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 […]

Moscow (AFP) – CSKA Moscow's Brazilian right-back Mario Fernandes will be able to play for Russia after he was just the latest foreign player to be granted citizenship, a presidential decree published Wednesday said. The 25-year-old defender, who has won three Russian Premier League titles, is the third foreign-born football player to receive Russian citizenship over […]

Madrid (AFP) – Atletico Madrid on Wednesday unveiled their latest big summer "signing" — the Hollywood star Matt Damon. The actor, in the Spanish capital to promote his new film "Jason Bourne", was presented with a shirt of the Champions League finalists by club president Enrique Cerezo, a respected film producer, complete with Damon's name […]

Liverpool (AFP) – Italian striker Mario Balotelli's unhappy spell at English Premier League side Liverpool is over, with manager Jurgen Klopp saying Wednesday he should find a new team. Balotelli, 25, has scored only four times for Liverpool since Klopp's predecessor Brendan Rodgers bought him from Manchester City in 2014. He was loaned out to […]

Liverpool (AFP) – Mamadou Sakho's tale of woe continues with the revelation by Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp the French international defender is set to miss the beginning of the Premier League campaign. The 26-year-old — who missed the Europa League final and Euro 2016 over a failed drugs test which he learnt last week UEFA […]