International Football
FIFA CONFEDERATIONS CUP TO BE SCRAPPED FOR CLUBS TOURNAMENT
FIFA president, Gianni Infantino on Thursday said it could replace the Confederations Cup with a new world club competition.
He also confirmed that FIFA will officially recognise as world club champions the winners of the old Intercontinental Cup dating back to 1960 – a contest that became notorious for some of the most unsavoury matches in the sport.
The old competition for the Toyota Cup was essentially a contest of the European champion and that of South America.
FIFA currently organises a Club World Cup every year, featuring the champion clubs of each continent, but it has recently suffered from European dominance with teams from other regions unable to mount a serious challenge. The Confederations Cup is held in the year before a World Cup and features the respective national team champions of each continent.
“The current Club World Cup is a nice competition but it has not really had the impact that was hoped in development of club football around the world,” he told a media conference following a council meeting.
“We have to see if we can come up with something special, something new which will help club football and confederations all around the world.
“When FIFA organises a competition, it should be something special, so either we find a special tournament or we’d rather not do it.”
But Infantino stressed that it was important not to further congest the international calendar. “One option could be to organise it instead of the Confederations Cup,” he said.
The Club World Cup has been held in its current form since 2005. Before that, from 1980 to 2004, a single match was played between the champions of Europe and South America in Tokyo.
That in turn was preceded by the so-called Intercontinental Cup, which also featured European and South American champions and was played over two legs, with one match on each continent.
The fixture was marred by so much violence that, eventually, some teams refused to take part. One of the most notorious fixtures was in 1967, when a brutal two-leg tie between Scotland’s Celtic and Argentina’s Racing Club went to a replay in Uruguay.
Six players were sent off and became known as the “Battle of Montevideo”.
Among the teams to benefit from Friday’s decision were Italian club AC Milan, Uruguay’s Penarol and Real Madrid, who all won the Intercontinental three times in the 1960-2004 period.
A Pele-inspired Santos team, Portugal’s Porto and Brazil’s Sao Paulo were among the clubs to win it twice.
Other winners have included Argentinian clubs Racing Club, Estudiantes, Velez Sarsfield and River Plate, Paraguay’s Olimpia and Brazil’s Flamengo.
Well-travelled Portuguese coach Paulo Duarte has been named as Guinea’s new coach, less than a month before their next round of World Cup qualifiers.
Duarte, 56, has twice previously coached Burkina Faso and taken charge of Gabon and Togo, while also coaching at clubs in Portugal, France, Tunisia, Angola and Saudi Arabia.
Guinea’s football federation gave no contract details when they made the announcement on Monday, but said they would be looking for Duarte to “restructure their national team”.
Guinea trail leaders Algeria by eight points in their World Cup qualifying group with four games remaining, leaving them with only a slim chance of qualification.
They play Somalia away on September 5 and then Algeria at home on September 8 in their next two qualifiers although a stadium ban means Guinea have moved their home game to Casablanca, Morocco.
-Reuters
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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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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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