Al-Hilal — three-time winner of the AFC Champions League and last season’s champion — has withdrawn from this season’s competition after failing to field enough players for a group stage match. The 16-time Saudi Professional League champion has been hammered with cases of Covid-19 and attempted to field a lineup that had three goalkeepers, eight outfield players and no substitutes.
TOKYO — Thirty four years after making his professional debut, Japanese forward Kazuyoshi Miura became the oldest player to appear in a J-League first division match when he led Yokohama FC on Wednesday at the age of 53.
The player known as "King Kazu", who started his career in Brazil in 1986 because Japan did not have a professional league for him to play in, was given the captain's armband, but he could not inspire his team who lost 3-2 to league leaders Kawasaki Frontale.
MUMBAI — When India began lifting its coronavirus lockdown, Meera, a child bride from northwestern India, was focused on just one thing: when she could start playing football again.
In Rajasthan, one of the Indian regions where early marriage persists despite being outlawed more than a decade ago, a girls' soccer initiative is tackling gender inequality, and giving child brides the confidence to fight for their rights.
Australia's women's soccer team, the Matildas, apologised on Friday after it emerged that their replica away kit was not on sale in female sizes.
The new kit, made by Nike of 100 percent recycled polyester from plastic bottles, was unveiled earlier alongside the men's home and away jerseys but fans soon noted that only the women's gold home shirt was available for purchase online.
Our new @nike kit is now available to purchase
Kazuyoshi Miura, the 53-year-old forward for J.League side Yokohama FC, began his career 34 years ago and is still going strong, wondering if he "can stay alive" without the sport after retiring.
Not that the man known fondly in Japan as 'King Kazu' is considering retiring anytime soon, despite being 20 years older than most of his team mates.
BERN — The Covid-19 pandemic is likely to cost club football $14 billion this year worldwide, around one third of its value, a leading official at global soccer body FIFA said on Wednesday.
Olli Rehn, who heads the FIFA committee set up to tackle the effects of the pandemic, said that FIFA, along with financial consultants, had estimated the club game to be worth between $40 billion and $45 billion worldwide.
Japan's Olympic Minister insists the rearranged Tokyo 2020 Games must be held "at any cost,” while the International Olympic Committee says only that it is committed to delivering a safe event.
But with less than a year before the July 23-Aug. 8 Games are due to start, the hugest of question marks remains over whether they can ever take place. With neither partner seemingly willing to consider scrapping the event as the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc globally, we consider the options available, and possible scenarios:
KABUL — Pressure is mounting in Afghanistan for the arrest of the fugitive former head of the national soccer federation, who was banned from the sport for life last year after FIFA's ethics committee found him guilty of sexually abusing female players.
Keramuudin Karim, 58, is accused by the attorney general's office of repeated abuse of at least five female footballers between 2013 and 2018 during his time as president of the Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF).
Yūki Nagasato has done just about everything. She’s won a Women’s World Cup, an Olympic silver medal and a UEFA Champions League title. She’s played club ball in her home country of Japan, Germany, England, the U.S. and Australia, winning league titles in Japan and England.
Now Nagasato’s aiming for something a little different: playing for a men’s team.