Athletic rue Karanka absence
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Article summary
News round-up: The Athletic Club Bilbao central defender Aitor Karanka will not play again until next season.
Article body
Athletic Club Bilbao
Roda JC coach Wiljan Vloet has revealed he will leave the Dutch Eredivisie team at the end of the season to join second division side Sparta Rotterdam. Former FC Den Bosch coach Vloet, 42, will succeed Mike Snoei at Sparta after three years in Kerkrade. He has been given a two-year contract.
The 37-year-old former Russian international Igor Dobrovolski, who has not played top-level football since 1999, is returning to his hometown to become player-coach of FC Tiligul Tiraspol before tomorrow's restart of the Moldovan season. Dobrovolski began his illustrious career with FC Nistru Chisinau and played abroad in Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, France and Germany. His last competitive game came for Fortuna Düsseldorf 1895 in 1999. First capped by the Soviet Union in 1986, he went on to make 46 appearances, scoring ten goals, for the USSR, CIS and Russia. He appeared at the 1990 FIFA World Cup and the 1992 and 1996 UEFA European Championships.
Former Bulgaria coach Plamen Markov has accepted the role of adviser to caretaker coach Kostadin Angelov at his former team PFC Vidima Rakovski, following the resignation of Dimitar Todorov. Markov, who led Bulgaria at UEFA EURO 2004™, has not signed a contract with the club he left in December 2001 to take over the national side. "I will help my hometown club but I will not be coach and will not take charge of matches. I have a moral duty to save the club from relegation," said the 47-year-old. Todorov resigned on Sunday after Vidima started the second half of the season with three straight defeats, leaving them in the relegation zone.
Croatian First League leaders HNK Hajduk Split remain on course for a domestic double after beating NK Zagreb 2-1 on aggregate to reach the Croatian Cup semi-finals. Trailing 1-0 from the first leg in Zagreb, Hajduk scored twice in the last 15 minutes of the return through Ivan Leko and Hrvoje Vejic, the latter's goal coming deep into added time. Meanwhile, NK Osijek played out a goalless draw with NK Pula 1856 in the first leg of their last-eight tie.