Soccer

What's better than winning the World Cup?? NOTHING ... well, unless Paul Pogba is your teammate ... 'cause the French superstar hooked up his ENTIRE team with championship rings!!

PP and the French national team brought home the FIFA World Cup Trophy last summer ... and the 26-year-old midfielder says he wanted to thank his teammates with "a small gesture."

The rings -- made by Jason of Beverly Hills -- were designed to resemble NBA or NFL championship rings ... complete with the French National team logo and "World Champions" across the face.

The pieces are composed of 3 carats of white diamonds, rubies and sapphires ... and feature the trophy and an outline of France.

Pogba talked about the gesture with reporters on Wednesday ... saying "It's a small gesture after winning a World Cup with great players. I consider them my family. It's a small gift from me."

Cristiano Ronaldo wants to save you from BALD SHAME -- so he's opened up a new hair transplant clinic in Spain.

Seriously.

The international soccer superstar has launched Insparya in Madrid -- and Monday, the 34-year-old and his girlfriend, Georgina Rodriguez, faced the media to promote the place.

So, why???

Ronaldo says "image" is important to him and he wants to make sure other people have more control over the way they look.

When asked if he has ever had the procedure -- or ever would -- CR7 replied, "When I think it’s necessary [to have a transplant], of course I’ll do it."

In other words, Ronaldo claims his current hair is 100% his ... for now.

Oh, and Ronaldo says the clinic will also do eyebrow hair transplants too.

Ronaldo isn't the first athlete to get in the hair business -- ex-NFL star Brian Urlacher had a hair procedure done after his football career wrapped up.

Pamela Anderson's on-again, off-again relationship with soccer star Adil Rami is back ON again ... but her friends see red flags.

Sources close to Pam tell TMZ ... the "Baywatch" star and World Cup champ have been back together for several weeks, but friends wish she'd 86 the relationship for various reasons. The main one ... they say Adil has tried cutting Pam off from her friends and family.

What's more ... they fear his juvenile behavior -- partying and clubbing -- isn't for Pam anymore. Her friends are adamant ... it's never gonna work long term.

Pam's friends are clear ... they want her to move on. If and when she's ready ... find someone else. Nevertheless ... easier said than done.

You'll recall it was just last July when the central defender for French club Marseille met Pam's mom. A serious sign, for sure. But, things really heated up when Adil proposed marriage. Pam said no dice and the relationship went kaput.

Two members of the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team are more than teammates -- they're engaged to be married!!

Defender Ali Krieger and goalie Ashlyn Harris just revealed they've not only been dating for the last 9 years, but Ashlyn actually proposed in September ... and Ali said, "Yes!"

It all went down in Clearwater Beach, Florida -- where Ashlyn busted out a pretty impressive rock.

The two are now planning to tie the knot at the end of 2019, according to People.com.

Ali and Ashlyn met on the USWNT in 2010 -- with Harris explaining, "We always sat next to each other on the bus and on flights, and we kind of just talked about our dreams and our hopes and what we wanted to do one day when we grew up. Because at the time, we were kids."

The couple wasn't exactly hiding their relationship, but they didn't flash it around either because they didn't want to be a distraction.

"We wanted to be professional and make sure that we showed up every day and did our job and it wasn’t just because we were together, it was because we love what we do, and we’re really good at what we do,” Krieger told People.

"We became more and more confident within and ourselves and then clearly within our relationship," Harris said ... adding, "Finally, after all these years, I just feel like I don’t have to hide anything or feel like I’m not living up to the community I’m in."

Pamela Anderson and her mom have mastered the art of looking like A MILLION BUCKS while raising a TON O' CASH ... all for an incredible cause.

The "Baywatch" star was front and center in Vancouver where she hosted a charity auction benefiting the Pamela Anderson Foundation. She also had a very sweet date in tow ... her mom, Carol. The gals dressed to the nines for the special event.

We're told tons of cool items were auctioned off ... including signed jerseys from futbol stars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. No doubt those items hauled in a couple of sweet checks but gotta hand it to fashion photographer Raphael Mazzucco, whose career highlights includes shooting Sports Illustrated Swimsuit covers.

Mazzucco donated a piece dubbed "Beauty and Light." Pam couldn't resist posing next to it for a pic. But, we know why she's REALLY grinning ear-to-ear -- the piece fetched a whopping $30k!!!

BTW ... the Pamela Anderson Foundation supports organizations that protect human, animal and environmental rights. The foundation's been at it for 20 years. #KeepGrindingPam

3:01 PM PT -- USC has fired water polo coach Jovan Vavic and Senior Associate AD Donna Heinel.

11:08 AM PT -- The NCAA released a statement addressing the scandal ... saying, "The charges brought forth today are troubling and should be a concern for all of higher education. We are looking into these allegations to determine the extent to which NCAA rules may have been violated."

Multiple prominent members of the USC Trojans athletic department have been indicted in a far-reaching college admissions scandal ... where they allegedly took bribes to help students gain admission.

USC senior associate athletic director Dr. Donna Heinel, ex-USC women's head soccer coach Ali Khosroshahin and ex-assistant soccer coach Laura Janke are all named ... as well as current USC men's water polo head coach Jovan Vavic.

Vavic -- a 13-time national coach of the year -- has 14 national titles under his belt during his tenure at the University of Southern California.

The general allegations go something like this -- William Rick Singer, a guy who runs a college admissions prep service, would facilitate bribes to current and former USC coaches to designate prospective students as recruited athletes ... which would lower the academic standards for admission.

The problem ... officials say the students were NOT recruited athletes and the coaches and other USC officials LIED in exchange for big money donations to USC and other payments.

Here's a video of the U.S. Attorney's Office laying out the alleged scheme ...

According to court documents, USC ain't alone in this -- at least one soccer coach from UCLA is named, along with a coach from Georgetown, a sailing coach at Stanford, a tennis coach at Texas, a coach from Wake Forest and even Yale.

In regards to USC, officials say one of the parents involved in the scheme is Lori Loughlin -- whose daughters were allegedly recruited by USC's crew team, despite the fact they had no experience in crew.

You can bet your ass the NCAA has eyes on this -- especially considering USC's legendary history of bribery and scandal in their athletic department.

By the way, USC president Dr. Wanda M. Austin issued a statement saying USC is the VICTIM and not the bad guy here.

"The government has repeatedly informed us that it views USC as a victim and that these employees purposefully deceived USC."

She added, "It is immensely disappointing that individuals would abuse their position at the university in this way."

The opposite of punch-drunk must've been what this English pro soccer player was feeling after getting attacked by a rival fan ... 'cause he sure looked clear-headed when he scored the game-winning goal some 45 minutes later.

Aston Villa's star midfielder, Jack Grealish, was bum-rushed Sunday by a Birmingham City fan who rushed the field in the early part of the first half and sucker punched him in the dome. The guy got a running start to the hit and knocked Grealish down in the process.

The Birmingham fan was quickly subdued and yanked off the field by security. He was later arrested and hauled off to jail, according to local authorities.

Funny enough, Grealish went on to score the game-winning goal against Birmingham City in the second half of the game, clinching the W for his squad in a 1-0 victory. The goal itself was pretty sweet too ... a left-footed shot to the bottom corner.

Birmingham definitely were not sore losers either -- in fact, the team issued a statement after the game apologizing to Grealish and Aston Villa at large for what one of their own fans did ... saying the dude would be banned from St. Andrew's Stadium for life.

The U.S. Women's National Soccer team is suing the U.S. Soccer Federation -- claiming they're sick of being paid less than the men's team ... despite being WAY better than their male counterparts.

Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd, Julie Ertz and others all joined in on the suit ... which blasts the USSF for the pay disparity.

"Despite the fact that these female and male players are all called upon to perform the same job responsibilities on their teams ... the female players have been consistently paid less money than their male counterparts," the women say in their suit.

"This is true even though their performance has been superior to that of male players -- with the female players, in contrast to male players, becoming world champions."

They're right -- the USWNT are not only champs but perennial contenders while the U.S. Men's National Team sucks so bad, they didn't even make the World Cup in 2018.

Oh, and the timing of the lawsuit is interesting -- filed on International Women's Day, which happens to be 3 months before the Women's World Cup begins in France.

In the suit, the women allege gender discrimination. They're seeking to end "the USSF's discriminatory practices."

Cool moment at the Paris Saint-Germain game Wednesday ... when Neymar went into the stands to personally greet one of his favorite celebs, Ninja!!!

Of course, Neymar didn't play for PSG because he's still recovering from a foot injury -- but he made it back to Paris after raging at Carnival in Brazil with enough time to make kickoff.

The bad news for Neymar, his PSG squad got beat up by Romelu Lukaku's Manchester United squad in a 3-1 thrashing ... bouncing @PSG from the UEFA Champions League.

The good news, Neymar was healthy enough to make the walk into the VIP area at Parc des Princes stadium to give the Fortnite legend a hug.

You can see @ninja is stoked to see @neymarjr -- and introduces the soccer star to his wife, Jessica Goch.

So, how do they know each other? Besides being one of the greatest athletes on the planet, Neymar is also a massive gamer -- and the two hooked up for a Fortnite gaming event in December.

Neymar's having himself one helluva week -- raging at Carnival in Rio with a very famous, very attractive Brazilian singer.

The 27-year-old Paris Saint-Germain superstar had his arm around Anitta at the big parade at the Sambadrome Marques de Sapucai on Monday in Rio de Janeiro.

Unclear if the two are dating -- but they sure looked couple-ish at the Brazilian bash ... even planting kisses on each other's cheeks.

Neymar had been dating Bruna Marquezine for a while -- but they reportedly broke up in late 2018.

So, is this a rebound? Or just a flirty friendship?

We found footage of Anitta doing her thing -- and damn. She's fire. Also, she's a MASSIVE star with more than 35 MILLION followers on Instagram.

Neymar is one of the most famous athletes in the world -- and according to Forbes, he was the 5th highest paid athlete in the world in 2018 ... pulling in $90 MILLION!!

Get this ... Neymar's current contract with PSG is a 5-year deal reportedly worth more than $600 MILLION!!

He also has lucrative endorsement deals with massive brands like Nike, Red Bull, Gillette, McDonald's and Beats by Dre.

Christian Pulisic never has to use his hands ... but now we know they work if he needs them, 'cause the US soccer superstar put his football skills on display ... and TMZ Sports has the vid!!!

The Dortmund midfielder teamed up with Gary Barnidge's American Football Without Barriers camp this week ... catching a quick pass and busting out his favorite Fortnite (or Blocboy JB, depending on who you ask) dance to cap it off.

For those not hip to soccer -- the 20-year-old is the future of Team USA ... he's currently on loan from Chelsea and is the most expensive American player of all time.

FYI -- AFWB is a camp designed to spread football knowledge with fans all over the world.

It's been a big hit for years ... with memorable moments like Marshawn Lynch ridin' camels and ice swimming in Finland with DeAngelo Williams.

Jermaine Jones might've been on to something when he said David Charvet banged his wife and ruined their relationship, 'cause now there's photos that seem to back him up.

The former "Baywatch" star was spotted at a restaurant in Malibu Saturday night with J.J.'s estranged wife, Sarah, following close behind. It looks like a classic date night situation, even though there are no immediate signs of intimacy in these pics.

Still, the shots could give credence to Jermaine's public accusations of David being a homewrecker and sleeping with Sarah a few months ago ... depending on who you ask.

It all might be moot, though. David got a temporary restraining order against Jermaine after claiming the U.S. soccer star threatened him with violence. Sarah got a TRO against her soon-to-be ex-hubby as well, claiming he was stalking and harassing her.

She also filed for divorce from Jermaine last month, so it's clear the door is closing on their marriage. An outing like this doesn't bode well for any type of reconciliation either.

The wife of the retired soccer player who has been locked in a bitter divorce just got a restraining order against her estranged husband, after claiming he's been stalking and harassing her.

Sarah Jones claims in legal docs Jermaine Jones has been following her around town, despite an agreement they struck last December to stay away from each other.

Sarah filed for divorce last month ... this after he accused her of having a sexual relationship with David Charvet. David denies they had such a relationship, saying they were just friends.

Sarah claims in the docs, Jermaine has followed her to a market where she was shopping and then followed her car after she left, showed up at the Soho House where she was having lunch and sent her numerous "inappropriate, antagonistic and degrading messages."

Sarah says in the docs, "I believe Jermaine has acted this way to harass me, control me, intimidate me and disturb my peace of mind. I am scared of Jermaine's stalking behavior, Jermaine's monitoring my movements, Jermaine's harassing messages and Jermaine showing up at locations right when I am there."

Emiliano Sala -- an Argentinian soccer player -- has been confirmed dead ... coroner's ID'd a body that was pulled from a tragic plane crash as his, Dorset Police announced.

The 28-year-old had boarded a small plane in France with a pilot on Jan. 21 destined for Wales ... but it crashed in the English Channel shortly after takeoff.

The striker -- who was in the process of completing a transfer from FC Nantes to Cardiff City FC -- was reportedly concerned mid-flight, sending a cryptic audio message in Spanish to friends.

"I am now aboard a plane that seems like it is falling to pieces," Sala said [translated from Spanish] ... "I'm going to Cardiff now, crazy, and tomorrow we get going. I will train with my new team tomorrow."

"If you do not have any more news from [me] in an hour and a half, I don't know if they need to send someone to find me. I am getting scared!"

The plane disappeared from radar ... and after three days of trying to find it -- police called off the official search.

A private search was launched on Jan. 27 ... and the wreckage -- plus a body -- were found. Dorset Police announced Thursday the body had been ID'd as Sala's.

Sala was a star for Nantes before transferring to Cardiff City ... he led the team in goals the past three seasons.

His transfer fee was around $20 million ... a record signing for Cardiff City.

FC Nantes President, Waldemar Kita, said in a statement Friday [translated from French], "I do not have the words, it's a tragedy, I'm devastated."

"Emiliano left his mark, which is why, like many fans, I want to honor him again by retiring the number 9."

Cristiano Ronaldo was ordered to pay a $21 MILLION fine as punishment in his tax fraud case -- but the good news for the soccer superstar, he won't have to serve a 23-month prison sentence.

And, for a guy who reportedly earns around $90 MILLION per year, that's a pretty good deal for him!

The 33-year-old appeared in court in Spain on Tuesday morning smiling and holding hands with his girlfriend, Georgina Rodriguez ... almost like he knew it was not a big deal.

And, the reason? CR7 had previously agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors ... so Tuesday's court date was just a formality to make it official.

CR7 had been accused of hiding around $16.7 MILLION income he made from his image rights in Spain between 2011 and 2014.

He was facing a 23-month prison sentence -- but hammered out a deal to pay the fine and move on with his life.

It also helps that in Spain, a 1st-time offender sentenced to less than 24 months in prison can serve probation instead of being locked up.

The fine is really no big deal for a guy like Ronaldo -- Forbes reports he pulls in around $93 mil from pro soccer and endorsement deals.

Of course, Ronaldo has other legal issues -- he's being sued in the United States by a woman who claims he raped her in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2009.

Ronaldo has denied wrongdoing. Cops are still investigating.

Neymar got a steak dinner Wednesday night he'll never forget ... 'cause Salt Bae fed gobs of meat to him -- straight off his knife!!!

It all went down in Qatar ... where Neymar and fellow Paris Saint-Germain superstars Mbappe, Buffon and others got a world-class meal from the Turkish chef/Internet sensation.

Neymar and the guys -- who were in Qatar training and sharing memories with fans for their Qatar Tour 2019 -- ate like kings ... and even got to participate in the cooking process!!!

Salt Bae chopped the meat in his signature fashion ... and then let the football stars dust it off with the classic salt-pour-over-bent-arm move.

The best part of it all?? Salt Bae wouldn't let Neymar use his own fork ... instead -- he fed him the meat straight off his knife!!!

Neymar seemed to love it ... 'cause dude went back for Salt Bae's hand-fed meat multiple times!!!

The fun and games ended Thursday ... PSG headed back to France to get set for their game Saturday.

Seems there's only one celebration appropriate if any of 'em scores a goal then ...