Ferdinand Suspended 8 Months
Rio Ferdinand, who became the world’s most expensive defender when he joined Manchester United from Leeds United for $51 million in July 2002, Friday was banned from soccer for eight months and fined $87,000 after failing to show for a drug test in September.
The suspension means that Ferdinand, 25, will not be able to play for England in the European Championship in Portugal next summer and, once the ban begins Jan. 12, no longer will be able to help Manchester United retain its English Premier League title or seek European Champions League honors this season.
The club immediately blasted the decision by a three-person English Football Assn. disciplinary committee as “savage and unprecedented” and said it would appeal.
Canada’s Dick Pound, chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said Manchester United should use caution.
“Somebody should be thinking fairly carefully about this,” Pound told Associated Press. “An appeal is a two-edged sword. The sentence can be increased as well as decreased.
“It looks to me that he [Ferdinand] has dodged a bullet in some respect because he has been given a sentence which is only one-third the theoretical maximum. I should have thought he’d done pretty well from his perspective.”
Ferdinand has said he was shopping when the drug tests were administered Sept. 23 and forgot about them. He took the test two days later and passed.
More Drugs
Fabio Mazzeo, 20, a forward with Salernitana of Italy’s Serie B, became the fifth Italian to test positive for drug use this season when authorities revealed that he had failed a dope test after an Italian Cup match against Reggina.
At Turin, Roberto Baggio was among several present and former Juventus players to testify at the trial of former Juventus chief executive Antonio Giraudo and former Juventus team doctor Riccardo Agricola, who are accused of giving players banned substances in the 1990s.
Also testifying were Ciro Ferrara, Paolo Montero and Fabrizio Ravanelli. Real Madrid’s Zinedine Zidane, three-time FIFA world player of the year, failed to answer a summons to appear.
China also is faced with its first soccer drug case after defender Zhang Shuai, 22, of the Beijing Guo’an team tested positive for ephedrine, which is used in some flu medications, and is awaiting a second test.
Brazil Is Champion
Brazil added the FIFA World Youth Championship title to the World Cup it won in 2002 when its under-20 national team defeated Spain, 1-0, on an 87th-minute headed goal by substitute Fernandinho in the championship game in front of 55,000 at Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
Spain played for all but the first four minutes with only 10 players after referee Roberto Rosetti of Italy red-carded defender Melli for a foul on forward Nilmar.
“It should have been a yellow card because there was no danger of him [Nilmar] scoring,” Coach Jose Ufarte said. “Brazil is a very good team, but they were lucky to have that decision that helped them win the game.”
In the third-place match, Colombia defeated former champion Argentina, 2-1, on goals by Erwin Carrillo and Jaime Castrillon. Osmar Ferreya scored for Argentina.
Quick Passes
Dallas Burn striker Eddie Johnson of the United States became the first American to win the Golden Boot as top goal scorer at a FIFA world championship when he finished with four goals and an assist at the FIFA World Youth Championship to beat out Fernando Cavenaghi of Argentina and Dudu of Brazil, who also scored four goals but had no assists....FIFA ruled that women cannot play alongside men in Italy’s Serie A, ending Perugia’s attempt to sign 2003 Women’s World Cup winner Birgit Prinz of Germany.
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Times wire services contributed to this report.
