Category: Sports

However, the impending return of captain Martin Odegaard will help ease the impact of Eze’s loss.

Odegaard has a knee injury and has been unavailable for a month, but there is hope he will be fit to play after the international break.

The midfielder will miss Norway’s games against Holland and Switzerland to focus on ensuring he is available as early as possible.

While losing Eze comes as a blow, the fact the injury comes as the international break starts will help minimise the impact created by his absence.

Arsenal‘s next game is the FA Cup quarter-final at Southampton on Saturday, 4 April – a competition in which Arteta has looked to rotate members of his squad.

Former France forward Antoine Griezmann will join Major League Soccer side Orlando City from Atletico Madrid this summer.

Griezmann, 35, is in his second permanent spell with Atletico and is the club’s all-time leading goalscorer.

He is closing in on 300 career club goals having also played for Real Sociedad and Barcelona.

He said:, external “I am very excited to begin this next chapter of my career.

“From my first conversations with the club, I could feel a strong ambition and a clear vision for the future, and that really spoke to me.

“I look forward to making Orlando my new home.”

Griezmann retired from international football in 2024 with 44 goals in 137 caps and was part of the side that won the World Cup in 2018.

He will move to Florida in July and has signed a deal that could see him play until 2029.

One major threat the Irish will have to deal with is the towering presence of Czech striker Patrik Schick.

The 30-year-old has scored 24 international goals in 50 appearances, while he has also found the net 15 times for Bayer Leverkusen this season.

Republic of Ireland captain Nathan Collins may well be tasked with keeping tabs on Schick, but the Brentford defender predicts an “exciting” challenge.

“That individual one on one battle in football is a little bit different now,” Collins said.

“I will need everyone around, whether that’s the midfield screening, the boys around me [in defence]. It will be a duel, but it’s not just a one-on-one.

“In the Premier League, there are a lot of big strikers. It’s a trend now but it’s exciting.”

While the 24-year-old will wear the armband this week, Collins has paid tribute to veteran defender Seamus Coleman whose return to the Republic of Ireland squad coincided with an upturn in results.

“The way Seamus is as a character and a person, the effect he has on the squad, it’s huge,” Collins added.

“He brought a lot of belief into the squad and has supported me a lot, taking over some of the roles to allow me to focus on my game.

“He’s helped me a lot and to have someone like him in the squad is crucial.”

It also demanded greater transparency for fans when purchasing tickets, with at least 48-hour notice of availability in each category and where those seats will be.

BBC Sport has contacted Fifa for comment.

The complaint by the FSA and Euroconsumers to the European Commission says Fifa has taken advantage of its position “to impose excessive ticket prices and opaque and unfair purchasing conditions and processes on European fans”.

It said in a statement: “Fifa holds a monopoly over ticket sales for the 2026 World Cup and has used that power to impose conditions on fans that would never be acceptable in a competitive market.”

The FSA and Euroconsumers alleged “six specific abuses” of Fifa’s position.

They include accusing Fifa of bait advertising – illegal under EU consumer law – with its later release of cheaper tickets “so scarce” that it advertised a price “not genuinely available”.

About 400 £45 tickets have been made available for England and Scotland’s group matches.

FSA director Ronan Evain said the group had no option but to approach the European Commission because of Fifa’s “failure to engage in meaningful consultation”.

“Fifa point to their unconfirmed sales figures as validation of their unfair ticket practices, while the reality is they leave loyal fans with no other choice – pay up or lose out,” Evain said.

According to Fifa, almost seven million tickets have been made available for the tournament, which will be co-hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico.

For one person to attend eight matches – one in each round – at the World Cup, it will cost about £5,225 in the lowest price range, £8,580 in the middle tier and £12,350 for the most expensive tickets.

In 2022 it would have cost £1,466, £2,645 or £3,914 respectively, although that was for seven games.

Paris St-Germain have asked to postpone their Ligue 1 game against title rivals Lens which is sandwiched between the two legs of their Champions League quarter-final against Liverpool.

PSG are scheduled to visit Lens in a top-of-the-table encounter on Saturday, 11 April – three days after hosting Arne Slot’s side and three days before the second leg at Anfield.

Liverpool are set to host Fulham in the Premier League on 11 April.

In response to PSG’s request to France’s Ligue de Football Professionel (LFP), Lens – who are chasing a first league title since 1998 – issued a statement saying they are strongly against the “troubling sentiment” if the fixture is moved to a later date.

Lens added that their domestic league risks being “gradually relegated to the status of an adjustment variable at the whim of the European imperatives of some”.

“Beyond this specific case, the question raised is a more fundamental one: that of the respect due to the competition itself,” a club statement said.

“For one is entitled to wonder when, on its own soil, the league sometimes seems to be relegated to second place behind other ambitions, however legitimate they may be.”

A spokesperson for PSG told BBC Sport “this type of rescheduling has been carried out regularly by the LFP in the past for the benefit of French clubs” and “in no way calls the league into question”.

Second-placed Lens currently trail leaders PSG by one point – and Lens head coach Pierre Sage said after Sunday’s 5-1 win over Angers that his side did not agree with a postponement.

In PSG’s previous Champions League tie against Chelsea, Luis Enrique’s side had the weekend off in between the two legs because their game against Nantes was postponed after a similar request. The European champions won 8-2 on aggregate.

Ultimately, the final call is with the LFP, and their stance is they will look to assist French clubs that are playing in Europe.

The LFP also confirmed Strasbourg have asked for their league game at Brest on that same weekend to be postponed as it comes in between their Conference League games against Mainz.

Clearly, the SPFL does not know which sides will be in which half of the table at the start of the season when deciding who will have 16 home games and 17 away games prior to the split.

If you’ve had 17 home games, you would nominally expect to play two away after the split and vice versa. If you’ve had 16 at home, you’d expect three after the split.

Hearts, Rangers, Motherwell and Falkirk will have played 17 at home up to round 33. Celtic and Hibs will have played 16 at home.

But it’s not quite as straightforward as that. Given the need to even out home and away derbies and the stakes in the title race, it’s likely two of Hearts’ away games will be at Easter Road and Celtic Park while Rangers can expect to be away to Celtic and Hearts, having hosted those sides twice in the Premiership already this term.

However, Hearts have hosted Falkirk and Motherwell twice, which means one of those two sides might get a third league trip to Tynecastle.

As well as visits from Hearts and Rangers, Celtic will have a home meeting with either Hibs, Falkirk or Motherwell – three sides who have already visited Celtic Park twice this season.

Meanwhile Rangers will have hosted Hibs, Falkirk and Motherwell only once each but will only have two home post-split games. Similarly, Motherwell have hosted Falkirk, Hibs and Rangers twice each but can only expect two home games against that trio of teams.

If United get ahead of Falkirk, they too will create the same imbalance of home and away games as they, like the Bairns will have played 17 at home and 16 away come the split.

These are just some of the dilemmas the SPFL will have to resolve.

Premier League leaders Arsenal head into the international break in a strong position as they sit nine points clear of second-place Manchester City, albeit having played a game more than Pep Guardiola’s side.

But with their next league game not until 11 April when they host Bournemouth, it’s a long time to stew on their League Cup final loss to City.

They are not completely without fixtures until then as they play Southampton in the FA Cup quarter-finals on 4 April and then Sporting in the Champions League last eight on 7 April – but even almost two weeks is a long time to dwell.

“They were unbeaten in 14 so it’s about how they react to this loss,” former Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul said on BBC Radio 5 live.

“The nerves are clearly there because they’ve been that close [to winning the Premier League] in the past few years.

“If they just keep their cool in the next few weeks – how the club reacts is going to be so important.

“They’ve still got City away in April and that game is going to be huge for the title.”

For Manchester City‘s players, it probably presents a different problem in that they will be itching to keep their momentum going.

“It is a blow for them and we need to build on it and get some momentum from this win now,” said Nico O’Reilly, who scored both of City’s goals in the League Cup final.

“As soon as the international break is over, we need to kick on and fight hard.

“Who knows [whether it will dent Arsenal‘s momentum], I don’t know how they are feeling. Obviously they will be upset they haven’t won a trophy.”

Jorg Schmadtke has been sacked as Hannover sports director just 24 hours after he confirmed they will turn their loan deal for Celtic centre-half Maik Nawrocki into a permanent £2m transfer if they are promoted to the Bundesliga. (Herald – subscription required), external

South Korea head coach Hong Myung-bo admits he has been stunned at the improvement shown this season by Celtic winger Yang Hyun-jun. (National – subscription required), external

Rangers are set to battle Celtic for the services of 25-year-old in-form Motherwell midfielder Elijah Just in the summer transfer window. (Football Insider), external

Huddersfield Town attacking midfielder Cameron Ashia is emerging as a potential first summer signing for Rangers and the 19-year-old could arrive on a free transfer. (TeamTalk), external

England-born Rangers centre-back Emmanuel Fernandez, 24, says he could not say no when approached to represent Nigeria for the first time. (Own Goal Nigeria), external

Nedim Bajrami has been backed to fire Albania to the World Cup by head coach Sylvinho, despite the 27-year-old midfielder’s lack of game time with Rangers. (Herald – subscription required), external

Rangers have received around £220,000 from the Club 1872 fan group to pay for renovations in and around Ibrox Stadium. (National – subscription required), external

In the lead-up to the recent men’s Manchester derby, officers from Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and partner organisations were deployed across the city to raise awareness of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) and protect vulnerable people.

The United Nations defines VAWG as acts of gender-based violence that cause physical, sexual or psychological harm. While that includes serious crimes such as domestic abuse and sexual violence, experts say casual misogyny and sexist comments can also contribute by reinforcing gender inequality.

Fans in Manchester were encouraged to recognise abuse and challenge it.

Ch Supt Colette Rose – head of specialist operations at GMP – said: “I think VAWG is a societal problem. It’s high on the national agenda. It leaks into every aspect of our society, and that includes sports and football.

“What we tend to see at football is predominantly a male-dominated fanbase. If we can work with males around behaviours that may make women feel unsafe or intimidated and educate people, that will have an impact on wider society.”

Figures released by GMP show the number of reported incidents of VAWG at football matches increased from 18 in the 2023-24 season to 28 last season – and that is expected to rise again.

Her Game Too, meanwhile, told us they receive at least one report every matchday.

But Rose does not think that necessarily shows the issue is getting worse.

“I think what is actually happening is we’re calling it out,” she said. “And I think society is starting to see that these behaviours are unacceptable and our partners are really engaged in working with us on this.

“People are reporting it more because they can see that it’s wrong and we shouldn’t just accept it.”

Rose recalls one incident at a match in Germany when she was targeted.

“I had reason to speak to a couple of lads who were exiting the game and were very jubilant, but were singing songs that could have caused real offence in Germany,” she says.

“The barrage of abuse that I got on the back of that was very much about my sex, the way I looked… I was followed around the stadium for a bit and I couldn’t locate a police officer in uniform to support me.

“It shook me to the core. I didn’t realise I could ever feel that vulnerable in a crowd as a police officer, and in fear of that immediate violence towards me, purely because I was a female.

“The language used was very misogynistic and the person perpetrating it was using my vulnerabilities to make me feel the way I did. It’s a horrible feeling.”