International Football
EGYPTIAN BUSINESS GIANTS INVEST $120M IN GHANA’S RIGHT TO DREAM ACADEMY
An Egyptian conglomerate worth billions of dollars has invested $120m to take control of the Right To Dream academy, which was founded in Ghana in 1999 by a former Manchester United scout.
Right To Dream started out with a handful of youngsters being trained by Tom Vernon, once Manchester United’s head scout in Africa, on basic dust-filled pitches in Accra.
Focusing on both education and football, Right To Dream has grown to such extent that it bought Danish top-flight side FC Nordsjaelland in 2015.
The academy has produced 20 Ghana internationals since it was founded, with Strasbourg’s Abdul Majeed Waris and Ajax Amsterdam’s Mohammed Kudus among them.
The Mansour Group, which reported revenues in excess of $7.5 billion in 2018, deals in a variety of interests, with automotive, energy, finance and food among them.
The group has created an entity called ManSports to oversee its first foray into the world of sports.
His son Loutfy – based in the English capital London – will head up ManSports.
While the Egyptian business giants have assumed majority control, with Mohamed Mansour becoming chairman, Vernon himself will remain as the ‘other significant shareholder’ in the company and operate as CEO.
“Our partnership with Right To Dream is taking a strong African-born organisation, with values that align to our own, and sharing more of it with the world to change more people’s lives,” said Mohamed Mansour.
“Growing the next generation of Egyptian football talent with aspiring boys and girls, and supporting the growth of our women’s team, is the most meaningful way for us to start investing in football.”
“Our expansion into Egypt and Europe is further evidence that Ghana can export its football values and culture, not just its players,” added Vernon, who originally started teaching pupils around his kitchen table.
Vernon has previously told the BBC that around 25,000 players are scanned every year before being admitted to the Ghanaian academy, from where many have gone on to gain scholarships board, especially in the United States.
“I think the African youth are really lacking in a lot of high-quality role models,” he said.
“Hopefully our systematic approach can say that there is a conveyor belt of kids who are ready to lead and inspire. That is our definition of success – not how many players we can produce.”
Around 70% of Ghana’s Right To Dream students come from families which earn less than two dollars a day.
“ManSports … will now focus on establishing a Right To Dream academy in Egypt, and furthering the activities of the Right To Dream academy in Ghana, the FC Nordsjaelland club and academy in Denmark,” a statement said.
ManSports is also keen to explore “UK opportunities at club and academy level”.
Right To Dream will now build an academy in Egypt, for boys and girls, with construction on the site in West Cairo set to begin this year ahead of an intended intake of students next year.
The launch of a new professional women’s football team in Egypt is expected to follow soon after.
Mansour Group chairman Mohamed Mansour is the seventh-richest man in Africa, and 590th in the world, according to Forbes magazine.
-BBC
International Football
Former Brazil coach Tite taking break to take care of mental, physical health
Former Brazil coach Tite said he is taking an indefinite career break in order to take care of his mental and physical health.
The 63-year-old, who led Brazil to the 2019 Copa America title, was hospitalised due to a heart issue last August. He was sacked by Flamengo the following month and had most recently been linked with the Corinthians job.
“I realised that there are times when you have to understand that, as a human being, I can be vulnerable and admitting that will certainly make me stronger,” Tite said in a statement posted on his son Matheus Bachi’s Instagram on Tuesday.
“I’m passionate about what I do and I’ll continue to be so, but after talking to my family and observing the signals my body was giving off, I decided that the best thing to do now is to take a break from my career to look after myself for as long as it takes.
“As has become public, there was a conversation in progress with Corinthians, but it will have to be paralysed by a difficult but necessary decision.”
Tite, who stepped down as Brazil coach after their quarter-final exit from the 2022 World Cup, has previously coached a string of Brazilian sides including Gremio, Atletico Mineiro and Palmeiras.
-Reuters
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Brazil have sacked head coach Dorival Jr, the country’s football confederation (CBF) said on Friday after the five-time world champions were thrashed 4-1 away to fierce rivals Argentina in a humiliating qualifying loss in Buenos Aires.
The 62-year-old was appointed in January 2024 after the team spent a year under two caretaker coaches as the Brazilian FA were unable to lure Italian Carlo Ancelotti from Real Madrid.
“The Brazilian Football Confederation informs that coach Dorival Jr is no longer in charge of the Brazilian national team,” the confederation said in a statement.
“The management thanks (Dorival) and wishes him success in continuing his career … the CBF will work to find his replacement,” it added.
Dorival was handed the job after his success with Flamengo in 2022 where he won the Copa Libertadores and Brazilian Cup, a trophy he lifted again the next year with Sao Paulo.
However, he never seemed to get to grips with the national team job and failed to earn the trust of Brazil’s demanding fans after winning only seven of his 16 games in charge.
Sources told Reuters the CBF was not confident in Dorival’s work, considering there had been little to no progress since a lacklustre Copa America campaign when Brazil were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Uruguay last year.
Still, the CBF was willing to wait and see until the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador and Paraguay in June to reassess the situation following the end of the European season and the Club World Cup in the U.S. in June and July.
But after Brazil slumped to their heaviest-ever loss in a qualifier when they were thrashed by Argentina this week, CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues decided to pull the trigger.
IDEAL CANDIDATE
Sources told Reuters Ancelotti was still the ideal candidate but he is under contract with Real until July 2026 and there is no indication he would leave the European and Spanish champions.
Brazilian media have reported that Al Hilal’s Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus is the favourite to replace Dorival.
Brazil have been in unfamiliar territory for over two years since crashing out of the 2022 World Cup against Croatia on penalties in the quarter-finals, a heartbreaking elimination that led to the exit of long-time manager Tite.
Their humbling defeat in Buenos Aires was the latest of a series of negative records Brazil have set under caretakers Ramon Menezes and Fernando Diniz and with Dorival in charge. They had never conceded four goals in a World Cup qualifier.
Brazil are in the midst of their worst-ever World Cup qualifying campaign. They are fourth in the South American standings with 21 points, a point above sixth-placed Colombia who currently occupy the final direct qualifying berth.
Never have Brazil lost so many games, conceded so many goals or set so many negative records in the qualifying competition. They have lost five of their 14 games and conceded 16 goals.
Brazil’s 1-0 defeat by Argentina in the Maracana late in 2023 was their first-ever qualifying loss on home soil.
They also lost to Colombia for the first time, saw the end of their unbeaten run against Uruguay stretching back over two decades and were defeated by Morocco and Senegal, having never previously lost to an African nation.
-Reuters
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International Football
England’s German manager Tuchel will not sing the English anthem in his first game
England manager Thomas Tuchel said he would have to “earn the right” to sing the national anthem, God Save the King, after announcing his 26-man squad on Friday ahead of the team’s World Cup qualifiers.
Tuchel, who was appointed as Gareth Southgate’s successor in October and named his first squad to face Albania and Latvia this month, said he would not sing the anthem in his first games in charge.
“It means a lot to me, I can assure you, but I can feel that because it is so meaningful and it is so emotional and it is so powerful, the national anthem, that I have to earn my right to sing it,” the 51-year-old German told a news conference.
Former caretaker manager Lee Carsley was criticised last year for not singing the anthem during his tenure.
However, Tuchel added that while he is proud to be in charge of the team and knows the words to the anthem, he plans to earn the right with results.
“Maybe I have to dive more into the culture and earn my right from you, from the players, from the supporters, so everyone feels like ‘he should sing it now, he’s one of our own, he’s the English manager, he should sing it’,” he said.
-Reuters
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