Tottenham agree fee for Dos Santos with Barcelona

Swansea sign Spanish Pair

Poland’s Blaszczykowski to miss Euro 2008

Roberto Rosetti to referee Euro 2008 opener

Pospech out but Barnetta fit for opener

Robin van Persie out of Italian game

Romania striker Adrian Mutu has been ordered to pay his former club Chelsea £9.6m for testing positive for cocaine, according to his lawyer. Chelsea sacked Mutu in October 2004 and he was subsequently handed a seven-month worldwide football ban.

Tottenham will sign forward Giovani dos Santos from Barcelona, subject to a medical and agreeing personal terms.

Swansea City have completed the double swoop for Spanish duo Jordi Gomez and Gorka Pintado in a joint £300,000 deal.

Highly-rated midfielder Gomez, 23, has joined on a season-long loan from the La Liga side Espanyol. And 30-year-old Pintado has agreed a long-term contract after signing from Segunda B side Granada.

Poland winger Jakub Blaszczykowski will miss Euro 2008 after aggravating a hamstring injury in training on Thursday.

Italian Roberto Rosetti will referee the opening Euro 2008 match between co-hosts Switzerland and Czech Republic on Saturday in Basel in Group A, UEFA said on Thursday.

Czech Republic defender Zdenek Pospech has been ruled out of Saturday’s opening Euro 2008 match against Switzerland, while captain Tomas Ujfalusi has a slight abdominal strain but should be fit.

Switzerland midfielder Tranquillo Barnetta has declared himself fit for Saturday’s Euro 2008 opener against Czech Republic after returning to full training with the squad.

Holland coach Marco van Basten has ruled Arsenal’s Robin van Persie out of their Euro 2008 opener against Italy in Berne on Monday.

Kevin Taylor

CSKA Sofia excluded from Champions League

Leyton Orient sign Granville

England result will stand

Okocha released by Premier new boys

Fluminese see off Boca Juniors to reach Copa Libertadores final

Nearly 70,000 watched Argentina beat Mexico 4-1 in San Diego, California last night. The Mexico team was coached by Jesús Ramírez were 3-0 down with the first 30 minutes.

Bulgarian champions CSKA Sofia have been excluded from next season’s Champions League.

The Bulgarian FA has refused to allow CSKA Sofia to compete because of bad debts. After winning their 31st title last year CSKA could be relegated to the country’s amateur third division.

Defender Danny Granville has become Leyton Orient’s first summer signing after sealing an initial one-year deal. The 33-year-old left-back, who has played for Chelsea and Crystal Palace, was released by Colchester United at the end of last season.

Fifa has announced England’s 3-0 friendly win against Trinidad & Tobago will stand, despite a mistake over the number of substitutions used. England made one more than the maximum allowed six changes.

Hull City will begin life in the Premier League without Jay-Jay Okocha. Okocha a former African player of the year has been released by manager Phil Brown ahead of the teams first taste of life in Level One of the Football league.

Fluminese will face LDU Quito in the final of the Copa Libertadores after beating holders Boca Juniors 3-1 last night. LDU Quito went through on away goals after a 0-0 draw on Tuesday with America of Mexico, who two player’s sent-off.

Kevin Taylor

Porto lose Champions League place

Hughes appointed Manchester City Boss

Sunderland release players

Russia and Spain win final warm ups 

Nigeria to host United and Portsmouth

Fulham sign Stockdale from Darlington

Luton Town have been deducted 10 points and fined £50,000 after being found guilty of 15 charges of misconduct, concerning payments to agents.

Former chairman Bill Tomlins has been banned from football for five years and fined £15,000. Three other ex-directors have also been punished and six agents warned.

Portuguese champions Porto have been excluded from next season’s Champions League over alleged bribery of referees in the 2003/04 season. The allegations relate to Porto’s 2-0 win against Estrela da Amadora and their 0-0 draw with Beira Mar.

Mark Hughes has been appointed as the new manager of Manchester City after signing a three-year contract.

Sunderland boss Roy Keane has begun his summer cull by releasing Andy Cole, Ian Harte, Stanislav Varga and Stephen Wright.

Xavi scored the only goal twelve minutes from time as Spain beat the USA 1-0 in Santander tonight.

Russia struck three second-half goals to beat Lithuania 4-1 in their final Euro 2008 warmup on Wednesday. The Russians went behind in the 25th minute but Konstantin Zyryanov equalised and in the second half Andrei Arshavin, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Vladimir Bystrov struck to seal Russia’s third consecutive victory.

Manchester United will travel to Nigeria to play fellow Premier League side Portsmouth in a friendly in July. The match between the Premier League and European champions and the FA Cup holders will take place in Abuja. The date and venue have yet to be determined.

Darlington goalkeeper David Stockdale has joined Premier League Fulham on a two-year deal for an undisclosed fee.

Kevin Taylor

Eriksson named boss of Mexico

Lehmann signs deal with Stuttgart

France win as Henry celebrates 100th cap

Fabio Cannavaro has been ruled out of Euro 2008

Burton gets the go ahead from the FA

Charity begins at home for Aston Villa

Colchester complete Lockwood deal

Livingston sack manager

Adebayor picks up BBC African Footballer of the Year

Gretna have lost their battle for survival and resigned from the Scottish Football League. The administrator running the troubled club concluded that Gretna could not continue running as a business.

Gretna only entered the SFL structure in 2002 and completed an astonishing rise to the Premier League in 2007.

The club ran into financial problems when benefactor Brooks Mileson withdrew his support and they were relegated from the top flight. Gretna went into administration in March with debts totalling about £4m.

The SFL have set a deadline of 12 June for prospective new clubs to apply for membership. Spartans, Annan Athletic, Preston Athletic and Cove Rangers are all preparing applications.

Just a day after being sacked by Manchester City Sven-Goran Eriksson has today been named manager of Mexico.

Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann has signed for German club VFB Stuttgart. The 38-year-old has signed a one-year deal.

Thierry Henry made his 100th appearance for France tonight at the Stade De France and won the penalty that Franck Ribery converted for a 1-0 win.

Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro has been ruled out of Euro 2008 after tearing ligaments in his left ankle. The Real Madrid defender suffered the injury when he collided with Giorgio Chiellini in a practice match.

The Football Association’s board has announced that the national football centre will be based in Burton-on-Trent in Staffordshire. Planning permission and funding have yet to be secured for the project.

Aston Villa have announced a shirt partnership with West Midlands-based charity Acorns Children’s Hospice. The deal will see the charity’s logo being carried on the club’s shirts for free throughout the 2008/9 season.

Colchester United have signed Nottingham Forest left-back Matt Lockwood for an undisclosed fee.

Mark Proctor has been sacked as manager of Livingston, the day after an Italian consortium bought a controlling stake in the First Division club.

Emmanuel Adebayor will receive his BBC African Footballer of the Year trophy at a special gala in Lome tonight. The Arsenal and Togo striker beat Didier Drogba of the Ivory Coast into second place with Ghana’s Michael Essien finishing third.

Kevin Taylor

The ‘Special One’ becomes Inter Coach

Coventry sign Beuzelin from Hibs

Gretna ‘no longer in existence’

Botafogo’s Andre Luis sent-off and arrested

Henry set for 100th Cap

Despite taking Manchester City to 9th in the Premier League and into the UEFA Cup via the Fair Play rankings, Sven-Goran Eriksson has being relieved of his duties by owner Thaksin Shinawatra. Former Manchester United star Mark Hughes has been given permission to talk to City by Blackburn Rovers.

Jose ‘The Special One’ Mourinho has today been announced as the new Inter Milan coach as expected. Mourinho who was sacked by Chelsea in September takes over from Roberto Mancini who was sacked despite winning the league title three years on the trot.

Coventry City have confirmed the signing of 29-year-old French midfielder Guillaume Beuzelin from Scottish Premier League side Hibernian, he has signed a two-year deal. He joined Hibernian from French side Le Havre in July 2004 and made 117 appearances in his four seasons at Easter Road, netting 10 goals.

Wilson Field the administrators for Scottish Premier Team Gretna expect them to be expelled from the Scottish Football League with a matter of days. The only interested party in taking over the team has withdrawn their offer.

Botafogo defender Andre Luis was arrested after being sent off in a Brazilian championship match on Sunday while riot police used pepper spray as they fought with his team mates on the pitch. Botafogo’s match away to Nautico in Recife was interrupted for 12 minutes by the fighting.

Thierry Henry is expected to gain his 100th cap tomorrow night when France face Colombia. He will be the sixth French player to reach the landmark.

Kevin Taylor

Shrewsbury get financial gain from Hart’s debut

Dutch win final warm up for Euro 2008

Emre leaves Newcastle for Fenerbahce

UEFA rank Liverpool as Best Team in Europe

Australia win qualifying game

International round-up

It was all change for England in Trinidad and Tobago with David Beckham once again made England captain in his 102nd appearance. Dean Ashton made his debut up front but it was Gareth Barry who opened the scoring after 12 minutes and Jermain Defoe made it two just four minutes later to give England a 2-0 half time lead.

In a carnival like atmosphere Joe Hart and Phil Jagielka came on at half-time to make their England debuts. England’s third was added by Portsmouth’s Defoe on 49 minutes. Another debutant Stephen Warnock came on with around seven minutes left

Shrewsbury were made £500,000 richer when Joe Hart came on as a substitute tonight against Trinidad and Tobago, a clause in the deal that took him to Manchester City see’s the League Two side pick up another financial reward on top of his initial £600,000 transfer fee.

The Netherlands got the better of a weakened Welsh team 2-0 at the PSV Stadium in Eindhoven. Former Chelsea forward Arien Robben scored the first while Wesley Sneijder added a second in the 54th minute.

Newcastle have confirmed they are selling Turkey midfielder Emre Belozoglu to Fenerbahce.

Liverpool are officially the best team in Europe. The Anfield club top the official Uefa rankings that are based on European performances over the last five years. AC Milan are a point behind in second, Chelsea make into third while European champions Manchester United only make it to seventh.

Harry Kewell scored just after halftime to give Australia a 1-0 win over Iraq in their 2010 World Cup qualifier in Brisbane on Sunday.

Sweden suffered a hiccup in their 2008 preparations when they lost 1-0 to Ukraine, while Poland and Denmark played out a 1-1 draw as did Greece in Armenia where the game ended goalless.

Kevin Taylor