Europe

Spain’s team competing at the UEFA U-21 Euros is ridiculously talented, as we’ve laid out before. 

Saúl Ñíguez is making a case to be the best of the lot.

The Atletico Madrid midfielder notched a brilliant hat trick to send Spain past 10-man Italy 3-1 in the semifinals to set up a date with Germany in the final on Friday.

Poor Gianluigi Donnarumma didn’t have a chance. 

Ahh summer. Warm sunshine, no school, beaches, vacations, international B teams competing for second-rate trophies and, of course, weddings.

It’s wedding season in the soccer world and trophy husbands are being tied down by women left and right. 

Lionel Messi is tying the knot (and eating empanadas) on Friday, so a couple English Premier League stars got hitched this past weekend so as not to be overshadowed by he-who-overshadows-everything in soccer.

Suffering from Champions League withdrawal?

It’s been less than a month since Real Madrid thrashed Juventus to claim the crown of top club in Europe, but teams are about to begin the quest to take away that crown.

The first qualifying round for the world’s premier club competition (go away, FIFA Club World Cup, no one cares about you) begins Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Two-time Europa League winner Parma Calcio 1913 sold to Jiang Lizhang on Wednesday, adding to the growing trend of Chinese businessmen buying European socer clubs.

The following first and second division teams in Europe are now all principally owned by Chinese investors.

No disrespect to Carlos Bacca, but the Colombian forward's status as AC Milan’s premier forward has somewhat come to symbolize the seven-time European champion's fall from grace. More industrious than stardust, Bacca simply isn’t cut from the same cloth of Andriy Shevhenko, Filippo Inzaghi or Marco van Basten.

The final of Florence’s Calcio Storico goes down tomorrow between the districts of Santa Maria Novella (the Reds) and Santo Spirito (the Whites), and the road to the championship, as you might’ve guessed, has been paved with blood, guts and fisticuffs. If you haven’t heard of Calcio Storico, here’s a quick introduction to the most hardcore sport outside of Razor Scooters.

With one match left for each of the eight nations in the Confederations Cup and no team yet qualified for the semifinals, the competition is tighter than Andy Carroll's man bun. 

Despite sitting atop Group A after its less-than-convincing win over New Zealand, Mexico could go home early if results don’t go El Tri’s way. And while Germany and Chile are, as expected, in comfortable positions in Group B after their sedate draw Thursday, Australia and Cameroon are both still alive. 

Arsene Wenger has done something special with his most recent Gunners team.

Despite missing out on the Champions League for the first time in his career, Wenger has managed to instill a sense of team unity that’s the envy of Europe.

Five minutes into the Confederations Cup group B match between Chile and Germany, two Arsenal players combined for the game’s opening goal.

Gunners defender Skhodran Mustafi passed to Arsenal striker Alexis Sanchez, who, after a one-two with Eduardo Vargas, fired home off the left post.