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Japan's three-times Grand Slam tennis champion Naomi Osaka has invested in National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) team North Carolina Courage to become a team owner, the U.S. top-flight club said on Thursday.

"The women who have invested in me growing up made me who I am today, I don't know where I would be without them," Osaka, the world number three, wrote on Twitter. "Throughout my career I've always received so much love from my fellow female athletes so that's why I am proud to share that I am now an owner of the NC Courage."

Madridistas, Culés, Colchoneros, Sevillistas and anyone that enjoys seeing the beautiful game played beautifully in one of the world’s most awe-inspiring countries rejoice: ESPN is reportedly on the verge of acquiring the U.S. rights to LaLiga! 

If you’re FC Barcelona, do you want the good news first, or bad news? The good news is that, according to Deloitte’s annual report for the world's richest soccer teams 2021, Barcelona was the highest-earning club in 2020! The bad news is that total revenue was decreased by nearly $153 million, a precipitous fall of 15 percent from 2019’s earnings. Oh, and you’re also $1.46 billion in debt.

World soccer's governing body FIFA says players who feature in any breakaway European Super League would be banned from playing in FIFA competitions, including the World Cup.

In a joint statement with European governing body UEFA and the other five continental confederations on Thursday, FIFA said they would not recognize any such breakaway.

Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has said UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin is weighing up whether to stage the European Championship in one country this year rather than across the continent as planned due to COVID-19 concerns.

However, UEFA responded by saying it was continuing to work on existing plans for 12 countries to host the tournament. The 24-nation event, a major revenue generator for European football's governing body and the national federations, was postponed by 12 months due to the pandemic.

Montreal's MLS club bid adieu to the Impact nickname Thursday and rebranded as Club de Foot Montreal, or CF Montreal for short.

The club made the announcement and unveiled a new logo during a virtual press conference.

One of the most fascinating storylines in Europe right now is the direction of Paris Saint-Germain under new manager Mauricio Pochettino. If it all goes well, PSG could be looking at a Champions League title and a potential Kylian Mbappé contract extension. If Pochettino and his charges don’t see eye-to-eye, that will only expedite Mbappé’s long-rumored move to Real Madrid (“Project Mbappé”), Liverpool or Manchester City. 

Fenerbahçe will sign German midfielder Mesut Özil from Arsenal for three and a half years for an undisclosed fee, Turkey's private Demirören news agency and other Turkish media reported on Wednesday.

While there was no immediate comment on the reports from Fenerbahçe, broadcaster A Spor said Özil and the club had agreed on the transfer in principle and that the 32-year-old would join the former Turkish champions later in January.

The Premier League is reassuring fans that the season will continue after its latest round of COVID-19 testing produced 40 positive cases among players and staff in the past week. This is the highest amount of Premier League COVID cases reported since the start of the pandemic, breaking the previous week’s record of 18 positive cases.

Despite 58 positive cases since Dec. 21, the EPL said in a statement that the season will go ahead as scheduled.

BURNLEY, England — Burnley's new American chairman has vowed to back manager Sean Dyche in the January transfer window as the East Lancashire club look to pull further clear of the Premier League relegation zone.

The Clarets confirmed on Thursday that American investment group ALK Capital had purchased an 84 percent controlling stake in the club and that the deal had been ratified by the Premier League.