Soccer

Football's world ruling body FIFA on Friday officially turned down a request from the Irish football authorities to stage a replay of their controversial World Cup playoff defeat to France. A statement on FIFA's website said: "FIFA has today, 20 November 2009, ...

BERNE (Reuters) - Asian champions Iraq have been suspended from international soccer because of political interference in the country's Football Association, world governing body FIFA said on Friday. It is Iraq's second ban in 18 months, the previous having lasted just three ...

LONDON (Reuters) - France captain Thierry Henry has agreed a replay against Ireland would be the fairest solution to the controversy surrounding the teams' World Cup playoff. The striker handled the ball in the buildup to William Gallas's goal in Wednesday's 1-1 ...

Thierry Henry, in the eye of a storm surrounding his handball in Wednesday's World Cup play-off against Ireland, received welcome support Friday from his club manager at Barcelona. Pep Guardiola described Henry's double handball which led to the goal that put France ...

FIFA rules out replay of France-Ireland qualifier; Henry embarrassed by hand ball FIFA rejected Ireland's request to replay its World Cup qualifier against France on Friday, while Thierry Henry said a rematch would be "the fairest solution" to resolve the furor over ...

BERNE (Reuters) - Asian champions Iraq have been suspended from international football because of political interference in the country's FA, FIFA said Friday. "The FIFA Emergency Committee has...decided to suspend the Iraqi Football Association (IFA) due to governmental interference," the world governing ...

Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb on Friday had their Europa League points deduction replaced with a 75,000 euros fine and a three-year suspended ban from European competition. European governing body UEFA had initially docked Dinamo three points following "serious crowd disturbances" involving their ...

World Cup qualifiers Ghana and Ivory Coast will clash in the first round of the African Nations Cup after the draw here Friday placed them in Group B with Burkina Faso and Togo. Defending champions Egypt, seeking a record third consecutive title ...

FILE - In this Aug. 22, 2009 file photo, a referee blows his wistle during a German first division Bundesliga soccer match in Mainz, Germany. German authorities and police elsewhere have arrested an undisclosed number of people suspected of fixing matches in ...

In what one UEFA official called European football's worst ever match-fixing scandal, investigators said Friday criminals may have netted 10 million euros rigging 200 games in nine countries. A 200-strong band operating across Europe is suspected of swaying matches in Germany, Belgium, ...