Central & South America

Former World Cup winner Ronaldinho moved a step closer to ending his Paraguayan ordeal on Friday when prosecutors said they would not oppose a "conditional suspension" of the case that would allow him to return to Brazil.

The twice World Player of the Year was arrested on March 6 along with his brother and business manager Roberto Assis after they tried to enter Paraguay with adulterated Paraguayan passports.

Players who deliberately cough at opponents or referees can be shown red or yellow cards under new guidelines issued by England's Football Association (FA) amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The instructions to referees taking charge of games when COVID-19 restrictions are in place will come into force immediately and be applied at all levels of the game.

CONCACAF has unveiled a new qualification format for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar after COVID-19 forced a rejig of the usual system, the governing body for soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean said on Monday.

The new format, which will feature all 35 of the region's members, has been split into three rounds with the first being played in October and November with teams ranked from No. 6 to No. 35 in CONCACAF as of July 16 drawn into six groups of five.

Apart from Zinedine Zidane’s masterful headbutt on Marco Materazzi, the most infamous foul in 21st century World Cup finals is certainly Nigel de Jong’s hatchet man kung fu kick into the chest of Xabi Alonso.

It should’ve been a straight red — even referee Howard Webb admitted as much later — but it takes some cojones to effectively end the World Cup final after only 28 minutes. 

The Bolivian Football Federation (FBF) suffered the loss of its president on Sunday due to complications from COVID-19. Cesar Salinas was 58 years old and had served as president since 2018. He had been hospitalized with the novel coronavirus earlier in July.

The federation, CONMEBOL and Bolivia's president Jeanine Áñez all sent out messages of condolence to Salinas’ family following his passing.

With the 2019-20 Ligue 1 season cancelled and PSG declared champion for the seventh time in eight years, the club has turned to friendlies to stay sharp with participation in the Coupe de France final (July 24 vs. Saint-Étienne), Coupe de la Ligue final (July 31 vs. Lyon) and Champions League quarterfinals (Aug. 12 vs. Atalanta) still to come.

FIFA wants VAR video reviews to be applied in the same way across all competitions, as they take over direct responsibility for the system.

Issues concerning VAR have been handled primarily by IFAB, the game's law-making body, during the system's two-year experimental phase and its introduction as part of the laws of the game. Soccer's global governing body FIFA, however, took over the role of supporting competition organizers with the implementation of VAR from July 1.

Substitute Luis Muriel rifled in two long-range goals as irrepressible Atalanta beat Udinese 3-2 away on Sunday for their third straight win since restarting the Serie A campaign.

The league's most prolific team took their tally to 80 goals in 28 games, including 10 in three matches since the resumption, as they stayed fourth and on course for a Champions League spot.

The Rio de Janeiro state championship restarted once again on Sunday as Botafogo — one of the clubs opposed to what they see as a premature resumption of top-level football —— took the field with a banner protesting the decision.

The move to get back underway in Rio has focused attention on the wider confusion surrounding football's stop-start status in the South American nation. Although many clubs are back in training, only Rio has restarted its state league as the daily number of dead and infected due to the new coronavirus remains high.