International Football
Rangers’ Opponents, Zamalek Considering Withdrawal
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Stake holders of Zamalek Sports Club, Cairo Egypt, are gathering this Friday to consider a proposal of withdrawing the club from the Egyptian league. Zamalek’s club board have called for an extraordinary general assembly meeting to decide if the team will continue in the current season owing to poor officiating in their last Friday’s league match with Maqassa.
Information gathered from Cairo revealed that the chairman of Zamalek, Mortada Mansour is very furious.
Hear him: “We had a very obvious penalty kick and the referee (Gehad Greisha) ignored it,” the club’s outspoken chairman Mortada Mansour told a press conference in his office at the club’s headquarters in Cairo on Thursday.
Following a 1-0 loss in their last Egyptian Premier League game against Maqassa, Zamalek, demanded a rematch from the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) citing “intentional refereeing mistakes.”
Zamalek said they will file a complaint against the EFA with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over what they called “illegitimate changes in the competition.”
While the association has not shown any sign of allowing a rematch, Mansour — a member of parliament — is sticking to the request, saying it is standard practice to replay games.
“I [would have] agreed to replay the Egypt Super Cup [which Zamalek won] if Ahly had asked,” Mansour said earlier in a television program. The EFA’s referees committee head Essam Abdel-Fattah issued a long statement Thursday afternoon defending the committee and the referees.
“We are doing our best to make the referees take back their confidence despite all the pressure against them, which reached the extent of accusing them of corruption,” said Abdel-Fattah, who took the position only one month ago, through the EFA official website.
“After 45 matches in the second round of the season, we documented only three refereeing mistakes. We admitted that abandoning the Maqassa-Zamalek penalty was one of them but decided not to punish Greisha because we trust his honesty,” he added.
Mansour responded to Abdel-Fattah’s statement by saying “this statement belongs to the nearest garbage can.”
Well-travelled Portuguese coach Paulo Duarte has been named as Guinea’s new coach, less than a month before their next round of World Cup qualifiers.
Duarte, 56, has twice previously coached Burkina Faso and taken charge of Gabon and Togo, while also coaching at clubs in Portugal, France, Tunisia, Angola and Saudi Arabia.
Guinea’s football federation gave no contract details when they made the announcement on Monday, but said they would be looking for Duarte to “restructure their national team”.
Guinea trail leaders Algeria by eight points in their World Cup qualifying group with four games remaining, leaving them with only a slim chance of qualification.
They play Somalia away on September 5 and then Algeria at home on September 8 in their next two qualifiers although a stadium ban means Guinea have moved their home game to Casablanca, Morocco.
-Reuters
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Veteran coach Louis van Gaal says he has been cured of cancer and is keen for a return to the higher levels of the game.
The 73-year-old announced three years ago that he was suffering from prostate cancer, but told a Dutch television talk show, “I’m no longer bothered by cancer.”
When he announced his illness, Van Gaal was the coach of the Dutch national team, but he has not worked since the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
“Two years ago, I had a few operations. It was all bad then. But it all worked out in the end. I have check-ups every few months, and that’s going well. I’m getting fitter and fitter,” he said.
Van Gaal, whose career has included stints at Ajax Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, reiterated a lack of interest in returning to club management but said becoming the national coach of a top-tier country could tempt him back.
He now serves as a special advisor to Ajax.
-Reuters
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In a compelling twist of football destiny, Davide Ancelotti is stepping into his own spotlight as he begins his first head coaching role at Brazilian club Botafogo—just months after parting ways with his legendary father, Carlo Ancelotti, at Real Madrid.
The 35-year-old has been appointed as Botafogo’s new manager, the club announced on Tuesday, following the sacking of Renato Paiva. Davide, who has spent the last decade working alongside his father at some of Europe’s top clubs—including Bayern Munich, Napoli, Everton, and Real Madrid—has signed a one-year deal with the Rio-based team.
This marks a significant milestone for the younger Ancelotti, whose career has long been shaped by his father’s influence, but who now faces the challenge of carving his own identity on the touchline.
The move comes shortly after both father and son departed Real Madrid at the end of last season, with Carlo taking over the Brazilian national team. Now, in a poetic alignment, father and son find themselves on different paths within Brazilian football—one leading the Seleção, the other steering the fortunes of a storied domestic club.
Botafogo’s decision to appoint Davide follows a controversial parting with Paiva, who was dismissed just days after their exit from the Club World Cup. Though he oversaw a stunning win over Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain, a 1-0 extra-time loss to Palmeiras in the round of 16 proved to be his final act after just four months in charge.
As Davide Ancelotti begins this new chapter, all eyes will be on whether the son of one of football’s most decorated managers can step out from his father’s shadow—and perhaps, in time, build a legacy of his own.
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