Diego Simeone was working in Argentina in the early years of his coaching career when he requested to attend some training sessions at Barcelona, led at the time by Pep Guardiola.

Barcelona was the pre-eminent club in world soccer, revolutionising the game between 2008-12 with its "tiki-taka" passing style favored by Guardiola and mastered by the likes of Andrés Iniesta and Xavi Hernández.

Bruno Fernandes signed a contract extension to stay at Manchester United through at least the 2025-26 season, the Premier League club said Friday.

The new deal adds only one season to the long-term contract Fernandes signed when he arrived from Sporting Lisbon in January 2020 but includes an option for an additional year. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Liverpool right back Trent Alexander-Arnold has recovered quickly from a hamstring injury and could play Saturday against Watford.

The England international's return is a big boost for Liverpool ahead of a Champions League quarterfinal match at Benfica on Tuesday and a Premier League showdown with Manchester City the following Sunday.

Coaches and soccer officials are gathering in Qatar for Friday's draw for the Middle East's first World Cup.

There will be 37 nations involved in the draw ceremony but five teams will ultimately not reach the tournament, which begins on Nov. 21.

The appearance by video of the head of Ukrainian soccer, wearing an armored vest from the streets of Kyiv, has brought the impact of Russia's war into the FIFA Congress.

"We have regularly received sad news of the deaths of members of the Ukrainian football community," Andriy Pavelko said in a recorded message to the gathering in Qatar including delegates from Russia.

A dozen years of defending Qatar's suitability to host the World Cup can leave Hassan Al-Thawadi exasperated at the enduring glare of scrutiny and the accusatory, rather than celebratory, tone.

At times, Al-Thawadi can seem to be the face — even leader — of this Persian Gulf nation given his prominence. As head of the bid, and now general secretary of the organizing committee, Al-Thawadi has rights groups, protesting football federations and fans worldwide to answer to.

There couldn't be a better moment for Jonathan Clauss to return to the club which once thought he was not ready for the roughness of the game.

It has been a long road, but the 29-year-old Lens right back ultimately made it to the top level, getting a first taste of international soccer with France's national team over the past few days.

When Xavi Hernández returned as Barcelona coach four months ago, the team he had helped lead to greatness as a player was struggling to get wins over the most modest of rivals.

After a bumpy start, Xavi now has Barcelona back to playing like a title challenger after a string of big wins that culminated in a 4-0 rout at Real Madrid before a two-week international break.

A Norwegian soccer official delivered a scathing criticism of World Cup host Qatar and FIFA to an audience of executives on Thursday on the eve of the tournament's draw.

Qatar's record of protecting the rights of migrant workers — who have built tens of billion of dollars of projects needed for the World Cup — and its criminalization of homosexuality was aired by Lise Klaveness, the newly elected head of soccer in Norway and one of the few women ever to lead a FIFA member federation.

A chance to change perceptions of a country. A tournament to foster unity.

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