Category Sports News

Hearts vs. Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup semi-final

Location: Hampden Park, Glasgow Date: Saturday, April 19th, 12:30 BST

When Hearts striker Elton Kabangu discusses the importance of balance and the 50-50 success rate, it seems as though he is discussing Saturday’s Scottish Cup semi-final against Aberdeen, but he is actually talking about his chances of surviving a lung infection during the Covid period.

Three years ago, the Belgian of Congolese descent had a decent life. At the time, he played for Willem II. Mid-20s, a few goals in the Netherlands’ bank, and a gradual improvement of the reputation. Then, bang.

No longer sense of smell. Then, muscle pains. Then, exhaustion follows. Then, a cough of blood followed. Then, intensive care. Through the window, his mother appears to him, but he doesn’t remember her.

He claims that he spent 16 days comaing. My lungs were infected, so yeah, it took 16 days. I just vividly recall being extremely sick when I first arrived at the hospital. I had to make a fightback after going through the most difficult period of my life.

Kabangu, age 27, has played for the club before joining Hearts on loan after his name was well known in the data of his club partner, Jamestown Analytics. He has since gone on to play for the club, Willem II, Union Saint-Gilloise, Willem II, and now has a character test.

In 14 games, eight goals were scored. He claims there is room for improvement. Two are in opposition to Ross County, Dundee, St. Johnstone, Kilmarnock, and Brechin, respectively. A top-six team is not in any way.

He said, “I’m a striker, and I’ve been important, but I want to be more important.”

Although my current focus has been on fewer goals, I’m still confident. Because I am aware of what I can bring and will try to bring it, I don’t worry about my own self-esteem or my work ethic.

The goal is to change the recent run against Aberdeen at Hampden on Saturday (no goals in three and only one in seven). He claims that the game is meant to save our season.

And for Hearts, this season most definitely needs to be saved. A miserable failure, missing out on the top six.

Kabangu only joined in January, but he has long enough to realize that a club of this size isn’t nearly good enough. He claims that he hardly ever left the house for a day or two after Motherwell’s 0-0 draw that sealed their place in the bottom six.

Because we worked very hard and witnessed everyone being focused, it’s difficult to say what went wrong. Simply put, it hurts. Both the fans and I are furious.

“I can’t stay disappointed because we have to demand more and do more,” he said. When you don’t accomplish those goals, it’s painful, in my opinion, because I believe this team and club have a lot more potential.

Faith has always been a part of who he is, which is why Beni Baningime, another player whose life is influenced by his belief in God, is one of his closest friends. that and their common Congolese heritage.

The spiritual side of his life has expanded since his last few weeks in a coma.

It’s more, I must say, now. You are likely to comprehend a lot of things when you are still in a coma. There is only Jesus Christ, in my opinion, in heaven.

He is my saviour, so I try to spend the majority of my time with him, studying his words, and studying them. It means more to me than it does. It’s a matter of existence.

I pray in the morning. Then, I have my Bible and read when I arrive at the club. I return home after training. I worship after I have my Bible.

I pray in the evening. That’s what I try to accomplish. I meditate and study the Word of God. I met my Congolese brother Beni and my Christian brother when I arrived. Our lives are essentially the same. We make the most of our time with Jesus, and we try to read and worship him as much as we can.

Although he is happy in Edinburgh, he is unsure of his future plans. Hearts would have to buy him out of that year because he still has a year to go at Union. He only considers Aberdeen and this Hampden semi-final in the present and is only thinking about it.

There were times when the shirts of the top English football teams featured household names, but those days are long gone.

More and more well-known than ever, and many of the companies that now sponsor shirts don’t even try to sell anything to fans.

The combined value of shirt sponsorship deals between Premier League clubs and gambling companies, according to GlobalData figures, is $135.43 million (£101.1) for the 2024-2020 season.

When the Premier League was its foundation three decades ago, none of its 22 clubs had a shirt sponsorship agreement with a gambling company.

The majority of the businesses that sponsored teams for the 1992-1993 campaign sold physical goods in Britain, compared to the majority of those who sponsored teams.

One of the front-of-shirt sponsor companies with headquarters in the UK is currently aiming to sell physical goods that fans can purchase directly. Even Standard Chartered, the partner bank of Liverpool, does not permit customers from the UK to open a current account there.

Technology, construction, and clothing are all now almost entirely absent from shirts.

Seven Premier League shirt sponsors had factories whose headquarters were 100 miles away from their club during the inaugural season. Four of those were based within ten miles, and two, Ipswich and Sheffield United, were closer than ten miles away.

Liverpool is the only club that is currently located within 1,000 miles of the main headquarters of the shirt sponsor.

Big business and wider influence are increasingly what sponsor companies are aiming for, as opposed to the cash flow from the fans in the stands, as have technological advancements and globalization and technological advancements also played a role in changing the dynamic of contemporary sponsorships.

Dr. Joe Piggin, a senior lecturer in sports management and policy at the University of Loughborough, states that “there are around 70 million people in the UK, but there are billions of people all over the world.” Therefore, the companies are provided with economic incentives.

Companies in nations with strong economies in the early 1990s that have since weakened, such as Japan, have become less popular as shirt sponsors as the world has changed.

Meanwhile, sponsorship deals are being made in more recent financial hotspots like the Middle East.

Sponsor companies gain a lot more from working with clubs than just advertising: they can host clients in private boxes, shoot photos with famous players for corporate photos, and occasionally use relationships for political leverage.

Although Uefa announced its first official gambling sponsor last summer, the Premier League itself does not have a formal gambling partner.

Gambling companies are also the most frequently sponsored players at top division clubs in Belgium, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, and Russia, according to Uefa’s European Club Finance and Investment Landscape report.

The top sectors for shirt sponsorships in Europe’s top divisions are:

With six clubs including Burnley, Middlesbrough, QPR, Stoke, Sunderland, and Watford, gambling is also the most widely used category of shirt sponsor in the Championship.

In League One and League Two shirts, there are no gambling sponsors. Energy, automotive, and food and beverage are the three main industries in those divisions.

According to Matt Zarb-Cousin, co-founder of Gamban, software that aims to help users quit online gambling, “gambling advertising has become almost inextricably linked to football and the industry makes a concerted effort to target young men, which is the profile most likely to develop problems with gambling.”

A generation is developing up in a culture that associates watching football with betting, believing it to be a necessary component of playing sport.

Between April 2022 and March 2023, gambling companies generated a revenue of £15.1 billion, according to the most recent figures from the UK Gambling Commission. With that income, they have plenty of money to spend on advertising. Some people think they will expand their advertising into other areas, such as pitchside hoardings and perhaps even shirt sleeves, even with the looming front-of-shirt ban.

Piggin claims that the front-of-shirt sponsorship withdrawal is symbolic. The significance of that transition beyond public relations is questioned by me.

None of the top six Premier League clubs’ front shirts feature a gambling company: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur.

Gambling companies can target clubs in the lower leagues without spending large sums of money on top-end projects because they face a much higher chance of relegation and the potential economic insecurity that comes with doing so.

“It is less expensive than sponsoring any of the top six,” says Piggin. Additionally, they are recognized on shirts when these teams play in the top six anyway. So why would it be said that “look, we’re in the Premier League, who cares who we’re sponsoring?” “

Some of the gambling sponsors have locations in tax havens like Curacao and Malta, allowing them to retain more of their customers’ profits.

Some of the gambling establishments that appear on the front of shirts are impossible for UK customers to wager on.

Even though gambling is prohibited there, many of those businesses have their headquarters in East Asia and are aimed at customers there.

According to Dr. Raffaello Rossi, a marketing lecturer at the University of Bristol, “There are ways around China’s gambling ban using VPNs and so on.” The Chinese government is in charge of all of their advertising, but they only do so in the UK. Because the Premier League is a global phenomenon, they are still reaching the Chinese population.

However, the fact that British gamblers can’t use some of these companies doesn’t necessarily mean the advertisement has no impact on the audience.

Scott Bemand, Ireland’s head coach, is confident that his squad will recover from the defeat of renowned flanker Erin King for the duration of the Six Nations and the World Cup later this year.

The full extent of King’s knee injury was revealed on Thursday following Ireland’s defeat by England last weekend.

Bemand’s team plays Wales at Rodney Parade on Sunday, and while it does affect you, “we understand injuries can happen.”

“She has really been circled around by the group really well.” We don’t want to mop, Erin says. She wants us to perform at a venue.

Because Erin is still a member of the group and its environs, we’ll take some of her energy to training this week and bring it with us to Wales.

Edel McMahon, the squad skipper, may return to the back row after missing the England game due to a knock, while Claire Boles, a native of Enniskillen, will make an alternative substitution for the unlucky King.

We can’t rely on just one player, they say. The depth needs to be kept growing. Girls are entering, the Ireland coach said.

This week, Edel is back online. Claire Boles has excelled at the camp and has her own distinctive open-side flanker. There are some choices available to us. We’re all good, and we’ll be able to perform.

Although Bemand revealed that King’s injury is related to her cartilage rather than her cruciate ligaments, it is still serious enough to thwart her chances of winning the World Cup.

The Ireland coach continued, “The doctors told her that they were surprised she could continue, but she claimed that it was just a niggle.”

After the game, it actually deteriorated. So it wasn’t like she was unable to move or run around during the game.

In Cork, Ireland took the early lead over England. Bemand believed that his team’s first-half weaknesses contributed just as much to the ultimately crushing defeat, despite England’s 49-5 victory in the second half, which left them with 42 unanswered points.

It’s more important to examine the second half than the first. What does England team talk look like at half-time if we get that bit right and we’re 15-17-0 up at half-time? “he said.

Women’s Champions League: Arsenal v Lyon

Venue: Emirates Stadium Date: Saturday, 19 April Kick-off: 12:30 BST

For Arsenal and Lyon, Saturday’s meeting in north London will be comfortably their biggest game of the season to date.

That there is a significant reunion thrown into the mix will only amplify the sense of occasion.

What is clear is that the first leg of the Women’s Champions League semi-final presents an opportunity to put one foot in May’s final.

Arsenal, the only English side to have won the competition, are eyeing a first European crown since 2007.

For Lyon, a record-extending ninth title is within sight.

And in charge of masterminding a Lyon victory is a familiar face, with former Arsenal head coach Joe Montemurro returning to Emirates Stadium.

Montemurro arrived at Arsenal from Melbourne City in December 2017, tasked with turning around a slow start to the season which had led to the club parting company with Pedro Martinez Losa.

The new boss took just three months to lift his first piece of silverware as Arsenal won the Women’s League Cup, before he guided the team to their first Women’s Super League title for seven years the following season.

That achievement also secured a spot in the Women’s Champions League for the first time since 2013-14.

Arsenal went on to reach the quarter-finals in Europe, but they missed out on trophies during Montemurro’s final two seasons and he chose to leave at the end of the 2020-21 campaign to spend more time with his family.

Former Arsenal defender Jen Beattie, who played under Montemurro for two seasons, was full of praise for the Australian.

“I loved his style of play, I loved his training, I loved his technical outlook on the game. He really simplified the game. And I loved his philosophy and his methodology,” Beattie told BBC 5 Live Sport’s Women’s Football Weekly.

“He was so easy to talk to. You could approach him about anything, you could talk about personal things, you can talk about football.

“He will get the warmest welcome coming back. All the girls still there that worked under him understand that and the fans as well.”

During his tenure at Arsenal, which coincided with the emergence of a dominant Chelsea side, Montemurro won two trophies, reached four domestic cup finals, and twice guided Arsenal into the Women’s Champions League.

Tasked with spoiling Montemurro’s return is Slegers, who was appointed as Arsenal’s permanent head coach in January 2025, following the departure of Jonas Eidevall last October.

Eidevall, who led the side to a Champions League semi-final in 2023, left with Arsenal sixth in the WSL and reeling from a 5-2 defeat by Bayern Munich in their Champions League opener.

Since then, Arsenal have won 22 of their 27 matches under Slegers, including a 13-match unbeaten run to begin her tenure.

The Champions League provides their most realistic hope of silverware this season, and one area of improvement under Slegers has been Arsenal’s attacking form.

“There’s a clear connection between Slegers and the players,” former Arsenal defender Anita Asante told BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra. “She’s shown she trusts what they can do on the pitch and allows them to do it.

“They’re more aggressive in that final third now and they’re really clinical too.”

Under Slegers, Arsenal have scored:

England striker Alessia Russo, who is expected to return from injury on Saturday, has found her best form under the Dutchwoman and is joint second in the Champions League individual standings with six goals.

Assessing how Slegers’ side compare to Eidevall’s, Asante added: “It’s direct, it’s snappier, and it’s also harder to defend [against].

In Lyon, Arsenal are facing Women’s Champions League royalty.

The French side have won the competition a record eight times, including a run of five consecutive titles between 2016 and 2020, and reached the final on a further three occasions, most recently in 2024 when they lost to Barcelona.

They have continued to thrive in Montemurro’s first season in charge, beating Wolfsburg, Roma, and Galatasaray home and away to top Group A by nine points before defeating Bayern Munich 6-1 on aggregate to cruise into the last four for the 14th time in 18 Champions League campaigns.

Lyon’s squad includes France forward Kadidiatou Diani and Haitian midfielder Melchie Dumornay, who have shared nine goals and six assists in the Champions League this season, and 2018 Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg.

Despite their opponents’ form and personnel, Beattie has backed Arsenal to reach the final.

“I think Lyon are there for the taking,” Beattie said. “I have watched them a lot over the Champions League. I don’t think they’re the Lyon we’ve seen in previous seasons that dominate the European game.

“I’m thinking Arsenal can take this one and to see them in the Champions League final will hopefully be absolutely epic. A home start will be so important [and] a good result. The Emirates will be massive.”

Asante said “whoever controls the midfield” will come out on top.

Having watched Arsenal’s 5-1 win over Leicester City on Tuesday, she believes they have the fluidity in attack to exploit Lyon’s weaknesses.

“Lyon do play quite often with attacking full-backs, very similar to Arsenal, but they’re really scary in transition,” Asante said.

“Even though Lyon dismantled Bayern Munich, they showed weaknesses and if Arsenal can exploit them and catch them in moments when they lack concentration, they can absolutely hurt them.

“If [Arsenal] perform how they did against Leicester, they definitely have a chance to dismantle Lyon because they were fluid in their moments, they found those connections, and they were clinical in attack when they created those goalscoring opportunities.