European soccer body UEFA has charged Feyenoord Rotterdam with racist behavior by fans who threw an inflatable banana onto the pitch during a tense Europa League last-32 match against AS Roma.
UEFA on Monday also charged Roma winger Adem Ljajic with “provoking spectators” when celebrating the opening goal in Roma’s decisive 2-1 win on Thursday.
Dozens of fans were detained in the Netherlands ahead of the return game following disorder in Rome at the first-leg match.
On Thursday, play was twice briefly stopped by fan incidents including in the first half when the banana was thrown.
COACH UNCONVINCED
Feyenoord coach Fred Rutten suggested after the match that there had been no racism intended.
“There is such a fuss made about it. I don’t see it that way,” Rutten said.
“We have different nationalities in our team,” he added. “It’s nonsense. We make too much of it.”
UEFA said Feyenoord faces sanctions on March 19 for fans’ racist behavior, plus throwing fireworks and objects and the club’s “insufficient organization” in the stadium.
The club was fined 15,000 euros (US$16,800) by UEFA earlier this season for similar incidents.
CASES ACCELERATED
UEFA’s disciplinary panel accelerated the cases against Serbia international Ljajic and Roma, who were late for a kick-off.
The panel is to hear those cases today and should apply sanctions before Roma play ACF Fiorentina in the last-16 round later this month.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite