Italy's soccer federation president resigned amid political pressure on Thursday, two days after the Azzurri failed to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup. Gabriele Gravina's decision will likely lead to the ouster of Italy coach Gennaro Gattuso, too.Italy's Sports Minister Andrea Abodi called for a change in the country's soccer leadership after Gravina oversaw two sets of disappointing World Cup qualifiers.Italy's chances of reaching this year's tournament in North America ended after a penalty shootout loss to Bosnia and Herzegovina in a qualifying playoff on Tuesday. Fans have been asking for big changes in the Italian federation after missing out on the World Cup again. Italian coach Gattuso under pressure to resign Former Italian midfielder and now coach, Gattuso, is under pressure to resign after Italy failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup for the third consecutive time. Azzurri lost to Bosnia and Herzegovina on penalties.Italy were in the World Cup playoffs after they failed to beat Norway in the group stage of qualifying. Italy knew a win against Bosnia would put them through to the marquee tournament in the US. However, a shock defeat has left the Italians shell-shocked as they missed a third consecutive World Cup.The Italians looked set to qualify after Moise Kean opened the scoring to give the visitors a lead. However, everything unravelled soon for the Azzurris. Just before half-time, Alessandro Bastoni was sent off for a reckless tackle, and the Italians were down to 10 men. In the second-half, Kean had a golden chance to double Italy's lead when he raced through on goal from his own half but missed the target.That miss came back to haunt Italy as their worst nightmares came true after substitute Haris Tabakovic equalised in the 79th minute. The tall striker put the ball in the back of the net after a goalmouth scramble in the visitors' box.Eventually, Italy lost 4-1 on penalties and will go at least 16 years without playing at the FIFA World Cup. After the match, Gattuso said he will announce his future soon. (With AP Input)
02 April,2026 07:41 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondentKerala Sports Minister V Abdurahiman said that the Argentina football team had deceived the state by failing to show up for a game despite being paid for it.Abdurahiman stated that he had a strong desire for Lionel Messi and the Argentina football team to visit Kerala and play a game in the state."For that, I had held several discussions. It was also not an easy task to find sponsors to arrange the Rs 250 crore to be paid to the international football team. But, after receiving the money, the Argentine football team cheated us. We did not expect such a betrayal from them. Not coming after promising to do so," the minister told a TV channel.He claimed that after asking, he discovered that Argentina had done this to five other nations."They took money from those countries, but never went there to play. It is a situation where a case will have to be filed against the Argentine football team, and they will have to pay us compensation," Abdurahiman said.He said that he was really looking forward to their arrival and that, therefore, their deception was disappointing and made him sad."It has disappointed the football lovers in Kerala. I don't know to whom I will tell my disappointment," he added.In November of last year, the minister announced that Lionel Messi and the Argentina football team would visit Kerala in March of this year. Lionel Messi visited India for the 'GOAT India Tour 2025' Lionel Messi toured India in December 2025 as part of the "GOAT India Tour 2025", visiting Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and New Delhi from December 13–15. The tour featured fan events, youth clinics, and a celebrity match, though it faced controversy in Kolkata regarding crowd management and a short appearance.Messi was joined by Luis Suarez and Rodrigo De Paul during his visit, which was a huge success. The Argentine star did not visit Kerala during this tour.A separate proposal for Messi and Argentina to visit Kerala in March 2026 for a match was cancelled following payment disputes. (With PTI Input)
02 April,2026 06:36 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondentSpain star Lamine Yamal on Wednesday condemned the anti-Muslim chants made by Spanish fans during a friendly soccer game in the latest incident to dent the nation's sporting image. The Spanish government and the soccer federation also condemned the chants, and police said they were investigating the behavior by fans during Tuesday's game between Spain and Egypt in the city of Barcelona. Yamal, who is Muslim, said the chants made by part of the fans at RCDE Stadium were disrespectful and intolerable. He said it didn't matter that the chants were not directed at him personally. "I understand that not all fans are like that, but to those who chant these things: Using a religion as a taunt on the field makes you look ignorant and racist," he wrote on Instagram. "Football is for enjoying and cheering, not for disrespecting people for who they are or what they believe." Racist abuse against players are not uncommon in Spain. Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior has often been subjected to racist taunts during soccer matches. Sexism has also been an issue, as Spanish soccer endured one of its most embarrassing incidents when then-federation boss Luis Rubiales kissed player Jenni Hermoso on the lips after the 2023 Women's World Cup final. He was eventually found guilty of sexual assault. Spain coach Luis de la Fuente also condemned the anti-Muslim chants after the game, which was part of the team's preparations for the World Cup. "I feel total and absolute repulsion towards any xenophobic or racist attitudes," he said. "They are intolerable." The game ended in a 0-0 draw. The Egyptian Football Association decried the anti-Muslim chants, calling them a "reprehensible racist act." It also condemned the lack of respect shown when the nation's anthem was played before the match. "These actions are entirely unacceptable in football stadiums and represent a negative phenomenon that must be collectively addressed and eradicated," the EFA said in a statement. It added that it "highly appreciates the statements of rejection and condemnation issued by the Spanish Football Federation, the Spanish Ministry of Sport, as well as officials and football figures across Spain, all of whom denounced the racist incidents witnessed during the match." The EFA said it was working with "FIFA officials and all relevant stakeholders and international institutions to prevent such offensive incidents from occurring in football stadiums" worldwide. "What happened is completely unacceptable, and FIFA remains committed to combating racism and discrimination in football," it said. "We stress the importance of preventing any recurrence of such incidents and working diligently to eliminate this phenomenon altogether." Egypt is a majority-Muslim country. "Hate, racism, and xenophobia have no place in stadiums or in our society," Milagros Tolon, the Spanish minister in charge of sports, said Wednesday. Catalonia's regional police said "we will investigate yesterday's Islamophobic and xenophobic chants at the RCDE Stadium during the friendly match Spain-Egypt." Barcelona-based club Espanyol condemned what it called "racist behavior" at its stadium. "Such actions are reprehensible and unacceptable, do not represent the values ??of sport, and must be firmly condemned and eradicated from all sporting venues," Espanyol said. The club claimed that its supporters were being unfairly blamed for the incident in a "smear campaign" and that the national team fans came from "very diverse geographical and footballing backgrounds." Last year, an Espanyol fan accused of racially insulting Athletic Bilbao forward Inaki Williams during a Spanish league game in 2020 accepted a deal to avoid prison time. Spain is due to play Saudi Arabia at the World Cup, and also faces Cape Verde and Uruguay in Group H of the 48-team tournament. Egypt has games against Belgium, New Zealand and Iran in Group G. Spain was hosting Egypt for the game, which had originally been expected to be played in Qatar before the region was affected by the Iran war. A "Finalissima" game there between South American champion Argentina and European champion Spain was canceled after they couldn't agree to reschedule. FIFA didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about Tuesday's chants. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
02 April,2026 10:52 AM IST | Madrid | AFPManchester City star Erling Haaland boasts an incredible collection of supercars, and that has only grown in size with the Norwegian striker recently adding an ultra-rare Mercedes-Maybach Virgil Abloh to his garage. The luxury supercar is estimated to be worth a whopping £400,000 (approximately Rs 5 crore) and is one of only 150 models in existence. The sedan was designed with the help of Louis Vuitton’s artistic designer, the late Virgil Abloh. Haaland’s car features a dual-tone colour scheme — the roof, bonnet and boot of the car is jet black, while the sides feature a sandy hue. Some of the other stunning cars in the 25-year-old’s collection include an Aston Martin DBX 707 (£350,000; approximately Rs 4.4 crore), a Rolls Royce Cullinan (£300,000; approximately Rs 3.7 crore), a Porsche 911 GT3 (£160,000; approximately Rs 2 crore), a Range Rover Sport (£120,000; approximately Rs 1.5 crore), an Audi RS6 Avant (£120,000; approximately Rs 1.5 crore), and a Mercedes AMG-GLE Coupe (£90,000; approximately Rs 1.1 crore). On the pitch, Haaland recently won the EFL Cup with City and remains a vital part of his team’s EPL title bid.
02 April,2026 10:32 AM IST | Mumbai | A CorrespondentArgentine football legend Diego Maradona’s childhood home in Villa Fiori, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, has been converted into a soup kitchen for the poor. Although the property no longer belongs to the Maradona family, the wall outside it bears a mural of the 1986 World Cup-winner along with the title — The House of God. While the home itself no longer exists, the dirt yard upon which it was built has been lent to a group of volunteers, who prepare food for the poor. As per British tabloid The Sun, Leonardo Fabian Alvarez, a pastor who runs the makeshift soup kitchen, said: “People who have lost their jobs come to the line, collecting food and whatever we give them.”
02 April,2026 10:29 AM IST | Mumbai | A CorrespondentAFC Australia, Iraq, IR Iran, Japan, Jordan, Korea Republic, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan CAF Algeria, Cape Verde, Congo DR, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia CONCACAF Curaçao, Haiti, Panama, Mexico, USA, Canada CONMEBOL Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay OFC New Zealand UEFA Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czechia, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye
02 April,2026 09:23 AM IST | Mumbai | A CorrespondentEngland boss Thomas Tuchel admitted that Tuesday’s woeful 0-1 defeat against Japan ‘hurt a lot’ but insisted it was a valuable lesson on the road to the World Cup. In their last friendly on home turf before the World Cup kicks off in June, Tuchel’s side delivered a lacklustre performance and were booed off at the final whistle. “For sure it hurts. It’s always painful to lose, and to lose at home hurts a lot. We got punished for not a lot, for one counter attack in the first half. We need these matches, we know it is a tough opponent, we tried a lot of stuff, and we need to learn. It is not the end of the world,” said Tuchel. England had previously played out a drab 1-1 draw with Uruguay on Saturday. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
02 April,2026 09:19 AM IST | London | AFPItaly will miss out on a third straight World Cup after falling to Bosnia and Herzegovina in Tuesday’s breathless qualification Playoff final, the Azzurri blowing their chance to reach this summer’s tournament in North America with a 1-4 penalty shoot-out defeat. Esmir Bajraktarevic shot the winning spot-kick to help the Bosnians book a place in Group B (Canada, Switzerland and Qatar). Gennaro Gattuso Italy took the lead through Moise Kean (15th min), but then folded under the weight of expectation after having to play most of the match with 10 men — Alessandro Bastoni was sent off for chopping down Amar Memic four minutes before half-time. Haris Tabakovic poked home Bosnia’s deserved leveller (79th min) to take the match to extra time. And the horror show continued in the subsequent shoot-out, with Pio Esposito smashing Italy’s first penalty over the bar, and when Bryan Cristante hit the bar and Bajraktarevic squeezed his effort under Gianluigi Donnarumma, the game was up. “It really hurts. On a personal level, it’s a heavy blow. But this is football, sometimes it makes you celebrate, sometimes it makes you suffer,” said Italy coach Gennaro Gattuso. “I don’t think the boys deserved to suffer such a blow for the effort and the heart that they showed tonight,” he added. The front page of Italy’s top daily Corriere della Sera read: “The World Cup curse,” while the headlines of the La Gazzetta dello Sport and Corriere dello Sport, the country’s leading sports newspapers, both said “We’re all staying at home.” FirstNo World Cup-winning team other than Italy have failed to qualify for three consecutive editions of the global event 30No. of shots attempted by Bosnia and Herzegovina compared to Italy’s nine in the Playoff final Two games that cost Italy dearly Norway 3-0 Italy (6 Jun, 2025) – Italy got off to a horror start in their qualification campaign in Group I. Norway crushed them with goals from Alexander Sorloth, Antonio Nusa and Erling Haaland. Norway 4-1 Italy (16 Nov, 2025) – Italy took an early lead through Francesco Esposito, but Norway scored a flurry of goals after the hour mark through Haaland (brace), Nusa and Jorgen Larsen. The result meant the four-time world champions had to go through the perilous Playoff phase. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
02 April,2026 09:13 AM IST | Zenica (Bosnia & Herzegovina) | AgenciesChelsea revealed on Wednesday that its most recent financial reports showed pre-tax losses of 262.4 million pounds ($350 million), a record high in the Premier League era. Chelsea, whose owners are American private equity firms, partially blamed the losses on "increased operating costs" in 2024–2025 over the prior year.According to Britain's Press Association, Manchester City's 197.5 million pounds (now $263 million) pre-tax loss during the 2010–11 season was the previous largest in the Premier League.According to Chelsea, the London club's revenue for the year ending June 30, 2025, was 490.9 million pounds ($650 million), the second-highest on record. This includes a portion of the revenue from its Club World Cup-winning run.For the three years ending in 2024–2025, Chelsea was found to comply with the Premier League's financial regulations, which permit maximum losses of 105 million pounds ($140 million) throughout that time. For instance, the league does not account for spending on women's football, youth development, or infrastructure when evaluating teams' losses.Since BlueCo took over in 2022, Chelsea has signed several younger players to long-term contracts, spending more than £1 billion on players. For violating squad-cost ratio regulations, UEFA penalised the club £26.7 million at the beginning of the season and is keeping an eye on them for three years.Chelsea also revealed their women's team lost £17.1m in 2024-25, with revenue at £21.3m. Chelsea is struggling in the Premier League Chelsea has had a tough season in the Premier League. The club sacked their manager, Enzo Maresca, midway through the season despite being in the top 4. Since then, the new manager, Liam Rosenior, has failed to impress as his team was knocked out of the Champions League and dropped out of the Top 4 in the Premier League. Qualifying for the Champions League will be the key for Chelsea heading into the next season. The added finances of the marquee competition will help the club balance its finances; a failure to qualify for the Champions League could lead to the sacking of the manager and put the future of their star players in doubt.(With AP Input)
01 April,2026 07:28 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondentThe moment Haris Tabakovic converted his decisive penalty, Italian football had hit rock bottom. The four-time FIFA World Cup champions had failed to qualify for the marquee event for the third consecutive time. The first one was considered a fluke, the second one was embarrassing, but this was rock bottom.Italy knew a win against Bosnia and Herzegovina would guarantee them a place at the FIFA World Cup 2026, having missed the last two World Cups. The Italians looked set to qualify after Moise Kean opened the scoring to give the visitors a lead. However, everything unravelled soon for the Azzurris.Just before half-time, Alessandro Bastoni was sent off for a reckless tackle, and the Italians were down to 10 men. Bosnia and Herzegovina piled on the pressure, but the visitors held their lead going into half-time.In the second-half, Italy were playing on the break as the hosts brought on multiple attacking substitutes in search of the equaliser. Kean had a golden chance to double Italy's lead when he raced through on goal from his own half but missed the target.That miss came back to haunt Italy as their worst nightmares came true after substitute Haris Tabakovic equalised in the 79th minute. The tall striker put the ball in the back of the net after a goalmouth scramble in the visitors' box.Bosnia and Herzegovina had a chance to win the match late on, but Donnarumma pulled off some big saves to take the match into extra-time and then into penalties. Bosnia and Herzegovina's skipper Edin Dzeko suffered a shoulder injury right at the end of extra time and was unlikely to take a penalty if required, making Italy the slight favourites.In the shootout, Pio Esposito and Bryan Cristante missed their spot kicks, and Esmir Bajraktarević converted the decisive penalty for Bosnia, winning them the shoot-out 4-1. Donnarumma was agonisingly close to saving Bosnia's decisive penalty but to no avail as the hosts earned a victory to sink Italian football into further depths. Italy manager Gattuso apologises to the fans Speaking after the match, the Italian manager apologised to the fans for yet another failure to qualify for the FIFA World Cup. The former star midfielder further added that he will decide his future as the manager of the team later on."I want to personally apologise since we didn't make it. Today, talking about my future is not important. Today it was important to get to the World Cup." Gattuso said.This latest failure to qualify for the FIFA World Cup means that Italy will go at least 16 years without playing at the marquee event, having last played in 2014. Despite their World Cup struggles, Italy won the European Championship in 2021.
01 April,2026 06:35 PM IST | Mumbai | Atharva UpasaniEngland and Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney has planned a spectacular 40th birthday bash for wife Coleen on Friday, April 3. For this, he has set up a marquee across the lawn of their plush Euro 20 million (approximately Rs 248 crore) mansion in Cheshire. Interestingly, the birthday bash will also combine an Easter family and friends gathering, making it a grand celebration over the weekend. “I’m looking forward to it. I love a birthday and a [festive] celebration. I have decided to enjoy a couple of different celebrations with family and friends over the year and with my birthday falling over Easter weekend, some friends are away — so any opportunity to extend the celebrations,” Coleen recently told British magazine OK! Ahead of the weekend bonanza, Wayne and Coleen took a trip to Disneyland Paris with their youngest son Cass (eight). The couple also have three other sons, Kai (16), Klay (12) and Kit (10). Wayne and Coleen, now a media personality, met at the age of 12 in the town of Croxteth in Liverpool, and became fast friends. They began dating at 16 and got married in 2008. Rs 248crEstimated value of Wayne and Coleen Rooney’s mansion in Cheshire
01 April,2026 10:21 AM IST | Mumbai | A CorrespondentADVERTISEMENT
-1775138817637_d.png?tr=w-436,h-271 "Gattuso (Pic: AFP)")
-1775134909184_d.png "Lionel Messi (Pic: AFP)")
