Paris (AFP) – Monaco beat Sparta Prague 3-1 on Tuesday to reach the Champions League's play-off round, a week after the Ligue 1 club's Aurelien Tchouameni suffered racist abuse during the first leg in the Czech Republic. On Monday, Sparta said in a statement they were "deeply saddened by the incident" during their 2-0 first […]

Paris (AFP) – Argentina forward Lionel Messi, who left Barcelona after 21 years last week, has signed a two-year contract with Paris Saint-Germain, with the option of an additional year, the French club announced on Tuesday. Messi, 34, will wear the number 30, the number he had when he began his professional career at Barca, […]

Buenos Aires (AFP) – Argentines reacted with joy and pride as their national idol Lionel Messi arrived in France on Tuesday ahead of his expected move to Paris Saint-Germain following two decades at Barcelona. The South American country may be 11,000 kilometres from Paris but Argentines were glued to their screens following the latest developments […]

Paris (AFP) – Lionel Messi is set to be officially unveiled as a Paris Saint-Germain player on Wednesday after arriving in the French capital to a hero's welcome and undergoing a medical. PSG made no official announcement regarding Messi's signing but did call a press conference for 11:00 am (0900 GMT) Wednesday at which the […]

Paris (AFP) – Lionel Messi landed in Paris on Tuesday with the 34-year-old Argentinian superstar set to sign a deal with Paris Saint-Germain following his departure from boyhood club Barcelona. Messi arrived at Le Bourget airport to the north of the French capital around 3:30 pm (1330 GMT) and was greeted by hundreds of PSG […]

London (AFP) – Southampton completed the signing of striker Adam Armstrong from Blackburn on a four-year deal for a reported £15 million on Tuesday. Armstrong's arrival helps fill the void left by the departure of last season's top goalscorer Danny Ings to Aston Villa earlier this month. "It's unbelievable to be here – such a […]

Belfast (AFP) – Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger described Romelu Lukaku as a "beast" to handle for defenders with the Belgian closing in on a return to Stamford Bridge for a reported club record fee of £97 million ($135 million). Lukaku is expected to complete his move from Inter Milan ahead of the start of the […]

Paris (AFP) – Lionel Messi landed in Paris on Tuesday with the 34-year-old Argentinian superstar set to sign a deal with Paris Saint-Germain following his departure from boyhood club Barcelona. Messi arrived at Le Bourget airport to the north of the French capital around 3:30 pm (1330 GMT) and was greeted by hundreds of PSG […]

Kobe (Japan) (AFP) – They played together for Barcelona for 14 years, winning everything the club game has to offer on multiple occasions. Both have now left the Catalan club — but former midfield general Andres Iniesta, who joined Japan's Vissel Kobe three years ago, says it will be hard to see Leo Messi play […]

Geneva (AFP) – Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter will meet with a Swiss prosecutor for a third straight day, following a second meeting Tuesday in a probe surrounding a suspect payment to Michel Platini. Former world football chief Blatter is being investigated over a two million Swiss franc ($2.2 million, 1.85 million euro) FIFA payment […]

Paris (AFP) – The prospect of seeing Lionel Messi team up again with Neymar will have many football fans around the world salivating. Not all of fans will rejoice. Many will struggle to come to terms with Messi leaving Barcelona. Others would have preferred to see him go to a club where he really could […]

Paris (AFP) – There was once the romantic notion that whenever Lionel Messi finally left Barcelona he would return to Argentina and play for Newell's Old Boys, the club he supported as a boy. Paris Saint-Germain, a club transformed by the unfathomable state wealth of Qatar, is a rather less romantic destination for the player […]

Paris (AFP) – Lionel Messi arrived at Barcelona airport on Tuesday, set to board a flight to the French capital as Paris Saint-Germain look to complete the signing of the Argentinian superstar. The 34-year-old was accompanied by his wife and three children as he entered El Prat airport just before 1:30 pm (1130 GMT). His […]

London (AFP) – John Stones has signed a four-year contract extension that will keep him tied to Manchester City till 2026, the Premier League champions announced on Tuesday. The new deal rewards Stones, who joined the club from Everton in a £47.5million ($66 million) deal in 2016, for a past year in which he has […]

Doha (AFP) – The focus of the sporting world shifts to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar following the Tokyo Olympics, with lingering questions over Covid safety and human rights. Unlike the Games, which played out to a backdrop of surging case numbers in Tokyo and without spectators to limit viral transmission, organisers of the […]