Abidal retires from France squad
BARCELONA: Defender Eric Abidal, who underwent a liver transplant in 2012, has become the latest French player to announce his retirement from international football. Abidal, 34, capped 67 times for his country, follows Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery and Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri in bringing down the curtain on his international career. Now playing for Olympiakos in Greece after spells with Barcelona and Monaco, Abidal told Catalan radio station Raci he had been upset at not being selected for the World Cup in Brazil. “It’s over,” he said late Wednesday. “I have not held a press conference or said anything. I am saying it for the first time today but I am more than certain that I will no longer join the national team.” Abidal, who played for Barcelona for six years from 2007, was first diagnosed with a liver tumour in March 2011 and a year later underwent a transplant.He won the last of his 67 caps in a World Cup qualifier against Ukraine in November last year but coach Didier Deschamps finally left him out of the World Cup squad for Brazil.(Agencies)
Pune FC sign Ryuji Sueoka, Luciano Sabrosa for season
Mumbai: Pune Football Club have signed Japanese medio Ryuji Sueoka and Brazilian defender Luciano Sabrosa for the upcoming 2014-15 I-League season, the club announced on Thursday. Sueoka joins Pune FC after spending the previous season with East Bengal, while Sabrosa has spent the last season with Mohammedan Sporting. Both players bring in their long-standing experience of the Indian circuit and are the first foreign recruits to be signed under new coach Karim Bencherifa. Incidentally the duo was also part of the Salgaocar FC side which won the I-League under Bencherifa in 2011-12, the club stated in a media release. The club’s operations head, Chirag Tanna, said: “We are very glad to have signed Ryuji and Luciano for the 2014-15 season. Both players have won the I-League and Federation Cup and that experience will be invaluable to our young squad.” “Both are good players, and above all good humans too. And their experience will help, guide the youngsters at Pune FC,” said head coach Bencherifa. Sueoka will be the third Japanese player to play for Pune FC after Arata Izumi (2009-12) and Daisuke Nishiguchi (2012-13). (PTI)
CAS upholds Luis Suarez’s four-month playing ban
GENEVA: Luis Suarez on Thursday failed to win a reprieve from his four-month ban for biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup, but got a green light to resume training. In a hotly-awaited ruling, the Court of Arbitration for Sport said it had found Suarez guilty of assault during Uruguay’s World Cup match against Italy, in what was one of the highest-profile incidents at the sporting extravaganza in Brazil. The decision means that the 27-year-old striker remains unable to make his debut for his new club Barcelona until October 25, but can at least train with his team-mates and be involved in promotional activities. He is also barred from taking to the pitch with Uruguay for nine consecutive official matches. “The CAS Panel found that the sanctions imposed on the player were generally proportionate to the offence committed,” the court said in a statement. “It has however considered that the stadium ban and the ban from ‘any football-related activity’ were excessive given that such measures are not appropriate to sanction the offence committed by the player.” (Agencies)
Neuer, Robben, Ronaldo up for UEFA award
PARIS: German World Cup-winning goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, Netherlands winger Arjen Robben and Real Madrid and Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo are the three contenders to win UEFA’s Best Player in Europe Award for 2013/14. The winner, to be announced on August 28 in Monaco, where the draw for the group stage of the Champions League is taking place, will succeed last year’s victor Franck Ribery. A jury made up of journalists from the 54 member associations of UEFA will decide the winner. Neuer and Robben were both part of the Bayern Munich side that won the domestic league and cup double in Germany last season, while the former was the outstanding goalkeeper at the World Cup and Robben impressed as the Dutch finished third. (Agencies)