Kahn Announces International Retirement
 
"It was my last international match today (against Portugal) and I could not have wished for a better final game for my country than this one. It was a great time but you have to know when it is time to stop." - Oliver Kahn

Figo And Pauleta Announce International Retirement
 
"It is hard for me to end my international career in this way. I did everything I could and the team gave their all." – Luis Figo (127 caps)

"This is the saddest day of my career. Playing for this team, scoring for this team was what I most loved doing but my time has come." – Pedro Pauleta (88 caps, 47 goals)
 

Gattuso Will Play in Serie B

"I am certain that I will remain at AC Milan and that I will play in Serie A next season. If this doesn't happen, then I will talk to the club and hope to remain and finish my career at Milan." - Gennaro Gattuso

Zidane Wins Golden Ball

Disgraced France captain Zinedine Zidane has won the Golden Ball award given to the tournament's best player. Based on the votes of journalists tallied at half-time during the final, Zidane finished first with 2,012 points with Italians Fabio Cannavaro 2nd (1,977 points) and Andrea Pirlo (715 points) 3rd. The other award winners :

Golden Shoe (top striker) : Miroslav Klose, Germany, 5 goals

Lev Yashin (best goalkeeper) : Gianluigi Buffon, Italy, 2 goals conceded

Best Young Player : Lukas Podolski, Germany

Leboeuf Ashamed of Zidane

Former France international Frank Leboeuf has spoken of his dismay at Zidane's red card in the World Cup final for heat butting Italy defender Marco Materazzi :

 "I cannot accept what he did. I think Materazzi said something very bad to him for him to react like that but it doesn't matter what he said. You cannot agree with what he did. I feel very ashamed because it is not the kind of thing that this team does. Zidane will never have the chance to redeem himself, because the final against Italy was his last match before retirement and that makes the incident even more regrettable for Leboeuf. He has been such a great footballer and a wonderful human being. I don't understand what happened. He has a hot temper, he can react, as we have seen two or three times in his career. He is a very shy person, a quiet guy not the kind of guy to show the image he did yesterday. He should have been focused on the real target - the World Cup. To go out like that, end his great career like that, is a pity."

French Fans Die Celebrating Semi-Final Victory

Three French fans have died in France during celebrations following the teams 1-0 victory over Portugal. Half a million fans took to the streets across France before trouble broke out.

In Paris an 18 year old man was crushed to death when he tried to jump between the roofs of two trains and a woman died in motorbike accident. In Lens a 20-year-old woman was crushed in a horrific car accident minutes after the end of the match. She had been leaning out of a window celebrating when the driver took emergency measures to avoid a pedestrian. It's also feared a man has drowned in Lyon after jumping off a bridge into the River Saone with friends.

Ferdinand Embarrassed At World Cup Exit

England defender Rio Ferdinand said he felt embarrassed to step outside his house following England's predictable World Cup quarter-final exit :

"I'm gutted. I genuinely went into this tournament believing that we would get to the semi-finals at least  and I would have been disappointed with that. It's embarrassing if I'm being honest. I was a bit embarrassed to set foot outside the door when I went shopping with my girlfriend Rebecca."

"If I was a fan I would be desperately disappointed. I would have expected more than what we gave them. We didn't do ourselves justice. Individually we have a lot of fantastic players but its about being able to gel in all departments as a team and we didn't do that. The whole way through the tournament the thing that let us down was that we didn't finish teams off."

Bowyer Fined Over Fight With Dyer

Former Newcastle midfielder Lee Bowyer has been fined £600 and ordered to pay £1,000 costs after he pleaded guilty to using threatening behaviour against team-mate Kieron Dyer after he did not pass Bowyer the ball.

The FA gave Bowyer a 4 match ban for his part in the incident and also fined him £30,000, Newcastle find him six weeks wages (£200,000).

Real President Wants to Keep Beckham

"He's very important for us. Very, very important in any sense. He's a premium player, magnificent. All the supporters here are very much with him and of course he's very important in the commercial area. I want to have him with us forever, at least the three years I think we have still with him." - President Ramon Calderon

Police Arrest World Cup Pranksters

Police have charged two Berlin men with causing serious physical injury, dangerous obstruction of traffic and causing injury through negligence. Police said they arrested a 26 year old man and a 29 year old man in relation to a World Cup prank. Soccer balls filled with cement were chained to lamposts and trees with the message "Can you kick it?" spray painted alongside them. At least two people were injured.

Chelsea Report Real to FIFA
 
"We note that Mr Calderon (Real Madrid's new president) confirms Real Madrid spoke to Arjen. As a result Chelsea will be writing to FIFA to ask them to investigate an illegal approach by Real Madrid. The Arjen Robben situation could not be any clearer. There have been no meetings or conversations between the Real Madrid sporting director Pedrag Mijatovic with any Chelsea officials, anyone mandated to act on Chelsea's behalf or owner Roman Abramovich about Arjen's future. Any indication that a transfer is possible is completely untrue. We will not be entertaining any offers for Arjen, he is not for sale." - Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon

Capello Calls For Real Spirit

"This is the most important club in the world. I am really looking forward to starting work with the team that we have planned. We have to be humble and recover the spirit that has always distinguished those wearing Real Madrid colours. In recent years, this spirit has been lost. If we are able to recover it, the titles will come very soon." – Fabio Capello

Prosecutor Wants Juve, Lazio, Fiorentina & Milan Relegated

Calciopoli prosecutor Stefano Palazzi has recommended the following punishments to the four clubs implicated in the scandal :

Juventus to be relegated to "a division lower than Serie B", stripped of their last two Serie A titles and start the new campaign with a six-point penalty

Lazio and Juventus to be relegated into Serie B and begin with a 15 point penalty

Milan to be relegated to Serie B and begin the season with a 3 point penalty

Five year bans for referees Paolo Bertini, Paolo Dondarini, Pasquale Rodomonti, Domenico Messina, Gianluca Rocchi and Paolo Tagliavento.

The verdict is expected to be delivered on July the 10th.

Palazzi explained why Lazio and Fiorentina faced heavy penalties :

"The system they used had three phases. Contacts before the game between directors of the two clubs and the heads of the Federation, followed by conversations with the designators. The final phase involved contacting the referee designated for the match, shown by the ‘method' used by both the designators and Innocenzo Mazzini, who at the time was the vice-President of the FIGC. The icing on the cake came after the match with phone calls of thanks between those who had worked to ensure the results went as predicted."

Response to Calciopoli Charges

"I am astonished and indignant at the prosecutor's requests. Milan have never had refereeing favours and, on the contrary, were in fact victims. It's difficult not to see a political motive in the absurd and over the top demands. Our official Leonardo Meani only protested and asked for the assignation of fair referees." – Milan President Silvio Berlusconi

"I maintain I always acted fairly and the accusation aimed at me is based on one single phone call with Meani. I ask for the court to listen to that conversation again. All I asked after the Siena game was for Meani to request some sort of explanation for the many errors against us." – Milan vice President Adriano Galliani

Fiorentina issued the following statement :

"We will fight in any way possibly to ensure the truth of the matter is ascertained and with it the fact that Fiorentina are totally innocent of the charges."

Lazio's lawyer Gian Michele Gentile said :

"It's lucky the death penalty doesn't apply. The prosecutor provided no evidence and the
more we look at the paperwork, the more we can see Lazio are not involved.
I spoke to President Lotito and he is not scared, but very angry."

Referee Pasquale Rodomonti :

"I wish someone would explain what it is I've done wrong. I refereed Fiorentina-Atalanta at the end of the 2004-05 season but looking back at the tapes the only error I made was damaging to the Viola, not helping them. To be accused of match-fixing is the most slanderous thing that can happen to a referee."

Referee Gianluca Rocchi :

"In Chievo-Lazio perhaps I exaggerated in sending off Fernando Couto but he was a Biancocelesti player so I really don't understand how I can be accused of favouring Lazio."

Linesman Claudio Puglisi :

"I have been friends with Meani (Milan's referee liaison) for 20 years. It was customary for us to chat about the games and some situations that had happened but mainly in a jokey way. Meani has never dared suggest how to act, let alone in Milan's match with Chievo. I didn't report these phone conversations to the authorities because I considered them simple chats between friends."

Platini Laments Poor World Cup Standard
 
"There have been some good matches and some not so good but in general I think the standard of football has not been particularly high. A lot of that has to do with the enormous pressures that are being placed on the players. When I was active for example in 1984 (when France won the European Champions) I would be talking to one single journalist while nowadays there are a pack of reporters following the players."
Michel Platini

Pakistani Police Break Gambling Ring

Police in Pakistan have made over 100 arrests on charges of betting on World Cup matches after raiding underground bookmakers. Citizens Police Liaison Committee chief Sharfuddin Memon told the AFP :

"We got information that some people were involved in betting on football World Cup matches so we raided the building in a main shopping area and arrested some 100 people."

Gambling is illegal in Islam.

Bobby Carlos Announces Brazil Retirement

Diving, fouling, cheating midget Roberto Carlos has announced his retirement from international football :

"I've stopped with the national team. It was my last game."

Nakata Retires At 29

Japanese midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata has announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 29 :

 "I decided half a year ago that I would retire after the World Cup in Germany. I will never again stand on the pitch as a professional player but I won't stop playing the game."

Nakata had a remarkably debut in European football, scoring twice for Perugia against Juventus in a Serie A league match. He was part of Roma's championship winning side of 2001 and in total spent 7 years in Italy. He also playing for Parma, Bologna and Fiorentina and most recently Bolton. His Bolton coach, Sam Allardyce, said :

"The news isn't a surprise as far as I am concerned. Hide has had the time to think about his future and has decided the best outcome is to hang up his boots. He's had a glittering career and has achieved plenty in the domestic game. He will be remembered as the catalyst of Asian and Japanese football, and also the first Japanese export to European  football. It was a privilege to work with him last season, and I'd like to wish him well. He will always be welcome as a guest at this football club in the future."

In 2005 he was honoured with the Knight of the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity for  helping to promote Italy's image overseas - Serie A is the most popular foreign league in Japan.
 
Calderon Wins Real Madrid Elections

Former Real Madrid director Ramon Calderon has won the club's presidential elections. In his pre election promise Calderon claimed he would bring Fabio Capello in as coach and sign Robben from Chelsea, Kaka from Milan and Cesc Fabregas from Arsenal. Calderon received 8,344 votes from the clubs member just beating out Juan Palacios who finished second with 8,098 votes.

Greece Suspended by FIFA

FIFA have suspended Greece from all international football (international and club level) following government interference into the running of the game. A statement on FIFA's website read as follows :

The FIFA Emergency Committee, composed of five presidents and one representative of each of the six confederations, today (3 July 2006) decided to suspend the Hellenic Football Federation (HFF), having determined that the situation of the HFF is not in line with the principles of the FIFA Statutes regarding the independence of member associations and the independence of the decision-making process of the football-governing body in each country.

In September 2005, the FIFA Executive Committee gave the HFF a deadline of 15 July 2006 to obtain from the Greek government an amendment to the national law on sports in order to enable the association to be in conformity with the FIFA Statutes and the relevant UEFA regulations.

In spite of repeated warnings from both FIFA and UEFA, the commitment expressed by Greek government representatives to amend the law on sport to irrevocably recognise that football matters can only be decided by the HFF and its subordinated football structures has not been respected. In fact, the recently-presented draft of a new law on professional leagues constitutes another example of interference from the government in football affairs. Therefore, the FIFA Emergency Committee has determined that the deadline would not be met by the HFF and that the suspension of this federation was necessary.

This decision means that the HFF and all of its members (clubs, players, officials) are suspended with immediate effect and until further notice from all international contact, which also includes participation in international competitions at all levels, the organisation of international matches in Greece and the appointment of officials for international duties.

Italian Fury At Tabloid Slurs

Italy's players are furious after the website of German weekly Der Spiegel ‘joked' that Italians were "lazy and greasy among other things".

Captain Fabio Cannavaro said :

"As an Italian and captain, I feel offended. These stereotypes applied to us come from an old culture that has been overly abused. It shocks me that this can happen in a civilised country like Germany."

Gennaro Gattuso added :

"That article offended my father and every other Italian who worked hard for low pay. Germany has given Italians work in the past but our countrymen put in the effort and earned their wages."

Award winning journalist Gabriele Marcotti said :

"I think it was certainly a bad judgement call by Der Spiegel. It has come at a time when Germany is trying so hard to be nice to everybody. One of their mottos for the World Cup is ‘The world is a guest of its German friends'."

Beckham Jumps Before He Is Pushed

David Beckham has resigned as England captain :

"I feel the time is right to pass on the armband as we enter a new era under new coach Steve McClaren. On 15 November 2000 Peter Taylor gave me the greatest honour of my career in making me the captain of England, fulfilling my childhood dream. It has been an honour and a privilege to have captained our country and
I want to stress that I wish to continue to play for England and look forward to helping both the new captain and Steve McClaren in any way I can. I came to this decision some time ago but I had hoped to announce it on the back of a successful World Cup. Sadly that wasn't to be. This decision has been the most difficult of my career to date. But after discussing it with my family and those closest to me I feel the time is right."

"Our performance during this World Cup has not been enough to progress further and both myself and all the players regret that and are hurt by that more than people realise.  I wish to thank all the players for their support during my time as captain, as well as Peter Taylor, Sven and all the coaches. I would also like to thank the press and, of course, all the England supporters who have both been great to me and my team-mates. I want them to know for me it has been an absolute honour. Finally, I have lived the dream, I am extremely proud to have worn the armband and been captain of England and for that I will always be grateful."

Germans Meticulous Preparations for Penalty Shoot-Out

"He watched videos of all the penalties Argentina have taken in the last two years. He then consulted notes with our goalkeeping coach because you don't know who's on the list until the time. Before our knockout games against Sweden and Argentina we gave Lehmann information on the possible penalty takers. We then just told him to save two penalties, in case he forgot." – Germany Assistant coach Oliver Bierhoff

Berlin Stadium Announcer Sacked
 
The Berlin stadium announcer has been sacked after telling supporters before the
start of the Germany vs Argentina quarter-final match :

"Ladies and gentlemen, our team needs our support"

Which contravenes FIFA's neutrality rule for announcers.

FIFA spokesman Markus Siegler said :

"We have said he must stop this. This part and parcel of the principle of fairness and this cannot be accepted. The local organising committee has replaced him with immediate effect."

Parreira Takes Blame For Defeat
 
Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira has (rightly) blamed himself for Brazil's early World Cup exit :

"I would like to thank the players. I didn't do my job as my job was to get to the final. In Brazil when the national team loses the coach is to blame so I believe we will follow this script once again. We never prepared for this moment. This is a very difficult moment for all of us. We were beaten by a very strong team who played an impeccable match. There should have been at least one South American team in the semi-finals, its a shame for world football. We made some silly mistakes and that cost us. We had not expected to go out so early. Henry and Zidane were very dangerous. I am not worried about my contract. It's something to sort out in Brazil when we get back after the World Cup."