Country’s most prestigious football festival, the 10-team Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) Football, begins on Friday (November 29) with three matches billing for the opening day at three different venues in the capital and adjoining areas. Last season's treble-winners, Bashundhara Kings, will play Chittagong Abahani Limited at 5:30 pm at their home venue of Bashundhara Kings Arena in the capital on the opening day. Federation and Challenge Cup runners-up Dhaka Mohammedan SC will face old horse Dhaka Wanderers Club at 2:30 pm at the Shaheed Barkat Stadium in Gazipur while Brothers Union Club will encounter Bangladesh Police FC at 2:30 pm at the Bir Shreshtha Matiur Rahman Stadium in Munshiganj in the other two opening day's fixtures. Mohammedan SC recently informed the BFF that they are not interested in playing any matches at the Bashundhara Kings Arena due to security reasons. Two matches will be held on the following day (Saturday). Former champions Dhaka Abahani Limited will meet Youngmen’s Club Fakirerpool at 2:30 pm at the Shaheed Barkat Stadium in Gazipur, while old Dhaka outfit Rahmatganj MFS will face Fortis FC Ltd. at 2:30 pm at the Bir Shreshtha Matiur Rahman Stadium in Munshiganj. The nine-round league, to be played in every Friday and Saturday of the week, is scheduled to be completed on June 25 next year. Earlier, this year's football season began on last Friday (Nov 22) with the newly introduced one-match Bangladesh 2.0 Challenge Cup Football Tournament' 2024-25, where Bashundhara Kings clinched the title, beating Dhaka Mohammedan SC by 3-1 goals. The Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) introduced the Bangladesh 2.0 Challenge Cup as the season's curtain-raiser football meet that was dedicated to the July-August student's uprising in place of the previous Independence Cup and Federation Cup Football. Meanwhile, the 10-team traditional Federation Cup Football Tournament 2024-25, to be held every Tuesday of the week, will begin on December 3 in the new format. Two archrivals, Dhaka Mohammedan SC and Dhaka Abahani Ltd, alongside Chittagong Abahani Ltd, were put in Group B, while defending champions Bashundhara Kings were placed in a comparatively easier group with Police FC and Brothers Union. Groupings of Federation Cup Football are: Group A—Bashundhara Kings, Bangladesh Police FC, Fortis FC, Brothers Union Club, and Dhaka Wanderers Club Group B - Mohammedan SC Ltd, Dhaka Abahani Ltd, Chattogram Abahani Ltd, Rahmatganj MFS, and Fakirerpool Youngmen's Club. Holder Basundhara Kings will play Brothers Union Club and Bangladesh Police taking on Fortis FC in two opening day matches. Ten premier division league clubs, split into two groups, will initially participate in the first phase of the Federation Cup Football on a single league basis in three venues in Dhaka, Mymensingh, and Cumilla. Later, the top two teams from each of the groups will play in the meet's next round (qualification and elimination) like the franchisee cricket league.

Kylian Mbappé scored and Real Madrid moved within four points of Spanish league leader Barcelona with a 3-0 win at Leganes on Sunday ahead of its eagerly awaited Champions League match against Liverpool. Federico Valverde and Jude Bellingham also scored to close the gap on Barcelona, which conceded two late goals in a 2-2 draw at Celta Vigo on Saturday. Madrid has played one game less than Barcelona after its match at Valencia was postponed because of the deadly floods in October. Madrid will make the trip to England to face Premier League leader Liverpool on Wednesday in the Champions League, and is hoping to recover from a demoralizing 3-1 home loss against AC Milan in the previous round of matches. Madrid's attack worked well against Leganes with Vinícius Júnior playing inside and Mbappé more on the flank. The France striker scored after going four straight games without finding the net for the Spanish powerhouse. “We switched their positions and the team was able to stay in control during the whole match,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. Mbappé said he is fine playing wherever Ancelotti puts him. “I've said it on the first day that I can play in several different positions,” Mbappé said. “All I want is to keep playing well and scoring goals.” Athletic wins Basque derby Oihan Sancet scored a 26th-minute winner as Athletic Bilbao defeated Real Sociedad 1-0 in the Basque Country derby. It was Athletic's fourth straight home win against Sociedad in the derby. The victory moved Athletic to fifth place and left Sociedad in 10th position. Villarreal recovers late Fourth-place Villarreal scored an equalizer in stoppage time to salvage a 2-2 draw at sixth-place Osasuna. Ante Budimir scored twice in the first 20 minutes for Osasuna. Villarreal, which was coming off three straight victories in all competitions, scored through Álex Baena in the 67th and a penalty kick converted by Gerard Moreno three minutes into injury time. Osasuna, sitting three points behind Villarreal, was coming off a 4-0 loss at Madrid. Also Sunday, Sevilla ended a two-game losing streak in the league with a 1-0 win against Rayo Vallecano, which played the entire second half with 10 men after Unai López was sent off for a hard foul. Djibril Sow scored Sevilla's goal in the 27th.

Mohamed Salah sent Liverpool eight points clear at the top of the Premier League by scoring twice to help his team rally to a 3-2 win over last-place Southampton on Sunday. It was a 10th victory in 12 league games for Liverpool, which took advantage of defending champion Manchester City's stunning third straight league loss — 4-0 at home to Tottenham on Saturday — and fifth in a row in all competitions. Liverpool was trailing 2-1 when Salah equalized in the 65th after running onto a long pass forward from Ryan Gravenberch. The Egypt forward then converted a penalty in the 83rd after a handball by Yukinari Sugawara. Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr eyes Asian glory amid revitalised Saudi Pro League campaign Ruben Amorim takes charge of his first game as Manchester United manager later, away to Ipswich. Salah moved onto 10 goals for the league campaign, second behind Man City's Erling Haaland (12), and nearly had a hat trick at St, Mary's stadium — only to hit the post in the final minutes. Liverpool's win owed as much to the defensive inadequacies of Southampton, which has only one win in 12 games, as any excellence from Arne Slot's visitors. The Reds were gifted the opening goal, though Dominik Szoboszlai's finish was excellent after he collected a weak clearance from Flynn Downes and curled a shot in off the post. It started after Southampton goalkeeper Alex McCarthy rolled the ball out to a player who was swarmed by Liverpool's Curtis Jones and Darwin Nunez at the edge of the area. Southampton fought back, with Adam Armstrong converting a penalty in the 42nd minute after Andy Robertson tripped Tyler Dibling just inside the area and then setting up Mateus Fernandes to stroke home in the 56th. Argentina's Racing wins its first Copa Sudamericana championship by beating Brazil's Cruzeiro 3-1 Salah came to Liverpool's rescue, though, and again there will be question marks about McCarthy, who raced out of his goal to take Gravenberch's pass only to be beaten to the ball by Salah. Salah was able to run with the ball into an empty net and was celebrating again after converting the match-clinching penalty past McCarthy. “It is a great feeling but it is the beginning of the season," Szoboszlai said of Liverpool's big lead. "We just need to continue and not think where the other teams are.”

Country’s most prestigious football meet, the 10-team Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) Football, begins on Friday (November 29) at three different venues in the capital and adjoining areas.   Three matches will be held in three different venues on the opening day. Defending champions Bashundhara Kings will play Chittagong Abahani Limited at the 5:30 pm at the Bashundhara Kings Arena, Federation and Challenge Cup runners-up Dhaka Mohammedan SC will face Dhaka Wanderers Club at 2:30 pm at the Shaheed Barkat Stadium in Gazipur while Brothers Union Club will encounter Bangladesh Police FC at 2:30 pm at the Bir Shreshtha Matiur Rahman Stadium in Munshiganj Two matches will be held on the following day (Saturday). Dhaka Abahani Limited will meet Youngmen’s Club Fakirerpool at 2:30 pm at the Shaheed Barkat Stadium in Gazipur while Rahmatganj MFS will face Fortis FC Ltd at also at 2:30 pm at the  Bir Shreshtha Matiur Rahman Stadium in Munshiganj. The nine-round league, to be played in every Friday and Saturday of the week, scheduled to be completed in June 25 next year.          Meanwhile, this year's football season began on last Friday (Nov 22) with newly introduced one-match Bangladesh 2.0 Challenge Cup Football Tournament' 2024-25 where Bashundhara Kings clinched the title beating Dhaka Mohammedan SC by 3-1 goals. Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) introduced the Bangladesh 2.0 Challenge Cup as the season's curtain raiser football meet that dedicated to the July-August student's uprising in place of previous Independence Cup and Federation Cup Football. However, the 10-team Federation Cup Football will begin on December 3 in new format and will be held in every Tuesday of the week. Meanwhile, the ceremonial draw of the upcoming Federation Cup Football Tournament' 2024-25 was held at the BFF office last Wednesday putting Dhaka Mohammedan SC and Dhaka Abahani Ltd in same group.   BPL and Federation Cup champions Bashundhara Kings put in Group A while Federation Cup runners-up Dhaka Mohamnedan, Dhaka Abahani Ltd and Chattogram Abahani Ltd in Group B. Grouping of Federation Cup Football are: Group A -Bashundhara Kings, Bangladesh Police FC, Fortis FC, Brothers Union Club and Dhaka Wanderers Club Group B - Mohammedan SC Ltd, Dhaka Abahani Ltd, Chattogran Abahani Ltd, Rahmatganj MFS and Fakirerpool Youngmen's Club. Holder Basundhara Kings will play Brothers Union Club and Bangladesh Police taking on Fortis FC in two opening day matches. Ten premier division league clubs, split into two groups, will initially participate in the first phase of the Federation Cup Football on single league basis in three venues in Dhaka, Mymensingh and Cumilla. Later, top two teams from each of the groups will play in the meet's next round (qualification and elimination) like the franchaisee cricket league.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s hopes of winning a first major trophy since arriving in Saudi Arabia in 2022 were given an unlikely domestic lifeline on Saturday and, on Monday, the Portuguese star can help Al-Nassr stay on course for a first Asian title. Ronaldo scored his seventh goal of the season against Al-Qadsia on Friday in a battle against Spanish defender Nacho but his former Real Madrid teammate was celebrating at the final whistle. “It was a different and difficult game against Ronaldo,” Nacho said. “He is my friend and I had the best part of my career playing with him but here we have a different experience and are playing for different teams. It was an honor to play against him.” Al-Nassr looked to be slipping out of the Saudi Pro League (SPL) title race. Al-Hilal, unbeaten in 46 league games, would have gone nine points clear on Saturday with a win against Al-Khaleej but despite leading 2-0, Hilal fell to a shock 3-2 defeat, a first since May 2023. “We knew that the victories would not continue because this is football,” said Hilal forward Marcos Leonardo. “We have to work and achieve victory in the next match in the AFC Champions League Elite.” Saudi Arabian clubs have yet to lose in the western zone of the Asian competition — the 24 teams in the tournament are divided into two groups of 12 with eight from each progressing to the Round of 16 after playing eight matches — and occupy the top three spots. Al-Nassr is third with ten points from four games and will be almost certain of a place in the next round if it defeats Al-Gharafa of Qatar. Al-Hilal, a four-time champion and top of the group with four wins, also travels to Qatar to face 2011 winner Al-Sadd. Unlike SPL games, Neymar is eligible to play in Asian competitions but the Brazilian is still recovering from the injury sustained against Esteghlal of Iran earlier in November. Al-Ahli of Jeddah is second with the maximum 12 points and faces defending champion Al-Ain of the United Arab Emirates. Al-Ain is bottom of the group and lost 5-4 to Hilal and then 5-1 to Nassr, defeats which cost Hernan Crespo his job as head coach earlier in November. The Argentine has been replaced by Leonardo Jardim, the Portuguese boss who led Al-Hilal to the 2021 continental title. 3 detained for making racist slurs during El Clásico match at Madrid's stadium In the eastern zone, there is another former champion in 12th and last place. Ulsan HD, winner in 2012 and 2020, has lost all four games. Ulsan has just won a third successive South Korean title and needs to defeat newly-crowned Chinese champion Shanghai Port to keep chances of the second round alive. Australia’s sole representative Central Coast Mariners is also in need of victory as it has just one point. The A-League team however has a daunting trip to Japan to face group leader Vissel Kobe..

Gaston Martirena and Adrian Martinez scored first-half goals as Argentina's Racing won its first Copa Sudamericana championship by beating Brazil's Cruzeiro 3-1 in the final on Saturday. Martirena opened the scoring in the 15th minute and Martinez added a goal five minutes later to give “La Academia” its first international title since 1988 when it won the now defunct Supercopa Sudamericana. “Maravilla” Martinez scored 10 goals in 13 matches and finished as the top scorer in the competition. “We suffered until the last minute, but to be able to win a cup after so many years is a blessing,” Martinez said. “It's historic, it was a long time without being able to raise an international cup, we have a poor year in the league, but we were able to give the fans this satisfaction.” Roger Martinez sealed the victory with a goal in the 90th. Kaio Jorge scored in the 52nd for Cruzeiro. Racing, a team based in the city of Avellaneda, took the lead when Martirena, a Uruguayan right-back, sent in what appeared to be a cross from the right but the looping ball went over Cruzeiro goalkeeper Cassio and into the far corner of the net. Martinez doubled the lead with a shot from five meters. The game was played in Estadio General Pablo Rojas in Asuncion, Paraguay, where most of the 45,000 fans were supporting Racing. Copa Sudamericana is the second most prestigious club competition in South America behind the Copa Libertadores, and its first edition was in 2002. Racing is the first Argentinian team to win the competition since 2020 when Defensa y Justicia beat Lanus. The last two competitions were won by Ecuadorian teams. Brazilian teams Atletico Mineiro and Botafogo will play next weekend in the Copa Libertadores final in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Spanish police have detained three people for allegedly having targeted players with racist chants during Real Madrid’s home game against Barcelona last month. Spain’s National Police said Saturday that they have evidence that the detainees used racist slurs to insult two players during the “clasico” match that ended in a 4-0 victory for Barcelona. The players were not identified by the police, but local media reports based on videos images of the match reported racist slurs being hurled from the stands of the Santiago Bernabeu at Barcelona forwards Lamine Yamal and Raphinha. Real Madrid was quick to denounce the incident and said it would help find the perpetrators. Spanish soccer has been struggling to stamp out racist slurs against players, especially Madrid’s Vinícius Júnior.

Bashundhara Kings clinched the season's curtain raiser soccer meet, the Bangladesh 2.0 Challenge Cup Football 2024-25,  beating Dhaka Mohammedan SC by 3-1 goals at the Basundhara Kings Arena here on Friday. Adviser for Youth and Sports Ministry Asif Mahmud Sajeeb Bhuiyan was the chief guest in the match and distributed the prizes. Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) introduced the Bangladesh 2.0 Challenge Cup as the season's curtain raiser football meet that was dedicated to the July-August student's uprising. The entire amount raised in ticket sales will be given to the July-August Martyrs Foundation. This was the first victory for the Kings’ Romanian Coach Valeriu Tita after conceding three successive defeats in international matches. In the day's lone match tournament, Captain Souleymane Diabate put the Federation Cup runners-up Mohammedan SC ahead in the 7th minute and dominated the first half by 1-0 goals. The BPL and Federation Cup champions Kings took control of the match in the 2nd half and won the match comfortably scoring three goals in a row. Defender Topu Barman leveled the margin for the Kings in the 74th minute by placing a shot from the danger zone, utilizing a corner of Brazilian midfielder Miguel Damasceno (1-1). Federation Cup champions  Bashundhara Kings took the lead from behind in the 81st minute when Foysal Ahmed Fahim scored the 2nd goal by brilliant shot, off a Miguel Damasceno cross (2-1). The Bhutanese referee gave 18 minutes additional time as the match was stopped for about ten minutes. Antigua Test: Bangladesh opt to bowl first Kings captain Miguel Damasceno, who played a vital role in the team's first two goals, finally sealed the fate of the match scoring the 3rd goal in the 7th minute of the additional time (90+9 minute). The country's most prestigious 10-team Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) Football will kick off on November 29 and the 10-team Federation Cup Football will begin on December 3 in a new format.  

This  year's football season gets underway Friday (Nov 22) with a novel play off for the 'Bangladesh 2.0 Challenge Cup' 2024-25. The BPL and Federation Cup champions Bashundhara Kings will battle the Federation Cup runners-up Dhaka Mohammedan SC on Friday at  the Bashundhara Kings Arena in the capital.  The lone-match 90-minute Challenge Cup Football  will kick-off at 5 pm. If the fate of the match is not decided in the scheduled time, then it proceeds to 30- minute extra session and later in the tie breaker. The entire amount raised in ticket sales will be given to the July-August martyrs foundation. Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) introduced the Bangladesh 2.0 Challenge Cup as the season's curtain raiser football meet that dedicated to the July-August student's uprising in place of previous Independence Cup and Federation Cup Football. Addressing the press conference at the Kings Arena ahead of the Thursday's  match,  the Kings Coach Valeriu Tita and Mohammedan's  Coach Alfaz Ahmed expressed their optimism to win the one-match tournament. The country's most prestigious 10-team Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) Football will kick-off on November 29 and the 10-team Federation Cup Football will begin on December 3 in a new format. Meanwhile, the ceremonial draw of the upcoming Federation Cup Football Tournament 2024-25  was held  at the BFF office on Wednesday putting Dhaka Mohammedan SC and Dhaka Abahani Ltd in the same group. BPL and Federation Cup champions Bashundhara Kings put in Group A while Federation Cup runners-up Dhaka Mohammedan,  Dhaka Abahani Ltd and Chattogram Abahani Ltd in Group B.  Grouping of Federation Cup Football are:  Group A -Bashundhara Kings, Bangladesh Police FC, Fortis FC, Brothers Union Club and Dhaka Wanderers Club  Group B - Mohammedan SC Ltd, Dhaka Abahani Ltd, Chattagram Abahani Ltd, Rahmatganj MFS and Fakirerpool Youngmen's Club. Ten premier division league clubs, split into two groups, will initially participate in the first phase of the Federation Cup Football on single league basis in three venues in Dhaka, Mymensingh and Cumilla. Later, top two teams from each of the groups will play in the meet's next round (qualification and elimination) like the franchisee cricket league.

Leicester winger Abdul Fatawu will miss the rest of the season because of an ACL injury, manager Steve Cooper said on Thursday. The 20-year-old Fatawu was injured while playing for Ghana in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Angola on Friday. Germany looks ahead to 2026 World Cup with optimism following a much-improved year He recently broke into the team at Leicester, which was promoted back to the English Premier League this season and is among the favorites for relegation. “To happen at a young age is, first and foremost, a blow for him and for us as well,” Cooper said. "We now have to support him in every way in making his rehab and return as smooth and productive as possible, with the hope — although it's a long-term injury — that he comes back a stronger and better player and person. Harry Kane sparks England rout against Ireland and Nations League promotion "Difficult news, really."