International Roundup

Ahn gets military leave to face Argentina

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korea's military said Tuesday it will give World Cup star Ahn Jung-hwan leave to join the national soccer team's battle against Argentina on Wednesday.

Striker Ahn, who is undergoing four weeks of basic military training, missed a friendly against Uruguay on Sunday. South Korea lost that match 2-0 and fans clamored for Ahn.

The South Korean army gave Ahn special leave from his boot camp to join a training session Tuesday and the friendly Wednesday.

"We took note of the soccer fans' desire for Ahn to take part in the game after Sunday's loss," said an army spokesman who declined to be named.

Ahn, 27, scored in South Korea's 1-0 win over Japan last week. After that match, he had his trademark long flowing hair shaved off and joined the military for the four-week basic training required of World Cup players.

All eligible South Korean men must serve in the military for 26 months, a legacy of the long standoff with communist North Korea.

South Korea has exempted the World Cup squad from the long military service and required them to complete only basic training as a reward for advancing to the semifinals of last year's World Cup, which the country co-hosted with Japan.

Ahn plays for Japanese side Shimizu S-Pulse.

Report: Ba ready to play for Olympiakos

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Senegalese midfielder Ibrahim Ba is willing to play for Greek first division champion Olympiakos if the Piraeus club makes a formal offer, media reports said Tuesday.

"I would be delighted to play in Greece, but this depends on Olympiakos," the newspaper SporTime quoted the former AC Milan player as saying.

Ba, currently vacationing on the Aegean Sea island of Mykonos, said that his manager informed him about Olympiakos' interest. "I'm interested if an official proposal was made," he said.

The 30-year-old midfielder, who became a free agent after the expiration of his contract with European champion Milan, was on a list of Greek and foreign players that Olympiakos has expressed interest in acquiring.

"I want to join a team where I can play a lot," he said.

Ba played in only one game with Milan in the last Serie A season.

Olympiakos clinched its seventh consecutive first division title this season and will play in the Champions League.

St. Pauli rescued after raising funds with pints

HAMBURG (Reuters) -- Former Bundesliga team FC St Pauli, lifted by an outpouring of support from their fans, will be eligible to play in the third division next season after getting financial guarantees from banks and the city of Hamburg.

After a series of fundraising efforts, including a "Down the pints for St Pauli" weekend in local taverns, the HSH Landesbank and city of Hamburg said they would guarantee 1.95 million euros ($2.3 million) to preserve the club's third-division status.

St. Pauli, who played in the top two divisions for 17 years, have suffered consecutive relegations that have seen them drop from the Bundesliga to the third division after they finished 17th in the 18-team second division in the last campaign.

The club, based in Hamburg's red-light district, would have faced relegation to the fourth division if they had failed to raise the finance to keep their third-division licence.

"The enthusiastic response of many thousands of Hamburg residents has turned into a genuine public movement for FC St Pauli," said Hamburg mayor Ole von Beust. "The club is in the hearts of people not just in that quarter but across the city."

A 50 euro cent supplement was added to the price of every beer sold in the quarter over the weekend with the proceeds earmarked for the team and 20,000 euros was raised.

The funds needed to be in place by Wednesday. The club also held charity concerts, sold 43,000 "Savior" t-shirts, and is arranging friendlies against Bayern Munich and Hamburg SV.

Malesani to coach Modena

MODENA, Italy (AP) -- Alberto Malesani has agreed to become the new coach of Serie A club Modena, the team announced Tuesday on its Web site.

The former Parma coach replaces Gianni De Biasi, who recently left after four seasons at Modena.

Modena was promoted to Serie A for the recently concluded season and narrowly avoided dropping back down to the second division.

Malesani, who led Parma from 1998-2001, coached Verona the past two seasons, one year in Serie A and the other in B.

Engels fired by J-League club Kyoto

TOKYO (Reuters) -- German Gert Engels has been fired as manager of struggling Kyoto Purple Sanga after three years in charge, officials of the J-League club said on Tuesday.

Despite a poor start to the J-League season, the move comes as something of a surprise only six months after Engels steered Kyoto to the Emperor's Cup title.

Kyoto have won only two out of 10 J-League games in 2003 and are bottom of the 16-team first division.

The 46-year-old Engels, who was in his third spell in Japan, will be temporarily replaced by general manager Bunji Kimura.

Davala leaving Istanbul club Galatasaray

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) -- Turkish World Cup star Umit Davala, who won international fame at the World Cup with his Mohawk hairdo, is leaving Turkish club Galatasaray, the club said Tuesday.

Davala, who has since turned to a more conventional hairstyle, refused a Galatasaray offer to pay him on a per game basis, as well as a base salary of US$300,000, Galatasaray's web site said.

"I'm a professional player. If there's an appropriate offer, I can agree with any club," the midfielder was quoted as saying.

He didn't mention any offers from other clubs.

Davala, who has been with Galatasaray since 1996, wasn't included on the roster for Turkey's Euro 2004 qualifying matches against Slovakia and Macedonia. Turkey defeated Slovakia 1-0 last weekend and faces Macedonia on Wednesday.

Former coach signs on for Belgrade Red Star

BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) -- Former Red Star Belgrade coach Slavoljub Muslin is returning to the team he led to two league titles and one domestic cup.

Muslin was named head coach of Red Star on Tuesday as the former European champion scrambles to improve its performance after a disappointing league and European campaign.

Muslin, who has also coached at Levski Sofia and Bordeaux, signed a two-year contract. Financial details were not made public.

The move came after Zoran Filipovic stepped down earlier this month. Filipovic took over Red Star in March 2002, but failed to lead the team to key victories.

Red Star, the 1991 Champions Cup winner, was runner-up to Partizan Belgrade in the Serbia and Montenegro premiership and lost last month in the final of the league cup against underdog Sartid Smederevo.

The former Serbian powerhouse also lost to Lazio in the second round of the UEFA Cup.

Muslin, a Red Star midfielder in the 1970s, coached the team in the late 1990s. He quit Levski last March.

Panathinaikos president quits

ATHENS (Reuters) -- The president of Greek Champions League hopefuls Panathinaikos, Angelos Phillipides has resigned after three years in charge, the club announced on Tuesday.

"We would like to thank him for his contribution to the club and continue to think of him as an integral part of the club," said a club statement.

Under Phillipides, Panathinaikos reached consecutive quarterfinals in the Champions League in 2002 and UEFA Cup this year, but could not break local rivals Olympiakos' grip on the domestic title.

His place will be taken by Argiris Mitsou.

The announcement came on the same day that the club's new coach, Itzhak Schum, arrived in Athens. The former Maccabi Haifa manager made no comment to waiting reporters at Athens airport.

African Roundup

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -- A digest of soccer stories from around Africa in recent days:

EGYPT -- Portuguese coach Nelo Vingada has been appointed to take over at African champion Zamalek.

Vingada, a former national coach of Saudi Arabia who last coached Portugal's Maritimo, has signed a one year contract and replaces Brazilian Carlos Alberto Cabral, who has moved to Al Arabi in Qatar.

"I'm happy to coach such a big club like Zamalek, which is considered to be one of the best on the African continent," Vingada told Egyptian reporters.

Zamalek won the Egyptian title last month but was then bundled out of the African Champions League in an upset defeat at the hands of Simba of Tanzania.

SOUTH AFRICA -- English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur has been invited to play two matches in South Africa from July 23-30 by the country's 2010 World Cup bid company.

It will play matches in Johannesburg and Cape Town, probably against the country's two most popular clubs Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates.

It is the first visit by Spurs since 1963, when it played three games just days after winning the European Cup Winners' Cup and set new attendance records for South African football.

SWAZILAND -- Jackson Eyinga Nna scored six minutes into extra time to give Cameroon its first African under-17 championship with a 1-0 victory over Sierra Leone in Swaziland on Sunday.

Cameroon, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, which finished third, qualify for August's world under-17 championships in Finland.

This year's event was marred by widespread claims of teams using over-age players.

NIGERIA -- Nigeria has moved its African Nations Cup qualifier against Angola to Benin City on June 21, according to reports Monday.

The Super Eagles need just a point from the game to make certain of a place at next year's Nations Cup finals in Tunisia.

Last Saturday, Nigeria beat Malawi 4-1 in Abuja in its penultimate group match and meets world champions Brazil on Wednesday at the new stadium in the country's capital, which is to host the All-Africa Games later this year.

 

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Both the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.