Asia

Australia's women's soccer team, the Matildas, apologised on Friday after it emerged that their replica away kit was not on sale in female sizes.

The new kit, made by Nike of 100 percent recycled polyester from plastic bottles, was unveiled earlier alongside the men's home and away jerseys but fans soon noted that only the women's gold home shirt was available for purchase online.

Our new @nike kit is now available to purchase 

Kazuyoshi Miura, the 53-year-old forward for J.League side Yokohama FC, began his career 34 years ago and is still going strong, wondering if he "can stay alive" without the sport after retiring.

Not that the man known fondly in Japan as 'King Kazu' is considering retiring anytime soon, despite being 20 years older than most of his team mates.

BERN — The Covid-19 pandemic is likely to cost club football $14 billion this year worldwide, around one third of its value, a leading official at global soccer body FIFA said on Wednesday.

Olli Rehn, who heads the FIFA committee set up to tackle the effects of the pandemic, said that FIFA, along with financial consultants, had estimated the club game to be worth between $40 billion and $45 billion worldwide.

Japan's Olympic Minister insists the rearranged Tokyo 2020 Games must be held "at any cost,” while the International Olympic Committee says only that it is committed to delivering a safe event.

But with less than a year before the July 23-Aug. 8 Games are due to start, the hugest of question marks remains over whether they can ever take place. With neither partner seemingly willing to consider scrapping the event as the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc globally, we consider the options available, and possible scenarios:

Yūki Nagasato has done just about everything. She’s won a Women’s World Cup, an Olympic silver medal and a UEFA Champions League title. She’s played club ball in her home country of Japan, Germany, England, the U.S. and Australia, winning league titles in Japan and England. 

Now Nagasato’s aiming for something a little different: playing for a men’s team.

The Premier League has cancelled its contract with Chinese broadcasters PPLive Sports International after just one season, the league said in a statement on Thursday.

The broadcasters, part of retail group Suning, paid around $700 million for three years of English Premier League (EPL) streaming rights from the 2019-20 season.

Big news from Down Under. The Football Federation Australia (FFA) announced that a new home facility for the Australia women’s national team in Victoria has taken a huge step forward in its progress. 

Rhyan Grant scored the extra-time winner with his chest as Sydney FC claimed a record fifth A-League title with a 1-0 victory over Melbourne City in a pulsating Australian championship final at Western Sydney Stadium on Sunday.

After 100 minutes of entertaining deadlock, the mullet-haired Socceroos full back ghosted in behind the defense to barrel a sublime angled pass from midfielder Luke Brattan into the net at the far post.

Former Chelsea striker Demba Ba has called on footballers to stand up for Uighur Muslims and condemn China's treatment of the minority group regardless of the financial consequences.

U.N. experts estimate than more than one million Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims have been detained against their will for several years in camps in the far western region of Xinjiang.

China denies mistreatment of the group, saying the camps holding many Uighurs provide vocational training and are needed to fight extremism.