Hosts Georgia upset Portugal as U21 Euros kicks off
June 22 – The European U21 Championship is underway as Europe’s best youngsters compete against each other for the title.
World Football
Sinclair pushes Canadian Soccer for pay deal before team leaves for World Cup
June 22 – Canada’s national team want a pay dispute settled before leaving for the Women’s World Cup, which Australia and New Zealand will co-host this summer.
PepsiCo kick starts UCL renewals for 2024-27 cycle
June 22 – PepsiCo has renewed its UEFA Champions League partnership for the 2024–27 cycle the first partner to do so the next three-year cycle.
Ronaldo hits 200 caps, scores 123rd goal, and sends Portugal to top of Euro 2024 qualifying
June 21 – Cristiano Ronaldo became the first men’s player to make 200 international appearances and celebrated the milestone by scoring the winner in the 89th minute as Portugal beat Iceland 1-0 on Tuesday to make it four wins from four in European Championship qualifying.
Conmebol and Concacaf set dates for Copa America in US, venues to follow
June 21 – With a year to go until the kick-off the Copa America, Conmebol confirmed the dates of the tournament to be played from June 20 to July 14 in the summer of 2024 in the United States.
St Kitts and Nevis pull off second upset to take Gold Cup group spot over French Guiana
By Paul Nicholson in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
June 21 – St Kitts and Nevis caused the upset of the Gold Cup preliminary round to qualify for the group stages and place on the big stage with matches against USA Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago in Group A of Concacaf’s.
Germany’s Euro 2024 prep in ‘confidence’ crisis after Colombia loss
June 21 – The sense of crisis surrounding Euro 2024 hosts Germany has intensified after they fell to a second straight friendly defeat in a 2-0 home loss to Colombia on Tuesday, the latest setback less than a year before the tournament.
Martinique brush off spirited Puerto Rico challenge to head into Gold Cup group stages
June 21 – Martinique muscled their way through to the group stages of the Gold Cup with a 2-0 win over Puerto Rico the surprise team of the knock-out rounds.
Bormans quits Belgian Pro League board saying big clubs have too much control
June 21 – Union St Gilles CEO Philippe Bormans has stepped down from the board of directors of the Belgian Pro League, claiming that the smaller clubs are not being properly represented.
Lightning break, sloppy own goal and no sight of Messi. Guadeloupe into Gold Cup groups
June 20 – It was a stop-start evening at the DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for the second and final round of Gold Cup qualifying.
Euro 2024 qualifiers: England goal hungry, France and Mbappe roll on, Swiss stumble
June 20 – England and France made it four straight wins in European Championship qualifying on Monday while Switzerland dropped its first points.
US player agency CRD Sport buys Bulgaria’s Beroe promising €5, and Ronaldinho
June 20 – American player agency CRD Sport is the new owner of Bulgarian top tier club Beroe Stara Zagora. CRD has acquired 100% of the club’s shares from the ‘Football Support Association – Beroe’.
US stun region with Gold Cup roster that sees bulk of Nations League winning squad dropped
June 20 – The USA have dropped 18 of the 23-man squad that won the second edition of the Nations League in Las Vegas on Sunday night.
Courtois denies he walked out of Belgian camp over not being given captaincy
June 20 – Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois (pictured) has denied claims by national team coach Domenico Tedesco that he walked out on the team training camp after being passed over for the captaincy against Austria. Real Madrid’s number one says he has a knee problem.
James Dostoyevsky: Straight talking, misleading reporting
Sometimes you say something and it turns out that the something you’ve said is something you never said … But then this something that you’ve never said finds itself (re-)published in an “independent Indian medium”, as is the case here, in India’s ‘Morning Express’.