Hagi: Ex-Romania international Gheorghe Hagi has spoken of his sadness after being fined for assaulting and spitting at a referee when playing for Turkish club Galatasaray four years ago. An Istanbul court first sentenced Hagi to 17 months jail for assaulting, spitting at and also insulting the referee in the media but later substituted a suspended fine of $2,100 because of a previous clean record. Hagi, who now coaches Romanian first division club Politehnica Timisoara, said yesterday: "I'm sad because this means Turkish fans will remember me as a violent player and I wasn't like that."
Matthaeus: The Hungarian Football Association (HFA) postponed a decision about the future of German coach Lothar Matthaeus at a meeting yesterday. The 44-year-old's contract expires on Dec. 31 and it is still unclear whether he will get a second chance to steer Hungary to a major tournament after a 19-year drought. Hungary have failed to qualify for a World Cup or European championship finals since 1986.
Doll: Hamburg SV have awarded coach Thomas Doll a two-year extension to his contract that will tie him to the club until 2008. "Thomas Doll lives for HSV," chairman Bernd Hoffman said yesterday. "He is a godsend for the club." Doll replaced Klaus Toppmoeller in October 2004.
Match-Fixing: Two Vietnamese international players have been charged with fixing matches at the Southeast Asian Games held in the Philippines last month, state media reported yesterday. Leading striker Pham Van Quyen and his team-mate Le Quoc Vuong were taken to a detention centre near Hanoi on Tuesday after being formally charged with "gambling and organising gambling," the police-run An Ninh Thu Do newspaper said. The offence carries a maximum prison sentence of seven years, the newspaper said.
Di Vaio: Monaco are interested in signing Valencia's Italian striker Marco Di Vaio for the rest of the season. "We're really interested in having this player in the squad," team manager Jean-Luc Ettori said. Italy's Di Vaio, 29, joined Primera Liga club Valencia from Juventus in 2004 and scored 11 goals during his first season but has mostly been left on the bench since then.