London: New sponsorship deals in Europe and Asia helped English soccer champions Manchester United to report a 23 per cent increase in underlying profit in the three months to March. United, who have just recaptured the English Premier League title, said they were on course to hit revenue and profit targets for their financial year, which runs to the end of June. The club claims to have more than 650...
05:26 PM, May 02, 2013
London: Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Gareth Bale was named England's Footballer of the Year by the Football Writers' Association on Thursday. The Wales international, 23, topped the poll of journalists with a narrow victory over Manchester United's Dutch international forward Robin van Persie, who won it last year when he was at Arsenal. Chelsea's Spanish midfielder Juan Mata came third. Bale is the first Spurs player to win the world's oldest...
04:57 PM, May 02, 2013
Panaji: With Dempo Sports Club failing to defend the I-League title and unlikely to finish among the top three this year, coach Armando Colaco is unlikely to get an extension of his contract for the next season. Colaco joined Dempo in 2000 when the club faced its worst crisis as the team got relegated to the second division of the I-League. But the former Dempo player worked hard which saw...
04:35 PM, May 02, 2013
Madrid: The manner of the Champions League semi-final exits of Barcelona and Real Madrid have set in motion likely overhauls at both clubs, and is forcing La Liga to re-evaluate itself in the face of a resurgent German Bundesliga. Barcelona were humbled 7-0 on aggregate by German champions Bayern Munich on Wednesday, the day after Real almost overturned their shock 4-1 first leg defeat away to outsiders Borussia Dortmund, to...
03:39 PM, May 02, 2013
Kuala Lumpur: Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa will run Asian soccer for the next two years after the Bahraini won a three-way election for the presidency of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on Thursday. Sheikh Salman secured 33 votes of the 46 available from the AFC's member associations in Malaysia to beat Yousuf Al Serkal of the United Arab Emirates (six votes) and Thailand's Worawi Makudi (seven votes). Outsider...
10:44 AM, May 02, 2013
Barcelona: Barcelona's Champions League humbling by Bayern Munich on Wednesday will not prompt wholesale changes to the squad and the 7-0 aggregate reverse would have been avoided had the team not been decimated by injury, coach Tito Vilanova said. Barca suffered their worst ever European defeat over two legs in the last-four clash against the German champions, but were missing their Argentine World Player of the Year Lionel Messi for...
08:54 AM, May 02, 2013
Barcelona: Bayern Munich began to lay the foundations for this season's impressive run to the Champions League final immediately after their defeat to Chelsea in last year's showpiece, coach Jupp Heynckes said on Wednesday. After Bayern inflicted the biggest aggregate defeat on Barcelona in European competition, a jubilant Heynckes said the painful reverse on penalties to Chelsea at their own Allianz Arena in Munich had given him the motivation to...
08:41 AM, May 02, 2013
Barcelona: Bayern Munich's stunning 7-0 aggregate victory over Barcelona in the semi-finals of the Champions League will count for nothing if they do not go on to win the competition at Wembley later this month, Arjen Robben said on Wednesday. "We said immediately after the game 'now we need to win it'," Robben, who curled home Bayern's first in the 3-0 win at the Nou Camp on Wednesday, said in...
08:30 AM, May 02, 2013
Barcelona: Bayern Munich advanced to the Champions League final for the third time in four years, routing Barcelona on 7-0 aggregate and setting up the first all-German final against Borussia Dortmund. Coasting from a 4-0 win in the first leg at home last week, Bayern beat Barcelona 3-0 Wednesday night in the second leg on goals by Arjen Robben in the 49th minute and Thomas Mueller in the 76th around...
02:03 AM, May 02, 2013
London: Closing in on the Europa League final, Chelsea midfielder Juan Mata seems ill at ease in the continent's second-tier knockout competition. Chelsea dropped out of the Champions League when their title defense ended in the group stage, and is yet to be assured of a place among Europe's elite next season by finishing in the Premier League's top four. "Chelsea are a club which deserves to be in the...
12:49 AM, May 02, 2013
New Delhi: Mohammed Taqi, a legendary Mohammedan Sporting fan and former player of leading Delhi football club Indian Nationals FC, died after a fall in house in Chitli Qabar, Old Delhi on Wednesday. His death marks the end of an era, an Indian football fan that followed his club all over the country and knew more about Mohammedan Sporting than Barcelona or Manchester United. As a youngster, Taqi had witnessed...
10:18 PM, May 01, 2013
Rio de Janeiro: Midfielder Deco has tested positive for a banned diuretic in Brazil and says he will appeal the result, saying it likely stemmed from contaminated vitamins. Football officials in Rio de Janeiro say the former Chelsea and Portugal playmaker tested positive for furosemide, a diuretic which can help hide performance enhancing substances. The test came after Fluminense's 2-0 win over Boavista on March 30. The player's lawyers told...
04:51 PM, May 01, 2013
Madrid: Jose Mourinho's possible departure from Real Madrid at the end of the season would leave club president Florentino Perez in a tricky position as he seeks an adequate replacement for the man he has constantly lauded as "the best coach in the world". Obsessed with winning the 10th continental crown that has eluded Real since 2002, construction magnate Perez hired the controversial Portuguese at great expense in 2010 after...
03:54 PM, May 01, 2013
London: Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has agreed a deal to re-join Chelsea as their manager this summer - and is poised to bring Atletico Madrid striker Radamel Falcao with him. According to a report in Goal.com Mourinho will be unveiled as a Chelsea coach at the end of the season or early next month. Mourinho had earlier led the club to two Premier League titles, FA Cup and Carling...
01:51 PM, May 01, 2013
London: Chelsea's relentless march towards either more European glory or an heroic, battle-weary failure, continues on Thursday when they face FC Basel with the final of the Europa League beckoning. The Londoners, like Benfica who face Fenerbahce in the other semi-final, were eliminated from the Champions League after the group stage, but both dropouts could yet meet in the final at the Amsterdam Arena on May 15. Chelsea are well-placed...
10:00 AM, May 01, 2013
Madrid: Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho dropped another hint he was considering his future by saying he might not be with the Spanish giants next season after they lost in the Champions League semi-finals on Tuesday. Following Real's 4-3 aggregate defeat by Borussia Dortmund, the former Chelsea manager was asked if he would remain in Madrid next term and said: "Maybe not. I don't know but I want to be...
09:16 AM, May 01, 2013
Madrid: Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho lashed out at English referee Howard Webb after they were denied a place in the Champions League final on Tuesday and dropped another hint he was considering his future at the club. Real came within a whisker of pulling off a remarkable comeback after losing their semi-final first leg 4-1 away to Borussia Dortmund last week, but came up just short with a 2-0...
09:02 AM, May 01, 2013
Madrid: Borussia Dortmund relish their status as underdogs for the Champions League final and are determined to prove they belong among Europe's elite, coach Jurgen Klopp said after they knocked out Real Madrid on Tuesday. The Germans successfully protected their 4-1 first leg lead until the 83rd minute on Tuesday, after which Karim Benzema and Sergio Ramos scored in a frantic finale to get Real within a goal of reaching...
08:50 AM, May 01, 2013
Barcelona: Barcelona were dealt a blow as they prepare for Wednesday's Champions League semi-final second leg at home to Bayern Munich when midfielder Sergio Busquets and defender Eric Abidal were ruled out through injury. "Sergio Busquets and Eric Abidal will not feature in tomorrow's match," Barca said in a statement on their website on Tuesday. "The midfielder has not recovered from the (groin) injury that kept him from playing ......
12:24 AM, May 01, 2013
Barcelona: Last week's thumping Champions League wins for German teams at home to Spanish opponents prompted talk of a power shift in the European game but Bayern Munich midfielder Thomas Mueller believes it is too early to draw such a conclusion. Mueller struck twice in Bayern's 4-0 victory against Barcelona last Tuesday, a day before Robert Lewandowski netted all four of Borussia Dortmund's goals in their 4-1 humbling of Real...
11:37 PM, Apr 30, 2013
