Corporation’s sports coverage severely disrupted as presenters and pundits pull out in solidarity with Lineker
Match of the Day viewing figures were unaffected by the absence of Gary Lineker on Saturday night.
The shortened 20-minute version of the show had no commentary, presenters, or pundits after staff walked out in solidarity with its host Gary Lineker. Even the show’s theme music was dropped, as the BBC dealt with the fallout after suspending its highest-paid star.
Continue reading...Decision taken after corporation takes its highest-paid presenter off air and his fellow broadcasters refuse to appear in solidarity
Match of the Day will be broadcast without any presenters or pundits this weekend, after the main host, Gary Lineker, was suspended from the BBC for breaching impartiality guidelines over his criticism of the government’s asylum policies.
In a dramatic and unexpected escalation of a crisis that has been brewing all week, the corporation took the decision to take its highest-paid presenter off its flagship football show after he was criticised by Tory MPs and the rightwing media.
Continue reading...Corporation is risking its reputation by making an example of its highest-paid star over his tweets on asylum policy
The BBC’s decision to take Gary Lineker off air leaves its most outspoken personality with a potentially career-defining decision, as the corporation looks to risk its reputation to make a public example of one of its biggest stars.
Lineker’s politically loaded tweets about the government’s new asylum policy – followed by a pledge to stand by his comments – had left the BBC in an almost impossible position, balancing impartiality with freedom of expression by its staff.
Continue reading...Match of the Day host says he does not fear BBC suspension for comparing government language to that of 1930s Germany
Gary Lineker has said he will stand his ground after a day of attacks from ministers over tweets he posted earlier this week criticising the government’s asylum policy, and dismissed suggestions he could face suspension from his £1.35m-a-year job at the BBC.
Pressure continues to mount on Lineker, with the culture secretary, the home secretary and two former BBC directors adding to the criticism of the Match of the Day presenter’s comments on social media, in which he likened the language used to set out the government’s immigration plans to “that used by Germany in the 30s”.
Continue reading...Fifa’s decision to appoint supermodel Adriana Lima as an official ambassador for the Women’s World Cup was “tone deaf” and unnecessary, according to former football administrators, players and gender equality campaigners.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino said Lima, a former Victoria’s Secret model, “lives and breathes” football and would be an “excellent link” between the sporting body and fans worldwide. Lima describes herself as a football fan, but appears to have had no official involvement in the sport before now.
Continue reading...Researchers have found a racial bias by match officials in the country’s top league, but say it could be linked to crowd pressure
Referees in Italy’s top football league give more yellow and red cards to Black and darker-skinned players than to their light-skinned teammates, research shows.
Officials in Serie A awarded an average of 20% more fouls per season against darker-skinned players from 2009 to 2019, with 11% more yellow cards and 16% more red cards.
Continue reading...Football team that has been exiled from its home ground and endured an exodus of star players pulls off stunning win against Rennes on anniversary of war
Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk have not played in their home city since 2014. The underground car park of their ground in Donbas is being used by the Russians to store weapons. They have endured an exodus of star foreign players, including the sale of star winger Mykhailo Mudryk to Chelsea last month.
But in a David and Goliath win over French side Rennes, Shakhtar Donetsk have gatecrashed their way into the last 16 of the Europa League.
Continue reading...The Gulf state bank’s offer to buy the English Premier League team has been criticised by humanitarian organisations, LGBTQ+ fan clubs and advocacy groups for football governance
A Qatar-led bid to take over Manchester United should not be entertained because of concerns about state influence and human rights abuses in the country, rights groups say.
Fears about an offer to buy the club have been raised by Amnesty International’s Manchester branch, which said it had been contacted by fans who were very worried by the news.
Continue reading...Minute’s applause held at St James’ Park, where Ghanaian footballer spent five years
Tributes have been paid to the Ghanaian and former Premier League footballer Christian Atsu, who was found dead under the earthquake rubble of his home in Turkey.
There was a minute’s applause for Atsu on Saturday at St James’ Park before Newcastle United’s game against Liverpool, which his wife and children attended. Atsu spent five years at Newcastle from 2016 to 2021.
Continue reading...Joseph Watts also given four-year football ban after admitting to assault at end of north London derby
A 35-year-old man has been ordered to pay compensation to the Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale after assaulting him at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at the end of the north London derby.
Ramsdale, 24, was kicked in the back shortly after Arsenal beat Tottenham 2-0 in a Premier League match on 15 January.
Continue reading...Hollywood actor in Welsh town to watch team co-owned by fellow actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney
Will Ferrell was pictured having a pint of beer with football fans on his first visit to Wrexham to watch the local team, co-owned by fellow Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds, continue their winning run in the National League.
Pictures posted on social media showed Ferrell enjoying a drink in The Turf pub, which featured in the Disney+ documentary about the north Wales club, Welcome to Wrexham.
Continue reading...Saudi Arabia’s tourist authority is to sponsor football’s Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand this year, despite the country’s history of oppression of women’s rights.
Fifa is expected to confirm that Visit Saudi will join international brands such as Adidas, Coca-Cola and Visa in attaching its name to the 32-team tournament that will kick off in front of an expected 50,000 supporters at Auckland’s Eden Park on 20 July.
Continue reading...Wife of Leicester City footballer posts picture on Instagram praising ‘brilliant’ Lincolnshire fire service
A gym at the home of Rebekah and Jamie Vardy has been destroyed by fire.
The wife of the Leicester City footballer posted a picture on Instagram of two of her children smiling at the camera having climbed inside a fire engine as she praised the “brilliant Lincolnshire fire and rescue service”.
Continue reading...Video with DJ Bizarrap ridiculing footballer’s new relationship racks up 63m views in 24 hours
A savage new song by Shakira in which the Colombian star, philanthropist and committed believer in the veracity of hips ridicules her former partner Gerard Piqué has logged more than 63m YouTube views in 24 hours, making it the most watched new Latin song in the platform’s history.
Shakira and Piqué, who played football for Barcelona, Manchester United and the Spanish national team, separated last year after more than a decade and have two children. The former centre-back, 35, has since begun a relationship with a 23-year-old woman, Clara Chía.
Continue reading...The 23-year-old footballer was fatally stabbed at the Crane nightclub in Birmingham on Boxing Day
Schoolchildren have paid tribute to a man who was stabbed to death on a nightclub dancefloor on Boxing Day, by forming a guard of honour.
Cody Fisher, a 23-year-old footballer, was fatally stabbed at the Crane nightclub in Digbeth, Birmingham, just before midnight on 26 December.
Continue reading...Few of the country’s previous World Cup winners traveled to pay homage to the football legend
Some of Brazil’s best-known footballers have faced a furious backlash as fans and pundits questioned why they had failed to attend ceremonies bidding farewell to Pelé.
Hundreds of thousands of people waited for hours under a burning sun on Monday to file past the recently deceased soccer legend’s coffin at Santos’ Vila Belmiro ground.
Continue reading...Coffin of Brazilian footballer, who died aged 82, taken to cemetery near stadium where he began career
The Brazilian footballer Pelé has been buried in the port city where he began his career nearly 70 years ago, with the country’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, flying in to lament the “irreparable loss”.
Pelé, who died last week age 82, scored most of his 1,283 goals for Santos football club and it was at a cemetery near the team’s Vila Belmiro stadium where he was laid to rest on Tuesday afternoon after an emotional three-hour procession through town.
Continue reading...Tehran parliament told plan was for national football team to defect on pitch in Qatar but plot was foiled
The UK was plotting for the Iranian national football team to defect on the pitch at the World Cup in Qatar, the minister of sport and youth has told the Iranian parliament, without providing any evidence.
The sports minister, Hamid Sajjadi, told MPs the country’s enemies had attempted “the height of sedition”. He said the “Old Fox”, by which he meant the UK, had planned for Iran’s players to walk off the pitch at specified moments and seek to defect.
Continue reading...Family and friends stand over open coffin in Santos, as Fifa president asks countries to name stadiums after football legend
Thousands of mourners braved punishing heat to pay their final tribute to footballing legend Pelé on Monday as the president of Fifa said he would ask every member country to name a stadium after the recently deceased Brazilian player.
Fans lined up outside the 106-year-old Vila Belmiro ground in Santos – the city in south-eastern Brazil where Pelé first made his name as a star goal scorer in the 1950s – overnight and at about 10am mourners began filing past the coffin that had been placed under a shaded tent in the middle of the field.
Continue reading...Players briefly held after raid on mixed-gender party, as elsewhere dissident Keyvan Samimi is released from prison
Iranian police briefly detained several top-tier football players in a raid on a New Year’s Eve party east of Tehran, where men and women allegedly mingled and alcohol was served in violation of an Islamic ban, according to Iranian media reports.
News of the brief arrests of the players, who were not identified, came as the release was announced of the Iranian dissident journalist Keyvan Samimi, who was jailed in December 2020 for “plotting against national security”.
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