Valencia - Spanish football giants Valencia announced on Tuesday that left-back Asier del Horno will be out of action for around three weeks due to injury.

The Basque defender has a twisted external ligament in his right knee, which should not require an operation, the club said. Del Horno, 27, suffered this injury in training earlier in the day.

Del Horno joined Valencia from Chelsea after missing the 2006 World Cup through injury. He has failed to be a regular at Mestalla and was loaned out to his original club, Athletic Bilbao, last season.

Kiev - A Ukrainian construction firm will likely be named the general contractor for a massive overhaul of the stadium slated to hold the Euro 2012 final, a government official said Tuesday.

Three home-grown companies are in the frontrunning for the project estimated at 365 million dollars (290 million euros), Anatoly Berkut, Vice Minister for Regional Developement, told a news conference.

The firms he identified - Kievgorstroi, Ukrmonolitspetsbud and Stalkonstruksia - are among the former Soviet republic's top construction firms. However, none has experience building a football stadium to international standards.

Berlin - Schalke midfielder Jermaine Jones has won a place in midfield for Germany against England in Berlin on Wednesday.

Jones, who missed out on the Germany squad for Euro 2008, gets his chance in defensive midfield after the omission of Torsten Frings.

It will be a first start for the 27-year-old son of a US serviceman who grew up in Frankfurt.

He was the only definite German starter named by team manager Oliver Bierhoff Tuesday for the friendly international.

Rome - Serie A strugglers Bologna Tuesday announced the signing of Brazilian midfielder Cesar, who was without a contract after winning the 2008 scudetto with Inter Milan.

Johannesburg- The number of South Africans who are confident about the country's ability to host the 2010 World Cup appears to be on the increase.

However, concerns on security and the class of the home team remained.

According to an opinion poll carried out by the African Response institute and released Tuesday, 69 per cent of 1,200 people questioned said they were confident that infrastructure for the football tournament would be finished on time.

London, Nov. 18 : Former England footballer Terry Butcher has said that if he comes across former Argentine footballer Diego Maradona, he would like to thrash him severely for his 1986 “Hand of God” goal in the World Cup.

More than 22 years on, Maradona probably does not know the full extent of the pain he has caused to Butcher.