Sports

FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke has described a potential expansion of the World Cup to 40 teams as unlikely .

UEFA president Michel Platini had called for the tournament in 2018, to be expanded to include more Asian and African nations.

Platini s suggestion came after FIFA president Sepp Blatter expressed his desire to reduce the number of European countries at the competition.

But Valcke does not believe that these proposals will come to fruition.

Such discussions should be conducted at the level of the executive committee, he said.

Never say never, but it s unlikely.

The 2018 tournament is due to be held in Russia, whose sports minister Vitaly Mutko denounced Platini s proposals as disrespectful .

FIFA will take the final decision, but …

Germany will head into hosting Euro 2024 with an unbelievable optimism of lifting the UEFA trophy on home soil.

That was the message from Germany sporting director Rudi Voller, who backed Julian Nagelsmann s team to succeed on their own turf when the tournament starts on June 14.

The three-time European champions have crashed out of the World Cup in the group stages at the last two competitions, as well as a last-16 exit to England at the delayed Euro 2020.

Yet Voller believes Germany have a chance to do something special under Nagelsmann, after watching two impressive friendly victories over France and Netherlands back in March.

A key moment in our development was the last two [friendly] matches in March, Voller told a news conference on Monday, as Germ…

Jamie Gittens scored twice as Borussia Dortmund opened their Champions League campaign with a 3-0 victory away at Club Brugge.

Serhou Guirassy added a late penalty for last season s finalists, who netted three times in the final quarter of an hour at Jan Breydelstadion.

Brugge carried the greater attacking threat for most of the contest, going closest to scoring when Hugo Vetlesen rattled the crossbar, but they were made to pay for their profligacy.

Gittens entered the action as a 68th-minute substitute and broke the deadlock eight minutes later albeit in fortuitous circumstances with his shot taking two deflections before nestling in the top-left corner.

The 20-year-old doubled his and Dortmund s tally with four minutes remaining, cutting inside before f…

Ferran Torres scored the only goal as a much-changed Spain made it three wins from three in Group B with a narrow 1-0 victory over Albania, who were eliminated from Euro 2024.

The Barcelona forward notched the decisive strike in the 13th minute at Dusseldorf Arena, where Luis de la Fuente made 10 changes with La Roja s qualification for the knockout stages and top spot already secured.

Thomas Strakosha was called into early action to keep out Mikel Merino s bouncing header.

However, the Albania goalkeeper was left helpless just minutes later when Torres peeled off the back of Mario Mitaj to latch onto Dani Olmo s throughball, and guide his low shot in off the inside of the far post.

Spain wasted a flurry of chances before the break, with Torres and Merino…

Dani Olmo was delighted to help Barcelona end their Rayo Vallecano hoodoo after scoring the winner in their 2-1 win at the Estadio de Vallecas on Tuesday.

Olmo s strike eight minutes from time saw him become the first player to score on his LaLiga debut for Barcelona away from home since Sandro Ramirez did so in August 2014 against Villarreal.

Unai Lopez had given the hosts the lead in the ninth minute, only for second-half goals from Pedri and Olmo helping Hansi Flick maintain his unbeaten start to the season.

It also marked Barcelona s first league triumph at the home of Los Franjirrojos since a 3-2 win back in November 2018.

TIME FOR ANOTHER WIN.

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona)

Having starred for Spain at Euro 2024, Olmo was forced…

Erling Haaland’s double and Stefan Ortega’s superb save saw Manchester City beat Tottenham 2-0 to ensure Pep Guardiola’s team head into the final day of the season leading the Premier League.

Haaland, who had opened the scoring with a tap-in in the 51st minute, slammed in a stoppage-time penalty to send the travelling City supporters into delirium at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Tuesday.

That spot-kick followed a wonderful save from substitute goalkeeper Ortega at the other end, who denied Son Heung-min a would-be equaliser on a bizarre night where the home support never truly managed to get fully behind their side, given what was at stake for their rivals Arsenal.

But with Haaland’s double, City – now on 88 points, two clear of Arsenal – are on the c…

Diogo Jota s early goal was enough to secure Liverpool a 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday.

The Portuguese forward netted after just nine minutes at Selhurst Park, darting in behind to pick out the bottom-left corner on his 100th start for the Reds in all competitions.

It could have been a different story though, as Eddie Nketiah had a goal ruled out for offside in the first minute, setting off too early before he dinked Alisson.

The Eagles pushed for a late equaliser but could not breach Liverpool s backline despite their late flurry of chances.

A sixth victory from seven matches moves Arne Slot s side four points clear at the top of the table before title rivals Arsenal and Manchester City play later on Saturday, while P…

Austria midfielder Leopold Querfeld is confident his side can beat anyone at Euro 2024 after reaching the knockout stages in Germany.

Querfeld, who represented his nation twice before the start of the tournament, made his European Championship debut in Austria s win over the Netherlands on Tuesday.

The defender played 26 minutes as Ralf Rangnick s side finished top of Group D following France s 1-1 draw with Poland.

It s by no means something that can be taken for granted, but it s definitely something we thought we could do, Querfeld said.

The evening after the game was extremely nice. We brought friends and family to the hotel, were able to spend a cozy evening together and had a really nice time,

Wir wissen, wie DU dich heute fühlst.
N…

South African tourism bodies on Thursday said the 2010 World Cup host will have enough beds for visitors after FIFA boss Sepp Blatter said demand could out-strip availability.

There are graded rooms to spare in South Africa and everybody who comes for the World Cup will find a place to stay easily, said Moeketsi Mosola, CEO of South African Tourism.

The country has nearly 100,000 graded rooms, mostly around host cities, while FIFA needed 55,000, he said in a joint statement with the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa.

The football body had contracted some 28,000 rooms so far as some establishments chose to market themselves independently of the company services contracted by FIFA, the statement said.

In a four-day visit to South Africa in which …

Italy defender Leonardo Bonucci leapt to the defence of Juventus team-mate and embattled Spain forward Alvaro Morata ahead of their Euro 2020 semi-final showdown.

Spain s Morata has been on the wrong end of criticism for his performances at Euro 2020, while he reportedly received death threats amid online abuse directed at his family.

Team-mates at club level for Juve in Serie A, Bonucci and Morata will face-off when Italy play Spain in Tuesday s Euro 2020 semi-final at Wembley and the former heaped praise on the 28-year-old Spaniard.

I was really struck by what happened to him and what we all have to go through, Bonucci said of the death threats directed at Morata. I ve also had to go through what he has gone through, and I know what it s like to read certain t…