Sporting briefs

Atletico: Europa League champions Atletico Madrid have agreed contract extensions with winger Jose Antonio Reyes, defender Tomas Ujfalusi and midfielder Paulo Assuncao. The club gave no financial details for the new deals.

Fabregas: Arsenal will be without captain Cesc Fabregas for tomorrow’s Premier League clash with Chelsea. The 23-year-old midfielder was this week left out of the Spain squad for the upcoming Euro 2012 qualifiers against Lithuania and Scotland.

Fraud: Police arrested two people on suspicion of defrauding tens of thousands of pounds from a charity linked to Middlesbrough. Investi­gators were called in at Middles­brough FC in the Community’s Eston site after an internal inquiry revealed alleged financial irregularities.

Jones: Schalke midfielder Jermaine Jones is set to win his first cap for the United States after being included in the squad for the friendlies against Poland and Colombia. Germany-born Jones, who became eligible to play for the US over 12 months ago, was selected in the party for the clash with Brazil in August but had to pull out through injury.

Leicester: Leicester owner Milan Mandaric has sacked manager Paulo Sousa less than three months after appointing him as Nigel Pearson’s replacement. The Foxes have made a disappointing start to the season, winning just one of their first nine games.

Kuze: The coach of the Albania national team has been admitted to hospital after suffering a stroke. Josip Kuze, 57, was admitted to the American Hospital in the Albanian capital Tirana on Thursday and placed in intensive care.

Gillot: Sochaux coach Francis Gillot was banned for four matches by the disciplinary panel of the French Professional Football League. Gillot received the punishment for “abusive and threatening behaviour towards the referee” during his side’s match at home to PSG.

Triangular Tournament: Sliema vs Qormi 0-0 (Sliema win 4-3 on pens); Ħamrun vs Qormi 2-0; Sliema vs Ħamrun 1-1. ­Ħamrun win tournament.

MFA Div. Three: Kalkara vs Kirkop 0-1; Luqa vs Pembroke 1-4.

Marathon: Ethiopians Deriba Merga and Feyisa Lilesa were named to the field for the Chicago Marathon on October 10. Merga won the 2009 Boston Marathon while Lelisa ran a PB of 2:05.23 to finish fourth in Rotterdam, at 20 becoming the youngest man to break 2:06:00 for the distance.

Basket, Nba: Kobe Bryant remains the NBA king of jersey sales in Europe, as he is in America and China. Without naming sales totals, the NBA announced Bryant topped the Europe list for the third year in a row with Lebron James, the former Cleveland player who moved to Miami in July, second.

Skiing: Switzerland’s supreme court has rejected German speed-skater Claudia Pechstein’s final attempt to have a two-year ban on doping offences overturned. The Federal Tribunal turned down her case on the grounds that new tests presented by Pechstein were unacceptable because they came up after the ban was confirmed by CAS in November 2009.

Rugby League: Wests Tigers forward Gareth Ellis was named player of the year for the second consecutive season. Ellis has been a revelation in the Australian Rugby League since leaving Leeds Rhinos last year. The second-rower had another superb season, playing 24 matches for the Tigers and demonstrating strong attack and defence.

American Football: A phone number on cereal boxes featuring Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chad Ochocinco is sending callers to a phone sex business and not a youth charity because of a typographical error. Chad Ochocinco’s Cereal boxes were supposed to feature the phone number of Feed the Children, which benefits from sales of the cereal featuring the NFL standout.