UNITED KINGDOM
FIFA tries to block document
World governing body FIFA is attempting to block the release of a document that reveals the identity of two officials forced to repay bribes, the BBC reported on Sunday. The officials repaid the money in a settlement following a Swiss criminal investigation last year, according to allegations broadcast by the BBC’s current affairs program Panorama yesterday. The settlement relates to bribes paid to senior FIFA officials in the 1990s by sports marketing company International Sports and Leisure, Panorama reported. The program named the men concerned as former FIFA president Joao Havelange, 95, and Ricardo Teixeira, the leader of Brazilian soccer and a member of FIFA’s executive committee. The program also said it had found evidence that FIFA vice president Jack Warner sold on tickets to the World Cup in Germany 2006 through an intermediary, but lawyers acting for FIFA are contesting a decision by the Swiss prosecutor in Zug to release details of the agreement.
INDONESIA
Country braced for ban
FIFA is expected to ban Indonesia from international soccer, including World Cup qualifiers and the Southeast Asian Games, which the country is hosting in November, a report said yesterday. Sanctions are imminent after the Indonesian Football Association failed to resolve a bitter row at the weekend over how the game should be run in the country. “In my opinion, the chance of a FIFA sanction is 2,000 percent,” acting Indonesian Football Association secretary-general Joko Driyono was quoted as saying by the Jakarta Globe daily. Soccer in Indonesia is in turmoil after the association failed to elect a new leadership panel on Friday night ahead of a deadline set by FIFA.
TURKEY
Fenerbahce win 18th title
Fenerbahce won their 18th Turkish championship on Sunday with a 4-3 away victory over Sivasspor, grabbing the crown on goal-difference from Trabzonspor on the final day of the season. The Istanbul giants finished the season with 82 points, the same as Trabzonspor, whose 4-0 victory over Karabukspor fell short of propelling them to the top. Thousands of Fenerbahce fans took to the streets in the club’s home district of Kadikoy, on Istanbul’s Asian side, in an ecstatic celebration that will also go some way to burying memories of their last-minute loss of the title last year. Fenerbahce and Trabzonspor will represent Turkey in the Champions League next season.
RUSSIA
CSKA Moscow win Cup final
Three-time champions CSKA Moscow won their sixth Russian Cup, beating Alania Vladikavkaz 2-1 in the final at Yaroslavl Central Stadium on Sunday. Ivory Coast forward Seidou Doumbia put the Red Army side into the lead when the match was 13 minutes old, firing past Alania goalkeeper Dmitry Khomich from Vagner Love’s cross, but 10 minutes later Danila Neko pulled the scores level when he put the ball in the net with a help of a slight ricochet. After the interval, CSKA went on the offensive and Doumbia netted the winning goal in the 69th minute.
PORTUGAL
Porto bag another treble
Porto bagged a treble after adding the Portuguese Cup to the club’s triumphs in the Europa League and the Portuguese league on Sunday. Porto, coached by 33-year-old Andre Villas-Boas, hammered Vitoria Guimaraes 6-2 in the Cup final in Lisbon to repeat the treble last achieved in 2003 under Jose Mourinho.
College basketballer Kaitlyn Chen has become the first female player of Taiwanese descent to be drafted by a WNBA team, after the Golden State Valkyries selected her in the third and final round of the league’s draft on Monday. Chen, a point guard who played her first three seasons in college for Princeton University, transferred to the University of Connecticut (UConn) for her final season, which culminated in a national championship earlier this month. While at Princeton, Chen was named the Ivy League tournament’s most outstanding player three times from 2022 to last year. Prior to the draft, ESPN described Chen as
College basketballer Kaitlyn Chen (陳凱玲) has become the first player of Taiwanese descent to be drafted by a WNBA team, after being selected by the Golden State Valkyries in the third and final round of the league's draft yesterday. Chen, a point guard who played her first three seasons in college for Princeton University, transferred to the University of Connecticut (UConn) for her final season, which culminated in a national championship on April 6. While at Princeton, Chen was named the Ivy League tournament's most outstanding player three times from 2022 to last year. Prior to the draft, ESPN described Chen as a
Robinson Cano spent 17 seasons playing in the MLB in front of all kinds of baseball fans, but he said there is something special about his stint with the Mexican Baseball League’s Diablos Rojos. He is not alone. The league last week opened its 100th season, aiming to keep an impressive growth in attendance that began after the national team’s surprise run at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and is already surpassing some first-division soccer clubs. After finishing third in the 2023 tournament, many casual fans, some of them soccer enthusiasts disappointed after Mexico were eliminated in the first round in the 2022
In-form teenager Mirra Andreeva on Thursday crashed out of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, after going down in straight sets to fellow Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova in the last 16. World No. 7 Andreeva, who already has two titles under her belt this season, lost 6-3, 6-2 against the 22nd-ranked Alexandrova in just over an hour. The 17-year-old Andreeva had defeated her elder sister Erika in the previous round on Wednesday, but Alexandrova quickly took control as she claimed her fourth win over a top-10 player this season. The 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva in February became the youngest winner of a WTA
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