Football manager gets lengthy ban for betting against own team

Premier League leaders Manchester City are hot on the trail of FC Porto winger Jesus Corona, .

The 22-year-old only joined the Dragons few weeks ago from Twente, but he has already seen some of Europe s top sides show interest in his services.

Manchester City reportedly had the winger watched in weekend s derby with Benfica, with a view of luring the Mexican to Etihad in the near future.

Corona moved to Europe without even establishing himself as a first team regular at Monterrey, joining Twente in the summer of 2013.

Following the slow start to his career in Dutch Eredivisie, the Mexico international largely impressed in his second season, scoring 9 goals in 27 league outings.

Corona then went on to score a brace on his FC Porto debut, proving h…

Chelsea have signed the largest kit deal in Premier League history, which will net them £900million over the next 15 years.

The Stamford Bridge side confirmed on Thursday that they had agreed the largest commercial deal in the club s history with American sportswear giants Nike, having cancelled an agreement with their German rivals Adidas six years early.

Reports also suggest the deal eclipses the 10-year £750m sum agreed between Manchester United and Adidas in 2014.

The eye-watering figures pale into insignificance, however, when compared to LaLiga giants Real Madrid and Barcelona, who annually rake in an estimated €140m from Adidas and €155m from Nike respectively to have their kits made.

Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia said: This is an…

Cesar Azpilicueta has absolved Thiago Silva of blame for his error leading to Salzburg s equaliser in Wednesday s 1-1 draw and remains confident his side will advance in the Champions League.

Chelsea dominated large parts of the Group E contest – Graham Potter s first game as new head coach – and took the lead in the 48th minute through Raheem Sterling s curled finish into the bottom-right corner.

However, Silva failed to intercept a pass out on the left and Junior Adamu broke clear to set up Noah Okafor, who escaped the attention of Azpilicueta in the middle to guide the ball past Kepa Arrizabalaga.

Rather than blame individuals for Okafor s fifth goal in his past six Champions League outings, captain Azpilicueta – preferred to new signings Kalidou Kouliba…

(GSM) On Monday, Robinho was welcomed at Santos by 15,000 fans and club icon Pele. The Manchester City forward hopes to secure his place in the Brazilian World Cup squad at his former club but insists he s not planning to return to City after that. My goal is to stay for a long time.

Robinho left Santos to join Real Madrid in 2005 and was signed by Manchester City for £32.5m in 2008. Now, he returns to his beloved club after one and a half year in the Premier League. The 26-year-old is at the beginning of a six-month loan spell but he hopes to stay longer.

My goal is to stay for a long time, Robinho said at a press conference during his presentation. If the president wants to extend my contract for four more years, it s all right for me!

I m very happy all …

Premier League clubs have posted a combined pre-tax profit for the first time in 15 years, according to a report released on Thursday.

The figures for the 2013-14 season show clubs made a profit of £190million, dwarfing the previous record of £49m set in 1997-98 and in stark contrast to the £2.6billion of pre-tax losses accumulated over the past decade.

In terms of operating profit, which excludes player trading, net interest charges and the amortisation of player contracts, clubs raked in £620m  three times the previous record of £185m, seven-and-a-half times the £82m achieved in 2012-13 and more than the previous six seasons combined.

The report was compiled by financial experts Deloitte, with Sports Business Group partner Dan Jones explaining: Last se…

Harry Kane was withdrawn with a knock after netting twice in a 2-0 home win to put Tottenham in command of their Europa League last-16 tie with Dinamo Zagreb.

A first leg of few chances threatened to cause Spurs some problems, although Kane s breakthrough strike after 25 minutes settled the nerves.

Jose Mourinho s side were still kept on their toes approaching the final 20 minutes, but Kane added another and the hosts protected a vital clean sheet ahead of the second leg.

Before then they face Arsenal, though, and the late substitution of Kane, nursing his right knee, caused Mourinho concern.

The one moment of genuine quality in an energetic first half provided the opener as Erik Lamela shrugged off Lovro Majer s challenge on the edge of the Dinamo box b…

Prediction: AC Milan to win 2-1

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Fiorentina and AC Milan will lock horns with each other in Serie A this weekend. The match at Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence is slated to kick off at 5pm UK time on Sunday and promises to be an exciting game of football.

Fiorentina

Fiorentina are 13th in the Serie A table at the moment with 29 points from 27 matches. Cesare Prandelli’s side are having a bad season and are only seven points above the relegation zone. It is very unlikely that Fiorentina will go down to Serie B at the end of the campaign, but whatever happens in the final weeks, it is not going to be considered a good season.

La Viola will head into the match against Milan on Sunday on the back of a 4-1 victory over …

David Carney has ended his football hiatus and signed for New York Red Bulls, joining compatriot Tim Cahill at the Major League Soccer outfit.

The deal comes as something of a surprise, with Carney having fallen off the radar since ending an unhappy eight-month stay at Uzbek club Bunyodkor in September 2012.

The 29-year-old Australian has been without a club since then, after trials in recent months at English Premier League side West Ham United and former team Blackpool came to nothing.

Carney had been a Socceroos regular under Pim Verbeek and early in Holger Osieck s reign but his stock with the Australian football public fell after his error in the 2011 Asian Cup final against Japan allowed Tadanari Lee to score the winner in extra-time.

And the last of his 46…

In-form striker Youssef El Arabi scored twice as Lekhwiya cruised to a 3-0 victory over Al Jazira to kick off their AFC Champions League campaign in style.

The Morocco international has scored 21 goals in 16 league games for the Qatari side this season and followed up that form with a decisive double against their opponents from the United Arab Emirates.

El Arabi scored the opener after 11 minutes, heading in a cross from Youssef Msakni, with the visitors struggling to make much of an impression going forward.

But the match remained in the balance until the 80th minute when Msakni scored himself, finding the bottom corner after Nam Tae-hee s pass, before El Arabi tapped in Ali Afif s square pass from close range in the last minute.
 

AL AHLI WIN THRILLE…

Until recent months, Iceland’s national football team enjoyed an unprecedented period of success. Not only did the Nordic nation qualify for Euro 2016, they recorded a famous 2-1 win over England to make the quarter-finals of the competition. The tournament was the first in which they had qualified for in the senior game.

It got even better for the tiny nation when they qualified for the summer’s World Cup by winning their group. They were in dreamland. Just like buses the nation had waited so for so long for qualification for a major tournament, then two came along at once.

Massive achievement for a minnow

In terms of population, Iceland at an estimated 250,000 people is the smallest nation to ever participate at a World Cup. To put that in context, Salford in Gre…