BREAKING NEWS: West Ham appoint Bilic

The England and Wales Cricket Board has joined the tributes to HRH Queen Elizabeth II following her death aged 96 and confirmed the second day of the third Test against South Africa will not take place on Friday.

The monarch, Britain s longest-serving head of state, passed away at her home in Balmoral on Thursday, on a day where no play took place at The Oval due to poor weather.

The deciding encounter will not resume on Friday as planned however, with the ECB confirming that both it and fixtures in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy will be deferred in the wake of the Queen s passing.

The England and Wales Cricket Board is deeply saddened at the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, read an official statement.

The thoughts of everyone involved in the g…

Bosnia and Herzegovina have scheduled a friendly against Russia one day before the start of the World Cup, sparking controversy and attracting criticism from within their own ranks.

The match is set to take place in Saint Petersburg on November 19, on the eve of Qatar 2022, with the date and Bosnia s opposition both being highly questionable.

Russia s national teams were banned from international competition following the invasion of Ukraine, weeks before the team were due to start a play-off campaign for a potential spot at the World Cup.

Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic, who were due to be potential opponents for Russia, pressured for the ban to take place, while federations representing England, France and the United States quickly made it clear they wou…

Atletico Madrid s president said Monday he has received no offers for Argentine star Sergio Kun Aguero, a reported target of Chelsea, or Uruguayan striker Diego Forlan.

No club or representative has come to us, said Enrique Cerezo. We have no offers for our players.

We don t want to sell, the idea is to make a great team, he said.

British media reports last week said Chelsea had launched a 45-million-pound (53-million-euro) bid to sign the 21-year-old Aguero, who scored 17 goals last season to help Atletico claim a place in the Champions League.

Cerezo said he had not heard from Real Madrid s new president Florentino Perez, despite Spanish press reports the club was interested in Forlan, the top scorer in the Spanish league last season.

Atletic…

Coventry boss Mark Robins described Sheffield Wednesday fans who booed Kasey Palmer during his side’s FA Cup tie at Hillsborough as “idiots” and “absolute clowns”.

Djeidi Gassama’s late equaliser salvaged Wednesday a fourth-round replay after Danish midfielder Victor Torp had marked his Coventry debut with a stunning first-half opener.

Gassama denied the Sky Blues a second win at Hillsborough inside a week after their 2-1 Championship success on Saturday, which was marred by allegations of racist abuse towards their striker Palmer during the match.

We re all with you, Kasey.

— Coventry City (@Coventry_City)

Both clubs condemned the alleged abuse earlier this week and a man was arrested on Thursday, but Palmer was booed on several o…

A love of St Petersburg and a desire to bring success to Zenit was behind Hulk s decision to extend his contract until 2019.

Hulk says his happiness in St Petersburg and determination to drive Zenit to trophies were the reasons behind him signing a new deal with the club.

The Brazil forward, who put pen to paper on an extended contract until 2019 on Monday, is yet to win any silverware since moving to Russia from Porto in a big-money move in September 2012. 

However, with Zenit sitting seven points clear at the top of the Premier League ahead of the division s resumption in March, Hulk looks set to lift his maiden Russian trophy this year.

And the 28-year-old is eyeing much more success in the coming years.

I was really happy, Hulk told Zenit…

West Ham manager Slaven Bilic is wary of Jermain Defoe s absurd finishing ahead of his team s hosting of Sunderland.

Defoe, 34, already has four Premier League goals this season, continuing where he left off in a fine last campaign.

David Moyes men are battling and bottom of the table, and Defoe has four of their six league goals.

Bilic was full of praise for Defoe, who has returned to England in fine form after his spell with Toronto in MLS in 2014.

He has come back from America maybe better than before, which is amazing, he said.

I spoke with Niko Kranjcar, my midfield player for Croatia, who played with Jermain at Portsmouth and Spurs.

As a number 10 he played with some good strikers and he told me that by far the best movement of a …

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With all eyes from across Europe falling on the Spanish capital this weekend, Atletico Madrid and Los Blancos will meet at the Metropolitano Stadium on Sunday night.

Atletico Madrid

Starting with the hosts, coming off the back of a nightmare display while on Champions League duties earlier in the week, Atletico Madrid will be seeking an immediate response here. However, eventually getting hit with a late 2-0 loss away at German outfit Bayer Leverkusen, Los Colchoneros have shown some inconsistencies since opening the 2022/23 campaign. While they might have been last seen on La Liga action storming their way to a routine 4-1 romp against Celta Vigo on home soil, Diego Simeone s men open this weekend s fixtures sat down in seventh plac…

With all eyes from across the Premier League falling on St. James’ Park, Arsenal claimed what was a crucial 2-0 victory away at Newcastle on Sunday afternoon.

Traveling to the north east knowing that a single point was not enough, it was the red-hot Martin Odegaard who opened the scoring with a sublime effort after just 14 minutes.

With the Gunners’ skipper now notching five Premier League goals in as many appearances, Mikel Arteta’s young squad certainly showed their mental resolve here.

Eventually claiming what could turn out to be a season-defining victory away from the Emirates as Fabian Schar unfortunately turned into his own net on the 71st minute, Newcastle will certainly feel that they done enough to leave St. James’ Park with something to show f…

Holders Atletico Madrid will look to gain a healthy advantage in their Copa del Rey last-16 first leg with Segunda B outfit Sant Andreu.

Diego Simone s charges who defeated city rivals Real Madrid 2-1 after extra time in last season s final head into the match as overwhelming favourites following a superb start to their Liga campaign.

Atletico have lost just once all season, and sit joint top with reigning champions Barcelona after 15 games.

Their latest success came in a 2-0 triumph at Elche last Saturday, a result that followed a 7-0 demolition of Getafe at Vicente Calderon.

If, as expected, Atletico come through the encounter against their third-tier opponents, a quarter-final tie with Gimnastic or Valencia will await.

La Liga leaders Barcelona have won…

that Bayern Munich and Arsenal are among the clubs keeping close tabs on Hoffenheim winger Kevin Volland.

The 21-year-old joined the Bundesliga side in the summer of 2011 from 1860 Munchen and has since impressed at the biggest stage.

After netting 6 league goals in his first season at the club, Volland has already registered 7 goals this term, and has in turn impressed the visiting scouts.

As a result, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool are all believed to be keen, although they have yet to make their interest concrete.

Volland has a contract until June 2017 and is valued at £12 million, with the asking price unlikely to put off any of his suitors.

Hoffenheim did well to hold mighty Borussia Dortmund to a 2-2 draw…