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      Barcelona and Real Madrid ‘at risk of European AXE’ after Spanish FA ‘take drastic action over Rubiales kiss storm’

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      SPANISH FA bosses have “threatened to get themselves axed from Uefa” if Luis Rubiales is forced out as president by their government, according to reports.This would see the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona left unable to play in the Champions League, as a Uefa competition.
      Luis Rubiales kissed Jenni Hermoso without consent after the World Cup finalCredit: Rex
      The disgraced Spanish FA chief has refused to resign
      Disgraced Spanish FA boss Rubiales kissed star Jenni Hermoso as she went to collect her medal after the World Cup final earlier this month.
      Hermoso, 33, later admitted that she “did not like this” – with a host of players and clubs subsequently coming out in support of the 33-year-old.
      Rubiales has refused to resign, however, and called the backlash against him “social murder” at a press conference.
      His mum has this morning bizarrely locked herself in a church and gone on HUNGER STRIKE over the “inhumane witch-hunt” against her son.
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      According to Spanish outlet Onda Cero, Spanish FA chiefs have written to Uefa, pointing out what they believe to be a breach in rules by the government of Spain.
      Last week it was announced the Spanish government had begun the process of potentially suspending Rubiales for his actions.
      In a letter to Uefa, Spain’s FA are alleged to have pointed out that their government’s involvement in removing Rubiales would be a breach in the European football governing body’s laws.
      Revelo have since claimed that Uefa will ignore the RFEF – Royal Spanish Football Federation – and not intervene with no risk of Spain being left out of any European competition.
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      The rule in question states that Uefa associations “shall manage their affairs independently and without undue influence from third parties.
      “Any body or decision of a body that has not been elected or appointed in accordance with said procedure, even provisionally, will not be recognised.”
      Pointing out this potential rule breach could get Spain kicked out of Uefa, which the Spanish government would not want.
      Such an outcome would see Spanish clubs including Real Madrid and Barcelona kicked out of the Champions League.
      Atletico Madrid, Real Sociedad and Sevilla are also in the Champions League this season.
      Real Betis and Villarreal are in the Europa League.
      All of them would be at threat of losing their place in those respective competitions.
      However, The Independent report that Uefa have no intention of removing Spain at this stage.
      Rubiales, 46, has been slapped with a 90-day suspension from all football activities by Fifa.
      Regardless, the Spanish FA appear hellbent on saving his job.
      Aside from controversial head coach Jorge Vilda, Spain’s coaching staff from their World Cup success have all resigned.
      Despite Hermoso stating that the kiss was not consensual, the Spanish FA have vehemently backed Rubiales – even threatening to sue their midfielder.
      Numerous players, including the entire 23-woman squad from the World Cup and men’s team striker Borja Iglesias, have stated that they will boycott the national side until Rubiales is axed.
      While David de Gea and Hector Bellerin have also criticised the under-fire Spanish FA boss.
      In addition to kissing Hermoso, Rubiales drew criticism after he was filmed grabbing his crotch while celebrating Spain’s win.
      He also entered the dressing room after the match, vowing to marry Hermoso.
      Rubiales eventually filmed an apology video, with Hermoso reportedly begged to take part – but refusing.
      Prior to his weak apology he had branded those criticising his lewd behaviour as “idiots”.
      While Vilda has not stepped down, and was seen applauding Rubiales’ speech on Friday, he has subsequently criticised his ally’s actions.
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      He wrote in a statement that his boss’ actions were “inappropriate and unacceptable”.
      Spain’s FA are set to hold an emergency meeting at 3pm following Rubiales’ suspension by FIfa.
      Rubiales astonishingly refused to resign in a press conference last weekCredit: Reuters More

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      Fans convinced there has been a mistake in Europa League draw as baffling new rule is introduced

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      FOOTBALL fans were left baffled with UEFA’s new rule in the Europa League draw.The European governing body has decided that this year there will be no country protection in the play-offs before the group stage.
      Fans are baffled by the new Europa League rule that excludes country protectionCredit: Getty
      That means Zorya Luhansk may face fellow Ukrainian outfit DniproCredit: Getty
      That means two teams from the same nation can actually play against each other in Europe.
      Thus, Zorya Luhansk could face fellow Ukrainian outfit Dnipro in the final qualifying round.
      Dnipro are playing Slavia Prague in the third qualifying round and the winner will square up against Zorya.
      However, fans have yet to adapt to the new rule and some even wondered if UEFA completed yet another blunder during today’s draw.
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      One fan tweeted: “Is the top fixture even allowed to stand btw?
      “Dnipro and Zorya are both Ukrainian and could play each other. Unless I’m wrong about something.”
      Another commented: “Why Zorya can play against Dnipro? I need an explanation.”
      A third said: “In the Uefa Europa League draw, #Dnipro was drawn against the winner between Slavia Prague and #Zorya Luhansk.
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      “Unlike the Champions and Conference League, the 2023/2024 Europa League regulations do not provide so-called “country protection” for the playoff round. Weird. #UELDRAW.”
      This fan wrote: “Dnipro vs Zorya ? How ?”
      And that one wondered: “What is @UEFA doing?”
      Liverpool and Brighton may meet the winner of that exchange in the the Europa League group stage after finishing fifth and sixth respectively in the Premier League last season.
      The Reds and the Seagulls will be joined by West Ham, who won the Europa Conference League. More

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      Uefa hint Barcelona could be BOOTED OUT of Champions League amid claims they paid refs’ chief £6m

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      BARCELONA could be KICKED OUT of the Champions League next season as Uefa investigate allegations of payments to referees.Uefa announced in March that it was opening an investigation into the Catalan giants.
      Barcelona are being investigated by UefaCredit: Alamy
      This came after it was reported they had paid just shy of £6MILLION to companies owned by Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the former vice-president of Spain’s referees committee.
      The payments are claimed to have been made between 2001 and 2018.
      Uefa’s appeals body confirmed the club had been granted provisional access to the 2023-24 Champions League but acknowledged: “A future decision on admission/exclusion from the Uefa club competitions is reserved.”
      Uefa said four months ago that ethics and disciplinary investigators had been appointed to look into “a potential violation of Uefa’s legal framework” in relation to this case.
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      The appeals body said on Thursday: “The investigators in charge of the case are invited to continue and finalise their investigation and to send a further report to the appeals body if and when they consider that the admission/exclusion of FC Barcelona should be assessed.”
      Barcelona deny any wrongdoing in the case.
      Xavi’s men are set to enter the competition as a Pot 1 side after they won the LaLiga title last season.
      And they will be hoping to avoid a third straight group-stage exit.
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      Last season, Barca finished third in their group behind Bayern Munich and Inter Milan.
      They dropped down to the Europa League but were swiftly eliminated in the play-off round by Manchester United.
      Barcelona have reached just one Champions League semi-final in eight years – which came in 2019 when they spurned a 3-0 aggregate lead to lose to eventual champions Liverpool 4-3 in a remarkable tie. More

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      La Liga side have European ban OVERTURNED by Uefa just four weeks before first match

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      OSASUNA have overturned Uefa’s European ban and will compete in this year’s Europa Conference League.The LaLiga club were initially kicked out of Europe’s third-tier competition as punishment for a decade-old match-fixing scandal just four weeks before the tournament’s opener.
      Osasuna overturned their Europa Conference League banCredit: Getty
      UEFA initially banned Osasuna due to a decade-old match-fixing scandalCredit: Reuters
      The issue in question is referred to as ‘Caso-Osasuna’ and it ended with former club president Miguel Archanco and five former club directors being sentenced to prison.
      That’s after a court found £557,000 of club funds were directed to pay players from other teams to influence results.
      However, the Spanish outfit appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and managed to turn it around.
      Uefa found Osasuna were a “victim of the events” that occurred from the 2013/2014 season.
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      Jagoba Arrasate’s side will therefore be present on the Europa Conference League play-off draw, which takes place on August 7.
      However, Uefa have opened a different disciplinary procedure against the club.
      That is because the team went to “ordinary courts” during the ongoing process.
      However, that won’t lead to any ban from Europe and Osasuna promised not to appeal the governing body’s decision.
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      The Pamplona outfit finished seventh in LaLiga last season after beating Athletic Bilbao to the final qualification spot by two points.
      That means they may face Aston Villa in the Europa Conference League this coming season.
      Villa also finished seventh in the Premier League after a stunning turnaround under manager Unai Emery. More

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      Man City accused of accepting illicit £30million payment from ‘mystery’ figure in Middle East

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      MANCHESTER CITY have been accused of accepting a illicit £30m payment from a “mystery” figure from the United Arab Emirates.According to a new documentary, Uefa chiefs ruled that two separate £15m payments in 2012 and 2013 were used to cover for sponsorship funds that did not actually exist.
      Man City have been accused of taking a £30m payment from a mystery figure in the United Arab EmiratesCredit: Getty
      While City successfully overturned their two-year European ban in 2020, the allegations are understood to be among the claims that have left the Champions League winners facing 115 separate Premier League financial charges.
      And Prem legal experts may be likely to use the Uefa evidence to try to prove their case.
      The YouTube documentary, “Britain’s Biggest Football Scandal?” cites a 2020 report from Uefa’s Club Financial Control Board – which was never published.
      European financial experts are said to have agreed that the payments were supposed to be from the UAE telecommunications company Etisalat.
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      Instead, though, the payments allegedly “disguised equity funding” from the accounts of City’s owners, the Abu Dhabi United Group, in breach of FFP regulations.
      City are also accused of effectively paying former boss Roberto Mancini via two separate accounts — the official £1.45m salary through the club’s books and the remaining £1.75m from owner Sheikh Mansour’s Abu Dhabi football club, Al Jazira.
      Under questioning from Uefa, a City lawyer was said to have named “Jaber Mohamed” as the person who had made the payments, describing him as “a person in the business of providing financial and brokering services to commercial entities in the UAE”.
      According to Uefa, City confirmed the named payer as Jaber Mohamed, although the club declined to produce him as a witness.
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      The YouTube report claims Uefa asked: “The obvious question, not answered at any point in the club’s submission and evidence, is why either Etisalat or ADUG should have needed any financial assistance from a broker in paying the Etisalat sponsorship liabilities.”
      City insisted that Etisalat repaid the money in 2015 and the club’s successful appeal to the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport saw two of the three judges on the panel rule the claims “remain unsubstantiated”.
      CAS also ruled many of the Uefa charges could not be justified because they were “time limited” and filed too late.
      But Prem rules have no time restrictions, leaving open the prospect of further scrutiny.
      City face 115 Prem charges relating to financial reporting between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons, plus charges of non-cooperation with the League investigation over five years up to and including last term.
      The Treble winners, who have vehemently and vociferously maintained their innocence of all claims and charges, declined to comment on the latest allegations.
      But there are likely to be private questions from the club over the documentary makers, Sunrise Media, registered in the British Virgin Islands as recently as June 9, amid suspicions that the source of the allegations may be linked to UAE’s Gulf rivals, the state of Qatar. More

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      Uefa introduce new ‘anti-Chelsea’ transfer rule after Enzo Fernandez and Mykhailo Mudryk signings

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      UEFA have introduced a new “anti-Chelsea” transfer rule following the signings of Enzo Fernandez and Mykhailo Mudryk. The Blues splashed out huge money to land a host of talents last season.
      Mykhailo Mudryk signed for Chelsea on a long-term deal in JanuaryCredit: Getty
      But as well as spending £600million in transfer fees, the Stamford Bridge side tied their new players down to mammoth long contracts.
      Some of those were up to six, seven or even eight-and-a-half years.
      It was done to spread the costs of deals – such as the British-record £106million for Fernandez – over a longer period and therefore get around Uefa’s Financial Fair Play regulations.
      As a result, Chelsea’s transfer “spend” for the 2022-23 campaign was just £98m.
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      However, Euro bosses are closing that loophole with their new rule.
      Uefa’s executive committee have ruled that all transfer deals, starting this summer, must be calculated over a maximum of five years, irrespective of the contract length.
      Uefa said the limitation would “ensure equal treatment of all clubs”.
      It does not ban longer-term deals from being signed and the rules will NOT be introduced retrospectively.
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      The new legislation will take effect from July 1 – when the international transfer market opens.
      Wesley Fofana and David Datro Fofana are tied down at Stamford Bridge until 2029.
      Benoit Badiashile and Noni Madueke’s contracts run until 2030.
      But it is Mudryk and Fernandez who will not become free agents until a staggering 2031. More

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      Fans fume at ‘garbage’ Uefa after stream for England U21s against Israel is hit by tech nightmare

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      FANS have fumed at Uefa after suffering issues trying to watch England’s Euro U21 clash against Israel.Many had hoped to watch the group stage fixture on the Uefa website but were continually sent to the Italy match instead.
      Fans were unable to watch the England U21s take on IsraelCredit: Uefa
      Newcastle’s Anthony Gordon netted the opening goal for EnglandCredit: EPA
      It appeared that the website had been incorrectly labelled and left fans confused as they could not watch the match.
      England faced Israel at the Ramaz Shengelias Sakhelobis Stadium in Georgia as they looked to make it two wins from two.
      The Young Lions beat the Czech Republic U21s 2-0 on Thursday thanks to goals from Jacob Ramsey and Emile Smith Rowe.
      But fans were left frustrated at being unable to watch the action as they took to social media.
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      One complained: “But not in England & your site is down – fantastic work again from Uefa for the fans.”
      A second tweeted: “The stream for Israel v England isn’t working, it goes to the Switzerland game.”
      A third wrote: “Streams not working, goes to Italy/Switzerland game no matter what you click on.”
      A fourth commented: “Anyone else getting sent to the Italy game when trying to watch England on the UEFA TV app??”
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      A fifth said: “Can’t get onto the right game. Seems we can only watch Switzerland vs Italy. Nuts.”
      A sixth declared: “There you go – total garbage.”
      It took a few minutes for Uefa to fix the issue and properly signpost the website.
      England took the lead in the 15th minute through Newcastle’s Anthony Gordon.
      They had an earlier effort from Smith Rowe ruled out for offside.
      England doubled their lead in the second half as the Arsenal star managed to net from outside of the box.
      And they would go on to win the game 2-0. More

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      Bizarre refereeing decision leaves England fans baffled as Uefa accused of acting like ‘a charity’

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      ENGLAND fans were left utterly confused following their side’s 7-0 win over North Macedonia on Monday evening.Gareth Southgate’s men raced into a 3-0 half-time lead at Old Trafford thanks to goals from Harry Kane, Bukayo Saka and Marcus Rashford.
      England fans were confused about a decision at the end of their comfortable winCredit: Channel 4
      Bukayo Saka bagged his first England hat-trick at Old Trafford on Monday eveningCredit: Getty
      After the break, two more from Saka completed the Arsenal man’s hat-trick.
      Kane helped himself to a second from the penalty spot and Kalvin Phillips also got his name on the scoresheet.
      As well as the stoppages for the four goals and spot kick, there were also 10 substitutions made in the second period.
      Yet despite all of those breaks in play, referee Istvan Kovacs did not play ANY added time at the end of the 90 minutes.
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      It left Three Lions supporters baffled as they took to social media to comment on the rather bizarre decision.
      One said: “I think we can all agree the biggest takeaway from England 7-0 North Macedonia was 0 minutes being added on after four goals, a penalty and ten substitutions.
      “You’re not a charity, Uefa.”
      Another added: “I actually rang in the radio once to ask about this, why do they only add on the exact minutes if the game is tight? What if I had a bet on 8-0?
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      “It’s mental how some rules are just ignored.”
      A third replied: “They genuinely make it up. A game with one goal in it and you’re guaranteed 4 minutes or more added on.”
      While a fourth jokingly responded: “I’m gonna be fuming If it goes down to goal difference.”
      England’s win over North Macedonia maintains their 100 per cent record in their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign. More