Politics

The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) said on Monday it would move next month's Copa América to Brazil, after original host nation Argentina pulled out at the last minute due to a surge in COVID-19 cases.

The decision means the oldest international tournament in the world will kick off as planned on June 13, with the final on July 10.

"The 2021 Copa América will be played in Brazil!" CONMEBOL said in a statement. "The start and finish dates are confirmed. The host cities and the matches will be revealed by CONMEBOL in the coming hours."

Soccer players around the world have spoken out against the past week’s violence taking place in Palestine and Israel.

HONG KONG - The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) confirmed on Sunday that North Korea has pulled out of next month's qualifying tournament for the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar.

The move comes after the country had already withdrawn from the Olympic Games in Tokyo this summer because of concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.

South Korea is due to host the remaining matches in Group H of the second round of Asia's preliminary tournament in June, but North Korean officials informed their southern counterparts of their intention to withdraw this month.

Players and staff from Colombian side Junior and Argentina's River Plate were left rubbing their eyes in discomfort after police fired tear gas at protesters outside the stadium ahead of their Copa Libertadores match in Barranquilla on Wednesday.

Demonstrations fueled by outrage at a now-canceled tax plan have grown in Colombia over the last two weeks.

Television pictures earlier showed the River team cutting short their warm-up on the pitch due to similar discomfort at the Romelio Martínez Stadium in Barranquilla, the city which will host the Copa América final in July.

Prior to Tuesday, Ángel Di María had played 741 matches for club and country, receiving all of four straight red cards and 80 yellow cards. No one would ever say Di María is a hothead or has a habit of committing bad fouls — even Lionel Messi has more yellow cards in his career. So it makes the racist comment CBS announcer Jim Beglin said after the Di María red card all the more baffling. 

Lionel Messi’s Instagram account recently reached 200 million followers. The account mostly just tweets out ads for the biggest brands in the world, such as adidas, Pepsi, Gatorade and SpaceScooter.

LONDON — A British soccer-instigated boycott of the world's biggest social media platforms by professional athletes, sports teams, governing bodies and broadcasters got underway on Friday in response to continued online racist abuse against a number of Black athletes.