Rome (AFP) – Italy got their Euro 2020 campaign off the mark with an impressive 3-0 win over Turkey in the curtain-raiser for the postponed continental tournament at home in Rome on Friday. Playing their first major tournament in five years after failing to qualify for the 2018 world Cup, all the goals came in […]

Montevideo (AFP) – Uruguay striker Sebastian 'Loco' Abreu, who holds the Guinness World Record as the professional to have played for the most clubs — 31 — was playing his last game Friday at the age of 44. "The day has come, the curtain is coming down," Abreu had announced on Thursday after a career […]

Madrid (AFP) – Spain's disrupted Euro 2020 preparations were given a double boost on Friday as defender Diego Llorente returned to the squad and all the players were vaccinated against Covid-19. The vaccinations came on the first day of Euro 2020 and three days before the team's opening game, with the possibility now that some […]

Rome (AFP) – Ciro Immobile leads Italy's three-man attack for their Euro 2020 opener against Turkey in Rome on Friday. Immobile, who plays his club football at the Stadio Olimpico for Lazio, is flanked by wingers Lorenzo Insigne and Domenico Berardi. Italy coach Roberto Mancini opted for a 4-3-3 formation for Italy's return to a […]

Kiev (AFP) – Ukraine's football association said Friday it had managed to agree on a compromise with UEFA over Euro 2020 kits that feature patriotic slogans and sparked Russia's ire. "We've managed to reach a victorious compromise with UEFA!" the association chief, Andriy Pavelko, said in a statement on Facebook, describing the negotiations as "extremely […]

London (AFP) – England midfielder Mason Mount is relishing the possibility of another head-to-head battle with Croatia's Luka Modric in Sunday's Euro 2020 clash after taking the spoils in his first encounter with his boyhood idol. Mount's influential display played a key role in Chelsea's Champions League semi-final victory against Modric's Real Madrid this season. […]

Paris (AFP) – The award of a share of French league television rights to Amazon on Friday sparked a furious boycott from the other winning bidder Canal+. Canal+ said it was not prepared to share the rights with Amazon. "Canal+ will not, therefore, be broadcasting Ligue 1," it said in a statement. With less than […]

Berlin (AFP) – Stuttgart's Congolese forward Silas Katompa Mvumpa was banned for three months and fined 30,000 euros ($36,328) by the German Football Association (DFB) on Friday after admitting he played under a false identity. Both the player and the Bundesliga club accepted the fine and ban, which runs until September 11, for "unsportsmanlike conduct" […]

Rome (AFP) – UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin ruled out abandoning disciplinary action against Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus, telling AFP in an interview on Friday that the Super league trio have "lost the moral and sporting battle". European football's governing body on Wednesday suspended legal action "until further notice" against the three teams who have […]

Copenhagen (AFP) – Kasper Hjulmand said on Friday that his Denmark team will "dream big" as they prepare for their Euro 2020 opener against Finland with one eye on a repeat of their unexpected triumph in 1992. A talented Danish side begin their campaign at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen on Saturday evening, nearly three […]

Baku (AFP) – Wales and Gareth Bale head into their second straight European Championship with aspirations kept in check after their surprising run to the semi-finals in 2016. Five years later Bale will captain his country having taken over from the emblematic Ashley Williams who wore the armband five years ago in the run to […]

Rome (AFP) – UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin told AFP on Friday that the teams would have to deal with "a special situation" to complete Euro 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic. "It's not the usual Euro because it's in 11 countries and on top of it there's a pandemic which makes travelling even more difficult," […]

Herzogenaurach (Germany) (AFP) – Toni Kroos aims to prove Germany's doubters wrong in their Euro 2020 opener against world champions France on Tuesday. Germany have their work cut out in Group F at the European Championship with holders Portugal and Hungary to come after the mouth-watering tie against the French in Munich. Kroos has bounced […]

Glasgow (AFP) – Scotland manager Steve Clarke is aiming to restore the team's reputation as giant-killers as they prepare for their first match at a major tournament for 23 years. The Scots, who used to be regulars on the global stage, qualified for the coronavirus-delayed Euro 2020 via the play-offs. Now Clarke wants Scotland to […]

Madrid (AFP) – The Spain squad were vaccinated against Covid-19 on Friday, the Spanish football federation (RFEF) confirmed, on the first day of Euro 2020 and three days before the team's opening game. Spain start against Sweden in Group E on Monday night and it is possible some players will now feel the side-effects of […]