International Football
Five things to know about Morocco’s goalie Yassine Bounou

Yassine Bounou dives to save a shot by Spain’s midfielder Carlos Soler during penalty shoot-out. PHOTO: AFP
With Morocco conceding just once from an own goal at this World Cup, no opponent has scored against their goalkeeper yet. Incredibly, these include penalties in their round of 16 shootout win over Spain. Who is Yassine Bounou, the man with the safest pair of hands at Qatar 2022?
1. He has come a long way
Literally, he has, for he was born in Montreal, Canada to Moroccan parents.
He then moved 5,795km to Morocco at an early age, joining local club Wydad Casablanca from age eight and playing nine league games for them across two seasons before heading to Atletico Madrid in Spain on a pay cut.
With Thibaut Courtois, Sergio Asenjo and Joel Robles all on Atletico’s roster, Bounou played for the B team in the second division and never featured for them in La Liga.
Impressing for Zaragoza in the second-tier while on loan, he signed for Girona in 2016 and helped them win promotion. Two strong spells in the top tier earned him a loan deal with Sevilla in 2019 before the move was made permanent a year later after he helped the club win the Europa League.
From then on, he has been Sevilla’s first-choice custodian, winning the Zamora trophy for clocking the lowest goals-to-game ratio for the 2021/22 season in which he conceded only 24 goals in 31 games. He is the first player from Sevilla and Africa to win the prestigious award.
2. He has a good track record of saving penalties
On Tuesday, Bounou kept out Carlos Soler and Sergio Busquets from the spot, while Pablo Sarabia struck the post (Bounou went the right way), and people shouldn’t be surprised even if he is the first African goalkeeper to save two penalties in a World Cup shootout.
After all, the 31-year-old has faced 50 penalties in his career and saved 13 of them
Morocco midfielder Azzedine Ounahi told ESPN: “We trust him. We know he is an excellent keeper. We knew that if we got to the penalties, he would do the job for us. And he did. Spain didn’t even score a single penalty.”
However, Bounou was modest when he told ESPN: “It was incredible. It is a historical moment. I hadn’t even prepared for the shootout that much. There was so much pressure in the game so I just tried to enjoy it.
“For the penalties, it is about instinct, a bit of luck and that’s it, there is not much else.”
3. He also has a sterling clean sheet record
According to football website Transfermarkt, Bounou has 109 shutouts from 334 games at club level.
For Morocco, he has an even better record, with 31 clean sheets from 49 matches. This translates to an average one every 2.7 games. Some top strikers don’t even score this frequently.
4. He is dangerous at the other end too
Nicknamed Bono, he is a rock star on both ends of the pitch. In March 2021, with Sevilla down 1-0 at Real Valladolid, he went to attack a corner kick, and scored his first and only professional goal.
5. Haaland feud
While he is known to be generally calm and soft-spoken, Bounou couldn’t help but be pumped up in a Champions League match against Borussia Dortmund and their striker Erling Haaland in 2021.
During their match, Bounou tipped Haaland’s penalty on to the post, denied the Norwegian on the rebound and celebrated in his face, only for the Video Assistant Referee to order a retake as the goalkeeper had stepped off his line before the spot-kick was taken.
Haaland made no mistake with his second chance and returned the favour by goading Bounou after scoring.
Now with Manchester City, Haaland said: “I missed and then he cheated. Then I took it again and scored when he didn’t cheat.
“When he was screaming in my face after the first one, I was thinking ‘it will be even better to score another goal’ – and that’s what happened, so it was nice… Maybe it’s karma in this world.”
-Straits Times
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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International Football
Former England and Man Utd midfielder Ince charged with drink-driving

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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International Football
From garbage collector to Starman of Ancelotti’s Brazil team: the story of Ribeiro

“I was without a team for a year and a half, doing trials… and no club in Brazil wanted me.!” Alex Ribeiro
Alexsandro Victor de Souza Ribeiro (Rio de Janeiro, 1999) was, until a few days ago, a semi-unknown to the general public in Brazil.
However, Carlo Ancelotti, impressed by his strong performance against Real Madrid in the Champions League, insisted on calling up the Lille centre-back… and giving him his debut.
Not only that. He started alongside Marquinhos against Ecuador (0-0) and Paraguay (1-0) and helped the Seleçao keep two consecutive clean sheets for the first time in the qualifying rounds.
Alex, as he likes to be called, impressed with his 1.92 meters (6′ 1″) frame and confidence. According to ‘R10Score’, he was the Brazilian player who completed the most actions with the ball (186) and the second with the most cuts (11).
He completed 154 of the 166 passes he made (92% accuracy) and won 12 of the 16 duels he was involved in: 5 of 7 at ground level and 7 of 9 in the air. “A gentleman defender,” boasted the official Ligue 1 Portuguese account.
His path to the elite wasn’t easy. “I don’t think you know this, but this is my first game as a professional in Brazil. Strange, isn’t it? There’s nothing better. To debut in Brazil like this, with a win and qualification,” he boasted after defeating Paraguay.
These first few days with Ancelotti have been unique; I’ll remember them for the rest of my life. I’ve responded well not only to myself, but also to the coach and the Brazilian people. I was able to demonstrate my ability to those who had doubts. Few people give me the opportunity that the manager has given me,” he insists
The Lille centre-back took his first steps in Flamengo’s youth system, where he even met Vinicius.
“When we played against Real Madrid, Vini came up to me and hugged me. He said, ‘I’m glad to see you here, brother.’ That inspired and motivated me even more,” he told ‘Globo Esporte’.
‘Fla’ cut him off. He had to make a living as a street vendor. He also collected trash, especially cans. “I was without a team for a year and a half, doing trials… and no club in Brazil wanted me, so I went to Europe to play in Portugal’s Third Division.”
Praiense (2018-20), Amora (2020-21), and Chaves (2021-22)—the latter already in the Second Division—were his springboard to Lille. The Bulldogs signed him in 2022-23 for €2 million. He has become a more than worthy successor to his compatriot Gabriel Magalhaes.
“Little by little, my name is spreading. My football is reaching everywhere. This includes Brazil,” he said before making his debut with the Seleçao. Now that he’s made it, he has another challenge: “I want to continue it.”
-Marca
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