Soccer chief wants to ban players, coaches, officials from betting on English matches

October 5th, 2009 Latvia bans a top soccer club for gamblingRIGA, Latvia — One of Latvia's top soccer teams has been banned for the rest of the season because of gambling. Latvia soccer's federation said Monday it received information that the general manager and coach of Dinaburg FC were betting on the team's games.

August 28th, 2009 Soccer tarnished by cold-shoulder to gaysPARIS — Marcello Lippi, Italy's World Cup-winning soccer manager who seems to have both feet planted in the 19th century, says he's never come across a gay player in his 40-odd years in the sport. Clearly, Lippi needs to take an eye-opening trip to Milan.

July 7th, 2009 PARIS — French tennis player Mathieu Montcourt, who was recently banned for betting on matches, has died. He was 24. The French tennis federation said Tuesday that Montcourt died overnight but "the causes of his death are not yet known." French media reported the 119th-ranked Montcourt was found dead by his girlfriend in the stairwell of his Paris apartment.

July 7th, 2009 French tennis player banned for betting found deadPARIS — French tennis player Mathieu Montcourt, who was recently banned for betting on matches, has died. He was 24. The French tennis federation said Tuesday that Montcourt died overnight but the cause of death is not yet known, and an autopsy will be conducted.

May 14th, 2009 CAS cuts Montcourt's ban for betting on matchesLAUSANNE, Switzerland — French tennis player Mathieu Montcourt's suspension for betting on matches has been reduced from eight to five weeks. The Court of Arbitration for Sport said Thursday the 24-year-old Montcourt bet a total of $192 on 36 different tennis events, though not on his own matches or at tournaments where he was playing.

May 7th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Top English Premier League clubs these days are on a hunt for players of Asian origin and Chelsea has short-listed three young footballers of Indian origin as part of their talent search programme. Chelsea found Jai Singh Dhillon (under-14) from Hitchin, Jordan Sadhu (under-13) from Ilford and London's Aameer Kstantin Murphy (under-12), from a 'Search for Asian Soccer Star' contest that concluded Monday.

May 2nd, 2009 Chile rejects hosting Mexican clubs for Copa LibMEXICO CITY — Columbia and Chile turned down a proposal Friday to host two Mexican clubs' Copa Libertadores matches, fearing the players might bring swine flu with them. Chivas and San Luis qualified for the round of 16 in the Copa Libertadores — the Latin American club championship — but South American soccer officials do not want to play any of the matches in Mexico, where the swine flu outbreak has hit the hardest.

April 29th, 2009 Swine flu causes Mexico fan ban at soccer matchesMEXICO CITY — The Mexican Football Federation says all pro soccer games in Mexico this weekend will be played without fans in an effort to slow the spread of swine flu. The ban announced Wednesday covers 176 matches in all divisions, including nine top division matches to 115 matches in the third division.

April 24th, 2009 Chinese school admits age fraud in soccer tourneyBEIJING — A Chinese high school principal has admitted his girls' soccer team was filled with players from the junior national squad and apologized for the fraud, state media reported Friday. Daping Junior High's Zhang Jianling said that only three of the 15 team members sent to an international girls tournament in Turkey actually attended his school in the Yuzhong district of the western city of Chongqing.

April 7th, 2009 LONDON - Sacked England coach Peter Moores said he was hurt by claims of Kevin Pietersen and others that he introduced an overly-regimented approach that did not take account of the needs of individual players. Moores insisted that his relationship with Pietersen was 'fine' and that the former captain's outburst had therefore come as a major surprise.

March 14th, 2009 RAIPUR - The Chhattisgarh government has offered to host a few matches of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and assured full security cover despite the schedule clashing with the general elections, an official said here Saturday. 'We are very keen to host some IPL twenty20 matches at the newly-built stadium on the outskirts of Raipur.

January 23rd, 2009 LONDON - England's cricket superstars Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff will 'reward' their counties, Hampshire and Lancashire, with 10 per cent of their earnings from the Indian Premier League (IPL). This is obviously a compensation for the counties, who will be missing their stars for the first few matches of the county season, reported the English media.

January 20th, 2009 LONDON - England captain Andrew Strauss has asked his teammates to put behind the bitter episode that portrayed the team as disjointed and take more responsibility to win games as they head to West Indies. The England team embarked on its tour of the West Indies with a new captain and a stand-in coach in former Zimbabwe batsman Andy Flower.

January 14th, 2009 KOLKATA - The under-23 squad of German soccer giants F C Bayern Munich arrived here Thursday for a week-long visit during which they will play three exhibition matches, officials said. 'We are very happy to be back here.

January 13th, 2009 CHANDIGARH - The Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) Wednesday announced financial help for former state players who are not covered under the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) gratis scheme for former cricketers. PCA's honorary secretary M.P.