Quote of the week
Jérôme Valcke – disputing his 10-year ban for corruption and private jet abuse at Fifa. “It takes years to create your reputation. It takes a second to destroy, and that’s where I am. I never acted against the interests of Fifa.”
• Valcke’s other message last week: denying he used TV rights bribes to top up his basic Fifa income of £1.51m a year plus £22.9m in undisclosed bonuses. “I never did that. I never received anything for anything.”
Meanwhile: staying strong
Sepp Blatter, talking to Corriere della Sera about a comeback. “I feel like I was victim of a gigantic plot. I wasn’t accused by ordinary justice systems, but by the Americans. And by the British, especially the British … My mission is not over.”
Other news: tweets of the week
@ScottishFA, marking Scotland’s Show Racism the Red Card fortnight.
13 Oct, 9.34am: “This Saturday the Multicultural Football Festival will take place for the fifth year in a row.” 2.33pm: “Malky Mackay will take charge of Scotland.”
Most got at
Lazio, losing an appeal against another partial stadium closure after fans racially abused Sassuolo players. Spokesman: “It seems there is a politically correct prejudice affecting football. And we know there is prejudice against Lazio.”
• Lazio president Claudio Lotito’s previous best appeals: 2013: “Lazio is always called a racist club and it’s not. Those behaviours are no longer here”; 2016: “The media attack us … but black lads play for Lazio too”; and 2014: on Italy FA head Carlo Tavecchio calling black players “banana eaters”: “He just used a colourful term. The media are blowing this up.”
Gig of the week
Ronaldinho: giving Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov a PR lift after April’s row over “gay concentration camps” – playing alongside him in a Grozny friendly to mark Vladimir Putin’s birthday. Kadyrov said he was “honoured to score a goal… The stadium was awash with beautiful scenes.” Local media: “The Chechen leader benefited from some favourable passing throughout.”
Elsewhere: manager news
Making moves last week:
• Brazil, 2 Oct: Guarani coach Marcelo Cabo: “I’ve just had a meeting with the president and the board, and they backed me. The president said he could see the team evolving – he spoke to me eye to eye. I feel calm and reassured.” 7 Oct: Sacked.
• Germany, 22 Sep: Bochum director Christian Hochstätter, upset by pressure to sack coach Ismail Atalan. “Like hell would I tear up everything we’ve achieved here: it’s time we raised our heads. The subject of sacking the coach simply doesn’t arise.” 9 Oct: It arises.
Best media strategy
Liberia coach James Debbah, fined $500 for “brutalising” a radio host on air, leaving him with “injuries to legs and face”. Debbah: “I regret it, but it’s not my character, it’s not my type. Most people know that.” Liberia’s FA: “Let this $500 fine be a warning to others.”
Most let down
Russian commentator Vladimir Nikolsky, walking out mid-match after becoming “emotionally incapacitated” by a series of refereeing decisions. Nikolsky said the calls in the second-tier Torpedo Vladimir game were “a disgrace to Russian football … I felt overwhelmed.”
Most professional
Venezuela coach Rafael Dudamel: upset by “distraction techniques” used against his squad before their World Cup qualifier against Paraguay. “Many females were sent to our hotel. Who sent them? I don’t know. But we are wise to this old strategy: football players have changed.” Midfielder Yangel Herrera: “They were pretty girls. Thank God we are so professional.”
Best campaigner
Brazil: Ceará mascot “Grandpa”, fronting a new campaign promoting “the culture of peace in stadiums”. His previous highlight: 2012 – being banned for two games for “a series of obscene gestures” at Ferroviário fans; revenge for a 2009 incident when Ferroviário’s mascot Jubaitola “tried to hump him” on the pitch. FA: “Grandpa will miss the games against Tiradentes and Guarani Juazeiro.”
Setback of the week
Australian sauce firm MasterFoods, reacting after their BBQ Sauce bottle mascot made “one-finger gestures” at Newcastle Jets fans who taunted him. “The behaviour of the BBQ Sauce bottle is not reflective of the family friendly MasterFoods way.”
Haul of the week
French police, finding 186 confiscated footballs in the house of a neighbour of amateur club Juillan III. Officers acted after a game was abandoned last month when the neighbour, upset by balls landing in her garden, staged a centre-circle sit-down protest on a deckchair. Club source: “When the balls land, she likes to burst them.”
And most defiant
Panama: 63-year-old fan Élida de Mitchell, feeling “no regrets” after she invaded the pitch to help waste time in their World Cup qualifying win over Costa Rica. “I had to stop Costa Rica scoring a goal, I wasn’t going to let that happen. So I pretended to faint on the grass, and when the police came I pretended to faint again. The policeman said to me: ‘Grandma, what’s up with you?’ I told him: ‘We’re going to the bloody World Cup and you can’t stop me.’” Her motivation: “When we failed to qualify in 2013 I cried. I wasn’t going to cry again.”
Gonza Bobadilla
(@gbobadi)Una señora entró a parar el partido de #Panamá y fingió 3 desmayos adentro del campo. Ahora es figura pública allá. ¡Tremendo! 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/ZqkdIsDylK