Fulham have appointed Alvaro Arbeloa as their new manager on a three-year contract.

The former Real Madrid boss, 43, succeeds Marco Silva after he agreed to join Benfica.

“It is a real honour for me to be embarking on this new stage at Fulham FC, the oldest club in London,” he said. “I feel a great sense of responsibility and I’m deeply grateful to [chairman] Mr [Shahid] Khan and [vice-chairman] Tony Khan for the trust they have placed in me with Fulham in the Premier League.”

Chairman Shahid Khan said: “Alvaro is, by his own admission, very ambitious. He has spent quality time around the best players, clubs and methods in the game, experiences which will serve him well here at Fulham.

“Alvaro also has great interest in our academy set-up and believes in giving young players a chance. I loved hearing that from Alvaro, as well as his intent on playing attacking football.”

Arbeloa’s candidacy was supported by excellent references from recently re-elected Real Madrid president Florentino Perez and the Spanish club’s new manager Jose Mourinho, who he played for at Santiago Bernabeu.

The former full-back left Real Madrid at the end of last season and was replaced by Mourinho, who left Benfica. Silva then opted to move to the Portuguese side as Mourinho’s replacement despite contract offers from Fulham.

In an interview last month, Fulham’s vice-chairman said Silva had previously “indicated he wanted to stay” but that “Marco changed his mind” and surprised the board by leaving Craven Cottage after five successful years.

Arbeloa was a youth coach in Madrid before taking over as interim manager following the departure of Xabi Alonso in January.

He led Real Madrid for the last 28 games of the season as they finished second in La Liga and were knocked out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage by Bayern Munich.

Arbeloa is keen to bring players with him, including attacking midfielder Franco Mastantuono, full-back Fran Garcia and forward Gonzalo Garcia.

The Egyptian Football Association has reportedly filed a formal complaint with FIFA and demanded that the officiating team be removed from the World Cup following their controversial quarter-final defeat to Argentina.

Egypt’s hopes of a historic upset were dashed as the reigning world champions, led by Lionel Messi, staged a dramatic comeback.

Argentina scored three goals in the final 15 minutes to overturn a two-goal deficit and secure a place in the semi-finals.

Enzo Fernandez’s late header sealed the victory for Argentina, but the Egyptian camp believes referee Francois Letexier heavily influenced the result.

According to reports from Diario AS, Egyptian FA president Hany Abo Rida has submitted a formal protest over two key decisions that went against his team.

The Pharaohs had a second goal disallowed by VAR due to a foul committed in the build-up. However, they allege that a similar infraction was overlooked by the officials just before Argentina scored their winning goal.

Furthermore, Egypt felt they were denied a clear penalty moments before the decisive goal when Mohamed Salah was challenged in the box by Julian Alvarez.

In their complaint, the Egyptian federation is seeking an explanation for what they term “controversial decisions” and has called for a full investigation.

They have also officially requested that the French refereeing team be barred from officiating any further matches in the tournament.

Oil prices rose by more than five per cent on Wednesday as President Donald Trump declared that the interim agreement with Iran on peace was over.

Trump said this following U.S. strikes on Iran in reaction to attacks on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

The price of Brent crude oil jumped 5.6% to more than $78 a barrel. U.S. benchmark crude surged 5.8% to $74.55 a barrel.

“For me, I think it’s over,” Trump responded when asked about the status of the ceasefire.

“It’s just a waste of time dealing with them,” he said while describing Iranian leaders as “sick” and “vicious, violent people.”

He spoke ahead of the two-day NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey.

Crude prices had declined recently from spikes well above $100 a barrel to around the levels they were at before the war with Iran began in late February.

Iran and the United States agreed as part of their interim deal on ending the war to allow ships to pass through the Strait without paying charges for 60 days.

But Tehran has insisted it must control the vessels’ routes and vowed to later charge fees for passage.

The ships attacked Tuesday all appeared to be using a route close to Oman’s shore, rather than one ordered by Tehran.

The upsets for oil markets have coincided with waves of worries that the craze for artificial intelligence-related shares has pushed prices past the amount of gains in productivity and profits likely to result from massive investments in computer chip production capacity and data centers.
Analysts said the latest developments have significantly increased uncertainty over the future of negotiations and heightened concerns about stability in the global oil market.

The Chief Commodities Analyst at SEB, Bjarne Schieldrop, said the breakdown of talks had cast serious doubt on the planned 60-day negotiation process, adding that oil prices closer to $80 per barrel better reflect current market conditions.