Sports News and Discussions

[Time_Traveller]

UEFA and FIFA urged to ban England hosting tournaments after racist abuse and fan trouble

6 hrs ago

England must be denied the chance to host the World Cup or European Championship until they have made significant progress in tackling racism and fan disorder.

That's the verdict of former West Ham and England Under-21 defender Anton Ferdinand, who believes there must be "consequences" in order for society to move forward.

The aftermath of the Three Lions' run to the final of Euro 2020 has been overshadowed by appalling racist abuse targeting Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho.

Football was brought into further disrepute as hundreds of ticketless thugs stormed into Wembley and fought in the concourses in deeply-disturbing scenes.

The Football Association are believed to be preparing a joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup with Ireland, but Ferdinand insists they must be banned from doing so until "bigots" are brought "in tune with today's society".

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/america ... ar-AAM6iF8

[Time_Traveller]

Ugandan athlete missing from hotel in Japan ahead of Olympics

July 16, 2021

TOKYO — Local officials are searching for a Ugandan athlete who went missing in western Japan on Friday in a case raising questions over Japanese organizers’ oversight of Olympic participants amid local coronavirus concerns.

The missing 20-year-old man was training as part of the nine-member Ugandan team in Izumisano, Osaka prefecture, city officials said. A Izumisano municipal government official identified the missing athlete as Julius Ssekitoleko.

Teammates realized the athlete was absent around noon Friday when his saliva test sample was not delivered and they found his hotel room empty, city officials said. There was no training Friday morning and he was last seen in his room in the early hours of Friday.

After failing to find him inside the hotel, officials notified police for a broader search. There was no 24-hour monitoring at the hotel, and exactly when or how he got out of the hotel was unknown, officials said.

The pandemic-delayed Olympics begin on July 23 despite mounting concern about Tokyo’s upsurge of infections. The host city on Friday reported 1,271 cases, after hitting a six-month high at 1,308 the day before.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/olympics/u ... d_nn_tw_nw

[weatheriscool]

Brisbane is awarded the 2032 Summer Games
Source: New York Times

TOKYO — As the Summer Olympics stumbled to an unsteady start on Wednesday, the International Olympic Committee took a big step toward crystallizing its long-term future by voting to officially select Brisbane, Australia, as host of the Summer Games in 2032. Australia is now set to become a three-time Olympic host. It previously held the Games in Melbourne in 1956 and in Sydney in 2000. The I.O.C. now has the next three Summer Games mapped out: the 2024 Olympics will take place in Paris, while the 2028 Games will be in Los Angeles.

Brisbane was the first city to win a summer bid under a new selection process that was overhauled in 2019 to discourage the organization from pitting cities against one another in expensive bidding wars. The old bidding process had become increasingly untenable. Candidates frequently pulled out of contention after encountering local opposition. Corruption was a persistent issue. “This revolution of the bidding process is an essential part of our good governance reforms,” Thomas Bach, the president of the I.O.C., said in an interview before the Games. “With this new process, it’s much less prone to all this kind of lobbying and also corruption that obviously we saw in the past.”

The candidates that did make it through the old process were often flawed. For the 2022 Winter Games, for instance, candidate cities from Germany, Norway, Sweden, Poland and Switzerland, among others, canceled their bids because of a lack of support at home. The last two bids remaining came from Beijing and Almaty, Kazakhstan — two places known for human rights issues. Beijing won the vote and the I.O.C. has since been peppered with criticism from human rights activists.

As part of the new process installed two years ago, the I.O.C. created two panels to review potential cities and make recommendations to the organization’s board. The ultimate selection of Brisbane, then, had felt all but assured since February, when the committee revealed the city was its “preferred partner,” thus initiating discussions about final details. The vote carried out by the I.O.C.’s membership on Wednesday was seen largely as a formality.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/21/spor ... games.html

[wjfox]

Tokyo opening ceremony underway right now –

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/olympics/50973969

[raklian]

It looks like her own country tried to kidnap her to force her back home.

[wjfox]

[Ozzie guy]

Objectively the greatest player of all time with 6 Ballon d'Or's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballon_d%27Or Lionel Messi has left Barcelona at the age of 34 due to failed negotiations with the club.

[wjfox]

[Time_Traveller]

Cristiano Ronaldo: Man Utd in advanced talks to sign Juventus forward

47 minutes ago

Manchester United are in advanced talks to sign Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo from Juventus.

BBC Sport understands a move to Manchester City will not happen for the 36-year-old.

Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri confirmed Ronaldo had said he "no longer has any intention" of playing for the Italian giants.

United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said Ronaldo "knows that we are here" during a press conference on Friday.

Ronaldo signed for Manchester United from Sporting Lisbon for £12.2m in 2003 and scored 118 goals in 292 appearances for the club.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/58359561

[wjfox]

Is a 2030 Winter Games bid for Utah now more likely?

New commitment made by U.S. Olympic officials

By Lisa Riley Roche@lisarileyroche Dec 17, 2021, 3:53pm MST

For the first time, U.S. Olympic leaders have formally committed to the possibility of Salt Lake City hosting the 2030 Winter Games.

But the resolution unanimously approved by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee board during a meeting in Salt Lake City makes it clear that’s not a done deal, spelling out that talks are only toward the Games returning to Utah “as early as 2030.”

That means Salt Lake City could instead end up bidding for the 2034 Winter Games, if hosting back-to-back Olympics in the United States is seen as damaging to the bottom line of the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

Still, Fraser Bullock, head of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, was pleased with what he said was fair to describe as incremental progress toward bringing the Olympics back to the state.

“I think this resolution indicates how serious we are,” said Bullock, who served as chief operating officer of the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. “It calls out 2030 as a distinct possibility.”

https://www.deseret.com/utah/2021/12/17 ... -committee

[wjfox]

No vaccine, no French Open for Djokovic as rules tighten

January 17, 20224:38 PM GMT

PARIS, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Novak Djokovic risks being frozen out of tennis as he chases a record 21st Grand Slam title, with rules on travellers who are unvaccinated against COVID-19 tightening in the third year of the pandemic and some tournaments reconsidering exemptions.

The Serbian, who has not been vaccinated, was deported from Australia on Sunday ahead of the Australian Open after losing a court case to have the cancellation of his visa overturned.

Under Australian law, Djokovic cannot get another visa for three years - denying him the chance to add to his nine titles at Melbourne Park - but the government has left the door open for a possible return next year. read more

The world number one, however, faces more immediate hurdles in his bid to overtake Swiss Roger Federer and Spaniard Rafa Nadal, with whom he is tied on 20 major titles, as he could be barred from the French Open as things stand.

The French Sports Ministry said on Monday there would be no exemption from a new vaccine pass law approved on Sunday, which requires people to have vaccination certificates to enter public places such as restaurants, cafes and cinemas.

https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sport ... 022-01-17/

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

Ukraine conflict: Champions League final moved from Russia to Paris

Last updated on Less than a minute ago

The 2022 Champions League final will be played in Paris after Russia was stripped of the match following the nation's invasion of Ukraine.

The final of Europe's most prestigious club competition was due to be played in St Petersburg on 28 May.

Following a meeting on Friday, Uefa confirmed the match would not be held at the Gazprom Arena.

Instead the European football governing body has decided it will be staged at the Stade de France in Paris.

Uefa expressed "thanks and appreciation" to French President Emmanuel Macron for "his personal support and commitment to have European club football's most prestigious game moved to France at a time of unparalleled crisis".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/60520933

[wjfox]

Russian Grand Prix cancelled after country stripped of Champions League final following invasion of Ukraine

Friday 25 February 2022 13:51, UK

Formula One has cancelled the 2022 Russian Grand Prix and expressed 'sadness and shock' over the invasion of Ukraine.

In a statement, the sport's bosses said: "The FIA Formula One World Championship visits countries all over the world with a positive vision to unite people, bringing nations together.

"We are watching the developments in Ukraine with sadness and shock and hope for a swift and peaceful resolution to the present situation.

"On Thursday evening Formula One, the FIA, and the teams discussed the position of our sport, and the conclusion is, including the view of all relevant stakeholders, that it is impossible to hold the Russian Grand Prix in the current circumstances."

The race in Sochi was due to take place on 25 September.

https://news.sky.com/story/champions-le ... s-12550967

[wjfox]

Ukraine crisis: Poland to boycott World Cup play-off against Russia

Last updated 36 minutes ago.

Poland will boycott their World Cup play-off against Russia because of the invasion of Ukraine, with captain Robert Lewandowski saying "we can't pretend that nothing is happening".

Polish football association president Cezary Kulesza has said the team "does not intend" to play the game.

Russia are due to host Poland in Moscow on 24 March, while Ukraine travel to Scotland on the same day.

"The right decision," tweeted Lewandowski.

On Thursday, Fifa said it would monitor the situation after Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic said in a joint statement that play-off matches should not be played in Russia.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/60536030

[wjfox]

World Athletics joins sporting bodies in banning Russian and Belarusian athletes

March 1, 20225:13 PM GMT

March 1 (Reuters) - World Athletics banned Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from all events for the foreseeable future on Tuesday, as more sporting bodies sanctioned athletes from the two countries in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sport ... 022-03-01/

[wjfox]

One hell of a fall from grace. From £38 million and international stardom, to bankruptcy and jail.

https://news.sky.com/story/boris-becker ... y-12601369

[wjfox]

[Ozzie guy]

The champions league final is very close (I think less than two days away).

It's actually on Australian tv for once

[wjfox]

Liverpool 0-1 Real Madrid