■ GERMANY
Bremen in talks with Allofs
Werder Bremen have called an emergency meeting in hopes of convincing sought-after general manager Klaus Allofs to stay at the club. The 51-year-old Allofs has been instrumental in turning the small northern club into a top team, but he alarmed Bremen by saying on Monday that he has received several offers from other clubs. Reports say they include top rivals Bayern Munich. "I cannot confirm that I will stay in Bremen. First we have to talk with each other," Allofs said. The special meeting will be held today by the club's supervisory board, which is expected to offer a sizable pay increase offer to Allofs, whose contract runs out in 2009. "We absolutely want to keep working with Allofs, even if it is the supervisory board that wraps up the contract, not the club's management," club chairman Juergen Born said on Thursday. Allofs, who took over in 1999, forms a highly regarded team with coach Thomas Schaaf. Bremen captured the Bundesliga title in 2003-2004 and have finished in the top three the past four years, making them a regular in the Champions League. Bremen's soaring popularity has threatened to eclipse Bayern in Germany.
■ ROMANIA
Teixeira joins Pandurii
Romanian club Pandurii Targu Jiu are signing a new coach and 11 players from Portugal in a desperate bid to stay in the first division. "Joaquim Teixeira agreed a two-and-a-half year deal and his main task is to avoid relegation," Pandurii Targu Jiu president Marin Condescu told reporters. Condescu said Teixeira's compatriots would be hired by Jan. 7, when the new squad will begin training for the re-start of the Romanian season in late February following a winter break. Teixeira, Pandurii's third boss this season, was on the coaching staff with Porto from 1996-1998 and the Portugal national side from 2000-2002. Pandurii, who are second from bottom, put nine players on the transfer list earlier this month.
■ BRAZIL
Gavilan deal called off
Flamengo will not sign Paraguay midfielder Diego Gavilan because he failed a physical exam on Thursday. "Flamengo's medical department recommended the club not to hire Gavilan," Flamengo said in a brief statement on their Web site. The club did not immediately release details on what type of injury prompted the cancellation. The announcement was made just moments before the 27-year-old Gavilan was to be officially introduced to fans. Flamengo had reached a one-year deal with the defender last week. A former Newcastle United and Udinese player, Gavilan played this season for Brazilian club Gremio. He is serving a 120-day suspension for punching Palmeiras midfielder Jorge Valdivia in the back during a Brazilian league match. The suspension will end in February, but the player has appealed and could be allowed to play earlier.
■ BELGIUM
Mouscron appoint Scifo
Enzo Scifo was hired as coach of Belgian club Excelsior Mouscron on Thursday. Scifo, 41, had been out of soccer for two years. As a player, the midfield playmaker helped Belgium reach the semi-finals at the 1986 World Cup -- the country's best result ever. After a playing career spent at Anderlecht, Italian clubs Inter Milan and Torino, and French teams Bordeaux and Auxerre, Scifo briefly coached Sporting Charleroi. "I had not expected a return like this," Scifo said. Mouscron fired their coach 10 days ago after disappointing results.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
RSS