Italy has played down suggestions that its national team could replace Iran at the World Cup, following reports that an envoy to US President Donald Trump had asked FIFA to consider the move.

Spain's Lamine Yamal has picked up a hamstring injury, but is expected to be fit for the upcoming World Cup, his club Barcelona announced Thursday.

The early 1990s. The skies over the Balkans were no longer blue, but choked with black smoke from relentless airstrikes. Sirens would halt games mid-play, and footballers’ boots were replaced by the heavy gear of soldiers. Croatia was no longer just a defined line on a map -- it had become the name of a blood-soaked struggle.

There was once a team that, when they stepped onto the pitch, did not seem to be there to just play football -- they seemed to be there to paint on an invisible canvas.

A new batch of World Cup tickets to all 104 matches will go on sale this Wednesday, just 50 days before the tournament kicks off, FIFA said Tuesday.

What may appear amusing or irrational to the casual observer often serves as a talisman of success for players and devoted fans alike. Superstition, in that sense, has become an inseparable thread in football’s aesthetic fabric.

June 21, 1970. The galleries of the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City roared like a sea of yellow and blue. Brazil, having torn apart Italy’s resolute defense, could already smell victory. The scoreboard read 3-1 in favor of the Selecao. There were still 20 minutes left on the clock in the final.

Bayern Munich and Germany forward Serge Gnabry could miss this summer's World Cup after tearing a muscle in his thigh, the Bundesliga club announced on Saturday.

World Cup fans will have to pay $150 -- more than 10 times the normal price -- for the quick round-trip train between New York and Meadowlands stadium when it hosts the tournament's final and seven earlier matches, local officials said Friday, drawing outrage.

Friendship is not always about standing side by side. Sometimes, it becomes a presence even in absence -- silent, unseen, yet profoundly felt. It is a feeling that cannot be touched or seen, yet in the hardest moments, it stands right at the center of the chest, as a strange source of strength.

Veteran Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz has been appointed head coach of Ghana for the 2026 World Cup, the Ghanaian federation announced on Monday.

There was a strange, taut tension inside the stands, as if the breath of thousands had stalled at once. Amid the 22 bodies darting across the green pitch, there was a silent anticipation -- waiting for someone to rise above the rest. That wait felt ancient, almost timeless. A moment -- just one -- that would change everything.

The summer of 2006 in Germany was a time of transition. The reign of the nineties legends was drawing to a close, and world football was searching for a new icon. In Argentina, this search had been an obsession ever since the 1986 World Cup triumph. They were not simply waiting for a footballer -- they were waiting for a saviour in the mould of Diego Maradona.

Alongside the history of the FIFA World Cup, one of its most inseparable elements -- the football itself -- has evolved in step.

Iran's government will only decide on the national team's participation in the World Cup once they receive a response from FIFA over the relocation of their matches, the country's Minister of Sport Ahmad Donyamali said.

Stepping onto the stage of the FIFA World Cup is a lifelong dream; to arrive for the first time and leave the world astonished is nothing short of heroic.

Antonio Conte left the door wide open to an Italy recall, admitting his future at Napoli is in doubt. ‘If I was the FIGC President, I’d take me into consideration.’

Gianluigi Donnarumma was enraged with the Bosnia and Herzegovina team after Italy’s World Cup play-off defeat and it is now revealed why, as a ball boy stole his penalties cheat sheet.

Although 22 editions of the World Cup have taken place, 21 finals have been held. There was no final match in the 1950 edition

Brazilian football legend Ronaldinho said the Argentine World Cup winner Lionel Messi remains the best player in the world even at the age of 38.