Uae under 23 football team

A former beauty contestant and the ex-girlfriend of a professional footballer has been found guilty of funding terrorism. Amaani Noor, 21, was found guilty at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday of donating 45 dollars, around £35, to organisation The Merciful Hands via Paypal on May 23 last year knowing it would or may be used for the purposes of terrorism. Noor, who the court heard had married an Islamist fighter online and planned to join him in Syria, sobbed in the dock as she was found guilty by a majority of 10 to 2 following three hours and 38 minutes of deliberation. Judge Andrew Menary QC told the five men and seven women on the jury: "It's a sad case. You have had an insight now into this very murky and challenging world that some people occupy online where people speak casually about some pretty awful things that are going on. "A moment's glance online will tell you Miss Noor was in a relationship with someone in the public eye. "That person was a professional … [Read more...] about Premier League footballer’s ex-girlfriend found guilty of funding terrorism with £35 donation

With modern football characterised by intensity and collective ideals, for a team to be completely dominated by one player is rare. But few clubs across European football are as dependent on one man as Toulouse are on Max Gradel. After years of scrapping a Ligue 1 existence via miraculous escapes and relegation play-offs, the potential loss of the Ivorian this summer could signal disaster at the Stade Municipal. Talismanic status is not new for Gradel. Before a misadventure with Bournemouth, his time at Saint-Étienne under Christophe Galtier, now coaching Lille, focused on one thing: qualifying for the Champions League. Ligue 1’s most successful ever club, Saint-Étienne are a proud and historic outfit with a raucous fan base, but forays into Europe’s premier club competition have been rare of late. With Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang and others gone, Gradel became the epicentre of Les Verts’ hopes. While his colleagues were perhaps not of the same standard, … [Read more...] about It is Max Gradel’s world and Toulouse are living in it … dangerously

Die meister, die besten, les grandes equipes, the Getafe?! You can almost hear the needle scratch. It is 13 years since Mathieu Flamini played in a Champions League final but he might get the chance to play in the competition again. The man who helped find a way of turning waste into renewable energy has helped turn Getafe into one of the best teams on the continent. Just over a year after turning up for a trial, a 33-year-old biochemical pioneer released by Crystal Palace who hadn’t played football for six months, the former Arsenal midfielder could be returning to the biggest stage of all – and with the most unlikely of clubs. Just look at the league table. Now look again. Yes, that really is Getafe in a Champions League place. Not even the Zombie Porn got them this excited. The club that called upon Jesus Christ in jeans, a bodybuilding dwarf, a man laying an egg, a two-headed motorbike rider, Getafe Tinder, and a melancholic monster to try to fill their ground, a … [Read more...] about Getafe inch closer to making the unbelievable dream a reality

Darkness descended on Real Madrid, the metaphor visiting them on a Sunday night in Valladolid, light not let in until the following evening when he returned. The week after they lost it all, the man returned who won it all. Zinedine Zidane is back. Less than a year since he walked out, insisting that this was a “see you later” not a “goodbye”, he has walked back in again. Just how different the place is, just how bad it had got in his absence, was shown by seven days in which it all slipped through their fingers. Shown too, by the last game before he relented and said yes, Santi Solari’s final game in charge: a match that mattered so much partly because it didn’t matter at all. There was less than an hour to go before kick-off at the José Zorrilla on Sunday night when the lights went out on Madrid again. They sought a first win since beating Levante 13 days earlier, back when they had a season, but they couldn’t see amid the gloom. The … [Read more...] about Zinedine Zidane responds to the call to save Real Madrid from darkness

“Anger is an energy,” John Lydon famously sang on Public Image Limited’s ‘Rise’. The line has had a fair airing in the past week, used in attempts to sum up the on-stage essence of Keith Flint after The Prodigy frontman’s untimely passing. Flint himself frequently laughed off the perception that he was an angry man but this weekend, Bayern Munich took the phrase and showed themselves to be more than happy to embody it. By the time the clock ticked 17.21 in the Allianz Arena on Saturday afternoon, as an overwhelmed Wolfsburg team stood dazed on the turf having taken a thrashing that could easily have been worse, it was tricky to work out which scenario should have been the most obvious to us two hours beforehand. That Wolfsburg, who had never won in 21 previous visits to Bayern, were never going to change that? That Bayern’s relentless pace of late, seemingly reaching a familiar crescendo as they entered this match with 11 wins from their last … [Read more...] about Angry Bayern let it all out and nudge Dortmund off their throne