LA LIGA
Valencia president quits
Amadeo Salvo on Wednesday resigned as president of Valencia, citing personal reasons, although Spanish media said his departure, along with four other senior personnel, was due to differences with Singaporean owner Peter Lim. Salvo, who has been in the post since June 2013, sitting alongside Layhoon Chan, who replaces him with immediate effect, said his family were going through a tough time. “Last month I warned Layhoon Chan that once the season was over I would leave the club,” Salvo said. “My family is experiencing a difficult period. My father has cancer and it is tough. There is no point in prolonging when I cannot give 100 percent.” Spanish media said Salvo’s exit was more to do with disagreements related to the management of the team since Lim assumed control of the club in May last year.
LIGUE 1
PSG sanctions lifted: report
UEFA has lifted sanctions imposed on French champions Paris Saint-Germain under the Financial Fair Play rule, meaning they can buy new players after proving they will be debt-free by the end of next season, according to French newspaper L’Equipe. PSG were heavily sanctioned by European soccer’s governing body in May last year after breaching the financial rules. However, UEFA’s new ruling means that PSG can increase the size of their UEFA Champions League squad from 21 to 25 players for next season, L’Equipe reported. The online edition of the newspaper added that UEFA’s Financial Supervisory Instance of Clubs department has lifted a 60 million euro (US$66.4 million) limit that was imposed on the Qatari-owned Paris giants.
CHINESE LEAGUE
Troussier leaves Hangzhou
Frenchman Philippe Troussier’s contract as head coach of Chinese Super League side Hangzhou Greentown has been terminated after only seven months, the club announced, following a string of poor results. Troussier, who led Japan to the second round of the 2002 FIFA World Cup, has suffered a miserable second stint in China, with Hangzhou placed third-from-bottom in the 16-team league, just above the relegation slots. “After friendly negotiations, the club and Philippe Troussier have ended his working contract,” a statement on the club’s Web site said on Wednesday. Hangzhou, based in Zhejiang Province, hired Troussier in December last year, after he left Tunisia’s CS Sfaxien. It was his second stint in China after leading Shenzhen Ruby from 2011 to 2013.
FRANCE
Bergeroo extends contract
Philippe Bergeroo’s reward for taking France to the quarter-finals of the Women’s World Cup is a two-year extension to his present contract, which will see him in charge for next year’s Rio Olympics and Euro 2017, if they qualify. The 61-year-old — who won the Euro 1984 title as a player — saw his side go out of the World Cup to finalists Germany 5-4 on penalties after the match finished 1-1. “[French Football Federation president] Noel Le Graet met with Philippe Bergeroo on Wednesday, and reviewed the World Cup and addressed the future,” a federation statement said. “The coach accepted the president’s proposal for a two-year extension of his present contract. He will be coach of the team up to and including the European Championships, which takes place in the Netherlands in the summer of 2017.”
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
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
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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