عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Sports

Saudi Arabia's Al-Hilal Fly Asian Standard at Club World Cup 

Football - Saudi Pro League – Al-Hilal v Al Qadsiah - Kingdom Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - May 26, 2025 Al-Hilal's Aleksandar Mitrovic celebrates scoring their first goa. (Reuters)
Football - Saudi Pro League – Al-Hilal v Al Qadsiah - Kingdom Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - May 26, 2025 Al-Hilal's Aleksandar Mitrovic celebrates scoring their first goa. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Saudi Arabia's Al-Hilal Fly Asian Standard at Club World Cup 

Football - Saudi Pro League – Al-Hilal v Al Qadsiah - Kingdom Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - May 26, 2025 Al-Hilal's Aleksandar Mitrovic celebrates scoring their first goa. (Reuters)
Football - Saudi Pro League – Al-Hilal v Al Qadsiah - Kingdom Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - May 26, 2025 Al-Hilal's Aleksandar Mitrovic celebrates scoring their first goa. (Reuters)

Saudi Arabia's Al-Hilal will be the standard bearers for Asian football at the revamped Club World Cup after appointing Simone Inzaghi to coach a squad bristling with playing talent from the Kingdom and around the world.

Ruben Neves, Joao Cancelo, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic have all joined Saudi captain Salem Al-Dawsari at the Riyadh-based club since it received major investment from the nation's Public Investment Fund.

Former Inter Milan coach Inzaghi takes over a squad that fell short of their lofty standards by failing to win a fifth Asian Champions League title in May, a misstep that cost Jorge Jesus the chance to lead the team to the Club World Cup.

While Al-Hilal head to the tournament with ambitions of making a big impact in a group also featuring Real Madrid, Pachuca and Red Bull Salzburg, the expectations for Asia's three other clubs are likely to be more modest.

Emirati side Al-Ain won the 2024 Asian Champions League to secure their berth but have endured a dismal 13 months since, and the defense of their continental title ended in ignominy with no wins from eight matches.

Hernan Crespo, who had led the club to their second Asian title, paid the price in November but his replacement Leonardo Jardim lasted only two months before Serbian Vladimir Ivic was drafted in to try to stop the rot.

Togolese striker Kodjo Laba, who was top scorer in the UAE Pro League last season, and Moroccan winger Soufiane Rahimi will be Al-Ain's biggest attacking threats when they take on Manchester City, Juventus and Wydad in the group stage.

At least one Asian team will go into the competition in decent form with Japanese outfit Urawa Red Diamonds showing improved domestic performances under Maciej Skorza.

The Pole led Urawa to the Asian Champions League title in 2023, five months after replacing Ricardo Rodriguez, only to leave at the end of that season for personal reasons.

He returned in late 2024 and has developed a side that are contenders to win the J.League for the first time since their sole title in 2006.

Former Japan midfielder Genki Haraguchi has returned to Urawa after a decade in Germany to lead the club's resurgence alongside the experienced Takahiro Sekine, who was instrumental in the club's Asian Champions League wins in 2017 and 2022.

Urawa have been drawn with River Plate, Inter Milan and Monterrey at the Club World Cup.

South Korea's Ulsan HD will be playing in the competition for the third time after featuring in the earlier iteration in 2012 and 2020.

Kim Pan-gon's side qualified due to the club's record in Asian competition over the last four years, during which Ulsan reach the semi-finals of the Asian Champions League in 2021 and 2023.

Both of those runs, though, were achieved under former coach Hong Myung-bo, now the South Korea national team boss, with the team's performances becoming more inconsistent after Kim's arrival last summer.

The former Malaysia coach took over with minimal exposure to top-level club football and his side, who will play Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund and Mamelodi Sundowns in Group F, face a stiff challenge to make a positive impact in the United States.

Jung Woo-young played at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups and brings stability to the Ulsan midfield, while goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo played a key role as South Korea eliminated world champions Germany in 2018.

Most Viewed

 
 
Sports

Florentino Pérez Faces First Election for Real Madrid Leadership in 20 Years

Real Madrid's President Florentino Pérez presents his campaign for the club's elections, under the slogan "A lot of history yet to be made", in Madrid, Spain, 27 May 2026. (EPA)
Real Madrid's President Florentino Pérez presents his campaign for the club's elections, under the slogan "A lot of history yet to be made", in Madrid, Spain, 27 May 2026. (EPA)
TT
TT

Florentino Pérez Faces First Election for Real Madrid Leadership in 20 Years

Real Madrid's President Florentino Pérez presents his campaign for the club's elections, under the slogan "A lot of history yet to be made", in Madrid, Spain, 27 May 2026. (EPA)
Real Madrid's President Florentino Pérez presents his campaign for the club's elections, under the slogan "A lot of history yet to be made", in Madrid, Spain, 27 May 2026. (EPA)

For the first time in 20 years, Florentino Pérez's Real Madrid reign will be challenged at the ballot box.

The world’s most valuable and most successful football club will hold elections on Sunday.

Pérez, the 79-year-old executive who for the past two-and-a-half-decades has made Madrid the global powerhouse to beat, will face an upstart rival half his age who is making big promises to convince the club's 98,000 members to consider a change.

Enrique Riquelme, 37, was still a boy when Pérez first took over. He remained unknown to most Madrid fans until he stepped forward as a rival candidate after the incumbent called early elections last month in a press conference dominated by Pérez's claims the Spanish media is trying to "kill" his presidency.

"Why do they want to kill me?" an agitated Pérez told reporters on May 12. "Why? Because there are some kids out there saying they want to run? Well, let them. I would love them to."

Riquelme, a renewable energy executive, has surprisingly been able to mount a credible threat. That's thanks to the backing of former Madrid players like Raúl González and promising huge, and arguably far-fetched, signings like that of Manchester City star Erling Haaland.

Riquelme has the names, but does he have the clout? Riquelme got a big boost when Madrid great Raúl, its record holder for games played, former goalkeeper Iker Casillas and ex-defender Fernando Hierro joined his campaign.

Raúl would be Riquelme’s sports director, a role that doesn’t exist now, while Hierro would oversee its youth academy. Casillas’s exact role was not defined.

Riquelme also said he wanted to sign Spain midfielder Rodri, who has one year left on his contract with City.

But Riquelme’s big lure dangled to voters this week, his claim that "Haaland wants to come to Madrid," prompted City to dismiss any chance of negotiating for the sale of its top-scoring striker who is under contract until 2034.

That didn’t stop Riquelme going on Spain’s state broadcaster TVE and doubling down on his pledge.

"If I am made president of Real Madrid on Sunday, Haaland will play for Real Madrid," he said on Thursday.

Then it was the turn of Haaland's entourage to shoot it down.

"All very entertaining but not true. We wish all the best for both candidates in the Madrid elections," Haaland’s agent, Rafaela Pimenta, told the AP in a short statement on Friday.

"It must be a bluff," was Pérez's opinion.

Pérez has earned status as top dog

Not to be outdone, Pérez said Thursday that next week — after the election — he would announce the "most expensive transfer in the history of Real Madrid," worth, he said, at least 150 million euros ($173 million).

He knows a thing or two about promising apparently impossible signings — and then making them come true. He won his first elections in 2000 when he swore he would sign then-Barcelona forward Luis Figo. And that he did.

Now, Pérez has promised to bring back José Mourinho, Madrid’s coach from 2010-13, and sign Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konaté, a free agent, and Inter Milan’s Denzel Dumfries, if he is given another four years.

While those names are unlikely to thrill all of Madrid’s members, Mourinho’s abrasive style left the fanbase divided, Pérez’s pledges do have the value of being completely credible.

Besides Figo, he has consistently delivered on his transfer targets, from Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham, to Cristiano Ronaldo and, most recently, after years of trying, Kylian Mbappé.

And, regardless of his plans, Pérez's wildly successful record is his best pitch.

In his two stints, from 2000-2006 and from 2009 until now, Madrid has won seven of its record 15 European Cups, along with a slew of other titles, including seven La Liga crowns and three Copa del Reys.

That all has been fueled by healthy finances as it was transformed into a global brand under Pérez, who also runs a major international construction company: Madrid has topped the Forbes Money League of the world’s most valuable football clubs for five consecutive seasons.

But Pérez also has weak spots

Pérez's Super League project meant to transform European soccer and replace UEFA’s Champions League with a club-run competition flopped in the face of backlash from some fans, many smaller clubs, and UEFA.

And so far his bet on Mbappé has not panned out. In the star’s two seasons at Madrid it has won no major titles, while Pérez has parted ways with three coaches in Carlo Ancelotti, Xabi Alonso and Álvaro Arbeloa.

Riquelme is also taking aim at the idea

Pérez floated last year to sell 10% of the club to private investors, a move that would break with 124 years of the member ownership model.

Pérez ran unchallenged when elections were to be held in 2009, 2013, 2017, 2021 and 2025. His latest term was set to expire in 2029.

Riquelme has reiterated previous complaints that changes Pérez's board made to the club statutes in 2012 made it more difficult for members to present a candidacy for the presidency.

Since then, a presidential candidate has had to be a club member for 20 years and have collateral equivalent to 15% of the club budget.

"The most important thing is that after 20 years, due to a complete lack of democracy and impediments year after year so that other members of Real Madrid can run, now the moment to vote has arrived," Riquelme said.

Pérez stepped down in 2006 following a bad season but returned to power in 2009.

Sports

Barcelona Teenager Yamal Wins LaLiga Player of the Season Award

Barcelona's Spanish forward #10 Lamine Yamal celebrates scoring his team's third goal during the Spanish league football match between FC Barcelona and RCD Espanyol at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona on April 11 , 2026. (Photo by Josep LAGO / AFP)
Barcelona's Spanish forward #10 Lamine Yamal celebrates scoring his team's third goal during the Spanish league football match between FC Barcelona and RCD Espanyol at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona on April 11 , 2026. (Photo by Josep LAGO / AFP)
TT
TT

Barcelona Teenager Yamal Wins LaLiga Player of the Season Award

Barcelona's Spanish forward #10 Lamine Yamal celebrates scoring his team's third goal during the Spanish league football match between FC Barcelona and RCD Espanyol at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona on April 11 , 2026. (Photo by Josep LAGO / AFP)
Barcelona's Spanish forward #10 Lamine Yamal celebrates scoring his team's third goal during the Spanish league football match between FC Barcelona and RCD Espanyol at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona on April 11 , 2026. (Photo by Josep LAGO / AFP)

Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal has been named LaLiga Player of the season, the Spanish league announced on Friday.

The 18-year-old helped Barca retain their domestic crown, became the first player to win the league's Player of the Month award three times in one season and finished as the club's top scorer in La Liga with 16 goals and 11 assists.

Barcelona's Hansi Flick was named the Coach of the Year on Thursday, Reuters reported.

Regarding Yamal, Barca said in a statement: "He is the proverbial headache for opponent defenses, who have to make a real effort to try to stop the blaugrana's attacking threats.

"Beyond the intangibles, the young Catalan scored 16 goals and provided 11 assists, with no other LaLiga player providing that many passes leading to goals."

Yamal, who has been sidelined with groin issues multiple times this term, is expected to be fit for Spain at the World Cup starting next week in Canada, Mexico and the US.

He missed the last six games of the season for Barcelona due to a hamstring injury.

Yamal exploded onto the scene at 16 and was an integral part of Spain's record fourth European Championship triumph in 2024.

Sports

FIFA Cancels Dozens of World Cup Tickets Issued for Free by Mistake

04 June 2026, Canada, Toronto: A General view of the Toronto Stadium, during a media tour one week ahead of the first match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Photo: Leonardo Ramirez/eyepix via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
04 June 2026, Canada, Toronto: A General view of the Toronto Stadium, during a media tour one week ahead of the first match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Photo: Leonardo Ramirez/eyepix via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
TT
TT

FIFA Cancels Dozens of World Cup Tickets Issued for Free by Mistake

04 June 2026, Canada, Toronto: A General view of the Toronto Stadium, during a media tour one week ahead of the first match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Photo: Leonardo Ramirez/eyepix via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
04 June 2026, Canada, Toronto: A General view of the Toronto Stadium, during a media tour one week ahead of the first match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Photo: Leonardo Ramirez/eyepix via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

FIFA canceled World Cup tickets for about 60 fans who mistakenly received them for free because of a website error.

The governing body's acknowledgment of the glitch adds to the ongoing controversy surrounding the ticketing program for the tournament in North America, which begins next week.

The tickets were issued at no charge "due to a prior payment issue during the checkout process," FIFA said in a news release on Thursday. The tickets were sold through the official World Cup site on May 21.

"FIFA regrets the error and any inconvenience caused," the statement said, adding that "the tickets requested by these fans remain reserved, and the affected fans have been invited to complete payment of the correct amount."

The high price of tickets for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which begins on Thursday in Mexico City, has been a hot topic since they went on sale. The costs are considerably higher than any previous World Cup.