Turning forty years old at the start of October 2021, Zlatan Ibrahimovic stated he won’t stop until he is kicked out of the game.
Ibrahimovic never fails to defy his age as it’s just a number for him, as he’s currently thriving near the top of the domestic game in Series A. In addition, he drew up an extension with A.C. Milan in April.
He believes longevity is in the mind and not the age and that he can continue to play football even at his current age. He acknowledges he can’t play like he did when he was younger, but he’s got more intelligence, experience, and performance.
Ibrahimovic doesn’t want to store and retire only to later regret it. That’s why he won’t stop until he’s kicked out of the game.
Ibrahimovic’s career is filled with trophies, winning them from across five different countries. However, he still believes he has the capability to add more trophies with A.C. Milan.
Ibrahimovic has the mentality that as long as you’re a believer and work hard, anything is possible to achieve.
FC Barcelona and Dani Alves both reached an agreement for the player to return to the club. Alves previously played for FC Barcelona from 2008/09 to 2015/16.
Alves will join the club for the remainder of the current season. However, he will start training during this coming week and won’t be able to play until January 2022. The club will soon provide the full details. He’s transferring back from São Paulo FC.
Alves joined FC Barcelona in the summer of 2008 following five seasons in Sevilla FC. While he was at Sevilla FC, he made 391 official appearances and scored 23 goals.
Defence was always Alves’s main role, but he does join the occasional attack were he’s scored goals from outside the goalkeeper’s area.
While he was at FC Barcelona, he won 23 titles: 6 Ligas, 4 Copas del Rey, 3 Champions League, 3 Club World Cups, 3 Spanish Super Cups and 4 European Super Cups.
On Wednesday, the 2nd of November, Lionel Messi wasn’t in the PSG squad line up in their upcoming match in the Champions league against RB Leipzig.
Messi had previously limped off during their previous math against Lille on Friday, the 29th of October, which they won 2-1.
In addition, Messi hasn’t scored a goal yet in Ligue 1 since going PSG.
However, Kylian Mbappe made the lineup for their Wednesday match while he wasn’t able to make the lineup for their match against Lille on Friday, the 29th of October, due to an infection.
In addition, it’s good to note that PSG are top of Group A with seven points from three games.
Di Maria, who’s 33 years old, was the standout performer for PSG in their match against Lille, during Mbappe’s absence. He provided the assist that equalised the match at 1-1 before he scorered the goal which gave them the 2-1 lead at the 88th minute.
Sepp Blatter (ex FIFA president) and his colleague Michel Platinu (ex UEFA President) have both been charged with fraud in Switzerland. This comes as a result of a six year investigation into a 2m Swiss francs (£1.6m) payment from FIFA to Platini. They are possible to face a trial within the next coming months.
This payment affected FIFA’s reputation and affected its assets.
It all began in January of 2011, when Platini wrote to FIFA stating he’d like to be paid backdated additional salaries for the years 1998-2002 as presidential advisor during Blatter’s first term as President.
Blatter authorised FIFA to make the payment within weeks.
He and Platini claimed no wrongdoing and that their was a verbal agreement for the money to be repaid over twenty years ago.
The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) alleged that an annual compensation of 300,000 Swiss francs for Platini’s consulting was agreed in a written contract signed by both of them in 1999. The OAG alleged that the compensation was invoiced by Platini on each occasion and paid in full by FIFA.
It was alleged that after eight years Platini demanded a 2m Swiss francs payment which was without any legal basis.
In addition, Blatter was charged with mismanagement, misappropriation of FIFA funds, and documentation forgery.
Argentinian forward Lionel Messi’s transfer and departure from FC Barcelona was a glorified case in the history of football. I believe what sets this transfer apart is that he has spent his entire football career with FC Barcelona, since joining their academy as a child and playing with the club for over two decades. Messi became a free agent on July 1st when his FC Barcelona contract expired until signing with PSG F.C. two weeks later. He even showed his love for his former club by willing to take a pay cut to remain with them (bbc.com, 2021). In addition, as per the Spanish La Liga rules, even if Messi took a pay cut, it wouldn’t have been possible to renew his contract. In my opinion PSG F.C. gained one of the best, if not the best player of all time. Messi has great skills, technique, and control over the ball when he plays. As a result, Messi said goodbye to FC Barcelona and joined PSG F.C. in the French League signing a two year bumper contract as a free agent with his deal being an annual salary in the region of over 30 million USD (skysports.com, 2021). I think Messi gained a great club to play in which has phenomenal and outstanding players. Messi has been handed the number 30 shirt for playing with PSG F.C. warmly greeting everyone associated with the club (Thomas, 2021). This follows his act of letting Neymar Jr. keep the number 10. Messi moving to PSG F.C. is deemed to be appropriate at his current career stage. The club has significant potential for the future and are investing properly to dominate European football. Moreover, PSG F.C. has multiple superstars within their team. Messi will add a new chapter in his legacy, career, the Europa league, and the clubs history. Many phenomenal players played for PSG F.C. that were all great, such as David Beckham. Observations testify that Messi will be properly assisted to adapt to clubs lifestyle, as he has multiple teammates from his Argentinian national side to accompany him. In addition, given his salary, Messi will become one of the highest-paid football players in current world football. This is a great time for both PSG F.C and Messi to write a new history. Fellow Argentinian compatriot Mauricio Pochettino is the current manager of PSG F.C. and will assist Messi in adapting to the playing style and formations of the club. Furthermore, PSG F.C. has players like Neymar and Angel Di Maria, who are good friends of Messi and will make him feel at home. The team is heavily loaded with talented football players, which will hopefully lead Messi to win yet another Ballon d’Or and encourage him to take PSG F.C. towards new heights in the Europo league.
It’s sad that we had to see such an amazing era between FC Barcelona and Messi come to an end. It’s sad that both the club and Messi lost each other, but this is a new chapter in PSG F.C. history and Messi’s legacy. Messi will forever remain in FC Barcelona’s history as one of their best players.
During yesterday’s La Liga match at the Nou Camp which took place between Barcelona and Alaves during Saturday the 30th of October 2021, Barcelona striker Sergio Aguero complained of feeling discomfort in his chest and received treatment for a couple of minutes on the pitch before leaving. He was subsequently substituted with Philippe Coutinho and taken to the hospital by ambulance to run further cardiac tests at the hospital.
Sergio Aguero is thirty three years old healthy individual and no one saw this coming. Both Barcelona and his old club, Manchester City, wished him well on their respective twitter accounts. Sergio joined Barcelona over the summer on a free transfer and he made his debut earlier during October.
Aguero, who joined Barca from Manchester City in the summer on a free transfer, only made his debut for the club earlier in October after he injured his calf in preseason training.
After the sacking of Ronald Koeman, previous Barcelona head coach, Xavi Hernández has accepted a deal to coach the team. This deal will be fixed once Xavi’s contract as the coach of Qatari club AL sad club is agreed on and terminated.
This move for Xavi comes after long talks with President Joan Laporta, as a contract opened for Barcelona head coach, while it was only a matter of when Ronald would be fired or terminated. Xavi started his career with the Barcelona academy and made 767 appearances for the club before finishing his career at Al Sadd.
FIFA is optimistic looking into its future growth in the gaming and eSport industries. This comes after they ran a strategic evaluation into the interactive and gaming markets.
Football stakeholders need to have more than one party who not only controls, but doesn’t end up taking advantage owning all rights to the intellectual property.
This follows a pivotal moment for FIFA and EA, as EA’s licensing deal for the FIFA game will come to an end following the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. FIFA is reportedly seeking more than two times its current cut from EA ($1 Billion over the span of four years) in return for the licensing of the FIFA game with the hopes of limiting EA’s rights to the game. The decision about the FIFA games will be made by the end of 2021, so we’ll just have to wait and see what agreement FIFA and EA might agree on.
FIFA is looking forward towards taking a new place in the gaming and eSport industry to better place itself in making decisions that’ll be in the benefit of all football stakeholders. In addition, FIFA is thrilled regarding the future of these industries for football as it needs to become occupied by more than one party. In addition, many companies in the mobile and tech industries are contending to have an association with FIFA and its platform.
Earlier this week, FIFA President Gianni Infantino met with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Tuesday the 12th of October 2021, and one of their discussions was the likelihood that Israel could co-host the 2030 World Cup final.
The idea is that Israel, along with a number of regional countries, could host the World Cup, the United Arab Emirates bring the main one.
This is in light of moving forward the Abraham Accords, which is multiple agreements Israel has with Arab States to normalise their relationships; be it economically, politically, or otherwise. The Abraham Accords was announced in September 2020, with the United States as the Broker. Israel set out to normalise agreements with the U.A.E, Morocco, Sudan, and Bahrain
Messi joined PSG at the start of the 2020/2021 season, signing a two year contract with the option for his to stay for a third year. He will be receiving a salary of about 41 million USD per season.
He left FCB due to the Spanish league regulations, since if FCB wanted to keep Messi, they would’ve had to pay over 200 million USD which wasn’t possible as the club is going through hard times being in debt and anticipating a 500 million euro losses this season.
Meanwhile, Messi was willing to take a 50% pay cut off his salary to stay at FCB, but that would’ve still been impossible due to the restrictions set by the Spanish League.
Messi broke down during his final FCB conference when breaking the news that he was leaving.. It was unfortunate to see him leave the club, but everyone knows he is one of the greatest players of all time, while some believe he is the greatest of all time.
The Football Corner 