FIFA Soccer World Cup News

MANCHESTER CITY'S players have been told a new manager will be in place to coincide with their return from next week's post-season tour of the USA.

Michael Owen called time on his career today but there was to be no fairy-tale ending, as Stoke were held to a 1-1 draw at Southampton.

David Beckham's titles in England, USA, Spain and now France mean little to former England winger Chris Waddle, who says the retiring football pin-up wouldn't make a list of the top 1000 Premier League players of the last 40 years.

For Paul Little, the day that Liverpool signed Paul Konchesky was the day that represented just how far the Reds had fallen.

It really didn't matter how many times A England choked - as long as Beckham was there, they remained a major draw on the international stage It is a sad, damning indictment of the footballers of his generation that we celebrate David Beckham for qualities which should be taken for granted.

Brazil's military prepares for a massive undertaking ahead of FIFA soccer games next month.

MALMO, Sweden Denmark's Emmelie de Forest has won this year's Eurovision Song Contest with her ethno-inspired flute and drum tune "Only Teardrops," despite tough competition from spectacular stage shows by performers from Azerbaijan and Ukraine.

David Beckham hugged his teammates with tears in his eyes, then walked off the pitch to a standing ovation -- for the last time in front of a home crowd at a soccer game.

The 38-year-old former England captain leaves the field in tears after helping his team to victory in Paris.

British superstar David Beckham is more than a brand - he's actually a pretty good footballer.

The defender is out of contract at the end of this season but wants to stay on and play under Sir Alex Ferguson's successor, David Moyes.

Prior to last year, Eddie Johnson had been left off of the US national team roster for more than two years, but now the Sounders forward has become a regular on Jurgen Klinsmann's squads.

When he got there, he bent down and kissed the grass. All around him, there was ticker-tape. At long last, Madrid's longest drought in half a century was over: they had won the league title, their first trophy in four years.

David Beckham could return to the United States as owner of a new club and his advisors have already held talks with Major League Soccer.

Yet that will be the reality from Sunday when British football's most successful manager walks away after his 1,500th and final match in charge of Manchester United.

German defender Christoph Metzelder also announced it was time to call it quits at the end of the current season, bringing the curtain down on an exciting career which was blighted by injury.

Veteran striker Didier Drogba was again left out of the Ivory Coast squad when coach Sabri Lamouchi unveiled his 26 players for next month's World Cup qualifiers against Gambia and Tanzania.

Reaction to David Beckham's decision to retire from football at the end of the season, which he announced Thursday: "David Beckham, one of the most iconic figures in global football is retiring from playing.

19, 2012 file photo, Los Angeles Galaxy's David Beckham fixes his tie during a news conference in Los Angeles.

David Beckham was not quite the outstanding British footballer of his generation.