Budapest (AFP) – Hungary coach Marco Rossi said Wednesday he was "on the side" of England players if they receive racist abuse from home fans during Thursday's World Cup 2022 qualifier in Budapest. In July, European football's governing body UEFA sanctioned Hungary after its fans held homophobic banners and made monkey noises during Euro 2020 […]

Strasbourg (France) (AFP) – France replaced injured midfielders N'Golo Kante and Corentin Tolisso with Mateo Guendouzi and Adrien Rabiot on Wednesday for this month's three World Cup qualifiers. The French Football Federation said Chelsea's Kante has "fully recovered" from a left ankle injury while Bayern Munich's Tolisso was "a suffering a muscular injury in the […]

Milan (AFP) – Junior Messias hailed a dream come true on Wednesday after completing his incredible rise from amateur footballer and delivery man to the Champions League with his deadline-day transfer to AC Milan. Brazilian Messias signed for Milan on Tuesday on a season-long loan from Crotone with an option to buy for a reported […]

Lyon (AFP) – Former Bayern Munich defender Jerome Boateng joined Ligue 1 side Lyon on Wednesday after his contract with the German giants expired. Boateng, 32, a World Cup winner with Germany in 2014, has agreed a two-year deal with the French side. Boateng was a regular at the heart of the Bayern defence for […]

London (AFP) – England manager Gareth Southgate believes facing Hungary in front of a 60,000 crowd in Budapest on Thursday will test if the Three Lions have recovered from the disappointment of losing the Euro 2020 final. Southgate's side missed out on England's first major tournament win for 55 years on a penalty shootout to […]

Berlin (AFP) – Chelsea forward Kai Havertz said on Wednesday he has raised nearly 400,000 euros ($473,000) for the victims of western Germany's floods — and revealed he has helped save rescue ponies and donkeys from abattoirs. Havertz, 22, hails from Aachen, one of the regions badly affected by heavy rain in mid-July in which […]

Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Cristiano Ronaldo revealed his relationship with former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson played the key role in convincing the Portuguese to return to Old Trafford. Ferguson retired as boss of the Red Devils in 2013, four years after Ronaldo departed for Real Madrid in a then world record £80 million […]

Barcelona (AFP) – Barcelona's 18-year-old striker Ansu Fati is to inherit the number 10 shirt worn for years by Argentina legend Lionel Messi, the club said on Wednesday. In a short clip published by the Catalans on social media, the teenager is thrown a blank shirt which he looks at quizzically before holding it up […]

Berlin (AFP) – Germany captain Manuel Neuer and forward Thomas Mueller are both injured and ruled out of Thursday's World Cup qualifier against minnows Liechtenstein. Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno will deputise for Neuer, who sat out training all week with an ankle knock. Coach Hansi Flick is hopeful he will be fit for for their […]

London (AFP) – English Premier League clubs flexed their financial muscle over the rest of Europe by brushing off the after-effects of reduced revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic to spend over £1 billion ($1.4 billion) for the sixth consecutive summer transfer window. Cristiano Ronaldo's return to Manchester United headlined a stellar cast of stars, […]

Madrid (AFP) – La Liga president Javier Tebas on Wednesday hit out at Qatari-owned Paris Saint-Germain and what he called "club-states" after the French club signed Lionel Messi and a host of stars in the transfer window. "The club-states are as dangerous for the ecosystem of football as the Super League," Tebas said on Twitter. […]

Paris (AFP) – France forward Antoine Griezmann has made a shock return to Atletico Madrid just two years after leaving to join Barcelona, on the final day of a hectic European transfer window. Real Madrid also bagged a French international star as Eduardo Camavinga arrived from Rennes — but their attempts to sign Kylian Mbappe […]

Montevideo (AFP) – South American World Cup qualifying has been "tarnished" by the refusal of top English Premier League clubs to release star players over coronavirus quarantine rules, says Uruguay veteran Diego Godin. Already shorn of the injured Luis Suarez, the two-time world champions will have to make do without their other attacking icon, Edinson […]

London (AFP) – England manager Gareth Southgate believes the Three Lions are closer to ending their wait to win a first major tournament since 1966 than they have been for generations, with the Qatar World Cup little over a year away. Southgate's side return to action this week for the first time since losing the […]

Paris (AFP) – Paris Saint-Germain got Lionel Messi but that has somehow turned out not to be the most remarkable moment of the transfer window for them. There can hardly be a bigger statement from the Qatar-owned club than turning their noses up at an offer understood to be worth 180 million euros ($212m) from […]