Soccer

1:00 PM PT -- Reports that Pele collapsed and was transported to a hospital are "fake news," Pele's rep told Reuters.

“He just didn’t want to make a long and stressful trip to London, in and out of who knows how many planes and airports,” said Jose Fornos Rodrigues. “That’s all.”

Soccer legend Pele was rushed to a hospital in Brazil early Thursday morning after collapsing ... but doctors seem confident he'll be okay.

So far, it appears the 77-year-old's medical episode is being chalked up to exhaustion.

Pele was set to host a dinner in London with the Football Writers Association on Sunday -- but the FWA now says he will not make it for obvious reasons. The FWA also issued a statement about Pele's health.

"In the early hours of Thursday morning, Pele collapsed and was taken to hospital in Brazil where he has undergone a series of tests which appear to point to severe exhaustion."

"He remains on fluids while doctors monitor his recovery. Thankfully, there is no suggestion of anything more serious than exhaustion."

Jesse Williams is better at playing doctor than he is at soccer, because he could barely keep up in a pickup game with a bunch of Brazilian kids half his size.

The "Grey's Anatomy" star is down in Rio and Thursday he decided to hit up a favela to try his feet at the beautiful game. It was awesome ... for the locals. You gotta see the moves the little guys dropped on Jesse ... putting the ball between his legs at least twice. Nutmeg!

He eventually had to go shirtless as he worked up a sweat ... so, there's something for Jesse's fans!

No shame in losing to these kids, though. For all we know, he was playing the next Neymar.

It's good to be Neymar ...

The 25-year-old soccer superstar spent his Tuesday floating off the coast of Brazil with his smokin' hot girlfriend ... and some of his PSG teammates, who also have model GFs.

See the butt in the main image? That's Victoria's Secret model Izabel Goulart -- who's dating Neymar's Paris Saint-Germain teammate, Kevin Trapp. Kev was there, too.

But the big story is Bruna Marquezine ... Neymar's on-again, off-again lady friend who's been fully BACK ON with the soccer superstar going into 2018.

Justin Beiber's out at UCLA looking like rec league Neymar -- dribbling circles around his opponents and straight NUTMEGGIN' a dude!!

It's more impressive feats of athleticism from Bieber ... who's also flashed talent on the ice, on the court and in the boxing ring.

At this point, Bieber SHOULD be a great athlete -- when he's not singing, dancing and nailing chicks ... he's training with some of the biggest athletes in the world ... from Neymar to Floyd Mayweather.

Face it, dude's good.

A French soccer player went full-on blackface for an '80s costume party ... and quickly apologized for thinking it was okay.

Antoine Griezmann -- a star striker for Spain's Atletico Madrid --- posted a photo and video of himself Sunday in a full-body blackface costume of an NBA All-Star player, 'fro and all.

As you might imagine, the backlash was fast and furious ... and he eventually took down the controversial posts. He also apologized in his native tongue on Twitter, which translates to something like ... "I admit this is awkward on my part. If I hurt some people, I apologize."

Ty Dolla $ign and YG's alleged beatdown of an Australian soccer star apparently cost 'em big-time -- 'cause the guy says they dropped at least $100k to keep the matter out of court.

Aussie footballer Nelly Yoa tells TMZ he settled with Ty and YG for a low six-figure amount to avoid a potential lawsuit against them for allegedly beating the crap out of him in 2015.

We broke the story ... Nelly says the rappers punched and kicked him in the head when they tried clearing out a VIP room at a nightclub in Melbourne that he refused to vacate. He claimed the alleged beating cost him a soccer deal that woulda made him a fortune.

Nelly put T&Y on official notice a couple months ago, letting them know a lawsuit was coming.

Yeah, tensions are high ... but there's one thing Russian and American superstar athletes have in common -- they LOVE expensive jewelry.

Case in point ... Aleksandr Kokorin -- the biggest soccer star in Russia, a 26-year-old striker on the World Cup team.

He's also rich as hell -- and just dropped a cool $100,000 on a custom Rolex watch and diamond necklace combo.

Kokorin hit up Dave Bling and Big Will at DWS Jewelry & Co. in NYC for a "Rainbow Rolly" -- comprised of multicolored VS-1 diamonds on the bezel.

Kokorin issued a statement about the pieces through the jeweler ... saying, "I always want to create something that feels unique to me. This watch reminds me that even though time is expensive and serious, it can also be fun and enjoyable."

The older brother of soccer mega-star Lionel Messi is a wanted man in Argentina after cops discovered a gun in his blood-soaked boat ... according to reports.

Matias Messi allegedly told a security guard at the Fighiera fishing club that he cut his face by colliding with a sandbar ... but after police discovered a .380 handgun inside Matias' motorboat, they tried (and failed) to track him down for questioning.

The Messi family is pissed over all the accusations -- issuing a statement today saying Matias was NOT carrying a gun on the boat ... and has been MIA because he's at the hospital prepping for surgery.

If the gun is found to be Matias' ... he could be in serious trouble. Back in 2008, he was arrested for carrying a loaded firearm without a permit ... and in 2015, he was detained for again failing to provide documentation for his gun.

Alexi Lalas ain't hoppin' on the Tiger Woods comeback bandwagon just yet ... 'cause the U.S. soccer legend says we'll NEVER see Tiger return to his old dominant form.

TMZ Sports spoke with Lalas about Woods' impressive outing in his first tournament in almost a year ... and despite being only 3 strokes back from the lead after one round at the Hero World Challenge, Lalas wants to bring everyone back to Earth.

"He'll be a different type of Tiger Woods. And he'll have moments of brilliance that'll remind us of what he was, but I think his back injury ... that's difficult to come back for anybody."

Shakira and Gerard Piqué are effectively shutting down rumors they've split by taking a very toothy joyride together.

The FC Barcelona fútbol star was behind the wheel with Shakira riding shotgun Tuesday on his home team's turf. The smiles on their faces fly directly in the face of reports that the couple -- who've been together for 6 years -- were on the outs.

From this vantage point, seems the parents of 2 boys are rock solid.

Why so serious!?

Here's the brand new bust of soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo that's now on display in Spain ... and while it accurately portrays his rugged good looks, it's wayyyy less fun than the other one.

The artist behind the new statue is Jose Antonio Navarro Arteaga -- who reportedly made the new piece after his son saw the other bust at the Madeira airport and told his dad he could do better.

The kid was right -- the bust is pretty great. It's new home is at the Bernabéu Tour stadium in Spain, the home of Real Madrid.

Whatever. Still like the other one better ...

Is Demi Lovato in the "friend zone" with Neymar?

The singer and the soccer superstar went for a dinner date in London on Tuesday -- after Neymar played for Team Brazil in an international friendly against England.

Oh, there was a 3rd person at the dinner as well ... smokin' hot TV host Layla Anna-Lee.

But despite the fact Neymar and Demi look GREAT together, the soccer stud is preemptively striking against dating rumors ... posting Instagram photos with the caption, "My friends girls."

BOOOOO!!!!

Here's shirtless Cristiano Ronaldo and Cristiano Jr. proving they've got the best genes AND the best jeans -- reppin' dad's designer denim and looking fly as hell doing it.

The soccer mega-star teamed up with his 7-year-old kid for the launch of the CR7 junior collection -- expanding on the line of signature jeans he dropped earlier this year.

There are actual kid sizes, FYI ... the Cristianos were just having some fun letting Jr. twin out with Sr. for the photo shoot.

The real question -- are Ronaldo and son gonna be the next LaVar and Lonzo Ball?!

Hope Solo's adding her name to the mounting list of women alleging sexual assault at the hands of powerful men ... and she points the finger at former FIFA president, Sepp Blatter.

The USWNT star revealed the alleged incident in an interview with the Portuguese newspaper, Expresso, in which she alleges Blatter "grabbed my ass" right before presenting an award to Abby Wambach at the Ballon d'Or awards ceremony in January 2013.

Blatter -- forced to step down and banned by FIFA amid a corruption scandal -- flatly denied the claim, and through his spokesman told Expresso, "This allegation is ridiculous."

Justin Bieber laced up his cleats, popped off his shirt, and got really pumped up while playing soccer with his bros.

The Biebs hit up UCLA's campus Tuesday afternoon for a pickup game on one of the soccer fields, and at one point was standing at full attention calling out a play.

We're told several college students gathered around the field to watch JB in action and get a peek at his new torso tattoo ... and he put on quite a show.

A heated altercation between Jozy Altidore and his ex-USMNT teammate Sacha Kljestan escalated into a full-blown war during halftime of an MLS game this weekend -- with yelling and cussing and police ... and it was all caught on video.

It all went down at halftime during Sunday's match between Jozy's Toronto FC and Sacha's NY Red Bulls, where things were already chippy in the 1st half.

Jozy claims Sacha tried to "pull up on me while my back was turned" -- and TFC coach Greg Vanney says he was "ambushed" by 5 or 6 New York Red Bulls players in total.

Sacha's got a different take -- claiming Jozy's the one who started the fight by shoving him into a wall.

Either way, the video is crazy -- you can see players like Michael Bradley trying to keep the peace as cops and stadium security rush in to maintain order.

Both Jozy and Sacha were ejected from the game. The Red Bulls ultimately won the game 1-0.