No Friendly: France have agreed to postpone their friendly against Senegal on August 17 after a request from the Senegalese soccer federation. The French FA said it had received a fax from its Senegalese counterpart saying the Teranga Lions could not play because of "the current situation of the national team". Senegal are struggling to qualify for the 2006 World Cup and last month both their coach Guy Stephan and the African country's sports minister were fired. France now hope to play Ivory Coast in August with the game likely to be staged in Montpellier.
Panathinaikos: Brazilian midfielder Flavio Conceicao has signed for Panathinaikos. Confirmation of the deal came after some six weeks of negotiations. The 31-year-old, who moves from Turkish side Galatasaray, was expected in Athens last month to complete the deal but failed to show up. Conceicao has 47 caps and won the Champions League with Real Madrid in 2002. Panathinaikos also announced the signing of Liverpool's Croatian international Igor Biscan. The 27-year-old midfielder was out of contract with the European champions.
De Lucas: Chelsea's former Spanish midfielder Enrique De Lucas is suing the English champions for more than £2.5 million after they terminated his contract in 2003. De Lucas, who began a London High Court action yesterday, is seeking damages in unpaid wages, bonuses, appearance fees, accommodation and other expenses, including English language tuition. The 27-year-old's move to English football in 2002 was a complex one involving Spanish club Deportivo Alaves.
Dalmat: French midfielder Stephane Dalmat has signed a five-year contract with Racing Santander, the Primera Liga club said yesterday. The 26-year-old, who began his professional career at Chateauroux in 1997, joined Inter from Paris St Germain for $9 million in 2001, but was unable to secure an extended run in the first team during his two-season spell at the Serie A club. He was loaned out to Tottenham Hotspur in August 2003 and made a good start at the London club, but he fell out of favour with caretaker manager David Pleat.
Baptista: Tottenham Hotspur have joined the race to sign Sevilla forward Julio Baptista and have offered over €20 million for the Brazil international, the Primera Liga side's president said yesterday. Jose Maria del Nido told reporters at a news conference in Seville the club still had no intention of selling the player who is due to return from Brazil to start pre-season training today. Last week Del Nido said he had rejected an offer from Arsenal for the 23-year-old, but reports in the press suggested that the two clubs were on the verge of closing a deal.
Charity match: Romania's 1994 World Cup team have raised nearly e500,000 for the victims of floods which have killed 27 people across the country this year, organisers said yesterday. Floods, the worst for half a century, have killed 20 people in eastern Romania over the past week. Gheorghe Hagi and Gica Popescu, members of Romania's "Golden Generation" squad who reached the quarter-finals of USA 94, were 4-1 winners over a Brazil XI including the likes of Careca, Dunga and Claudio Taffarel in a charity match played at the weekend in the western city of Timisoara.
Row over referees: Confusion over the appointment of referees led to some matches in the Nigerian League to be postponed at the weekend. Referees appointed by the Nigeria FA arrived at match venues only to find another set of officials sent by the Nigerian Football League (NFL), the league organisers. The NFL, formed by club owners in January, began appointing match officials in a bid to end alleged corruption.