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31/01/06FC Porto coach Co Adriaanse
had his car stoned and kicked and a Very light was fired at it Sunday. The Dutchman was in it at the time. The incident happened as he was leaving the club's training facility in Gaia, near Porto, after the 0-0
draw at Rio Ave. The perpetrators, a group of about 20, reportedly belonging to the SuperDragões claque, were caught on security cameras. The club has said that it will take the incident to
its ultimate consequences.26/01/06 Eusébio celebrated his 64th birthday Wednesday. And it is two years since Miklos Fehér died while playing for Benfica at Vitória de Guimarães.
24/01/06 English club Middlesborough rescinded Monday the contract it had with Portuguese utility player Abel Xavier, who tested positive in an anti-doping test last autumn. Xavier has
received an 18-month ban from UEFA, which he contests. Senegalese striker N'Doye
has resorted to jumping over the wall of the training ground when it is empty to train on his own after being suspended by bottom club Penafiel. The player is in dispute with the club over an alleged broken
promise about selling him during the transfer window. The president of the club is former Portugal coach António Oliveira. 21/01/06 União de Leiria have come to an understanding with
Leirisport, the municipal company responsible for the Estádio Municipal Magalhães Pessoa, and will continue to play there; the company owes the club half a million euros. The 30,000 seat stadium was
custom-built for the Euro 2004
tournament, but since then the average attendance for União de Leiria games has been little over 4,000. In the first six months of 2005, the total attendance for all league and cup games was just 19,000, the majority being invitations.
Vitória de Setúbal president Chumbita Nunes, who has presided over one of
the blackest periods in the club's history (unpaid salaries, rescissions of contracts, etc), has decided not to run for the upcoming elections to find a new president of the club.18/01/06 Sérgio Conceição
of Belgian club Standard Liége has won the Soulier d'Or, awarded by Belgian journalists for the best player in the country. Conceição has
recently been very vocal in his criticism of Luíz Felipe Scolari for not considering him for international duty. Abel Xavier has filed an injunction against UEFA and FIFA to prevent the
18-month ban handed down to him for failing a drug test in Septemebr 2005 while playing for Middlesborough: "The suspension of 18 months, when there were
contributory factors, clearly breaches the principle of the right to work and was a veritable death sentence since I'm 32 years old," he said. 15/01/06 The Cameroons' Portuguese coach
Artur Jorge is threatening to quit over sixth months' unpaid salary and interference in decisions such as team selection and choice of friendly opponents and training venues. A Bola
published Saturday a breakdown of expenses earned by Portuguese referees. They earn 300 euros a month, 900 per game reffed, 80 euros extra if the game is on a working day and 20 euros per meal. Leixões
of the Liga de Honra (second division) had, at least until this weekend, the second best defence in Europe. They have let in just six goals in 17 games. FC Sheriff
of Moldovia have the best: three goals in 15. 13/01/06 Benfica's Russian midfielder Andrey Karyaka, 27, faces disciplinary action
within the club for an interview he gave to a Russian newspaper: Sovietski Sport. During the interview, he allegedly slagged off Benfica, coach Koeman and
Portugal. He surfaced Thursday to deny the things he had said: "At least three quarters of the interview is pure invention." It will now be up to the Benfica board to come up with a solution to the situation. The
Estádio Municipal de Braga (the one that has just two sides and that was designed by the architect Souto de Moura for Euro 2004) has been awarded a
prize for the best work of civil engineering in 2005 by SECIL, the giant concrete-producing corporation. 07/01/06 Estoril Praia has gained a reprieve from oblivion. A group of investors has
appeared willing to pay off all the outstanding debts of the club, including the salaries of the players, who had threatened a mass rescission of contracts. Estoril will therefore, after all, play their game at
Desportivo das Aves Saturday. Another Liga de Honra club, Marco, will however not be turning up to play Portimonense. Also with grave financial difficulties, Marco have only ten players
available, three of whom are goalkeepers. Portimonense did not agree to postpone the match. 06/01/06 The whole squad of Estoril Praia, of the Liga de Honra
(second division), rescinded their contracts Thursday, claiming unpaid wages. At the same time, the coaching staff, including head coach Daúto Faquirá, resigned. It would seem that
the historic club (founded in 1939) will now cease to be as a professional entity, when only last season it was in the Liga (first division). In the same division, bottom club Ovarense
are going through the same financial difficulties and after a dozen players rescinded their contracts in December, Thursday it was the turn of coach Manuel Correia. 03/01/06 FC Porto winger
Ricardo Quaresma has been voted player of the month for the second month in a row by the Players' Union. The full list: Ricardo Quaresma (FC Porto), 72 points
Lucho Gonzalez (FC Porto), 70
Harison (Nacional), 68
Paulo Assunção (FC Porto), 72
Nuno Gomes (Benfica), 67
Petit (Benfica), 67
Lisandro Lopez (FC Porto), 72
Ricardo (Sporting), 65
Júnior (Paços Ferreira), 64
Diego Benaglio (Nacional), 63
Miguelito (Nacional), 63
Tonel (Sporting), 63
Moretto (V. Setúbal), 63.
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