UEFA

By Muhammadu Sabiu 
 
In a significant transfer development, N’Golo Kanté, the revered French midfielder and a longstanding figure at Chelsea FC, has officially signed a four-year contract with Al Ittihad, a Saudi Arabian football team.
 
The transfer marks the end of an era for Kanté, who has become an emblematic player for Chelsea and an integral part of their success in recent years.
 
Reports suggest that the financial terms of the transfer are substantial. Kanté’s total salary over the duration of the contract amounts to a staggering €100 million. 
 
Kanté’s departure from Chelsea evokes a sense of nostalgia among fans and the football community as a whole. 
 
The diminutive midfielder, known for his tireless work rate, exceptional ball-winning ability, and precise distribution, has etched his name into the club’s history. 
 
His contributions were instrumental in Chelsea’s success, including two Premier League titles, an FA Cup, and a UEFA Champions League.
 
During his time at Chelsea, Kanté has established himself as one of the world’s premier midfielders, earning plaudits for his consistent performances and humility both on and off the field. 
 

By Aliyu Yakubu Yusuf 

Racism in football has been a problem that refuses to go away. Football is often rightly described as the beautiful game. However, the persistent problem of racism has been a blight on this enduring beauty. Despite the fact that numerous campaigns (such as “Say No To Racism” and “Black Lives Matter” etc.) sponsored by FIFA and other regional football associations, racism has seemingly been kryptonite for the footballing establishments. 

I firmly believe that FIFA, UEFA, the media and most fans in Europe and America are not sincere about fighting racism. All these campaigns against racism are merely lip service that will never bring an end to this menace. Vinicius Junior is just the latest case that opens a fresh can of worms in a long list of racism storms that rocked the football world. 

When the trio of Saka, Sancho and Rashford missed crucial penalties in England’s Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy, they were racially abused online by their own fans. Even Real Madrid fans are also guilty of racism towards black players from other clubs and their players. When FIFA released the votes for the last Ballon d’Or, and it appeared that Real Madrid’s Austria captain, David Alaba, had voted for Lionel Messi as his first pick ahead of his teammate Karim Benzema, Real Madrid fans racially abused him online. And he was forced to apologise. And these are the same people that are up in arms “protecting” Vinicius. If this is not hypocrisy, I don’t know what is. 

Heck! Even fans at various French clubs were reported to have racially abused black players. And this is a country whose national team is simply an amalgam of players from their former African colonies. Imagine! 

Racism is here to stay as long as the powers that be are not serious about tackling it. FIFA has a three-step process for dealing with racism during matches. First, the referee should stop the game and announces that racist chants are going on and should stop. Then, if the chants continue, the referee should apply the second stage, which is to instruct the players to go back to the dressing room and wait. After a while, the referee should ask the players to resume on the pitch and restart the game. Finally, if the chants continue, the referee should apply the third process, which is to stop the game entirely and award the three points to the opponents. 

However, instead of making it mandatory for all regional football unions to adopt this process, FIFA only “recommend” it. Everyone knows that the only way to stop racism once and for all is to enforce this law. When clubs realise that some unscrupulous elements within their fanbase are making them lose points unnecessarily, they will fish out these “fans” and give them lifetime bans from stadiums. 

The question is, ‘Do black lives really matter’?

Aliyu Yakubu Yusuf wrote from Bayero University, Kano. He can be reached via aliyuyy@gmail.com.

By Muhammad Sabiu

Real Madrid have secured a place in the Champions League final. They will play against the English Premier League Giants, Liverpool, after crashing Manchester City out of the competition today, Wednesday.

City had their opener through Mahrez in the 73rd minute, while Madrid had their goals thanks to Rodrygo’s brace—the first one in the 90th minute and the second one in the 91st minute—and Benzema’s third penalty goal in the 95th minute. That made the match end 3-1.

The goal aggregate emerged 6-5 as Madrid made it to the final even after being beaten 4-3 by the City last week.

Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo has today agreed to move to his former EPL club, Manchester United, after being in Juventus since 2018.

This is contained in an official statement released by the EPL giant on their website.

The statement reads: “Manchester United is delighted to confirm that the club has reached [an] agreement with Juventus for the transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo, subject to agreement of personal terms, visa and medical.

“Cristiano, a five-time Ballon d’Or winner, has so far won over 30 major trophies during his career, including five UEFA Champions League titles, four FIFA Club World Cups, seven league titles in England, Spain and Italy, and the European Championship for his native Portugal.

“In his first spell for Manchester United, he scored 118 goals in 292 games.

“Everyone at the club looks forward to welcoming Cristiano back to Manchester.”