Category Archives: Football

‘This is our final’: the team who led athletes’ escape from Afghanistan | Suzanne Wrack

Posted on by

A dedicated crew of people helped the women’s national football team and others to flee the Taliban over two remarkable weeks

“We have been working like fingers on one hand, with different roles, and we came together as a big strong punch,” says the former captain and one of the founders of the Afghanistan women’s national football team, Khalida Popal. She is talking about the small team that pulled off the mission to evacuate 100-200 Afghan athletes and a number of individuals connected to them from the Hamid Karzai international airport in Kabul.

Across a two-week period those fingers worked tirelessly around the clock and across numerous time zones, tracking the real-time movements of the Taliban and military personnel on the ground to pull off what seemed completely impossible: to get a group of female football players, many teenagers, and a host of others, including family members, into the airport and on to planes.

Continue reading...

Mauritius government suspends funding over MFA’s handling of voyeurism claims

Posted on by
  • Clubs also banned from using government-owned stadiums
    Claims that recording device was placed in women’s toilets

The Mauritius government has suspended financial support to local clubs and given the country’s Football Assocation until November to resolve its “governance issues” over the handling of voyeurism allegations at its headquarters.

Administrative secretary, Mila Sinnasamy, has claimed that a mobile phone in recording mode was discovered on 30 July was concealed in a blue basket placed in the water tank of the women’s toilet at the MFA’s headquarters in Trianon, 15 km from the capital, Port Louis. Police have confirmed that a file on the allegations of voyeurism will be submitted to the office of the director of public prosecutions, with Bindou Kistnairain, who works as a cleaner at the MFA, claiming that she also saw a phone in the toilets during her shift in May and did not report it due to fears of “being fired and any retaliation”.

Continue reading...

Gareth Southgate: I got more abuse for vaccine video than managing England

Posted on by
  • Manager was abused for encouraging young people to get jab
  • Southgate says some players have ‘really suffered’ with Covid

Gareth Southgate has revealed that he received more abuse for recording a video urging young people to have a Covid-19 vaccination than he did for his management of England during their run to the final of Euro 2020.

England’s manager, who handed Leeds United’s Patrick Bamford his first call-up when he named his squad for next month’s World Cup qualifiers against Hungary, Poland and Andorra, admitted he is worried about misinformation on social media convincing some footballers not to have the jab.

Continue reading...

Manchester City’s Benjamin Mendy charged with four counts of rape

Posted on by
  • France defender remanded in custody by Cheshire police
  • Mendy also charged with one count of sexual assault

Manchester City’s Benjamin Mendy has been charged with four counts of rape, Cheshire Constabulary has confirmed. City have also suspended the France international pending an investigation.

In a statement, the force said: “The Crown Prosecution Service has authorised Cheshire Constabulary to charge a man in connection with allegations of sexual assault. Benjamin Mendy, aged 27, has been charged with four counts of rape and one count of sexual assault.

Continue reading...

Qatar has failed to explain up to 70% of migrant worker deaths in past 10 years – Amnesty

Posted on by

World Cup host has not properly investigated fatalities, rights group says, citing concerns over heat stress and safety

World Cup host Qatar has failed to investigate the deaths of thousands of migrant workers in the past decade, according to a new report by Amnesty International.

The human rights organisation said the majority of migrant worker deaths in Qatar are attributed to “natural causes”, cardiac or respiratory failure; classifications which are “meaningless” without the underlying cause of death explained, according to one expert cited.

Continue reading...

Mauritius FA looks into claim recording device seen in women’s toilets in May

Posted on by
  • Cleaner Bindou Kistnairain wrote letter to human resources
  • Police to submit file on voyeurism to public prosecutors

A cleaner who works at the Mauritius Football Association has claimed she found a mobile phone in recording mode in the women’s toilets at its headquarters three months before a complaint was lodged with police by another employee.

Two board members have stepped down over the MFA’s handling of accusations made this month by the administrative secretary, Mila Sinnasamy, that the mobile phone discovered on 30 July was concealed in a blue basket placed in the water tank of the women’s toilet at the MFA’s headquarters in Trianon, 15 km from the capital, Port Louis.

Continue reading...

9,000 Covid cases linked to Euro 2020 games in mass events scheme

Posted on by

Study paper says England’s progress to final ‘generated a significant risk to public health across the UK’

More than 9,000 Covid infections were linked to Euro 2020 football games monitored for the government’s mass events test scheme, and scientists have said the tournament generated “a significant risk to public health”.

An analysis of the third and final stage of the research programme, released on Friday, found that more than 85% of all the infections connected to the 49 days of various outdoor sport, music and entertainment events came from the eight Euros games involved, and mainly the semi-final and final.

Continue reading...

‘The greatest striker’: Gerd Müller, legendary German forward, dies aged 75

Posted on by
  • Müller scored the winning goal in the 1974 World Cup final
  • Oliver Kahn: ‘He will forever be a part of the history of Bayern’

Legendary German striker Gerd Müller has died aged 75. The forward scored 68 goals in 62 appearances for West Germany, including the winning goal in the 1974 World Cup final against Holland.

During 15 years at Bayern, Muller netted a record 365 goals in 427 Bundesliga games and 66 goals in 74 European matches.

Continue reading...

‘Perfect harmony’: Lionel Messi seals PSG move as he signs two-year contract

Posted on by
  • Deal worth about €35m a year net and has option to extend
  • ‘I can’t wait to set foot on the Parc des Princes pitch’

Lionel Messi will be presented as a Paris Saint-Germain player on Wednesday after signing a two-year contract. The deal includes an option to extend by a year and gives the forward a net salary of about €35m (£29.6m) with bonuses factored in.

Related: The little devil who became a deity: Messi exit leaves a void like no other

Continue reading...

‘A violation’: football star recounts having to strip during match to prove she was female

Posted on by

Tabitha Chawinga, a Malawi international who plays in China, has called for greater safeguards against abuse in her home country

The international footballer Tabitha Chawinga is calling on Malawi’s football authorities to introduce safeguards to protect women from abuse at all levels of the game.

Chawinga, who became the first woman from Malawi to sign for a European football team when she joined the Swedish club Krokom/Dvärsätts IF in 2014, said that she had been forced to strip in public during a match to prove she was female and was regularly trolled on social media about her looks.

Continue reading...

Lionel Messi leaving Barcelona after ‘obstacles’ thwart contract renewal

Posted on by
  • Messi has spent whole career at Spanish club and is free agent
  • Barcelona say La Liga regulations made new deal impossible

Barcelona have announced that Lionel Messi is leaving the club after “financial and structural obstacles” made it impossible to renew his contract. The forward, who has spent his whole career there, had been expected to re-sign after his deal expired in June.

“Despite FC Barcelona and Lionel Messi having reached an agreement and the clear intention of both parties to sign a new contract today, this cannot happen because of financial and structural obstacles (Spanish Liga regulations),” the club said.

Continue reading...

‘A lasting legacy of tolerance’: Marcus Rashford messages to be preserved

Posted on by

Notes left on defaced Manchester mural will be removed to protect from rain, amid plans for digital exhibition

Thousands of messages left on the mural of footballer Marcus Rashford in Manchester will be removed and preserved on Friday, to protect them from forecasted rain this weekend.

A team of archivists and conservators will detach the tributes so they are preserved for future generations to mark the national moment of solidarity that followed the mural being defaced and a torrent of racist abuse was targeted at the player on social media, as well as England teammates Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho.

Continue reading...

Tokyo 2020 social media teams banned from showing athletes taking the knee

Posted on by
  • IOC and Tokyo 2020 organisers gave instructions on Tuesday
  • Reference made to images from Team GB v Chile football match

The International Olympic Committee and Tokyo 2020 organisers have banned their social media teams from posting pictures of athletes taking the knee at these Olympic Games, the Guardian can reveal.

An insider said the message was delivered from on high on Tuesday evening Tokyo time, with a specific reference to Team GB’s women’s first football match against Chile, just hours before it kicked off in Sapporo on Wednesday.

Continue reading...

South Africa footballers test positive for Covid-19 in Tokyo Olympic Village

Posted on by
  • South Africa men’s squad in quarantine after three positives
  • Games president claims a ‘plan in place’ for village outbreak

Two South African footballers have become the first athletes in the Olympic Village to test positive for Covid-19, raising fears that the virus may force a growing number of competitors out of the Tokyo Games when they begin on Friday.

Related: Tokyo 2020: guide to the venues for the delayed Olympic Games

Continue reading...

Social networks’ anti-racism policies belied by users’ experience

Posted on by

Analysis: Twitter, Facebook and others condemn hateful speech, so why is it so easy to find on their sites?

The world’s biggest social networks say racism isn’t welcome on their platforms, but a combination of poor enforcement and weak rules have allowed hate to flourish.

In the hours after England’s loss to Italy in the European Football Championship, both Twitter and Facebook, which owns Instagram, issued statements condemning the swelling racist abuse.

Continue reading...

Tory MP says party must change attitude towards taking the knee

Posted on by

Exclusive: Steve Baker says ‘this may be a decisive moment for our party’ amid backlash over abuse of footballers

Conservatives urgently need to change their attitudes towards people taking the knee, an influential Tory MP has said amid an angry backlash against the government over the racist abuse of England footballers.

Steve Baker, the former minister and hard Brexit campaigner, broke cover on Tuesday to plead for his party to think again about dismissive attitudes towards the taking of the knee and calling for better understanding of the motives behind it.

Continue reading...

Manchester shows support for Marcus Rashford: ‘It’s evolved into something special’

Posted on by

Community comes together to back England footballer and oppose racism after mural was defaced

“We’re going to take the knee like the footballers do,” said Nahella Ashraf, leading a crowd of at least 300 people in performing the anti-racism gesture in front of the freshly repainted mural of Marcus Rashford on Tuesday evening.

Ashraf, a member of Manchester Stand Up to Racism, said she aimed to show “we are the majority” after the mural was defaced in the wake of England’s Euro 2020 final defeat.

Continue reading...

Euro 2020: abuse of England players condemned as Rashford mural vandalised – live!

Posted on by

Police are investigating the vandalism of the Marcus Rashford mural in Withington.

Chief Superintendent Paul Savill, of GMP’s City of Manchester division, said: “This is disgraceful behaviour and will absolutely not be tolerated.

“Greater Manchester prides itself on being made up from a number of diverse communities and hate crime in any form is completely unacceptable and not welcome here in our city.

Right, Simon Burnton is back with you – I’ll see you again in a little bit.

Continue reading...