Bundesliga: Hamburg stayed hard on the heels of Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich with a 3-0 victory over Kaiserslautern yesterday that was powered by two goals from Rafael van der Vaart. One week after they beat Bayern 2-0, Hamburg dominated Kaiserslautern the whole match to secure their hold on second place with 20 points from eight matches, one point behind Bayern before a two-week break for international matches. In yesterday's other match, B. Dortmund and Stuttgart drew 0-0.

Match-fixing: The results of 11 Brazilian championship matches were declared void yesterday over a match-fixing scandal involving referee Edilson Pereira de Carvalho. Carvalho is suspended over allegations that he took bribes from an illegal gambling ring. Brazil's sporting tribunal decided to order all 11 games at which Carvalho officiated to be replayed, its president Luiz Zveiter told reporters.

Beckenbauer: The glum faces of Iranian officials during a film showing Germans guzzling beer was lesson one in Franz Beckenbauer's crash course in the needs of Muslim teams at the 2006 World Cup. The scene was in a promotional film shown by Beckenbauer, president of Germany's World Cup organising committee, at the start of his tour of the 31 countries that will play in the tournament next year. "I will listen to the individual wishes of the Iranian federation in regard to the Islamic nature of the Iranian team," said Beckenbauer, who started his tour with the Muslim countries that have already qualified, including next stop Saudi Arabia.

Monaco: Former Olympique Lyon coach Paul Le Guen has been offered the Monaco job, a source close to the principality club said yesterday. Le Guen's reply was expected today, the source added. If he were to turn the job down, two other candidates, Frenchman Guy Stephan and Argentine Ramon Diaz, would remain in contention.

Halilhodzic: Former PSG coach Vahid Halilhodzic signed a one-year contract with Turkey's Trabzonspor yesterday, Anatolian news agency said. The Bosnian-born 53-year-old replaces Senol Gunes who resigned last month. Halilhodzic told a news conference he would start duty next Thursday at Trabzonspor, who are seventh in the Turkish Premier League.

Ligue 1: Troyes vs Strasbourg 1-1; Lille vs Monaco 0-1; S. Rennes vs Lyon 1-3; Toulouse vs Auxerre 2-0; Nice vs Marseille 0-1.

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