LONDON — Netherlands women's soccer team manager Sarina Wiegman will succeed Phil Neville as England Women's head coach from next year after signing a four-year deal, the Football Association (FA) announced on Friday.

The Dutch won the European Championship under Wiegman in 2017 and she also led them to their first World Cup final two years later in France, where they lost 2-0 to the U.S.

We all know the story of former USWNT coach Jill Ellis stepping down from her position in 2019 after winning back-to-back World Cups. Her endeavors after such a successful stint with the USWNT were uncertain for a while. Then, word had it that she was trying to coach the England women's national team. 

Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen took on Bayern Munich's Manuel Neuer in a public spat last year over the Germany goalkeeper's jersey and the confrontation will be played out on the pitch in Friday's Champions League quarterfinal.

Only Lionel Messi can rival Ter Stegen, 28, for the title of Barça's most decisive player in the last few seasons, but his heroics for his club have not been enough to overhaul Neuer, 34, on the international stage.

BERN — Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter has called for his successor, Gianni Infantino, to be suspended by the global soccer body after criminal proceedings were opened against Infantino in Switzerland.

Swiss authorities said on Thursday that proceedings had been launched against the current FIFA boss by a special prosecutor looking into meetings he had with Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber. Lauber and Infantino have denied wrongdoing.

Criminal proceedings have been opened against FIFA president Gianni Infantino by a special prosecutor looking into dealings between the head of the global soccer body and Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber, Swiss authorities said on Thursday.

CONCACAF has unveiled a new qualification format for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar after COVID-19 forced a rejig of the usual system, the governing body for soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean said on Monday.

The new format, which will feature all 35 of the region's members, has been split into three rounds with the first being played in October and November with teams ranked from No. 6 to No. 35 in CONCACAF as of July 16 drawn into six groups of five.

The NWSL Challenge Cup is coming to a close with the final set between the Houston Dash and Chicago Red Stars on Sunday, July 26 at 12:30 p.m. EST, which raises the question: What next for NWSL players?

The NWSL board is in discussion as to whether or not more games will be added to the 2020 season.

The Bolivian Football Federation (FBF) suffered the loss of its president on Sunday due to complications from COVID-19. Cesar Salinas was 58 years old and had served as president since 2018. He had been hospitalized with the novel coronavirus earlier in July.

The federation, CONMEBOL and Bolivia's president Jeanine Áñez all sent out messages of condolence to Salinas’ family following his passing.

Football's rule-making body IFAB on Wednesday said teams will be allowed to continue to use up to five substitutes next season, in a bid to cope with potential fixture congestion in the aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak.

IFAB, the International Football Association Board, had agreed to a temporary change to allow teams to use five substitutes, rather than the usual three, in May to "protect player welfare."

FIFA wants VAR video reviews to be applied in the same way across all competitions, as they take over direct responsibility for the system.

Issues concerning VAR have been handled primarily by IFAB, the game's law-making body, during the system's two-year experimental phase and its introduction as part of the laws of the game. Soccer's global governing body FIFA, however, took over the role of supporting competition organizers with the implementation of VAR from July 1.