UEFA Didn't Do a Great Job on Man City Case: Bayern Chairman; Malaysia Will Host Asian Champions League Matches and More (Football Round-Up)

Bayern Munich chairman, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, said the UEFA wasn’t effective in investigating Manchester City after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) court revoked a two-year European ban on the English side.

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Two weeks ago, the CAS dismissed the ban as UEFA failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove financial violations. Nothing could be proven and other things were considered time-barred as they failed to meet a five-year statute of limitation. This permitted Manchester City to rejoin teams such as Bayern in the next season’s Champion League. 

Rummenigge, who is also a member of the European Club Association’s executive board, said. "I believe the final decision made by CAS was an outcome because the UEFA panel responsible for Champions League matters didn’t do a great job, it’s looking like. 

 “What I heard from different sources is that it was not well organized in advance,” he further added, "Congrats to the colleagues of Manchester City that they can participate next year in the Champions League and the year after as well. 

Malaysia to Host ACL in East Asia

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) confirmed Malaysia as the central hub for the Asian Champions League (ACL) in East Asia. The matches in the various regions are scheduled to resume in October. 

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Teams from China, Australia, South Korea, Japan and Malaysia will participate in the East Asia regional hub. While the West Asian cluster of fixtures will be hosted by Qatar. Sides from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran and Uzbekistan, besides Qatar will be part of the West Asia group. 

Malaysia at a centralised venue will  host the last 16 matches from the two groups as well as at the quarterfinals on November 4 and November 25. Group G and H matches will begin from October 17 to November 1, and there will be a semi-final match on November 28.

All the matches will be played in a single match tie in the knockout stages along with the final, hosted at the Western hub on December 5. 

Das on Indian Football Development

The general secretary of the All India Football Federation (AIFF),  Kushal Das, stated that with help of coaches, India are on the verge of achieving the next level football development. Das was speaking in the opening session of an online course for coaches organised by Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the AIFF.

Das added that in recent years, the standard of the Indian Football has improved. "Without coaches, the game can't be improved nationally. India is on the cusp of taking it to the next level. Our youth development, FIFA rankings have improved in recent times significantly," expressed Das.

The course, which will last four days, started on July 27. It is meant to guide SAI coaches, and give theman understanding of the AFC and the AIFF coach education system.  

“We are grateful to SAI for coming forward and partnering with us. I would like to thank Mr. Sandeep Pradhan (SAI DG) for his untiring efforts to implement this. We have been trying to do this since long,” Das said. 

Club Fires Coach for Racist Slur

A Tanzanian football club fired its Belgian coach after he was recorded referring to fans as "monkeys or dogs". Luc Eymael, coach for the Young African (Yanga) Sports Club, spoke after a 1-1 draw last week against Mtibwa Sugar.

"We have been saddened by unfair and racist remarks made by Luc Eymael and we decided to fire him effective July 27, 2020," the team said in a statement signed by its acting secretary general Simon Patrick.

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"The management of the club apologises to the Tanzania Football Federation, members, fans and the citizenry in general for the remarks. Our team believes in respect, dignity and is against any kind of racism."

In the recording, which has since gone viral on social media, Eymael said "These fans don't know anything about football...It's like monkeys or dogs when shouting."

As mentioned by the local media, Eymael apologised for his comments and told Mwanaspoti sports newspaper he "was not in a good mood" and was not trying to be racist.

Court Confirms Hearts, Partick Thistle’s Relegation 

Hearts and PartickThistle are going to be a part of the Scottish Championship and League One respectively this season after an arbitration panel decided against overruling their relegation.

Hearts, Thistle and Stranraer were relegated on a points-per-game basis when the season ended last year, following which the three clubs took legal action after being demoted. They approached the Court of Session, appealing to reverse the promotions of Dundee United, Raith Rovers and Cove Rangers, retaining their positions in the league. But a three-member panel dismissed the appeal.

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Hearts and Thistle have also asked for £10m in compensation, but are likely to pay for costs for continuous "submissions about expenses". SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster accepted the decision saying it was a "clear, comprehensive and unanimous decision".

"I am absolutely delighted that our approach has been vindicated throughout, following an intense period of legal scrutiny and review.

"It has been a very demanding process, but I had complete confidence in the actions and decisions of the SPFL board and the SPFL executive team," he added.

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