Football: Beleza's Yuzuki Yamamoto named MVP of Japan's WE League
The 22-year-old scored a team-high eight goals in the 2024-25 season, which concluded Saturday.
During Monday's WE League award ceremony, the newly introduced Best Young Player Award went to Yamamoto's 18-year-old teammate Miharu Shinjo, also a midfielder.
Spanish forward Carlota Suarez was the league's top scorer with 13 goals for second-placed INAC Kobe Leonessa.
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Japan Today
4 days ago
- Japan Today
Real Madrid 'firmly rejects' U.S.-hosted match and warns of 'a turning point in the world of football'
FC Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski, left, celebrates with his teammate Gerard Martin after scoring a goal during a friendly soccer match between FC Barcelona and Daegu FC at the Daegu Stadium in Daegu, South Korea, Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. (Kim Hyun-tea/Yonhap via AP) soccer By TALES AZZONI Real Madrid said it "firmly rejects" having a regular-season Spanish league game played in the United States and warned of 'a turning point in the world of football.' Villarreal, in contrast, is promising free travel and tickets for season-ticket holders if its match against Barcelona in Miami is approved in what would be a first for the league. The 17th-round match in La Liga would be played at the Hard Rock Stadium. Madrid said Tuesday it has taken action to keep the Dec. 20 match from happening, claiming it would hurt the 'integrity of the competition' and the 'legitimacy of the results.' 'The measure, which was taken without prior information or consultation of the clubs participating in the competition, infringes the essential principle of territorial reciprocity, which applies in two-legged league competitions (one match at home and the other at the home of the opposing team), upsetting the competitive balance and giving an undue sporting advantage to the applicant clubs,' Madrid said. The club said the match would set 'an unacceptable precedent that opens the door to exceptions based on non-sporting interests, clearly affecting sporting integrity and risking the adulteration of the competition.' 'If this proposal were to be carried out, its consequences would be so serious that it would be a turning point in the world of football,' Madrid said. The club said it has asked FIFA, UEFA and Spain's top sports body to not authorize the game in the U.S. The Spanish soccer federation on Monday approved a request for the match to be played in Miami. UEFA and FIFA now have to approve the request before it can be made official. 'Any modification of this nature must, in any case, have the express and unanimous agreement of all the clubs participating in the competition, as well as strictly respecting the national and international rules governing the organization of official competitions,' Madrid said. Madrid and Spanish league president Javier Tebas have often been at odds on various issues. The club said UEFA should deny the request to play the game abroad based on the 'criterion established in 2018 that prevents official matches in domestic competitions from being played outside national territory, except in duly justified exceptional circumstances, which are not present here.' Madrid said it asked the country's high sports council 'not to grant the necessary administrative authorization without such unanimous consent.' 'Real Madrid reaffirms its commitment to respect the national and international rules that guarantee the fairness and proper functioning of official competitions, and will defend its compliance with them before all competent bodies,' the club said. Villarreal earlier Tuesday said its season ticket-holders can travel for free and receive free tickets for the match. It said those who don't want to go, or can't go, will get a 20% discount on their season tickets. 'We would be the first (Spanish) team to play a league match abroad,' Villarreal president Fernando Roig told a news conference. "It would greatly help us expand our brand in a key market like the United States.' Staging a match abroad has long been part of the league's goal to promote soccer and its brand in other countries. It first tried to stage a match in the U.S. in 2018, with a game between Barcelona and Girona, but the idea was dismissed after criticism from players, fans and clubs. Subsequent attempts to play there also failed. The league had offered compensation packages for Girona fans in 2018. It wasn't clear whether it would be Villarreal or the league paying for the travel and tickets for the club's fans this time. The attempts to play in the U.S. are part of the league's long-term partnership with sports and entertainment group Relevent Sports, which is part of Stephen Ross' portfolio of companies including Hard Rock Stadium, the Miami Dolphins, the Formula One's Miami Grand Prix and the Miami Open tennis tournament. Earlier this year, it was announced that New York-based Relevent Sports has exclusive negotiating rights over the global commercial rights to the UEFA men's club competitions for the period 2027-2033. FIFA moved last year toward ending decades of soccer tradition by ordering a review of its policy that blocks domestic league games being played in other countries. Some fan groups in Spain and the country's players association on Monday expressed their disapproval of the plan to move the match thousands of kilometers away. It has become routine, though, for U.S. pro sports leagues to stage games in Europe, Asia and South America that help build their brands and fan bases. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Kyodo News
4 days ago
- Kyodo News
Baseball: Ohtani homers in 3rd straight game as Yamamoto shelled
ANAHEIM, California - Shohei Ohtani homered for the third straight game upon his return to his old ballpark, but Yoshinobu Yamamoto took the loss as the Los Angeles Dodgers fell 7-4 to the Los Angeles Angels on Monday. Former Angel Ohtani belted his 100th home run at Angel Stadium with one out in the eighth inning, pulling Shaun Anderson's 3-2 slider inside for a solo shot to make it a 7-1 game before Max Muncy also went deep for three runs in the same inning. Ohtani tied Kyle Schwarber again in leading the National League with 42 home runs as the Philadelphia Phillies' left fielder also homered on the same day. The Dodgers' comeback came a little too late, however, after Ohtani's Japanese compatriot Yamamoto (10-8) allowed six runs, the most in his Major League Baseball career, on six hits, five walks and a hit batsman over 4-2/3 innings. Zach Neto went deep to right center off his first pitch of the game, a four-seamer, and Yoan Moncada singled in another in the first inning. Yamamoto then surrendered four runs in the fifth when he loaded the bases with no outs and was replaced after a forgettable 99-pitch effort, including six strikeouts. Neto had another solo shot in the sixth for the Angels' last run. "My form wasn't necessarily bad coming into the game. (But) I kept giving up runs before finding my rhythm," Yamamoto said. "I can't help it if I give up hits, but I could have kept the damage to a minimum if I had been able to stem the tide somewhere." Yu Darvish, meanwhile, hurled six innings of one-run ball to earn the win as the San Diego Padres beat the San Francisco Giants 4-1. Darvish (2-3) issued no walks in a commanding 84-pitch outing that saw him strike out the side in the fifth before Rafael Devers sent the right-hander's 1-1 sinker to the left-center seats at Oracle Park with two outs in the sixth to tie 1-1. But the Padres scored three runs in the seventh off Logan Webb (10-9) to retake the lead and three relievers each worked a scoreless inning. "My control was a bit better today," said Darvish after striking out six in his seventh start since his July 7 return from right elbow inflammation. "The ball was just so slippery and it took time to adjust. My rhythm got better gradually as the game went on." The veteran is quickly acclimatizing to his new pitching mechanics with a lower releasing position, introduced to alleviate his physical burden. "When I was little, I used to keep throwing against a wall using various mechanics. I tried many things at high school too, including throwing sidearm at Koshien Stadium," Darvish said. "I'm good at these things."
Japan Today
05-08-2025
- Japan Today
Barcelona opens disciplinary proceeding against Ter Stegen for refusing to sign a medical report
FILE - Barcelona's goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen gestures during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Rayo Vallecano and Barcelona at the Vallecas stadium in Madrid, Spain, Aug. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, file) soccer By TALES AZZONI Barcelona has opened a disciplinary proceeding against Marc-André ter Stegen saying the goalkeeper refused to sign a medical report about his back injury, according to a person with knowledge of the proceeding. The person who spoke to the The Associated Press on Tuesday did not want to be named because they were not authorized to speak about it publicly. The club needed Ter Stegen to sign the report so it could be sent to the Spanish league in order to clear some salary-cap space and more easily register other players without breaching financial fair play rules. But the club and the goalkeeper are at odds about the recovery time for the surgery that took place last week to deal with recurring lower back ailments. Ter Stegen said ahead of the surgery that the recovery time would be about three months. The club did not give an official timetable for the recovery process, saying only that the operation was 'successful" and that 'his recovery will determine when he can return.' Depending on the length of the recovery process, Barcelona could clear a percentage of Ter Stegen's salary from its cap, making more room to add other players to the squad. The club signed Espanyol goalkeeper Joan García in June. Its other goalkeepers are veteran Wojciech Szczęsny and Iñaki Peña. The league has to evaluate the report before approving the official time of recovery. Ter Stegen, one of the team's captains, did not immediately speak publicly after Barcelona said it opened the disciplinary proceeding. He and the club had been expected to meet to discuss the situation in the coming days. The 33-year-old German goalkeeper missed nearly all of last season because of a tendon rupture in his knee, and in 2023 he missed about two months because of another back operation. Peña and the 35-year-old Szczęsny started in place of Ter Stegen during his knee injury. It wasn't clear what type of sanction Ter Stegen was facing for not signing the report. Barcelona, the defending Spanish league champion, arrived back in Spain on Tuesday after completing a preseason tour in Asia. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
