Sporting Digest: Football

England's Under-18 women have qualified for next year's quarter- finals of the European Championship after enjoying a 7-0 victory over the Faroe Islands in their last Group Three qualifying match at Stoke City yesterday. A hat-trick from Wolverhampton Wanderers' Rachel Unitt (47th, 72nd and 92nd minutes) was the highlight of England's polished performance against their weakest group opponents.

A joint four-nation Nordic bid to host the European Championship finals in 2008 is to be considered, Lars Berendt, a spokesman for the Danish federation, said yesterday. A possible joint-bid from Sweden, who hosted the championships in 1992, Norway, Finland and Denmark will be on the agenda when the presidents and general secretaries of the four nations meet in Copenhagen on Monday.

Dr Richard Steadman, the surgeon who operated on Alessandro Del Piero's knee, said the surgery was a success and the Juventus and Italy striker should be playing again within six to eight months. The surgery on ligaments in Del Piero's left knee was performed at the Steadman Hawkins clinic in Vail, Colorado.

South Korea, the World Cup hosts, aim to finish the construction of 10 new stadia for the 2002 finals, which they are sharing with Japan, by the end of 2001, Shin Nak-Kyun, the Culture and Tourism Minister, said in Seoul.