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ZURICH — Canadian national team captain Jessie Fleming, former U.S. national team captain Becky Sauerbrunn and Netherlands forward Vivianne Miedema are among more than 100 women’s soccer players who have signed an open letter protesting FIFA’s sponsorship deal with Saudi Arabian state oil giant Aramco. The letter calls the deal, which includes sponsorship at the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil, “much worse than an own goal,” citing Saudi Arabia’s record on the rights of women and LGBTQ+ people and the impact of Aramco’s oil and gas production on climate change. “As well as funding the Saudi regime, Aramco is one of the biggest polluters of the planet we all call home. In taking Aramco’s sponsorship, FIFA is choosing money over women’s safety and the safety of the planet — and that’s something we as players are standing against, together,” Fleming said in comments via campaign group Athletes Of The World. Fellow Canadians Erin McLeod, Emma Regan, Samantha Cha...

If it wasn’t for the Northern Super League (NSL), Jade Kovacevic would be hanging up her boots, a sad reality for many female soccer players in Canada. But instead, thanks to the inception of the ambitious new league, the 30-year-old has another chance to live her dream right in her own backyard. On Monday, the Acton, Ont. native became AFC Toronto’s first-ever signing while simultaneously setting a precedent for women’s soccer in Canada. Set to kick off next spring, the NSL means that women and girls finally have a pathway to play at the highest level in the Great White North, an opportunity that’s taken shockingly long to conceive. “It’s one thing for girls to watch Messi and Ronaldo on TV, but in the past it wasn’t a reality to become that in Canada,” Kovacevic told Sportsnet. “But now, they can come to NSL games and see the possibilities. They can see that in five, 10 years, that could be them.” Kovacevic is a show-stopping pick for AFC Toronto with a prolific record ...

MADRID — Robert Lewandowski scored two more goals to extend his league-leading tally to 12 and Barcelona comfortably beat Sevilla 5-1 to open a three-point gap on Real Madrid ahead of next weekend’s “El Clasico.” Pedri and Pablo Torre also scored for the Catalan club, which restored its lead in La Liga a day after second-place Madrid won 2-1 at Celta Vigo. Barcelona midfielder Gavi came off the bench to replace Pedri in the 83rd minute, making his return to action nearly a year after a serious knee injury. Barcelona will play Madrid on Saturday at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Both teams have Champions League matches midweek — Madrid hosts Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday and Barcelona hosts Bayern Munich on Wednesday. Lewandowski scored twice in the first half against Sevilla, first by converting a 24th-minute penalty kick and then by finding the net from close range in the 39th. The Poland striker was coming off a hat trick at Alaves in the previous league ...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Lionel Messi is heading to the Club World Cup next year. FIFA president Gianni Infantino announced Saturday night that Inter Miami will play in the tournament, something that had been long expected given Messi’s enormous popularity around the world and how the tournament already planned on some matches in South Florida. The event, which is set to be played every four years, includes 32 teams from FIFA’s six soccer confederations. Inter Miami will play in the tournament opener, scheduled for June 15, 2025 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. “I am proud to announce that as one of the best clubs in the world, you are deserved participants in the new FIFA Club World Cup 2025 as the host club representing the United States,” Infantino said in an on-field ceremony after Inter Miami broke Major League Soccer’s mark for most points in a regular season. The tournament runs through July 13, with the final scheduled for New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium — also the si...

BARCELONA, Spain — Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior scored to give Real Madrid a 2-1 win at Celta Vigo in the Spanish league on Saturday. Mbappé put Madrid ahead with a long-range strike in the 20th minute, only for Williot Swedberg to equalize in the 51st. Vinícius Júnior got the winner for the visitors in the 66th when Luka Modric assisted him with a perfectly threaded pass just moments after going on as a substitute. Celta, however, took it to the defending champions. Thibaut Courtois made saved shots by Swedberg and Jonathan Bamba, and Celta substitute Anastasios Douvikas went inches from grabbing an extra-time equalizer. Carlo Ancelotti’s side stayed unbeaten through 10 rounds in La Liga and pulled level with Barcelona before it hosts Sevilla on Sunday. Madrid started a busy week with a home game against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Tuesday before it hosts Barcelona in the first clasico of the season next weekend.

MILAN — AC Milan rang the changes and was reduced to 10 men and still beat Udinese 1-0 in Serie A on Saturday. Milan leapfrogged Udinese into third place. Theo Hernández was suspended and Tammy Abraham, Fikayo Tomori and Rafael Leão were dropped by Milan. The Rossoneri’s task became harder when midfielder Tijjani Reijnders was shown a straight red card in the 29th minute. Fortunately for Milan, Samuel Chukwueze earned the lead in the 13th minute following yet another assist by Christian Pulisic. They held on after Udinese had two goals ruled out for offside, including one deep in stoppage time. Milan lost at Fiorentina 2-1 before the international break in a match in which Hernández and Abraham had penalty kicks saved. Hernández was sent off after the final whistle for insulting the referee and given a two-match ban. The radically changed Rossoneri started brightly against Udinese and took the lead when Noah Okafor muscled his way down the left flank and rolled it ac...

BERLIN — Florian Wirtz returned from injury to help Bayer Leverkusen defeat in-form Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 in the Bundesliga on Saturday, when the latter was aggrieved not to be awarded a penalty in stoppage time. Hugo Ekitiké looked set to score by heading the ball into an unguarded net after a mix up between goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky and Jonathan Tah, but Tah rushed back to put the airborne Ekitiké off balance and miss the ball. Frankfurt’s protests went unheeded and Victor Boniface’s 72nd-minute goal proved to be the winner for the defending champion. Boniface had an early chance from the penalty spot but Kevin Trapp saved his poorly struck spot kick in the ninth minute. Frankfurt’s Omar Marmoush showed how it’s done seven minutes later, firing a penalty inside the left post after a clumsy challenge from Robert Andrich. It was Marmoush’s ninth goal in seven Bundesliga games, and it stretched his six-game scoring run. But Andrich atoned by equalizing in the 25th after playing a...