UEFA Gives All Football Leagues Dates For Season Resumption
UEFA has given a one-month notice to the European Football Leagues, including Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga, ending 25 May, notifying the European governing body of their plans to restart their national competitions.
But UEFA is keen to start planning for next season’s European club tournaments.
In a letter to the 55 federations in UEFA on Tuesday, UEFA President, Aleksander Ceferin, wrote that any league cancelling its season would need to produce a list of teams that have qualified for European club competitions, also by May 25 deadline.
“National Associations or Leagues should be in a position to communicate to UEFA by May 25, 2020, the planned restart of their domestic competitions including the date of resumption and the relevant competition format.
“If a domestic competition is to be prematurely terminated for legitimate reasons, UEFA would require the National Association to explain by May 25, 2020, the special circumstances justifying such premature termination and to select clubs for the UEFA club competitions 2020/21 based on sporting merit in the 2019/20 domestic competitions,” Ceferin wrote.
The former Liverpool forward and famous television presenter was diagnosed with skin cancer in 2018 according to Sun UK.
Robinson’s family in a tweet via his Twitter account announced his death, stating that he will be dearly missed.
The tweet reads: “With tremendous sadness, we inform you of Michael’s death.
”It leaves us with a great emptiness, but also countless memories, full of the same love that you have shown him.
“We will be eternally grateful to you for making this man so happy. He never walked alone.
”Thank you.”
Robinson won the European Cup, First Division and League Cup with the all-conquering Liverpool side of 1983-84.
He made 113 appearances for Brighton, while also enjoying spells with Preston and QPR before hanging up his boots in 1989 after a stint with Spanish side Osasuna.
Reacting to his death, Real Madrid legend, Sergio Ramos, in a tribute to Robinson said he was lucky to have been able to meet him.
He tweeted: “Michael Robinson met Paqui’s son, and I was lucky to meet Michael Robinson.
” My love to your family and friends. D.E.P. You’ll Never Walk Alone.”
Also, former Arsenal Manager, Unai Emery, in a tweet said Robinson’s legacy will be dearly missed.
He said: “D.E.P Michael, my condolences to all your family and friends.
”We will miss you very much but your legacy and your stamp, marked by your smile and your accent, will continue walking, accompanied by the world of football and sports.
Liverpool has now announced discussions with the representatives of Osimhen, in a attempt to attract the Nigerian international to Anfield, according to Le10sport.
The French newspaper reports that the Premier League leaders are “laying the foundations” for an opening contract proposal that could see Osimhen join the Reds this summer.
Liverpool will have to battle Chelsea and Manchester United for Osimhen’s signature.
Osimhen’s contract with Lille will expire at the end of the 2023-2024 season.
The 21-year-old is expected to cost around £70million.
He has also ordered what he called “phased and gradual easing: of lockdown measures in the FCT, Lagos and Ogun States effective from Monday.
Buhari disclosed these in a nationwide broadcast on Monday.
He said, “In line with the recommendations of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, the various Federal Government committees that have reviewed socio-economic matters and the Nigeria Governors Forum, I have approved a phased and gradual easing of lockdown measures in FCT, Lagos and Ogun States effective from Monday, 4th May, 2020.
“However, this will be followed strictly with aggressive reinforcement of testing and contact tracing measures while allowing the restoration of some economic and business activities in certain sectors.
“Furthermore, new nationwide measures are to be introduced as follows;
“There will be an overnight curfew from 8pm to 6am. This means all movements will be prohibited during this period except for essential services;
“There will be a ban on non-essential inter-state passenger travel until further notice;
“Partial and controlled interstate movement of goods and services will be allowed for the movement of goods and services from producers to consumers; and
“We will strictly ensure the mandatory use of face masks or coverings in public in addition to maintaining physical distancing and personal hygiene.
“Furthermore, the restrictions on social and religious gatherings shall remain in place. State Governments, corporate organisations and philanthropists are encouraged to support the production of cloth masks for citizens.
” For the avoidance of doubt, the lockdown in the FCT, Lagos and Ogun States shall remain in place until these new ones come into effect on Monday, 4th May 2020.”
Court Prohibits Foreign Ministers From Arresting APC Chairman
A high court sitting in Enugu has stopped the Foreign Minister, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, from arresting Dr. Ben Nwoye, Chairman of the All Progressive Congress, APC, in Enugu State.
The Party Chairman, who addressed journalists on Monday, said he ran to the Court as a last option.
DAILY POST reports that the order was given by Justice K.I. Okpe while delivering ruling on Suit No. E/228/2020.
Two other APC officials, Barr. B.N. Nebe and Mr. Everistus Asadu are also joined as applicants.
Justice Okpe said, “An order of interim injunction is hereby granted to the applicants, restraining the respondents whether by themselves, their agents, men, officers, or privies from arresting, detaining or in any manner restricting the applicant’s rights to personal liberty and freedom of movement pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit on notice.”
Joined in the suit as respondents are the Minister’s Personal Assistant, Flavour Eze, the Inspector General of Police, and the officer in charge of IGP IRT.
El- Rufai in a statement shared via his Twitter account on Monday said the Commissioner of Health in the state, Dr AMBaloni confirmed that the cases are five Almajiri children recently repatriated from Kano.
According to him, this has increased the active COVID-19 cases in the state to nine.
Barcelona Star Lionel Messi Disagrees On Selling Coutinho
Captain Lionel Messi of Barcelona has disclosed the player he wishes the club to sell this summer, rather than attacking midfielder, Philippe Coutinho.
Coutinho is currently on loan at Bayern Munich, however the Bundesliga team will not use its purchase right to permanently sign him.
The 27-year-old, who had previously played for Liverpool in England, is eyeing a return to the Premier League, and Chelsea is already in talks with his agent over a summer move.
According to The Athletic, Messi and a few senior players at Barcelona would rather want the Camp Nou club to sell forward, Ousmane Dembele, and keep hold of Coutinho.
The report added that Messi and other senior Barca players are aware that someone will need to be sold if the La Liga champions have any chance of finding the money to re-sign forward, Neymar from Paris Saint-Germain.
Coutinho has not really impressed at Barcelona since his £142million move from Liverpool in 2018.
Arsenal is now ahead of Tottenham Hotspur in the race to sign one of the Chelsea best players.
Willian would be out of contract at the end of the season and he is not willing to renew his contract with the Stamford Bridge outfit as he looks to ply his trade elsewhere with a London based club in his sight.
With Barcelona out of the race to sign the former Shakhtar Donestk attacker move Arsenal to the driving seat.
However, Arsenal is leading the race to sign the pacey attacker, though the Brazilian ace wanted a move to Camp Nou but Barcelona directors turned down a move to sign the winger for free.
His wages would be too high for the club, given he would likely be a backup at the Nou Camp.
Willian’s friendship with David Luiz may also push him to Arsenal.
“Arsenal are a little ahead today, but everything is still open,” said ESPN reporter Jorge Nicola about the Willian situation.
“Especially because the pandemic affected the entire financial reality of football in the world.”
He is likely to sign for the Gunners at the end of the season but Spurs manager Jose Mourinho could pull his trick once again.
The German football authorities are looking for a way to resume the 2019-20 campaign despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Bundesliga games could be underway again as early as mid-May, according to reports, though they will have to be played in empty stadiums for the time being.
But Jorg Radek, deputy chairman of the German Police Trade Union, says authorities are wrong to believe that banning supporters in the stands is enough to ensure public safety.
“Maybe it is possible to control what is happening in the stadium. This does not apply to the public space in front of it. The stadiums become a potential target for fans who want to support their team,” Radek told Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.
“That would be devastating. We can’t have large crowds outside the stadium gates. It’s not only forbidden, it would be irresponsible.
“It becomes relevant to the police at that moment, we then have to ensure that the requirements that currently apply to behavior in public space are complied with: the requirement of a distance of one and a half meters, the ban on the assembly of large groups, the wearing of masks.
“We will have to intervene in terms of maintaining security and order if this is not guaranteed.
“I want to state that we as a police union are not fundamentally against football games.
“I can also understand that there is a need for many people to stop watching old international matches or old Bundesliga games, but we must not forget what special situation we are all in – this includes the police.
“Games behind closed doors are a danger, even if the organiser does everything in the stadium to ensure that hygiene regulations are observed in order to keep the risk of infection as low as possible.
“It’s a good right for the DFL to work out a plan to start again, but it doesn’t seem to take all aspects into account.”
Radek says police resources would struggle to cope with the extra demand should the German top-flight get back to business in the near future.
“It would be an additional burden for us,” he added. “So far, we have been able to cope with our police presence in this pandemic situation so well because we have been relieved of such major events. Because there were no concerts, no demonstrations – and because sports, especially football, also ceased operations.
“Running the league on the weekends is a huge burden for us even without a corona pandemic. By pausing, we gained a personnel reserve that we could fall back on to increase our presence elsewhere.”
Nevertheless, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has come its way, because they will collect $500,000 (about 200 million Naira) from FIFA as a palliative to the Coronavirus Pandemic in the coming days.
The NFF is one of 211 member-associations who will enjoy this generosity from the world football body.
FIFA will release $150 million (139 million euros) to its member football associations to help handle financial troubles caused by the coronavirus, the global governing body said on Friday.
FIFA said that “all operational funding” for 2019 and 2020 would be distributed amongst the 211 member associations in the next few days “as the first step of a relief plan to assist the football community impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic”.
Each national governing body will receive $500,000, that FIFA says would normally be delivered “upon fulfullment of specific criteria”, but will release those funds and any “remaining entitlement for 2019 and 2020”.
FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, said that the funds were the “first step of a far-reaching financial relief plan we are developing to respond to the emergency across the whole football community”.
“It is FIFA’s duty to be there and support the ones that are facing acute needs,” added Infantino. “This starts by providing immediate financial assistance to our member associations, many of which are experiencing severe financial distress.”
The funds come from the Forward 2.0 programme, which was launched in 2016 and will provide $1.746 billion (around 1.6 billion euros) in total over the 2019-2022 period.
Last month FIFA announced the creation of a football aid fund but it has since not given any additional details on its operation or scope.
