Australian Football League club Essendon has "settled compensation with 18 of the 34 players who were banned for the season in the country's biggest doping crisis in professional sport." The 34 were issued two-year bans for doping in January, "nearly three years after the Melbourne-based team announced an internal probe into a highly dubious supplements regime." The players' backdated ban "ended earlier this month and most returned to pre-season training" for the '17 season (REUTERS, 11/22).
League One side Oldham Athletic confirmed it is "under a transfer embargo." The club did not "state the reasons for the ban but said a statement would be released" (BBC, 11/22).
Former Barcelona President Joan Laporta has "seen his objection to a deal that the incumbent Josep Maria Bartomeu made with the public prosecutor dismissed." In June, the club agreed to pay a fine of €5.5M ($5.85M), "admitting guilt in the Neymar tax case," while Bartomeu and his predecessor, Sandro Rosell, were exonerated. But Laporta "condemned the arrangement with the authorities" (MARCA, 11/22).
The FC Barcelona Museum welcomed its 30 millionth visitor and the club celebrated the landmark with a special gift for Brazilian Denise Tateno. She received a private visit to the dressing room and a jersey signed by all of the players (Barcelona).
