The inaugural CONCACAF W Gold Cup will be held next year in Houston, Los Angeles, San Diego and Carson, Calif., CONCACAF announced Tuesday, Games will be played at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles and Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif., as well as Houston’s Shell Energy Stadium and San Diego’s Snapdragon Stadium, which will host the final. The 10th-ranked Canadian women have already qualified for the tournament, scheduled to run from Feb.17 to March 10. The third-ranked Americans, No. 9 Brazil, No. 22 Colombia, No. 31 Argentina, and No. 49 Paraguay have also booked their ticket to the grou ..read more

BERN, Switzerland — Switzerland coach Murat Yakin has kept his job for next year’s European Championship after the national soccer federation on Tuesday resisted calls to fire him. The Swiss qualified for Euro 2024 despite a run of eight qualifying games since June when the team beat only Andorra. Leads were wasted by conceding late goals amid reports of tension between the coach and senior players Granit Xhaka and Manuel Akanji. The vote of confidence came four days before Yakin is due at the Euro 2024 draw in Hamburg, Germany. “Even though we have drawn four matches and lost once in the last ..read more

LONDON — Arsenal midfielder Fabio Vieira has undergone groin surgery and will be out for “weeks,” manager Mikel Arteta said Tuesday. Vieira had the operation on Monday on the advice of a specialist after initially having what Arteta described as “conservative treatment.” The 23-year-old Vieira is in his second season at Arsenal after joining from Porto. Arteta was speaking the day before Arsenal’s Champions League match at home to Lens. Arsenal leads the group and a victory will secure the English team a place in the round of 16. More from Sportsnet WSL, Championship clubs move from FA to ..read more

MUNICH — Bayern Munich gave goalkeeper and captain Manuel Neuer a one-year contract extension Tuesday after his successful return from a broken leg. The new contract is a sign of faith in the 37-year-old Neuer, who returned to action Oct. 28 for Bayern more than 10 months out after he broke his leg while skiing. The announcement came a day before Bayern plays Copenhagen in the Champions League. Neuer’s contract had been due to expire at the end of the season. The one-year extension ensures he will still be a Bayern player when Germany hosts the European Championship next year and takes hi ..read more

LONDON — Women’s soccer in England will be run by an independent organization rather than the Football Association from next year in a move aimed at setting new standards in the game. Clubs in the Women’s Super League and the second-tier Women’s Championship will operate under NewCo, whose first chief executive will be Nikki Doucet — a former investment banker and Nike executive. The FA has run the WSL since its formation in 2010 and the Championship since 2014, but announced plans last year for an independent equity to take over the commercial activities of the women’s game and give clubs gre ..read more

NYON, Switzerland — When it comes to charging traveling fans for Champions League tickets, German clubs give the best value to away teams and Scottish clubs the worst. Celtic and Rangers routinely charged visiting fans 70 euros ($77) — the UEFA-mandated maximum for the away section at Champions League games — last season while Bayer Leverkusen asked for just 15 euros ($16.50), according to research published Tuesday by Football Supporters Europe. The FSE, UEFA’s official fan liaison group, claimed safe standing areas for away fans at European games were key to driving down prices. The average ..read more

MADRID (AP) — Girona missed a chance to return to the top of the Spanish league on Monday when it was held at home by Athletic Bilbao to 1-1. Girona is the surprise team in La Liga and won 11 of its previous 12 games. The Catalan side was the more spritely early on and had a first-half goal ruled out after a video review. It took the lead 11 minutes into the second half when Ukrainian winger Viktor Tsygankov charged into a crowded penalty box and swept home a low cross from the left. Girona’s 19-year-old Brazilian Savinho was once again one of the best players on show and it was his pass that ..read more

LONDON — Captain Sam Kerr will miss Australia’s upcoming friendlies against Canada with a foot injury. Chelsea, Kerr’s English club team, said the 30-year-old star forward will stay with the London-based side for treatment during the international window. Canada, currently ranked 10th in the world, hosts the No. 11 Matildas on Friday at Starlight Stadium in Langford, B.C., and Dec. 5 in Vancouver at B.C. Place Stadium in Canada’s captain Christine Sinclair’s final two outings in Canadian colours. The Canada women are well acquainted with Kerr given that Kadeisha Buchanan, Jessie Fleming and As ..read more

VANCOUVER — B.C. Place Stadium is being renamed “Christine Sinclair Place” for one night only, in honour of the Canada captain’s final international outing The 40-year-old from Burnaby. B.C., is calling time on her international soccer career with a pair of games against Australia in her backyard — on Friday at Starlight Stadium in Langford, B.C., and Dec. 5 in Vancouver. Sinclair, who plans to play one more season with the NWSL Portland Thorns, is the world’s all-time leading goal-scorer with 190 from 329 international appearances. Some 40,000 tickets have already been sold for the Dec ..read more

MANCHESTER, England — There’s a photograph doing the rounds of Pep Guardiola, then a wide-eyed 15-year-old ball boy, looking up to Terry Venables after the grinning English coach had been hoisted onto the shoulders of two Barcelona players at Camp Nou. Venables had just guided Barcelona to the European Cup final in 1986, adding to his popularity after leading the Catalan team to its first Spanish league title in 11 years the previous season. Guardiola was in Barcelona’s storied La Masia academy at the time and he could sense the impact Venables was having around the club. More than bringing so ..read more