Champions League last 16 side Malaga face a one-year ban from European competition if they do not put their financial house in order, UEFA said yesterday.
European football’s governing body said the Spanish side would be barred from taking part in either the Europa League or Champions League when they next qualify if they were unable to prove they had no outstanding debts.
UEFA’s club financial control body adjudicatory chamber, which met in Nyon, Switzerland, gave the Liga club a deadline of March 31 next year to prove it had “no overdue payables” to clubs, employees or the tax authorities.
Meireles handed lengthy ban
Fenerbahce midfielder Raul Meireles has been suspended for 11 games after being found guilty of spitting at the referee following his dismissal in the derby clash with Galatasaray.
The Portugal international, who joined Fenerbahce from Chelsea in the summer, was sent off after collecting a second yellow card in the 2-1 defeat.
Referee Halis Ozkahya accused Meireles of not only spitting at him as he challenged the decision but also directing a homosexual gesture in his direction, claims denied by the player.
Sneijder leaving Inter, wife says
Wesley Sneijder will be quitting Inter next month, the wife of the Dutch midfielder told the media yesterday.
“We are about to leave Milan. Everything could be sorted out in the first few days of January,” model Yolanthe Cabau said.
“We’re looking for an ideal place for our family.”
Sneijder, linked with a move to PSG or Real Madrid, has been in dispute with Inter in recent times after he rejected their request to accept a €2m cut in salary. He hasn’t played for the club since September.
FA action plan
FA chairman David Bernstein believes players should not be afraid of coming out as gay as the governing body announced a new drive against racism and discrimination.
Under the action plan agreed by the FA Board, clubs will face sanctions for failing to deal with racism and discrimination by players, coaches or their fans.
Bernstein said: “The over-riding message remains that there is simply no place for any form of discrimination in football.
“There remain challenges ahead and all of football would agree we need to find more ways of developing more black and ethnic minority coaches and create pathways for them.
“Also, no player should fear coming out as gay at the risk of suffering discrimination.”
Yaya Toure – CAF player of the year
Ivorian Yaya Toure , of Manchester City, won Africa’s top football honour on Thursday, beating out his countryman Didier Drogba and Alexandre Song, of Cameroon, for the CAF player of the year award.
Toure, 29, claimed the prize for the second consecutive year, capping a season where he helped guide his club to the English Premier League title, their first in 44 years.
His crucial double against Newcastle in May made for a dramatic chapter in City’s championship bid as the club ultimately edged out Manchester United on goal difference in a nail-biting finish.
Hearts to contest SPL sanction
Hearts will challenge the Scottish Premier League after being hit with an indefinite transfer embargo over a failure to make payments to players, manager John McGlynn said yesterday.
The SPL announced Hearts have “not paid a number of bonuses and appearance payments” and also face a disciplinary hearing, with a full range of sanctions possible.
Hearts responded to the SPL statement saying they were taking legal advice and McGlynn revealed the extended sanction will be fought.
“We’re going to challenge it.
“It’s difficult to talk about it because we’re going through lawyers,” McGlynn said.
Linesman death teams in action
The football club of a Dutch linesman who was kicked to death earlier this month is to play the team of his attackers again, Dutch media reported yesterday.
“We will play against each other again,” Buintenboys club director Marcel Oost told radio station Omroep Flevoland.
National broadcaster NOS said that the encounter between his club from Almere, just west of the Dutch capital, with Amsterdam club Nieuw Sloten would happen “soon”.
Police have arrested eight people in connection with the shock death of linesman Richard Nieuwenhuizen. He was set upon by Nieuw Sloten players on December 2.