WELCOME TO SOCCERBANTZ

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has become Paris Saint-Germain's all-time leading goal scorer after netting two penalties in the French champions' 2-1 win over Marseille. The Sweden captain's second goal during the Ligue 1 clash on Sunday was his 110th since joining PSG, one better than the previous club record held by former Portugal international Pauleta. While it took Pauleta five years and 211 matches to score 109 goals for the club, Ibrahimovic needed just 137 games since joining from AC Milan in July 2012 to surpass that total. The Malmo native reached the milestone shortly after his 34th birthday on Saturday as PSG continued their fine start to the season. "It's always fantastic to beat a record, but I'm not going to stop now,"  Ibrahimovic said. "I want to keep going and do even better. We are living in a great period for the club and we will do everything to continue and keep making history." Ibrahimovic had drawn to within...

Jamaica's Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce narrowly held off Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands to retain her 100m world title in Beijing. Fraser-Pryce, 28, started strongly but was almost caught by Schippers on the line as she crossed in 10.76 seconds. It was a sixth career gold at the World Championships for Fraser-Pryce, who won the 100m and 200m double in 2013. Schippers, a heptathlete bronze medallist two years ago, finished ahead of American Tori Bowie in third. It was a national record for 23-year-old Schippers, who only committed to sprinting in June,  while Bowie, 24, herself a former long jumper, collected her first major medal. Fraser-Pryce, the fourth quickest woman of all time over 100m, expressed disappointment at not breaking her personal best of 10.70 seconds. "I'm getting tired of 10.7s. I just want to put a good race together and hopefully in the next race I get the time I'm working for," she told BBC Sport. "I defin...

Liverpool Ladies produced a fantastic display on Sunday evening as they defeated the previously unbeaten Arsenal Ladies 3-1 at Boreham Wood with goals from Fara Williams , Becky Easton and Asisat Oshoala . Add caption Williams produced an inspirational display as she helped Liverpool Ladies gain a priceless three points after a 3-1 win over Arsenal at Boreham Wood on Sunday evening. Despite playing in all of the games for England during a successful World Cup, the No.4 told Matt Beard she was raring to go to help the team get back to winning ways after the break. With Icelandic midfielder Katrin Omarsdottir back to full fitness and providing added steel in midfield, Beard 's charges made a great start when Williams fired a spectacular opener after just nine minutes. Williams then provided an assist when her corner was glanced into the net by Becky Easton to make it 2-0. Liverpool Ladies were playing some fantastic football at this point and with Asisa...

New Barcelona signing Arda Turan has rejected reports he will join another club on a six-month loan deal. Arda cannot play in an official game for  Barça  until January 2016 due to a sanction imposed on the Catalans for breaching rules regarding the transfer of underage players. Reports in Spain claim the Turkish midfielder could be loaned to former club Galatasaray until January, something Arda has vehemently denied.  Turan can not play for Barcelona until January "It's going to be hard not to play for six months," he told  El Mundo Deportivo . "But the important thing is that I will play for  Barça . I always dreamed of playing for  Barça . I will train until I can make my debut in January and I will help the team win every possible trophy." I wanted to play at Barcelona, the biggest club in the world. Arda Turan, Barcelona midfielder. Barça  signed Arda from Atletico Madrid for 32million euros on Monday, makin...

Arsenal will join Everton, Stoke City and a Singapore Select XI team for the Barclays Asia Trophy Singapore in July 2015. The pre-season tournament will take place at the newly built 55,000-capacity National Stadium at the Singapore Sports Hub. It will be the first time Arsenal have participated in the tournament, and the Gunners’ first visit to Singapore since 1991. The knockout competition will take place over two matchdays on Wednesday, July 15 and Saturday, July 18, with a final to determine the winner and a play-off to decide third place. There will be two matches on each day. The Barclays Asia Trophy has been held biennially since 2003. This year will be the first time that Singapore - celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2015 - has played host to the tournament. Source: arsenal.com

Chelsea are ready to pay £11 million a year to use Wembley Stadium for three seasons if the planned Stamford Bridge expansion goes ahead, The Times has reported. The newspaper says Chelsea, who are likely to need a temporary home from the 2017-18 season, made the offer to Wembley Stadium's board and now lead the race to occupy the ground. Tottenham, who will need to relocate during a similar period while their new stadium is built, are said to have offered just £8 million a year to use Wembley. The Times says the Wembley board has yet to decide whether to rent the national stadium to a team, given that it also generates substantial funds from other events, including NFL games and music concerts. Chelsea could also look to move to Twickenham, the national rugby union stadium, should they fail to secure a deal for Wembley. The Premier League champions are set to hold a public consultation on their Stamford Bridge redevelopment plans in Sep...

Brazil swept into the final of the Under-20 World Cup by routing Senegal 5-0, and they will face Serbia for the title after Mali were beaten 2-1 after extra time in the other semifinal. Brazil players celebrate against Senegal   Five-time champions  Brazil  had been far from dominant in their previous knockout matches, beating both Uruguay and Portugal in penalty shootouts, but they quickly took charge against  Senegal , going 4-0 up inside 35 minutes. Marcos Guilherme scored twice while Boschilla and Jorge also had goals for Brazil which opened the scoring via an own goal. Brazil will face the winner of the Wednesday's second semifinal between Serbia and Mali in the final. Brazil went ahead when an attack down the right flank by Joao Pedro was followed by an innocuous pass into the middle, which deflected off Senegal defender Andelinou Correa's heel into the goal. Correa had only been on the park for 13 minutes in the entire tournament and was on...

Nigeria  made a winning start,  Zimbabwe  created an upset, and  South Africa  and  Zambia  were held at home as the first matchday of CAF Africa Cup of Nations qualifying continued Saturday.  Cape Verde Islands  scored seven goals and Angola four against weak rivals in other games as the contest to find 15 teams for the 2017 finals in Gabon unfolded. The Eagles of Nigeria celebrate their victory against Chad A disastrous start to the last qualifying competition robbed then defending champions  Nigeria  of a place in the 2015 tournament won by Côte d'Ivoire . But the Super Eagles patiently wore down dogged minnows  Chad  in northern city Kaduna for a 2-0 Group G victory. Gbolahan Salami broke the deadlock on 63 minutes and Odion Ighalo converted a penalty 10 minutes from time to complete a routine victory.  Zimbabwe , who missed a flight to  Malawi  and travelled by bus via...

Sweden gave up a 2-0 lead to Nigeria only for substitute Linda Sembrant to put the Europeans back in the lead, which Francisca Ordega cancelled out with three minutes remaining for a dramatic 3-3 draw in the first game of Group D at the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015™. Oshoala scores the second goal The Super Falcons, having never beaten Sweden on their three previous meetings, came out flying in the first few minutes and had the Swedes on the back foot for much of the first quarter of an hour. But an unfortunate own goal from Desire Oparanozie gave the Swedes the lead 20 minutes into the match. Emma Berglund ’s flicked header from a corner kick was redirected into Nigeria’s net by the No9’s chest. A poor clearance off another Swedish corner made it 2-0, Nilla Fischer able to tap in to an empty net after the ball made its way through the crowd. Nigeria’s front line refused to go quiet, however, and just after the break two goals in quick succession levelle...

Rafael Benitez says he will be leaving Napoli following the final game of the Italian club's season on Sunday. Benitez look set to be named the new Real Madrid coach The Spaniard, 55, is favourite to take over at Real Madrid, who sacked coach Carlo Ancelotti on Monday. "I want to thank the chairman, club and fans because after two years my experience here in Napoli is coming to an end," said Benitez. "On Sunday, we have a very important match and I want to finish my two years with a victory." Napoli, in fourth, host third-placed Lazio in their last game of the Serie A season with a Champions League place at stake. Benitez's side are three points behind their rivals and a win would see them qualify for Europe's premier club competition on the basis of a better head-to-head record. Benitez refused to discuss his future and the prospect of taking charge at Real Madrid, where he had stints as a youth coach, Under-19 coach and as...

Jamie Vardy and Charlie Austin have been handed their first senior England call-ups for the upcoming games against Republic of Ireland and Slovenia. However, there is no place for in-form Tom Cleverley or Ashley Young in Roy Hodgson's squad for the friendly with Ireland in Dublin on July 7 and the Euro 2014 qualifier with Slovenia seven days later. Vardy, 28, is the big surprise, having scored four Premier League goals and contributed eight assists in 33 games for Leicester this season. Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, Hodgson said: "I saw Jamie Vardy at Fleetwood and players like him who like running in behind defenders are good for coaches. He's had a good season." Austin, though, had been expected to get the call after he contributed 17 goals in the league for relegated Queens Park Rangers. Hodgson said: "We've always had our eye on Charlie, but up to this point we haven't had the space in the squad. We'll give him...

Liverpool have cancelled Friday's planned meeting with forward Raheem Sterling over comments attributed to the player's agent. Aidy Ward reportedly said the England forward, 20, will not sign a new deal even if offered "£900,000 a week". "I don't care about the PR of the club," Ward told the Evening Standard.  Sterling was expected to tell the Reds he wants a move away from Anfield this summer and has already rejected a new £100,000-a-week contract. Liverpool believe there would be no point in having a meeting when the player's representative is quoted as saying a new deal would not be signed regardless of the figure. In the newspaper interview, Ward also used a four-letter expletive to describe ex-Red Jamie Carragher, who has criticised Sterling's actions. "He is definitely not signing. He's not signing for £700, £800, £900 thousand a week. He is   not signing," said Ward. "My job is to ...

Benfica clinched their second successive Portuguese Liga title with a goalless draw at Guimaraes as their only challengers Porto were also held. Benfica players celebrate winning the league Benfica  went into the penultimate round of games with a three-point lead - and that is where they stayed, meaning their superior head-to-head record against Porto guaranteed them the trophy. The crucial goal came in the event from Belenenses substitute Tiago Caeiro, who cancelled out Jackson Martinez's strike to earn his side a 1-1 draw and end Porto's hopes of overhauling the Eagles. Benfica chairman Luis Filipe Vieira told his club's official website: "We are all happy. All Benfica are happy and this title is dedicated to all of them." At the other end of the table, three of the four relegation places are now settled after Gil Vicente and Arouca followed Penafiel in succumbing to the drop. Penafiel were already down but took Gil Vicente with them than...

Glo Premier League ‘big boys,’ Kano Pillars and Enyimba International showed up on the road claiming all three points in their respective fixtures on Match Day 9 which saw leaders, Sunshine Stars grinding out a draw in Lafia. Sunshine Stars are now tied on points by Gabros FC and Wikki Tourists, 1-0 winners in their home games that brought their total tally to 17 points. Four home wins, two wins on the road, three draws and a total of 13 goals including two own goals summed up activities of Match Day 9 with the highly anticipated clash of the longest football rivalry in Nigeria between Shooting Stars and Rangers International ending 1-1 in Ibadan. Adamu Hassan scored Pillars' only goal in Umuahia Giwa FC recorded their second home draw and were pushed down to fifth place from second after they were held 0-0 by Taraba United. It will be the second game in four that joint top scorer, Ibrahim Shuaibu failed to find the back of the net. It was six-time champions, ...