Michel Platini, the former UEFA president who was banned from football four years ago, was detained in Paris on Tuesday. The former France and Juventus No. 10 was questioned as part of an investigation into alleged corruption surrounding Qatar’s 2022 World Cup bid. Qatar won the hosting rights with Platini a big cheerleader for the bid.
By holding World Cup host France to a draw today, Nigeria could’ve secured passage to the Round of 16 for the first time since 1999. For close to 80 minutes, that looked like the Super Falcons destiny.
Step forward the VAR.
First, the referee looked at the monitor to review a collision in Nigeria’s box between Ngozi Ebere and Viviane Asseyi. The ref decided it was a penalty and sent Ebere off for her second bookable offense.
Up stepped Wendie Renard for the spot kick. Her initial attempt clipped the outside of the post and went directly behind for a goal kick.
Cameroon winger Gabrielle Aboudi Onguene scored her country’s first goal of the Women’s World Cup in a 3-1 loss to the Netherlands on Saturday.
Moments before her goal, she pissed off the entire Dutch bench with what’s either a hilarious piece of gamesmanship or an awful display of sportsmanship.
Video shows Aboudi Onguene repeatedly asking the Netherlands bench for a drink of water in the 43rd minute, right after the Dutch had taken a lead through Vivianne Miedema.
Ten years ago today, Real Madrid shook the world by signing Cristiano Ronaldo for an at-the-time astronomical €94 million ($132 million). While it was a hefty investment, Ronaldo has proven to be a bargain, leading Los Blancos to 15 pieces of silverware over his nine years at the club.
Former USWNT goalkeeper Hope Solo is back in the limelight while providing coverage of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup for the BBC, and guess what, she’s got some shade to throw.
Italy traveled to Athens to face Greece in Euro 2020 qualifying on Saturday. Nicolò Barella had himself a game to remember, for a couple reasons.
Italy beat Greece 3-0 to stay atop Group J, with Barella netting the opener. Before that though, he accidentally smashed a ball boy with a misplaced kick.
Early in the match, Barella was upset about letting the ball go off him for a goal kick when he could’ve won a corner. In frustration, he tried to kick the ball off the advertising boards just off the pitch.
Instead, he kicked the ball off the face of a poor ball boy.
The Women’s World Cup began Friday with host France dismantling South Korea 4-0. It was a thrilling show from Les Bleues, who put down a marker as the team to beat this summer.
But all ESPN.com wants to talk about is Eden Hazard and Euro 2020 qualifiers.
Neymar has once again shown that he has just as much flair off the pitch as he does on it.
The PSG striker arrived in style to the Brazilian national team training session this week in a custom Mercedes-Benz Airbus H-145 helicopter worth over $14 million.
After finishing in fourth place at the 2018 FIFA World Cup and following that up with victories over Spain and Croatia in the inaugural UEFA Nations League, support for England is at a fever pitch.
There’s a profound sense of optimism surrounding Gareth Southgate’s side, and the nation is relishing an exciting crop of players that features Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Marcus Rashford.
The UEFA Nations League semifinals kicked off Tuesday. The new competition began with group play in the fall and concludes this week with the top league’s group winners playing a mini-tournament in Portugal.
Portugal took a lead in the first semifinal against Switzerland through a powerful Cristiano Ronaldo free kick. The Swiss then equalized in the most unusual of circumstances.