The European Championship could take place in a country straddling Europe and Asia.
On Wednesday, the Turkiye Futbol Federasyonu announced that Turkey is bidding to host Euro 2024. An information meeting was held at the TFF’s administrative center in Beykoz, Turkey, and the organisations’s president, Yildirim Demiroren, confirmed the bid.
“We deserve to be the host of Euro 2024,” Demiroren said. “Today we came together for a good job on behalf of Turkish football. We are together for Euro 2024 bid, which we have already applied for three times today, for the fourth time. The deadline for candidacy application is March 3, 2017 which we will apply on March 2, 2017.”
In 2014, the TFF dropped its bid to host the final and semi-finals of Euro 2020, which will take place in 13 different countries across Europe. The federation was convinced Turkey is ready to host more than just two rounds, saying, per ESPN FC: “We are at a point where we can undertake the entire tournament, not just the semi-finals and final.”
There will inevitably be questions about Turkey’s ability to host Euro 2024, as the country – once held as an example of secular democracy in a Muslim state – is the “world’s biggest prison” for journalists under Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who became the nation’s president in 2014 and tightened the grip on freedom of expression.
The Philadelphia Eagles have two things Kenny Britt values: a potential franchise quarterback and receivers coach Mike Groh. That should make Philly a desirable landing spot should the stars align come March.
Every receiver wants a quality quarterback for obvious reasons, but that desire can be heightened when stability at QB has proved elusive. Since being drafted in the first round by the Tennessee Titans back in 2009, Britt has been teamed with Vince Young, Kerry Collins (in his late 30s), Rusty Smith, Matt Hasselbeck, Jake Locker, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Austin Davis, Shaun Hill, Nick Foles, Case Keenum and Jared Goff.
Kenny Britt is coming off a career-high 1,002 receiving yards in 2016 with the Rams. Michael Reaves/Getty Images
Safe to say, the idea of locking in with a long-term (and perhaps top-end) signal-caller would be appealing to the eight-year veteran.
He is scheduled to become a free agent when the league year begins March 9, and could very well be moving on from the Rams. A decent market likely awaits.
Whether the Eagles jump into the fray remains to be seen. There’s no doubt they’ll be on the lookout for a wideout who can take the top off an opposing defense, which is part of the reason why Kenny Stills and DeSean Jackson have been regularly connected to Philly; Britt has some speed (he ran a 4.5-second 40 coming out of Rutgers) but at 6-foot-3, 223 pounds, he has a different style of play than the burners. Eagles vice president of player personnel Joe Douglas, though, sounds open to receivers of varying skill sets.
Douglas & Co. have to do their homework on Britt, who had legal troubles earlier in his career. Groh could be a resource in that respect, having worked with Britt very recently. Depending on their comfort level and how Britt compares to the rest of the class from a production-versus-cost standpoint, he could be a player on the Eagles’ radar as the free-agency period approaches.
Money typically talks in these situations, but if it’s close, the Eagles have enough of what Britt wants to win a potential tiebreaker.
Arsenal’s victory over Hull City last weekend appears to have been Mark Clattenburg’s last match as a Premier League official.
Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) released a statement Thursday confirming that Clattenburg is leaving his role to take up a position with the Saudi Arabian Football Federation.
“The PGMOL would like to wish Mark Clattenburg well as he prepares for his move to the Saudi Arabaian Football Federation,” the statement read.
“… We understand this is an exciting opportunity for Mark as well as further underlining what high esteem English match officials are held (in) throughout the world game.”
The statement did not specify a date for Clattenburg’s departure, but the Press Association suggests he will leave before Premier League matches resume Feb. 25.
It remains unclear if Clattenburg will continue to officiate football matches in his new job, or if he’ll take up a role similar to the one former Premier League official Howard Webb accepted in 2015 when he became the head of refereeing for the Saudi Arabian league.
Clattenburg, who officiated the 2016 European Championship final in France as well as the Champions League final in Milan, Italy, had previously expressed a desire to work abroad. He said he was intrigued by the thought of plying his trade in China after being linked with a move to the high-spending Chinese Super League.
“If an opportunity came along – I am contracted to the Premier League – but I have to look at my long-term strategy of my career,” Clattenburg told Rob Harris of the Associated Press in December. How long can I last as a referee? I have been in the Premier League 12 years. It’s been a wonderful 12 years.”
His last match, however, was far from wonderful – the English referee missed a blatant handball committed by Alexis Sanchez before the Arsenal star scored the go-ahead goal. According to Hull players and coaches, Clattenburg apologised for the mistake at halftime as Arsenal went on to claim a 2-0 win.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Watch the Tennessee Titans offense during a TV timeout and you’ll find 11 guys on the field close together, ready to huddle.
Eleven without a quarterback.
While Marcus Mariota visits with coaches on the sideline to sort out whatever needs sorting out, the Titans put the people on the field intending to complicate things for a defense.
“We have a mode during TV timeouts, we put 11 players in the huddle without Marcus,” coach Mike Mularkey said in a long chat with The Midday 180. “When you do that, you put 11 guys in the huddle, you’ve got three different personnel groupings. If you’re on defense and you know what the personnel is on the field and the down and distance, you could be at the coffee shop and call a game.
“It’s all legal,” coach Mike Mularkey said of the Titans’ diversionary huddle tactics. “It’s just another way for us to keep them working even when there is a TV timeout and there is nothing going on.” Christopher Hanewinckel/USA TODAY Sports
“That’s what the two key ingredients are for a defensive call, personnel and down and distance. So when you put all these guys in the huddle and they are asking, ‘What is the personnel?’, well, the personnel guy is saying, ‘We’ve got 21 [two running backs, a tight end and two receivers] in there, 12 [one back, two tight ends and two receivers], 11 [one back, one tight end, three receivers] are all in there.”
With the five linemen on the field, the Titans couldn’t have all those potential combinations ready to huddle. But they jump in and out to keep multiple options.
“We do some things, even while the TV timeout is going on, you’ll see players coming in and out, so we constantly keep changing the personnel groupings to where they don’t have a bead on us, which one is going in. It’s all legal. It’s just another way for us to keep them working even when there is a TV timeout and there is nothing going on.”
This is not a giant advantage, but it’s an advantage. A defense doesn’t get an early read on the personnel it needs to match on the play coming out of a timeout. It’s also an illustration of the type of small things Mularkey and his staff concern themselves with that can go unseen and might gain them an advantage at some point.
The play happened so quickly, the CBS broadcast was late switching from a sideline shot to the action.
Does the Titans defense see the same maneuver from offenses it’s trying to get a handle on?
“Nobody,” Mularkey said.
The idea came to him when he was offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh. Preparing for the draft, he was watching college tape. In college, players can come in from the sideline and go right to the line of scrimmage, and the offense isn’t stopped by the officials to allow the defense to match a late change.
Mularkey wondered how defenses had any idea what grouping was coming with a giant roster filling the opposing sideline and the ability to substitute late.
He decided to start putting 11 players on the field without a quarterback and to switch them up to make things more difficult on a defense.
