A roundup of today's other soccer stories in brief.
Referees' pay is doubled
Referees at this summer's World Cup have won a 100 per cent pay rise and will earn $40,000 each. The refereeing bill at the month-long tournament will come to $4.38 million, Fifa said yesterday.
Twenty-three referees have been chosen to run the 64 games in Germany from June 9th to July 9th. Each referee will be backed by two assistants. They will also get $40,000, as will each member of the seven "reserve" refereeing trios, even if they are not called into action. "The fee per referee has doubled from South Korea and Japan four years ago when it was $20,000 each," general secretary Urs Linsi said.
Fifa originally had 46 referees and the 16 who did not make the cut will get $20,000 each, as will 23 unsuccessful assistants.
Concern for Foley
St Patrick's Ath v Bray Wanderers (Richmond Park, 7.45): St Patrick's Athletic manager John McDonnell is reluctant to speculate on Colm Foley's injury situation after his captain suffered a worrying setback when breaking down in training last week following the operation he had in the close season to repair the cruciate ligament in a knee, writes Paul Buttner.
The central defender had a scan on the injury last night but won't go back to see the specialist for a full assessment until Monday.
"Colm says it's not in the same area of the knee so we're hoping it may just be a twinge," said McDonnell who has other injury concerns ahead of tonight's league meeting with Bray Wanderers.
Under-21 goalkeeper Gavin McInerney has been drafted into the squad as cover for Barry Ryan as Brendan Clarke is out for a month with a broken bone in a foot. Winger Mark Rutherford (hamstring) is now out for a fortnight while defender Stephen Caffrey's groin strain will sideline him for another week at least.
Bray, who have yet to win, wait on defender-cum-midfielder Wes Charles who came off with a knee injury in Friday's 0-0 draw with Cork City. Defender Stephen Gifford remains out with a calf strain.
Ball for finals unveiled
A golden ball will be used at the World Cup final on July 9th, organising committee president Franz Beckenbauer said yesterday. "It only surprises me that no one thought of it before," Beckenbauer said at a ceremony at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate to unveil the balls to be used at this year's finals.
Adidas chairman Herbert Hainer also denied newspaper reports the World Cup winners would be entitled to play with gold balls for the next four years.
Hainer said the golden ball would be identical to those used throughout the month-long tournament in Germany except six of the 14 panels would be coloured gold. The sets of 15 balls for each match at the tournament will for the first time have the names of the teams, venue, date and kick-off time. They will all be made in Thailand, with the exception of the 15 balls for the final which will be produced in Germany. All 32 sides in the finals will receive a pre-tournament shipment of 20 balls for training purposes.
In brief . . .
Sheffield United manager Neil Warnock needed a police escort as he was sent from the touchline during a fiery derby against their Yorkshire rivals Leeds United in the English League Championship last night. Warnock was furious after Gary Kelly's tackle on Craig Short just before the break. Sheffield scored after just 10 minutes as Eirik Bakke scored an own goal but Leeds equalised when David Healy scored three minutes before half-time . . . Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech is confident of being fit for the title run-in despite having 10 stitches in a leg injury received playing against Everton on Monday . . . Everton midfielder Lee Carsley has submitted a claim for wrongful dismissal to the English FA following his red card in the same game . . . The death has taken place of Frank Davis, who was president of the FAI from 1976-1978. He was also president of Waterford FC and Gorey Rangers FC. He died at his home in Courtown Harbour, Co Wexford, yesterday . . . Manchester United have confirmed David Bellion will complete a permanent transfer to Nice this summer . . . Uefa have appealed against their own disciplinary body's decision to find Rangers fans not guilty of discriminatory chanting in both legs of their Champions League tie with Villarreal. Uefa said yesterday they were appealing against the decision by their disciplinary body. The body said the nature of the chanting "related to a social problem in Scotland" . . . Alan Shearer admitted last night he "fears the worst" after a scan on his injured knee had to be postponed for 24 hours. Shearer suffered a suspected tear of his medial ligament during Newcastle's 4-1 victory over Sunderland on Easter Monday. Shearer plans to retire at the end of the season but confirmation of ligament damage would bring his illustrious career to a premature end . . . Second division side Karpaty Lviv were fined $5,000 yesterday over anti-Semitic chants by their fans at a Ukrainian Cup semi-final match against premier league side Dynamo Kiev last week.
