Austria on Monday reimposed frontier controls as part of a major security operation for the European football championships which start this week.
About 2,000 Austrian police and 143 foreign police were to carry out border checks until July 1, Interior Minister Gunther Platter said.
Austria is part of the Schengen zone in Europe which allows passport free travel between European Union members of the scheme. But the rules allow for restrictions to be reimposed for special events.
We want checks to be as fluid as possible, while stopping troublemakers, said the minister who added that authorities would also seek to prevent clandestine migrants creeping through.
Austria expects up to one million visitors for the tournament which starts June 7. Euro 2008…
Serge Gnabry has joined Hoffenheim on a one-year loan deal from Bayern Munich, the Bundesliga champions have confirmed.
The former Arsenal winger, who turned 22 on Friday, joined Bayern from Werder Bremen last month for a fee believed to be in the region of €8million.
However, he will spend the first season of a three-year deal on loan at Hoffenheim, who are set to make their Champions League debut this term.
Gnabry impressed as part of Germany s victorious team at the European Under-21 Championship and his arrival offsets Hoffenheim s loss of Niklas Sule and Sebastian Rudy, both of whom begin their Bayern careers this season after securing moves back in January.
It was the explicit request from Serge to be loaned out for a year so he could get more ex…
Ilkay Gundogan said helping Barcelona financially made his departure from the club easier to swallow after he sealed a return to Manchester City on Friday.
Gundogan joined Barca last year after enjoying seven trophy-laden campaigns with City, winning 14 pieces of silverware during his time at the Etihad Stadium, including captaining the side to a Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup treble in 2022-23.
The midfielder made 51 appearances in his single season with the Catalan giants – more than any of his team-mates, scoring five goals and adding 14 assists in all competitions.
He also created more than twice as many chances (132) as any other Barcelona player, with Raphinha a distant second by that metric with 53.
Ninety-seven of those chances were…
Russia coach Guus Hiddink got the result he wanted to become a traitor in his native Holland after his team s 3-1 quarter-final win after extra-time dumped the Dutch out of Euro 2008.
The 61-year-old former Netherlands coach had said he would be happy to be a Dutch traitor if his Russian team beat his countrymen and two goals in extra time broke Dutch hearts on Saturday.
Real Madrid striker Ruud van Nistelrooy had headed home an 86th minute equaliser to give the Dutch a life-line and take him alongside Johan Cruyff on 33 goals for the national side but super sub Dmitri Torbinsky grabbed a second in the 112th minute, before Andrei Arshavin settled it with a third on 116 minutes.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, this is the first time Russia have made th…
Axel Witsel wants Belgium to emulate the success in Russia four years ago as the Red Devils aim for World Cup glory in what could be the last tournament for their Golden Generation .
A team boasting the likes of Thibaut Courtois, Toby Alderweireld, Witsel, Kevin de Bruyne, Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku has been present for the past decade, significantly improving their fortunes.
Belgium reached the quarter-finals at Brazil 2014 and finished third four years later in Russia – a marked improvement after only passing the last-16 stage once in their first nine appearances (fourth in 1986).
Roberto Martinez s side lost to eventual champions France in Russia and Witsel hopes to recreate the 2018 showing, as the tournament in Qatar presents the last chance for many of…
Australia goalkeeper Mat Ryan wants to exorcise his country s demons from the 2011 Asian Cup final when they take on South Korea in Sydney.
Mat Ryan still remembers vividly watching from his lounge room as Australia fell just short against Japan in the Asian Cup final in 2011.
He rode every challenge, every shot and felt the pain of defeat when Tadanari Lee s late volley gave the Japanese a 1-0 extra time win.
Never did Ryan think he could be in that very position but just four years on the in-form gloveman is now between the sticks for Australia and has played a huge part in why they are back in an Asian Cup decider.
South Korea in front of a full house at ANZ Stadium now stand between Australia and redemption.
It is a bit surreal, sometimes I g…
The touchdown market has become one of the most popular and potentially profitable props in the NFL betting world. Each week, we’re going to throw down four to five units as we try to uncover some of the best weekly NFL TD props and dig into the matchups that surround them.
Week 10 has us looking at a fringe tight end touchdown that is mispriced, a pair of rushing TDs that also offer great value and a Tampa Bay receiver TD prop that will likely drop in price as injury news rolls out.
Without further ado:
…
An NFL betting mantra you’ll hear, year-in and year-out, is “Don’t overreact to Week 1.” While that’s certainly advice bettors should adhere to, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t react at all to what happened in the opening week of the season.
I combined my preseason notions of every NFL team with their Week 1 efforts to come up with my best NFL parlay picks for Week 2.
…
A new NFL season and another year of NFL Underdogs picks brings with them some “first day of school” jitters.
I’ll be honest, even after almost two decades of breaking down the NFL odds for Covers.com, I still get nervous when it comes to Week 1.
Along with sweating my hard-earned coin on my weekly free NFL picks, I feel added pressure to prove to readers old and new that I know what I’m talking about. Much like the first day of school, you want to make a good impression in Week 1.
The 2023 NFL season, however, hits a little different than past Septembers.
The rapid growth of sports betting has brought with it more and more media types peddling picks and predictions, clogging up the hallways with deafening noise and overwh…
Week 11 odds in the NFL feature an NFC North clash between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns. NFL odds for this matchup have the Browns as 1-point home favorites, but the real eye-opener is an Over/Under which sits at just 32.5, one of the lowest totals in recent NFL betting history.
That number is even more shocking when you consider that the majority of games even close to this total had extreme weather, and this should be a relatively mild afternoon in Cleveland. With that said, here are my best free NFL picks for Steelers vs. Browns on November 19.
Steelers vs Browns odds
Steelers vs Browns predictions
To say the Pittsburgh Steelers offense is pathetic would be an understatement. This is a …