Valeron: Deportivo Coruna's Juan Carlos Valeron was given the all clear by team doctors yesterday after six months out with a knee injury. The 31-year-old Spain international tore the cruciate ligament in his left knee during Depor's 2-2 draw with Real Mallorca in the Primera Liga in January. Although the playmaker was dropped from Luis Aragones's Spain squad last year, he had been widely tipped to make a return in the run up to the World Cup finals in Germany. He has won 46 caps and played in the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004.

UNICEF: Barcelona have said they will collaborate with the United Nations agency UNICEF over the next five years to help support the body's work on the rights of children across the world. "UNICEF and Barcelona have reached an agreement to work together for the benefit of orphans and vulnerable children, in particular those suffering from the HIV/Aids virus," Barcelona said in a statement. The deal is expected to see the European and Spanish champions promote UNICEF on its kit, breaking the club's tradition of never having had shirt-sponsorship. Earlier this year Barcelona announced they were donating 0.7% of their profits to charitable causes.

Asian Failure: Asian nations need to improve their domestic leagues after a relatively poor showing at the recent World Cup, Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Mohamed Bin Hammam said. Bin Hamman was speaking after a meeting of the body's technical committee to assess the performances of South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Australia at the tournament in Germany. "Undeniably, we are still far behind the international level that we aspire to. We must work hard to close the gap with the big guns. I must say that I am very disappointed with our results in Germany," Bin Hammam said.

2018 World Cup: Heads of Australia's local governments said they would support a bid to host the 2018 World Cup. The possibility of bidding for the right to host the tournament was discussed at an annual meeting between the national government and the heads of the eight state and territory governments. Soccer has struggled to gain a foothold in Australia behind rugby, cricket, rugby league and Australian rules football, but the World Cup transfixed fans across the nation despite matches being played late at night or early in the morning local time. The 2010 World Cup will be held in South Africa while the 2014 event is to be staged in South America.