coach following a 3-0 defeat by
Japan in the Asian Cup semi-finals.
ITALY: Bologna, three points from
safety in Serie A, replace Filippo
Inzaghi with their former coach
Sinisa Mihajlovic.
SPAIN: After six players leave over
unpaid wages, second-tier Reus
Deportiu are banned from playing
professionally for three years.
Tuesday January 29
FRANCE: Paris Saint-Germain sign
Argentinian midfielder Leandro
Paredes from Zenit for €47m.
SCOTLAND: Hamilton Academical
part company with Martin Canning
after picking up just one point from
their last eight league games.
SPAIN: Villarreal sack Luis Garcia
after nine games in charge and
replace him with Javier Calleja, who
they had dismissed in December.
UKRAINE: International defender
Yaroslav Rakitskiy prompts criticism
for leaving Shakhtar Donetsk to
join Russian side Zenit with tensions
high after Russia’s annexation of
the Crimean Peninsula in 2014
and its support for separatists in
the eastern part of Ukraine.
Wednesday January 30
FRANCE: Paris Saint-Germain
reveal Neymar will be out for 10
weeks after breaking a metatarsal
in a 2-0 French Cup victory against
Strasbourg the previous Wednesday.
GERMANY: Schalke pay €11m for
18-year-old winger Rabbi Matondo,
who had never made a first-team
appearance for Manchester City,
ITALY: Holders Juventus go out
of the Italian Cup, losing 3-0 to
Atalanta in the quarter-finals, while
Fiorentina thrash Roma 7-1.
SCOTLAND: Neil Lennon leaves
Hibernian by “mutual consent”
following his suspension on Friday.
SOMALIA: Dekedaha beat Banadir
3-0 to win the Somalia Super Cup.
SPAIN: Barcelona overturn a two-
goal first-leg deficit to beat Sevilla
2-1 and reach the Spanish Cup
semi-finals.
Thursday January 31
USA: Nashville confirm they will
enter MLS in the 2020 season and
play at the home of gridiron side
Tennessee Titans until their own
stadium is ready.
Friday February 1
ASIAN CUP: Qatar beat Japan 3-1
in the Final to win the tournament
for the first time.
Saturday February 2
GERMANY: Bayern Munich loseDeloitte Football Money League
with record revenues of €750.9m
for the 2017-18 season, ahead of
Barcelona and Manchester United.
Friday January 25
ENGLAND: Alexis Sanchez scores
on his return to Arsenal in the FA
Cup as Manchester United win 3-1.
FRANCE: Leonardo Jardim takes
charge of Monaco again following
the dismissal of Thierry Henry.
ITALY: Erick Thohir sells his 31.05
per cent share in Internazionale to
Hong Kong-based fund LionRock
Capital, ending his five-and-a-half-
year association with the club.
SCOTLAND: Hibernian suspend
coach Neil Lennon following a row
with several members of staff.
Saturday January 26
CAMEROON: The top-flight Elite
One fails to get underway as Eding
Sport and Yong Sports Academy
boycott their opening fixture over a
dispute with Pierre Semengue, the
head of the country’s Professional
Football League.
NIGERIA: A police statement
confirms that Abdullahi Biffo,
the coach of Nigerian Premier
League side Katsina United who
was kidnapped in northern Nigeria
on January 7, has been released.
Sunday January 27
GERMANY: Hanover sack coach
Andre Breitenreiter after their 5-1
defeat at Borussia Dortmund the
previous day.
HOLLAND: Robin Van Persie
scores twice as Feyenoord thrash
Ajax 6-2.
SIERRA LEONE: East End Lions
beat Mighty Blackpool 1-0 as
league football returns to Sierra
Leone after a four-and-a-half
year absence, despite the country
still being suspended by FIFA.
SPAIN: Barcelona win 2-0 away to
Girona in a game initially pencilled
in to be staged in Miami.
Monday January 28
CAF: This year’s African Nations
Cup, which was due to run from
June 15 to July 13, is moved to allow
players to rest after the Muslim holy
month of Ramadan and will now
begin on June 21, with the Final
set for July 19.
ENGLAND: Roy Keane returns to
Championship club Nottingham
Forest – where he spent three
years as a player – to become
assistant to Martin O’Neill, who
he worked alongside with the
Republic of Ireland.
IRAN: Carlos Queiroz quits as Iran77 times, was a squad member
at four World Cups and played
in all of Japan’s games at the
2002 tournament.
Special mention also has to
be made of one player who just
goes on and on, seemingly with
no thoughts yet of retirement.
Kazuyoshi Miura, who was
the country’s star striker of the
mid-1990s, is still on the books of second division
Yokohama, where he has been since 2005, and
he will start the new season at the grand old age
of 51. He scored 55 goals in 89 appearances for
Japan and was the J.League and Asian Player of
the Year in 1993.
Miura was the boy who broke all the rules of
Japanese society by quitting school at the age of 15
to play football in Brazil and got his break at Santos
in 1986. Today, he breaks age-related rules.
His goal against Thespa Kusatsu in March 2017,
at the age of 50 years and 14 days, now stands
in the Guinness Book of Records ahead of Stanley
Matthews’ previous record of 50 years and five
days, set in 1965. His last appearance, for one
minute against Oita Trinita in November last year,
set the current Japanese oldest appearance record
of 51 years, eight months and nine days.
In the J.League, “King Kazu” never stops.WORLD SERVICEVeteran...
Kazuyoshi Miura
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