Football Notes: German FA Wants To Keep National Coach Loew Past 2018 World Cup

German FA (DFB) President Reinhard Grindel said that the DFB is "eager to extend the contract of national team coach Joachim Loew past the 2018 World Cup." Loew, who has been in charge since '06, coached Germany to the 2014 World Cup title and to a total of five straight semifinal appearances at World Cups and Euros, "with his current deal running to 2018 and the World Cup in Russia" (REUTERS, 9/12).

INELIGIBLE PLAYER: The Asian Football Confederation announced that UAE football side Al Nasr forfeited its Asian Champions League quarterfinal first-leg win over Qatar's El Jaish after "fielding an ineligible player." Brazil-born forward Santos Monteiro Junior Wanderley, who scored a brace in the 3-0 win over El Jaish on Aug. 24, was "provisionally suspended by the AFC earlier this month pending a probe into his nationality." The 27-year-old had registered in the ACL tournament as an "Asian player" but authorities said that "the Indonesian passport he held was forged or falsified" (REUTERS, 9/12).