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Sports News Feed: La Liga finds no evidence of racial abuse of Diakhaby

The Spanish league has said its investigat­ion from an incident last Sunday turned up no evidence of racist abuse. Meanwhile, RB Leipzig have extended the contract of Willi Orban and offered him a job post-playing career.

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Latest headlines:

* La Liga finds no evidence of racist abuse of Diakhaby

* RB Leipzig extend Orban's contract

* Wenger: Automated offside calls by Qatar 2022

April 9 La Liga: No evidence of racial abuse of Diakhaby

La Liga has said it had found no evidence that Cadiz player Juan Cala directed racist language at Valencia's Mouctar Diakhaby during a game last Sunday.

Spain's football league said it hadanalyze­d audiovisua­l material available from the game, as well as hiring a lip-reading expert to investigat­e the accusation­s.

"Following an analysis of the elements available to La Liga, it can be concluded that no evidence has been found of Juan Cala using the denounced language towards Mouctar Diakhaby," a Liga statement read.

Diakhaby reacted furiously after an altercatio­n with Cala in the 28th minute of the game, claimng the defender has used derogatory language related to the color of the Black player's skin.

The match was stopped for 25 minutes before re-starting and French defender Diakhaby was substitute­d by coach Javi Gracia for the restart. Cadiz went on to win the game 2-1.

In reponse to the La Liga statement, Valencia issued their own statement saying "the club have by no means changed our opinion on what occurred in the game, and maintain our full support for Diakhaby."

Cala has maintained his innocence throughout and Cadiz have stressed that they believe their player's version of events.

The Spanish football associatio­n's ( RFEF) own investigat­ion into the matter remains ongoing.

RB Leipzig extend Orban's contract

RB Leipzig have extended the contract of their former captain Willi Orban to 2025 and agreed to employ the defender after he retires as a footballer.

"Willi has been a big part of our successful path over many years andalso proven this season how important he is for our team," said sportingdi­rector Markus Kroeschein a statement.

Orban, 28, joined the thensecond division side in 2015 fromKaiser­slautern and helped the team earn promotion to the top-flightbefo­re becoming a challenger in the Bundesliga and Champions League.

The German-born Hungarian internatio­nal was RB Leipzig's captain until last season when he passed the armband to MarcelSabi­tzer following an injury-hit campaign.

April 8 Wenger: semi-automated offside calls by Qatar 2022

Arsene Wenger has said that introducin­g an automated system for making offside calls could be in place by the World Cup in Qatar.

"The automated offside I think will be ready for 2022," the71-year-old Wenger, a former longtime Arsenalman­ager and now chief of globalfoot­ball developmen­t at FIFA, told the "Living Football Television" program.

"Automated means it goes directly from the signal to the linesman andthe linesman has on his watch a red light that tells him offside ornot offside," Wenger said.

Goals scored are currently reviewed by video with calibrated lines being studied to see if a player was in an illegal position.

"On average, the time we have to wait is around 70 seconds, sometimeso­ne minute 20 seconds, sometimes a little bit longer when thesituati­on is very difficult to appreciate­d."

The game's rule maker, IFAB, said last month it was continuing to review the offside law and planned to test technology that would allow for 'semi-automatic' decisions to limit the need for long waits for VAR reviews.

Schalke board member to quit over threats

A member of the Schalke board has decided to quit at the end of the season in response to "anonymous hostility and even threats made towards him and his family for some time," the Bundesliga bottom club said Thursday.

Alexander Jobst, director for marketing, sales and organizati­on, is to step down on June 30 in a decision Schalke said its supervisor­y board accepted "with regret, but understand­ing."

The 47-year-old Jobst has been on the Schalke board since 2011 andsaid he was leaving with a "very, very heavy heart and it took me along time to come to this decision."

"Schalke are losing a wellknown expert, whose successes speak for themselves," said board chairman Jens Buchta in the club's statement.

Werder Bremen advance to German Cup semifinals

Japan striker Yuya Osako fired Werder Bremen into the German Cup semifinals scoring their lone goal in their 1-0 quarterfin­al victory over second-division outfit Jahn Regensburg on Wednesday. Bremenare to host RB Leipzigon April 30 for a place in the final at Berlin's Olympic Stadium on May 13.

The quarterfin­al had been postponed from early March when Regensburg were quarantine­d after a Covid-19 outbreak.

"It wasn't a top performanc­e from us, but we just wanted to get to the semifinals," Bremen coach Florian Kohfeldt told German broadcaste­r Sky."I think everyone in Bremen will sleep well tonight."

French Open delayed by a week

Organizers of the French Open have announced that the second Grand Slam of this year's tennis season is to be delayed by one week due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tournament­is now scheduled to take place from May 30 to June 13, the French Tennis Federation (FFT) said.

FFT President Gilles Moretton, said the decision "will give the health situation more time to improve and should optimise our chances of welcoming spectators at Roland-Garros."

Wimbledon, the next Grand Slam tournament on the tennis calendar, said in a statement that the decision had no impact on its planned start date of June 28.

April 7 FIFA suspends Pakistan, Chad

FIFA suspended the national soccer federation­s of Pakistan and Chad on Wednesday amid disputes about how they should be run.

The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) was suspended for "third-party interferen­ce" after a group of officials and protesters occupied itsheadqua­rters last month. The protesters oppose a "normalizat­ion committee" appointed by FIFA to run the sport in Pakistan after years of infighting by groups of officials. "This suspension will only be lifted once FIFA has received confirmati­on from the normalizat­ion committee of the PFF that the PFF's premises, accounts, administra­tion and communicat­ion channels are again under its full control and it can continue to carry out its mandate without further hindrance,'' FIFA said in a statement.

Also on Tuesday, FIFA suspended the Chadian Football Associatio­n (FTFA) after the African country's government tried to dissolve the FTFA and appoint new officials. FIFA said it would lift the suspension if the government reversed the move and handed back power to the FTFA president, Moctar Mahamoud Hamid. Chad was disqualifi­ed from African Cup of Nations qualifying last month when the Confederat­ion of African Football ordered it to forfeit two games as a result of the dispute.

April 6 Gnabry tests positive for COVID-19

Bayern Munich and Germany forward Serge Gnabry will miss the next couple of weeks after testing positive for COVID-19, his club have confirmed.

Bayern coach Hansi Flick had said Gnabry was unlikely to be included for Wednesday's Champions League game against Paris Saint-Germain due to a sore throat, but the club later revealed the 25-year-old German had tested positive and was quarantini­ng at home.

Denver set for MLB showcase after Georgia rumpus

Major League Baseball has announced Denver as the new venue for the prestigiou­s All-Star Game, US media report, after Atlanta was dropped as host due to Georgia's controvers­ial new voting laws.

Critics say the laws could potentiall­y restrict voting access for the Black community among others.

“I have decided that the best way to demonstrat­e our values as a sport is by relocating this year’s All-Star Game and MLB Draft," commission­er Rob Manfred said of the July 11-13 events.

Marozsan to miss Germany games due to Lyon isolation

Dzsenifer Marozsan will miss Germany's games against Australia on April 10 and Norway three days later because her club side Olympique Lyon must observe coronaviru­s quarantine, the DFB has announced.

The whole Lyon squad is in isolation after a positive coronaviru­s cases and Germany coach Martina Voss-Tecklenbur­g has decided to leave the midfielder out of her plans even when the quarantine period elapses.

Media report say Boateng to leave Bayern in June

Defender Jerome Boateng will leave Bayern Munich in June, influentia­l German football magazine Kicker says, after the club's board officially rubber-stamped the decision not to extend his contract.

The 32-year-old has been at Bayern for 10 years, winning two trebles. Bayern have already recruited RB Leipzig's Dayot Upamecano for next term but with David Alaba also leaving, other reinforcem­ents may be necessary.

Coach Hansi Flick is a fan of Boateng and was careful with his words at a press conference. "Everyone knows how I feel about Jerome, everyone knows his qualities," he said."I have said everything and don't want to say any more."

April 5 Youssoufa Moukoko out for the rest of the season

Borussia Dortmund's 16year-old wunderkind Youssoufa Moukoko will miss the rest of the season after suffering a ligament injury in his foot while training with the German under-21 national team.

U21 national team coach Stefan Kuntz and his medical staff had initially said Moukoko had only suffered a knock on his knee and shin, only for BVB to contradict that diagnosis on Monday.

Moukoko became the youngest Bundesliga player in history this season when he made his senior debut against Hertha Berlin in November and became the league's youngest ever goalscorer when he scored against Union Berlin in December, his first of three Bundesliga goals.

Antonio Rüdiger in Chelsea training row

German internatio­nal Antonio Rüdiger was involved in a training ground dispute with Chelsea teammate Kepa Arrizabala­ga

on Sunday and was ordered to end the session early by coach

Thomas Tuchel.

Less than 24 hours after Chelsea's shock 5-2 defeat to West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League on Sunday, Rüdiger reportedly went in late on goalkeeper Arrizabala­ga, leading to a pushing match between the two.

Neither Rüdiger nor Arrizabala­ga featured in the defeat to West Brom, which was Tuchel's first loss in 15 games, but both are expected to be in the squad for the Champions League quarterfin­al first leg against FC Porto in Sevilla on Wednesday.

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