League Cup: Rangers will face Motherwell in the Scottish League Cup third round in their first clash with top-flight opponents since being kicked out of the Scottish Premier League. Ally McCoist’s side will have a chance to show they can still compete with the big guns when they host Motherwell at Ibrox on September 25 or 26. Celtic were drawn at home against Raith Rovers, the team that shocked them in the 1994-1995 final.
Hulk: Russian champions Zenit St Petersburg signed Brazilian international striker Hulk from Portuguese giants Porto on a five-year contract yesterday. No financial details of the deal were disclosed, though, reports said that Zenit would pay Porto around €40 million in several tranches.
Player dies: Former Helsingborg striker Victor Brannstrom has died after collapsing during a match in the Swedish lower leagues. The 29-year-old had just scored a goal for Pitea in their Division Four South fixture against Umedalen last weekend when he fell to the ground. Brannstrom was transferred to a local hospital by ambulance but was later pronounced dead.
Fraud probe: A Lithuanian court has ordered the Baltic state’s football association boss Julius Kvedaras to step down for six months, amid a fraud probe. A spokeswoman for the court in the central Lithuanian city of Kaunas, said Kvedaras, 62, was suspected of “illegal enrichment”, which can carry a prison sentence of up to four years.
Vieri: Former Italy striker Christian Vieri is set to be compensated after he fell victim to a phone-tapping affair. A dossier on Vieri, 39, was discovered by chance in 2006 as part of an unrelated investigation into Telecom Italia. It later transpired that his former club, Inter, had been “spying on him”. In 2008 he sued the company for €12 million and Inter for €9.25 million after complaining of “stalking and the wrongful acquisition of phone records”.
McCarthy: Benni McCarthy, deemed too fat and ill disciplined to play in the 2010 World Cup, won a surprise recall from South Africa for Friday’s friendly against Brazil. The former Blackburn and West Ham striker is set for his first international in more than two years.
Serie B: Livorno vs Padova 3-2.