International Roundup

Kerkrade eyes UEFA Cup spot after win at Excelsior

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -- Roda JC Kerkrade boosted their chances of a place in next season's UEFA Cup by moving up to fourth place in the Dutch first division on Wednesday after a 2-0 away win at Excelsior Rotterdam.

Wiljan Vloet's well-organized team took the lead after only four minutes but were helped by Polish goalie Zigbniew Malkowski who misjudged a 25-metre Tom Soetaers free-kick.

Greek forward Yannis Anastasiou doubled the score after 32 minutes, lifting the ball over Malkowski despite appearing to be in an offside position.

There was no change in the leading positions, with none of the top teams playing.

PSV Eindhoven top the table with 51 points from 20 matches, followed by Ajax Amsterdam (47) and Feyenoord (40) but Roda moved clear of the chasing pack by moving on to 32 points with Willem II Tilburg (31), RKC Waalkwijk (31), NAC Breda (30) and NEC Nijmegen (30) all hot on their heels.

Vitesse Arnhem ended a streak of eight matches without a win when they beat bottom club Zwolle 2-1 at home. Michael Jansen put Vitesse ahead after 32 minutes, but Johnny van Beukering, on loan from Vitesse, equalized for the visitors after an hour.

But it took Vitesse only two minutes to regain the lead with Bob Peeters scoring after 62 minutes to lift them to 13th place.

AZ Alkmaar distanced themselves from the relegation battle with a 3-1 home win over NAC Breda who lost ground in the hunt for a UEFA Cup place.

Michael Lamey and Kenneth Perez gave the former Dutch champions a 2-0 lead inside 20 minutes and although Bart van den Eede brought back NAC ten minutes after the break, any hopes of a further comeback were dashed three minutes from time when Ali El Khattabi made it 3-1.

Deal finally set for World Cup TV rights

BERLIN (AP) -- A marketing company led by German soccer legend Guenter Netzer finally closed a deal Monday for the global television rights to soccer's World Cup.

Infront Sports and Media AG announced that the paperwork was completed with Swiss company KirchSport, part of mogul Leo Kirch's collapsed media empire undergoing insolvency.

Infront won the bidding for the broadcast rights to the sport's premier event on Oct. 10, along with those of the Bundesliga and both the ice hockey and handball world championships.

The amount paid by Netzer and his company for the right to market the television rights to sports' biggest event around the world have never been released publicly.

German newspapers estimated, at the time of the bid, that Infront offered around 300 million euros (US$324 million) for KirchSport's assets. Among the group's financial backers are Robert Louis-Dreyfus, ex-Adidas boss and current president of French club Olympique de Marseille.

Infront will have to pay FIFA, soccer's world governing body, 1 billion euros (US$1.08 billion) for the rights to the next World Cup to be held in Germany.

Infront outbid a Swiss group called Invision, which was led by Dieter Hahn, the former right-hand man of Leo Kirch. His media empire collapsed last year under 8.5 billion euros (US$8.9 billion) in debts.

The deal elevates Netzer, Germany's top television commentator, into one of the most influential soccer figures in his country, and gives the 1974 World Cup winner a presence on the sport's world stage.

German soccer officials have already welcomed Netzer and his group acquiring the broadcast rights to the Bundesliga. Since the collapse of KirchMedia, its been unknown how much the country's top leagues will receive in television money.

"They've chosen a very reliable partner -- basically everything will remain as it is," said Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder, president of the powerful German Soccer Federation.

U.S. rights to the 2006 tournament already have been purchased by a company headed by Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber and formed by MLS investor-operators Anschutz Entertainment Group, The Hunt Sports Group and Dentsu Inc.

For the 2002 tournament in Japan and South Korea, The Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC turned over time slots to MLS, which sold ads and paid production costs.

Lithuania appoint Liubinskas as coach

VILNIUS (Reuters) -- Lithuanian Football Federation appointed Algimantas Liubinskas as new national team coach on Wednesday after Benjaminas Zelkevicius resigned earlier in the day.

The LFF said in a statement that Liubinskas, who was the under-21 coach, would be assisted by FBC Kaunas trainer Saulius Sirmelis and Valdas Ivanauskas.

"(Zelkevicius) has left us at a very bad moment when we still had hope of placing second in (Euro 2004 qualifying) Group Five," Lithuanian Football Federation general director Julius Kvedaras said earlier on Wednesday.

"But this is no reason to lower the demands for the national squad."

The Lietuvos Rytas daily reported that 59-year-old Zelkevicius decided to quit after last week's 2-1 friendly loss to Baltic neighbor Latvia in Antalya, Turkey.

He has remained in Antalya to prepare Kaliningrad's Baltika club, who he also trains, for the start of the Russian first division season.

Lithuania, who are 104th in the latest FIFA rankings, followed up a 2-0 loss at home to Germany in September last year by beating Faroe Islands away 2-0 in October.

They are fourth in Group 5, with three points from three matches, and face qualifiers in Germany on March 29 and at home against Scotland on April 2.

FIFA to decide on Fulham's Marlet transfer on Friday

ZURICH (Reuters) -- Fulham will have to wait until Friday to learn whether FIFA are to penalize them for the way they have handled the 11.5 million pound (US$18.31 million) transfer of Steve Marlet from French champions Lyon.

A meeting of the Players' Status Committee, postponed from Wednesday until Friday, will decide whether to place an embargo on the English premier league club's transfer dealings because Fulham failed to pay an instalment of 2.5 million pounds to Lyon by the January 22 deadline set by FIFA.

"The club will have the chance to provide an explanation to the Players' Status Committee when it meets," said a FIFA spokesman.

"But the meeting has been delayed until Friday because of organisational matters.

"The Committee will consider the matter and decide on any ban. If a ban is decided upon, FIFA will inform the Football Association and it is up to them to make sure the club follow the decision."

Fulham, who signed Marlet from Lyon in August 2001, say they withheld the payments because they were unhappy with the role Barcelona-based agents Sebastien and Pascal Boisseau played in negotiations.

Greek clubs' financial crisis deepens

ATHENS (Reuters) -- The financial crisis in Greek soccer deepened on Tuesday as the government warned that several top clubs would lose their company licenses.

The poor state of finances at 17 professional soccer teams puts them in violation of company law, deputy Development Minister Christos Theodorou told parliament.

Government auditors have been investigating the state of club finances since January, with a full report expected in April.

The clubs at risk include UEFA Cup hopefuls AEK Athens in action against Malaga on Thursday and league champions Olympiakos, according to the semi-official Athens News Agency.

Under Greek law, a private company's operating license can be withdrawn if its current capital drops below one-tenth of the value its initial paid-up equity.

No deadline has been given for the clubs to recapitalize or lose their license.

Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos warned that some teams would have to close in the new financial climate when he announced the auditors' investigation.

"Some professional clubs are not going to be able to survive," he said.

Greek soccer has been close to bankruptcy since the September 2002 collapse of Alpha Digital that left the majority of teams with no television income.

Ex-champ Ararat thrown out of Armenian league

YEREVAN (Reuters) -- Ararat Yerevan, Armenia's most successful club, have been thrown out of the league after refusing to release five players for national team duty on a trip to Israel this month.

Ararat president Grach Kaprielyan has said he will appeal a one-year ban imposed on the club by the Armenian soccer federation (ASF) for preventing one player from the senior team and four from the under-21 squad to travel to Israel.

The ASF's executive committee will meet later this week to decide on sanctions against Ararat -- the only Armenian club ever to win a Soviet championship in its 55-year history when they achieved a historic league and cup double in 1973.

Kaprielyan cited safety concerns as his sole motive.

Israel have been barred by European governing body UEFA from hosting any club or national team matches because of security reasons.

But FIFA approved the February 12 match against Armenia -- a 2-0 win for the hosts -- at the National Stadium in Tel Aviv because world soccer's governing body said it had no power to stop the Israelis from hosting a friendly international.

It was Israel's first match on home soil for more than a year.

This was the latest row between the Armenian FA and the country's leading club of the last decade.

Last year, the ASF handed a lifetime ban to then-Ararat president and head coach Arkady Andreasyan, one of Armenia's most prominent players during Soviet days, after he accused the FA of mishandling the country's most popular sport.

Ararat also won the Armenian league and cup double in 1993 and lifted the cup three more times in the next four years.

They finished fifth in the 12-team first division last year.

Thailand, Qatar draw in heated King's Cup match

BANGKOK (Reuters) -- Qatar scored a late equalizer to hold hosts Thailand to a 1-1 draw in a King's Cup match marred by violence and a walk-out on Tuesday.

But Sweden clung to the top of the table with a 1-1 draw against North Korea.

Qatar's match descended into farce when the team, angered by a series of decisions by the referee and trailing 1-0 after a Thai penalty, quit the pitch with 15 minutes to go.

Qatar coach Pierre Lechantre Georges, warned earlier about his conduct after kicking the ball at the referee, demanded his team leave the field as water bottles rained from the stands.

Play resumed half an hour later, after armed police went into the stands to root out troublemakers.

Qatar striker Mahamed Salem al Enazi managed to slot home an equalizer with four minutes to go after captain Therdsak Chaiman had put Thailand ahead with a 52nd-minute penalty.

Sweden took the lead against North Korea after a bout of attacking pressure in the 21st minute. Stefan Ishizaki drilled a free kick through a badly organised Korean wall and Niklas Skoog pounced on the loose ball and slid it home from five metres.

On 85 minutes, with Sweden happy to see the game out 1-0, Pak Yong-chol picked up the ball on the edge of the Swedish penalty area and scored.

Belgian Bisconti set to join Rapid Bucharest

BUCHAREST (Reuters) -- Belgian midfielder Roberto Bisconti is set to sign a three-month contract with Rapid Bucharest, a spokesman for the Romanian club said on Tuesday.

The 30-year-old playmaker, who had his contract with Scottish club Aberdeen cancelled by mutual consent last month, was once a team mate of Rapid coach Mircea Redniat at Standard Liege in Belgium.

"Bisconti is the perfect choice to replace midfielder Constantin Schumacher who left for China," club spokesman Cristian Costache told Reuters.

The Romanian season restarts on March 1 with Rapid top of the first division, 10 points ahead of city rivals Dinamo.

"I'm coming to Romania to give Rednic a hand in winning the title," said Bisconti, who will join compatriot Emmanuel Godfroid in the Rapid midfield.

Stange fears for players left behind in Iraq

BERLIN (Reuters) -- Iraq soccer trainer Bernd Stange believes Germany's high-speed motorways are more dangerous than anything he encountered while working in Iraq and said after fleeing his adopted country that he hoped an "idiotic" war could be averted.

The former East German trainer, who abruptly returned home to Germany from Baghdad at the weekend, said he wanted to get back to Iraq as soon as possible, prayed his players survived a war and wanted to work for peace in the meantime.

Stange, whose controversial appointment in Iraq last year caused further tensions to already strained German-U.S. relations, said he was bitter about leaving and angry about the war preparations that meant all his players being called up to the Iraqi army.

"I don't have any players I can train any more," he said. "I'm disappointed and bitter because everything started off so well. I'm not sure I'll see all my players alive again. The only thing they want is to play football.

"I don't think Iraq is a country that you can drop bombs on," he added, sidestepping a question about working conditions under the rule of President Saddam Hussein.

"Forty-six percent of the population in Iraq is younger than 16 years old. Bombs are going to be dropped on these people?"

Stange also spoke of a "peace plan" -- bringing together Saddam, Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat for a meeting in Baghdad with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, French President Jacques Chirac and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"At breakfast on Monday a young player told me his greatest wish -- Sharon, Arafat, Schroeder, Chirac and Putin should come to Iraq and together with the President prevent war from coming," Stange wrote in his diary, according to excerpts published in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

"Why don't political leaders ever come up with ideas like that?" Stange asked. The German, French and Russian leaders have resisted U.S. efforts in the United Nations Security Council to obtain a resolution authorising the use of force against Iraq.

Contract clause

Stange, 54, said he never felt in danger during his five months in Iraq, which ended abruptly on Friday after the German embassy in Baghdad urged him to leave the country because of the growing threat of war. He has a contract clause allowing him to leave Iraq if a conflict looms.

"It's actually more dangerous to drive a car in Germany," said Stange, whose four-year contract is pointed towards getting Iraq to qualify for the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany.

He said he was on "paid holiday" now. "There's nothing I can do now except wait and fight for peace," he said. "As soon as there are signals from officials (in Berlin and Baghdad) that tensions have relaxed, I'll go back."

Stange said he was not able to say farewell personally to his squad but wrote letters to the players. He was also staying in touch with his assistant coaches and hoped the team would be able to play an Olympic qualifier on April 4 in Baghdad against Vietnam.

"But even if we lose some of the players in the fighting, I'm determined to field 11 players," he said.

Stange, who coached the Communist East German side from 1983 to 1988, had been unemployed for about a year before he agreed to coach Iraq. He faced criticism in Germany for taking the job and especially for posing for a widely published photograph in front of a portrait of Saddam.

"It was naive of Stange to think he could avoid the politics of it all," wrote the Berliner Zeitung newspaper. "He has tried with diminishing success to stay out of the political issues."

Relations between Germany and the United States have become increasingly frosty as a result of Germany's strict opposition to war on Iraq, accused by the United States of amassing weapons of mass destruction. Stange's appointment did not help.

No regrets

"The reality is that there was never any political pressure put upon me from anyone in the leadership," Stange said. "No one asked me to take any political positions for anything.

"But in the last weeks I have dropped my reservations and clearly taken a position with those who are opposed to this idiotic war," Stange said.

He also signaled he had abandoned earlier reluctance to meet top Iraq officials, including Saddam's son Udai who is president of the Iraq football association, as well as Saddam himself.

"I have never regretted being Iraq's national trainer and I'm actually quite proud of it," said Stange. He had not yet met Udai or Saddam. "Naturally I would accept such an invitation. I don't have any inhibitions on that front whatsoever."

He said he had got to know Iraqis as "good mates who are just searching for happiness."

Stange had said it had not been an easy decision to go to Iraq but he had been tired of being out of work and saw the offer as an opportunity to train a national team with a shot of qualifying for the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany.

Stange, who said he had made checks with FIFA and the German foreign ministry before taking the assignment, had been out of work since being sacked by Oman after a 10-week stint which had included a 1-0 upset victory over Iraq.

Under Stange, Iraq lost a friendly against Oman 2-1 and drew 2-2 with Bahrain.

"There's no comparison between now and the prima donnas I had to deal with in Oman," he said of his previous job.

Stange had been a big name in football circles in East Germany but struggled to build on that after the Berlin Wall fell and the two Germanys were reunited in 1990.

He coached Hertha Berlin but was fired after evidence surfaced that he had worked as an informant for the East German Stasi security police who tracked and persecuted dissenters to the communist regime.

He said he was proud of what he had accomplished in Iraq.

"It wasn't a mistake and I don't regret a single day," he said. "I feel I was able to give people (there) something. I was able to train more than 100 coaches, brought things forward and developed military-style planning for the 2006 World Cup and the Olympics.

"There was a real soccer buzz in the country and I'm quite proud of that

 

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Both the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.