All 20 clubs from Serie A have written a joint open letter to ask for help in dealing with the issue of racism.

Italian football has seen a rise in racist incidents at matches this season with Romelu Lukaku having been the victim of monkey chants at Cagliari, while Mario Balotelli threatened to walk off the pitch following abuse at Verona.

A campaign, which sources have told ESPN FC was launched by AC Milan, has seen every club in Italy's top flight join forces to seek assistance in combatting the problem.

"We have to publicly recognise that we have a serious problem with racism," the letter read. "It's a problem that we have not done enough to combat over the years.

"Images of players being racially abused in Italian football have been viewed and discussed all around the world this season and that shames us all.

"No individual should ever be subjected to racist abuse -- inside or outside of football -- and we can no longer stay silent on this issue or wait for it to magically disappear.

"Driven by the clubs, positive conversations have been held in recent weeks with Lega Serie A, FIGC and international experts on how to tackle and eradicate this issue from the game.

"We, the undersigned clubs, are united by our desire for serious change and Lega Serie A has stated its intention to lead the way by delivering a comprehensive and robust Serie A anti-racism policy, stricter new laws and regulations and a plan for educating those within the game about the scourge of racism.

"We don't have any more time to waste. We must now act with speed, with purpose and with unity and we call on you, the fans, to support us in this vitally important endeavour.

"Yours sincerely,

"Atalanta, Bologna, Brescia, Cagliari, Fiorentina, Genoa, Hellas Verona, Inter Milan, Juventus, Lazio, Lecce, AC Milan, Napoli, Parma, AS Roma, Sampdoria, Sassuolo, SPAL, Torino, Udinese."

Information from ESPN FC's Andrew Cesare Richardson was used in this report

Caretaker manager Freddie Ljungberg's message to the squad was to play the Arsenal way, when he addressed them for the first time since replacing Unai Emery, sources have told ESPN FC.

Emery was sacked following the 2-1 Europa League defeat against Eintracht Frankfurt on Thursday and Ljungberg has replaced him on an interim basis.

Ljungberg, who won two Premier League titles as an Arsenal player and had been working as a first-team coach at the club, told the players to play the Arsenal way, with movement and energy. To have fun and give fun to the fans as well.

Sources have told ESPN FC that they listened and took it all on board.

On Saturday, the Arsenal squad will train in the morning before taking a coach to Norwich.

Following his appointment Ljungberg posted on Twitter: "However long I oversee Arsenal for I will give everything I have to put smiles on faces again. We have a busy few weeks ahead and the team needs your support. Let's get to work!"

The club are winless in all competitions in seven games and sit eight points behind fourth-place Chelsea in the Premier League after just 13 games this season.

Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho refused to answer when asked if he would have taken the Arsenal job had he been available.

Unai Emery was sacked following a 2-1 home defeat by Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League with Freddie Ljungberg installed as caretaker manager.

"There's no point in telling you," Mourinho said in his news conference ahead of Spurs' clash with Bournemouth. "I'm so happy here, I cannot think of the possibility of another club.

"If you put any other club in the world in front of me now, I'd say no."

Following Tottenham's 4-2 win over Olympiakos, Mourinho was full of praise for ball boy Callum Hynes after his role in the build up to Spurs' equaliser.

Mourinho gave Hynes a high-five while celebrating the goal, which the 15-year-old said "made my life." The ex-Chelsea and Manchester United boss said Hynes has been spending even more time with the players.

"He comes for lunch, for a prematch meal with the boys," he said. "Happy days for the kid and hopefully we gave him amazing memories for the rest of his life, so beautiful for him."

Unai Emery was hung out to dry at Arsenal. This doesn't mean it is wrong that Emery has been sacked (it isn't) or that he wasn't largely responsible for his own demise (he was). But in the era of the "personality manager," where selling an idea and an identity can be almost as important as results, he was never going to be right for the job unless he had a strong, visible, public voice capable of convincing fans, media and the ex-players that this wasn't a club in a permanent state of drift.

And he never got that.

Charisma and communication matter. When Emery spoke in public, he delivered a stream of cliches and non sequiturs, delivered in a slapdash way. His grasp of English didn't help, but nor was it the central issue: he isn't much clearer in Spanish either.

As the face of any club, let alone one that for more than two decades had been sculpted in the image of Arsene Wenger as compelling, thoughtful and inspirational, Emery was always going to struggle. In fact, scan the other 19 Premier League clubs and see how many have a less charismatic manager: you won't need more than the fingers on one hand to count them, or possibly more than a single finger.

Did it necessarily mean Arsenal were doomed to failure the minute they appointed him? No. In fact, you could even make an argument that after two decades of a Wenger-size personality a more low-key coach, together with a top-drawer footballing structure that simply rebuilt the club and delivered results, might make more sense. That's what former chief executive Ivan Gazidis was aiming to do when he brought in Raul Sanllehi as head of football, Sven Mislintat as head of recruitment (later effectively replaced by Edu as technical director) and Huss Fahmy as chief contract negotiator.

If this was a tech start-up, Emery would be the brilliant coder who designed the system architecture, while the others would run the business side: recruiting talent, schmoozing clients and investors and negotiating deals. The problem is, other than Edu (and that's just because he played for the club for four seasons), the other guys wouldn't get recognised walking around the Arsenal club superstore.

So, week after week, it was Emery in the spotlight and it was Emery taking ownership of every decision. That included all the poor choices that were made before his arrival, all the poor choices made at boardroom level and, of course, the many poor choices he made.

Let's remind ourselves of what he inherited. It was only last January that Emery announced he could only make loan signings in the winter transfer window. That was in large part due to the decision 12 months earlier to tie up some £115 million in salaries -- one fifth of the total wage bill -- on three players who are all now 30: Mesut Ozil, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Ozil, one of the highest-paid players in the world on a deal worth £350,000-a-week, has started less than half of Arsenal's Premier League games since Emery's appointment and lasted 90 minutes just 13 times. Mkhitaryan isn't even at the club anymore, farmed out on loan to AS Roma. Aubameyang has played and been prolific, though given they already had Alexandre Lacazette, you wonder if signing another expensive striker was the best use of resources. Bottom line though is that, as a whole, those huge decisions made in the space of a week backfired badly and would mark the Emery era before he even arrived.

It didn't end there, of course. Arsenal's transfer activity seemed to epitomise a lack of clear thinking. Ahead of Emery's first season, they picked up a short-term band-aid of a right-back in Stephan Lichtsteiner on a one-year deal even though they already had two viable right-sided defenders in Hector Bellerin and Carl Jenkinson. He played 14 Premier League games. Then in the autumn, they offered a new deal to club stalwart Aaron Ramsey, only to then rescind it and watch him leave on a free transfer to Juventus. Last summer, they dragged the Shkodran Mustafi and Laurent Koscielny contract situations out until the very last minute (Mustafi stayed, while Koscielny left in acrimonious fashion) before grabbing another knee-jerk band-aid in David Luiz (again, small fee, but he's 32 and on a huge salary).

Despite all this, it's worth remembering that Emery dragged Arsenal to the Europa League final in May, overcoming Napoli and Valencia along the way. But for some poor finishing against Brighton, they would have finished third and be in the Champions League this season. And for all the negativity and chaos, they are one point away from fifth place and have all-but qualified for the knockout rounds of the Europa League. This is not to exonerate Emery; it's simply to provide context. There is no question that he was also the architect of his own demise with a series of decisions that are difficult to wrap your head around. He lost the fan-base, with the Emirates deserted for his last match, a 2-1 Europa League defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt.

There's Denis Suarez, the solitary mid-season loan reinforcement who had starred for him at Sevilla. He started as many games for Arsenal as Gunnersaurus (zero) and was on the pitch for a total of 101 minutes. Then there's Nicolas Pepe, the club's record signing who has started less than two-thirds of league games (and none since October), and rarely in a 4-3-3 -- easily his best position and the one he played in becoming one of the most coveted players in Europe with Lille.

Then there's the whole captaincy debacle. It's not that putting it to a vote was necessarily a bad idea, it's that a competent man-manager ought to work out that if the players select Granit Xhaka, already one of the most abused and targeted players by his own fans, then he'd better know Xhaka well enough that he's not put off by the boos, but maybe even thrives on them. We all know how well that worked out. It all boiled over when substituted against Crystal Palace, and Xhaka was stripped of the captaincy.

The fact that Emery inherited Ozil isn't his fault. Nor is it his fault that Ozil was understandably traumatised by an attempted carjacking that affected his start to the season. What is his fault is the way he handled him, especially in public when he appeared to question whether the player was actually injured. Maybe it was part of a strategy to get Ozil to take his giant salary somewhere else. Maybe it was the fact Emery is often literal and grasps nuances about as well as Data from Star Trek: TNG. Whatever the case, the outcome was that his highest paid -- and least saleable -- star became isolated and unhappy.

To further compound matters, guess who played every minute of Arsenal's last three league outings (after making one appearance since last May)? Why, Ozil of course. Which then meant ditching the 4-3-3 and moving to Ozil in the hole behind two strikers and Pepe watching from the bench. It smelled of a guy ripping up the blueprint and proceeding by trial and error.

That, fundamentally, is why he's no longer Arsenal manager. There was no vision or, if there was, it changed far too often.

Arsenal's defense is Exhibit A and while it's tempting to mock the players for "not being good enough," it's pretty clear that neither the revolving door of formations and personnel, nor the insistence on playing out from the back, helped. That's all on Emery and it's disappointing because his time at Sevilla (and, even more so, before that at Valencia and Almeria) showed he's tactically astute.

But you can only do that if you have the faith of the players and you can get your message across. At Paris Saint-Germain, it didn't matter as much because there was so much talent. At Arsenal, it has made all the difference. He remains a very good coach, albeit one who was unable to sell his ideas -- to fans, media and players -- and then stopped trying and simply did an about-turn on a near-weekly basis. At a different club, with a different structure -- where the people upstairs show their face and participate in selling the club and the project -- it might have been different.

Here, he was left alone. And he never had the full skill set to deal with the demands of this particular job on his own.

Gary Wilson has been replaced as Ireland's T20I captain, with Andy Balbirnie - who was recently confirmed as the new Test and ODI captain - taking the reins in his place.

Wilson took on the role in June 2018, and led the side in 25 games as full-time captain. Ireland finished third in the T20 World Cup qualifier under his leadership, taking them to the first round of the tournament itself in Australia next year, and won 12, lost 12 and tied one of his games at the helm.

ALSO READ: Porterfield steps down as captain, Balbirnie named as replacement

Andrew White, the chairman of selectors, said that his panel and Wilson had agreed Balbirnie should "have the opportunity to forge his leadership style and his standards across all three formats", and praised the "number of exciting young players" that had been brought through during his tenure.

"Both Gary and the selectors believe that Andrew Balbirnie should have the opportunity to forge his leadership style and his standards across all three formats," White said.

"Whilst he was announced as Test Match and ODI captain a few weeks ago, after consultation with the selectors and Gary it was agreed by all that with similar players likely to be utilised across all formats it was important that Andrew was allowed to stamp his mark on the new generation of players coming through."

"Gary has been an inspirational leader and our qualification was largely down to his attention to detail in planning and getting the best out of his players in a short space of time. We thank Gary for his candour and professionalism during this process. He will remain an integral part of the international setup as we continue to build this exciting group of young players."

Wilson said it was an "absolute honour" to have captained his country.

"It was something that I dreamt about as a child," he said. "When I took on the job 18 months ago it was always the remit to qualify for the [T20] World Cup and reassess from there.

"I'm very much looking forward to continuing as a player and working with Balbo in the future. I think it will prove to be a great appointment and believe that it is important that he, as a captain, has control of all three sides and gets to take it in a direction that he sees fit."

Head coach Graham Ford said: "Gary has been an exceptional leader of this young squad over the last 18 months, and it has been his experience, incredible passion for Irish cricket and clarity of thinking that has been the major contribution to the team's exciting progress over the last 18 months and qualifying for the T20 World Cup.

"It is a mark of Gary's professionalism that he has understood the interests of the team, and wholeheartedly committed his full support to Andrew in his newly consolidated leadership role."

Ireland centre Bundee Aki has agreed a contract extension with Connacht which will keep him at the club until the end of the 2022-23 season.

Aki, 29, joined Connacht in 2014 and played a pivotal role as they clinched a shock title triumph in the then Pro12 two years later.

The New Zealand-born player made his Ireland debut in 2017 and has won 23 caps for his adopted country.

"Connacht has become home to me and my family," said Aki.

"I am grateful for the opportunity I have been given to represent both Connacht and Ireland and am delighted to extend my IRFU contract.

"The whole of Connacht have been incredibly supportive of both me and my family and the Ireland supporters have been fantastic from the very first day I was selected for the national squad."

Aki has received widespread plaudits for his commitment to the Galway community as much as Connacht's ranks and the Irish province's coach Andy Friend lauded the centre's "complete embrace of every aspect of life in the west of Ireland".

"Bundee has been an incredible player for Connacht since his arrival in the Sportsground," said the Connacht coach.

"He shares the ambition that we have for the seasons ahead and what he can achieve as a Connacht player."

In 2018, Aki played all five games in Ireland's Grand Slam Six Nations success and also started in the win at home to the All Blacks.

He was part of Ireland's World Cup squad this year although his tournament ended prematurely as he was red carded in their final pool match against Samoa.

MEXICO CITY – Loris Hezemans will collect one of his prizes for capturing the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series PRO championship this weekend in Mexico City, Mexico.

The Dutchman will compete in the NASCAR Peak Mexico Series finale, the Gran Premio FedEx, at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez at the wheel of the No. 05 Ford Fusion.

“I am so happy about this opportunity and I want to thank the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series and NASCAR for it. I can’t wait to get the weekend started in the NASCAR Peak Mexico Series,” said the 22-year-old Amsterdam native, who already made his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Road America on Aug. 24. “It’s great to race in NASCAR in so many different countries. I’m a competitive person, so I’ll do my best to learn as much as possible about the car, the track and the series as quickly as possible and be able to compete at the front. I think we have a good chance to bring home a good result and a top-five would be awesome, so I’m really going to get the maximum out of myself. I definitely want to have fun and respect all the championship contenders but I will give them a good fight.”

Hezemans’ Mexican campaign will also represent the second leg of the International exchange that brought current Mexico Series points leader Ruben Garcia Jr. to the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series grid in Valencia, Spain, for the 2019 season opener. Garcia is currently leading the NASCAR Peak Mexico Series points standings and chasing his third Mexican title.

“It is the Euro NASCAR duty to offer our drivers the best possible opportunities all over the world and help them build their professional career,” said NASCAR Whelen Euro Series President CEO Jerome Galpin. “In 10 years, we have already over 25 drivers racing NASCAR in North America from Late Model to the Cup level. We are very happy to offer this race to Loris and we will push hard to continue to develop these programs for all our drivers to race at every level of NASCAR.”

First Brooks Koepka, now Jason Day.

Presidents Cup captain Ernie Els announced Friday that Ben An will replace Day on the International team following Day's withdrawal because of a back injury. This comes just over three weeks since Els selected Day as one of his initial captain's picks to compete in the biennial match in his home country of Australia when it returns to Royal Melbourne December 9-15.

"We wish Jason well and hope his back recovers quickly. We were eager to have Jason as part of the team at Royal Melbourne and his experience will be missed," Els said in a news release. "The good news is that there were a number of strong and qualified players available to choose from when I made my captain's selections. To have someone as steady and talented as Ben An puts us in a great position to succeed. Ben played extremely well this fall and throughout the year and he will fit in nicely on this team."

Last season, An recorded three top-10s and eight top-25s including a third-place finish at the regular-season-ending Wyndham Championship in August. 

After missing out on qualifying for an automatic selection, An strung together an impressive showing during the fall season. He finished third at the Sanderson Farms Championship, T-6 at the CJ Cup and T-8 at the Zozo Championship. In addition, he added a T-14 at the WGC-HSBC Champions.

"I'm sorry to hear that Jason has been forced to withdraw from the International team and I wish him a speedy recovery. It was a huge surprise to receive a call from Ernie who told me that I was in the team," An said. "It has been a goal of mine all season to be on the International team and I am honored to play in my first Presidents Cup. I'm looking forward to joining Ernie and the rest of the team in Melbourne and, more importantly, contribute to the International team's goal to win the Cup."

Day said he was "disappointed" he won't be able to return home to play in either the Australian Open or the Presidents Cup, and had been trying to rehab his back injury, but decided it was best to take some time off to nurse the injury.

"Frustratingly, I've been through back problems before and my medial team decided it best to shut down all practice and play," Els said. "I look forward to playing at home in the near future. My best to all the competitors in Sydney and my teammates in Melbourne.