Matches will resume in Europe
France’s secretary of sport says soccer matches around the country will go ahead this weekend in the wake of the deadly attacks in Paris, saying “life must go on.”
Thierry Braillard said in an interview Wednesday with sports daily L’Equipe that calling off games would be “exactly what these barbarians want,” referring to the gunmen and suicide bombers who attacked Paris on Friday night.
Braillard says French football league President Frederic Thiriez is “totally” in agreement with the decision.
Friday’s rampage led to sporting events in Paris and other cities being canceled last weekend.
There was no top-level league football scheduled because of the international break — France hosted Germany at the Stade de France, where explosives were detonated outside — so the French first division will resume Friday evening when Lyon travels to Nice.
This weekend’s Bundesliga matches in Germany will go on as scheduled despite security worries following the threat of an attack that forced authorities to call off the friendly between Germany and the Netherlands.
Tuesday night’s match was called off at short notice as police ordered the evacuation of the Hannover stadium. No explosives were found at the stadium and no arrests were made, but government officials said there was a specific threat that left them no choice but to cancel the game.
“The matches will take place,” Reinhard Rauball, one of two acting presidents of the German football federation (DFB) and president of Borussia Dortmund, said of this weekend’s program.
Dortmund kicks off the weekend matches at Hamburger SV on Friday night.
Spanish officials are promising unprecedented security measures for Saturday’s match between Real Madrid and Barcelona.
At a special security meeting prompted by last week’s events in France, officials declared the league match between the rivals a high-risk event and announced they will double the police presence at the game in Madrid.
Chilean official resigns: The president of Chile’s soccer federation has resigned after he refused to answer questions over his possible links to the corruption scandal at world soccer governing body FIFA.
Flanked by police officers and under the flashes of cameras, a gaunt-looking Sergio Jadue told reporters at Santiago’s airport Tuesday night that he was taking a vacation with his family before he boarded a plane to Miami. Local media had been reporting that he was on his way to becoming an FBI informant, but Jadue declined to comment on whether he would be helping U.S. authorities who are investigating corruption at FIFA.
K.C. goalkeeper wins award: Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Tim Melia has been voted Major League Soccer’s Comeback Player of the Year.
Signed by Sporting Kansas City as a backup to Luis Marin, Chile’s starter at the 2010 World Cup, Melia started the team’s ninth league match this season and won the job. He had shutouts in six of his first nine starts and wound up starting 23 league games.