World Football News – Page 2 – The latest world football news

LYON AGREE DEAL TO SIGN AJAX GOALKEEPER

French Ligue 1 club Olympique Lyon have agreed a deal in principle to sign Ajax goalkeeper Andre Onana, according to multiple reports. The Cameroon international goalkeeper who is yet to feature in any game of football since he was slapped with a ban following a discovery that he failed a doping test, had been attracting a lot of interest from a couple of clubs across Europe including English Premier League club Arsenal. But the Gunners were concerned about his football ban and it resulted in them not making any formal approach to his club Ajax for the acquisition of his services.

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Arsenal may now have to look elsewhere in their search for a new goalkeeper this summer as reports continue to make the rounds that German shot-stopper Bernd Leno could be leaving the Emirates this summer. Leno’s future at Arsenal has come under question a couple of times in the past but he is still an Arsenal player for now but with the reports continuing to gather pace, it is likely that the north London club could be willing to cash in on him in the coming weeks.
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PEREZ: ZIDANE DREAMS OF BECOMING FRANCE COACH

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has revealed that the club’s former manager Zinedine Zidane has the dream of becoming the head coach of the France national team in the future.

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Zidane stepped down from his role as Real Madrid manager after revealing that he no longer felt trusted at the club following Perez’s failure to promise him enough funds to sign new players this summer, but the president has subtly quashed those claims and revealed that the French manager is always welcome to return to Madrid because it’s his home.
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STADIUM BANS TRIGGER QUALIFYING FIXTURES POSTPONEMENT

While preparations have been going smoothly ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2022 that will be kicking off next year, there are new developments that are currently set to pose a direct impact on the tournament. According to several reports, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) ordered the ban of some stadiums that were earlier selected to be used as venues for World Cup Qualifying fixtures.

The fixtures were initially set to take place in June but based on the latest developments, there will be a shift in the schedules. Earlier in the week, a report was gathered that CAF decided to place a strict ban on as many as 20 countries (out of the entire 54 member countries) on their stadiums from being used as venues for international fixtures.

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These stadiums have been chalked off the earlier prepared list and will no longer be used as venues for these fixtures because they do not meet the required standards that they should meet. Because of the ban, several teams are now left without any venues to play their matches, with 8 of the participating 40 teams waiting for updates on the new venues they will have to make use of.
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JAPAN REVEAL FUTSAL WORLD CUP TEAM

The FUTSAL World Cup in Lithuania organized by world football governing body FIFA may still be a few months away, but that has not stopped teams from starting preparations and looking out for players that will be a part of their squad representing them at the tournament. The 2021 edition of the competition is one that promises a lot of interesting and captivating moments, given the fact that a lot of exciting players will be gracing the event across the continent.

The tournament is set to commence in September lager this year, and countries have already started making sure that they are ready to compete and fight for the cup. The FIFA FUTSAL World Cup tournament is one that is contested for by Asian countries, and it will have a different approach this time around.

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The normal arrangement was that the FUTSAL Asian Cup was supposed to be a steppingstone that teams will use to earn qualification and earn their spots as AFC representatives, but there will be a change effected at this year’s edition.
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URUGUAY CALL UP 35 PLAYERS FOR THEIR QUALIFYING FIXTURES AGAINST ARGENTINA

South American country Uruguay have announced that they are calling up as many as 35 players who will represent the country in their qualifying fixtures which they will play against fellow South American countries Argentina and Bolivia. Although the CONMEBOL have confirmed that the South American World Cup Qualifying fixtures which were set to be played this March have all been postponed, federations have not stopped calling up their players to the national team.

There have also been issues with the call-ups to South American national teams, with club teams in Europe including England, Spain, France, and Germany all being reluctant to let their star players leave the club to link up with their national teams in South America as a result of coronavirus and quarantine restrictions and regulations.
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WORLD CUP WINNER DIES AGED 71

Argentine World Cup winner Leopold Luque has died at the age of 71 after he lost the battle with the dreaded Coronavirus. Leopold Luque was famous in the 70s as a moustache-wearing striker especially at the 1978 FIFA World Cup tournament on home soil. Leopold Luque was part of the Argentine squad that led the country to a first World Cup title at the 1978 edition held in Argentina. His death was announced by the Argentina Football Association (AFA) on Monday.

Leopold Luque died on Monday as a result of Covid-19. The Argentine media revealed that Luque had been hospitalised since the festive period because of Covid-19 and that he never fully recovered until his death this week. Continue reading

OFC: WORLD CUP 2022 QUALIFIERS

Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) members have work to do if they want to be represented at the World Cup 2022 tournament in Qatar. OFC is the only continent that faces the prospect of being left out as far as qualification for World Cup 2022 tournament in Qatar is concerned. The World Cup 2022 qualifiers in the OFC section has two rounds. In the first round, the 11 teams for the qualifiers would be divided into two groups based on their various positions in the FIFA Ranking.

The top two teams from the two groups will qualify for the second round of the World Cup 2022 qualifiers in the OFC section. The 11 teams for the qualifiers are New Zealand, Fiji, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu. The other teams are Tahiti, Cook Islands, American Samoa and Papua New Guinea.

BERT VAN MARWIJK CONFIDENT THE UAE WILL BE AT 2022 WORLD CUP

It is going to be quite a huge task to handle but Bert Van Marwijk has revealed that he is very confident in his and the UAE’s ability to make it to the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The manager is now faced with the duty of bringing the UAE’s World Cup qualification adventures right back on track.

The Dutch boss was appointed as the team’s boss following the dismissal of Jorge Luis Pinto who was formerly in charge of the side but failed to provide good-enough results. The deal signed by the 68-year-old is said to be one that is expected to run through two years. Continue reading

WORLD CUP 2022: ARGENTINA, VENEZUELA, BRAZIL, AND ECUADOR BIG WINNERS

There were five World Cup qualifying matches played between ten South American teams on Tuesday, with some of them getting close to secure their spot in the next edition of the FIFA World Cup come 2022.

Lautaro Martinez and Nicolas Gonzalez were both on the scoresheet as they helped Argentina secure a 2-0 victory over Peru in their group. The win means they have now accumulated a total of ten points, and they need two more points to secure their qualification.
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Qualification Rounds World Cup 2022 to Commence

Qualifications for the 2022 World Cup started in June 2019 with nations of the Asian confederation playing the first round of qualifying matches. Mongolia gained a win over Brunei with a score of 2-1. The overall progress of the qualifying matches has been affected due to the pandemic that started in 2020. Many qualifying rounds were subsequently suspended since March 2020 and are being rescheduled.

UEFA is the main body that looks into the qualifying matches for Europe. A total of 55 nations in Europe are to go through elimination rounds and they are split into ten groups in total. The draws would be done in November 2020 and qualifying rounds would begin in the month of March 2021. An upcoming edition is planned for UEFA Nations which will commence in September 2020. The groups comprise of 6 to 5 teams in the 10 groups. Four teams would move into the finals and will have match days for finals subsequently. UEFA finals of the Nations League are delayed to October 2021 as Euro cup 2020 has also been moved to 2021. Group winners will go to finals directly.

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