KICNEWS

Category: Sports

  • I’m worried about Man Utd’s league position – Amorim opens up

    I’m worried about Man Utd’s league position – Amorim opens up

    I’m worried about Man Utd’s league position – Amorim opens up

    Manchester United manager, Ruben Amorim, has claimed he is not worried about losing his job at the Premier League club.

    Amorim was speaking after the Red Devils slumped to their 12th league defeat of the season at Tottenham Hotspur.

    The 1-0 loss leaves United languishing in 15th position, two spots above the relegation zone.

    James Maddison’s goal in the first half proved enough in what was a tight affair in North London.

    Amorim has now lost eight of his 14 league fixtures since replacing Erik ten Hag.

    “I am not worried. I understand our fans, what the media think about it,” Amorim told the BBC.

    “I hate to lose, that feeling is the worst.

    “The rest I am not thinking about. I am here to help my players. I understand my situation, my job, I am confident in my work and I just want to win games.

    “The place in the table is my worry, I am not worried about me.”

     

  • Manchester United job a ‘fight every day’ – Ruben Amorim opens up

    Manchester United job a ‘fight every day’ – Ruben Amorim opens up

    Ruben Amorim says he feels like he is in a fight every day to turn Man Utd’s fortunes around – and admitted the most difficult part is to face up to the club’s fans amid their poor form.

    United go to Tottenham on Sunday – live on Sky Sports – languishing in 13th place in the Premier League and with just four wins from Amorim’s 13 league games in charge.

    Reflecting on the strain of that search for improved performances and results with Sky Sports’ Pat Davison, Amorim said: “It’s ups and downs. It’s a fight every day, with everything – with a lot of media! – then you have to cope with a lot of games.

    “Then when you are in this club – in any club – but in this club, if you cannot push for a lot of wins in a row, you are always fighting. That can be exhausting not just for me, for everybody in the club, and for the players.

    “We need to keep fighting and focus just on the small things, and for me the small thing is the next game.”

    Amorim said in his press conference on Friday he is under “bigger pressure” than Ange Postecoglou at Spurs. Speaking earlier to Sky Sports he explained he is currently finding it difficult to meet supporters, knowing he has so far been unable to deliver the consistent positive results they are hoping for.

    “It’s an honour,” he said when asked about the weight of pressure he is under.

    “When you have that feeling in the funeral of Denis Law, Kath [Phipps], the memorial of Munich [air disaster], to face the fans in this kind of moment, for me, is really hard.

    “They are so nice and they believe a lot in what we’re trying to do, they feel that I want to help the club. The hardest part is to face the fans in this moment. It’s really hard to face the fans, but I’m doing everything to help my players and the club to return to that position.

    “It’s going to take a lot of time – and people are tired of listening to that from many coaches here. We are in a very, very difficult situation but we have to carry on.

    “And to carry on is the small things: it’s trying to win the next game and surviving this season.”

    Amorim goes up against Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou with both managers having come under scrutiny this season but the Man Utd boss believes he’s under more pressure owing to the size of the club he’s managing.

    Asked whether he had sympathy for Postecoglou, Amorim said: “Of course, especially because he is a good guy. He’s a very good coach. He wants to play football in the right way, for me that is a good thing.

    “When we choose this profession there are a lot of good things but then you have to feel that pressure when you don’t win.

    “In my opinion, with all due respect, I am at a bigger club with bigger pressure. I understand the connection and he’s a really important coach to follow his principles.

    “I’m a huge fan of Ange Postecoglou. I’m from a different culture, I’m Portuguese and all the Portuguese coaches can adapt. I adapt. The simple thing is that I use one system at the moment because I believe if you work on that system you can play in different systems at the same time. That is my idea.

    “But we are not winning games and I understand the connection between me and Ange, we have the same problems.”

     

    Football news

  • Russia to play friendly match against Nigeria’s Super Eagles despite FIFA ban

    Russia to play friendly match against Nigeria’s Super Eagles despite FIFA ban

    The Russian Football Union (RFU) has announced that the country’s men’s national team will play an international friendly against Nigeria’s Super Eagles on June 6.

    The RFU confirmed the fixture in a statement on its official website on Thursday, February 13, stating that the match will take place in Russia, though the exact time and venue are yet to be determined.

    Russia is also set to play two other friendly matches, facing Zambia in March before taking on Belarus on June 10. The RFU said it had reached agreements with the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) and the two other national football bodies to arrange the matches.

    Since 2022, Russia has been banned from FIFA and UEFA competitions due to its invasion of Ukraine, a decision that suspended all Russian national teams and clubs from international tournaments. However, in 2023, FIFA eased restrictions to allow Russian U-17 teams to compete under the neutral banner of the “Football Union of Russia,” without the country’s flag, anthem, or official kit.

    Despite the ban, Russia’s senior national team has continued to play friendly matches against non-western countries. The NFF has yet to issue an official statement on the fixture, and if the match goes ahead, it will mark the first-ever meeting between Nigeria and Russia at the senior level of international football.

     

     

  • Ex-Spanish Football Chief Appears In Court For Kissing Female Player During World Cup

    Ex-Spanish Football Chief Appears In Court For Kissing Female Player During World Cup

     

    Former Spanish football chief Luis Rubiales has told a court that he was ‘totally sure’ that player Jenni Hermoso consented to him kissing her on the lips after her team won the World Cup.

    Rubiales is accused of s£xual ass@ult and coercion for allegedly trying to downplay the kiss that marred the celebrations of the team’s first World Cup title.

    Hermoso earlier told the court that she ‘never’ agreed to the kiss, that she had felt ‘disrespected’ by what Rubiales had done, and that it ‘stained one of the happiest days of my life.’

    Rubiales, who was the head of the Spanish Football Association at the time of the 2023 tournament in Australia, resigned in disgrace later that year.

    Prosecutors are seeking two and a half years in prison against Rubiales for s£xual ass@ult for the forced kiss and allegedly coercing Hermoso to downplay the incident.

    ‘She squeezed me very tightly under my armpits, she lifted me, and when I came down I asked her if I can give you a kiss, and she said ‘OK’, that’s what happened,’ he said.

    ‘What happened had no importance neither for me nor for her,’ Rubiales added during his highly anticipated testimony, describing the kiss as ‘an act of affection’.

    He said the kiss was to mark a unique moment because ‘you don’t win a World Cup every day,’ adding: ‘Even when I see my daughters I don’t kiss them, but at New Year’s Eve we kiss each other.’

    Prosecutor Marta Durántez, asked him whether he would have acted the same ‘if it had been a man’, to which he responded: ‘It depends on whether it had been a player with whom I have a great relationship.’

    He said that in the national team there were ‘three or four players with whom I have a great relationship and one of them was Jenni Hermoso.’

    Referring to celebrations with male footballers, he said that the World Cup win was not comparable to the UEFA National League but added: ‘I used to kiss a lot of footballers.’

    As well as rejecting the charge of sexual assault, the 47-year-old also denies the charge of coercion levelled against him, former women’s team manager Jorge Vilda and two ex-federation officials.

    While Rubiales has insisted that the kiss was neither illegal nor immoral, the football boss admitted that it had been a mistake.

    ‘It was a mistake, I was the president of the federation and from the outset I recognised it was a mistake,’ he said.

    ‘I acted like an athlete who was a member of the group and I should have adopted a more institutional role.’

    ‘But that’s not what you said to the press is it?’ the prosecutor pressed him, adding that he ‘didn’t look remorseful or upset’.

    Rubiales admitted he had not told the press it was a mistake at the time but defended himself by saying that he had been focusing on the news of the death of one of the players’ fathers.

    The three other defendants in the trial are expected to testify on Tuesday – former women’s national team coach Jorge Vilda, the federation’s former sports director of the men’s national team, Albert Luque, and the former head of marketing, Ruben Rivera. They are all accused of coercion.

    An expert on lip reading also testified on Tuesday, saying that Rubiales asked Hermoso, ‘Can I give you a little kiss?’

    Videos were shown with Hermoso celebrating and later talking about the kiss.

    ‘Nobody expected it, but I don’t care, we are world champions, that’s what matters,’ Hermoso said in audios reproduced in court from an interview she gave shortly after the final.

    ‘I didn’t like it, but all I can say is that it was part of the moment, it won’t become nothing more than that, it will go down as an anecdote.

    ‘Whoever wants to make a big deal about it will do it, and those who don’t, won’t,’ she said after the reporter told her that there was a lot of talk about the kiss back in Spain.

    ‘I’m very sure that it won’t become a big deal, we are the champions.’

    There was also a video of Rubiales telling the squad that he was ‘sad’ with the repercussions about the kiss. He apologized and said that he ‘felt bad’ it marred the celebrations. Hermoso was seen in the video laughing normally after his words.

    The defense also tried to discredit the previous testimony of Hermos.

  • Meet 2024/25 five new EPL managers ready for titles battle

    Meet 2024/25 five new EPL managers ready for titles battle

    Meet 2024/25 five new EPL managers ready for titles battle

    Meet 2024/25 five new EPL managers ready for titles battle

    9th August 2024

    Five new EPL managers 2024/25 season

    Five new EPL managers 2024/25 season | EPL

    As the Premier League kick-off on August 16 draws near, anticipation is building for the 2024/25 season.

     

    One of the biggest talking points is the arrival of five new managers, some stepping into the Premier League spotlight for the first time and others familiar with the EPL terrain.

     

    They will face the formidable challenge of going head-to-head with serial winners like Pep Guardiola, his ace competitor Mikel Arteta, and a host of other experienced EPL-tested coaches.

     

    With the league set to run until May, this season promises to be a thrilling battle of tactics and tenacity.

     

    Here’s a closer look at what’s new this season from the EPL website:

     

    Arne Slot (Liverpool)

    The 45-year-old Dutchman, Arne Slot, has taken the reins at Liverpool, becoming the club’s first new head coach in nearly a decade following Jurgen Klopp’s departure at the end of last season.

     

    Arne Slot

    Arne Slot

    Slot arrives from Feyenoord, where he enjoyed a successful three-year tenure, securing an Eredivisie title, winning the Dutch Cup, and reaching the UEFA Europa Conference League final in 2022.

     

    Slot’s Premier League debut will see him lead Liverpool in an away match against newly-promoted Ipswich Town on Saturday, August 17.

     

    Enzo Maresca (Chelsea)

    Italian coach Enzo Maresca was appointed as Chelsea’s head coach at the start of June, stepping in to replace Mauricio Pochettino.

     

    Maresca arrives with impressive credentials, having guided Leicester City to an immediate return to the Premier League by winning the Championship title last season, following their relegation in 2022/23.

     

    Enzo Maresca

    Enzo Maresca | Daily Mail

    With nearly 20 years of experience as a midfielder, including a stint at West Bromwich Albion, Maresca also has ties to Manchester City, where he served as Pep Guardiola’s assistant in 2022.

     

    In an intriguing twist, Maresca’s first Premier League match will see him face his former mentor, as Chelsea hosts Manchester City on Sunday, August 18.

     

    Kieran McKenna (Ipswich)

    At just 38, Kieran McKenna has led Ipswich Town to back-to-back promotions since taking charge in December 2021, earning the club its first Premier League appearance since 2002.

     

    After an injury ended his playing career at 22, McKenna transitioned into coaching, taking on academy roles at Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United.

     

     

    Kieran McKenna

    He later joined the first-team coaching staff at Old Trafford, working under José Mourinho and Ralf Rangnick.

    McKenna’s Premier League debut will be a challenging one, as Ipswich hosts Liverpool on August 17.

     

    Russell Martin (Southampton)

    At 38 years old, Russell Martin guided Southampton to promotion in his debut season at St Mary’s, bringing the club back to the Premier League after just a year away.

     

    Russell Martin

    A former defender with 125 Premier League appearances for Norwich City, Martin has also managed MK Dons and Swansea City.

     

    His first match as a Premier League manager will be an away fixture against Newcastle United on August 17.

     

    Fabian Hurzeler (Brighton)

    Fabian Hurzeler, appointed as Brighton & Hove Albion’s head coach at just 31 years and 110 days old, is set to make history as the youngest head coach to lead a Premier League match when he takes charge against Everton on August 17 at 31 years and 180 days.

     

     

    Notably, Hurzeler will also be the first Premier League head coach born after the competition’s inception in August 1992.

     

    Last season, he successfully guided German second-tier club St Pauli to promotion to the Bundesliga.

     

    August 16: EPL begins

    Anticipation is building as five new managers enter the Premier League, ready to challenge established figures like Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta.

     

    With the season running through May, fans can expect a dynamic and competitive campaign filled with fresh strategies and intense matches.

     

    Community Shield – Aug. 10

    There are reports that this year’s Community Shield is a Manchester derby and is typically played at Wembley Stadium and has been a part of English football since 1908.

     

    It is considered a major domestic trophy, although it is not part of the regular league or cup competitions.

     

    Manchester City, the Premier League champions, will face Manchester United, the FA Cup winners. The match is scheduled to take place on Saturday, August 10, 2024.

     

    The Community Shield is an annual football match in England that serves as the traditional curtain-raiser for the new football season.

     

    It is contested between the winners of the Premier League and the FA Cup from the previous season.

     

    If the same team wins both the Premier League and the FA Cup, the match is played between the Premier League champions and the FA Cup runners-up.

     

  • 10 things to know about late CAF president, Issa Hayatou

    10 things to know about late CAF president, Issa Hayatou

    10 things to know about late CAF president, Issa Hayatou

    Issa Hayatou

     

    Former President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Issa Hayatou, died on Thursday after a long illness, one day before his 78th birthday.

     

    The Cameroonian served as president of the Confederation of African Football for 29 years, from 1988 until his surprise ouster in 2017.

    Tributes have since poured in across the football world, with Fifa president Gianni Infantino describing the late Hayatou as a ‘passionate sports fan’ in a post on Instagram on Thursday evening.

     

    CAF, in a condolence message signed by its president, Patrice Motsepe, hailed Hayatou’s contributions to the growth of African football and requested that the CAF flag and the flags of all CAF Member Associations fly at half-mast for a period of five days, until August 13, 2024.

     

    President of Nigeria Football Federation, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau, commiserated with the Cameroonian and African football fraternities.

     

    “The NFF and the entire Nigeria football family are terribly saddened by the death of Alhaji Issa Hayatou. He was a great and much-loved leader of African football and did his best to leave African football greater than he met it,” Gusau said.

     

    “Alhaji Hayatou was a man of strong character and integrity. We love him but God loves him more. We pray that Almighty Allah will grant him eternal rest and also grant the Cameroonian, and African football family the fortitude to bear the loss.”

     

    Here are 10 things to know about the late football administrator.

     

    Issa Hayatou was born on August 9, 1946, in Garoua, then part of French Cameroon.

     

    He served as a physical education and sports teacher and teacher coordinator at Lycée Leclerc in Yaoundé from 1973 to 1974. Later, he held the position of National Sports Director from 1982 to 1988.

     

    From 1964 to 1971, he was a national champion in the 400m and 800m, a member of the national basketball team, and a player for the university football team. He also represented the national athletics team at the inaugural African Games in Brazzaville in 1965.

     

    Hayatou held different positions as a sports administrator. He served as Secretary General (1974–1983), Vice President (1984–1986), and President (1986–1988) of the Cameroon Football Federation. He was a member of the CAF Executive Committee and later its President (1988). He joined FIFA’s Executive Committee in 1990, became Vice President in 1992, and chaired various FIFA committees, including the World Cup and Confederations Cup organizing committees. He was also President of the Olympic Football Tournaments Committee (1992–2006) and served on FIFA’s World Cup Organizing Committee and Strategic Studies Commission.

     

    He served as CAF President for 29 years, from 1998 to 2017, and was succeeded by Ahmad Ahmad of Madagascar.

     

    Under his leadership, South Africa achieved a historic milestone by becoming the first African nation to host the FIFA World Cup in 2010, marking a significant moment in the history of African football.

     

    He also served as FIFA’s interim president from October 2015 to February 2016, during Sepp Blatter’s suspension over a bribery scandal.

     

    Hayatou challenged Blatter for the FIFA presidency in 2002 but lost heavily as many African countries deserted him in the vote against the Swiss.

     

    Beyond his contributions to football, Hayatou served as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 2001 to 2020, playing a significant role in global sports governance.

     

    Hayatou was awarded an honorary degree in literature by Ladoke Akintola University of Technology in Ogbomosho, Oyo State, Nigeria, on November 3, 2007.

     

     

  • Team Nigeria qualifies for Men’s 4x400m Final at Paris Olympics

    Team Nigeria qualifies for Men’s 4x400m Final at Paris Olympics

    Team Nigeria qualifies for Men’s 4x400m Final at Paris Olympics

    The Team Nigeria Men’s 4×400 quartet of Emmanuel Ojeli, Ezekiel Nathaniel, Dubem Amene, and Chidi Okezie have run a season’s best 2:59.81 seconds to finish 2nd in their semifinal heat.

     

    They will now compete in Saturday’s Men’s 4x400m Olympic Final.

  • US rapper Travis Scott arrested in Paris after fight with security guard

    US rapper Travis Scott arrested in Paris after fight with security guard

    US rapper Travis Scott arrested in Paris after fight with security guard

    US rapper Travis Scott was arrested early Friday over a fight at a five-star hotel in the French capital, prosecutors said.

     

    “Policemen were called to the Georges V hotel and arrested Travis Scott for violence against a security agent. The latter had intervened to separate the rapper from his bodyguard,” the Paris prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

     

    It was not immediately clear if the 33-year-old singer was being detained.

     

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    Scott was seen attending the Olympics men’s basketball semi-finals on Thursday evening.

     

    The music star, whose real name is Jacques Bermon Webster, was arrested in Miami Beach in June for trespassing and disorderly intoxication, records showed.

     

    Scott’s “Utopia” was a nominee for best rap album at this year’s Grammy Awards.

     

    Other endeavours include merchandising deals with Nike, video game maker Epic Games and McDonald’s fast food.

     

    Scott has two children with social media giant and business mogul Kylie Jenner.

  • Olympic: German Team borrows Nigerian cyclist bicycle for track event

    Olympic: German Team borrows Nigerian cyclist bicycle for track event

    Olympic: German Team borrows Nigerian cyclist bicycle for track event

    In a heartwarming display of sportsmanship at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the German cycling team has extended a helping hand to Nigerian cyclist Ese Lovina Ukpeseraye.

    Ukpeseraye, who was unexpectedly called up to compete in the keirin and sprint events, faced a major hurdle when she arrived without a bicycle.

    In a post on X, she revealed that Team Nigeria had not provided her with a bicycle in time for the events.

    “Due to the short notice of me competing at the keirin and sprint, #teamNigeria I had no bicycle to race with on the tracks,” she wrote.

    The German team stepped in to assist her, offering one of their bicycles so she could participate.

    Ukpeseraye thanked them for their kindness, stating, “In the spirit of sportsmanship, the German team @bunddeutscherradfahr came to my rescue by offering me a bicycle. Thank you ”

    Ukpeseraye made history as the first Nigerian cyclist to represent the country at the Olympic Games.

     

     

  • Climate protest in Paris foiled on first day of Olympics

    Climate protest in Paris foiled on first day of Olympics

    Climate protest in Paris foiled on first day of Olympics

    Climate protest in Paris foiled on first day of Olympics

    Paris 2024 Olympics – Opening Ceremony – Paris, Paris, France – July 26, 2024. The delegation of Vanuatu is seen passing under a bridge aboard a boat in the floating parade on the river Seine during the opening ceremony. (Photo by Clodagh Kilcoyne / POOL / AFP)

     

    French police on Saturday blocked climate activists from holding a demonstration in central Paris on the first official day of the Olympic Games.

     

    Protesters from Extinction Rebellion (XR), once notorious for shutting down bridges over the Thames river in London, had planned to occupy the Pont des Arts bridge over the Seine, which had hosted the Games’ opening ceremony only hours earlier.

     

    Security forces are on high alert nationwide after saboteurs early Friday disrupted train travel throughout France.

     

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    The stint on the bridge, which organisers previously said would be “more visible than disruptive”, was called off after police kettled a group of journalists preparing to cover the protest.

     

    “The French government has deployed great resources to block our special Olympic action,” Extinction Rebellion France said in a statement on X.

     

    “Our democracy burns and we are watching the flame of Paris 2024.”

     

    Activists are calling for more participative democracy and the creation of a citizen assembly to design a new climate-focused constitution for France, which finds itself in a political impasse following elections earlier this month.

     

    “We need a new model for society, which has to be fair and democratically accepted. We want to put citizens back at the heart of the political project that we want to see,” said Sandro, an XR activist who didn’t want to give his full name.

     

    The foiled protest comes after eight XR activists were arrested on Tuesday for putting up stickers critical of the Games in the Paris metro, the city’s police said.

     

    They were later released.

     

    Organisers of the 2024 Paris Olympics promised to take “unprecedented” action for the climate by halving the event’s carbon footprint compared to previous Games.

     

    But academics and campaigners have been sceptical, criticising car giant Toyota’s sponsorship of the Games.

     

    Earlier this month, around 100 scientists signed an open letter arguing that “Toyota’s promotion of a hydrogen car is scientifically misaligned with net-zero and will damage the reputation of the 2024 Games”.

     

    Climate campaigners put up mock adverts in Paris and five other French cities this week highlighting Toyota as a high-emitting company.

     

    Toyota previously told AFP that hydrogen would play “a critical role among different decarbonisation technologies”.