Barcelona's Camp Nou "showed another unpleasant image of empty seats when only 25,551 fans attended the team's Copa del Rey match on Wednesday against Levante, which Barcelona won 5-1." Camp Nou's capacity is 98,787. It was a "cold and very rainy night." Despite "attendance not being as strong this year as in other seasons, the club wants to expand the stadium's capacity to 105,000" (AS, 1/29). ... Iranian national football team coach Carlos Queiroz said on Wednesday that the team's "training camp in South Africa has been cancelled." Iran is in Group F along with Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Nigeria for the World Cup. The camp was "scheduled to open on April 11." Querioz: "The training camp has been canceled since our key players cannot participate in the camp. More than four players are playing in the Arab leagues. Holding the camp without financial support is not logical" (TEHRAN TIMES, 1/29). ... Four Slovakian league players "have been given worldwide bans by FIFA for their involvement in match-fixing this season." Tomas Huber was given an 18-year ban from involvement in any football activity, teammate Ivan Hodur 14 years and Michal Dian 18 months. But the heaviest sanction was given to Marian Dirnbach, who plays for lower-league Moravany, who received a 25-year ban (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 1/30).
