SOCCER
Man City duo honored
Manchester City duo Phil Foden and Khadija Shaw on Tuesday were voted the men’s and women’s player of the year in English soccer for last season at the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) awards. The 24-year-old Foden helped City win a fourth consecutive Premier League title, scoring 19 times and providing eight assists. Shaw was the top scorer in the Women’s Super League (WSL) as the Jamaican forward netted 21 goals, although City lost the title on goal difference to Chelsea. Foden and Shaw also won the equivalent award from the Football Writers’ Association, which is voted on by journalists. The PFA winners are selected by professional players. Chelsea attacking midfielder Cole Palmer was voted the men’s PFA young player of the year, with Manchester United midfielder Grace Clinton winning the women’s prize after her performances on loan at Tottenham Hotspur last season. Palmer was second only to City’s Erling Haaland in the Premier League scoring charts with 22 goals and also had more assists than any other Chelsea player, with 11. Haaland won the men’s player of the year award last year. Clinton contributed four goals and four assists in 20 WSL appearances.
Photo: AP
SOCCER
Villarreal sign ’keeper
Villarreal have signed Brazilian goalkeeper Luiz Junior from Portuguese club Famalicao on a six-year deal, the La Liga side announced on Tuesday. The clubs did not disclose the transfer fee, but Spanish media reported that Villarreal paid about 12 million euros (US$13 million) for the 23-year-old. “At an impressive 1.93 meters, he is quick between the posts, he is able to dominate aerial duels and has excellent reflexes — all of which make him a very talented goalkeeper with a big future,” Villarreal said in a statement. Luiz Junior made 140 appearances for Famalicao since joining their academy at the age of 18. He is to replace Filip Jorgensen at Villareal, who joined Chelsea last month on a seven-year contract.
CRICKET
BCB names new president
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) yesterday named former captain Faruque Ahmed as president after the resignation of Nazmul Hassan, a close ally of ousted Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina. Nazmul, who also served as Bangladeshi minister of sports during Hasina’s 15 years in office, wrote to the BCB to resign, board chief executive officer Nizam Uddin Chowdhury told reporters. “His wish was granted,” he said. Chowdhury said that Faruque was elected by the board’s directors and “took charge immediately.” Nazmul had been BCB president since 2012, serving multiple terms, with his last tenure scheduled to end next year. Faruque briefly captained Bangladesh in the 1994 ICC Trophy in Kenya and played seven one-day internationals. He retired from the national team after the Cricket World Cup in 1999. He also held the position of national chief selector from 2005 to 2014.
The qualifying round of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) is to be held at the Taipei Dome between Feb. 21 and 25, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced today. Taiwan’s group also includes Spain, Nicaragua and South Africa, with two of the four teams advancing onto the 2026 WBC. Taiwan, currently ranked second in the world in the World Baseball Softball Confederation rankings, are favorites to come out of the group, the MLB said in an article announcing the matchups. Last year, Taiwan finished in a five-way tie in their group with two wins and two losses, but finished last on tiebreakers after giving
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play soccer “was a dream.” “I believed when I came here, it would help me change the life of my family and many other people,” he said in Sao Paulo. For the past year and a half, he has been playing on the under-20s squad for Sao Paulo FC, one of South America’s most prominent clubs. He and a small number of other Africans are tearing across pitches in a country known as the biggest producer and exporter of soccer stars in the world, from Pele to Neymar. For
A debate over the soul of soccer is raging in FIFA World Cup holders Argentina, pitting defenders of the social role of the beautiful game against the government of libertarian Argentine President Javier Milei, who wants to turn clubs into for-profit companies. Argentina, which gave the world Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi, is home to some of the world’s most devoted soccer fans — a fact attributed by supporters like Gabriel Nicosia to the clubs’ community outreach. Nicosia is a lifelong supporter of San Lorenzo, a more than 100-year-old first division club based in the working-class Buenos Aires neighborhood of Boedo where
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