List of All Articles with Tag 'port'

Belgium’s soccer friendly against Serbia has been switched to Leuven after heavy rain made the field at Brussels’ King Baudouin stadium unplayable

Chelsea are set to face further scrutiny from the Premier League over reports of payments connected to the club’s former owner Roman Abramovich. The Guardian has reported that Abramovich, a Russian billionaire who owned the club for 19 years until he was sanctioned by the British government last year, used offshore companies to make payments which appear to have been for the club’s benefit. The Premier League is already investigating the club after their new owners became aware of “potentially incomplete financial reporting” linked to the Abramovich era while completing their due diligence as part of the takeover and self-reported the information they discovered to the league and other regulators. The Premier League has not commented on Wednesday’s report, but it is likely it will now look closely at the information reported by the Guardian. A Chelsea spokesperson said: “These allegations pre-date the club’s current ownership. They are based on documents which the club has not been shown and do not relate to any individual who is presently at the club.” Chelsea’s stance under their new owners has been consistent – to examine any allegations of impropriety under the previous ownership as soon as they become aware of them. Abramovich bought Chelsea in 2003 and invested millions as the club enjoyed unprecedented success, including Champions League victories in 2012 and 2021 as well as five Premier League titles. He was forced to sell the club last year after his assets were frozen by the Government following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The FA has confirmed it is investigating, although it is unclear at this stage whether its investigation relates to the information Chelsea self-reported or the new allegations. Chelsea entered into €10m (£8.7m) settlement with Uefa after also self-reporting the information which came to light during the 2022 takeover to European football’s governing body. PA Read More Ruthless Emma Hayes will fix USA’s ‘arrogance’ and ‘complacency’ How Conor Gallagher navigated ‘crazy’ Chelsea period to target Euro 2024 place Is Real Madrid v Chelsea on TV? Channel, time and how to watch

Russian officials admit only that "small groups" of Ukrainian forces have captured a village.

Four players initially called up by coach Roberto Martínez will not be available for Portugal’s European qualifiers against Liechtenstein on Thursday and Iceland three days later

Luis Diaz has been reunited with his father, who was released by rebels after being held hostage in Colombia for 12 days. The Liverpool striker and his father, Luis Manuel Diaz Jimenez, cried as they embraced each other for the first time since the kidnapping ordeal. Armed men on motorcycles abducted Diaz’s parents from a gas station in the small town of Barrancas on 28 October. His mother, Cilenis Marulanda, was rescued within hours by police, but his father was held by the National Liberation Army (ELN) for 12 days. Diaz, who returned to Colombia on international duty this week, was reunited with his father in an emotional moment shared by the national team on social media. Read More Luis Diaz’s father shares shocking details of kidnapping after 12-day ordeal Jurgen Klopp reacts to release of Luis Diaz’s kidnapped father: ‘Really happy’ John Obi Mikel recalls Abramovich offering to ‘send people’ to rescue kidnapped dad

Morocco is the place to be when 2026 World Cup qualifying in Africa starts this week

The International Cricket Council has defended a late switch of the pitch used for the semifinal match between host India and New Zealand at the Cricket World Cup

Union Berlin has parted ways with coach Urs Fischer after a 14-game winless run in all competitions

Andre Villas-Boas has spoken of the challenge faced by managers due to the increased use of data analysis, recalling it led to “massive, massive arguments” over the potential signing of Joao Moutinho when he was Tottenham head coach. The Portuguese wanted to sign compatriot Moutinho from Porto in the summer of 2012, but the midfielder was only sixth on the list compiled using data and statistical analysis by then sporting director Franco Baldini. Spurs pushed ahead with other targets, including Mousa Dembele, and only returned for Moutinho at the end of the summer transfer window, missing out on his signature by a minute. With more and more clubs using data and artificial intelligence to identify targets, Villas-Boas knows the conundrum that managers will now begin to face. “The most evident case I had when I was at Tottenham and I wanted to sign Joao Moutinho and he was sitting sixth on the list compiled by data people,” he said at Web Summit in Lisbon. “The first on the list was Dembele, we ended up signing him and we almost ended up signing Moutinho as well, but we lost it against the clock on the last day of the transfer window. “But it drained me emotionally to the point where, here was a guy that the data was not showing all that he represented from the coach’s perspective, which is a player that knows your leadership, a player that knows your style, adaptability to your style. “This can be quantified, but it must be done in the view of a coach and not a single view. “This was the problem in the beginning and we mad massive, massive arguments in the beginning because of this with Moutinho. “We signed Dembele but missed out on Moutinho and it was unfortunate because we were going to build up a very strong midfield. “This is precisely where you have to have that balance to understand, what is your coaching philosophy and how it should be integrated into the data that has been provided to you.” I have this objective of serving FC Porto as a president and at the moment it is going to go up for election in April or June 2024 so I always have the idea the present myself. Andre Villas-Boas Villas-Boas has not been in work since leaving Marseille in 2021 and has forged a career as a rally driver while also spending time with his family. The 46-year-old says he expects to remain out of the game until next year, when he could run for election as Porto’s president. “Now is not the right moment to talk about going back,” he told the PA news agency. “At this time I am dedicating my time to my family. “I have managed to find a break where I can dedicate myself to them 100 per cent and this is likely to be until June 2024. They deserve my presence. “I have this objective of serving FC Porto as a president and at the moment it is going to go up for election in April or June 2024, so I always have the idea the present myself.”

“If you don’t improve I’m selling you.” A young Jess Carter is sat in the middle of a white-walled room at Chelsea’s training ground in Cobham, a tactics board behind her, a fleet of analysts and fitness staff, all armed with laptops, positioned on the outside, quietly looking in. Carter is chewing gum and looks bored, frustrated to have been hauled aside to hear the same old message. Facing her is Emma Hayes. “I want you to show every f***ing day that you give a f*** about yourself,” Hayes says. “It’s up to you to decide your future.” Four years later, it is clear what future Carter decided to choose. Now 26, the Chelsea defender is an established England international, having just played a key role in the Lionesses reaching the World Cup final this summer. When Carter first arrived at Chelsea, Hayes found a player who struggled to keep herself fit or follow a regimented diet. Chelsea’s fitness staff were exasperated and Carter’s confidence was on the floor: she did not think she was good enough to play for her country, but Hayes saw and believed in her potential and, crucially, how it could be brought out. What followed won’t be included on Hayes’s list of honours or medals when the manager leaves Chelsea at the end of the season. “Highly decorated” does not even begin to cover what Hayes has achieved at Chelsea, or the legacy she will leave behind after the shock news that this season will be her last at Stamford Bridge and Kingsmeadow, with the glamour of the USA job calling. Under Hayes, the days of triumph and glory Chelsea have celebrated since her appointment in 2012 have been unrivalled, stretched across an unprecedented decade of dominance. Yet if the dynasty Hayes built can be measured in titles, its foundations are in success stories like Carter’s – and the manager who set the environment where she could become the player she is today. “If you sleepwalk your way through life, you won’t survive,” Hayes goes on to say in the DAZN documentary One Team, One Dream. Certainly, it reveals some insights into the ruthless trophy-winning machine that has dominated women’s football in England over the last decade, claiming six Women’s Super Leagues, five Women’s FA Cups and two League Cups, and which in recent years has barely given anyone else a sniff. That could change now Hayes will be leaving the WSL, heading towards a position that is outside club football altogether. The 47-year-old will take up the vacancy at the United States women’s national team, with the four-time World Cup winners appointing her as successor to Vlatko Andonovski after their disastrous last-16 exit from this year’s tournament. Hayes was said to be US Soccer’s first choice for the job and reports in the US suggest she will receive an equal salary to the men’s head coach Gregg Berhalter, at £1.3m per year – making her the highest-paid women’s football coach in the world. Given Hayes’s record in women’s football, such an offer from US Soccer should only be considered the minimum. The English manager is the outstanding club coach in the women’s game and the only area that Chelsea have fallen short in has been in their pursuit of a first Champions League title, after reaching the final in 2021 and the semi-finals last season. It would be fair to include this as a criticism, given how Hayes has been backed by Chelsea and the resources available to the club. After all, it was that support that led to Chelsea signing Sam Kerr, the striker who took Hayes’s side to another level and whose taste for the big moments came to mirror their own sense of inevitability. But in dominating the domestic scene, Hayes created a culture where the values of graft and grind were placed on a pedestal. Over the years, much of their trophy procession felt self-fulfilling. It came from the top, where Hayes reinforced the message and stamped out complacency at the start of every season, sustaining Chelsea’s superiority in a league that was so often decided by fine margins. If the history of team sports shows there are often natural, unavoidable drop-offs in performance and motivation following periods of success, there has been little hint of that at Chelsea in recent years. Which is what makes Hayes’s move to the USA so fascinating. “Arrogance” and “complacency” were the very words used to describe how the USA ceded their position as the dominant force in international women’s football, as illustrated by their disastrous defence of their World Cup title in Australia and New Zealand. Their performances up to and including that last-16 defeat to Sweden highlighted a squad that was long past its best, and a system where players had the power and were picked based on their reputations. Naturally, many of the issues that Hayes inherits will lie below the surface and could take years to resolve, primarily how the US has fallen behind Europe in the production of young talent. Hayes’s previous experience before arriving at Chelsea is set to be beneficial, given she started her coaching career in the US college system in the early 2000s and landed her first professional managerial position with the Chicago Red Stars in the National Women’s Soccer League. As Hayes will remain with Chelsea until the end of the season, there is time to assess what is required ahead of what would be her primary goal of recapturing the World Cup in 2027. But it is in the dressing room where Hayes’s immediate targets and her strictest standards will be made clear – just like she told Carter all those years ago. “Get better or I’ll get someone else.” Perhaps the USA have not heard enough of that in recent years. Now a team in need of a reset will be charged with the ultimate cultural makeover. Before then, though, there are more trophies with Chelsea to win. Read More Emma Hayes: Winning Champions League would be fairytale end to time at Chelsea The ‘crazy’ debate once again at the heart of the Women’s Champions League Chelsea defeat Everton in WSL as Manchester City slip up against Brighton Emma Hayes says ‘time is right’ to move on from Chelsea after 12 years Emma Hayes to take charge of USA after final season at Chelsea Candidates to take over as Chelsea boss after Emma Hayes decides to move on

India skipper Rohit Sharma has won the toss and decided to bat first against New Zealand in the first of the Cricket World Cup semifinals

German professional football’s governing body is launching a third attempt to sell a stake in the league’s media