■ BRAZIL
Ronaldo just needs club
Brazilian World Cup winner Ronaldo, who has been out of action since February with a knee injury, hopes to play again in January — if he can find a club, his doctor said. The 32-year-old’s physiotherapist Bruno Mazzioti told Radio Brasil that the player hopes to train next week with Flamengo. “He’ll train with Flamengo. Then his idea is to return to action in January 2009 although it remains to see which club he will play for,” Mazzioti said. Ronaldo, who suffered a serious left knee injury in February, has been without a club since the end of last season when his contract with AC Milan came to an end. He has been linked with a move to fellow Serie A side Siena, who offered him a deal in which he would be paid 98,000 euros (US$126,200) for every goal scored. The former world player of the year recently took part in a charity match, but only lasted 22 minutes before being substituted, blaming it on the exhaustive regime he was following to return to action.
■ ENGLAND
Torres injured again
Liverpool’s Premier League title push suffered a setback on Thursday when their Spanish international striker Fernando Torres was ruled out for up to three weeks with a hamstring strain. Torres, who had only just returned to the side after five weeks out with a similar problem, picked up the injury in the 1-0 Champions League win over Marseille at Anfield on Wednesday. Defender Fabio Aurelio will be out for a fortnight after picking up a calf problem in the same game. A club spokesman told www.
liverpoolfc.tv: “Fernando has a strain in his right hamstring and will be out of action for between two and three weeks. Fabio has a calf strain in his left leg and will be out for two weeks.”
■ SPAIN
Real sees record revenues
Real Madrid on Thursday posted a pre-tax net profit for the 2007-2008 season of 51.4 million euros (US$66.7 million) and predicted its revenues will total more than 400 million euros next season for the first time in its history. The club’s pre-tax net profit in the 12 months to June 30 was 7.4 million euros higher than that posted during the same time last year. Revenues in 2007/2008 totaled 366 million euros and are expected to climb to 400.2 million euros in the 12-month period to June 30 next year, vice-president Jose Ignacio Rivero told reporters. Real Madrid were the world’s largest revenue-generating club for the third successive season in the 2006-2007 season, according to an annual ranking compiled by business advisory firm Deloitte. The reigning Spanish champions overtook Manchester United as the biggest soccer club by revenue in the 2004-2005 season after a policy of signing big names like David Beckham, Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane led to a surge in sales of replica shirts and other items.
■ UEFA CUP
Police spray fighting fans
Belgian police used water cannon to break up running brawls between fans of Bruges and French side St Etienne before kick-off in the UEFA Cup tie between the two sides in Bruges, Belgium, on Thursday. A police spokesman said numerous fights had broken out outside the stadium. “These scuffles were so serious that there were some injuries suffered by supporters. Two policemen were also hurt and were taken to hospital,” he said. Another police source said around two dozen fans had been arrested.
‘SOURCE OF PRIDE’: Newspapers rushed out special editions and the government sent their congratulations as Shohei Ohtani became the first player to enter the 50-50 club Japan reacted with incredulity and pride yesterday after Shohei Ohtani became the first player in Major League Baseball to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. The Los Angeles Dodgers star from Japan made history with a seventh-inning homer in a 20-4 victory over the Marlins in Miami. “We would like to congratulate him from the bottom of our heart,” top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo. “We sincerely hope Mr Ohtani, who has already accomplished feat after feat and carved out a new era, will thrive further,” he added. The landmark achievement dominated Japanese morning news
When Wang Tao ran away from home aged 17 to become a professional wrestler, he knew it would be a hard slog to succeed in China’s passionate but underdeveloped scene. Years later, he has endured family disapproval, countless side gigs and thousands of hours of brutal training to become China’s “Belt and Road Champion” — but the struggle is far from over. Despite a promising potential domestic market, the Chinese pro wrestling community has been battling for recognition and financial stability for decades. “I have done all kinds of jobs [on the side]... Because in the end, it is very
No team in the CPBL can surpass the Taipei Dome attendance record set by the CTBC Brothers, except when the Brothers team up with Taiwanese rock band Mayday. A record-high 40,000 fans turned out at the indoor baseball venue on Saturday for Brothers veteran Chou Szu-chi’s first farewell game, which was followed by a mini post-game concert featuring Mayday. This broke the previous CPBL record of 34,506 set by the Brothers in early last month, when K-pop singer Hyuna performed after the game, and the dome’s overall record of 37,890 set in early March, which featured the Brothers and the
With a quivering finger, England Subbuteo veteran Rudi Peterschinigg conceded the free-kick that sent his country’s World Cup quarter-final into extra-time before smashing his plastic goalkeeper on the floor in frustration. In the genteel southern English town of Tunbridge Wells, 300 elite players have gathered to play the game they love. “I won’t say this is the best weekend I’ve ever had in my life, but it’s certainly in the top two,” said Hughie Best, 58, who flew in from Perth, Australia, to compete and commentate at the event. Tunbridge Wells is the “spiritual home” of Subbuteo, which was invented there in 1946