Europe

The Coppa Italia semifinals will be played on June 12-13 while the final will be held on June 17, Italy's Sports Minister Vincenzo Spadafora confirmed on Thursday.

Juventus and AC Milan, who played out a 1-1 draw in the first leg, will play on June 12. Napoli host Inter Milan a day later at the San Paolo Stadium, leading 1-0 on aggregate.

Serie A said in a statement last week that the Italian season, which has been suspended since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, would resume with the cup competition before the league restarts on June 20.

After months of speculation that Liverpool was going to acquire RB Leipzig’s star striker Timo Werner, Chelsea has come out of nowhere and snatched the 24-year-old German.

What started as a rumor that Werner was in talks with Chelsea quickly became an official signing with multiple sources confirming that the Blues had met his $62 million release clause on Thursday.

Timo Werner has agreed to join Chelsea https://t.co/2Qf7Af588F

It’s been a tale of two halves for Schalke 04 this season. 

The arrival of Jürgen Klopp protégé David Wagner was hailed as a progressive step forward after a disastrous 2018-19 campaign that saw the club flirt with relegation, and that excitement was thoroughly justified through 18 games as Schalke climbed as high as fifth in the Bundesliga.

Football players have to acknowledge their responsibility as role models and take a stand against racism, Bayern Munich midfielder Joshua Kimmich has said.

Kimmich was speaking following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis last week. Floyd's death has triggered a wave of outrage and protests in the United States.

Atlético Madrid's long-serving assistant coach Germán "Mono" Burgos has announced he is leaving the club at the end of this campaign after over eight years in order to become a head coach.

"At the end of this season I will start my journey as a first team coach. With more than 10 years experience in LaLiga I think I am perfectly capable of guiding a team's destiny," Burgos said in a video on Atlético's website on Wednesday.

Tel Aviv's Bloomfield Stadium has installed a special tunnel to spray soccer players arriving for matches with a fine disinfectant mist to help prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.

The pilot of the tunnel, which will run until the end of the season, comes as sports leagues around the globe are preparing to resume play but grappling with how to ensure the health of players and fans. Israel's soccer league has resumed but behind closed doors.

Veró Boquete is one of the most accomplished footballers in the world. A short list of her achievements includes being Spain’s all-time top scorer, having a stadium named after her and fighting for women to be included in the FIFA video game.

The 33-year-old has been all over the world playing for clubs in the United States, Spain, Russia, Sweden, Germany, France and China. She recently returned to the NWSL last year after a five-year hiatus from the U.S.

World soccer's governing body FIFA has asked competition organizers to use "common sense" with players who show messages of protest over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man killed in police custody in the United States.

The move, which marks a change from a previous strong line against players displaying messages on the field, came as athletes and sports figures around the world made their views on the situation in the United States clear.

With fans barred from entering stadiums due to the impact of coronavirus, Danish league leaders FC Midtjylland took an imaginative approach to their return to action with a 'drive-in' broadcast for supporters.

The club installed giant screens in the parking lot of their MCH Arena to allow fans to watch matches from the their cars from the more than 2,000 available spaces.