Moments after Chelsea’s emphatic 6-0 Women’s Super League (WSL) win at Aston Villa, the club announced that manager Emma Hayes would leave at the end of season. ESPN sources have confirmed she is now set to take the United States job, and those unaware of her achievements in the English game will wonder what she will bring. Since arriving at Chelsea in August 2012, Hayes has won six WSL titles,…
Germany women’s national team coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg has stepped down with immediate effect, with the German Football Association’s (DFB) board of directors approving the decision in a meeting on Saturday. The Germans drew 1-1 with South Korea and lost 2-1 to Colombia to crash out of the recent Women’s World Cup at the group stage, the worst-ever result at the tournament for one of the world’s traditional superpowers in the…
The U.S. Soccer Federation is in advanced talks with Chelsea women’s manager Emma Hayes to be the next manager of the U.S. women’s national team, sources confirmed to ESPN. Chelsea coach Hayes is to leave the club at the end of the Women’s Super League (WSL) season “to pursue a new opportunity outside the WSL and club football,” the club announced in a statement following a 6-0 thrashing of Aston…
It has been less than a week since the shocking scenes on Sunday in southern France, where the Lyon team bus was attacked on its way to the stadium for a game against rivals Marseille. As well as the trauma for Lyon manager Fabio Grosso, who needed 12 stitches around his left eye and on his face, for his assistant Raffaele Longo, also injured, and for the players who feared…
Football’s most prestigious individual prize, the Ballon d’Or, will be co-organised by UEFA from next year, giving the European governing body a global event that traditionally out-ranks FIFA’s own world awards. The deal comes seven years after a previous partnership between the French organisers of the award and world governing body FIFA ended. – Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.) – Women’s Ballon d’or mess shows soccer has long…
BIRMINGHAM, England — There’s a tough crowd at Birmingham City and Wayne Rooney has already experienced the wrath of the club’s long-suffering supporters, who booed him at the end of his first home game (a 2-0 loss to Hull City) as manager last month. Birmingham are a blue-collar team and proudly so, rooted in the Small Heath area of England’s second-biggest city that was the setting for “Peaky Blinders,” the…
Leading players from the U.S. women ‘s national team and across Europe have joined forces in an effort to tackle rising mental health issues within football through a new initiative called “Create the Space.” USWNT stars Naomi Girma, Sophia Smith and Sofia Huerta are among the stars to back the project, which aims to provide mental health practitioners to facilitate in-person training at all levels of the game, from the…
LONDON — “I’ve been heroic / I’ve been criminal / I’ve been angelic / I’ve been infernal/ You hate me/ You love me/ I’m only judged by myself.” Manchester United legend Eric Cantona is back performing in front of a crowd, re-modelled as a world-weary troubadour, and the lyrics he sings at the start of his live show are exactly as you would expect. A stripped-back version of the autobiographical…
LONDON — The result didn’t really matter for Arsenal on Wednesday but the performance does. The Carabao Cup was never going to define the Gunners’ season, yet a dreadful 3-1 defeat at West Ham raises questions that will linger beyond their fourth-round exit. Before this game, Mikel Arteta tasked his players with showing the mindset required to maintain a high level impervious to switching competitions. It was a challenge they…
The chief executive of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) has ruled out broadcasting the audio of VAR decisions live during games, believing it would be “a chaotic experience.” There have been growing calls for the discussions between officials to be played out during matches, but it remains outlawed by IFAB. There are also fears that live VAR audio could create “an unsafe environment for referees.” – Stream on ESPN+:…