LONDON: Cristiano Ronaldo’s controversial second spell at Manchester United is to end with “immediate effect,” the Premier League giants announced Tuesday.
The Portugal forward appeared to be on his way out of Old Trafford following last week’s television interview with Piers Morgan on TalkTV in which he said he felt “betrayed” by the club and had no respect for new manager Erik ten Hag.
“Cristiano Ronaldo is to leave Manchester United by mutual agreement, with immediate effect,” said a United statement.
“The club thanks him for his immense contribution across two spells at Old Trafford, scoring 145 goals in 346 appearances, and wishes him and his family well for the future.
“Everyone at Manchester United remains focused on continuing the team’s progress under Erik ten Hag and working together to deliver success on the pitch.”
Ronaldo issued a statement of his own, saying: “Following conversations with Manchester United we have mutually agreed to end our contract early.
“I love Manchester United and I love the fans, that will never ever change. However, it feels like the right time for me to seek a new challenge.
“I wish the team every success for the remainder of the season and for the future.”
As well as criticizing the Old Trafford hierarchy and Ten Hag during his television interview, the 37-year-old Ronaldo, currently with the Portugal squad at the World Cup in Qatar, was scathing about the club’s US owners.
Ronaldo said the Glazer family cared far more about the money-making potential of United than results on the pitch.
He even turned on former team-mates Gary Neville and Wayne Rooney, saying “they are not my friends” after recent criticism from the pair.
United were initially guarded after the interview first aired, saying they would consider their response “after the full facts have been established.”
But given the severity of his comments, there seemed no way Ronaldo could remain at Old Trafford under the current regime.
The veteran, who recently scored the 700th goal of a club career embracing several teams, appeared to be angling for a move in the pre-season transfer window after United failed to qualify for the 2022/23 Champions League.
But leading English and European clubs opted against moving for a player who, for all his talent, is not the force he once was yet still commands a reported weekly pay packet at United of around £500,000 ($593,000).
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner has, however reportedly held talks with Bayern Munich and been linked with an emotional return to Sporting Lisbon, where he came through the youth ranks.
Ronaldo has undoubtedly been angered by his reduced status at United, with the club no longer at the summit of English football.
In 2009 he left a United who were one of the top teams in Europe but the side he rejoined limped to a sixth-place finish in the Premier League despite his 24 goals in all competitions.
Ronaldo made his name in his first spell at Old Trafford, developing from a prodigiously gifted teenager when he arrived in 2003 into one of the deadliest attackers in world football.
He won his first Champions League trophy and first Ballon d’Or during a trophy-laden spell under Alex Ferguson.
He left United after six years for Real Madrid, where he became the club’s greatest goalscorer, winning the Champions League four more times.
Ronaldo spent three years at Juventus from 2018 before a return to Manchester.
But he has been a peripheral figure this season in an improving side under Ten Hag and was recently disciplined for refusing to come on as a substitute.
Ronaldo, who has scored just three goals this season, had returned to the team in recent weeks and even captained the Red Devils in a 3-1 loss at Aston Villa, though he was not in the squad for United’s final match before the World Cup break.
With a world-record 117 international goals he is captaining Portugal at his fifth World Cup.
The Euro 2016 winners open their campaign in Qatar against Ghana on Thursday.
Ronaldo to leave Manchester United with ‘immediate effect’
https://arab.news/4fw7k
Ronaldo to leave Manchester United with ‘immediate effect’
- Ronaldo issued a statement of his own, saying: “Following conversations with Manchester United we have mutually agreed to end our contract early
- The 37-year-old said the Glazer family cared far more about the money-making potential of United than results on the pitch
Riyadh prepares for 2nd annual Saudi Elite Hockey Championship
- 80 players from 8 teams will battle it out at the Prince Faisal bin Fahd Olympic Complex on Jan. 17 and 18
- Najd Falcons were crowned winners of the inaugural event last year, ahead of runners-up Alittihad Club
RIYADH: Final preparations are underway for the second annual Saudi Elite Hockey Championship at the Prince Faisal bin Fahd Olympic Complex in Riyadh next week.
Eight teams, featuring a total of 80 players, will battle it out on Jan. 17 and 18: defending champions Najd Falcons, last year’s runners-up Alittihad Club, Alshabab Club, Jubail Buraq, Naqi, UTSC, Arab Legends and Hamra Legends.
The event has been organized under the supervision of the Saudi Hockey Federation, which said the championship represents a significant step in the development of hockey, in line with the wider sports renaissance in the Kingdom as part of efforts to enhance quality of life and contribute to the goals of the Vision 2030 plan for national development and diversification.
FIA president commends Saudi Arabia’s efforts in organizing Dakar Rally
- Mohammed Ben Sulayem speaks of Kingdom’s commitment to delivering top-notch experience for participants
- Rally resumes on Saturday with 7 stages remaining
Ha’il: The International Automobile Federation’s President Mohammed Ben Sulayem commended the Kingdom’s efforts in organizing the Dakar Rally during his visit to Saudi Arabia’s rally bivouac on Friday.
Ben Sulayem also praised the Kingdom’s commitment to delivering a top-notch experience for participants and highlighted the warm hospitality and generosity that embody the spirit of the Saudi people.
The FIA president highlighted that Saudi Arabia’s success in hosting global sporting events, such as the Dakar Rally, has set a benchmark and become a source of pride. He also acknowledged the hard work and teamwork of all rally participants, noting their role in strengthening the Kingdom’s reputation as a world-class motorsport hub.
The participants have taken a well-deserved rest after enduring several days of tough desert challenges. Meanwhile, support teams have continued their vital work, ensuring vehicles are maintained and ready for the next stages to help competitors perform at their best.
After covering about 2,579 km of special stages, 299 vehicles arrived at the bivouac camp in Ha’il. Vehicles included 118 bikes, 58 cars, two stock vehicles, 45 challengers, 33 SSVs, and 43 trucks.
The rally resumes on Saturday with seven stages remaining. Participants will head to Al-Dawadmi, covering 829 km, including 605 km of timed special stages.
The journey will then take them through a circular stage in Al-Dawadmi, followed by Riyadh, Haradh, and finally Al-Shubayta.
The rally concludes with two final stages in Al-Shubayta on Jan. 16 and 17, marking the end of this year’s Dakar Rally.
Leipzig sign wing back Ridle Baku from Bundesliga rival Wolfsburg
- Leipzig said Friday that the 26-year-old Baku had signed a 2½-year contract to 2027
- “Ridle will give us more options in the future,” Leipzig sporting director Marcel Schäfer said
LEIPZIG, Germany: Leipzig have signed wing back Ridle Baku from Bundesliga rival Wolfsburg after an injury to Benjamin Henrichs.
Leipzig said Friday that the 26-year-old Baku had signed a 2½-year contract to 2027. He will be available for Sunday’s home game against Werder Bremen as the league restarts this weekend after its winter break.
“Ridle will give us more options in the future,” Leipzig sporting director Marcel Schäfer said. “He can play anywhere on the right side, loves to get forward, is a good finisher and tackler, and comfortable in possession too.”
Baku’s contract with Wolfsburg was set to expire at the end of the season. Kicker reported that the clubs had agreed on a transfer fee of under 5 million euros ($5.1 million) for the player.
Baku, who was born in Mainz, made his Bundesliga debut against Leipzig for Mainz in 2018. He joined Wolfsburg in 2020 and established himself as a regular at the Volkswagen-backed club. Altogether he scored 20 goals in 166 appearances for the team.
Baku made his debut for Germany under Joachim Löw in a friendly against the Czech Republic in November 2020, and made three more appearances for the team in World Cup qualifying in 2021, but hasn’t been called up since.
Henrichs ruptured an Achilles tendon in his right foot in Leipzig’s 5-1 loss at Bayern Munich on Dec. 20 before the winter break. The club said he “will remain out of action for a while.”
Leipzig have struggled so far this season, losing all their games in the Champions League and dropping points in seven of their 15 games in the Bundesliga.
After ‘hardest’ preseason, Russian teen Mirra Andreeva eyeing top 10 and silverware
- 17-year-old hotly tipped for a deep run at the Australian Open
DUBAI: Two years ago, a 15-year-old Mirra Andreeva lost the Australian Open junior final to her friend and doubles partner Alina Korneeva.
On the eve of the first Grand Slam of the season, Andreeva returns to the Australian Open ranked 15 in the world on the women’s tour and a popular dark horse tip for the title – or at least a deep run – at Melbourne Park.
The 17-year-old’s rapid ascent in professional tennis includes a semi-final appearance at Roland Garros last June, a maiden title triumph at a WTA 250 event in Romania the following month, and an Olympic silver medal alongside her compatriot Diana Shnaider in women’s doubles at the Paris Games a week later.
Andreeva ended her breakthrough 2024 campaign with a runner-up showing in Ningbo, and looked inconsolable during the trophy ceremony despite her opponent Daria Kasatkina’s best efforts to cheer her up.
“That final was something special,” Andreeva told reporters in Brisbane last week, where she warmed up for the Australian Open by reaching the semifinals.
“Honestly, I got emotional because I led 3-0 in the third set, and I lost 6-4. It's never easy to lose the match when you're almost always the one who is up in the score.
“Of course, I got emotional, as well, because for me it was the chance to win my second title.
“It's a learning experience. I just have to accept it. Now when I look at those videos when I'm crying, I just laugh at myself because I couldn't hold it inside.”
2024 was a steep learning curve for Andreeva and she scaled it in impressive fashion.
It comes as no surprise that many of her peers have picked her as one to watch in 2025, with the likes of world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka, and Tunisian star Ons Jabeur, naming Andreeva as the player mostly likely to reach a first major final and crack the top 10 this season.
They are goals Andreeva has in fact set for herself as her ceiling of expectations continues to rise.
“I would say that my number one goal would be to claim the top 10, just to secure myself there and of course, I think as every other player on tour, I would like to win some titles,” Andreeva told Arab News on the sidelines of the World Tennis League (WTL) in Abu Dhabi last month.
“I worked very hard in the preseason and I will continue working hard for it. So I’m just hoping that the hard work will pay off and I’ll do everything possible for this.”
Coached by Spanish former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez, who joined her team last year, Andreeva admits her preseason training block was “one of the hardest” she’s ever had, but given her promising start to the year in Brisbane, it is already paying dividends.
“I really had a hard time doing all the fitness sessions. As well on the court, it was hard to push myself to practice. So I kind of fought a lot with myself,” she explains.
“But I had my team close to me and they helped me a lot, of course. I cannot say it was fun, but of course it was very useful. You cannot play tennis without having a preseason. That’s just part of my career, my life, I just have to get over it. I have to accept it, I have no other choice. But it was almost fun,” she added with a laugh.
“Every day you’re getting more and more tired. You’re exercising a lot, you have two fitness sessions then you have a long tennis session. So after that you’re tired, you also cannot find yourself a lot of strength and power to push yourself to have the same intensity and the same power on the court. So it kind of goes a bit down.
“I was sad that my level on the court dropped but they said, ‘It’s normal, you do a lot of fitness, so this week, forget about tennis’. I’m like, ‘But I can’t, I’m playing so bad’.
“But we almost never talk seriously, we always joke around. So none of this was really serious. It was hard, but there was no burnout.”
Indeed Andreeva and Martinez are a lighthearted pair. The Russian teenager credits Martinez, who previously worked with ex-world No.1s Garbine Muguruza and Karolina Pliskova, for bringing lots of positivity to the team.
Andreeva has a unique and creative game that relies heavily on improvisation – something Martinez doesn’t seem to mind.
“I think that she brings more fun. I’ve never really been too serious on court,” said Andreeva of her Spanish coach.
“I always did what I wanted, I didn’t really have a plan for any match, I would just go. She was asking me a couple of weeks ago, ‘Okay, you’re playing a set right now, what’s your plan?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know, I’m just going to go and see, I don’t know, I’m going to decide’. And she’s like, ‘Mirra, but you cannot play like this’. And I’m like, ‘But I always play like this’.
“So she’s like, ‘Okay, you’re right, just go’. And that’s how I think she brings more fun, she brings more positivity 100 percent, because before I also tend to be a bit hard on myself, so she’s also helping me to deal with it and it’s just a bit easier like this.”
During the four-day exhibition WTL in Abu Dhabi, Andreeva was on the same team as Sabalenka, and paired up with the world No.1 in doubles on multiple occasions.
The duo have faced off four times on tour so far (Sabalenka leads the head-to-head 3-1) but had never really interacted much off court before teaming up for the WTL.
“It’s good to be in one team and to share the court with her because you can see what she does differently, why she’s on top, why she’s the best player on tour right now,” said Andreeva of the top-ranked Belarusian.
“Of course it’s a good experience for me to also see if there is something different that she does or no.”
Andreeva is not the only professional tennis player in her family. Her older sister Erika, 20, cracked the top 100 last year and is currently ranked 86 in the world.
The siblings squared off in a WTA tournament for the first time in Wuhan end of last season, with Erika beating Mirra in straight sets in the second round.
“It's the greatest thing in the world to share the court with your sister,” says Mirra.
“Of course I would want it to be in the final or at least closer to the end of the tournament, not in the second round. That match was really hard, especially for me mentally. I think it was hard for both of us but I really struggled, and I think all of us did; our coaches, our parents, everyone.
“So with time and with experience I think we’re going to learn how to deal with all of that. That was the first time and we all knew it was going to be hard.
“But having her around and seeing that she’s improving every day and I just know that she’s working really hard and it’s just nice to see that her hard work is paying off.
“Maybe not all in one time, but day by day she’s dealing with it and she’s improving and I can see her playing great in practices and during the tournament in her matches. When she’s happy, I’m happy.”
Andreeva will begin her Australian Open campaign on Sunday against Czech world No.42 Marie Bouzkova.
Govt. minister says England should play Afghanistan, despite growing calls for boycott amid women’s rights concerns
- The ICC’s policy requires nations granted Test-playing status, which Afghanistan was given in 2017, to support women’s cricket
LONDON: World cricket’s governing body is coming under increasing scrutiny for its stance on Afghanistan’s inclusion in the upcoming Champions Trophy tournament, despite the Taliban’s restrictions on women’s rights and sports participation.
The International Cricket Council has so far resisted calls to ban Afghanistan’s men’s team or press the Taliban regime to uphold its own rules surrounding the establishment of a women’s cricket team, citing a strategy to influence change through engagement.
The ICC’s policy requires nations granted Test-playing status, which Afghanistan was given in 2017, to support women’s cricket.
However, Afghanistan was accepted as a full member without an already functional women’s cricket program, citing religious and cultural reasons.
Despite efforts by the Afghanistan Cricket Board to establish a women’s team in 2020 “adhering to the traditional Afghan and Islamic values,” the Taliban’s resurgence in 2021 halted progress, with women and girls increasingly banned from sports and public life since.
More than 160 British MPs and peers have recently called for the England and Wales Cricket Board to boycott their match against Afghanistan, set to be played next month in Pakistan, Sky News reported.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer refused to commit to such action, but said: “The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is in touch with our international counterparts on this issue. I welcome the England and Wales Cricket Board making strong representations to the International Cricket Council on Afghanistan’s women’s cricket team.”
South Africa’s Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie has also supported calls for a boycott, but Cricket South Africa has deferred to the ICC, emphasizing adherence to tournament regulations.
However, British Culture and Sport Secretary Lisa Nandy has rejected the idea of a boycott, stating that such actions could penalize athletes and alienate fans.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Nandy said: “I’m instinctively cautious about boycotts in sports. I think they deny sports fans the opportunity that they love, and they can also very much penalize the athletes and the sports people who work very, very hard to reach the top of their game and then they’re denied the opportunities to compete.
“They are not the people that we want to penalize for the appalling actions of the Taliban against women and girls,” she added.
Instead, Nandy pointed to diplomatic measures to bring about change, highlighting past UK efforts to withhold symbolic support at sporting events, such as avoiding dignitary attendance at the Winter Olympics in China.
“When China hosted the Winter Olympics, I was very vocal, many of us were very vocal about making sure that we didn’t send dignitaries to that event, that we didn’t give them the PR coup that they were looking for when they were forcibly incarcerating the Uighurs in Xinjiang,” she said.
The ICC has reiterated its commitment to engaging with Afghanistan to foster inclusivity in cricket.
“The ICC remains closely engaged with the situation in Afghanistan and continues to collaborate with our members,” a spokesperson told Sky News.
“We are committed to leveraging our influence constructively to support the Afghanistan Cricket Board in fostering cricket development and ensuring playing opportunities for both men and women in Afghanistan.
“The ICC has established an Afghanistan Cricket Task Force, chaired by deputy chairman Mr. Imran Khwaja, who will lead the ongoing dialogue on this matter,” they added.
However, the ICC’s approach has drawn sharp criticism from Afghan women’s rights activists.
Khalida Popal, former captain of Afghanistan’s women’s football team, expressed disappointment in the governing bodies’ lack of action.
“The governing bodies have failed to stand by their own policies. There’s clear gender discrimination in sport, and they’ve ignored the women of Afghanistan,” she told Sky News.
England’s match against Afghanistan remains scheduled, and the ICC continues to engage with the ACB. But the Champions Trophy, set to take place next month, has become a focal point for global scrutiny of Afghanistan’s policies and the ICC’s role in upholding its principles.
