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Accused in France's mass rape trial apologizes to Gisele Pelicot
The case has sparked protests in France and highlighted the pervasiveness of sexual violence
Sep 19, 2024
Sep 19, 2024
The case has sparked protests in France and highlighted the pervasiveness of sexual violence
Many Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Chinese undocumented migrants are providing cheap labor to luxury brands
A new era in European club football begins this week when the first games are played in the expanded Champions League amid curiosity about the rejigged format as well as growing concerns over an ever-increasing number of matches.
UEFA, the European game’s governing body, sensed the need for change at a time when the traditional group stage was becoming more predictable and the continent’s biggest clubs were threatening to break away and form their own Super League.
The result is a league phase featuring 36 clubs — four more teams than in the past — with everyone playing eight matches against eight different opponents, two more games than previously.
Opening night on Tuesday hits a high note.
Kylian Mbappe starts his quest for a first title with his third club, the record 15-time European champions Real Madrid that host VfB Stuttgart, the surprise runners-up in last season’s Bundesliga. Mbappe reached the semi-finals in 2017 with Monaco and were beaten finalists in 2020 with Paris St Germain.
UEFA has cleared its midweek schedule to relaunch the marquee club event over back-to-back-to-back nights — six games each through Thursday and the line-up will include a glamour tie between Monaco and Barcelona.
Ultimately, all 36 teams will be ranked from top to bottom in a single-league standing that finishes in January instead of traditional four-team groups that would end in December.
“In the end I think we came to a solution that will benefit all,” UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin told Britain’s Sky News recently when asked about the new format. “It will make a more unpredictable and more interesting competition. It is a great change.”
The top eight teams at the end of the league phase will advance to the last 16.
The teams placed from ninth to 24th in the standings will enter a play-off round to contest the remaining last-16 berths, while the bottom 12 teams will be eliminated.
There are greater financial rewards too, with the winners of the competition pocketing over 86 million euros ($95.3m) just in prize money, not including bonuses of 700,000 euros for every point gained in the league phase or income from television.
The draw has thrown up plenty of glamour ties throughout the coming months, including Paris St Germain meeting Arsenal and Manchester City, and Real playing Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool and Milan.
The new era starts with two 1645 GMT early kickoffs featuring three European Cup winners from the 1980s — Juventus (1985) host PSV Eindhoven (1988) and Aston Villa (1982) travel to Young Boys. Both are first-time fixtures between the teams.
Also playing are the four teams with the most European Cup and Champions League titles in their 70-season history.
While Real play Stuttgart in the first-ever meeting of the sides, six-time winners Bayern host Dinamo Zagreb looking to extend a 40-game, seven-year unbeaten run in group stages.
Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior during a match against MallorcaReal Madrid
The standout pairing is AC Milan against Liverpool at San Siro. Milan won the last of their seven European titles in the 2007 final against Liverpool. That was a rematch of the 2005 “Miracle of Istanbul” final when Liverpool rallied from 3-0 down at half time to win the fifth of their six titles.
A more recent rematch of another Istanbul final features the current champions of England and Italy. Manchester City, riding Erling Haaland’s hot start to the season, host an Inter Milan side they beat 1-0 in the 2023 final and are unbeaten in Champions League home games for six years.
It is also a night for fresh faces. Girona, who are in the same Abu Dhabi-backed ownership group as City, will make their European debut at PSG.
Bologna host Shakhtar Donetsk in its first game in the competition since a preliminary round exit 60 years ago. Bologna still play in the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara that has been their home since 1927 and staged games at the 1934 World Cup.
Last season’s Europa League finalists will also rise together to the bigger stage on Thursday.
Bayer Leverkusen’s only loss in a remarkable first full season under coach Xabi Alonso was that Europa final against Atalanta. Now Leverkusen return to the Champions League at Feyenoord, whose coach last season Arne Slot took the job at Liverpool that was first offered to Alonso.
Atalanta host Arsenal who have lost captain Martin Odegaard to an ankle injury suffered playing for Norway.
The expanded competition also has room for a meeting of two historic names when former champions Red Star Belgrade and Benfica face off in Serbia.
In addition to that, there will be an encounter between French newcomers Brest and Austrian champions Sturm Graz, hardly the kind of tie normally associated with the European elite.
It may well prove a success, a breath of fresh air that the competition needed in its early stages, especially as final positions in the league phase will determine seedings in the draw for the knockout rounds.
But there are concerns about the impact on players of the extra matches, especially in a season which will finish for top clubs with the first edition of the expanded FIFA Club World Cup in the United States.
“Sometimes something new can be good for the competition and for everyone, but what we struggle to understand is the increase in the number of matches,” admitted Real coach Carlo Ancelotti, mindful of the potential added injury risk to his players.
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti during a press conference Real Madrid (Antonio Villalba)
Global footballers’ union FIFPRO said earlier this month that the sport’s governing bodies were “failing to meet their duty of care” towards players by denying them sufficient rest and imposing extra games.
FIFPRO said too many players were already playing too many games, but the possibilities for time off appear to only be decreasing.
“We need safeguards for players to limit their travel, ensure rest periods, and provide adequate recovery so they can reach peak performance,” said Stephane Burchkalter, FIFPRO’s acting General Secretary.
For now, the demands are only getting greater, and in the case of the Champions League it remains to be seen if bigger means better.
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Manchester City have been an unstoppable force in English football of late, but now face the challenge of clearing the club's name against accusations their dominance is built on foundations of financial impropriety.
Six years after a Premier League investigation began and 19 months on from 115 charges being leveled against the English champions, a hearing that will decide City's fate begins on Monday.
An independent panel is expected to hear evidence for at least two months and with a verdict unlikely until well into 2025 for what has been dubbed British sport's "trial of the century."
Since a 2008 takeover from Sheikh Mansour, City have been transformed from also-rans into the Premier League's dominant force.
Eight of the club's 10 league titles have come in the last 13 seasons, plus a first and only Champions League in 2023.
However, they stand accused of bending financial rules to their will while on the rise to their current status.
Of the 115 charges, 80 are for breaches of the regulations between 2009 and 2018, while a further 35 relate to failing to cooperate with the Premier League's investigation.
The root of suspicion comes from leaked documents published by German outlet Der Spiegel back in 2018.
Emails purportedly sent between top City executives showed the club had inflated sponsorship revenue from Abu Dhabi state-controlled airline Etihad and telecoms firm Etisalat by disguising direct investment from Mansour’s Abu Dhabi United Group as income.
Man City’s senior management team met Sheikh Mansour in the UAE after treble gloryWAM
Other documents claimed to show off-the-books payments to then manager Roberto Mancini via consultancy fees from a club in Abu Dhabi.
City responded to the allegations denying any wrongdoing and insisting there is a "comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence" to prove so.
And they have already defended their position in one case after overturning a two-year ban from the Champions League by UEFA at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in 2020.
CAS found most of alleged breaches of overstating sponsorship revenue were either not established or "time-barred" because they fell outside the five-year statutory limit for prosecution.
But no such time limitation clause exists in the Premier League case.
If found guilty on some or all of the charges, City face a severe points deduction and possibly even expulsion from the Premier League.
Everton and Nottingham Forest were both hit by points deductions last season for single breaches of profit and sustainability rules.
A guilty verdict could also bring to an end Pep Guardiola's glorious reign at the Etihad.
The City manager, who is into the final year of his contract, has steadfastly backed his superiors but previously said he would walk if they had not been honest with him.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola celebrating with the trophy after winning the Premier LeagueReuters
"If you lie to me, the day after I am not here," said Guardiola in 2022.
Severe sanctions would also raise doubts over the future of City's cast of star players, including prolific striker Erling Haaland.
And other clubs could make a claim for titles to be stripped and compensation if City gained an unfair advantage by nefarious means.
Yet, there is also plenty at play for the Premier League no matter the outcome.
If City lose their case, an entire era -- at a time when the English top-flight enjoys global prominence over its European rivals -- becomes mired in scandal.
On the other hand, should City prove their innocence, the Premier League stand accused of being a soft touch and outmaneuvered by the deep pockets of state-backed clubs.
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Close to half of women soccer fans in England and Wales have personally experienced sexist or misogynistic abuse at matches but most have never reported it to authorities, a new study by anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out revealed on Wednesday.
Wolf-whistling, being questioned about their knowledge of the rules and persistent badgering were some of the forms of sexist behavior experienced by the 1,502 people surveyed, of whom 7% said they had been touched inappropriately, 3% were victims of physical violence and 2% sexually assaulted or harassed.
Although the research showed sexism was still a significant issue for female match-goers, as well as for non-binary fans, 77% said they felt safe attending matches and four in 10 stated their experiences had been improving over time.
But ethnic minorities, members of the LGBTQ community, those with disabilities and younger people were more likely to feel unsafe and experience sexism in a soccer setting, the research said.
The vast majority of those surveyed, 85%, said they had never reported the abuse, mostly because they didn't think it would make a difference.
"Football needs to step up to ensure sexism is taken seriously and that women feel safe and confident to report discrimination," said Hollie Varney, from Kick It Out. "We've seen reports of sexism to Kick It Out increase significantly in recent seasons."
The research has also highlighted the use of sexist language, with 53% of respondents saying they had experienced or witnessed women being told that they should be elsewhere, such as "back in the kitchen".
Using the research data, Kick It Out has launched a campaign to ensure women fans know sexist abuse is discrimination and can be reported, and to show male fans how they can challenge those behaviors when they see them.
Reports of sexism in soccer go beyond fans' experiences. In 2014, a female employee exposed sexist emails Premier League former chief executive Richard Scudamore sent to friends, forcing him to apologize.
In 2018, the British Football Association was forced to apologize after it was accused of sexism for sharing a picture on X of the England women's soccer team with the caption: "Scrub up well, don't they?"
In Spain, former soccer federation chief Luis Rubiales will stand trial for his unsolicited kiss of women's national team player Jenni Hermoso in August last year. For players and fans, this proved that despite progress in the women's game more structural change was needed.
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Russia launched missiles and drones on Kyiv and the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, not far from the border with NATO-member Poland, Ukraine's military said on Wednesday.
This comes just a day after Russia hit a military institute in Ukraine's central town of Poltava with two ballistic missiles in the war's deadliest single attack this year, killing 50 and wounding hundreds more.
On Wednesday, Reuters witnesses heard several blasts on the outskirts of Kyiv and Lviv in what sounded like air defense systems in operation. Ukraine's military officials said its defense units were engaged in repelling the attacks.
"Yes, it's very loud," Lviv Regional Governor Maksym Kozytskyi said on the Telegram messaging app.
Residential buildings have been damaged in the city of Lviv, which is the administrative center of the broader region, Kozytskyi added.
Neighboring Poland activated aircraft on Wednesday for the third time in eight days to ensure the safety of Polish airspace.
"This is another very busy night for the entire air defense system in Poland due to the observed activity of the long-range aviation of the Russian Federation carrying out strikes," the Command said on X.
Russia has been pounding Ukraine with hundreds of missiles and drones in the past 10 days in what some Russian military bloggers say is Moscow's response to Kyiv's recent incursion into Russian territory.
Russia is yet to comment on the attacks on Poltava and Wednesday strikes on Lviv and Kyiv. Moscow has often said that its strikes target Ukraine's military, energy and transport infrastructure, not civilians.
The whole of Ukraine was under air raid alerts since about 0100 GMT on Wednesday, Ukraine's air force said on Telegram.
It also issued threat warnings of fresh attacks on the Lviv region, involving missiles.
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