In a small ground-floor office suite in London's affluent Mayfair district, FIFA's control over world football was eroded with a handshake and low-key unveiling.

The deeper alliance between the two most powerful football confederations from Europe and South America — by opening a joint office — comes just as FIFA President Gianni Infantino has been left chastened by the collapse of his pursuit of biennial World Cups.

With north London rivals Tottenham and Arsenal neck and neck, the fight for Champions League qualification looks like being as hard fought as the title race in the English Premier League.

Tottenham's superior attacking power might yet prove decisive in the final stretch.

Inter Milan halted its poor run of form in the best possible way by beating fierce rival Juventus 1-0 to boost its Serie A title chances and hinder its opponent's own hopes on Sunday.

Hakan Çalhanoğlu converted a penalty at the second time of asking in first-half stoppage time. Defending champion Inter moved to within three points of leaders AC Milan and Napoli, which won at Atalanta 3-1 earlier.

With a statement win against Sevilla, Barcelona showed it wasn't giving up yet in the fight for the Spanish league.

Barcelona's revamped team under coach Xavi Hernández kept its momentum and moved into second place for the first time this season after beating Sevilla 1-0 at home on Sunday.

Diego Simeone was working in Argentina in the early years of his coaching career when he requested to attend some training sessions at Barcelona, led at the time by Pep Guardiola.

Barcelona was the pre-eminent club in world soccer, revolutionising the game between 2008-12 with its "tiki-taka" passing style favored by Guardiola and mastered by the likes of Andrés Iniesta and Xavi Hernández.

Bruno Fernandes signed a contract extension to stay at Manchester United through at least the 2025-26 season, the Premier League club said Friday.

The new deal adds only one season to the long-term contract Fernandes signed when he arrived from Sporting Lisbon in January 2020 but includes an option for an additional year. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Liverpool right back Trent Alexander-Arnold has recovered quickly from a hamstring injury and could play Saturday against Watford.

The England international's return is a big boost for Liverpool ahead of a Champions League quarterfinal match at Benfica on Tuesday and a Premier League showdown with Manchester City the following Sunday.

Coaches and soccer officials are gathering in Qatar for Friday's draw for the Middle East's first World Cup.

There will be 37 nations involved in the draw ceremony but five teams will ultimately not reach the tournament, which begins on Nov. 21.

The appearance by video of the head of Ukrainian soccer, wearing an armored vest from the streets of Kyiv, has brought the impact of Russia's war into the FIFA Congress.

"We have regularly received sad news of the deaths of members of the Ukrainian football community," Andriy Pavelko said in a recorded message to the gathering in Qatar including delegates from Russia.

A dozen years of defending Qatar's suitability to host the World Cup can leave Hassan Al-Thawadi exasperated at the enduring glare of scrutiny and the accusatory, rather than celebratory, tone.

At times, Al-Thawadi can seem to be the face — even leader — of this Persian Gulf nation given his prominence. As head of the bid, and now general secretary of the organizing committee, Al-Thawadi has rights groups, protesting football federations and fans worldwide to answer to.