List of All Articles with Tag 'sp'

Brazil and Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr. has been tasked with leading a special player-run Fifa anti-racism committee. The committee will look to advocate for more stringent punishments for any displays of racism within football, a long overdue need. Vinicius Jr, arguably the face of LaLiga, recently came under attack when he experienced chants from Valenica’s fans in May during a 1-0 away defeat at the Mestalla. The incident accounted for the ninth time the 22-year-old star had reported racial abuse this LaLiga campaign alone. Support around the world came in for the Brazilian star who blasted the Spanish league after the events that unfolded. Vini Jr. made his feelings clear about his experience so far in LaLiga stating that he believed racism like he experienced at the Mestalla had become “normal” all around the top flight. The Brazilian didn’t hold back in expressing his thoughts, stating that in Brazil, Spain is regarded as a country of racists. Javier Tebas, LaLiga’s president, didn’t take kindly to Vinicius’ criticism of Spain. The Costa Rican-born Tebas failed to reinforce support for the abused star, criticising the Brazilian’s reaction to the terrible events. Although LaLiga has had extreme numbers of incidents with racist fan behaviour over the past year, the issues extend beyond Spain. Joelinton, a fellow Brazilian and Newcastle United midfielder, recently revealed that he had his own experience with racism following Newcastle’s defeat to Arsenal. The newly created committee is an important step in the right direction and, at the very least, demonstrates that Fifa is no longer willing to passively observe their players suffer with no consequences. Gianni Infantino, Fifa’s president, spoke with the Brazilian national team in Barcelona encouraging the players that football will no longer deal with racism and stated to Reuters: “There will be no more football with racism in it. The games should be stopped immediately when it happens. Enough is enough.” Infantino stressed the importance of not just punishing fans within the scope of football but expanding the punishments beyond the stadium and pursuing legal action. The president continued: "An act of racism is a criminal act... From now on, Fifa will take legal actions with local authorities too, we will join complaints filed in local justice.” Football has no room for racism and incidents such as Vinicius’ should not have to occur to move the needle. However, the appointment of a player like Vinicius to lead the new committee, who has personally experienced racism in football at its most extreme, brings hope for creating a safer environment for players all around the world. Read More Gordon McQueen: The tough defender who starred for both Leeds and Man United Kompany eager for ‘perfect’ season start when Burnley face Man City Former Scotland defender Gordon McQueen dies aged 70

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Not many players can boast successful spells at both Leeds and Manchester United, but Gordon McQueen was one of them. The former Scotland defender, who has died at the age of 70 following a battle with dementia, broke the British transfer record in 1978 after making a controversial £495,000 move across the Pennines to Manchester, but it came at a cost as he attracted the ire of the West Yorkshire club’s fans. The move was met with such a backlash from the Leeds faithful that McQueen, a tough and uncompromising centre-back, felt responsible for creating such a bitter rivalry between the two clubs and admitted the move could well have been a catalyst for decades of enmity between the sets of supporters. But it was one he could not turn down, saying famously at the time: “Ninety-nine per cent of players want to play for Manchester United and the rest are liars.” Despite the furore surrounding the deal, the Scot went on to enjoy a seven-year career in Manchester before retirement and, after flirting briefly with management, he enjoyed a successful television career as a pundit on Sky Sports. He disappeared from screens after being diagnosed with cancer of the larynx in 2011, but his legacy at the broadcaster lives on in the shape of daughter Hayley McQueen, a regular presenter on the channel. While McQueen’s time in West Yorkshire may be overshadowed by the move to Old Trafford, he will go down as one of the great Scottish contingent that featured so heavily for Don Revie’s dominant Leeds side of the 1970s. Born in the North Ayrshire town of Kilbirnie on June 26, 1952 to mother Millie and former Hibernian and Accrington goalkeeper Tom McQueen, it was no surprise that McQueen embarked on a career in professional football, and it all started out at St Mirren. Ninety-nine per cent of players want to play for Manchester United and the rest are liars Gordon McQueen It did not take long for the big clubs to come calling, though, and after rejecting the likes of Liverpool’s Bill Shankly and Jock Stein at Celtic, McQueen plumped for a move to Elland Road where he would join up with future international team-mates Billy Bremner, Eddie Gray and Joe Jordan, whom he also played alongside at Old Trafford. Having moved south in 1972 at the age of 20, McQueen missed the FA Cup final defeat to Sunderland in his first season, but it was not long before he had established himself in the side as they went on to win the First Division title in 1973-74 before having a tilt at the European Cup the following season. Leeds made it all the way to the final, but McQueen was suspended for the 2-0 defeat to Bayern Munich after he was sent off in the semi-final against Barcelona. “We played Barcelona in the semi-final and we were 2-1 up going into the second leg in Spain,” he recalled in an interview with the BBC in 2016. “A few of their players said they were going to do me, and Jimmy Armfield, our manager, told me to count to 10 if anything happened. “The boy (Manuel) Clares spat in my face, I counted to 10 and then knocked him out. I was sent off. Missed the final.” After six years at Leeds, the offer came in from Old Trafford to make McQueen the most expensive ever signing by a British club, a year after Hamburg splashed out £500,000 to sign Kevin Keegan from Liverpool. He helped his new club reach the 1978-79 FA Cup final in his first full season and played his part in one of the most dramatic matches the competition has witnessed, his 86th-minute goal sparking a late United comeback from 2-0 down to 2-2 against Arsenal, only for Alan Sunderland’s 89th-minute goal to win it for the Gunners. He did claim an FA Cup winners’ medal in 1982-83 following a replay win over Brighton, but suffered defeat in the League Cup final that same year against Liverpool. On the international front, McQueen made his debut for Scotland in 1974, with his most memorable moment in dark blue coming against England at Wembley in 1977. He powered a header past Ray Clemence – one of five international goals he scored – to set Scotland on their way to a famous 2-1 win in front of almost 100,000 fans, 70,000 of them travelling Scots. The wild celebrations that followed have gone down in football folklore, with hoards of jubilant Scotland fans invading the pitch. Supporters clambered on to the goal frames, even breaking a crossbar, while bits of the Wembley turf were ripped up and claimed as souvenirs. McQueen was included in Scotland’s squad for the 1978 World Cup, but could not play in the tournament due to injury. He won the last of his 30 caps in 1981. Following seven years at Old Trafford, he left the club in 1985 after losing his place to Paul McGrath and, after a brief spell in Hong Kong, he retired and took the managerial reins at Airdrie before moving on to backroom roles at St Mirren and Middlesbrough, where he settled down with his family. McQueen was a smoker and drinker throughout his career in an era when it was rife among footballers. After his cancer diagnosis in 2011, he had a further health scare in 2015 when he suffered a stroke in the same month his father died. It affected his movement, despite sessions of physiotherapy, and meant he had to scale back the scouting work he did for Boro. In February 2021 it was announced he had been diagnosed with vascular dementia, with his family saying that he wondered whether the amount of heading of the ball he did throughout his career was a factor in him getting the disease. McQueen is survived by wife Yvonne, daughters Hayley and Anna, son Edward and grandchildren Rudi, Etta and Ayla.

Manchester City will begin their bid for a record fourth consecutive Premier League title away to Vincent Kompany’s Burnley. The treble winners will visit Turf Moor to face their former captain’s newly-promoted side on the evening of Friday, August 11 to raise the curtain on the 2023-24 campaign. It will be the second time Kompany – who won the title on four occasions as City skipper – will have faced his old side as a manager, with City running out 6-0 winners at the Etihad in March’s FA Cup quarter-final. “We all know every match this season is massive but for the reigning winners of the Championship to face the Premier League champions feels like the perfect curtain raiser,” Kompany told the club’s website. It’s great we can start the Premier League campaign in front of our own fans with a home match.” Premier League debutants Luton will play their first top-flight fixture since 1992 away to Roberto De Zerbi’s Brighton on Saturday, August 12, having to wait until the following weekend for their first home game when Kenilworth Road will become the smallest ground to host a fixture in the competition for the visit of Burnley. The other promoted side Sheffield United kick off their season with a home game against Crystal Palace. The outstanding fixture of the opening weekend will be at Stamford Bridge where Mauricio Pochettino begins life as Chelsea manager against Liverpool on Sunday, August 13, with both sides looking to bounce back after disappointing campaigns. Arsenal, following an anticlimactic conclusion to last season’s title challenge, open at home to Nottingham Forest in Saturday’s lunchtime game, with fellow Champions League qualifiers Newcastle hosting Aston Villa that evening and Manchester United beginning against Wolves at Old Trafford on Monday, August 14. Ange Postecoglou’s first game in charge of Tottenham will be away to Brentford at 2pm on Sunday, Bournemouth open at home to Europa Conference League winners West Ham, and Everton, looking to avoid a third straight relegation scrap, begin at home to Fulham. The first north London derby of the campaign sees Spurs visit Arsenal on September 23 (with the return on April 27) while Man City travel to the Emirates on October 7 for a meeting of last season’s top two. October 28 at Old Trafford will bring the first Manchester derby since City matched United’s Treble-winning feat of 1999 (United go to the Etihad on March 2), with the champions hosting Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool on November 25. The first Merseyside derby of the campaign sees Everton go to Anfield on October 21, while Pochettino will take his new side to face his old one when Chelsea visit Tottenham on November 4. Mikel Arteta is unlikely to be impressed with Arsenal’s schedule, with the club’s first two Champions League fixtures in six years coming immediately ahead of games against Tottenham and City. Pochettino will receive an early test of his Chelsea rebuild when the Blues face Tottenham, Man City and Newcastle in consecutive games in November. Luton have been handed a seemingly kind start to life in the Premier League, their only meeting with any of the ‘big six’ in their first seven games coming away at Chelsea on August 26. The final weekend sees all three promoted sides play at home, with Burnley welcoming Forest, Sheffield United hosting Spurs and Luton playing Fulham. Read More Premier League fixtures announced: 5 key games to decide title, Champions League fight and relegation Opening day fixtures 2023/24: Every Premier League match in first round of games Boxing Day fixtures 2023/24: Every Premier League match over festive period

FIFA says Brazil and Real Madrid star Vinícius Júnior has agreed to join a new task force to tackle racism in soccer

Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez is demanding that Major League Baseball change its basepath rule after catcher Keibert Ruiz’s ninth-inning throw hit runner Jake Meyers, resulting in a throwing error that gave the Houston Astros a 5-4 win

Brandon Miller and Scoot Henderson have made their cases to be the No. 2 pick in the NBA draft

The German soccer federation says Leipzig midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai has been fined $32,600 for posing with a flare to celebrate winning the German Cup

All but one big league team will celebrate Pride Night this season, yet the sport remains hampered by ongoing issues around LGBTQ+ inclusivity

Positivity has been the watchword for Ben Stokes since taking over as England cricket captain a year ago and he oozed it on the eve of a highly anticipated Ashes series against Australia

England goalkeeper Hannah Hampton is to leave Aston Villa when her contract expires at the end of this month, the Women’s Super League club have announced. The 22-year-old, who joined Villa in the summer of 2021 after leaving Birmingham, has been linked with Chelsea. Hampton made 43 appearances in all competitions for Villa and helped Carla Ward’s team achieve a fifth-placed finish for the 2022-23 WSL season. The in-form Hampton produced five clean sheets out of her 15 WSL league matches this past season. Capped twice at senior international level, she was part of the England squad that won the European Championship on home soil last summer. She received her first call-up since that tournament in March, with Lionesses boss Sarina Wiegman saying Hampton had "needed to sort out some personal issues (and has) done that" and praising her form. She has subsequently been included in Wiegman’s 23-player squad for this summer’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. The call up is a great step forward as many saw Hampton on the fringe of making the Lionesses squad. Hampton is joining fellow Women’s Super League goalkeepers Mary Earps of Manchester United, the undisputed No.1, and Ellie Roebuck of Manchester City, who are also making the journey Down Under. Hampton was ecstatic with her selection, telling her local paper, the Lichfield Live, “From a little girl playing football to being selected to represent my country at a World Cup is a dream come true and a huge honour.” With Hampton in the squad, the Lionesses aim to build upon their successful Euro’s campaign in 2022, which concluded with a victory over Germany to win the trophy, marking the first-ever win for the Lionesses first in their history. The England squad enter’s this year’s World Cup with sky-high expectations, coming in as the bookmakers’ second most likely team to win the illustrious tournament. Meanwhile, the United States enters the tournament as the favorites, coming off of two straight World Cup titles. Hampton and the Lionesses look to build off of their past strong World Cup performances, where the talented squad reach back-to-back World Cup semifinals. Additional reporting by PA Read More Premier League fixtures LIVE: Opening weekend and full schedules for every club Hayley McQueen pays tribute to father Gordon after his death at 70 Former Scotland defender Gordon McQueen dies aged 70