Sports Poets Society

New signing made positive debut and could have major role to play against former club Fluminense this evening Jacob Steinberg  8 Jul 2025 - The Guardian New York - Estêvão Willian was not the only Brazilian attacker to offer a tantalising glimpse of the future during Chelsea’s win against Palmeiras in the quarter-finals of the Club World Cup. There was also a bright cameo from João Pedro, who came on for Liam Delap just after Estêvão’s equaliser early in the second half and proceeded to change the game with his brawn and intelligent link-up play. It was an eye-catching performance from the forward given that his £60m move to Chelsea had been announced two days earlier. What had the 23-year-old been doing during his time off ? Lifting logs and existing on a diet of raw steak, presumably. The aggression from João Pedro was startling. He was raring to go after a couple of training sessions with his new teammates and, while he was not involved in the winning goal, his bustling forward ...

ROBBIE JAY BARRATT/ AMA/GETTY IMAGES - Liam Delap comes on for  Nicolas Jackson in Chelsea’s opening Club World Cup match against LAFC If Delap is the known unknown, Jackson is the known known: the gifted forward who scores plenty and misses more 24 Jun 2025 - The Guardian Jonathan Liew 'They are quite similar,” Enzo Maresca said last week of Liam Delap and Nicolas Jackson, but of course nobody wanted to take any notice of that bit. Already battle lines are being drawn, positions entrenched. Delap or Jackson. Jackson or Delap. One must survive. One must go reluctantly on loan to Serie A. Those are just the rules. On these terms alone, it’s been a very good week for Delap. Against Flamengo in the Club World Cup on Friday, he was preferred up front, and played with bristling, controlled aggression for more than an hour before making way for Jackson. He then watched as his replacement lost possession with his first touch, went studs-up with his second, was sent off and scapegoated for...

Ce samedi démarre la compétition dans une version remaniée par la Fifa, avec 32 équipes et un joli pactole à la clé. Mais aussi plus de matchs pour des joueurs déjà physiquement malmenés. 14 Jun 2025 - Libération PAR ROMAIN MÉTAIRIE «Une nouvelle ère pour le football», vante, ni plus ni moins, Gianni Infantino en évoquant sa dernière lubie: la Coupe du monde des clubs. Le patron de la Fifa est à l’origine de cette compétition revisitée, qui passe cette année de 7 à 32 clubs. Et sûrement à 48 pour la prochaine édition, si la présente se déroule comme souhaité. Avec toujours plus d’argent en jeu, et toujours moins de repos pour les stars des grosses écuries, qui voient leur trève estivale réduite à peau de chagrin. Libé fait le tour des enjeux autour de ce Mondial.Photo SuSANA VeRA. ReuteRS Au MetLife Stadium dans le New Jersey, où s’affrontent São Paulo et Porto ce dimanche. A quoi ressemble la compétition ? Jusqu’à maintenant, du moins dans sa version la plus récente, la Coupe du monde...

Het ingrijpend vernieuwde WK voor clubteams, dat dit weekend begint in de VS, is onderdeel van een machtsstrijd tussen de FIFA en de UEFA. 14 Jun 2025 - NRC Joris Kooiman en Steven Verseput AMSTERDAM. Ronald Koeman FIfa-voorzitter Gianni Infantino gebruikt grote woorden, afgelopen dinsdag in een zaaltje in Miami. „We schrijven geschiedenis”, zegt hij, staand naast de gouden trofee voor het WK voor clubs. Daarin is niet alleen twee keer zijn naam gegraveerd, de wereldvoetbalbond claimt in een tekst op de beker ook dat het toernooi het „hoogtepunt” vormt van álle internationale clubcompetities. Een „big bang” in de historie van voetbal, stelt Infantino in Miami. Of het ingrijpend vernieuwde clubwk, dat deze zaterdag begint in de Verenigde Staten, die verwachtingen waarmaakt is de vraag. Anders dan Infantino doet geloven, is er veel scepsis. Spelersvakbonden vinden het onverantwoord dat de FIFA een omvangrijk toernooi van vier weken organiseert in vrijwel de enige periode dat (top)spelers...

PEDRO CASTILLO/REAL MADRID/GETTY IMAGES Xabi Alonso is an interventionist coach, happy to lead by example Tournament offers new coach first chance to measure the task ahead at a toxic club that has become unmoored Jonathan Liew 14 Jun 2025 - THE GUARDIAN / Sport Of course he has been taking part in training. Quite frankly, it would have been deeply and offensively off-brand for Xabi Alonso not to have joined in. Darting around in the roasting heat, physically moving players into his desired positions, pinging pinpoint passes in his classic Predator boots: it was Alonso in his purest essence, and as the new Real Madrid coach oversaw his first sessions at Valdebebas this week it was hard not to feel that on some level nature was healing. As a player Alonso was a difference-maker, a details man, a midfielder who adored the ball and tried to leave nothing to chance. As a coach, the same traits define him. Sessions are high-intensity, fast-paced, but almost always with the ball at feet. He ...

Mega-bucks tournament, which kicks off tonight, sees Fifa shed its role as overseer and regulator to become the investor-disruptor of every league on the planet CHATGPT simulated the tournament: PSG beat Bayern in final. Do we really need to play it? Barney Ronay 14 Jun 2025 - THE GUARDIAN / Sport Fire up the marching band. Rouse the majorettes from their state of indifference. Put out more flags. Put out some flags. Put out a flag. Er … is anyone actually there? IShowspeed? Can you hear me Pitbull? Welcome to the almost-world Cup, an almost-real almost-event that will perhaps, with a favourable wind, now begin to feel like almost-football. This week Gianni Infantino described Fifa’s regeared tournament as football’s Big Bang, referencing the moment of ignition from which all the matter in the universe was dispersed out of a previously cold and indifferent void. And to be fair, Infantino was half-right. So far we have the void. America, we have been repeatedly told, is ready for this, ...

10 Jun 2025 - O Globo NELSON LIMA NETO nelson.neto@oglobo.com.br Documento obtido pela coluna do Ancelmo Gois no GLOBO detalha premiações para participantes da Copa do Mundo de Clubes. Botafogo, Fla, Flu e Palmeiras poderão receber de R$ 82 milhões a R$ 554 milhões From page 34 Um documento obtido pela coluna do Ancelmo Gois, no GLOBO, detalha os valores que Botafogo, Flamengo, Fluminense e Palmeiras poderão receber por suas participações e prêmios por desempenho na Copa do Mundo de Clubes da Fifa, que começa neste sábado, nos Estados Unidos. Ao assinar o contrato com as equipes, a Fifa garantiu às agremiações da Conmebol o pagamento de US$ 15,2 milhões (mais de R$ 82 milhões) como parte do chamado “pilar de participação”. Lembrando que esse valor pode variar ligeiramente de acordo com o câmbio feito pelos clubes. No dia 29 de maio, foram depositados US$ 12,2 milhões (R$ 65,8 milhões) desse montante — conforme confirmado pelo presidente do Flamengo, Luiz Eduardo Baptista, durante reuni...

EDUARDO RAPETTI/AFP/GETTY - Platense players enjoy the moment  after  winning the Apertura Argentinian title for the first time in their 120-year history Even if Boca Juniors and River Plate lose every game they will get £11.25m, 30 times as much as the domestic champions 10 Jun 2025 - The Guardian Jonathan Wilson Last Sunday, in the northern Argentinian city of Santiago del Estero, Platense beat Huracán 1-0 to win Argentina’s Apertura , the decisive goal a beautiful dipping effort by Guido Mainero. It was the first title in the club’s 120-year history and provoked extraordinary emotion. Platense are one of Argentina’s quirkier clubs. They are nicknamed the Squid because their original ground was built on a marsh and the story grew that they played better in wet conditions when, as the journalist Antonio Palacio Zino put it, “the boys moved like squid in their ink”. The boggy conditions are also supposedly why they wear brown after an early director thought it would help to hi...

Gianni Infantino, président de la FIFA, et Ronaldo, jeudi,  lors du tirage au sort de la Coupe du monde des clubs. Plusieurs observateurs voient l’ombre du royaume saoudien derrière l’acquisition récente, auprès de la FIFA, des droits télé du Mondial des clubs par DAZN.  D’autant plus qu’il est sur le point d’obtenir l’organisation de la Coupe du monde 2034. 7 Dec 2024 - L'Équipe SACHA NOKOVITCH On ne sait pas si Gianni Infantino, le président de la FIFA, est doué en affaires, mais il parvient pour l’instant toujours à ses fins. Y compris pour sa Coupe du monde des clubs nouvelle formule, à 32 équipes, organisée aux États-Unis du 15 juin au 13 juillet prochains. Même s’il a dû revoir ses ambitions à la baisse (2 milliards de dollars, soit 1,9 Md€, de revenus espérés, contre 4 visés au départ), le Suisse est en train d’aller chercher cet argent avec les dents… Et surtout avec son influence.Gianni Infantino, président de la FIFA, et Ronaldo, jeudi, lors du tirage au sort de la C...