Football News: Review Of The Day 11th December 2020
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Review of the Day
Contracts
Barcelona's French international forward Antoine Griezmann has ended his sponsorship deal as a brand ambassador for Chinese telecoms firm Huawei after there were claims that the company had been involved in the surveillance of Muslim Uighurs. Griezmann wrote on social media: "Following strong suspicions that Huawei has contributed to the development of a 'Uighurs alert' through the use of facial recognition software, I am immediately ending my partnership with the company." Huawei have denied the claims.
Transfers
VfL Wolfsburg have signed teenage midfielder Aster Vranckx from KV Mechelen. The 18 year old will join the Bundesliga side next summer.
Udinese have loaned Spanish striker Cristo to CD Mirandes in the Spanish second tier.
Major League Soccer side Chicago Fire have signed 21 year old Bulgarian forward Stanislav Ivanov.
Injury Round-Up
Huddersfield Town forward Josh Koroma has picked up a hamstring injury which will keep him out for 3 months.
27 year old defender Mikey Devlin has been ruled out for 3 months. The Aberdeen defender blocked a shot from a team mate in training and damaged an ankle tendon.
Managerial Changes
The English Football League have appointed Tottenham Hotspur's director of football operations, Trevor Birch, as their new chief executive. The 62 year old will take up his new position on 1st January 2021. Spurs' finance and operations director Matthew Collecott will fill in for Birch until the end of the season.
Disciplinary Charges
Morecambe striker Jordan Slew has been given a 3 match ban for violent conduct. The forward admitted the charge over an incident which was not spotted by match officials but caught by TV cameras.
Carlisle United's director of football David Holdsworth has been fined £750 for misconduct. Holdsworth admitted using abusive and insulting words towards to a match officials.
Sierra Leone duo Samuel Barlay and Ibrahim Koroma have been cleared of match fixing due to a "lack of enough evidence". Barlay told the BBC: "I shed tears when I received the news because I have always known that I'm innocent. I welcome the news but I'm not happy because the SLFA has dented my image and as a result my career has been damaged. My good image can't be restored. I'll never fix a match, I'll never do such a bad thing to the country I love and I have sacrificed for. It's sad because the decision of the SLFA ethics committee came at the time I have already retired. I took the decision to hang my boot at the end of 2018 because of the damage the match fixing allegation has done to my career. My Azerbaijani club Ravan terminated my contract and teams were no longer interested in signing me due to the false allegations. Sadly, this is how my country chose to pay me back for all my sacrifice on the pitch for Sierra Leone from under-17 to senior national team level."
Arsenal's Gabon forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been fined $10,000 by the Confederation of African Football for the social media posts he put up while he and his Gabon team-mates were stranded in an airport in The Gambia. A CAF statement read: "Aubameyang has publicly published offensive and degrading material that undermines the honour and image of the Confederation of African Football. The Caf Disciplinary Board decided to impose a fine of 10,000 USD for breach of the values of sportsmanship and integrity on the Gabonese Football Federation for the regrettable behaviour of the player." The Gambia Football Federation has also been fined $100,000 for their role in an incident which ended with the Gabon team sleeping on the airport floor the night before an African Cup of Nations qualifier against The Gambia. CAF stated: "The Gambian federation did not comply to the loyalty, integrity and sportsmanship values and rules of Fair Play concerning the reception of the Gabonese Delegation. The Disciplinary Board decided to impose upon the Gambian federation a fine of 100,000 USD (One Hundred Thousand US Dollars) of which 50,000 USD (Fifty Thousand US Dollars) are suspended on the condition that the federation is not found guilty of a similar offense within a period of twenty-four (24) months."
Pyramids FC player Ibrahim Hassan Abdellatif has been suspended for 2 years for failing a drugs test. 22 months are suspended.
Nottingham Forest have been fined £5,000 by the Football Association after their players "failed to behave in an orderly fashion" during their draw with Watford.
The Worst Named Cup In Football's Draw
The Papa John's Trophy Third Round Draw:
Northern Section:
Tranmere Rovers v Leicester City U21
Lincoln City v Accrington Stanley
Sunderland v Port Vale
Hull City v Fleetwood Town
Southern Section:
Bristol Rovers v AFC Wimbledon
Northampton Town v MK Dons
Oxford United v Cambridge United
Peterborough United v Portsmouth
Rossi Passes Away
Former Italian international Paolo Rossi, whose name is synonymous with their 1982 World Cup win in Spain, has passed away at the age of 64. Rossi scored 20 goals in 48 appearances for his country and was awarded the Ballon d'Or for his performances at the World Cup, but it all could have been so different. Rossi had been banned for his part in the 1980 Totonero match-fixing scandal (one of a lengthy list of football scandals in Italian football) but his suspension was reduced to allow him to play in the tournament. Rossi always maintained his innocence and described winning the World Cup as a "personal redemption", even though his name was never cleared.
Written by Tris Burke December 11 2020 04:59:25
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