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Tag: Arsene Wenger

  • Wenger to lead FIFA task force on player welfare

    Wenger to lead FIFA task force on player welfare

    Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will lead a FIFA task force focused on player welfare, world soccer’s governing body has said, amid concerns that packed schedules are taking a heavy physical and mental toll on players.

    Players’ union FIFPRO, Spain’s LaLiga and the European leagues’ group filed a joint complaint to European Union antitrust regulators earlier this month, accusing FIFA of “calendar abuse.”

    Every year, and my dream was to play one day with them, never to stand here talking to you right now.

    A FIFPRO report published last month said that some players get as little as 12% of the year to rest. FIFA’s new 32-team Club World Cup and revamped international competitions are set to further increase the number of matches per season.

    Read Also:  Mid-term scorecard: More knocks than kudos for Gusau-led NFF 

    “The objective of the task force is to examine how suitable and effective safeguards for players can be implemented, also taking into account practical considerations from operational, medical, regulatory and legal perspectives,” FIFA said in a statement.

    Wenger, who has taken on the role of FIFA’s chief of global football development, said in a press release last December that there had been dramatic improvement in player welfare and it was “unrecognizable” from what it used to be.

    FIFA said its task force will make recommendations on players’ physical and mental wellbeing based on the latest scientific research.

    The task force will convene in the coming weeks, it added.

  • Messi better team player than Salah declares Wenger

    Former Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger has described Barcelona forward Lionel Messi as a complete player who though constantly desires to score but recognises when to allow others do the finishing.

    Wenger who has been out of job since quitting Arsenal last year after 22 years at the Emirates, was reacting to misunderstanding between Liverpool duo of Sadio Mane and Mohammed Salah after their 3-0 defeat of Burnley last weekend.

    Salah was involved in a spat with team-mate Sadio Mane in the Reds’ 3-0 win at Burnley, with the Senegal forward furious at his Egyptian team-mate for failing to pass the ball to him to apply a simple tap-in late on.

    Mane was substituted moments later and could not hide his anger over the incident on the touchline as he departed the field.

    Sadio Mane and Mo Salah argue during their tie against Burnley

    Wenger while describing the two feuding players as great players nonetheless criticised Salah for being too selfish in attack.

    The former AS Monaco handler said though the Egypt international has the abilities of Barcelona forward Lionel Messi, he unlike Messi, insists on doing the finishing at all times.

    ‘He [Salah] has similarities with Messi,’ Wenger told beIN Sports. ‘He must find the consistency of Messi.

    ‘I find he’s a good finisher but Messi has the complete thing, he gives the final ball as well. ‘Salah is a bit obsessed with finishing himself.

    ‘That’s a dimension he’ll get certainly, when he grows a little bit older, to find the moment when you have to give the ball and when you have to finish. ‘But I like him very much, he has huge potential. Mane as well,” he submitted

    Liverpool who have won all their premier league matches played so far in the new season will next host Newcastle in a tie they have been tipped to win to make it five wins in five matches.

  • Wenger says his football future may not be in management

    Former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger wants to return to football soon, but says he is at crossroads and is not sure if he should take up another role as manager.

    Wenger left Arsenal at the end of the 2017-18 season after 22 years in charge of the London club where he won three Premier League titles and a record seven FA Cups.

    The 69-year-old has kept himself busy as a television pundit and conference speaker since leaving the Gunners, and said in October that he had received offers to return to football from all over the world.

    “You will see me again in football. As a manager… I don’t know,” Wenger told reporters on Thursday.

    “I thought I would come back into management very quickly, but I enjoyed taking a little distance. Now I’m at a crossroads.

    “Football is still my passion. I’ll come back soon, but I cannot tell you exactly in what capacity.”

    Read Also: Arsene Wenger set to grab FIFA technical job

    The Frenchman also described the nearly 6,000-mile round trip fans would have to make from London to Baku for next week’s Europa League final as a “nightmare”.

    Arsenal face London rivals Chelsea in the Azerbaijan capital on Wednesday with victory guaranteeing Wenger’s former club a spot in the Champions League, but European soccer governing body UEFA has been roundly criticized for its choice of venue.

    “It’s a little bit of a nightmare (for supporters),” Wenger said. “The teams have no problem. They live in ideal conditions, they have their private jets.”

    Arsenal midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan will not travel with the team after the Armenian national decided to skip the final, amid concerns over his safety, due to political tensions between Azerbaijan and his native country.

    “Mkhitaryan’s situation is something that should not happen in football,” Wenger added.

    “I feel it’s not normal that in 2019 — inside Europe with very sophisticated democracies — that you cannot play for political reasons.”

    NAN

  • Wenger @ 69 admits sacrificing health for Arsenal job

     

    Arsene Wenger has revealed the pressure and scrutiny he faced in his final few years as Arsenal manager was beginning to take a toll on his health.

    The 69-year-old left his position as Arsenal’s longest serving manager at the end of last season amid growing frustration at the club’s failure to challenge the Premier League’s and Europe’s elite.

    Fans continued to protest his insistence on staying put, despite Arsenal’s regression on his watch, before he finally made the decision to resign after 22-years in charge

    Wenger has now admitted that his health definitely suffered in the final few years at the Emirates and he was relieved to finally escape.

    Speaking at an event in France, he said: ‘In life there are some splits that you choose and some that are imposed on you.

    ‘In this case it was a bit of a mix of the two. Because, at a certain point, the fans need a change. In my last year it was becoming difficult.

    ‘So it was both a break-up but also a relief for me, because carrying that responsibility for so long, with all the obligations that come with it, it wears you out.

    ‘It’s extraordinarily difficult. And last year I felt I was beginning to pay the price health-wise.

    Wenger made somewhat of a return to football on Saturday night when he was given the honour of presenting the French League Cup trophy prior to the final.

    He then watched on as Strasbourg, the place of his birth, won the the trophy for a third time by beating Guingamp 4-1 on penalties following a rather underwhelming goalless draw.

    Wenger, meanwhile, may be set for a more official return to football as head of technical development at FIFA, 10 months after leaving the Gunners.

    During his time out of management, the Frenchman has worked as a pundit for beIN Sports. He also picked up a Lifetime Achievement award at the Laureus World Sports Awards in Monaco earlier this year.

     

     

  • Arsene Wenger set to grab FIFA technical job

     

    Arsene Wenger is set to make his return to football by accepting the head of technical development role at FIFA.

    The 69-year-old stepped down as Arsenal boss last summer after 22 years in charge of the north London side and has turned down multiple offers to return to management.

    According to a report in France from Le Parisien, Wenger is set to turn down an offer to work behind the scenes at Paris Saint-Germain by taking on the developmental position with football’s governing body

    The job at FIFA would see the legendary Frenchman responsible for potential rule changes, technological innovations among other things across the game.

    While Wenger is set to return to football in a full-time capacity, he has been taking punditry roles in his spare time having worked recently for beIN Sports.

    He was also spotted chatting to fans at Kings Cross St Pancras station as he made his return to London on Wednesday.

    Wenger was in Monaco to receive the Lifetime Achievement award at the Laureus World Sports Awards.

    Speaking at the event, Wenger said: ‘When human beings at their best meet sport at its best, life becomes art.

    ‘My future is unknown – even for me. I enjoy daily life now and I have been travelling a lot recently all over the world.

    ‘I am enjoying a little bit less pressure and more freedom as well. But I miss the competition.’

    Wenger won three league titles and seven FA Cups during his long reign at the Premier League club.

  • Wenger receives Liberia’s highest honour

    Liberian President and former football star George Weah awarded ex-Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger with the country’s highest honour in a ceremony on Friday.

    The award, it was disclosed, was for services to African football that included launching Weah’s own acclaimed career.

    Wenger found Weah playing for Cameroon’s Tonnerre Yaounde and brought him to French side Monaco in 1988.

    The move paved the way for the striker at some of Europe’s top clubs, including AC Milan, Paris St Germain and Chelsea.

    In 1995 Weah was named World Footballer of the Year and won the Ballon d’Or, still the only African to win either award.

    “You proved yourself as a teacher when you revolutionised forever the approach of scouting young talents all over the planet, particularly throughout Africa,” Weah said of Wenger during a ceremony in the capital Monrovia.

    Wenger was named a Knight Grand High Commander of the Humane Order of African Redemption, the highest rank in Liberia’s Order of Distinction.

    Fellow coach Claude Le Roy, who first told Wenger about Weah’s talent, also received the award on Friday.

    Thousands of spectators clapped and cheered as Wenger received his medal in a hall at the national stadium adorned with the national red, white and blue.

    Thousands more listened to the ceremony on the radio in the stadium, once a shelter for people displaced by a civil war that ended fifteen years ago.

    Weah’s footballing successes helped launch his political career back home.

    His unlikely rise, from kicking a ball on the dusty streets of a Monrovia slum to world fame, won him support in one of the world’s poorest countries.

    Development in the West African country has been hobbled by the 14-year civil war that ended in 2003 and an Ebola outbreak which killed thousands from 2013-16.

    Read Also: Liberians divided on Arsene Wenger honour

    He succeeded Nobel Peace Prize winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as president after a landslide election victory in December last year.

    “I think Wenger deserves it. If he had not spotted ambassador Weah in those days, he would not have reached this level,” said university student Cynthia Kollie.

    Some took issue with the awards, saying the president’s choice was based on personal ties rather than on what the recipients did for the country.

    “President Weah is bestowing our nation’s highest honour on his two former football coaches who have made no direct impact or contributed to Liberia’s collective interest,” said Martin Kolle, a student.

  • In Pictures/ Arsene Wenger in Liberia

    Wenger in Liberia

    A family of Liberian Arsenal Fans

    Liberians present Arsenal baby to Wenger
    Wenger in a group picture with some Arsenal fans in Liberia
    A group of young footballers welcome Wenger in Liberia with message on a placard
    This young boy is delighted to see Wenger in Liberia
    Wenger in the midst of some officials and accosted by the media in Liberia

  • Weah to honour Wenger in Liberia Friday

    Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will on Friday receive Liberia’s highest honour for his role in the development of the football career of president George Weah.

    Another of Weah’s coaches in his formative years, Claude Le Roy, is also to be awarded the country’s highest honour, the government said on Monday.

    “They will be honoured by the government of Liberia on August 24, National Flag Day for their role in President George Weah’s footballing career,” a spokesman said.

    “Both coaches will be awarded the honour at an investiture ceremony in Monrovia.”

    It was Wenger who took Weah from Africa in 1988 to play for Ligue 1 side Monaco, where the Frenchman was manager at the time, after a tip-off from his compatriot Le Roy who first saw Weah playing in Cameroon.

    Weah went on to play for AC Milan, Paris St Germain and Chelsea. In 1995 he was named World Footballer of the Year and won the Ballon d’Or, still the only African to win either award.

    Weah’s popularity from his footballing career saw him win a landslide run-off victory last December in Liberia’s presidential elections.

  • Henry denies Pharaohs job ready for Bordeaux

    Former Arsenal great Thierry Henry has denied reports that he is in talks with Egypt with a view to taking over as coach of Pharaohs.

    An unnamed agent had reportedly dished out information to the effect that Henry who assisted Roberto Martínez as coach of Belgium at the World cup in Russia was interested in the job.

    The duo of Martinez and Henry led Belgium to a third place finish in Russia with the likes of Lukaku and his teammates posting impressive runs that won them commendations.

    Former Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger has however confirmed that Henry is rather interested in taking charge of Ligue 1 side Bordeaux.

    Bordeaux suspended Gustavo Poyet after the head coach described the decision to sell Gaetan Laborde to Montpellier as “a disgrace”.

    Henry, was linked with taking over at Championship club Aston Villa ahead of the 2018-19 season before their new owners opted to retain manager Steve Bruce.

    Arsenal’s record goalscorer also reportedly held talks with Egypt over the prospect of becoming their next head coach, according to an agent involved in the discussions, although Henry has since dismissed the claim.

    But former Arsenal boss Wenger says Henry, who has quit his role as a television pundit to focus on his managerial career, is keen on replacing Poyet at Bordeaux, who are in the Europa League’s play-off round.

    “Yes, he wants to do it, he is intelligent and he has the qualities,” Wenger said in an interview with Corse Matin.

    “The existential question that we always ask ourselves is whether we are ready to sacrifice our life for the coaching profession.

    “Being passionate is selfish work. When you are passionate, you steal your time from those whom you love and to whom you could have given much more.”

    As for his own career, Wenger has yet to decide whether he will seek another coaching post after leaving Arsenal at the end of the 2017-18 campaign.

    “I decided not to decide,” the Frenchman added. “I was intoxicated for such a long time that I promised myself not to make any decisions before September.

    “When you have been as busy as I have been, you always fear a little emptiness. But I quickly organised myself in this new stage of my life, I do a lot of sport, here I eat with my friends.

    “I talk a lot too, I can sit for hours contemplating the horizon, I read every day.”

  • Arsenal deny chief executive Gazidis resignation

    Arsenal FC of England has denied reports that its chief executive, Ivan Gazidis, has accepted an offer that would see him leave the club.

    Gazidis, who has enjoyed a stable tenure at the London club and built a cordial relationship with former coach Arsene Wenger, was reported to have decided to part ways with the club.

    He was rumoured to be heading to Italian giants AC Milan from the beginning of the 2018/2019 season.

    But according to a statement by Chips Keswick, Chairman of Arsenal Football FC, published on the club’s official website, the chief executive has no such offers.

    Read Also: Wenger regrets staying at Arsenal for 22 years

    He, however, admitted that Gazidis always receives luring offers due to his huge popularity.

    “We are aware of the speculation surrounding our chief executive Ivan Gazidis. We know he receives many offers from organisations inside and outside the game as he’s a hugely respected figure.

    “He has never accepted any of these opportunities and has never spoken about them publicly.

    “He has always been fully committed to taking Arsenal forward and is currently working hard in Singapore with new head coach Unai Emery as we prepare for the new season,” the statement said.