The stability and pragmatism of Carlos Queiroz's seven-year reign has firmly established Iran's as Asia's number one team, but the nation will go to the World Cup hoping to advance for the first time to the knockout phase.
Blatter quits FIFA; under investigation by US prosecutors, FBI.
Brazilian soccer legend Pele is doing 'fine' and will be discharged from a Sao Paulo hospital early on Thursday after he was admitted for stomach pains, one of his aides said.
Mumbai FC coach Khalid Jamil looks back on his playing days and the challenge of coaching.
The election to replace outgoing Sepp Blatter will take place at an extraordinary congress on February 26 in Zurich.
Alisson was shown a red card after 25 minutes for a fierce tackle and another in stoppage time
European countries will be able to bid to host the 2026 World Cup only if none of the eligible candidates are good enough, soccer's governing body said on Friday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Running highlights from FIFA's congress. World soccer's governing body has voted on a series of reforms and will elect a new president later on Friday (all times GMT): 13.30 The voting process is proving a long, drawn out affair. After an hour's voting, we have crawled to L for Latvia with little to get excited about apart from the brief appearance of Davor Suker, Golden Boot winner as the top scorer at the 1998 World Cup, as he cast Croatia's vote. Time then for a reminder that for a candidate to be elected in the first round, he must obtain at least 138 votes, two-thirds of the 207 votes cast. If this does not happen, a second round is held. This time, a simple majority -- 104 votes, which represents more than 50 percent of the votes -- is sufficient for a candidate to be elected. If no candidate gets that majority, the one with fewest votes will be eliminated and a new round will be held. This continues until one candidate obtains a majority. 12.45. Having begun his speech by promising to "die with my boots on", Sexwale ends it by withdrawing from the race, "I have got a surprise for you. My campaign ends today and I suspend my participation. With only four people it is your problem now." Markus Kattner, FIFA general secretary then reminds delegates of the voting procedure, reminding them not to photograph their ballot papers.
The South American and Asian World Cup qualifiers which were due to be played have already been postponed. However, European body UEFA has not yet called off the Euro 2020 play-off matches which involve a total of 16 teams.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
The Women's U-17 World Cup is scheduled to be held from November 2 to 21 with matches to be played in Navi Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar and Guwahati.
The report said there was no corruption in bidding process. It criticised England's bid for the 2018 tournament for "inappropriate requests" from former CONCACAF president Jack Warner, a FIFA powerbroker at the time, in what it said was "an apparent violation of bidding rules". However, the report said ethics investigator Michael Garcia intended to open formal investigations against individuals, who were not named.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday.
Tokyo Sexwale withdrew from the FIFA presidential race minutes before the vote on Friday, announcing his decision at the very end of his candidate's speech.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Asia's representatives are once again heading home before the business end of the World Cup gets going.
Juventus rehire Allegri.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been named Sweden's footballer of the year for the ninth time and although his eighth victory in a row came as no shock, his acceptance speech showing a more sensitive side surprised many.
'There is a Jack Warner or two in every Caribbean parliament today.'
What's in Michel Platini's head at the moment is how to take Sepp Blatter's job, and whether the Swiss can conspire to stop him.
Sepp Blatter was re-elected president of FIFA for a fifth term on Friday after the only other candidate conceded defeat after a first round of voting in an election overshadowed by allegations of corruption in world soccer.Sepp Blatter was re-elected president of FIFA for a fifth term on Friday after the only other candidate conceded defeat after a first round of voting in an election overshadowed by allegations of corruption in world soccer. Blatter's victory came despite demands that he quit in the face of a major bribery scandal being investigated by U.S., Swiss and other law enforcement agencies that plunged the world soccer body into the worst crisis in its 111-year history. Neither Blatter nor Jordanian challenger Prince Ali bin Al Hussein got the necessary two thirds of the vote in the first round, with Blatter on 133 and Prince Ali on 73. Prince Ali later conceded. In a victory speech, Blatter declared: "Let's go FIFA, let's go FIFA," to a standing ovation. Speaking just before the vote, Blatter, who joined FIFA in 1975, said he felt that he had only been with the organisation for a short time and wanted to stay longer. "What is time anyway. I find that the time I have spent at FIFA is very short," he said. "The more one ages the more time flies by quickly. I am with you, and I would like to stay with you," he said to applause.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Former FIFA vice-president Chung Mong-joon, one of the most influential figures in Asian soccer, told Reuters on Thursday he is entering the race to replace Sepp Blatter as president of football's world governing body.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
With the number of teams participating in the ICC events - like the World Cup - increasing on a regular basis, the whole idea of a separate tournament for Asian nations seems far-fetched. Is a tournament like the Asia Cup still relevant?
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Quaison fires Sweden to extra-time World Cup playoff win over Czechs
World soccer's governing body FIFA will proceed with an election to pick a new president on Friday to replace the disgraced Sepp Blatter and vote on a set of reforms aimed at restoring its credibility after the worst graft scandal in its history.
Unless the world of soccer shifts on its axis at the end of this month, Sepp Blatter will be re-elected as FIFA president.
A European-led boycott of FIFA or the World Cup is unrealistic.
Summary of World Cup qualifiers played across the world on Thursday
Mbappe and Benzema inspire France to 2-0 win against Finland
An inspired performance from Douglas Costa helped Brazil to a 3-0 win over Peru on Tuesday and lifted them into third place in the South American qualifying group for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
A round-up of the World Cup qualifying matches played on Friday.
