Governing Bodies
LIVERPOOL RISK PREMIERSHIP TITLE EXCEPT OTHERS AGREE ON NEUTRAL VENUE PLAN
Liverpool, the run-away leaders of the current Premiership season may not be crowned! Before the current global lockdown on all sporting activities, the club was on the verge of being crowned champions for the first time in 30 years.
But according to information gathered from Daily Mail, the English Premier League season could be cancelled if teams do not agree to play the remaining 92 fixtures in neutral venues amid the Covid-19 pandemic, League Managers Association (LMA) chief executive Richard Bevan said on Wednesday (May 6).
Professional football has been suspended since mid-March due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with Britain suffering the highest death toll in Europe.
Discussions are continuing about resuming matches after clubs were told this month on a Premier League conference call that only neutral venues approved from a health and safety point of view will be allowed.
Asked if the 2019-20 campaign would be cancelled if teams voted against playing in neutral venues, Bevan told the BBC: “Yes, I think that probably is correct.
“The government, if they haven’t already, will be making it clear that home matches with densely populated stadia, really puts into question whether social distancing rules can be adhered to.”
On Wednesday, Aston Villa became the latest Premier League club threatened by relegation to reject proposals to restart the season behind closed doors at neutral venues.
Villa’s chief executive Christian Purslow said the plan would increase the risk of an economic “catastrophe” for his club should they fall out of the lucrative English top-flight.
Brighton chief executive Paul Barber also admitted to “self-interest” in objecting to the proposals, while West Ham vice-chairman Karen Brady has claimed “no one wants” to play at neutral sites.
Clubs at risk of relegation argue that the integrity of the competition would be compromised by the neutral-venue plan.
One controversial idea being floated by those at risk at the bottom of the table is to scrap relegation for this season even if matches can restart.
Villa are second bottom, two points from safety, but with a game in hand on fourth-bottom Watford.
“At the bottom end of the table there’s a much smaller revenue base, but the risk of relegation is probably a £200 million (S$351 million) catastrophe for any club that mathematically could still go down,” Purslow told TalkSport.
“We’re a club that prides itself on home form. Two-thirds of our wins this season have come at home.
“We’ve got six home games left to play and I think any Villa fan would agree that giving up that advantage is a massive decision for somebody running Aston Villa and I certainly wouldn’t agree to that unless those circumstances are right.” Villa could still be relegated even if no more matches took place should the Premier League choose to use the points-per-game model used by France’s Ligue 1.
Lyon have threatened legal action after missing out on a European place and the Premier League is keen to avoid a similar fallout, with the financial stakes even higher in England.
The Premier League is desperate not to lose out on an estimated £762 million of television revenue and broadcasters are not believed to be keen on removing the jeopardy of relegation from the remaining matches.
English Football League chairman Rick Parry warned on Tuesday that “lawyers are going to get wealthy” if the Premier League tried to block promotion from the Championship.
Premier League clubs are set to meet again on Monday in the hope of agreeing a consensus on the protocols for a return to training and eventually matches.
That meeting will take place a day after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to set out his plans to ease a nationwide lockdown.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday gave the Bundesliga the go-ahead to resume from mid-May behind closed doors.
However, there remains unease at the prospect of players being rushed back into contact sport while the rest of the country is being encouraged to continue social-distancing measures.
A number of Premier League club doctors have reportedly raised a range of concerns, including over their liability and insurance if players catch the virus.
“I’d respect them more if they said ‘We accept the increase in health risk but it’s one we are willing to take’,” said former Manchester United captain Gary Neville on the Premier League’s stance.
“They won’t as they are frightened to death.”
-AFP
Governing Bodies
Nigeria becoming an epicentre of global badminton as Francis Orbih enters the Badminton World Federation Council
Laurels on the courts and now glory in the boardroom sums up the mark that badminton is making in Nigeria.
The President, Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN), Francis Orbih, has been elected as a council member of the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
The election took place during the BWF Annual General Meeting on Saturday in Xiamen, China.
Orbih emerged victorious over top contenders from other African countries.
He will join Cameroon’s Odette Assembe Engoulou on the council, while Chipo Zumburani (Zimbabwe) and Hadia ElSaid (Egypt) missed out.
An elated Orbih expressed his gratitude to fellow badminton presidents across the globe for their trust and support.
He said, “I am deeply honoured by the trust placed in me by my peers across the badminton world.
“I look forward to quality representation, driving development initiatives, and strengthening badminton’s global reach over the next four years.”
Orbih also acknowledged the support of the Federal Government of Nigeria, particularly the National Sports Commission (NSC), which he said played a significant role in his successful bid.
“The Chairman and the Director General of the NSC monitored the entire process. I’m grateful for their involvement and confident Nigeria will benefit from this,” he stated.
He further appreciated the BFN board members and the Nigerian badminton community for their prayers and continued belief in his leadership.
“From the day I declared my intentions, the board members of BFN have been supportive, and I promise not to disappoint them,” Orbih concluded.
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A former member of the FIFA Council, Mamoutou Toure, has been released from jail in Mali after almost two years in detention for alleged corruption, Malian media reports said on Wednesday.
Toure, president of the Malian Football Federation since 2019, was released after 622 days in prison on Tuesday.
He served on the FIFA Council, world football’s all-powerful decision-making body, for four years until last month when he lost his seat after failing to contest new elections.
The 67-year-old was arrested in August 2023 on allegations of embezzling $28 million of public funds but was granted a provisional release order by the Malian courts, reports said.
He was accused of misconduct during his time as the National Assembly’s financial and administrative director from 2013-2019.
Toure denied all charges and, during his time in jail, was last August re-elected as Malian Football Federation president for a second consecutive term, with his supporters claiming he was a victim of a conspiracy fuelled by detractors.
While in jail, he received a letter of support from FIFA president Gianni Infantino. However, as of last month, Toure is no longer a member of the FIFA Council or the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee.
-Reuters
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The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has denied reports of an outstanding debt to former captain Christian Chukwu and has challenged anyone with verifiable documents to prove otherwise.
Chukwu, a former national team captain and chief coach, died last Saturday.
The Nigeria Football Federation decried statements in a section of social media that the football-ruling body was indebted to the deceased.
Reacting to one statement on social media that claimed NFF owed the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations-winning team captain the sum of $128,000, NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, said: “There is no record in the NFF of any outstanding indebtedness to ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu.
“During the first term of the Board headed by Amaju Pinnick, a committee was set up to diligently peruse the papers of coaches who were being owed, even from previous NFF administrations.
“That committee was given the clear mandate to verify all debts and ensure that the coaches being owed were paid immediately. I am aware that the ‘Chairman’ was in the employ of the NFF between 2002 and 2005, before he was relieved of the post following the 1-1 draw with Angola in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Kano in August 2005. There is certainly no record of indebtedness to him in the NFF.”
Sanusi challenged anyone with genuine and verifiable documents of NFF indebtedness to any coach, who has worked with any of the National Teams over the past two decades, to come forward and tender those documents.
“As a credible organization that is very much alive to its responsibilities, if we are confronted with any genuine document of indebtedness to any coach, we will offset the debt immediately.”
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