England midfielder Conor Gallagher finally completed his move to Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, ending a weeks-long saga when issues arose to jeopardize his departure from Chelsea.

Chelsea wanted to sell Gallagher, an academy product and the team's vice-captain last season, to help the club meet the Premier League's financial requirements that are being more strictly applied in recent seasons.

For the first time in 12 years, Bayern Munich is not the defending champion going into a new Bundesliga season.

Bayer Leverkusen stayed undefeated last season to snap Bayern's 11-year reign as German champion and completed a domestic double by winning the German Cup to underscore its credentials as the country's best team.

Juventus made light work of Como on Monday with a 3-0 win on Thiago Motta's Serie A debut with the Turin giants, while Atalanta brushed aside transfer upheaval with a 4-0 thumping of Lecce.

After leading France's Olympic team to a silver medal at the Paris Games, Thierry Henry left his coaching job Monday, with the French soccer federation saying he had cited personal reasons for the departure.

The France great had a contract through the next season and was due to resume coaching the France under-21 team next month in its qualifying group for the 2025 European Championship.

Lionel Messi will not play in Argentina's next two World Cup qualifiers because of injury.

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni announced his 28-man squad on Monday for the matches against Chile on Sept. 5 and Colombia five days later.

Bayern Munich and Croatia defender Josip Stanišić will miss the start of the Bundesliga season because of a knee injury, the club said Tuesday.

Stanišić tore a ligament in his right knee during a practice session Monday and will be "sidelined for several weeks," Bayern said.

Pep Guardiola praised Manchester City's attitude to defy a disrupted pre-season and get their Premier League title defense off to a winning start by beating Chelsea 2-0 on Sunday.

Lebanese Muay Thai fighter Omar El Halabi won the Bangkok crowd despite losing to surging Thai star Kompet Fairtex at ONE Championship’s show ONE Friday Fights 75.

Liverpool manager Arne Slot revealed the club failed with a bid to bring in Spain midfielder Martín Zubimendi, as he played down concerns about the Reds being the only team in the Premier League to not sign a player this transfer window.

The Premier League rarely stands still.

For the 2024-25 season starting on Friday, there are five newly hired managers, around $1.6 billion worth of new players (and counting), new offside technology, updated financial regulations and a tweaked match schedule.