International Football
ENGLAND FOOTBALL TEAM’S DOCTOR RESIGNS
Doctor Rob Chakraverty – the former UK Athletics chief medical officer who administered controversial injections to Sir Mo Farah in 2014 – has resigned as the lead doctor for the England men’s football team.
Chakraverty has been under scrutiny since it was revealed in April 2017 that he had failed to properly record a series of L-carnitine injections given to Sir Mo before the London Marathon in 2014.
Having told this to a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee inquiry, Chakraverty blamed the large number of athletes in his care for the oversight, and confirmed it had been included on his UK Athletics employment record.
A BBC Panorama documentary, aired last month, then put Chakraverty under more pressure.
The documentary revealed emails between senior UK Athletics figures, which debated whether giving Sir Mo injections of L-carnitine two days before he ran the 2014 London Marathon was ethical, with concerns expressed over whether it was in the “spirit of the sport”.
Some research has suggested L-carnitine, a legal supplement, could help to boost performance.
UK Athletics head of endurance running Barry Fudge, former UK Athletics performance director Neil Black and now-disgraced American distance running coach Alberto Salazar were also present when Chakraverty gave Sir Mo the injections, according to BBC Panorama.
Fudge had reportedly collected a package of injectable L-carnitine in Switzerland from a Salazar contact, which was then brought back to London.
The email exchange between the UK Athletics officials had revealed Salazar had been “keen” for the supplement to be used.
The volume was reportedly 13.5 millilitres, which was well within the allowed limit.
BBC Panorama alleges Sir Mo initially denied he had received an injection of the supplement, citing transcripts of an interview between Sir Mo and United States Anti-Doping Agency investigators, which took place in July 2015.
The four-time Olympic champion reportedly met Fudge minutes after the interview with the investigators, before returning to the interview room as the investigators were packing up to give a different account of his L-carnitine use.
Chakraverty has now resigned from his role with the Football Association (FA), as reported by The Times.
“It has been a privilege to work as the lead doctor to the England men’s senior team since joining The FA in 2016,” he said.
“The team and players have been wonderful to work with and the memories of what we achieved together at the World Cup two years ago will stay with me forever.
“The time is now right to step away from this role and seek new challenges enabling my successor to establish themselves into the team before the next tournament.
“I would like to thank my colleagues and the players for their support and wish them every success in achieving their goals in the tournaments to come.”
The FA have also confirmed the news.
“We would like to offer our sincere thanks to Rob, not just for his part in the team’s progress since 2016 but also in sharing his expertise across the wider medical department,” an FA statement said.
“We wish him every success for the future.”
The announcement comes on the same day as an independent report on UK Athletic’s relationship with Salazar, who is now serving a four-year ban for doping violations.
Salazar ran the Nike Oregon Project, which was home to Farah between 2011 and 2017.
The report found UK Athletics made “reasonable” decisions given the circumstances but its handling of the scandal “could have been better”.
Insidethegames
Former Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has been named the new head coach of the England national team, the country’s Football Association said in a statement on Wednesday.
The German, who is England’s third foreign manager, after Sweden’s Sven-Goran Eriksson and Italian Fabio Capello, will be assisted by Englishman Anthony Barry, the statement added.
“We are thrilled to have hired Thomas Tuchel, one of the best coaches in the world and Anthony Barry who is one of the best English coaches to support him,” FA CEO Mark Bullingham said.
Tuchel replaces Lee Carsley, England’s under-21 manager, who has been in temporary charge since the resignation of Gareth Southgate after England’s defeat by Spain in the Euro 2024 final in July.
-Reuters
German Thomas Tuchel has been appointed head coach of the England national team on Wednesday.
Born: Aug. 29, 1973 in Krumbach, Germany.
PLAYING CAREER
* Tuchel played for his local club TSV Krumbach, before moving to FC Augsburg’s academy at the age of 15.
* He never played for Augsburg’s senior side and joined German second division team Stuttgarter Kickers in 1992.
* After eight league appearances for Kickers, Tuchel moved to fourth-tier SSV Ulm.
* Tuchel made 69 league appearances for Ulm as a central defender before he was forced to retire in 1998 at the age of 25 due to a knee injury.
COACHING CAREER
* Tuchel began his coaching career with a youth team role at VfB Stuttgart in 2000, working with future Germany internationals Mario Gomez and Holger Badstuber.
* He returned to Augsburg and took charge of their reserve team for the 2007-08 season.
* Tuchel was appointed Mainz 05 manager in 2009, replacing compatriot Juergen Klopp.
* He guided Mainz to Bundesliga stability during his five-year stint at the club, gaining plaudits for his team’s high energy, attacking style of play.
* Tuchel took over from Klopp as Borussia Dortmund coach in 2015.
* He led Dortmund to a 2-1 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt in the 2017 German Cup final. He was sacked by Dortmund three days later.
* Tuchel joined Paris St Germain in 2018 on a two-year contract, replacing Unai Emery.
* He won two Ligue 1 titles, including a domestic quadruple in his second season, and guided the club to their first Champions League final, where they lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich.
* Tuchel was sacked by PSG on Christmas Eve in 2020, despite the club finishing top of their Champions League group and sitting third in the Ligue 1 table.
* He was named Chelsea manager in January 2021 on an initial 18-month contract following the dismissal of Frank Lampard.
* Tuchel revived the team’s Premier League season and guided the London club to the Champions League final, where they beat Manchester City. Chelsea also won the Super Cup and Club World Cup.
* Chelsea sacked Tuchel in September 2022 following a shock 1-0 defeat at Dinamo Zagreb in their opening Champions League group game.
* Bayern Munich appointed Tuchel to succeed Julian Nagelsmann in March last year.
* Bayern decided to let Tuchel go at the end of the 2023-24 season despite a contract until 2025. Tuchel steered Bayern to the Bundesliga title in 2022-23, but they finished the last campaign without any silverware for the first time in more than a decade.
* Tuchel will become England’s third foreign manager after Sweden’s Sven-Goran Eriksson and Italian Fabio Capello.
* Tuchel will take over the team in January ahead of the qualification campaign for the 2026 World Cup.
-Reuters
Wolverhampton Wanderers forward Mateus Mane has become hot property after Portugal named the 17-year-old in their Under-18 squad on Friday, one day after England included him in their squad.
Mane was called up for a second successive England youth camp by coach Liam Bramley before the team travel to Marbella for a four-team tournament this month.
Mane is eligible for both teams having played for the Portugal Under-17 side last season. As the Under-18 team is a non-UEFA age group, both nations are entitled to call the player up.
He made his England international debut last month against the Portugal Under-18 side who have named Mane in their squad for a four-nation tournament this month.
With both tournaments running concurrently, Mane can only play for one team and Wolves and England confirmed he would feature in Bramley’s side.
Reuters has contacted Portugal’s football association for clarification.
While players with multiple nationalities have played for more than one country if they are eligible, they are not allowed to switch allegiances at senior level – unless they have played only in friendly matches for the first country.
-Reuters
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