Parma
Two parties have been cleared for talks to take over the bankrupt Italian club Parma. One party is reportedly led by retired American baseball player Mike Piazza and the other by local businessman Giuseppe Corrado, who runs a national cinema chain. In March, Parma was declared bankrupt with debts of more than €200 million (Dh827.2m). A statement on Parma’s website says two newly registered companies, Nuovo Parma Calcio Srl (Piazza) and Magico Parma FC SpA (Corrado,) have presented paperwork and deposits to move forward with talks. After finishing last in Serie A, Parma were relegated to the second division and need to register for Serie B by the end of the month. Otherwise, they may be sent to the fourth tier.
Benfica
Morocco’s controversial midfielder Adel Taarabt has joined Benfica on a five-year deal after his Queen’s Park Rangers contract was terminated by mutual consent. “I don’t think it’s necessary to explain why I chose Benfica. It’s a great club that have produced great players over the years and they were champions last season,” he told Benfica TV. Taarabt made 164 appearances for QPR, scoring 34 goals, after joining in March 2009 from Tottenham Hotspur. Taarabt, who had loan spells in 2013/14 at Fulham and AC Milan, has courted controversy during his career and was criticised by QPR manager Harry Redknapp in October last year for being “about three stone overweight”. He played five times after Redknapp quit and was replaced by Chris Ramsey. Benfica also signed Taarabt’s Morocco teammate Mehdi Carcela from Standard Liege on a four-year deal yesterday.
Ireland
The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) ordered the shredding of 18,000 match programmes containing comments from chief executive John Delaney about the Fifa crisis. FAI officials confirmed that the programme for last night’s Euro 2016 clash with Scotland had been reprinted at a reported cost of €10,000. A statement said: “John Delaney was entirely unaware of this change to the programme. He had already signed off on it and it was approved for printing. The decision to delete his comments where they related to Fifa was an editorial one that was taken by the communications department.” The FAI found itself dragged into the furore surrounding Fifa last week after Delaney confirmed the FAI had been paid €5 million by the governing body after Ireland’s controversial World Cup play-off defeat by France in 2009.
Malaysia
Nigerian defender David Faramola Oniya died yesterday after collapsing on the pitch during a friendly match between his Malaysian club T-Team and Kelantan. He was 30. Local media said the T-Team captain collapsed three minutes into the match in Kota Baru and was taken to hospital. T-Team chief executive Syahrizan Mohd Zain said Oniya did not receive medical treatment quick enough. “He suffered a heart attack, but it could have been a different story had the ambulance driver been alert,” he told the New Straits Times. “The driver was at the stands watching the game when Oniya suddenly collapsed and our defender was deprived of oxygen for several minutes.” Syahrizan said the match was called off on 60 minutes after they were informed by the hospital Oniya had died.
Ghana
Officials have ordered an investigation into how the head of the Ghana Football Association spent US$200,000 (Dh735,000) in government money meant to prepare for the 2014 World Cup. A report issued on Friday night said the probe of Kwesi Nyantakyi would begin immediately and that investigators would also conduct an audit to review claims the national team incurred more than $1m in debt during friendlies against Cape Verde, Nigeria and Togo. The FA has said $350,000 from a friendly with Japan was used to offset the debt. The report said the FA “must make available all contracts for friendly matches played” and name all match agents involved.
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