Sporting briefs

Udinese: Chile striker Fabian Orellana has been transferred to Udinese from Audax Italiano on a five-year contract, the Chilean club said. Reports put the fee at $3.5 million. Orellana, who will join compatriots Mauricio Isla and Alexis Sanchez at Udinese, scored the goal that gave Chile their first victory over Argentina last October.

Palestine friendly: Brazil's most popular clubs Flamengo and Corinthians will play a friendly in Palestine on September 15 as a peace initiative promoted by the Brazilian government. The date of the match was announced by Flamengo. It gave no venue.

Leto: Liverpool have agreed to sell 22-year-old Argentine winger Sebastian Leto to Panathinaikos. Leto, who was on loan to Greek rival Olympiakos last season after trouble with his work permit prevented him playing in England, is the Athens club's fourth summer recruit.

Belgium: Zenit St Petersburg coach Dick Advocaat was appointed Belgium manager yesterday and will take up the post at the start of next year. "The contracts were exchanged today and he will take up the role on January 1," the Belgian FA said. Advocaat's contract with Russian club Zenit expires in December.

De la Red: Real Madrid midfielder Ruben de la Red will miss the whole of the 2009/10 season as doctors have still not pinned down why he collapsed in a match in October. "What I have doesn't have a name and as of today there is no concrete answer," De la Red, 24, said. The former Spain international was running back towards the halfway line when he suddenly fell face first and lay motionless.

Champions League: First qualifying round, first leg - Tre Fiori vs Sant'Julia 1-1.

Davis Cup: Rafael Nadal was left out of Spain's Davis Cup squad this week for their World Group quarter-final against Germany. The world number one has been struggling with tendinitis in his knees since being knocked out of the French Open last month and was forced to miss Wimbledon. Spain captain Albert Costa called up Fernando Verdasco, Tommy Robredo, David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez for the match on clay in the Puerto Banus bullring in Marbella on July 10-12.

Weightlifting: Two Greek lifters participating at the Mediterranean Games have tested positive for unspecified banned substances. Both athletes failed a June 1 test while the other, identified as a female athlete, had also failed a May 14 test. The Greek weightlifting federation did not name the athletes pending tests on their second fluids sample, but press reports identified them as Nikos Kourtidis and Constantina Lapou, who have respectively won two gold and a silver medal in Pescara.

Rallying: Ferrari Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen will make his world rally championship debut against the likes of Sebastien Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen in his native Finland at the end of July. The 2007 Formula One world champion, who has already competed in three non-championship rallies this year, will enter Rally Finland in a Fiat Abarth Grande Punto with compatriot Kaj Lindstrom as co-driver. Lindstrom was formerly co-driver to four-times world champion Tommi Makinen.

Swimming: Spain's Aschwin Wildeboer Faber broke the 100m backstroke world record during the 4x100 medley final at the Med. Games yesterday. He swam the first leg in a record 52.38 seconds as Spain won the gold medal in 3:34.22. Wildeboer Faber beat Aaron Peirsol's previous record of 52.54 which the American set when winning gold at last year's Olympics. Italy's Federica Pellegrini reclaimed the women's 400 freestyle world record when she took gold in the final at the Med. Games on Saturday.