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Italy Captain Chiellini to Retire from the National Team

Football - Euro 2020 - Final - Italy v England - Wembley Stadium, London, Britain - July 11, 2021 Italy's Giorgio Chiellini celebrates with the trophy after winning Euro 2020. (Reuters)
Football - Euro 2020 - Final - Italy v England - Wembley Stadium, London, Britain - July 11, 2021 Italy's Giorgio Chiellini celebrates with the trophy after winning Euro 2020. (Reuters)
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Italy Captain Chiellini to Retire from the National Team

Football - Euro 2020 - Final - Italy v England - Wembley Stadium, London, Britain - July 11, 2021 Italy's Giorgio Chiellini celebrates with the trophy after winning Euro 2020. (Reuters)
Football - Euro 2020 - Final - Italy v England - Wembley Stadium, London, Britain - July 11, 2021 Italy's Giorgio Chiellini celebrates with the trophy after winning Euro 2020. (Reuters)

Italy captain Giorgio Chiellini plans to retire from the national team after the "Finalissima" match against Argentina in London on June 1.

"If I’m in form I’ll play and bid the national team goodbye at Wembley, where I reached the apex of my career in Azzurro and perhaps of my entire career," Chiellini said, referring to the Italy’s European Championship title last summer.

The 37-year-old Chiellini had planned to continue playing for the national team through the World Cup at the end of this year but he has moved up his plans after the Azzurri failed to qualify for the tournament in Qatar.

The Finalissima match at Wembley Stadium features the champions of Europe and South America.

Chiellini, who has formed a potent center-back pairing with Leonardo Bonucci during his career, is sixth on Italy’s all-time list with 116 appearances.

A gritty defender, Chiellini was bitten by Uruguay striker Luis Suárez during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Chiellini’s contract with Juventus expires after next season but he wouldn’t commit to remaining in Turin amid speculation that he wants to end his club career in the United States.

"From now to the end of the season I do have to evaluate everything, talk to my family about what is best," Chiellini said after Juventus’ win over Sassuolo in Serie A late Monday. "Let’s reach fourth place first and win the Italian Cup, then we’ll sit down with my two families - at home and with Juventus - to figure out what is best for everyone."

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Spain Striker Aghehowa in Race to Be Fit for World Cup After Knee Injury 

Soccer Football - Primeira Liga - Casa Pia v FC Porto - Estadio Municipal de Rio Maior, Rio Maior, Portugal - February 2, 2026 FC Porto's Samu Aghehowa in action with Casa Pia's Kaly. (Reuters)
Soccer Football - Primeira Liga - Casa Pia v FC Porto - Estadio Municipal de Rio Maior, Rio Maior, Portugal - February 2, 2026 FC Porto's Samu Aghehowa in action with Casa Pia's Kaly. (Reuters)
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Spain Striker Aghehowa in Race to Be Fit for World Cup After Knee Injury 

Soccer Football - Primeira Liga - Casa Pia v FC Porto - Estadio Municipal de Rio Maior, Rio Maior, Portugal - February 2, 2026 FC Porto's Samu Aghehowa in action with Casa Pia's Kaly. (Reuters)
Soccer Football - Primeira Liga - Casa Pia v FC Porto - Estadio Municipal de Rio Maior, Rio Maior, Portugal - February 2, 2026 FC Porto's Samu Aghehowa in action with Casa Pia's Kaly. (Reuters)

Samu Aghehowa's ‌hopes of playing for Spain at the World Cup have suffered a massive blow after the 21-year-old suffered a serious knee injury playing for Portuguese side Porto and is expected to be sidelined for several months.

Aghehowa, who featured twice ‌for Spain ‌in their qualifying ‌campaign, ⁠is set to ⁠miss the rest of the season due to the anterior cruciate ligament injury, which he sustained in Porto's 1-1 draw with Sporting Lisbon on ⁠Monday.

With the World Cup ‌kicking off ‌in North America on June 11, ‌Aghehowa is unlikely to return ‌in time to earn a place in the Spain squad.

"I'll be out of action for a ‌few months," he wrote on social media.

"It hurts me ⁠not ⁠being able to help the team as I'd like, fighting on the field. Now I'm just another fan supporting us towards our goals," added Aghehowa, who joined Porto from Atletico Madrid in August 2024 and has scored 32 goals in 50 league games.

Sports

Milano Cortina Finds Fix for Medal Defects, Repairs Offered

Silver medalist Eric Perrot, of France, from left, gold medalist Johan-Olav Botn, of Norway, and bronze medalist Sturla Holm Laegreid, of Norway, pose after the men's 20-kilometer individual biathlon race at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Anterselva, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP)
Silver medalist Eric Perrot, of France, from left, gold medalist Johan-Olav Botn, of Norway, and bronze medalist Sturla Holm Laegreid, of Norway, pose after the men's 20-kilometer individual biathlon race at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Anterselva, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP)
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Milano Cortina Finds Fix for Medal Defects, Repairs Offered

Silver medalist Eric Perrot, of France, from left, gold medalist Johan-Olav Botn, of Norway, and bronze medalist Sturla Holm Laegreid, of Norway, pose after the men's 20-kilometer individual biathlon race at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Anterselva, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP)
Silver medalist Eric Perrot, of France, from left, gold medalist Johan-Olav Botn, of Norway, and bronze medalist Sturla Holm Laegreid, of Norway, pose after the men's 20-kilometer individual biathlon race at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Anterselva, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP)

A fix has been found to stop Milano Cortina Olympic medals from coming apart, and athletes will be able to return any damaged ones for repair, local organizers said on Tuesday.

The problems with the cherished medals have been one of the talking points of the opening days of competition at a Games that have otherwise run smoothly.

Local organizers investigated the medals mishaps with the Italian State Mint, which is responsible for producing them.

"A solution was identified and a targeted ‌intervention was ‌implemented," Milano Cortina 2026 Communications Director Luca Casassa ‌said, ⁠adding that ‌only a limited number of medals had suffered defects.

Athletes whose medals were affected could return them "so that they can be promptly repaired," he added.

"Milano Cortina 2026 confirms its commitment to ensuring that the medals, which symbolize the highest achievement in every athlete's career, meet the highest standards of quality and attention to detail."

PROBLEM WITH THE CLASP

Organizers did not specify what the problem was. ⁠However, a source close to the situation had suggested on Monday that the issue may stem ‌from the medal's clasp and ribbon, which is ‍fitted with a breakaway mechanism ‍required by law to avoid the risk of strangulation or other ‍injury.

That tallied with the experience of US Alpine skier Jacqueline Wiles, who won a bronze in the women's team combined on Tuesday and became the latest competitor to suffer a medal mishap.

Wiles said some boisterous celebrations were to blame.

"Some arms were swinging and I was jumping. And it got out of hand a little quickly. But that's OK. They ⁠fixed it already," she said.

A spokesperson for her team said the problem was with the clasp on her medal and she had been given a replacement.

Local organizers were very pleased with operations at the Games, spread over a wide area of northern Italy from Milan to a series of venues in the Alps.

"What we have found in these first four days is really encouraging, the stadiums and the competitions are often sold out, fan zones are full of people who are in a party mood and want to enjoy the Games' atmosphere," Casassa said.

"The feedback that we are getting ‌from the real protagonists, the athletes, at the moment is extremely positive," he added.

Sports

Soccer Returns to Gaza Pitch Scarred by War and Loss

Palestinians play soccer on a pitch, near buildings destroyed during the two-year Israeli offensive, in Gaza City. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinians play soccer on a pitch, near buildings destroyed during the two-year Israeli offensive, in Gaza City. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
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Soccer Returns to Gaza Pitch Scarred by War and Loss

Palestinians play soccer on a pitch, near buildings destroyed during the two-year Israeli offensive, in Gaza City. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinians play soccer on a pitch, near buildings destroyed during the two-year Israeli offensive, in Gaza City. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

On a worn-out five-a-side pitch in a wasteland of ruined buildings and rubble, Jabalia Youth took on Al-Sadaqa in the Gaza Strip's first organized soccer tournament in more than two years.

The match ended in a draw, as did a second fixture featuring Beit Hanoun vs Al-Shujaiya. But the spectators were hardly disappointed, cheering and shaking the chain-link fence next to the Palestine Pitch in the ruins of Gaza City's Tal al-Hawa district.

Boys climbed a broken concrete wall or peered through holes in the ruins to get a look. Someone was banging on a drum, Reuters reported.

Youssef Jendiya, 21, one of the Jabalia Youth players from a part of Gaza largely depopulated and bulldozed by Israeli forces, described his feeling at being back on the pitch: "Confused. Happy, sad, joyful, happy."

"People search for water in the morning: food, bread. Life is a little difficult. But there is a little left of the day, when you can come and play soccer and express some of the joy inside you," he said.

"You come to the stadium missing many of your teammates... killed, injured, or those who travelled for treatment. So the joy is incomplete."

Four months since a ceasefire ended major fighting in Gaza, there has been almost no reconstruction. Israeli forces have ordered all residents out of nearly two-thirds of the strip, jamming more than 2 million people into a sliver of ruins along the coast, most in makeshift tents or damaged buildings.

The former site of Gaza City's 9,000-seat Yarmouk Stadium, which Israeli forces levelled during the war and used as a detention centre, now houses displaced families in white tents, crowded in the brown dirt of what was once the pitch.

For this week's tournament the Football Association managed to clear the rubble from a collapsed wall off a half-sized pitch, put up a fence and sweep the debris off the old artificial turf.

By coming out, the teams were "delivering a message", said Amjad Abu Awda, 31, a player for Beit Hanoun. "That no matter what happened in terms of destruction and genocidal war, we continue with playing, and with life. Life must continue."