FIFA 2014

ROME: Carlo Tavecchio, the favorite to become the next Italian Football Federation (FIGC) president, has been caught up in a racism storm after referring to African players as "banana eaters". The influx of foreign players has been a hot topic since the national team crashed out of the World Cup in the group stage and 71-year-old Tavecchio suggested Italy should replicate England's stringent requirements for non-EU players.

QUITO:  Ecuador have sacked World Cup coach Reinaldo Rueda following the team's failure to progress beyond the group stage in Brazil.

LONDON: England captain Steven Gerrard has announced his retirement from international soccer, England's Football Association said on Monday.

BERLIN: Germany captain Philipp Lahm has decided to quit international soccer just days after leading his side to World Cup victory in Brazil, Bild newspaper reported on Friday.

BERLIN: The head of Germany's national soccer association said on Wednesday that German players celebrating their World Cup triumph did not intend to be disrespectful when they performed a dance that poked fun at their defeated opponent Argentina.

BARCELONA: Barcelona sports director Andoni Zubizarreta defended new signing Luis Suarez over his World Cup biting scandal on Wednesday, saying that nobody was perfect.

Hundreds of thousands of revelers packed Berlin's "fan mile", a 1.3 km stretch of road running from the west of the capital up to...

RIO DE JANEIRO: From swashbuckling goals to inglorious exits, on-field shenanigans to sideline lunacy, the World Cup in Brazil has been one of the most remarkable of recent times.

RIO DE JANEIRO: Ray Whelan, the fugitive chief executive of a Swiss hospitality company implicated in an investigation into the illegal resale of VIP World Cup tickets, surrendered to a Rio de Janeiro court on Monday, a court spokeswoman said.