France football news

Barcelona president Joan Laporta said Wednesday that Dutch midfielder Frenkie de Jong is not for sale despite rumours of a departure to the Premier League. De Jong "is a Barca player and unless we have a need or interest in selling him, we don't want to sell him," Laporta said as the club unveiled new signing Franck Kessie. "We know he has offers. If at some moment we were interested, we would consider it, but right now, we're not selling the player," Laporta insisted. De Jong, 25, has been heavily linked with a move to Manchester United and a reunion with former Ajax boss Erik ten Hag, who is preparing for his first season at Old Trafford. Laporta revealed the club had made an offer to France international Ousmane Dembele , whose contract with Barca expired at the end of June. "Ousmane is no longer a Barca player, but we made him an offer," said Laporta. "He hasn't accepted it yet, but he wants to continue talking. "We're going to carry on speaking, at least for now." … [Read more...] about Frenkie de Jong Not For Sale: Barcelona President Joan Laporta | Football News

Sacked for alleged "sexual misconduct" during the India U-17 women football team's tour of Europe, former assistant coach Alex Ambrose has denied any wrongdoing and sent a legal notice to the All India Football Federation for "tarnishing his reputation by levelling frivolous charges". Ambrose was sacked a few days ago as assistant coach of the India U-17 women's football team over allegations of "sexual misconduct". The notice, issued by Mumbai-based advocate Madhukar P Dalvi on behalf of Ambrose, claimed that he "has been a victim of malafides and ulterior motives and objects at the instance of and behest of the All India Football Federation". "My client was forced to admit to what he has never done by putting him under fear, duress and coercion. My client was not allowed to offer any explanation nor was my client intimated or informed about the charges/allegations/accusations levelled against by him. "My client has been sacked and terminated from his duties in an illegal, … [Read more...] about Alex Ambrose Denies ‘Sexual Misconduct’ Charges, Sends Legal Notice To AIFF | Football News

NBC and NBCSN will air live coverage of all 21 stages of the Tour de France, while NBC Sports Gold will live stream every stage from start to finish with its “Cycling Pass.” The Grand Tour runs from July 7-29. NBC Sports will have a record 365-plus hours of live, primetime and encore coverage. Team Sky’s Chris Froome goes for his record-tying fifth Tour de France title and fourth in a row. Froome, cleared of an abnormal drug-test case less than a week before the Tour, aims to match the career wins record held by Jacques Anquetil , Eddy Merckx , Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain . Froome currently holds all three Grand Tour titles, winning the Vuelta a Espana in September and the Giro d’Italia in June. His challengers include Movistar’s Nairo Quintana (runner-up in 2013 and 2015) and 2014 Tour winner Vincenzo Nibali of Bahrain-Merida as well as two former Team Sky mates, Richie Porte and Mikel Landa . OlympicTalk is on Apple News . Favorite us! … [Read more...] about 2018 Tour de France broadcast schedule – OlympicTalk | NBC Sports

Ten riders to watch at the Tour de France, live on NBC Sports from July 7-29 ( broadcast/streaming schedule here ) … Chris Froome Team Sky/Great Britain If there’s one storyline this year, it’s Froome’s bid to tie the Tour de France titles record amid at least a microscope and at most a drug-testing controversy. Jacques Anquetil , Eddy Merckx , Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain all won five. Lance Armstrong of course claimed seven, but they were all stripped. Froome’s history chase is clouded by a September doping test that revealed twice the legal limit of an asthma drug. Froome was cleared of wrongdoing by the International Cycling Union five days before the start of the Tour, but he is sure to be the target of (at least) verbal barbs from fans. Nairo Quintana Once Froome’s biggest challenger and still may be. Quintana won the Giro d’Italia in 2014 and the Vuelta a España in 2016, the latter being the last time Froome was beaten in a Grand Tour. … [Read more...] about Ten riders to watch at Tour de France – OlympicTalk | NBC Sports

Tejay van Garderen nearly ended a lengthy U.S. yellow jersey drought at the Tour de France on Monday. He has the exact same time as leader and BMC teammate Greg Van Avermaet through three of 21 stages, but it’s the Belgian donning the maillot jaune on a tiebreaker. The Tour de France rulebook spells it out: The general individual time ranking is established by adding together the times achieved by each rider in the 21 stages including time penalties. In the event of a tie in the general ranking, the hundredth of a second recorded by the timekeepers during the individual time trial stages will be included in the total times in order to decide the overall winner. If a tie should still result from this, then the places achieved for each stage are added up and, as a last resort, the place obtained in the final stage is counted. Since there have been no individual time trials, Van Avermaet is ahead of van Garderen because Van Avermaet finished ahead of van Garderen in each of … [Read more...] about Tejay van Garderen misses Tour de France yellow jersey on tiebreak – OlympicTalk | NBC Sports

American Neilson Powless nearly cycled into the Tour de France lead in the fifth stage. Australian Simon Clarke , who turns 36 later in the Tour, won the stage, which included 11 sections of cobblestones totaling about 12 miles. Powless, part of a four man breakaway with Clarke, went for the stage victory with a little more than a kilometer left. But he was caught by the other three men and ended up fourth, four seconds behind Clarke. Still, Powless improved from 25th place in the overall standings to second behind Belgian Wout van Aert , who crashed during the stage. Powless is 13 seconds behind van Aert, a gap he would have made up if he won the stage in Clarke’s time given the 10-second bonus given to stage winners. “If we [the breakaway] kept it steady all the way to the line, I definitely would have had yellow, if we all finished together,” Powless said before he learned where he was in the standings. “But 2K to go, the other three guys, they all started playing … [Read more...] about American Neilson Powless nearly rides into Tour de France lead

Chris Froome was cleared of doping by the International Cycling Union on Monday in a decision that could allow him to pursue a record-tying fifth Tour de France title later this week. Froome had been racing under the cloud of a potential ban after a urine sample provided during his victory at the Spanish Vuelta in September showed a concentration of the asthma drug salbutamol that was twice the permitted level. “Froome’s sample results do not constitute an AAF (Adverse Analytical Finding),” a UCI statement said, adding that it had decided “to close the proceedings against Mr Froome.” The Tour begins Saturday and — before the UCI statement was provided — race organizers were reportedly denying him entry. “I have never doubted that this case would be dismissed for the simple reason that I have known throughout I did nothing wrong,” Froome said. Froome’s use of asthma medication has been well documented, and the Kenyan-born rider has often been spotted using inhalers during … [Read more...] about Chris Froome cleared to race Tour de France, doping case closed – OlympicTalk | NBC Sports

PARIS (AP) — The UCI ruled Tuesday that Peter Sagan did not intentionally elbow Mark Cavendish during a sprint finish at the Tour de France in a crash that led to the Slovak rider’s disqualification. The governing body of cycling said in a statement that it has ended its legal dispute with the three-time world champion, a few hours before a scheduled hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Sagan was sent home from the three-week race after clashing with his British rival during the fourth stage ( video here ). The incident forced Cavendish to abandon with a broken shoulder. Sagan’s Bora-Hansgrohe team immediately appealed the race jury’s decision to allow its rider to finish the race but the request was denied by CAS. “Having considered the materials submitted in the CAS proceedings, including video footage that was not available at the time when the race jury had disqualified Peter Sagan, the parties agreed that the crash was an unfortunate and unintentional … [Read more...] about Peter Sagan cleared over Tour de France disqualification – OlympicTalk | NBC Sports

Now that the USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins are bound for the Big Ten in 2024, it’ll be a new era for both football programs. Both programs have plenty of history and new USC head coach Lincoln Riley didn’t even have to coach a game yet before something historic happened. Riley left Oklahoma for USC this offseason, injecting new life into one of college football's biggest brands. Now that Riley and USC will be among the Big Ten soon, he released a statement about the school joining the premier conference. “President Folt, Mike Bohn and Brandon Sosna have been completely aligned with the vision of what our athletic department can be, while always putting our student-athletes,” Riley said in a statement. “This move to the Big Ten Conference positions all of our teams for long-term success. It provides our student-athletes with more exposure, new resources and challenges them with elite competition. USC Football is excited to compete in the Big Ten.” The move largely puts the … [Read more...] about USC football: Lincoln Riley releases statement on Trojans joining Big Ten

With UCLA and USC off to the Big Ten by 2024, there’s going to be a lot of change coming for both programs in the future. It will be something brand-new to head UCLA coach Chip Kelly , who’s only coached in the Pac-12 as a head coach; first with Oregon and now with UCLA. However, Los Angeles Times writer Ben Bloch suggested that is no guarantee that Kelly will coach the Bruins when they make the move to a new conference. “UCLA is going to win enough games this season to keep Kelly employed,” Bloch wrote. “The question becomes if the Bruins can sustain their success in 2023, when they will break in a new quarterback. Also keep in mind that Kelly’s buyout under his new four-year contract is exceedingly friendly to UCLA, so it would cost the school nothing to jettison him as soon as Dec. 16, 2023.” Kelly went 8-4 last year -- his best at UCLA -- and there was finally progress with a program that needed a desperate rebuild. But he’s just 18-25 in his four seasons. With … [Read more...] about UCLA football: Chip Kelly not guaranteed to coach in Big Ten, columnist opines