Age cheating grounds Iraq U-16 team
FIFPro complains of insufficient break for WC players
BAGHDAD, July 30, (Agencies): Despite having shaved to look younger, Baghdad airport officials knew there was something fishy about Iraq’s under-16 football squad headed Monday for a regional tournament in the Jordanian capital.
Several of the 23 players for the West Asia Football Federation (WAFF) tournament starting on Wednesday were found to be overage, said the Iraq Football Association (IFA), which immediately sacked the squad officials.
Officials at the airport confiscated nine passports after suspicions were raised over the dates of birth, an Iraqi football source told AFP, on condition of anonymity.
He said the players had shaved as instructed by team officials to look younger. It was not the first such case of cheating in Iraqi football.
According to the association, 18 players were suspended earlier this year after also having tried to pass off as younger than their true age by tampering with their identity papers.
Activists had unmasked several players with pictures on social media showing they had voted in Iraq’s May elections, proving they were over 18. But “the scandal was not taken seriously by the (football) association until the shock this morning at the airport”, said sports journalist Youssef Fael.
The Under-16s team has pulled out of the tournament in Amman, but the association will ensure that the under19s who are to take part next month in the Asian Games in Indonesia are the correct age, the IFA told AFP.
Global footballers’ union FIFPro says that at least 15 World Cup players have taken part in UEFA club competitions less than four weeks after returning from Russia, leaving without a sufficient close season break.
The union reiterated its call for a mandatory rest period of at least four weeks between the final game of one season and the start of pre-season training for the next.
“Players are coming under too much pressure, caught between the needs of their clubs and their own personal wellbeing,” said the union in a statement.
“While FIFPro understands the financial implications of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League for clubs, the health of these players is being put at risk because of such a congested match schedule.”
Rummenigge
Bayern Munich Chief Executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has reiterated his call for the Bundesliga to scrap the so-called 50 plus one rule which effectively bars big investors from taking over clubs.
The rule bars commercial investors from having more than a 49 percent stake in a club, stopping them from taking over clubs and forcing changes against the wishes of supporters.
Cristiano Ronaldo has arrived for his first training session as a Juventus player.
Approximately 200 fans greeted the five-time Ballon d’Or winner at the club’s training ground on Monday afternoon.
The Juventus team is on tour in the United States but Ronaldo is training with other players from teams that made it past the group stage at the World Cup, such as Gonzalo Higuain, Paulo Dybala, Juan Cuadrado, Douglas Costa and Rodrigo Bentancur.
A Chinese kitchen appliance maker said Monday it has so far made refunds worth nine million dollars, fulfilling a costly pledge to reimburse customers if France won the World Cup.
Vatti, one of the French team’s sponsors, is coughing up after Didier Deschamps’ side beat Croatia 4-2 in the final in Moscow a fortnight ago.
According to Vatti’s latest figures, the Chinese firm has made refunds — either in cash or gift cards — of more than 62 million yuan.
Brazilian midfielder Anderson, who spent almost a decade at Manchester United, has joined Turkish First League side Adana Demirspor on a three-year deal, the club announced on Monday.
Anderson, who notched up 181 appearances for United between 20072015, was welcomed at the club in the south of Turkey by its chairman Murat Sancak, it said in a statement.
English soccer will continue its trials of temporary dismissals across 31 grassroots leagues in the new season before making ‘sin-bins’ mandatory for all leagues at Step Seven and below from 2019-20, the Football Association (FA) said on Monday.
Sin-bins were introduced in select divisions in England’s Step Seven — the lowest tier of the National League system — and lower leagues last year, with the focus on countering dissent.