The top four European leagues will each have four guaranteed places in the Champions League group stage from 2018/19 under changes announced by European soccer body UEFA on Friday.
The expanded European soccer Championship format with 24 teams in the finals instead of 16 contributed to fairytale runs by so-called minnows at Euro 2016 but also helped Portugal lift their first major trophy. The new formula introduces an extra knockout stage, the round of 16, with the top two teams in each of the six groups going through as well as the four best third-placed sides. Portugal did just that, finishing third in their group and going on to win the tournament with a 1-0 victory in extra time over hosts France in Sunday's final.
CSKA Moscow must close part of their stadium for their next Champions League home game following the racist abuse hurled at ManchesterCity's Yaya Toure by the Russian club's fans last week, UEFA said on Wednesday.
Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter lost his appeal against a six-year ban for ethics violations, imposed amid the biggest corruption scandal to shake the world soccer body, the Court of Arbitration for Sport said.
Russia and Ukraine will be put into different groups at the 2018 World Cup finals if the Ukrainians qualify and relations between the two countries do not improve, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Tuesday.
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.
Disgraced FIFA officials, suspended UEFA chief Michel Platini and Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi were amongst the names found on Sunday in leaked documents which reveal offshore financial dealings.
FIFA's Sepp Blatter may have been banned for eight years from the game but he is still receiving his president's salary from world soccer's governing body, a spokesman for FIFA's Audit and Compliance Committee told Reuters on Monday.
Switzerland's Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) named the men as Alfredo Hawit of Honduras, acting president of the CONCACAF federation and a FIFA vice-president, and Juan Angel Napout of Paraguay, head of the South American football federation CONMEBOL. CONCACAF administers football in North and Central America and the Caribbean.
Antoine Griezmann had plenty of painful memories to erase in Thursday's European Championship semi-final against Germany and he did that in style, scoring twice to lead the host nation to an historic 2-0 victory over the world champions.
Used to relying heavily on one key player for their European glory in the past -- Michel Platini and Zinedine Zidane in the 1984 and 2000 tournaments respectively -- French fans have two talented players on whom to pin their hopes at Euro 2016.
Here is a look at what happened in their previous Euro semis...
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter acknowledged on Friday that he failed to reform the scandal-ridden world soccer organisation but asserted he was not responsible for corruption in its regional organisations.
A look at the last 16 team as Euro 2020 enters the knockout phase.
Thirty-two countries, ranging from Finland and Sweden to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Macedonia and Kazakhstan, have declared interest in hosting matches at Euro 2020 which will be staged across the continent.
The Swiss is out of sight as FIFA corruption scandal deepens
Gianni Infantino's bid for the FIFA presidency with the aim of leading the world football body out of the worst graft scandal in its history was boosted on Friday when the Swiss lawyer won "overwhelming" backing from Europe's football associations.
Leading sponsors of football's world governing body have demanded independent oversight of FIFA's reform process in an open letter published on Tuesday ahead of a key meeting to finalise proposed reforms at the scandal-plagued organisation.
"A clean break from the past is essential for FIFA to climb out of the toxic pit which continues to produce serious accusations of corrupt behaviour on almost a daily basis," FIFPro said in a statement.
'I know he wants to quit, and he will do it'
FIFA president Sepp Blatter, already facing a criminal investigation from Swiss prosecutors, may now come under scrutiny from his organisation's own ethics investigators if they find evidence of potential wrongdoing, according to FIFA's ethics procedure.
A Swiss national who has run soccer's powerful governing body for the past 17 years, 79-year-old FIFA boss Sepp Blatter has now for the first time become the focus of a criminal investigation.
Aleksander Ceferin, the president of Slovenia's football federation, was overwhelmingly elected as the new head of European soccer's governing body UEFA at an extraordinary Congress on Wednesday.
The 25-year-old striker, who stands 1.76 metres tall, caught the eye on the big stage against Germany, driving home a penalty at the end of the first half before poking in the ball on 72 minutes following a rare blunder by Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
La Liga has taken legal action against 10 people who allegedly threatened Ukraine international Roman Zozulya following his move to Rayo Vallecano last week, the Spanish league said in a statement on Thursday.
FIFA presidential candidate Jerome Champagne said that as head of soccer's governing body he would seek to move the 2022 Qatar World Cup from November-December to late European spring - a step that would please European associations by averting disruption of their season.
Opponents of FIFA President Sepp Blatter should run against him instead of merely criticising his decision to go for another term at the helm of world soccer's governing body, Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke said on Friday.
FIFA presidential candidate Zico believes that the rules for electing the head of soccer's governing body are unfair, outdated and subject voting federations to outside pressure.
UEFA elects a new president on Wednesday whose main task will be to stop what European officials say is an inexorable slide towards a breakaway football Super League open only to wealthy clubs such as Real Madrid and Manchester City.
If history ultimately judges the finest talents by their achievements on the international stage, where neither player has tasted success, then the Portuguese captain could use Sunday's Euro 2016 final to land a haymaker blow in one of football's great rivalries.
Six months ago Gianni Infantino was a low-profile right-hand man to European soccer boss Michel Platini. He was the striking, shaven-headed character who pulled balls out of glass pots during televised UEFA competition draws. Barely-known by the general public, he was also the man behind a complex attempt to force Europe's clubs to reign in their spending, but which ended up leaving fans and even club directors confused. On Friday, Infantino was chosen as the new president of FIFA, a position which made his predecessor Sepp Blatter as instantly recognisable as some of the world's leading statesman. It was a remarkable leap for the affable Swiss-Italian. The polyglot lawyer only entered the FIFA race in late October, one day before the deadline, as a stop-gap candidate after Platini had been placed under investigation for ethics violations.
'I am seeking the presidency of FIFA because I believe it is time to shift the focus away from administrative controversy and back to sport' 'The world game deserves a world-class governing body -- an International Federation that is a service organisation and a model of ethics, transparency and good governance'
FIFA president Sepp Blatter is a mere servant at the service of football, he said on Friday as he re-stated his intention to run for a fifth mandate in next May's election.
Sepp Blatter has not ruled out trying to stay on as FIFA's president beyond February's scheduled election, despite facing a criminal investigation and a possible internal ethics probe.
A round-up of Friday's Euro 2020 qualifying matches.
World champions Germany will not be present at the Euro 2016 final in Paris after being knocked out by hosts France 0-2 at Marseille. French football fans painted the town red, white and blue after Antoine Griezmann scored twice to take his country within a striking distance from European glory. The Les Blues will now face Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal in the final at Paris.
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.
UEFA president Michel Platini has repeated his call for the "triple punishment" of red card, penalty and suspension to be dropped following two controversial dismissals in the Champions League this week.
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.
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