Youcef Atal was suspended by Nice for a social media post about the Israel-Hamas conflict, the Ligue 1 club said on Wednesday.
The Algerian international, who has been at the Ligue 1 side since 2018, has since deleted the post. He had been on international duty and was summoned to speak with the club as soon as he returned.
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...As elections loom, public turns against interior minister Gérald Darmanin after he blames Liverpool fans for Paris fiasco
When Paris stepped in to host the Champions League final, the biggest match in international football after the World Cup final, the French authorities saw a chance to show that the nation was the ideal place to hold global sporting events.
This weekend, those hopes appear to be dashed as French opinion polls show widespread disapproval of the chaos that ensued, amid growing criticism of politicians and the police.
Continue reading...When Thomas Tuchel was given the job of reviving Chelsea at the end of January, he wanted to return them to next season’s Champions League via a top-four Premier League finish. The notion that he might actually win the thing for only the second time in the club’s history was ludicrous.
Not any more. On a night of glory for him and his team, the manager applied the final brush strokes to his renaissance masterpiece, out-manoeuvring his friend and rival, Pep Guardiola, and watching Kai Havertz score the decisive goal just before half-time.
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Half-time entertainment. As things stand, it’s one heck of a day for west London. Paul Doyle was at Wembley to see Brentford finally make it to the promised land of the Premier League. Here’s his take on an excellent performance from the Bees.
Related: Ivan Toney, Brentford’s smooth operator, leads the way at Wembley | Paul Doyle
City look a little stunned as they make their way down the tunnel, Pep having very quickly disappeared down it beforehand. Chelsea stroll off, ten feet tall. A gorgeous Kai Havertz finish is the difference; Chelsea are 45 minutes away from their second European Cup! City have some thinking to do.
Continue reading...European football was thrown into turmoil on Sunday night after new plans for a European super league were revealed that would mean six English clubs – Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham – joining the breakaway competition alongside three teams from each of Italy and Spain.
Related: Only someone who truly hates football can be behind a European super league
Continue reading...The great-grandson of Italy’s fascist dictator Benito Mussolini has officially joined Lazio’s under-19 team.
Romano Floriani Mussolini, son of the former European parliamentarian Alessandra Mussolini, plays as a right-back and has already been called up twice by Lazio’s youth team.
Continue reading...Lionel Messi is staying at Barcelona. Ten days after he served official notice of his determination to walk out of the Camp Nou, he finally announced that he would not be going after all – not because he had changed his mind,but because he had been left with no choice.
Unwilling to go to court against the club who insisted he had missed the deadline allowing him to rescind his contract and threatened him with legal action if he departed unilaterally, he has been forced to continue.
Continue reading...Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s statue is likely to be relocated from outside Malmö’s stadium to another site in the city after repeated acts of vandalism.
The statue was unveiled outside the Swedbank Stadium last October but has come under attack since Ibrahimovic, who began his career with Malmö FF, became a part-owner of Hammarby, a rival top-flight club based in Stockholm.
Continue reading...An Italian football referee has been banned from officiating or attending football matches for one year, after headbutting a goalkeeper following a regional league match.
Italy’s Ansa news agency reported that on 1 February, Antonio Martiniello sent off Borgo Mogliano keeper Matteo Ciccioli during their home game against Montottone, in the eastern Macerata district. The hosts held on to win 3-1.
Continue reading...Masked protesters set bins on fire and threw rocks and glass bottles at police who responded with foam bullets in a street near Camp Nou stadium as Barcelona and Real Madrid faced off Wednesday in the first clásico of the season.
Forty-six people were lightly injured in the clashes, including eight who needed to be taken to hospital for extra care, local emergency services said. Five people were arrested, a police spokesman said.
Continue reading...Serie A has received widespread condemnation after artwork for an anti-racism campaign comprised three paintings of monkeys.
The three works were created by Simone Fugazzotto and will be on permanent display at the league’s headquarters in Milan. The league said the images are intended to “spread the values of integration, multiculturalism and brotherhood”.
Continue reading...Players and officials from top two divisions reportedly held over La Liga 2 game in May 2018
Police investigating an alleged match-fixing ring targeting Spain’s top three football leagues have arrested several people, including current and former players and senior club figures.
The country’s national police force said on Tuesday that its officers had carried out nine searches across Spain in connection with match-fixing, money laundering and criminal gangs.
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