Europe

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.

France coach Didier Deschamps has praised Olivier Giroud's mental toughness and high standards of professionalism as he confirmed the striker will start in Wednesday's friendly against Ukraine to claim his 100th cap for the national team.

Giroud will become the eighth player to join France's exclusive club of centurions alongside Lilian Thuram, Thierry Henry, Marcel Desailly, Hugo Lloris, Zinedine Zidane, Patrick Vieira and Les Bleus boss Deschamps.

Manchester United made four signings on transfer deadline day, including Uruguay striker Edinson Cavani while European champions Bayern Munich strengthened with two new arrivals. But the biggest single move of the final day of deal-making was midfielder Thomas Partey making a $58.46 million switch from Atletico Madrid to Arsenal.

United signed Cavani on a free transfer, Brazilian left back Alex Telles from Porto, Uruguayan 18-year-old winger Facundo Pellistri and reached an agreement to sign Atalanta's teenage winger Amad Diallo.

Bayern Munich’s Thomas Müller has long been associated with the label he assigned himself on the pitch, that of the Raumdeuter, which is roughly translated as an “interpreter of space.” 

New Netherlands manager Frank de Boer will have a tough job over the next fortnight trying to convince the doubters he is the right man to lead the national team after Ronald Koeman.

De Boer, 50, took over last month from Koeman, who left to join Barcelona, and will make his debut on Wednesday when the Dutch host Mexico in a friendly followed by two Nations League games away to Bosnia on Sunday and Italy three days later.

A perfectly balanced contest between Barcelona and Sevilla at the Camp Nou on Sunday ended in a 1-1 draw with Luuk de Jong’s early strike being promptly cancelled out by Philippe Coutinho’s first goal for the club since May of 2019.

The meeting between second (Barça) and fourth (Sevilla) in last season’s table figured to be the sternest test of Ronaldo Koeman’s early reign despite the fact that Julen Lopetegui wasn’t on Sevilla’s bench after being sent off in Thursday’s 1-0 victory over Levante.

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.

Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski scored four goals including a stoppage-time penalty to give the German champions a 4-3 home win over Hertha Berlin in a pulsating Bundesliga clash at the Allianz Arena on Sunday.

The result left Bayern fourth in the standings on six points from three games, one behind the top three led by Leipzig on goal difference, while Hertha slipped to 13th on four points.

Lewandowski fired Bayern into a 2-0 lead with two trademark goals before the visitors hit back through Jhon Cordoba and Matheus Cunha to set up a frantic climax.