Amsterdam (AFP) – England can look forward to facing the world's top-ranked side Belgium in the next UEFA Nations League later this year, but for now manager Gareth Southgate's chief concerns surround the coronavirus outbreak and the fitness of forward duo Harry Kane and Marcus Rashford going into Euro 2020. Tuesday's draw for the next […]

London (AFP) – Derby boss Phillip Cocu believes Wayne Rooney's experience and insider knowledge will be "extremely important" when they play his former side Manchester United in the FA Cup fifth round. Now Derby captain, Rooney is United's all-time top goalscorer after a trophy-laden 13 years at Old Trafford between 2004 and 2017, and he […]

London (AFP) – Pep Guardiola urged his Manchester City squad to maintain their hunger for more trophies after picking up the eighth of his four-season reign with a third consecutive League Cup. City have more cup success in sight as they travel to Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup fifth round on Wednesday and lead […]

London (AFP) – Tottenham Hotspur will still be without goalkeeper Hugo Lloris for their FA Cup fifth-round tie at home to Norwich City, manager Jose Mourinho confirmed on Tuesday. The France international has still to recover from the groin problem that saw him miss the weekend's Premier League loss to Wolves ahead of the visit […]

Kuala Lumpur (AFP) – Johor Darul Ta'zim celebrated a first AFC Champions League outing at their new stadium with a 2-1 win over Suwon Bluewings in the competition's only match played Tuesday because of the coronavirus. The Group G match in the southern Malaysian city, along with Wednesday's Sydney v Jeonbuk clash in Group H, […]

London (AFP) – Sokratis Papastathopoulos has insisted he will leave Arsenal before his contract expires if he does not get more game time under Mikel Arteta. The 31-year-old Greek defender opened the scoring in the Gunners' 2-0 win away to third-tier Portsmouth in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Monday. But that was […]

Amsterdam (AFP) – UEFA is considering adapting its Financial Fair Play regulations, president Aleksander Ceferin said Tuesday, as Manchester City take their fight to overturn a ban from the Champions League for breaching the rules to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. "It is too early to say how it will look in the future […]

London (AFP) – Bournemouth footballer Jordon Ibe was given a driving ban by an English court on Tuesday after crashing his Bentley into a coffee shop. Ibe, 24, also hit a Mercedes car when he smashed into The Pantry in Bromley, southeast London, in the early hours of July 30, causing thousands of pounds of […]

Amsterdam (AFP) – UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said Tuesday he was confident European football's governing body could deal with any worst-case scenario in relation to the upcoming Euro 2020 as the continent battles to contain the spread of the coronavirus. COVID-19 has been detected in 76 countries worldwide, killing over 3,000 people with Italy the […]

Rome (AFP) – Italy's football schedule has been thrown into disarray by the new coronavirus and its bosses are taking out their frustrations via social media and calling each other names. The football-mad Mediterranean country has borne the European brunt of the COVID-19 disease now sweeping across much of the world. More than 2,000 people […]

Glasgow (AFP) – Steven Gerrard moved Tuesday to quell speculation about his future as manager of Rangers following last weekend's Scottish Cup defeat by Hearts by insisting he was "ready to go again". After the 1-0 loss at Tynecastle on Saturday, a downbeat Gerrard said it was "the lowest I felt since I came into […]

Paris (AFP) – This Wednesday marks 100 days to go until the start of Euro 2020, but as preparations are fine-tuned for the first European Championship to be played across the continent, the coronavirus outbreak could pose a potentially serious threat to the tournament itself. The decision to stage the second 24-team Euros in 12 […]

Milan (AFP) – Juventus and Inter Milan can get their seasons back on track with Italian Cup semi-final return-legs midweek, which take place amid Serie A fixture chaos caused by the coronavirus. Locked in a battle for the league title the pair have been overtaken by surprise package Lazio as the city of Rome remains […]

Portsmouth (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Mikel Arteta admitted he took a risk by making nine changes for Arsenal's 2-0 win over Portsmouth in the FA Cup fifth round but insisted he had no choice because some of his stars were still shell-shocked after their Europa League exit. Arteta's side reached the FA Cup quarter-finals thanks […]

London (AFP) – Jurgen Klopp revealed he refused to read the riot act to his Liverpool stars after they suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season at Watford. Saturday's shock 3-0 loss at Vicarage Road ended Liverpool's 44-match undefeated run in the top flight and prevented the Reds setting a new Premier League […]