Club Says It Is United Against Fine
Manchester United’s tour of the United States the last two weeks has mostly been about adding to its untapped American fan base and hopefully reaping the financial windfall that is sure to follow.
But on Friday the English Premier League club suffered a financial setback when it was fined $2.6 million by the British government for fixing prices on replica uniforms sold to the public.
Manchester United, one of 10 businesses fined, said it might appeal the ruling. The club also said it never has participated in price fixing.
The largest fines were $13.4 million against JJB Sports and $10.6 million against manufacturer Umbro, Britain’s Office of Fair Trading said. The Football Assn. was fined $253,000. In all, the agency assessed fines totaling $29.8 million.
“The fines imposed reflect the seriousness of the price fixing in this case,” John Vickers, chairman of the Office of Fair Trading, told Associated Press.
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Eto’o Walks Out
Cameroon international striker Samuel Eto’o may have hastened his departure from Spanish league team Mallorca after walking out during a training session Friday.
Eto’o, who has been rumored to be a prime transfer target for several teams including Chelsea and Valencia, reportedly left practice because new Mallorca Coach Jaime Pacheco wouldn’t let him change from shorts to sweatpants because he felt cold.
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Bayern Opens Strong
Bayern Munich has made it clear its larger goal this season is to win the European Champions League, but that doesn’t mean the defending Bundesliga champion will take it easy in domestic league games.
In the opener of the German league’s 41st season, Ze Roberto of Brazil scored in the 16th minute to lead Bayern to a dominant 3-1 victory over visiting Eintracht Frankfurt, which moved up after playing in the second division last season.
Hasim Salihamidzic scored a goal four minutes after Roberto’s and Claudio Pizarro had another in the 44th minute.
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Amsterdam Games
Liverpool played host Ajax Amsterdam to a scoreless tie and Inter Milan routed Galatasaray of Turkey, 3-0, on the first day of the four-team Amsterdam Tournament.
Liverpool goalie Jerzy Dudek of Poland made consecutive saves on Ajax’s Rafael van der Vaart and Tomas Galasek in the 42nd minute to keep the game scoreless.
Nigerian forward Obafemi Martins scored a goal in each half for Inter Milan, including one on a header from a cross by Cristiano Zanetti.
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Quick Passes
Panama, which has never qualified for the World Cup, hired Jose Engenio Hernandez of Colombia to coach its national team during qualifying matches for the 2006 tournament. Hernandez will take over Sept. 1.... Lyon, the two-time defending French league champion titlist, started its season with a 2-0 road loss to Lille.... Wolverhampton of the English Premier League has signed international strikers Steffen Iversen of Norway and Henri Camara of Senegal.... Former Belgium coach Guy Rhys, who guided the team to the 1986 World Cup semifinals, died Friday at 80 after a long illness.
Times wire services contributed to this report.
