Sports
Every single LaLiga Santander team will be represented at the 2018 World Cup
The official 23-man squad lists for the 2018 World Cup have been released by FIFA and 80 of the 736 players going to Russia played for a LaLiga Santander club during the 2017/18 season. In other words, one out every nine players at the tournament has been playing their football in the Spanish top flight. Adding in Numancia and Morocco goalkeeper Munir, who played in second tier LaLiga 1l2l3 this season, there will be a record 81 players taking part in Russia who have called Spain home in 2017/18.
Even more remarkably, each of LaLiga Santander’s 20 teams are sending at least one player, a feat unmatched by any other league in world football.
Real Madrid and Barcelona are the two teams sending the most players to Russia, with 15 and 14 respectively. Logically, many of these two teams’ internationals will be representing Spain, with Dani Carvajal, Nacho, Lucas Vázquez, Sergio Ramos, Marco Asensio, Isco, Gerard Piqué, Sergio Busquets, Andrés Iniesta and Jordi Alba all part of Julen Lopetegui’s squad. Yet there will be several other Real and Barça stars going to Russia to represent their countries, such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Marcelo, Toni Kroos, Philippe Coutinho, Luis Suárez and Lionel Messi.
Impressively, every single LaLiga Santander club has at least one representative, not just the Blancos and the Blaugrana. Atlético Madrid, for example, have nine players going to Russia, including the Spanish trio of Saúl Ñíguez, Koke and Diego Costa, Uruguayan centre-back duo Diego Godin and José Maria Gimenez and French superstar Antoine Griezmann.
Sevilla (with six players going), Deportivo La Coruña (five), Villarreal (four), Girona (three), Real Sociedad (three), Celta Vigo (three), Valencia (two), Real Betis (two), Getafe (two), Eibar (two), Espanyol (two), Levante (two) and Leganés (two) will all have multiple representatives in Russia as well.
There are four 2017/18 LaLiga clubs who have one player going, someone their fans can excitedly watch take on the best international teams. Kepa will be flying the flag for Athletic Club in the Spain squad, Alaves’s Swedish striker John Guidetti will be representing the team from Vitoria, Málaga’s exciting 21-year-old forwardYoussef En-Nesyri is in Morocco’s squad and Las Palmas’ Oghenekaro Etebo will have to come up against Messi once again, this time for Nigeria against Argentina in Group D.
Of the 80 LaLiga Santander players going to the tournament, 17 of them will be playing for Spain and 63 of them will be doing so for other national teams. Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Panama, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland and Uruguay will all have a least one LaLiga-based player in their ranks, meaning that there will be just 10 nations at the World Cup without a player from the top tier of Spanish football.
LaLiga is always well represented at the World Cup, but this year’s edition will have a distinctly Spanish feel to it.
Sports
QNET and Man City Mark 10th Anniversary of their Partnership
Man City counts 28 trophies in the last 10 yearsQNET, an Asian direct selling giant and Manchester City, a top Football club in and outside England, are celebrating 10 years of partnership with great results.
The anniversary was part of the 26th V-Malaysia Conference (VCON) at Penang in Malaysia.
The long-standing partnership will see QNET continue as Official Direct Selling Partner for City’s men’s and women’s teams, according to Techeconomy report.
This partnership marked a significant milestone in May 2018 when City welcomed QNET as the first sleeve partner in the Women’s Super League.
Throughout the next phase of this partnership QNET will continue to provide City-led football clinics to communities around the world, as well as engaging with consumers and distributors through this relationship with City.
In a message to the leaders of QNET and the 8,000 VCON participants from over 30 countries, Ferran Soriano, the chief executive officer of Manchester City FC, said they are pleased to achieve great milestones that would not have been possible without the support and the commitment of everybody at QNET, “and every single one of you. I do remember back in 2014 when I met the leadership of QNET for the first time, and we discussed our plans, our ambitions, and we promised a lot.
“We promised that Manchester City would be a great football team, and that they would play beautiful football. Now, 10 years since then, we hold 28 trophies. I have to be honest and say that when we promised we were going to do well, we didn’t think we were going to win 28 trophies.
“We’re excited now we’re starting a new season, and guess what? We want to win again, and if we do, it would be another record. Maybe we can win the fifth Premier League in a row. Obviously, something that hasn’t happened before. I can promise that we will fight for all the trophies like you fight for all your objectives. Manchester City and QNET have the incredible power to engage people from every country, create a sense of community and empower individuals and teams to achieve their aspirations”.
He promised Manchester City’s support to the QNET brand to achieve even more successes in the coming years.
Trevor Kuna, the CEO of QNET said that the partnership with Manchester City has made positive impacts on the business.
QNET’s grass-roots business model enables ordinary people from all walks of life to start their own business with minimal overhead.
With hard work and dedication, QNET distributors, known as Independent Representatives (IRs) have the opportunity to become economically self-sufficient, raising the standard of life for their families and communities.
QNET is driven by two important philosophies: RYTHM (Raise Yourself to Help Mankind) and InService.
Meanwhile, the highlight of the QNET and Manchester City celebration was the presentation of a 10-year partnership anniversary plaque by John Kirton, senior partnership marketing manager, Manchester City Football Club to the QNET team.
Sports
Robinho To Serve A 9 Year Jail Term Over Gang Rape
Former Manchester City and Real Madrid striker Robinho will reportedly serve a nine-year jail sentence for gang rape – Imposed on him by an Italian court — in Brazil, judges in Brasilia has ruled.
The 40-year-old was found guilty in Italy in 2017 and according to Globo, Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice (BSCJ), made the ruling on Wednesday, March 20, 2024.
The former Premier League player, whose real name is Robson De Souza, was one of six men who were found guilty of a§§aulting an Albanian woman in an Italian nightclub in January 2013.
In January 2022, the Supreme Court in Rome dismissed his final appeal against the conviction, according to the report.
Robinho claims he is innocent and has been living in Brazil for the past seven years. It came after nine of the court’s 15 ministers had voted in favour of the decision to incarcerate the footballer in Brazil.
Globo also claims that the ex-footballer, who also spent time at AC Milan and Real Madrid, will now be arrested in Santos, where he currently resides.
Robinho, who was 28 and was playing for AC Milan at the time, admitted during his appeal to having ‘contact’ with the woman, but the Brazilian insisted it was consensual.
The Milan Court of Appeals found Robinho had ‘belittled’ and ‘br¥tally h¥miliated’ the victim as it upheld his original sentence in December 2020.
Intercepted phone calls between the Brazilian and those allegedly involved in the assault were used as key evidence in his initial conviction.
Sports
Former Tennis Champion, Tania Okpala Returns To Tennis After Rehabilitation
Anambra State Governor, Charles Soludo, has revealed that former tennis champion, Tania Okpala, has resumed playing on the courts.
This development follows Soludo’s assurance that she would undergo rehabilitation after a video surfaced online showing her in distress on the streets of Awka, pleading for assistance.
In an update on his social media handle on Thursday, Soludo expressed his satisfaction with Okpala’s return, stating, “Tania Okpala is back on the courts!
“A few months ago, social media was flooded with a viral video showing Ms. Tania in a distressing state on the streets of Awka. I am pleased to report that we have successfully restored Tania to her winning ways.”
Okpala, who hails from Anambra and has a Belarusian mother, represented Nigeria in the 1990s.
Here are pictures of her in the tennis court.
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