International Football

WORLD CUP 2014 STADIUMS BECOME HOME TO CORONAVIRUS VICTIMS

Published

5 years ago

March 30, 2020

The costly football stadiums Brazil built and refurbished in the run-up to the 2014 World Cup are finding new life as health centres for patients with coronavirus.

Local governments have started signing agreements to use the stadiums – once destined for star-studded matches – as makeshift hospitals and vaccine centres to help deal with an expected surge of Covid-19 cases.

With football in the country suspended until further notice, more than half the clubs in Brazil’s Serie A have given up their stadiums as authorities in densely populated Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro seek to expand hospital capacity to deal with the crisis.

Current South American champions Flamengo are giving control of their famous Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro to health authorities, said club president Rodolfo Landim.

“In this grim moment, I wanted to invite our great Red and Black nation to renew hope and work for better days. Let us take care of our elders, help those who need it most,” he wrote in a message to supporters.

Authorities in Sao Paulo – Brazil’s biggest city – said they would install 200 beds in a field hospital at the Pacaembu municipal stadium to relieve pressure on the city’s hospitals. Work is already underway at the venue – where football legend Pele played hundreds of matches for Santos FC – while two of the city’s big clubs were also lending a hand.

Santos announced that a temporary clinic would be set up in one of the lounges inside its Vila Belmiro stadium.

Corinthians said they have made their Itaquerao stadium and their training headquarters available “so that the authorities can evaluate how they can be used to combat the spread of the disease”.

On March 23, Allianz Parque, home of the Palmeiras football club in Sao Paulo, a line of people snaked around the outside of the stadium as if a match were about to start. But these were not football fans – they were high-risk Brazilians spaced 3m apart and there to get flu shots.

For Brazilians, it is a useful transformation of structures dubbed “white elephants” that later became symbols of corruption in Latin America’s largest economy.

Back in 2014, the idea of Brazil spending US$11 billion (S$15.7 billion) to host the World Cup was a contentious one, with locals and foreigners alike arguing that a nation struggling to provide basic health care, education and even sewage has no right diverting resources to a football championship.

As construction began, the staggering price tag for the stadiums fuelled a frenzy of protests. One common chant: “We want hospitals with Fifa standards!”

In neighbouring Argentina, six major clubs including Buenos Aires’ Boca Juniors and River Plate have also opened their gates should officials need the space.

Brazil currently has over 4,000 confirmed infections and deaths top 100.

A week ago, Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta had predicted the virus would reach its peak in the country between April and June, anticipating a drop in Covid-19 infections from September.

Mandetta warned the health system in the country of 210 million people could reach saturation by the end of April.

–AFP

International Football

Veteran coach Van Gaal says he is cured of cancer

Published

6 days ago

July 12, 2025

Kunle Solaja

Veteran coach Louis van Gaal says he has been cured of cancer and is keen for a return to the higher levels of the game.

The 73-year-old announced three years ago that he was suffering from prostate cancer, but told a Dutch television talk show, “I’m no longer bothered by cancer.”

When he announced his illness, Van Gaal was the coach of the Dutch national team, but he has not worked since the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022.

“Two years ago, I had a few operations. It was all bad then. But it all worked out in the end. I have check-ups every few months, and that’s going well. I’m getting fitter and fitter,” he said.

Van Gaal, whose career has included stints at Ajax Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, reiterated a lack of interest in returning to club management but said becoming the national coach of a top-tier country could tempt him back.

He now serves as a special advisor to Ajax.

-Reuters

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International Football

Like father like son, Davide Ancelotti becomes Brazil’s Botafogo manager

Published

1 week ago

July 9, 2025

Kunle Solaja

Davide Ancelotti, son of Brazil's Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti, has been appointed coach of Botafogo, the Rio de Janeiro club announced on Tuesday.

In a compelling twist of football destiny, Davide Ancelotti is stepping into his own spotlight as he begins his first head coaching role at Brazilian club Botafogo—just months after parting ways with his legendary father, Carlo Ancelotti, at Real Madrid.

The 35-year-old has been appointed as Botafogo’s new manager, the club announced on Tuesday, following the sacking of Renato Paiva. Davide, who has spent the last decade working alongside his father at some of Europe’s top clubs—including Bayern Munich, Napoli, Everton, and Real Madrid—has signed a one-year deal with the Rio-based team.

This marks a significant milestone for the younger Ancelotti, whose career has long been shaped by his father’s influence, but who now faces the challenge of carving his own identity on the touchline.

The move comes shortly after both father and son departed Real Madrid at the end of last season, with Carlo taking over the Brazilian national team. Now, in a poetic alignment, father and son find themselves on different paths within Brazilian football—one leading the Seleção, the other steering the fortunes of a storied domestic club.

Botafogo’s decision to appoint Davide follows a controversial parting with Paiva, who was dismissed just days after their exit from the Club World Cup. Though he oversaw a stunning win over Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain, a 1-0 extra-time loss to Palmeiras in the round of 16 proved to be his final act after just four months in charge.

As Davide Ancelotti begins this new chapter, all eyes will be on whether the son of one of football’s most decorated managers can step out from his father’s shadow—and perhaps, in time, build a legacy of his own.

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International Football

Players’ union, FIFPRO, wants 20-minute halftimes, more cooling breaks amid extreme heat

Published

2 weeks ago

July 2, 2025

Kunle Solaja

Global players’ union FIFPRO is exploring whether extending halftime to 20 minutes and introducing more frequent cooling breaks could better protect players from extreme heat.

Nine of the 16 host cities for the 2026 World Cup face conditions considered “extreme risk” for heat-related illness.

Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Guadalajara, Houston, Kansas City, Miami, Monterrey and Philadelphia are expected to face dangerous levels of heat and humidity, posing player safety concerns and fuelling calls for mandatory cooling aids or schedule changes.

FIFPRO’s heat risk assessments are based on wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), a measure combining temperature, humidity, solar radiation and wind speed to estimate how environmental conditions affect the body’s ability to cool itself.

Under FIFPRO guidelines, a WBGT reading above 28 degrees Celsius indicates conditions in which matches should be postponed or rescheduled to protect players’ health.

By comparison, world soccer governing body FIFA’s own guidelines set the extreme risk threshold higher, at 32 degrees Celsius WBGT – but even by that standard, six of the nine cities are still projected to exceed safe limits.

Major League Soccer in the U.S. has a threshold of 29 degrees Celsius WBGT.

“Cooling breaks at the 30th minute and 75th minutes are quite traditional, but from a physiological point of view it does not make sense,” said Vincent Gouttebarge, FIFPRO’s Medical Director.

“Even if you ingest more than 200 millilitres of fluid, you already cannot take it all. So I would definitely like to see some project where we look at the efficacy of perhaps more frequent but shorter cooling breaks – every 15 minutes, rather than only one during each half.”

LONGER HALFTIMES

Gouttebarge also questioned whether the traditional 15-minute halftime interval is sufficient when matches are played in extreme heat.

“You can imagine that halftime of 15 minutes might not be enough in order to decrease the core temperature,” he said.

“It could be a halftime of 20 minutes which would be significant. That has been shown in the laboratory and FIFPRO, together with the national union in Portugal in August, we are going to test this kind of mitigation strategy.”

The urgency of stronger heat protocols became clear at this month’s Club World Cup where two matches — Benfica-Bayern Munich in Charlotte and Chelsea-Esperance in Philadelphia exceeded the WBGT threshold FIFPRO considers unsafe.

“According to our position, those games should have been postponed later that day or rescheduled,” Gouttebarge said.

FIFPRO officials acknowledged that FIFA has responded constructively during the tournament by lowering thresholds for mandatory cooling breaks and improving pitch-side hydration, but stressed that proactive planning is critical.

“FIFA have been quite responsive once the tournament was under way,” said Alex Phillips, FIFPRO General Secretary.

“They have actually modified how they’ve been dealing with heat during the matches based on FIFPRO’s input, which is credit to the work of the team. Obviously, it would have been better if that happened in advance, but it’s better that they have adapted.”

FIFPRO warned that the risks highlighted at the Club World Cup are a preview of what players could face at the expanded 2026 World Cup.

“This is not just affecting the Club World Cup, but also future tournaments either in the U.S. or elsewhere in the world,” said Alexander Bielefeld, FIFPRO Director of Policy & Strategic Relations.

“We need a better balance between commercial interests and the health and safety of players,” he added, referring to earlier kick-off times to accommodate European television audiences.

-Reuters

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