International Football
FRENCH WORLD CUP WINNER MBAPPE, DREAMS PLAYING AT TOKYO 2020 OLYMPICS
BY DUNCAN MACKAY.
France’s World Cup winner Kylian Mbappe has revealed that he wants to play for this country at next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.
But the 21-year-old, considered the best young player in the world, admitted that it would be up to his club Paris Saint-Germain whether he was allowed to take part or not.
“Playing in the Olympics, I don’t control everything,” he told France Football magazine.
“Of course I want to go, but if my club, which is my employer, doesn’t want me to go, I won’t force a clash.
“We’ll soon talk about it,”
Mbappe has already reassured French national coach Didier Deschamps that taking part at Tokyo 2020 would not be at the expense of playing in Euro 2020, due to take place across Europe next summer.
“The coach was adamant that it would never be to the detriment of the Euro,” Mbappe said.
“I reassured him by telling him that I also wanted to play in the Euro, and he said: ‘So it’s up to you to deal with the people it concerns’.”
Euro 2020 is due to take place between June 12 and July 2 and will be followed by the football tournament at Tokyo 2020, which is scheduled to start on July 23 – four days before the official opening of the Olympic Games – and finish with the final on August 8.
That day is the official start of the new 2020-2021 Ligue 1 season and Paris Saint-Germain may be reluctant to let a player they paid €180 million (£154 million/$201 million) for miss their opening match.
The Olympic Games is an under-23 tournament with each side allowed three overage players.
France qualified for Tokyo 2020 by reaching the semi-finals of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Italy and San Marino this year.
At the time, Mbappe responded to the team’s qualification by posting a message with a “TOKYO 2020” on Twitter accompanied by a flashing emoticon and a French flag.
Mbappe became the second teenager, after Pelé, to score in a World Cup Final when he hit one of France’s goals in their 4-2 victory over Croatia at Russia 2018, one of four he scored during the tournament.
Even if he does not make it to Tokyo 2020 Mbappe insisted that will not be the end of his Olympic dream.
“If I don’t manage to go in 2020, I’ll still have 2024 left, in Paris,” he told France Football.
“I’d really like to do the Olympics at least once in my career.”
Representatives from four national players’ unions on Thursday launched a new global organisation in Madrid, which they say will strengthen footballers’ rights and improve dialogue with governing bodies.
Opening a new front in the battle over who speaks for players, the International Footballers’ Association (AIF) was unveiled, with David Aganzo, president of Spain’s Association of Footballers (AFE) and a former head of the global union FIFPRO, appointed to lead the organisation.
Players’ unions from Brazil, Mexico and Switzerland were also represented.
The initiative drew a swift rebuke from FIFPRO, which said in a statement that Aganzo was acting out of self-interest and aligning himself with organisations linked to football governing bodies, as well as groups expelled from FIFPRO over alleged mismanagement.
Aganzo rejected the criticism, saying he “will not seek confrontation with FIFPRO”.
The launch comes amid strained relations between players’ unions and football authorities, particularly over the expanding international match calendar.
Relations between FIFA and FIFPRO deteriorated in 2024 after the union lodged a complaint with the European Commission, arguing that the global governing body was abusing its dominant position by adding competitions without sufficient consultation.
Aganzo denied suggestions that the new initiative was backed by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, but said “direct dialogue with FIFA” was essential.
AFE’s Extraordinary General Assembly approved the initiative in February with 99.8% of votes cast in favour of spearheading the creation of the AIF.
The same assembly also backed AFE’s withdrawal from FIFPRO, citing what it described as a “complete lack of transparency, as well as its total lack of dialogue with international bodies.”
“We represent over 30,000 footballers, and we come here with a new model aimed at safeguarding players’ rights and facilitating direct communication with all international bodies,” Aganzo told reporters.
“We are in contact with 15 to 20 unions already who were very aware of this moment and waiting for this announcement to make their move and join our initiative.”
He declined to identify any unions beyond those present.
Asked about a report that a senior envoy to U.S. President Donald Trump had urged FIFA to replace Iran with Italy at the upcoming World Cup, Aganzo urged caution.
“These are more political issues; on April 30th, I’ll be speaking to Gianni (Infantino) at the FIFA Congress, and we will discuss those things,” Aganzo said.
“People who want to go to the World Cup have to earn their place on sporting merit.”
-Reuters
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A new trial over the death of Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona will begin on Tuesday, with seven members of his medical team charged with negligent homicide nearly a year after a previous case collapsed in a mistrial.
An enduring presence in Argentina – from towering murals to tattoos, opens new tab – Maradona died on November 25, 2020, at 60, after a heart attack while he was recuperating from brain surgery to remove a blood clot.
A court in San Isidro, near Buenos Aires, will hear testimony from just under 100 witnesses as it tries Maradona’s medical team over alleged negligence in the death of the 1986 World Cup champion.
His medical team has denied wrongdoing. The defendants are psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychologist Carlos Angel Diaz, physician Nancy Edith Forlini, nurse Ricardo Almiron, head nurse Mariano Ariel Perroni, and physician Pedro Pablo Di Spagna. An eighth defendant, nurse Dahiana Madrid, will be tried in a separate jury trial, with no date yet set.
Two months into the first trial, which started last March, a mistrial was declared when one of three judges, Julieta Makintach, resigned after video surfaced showing her being interviewed by a camera crew in the corridors of the courthouse and in her office as part of a documentary, in breach of judicial rules.
The retrial will require both prosecutors and defense lawyers to reassess their strategies after the first trial aired photographs, videos, audio recordings and forensic evidence. Many witnesses, including Maradona’s children and his former wife, Claudia Villafane, have already testified.
Prosecutors argued in the initial trial that medical professionals broke treatment protocols and that the home where Maradona was recovering from surgery amounted to a “theatre of horror,” where necessary care was not provided.
The defense countered that his death was inevitable given his longstanding health problems. Maradona struggled for decades with cocaine and alcohol addiction.
The negligence charges emerged in 2021 after prosecutors appointed a medical board to investigate Maradona’s death. The panel concluded his medical team acted in an “inappropriate, deficient and reckless” manner.
-Reuters
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Aliou Cisse has been named coach of the Angola national team, the country’s football federation (FAF) announced on Thursday, 24 hours after the Senegalese left his post in Libya.
The 50-year-old coach, who led Senegal to their maiden Africa Cup of Nations title in 2022, ended his short stint with the Libyan national team on Wednesday, after taking charge in March 2025.
“Welcome, Aliou Cisse, head coach of the Angola national team,” the FAF said on Facebook. Angola, which failed to reach this year’s World Cup, will start their 2027 AFCON qualifying campaign in September.
-Reuters
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