GERMANY
Konietzka dies aged 73
Timo Konietzka, who in 1963 scored the first goal in the Bundesliga, has died aged 73. Konietzka had been suffering from cancer when he died on Monday at his home in Brunnen, Switzerland. In a notice published by Zurich daily Blick on Tuesday, Konietzka thanked the Swiss assisted suicide group Exit for helping him end his own life. Konietzka was playing for Borussia Dortmund when he scored the first Bundesliga goal in the first minute of a match against Werder Bremen on Aug. 24, 1963. He won the Bundesliga with Dortmund that year and again three years later with 1860 Munich. Konietzka moved to Switzerland in 1967 and as a coach he won the Swiss league from 1974 to 1976 with Zurich and in 1982 with Grasshoppers.
UKRAINE
Fans told to get vaccinated
The Health Ministry is advising fans attending Euro 2012 later this year to be vaccinated for measles following an outbreak of the disease. Health Ministry spokeswoman Svitlana Tikhonenko said on Tuesday that foreigners are advised to be immunized for measles, rubella, tuberculosis and other diseases if they are not already. Ukraine is experiencing an outbreak of measles with more than 1,300 cases registered last year, compared with less than 40 in 2010. Some experts attribute the spike to a botched vaccination campaign in 2009 which led to a widespread scare among the public. Ukraine is co-hosting Euro 2012 from June 8 to July 1 with neighboring Poland.
GERMANY
Matip loses red card protest
UEFA has rejected a protest by Schalke 04 against a red card shown to defender Joel Matip after he conceded a penalty in a Europa League match against Twente. UEFA said its disciplinary panel upheld the decision by Scottish referee Craig Thomson in the first leg of the round-of-16 match in the Netherlands on Thursday last week. UEFA said Schalke could appeal the ruling, which leaves Matip suspended for the return match in Germany today. Television pictures showed that Matip made no contact with Twente forward Luuk de Jong, who fell into the Schalke penalty area in the 61st minute. De Jong scored from the penalty spot and Twente won 1-0.
BRAZIL
Blatter to meet Rousseff
FIFA boss Sepp Blatter is scheduled to meet Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff tomorrow to discuss the preparations for the 2014 World Cup. FIFA said on Tuesday the meeting would take place in Brasilia. Blatter had asked for the meeting last week, while apologizing for remarks by FIFA secretary-general Jerome Valcke, who complained of Brazil’s slow preparations by saying: “You have to push yourself, kick your [backside].” Brazilian Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo, who said Brazil was cutting ties with Valcke over his remarks, is also set to attend the meeting. Brazil since has accepted apologies from both Blatter and Valcke.
KUWAIT
National team out of cash
The head of the nation’s federation has warned it may have to suspend the national team due to a lack of funds if it does not get a cash infusion from the government. Sheik Talal al-Fahad plans to appeal to Sheik Sabah al-Ahmad Al Sabah for the additional funds, the Kuwait Times reported on Tuesday. The emir provided 2 million dinars (US$7.2 million) seven months ago, but that is nearly spent and the budget is tied up in parliament over a dispute related to the legality of the federation board.
When Paddy Dwyer arrived in China in 1976, crowds jostled to catch a glimpse of him and his companions — the first Western soccer team to play in the country. China was emerging from the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, and on the brink of market reforms that would take the country from economic stagnation to explosive growth. “All we could see was lines of people running beside our bus, trying to look in the windows, to see their first visual of a white person,” he said. “It was all bicycles,” he said. “There were very few cars to be seen.” Dwyer,
A new NZ$683 million (US$404 million) stadium that was a symbol of Christchurch’s struggle to rebuild after a deadly earthquake struck the New Zealand city is to host its first match tomorrow in front of a sellout crowd. A magnitude 6.2 earthquake killed 185 people in February 2011 and toppled or damaged buildings, including the city’s old Lancaster Park. The stadium, which hosted international rugby and cricket, and was home to the Canterbury Crusaders, was badly damaged and never reopened. It was bulldozed in 2019 and turned into sports fields, leaving the Crusaders without a permanent home. Government funding for a new stadium was
Some of Clearlake Capital Group’s largest investors are growing increasingly concerned about how much time the company’s co-founders are spending on sports investments as they have struggled to complete the fundraising for the private equity firm’s latest flagship fund. One of Clearlake’s co-founders, Behdad Eghbali, has been spending what some investors described as a disproportionate amount of time on the firm’s investment in Chelsea Football Club in recent months. Now, co-founder Jose E. Feliciano and his wife, Kwanza Jones, are nearing a record US$3.9 billion deal to acquire the San Diego Padres. That personal investment by Feliciano has set off the latest
The Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburg Penguins on Wednesday put a squeeze on the penalty box in Game 3 of their NHL playoff series — with 11 players cramped inside their designated punishment areas. Each could have snapped a team photo after a melee broke out in the second period of the Flyers’ 5-2 win over the Penguins in their Eastern Conference first-round series. “It was a party in there,” penalized Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler said. The celebration extended into the joyous locker room after the Flyers took a 3-0 series lead. Penguins forward Bryan Rust slammed Travis Konecny to the ice behind the
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