Category Archives: Football

Protests over Cristiano Ronaldo statue in former Portuguese colony of Goa

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Local politician says statue is meant to inspire young people, but critics say it is inappropriate

He is idolised as one of the greatest footballers on earth, with his number seven shirt treasured by millions of youngsters dreaming of superstardom. But Cristiano Ronaldo’s astonishing success has not been matched by those seeking to immortalise his image.

A statue of Ronaldo in action unveiled this week in Goa has triggered protests by some locals who say Indian players should be honoured ahead of one from the country that was Goa’s colonial ruler until 60 years ago.

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China bans footballers in national teams from getting tattoos

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Authorities also tell inked players to remove or cover up their designs to set ‘a good example for society’

Chinese authorities have banned footballers from getting tattoos and instructed national team players who have been inked to remove them or cover them up to set a “good example for society”.

A growing number of high-profile Chinese players have tattoos, including the international defender Zhang Linpeng, who has previously been told to cover up while appearing for the national team and his club Guangzhou FC.

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Guardian readers nominate their person of the year

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From the frontline of Covid to inspirational sports personalities, our worldwide audience name their choices

Guardian readers were asked to offer suggestions of who they would choose as their person of the year. Dozens of names were put forward – from scientists to sports personalities, from healthcare workers to climate activists.

And in a sign of the ongoing debate overgender issues, many readers also nominated the author JK Rowling, and online content creator Ranboo.

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The best of the long read in 2021

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Our 20 favourite pieces of the year

After growing up in a Zimbabwe convulsed by the legacy of colonialism, when I got to Oxford I realised how many British people still failed to see how empire had shaped lives like mine – as well as their own

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How the Guardian ranked the 100 best male footballers in the world 2021

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Thomas Hitzlsperger, Luiz Felipe Scolari and Roque Júnior are three of the 219 judges on the panel for our 10th list

It is that time of the year again when we prepare to present our list of the 100 best male footballers in the world. This will be our 10th list and notable football figures such as Luiz Felipe Scolari, Thomas Hitzlsperger and Roque Júnior joined the judges’ panel for the anniversary.

Former players such as Javier Zanetti, Franky Vercauteren and Emre Belozoglu also join a selection of coaches, broadcasters, reporters, correspondents and editors from around the world to form a knowledgable and truly global jury.

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Patrick Assoumou Eyi, leading football coach in Gabon, accused of raping boys

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  • Claims made against former coach of under-17 national team
  • Allegations submitted to Fifa by the players union Fifpro

A long-serving coach in Gabon is facing claims he raped, groomed and exploited young players, the Guardian can reveal.

Alleged victims claim that Patrick Assoumou Eyi – known as “Capello” – abused boys in his previous role as head coach of Gabon’s under-17 team and in his current role as technical director for La Ligue de l’Estuaire, the country’s highest league. One former player who was coached by Eyi said that the coach would lure alleged victims to his home, which he called the “Garden of Eden”.

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Premier League announces record 42 positive Covid cases in week’s testing

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  • Manchester United waiting for ruling on game at Brentford
  • Covid pass to be mandatory but not every fan will be checked

A carefully crafted sense of stability around English football began to crumble on Monday night as record positive tests and the possibility of more postponements confirmed the return of Covid‑19 as a threat to the game.

Forty-two Premier League players and officials tested positive for the virus in the seven days that ended on Sunday, a record since testing began and more than three times the 12 of the previous week. Manchester United are among the teams hit, with the club on Monday closing the first‑team area their training centre for 24 hours and delaying travel to London as they waited for a decision from the league on whether their match against Brentford on Tuesday can go ahead.

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How Maradona inspired Paolo Sorrentino’s film about Naples, Hand of God – and inadvertently saved his life

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The Italian director’s new, semi-autobiographical film reveals a charming and rarely seen side of his home city

‘This, for me, is the most beautiful place on Earth,” Paolo Sorrentino told Filippo Scotti, the actor playing the director’s younger self in his latest film, as their 1980s Riva speedboat chopped the waves of the Bay of Naples. Their view stretched from the precipitous peninsula of Sorrento all the way west towards Posillipo. The two promontories flank the sprawling port city, offering a warm embrace to all those who disembark there. Sorrentino’s new film, the Hand of God, opens with that same view: the sun-mottled bay, whose peace is disturbed by the sound of four Rivas as they speed towards the shore. The film is both a love letter to, and a portal into, Paolo Sorrentino’s Naples.

In cinemas now and on Netflix this week, The Hand of God sees the Academy award-winning director return to his home city for the first time since One Man Up, his 2001 debut. Sorrentino tells the story of his own coming of age, up to the moment when his life is shattered by the death of his parents in a tragic accident. Sorrentino’s story is a tale of great grief, loss and perseverance, set in a middle-class part of Naples, a far cry from the impoverished neighbourhoods shown in the city’s other recent portraits: Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend or the mafia-focused Gomorrah series.

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Former head of Barcelona’s youth system accused of sexual abuse of children

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  • Albert Benaiges was coach at Barça academy from 1992 to 2012
  • Benaiges denies accusations of more than 60 witnesses

Albert Benaiges, the former head of FC Barcelona’s youth system and the man who was credited with having discovered Andrés Iniesta, has been accused of sexual abuse of children in his charge over 20 years, accusations the 71-year-old strongly denies.

According to an investigation carried out by the Catalan newspaper Ara, more than 60 witnesses have come forward to detail his actions when he was a PE teacher at a school in the Les Corts neighbourhood of Barcelona during the 1980s and 1990s. One former student has made a formal statement to the police and others are expected to follow.

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Golden generation survivor Steven Gerrard is writing his own origin story | Barney Ronay

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Driven by his league title failure as a player, Aston Villa’s head coach has become a compelling prospect as a manager

There is an interesting, and no doubt very common phenomenon called parasocial interaction. This is where people feel they have an intimate, reciprocal relationship with a famous person, a belief that by consuming images of that person, by thinking about them, the mirror becomes a two-way glass; that they can see you too.

We all get this to some extent, right down to the entry-level version where you glimpse a famous person in the street and, as you walk past, automatically say hello-all-right-how’s-it-going-bro-safe-see-you-later-ha-ha-ha-be-lucky-how’s-Tanya, because obviously you must know them, and then five paces down the road realise it was Howard from Take That.

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England fan disorder at Euro 2020 final almost led to deaths, review finds

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  • Casey report refers to series of ‘near misses’ at Wembley
  • It also points to planning failures on day of ‘national shame’

Unprecedented disorder at the Euro 2020 final was a “near miss”, with deaths and life-changing injuries only narrowly avoided, according to an independent report into events described as a “national shame”.

Lady Louise Casey published her 129-page review on Friday into the incidents that overwhelmed Wembley stadium on 11 July. While she concludes that primary blame for the mass of public disorder must lie with the protagonists, there is also blame for both the FA and the police, whom she says were too slow to respond to trouble that began early in the day.

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The road to reform: have things improved for Qatar’s World Cup migrant workers?

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A year before kick off, workers claim companies are refusing to enforce sweeping new labour laws created to stamp out human rights abuses

When Qatar won the bid to host the World Cup in 2010, the triumphant Gulf state unveiled plans to host the most spectacular of all World Cup tournaments and began an ambitious building plan of state-of-the-art stadiums, luxury hotels and a sparkling new metro.

Yet, over the next decade, the brutal conditions in which hundreds of thousands of migrant workers toiled in searing heat to build Qatar’s World Cup vision has been exposed, with investigations into the forced labour , debt bondage and worker death toll causing international outrage.

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Manchester United board decide to sack Solskjær at emergency meeting

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  • Joel Glazer agrees to decision after 4-1 loss to Watford
  • Parting of ways set to be termed as mutual agreement

Manchester United’s board decided to sack Ole Gunnar Solskjær at an emergency meeting on Saturday night and Joel Glazer, the co-chairman who heads the American family’s ownership, has agreed to rubber-stamp the move.

A meeting, which lasted several hours, was called after the team’s chastening 4-1 defeat at Watford. The plan is for an announcement to avoid describing Solskjær as sacked and refer to a mutual agreement. Compensation and other final touches were being attended to after the board completed their discussions.

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New racism scandal rocks English football

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Diversity report alleges that the FA’s referee system is obstructing black and Asian people from reaching elite levels of the game

English football has been rocked by a fresh racism scandal after black and Asian referees revealed the scale of abuse and prejudice that, they say, is holding them back.

A dossier compiled by match officials, and seen by the Observer, alleges that racism in the Football Association’s refereeing system is undermining efforts by black and Asian people to reach the highest levels of the game.

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David Lacey obituary

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Guardian sports writer whose wit and talent redefined what a football column could be

It is not customary to look forward to Monday mornings but, in the heyday of the Guardian’s print sales in the late 1970s and 80s, many readers relished Monday’s paper more than anything else.

On a features page would be Posy Simmonds’ weekly dissection of middle-class life. And, further back, stretched across the width of the main sports page, David Lacey would offer his weekly dissection of football. Like Posy’s cartoon strip, this was one of the great institutions of British journalism.

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‘We have fallen into a trap’: for hotel staff Qatar’s World Cup dream is a nightmare

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Exclusive: Seduced by salary promises, workers at Fifa-endorsed hotels allege they have been exploited and abused

When Fifa executives step on to the asphalt in Doha next November for the start of the 2022 World Cup finals, their next stop is likely to be the check-in at one of Qatar’s glittering array of opulent hotels, built to provide the most luxurious possible backdrop to the biggest sporting event on earth.

Now, with a year to go before the first match, fans who want to emulate the lifestyle of the sporting elite can head to Fifa’s hospitality website to plan their stay in the host nation. There they can scroll through a catalogue of exclusive, Fifa-endorsed accommodation, from boutique hotels to five-star resorts.

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Pride and poverty: Qatar’s World Cup fever tempered by legacy of labour abuses

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With a year to go, the new stadiums, hotels and roads are finished and locals are excited, but the low-paid workers who built them are ambivalent

When asked if he’s looking forward to the World Cup, Mohamed, an Indian salesman, grins as he casts his fishing line off the promenade in the heart of Qatar’s capital, Doha. “Very much,” he says. “I love cricket!”

With a year to go until the football World Cup kicks off, Mohamed’s response may have the event’s organisers worried. After all, about 70% of Qatar’s population are from the cricket-loving subcontinent.

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Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini charged with fraud in Switzerland over £1.35m payment

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  • Former Fifa officials expected to stand trial at federal court
  • Prosecutors say payment ‘unlawfully enriched Platini’

Former Fifa officials Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini were charged with fraud and other offences by Swiss prosecutors on Tuesday after investigating a controversial payment of 2m Swiss francs (about £1.35m) for six years.

The 85-year-old Blatter and 65-year-old former France international Platini now face a trial within months at federal criminal court in Bellinzona.

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The men who built Qatar’s World Cup dream deserve some of David Beckham’s pay packet | Pete Pattisson

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The ex-England star’s deal for his ambassador role is in marked contrast to the wages of the host nation’s migrant workers

I doubt Nirmala Pakrin knows who David Beckham is, but she knows about Qatar.

Her husband, Rupchandra Rumba, a 24-year-old from Nepal, died in 2019, gasping for breath in a squalid camp for labourers on the outskirts of Doha, while working for a contractor on one of the new World Cup stadiums.

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