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 […]

Paris (AFP) – France international defender Lucas Digne has joined Barcelona on a five-year deal from Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint Germain, the Catalan club said on Wednesday. The 22-year-old left back spent last season on a successful loan deal at Serie A's Roma and had been expected to move there permanently. But Barcelona have […]

New Delhi (AFP) – Welsh football legend Ryan Giggs will return to the pitch as a player in the inaugural Premier Futsal starting in India this week, the organisers announced Wednesday. Brazilian star Ronaldinho and former AC Milan striker Hernan Crespo have also signed up for the event beginning in Chennai on Friday. Giggs, 42, […]

London (AFP) – Sam Allardyce looks to be in pole position to become the next England manager after his club Sunderland revealed Wednesday they granted at his request permission to speak to the Football Association. The 61-year-old Englishman, who was interviewed for the England job 10 years ago but lost out to Steve McClaren, spoke […]

London (AFP) – Celtic gave Scotland their proudest moment in European football by winning the 1967 European Cup, but the 2016 side has now handed the country their most embarrassing in losing to Gibraltar part-timers Lincoln Red Imps on Tuesday. "Shock of Gibraltar" will be a headline the humiliated players and their manager Brendan Rodgers, […]

Paris (AFP) – Scottish giants Celtic crashed to a 1-0 Champions League defeat to Lincoln Red Imps on Tuesday with the goal scored by Lee Casciaro, a policeman in his day job. Manager Brendan Rodgers' first competitive match in charge was a humiliating affair, with 34-year-old Casciaro inflicting the hammer blow in the 48th minute. […]

Paris (AFP) – Scottish giants Celtic crashed to a 1-0 Champions League defeat to Lincoln Red Imps on Tuesday with the goal scored by Lee Casciaro, a policeman in his day job. Manager Brendan Rodgers' first competitive match in charge was a humiliating affair, with 34-year-old Casciaro inflicting the hammer blow in the 48th minute. […]