Drogba: Chelsea striker Didier Drogba has signed a new four-year contract that will keep him with the English champions until 2010, the club said yesterday. Drogba, who signed from Olympique Marseille in 2004 for a reported £24 million ($45.78 million), had less than two years left on his old deal. Drogba has scored five times in the Premier League this season and is joint top scorer in the Champions League with five goals.
Kenya: The Kenyan government dissolved the trouble-ridden Kenya Football Federation (KFF) yesterday in a bid to stem months of chaos that has marred the sport in the east African nation. Sports Minister Maina Kamanda said the government had formed an eight-man caretaker committee that would run the sport in a move designed to bring the crisis to an end.
France: France will meet Argentina in a rare international between the two sides at the Stade de France on Feb.7. They will also play each other in a second friendly "somewhere in Europe but outside France" by 2009, the French FA confirmed. The two countries have only met eight times since their first meeting in the inaugural World Cup in 1930.
Puyol: Barcelona captain Carles Puyol has pulled out of today's Primera Liga clash at Deportivo La Coruna following the death of his father, the club said on their website yesterday. Spanish media reported that Josep Puyol, 56, had died in a work-related accident. League leaders Barcelona will be without defender Puyol, injured strikers Samuel Eto'o and Eidur Gudjohnsen and midfielder Xavi against Deportivo.
Skippers sacked: Dynamo Kiev skipper Oleksander Shovkovsky and Anatoly Tymoshchuk, his counterpart at Shakhtar Donetsk, have paid the price of failure by the two Ukrainian clubs in this season's Champions League. Both captains have been stripped of their positions following Shakhtar's meagre haul of two points from their opening four Group D matches and Dynamo's run of four straight defeats in Group E.
In Brazil: Brazilian team Atletico Paranaense have chosen to travel 12 hours by bus to an away game at the weekend rather than face airport chaos. Paranaense, based in the southern city of Curitiba, said on their Web site that the team had left on Thursday night for Rio de Janeiro, where they face Flamengo today. The journey is expected to take 10 to 12 hours.
MFA Division Three: Kalkara vs Sirens 1-3; Mdina Knights vs Ta' Xbiex 6-0.
Basketball: Peugeot League - Hibs Medsea vs Kerygma 48-35; Luxol vs Depiro 48-61.
In England: League One - Swansea vs Bournemouth 4-2; Tranmere vs Millwall 3-1. League Two - Darlington vs Chester 1-0.