For Ireland to reach the knockout stages at Euro 2016 they must achieve something they haven't done in 28 years - win a game at the European Championship. Martin O'Neill's team face an Italian side already guaranteed victory in Group E and manager Antonio Conte is likely to field many of his reserves, but it remains to be seen if Ireland can end their long winless streak in this must-win game.
Germany and Poland edged closer to the Euro 2016 knockout stage after playing out the first 0-0 draw of this year's tournament at the Stade de France on Thursday. The result means both teams have four points in Group C ahead of Northern Ireland, who have three after their 2-0 win against a Ukraine side who are still without a point and cannot now qualify for the last 16 at the finals.
Dimitri Payet's spectacular late strike earned France a 2-1 win over Euro 2016 Group A rivals Romania on Friday, giving the host nation a flying start to their campaign.
The job of keeping millions of soccer fans safe at one of the world's biggest sporting events would be enough to keep most people awake at night.
News of all that transpired on and off the football field.
Portugal had to settle for a 0-0 draw at home to Spain in a heavyweight friendly on Wednesday after hammering the crossbar twice and missing a last-gasp open goal.
A "Peace for Paris" symbol, combining the city's beloved Eiffel Tower with the peace sign of the Sixties, has gone viral following the Paris terror attacks.
Like an ailing heavyweight, Spain and their hopes of a third straight European title ended in a tame surrender as their 2-0 defeat by Italy represented the definitive end to a golden era in their footballing history. A first-half effort from defender Giorgio Chiellini and a stoppage-time goal by striker Graziano Pelle sent the Azzurri into the quarter-finals at Euro 2016 and left Spain to mull over a second successive failure on the international stage.
Hosts France came from behind to beat 10-man Ireland 2-1 and reach the Euro 2016 quarter-finals after two second-half strikes from forward Antoine Griezmann at Parc OL on Sunday. A tactical switch from coach Didier Deschamps at the break revitalised the French, who struggled to find their feet early on after conceding a Robbie Brady penalty in the second minute, the fastest goal in the 2016 tournament.
Paris is set to go ahead with a bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, the French capital's deputy mayor in charge of sports told Reuters.
'We are on anti-terrorist alert four (with five a very high risk) and there will be extensive security so as to guarantee that the match takes place with complete normality'
France earned a rollercoaster 4-2 home win over Croatia in an entertaining top-tier Nations League Group 3 match, while England were held to a 0-0 draw by Denmark in an uninspiring game.
Ukraine advanced to the Euro 2020 finals after an impressive first half helped them to a 2-1 home win over Portugal, whose talismanic captain Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 700th career goal.
Big cities are the breeding grounds for romance this year.
He has won it all at club level and has three world player of the year awards but on Sunday Cristiano Ronaldo celebrated as never before -- with tears of joy streaming down his face after his Portugal beat France 1-0 to win the European Championship.
Didier Deschamps has let his hair go grey naturally since the last time he picked up a European title 16 years ago. The diminutive Deschamps was never a spectacular player -- a la Zinedine Zidane -- and certainly does not belong to the Jose Mourinho school of coaching with sensational sound bites. But the unglamorous Frenchman with the twangy voice has been instrumental in taking the host nation through to Sunday's Euro 2016 final against Portugal.
Holders Spain were knocked out of Euro 2016 in a 2-0 defeat by Italy on Monday after goals by Giorgio Chiellini and Graziano Pelle set up a quarter-final with world champions Germany. Chiellini opened the scoring after 33 minutes while Pelle wrapped up the victory in stoppage time to end Spain's reign as European champions which covered the 2008 and 2012 tournaments.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday.
Marcus Rashford's penalty and a deflected strike from Mason Mount helped England come from a goal down to overcome top-ranked Belgium 2-1 at Wembley on Sunday and climb above them in their UEFA Nations League group.
Germany were the better team in their 2-0 loss to France in the Euro 2016 semi-finals on Thursday, coach Joachim Loew said as he cursed his team's bad luck for costing them a place in the final.
France decimated Iceland in a 5-2 win to end the Nordic nations Euro 2016 dream run in the quarter-final on Sunday.
Neymar made his return to the pitch after a three-month injury lay-off as Paris St Germain celebrated their eighth Ligue 1 title with a 3-1 win against Monaco at the Parc des Princes on Sunday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Centre forward Eder, who scored the winning goal in the Euro 2016 final against France, was among 10 players from that squad omitted from Santos's list. Other unlucky players included midfielders Andre Gomes and Renato Sanches, forward Nani and defender Eliseu.
All major sporting events in the Paris region were suspended on Saturday as France mourned the victims of the attacks in the capital city the night before that left 129 people dead and 352 wounded.
A round-up of Friday's Euro 2020 qualifying matches.
Bigger than ever, the European Championship kicks off in Paris next month with a four-week feast of football that promises to elevate the game above the corruption scandals and security fears that have overshadowed its build-up.
The fate of Sunday's intriguing European Championship final between France and Portugal weighs largely on two men wearing the number seven shirt, one already at the top of the game and the other one getting there fast.
Bigger than ever, the European Championship kicks off in Paris on Friday with a four-week feast of football that promises to elevate the game above the corruption scandals and security fears that have overshadowed its build-up. All eyes will be on hosts France when they get the ball rolling against Romania in the Stade de France -- 210 days after suicide bombers at the same venue triggered a night of horror across the capital which killed 130 people.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
France midfielder Dimitri Payet scored the winner after setting up the equaliser in a 2-1 victory over Sweden in a top-of-the-table clash as they opened up a three-point lead in World Cup qualifying Group A at the Stade de France on Friday.
A round-up of all the international friendlies played on Tuesday
At least one person has been injured by an explosion on the bus taking the Borussia Dortmund soccer team to their UEFA Champions League quarter-final first-leg match against Monaco in Dortmund on Tuesday.
France striker Olivier Giroud ended a run of 10 international games without a goal by netting a stunning winner as the world champions claimed a deserved 2-1 victory over the Netherlands in their Nations League clash on Sunday.
Sweden beat Italy 1-0 to gain the upperhand after their World Cup playoff first leg on a chilly night, while a young England side held Germany goalless and Belgium drew 3-3 with Mexico despite Romelu Lukaku's double but France eased to a 2-0 victory against Wales.
France substitute Kylian Mbappe engineered two late goals to rescue a 2-2 draw against Iceland and spare the blushes of the world champions in their friendly.
A summary of Tuesday's qualification matches next year's FIFA World Cup.
Lionel Messi fittingly sealed Barcelona's 26th La Liga title on Saturday by coming off the bench to score the goal in a 1-0 win over Levante in front of a jubilant Nou Camp crowd, who celebrated a remarkable eighth league crown in 11 years.
2016 is at the halfway stage and the year has already seen some stunning sporting wins, underdogs emerging triumphant on the biggest stages of them all.
When Michel Platini revamped the European Championship, turning the finals from a tough, lean 16-team tournament in 2012 into a flabby, 'roll up, anybody's welcome' 24-side affair in 2016, it was not surprising he ran into a blizzard of rebukes.
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