International Football
Morocco’s King Mohammed VI Congratulates AS FAR for downing Sundowns
Again, it all went well for Morocco, the ‘Mecca’ of football pilgrimage in Africa. The balance of power in women’s football in the continent has suddenly swung in favour of Morocco who also made impressive performence some moths ago when they hosted the Africa Women’s Nations Cup.
In the champions league, most analysts had expected South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundown, an arm of the football club owned by CAF President, Patrice Motsepe, to continue their winning streak which began last year in the first edition in Egypt, alas a stop was made by the AS FAR ladies.
A winning streak that stretched to nine matches was terminated. Not only were the Mamelodi Sundowns downed, it was a big fall of four goals to nothing.
It is the heaviest defeat inflicted on the club in the continent. The big feat by ASFAR was promptly acknowleged by the Moroccan monarch, King Mohammed VI.
The King held a phone call with the team‘s coach Mohamed Amine Alioua and Captain Rabbah Aziza, expressing his warm congratulations for the win.
Morocco’s AS FAR won CAF’s Women Champions League after defeating Mamelodi Sundowns 4-0 on Sunday
The final match took place at the Prince Moulay Abdellah sports complex in Rabat.
Fatima Tagnaout opened the scoring through a penalty in the first 15 minutes of the match, while Ibtisssam Jraidi scored a hat trick for her club.
Take-aways from the final match
- AS FAR 4 Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies 0
- AS FAR are the second team to win the CAF WCL after Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies who did so in 2021.
- AS FAR are the first host club to win the CAF WCL title.
- AS FAR are the first North African club to win the title.
- This is the first time at the CAF WCL Finals that Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies lost a game, seeing their 9 -game unbeaten run come to an end (W7 D2).
- This is the third game at the CAF WCL finals that Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies had failed to score a goal, the other occasions were when they drew 0-0 with AS FAR and Malabo Kings in 2021 at the group stages and the Semi-finals respectively.
- This game represents the first time that Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies had conceded more than one goal in a game at the finals.
- This was the second meeting between AS FAR and Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies at the CAF WCL Finals, the Moroccans kept their second clean-sheet and remain undefeated against them (D1), the teams played out a 0-0 draw at the 2021 group stages.
- This is the biggest win by a team in a CAF WCL Final, in 2021 Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies defeated Hasaacas Ladies 2-0.
- Fatima Tagnaout’s opening goal from the penalty spot was the first time that Mamelodi Sundowns had conceded the first goal in a game at the CAF WCL Finals, it was the first time that they had ever trailed in a game at the finals. This being their 10th game at the tournament.
- Ibtissam Jraïdi scorer of AS FAR’s second, third and fourth goals netted her fourth, fifth and sixth goals of the tournament, the most goals by a player from AS FAR at the finals. She is also the first player to score in four different games at the finals.
- Ibtissam Jraïdi is the first player to score six goals at a single edition of the CAF WCL Finals, overtaking Evelyn Badu who scored five in 2021.
- Both of the hattricks scored at CAF WCL Finals have been scored by players from AS FAR, Ibtissam Jraïdi joins Sanaâ Mssoudy as the only two players to have managed such a feat. Mssoudy netted three goals in a 3-0 win for AS FAR against Rivers Angels in their opening game in 2021.
- Fatima Tagnaout had three goal involvements in this game making two assists and scoring a goal.
- All three of the goals scored at the tournament by Tagnaout have come from the penalty spot.
- Overall Tagnaout has had six goal involvements in the tournament scoring three goals and making three assists.
- Tagnaout assisted half of the six goals that Jraïdi scored in the tournament, setting up three of her goals.
- This is the biggest win managed by any team in a knockout round game at the CAF WCL Finals, AS FAR are also the first team to score four goals in a knockout game at the CAF WCL Finals.
- At the 2022 CAF WCL Finals the first three knockout games produced three goals, this game surpassed that total producing four goals.
- In all of the knockout round games only the winning team has managed to score.
- AS FAR kept their fourth clean sheet of the tournament.
- AS FAR scored 10 goals at the 2022 CAF WCL Finals conceding one goal, while Sundowns scored 12 but let in five.
- Starting with their third-place play-off win against Malabo Kings in 2021, AS FAR have now won their last six games in a row at the CAF WCL finals. They are the first team to win six games in a row in open play at the tournament.
- Having not conceded a goal in at the 2021 edition Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies conceded five at the current tournament.
- AS FAR goalkeeper Khadija Errmichi kept four clean sheets in the tournament conceding just one goal. She was named goalkeeper of the tournament.
- This is AS FAR’s biggest win at the CAF WCL Finals it is the first time they managed to score four goals in a game.
- While just one game at the 2021 edition of the CAF WCL Finals saw a team win a game by four or more goals, the 2022 edition saw four games where a team managed to win by a margin of four or more goals.
- AS FAR’s Women’s team joins their men’s team who were crowned winners of the African Club of Champions Cup in 1985.
- This is now AS FAR’s third major continental title as a club their men’s team won the African Club of Champions Cup in 1985 and the CAF Confederation Cup in 2005.
- All three major CAF Club titles belong to Moroccan clubs with Wydad Casablanca holding the CAF Champions League title and RS Berkane the current CAF Confederation Cup defending champions.
- This was the fourth time that Mamelodi Sundowns had a club in a CAF Club competition final, along with their men’s team who reached the 2001 and 2016 CAF Champions League Finals. It was the second time that Sundowns had lost a continental final in either the men’s or women’s competition, their men’s team lost to Al Ahly of Egypt in the 2001 CAF Champions League Final.
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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International Football
Players’ union, FIFPRO, wants 20-minute halftimes, more cooling breaks amid extreme heat
Global players’ union FIFPRO is exploring whether extending halftime to 20 minutes and introducing more frequent cooling breaks could better protect players from extreme heat.
Nine of the 16 host cities for the 2026 World Cup face conditions considered “extreme risk” for heat-related illness.
Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Guadalajara, Houston, Kansas City, Miami, Monterrey and Philadelphia are expected to face dangerous levels of heat and humidity, posing player safety concerns and fuelling calls for mandatory cooling aids or schedule changes.
FIFPRO’s heat risk assessments are based on wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), a measure combining temperature, humidity, solar radiation and wind speed to estimate how environmental conditions affect the body’s ability to cool itself.
Under FIFPRO guidelines, a WBGT reading above 28 degrees Celsius indicates conditions in which matches should be postponed or rescheduled to protect players’ health.
By comparison, world soccer governing body FIFA’s own guidelines set the extreme risk threshold higher, at 32 degrees Celsius WBGT – but even by that standard, six of the nine cities are still projected to exceed safe limits.
Major League Soccer in the U.S. has a threshold of 29 degrees Celsius WBGT.
“Cooling breaks at the 30th minute and 75th minutes are quite traditional, but from a physiological point of view it does not make sense,” said Vincent Gouttebarge, FIFPRO’s Medical Director.
“Even if you ingest more than 200 millilitres of fluid, you already cannot take it all. So I would definitely like to see some project where we look at the efficacy of perhaps more frequent but shorter cooling breaks – every 15 minutes, rather than only one during each half.”
LONGER HALFTIMES
Gouttebarge also questioned whether the traditional 15-minute halftime interval is sufficient when matches are played in extreme heat.
“You can imagine that halftime of 15 minutes might not be enough in order to decrease the core temperature,” he said.
“It could be a halftime of 20 minutes which would be significant. That has been shown in the laboratory and FIFPRO, together with the national union in Portugal in August, we are going to test this kind of mitigation strategy.”
The urgency of stronger heat protocols became clear at this month’s Club World Cup where two matches — Benfica-Bayern Munich in Charlotte and Chelsea-Esperance in Philadelphia exceeded the WBGT threshold FIFPRO considers unsafe.
“According to our position, those games should have been postponed later that day or rescheduled,” Gouttebarge said.
FIFPRO officials acknowledged that FIFA has responded constructively during the tournament by lowering thresholds for mandatory cooling breaks and improving pitch-side hydration, but stressed that proactive planning is critical.
“FIFA have been quite responsive once the tournament was under way,” said Alex Phillips, FIFPRO General Secretary.
“They have actually modified how they’ve been dealing with heat during the matches based on FIFPRO’s input, which is credit to the work of the team. Obviously, it would have been better if that happened in advance, but it’s better that they have adapted.”
FIFPRO warned that the risks highlighted at the Club World Cup are a preview of what players could face at the expanded 2026 World Cup.
“This is not just affecting the Club World Cup, but also future tournaments either in the U.S. or elsewhere in the world,” said Alexander Bielefeld, FIFPRO Director of Policy & Strategic Relations.
“We need a better balance between commercial interests and the health and safety of players,” he added, referring to earlier kick-off times to accommodate European television audiences.
-Reuters
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Former Manchester United and England midfielder Paul Ince has been charged with drink-driving, police said on Monday.
Ince, who earned 53 caps for England and won two Premier League titles during his six years at United, has been released on bail and will appear in court on July 18.
“The incident involved a black Range Rover which had collided with the central reservation barrier. Officers attended the scene and arrested a 57-year-old man,” the Cheshire police said in a statement.
“Paul Ince, of Quarry Road, Neston, has since been charged with drink-driving.”
Reuters has contacted Ince’s representative for comment.
After retiring as a player, Ince led Milton Keynes Dons to a League Two title in 2007-08. He most recently managed Reading during 2022-23.
-Reuters
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