Sporting briefs

Moravek: Young Czech midfielder Jan Moravek has signed a four-year contract with Schalke 04, his former team Bohemians 1905 said. The 19-year-old, who helped Bohemians to the Czech second division title last season, spent a week on trial at Schalke in January. Czech media have likened Moravek's style to that of Arsenal's Tomas Rosicky.

Torino: Stefano Colantuono is the new coach of Torino who fired Giancarlo Camolese after being relegated from the top flight on the final day of the season. Colantuono has signed a one-year contract with the option of another if he wins promotion back to Serie A. Colantuono has been out of the game for almost a year and was last in charge of Palermo before being sacked in 2008.

Back home: Japan striker Yoshito Okubo has rejoined J-League club Vissel Kobe from Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg, where he spent the past sixth months without much playing time. Vissel Kobe said that 27-year-old Okubo would start training with the team the following day ahead of their next J-League match at the weekend.

Kovac: Former Croatian captain Niko Kovac has signed on for another two years with his club Red Bull Salzburg, but in a new capacity as coach of the youth team. The 37-year-old was to begin training the youth team of the Austrian league champions immediately. Kovac announced his retirement as a player on May 29 after already quitting the national side in January.

Match-fixing: Authorities will investigate a league game between Terek Grozny and Krylya Sovietov Samara following match-fixing allegations, the president of the Russian FA Vitaly Mutko said. "I had watched this match and I didn't like what I saw," Mutko told reporters. Several online betting companies reported irregular betting patterns for Saturday's match in Grozny before suspending betting altogether. Chechen club Terek beat Samara 3-2 to ease relegation worries.

Teal loans: Real Madrid has received loans worth €153 million to pay for new players to build its team of new "Galacticos". A spokesman for Caja Madrid savings bank said it had leant Real €76.5m, "half of the total". The newspaper El Mundo reported Real had received two loans, one from Caja Madrid and the other from Santander bank to pay for new players.

Egypt: FIFA rejected a complaint by Egypt over Brazil's winning penalty in their Confederations Cup match, saying it was awarded legitimately and not by the illegal use of video replays. FIFA said that after receiving an Egyptian complaint it had thoroughly analysed all the evidence, including a statement and match report from Webb, and excluded the use of video evidence, which it strictly forbids in refereeing decisions.

U-21 Championships: (Group A) Sweden vs Belarus 5-1; Italy vs Serbia 0-0. Today - (Group B) 6.15 p.m. Germany vs Finland; 8.45 p.m. Spain vs England.

Tennis: Rafael Nadal will warm up for the defence of his Wimbledon title at an exhibition tournament at the Hurlingham Club in London later this week... provided his recovery from a knee injury is going well enough. Nadal was forced to pull out of last week's event at Queen's and said he would need intensive treatment on both his knees to be able to play at Wimbledon.

Olympics: Prague has ended its bid for the 2020 Olympic Games as part of measures to cushion the impact of the global economic crisis on the city. Prague has so far spent €2.6 million on the project. The city had previously made an unsuccessful bid to hold the 2016 Olympics, but was not even shortlisted.

Cricket: England are set to announce an extended squad as they prepare for the forthcoming Ashes series against Australia. The English selectors are due to meet over the next few days to formulate a squad, which will be announced on Saturday, to meet up next week and then move on to Birmingham for their three-day match against Warwickshire starting on July 1. That squad will be cut down before the first Test against Ricky Ponting's team in Cardiff on July 8.

Athletics: Rome's Golden Gala athletics meeting will become part of the new Diamond League next year organiser said. The Diamond League, which will replace and expand on the Golden League series, already has several confirmed meetings including London, New York and China. This year's Golden Gala is on July 10.

Golden League: British sprinter Dwain Chambers could take part in next month's Paris Golden League athletics meeting despite his doping-tainted past. "I abide by the IAAF rules, which allow an athlete coming back from a suspension to race," meeting organiser Laurent Boquillet said. Chambers, 31, completed a two-year doping ban in 2006. He was left out of the Rome and Berlin Golden League meetings.