Sporting briefs

Hoffenheim: St Pauli coach Holger Stanislawski will take over as Hoffenheim trainer for next season. The 41-year-old an­nounced last week that he is leaving Hamburg-based St Pauli at the end of the season after 18 years as a player and a coach, but it was announced yesterday he has signed a contract with Hoffenheim until 2014.

Schaefer: Cologne coach Frank Schaefer announced he will leave his post at the end of the season after only six months in charge. Schaefer only replaced Zvonimir Soldo as Cologne’s head coach in October. His side are currently 12th in the Bundesliga and no indication has been given by the club on who will replace Schaefer.

Ascoli: Ascoli’s hopes of avoiding the drop to division three in Italy were hit by the deduction of yet another point. The Serie B outfit have been plagued by financial problems all season which had already seen them incur penalties. Ascoli beat Pescara 1-0 last weekend but yesterday they had their points deduction penalty increased from five to six. Ascoli are now fourth bottom in the standings.

Bolton: Bolton Wanderers will play the Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer on July 20 in a pre-season American tour. The match will serve as a pre-season tune-up for Bolton and a charity home match for Dynamo, making their first appearance against an English side in a friendly.

Brescia: Gino Corioni, the Brescia supremo, wants to to leave the Serie A club after 20 years at the helm. At present, Brescia lie second bottom in Serie A, four points adrift of safety. “My era at Brescia is over. The city is too big to deserve a small president like me,” he said.

Karpin: Spartak Moscow coach Valery Karpin has resigned after overseeing one of the worst starts to a season in the club’s history. The former Russia midfielder steps down with the club bottom of the Premier League having picked up only four points from their first five games, and on the back of last week’s Europa League 10-3 quarter-final aggregate defeat to Porto.

Smeltz: Perth Glory have completed the signing of Shane Smeltz with the New Zealand striker replacing Robbie Fowler as the club’s international marquee player on a three-year deal. Although Smeltz has both Australian and New Zealand passports, he has been signed as the club’s international player.

Marathon: Norwegian race legend Grete Waitz, who won nine New York marathons and a world title, has died of cancer. She was 57. Waitz, whose maiden name was Andersen, had been undergoing treatment for cancer since 2005. In addition to her nine New York marathon wins between 1979 and 1988, she became marathon world champion in Helsinki 1983 and won the silver medal at the Los Angeles Olypics the following year. She also won the London marathon in 1983 and in 1986.

Tennis: Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych retired from the Barcelona Open yesterday with an intestinal illness, officials confirmed. The Czech Republic fifth seed will be replaced in the draw at the Real Club de Tenis by Rui Machado, of Portugal. Berdych stands 1-1 on the clay this season after losing in last week’s Monte Carlo Masters third round.

American Football: Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers will meet in London for an NFL game on October 23 if the dispute between owners and players is settled by August 1. The Buccaneers, who are owned by the Glazer family that owns Man­chester United, will be making their second trip to London in three seasons for a game if it comes off as planned.

Rugby Union: All Blacks hooker Keven Mealamu will remain in New Zealand following this year’s World Cup after signing a contract that commits him to the national team until 2013. The 83-Test veteran’s signature is a boost to the New Zealand Rugby Union, which hopes to avoid an exodus of players to European clubs this year. The NZRU said the deal meant Mealamu, 32, the fourth-most capped player in the country, would remain with the All Blacks and the Auckland Blues Super 15 club until 2013.