Franck Ribery’s thigh injury is worse than first thought and the Bayern Munich star is set to miss the next eight weeks, according to German magazine Kicker. The 32-year-old tore his thigh muscle in Bayern’s Champions League game at Dinamo Zagreb last week, on just his second appearance after nearly nine months out with an ankle injury.
Two defendants charged in the FIFA corruption scandal have pleaded not guilty to new charges. Former Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) President Jose Maria Marin and US businessman Aaron Davidson entered the pleas at a court in New York. The pair are accused of wire fraud conspiracy and other charges. They were among 14 people named in a US indictment earlier this year accusing football officials of accepting bribes for lucrative marketing rights. In December, 16 more officials were charged in a new indictment, including Mr Marin’s successor as head of the CBF, Marco Polo Del Nero. He appeared before Brazilian senators on Wednesday, denying charges of corruption and money laundering and saying he had been “unjustly accused”. Top Brazilian football stars including Pele and Zico have called for his resignation. A former footballer, Mr Marin led the Brazilian confederation for three years until April 2015.
Bayern Munich boss Pep Guardiola says he will give “clarity” on his future at the Bundesliga champions next week. The 44-year-old Spaniard, who has been linked with Manchester City, has led Bayern to two titles since taking over in 2013 but is out of contract in June. He would not answer questions about his future on Tuesday, but indicated an announcement would soon follow. Spanish newspaper Marca reported on Wednesday that Guardiola has already told Bayern he will leave the club. The Madrid-based publication claims he believes both he and the club would benefit from a change of scenery because his intense work ethic can wear players down. Reports in Spain last month claimed the former Barcelona coach had agreed to leave Bayern at the end of the season to take over at Manchester City.
Sierra Leone has reinstated the Football Association executive board in the hope of avoiding a ban by FIFA for governmental interference. The decision was taken during a meeting on Wednesday which was convened by the Sierra Leone’s President Ernest Bai Koroma. Had Sierra Leone not done so by FIFA’s deadline of 16 December the country would have been suspended from all international football activity. The situation arose after National Sports Council (NSC) announced the dissolution of the SLFA executive committee last week.
Bayern Munich defender Jermone Boateng is pictured with his certificate for the Guinness Book of World Records. The German international was entered into the prestigious book for playing in 56 unbeaten Bundesliga games in a row from 3 November 2012 to 19 December 2014.
Real Madrid have had plans to upgrade the Santiago Bernabeu rejected by the city’s council. The Spanish club have been told any proposal must be in the interests of the general public. Los Blancos hope to add a hotel and shopping centre to the stadium, built in 1947.
Chelsea
English Premier League clubs are releasing their Christmas jumpers. Here are some of them. What do you guys think of them? When will our Naija clubs follow suit? Meanwhile Christmas is really on the air. I hope everyone is having fun already.
Embattled Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is unlikely to receive a lucrative lump sum pay off if the club sack him. Mourinho received £18m in compensation when his first spell ended in 2007 and owner Roman Abramovich’s reluctance to pay him off again is another factor why he’s remained in charge. Should Mourinho depart a second time, it is believed a lump sum in severance isn’t guaranteed and that the Blues will give him his salary, believed to be round £163,000-a-week, until he finds another job. It is a practice Chelsea have put in place since Luis Felipe Scolari was the last coach to have the entire length of his contract paid out in full, when he was fired after just eight months at the helm in 2009. Mourinho is bound to have no shortage of offers from around the world despite his woes this term. Standard Sport revealed in October that Paris Saint Germain are monitoring the situation, while former club Real Madrid and Valencia have also been linked.
Suspended UEFA president Michel Platini will not attend his personal hearing before the FIFA ethics committee on Friday. It has been recommended the 60-year-old serve a life-long ban from football for allegedly receiving a £1.35m payment in 2011. His lawyers say the verdict has already been made known to the press “in disregard of fundamental rights.”
Leicester winger Riyad Mahrez says the Premier League leaders will not win the title and will stay at the club past the January transfer window. Mahrez has scored 12 goals for his club this season, form which has led to his side suffering just one loss in 16 league matches. “We are not going to win the league, no. I don’t think we have broad enough shoulders to do it,” Mahrez told French radio station RMC. “The big teams will wake up at some point.” On his future he adds: “It’s best for me to stay until the end of the season.”
Juande Ramos is the shock candidate being considered as a potential caretaker manager by Chelsea should they decide to sack José Mourinho before the end of the season,” writes Matt Hughes in The Times. The paper reports Chelsea could turn to an ‘interim’ appointment until the end of the season if Mourinho is sacked by the club for a second time. Guus Hiddink – another former manager at Stamford Bridge – is also a short-term option, the paer reports. Ramos, 61, had a disastrous spell in charge of Tottenham in 2007 and left Ukraine’s Dnipro for family reasons last year.
News reaching us is that the Federal Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has this afternoon nullified the election of Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and ordered a rerun in 90 days. In a 110-page ruling delivered by Justice M.B. Dongban-Mensem, the Court ruled that the election of Nyesom Wike did not conform with the electoral act. Wike had approached the appellate court to challenge the earlier verdict of the tribunal that annulled his election as a result of a suit filed by the APC candidate Dakuku Peterside. Wike still has the Supreme Court to approach on the matter.
World number two tennis player Andy Murray says he could leave the Australian Open early if wife Kim goes into labour during the tournament which starts on 18 January. Asked by the UK Daily Mail if he would pull out during the tournament if necessary, Murray said: “I’d go home. For sure, yes.” Hope our men will start doing stuff like that.
Former Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o has taken his first steps into management. The ex-Barcelona, Inter Milan, Chelsea and Everton forward has been appointed player manager of his club Antalyaspor in Turkey. But there is a catch, he will be only considered for the post if they do well in their next three games.
Japanese football star Homare Sawa retires from football after making more than 200 international appearances. The 37-year-old won the 2011 World Cup as Japan beat USA and it is reported she started her professional career aged 12.
Four officials are facing a disciplinary hearing this week over an alleged doping cover-up. Papa Massata Diack, a former consultant for the IAAF, and ex-IAAF anti-doping director Gabriel Dolle are charged with breaches of the IAAF’s code of ethics. Former All-Russia Athletic Federation chief Valentin Balakhnichev and coach Alexei Melnikov are also in the dock. None are expected at the three-day hearing, which starts on Wednesday. The charges relate to the payment of about £435,000 that Russian former London Marathon winner Liliya Shobukhova allegedly made to have her doping violations covered up. Her 38-month ban from track and field was reduced by seven months after she turned whistleblower for the World Anti-Doping Agency. A decision from the hearing, which will be held in London, is expected in early January. Russia have been banned from international athletics competition after a report by Wada’s independent commission alleged they were guilty of “state-sponsored doping”.
FC Twente have been banned from European competition for three years by the Royal Netherlands Football Association. The governing body said it had been “deliberately misled” by the club about a deal to sell player transfer fee rights to an outside investor. FC Twente says it will not appeal. FIFA has banned third-party player ownership as a threat to the game’s integrity because investors can inflate transfer fees to make a profit. The Dutch FA says the punishment, including a 45,250 euros fine, follows Twente’s failure to reveal full details of a third-party ownership contract with Malta-based Doyen Sports Investments. FC Twente said that the sanctions would “hit hard at the heart of our club”. Twente’s professional licence will be revoked if they fail to fully cooperate with an independent investigation into the club’s structure, added the Dutch FA.
United States striker Abby Wambach, the world’s all-time leading international goalscorer, is set to play the final game of her career. Wambach has scored 184 goals in 254 matches, the most of any man or woman in international football history. Having won the World Cup this year, she will retire after the last game of her country’s victory tour, against China on 16 December (Thursday 2am Nigerian time).
Former Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez has outlined why he left the club, stating Louis van Gaal told him he had a “one percent chance” of playing up front. Since joining Bayer Leverkusen for around £7m this summer, Hernandez, 27, has regularly found the net, with 16 goals in his last 15 games. “Van Gaal said that I only had a one per cent chance of playing in my position, so I headed to Bayer,” Hernandez told Spanish newspaper Marca. “I felt confident from the very first day. I feel important, not just because of my goals, but because I feel that I’ll start every game.”
Sepp Blatter has sent a letter to all 209 national football associations reiterating his innocence over ethics charges against him. Find the letter below:
Naija Sports Crib 