SOCCER

GERMANY: The German soccer federation maintained its trust in Hansi Flick as national team coach despite a disappointing World Cup performance.

Separately, German soccer league chief executive Donata Hopfen will leave her position at the end of the month after reaching a mutual agreement to cut short her three-year contract because of what the league said was “differing ideas about the further strategic direction of the company.”

Hopfen’s departure, unrelated to the World Cup, after less than a year in charge had been expected amid simmering issues of discontent among Bundesliga clubs and teams from the second division.

Flick’s future was more uncertain following Germany’s early World Cup exit, its third straight disappointing performance at a major tournament.

• The Croatian and Serbian soccer federations were fined by FIFA for making Balkan political statements at the World Cup.

FIFA fined the Croatians 50,000 Swiss francs ($53,000) after the team’s fans verbally abused and taunted Canada goalkeeper Milan Borjan, who has Serbian family ties.

The Serbian soccer federation was fined 20,000 Swiss francs ($21,300) for a political banner about neighboring Kosovo displayed in the locker room before playing Brazil in the team’s opening game.

• Belgium forward Eden Hazard retired from international soccer on Wednesday, nearly a week after his country’s aging generation of players was eliminated from the World Cup.

The 31-year-old winger made his debut with the national team in 2008 at the age of 17. He made 126 appearances and scored 33 goals.

BOXING

HALL OF FAME: Timothy Bradley Jr. and Rafael Marquez, two-division champions whose exciting styles earned both of them “Fight of the Year” honors, and Carl Froch were inducted to the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

The three fighters will make up the men’s modern category when the 10-member class of 2023 is enshrined next June.

TENNIS

ATP: The Lawn Tennis Association was fined $1 million by the ATP men’s professional tour For banning players from Russia and Belarus from its grass-court events this summer.

The governing body of British tennis banned the players from five Wimbledon warm-up tournaments following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The ATP, which oversees men’s tennis outside of the Grand Slams, also warned the LTA it could lose its membership in the organization if it repeats the ban.

AUTO RACING

FORMULA ONE: The United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, and the famed Spa-Francorchamps track in Belgium will host their first sprint races on the Formula One calendar next season.

F1 had already committed to doubling the number of sprints from three to six.

The sprint races take place on Saturdays before the main Grand Prix a day later. Sprints are held over a shorter distance and award fewer points, and also set the grid for the next day’s race. They have been credited with making the race weekend as a whole more attractive to TV viewers since they were first trialed in 2021.

Besides Austin and Spa, the other sprints next season will take place in Azerbaijan, Austria, Qatar and Brazil. Austria and Brazil hosted two of the three sprints in 2022, and Brazil was also a host in the initial 2021 trial.