Argentine superstar Lionel Messi has signed a contract through the 2025 season with Inter Miami, the Major League Soccer team announced on Saturday.

The 36-year-old striker, who sparked Argentina to a World Cup title last year in Qatar, is set to be unveiled by the team in a Sunday ceremony and expected to join Inter Miami on the pitch by Friday.

“I’m very excited to start this next step in my career with Inter Miami and in the United States,” Messi said in a statement.

The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner’s arrival in Miami from Paris Saint-Germain has already caused a sensation and is expected to spark greater interest in the game and MLS across the United States.

It’s also hoped the long-time Barcelona talisman can revive the fortunes of a Miami squad at the bottom of the MLS Eastern Conference at 5-13 with three drawn.

“This is a fantastic opportunity and together we will continue to build this beautiful project,” Messi said. “The idea is to work together to achieve the objectives we set and I’m very eager to start helping here in my new home.”

Messi’s debut match is planned for Friday when Inter Miami will host Cruz Azul in the Leagues Cup, a revamped competition between MLS and Mexican league squads.

It’s the biggest boost for MLS since English star David Beckham, now a co-owner of Inter Miami, joined the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007. He launched the MLS Miami squad in 2020 after years of trying to find a stadium site.

“Ten years ago, when I started my journey to build a new team in Miami, I said that I dreamt of bringing the greatest players in the world to this amazing city, players who shared the ambition I had when I joined LA Galaxy to help grow football in the USA and to build a legacy for the next generation in this sport that we love so much,” Beckham said in a statement.

“Today that dream came true.

“I couldn’t be prouder that a player of Leo’s caliber is joining our club… The next phase of our adventure starts here and I can’t wait to see Leo take to the pitch.”

Inter Miami head coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino has managed Messi in two separate prior stints –- with FC Barcelona in the 2013-14 campaign, winning the 2013 Spanish SuperCup, and from 2014-2016 with the Argentine national team.

Maestro Messi captained the Albiceleste to victory at the 2021 Copa America as well as the Qatar World Cup and has records of 103 goals and 175 appearances for Argentina.

“We’re overjoyed that the greatest player in the world chose Inter Miami and Major League Soccer,” MLS commissioner Don Garber said.

“His decision is a testament to the momentum and energy behind our league and our sport in North America.”

Messi is set for a glitzy arrival ceremony on Sunday at “The Unveil” with 18,000 expected to watch his first public event with his new club, followed by his first training session on Tuesday.

“We made a promise to build an ambitious club that would attract the world’s elite players,” Inter Miami managing owner Jorge Mas said.

“A heartfelt thank you to our fans that never stopped believing. Together we will continue to turn dreams into reality.”

With iconic Messi expected to be joined by Spanish midfielder Sergio Busquets, the hope is Inter Miami can rise from a doormat to a champion.

“Lionel Messi is an incomparable talent,” said Inter Miami sporting director Chris Henderson. “What he brings on and off the field will elevate everyone around him.”

Messi is a two-time World Cup Golden Ball winner, a three-time UEFA Men’s Player of the Year Award winner who also has six La Liga Best Player titles.

Messi is a four-time UEFA Champions League winner, an Olympic gold medal winner, has played on 10 La Liga champions, two Ligue 1 champions and taken seven Copa del Rey titles.

He played for Barcelona from 2004-2021 before joining Paris Saint-Germain for two seasons, making 75 appearances across all competitions, tallying 32 goals and 35 assists.

Source: AFP

WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury will fight Mixed Martial Arts star Francis Ngannou in a boxing contest to decide “the baddest man on the planet” in Saudi Arabia on October 28.

Fury’s team said the fight in Riyadh will “take place under the official rules of professional boxing, with three judges ringside adopting the 10-point must system”.

The British boxer’s WBC title will not be on the line in the “exhibition” bout against former UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou.

Fury’s last fight was in December when he stopped compatriot Derek Chisora inside 10 rounds, but talks over an undisputed world title showdown against Oleksandr Usyk broke down earlier this year.

“As soon as that bell goes, it’ll be bombs away. This guy is supposed to be the hardest puncher in the world, but let’s see how he reacts when he gets hit by the Big GK,” Fury, nicknamed the Gypsy King, said.

“I can’t wait to get back out there under the lights. I’m looking forward to showing the world that the Gypsy King is the greatest fighter of his generation in an epic battle with another master of his craft.”

There will be three ringside judges and they will follow the scoring criteria used in all official boxing bouts, although it is unclear how many rounds are scheduled.

Ngannou has no professional record in boxing but the 36-year-old Cameroonian-French fighter insisted it was a dream to step into the ring with Fury.

“I’ve been waiting to meet Tyson in the ring for the past three years. My dream was always to box, and to box the best,” he said.

“After becoming the undisputed MMA Heavyweight Champion, this is my opportunity to make that dream come true and cement my position as the baddest man on the planet.”

While Usyk defends his WBA, IBF and WBO crowns against Fury’s promotional stablemate Daniel Dubois next month, his fellow world champion is embarking on a fascinating cross-code clash.

The WBC said it would not be involved in the fight, with Fury given “special permission” for a non-title bout as he has no mandatory challenger.

Ngannou built a reputation as a formidable puncher on his way to becoming UFC heavyweight champion, a title he held until leaving in January after an acrimonious relationship with the organisation’s president Dana White.

He has won 17 of his 20 professional UFC fights, with 12 knockouts.

MMA stars including Conor McGregor, Anderson Silva and Tyron Woodley have struggled to make the transition to the boxing ring in the past.

Source: AFP

FIFA revealed eight different armbands highlighting social causes that sides will be able to wear at the women’s World Cup as world football’s governing body seeks to avoid a row that erupted at last year’s men’s World Cup.

Captains from a number of European countries, including England and Germany, planned to wear a “OneLove” armband in rainbow colours in Qatar in support of LGBTQ rights.

However, they abandoned that stance after being threatened with sporting sanctions just days before the tournament kicked off.

The armband had widely been viewed as a symbolic protest against laws in Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal.

The “unite for inclusion” armband for the women’s World Cup is similar in style to the one outlawed with the words alongside a heart shape in rainbow colours.

Other causes highlighted include gender equality, ending violence against women, hunger and the rights of indigenous people.

Captains will be able to wear a different armband for each match corresponding to the cause being promoted or support one cause for the entire tournament.

“Football unites the world and our global events, such as the FIFA Women’s World Cup, have a unique power to bring people together and provide joy, excitement and passion,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino

“After some very open talks with stakeholders, including member associations and players, we have decided to highlight a series of social causes – from inclusion to gender equality, from peace to ending hunger, from education to tackling domestic violence – during all 64 matches at the FIFA Women’s World Cup.”

The women’s World Cup, which will be hosted by Australia and New Zealand, begins on July 20.

Source: AFP

Saudi Arabian soccer champion Al-Ittihad has another high-profile French player to accompany Karim Benzema at the team next season.

N’Golo Kante completed his move on a three-year deal on Wednesday after leaving Chelsea, with Al-Ittihad welcoming the 32-year-old midfielder with a series of tweets containing the hashtag “WelcomeBox2Box” — referring to his hard-running style of play.

He will reportedly earn more than $100 million across the length of the deal at a club based in Jeddah and coached by former Tottenham and Wolverhampton manager Nuno Espirito Santo. It recently won the Saudi league ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr.

Kante, who won the World Cup with France in 2018, the Champions League with Chelsea in 2021 and has been one of the best players in the Premier League in recent years as a back-to-back champion with Leicester and Chelsea, has struggled with injuries over the past two seasons.

That hasn’t put off Al-Ittihad from apparently spending big on Kante, a few weeks after bringing in Benzema after the expiry of the reigning world player of the year’s contract at Real Madrid.

“It is part of the club’s efforts to establish itself as a top choice for world-class players in the Saudi Professional League,” Al-Ittihad said.

The big names — albeit players nearing the end of their careers — are being enticed to the Saudi league, where spending is being fueled by a move by the kingdom’s sovereign wealth Public Investment Fund to take a majority ownership stake in four of the country’s top clubs, including Al-Ittihad and Al-Nassr. The move is part of a nationalization project that encourages public sector organizations to invest in sports, with soccer teams a priority under the initiative backed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Another of those four teams, Al-Hilal, tried to buy Lionel Messi but Argentina’s World Cup winner decided to join Inter Miami in the United States.

A slew of leading players are being linked with moves to Saudi Arabia in this European offseason, including Manchester City winger Riyad Mahrez, Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and Wolverhampton midfielder Ruben Neves.

Source: AP

Messi mania gripped a sweltering Beijing ahead of a sell-out friendly on Thursday evening between world champions Argentina and Australia in the Chinese capital.

All eyes were on Lionel Messi, arguably the greatest footballer of all time, who lifted the World Cup for the Albiceleste in December.

Thousands of Chinese fans braved temperatures of nearly 40 degrees Celsius, gathering at Beijing’s newly renovated Workers’ Stadium several hours before the 8 pm (1200 GMT) kick-off.

Many came clad in replica Argentina shirts emblazoned with Messi’s name and number 10, while others had daubed their faces with sky-blue and white paint or were excitedly clasping flags.

Security guards corralled hundreds of fans behind barriers outside the western gate to the ground, where the Argentina team coach was due to enter.

Forty-year-old lawyer Zhong Xiaoqing from eastern China’s Zhejiang province told AFP that Messi was his “perfect idol”.

“Messi is the greatest player of all time,” he said. “I was completely enamoured the first time I saw him play in 2005.

“He’s a model for me -– my perfect idol.”

For 29-year-old HR worker Sun Bingxin from northern Shanxi province, the excitement had been overwhelming.

“I’ve been so pent up about it that I feel like I could cry with joy,” she told AFP before kick-off.

“Every football fan in China has wanted to be here tonight, so it’ll be a spectacular occasion.”

Liu Rui, a 24-year-old student from Nanjing in eastern Jiangsu province, said being at the match was “really a dream come true”.

“In 40 years’ time, I can tell my grandchildren about this,” he told AFP.

Low profile

Hundreds of flag-waving fans had been camped outside the team’s luxury hotel ever since they touched down on Saturday.

Crowds have lined heavily guarded streets hoping to catch a glimpse of the 35-year-old each time the team goes for training.

The man himself has kept a low profile, but that has done little to dampen enthusiasm.

One daring fan recounted his tale of spending the night inside the Four Seasons hotel in a bid to get a close encounter with Messi and his teammates.

“I first hid in the janitor’s closet, then went up to the team’s floor through the fire escape staircase,” the man, surnamed Lin, told AFP.

He was questioned by hotel security before being released.

Another fan, Li Weihua, said he had flown from his home city of Shenzhen in southern China, heading straight to the hotel.

He does not even have a ticket for the match at the 68,000-capacity Workers’ Stadium, which had quickly sold out.

“I just want to feel the environment,” said the 29-year-old, who had never been to Beijing before.

Huang Yongming, 17, from the northeastern city of Changchun, was more successful in getting a highly coveted ticket.

“I spent around 3,000 yuan ($419) for a ticket,” Huang told AFP. “I know it’s expensive, but I thought that if I didn’t take the opportunity, I would regret it.”

Messi is set to join Inter Miami this summer, after two years at Paris Saint-Germain.

Source: AFP

Lionel Messi will sign for Major League Soccer side Inter Miami, the player said Wednesday in interviews with Spanish media, choosing the United States as his next destination over a Barcelona reunion or blockbuster deal to play in Saudi Arabia.

The Argentine forward, 35, has spent the last two seasons at Paris Saint-Germain, playing his final game for the club on Saturday, after moving from Barcelona in 2021, where he spent the majority of his career.

Messi said that he did not want to have to wait for Barcelona to find a formula to be able to sign him given their financial situation — they were unable to keep him before his move to PSG, leading to a tearful departure.

“I was afraid that it would happen again,” Messi told Spanish newspapers Diario Sport and Mundo Deportivo.

“I’ve taken the decision that I am going to Miami, I don’t have (the deal) 100 percent sealed or maybe there’s something left to do, but we decided to continue our path there.

“(I decided) to leave Europe, it’s true that I had offers from another European team but I didn’t even think about it because in Europe, my idea was only to go to Barcelona.

“After winning the World Cup and not being able to go to Barca, it’s time to go to MLS to live football in a different way and enjoy my day to day life more.

“Obviously with the same responsibility and desire to win, and to do things well, but with more calm.”

Messi is a seven-time Ballon d’Or winner and is expected to earn the individual accolade once more after leading Argentina to World Cup glory in Qatar in December 2022.

The football world was eagerly awaiting Messi’s decision after PSG confirmed this week the playmaker, widely considered the best player in the history of football, was departing.

Inter Miami, co-owned by former England international David Beckham and founded in 2018, sacked coach Phil Neville last week with the team bottom of the Eastern Conference — with Argentine Javier Morales taking over on an interim basis.

The romance of a Barcelona return and prospect of eye-watering riches in Saudi Arabia fell by the wayside as Messi opted to join MLS, with sun-soaked Miami a city he has holidayed in on previous occasions.

Some reports say key MLS sponsors including sportswear brand Adidas and Apple TV, who own the league’s domestic broadcasting rights, may be contributing to his deal.

Source: AFP

FIFA’s disgraced former vice-president Reynald Temarii of Tahiti has been charged with corruption by French prosecutors probing Qatar’s 2022 World Cup bid process.

The French National Financial Prosecutor’s Office in 2016 launched preliminary anti-corruption investigations regarding the conditions under which the 2022 Football World Cup was awarded to Qatar.

The charge, the first to emerge from the years-long investigation, is for passive corruption and was confirmed by France’s financial crimes prosecutors (PNF).

Temarii is a former president of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC).

But he was forced out in 2010 after being implicated in a vote-selling scandal during an undercover newspaper sting before the controversial awarding to Qatar of last year’s football showpiece.

Temarii was banned for a year by FIFA on November 17, 2010, ruling him out of the infamous December 2 vote at FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich.

The OFC were entitled to organise someone to vote in his place, with the first of their votes designated for Australia then if necessary to the United States, the favourites for the 2022 staging rights over Qatar.

But Temarii appealed his ban on the night of November 30, having initially accepted his suspension.

His appeal, as per FIFA rules, deprived the OFC of a vote on December 2, with Qatar eventually winning the ballot over the USA 14-8.

The French investigation, set up in 2019, was particularly interested in a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris on November 23, 2010, just over a week before the vote, between then French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Qatari prince Tamim ben Hamad al-Thani — who became Emir in 2013 — and UEFA president at the time Michel Platini who subsequently voted for Qatar.

Temarii was hit with a separate eight year ban in 2015 for receiving 300,000 euros to cover his legal expenses for his 2010 appeal from former FIFA executive member Mohamed bin Hammam, a key player in securing the World Cup for his home country, Qatar.

Bin Hammam was banned for life from football in 2012.

Source: AFP

Gianni Infantino has referenced Rwanda’s hardship in recovering from a genocide, which saw an estimated 800,000 people murdered, when discussing his campaign to become FIFA president in 2016.

Infantino was speaking at the FIFA electoral congress in Rwanda’s capital of Kigali where he was re-elected for another four-year term after running unopposed. And while he will view the result as confirmation of his popularity, his opening speech is the latest example of his bizarre and often controversial style.

Ahead of the World Cup in Qatar last year, the 52-year-old attacked his critics in a rambling hour-long speech in which he declared: “Today I feel Qatari, Today I feel Arab. Today I feel African. Today I feel gay. Today I feel disabled. Today I feel [like] a migrant worker.”

Source: Mirror.co.uk

Africa’s National Olympic Committees have followed their Asian counterparts in giving the green light on Saturday for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Russia and its ally Belarus have been sidelined from most Olympic sports since Russian forces invaded Ukraine last February.

However, in January the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it was seeking a “pathway” for Russians to take part in the Games.

Following that announcement, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) offered athletes from both countries the chance to compete in this year’s Asian Games.

That was a significant move because they could gain qualifying marks in competition in Asia to allow them to compete in Paris.

Africa has now followed suit.

The motion — to allow Russians and Belarusians to compete under a neutral flag — was passed unanimously by the executive committee of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) at their meeting in Nouakchott, Mauritania.

“The members came out unanimously in favor of the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in all international competitions,” the ANOCA said in a statement.

It said ANOCA president, the Algerian Mustapha Berraf, had reiterated that the body “aligns itself with the position of the International Olympic Committee and its President Dr. Thomas Bach”.

The statement continued: “It will thus be a question of allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in complete neutrality without any sign of identity in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.”

The IOC has explained that its reasoning was based on its belief that “no athlete should be prevented from competing just because of their passport”.

But their stance has been met with contempt by Ukraine whose sports minister Vadym Goutzeit said such a move was “unacceptable” and called for a boycott if they are allowed to compete.

Many western nations also questioned the move.

Germany’s National Olympic Committee went public last month, declaring it is not “the right time to allow athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport to compete in international competitions again.”

In a letter in February, more than 30 countries, including Canada, France, Great Britain, Poland, Sweden and the United States, expressed concern about how the athletes could be neutral, particularly given the “strong links and affiliations between Russian athletes and the Russian military”.

The letter asked the IOC for “clarifications” on the neutrality required for Russian and Belarusian athletes at the Olympics.

The IOC responded that the letter ignored the human rights of Russian and Belarusian athletes.

Source:  AFP

Paris Saint-Germain and Morocco defender Achraf Hakimi has been charged with rape, French prosecutors told AFP on Friday.

Hakimi, 24, was questioned by prosecutors Thursday in connection with accusations from a 24-year-old woman, and subsequently charged.

The Madrid-born player, who was a key part of Morocco’s historic run to the semi-finals of the World Cup in Qatar last year, was seen at PSG training on Friday morning.

Contacted by AFP, the club made no comment.

Hakimi allegedly paid for his accuser to travel to his house while his wife and children were away on holiday.

On Monday, Hakimi appeared at the FIFA Best awards ceremony in Paris, where he was named in the FIFPro men’s world team of the year.

In Qatar, he was a cornerstone of the Morocco team that became the first nation from the Arab world to reach the last four of a World Cup.

Under French law, being charged does not necessarily mean the case will go to trial.

Source: AFP