International Football
NATIONS LEAGUE: CONFIDENT ENGLAND READY FOR ICELAND
Iceland will forever bear a scar for English football, after an embarrassing exit at Euro 2016 to a country with a population of less than 1 per cent the pool on offer to the Three Lions.
Four years on, the nations meet today in the Nations League for the first time since that fateful night in Nice, with the visitors in Reykjavik a much-changed side.
Only six of the England squad who lost in the round of 16 in that tournament remain.
Among them, captain Harry Kane, 27, and Raheem Sterling, 25, are now the senior figures in a squad filled with youth, flair and far less fear than the side who were racked by self-doubt after falling 2-1 behind just 18 minutes into that famous defeat by Iceland.
Phil Foden, 20, and Mason Greenwood, 18, have been handed their first senior call-ups after impressing for Manchester City and Manchester United respectively since football returned from the coronavirus shutdown in June.
They could be two of the beneficiaries of the one-year delay to the European Championship, with England one of the favourites for a tournament they will largely play on home soil next summer.
“They are realistic challengers,” said England boss Gareth Southgate about Foden and Greenwood’s prospects for Euro 2020.
Both will have to fight their way into one of the most star-studded front lines in world football, one which already boasts Kane, Sterling, Greenwood’s United teammate Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho of Borussia Dortmund.
Southgate added: “We’re a year away from a European Championship, let’s see if they can break into that team. It gives us great competition for places.”
Neither player seems to lack confidence when it comes to making an impact on international football.
Greenwood has been hailed by former England greats Alan Shearer and Wayne Rooney for his ability to finish clinically with either foot. He scored 19 goals in his breakthrough season.
Foden also has lofty ambitions as he hopes to be the man to fill David Silva’s shoes at City next season.
Named player of the tournament when England won the Under-17 World Cup three years ago, he has already experienced success at international level.
He and England’s new generation still have to prove themselves at senior level, but they are providing far more cause for optimism than the crop that will forever be remembered for crumbling to Iceland.
Meanwhile, Spain captain Sergio Ramos has praised his side for not giving up the fight, as Jose Luis Gaya snatched a late point in their 1-1 Nations League draw with Germany in Stuttgart on Thursday.
The Germans were seconds away from victory in the League A, Group 4 clash after Chelsea’s new signing Timo Werner gave the hosts a second-half lead, only for Gaya to tap home a Rodrigo Moreno header in the sixth minute of added time.
“We fought until the end. It was a good test for the start of the season,” said Ramos to German broadcaster ZDF.
–AFP
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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