By DPA
Vienna : Austrian hotels have set up a hotline to aid football fans looking for accommodation during June’s Euro 2008 football tournament, the country’s hotel association OHV has said. Thousands of beds were still available in the vicinity of Austria’s four host cities, officials said,
alleviating fears of football fans that locations close to the tournament sites were already booked out.
“There is no reason to panic. We still have rooms suitable for all budgets,” OHV general secretary Thomas Reisenzahn said. Fans can get help 24×7 finding rooms “for every taste and budget” via the hotline (+43 512 5351 992) or the internet (www.first-austrian-hotels.com), the organisation promised. Rooms
were still available in acceptable distance to the Euro stadiums in Vienna, Salzburg, Klagenfurt and Innsbruck.
-*-
Croatian footballer dies after injury in match
Zagreb: Croatian first division football player Hrvoje Custic died after hitting his head on a concrete wall alongside the pitch during a match last week, a doctor has said. “He’s been pronounced brain dead this morning, meaning he died due to the heavy damage to the brain,” said doctor Edi Karuc.
Custic (25) was hurt at the very beginning of a first division match his team Zadar played against Cibalija Saturday. According to the unofficial information, he has been in coma ever since and his condition worsened Wednesday night. Custic’s colleagues were hit hard by the news of his death. Football referee Reno Sinovcic was seen crying. “It hard on all of us. My
friend, my colleague and most of all a great man is gone,” said Zadar captain Jakov Surac.
******
Workers go on strike at World Cup stadium
Johannesburg: South African workers involved in building a 2010 World Cup stadium in Nelspruit have gone on strike demanding better pay. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said that workers at the Mbombela World Cup stadium stopped work Wednesday morning, bringing all construction at the stadium to a halt.
NUM official George Ledwaba said that the workers were demanding to be paid engineering rates, not builders rates, local media reported. “It is an old issue, the issue about the management paying workers under the building industry and therefore the wages are calculated in terms of the bargaining council [for that sector],” he said. Ledwaba said that the stadiums should fall under the civil engineering sector and workers should be paid
accordingly.
******
FA extends Mascherano ban
London: The Football Association (FA) has announced that Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano will be banned for an additional two games and fined $29,800 for his reaction to being sent off against Manchester United last month.
The Argentina international was booked for a foul on Paul Scholes early on, and collected a second caution before half time after protesting at a yellow card shown to teammate Fernando Torres. Being sent off for two yellow cards carries a one-match ban, but after Mascherano admitted a charge of improper conduct that was increased.
******
Relief for United over Vidic scan
London: Manchester United have confirmed that defender Nemanja Vidic will miss only two to three weeks after suffering no major damage against Roma Tuesday. The Serbia centre-back fell awkwardly during United’s 2-0 Champions League victory, and it had been feared he had done serious damage.
But a scan has shown positive results. “There is no major damage to the left knee, and he will be out for two to three weeks,” a spokesman said.