Mainz part company with head coach Schmidt

Bayern Munich have signed Serdar Tasci from Spartak Moscow on loan until the end of the season, with an option to make the move permanent come June.

The Bundesliga leaders were in the market for defensive reinforcements after losing Jerome Boateng to injury, with the Germany international potentially out of action for three months due to an adductor problem.

Bayern chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge stated at the weekend they were unlikely to bring in a new defender, but an apparent change of heart has resulted in Tasci s arrival at the Allianz Arena.

We are delighted that we got the opportunity to sign a player like Serdar for Bayern, sporting director Matthias Sammer told the club s official website. 

He is capable of moving us forward with his…

Gareth Bale has been named as Wales player of the year for a record fifth time.

The Real Madrid star has collected the award in five of the last six years, with the anomaly coming in 2012 when Liverpool midfielder Joe Allen took the prize.

Bale s has excelled during qualification for Euro 2016, scoring six goals to bring Wales to the brink of reaching their first major international tournament since the 1958 World Cup.

Chris Coleman s team need a point from their remaining Group B matches against Bosnia-Herzegovina and minnows Andorra to be sure of a spot in France next June.

Bale swept the board at the Football Association of Wales ceremony in Cardiff, also triumphing in the fans and players player-of-the-year categories.

Look at the last year …

World football s governing body FIFA on Tuesday gave Iraqi football chiefs a one year deadline to settle their differences after July s elections to the Iraqi Football Association fell into disarray.

FIFA lifted its suspension on the IFA on March 19 after a solution was reportedly found to a spat over alleged government interference.

But about a week before a new IFA election was due to take place, soldiers sought to arrest contested association chief Hussein Said and three other senior officials on corruption charges.

Two rival general assemblies were then held in the Iraqi capital Baghdad and in the northern city of Erbil on July 24, prompting the IFA to postpone elections of a new executive committee.

Under these circumstances, the case was referred …

Bayern Munich head coach Julian Nagelsmann believes Jude Bellingham should have been sent off in the 2-2 Der Klassiker draw against Borussia Dortmund.

Nagelsmann s side went into a two-goal lead after strikes from Leon Goretzka and Leroy Sane, but a late comeback changed the course of the game, with Youssoufa Moukoko and a last-minute Anthony Modeste header levelling for the hosts.

The game could have been different, however, had Bellingham been shown a red card for a challenge on Alphonso Davies that left the Bayern defender with a suspected concussion.

Bellingham was not booked for the foul, where a high boot struck the head of the Canada international, and Nagelsmann believes the wrong action was taken – where a yellow would have been his second of the game,…

Edin Terzic applauded his Borussia Dortmund players for their wild comeback which brought about a dramatic 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich in Saturday s Klassiker.

Head coach Terzic saw his side fall two goals behind after Leon Goretzka and Leroy Sane both struck from long range.

He later suggested other teams would have folded at that point and crumpled to a heavy defeat, so Dortmund s resilience and refusal to buckle brought cause for celebration.

Youssoufa Moukoko narrowed the deficit in the 74th minute, and Anthony Modeste equalised in the fifth minute of stoppage time when he headed in Nico Schlotterbeck s cross.

The scenes of delirium inside Signal Iduna Park told their own story, with Dortmund halting a run of eight consecutive defeats to their great r…

Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale is ready to leave Arsenal in the summer transfer window, according to . The report has claimed that Ramsdale is not happy playing second fiddle to David Raya and has decided to move on at the end of the season.

HITC has reported that Ramsdale’s representatives are aware of potential interest in the goalkeeper, who started the season as the number one at Arsenal and is now behind Raya in the pecking order. Arsenal signed the Spain international goalkeeper on a loan deal from London and Premier League rivals Brentford. It will be made permanent at the end of the season. Ramsdale has made 152 appearances in the Premier League so far in his career. He has kept 38 clean sheets and has provided one assist.

Arsenal are third in the Premier L…

Casemiro’s late winner kept Manchester United in with a chance of ending a disappointing season with silverware as Erik ten Hag’s men edged past Nottingham Forest to set up an FA Cup quarter-final clash with Liverpool.

Ten Hag won the Carabao Cup during a promising first campaign but has come under increasing pressure during a troubled second season that threatened to unravel if they lost at the City Ground.

But last year’s FA Cup finalists dug deep and Casemiro turned home Bruno Fernandes’ free-kick at the death to secure a 1-0 win against Forest and set-up a mouth-watering quarter-final at Old Trafford.

The 89th-minute winner, which took several minutes to clear by the VAR, keeps United’s season alive having been dumped out of Europe in December and l…

Joe Hart is an immovable object according to England team-mate Jack Butland, but the back-up goalkeeper has vowed to fight to be the nation s number one.

Butland earned just his second England cap against Lithuania in Monday s final Euro 2016 qualifier.

It was Butland s first appearance for England since making his debut three years ago and the 22-year-old is determined to establish himself in the international fold, even if he is up against Hart.

I am not someone who enjoys being on the bench. I won t kick up a fuss and I will always be a team man, but ultimately I want to play, Butland said.

Joe is a fantastic keeper, rightly he is the No 1, established in the Premier League, over 50 England caps he is almost an immovable object.

But I want t…

Everton manager Roberto Martinez has confirmed that striker Apostolos Vellios has left the Premier League club.

The 22-year-old arrived at Goodison Park from Iraklis Thessaloniki in 2011 and has since made only 24 appearances for the club, scoring three goals.

The Greek frontman failed to make a single league appearance for Everton during the 2013-14 campaign, but made two starts during a loan spell at Championship side Blackpool.

And Spaniard Martinez believes Vellios will benefit from a move away from Goodison Park.

I think it s been a disappointing season for himself but he s always had a terrific attitude and always a real desire to try to work hard for the team, Martinez told evertontv.

He s probably in a position now where, at a very young age still, …

France international striker Andre-Pierre Gignac has joined Marseille on a five-year contract from Toulouse, the French champions president Jean-Claude Dassier announced on Friday.

The transfer fee was not revealed but Toulouse had been holding out for 18 million euros for Gignac, as they must pay 20 percent of his transfer fee to his former club Lorient.

Marseille recently sold captain and striker Mamadou Niang to Fenerbahce for around eight million euros and also stand to lose winger Hatem Ben Arfa, with Werder Bremen and Newcastle United believed to be interested in signing him.

Gignac, 24, was the top scorer in the 2008-09 league season with 24 goals.

…