A round-up of Tuesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.
England must ignore talks about their Euro 2016 prospects and focus instead on getting off to a good start in their tournament opener against Russia on Saturday, midfielder Adam Lallana has said. Warm-up victories over Turkey, Australia and Portugal have raised hopes of Roy Hodgson's charges ending the country's 50-year wait for a major international trophy since England's World Cup triumph in 1966. "All the team's focus will be on Russia now. It's the first game, you don't want to lose your first match and it's important we get off to a good start and build from there," Lallana told British media. "I think it's important to treat it as much of a normal game as you can. There's always going to be hype but if we concentrate on our football and don't get too caught up in the emotion and what comes with it then I'm sure we'll be fine."
France earned a rollercoaster 4-2 home win over Croatia in an entertaining top-tier Nations League Group 3 match, while England were held to a 0-0 draw by Denmark in an uninspiring game.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
A round-up of Tuesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.
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.
Cristiano Ronaldo was awarded the Ballon d'Or for world player of the year on Thursday for a joint-record fifth time, going level with eternal rival and Barcelona forward Lionel Messi as the player to have won the prize the most times.
Italy coach Giovanni Trapattoni had hoped Paolo Maldini could be persuaded to come back.
Real's Cristiano Ronaldo will be going in search of his third consecutive World Player of the Year award
When Michel Platini revamped the European Championship, turning the finals from a tough, lean 16-team tournament in 2012 into a flabby, 'roll up, anybody's welcome' 24-side affair in 2016, it was not surprising he ran into a blizzard of rebukes.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
'It was surprising and I think that even though there were motives and reasons behind the decision, the players had no say in it and it was not the right time'
Belgium will boast the most valuable squad at Euro 2016, with their 23 players worth over 50 million pounds ($72.54 million) more than world champions Germany, according to a study. Marc Wilmots's squad are worth 318.9 million pounds, according to an analysis by bookmakers Profit Accumulator, which looked at the most recent transfer fees paid for the 23 players representing each nation at the tournament in France. That puts Belgium well ahead of the next most valuable squads from Germany (264.5 million), England (189.7m) and France (183m). Belgium's squad have an average transfer fee of 13.9 million pounds, with Manchester City's Kevin de Bruyne topping the list having joined the English club for 55 million.
Morocco winger Nordin Amrabat has been discharged from hospital but he will not play in the side's next World Cup Group B clash against Portugal on Wednesday after suffering concussion in the 1-0 loss to Iran, officials said.
FIFA presidential candidate Luis Figo will hope to convince delegates at this week's Asian Football Confederation Congress that a vote for him would boost the region's chances of more places in future World Cup finals.
Former Manchester United star Paul Scholes has signed a marquee deal to play for the next three editions of Premier Futsal, with the inaugural season scheduled to be held next month, the League announced, on Thursday.
Cristiano Ronaldo signed off his stellar 2016 in style on Sunday, scoring a hat-trick to lift Real Madrid to Club World Cup glory and underline his status as the world's best player.
'I asked the coach for an explanation. An explanation can be just two minutes long. It's not complicated ... But I am still at the coach's disposal. The coach knows this' 'I have the feeling that my name is being manipulated for reasons that have nothing to do with football'
Hungary made their first appearance at a European Championship for 44 years a memorable occasion by grabbing their goal chances to score a 2-0 win over old rivals Austria in a Group F clash on Tuesday. Austria, riding a wave of national euphoria following an impressive qualifying run, were the better side for most of the game but left the pitch still dreaming of their first-ever win in the finals. The two teams, meeting for the 138th time, started the tournament with reasonable hopes of emerging from a group that also features Portugal and Iceland who meet later on Tuesday in St Etienne.
Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo is comfortably the most influential soccer player online in China.
A round-up of Wednesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.
From the planet's costliest player Neymar to 'tiki-taka' kings Xavi and Iniesta to the ultimate sorcerer Ronaldinho, the FIFA Under-17 World Cup has been the cradle for many of world football's household names.
Spain defender Dani Carvajal spoke out on Thursday in favour of his side's interim coach Fernando Hierro
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who is also a member of the MCC's World Cricket Committee, is not in favour of tinkering with the hugely popular Twenty20 format as mooted by the England and Wales Cricket Board.
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.
Norway goalkeeper Oda Maria Bogstad was told she would have to self-isolate for 14 days after returning from Portugal due to fears about the spread of the coronavirus. Bogstad flew from Oslo to Bergen and with the Norwegian FA also cancelling all football activity until at least April 15 to try to contain the virus, she decided not to stick around.
A summary of Sunday's action in the Premier League.
More than one billion television viewers watched last year's World Cup soccer final between Germany and Argentina in Brazil although audience figures for the tournament were slightly down because of adverse kickoff times, according to a FIFA report.
The football fever reaches sky-high with all eyes on Euro 2016. Tournament host France will play the opener against Romania, which will be aired in India post mid-night on June 11. As the UEFA braces for the 15th edition of the European continental championship, the tournament organisers have revealed the all time XI to play in Euro's history.
Real Madrid will be without forward pair Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, midfielder Toni Kroos and defender Pepe for Tuesday's UEFA Super Cup encounter with Sevilla in Trondheim, Norway.
Portugal's football team captain Cristiano Ronaldo's agent has revealed that the forward would play out the rest of his career at Real Madrid, shunning reports of a return to Manchester United.
France substitute Kylian Mbappe engineered two late goals to rescue a 2-2 draw against Iceland and spare the blushes of the world champions in their friendly.
Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo won the FIFA Ballon d'Or award for the second year running and the third overall on Monday after a prolific, trophy-filled year with Real Madrid.
No one expects Nigeria to win, but by now everyone knows that shirt...
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has criticised FIFA's Ballon d'Or award given to the world's best player for glorifying the individual at the expense of the team.
A round-up of Wednesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.
