A round-up of today's other soccer stories in brief.
Beckham overtaken
Brazilian Ronaldinho has overtaken David Beckham as the world's highest-paid player, according to France Football magazine.
The Barcelona playmaker enjoyed an annual revenue of €23 million, said France Football, which added up the salaries, bonuses, sponsorship deals and other sources of income for each player.
Beckham follows with €18 million. Brazil and Real Madrid forward Ronaldo is third while Manchester United's Wayne Rooney is fourth.
Death of Brian Labone Former England and Everton defender Brian Labone has died aged 66. Labone won 26 England caps and played in the 1970 World Cup finals.
He joined Everton as a 17-year-old and made his debut in 1958 before going on to make 534 appearances for the Goodison Park club before retiring because of injury in 1971. He played in the championship-winning teams of 1962-63 and 1969-70 as well as the 1966 FA Cup-winning side.
Givens takes his pick
Republic of Ireland under-21 manager Don Givens has named an 18-man squad for next month's European Championship qualifiers against Azerbaijan. Ireland visit Baku on May 11th with the return leg scheduled for Buckley Park, Kilkenny, a week later.
If Ireland win over the two legs then the team will progress to the next stage of the qualifying competition, a three-team group that also includes Belgium and Greece, with the winner of that going forward to a further play-off for a place at the 2007 finals in the Netherlands.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND UNDER-21 SQUAD: Quigley (UCD), Doyle (Millwall), Foley (Luton Town), McShane (Brighton), Bruce (Birmingham City), Painter (Birmingham City), Hand (Huddersfield Town), Flood (Manchester City), Dicker (UCD), Timlin (Fulham), Ireland (Manchester City), O'Brien (Bolton), Potter (Southampton), Whelan (Sheffield Wednesday), McGeady (Celtic), Keogh (Scunthorpe), Ward (Bohemians), Tabb (Brentford).
Drogheda not for sale
Drogheda United and Waterford United have denied having had any contact with Giovanni Di Stefano regarding the Italian lawyer making an investment in either club. Drogheda's chairman, Vincent Hoey, said there had been no talks between club officials and Di Stefano, and insisted the club was not for sale.
Meanwhile, Bray Wanderers have rescheduled their Premier Division game against Longford Town, postponed on March 24th because of a waterlogged pitch, for Tuesday, May 16th.
In Brief . . .
Every player, official and referee at this summer's World Cup finals will have to sign a written pledge not to bet on the tournament
. . . Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd has denied reports Glenn Roeder is on the brink of being appointed the club's permanent manager . . . Stilian Petrov's agent claims manager Gordon Strachan will be wasting time in trying to persuade the midfielder to stay at Celtic.
