Siena: Serie A club Siena were docked one point yesterday due to late payment of taxes on players' wages. Serie B club Pescara received an identical punishment after they also failed to meet the July deadline imposed on clubs. Siena president Paolo De Luca was handed a three month suspension from the game by the Italian Football League's disciplinary commission but said he would appeal that decision and the point penalty. Before yesterday's decision, Tuscan side Siena were fifth in Serie A on 11 points.
Del Horno: Valencia defender Asier del Horno needs surgery to deal with an injury that has stopped him playing since his move from Chelsea in the close season. The 25-year-old Spain international sustained the injury, which has affected the area around his Achilles, before leaving Chelsea and missed the World Cup as a result. He said he was confident that surgery would finally put an end to the problem and added that he hoped to be back in action before the end of the year.
De Jong: Hamburg midfielder Nigel de Jong has a knee problem and will be out for at least four weeks adding to the club's injury woes before Sunday's league match against Bayer Leverkusen. The Dutch midfielder will undergo a surgical examination of his knee in Amsterdam, the club said yesterday. Hamburg will also be without Raphael Wicky, injured during Tuesday's Champions League match against Porto, which Hamburg lost 4-1.
Ardiles: Israeli Premier League side Beitar Jerusalem have parted company with Argentine coach Osvaldo Ardiles and named former club goalkeeper and Ashdod SC manager Yossi Mizrahi in his place yesterday. Big-spending Beitar agreed a one-year contract with Ardiles in May but their failure to advance in the UEFA Cup and erratic results, which nevertheless see the club occupy second place in the league on goal difference, were Ardiles's downfall.
Racism: Belgrade police arrested 152 fans for racist insults at a Serbian second division match between local team Rad and Novi Pazar late on Wednesday. The home fans shouted anti-Muslim slogans at Novi Pazar players and police moved in to remove them from the stadium. Novi Pazar is a Muslim-majority town in western Serbia. Some ultranationalist Serbs are hostile to Muslims, often glorifying the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of some 8,000 Bosnian Muslims by Bosnian Serbs.
Pizarro suspended: Peru suspended striker Claudio Pizarro indefinitely yesterday saying he had broken soccer federation rules by failing to play in a friendly against Chile this month. Pizarro returned to Germany to train for Bayern Munich, missing a second friendly with Chile in southern Peru on Oct. 11 which Chile won 1-0. Peru lost their away match with Chile 3-2 on Oct 7.
2016 Olympics: Tokyo's bid to stage the 2016 Olympics has suffered a setback after it was told not to appoint the head of sports goods maker Mizuno as a key campaigner. International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Jacques Rogge said yesterday that to name Masato Mizuno as secretary general of Tokyo's bidding committee would be a conflict of interests. The 63-year-old Mizuno has served on the IOC sports and environment commission while his company is a major Olympic sponsor.
MFA Division Three: Zurrieq vs Kalkara 1-2; Sirens vs Mdina 1-0.