A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
Argentina will play at Jerusalem's Teddy Kollek Stadium on Saturday night in a World Cup warm-up match that has attracted huge interest among the Israeli fans, mainly because of Messi's planned participation. But the Palestinians are not happy that the match will be held in Jerusalem and Palestinian FA chief Jibril Rajoub wrote to Claudio Tapia, the head of the Argentinian FA, last week accusing Israel of using the match as a "political tool".
Real Madrid top Forbes' most valuable soccer teams list, followed by their La Liga counterparts, FC Barcelona. Here is the list of the 10 most valuable soccer teams (in billions):
Atletico Madrid are unaware of a possible transfer embargo after Spanish media reported FIFA were set to bar the club and city rivals Real Madrid from the next two windows.
Argentina defender Marcos Rojo dislocated his shoulder in Manchester United's 1-0 defeat at Manchester City on Sunday, their manager Louis van Gaal confirmed.
Sergio Busquets has recovered from COVID-19 and is to rejoin the squad immediately
Only three Black players have made their England debut since 2000 - the most recent being Jofra Archer who is in England's squad to face the West Indies this week in the first test.
Paris' police chief said on Monday he would be receiving thousands of reinforcements ahead of the Euro 2016 soccer tournament and that his force was as prepared as it could be to face the risk of a militant attack in the French capital.
Former England soccer captain David Beckham's success on the field and appeal to sponsors have made him an estimated fortune of 160 million pounds to put him top of the Sunday Times Sport Rich List published this weekend.
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson insists he has felt "very safe" since his club returned to training amid the coronavirus crisis
Images for Sunday's closing ceremony at the Tokyo Olympics.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Taiwan reopened baseball games to a limited number of fans on Friday for the first time since controls were imposed to limit the spread of the coronavirus, part of government efforts to slowly allow normal life to resume. Taiwan has been relatively successful at controlling the virus, with 440 cases to date and 6 deaths, with only 85 active infections, thanks to early prevention and detection efforts.
Supporters will be offered free water and paper caps and fans to help them keep cool, officials said.
UEFA issued a strong statement jointly with English, Spanish and Italian leagues and football federations, saying they were ready to use "all measures" to confront any breakaway and saying any participating clubs would be banned from domestic leagues, such as the Premier League.
FIFA technical director Marco van Basten would like to see how football works without offside and limit the number of fouls a player can commit during a game.
Egypt's worst soccer violence claimed at least 74 lives in the northern city of Port Said, plunging the nation into rage and prompting protests and clashes with the police in Cairo.
Atletico meet city rivals Real Madrid in the final at Jeddah.
Brazilian soccer legend Pele has said he fears that violent protests in Brazil could ruin the upcoming 2014 World Cup.
The Champs Elysees and the vast circle around the Arc de Triomphe were packed with an estimated 200,000 fans
Claudio Ranieri has received an honour from the Italian president after the soccer manager led rank outsiders Leicester City to the top of the English Premier League.
Leicester City's Nampalys Mendy fired home the decisive spot kick as they beat Southampton 6-5 on penalties after a 0-0 draw, on Tuesday, to book a League Cup quarter-final with holders Manchester City.
Some semblance of normality returned to battle-scarred Aleppo for a few hours on Saturday as local soccer clubs Al Ittihad and Horiyah met in the first derby in the city for five years.
Colombian soccer supporters brought a wave of tropical exuberance to the stolid citizens of Saransk
Football fever has gripped the French capital and sales of the national team's soccer shirts are surging ahead of France's World Cup final against Croatia.
Cristiano Ronaldo muscled his way into Instagram's top-followed ranks this year as he documented his career and growing family, but pop star Selena Gomez still reigned supreme on the social media platform.
Olivier Giroud says criticism has always motivated him to do better and the 31-year-old is pleased to silence his detractors with his stellar work rate in his team's World Cup triumph in Russia.
Croatia achieved their best-ever result in the tournament in losing Sunday's match to France, surpassing the third place finish of 1998.
An ambitious project to awaken a sleeping giant of Asian soccer looks like confirming Nobel laureate Amartya Sen's famous remark that India pricks up its ears only when comparisons with China are made. With China embarked on a multi-billion dollar mission to become a soccer superpower by 2050, India looks set to follow suit with its own plan to raise its status in the game to match its burgeoning economic power. Come October, India, most famously described as soccer's sleeping giant by former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, will launch a programme to engage more than 11 million children in soccer-related activities.
Hundreds of Argentines protested in the pouring rain on Saturday, demanding that soccer star Lionel Messi return to Argentina's national team after he unexpectedly quit following a loss in the regional Copa America final.
It is a very different victory of Maradona that fascinates me even more, notes ad guru Sandeep Goyal.
Spanish soccer clubs Villarreal and Getafe have denied any wrongdoing after national media reported on Friday that police are investigating possible match-fixing in a 2-2 draw between the two clubs in La Liga last year. Newspaper El Pais reported that the match was being looked at as part of Operation Oikos, which was launched last year and led to 11 people being arrested on suspicion of forming a match-fixing group to profit from betting on games.
Many Black athletes have spoken out about their treatment by the police.
Ronaldo, who won the award last year, topped the scoring charts with 15 goals in the competition as Real Madrid won a third consecutive European crown.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola defiantly wore a yellow ribbon on his suit in support of jailed pro-independence Catalan politicians during his side's 3-0 League Cup final victory over Arsenal at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.
IOC stunned many Games organisers last month by announcing that the marathon, one of the most prestigious events at any Olympics, would be moved to the northern Japanese city of Sapporo to avoid the worst of Tokyo's summer heat.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
After the match between Argentina and Iceland, an Argentine journalist hands over to Messi a red ribbon at a post-match press briefing.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Japanese actress Satomi Ishihara performed the first 'torch kiss' handover of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics torch relay on Saturday during a rehearsal on the outskirts of the capital. The rehearsal comes amid worries the coronavirus outbreak could throw cold water on the Games. Japan, among the worst affected outside China where the virus is believed to have originated, reported its first death from the virus on Friday.
