Michel Platini scares off burglar at his French villa
Platini played 72 times for France and won the Ballon d'Or award for the world's top player three years in a row from 1983 to 1985.
He led France to the semi-finals of the 1982 and 1986 World Cup.
He was UEFA president from 2007 to 2016 and later became embroiled in a financial scandal involving then-FIFA president Sepp Blatter, but was acquitted in March this year.
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France 24
7 hours ago
- France 24
Spain's resilient women footballers face England for European title
If the women's soccer players of Spain have gone from nobodies to title contenders in less than a decade, it hasn't come easy. The national team has had to fight for better coaching, decent travel conditions, and modern training facilities. It paid off with a World Cup title in 2023, the Nations League crown last year, and on Sunday they face England in the European Championship final. 'It has been a constant with the national team that we have had to fight for acceptable work conditions that would allow us to play at our best,' former Spain defender Marta Torrejón told The Associated Press by phone on Friday. Torrejón lived through the lean years, the time when playing for her country felt like, in her words, a 'waste of time.' And she knows from talking with Barcelona teammates who still play for their country how much things have improved. Torrejón retired from international soccer after the 2019 World Cup as Spain's then most-capped player with 90 appearances. She has since helped Barcelona win three Champions League titles and a slew of other trophies. She also played a part in one of the revolts Spain's women have staged to demand more from the men who run the game. After the 2015 World Cup, Torrejón and other players successfully pushed for the removal of coach Ignacio Quereda, who had run the team for nearly three decades, for his poor preparation ahead of the team's first appearance in the competition. Quereda was later accused by former players of verbal abuse, an allegation he denied. 'I enjoyed playing for the national team, but the preparation and attention to the player was minimum. It felt, to put it bluntly, like a waste of time,' Torrejón said. 'The level of practice and the level of physical training both plummeted compared to what we had (at Barcelona). It was like taking a step back. 'I am told that isn't the case now, and I am very glad to hear that.' Torrejón said she saw steps in the right direction under former Spain coach Jorge Vilda, who replaced Quereda, but felt there was still more untapped potential in the team when she retired. After Torrejón quit the team, some players announced in 2022 they would no longer play for Vilda unless he ran a more professional operation. He was backed by the federation. Some players returned to play for him, and the team made history by winning the 2023 World Cup. The celebrations were overshadowed by the behavior of then-federation president Luis Rubiales, who kissed a player on the lips without her consent during the awards ceremony in Sydney. Vilda backed Rubiales, but he was swept away with his boss when the players stood up to force change, from the removal of Rubiales to improving the travel, preparation and staffing of the team. Torrejón said she had heard from Alexia Putellas and Irene Paredes, stalwarts of Spain and Barcelona, that things are better since Rubiales and Vilda left. New coach Montse Tomé has enhanced the training methods. Spain leads the way at the Euros for goals scored, ball possession, passing accuracy and clean sheets. In Spain's 1-0 semifinal win over Germany, Aitana Bonmatí leaned on the team's analysts, who informed her the opposing goalkeeper tended to leave her near post unprotected. The result was an exquisite winner from a tight angle. Spain midfielder Patri Guijarro agrees with Torrejón that the sustained investment Barcelona has provided for the past decade in the women's game has boosted the national team. 'Each and every day we work well in our clubs and I think that is reflected in the achievements of the clubs but also in the national team,' Guijarro said at Spain's camp in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Friday. Guijarro also credits the professionalization of Spain's women's league in 2021, which allowed players 'to dedicate ourselves fully to soccer.' Guijarro is one of 11 Barcelona players on Spain's 23-member squad. The Barcelona contingent includes Bonmatí and Putellas, who have split the last four Ballon d'Or awards between them. Former Barcelona official Xavier Vilajoana oversaw the women's team and the club's training academy from 2015-2020. During that time, the club dramatically increased its funding for women's soccer and built a training program for girls. Vilajoana said one critical decision was having the same coaches train the boys' and girls' teams. That way the Barcelona style was instilled in all the kids, and that ball-possession, short-passing and pressure became fundamentals of the women's teams as well. 'Let's not fool ourselves, we spent many years in a very sexist society and that was reflected in women's soccer. So clearly the change in the mentality of society has helped,' Vilajoana told the AP. 'But I also believe the style of play Barca has helped see women players in the same way (as the men).' In the background, Spain's strong feminist movement helped get the public behind the players. 'There were many of us players who gave it our all for the national team but weren't able to get this far,' Torrejón said. 'The one thing we knew is that we had talent. We just needed more support.'
Euronews
11 hours ago
- Euronews
How does doping affect athletes' health?
This weekend promises to be an exciting one for sports fans. The World Aquatics Championships in Singapore begin their third weekend of competition, while the prestigious Tour de France concludes on Sunday, marking the end of one of cycling's greatest events. To cap off the weekend, the UEFA Women's EURO 2025 final takes place on Sunday evening in Basel, Switzerland, with world champions Spain facing European champions England. These three major events comprise different sports in different parts of the world, but they are united by one common aspect: anti-doping. Athletes participating in these events are closely monitored to ensure that these competitions remain free from banned substances listed on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List. In the last three episodes of Euronews Next's podcast Euronews Tech Talks, we've explored how complex it is for anti-doping authorities to detect doping and the reasons why some professional athletes resort to it. But what exactly are the physical health risks associated with performance-enhancing drugs? Some preliminary remarks Before exploring the health risks associated with some of the most commonly used doping substances, there are some important points to make. To be included on the WADA Prohibited List, drugs and practices must fulfil at least two out of three criteria: they have the potential to enhance or do enhance sport performance; they represent an actual or potential health risk to the athlete; they violate the spirit of sport. This means a substance may only be performance-enhancing and violate the spirit of sport, or it may pose no actual health risk but a possible one. 2. Doping is a tricky research field In episode 50, Francesco Botrè, Director of the WADA-accredited anti-doping laboratory in Rome, highlighted that researching doping is complicated because studies must respect ethical and health safety criteria. For example, researchers cannot administer high doses of certain banned substances to study participants due to potential health risks. 3. Research on doping is relatively recent As noted in episode 51 by Dominic Sagoe, Professor of Psychology at the University of Bergen, research on doping is relatively recent, and the substances athletes use are also new, making it difficult to assess their long-term effects. 4. There is a health dilemma As often in health-related subjects, it is hard to define with certainty a cause-and-effect relationship between the use of a substance and a body reaction, as many aspects, such as genetics and environmental contexts, are often overlooked. 5. Difficult to identify Athletes using performance-enhancing drugs might take more than one banned substance, making it difficult to isolate the health effects of each substance. Anabolic steroids Anabolic steroids are among the doping substances whose health effects are most well-documented. They are used in sports like sprint competitions or weight lifting because they speed up protein synthesis in muscles, leading to increased muscle mass and strength. A famous case of steroid use involves tennis player Jannik Sinner, who won Wimbledon this year. The Italian athlete tested positive for steroids in March 2024 and received a three-month ban by WADA. These products can cause major physical side effects. 'Since the heart is also a muscle and steroids lead to muscle growth, the heart itself could also grow,' Astrid Kristine Bjørnebekk, group leader of the Anabolic Androgenic Steroid Research Group at the Oslo University Hospital, told Euronews Health. 'So it [the heart] increases in size, the ventricular walls get thicker and stiffer, which will affect the heart's ability to pump blood to the rest of the body and over time, this can lead to heart failure'. Some studies have also suggested that these heart problems may persist in the long term. Bjørnebekk explained that anabolic steroids disrupt hormone production, and research has also found reduced brain volume in the cerebral cortex among users, though scientists are still working to understand what these changes mean. Erythropoietin (EPO) and blood doping Erythropoietin (EPO) is a hormone that stimulates the production of red blood cells, enhancing endurance. It is mostly used in competitions such as cycling or marathon running. Similarly, blood doping involves removing blood and re-transfusing it after the body has replaced the lost blood cells. This increases the total red blood cell count, improving the athlete's capacity to perform in the short term. The most well-known athlete to have used these substances is the United States' cyclist Lance Armstrong, who admitted using banned substances in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2013. Overall, both blood doping and EPO are associated with risks of infections and major cardiovascular problems like blood clots, strokes and heart attacks. However, this verified connection should be approached with caution and analysed on a case-by-case basis. For instance, in the 1990s and 2000s, media and experts suggested that over 15 Belgian and Dutch cyclists had died from heart attacks in the late 1980s due to EPO use. However, later studies found no clear evidence to support this claim, highlighting that the cause-and-effect relationship is more nuanced. Unlike steroids, research on the long-term effects of EPO and blood doping is somewhat more limited. Beta Blockers Probably less known than other performance-enhancing drugs, beta blockers are medications normally used for heart conditions. They are banned in specific sports like archery and shooting because they help athletes perform more calmly by keeping their heart rate low and reducing tension in their bodies. One of the most famous athletes who tested positive for beta blockers was North Korean shooter Kim Jong-su, who tested positive during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Common side effects include fatigue, dizziness, nausea, constipation, and erectile dysfunction. As far as long-term issues are concerned, some studies have associated chronic use of beta blockers with an increased risk of Parkinson's disease. However, there is little research focused specifically on beta blockers use in sports.
Fashion Network
a day ago
- Fashion Network
England football shirts fly off shelves as Lionesses prep for Euros final
Good news for US sportswear giant Nike and retail operator Fanatics. Supporters of The Lionesses — England's women's football team — have been scrambling to buy the replica shirts ahead of their appearance in the Euros finals on Sunday (27 July) against Adidas -sponsored Spain. New data from Adobe has revealed that online sales of England shirts surged by 750% following the Lionesses' last-gasp semi-final victory on Tuesday (22 July) when compared to average daily levels over the past 30 days. This surge is 6% higher than the spike seen after the Lionesses' World Cup semi-final victory in 2023, showing 'how major cultural moments can drive significant uplift in online spending', said Adobe. Meanwhile, shirt sales, alongside other merchandise, are confirmed far higher than during the team's 2023 World Cup run, reports City AM. Global retailer Fanatics, which operates England's official stores, said its sales of Lionesses' products were up 41% compared to the same stage of the last major tournament. It said consumer demand has gathered pace with sales increasing 26% week-on-week as the Lionesses have progressed in the tournament as the team competes in its third consecutive major final in six years. Since the Euros tournament began, search demand for women's football shirts have also soared 400% as fans across Europe 'are in the grip of the 'Lioness Effect' ahead of the final', according to data from Net World Sports. It reveals that 28% of football kit revenue through its platform have come from women since the Euros began.
