Football News: Review Of The Day 28th September 2018
Image from: freelargeimages.com
Review of the Day
South Sudan Coach Quits
The head coach of South Sudan, Ahcene Ait Abdelmalek, after South Sudanese Football Association (SSFA) officials interfered in team selection. Abdelmalek told BBC Sport: "They (unspecified officials in the SSFA) interfere and say this player must play and this player should not play, and why is this player not playing? I know that one day every country that I have gone to and where I have worked, whether I decide to stay or to go, things change positively, and I am sure that South Sudan will move forward. My decision to resign is a good decision; perhaps it will bring a positive change. Perhaps I have disturbed people here. Perhaps the others would say I am on the side of the truth and others would say they are on the side of truth."
Hearts And Aberdeen Register Their Disgust With Cup Scheduling
The Scottish Professional Football League have decided, in their infinite wisdom (or should that be amateurism?), to play both Scottish League Cup semi-finals on the same day at Hampden. Aberdeen are now set to face Rangers on 12:00GMT on Sunday 28th October and Hearts will play Celtic at 7:45pm on the same day.
Arsenal Withdraw Contract Offer To Ramsey
With his contract due to expire in the summer, Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey looks certain to leave the Gunners after they withdrew their contract offer to him. An agreement had been made with the Wales international over a 4-year deal, but Arsenal decided to pull out of any deal before it was signed. Ramsey is currently the Gunners' longest serving player, having joined in 2008 from Cardiff City, and has a contract that is set to expire in the summer.
Champions League To Use VAR From The 2019-20 Season
UEFA has announced that they will be introducing VAR to the Champions League from the start of the 2019-20 season. They will also use it in the 2019 Super Cup, Euro 2020, the Europa League from 2020-21 and the 2021 Nations League finals.
Germany Wins (Buys?) Euro 2024
Despite fans protesting throughout the Bundesliga and the scandal of buying the 2006 World Cup, Germany has been awarded the hosting rights to Euro 2024, beating out a bid from Turkey, who have yet to host a major international football tournament. This is now the 4th time the Turks have failed in a bid to host the Euros, having missed out on the rights to host 2008, 2012 and 2016 previously.
PSG Owners Pump Hundreds Of Millions Into Club
With Paris Saint-Germain's finances under investigation by UEFA over potential breaches of FFP regulations, the owners have moved to protect it from possible sanctions. A capital injection of 316million euros has come from Qatar Sports Investment, which will mostly offset the spending on Neymar Jr from Barcelona and Kylian Mbappe from AS Monaco.
Candreva Rejected Monaco
Inter Milan winger Antonio Candreva has revealed that he rejected the chance to join AS Monaco in the summer as part of the Keita Balde Diao deal. Candreva told Mediaset: "I was meant to leave, but then I decided to stay. Monaco was an opportunity, but I didn't take it into consideration because I had so much to prove at Inter. I want to prove myself here and indeed I have to. I am in a very strong team and there was simply nothing better than Inter."
Barca Release New Badge
Barcelona have released a new club badge, which is almost exactly the same as the old one, despite the five changes. At least it is not as bad as the new Juventus badge or the attempt Leeds United produced. However it looks basically the same and seems a pointless change.
Pirlo And Batistuta Nearing Managerial Careers
A group of former Serie A players have been awarded their UEFA coaching badges, allowing them to take their first steps on the rungs of football management in lower league football, if they choose to. The group included Andrea Pirlo, Gabriel Batistuta, Alberto Gilardino, Thiago Motta and Paolo Cannavaro who can all now work as assistant managers in top flight football while they look to get the rest of their badges to allow them to step up to the head coaching jobs.
Totti's Autobiography Causes Roma Exec To Resign
Francesco Totti has apologised for any uproar caused by his newly released autobiography after Franco Baldini quit after being accused of forcing Totti to retire as a player in the summer of 2017. Totti said: "That is not what I had hoped for. I didn't do this to get something off my chest. In fact, I hope there is nobody else who could get angry. I'm sorry - I never intended to cause any uproar. I would have preferred to have decided [when to retire] with my own head and my own body. If I would have done that, maybe it would have been a better ending."
Written by Tris Burke September 28 2018 05:51:57
Discuss rumours and transfers on our Arsenal rumours web page
Discuss rumours and transfers on our Leeds United rumours web page
Discuss rumours and transfers on our Rangers rumours web page
Discuss rumours and transfers on our Celtic rumours web page