Football News: Weekly Football News Roundup

2/3/08

Bayern introduce code of conduct

Bayern players had better behave. Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld personally compiled a code of conduct, obligatory for all the players at the Bavarian club. The introduction of the code was motivated by the captain's Oliver Kahn's recent outburst, a public criticism of his two new teammates Franck Ribery and Luca Toni.

"A couple of newcomers must understand that two or three good games are not enough here. Bayern is not Marseille or Fiorentina," said Kahn, obviously referring to the Frenchman and the Italian.

Bayern's board suspended the goalkeeper and fined him 25,000 euros, believing him to have violated the club's reputation.

It will be intriguing to see whether the incoming coach Juergen Klinsmann will observe Hitzfeld's code when he takes over on July 1st or will perhaps introduce modifications.

Modest president refuses to have stadium named after him

The Mexican president Felipe Calderón rejected a proposal of having his name given to the soccer stadium of Pachuca Tuzos. Calderón was presented with the idea on the occasion of the inauguration of a soccer academy in the Central Mexican city of Pachuca.

"I'm honoured, but I cannot accept the proposal. We the politicians have to avoid temptations that could lead us to losing contact with reality. Streets and buildings should not carry names of current politicians at all," said the modest president.

And his refusal had nothing to do with his support for Tuzos' rivals, Morelia Monarcas.

"On the contrary. My son supports Pachuca and even asked Santa Claus to bring him (goalkeeper's) Miguel Calero's shirt last Christmas. I wish the whole of Mexico could make progress like Pachuca, who came up from the Second Division and joined the elite."

Irony of fate: Kastrati had a testicle injured

Bekim Kastrati, of Fortuna Düsseldorf, sustained a severe injury during a game against Bayern Munich...an injury seriously reminiscent of his name.

In a collision with the mighty stopper Daniel van Buyten, Kastrati received a powerful blow on one of his testicles. Even though he somehow managed to stay on the pitch for a while, the pains forced him to call for help. He was urgently shipped to a hospital where the surgeons performed an operation on his ruptured testicle. The destiny of the misfortunate organ has not been made public, but doctors say Kastrati should be back in action in early March.

Sevilla's president rants against Juande Ramos

José María del Nido, president of UEFA Cup winners Sevilla, is not exacly an admirer of his former employee, Juande Ramos. Del Nido called the current Tottenham coach "a traitor" and that in Seville no-one follows his work at White Hart Lane.

"Not a single Sevilla fan is interested in how he fares in England. I, for one, could not care less," said the president of the coach who brought five trophies to his club in the space of 15 months.

On the other hand, Tottenham reached a major final after six years after beating none other than Arsenal 5-1 in the League Cup semifinals.

"It doesn't matter. Juande Ramos is history. He betrayed Sevilla and went to another club for more money," concluded the president.

However, Juande is doublessly more concerned about what his current employers in the Premier League are thinking of him.

Manchester United, champions of ugly?

Wayne Rooney is the least attractive soccer player in the world, just ahead of Ronaldinho and Carlos Tevez according to a survey carried out on 2500 women. In the survey published on www.thepeoplesclub.com roughly a third of the participants voted for Rooney, humorously nicknamed Shrek after the ogre from the homonimous film.

The Manchester United ace finished ahead of Barcelona's Ronaldinho with his cartoon character features and his fellow Red Devil Tévez, famous for his facial scars. The comic beampole striker Peter Crouch just missed out on the medals, while Ronaldo Nazario occupied the fifth spot even though (or maybe because) of his recently grown curls.

"Our survey show that money can't buy you looks," said Carl Christensen, spokesperson of thepeoplesclub.com, in an interview to the Daily Star. "But money sure does help an ordinary guy get a good-looking girl. You have to look no further than Peter Crouch and Abbey Clancy."

He is certainly right about that, since 20% of the surveyed women claimed they wouldn't mind dating the ugly guys from the list, because their star status and their attractive bank accounts more than adequately compensate for any aesthetic shortcomings.

Top ten

The top-20 includes no less than seven Manchester United players, which speaks about the local character of the survey more than the guys' true status on the beauty market.

1 Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)
2 Ronaldinho (Barcelona)
3 Carlos Tévez (Manchester United)
4 Peter Crouch (Liverpool)
5 Ronaldo Nazario Lima (Milan)
6 Luke Chadwick (Manchester United)
7 Robbie Fowler (Cardiff)
8 Darren Fletcher (Manchester United)
9 Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United)
10 Ruud Van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid)

Torres best looking, say the men

Probably inspired by the PeoplesClub's poll, the satirical website Chicken Dinner tried to find out about the best looking players in England. So they asked their male, presumably mostly heterosexual readers. The most popular with 35% of the votes turned out to be Liverpool's Fernando Torres, called El nino (The Boy).

"Torres is prettier than my last girlfriend," said one of the participants.

The Brazilian Kaká won a notable 9th place even though he does not even play in England.
"I voted for him because Milan kicked out Manchester United from the Champions' League," explained a City supporter.

The most attractive players

1 Fernando Torres (Liverpool)
2 Jermaine Jenas (Tottenham)
3 Roque Santa Cruz (Blackburn)
4 David James (Portsmouth)
5 Theo Walcott (Arsenal)
6 Nani (Manchester United)
7 Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea)
8 Shaun Wright-Phillips (Chelsea)
9 Kaká (Milan)
10 Jeremy Aliadiere (Middlesbrough)

Compiled by Ozren Podnar