Football

Saudi Arabia has been selected to host the 2023 Club World Cup in December, FIFA announced on Tuesday. The FIFA Council unanimously voted for the Saudi Arabian Football Federation to stage the event, which includes the six continental champions plus the host's national champions. The tournament will take place from Dec. 12-22. Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia was selected by the Asian Football Confederation to host the 2027 Asian Cup. The country has previously hosted sporting events including this year's Spanish Super Cup,

Real Madrid has won the Club World Cup for a record-extending fifth time after beating Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal 5-3 in the final in Rabat, Morocco. Vinicius Junior scored twice and helped Karim Benzema in a third goal, while Federico Valverde added two more for the European champions in Saturday’s final, which turned into a shootout. Al-Hilal never led the match but showed it was no fluke that it had upset Brazil’s Flamengo to reach the decider in Morocco’s capital. Luciano Vietto scored twice

Real Madrid reached the Club World Cup final after goals from Vinicius Jr, Federico Valverde, Rodrygo and Sergio Arribas secured a 4-1 win over Egypt's Al Ahly in Morocco on Wednesday. Playing without several key starters like forward Karim Benzema and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, Real Madrid experienced a home field environment, with the local fans turning up the noise at the sold-out Prince Moulay Abdallah stadium in Rabat. The white Real Madrid jerseys outnumbered Al Ahly’s red by a huge margin and the

Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr was knocked of the Saudi Super Cup on Thursday after a 3-1 semi-final loss to Al Ittihad in Riyadh. The 37-year-old Portugal international, five-times Ballon d'Or winner, had a couple of chances to score but was well shackled by the Al Ittihad defence for most of the match. Anderson Talisca's goal for Al Nassr in the 67th minute was not enough to turn around the deficit from two first-half goals for Al Ittihad from Romarinho and Abderrazak Hamdallah. Muhannad

Al Nassr coach Rudi Garcia said that Cristiano Ronaldo was instrumental in helping his new team secure victory over Al Ettifaq on Sunday even though he was not involved in the only goal of the match. Anderson Talisca earned Al Nassr a 1-0 home win over Al Ettifaq, with Ronaldo making his Saudi Pro league debut as captain of the team. "It's a positive addition when you have a player like Ronaldo as he helps to distract the defenders, which is what happened

In a distinct way of celebrating country’s FIFA World Cup win, an Argentine farmer has grown a 124-acre image of Lionel Messi who took the team to historic win over France in last month’s world cup in Qatar. The field in Los Condores in central Cordoba province was sown using an algorithm that calculated where seeds would need to be planted so that when the corn grew it created a huge visual image of Messi’s bearded visage, news agency Reuters reported. The soccer-mad

88,966 people filled Lusail Stadium on December 18, 2022, while nearly 1.5 billion people watched the thrilling Final between Argentina and France from around the world. We take a look back at some statistics from on and off the field that illustrate the size of the biggest single sporting event in history, one month to the day after Lionel Messi, Lionel Scaloni, and La Albiceleste raised the cup. According to preliminary estimates, 5 billion people have followed the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022

Jim Ratcliffe's company INEOS has formally entered the bidding process to buy Premier League soccer club Manchester United, a spokesperson for the chemical firm said on Tuesday. The Glazer family, United's U.S. owners, said in November they had begun looking at options for the 20-times English champions, including new investment or a potential sale, 17 years after they bought the Old Trafford club. In August, British billionaire Ratcliffe, a long-time fan of the club, expressed interest in buying United, Reuters reported. "I can

It is unclear if it is the effect of hosting the 2022 men’s FIFA football World Cup, but fans from Qatar are in the top-10 when it comes to ticket buyers for the women’s World Cup to be held in Australia and New Zealand later this year. Qatar is No.5 on the list while Australia is No.1, followed by New Zealand, United States of America and England, according to a list put out by FIFA. The women’s World Cup will be held from

Barcelona win their first trophy since Lionel Messi left the club after they demolished fierce rival Real Madrid 3-1 to win the Spanish Super Cup. Barcelona had not lifted a trophy since the 2021 Copa del Rey under former coach Ronald Koeman. That was Messi’s 35th and final title with Barcelona before leaving amid the club’s financial struggles. Robert Lewandowski, Gavi and Pedri scored a goal each in the final at King Fahd Stadium to give Barcelona its first Super Cup trophy since

A Saudi Arabian businessman is leading bidding to watch the latest chapter in Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi’s celebrated rivalry in global soccer with a 10 million riyals ($2.66 million) offer for a ticket to a showpiece game. The Saudi government’s entertainment arm said on Twitter that Mushref Al-Ghamdi, general manager of real estate group AqarOne, was the leader so far in an auction ending on Jan. 17. The “Beyond Imagination” ticket is for a match featuring a combined team from Saudi clubs

FIFA World Cup 2022 finalists Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe have been nominated for the FIFA Best Men's Player Award 2022. Two-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo has failed to feature on FIFA's Best Men's Player shortlist. After headlining the FIFA World Cup 2022 final in Qatar, Paris Saint Germain (PSG) superstars Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe have been nominated for the FIFA Best Men's Player Award 2022. The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has shortlisted the candidates for the upcoming edition of The

Chelsea manager Graham Potter has described running the team as “probably the hardest job in football”, but said he is not looking for sympathy as he tries to salvage their season amid an injury crisis and after a summer of radical change across all areas of the club. Potter said expectations have remained high at Stamford Bridge despite a change in ownership in May, when a consortium headed by Todd Boehly completed a 4.25 billion pound ($5.17 billion) takeover and restructured the club.

As a tribute to the Brazilian football great Pele, PSG’s players including Lionel Messi and Neymar warmed up wearing T-shirts with Pelé’s face ahead of the Ligue 1 match against Angers at the Parc dess Princes on Wednesday. Pele, who won a record three World Cups, died in late December at the age of 82. Before kick-off, the players gave a minute of applause for Pele as well. The Brazil legend had passed away of cancer on December 29, 2022 in Sao Paulo.

African Portuguese speaking country Cape Verde became the first country responding to the call made by FIFA chief Gianni Infantino to name a stadium after apele, reported Sportbible. Following Pele’s death in December, Infantino paid tribute to the three-time World Cup winner at his memorial service in Brazil and proposed at the memorial service that each nation should name one stadium after Pele. Cape Verde Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva confirmed their Estadio Nacional de Cabo Verde would be renamed after Pele.

As the Qatar Football Association (QFA) on Tuesday announced the final 23-man Al Annabi team for the forthcoming competition to be held in Basra, Iraq, Muhammed Muntari would be absent from the 25th Arabian Gulf Cup. Muntari, who scored the lone goal for Qatar at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, was forced to withdraw from the competition after sustaining a knee injury in practise, according to the Qatar Football Association (QFA). The Al Duhail player was earlier named in the revamped 27-player

Portugal’s footballing superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has arrived in Riyadh ahead of his grand unveiling before thousands of fans at Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr club. After sealing a deal estimated at more than 200 million euros ($213m), the 37-year-old touched down in the Saudi Arabian capital late on Monday, according to Al Ekhbariya state-run TV. The five-time winner of the Ballon d’Or is staying at a luxury hotel in the city with a large entourage. “He brought a big team of assistants and even

Football legend Pele, who died Thursday at the age of 82, "transformed football into an art," said Brazil and Paris Saint-Germain superstar Neymar in a tribute to his country's greatest sporting icon. "Before Pele, '10' was just a number," the heir to Pele's famed jersey number wrote on Instagram, alongside two pictures of himself with the late legend. "But that beautiful sentence is incomplete. I would say that before Pele, football was just a sport. He transformed football into an art, into entertainment…

Kylian Mbappe said he will never get over the disappointment of losing the World Cup final after the France star scored the winner on his return to action for Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday. "I think I'm never going to get over it," Mbappe said, speaking 10 days after he scored a hat-trick in the final against Argentina which the South Americans won in a penalty shootout. Mbappe said he had been through some "difficult times" since the defeat but he showed few signs

Lionel Messi fulfilled his dream of lifting the FIFA World Cup trophy when Argentina defeat France in the final of the global event on December 18. One of the greatest footballers of the present generation, Messi had only won 1 major international trophy since his debut. He added another feather to his cap when Argentina lifted the trophy in Qatar. Messi has been enjoying his time away from the game since the final. But he is taking care of his fans and followers.