Sports

Ronaldo’s £88m sign-on fee too much for Fiat workers to bear

Fiat workers are getting ready to go on strike over the firm’s owner’s decision to pay £88m to buy Cristiano Ronaldo.

Published

5 years ago

July 13, 2018

Africa News Watch

Fiat workers are getting ready to go on strike over the firm’s owner’s decision to pay £88m to buy Cristiano Ronaldo.

Italy’s Agnelli family owns almost 30 per cent of Fiat through an investment holding, Exor.

The Agnellis also own 64 per cent of Juventus, the club Ronaldo will join next season after nine years of playing for the Spanish team, reports Independent UK.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has made thousands of lay-offs in Italy over the past few years due to a lack of new models; and workers in the small USB Lavoro Privato union say the money spent on Ronaldo would have been better used to invest in the company.

The union USB Lavoro Privato said: “It is unacceptable that while the owners ask workers of FCA for huge economic sacrifices for years, the same decided to spend hundreds of millions of euros for the purchase of a player.

“The owners should invest in car models that guarantee the future of thousands of people, rather than enriching only one.”

Related Topics:Cristiano Ronaldo Juventus Ronaldo

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Sports

FIFA honours Osimhen after amazing season with Napoli

Published

10 hours ago

June 7, 2023

Akanimoh Etim

Following his record-breaking season with Napoli where he scored 26 goals to win the Serie A top scorer award, Nigerian striker, Victor Osimhen has been honoured by the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA).

The world football governing body Tuesday presented Osimhen with a customized jersey and soccer ball for his “superb displays for Napoli in the 2022/23 season,” which led to Napoli winning the Scudetto after a 33-year wait, according to an official of FIFA, Gelson Fernandes, in a “special message” to the 24-year-old Nigerian forward.

“Victor Osimhen, you represent at the moment what football can do,” Fernandes wrote in an Instagram post.

“From Lagos to Napoli where people love you, you have suffered, but your love for football and determination have guided you.

“Keep going, keep pushing. Africa needs examples and millions are watching and dreaming.”

Osimhen became the first African to win the highest goal scorer award, while also becoming the first player since Zlatan Ibrahimovic to win both the Capocannoniere and the Scudetto in the same season, a record which has stood for 14 long years.

His horde of honours was also enhanced with a National Award of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic bestowed on him by former Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari.

Sports

Tunisian tennis star, Ons Jabeur zooms into French Open quarter-finals

Published

1 day ago

June 6, 2023

Akanimoh Etim

Tunisian tennis sensation, Ons Jabeur took a step further in her quest to win the 2023 French Open Grand Slam when she defeated World number 36, Bernarda Pera 6-3, 6-1 to zoom into the quarter-finals.

Jabeur, ranked number 7 in the world, and who only won her first WTA 1000 title at the Madrid Open last year, has since then been facing a downward slide coupled with injuries which saw her either missing out on some tournaments or crashing out in early rounds.

However, the 28-year-old who became the first ever African woman to reach a Grand Slam final last year, was at her best when she defeated Pera to move to the next stage on Monday night.

Though Jabeur was not at her fluent best and was herself broken three times in the first set and at the start of the second set, she still raced through the final six games, sealing victory in 63 minutes.

“I never thought about something was missing or I didn’t reach all four of them,” the African said after the match.

“Maybe it’s a good thing. It came and hopefully, we’ll set it to all semi-finals and then all finals,” she added.