Okay, you can all relax now. Turns out that our hero, Arsenal captain Robin van Persie, will NOT be sanctioned for allegedly throwing an elbow in the face of defender Carlos Cuéllar, after all. Had the Football Association chosen to sanction him, and there certainly seemed to be justification for doing so, the punishment to both Robin as an individual and Arsenal as a cohesive whole would have been severe enough, considering the awful timing, to virtually end the team's season on quite a sour note.

Okay, you can all relax now. Turns out that our hero, Arsenal captain Robin van Persie, will NOT be sanctioned for allegedly throwing an elbow in the face of defender Carlos Cuéllar, after all. Had the Football Association chosen to sanction him, and there certainly seemed to be justification for doing so, the punishment to both Robin as an individual and Arsenal as a cohesive whole would have been severe enough, considering the awful timing, to virtually end the team's season on quite a sour note.

That tickle in your spine yesterday? Those were the cosmic juices from the rumblings that Eric Cantona is planning to run for the president of France. That's right president.

Now, if everyone planning to run for president in any country were taken seriously, the world would stop running and outfits like the Huff Post would lead some sort of meaningless society (redundant).

Former Real Madrid President Ramon Calderon has sensationally compared Jose Mourinho to evil Nazi Dictator Adolf Hitler!

Calderon was president of Real Madrid between 2006 and 2009 and was speaking after Madrid's General Manager Jorge Valdano was dramatically sacked after a very public falling out with current Real boss Jose Mourinho.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Diego Maradona has told an Argentine newspaper he will take legal action against Argentine football federation president Julio Grondona over perceived criticism of the World Cup-winner's drug problems. Maradona reacted angrily to comments the 80-year-old Grondona made to local media this week that have been interpreted as a veiled reference to [.

PARIS, France — The French football federation has named the nine cities that will host matches during the 2016 European championships. Bordeaux, Lens, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nancy, Nice, Paris and Saint-Denis were chosen on Friday ahead of Saint-Etienne and Toulouse, which have been named as reserve locations.

LONDON/ZURICH Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president who is standing for re-election admits there is a ground swell of popular support to rehold the 2022 vote won by Qatar The Fifa president Sepp Blatter made the startling disclosure yesterday that he could not rule out a rerun of the voting for the right to host [.

LONDON, England The English Football Association (FA) is to abstain from voting in the upcoming FIFA presidential election between Sepp Blatter and Mohamed Bin Hammam, it was announced Thursday. FA chairman David Bernstein said in a statement there were a "range of issues" which made it "difficult" to vote for incumbent Blatter or Asian [.

PARIS, France Lille moved to the brink of the Ligue 1 and French Cup double when a second-half Gervinho goal secured a 1-0 league home win over Sochaux on Wednesday. The northeners, who were last champions in 1954 and won the French Cup on Saturday, have 72 points with two games left and lead [...]

TOKYO, Japan Costa Rica has accepted an invitation to replace Japan in the Copa America, the soccer championship of South America. Japan withdrew Tuesday because of problems forming a team following March's earthquake and tsunami. Costa Rica will send a team of players mostly under 23, with five older players.

GUATEMALA CITY The president of a soccer team whose second-in-command was killed two days ago has also received threats apparently related to the club's poor performance, Guatemalan police said Sunday. Carmelino Hidalgo, a spokeswoman for police in the northern province of Huehuetenango, said Xinabajul club president Mauro Rodriguez reported receiving threats as did [.

ROME, Italy— AC Milan maintained their grip on top spot in Serie A after Alexandre Pato scored a late winner to earn them a 2-1 success at 10-man Chievo on Sunday. Robinho had given them a controversial first-half lead before Gelson Fernandes equalised in the second period, but Pato came off the bench to score [.

GUATEMALA CITY = The vice president of Deportivo Xinabajul in Guatemala has been shot to death by unidentified gunmen after receiving threats related to the squad's poor performance. National Civil Police spokesman Donald Gonzalez says no suspects have yet been detained in the killing of Carlos Noe Gomez.

NEW YORK, NY In an article on Sports Illustrated titled "It's time for someone to depose Sepp Blatter as FIFA's leader" journalist Grant Wahl has announced his intentions to run for FIFA's presidency. Current FIFA president Sepp Blatter is running for his fourth term, with elections falling on June 1.

PARIS, France Raymond Domenech continues to slide apparently effortlessly from one controversy to another. His latest is an interview with L'Express in which the former national team coach labelled the players who mutinied at last year's World Cup as "horrible, unthinking brats." This angered both his former employers at the French federation whom he [.

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CHAMONIX/LONDON, Feb 11: Football officials from Bulgaria and Estonia have not waited for an independent inquiry. Amid rapidly escalating concern over ‘betting bending' they have asked UEFA, jointly, to investigate their own international friendly in Turkey on Wednesday. The match, in a four-team tournament in Antalya, ended 2-2 with all four goals coming from the [.

CHAMONIX/LONDON Real Madrid won nothing last year yet they continue to top the table of the world's richest clubs in the annual revenue assessment undertaken by accountant Deloitte. This is the sixth successive year the record nine-times former champions of Europe have led the list. Spanish champions Barcelona are second followed by Manchester United [.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina The president of the Argentina Football Association says Carlos Tevez has been dropped from the national team as a punishment for missing the previous friendly match. Tevez was not in the team to face Portugal in Switzerland on Wednesday. Argentina FA president Julio Grondona said in a radio interview in Buenos [.

LONDON, England Premier League Tottenham Hotspur and David Beckham's Los Angeles Galaxy are planning closer ties that could lead to players crossing the Atlantic in both directions. Tim Leiweke, president of the American sports and entertainment giant AEG that owns the Galaxy and is bidding in partnership with Spurs to take over the London [.

MADRID, Spain David Silva came off the bench to rescue Spain and give the world champions a 1-0 win in a friendly against Colombia at the Bernabeu. The home side looked to be heading for a frustrating draw until the Manchester City midfielder, who had replaced Xabi Alonso 10 minutes earlier, poked the ball [.

PRAGUE, Czech Republic Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech was named the Czech Republic's Footballer of the Year 2010 at a ceremony in Prague on Monday. It has been the third straight time for Cech to win the trophy and the fourth time overall. "I'll never grow tired of this, it's a great honor," said the [.

FRISCO, Texas — Major League Soccer side Dallas has signed 31-year-old Brazilian midfielder Ricardo Villar from Spielvereinigung Unterhaching of the German third division. Villar played for Pennsylvania State University from 1997-01 after playing youth soccer at Sao Paulo. He was with Hampton Roads and Pittsburgh in the U.

HOUSTON Houston Dynamo minority owner Oscar De La Hoya joined city and county officials Saturday at the groundbreaking for the team's $95 million, soccer-specific stadium. The 22,000-seat venue is situated near downtown within walking distance of Minute Maid Park, the Toyota Center and the city's massive convention center.

SANTIAGO, Chile -Marcelo Bielsa resigned as Chile's national team coach on Friday, ending a three-month saga over his future. Bielsa stepped down at a news conference despite his overwhelming popularity in Chile and attempts by new Chilean football association president Sergio Jadue to persuade him to stay.

MILAN, Italy Inter defender Cristian Chivu has been handed a four-match ban after punching an opponent during Thursday's 3-0 victory over Bari. Chivu struck Bari's Marco Rossi in the second half but referee Andrea Romeo and his assistants missed the incident and no action was taken. After the matter was reviewed by the authorities, [.

SANTIAGO, Chile Santiago The popular Argentine coach of Chile's national football team, Marcelo Bielsa, will remain in his position, the Chilean football association said Wednesday. Bielsa missed a deadline to turn in a notice of resignation and his contract would remain in effect, said the association's president Sergio Jadue.

PARIS, France — Fifth division amateurs Chambery continued their dream French Cup run on Wednesday, a 2-1 victory over Sochaux seeing them progress into the quarter-finals. Sochaux became Chambery's third first division scalp after they had previously knocked out Monaco and Brest. It is the first time a club as lowly as the Savoyards has [.

TORONTO, Ont. TSN has acquired the broadcast rights for Major League Soccer previously held by CBC and Rogers Sportsnet, sources say. The public broadcaster and Sportsnet have been carrying Toronto FC games and league championship matches since the team was formed in 2007, but the national package has now been purchased by CTV/ TSN.

BERNE, Switzerland Europe's big-spending soccer clubs were warned on Tuesday that their recent frenzy of transfer activity could affect their ability to meet UEFA's new financial rules aimed at making them live within their means. The European governing body also repeated its determination to stamp out reckless spending one day after the end of [.

BERLIN- Munich — Bayern Munich winger Arjen Robben explained on Sunday the reason why he grabbed team-mate Thomas Mueller by the throat during a Bundesliga game as the pressure mounts on the defending champions. Bayern are up to third in the German league after Saturday's 3-1 away win at Werder Bremen, but are still 14 [.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa Veteran goalkeeper Muteba Kidiaba starred as Club World Cup runners-up TP Mazembe from the Democratic Republic of Congo collected a seventh African title Saturday. Kidiaba saved a shootout kick against FUS Rabat from Morocco in southern Congolese city Lubumbashi and then converted a penalty to give his team a 9-8 victory [.

ROME, Italy — AS Roma booked an Italian Cup semi-final against Inter Milan on Thursday after a 2-0 win at Juventus achieved with second-half goals from Montenegrin Mirko Vucinic and Rodrigo Taddei. Vucinic bagged the opener after 65 minutes after taking a pass from Daniele De Rossi in his stride and Taddei then produced an [.

ROME, Italy — Italian football badboy Antonio Cassano celebrated his return to his former club Sampdoria on Wednesday as his new team AC Milan ran out 2-1 winners in their Italian Cup quarter-final. Brazilian striker Pato struck twice Sampdoria's new signing Massimo Maccarone getting the hosts goal to give Cassano some revenge against [.

HAMBURG, Germany — Top German football club St Pauli has shown the red card to strippers performing inside a corporate box owned by one of Hamburg's many lap dance clubs but they can dance once matches are over. The Susis Show Bar on Hamburg's main red-light drag, the Reeperbahn, has installed a large mirror [.

NEW YORK, NY Manchester United legend Eric Cantona has made a shock return to football with the New York Cosmos. The Frenchman has joined as their director of soccer. "I am very honoured to join the legendary New York Cosmos. It's a big project, a wonderful project," Cantona told the Sun. "The Cosmos are [.

MOSCOW, Russia — Former Dutch international skipper Ruud Gullit was appointed on Tuesday coach of Russian Premier League club Terek Grozny, local media reported. The 48-year-old has previously coached English Premiership sides Chelsea and Newcastle United along with Dutch giants Feyenoord and MLS club Los Angeles Galaxy.

DOHA, Qatar — Saudi Arabia fired its second coach this month after closing out a disappointing Asian Cup campaign with a 5-0 loss to Japan. The Saudi Press Agency says Nassir al-Johar was fired and would be replaced by a "high profile" international coach. Al-Johar, who was brought in for his fifth stint with the [.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The king of Saudi Arabia has fired the country's football federation president following the national team's disappointing performance at the Asian Cup. A statement from King Abdullah's office on Saturday says Sultan bin Fahd bin Abdul-Aziz has been removed from his post and replaced by Prince Nawaf bin Faisal bin Fahd [.