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Spain World Cup team invited for night-out after ‘boredom’ claim

Spain's Women's World Cup team has been invited for a free night-out in the sleepy New Zealand city of Palmerston North after claims they quit their base there early out of boredom.

Spain World Cup team invited for night-out after 'boredom' claim
Spain's players react at the end of the 2023 Women's World Cup Group C football match between Spain and Zambia at Eden Park in Auckland on July 26, 2023. Photo: Saeed KHAN/AFP.

Spain’s Women’s World Cup team has been invited for a free night-out in the sleepy New Zealand city of Palmerston North after claims they quit their base there early out of boredom.

The team denied that was the case and said they were moving to Wellington to prepare for their final group game against Japan on Monday and a potential last-16 match both in the New Zealand capital.

An earlier media report said the world’s sixth-ranked team had deserted the city because “the lack of things to do in the area has taken its toll” after two weeks in Palmerston North.

Spanish journalists following the team have made similar complaints about the city, which has a population of about 90,000 and an unfashionable reputation.

Palmerston North’s mayor Grant Smith was compelled to respond, telling news outlet Stuff: “I’d be quite happy to show the Spanish team a night-out in Palmy.”

Smith told The New Zealand Herald he appreciated that his city was no Barcelona or Madrid, before adding: “But we are comfortable in our own skin as a city.”

A spokeswoman for the team said they had enjoyed their stay in Palmerston North.

“We can’t speak highly enough of our stay there,” she told AFP.

“Moving to Wellington has nothing to do with being bored. We were treated very well and the players have had no complaints.”

It is the second time the Spanish have ruffled feathers in New Zealand.

They issued an apology before the tournament began after a video emerged of players making fun of the haka, a ceremonial dance considered sacred to indigenous Maori people.

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SPORT

Tour de France to start in Barcelona in 2026

The Tour de France will start in Barcelona in 2026, the third time the race has started in Spain in over a century, organisers ASO announced on Tuesday.

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“Barcelona is a prestigious city and it is a city of sport,” Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme told AFP.

He said two complete stages would take place in Catalonia and the third stage would also begin there before crossing into France.

Cycling’s most famous race started in Saint Sebastian in 1992 and in Bilbao last year.

This year the Tour starts in the Italian city of Florence on June 29 before reverting to Lille next year.

This year’s Tour de France will end in Nice on July 21 in a change from its normal route because of the preparations for the Olympics in Paris.

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