Besiktas: UEFA has banned one of Turkey’s top teams Besiktas from European competition for one year because the club failed to comply with its financial responsibilities. Besiktas have also been fined €200,000. UEFA did not imme-diately confirm the decision which media reported was partly due to tax problems and delays in payments to players and staff.
Altintop: Real Madrid’s Turkish midfielder Hamit Altintop claimed yesterday that he has reached an agreement to sign for Galatasaray. “It is true that I have agreed to join Galatasaray,” Altintop was re-ported as saying by Anatolia. However, he revealed no further details about the deal. Born in Germany, Altintop played for Schalke and Bayern Munich before joining Real Madrid under freedom of contract last summer.
Di Canio: Swindon manager Paolo Di Canio has signed a contract extension to keep him at the club until 2015. Di Canio has enjoyed a successful debut season in his first managerial job, leading the Robins to the League Two title and the final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy at Wembley.
Evans: Ched Evans is among 11 players released by Sheffield United following the club’s League One play-off final heartache. Evans’s 35 goals helped fire the Blades to the brink of automatic promotion, but he missed the last three games of the regular season after being found guilty of rape and sentenced to serve five years in prison.
Radu: Lazio defender Stefan Radu is a target for several English clubs, according to his agent. The Romania international has been strongly linked with a move to the Premier League, with Arsenal reportedly keen to acquire the 25-year-old’s services. “We are working with someone in England,” Radu’s agent Viktor Becali said. “There are three clubs that are very interested in Stefan Radu.”
Boka: Arthur Boka has signed a new one-year contract with Stuttgart which will automatically extend by a further year if he makes enough appearances for the club next season. The Ivory Coast full-back, who has already played 104 times for the Swabians, will continue to compete with Cristian Molinaro for a place on the left-hand side of Bruno Labbadia’s defence next season.
Hamburg: Hamburg have an-nounced a lucrative friendly against Barcelona as the highlight of their pre-season preparations. The game will take place at the HSV-Arena on July 24, a month before the start of the 2012/13 Bundesliga season, as part of the club’s 125th anniversary.