Football round-up: Former Brazil great Rivaldo tells tourists to skip Olympics

In other news, Jupp Heynckes turns down Pep’s invite to party with Bayern Munich.

Rivaldo is worried about the crime situation in Rio de Janeiro. Alejandro Bolivar / EPA
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Brazil football great Rivaldo is telling tourists to stay away from the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro because of the danger of endemic violence.

Rivaldo posted the warning on his Instagram account and alluded to the case of a 17-year-old woman killed on Saturday in a shootout.

“Things are getting uglier here every day,” Rivaldo wrote. “I advise everyone with plans to visit Brazil for the Olympics in Rio – to stay home. You’ll be putting your life at risk here. This is without even speaking about the state of public hospitals and all the Brazilian political mess. Only God can change the situation in our Brazil.”

The Olympics open in just under three months.

In a recent statement, Amnesty International said at least 11 people were killed in police shootings in Rio’s impoverished favelas in April. It said at least 307 people were killed by police last year, accounting for 20 percent of the homicides in the city.

Heynckes turns down Pep’s invite to party with Bayern

Bayern Munich’s treble-winning former coach Jupp Heynckes has turned down Pep Guardiola’s invite to help celebrate the club’s historic fourth straight German league title this Saturday in the Bavarian capital.

Heynckes, 71, steered Bayern to the 2013 treble of Uefa Champions League, German Cup and Bundesliga titles before his successor Guardiola became head coach for the 2013/14 season.

The Spaniard continued Heynckes’s success by steering Bayern to the German league title in each of his following three seasons in charge.

Bayern have won this season’s Bundesliga title, making them the first club to win the German league title four years in a row.

But Heynckes has turned down Guardiola’s invite to join the party this Saturday at the Allianz Arena, after the final game of the season at home to Hanover, in what will be the Spaniard’s final home game before coaching Manchester City next season.

“Many thanks for the invite, but the party belongs to Pep,” Heynckes told German daily Bild. “Not just because of the fourth [straight] title, but also because it will be his farewell party.”

Mahrez and Martial scoop Facebook awards

Leicester City winger Riyad Mahrez and Manchester United forward Anthony Martial landed the top prizes in the 2016 Facebook Football Awards, which were announced on Monday.

Algerian star Mahrez, whose 17 goals and 11 assists inspired Leicester to the Premier League title, won Player of the Year, while France international Martial, 20, was voted Young Player of the Year.

The awards for the 2015-16 English Premier League season were voted on by almost a million Facebook users in 193 countries, according to a press release from the social networking giant.

“It’s something special and something big as well, because it’s from all over the world,” said 25-year-old Mahrez, who was also elected the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) Player of the Year.

“I thank them and thanks to all of my fans. I love all my fans. I am very happy.”

Poyet named Real Betis coach

Gus Poyet, who has been in charge of AEK Athens this season, will be the new coach of Real Betis after the club said earlier on Monday that incumbent Juan Merino would be leaving at the end of the season.

“Betis have signed Uruguayan Gustavo Poyet for the next two seasons,” the club said in a statement.

The Spanish side are 14th in the 20-team La Liga with 42 points from 37 matches. Betis, who are safe from relegation, play their final game of the season at home to Getafe on Sunday.

Poyet joined AEK in October but announced last month, on the eve of a Greek Cup semi-final second leg match against Atromitos, that he would be quitting the club at the end of the campaign.

Cameroon goalkeeper dies at 26

The goalkeeper of a Cameroonian women’s team has died after collapsing before a first division game, less than 48 hours after the death of Patrick Ekeng, the country’s football federation announced on Monday.

Jeanine Christelle Djomnang, 26, fell ill during the warm-up prior to a Femina Stars Ebolowa match on Sunday, with the cause of her death still unknown as the federation awaits a medical report.

Her death follows that of Cameroon international Ekeng, who collapsed while playing a first division match on Friday with his Romanian side Dinamo Bucharest.

The player fell to the ground without any contact with another player in the 70th minute of the game against Viitorul, just seven minutes after coming on as a substitute.

He was rushed to hospital but doctors were unable to resuscitate him.

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