Arsène Wenger to visit India from November 19 to 23: AIFF president
New Delhi, Nov 1: FIFA’s chief of Global Football Development Arsene Wenger is all set to visit India from November 19 to 23, AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey has said. The former Arsenal manager had met with Chaubey and AIFF secretary general Shaji Prabhakaran in August in Australia and discussed about the setting up of a central academy in the country. Taking to his X (formerly Twitter) account, Chaubey thanked FIFA president Gianni Infantino for his keen interest in Indian football and confirmed Wenger’s India visit dates. “A big thank you to FIFA President Gianni Infantino for his keen interest in #IndianFootball. Via his office, we now have confirmation on Arsène Wenger’s India visit from 19-23 Nov. I wish to bring in ISL, ILeague club owners & football NGOs for a spl session hosted by @IndianFootball,” he wrote. Earlier, Wenger had opened up on his desire and inspiration to work alongside AIFF on a talent development project and hoped to give joy to Indian children with football education. “I’d say that India is a sporting country, and I’m hopeful that we can bring great joy to children in India and have fun by playing football,” he had told AIFF. Wenger also felt that the population of over 1.4 billion people is sure to give India a vast pool of footballing talent. (PTI)
AIFF awarded AFC award for grassroots football development
New Delhi, Nov 1: The All India Football Federation was honoured with the AFC President’s Recognition Bronze medal for its efforts in the grassroots level development of the sport in the country. It was AIFF’s second bronze medal in the category, having earned the same recognition back in 2014. “It is a good achievement for Indian football, and with this recognition from AFC, we are further motivated to do our best to impact the development of grassroots football in India,” AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey said after receiving the medal at the AFC Awards ceremony in Doha, Qatar, Tuesday night. The introduction of several grassroots football development plans, like the AIFF Blue Cubs programme, Blue Cubs coaching courses, Blue Cubs leagues, Blue Cubs football schools, AIFF Grassroots Awards, AIFF Institutional League for non-professional entities and AIFF Project Diamond have helped Indian football to a great extent, the national federation said in a release. AIFF Secretary General Shaji Prabhakaran lauded its “flagship grassroots initiative” for changing the landscape of India’s grassroots football level. “This award by the AFC for our grassroots work reflects that our flagship grassroots initiative ‘Blue Cubs’ will transform India’s grassroots landscape in the next few years,” he said. “We have a lot of work ahead to engage more children in the beautiful game, and our goal should be to win the AFC Diamond Category Award with our exceptional work in grassroots football.” (PTI)
Messi’s trip to China for Inter Miami exhibition games called off
Fort Lauderdale (US), Nov 1: Lionel Messi evidently won’t be playing in China this month after all. Inter Miami announced on Wednesday that its planned trip to China for a pair of exhibition matches has been called off. The team announced the trip last month, with a pair of games originally scheduled for November 5 and November 8. It would have been at least the eighth time that Messi – the World Cup champion for Argentina and now an eight-time Ballon d’Or winner, after receiving the annual award yet again earlier this week – played in China, and the total attendance for the two planned matches could have exceeded 100,000. Inter Miami said the reason was “unforeseen circumstances.” The tour promoter, NSN, said the decision to cancel was out of respect to Chinese officials following the death last week of the country’s former second-ranking leader, Li Keqiang. He was China’s top economic official for a decade. TyC Sports, a network in Argentina, reported Monday that the trip was called off. (AP)
Paredes misses Women’s Nations League game due to computer glitch
Zurich, Nov 1: Spain defender Irene Paredes was kept from making her 100th appearance with the women’s national team because of a computer glitch. Spain coach Montse Tome said on Tuesday after the team’s 7-1 rout of Switzerland in the Women’s Nations League that a computer error kept Paredes from being added to Spain’s official match squad. “There was some kind of computer problem, I was told about it at the hotel,” Tomé said. “I had to adapt to the situation and I went with the starting 11 that you saw.” Spanish media said the Spanish football federation was not able to properly update the game squad in UEFA’s official application. Instead, the squad from the previous match – in which Paredes was not included because she wasn’t fit – was in the system. Amaiur Sarriegi, who had been dropped the squad because of an injury, ended up appearing in the official squad list for the match against Switzerland even though she wasn’t available. (AP)
Court issues penalty order against Zverev over allegation of bodily harm
Berlin, Nov 1: A German court has issued a penalty order against tennis player Alexander Zverev over allegations he caused bodily harm to a woman. Zverev has disputed the allegations and is contesting the penalty order. The court in Berlin issued the order on October 2, including a requirement for Zverev to pay fines amounting to 450,000 euros (USD 475,000), a statement from the courts service issued Tuesday said. He is accused of physically abusing and damaging the health of a woman during an argument in Berlin in May 2020, the statement added. The statement said that Zverev was contesting the order and that the case would likely go to trial at the Tiergarten district court in Berlin after the court has heard further from the parties involved. Penalty orders are used in Germany as a means of resolving some criminal cases without going to trial if the suspect does not contest the order. A law firm acting for Zverev, Schertz Bergmann, issued a statement Tuesday saying that he rejects the allegations. It alleged there were procedural irregularities in the case against him and said it had expert medical evidence in Zverev’s favour. Zverev denied the allegations in comments at a tournament in July after the prosecutor’s office had filed the application for the penalty order. In January, an investigation by the men’s tennis tour found “insufficient evidence” to substantiate separate claims of domestic abuse by Zverev. The ATP commissioned the investigation in October 2021 after Zverev’s former girlfriend, Olya Sharypova, accused him of abuse. (AP)