Six identical kick-off times

The fifth month of each year always have the answer of which two clubs will play in the last game of the three international European competitions for the current season. It all begins with the first 90 minutes at:

Champions league...

Tuesday, 30 April at 21.00 CEt: Bayern - Real Madrid.

Wednesday, 01 May at 21.00 CEt: Borussia Dortmund - PSG.

... Conference league...

Thursday, 02 May at 21.00 CEt: Aston villa - Olympiacos.

Thursday, 02 May at 21.00 CEt: Fiorentina - Club Brugge.

... and Europa league.

Thursday, 02 May at 21.00 CEt: Olympique de Marseille - Atalanta.

Thursday, 02 May at 21.00 CEt: Roma - Bayer.

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General public found out when tickets for last game will go on sale

Organizers of the Copa America 2024 has revealed an information concerning the entry papers about the final. Tickets for its last ever match that will be played on 14 July can be purchased from 01 May, and its process begins from 10.00 local time or 16.00 CEt. Each of them can be purchased from the official website of the competition.

Because Mastercard is the official sponsor of this event, the holders / clients are having the exclusivity of buying the same tickets first, on pre-sale from 23 until 30 April.

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Rising numbers

Last Monday Laliga has announced financial numbers from the 2022-23 season.

The previous football year they had a 5,69 billion euros revenue which is a rise of 17,8 per cent from the 2021-22 campaign. Commercial earnings are also raised for 28,6 per cent, 36,9 per cent more is the income from matches, while for the first time in the history of Spanish football have surpassed the number of 15 million spectators of just one season.

Revenues from transfers are on the rise as well of 679 million euros compared to 402 million from last year, whilst another record is broken on the infrastructure figure as it was invested 848 million euros.

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Duel did not even start due to rare incident

Match from the second most significance club tournament on the African continent was completely suspended just seconds before kick-off, and its cause is a rather unusual one nowadays.

Usually spectators are at fault for postponing a game, but this time it was something different. The Confederation Cup semi-final with the first 90 minutes between Union sportive de la Medina d'Alger and Renaissance sportive de Berkane that was scheduled for 21 April had been abandoned because of political incident. Yesterday the confederation has awarded the win to the visitors, second leg is yet to come on 28 of this month and for now everything suggest that it will still be staged...

This very unusual event have started last Friday morning when the Algerian custom officials on the airport have seized the jerseys of the guests where on it a map was drawn including the disputed Western Sahara provinces. Simply, all this was named as "the full map of Morocco", so Algeria officials have accused its neighbours of politicizing sports by giving support of the separatists who is trying to get independence in the referred desert. Renaissance sportive de Berkane was asked to change its jerseys for the mentioned game for which they refused, while during the whole competition the club was wearing the same shirts since its beginning without any problems occurred.

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Will not play until the end of season because of stubbornness

On 14 April Bayer have played a Bundesliga game with Werder. The second he learned that would start the match from the bench, and not on the field, the trouble began the next day (from the very angry bosses).

Visiting midfielder Naby Keita has refused to travel with the club to Leverkusen, and for this stupidity he was properly punished. The 29-year-old had to give away "significant sum" as fine although the club has not revealed the real number of how much. And to be far more worse for him the Guinean player is completely removed until the rest of the season, will not train or be part along with the first team nor can be present in the dressing room.

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Known some information about fourth season

On 19 April the North, Central American and Caribbean confederation has revealed some details of its youngest tournament: edition number four of the Nations league tournament.

This event is going to be divided on two parts: the league part (scheduled for September, October, November) together with the finals (who have to be played at March 2025). As quarter-finals are introduced for the first time this season (for league A only), one other novelty comes for the next as well. To avoid all that travelling back-and-forth a fantastic idea was given: for the league part (on B and C only) all teams will be situated on one place, so that tiredness will disappear and best football would be played.

For the 3 leagues teams in the little bowls was determined, and for that, big help was the current 2023-24 season. In league A six teams will form two groups, four groups and for teams are going to play in league B, and for C there would be three teams and three groups. Each of the 41 of them will come from:

League A

Pot 1: Jamaica, Costa Rica.

Pot 2: Honduras, Guatemala.

Pot 3: Trinidad and Tobago, Martinique.

Pot 4: Cuba, Guadeloupe.

Pot 5: Nicaragua, Suriname.

Pot 6: Guyana, French Guiana.

- Mexico, United states of America, Panama and Canada are direct participants starting from the quarter final phase.

League B

Pot 1: Haiti, El Salvador, Curacao, Dominican Republic.

Pot 2: Bermuda, Puerto Rico, Montserrat, Saint Lucia.

Pot 3: Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba.

Pot 4: Dominica, Bonaire, Saint Martin, Sint Maarten.

League C

Pot 1: Saint Kitts and Nevis, Belize, Barbados.

Pot 2: Bahamas, Cayman islands, Turks and Caicos islands.

Pot 3: British Virgin islands, United states Virgin islands, Anguilla.

The official draw for the 2024-25 edition is going to take place on 06 May. Also, this competition will serve for the main championship of the region - the Gold Cup 2025.

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Unusual purchase that happened on stands

Once they were competing with the best clubs in LaLiga, but nowadays are located at Primera federacion (which is equivalent to third tier of the football league system in Spain).

For 17 seasons Malaga have enjoyed top football, while now currently they play at the professional and semi-professional league(s). Because everyone was talking about it in the town, the main story has evolved around its midfielder Daniel Lorenzo who was involved in a rather comical situation. After the match with Atletico Madrid B the 21-year-old player was caught on camera of how from the fan is taking 50 euros in exchange for his shirt.

Last Monday at a television show in connection of this news he explained that "the club charges us for the jerseys, and it seemed natural to keep the money they offered me. I should not have done it, and I hope people understand. I am not a millionaire, but I would like to be".

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Stepped down because of serious accusations

Kleiton Lima will not be trainer to female club Santos after he offered his resignation which immediately was accepted this Monday. The 49-year-old manager has left the same club in September of 2023 because it has emerged 19 anonymous letters that accuse him of sexual harassment and abusive behaviour towards the players. Many protests from other women teams had prompt the Brazilian to forcefully leave this post after he was rehired on the same position where even death threats were received. In a statement it was said that evidence could not be found against the coach who considered to be most successful in the history of the club.

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Points that were deducted means automatically going one step lower

Yesterday the Dutch football association have taken away a certain amount of points to the club that was playing with the best for full 35 years.

After that long period Vitesse will not participate anymore in Eredivisie (first division) from next season. The licensing committee took away from them a massive 18 points because their financial position can not be solved anymore or (in other words) "several times has repeatedly failed to comply with player licensing regulations over a long period of time". Mathematically, the club from Arnhem now has definitely lost the top championship status, so from 2024-25 it will be entertained with competitors from Eerste divisie (second division).

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Natural disaster have postponed a duel for 24 hours

The first semi final from the Asian version of the Champions league competition had to start on Tuesday. However, due to an unusual reason this delay have surprised everyone.

Days earlier floods and stormy weather has hit the United Arab Emirates, while across the region this was a really rare occurrence where even loss of lives have been recorded in neighbouring Oman. Because safety comes first, football authorities have therefore postponed every events this Tuesday, so Al Ain and Al Hilal had to reschedule their meeting onto the following night.

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On a surprising win for visitors there was a double name who shake the net

Conference league 2023-24 season, knockout round 3 - last 8, leg 2, single night:

Fiorentina - Viktoria 0:0, 2:0 after 30 additional minutes

Scorers: 1:0 91 (91.09) Nicolas Gonzalez

               2:0 107 (107.12) Cristiano Biraghi

- From 66 (66.17) the visiting midfielder Carlos Eduardo received a direct red card.

Fenerbahche - Olympiacos 1:0, on penalties: 2-3

Scorer: 1:0 11 (11.00) Irfan Can Kahveci

- Olympiacos had to finish this match with 10 players because on 120+3 (122.53) Andreas Ntoi saw his second yellow card.

PAOK - Club Brugge 0:2

Scorers: 0:1 33 (32.30) Ferran Jutgla

               0:2 45 (44.46) Ferran Jutgla

Supplemental information: into the next stage we are going to see again Fiorentina, Olympiacos, Club Brugge.

Europa league 2023-24 season, elimination phase 3 - round of 8, leg 2, single night:

Olympique de Marseille - Benfica 1:0, on penalties: 4-2

Scorer: 1:0 79 (78.40) Faris Moumbagna

Additional information: Olympique de Marseille have qualified for the penultimate hurdle of the competition.

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Title defenders was thrown out after luckless lottery

Champions league 2023-24 season, knockout round 2 - last 8, leg 2 (night 2 of 2):

Manchester city - Real Madrid 1:1, on penalties: 3-4

Scorers: 0:1 12 (11.44) Rodrygo de Goes

               1:1 75 (75.16) Kevin de Bruyne

Additional information: the above two clubs have scored goals in each halves, and after it was all equal the time has come for the use of the penalty roulette - where the ending result sounded that the calm guests have progressed to the next stage by eliminating the defending champions.

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Eleven goals given and ten scorers written to start second leg

Champions league 2023-24 season, knockout round 2 - last 8, leg 2 (night 1 of 2):

Borussia Dortmund - Atletico Madrid 4:2

Scorers: 1:0 33 (33.20) Julian Brandt

               2:0 39 (38.35) Ian Maatsen

               2:1 49-own goal (48.36) Mats Humels

               2:2 64 (63.56) Angel Correa

               3:2 71 (70.44) Niclas Fullkrug

               4:2 73 (73.08) Marcel Sabitzer

Barcelona - PSG 1:4

Scorers: 1:0 12 (11.43) Raphael Belloli

               1:1 39 (39.05) Ousmane Dembele

               1:2 54 (53.52) Vitor Ferreira

               1:3 60-pen (60.16) Kylian Mbappe

               1:4 89 (88.32) Kylian Mbappe

- Home defender Ronald Araujo received a direct red card on 29 (28.47).

Additional information: Borussia Dortmund and PSG have qualified for the semi final phase.

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Collapsing during game

Not always spectators are the cause of interrupting official games.

Yesterday night, at minute 72 between Udinese and Roma from Serie A championship Evan Ndicka worried everyone who was present on stadium. With hard pain the visiting 24-year-old just fell down on the pitch. At first it was thought that the Ivory coast player suffered a heart attack, however the analysis have shown that it was trauma to the chest that prompted the defender to collapse, and who today was released from hospital.

Because this game was immediately suspended as soon as this incident took place, the remaining minutes have to be played at a later date, and the organizers need to confirm that by the end of this week.

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Fight for entering into penultimate phase

At part number 2 of this month we will learn which 6 clubs would reach the semi final stage of the 3 European international leagues. Because the following 12 pairs are labeled as second matches there is always a possibility for some to be prolonged even longer than others. Schedule of the equal games to be played at 3 consecutive nights looks like this, and which is divided in:

Champions league...

Tuesday, 16 April at 21.00 CEt: Barcelona - PSG.

Tuesday, 16 April at 21.00 CEt: Borussia Dortmund - Atletico Madrid.

Wednesday, 17 April at 21.00 CEt: Bayern - Arsenal.

Wednesday, 17 April at 21.00 CEt: Manchester city - Real Madrid.

... Conference league...

Thursday, 18 April at 18.45 CEt: Fiorentina - Viktoria.

Thursday, 18 April at 18.45 CEt: Lille - Aston villa.

Thursday, 18 April at 21.00 CEt: Fenerbahche - Olympiacos.

Thursday, 18 April at 21.00 CEt: PAOK - Club Brugge.

... and Europa league.

Thursday, 18 April at 21.00 CEt: Atalanta - Liverpool.

Thursday, 18 April at 21.00 CEt: Olympique de Marseille - Benfica.

Thursday, 18 April at 21.00 CEt: Roma - Milan.

Thursday, 18 April at 21.00 CEt: West ham - Bayer.

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Appeal denied

Everybody knows what Daniel Alves did in the morning of 31 December 2022 in a nightclub at Barcelona. After that the 40-year-old went to prison, many requests for freedom was denied, so at the end a alternative was found: giving up the passports (in order not to escape from Spain) plus pay bail of a certain amount.

That money, and why the former defender was even released, was the subject of the lawyer from the victim where they objected this case, but on Wednesday that was completely thrown out from the court. Simply, a rejection of the appeal was pronounced as the ex-player is not in danger of fleeing because he handed Brazilian and Spanish travel documents to the officials.

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Was dismissed forcefully just 18 days after his appointment

In a very unusual news, the chief executive officer of Ajax did not last to hold even a month on that position because of something he bought earlier concerning the club itself.

This story begins on 02 August 2023 where Alex Kroes had been proposed, and then officially was chosen to be a director of the Dutch club on 15 March 2024. However, this celebration did not last long because it was determined that the entrepreneur had purchased over 17,000 shares just one week from the day he was suggested last year. Seeing no other option, the Supervisory Board of Ajax, who has learned about this activity, last Tuesday has fired the 49-year-old accusing him of insider trading (which is a criminal offence).

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Did not had strength to equalize from minus three goals

Conference league 2023-24 season, knockout round 3 - last 8, leg 1, single night:

Olympiacos - Fenerbahche 3:2

Scorers: 1:0 08 (07.54) Kostas Firtounis

               2:0 31 (31.13) Stevan Jovetic

               3:0 57 (56.37) Francisco Machado

               3:1 68-pen (67.32) Dushan Tadic

               3:2 74 (73.25) Irfan Can Kahveci

Viktoria - Fiorentina 0:0

Club Brugge - PAOK 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 06 (05.57) Hugo Vetlesen

- Home striker Igor Thiago could have double the score at 78 (77.49), but his 11 metre shot was beautifully saved.

Europa league 2023-24 season, elimination phase 3 - round of 8, leg 1, single night:

Benfica - Olympique de Marseille 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 16 (15.33) Rafael Silva

               2:0 52 (51.46) Angel di Maria

               2:1 66 (66.06) Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

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Spanish successes

Champions league 2023-24 season, knockout round 2 - last 8, leg 1 (night 2 of 2):

PSG - Barcelona 2:3

Scorers: 1:0 36 (36.10) Raphael Belloli

               1:1 47 (47.07) Ousmane Dembele

               2:1 50 (50.01) Vitor Ferreira

               2:2 62 (61.27) Raphael Belloli

               2:3 76 (76.14) Andreas Christensen

Atletico Madrid - Borussia Dortmund 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 04 (03.59) Rodrigo de Paul

               2:0 32 (31.39) Samuel Lino

               2:1 81 (80.56) Sebastien Haller

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Both clubs had led in each halves, but no one won at the end

Champions league 2023-24 season, knockout round 2 - last 8, leg 1 (night 1 of 2):

Real Madrid - Manchester city 3:3

Scorers: 0:1 02 (01.50) Bernardo Silva

               1:1 12-own goal (11.49) Ruben Dias

               2:1 14 (13.43) Rodrygo de Goes

               2:2 66 (65.34) Philip Foden

               2:3 70 (70.07) Joshko Gvardiol

               3:3 78 (78.06) Federico Valverde

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Match that lasted only 50 seconds

The two fierce rivals in Turkiye have met yesterday night, but instead of a spectacle, this duel finished in rather bizarre and unexpected way.

First the Super Cup game was moved to another country, in December 2023 at Saudi Arabia for the first time had to play Galatasaray and Fenerbahche, and this happened to be a terrible mistake: the new 'home' officials (without an explanation why) did not allow the two clubs to wear and play in jerseys of the local icon - the creator of modern Turkiye Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. After this scandalous decision it was difficult to find a date when this duel would be played where finally got rescheduled for 07 April.

Because of international duties (and to prepare better for the Conference league quarter final) Fenerbahche wanted from its federation to postpone the match which they denied the request together with their rivals who also did not agree. In response, the club has threatened to play with its youth players and walk off from the final. What was said - that was done: deliberately or not, and literally after the first attack of their opponents, they have received a goal in 50 seconds and its players have left the terrain.

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Time for quarter finals

This month is fully dedicated to the last 8 duels from the 3 European international leagues. As the first 2 competitions by significance has one kick-off time, the last still have 2. In the first 90 minutes and over 3 consecutive nights the following 12 matches are scheduled to be played at:

Champions league...

Tuesday, 09 April at 21.00 CEt: Arsenal - Bayern.

Tuesday, 09 April at 21.00 CEt: Real Madrid - Manchester city.

Wednesday, 10 April at 21.00 CEt: Atletico Madrid - Borussia Dortmund.

Wednesday, 10 April at 21.00 CEt: PSG - Barcelona.

... Conference league...

Thursday, 11 April at 18.45 CEt: Olympiacos - Fenerbahche.

Thursday, 11 April at 18.45 CEt: Viktoria - Fiorentina.

Thursday, 11 April at 21.00 CEt: Aston villa - Lille.

Thursday, 11 April at 21.00 CEt: Club Brugge - PAOK.

... and Europa league.

Thursday, 11 April at 21.00 CEt: Bayer - West ham.

Thursday, 11 April at 21.00 CEt: Benfica - Olympique de Marseille.

Thursday, 11 April at 21.00 CEt: Liverpool - Atalanta.

Thursday, 11 April at 21.00 CEt: Milan - Roma.

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Great prizes to be won

On the first night of June it will be revealed who is playing the best football on the European continent at a club level. From 21.00 CEt the Champions league will conclude for the 2023-24 season, and three weeks ago someone has prepared lot of surprises for fans in order to celebrate this special occasion.

Under the name "Dream final" everyone is invited to register on the website of the European football organization where each one can hope of getting prizes for the mentioned tournament. What are the rewards can be seen at that place, the deadline of entering is 08 May, while middle of next month is expecting to be announced the winners.

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Incidents and racist words punished

A total chaos has occurred after the match between Trabzonspor and Fenerbahche that was staged on 17 March at the Super lig of Turkiye. The home fans have stormed the terrain, fought with security officials and attacked the guests, and who some of the players have returned back. These incidents has prompt the disciplinary committee this Wednesday to award plenty of punishments.

Egemen Korkmaz, who is assistant trainer of Trabzonspor, cannot perform its function for one game. Six home duels have to play his club behind close doors, and also had to deliver 3 million Turkish Lira (86,717 euros) as fine. Visiting goalkeeper Irfan Can Egribayat and defender Jayden Oosterwolde have been suspended for one match and would receive less payment because of fighting, while their teammate Bright Osayi-Samuel that was seen to have excellent boxing skills and exchange blows with spectators was not even sanctioned.

"Gypsy" was named the coach of Sevilla Enrique Sanchez Flores who together with the defender Marcos Acuna was called "monkey" on plenty of occasions by the Getafe fans when this two clubs have met on 30 March. Because of this slurs, the Spanish LaLiga has ordered for the home club to close part of their arena in the next duel where at the empty stand have to show clearly a message against xenophobic behaviour. Also Getafe is relieved by 27,000 euros.

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Volunteers have been picked

For the seventeenth time the European championship is going to appear on the old continent, and from 20 March are known the helpers that would make all guests comfortable throughout Germany this summer. Visitors awaits 16,000 volunteers which are coming from 124 countries. Out of this number the organizers have calculated that 52.8 percent are males, 47.1 are females together with 0.1 percent who are nonbinary. Most of those have had experience with this labour before (67.8 percent) and 32.2 percent are debutants.

Their job would be to accommodate people in stadia and fan zones, to give information, ticketing, driving, and most importantly - smile.

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Announced two finals

Dates for the two major club tournaments on the African continent has been revealed last Thursday from its football organization. Everything would be known on the fifth month, the two clubs are going to meet twice, and in order for the audience / viewership to be increased both events would be staged on a weekend.

First starts the Confederations Cup with the first leg on 12 May, while the champion would be known 7 nights later also on Sunday.

Champions league event will also finish in a space of one week. At Saturday, 18 May is scheduled the first 90 minutes, and the winner is going to lift the trophy on 25 of next month.

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Kiss with a smell of jail

Everybody know what Luis Rubiales did before a live television audience and everyone who were present at the title ceremony in August of 2023. From that point on that kiss has raised a lot of dust, suspensions were handed, and further more it can be a lot worse for the ex official.

Because it was not mutual but coercive, the 46-year-old football official now may get 30 months in prison and that is divided like this: prosecutors wants one year behind bars for kissing Jennifer Hermoso together with 18 months with an accusation of being coerced. Spanish law clearly indicates that any forced kiss can be treated as sexual assault, and this is very much equal to sexual violence.

Also 50,000 euros is demanded to be paid as compensation to the 33-year-old player.

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Best paid club in the world

This November the Copa Libertadores 2024 edition is going to finish, and from 19 March it was revealed how much money the champion would receive.

Already giving the title the best paid club on one continental tournament, the future winner will earn 23 million dollars (21,1 million euros). Every win in the group phase the clubs would get the reward raised by 10 percent. On a comparison against the victory club from last year, this season the champion is going to receive 5 million dollars (4,6 million euros) more. Viewership for the event is also high for 48 percent.

Rewards at the Copa Sudamericana is also on the rise: from 100,000 to 115,000 dollars (91,863 to 105,643 euros) are the three points worth in the group phase of this competition. This tournament has an incredible number of 450 percent rise in terms of audience.

Since Alejandro Dominguez took the presidency of the South American organization in 2016, the awards from 70 million dollars (66,5 million euros) have grow to a record of 316 million dollars (290,3 million euros) which will be divided in this cycle at both competitions.

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Temporarily freedom

After being denied many times to be released on bail, on 20 March the Barcelona court has finally granted that Daniel Alves had to pay in order to get out from prison. In exchange for freedom the convicted rapist gave 1 million euros, so that five days later the Brazilian was free. But from now on the defender has to show up in court every week and has a restraining order not to get close to the victim. For this to happen there was one more (and probably the most) important condition of all: to hand over the Spanish and Brazilian passports just to be assure that he will remain in Spain and not escape outside the country.

This "scandalous" decision has commented the lawyer of the 23-year-old victim, who is appalled, would lodge an appeal, and that there is only "a justice system for the rich".

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