Football news

Massimiliano Allegri has been named as Milan's new coach for the next two seasons.

Allegri was recently given the thumbs-up from Sardinian club Cagliari, to whom he was contracted, to join the Milan giants.

The 42-year-old replaces Leonardo, who departed the club by mutual consent after leading Milan to third in the Serie A last season.

Allegri, 42, was voted coach of the 2008/09 season by his peers after he guided Cagliari to an impressive ninth place finish in his first Serie A job.

Previously in charge of lower division outfits Grosseto (2005-2007) and Sassuolo (2007-2008), Allegri was rumoured as a possible replacement for Carlo Ancelotti at Milan before Leonardo was given the job.

Fiorentina lead Bresciano chase

Mark Bresciano, the Australia midfielder, is likely to sign for Fiorentina.

Bresciano, 30, will be available on the market on a Bosman free transfer after his contract at Palermo expires next week.

Sampdoria are also linked with a move for Bresciano along with a host of clubs from the United Kingdom. However, Florence seems to be his next destination.

Sinisa Mihajlovic, the new Fiorentina coach, is an admirer of Bresciano's versatile play as the Viola are busy re-jigging their midfield options after signing Gaetano D'Agostino from Udinese earlier this month.

Scholes set for final season

Former England international Paul Scholes is ready to end his playing career at the end of next season and go into coaching. Scholes, 35, has spoken about his future plans while hosting a soccer academy in Florida this week.

"I am coming to the end of my playing career and I maybe have one year left," Scholes said.

"I have started doing my coaching badges back in England and hopefully one day I will be able to coach kids or coach some kind of team somewhere."

Scholes narrowly missed out on a 10th Premier League champion's medal when Chelsea pipped Manchester United to the title last season.

Coach Le Guen poised for exit

Cameroon boss Paul Le Guen has confirmed he will leave his post when his contract runs out this summer after failing to guide the team to the World Cup KO stages.

The Frenchman finished the tournament with three defeats from as many games.

Le Guen took over the Cameroon job last summer.

With his deal running out and with reports of interest from Australia, Le Guen confirmed he will move on.

He said: "Naturally my mood is one of defeat, I know I have lost three matches in this tournament. The end of my contract with Cameroon is coming up."

Ballack returns to Bayer - SID report

Michael Ballack is poised to sign a two-year contract with his old club Bayer Leverkusen in a 15-million-euro deal, German sports agency SID reported yesterday.

The 33-year-old was released by Chelsea at the end of the season and said he wanted to continue his career in his home country.

Three clubs - Hamburg, Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg - reportedly showed interest in the powerful midfielder, along with Liverpool and Tottenham in the Premier League and at least one Spanish outfit.

Ballack, currently on holiday with his family in Sardinia, will sign the contract with Leverkusen when he returns, SID reported.

He played for Leverkusen between 1999 and 2002, scoring 27 goals before a move to Bayern Munich.

England set to wear red again

FIFA have confirmed England will wear their 'lucky' all red kit against Germany in Bloemfontein tomorrow.

As the designated away team, it was always likely England would be forced to wear their change strip, as they did against Slovenia, to avoid a clash with their old rivals.

But by again electing for red shorts, as opposed to the white ones they intended to adorn in their 'away' strip, they can wear exactly the same colours as they did on Wednesday.

It is believed to be the players' preference anyway and they have never lost wearing all red, as they had done on four occasions prior to the Slovenia encounter.

No contract concern insists Loew

Germany coach Joachim Loew insists uncertainty over his future will not affect his side's bid for World Cup glory.

Negotiations between Loew and the German Football Federation over an extension to his deal which runs out after the tournament broke down at the start of the year.

But the 50-year-old said he will hold talks with DFB president Theo Zwanziger after the World Cup.

"It remains the case that we will talk after the tournament - whenever that will be," Loew said.

"But I want to emphasise again, my relationship with the president is absolutely fine. Two days ago he was with us in the hotel, we sat together and talked for a long time. Everything is okay between us."