•Safwan Awae

A 24-year-old footballer,Safwan Awae has died and 12 other players were injured after lightning struck a football pitch during a match in southern Thailand.

The incident occurred on August 4, 2026, at Santiphap Stadium in Narathiwat province as a monsoon storm brought heavy rain during the game.

Video footage from the match shows players running across the rain-soaked pitch when a lightning bolt suddenly struck the ground near them, producing a bright flash followed by flames and smoke.

The lightning struck Safwan Awae, who collapsed on the pitch.Spectators and others at the stadium immediately rushed onto the field in an attempt to help the player, while emergency responders were called to the scene.

• David Owori, SC Villa captain

Uganda international footballer David Owori, captain of one of the country’s biggest soccer clubs, has died after an assault in the capital Kampala, police said.

Owori, 28, captain of ‌SC Villa, was critically injured by unidentified assailants in a suburb of Kampala on Tuesday, police spokesperson Racheal Kawala said.

He was found unconscious by passers-by, who took him to a nearby hospital.

He was transferred to another hospital where he was later pronounced ⁠dead, Kawala said.

“David was not just a footballer. He was both a leader and an inspiration to a generation. As Captain of SC Villa, he led with courage, humility and passion. In the Uganda Cranes jersey, he carried the hopes of a nation,” the Federation of Uganda Football Associations said in a statement.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has received the “full support” of senior directors on Wednesday at a crisis meeting in Morocco.

Infantino has come under increasing pressure, even from within his organisation, over his handling of the aborted plan to open the World Cup to private investment , fuelling calls for him to step down.

In a statement Wednesday, FIFA’s leadership acknowledged “that errors were also made after the proposal was leaked to media”.

After Wednesday’s meeting in Rabat, the FIFA Secretary General and members of the FIFA Management Board in attendance said in a statement they “reaffirmed their full support for FIFA President Gianni Infantino, as the only official elected by the 211 FIFA Member Associations.