The Turkish giant, Galatasaray football club has appointed, the former Inter and Manchester City manager, Roberto Mancini (48), as their new coach after sacking their manager, Fatih Terim, over contract extention.
The very successful manager Mr Terim (60), who is also the intrim coach of the national team, was offered a two year contract extention by the club, but he refused, coupled with the fact that the club has been able to win only one match out of five this season. So when he refused to accept contract extention, the board sacked him, in order to get a new coach quickly.
Roberto Mancini
Roberto Mancini, signed a three year contract with the club, according to media report, he will earn €3.5m the remainder of this season. The next two seasons, he will earn €4.5m with extra incentives.
The club said in their twitter account, ''Galatasaray have reached a three year deal with Roberto Mancini, beginning with the 2014/14 season.''
After joining the club, Mr Mancini, said, ''I'm very proud to have come to a club as big as Galatasaray.''
''It's different. I've made the right decision and I've come to a huge club. The Juventus - Galatasaray clash is a happy coincidence for me.
He is thrown into the fire at once, his first match is the champions league encounter,
with Juventus on Wednesday night.
Roberto Mancini, won three Serie A titles consecutively, and two Italian cups with Inter. He also won the EPL title and FA cup with Man city,before he was sacked by the english club.
Heerenveen 2 - 1 Cambuur
Feyenoord 4 - 2 Den Haag
NEC 2 - 3 Vitesse
Utrecht 3 - 3 Roda
AZ 2 - 1 PSV
Ajax 6 - 0 Go Ahead Eagles
RKC 1 - 4 Heracles
Zwolle 0 - 0 NAC
Twente 5 - 0 Groningen
English Premier League (EPL)
Tottenham 1 - 1 Chelsea
Aston Villa 3 - 2 Man City
Fulham 1 - 2 Cardiff City
Hull City 1 - 0 West Ham United
Man United 1 - 2 West Brom Albion
Southampton 2 - 0 Crystal Palace
Swansea 1 - 2 Arsenal
Stoke City 0 - 1 Norwich
Sunderland 1 - 3 Liverpool
Samuel Etoo in action
Italian Serie A
AC Milan 1 - 0 Sampdoria
Genoa 0 - 2 Napoli
Verona 2 - 1 Livorno
Sassuolo 2 - 2 Lazio
Catania 2 - 0 Chievo
Atalanta 2 - 0 Udinese
Cagliari 1 - 1 Inter Milan
Torino 0 - 1 Juventus
Roma 5 - 0 Bologna
Spanish La Liga
Valencia 1 - 0 Real Vallecano
Almeria 0 - 2 Barcelona
Real Sociedad 1 - 1 Sevilla
Valladolid 2 - 2 Malaga
Real Madrid 0 - 1 Atletico Madrid
Celta Vigo 0 - 1 Elche
Osasuna 0 - 1 Levante
Espanyol 0 - 2 Getafe
Real Betis 1 - 0 Villarreal
The Barcelona football superstar and Argentine international, Lionel Messi (26), appeared in court today, Friday with his father, Mr Jorge Messi, charged with tax fraud of over €5m against the Spanish authorities.
The government suspected that Lionel and his father between 2007 - 2009 used companies overseas, specifically - Belize and Uruguay to market the rights, to use Messi jr images and by so doing avoided paying the tax on such rights.
The player is among the highest paid footballers in the world, his annual salary in Barcelona is €16m while Cristiano Ronaldo's annual salary from Real Madrid is €17.5m. These are just club salaries, there individual endorsements are not included.
Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona
Lionel Messi's image rights in question included his contracts with Adidas, Pepsi-Cola, Banco Sabadell, Danone, the Kuwait Food Company, Proctor and Gamble etc. These top players earns over €50m per annum in endorsements alone.
Last month, the striker's father, Jorge Messi, paid the sum of €5m to the authorities (tax department). The original amount the player owed the Spanish government from the image rights was €4.16m, the rest made up, for the interest accruing to the amount.
The Spanish government still wants to prosecute the player, because they want to make an example of him, to deter others from defrauding the authorities, as the economic crisis and unemployment in the country deepens.
When the news first broke out in June, that the star player has been summoned in a Spanish court by a judge, over an alleged tax fraud, Messi wrote in his Facebook page. ''We have never committed any infringement. We have always fulfilled all our tax obligations."
One of the CEO of the companies Messi endorses their product, Mr Herbert Hainer of Adidas, had previously said that his company, ''will continue to work with Lionel. He's the best football player in the world and we are happy that we have him.''
According to Efe news agency in Spain, if the player is convicted of dodging tax payment, he could face up to 6 years in jail and a huge fine as well. If Messi is convicted and sent to jail, it will be a big blow to the most beautiful game.
The game will lose one of its most colourful, skillful and talented players, that brings joy to the faces of real football fans. What do you think? Please use the comment button to register your view. Thanks.
The Louisiana State's Boxing and Wrestling Commission, has enacted an emergency rule, banning Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) women fighters, with breast implants from competing in any state scheduled bouts.
However, the rule stated that fighters, who wants to participate in a bout in the state, must produce a clearance from the doctor, who performed their surgery.
Woman with Breast Implants (O.Shapoval - Dreamtimes)
The new rule covers boxing and mixed martial arts, but not wrestling, which is also a combating sport under the control and regulation of the commission.
The commissioner of the organisation, Mr Harold Williams, said during the meeting, that those who want to look good, should not be in the fighting ring. In order words, one cannot be aiming to appear beautiful and be combating in a brutal sport.
''If they want to look good, then they don't have to be in the ring,'' he said.
What prompted the organisation to act and make such rule now, was that a woman fighter, who was scheduled for a fight in the state, withdrew from the match, due to a problem she was having with her breast implants.
The Commission decided to act, fearing the financial implications, if a woman develops breast implants problem in a fighting ring.
According to The New Orleans Times-Picayune, the rule was temporary (60 days), as the Commission collects more information on the issue.
Louisiana is the first state in the United Satates, to make such a ban. Maybe some of the other states will follow there example. Breast implants can be very dangerous and life threatening, if it starts to lick, or even got bursted in a bout.
I fully understand the nervousness of the commission on the issue.
It was the correct decision to take, before any disaster takes place in a fight.
What do you think? Do you think that the commission was correct to act.
Please, use the comment link to post your reaction to the ban. Thanks.
The Swedish international and Paris Saint Germain (PSG), top striker, Zlatan Ibrahimovic (31), has signed a one year extention to his contract with the club. With this extention deal he will stay in the club till 2016.
Ibrahimovic, who started his professional football career, with his home town club, FF Malmo in Sweden, has played for a number of high profile clubs in Europe - Ajax Amsterdam, Inter Milan, Juventus, Barcelona and AC Milan from where he joined the Paris club on a transfer fee of €20m last season (2012).
He showed his talent and quality, as he adapt immediately to the style and culture of the club and became the highest goal scorer of the league, with 30 goals in 34 matches. This is an amazing result. No wonder why the club was nervous, when speculation was high during the transfer season, that he may join his coach Carlo Ancelotti, who left in the summer and took charge of the Spanish giant club, Real Madrid.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
His goals helped PSG to win their first league title since 1994. The club stregthened their attacking force, during the transfer season, and brought in the highest goal scorer in Serie A, last season Edison Carvani, of Napoli, to pair up with Zlantan Ibrahimovic. It was envisaged that both will form a leathal force, that will be difficult for any defence to stop.
Zlatan thinks that the ambition of the club, to be among the big clubs in Europe suits him very well. He believes that no club has a bigger ambition in Europe, than PSG and he wants to be part of it.
''I can't see a bigger ambition in Europe than PSG,'' he said.
The powerful striker also said, that he wants the club to be last big club he has to play for in his career. He even likened the club ambition to his own.
''I absolutely want PSG to be the last great club of my career. This club is like me - no dream is big enough for us,'' he said.
When he was asked, if he still wants to play in the English Premier League. He said, that he thinks at this stage of his career, the time has passed for him to go to the EPL, but added quickly, that you never know in football, he may still play there, fingers crossed.
English Premier League
Arsenal 3 - 1 Stoke City
Crystal Palace 0 - 2 Swansea
Cardiff City 0 - 1 Tottenham
Man City 4 - 1 Man United
Chelsea 2 - 0 Fulham
West Ham 2 - 3 Everton
Norwich 0 - 1 Aston Villa
Newcastle 2 - 3 Hull City
West Brom 3 - 0 Sunderland
Liverpool 0 - 1 Southampton
Spanish La Liga
Osasuna 2 - 1 Elche
Rayo Vallecano 0 - 4 Barcelona
Valldolid 0 - 2 Atletico Madrid
Almeria 2 - 2 Levante
Real Sociedad 0 - 0 Malaga
Celta de Vigo 0 - 0 Villarreal
Real Madrid 4 - 1 Getafe
Valencia 3 - 1 Sevilla
Real Betis 0 - 0 Granada
The fans of the Dutch Eredivisie defending champion - Ajax was banned from attending their sunday encounter with their arch-rival PSV Eindhoven. The mayor of the city of Eindhoven Mr Rob van Gijzel, did not allow Ajax fans to travel to Eindhoven for the match with coaches as trains was unavailable due to engineering work on the rail lines.
Frank de Boer
Mr van Gijzel, made the decision on the basis of fear of fans violence. But Ajax was not happy about it, so they went to court to get the decision over-turned, they lost the case. The court agreed with the mayor's decision.
"We are disappointed because the club think it important that its fans can attend all away matches,'' Ajax stated.
The match was played today (sunday) and Ajax was thrashed 4 - 0, the same margin they suffered against Barcelona in Nou Camp in the champions league this week. The winning took PSV to the top of the league table after 7 matches with 15 points while Ajax is at the 7th position with 11 points. It was a painful defeat for Frank de Boer coached team.
Since 16th August 2009, Ajax has not lost any match at the Philip stadium. Ajax won PSV 3 - 2 in the stadium last season. The club has to put this humiliating defeat behind them very quickly and be ready for their next match. De Boer, his coaching staff with the players will be watching the video to pin-point what they did wrong and fix it before their next match.
