Other Leagues
GERMAN PLAYERS TO BOYCOTT QATAR VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT OVER BAN ON BIKINI
Germany’s beach volleyball stars Karla Borger and Julia Sude have said they will boycott a tournament in Qatar next month because it was “the only country” where players were forbidden from wearing bikinis on court.
“We are there to do our job, but are being prevented from wearing our work clothes,” Borger told radio station Deutschlandfunk on Sunday (Feb 21).
“This is really the only country and the only tournament where a government tells us how to do our job – we are criticising that.”
The Qatar volleyball association reacted to the news by explaining it was “committed to ensuring that all athletes are made to feel welcome and comfortable at next month’s event”.
It said all athletes were free to compete in their international unifoms. “We would like to make clear that we are not making any demand on what athletes should wear at the event,” a statement insisted.
Qatar is hosting the upcoming FIVB World Tour event but strict rules about on-court clothing have led to World Championships silver medallist Borger and her doubles partner Sude shunning the event.
The tournament in March is the first time that Doha has hosted a women’s World Tour event, though the city has been a regular fixture on the men’s tour for seven years.
Yet female players have been asked to wear shirts and long trousers rather than the usual bikinis, a rule which the world beach volleyball federation FIVB claims is “out of respect for the culture and traditions of the host country”.
In a decision supported by the German volleyball federation DVV, Borger and Sude told Spiegel magazine during the weekend they “would not go along with” the rules imposed by the Qatari authorities.
Borger said that they would normally be happy to “adapt to any country”, but that the extreme heat in Doha meant that bikinis were necessary.
Her team-mate Sude pointed out that Qatar had previously made exceptions for female track and field athletes competing at the World Athletics Championships in Doha in 2019.
The country also allowed female beach volleyball players to compete in bikinis at the ANOC World Beach Games in 2019.
Though not as hot as the scorching summer months, temperatures in the Gulf state can reach as high as 30 deg C in March.
Speaking to Deutschlandfunk on Sunday, Borger questioned whether Qatar was a suitable host nation.
“We are asking whether it’s necessary to hold a tournament there at all,” she said.
Qatar has hosted an increasing number of major sporting events in recent decades, though its human rights record, lack of sporting history and brutally hot weather make it a controversial venue.
Heat and humidity were major issues during the road races at last year’s World Athletics Championships held in Doha.
Discriminatory labour practices and alleged human rights abuses in Qatar have been the subject of intense scrutiny ahead of next year’s football World Cup.
-AFP
Domestic football has resumed in Sudan for the first time in over two years, as the country launches a one-month competition featuring eight top clubs to determine its national champions amid ongoing conflict.
The return of league action comes despite the devastating civil war that has gripped Sudan since April 2023, when fighting erupted between the national army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The conflict has claimed more than 150,000 lives and displaced around 12 million people, creating the world’s largest displacement crisis.
Among the teams participating in the makeshift tournament are Sudan’s football giants, Al Hilal and Al Merrikh, who have dominated the domestic scene since the national league’s inception in 1965, winning all but four of the titles between them.
During the height of the conflict, both clubs were forced to relocate operations to Mauritania in West Africa, where they played league matches last season.
Al Hilal emerged champions in that campaign while hosting their continental fixtures on neutral ground due to security concerns.
Now back on Sudanese soil, both teams have kicked off their campaigns in the newly introduced Sudanese Elite Championship, which will determine the clubs eligible for the 2025/26 CAF continental competitions.
Matches are being staged in the relatively safer cities of Ad-Damer, located 430 kilometres from the embattled capital Khartoum, and Atbara, about 320 kilometres north.
Al Hilal began their campaign with a win over Al Merghani Kassala, while Al Merrikh also secured victory, edging Ahly Madani 1–0 over the weekend. Their much-anticipated derby clash is scheduled for the final day of the competition on July 22.
The other clubs in the competition are Zamalek, Umm Rawaba, Al Amal Atbara, Hay Al Wadi Nyala, and Merrikh Al Abyad. Each team will play the others once, with seven rounds of fixtures to be completed over the month.
Despite the return of league football, Sudan’s national team remains in limbo, having not played a home match since March 2023.
The Falcons of Jediane are set to compete at the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco and are also in contention for a historic first appearance at the FIFA World Cup in 2026.
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Paul Onuachu is back where the goals flowed after the Nigerian striker completed a 5.6 million euros ($6.60 million) move to Trabzonspor from Southampton on Friday, turning a successful loan spell into a permanent stay on Turkey’s Black Sea coast.
Nicknamed “Tall Paul” by Saints fans, the 2.01-metre forward never found his stride in the Premier League, scoring just four goals as Southampton dropped out of the top flight.
But in Turkey, he looked like his old self — hitting 15 goals in 21 league games while on loan last season and quickly winning over the fans and board alike.
Once prolific at Genk, with 73 goals in 103 league games, 31-year-old Onuachu’s return to Trabzonspor feels more like a reset than a gamble.
The new Super Lig season kicks off on August 8, with champions Galatasaray defending their crown. Trabzonspor, who finished seventh last term, will hope their returning striker picks up right where he left off.
-Reuters
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A celebration turned tragic on Saturday, June 22, 2025, when three spectators lost their lives and more than 70 others sustained injuries following a fence collapse at the July 5 Stadium in Algiers. The incident occurred after MC Alger clinched the Algerian top-flight football title for the second consecutive season.
According to a statement released on Facebook by the Algerian Ministry of Health, the collapse took place in the stadium’s south bend upper stand. Emergency services responded swiftly, with 38 injured fans taken to Beni Messous University Hospital, 27 to Ben Aknoun Hospital, and 16 to Bab El Oued Hospital.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune expressed condolences to the victims’ families and extended wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured.
MC Alger also mourned the loss of one of their fans. “It is with great sadness and sorrow that we received the news of our supporter Younes Amguzzi, who passed away after falling from the upper stands,” the club said in a statement posted on Instagram.
The club has not yet issued a formal comment on the additional reported fatalities.
Local media attributed the tragedy to a structural failure, reporting that part of the upper-tier fencing gave way, causing fans to fall into the lower stands. A video posted by El Heddaf TV showed the damaged railing and the chaotic aftermath.
The injured were rushed to nearby hospitals, while MC Alger players, staff, and club officials visited to donate blood in support of the victims. The trophy presentation ceremony was postponed out of respect for the incident.
Authorities are expected to launch an investigation into the cause of the collapse and the safety standards at the stadium.
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