Poland midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak urged his team mates not to get carried away by their first ever victory at a European championship finals against Northern Ireland at Euro 2016 on Sunday. The 1-0 victory in Group C was the Poles' first win in seven games at the finals. It put the country in a strong position to reach the knockout stages as they prepare for a tough clash with world champions Germany in Paris on Thursday. But Krychowiak said: "We understood that the first match is very difficult, we were prepared for that. The next matches will show that we can be even better and go further. "We can do a lot, but we shouldn't be overly optimistic, having only won the first match. We should take it calmly with a cold-headed approach. We need to run our socks off, but I'm not hiding the fact that we want to win it."
Coach Didier Deschamps believes his players are ready to write a new page in the history of French football at Euro 2016 on Thursday when the hosts attempt to beat Germany for the first time for 58 years in a competitive match. The French go into the semi-final against the world champions in Marseille as underdogs. Even though they have twice won the European championship, they have not beaten their German neighbours outside of friendlies since the 1958 World Cup.
Aman Sehrawat's Olympic dream suffers a setback as he is comprehensively outclassed by top seed Rei Higuchi
A stunning double from captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic gave Sweden a 2-2 draw away to Denmark as they qualified for Euro 2016 on Tuesday by winning 4-3 on aggregate against their Scandinavian rivals.
European soccer's governing body, UEFA, launched disciplinary proceedings against the Russian Football Union on Sunday after violence marred the end of Russia's Euro 2016 match against England in Marseille on Saturday evening.
France may have ousted rivals Germany for the first time in 58 years but it will mean nothing if they lose Sunday's Euro 2016 final against a Portugal team that have had more recovery time, said Didier Deschamps.
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.
Rio-bound world champion Adam Peaty gave Britain their first swimming gold of the European aquatics championships on Tuesday with the fastest time of the year in the 100 metres breaststroke.
Iceland pulled off one of the greatest shocks in European Championship history when they recovered to beat England 2-1 in their last 16 clash on Monday and will now face hosts France in the quarter-finals. England got off to a dream start when Raheem Sterling was brought down by goalkeeper Hannes Halldorsson and Wayne Rooney confidently thumped home the penalty in the fourth minute.
European soccer's governing body warned the English and Russian football associations on Sunday that if fan violence continued their teams could be disqualified from the Euro 2016 tournament.
England manager Gareth Southgate pointed at fatigue and injuries as a reason England were unable to match Spain's control of much of the match or build on the momentum of Cole Palmer's 73rd minute equaliser after Nico Williams had put Spain ahead two minutes into the second half.
Everton's Romelu Lukaku has described himself as one of the most gifted strikers in world football after scoring 25 goals in all competitions for his Premier League club last season. Despite his form in front of goal Everton finished 11th and sacked manager Roberto Martinez, although Lukaku still rates the season as his finest in terms of individual achievement. "I'm among the best. That's good. Personally I am happy," Lukaku said in an interview with the June edition of World Soccer magazine. "I did expect to produce a season of this calibre." The 23-year-old is part of Belgium's squad for this month's European Championship in France, where his team play Italy, Ireland and Sweden in Group E.
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.
Danny Welbeck says he has emerged mentally stronger after a knee injury ruled him out of the 2016 European Championships and the 27-year-old is keen to make an impact in next month's World Cup in Russia.
Aritz Aduriz scored his first goal for Spain at the age of 35 to give the European champions a fortuitous 1-1 draw away to Italy in a Euro 2016 warm-up for both teams on Thursday.
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane says Frenchman Karim Benzema is "distraught" about being left out of the squad for this year's European Championship, the only major tournament to be played in his home country during his career.
Sam Allardyce is the obvious candidate to replace Roy Hodgson as England manager if the FA decide to go with a home-grown candidate for the job, former Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson has said.
German midfielder Ilkay Guendogan has joined Manchester City from Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund on a four-year deal, the Premier League club announced on Thursday.
The suggestion that Spain need to change their playing style is already meeting resistance even though another disappointing performance at a major soccer tournament suggests that tiki-taka has run its course. In many countries, a defeat as comprehensive as the one Spain suffered against Italy in Euro 2016 on Monday, when they were outplayed and lucky to lose only 2-0, would have led to calls to knock everything down and start again. In Spain, however, where many are proud of having such a distinctive style of play, there are plenty of voices calling for the team to continue trying to pass the ball all the way into the goal.
Fees paid by Premier League clubs passed one billion pounds for the first time, according to financial analysts Deloitte. That was inflated by the world record 89 million pounds ($115.98 million) that Manchester United paid Juventus for France midfielder Paul Pogba.
France is slowly but gaining momentum when it mattered most.
Despite putting unprecedented security measures in place for Euro 2016, France remains deeply concerned over the jihadists' ability to strike a soft target. Millions of foreign visitors and the world's press are set to descend on the country for a month of sporting action from Friday -- creating endless nightmares for its overstretched security services. "From the point of view of preparation, we have done as much as possible. Everyone has been mobilised: police, paramilitaries, many soldiers," a senior counter-terrorism official told AFP, on condition of anonymity. But, he said, "to be totally honest, I'm worried." President Francois Hollande acknowledged the threat on Sunday, though he tried to put a brave face on it. "This threat will last for a long time, unfortunately, so we must do everything to ensure that the Euro 2016 is a success," he told France Inter radio. Hollande's government introduced a state of emergency in the wake of last year's jihadist attacks in Paris, allowing police to raid homes and place people under house arrest with minimal oversight.
Real Madrid duo Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale are in the running with Atletico Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann for the UEFA Best Player in Europe Award.
Factbox on Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger, who announced his retirement from international football on Friday.
In 2015 Carolina Kostner was handed a 16-month ban for allegedly assisting her former boyfriend
Rediff.com brings you images from the May 9-22 meet. Enjoy the feast your eyes!
When UEFA decided eight years ago to expand the European Championship from 16 to 24 teams, its then president Michel Platini promised the standard of the tournament would not drop.
Aditi Ashok, currently enjoying her best LPGA season, is all set to compete in her 24th Major, most by any Indian golfer.
After tweaking his formation and starting lineup at Euro 2016, France coach Didier Deschamps seems to have found the perfect formula at just the right time. Thanks to his shrewd tactics, his team turned on the style to outplay Iceland 5-2 on Sunday and advance to an appetising semi-final battle with Germany. The fact that France, who had never got past the last eight at the finals since their 2000 triumph, managed to get almost everything right, has a lot to do with Deschamps' methods.
Poland reached the quarter-finals of Euro 2016 on Saturday when they beat Switzerland 5-4 in a penalty shootout after the sides had drawn 1-1 after extra-time. Granit Xhaka missed the second penalty for the Swiss when he fired his shot wide of the post.
Nolito is adamant that he will not allow growing speculation about his club future to become a distraction as he "lives a dream" with Spain at Euro 2016.
'I think it's a 50-50 match. My players know that. They (Poland) are here on their own merit' 'There will be a strong strategic component to this game, because if you concede four goals nobody can ensure you can score five'
Banned UEFA president Michel Platini will be allowed to attend matches at the European soccer Championship providing he does not do it in any official role, the European governing body's acting general secretary said on Wednesday.
Portugal's triumphant soccer team arrive home later on Monday on a plane named after the country's late football legend Eusebio and will continue their celebrations after the dramatic win over hosts France in the Euro 2016 final.
Spain and Italy have undergone managerial changes since Antonio Conte handed Vicente del Bosque a tactical masterclass at Euro 2016, but Spain go into Thursday's World Cup qualifier in Turin in better shape than their Group G rivals.
Iceland will head into their maiden appearance in a major tournament devoid of stage fright, their coach Lars Lagerback and key players said ahead of Tuesday's Euro 2016 Group F clash with Portugal in St Etienne.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player to score at four European Championship tournaments with a brilliant back-heel flick against Hungary at Euro 2016 on Wednesday after setting a finals appearance record.
Images from the Track and Field action at the Parish Olympics on Monday.
'We created so many chances and simply weren't effective with them. In fact we created a rainbow of different chances and there are just some days when the ball refuses to go in.'
