CELEBRITY
SERENA WILLIAMS, HOLLYWOOD CELEBRITIES BEHIND NEW WOMEN’S PRO FOOTBALL TEAM
A group of celebrities led by Hollywood star Natalie Portman has founded a women’s professional soccer team set to debut in 2022, the women’s pro soccer league said Tuesday (July 21).
Big-names involved in the effort include tennis megastar Serena Williams, as well as Hollywood stars Jessica Chastain, Eva Longoria, America Ferrera and Jennifer Garner.
“A majority woman-founded group” led by Portman “has secured the exclusive right to bring a professional women’s soccer team to Los Angeles to kick off in Spring 2022,” the National Women’s Soccer League said.
The team’s formal name is yet to be announced, but “the group has formally coined itself ‘Angel City’ in honour of its planned home in Los Angeles,” the statement said.
It would become the 11th team in the NWSL. Currently, there are nine teams in the league, but one other team – the Louisville FC – is set to rejoin the league in 2021.
The founding investor group includes Williams’s young daughter Olympia, and several former US Women’s National Team players including Mia Hamm, Lauren Cheney Holiday and Abby Wambach.
Gaming entrepreneur Julie Uhrman will be the franchise president.
“Today we take an exciting step by announcing the first women majority-owned and led ownership group,” said Portman, who won an Oscar in 2011 for her role in “Black Swan.”
“Sports are such a joyful way to bring people together, and this has the power to make tangible change for female athletes both in our community and in the professional sphere,” she said.
Portman, who has been active in causes such as the “Time’s Up” movement against sexual abuse in the entertainment industry, said that the franchise hopes “to make a substantive impact on our community, committing to extending access to sports for young people in Los Angeles.”
The NWSL, which had its inaugural season in 2013, was the first US professional sports league to restart activities amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The league’s Challenge Cup tournament has been held since June 27, with teams playing in two stadiums in the state of Utah without spectators and without some of its biggest stars, including Megan Rapinoe.
The tournament’s final game is scheduled for Sunday. The United States is a powerhouse of women’s soccer and the current world champions.
-AFP
Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first footballer to reach billionaire status, according to the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which has valued the Portugal great’s net worth at an estimated $1.4 billion.
The 40-year-old striker’s financial ascent comes after he signed a new contract with Saudi side Al-Nassr in June reportedly worth more than $400 million.
Bloomberg said that Ronaldo earned more than $550 million in salary between 2002 and 2023, supplemented by a decade-long Nike deal worth nearly $18 million annually, and lucrative endorsements with Armani, Castrol and others that added more than $175 million to his fortune.
Ronaldo’s move to Al-Nassr from Manchester United in 2023 had already made him the highest-paid player in football history, with an annual salary of 177 million pounds ($237.52 million), plus bonuses and a reported 15% share in his Saudi Arabia club.
Argentina and Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi has earned more than $600 million in pre-tax salary during his career.
Ronaldo’s billionaire status places him among a rare group of athletes that includes basketball greats Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and LeBron James, golfer Tiger Woods and tennis player Roger Federer.
Ronaldo suggested he is not considering retirement any time soon.
“I still have a passion for this,” he said at the Portugal Football Globes gala on Tuesday. “My family says it’s time to quit and they ask me why I want to score 1000 goals if I’ve already scored 900-something. But I don’t think that way inside.
“I’m still producing good things, I’m helping my club and the national team. Why not continue? I am sure that when I finish I will leave full because I gave everything of myself. I know I don’t have many years left to play, but the few I have left, I have to enjoy them to the fullest.”
-Reuters
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Former England soccer captain David Beckham and actor Gary Oldman were knighted in King Charles’ annual birthday honours list on Saturday, while sculptor Antony Gormley was made a Companion of Honour.
Beckham, 50, joined Manchester United as a trainee in 1993, going on to make almost 400 appearances for the club where he won a string of titles and cups.
He subsequently played for Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, and Inter Milan, as well as captaining his country 58 times and making 115 appearances.
His marriage to fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham in 1999 cemented a celebrity status which went far beyond his sporting exploits.
Oldman, 67, started his career on the stage, where he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before rising to prominence in film. He won the best actor Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in the 2017 drama “Darkest Hour”.
He also had roles in the “Dark Knight Trilogy” and the “Harry Potter” movie series and more recently starred in the TV spy drama “Slow Horses”.
Other famous names receiving honours included damehoods for musical theatre star Elaine Paige, novelist Pat Barker and ceramics maker Emma Bridgewater.
Roger Daltrey, lead singer of rock band the Who and a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust, received a knighthood for services to charity.
More than 1,200 people received honours for their achievements, with a particular focus on those who had given their time to public service, the government said.
King Charles’ official birthday will be celebrated with the annual “Trooping the Colour” military parade in London on Saturday. His actual birthday is on November 14
-Reuters
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One of three judges in Diego Maradona’s closely scrutinized homicide trial in Argentina resigned on Tuesday amid a scandal triggered by the alleged filming of an unauthorised documentary, bringing uncertainty to the future of legal proceedings.
The high-profile trial over the death of soccer star Maradona began on March 11 in the South American country where the World Cup winner is still revered.
-Reuters
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