Germans counting on Euro profit

BERLIN – The German Football Federation (DFB) are expecting a profit of up to three million euros (4.7 million dollars) from the Euro 2008 football championship, DFB president Theo Zwanziger said yesterday.

“We still have to finalise the figures but I’m expecting a profit of between two and three million euros,” said Zwanziger. The DFB spent over 20 million euros on the tournament, between the team’s accommodation in a luxury hotel in Ascona, Switzerland; flights between venues, and the 150,000 euros paid to each player for reaching the final which they lost to Spain 1-0.The DFB also benefited from several sponsorship agreements with major German businesses including auto maker Mercedes.France make seven changes * BRISBANE – France have made seven changes for the return rugby international against the Wallabies here on Saturday.The French, who went down 34-13 to the Australians in Sydney last Saturday, on yesterday rejigged their starting lineup.Fullback Pepito Elhorga (shoulder) and tight-head prop Lionel Faure (knee) were unavailable with injuries from last weekend’s opening Test.Coach Marc Lievremont switched Biarritz’s Benjamin Thiéry from the left wing to fullback and made four other changes in the backline.Don’t sack Domenech – Platini * PARIS – Uefa chief Michel Platini says he backs under-fire France coach Raymond Domenech to stay in his job but has warned him he must do better.”Today what is needed is a renewal of the players and to qualify for the world cup in 2010.Actually the best person to achieve that is Raymond Domenech, he knows the players in the squad as well as the ones in the next generation,” Platini told the French newspaper “L’Equipe.”France performed disappointingly in the Euro 2008 finals which finished on Sunday, losing twice and drawing once.The side failed to get further than the group stage.Bulgaria withdraws weightlifters * SOFIA – The Bulgarian Olympic Committee (BOC) officially confirmed yesterday the withdrawal of its men’s and women’s weightlifting teams from the Beijing Olympics after all 11 athletes tested positive for an anabolic steroid.The committee had initially planned to wait for the results from the athletes’ second B-samples before taking a decision.No cases of doping detected at Euro * VIENNA – No banned substances were detected among the 300 doping controls carried out during Euro 2008, the director of the Vienna/Seibersdorf laboratory Gunter Gmeiner confirmed on Tuesday.”What was special about this Euro was the high level of controls carried out,” Gmeiner told a press conference here.Tests were carried out by both the Vienna/Seibersdorf laboratory and a laboratory in Lausanne, which was also accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).Reports by Reuters and AFPThe DFB spent over 20 million euros on the tournament, between the team’s accommodation in a luxury hotel in Ascona, Switzerland; flights between venues, and the 150,000 euros paid to each player for reaching the final which they lost to Spain 1-0.The DFB also benefited from several sponsorship agreements with major German businesses including auto maker Mercedes.France make seven changes * BRISBANE – France have made seven changes for the return rugby international against the Wallabies here on Saturday.The French, who went down 34-13 to the Australians in Sydney last Saturday, on yesterday rejigged their starting lineup.Fullback Pepito Elhorga (shoulder) and tight-head prop Lionel Faure (knee) were unavailable with injuries from last weekend’s opening Test.Coach Marc Lievremont switched Biarritz’s Benjamin Thiéry from the left wing to fullback and made four other changes in the backline.Don’t sack Domenech – Platini * PARIS – Uefa chief Michel Platini says he backs under-fire France coach Raymond Domenech to stay in his job but has warned him he must do better.”Today what is needed is a renewal of the players and to qualify for the world cup in 2010.Actually the best person to achieve that is Raymond Domenech, he knows the players in the squad as well as the ones in the next generation,” Platini told the French newspaper “L’Equipe.”France performed disappointingly in the Euro 2008 finals which finished on Sunday, losing twice and drawing once.The side failed to get further than the group stage.Bulgaria withdraws weightlifters * SOFIA – The Bulgarian Olympic Committee (BOC) officially confirmed yesterday the withdrawal of its men’s and women’s weightlifting teams from the Beijing Olympics after all 11 athletes tested positive for an anabolic steroid.The committee had initially planned to wait for the results from the athletes’ second B-samples before taking a decision.No cases of doping detected at Euro * VIENNA – No banned substances were detected among the 300 doping controls carried out during Euro 2008, the director of the Vienna/Seibersdorf laboratory Gunter Gmeiner confirmed on Tuesday.”What was special about this Euro was the high level of controls carried out,” Gmeiner told a press conference here.Tests were carried out by both the Vienna/Seibersdorf laboratory and a laboratory in Lausanne, which was also accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).Reports by Reuters and AFP