Greece cancels FIFPro awards

Greece has cancelled the annual FIFPro World Player of the Year award gala, less than a week before it was to be held in Athens, officials said yesterday.

The awards gala, inaugurated last year and organised annually by FIFPro, which represents professional players worldwide, was initially to be held on November 6.

But doubts over whether the winning players and other guest stars would be present at the ceremony forced Greece's Sports General Secretariat to scrap it.

"The gala will not take place," a senior secretariat official told Reuters. "There was a lack of guarantees that the players winning the awards, presenters and guest appearances would actually be there," the source said.

It was not clear whether the players' body would still announce the winners of the vote on November 6, irrespective of the cancellation of the gala.

FIFPro has said more than 42,000 players had voted for the 11 best players in the world. A shortlist of 55 players was announced in October. This includes Italian keeper Gianluigi Buffon, retired France captain Zinedine Zidane and Brazil's Ronaldinho.

Among those planned to appear in Athens were last year's FIFPro award winner Ronaldinho, Brazilian triple World Cup winner Pele and Italian defender Paolo Maldini.

Temperamental South Korean striker Lee Chun-soo has been ordered to spend three days working at a welfare centre for orphans or the disabled by his K-League club Ulsan as punishment for abusing a referee. Lee has already been fined 4 million won (US$4,200) and banned for six matches by Korea's football authorities for using abusive language and pushing a referee after being sent off in a match on Oct. 22. The diminutive forward is a controversial figure in conservative South Korea, where his fiery temper and outlandish hairstyles put him in the media spotlight.