Football news

Brazilian legend Pele will present England’s player of the year with his trophy at St George’s Park at the beginning of next month.

The man many still regard as the greatest player in the history of the game will be guest of honour for the inaugural awards ceremony on February 3.

In addition, Pele will be present for England’s high-profile friendly with Brazil at Wembley three days later.

His attendance is a major coup as both events are a central component of the FA’s 150th anniversary celebrations, which will be launched at a lavish cere-mony at the Connaught Rooms in London today.

Man. City fish for Barcelona staff

Barcelona president Sandro Rosell has claimed Manchester City have tried to lure a number of people to the Etihad Stadium from the Nou Camp.

Rosell says the English Premier League champions have not only tried to sign players from all levels of the club’s structure, but also other employees of the Catalan giants.

Former Barcelona directors Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain are now at City as chief executive and director of football respectively. Rosell said: “There have been some offensive approaches from City, at all levels of the structure of the club, but no one wants to go.

“They wanted to fish here, but there were no fish left.”

Swansea City sign Belgian Lamah

Swansea City have signed versatile Belgium winger Roland Lamah on an 18-month loan from La Liga’s Osasuna, the English Premier League club said yesterday.

Lamah, who was born in Ivory Coast before he moved to Belgium aged 15, is left-footed but can play on either wing and said he was eager to begin his career under former Denmark and Barcelona great Michael Laudrup.

“To play in the English Premier League is a dream, and also to play under Michael Laudrup is fantastic for me,” the 25-year-old said.

Bulgaria’s Lechkov handed jail term

Former Bulgaria midfielder Yordan Lechkov was sentenced to two years in jail yesterday for official misconduct in his role as mayor of Sliven, the court in the southern town of Stara Zagora said.

The court found Lechkov guilty for signing an unprofitable water and sewerage deal and pressuring a tax official.

The 45-year-old, who was a key figure in the Bulgarian team that reached the 1994 World Cup semi-finals, retired in 1998 and was elected mayor of Sliven, his native town, in 2003.

1860 Munich sign Eriksson

Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson will join the coaching staff of second-tier 1860 Munich to help them climb up the table, the club said yesterday.

“Yes, we have an agreement that Sven-Goran Eriksson will join our coaching staff,” the club’s board chairman Otto Steiner said.

“Alexander Schmidt will remain our coach.”

The exact role of the 64-year-old Swede, who has served as technical director of Thai club BEC Tero Sasana since September last year and has also managed Roma, Manchester City, Lazio, Sampdoria and Benfica among others, will still need to be defined, Steiner said.

Sevilla name Emery as coach

Sevilla have sacked Michel and replaced him with former Valencia and Spartak Moscow coach Unai Emery who has agreed a contract until the end of next season, the La Liga club said.

“Unai Emery is Sevilla FC’s new coach for the rest of this season and one more campaign, replacing Michel, who has been sacked due to the first team’s poor run of results,” Sevilla said in a statement.

Emery, 41, was dismissed by Spartak in November following a 5-1 home defeat by bitter city rivals Dynamo in the Russian Premier League derby.

Man. Utd confirm Chinese sponsors

Manchester United’s prolific commercial team yesterday con-firmed two new sponsorship deals.

Chinese soft drinks manu-facturer Wahaha and one of China’s most prominent banking groups, China Con-struction Bank, have signed three-year tie ups with the Old Trafford outfit.

Both deals are ‘territory specific’ and aim to take advantage of United’s huge popularity in the country.

United posted record commercial income of £117.6 million last year and have already announced an eye-boggling £357 million seven-year shirt sponsorship deal with US car manufacturer Chevrolet that starts in 2014.