DOHA: These really are pinch-yourself times for Morocco: A first-ever spot in the quarterfinals of a World Cup — the first to take place in the Arab world, no less — and now a meeting with Portugal and their superstar striker, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Well, maybe.
Because Ronaldo has again managed to steal the spotlight in his inimitable way, even bumping Morocco’s historic run to the last eight off the top of the agenda before Saturday’s narrative-laden match.
Will he start, or won’t he? That’s the big question being asked about Ronaldo after he was dropped by Portugal coach Fernando Santos for the 6-1 win over Switzerland in the round of 16 on Tuesday.
Not only was the five-time world player of the year relegated to the bench, his replacement — 21-year-old Gonçalo Ramos — scored a hat trick to leave Santos with quite the selection dilemma against Morocco.
“I hope he won’t (play),” Morocco coach Walid Regragui said Friday of Ronaldo. “As a coach I know he’s one of the best players in history and so I’d be delighted if he didn’t play.”
The announcement of Portugal’s team about 90 minutes before the game at Al Thumama Stadium is keenly awaited as Ronaldo prepares to play in the quarterfinals of the World Cup for just the second time in his glittering career.
Santos declined to share selection thoughts Friday for what he said would be a different kind of game to the one against Switzerland, while noting that “90 percent of the questions” are about Ronaldo at Portugal’s pregame news conferences.
One inevitable question Santos faced was about reports in national media that Ronaldo threatened to leave the World Cup after being told he was benched. Not true, the coach said.
“He has never told me that he wanted to leave the national team,” Santos said through an interpreter. “Cristiano obviously wasn’t very happy about it. He told me ‘Do you really think it’s a good idea?’”
Portugal are at this stage for only the third time after 1966 and 2006, perhaps surprising given the talent to have come from the country down the years.
Four years ago, Portugal lost in the round of 16 to Uruguay, though a group-stage game against Morocco was “possibly the most difficult match” the team faced, Santos said Friday.
“We won 1-0 but we had to suffer a lot to win that match,” he said. “My players know that.”
As for Morocco, the nation is in uncharted territory after becoming only the fourth African country to reach the quarterfinals at soccer’s biggest tournament, after Cameroon (1990), Senegal (2002) and Ghana (2010). None of them reached the semifinals.
Morocco are also the only team from outside Europe or South America to make it to the last eight in Qatar.
The team’s penalty-shootout victory over Spain in the last 16 sparked wild celebrations not just among its many fans in Qatar and at home.
The excitement extended to the Moroccan diaspora of around 5 million people spread mostly around Europe, which has united behind the World Cup run of the team nicknamed the “Atlas Lions.”
Morocco fans poured into the streets of European cities to celebrate the team’s passage to the quarterfinals, which came after Morocco advanced from a group containing second-ranked Belgium and 2018 runner-up Croatia.
“We haven’t got carried away by the euphoria,” Regragui said. “We’ve just surprised a few people and surprised a few algorithms who expected Belgium to get through ... and expected Spain to get through. We are not satisfied with where we have come so far.”
Regragui, who was born in France, and 14 of the 26 players in the squad were born abroad — the highest proportion for any team at a World Cup being held in the Middle East for the first time in the tournament’s 92-year history.
The Arab world’s standard bearer, Morocco are in the quarterfinals on merit, too. The team have only conceded one goal — and that was an own-goal against Canada — and are proving so well-organized, with a sturdy back four headlined by Achraf Hakimi, a dedicated midfield anchored by Sofyan Amrabat, two mercurial wingers in Hakim Ziyech and Sofiane Boufal, and a striker in Youssef En-Nesyri, who occupies defenses with his relentless work rate.
Three key players might be struggling to be healthy enough to play against Portugal, though. Amrabat said he played with a back injury requiring painkilling injections in the match against Spain, during which captain Romain Saiss finished the game with his leg bandaged up after treatment, and fellow center back Nayef Aguerd hobbled off in tears with an apparent thigh injury.
“Yes, they are tired, yes, we have injuries. We are not going to hide it and we are not going to complain,” Regragui said. “We are here on a mission.”
Portugal doesn’t appear to have such problems, with Santos’ squad depth so impressive that he could afford to leave players like Ronaldo, João Cancelo and Rúben Neves on the bench against Switzerland after they started every group game.
Even if he is among the substitutes again, Ronaldo — playing in what is likely his last World Cup — is expected to see some time on the field. Given the drama constantly surrounding him, he’s sure to be a talking point whatever happens.
Ronaldo, Portugal look to end Morocco’s World Cup run
https://arab.news/vdv4p
Ronaldo, Portugal look to end Morocco’s World Cup run
- Ronaldo has again managed to steal the spotlight in his inimitable way
- Will he start, or won’t he? That’s the big question being asked about Ronaldo
Saudi Smash 2024 draw held in Jeddah
- Ceremony signals start of weeklong table tennis competition
- ‘It is wonderful to be here in Saudi Arabia,’ Egyptian Omar Assar says
JEDDAH: The draw for the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Saudi Smash 2024 took place on Thursday.
The draws for the men’s and women’s singles, each of which has 64 players, and the doubles categories, with 24 pairs in each, were held at the Infinity Arena, Sports Hall King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah.
The tournament, which opens on Saturday and runs through May 11, is part of the WTT Grand Smash series.
Among the notable names in the draw were the men’s and women’s world No. 1s Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha of China, Brazil’s Bruna Takahashi and Egpyt’s Omar Assar.
Assar, who made history by becoming the first Egyptian player to reach the quarterfinals of a World Championship, said: “It is wonderful to be here in Saudi Arabia and looking forward to being part of this eagerly awaited tournament.”
Wang said: “It is really a tough competition but I am ready to compete until the end.”
The competition’s total prize pool of $2 million is the highest ever for an officially sanctioned event.
Other top players taking part include Felix Lebrun of France, Shin Yubin of South Korea, Hana Goda of Egypt and Dang Qiu of Germany.
Largest ever refugee team to compete at Paris Olympics-IOC
- The athletes, from countries including Syria, Sudan, Iran and Afghanistan, will compete across 12 sports in Paris
- IOC President Thomas Bach said: “This will send a message of hope to the more than 100 million displaced people around the world“
LAUSANNE: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Thursday unveiled its largest refugee Olympic team to date for the Paris 2024 Games, with 36 athletes from 11 different countries.
The athletes, from countries including Syria, Sudan, Iran and Afghanistan, will compete across 12 sports in Paris, the third time such a team has formed for the Summer Olympics.
“With your participation in the Olympic Games, you will demonstrate the human potential of resilience and excellence,” IOC President Thomas Bach said during the team’s announcement.
“This will send a message of hope to the more than 100 million displaced people around the world.”
For the first time, the team will compete under its own emblem.
The IOC unveiled its first refugee team for the Rio 2016 Olympics with 10 athletes to raise awareness of the issue as hundreds of thousands of people were pouring into Europe from the Middle East and elsewhere escaping conflict and poverty.
The team that competed at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was already almost three times as big as the inaugural team at the Rio Games, with a total of 29 athletes competing in 12 sports.
The Paris Olympics refugee team announcement comes shortly after Anjelina Nadai Lohalith, who ran as a refugee athlete in the 1,500 meters at the 2016 and 2021 Olympics, was suspended after testing positive for a banned substance.
The continuous rise in value of the Indian Premier League
In the aftermath of the Punjab Kings’ record chase of 262 runs on April 26, team captain Sam Curran, remarked that the Indian Premier League “(is) becoming a bit like baseball, isn’t it?”
This was likely a moment that opponents of the IPL had predicted and feared — and, conversely, one that proponents of the IPL and T20 cricket in general relished.
T20 cricket is in line with the age of fast food. Instantly consumable, quickly forgotten and underpinned by mass advertising and high-profile personalities. Around the world, its sponsors include KFC for Australia’s Big Bash League, the very title encapsulating the format’s frenzy.
In England, the Hundred has a five-year deal with KP Snacks. Given governmental policy to reduce consumption of products that are high in fat, salt and sugar, the partnership has drawn criticism.
Meanwhile, in South Africa, SA20’s title sponsor is Betway, one of a growing number of betting companies associated with cricket. In the IPL, there is a myriad of sponsors. The title one, Tata, is paying $300 million between 2024 and 2028. Then there are three associate partners — My11Circle, Angel One and RUPay — plus an official broadcaster in Star Sports, official digital streaming partner JioCinema, official strategic timeout partner CEAT and an umpire partner in Paytm.
Each franchise team has a plethora of principal partners, associate partners, media partners and merchandise partners. These represent a broad range of different industry sectors which boost the brand value of the franchises. According to brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance, the value of the ten franchises at the end of the 2023 season ranged from $43.7 million to $87 million. The estimated brand value of the IPL was $10.7 billion.
Estimates of brand value are derived differently by different bodies. This is because brands are not tangible assets — they are subject to beliefs, perceived reputation, trust and experience. Their value lies in how consumers associate with the brand and how it influences their behavior. Attempts to quantify these factors require measurable elements such as trademarks, logos, taglines, visual assets, digital assets, customer retention and social media engagement levels.
Since it began 17 years ago, the IPL has generated all of these in abundance. Along with experience and engagement within the stadiums, an exponential growth in viewership reached close to 500 million unique viewers in 2023. The new media rights regime in 2024 has created further growth, with the Disney Star Network acquiring broadcast rights for all IPL matches in 2024. Live broadcast of the first 18 attracted over 400 million viewers, a 17 percent like-for-like increase over 2023.
There is a big shift in live streaming, with Viacom’s JioCinema awarded digital streaming rights in the 2024-27 cycle. In 2023 it streamed the entire IPL season for free on its mobile app and website, a feature continued into 2024. The move took many by surprise but enabled it to set a record for the highest concurrent viewership for a live-streamed event — some 32 million viewers tuned in to watch the final. Now, digital streaming appears to be gaining momentum over traditional TV broadcasting with IPL viewers, depending on market segment. This can only increase as technology advances and accessibility improves.
As a result, brand value estimates after the 2024 edition are likely to be affected. Close inspection of existing estimates reveals the different methodologies in use. Cost-based valuations focus on how much it has taken to build the brand. Market-based valuations take account of how much sales of similar brands have raised. Income-based valuations focus on how much money the brand brings into the organization compared with non-branded similar products for services. Customer-based valuations analyze existing customers and predict future consumption patterns.
Another approach is the relief from royalty method, used by global investment bank Houlihan Lokey. This calculates value based on hypothetical royalty payments that would be saved by owning an asset rather than licensing it. In 2023, this produced a brand value estimate for the IPL of $3.2 billion — a difference of some $10.7 billion compared with other estimates. The methodology also produces different estimates of the franchise brand values. In this case, they are in a higher range of $83 million to $212 million, with a slightly different ranking.
Houlihan Lokey also undertook a valuation of the IPL’s value as a business, based on the standard discounted cash flow technique. This amounted to $15.4 billion in 2023, an increase of 80 percent over 2022. Most of this can be attributed to the renewal of the media rights deal covering 2023-2027, worth three times more than the 2017-2022 cycle. It is reasonable to assume that, given the year-on-year increases in viewership, the IPL will be able to command even more enhanced terms in the next cycle.
Intuitively, this makes the use of DCF techniques understandable. Under normal circumstances, the IPL can be reasonably sure of its future revenue streams. Once they are expressed in terms of present values, investors can assess what rate of return they are likely to achieve. Ultimately, returns on investment and profits are more important to stakeholders than differences in brand valuations, although the franchisees remain committed to brand enhancement through fan engagement, association with star players and top sponsors.
Since 2008, the IPL has established itself as a global phenomenon and it has done so in a relatively short time. It attracts millions of fans and viewers, providing instant entertainment. All the signs are that it will continue to grow through increased sponsorship, viewer numbers and media rights income which, in turn, proliferates advertising revenue for the media. This is big business and looks unstoppable, but it may morph into a caricature of the game from which it took its roots.
Mitch Evans relishes ‘great’ first Formula E win of the season
- The Jaguar TCS Racing driver secured top spot at the Monaco E-Prix last weekend
DUBAI: Jaguar TCS Racing’s Mitch Evans said it was a “great feeling” to have secured his first victory in this season’s Formula E world championship as he looks ahead to the double-header in Berlin next weekend.
Evans reigned supreme in Monaco, leading Jaguar to a dominant one-two with his team-mate, Nick Cassidy, finishing second. The result meant Evans broke his four-race streak of leading without a win.
“I’ve always been very comfortable around this track,” said Evans. “I think I’ve had around 10 podiums in different categories and never won. It was bound to happen at some point but (it) just happened a little later than what I would have liked. It was a great feeling to finally get the victory and it was a strategic and exciting race. It was an important win and (it) was good to see the checkered flag first.”
The result leaves Evans 25 points off the top but strengthens Jaguar’s grip on the constructors’ title, in which they now have a 44-point advantage.
Evans believes there is no reason why his team will not be even better throughout the rest of the season — starting in Berlin.
“The one-two here in Monaco has never been done before so really proud of the team,” he said. “We have come on the back of trickier races so to get this strong result is fantastic. It’s good for everyone’s confidence and gaining momentum and we want to keep that going.
“We’ll be going into Berlin next where last year we got a one-two, so obviously (it) would be amazing if we repeat that, but there is a new layout so there’s a few new things to learn. The race will be quite strategic from an energy point of view so we need to do some work with the team to make sure we’re well prepared. Our Gen3 car tends to suit that circuit a bit more and hopefully we can continue from Monaco.”
‘Let’s go’: Ronaldo celebrates leading Al-Nassr to King’s Cup final
- A 3-1 win over Al-Khaleej means Al-Nassr will face Riyadh rivals Al-Hilal on May 31
RIYADH: Cristiano Ronaldo, having led Al-Nassr to the King’s Cup final with a 3-1 win over Al-Khaleej on Wednesday night, expressed his delight in a message to his fans on social media.
Ronaldo scored the first and third goals of the night, with Senegal star Sadio Mane netting the second from the penalty spot during the semifinal at Al-Awwal Park Stadium in Riyadh.
Al-Nassr will now meet fierce rivals Al-Hilal in the final on May 31.
The Portuguese star celebrated the win with brief message on X: “The King’s Cup … let’s go.”
He accompanied the message with pictures of his celebrations after scoring the two goals.
The King’s Cup final confrontation is set to be the fifth time the teams have met this season.
At the start of the season, Al-Nassr won the first clash 2-1 in the final of the 2023 King Salman Club Cup (formerly Arab Club Champions Cup) with a brace from Ronaldo.
Al-Hilal emerged victorious in the next two clashes. They first scored a 3-0 victory in the Saudi Pro League at King Fahd International Stadium on Dec. 1; and then a 2-1 win on April 8 in the semifinal of the Diriyah Super Cup in Abu Dhabi, a competition they would go on to claim by beating Al-Ittihad.
Apart from the King’s Cup final, the teams will also meet in the second SPL fixture of the season, on May 17, at Al-Awwal Park in Riyadh.
