After a glittering career spent at European giants Barcelona, Juventus and AC Milan, former Dutch international Edgar Davids has dropped to the basement of English soccer to join fourth tier side Barnet.
Italian soccer is back in fashion and next week three of the four teams in the semi-finals of the Champions League will be from the peninsula.
World Cup winners Ronaldinho and Kaka were both left out of the Brazil's Confederations Cup squad on Tuesday as coach Luiz Felipe Scolari opted for youth ahead of experience.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter has criticised as inadequate a 50,000 euro fine handed to AS Roma for racist behaviour from their fans and said lessons had not been learned in Italian soccer.
The Brazilian ace said he is close to his best after making his first competitive appearance for over six months in AC Milan's 2-1 win at Cagliari on Sunday.
If Barcelona require extra inspiration as they prepare their bid to overturn a 4-0 Champions League semi-final deficit at home to Bayern Munich on Wednesday, they need look no further than La Liga rivals Deportivo La Coruna.
The Champions League is set for some much-needed drama this week with the conclusion of a group stage which has been all too predictable and produced an embarrassing procession of one-sided matches.
Maverick forward Mario Balotelli was given a three-match ban on Tuesday for insulting the fourth official at the end of AC Milan's 2-2 draw at Fiorentina at the weekend.
Now only Inter stand in the way of a treble that would match Manchester United's still unique feat of 1999.
Sunderland entrusted flamboyant Italian Paolo Di Canio with the task of securing their Premier League survival when they appointed him as head coach in place of the sacked Martin O'Neill on Sunday.
AC Milan midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng, who led a walk-off in a club friendly in January after being racially abused, believes the game needs to be more multi-cultural.
Italy will even be back to four teams in the Champions League group stage this season -- although that is thanks to a controversial re-formulation of the competition by UEFA rather than a significant improvement in performances by Serie A clubs.
Images from the Champions League matches played across Europe on Wednesday.
Images from the Champions League matches played across Europe on Wednesday.
World Player of the Year Lionel Messi scored twice as Barcelona became the first team to overturn a two-goal first-leg deficit without the benefit of an away goal to advance to the last eight 4-2 on aggregate. Following is a selection of reactions to Barcelona's 4-0 Champions League victory against AC Milan on Tuesday.
Lionel Messi has rarely been accused of failing to deliver in big games, having scored in two European Cup finals, but after subdued performances against AC Milan and Real Madrid, questions are being asked.
Thirteen teams have now qualified for the last 32 including Bayer Leverkusen, FC Zurich and Lazio who had already secured places in the next stage of the competition.
If Mario Balotelli had left his "Why Always Me?" T-shirt behind in Manchester, his former manager Roberto Mancini might well have fancied wearing it on Friday.
Barcelona and Atletico Madrid dropped their first points of the season on Saturday, missing the chance to equal the record for the best-ever La Liga start.
German referee Herbert Fandel will be in charge for Wednesday's Champions League final between AC Milan and Liverpool.
The AC Milan striker says it's not revenge against Liverpool but another chance for his team to make a mark on history.
The 38-year-old is struggling to shake off a knee injury he picked up in Milan's 3-2 defeat at Old Trafford last week.
Deducting points from teams whose fans or players are guilty of racism is a better way of tackling the problem than players walking off the pitch and abandoning matches, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said on Monday.
Two goals by Wayne Rooney, the second in stoppage time, gave the English side victory in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final.
A touch of romance has returned to the Champions League quarter-finals with seven countries, including Cyprus, represented in this week's first legs with AC Milan-Barcelona topping the bill.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was charged with improper conduct by UEFA Wednesday for comments made about the referee following Arsenal's Champions League exit to AC Milan.
AC Milan has made a 4 million-pound offer offer for the Brazilian striker.
Juventus slumped to another surprise defeat on Wednesday when the champions lost 1-0 at Sassuolo while AS Roma reclaimed top spot in Serie A with a 3-1 home victory over Udinese.
Arsenal's miserable week got worse on Saturday when they were knocked out of the FA Cup in a 2-0 fifth round defeat at Sunderland while beleaguered Chelsea fared only slightly better by scraping a 1-1 draw against second tier Birmingham City.
Retired Ukraine striker Andriy Shevchenko has been asked to coach the national team seeking to qualify for the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil, the Ukraine soccer federation said on Monday.
Former World Footballer of the Year Rivaldo, 40, has left Kabuscorp after completing a short-term contract with the Angolan team.
Jose Mourinho has rejected the notion Roman Abramovich interfered in team affairs in his first spell as Chelsea manager and also denied the Russian owner went over his head to land big-money buy Andriy Shevchenko in 2006.
Portugal kick off their Euro 2020 campaign against Hungary on Tuesday at Ferenc Puskas Stadium.
Ronaldinho was given a welcome even bigger than Brazil great Zico when he was officially unveiled as Flamengo's new signing to a samba beat on Wednesday. More than 20,000 fans, entertained by singers and dancers while they waited, swarmed the Flamengo headquarters to greet the gifted, party-loving forward with the toothy grin who was transferred from AC Milan this week.
Cristiano Ronaldo reacted angrily to being substituted during Juventus' win over AC Milan as he gave coach Maurizio Sarri a dirty look and walked straight down the tunnel.
New AC Milan loan signing David Beckham has acknowledged that playing for Los Angeles Galaxy has affected his England career and said he is glad to be back at a top class side. Beckham, who joins the Serie A club in January on a two-month loan during the US close season, flew into Milan on Saturday and completed a medical before being presented at a packed San Siro news conference full of glitz.
AC Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko will miss Champions League clash with Manchester United due to injury.
Paraguay striker Oscar Cardozo's well-taken double fired Benfica into a Europa League final with Chelsea after they beat Fenerbahce 3-1 in Lisbon to win their semi-final 3-2 on aggregate.
