Austrian energy drink Red Bull co-Owner DIETRICH MATESCHITZ "has reportedly provided F1 driver SEBASTIAN VETTEL with an early contract extension until '16." Red Bull Motorsports Dir HELMUT MARKO "denied the reports." Marko said, "Sebastian has a bullet-proof contract with us until 2014. That is the current status" (OE24, 11/28). ... French slalom canoeist and three-time Olympic Gold medalist TONY ESTANGUET has announced he is retiring (SPORT 24, 11/29). ... F1 driver BRUNO SENNA "is close to signing" with the Force India team for the '13 season (TAZIO, 11/29). ... Disgraced former FIFA Exec Committee member for Brazil RICARDO TEIXEIRA, "who was exposed for taking bribes from the body's now dufunct former marketing partner ISL, has retired to Miami" (London DAILY MAIL, 11/29). ... The Williams F1 Team revealed that PASTOR MALDONADO and VALTTERI BOTTAS will be the team's race drivers for the '13 season. The upcoming season will be Maldonado's third with the team. Bottas has been the team's test driver since '10 (Williams F1). ... Arsenal Owner STAN KROENKE, "a real estate mogul worth $4B by Forbes' estimate, bought the Broken O Ranch in Montana, U.S. for $132.5M "in cold hard cash." The 124,000 acre farm is one of the largest agricultural operations in the Rocky Mountain West (FORBES, 11/29).
DRUMROLL, PLEASE: Nominees for the FIFA Ballon d’Or are CRISTIANO RONALDO, Portugal; ANDRES INIESTA, Spain; and LIONEL MESSI, Argentina, while the candidates of the FIFA Women's World Player of the Year are MARTA, Brazil; ALEX MORGAN, U.S.; and ABBY WAMBACH, U.S. The candidates for the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football are VICENTE DEL BOSQUE, Spain (Spain); PEP GUARDIOLA, Spain (FC Barcelona); and JOSÉ MOURINHO, Portugal (Real Madrid). And the candidates for the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women's Football are BRUNO BINI, France (France); NORIO SASAKI, Japan (Japan); and PIA SUNDHAGE, Sweden (U.S.) (FIFA). ... Japan's SHINJI KAGAWA won the inaugural Asian Football Confederation Int'l Player of the Year award. The 23-year-old, who currently plays for ManU, was up against Japan teammate YUTO NAGATOMO of Inter Milan and Australia's veteran goalkeeper MARK SCHWARZER of EPL club Fulham (REUTERS, 11/29).
