Lee Carsley has been appointed interim England head coach for next month s Nations League fixtures versus the Republic of Ireland and Finland.

The Football Association (FA) has been searching for a new England boss for the first time since 2016, with Gareth Southgate resigning in the aftermath of the Three Lions Euro 2024 final loss to Spain.

Pep Guardiola, Mauricio Pochettino, Graham Potter and Eddie Howe have been linked with the post, but the FA is keen to take its time over a full-time appointment.

With that in mind, Carsley has been handed the job on an interim basis, initially just for next month s fixtures but with the potential to extend his remit into the coming months.

Carsley has been England Under-21 manager since 2021 and led the team to Euro…

Everton have been deducted 10 points with immediate affect after being found to have breached Premier League financial rules.

The Toffees have confirmed their intention to appeal against the sanction, which relates to the period ending in the 2021-22 season.

Here, the PA news agency takes a look back at the two other Premier League clubs to be handed a points deduction.

Portsmouth (March 2010)

Portsmouth were deducted nine points in 2010 after the south-coast club went into administration.The sanction all but rubber-stamped Pompey’s relegation, as they were left 17 points from safety with nine league games remaining.Despite the off-field issues, with the club reportedly having debts of £65million, Avram Grant took Portsmouth to the FA Cup final that season, w…

The five nations competing to host the 2022 World Cup have made their final presentations ahead of Thursday s vote.

Representatives of bids from the United States, Qatar, Australia, South Korea and Japan made their final pitch to members of the FIFA executive committee in Zurich on Wednesday, with some famous faces called upon to lend their support.

The US, considered one of the front-runners to win the hosting rights, employed the services of President Barrack Obama in a video message.

Here in America passion for football burns stronger than ever. If we are successful we will make the world proud. The game is in us. I hope to have the chance to welcome all of you in 2022, Obama said.

Former White House incumbent Bill Clinton spoke in person during the…

Market: Bayer Leverkusen win

Odds: 4/11 @

Looking to make an immediate return to winning ways on Saturday afternoon, Bayer Leverkusen will travel to a struggling Darmstadt.

Starting with the hosts, while Darmstadt might have booked a famous Bundesliga return for this season, it is no surprise that the Lilies are tipped as a landslide relegation contender in 2024. Last seen putting in another toothless display as they suffered a 1-0 loss at the hands of fellow strugglers Union Berlin, Torsten Lieberknecht s men sit rock-bottom of the table. Putting just 11 points on the board from their 19 Bundesliga appearances this season and already six points adrift of top-flight safety, the Hesse-based outfit are without a single win from any of their previous 12 straight sh…

Ipswich Town welcomed Liverpool to Portman Road on Saturday, in the opening round of the 2024/25 Premier League season. The Merseysiders walked away with all three points, courtesy of second-half goals from Diogo Jota (60 ) and Mohamed Salah (65 ).

The teams

It s been more than two decades since Ipswich last played in the Premier League. Like many promoted clubs tend to do, they ve done significant transfer business this summer to try and strengthen the squad for the upcoming challenges, the main of which will surely be to stay in the English top flight. Whether it proves enough remains to be seen losing the opening game to a team like Liverpool can hardly be taken as any kind of a sign.

Coach Kieran McKenna selected Christian Walton, who spent most of last season in t…

Zinedine Zidane has ruled out taking over at Bayern Munich, amid suggestions Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag is also of interest to the Bundesliga giants.

Bayern have been frustrated in their search for a successor to Thomas Tuchel, who is set to leave the club at the end of the season after overseeing their first failure to win the Bundesliga since 2012.

Preferred candidate Xabi Alonso – who was also linked with Liverpool – has reaffirmed his commitment to Bayer Leverkusen, while Julian Nagelsmann decided to continue as Germany boss after being linked with a return to the Allianz Arena.

Ralf Rangnick was the latest coach to be linked with the Bavarian giants last week, only for the Austria boss to follow Alonso and Nagelsmann by saying he will stay in hi…

Juan Antonio Pizzi thinks his Saudi Arabia team could be unstoppable in the 2019 Asian Cup if they manage to consistently reproduce the sort of display that saw them hammer North Korea 4-0 in their opener.

Although Pizzi s men were boosted by the sending off of Han Kwang-song just before half-time, Saudi Arabia were already 2-0 up and well on their way to three points.

As such, Saudi Arabia look well placed to progress to the knockout phase for the first time since 2007, when they finished runners-up.

Up next on Saturday is a meeting with a Lebanon side who lost 2-0 to Qatar in their opening game, meaning Saudi Arabia should be confident of moving on to six points.

But Pizzi is looking even further ahead than that match and potential progression, suggesti…

Marko Arnautovic could be handed a rare start for Inter Milan as they begin the defence of their Coppa Italia title on Wednesday with a home clash against his former club Bologna.

Inter sit four points clear at the top of the Serie A table but Bologna are one of only two teams along with Sassuolo to take points off them at San Siro this season after a 2-2 draw in October.

Nerazzurri boss Simone Inzaghi is likely to rotate his players with Saturday’s league clash against Lecce the priority but Inter will aim to set up a quarter-final date against Fiorentina, who they beat 2-1 in last season’s final in May.

Davide Frattesi and Kristjan Asllani are among the likely starters while France defender Benjamin Pavard, who suffered a knee injury in early November, coul…

Italy held world and European champions Spain to a 1-1 draw on Sunday to kick off the action in Group C of Euro 2012.

Antonio Di Natale drew first blood for Italy on 60 minutes, coming off the bench to put his side ahead.

But only four minutes later Cesc Fabregas equalised to ensure Spain ended up with a share of the spoils in Gdansk.

The headline news which preceded the match was the inclusion of Fabregas, nominally a midfielder, as the man charged with leading the line, ahead of recognised strikers Fernando Torres and Fernando Llorente.

Meanwhile, Italy coach Cesare Prandelli handed a debut to Juventus defender Emanuele Giaccherini.

After Daniele de Rossi deflected the ball into the path of Andres Iniesta, the first chance of the game fell to S…

The draw for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar took place on Friday, and there are some tantalising fixtures to look forward to before the knockout rounds even begin.

Spain and Germany, two of the tournament s past three winners, are in the same group, while hosts Qatar now know they will kick things off against Ecuador on November 21.

Three teams are still to be determined, with two inter-confederation play-offs and a European play-off to be staged in June – potentially meaning an all-British affair for England, who will open up their campaign against the United States.

Reigning champions France face Denmark, Tunisia and one of Peru, the United Arab Emirates or Australia. Brazil should be confident of progressing from Group G, while Belgium, Portugal and Argentin…