₦airaland Forum

sirblend:
Let us see the bleeding fingers or you are lying...

Lionel Messi has emerged as the most marketable athlete in the world, surpassing basketball icon LeBron James, according to the latest rankings from SportsPro's 50 Most Marketable (50MM) list, reported by GOAL. Michael Long, editorial director at SportsPro, shared insights on Messi's rise to the top during an episode of the Footballco Business Podcast. “It's a really interesting dynamic to see Messi in America. A match made in marketing heaven.”

With Messi leading the pack and an impressive 22 footballers making the cut, Long discussed the factors that contributed to Messi's dominance in the rankings. He highlighted the unique blend of sports and entertainment culture present in football, particularly in leagues like Major League Soccer (MLS), where Messi now plies his trade with Inter Miami.

Long emphasized the significance of Messi's transition to MLS, noting that it places him in a new realm where he intersects with cultural icons from various spheres, including sports and entertainment. This shift, Long suggests, could potentially elevate Messi to the status of a commercial powerhouse akin to legendary footballer David Beckham.

However, Messi's position at the top of the 50MM list is not solely attributed to his on-field performances or celebrity status. Long pointed out that Messi's active involvement in charitable causes and support for social and environmental initiatives played a crucial role in enhancing his marketability.


The top ten Most Marketable Athletes:

1. Lionel Messi
2. LeBron James
3. Alex Morgan
4. Giannis Antetokounmpo
5. Megan Rapinoe
6. Mikaela Shiffrin
7. Lewis Hamilton
8. Simone Biles
9. Kylian Mbappe
10. Max Verstappen

The new expanded Champions League format is so complex that the draw will be made by computer, after Uefa found it would take up to four hours without digital assistance.

A 36-team competition comes into effect next season, with results from eight rounds of fixtures in the league phase – each team will face eight opponents, four at home, four away – forming a table. From there, the top eight teams go through to the round of 16, while 16 more play off to complete the knockout lineup. It is a system the governing body believes will deliver more big games and greater jeopardy than the current Champions League format, but explaining its intricacies may prove a challenge.

One example is in the initial league phase draw. Each team will be entered into one of four pots based on their Uefa ranking, as is the case in the existing format.

In a change from the current system, however, a team will face opponents from their own pot, one team at home and another away. They will also face two opponents from each of the other pots. With further details to consider, such as clubs from the same country being prevented from facing each other, the group stage draw becomes more and more complicated.

After trials showed the manual draw would take anywhere between three and four hours, roughly the same length as the Oscars, Uefa has decided that only the selection of an initial team from pot one will conducted manually. A computer programmed by a company in Hertfordshire will then choose that team’s opponents and whether they will be faced home or away. Uefa insists the process will be secure, and that it will be audited by the accountancy firm Ernst and Young to ensure the draws – which will be broadcast – are fair.

There will also be new developments later in the draw, with tennis-style seeding added to the knockout stages. The first eight through to the knockout stages will be seeded according to their league phase position, meaning the top two sides, as in a tennis Open, would not be able to face each other until the final. Clubs will be able to plot their route to the final once the last-16 draw, which is held before the playoffs, has been made.

There will be changes to the football calendar too, with each of Uefa’s three club competitions – the Europa League and Europa Conference League are also adopting a single league phase system – having one match week where only their fixtures take place. Giorgio Marchetti, Uefa’s deputy secretary, said the format would be “the most revolutionary, or evolutionary, change in 30 years”.

With this season’s competitions yet to reach the quarter-final stages, Uefa has got on the front foot in attempting to explain its new format. It has a lot riding on its success, with turbulence ongoing within European club football.

The new format has been under discussion since 2018 and was agreed upon by the Uefa executive weeks before the European Super League attempted its abortive launch.

The format will remain under intense scrutiny as owners and fans appraise its worth, with the Super League project still hoping to get off the ground and other potential challengers in prospect after a legal ruling that prevented Uefa from shutting down new competitions without good reason.

Uefa says it will share €1.2bn (£1bn) in solidarity payments each year from its club competitions to teams that are not participating and to other competitions across Europe. It also points to an expansion in the number of clubs able to compete in Europe, up from 96 to 108.

Under one, highly unlikely, scenario as many as 11 English clubs could qualify for Europe. The prospect of the Premier League gaining a fifth Champions League spot next season would be enhanced this week if West Ham knock out Freiburg, raising England’s Uefa ranking in the process.

Bentonite1:
Ordinary Ukraine, lol this should have been a week war or a month, it's already 2 years, poor Ukraine against the so called 3rd best army in the world hahaha shameful. just hibernate in shame.

Bentonite1:
ordinary Ukraine is using drones to hit Moscow, you will now ask where's their overrated air defence haha ordinary drop man

orazx:
You all come here to roast USA and support Russia but when asked which of the two countries would you like to get a Permanent Visa you all pick USA.
Stop kidding yourself ok, USA is Friendly while Russia is full of racists.
You all claim Russia is rich and all, show me one black man that become a Billionaire in Russia and I will show you a Dog with ten legs

JooEeL:
This Almiron of a guy is doing a tremendous job in Messi PR.

How a single guy barraged through this site once full of CR7 fanatics and won the media war against them is seriously impressive. Messi winning late country titles tilted the media war significantly though.

That said, Hamas and other terrorists should pls steer clear of our Messi pls. We all do not stand on terrorism.

The story behind the Jewish grandma with a Hamas soldier has Lionel Messi's name written all over it.

Lionel Messi's name saved Jewish Argentinian grandma from Hamas abductors.

An image of an elderly woman holding a large gun and a Hamas soldier greeting the camera went viral months ago. People imagined she was from Israel but it turns out she is from Argentina. Her name is Ester Cunio and she tells the story of how naming Lionel Messi saved her life from potential death by Hamas. Cunio spoke to Fuente Latina about the famous picture ad asked Messi for help to rescue her two grandsons.


She says: "I told him not to talk to me because I didn't understand his language. The Arab language, and I speak poor Hebrew. I speak Argentinean Spanish, so he asks what Argentina is. Then I tell him, 'do you watch football?' He said he liked it and I told him I am from Messi's country. He was surprised and told me he loves Messi. He put his arm on my shoulder, gave me his gun, he made me do the peace sign and they snapped the picture. Now I hope that if Messi watches this and sees I was saved because of him, I would ask him to help my grandchildren who are still abducted. They are good kids. Their names are David and Ariel."

ThierryJay:
Messi the GOAT. Always assisting on and off the pitch.

Btw, this is greatest assist yet by Messi. Pendu no fit level up.

cc: Almiron pls repackage for FP bro.

Jeje247:
I can understand his modesty but I rate ancelotti, mourinho and klopp ahead of guardiola.

Ancelotti because he has been successful almost everywhere
Mourinho and klopp because they have been able to work on scraps and produce gold.
Guardiola has a system but if he were to coach some of the teams these other managers have managed, he would begging for his job. He's at the level of Zidane

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp paid a glowing tribute to Manchester City counterpart Pep Guardiola ahead of what could be the pair’s final meeting, anointing him the best manager he has ever seen.

The pair have shared many memorable battles over the past decade, first in the Bundesliga and then at the vanguard of the Premier League, and face one last top-of-the-table clash at Anfield.

With Klopp leaving Merseyside at the end of the season, only the possibility of a meeting in the latter stages of the FA Cup could now add another chapter, leaving the German to reflect on their long battle for supremacy.

While Liverpool have a slender one-point lead going into the match and Klopp boasts a marginally superior head-to-head record in their 29 contests together, with 12 wins versus 11, he happily places the former Barcelona man as peerless in the modern game.

“Pep is the best manager in the world. I have a really good life being not even close to that,” he said.

“I don’t know how could I judge managers from the past but in my lifetime he’s the outstanding manager. I see excellence when I face it and Pep is definitely that.

“I was never frustrated, I knew round about 3,000 footballers who were better than me and I still loved the game; the others who were better than me, I didn’t know them.

“I just got told I have a positive record against Pep… I have no clue how that happened to be honest.

“It made me a better manager trying to find solutions. I know I’m quite good at what I’m doing as well, I don’t want to sound like, ‘Oh my God, I’m just happy to be here’, but you ask me about the best: he’s the best. Bam.”

While lavish with his praise for Guardiola, Klopp did take issue with any negative characterisation of the duo’s relationship, insisting they were bound by similarities rather than differences.

“I don’t feel it’s a rivalry, but I understand why you call it that” he said.

“There’s no rivalry. We are both really competitive, we both want to win football games and we are both blessed with really good players in our teams.

“If we meet in the future it will be full of respect. We have not had the opportunity to meet each other more often, but we would have a lot to talk about. Definitely.

“On Sunday it’s not about me having that opportunity (to beat him) for the last time – it’s not sure anyway, maybe in the FA Cup we could meet again. It’s a big game. City games always were, always will be probably.”

Klopp rejected the notion that the match was effectively a title decider, with 10 more games still to play and Arsenal also firmly in the trophy hunt, but could not hide its significance.

“I don’t know who is playing on the weekend in the other leagues but it’s probably the game of the weekend and being able to be part of that is massive.

“Title race decider? I don’t know who thought that up. It’s really early, we could go through all the possible scenarios.

“Whatever the result, I don’t think anybody should open the bottles of champagne.”

Liverpool have a major doubt over defender Ibrahima Konate after he came off injured in the second half of Thursday’s 5-1 Europa League win at Sparta Prague, meaning Jarell Quansah could get the biggest start of his career alongside Virgil van Dijk.

Klopp could also welcome Mohammed Salah back to his starting XI, with the Egypt forward making a timely return from the bench in midweek.

arantess:
Man city should brace up for ban.....they can't escape 115 count charges brought against them.....

Manchester City striker Erling Braut Haaland has fired back at recent comments from Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold, sparking a war of words ahead of their highly anticipated Premier League clash this Sunday.

Alexander-Arnold had suggested that Liverpool’s trophy collection meant more because of City’s spending.

“Looking back on this era, although they’ve won more titles than us and have probably been more successful, our trophies will mean more to us and our fanbase because of the situations at both clubs, financially,” Alexander-Arnold said in an interview with FourFourTwo (via MEN).

“How both clubs have built their teams and the manner in which we’ve done it probably means more to our fans,” he continued.

However, Haaland rejected the England international’s remark.

Haaland said (via Sky Sports): “If he wants to say that, okay. I have been here one year, and I’ve won the treble, and it was quite a nice feeling. I don’t think he knows exactly this feeling.

Liverpool can talk as much as they want, or Trent Alexander-Arnold can talk as much as he wants. I don’t know why he does that, but I don’t mind.”

Haaland’s comments come three days away from their blockbuster clash this Sunday. This clash of the titans will be pivotal in deciding who will hoist the Premier League trophy in May.

Liverpool lead the way in the standings (63 points) but are wary of a Man City side (62 points) that have begun to build the kind of vicious momentum that has driven them to three successive league titles.

The Cityzens want a record fourth consecutive title but must contend with a resurgent Liverpool side desperate to give charismatic manager Jurgen Klopp the perfect send-off this summer.

Sunday’s clash is a must-watch, and this public spat between Haaland and Alexander-Arnold only adds to the intensity of the affair.

Gbogbowa:
If he did not say this EUFA will not give him world best reward you have to romance EUFA Ego to get what you want

theamazonguru:
Lol.
We had Abedi Pelre
We had Maradona
We had David Becham
We had Ronaldo Delima
Now we have C Ronaldo and Messi, yet you think in a massive 1,000 we won't see someone or people greater than Messi.

Forget it.

The world is yet to see the best of the best that football has to offer us.

5years is too long to see such a person.
Watch out.

suxy:
Oga u sure say na d same video wey I watch naim u interpret so??
Haaland no give any straight answer oooo

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has named Lionel Messi as the greatest footballer, agreeing that he needs to retire before any other player stands a chance of claiming that accolade.

The Argentine great beat the Norwegian striker to win an eighth Ballon d'Or in 2023 despite the Manchester City ace's success. Haaland was tipped by many to emerge as the winner of the 2023 Ballon d'Or and FIFA The Best Men's Player of the Year after his impressive season.

The 23-year-old had an all-time debut season with Manchester City, scoring 52 goals in 53 appearances as the Cityzens won the treble

The Norwegian striker was speaking with the media ahead of his side taking on FC Copenhagen in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 second leg. He revealed that he considers the Inter Miami captain to be the greatest ever, and thinks that he has to retire for anyone else to be the best.

"Lionel Messi is the best player that has ever played football. Maybe he has to retire for someone else to be regarded as the best," he said (via Barca Universal).

The striker has enjoyed a hugely successful career since emerging as one of the world's finest talents in Austria. He has since grown in leaps and bounds to become the world's apex marksman but remains hungry for success.

When questioned about losing the Ballon d'Or to Lionel Messi in 2023, the Norwegian striker revealed that he wants to attain a great level of consistency. He told reporter Ian Cheeseman that even as he had won everything last season at 22, he wants to repeat the feat this season again.

"I’ve won it all but I’m only 23, so I want to win it all again," Haaland said.


Argentina star Messi is part of a select group of players to have won the treble twice in their careers, and Haaland is aiming to join that group.

Beverlyjean:
Hallelujah.... the man of the people ... the 45th and soon to be the 47th president of the United state .... what a unique personality.... the corrupt Democrats can start getting ready to pack out with their LGBTA crap