Paris – Marseille are no longer at risk of being kicked out of European competition but will have to play their next Europa League game behind closed doors, UEFA said on Monday.
The French giants had appealed to European football’s governing body against a threatened ban from competing in continental competition that was handed down in July.
The ban, suspended for two years, was related to numerous crowd incidents in last season’s Europa League in games against RB Leipzig and Salzburg as well as in the final against Atletico Madrid in Lyon.
But instead of that they will now have to play their first home game of this season’s Europa League group stage, against Eintracht Frankfurt on September 20, in an empty Stade Velodrome.
The threat of having to play a second home game behind closed doors will hang over them for a two-year probationary period, although Marseille will also have to shut the stands at both ends of their ground for their other two Europa League group games, against Lazio and Apollon Limassol of Cyprus.
Marseille, who lost last season’s final 3-0 to Atletico, were sanctioned for crowd disturbances, acts of damage, setting off of fireworks, and the throwing of objects in last season’s European campaign, said UEFA.
In addition to the stadium ban, a fine of 100,000 euros ($116,041) has been maintained, and Marseille have also been ordered to foot the bill for damage caused by their supporters at Lyon’s stadium during the final.
CLEVELAND — So this was … what, exactly, for the Cleveland Browns? A 21-21 comeback tie against their perennial tormenters from Pittsburgh. A better result, objectively, than any they’ve had since Christmas Eve 2016. How many teams came out of Week 1 assured of a better record than they had last year? Just one, folks. Your Cleveland Browns.
“This is nothing to be excited about,” said Browns receiver Josh Gordon, whose only catch of the day was a game-tying 17-yard touchdown with 1 minute, 58 seconds left in regulation. “We’re not celebrating this. We’re here to win games. It’s the equivalent of a loss, to me.”
But for a while, at least, it had the feel of something more. For one tantalizing hour, after Steelers running back James Conner fumbled with a 21-7 lead and the Browns came racing back with a pair of touchdowns to send the thing into overtime, this felt as if it could be something special. The thing for which these fans have been waiting for nearly 21 months. A win.
Every single turn that went the Browns’ way made the stadium pulse. When Pittsburgh kicker Chris Boswell missed a 42-yard field goal attempt with 1:47 left in overtime, the crowd roared to life. When their heroes went three-and-out right after, it groaned a familiar groan. When Genard Avery sacked Ben Roethlisberger to force a fumble and Joe Schobert recovered it and ran it back to the Steelers’ 14-yard-line — the sixth Steelers turnover of the game! — you’d have thought they won the Super Bowl.
Browns fans had mixed feelings after breaking their losing streak but watching the win slip away. Joe Robbins/Getty Images
This was unquestionably it, right? They had 36 seconds on the clock in field goal range, and a win doesn’t get any closer than that. Players jumped and danced on the sideline. Fans held their heads in disbelief. The elusive victory was in sight.
But it was not to be. First, a penalty pushed the start of the drive to the 24-yard line. Then a run that lost a yard, a spike to stop the clock and the field goal team on the field as northern Ohio held its breath and … T.J. Watt blocked the kick.
The air went out of the place, as you’d expect, but half-disappointment is an odd vibe in a stadium used to total disappointment. Fans cheered the players as they jogged off the field into the locker room, and it surely had been an effort worthy of praise. But still … weird.
“A tie,” quarterback Tyrod Taylor said, “is just a sour taste.”
It’s tough to know how to feel after a tie. The Steelers, who are used to beating this team twice a year with relative ease, absolutely felt as if they’d lost. They have the highest of hopes for this season, and they fully expected to be 1-0 after this game and not 0-0-1.
The Browns, who went 1-15 over the past two seasons and 0-16 last season, unquestionably have a different standard. They’re working on changing that.
“I think the guys can see that we’re an improved football team,” Browns coach Hue Jackson said. “But there are some areas that we have to clean up and clean up fast.”
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Hue Jackson discusses the Browns’ missed field goal in overtime and can’t wait to see the tape.
So how do you look at this, Cleveland? Do you take the glass-half-full approach? Your team forced a total of 13 turnovers all of last season and already has six for this season. That’s downright encouraging, right?
“Just got to put it all together,” safety Jabrill Peppers said, shaking his head and smiling.
Or do you take the glass-half-empty perspective, lament your missed opportunities, wonder why the offense looked so lousy and bemoan the depressing fact that your team and only your team could end a 17-game losing streak without winning?
“It’s not last year,” Peppers insisted. “It’s just a whole new feeling, that’s all I can say about it. We’ve got 31 new guys on this squad. A lot more veterans and guys who’ve come from places where they’ve proven themselves.
“0-16 shouldn’t make you hungry to win. You should always be hungry to win. We accept the 0-16. We take it on the chin. But that was last year, and it’s a whole new feeling around here now. We showed good things today. Just got to put it all together.”
Will they? Will it actually be different this time? The Browns came out of last year’s Week 1 loss to Pittsburgh feeling decent about themselves — that they’d played the Steelers tough and had a chance to beat them, and they haven’t won a game since. So you can forgive the Lake Erie pessimist if he or she doesn’t want to see Sunday’s rain-soaked tie as a sign of sunnier days to come.
But the Browns are working on it, they promise. And whatever you want to say about Sunday — however you choose to feel about a tie — it is, for this team, quite literally an improvement.
Lausanne – Europe’s leading clubs are in ruder financial health than ever before, according to a study published on Sunday by UEFA, which indicates that top-division football on the continent has become profitable for the first time on record.
In 2017, European clubs reported a combined total of €600 million in profits after transfers were taken into account, said the study, seen by AFP, into the impact of financial fair play (FFP) rules.
The figure compares to losses of €1.7 billion in 2011, the year in which European football’s governing body introduced FFP. Even in 2016, European clubs lost a combined €300 million.
The figures are taken from a compilation of the financial results of some 718 top-division clubs across 54 leagues in Europe.
“This clearly demonstrates that financial fair play works,” insisted UEFA’s Slovenian president Aleksander Ceferin.
FFP was brought in to ensure that clubs competing in European competitions do not spend more than they earn, or post losses of more than 30 million euros over three seasons.
Any club violating these rules can face sanctions from UEFA, with punishments including bans from European competitions or bans from signing players.
Among the clubs to have come under scrutiny from UEFA for possible breaches of FFP are French champions Paris Saint-Germain and seven-time European Cup winners AC Milan.
But clubs have also been helped by the fact that incomes are greater than ever before — total top-flight club revenue in 2017 reached a record €20.1 billion, up €1.6 billion on the previous year.
These revenues have multiplied by seven since 1996, largely thanks to huge increases in television deals.
Accordingly, the study shows that spending on transfers has risen enormously among European clubs, with 95 percent more being committed last year compared with 2014.
However, the study also shows that, for the fourth time in five years, revenues increased at a faster rate than wages.
“This success, this new stability is a result of the work done by UEFA and its member associations in introducing licensing systems including cost control mechanisms which have yielded much improved financial discipline,” added Ceferin.
“Financial fair play has provided the platform for clubs to control their costs and pay their debts,” he went on, saying that UEFA will continue to look to “strengthen regulations further”.
METAIRIE, La. — The New Orleans Saints promoted running back Jonathan Williams to their active roster and released veteran offensive lineman Jermon Bushrod on Saturday as they continued a weeklong roster shuffle at both positions.
Whether they’re inciting a feud or just gasps from the crowd, when this Buccaneers receiver and Saints cornerback clash, it’s worth watching.
It’s unclear if there is any chance that Bushrod could come back at some point. He was jockeying for a roster position in an offensive line group that became even more crowded earlier this week, when the Saints re-signed veterans Josh LeRibeus and Michael Ola.
Bushrod then missed practice on Thursday and Friday for an unspecified non-injury reason.
Bushrod, 34, was the starting left tackle on the Saints’ 2009 Super Bowl-winning team after they drafted him in the fourth round out of Towson in 2007. He then went on to play for the Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins. He has started a total of 122 regular-season games and seven playoff games at both tackle and guard during his 11-year career.
The Saints brought Bushrod back in March to compete for a role as a “swing” backup at both positions.
Williams, meanwhile, is now back on the Saints’ roster after he was one of their most surprising cuts last Saturday. The third-year pro, who spent the week practicing with the team as a member of the practice squad, could still wind up playing a role in Sunday’s season opener at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Williams likely will split time with newly signed veteran Mike Gillislee as the backup tailbacks behind starter Alvin Kamara.
The Saints need running back depth while Pro Bowler Mark Ingram is serving a four-game suspension for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances. But their pecking order at the position has been impossible to decipher this week.
For most of the preseason, it looked as if Williams and rookie Boston Scott would be the Saints’ top two backups behind Kamara. But then they cut Williams on Saturday, signed Gillislee on Sunday after he was released by the New England Patriots and cut Scott on Wednesday.
Scott also was re-signed to New Orleans’ practice squad on Thursday, but he won’t be active for Sunday’s game.
