Sporting briefs

In Portugal: Sporting secured the second Champions League automatic spot when they beat Boavista 2-1 on the last day of Portuguese Premier League on Sunday. Porto, who clinched the championship more than a month ago, finished with 69 points from 30 matches after the league last week stripped them of six points for the alleged bribery of referees in the 2003/4 season.

In Holland: Heerenveen secured their fourth successive UEFA Cup qualification when a 2-2 draw at NAC Breda yesterday gave them a 4-2 aggregate victory in their Dutch League play-off. NAC will now face NEC Nijmegen over two legs with a UEFA Cup ticket for the winners and entrance into the Intertoto as consolation for the losers.

Serie A fixtures: All but one of the games on Serie A's final weekend of the season will take place next Sunday at 3 p.m. after the Italian league rejected a plea from Sky television to move the matches to the evening. The league said that only Sampdoria against Juventus would be shifted to Saturday afternoon because Pope Benedict is in Genoa on Sunday.

Dudek: Real Madrid's second-choice goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek feared for his chances of making Poland's Euro 2008 squad despite making his first Primera Liga appearance of the season in the 2-2 draw against Real Zaragoza on Sunday. "I'm delighted to have played again after such a long time, but I don't know if this will be enough to persuade (Poland coach Leo) Beenhakker to take me to Euro 2008," Dudek said. "It is going to be very difficult."

Aguirre: Atletico Madrid were hoping that Javier Aguirre would remain as coach after steering them to a top-four finish and a place in the Champions League, their best performance in the league in 12 years. "He has a clause in his contract that said it would be automatically renewed if the team got into Europe and we like to respect contracts at Atletico," club president Enrique Cerezo told reporters.

Benzema: Olympique Lyon striker Karim Benzema has been named the French Ligue 1 player of the season. The 20-year-old France international, top scorer with 19 goals, headed a vote by Ligue 1 players organised by the French Union of Professional Football Players (UNFP).

Livorno: Relegated Livorno have been given a one-game stadium ban after fans threw objects onto the field during Sunday's 1-0 defeat by Torino, the Italian league said.

In England: League One play-off semi-final, first leg - Leeds vs Carlisle 1-2.