A Saudi Arabian prince has offered Al Hilal players and team officials a bonus of US$26,000 (Dh95,500) each if they can beat Australian club Western Sydney Wanderers and win the Asian Champions League this weekend.
The 13-time Saudi and twice Asian champions lost the first leg 1-0 in Sydney last weekend but will be in for a bumper payday if they can overturn the deficit at the King Fahd Stadium on Saturday.
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who is worth $21.5 billion according to Forbes, made the offer of 100,000 riyals (about $26,650) a man in a tweet just before last Saturday’s first leg kicked off.
The Saudi royal also said he would be paying for free entry for all fans of the club for Saturday’s second leg in Riyadh, where a crowd in excess of 65,000 is expected. Fourteen Wanderers fans have travelled from Australia for the match.
According to the prince’s website (www.alwaleed.com.sa), the Al Hilal players received bonuses of 20,000 riyals for reaching the ACL quarter-finals and another of 40,000 riyals for winning the first leg of their ACL semi-final against Al Ain 3-0.
He flew them to Al Ain for the second leg in his private jet and gifts the already wealthy club 2.5 million riyals per season.
In 2007, Al Hilal signed a sponsorship deal with Saudi Arabian mobile operator Mobily worth 200 million riyals over five years.
Wanderers, by contrast, must work within a salary cap of A$2.55 million (Dh8.3m) this season under A-League rules.
Bundesliga
Bayern Munich chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has reaffirmed his club’s interest in signing Marco Reus from Bundesliga rivals Borussia Dortmund in the summer. Reus can leave the Westphalians for a set fee, reported by Bayern to be €25 million (Dh117m), and Rummenigge has already stated his club’s interest. Ahead of the weekend’s league clash between the two sides, he has touched on the subject again while insisting he does not want to upset his club’s rivals. “We know what quality he has and we also know what clause he has,” Rummenigge said. “A young, Germany international with such quality is probably interesting for us, but I don’t want to cause any ill-feeling with Dortmund.”
Sweden
Former Elfsborg manager and Sweden midfielder Klas Ingesson, who was in the team that finished third at the 1994 World Cup, has died of cancer at the age of 46, the club announced yesterday. Ingesson played for a string of clubs including IFK Gothenburg in Sweden, Sheffield Wednesday in England and the Italian trio of Bologna, Bari and Lecce. Capped 57 times for Sweden and a driving force in the side that beat Bulgaria 4-0 to claim third place at the World Cup in the United States, Ingesson was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2009.
Nigeria
Fifa says it is giving Nigeria one last chance to avoid a “lengthy” ban that would prevent the reigning champions from defending their title at next year’s African Cup of Nations. Fifa wants a court order nullifying recent Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) elections, regarding it as government interference in football, which is not allowed under the world body’s rules. Fifa says Nigeria has until noon tomorrow local time to prove that the court order has been withdrawn and the NFF is able to work “without any hindrance”. If Nigeria does not comply, Fifa says the team will be banned from international football at least until Fifa’s Congress in May next year. That would mean Nigeria is thrown out of the qualifying competition for the tournament in January and February.
Indonesia
Two Indonesian teams have been disqualified from an end-of-season tournament after five own goals were scored in a match as both sides sought to lose in a bid to avoid facing a team reportedly backed by gangsters. Video footage showed goalkeepers from the two clubs, PSS Sleman and PSIS Semarang, making half-hearted attempts to stop shots and walking away from the goal as the ball approached during Sunday’s match in Yogyakarta. PSS Sleman won 3-2 – they conceded two own goals, but were handed victory by their opponents who managed to allow three own goals in the final three minutes.
Premier League
English Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg has been sidelined for breaking protocol to attend a pop concert, according to a British newspaper report. The Sun claimed that Clattenburg contravened regulations by driving home alone after refereeing West Bromwich Albion’s 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace on Saturday so he could see singer Ed Sheeran perform in Newcastle. The rules of the Premier League’s refereeing body, Professional Game Match Officials Limited, state that officials must travel to and from matches together for their integrity and security. Clattenburg, 39, is also reported to have broken another rule by speaking to Palace manager Neil Warnock on the phone after the game at The Hawthorns. Premier League referees are only allowed to speak to managers after games if their assistants are present.
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