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Barcelona will limit ticket sales for next week’s Champions League game against Eintracht Frankfurt to members only to avoid a repeat of when the German club’s supporters flooded Spotify Camp Nou in 2022.Over 30,000 Frankfurt fans managed to get into Barça’s stadium for the Europa League tie, creating a sea of white shirts as the Bundesliga side secured a famous victory on their way to winning the trophy.The two teams meet for the first time since then next Tuesday, with Barça taking the decision to restrict ticket sales leading up to the game.”This decision has been taken to safeguard the…
The weight of expectation and subsequent pressure to deliver is one that’s now synonymous with international football. Fans of all countries rest their dreams on a team of 11, a squad of 23 in total, and a manager tying it all together to achieve national pride. When that doesn’t happen, chaos ensues. Superstars who were once national heroes for their successes across the globe are quickly labelled villains and become the focal point of what can be an inescapable abuse. Sometimes, the scriptwriters leave the fate of a nation to the finest of margins. A penalty shoot-out, a late goal,…
At one level, The New Byzantines is a quest for identity by a fourth-generation Greek-American, a rummage through the multiple layers that the Greek soul has developed in the long journey from ancient Greece, through western and eastern Roman empires and some four centuries of Ottoman rule to the modern state. Byzantines, Hellenes, Romioi, Rum/Romaios/Romeiko, Mathews explores all of these with affection, as he does other inhabitants of northern Greece, such as the Pomaks and “Turkish” Muslims. He has an excellent eye, and a vivid turn of phrase – from describing Athens as “lathered in concrete” to “the staggering amount of glassware”…
Every Friday I will pick the best or most exciting upcoming games that are not to be missed in the world of football. From derbies to top-of-the-table clashes, relegation six-pointers to world-class players facing each other or other interesting tactical battles, there will be something for everyone to enjoy.This week, we take you to Portugal, Italy, Spain, France, Scotland and the U.S. across men’s and women’s football, with a final, a top-of-the-table clash, a derby and more!- Lindop: A week to save his job? Is Liverpool boss Slot under pressure?- Dawson: Man United must improve if they want Champions League…
Mohamed Salah has scored nine goals in just six Premier League appearances versus Leeds, with only Alan Shearer (20) and Thierry Henry (10) netting more against them.A goal on Saturday would see Salah become the all-time leading scorer in meetings between the sides (all competitions) with one club. He currently has nine for Liverpool along with Gordon Hodgson, who has 11 overall having netted twice for Leeds.The Reds have lost just one of their last 24 away Premier League fixtures in the month of December (18 wins, five draws), going unbeaten in seven (six wins, one draw) since a 1-0…
BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s parliament on Friday approved a pension reform package that had prompted a rebellion in the ranks of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s party, the latest instalment of a bumpy first seven months in office. Lawmakers in the lower house voted 319-225 in favor of the package, including a measure that would hold the level of state pensions at 48% of average wages until 2031. There were 53 abstentions.A group of 18 young lawmakers in Merz’s center-right Union bloc — a larger number than his coalition’s parliamentary majority — had balked for weeks at a provision that said after…
GOMA, Congo (AP) — Residents of eastern Congo said fighting has intensified despite a peace agreement that was signed by the Congolese and Rwandan presidents in Washingtion, D.C., with U.S. President Donald Trump in attendance.Presidents Felix Tshisekedi of Congo and Paul Kagame of Rwanda met with Trump on Thursday to sign a wide-ranging deal that attempts to stop the ongoing war between the Congolese armed forces and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group in the eastern part of Congo. But residents said Friday the fighting has intensified in recent days, with the town of Kamanyola near the borders with Rwanda and…
“A new era for football governance is here,” according to Richard Monks, the chief executive of the Independent Football Regulator (IFR).It’s been a long time coming. The Football Governance Act became law in July, David Kogan was appointed IFR chair in October and offices were set up in London and Manchester, but the IFR still hasn’t been able to actually get its hands dirty. It’s not a criticism, there is a due process, recruitment and proper consultation over what and how the IFR uses its powers within its legal remit, and that takes time.However, from next week – Friday December…
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Doris Crenshaw was 12 years old on Dec. 5, 1955, when she and her sister eagerly rushed door to door in their neighborhood, distributing flyers prepared by activists planning a boycott of city buses in Montgomery, Alabama.“Don’t ride the bus to work, to town, to school or any place on Monday,” the flyers read, urging people to attend a mass meeting that evening.There was a sense of urgency. Days earlier, Rosa Parks, the secretary of the local NAACP chapter, had been the latest Black person arrested for refusing to give up a bus seat to a…
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Burkina Faso’s Council of Ministers has adopted a bill to restore the death penalty, targeting offenses such as treason, terrorism and espionage, authorities said. “The adoption of this bill is part of reforms … to have a justice that responds to the deep aspirations of our people,” Minister of Justice Edasso Rodrigue Bayala said in a Facebook post late Thursday.The death penalty was abolished in the country in 2018.The bill has to be adopted by parliament and reviewed by the courts before becoming law.Marceau Sivieude, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa, called the…