Shocking

Arsenal's out-of-favor playmaker Mesut Özil has been left out of their Europa League squad for the 2020-21 campaign, giving rise to media speculation that he might have played his last game for the Premier League side.

Czech footballer Antonin Panenka, whose cheeky winning penalty technique against Germany in the 1976 European Championship has been copied by some of the game's greatest players, is in intensive care at a hospital, his former club said on Wednesday.

Panenka, 71, led the Czechoslovak national team to their only international title after he lofted the decisive penalty past a surprised and sprawling German goalkeeper Sepp Maier in the shoot-out of the final.

German prosecutors and tax authorities searched offices of the German Football Association (DFB) as well as private homes of current and former officials on suspicion of serious tax evasion, the Frankfurt prosecutors' office said on Wednesday.

It said six unnamed former and current officials of the DFB were suspected of having intentionally falsely declared income from advertising in soccer stadiums during home games of the national team in 2014 and 2015 as income from asset management, leading to $5.5 million in unpaid taxes.

Chelsea stars Tammy Abraham and Ben Chilwell are in hot water along with Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho after video was released from a party held in London this past weekend. 

Abraham, celebrating his 23rd birthday, came home to a large group of friends and family ready to surprise him. His Chelsea teammate Chilwell and Dortmund’s Sancho were among the group.

Liverpool defender Andy Robertson has said their embarrassing 7-2 thrashing at Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday was unacceptable and vowed that the players will react positively after the international break.

One of the top Serie A fixtures of the season descended into chaos on Sunday when Napoli failed to turn up for their match at Juventus after their local health authority told the players to stay at home following positive COVID-19 cases.

With the Serie A league refusing to call the game off, Juventus arrived at the Allianz stadium in Turin in their team bus one hour before the scheduled kickoff time while Italian media reported no sign of Napoli.