Football

Four soccer games in Mexico were postponed when violence erupted near the city of Guadalajara following a military operation that killed the cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera, and Fifa is monitoring the situation in that 2026 World Cup host city. Oseguera — whose nickname “El Mencho” and involvement with the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG turned him into one of Mexico’s most-wanted drug lords — died in custody after suffering injuries during a special forces operation on Mexico’s Pacific coast in Jalisco

Fifa president Gianni Infantino said he is determined to see that Russia's four-year suspension from international competitions "is lifted because it has achieved nothing". Russian clubs and the national team were banned from Fifa and Uefa competitions after their invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. “This ban has not produced anything positive at all; it has only created more frustration and hatred,” Infantino said. “If we could play football in other parts of Europe with Russian girls and boys, it would probably do a power of good.”

Pep Guardiola vowed Manchester City will not give up the Premier League title without a fight after his team failed to get on the scoresheet in a damaging 2-2 draw at Tottenham on Sunday. Guardiola’s team ran riot in north London courtesy of first half strikes from Rayan Cherki and Antoine Semenyo. But City crumbled after the break. Dominic Solanke bundled home to pull one back, meeting the ball off with what appeared to be a kick on the back of City defender Marc Guehi’s leg as

Strutting in like a Neymar with his wing runs and Yamal with his hairstyle, Soham Bhagawati has stunned a lot of footballers in Spain where the Dubai lad plays club football. But what has further startled them is Soham’s Indian passport. “Many people don’t put India on the map in terms of this level of football. They are genuinely shocked when I tell them that I’m an Indian,” the 22-year-old recalled. “But the people here they value the fact that someone has travelled this far out of

Kieran Tierney and Kenny McLean scored injury-time wonder-goals to help Scotland to a 4-2 win over Denmark on Tuesday and book their place at the 2026 World Cup, while Spain also secured their place with a 2-2 draw against Turkey. Belgium romped to a 7-0 win over Liechtenstein to qualify for next year's competition and Switzerland and Austria managed draws to guarantee their places in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Scotland's late action in Glasgow sees Steve Clarke's team qualify for the

Premier League 2025: Man City crush Liverpool in Guardiola's 1,000th match. Manchester City made a winning statement to mark Pep Guardiola's 1000th game in management with a 3-0 victory over Liverpool and moved to within four points of Premier League leaders Arsenal. Missed an early penalty, Erling Haaland could not stop there as he headed his 99th Premier League goal before Nico Gonzalez's deflected strike and a wonder goal from Jeremy Doku confirmed City as Arsenal's main challengers for the title. Liverpool's problems

Pep Guardiola admitted he was not happy to ask Manchester City to play so defensively as Gabriel Martinelli's stoppage-time equaliser rescued a 1-1 draw for Arsenal on Sunday. Guardiola resorted to an unusually conservative second-half game-plan at the Emirates Stadium in a bid to hold on after Erling Haaland's ninth-minute opener. However, the City manager's decision to substitute Norway striker Haaland and withdraw England forward Phil Foden in a switch to a back five ultimately backfired. Arsenal were able to monopolise possession with

On the other hand, Mikel Merino managed to score three goals along a 6-0 away win the Turkey team, while Germany successfully initiated their bid beating Northern Ireland 3-1, as the talented Florian Wirtz scored from a brilliant free kick.  Spain, the reigning European champions, demonstrated relentless offense as Merino scored his first professional hat trick. he also recorded his first ever as midfiel Merino plays for Arsenal. This match also marks as Spains second largest away victory in a world cup qualifier.

Earlier Sunday, City thrashed Al Ain 6-1 to move into the tournament's last 16 after Real Madrid overcame a first-half dismissal to defeat Mexican team Pachuca 3-1. The second round of group games at the tournament was concluded with Juventus proving too strong for Wydad Casablanca and Red Bull Salzburg drawing 0-0 with Al Hilal. City took an early lead through Ilkay Gundogan before 19-year-old Claudio Echeverri scored his first goal for the club from a free-kick with Erland Haaland converting the third from the penalty

Barcelona claimed their 28th La Liga title on Thursday by defeating Espanyol, claiming the title after a city derby win and achieving a seven-point buffer with two matches left to play. Reeling from a Sunday loss where they fell 4-3 to Barcelona, Real were in dire need of victory themselves. Now, they have to win their last three matches, and Barca need to earn no more than one point for Real to have any chance of Barcelona winning the title. The Madrid side's

Arsenal was trailing 1-0 after the first leg of their semi-final of the Champions League tournament and Mikel Arteta was eager for a “special” display in the second leg, especially after PSG's Ousmane Dembele impressed during the first leg.  Dembélé scored at the fourth minute mark during the first half clash at Emirates Stadium. Arsenal had numerous attempts at leveling the score. The match was very intense and both teams missed key chances. PSG squandered further clear chances to seize control of the

Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy is to leave the Premier League club at the end of the season after their relegation, ending an era in which he became one of the greats of an overachieving team. Vardy, a one-million pound ($1.33 million) signing from fifth-tier outfit Fleetwood Town in 2012, has become the club’s best modern era player, with 198 goals from all competitions. His best-known achievement, however, came as he steered Leicester to the Premier League title in 2015-16, when the team that had

Inter Milan's treble hopes are alive and well after reaching the semifinals of the Champions League on Wednesday with a 2-2 draw against Bayern Munich, with the Serie A giants winning a thrilling last-eight tie 4-3 on aggregate. The reigning Serie A champions Inter face Barcelona in the semis after goals from captain Lautaro Martinez and Benjamin Pavard in quick succession erased a goal from Bayern's Harry Kane which had balanced the tie in the 52nd minute. Dier’s looping header in the 76th minute put

Shattered aspirations of the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualification, the UAE football team 2026 will be keen for a new beginning under a new coach after Paulo Bento was discharged on Wednesday. The Portuguese was sacked the morning after his side successfully secured the chance to qualify directly for the World Cup by grabbing victory in a dramatic finish against North Korea in Riyadh. Sultan Adil struck deep into stoppage time for a 2-1 victory against the North Koreans in a tense encounter as the UAE

UAE football coach dismissal confirmed, Arabian industry cashing in on global talent "The UAE Football Association announced today the decision to dismiss Paulo Bento, the head coach of the UAE national team, along with his coaching staff. It comes after the UAE began their Group A quest in the AFC World Cup qualifiers with a 2-1 victory over North Korea on Tuesday. The result moved the UAE on to 13 points, four behind second-placed Uzbekistan with only two games remaining. Paulo Bento was appointed as head

Argentina World Cup: Argentina Qualify After Thrashing Brazil 4-1. Brazil were thrashed 4-1 by their arch foes Argentina in South American World Cup qualification on Tuesday as pressure on manager Dorival Jr mounted after his team was completely outclassed and it could easily have been more. Brazil, who had edged past Colombia 2-1 at home on Thursday, fell back to earth with a crash against the world champions, who kicked off the rout with a close-range effort by Julian Alvarez four minutes after the kick-off.

If Hajime Moriyasu's side can maintain their formidable form in Asia's qualifiers at Saitama Stadium against Bahrain on Thursday, then Japan will be the first nation to book their place at the 2026 World Cup. A win would ensure the Japanese end the matchday second in Group C and advance to next year's finals alongside co-hosts the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The Japanese have taken six qualifiers and only dropped two points - a 1-1 draw with Australia in October - and boast a 10-point

On Tuesday, New Zealand's openers blasted sixes to gip Pakistan by 5 wickets and take 2-0 lead in their Twenty20 series. In the second match of the rain-abbreviated series, Pakistan scored 135-9 off 15 overs while the home team was able to 137-5 with 11 balls to spare in Dunedin to go 2-0 up in the five-match series. But New Zealand's standout was a brutal opening partnership featuring Tim Seifert and Finn Allen — seven of the first eight scoring shots in the innings were sixes.

A 1-0 loss at Arsenal on Sunday saw Chelsea's bid for a spot in next season's Champions League stagnate, while Fulham had an easy 2-0 win over Tottenham. Arsenal moved back up to second and within 12 points of Liverpool as Mikel Merino netted the only goal of a poor game at the Emirates. Chelsea could have really done with the absence of Cole Palmer through illness, as they meekly capitulated in a costly defeat to their top-four aspirations. Now, the Blues remain in fourth place,

After defeating Feyenoord 2-1 on Tuesday Inter Milan completed their smooth 4-1 aggregate win to set up their quarterfinal match against Bayern Munich in the Champions League. Thanks to early goals from Marcus Thuram and a penalty from Hakan Calhanoglu at San Siro Inter comfortably advanced to the last eight stage before meeting Bayern Munich in a highly anticipated quarterfinal. Inter Milan leads the Serie A standings and Italian media speculate that Simone Inzaghi's squad can replicate the treble of league and Italian