作者： admin

In a move that cements his enduring connection to the Catalonia region where he launched his legendary football career, eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi has completed the acquisition of UE Cornella, a fifth-tier Spanish club based in Barcelona’s suburban area. The club officially confirmed the deal in a public statement released Thursday, naming the Inter Miami forward its new majority owner.

Messi, 38, currently plies his trade for Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami in the United States, and is gearing up to lead Argentina’s defense of its World Cup title at the 2026 tournament co-hosted by the U.S., Mexico and Canada. This acquisition marks a new milestone in Messi’s long-standing bond with Catalonia, where he rose to global stardom after coming through FC Barcelona’s famed La Masia youth academy. Over 17 seasons with Barca’s first team, he cemented his legacy as the club’s all-time top goalscorer, netting 672 competitive goals before departing in 2021. The football icon has previously publicly stated his intention to return to Catalonia to reside permanently once he retires from professional play.

Founded in the Barcelona suburbs, UE Cornella has a proven track record of developing elite football talent, with notable alumni including Arsenal’s first-choice goalkeeper David Raya and Jordi Alba, who won multiple trophies alongside Messi during their time together at FC Barcelona. In recent seasons, however, the club has faced on-field struggles, suffering consecutive relegations over the past two years that pushed it down to the fifth tier of Spanish football.

In its statement confirming the takeover, the club framed Messi’s arrival as the start of a transformative new era. “Leo Messi’s arrival marks the beginning of a new chapter in the club’s history, aimed at driving both sporting and institutional growth, strengthening its foundations, and continuing to invest in talent,” the statement read. The club added that the new project under Messi’s leadership is built on a long-term strategic vision that balances competitive ambition, financial sustainability, and an unwavering commitment to the club’s local community roots. This aligns with the core mission of nurturing emerging homegrown talent, a mission that has defined Cornella’s identity for decades.

The acquisition comes just two months after another of football’s all-time greats, Messi’s long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo, purchased a 25% stake in UD Almeria, a Spanish second-tier club based in the country’s southern Andalusia region, marking a recent trend of legendary active players investing in lower-tier Spanish sides ahead of their retirement from playing. For Messi, the move is more than a business investment: it is a public reaffirmation of his commitment to Catalonia and the development of grassroots football that gave him his start in the sport.

In a significant development out of Kingston, Jamaica, prominent sports attorney Dr. Emir Crowne has raised critical questions about the procedural integrity of a recent ruling from World Athletics, which rejected national allegiance transfer requests from 11 athletes—four of whom are Jamaican—looking to represent Turkey in future international competition.

The Jamaican contingent at the center of the dispute includes three decorated Olympic medalists: Roje Stona, Wayne Pinnock, and Rajindra Campbell, alongside Jaydon Hibbert, the current world under-20 triple jump record holder. All four were part of the larger cohort that had applied to switch their athletic citizenship to the European nation.

World Athletics announced its ruling Thursday, confirming that its independent Nationality Review Panel unanimously rejected all 11 applications. In a formal statement, the governing body explained the panel determined approving the transfers would undermine core principles laid out in its eligibility rules and allegiance transfer regulations. The panel further alleged the applications were part of a systematic, state-coordinated recruitment drive orchestrated by the Turkish government via a state-owned and fully state-funded club. According to the panel’s findings, the club offered substantial, high-value contracts to recruit foreign athletes specifically to complete allegiance transfers and qualify them to compete for Turkey at major upcoming events, most notably the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

Speaking exclusively to Jamaica’s Observer Online, Crowne, one of the region’s most respected sports law experts, labeled the ruling a “very interesting development” and centered his critique on the panel’s process rather than the underlying policy itself. The core of Crowne’s concern centers on whether the panel evaluated each athlete’s application on its own individual merits, or whether the 11 cases were improperly grouped together for a single, collective decision.

“It does raise a question as to whether the 11 athletes were unfairly grouped together, as opposed to it being an individualised assessment of the merits of each transfer,” Crowne explained.

Beyond the grouping concern, Crowne also highlighted what he describes as a structural irregularity in the appeal process for athletes seeking to reverse the decision. He noted that any appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) first requires athletes to file a formal request for reconsideration with the same original Nationality Review Panel that rejected their applications. Crowne characterized this mandatory pre-appeal step as effectively requiring athletes to plead for a reversal from the very body that already ruled against them before they can access an independent, external arbitration panel.

“Seems to me that that in itself is slightly irregular,” he added.

The ruling has already sparked broader debate within global track and field about the balance between governing body regulations designed to prevent opportunistic nationality switching and the individual career rights of elite athletes. For the four Jamaican athletes involved, the decision puts their plans to compete for Turkey in upcoming international competitions on indefinite hold as they weigh their legal options for appeal.

In a landmark decision published Thursday, the World Athletics Nationality Review Panel has blocked 13 elite athletes, including four of Jamaica’s top track and field stars, from switching their international sporting allegiance to compete for Turkey. Among the Jamaican applicants was Roje Stona, the newly crowned 2024 Paris Olympic men’s discus gold medalist, alongside shot putter Rajindra Campbell, triple jumper Jaydon Hibbert and long jumper Wayne Pinnock – all core contributors to Jamaica’s rising field athletics program. The rejected applications also included six athletes from African nations – Nigeria’s Favour Ofili, four Kenyan runners including marathon legend Brigid Kosgei, Catherine Relin Amanang’ole, Brian Kibor, Ronald Kwemoi, Nelvin Jepkemboi – and one Russian athlete, Sophia Yakushina.

The panel’s ruling centered on a key finding: the batch of applications was not made up of individual requests, but rather part of a coordinated, state-backed recruitment strategy led by Turkey through a state-funded sports club. According to the panel’s statement, the program offered extremely lucrative financial contracts to elite athletes to secure their citizenship and eligibility to compete for Turkey at major international competitions, including the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

After reviewing all applications collectively due to their shared characteristics, the panel determined that this systematic recruitment approach directly conflicts with the foundational core principles of international track and field. These principles exist to protect the credibility of global competition, incentivize national member federations to invest in nurturing domestic young talent, and preserve athlete confidence that national teams are built through development, not large-scale poaching of established talent from other countries.

“These applications, if approved, would fundamentally undermine the purpose of World Athletics’ eligibility and transfer of allegiance rules,” the panel said in its official announcement. The ruling means none of the 13 athletes will be permitted to represent Turkey in international competitions or national team events. The decision does not restrict the athletes from competing in lower-stakes competitions such as one-day track meets or road races as individual or club entrants, nor does it bar them from continuing to live and train in Turkey.

World Athletics’ transfer regulations set clear criteria for athletes seeking to change the nation they represent at the international level. While holding legal citizenship of the new country is a basic requirement, additional rules are in place to verify a genuine, ongoing connection between the athlete and their new nation, and to protect the global integrity and long-term development of the sport. The independent Nationality Review Panel is tasked with evaluating all allegiance transfer applications in line with these binding regulations.

Prior to the ruling, reports confirmed the Jamaican quartet had already completed Turkish citizenship documentation, drawn by the promise of substantial financial compensation ahead of 2025. The planned departure of the four stars was widely seen as a major setback for Jamaica’s athletics program, particularly for its fast-improving field event sector, which the athletes have helped raise to global prominence. Following news of the athletes’ planned switch, the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) formally called on World Athletics to investigate and intervene, setting the stage for Thursday’s final decision.

As the United States prepares to co-host the men’s FIFA World Cup this summer, a controversial new controversy has erupted over planned surge pricing for public transit trips to tournament match venues, drawing sharp condemnation from international football fan groups, top elected officials, and long-time tournament attendees. Multiple media reports have revealed that two major public transit agencies are considering dramatic price increases that would push round-trip fares far above their standard event-day rates, leaving many traveling supporters facing hundreds of dollars in unexpected travel costs just to reach stadiums.

According to a recent report from sports outlet The Athletic, New Jersey Transit (NJT) has drafted plans to charge passengers more than $100 for a single round-trip ticket between Manhattan’s Penn Station and MetLife Stadium, the New Jersey venue set to host eight World Cup matches. For context, the same journey typically costs just $12.90 round-trip on non-event days, and even for major regular events at the stadium, fares remain far lower than the proposed World Cup rate. Separately, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has publicly confirmed it will charge $80 for round-trip tickets between Boston and Gillette Stadium, where multiple group-stage matches will be held – a four-fold jump from the agency’s standard $20 event-day fare.

International fan groups have been among the loudest critics of the proposed hikes, arguing that the price increases price out ordinary working-class supporters in favor of wealthy attendees. Guillaume Aupretre, a spokesperson for the largest French supporters’ association, told Agence France-Presse that the pricing structure runs counter to longstanding World Cup norms. “It’s a disgrace. In recent tournaments, transportation was either included in the ticket price or offered at a heavily discounted rate for ticket holders,” Aupretre said. “They keep piling on the extra costs without giving any thought to the fans.” He added that the policy amounts to FIFA shutting out the sport’s most loyal supporters to cater exclusively to wealthier fans. France is scheduled to play all three of its Group I matches at the Boston and New Jersey venues, meaning French fans will face the full brunt of the inflated fares.

UK fan group Free Lions, which represents traveling England supporters, also voiced anger over the pricing in a social media post, writing: “Another day, another rip off at this World Cup. What on earth is going on?” England also will play its group-stage matches at the same two venues, leaving its traveling fan base facing the same steep costs.

The transit pricing controversy comes as FIFA already faces widespread backlash over exorbitant match ticket prices for the 2026 tournament, which is being co-hosted by the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. FIFA, the global governing body for football, has not yet responded to AFP’s request for comment on the transit fare dispute.

Top American political leaders have stepped into the controversy, calling on FIFA to cover all public transit costs for the tournament, pointing to the massive $11 billion in projected revenue that FIFA is expected to earn from the 2026 event. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, publicly demanded that the governing body take responsibility for the costs in a social media statement Tuesday. “The least FIFA can do is ensure New York residents can go to the stadium without being gouged at the turnstile,” Schumer wrote. “I am demanding FIFA step up and cover transportation costs for host cities and states.”

New York Governor Kathy Hochul also criticized the proposed hikes, writing on social platform X that “Charging over $100 for a short train ride sounds awfully high to me.”

NJ Transit has pushed back slightly on the reports, with a spokesperson telling The Athletic that no final decision has been made on World Cup-specific pricing, describing the leaked $100 fare figures as “unconfirmed speculation.” The agency did not respond directly to AFP’s request for comment. The Athletic also reported that hosting eight matches in New Jersey is expected to cost the transit agency roughly $48 million overall, with most of that cost tied to expanded security requirements for the tournament.

Not all host cities are moving ahead with price hikes, however. Federal authorities have already allocated $100 million in total federal funding to cover transit-related costs for host cities across the country, including $8.7 million for the Boston and Massachusetts region, $10.4 million for the New York-New Jersey metro area, and $9.6 million for Los Angeles. Los Angeles’ transit agency has already committed to keeping standard fares in place for World Cup match days: a round-trip from downtown Los Angeles to SoFi Stadium will remain just $3.50, the same as it is on any other day.