English League Adopts Hiatus
Responding to calls by England Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, who argued that a midseason hiatus would benefit not only the clubs but also the national team, English Premier League executives Wednesday voted in favor of a two-week break in January starting next season.
The plan, which is experimental for two seasons, is contingent upon balancing the league schedule without disrupting the various competitions in which clubs are involved.
That might mean starting the season earlier, ending it later, or a combination of both. The season now runs from August until May.
All the other major leagues in Europe -- including those in France, Germany, Italy and Spain -- have a winter break that ranges from a couple of weeks for Italy’s Serie A to a couple of months for Germany’s Bundesliga.
“It’s not just about the national team,” said Richard Scudamore, the Premier League’s chief executive. “Our clubs’ success in Europe is also important. It’s early days yet, but this [decision] is further than this debate has ever gone before.”
Doping Dispute
The chances of soccer being banished from the Athens Olympics were significantly reduced if not eliminated when FIFA agreed in principle to adopt World Anti-Doping Agency requirements.
World soccer’s governing body had been involved in a long and acrimonious dispute with WADA regarding the sanctions to be imposed on athletes found to have used illegal drugs. The sides apparently resolved their differences in a meeting at Zurich, Switzerland, involving Joseph “Sepp” Blatter, FIFA’s president, and Dick Pound, WADA’s chairman.
In a statement released after the meeting, FIFA said a “common understanding” had been reached that “all doping cases must be looked at and determined uniquely” and that a two-year ban from competition would not necessarily be the punishment in every case.
FIFA is expected to ratify the agreement at its Centennial Congress in Paris in May.
Donovan Deal
It appears unlikely that San Jose Earthquake and U.S. national team striker Landon Donovan will join Portsmouth on loan.
Under FIFA rules, player transfers are limited to set times, and if Donovan were to join Portsmouth now he would be ineligible to return until August, more than halfway through the Major League Soccer season.
In a further indication that the deal might be dead, the English Premier League team agreed to acquire Croatian international striker Ivica Mornar from Anderlecht of Belgium for an undisclosed fee and will offer him a 2 1/2-year contract.
In other MLS developments, the Chicago Fire signed Jamaican international midfielder Andy Williams to a new contract, and the Kansas City Wizards extended the contract of former Russian international forward Igor Simutenkov.
Quick Passes
More than 150 players, team and league representatives and sports officials from Portugal attended the funeral of Hungarian international forward Miklos Feher at Gyor, Hungary. Feher, 24, collapsed and died while playing for Benfica in a Portuguese league match Sunday. The cause of death is under investigation.... Mexico will play Chile in the Home Depot Center at Carson at 8 p.m. on Feb. 18.... Norway kept its perfect record under new Coach Age Hareide when it routed Singapore, 5-2, in Singapore in the third and final game of its Asian tour.... The CONCACAF final qualifying tournament for the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship in the Netherlands will be jointly staged by the United States and Honduras, CONCACAF announced. The confederation also awarded the final qualifying tournament for the 2005 FIFA Under-17 World Championship in Peru jointly to Canada and Costa Rica.
Times wire services contributed to this report.
