UEFA chief Michel Platini arrived in Poland Wednesday for crunch talks with the country s leaders, amid concerns over slack preparations for Euro 2012 by the Poles and their Ukrainian co-hosts.

Platini was due to sit down in Warsaw for one-on-one discussions with football-mad Prime Minister Donald Tusk, then President Lech Kaczynski, before travelling to Kiev on Thursday for similar meetings with their Ukrainian counterparts Yulia Tymoshenko and Viktor Yushchenko.

Members of UEFA s 10-strong delegation were meanwhile to hold talks with Polish and Ukrainian government ministers, football federation leaders and other officials preparing for the next edition of the European championsips.

Alarm bells have been ringing for months at European football s governing b…

Bojan Krkic announced his retirement on Thursday and picked out having to leave Barcelona for Stoke City as one of the toughest moments of his career.

The Catalan forward, who had his thunder stolen by Gerard Pique letting slip his retirement plans earlier in the week, has elected to hang up his boots at the age of 32.

Bojan left Vissel Kobe at the start of the year after several nomadic seasons that followed the end of his second spell at Barcelona.

He began his career at Barcelona and had two years in Italy with Roma and Milan before returning to Camp Nou in 2013 and being immediately loaned to Ajax.

Hopes of sustaining his Barcelona career were extinguished when he was sold to Premier League side Stoke in July 2014.

Former Stoke manager Mark Hu…

Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City gatecrashing the established elite is “uncomfortable” for their Premier League rivals.

Famously labelled Manchester United’s ‘noisy neighbours’ by Sir Alex Ferguson, City’s takeover by their Abu Dhabi owners in 2008 and then the appointment of Guardiola as manager in 2016 have led to gradual progress from insignificant upstarts to the dominant force in English football.

City have lifted the Premier League trophy in five of the last six campaigns, including three in a row, while their crowning moment came last season as they emulated Ferguson’s 1998-99 treble-winning side.

Guardiola marvelled at how the fortunes of the clubs have switched ahead of Sunday’s Manchester derby at Old Trafford, where City could ext…

Spain virtually secured their place at the Euro 2012 finals with a 3-1 win over Lithuania in Group I on Tuesday.

The world champions maintained their 100 per cent record with their fifth win but they did not have it all their own way.

Xavi s deflected shot opened the scoring, before Marius Stankevicius levelled for the home side, but an own goal from Tadas Kijanskas and a strike from Juan Mata helped Vicente del Bosque s side into a commanding position in Group I.

The first 20 minutes belonged to the world champions, and it was no surprise when they broke the resistance of the hosts.

Villa, looking lively after his double on Friday against the Czech Republic, combined with his Barcelona teammate Xavi, and the midfielder s shot looped off the body of And…

Bernardo Silva admits he prefers team awards over individual honours and would choose the Champions League over a Ballon d’Or if given the chance.

Silva was a key figure as Manchester City retained their Premier League title for an unprecedented fourth consecutive season, making 33 appearances in the competition.

The midfielder chipped in with six goals during their title charge, adding nine assists, while also scoring the winning goal in the FA Cup semi-final – a competition they ultimately lost to Manchester United.

Since joining City in July 2017, Silva has won 13 major honours, including six Premier League trophies, two FA Cups, a Champions League, and the Club World Cup.

The Portugal international was ranked the eighth-best men’s player of 2023…

France maintained their place at the top of Group D with a comfortable 3-0 win over Albania in Euro 2012 qualifying at the Stade de France.

Florent Malouda opened the scoring in the 11th minute before Loic Remy doubled the home team s lead seven minutes before half-time.

Anthony Reveillere scored his first international goal on 67 minutes to secure three points for Laurent Blanc s side.

France face Bosnia and Herzegovina in Paris on Tuesday knowing that a draw would be enough to finish ahead of the Balkan side and claim a place at next year s finals in Poland and Ukraine.

The hosts started brightly and were soon ahead as Remy crossed for Malouda to hit home the opener after a slight deflection.

France nearly doubled their lead on 25 minutes, but…

Didier Drogba will call time on his playing career after the 2018 United Soccer League (USL) season to focus on other projects.

The four-time Premier League champion scored nine goals in his first season with Phoenix Rising as they finished fifth in the Western Conference.

As well as being Phoenix s star player the Ivorian is also an owner of the club, and it is his off-field ventures that the 39-year-old wants to concentrate on going forward.

I think next year will be my last season, he told RMC. There comes a time when you have to stop.

I need time for my other projects. It s good to play, but at 39, it holds me back a bit.

After moving to Chelsea in 2004 Drogba established himself as one of the top strikers in world football, his strength an…

The fourth quarter-final at Euro 2024 sees the Netherlands take on Turkiye in what promises to be a thriller in Berlin.

Ronald Koeman s Oranje team clicked into gear in the last 16 as they dispatched Romania 3-0.

Turkiye, meanwhile, beat Austria 2-1 in a thriller, with goalkeeper Mert Gunok making the save of the tournament so far to ensure Vincenzo Montella s team avoided extra time.

If recent meetings between these nations are anything to go by, then anticipate plenty of excitement in Saturday s clash.

That being said, with a place in the last four, and a tie with either Switzerland or England up for grabs, there is plenty on the line.

Here, we use Opta data to preview the clash.

1+1 At 25 years 56 days old, Cody Gakpo is the youngest p…

Thomas Muller and Mats Hummels made their first appearances for Germany since November 2018 as Joachim Low s side were held to a 1-1 draw by Denmark in a Euro 2020 warm-up clash on Wednesday. 

The duo were among the experienced players removed from Low s thinking in March 2019 as he plotted a new path forward following Germany s group-stage exit at the 2018 World Cup.

But the pair have been trusted with helping Germany enjoy a successful tournament at the rescheduled Euros, which will be Low s final tournament in charge.

Die Mannschaft were comfortably the better side against Kasper Hjulmand s men, although they were denied a win when Yussuf Poulsen cancelled out Florian Neuhaus opener 19 minutes from full-time at the Tivoli Stadion Tirol stadium in Austria.�…