Scotland's McFadden leaves the French flabbergasted

At the Parc des Princes, the 'brave hearts' of Scotland stunned the world of football by adding to their 1-0 home win over France in October and inflict the double on the French by the same scoreline in the Euro 2008 qualifying group.

The Scots are in with a good chance of claiming a place in the European Championship finals at the cost of either France or Italy.

Alex McLeish's team kept the French at bay after James McFadden's netting to win for the first time on French soil since 1950, when they won by the same scoreline (Allan Brown of East Fife) on French territory.

After Berti Vogts left, claiming a horde of miserable results, Walter Smith, first, and now McLeish have taken Scotland to another level.

With three games remaining Scotland look favourites to reach their first major championship finals since the 1998 World Cup.

Scotland's remaining fixtures:

October 13: Home vs Ukraine.

October 17: Away vs Georgia.

November 17: Home vs Italy.

Other noteworthy items of football news for September read:

• Chelsea's Petr Cech is named UEFA's club goalkeeper of the year.

• Arsene Wenger signs a new three-year contract at Arsenal.

• Leeds United have been banned from full membership of the FA after being unable to prove all their non-football creditors have been paid.

• In an U-21 European Championship qualifier, England beat Bulgaria 3-0 (Onuoha, Agbonlahor, Surman) away.

Other results: France-Wales 1-0, Ireland-Portugal 0-2, N. Ireland-Germany 0-3.

• James Milner, of Newcastle, sets a new U-21 appearance record of 30 calls, surpassing Liverpool's goalkeeper Scott Carson.

• England return to form to beat Israel 3-0 (Wright-Phillips, Owen, Richards) at Wembley in a European Championship qualifier.

Other results: Scotland-Lithuania 3-1 (Boyd, McManus, McFadden), Slovakia-Ireland 2-2 (Ireland, Doyle), Wales-Germany 0-2, Latvia-N. Ireland 1-0.

• Wolves mourn their former winger Norman Deeley, who dies aged 73. Deeley scored twice for the Midlands side when they lifted the FA Cup in 1960.

• England youngsters march on under Stuart Pearce, defeating Bulgaria away 2-0 (Huddlestone, Noble) in another European Championship qualifier.

• Sunderland legendary footballer Ian Porterfield, who scored the winning goal against Leeds United in the 1973 FA Cup final, passes away aged 61.

Owen set them going

• Scotland shock the soccer world with a remarkable 1-0 (McFadden) victory over France in Paris.

Other results: England-Russia 3-0 (Owen 2, Ferdinand), Czech Republic-Ireland 1-0, Slovakia-Wales 2-5 (Eastwood, Bellamy 2, Durica og, Davies), Iceland-N. Ireland 2-1 (Healy pen).

• A record six British teams will compete in the group phase of the Champions League. These are: Ar-senal, Chelsea, Celtic, Liverpool, Manchester United and Rangers.

• Manchester City manager Sven-Goran Eriksson and defender Micah Richards are named manager and player of the month, respectively.

• The Scottish FA are to stop their Cup runners-up from competing in Europe as from next season. If the cup winners will qualify through their league position, the extra European place will go to the next-highest placed in the Premier League.

• In the first game of the group phase of the Champions League, Arsenal stun twice UEFA Cup winners Sevilla with a resounding 3-0 win at the Emirates Stadium.

Other results: Chelsea-Rosenborg 1-1, Porto-Liverpool 1-1, Rangers-Stuttgart 2-1, Shakhtar Donetsk-Celtic 2-0, Sporting-Manchester United 0-1.

• Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho makes a shock exit from Stamford Bridge. Club appoint director of football Avram Grant.

• In the UEFA Cup first leg first round Tottenham hit Cypriots Anorthosis Famagusta 6-1.

Other results: Aberdeen-Dnipro 0-0, Everton-Metalist Kharkiv 1-1, Larissa-Blackburn 2-0, Rabotnicki-Bolton 1-1.

• After a turnover of over £200 million, Arsenal have taken over as the world's richest club, ahead of Real Madrid and Man. United.

• In League Cup third round ties in England and Scotland, Hamilton down Kilmarnock 2-0, Aston Villa bow to Leicester 0-1 at home and Manchester United fall to Coventry 0-2 at Old Trafford, where Malta striker Michael Mifsud does all the damage with a brace of goals.

• A poll conducted by property consultants Drivers Jonas Sport show that Liverpool, followed by Celtic and Portsmouth, are the top clubs with the best ground atmosphere. Barcelona are placed fifth, the highest-positioned from mainland Europe.

• Blackpool's Bill Perry, who scored the winning goal in 'the Matthews Cup Final' of 1953 (4-3 vs Bolton), dies aged 77.

Leading marksmen

Premier League
6 - Adebayor (Arsenal), Mwaruwari (Portsmouth).
5 - Anelka (Bolton), Van Persie (Arsenal).
4 - Fabregas (Arsenal), Torres (Liverpool), Keane (Tottenham).

The Championship
8 - Beattie (Sheffield United).
7 - Henderson (Watford).
6 - Lee (Ipswich); Howard (Barn-sley), Phillips (West Brom).

Scottish Premier
5 - Fletcher (Hibernian), Vennegoor of Hesselink, McDonald (both Celtic).
4 - Donaldson (Hibernian), Boyd, Cousin (Rangers), Brewster (Inverness CT).