Qatar Prime Minister Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani extended an invitation to investments from India, for the 2022 FIFA World Cup that the country is set to host. The Prime Minister invited India’s participation in infrastructure and investment opportunities. The Qatari Prime Minister, who is on a two- day visit to India, extended the invitation during the delegation-level meeting with this Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on Saturday.
The verdict in former FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s appeal against a six-year ban for unethical conduct will be announced today. The Court of Arbitration for Sport said on Friday it will publish the ruling at 3 p.m. Swiss time. Blatter has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in authorizing a $2 million payment to Michel Platini in 2011. They claimed it was uncontracted salary for France great Platini advising Blatter from 1999 to 2002. FIFA’s ethics committee ruled the payment was a conflict of interest in 2011 — just as a
FIFA presidential election campaign was starting — and banned both for eight years last December. FIFA’s appeal committee cut the bans to six years.
Former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson has been appointed manager of Chinese second tier club Shenzhen FC. The 68-year-old Swede will replace former Netherlands midfielder Clarence Seedorf, who took over in July but failed to win promotion. Eriksson, who managed England between 2001 and 2006, left Chinese Super League team Shanghai SIPG in November after two years in charge. Shenzhen said they appointed Eriksson for his “rich coaching experience, advanced football philosophy and intimate knowledge of Chinese football”.
Former Chelsea striker Eidur Gudjohnsen is the latest player to offer his services to Chapecoense as the Brazilian club rebuild following the devastating plane crash in Colombia. Brazil’s leading football clubs have pledged to loan players to Chapecoense – who lost 19 players in the air disaster which killed 71 people – for free and asked for them to be safeguarded from relegation from the top flight for the next three seasons. Former Brazil forward Ronaldinho and ex-Argentina international Juan Roman Riquelme have reportedly offered to play for the club.
Saturday 3rd December, 2016:
Manchester City 1 – 3 Chelsea
Crystal Palace 3 – 0 Southampton
Stoke 2 – 0 Burnley
Sunderland 2 – 1 Leicester
Tottenham 5 – 0 Swansea
West Brom 3 – 1 Watford
West Ham 1 – 5 Arsenal
Sunday 4th December, 2016:
Bournemouth 4 – 3 Liverpool
Everton 1 – 1 Manchester United
Monday 5th December, 2016:
Middlesbrough 1 – 0 Hull City
Manchester City footballer Yaya Toure has been charged with drink driving, police have confirmed. Police said the 33-year-old of Macclesfield, Cheshire was driving in Dagenham in east London at the time of the alleged offence. Police said he was charged on Tuesday with driving while his alcohol level was above the legal limit . He has been bailed and is due to appear at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court on 13 December.
Nigeria won the women’s Africa Cup of Nations for an eighth time after a 1-0 win over hosts Cameroon in front of a capacity 40,000 crowd in Yaounde. A late goal from Desire Oparanozie was enough for Nigeria to retain the trophy they won in Namibia two years ago. The Super Falcons have dominated this competition, winning all but two of the ten editions played so far. In a repeat of the 2014 final, Cameroon finished as runners-up again despite enjoying massive home support.
Watford boss Walter Mazzarri has insisted Odion Ighalo remains part of his plans despite the striker’s poor start to the season. Ighalo attracted the interest of a host of big clubs – and was the subject of a £37.5million bid from Chinese club Shanghai SIPG in the summer – after scoring 13 Premier League goals before the turn of the year last season. But the 27-year-old Nigeria international found the back of the net on just two occasions in the second half of Watford’s campaign, and he has scored just once in the league this term. Mazzarri said: “I speak about what I know and I speak about what I have seen so far this season. “He is a player that I like and I trust very much. “When he was in a good condition at the beginning of the year he played, and started the games. “Of course he is a player that we need.” Watford’s leading goalscorer this season is Etienne Capoue. The former Tottenham ace has scored five goals so far – three more than Ighalo and two more than Troy Deeney.
Leicester City are in advanced talks with Genk over a £14 million deal for Wilfred Ndidi, as Claudio Ranieri prepares to strengthen the struggling Premier League champions. Ranieri is close to completing a deal for the highly-rated teenager and expects to make Ndidi Leicester’s first capture of the January transfer window. Negotiations are ongoing but Leicester are confident of signing the 19-year-old in the New Year in a deal which could rise to £16 million after instalments.
Gareth Southgate has been appointed as England manager on a four-year deal. Southgate, 46, stepped up from his role as England Under-21s manager in September following Sam Allardyce’s departure after only 67 days in charge. He oversaw two wins and two draws as interim boss and has signed a contract reportedly worth up to £2m a year. “I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the players over these past four games and I think there is huge potential,” said Southgate.
Ghanaian Premier League campaigners Dreams FC have been demoted to Division One while Tema Youth are promoted to the top-flight following the ruling by the Appeals Committee of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) on Wednesday. The Appeals Committee was forced by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to hear the case after Tema Youth petitioned the Switzerland-based body claiming justice was not delivered in two previous hearings by the Disciplinary Committee of the GFA.
Everton look set to beat Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea to the signing of teenage starlet Ademola Lookman, according to a report. The 19-year-old has been high on the agenda of a number of top-flight clubs after starring for Charlton Athletic, scoring 11 goals from the left side of the Addicks attack in just 30 starts since his debut in November 2015. It was gathered that the Toffees are set to close a deal to sign the Football League wonderkid in January, despite their Premier League rivals’ interest.
Everton youngster Gethin Jones is weighing up an offer to play for Australia. The 21-year-old was born Down Under but has represented Wales at youth level. But now Jones has been given the chance to pledge his senior international future to Australia. Football Federation Australia (FFA) want Jones to switch allegiance but Wales will be determined to keep hold of the talented defender.
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