Spanish prosecutors seek jail term for Luis Rubiales for Hermoso kiss | Football News

Prosecutors want Rubiales to face a year behind bars for the kiss and 18 months for the charge of coercion.

Spanish prosecutors are seeking a two-and-a-half year jail term for disgraced ex-football chief Luis Rubiales who is facing trial for kissing Spain midfielder Jenni Hermoso on the lips against her will, court documents show.

Prosecutors also want Rubiales, who has been charged with sexual assault and coercion, to pay at least 50,000 euros ($54,000) in compensation to Hermoso, they wrote in a document sent to Spain’s Audiencia Nacional court, Spanish media reported on Wednesday.

During the incident, which took place on August 20 after Spain beat England to win the Women’s World Cup final in Australia, Rubiales held Hermoso’s head in both hands and forcibly kissed her on the lips.

The kiss took place live in front of the world’s cameras, provoking widespread outrage and prompting his suspension by world football governing body FIFA.

At the time, Rubiales brushed it off as a “consensual” peck on the lips, but Hermoso, 33, said it was not.

Under Spanish law, a nonconsensual kiss can be classed as sexual assault – a criminal category that groups all types of sexual violence.

Rubiales “grabbed the player’s head with both hands, and surprisingly and without consent or the player’s acceptance, he kissed her on the lips”, the prosecutors wrote.

After realising the kiss could have “personal and professional consequences” with his suspension by FIFA on August 26, Rubiales and his entourage began to exert “constant pressure” on Hermoso so that she “publicly justify” the kiss as consensual.

The pressure caused her “anxiety and intense stress” for several months, they wrote.

Prosecutors requested that the 46-year-old face a year behind bars for the kiss, and 18 months for the charge of coercion.

Three of his former associates are also being tried for putting pressure on Hermoso: former women’s coach Jorge Vilda, men’s team director Albert Luque and Ruben Rivera, marketing boss at the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF).

Hermoso filed a lawsuit against Rubiales in September, telling the judge she had come under pressure to defend him both on the flight back from Australia and on a subsequent team holiday to Ibiza in the Balearic Islands.

In addition, she requested a restraining order barring Rubiales from coming within 200 metres (656 feet) of Hermoso and from communicating with her for the next seven-and-a-half years.

If convicted and sentenced as requested by the prosecutor, Rubiales would not necessarily have to go to prison. Spain’s criminal code allows judges to “exceptionally” suspend jail terms if – as in this case – none of the sentences imposed individually exceeds two years.

Rubiales has been named in a separate corruption probe that shook the RFEF last week, when police searched the federation’s headquarters and an apartment belonging to Rubiales, arresting seven people.

A Spanish court has been investigating since June 2022 if Rubiales committed a crime of improper management when the RFEF agreed with former Barcelona player Gerard Pique’s Kosmos firm to move the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia, a judicial source told the Reuters news agency then.

Rubiales, who was in the Dominican Republic during last week’s searches, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and told El Espanol newspaper he would cooperate with the investigation.

A court source said his lawyers told the judge he would return from the Dominican Republic on April 6.

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Djokovic and Ivanisevic split after winning 12 Grand Slam titles together | Tennis News

The world number one ends a hugely successful, seven-year partnership with coach Goran Ivanisevic.

World number one Novak Djokovic has ended his highly successful partnership with Croatian coach Goran Ivanisevic shortly before the clay season gets into full swing.

Ivanisevic, who claimed the singles title at Wimbledon in 2001 after finishing runner-up in 1992, 1994 and 1998, joined Djokovic’s team in 2018 and helped the 36-year-old win 12 Grand Slam titles.

“Goran and I decided to stop working together a few days ago,” 24-time major champion Djokovic said on Wednesday in an Instagram post with a picture of himself and Ivanisevic playing a board game.

“Our on-court chemistry had its ups and downs, but our friendship was always rock solid. In fact, I’m proud to say (not sure he is) that apart from winning tournaments together we also had a side battle in Parchisi going on … for many years.

“And that tournament never stops for us. Sefinjo, thanks for everything my friend. Love you.”

Djokovic failed in his bid to win a record 25th Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open in January when he lost 6-1, 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-3 to Jannik Sinner in the semifinals.

The Serb pulled out of the ongoing Miami Open to limit the number of events he plays this year. That decision came after a shock third-round loss to Luca Nardi at Indian Wells.

Djokovic will gear up for the clay season as he bids to claim a fourth title at the French Open, which will take place from May 26 to June 9.

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Ukraine, Poland, Georgia: Which teams have qualified for Euro 2024? | Football News

Ukraine, Poland and Georgia are the last three teams to qualify for the 24-team continental championship.

Ukraine came from behind to beat Iceland in a playoff to qualify for Euro 2024, Poland secured their place at the tournament with a penalty shootout victory over Wales and Georgia qualified for a first ever major tournament in a dramatic night for European football.

The 24-nation Euro 2024 lineup was finalised on Tuesday with three qualifying playoffs giving a stronger Eastern European flavour to the tournament that opens on June 14 in Germany.

Mykhailo Mudryk’s sweeping low shot in the 84th minute lifted Ukraine to a 2-1 victory over Iceland and a second late comeback win in the playoffs for a team representing the war-torn country.

The “home” game for Ukraine was played in neutral Poland because international games cannot be played in Kyiv for security reasons during the war against Russia, whose team has been banned from trying to qualify by UEFA.

Georgia and star forward Khvicha Kvaratskhelia will make their major tournament debut at Euro 2024 after beating Greece 4-2 in a penalty shootout. It had been a tense and testy 0-0 draw in a raucous atmosphere in Tbilisi.

The decisive penalty was scored by substitute Nika Kvekveskiri placed his perfect shot low into the corner to seal Georgia’s 4-2 win.

Wild celebrations saw thousands of Georgia fans in a 50,000 crowd at the national stadium pour onto the field and some climbed the goalposts to sit on the crossbar.

Georgian players have been European champions before – in the Soviet Union squad that won the inaugural title in 1960.

Now the independent republic has earned the right to make its own football history in Germany.

A Georgia fan with a flare on the pitch celebrates after his team qualified for Euro 2024 with a win over Greece at Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena, Tbilisi, Georgia [Irakli Gedenidze/Reuters]

Meanwhile, Poland became the last team to book their ticket to Germany, beating Wales 5-4 in a penalty shootout in Cardiff also after a 0-0 draw.

Poland captain Robert Lewandowski, who had scored the first spot-kick of the shootout, could not bear to watch the action when his goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny pushed away the final penalty taken by Dan James.

“It’s big because I probably would have finished my international career tonight had we lost the game,” Szczesny said.

Poland have played at every Euros edition since star forward Lewandowski made his national team debut in 2008, including as co-host with Ukraine at Euro 2012.

Poland will go into a tough Group D with France, the Netherlands and Austria.

Ukraine are in Group F with Belgium, Romania and Slovakia.

Georgia go into Group F to face Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal, Turkey and the Czech Republic.

Euro 2024 will be played in 10 German cities from June 14 to July 14.



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Five key takeaways from football’s 2024 CONCACAF Nations League final | Football News

The United States have won their third straight CONCACAF Nations League title after beating Mexico 2-0 in the final, thanks to goals from Tyler Adams and Gio Reyna.

The final was played in front of a boisterous crowd supporting both teams at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Sunday night.

The North American football tournament takes place every two years and is spread across dates allocated for international friendlies by FIFA. It determines the finalists for the CONCACAF Gold Cup and the region’s qualifiers for the CONMEBOL Copa America.

All 41 regional teams are divided into three tiers, with the top four teams from the top tier qualifying for knockout competition to determine the champion.

Here’s a look at the five talking points from the tournament:

The US-Mexico rivalry is alive and kicking

The US men’s football team may not be as globally successful as their female counterparts, but they have been a dominant force in the North American region and have nudged ahead of their southern neighbours Mexico in recent decades.

This has fuelled a rivalry loaded with political and footballing sub-plots.

Once counted among the powerhouses of the continent, the El Tri – as the Mexican football team are known – has fallen behind the Stars and Stripes. Their last 36 meetings have resulted in 19 wins for the US and only nine for Mexico.

They have met twice in the CONCACAF Nations League final and the US has won on both occasions (2019 and 2024) — but Mexico holds a slight edge in the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Sunday’s game led to heated words being exchanged on the pitch, as well as fans throwing objects from the stands.

US coach Gregg Berhalter and some of his players were struck by debris while celebrating Gio Reyna’s 63rd-minute strike that put the home team 2-0 ahead.

“That was unfortunate because we want a really competitive game, we want a great atmosphere, but we don’t want to get things thrown at us,” Berhalter said post-game.

Mexico midfielder Edson Alvarez argues with United States goalkeeper Matt Turner during the final [Jerome Miron/USA TODAY Sports]

Homophobic chants continue to cause problems

For the second straight year, the final was suspended in the closing minutes because of homophobic chants by pro-Mexican fans.

Canadian referee Drew Fischer twice stopped play: in the 88th minute, and again six minutes into stoppage time. The match was eventually completed, leading to the regional football body issuing a post-match statement condemning the “discriminatory chanting”.

“Security staff in the stadium identified and ejected a significant number of fans, and the referee and match officials activated the FIFA protocol… It is extremely disappointing that this matter continues to be an issue at some matches.”

Tyler Adams scores a worldie to mark international comeback

Once the US were crowned CONCACAF Nations League champions, a celebratory Tyler Adams stood on the field cradling his two-month-old son Jax; the 25-year-old midfielder still grinning widely after scoring the goal of his life in his side’s 2-0 win.

In his first start in more than a year for club or country, Adams powerful strike from 35 metres thundered past the helpless Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, who’s well-timed lunge towards the right goalpost still couldn’t prevent the ball from rocketing past his right hand and into the back of the net.

“People have a lot of question marks about this, about that,” Adams said. “But to see what we do week in, week out when we have the opportunity to work together, we continue to grow.”

Adams has two goals in 38 matches for the US. The other came against Mexico in 2018.

The oft-injured midfielder made his first start for the US since the loss to Netherlands in the 2022 World Cup round of 16.

Jordan’s three-peat pushes Berhalter’s men

Earlier in the week, Berhalter motivated his players to win their third straight Nations League title by emulating the famous example of NBA legend Michael Jordan and the 1991-93 Chicago Bulls.

“The Jordan slide, when he’s holding up the three fingers with the trophy,” Berhalter said, “we photoshopped the Nations League trophy into the same picture with Michael Jordan.”

United States players celebrate on the podium after winning the CONCACAF Nations League final [Julio Cortez/AP]

Is this the end of the Reyna-Berhalter feud?

Attacking midfielder Reyna started the game for the US, scored his eighth international goal and later went on to say that winning titles for his country “never gets old”.

“I’ll never take any of them [titles] for granted,” he added.

“The group of guys and the energy we have, I always love coming to camp. I’m at a loss for words right now.”

Son of American football legend Claudio Reyna, the Nottingham Forest player has come a long way from the Reyna-Berhalter family feud that emerged during the team’s run at the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

Berhalter nearly sent Reyna home from the 2022 tournament for a lack of hustle in training, sparking a feud that led the US Soccer Federation appointing interim coaches for much of last year. Berhalter returned in September and Reyna followed suit a month later after recovering from an injury.

“When I took over the team again, I talked about it needing time,” Berhalter said. “And that was something that we both acknowledged. And the more you work together and the more that he believed that intentions were true and that the whole staff has his best interests in mind, I think we started to gain trust.”

Reyna, who was picked as the CONCACAF Nations League player of the tournament, expressed hope that the three-peat would provide inspiration for competing in Copa America on home soil this summer against South America’s top teams.

“It’s big for momentum,” he said. “We’ve been together with our core group now. We know what it takes to win big matches.”



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China releases South Korean footballer Son Jun-ho held in bribery case | Football News

Son has returned home after being held on the suspicion of accepting bribes while playing in the Chinese Super League.

South Korean international footballer Son Jun-ho, who was detained by Chinese authorities over bribery allegations, has been released and returned home, according to the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The midfielder was detained in China last May “on suspicion of accepting bribes by non-state employees”, the Chinese government said at the time, without providing further details.

Son “recently arrived in South Korea as his detention ended” after 10 months, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

The government has provided “active legal assistance through close communication with Son’s family”, it added.

The Foreign Ministry did not reveal when he returned or whether the charges against him were proven.

“We have been communicating with Chinese authorities through various channels to request their cooperation in ensuring a fast and fair process [for Son] while also communicating closely with his family in South Korea,” the South Korean ministry said in a statement. It said it had conducted about 20 consular interviews with Son to provide assistance and ensure fair access to lawyers.

The Korea Football Association confirmed Son’s release, saying the 31-year-old footballer had returned on Monday.

Son played for Shandong Taishan football club in the Chinese Super League since 2021 and appeared in three of South Korea’s four matches during the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

Son played seven seasons with South Korea’s Pohang Steelers and Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors before joining Shandong Taishan in 2021 on a four-year contract. He has played for South Korea 18 times.

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Pakistan cricketer Amir named among T20 probables after retirement U-turn | Cricket News

Fast bowler Mohammad Amir has been included in Pakistan’s group of 29 cricketers who will undergo training at the country’s military base ahead of the summer’s ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2024.

Amir’s inclusion comes a day after he came out of retirement and after the country’s cricket board announced changes to its selection process which made him feel “needed”.

The left-arm bowler announced his international retirement at the age of 28 in December 2020, saying he could no longer play under the then-management and that he was being “tortured mentally”.

“I still dream to play for Pakistan! Life brings us to the points where at times we have to reconsider our decisions,” he wrote on Sunday on social media platform X.

After “positive” talks with Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officials, he said the PCB made him feel “that I was needed and can still play for Pakistan”.

“I declare I am available to be considered for upcoming T20WC,” the 31-year-old added.

Amir’s precocious, stop-start career was halted in 2010 after he, along with then-Pakistan Test captain Salman Butt and fellow pacer Mohammad Asif, were banned for five years over a spot fixing scandal. All three were also jailed by a British court.

Amir returned to play for Pakistan in 2016. He has represented Pakistan in 36 Tests, 61 ODIs and 50 T20Is.

His international wicket haul stands at 259, with 59 coming in the game’s shortest format. As a teenager, he was part of Pakistan’s T20 World Cup winning squad in 2009. Eight years later, he played a key role in Pakistan’s triumphant run at the 2017 Champions Trophy in England.

Amir’s announcement came a day after all-rounder Imad Wasim reversed his own decision to retire four months ago and made himself available to play in this year’s World Cup. Wasim was also named in the squad announced on Monday.

Changes in selection panel

Earlier on Sunday, newly elected PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi announced a seven-member selection panel, making the captain and head coach part of the process.

“We have reorganised the selection committee with seven members but the different thing is that there will be no chairman,” Naqvi told a press conference, adding that each member would have “equal powers”.

Former captain Mohammad Yousuf, Wahab Riaz, Abdul Razzaq and Asad Shafiq – all of whom played for Pakistan – will be joined by the current captain, the head coach and a data analyst.

Pakistan are without a head coach following their disastrous World Cup (50 overs) in India last year where they failed to qualify for the semifinals.

Afterwards Babar Azam stepped down from captaincy of all formats and was replaced by Shan Masood as Test captain and Shaheen Shah Afridi as T20I captain.

The then-head coach Mickey Arthur was replaced by team director Mohammad Hafeez under whom Pakistan suffered a 3-0 Test whitewash in Australia and a 4-1 series defeat in a T20I series in New Zealand.

Naqvi on Sunday left open whether Shaheen will be retained as captain, saying the selection committee will make a final decision on its T20I captain after the training camp.

The chairman also announced the restoration of a central contract for fast bowler Haris Rauf, who was suspended last month after he refused to play Tests in Australia.

“Rauf has stated that there was some misunderstanding so we have restored his central contract,” said Naqvi.

Pakistan will play five T20Is against New Zealand at home followed by two in Ireland and four in England before featuring in the T20 World Cup, where they will kick off their campaign against co-hosts United States on June 6. They will then face neighbours India in New York on June 9, before their final group match against Canada on June 11.

The players named for the training camp are: Aamir Jamal, Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Haseebullah, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Irfan Khan, Mehran Mumtaz, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usama Mir, Usman Khan and Zaman Khan.



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Austria’s Baumgartner scores fastest-ever international goal | Football News

Baumgartner unleashed a 25-metre shot past the goalkeeper after six seconds to break the record for the fastest goal.

Austria’s Christoph Baumgartner has broken the record for the fastest-ever international goal by slotting home against Slovakia inside seven seconds.

Baumgartner, 24, went into the record books during a friendly match in Bratislava on Saturday.

The Leipzig attacker drove through the home defence from kickoff before unleashing a 25-metre (82-feet) shot past Martin Dubravka in goal.

“We’ve done this variation before, sprinting from kickoff at full risk. The sequence of steps somehow worked out so that I made the run,” Baumgartner told Austrian public broadcaster ORF after the game which his team won 2-0.

“Of course it’s really cool, I’m very happy. The fact that I hit it like that… it’s of course sensational.”

The Austrian FA described Baumgartner’s effort as the fastest goal in the history of international football.

Baumgartner’s strike broke the record of the seven seconds it took Lukas Podolski to score for Germany against Ecuador in 2013.

“Of course we got off to a really good start, that goal by itself was probably worth the price of admission,” said Austria coach Ralf Rangnick.

Meanwhile, later Saturday, Germany’s Florian Wirtz scored a goal inside seven seconds fast against France in a friendly in Lyon which Germany won 2-0.

The Leverkusen player beat goalkeeper Brice Samba with a superb shot under the crossbar.

“I don’t think anyone understood or realised what was happening. We were all quite surprised, but there was obviously a lot of joy,” Wirtz told German broadcaster ZDF after his first international goal.

“You can’t start a match any better.”

The fastest goal scored in a World Cup was by Turkey’s Hakan Sukur against South Korea in 2002 after 11 seconds.



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Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz wins F1 Australian GP after Verstappen retires | Motorsports News

Sainz finished ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc after Red Bull’s Verstappen retired on the fourth lap with engine fire.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz has ended Red Bull’s Formula 1 winning streak by winning the Australian Grand Prix in a triumphant return to the circuit two weeks after appendicitis surgery, which kept him out of the previous race in Saudi Arabia.

The Spaniard took advantage of Verstappen’s early retirement – his first in two years – due to a fiery mechanical failure.

Sainz, who started on the front row alongside Verstappen, kept his place into turn one but passed the Dutchman on lap two at turn nine for the lead and took control once his rival retired two laps later with a fiery mechanical failure.

Sainz was the only non-Red Bull driver to win a race last season.

Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz of Spain steers his car into pit lane as his teammates celebrate after winning the Australian Grand Prix [Scott Barbour/AP]

In Melbourne, he held off teammate Charles Leclerc before a final-lap crash by Mercedes driver George Russell triggered a virtual safety car and eased the Spaniard’s path to victory.

“It was a really good race. I felt really good out there,” said a thrilled Sainz.

“Of course a bit stiff and especially physically it wasn’t the easiest but I was lucky that I was more or less on my own and I could manage my pace, manage the tyres, manage everything, and it wasn’t the toughest race of all.

“But very happy, very proud of the team, and happy to be in a one-two with Charles here.”

Lando Norris was third for McLaren, thwarting fourth-placed teammate Oscar Piastri’s hopes of a first podium by an Australian driver at the F1 race.

Verstappen, the winner in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, started on pole for the third time this season but retired on the fourth lap with a brake problem as flames leapt out of the right rear of his car. He was on a nine-race winning streak.

It was Verstappen’s first Did Not Finish (DNF) since retiring from Albert Park in the 2022 race and ended his run of nine successive race wins.

Verstappen said he was basically driving with the handbrake on from the start.

“That’s why already it felt the car was really weird to drive in some corners. It was just very snappy,” said the Dutchman.

Red Bull have now suffered two defeats in 26 races dating back to the last round of 2022.

Mechanics work to extinguish a fire in Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s car [Scott Barbour/AP]

Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton was also forced to retire early with a power unit problem after starting 11th on the grid following his worst Melbourne qualifying since 2010.

His teammate Russell completed a dismal day for the Silver Arrows by skidding into gravel at turn six and crashing into the barrier to wreck his car and bring out the virtual safety car.

Sergio Perez finished fifth for Red Bull, one ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, who started 10th on the grid and edged seventh-placed teammate Lance Stroll.

Alonso was later summoned to the stewards over Russell’s crash.



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Guns won’t stop goals from girl footballers in India’s violence-hit Manipur | Football

Andro, India – Smart in her neon blue jacket and bright red sneakers, Hemarani slips out of the large thatched-roof mud hut and stands squinting up at the rising sun. The sky is streaked pink over the Nongmaiching Ching hills, and the wide open field before her is still swimming in fog. Cows are grazing in the green pastures, and alongside, a group of girls in their football kit is warming up.

This is Andro, a village 26km (16 miles) southeast of Imphal, the capital of India’s northeastern state of Manipur. The hut Hemarani, 30, has just emerged from is the official clubhouse of Andro’s girls football club – AMMA FC – and she is one of the trainers.

This practice session in January is the last one for the girls before an official rest period, which lasts until April. Almost all 30 of the club’s players – aged five to 18 – have turned up. Many in the team have been preparing for their school leaving examinations, and this training session offers one last merry diversion from their books.

Quickly, the girls pair up and pick up the pace through rounds of kicks, passes, headers and speed drills. The daily, two-hour practice sessions always end with a game, Hemarani says. “The point is to play everyday.”

She gives some of the girls a few pointers about technique, divides up the teams and then lets the senior players like Chingakham Anjali Devi and Phanjoubam Ameba Devi, both of whom are currently players on Imphal’s U-17 team, take over. Twelve of AMMA FC’s present and former players currently play nationally, five internationally.

The pleasant thump of the ball against boots, calls of “pass,” “open, open” and laughter echo across the field. The younger girls shout out to their favourite players and clap from the sidelines. Hemarani lets the game extend a little over the 90-minute mark and then blows the whistle.

On a normal day, the girls take their time stretching and packing up after the game, chatting about school, movies, boys. But nothing about Manipur is normal these days. Still panting from the game, the girls leave in groups, and Hemarani instructs them to head straight home.

The team bus [Courtesy of Meena Longjam]

Against a dark background

Just hours before, in a makeshift shack not far from the AMMA FC grounds, a group of women had similarly packed up and headed home. Young and old, they had been sitting awake through the night, warmed by blankets, shawls and a fire, keeping watch over the village. For months now, they have been taking turns guarding the 10,000-strong community in Andro from potential attacks through the night.

Violence broke out in Manipur in May between the majority Hindu Meiteis and the mostly Christian Kuki-Zo people. It was triggered by plans to recognise the Meiteis as a Scheduled Tribe – a type of affirmative action that uses quotas to grant minorities  government jobs and college admissions.

The land of the hill tribes of Manipur – the Kukis, Nagas, Mizos – is protected by constitutional provisions. But similar special status for the Meiteis, who make up 60 percent of the state’s population and dominate its politics, could open up the hills too for this majority community, which is currently predominantly in the plains. Violence has raged ever since.

Among the women in the shack, tightly bound in her phanek skirt and shawl, is 65-year-old Laibi Phanjoubam, who talks about how the women pass the time. “We talk about our day, about our plans for the next day, about chores and children,” she says. “But mostly we talk about what is happening in the state, the nearby villages. It lessens our worries a bit.”

Small and shy, Laibi was the first woman from Andro to graduate from college. For the past three decades, she has been running AMMA FC, which was recognised by the All Manipur Football Association in 1999. Her club’s story was recently brought to the screen in filmmaker Meena Longjam’s documentary Andro Dreams.

The hourlong film premiered at the International Film Festival of India. It follows the club’s ups and downs, the grit of its young players, the pressure they face to get married, have children and the experiences of life in a place far removed from India’s bustling urban landscapes, where spirits and shamans still hold sway.

Laibi Phanjoubam founded the women’s cooperative AMMA in the 1990s. Her girls football team, AMMA FC, was recognised by the All Manipur Football Association in 1999 [Courtesy of Meena Longjam]

Laibi is the film’s indisputable star. We see her quietly going about her day, farming, cooking, drinking tea, cultivating silkworms and accompanying the players to their matches.

“After finishing my studies, I got involved with various kinds of social work before starting the football club,” she says in the film.

“At one time, friends and family started asking me to get married,” she adds, laughing. “‘But will I have the freedom to go about my life if I were married?’ I asked in return.” She remains steadfastly single.

AMMA FC only trains girls from Andro. “Some girls come on their own. Others are brought by their parents,” Hemarani says. “Training happens daily, even when we are not preparing for matches. Typically, we start at 5:30 in the morning.”

Players trained by AMMA FC (part of the Andro Mahila Morcha Association, or AMMA, the local women’s enterprise that Laibi founded in the 1990s) bring home big and small wins regularly.

In December, goalkeeper Sharubam Anika Devi was invited to attend a training camp in the western coastal state of Goa. In January, she joined India’s U-19 squad in Dhaka, Bangladesh, for the South Asian Football Federation’s U-19 championship.

In late January, Thingbaibam Shakhenbi Devi brought home a gold trophy playing for Manipur’s U-18 women’s football team at the 2023 Khelo India Youth Games in Chennai. This month, former AMMA player Phanjoubam Nirmala Devi is representing the Tamil Nadu-based Sethu FC in the Indian Women’s League.

Other former players, such as Salam Rinaroy Devi and Bina Devi, are also well regarded members of India’s women’s football circuit.

Many of the girls on the team attend the local TAM Mission High School in Andro and the nearby Azad Higher Secondary School in Yairipok. Besides school work and football, they have duties at home – cooking, cleaning, farming. Andro is an agrarian village inhabited by the Lois, a Dalit community on the lower rungs of the Meitei hierarchy.

Traditionally, their primary source of income has been brewing rice beer. Almost all families in the village still make and trade in homemade alcohol. This is what Andro has been known for – until its girls decided to carve out a new identity for the village.

A meeting of the AMMA committee to organise a chit fund for the football club [Courtesy of Meena Longjam]

‘All we needed was a ball’

In August, just as Longjam’s film was declared best documentary at the Jagran Film Festival in Mumbai, Manipur was teetering on the brink of civil war.

By September, clashes between the Meiteis and Kukis had killed more than 150 people and displaced nearly 60,000. By January, those numbers had swelled to 200 and 70,000.

Hundreds of houses, places of worship and vehicles have been vandalised. Civil society activists blame Manipur’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government for the violence. They accuse it of deliberately fanning the already tense relationship between the Meiteis and Kukis for political gain. The BJP, which also heads the national government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, rejects these allegations – even in the face of criticism from some of its own local legislators.

As a multiethnic society, Manipur has seen its share of clashes between communities.

The uncomfortable inclusion of the area in independent India left Manipur steeped in one of the country’s oldest secessionist movements.

One of its outcomes, the Naga-Kuki wars of the 1990s, led to widespread displacement and the loss of hundreds of lives and villages. Armed rebel groups gained strength. Soon their tyranny – marked by illegal taxation, extortion and the drug trade – became a part of the daily lives of Manipuris. As did the ferocity of the government forces’ response.

Laibi and Hemarani with the team bus in 2021 [Courtesy of Meena Longjam]

Back in the 1990s, Laibi says, she hoped that football could be a healthy distraction from all of this for the girls of Andro. She never played the game herself but knew bringing youngsters onto the field would not prove tough in this sports-obsessed state.

“There were already many clubs for boys,” she says. “We thought a club for girls would give them confidence.” Starting a football club was economical, she adds. “All we needed was a ball.”

Aside from playing the beautiful game, she meant for the club to also teach the girls discipline and keep them in school, “away from drugs and the armed rebellion”.

The state had already been declared a “disturbed area” a decade before when the Indian government imposed the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). This law grants soldiers immunity for their actions – even if civilians are killed.

In 2000, 28-year-old Manipuri activist Irom Chanu Sharmila began a 16-year-long hunger strike demanding the repeal of the AFSPA.

Then in 2004, 32-year-old Thangjam Manorama was dragged out of her home, raped, tortured and killed, allegedly by soldiers of the Assam Rifles, a paramilitary force responsible for maintaining law and order in the northeast of India. She was suspected of being a “militant”, they said later, but no official complaint had been filed against her. Because of the AFSPA, no soldier was ever charged or prosecuted, and the Assam Rifles have never accepted responsibility.

Manorama’s bullet-riddled body, found 2km (1.2 miles) from a police station, proved a boiling point. A dozen women stripped naked outside the Imphal army camp to protest. They held a banner that read, “Indian Army Rape Us.” Images of their protest shocked the nation and made headlines globally.

Protesters in 2017 in Manipur demand the repeal of the AFSPA, which grants Indian armed forces immunity from prosecution even if they kill civilians [File: Reuters]

In part, it is the deep-rooted distrust of the state that has compelled women like Laibi to now stand guard over their villages across Manipur every night despite the presence of security forces. But what could a group of unarmed women do if they did have to fend off armed mobs?

“No one is going to attack a group of women in Manipur,” Laibi says. “Here, when a group of women stands in your way, you stop and listen. That is the tradition.”

Despite her assurances, sexual violence has emerged as a recurrent weapon of conflict in this region. In July, a video of two naked Kuki women being groped and paraded by a mob went viral, even with the internet largely blocked due to a statewide shutdown implemented since May.

Outrage over the assault forced Modi to break his silence and make his first public comments about the situation in Manipur, 79 days after the most recent violence broke out.

“The video showing atrocity against women in Manipur is most shameful,” he said. “I’m pained and angered about the incident, and I assure people of the country that the guilty will not be spared and subjected to severest punishment.” But the video was the only aspect of the eight months of violence that Modi has publicly addressed.

After the release of a video showing a mob parading two women naked and assaulting them, Kuki protesters demonstrate in New Delhi on July, 22, 2023 [File: Altaf Qadri/AP]

In August, a no-confidence motion was tabled against his government by an alliance of opposition parties. They demanded Modi address the bloodshed in Manipur and remove the state government. In a two-hour speech, Modi dismissed the move as an attempt to “defame India”.

The internet restrictions left Andro cut off and without news of what was happening in the rest of the state. But it also got the AMMA FC players off their phones, much to Laibi’s relief.

Life did not return to normal even after communications were restored in December, though. “There is fear all around, and everyone is constantly vigilant,” Laibi says.

Still, being located in Imphal East away from the hotspots in the west where much of the violence has unfolded, Andro is safer than many other places in Manipur at the moment, she adds.

While anxiety about the situation has kept several players away from the field, training at AMMA FC never stopped. “The rest of the country isn’t going to take a pause because of what is happening in Manipur,” Hemarani says. “Our players still aspire to participate in the national level competitions, and those are still on.”

This year, AMMA FC beat Eastern Sporting Union (ESU), one of the oldest women’s football clubs in Manipur, to win the seven-a-side U-17 Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao tournament, a grassroots football initiative established by the Indian government. AMMA’s Phanjoubam Nirmala Devi was named best player, and Chingakham Geeta Devi was rewarded as best goalkeeper.

The match was decided by a tense penalty shootout, Hemarani says. “ESU always presents a strong front, and we had almost given up when we didn’t score.” It was AMMA’s star players, Chingakham Bimolbala, Phanjoubam Nirmala, Khanumayam Anita and Khanumayam Nirmala, who finally secured the win by not missing a single penalty shot. AMMA won 4-3 in the penalties.

Laibi with a football trophy won by AMMA FC in August [Courtesy of Meena Longjam]

Usually, the girls stay together at the AMMA FC clubhouse during tournaments. Built on an abandoned graveyard of the Kharam tribe, one of the oldest ethnic tribal groups in Manipur, it is a stone’s throw from Laibi’s house.

None of the players can afford the costs associated with commitment to a sport, so the club provides everything – jerseys, shoes, training equipment. “If we ask them to pay, they will drop out,” Laibi says. Wins like the Beti Bachao championship keep the players’ spirits up, she says, giving them the confidence to appear for competitions and take part in matches against more competitive clubs and players with far better resources.

For a while, AMMA FC received support from Tata Trusts, an Indian social welfare and philanthropic organisation. Now, unlike some other football clubs in Manipur, it does not receive funding from the state or independent donors at all. “AMMA is a hyperlocal enterprise run by village women in their 60s,” Longjam explains. “They are organised and resourceful but not savvy enough to negotiate government grants or sponsors.”

So the club runs on the money the Mahila committee raises from selling handloom woven textiles that members make – scarves, stoles, phaneks, blankets. Laibi sells them from a small shop attached to her house. She also dispatches woven wares to be sold in other parts of Manipur. Occasionally, AMMA organises “chit funds” – a money pooling system – to raise funds for the football club.

Textiles that will be sold to support the girls football club [Meena Longjam]

Besides football, AMMA also trains the girls in “soft skills”, including using computers. As a result, Laibi says proudly, several former players have gone on to land government jobs. Among those who have continued to play, some have joined professional football clubs in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Such milestones will, however, become harder to achieve the longer the unrest goes on in Manipur. The violence will restrict the players’ mobility and limit how much they can travel to tournaments. Then there is the very real risk to the players’ personal safety and the effect of the turbulence on their mental wellbeing.

It is in light of this that the All India Football Federation has been delaying the resumption of national-level club football in Manipur, which has long been one of India’s sporting powerhouses.

Last year, 43 athletes from the state represented India at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. The Indian women’s football team has always been reliant on the state. Some of the biggest names in women’s football in the country have emerged from Manipur. Even the U-17 team at the recently concluded World Cup had seven players from Manipur while the current national team has four, including captain Ashalata Devi.

Laibi at her loom [Courtesy of Meena Longjam]

Laibi’s favourite players – the legendary Oinam Bembem Devi, captain of the Indian women’s team for 21 years, and Bala Devi, India’s first female football player to be signed by an international club – also emerged from small clubs in Manipur.

One day, she hopes, AMMA FC’s players will also attain the same level of success. The bio on AMMA FC’s seldom-used Facebook page announces its ambitious plans to “take India to the FIFA World Cup 2027”.

Of all players, however, Laibi draws special inspiration from Lionel Messi. “Messi maintains his peace,” she says. This is her only pointer to the players in her club: “Play peacefully. Be respectful.”

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Who is Jack Gohlke? Oakland guard led March Madness upset vs. Kentucky

Jack Gohlke wasn’t a household name before the tipoff between Oakland and Kentucky on Thursday, but he certainly was by the time the final buzzer sounded. 

Gohlke, a senior, hit 10 3-pointers and finished the night with 32 points in Oakland’s 80-76 upset over Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, making the graduate guard an instant hero. 

“He had no conscience. We talked all week, just go shoot it baby, you’re the best,” Golden Grizzlies head coach Greg Kampe told CBS Sports after the win. “And he’s the best and he proved it to the world tonight.”

Jack Gohlke celebrates after hitting a 3-point shot during the second half of Oakland’s 80-76 upset win over Kentucky. AP

The 6-foot-3 guard, who hails from Pewaukee, Wisconsin, which is also the hometown of NFL stars J.J. and T.J. Watt, essentially willed his team to a lead after the first half when he hit seven of his 3-pointers and recorded 21 of 32 points. 

“I mean it’s just something I’ve worked so hard for my whole career, and coach just instills confidence in me,” Gohlke said. “Gives me the freedom to go out there and play. Influence the game in a positive way and I’m just having fun.” 

Gohlke’s performance and the shocking upset over one of the best college basketball programs on the sport’s biggest stage are far from where Gohlke started his college career. 

Five years ago, Gohlke redshirted his freshman year at Division II Hillsdale College. 

In total, he spent four playing seasons at the private Christian school in Hillsdale, Michigan and helped the Chargers reach the Elite Eight in the Division II tournament in 2022 — the program’s first-ever trip there — and averaged 14.2 points per game 4.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game in 2022-23. 

Gohlke shot 40 percent from 3-point range in his final season at Hillsdale. 

This year — his first since transferring to Oakland — he played a big part in helping the Golden Grizzlies to capture the Horizon League regular season and tournament championships, averaging 12.2 points and 4.1 rebounds. 

In a bio on Gohlke’s player page for the Golden Grizzlies, he lists the actor he would want to play him in a movie as Bradley Cooper. 

Jack Gohlke shoots over Antonio Reeves during Oakland’s upset win over Kentucky. Getty Images
Jack Gohlke celebrates after Oakland’s upset victory over Kentucky. AP

If Oakland can keep its run going when it faces the winner of Texas Tech-North Carolina State, Hollywood may very well come calling. 

But Gohlke wanted to make one thing clear before he left the court on Thursday. 

“We’re not a Cinderella.”

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