CROATIA
Dinamo Zagreb boss arrested
Dinamo Zagreb chief Zdravko Mamic and a top soccer official were among four arrested on Wednesday on allegations of embezzling millions of euros from the club through player transfers, state-run media reported. Mamic, considered the most powerful man in soccer in the country, was taken in by police as part of a probe into transfers of Dinamo Zagreb players made through an agency led by his son Mario, who was also detained, according to HRT television. It was not possible to immediately confirm the information with anti-corruption prosecutors, but both Dinamo Zagreb and the Croatian Football Federation (HNS) said in separate statements that police were searching their premises, without elaborating. Media also reported on searches of Mamic’s house in Zagreb and said HNS executive president Damir Vrbanovic was among the detained. According to HRT reports, the suspicious transfers cost the club about 80 million kunas (US$11.2 million). They took place between 2004 and this year. Mamic is already under investigation by Croatia’s anti-graft USKOK bureau — along with his brother Zoran, Dinamo Zagreb’s coach, Vrbanovic and a tax inspector — suspected of giving and receiving bribes, tax evasion and other offenses.
TURKEY
Galatasaray fire Hamzaoglu
Istanbul club Galatasaray on Wednesday announced that coach Hamza Hamzaoglu was leaving the Turkish Super Lig side by mutual agreement, after a lackluster start to the season. “Mr Hamzaoglu’s contract was terminated by mutual agreem ent. We thank him for his services and wish him success in the future,” the club said in a statement. Galatasaray are lagging in third place in the Turkish top flight behind perennial capital rivals Besiktas and Fenerbahce, while the club have also made a slow start to their Champions League campaign in Group C. The results have come despite having a star-studded side, including German international Lukas Podolski, who was signed over the summer, as well as Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder.
GERMANY
Dortmund’s tree for Schalke
The towering Christmas tree in Dortmund’s city center has become a good-natured battleground between rival soccer fans after a Schalke 04 flag was spotted flying from the 45m giant. Just 35km separates Borussia Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park stadium from Schalke’s Veltins Arena in the Ruhr Valley and there is an intense rivalry between the neighboring clubs. Borussia won the Ruhr derby 3-2 two weeks ago, but Schalke fans had the last laugh by flying their team’s blue and white flag from the huge Christmas tree in the center of Dortmund last weekend. Anyone supporting Gelsenkirchen-based Schalke in Dortmund can expect trouble and the scaffolding company responsible for ensuring the 40 tonne tree stands safely has been told to pay a tongue-in-cheek fine to charity.
GERMANY
Herrmann in fitness race
Germany winger Patrick Herrmann has kept alive his slim chances of playing in next June’s European Championships after revealing on Wednesday he has decided against a knee operation. The 24-year-old has been receiving treatment for the last two months after tearing the cruciate ligament in his left knee in September. However, after consulting with doctors, the Borussia Moenchengladbach forward has opted against an operation which would rule him out for nine months — plus Euro 2016.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later