British and Irish 2030 World Cup bid still on, UK Sport tells MPs October 19, 2021 Great Britain and Ireland’s hopes of staging football’s 2030 World Cup have not been torpedoed by the crowd trouble at this year’s European Championship but the countries do face a battle to mount a credible bid following England’s farcical 2018 effort, MPs were told today. The update on a possible bid came during a Digital, [...]
Premier League clubs block Saudi sponsorship deals with Newcastle United October 19, 2021 Premier League clubs have moved to stop Saudi Arabia flooding Newcastle United with big-money sponsorship deals that would allow them to spend freely on transfers. Eighteen of the 20 top-flight teams approved a block on related-party transactions, in which a company that shares the same owner as a club pays it money via a commercial [...]
England receive one-match stadium ban following Euro 2020 disruption October 18, 2021 England have been ordered to play one match behind closed doors in response to the disruption that marred the Euro 2020 final against Italy at Wembley in July. In addition to the ban, which includes a second, suspended, match, the Football Association (FA) was fined £84,560 (€100,000) by governing body Uefa. England’s ban will take [...]
Newcastle 2, Tottenham 3: New owners witness false start to Saudi era October 17, 2021 Out with the old, in with the new. That was meant to be the theme as Newcastle United played their first game under Saudi ownership today. In the St James’ Park directors’ box, the club’s new rulers – chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan and Amanda Staveley, the public face of the £300m takeover – took their seats [...]
Axe hovers over Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as familiar questions haunt Man Utd boss October 17, 2021 It was a 3-1 loss to Liverpool that finally brought the chop for Jose Mourinho and opened the door for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to return to Manchester United. Mourinho went into that December 2018 game on a run of two wins in seven matches and amid a growing sense that, 31 months on from being [...]
Football training can be safer with VR technology October 15, 2021 A whipped cross and a powerful header towards goal are staples of football and the essence of set-piece tactics used by every football team. But building Cristiano Ronaldo-like leg power to spring higher than your opponent and honing the skill to guide the ball into the net requires endless training drills. The other, more serious [...]
Uefa hands clubs power over Champions League rights in joint venture with ECA October 13, 2021 Uefa will take a step into the unknown on Thursday when it formally launches its search for an agency to help it make more money from the men’s Champions League. European football’s governing body has worked hand in glove with its favoured partner, Team Marketing, since the inception of its flagship competition almost 30 years [...]
Bournemouth midfielder David Brooks diagnosed with cancer October 13, 2021 Wales and Bournemouth midfielder David Brooks has been diagnosed with stage two Hodgkin lymphoma and will begin treatment next week. The 24-year-old Championship player said: “Although this has come as a shock to myself and my family, the prognosis is a positive one and I am confident that I will make a full recovery and [...]
England 1, Hungary 1: Southgate’s attacking experiment backfires October 12, 2021 England missed the chance to take a major step towards confirming their place at next year’s World Cup as a dogged Hungary held them to a draw at Wembley tonight. John Stones dragged the hosts level after they had fallen behind to Roland Sallai’s penalty, given for Luke Shaw’s dangerously high boot, but Gareth Southgate’s [...]
It will be an irony if football kills off Nations League in name of progress October 11, 2021 With a furiously contested Kylian Mbappe goal, the 2020-21 Uefa Nations League drew to a breathless and controversial conclusion on Sunday night in Milan. What wasn’t in question, however, was that, after two cycles, the tournament has proved to be an overwhelming success. Not too many people saw that coming, given the distinctly tepid reception [...]