Sports

FIFA to unveil Club World Cup venues Saturday

Published

3 months ago

September 28, 2024

FIFA will on Saturday announce the venues and stadiums for next year’s Club World Cup in the United States, football’s governing body said on Friday.

The new, expanded 32-club tournament, featuring leading clubs from around the world, will take place from 15 June to 13 July 2025.

Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, will make the announcement in Central Park during the Global Citizen Festival, a music event aimed at defeating poverty.

Real Madrid, Manchester City and Bayern Munich are among the 12 European teams who have qualified for the tournament while Argentina’s River Plate and Boca Juniors and Brazil’s Flamengo are among six South American teams.

FIFA has yet to announce any broadcast partners for the tournament which has faced opposition from the global players’ union FIFPro.

FIFpro and the European Leagues body filed a joint complaint to the European Commission against FIFA over the introduction of the tournament into the international match calendar.

Opponents of the new tournament have said it adds further congestion to an already crowded schedule and increases the workload of players.

The tournament will take place during the same window as the regional national team CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament which will be held mainly on the West Coast.

The Club World Cup games are expected to be held mainly at East Coast venues although US club Seattle Sounders may be given a game at their home venue.

The USA will also co-host the 2026 regular World Cup with Mexico and Canada.

AFP

Sports

EPL: Salah overtakes Haaland in race for Golden Boot [Top 6]

Published

24 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Seyi Babalola

Liverpool winger Mohamed Salah has now overtaken Manchester City’s Erling Haaland in the race to win the Premier League Golden Boot.

Salah scored twice as the Reds beat Tottenham 6-3 in an exciting game on Sunday night.

The two goals took his tally to 15 for the season after 17 fixtures.

The Egyptian now has two more than Haaland, who is stuck on 13 goals.

Chelsea’s talisman, Cole Palmer, is in third place with 10 goals after failing to find the back of the net against Everton.

Alexander Isak (Newcastle United), Bryan Mbeumo (Brentford), and Chris Wood (Nottingham Forest) are all on 10 goals each.

Salah has also overtaken Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka for the most assists, with 11.

Sports

Bundesliga: Boniface misses Bayer Leverkusen final game of 2024

Published

3 days ago

December 21, 2024

Seyi Babalola

Victor Boniface has been ruled out of Bayer Leverkusen’s Bundesliga clash with Freiburg.

Boniface returned to full team training this week after a short injury layoff.

The 23-year-old sustained a muscle injury on international duty last month.

Leverkusen manager, Xabi Alonso stated that the powerful striker has not fully recovered from the injury and will not face Freiburg on Saturday (Saturday).

“Victor Boniface, Amine Adil and Jonas Hoffmann are unavailable for the game due to injuries,” Alonso said during his interaction with the media.

The Nigeria international has scored eight goals in 15 appearances across all competitions for Die Werkself this season.

Sports

FIFA Intercontinental Cup: Ancelotti becomes Real Madrid’s most successful manager

Published

5 days ago

December 19, 2024

Seyi Babalola

Carlo Ancelotti has become Real Madrid’s most successful manager after the club defeated Pachuca 3-0 to win the FIFA Intercontinental Cup on Wednesday night.

Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior, and Rodrygo all scored as Los Blancos clinched their latest piece of silverware.

It is also a record-breaking 15th trophy for Ancelotti with the Spanish giants across two spells.

He has won three Champions League trophies, two La Liga titles, two Copa del Reys, two Spanish Supercopas, three UEFA Super Cups, two Club World Cups, and the Intercontinental Cup.

Ancelotti has surpassed Miguel Muñoz, who led Real Madrid from 1959-1974 and won 14 trophies, including nine league wins and two European Cups.