Italy’s football league is backing a public campaign to put pressure on Egypt to find those responsible for killing Italian student Giulio Regeni in Cairo.
All Serie A teams will display a large yellow banner before their league games on April 23, 24 and 25 which will read “Truth for Giulio”, a spokeswoman for the league said yesterday.
The decision poses a problem for Roma’s Egyptian striker Mohamed Salah because those behind the campaign have accused the Egyptian state of being behind the murder.
La Repubblica quoted a source close to Salah as saying there was “no way he can step onto the pitch with that banner there”.
New Italy coach to be announced soon
Italian soccer federation president Carlo Tavecchio told re-porters yesterday that the successor to Antonio Conte as head of the national team will be an-nounced before Euro 2016.
Tavecchio said: “I don’t want to anticipate anything about our situation,” he said.
“I think by the time we come to the Euro finals, we’ll already know the name of the next coach.
“Every day the situation of the various coaches evolves, so it’s premature to discuss it now.”
Conte announced last month that he will be leaving the Azzurri to start managing Chelsea.
Grindel takes over as DFB president
Politician Reinhard Grindel took over as president of the German football federation (DFB) yesterday, elected unopposed to the helm of the world’s biggest single sports body rocked by a 2006 World Cup scandal.
Grindel succeeded disgraced Wolfgang Niersbach, who resigned in November following his involvement in the World Cup affair dating back 10 years.
“We need fair play and we need integrity,” Grindel said.
A member of parliament for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU party, the 54-year-old Grindel is largely unknown to German football fans, but was the only candidate for the job.
Schweini stays on the sidelines
Man. United midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger is unlikely to play for his club again this season due to a knee injury, manager Louis van Gaal said yesterday.
The 31-year-old sustained the injury on international duty in March and is in a race against time to prove his fitness to lead Germany in the European Championship starting in June.
“I don’t think Schweinsteiger shall play this season – I think, next season, he is prepared. Maybe he is prepared for the European Championship, I cannot predict,” Van Gaal said.
United are vying with rivals Manchester City for a spot in next season’s Champions League.
Drogba threatens legal action
Didier Drogba said he would take legal action over accusations that his charity set up to help children in Africa had spent less than one per cent of money raised on worthwhile projects.
The Daily Mail said this week that just £14,000 out of £1.7 million donated to the Didier Drogba Foundation had been used to benefit children in his homeland Ivory Coast.
Drogba, who now plays for Canadian club Montreal Impact, denied the allegations in a strongly worded statement in which he said he would issue legal proceedings against the newspaper for “incorrect and libellous” information.
“Despite their claims, there is no fraud, no corruption, no mismanagement,” Drogba said.
Rising wage costs
The aggregate pre-tax profits of English Premier League clubs fell nearly 37 per cent last season due to a spike in wages, according to Deloitte.
Pre-tax profits for the 2014-15 season went down to around £120 million from £190 million in 2013-14 as wage costs rose six per cent to a record two billion pounds.
Despite the dip, this is the first time since 1999 that the top-flight clubs have recorded an aggregate pre-tax profit in two consecutive seasons, driven mainly by a rise in broadcast revenue.
Combined revenue went up to a record £3.4 billion.
Saints will not block Koeman exit
Southampton are better placed to hang on to their talent but will not stand in the way if manager Ronald Koeman, or any player, wants to leave, chairman Ralph Krueger has said.
The Saints, who are seventh in the Premier League table, have sold several players over the past two seasons, with former manager Mauricio Pochettino also leaving to join Tottenham in 2014.
“We don’t want anybody to be here who doesn’t feel they can grow in the role that they have,” said Krueger.
“That begins with our leader on the first team and that’s Ronald. If it’s right for him and it’s right for us and everybody finds a natural way, that’s going to be best for Southampton.”