Game balls for World Cup matches have become stars in their own right during the tournament.

Forecasters say the hottest World Cup tournament match so far this year could hit Saturday afternoon, during the knockout round game between France and Paraguay in Philadelphia.

Kylian Mbappé put France ahead with a brilliant crossover step in the 45th minute and added a second-half goal to break a World Cup knockout round scoring record, and Les Bleus beat Sweden 3-0 to set up a round of 16 match against Paraguay.

France forward Kylian Mbappé scored his 17th and 18th goals at the World Cup, moving one behind Lionel Messi on the tournament’s all-time list and tying him with the Argentina great in the race for the Golden Boot at this year's tournament with six apiece.

Brian Brobbey scored his third goal of the World Cup, and the Netherlands got a pair of goals that deflected off Tunisia and into its own net in a 3-1 victory that gave the Dutch the top spot in Group F.

Daizen Maeda gave Japan the lead and Anthony Elanga took it away six minutes later, giving Sweden a 1-1 draw that sent both teams to the knockout round of the World Cup.

The United States returns to the pitch for its final World Cup group-stage game with some decisions to make.

Brian Brobbey and Cody Gakpo scored two goals apiece to power Netherlands to a 5-1 win over Sweden on Saturday in the World Cup to bounce back after a disappointing draw in its opener and move atop the Group F standings.

While many of the World Cup’s competing nations are wracked by social divisions, some of the teams offer strikingly positive examples of how players from different backgrounds and religious faiths can cooperate.

Hervé Renard has taken over as Tunisia's head coach, replacing Sabri Lamouchi after a heavy loss to Sweden.

Singer Bonnie Tyler is no longer in a coma but remains in intensive care after being hospitalized.

Yasin Ayari scored twice and Sweden showed it belonged at the 2026 World Cup, pounding Tunisia 5-1 to move atop Group F.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel this week to a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Sweden, where U.S. plans to reduce troop levels in Europe coupled with President Donald Trump’s often inconsistent stance on the alliance have created concern.

Can three-time World Cup runner-up the Netherlands finally win soccer’s greatest prize.

The 48-team field for FIFA's biggest ever World Cup is complete after a qualifying process that spanned more than two and a half years.

One of soccer’s historic powers has reached a once-unfathomable low.

Italy finally won a match in the World Cup playoffs.

Ludvig Aberg went from being in control at The Players Championship to a collapse.

Canada’s controversial men’s team will have the curling power’s last chance at Olympic gold at the Milan Cortina Games.

Slovakia is back in the men's hockey semifinals at the Olympics in Milan four years after the small central European country won its first medal in the sport with bronze in Beijing.

The U.S. and Canada are moving on to the semifinals at the Olympics.

Defending champion Sweden has been eliminated from semifinal contention in the men’s curling competition at the Winter Olympics with two matches to spare after what skip Niklas Edin described as a “horrible week.”.

Sweden has an incredibly difficult path through the Olympic men's hockey tournament.

It’s finally here, the chance to see Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and Sidney Crosby team up for Canada and Jack Eichel and Auston Matthews play on the same U.S. team at the Olympics.

Mikaela Shiffrin has earned a place on the podium of a World Cup giant slalom for the first time in two years.

Casper Juustovaara and Viktor Eklund scored first-period goals and Sweden won its third world junior hockey title, beating Czechia 4-2 on Monday night in St. Paul, Minnesota, in the first all-European final since 2016.

Tomas Poletin scored on a deflection off his skate with 1:14 left and Czechia beat Canada 6-4 on Sunday night to advance to face Sweden in the first all-European world junior hockey final since 2016.

Arttu Valola scored at 2:11 of overtime and Finland stunned the two-time defending champion United States 4-3 on Friday night in the world junior hockey quarterfinals.

The U.S. unveiled its roster for the upcoming Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, with the vast majority of it comprised of players who took part in the 4 Nations Face-Off early last year.

Swiss singer Nemo, who won the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest, has decided to return the winners' trophy.

Italy will first host Northern Ireland in a World Cup qualifying playoff in March but then would go on the road to reach its first tournament after back-to-back failures at this stage.

Brooke Henderson and Wei-Ling Hsu beat Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom and Ingrid Lindblad 4 and 3 to qualify the World team for the International Crown semifinals.

Graham Potter has been hired as the coach of Sweden’s national soccer team.

Louisiana-born Armand “Mondo” Duplantis needed motivation to learn — in his case — Swedish.

One of Sweden’s most beloved wooden churches is being moved as part of the relocation of the town of Kiruna.

NATO has started coordinating regular deliveries of large weapons packages to Ukraine, most bought from the U.S. Sweden said Tuesday that it would work with neighbors Denmark and Norway to provide $500 million worth of air defenses, anti-tank weapons, ammunition and spare parts.

Defending champion England has beaten Sweden on penalties to reach the Women’s European Championship semifinals.

Maja Stark of Sweden continued the steady play she demonstrated all week to win the U.S. Women’s Open on Sunday at Erin Hills for her first major championship.

Maja Stark shot a 2-under 70 and avoided the mistakes that befell other contenders Saturday to take a one-stroke lead into the final round of the U.S. Women’s Open at Erin Hills.

Indianapolis 500 runner-up Marcus Ericsson was penalized to the rear of the 33-car field along with Andretti Global teammate Kyle Kirkwood on Monday.

Sweden-based Volvo Cars is eliminating 3,000 positions as part of a cost-cutting program as the automotive industry faces challenges from trade tensions and economic uncertainty.

Tage Thompson scored at 2:02 of overtime to the give the United States a 1-0 victory over Switzerland on Sunday for its second world hockey championship and first since 1933.

Nick Olesen scored with 49 seconds left and Denmark stunned Canada 2-1 at the ice hockey world championship to advance to the semifinals.

Acts from more than two dozen countries will take the stage in Basel, Switzerland, to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Tesla sales plunged by more than half last month in several European countries in a sign that Elon Musk could struggle to revive the company after he shifts from his Washington work to running the automaker again.

The 69th Eurovision Song Contest is taking place in May in Basel, Switzerland.

The United States downed defending champion Canada 2-1 at the women’s hockey world championship in a matchup of the game’s global powers.

Canada defenseman Shea Theodore is out for the rest of the 4 Nations Face-Off because of injury.

Salim Karim Iskef managed to video-call his fiancée to tell her he loved her one last time.

Swedish police say the shooter who killed 10 people in the country’s worst mass shooting was connected to the adult education center where he opened fire with at least one rifle-like weapon.

Witnesses who survived Sweden’s worst mass shooting have described horror and panic that gripped an adult education center west of Stockholm as the gunman killed at least 10 people.

Sweden’s worst mass shooting has left at least 11 people dead including the gunman and five seriously wounded at an adult education center.

The U.

The Netherlands will join the next Eurovision Song Contest in Switzerland.

The Swiss city of Basel will host next year’s Eurovision Song Contest from May 13 to 17.

Armand Duplantis has broken the world record in the pole vault again.

Charley Hull rolled in a 6-foot putt on No. 18 for the last of her six birdies to shoot 5-under 67 and take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Women's British Open.

The World Health Organization has declared the ongoing outbreaks of mpox in Congo and elsewhere in Africa to be a global emergency, requiring urgent action to curb the virus’ transmission.

Some of Britain’s top tennis players are avoiding election talk like double-faults at Wimbledon.

The Detroit Red Wings selected forward Michael Brandsegg-Nygård with the No. 15 pick of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft at Sphere in Las Vegas.

Linnea Strom shot a tournament-record 11-under 60 on Sunday to overcome a seven-stroke deficit and win the ShopRite LPGA Classic by a shot for her first LPGA Tour title.

Sweden’s defense chief has expressed alarm over Beijing’s repeated dangerous maneuvers against Philippine vessels in the disputed South China Sea, saying such actions threaten local and global security, undermine regional stability and underscore the need to invest “for our security and freedom.”.

Members of ABBA, the Swedish pop quartet that triumphed at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, will receive one of the most prestigious knighthoods in Sweden.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is pushing back against some NATO proposals that would allow Ukraine to use Western weapons to strike targets within Russia.

David Pastrnak and David Kampf scored as the Czech Republic shut out Switzerland 2-0 to win the ice hockey world championship.

The Czech Republic has produced a three-goal second period while beating Sweden 7-3 to advance to the final of the ice hockey world championship for the first time since 2010.

Hungary's prime minister says that he will seek to opt his country out of any NATO operations aimed at supporting Ukraine.

Former Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson and rookie Linus Lundqvist were involved in separate crashes during a busy day of practice.

Swiss singer Nemo has won the 68th Eurovision Song Contest with “The Code,” an operatic ode to the singer’s journey toward embracing a nongender identity.

Acts from more than two dozen countries will take the stage in Malmo, Sweden, to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Eden Golan is in Sweden for the Eurovision Song Contest.

No matter whether Nemo wins the Eurovision Song Contest this weekend — which would make them the first nonbinary contestant to take home the crystal microphone — the Swiss singer is already a success.

An English study into the causes of ACL injuries to women soccer players has been launched.

Argentina has requested to join NATO as a global partner, a status that would clear the way for greater political and security cooperation at a time when the right-wing government of President Javier Milei aims to boost ties with Western powers and attract investment.

A shortage of eggs in shops during Holy Week has led Norwegians to flock to supermarkets across the border in Sweden and hoard the traditional Easter food.

Catch up on what's happened in the world of international soccer since the Tokyo Olympics.

U.S. senators have declined to block the sale of F-16s to Turkey.

Denmark has joined Sweden in closing its investigation into the 2022 explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says delays in weapons deliveries from Western allies are opening a door for Russian battlefield advances.

Astronauts from Turkey, Italy and Sweden are back on Earth, ending a private three-week trip to the International Space Station.

Swedish officials say they have decided to close their investigation into the September 2022 explosions on the underwater Nord Stream gas pipelines, which were built to carry Russian natural gas to Germany, because they don’t have jurisdiction.

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers are urging Hungary to immediately ratify Sweden’s application to join NATO.

The Biden administration has approved the sale of F-16 fighters jets to Turkey following the Turkish government's ratification this week of Sweden's membership in NATO.

Turkish legislators have endorsed Sweden’s membership in NATO, lifting a major hurdle on the previously nonaligned country’s entry into the military alliance.

The United States will face host Sweden for gold at the IIHF world junior championship.

The U.S. has advanced to the semifinals of hockey's world junior championship after routing Latvia 7-2.

Sweden edged closer toward joining NATO after the Turkish Parliament’s foreign affairs committee greenlighted a protocol for the Nordic country’s membership in the military alliance.

Sebastian Siemiatkowski is a co-founder and CEO of Klarna, the Sweden-based company that’s one of the world’s biggest providers of buy now, pay later services to customers.

Women’s World Cup winner Spain has risen atop the FIFA rankings after advancing to the final four of the UEFA Nations League.

The conflict against Tesla in Sweden is spreading to neighboring Denmark.

Ludvig Aberg capped off a six months he won't forget.

The Hungarian parliament has refused a proposal to hold a vote on Sweden’s bid to join NATO, further delaying the Nordic country’s inclusion in the military alliance.

The office of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he has submitted a protocol for Sweden’s admission into NATO to Turkey’s parliament for ratification.

UEFA says the result of the European Championship qualifier between Belgium and Sweden will stand after the match was stopped this week when two Swedish fans were killed before kickoff.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is pressing Turkey to quickly ratify Sweden’s membership in the military organization.

The Nobel Foundation has decided to raise the award amount for this year’s Nobel Prizes by 1 million kronor ($90,000) to 11 million kronor ($986,270) as the Swedish currency has plummeted recently.

Women’s World Cup winner Spain rose to No. 2 in the newly published FIFA rankings with the United States falling off the top spot for the first time in more than six years.

Sophia Smith wasted little time in her return from the Women’s World Cup, scoring the go-ahead goal one minute after taking the pitch as a second-half substitute in Portland’s 2-1 victory over North Carolina in Portland, Oregon.

Salma Paralluelo could have been preparing for next year’s Olympics if she’d decided to stick with her track career.

Australia already captivated a nation as co-hosts of the Women’s World Cup.