London (AFP) – Big spending English clubs have shattered the Premier League's transfer spending record after the total splashed out reached £880 million ($1.1 billion, 1 billion euros) on Thursday. By 1500 GMT, shortly after Manchester City's signing of Barcelona goalkeeper Claudio Bravo was confirmed, the Premier League clubs' gross spending in the current transfer […]

Monaco (AFP) – Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo won the UEFA Best Player in Europe Award on Thursday after winning both last season's Champions League and Euro 2016 with Portugal. Ronaldo received the accolade for the second time in his career after finishing ahead of Real team-mate Gareth Bale and Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann. The […]

London (AFP) – Chelsea signed Portugal goalkeeper Eduardo from Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb for an undisclosed fee on Thursday. Eduardo agreed a one-year contract with the Premier League club and will provide cover for Chelsea's first choice keeper Thibaut Courtois and deputy Asmir Begovic. The 33-year-old was a member of Portugal's victorious Euro 2016 squad, […]

Lausanne (AFP) – Disgraced former FIFA president Sepp Blatter fought to overturn his six-year football ban on Thursday in a marathon appeal at the world's top sports court, pledging to accept the verdict. Blatter's last and unlikely shot at redemption rests with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which is hearing his challenge against […]

Buenos Aires (AFP) – Argentina great Diego Maradona has criticised Lionel Messi, suggesting that the Barcelona star's retirement from international football, and subsequent change of heart, was "staged". "I don't know whether this was staged to make us understand that he'd lost three finals, but we never lost by big margins," said Maradona to radio […]

London (AFP) – Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford has lost his place in England's senior squad after being called up for the Under-21s for the first time. Rashford made two substitute appearances at Euro 2016 to cap a meteoric rise in the final weeks of the campaign that took him from United's youth teams to […]

London (AFP) – Everton manager Ronald Koeman has dismissed talk of a move for out of favour Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart. Hart is set to leave City after being reduced to a fringe role since Pep Guardiola's arrival as manager and the England international had been strongly linked with a switch to Everton. With […]

As we exclusively revealed yesterday, NBC Sports will debut their newest program Goal Rush this Saturday. It'll be shown on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports App from 10am to Noon ET. And the first Goal Rush game to be shown in the United States is this Saturday's clash between Watford and Arsenal, live from Vicarage […]

London (AFP) – Manchester City have completed their swoop for Barcelona goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, the Premier League club confirmed on Thursday. City manager Pep Guardiola's move for Bravo is likely to push England goalkeeper Joe Hart closer to an exit from Eastlands after he lost his place to back-up Willy Caballero at the start of […]

The number of written words given to NBC's Rebecca Lowe, Robbie Earle, Robbie Mustoe, Kyle Martino, Lee Dixon, Graeme Le Saux, Steve Bower and Arlo White could fill a book. The talent at NBC Sports does a fantastic job of bringing the Premier League to us in the United States, but one unsung star often […]

Berlin (AFP) – Schalke 04 strengthened their squad for the new German Bundesliga season on Thursday by confirming the loan signing of Algerian international Nabil Bentaleb and closing in on the capture of French midfielder Benjamin Stambouli. Schalke, who finished fifth in Germany's top flight last season to qualify for the Europa League, have signed […]

London (AFP) – Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is trying to keep the peace with Daniel Sturridge after the frustrated striker complained about being played out of position. Sturridge has been deployed on the right wing rather than in his preferred central striker's berth in his two appearances for Liverpool this season and he made it […]

Barcelona (AFP) – Barcelona have completed the signing of Dutch international goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen from Ajax, the Spanish champions confirmed on Thursday. In a statement on their official website the Catalans confirmed they had signed the 27-year-old on a five-year contract for a fee of 13 million euros (£11.1 million, $14.7 million), rising to a […]

Berlin (AFP) – On the eve of the new German Bundesliga season, Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has poured cold water on their fans' dreams of winning another treble. "Of course, I know that the public is dreaming of the treble, but we also know well enough how difficult and unpredictable the Champions League is," […]

Los Angeles (AFP) – USA women's goalkeeper Hope Solo has been slapped with a six-month ban from the national team for her comments in which she called the Swedish players "a bunch of cowards", US Soccer announced Wednesday. The 35-year-old Solo made the comments after the Americans were eliminated in a penalty shootout from the […]