Hearts: Scottish Premier League club Hearts completed the signing of Greek European Championship winner Takis Fyssas from Portuguese side Benfica yesterday. The club confirmed the signing of the 32-year-old left back on their website and revealed manager George Burley had also lured goalkeeper Steve Banks from Gillingham.
FIFPRO awards: England was the best represented country when the international players' association FIFPRO released a shortlist of 55 contenders for its inaugural World XI Player Awards yesterday. Ten of the nominations were English, followed by nine Brazilians, seven Italians and five Frenchmen and Argentines in the nominations chosen by 38,000 footballers belonging to 40 professional organisations across the world. The final World XI will be announced at an awards ceremony at Wembley in north London on September 19.
Van Bronckhorst: Barcelona's Dutch defender Giovanni van Bronckhorst will miss the Spanish Super Cup first leg and is doubtful for the Netherlands friendly against Germany next week due to a calf injury. Barcelona doctor Lluis Til said yesterday the left back would be out of action for eight to 10 days because of a calf strain in his right leg. League champions Barcelona play King's Cup winners Real Betis in the first leg of the Super Cup in Seville on Saturday.
Ferdinand: England defender Rio Ferdinand says he was hurt by the barracking from Manchester United fans before agreeing his new four-year deal with the club. The 26-year-old, who will be at Old Trafford until 2009, had been targeted by supporters over the prolonged negotiations over a new deal, their frustration fuelled by reports he was demanding £120,000 a week. "It's not nice when you are getting stick from some supporters, particularly over something that was never true," Ferdinand said.
Shearer: Newcastle captain Alan Shearer is an injury doubt for their Premier League season-opener at Arsenal on Sunday as the Tynesiders struggle to cope with absentees up front. Shearer is having treatment on a calf strain, Shola Ameobi is suspended for their first two matches and manager Graeme Souness has yet to replace departed strikers Patrick Kluivert and Craig Bellamy.
¤ Former youth coach Gaioz Darsadze was named caretaker manager of the Georgian national team on Monday. Darsadze, 41, takes over from Frenchman Alain Giresse, who was sacked last month following the country's dismal showing in the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign. The executive board of the Georgian Soccer Federation (GSF) voted unanimously to hand the vacant job to Darsadze, who had served as GSF's technical director since last year. The GSF said they would appoint a permanent coach at the end of the year.
¤ Frenchwoman Colette Besson, who won 400 metres gold at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico, has died from cancer, the French Athletics Federation said yesterday. She was 59.
Besson was 22 when she won gold in Mexico with a fantastic lap, catching up all her rivals on her way to a totally unexpected victory.
Her best time before the Games was 53.8 and she won in 52.03, 0.09 ahead of Britain's Lillian Board, the favourite.
¤ Former world no.1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who retired from professional tennis last year, will make his golf debut on the European Tour this week at the Russian Open. Kafelnikov received a wild card entry into the $500,000 tournament which begins at the Moscow Country Club tomorrow. Kafelnikov has been an avid golfer for a long time. He also serves as one of Russian Golf Association's vice presidents.
¤ Sri Lanka cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya became the fourth batsman in history to score 10,000 runs in one-day internationals yesterday. Jayasuriya brought up the landmark with a characteristic short-arm pull for four off India's left-arm seamer Irfan Pathan in the final of a triangular one-day series. The 36-year-old was the fourth player to reach the landmark after Sachin Tendulkar (13,640 runs), Inzamam ul-Haq (10,933) and Saurav Ganguly (10,020).
¤Three-times world road race cycling champion Oscar Freire will be unable to defend his crown in Madrid in September because of an injury to his lower back. Freire, who won the world championship in Verona in 1999, Lisbon in 2001 and again in Verona last year, abandoned the Tour of Switzerland in June and underwent surgery on his lower back later in the month. The world championship begins in Madrid on September 20.