Fulham

Fulham’s friendly in Malaga turned sour as the Premier League club walked off ahead of a penalty shootout.

Fulham’s preseason match against Malaga turned out to be not too friendly when the English club walked off and coach Alvaro Arbeloa was red-carded for complaining to the referees.

La Liga host Malaga scored a 90th-minute equaliser to make the score 2-2. Malaga said a penalty shootout was scheduled. Fulham said there wasn’t. Malaga kicked a penalty into an open net and claimed the Costa del Sol trophy on Wednesday.

The scenes were an echo of the Africa Cup of Nations final in January when Senegal walked off the field in protest at the awarding of a penalty to Morocco.

In response to the events on the southern coast of Spain, Fulham said on the social media platform, X: “We can confirm that prior to the match, both teams agreed that there would not be a penalty shootout in the event of a draw.”

Former Real Madrid coach Arbeloa was sent off for arguing with the officiating crew at the end of the match.

Malaga said a penalty shootout was scheduled but “Fulham left the pitch claiming that a shootout had not been included in the contract”.

Senegal’s match against hosts Morocco at the 2025 edition of AFCON, which extended into 2026, did eventually resume with the Atlas Lions missing the penalty that had been awarded to them.

The Lions of Teranga went on to win a penalty shootout to claim the trophy.

The title has since been withdrawn from them by the Confederation of African Football after an appeal by Morocco.

Senegal have taken that case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Fulham have signed Gonzalo Garcia and Cesar Palacios from Real Madrid on five-year deals.

Garcia, 22, made 39 appearances for the Spanish giants last term, scoring eight goals in all competitions.

The forward, who won his first cap for Spain in June, will reunite with new Fulham manager Alvaro Arbeloa, for a reported fee of around £34m, with the pair having worked together at the Bernabeu.

“I’m very grateful, very happy to be here,” Garcia said.

“I have to thank the board and Arbeloa for the trust they’ve put in me, and I’m very, very excited to start.”

The highly rated striker, joint-top scorer at the Club World Cup last summer, will be joined at Craven Cottage by former Real team-mate Palacios.

The 21-year-old attacking midfielder also arrives on a contract that runs until the summer of 2031, although the club has the option to extend the agreements for both players by a further 12 months.

Palacios made five appearances for Real’s senior side – all from the substitutes bench – and has played for Spain at under-20 level.

Newport were four points adrift of safety in the fourth tier when Fuchs was named as Dave Hughes’ successor in November last year.

The Austrian guided Newport to survival in League Two, but left the club on the eve of their return for pre-season ahead of the 2026-27 campaign.

The arrival of Mullins means it is the third successive summer that there has been a managerial change at Rodney Parade.

He is also the fourth permanent boss appointed by owner Huw Jenkins since his January 2024 takeover of the club, following Nelson Jardim, Hughes and Fuchs in the hot seat.

Former England Under-21 international Mullins – who also played for Reading, Birmingham City and Notts County – moved into coaching within Watford’s youth system in 2016.

Having managed the Hornets’ under-23s, he twice took temporary charge of Watford’s senior team, following the exits of Quique Sánchez Flores and Nigel Pearson from Vicarage Road.

Mullins joined Colchester United as an assistant in 2020 and – following a stint as interim boss – took permanent charge of the U’s in May 2021, but was sacked less than a year later.

He went on to have a brief stint in charge of the Turks and Caicos Islands national team in 2023 before joining Fulham as under-21 boss later that year.

In his first campaign in charge, Mullins led the young Cottagers to Premier League Cup glory with a 4-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur Under-21s in the final.

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

The former interim 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.

Former Tottenham and Brentford boss Thomas Frank was linked to the Fulham job, while ex-Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna was deemed too expensive at £8m before factoring in his salary and staff costs.

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.

“We have got a few people that the board are talking to that are very exciting and interesting candidates.

“There have been people who we have been linked to, where it says they were the frontrunner or that there was conversations, that were people we have never talked to or never even had a conversation about.”

Fulham are also known to have held talks with Kieran McKenna, who has since departed as manager of Ipswich Town following their promotion to the Premier League, saying he wanted a break to spend time with his family.

Khan said: “There have been some rumours, but at the same time, we have had lots of conversations and meetings. We have been actively talking.

“There are two in particular who have had multiple meetings with the board and who we really like, but we are open to more conversations and talking to more people. We are working on that process right now.”

Fulham finished 11th in the table last season, missing out on a place in Europe by two points.

A former defender for both Liverpool and West Ham, Arbeloa was in charge of Real Madrid at the end of last season on an interim basis, having replaced Xabi Alonso – who has been appointed Chelsea‘s new boss – midway through the campaign.

After a successful 13-year playing career at Stamford Bridge, Lampard started his managerial career at Derby before spells at Chelsea, Everton and then Coventry in 2024.

Benfica are looking to appoint a successor to Jose Mourinho, who has left the club and signed a three-year deal to become Real Madrid’s new head coach.

Mourinho, 63, took over at Benfica for a second spell in September and led them to third place in the Primeira Liga.

Silva joined Fulham in July 2021 from Everton and guided them back to the Premier League in his first season, following the club’s relegation to the Championship a year earlier.

The Cottagers finished 11th in the top flight last season, level on 52 points with Chelsea.