Italian coach Roberto Mancini acknowledged the existence of a “double contract” during his tenure as coach of Manchester City, but said that this matter concerns the English club and not his problem, in light of the case in which City faces more than 100 accusations of financial violations.
Mancini, who led City to the English Premier League title in the 2011-2012 season, said during a press conference for the Italian national team in Türkiye, yesterday, Sunday: “It is not a problem that concerns me. However, this is not new, as it appears every four or five years. Manchester City is not guilty, and the existence of a double contract is not my problem, but most likely their problem.”
In 2018, the German magazine Der Spiegel published documents that it said showed that Mancini had received additional money in exchange for providing consultations to a club in Abu Dhabi, in addition to his basic salary with Manchester City of one million and 450 thousand pounds sterling. The accusations against City include allegations of not providing accurate details regarding payments to players and coaches during the period from the 2009-2010 to 2017-2018 seasons.
Last Friday, press reports stated that an independent committee supported most of the accusations against Manchester City, but the club did not confirm these reports, saying only that the procedures with the English Premier League were still continuing. Manchester City denies committing any wrongdoing, and Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Club’s Board of Directors, reiterated this position in a message to the fans, stressing that the club is still committed to proving its innocence. Mancini led Manchester City to its first Premier League title in half a century in 2012, and also won the FA Cup in 2011, before his dismissal in 2013.
The British Cycling Federation announced today (Monday) that Olympic gold medalist Katie Marchant is retiring from cycling at the age of thirty-three.
The trio of Marchant, Sophie Capewell and Emma Finucane set a world record at the Paris 2024 Olympics, winning gold for Britain in the women's team sprint.
Marchant also won a bronze medal in the sprint during her first Olympic participation in Rio in 2016 and won the team title at the 2024 World Championships.
“My dreams have come true, and I feel very lucky that this has been my life for the past thirteen years,” Marchant said in a statement published on the British Cycling Federation’s website.
She added: “I have had the privilege of working with some of the most amazing people and made friends that will last a lifetime. Although I am ending this wonderful era, I am really excited to deal with what is coming in the future.”
Complaints increased on Monday about poor logistical management at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. Murad Jehan, captain of the Pakistani volleyball team, said that his team went to the wrong court before its first group match against Uzbekistan. Jehan, who appeared sullen, posted a post on Instagram to express his frustration at what he said was “another administrative error” in the “Asian Games.”
He said in a video clip from inside the bus: “We have a very important match, but the bus driver does not know in which gym we will play.” He added: “He took the wrong road and arrived at another gym, and we are running out of time now.” "It's an embarrassing revelation." He continued: “We did not expect this from Japan. "This should not have happened."
The organizers of the Asian Games have not yet responded to Reuters' request for comment.
Jehan said that this detour in the road deprived the team of sufficient time to conduct a proper warm-up; Which forced the players to wear their sports clothes inside the bus while it was running. He added: “It is a really disappointing situation.” “This is not the only case of mismanagement that athletes face here,” he said, adding that food was not always available to athletes in the dining areas after training periods.
Pakistan ignored this confusion as soon as it arrived at the Okazaki-Cho Soju Park gym, and achieved its second successive victory, 3-0, over Uzbekistan. The main organizer of the Asian Games apologized on Saturday for the widespread logistical disruptions, explaining that the late influx of about 2,000 additional athletes and officials from the teams had disrupted operational planning.
