Football shorts: Beckham chasing hat-trick

Former England captain could become only the second British player to win league titles in three different countries

League One round-up

Classy Leeds United lead the way as they go six points clear with a game in hand after defeating Brighton

League Two round-up

Bournemouth make a return to the top of the table as Brett Pitman strikes to ensure victory over Macclesfield

Championship focus

Reading finally get their first home league win, while Middlesbrough still wait for a first win under Gordon Strachan

West Brom climb back to Championship summit

West Bromwich 4 Bristol City 1: WBA send out an ominous warning to the rest of the promotion challengers at the Hawthorns

Referee: ‘I can 100% say it wasn’t handball’

Kevin Kilbane believes that the responsibility for Ireland's loss to France can be laid at the door of the officials

Henry: France's fallen idol

When he called for a replay of the match with Ireland, the former Arsenal striker knew that it was never likely to happen

Premier League - live!

Chelsea hammered four past Wolves, and Manchester United beat Everton 3-0. Follow the action live

Sam Allardyce to undergo angioplasty

Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce will miss the next three Premier League games as he is to undergo an angioplasty

France rejects idea of Ireland rematch

Governing body closes door on play-off replay despite France striker Thierry Henry saying new match would be 'fairest solution'

Smith rules himself out of Scotland job

Rangers manager does not want to return to international arena, leaving Craig Levein as favourite to succeed Craig Burley

Kneejerk reactions to mode of defeat shameful

For Irish to react to an unlucky defeat by falsely accusing it is to make a bad situation worse and sets bad example to children

Police in UK join ‘match-fixing’ probe

Seventeen people have been arrested in Germany and Switzerland as part of an investigation into a match-fixing scandal

Henry admits shame but apology falls short

France striker says a replay against Ireland would be the fairest solution — and gets support from Arsene Wenger, his former manager

Samaras savours role in Greece triumph

The striker has put on hold any celebration for reaching the World Cup because he wants to target success with Celtic

Egypt erupts after World Cup football defeat

Angry sports fans have burned Algerian flags and bombarded the embassy after the country dashed Egypt's World Cup hopes

Kakuta could be in line for Chelsea debut

Carlo Ancelotti confirms 18-year-old Frenchman — whose move sparked transfer embargo — will be on bench for Wolves match

Referees are the key to home advantage

The amount of bias shown by individual referees changes as the size of the crowd changes, according to Fink Tank research

Hughes sees chance for City to hit Liverpool

The Manchester City manager travels to Anfield for Saturday’s match with the chance to strengthen his team’s claims for a top-four place

Beckham: ‘I will carry on even if we win World Cup’

England midfield player says that success in South Africa will not dim his desire to commit himself to the national cause

‘We've put man on Moon but can’t get this right’

The football world gives its reaction to the handball by Thierry Henry including some backing from an unlikely source

Keane points finger of blame at Ireland

Former Ireland captain turns on FAI and national team, not for the first time, saying they do not deserve World Cup play-off replay

Beckham enjoying walk on wild side in LA

The England midfield player has led the LA Galaxy to the MLS Cup final on Sunday and says that he has a happy home life

Ferguson blames referee for defeat at Chelsea

Sir Alex Ferguson has risked another row over officials by accusing Martin Atkinson of potentially costing United the title

England hopeful of seeding for World Cup

Fabio Capello's side seem certain to be named among top seeds after Fifa confirmed it would use rankings from October