Former J. League manager Josip Kuze died Monday of leukemia in Zagreb after several months of battling with the disease, French daily L’Equipe reported. He was 60. The Croatian-born coach and former player spent most of his playing career as a defender for Dinamo ...

Skipper Lucas Neill says his Australian squad’s full focus is on beating Iraq in its last Asian qualifier to guarantee direct entry to next year’s World Cup, so the Socceroos aren’t practicing the samba yet. Australia can secure the second automatic qualifying spot in ...

A group of stars representing the Tohoku region defeated a J. League select team 2-1 on Sunday behind goals from Daisuke Matsui and Mu Kanazaki in front of a crowd of 41,246 at National Stadium. The game was held to benefit reconstruction in the ...

Quebec’s soccer federation is ending its much-criticized turban ban. The organization made the announcement Saturday, one day after soccer’s world body said wearing turbans on the field was acceptable. The ban prompted the Canadian Soccer Association to suspend the Quebec Soccer Federation earlier this ...

Iraq captain and leading goal scorer Younis Mahmoud and midfielder Nashat Akram, a veteran of more than 110 games for his country, have announced their immediate retirements just days ahead of the team’s Asian confederation World Cup qualifier against Australia. A posting on the ...

With the words of Pele ringing in its ears that it is “not good enough” to win the tournament, Brazil opens the Confederations Cup on Saturday with an appetizing encounter in the capital against Asian champion Japan. With Italy and Mexico, which embarrassed the ...

Southampton striker Tadanari Lee fired a thinly veiled parting shot at FC Tokyo coach Ranko Popovic on Friday, saying he was leaving because he was unhappy at a lack of playing time during his loan spell with the J. League club. “I felt like ...