After firing Real Madrid to a Champions League and LaLiga double with 42 goals in 44 games and returning to the France national team with a Nations League title, Karim Benzema beat Sadio Mané and Kevin De Bruyne to the 2022 Ballon d'Or on Monday. To celebrate the occasion, adidas — which has counted Benzema among its stable of athletes for over a decade now — dropped a new signature cleat for Real's captain.
PARIS - Real Madrid's France forward Karim Benzema won the 2022 Ballon d'Or award for the best men's player in the world on Monday, while Barcelona's Spain midfielder Alexia Putellas won the women's award for a second time.
Benzema, who played a pivotal role in Real's run to the Champions League title last season, is the first French player to win the trophy since Zinedine Zidane in 1998 and the fifth after Raymond Kopa, Michel Platini and Jean-Pierre Papin.
Real Madrid opened a three-point lead over Barcelona at the top of LaLiga by claiming the season's first Clásico 3-1 at the Santiago Bernabéu on Sunday afternoon with goals from Karim Benzema, Federico Valverde and Rodrygo. Ferran Torres got Barça's lone strike.
Barcelona's kits will look different in El Clasico against Real Madrid this Sunday. Instead of featuring the logo of their current commercial sponsor Spotify, they'll switch to the famous OVO owl from singer Drake.
Confusing, isn't it? To be clear, Barcelona hasn't thrown away their multimillion, lever-pulling deal with Spotify. In fact, the idea of adorning the blaugrana jerseys with the rapper branding came from the very own music streaming service to celebrate the artist's success on the platform.
After 17 straight seasons of advancing to the Champions League knockout stages between 2004-05 and 2020-21, Barcelona is about to drop down to the Europa League for the second straight campaign after a damning 3-3 home draw with Inter Milan Wednesday left the Italian side just a win against Viktoria Plzeň away from securing a top-two place in Group C alongside Bayern Munich.
It comes as no surprise but Real Madrid, for the 31st time in 31 editions of the competition, has reached the Champions League Round of 16 with two matches still to play.
Group F looked decidedly simple for Real alongside RB Leipzig, Celtic and Shakhtar Donetsk, but Shakhtar almost handed los Blancos their first defeat of the campaign Tuesday after Oleksandr Zubkov had given the "home" side a 46th-minute advantage in Warsaw, Poland.
FRANKFURT, Germany - Defending champions Italy will face England in their Euro 2024 qualifying group, a repeat of last year's tournament final, following the draw on Sunday in Frankfurt's Festhalle.
The Italians, who beat England 3-2 on penalties at London's Wembley stadium in 2021 to lift the trophy will also play North Macedonia, who prevented Roberto Mancini's side from reaching the World Cup, and Malta in Group C.
Forbes has revealed its list for the highest-paid soccer players 2022. For the first time since 2014, neither Lionel Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo sit at No. 1 on the list. The era of Messi and Ronaldo is starting to fade and a kid from France sits upon the money throne.
NYON, Switzerland - Ukraine has joined Spain and Portugal in their bid to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup, the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) said on Wednesday, in what they hailed as an act of European solidarity.
They said the decision, announced at a news conference at the Swiss headquarters of UEFA, had the full support of European soccer's governing body and also of the Spanish, Portuguese and Ukrainian governments.
"Our bid is not an Iberian bid anymore, it's a European bid," Luis Rubiales, president of the RFEF, said.
MADRID — Spain women's coach Jorge Vilda on Friday left out of his squad the 15 players who have reportedly told the Spanish FA (RFEF) they would quit international duty while he is in charge.
According to sources close to the situation, the players are unhappy with the management of injuries, the atmosphere in the locker room, Vilda's team selection and training sessions.