STEVE NASH, the perennial NBA All-Pro guard and future Hall of Famer who retired from the NBA in March after 18 seasons, "may make his debut" as a professional football player on Sunday. According to the N.Y. Daily News, Nash "practiced this week" with the N.Y. Cosmos B Team of the National Premier Soccer League. The paper reported he "might play Sunday in a match" (SPORTING NEWS, 7/5). ... OTTMAR HITZFELD rejected an "astonishing" €25M ($27.5M) net to become manager of Chinese Super League side Guangzhou Evergrande, according to a report. Swiss newspaper Blick carried quotes from the former Borussia Dortmund coach "confirming an offer from the Chinese champions." He turned down the job primarily to "spend more time with his family" (EUROSPORT, 7/6). ... Brazilian footballer JÓBSON, who was banned by FIFA for refusing a doping test in '14, "was arrested" in Brazil on Friday. According to local police, Jobson was "detained for driving under the influence, in addition to resisting an arrest." He was "released on Saturday" (BAHIA NOTÍCIAS, 7/5). ... The Nigerian Football Federation announced that STEPHEN KESHI has been "sacked as coach of Nigeria" and replaced by SHAIBU AMODU. The move comes barely two weeks after the NFF "opened an investigation into reports that Keshi applied to manage Ivory Coast while under a valid contract with Nigeria" (BBC, 7/5). ... Former League Two side Portsmouth Owner VLADIMIR ANTONOV is "believed to have fled Britain after losing the latest round in his legal fight to avoid extradition to Lithuania where he faces allegations of bank fraud." Antonov, a Russian national and a former chairman of Bank Snoras, and his associate RAIMONDAS BARANAUSKAS have been "accused of improperly transferring" more than €478M into accounts said to be under their control. The two men "deny any wrongdoing" (FINANCIAL TIMES, 7/3). ... Triple F1 champion NIKI LAUDA agreed with LEWIS HAMILTON's comments about "ugly" F1 trophies but said that they were so bad in his day that he "swapped them for a lifetime of free car washes." Lauda said, "I binned them all, you're absolutely right, because in my time they were most of them ugly and for me useless." Lauda said that he had "given trophies to his local garageman." Lauda: "I said 'If you give me a free car wash for the rest of my life you can have all of them'" (REUTERS, 7/5). ... The IOC announced the death of REYNALDO GONZÁLEZ LÓPEZ, an IOC member in Cuba, at the age of 66. Lopez became an IOC member in '95. He was a member of the Women & Sport Working Group ('96-01), Women & Sport Commission ('06-15) and the Editorial Committee of the 2009 Olympic Congress ('07-09). He was secretary general of the Cuban National Olympic Committee ('84-00) and was later exec secretary of the Pan-American Sports Organisation ('10-15) (IOC).
CREATIVITY THROUGH SONG: SONG SEUNG-WHAN, the creator of Korea's longest-running theater show "Nanta," has "been selected" as the exec creative director for the opening and closing ceremonies of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games. Song is currently the CEO and exec artistic director of PMC Production, as well as the dean of the College of Convergence Culture & Arts at Sungshin Women's University in Seoul (KOREA JOONGANG DAILY, 7/3).
UP TO NO GOOD: Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb CEO ZDRAVKO MAMIĆ and his brother, coach and director of football ZORAN, have been "arrested on suspicion of corruption." Croatian police "raided the duo's homes on Thursday as part of the investigation before they were detained earlier on Saturday." The pair is "under investigation for tax fraud, while some reports allege that money was embezzled" from the sale of LUKA MODRIĆ to Tottenham Hotspur in '08 (GOAL, 7/4).
