If you want a hotel in London this weekend, good luck. With the always-popular Chelsea Flower Show in full bloom , hotel availability was already at a premium. But on May 28, the final of the European Champions League soccer competition will be played at Wembley Stadium, and fans — and corporate hospitality departments — are taking over the town. London's never cheap, but the demand has pushed the rate for quite ordinary hotel rooms ...

Scottish Premier League club Rangers have confirmed they are investigating alleged racist abuse towards United States international midfielder Maurice Edu after their Champions League defeat to Unirea Urziceni on Tuesday. The 23-year-old played no part in the 4-1 Group G defeat to the Romania side but watched the match at Ibrox and said on social networking site Twitter that he was targeted by his own club's supporters as he left the stadium. Edu had written a message on his Twitter ...

Turkish international Gokdeniz Karadeniz stuck a second-half winner as Rubin Kazan claimed a shock 2-1 Champions League Group F victory over holders Barcelona at the Nou Camp. Karadeniz netted with 17 minutes to go to earn the Russian champions their maiden win in the competition and inflict a first competitive defeat over Barcelona since May. It was also the first European defeat Pep Guardiola's men had suffered since losing at home to Shakhtar Donetsk last December having already ...

World Cup hosts South Africa have sacked coach Joel Santana after a miserable run of eight losses in nine friendly internationals. The South African Football Association posted a statement on its Web site on Monday saying that Santana would step down his role with "immediate effect" and added it had been "unanimously agreed." Jairo Leal and Pitso Mosimane will take temporary charge of the Bafana Bafana with the finals in South Africa now only eight months away. The 60-year-old Santana ...

Ten-man Ghana overcame Brazil 4-3 on penalties in the Under-20 World Cup final in Cairo to become the first African side to win the tournament. Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu scored the winning penalty after Brazil's Maicon had fired over the bar when a successful spot-kick would have handed Brazil the title for a record fifth time. In a match of few chances, Ghana, who are also African champions, defied the odds to take the trophy out of Europe and South America ...

Qualifying for the 2010 World Cup finals is reaching its climax, with footballing heavyweights such as Argentina and Portugal still battling to be in the hat when the draw is made in Cape Town on December 4. When this round of fixtures are complete, all but nine World Cup teams will be known. Here is the state of play ahead of tonight's matches: South America: In the South American zone all the attention is on whether Diego Maradona's ...

Holders Barcelona recorded their first Champions League win of the season as goals from Lionel Messi and substitute Pedro secured a comfortable 2-0 Group F victory over Dinamo Kiev. After a perfect five wins in the Primera Liga, Barca now replace Kiev at the top of Group F on four points after Inter Milan drew 1-1 with Rubin Kazan. Barcelona, who were welcoming back midfield playmaker Andres Iniesta for his first start since the 2-0 final victory over Manchester United ...

Liverpool's Champions League hopes took a blow as teenage Montenegro international Stevan Jovetic scored both goals to give Italian side Fiorentina a deserved 2-0 Group E victory. It was Liverpool's first away defeat in Europe since the semifinal loss at Chelsea in April 2008, and only their ninth away reverse in 38 attempts under manager Rafael Benitez. The home side took the lead in the 27th minute when Cristiano Zanetti's through-ball found Jovetic running from an on-side position -- and ...

Tillakaratne Dilshan scored a century and spinner Ajantha Mendis also starred as Sri Lanka defeated hosts South Africa in a rain-affected opening match of the ICC Champions Trophy at Centurion on Tuesday. Opener Dilshan made 106 off only 92 deliveries as Sri Lanka compiled an imposing 319-8 in their 50 overs in the Group A clash. Mendis then took three key wickets as South Africa collapsed from 90-1 to be 206-7 after 37.4 overs when storms halted play -- 56 ...

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored his fourth goal in as many La Liga outings as Spanish champions Barcelona matched their best start to season since 1997-98 with a 4-1 trouncing of Racing Santander, but the summer signing also suffered an injury blow. The Catalan club romped to a fourth successive victory to return to the top of the table, scoring three times in seven first-half minutes as Lionel Messi ended up with another double. Striker Ibrahimovic, who cost $68 million in the ...