England coach Sarina Wiegman said the crisis surrounding Spanish football in the wake of their World Cup win “really hurts” and shows there is still a “long way to go” in the women’s game and society.
Spanish football federation president Luis Rubiales has been provisionally suspended by FIFA for an initial period of 90 days, pending an investigation into his behaviour at the World Cup final earlier this month when he kissed Spain midfielder Jenni Hermoso on the lips during the trophy and medals presentation.
Hermoso has said she did not consent to the kiss, and along with her 22 squad mates, has said she will not play for the national team until Rubiales resigns.
SARINA WIEGMAN is the 2022/23 UEFA Women s Coach of the Year!
The England coach r…
Zinedine Zidane and Real Madrid have made official what has long been rumoured – they are parting ways, again.
The Frenchman’s future at the Santiago Bernabeu was a hot topic for weeks, at times overshadowing Madrid s attempts to retain their league crown.
In the end, despite Los Blancos producing an 18-game unbeaten run in LaLiga as they surged towards the finishing line, Atletico Madrid did just enough to keep their noses in front in a title race that went down to the wire.
The focus for Madrid now turns to finding a replacement: What about club legend Raul? Or could the suddenly available Antonio Conte be tempted by a project in Spain?
And what next for Zidane? As so often is the case with sequels, the second episode was not quite able to liv…
Juventus have appointed Andrea Pirlo as their new head coach on a two-year deal.
The former Italy midfielder took charge as the Under-23s boss at his old club just nine days ago but has now been named as Maurizio Sarri s successor.
Sarri was sacked on Saturday after Juve were knocked out of the Champions League on away goals at the last-16 stage following a 2-2 aggregate draw with Lyon.
Ex-Juve player and current Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane emerged as one of the initial favourites for the role, along with ex-Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino and Lazio coach Simone Inzaghi.
There was also speculation Italy boss Roberto Mancini could be offered the post, but the club has promoted Pirlo instead.
From today he will be the coach for Juventus…
Alexandre Lacazette scored the joint-fastest goal on the opening day of a Premier League season by heading home after 94 seconds of Arsenal s game against Leicester City.
The Gunners record signing brought Emirates Stadium to its feet by steering Mohamed Elneny s cross past Kasper Schmeichel.
It brings him level with former Arsenal favourite Kevin Campbell, who breached Manchester City swiftly at Highbury in 1994, while Colombia great Faustino Asprilla also punished Sheffield Wednesday in the second minute of the 1997-98 campaign while at Newcastle United.
The goal also continued Lacazette s phenomenal record in the first game of top-flight seasons over recent years one he might need to add to after Leicester forwards Shinji Okazaki and Jamie Vardy turned the g…
Carlo Ancelotti described Luka Modric as immortal after his outstanding display in Real Madrid s 4-1 LaLiga win over Celta Vigo on Saturday.
Modric, 36, restored Madrid s lead shortly before half-time with a sumptuous strike from outside the area after Karim Benzema and Iago Aspas had exchanged penalties.
It marked the first time the Croatia international had scored two consecutive goals from outside the area in the competition since January 2019 when he completed a run of three.
Indeed, more than half of Modric s goals for Madrid in all competitions have been from outside the box (18 out of 32).
He then followed that up in the second half with a superb pass to set Vinicius Junior up for Madrid s third.
The LaLiga and European champions agreed a…
Juventus are considering a potential move for Manchester City s Ilkay Gundogan, according to Calciomercato.
The Germany international has been an important player for Pep Guardiola s side in their vast success over the last six years, winning four Premier League titles. However, Guardiola has the tendency of rotating his midfielders occasionally, and this season, for example, Gundogan started six of the nine league matches played, making two more appearances off the bench, and sitting out the 4-0 win over Southampton last week as an unused substitute.
The 31-year-old will be out of contract at the end of the season unless he signs a new one between now and then, and at Juventus, they believe that an offer of around €25 million should be enough to persuade City to let …
Napoli director Cristiano Giuntoli believes star defender Kalidou Koulibaly will remain at the Serie A club, despite links to Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain.
Koulibaly had been strongly linked with Premier League giants City but Pep Guardiola s side agreed a deal to sign Benfica centre-back Ruben Dias on Sunday.
Ligue 1 champions PSG are also reportedly interested following Thiago Silva s departure, while the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool have been linked previously.
Asked about Koulibaly prior to Sunday s 6-0 demolition of Genoa, Giuntoli told Sky Sport Italia: The team was completed in January with Stanislav Lobotka and Diego Demme, who can play in a few different roles. With Amir Rrahmani, [Victor] Osimhen and [Andrea] Petagna, we are compl…
Market: Brest win
Odds: 4/6 @
Looking to extend on what has been a remarkable Ligue 1 romp, Brest will welcome Lorient to the Stade Francis-Le Ble on Wednesday night.
Starting with the hosts, while Brest might have spent the majority of last season looking over their shoulder at a looming relegation scrap, the Pirates have now cemented their spot as one of Europe’s ultimate surprise packages. In the midst of what has become a history-making run and continuing to revive a string of public praise, Eric Roy’s side certainly find the mood in their camp at a red-hot high. Last seen over the weekend putting in another stellar performance as they cruised their way to a 2-0 victory away at Nantes, some around the Stade Francis-Le Ble now have their sights set on cli…
Ryan Reynolds felt vindicated after seeing Wrexham promoted to the English Football League following a 15-year absence.
The Deadpool star and fellow actor Rob McElhenney surprised everyone when they bought the Welsh club in November 2020.
And the co-owners were in attendance at the Racecourse Ground – along with another Hollywood star guest in Paul Rudd – to see Wrexham beat Boreham Wood 3-1 on Saturday to clinch the National League title.
Reynolds and McElhenney were emotional after the game as they celebrated with the players and manager Phil Parkinson, with Wrexham moving to 110 points – a National League record – meaning Notts County (106) could no longer catch them with one game remaining of what had been a pulsating title race.
I am not sur…
Mauricio Pochettino praised Neymar after his two-goal display in Paris Saint-Germain s 3-2 victory over Bordeaux in Ligue 1.
Neymar starred in the absence of Lionel Messi, scoring a brace as league leaders PSG outlasted Bordeaux away from home on Saturday.
Having not scored from open play in Ligue 1 since May, Neymar ended that run with two sublime first-half strikes.
Neymar scored only his third and fourth Ligue 1 goals from open play in 2021 (eight goals in total), while taking his tally to seven top-flight goals against Bordeaux – his favourite Ligue 1 opponent.
Kylian Mbappe was also on target for PSG – Neymar and the former have exchanged 23 assists with each other in Ligue 1 since 2017, at least six more than any other top-flight duo.
I…