South American champions Chile have been handed a stadium ban for the third time in the 2018 World Cup qualifying competition because of homophobic chanting by their fans, FIFA said on Monday.

Juergen Klinsmann has been fired as head coach of the US men's national team in the wake of consecutive losses during the qualifying campaign for the 2018 World Cup.

FIFA's Ethics Committee on Wednesday called for Rafael Callejas to be banned from soccer for life, alleging the former president of the Honduran Football Association breached the scandal-hit soccer governing body's code of conduct.

Switzerland struck twice in quick succession to stun Euro 2016 champions Portugal 2-0 in a World Cup qualifier on Tuesday and hand them a first competitive defeat in two years under coach Fernando Santos.

Salvadorian businessman approached the players with financial inducements before they travelled to Canada for the match at the weekend.

El Salvador players claim they have been offered financial inducements to win, draw or avoid a heavy defeat in Tuesday's World Cup qualifier against Canada.

Neymar scored a brace, including the fastest goal in Olympic history, Gabriel Jesus got two more and Marquinhos and Luan added one each as Brazil swept past Honduras 6-0 into the final of the men's Olympic soccer tournament on Wednesday.

Rampant Germany hammered Portugal 4-0, with four players sharing the goals, to progress to the semi-finals of the Rio Games football tournament on Saturday.

After going two games without a goal and being booed off the field by their own fans, the Brazilian men's soccer team found their scoring touch at the Rio Olympics on Wednesday with a 4-0 win over Denmark that sealed their place in the next round.

Brazil failed to make a winning start despite home advantage, a multi-million dollar strike force and a man advantage as they were held 0-0 by South Africa in their opening soccer match at the Rio Olympics on Thursday.

Global health officials are racing to better understand the Zika virus behind a major outbreak that began in Brazil last year and has spread to many countries in the Americas.

Switzerland's Xherdan Shaqiri astonishing equalising goal against Poland in their Euro 2016 last-16 match brought back memories of great goals of the past from club and international football.

The Copa America was played as a 12-team tournament from 1993 when the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) invited two teams from CONCACAF, the North and Central America and Caribbean region, to join in.

Poland forward Robert Lewandowski and Switzerland's Xherdan Shaqiri, who have yet to shine at Euro 2016, will have another chance to brighten up the tournament when their teams clash in St Etienne in the last 16 on Saturday.

Centenary Copa America officials say homophobic chanting at international matches "must stop" but they have opted not to take action against offending teams.

Lionel Messi trained alongside his Argentina team-mates at the Copa America Centenario as he targets a return from injury in his team's second Group D game against Panama. Messi, who has been nursing a sore back after sustaining an injury in a friendly against Honduras last month, has trained separately under the supervision of team medical staff since arriving in the United States. However the 28-year-old Barcelona superstar took part in a full training session on Wednesday at the University of Illinois campus, two days after sitting out Argentina's opening 2-1 victory over Chile in Santa Clara on Monday.

Argentina's Lionel Messi has unfinished business going into the Centenary Copa America that is being staged in the United States with the Barcelona star keen to help his nation capture a first major title in 23 years.

Barcelona's five-time soccer World Player of the Year Lionel Messi went on trial on Tuesday along with his father on accusations of defrauding the Spanish state of millions of euros (dollars).

More than 100 medical experts, academia and scientists on Friday have called for the Rio Olympic Games to be postponed or moved because of fears that the event could speed up the spread of the Zika virus around the world. Their assessment counters the view of some leading experts of infectious disease who say that as long as the necessary precautions are taken there is no reason to cancel the Games. On Thursday, Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, declared there was no public health reason to cancel or delay this summer's Games. In a public letter posted online, the group of 150 leading public health experts, many of them bioethicists, said the risk of infection from the Zika virus is too high. The letter was sent to Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization, and urged that the Games, due to be held in Rio de Janeiro in August, be moved to another location or delayed.

Argentina had a scare when Lionel Messi had to be substituted after incurring a back injury during a 1-0 win over rugged Honduras in a Copa America Centenario warm-up friendly on Friday. Messi walked off in pain in the 64th minute in San Juan after a clash with Honduras substitute Oliver Morazan 10 days before Argentina's opening Group D match against Chile. The team later dispelled fears of a serious injury, saying on their Twitter account that Messi had "suffered bruising on the left of his lower back and ribs." Gonzalo Higuain scored the only goal for Argentina. In other warm-up matches for the June 3-26 tournament in the United States, Edinson Cavani struck twice as Uruguay overcame Trinidad and Tobago 3-1 and title holders Chile were upset 2-1 by Jamaica.

Former Honduran President Rafael Callejas pleaded guilty on Monday to U.S. charges that he participated in bribery schemes that are under investigation at soccer's world governing body FIFA.

The spread of the Zika virus in Brazil needs to be monitored but is not a threat to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Germany's chief Olympic doctor said.

Pregnant women should avoid traveling to countries at risk of mosquito-borne Zika virus transmission, which is strongly suspected of causing microcephaly, said Indian Medical Association.

The Zika virus, an alarming and disturbing infection that may be linked to thousands of babies being born with underdeveloped brains, is spreading through the Americas. But what is the virus, how is it spread and how can people minimise the chances of catching it?

Two football bosses including a former president of Honduras pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to US charges they took bribes in exchange for media and marketing contracts in a scandal that has rocked the business of global football.

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Rafael Callejas, the former president of Honduras, on Monday flew to the United States where he has been indicted for alleged links to a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme at the world soccer governing body FIFA.

Honduras national team midfielder Arnold Peralta was shot to death in a shopping mall parking lot in his hometown of La Ceiba on the country's Caribbean coast, police said. The country is plagued by gang violence and has one of the highest murder rates in the world.

The United States Soccer Federation said in a statement on the new charges that its hosting of the 2016 Copa America Centenario tournament would go ahead as planned.

Switzerland's Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) named the men as Alfredo Hawit of Honduras, acting president of the CONCACAF federation and a FIFA vice-president, and Juan Angel Napout of Paraguay, head of the South American football federation CONMEBOL. CONCACAF administers football in North and Central America and the Caribbean.

An inspired performance from Douglas Costa helped Brazil to a 3-0 win over Peru on Tuesday and lifted them into third place in the South American qualifying group for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

CONCACAF big guns Mexico, the United States and Costa Rica all got off to winning starts on Friday in their qualifying campaign for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

The president of a top Honduras football club and two family members were charged by US authorities on Wednesday with engineering a decade-long scheme to launder drug trafficking and foreign bribery proceeds through US accounts.

United States President Barack Obama has determined India and its three neighbours, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Myanmar, among a list of 22 nations that are major illicit drug producing or transit countries.

Germany was the fourth best place for older people to live.

Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero struck two goals apiece in Argentina's 7-0 romp against an out-of-sorts Bolivia while Mexico were held 3-3 by Trinidad & Tobago in friendlies in the United States on Friday.

Stoke City signed Swiss international winger Xherdan Shaqiri from Inter Milan for a club record 12 million pounds on Tuesday, the Premier League club said on their website.

The United States recovered from a poor first half and earned a 1-1 draw against Panama on Monday that kept the Central Americans from clinching an automatic spot in the CONCACAF Gold Cup quarter-finals.

The United States secured a quarter-final spot in the CONCACAF Gold Cup when they beat Haiti 1-0 on Friday, while Panama and Honduras drew 1-1 in the other Group A match in Massachusetts.

Mexico striker Javier Hernandez had surgery on a fractured collarbone and will be out for four weeks missing the Gold Cup, the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) said.