Zenit have thanked Luciano Spalletti for his role in the recent development of the Russian club despite sacking him on Monday.
Spalletti was fired in the wake of a goalless Russian Premier League home draw against strugglers Tom Tomsk.
Zenit have won just one of their last six league matches and have dropped to second in the table, two points behind Lokomotiv Moscow and face elimination from the UEFA Champions League after a 4-2 last-16 first-leg defeat to Borussia Dortmund at the Petrovsky Stadium.
We wish to thank Luciano Spalletti for all that he s done for the development of St. Petersburg football, a club statement read. We will always be happy to see him in St. Petersburg! Grazie, Mister!
Spalletti joined Zenit in December 2009 and won two Russian Premier L…
Seattle Sounders have announced the signing of Nigerian defender Onyekachi Apam .
The 27-year-old joins the MLS side on a free transfer having had his contract with Stade Rennais rescinded back in January, but the length of the deal was not disclosed.
Apam will be added to the club s roster once he receives his P-1 Visa and International Transfer Certificate.
The highly rated centre back has spent his entire career so far in France, having joined Nice back in 2005. He went on to make 105 Ligue 1 appearances for les Aiglons before moving to Stade Rennais in the summer of 2010.
Apam hasn t quite managed to make the grade at Stade de la Route de Lorient, featuring in mere 23 league matches during the three and a half years with les Bretons.
The play…
Chambly will meet Les Herbiers in the last four of the Coupe de France, guaranteeing a third-tier side will contest this season s final.
The Championnat National teams were paired together in Thursday s draw, leaving holders Paris Saint-Germain to play the winner of the outstanding quarter-final clash between Caen and Lyon.
Les Herbiers extended their cup run by beating Ligue 2 Lens on penalties, while Chambly stunned top-flight side Strasbourg thanks to a goal from Lassana Doucoure.
Quevilly were the last team from outside France s top two divisions to reach the final of the competition they lost to Lyon in 2012.
Unai Emery s PSG still remain on course to secure a domestic treble after easing to a 3-0 win over rivals Marseille, in the process s…
Atletico Madrid CEO Miguel Angel Gil Marin is adamant there is no chance Diego Simeone will leave the club before the end of his existing contract in 2018.
Simeone signed a new deal with Atletico until 2020 in March 2015, only to then shorten his contract by two years back in September, fuelling speculation he could be on the move in the near future.
The 46-year-old has been heavily linked with Inter in recent months, but Gil Marin says the Serie A side can forget about bringing him in any time soon.
Simeone will remain at Atletico at least for the rest of this season and the next, the Atletico supremo told La Sexta.
The Argentine took charge of Atletico in December 2011 and has since turned them into a force in both LaLiga and on the European stage.
Lincoln FC will make history when they welcome HB Torshavn of the Faroe Islands in UEFA Champions League first qualifying round.
The Gibraltarian champions are the first team from their country to enter Europe s flagship club competition after Gibraltar became a UEFA member nation last year.
A second-round clash with Partizan Belgrade of Serbia will be the prize on the horizon for both teams when they kick-off the first leg at Lincoln s Victoria Stadium on Wednesday.
Lincoln manager Mick McElwee will hope for further heroics from attacker Kyle Casciaro, who secured Gibraltar their first win at international level when he scored the only goal to sink Malta in Faro on June 5.
A significant chunk of the national side is drawn from McElwee s squad, so their e…
Four footballers from Brazilian club Palmas were among six people who died in a plane crash on Sunday.
The tragedy happened as the players from the Serie D club headed to a Copa Verde match against Vila Nova in Goiania.
Palmas announced the deaths of the players and club president Lucas Meira, as well as the pilot of the aircraft.
The Copa Verde game had been due to be played on Monday, with Palmas having won through to the last-16 stage by beating Real Noroeste on Wednesday.
Palmas said in a statement posted on their Twitter page: Palmas Futebol e Regatas is hereby informing that at around 8:15am on this Sunday, the 24th, there was an air accident involving the president of the club Lucas Meira, when he was leaving for Goiania, for the Copa Verde match …
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The Premier League will be back in our lives tomorrow afternoon, and we get the feeling that a lot of fans are happy about that. While England s triumph in the Nations League was great there s nothing quite like the domestic game, and two teams who will attempt to prove that are Everton and Cardiff City. Despite their shortcomings this season both teams still have a lot to be hopeful for, and it ll be interesting to see how they match up against one another on Merseyside.
Everton
Everton have always been viewed as a team that are there or thereabouts in the top half of the Premier League, but now, they ll be looking to push on with a potential Europa League spot at stake this season. They ve got a decent squad th…
Brazilian club Santos have made it clear no agreement has been reached with Real Madrid for 17-year-old forward Rodrygo.
Reports in Spain on Thursday claimed a deal worth €45million had been reached for the highly rated attacker, who has also been linked with Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, but his club have hit back.
Santos president Jose Carlos Peres is adamant that any side keen on landing Rodrygo will need to pay the full €50m release clause for the teenager, though it has also been reported that the club are keen for him to sign a new deal that would double that figure.
There is no agreement for Rodrygo with Real Madrid, Peres told reporters.
Paying €40m won t do anything. That is the line we have drawn. His clause is €50m.
We h…
Next Generation – Ferran Torres to spark transfer frenzy after breakout season as contract expiry lo
Next Generation is a series focusing on the young players tipped to establish themselves as the elite in the 2020s.
When Ferran Torres scored the fourth and final goal of Valencia s 4-1 Champions League win over Lille in November, he further enhanced his burgeoning reputation and announced himself to another mass of admirers.
While the goal mattered little in the grand scheme of the match, and it wasn t a contest that was likely to draw in all of the indecisive neutrals on that night, it gave him his own slice of history, becoming the first player born in 2000 to net a Champions League goal for a Spanish club.
His cool top-corner finish after an incisive run into the box will have been met with nods of approval from those being alerted to Ferran, but his talen…
Arsenal started 2019 with a morale-boosting win following their hammering at the hands of Liverpool, recording a 4-1 triumph over struggling Fulham at Emirates Stadium.
A visit from the Premier League s 19th-placed side offered welcome respite for the Gunners after their 5-1 reverse at Anfield, though they did not have it all their own way before Granit Xhaka s 25th-minute opener.
The recalled Alexandre Lacazette doubled the lead early in the second half before Fulham hit back with a tap-in from substitute Aboubakar Kamara after 69 minutes.
However, it was another replacement who finished off Fulham s hopes of picking up a point, Aaron Ramsey converting a rebound after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had hit a post, though the latter did go on to score his 14t…