Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson ends BBC ban

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has agreed to lift his ban on talking to the BBC.

Ferguson began his boycott of the broadcaster in 2004 after it made allegations against his son, Jason, in a TV documentary.

A statement said: "Sir Alex and the BBC have put behind them the difficulties which led to Sir Alex feeling unable to appear on BBC programmes."

United's next game is against Arsenal at Old Trafford on Sunday.

The joint statement, released on Thursday, follows a meeting between Sir Alex and the BBC's director general, Mark Thompson, and BBC North director Peter Salmon.

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It added: "The issues have been resolved to the satisfaction of both parties.

"Sir Alex will now make himself available to the BBC for Match of the Day, Radio 5 live and other outlets as agreed.

"No further comment will be made by either party on this issue."

Champions League draw

• Group A: Bayern Munich, Villarreal, Manchester City, Napoli.
• Group B: Inter Milan, CSKA Moscow, Lille, Trabzonspor
• Group C: Man United, Benfica, BAsel, Otelul Galati
• Group D: Real Madrid, Lyon, Ajax, Dinamo Zagreb
• Group E: Chelsea, Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen, Genk
• Group F: Arsenal, Marseille, Olympiakos, Borussia Dortmund
• Group G: Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Zenit, APOEL
• Group H: Barcelona, AC Milan, BATE Borisov, Victoria Pizen.

Chelsea bid for Porto full-back Alvaro Pereira

Pereira played a more attacking role for Uruguay in the Copa America

Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas has confirmed the club have bid for Porto full-back Alvaro Pereira, but says he is "not very confident" of signing him.

The 25-year-old left-sided wing-back played under Villas-Boas at Porto and helped Uruguay to win the Copa America title during the summer.

"The only thing I can confirm is we have made a bid and are very far apart in terms of numbers," Villas-Boas said.

The manager said he was "not very confident" a deal could be finalised.

Villas-Boas has made several expensive additions to his squad sincetaking the reins at Stamford Bridge in June.

Teenage Anderlecht striker Romelu Lukaku and Valencia midfielder Juan Mata joined the Blues earlier this month for reported fees of £20m and £23.5m respectively.

Tottenham's Luka Modric is another player he is keen to recruit butSpurs boss Harry Redknapp is confident the Croatian will remain at White Hart Lane
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South Africa replace Libya as hosts of 2013 Nations Cup

South Africa will be hoping to make use of the stadiums built specially for the 2010 World Cup, like Greenpoint in Cape Town

South Africa says it will host the Africa Cup of Nations in 2013 instead of Libya.

The two countries have agreed to swap the rights to host the event, so Libya will take on the tournament in 2017.

The deal was announced by South Africa's football association (Safa) and is subject to the Confederation of African Football's (Caf) approval.

Libya's hosting of the 2013 tournament had been in doubt for some time because of the continuing violence there.

"Safa and the Football Federation of Libya have signed an agreement with regards the hosting of the 2013 and 2017 Africa Cup of Nations tournaments," Safa said in a statement.

SOUTH AFRICA'S TOURNAMENTS

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• 2010 World Cup
• 2011 African U20 championship
• 2013 Nations Cup?
• 2014 African Nations Championship?

"Libya will host the 2017 Afcon [Nations Cup] which had been awarded to South Africa, while Safa will take over the hosting of the 2013 Afcon tournament as well as the 2014 African Nations Championship [the tournament for locally-based players], which was supposed to be played in Libya.

"The agreement comes following the political upheaval in Libya but is subject to ratification by Caf at its next Executive Committee meeting."

Caf's next Executive Committee meeting is scheduled for 28 September in Cairo.

"It is only the executive committee that has the mandate to give the hosting rights to a country," Caf's Director of Communications Suleiman Habuba told the BBC.

One issue for Caf to deal with is its agreement, back in 2006, thatNigeria would have the right to step in if any of the Nations Cup hosts named that year were unable to fulfil their commitments.

South Africa took over the hosting of the African Under-20 tournament from Libya earlier this year
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Nigeria names Garba U17 coach

Garba Manu has been named as the new head coach of the Nigerian Under17 men’s national team by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on Wednesday.


The football federation announced the former assistant coach of the Under17 team known as the Golden Eaglets as its new trainer following interviews conducted for six candidates. Former Nigeria internationals, Emmanuel Amuneke and Nduka Ugbade are to assist Garba while Emeka Amadi, an ex-Under20 goalkeeper, will take up the job of goalkeeping coach.

Garba was picked ahead of five others – Amuneke, Ugbade, Oladunni Oyekale, Erasmus Onuh and Fancy Ewulu – to lead the coaching crew of the Golden Eaglets. The new coach assisted late trainer Yemi Tella in 2007 when the Golden Eaglets won the Fifa Under17 World Cup in South Korea.


The new coach succeeds John Obuh, who was elevated to the Under20s after he led the side to second place finish at the Under17 World Cup in 2009 on home soil.

Juve to step up Malouda bid - Old Lady see Mata arrival as the time to strike

Juventus are expected to step up their interest in Frenchman Florent Malouda after Chelsea snapped up Juan Mata this week.

The Italians have held a long-term interest in Malouda and are ready to move for him with the Frenchman facing an uncertain future at Chelsea.

The Blues spent big bringing the Spain international to Stamford Bridge and they are also being tipped to land Porto's Alvaro Pereira.

Manager Andre Villas-Boas knows the Uruguay international well from his time with the Portuguese club and sees the left-sided player as a direct replaced for the departed Yuri Zhirkov.

Shoulder Pereira arrive then that could further hinder Malouda's chance of starting after he came off the bench in last Saturday's 2-1 victory over West Brom.

However, the 31-year-old is not looking to leave Stamford Bridge after confessing his love for life with the Londoners.

"I love Chelsea. I'm settled here and want to win back the Premier League," he told skysports.com.

"I like the competition and I'm ready to fight and keep my place in the starting line-up."

Fenerbahce appeal against ban from Champions League

The Champions League draw takes place on Thursday (1645 BST)

Turkish champions Fenerbahce are to appeal against the decision by the Turkish Football Federation to withdraw them from the Champions League.

Fenerbahce were due to join Europe's elite in Thursday's draw for the group stage but the TFF took action due to an ongoing match-fixing investigation.

Uefa has announced Turkish runners-up Trabzonspor will take their place.

Trabzonspor had already been eliminated from this season's Champions League in the qualifying rounds.

The decision means that their scheduled Europa League qualifier against Athletic Bilbao on Thursday has been cancelled, with the Spanish club progressing automatically.

The Fenerbahce decision was taken after the Turkish Football Federation held an extraordinary board meeting on Wednesday attended by Uefa's legal counsel for integrity, Pierre Cornu.

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The Turkish Football Federation has shown with this decision that it takes its full responsibility in the fight against corruption.

Uefa general secretary Gianni Infantino

According to a statement on the TFF website, Uefa wrote to the federation on Tuesday to demand Fenerbahce's withdrawal, threatening wider disciplinary action should they fail to do so.

The letter was forwarded to Fenerbahce, who declined to withdraw, TFF said.

"In the face of this development, on 24 August an extraordinary meeting of the board of directors was held to discuss the threat of the Turkish Football Federation being exposed to severe disciplinary sanctions if Fenerbahce took part in the Uefa Champions League this season, and it was decided to bar them from participating," the statement said.

Uefa general secretary Gianni Infantino added: "The panel considered that the Turkish Football Federation took the right decision to protect the game, fully in line with our zero-tolerance policy against match-fixing.

"The Turkish Football Federation has shown with this decision that it takes its full responsibility in the fight against corruption."

More than 30 players and officials have been jailed pending trial, including Fenerbahce chairman Aziz Yildirim and the coach and deputy chairman of Besiktas, in connection with alleged manipulation in 19 matches.

Fenerbahce said in a statement that Uefa's stance on the issue was unlawful and that it could take legal action against both it and the Turkish federation, underlining the principle of "innocent until proven guilty.

"With this decision, the TFF has bowed to the unlawful approach of UEFA," the club said on their website.

Fenerbahce were crowned league champions last term, pipping Trabzonspor to the Super Lig title with a dramatic 4-3 win at Sivasspor on the final day
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English clubs await Champions League draw

Roberto Mancini's club will be competing at this level for the first time

Manchester City are likely to be handed a tough introduction to life in the Champions League when the group stage draw takes place in Monaco on Thursday.

City are set to be among the third seeds, meaning the likes of Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Inter Milan are all potential opponents.

A group with Barcelona, AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund is a possibility.

Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal, if they qualify, are top seeds so will avoid most of Europe's biggest clubs.

The Gunners take a 1-0 lead into the second leg of their qualifying play-off away to Udinese on Wednesday.

If they miss out, it will be the first time since the 1997-98 season that Arsenal have not competed in Europe's elite club competition.

LIKELY POTS FOR THURSDAY'S DRAW

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Pot one - Manchester United, Barcelona, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Arsenal*, Real Madrid, Porto, Inter Milan.

Pot two - Shakhtar Donetsk, Lyon*, Villarreal, AC Milan, Valencia, Marseille, CSKA Moscow, Benfica*.

Pot three - Zenit St Petersburg, Man City, Olympiakos, Ajax, Bayer Leverkusen, Fenerbahce, Basle, Lille.

Pot four - Borussia Dortmund, BATE*, Dinamo Zagreb, Napoli, APOEL, Genk, Otelul Galati, Viktoria Plzen*.

*If they qualify on Wednesday

Three-time winners United werebeaten in the 2010 final by Barcelona, while Chelsea are still searching for their maiden Champions League title.

City are competing at this level for the first time but the size and strength of their squad suggests they are the most dangerous of the third-seeded clubs.

Manager Roberto Mancini intends to rotate his squad to ensure City are capable of challenging in Europe alongside the three domestic competitions.

"Rotating is no problem for me," said the Italian. "The problem is if you don't have good players.

"For the manager it is not easy because all the players want to play every game. But when you play in four competitions and have a match every three days, there is space for everyone. It is impossible to play a top game every three days.

"And the Champions League is very hard. It is different from the Europa League. For this we need a good team, with good players and a good mentality."

Uefa's rules for the draw will see the 32 qualified teams allocated into eight groups of four teams. Each group will contain a top seed, plus one club each from the second, third and fourth pots.

Each pot is determined by a club's Uefa ranking but even the fourth pot contains some teams the English clubs would hope to avoid such as Dortmund - though the Germans could still be among the third seeds depending on Wednesday's results - as well as Napoli and Dinamo Zagreb.

The top two in each group will go through to the knock-out phase of the Champions League, and the third-place side to the knock-out phase of the Europa League
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Samir Nasri completes Manchester City move from Arsenal

Nasri signed autographs and posed for pictures as he arrived at the Etihad stadium

Manchester City have completed the transfer of midfielder Samir Nasri from Arsenal for a reported £25m.

The 24-year-old has signed a four-year contract at Eastlands and becomes City's fourth major summer signing.

The France international was in the final year of his contract at Emirates Stadium and travelled to Manchester after being left out of Arsene Wenger's Champions League squad to face Udinese.

Nasri could make his City debut against Tottenham on Sunday.

He joins former Arsenal team-mate Gael Clichy, Argentina forward Sergio Aguero and Serbian defender Stefan Savic as manager Roberto Mancini's major summer signings.The midfielder scored 15 goals in all competitions for the Gunners last season and has been given the number 19 shirt at City.

City have scored seven goals in winning their two Premier League games so far.

Mancini told the club's official website: "Samir is a fantastic player with a great technique and mentality.

"I have followed him since he was at Marseille and I wanted to bring him to Inter Milan five years ago.

"He has improved over his four years in the Premier League with Arsenal and he is a top player.

"He can score goals and make assists and he is a similar player to David Silva - but they can both play in the same team.
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La Liga - Atletico to let Forlan leave

Atletico Madrid have given Uruguay striker Diego Forlan permission to negotiate a possible transfer, the Spanish club said.

The 32-year-old dropped out of Atletico's squad just before they flew to Portugal for Thursday's Europa League qualifier against Vitoria Guimaraes, and Spanish media have linked him with interest from Internazionale.

"Forlan asked (coach Gregorio) Manzano this morning not to travel to Guimaraes because he was studying the possibility of signing for another team," Atletico said on their Twitter feed on their official website.

"Manzano authorised him to stay in Madrid because Atletico have a lot at stake and need players who are 100 per cent".

Forlan, a two-time European Golden Shoe winner, was voted best player of the World Cupfinals in South Africa last year.

Should Forlan leave he would join former strike partner Sergio Aguero in moving away fromt he Estadio Vicente Calderon this summer following the Argentina forward's £38 million move to Manchester City.

Atletico covered for the loss of Aguero by bringing in Porto andColombia striker Radamel Falcao for £35m.