Category News

US President Donald Trump says the opportunity for Russia to play at the 2026 World Cup could be an “incentive” to end the war in Ukraine.

The Russian national football team has been banned from international competition by Fifa and Uefa since the country’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Trump campaigned on ending the war in Ukraine on “day one” of office if he was elected for a second time in November 2024.

Under current rules, Russia will not play at the 2026 World Cup being co-hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico.

Speaking at the first meeting of his administration’s 2026 World Cup taskforce, Trump said reinstating Russia for the tournament could end the war in Ukraine.

Sat next to Fifa president Gianni Infantino, Trump was unaware that Russia were banned from the tournament.

“I didn’t know that. Is that right?” Trump asked.

“That is right,” said Infantino.

“They are banned for the time being from playing but we hope that something happens and peace will happen so that Russia can be readmitted.”

Trump said: “That’s possible. Hey, that could be a good incentive, right?

“We want to get them to stop. We want them to stop. Five thousand young people a week are being killed – it’s not even believable.”

Trump said Infantino is “the boss” when it comes to a decision over Russia’s participation and that he had “nothing to do” with any call to reinstate them.

US vice-president JD Vance, who was sat on the other side of President Trump in the meeting, said the US is looking forward to welcoming fans from across the globe for the tournament but says supporters must “go home” afterwards.

The US will host 78 of the 104 matches, including the final.

The World Tourism Forum Institute has warned that strict immigration policies in the US and global political tensions could “significantly” disrupt international arrivals.

“I know we’ll have visitors, probably from close to 100 countries,” said Vance.

“We want them to come. We want them to celebrate. We want them to watch the game.

“But when the time is up, they’ll have to go home.”

The Fifa Club World Cup, which starts next month, is being held across 12 stadiums in the US.

About two million overseas visitors are expected for the tournament.

“We’re processing those travel documents and visa applications already,” said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

It’s 3pm on Saturday and Watford fans are cheering their squad as they conduct a lap of the Vicarage Road pitch.

The focus of their attention is the head coach, who receives the same chant that has welcomed him all season: “Tom Cleverley, ole ole”!

But the sunny conviviality of the Bank Holiday weekend has since given way to the harsh realities of the working week.

The season is over and Watford have sacked another manager.

Cleverley has become the club’s 21st managerial departure since 2012 – but if the faces in the dugout have changed frequently in 13 years, the man in ultimate control has remained the same: Gino Pozzo, Watford’s owner.

The Italian, whose family also own Serie A club Udinese, has overseen a regime that has seen his club become the subject of derision for their regular managerial turnover.

While initial success might have answered his outside critics, Watford have been on a downward trajectory since reaching the FA Cup final in 2019, a slide which had been arrested to some degree by Cleverley.

By sacking the popular former player and captain, Pozzo may have ruptured any remaining threads of connection with Watford’s fanbase.

Pozzo can offer Watford’s form in his defence.

The Hornets started the season well, sitting around the play-off places, but since the turn of the year were the worst side in the Championship, taking 23 points from 23 games.

The club won just one of their seven games in January, and while February was more positive, they tasted victory in only two of their 12 games from the start of March.

Pozzo may have felt it his responsibility to make changes he thought necessary rather than wait for the point where consensus would suggest a sacking was acceptable.

Indeed, he employed the tactic during Watford’s successful Premier League run, removing Quique Sanchez Flores and Walter Mazzarri at the end of seasons once top-flight status had been secured, but after a poor end to the campaign.

But Cleverley’s sacking comes in a different context, with the club at the end of their first season without parachute payments following Premier League relegation in 2022.

Wesley Hoedt and Yaser Asprilla, player and young player of the season respectively, along with Canada international Ismael Kone, were all sold in last summer’s window, while the club will expect to sell their two significant assets, Imran Louza and Giorgi Chakvetadze, in the coming months.

Incoming investment has been minimal, with Pozzo, once one of the richer owners in the division, now outgunned by a new generation of wealthy proprietors.

Cleverley’s side have been one of the youngest in the division and have shown some significant holes, with no replacements for Chakvetadze and winger Kwadwo Baah after their seasons were ended by injury.

Appointed in March 2024, initially as interim head coach, the then 34-year-old Cleverley had only led the club’s under-18 side for eight months, having retired from playing at Watford in summer 2023.

Having guided the team to 15th in 2023-24, he has moderately improved their fortunes – by a position and a single point – while also winning praise for reconnecting with a fanbase that soured on the squad and those in charge of it.

That has not proved to be enough.

Announcing Cleverley’s departure, sporting director Gian Luca Nani said: “The time has come for a change and to build on what we believe is a young and talented squad that will have benefited from the experience of the Championship this season”.

It wasn’t always this way.

For the first seven years under Gino Pozzo’s ownership, Watford enjoyed a period of sustained success unlike anything they had experienced since the 1980s.

Watford were promoted to the Premier League three years into his tenure, then spent four seasons in the top flight where relegation was barely a concern.

In 2019, the club came close to qualifying for Europe through the league, while also reaching the second final FA Cup final in their history.

Throughout that period, Pozzo was lauded for his efforts. On the final day of the 2015-16 season, a tifo banner featuring Pozzo’s face graced the Watford home end, while fans were often heard to sing a song in his honour, to the tune of Simon &amp, Garfunkel’s Mrs Robinson.

Pozzo was heavily involved in the football operation and combined smart integration with family-owned Udinese and an eye for talent, buying resalable players like Abdoulaye Doucoure, Joao Pedro and Ismaila Sarr.

Meanwhile, early season managerial changes like the appointment of Slavisa Jokanovic in 2014-15 and Xisco Munoz in 2020-21 resulted in the club being promoted to the Premier League on each occasion.

He may have been trigger-happy, but he was never chaotic – and prior to Cleverley’s appointment Watford have only employed a caretaker in one season in Pozzo’s reign, with replacements typically announced within 24 hours of their predecessor.

But from 2019, when he sacked FA Cup final manager Javi Gracia after four games of the season, Pozzo’s manoeuvres continually failed to bear fruit.

Watford had three permanent managers in 2019-20, 2021-22 and 2022-23 – twice suffering Premier League relegation, as short-lived managers and disconnected players struggled to form a bond with each other and their supporters, with each appointment tending to take the side further from their objective.

In appointing Cleverley, a developing manager rather than the experienced overseas journeymen he tended to favour, Pozzo seemed to acknowledge a new model was needed for more financially straitened times.

But with the side faltering in the new year, rumours began to emerge that he was seeking another change, and in turn supporters familiar with their owner’s tendency to reach for the ejector button grew more vociferous in support of their manager.

A fresh chant was heard in the stands – “I don’t care about Gino, Gino don’t care about me, all I care about… is Tom Cleverley”.

Before January’s home defeat to Preston another giant tifo banner was unfurled – the height of the Rookery Stand and featuring three gigantic images of Cleverley. Its message of “Player. Coach. Captain”. made the supporters ‘ stance quite clear.

Cleverley may have survived that period, but Pozzo has now decided another of his interventions might secure a third Championship promotion of his reign.

In place of Jack Doohan, Argentine Franco Colapinto will drive for Alpine in the next five grand prix.

Colapinto, whom Alpine acquired from Williams over the winter, would drive alongside Pierre Gasly from the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at Imola on May 16 and 18, according to a statement from the team.

A “new evaluation before the British Grand Prix” will follow on July 4 and 5.

After reviewing the opening races of the season, Alpine executive adviser Flavio Briatore made the decision to put Franco in the car along with Pierre for the following five races.

We are in a position where we feel the need to change our line-up because the field is so closely matched this year and the team has a competitive car that has significantly improved over the past 12 months.

We also understand that the 2026 season will be crucial for the team, and it is necessary to conduct a thorough and impartial evaluation of the drivers this year to maximize our goals for the year ahead.

Doohan would be the team’s first-choice reserve driver during this time, according to the statement.

Paul Aron, an Estonian, is also a member of the team’s books.

Briatore continued, “We continue to support Jack at the team because he has performed very professionally this season as a race driver.

We will evaluate our options after the following five races, and we will have the opportunity to try something new.

Colapinto predicted that he would “work hard” and that the three Imola, Monaco, and Barcelona races would “undoubtedly be intense and a big challenge for everyone.”

He continued, “I will do my best to get up to speed quickly and give it my all” to help Pierre and Pierre achieve the best possible outcomes.

As a professional driver, Doohan, the son of five-time MotoGP champion Mick Doohan, said: “Obviously, this latest chapter is a difficult one for me to take.”

“With that said, I appreciate the team’s commitment and trust. As a team, we have long-term objectives that require achievement, and I’ll continue to give it my all.

For the time being, I’ll keep working hard, keep watching the upcoming five races, and keep pursuing my own personal objectives.