France’s victorious football World Cup team is to receive the country’s highest accolade, the Légion d’Honneur, the French presidency has announced. France defeated Croatia 4-2 in the final in Moscow on Sunday – the country’s second World Cup in 20 years. Crowds of fans gathered at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport on Monday to give the team a hero’s welcome. The players will be honoured with a parade on the Champs-Elysees and a presidential reception.
Russian authorities have charged four members of the punk activist group Pussy Riot for disrupting the World Cup final by running onto the pitch. They are accused of violating the rules for spectators at sporting events and of wearing police uniforms illegally. The two offences carry maximum fines of 10,000 roubles and 1,500 roubles, respectively. Pussy Riot said it was a protest against human rights abuses in Russia. Stewards hauled the four off the pitch. The incident interrupted the second half of the Croatia v France match for about 25 seconds. France went on to win 4-2.
Argentina and manager Jorge Sampaoli have “mutually agreed” to terminate his contract in the wake of the team’s disappointing 2018 World Cup campaign. The 2014 runners-up went out of the tournament courtesy of a 4-3 defeat by France at the last-16 stage. Sampaoli, 58, took charge of his home country in May 2017 and the team scraped through qualifying.
Britain’s Anthony Joshua will defend his world heavyweight titles against Russian Alexander Povetkin at Wembley Stadium on 22 September. The 28-year-old unified the WBA, IBF and WBO world heavyweight titles with a unanimous points win over New Zealander Joseph Parker in Cardiff in March. Unbeaten in 21 professional bouts, he now faces 38-year-old Povetkin, the WBA champion from 2011-2013. Povetkin knocked out David Price on the Joshua-Parker undercard in Cardiff.
Novak Djokovic earned his first Grand Slam title in more than two years by beating Kevin Anderson to win his fourth Wimbledon championship. Djokovic, seeded 12th, won 6-2 6-2 7-6 (7-3) to claim a 13th Slam – his first major since the 2016 French Open. The Serb, 31, quickly took control to win the opening set in 29 minutes, breaking twice more in the second set. Djokovic saw off five set points in an even third set before dominating the tie-break to seal victory.
Golden Ball (Player Of The Tournament): Luka Modric (Croatia)
Young Player Award: Kylian Mbappe (France)
Golden Boot (Highest Goal Scorer): Harry Kane (England)
Golden Glove (Best Goalkeeper): Thibaut Courtois (Belgium)
France won the 20148 FIFA World Cup for the second time by beating Croatia 4 – 2 in a thrilling final in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium. Didier Deschamps’ side repeated the success on home soil at France ’98 by a margin that hardly looked possible as Croatia stood toe-to-toe with the favourites for an hour.
West Ham have signed Paraguay defender Fabian Balbuena from Corinthians on a three-year deal. The 26-year-old joins the Hammers for an undisclosed fee after two years with the Brazilian top flight side. Balbuena, who captained Corinthians and has seven international caps, becomes West Ham’s sixth summer signing.
Maurizio Sarri says he wants to bring “entertaining football” to Chelsea after becoming their manager on a three-year deal. The 59-year-old replaces fellow Italian Antonio Conte, who was sacked on Friday after two years at Stamford Bridge. Sarri led Napoli to two second-place finishes in his three seasons in charge of the Serie A side, who named Carlo Ancelotti as his successor in May.
Chelsea have signed Italy international Jorginho from Napoli after Manchester City pulled out of a £50m deal. Jorginho, 26, has signed a five-year contract to join former Napoli boss Maurizio Sarri at Stamford Bridge. On Thursday, City were assured by Jorginho’s agent that the midfielder still wanted to join them, despite Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis saying the player favoured Chelsea.
Angelique Kerber beat seven-time champion Serena Williams to win her first Wimbledon title and spoil the American’s dream comeback as a mum. The German 11th seed, 30, beat the 23-time Grand Slam champion 6-3 6-3 to add this title to her 2016 Australian Open and US Open crowns.
Saturday 14 July
Belgium 2 – 0 England
Belgium go home with the bronze medal.
Chelsea have sacked manager Antonio Conte after two years in charge. The 48-year-old Italian, who returned to pre-season training this week, had one year remaining on his contract. Conte won the Premier League in his first season and the FA Cup in May, but the team finished fifth in the league last season, missing out on Champions League qualification. Ex-Napoli manager Maurizio Sarri is expected to succeed his compatriot at Stamford Bridge.
Super Eagles and Everton striker Henry Onyekuru has joined Galatasaray on a season-long loan, the Turkish club have confirmed. The 21-year-old signed for the Toffees last summer before being loaned to Belgian side Anderlecht to help him qualify for a work permit. Onyekuru scored nine goals in 19 appearances for Anderlecht but suffered a serious knee injury in December and returned to Merseyside for treatment.
FIFA has announced that Nestor Pitana of Argentina will referee the 2018 World Cup final between France and Croatia on Sunday. Pitana has already refereed four games, including the tournament opener between host nation Russia and Saudi Arabia and France’s quarter-final win over Uruguay.
Broadcasters have been ordered to stop their cameras zooming in on “hot women” in the crowd at football matches, FIFA’s diversity boss says. Federico Addiechi said football’s world governing body needed to help tackle sexism at the World Cup. “We’ve done it with individual broadcasters. We’ve done it with our host broadcast services,” he said. Anti-discrimination group Fare Network says sexism has been the biggest problem at Russia 2018. It has been monitoring games and says it has “documented more than 30 cases”.
Barcelona have signed Sevilla centre-back Clement Lenglet for 35.9 million euros and put a 300 million euro release clause on him. Lenglet, 23, has signed a five-year deal at the Nou Camp after the Spanish champions met his buy-out clause.
Serena Williams was expecting to take “baby steps” on her return to tennis as a mum but after reaching the Wimbledon final wants to make giant strides. The former world number one will be seeking a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title when she faces Angelique Kerber in Saturday’s showpiece. Despite being only four tournaments into her return, she has been many people’s favourite for an eighth title. “This is not inevitable for me,” said Williams, who gave birth in September.
Workers at a Fiat Chrysler plant in Italy are to strike after its main investor decided to pay €112m to sign footballer Cristiano Ronaldo for Juventus. Both the football club and the carmaker are controlled by the Agnelli family through their holding company. For the USB union, the decision means Fiat is missing out on investment. It said the firm needed to guarantee the future of thousands of people, “rather than enriching only one”.
Poland have named former national team captain Jerzy Brzeczek as their new manager after their World Cup group stage exit. The 47-year-old Wisla Plock boss replaces Adam Nawalka, whose contract was not renewed. Poland finished bottom of Group H after losing their opening two games to Senegal and Colombia before beating Japan in the final game. Brzeczek, who won 42 caps, is the uncle of Poland winger Jakub Blaszczykowski.
