Emmanuel Adebayor part of World Cup bid – 15 years on from boiling Arsenal p*** for City
One of the most iconic moments of Manchester City vs Arsenal was produced by Emmanuel Adebayor - who's now acting more maturely for the 2030 World Cup bidding
Former Premier League striker and enemy of many Arsenal fans Emmanuel Adebayor has taken on an ambassadorial role for Morocco, Portugal and Spain’s 2030 World Cup bid.
Manchester City host the Gunners in a gigantic top-of-the-table clash later today (March 31), with a top-spot in the title race potentially on the line. The latter visit the Etihad Stadium as leaders on 64 points.
But they sit just one point above Liverpool – as well as their upcoming opponents. It’s the type of affair where, whoever takes the three points, if anyone, will be spoken about as favourites to win the title from now until the end of the season in May.
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Arsenal are on the hunt for their first Premier League trophy lift in what would be 20 years, while City are looking to become the first side to win four in a row.
It’s also the exact fixture in which Adebayor infamously scored for the Citizens against his former club Arsenal in a 4-2 win in 2009 and ran the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the away supporters.
What's your favourite celebration in Premier League history? Let us know in the comments section.
Obviously, this didn’t go down well with a lot of the Arsenal faithful, but Adebayor has since called for them to “laugh it off and move on”.
On the topic of moving on, Adebayor, who called an end to his playing days in March of last year, has taken on a new responsibility in the football world. He has been named as the ambassador for Africa in Morocco, Portugal and Spain’s bid for the 2030 World Cup.
Recently, the unopposed bid released advanced plans for hosting the competition and its slogan YallaVamos, which means ‘for football, for the world, for tomorrow’.
The main strengths of the bid were highlighted as modern football infrastructure, short travel times between the three host nations, and the passion for the sport within each of them.
Adebayor joins high-profile figures in football, past and present, all of whom are representing their respective countries in the bid. These names include Luis Figo, Andres Iniesta, Cristiano Ronaldo and Achraf Hakimi.