Sport

Niloufar Ardalan, left, views for the ball during a match in 2006. (AP) The Iranian women’s soccer team will be short one player when it travels to Malaysia to compete in an indoor soccer championship next week. That’s because, according to local reports, the team captain doesn’t have a passport — her husband refused to sign papers to allow his wife to renew it. Niloufar Ardalan, 30, is married to sports journalist…

Los Angeles, Hamburg, Rome, Budapest and Paris will compete to host the 2024 summer Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will elect the winner at a vote in Lima, Peru, in September 2017. Toronto mayor John Tory announced on Monday that the Canadian city had decided not to bid for the Games, citing other priorities. The IOC changed the rules in August…

Swimming’s world governing body FINA has strongly criticized the organizers of next year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro over what it says are substandard facilities and “disrespect” for aquatic events. FINA, which oversees some of the Olympics’ most-watched events, attacked the organizers and Rio mayor Eduardo Paes on various grounds including slashing the seating capacity at the main pool, according to a FINA letter obtained by The Associated Press. Athletes’…

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The captain of the Iranian women’s soccer team will miss the Asian Cup tournament as her husband has confiscated her passport in a domestic quarrel, local media has reported. The dispute between 30-year-old midfielder Niloufar Ardalan and her husband, sports journalist Mahdi Toutounchi, touches on the rights of women in the Islamic Republic. Under Iranian law, husbands can stop their wives from traveling outside of…

St. Louis was named Tuesday as one of the three finalists to host the 2018 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships. Buffalo and Pittsburgh are the other cities in contention. Chicago and Tampa, which had been under consideration, are out. The event has already been awarded to USA Hockey, which is choosing the site. The event annually brings together the best players, under the age of 20, in the sport and…

Frisco has a new sports goal: to become the home for the National Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum. No one will confirm whether a deal has been reached. But a sign of progress came Tuesday night with the City Council’s unanimous approval of $39 million in improvements at Toyota Stadium, where the museum would be housed. Local officials and the Hunt Sports Group entered exclusive negotiations with the U.S….

The race is on for the 2024 Olympics: A five-city contest pitting four European bids against a two-time host from the United States. The International Olympic Committee announced the official field of candidates Wednesday, and there were no surprises as the previously declared bidders were all on the list — Budapest, Hungary; Hamburg, Germany; Los Angeles; Paris; and Rome. “We are welcoming five outstanding and highly qualified candidate cities,” IOC…

Frisco has a new sports goal: to become the home for the National Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum. No one will confirm whether a deal has been reached. But a sign of progress came Tuesday night with the City Council’s unanimous approval of $39 million in improvements at Toyota Stadium, where the museum would be housed. Local officials and the Hunt Sports Group entered exclusive negotiations with the U.S….

The fastest game on grass will return to Fenway Park this fall for the first time in more than 60 years when teams from Galway and Dublin are scheduled to face off in the ancient Irish sport of hurling. And what is hurling, you might ask? It has been described as a warlike ballgame played on foot with ax-shaped wooden sticks. Imagine full-contact baseball fused with elements of ice hockey,…

NEW YORK/TORONTO – The National Hockey League (NHL®) and adidas today announced a seven-year partnership in which adidas will become the authentic outfitter of on-ice uniforms as well as an official supplier of licensed apparel and headwear for the League starting with the 2017-18 season. adidas Group-owned CCM will remain an official on-ice equipment supplier, delivering world-class product for NHL players, including sticks, skates, helmets, gloves and goaltending gear. …

They will look at possible bids for post-2024 Olympics, soccer’s World Cup, a world’s fair, and other events that could use facilities built for the Pan Am Games, Tory said.

Six years ago, Dom Dwyer’s career was going nowhere. Released by Norwich City as a schoolboy, he entered semi-professional football, turning out for King’s Lynn and Staines Town, who play in the Ryman Premier Division. It was there, in the foothills of the English game, that he looked west and decided to move to the United States. Dwyer signed up to a firm who…

The 16-driver field for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup has been set. Now what? If you need a refresher on exactly how the NASCAR playoffs work, FS1’s “NASCAR Race Hub” is here to help with this fun whiteboard animation. 

Virginia’s goalie celebrated his shutout a period too early. (Instagram) Fans of comedies of the 1970s and early 1980s might appreciate what happened during a preseason hockey game Friday night between the club teams at the University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth. It was something like Animal House meets Slap Shot. With UVA taking it to VCU through two periods with a 7-0 lead heading into the third, Virginia goalie…

Sept. 14, 2015: U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch attends a news conference on Swiss criminal proceedings. (Reuters) U.S. authorities have expanded their investigations into corruption within global soccer and expect to file additional criminal charges, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said on Monday. As part of a separate Swiss investigation, Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber said his office had seized property and flats in the Swiss Alps in connection with its…

For a list of all the latest deals, check out the transfers page. Newcastle are planning to offer £6m for QPR’s England striker Charlie Austin, 26, in the January transfer window. (Telegraph)  Arsenal are considering making a £14m bid in January for Anderlecht’s 18-year-old Belgian midfielder Youri Tielemans, who is also a target for Chelsea. (Calciomercato – in Italian)  …

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho argued with Everton boss Roberto Martinez over managerial etiquette after his side lost at Goodison Park on Saturday. After Martinez spoke to the media first following his side’s 3-1 victory, Mourinho interrupted the Spaniard as he addressed another group of journalists. The Portuguese felt his interviews should have taken place first. “Roberto, next time tell me to go before you…

The U.S. women’s soccer team will hold a public training session in Birmingham next weekend before their game against Haiti. The public training session will take place the day before the game – at 11 a.m. Sept. 19, also at Legion Field. Admission is free and open to the public. U.S. Soccer Supporters Club members in the Star Club and above receive field level access at the public training session….

(Photo: The Associated Press) CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A glance at the 16 NASCAR drivers racing in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, which begins Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway. Drivers listed in order of Chase ranking: ___ No. 48 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports DRIVER: Jimmie Johnson BORN: Sept. 17, 1975 HOMETOWN: El Cajon, California CREW CHIEF: Chad Knaus SPONSOR: Lowe’s TWITTER: @JimmieJohnson NOTEWORTHY: Won four times, has only one top-five…

For a list of all the latest deals, check out the transfers page. Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho swore at Everton manager Roberto Martinez following his side’s 3-1 defeat at Goodison Park on Saturday. Mourinho was incensed that Martinez had completed his post-match interview before him. (Daily Star)  And Chelsea staff and the players’ wives and partners are reported to be upset…