Blackburn: Steve Kean will remain manager of Blackburn until the end of the season, the Premier League club announced yesterday. Kean was promoted from first-team coach to caretaker manager following the surprise sacking of former boss Sam Allardyce and assistant Neil McDonald last week.
Friendly: France will play Chile in an international football friendly on August 10 next year. Chile last played France in a friendly in September 2001 in which the South American side beat the then world and European champions 2-1.
Napoli: Estudiantes have confirmed that Napoli have agreed a fee to sign Federico Fernandez, a 21-year-old central defender. Fernandez will join Napoli in June for a transfer of around €3 million. Napoli will pay the fee for Fernandez in three installments, the first in January, the second in June and the third in 2011.
Hanke: Hanover’s out-of-favour former Germany striker Mike Hanke has joined Borussia M’gladbach on a two-and-a-half year contract, the club propping up the Bundesliga in 18th place announced. The 27-year-old forward had fallen out of favour at Hanover where he has taken up residence on the subs bench.
Naismith: Rangers midfielder Steven Naismith has agreed to a new deal that will keep him at Ibrox till May, 2015. The 24-year-old Scotland international had 18 months left on his current deal but has agreed to extend his stay with the Scottish champions further. Naismith signed for Rangers from Kilmarnock in 2007.
Hleb: Birmingham midfielder Alex Hleb has resumed training after being sidelined for almost a month. Blues boss Alex McLeish is hoping the on-loan Barcelona player will start to show his best form after “playing catch-up in terms of fitness” since arriving at St Andrew’s.
Neuer: Schalke keeper Manuel Neuer has admitted he cannot rule out a move to Bayern Munich next summer. Neuer said: “I am not putting myself under any pressure, I have a contract until 2012.” But asked if a summer move was out of the question, he said: “I don’t believe so.”
No foreigner: Zimbabwean bosses have ruled out naming another foreigner as coach, following the deportation of Tom Saintfiet, of Belgium. Saintfiet, 37, named as coach in September, was ordered out of Zimbabwe when he arrived without a valid work permit two weeks later.
Basket, NBA: Earl Boykins scored a season-high 22 points as under-manned Milwaukee shocked LA Lakers 98-79 to halt the defending champions’ winning streak at five games. John Salmons added 20 points for the Bucks, who were playing their second game without point guard Brandon Jennings, the club’s top scorer. They had lost to the Lakers six straight times and were coming off a 106-80 loss at Portland on Monday. Milwaukee seized the lead early and finished the contest with a 21-7 scoring run.
Rugby Union: Toulon’s France scrum-half Pierre Mignoni announced that he will be retiring at the end of June. Capped 28 times for France, the 33-year-old played for Clermont for six years before joining Toulon last season, the club where he discovered rugby aged seven years. As for the future, Mignoni, who is a trained fire fighter, said: “Coaching isn’t really by calling even if Clermont already offered me that last year for the three-quarters.”
Basketball: The University of Connecticut women’s team surpassed one of the most storied streaks of US sports lore on Tuesday with their 89th straight victory. The top-ranked Huskies defeated Florida State University 93-62 to top the 88-game winning streak established by the University of California at Los Angeles men’s team from 1971-74. That streak, by UCLA teams coached by the legendary John Wooden, had been the gold standard among US collegiate programmes that deve-lop NBA talent.
Wrestling: Bulgarian wrestling queen Stanka Zlateva has been voted Balkans’ Sports Personality of the Year. Zlateva, 27, is a four-time world champion. Zlateva also won silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic and Turkish basketball player Hidayet Turkoglu came second and third in the poll of journalists from the state news agencies of Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Turkey.