Germany

DORTMUND, Germany — Borussia Dortmund cantered to a 3-0 win over Schalke 04 in the Ruhr valley derby on Saturday to pile on the misery for their neighbours who have now gone 21 Bundesliga games without a win.

Schalke, one off the bottom of the table, managed to keep Dortmund at bay for 55 minutes until Manuel Akanji broke their resistance.

Erling Haaland, with his fifth league goal of the season, then added a second and Mats Hummels completed the scoring.

Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands unveiled plans on Monday for a joint bid to host the Women’s World Cup in 2027.

A statement released by the three countries' football associations said they had already expressed their intention to bid to world football’s governing body FIFA and that they would put together a formal agreement by the end of the year.

Schalke 04 on Sunday apologized to 15-year-old Borussia Dortmund player Youssoufa Moukoko after their fans hurled abuse at the teenager following his hat-trick in the Under-19 Ruhr derby.

"We can only apologize to Youssoufa Moukoko for what fans shouted during the Under-19 game," Schalke said on Twitter. "Putting emotions of a derby aside, we fully condemn such insults and reject them. We will take the necessary measures together with the Schalke fan department."

BERLIN — RB Leipzig muscled past Augsburg 2-0 on Saturday to stay top of the Bundesliga after four matches while fellow title contenders Borussia Dortmund needed a second-half goal by substitute Marco Reus to beat hosts Hoffenheim 1-0.

Leipzig struggled throughout the first half but scored on the stroke of halftime when Angelino drilled in a header at the far post from a perfectly-floated Dani Olmo cross.

Timo Werner is a one-man wrecking crew right now. Southampton fans are probably wondering if he can be tried for murder after he destroyed the Saints defense with two rampaging goals in the first half on Saturday.

It was only a matter of time before Timo Werner went off in the Premier League. Thus far frustrated in four EPL matches, the Germany international finally broke through with two of the most spectacular goals we’ve seen this season.

Bayern Munich opened the defense of its DFB Pokal crown on Thursday against FC Düren. For those keeping track at home, Düren is in Germany’s fifth tier, so the final score of 3-0 Bayern wasn’t unexpected, but honestly slightly flattered the title holders. 

Bayern’s win wasn’t really ever in doubt, but Düren held its own — the players can go home proud of the fact they fared better against the European champions than Barcelona. 

COLOGNE, Germany — Germany twice had to come from behind to earn a rollercoaster 3-3 draw against visitors Switzerland in an exciting Nations League group game packed with incident on Tuesday.

The result moves Germany within a point of League A Group Four leaders Spain, who lost 1-0 away to Ukraine, while the Swiss, who are still without a win, remain bottom.

Germany striker Timo Werner is fully fit for their Nations League game against Switzerland on Tuesday but there are still doubts about Julian Draxler, Lukas Klostermann and Marcel Halstenberg, coach Joachim Loew said on Monday.

Germany will need all the attacking power they can get after narrowly beating Ukraine 2-1 on Saturday for their first win in the last four internationals. They drew the previous three games after leading in all of them.

KIEV — Germany scored once in either half to beat hosts Ukraine 2-1 in the Nations League on Saturday for their first win in four matches and their first ever victory in this competition.

Matthias Ginter put them ahead in the 20th minutes after good work from Antonio Ruediger, and Leon Goretzka pounced on a mistake by Ukraine keeper Georgiy Bushchan to head in their second goal four minutes after the restart.

German prosecutors and tax authorities searched offices of the German Football Association (DFB) as well as private homes of current and former officials on suspicion of serious tax evasion, the Frankfurt prosecutors' office said on Wednesday.

It said six unnamed former and current officials of the DFB were suspected of having intentionally falsely declared income from advertising in soccer stadiums during home games of the national team in 2014 and 2015 as income from asset management, leading to $5.5 million in unpaid taxes.