England

LONDON — Raheem Sterling finally found his tournament touch when his goal gave England a deserved 1-0 win over Croatia at Wembley on Sunday as they began a European Championship with a victory for the first time in nine attempts.

Sterling, something of a surprise starter after a flat end to the domestic season but a favourite of manager Gareth Southgate, slid home a 61st-minute shot after great work by Kalvin Phillips to end an individual drought that had run through England’s three previous major tournaments.

Soccer's European Championship kicks off on Friday with the 24 teams' battle for glory accompanied by off-field conflict over the anti-racism gesture of "taking the knee".

England were booed by some of their fans in two friendlies while Ireland were jeered in Hungary for kneeling before kickoff in a move borrowed from American NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick and popularised by the Black Lives Matter movement.

People have been complaining about the implementation of the Video Assistant Referee in the Premier League for well over a year now. Next season, the introduction of thick VAR lines could solve that issue, according to The Times.

Premier League club Norwich City on Thursday ended their partnership with kit sponsor BK8 following supporters' criticism of the Asian betting company's provocative marketing material online.

Norwich, who won the second-tier Championship last season to qualify for the top flight, had announced BK8 as their new shirt sponsor on Monday for the 2021-22 season.

The six English clubs that said they would join the European Super League will pay a combined 22 million pounds ($31 million) as "a gesture of goodwill" and face a 30-point deduction if they attempt a similar move in future, the Premier League said on Wednesday.

Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur will also each be fined 25 million pounds if they attempt another breakaway, the league added.

Manchester City midfielder Phil Foden is now Europe's most expensive player to buy, according to the CIES Football Observatory, which recently published its latest ranking of players in Europe's big five leagues with the highest estimated transfer value. How much would someone who wanted Foden have to put up? $232 million.

MLS expansion club Charlotte FC signed Leicester City defender Christian Fuchs.

The 35-year-old left back will join Charlotte in January 2022 ahead of their inaugural season.

MIDDLESBROUGH, England - A makeshift England side beat Romania 1-0 in their final Euro 2020 warm-up game on Sunday as Marcus Rashford converted a 68th-minute penalty after manager Gareth Southgate made nine changes to the team that beat Austria by the same score on Wednesday.

Rashford left Florin Niță rooted to his line with a perfectly taken spot kick after Tiberiu Căpuşă brought down Jack Grealish but the Romanian goalkeeper did well 10 minutes later when he saved a Jordan Henderson penalty.

England will continue to take a knee during the European Championship and ignore any "adverse reaction" to taking part in the anti-racism gesture, manager Gareth Southgate said on Saturday.

Boos could be heard from sections of the crowd at the Riverside Stadium when players took the knee before England's friendly win over Austria on Wednesday.