Guardiola, Klopp speak out against club owners’ decisions
LONDON, April 20: Divisions within the Super League clubs have grown with Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola saying joining a largely closed competition away from UEFA’s existing Champions League could damage the integrity and values of the sport. Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has also expressed concerns about the actions of his club’s owners. “Sport is not a sport when the relationship between the effort and the success, the effort and reward doesn’t exist,” said Guardiola, whose Manchester City side leads the Premier League. “It’s not a sport. It’s not a sport when success is already guaranteed. It’s not a sport when it doesn’t matter when you lose,” he added. He called on his club’s ownership to break its silence on the creation of a breakaway Super League, which he believes threatens the integrity and values of the sport. The Premier League has already threatened the six Super League clubs with expulsion if they go it alone in Europe. “The Premier League is considering all actions available to prevent it from progressing, as well as holding those shareholders involved to account under its rules,” the English top division said in a statement. (AP)
Mason assigned as Tottenham manager for season remainder
London, April 20: Ryan Mason will lead Tottenham into the English League Cup final against Manchester City on Sunday as the youngest manager in the club’s history after being installed as the replacement for the fired Jose Mourinho until the end of the season. Mason was given the top job on Tuesday for the remaining month of the season following Mourinho’s departure on Monday. He will be the first manager under the age of 30 to take charge of a team for a Premier League game against Southampton on Wednesday. Tottenham is in seventh place in the league, five points behind fourth-place West Ham in the race for Champions League qualification. That could be irrelevant, though, since Tottenham is one of the six English teams who have agreed to join a breakaway Super League, which could begin as early as next season. (AP)
Bayern, PSG bosses ratify UEFA executive committee posts
Berlin, April 20: Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge was ratified on the UEFA executive committee alongside Paris Saint-Germain chief Nasser Al-Khelaifi as representatives of the European Club Association (ECA) at the congress of the continental ruling body on Tuesday. The duo are of huge significance given their clubs are among the largest not involved in the breakaway Super League announced by a dozen other major sides from Spain, Italy and England on Sunday, DPA reported. Juventus’ Andrea Agnelli left his position as an ECA member on the committee after his club became part of the breakaway. Agnelli was personally criticised by UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin and accused of being a serial liar. (IANS)
National hockey coaching camp to be held at SAI Bengaluru
Bengaluru, April 20: A 33-member core group of the Indian men’s hockey team will assemble for the national coaching camp at the Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) South Centre. While 11 players have already been at the centre, they will be joined on Tuesday by the 22-member squad that toured Argentina. Following their mandatory quarantine, the 22-member squad will join the remaining 11 members in the core probable group who remained in SAI, Bengaluru while the Indian team toured Argentina. (IANS)
SA captains fear ICC ban on CSA
Johannesburg, April 20: The ICC on Tuesday said it will not intervene in the governance crisis engulfing South African cricket till the country’s board asks for it, after the three national team captains expressed concerns over possible suspension by the game’s global governing body. The three skippers Dean Elgar, Temba Bavuma and Dane van Niekerk have signed a joint statement expressing their concerns, before the ICC statement came as a relief. “The ICC encourages Members to work with governments to resolve issues. Not all government intervention is problematic and for the ICC to get involved it requires a formal complaint from our Members that it is unwanted,” the apex body said in a statement. “Should that happen we will evaluate the situation based on the facts provided and plan an appropriate course of action.” (PTI)