Southgate: Gareth Southgate has been allowed to stay as Middlesbrough manager until the end of the season. Rules stipulate that Premier League managers must have started or hold the UEFA Pro Licence to work in the top flight but Middlesbrough argued that Southgate's 57 international caps had made it difficult for him to complete the badges. He was given special dispensation at the start of the season until mid-November and that has now been extended.
Rosler: Norway's Viking have named German Uwe Rosler as head coach on a three-year contract. Rosler was fired by Lillestrom last week becoming the eighth coach to leave a Norwegian Premier League team this season. Striker Michael Mifsud is also set to leave Lillestrom in the January transfer window with the English Premier League the likely destination according to media speculation.
Nihat: Villarreal's Turkish international forward Nihat Kahveci has suffered another knee injury that could put him out of action for the rest of the season. Club delegate Jose Manuel Llaneza told reporters he had been informed that Nihat had suffered a serious injury to his knee during training. Nihat, who joined Villarreal from Real Sociedad at the end of last season, tore the cruciate ligament in his left knee in February 2005 and was sidelined for the rest of the season.
Age fraud: Former Brazilian World Youth Cup winner Carlos Alberto was banned for 360 days by a disciplinary tribunal for falsifying his date of birth to cut five years off his real age. Carlos Alberto, who plays for Figueirense, had already admitted to age fraud, saying that he had been driven to do it by poverty and hunger. The player, whose real age is 28 and not 23 as previously believed, was in the Brazil team which won the world U-20 championship in 2003 when he would have been nearly 26.
Ban lifted: The Argentina FA has lifted a ban which prevented away fans from attending first division games for the rest of the year. The ban was an initial attempt by the AFA to respond to the violence and intimidation which has plagued Argentine football this season. It was lifted 24 hours after the players' union said they did not believe the ban was the right way to fight the violence and threatened to go on strike if it continued.
In Scotland: Division One - Partick Thistle vs Clyde 1-1; Ross County vs St Johnstone 2-2.