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Messi broke Pele’s all-time scoring milestone for their clubs by netting his 644th career goal in Barcelona’s 3-0 win over Valladolid on Tuesday. Messi achieved the feat in the 65th minute, helped by 18year old Pedro “Pedri” Gonzalez. After receiving the ball near the edge of the area, Pedri deftly rolled his boot over the ball to push it behind him to meet the Argentine’s run. The slick pass left Messi clear to beat goalkeeper Jordi Masip, who had denied with twice. “When I started playing football I never thought I’d break any record, especially not the one I achieved today that Pele held,” Messi wrote on Instagram after the match. “I can only give my thanks to everyone who helped me during these years, my teammates, my family, my friends, and everyone who supports me every day.” It is yet another record for Messi, who joined Barcelona at age 13 and made his competitive debut at 17 in 2004. “ The winshows that we have a strong squad, where there is a lot of competition for playing ti

FIFA says it has filed a criminal complaint against former President Sepp Blatter over “suspected criminal mismanagement” in connection with its loss-making football museum in Zurich. In a statement on Tuesday, the football body said it “lodged a criminal complaint with Zurich’s cantonal prosecutor as evidence of suspected criminal mismanagement by FIFA’s former management and companies appointed by them in relation to the [museum] has surfaced”. Blatter’s lawyer, Lorenz Erni, told the AFP news agency “the accusations are unfounded” and vehemently denied wrongdoing. According to FIFA, the museum generated a bill of 500 million Swiss francs ($564m) that instead “could and should have been channelled into the development of global football”. “We came to the conclusion that we had no choice other than to report the case to state prosecutors, not least because the current management of FIFA also has fiduciary responsibilities to the organisation and we intend to live up to them, even if th

Paolo Rossi, Italy’s goal-scoring hero from its victorious 1982 World Cup campaign and scorer of a hat-trick against Brazil in one of the most famous matches in the competition’s history, has died at the age of 64. The celebrated striker’s death comes with the football world still in mourning for Argentina icon Diego Maradona, who passed away late last month. Italian TV channel RAI Sport, where Rossi had been working as a pundit, said on Thursday that “Pablito” had died of an “incurable disease”. Rossi’s wife, Federica Cappelletti, posted a photo of herself and her husband on Instagram along with the words “per sempre” – “forever”. Cappelletti said he died in her arms. She said Rossi passed away in his sleep at hospital after she promised him she would care for their children and assured him that he “had already done so much”. “He didn’t want to go, but I hugged him hard and I told him, ‘Paolo, now go. Enough, you’ve suffered enough. Now leave this body,'” she said. “And then he we

Barcelona footballer and French national team member Antoine Griezmann has announced he is cutting ties with Chinese technology giant Huawei over the continuing persecution of Uighurs in Xinjiang province. Griezmann cited reports of Huawei’s involvement in the surveillance of Uighur Muslims as the reason for ending his contract as a brand ambassador with them on Thursday. “Following strong suspicions that Huawei has contributed to the development of a ‘Uighurs alert’ through the use of facial recognition software, I am immediately ending my partnership with the company,” Griezmann said in an Instagram post. “I am taking this opportunity to invite Huawei to not just be happy with denying these accusations but to implement action as quickly as possible to condemn this mass persecution and use its influence to contribute to respecting rights of men and women throughout society,” he added. The United Nations estimates that more than one million Turkic Muslims most of them ethnic Uighurs ha

  Former English FA chairman resigns after making a series of ‘unacceptable’ comments related to race and LGBTQ issues. Former English Football Association chairman Greg Clarke resigned from his role as a FIFA vice president on Thursday, two days after he left the FA over a series of offensive remarks. Clarke quit his role at the English football governing body on Tuesday after making a series of “unacceptable” comments to a British parliamentary committee, including referring to “coloured footballers” while discussing Black players. The 63-year-old was also criticised for describing being gay as a “life choice” in the comments to the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, for referring to the “different career interests” of people from ethnic minorities and for controversial remarks about girls’ football. Clarke said young girls were often put off playing the game because they did not want to be hit hard by footballs. European football’s governing body UEFA said

Radhi, a striker, led Iraq to victory in the Gulf Cups of 1984 Iraqi football legend Ahmed Radhi has died as a result of complications after he was diagnosed with COVID-19, the highly infectious respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus, the Iraqi health ministry has said. Radhi, 56, had been hospitalised last week in Baghdad after testing positive for the virus but had checked out on Thursday after his condition improved. He relapsed a few hours later and was readmitted to the hospital. He died early on Sunday. Iraqis joined a funeral procession to honour the former footballer in the Iraqi capital on Sunday morning. In video footage released on local media outlets, dozens of men were seen gathered around an ambulance, chanting "There is no God but Allah" in Arabic. Others were seen weeping in sadness as they walked alongside the vehicle shortly before his body was laid to rest. 'Hard to breathe' In a vid

Postponed Olympics would be cancelled if Japan is unable to stage it in 2021 amid the coronavirus pandemic. According to the new schedule, the Olympics will begin on July 23, 2021 and run through August 8  The Tokyo Olympics would have to be scrapped if the already postponed event cannot be held next year, the head of International Olympic Committee has said. In March, the IOC and Japanese government took the unprecedented decision to postpone the Olympics, which had been due to start in July 2020, for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said the multi-sports event cannot take place in 2021 unless the virus is contained and IOC president Thomas Bach said he understood his position. "Quite frankly, I have some understanding for this, because you can't forever employ 3,000 or 5,000 people in an organising committee," Bach told the BBC in an interview published on Wednesda

Ex-footballer Fred Kanoute, who played for Sevilla, leads effort to provide permanent, formal space for city's Muslims. Kanoute, who has played for Lyon, West Ham, Tottenham and Sevilla, was born in France to a Malian family and converted to Islam at the age of 20 Former football star Fred Oumar Kanoute has raised $1m in an online crowdfunding campaign to build the first  purpose-built mosque and cultural centre in Seville, Spain, in over 700 years. Kanoute, a French-born Muslim with a Malian background  who previously played for Sevilla FC, started the campaign a year ago on LaunchGood, a crowdfunding platform focused on the global Muslim community. "Thank you and may Allah reward for you for all those who participated in the campaign," Kanoute tweeted on Tuesday. Thank you everyone for the generous. — Fred Oumar KANOUTÉ (@FredericKanoute) 19 May 2020 Olga Torres, a member of the Arab and Islamic Studies department