Spanish Football League (LFP) players on Monday night played in the "Champions for Life" game, which raised more than €407,000 ($495,000) to combat Ebola in African countries and for other projects. The match -- organized by the LFP and UNICEF's Spanish Committee -- took place at Atlético's Vicente Calderón stadium in Madrid and featured top La Liga players including Atlético's Raúl García, Barcelona's Ivan Rakitić and Valencia's Rodrigo Moreno, among others (LFP). ... ManU supporters are "planning to auction their infamous 'Chosen One' banner to raise funds for charity to avoid the much-ridiculed tribute" to former Manager David Moyes "gathering dust in an Old Trafford storage room." It became one of the "defining images of Moyes's disastrous 11-month reign at United, a well-intentioned show of support which ultimately became a curse for the former Everton manager." The group behind the banner, which raised £450 to
produce it in the summer of '13, admitted it is "now ready to sell it to the
highest bidder and hand the funds to charity" (London TELEGRAPH, 12/30). ... Vietnam's football federation has banned nine players for life for "fixing an Asian club match, part of efforts to win back dwindling confidence of fans and rebuild a reputation tarnished by bribery scandals." The former Vissai Ninh Binh players received "jail terms of up to 30 months in August for rigging an away match against Malaysia's Kelantan" this year in the Asian Football Confederation Cup (REUTERS, 12/26). ... Former Brazilian footballer Zico said that his country's World Cup loss to Germany was not an "accident," as some Brazil fans claim, but the "logical consequence of years of gradual decline." Zico: "People talk about the 7-1 as if it came out of nowhere but it didn't. The truth is that for three World Cups now, the Brazilians have not been up to the mark" (AFP, 12/29). ... The Professional Footballers Association of Malaysia has issued an "ultimatum to the Perlis FA." The PFAM wants the two-time Malaysia Cup champions to "pay their players the five-month unpaid wages as soon as possible or face the music." PFAM CEO Izham Ismail warned that the body "will not hesitate to take legal action against the PFA" (THE STAR, 12/30).
ROONEY CALLS FOR CHANGES: ManU captain Wayne Rooney has called for a change to the "congested festive fixture list." He said that the "demands of the schedule had led to a decline in quality." Rooney also suggested that "fatigue may lead to a player being seriously injured" (BBC, 12/29).
