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SCOTLAND RELEGATED FROM NATIONS LEAGUE TOP TIER AFTER 0-3 DEFEAT TO GREECE

Scotland were relegated from Nations League A after a 3-0 home defeat by Greece.

Steve Clarke’s side made a decent start but goals from Giannis Konstantelias, Konstantinos Karetsas and Christos Tzolis had the visitors 3-1 up on aggregate with just 15 seconds of the second half played.
The Hampden crowd expressed their dissent on several occasions as Scotland never really looked like getting back into the game.
They now drop down to the second tier of the competition ahead of the next set of group games in the autumn of 2026.

Scotland had Ryan Christie back in the team after suspension with Lewis Ferguson the only player to drop out following the 1-0 first-leg win.

Greece made six changes including handing a first start to Karetsas, the 17-year-old wide player whose introduction helped change the flow of the game in Greece’s favour in the second half on Thursday.

Sir Alex Ferguson made a pre-match appearance, holding up a number 10 shirt in tribute to Denis Law before a minute’s applause for Scotland’s joint-record goalscorer in the first home international since his death.

The hosts started on the front foot.

Che Adams had a penalty appeal rejected before Scott McTominay had an angled shot saved after being played through by Kenny McLean.

Andy Robertson soon fired wide and McTominay then saw a shot deflected into the side net.

But Greece levelled the aggregate score in the 20th minute with their first meaningful attack.
Robertson was outnumbered as Karetsas fed overlapping right-back Georgios Vagiannidis, whose cutback found the untracked Giannis Konstantelias and the midfielder swept the ball home from 10 yards.

Scotland almost responded quickly. McTominay sliced wide from the edge of the box before playing in John McGinn, who was denied by goalkeeper Kostas Tzolakis.

Greece looked dangerous as the half progressed and they doubled their lead in the 42nd minute after the Scotland midfield again failed to track Konstantelias.

Robertson ran into the middle of the box to close the midfielder down after he collected a pass from the left wing, but that just left Karetsas unmarked. Konstantelias teed up the teenager, who curled the ball first time into the top corner.

Konstantelias produced another assist 15 seconds after half-time, collecting a loose pass from Christie and setting up Tzolis to finish.

Boos rang out from the home fans after Scotland were stretched again and Karetsas curled beyond the top corner.

The home fans were audibly unconvinced by Clarke’s first attempt to change the game in the 55th minute, notably the decision to take off Billy Gilmour. McLean and Adams also went off as Kieran Tierney and Lewis Ferguson joined the midfield and striker George Hirst made his Hampden debut.

There was little evidence of a cutting edge for Scotland. Hirst headed off target from two difficult chances and the scoreline could have been worse.

John Souttar’s goal-line clearance from Vangelis Pavlidis saved Grant Hanley’s blushes after the defender’s slip and Tzolis blazed over on the break.

Clarke went for broke in the 73rd minute by bringing on strikers Tommy Conway and James Wilson and handing them wide roles but the best chance fell to Tierney, then playing at left-back, with only seconds left. Tzolakis made a good diving save.

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UNL: EVAN FERGUSON ON TARGET AS REPUBLIC OF IRELAND HIT BACK TO BEAT BULGARIA AGAIN.

Evan Ferguson scored his first goal since November as the Republic of Ireland preserved their Nations League B status with a 4-2 aggregate victory over Bulgaria.

Ferguson, currently on loan at West Ham from Brighton, claimed his fifth senior international goal with 27 minutes remaining before substitute Adam Idah struck after coming off the bench to secure a 2-1 play-off second-leg win at the Aviva Stadium to go with the one which Ireland returned from Plovdiv with on Thursday.

Just as they had done on home soil, the Bulgarians took a first-half lead, this time through midfielder Valentin Antov, and again they were unable to defend it on a night when, contrary to Republic boss Heimir Hallgrimsson’s prediction of a no-holds-barred physical battle, they played some fluent and compact football.

Defender Jake O’Brien might have marked his first competitive start in style when he met Robbie Brady’s fourth-minute corner with a firm downward header, but saw keeper Plamen Iliev make a good reaction save.

With winger Mikey Johnston terrorising the Bulgarians down the right and linking well with Ferguson, Troy Parrott and Finn Azaz – defender Simeon Petrov had earlier had to make a timely block to prevent Johnston from finishing off a flowing move he had started – Ireland were firmly in the ascendancy.

Parrott turned a 24th-minute Brady cross on to the foot of the post as Ireland responded, but it was the visitors who took the lead on the half-hour when, after Georgi Milanov’s volley from Kiril Despodov’s corner had been block by Nathan Collins, Antov stabbed the loose ball past Caoimhin Kelleher, his side’s first attempt on goal.

Parrott flicked a Brady cross on to the roof of Iliev’s net and full-back Fabian Nurnberger cleared another O’Brien header off the line as the hosts fought for a way back into the game, but they went in at the break frustrated.

Johnston should have done better after being played into space by Parrott with 49 minutes gone, but screwed his right-foot shot well wide, and the West Brom midfielder saw another attempt smothered at source three minutes later after linking well with Parrott and Ferguson.

Azaz fired wide after O’Brien had headed down a Brady free-kick and Iliev clawed Ferguson’s 55th-minute strike out of his bottom corner after Parrott had robbed Petrov with chances – or at least half-chances – coming thick and fast.

Kelleher made his first save of the night when he plucked Nurnberger’s shot out of the air two minutes later, and his side was back in it after 63 minutes when Ferguson played a beautifully executed one-two with Azaz before lashing the ball into the roof of the net.

Ireland wrapped up victory with six minutes remaining when Azaz set Mark Sykes away down the left and he turned back inside before clipping the ball to the far post for fellow substitute Idah to volley home.

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UEFA CONFERENCE LEAGUE: ST PATRICK ATHLETIC EDGING TOWARDS QUALIFICATIO AFTER 2-1 WIN AT RICHMOND PARK

St Patrick’s Athletic have put themselves in a commanding position in their Europa Conference League tie against Vaduz with a 2-1 win at Richmond Park.

Jake Mulraney scored twice in the first 17 minutes to give Stephen Kenny’s side the advantage in the first half.

The Liechtenstein side pulled a goal back, before Joe Redmond restored the two goal advantage in the 77th minute.

By contrast, Shelbourne’s second round qualifier with Zurich looks to be over after this evening’s first leg.

Damien Duff’s side were beaten 3-0 in Switzerland, having conceded inside 28 seconds.

Shelbourne will need a miracle ahead of the second leg in Tolka Park.

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UEFA BEGINS INVESTIGATION INTO MORATA AND RODRI OVER EURO 2024 CELEBRATIONS

Uefa has started disciplinary proceedings against Spanish players Alvaro Morata and Rodri over their behaviour during a Euro 2024 presentation in Madrid this month, European soccer’s governing body confirmed on Tuesday.

The players sang ‘Gibraltar is Spanish’ on July 15th, the day after they won the European Championship with a 2-1 victory over England in Berlin, during a public celebration in the Spanish capital.

Alvaro Morata wears the captain armband for Rodri at the 2024 Euros in Germany

Gibraltar is a British territory located at the southern tip of Spain.

Gibraltar’s Football Association filed a formal complaint to Uefa about the chant, and Uefa appointed an ethics and disciplinary inspector to evaluate whether it violated regulations.

The charges against Rodri and Morata include violating the basic rules of decent conduct, general principles of conduct, using sporting events for manifestations of a non-sporting nature and bringing the sport of football into disrepute.

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RUSSIAN FOOTBALL UNION TO APPEAL AGAINST BAN IMPOSED BY FIFA AND UEFA

The Russian Football Union will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the ban on its national teams and clubs from international competitions.

FIFA and UEFA, the governing bodies of the world and European games respectively, announced on Monday that Russian teams would be excluded from their events “until further notice” following the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

This means that Russia are banned from participating in this month’s men’s World Cup qualifying play-offs and UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 this summer. Spartak Moscow have also been removed from the Europa League.

The RFU announced on Thursday it will challenge this ruling in a single lawsuit against FIFA and UEFA.

A statement read: “The RFU will demand the restoration of all men’s and women’s national teams of Russia in all types of football in the tournaments in which they took part (including in the qualifying round of the World Cup in Qatar), as well as compensation for damage.

“In order to ensure the possibility of the participation of Russian teams in the next scheduled matches, the RFU will insist on an expedited procedure for considering the case.

“If FIFA and UEFA refuse such a procedure, a requirement will be put forward for the introduction of interim measures in the form of suspension of FIFA and UEFA decisions, as well as competitions in which Russian teams were supposed to participate.

“The RFU believes that FIFA and UEFA did not have a legal basis when deciding on the removal of Russian teams. It violated the fundamental rights of the RFU as a member of FIFA and UEFA, including the right to take part in competitions.

“In addition, the decision to withdraw the national team from qualification for the 2022 World Cup was made under pressure from direct rivals in the play-offs, which violated the principle of sports and the rules of fair play.

“The Russian Football Union was also not given the right to present its position, which violated the fundamental right to defence. In addition, when making decisions, FIFA and UEFA did not take into account other possible options for action, except for the complete exclusion of participants from the competition from Russia.”

Poland, Russia’s first opponents in the World Cup qualifying play-offs, along with Sweden and the Czech Republic, had all refused to play against Russia. A number of other countries had also said they would boycott matches against Russia in the current circumstances.

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PLAYERS AREN’T ROBOTS, WE NEED REST – COURTOIS BLAST FIFA, UEFA

Belgium and Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has launched a scathing criticism of UEFA and FIFA for scheduling more and more matches at the expense of player welfare.

Courtois hit out at the growing football calendar after his side’s 2-1 defeat by Italy in the UEFA Nations’ League third-place play-off on Sunday, labelling the match, in which both teams rotated their squads, a “money game”.

“We are not robots. It’s just more and more games and less rest for us and nobody cares about us. When will we get a rest? Never,” Courtois said.

The football calendar has been squeezed in the last 18 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Champions League and many of the continent’s top leagues taking place in shorter spaces of time but with the same amount of matches.

The European Championship and Copa America were both held at the end of the gruelling season and there is to be no let up in the near future.

Next year’s World Cup takes place between November and December — in the middle of the club season — while the Nations League finals will be held in June 2023.

FIFA, meanwhile, wishes to hold an expanded Club World Cup and its head of Global Football Development, former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, has outlined proposals for a biennial World Cup.

“Next year we have a World Cup in November, we have to play maybe until the latter stages of June again. We will get injured,” added Courtois.

“So in the end top players will get injured and injured and injured. It’s something that should be much better and much more taken care of.”

UEFA has opposed the plan for more frequent World Cups and the proposed European Super League, but Courtois said the European organising body was not interested in player welfare either as they too keep adding to the fixture calendar.

“They are against Super League but they just do the same, they put extra games. They made an extra trophy, (Europa Conference League). It is always the same,” added the Belgian.

“They can be angry about other teams wanting a Super League but they don’t care about the players, they just care about their pockets.”

UEFA did not immediately respond to comments from Courtois.

The Nations League was launched in 2018 with the aim of offering more competitive matches for the continent’s teams instead of international friendlies.

The Europa Conference League, which began this season, was created to increase the number of teams of UEFA member nations playing into the later stages of European competition.

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GERMANY UNVEILS LOGO FOR UEFA EURO 2024

Germany has unveiled the logo for soccer’s 2024 European Championship during a ceremony with a light show in the stadium that will hold the final.

Some guests and media were invited to Berlin’s Olympiastadion for the UEFA launch, though no fans were present on a damp evening in the German capital on Tuesday.

The logo features an outline of the Henri Delaunay Cup – the bulbous tournament trophy – set on a coloured oval outline that resembles the Olympiastadion’s roof.

It features colours from the flags of UEFA’s 55 member nations, set in 24 slices around the trophy to represent the 24 teams that will ultimately qualify for the tournament in Germany.
Organisers said the brand will promote a tournament where diversity is celebrated, and everyone should feel welcome. The tournament’s slogan “United by Football. Vereint im Herzen Europas” – or “United at the Heart of Europe” – is meant to convey a message of togetherness and inclusion.

Also read: A controversial move by FIFA

Logos for each of the 10 host cities – Berlin, Cologne, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Gelsenkirchen, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich and Stuttgart – were also presented with each featuring a famous local landmark. Berlin’s, for example, features the Brandenburg Gate.

“From now on, the tournament has a brand identity which reflects the ambition we have together with the host association and host cities,” UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said. The tournament is due to be played in June and July 2024 with the match schedule to be confirmed next year.

Germany hosted the World Cup in 2006, with the final held in the refurbished Olympiasstadion. The stadium was originally built for the 1936 Olympic Games hosted by Nazi Germany. West Germany also hosted the World Cup in 1974 and the European Championship in 1988.

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UEFA DROPS SUPER LEAGUE LEGAL TUSSLE WITH REBEL CLUBS

UEFA has dropped its legal case against Barcelona, Juventus and Real Madrid over their roles in initiating the controversial European Super League (ESL) project, which has threatened to dramatically upend the football landscape.

European football’s governing body announced on Monday night that “in the matter related to a potential violation of UEFA’s legal framework in connection with the so called ‘Super League,’ the UEFA Appeals Body has declared today the proceedings null and void, as if the proceedings had never been opened.”

The moves comes after a Spanish court ruled that UEFA should not punish the three clubs that remain committed to the doomed project.

UEFA added that the other nine clubs involved in the attempted breakaway – Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Atletico Madrid, AC Milan and Inter Milan – will not need to pay the fines imposed on them for trying to set up the Super League.

Earlier in the day, Liverpool denied any suggestion that their U.S. owners were privately sympathetic to the breakaway league.

“Our involvement in the proposed ESL plans has been discontinued. We are absolutely committed to following that through and there should be no ambiguity to suggest otherwise. We are acting on the best legal advice and approach to appropriately end our involvement,” read a statement.

The stance was echoed by Liverpool’s arch-rivals Manchester United, who said: “Our position as announced previously has not changed – we shall not be participating in the European Super League. The process for dissolving the European Super League entity is impacted by ongoing litigation in Spain. We are not involved in that litigation and therefore it would be inappropriate to comment.”

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UEFA rejects Ajax’s Bob Marley tribute shirt

The Netherlands champion received wide praise and a rush of sales in the offseason for launching a black uniform with small red, yellow and green birds on the back of the shirt collar

Ajax must change its popular Bob Marley-themed shirts in Champions League games because the three little birds motif breaks equipment rules, UEFA said.

The Netherlands champion received wide praise and a rush of sales in the offseason for launching a black uniform with small red, yellow and green birds on the back of the shirt collar.

It’s a tribute to Ajax fans singing Marley’s “Three Little Birds” at games as their anthem.

UEFA said the club was told after submitting the design for approval one year ago it would not be approved to wear in games.

“The three birds being a tribute to Bob Marley’s song do not represent a team identification of Ajax as set out in Article 13 of the equipment regulations,” UEFA said in a statement on Tuesday, adding the manufacturer “was given the options about how the design could be adapted.”

Ajax decided its players will wear game shirts without the motif while selling a version to fans with the birds.

The team’s home uniform is iconic thick red and white vertical stripes.

Ajax’s Champions League campaign starts Wednesday at Sporting Lisbon. The group also includes Borussia Dortmund and Besiktas.

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UEFA PROBE ENGLAND OVER EURO 2020 FINAL CHAOS

UEFA has opened a formal investigation into the storming of Wembley Stadium by supporters at Sunday’s Euro 2020 final, in addition to charging the English Football Association with four separate offences relating to the conduct of fans.

England’s first appearance in a tournament showpiece for 55 years ended in defeat on penalties to Italy and was overshadowed by scenes of violence both inside and outside the ground. British police, who said 19 of its officers were injured, have so far arrested a total of 86 people. Some 53 of the arrests were at Wembley.

It is estimated that as many as 5,000 supporters gained access to the stadium without a match ticket. Sources told ESPN that ticket readers stopped working for a period and fans either “tailgated” their way in — quickly following behind those with legitimate tickets — or broke in through entrances designed for disabled supporters.

Videos circulated on social media of fights breaking out on the concourses while stewards were overwhelmed as hundreds of people arrived with tickets only to find someone already in their seats.

Despite England manager Gareth Southgate’s prematch plea to respect the Italian national anthem, loud boos were heard throughout, a pitch invader delayed the final few minutes of normal time and objects were launched at Italy players as they celebrated their penalty shootout success.

A statement released by UEFA on Tuesday afternoon listed four charges against the FA: “Invasion of the field of play by its supporters; Throwing of objects by its supporters; Disturbance caused by its supporters during the national anthem; Lighting of a firework by its supporters.”

The FA have launched their own investigation in conjunction with Metropolitan Police, but UEFA added: “Separately, and in accordance with Article 31(4) DR, a UEFA Ethics and Disciplinary Inspector has been appointed to conduct a disciplinary investigation into events involving supporters which occurred inside and around the stadium.”

Fans began congregating outside Wembley around 12 hours before kick-off. The crowd steadily grew — estimated in some quarters to be as high as 250,000 people — with the mood turning increasingly violent as kick-off approached.

COVID-19 restrictions limited Wembley’s capacity from 90,000 to 65,000 and some fans sensed an opportunity to force their way in. One of the key questions to be answered moving forward will be why the outer perimeter was so close to the stadium. The outer barrier to most venues at European Championship tournaments and World Cups is often half a kilometre away or further from the venue itself. At Wembley, the outer perimeter ran tightly around the stadium, including at the base of the steps to access the outside of the upper levels.

Stewards and police were overwhelmed as hundreds broke through barriers and then ran inside. Eyewitnesses told ESPN that once inside, scores of fans were able to access the stadium without the necessary COVID-19 documentation — specifically, proof of a negative test within the last 48 hours — or a match ticket.

Families of players from both teams were affected. A group of Italy’s entourage, including the wife of midfielder Jorginho, were moved en masse, while sources told ESPN that the family members of several England players were abused by fans who had forced their way into the arena.

The stairways were visibly overflowing with supporters. Andrea Mancini, the son of Italy head coach Roberto, said: “There was a mess with ticketless fans and my seat had been taken, so I had to watch the first half sitting in the stadium’s steps. I found another place in the second half. Perhaps it brought good luck.”

Last week the FA were fined €30,000 ($35,460) after a laser pointer was shone at Denmark goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel during what proved to be the deciding moment of their Euro 2020 semifinal.

The FA were also charged for fans booing during the Danish anthem and for the setting off of fireworks during the semifinal.