Football, Champions League: The soccer players of FC Bayern Munich have defeated record winners Olympique Lyon in the Champions League. Ironically, Saki Kumagai, who came from Lyon at the beginning of the season, scored the winning goal at 1-0 (0-0) and also made men’s coach Julian Nagelsmann cheer in the stands. Previously, newcomer TSG Hoffenheim had clearly lost their group game against FC Barcelona with 0: 5 (0: 1).
The Japanese Kumagai (69th minute) scored after a corner with a head for the strong Bayern team. The 2011 world champion had played for the French for eight years, winning the Champions League five times before moving to Munich in the summer. The Bayern women, trained by Jens Scheuer, remain in Group D with seven points behind Lyon (nine) and have a good chance of making the quarter-finals. A week ago, the Munich team lost 2-1 in Lyon and then suffered another bitter defeat in the championship with a 1-0 defeat against VfL Wolfsburg.
Hoffenheim, on the other hand, is facing the end after the third defeat in a row. One week after the 4-0 defeat in Barcelona, it was the next clear bankruptcy. The captain Alexia, twice successful in the first leg with a penalty kick (41st), Irene Paredes (53rd), Aitana Bonmati (57th), Marta Torrejon (89th) and Ana Maria Crnogorcevic (90th + 2) ensured clear conditions. While Barcelona were the first team to win the quarter-final ticket, the knockout round for Bundesliga second Hoffenheim with only three points from four games is a long way off. On Thursday (6.45 p.m., Dazn) Wolfsburg is challenged a week after the 2-2 draw at Juventus Turin in the home game against the Italian champions.
Soccer, England: The recently criticized Premier League boss Gary Hoffman is giving up his post at the top of the English professional football league in January. Like the entire league association, the 61-year-old came under fire for approving the takeover of the first division club Newcastle United by a consortium from Saudi Arabia. “It has been a privilege to lead the Premier League through the past two seasons,” said Hoffman, who only served 18 months. Hoffman has led the league “through the most challenging period in its history,” said a statement from the Premier League. There was no mention of the Newcastle controversy.
A Saudi consortium, which is largely influenced by the Saudi Arabian state fund under the control of the highly controversial Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, recently took over Newcastle for the equivalent of around 350 million euros. The Premier League waved the deal through despite vehement criticism from human rights organizations.
Soccer, Corona: The Saxon Football Association (SFV) suspended state matches in all age groups after reaching the overload level in the Free State. The association announced this on Wednesday on its homepage. The SFV board decided on October 10th that game operations would be interrupted for the duration of the overload level. The games at state level will be canceled for the next weekend (November 19-21) for the time being. According to the SFV, it remains to be seen whether the new Corona Protection Ordinance will allow proportionate gaming operations.
Tennis: An alleged email from the missing Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai raised more questions than answers at the WTA. Chinese state media had quoted a message from the 35-year-old to WTA boss Steve Simon on Wednesday. The media reports about her person were wrong, it read, she was fine. Simon reacted to the development with skepticism. “The statement about Peng Shuai released today by Chinese state media only increases my concerns about her safety and whereabouts. Peng Shuai must be allowed to speak freely without coercion or intimidation from a source,” he said in the evening.
Peng Shuai wrote on the Twitter-like media Weibo earlier this month that he had been sexually abused by former Vice Prime Minister Zhang Gaoli. The entry in the social media was deleted, Peng has allegedly been gone for days. On Wednesday, however, the Chinese media published an email allegedly from Peng Shuai. “I am neither missed, nor am I not sure. I just rest at home, everything is fine,” it says. Fans, players and former tennis professionals even launched an online search request (‘#WhereIsPengShuai’).
athletics: Russia’s athletics federation Rusaf remains suspended six years after a nationwide doping system was discovered. This was decided by the 53rd Congress of the World Athletics Federation on Wednesday. At the digital meeting, 126 delegates approved a corresponding proposal from the WA Council, with 18 opposing votes. “The important milestones have been set. The task force also has the feeling that these changes reflect a new culture at Rusaf,” said Rune Andersen, head of the world association’s Russia task force.
The doping practice of the past is rejected and there is an assurance to move forward completely cleanly as a trustworthy member. But there are still a number of people who have not accepted this new culture. “Progress is good, but there is still a lot to be done. The last few months have strengthened optimism,” said World President Sebastian Coe. “We’re moving in the right direction and we’re seeing light at the end of the tunnel.” Russia’s national association has been suspended since November 2015.
Motorsport: In the case of the protest by the Mercedes Formula 1 team against a decision by the race commissioners at the Brazilian Grand Prix in favor of Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, a hearing will take place in Qatar. At the appointment on Thursday (5 p.m. local time / 3 p.m. CET) in Doha, a video conference will be held to determine whether there is a right of review. Specifically, it is a question of whether “an essential and relevant new element will be discovered that was not previously available to the parties requesting the procedure,” said the world motor sport federation Fia on Wednesday.
The Silver Arrows had retrospectively checked a duel between Verstappen and world champion Lewis Hamilton on Sunday on Tuesday. The Red Bull driver pushed the Brit off the track. As a reason for the objection, Mercedes cited the emergence of new evidence that was not available to the race stewards during the World Championship run. If Verstappen is subsequently punished, he could possibly slip backwards in the race standings and thus lose further points to Hamilton.
Winter sports: The exceptional ski racer Mikaela Shiffrin is worried about climate change. “I have problems with the fact that the sport requires so many trips,” said the two-time Olympic champion from the USA, referring to her carbon footprint in a media panel on Wednesday evening. Shiffrin could therefore imagine ending her career at some point for reasons of environmental protection. Year after year, she experiences the effects of climate change in her home country, the USA, in the form of forest fires and snowstorms. “The environment is telling us that we are doing something very wrong,” said Shiffrin. Most recently, the World Ski Federation (FIS) announced that it wanted to become climate-positive by 2022. For President Johan Eliasch from Sweden, it is a top priority to have a direct and significant impact on the sustainability of the sport, it said.
hockey: The German Hockey Association (DHB) named the squad for the women’s indoor European championship from January 12th to 16th in Hamburg on Wednesday. Lisa Altenburg, Viktoria Huse, Anne Schröder (all Club on the Alster) and Franzisca Hauke (Harvestehuder HC) are four indoor world champions from 2018. Florian Keller will be the coach at the tournament in the Hanseatic city: “I’m not an indoor specialist , but I will be there and support the team as much as I can, “said national coach Xavier Reckinger. At the last European Championship, the DHB selection in Belarus remained in fourth place without a medal. Reckinger announced for Hamburg: “We want to recapture the title we lost in 2020.”