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☆ WADA Appoints Special Prosecutor in Chinese Doping Case
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Michael S. Schmidt | Tariq Panja | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The World Anti-Doping Agency on Thursday appointed a special prosecutor to review how 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned drug were allowed to avoid public scrutiny and compete at the 2021 Olympics, where they won gold medals and set records. The decision to appoint the special prosecutor, Eric Cottier of Switzerland, came amid an outcry from top government officials, antidoping experts and authorities, and athletes over the way Chinese antidoping officials and the global regulator, known as WADA, handled the positives. “WADA’s integrity and reputation is under attack,” the WADA president, Witold Banka, said in a statement. “In the past few days, WADA has been unfairly accused of bias in favor of China by not appealing the Chinada case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. We continue to reject the false accusations and we are pleased to be able to put these questions into the hands of an experienced, respected and independent prosecutor.”

Persons: Eric Cottier of, WADA, Witold Banka, “, ” Organizations: Doping Agency, New York Times, Sport Locations: Eric Cottier of Switzerland, China

☆ Everton Is Back on Market as Deal With 777 Partners Falters
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-22 | by ( Tariq Panja | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Everton announced in September that it had signed an agreement to sell the club to an American investment firm, 777 Partners. But seven months later, the Premier League has still not granted more than conditional approval of the deal amid questions about 777’s financials. At the same time, the club continues to struggle on and off the field. Of perhaps more concern is the state of the 146-year-old club’s finances. Everton has now borrowed about £160 million (almost $200 million) from 777 Partners, a privately held investment company — cash infusions that have been required to help the team stave off bankruptcy.

Organizations: Everton, Premier League, Premier, Partners

☆ FIFA Said to Be Close to TV Deal With Apple for New Tournament
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-22 | by ( Tariq Panja | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, is close to an agreement with Apple that would give the tech company worldwide television rights for a major new tournament, a monthlong, World Cup-style competition for top teams that will be played for the first time in the United States next summer. The value of the deal might be as little as a quarter of the $4 billion FIFA had first estimated, the people said. It is unclear if the deal with Apple will include any free-to-air rights, meaning the entire event could be available only to subscribers of Apple TV+, a factor over which senior executives at FIFA have raised concerns. Should the deal go through, it would be the first time that FIFA, which will stage the first expanded 48-team men’s World Cup in the United States in 2026, has agreed to a single worldwide contract. It would also represent the latest foray into soccer for Apple, which in 2022 signed a 10-year, $2.5 billion agreement for the global streaming rights to Major League Soccer.

Persons: Gianni Infantino Organizations: FIFA, Apple, FIFA’s, Major League Soccer Locations: United States, China

☆ Top Biden Official Calls for Inquiry Into Chinese Doping Case
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-22 | by ( Michael S. Schmidt | Tariq Panja | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Biden administration’s top drug official called on Monday for an independent investigation into how Chinese and global antidoping authorities decided to clear 23 elite Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned drug months before the Summer Olympics in 2021. The official, Rahul Gupta, who is the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said that he planned to bring up the handling of the positive tests during a two-day meeting of sports ministers in Washington. Top members of the World Anti-Doping Agency are scheduled to attend the event, which starts Thursday. “The United States stands by its commitment to ensure that every American athlete and those across the globe are provided a level playing field and a fair shot in international athletic competitions,” Dr. Gupta said in response to questions from The New York Times. “There must be rigorous, independent investigations to look into any incident of potential wrongdoing.”

Persons: Rahul Gupta, “, ” Dr, Gupta Organizations: Biden, of National Drug Control, Doping Agency, The New York Times Locations: Washington, United States

The revelation that 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for a banned drug seven months before the Tokyo Olympics but were secretly cleared and allowed to continue competing has exposed a bitter and at times deeply personal rift inside the sport, and brought new criticism of the global authority that oversees drug-testing. An American Olympian who took home a silver medal from Tokyo said she felt her team had been “cheated” in a race won by China. A British gold medalist called for a lifetime ban for the swimmers involved. The sports minister in Germany, where a documentary on the case was broadcast Sunday, demanded an investigation. And a simmering feud between officials at the World Anti-Doping Agency, the global regulator known as WADA, and their U.S. counterparts burst into the open in a flurry of caustic statements and legal threats.

Persons: “, ”, WADA Organizations: New York Times, Tokyo Games, China, Doping Agency Locations: Tokyo, China, American, British, Germany

☆ Top Chinese Swimmers Tested Positive for Banned Drug, Then Won Olympic Gold
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-20 | by ( Michael S. Schmidt | Tariq Panja | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Twenty-three top Chinese swimmers tested positive for the same powerful banned substance seven months before the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021 but were allowed to escape public scrutiny and continue to compete after top Chinese officials secretly cleared them of doping and the global authority charged with policing drugs in sports chose not to intervene. Several of the athletes who tested positive — including nearly half of the swimming team that China sent to the Tokyo Games — went on to win medals, including three golds. Many still compete for China and several, including the two-time gold medalist Zhang Yufei, are expected to contend for medals again at this year’s Summer Games in Paris. China acknowledged the positive tests in a report by its antidoping regulator, saying the swimmers had ingested the banned substance unwittingly and in tiny amounts, and that no action against them was warranted. But an examination by The New York Times found that the previously unreported episode sharply divided the antidoping world, where China’s record has long been a flashpoint.

Persons: Tokyo Games —, Zhang Yufei Organizations: Tokyo Olympic Games, Tokyo Games, New York Times, Aquatics, Doping Agency Locations: China, Paris

☆ Takeaways From Our Chinese Swimming Investigation
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-20 | by ( Tariq Panja | Michael S. Schmidt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

In the first days of 2021, seven months before the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics, 23 of China’s best swimmers tested positive for the same banned drug at a domestic meet. Chinese antidoping officials investigated and declared the case an unusual mass-contamination event that could be traced to the presence of a heart medication, trimetazidine, known as TMZ, in the kitchen of a hotel where the swimmers had stayed for a New Year’s event in late December 2020 and early January 2021. The World Anti-Doping Agency, the global authority that oversees national drug-testing programs, looked into the episode but then accepted that theory and allowed China to keep the results secret.

Organizations: TMZ, Doping Agency Locations: Tokyo, China

☆ The Paris Olympics’ One Sure Thing: Cyberattacks
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-16 | by ( Tariq Panja | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In his office on one of the upper floors of the headquarters of the Paris Olympic organizing committee, Franz Regul has no doubt what is coming. “We will be attacked,” said Mr. Regul, who leads the team responsible for warding off cyberthreats against this year’s Summer Games in Paris. In the Paris operations center, there is even a red light to alert the staff to the most severe danger. So far, Mr. Regul said, there have been no serious disruptions. Unlike companies and governments, though, who plan for the possibility of an attack, Mr. Regul said he knew exactly when to expect the worst.

Persons: Franz Regul, ”, Regul Organizations: Paris Olympic, Paris . Companies Locations: Paris

Public safety officials in England, France and Spain said Tuesday that they would step up security for matches this week in the Champions League, Europe’s marquee soccer competition, after ISIS-related groups called for violent attacks on the contests. The first of four quarterfinal matchups were scheduled in London and Madrid on Tuesday, and were to feature some of the top clubs in world soccer: Spain’s Real Madrid; the English giants Arsenal and Manchester City; and Germany’s Bayern Munich. Two other high-profile matches will take place on Wednesday in Paris and Madrid. “We don’t know what location might be particularly targeted, neither in what conditions,” the French interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, told reporters in Paris. The ministry said security measures at the matches in Madrid had been increased and additional agents deployed.

Persons: Gérald Darmanin Organizations: Champions League, ISIS, Spain’s, Arsenal, Manchester City, Germany’s Bayern Munich, ”, El Mundo Locations: England, France, Spain, London, Madrid, Spain’s Real Madrid, Paris, Spanish, El

☆ Premier League Cuts Everton’s Points Penalty, Easing Relegation Fears
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-26 | by ( Tariq Panja | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Everton, a storied English soccer club trying to weather a serious financial storm, secured a modest victory on Monday when a record penalty that had sent it to the bottom of the Premier League standings was reduced on appeal. Everton’s original penalty, a 10-point deduction for financial rules violations, was reduced to six points, lifting its chances of staying in the division — and of retaining access to the tens of millions of dollars in annual revenues that a place in the Premier League brings. The successful appeal immediately lifted Everton to 15th place in the standings and eased the club’s fears of relegation and potential financial ruin. The reprieve, however, might be short-lived.

Organizations: Everton, Premier League

☆ Canadian Skaters Demand Bronze Medals in Olympics Dispute
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-26 | by ( Tariq Panja | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Nearly a month after international figure skating’s governing body revised the results of a marquee competition at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, stripping Russia of the gold medal and giving the United States team a long-delayed victory, a new fight about the outcome erupted on Monday. Eight members of the Canadian squad that competed in the team competition in Beijing have filed a case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport demanding that they be awarded bronze medals in the team event. The court announced the filing but revealed no details. The Canadians, whose case was joined by their country’s skating federation and national Olympic committee, are expected to argue that figure skating’s global governing body erred when it revised the results of the competition in January after a Russian skater who had taken part, the teenage prodigy Kamila Valieva, was given a four-year ban for doping.

Persons: Kamila Valieva Organizations: United States, Canadian, Sport, Canadians, Olympic Locations: Russia, Beijing, Russian

☆ A Billionaire Bought a Chunk of Manchester United. Now He Has to Fix It.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Tariq Panja | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The process was six months old and already starting to wear on Jim Ratcliffe, the British billionaire, the first time he brought out the Champagne to toast his purchase of Manchester United. Mostly, that was because any potential sale for United offered a tantalizing marriage of money, power and history: Mr. Ratcliffe, the wealthy chairman of INEOS, the petrochemicals giant, had supported Manchester United since he was boy. United, the most decorated club in English soccer, was one of the most iconic brands in global sports. And the Premier League, to which it belonged, was the richest soccer league in the world. United fans, eager to see their club shake off its unpopular owners, the Florida-based Glazer family, devoured it all.

Persons: Jim Ratcliffe, Ratcliffe, Ratcliffe’s, Glazer Organizations: Manchester United, Monaco, Prix, United, INEOS, Premier League Locations: Manchester, Florida

☆ UEFA Eases Term Limits but President Says He Won’t Test Them
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( Tariq Panja | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

European soccer leaders on Thursday fell squarely in line behind their powerful president, Aleksander Ceferin, by approving a change to term-limit rules that would have allowed him to retain his post through 2031, years beyond the organization’s 12-year term limit. The vote, though, may have been meaningless: About an hour after winning the right to pursue a new four-year term as president of European soccer’s governing body, UEFA, Mr. Ceferin said he would not seek one. “I’ve decided I am not planning to run in 2027,” a stony-faced Mr. Ceferin said as he read from prepared notes. He said he had not revealed his decision earlier because he wanted to first understand the loyalty of UEFA’s members. In recent months, several members of the governing body’s leadership had objected, publicly and privately, to any weakening of term limits.

Persons: Aleksander Ceferin, Ceferin, “ I’ve Organizations: European, UEFA Locations: Ukraine, Gaza

☆ They Run the World’s Biggest Sports, and They Don’t Want to Leave
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-03 | by ( Tariq Panja | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It was 2017, soccer was still emerging from its greatest scandal and Aleksander Ceferin, only a few months into his presidency, was unequivocal that he was already on the clock. The three-year term to which he had been elected, finishing out the one vacated by his disgraced predecessor, “is already one term for me,” he said. If he was fortunate enough to earn the two more full four-year terms allowed by the rules, fine. Mr. Ceferin had no interest in being a president for life. You can be here for 20 or 30 years,’” he said at the time.

Persons: Aleksander Ceferin, “, ”, Ceferin, ’ ” Organizations: European Locations: Switzerland, Lake Geneva

☆ Russian Skaters Stripped of Olympic Gold but Will Still Get the Bronze
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Tariq Panja | Andrew Das | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

International skating’s governing body on Tuesday stripped Russia of its victory in the team figure skating event at the 2022 Beijing Olympics and awarded the gold medal to the United States. The move came one day after the teenage Russian star Kamila Valieva, who had led her team to an apparent victory in the team event, was banned for four years for doping. But rather than disqualify Russia’s team for including an ineligible skater, the governing body, the International Skating Union, adjusted the results of the competition in a way that awarded Russia the bronze medal instead. In a statement announcing the revised results, the skating union said that it had disqualified Valieva and dismissed all the points she had accumulated. Those alterations, it said, put the United States in first, with Japan second and Russia third.

Persons: Kamila Valieva, Valieva Organizations: Beijing, International Skating Union, Japan Locations: Russia, United States, Canada

☆ Kamila Valieva Is Banned Four Years Over 2022 Olympic Doping Case
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-29 | by ( Tariq Panja | Juliet Macur | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Kamila Valieva, the teenage Russian figure skater whose positive doping test upended her sport at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, was banned from competition for four years on Monday by the top court in sports. The punishment, announced by a three-member arbitration panel empowered by the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport, was related to a tainted sample Valieva, who was 15 at the time, gave at a competition. The ban will be retroactive to Dec. 25, 2021, the arbitrators ruled, meaning it will end in 2025, just in time for Valieva to compete at the next Winter Olympics, in 2026. Now 17, she was ordered to forfeit “any titles, awards, medals, profits, prizes and appearance money” earned after her positive doping sample was collected. Valieva had claimed that she had mistakenly taken a heart medication, Trimetazidine, prescribed for her grandfather.

Persons: Kamila Valieva, Valieva, ”, Russia’s Organizations: Sport, Olympics, Valieva Locations: Russian, Swiss, Russia

☆ Top Official’s Resignation Reveals Tension Atop European Soccer
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-25 | by ( Tariq Panja | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Zvonimir Boban, a top aide and longtime confidant to the powerful president of European soccer’s governing body, resigned abruptly on Wednesday, a departure that laid bare a deep rift inside the leadership of one of the world’s richest sports organizations. Mr. Boban’s sudden exit from the governing body, UEFA, which oversees soccer in 55 nations and organizes billion-dollar competitions like the Champions League and the European Championship, signaled growing disquiet among some of the continent’s soccer leaders at efforts to significantly change the organization’s rules. One of the most contentious revisions under consideration would allow UEFA’s president, Aleksander Ceferin of Slovenia, to remain in his role beyond a 12-year term limit imposed as part of a suite of reforms enacted after a corruption scandal that shook international soccer almost a decade ago. “Despite having expressed my deepest concern and total disapproval, the UEFA president does not consider there to be any legal issues with the proposed changes, let alone any moral or ethical ones, and he intends to move forward regardless in pursuit of his personal aspirations,” Mr. Boban said in a lengthy statement sent to The New York Times.

Persons: Zvonimir Boban, Aleksander Ceferin, ” Mr, Boban Organizations: European, UEFA, Champions League, The New York Times Locations: Slovenia

☆ Everton Faces Second Points Penalty in New Financial Case
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-15 | by ( Tariq Panja | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Everton, which tumbled down the Premier League standings after receiving a record 10-point deduction in November, faces the prospect of a second points penalty for new violations of the competition’s financial regulations. Everton confirmed the new case in a statement on Monday, as did a second team, Nottingham Forest, that was charged with its own violations of the league’s so-called profit and sustainability regulations. The rules were drawn up to keep teams from overspending and risking their financial futures to maintain their places in the Premier League, one of the world’s richest domestic sporting competitions. The Premier League said the cases would be heard by separate, closed-door commissions operating independent of the league. Those commissions, it said, would determine any penalties, which could include fines, points deductions or other restrictions.

Organizations: Everton, Premier League, Nottingham Forest

☆ Everton Stripped of 10 Points in Premier League, Deepening Team’s Crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( Tariq Panja | More About Tariq Panja | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Everton, a founding member of England’s Premier League that has fallen into financial crisis, faced yet more pain on Friday after it was given a 10-point penalty for breaching the league’s economic rules. The punishment sent Everton to the bottom of the league standings and left it facing the threat of relegation from England’s top division at the end of the season. The announcement of a points penalty was not a surprise, since the Premier League had come under pressure to act by rival teams angered by Everton’s rule breaches. An independent league commission hearing the case against Everton for breaching the league’s profit and sustainability rules announced the punishment. At the end of each season, the bottom three teams in the Premier League table are relegated out of the division and into the second-tier Championship.

Organizations: Everton, England’s Premier League, Premier League, Blues, Burnley Locations: England’s

☆ Manchester City’s $500 Million Payroll Is Largest in English Soccer History
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Tariq Panja | More About Tariq Panja | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Manchester City, the Premier League’s dominant team for much of the past decade, announced on Wednesday it had spent more on player salaries last season than any team in British soccer history, paying out more than $500 million as it claimed English and European championships. Cup and its first Champions League title — completing a so-called treble that only one English team had previously managed to do. City now trails only Barcelona in how much it pays its players in salaries, but unlike that Spanish superteam City’s expenditure has not resulted in financial crisis. Instead, City also announced record revenues of 712.8 million pounds, or almost $900 million — another British record — for the year through June 2023. The club’s annual statement also boasted a profit of 80 million pounds, double what it reported a year earlier.

Persons: Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nayhan, City, Pep Guardiola Organizations: Manchester City, League’s, United Arab Emirates, Premier League Locations: Manchester, Spanish, City, Barcelona

☆ Inside Man: How FIFA Guided the World Cup to Saudi Arabia
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Tariq Panja | More About Tariq Panja | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Italian reaction to Mr. Infantino’s suggestion was at first “prudent and within a few hours negative,” said Pietro Benassi, who was the prime minister’s most senior diplomatic adviser. Three years later, Saudi Arabia would get its prize anyway. On Oct. 31, after an expedited process that caught its own members by surprise, FIFA confirmed Saudi Arabia was the sole bidder for the 2034 World Cup. To many in soccer, Mr. Infantino’s advocacy for Saudi Arabia was nothing new. In the years since his visit to Rome, he had also pitched the Saudis’ co-hosting idea to Greece; championed multimillion-dollar Saudi investments in soccer; and helped shepherd rules changes that all but assured the kingdom would wind up with the World Cup.

Persons: Conte, Jamal Khashoggi, Infantino’s, ”, Pietro Benassi, Infantino, ’ Organizations: Saudi, The Washington Post, FIFA Locations: Italy, Egypt, Italian, Cairo, Europe, Saudi Arabia, Rome, Greece, Saudi

☆ I.O.C. Says It Was Target of Elaborate ‘Fake News’ Campaign
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( Tariq Panja | More About Tariq Panja | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

The International Olympic Committee issued an unusual statement on Thursday saying it had been targeted by “fake news posts” that it said contained “defamatory content, a fake narrative and false information.” The elaborate campaign included manufactured quotations from I.O.C. The film remains visible on other platforms, however, including the encrypted messaging and content platform Telegram. It was a separate post on Telegram that appears to have prompted the Olympic committee to issue its statement on Thursday. Text accompanying the fake news report said the I.O.C. included links to its website and all of its official social media channels in its statement on Thursday, and requested that news media members contact it to confirm the authenticity of information circulating about the organization on social media.

Persons: Tom Cruise, Israel —, Mark Adams, Thomas Bach, ” Mr, Bach, “ Organizations: Olympic, YouTube, Telegram, Olympic Committee, State Department, Palestinian Locations: Israel, Palestine, Paris, Ukraine, Russia, Gaza, Iran, China, India, Munich

☆ Saudi Arabia Is Set to Be Sole Bidder for 2034 World Cup
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-31 | by ( Tariq Panja | More About Tariq Panja | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

FIFA’s move to speed up the bidding for 2034 surprised many, coming 11 years before the scheduled start of the tournament and a full three years before the 2034 host was supposed to be decided. FIFA also said only bidders from Asia and Oceania, two of soccer’s six regional confederations, could be considered for selection. Saudi Arabia, which had for years been public about its desire to host the World Cup, moved fast to secure the tournament after FIFA set the rules this month. In the face of that support, Australian officials concluded they would have been overmatched if they challenged Saudi Arabia to secure the votes of the majority of FIFA’s 211 federations. Saudi Arabia has signed agreements in the past year with scores of FIFA’s member nations, committing millions of dollars to projects across Asia and lavishing attention on Africa, where it signed an agreement with the regional governing body and sponsored a new tournament.

Persons: Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al Khalifa Organizations: FIFA, Saudi Locations: Asia, Oceania, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Australia, Africa, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabian

☆ FIFA Bars Former Spanish Soccer Chief for 3 Years
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-30 | by ( Cassandra Vinograd | Tariq Panja | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Soccer’s global governing body on Monday barred Luis Rubiales, the former president of Spain’s soccer federation, from the sport for three years over his forcible kiss of a player after the Women’s World Cup final in August. It also led to accusations in the days that followed that Mr. Rubiales and others at the federation had pressured the player to say the kiss was consensual. Ms. Hermoso instead filed a criminal complaint of sexual assault, and Mr. Rubiales — who initially resisted calls to resign — was placed under a provisional 90-day suspension while FIFA, soccer’s governing body, investigated the episode. He quit as the head of Spain’s soccer federation less than a month after the final, under pressure from players who were refusing to take the field for the women’s national team. It did not provide further details on the findings but said that Mr. Rubiales could request them, at which point a so-called reasoned decision would be made public.

Persons: Luis Rubiales, Rubiales, Jennifer Hermoso, Hermoso, Rubiales —, — Organizations: Mr, FIFA, women’s

☆ Everton Sale Stalls Amid Questions About Buyer’s Financials
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-18 | by ( Tariq Panja | More About Tariq Panja | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The proposed sale of the Premier League soccer team Everton F.C. to a Miami-based holding company has stalled because the firm, 777 Partners, has failed to provide audited financial statements to a British government regulator that must approve the deal. The regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, delivered its request to 777 Partners this month, according to multiple people with direct knowledge of the approval process, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly. If the company does not provide the requested financials or an acceptable explanation, its proposed takeover of Everton — a deal involving hundreds of millions of dollars in assumed debt and a coveted place in the world’s richest soccer league — could fall apart. The missing documents are the most significant complication to date in the effort by 777 Partners to add Everton to the collection of high-profile but financially troubled teams it has acquired over the past two years.

Persons: Everton — Organizations: Premier League soccer, Everton F.C, Financial, Authority, Partners, Everton Locations: Miami, British

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