Football news

Sunderland confirmed the appointment of Martin O’Neill as manager of the struggling Premier League club on a three-year contract yesterday.

O’Neill, 59, replaces Steve Bruce, who was sacked earlier this week, and is back in management after a year out of work following his exit from Aston Villa.

“It’s a very nice feeling to be back in football and to be the manager of Sunderland. It’s a big moment for me,” O’Neill told Sunderland’s website.

The former Celtic and Leicester boss will officially take charge from tomorrow, but he is expected to be in the stands today when Sunderland face relegation rivals Wolves at Molineux.

McLeish irked by Djalo’s Facebook

Aston Villa coach Alex McLeish was unable to hide his annoyance yesterday after potential signing Yannick Djalo announced his trial at the club on Facebook.

“We’re just going to look at him on trial,” said McLeish.

“Talk of signing him is very premature. I didn’t really want it to be anybody’s business, but I know the lad put it on Facebook himself, so what chance have you got?”

Djalo currently finds himself in limbo, after a transfer deadline day move from Sporting Lisbon to French side Nice was rejected by FIFA because the relevant paperwork was filed too late.

Rivaldo, 39, exits Sao Paulo

Former Brazilian international Rivaldo, a World Cup winner in 2002, left Sao Paulo, but the 39-year-old vowed to keep playing.

“This is not the time to say farewell to football. My aim is to finish my career at the end of 2012, I still have plenty to offer,” said Rivaldo after Sao Paulo refused to offer him a new contract.

Rivaldo, who played in Brazil with Corinthians from 1993-1994 and Palmeiras until 1996, went on to enjoy a successful career in Europe.

He was Footballer of the Year with Barcelona in 1999 where he also won two Spanish titles in his five-year spell at the Spanish giants.

Zwanziger to quit DFB in 2012

Theo Zwanziger, the president of the German Football Federation (DFB), said on Friday that he will step down in October 2012, a year earlier than planned.

“This decision has been a long time coming,” said Zwanziger on the DFB website.

“It’s been well known that I didn’t actually want to run again for president last year.”

The 66-year-old has been in charge of the DFB since 2004.

With 6.7 million members, it is one of the largest sports associations in the world.

Macheda, Diouf set for loan spells

Alex Ferguson is preparing to send young strikers Federico Macheda and Mame Biram Diouf out on loan in January.

The Manchester United boss believes there is a “big problem” with the lack of real competitive football in the reserves league and that loan spells may be the answer.

“The problem is the type of reserve league we have now, it’s really a youth league.

“It works well for all young players to get game time and that’s what we are looking at for Macheda and Diouf, they need game time, there is no question about that. Every young players wants to play and we have to give them that opportunity.”

Socrates in ‘critical’ condition

Former Brazilian soccer star Socrates was in “critical condition” in an intensive care unit early yesterday after suffering intestinal infection.

Albert Einstein Hospital announced in a statement that Sampaio de Sousa Vieira de Oliveira, 57, “was in critical condition due to a septic shock of intestinal origin”.

The statement added that he was breathing with a ventilator and using a dialysis machine. He was taken to the hospital late Friday after suffering food poisoning, his wife said.

Socrates was hospitalised twice in August and September this year with bleeding in his digestive tract.

‘Juve have restored credibility’ – Conte

Antonio Conte says Juventus have restored their credibility after a flying start to the season that has seen them remain unbeaten.

Two seventh-placed finishes in a row saw Juve fail to even qualify for Europe last season and when this campaign began, they weren’t expected to be challenging for the title. But they were two points clear at the top until Milan’s 2-0 win at Genoa on Friday night.

“At the beginning of the season I set us an objective: to become competitive again while recuperating credibility.

“We’ve reached that difficult aim and now the second step is to remain competitive with the right desire and organisation to stay at the top of the league,” he said.