Sporting briefs...

Paok Cleared: PAOK Salonika have been cleared to take part in next season's UEFA Cup after originally failing to meet the financial requirements of the licensing committee, the Greek national federation EPO said yesterday. PAOK have received a loan of six million euros from the National Bank of Greece but are still the subject of a potential takeover.

Van Buyten: Anderlecht's Vincent Kompany will replace fellow Belgian defender Daniel van Buyten at Hamburg, a spokesman said yesterday. Earlier Bayern Munich said Hamburg had agreed to transfer van Buyten to the defending German champions. There were no details about the transfer fee involved for van Buyten but media reports said Hamburg would receive just under 10 million euros for the 28-year-old defender, the highest transfer fee in Hamburg history.

Courbis: A French court found the former coach of Marseille Rolland Courbis and club owner Robert Louis-Dreyfus guilty yesterday of involvement in a fraud scandal involving player transfers in the late 1990s. Courbis was sentenced to three and a half years in prison and Louis-Dreyfus received a three-year suspended sentence, according to the verdict. The men were also fined 375,000 euros each.

Micoud: Werder Bremen playmaker Johann Micoud has joined Bordeaux on a two-year deal after four years in the Bundesliga, the Ligue 1 club said yesterday. Micoud, 32, started his professional career at Cannes in 1992 before leaving for Bordeaux four years later. Capped 17 times for France although left out of the World Cup squad, Micoud joined Parma before being transferred to Bremen, where he scored 31 goals in 123 matches.

Bowyer: Controversial midfielder Lee Bowyer has left Newcastle and rejoined West Ham. Bowyer made 11 appearances in his first six-month spell with West Ham, having been signed by current Newcastle manager Glenn Roeder when he was in charge of the London club. "I am delighted to have a player of Lee's calibre on board," West Ham manager Alan Pardew said. "In some quarters it will be regarded as a controversial signing because Lee has had disciplinary problems in the past and he did not play well during his last spell at Upton Park."

Basel: Swiss league runners-up FC Basel have been ordered to play their next two home matches behind closed doors after hooliganism marred the club's title showdown with rivals FC Zurich. The Swiss football league said this week that a section of the stadium containing the club's most troublesome fans would remain closed for an additional three matches. The club have also been fined 80,000 Swiss francs ($65,360). Hundreds of Basel fans invaded the pitch and attacked players after seeing their club surrender the championship to a last-minute Zurich goal during the May 13 encounter.