Sports

Germany stunned by North Macedonia in rare World Cup qualifier home defeat

Germany suffered their first home defeat in a World Cup qualifier in 20 years when they were stunned 2-1 by unheralded North Macedonia in Group J on Wednesday. Armenia are the surprise group leaders…

Read More Here

Spain cruise to top spot in qualfiers despite keeper howler

Spain secured a convincing 3-1 home win over Kosovo in a World Cup qualifier on Wednesday, although goalkeeper Unai Simon made a huge blunder to cost his side a goal. Dani Olmo gave Spain a…

Read More Here

Belgium hit eight, seven for Dutch, Portugal survive scare

Top-ranked Belgium slammed eight goals against Belarus and the Netherlands crashed seven past Gibraltar but Portugal suffered a scare before beating Luxembourg as the World Cup qualifying matches continued on…

Read More Here

Croatia resorts to the big guns to beat resilient Malta

Croatia laboured to a 3-0 win at home to Malta with second-half substitutes Ivan Perisic, Luka Modric and Josip Brekalo scoring to put the 2018 World Cup runners-up top of…

Read More Here

Italy’s Mancini wary of physical Lithuania and Vilnius pitch

Italy coach Roberto Mancini has said Wednesday's World Cup qualifier against a physical Lithuania side will not be easy and highlighted his concerns over the playing surface in Vilnius. Italy…

Read More Here

Bayern’s Lewandowski ruled out for four weeks with knee injury

Bayern Munich's Poland striker Robert Lewandowski has been ruled out for four weeks after suffering a sprained ligament in his right knee, the German champions said on Tuesday. Lewandowski sustained…

Read More Here

WTA urges players to get COVID-19 vaccine

After players at the Miami Open expressed a reluctance to get the COVID-19 vaccine the women's tennis governing body the WTA said on Tuesday it would educate athletes and encourage…

Read More Here

Juve’s Buffon gets one-match ban for ‘blasphemous expression’

Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has been handed a one-match ban for making a "blasphemous expression" and will miss Saturday's Turin derby at Torino, the Italian Federal Court of Appeal ruled…

Read More Here

Olympic hopeful Van Niekerk finds form with 200m win

South Africa's Olympic 400 metres champion Wayde van Niekerk stepped up his return from long-term injury with a victory over 200 metres at the ASA Athletix Invitational on Tuesday. Van…

Read More Here

Chelsea v Porto quarter-final fixtures to be played in Seville

Both legs of Chelsea's Champions League quarter-final meeting with Porto will be played in Seville, Spain over restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, European soccer's governing body UEFA said on…

Read More Here

Salah says no team suffers more without fans than Liverpool

Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah says his side will miss the lack of supporters more than Real Madrid in their Champions League quarter-final tie, adding he no longer bears a grudge…

Read More Here

Manchester City great Sergio Aguero to leave club at end of season

Manchester City’s all-time top scorer Sergio Aguero will leave when his contract expires at the end of the season, the Premier League club announced on Monday. The 32-year-old joined the Etihad club…

Read More Here

Serbia, Portugal could have avoided Ronaldo fury, says UEFA

A Cristiano Ronaldo goal not given in a dramatic World Cup qualifier between Serbia and Portugal would have stood if the two football associations had agreed before the game to…

Read More Here

France, England, Germany and Italy make it two wins out of two

England, Germany and Italy all head their groups after victories in World Cup qualifying on Sunday. Kane inspires England win Harry Kane scored his first England goal since 2019 to lead his…

Read More Here

Spain coach relieved by late winner, braced for more nervy games

Spain coach Luis Enrique praised his side for snatching a 2-1 win away to Georgia on Sunday but predicted more nerve-shredding finishes in their remaining World Cup qualifiers unless they learn how to…

Read More Here

Hamilton wins nail-biting Bahrain Grand Prix Season Opener

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton won a nail-biting Bahrain Grand Prix season opener, triumphing over the Red Bull of Max Verstappen in a fantastic duel in the desert that went down to…

Read More Here

Hamilton continues to take a knee before F1 opener

Mercedes' seven-times Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton took a knee on the starting grid before Sunday's season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix while wearing a black T-shirt declaring "Actions speak louder…

Read More Here

Dembele inspires France to 2-0 win in Kazakhstan

Ousmane Dembele inspired France to a 2-0 victory over Kazakhstan on Sunday in their second match in World Cup qualifying Group D to mark a successful return to the world…

Read More Here

Malta earns first point in their 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign against Slovakia

Malta earned its first point in the 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign in a 2 - 2 draw with Slovavia in Trnava last night. Slovakia came from two goals down…

Read More Here

Netherlands beat Latvia for first points of World Cup qualifying campaign

Steven Berghuis and Luuk de Jong scored either side of halftime as the Netherlands got their World Cup qualifying hopes back on track with a 2-0 home win over plucky…

Read More Here

Sport floating on sea of high-carbon sponsorship, says report

Sport is ‘floating on a sea of high-carbon sponsorship’ with soccer top of the league for deals with car makers, airlines and fossil fuel companies, according to a study published…

Read More Here

Lukaku rescues draw for Belgium against Czechs

Romelu Lukaku's second-half strike helped Belgium salvage a 1-1 draw against the Czech Republic on Saturday in an entertaining World Cup qualifier in which both sides were denied by the…

Read More Here

Ronaldo fumes as Serbia snatch draw with Portugal, Belgium held

Cristiano Ronaldo stormed off the pitch before fulltime when he was denied a clear stoppage-time winner in a 2-2 draw in Serbia, while Belgium were held 1-1 by the Czech…

Read More Here

Croatia edge Cyprus as Modric wins record cap

Croatia got their 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign back on track after a first-half header by Mario Pasalic gave them a laboured 1-0 home win over Cyprus in Group H…

Read More Here

Verstappen takes brilliant pole position for Bahrain Grand Prix

Max Verstappen of Red Bull took a brilliant pole position for Sunday's season-opening Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix by beating reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton by around 4 tenths of a…

Read More Here

WorldCup Qualifiers – Russia beats Slovenia 2 – 1

Artem Dzyuba scored twice to give Russia a 2-1 win over Slovenia in front of 15,000 fans in Sochi's Fisht Stadium on Saturday, putting the home side top of their…

Read More Here

Bundesliga clubs refuse to release four Czech players for match against Belgium

Bundesliga clubs have refused to release four Czech players for their country's World Cup qualifier against Belgium on Saturday night due to concerns the players would have to go into…

Read More Here

Poland and Bologna keeper Skorupski tests positive for COVID-19

Poland have withdrawn Lukasz Skorupski from their squad ahead of their World Cup qualifiers against Andorra and England after the goalkeeper tested positive for COVID-19, the country's football association said.…

Read More Here

Lazio fined, president banned for COVID-19 protocol violations

Lazio president Claudio Lotito was banned for seven months and the Serie A club fined 150,000 euros ($176,925) by a national federal court on Friday, as punishment for COVID-19 protocol…

Read More Here

Japan looking to halve number of official travellers to Games: Kyodo

Japan's government will begin talks soon on potentially halving the number of official travellers to the country for this year's Olympics to around 30,000 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Kyodo news…

Read More Here

Germany go to Romania without Suele; all coronavirus tests negative

Germany departed for Bucharest and their second World Cup qualifier against Romania on Sunday without Bayern Munich defender Niklas Suele, who misses out with a muscle problem. The 25-year-old will…

Read More Here

Bosnia coach tests COVID-19 positive ahead of France clash

Bosnia and Herzegovina coach Ivaylo Petev has tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of the side's 2022 World Cup qualifier at home against France on Wednesday, the Balkan nation's football federation…

Read More Here

VIDEO: British football manager mocks Maltese players as ‘supermarket counter workers’

Maltese citizens have been accustomed to being used by figures abroad for unpalatable comparisons which generally irk the population leading to a veritable social media storm. Sometimes, these facts however…

Read More Here

Verstappen fastest in Bahrain Grand Prix practice

Max Verstappen was fastest in practice for Formula One's season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix on Friday as his Red Bull team immediately lived up to expectations that have soared since testing.…

Read More Here

DAZN grabs broadcast rights for Serie A in Italy

Serie A said on Friday it had awarded DAZN the main domestic rights to screen Italy's top-flight soccer championship for the next three seasons, in one of the largest deals…

Read More Here

Belgium without seven players for World Cup trip to Prague

Belgium must do without seven squad members for their trip to Prague to play the Czech Republic on Saturday in World Cup qualification. The team’s five Bundesliga-based players will not…

Read More Here

Ivory Coast, Morocco latest teams to qualify for Cup of Nations finals

The Ivory Coast and Morocco added their names to the list of qualifiers for the next Africa Cup of Nations after they booked a place in the 24-team field on…

Read More Here

Italy to host Euro 2020 opener with crowd, says federation chief

Italy will host the opening game of the European Championship as planned with a crowd in the stadium, according to the president of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) Gabriele Gravina.…

Read More Here

Berardi and Immobile secure Italy’s 2-0 win on Northern Ireland

Italy made a confident start to their World Cup qualifying campaign with a comfortable 2-0 win over Northern Ireland in Group C on Thursday. First-half goals from Domenico Berardi and Ciro Immobile settled Italy's nerves…

Read More Here

European Qualifiers Round-Up – Germany, Italy, England off to winning start, Spain held

Former champions Germany, England and Italy got off to winning starts in their World Cup qualifying campaigns on Thursday but Spain were held to a 1-1 home draw by Greece.…

Read More Here

England trash San Marino in World Cup qualifiers

England kicked off their World Cup 2022 qualifying campaign with a 5-0 thrashing of San Marino as Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored twice and Ollie Watkins marked his debut with a goal. On a night when…

Read More Here

English Premier League 2021-22 season to kick off on Aug. 14

The 2021-22 Premier League season will begin on Aug. 14 and end on May 22 following an agreement with shareholders, the English top-flight said in a statement on Thursday. The…

Read More Here

German pair quarantined after Hofmann tests COVID-19 positive

Germany's midfielder Jonas Hofmann tested positive for COVID-19 and has been quarantined along with defender Marcel Halstenberg as a category one contact ahead of their opening 2022 World Cup qualifier…

Read More Here

Van Basten calls for offside rule to be scrapped

Former Netherlands forward Marco van Basten has called on football's lawmakers to consider scrapping the offside rule, saying the sport would be better off without it. The game has seen…

Read More Here

Dr Lydia Abela is appointed President of Special Olympics Malta

The executive board of Special Olympics has appointed the wife of the Prime Minister Dr Lydia Abela as President of Special Olympics Malta. The National Director of Special Olympics Malta,…

Read More Here

Olympic Torch Relay Gets Going Under Pandemic Shadow

With waves, smiles and high fives, but no cheers, the Olympic torch relay set off on Thursday, beginning a four-month countdown to the postponed 2020 summer Games in Tokyo, the…

Read More Here

Former FIFA president Blatter handed new ban over bonuses

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter has been handed a further six years and eight months ban from the game and fined a million Swiss francs ($1.07 million) by the body's…

Read More Here

Mbong strike not enough for Malta as national team succumbs to Russia

Russia beat Malta 3-1 on Wednesday, ending a six-match winless streak, to kick off their 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign. Captain Artyom Dzyuba opened the scoring in the 23rd minute of the Group…

Read More Here

Belgium come from behind to outclass Wales

Belgium shrugged off an early scare to see off Wales 3-1 and make a winning start to their World Cup qualifying campaign on Wednesday. Harry Wilson gave Wales a surprise…

Read More Here

European Qualifiers: France disappoint with home draw, Turkey stun Netherlands

Holders France got their World Cup qualifying campaign off to a disappointing start with a 1-1 draw at home to Ukraine on Wednesday while Turkey pulled off an impressive 4-2 win at home to…

Read More Here

Mitrovic double gives Serbia 3-2 win over Ireland

Serbia got their 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign off to a positive start as substitute Aleksandar Mitrovic scored a second-half brace to give them a comeback 3-2 home win over Ireland in their…

Read More Here

Inter Milan’s postponed Serie A clash with Sassuolo will take place on April 7th

Inter Milan’s postponed Serie A game against Sassuolo will take place on April 7, the league body announced on Wednesday. The game was originally scheduled to take place on March…

Read More Here

Bale says he intends returning to Real Madrid next season

Gareth Bale intends to return to Real Madrid for the final 12 months of his contract next season, he said on Tuesday. Bale has been at Tottenham Hotspur on loan…

Read More Here

Prandelli resigns from Fiorentina, for reasons which go beyond football

Cesare Prandelli has resigned as manager of Fiorentina after a disappointing second spell in charge, the Serie A club confirmed on Tuesday. The former Italy national team coach returned to…

Read More Here

Italy coach Mancini wary of Northern Irish threat

Italy manager Roberto Mancini expects a physical Northern Ireland side to provide the toughest challenge of the three World Cup qualifying games his side are facing during a busy international…

Read More Here

Arsenal’s Aubameyang and Partey to miss Cup of Nations games due to COVID-19 restrictions

Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and midfielder Thomas Partey will both miss one game of their respective Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaigns due to COVID-19 restrictions, their Premier League club…

Read More Here

Football in Europe is being transformed by US private equity firms – here’s how

Football is changing, again. Many fans who have spent years watching their teams, either live in a stadium or on the television, have long had to face the fact that…

Read More Here