Paraguayan former footballer JOSÉ LUIS CHILAVERT said in June, "CONMEBOL is a den of terrible corruption, 99 percent of them are (corrupt)." Chilavert, however, "now wants to preside over the organization" because he believes "we can help make football transparent ... the players have to have the right to present their candidate for the presidency of CONMEBOL" (URGENTE 24, 1/14). ... Soviet weightlifter LEONID ZHABOTINSKY, who won two Olympic Gold Medals "and set multiple world records," has died aged 77 following a long illness. Ukrainian Weightlifting Federation General Secretary BORIS LOBKO said that Zhabotinsky "was ill for the past year-and-a-half" (AP, 1/14). ... Cuban football players ABEL MARTINEZ and MAYKEL REYES "officially signed for Mexican club Cruz Azul on Wednesday in Havana, Cuba." Center forward Martinez "joined Cruz Azul Hidalgo and striker Reyes joined Cruz Azul Premier." Both teams "feature in Mexico's second division" (SHANGHAI DAILY, 1/13). ... POPE FRANCIS prayed for former F1 driver MICHAEL SCHUMACHER on Thursday "as he offered his backing for a Formula One-led road safety campaign aimed at reducing the number of children killed by cars." The prayer came after Francis was visited by FIA President JEAN TODT, who showed the pontiff a shock three-minute video used in the "Save Kids' Lives" campaign (AFP, 1/14).
OWNER FINED: Super League Rugby side Salford Red Devils Owner MARWAN KOUKASH "claims he has been handed two fines and two tribunals" by the Rugby Football League. Details of the nature of the finds and tribunals "has not been confirmed." However, it is "believed one of the tribunals is to do with case of wrongful dismissal" (LOVE RUGBY LEAGUE, 1/14).
PARRAMATTA EELS: National Rugby League side Parramatta Eels is set to announce interim boss
JOHN BOULOUS "as the club's full-time" CEO. It is understood the Eels will announce Boulous' appointment next week, "ending months of speculation about the position," which was vacated by
SCOTT SEWARD when he resigned last year. Boulous, the club's former COO, "took charge of the Eels at the height of the
KIERAN FORAN contract saga in June last year." Boulous becomes the fifth CEO "in as many years at a club that is now yearning for stability at the managerial and coaching level" (
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 1/14).
