WORLD OF SPORT
Fujairah name Maradona’s successor
Abdullah Misfir, the former UAE manager, has been named as Diego Maradona’s initial successor at Fujairah. The Emirati, who has also managed club sides Dibba Al Fujairah, Al Dhafra and Baniyas, has been given a short-term contract and handed the task of negotiating next week’s play-off against Hatta, with the winner sealing a spot in the Arabian Gulf League next season. Fujairah failed to gain automatic promotion last week, when they drew their final fixture of the 2017/18 First Division campaign to finish third. Maradona parted company with the club hours after the match, much to everyone’s surprise, before Fujairah announced on Monday that the Argentine had been reinstated on a new one-year deal. However, Maradona’s representatives claimed no agreement had been made.
Besiktas kicked out of Turkish Cup over no-show
Besiktas were eliminated from the Turkish Cup yesterday after they failed to show up for the resumption of their interrupted semifinal against Fenerbahce in protest at Turkey’s football federation. The original second-leg match on April 19 at Fenerbahce’s stadium was abandoned in the 57th minute with the scores level after Besiktas manager Senol Gunes was hit by an object hurled from the stands. The Turkish federation (TFF) ordered the match to resume last Thursday from the time it stopped and that it be played behind closed doors. But Besiktas maintained they should have been awarded an automatic victory and did not turn up to the resumption, arguing Fenerbahce were behind the violence. The TFF awarded the victory to Fenerbahce, ordered Besiktas to repay any commercial revenue it has earned from the Turkish Cup this season and said the club would be banned from the competition next season.
Simeone calls on Uefa to change away-goals rule
Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone has called on Uefa to change the away-goals rule, suggesting sides playing the second leg away have an unfair advantage under current regulations. The Argentine, who was sent off in the first leg of Atletico’s 2-1 aggregate Europa League semi-final victory over Arsenal, watched from the stands as a Diego Costa goal sent his side through to a showdown against Marseille on May 16. “Uefa needs to have a look at how difficult it is to play a second leg at home, with your opponent having 30 extra minutes in which one of their goals counts double, when as the home side you don’t have this advantage,” Simeone told a news conference.