Man United appoint figure from rival in role Sir Jim Ratcliffe had made redundant
Manchester United look set to appoint Brentford’s chief operating officer, Ameesh Manek, as the club's new director of football operations.
Conceicao named as new coach of Al-Ittihad
RIYADH: Former AC Milan manager Sergio Conceicao will take over as coach of Al-Ittihad following the sacking of Laurent Blanc, the Saudi Arabian Pro League club announced on Wednesday. The Portuguese coach, who also won 52 caps as a player, was revealed in a video on social media titled “The King Rules the Game.” “Victory is not a choice,” says Conceicao, 50, in the video.
Germany’s Woltemade not yet in team training after flu
BERLIN: Germany striker Nick Woltemade returned to light individual training on Wednesday after recovering from a flu, as the national team prepare for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Luxembourg and Northern Ireland. The Germans, third in Group A on three points, host Luxembourg on Friday before traveling to Belfast to face Northern Ireland, second on goal difference, three days later. Slovakia are top on six points with Luxembourg bottom on zero. The 23-year-old Woltemade, who has made a strong start since joining Newcastle United this season, scoring in the Premier League and Europe, including Sunday’s 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest, missed Germany’s training on Tuesday after joining the team a day late due to his illness. Woltemade is firmly in the spotlight ahead of the qualifiers after quickly becoming a crowd favorite in Newcastle.
Serie A chief dismisses Rabiot concerns over Milan’s Australia fixture
MILAN: Footballers should respect the money they make and their employers, Serie A Chief Executive Luigi De Siervo said on Wednesday in response to AC Milan midfielder Adrien Rabiot’s concerns over his club’s planned league match in Australia. Italy’s Serie A have turned the unavailability of the San Siro in February due to the Winter Olympics into an opportunity for Italian football to increase international visibility, and Milan’s fixture with Como will be played in Perth. Rabiot, currently on international duty with France, called the decision crazy when he spoke to French newspaper Le Figaro on Tuesday. “I was surprised when I learned that AC Milan will be playing a Serie A match against Como ... in Australia,” Rabiot said. “It’s completely crazy.
Cristiano Ronaldo becomes football’s first billionaire, says Bloomberg
RIYADH: Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo has become football’s first billionaire player, according to figures released Wednesday in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Motor racing-FIA list raises prospect of Ben Sulayem being re-elected unopposed
LONDON: FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the head of Formula One’s governing body, could be re-elected unopposed in December after a list published on Wednesday left rivals seemingly unable to secure the necessary support to stand. The International Automobile Federation named 29 people who are eligible for its World Motor Sport Council (WMSC), from which list each presidential candidate must draw a team of seven potential vice presidents for sport in order to progress to a vote. Two must come from Europe and one each from South America, North America, Asia Pacific, Africa and Middle East/North Africa. South America has only one person on the list, however: Brazilian Fabiana Ecclestone, who is a current vice president for sport representing the continent and one of the most senior women at the FIA as well as being the wife of former F1 supremo Bernie. The FIA said the absence of any other candidate from South America on the list could be due to no other member club putting anybody forward or to someone failing to secure the approval of the FIA nominations committee. The deadline for putting forward candidates for the WMSC list was September 29.
Calculators at the ready to determine African World Cup aspirations
CAPE TOWN: African fans will need their calculators over the next week of World Cup qualifiers to figure out if their favored team remains in contention for a place at next year’s finals in North America. The nine group winners all qualify automatically and will be determined when the group qualifying program ends on Tuesday. While that is simple enough, there is the possibility of an additional 10th African team reaching next June’s finals in Canada, Mexico and the United States via a lengthy playoff route. The four best runners-up from the nine groups will go into a playoff next month to determine a sole African representative for a further intercontinental playoff planned for March. Calculating the four best runners-up from the nine African groups would have been easy had Eritrea not withdrawn before the start of the campaign, but after the draw was made, and left one of the groups with five teams instead of six. Therefore, because the five countries in Group E played eight qualifiers instead of 10 in all the other groups, the four best runners-up will be determined not by their overall points tally but by their results only against the third, fourth and fifth-placed sides in their respective groups. In other words, any points that the runners-up accumulated in matches against the last-placed finisher are expunged, the Confederation of African Football has confirmed. The penultimate round of qualifiers began on Wednesday and with two rounds to play, there are only two confirmed group winners, no confirmed runners-up and four teams condemned to last place. Morocco and Tunisia last month secured top place in their respective groups, and a ticket to the 2026 World Cup, while Djibouti (Group A), Seychelles (F), Somalia
Soccer–Saudi champions Al-Ittihad name Portugal's Conceicao as coach
Saudi Pro League champions Al-Ittihad have appointed Portuguese coach Sergio Conceicao on a deal running until 2028, the club said on Wednesday, replacing Frenchman Laurent Blanc who departed last month.