Stegersbach (Austria) (AFP) – Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri has called on French midfield enforcer N’Golo Kante to decide quickly on his future as the Premier League champions plan the defence of their title. Kante’s future is uncertain with a new contract from Leicester on the table amid interest from a host of rival clubs […]

London (AFP) – Flying England Under-21 winger Jordon Ibe cost Bournemouth a reported record £15million (17.9m euros, $20m) when he signed on Thursday from their Premier League rivals Liverpool. The 20-year-old — capped four times at Under-21 level — signed a four year contract with the 'Cherries' before joining them on their tour of the […]

Marseille (AFP) – Marseille president Vincent Labrune says he will leave the club before the start of the new season, regional daily La Provence reported on Thursday. The club is owned by Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, widow of the former owner Robert Louis-Dreyfus, and with no potential buyer in sight ahead of the August 8 Ligue 1 […]

Buenos Aires (AFP) – Diego Maradona's larger-than-life exploits are coming to the small screen, producers said Thursday, announcing the Argentine football legend will be the subject of a new TV series targeting international audiences. "Every month of my life could make 100 episodes. Everything I've lived surpasses any kind of fiction," Maradona said in a […]

Madrid (AFP) – Spanish prosecutors have appealed a judge's decision to shelve a fraud case against Brazilian superstar Neymar and his father in relation to the player's 2013 transfer to Barcelona. A week ago a judge ruled that irregularities in the high-profile transfer were detected, but said it was an issue for a civil court, […]

Budapest (AFP) – After impressing at Euro 2016, Hungary midfielder Adam Nagy has signed for Serie A side Bologna, his club, current Hungarian champions Ferencvaros, confirmed on Thursday. "Adam Nagy will continue his career in the Italian top flight with Bologna, who have signed him for 1.5 million euros ($1.7M)," said a statement on the […]

London (AFP) – Antonio Conte says he hopes Chelsea under his stewardship will light up the Premier League title race this season. The 46-year-old — who guided Italy to the quarter-finals of Euro 2016 only losing on penalties to world champions Germany — said Chelsea may not be top of everyone's list to challenge for […]

Conakry (AFP) – Guinea have appointed their caretaker coach Mohamed Kanfory Bangoura on a permanent basis and charged him with qualifying them for their first World Cup. Bangoura, known commonly as Lappe Bangoura, was chosen ahead of highly-rated Belgian coach Paul Put and German journeyman Gernot Rohr. Since Luis Fernandez quit the post in May […]

Barcelona (AFP) – France international Lucas Digne hailed the start of a "big adventure" at his unveiling as Barcelona's latest signing on Thursday. The 22-year-old defender joined the club on Wednesday from Paris Saint-Germain on a 16.5 million, $18.26m (plus bonuses) five-year deal after a successful loan spell at Serie A's Roma. "This is the […]

Berlin (AFP) – After serving 21 months in prison for tax evasion former Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness could be soon back in his old job, German football magazine Kicker reported on Thursday. Kicker said Hoeness may be offered the honorary job of president on Friday after a supervisory board meeting, with the real power […]

On a beautiful summer evening in Charlotte, Swansea City played its first preseason match Wednesday in front of a sold-out crowd of 4,116, which set an attendance record for the USL Club's Ramblewood Stadium. Swansea began its preseason campaign in comfortable fashion with a 4-0 victory against the third-tier opposition. While Charlotte had chances to […]

NBC Sports has announced several of the games that'll be televised during the first weeks of the 2016/17 season, and many of them will be on CNBC instead of NBCSN. The dependence on CNBC is due to NBC's coverage of the Summer Olympics, where their wall-to-wall coverage will take up most of the programming on […]

London (AFP) – AFP Sports looks at the five leading candidates for the England manager's job vacated by Roy Hodgson when he resigned after losing to Iceland at Euro 2016 (according to the bookmakers): Sam Allardyce (Sunderland) odds 2/5 on The one surefire candidate as his club helpfully revealed on Wednesday he had held talks […]

Madrid (AFP) – Spanish League president Javier Tebas said Wednesday he does not consider Lionel Messi to be a criminal and was happy for the Barcelona star to remain in La Liga. "About Messi, I have said I do not consider him a criminal and I am happy for him to continue in the league," […]

Schladming (Austria) (AFP) – French champions Paris Saint Germain laboured to a 2-1 win over West Brom in their first pre-season friendly on Wednesday with mercurial midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa making his debut. Not helped by torrential rain and a soggy pitch in Austria, PSG defender David Luiz managed to give the English Premier League […]