Off the Pitch

New year, new club... same old Ramos.

Sergio Ramos, the veteran center-back now playing for Liga MX club Monterrey, has once again found himself at the center of controversy, this time for an incident during his team’s Clausura 2025 match against Pumas UNAM on Sunday night.

Ramos was sent off with a straight red card in stoppage time for kicking Pumas striker Guillermo Martínez after the ball had gone out of play. The incident appeared to be the typical "lashing out" from the Spanish defender, a trademark of his career when frustration boils over.

UEFA said the correct decision was made to disallow Julian Alvarez's penalty in Atletico Madrid's Champions League loss to city rivals Real Madrid on Wednesday but European soccer's governing body would enter discussions to review the rule.

A livid Atletico enquired with UEFA after Alvarez had his shootout penalty ruled out by the referee in their last-16 tie that saw Real reach the quarter-finals of Europe's elite club competition.

BUENOS AIRES — Argentina began a long-awaited trial on Tuesday of the medical team for soccer star Diego Maradona, over four years after his death in 2020, in a case that has riled emotions in the South American country where the World Cup winner is still revered.

Maradona's family, lawyers and his former nurses, brain surgeon and psychiatrist accused of homicide by negligence, arrived at the court on the outskirts of capital city Buenos Aires in what promises to be a drama-filled and lengthy saga.

MANCHESTER — Manchester United plan to build a new $2.59 billion 100,000-seat stadium that will be the biggest in Britain, next to the existing Old Trafford, the club announced on Tuesday.

"Today marks the start of an incredibly exciting journey to the delivery of what will be the world's greatest football stadium, at the center of a regenerated Old Trafford," United's co-owner Jim Ratcliffe said in a statement.

Inter Miami are in hot water with their own fans after Lionel Messi didn’t appear in the matchday squad for Thursday’s Concacaf Champions Cup home game vs. Cavalier. 

Inter Miami gave no indication or warning that Messi wouldn’t be available for the game until the lineup was released. This left fans outraged as they paid top dollar to see him play at Chase Stadium only to learn he wouldn’t be on the field.

The backlash online came in droves.

Fans react to Messi absence vs Cavalier

PARIS — Soccer's governing body FIFA will review a proposal to expand the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams to mark the centenary of the sport's marquee event, it said on Thursday.

The 2030 World Cup will be held in Morocco, Spain and Portugal, with Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, where the inaugural edition was staged, set to host three games.

64 team World Cup 2030

Sophia Wilson pregnant!? You read that correctly, the United States women’s national team striker and “Triple Espresso” member announced on Wednesday that she and her husband Michael Wilson are expecting.

Wilson, née Smith, had perhaps the greatest past year which included winning gold with the USWNT in Paris, marrying NFL receiver Michael Wilson and now announcing her pregnancy.

Sophia Wilson pregnant

Serie A seeks to win the race of becoming the first top European league to play league games in the United States. Serie A president Ezio Simonelli said on Tuesday that the league wants to play overseas soon.

Serie A and LaLiga have been the two elite leagues leading the charge of hosting matches in the U.S. Last year it was rumored that Barcelona and Atlético Madrid would play in Miami, however the idea fell through.

Fenerbahce manager Jose Mourinho was handed a four-match ban and fined by the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) on Thursday following his comments about Turkish referees after a match at Galatasaray.

The TFF fined the 62-year-old Portuguese $44,000 after he criticized the match officials in a press conference following the 0-0 Super Lig draw on Monday.

José Mourinho ban for comments on referees

Jesse Marsch, the American-born head coach of the Canadian men's soccer team, took aim at President Donald Trump on Wednesday and suggested he back off the "ridiculous rhetoric" of making Canada the 51st U.S. state.

Marsch, speaking during a CONCACAF Nations League media day in Inglewood, California, told reporters he considered Trump's repeated suggestions that Canada would be better off as a U.S. state "unsettling and frankly insulting".

Jesse Marsch Trump comments