Soccer

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Weighing in on the effectiveness of soccer’s video review, a Spanish court has deemed that VAR officials created gross errors during games last season through their partial selection of images for the referee to view.

ROME (AP) — Roma coach Jose Mourinho escaped a touchline ban after cooperating with the Italian soccer federation’s disciplinary prosecutor and was instead only fined 20,000 euros ($22,000) on Friday for labeling a referee unstable.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The former president of a Turkish soccer team who punched a referee on the field moments after a game has been permanently banned by the Turkish Football Federation.

Bayer Leverkusen completed the Europa League group stage with a 5-1 rout of Norwegian club Molde on Thursday to remain unbeaten across all competitions this season.

Forge FC coach Bobby Smyrniotis has one thought when it comes to hosting Mexico's Chivas Guadalajara in February at Hamilton's Tim Hortons Field. "To be honest, the colder the better," he said cheerfully.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Female soccer fans in Iran claimed a small win Thursday in their long campaign to be allowed into stadiums to watch men’s games after decades of near total exclusion and harassment.

Valour FC selected University of Cape Breton winger Owen Sheppard first overall in Thursday's CPL-U Sports draft. Sheppard, a native of St. John's, becomes the first player drafted from Newfoundland by a CPL team.

Jonathan David, Alphonso Davies and Stephen Eustaquio are the men's finalists for Canada Soccer Player of the Year. Jessie Fleming, Cloe Lacasse and Ashley Lawrence are the contenders for top female honours.

Toronto FC has traded the first overall pick in Stage 1 of the league's re-entry process to Austin FC for Austin’s No. 5 position plus a third-round pick in next week's MLS SuperDraft.

LONDON (AP) — Rebecca Welch will become the first female referee in the Premier League when she takes charge of the match between Fulham and Burnley on Dec. 23, the competition said Thursday.