French soccer legend Zinedine Zidane Friday warned against voting for Marine Le Pen's National Front in the run-off in France's presidential election on May 7, repeating his 2002 stand against the far-right party. "It is the same as in 2002, that I am far away from those ideas, from the...

 Jose Mourinho identified Liverpool and Arsenal as Manchester United's chief rivals for Champions League qualification following his side's 0-0 draw at fellow top-four contenders Manchester City. Thursday's stalemate at the Etihad Stadium left United just a point below local foes City,...

Brazil was hit hardest on Thursday by FIFA for homophobic chanting by its supporters during World Cup qualifying, with Argentina and Mexico also fined. Nine football associations were punished in all by FIFA's Disciplinary Committee "for incidents involving, among others, unsporting and...

Lionel Messi took off his shirt and lifted it high in front of him, boldly displaying his name and number to the stunned crowd at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. He stood there for a few seconds, staring at the fans, as if making sure they knew who was really in charge. Messi had just...

Chelsea booked their place in the FA Cup final with a thrilling 4-2 victory over London rivals Tottenham at Wembley on Saturday. Willian put Chelsea ahead early in the semi-final before Harry Kane's equaliser and the Brazilian netted again with a penalty, only to see Dele Alli draw Tottenham...

Novak Djokovic was knocked out of the Monte Carlo Masters in the quarter-finals on Friday, losing 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 to Belgium's David Goffin. Goffin will play either nine-time champion Rafael Nadal or Argentina's Diego Schwartzman for a place in Sunday's final....

Chelsea have enough experience to keep their composure in the title race after Sunday's 2-0 defeat at Manchester United cut their lead at the top of the Premier League table to four points with six games left, goalkeeper Asmir Begovic has said. Chelsea have lost two of their last four league...

Vincent Kompany was among the scorers as Manchester City beat Southampton 3-0 to climb above Liverpool into third in the Premier League on Saturday. After an entertaining yet goalless first half, City's captain Kompany headed home his first league goal since August 2015 following two...

Liverpool, battling hard to secure a Champions League berth, still have big ambitions for this season but no specific Premier League points target, manager Juergen Klopp said ahead of Sunday's tricky visit to West Bromwich Albion. Sitting third in the table having played more games than the...

( AFP )- Manchester City's owners have confirmed their purchase of Uruguayan club Atletico Torque as the Abu Dhabi-based investors add to their growing portfolio. City's parent company, City Football Group (CFG), announced second tier Atletico will become part of their global network of...

 Real Madrid are set to snatch highly-rated left-back Theo Hernandez from cross city rivals Atletico Madrid by paying the buyout clause in his contract, Spanish sports daily Marca reported Tuesday. French youth international Hernandez, 19, has impressed during a loan spell with Alaves...

Tottenham Hotspur must learn from last season's poor late form as they attempt to chase down Premier League leaders Chelsea in the closing weeks of the campaign, manager Mauricio Pochettino has said. Last season, Spurs won just four of their final nine games as Leicester City pulled away to...

Barcelona boss Luis Enrique claimed Lionel Messi's behavior toward referees is "impeccable" despite the Argentine racking up suspensions for club and country. Messi is banned for the first time in five seasons for Sunday's La Liga trip to Granada just days after being slapped with a...

 FIFA says it has opened a disciplinary case against Lionel Messi after TV pictures showed the Argentina forward verbally abusing a match official in a World Cup qualifying game against Chile. FIFA can judge Messi before Tuesday's qualifier in Bolivia and impose a ban if a red card was...

Spain remained well on course to book their place at the World Cup in Russia as David Silva conducted another clinical win over Israel, cementing the 2010 world champions' upturn in fortunes under Julien Lopetegui. After the routine 4-1 win in Gijon Friday the former goalkeeper is unbeaten...

Candidates vying for the four available Asian Football Confederation (AFC) seats on the FIFA council have been cleared to stand for election by the world governing body, the AFC said Friday. The four successful candidates at May's AFC congress in Bahrain will represent Asia on the body along...

Experienced Greek coach Takis Lemonis has been appointed for a third time as head coach of Olympiacos, the Super League champions said on Thursday. The 57-year-old, who coached the Piraeus club from 2000-2002 and again from 2006-2008, replaces the sacked Portuguese Paulo Bento, who departed...

Midfielder Marco Verratti could be set for a summer move to a "top European club" after his agent rated his chances of remaining with Paris Saint Germain next season as "very complicated". "It's a very complicated situation, in spite of his contract with the club until 2021," Verratti's...

Germany will be without injured midfielder Mesut Ozil, winger Julian Draxler and forward Mario Gomez when they host England in a friendly international on Wednesday, coach Joachim Loew said. Loew said the trio were nursing minor injuries and would need a few days to recover with the world...

An own goal from Watford captain Troy Deeney handed Crystal Palace a vital 1-0 win in the Premier League at Selhurst Park on Saturday. A big penalty shout from Palace within the opening 10 minutes of a scrappy first half was turned down by referee Martin Atkinson after winger Wilfried Zaha...