Parma: Serie A club Parma are close to being sold to a Russian-Cypriot conglomerate, a club director said yesterday. “The president (Tommaso Ghirardi) informed us this morning that talks have intensified,” Parma managing director Pietro Leonardi told Italian media before the game against Lazio. “President Ghirardi has been working on this deal for a few weeks now and he told us that things have speeded up in the last few hours. We were told that there is a new vice-president who is taking care of the last details so that the deal can become official.”
In Australia: Western Sydney Wanderers, who just last month were crowned ‘Kings of Asia’, remain rooted to the bottom of the domestic A-League after being brushed aside 2-0 by Adelaide United on Saturday. Marcelo Carrusca and Fabio Ferreria scored in each half to leave the Wanderers without a win in nine matches.
Ban: North Korea’s preparations for the Asian Cup have suffered a blow after the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) suspended head coach Yun Jong Su for 12 months. Yun was suspended from all AFC competitions for “offensive behaviour” during the Asian Games final in Incheon in October when the North were beaten 1-0 by South Korea following a goal in the last minute of extra-time.
Partizan: Partizan Belgrade thrashed Borac Cacak 5-1 at home yesterday to surge six points clear at the top of the Serbian first division heading into the 11-week winter break. Champions Red Star Belgrade, Partizan’s closest rivals, conceded a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Mladost Lucani while Marko Ivanic scored twice – and an own goal –in third-placed Vojvodina Novi Sad’s 4-3 win at bottom team Radnicki Kragujevac.
Pinto: Honduras have named Colombian Jorge Luis Pinto, who steered Costa Rica to their best ever World Cup placing in the Brazil 2014 quarter-finals, as their coach until the 2018 tournament in Russia. Pinto, the third Colombian to take charge of the ‘Ticos’ after Reinaldo Rueda and Luis Fernando Suarez, replaces Hernan Medford who was sacked on Tuesday after four months in charge following poor results – including a 6-0 defeat by Japan last month.