Football

2022 WC finalists France will still boast elite attacking options like Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele, but they will be without Hugo Ekitike.

The 18-year-old picked up the injury during Barcelona's 1-0 victory over Celta Vigo at Spotify Camp Nou.

At the heart of the issue is Iran national football team's refusal to play matches in the United States, where all their group fixtures are scheduled.

Threads has introduced Live Chats, letting users join public conversations during live events like sports and music releases, enabling real-time interaction instead of post-event reactions

Defending champions Paris Saint-Germain will take on six-time champions FC Bayern Munich in the semifinals of the UCL 2026

A senior government official confirmed that exploratory talks have taken place to understand the pricing structure and feasibility of acquiring the rights.

Arteta had urged his team to play with intensity and fearlessness, but Arsenal started brightly only to fade quickly, allowing Sporting to grow into the game.

Lionel Messi is being sued by a Miami-based event promoter who says the soccer icon violated terms of a $7 million contract by missing an exhibition match last year. Vid Music Group filed the lawsuit for fraud and breach of contract against Messi and the Argentine Football Association in Miami-Dade circuit court last month, according to court records. Messi and the AFA didn't immediately respond to messages seeking comment. Considered one of the greatest soccer players ever, Messi appears with both his Major League Soccer club Inter Miami and Argentina's national team, and fans routinely pay much higher prices for the chance to see him play. According to the lawsuit, Vid signed a deal with the AFA last summer for exclusive rights to organize and promote Argentina's friendlies last October against Venezuela and Puerto Rico in exchange for ticket, broadcast and sponsorship revenue. Vid claims that Messi was supposed to play for at least 30 minutes in each match, unless he was ...

Liverpool striker Hugo Ekitike will miss the World Cup because of a serious leg injury, France coach Didier Deschamps confirmed Wednesday. Ekitike sustained a suspected Achilles tendon injury in the 27th minute of Tuesday's Champions League match between Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain and was taken off the field on a stretcher. "The severity of his injury will unfortunately prevent him from finishing the season with Liverpool and from participating in the World Cup," Deschamps said. Serious Achilles injuries can take more than six months to fully recover from. Liverpool did not immediately confirm the news, but coach Arne Slot said Tuesday that the injury looked "really bad." Ekitike has been one of Liverpool's top players this season and was expected to be part of France's squad for the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. He has scored 19 goals for club and country and scored for France in its 2-1 win over Brazil last month. "Hugo is one of about 10 young playe

Manchester City issued a huge statement of intent in the race for the Premier League title with a 3-0 win at Chelsea. Pep Guardiola's team moved to within six points of leader Arsenal ahead of next weekend's top of the table clash between the two teams. City also has a game in hand. Nico O'Reilly, Marc Guehi and Jeremy Doku all scored in a blistering second-half performance at Stamford Bridge on Sunday as City took full advantage of Arsenal's shock defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday. "We know that we still have everything in our hands," Doku said. Tottenham's survival fight took another blow after a 1-0 loss to Sunderland left it rooted in the relegation zone. In coach Roberto De Zerbi's first game in charge, Spurs fell to a 16th league loss of the season. Its 14-game winless run in the league dates back to Jan. 1. Nordi Mukiele's deflected shot sealed the game at the Stadium of Light and plunged Tottenham's campaign deeper into crisis. Tottenham is two points adrift of safety wi

For Manchester City, however, the stakes are even higher. Pep Guardiola's side are building momentum at a crucial stage of the season, combining strong cup performances with renewed league form.

Harry Kane delivered for Bayern Munich on his return from injury, scoring a goal and helping set up another in his team's 2-1 win at Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals on Tuesday. Kylian Mbappe scored Madrid's goal after the visitors had taken a two-goal lead at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium. Kane had been listed as a gameday decision after missing the team's Bundesliga match last weekend because of an ankle injury. The result left Bayern with an edge ahead of the second leg in Germany next week as it tries to reach the Champions League semifinals for the first time since 2023-24, when it was eliminated by eventual champion Madrid. "We are still alive, clearly," Madrid coach Alvaro Arbeloa said. "We are one goal away. We have shown that we can win anywhere. We showed it with the scoring chances that we had against an opponent that we knew was going to make it difficult for us." Arsenal won 1-0 at Sporting Lisbon in the other quarterfinal on Tuesday.

A second straight Champions League semifinal is in sight for Arsenal. Kai Havertz scored in stoppage time on Tuesday to seal a 1-0 win over Sporting Lisbon at Estadio Jose Alvalade to put Mikel Arteta's team in control of the quarterfinal tie. The substitute fired past goalkeeper Rui Silva from close range to give Arsenal the advantage ahead of next week's second leg at the Emirates. In Tuesday's other quarterfinal, Bayern Munich beat Real Madrid 2-1 at the Bernabeu. Havertz settled a tight game in Portugal by combining with fellow substitute Gabriel Martinelli in the first minute of added time. With one touch the German controlled Martinelli's defense-splitting pass in the box and then converted with a side-footed finish. "To score a late goal is always nice," Havertz told Amazon Prime. "We will take that result. There is still a lot of work to do next week." Victory saw Arsenal bounce back from successive defeats which cut its quadruple trophy hunt in half in recent weeks. Loss

Football at its very best. That was Arne Slot's memory of Liverpool's richly entertaining meeting with Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last season. OK, Liverpool ultimately went out, beaten at Anfield in a round-of-16 penalty shootout by the team that would go on to win the competition for the first time, but Slot loved the way his side played and still maintains it was "the best game I've managed in my career." They meet again almost 12 months on, with Liverpool - and Slot - in a very different place. Indeed, the Dutch coach appears to be fighting for his job heading into the upcoming quarterfinal doubleheader with the European champions that starts with the first leg in Paris on Wednesday. A 4-0 loss at Manchester City in the FA Cup on Saturday was Liverpool's latest poor result of a season that initially began with so much hope after the club's record summer splurge of $570 million on new players on the back of cruising to the Premier League title. With the Reds ha

Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior praised Barcelona star Lamine Yamal for publicly condemning anti-Muslim chants in a recent match, saying players need to stick together in the fight against discrimination. Vinicius spoke Monday, less than a week after Yamal criticized the chants by Spanish fans in Spain's friendly against Egypt last Tuesday. Yamal, who is Muslim, said the chants were disrespectful and intolerable. Vinicius, a Brazil international, has been often subjected to racist taunts while playing in Europe and is vocal about the fight against racism. He said "it's always complicated" to talk about the subject but "these things happen a lot." "Hopefully we can continue with this fight," he said. "It's important that Lamine speaks about it. It could help others. We are famous, we have money, we can balance these things better, but the poor people and the Blacks who are everywhere, they surely struggle more than we do. So we have to stick together, those who have a stronger ..

Lautaro Martinez is back from injury, and Inter Milan is back looking like the Serie A leader again. Lautaro scored twice in his first action since February and Inter routed visiting Roma 5-2 on Sunday to end a four-match winless streak across all competitions. Lautaro scored in the second and 52nd minutes at the San Siro. Hakan Calhanoglu - fresh off helping Turkey qualify for the World Cup - Marcus Thuram and Nicolo Barella also found the net for Inter. Gianluca Mancini, along with Barella a member of the Italy team that failed to qualify for the World Cup, scored a momentary equalizer for Roma. Then Lorenzo Pellegrini pulled one back for Roma after the Giallorossi had gone four goals behind. Inter, which had its advantage sliced from 10 to six points before the international break, moved nine points ahead of city rival AC Milan and 10 ahead of defending champion Napoli, which hosts Milan on Monday. Bologna prepares for Aston Villa Earlier, Bologna won 2-1 at relegation-threate

Leeds threw away a two-goal lead in second-half injury time and had a double scare in extra time before going on to beat West Ham in a penalty shootout on Sunday and reach the FA Cup semifinals for the first time since 1987. Mateus Fernandes and Axel Disasi struck in the 93rd and 96th minutes as West Ham leveled the score at 2-2 at London Stadium and forced extra time - where two goals for West Ham were chalked off for offside - before Leeds won the quarterfinal shootout 4-2. West Ham debutant Finlay Herrick saved a penalty from Joel Piroe but Leeds eventually prevailed with Pascal Struijk scoring the winning penalty. "At least I'm old enough that I was already born when there was the last semifinal for Leeds United in the FA Cup in the '80s," Leeds manager Daniel Farke said. "It was a crazy game." The thousands of West Ham fans who had left early were trying, and failing, to get back in when Taty Castellanos thought he had put the Hammers ahead in the opening seconds of extra tim

Kerala Sports Minister V Abdurahiman on Thursday said that the Argentina football team allegedly deceived the state by not coming to play a match even after receiving money for it. Abdurahiman said that he had really wanted the Argentina football team and Lionel Messi to come to Kerala and play a match in the state. "For that, I had held several discussions. It was also not an easy task to find sponsors to arrange the Rs 250 crore to be paid to the international football team. "But, after receiving the money, the Argentine football team cheated us. We did not expect such a betrayal from them. Not coming after promising to do so," the minister told a TV channel here. He said that when he enquired, he found out that Argentina had done this to five other countries. "They took money from those countries, but never went there to play. It is a situation where a case will have to be filed against the Argentine football team, and they will have to pay us compensation," Abdurahiman said.

Even the largest-ever World Cup, expanded to 48 teams, could not accommodate the storied Azzurri. A nation that once defined footballing excellence now finds itself absent from the global event.

Francisco Trincao scored in the 37th minute, Joao Felix added a goal in the 59th and Portugal beat the United States 2-0 in a friendly on Tuesday night to deal the Americans their eighth consecutive defeat against European opponents. U.S. star Christian Pulisic was moved from a wing to the top of the attack but failed to convert a pair of good scoring chances. Pulisic, who played only the first half, is scoreless in eight national team games dating to November 2024 and in 12 games with AC Milan since Dec. 28. Preparing to co-host the World Cup, the U.S. has been outscored 22-6 during its losing streak against Europe and is winless against the continent in 10 matches since 2021. U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino announces his World Cup roster on May 26, and the Americans play their last warmups against Senegal five days later and Germany on June 6. The Americans open the World Cup on June 12 against Australia, face Paraguay a week later and close the first round vs. Turkey on June ...