Star cast set for Doha Diamond League meeting

Doha: Qatar's high jump legend Mutaz Barshim and India's Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra will headline a star-studded Wanda Diamond League meeting in Doha this week, with Olympic champions Marileidy Paulino and Soufiane El Bakkali also among the top attractions.

The Road to the Final returns to Asia as the world's leading track and field athletes gather at the Mazzraty Doha Meeting at Qatar Sports Club on Friday.

Barshim will make his first appearance of the season in front of his home fans in the men's high jump, while Chopra returns to competition after recovering from injury and takes on a strong javelin field led by Sri Lanka's world leader Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage. syntagm.co.za

Barshim, the former Olympic champion and two-time Olympic silver medallist who won an unprecedented third successive global title with victory at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene 2022, will be in action against two of the world's best this season, Ukraine's Oleh Doroshchuk, currently ranked World No. 3, and Czech Republic's Jan Štefela, the World No. 4 and owner of a personal best of 2.33m.

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Despite the absence of the ‘Flying Kiwi’ Hamish Kerr (MZL), the Olympic, world and Commonwealth champion, the high jump field will also feature Italy's world No. 6 Matteo Sioli and Mexico's world No. 9 Erick Portillo who will add further quality to the competition.

Meanwhile, Chopra, 28, is a late addition to the event.Neeraj Chopra

"First throw of 2026 lands in Doha! Neeraj Chopra returns to competitive action on June 19," his management firm Vel Sports announced on social media.

In May last year, the two-time Olympic medallist had breached the coveted 90m mark at the same venue. He had recorded 90.23m to finish second behind Julian Weber (91.06m) of Germany.

Weber won’t compete in Doha this time, but Pathirage, who recently made the eighth all-time best throw of 92.62m at the Rome Diamond League, is expected to pose a huge challenge.

Trinidad's Keshorn Walcott, the reigning world champion, former two-time world champion and Olympic bronze medallist Anderson Peters (Grenada), and world bronze medallist Curtis Thompson (USA) are also expected to start at the Suheim bin Hamad Stadium.

Julius Yego (Kenya), former world champion and Olympic silver medallist, Jakub Vadlejch (Czech Republic), former Olympic and world silver medallist, and Artur Felfner (Ukraine), European U23 champion and former world U20 champion, complete the field.

Pakistan’s reigning Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem is not yet in his pre-competition phase and therefore will skip the Doha meet.

Meanwhile, in the women's 400m, Olympic champion Paulino launches her bid to reclaim the Diamond Trophy, while Morocco's El Bakkali will look to continue his dominance in the men's 3000m steeplechase.

The meeting will also feature reigning world and Diamond League champion Cordell Tinch in the men's 110m hurdles, alongside several world and Olympic medallists across the programme.

The Doha Diamond League was to be originally held on May 8 as the season-opening event but was postponed due to the West Asia conflict.

Organisers have once again confirmed that athletes who set new meeting records at the 2026 event will be awarded a $5000 bonus, an innovative concept that was first introduced in 2025.

Al Ahly have extended goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir’s contract until 2029 after resolving a dispute over a proposed release clause.

The club announced the renewal after Mostafa Shobeir signed the agreement following the team’s training session.

The agreement covers the remaining season on his previous contract and adds another two campaigns, keeping the keeper at Al Ahly through 2029.

According to sources, Shobeir will receive an annual base salary of EGP25 million. Performance and trophy-related incentives could add another EGP10 million. The full annual package could consequently reach EGP35 million.

The new contract also regulates Shobeir’s commercial rights, in which he will receive 60% of advertising deals secured through Al Ahly’s football company.

Shobeir will retain 70% of revenue from deals that reach him directly, with Al Ahly receiving the remaining 30%.

The contract contains no release clause. The Cairo giants refused to include a provision allowing another club to sign the goalkeeper without negotiating directly with them.

As KingFut previously reported, Shobeir’s representatives requested a $3 million release clause during negotiations.

Al Ahly rejected the proposal as part of their policy against placing release clauses in contracts for key players. The club followed the same approach during other recent renewal talks.

However, both parties are said to have reached an understanding regarding any suitable future offer from abroad.

The renewal followed reported European interest in the Egypt international. Al Ahly reportedly rejected an offer worth about $2 million from Italian side Como in August.

The 26-year-old has made 70 senior appearances for Al Ahly, recording 38 clean sheets and conceding 44 goals. Shobeir will continue competing with Mohamed El Shenawy and Hamza Alaa for the starting position.

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London: Chelsea and Manchester City have adjusted fastest to a Premier League season of change, while Liverpool and Tottenham are off to slow starts.

City sit top, ahead of Arsenal's trip to Aston Villa on Monday, after a 4-1 thrashing of Crystal Palace, while Chelsea edged out Brighton 4-3 to maintain their perfect start under Xabi Alonso.

By contrast, Tottenham's massive outlay on new players is yet to bear any fruit as they remain without a point or even a goal, while Andoni Iraola has only managed two draws in his opening two matches in charge of Liverpool.

AFP Sports looks at three talking points from the Premier League weekend:

Front three give Chelsea reason to dream

Two Premier League games into Alonso's reign as Chelsea manager, the Blues have seven goals, six points and plenty of reasons for optimism.

The acid test of whether Chelsea are truly back to being title contenders comes when they travel to face champions Arsenal next weekend.

But the arrival of Alonso on the bench and Morgan Rogers to form a potent front three alongside Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer, has transformed a side that finished 10th last season.

That failure could ultimately help Chelsea's chances of a first league title in a decade as they have no European football, while their rivals face the strain of the Champions League.

"Chelsea has so much quality on transition moments they have maybe the best offensive line in the league," said Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler.

Alonso has already shown an adaptability to maximise the weapons at his disposal.

Chelsea had just 26 percent possession against Brighton, the lowest of any league match in Alonso's managerial career.

Yet, they lured the Seagulls on to strike decisively on the counter-attack, epitomised by Pedro's third goal from a move beginning in the Chelsea area.

Spurs 'can't buy mentality'

Roberto De Zerbi surveyed the damage from big-spending Tottenham's dismal start and admitted it is mentality rather than money that will define their season.

De Zerbi has overseen an expensive rebuild of the Tottenham squad that narrowly avoided relegation on the final day of last season, but results have proved harder to buy.

The Italian's spending spree has topped 300 million pounds (406 million dollars) ahead of Tuesday's transfer deadline, only for Tottenham to lose 3-0 at Brentford in their opening game and 2-0 at home to Newcastle on Saturday.

Bottom of the table Tottenham have lost their opening two matches of a league campaign without scoring for the first time since 1974-75.

After successive 17th-placed finishes in the Premier League, De Zerbi know the mounting pressure on his players could be a problem.

"After two defeats, maybe somebody can think it's the same story, the same as the last two seasons. I have no doubt it's not like this," he said.

"It's the biggest target to find the right mentality. Unfortunately, you can't buy the mentality in the transfer market."

Liverpool ignore glaring gaps

Liverpool could feature a forward line with each player costing in excess of 100 million pounds at Ipswich on Friday, with Bradley Barcola set to join Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz in the Reds' star-studded attack.

Isak and Wirtz have so far offered little return on the huge sums paid for them 12 months ago, but each had a hand in a goal each of Liverpool's 2-2 draw against Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

The Sweden striker tapped home his first goal of the season, while Wirtz's brilliant assist teed up Victor Munoz to rescue a point in the final 10 minutes.

Despite a prolonged search for attacking reinforcements since Mohamed Salah's departure at the end of last season, it is at the other end that Liverpool still look brittle.

Iraola's reign has begun with two chaotic 2-2 draws that exposed a lack of midfield protection for defensive deficiencies.

Both full-backs Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong were replaced after a chastening first hour and Iraola may regret not focusing more on strengthening at the back rather than splashing out on another expensive forward.

Madrid: FC Barcelona confirmed the signing of Brazilian forward Gabriel Jesus from Premier League champion Arsenal on Tuesday.

The 29-year-old has joined for a fee of around 10 million euros and signed a contract until the end of June 2029.

Gabriel Jesus' arrival will end Barcelona's efforts to sign Julian Alvarez from Atletico Madrid, with Atletico unwilling to sell the Argentine international to a club it considers to have made an illegal approach to the forward.

Although he is Barcelona's 'back-up' plan, Gabriel Jesus said he did not feel offended at being 'Plan-B'.

"This doesn't bother me and it doesn't offend me what offends me is when people call me a bad guy and no one's ever said that to me in my life," said the forward.

"What bothers me is not playing football. I have the opportunity to be here at Barca. I had it 10 years ago, and life took me down a different path. I'm here now and I will do my best. I am someone who always works hard and hard work always pays off," said Gabriel Jesus.

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