UAE
Goals finally flowed for the UAE as they defeated Lebanon 3-2 on Thursday in their final warm-up before the Gulf Cup of Nations, which starts next week. Ahmed Khalil broke open what was a scoreless match at half time, recording a second-half hat-trick to propel his side to victory in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. UAE coach Mahdi Ali's side had struggled mightily to score in recent matches, mustering just two goals – in a 1-0 win over Georgia on June 3 and the other in a 1-1 draw with Lithuania on September 3 – in their past six international matches.
2022 World Cup
Asia’s Olympic chief on Thursday ruled out rescheduling the 2022 Winter Olympics to avoid the Qatar World Cup as moves gather pace to shift football’s showpiece to a cooler time of year. Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah, head of Asia’s Olympic body and the worldwide Association of National Olympic Committees, said he was sure the two events would not clash. But the Kuwaiti said the World Cup had to fit in around the Winter Olympics, not the other way round. “I think the Olympics should be maintained because we don’t have a problem,” he said. “This is a Fifa issue, not an IOC [International Olympic Committee] issue. For that [reason], I believe the IOC will stick with their time.” Fifa has supported the idea of holding the 2022 World Cup in winter to avoid Qatar’s summer months. Suggested dates for the World Cup are January and February 2022 or later that year in November and December, raising fears of a clash with the Winter Games.
FIFPro
Players should be released from their contracts as soon as they have gone 30 days without being paid, the world players’ union FIFPro said on Thursday. The union said in a statement that they were “negotiating a change to the regulations that would see a club sanctioned and a player entitled to terminate his contract and be free to seek employment elsewhere after 30 days of non-payment”. FIFPro secretary general Theo van Seggelen said players were entitled to be paid punctually, just like employees in other professions. “Respect for contracts and treating professional footballers like any other employee in a normal workplace environment is not too much to ask,” he said. “This is more than fair as the players are abused in a flawed system that effectively allows clubs to be up to 90 days in arrears before any consequences kick in.”
Turkey
A player for Turkish top-flight side Genclerbirligi said on Thursday he had fled Turkey for Germany after a violent attack in Ankara, where he was threatened over his Kurdish origins and his support for Kurds in Kobane, Syria. Deniz Naki said he was attacked by unknown individuals who left him with injuries to his face and hands. Naki said the men insulted his Kurdish and Alevi origins and also threatened him over his vocal support for Kurds resisting Islamic State fighters. “My family is very worried about the incident, and so as not to cause them any more worry, I have left Turkey to go to Germany,” he said. “My being here no longer had any meaning.” Naki criticised his former club for their “insensitivity” over the incident: “The reason I am leaving is that I can no longer endure the fact that you cannot play football neutrally in this country.”
Bordeaux
Bordeaux coach Willy Sagnol has apologised for disparaging remarks about African players, though he maintained he was misinterpreted. Sagnol spoke on Tuesday to the Sud Ouest newspaper when the topic of African players came up. “The advantage of what I would call the typical African player is that he isn’t expensive when you sign him. [He is] a player who is ready for combat, but football isn’t just about that,” Sagnol said. “Football is also [about] technique, intelligence. You need a bit of everything. You need Nordics, too, Nordics are good.” He tried to explain his words on Thursday. “If by my lack of clarity, or my imperfect semantics, I may have shocked, humiliated or hurt people, then I am sorry,” he said.
England
A move to allow artificial pitches in the third and fourth tiers of English football next season was turfed out on Thursday after a vote split Football League clubs down the middle. Representatives from the 72 clubs of the Championship, League One and League Two met to vote on allowing the return of man-made pitches with a majority vote needed to pass the rule change. Votes were tied, however, with 34 clubs voting in favour and 34 against with four clubs abstaining. “This vote is reflective of the fact that this issue divides opinion amongst clubs as much as it does across the football public,” the Football League’s chief executive, Shaun Harvey, said on the organisation’s website. “While the outcome is different to previous indicative votes, it demonstrates that there is still a desire amongst clubs to find out more about artificial playing surfaces before taking such a significant step.”
Uefa
Uefa says Greek referee Tasos Sidiropoulos did not show a yellow card to the wrong CSKA Moscow player in Wednesday's Champions League game against Manchester City. Reports suggested Sidiropoulos should have sent off Pontus Wernbloom by showing him a second yellow card for a 77th-minute foul on City forward Sergio Aguero. Instead, Sergei Ignashevich was booked in what was widely reported, including by Man City's official website, as a case of mistaken identity. Uefa said Sidiropoulos explained in his match report that Ignashevich was booked for dissent, and he did not think Wernbloom's foul merited a second yellow card.
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