Football News: Review Of The Day 9th March 2022

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Review of the Day

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Contracts

Ross County have given their English midfielder Jordan Tillson a contract extension ending in 2024.

Transfers

Estonian centre-back Joonas Tamm has taken advantage of the changes FIFA made (see below) to sign for FC Flora on loan from Ukrainian club Vorskla Poltava.

Aberdeen have released former Celtic midfielder Scott Brown.

Injury Round-Up

Kylian Mbappe has been picked in Paris Saint-Germain's squad despite struggling with a foot injury picked up in training.

Leeds United forward Tyler Roberts is unlikely to play again this season after undergoing surgery to repair a ruptured hamstring tendon.

Stoke City's former Manchester United playmaker Nick Powell has been ruled out for 6 weeks with a quad muscle injury.

Managerial Changes

Comoros have promoted assistant Younes Zerdouk to the head coach role. The Moroccan replaces Amir Abdou, who has moved on to take charge of Mauritania.

Despite removing the technical teams of all their national teams from their jobs, Guinea have confirmed that former Arsenal player Kaba Diawara has been kept on as coach, for now at least.

Javier Clemente has left the post of head coach of the Libyan national team by mutual consent. Fellow Spaniard Ramon Catola has taken over on an interim basis.

Disciplinary Charges

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has revealed that he disagreed with the club's decision to appeal against the 3-match ban Kyle Walker was handed for his sending off against RB Leipzig in the Champions League. Guardiola said: "When a player does a stupid thing, he deserves to be banned for three games. I'm not so kind to Kyle in this kind of action. I'm still so angry with him. It's not necessary to discuss with him. Kyle is so important for us, you saw the game he played against United, but in Leipzig when we had already qualified, 80 minutes in and he made this kind of action? He deserves the three games. The club appealed but I did not agree. They had to do it because in other similar cases it was just two games, he deserved it. Hopefully he learns for the future."

Mexican side Queretaro have been ordered to play their home games behind closed doors for a year after the crowd violence that broke out in their home match with Atlas at the weekend. The match had to be ended after 63 minutes as the fighting spilled out on to the pitch and 3 people remain in a critical condition in hospital. The league have blamed organised fan groups for the violence saying they "don't want criminals in disguise". Queretaro fans have also been banned from away games for 3 years.

Ukraine Invasion

FIFA have announced that they have suspended the contracts of foreign players and coaches in Russia and Ukraine and will allow them to join new clubs outside of the transfer window until the end of the season: "In order to provide players and coaches with the opportunity to work and receive a salary, and to protect Ukrainian clubs, unless the parties to the relevant contract explicitly agree otherwise, all employment contracts of foreign players and coaches with clubs affiliated to the Ukrainian Association of Football (UAF) will be deemed automatically suspended until the end of the season in Ukraine (30 June 2022), without the need for any action from the parties to this effect." The same rules also apply to those in the Russian Premier Liga. FIFPro have criticised the change as not going far enough for those players under contract to Russian clubs: "The decision ... to allow foreign players to only suspend their contracts and thus only temporarily leave Russian clubs is too timid. It will be hard for players to find employment for the remainder of the season with uncertainty looming over them and, within a few weeks, they will be in a very difficult situation once again. It is unsatisfactory even for players who are tied to short-term contracts in Russia where contracts typically end in December-and who may not want or be able to return after 30 June 2022... FIFPRO communicated to FIFPRO last week that these players should be allowed to terminate their contracts." In essence what FIFA have done is allow foreign players for Ukrainian and Russian teams to go on loan until 30th June.

The Premier League has suspended its broadcast deal with Russia meaning no live games will be (legally anyway) shown in the country. The league has also said it will donate £1m to support the people in the Ukraine. The Football Association has also suspended its broadcast deal, which means the forthcoming FA Cup matches will also not be shown there. The English Football League has also suspended broadcast of its feeds to Russia.

Wales will play their play-off semi-final against Austria for the 2022 World Cup this month, despite uncertainty over their opponents. The tie between Scotland and Ukraine, the winners of whom will face the winners of the Wales v Austria play-off, has been postponed. The winners of each tie were due to face off in Cardiff on 29th March for a place in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Merson Hits Out At Sickening Ads

Paul Merson has hit out at rich former players and managers who appear in gambling adverts. Merson, who has battled with addiction throughout his life, is campaigning for betting laws to be changed to protect others from the struggles he has had. Marson said: "I see people in adverts and they are rich. I could understand it if they were a League One or League Two player and had not earned much from the game, but the people doing the adverts are multi-millionaires. Do they need the money? Do you need that extra £50,000? It sickens me. If they knew a family member who was addicted, I don't think they would do it. They don't really understand the addiction and the compulsion and what it does to lives. Then you have podcasts sponsored by betting companies. Do you need to make that buck as well? It does my head in."

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Written by Tris Burke March 09 2022 10:01:28