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JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia: Roberto Firmino signed for Al-Ahli on Tuesday to become the latest star to head to Saudi Arabia’s lucrative Pro League.
The Brazil striker left Liverpool at the end of last season after a trophy-filled eight-year spell, which saw him lift every major club title.
Now, at the age of 31, he will join a host of other top soccer stars in Saudi Arabia as the oil-rich kingdom embarks on a spectacular attempt to raise the profile of its league.
“I always played for big teams, now I am in Al-Ahli,” Firmino said in a video posted on Twitter by the club to announce his signing.
Si Señor #WelcomeFirmino
pic.twitter.com/w0k9ell39A
— Al-Ahli Saudi Club (@ALAHLI_FCEN) July 4, 2023
Al-Ahli, based in Jeddah, has already signed former Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy this offseason.
It is one of four teams that recently came under the ownership of the kingdom’s sovereign wealth Public Investment Fund.
Other Saudi Pro League teams have secured star signings such as Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante, Kalidou Koulibaly and Marcelo Brozovic. Cristiano Ronaldo started the trend when he joined Al-Nassr in January.
Firmino won the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and English League Cup with Liverpool. Other titles included the Club World Cup and European Super Cup.
With Brazil he won the Copa America in 2019.
Al-Ahli did not say how long Firmino’s contract would run for.
RIYADH: Tunisia’s CS Sfaxien are through to the group stages of the King Salman Club Cup with a 2-0 win against Sudan’s Al-Hilal S.C. in the second leg.
Mohamed Abdel-Rahman’s first-leg penalty raised Al-Hilal’s optimism, but second-half goals by Aziz Al-Sayihi and Barakat Al-Hamidi in the second leg in Sfax ended all hope for the Omdurman team’s participation in the Arab world’s premier club contest, which Saudi Arabia is hosting this year.
Sayihi’s confident back-post header on the 65th minute drew the home side level on aggregate before Hamidi scored a close-range goal with three minutes to go in the tie.
In Group A, Sfaxien will join Saudi league champions Al-Ittihad, who have spent the summer beefing up their squad with top European signings, including World Cup winners Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kante. The two teams will meet at King Fahd stadium in Taif on July 30.
Tunisian side ES Tunis and Iraq’s Al-Shorta are also in Group A.
The competition, also known as the Arab Club Champions Cup, will take place between July 27 and Aug. 12.
LAUSANNE: UEFA on Friday authorized AC Milan, Aston Villa and Brighton to take part in European competitions next season after they made changes to avoid potential conflict with the multiclub ownership rule.
Seven-time European champions Milan share the same US owners, RedBird Capital Partners, as French Cup winners Toulouse, while Villa’s owners have a stake in Portuguese club Vitoria Guimaraes.
Brighton owner Tony Bloom became the majority shareholder of Union Saint-Gilloise when he bought the Belgian side in 2018.
European football’s governing body had appointed investigators to study the links between the teams in question, but said it was now satisfied “no one has control or decisive influence over more than one club” participating in its competitions.
European football’s governing body had appointed investigators to study the links between the teams in question, but said it was now satisfied ‘no one has control or decisive influence over more than one club’ participating in its competitions.
“Following the implementation of significant changes by the clubs and their related investors, the CFCB First Chamber accepted the admission of the aforementioned clubs to the UEFA club competitions for the 2023/24 season,” UEFA said in a statement.
“The CFCB found that the significant changes implemented brought the clubs into compliance with the multi-club ownership rule.
It added: “These changes substantially restrict the investors’ influence and decision-making power over more than one club, ensuring compliance with the multi-club ownership rule.”
UEFA has multi-club ownership regulations in place to protect the integrity of its competitions when such teams could be drawn to play each other.
Rules do not allow a club to hold or deal in securities or shares of another club playing in a European competition and no club can be a member of any other club participating in UEFA competitions.
Additionally, no person has the power to be “simultaneously involved” in the management, administration or sporting performance of more than one club.
As part of complying with the rules, none of the affected clubs will be able to transfer players to each other, whether permanently or on loan, until September 2024.
Milan are due to play in the Champions League, with Brighton, Union and Toulouse in the Europa League. Villa and Vitoria are both in the qualifying rounds of the Conference League.
NEWCASTLE: Saudi Arabian sporting events company Sela has been named as the main sponsor of a preseason soccer tournament to be held at Newcastle United’s home ground.
The Sela Cup, held in conjunction with VisitMalta, will take place at St. James’ Park a week before the start of the Premier League season.
The competition will feature Newcastle United — who return to preseason training on Sunday — UEFA Conference League beaten finalists Fiorentina, Spain’s Villarreal and French Ligue 1 outfit Nice. It is expected to become a permanent fixture in the Magpies’ summer schedule for the duration of Sela’s multiyear sponsorship deal.
Eddie Howe’s side will take on Fiorentina, who lost to West Ham United in the Conference League final in May, on Saturday, Aug. 5, before hosting Villarreal the following day. Nice will play Villarreal in an early kickoff on Saturday and Fiorentina on Sunday.
The @Sela Cup, presented by @VisitMalta – coming soon to St. James’ Park!
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“The tournament has been made possible by Newcastle United’s new front-of-shirt partners, Sela, and event sponsors VisitMalta, which promotes travel to the hugely popular Mediterranean island and supports its bustling tourism industry,” the club said.
Newcastle United Women, who became the first professional club in the history of England’s third tier, will also feature in the weekend of football on Tyneside, taking on West Bromwich Albion Women at teatime on Aug. 5.
The tournament format will see teams awarded three points for a win, one point for a draw and an additional point per goal scored. On Sunday, following the final match, the winners will be handed the Sela Cup, presented by VisitMalta.
Newcastle United CEO Darren Eales said: “There is huge excitement going into the 2023/24 season, so to be able to give our supporters two days of football involving both our men’s and women’s teams is something that everybody is looking forward to.
“To be able to attract elite clubs from three of Europe’s top leagues shows our ambition to grow as a club and the growing attraction of Newcastle United.
“I would like to sincerely thank our partners, Sela and VisitMalta, for making this possible. Having them on board to offer their expertise in delivering top class events and activations will ensure the tournament is a great weekend for everyone coming to St. James’ Park.”
Ibrahim Mohtaseb, senior vice president at Sela, said: “Since we announced our partnership with Newcastle United, we have seen fantastic support and interest in Sela, both in the UK and in the Middle East.
“To be able to further strengthen our connection with Newcastle’s passionate fan base is truly exciting and we are sure that the Sela Cup will be popular with supporters at a very exciting time ahead of the new season.
“Sela prides itself on creating world class experiences, so for us to bring our resources and expertise to Newcastle is something that we are all very proud to play a key role in and we hope that everybody enjoys what promises to be a great weekend of football.”
Malta’s Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo said: “In an era where travel has become an essential part of our lives, sports tourism acts as a catalyst for growth, uniting individuals from diverse backgrounds through the universal language of sports.
“The Sela Cup, presented by VisitMalta, will be a sterling opportunity to strengthen the Maltese island’s prospects in the tourism world.”
LONDON: Manchester City on Friday announced the details of their global Treble Trophy Tour — presented by official club partner OKX — to celebrate the club’s historic 2022-23 season, with a stop in the UAE on the agenda.
Following successful tours in previous years, the English giants will take the Premier League trophy, FA Cup, and — for the first time in the club’s history — the Champions League trophy to fans in more countries than ever before.
This year’s tour will begin in Manchester before heading to Japan and South Korea as part of City’s pre-season tour in Asia. The trophies will then make their way to Greece, China, India, Australia, the UAE, Norway, Argentina, the US, and Brazil.
Further destinations and dates are set to be announced, the club said.
City fans in the UAE will be able to celebrate and see the three trophies up close and personal when the tour lands in Abu Dhabi from Oct. 5-8.
PARIS: French police raided the home of Paris Saint-Germain boss Nasser Al-Khelaifi on Wednesday in an investigation into a man’s claims of detention and torture in Qatar, a source close to the case told AFP.
Franco-Algerian Tayeb Benabderrahmane, 42, filed a complaint in January saying he was arrested in January 2020 in Qatar, where he had recently moved to work as a lobbyist.
Benabderrahmane said he was held for six months and questioned by local police, particularly about documents they believed he held that could prove compromising for Al-Khelaifi, a Qatari national.
Initially released to house arrest, he claims he was finally allowed to leave Qatar in November 2020 after signing a non-disclosure agreement covering the documents.
A note from France’s DGSI domestic intelligence service suggests that the documents could include intimate videos of Al-Khelaifi with a woman.
Conversations between Al-Khelaifi, a former FIFA secretary-general and Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, saved in an old smartphone of his, might also touch on how the Gulf monarchy secured the 2022 World Cup and the allocation of TV rights to the competition, the DGSI note says.
Benabderrahmane is himself the subject of a separate investigation over allegations of blackmailing Al-Khelaifi.
The PSG boss’s spokesman told AFP that on Wednesday “the investigating magistrate asked for further information and access, which were completely provided to him in full transparency and cooperation with the authorities”.
Al-Khelaifi’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Organised crime investigators last week raided the town hall of Paris’s seventh district, run by former government minister Rachida Dati, as well as several lawyers’ offices in relation to the probe.
Benabderrahmane claims Dati made a show of helping to secure his release while trying to cover up the detention on behalf of the Qataris.
People close to Dati meanwhile have described the lobbyist as a “master blackmailer”.
Al-Khelaifi’s lawyers said in April that they would file a defamation suit of their own against Benabderrahmane.