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MADRID — A Madrid court has sentenced Bayern Munich and France defender Lucas Hernandez to six months in prison for disobeying a restraining order following a 2017 conviction of domestic violence against his wife.

A court document released on Wednesday said Hernandez, 25, had been denied an appeal by a criminal court in Madrid against a previous suspended prison sentence for defying the restraining order.

The document said Hernandez had been denied the appeal as he had been given two previous criminal sentences, both relating to the February 2017 incident.

In an interview with DAZN fans learned that the date of a Neymar international retirement could come much sooner than anticipated. Neymar said that he expects the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to be his curtain call with Brazil’s national team. It's not for certain if he will continue to play anymore international soccer after 2022. What is for certain in his mind is that he won't be playing in the 2026 North America World Cup.

“I don’t know if I have the strength of mind to deal with football anymore,” Neymar said.

The last time Belgium’s national team missed a major tournament was Euro 2012. Since then, the nation of 11.5 million has quickly become the best international team in the world per FIFA’s somewhat arbitrary ranking system. Despite the success, the last time Belgium was in a final was Euro 1980, losing to Germany 2-1.

Belgium’s chances of seeing a final for the first time in 41 years was blown spectacularly on Thursday when France came roaring back from two goals down to defeat the Belgians in the UEFA Nations League semifinals.

North Carolina Courage owner Steve Malik said the team only became aware of sexual harassment and coercion allegations against former coach Paul Riley when they were reported last week.

U.S. Soccer really knows how to piss off its fanbase. Whether it’s repeatedly denying equal pay requests from USWNT players or failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, it speaks to the beauty of the beautiful game that Americans still support their national teams as fervently as they do. 

But that’s not going to stop U.S. soccer fans from putting the federation on blast for an odd fundraising push. The USMNT posted an article on Twitter asking for donations for the youth national teams on Wednesday. The responses were both hilarious and predictable.

SAO PAULO — A Brazilian soccer player has been charged with attempted murder after he brutally kicked a referee in the head during a lower league game in the south of the country.

The player, William Ribeiro of Sport Club Sao Paulo, attacked the referee after he awarded a foul against him during a league game away to Guarani on Monday.

NAPLES, Italy — Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly said that he was racially abused by a section of Fiorentina supporters following their Serie A match on Sunday.

Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport reported that Victor Osimhen and Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa were also targeted after their defeat by Napoli.

STOCKHOLM — AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been ruled out of Sweden's upcoming World Cup qualifiers with Kosovo and Greece and will be replaced by Viktor Gyokeres, the Swedish football association (SvFF) said in a statement on Saturday.

Truppändring

❌ @Ibra_official lämnar återbud och missar herrarnas oktobersamling

✅ Viktor Gyökeres från Coventry City kallas in istället

Rangers fell 1-0 to Sparta Prague on Thursday, but the real loser was humanity. Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara — who was racially abused by a Czech player from Slavia Prague last season — was booed throughout Thursday night’s match.