Europe

American basketball great Shaquille O'Neal may not able to travel across the pond to support his favourite soccer club Northampton Town but his face will be in the stands during their League Two playoffs.

Although coronavirus guidelines mean matches will be played without spectators, Northampton are looking to fill the stadium with cardboard cut-outs of fans when they face Cheltenham Town in the first leg of the semi-final on June 18.

That racist ass-hat West Brom fan is punching the air right now as the Premier League will feature a powerful statement of solidarity on each club’s kits for the league's return on Wednesday, June 17. In a meeting between clubs on Thursday, it was decided all kits will feature the statement “Black Lives Matter” in place of players’ names along with BLM badges on the shirt.

Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Dele Alli will miss the Premier League restart after being suspended for a match by the Football Association on Thursday, having been found guilty of misconduct after mocking the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Alli, 24, was charged with breaching FA Rule E3 (1) after posting a video on social media of himself at an airport wearing a mask and apparently mocking a man of Asian appearance.

BELGRADE — Holders Partizan Belgrade beat bitter city rivals Red Star 1-0 on Wednesday to reach the Serbian Cup final as fans were allowed to attend games in unrestricted numbers for the first time since the coronavirus halted soccer in the Balkan nation in mid-March.

A near-capacity 25,000 crowd turned out for a tense Belgrade derby in a familiar atmosphere at Partizan's stadium as both sets of fans lit flares and taunted each other, with Bibras Natcho settling the match in the 58th minute.

As Italian football prepares to resume on Friday with the Coppa Italia semifinals followed by Serie A on June 20, the sport does so under the shadow of a national death toll that’s now surpassed 34,000. 

BELGRADE — Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic has offered a message of support to the players of a Serbian third-tier club who have gone on hunger strike over unpaid wages.

The strike involves around 25 players, according to Serbian media, from the club FC Borac, which was disbanded owing unpaid wages before its owners bought another local club and renamed it FC Borac 1926.

Serbian Matic, one of the country’s most popular internationals, rallied behind the striking players in a message on the Facebook page of global players' union FIFPRO.

Chelsea midfielder N'Golo Kante has made a return to full-contact training on Tuesday ahead of the Premier League restart next week.

Kante had been training individually at Chelsea's Cobham training ground after he expressed concerns over his safety due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and was initially granted compassionate leave to miss the squad's return to training.

Manchester City will attempt to overturn their two-year UEFA ban from European football when a three-day hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland begins on Monday.

European soccer's governing body UEFA ruled in February that City had committed serious breaches of Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations and failed to cooperate with its investigation, handing them a ban and a $34 million fine.

The LaLiga season resumes on June 11 and then — with 11 match weeks still to be played — goes off on a tear with games every day until July 17. This means that clubs will be playing matches every three to four days until the season’s over, and with players lacking match fitness, squad depth will be tested over the coming weeks with young players given a chance to shine.