Qatar have been cleared of any wrongdoing following a FIFA report into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
Qatar s successful bid for the 2022 showpiece faced particular scrutiny due to several allegations of corruption.
However, an investigation led by former United States attorney Michael Garcia, who heads the investigatory chamber of FIFA s Ethics Committee, confirmed the Gulf state will not face any sanction. Neither will Russia, who will host the 2018 tournament.
The report, published by FIFA on Thursday, read: The evaluation of the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cups bidding process is closed for the FIFA Ethics Committee.
The chairman of the adjudicatory chamber of the FIFA ethics committee finds that the investigation into the said biddin…
Manchester City and Manchester United will meet in the FA Cup final for the second year in a row after City beat Chelsea and United survived a thrilling semi-final against Coventry.
Here, the PA news agency looks at their head-to-head record in the competition and the historical significance of next month’s clash.
Previous meetings
Ilkay Gundogan’s goal after 12 seconds – the fastest FA Cup final goal in history – is the abiding memory of City’s 2-1 win last year.
Bruno Fernandes equalised from a penalty but a second Gundogan strike sealed City’s fourth and most significant victory in nine FA Cup derbies dating back almost a century.
City won the 1926 semi-final 3-0, Tommy Browell scoring twice, but went on to lose the final 1-0 to Bolton. Th…
Oliver Skipp is on the verge of leaving Tottenham Hotspur for Leicester City in the summer transfer window, according to . The report has claimed that Skipp has completed his medical, with Tottenham and Leicester now in full agreement over a deal.
Skipp has been on the books of Tottenham since 2008 and has come through the North London club’s youth academy. The 23-year-old midfielder, who had a loan spell at Norwich City in the 2020-21 season, is now part of Spurs’ first team, but he is not guaranteed a place in the starting lineup.
Football Insider has claimed that Leicester will pay Tottenham £20 million plus add-ons for Skipp, who is deemed surplus to requirements by Spurs head coach Ange Postecoglou. Skipp has made 77 appearances in the Premier League so far in…
Refereeing at the 2014 World Cup will be radically altered with the possible introduction of goal-line technology and the use of extra officials, a top FIFA executive said on Thursday.
FIFA have come under increasing pressure to introduce technology and video replays after a series of howlers at the World Cup.
England s Frank Lampard had a perfectly good goal ruled out against Germany when the referee and his assistant failed to spot the ball had landed behind the line after coming off the crossbar.
Mexico were also furious when Carlos Tevez s goal for Argentina was allowed to stand despite the striker being in an offside position.
FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke said the Lampard incident had been a bad day for organisers.
We re talking abo…
Lionel Messi will remain at Barcelona for at least the next five years, assured technical secretary Robert Fernandez.
Messi, 28, graduated through the youth ranks at Barcelona and has expressed his desire to spend the rest of his playing days with the Catalan club.
However, his current deal only runs through to the end of the 2017-18 season, and speculation remains over whether he will continue on with the Spanish giants.
But Fernandez assured Messi will at least be around until 2021 when the club are set to inaugurate the new Camp Nou.
Messi will continue in 2021, that is for sure, he told Estudio Estadio.
We are talking about the best player in history with great sporting and personal qualities.
Many are surprised to know hoe how…
The 2002 World Cup semi-finalists Turkey put in their most impressive performance of their warm-up matches for Euro 2008 here on Thursday as they eased to a 2-0 win over Finland.
Goals by Middlesbrough s Tuncay Sanli and Semih Senturk, leading scorer in the Turkish championship last season, gave Turkey a deserved win and will have done them no harm of good ahead of their opening Euro 2008 Group A match against 2004 finalists Portugal.
While Tuncay and Semih got the goals it was the young Turk Mevlut Erdinc that caused interminable problems for the Finnish defence, as the striker, who plays for French First Division side Sochaux, twisted and turned them everywhere.
Equally encouraging for fiery coach Fatih Terim was that his defence re-enforced by Servet Cetin…
Bruce Arena decided to call up an alternative squad for the 2017 Gold Cup Source: USSoccer.com
The United States Men National Team are one of the top teams in the CONCACAF region. There is no question about that, as they tend to be the top dog in the region alongside Mexico.
With a deep pool of players and several established stars featuring in Europe, their head coach, Bruce Arena, decided something quite interesting. Arena will face the upcoming 2017 Gold Cup with an alternative squad. It makes sense in a way, because winning this tournament does not give a berth to the Confederations Cup, and there is nothing to play but pride this year.
If there is one team that can make this, it s the USA squad. We have seen this before, though. Mexico did in the 2015 …
Erik ten Hag wants Manchester United to be difficult to beat, as they aim to build on their opening-day win over Fulham against Brighton on Saturday.
Joshua Zirkzee made a mark on his United debut, scoring a late winner in a 1-0 win over the Cottagers to snatch three points.
It followed an up-and-down pre-season which finished with a penalty shootout defeat to Manchester City in the Community Shield.
Ten Hag has laid out high ambitions for the season and, with a team they have struggled against in recent years next up, he is keen to get United s style of play nailed down early on to set the tone for the campaign.
The project is about building, working and constructing, Ten Hag told SuperSport.
We talk also about what we want to achieve, and we …
Thousands of supporters of the Spanish national team have vowed to shave their heads if their side wins the Euro 2008 football championship.
Spanish sports daily Marca has been urging fans to sign an online petition promising to go bald if Spain wins the title and as of Tuesday night just over 10,000 people have made the pledge, the newspaper said on its website.
I, an unrepentant lifelong fan, solemnly commit myself before Marca, the fans and the national team, to shave every last hair on my Spanish head if our team wins Euro 2008, the online pledge reads.
The team needs all the support it can get from its fans, the newspaper wrote on its website over a photo of a group of bald fans wearing red and yellow Spain jerseys with their arms in the air.
If…
Barcelona have reclaimed the LaLiga title after a dominant x-x victory over struggling Deportivo La Coruna secured the crown for Ernesto Valverde s side.
Having already clinched the Copa del Rey with a 5-0 thrashing of Sevilla, Barca made light work of Deportivo at the Riazor on Sunday to clinch the title with four games of a marvellous campaign in which they have yet to lose to spare.
There was a slight blip in mid-season, allowing Atletico Madrid to close the gap, but a 1-0 victory at Camp Nou courtesy of a stunning Lionel Messi free-kick all but ended the title race.
It marks a fantastic debut season in charge of the Blaugrana for former Athletic Bilbao boss Valverde, who arrived to little fanfare last May, with Barca securing their first title since 2014-…