Page 16 - Football

Football star Cristiano Ronaldo takes family to Lapland for Christmas

Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo said it was just a little cold as he posed bare-chested in the snow before taking an icy dip in a pool during a Christmas vacation in Finland's Lapland region. The 39-year-old Portuguese international traveled with partner Georgina Rodriguez and their children, who met Santa Claus in a 10-minute video posted online by Ronaldo on Tuesday. The former Real Madrid and Manchester United great appeared to decline to ski with his family. He wished his followers including 645 million on Instagram a Merry Christmas in Spanish. The Al-Nassr striker is on a winter break from the Saudi Pro League until Jan. 9.

Former Chelsea player Oscar returns to Brazil's Sao Paulo from China

Former Chelsea midfielder Oscar is returning to his Brazilian boyhood club Sao Paulo after 14 years, which included a long spell in Chinese soccer. Sao Paulo president Julio Casares posted photos Tuesday on his social media channels which showed him with the 33-year-old former Brazil international. Casares described the move as a super transfer." Minutes later, Oscar thanked China's Shanghai Port, where he played for eight seasons, for his time at the Chinese Super League club. Today I finish a cycle that marked my life forever, he said. I leave with my heart full of gratitude and pride for everything we achieved together. Oscar joined Sao Paulo on a free transfer. Neither the Brazilian club nor the player disclosed the duration of their deal, but local media reports said he signed a three-year contract. Oscar is returning to a club he sued to leave for another Brazilian team, Internacional, in 2010. In 2012, Oscar joined Chelsea and won one Europa League title and two Premier Le

FIFPRO disagrees with FIFA's temporary changes to its transfer rules

The world soccer players' union disagreed with FIFA's temporary changes to transfer rules on Monday following the landmark Lassana Diarra judgement. Former France international Diarra challenged FIFA 's rules due to a dispute with a club dating to 2014, and the European Court of Justice ruled in October that some rules were contrary to European Union law because they restricted freedom of movement and were anti-competitive. FIFA then opened a global dialogue and on Monday published interim amendments which take effect in time for the January transfer window. They strike a balanced compromise, FIFA said in a statement. But global players' union FIFPRO was against the changes, and accused FIFA of failing to reach consensus. Following Lassana Diarra's successful challenge against the legality of Article 17 of the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players, FIFPRO informed FIFA of the conditions under which it could negotiate the amendments to the regulations to reflect the

Atletico Madrid stun Barcelona in stoppage time to snatch La Liga lead

Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone ran down the touchline in joy while Barcelona players sunk to the turf in dismay. Super sub Alexander Srloth struck again deep in stoppage time to hand Atletico a 2-1 comeback win at Barcelona and ensure Atletico will spend La Liga's short winter break on top of the table. Atletico's 12th straight win in all competitions lifted it three points above Barcelona. Barcelona has only two wins in its last nine games and could find itself third on Sunday if Real Madrid beats Sevilla. Simeone, coaching Atletico since 2011, celebrated winning at Barcelona for the first time. We finally did it," Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak said. We are playing well, we started poorly but we knew our chances would come. And in the last minute Srloth came through. Thanks to him we finally won here. He is the striker we needed. It was a much more impressive performance from Barcelona, which dominated for long periods and took a deserved lead in the 30th minute. Pedri sta

Premier League 2024/25: Tottenham Hotspur vs Liverpool live streaming

Conor Bradley and Ibrahima Konate will not be available for Liverpool's match, with Konate's absence having caused problems in recent games.

Marcus Rashford attracts interest from Saudi clubs ahead of January window

Reports indicate that three prominent Saudi clubs-Al Ahli, Al Ittihad, and Al Qadsiah-are all vying for the England international's signature in January.

Carabao Cup: Tottenham Hotspur vs Manchester United live streaming

The EFL Cup is the last trophy Tottenham won, back in 2007/08, when they triumphed over Manchester rivals in the quarter-finals before defeating Arsenal and Chelsea to claim the title.

Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle advance to semis in English League Cup

Arsenal, Newcastle and Liverpool advanced in the English League Cup on Wednesday to ensure a heavyweight lineup for the semifinals. Gabriel Jesus scored a hat trick including a crucial second goal from an offside position as Arsenal beat Crystal Palace 3-2 to reach the last four for the first time since the 2021-22 season. Liverpool kept alive its title defense by winning 2-1 at Southampton, with Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott the scorers in the first half for the leaders of the Premier League and Champions League. Newcastle defeated Brentford 3-1 mainly thanks to two first-half goals by Italy midfielder Sandro Tonali and progressed to the semifinals for the second time in three seasons. The Saudi-controlled club from the north east, which hasn't won a major trophy since 1955, lost in the League Cup final to Manchester United in 2023. United visits Tottenham on Thursday in the remaining quarterfinal match, guaranteeing that the semifinals will feature four of the biggest teams i

Italian club Genoa taken over by Romanian businessman Dan Sucu

Italy's oldest soccer club is now under the ownership of Romanian businessman Dan ?ucu. Genoa announced on Wednesday that ?ucu had acquired a majority stake after a capital increase of 40 million euros ($42 million) for a 77% share. The club hopes that ?ucu who also owns 90% of Romanian team Rapid Bucharest will bring financial stability following months of uncertainty under the troubled Miami-based 777 Partners. The club, which was founded in 1893, was sold to 777 Partners three years ago ending previous owner Enrico Preziosi's 18 years in charge. Genoa won the last of its nine Italian league titles in 1924. It is currently 13th in Serie A, two points above the relegation zone, although it is unbeaten since hiring Patrick Vieira as coach last month. The transfer of majority ownership marks a new chapter for Italy's oldest football club, with the hope that the entry of Dan ?ucu can bring financial stability and new investments to strengthen the team and its infrastructure, Geno

PSG goalkeeper Donnarumma suffers brutal face injury while making a save

Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma's face was bloodied after being hit by an opponent's cleat in a French league game against Monaco on Wednesday. The Italy international took the studs of Wilfried Singo's cleat in the 17th minute at the Stade Louis II. Singo, whose shot had been blocked, tried to jump over the sliding Donnarumma but instead struck his face. Pictures showed that Donnarumma was cut below his right eye. Singo, who had already been warned, was lucky to avoid a red card. Donnarumma was left lying on the pitch while receiving treatment. He finally stood up and walked away to be replaced by Matvey Safonov.

Mbappe set to play for Real Madrid in Intercontinental Cup final vs Pachuca

Real Madrid meets Mexican club Pachuca in the final of the watered-down Intercontinental Cup on Wednesday, with Kylian Mbapp expected to be available to play for the Spanish powerhouse after nursing a left-thigh injury. The tournament being played in a new format after FIFA expanded the Club World Cup for 2025 brings together the champions of all six soccer confederations. It takes place every year while the bigger Club World Cup will happen every four years. Madrid made it straight to the final without having to play any matches as the European champion, while Pachuca advanced by defeating South American champion Botafogo and Al Ahly of Egypt in the preliminary rounds of the tournament taking place in Qatar. Mbapp has been practicing with the rest of Madrid's squad again after missing a Spanish league match against Rayo Vallecano a 3-3 draw on Saturday. The France star, still to meet full expectations in his first season with Madrid, got hurt and was substituted after scoring i

Prosecutors close rape investigation in connection with Kylian Mbappe

Swedish prosecutors say they have dropped a rape investigation that was launched in connection with soccer star Kylian Mbappe's visit to Stockholm in October. In a statement, lead investigator Marina Chirakova said there was not enough evidence to continue the investigation, which centred on an incident at a hotel in the Swedish capital. Prosecutors never publicly named the suspect in the investigation, but some Swedish media reported that it was Real Madrid striker Mbappe, who visited Stockholm in October during a break in the Spanish league. At the time Mbappe's legal team dismissed those reports as false.

UEFA Europa League: Viktoria Plzen vs Manchester United live streaming

Man Utd are missing three players, all of whom are defenders: Victor Lindelof, Jonny Evans, and Luke Shaw. However, they could be back in action in upcoming games.

Saudi Arabia officially announced as host for Fifa World Cup 2034

Saudi Arabia is eight years into a multi-trillion dollar transformation agenda aimed at freeing the economy from its reliance on petrodollars. The plan includes creating dozens of new industries

UEFA Champions League: Dortmund vs Barcelona live time, streaming

The race for the top 8 spots that will earn automatic qualification into the knockouts has intensified and each point will count from here on.

India all set to debut in Fifae World Cup 2024 featuring eFootball

The World Cup, which will be held as part of the FIFAe Finals 2024 in Riyadh, will feature competitions on both console and mobile platforms

Manchester United's boredom broken by Ruben Amorim's tactical brilliance

Goals from an out-of-form Marcus Rashford and Joshua Zirkzee gave more reasons to rejoice at the Theatre of Dreams as they jumped up to 9th on the Premier League points table.

Barcelona lose at home for 1st time this season, falling 2-1 to Las Palmas

Barcelona lost at home for the first time this season when the Spanish league leader was stunned 2-1 by Las Palmas on Saturday. Barcelona had played superbly in the first three months under new coach Hansi Flick and was flying high after convincing victories over Real Madrid in the domestic competition and Bayern Munich in the Champions League. It had won all eight home games overall. But it has now gone three rounds of La Liga without a win. Prior to the loss to Las Palmas, it fell 1-0 at Real Sociedad and drew 2-2 at Celta Vigo. Madrid, despite its own troubles especially in the Champions League, can now move ahead of Barcelona in the Spanish league. It trails Barcelona by four points with two games more to play. Sandro Ramirez and Fbio Silva scored for the Canary Islands club on either side of Raphinha's equalizer. I don't care about scoring, I care about winning," Raphinha said about his good performance that was unable to end his team's slump. We have to take a hard look at

Mexico soccer coach Aguirre hit in head by an object thrown from the stands

Mexican national team coach Javier Aguirre sustained a head injury after being hit by an object at the end of a Nations League quarterfinal match against Honduras. At the end of the game that Mexico lost 0-2 in San Pedro Sula, Honduras on Friday, Aguirre walked up to greet Colombian coach Reinaldo Rueda when he was struck by an object, apparently a beer can that cut him and caused his head to bleed. "Nothing it is just soccer, the game was hard fought, and they played better," Aguirre said at a media conference at the end of the match. "Regarding the other (the incident), there's no need to mention it, I'm not one who complains, it is just soccer, nothing happened." The 65-year-old Aguirre is in this third stint at the helm of the Mexican national team. He took over last August, replacing Jaime Lozano, who was fired after a first-round elimination in Copa America. "I'm sad for what happened at the end of the match, because he is a human being," said Rueda. "I want to apologize to

Ruben Amorim reveals his mission after joining Manchester United

Ruben Amorim has told Manchester United fans he will do everything to bring the good times back to the 20-time English champion. United's new coach has been charged with ending more than a decade of decline at Old Trafford since former manager Alex Ferguson retired in 2013 and its Premier League dominance fizzled out. Amorim hired from Sporting Lisbon this month is embracing the challenge and said on Friday, I will try to do everything to put this club in the place that it belongs. And I believe a lot that we are going to succeed. The 39-year-old Portuguese is the sixth permanent manager/coach since Ferguson retired after winning his 13th league title. David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Erik ten Hag all failed to return United to the summit of English and European soccer in a period when Pep Guardiola's Manchester City has dominated domestically. It is unlikely Amorim will change that this year after coming in partway through a season in which .