Football Shorts: The Pope-approved edition

Goalkeeper Arrested As Part Of Murder Investigation

San Lorenzo’s Argentine goalkeeper Pablo Migliore was arrested and charged as part of an investigation into a murder cover-up last weekend immediately after their game against Newell’s Old Boys in the Argentine Premier League. San Lorenzo club president Matias Lammens explained how police arrested Migliore after Sunday’s match.

“The search warrant arrived during half time and of course with a court order from a judge we are not going to deny their entry. They came in and when the game finished they communicated with the player.”

Pablo has been accused of making contact with notorious Boca Juniors hooligan Max Mazzaro, who is currently wanted for murder and hasn’t been caught by Argentine police. The ‘keeper started his career with Boca before moving to San Lorenzo and police claim they have proof the two have been in contact. Pablo’s lawyer said in a statement:

“He isn’t allowed to communicate with us. For now he is isn’t going to make a statement. Since the investigation has a nondisclosure order we have to wait until that is lifted. Equally, the crime he is charged with allows for his release, so today (last Monday) we will ask for that.”

Vladimir Romanov Is Skint

Hearts owner and website favourite Mad Vlad has admitted he has lost every penny he had after the collapse of his Lithuanian bank, UKIO Bankas. UKIO went into administration after the bank ran up debts of over £380 million. Vladimir told the BBC:

“All of our savings, all our companies, all of our activities were all in the bank. We have lost it.”

As a result, he announced plans to hand over control of the club’s ownership to the fans after withdrawing financial support last season after claiming he spent over £60 million of his own money on the club over the last nine years:

“We have a plan to sell 51 per cent of the club to the fans. Maybe it won’t happen straight away, but we would like to realise it. I don’t care about the price. It will be up to the administration of the club to calculate the share price. Before, the club always had losses but now they are making a tiny profit and now it does not require an injection of money.”

Romanov’s rants have been missed in Scottish football since he basically became a sleeping owner, and I’ll miss him when he eventually does disappear entirely from Hearts.

Italy Invite Argentina For A Friendly…

Because of the Pope.

The Italians have invited Pope Francis’ country of birth to play a friendly match in Rome to celebrate his appointment. The head of the Catholic Church is said to love football and owns shares in San Lorenzo. Italy were already in negotiations to play Argentina in a neutral country on August 14th, but instead they have invited the Argies to play in Rome according to a FIGC statement:

The date Wednesday August 14 is set aside in the FIFA calendar for internationals and we had already been in negotiations for some time with the Argentine Federation to plan a friendly on neutral turf in Switzerland or Belgium. Today the FIGC instead proposed Rome as the host city, sending a letter to the general secretary of the Argentine Federation Miguel Silva. Alternatively, the Italian Nazionale will use the August 14 date to play a friendly against a different opponent.”

Brazilian Defender Banned For Six Games For Goal Line Clearance

Bangu’s defender Celsinho had been receiving treatment for cramp behind the goal when goalkeeper Getulio Vargas tried to dribble his way out of defence. He lost the ball to an opponent in the match against Duque de Caxias. Duque forward Charles Chad was left with an empty goal to aim at but Celsinho leapt up, rushed on to the field from seemingly nowhere and cleared the ball with a magnificent diving header.

A Rio de Janeiro sporting tribunal found him guilty of unsporting play and unethical behaviour as well as entering the field without permission and banned him for six games.

Sexual Bribes For Match-Fixing In Singapore

Three Lebanese soccer officials have been accused of receiving sexual bribes in return for fixing a match in Singapore. Referee Ali Sabbagh and assistants Abdallah Taleb and Ali Eid were arrested by Singapore’s Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau hours before taking charge of an AFC Cup game between local side Tampines Rovers and East Bengal of India.

They were due to appear in front of a Singapore judge on Friday, but the hearing was postponed after Eid was taken into hospital during the week, and the case is expected to be heard today or tomorrow.

Russian Clubs To Pay Levy For Foreign Coaches

The Russian Football Union have introduced the rule to support youth soccer in Russia. The new rule will also apply to coaches with dual citizenship. The RFU said:

“Starting from June 1, any Premier League club whose head coach is not a Russian citizen must pay a one-time fee of five million roubles. First division clubs will pay 2.5 million roubles.”

At the moment, nine of the 16 Russian Premier League clubs have foreign coaches, and even the national team are led by a foreign coach (Fabio Capello). The move has been met with some criticism from FK Krasnodar billionaire owner Sergei Galitsky, who took to Twitter to blast it:

“Pure communists. They think Russian clubs make too much money so they think what else they can do to rob us. Call it the ‘Gershkovich salary’ (Mikhail Gershkovich heads the Russian coaches’ union and came up with the idea), but our club will not pay him anything.”