List of All Articles with Tag 'al'

Lionel Messi heads the list of nominees for the men’s Ballon d’Or after leading Argentina to World Cup glory. Erling Haaland, Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka were also included on the 30-man shortlist for the prestigious prize published by organisers France Football on Wednesday. Messi, already a record seven-time winner of the annual prize for world player of the year, is again the favourite. The 36-year-old, who now plays his club football with Inter Miami, was his country’s chief inspiration as they triumphed in Qatar last winter, scoring seven goals in the tournament. Haaland, who scored a remarkable 52 goals for treble-winning Manchester City last season, is one of seven players from the successful City side to make the list. Former captain Ilkay Gundogan, who is now at Barcelona, another World Cup-winner in Julian Alvarez, Ruben Dias, Kevin De Bruyne, Rodri and Bernardo Silva were the others. England captain Harry Kane is rewarded after scoring 40 goals for club and country before switching Tottenham for Bayern Munich. England team-mates Bellingham, who is now at Real Madrid, and Saka, of Arsenal, also enjoyed strong campaigns. Other notable Premier League inclusions are Aston Villa’s World Cup-winning goalkeeper Emi Martinez, Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah and Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard. Five-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo, who plays in Saudi Arabia for Al-Nassr, was not nominated for the first time since 2003. England’s Rachel Daly, Georgia Stanway, Millie Bright and Mary Earps are on the shortlist for the women’s award following their run to the World Cup final. Goalkeeper Earps won the Golden Glove after keeping four clean sheets in the tournament while Daly was also the top scorer in the Women’s Super League last season. Aitana Bonmati of champions Spain is widely considered the favourite for the prize but team-mate Olga Carmona, scorer of the winning goal in the final, is also nominated. Bellingham is also on the shortlist for the men’s young player of the year prize. New Manchester United signing Rasmus Hojlund, of Denmark, and Barcelona trio Gavi, Pedri and Alejandro Balde are also candidates. Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsdale is nominated for goalkeeper of the year along with Martinez. They will face competition from Ederson of Manchester City and United’s former Inter Milan stopper Andre Onana, who is also on the list for the main award. The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Paris on October 30. Read More Louis van Gaal claims Qatar World Cup was fixed for Lionel Messi and Argentina to win Reinvented at new-age Brighton, Lewis Dunk has a second chance with England ‘First of its kind’: Elite coaches head to Pakistan for unique new football venture Reinvented at new-age Brighton, Lewis Dunk has a second chance with England ‘First of its kind’: Elite coaches head to Pakistan for unique new football venture Football rumours: Joao Palhinha in the sights of Bayern Munich for January swoop

What the papers say The deadline day drama is starting to warm up for a second act in January with the Evening Standard reporting that Bayern Munich look set to launch a fresh bid for Fulham midfielder Joao Palhinha at the start of the year. Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris will be in playing exile until January after the 36-year-old dug in his heels over moving clubs, despite The Guardian reporting Spurs received offers for the French international. The Daily Telegraph reports Spurs defender Eric Dier has been linked with a move to Saudi Arabia, shortly after holding talks with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy after boss Ange Postecoglou froze out the England player. Social media round-up Players to watch Mohamed Salah: Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ittihad are ready to place a £200million bid to Liverpool for the 31-year-old Egyptian star as time ticks down on Thursday’s transfer deadline. Antoine Griezmann: The 32-year-old France forward looks set to leave Atletico Madrid at the end of the season, planning to join Lionel Messi in Major League Soccer. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow spoke to media for the first time in a month and said everything fans want to hear about his contract and Week 1 availability,

As conference realignment continues to wreak havoc with colleges all over the country, the ACC is considering making a change to make it easier for players with travel.

Miami football is running a buy one, get one free ticket deal in order to entice fans to come out against Texas A&M. How sad does this make a once mighty Miami program look?

Brighton captain Lewis Dunk revealed he emerged from the “carnage” of Roberto De Zerbi’s first fortnight in charge to earn back his place among an England squad he now feels has the belief to win trophies. The centre-back is hoping to pick up just his second senior England cap, five years after he made his debut in a 3-0 friendly win over the United States. Dunk has fully deserved a recall after fine form at club-level saw Seagulls head coach De Zerbi describe the 31-year-old as one of the top five defenders in Europe. Having represented Brighton from their time in the third tier all the way up to captaining the team to a sixth-place Premier League finish and qualification to the Europa League last year, Dunk has seen plenty in his time at his hometown club. But he admits the change in approach brought about by De Zerbi’s appointment to replace Chelsea-bound Graham Potter last year was a challenge – albeit one that was ultimately rewarding for club and skipper alike. “Football-wise, since the new manager at Brighton has come in I see football in a completely different way, I picture it in a different way and that is the biggest thing,” he said. “Football is not what I thought it was. Just how we play now. The idea of what I did before, I thought it made sense. But when you learn something completely different, you believe in it and this makes sense. You think ‘why didn’t I know this?’ and ‘why didn’t I do this before?’ That is just what it is. Since the new manager at Brighton has come in I see football in a completely different way, I picture it in a different way Lewis Dunk “If I am being honest, honest answer the first couple of weeks were horrendous… I wouldn’t say horrendous, they were baffling. “He (De Zerbi) knows that, we have spoken about it and he knew that at the time, coming in, not speaking English, speaking through a translator. “Training changed dramatically, we work on a lot of different stuff now and the first couple of weeks were a really hard transition, especially I think we were fourth in the league when Graham left and we were flying with him, and it was a strange time for him to go and then Roberto came in and (it was) carnage for two weeks.” De Zerbi prefers a methodical, planned approach which requires all of his players – especially defenders – to be comfortable in possession of the ball. “It’s rehearsed – don’t worry about that,” Dunk added when asked if such tactics – which have led to famous wins over Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal – are risky. “We rehearse it every day. That is our training. I couldn’t play his position, but now know every position on the pitch and where they should be. The time they should move and what angles they should give. So yes, we see it every day and it makes life simpler.” Dunk earned his England recall in June, but injury forced him to pull out of the squad to face Malta and North Macedonia in Euro 2024 qualifiers. Manager Gareth Southgate has kept faith in Dunk, however, and he is back again at the first time of asking. “I’m completely different person and a different player,” he said. “I’m five years older, five years wiser and I’ve learnt a lot football-wise and life-wise in those five years, like you do. “I’m a different person now and come here with a different confidence that I probably didn’t come with before.” Asked what was the biggest difference he noticed between the last time he trained alongside Southgate and his players at St George’s Park to now, Dunk added: “We had a meeting the other day and he’s talking about winning the Euros and the whole squad is thinking about winning the Euros. “So I would say that’s the big change in mentality. It’s not ‘how far can we get in a tournament’. It’s winning a tournament. “So that is probably the biggest change I’ve seen coming back. It’s ‘we will win this tournament. We want to win this tournament’. That’s what we’re going there to do and being around these top players. I can see why he is saying that and why England can win.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live England hopeful Levi Colwill inspired by Sholing’s FA Vase success England understand consequences of stepping out of line at World Cup – Dan Cole Daniil Medvedev hands Andrey Rublev more quarter-final heartache

Eight new Golden Ballers and five Legends added to Panini Premier League Adrenalyn XL™ 2024 Official Trading Card Game.

New information suggests Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior could be ruled out for longer than first thought.

Stephen A. Smith has been to the future and has seen the truth. Deion Sanders is in the process of creating a recruiting "nightmare" for other college football head coaches.

The 30 players nominated for the 2023 Ballon d'Or Feminin award.

The Minnesota Lynx can be a dark horse that shocks the world, upending the top three and making a surprise trip to the WNBA Finals.

As women’s soccer continues to grow the last thing it needs is a raft of regulation to add extra restrictions on fans travelling to see matches in Scotland.