Europe

U.S. Billionaire Signs Deal To Buy Roma For Over $700 Million

U.S. billionaire Dan Friedkin has signed a deal worth more than $700 million to purchase the Italian Serie A soccer club AS Roma, the club said on Thursday.

Roma said in statement that formal contracts with the Houston, Texas-based Friedkin Group were signed on Wednesday for a transaction valued at 591 million euros.

"We look forward to closing the purchase as soon as possible and immersing ourselves in the AS Roma family," Friedkin said in a statement on the club website.

From Repeat Testing To A Ban On Shirt Swapping, Every Rule For Champions League Restart

Ahead of the Champions League and Europa League knockout matches that begin this week, European soccer governing body UEFA has released a document with a list of protocols for the return to competition amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The protocols will also apply to international matches that are scheduled to be played this year.

"Non-respect of such social norms could have serious consequences for the staging of international matches," UEFA said.

Following are the rules teams and officials must adhere to:

UEFA Removes Pending Yellow Cards After Round Of 16 For This Year's Champions League

UEFA has decided to remove pending yellow cards once the Round of 16 is completed for the 2019-20 season. This applies to both the Champions League and the Europa League.

The decision amends articles in the Regulations of the Europa League and the Champions League where yellow cards had been suspended after the quarterfinals.

Dutch FA Makes Landmark Decision Allowing First Woman To Play On Men's Team

History was made in the ninth tier of Dutch football after the KNVB (Dutch Football Association) announced a new program of integrating women and men in the sport.

Ellen Fokkema will be the first woman to play on a senior men’s team. The 19-year-old will play for VV Foarut in the lower levels of the Dutch football ladder, the KNVB announced on Tuesday.

UEFA Would Like To Thank Frontline Workers

UEFA has announced that when Europe's elite teams return to the pitch this week the jerseys of every player will have the words "Thank you" written on them. The purpose of this move is to highlight and thank COVID-19 frontline workers. Each team will have the chance to write out the words in the language of their choice.

Refs To Crack Down On Players That Deliberately Cough On Their Opponent’s Face

Players who deliberately cough at opponents or referees can be shown red or yellow cards under new guidelines issued by England's Football Association (FA) amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The instructions to referees taking charge of games when COVID-19 restrictions are in place will come into force immediately and be applied at all levels of the game.

Italy’s Oldest Club Avoids Relegation On Final Day Of Serie A Season

Three players were sent off as Genoa, Italy's oldest professional club, beat Hellas Verona 3-0 to guarantee their Serie A survival on Sunday while Lecce became the final team to be relegated after losing 4-3 at home to Parma.

Genoa, whose coach Davide Nicola pulled off one of Serie A's great escapes with Crotone three years ago, finished 17th in the 20-team table with 39 points after ensuring their survival on the last day of the season for the second year running.

Seal-Dribbling Madman Spotted In Belarus

Back in the days of FIFA Street, you used to have to string together tricks and skills to fill a combo bar which unleashed the GameBreaker — an action that would allow you to score from essentially anywhere, usually by way of scissor kick. 

If this feature were somehow ported into real life, performing the seal dribble would instantly charge that GameBreaker to max capacity. Across the spectrum of sport, I know of no form of self-expression that’s as needless, as brazen and as semiaquatic marine mammal-inspired as the seal dribble.

After 30-Year Career, Juventus And Roma Players Surprise Referee With Heartfelt Tribute

The life of a referee is a brutal one. If a referee does their job correctly and makes all the right calls then no one talks about the official. However, if the referee does the opposite — much like Anthony Taylor in the FA Cup final — then they receive a tidal wave of criticism.

This List Of The World’s Richest Clubs From 1998 Is A Wild Sight

Back in January, Deloitte published its annual Football Money League table to showcase the 20 highest earning football clubs in the world based on turnover for the 2018-19 season. At the top was Barcelona with revenues of over $1 billion. Revenue growth amongst the world’s wealthiest clubs has been exponential over the last decade, a fact that’s verified by Barça’s 1997-98 turnover of $63.5 million — the sixth-highest number on the planet at the time.

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