Category Sports News

Tamim Iqbal, the former Bangladeshi captain, was taken out of the hospital after his cardiac arrest during a domestic match.

Tamim, 36, was taken to the hospital after complaining of excruciating chest pains during a Monday match in the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League.

The doctors now anticipate that he will return home and that they “hope to see him soon play cricket again.”

He thanked doctors for their “amazing” care on Tuesday after having an artery blockade undergone an angioplasty.

Italy v. Ireland Women’s Six Nations

Date: Sunday, March 30th, 2019 Kick-off: 00 BST

As a result of coach Scott Bemand’s three changes for the Parma game, Edel McMahon will lead Ireland out against Italy on Sunday.

McMahon was named blindside flanker in place of Brittany Hogan in the opener against France last weekend, starting with the score of 27-15.

In the second row, Dorothy Wall replaces Aoibheann Reilly with Fiona Tuite, who takes over from Aoibheann Reilly.

Before the game at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, Bemand claims his team is “in good health.”

Ireland almost caused a stir in Belfast, but in the end France won despite Gabrielle Vernier receiving a red card in the 20th minute.

Italy lost to England last Sunday to start their campaign 38-5.

Ireland: McGann, Dalton, Higgins, Costigan (capt), O’Brien, Reilly, O’Dowd, Jones, Djougang, Campbell, Tuite, McMahon, King, Wafer, and Campbell.

Joe Root claims that his appointment as England’s next limited-overs captain has “sailed” the “ship has sailed”

After Jos Buttler left after their early exit at the Champions Trophy, England are looking for a new captain for the one-day and T20 sides.

Root, 34, has never been a white-ball international leader, but he still leads England’s 50-over batsmen in a white-ball international. He captained the Test team from 2017 to 2022.

“I’ve done my time as a captain in an England shirt, but I’m confident that anyone who gets the chance will be very proud and do a fantastic job,” Root said to Sky Sports.

After serving for two and a half years, Buttler resigned, but there hasn’t been much public interest in finding a replacement.

England will not rush the decision, according to managing director Rob Key, who stated that there are other options available to include Ben Stokes combining the duties of Test skipper and his own.

Coach Brendon McCullum has not ruled out naming separate 50-over and T20 captains. Given that Root is not currently playing for England’s cricket team in the shortest format, that could have allowed him to captain for 50 overs together with a different T20 skipper.

Although he was Buttler’s vice-captain, Batter Harry Brook is a key player in all three formats, he is still a strong choice.

To manage his schedule, he canceled the Indian Premier League that is currently in play.

Additionally, Key and McCullum will think about appointing a former national team’s successful captain, with Sam Billings, who earlier told BBC Sport, saying he would “jump” at the chance.

England have won three disappointing World Cup appearances, which led to Buttler’s resignation, after winning the 50-over World Cup in 2019 and the T20 title in 2022.

Root described their winless group-stage exit as disappointing.

We performed poorly against what we were capable of. That team has a lot of talent and a lot more to offer.

In response to an investigation into allegations of match manipulation, Kenya goalkeeper Patrick Matasi has been proviso suspended from all football activity for 90 days.

The Football Kenya Federation (FKF) made the decision on Thursday evening, shortly after the governing body announced an investigation into the 37-year-old.

The incident occurred as a result of an online video that appeared to show the keeper and a player agreeing to influence the outcome of a game.

The unofficial video cannot be verified by the BBC.

Matasi has 30 international caps for Kakamega Homeboys, a Premier League team in Kenya.

He has not responded to numerous comment requests.

Cleophas Shimanyula, the Kakamega Homeboyz owner, claimed Matasi refuted the allegations.

Shimanyula told BBC Sport Africa, “He was shocked by what he was seeing in the video, and he said he doesn’t know anything about match-fixing.”

“Kakamega Homeboyz opposes any kind of match-tracking.”

In a 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Cameroon in October, Matasi made his most recent appearance for Kenya.

The game was won by the Harambee Stars 4-1.

Bayern Munich have accused Canada Soccer of negligence after Alphonso Davies returned from international duty with a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).

Defender Davies went off injured 12 minutes into Canada’s 2-1 win against the United States in a Concacaf Nations League third-place play-off on Sunday.

Canada Soccer initially gave the 24-year-old the all clear, but an examination on his return to Munich revealed the injury. The full-back is expected to be out for at least six months.

He added: “The way things went down was incorrect. We are the employer and also pay the players, so we will investigate.”

In an interview with German tabloid newspaper Bild, Bayern CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen said the club wanted a “complete clarification of the events”, accusing Canada Soccer of “gross negligence” and saying “we reserve the right to take legal action”.

He continued: “Sending an obviously injured player with a damaged knee on a twelve-hour intercontinental flight without a thorough medical assessment is, in our view, grossly negligent and a clear breach of medical duty of care.

“Phonzy (Davies) is not at fault, he’s the captain and he wants to take responsibility. Canada as host nation of the 2026 World Cup has already qualified, you can’t take risks with a player like him.”

Davies signed a new five-year contract with the club in February to end speculation linking him with a move to Real Madrid.

Bayern also lost French centre-back Dayot Upamecano to a long-term leg injury during the international break and remain without captain Manuel Neuer.

Italy has more than its fair share of iconic football clubs. AC Milan. Inter Milan. Juventus. Napoli. Lazio. Roma. These institutions roll off the tongue.

For many English fans of Italian football, particularly those whose love of calcio can be traced back to Channel 4’s ‘Football Italia’, Sampdoria belong on that list.

In the decade between 1984 and 1994 Sampdoria won six major titles, while modern greats Trevor Francis, Roberto Mancini, Gianluca Vialli, Ruud Gullit and David Platt all wore the club’s iconic strip.

The Blucerchiati of that period acquired a cultural cachet that was hard to match.

Yet Sampdoria now find themselves struggling in Serie B – and facing the real threat of relegation to the third tier for the first time.

Unusually for a club with such a large cult following, Sampdoria are a relative newcomer to the Italian football landscape.

The northern Italian port city of Genoa has a proud footballing heritage -Sampdoria’s city rivals Genoa Cricket and Football Club were founded in 1893 and are the oldest active team in Italy.

The most recent of Genoa’s nine top-flight titles came 21 years before Sampdoria were formed in 1946, following a merger of middling Genoese clubs Sampierdarenese and Andrea Doria.

That unification produced their iconic home shirts – the blue represents Andrea Doria while the white, red and black mid-section came from Sampierdarenese.

Before the 1984-85 season, Sampdoria’s only honour was the 1966-67 second division title.

Yet over the next decade, the club won the Coppa Italia four times – more than any other side during that period – were crowned Serie A champions, won the European Cup Winners’ Cup and played in a European Cup final.

After assuming the club presidency in 1979, Paolo Mantovani was the man who turned an unfashionable mid-table team into serial winners.

Having made his money in the oil business, Mantovani spent heavily but smartly to propel Sampdoria to unprecedented heights.

Big names like Francis, Graeme Souness and Liam Brady were signed, but it was the recruitment of some of the best young Italian talents that really paid off.

A 17-year-old Mancini arrived from Bologna in 1982, followed two years later by a 19-year-old Vialli from Cremonese.

Nicknamed the ‘goal twins’ because of their prolific attacking partnership, both scored in the second leg of the 1984-95 Coppa Italia final, the first major title in Sampdoria’s history.

Mancini and Vialli first met at 16 playing for Italy’s youth teams and formed a close friendship that characterised the unity in the Sampdoria squad.

“We have a relationship that goes way beyond friendship,” Mancini said before Vialli’s death from pancreatic cancer in 2023. “He’s almost like a brother to me.”

Along with goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca, defender Pietro Vierchowod, attacking right-back Moreno Mannini, midfield anchor Fausto Pari and electric winger Attilio Lombardo, the duo formed the backbone of a team that won three more Coppa Italia titles – and the club’s first and only Scudetto in 1990-91 under legendary manager Vujadin Boskov.

“Mantovani cultivated a remarkable camaraderie among a uniquely talented group,” says Italian football writer Stephen Kasiewicz.

“Despite more lucrative offers the core of the team stayed together.”

Boskov’s side won the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1990, while only a Ronald Koeman free-kick saw them lose to Johan Cruyff’s Barcelona ‘dream team’ in the European Cup final two years later.

Mantovani’s death in 1993 was “the beginning of the end at Sampdoria”, according to Italian football journalist David Ferrini.

He added: “Mantovani’s reign attracted talent and kept them happy in Genoa, but his passing – combined with the hangover of the Scudetto success – meant that Sampdoria’s best players became prime transfer targets.”

In 1994 they lost Vialli to Juventus for a then-world record £12m, while Inter Milan paid £7m for Pagliuca, a record for a goalkeeper at the time.

Vierchowod joined Juventus 12 months later before Mancini followed Sven Goran Eriksson – who had replaced Boskov as manager in 1992 – to Lazio in 1997.

Gullit and Platt joined for brief spells in the latter stages of their careers, but Sampdoria no longer had the same appeal they once did.

Enrico Mantovani took over as president but failed to replicate his father’s success – and a steady decline followed the Coppa Italia triumph of 1993-94. In 1999 the club were relegated to Serie B.

Things improved under the presidency of local entrepreneur Riccardo Garrone, who guided the club back to Serie A in 2003 and signed future cult heroes Fabio Quagliarella and Antonio Cassano.

Yet the highlights of the 21st Century have been losing the Coppa Italia final in 2008-09 and a fourth-place league finish the following year.

Outspoken film producer Massimo Ferrero bought the club in 2014 – taking on its growing debts – but what followed was seven years of selling their best players, spending little on replacements and flirting with relegation on a regular basis.

“He seemed more concerned with bolstering his own image, as the bizarre star of his own one-man reality football show, than making sure Samp prospered,” says Kasiewicz.

In December 2021 Ferrero was arrested and jailed as part of an investigation into corporate crimes and bankruptcy, unrelated to the club. He resigned as president.

“The club effectively ceased to function. It’s been like a house of cards,” says Nima Tavallaey, Italian football journalist and co-host of The Italian Football Podcast.

With no funds available and Ferrero refusing to relinquish control, Sampdoria narrowly avoided relegation from Serie A in 2022. But in 2023 they did go down, amid reports of unpaid player wages.

With the club starring down the barrel of bankruptcy and demotion to the fourth tier, a consortium led by former Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani and London-based financier Matteo Manfredi – and his company Gestio Capital – bought the club, though Radrizzani has since divested his shares.

Italian World Cup winner Andrea Pirlo was hired as coach in 2023-24.

After a dismal start to the campaign his side won seven of their final 11 games to secure a seventh-place finish in Serie B and a spot in the promotion play-offs, where they lost 2-0 to Palermo in the preliminary round.

Gestio invested about £45m during their first season, but things have not gone according to plan this term.

The month before Sampdoria’s play-off exit Manfredi had described Pirlo as “a key part of the project” – yet three games into the current campaign he was dismissed following two defeats and a draw.

Andrea Sottil replaced him and, although he oversaw a Coppa Italia penalty shootout victory against Genoa in the first Derby della Lanterna in two years, he was jettisoned too after just four wins in 14 games.

Leonardo Semplici arrived in December and remains in position despite overseeing just two wins in 14 league games, both coming at the start of February.

Sampdoria find themselves 16th in the table – the final relegation play-off spot – with eight games left to play, and just two points above automatic relegation.

As things stand, a two-legged play-off will decide if they sink to the third tier for the first time.

“Dropping down into Serie C is unthinkable after all the efforts to keep the club in business,” says Ferrini.

“Manfredi won’t want to go down in history as the owner who took them down into the third division.”

For Tavallaey, just avoiding relegation won’t be enough.