LAUSANNE, Switzerland: Qatari-owned Spanish La Liga outfit Malaga are among nine clubs facing UEFA sanctions over unpaid bills, European football’s governing body said in a statement yesterday.
UEFA said they have lifted the suspension of prize money on 16 of 23 clubs originally targeted in September as part of their Fair Play controls after they rectified their financial situations.
But Malaga, who spent nearly 60m euros ($74m) on new players last year and have qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League in their debut season, failed to meet a deadline to show they had cleared overdue payments.
The investigatory chamber also decided to refer the cases involving Croatian sides Hajduk Split and Osijek, Romanian clubs Rapid Bucharest and Dinamo Bucharest; Serbian outfits FK Partizan and FK Vojvodina, Poland’s Lech Poznan and Arsenal Kiev of Ukraine to their adjudicatory chamber for the necessary actions to be taken. REUTERS
Ballack ‘set for farewell match in Germany’
BERLIN: Former Germany captain Michael Ballack is reported to be organising his own farewell match for July 2013 having retired from professional football in October.
The 36-year-old former Chelsea and Bayern Munich midfielder is planning to hold his own farewell match on July 5 with Leipzig, Kaiserslautern and Leverkusen as possible venues, according to Cologne newspaper Express.
“We are in talks with Michael,” said Leverkusen’s director of sport Rudi Voeller, where Ballack spent the last two years of his career.
Ballack rejected an offer by the German Football Federation to make an honorary appearance against Brazil in August 2011 and announced his retirement from all football on October 2.
REUTERS
