Governing Bodies
BREAKAWAY EUROPEAN SUPER LEAGUE FOUNDER, AGNELLI GIVES UP
Breakaway European Super League (ESL) founder and Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli said on Wednesday that the league can no longer go ahead after six English clubs withdrew.
Asked whether the project could still happen after the exits, Agnelli told Reuters: “To be frank and honest no, evidently that is not the case.”
Twelve of Europe’s leading football clubs announced a breakaway league on Sunday (April 18) but after 48 hours of intense criticism and political opposition, the six English clubs backed out on Tuesday.
Agnelli said he remained convinced that European football needed change and he had no regrets about the way the breakaway attempt was made.
“I remain convinced of the beauty of that project,” Agnelli said, stating it would have created the best competition in the world.
“But admittedly… I mean, I don’t think that that project is now still up and running,” he said.
The coalition had already looked set to crumble further on Wednesday with Italian club Inter Milan expected to join the six English teams in withdrawing from the controversial breakaway competition.
A source close to Inter Milan confirmed to Reuters they were no longer interested in the project “in light of the latest developments”.
Inter’s departure would leave the ESL with just five teams: Italian Serie A’s Juventus and AC Milan along with Spanish sides Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.
Manchester City were the first to back out of the venture on Tuesday, before Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea followed suit.
Liverpool’s principal owner John Henry apologised in a video on the club’s website and social media on Wednesday.
Having triggered an enormous backlash from players, fans and football authorities, the Super League said late on Tuesday it would reconsider and look to “reshape” the project, while stopping short of throwing in the towel.
Agnelli had previously struck a more defiant tone in an interview with an Italian newspaper, though it was conducted before the ESL’s statement.
“There is a blood pact among our clubs, we will press ahead,” Agnelli told la Repubblica when asked if the ESL was sinking after the English withdrawals.
“Yes, it has a 100% chance of being a success.”
The Super League had argued that it would increase revenues to the top clubs and allow them to distribute more money to the rest of the game.
However, the sport’s governing bodies, other teams and fans organisations said the breakaway move would only boost the power and wealth of the elite clubs, and that the partially closed structure goes against European football’s long-standing model.
Amid fans’ celebrations on Wednesday, anger remained. Some pundits said the owners of the English teams would never be forgiven and called on them to pull out.
“They were going to sell the souls of our major football institutions,” said Liverpool great Graeme Souness.
“I don’t know how these clubs will manage to get back on-side.”
-Reuters
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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Nigeria becoming an epicentre of global badminton as Francis Orbih enters the Badminton World Federation Council
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