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    Issa Hayatou, ‘the Emperor of African Soccer,’ Dies at 77

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    In his posts atop the governing bodies for African and global soccer, he fought to establish the continent as an equal to Europe and South America.Issa Hayatou, a savvy Cameroonian deal-maker who was hailed as “the emperor of African soccer,” leading its confederation for nearly 30 years and raising its international profile, including helping to steer the 2010 World Cup to South Africa, a first for the continent, died on Aug. 8 in Paris. He was 77.His death, in a hospital during the Olympic Games, was announced by the Confederation of African Football, the governing body of African soccer. It did not cite a cause. He had been receiving kidney dialysis treatment for several years.When Mr. Hayatou took over the confederation in 1988 — he would remain its president until 2017 — it was “an ossified organization that seemed far more concerned with internal power and privilege politics than the development of African football,” New African Magazine observed in 2017.But, the magazine added, he soon “deployed his own substantial diplomatic and leadership skills and his wide contacts to move African soccer swiftly and surely out of the ghetto” and lead it “onto the world stage.”Mr. Hayatou was a member of the International Olympic Committee for 15 years, starting in 2001, and later an honorary member. He was also a vice president of FIFA, global soccer’s governing body, and was its interim president from October 2015 to February 2016 following the resignation of the longstanding president Sepp Blatter amid a corruption scandal that led to the arrest of many FIFA officials.Mr. Hayatou in 2010, the year he helped steer the World Cup to South Africa.Fethi Belaid/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Luis Rubiales, Spain’s Top Soccer Official, Resigns Over World Cup Kiss

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      Pressure had been building on Luis Rubiales, with prosecutors opening an investigation, his soccer federation calling for him to step down and FIFA suspending him.The head of the Spanish soccer federation, Luis Rubiales, resigned on Sunday, weeks after kissing a member of Spain’s women’s team on the lips after the team won the World Cup last month, setting off a national scandal and drawing accusations of abusing his power and perpetuating sexism in the sport.In a statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday, Mr. Rubiales said he had submitted his resignation as the federation’s president and as vice president of UEFA, European soccer’s governing body.“After the rapid suspension carried out by FIFA, plus the rest of proceedings open against me, it is evident that I will not be able to return to my position,” he wrote. “My daughters, my family and the people who love me have suffered the effects of persecution excessively, as well as many falsehoods, but it is also true that in the street, the truth is prevailing more every day.”Mr. Rubiales, 46, was largely unrepentant about his actions, but pressure had grown on him and the group he leads, known formally as the Royal Spanish Football Federation, and it became clear that his position was untenable as the outrage against him showed no signs of abating.Spanish prosecutors opened a sexual assault case on Friday after the player Jennifer Hermoso, who said she was made to feel “vulnerable” and a “victim of an attack” when he kissed her, filed a formal complaint, and there were signs of opposition to his continued presence at the top of Spanish soccer at every turn.The soccer federation had called for him to resign “immediately,” female players had said they would not take the field for the national team as long as he was in charge, the men’s team had condemned his actions, and FIFA, soccer’s governing body, had suspended him for 90 days.Some commentators have described the events as a watershed moment in Spain’s #MeToo movement, as they put a spotlight on a divide between traditions of machismo and more recent progressivism that placed Spain in the European vanguard on issues of feminism and equality.The controversy centers on the conduct of Mr. Rubiales, who kissed Ms. Hermoso, one of the team’s star players, after Spain defeated England, 1-0, at the World Cup final in Sydney, Australia, on Aug. 20.He offered a tepid apology the next day, but by the end of that week he had dug in his heels and reversed course, insisting that Ms. Hermoso had “moved me close to her body” during their encounter onstage, feet from the Spanish queen. He also accused his critics of targeting him in a “social assassination” and declared that he would not step down.Ms. Hermoso has vigorously disputed his account and has received support far and wide, with players and others — including the United Nations’ human rights office — using the hashtag “se acabó,” or “it’s over.”The Spanish government was limited in its ability to punish Mr. Rubiales, but Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez described the soccer chief’s actions as “unacceptable,” and the secretary of the opposition People’s Party, Cuca Gamarra, described them as “shameful.”The scandal has taken some of the shine off the national team’s World Cup triumph, diverting attention from the rapid ascent to soccer glory by a squad that qualified for the tournament for the first time eight years ago after decades of mediocrity.On Sunday evening, Mr. Rubiales gave an interview on “Piers Morgan Uncensored,” in which he said he came to the decision to resign after speaking to friends and family. “They say to me, ‘Luis, now you have to focus on your dignity and to continue your life, because if not, probably, you are going to damage people you love,’” he said.Victor Francos, the president of Spain’s National Sports Council, said on Onda Cero radio that Mr. Rubiales’s resignation was “good news for the government” and “what the citizens were asking for.” Minutes earlier on Cadena Ser radio, he said the government was considering “legislative changes that can improve, strengthen and enrich public control over the federations.”“We must reflect so that certain things that have happened don’t happen again,” he said.But Mr. Rubiales was not without his supporters.When he spoke at a federation meeting in late August, his robust defense was met with loud applause by some in attendance, and his mother locked herself in a church and began a hunger strike to protest what she considered a witch hunt of her son.Before Mr. Rubiales was punished, the controversy led to the ouster of another high-profile figure in the world of Spanish women’s soccer: Jorge Vilda, the coach of the World Cup winning squad but a polarizing figure, who was fired on Tuesday.Mr. Vilda, who was hired in 2015 when his predecessor was ousted amid accusations of sexism, had been dogged by scandal in recent months. And last year, 15 star players refused to play on the national team, complaining about controlling behavior by Mr. Vilda and a general culture of sexism. More

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      A Shocking Soccer Kiss Demonstrates the Power of Scandal

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      By generating public outrage, scandals make inaction costly: suddenly, doing nothing carries greater risks.After Luis Rubiales, the president of Spain’s soccer federation, forcibly kissed Jennifer Hermoso, a player on the national women’s team, in the wake of their World Cup win, many wondered whether it would be a #MeToo moment for Spain.Whether the televised kiss galvanizes a lasting movement against harassment and discrimination is yet to be seen. But the growing backlash against Rubiales highlights an often-crucial element of such public reckonings: scandal. During periods of social change, there is often a phase of widespread support for an overhaul in principle but a reluctance within the population to actually make those ideals a reality. Changing a system means taking on the powerful insiders who benefit from it and bearing the brunt of their retaliation — a hard sell, particularly for those who do not expect the change to help them personally.A scandal can change that calculus profoundly, as illustrated by the furor surrounding the kiss. Hermoso described it as “an impulse-driven, sexist, out-of-place act without any consent on my part.” (Rubiales, who has refused to resign, has forcefully defended his conduct and insisted that the kiss was consensual.)By generating public outrage, scandals make inaction costly: suddenly, doing nothing risks an even greater backlash. And scandals can alter the other side of the equation, too: the powerful have less ability to retaliate if their erstwhile allies abandon them in order to avoid being tainted by the scandal themselves. Action becomes less costly at the same time that inaction becomes more so.But although scandals can be a mighty tool, they are not available to everyone. Just as the growing backlash against Rubiales has shown the power of scandal, the events of the months leading up to it, in which many members of the Spanish women’s team tried without success to change a system they described as controlling and outdated, underline how difficult it can be to spark a scandal — and how that can leave ordinary people excluded from public sympathy or the ability to enact change.The unifying power of scandalTo see how this pattern plays out, it’s helpful to look at the influence of scandal in a very different context. Yanilda González, a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, researches police reform in the Americas. In the 2010s, she set out to determine why, after Latin American dictatorships ended, democratic reforms often exempted police forces, leaving them as islands of authoritarianism.In her resulting 2020 book, “Authoritarian Police in Democracy,” she describes how police forces can be extremely powerful in political terms, sometimes using the threat of public disorder as leverage over policymakers who might seek to limit their power or threaten their privileges.Politicians were reluctant to incur the costs of pursuing reforms that might provoke a backlash from police. And public opinion was often divided: while some demanded greater protections from state violence, others worried that police reforms would empower criminals.But, González found, scandals could change that. Episodes of particularly egregious police misconduct could unite public opinion in demanding reform. Opposition politicians, seeing an opportunity to win votes from an angry public, would add to the chorus, and eventually the government would decide that change was the least costly option.The Harvey Weinstein scandal followed a similar pattern. For many years, Weinstein’s predatory behavior was an open secret in Hollywood. But then a Times article by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, in which multiple women detailed the abuses they had suffered at his hands, generated a massive scandal. The public outrage at Weinstein’s behavior meant that the old Hollywood calculus, in which it was safer to keep quiet about the powerful producer’s abuses than to try to stop them, no longer applied. Weinstein’s former allies abandoned him.That generated pressure for change that went far beyond Weinstein. A slew of other #MeToo scandals exposed powerful men as abusers, harassers, and general sex pests. A national reckoning followed.‘The kiss’ shows scandal’s power — but also its limitationsLong before the televised kiss, many members of the Spanish women’s team had lodged protests against Rubiales and the Spanish football association’s leadership. Last year, 15 members of the team, frustrated by unequal pay and general sexism, sent identical letters accusing the team’s coach, Jorge Vilda, of using methods damaging to “their emotional state and their health,” and saying they would not play for the national team unless he was fired.Those 15 women were some of the team’s best players. They were organized. And they were willing to sacrifice a World Cup appearance to achieve change.But they were not yet “Queens of the World,” as one magazine cover proclaimed them last week, with a World Cup win that would put them on the front page of every newspaper in the country. And they didn’t yet have a scandal. No single event had generated sufficient public outrage to shift power from the football association to the players. The Spanish football association, including Rubiales, reacted with outrage to the letters, and vowed to not only protect Vilda’s job, but to keep the writers off the national team unless they “accept their mistake and apologize.” Though there is no precise formula, to capture public attention a scandal often needs to involve an exceptionally sympathetic victim, as well as shocking allegations of misconduct. Kate Manne, a philosophy professor at Cornell and the author of two books on structural misogyny, has written about how some people will instinctively align themselves with the status quo, sympathizing with powerful men accused of sexual violence or other wrongdoing rather than their victims — a tendency she calls “himpathy.” To overcome that instinct, she said, victims often have to be particularly compelling, such as the famous actresses who came forward about Weinstein’s abuses.Of course, most victims of harassment and assault are not famous actresses, or queens of the world. Manne noted that Tarana Burke, the activist who founded the #MeToo movement, spent years trying to bring attention to the abuse of less privileged women before high-profile scandals galvanized global attention. “She was trying to draw attention to the plight of the Black and brown girls who can be victimized in ways that don’t ever scandalize anyone,” Manne said. Public outrage has tended to be reserved for high-profile victims. But if norms shift more broadly against abuse and impunity, there can be positive change for ordinary people as well. Famous actresses may have focused public anger on Weinstein, but the #MeToo movement also brought attention to abuses of some less-famous workers, such as restaurant staff.Once the machinery of scandal does kick in, the consequences can be significant. As my Times colleagues Jason Horowitz and Rachel Chaundler report, many Spanish women saw Rubiales’ action as an example of a macho, sexist culture that allows men to subject them to aggression and violence without consequence.As public anger grew, politicians weighed in on behalf of the players. Late Friday night, the entire team and dozens of other players issued a joint statement saying that they would not play for Spain “if the current managers continue.” The next day, members of Vilda’s coaching staff resigned en masse.On Monday, Spanish prosecutors announced an investigation into whether Rubiales might have committed criminal sexual aggression. The same day, the Royal Spanish Football Association, which Rubiales currently leads, called on him to resign.The question now is not just whether he will be fired or step down, but if the broader outrage will lead to real change in Spain. “When we have these women who are, you know, figuratively and literally on top of the world in professional sports — and it’s captured live on video — then we have the makings of a scandal,” Manne said. It is too soon to tell where that might lead. More

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      Pressure Mounts on Rubiales Over Kiss at World Cup

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      Luis Rubiales has defied calls to resign, now echoed by his own federation. Soccer’s world governing body has suspended him, and prosecutors have opened an initial investigation.The pressure is on for Luis Rubiales, the president of Spain’s national soccer federation, to quit.Prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation on Monday into whether his kiss of the forward Jennifer Hermoso, during the medals ceremony after she and her teammates won the Women’s World Cup for Spain last week, was an act of sexual aggression.In an emergency meeting that went on late into Monday night, Spain’s regional soccer chiefs unanimously asked him to step down immediately. The president of the National Sports Council said in a televised news conference on Monday that Mr. Rubiales should have handed in his notice last Friday. And in Madrid on Monday night, hundreds of people took to the streets, waving red cards and demanding Mr. Rubiales’s resignation.But Mr. Rubiales has remained defiant. Since Friday — when he said “I will not resign” five times — he has been holed up with his family in his hometown, Motril.Mr. Rubiales, a former professional soccer player, had hoped to play a match with friends on Saturday evening at the town’s municipal stadium. Feminist groups threatened to protest outside the gates, and the town council ordered it canceled, saying it could not guarantee Mr. Rubiales’s safety.There are also some signs of backing for him in the town, however.Mr. Rubiales’s mother has been on hunger strike in a church in Motril since Monday, protesting against what she has called the “inhumane and bloody hunt” against her son. On Monday night, responding to a call by Mr. Rubiales’s cousins, people congregated outside the church in support, some with posters aimed at Ms. Hermoso saying: “Jenni, tell the truth.” A police estimate cited in the Spanish media put the crowd at around 200.On Monday, Spain’s public prosecutors opened a pretrial investigation to establish whether the nonconsensual kiss Mr. Rubiales pressed on Ms. Hermoso was an act of sexual aggression, a crime that is punishable by up to four years in prison. Ms. Hermoso was widely reported to have been given 15 days to come forward with a formal complaint that would allow the prosecutors to proceed.As a young man, Mr. Rubiales, 46, enjoyed a career as a soccer player in the Spanish league. He became president of the Spanish soccer players’ association in 2010 and then took over the presidency of the Royal Spanish Football Federation five years ago. On Tuesday morning, there was no news from Mr. Rubiales. If he refuses to go voluntarily, the federation he presides over may hold a vote of no confidence to oust him.The Spanish government, for the time being, has its hands tied. According to press reports, it can intervene only if the Court of Arbitration for Sport considers the kiss to be a “very serious infraction.” On Monday, the reports said, the court asked for more documentation before reaching a decision.In a news conference on Tuesday morning, the acting sports minister, Miquel Iceta, was questioned about what steps the government was taking to remove Mr. Rubiales. “We all want this matter to be resolved as soon as possible,” Mr. Iceta said. “But we must also ensure that it is done rigorously and with all the legal guarantees — among other reasons, to prevent an appeal that could reverse whatever decisions are made.” More

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      Spanish Prosecutors Open Inquiry Into Luis Rubiales Over World Cup Kiss

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      Luis Rubiales caused outrage with his conduct after Spain won the Women’s World Cup and then for his defiant stand when he came under heavy criticism.Spanish prosecutors said on Monday that they had opened an investigation into whether Luis Rubiales, the president of the country’s soccer federation, could be charged with committing an act of sexual aggression after he kissed one of the female team’s players on the lips when they won the World Cup this month.Opposition has steadily grown in response to Mr. Rubiales’s conduct and his strident defense of it, and the group he heads, known formally as Royal Spanish Football Federation, has found itself under increasing pressure to take action. The group was meeting later Monday to discuss the issue.Mr. Rubiales was shown on video after the World Cup final in Sydney on Aug. 20 kissing one of the team’s star players, Jennifer Hermoso, and although he apologized the day after, he then took a defiant stand later in the week.He said Ms. Hermoso had lifted him off his feet and “moved me close to her body,” accusing his critics of “false feminism” and saying he was the victim of “social assassination.” Ms. Hermoso countered in a statement, “At no time did I consent to the kiss that he gave me.”The Spanish team has recently found success at the highest levels of women’s soccer, after reaching the Women’s World Cup for the first time in 2015, but the events involving Mr. Rubiales were a reminder that the program has been plagued by sexism and other scandals.Mr. Rubiales is a vice president of UEFA, soccer’s governing body in Europe, and has been leading the joint bid by Spain, Portugal, Morocco and possibly Ukraine to host the 2030 World Cup. FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, had already suspended him from the sport for 90 days. The entire female team and dozens of other players signed a joint statement saying they would not take the field to play for Spain “if the current managers continue.”Criticism of Mr. Rubiales has come from the government, too. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez described his conduct as “unacceptable,” and the secretary of the opposition People’s Party, Cuca Gamarra, called the kiss “shameful.”Players from around the world showed their support for Ms. Hermoso, often using the hashtag “se acabó,” or “it’s over,” after a social media post by Alexia Putellas, a member of the Spanish national team. More

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      Spanish Soccer Chief Finds His Defenders Backing Away

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      Luis Rubiales was widely condemned for kissing a player after the Spanish women’s team won the World Cup, but retained a few public supporters. Many now appear to be reconsidering.When the president of the Spanish soccer federation, Luis Rubiales, kissed Jennifer Hermoso, a star forward on the Spanish national team that had just won the Women’s World Cup, much of the Spanish news media condemned his behavior. Most mainstream outlets, along with Spaniards on social media, called out the kiss as evidence of a callous disregard for Ms. Hermoso and, more broadly, lingering sexism in soccer.Not the radio sportscaster Manolo Lama. Mr. Lama said on a popular late-night show on the Cadena Cope radio station, “Those who are angry, it’s because they have never been kissed.” He used the female pronoun for “they” in Spanish.Earlier, in a post-match interview with Mr. Rubiales, also on Cadena Cope, a popular sports presenter, Juanma Castaño, did not question the federation president about the appropriateness of his behavior. When Mr. Rubiales characterized the kiss as a “peck between two friends celebrating something” and brushed off his critics as “losers,” “idiots” and “stupid people,” Mr. Castaño laughed and said, “I think the same thing.”As the chorus of condemnation grew over the week following Mr. Rubiales’s actions at the World Cup final, it became harder to defend the federation president.Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez waded in, calling it “unacceptable” that the soccer chief had kissed a player on the lips without her consent. The secretary of the opposition People’s Party, Cuca Gamarra, described the kiss as “shameful.” On Saturday, the world soccer federation temporarily suspended Mr. Rubiales. On Monday, Spanish soccer officials will hold an emergency meeting about the situation.Since their initial comments, both sports journalists have apologized to their audiences. Mr. Castaño issued a statement last Monday saying that he now realized the kiss was “more than a mistake with no importance.”Mr. Lama published an apology of sorts on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, asking last Monday for “forgiveness from those I have offended.” But he did not condemn Mr. Rubiales, and wrote of the kiss: “I simply think it is an act produced from euphoria and without malice.”“But Spain has become a country of inquisitors,” he continued, “if you think differently, you’ll be stoned.”The Cadena Cope radio station did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The kiss has brought the ongoing lively conversation in Spain about the treatment of women back into the fore.Some of Spain’s conservative mainstream news outlets have used the incident to take a dig at a controversial law passed in August last year by Mr. Sánchez’s Socialist government. The law classifies all nonconsensual sex acts as rape, but initially contained a loophole that allowed some convicted offenders to lower their sentences.On Saturday, an editorial in Spain’s conservative newspaper, La Razón, described the episode as a “national monstrosity,” and said the progressivism of Mr. Sánchez’s government had created an environment that enabled Mr. Rubiales. “His vulgar and inappropriate behavior in the Women’s World Cup final would have been impossible” the editorial said, without the protection that Sánchez’s government “has provided to his escapades.”The more left-leaning El País has focused on the emergence of a hashtag in support of Ms. Hermoso: “se acabó,” or “it’s over,” coined by Alexia Putellas, a member of the Spanish national team, who is widely acknowledged as the best female player in the world. An editorial on Saturday said that “women are saying enough to the abuse of power and Spanish society is with them.” By Sunday, El País led with the simple affirmation: “Spain no longer tolerates ‘los Rubiales,’” referring not only to Mr. Rubiales, but to sexist behavior in general.Protesters on Friday holding red cards, which signify the sending off of a player in soccer, as a protest against Mr. Rubiales in Las Rozas, Spain.Isabel Infantes/ReutersThe sports newspaper AS, which had seemed to initially back Mr. Rubiales, has dropped its support for the soccer chief.Earlier this week, it ran a headline blaming Ms. Hermoso — “Jenni lets Rubiales take the fall.” By Saturday, after widespread criticism, it was leading with a photo of Mr. Rubiales and a more neutral headline in reference to him, “Struck down.”Some of his colleagues at the Spanish soccer federation are shifting their allegiance as well.On Friday, as Mr. Rubiales defiantly announced he would not be quitting, many of his closest colleagues, including Jorge Vilda and Luis de la Fuente, the managers of the Spanish women’s and men’s squads, gave him a standing ovation.Hours later, FIFA announced Mr. Rubiales’s suspension from soccer for 90 days, and the entire female squad and dozens of other players signed a joint statement saying they would not take the field to play for Spain “if the current managers continue.”Mr. de la Fuente and Mr. Vilda have now distanced themselves from Mr. Rubiales, with Mr. Vilda saying that he regretted the “inappropriate conduct” of his boss. 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      Houston Rockets Introduce Coach Ime Udoka

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      The Celtics fired Udoka in February after he violated team policies. Udoka said at a news conference for his hiring as Houston’s coach that he had worked on himself and become a better person.The Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta asked fans to be forgiving on Wednesday as he introduced the team’s new head coach, Ime Udoka, who had been suspended and then fired by the Boston Celtics within the past year for violating unspecified team policies.Fertitta said any critic unwilling to give Udoka a second chance was “not a good Christian person.”The Celtics suspended Udoka for the 2022-23 N.B.A. season in September, then fired him in February, after he had a relationship with a female subordinate, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who was not authorized to discuss it publicly.At the introductory news conference in Houston, Udoka made his first public comments since leaving the Celtics, who have declined to specify which policies he violated. Udoka was flanked by Fertitta and Rockets General Manager Rafael Stone, who also declined to provide details on what they know, including whether they had seen the report from the Celtics’ investigation.“What I would say is that we got comfortable that it was an appropriate hire and that we were comfortable in the process,” Stone said. “But just the same way, I wouldn’t talk about exactly what we did with anybody else, I’m not going to talk about it with Ime. It’s just, in my view, it’s not appropriate.”Udoka said that he had been “working on myself in a lot of different ways,” including by undergoing counseling and sensitivity training, and that he would be a better person, leader, father and coach as a result.“I released a statement months ago when everything happened and, you know, apologized to a lot of people for the tough position I put them in,” Udoka said. “And I stand by that and I feel much more remorse even now towards that.”He added, “But the situation — the matter — has been resolved and I can’t really speak much about it.”Fertitta said that he was particularly comfortable with hiring Udoka after conversations with the N.B.A. “We’re a forgiving society and everybody makes mistakes and you know, some things, maybe we shouldn’t forgive people for,” he said. “But I think what happened and his personal situation is definitely something to be forgiven for.”In a meeting with sports editors on Tuesday, N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver said that he was OK with teams hiring Udoka, though he said he did not know if Houston officials had seen the investigation report.Asked if the Celtics made the right decision to discipline him, Udoka said, “My part in it was to take ownership and accountability.”“I served a suspension and I had to own it, honestly,” Udoka said. “So, same thing I’ll preach to the guys. I can’t sit here and not take accountability to myself. So it was their right to go about it however they wanted to. And that’s the choice they took.”Udoka played seven seasons in the N.B.A., mostly as a reserve, before becoming a respected assistant coach for nearly a decade. The Celtics hired him to be their head coach before the 2021-22 season. His first — and only — season with Boston was a success: He helped lead the Celtics to the N.B.A. finals, where they lost to Golden State. Now, he’ll be taking over a Rockets team that has been one of the league’s worst over the last three years. But Houston has significant salary cap space at its disposal, talented young players and high-value draft picks. More

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      Women’s Soccer Bans Ex-Coaches and Fines Teams After Misconduct Report

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      Findings released in December revealed a number of issues throughout the league, including several instances of sexual and emotional abuse.The National Women’s Soccer League on Monday permanently banned four former coaches, suspended other league officials, and fined several teams, following a report last month that detailed alleged abuse and misconduct across the league.Paul Riley, a former North Carolina Courage coach; Rory Dames, a former Chicago Red Stars coach; Richie Burke, a former Washington Spirit coach; and Christy Holly, a former Racing Louisville F.C. coach, were permanently banned from the league for alleged misconduct ranging from inappropriate comments to, in the case of Holly, groping a player.The Red Stars were fined $1.5 million, and Portland Thorns F.C. were fined $1 million for failure to properly act on allegations of misconduct.Craig Harrington, the former Utah Royal F.C. coach, and Alyse LaHue, the former general manager of Gotham F.C., each received two-year suspensions from the league. Harrington was found to have “made inappropriate sexual and objectifying comments,” and LaHue was found to have sent players inappropriate messages, the N.W.S.L. report said.The league said in a statement on Monday that the sweeping disciplinary actions were based on a 128-page report released in December. The report, a joint effort organized by the N.W.S.L. and its players’ union, revealed a number of disturbing problems throughout the league, including instances of sexual abuse, unwanted sexual advances, emotional abuse, racist remarks, and retaliation against players who complained about how they were treated.“Players from marginalized backgrounds, or with the least job security, were often targets of misconduct,” the report said. “At the same time, these players faced the greatest barriers to speaking out about or obtaining redress for what they experienced.”Jessica Berman, the league’s commissioner, said in a statement that the “corrective action” announced on Monday was “appropriate and necessary.”“The league will continue to prioritize implementing and enhancing the policies, programs and systems that put the health and safety of our players first,” Berman said. “These changes will require leadership, accountability, funding and a willingness to embrace this new way of conducting business.”Last month’s report is similar to another released in October, from an investigation led by Sally Q. Yates, a former deputy attorney general, that detailed “systemic” verbal abuse and sexual misconduct by women’s soccer coaches and found that officials in the United States Soccer Federation, the National Women’s Soccer League and throughout American soccer had failed to act over the years on complaints from players.Holly, while coaching Louisville, groped one of his players and sent her inappropriate text messages, according to the investigations. On one occasion, Holly invited a player to his home to watch video of a game, but instead masturbated in front of her and showed her pornography, the investigations found.The investigations also found that Riley, who was fired from the North Carolina Courage in 2021, used his position to try to coerce at least three players into sexual relationships. One player said Riley made sexual advances toward her on several occasions, according to the reports.Dames, who resigned from the Chicago Red Stars in 2021, was accused by the women’s soccer star Christen Press of “verbal and emotional abuse,” the N.W.S.L. report said. The investigation led by Yates also found that he had created a “sexualized team environment” at a Chicago youth club that “crossed the line to sexual relationships in multiple cases, though those relationships may have begun after the age of consent.”The N.W.S.L. report said that several players credibly reported that Burke “verbally and emotionally abused players,” and “used racial slurs, made racially insensitive and offensive jokes.”Riley, Dames, Burke, Holly, Harrington and the Portland Thorns did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.Kelly Hoffman, a lawyer for LaHue, said in an email on Monday night that “Ms. LaHue continues to deny the allegations made against her. Notwithstanding the issues presented in her case, she supports the N.W.S.L. in its efforts towards corrective action.”A spokesman for the Chicago Red Stars said in an email on Monday night that the team was aware of the disciplinary action and that it was “working with the league in a cooperative manner to satisfy the fine.”The investigations led by the N.W.S.L. and Yates highlighted reports in 2021 by The Athletic and The Washington Post that described accusations of sexual and verbal abuse against coaches in the women’s league. Those reports led to public protests by players and the resignations or firings of league executives. Weeks after the reports of alleged sexual and verbal abuse, five coaches in the league were linked to the allegations.As part of Monday’s disciplinary actions, four others teams — OL Reign, Gotham F.C., Racing Louisville F.C. and North Carolina Courage — were fined amounts ranging from $50,000 to $200,000 for failure to act on allegations of misconduct.Six other league officials were told that any future employment with the league would depend on taking part in a training, “acknowledging wrongdoing and accepting personal responsibility for inappropriate conduct” and “demonstrating a sincere commitment to correcting behavior.”Two of the six officials were Vera Pauw, a former coach of the Houston Dash, and Farid Benstiti, a former coach of the OL Reign. The N.W.S.L. report said Pauw and Benstiti, “shamed players for their weight.”In a statement after the N.W.S.L. report was released in December, Pauw said she wanted to “refute every allegation” made against her in the report. Benstiti could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday night.April Rubin More

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      Brussels Court Orders 3 Linked to Qatar Bribery Case to Stay in Prison

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      Belgian officials said they suspected a Gulf country of trying “to influence the economic and political decisions of the European Parliament.”BRUSSELS — A court in Belgium ruled on Wednesday that two suspects in a case linking current and former European lawmakers to alleged bribery by Qatar should remain in prison until trial and that a third should wear an electronic monitor, as the snowballing scandal continued to rock European Union institutions.Four people, including Eva Kaili, a former vice president of the European Parliament who is from Greece, were charged last week with corruption, money laundering and participation in suspected bribes from Qatar, in what may be the biggest scandal in the history of the Parliament.A court hearing for Ms. Kaili was postponed until Dec. 22, the office of the Belgian federal prosecutor said on Wednesday, so she remains imprisoned outside Brussels. Parliamentary lawmakers also stripped Ms. Kaili of her title as vice president during a plenary session in France.Court documents seen by The New York Times identified the other suspects as Pier Antonio Panzeri, a former member of Parliament; Francesco Giorgi, Ms. Kaili’s partner and an assistant to a current European lawmaker; and Niccolo Figa-Talamanca, secretary general of a Brussels-based charity. Mr. Panzeri and Mr. Giorgi were ordered to remain detained until trial, and Mr. Figa-Talamanca was ordered to be placed under electronic monitoring.Two others were arrested in Italy in connection with the case, the Belgian prosecutor’s office said.Belgian officials said they suspected a Gulf country of trying “to influence the economic and political decisions of the European Parliament.”The Belgian intelligence services have been working for more than a year with similar services in other countries to “map suspected bribery” of European lawmakers, the justice ministry told The Times.A Brief Guide to the 2022 World CupCard 1 of 9What is the World Cup? More