Football Australia imposes interim suspension after Torres arrested over alleged incident in March
The Central Coast Mariners’ star striker Angel Torres has been stood down from playing in the A-League Men after he was charged with sexual assault.
Torres, 24, was arrested at a property in Terrigal on Monday in relation to an alleged sexual assault of a woman on 24 March.
Continue reading...Queens Park Ladies under-12s finished top of division three of the Bournemouth Youth Football League with 18 wins, four draws and no defeats
A girls’ football team has won a boys’ league after going unbeaten all season, earning them the “invincibles” title.
Queens Park Ladies under-12s finished top of division three of the Bournemouth Youth Football League with 18 wins, four draws and no defeats.
Continue reading...Captain of national men’s team among those posting apparently coordinated social media messages
Leading players in Georgia’s national men’s football team have backed mass protests sparked by a “foreign influence” bill criticised for mirroring a repressive Russian law.
Riot police have clashed in recent nights with large rallies of people protesting outside the parliament building in Tbilisi against the bill, which is viewed in Brussels as a threat to future EU membership.
Continue reading...Paul Kagame flew to UK for Champions League match while national police told citizens to restrict activities including football
The president of Rwanda, whose police force has asked the country’s people to restrict football-related activities during the 30-year anniversary of the Rwanda massacre, is facing questions after flying to the UK and watching Arsenal play Bayern Munich.
Paul Kagame visited on Tuesday 9 April to watch the Champions League match in north London. Before the match, he visited Rishi Sunak at No 10 Downing Street, after giving civil servants just a few days’ notice of his visit. They discussed the UK’s deportation deal, which aims to send asylum seekers to Kigali to be processed there.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Charges relate to £225m debt with Rights & Media Funding, with records suggesting a trail leading to Michael Tabor
Everton has paid about £30m in interest charges to an opaque lender associated with a tax exile, corporate records suggest.
The charges appear to have reached about £438,000 a week, according to the troubled Premier League club’s most recent set of accounts, a figure more than three times the reported wages of the Everton and England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
Continue reading...Spanish football’s commitment to combatting racism has come under fire after its football federation handed a two-match ban to a goalkeeper who went into the stands to confront a man who had allegedly racially abused him.
The accusations of racism – the latest to rock Spanish football in recent weeks – were launched on Saturday as Rayo Majadahonda took on Sestao River Club in a third-tier match in northern Spain. As the match ticked into its final moments, the Rayo Majadahonda goalkeeper Cheikh Sarr, who was born in Senegal, said he heard racial slurs being hurled at him.
Continue reading...Campaigners launch legal challenge as children and mixed-gender football team kept out by fence built by local sports academy
In Mount Florida, a south Glasgow neighbourhood, Scotland’s national football stadium, Hampden Park, looms large. But just half a mile north are the relics of another, with terraces and crush barriers surrounding a pitch that was once the heart of a 50,000-seat stadium known as “the second Hampden”.
At one time home to local teams Queen’s Park and Third Lanark – as well as hosting Scottish Cup finals in the late 19th century – the pitch is now part of Cathkin Park, a council-maintained public space enjoyed by local families, community football teams and urban wildlife alike. Leased since 2022 by the Jimmy Johnstone Academy, a charity set up in memory of the late Celtic player, it is also the home ground of two youth teams.
Continue reading...Luis Rubiales could face a prison sentence of two and a half years if convicted of kissing Jenni Hermoso on the lips against her will, court documents have shown. The former Spanish football federation chief has been charged with one count of sexual assault and one of coercion in the aftermath of the kiss, offences carrying jail terms of one year and 18 months respectively.
The 46-year-old grabbed Hermoso and kissed her on the lips on 20 August during the awards ceremony after Spain beat England in the Women’s World Cup final in Sydney, sparking global outrage and causing a national debate in Spain about sexism. Hermoso and her teammates said the kiss was unwanted and demeaning, but Rubiales argued it was consensual and denied any wrongdoing.
Continue reading...Former Manchester United star says his near 30-year silence on subject has been his revenge on the press
It was one of the most baffling utterances ever made by a footballer.
When Eric Cantona said at a 1995 press conference: “When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea,” everyone was left scratching their heads.
Continue reading...Real Madrid star Vinícius Júnior’s tearful comments prompt questions over why racist fans can still act with impunity
Antiracism campaigners in Spain have called on the country’s institutions to do more to crack down on racism in football, after Real Madrid winger Vinícius Júnior laid bare the personal toll exacted by years of racist insults.
Breaking down in tears as he spoke of the systematic barrage of abuse he had faced at more than 10 Spanish grounds, the Brazilian player told reporters on Monday that the situation had “gotten worse” during his time on the pitch.
Continue reading...Former chairman Chen Xuyuan accepted millions in return for help with contracting, investment options and event management, state media report court as saying
The former chief of China’s national football association, Chen Xuyuan, has been sentenced to life in prison for accepting bribes, state media reported on Tuesday, after one of the biggest anti-corruption probes in the sport in years.
The severe sentence for Chen, 67, concludes an inquiry into high-level football officials in China in a sport that has long grappled with corruption, which fans have blamed for the perpetual under performance of the national team.
Continue reading...Ex-Barcelona footballer on provisional release from prison term while he appeals against rape conviction
The former Brazil international footballer Dani Alves has been allowed out on bail having served 14 months of a four-and-a-half-year sentence for rape.
One of the world’s most decorated footballers, Alves, 40, was found guilty last month of raping a young woman in the VIP bathroom of a Barcelona nightclub in the early hours of 31 December 2022.
Continue reading...Last-minute decision on Tuesday’s match leaves football bodies searching for alternative venue
North Korea has abruptly cancelled its 2026 World Cup qualifying match with Japan next week, leaving organisers frantically searching for an alternative venue.
North Korea reportedly decided it would no longer host the match, which had been scheduled for next Tuesday at the Kim Il-sung Stadium in Pyongyang, a day before the teams met in Tokyo on Thursday in the first of their two Asian qualifying Group B qualifiers.
Continue reading...Former Manchester City striker taken into custody after court in Brazil ruled he should serve a nine-year sentence for offence committed in Italy
The former Brazil and Manchester City striker Robinho has been arrested by federal police at his home in the city of Santos after a Brazilian court ruled he should serve a nine-year prison sentence for a rape he was convicted of committing in Italy.
The 40-year-old footballer, whose full name is Robson de Souza, was taken into custody on Thursday night after his lawyers failed in their attempt to delay his detention over the 2013 crime, which took place when he was a player for AC Milan.
Continue reading...Waltham Forest council has not yet found suitable location for statue that was completed in 2020
The first photographs of the dormant sculpture of the Bayern Munich and England striker Harry Kane have been published, five years after it was commissioned. The statue has sat in storage because Waltham Forest council in east London has been unable to find a suitable location for it.
The sculpture of the Walthamstow-born, Chingford-raised record goalscorer for Tottenham and England was completed in 2020 at a cost of £7,200, but has yet to appear in public.
Continue reading...Saudi Arabia is likely to host the 2034 tournament, but a Guardian investigation has revealed there are already a high number of ‘unexplained’ migrant worker deaths in the Gulf kingdom
Human rights organisations are warning that another World Cup will be tainted by the deaths and suffering of low-paid workers if Fifa does not take urgent steps to ensure that Saudi Arabia deals with the widespread abuse of its migrant workforce.
As the sole bidder, Saudi Arabia is almost certain to be anointed by Fifa this year as host of the World Cup in 2034, but rights groups said “workers cannot afford a repeat of Qatar 2022”.
Continue reading...Train maker Alstom plans fast service skirting Birmingham as Ryan Reynolds’ football club takeover reaps in ever more benefits
Direct trains could next year connect Wrexham to London, with a new service capitalising on the town’s Hollywood-meets-football mini-boom.
The train manufacturer Alstom is bidding to set up the Wrexham, Shropshire and Midlands Railway with a promise of cheaper, more comfortable trains straight to London.
Continue reading...Former Socceroo says he made a mistake and is ‘very pleased to be able to learn’ that ‘racism can only be perpetrated against a marginalised person or group’
Former Socceroo Craig Foster has apologised to Sam Kerr for criticising the Matildas captain after it was revealed she allegedly called a police officer in the UK a “stupid white bastard”.
Foster in a lengthy explanation on X stated he had been mistaken in thinking that any “discriminatory, demeaning or hostile” comment made referring to “any colour” was racism.
Continue reading...Digital ads for 8XBet inserted into matches played by clubs that rejected money from gambling companies
An offshore gambling company that breached Australian law and was forced to withdraw from the country has paid the national football league to promote it overseas.
The Australian Professional Leagues has digitally imposed ads for the gambling company, 8XBet, on to international broadcasts of A-Leagues matches. The company’s logo can be seen in 10 locations simultaneously during some games.
Continue reading...Sweden midfielder Kristoffer Olsson is on a ventilator in hospital after collapsing at home due to a brain condition, his club Midtjylland have announced.
The 28-year-old, who had a spell at Arsenal as a teenager, has not appeared for the Danish club since December and there had been mounting speculation over his absence.
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