BALLACK: Germany captain Michael Ballack yesterday put an end to rumours he might join Manchester United by saying he had discussions with his club Bayern Munich and was not in talks with other teams. "I spoke with Bayern Munich and it was a good discussion. That is where things stand. I haven't spoken with anyone else, nor do I want to," Ballack said. The midfielder said he wanted to concentrate on Bundesliga favourites Bayern. Ballack also denied reports the club had given him a deadline by which to decide whether to extend his contract which runs until July 2006.
BECKHAM: England and Real Madrid player David Beckham accepted a formal apology and "substantial" libel damages yesterday from a newspaper which said he mounted a hate campaign against a former nanny. Beckham sued MGN Ltd, owners of The People newspaper, over a July 10 article headlined "Beckham's Hate Calls to Nanny".
Messi: Argentina have named uncapped 18-year-old forward Lionel Messi in their squad for a friendly away to Hungary on August 17. Messi, who plays for Barcelona, finished as top scorer with six goals when Argentina won the World Youth Championship in the Netherlands in June. Midfielder Pablo Zabaleta, 20, who captained the team, was also named in the squad by coach Jose Pekerman.
SALAS: Chile striker Marcelo Salas has returned to his homeland to play for Universidad de Chile, the club where he began his career. Salas, 30, signed a one-year contract after more than two weeks of negotiations. He said he had turned down several offers to play for clubs abroad. Salas, whose recent career has been plagued by injuries, played for the club from 1993-96, scoring 50 goals. Since then he has played for Lazio and Juventus in Italy and had two spells with River Plate in neighbouring Argentina.
IN POLAND: The Polish FA ethics chief yesterday praised a club director for speaking out about corruption. GKS Katowice head Piotr Dziurowicz told leading daily Gazeta Wyborcza he had paid officials and other clubs to determine the outcome of matches. "It's very good that this happened - I take my hat off to Piotr," said Jan Tomaszewski, appointed to clean up the league after a referee and an observer were arrested in May for taking a $25,000 bribe from undercover police. Tomaszewski was goalkeeper when Poland famously foiled England's World Cup qualifying hopes at Wembley in 1973. Dziurowicz said he was fed up with the dishonesty that he said pervades the world of soccer in Poland.