London (AFP) – Unai Emery was sacked as Arsenal manager Friday after less than two years in charge and with the club without a win in seven games, their worst run since 1992. The 48-year-old Spaniard was fired following the 2-1 home defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt in Thursday's Europa League match. His assistant Freddie Ljungberg […]

Shanghai (AFP) – Rafael Benitez won the Champions League with Liverpool and coached Real Madrid, but the scale of the task he confronts in China was laid bare this week in humiliating fashion. The highly regarded Spaniard suffered one of the heaviest defeats of his managerial career when Dalian Yifang were thrashed 5-1 on Wednesday […]

Sydney (AFP) – Former players and officials paid tribute on Friday after Pim Verbeek, who coached the Socceroos at the 2010 World Cup and also saw success with South Korea and Oman, died from cancer at the age of 63. Tim Cahill and Mark Schwarzer, who both played under the Dutchman at the 2010 World […]

Bucharest (AFP) – The draw for the Euro 2020 finals takes place in Bucharest on Saturday at 1700 GMT, with just over six months to go until the start of the 24-team tournament, which for the first time will be played in 12 cities across the continent. Here is a factfile of the 12 venues: […]

London (AFP) – Unai Emery is fighting for his future at Arsenal while Everton boss Marco Silva and West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini are running out of time. Emery is the bookies' favourite to be the third Premier League manager to lose his job this season after the dismissals of Watford's Javi Gracia and Mauricio […]

Paris (AFP) – Unai Emery's future as Arsenal coach was plunged into further doubt on Thursday when the Gunners slumped to a 2-1 loss in the Europa League against Eintracht Frankfurt. Arsenal are now winless in seven games, the club's worst run since 1992. Japan midfielder Daichi Kamada's second-half double for the Germans came after […]

Madrid (AFP) – Former Spain coach Robert Moreno responded to accusations of disloyalty on Thursday by claiming he still does not know why Luis Enrique chose to exclude him from his backroom team. Luis Enrique's return to the national side was announced last week and he said Moreno had been "disloyal" and that he does […]

Paris (AFP) – Andre Villas-Boas's Marseille host Brest on Friday evening with the aim of turning a mini-revival into something more substantial. Villas-Boas endured a wretched run soon after his arrival at the Stade Velodrome, the Portuguese even describing his team's performance in the League Cup loss to Monaco last month as "disgraceful" and "shameful". […]

London (AFP) – The police commander at the Hillsborough football stadium disaster was on Thursday found not guilty of gross negligence manslaughter over the deaths of 95 Liverpool fans crushed on the terraces. The victims' families fought a decades-long campaign to see David Duckenfield prosecuted over the 1989 disaster — Britain's worst sporting tragedy with […]

Paris (AFP) – Kazakh champions Astana fought back to surprise a youthful Manchester United 2-1 in the Europa League on Thursday. Captain Jesse Lingard opened the scoring for the visitors, who had already reached the last 32, before Dmitri Shomko equalised for the home side. Di'Shon Bernard, 19, then put through his own goal to […]

Brussels (AFP) – Pim Verbeek, the man who guided Australia to the 2010 World Cup, has died from cancer at the age of 63, the Dutch media reported on Thursday. Verbeek, who spent his entire professional playing career at Sparta Rotterdam before retiring when he was 25, also managed the South Korean and Oman national […]

Stockholm (AFP) – Swedish footballer Zlatan Ibrahimovic Thursday filed a "hate crime" complaint Thursday after being the target of vandalism and racists threats, police said, a day after the star announced his part ownership in football club Hammarby. A statue of the player in Malmo was attacked with fire and paint while the word "Judas" […]

Paris (AFP) – Chelsea and France midfielder N'Golo Kante has filed a criminal complaint accusing one of his former agents of fraud and attempted fraud, Paris prosecutors said on Thursday. The complaint, originally reported by L'Equipe sports newspaper, also alleges breach of trust and the illegal practising of the profession of agent. The allegations concern […]

Mumbai (AFP) – The owners of English Premier League champions Manchester City on Thursday made Mumbai City FC of India the eighth club in their global football empire. Abu Dhabi-controlled City Football Group announced the takeover of the Indian side the day after a US equity fund pumped $500 million in new cash into CFG, […]

London (AFP) – Harry Kane wants to build a "strong relationship" with new manager Jose Mourinho that will help take Tottenham to the next level. Kane, whose two goals in the 4-2 win over Olympiakos helped book a Champions League knockout place, was a staunch supporter of former boss Mauricio Pochettino, but he knows Mourinho […]