International Football
Egypt eyeing first back-to-back World Cup appearances
For Egypt, a World Cup qualification has often proved far-fetched. On Tuesday, however, the team will have a chance to make it back-to-back appearances at the football’s most prestigious show piece for the first time ever.
For some reason, Egypt have never been able to match their African dominance when it came to World Cup qualification, but they could go some way into ending that dismal record as they meet Senegal in the second leg of a qualifying playoff in Dakar.
Holding a slender 1-0 advantage from the first leg, Egypt are slight favourites to reach the Qatar finals , but they will have to negotiate a tough tie against the reigning African champions at their new 50,000-seat Abdoulaye Wade stadium.
Although Egypt have a record haul of seven African Nations Cup titles under their belt, they only reached the World Cup three times in 1934, 1990 and 2018.
Out for vengeance after they lost to Senegal on penalties in the Nations Cup final last month, Egypt secured a smash-and-grab win over the Teranga Lions in Cairo last Friday.
An early own goal from defender Saliou Ciss, after some good work from Liverpool talisman Mohamed Salah, proved to be the difference. Egypt then defended doggedly, keeping at bay the likes of Sadio Mane and Ismaila Sarr after Senegal had mounted an onslaught.
Egypt coach Carlos Queiroz — who is targeting a personal glory of leading a team to the World Cup finals for a fifth time after previous successes with South Africa, Iran and Portugal — hailed his team’s fighting spirit, angrily hitting back at those who criticized his cautious game-plan.
The Portuguese implied that repelling Senegal’s attacks was a success on its own, highlighting the quality that Senegal boasts. He said an even more solid performance is needed in the second leg if Egypt are to preserve their advantage.
“It’s a 0-0 World Cup game, everything is open. We need to be more powerful, we need to do it double. We need to defend with 15 or 16 players. We will probably need to fight for our lives in Dakar,” he told a news conference after the first leg.
“History does not talk about those who play better. As we know, Italy played well against Macedonia and they are out of the World Cup.”
To contain Senegal’s threat once again, Queiroz will need his entire backline to be vigilant. However, with his defence depleted, his task will not be simple.
Egypt’s central defensive pair who played the first leg will not be available, with Mohamed Abdel-Moneim ruled out after fracturing his nose in an aerial collision with Mane and Mahmoud El-Wensh suspended after picking up a second yellow card in the qualifiers.
Queiroz called up 33-year-old defender Ali Gabr, who was one of the pillars of the Egypt side that reached the Nations Cup final in 2017, and Ahly’s Rami Rabia to fill the gaps.
Senegal could also have to do without Paris Saint-Germain defender Abdou Diallo, who was taken off in the first half of Friday’s clash after sustaining what appeared to be a groin injury.
-Ahram
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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