Preview

The Japanese Football Association announced on Monday that Japan is withdrawing its bid to host the 2023 Women's World Cup, just days before football's world governing body holds a vote to determine the successful candidate.

The NWSL is preparing for its Challenge Cup beginning on Saturday, June 27 at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, Utah. The nine teams participating in the 25-game tournament have been back training, but with the time-crunched preseason, not all the big names will be making an appearance. 

Several USWNT players will not be joining their respective teams due to injury or concern over the possible spread of the coronavirus.

Tottenham striker Harry Kane will start in Friday's Premier League clash at home to Manchester United after a six-month absence, according to manager Jose Mourinho.

Son Heung-min and Moussa Sissoko, who like Kane were ruled out by serious injuries when the Premier League was suspended three months ago, are also set to face United.

The news is a big boost to Tottenham as they try to revive their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League, having slipped to eighth in the standings, four points behind fifth-placed United and seven points behind fourth-placed Chelsea.

And then there were three. On Monday, Brazil withdrew its candidacy to host the 2023 Women’s World Cup, leaving Colombia, Japan and a joint bid from Australia and New Zealand as the remaining contenders before the final FIFA Council vote on June 25.

The LaLiga season resumes on June 11 and then — with 11 match weeks still to be played — goes off on a tear with games every day until July 17. This means that clubs will be playing matches every three to four days until the season’s over, and with players lacking match fitness, squad depth will be tested over the coming weeks with young players given a chance to shine. 

Professional team sports return to America beginning Saturday, June 27 with the start of the NWSL’s Challenge Cup in Herriman, Utah. The NWSL Challenge Cup schedule was unveiled Monday, and the tournament will feature 25 extremely meaningful matches over the course of a month.

Things begin with an 18-game preliminary round that takes place between June 27 and July 13. Each of the league’s nine teams will play four games and those results will be used to determine the seedings in the quarterfinal knockout round with the last-place squad being eliminated.

A crucial game beckons in the 2. Bundesliga's race for promotion as second-place Hamburg takes on third-place Stuttgart on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. EST. 

Dieter Hecking's Hamburg holds a one-point lead over New Jersey native Pellegrino Matarazzo's Stuttgart in the second and final automatic-promotion spot. Neither side has been in great form of late; stretching back to before the pandemic-enforced shutdown, Hamburg has just one win in six games while Stuttgart is on a winless run of four games. 

After weeks of wrangling, with several U-turns on the way, Italy is due to decide on Thursday if and when its top-flight Serie A soccer league can resume after the coronavirus stoppage. 

Possibly encouraged by seeing how Germany's Bundesliga has restarted without problems so far, the Italian government appears to have relaxed its position recently. 

Another European league looks set to restart play soon after the pandemic-enforced shutdown. 

According to a report in the Ukrainian press, the country's Premier League has been given the green light to resume play this coming weekend. The Ukrainian Association of Football (UAF) and the country's Ministry of Health decided after a meeting that the competition will be allowed to go ahead.