MADRID (AP) — Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas will lead Spain's squad at the women's European Championship in England next month.
Putellas is the highlight of the 23-player list announced by coach Jorge Vilda on Monday.
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese referee Yoshimi Yamashita agrees with Pelé or whoever it was decades ago that first described soccer as the “beautiful game.”
Yamashita is one of three women picked by FIFA to be referees at the men's World Cup in Qatar, which opens on Nov.
LONDON (AP) — Former Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech will leave his role as technical and performance adviser at the Premier League club this week.
Cech's departure was announced Monday in the latest change under Chelsea's new ownership, which recently said sporting director Marina Granovskaia is also moving on.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Djordje Petrovic made six saves for the New England Revolution in a scoreless draw with the Vancouver Whitecaps on Sunday.
The Revolution (6-5-6) ran their unbeaten streak to nine games at 4-0-5.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — John Thorrington confirmed Sunday that Gareth Bale is joining Los Angeles FC. The timing of when that will happen remains a bit unsettled.
Thorrington, LAFC's co-president and general manager, said after Sunday's match against the New York Red Bulls he is hopeful Bale can arrive stateside in the next week to 10 days once all the immigration paperwork is completed.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Cristian Arango and Diego Palacios scored three minutes apart in the second half as Los Angeles FC pulled away for a 2-0 victory over the New York Red Bulls on Sunday.
MLS-leading LAFC improved to 10-3-3 with its fourth shutout of the season and capped a momentous weekend of activity.
NBC Sports executive producer Sam Flood realizes that game telecasts without announcers have been attempted a couple times, mostly without success. He is hoping the July 3 game between the Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers on Peacock will reverse that trend.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Sebastián Driussi and Danny Hoesen scored late in the second half to help Austin FC rally for a 2-2 draw with FC Dallas on Saturday night.
Austin (8-4-4) trailed 2-0 when Driussi found the net in the 72nd minute.
COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (AP) — Sophia Smith scored twice in the second half and the U.S. women's national team beat Colombia 3-0 on Saturday night to extend its home unbeaten streak to 68 games.
Taylor Kornieck added a late goal in her national team debut.
HOUSTON (AP) — Thorleifur Úlfarsson and Darwin Quintero scored first-half goals and Steve Clark made them stand up in the Houston Dynamo's 2-0 victory over the Chicago Fire on Saturday.
Úlfarsson picked up his second goal of the season when he found the net in the 23rd minute for Houston (6-7-3).
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Indiana Vassilev came off the bench and scored two goals in the final three minutes of regulation to rally Inter Miami CF to a 2-1 victory over Minnesota United on Saturday.
MONTREAL (AP) — Mathieu Choiniere scored the go-ahead goal in the 47th minute after entering at the start of the second half and Montreal held off Charlotte 2-1 on Saturday night.
Quioto opened the scoring in the sixth minute for Montreal (8-6-2).
TORONTO (AP) — Ralph Priso broke a tie in the 78th minute to help Toronto FC beat Atlanta United 2-1 on Saturday night.
Jonathan Osorio opened the scoring for Toronto (5-8-3) in the eighth minute.
SEATTLE (AP) — Will Bruin staked Seattle to an early lead, Jordan Morris and Cristian Roldan added second-half goals and the Sounders breezed to a 3-0 victory over Sporting Kansas City on Saturday.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles FC has reached a deal with Welsh forward Gareth Bale to move to Major League Soccer after his departure from Real Madrid, a person close to the deal told The Associated Press.
MADRID (AP) — An investment group led by former Houston Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow has bought Spanish soccer club Leganés.
“We will do all we can to improve this club,” Luhnow said in Madrid on Thursday after purchasing the second-division team for an undisclosed sum from prior owners Victoria Pavón and Felipe Moreno.
NOTTINGHAM, England (AP) — Nottingham Forest has signed forward Taiwo Awoniyi after paying a club-record transfer fee to Union Berlin, making the Nigerian its first international signing since returning to the Premier League.
With this year's World Cup in Qatar clouded by labor and human rights issues, there's a push for the North American cities awarded games for the 2026 tournament to commit to livable wages, equitable hiring and worker protection.
U.S. national soccer team star Megan Rapinoe expressed her anger Friday over the Supreme Court's decision to strip the nation’s constitutional protections for abortion, decrying an erosion of rights that women have had for a generation.
SAO PAULO (AP) — Former Brazil and Sao Paulo midfielder Richarlyson said in a podcast on Friday that he is bisexual, a rare revelation in a country where macho culture in soccer is rife.
He is the first player from a Brazilian top-flight team to say he's bisexual.
DERBY, England (AP) — Wayne Rooney has resigned as Derby manager after 18 months in charge and on the same day the club appeared to have sorted out its financial difficulties.
The Manchester United and England star joined the team in January 2020 as player-coach and ended that year in temporary charge following Phillip Cocu’s departure.
GENEVA (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser al-Khelaïfi was acquitted in Switzerland on Friday for a second time in a retrial of alleged wrongdoing linked to former FIFA secretary general Jérôme Valcke.
GENEVA (AP) — FIFA has approved bigger 26-man squads for the World Cup in Qatar, deciding Thursday to extend soccer’s relaxation of rules that help coaches and players during the COVID-19 pandemic.
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Slovakia midfielder Juraj Kucka has returned home after more than 13 years to join Slovak champion Slovan Bratislava after playing for Watford in the English Premier League last season.
LEIPZIG, Germany (AP) — France forward Christopher Nkunku extended his contract with Leipzig through 2026 on Thursday after a breakout season that attracted the attention of some of Europe's biggest clubs.
BUENOS AIRES (AP) — An Argentinian judge ruled on Wednesday that eight medical personnel involved in the care of soccer star Diego Maradona will face a public trial for criminal negligence.
Brain surgeon Leopoldo Luque and psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov are among those who will stand trial for homicide, the judge ruled.
TORONTO (AP) — Ayo Akinola scored twice and Toronto FC beat Montreal 4-0 on Wednesday night to advance to the Canadian Championship final.
In the other semifinal, Brian White scored twice in the Vancouver Whitecaps' 2-1 victory over the Canadian Premier League’s York United.
Briana Scurry’s U.S. national soccer team jersey is at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture in a permanent display that notes the contribution of Title IX to leveling the playing field.
Bans on transgender women in international swimming and rugby this week opened the door for track and field to consider following suit in what could turn into a wave of policy changes in Olympic sports.
NEW YORK (AP) — How songs come to Sophie Allison is pretty simple. They just sort of show up, raw and in need of attention.
“The way I write is I just sit down and — I could be watching TV, be having coffee or something — I’m just kind of mindlessly playing guitar until I stumble upon an idea I like,” the singer-songwriter says.