Author: moshood

Douglas Luiz grabbed a late equaliser as Aston Villa snatched a 1-1 draw at Brentford.

Ivan Toney looked to have secured a 100th win as Brentford boss for Thomas Frank with his 20th goal of the season.

But Villa have yet to not score in a match since Unai Emery was appointed manager last October, and Luiz kept up that record as their late European challenge just about stayed on track.

Villa were unchanged from their 3-0 win over Newcastle last weekend, but were unable to match that dazzling display against a physical Bees side.

All they had to show for an anaemic first-half performance was Emiliano Buendia’s toe-poke, which forced an early save from David Raya, and a narrowly wide curler from John McGinn.

At the other end Bryan Mbeumo was giving Alex Moreno the runaround, flicking Toney’s pass over the full-back’s head before volleying straight at Emiliano Martinez.

Moreno won their next duel with a goal-saving sliding tackle just as the Cameroon forward was about to sidefoot Vitaly Janelt’s cross into an empty net.

Martinez bravely dived at the feet of Toney as the Bees frontman attempted to steer in Kevin Schade’s low cross.

The Argentina World Cup-winner also raced out of his area to deny Janelt, and must have hurt himself in the process as he was replaced by Robin Olsen at half-time.

Olsen dealt with a looping header from Bees substitute Frank Onyeka, but then made an almighty mess of another header from Schade.

The winger, yet to score for the Bees since joining on loan from Freiburg in January, was presented with an open goal but from a tight angle he fired into the side-netting.

Mbeumo should also have hit the target after racing on to Toney’s ball over the top, only to sky his first-time shot.

A goal was coming, and it arrived in the 65th minute when Mbeumo tormented Moreno once more before swinging in a cross which Ashley Young missed and Toney converted at the far post.

Onyeka should have doubled the lead when he met another Mbeumo cross but he scuffed his effort wide.

It proved a costly miss three minutes from time when, after a goalmouth scramble, Buendia pulled the ball back for Luiz to lash home and snatch a point.

There was still time for Ollie Watkins, who had a quiet game against his old side, to squander a chance to make it a club-record sixth straight Premier League win for Villa when his stoppage-time header flew over.

Riyad Mahrez scored the first FA Cup semi-final hat-trick since 1958 as Manchester City eased into the final with a 3-0 defeat of Sheffield United.

The Algeria international put Pep Guardiola’s treble-chasing side ahead with a penalty late in the first half before striking twice more after the hour.

Championship high-flyers United failed to trouble the imperious City, who made light of their draining schedule in the week they also reached the Champions League semi-finals with a commanding performance.

It was their 11th win in 12 games and they now go into Wednesday’s crucial top-of-table Premier League clash with leaders Arsenal with considerable confidence and momentum.

The loss made for an anti-climatic end to the Blades’ superb run in the competition but their main goal of promotion back to the top-flight should soon follow.

Guardiola made six changes but retained the prolific Erling Haaland, who has scored 48 goals this season, in attack.
Surprisingly, however, it was not the Norwegian who dominated the game but one of the players brought into the side – Mahrez.

United were without their two City loanees in Tommy Doyle and James McAtee and the pair were missed as they struggled to gain a foothold in the game.

Yet the outcome could have been different had the Blades taken their one meaningful chance of the game in the second minute.

Iliman Ndiaye should have scored when the ball fell to him following a corner but he shot straight at Stefan Ortega.

The Blades were to rue that miss as they saw very little of the ball thereafter.

To their credit they defended stoutly and initially limited City to few clear-cut chances but it seemed only a matter of time before Guardiola’s men would break through.

Haaland gave United a warning when he rifled in a shot from 35 yards but the whistle had already been blown for a foul.

Mahrez curled a shot wide and Julian Alvarez forced a good save from Wes Foderingham before John Fleck diverted a Bernardo Silva cross dangerously close to his own goal.

United threatened again when Jack Robinson took aim from distance but Ortega was not troubled.

City went ahead just before the interval after Daniel Jebbison brought down Silva in the area.

Mahrez, assuming penalty-taking duties after Haaland fired over against Bayern Munich in midweek, confidently sent Foderingham the wrong way.

The second half continued in much the same fashion, with United struggling to gain any meaningful possession.

City gradually turned the screw and they doubled the lead just after the hour as Mahrez seized the ball in midfield and was allowed to run through unchallenged. With no sign of a tackle as he reached the box, he coolly slotted past Foderingham.

He completed his treble five minutes later. Again the United defence were helpless, this time allowing Jack Grealish to clip in a ball from the left. Mahrez met it with a sweet strike from in front of goal and, despite getting a hand to it, Foderingham was unable to keep it out.

Guardiola then began to turn his attention to Arsenal and made a number of changes. City confidently played out time and will now return to the national stadium in June to face rivals Manchester United or Brighton.

Declan Rice scored again to help West Ham end the perfect week with a vital 4-0 win at Bournemouth to boost their survival chances.

The Hammers fought back from two down to draw with Premier League leaders Arsenal last Sunday and followed it up with a 4-1 victory over Gent on Thursday to book their spot in the Europa Conference League semi-finals.

Relegation has remained a distinct possibility for David Moyes’ side though, but they eased those concerns with a clinical display where first-half goals by Michail Antonio, Lucas Paqueta and Rice put them in control.

Substitute Pablo Fornals added a fourth midway through the second half to help West Ham move up to 13th and six points clear of the bottom three.

Despite their Thursday exploits, Moyes only made two changes at the Vitality Stadium and one was to recall first-choice Lukasz Fabianski in goal.

It meant Antonio got another opportunity to lead the line and he rewarded his manager’s faith with a fifth-minute opener.

For Bournemouth it was all too easy with Aaron Cresswell’s near-post corner powered home by the unmarked Antonio for his 12th goal of the season, but only his fourth in the league.

The Hammers doubled their advantage eight minutes later and again it would have frustrated Cherries boss Gary O’Neil.

Vladimir Coufal won back possession from Marcus Tavernier and controlled Jarrod Bowen’s pass before his looping cross was headed in at the back post by Paqueta, who easily outjumped Jack Stephens.

It continued Paqueta’s encouraging form since the World Cup break and backed up his goal-scoring display in Thursday’s triumph over Gent.

West Ham’s travelling support were enjoying their trip to the south coast and soon singing about rivals Tottenham, who were 5-0 down at Newcastle inside 21 minutes.

Bournemouth were not prepared to throw the towel in yet and Chris Mepham tested Fabianski with a header moments later.

Jefferson Lerma was next to try his luck and Fabianski was again equal to it but his best stop was to come next.

Dominic Solanke muscled his way past Nayef Aguerd and raced into the area but Fabianski saved well with his feet to preserve West Ham’s two-goal lead after half an hour.

Having withstood Bournemouth’s fightback, Moyes’ side then provided a sucker-punch two minutes before half-time through their talisman.

Another Cresswell corner caused problems and, while it was cleared to the back post, Rice was first to the loose ball and on hand to drill home via a deflection to make it back-to-back goals this week.

The Hammers captain was serenaded by the away fans soon after with chants urging him to stay amid talk his future could lie away from the London Stadium after this campaign.

O’Neil responded with Wales forward Kieffer Moore introduced in place of Joe Rothwell at half-time but it failed to have the desired effect.

A triple substitution followed on the hour mark for Bournemouth with Dango Ouattara, the stoppage-time hero at Spurs last weekend, brought on and while he initially caused problems, West Ham were soon celebrating a fourth goal.

Bowen did well down the right and, while his cross was slightly behind Fornals, the substitute managed to back heel into the far corner to make it 4-0 after 72 minutes.

Hammers substitute Maxwel Cornet had a stoppage-time effort ruled out for offside and the West Ham fans finished the game chanting for Rice to stay one more year with this win at least going a long way to confirming their place in the Premier League next season.

Meanwhile, Bournemouth, who have now dropped to 15th, will aim to quickly regroup for the trip to rivals Southampton on Thursday.

Record signing Alexander Isak helped to blast Newcastle to within touching distance of Champions League football as they took top-four rivals Tottenham apart in a 6-1 rout at St James’ Park.

The £60million Sweden international scored twice in an astonishing first-half blitz which saw Eddie Howe’s men race into a 5-0 lead with just 21 minutes played to take his tally for an injury-interrupted season to 10.

Jacob Murphy also helped himself to a double either side of Joelinton’s strike with substitute Callum Wilson adding a sixth in front of a delighted crowd of 52,252 to lift their club back into third place above Manchester United, who have a game in hand, on goal difference.

In the process, they dealt a potentially fatal blow to Tottenham’s hopes of overhauling them with Harry Kane’s 49th-minute effort providing scant consolation.

The clock had just ticked past the minute mark when Joelinton accepted Bruno Guimaraes’ pass wide on the left and cut inside before firing towards the bottom corner.

Keeper Hugo Lloris did well to get down and turn the ball away, but Murphy followed up to smash the rebound into the roof of the net to give his side what he may have thought was the perfect start.

Within seven more catastrophic minutes for the visitors, the Magpies had increased their advantage to an all but insurmountable 3-0.

First Joelinton timed his run to perfection to latch on to Fabian Schar’s ball over the top and having controlled it expertly, rounded Lloris to thump a shot into the empty net, and the stunned Frenchman was beaten for a third time when Murphy was allowed time and space to to blast a viciously-swerving 25-yard piledriver high to his right.

England skipper Kane might have reduced the deficit after Oliver Skipp had picked him out with a square ball, but uncharacteristically dragged his attempt inches wide, and Spurs were made to pay in brutal fashion.

They were carved open once again by Joe Willock’s 19th-minute through ball and Isak made the most of it with a low drive inside the far post, and he repeated the feat two minutes later from a tighter angle to make it 5-0.

Tottenham boss Cristian Stellini replaced Pape Sarr with Davinson Sanchez, who had been hauled off against Bournemouth last weekend 23 minutes after being called from the bench, with 23 minutes gone, and his shell-shocked players gradually worked their way into the game.

However, they continued to look intensely vulnerable at the back and Sean Longstaff saw a 43rd-minute effort deflected just wide.

Lloris failed to reappear after the break as former Magpie Fraser Forster took his place in the firing line, although it was opposite number Nick Pope who was picking the ball out of his net after Kane had beaten him from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s through ball.

The visitors were belatedly showing signs of life, but Isak only just failed to make contact with a driven Longstaff cross before defender Dan Burn saw a header blocked from the resulting corner.

Stellini’s men were making a much better fist of the second half with Ivan Perisic, Skipp and Son Heung-min far more involved. It took a good 64th-minute block from Sven Botman to deny Son after he raced raced pass Schar from Perisic’s pass.

However, Wilson restored Newcastle’s cushion from close range within seconds of his arrival as a 66th-minute replacement for Isak, and substitute Anthony Gordon and Joelinton both saw attempts blocked as they went for the kill.

Sifan Hassan was a surprise winner of the TCS London Marathon on her debut over the distance.

The Ethiopian-born Dutch athlete’s victory was all the more remarkable because she fell way off the pace, clutching her hip, around the 15-mile mark.

But Hassan, who is the 5,000 and 10,000 metres Olympic champion, reeled in the leaders with three miles to go.

The 30-year-old then survived making a mess of collecting a drink from a water station, but recovered again and even offered rival Yalemzerf Yehualaw, last year’s winner, a swig from her bottle.

Being a track athlete gave Hassan a distinct advantage in a sprint finish and she pulled away from Alemu Megertu and Peres Jepchirchir down The Mall, coming home in two hours 18 minutes and 33 seconds.

Former Olympic middle-distance runner Steve Cram was gobsmacked at Hassan’s triumph.

“Sifan Hassan has done something that nobody could ever have expected,” he said on BBC One.

“She was struggling, she was grabbing her hip, stopping to stretch it off.

“She would have been dreaming of just finishing. She can hardly believe it, this might just be the best success of her life.”

Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum won the men’s race in the second fastest marathon in history.

The 23-year-old broke the course record with an incredible time of 2:01.27.

Kiptum tired towards the end and missed out on Eliud Kipchoge’s world record by 18 seconds.

The first British man home was not Sir Mo Farah, but Yorkshire’s Emile Cairess, who finished a creditable sixth on his marathon debut.

Another Briton, Philip Sesemann, outsprinted Farah on the final straight to finish eighth.

Farah came home in his final marathon in ninth in 2:10.28, while Chris Thompson made it four British runners in the top 10 by finishing 10th.

Swiss star Marcel Hug won a fifth men’s wheelchair race in London, just six days after winning the Boston Marathon.

The ‘Silver Bullet’ shattered his own course record with a time of 1:23.43.

Great Britain’s David Weir finished fifth in his 24th London Marathon in a time of 1:32.44.

The women’s wheelchair race was won by 2018 winner Madison de Rozario of Australia, who pipped four-time champion Manuela Schar on the finish line.

Carlos Alcaraz claimed his third title of the season by defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas to retain the Barcelona Open crown.

The Spaniard, who does not turn 20 until next month, was virtually flawless in a 6-3 6-4 victory over second seed Tsitsipas to add to his titles in Buenos Aires and Indian Wells.

Alcaraz remains behind Novak Djokovic in the rankings but, with the Serbian troubled by an elbow problem and out of the Madrid Open and Rafael Nadal struggling to play on clay at all as he battles a hip injury, the teenager could yet go into the French Open as the favourite.

Tsitsipas could find no answer to the all-round brilliance of Alcaraz, who missed the start of the season through injury but has been making up for lost time ever since.

After winning his ninth title, Alcaraz said: “It’s incredible. To feel this energy and lift the trophy in Barcelona in front of my family and friends, and most members of my team are here as well. Playing this level and to lift the trophy in front of them is a good feeling for me.”

Fellow teenager Holger Rune also successfully defended a title on Sunday, the young Dane coming out on top of a topsy-turvy affair against Dutchman Botic Van De Zandschulp at the BMW Open in Munich.

Having fought back in the second set, fourth seed Van De Zandschulp led 5-2 in the decider and served for the match three times but, despite creating four match points, ended up losing 6-4 1-6 7-6 (3).

Rune, who needed treatment for arm and ankle problems in the third set, said: “I was feeling really exhausted but I was fighting until the end and I tried everything I could to come back into the match. We really pushed each other to the limit and I am super happy I defended the title today.”

There was an emotional title in Banja Luka, meanwhile, for Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic, who followed up his upset of countryman Djokovic in the quarter-finals by taking out second seed Andrey Rublev 6-3 4-6 6-4.

Rublev, who won the biggest title of his career in Monte-Carlo last week, fought back from 5-1 down in the decider but 70th-ranked Lajovic held his nerve to clinch his second ATP title four years after his first.

Lajovic said: “I am thrilled and overwhelmed that I did it this week. The last time I was in a final was four years ago and I have been through a lot since then.”

Britain’s Jamie Murray won the doubles title in Banja Luka with New Zealander Michael Venus but Neal Skupski and Dutchman Wesley Koolhof had to settle for the runners-up spot in Barcelona, losing in a deciding tie-break to Argentinian duo Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni.

Manchester United will face rivals Manchester City in the FA Cup final after Solly March’s spot-kick miss saw Brighton suffer semi-final shoot-out heartache.

Three days on from their Europa League quarter-final exit to Sevilla, Erik ten Hag’s side found themselves in the familiar position of needing to bounce back from a humiliating loss.

Brighton made United sweat as the south-coast club sought to reach just their second FA Cup final, with the semi-final ending 0-0 after 120 minutes at Wembley.

The first 12 penalties of the shoot-out found the net before Albion favourite March blazed over, allowing Victor Lindelof to win it 7-6 and set up a Wembley return against City.

Roberto De Zerbi’s exciting side had been bookmakers’ favourites in their third FA Cup semi-final appearance and began in the manner onlookers have become accustomed to.

Alexis Mac Allister’s early free-kick was saved by David De Gea, with the under-fire United goalkeeper brilliantly tipping over a Julio Enciso attempt after half-time.

United settled and the match went to extra-time, which also ended goalless meaning the semi-final went to spot-kicks under the arch.

March’s miss was the key moment, with Lindelof striking brilliantly in sudden death as the Carabao Cup winners progressed to a record-equalling 21st FA Cup final.

Brighton began on the front foot at Wembley, where Mac Allister hit a brilliant sixth-minute free-kick that De Gea did well to stop nestling in the top right-hand corner.

Enciso struck wide before Kaoru Mitoma and Pervis Estupinan got in each other’s way as Albion continued in the ascendancy with only fleeting flickers of life from United.

Bruno Fernandes, sorely missed against Sevilla, forced Robert Sanchez into action from 20 yards and was soon the subject of nervous conversation after pulling up in pain. The patched-up Portuguese was given the green light to carry on.

Enciso fired wide for Brighton but it was United who ended the half on top, with Fernandes dragging a shot across the face of goal.

Two further chances followed in stoppage time. Anthony Martial overhit an attempt to catch out Sanchez and Eriksen fired straight at the keeper from a Rashford cross.

Brighton returned from the break strongly, prodding and probing before De Gea denied them a 56th-minute goal.

Adam Webster and Mitoma were denied in quick succession before the ball fell to Enciso to fizz an effort that the United goalkeeper expertly tipped over.

Ex-United striker Danny Welbeck went close with a header from the resulting corner and De Gea was soon called upon to stop a March cross-shot.

United belatedly gained a measure of control and composure, with Sanchez denying Antony before Fernandes fired a free-kick at the wall from a dangerous position.

De Gea got down to push away a low March shot and substitute Jadon Sancho saw a curling effort deflected behind.

When extra time got under way, Brighton substitute Deniz Undav was guilty of a heavy touch at the end of a fine move before Marcel Sabitzer glanced wide and fellow substitute Fred caused problems.

First the Brazil midfielder sent over a dangerous cross that nobody met, before cutting out the ball as Rashford ended up getting away a strike that took a deflection off Webster and was saved superbly by Sanchez.

The second period also ended goalless. March saw a shot stopped and Rashford lashed across the face of goal, with Brighton just unable to squeeze home a late chance that ended with Mitoma leaving De Gea in a heap.

The final whistle saw attention turn to penalties, with each player finding the net in the first five rounds.

Sancho and Rashford showed character to score at the stadium where they missed spot-kicks in England’s Euro 2020 final loss to Italy, with Sanchez getting a hand on Marcel Sabitzer’s fifth attempt for United.

Webster and Wout Weghorst scored the first goals of sudden death, only for March to miss in front of the Brighton end and Lindelof to score the decider.

The sensational Erling Haaland scored five as Manchester City ran riot to power into the Champions League quarter-finals with a 7-0 thrashing of RB Leipzig.

Haaland took his tally for the campaign to a staggering 39 from 36 appearances in a ruthless performance at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.

Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne also got on the scoresheet as City completed an 8-1 aggregate triumph over the German side but it was Haaland who took the plaudits – and had people reaching for the record books – on a wintry evening.

By scoring his first two goals, the Norwegian became the youngest player to reach 30 goals in the Champions League aged 22 years and 236 days.

Yet he did not stop there, going on to become only the third player to score five in a single Champions League game and take his overall total in the competition to 33 in 25 games.

He is now also the most prolific scorer in a single season for City, beating the previous record of 38 set by Tommy Johnson in 1928-29.

City made light of the snow and sleet, setting their stall out early with Gundogan, Haaland and Jack Grealish all threatening in the opening stages.

It still took a couple of dubious decisions to help them establish an early stranglehold, but once they had control of the game the visitors wilted.

Their first stroke of luck came when they were awarded a contentious penalty after a VAR review.

Referee Slavko Vincic was sent to the screen to check whether a Rodri header prior to a goalmouth scramble had clipped the back of Benjamin Henrichs’ arm at point-blank range.

The defender certainly knew little about it but Haaland did not pass up the opportunity offered to him from the spot as he fired City ahead after 22 minutes.

The Norwegian doubled the lead little over a minute later, typically finding himself in the right place at the right time to head home a rebound after a thunderous De Bruyne shot struck the bar.

He might have had his hat-trick moments after that but Janis Blaswich parried a ferocious drive.

Leipzig tried to battle back but City benefited from another controversial call after Ederson raced out of his area and appeared to bring down Konrad Laimer. The City keeper escaped punishment and, with that, Leipzig rarely threatened again.

Haaland claimed his treble on the stroke of half-time after a Ruben Dias header struck the post and rolled across the line. Amadou Haidara did get to it first but his attempted clearance cannoned off Haaland’s legs and into the net.

The scoreline became a rout four minutes into the second half when Gundogan beat a defender with a neat touch on the edge of the area and beat Blaswich with a low left-foot shot across goal.

Things almost immediately got even worse for Leipzig as Haaland claimed his fourth following a corner. There was some pinball in the area as Blaswich saved from Haaland and Manuel Akanji but City’s formidable number nine made no mistake at the second attempt.

It began to look like Haaland and City could score at will as he then made it 6-0 after 57 minutes.

Again Blaswich managed to keep out an initial effort from Akanji but Haaland, at his ruthless best, blasted back the rebound.

City went close again when substitute Riyad Mahrez forced Blaswich to save but the excitement began to subside after manager Pep Guardiola decided to take Haaland off just after the hour.

Naturally, he left the field to a huge ovation for his remarkable performance.

De Bruyne wrapped up the scoring in injury time with a superb strike from the edge of the area.

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has apologised for the chaotic scenes at last season’s Champions League final and expressed his relief “nothing terrible happened” in Paris.

An independent report published last month found European football’s governing body was primary responsible for serious congestion problems outside the Stade de France.

Thousands of Liverpool fans were penned in against perimeter fences and tear-gassed by police trying to alleviate further problems after a decision was made to close turnstile gates ahead of Real Madrid’s 1-0 win over Liverpool.

Liverpool fans are set to have their tickets refunded and UEFA’s general secretary Theodore Theodoridis has apologised to those affected by events in Paris.

But Ceferin, speaking in an interview on Gary Neville’s The Overlap channel, said: “First of all I can say that I feel sorry for what happened and we will make sure that it doesn’t happen anymore. That’s the most important thing for me.

“When I was at the match, I remember I had a meeting with the King of Spain and my people came into the room and said, ‘something urgent had happened’. I went out and they say there is a problem with an entrance or some entrances for the fans. Nothing else.

“We didn’t know how serious that was back then because UEFA does not have jurisdiction outside the stadium. There is French police and they didn’t communicate with us.

“It was a difficult situation and look, trust me there is not a single person in UEFA who is not terribly sorry that those things happen. Probably this is the main topic at UEFA how to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Legal action is being pursued by Liverpool fans over what happened in Paris, where supporters were initially blamed by UEFA for delaying kick-off by arriving late while French officials also claimed thousands of tickets had been forged.

These were “manifestly inaccurate” according to the independent report.

“That was a mistake, that was a mistake from our side but it was hard to check what was right and what was wrong. We got so strange information and I really didn’t know the scale of the thing that happened,” Ceferin said.

“I am still expecting feedback from the experts we have that are dealing with it.

“Me as president of UEFA, I don’t deal with organisation of the match but we have to have better communication with the local authorities because in London (at the Euro 2021 final) again it was not UEFA who should protect outside the stadium, it was local police and, obviously, not very successful.”

Ceferin insisted it was “too early” to decide if people will lose their jobs over the farcical scenes in Paris but promised lessons would be learned for next year’s Champions League final at Wembley.

He added: “We’ll try to speak with the local authorities more and they learn a lot as well.

“They would understand and wouldn’t underestimate the situation. We have a team there all the time and they report. Thank God nothing terrible happened.”

Ceferin also reflected on the European Super League saga from 2021 with ex-Manchester United captain Neville.

He alleged United and Liverpool were the English clubs most powerful in joining the breakaway league, which collapsed within 72 hours after all ‘Big Six’ members eventually pulled out.

“As much as I know, unfortunately your club, the (United) owners were very much involved and Liverpool as well,” Ceferin said.

“I think that those two were from the English side the most. The last joining were Chelsea and (Manchester) City. I’m not so sure about Tottenham and Arsenal. Both Chelsea and Manchester City were hesitant from the beginning.”

On the possibility of the European Super League being revived by founding members Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus, Ceferin insisted: “I say play your Super League.

“You are three, you can play your Super League. No one cares. Football doesn’t want them.”

Gianni Infantino was re-elected as Fifa president during the 73rd Congress in Kigali on Thursday, promising record revenues in the next four-year cycle of $11 billion as he called for more football to be played around the world.

Infantino stood unopposed, making his re-election as head of football’s governing body a formality, even if he is not universally popular among member associations amid controversies including the treatment of migrant workers in the run-up to last year’s World Cup in Qatar and a failed plan to play the tournament every two years.

“It is an incredible honour and privilege, and a great responsibility,” Infantino said. “I promise to continue serving Fifa and football around the world.

“To those that love me, and I know there are many, and those who hate me … I love you all.”

Infantino confirmed Fifa’s income hit record levels in the last cycle from 2019-22, but promised to substantially raise this again on the back of expanded men’s and women’s World Cup tournaments and the introduction of a 32-team Club World Cup.

“Revenues rose to a record $7.5 billion (to 2022) in a period that was hit by Covid-19. When I arrived, Fifa reserves stood at around $1 billion, today they are at almost $4 billion,” Infantino said.

“We promise new record revenues for the next cycle of $11 billion, and the new Club World Cup is not included in that figure, so it could increase by a couple of billion.”

Infantino said Fifa would continue to review the transfer system to “improve transparency” and suggested the organisation might discuss a salary cap.

“We must improve our regulations and the Fifa statutes. We will continue to evolve our good governance principles and look at the transfer system, and maybe have a discussion to improve transparency of transfer fees and salaries.

“It might be necessary to introduce a cap, we have to think how we can do that. We will look at it with all stakeholders and see what we can do.”

Amid the financial success of his seven years in office, Infantino has also courted controversy that has made him unpopular with some member associations.

He accused critics of host Qatar’s human rights record of hypocrisy and racism at the World Cup.

The tournament in the desert state led to a significant amount of political discussion around the host’s treatment of migrant labour, its approach to LGBT rights and Fifa’s threats to penalise players for political statements.

This included the banning of the anti-discrimination “One Love” armband which drew anger from a number of quarters.

Fifa has previously spoken about setting up a legacy fund to assist and compensate migrant workers who helped build the stadiums and other infrastructure for the World Cup, but as yet no concrete plans have been revealed and Infantino made no mention of it in his address.

He did suggest that Fifa had cleaned up its act with regards to governance.

“Every single dollar that is being invested in projects and associations will undergo an independent audit. Money just doesn’t get lost any more.

“That is why the institutions have regained their trust in Fifa. The Department of Justice of the United States has given us more than $200 million back that was stolen by corrupt officials. We have re-invested that in football.”

Player welfare groups have questioned Fifa’s decision to expand the men’s World Cup from 64 to 104 games, but Infantino says there needs to be more football played around the world.

“When I hear there is too much football, yes, maybe in some places, but not everywhere. In fact, in most parts of the world there is not enough football played.

“We need way more and not less competitions, we want football to develop worldwide.

“We are discussing organising a women’s Club World Cup and a Fifa World Series in March every two years, when teams are free from playing qualifiers.”

Infantino was first elected in an Extraordinary Congress in 2016 following the resignation of his predecessor Sepp Blatter, and retained his position unopposed three years later.

But this counts as his second term of office and he will therefore be available for a third and final term in four years’ time.

Source: Reuters