Sacchi is ruled out as coach of Madrid

Lorenzo Sanz, the Real Madrid president, intimated yesterday that he has chosen a new coach for next season and it is not Arrigo Sacchi, the manager of troubled Milan. "I know who is going to train Real Madrid. I haven't made an offer to Arrigo Sacchi," Sanz said.

With Sacchi out of the reckoning, Tenerife's Jupp Heynckes becomes the clear favourite to take over from Fabio Capello, who has announced that he will leave Real at the end of the season.

Sanz also dismissed reports that Real players had attempted to persuade Capello to stay on. "Capello has gone, what the players have to do is play, and it will be the club board that decides," he said.

Extra security measures will be taken to guard against match fixing during the Youth World Cup finals in Malaysia next month. Bookmakers are still a threat in the game, Peter Velappan, secretary-general of the Asian Football Confederation, yesterday told reporters in Johore Bahru, one of the venues south of Kuala Lumpur.

"Johore Bahru is near to Singapore. Only recently, a Singapore player was charged in court for allegedly fixing a match in the S-League in the country," he said. "At the last Youth World Cup finals in Qatar, two Thai women and three Malaysian men were deported by the authorities for trying to fix the matches there. It could happen again here."

Velappan was in Johore to inspect Larkin Stadium, site of Group F matches involving England, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates and Ivory Coast for the tournament, which runs from 15 June to 5 July.

In 1994-1995, Malaysia suspended more than a dozen players and coaches for periods ranging from one to three years for alleged match fixing in the domestic Premier League.

Romania's national federation yesterday fined Dinamo Bucharest pounds 870 and ordered the club to pay damages estimated at pounds 12,500 after their fans set fire to a stand, destroying some 700 seats, before last Saturday's match against Steaua Bucharest. Dinamo have also been ordered to play two matches behind closed doors.