee ligaments for Borussia Dortmund on Saturday against strugglers Hamburg, just four months out from the World Cup. Reus, 28, has been sidelined since last May's German Cup final, when Dortmund beat Eintracht Frankfurt in Berlin, and has been […]

London (AFP) – Manchester United blamed US President Donald Trump's corporate tax reforms as the reason the Premier League giants posted a £29 million ($40.4 million) second quarter loss to the end of December 2017 despite a boom in broadcast income. United said an exceptional "accounting write off of £48.8 million" had been made with […]

London (AFP) – Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger put North London rivalries aside as he accepted Tottenham Hotspur's Harry Kane is the most in-form striker in Europe on Thursday. Kane, 24, became the second fastest player to ever reach 100 Premier League goals by netting his 31st of the season in just 32 games to salvage […]

London (AFP) – Cardiff manager Neil Warnock has hit back at Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola's calls for greater player protection following the FA Cup clash between the sides that left City winger Leroy Sane sidelined for six weeks. Guardiola was furious after his side's 2-0 fourth-round win on January 28 when Sane suffered ankle […]

Berlin (AFP) – Veteran wingers Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery are effectively playing for new contracts after Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge admitted the club are in no rush to extend their deals. Robben and Ribery, both 34, are out of contract at the end of the season and a primary round of extension negotiations […]

London (AFP) – Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino says Erik Lamela can recover his best form after he scored his fist goal for the club in 16 months but warned that competition for starting places is getting tougher. The Argentina international, who was sidelined for more than a year with a hip injury before returning to […]

Hanoi (AFP) – FIFA President Gianni Infantino on Thursday said football's governing body will decide next month whether to officially endorse the video assistant referee, a move that could see the controversial technology used at the World Cup. VAR, so far trialled in nearly 1,000 matches, reviews key moments linked to goals, penalty decisions, straight […]

Johannesburg (AFP) – Record eight-time title-holders Al Ahly of Egypt are among 10 former winners who qualified for the 2018 CAF Champions League, which begins this weekend with preliminary round first legs. Defending champions Wydad Casablanca of Morocco and five-time winners TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo are other powerful outfits in the […]

Hong Kong (AFP) – Wigan Athletic owner Dave Whelan has agreed in principle to sell the English football club to a Hong Kong-listed company, highlighting the appeal of even lower-league clubs to wealthy foreign investors. The International Entertainment Corporation (IEC), controlled by the family of the late Hong Kong property tycoon Cheng Yu-tung, said it […]

Milan (AFP) – Serie A leaders Napoli face a tough test of their title hopes when they host bruised Lazio this weekend, while Juventus travel to Florence ready to pounce before they play Tottenham in the Champions League. Lazio — 14 points behind Napoli in third place — arrive in Naples desperately in need of […]

Madrid (AFP) – Joaquin Correa and Franco Vazquez scored as Sevilla advanced to a second Copa del Rey final in three years on Wednesday following a 3-1 aggregate victory over Leganes. After a 1-1 draw in last week's first leg, Correa fired Sevilla ahead in the tie when he tucked home a cutback from Luis […]