‘Abramovich knocks back approach to buy Chelsea’
Promoted Parma under spotlight for alleged fix attempt
LONDON, June 9, (Agencies): Britain's richest man has had a bid to buy Chelsea football club turned down by Roman Abramovich, according to British media reports.
The Daily Mail reported that Jim Ratcliffe, the chairman and chief executive of multinational petrochemicals group Ineos, expressed an interest in the Premier League club which the Russian has owned for 15 years.
Chelsea's future has become uncertain since Abramovich ran into UK visa problems, which caused him to miss Chelsea's FA Cup final victory over Manchester United last month.
The delay in renewing his UK tier one investment visa, which has been reported to be linked with worsening UK-Russian relations, led to him applying for Israeli citizenship, which was granted last month.
Israeli passport holders can enter Britain without a visa for short stays, although they require visas to work there.
Speculation over his commitment to Chelsea intensified when the club announced it would not go ahead with a one billion pound ($1.34 billion) redevelopment of Stamford Bridge, a project intended to place it on a firmer financial footing.
Despite the uncertainty, the Daily Mail report said Abramovich remains committed to Chelsea, who are valued at around one billion pounds, and had knocked back Ratcliffe's approach, which it said was one of several.
Ratcliffe, 65, is reported to be a Chelsea season ticket holder and last month topped the Sunday Times rich list which valued his personal fortune at 21.05 billion
Abramovich
pounds, compared with Abramovich's 9.3 billion pounds.
Newly-promoted Parma are under investigation for an alleged attempt to fix the match that sealed their incredible rise from financial collapse to Serie A in just three years.
The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) is probing text messages sent by two Parma players to players from Spezia ahead of their clash on the final day of the Serie B season, the club admitted on Saturday.
Sports daily Gazzetta Dello Sport earlier claimed that the messages appeared to ask their opponents to not try too hard.
"The players Emanuele Calaio and Fabio Ceravolo were spoken to yesterday afternoon by federation prosecutors. They were simply asked about two text messages sent to ex-teammates playing for Spezia," Parma said in statement.
A 2-0 win at Spezia on May 18 saw two-time UEFA Cup winners Parma promoted to the top division just three years after a financial meltdown led to relegation from Serie A and rebirth in the semi-professional Serie D, Italian football's fourth tier.
Just a year earlier Roberto Donadoni had led Parma to sixth place in Serie A and a spot in the Europa League but late payment of income tax on salaries saw them stripped of their place by the Italian Olympic Committee.
the head of Kosovo's Football Federation and the most prominent Kosovar sportsman of the 1980s, died on Friday after a heart attack, the federation said in a statement.
Vokrri, 57, put Kosovo on the world soccer map when the small country became member of the sport's UEFA and FIFA governing bodies in 2016.
"He became an inspiration for many Toronto FC’s Michael Bradley (left), kicks the ball away from Philadelphia Union’s Ilsinho (center), of Brazil, as Toronto FC’s Victor Vazquez (right), of Spain watches during the first half of an MLS soccer match on June 8 in Chester, Pa. (AP)
Jonathan Osorio scored in each half to help Toronto FC to a 2-0 victory over the Philadelphia Union at Talen Energy Stadium in Chester, Pa, on Friday.
He scored in the 19th and 79th minutes as Toronto (4-7-2) won for the first time on the road after four losses and a 3-3 tie at Columbus in its last match after it blew a three-goal lead.
Osorio, the team leader with four goals, made sure the Reds got the full points with the insurance goal, taking a pass in the box from Sebastian Giovinco, who collected his sixth assist.
Philadelphia (5-7-3) has lost two
generations of Kosovo's athletes," Kosovo's Prime Minister
wrote on his Facebook page.
straight after a four-game unbeaten streak. Toronto goalkeeper Alex Bono made four saves, including stopping David Accam from close range in the 87th minute for his second shutout of the season. He made three saves to beat the Union 3-0 on May 4. (RTRS)
The head of Ghana's soccer federation, said on Friday he had resigned after he was suspended by global soccer body FIFA for possible ethics violations having been accused of taking kickbacks.
Nyantakyi, a member of FIFA's decision-making Council, also apologised to Ghana President and the government for what he called his "indiscretion".
Host nation South Africa won the Cosafa Cup southern Africa championship plate competition on Friday by thumping Botswana 3-0 after a onesided final in northern city Polokwane.
The sideshow to the main event involved the losing quarter-finalists and allowed South Africa to continue displaying improved scoring form having hammered Namibia 4-1 in the plate semifinals.
temporarily abandoned his defensive duties to nod the home team into the lead against Botswana by sprinting unmarked to connect with a cross after 39 minutes.
have moved to replace goalkeeping great with the acquisition of from the Italian champions announced on Friday.
The 25-year-old Perin has signed a four-year deal and will cost Juve 12 million euros ($14.1 million) over three instalments.
English League Cup ties will no longer feature extra-time from next season, with matches all square at 90 minutes going straight to a penalty shootout, officials announced Friday.
Meanwhile the English Football League, who run the League Cup, said the shoot-out format would revert to the traditional alternate kick procedure rather than the ABBA format trialled during the 2017/18 season.
The EFL also said the Video Assistant Referee system would be used in all League Cup fixtures played at Premier League grounds next season.