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Manager Pep Guardiola has dismissed reports that a small number of Manchester City players turned up for pre-season training overweight but stressed the importance of keeping players fit ahead of the new Premier League season.Guardiola’s emphasis on fitness was highlighted when left back Gael Clichy revealed that the manager had taken pizzas off the menu at City and imposed strict ...

Russian drug cheats will be competing at next month’s Olympic Games despite efforts to eradicate them, say the whistleblowers who highlighted the country’s state-sponsored doping. The International Olympic Committee has asked governing bodies to ban Russians either implicated in a recent report into doping, or previously sanctioned. But former Russian Anti-Doping Agency official Vitaly Stepanov and his 800m runner wife ...

Zambia Under-17 coach Oswald Mutapa says reaching the Cosafa Under-17 Cup semifinals is a massive boost ahead of his teams’ 2017 Caf Under-17 Cup qualifier engagements in August. The defending Cosafa Under-17 Cup champions downed Malawi 3-0 in their penultimate Group B match on Sunday to advance to the semifinals with a game to spare at the ongoing tournament in ...

Zambia Under-17 coach Oswald Mutapa says reaching the Cosafa Under-17 Cup semifinals is a massive boost ahead of his teams’ 2017 Caf Under-17 Cup qualifier engagements in August. The defending Cosafa Under-17 Cup champions downed Malawi 3-0 in their penultimate Group B match on Sunday to advance to the semifinals with a game to spare at the ongoing tournament in ...

New England manager Sam Allardyce admitted Wayne Rooney has a significant part to play in his plans but refused to give assurances about the player’s future as captain. Rooney recently expressed a desire to continue as skipper, despite criticism following England’s disastrous campaign at the 2016 European Championship in France. Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho last week promised the 30-year-old ...

Stoke City made their first close-season signing by swooping for winger Ramadan Sobhi from Egyptian club Al Ahly on Monday. The 19-year-old, who has been capped six times by Egypt, made 34 appearances for Al Ahly last season to help Martin Jol’s side claim the domestic title. Stoke announced on their website that the fee for Sobhi could eventually rise ...

Cameroon midfielder Alex Song is hoping to “make a great impact” in Russia after joining top-flight club Rubin Kazan on a season-long loan from Spanish giants Barcelona. The 28-year-old spent the past two seasons on loan at Premier League side West Ham United and made 46 appearances for the Hammers. Song joined Barcelona in 2012 from Arsenal for around £15m ...

English Premier League champions Leicester City secured a penalty shoot-out victory over Celtic after a 1-1 draw in an International Champions Cup friendly in Glasgow on Saturday. Last season’s PFA Player of the Year Riyad Mahrez grabbed the opener for Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester in the opening minute of the second half with a wonderful individual goal. With a Champions League ...

New England manager Sam Allardyce told his players to use their shock Euro 2016 exit at the hands of Iceland as motivation for the future on Saturday. The 61-year-old was named on Friday as the successor to Roy Hodgson, who resigned after his team bowed out of the Euros in France with a 2-1 defeat to Iceland in the last ...

Another big weekend awaits players of Rivers United as they face Sunshine Stars in Akure on match day 28 of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL). United are flying having won their last three games in all competitions but they face a stern test on Saturday against a Sunshine Stars side that have only lost once at home all season. ...