USA

The NCAA Division II and Division III fall championships for the 2020 season were canceled on Wednesday, ending the hopes and aspirations of soccer players across the country before they could even begin the season. The Division II Presidents Council cited “operational, logistical and financial challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic” as the reasoning.

In addition to women’s and men’s soccer, football, women’s and men’s cross country, field hockey, women’s volleyball and men’s water polo are affected. Students affected will not lose a year of eligibility. 

Major League Soccer, following the lead of the NWSL, has had a mostly successful return from the novel coronavirus pandemic. Playing matches in a bubble in Orlando, Florida, MLS has helped show it is possible to resume sports, so long as a long list of necessary precautions are taken.

Perhaps then it’s no surprise the players association of MLS — and those from four other major sports leagues — has taken issue with a key aspect of Sen. Mitch McConnell’s latest stimulus legislation proposal. 

Players who deliberately cough at opponents or referees can be shown red or yellow cards under new guidelines issued by England's Football Association (FA) amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The instructions to referees taking charge of games when COVID-19 restrictions are in place will come into force immediately and be applied at all levels of the game.

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard says starting the new Premier League season on Sept. 12 is too early and his players run the risk of sustaining injuries given the short turnaround between campaigns.

Chelsea trail Bayern Munich 3-0 heading into the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Saturday and even if they fail to overcome the deficit Lampard's side will have little over a month to recover before the new season begins.

The Dallas Cowboys were ranked the world's most valuable sports team for a fifth consecutive year according to an annual list published by Forbes on Friday that was dominated by National Football League clubs.

The NFL's Cowboys, who unseated Spanish soccer club Real Madrid for top spot on the list in 2016, were valued at $5.5 billion, a 10 percent rise when compared to last year, Forbes said in a statement.

American forward Andrija Novakovich and Serie B side Frosinone have it all to play for on Friday. 

While Frosinone has spent much of the season comfortably within the playoff positions, it now finds itself in need of a positive result on the final match day to secure a playoff spot, unless results elsewhere go in its favor. Alessandro Nesta's side sat as high as second place at one point, but since the resumption of play post-lockdown, results have seen Frosinone drop down to eighth. 

After a two-year spell at Liga MX side Tijuana recently came to an end, Erick "Cubo" Torres has returned to MLS.

Atlanta United announced the signing of Torres on Friday as a Season-Ending Injury Replacement Player. Atlanta was in desperate need of a forward to replace talisman Josef Martinez, who suffered  an ACL injury in the first match of the club's 2020 season. 

Meet “Cubo”... “El Cubo” Torres

After 115 appearances for Newcastle United, it looks likely that DeAndre Yedlin's time on Tyneside has come to an end. 

Yedlin, capped 62 times by the USMNT, arrived at Newcastle in 2016 after completing a season-long loan spell from Tottenham at the Magpies' archrival Sunderland. Yedlin excelled under noted defensive specialist Rafa Benitez, helping the Toon achieve promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt after the club was relegated in 2015-16. 

I know we are all lost without NWSL games, but women's football is slowly making its return. The NWSL Challenge Cup exceeded expectations by not only breaking records on viewership, but they were the first American professional sports league to make its return and also successfully remained safe from Covid-19. With more than 2,000 tests taken over the course of a month of games, practices and bubble living, not one player or staff member tested postiive.