Other soccer stories in brief

Danes watch Byrne

Danish club Aalborg are considering making a new attempt to sign Shelbourne striker Jason Byrne after having failed to persuade the 28-year-old to move at the start of the summer, writes Emmet Malone

The Danes were willing to meet Shelbourne's asking price of around €500,000 for the Dubliner when a number of other European clubs were also pursuing the player, but their bid failed when Byrne said he did not wish to leave Ireland at a time he had just become a father.

Aalborg subsequently made a strong start to their league campaign but a recent barren spell - they have scored in just one of their last five games - has left them in fifth place, trailing league leaders FC Copenhagen by five points and second-placed Odense by two.

The slump has prompted a renewed interest in signing a striker and senior club officials have confirmed they are continuing to monitor Byrne's progress and a new bid remains a strong possibility.

Byrne, formerly with Bray Wanderers (who would receive an agreed portion of any fee) has been comfortably the most prolific striker in the league in recent years and has scored 15 goals in the current campaign.

Carlsberg get green light

FC Copenhagen, who are sponsored by Carlsberg, have got the green light to sell Carlsberg beer at Parken Stadium at their next Champions League games.

The Danish champions, who carry Carlsberg's name on their shirts, were told in a letter from Uefa yesterday they could sell light beer at their upcoming Group F matches against Manchester United and Celtic.

Copenhagen were allowed to sell only non-alcoholic beer at their first Champions League match, against Benfica, much to the dismay of their fans, who can buy beer at Danish League games.

Copenhagen officials protested that local custom "required" beer consumption during games - and Uefa have relented.

Liverpool, who also carry Carlsberg's name on their shirts, do not sell beer to fans during their Champions League games in Group C.

The situation was complicated because rival brewers Heineken are one of the six major Champions League sponsors.

Cardiff holds onto final

This season's English League Cup final will be staged at the Millennium Stadium on February 25th. A Football League spokesman said: "The stadium has provided a terrific home for the final in each of the last six seasons and we look forward to taking this match to Cardiff once again."

Associations charged

The Croatian and English Football Associations were charged by Uefa for improper behaviour at their Euro 2008 qualifier in Zagreb on October 11th.

The charges relate to incidents inside and outside Dinamo Zagreb's Maksimir Stadium, where Croatia beat England 2-0 in their Group E qualifier. The charges will be heard by Uefa's Control and Disciplinary Body at Uefa's headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, on November 9th. William Gaillard, Fifa's director of communications said: "The charge against the Croatian FA is that they mishandled the entrance procedure and there was crowd misbehaviour."

He said the charge against the English FA related to fans' behaviour.

Goalkeeper on trial

Goalkeeper Stephane Porato is on trial at Chelsea as Jose Mourinho considers his back-up options during Petr Cech's injury.

Former Monaco and Marseille stopper Porato would be able to sign immediately because he is a free agent. The 33-year-old has been without a club since he left Corsican outfit Ajaccio in the summer. Porato played once for France.

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