Europe

Imagine telling U.S. Soccer fans that the USMNT have a player consistently starting for a team in Europe’s top five leagues, that team is in the top five of their league and the player is putting up solid performances.

That player would be called up in a heartbeat and the U.S. Soccer social media accounts should be talking about him nonstop. That isn’t the case however, and that’s because the player in question is John Brooks.

MADRID — Spanish soccer club Barcelona are under investigation for suspected "active bribery" as part of a probe into suspected corruption spanning two decades at the refereeing committee, according to a court document seen by Reuters on Thursday.

Police also searched the offices of the Spanish refereeing committee (CTA) inside the football federation (RFEF) headquarters in Madrid on Thursday, the Barcelona court said, as part of the ongoing inquiry into "possible systemic corruption" within the CTA.

The person/people in charge of running Napoli’s TikTok account are in hot water after a video they posted making fun of their star striker Victor Osimhen angered the player. The Osimhen TikTok video insulted the 24-year-old for missing a penalty and now the player’s agent is threatening legal action against the club.

Osimhen TikTok video posted by Napoli

This was the original video posted by Napoli about Victor Osimhen… and then deleted.

Christian Pulisic got an assist and helped set up another goal during AC Milan’s 3-1 victory vs. Cagliari in Serie A action on Wednesday. The Pulisic assist vs Cagliari is his first in a Milan shirt.

Wednesday’s game looked better for Pulisic after a string of so-so performances. Milan manager Stefano Pioli rotated his players and shifted Pulisic from the right wing to the left wing as Rafael Leão and Olivier Giroud were rested.

Here was the moment in the 60th minute when Pulisic set up Ruben Loftus-Cheek for a long-range goal to make it 3-1.

The American Folarin Balogun isn’t off to the best of starts with AS Monaco and two penalty executions in Friday’s match against Nice have sent the USMNT No. 9 into the gutter.

Folarin Balogun misses TWO penalties vs. OGC Nice in the same match

AS Monaco hosted OGC Nice in Matchday 6 of the Ligue 1 in what was a direct battle between two of the front-runners in the league table. Monaco, who were league leaders with 11 points, wanted a victory to increase their lead to a momentary point gap of four points over Brest.

MUNICH — Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane scored his first Bundesliga hat-trick and delivered two assists in their 7-0 demolition of VfL Bochum on Saturday to take his tally to seven and set a club record for most goals by a player in his first five league matches.

Kane's three goals put him above club great Gerd Müller, Miroslav Klose and Mario Mandzukic who all scored five times in their first five Bundesliga games.

Coach Xavi Hernandez has extended his contract with Barcelona until 2025 with an option for a further year, the LaLiga club said on Friday.

The 43-year-old manager arrived at Barcelona on a three-year deal following the departure of Dutchman Ronald Koeman at the end of 2021.

It's official: Xavi 2025 ✍️ pic.twitter.com/h5U6CX1NIP

Sheffield United Women midfielder Maddy Cusack has died at the age of 27, the Women's Championship club said on Thursday.

Maddy Cusack death

Sheffield United Football Club is devastated to report the sad news of the passing of Maddy Cusack.

The Club and Maddy’s family would appreciate a period of privacy and will not comment further at this sad time.