Four matches will be played each day during the group stage of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Fifa has announced. The group games will be played over a 12-day period, with matches not being assigned to particular venues until after the finals draw in March 2022.
Liverpool will lift the Premier League trophy in a special ceremony on the Kop following next Wednesday’s fixture with Chelsea. Jurgen Klopp’s team secured their first league title in 30 years in June but fans will not be at Anfield to watch the ceremony because of Covid-19.
English Premier League Results – 15 July, 2020.
Burnley 1:1 Wolves
Manchester City 2:1 Bournemouth
Newcastle 1:3 Tottenham
Arsenal 2:1 Liverpool
Nigerian Football was again thrown into a state of mourning yesterday as news broke of the death of leading women football promoter and administrator, Henrietta Ukaigwe. Ukaigwe, a member of the Board of the Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL), has for several decades been at the vanguard of promoting the game of female football in Nigeria and even beyond these shores, playing a key role in the wide traction gained by the game from the 1990s as Nigeria’s Super Falcons relentlessly dominated the African game and became a permanent fixture in the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Saudi Arabia has barred beIN Sport – the Premier League’s official Middle East broadcasters – from operating in the country. It means there is now no legitimate way to watch English top-flight football in a nation whose public investment fund is trying to complete a takeover of Newcastle United.
Nigeria is a country taking a serious look at sexual assault and the way women are treated. And, amongst those who are talking for the first time about what they have been through is six-time Olympic table tennis player Funke Oshonaike. Oshonaike has been inspired to tell her story after the rape and murder of Uwa Omozua, a 22-year-old Nigerian woman, in a church in Benin City.
Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford will become the youngest person to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Manchester for his campaign against child poverty.
English Premier League Results – 13 July, 2020.
Manchester United 2:2 Southampton
English Premier League Results – 14 July, 2020.
Chelsea 1:0 Norwich
A younger brother of Tottenham player Serge Aurier has been shot dead in the French city of Toulouse, reportedly outside a night club. Christopher Aurier died in hospital after emergency services found him shot in the stomach in an industrial zone on the city’s outskirts, French media say.
Cameroon will not host the mini-tournament to decide the 2020 African Champions League winners, the country has announced. Last month, after assessing the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on African football, CAF said the semi-finals and final would be played in a “Final Four” format in September.
Manchester City have successfully overturned their two-year ban from European club competitions. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced the club were cleared of “disguising equity funds as sponsorship contributions”. UEFA issued the ban in February after ruling City had committed “serious breaches” of Financial Fair Play regulations between 2012 and 2016.
English Premier League Results – 12 July, 2020.
Wolves 3:0 Everton
Aston Villa 2:0 Crystal Palace
Tottenham 2:1 Arsenal
Bournemouth 4:1 Leicester
World champion speed skater Lara van Ruijven, who had been diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder, has died aged 27. The Dutch short track skater won a bronze medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Norwich City became the first club to be relegated from the English Premier League this season as Michail Antonio scored all four goals to ease West Ham’s troubles near the bottom of the table. A seventh successive league defeat left Daniel Farke’s side anchored at the foot of the table, 13 points from safety with only three games to play.
English Premier League Results – 11 July, 2020
Norwich 0:4 West Ham
Watford 2:1 Newcastle
Liverpool 1:1 Burnley
Sheffield United 3:0 Chelsea
Brighton 0:5 Manchester City
Welterweight champion Kamaru Usman retained his title with a unanimous decision victory over Jorge Masvidal at UFC 251 in Abu Dhabi. The emirate’s Yas Island had been transformed into ‘UFC Fight Island’, a closed-off region where four UFC events are set to be held during July.
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson has been ruled out for the remaining four games of the season with a knee injury, according to manager Jurgen Klopp. Henderson scored in the 3-1 win against Brighton on Wednesday before limping off late on in the match. Klopp said the England international should be fit again for the delayed start to the 2020-21 season.
Manchester City will learn on Monday whether their appeal against a two-year ban from European club competitions has been successful. City appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) issued the ban in February.
Marco Materazzi has finally given the full story to what happened when Zinedin Zidane headbutted him in the World Cup final, nearly 14 years after it happened. There’s few more iconic World Cup final moments than Zidane’s final ever moment as a player in the 2006 final, when he was sent off for landing a headbutt in the centre of Materazzi’s head.
Manchester City’s Champions League last-16 second leg against Real Madrid will be played at Etihad Stadium. Governing body UEFA has confirmed all outstanding second-leg ties in the Champions League and Europa League will be held at the home teams’ stadiums behind closed doors.
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