Former Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Kheira Hamraoui has signed with Saudi Arabia women’s Premier League side Al-Shabab.

The 34-year-old left PSG upon the expiry of her contract in the summer of 2023 nearly two years after she was attacked by a masked man who hit her with an iron bar, targeting her legs.

Although initially released without charge, in September 2022, Hamraoui’s former PSG team-mate Aminata Diallo and five men were arrested and charged with three counts of aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy.

According to a police report, Diallo instigated the attack on Hamraoui, her motive being “violent sporting jealousy”. Diallo maintains she is innocent; the five men say they acted on the orders of a person they will not or cannot name. The investigation is ongoing.

In September 2023 Hamraoui joined Club America in Mexico and made 11 appearances but left before the end of the calendar year. She has not played since but did feature in this year’s Soccer Aid World XI team in June.

“We all have a choice,” Hamraoui wrote on Instagram. “I took a break for six months and it was the most important thing for me.

“I felt the need to get back to the essential things in life that we often forget: our mental health, our inner peace, our balance and our…

Chelsea have completed the signing of France forward Sandy Baltimore on a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain.

The 24-year-old has signed a four-year deal with the Women’s Super League champions to keep her at the club until 2028, as reported by The Athletic last month.

The move will see Baltimore link up with new Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor after the former Lyon boss was confirmed as Emma Hayes’ successor last month. Chelsea, however, had been keeping tabs on the talented winger way before the appointment of compatriot Bompastor.

Baltimore, who has made over 200 appearances for PSG and has a fair amount of Champions League experience, is a versatile attacking midfielder who can play on either wing. As a left-footed player, she will provide more balance to the squad.

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Single-minded, sometimes ‘strict’, sometimes ‘funny’ – who is new Chelsea manager Bompastor?

“I’m very happy to join Chelsea,” said Baltimore. “It feels incredible. I have always wanted to play for Chelsea and now look, it has happened!”

General manager Paul Green added: “Sandy has gained a wealth of experience in France including within the UEFA…

Sakina Karchaoui has signed a new contract with Paris Saint-Germain that will keep her at the club until 2028.

The 28-year-old’s current deal was due to expire this summer but the left-back has now committed her future to the club for a further four years.

“It’s a great day for me, I really wanted to continue my career at Paris Saint-Germain,” said Karchaoui.

“I’m blossoming within this team and I’m proud of what we’ve achieved so far with the club.

“We share very big ambitions for the women’s team, and I’m convinced that we’re not only going to make the Red and Blue jersey shine, but also women’s football — on a national and international scale — in the years to come.”

The left-back joined PSG Feminine from Olympique Lyonnais in 2021 and has gone on to make 94 appearances for the club scoring six goals.

Prior to her time at Lyon — where she won the 2020 Women’s Champions League — she spent 11 years at Montpellier HSC having graduated through the club’s youth system.

She has won 72 caps for the France national team and scored her first international goal in her country’s 2-1 win over Germany in the semi-finals of the UEFA Women’s Nations League.

GO DEEPER

Behind the scenes with PSG Feminine: fashion, lactose-free milk and English as the…

Lyon will face Barcelona in the Women’s Champions League final after defeating Paris Saint-Germain 5-3 over two legs.

Lyon, who carried a 3-2 first leg win into the second contest, beat PSG 2-1 at the Parc des Princes on Sunday.

The away side scored immediately after Selma Bacha, positioned at the edge of the box, unleashed a powerful strike into the bottom corner at the near post, catching goalkeeper Constance Picaud off guard.

But PSG hit back with five minutes of normal time to spare in the first half after Marie-Antoinette Katoto passed to Tabitha Chawinga, who charged into the area, delivering a shot across the goal that found its way into the net.

With nine minutes left of normal time to spare, however, Vicki Becho delivered a cross to Amel Majri, and her touch set up Melchie Dumornay, who then slotted the ball into the bottom-right corner to finish the move.

The match against Barca will be a repeat of the 2022 final, where eight-time champions Lyon were 3-1 winners on the day.

Barca, meanwhile, booked their place in May’s final in Bilbao after the defending champions came back to defeat Chelsea over two legs in the first semi-final.

Trailing 1-0 after the home leg in Spain, goals from Aitana Bonmati and Fridolina Rolfo at Stamford Bridge turned the tie around and ensured…

Over the course of his 17 years as the most powerful figure in world football, Sepp Blatter was memorably characterised by the venerable British sportswriter Brian Glanville as someone who had 50 new ideas every day, “51 of them bad”.

There was the one where the then FIFA president said the key to attracting more interest in women’s football was for the players to wear “tighter shorts” to “create a more female aesthetic”; the one where he proposed games be split into four quarters; the one where he suggested the goal be made 50cm (19in) wider and 25cm taller; the one where he urged any player racially abused on the pitch to settle the matter by shaking hands with his abuser at the final whistle; the one where, with his regime finally crumbling in 2015, he declared he was the man to “clean up” FIFA.

But Blatter had his moments. He was highly influential in the introduction of the back-pass rule in 1992. He led FIFA’s clampdown on both time-wasting and the dreaded “tackle” from behind. Before he became an eccentric power-crazed FIFA president, he was a skilled administrator with a fervent passion for trying to modernise and improve the game.

One Blatter idea that fell by the wayside was something called “6+5”.

It was as controversial as it was intriguing….

Paris Saint-Germain are interested in signing Manchester United goalkeeper Mary Earps.

The French club are keen on recruiting the 30-year-old and with her existing deal ending this summer, teams abroad can sign pre-contract agreements with her.

Although nothing has been agreed, Earps is thought to be keen on a move away from United, with no new agreement in place and her current contract expiring in June.

It was recently confirmed that Earps joined A&V Sports. The agency represents a number of female footballers including the likes of Kenza Dali, Kadeisha Buchanan, Ada Hegerberg and Teagan Micah.

The Athletic previously reported that Earps expressed her desire to depart from United last summer.

Negotiations for a new contract began after England’s European Championship victory in July 2022, but talks have not progressed. 

United turned down a world-record bid for a goalkeeper when Arsenal tried to sign Earps before the Women’s Super League (WSL) summer transfer window closed on September 14.

Earps, who won BBC Sports Personality of the Year for 2023, recently expressed her frustration with ongoing speculation about her future at United, calling it an “injustice”.

She said in December: “I don’t know what happens currently.

“What I will say is there is a lot of stuff…

Qatar Sports Investment (QSI) has sold a minority stake in Paris Saint-Germain to U.S. based private investment firm Arctos Partners.

Arctos is purchasing a 12.5 per cent stake of the Ligue 1 club in a move that would value PSG at around €4.25billion (£3.64bn, $4.58bn), according to sources close to the deal.

PSG state that QSI will continue to have full control of all decisions at the club, while Arctos will not influence any on-field matters.

PSG state the investment from Arctos will support the club’s “operations and real estate initiatives”, including in relation to the stadium and their Poissy training ground, which opened this year. Arctos will also focus on the development of PSG’s women’s side and provide strategic services to help the club expand into new markets.

PSG are not Arctos’ first venture into sporting investment, with the firm already holding minority stakes in over 30 sports properties across MLB, NBA, NHL, Formula 1 and football including the LA Dodgers, the Golden State Warriors and Aston Martin. Arctos is also an investor in Fenway Sports Group, the owners of Liverpool, while it acquired a £29.2m stake in Italian club Atalanta in May 2022.

PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi said: “As a club and institution, we are entering the next exciting…

After moving back to Paris Saint-Germain from Spain in the summer of 2021, midfielders Kheira Hamraoui and Aminata Diallo had lots in common.

Both France internationals, they followed the same Muslim faith, stayed in the same hotel in their first few weeks at the Paris club and shared a summer holiday to Tanzania. They were also in the same place at the same time when a brutal attack occurred in Chatou, west of Paris, on November 4, 2021.

On that day, two years ago, the footballers’ lives took very different paths.

On the journey back home from a team dinner, Hamraoui and Diallo were stopped by two masked men. One hit Hamraoui with an iron bar, targeting her legs, and the other held Diallo to the steering wheel.

Reports soon emerged that Diallo was linked to the attack so she could take Hamraoui’s place in the PSG team.

In September 2022, 10 months on, Diallo and five men were arrested and charged with three counts of aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy. According to a police report, Diallo instigated the attack on Hamraoui, her motive being “violent jealousy”.

One man admitted to beating up Hamraoui and another is suspected of pinning Diallo to the steering wheel. The men…

Welcome to The Athletic Mini, a short format you will see in the coming weeks on some of our soccer coverage. 

On November 4 2021, on the way home from a Paris Saint-Germain team dinner, Kheira Hamraoui and Aminata Diallo were stopped by two masked men. One hit Hamraoui with an iron bar, targeting her legs, and the other held Diallo to the steering wheel.

Ten months on, Diallo and five men were arrested and charged with three counts of aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy. According to a police report, Diallo instigated the attack on Hamraoui, her motive being “violent jealousy”. Diallo, now playing for Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia (employers of Cristiano Ronaldo), has always maintained she is innocent.

The Athletic’s Charlotte Harpur has spoken to those close to PSG, the players’ lawyers and the public prosecutor to unpick the tangled web of what has happened to the former PSG team-mates in the last two years.

Hamraoui, who joined Club America in Mexico in September, has written a book and is filming a documentary and it’s little surprise: this extraordinary web of claim and counter-claim has had ramifications far beyond PSG’s women’s team.

Have a read of Charlotte’s report but, if you don’t have time, here are the key things you should know:

• A leaked…