Madrid (AFP) – Real Madrid's trip to Celta Vigo might once have been seen as a chance to rest and reset but the Clasico capitulation has raised the stakes ahead of next week's Champions League first leg against Chelsea. Madrid are nine points clear at the top of La Liga, which should still be more […]

Anticipation is building for Friday's World Cup Draw as soccer fans across the United States start to dream or dread who may be in their Group. Whether you're a fan of the United States or any other country, Friday's World Cup Draw promises to be a suspenseful experience. After all, who doesn't love seeing the […]

Paris (AFP) – Former women's world footballer of the year Ada Hegerberg scored one of the goals that gave Lyon a 3-1 win over Juventus and a Champions League semi-final clash against French rivals Paris Saint-Germain on Thursday. Norwegian star Hegerberg opened the scoring on 33 minutes, tucking away a cross from the left by […]

Paris (AFP) – Former Arsenal player Jill Roord scored as Wolfsburg defeated the London side 2-0 on Thursday to set-up a Women's Champions League semi-final clash with holders Barcelona. Dutch international Roord, who spent two seasons with the English side before leaving for Germany in 2021, opened the scoring after just nine minutes after Arsenal […]

Doha (AFP) – Lingering divisions over FIFA's decision to hold the World Cup in Qatar overshadowed the annual congress of football's world governing body on Thursday, forcing its president Gianni Infantino to insist that the event had already brought change to the Arab state. Just 235 days from the start of the first World Cup […]

Doha (AFP) – FIFA's decision to hold the World Cup in Qatar took centre stage at the global body's annual congress on Thursday with president Gianni Infantino forced to defend progress made by the Gulf state on human rights. Infantino and Qatar's top organiser hit back after Norway's football federation head, Lise Klaveness, a rare […]

Doha (AFP) – FIFA president Gianni Infantino on Thursday tried to distance himself from a highly controversial project to hold the World Cup every two years as he suggested the plan had never actually been proposed by world football's governing body. "Let me be very clear that FIFA has not proposed a biennial World Cup," […]

Cairo (AFP) – Mohamed Salah has stirred doubts about his future with the Egyptian national team following their failure to qualify for the World Cup. In comments to his team in a video published by Egypt's ministry of youth and sports, the Liverpool forward said how proud he was of the team, "whether I'm here […]

Bangkok (AFP) – Liverpool and Manchester United will meet in a high-profile friendly in Bangkok in July, the clubs said on Thursday, as Premier League teams resume lucrative pre-season tours which stopped when Covid hit. After the July 12 clash in the Thai capital, Cristiano Ronaldo and his United team-mates will fly to Australia for […]

Melbourne (AFP) – Manchester United will play Crystal Palace at Melbourne Cricket Ground in July, organisers said Thursday, as Premier League teams resume pre-season tours which stopped when Covid hit. Cristiano Ronaldo and his United team-mates are set to meet A-League club Melbourne Victory on July 15 and Palace four days later at the 100,000-capacity […]

Doha (AFP) – AFP Sport runs the rule over the eight stadiums which will host matches at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar from November 21 to December 18: – Lusail, Lusail Iconic Stadium (80,000 capacity) Qatar's biggest stadium will host the final on December 18 as well as, amongst other matches, the first semi-final. […]

Los Angeles (AFP) – The United States and Mexico booked their tickets to the World Cup finals in Qatar on Wednesday after securing the results needed to claim the last two automatic qualifying places from the CONCACAF region. The USA were beaten 2-0 by Costa Rica in San Jose to finish third in the standings while […]

Sunderland (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Rows of empty red seats in the upper tiers of Sunderland's Stadium of Light offer a persistent and painful reminder that one of English football's sleeping giants remain mired in the third tier. There has been no bounce in the Black Cats since back-to-back relegations sent them down to League […]

Doha (AFP) – The countdown towards the most controversial World Cup in history really begins on Friday as the draw for Qatar 2022 takes place in Doha, less than eight months before the start of the tournament itself. As pandemic restrictions ease, some of football's biggest names will be there for the draw at a […]

Barcelona (AFP) – A world record crowd for a women's football match of 91,553 saw Barcelona cruise into the Champions League semi-finals by thrashing Real Madrid 5-2 at Camp Nou on Wednesday to seal an 8-3 win on aggregate. The crowd figure surpassed the previous record for a women's match when 90,185 watched the 1999 […]