African awards: Chelsea team-mates Didier Drogba and Michael Essien are likely to head the list of five finalists for this year's African Footballer of the Year award when it is announced next week. The Confederation of African Football said the nominees would be named in Lagos on Monday. Ivory Coast's Drogba and Ghana's Essien helped their countries to qualify for the World Cup finals for the first time this year.
World Cup Tickets: Some 150,000 of the best seats at the 2006 World Cup, including tickets for the final, remain unsold and are available for public purchase. But fans wishing to jump the queue and guarantee tickets ahead of the next sales lottery should check their credit ratings carefully. Prices start at 1,900 euros ($2,281) plus sales tax for a package that will get you into three early-round games, and go up to 336,000 euros ($403,300) for a 20-person box at all six matches in Berlin's Olympic Stadium, including the final.
Demichelis: Martin Demichelis has agreed a contract extension with Bayern Munich until 2010, the Bundesliga champions said yesterday. The 24-year-old joined Bayern from River Plate as a defender in 2003 but did not win a regular place until he switched to a holding midfield player midway through last season. Since then he has been one of the club's most consistent performers and has broken into the Argentina squad.
Dyer: Newcastle and England midfielder Kieron Dyer has suffered another injury setback after returning from a seven-match layoff, his Premier League club said yesterday. The 26-year-old, who has been fighting a hamstring problem, made his first appearance for Newcastle since August in Sunday's 3-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion. The club said he now faced another spell on the sidelines.
Hoyzer: Three Croatian brothers accused of a two million euro match-fixing fraud may have had a number of soccer officials working for them, the referee at the centre of the trial told a German court yesterday. Robert Hoyzer said he had seen the brothers, including the alleged fraud ringleader Ante Sapina, with a list from European soccer body UEFA with the names of referees and assistants for upcoming matches. "That really surprised me because this information is typically very confidential," Hoyzer said.