Asamoah Gyan, the 29-year-old Captain of the Black Stars of Ghana, is on the brink of signing for Chinese side Shanghai SIPG for a reported salary of £227,000-a-week – making him one of the world’s highest paid footballers. Shanghai SIPG, by the way, are managed by Sven-Goran Eriksson.
A FIFA official who assessed the bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups has been banned from all football-related activity for seven years, BBC reports. Football’s world governing body said Harold Mayne-Nicholls, 54, has been suspended by its ethics committee. It said more information would be given when the “decision becomes effective”. Mayne-Nicholls plans to appeal against the sanction – and has questioned why it was announced before he had been through the appeals process. Former Chilean Football Association president Mayne-Nicholls was one of five senior officials FIFA said last year were being investigated. He had admitted speaking to officials from Qatar’s bid about possible work placements for three relatives at the country’s Aspire youth academy. The ethics committee felt those conversations provided “cause enough to doubt the integrity of the inspection process and your evaluations”, according to leaked emails between a committee member and Mayne-Nicholls.
Manchester City have signed 18-year-old Turkish striker Enes Unal from Bursaspor for an undisclosed fee. Unal, who has played once for Turkey, scored four times in 37 games as Bursa finished sixth in the Super Lig last season. He made his full international debut against Luxembourg in March, having previously scored 24 goals in 25 games for Turkey Under-16s. In 2013, at 16, he became the youngest goalscorer in the Turkish top flight.
Barcelona have signed Turkey midfielder Arda Turan from Atletico Madrid for an initial fee of £24m. The Spanish champions said the deal for the 28-year-old could reach £29m with potential add-ons. Turan will not be able to play for the club until January as Barca are unable to register new players until 2016 under the terms of a FIFA ban. He scored 22 goals and provided 32 assists in four seasons with Atletico after joining from Galatasaray in 2011. Barca were banned from signing players in 2015 after being found guilty of breaching FIFA’s rules on the transfer of players aged under 18. The signing of Turan, who has played 81 times for Turkey, is also complicated by their ongoing presidential election campaign. In the absence of a president, the Catalan club are being administered by a special commission, which had to approve the transfer. The commission included an unusual clause which means whoever wins the July 18 election has an option to sell Turan back to Atletico within two days for 10% less than the initial £24m outlay. Luis Enrique’s side – who won La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League last season – have also signed winger Aleix Vidal for £16m from Sevilla this summer.
Five-weight world champion Floyd Mayweather has been stripped of the WBO welterweight belt won from Manny Pacquiao in May. The 38-year-old failed to pay the WBO a $200,000 sanctioning fee by the 3 July deadline. Mayweather had been expected to relinquish the title by now, saying he planned to do so following his points victory over Pacquiao. Fellow American Timothy Bradley will now become the full belt holder. After Mayweather defeated Pacquiao, he had declared he would vacate all his titles in order to give younger fighters the chance to win belts. “The WBO World Championship Committee is allowed no other alternative but to cease to recognize Mr Floyd Mayweather Jr as the WBO welterweight champion of the world and vacate his title.” said a statement on wboboxing.com.Mayweather, who still holds the WBA and WBC belts at welterweight, has until 20 July to appeal against the decision. He is expected to stage one more fight in Las Vegas on 12 September, although he has yet to name the opponent. The WBO created a vacant interim welterweight belt for the 27 June fight between Bradley and Jessie Vargas.
Serena Williams beat her elder sister Venus in a Grand Slam match for the first time in six years to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals. The world number one came through 6-4 6-3 in one hour and eight minutes on Centre Court. Serena, two years younger at 33, has now won 15 of the American siblings’ 26 professional contests. She remains on course to complete the third leg of a possible calendar Grand Slam. Her last defeat at one of the four majors came at the All England Club 12 months ago, and her sister could not end a run that has taken in victories at the US, Australian and French Opens. “It’s never easy to play someone you love and care about,” said the world number one. “You just play for the competition and enjoy the moment.” Illness and injury have hampered Venus since her last Wimbledon title in 2008, but with five Wimbledon singles crowns apiece, the fourth round was still an early stage for such a heavyweight encounter. “It definitely doesn’t get any easier,” Serena said after their sixth Wimbledon meeting.
Liverpool’s new midfielder James Milner spends his first day at the club. He will be wearing number 7 shirt for the Reds in the coming season. A good buy one would say.
Juventus have confirmed that totemic midfielder Andrea Pirlo has left the Italian champions to join New York City. Pirlo signed a two-and-a-half year deal with the New York based MLS side. The Italian midfielder will link up with Frank Lampard, who will be officially unveiled on Tuesday, with the Englishman expected to make his debuts in Sunday’s league game against Toronto FC at Yankee Stadium and Pirlo in the home match with Orlando on 26 July.
FIFA have ordered Yemen to forfeit their World Cup qualifying match against North Korea 3-0 for fielding a banned player. North Korea had won the game on 11 June 1-0 but FIFA increased the score the score in North Korea’s favour because Mudir Al Radaei lined up in the Yemen defence when he should have been serving a one-match ban after getting two yellow cards in previous matches. Sadly the Yemen’s football team had to take to the sea to make the said World Cup qualifying match with North Korea, as it is the only route out of their war torn country.
Nani has completed his move to Fenerbahce. The Portuguese winger has signed a three-year deal and that Manchester United will receive a fee of £6m euros.
Sunday 5 July 2015:
Ifeanyi Uba 1 – 0 Shooting Stars
Sharks 0 – 0 Nasarawa
Dolphin 1 – 1 Wikki Tourists
Giwa 2 – 1 Heartland
Taraba 0 – 0 Kwara United
Kano Pillars 1 – 0 El-Kanemi
Enyimba 2 – 2 Abia Warriors
Bayelsa United 2 – 0 Warri Wolves
Lobi Stars 1 – 1 Sunshine Stars
Akwa United 2 – 0 Enugu Rangers
USA ended their 16-year FIFA Women’s World Cup™ drought in the most emphatic manner imaginable with a Carli Lloyd hat-trick lifting the Stars and Stripes past holders Japan for their third title. A scarcely believable four-goal salvo inside the opening 16 minutes meant there was only ever going to be one winner to the joy of the largely pro-USA 53,341 crowd in Vancouver. USA were quickest to the ball from the opening whistle and immediately reaped greater rewards than they could ever have imagined. A low driven Megan Rapinoe corner from the right deceived a flat-footed Japan defence and Lloyd finished first time from near the penalty spot to put a perfect flourish to a training ground move. Barely 150 seconds had passed on the stadium clock but, incredibly it was about to get even better for the Stars and Stripes. A low free-kick from Lauren Holiday evaded a swathe of players before the ball found its way, almost magnetically, to Lloyd who applied the finishing touch from close range. USA were 2-0 up inside five minutes and Lloyd had nabbed the two fastest goals in Women’s World Cup Final history.
Super Falcons and Portsmouth Ladies striker, Ini Umotong was in the Nigeria’s squad to the Women’s World Cup ending today in Canada. Although she did not get the chance to play but she insists making the squad is big deal. Read what she told Punch’s ’Tana Aiyejina in an interview:
How did you feel when you were named in the Falcons’ World Cup squad despite not being part of the qualifiers for the event?
Representing your country at the World Cup is every footballer’s dream, and being given the chance to represent Nigeria among so many very good talents was just incredible. I was really excited.
The Falcons crashed out in the group stage of the Women’s World Cup in Canada. What lessons did you learn from the outing?
I think our main problem was that we came out against Australia thinking it would be an easy game, so we let our guard down massively for the game. The biggest learning curve would be to treat every game like a World Cup final.
Nigeria international striker Anthony Ujah has revealed he turned down ‘bigger financial offers’ from Russia and China in order to secure his preferred move to Werder Bremen. The 24-year old scored 36 goals in 102 appearances for German side Cologne to attract interest from an unnamed club in China who were set to triple his wages. He also received big offers from two Russian clubs but Ujah opted for Werder Bremen to continue his development in the German Bundesliga.
Chile secured the first major trophy in their history on home soil courtesy of a penalty shootout win over Argentina in the Copa America final. Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez slotted in the winning spot-kick after Argentina’s Gonzalo Higuain fired over and Ever Banega was denied by Claudio Bravo. Higuain had earlier missed from close range after 90 minutes of few chances. Sanchez came closest in extra time for Chile, who scored all four of their penalties in the shootout. Where Chile held their nerve, Argentina wilted in the shootout at the end of a performance that fell well short of the heights they reached in their 6-1 semi-final win over Paraguay. Le Albiceleste are without a major trophy in the last 22 years since winning the 1993 Copa America in Ecuador.
England outlasted two-time champions Germany in extra time to secure third-place thanks to a lone Fara Williams penalty. It was a first-ever win for England over Germany in 21 attempts after a match of end-to-end action and endeavour from both teams. The action started on eight minutes as a Tabea Kemme’s cross caused chaos for England, forcing Steph Houghton to hook clear off the line just moments after receiving treatment for an ankle injury. Within a minute Germany striker Celia Sasic had a chance to extend her lead atop the adidas Golden Boot chart but her weak shot was easily gathered by goalkeeper Karen Bardsley.
Coach Stephen Keshi has been sacked as coach of Nigeria and replaced by Shaibu Amodu, the country’s Football Federation (NFF) has announced. The move comes barely two weeks after the NFF opened an investigation into reports that Keshi applied to manage Ivory Coast while under a valid contract with Nigeria. Keshi recently claimed an un-named agent had submitted his name without his knowledge for the Ivory Coast position. An NFF statement outlined his fate.
Former Liverpool Captain Steven Gerrard is already in Los Angeles and is pictured here holding the number 8 shirt he will be wearing as he prepares to star for MLS side LA Galaxy.
Former Chelsea and Arsenal striker Nicolas Anelka has been named player-manager of Mumbai City. Anelka, 36, played for the Indian Super League side last season under ex-Manchester City manager Peter Reid. “He impressed us all with his tactical knowledge and excellent motivational skills,” said Mumbai City co-owner and Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor. Anelka has filled a player-coach role before during a season spent at Chinese club at Shanghai Shenhua in 2012. The Frenchman only managed two goals in seven league games in his first season at Mumbai but returns as the club’s ‘marquee’ player, meaning he is eligible for a higher salary. “We are all very excited to start this new season. I’m personally very eager to take on this new role for the club and put a strong competitive team on the pitch,” said Anelka, who has played for 12 clubs in his career. Mumbai finished seventh of eight teams in the Indian Super League’s inaugural 2014 season. “We will provide Nicolas all the support required to try and win the league this year,” added Kapoor. Anelka’s spell in charge of Shanghai in 2012 lasted around two weeks before French coach Jean-Florent Ikwange Ibenge was appointed on an interim basis. Uncertainty at the club prompted Anelka’s move back to England with West Bromwich Albion, who terminated his contract after less than a year following his ban for use of the controversial “quenelle” goal celebration.
New AC Milan coach Sinisa Mihajlovic says it is time for the club to be feared again. The Serb became Milan’s fourth coach in just over 18 months and was presented alongside club president Silvio Berlusconi on Friday. “The only way I can win over the fans is hard work,” Mihajlovic said. “Milan have always been a side to be feared and I want that Milan side back. I want my Milan team to instil fear in other teams.”
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