Indian Football Legend Chuni Goswami Passes Away; President of Haitian FA Accused of Sexually Abusing Young Female Footballers and More (Football Round-Up)

India football legend Chuni Goswami passed away on April 20 in Kolkata after a prolonged illness. He was 82. Goswami captained India to the Asian Games gold medal in 1962 and a silver in the 1964 Asia Cup in Israel, both of which remain the country’s best performances at the continental showpieces till date.

A versatile sportsman, Goswami also won several achievements in cricket as well. In 1966, along with Subroto Guha, he played a pivotal role in the historic innings defeat of the Gary Sobers-led West Indies by the combined Central and East Zone team in Indore. Goswami took eight wickets in that fixture.

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Former India footballers Bhaichung Bhutia and IM Vijayan paid homage to Goswami. “It is a very sad day for Indian football. Indian football has lost a genius. He was no doubt one of the greatest ever Indian footballer[s]. He and PK Banerjee were the biggest players we had known in our playing days,” said Vijayan.

Bhutia called him the first superstar of Indian football. “It’s a big loss for Indian football in two-three months. First PK Banerjee (who died on March 20) and now Chuni Goswami. He was a true sporting icon…. the first superstar of Indian football.”

Sexual Abuse in Haiti FA

The president of the Haitian football federation was accused of sexually abusing young female footballers at the country’s national training centre. The claims were revealed by The Guardian who were approached by numerous sources including victims and their families.

According to sources in Haiti, several players who have now left the centre were coerced by Yves Jean-Bart into having sex with him, including one who was forced to have an abortion.

Jean-Bart, known as ‘Dadou’, the president of the Fédération Haïtienne De Football (FHF) since 2000, denies accusations that he coerced several players at the Centre Technique National in Croix-des-Bouquets into having sex. 

He said there had “never been any complaint against the federation, nor against the staff engaged in our academy, nor against my person. This kind of practice of sexual abuse is almost impossible in our camp centre given the physical structures, the principles of education and continuous awareness that we have put in place.”

He said the allegations were “clearly a manoeuvre to destabilise the FHF, the character of the president and his family”.

The FHF said that it took “such serious allegations very seriously. To date, we have never received any complaints to this effect.”

Liverpool Mayor Fears 'Farcical' Situation

Liverpool fans outside Anfield (representative image).

Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson said resuming the Premier League could lead to a farcical situation outside Anfield. He felt fans would congregate outside the stadium even if Liverpool clinched the title at a neutral venue. The club, meanwhile, said they are "disappointed" with Anderson's comments.

"Even if it was behind closed doors, there'd be many thousands of people who would turn up outside Anfield,” he said. “There's not many people who would respect what we were saying and stay away from the ground, a lot of people would come to celebrate so I think it's a non-starter.

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"Even then [if played in neutral venues], I guess that a lot of people would turn up outside Anfield to celebrate and I understand the police's concerns around that, so there's a real difficulty here for us,” he added. "I think it would be really difficult for the police to keep people apart and maintain social distancing if they were going to celebrate outside Anfield. It would be farcical. It's difficult for us to try to stop people gathering in parks when the weather has been good, especially young people. And I fear people would just ignore it.”

Earlier, the Premier League said only "approved venues" will be used for matches, hinting at plans of holding the fixtures in neutral venues. Liverpool, in contention for a first title in 30 years, are on top of the table by 25 points with nine games remaining.

The league's "Project Restart" would be implemented with the season resuming behind closed doors. The hope is to restart action by June 8. 

Chelsea Asks Foreign Players to Return

Chelsea FC players have been called in by the club.

Chelsea asked all of their foreign-based players to return to England by Sunday. Many players in the Chelsea roster, including Brazilian midfielder Willian, were given permission to travel home after the suspension of the league on March 13.

With the Premier League exploring possibility of restarting the league in the first week of June, Chelsea want training to resume. The clubs will have a video conference on May 1 to discuss the steps ahead. 

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Chelsea, meanwhile, is expected to give players flexibility as travel arrangements would be difficult amidst lockdowns. Players including Brazilian-born full-back Emerson and American midfielder Christian Pulisic, are believed to be back in their respective countries.

Upon return, the players will have to comply with the government protocols regarding quarantine. The government is set to introduce a 14-day quarantine period for those arriving from outside the UK.

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