Madrid - Brazilian striker Edu de Souza is out of action for around six weeks due to injury, his Spanish club Real Betis announced on Friday.

Kiev - Ripples from the world financial crisis have shut down most Ukrainian preparation work for the Euro 2012 football championship, government officials said Thursday.

As much as 80 per cent of the infrastructure projects needed in the former Soviet republic to host the premier sports event have come to a complete stop for lack of funding or because of administrative difficulties, said Evhen Vilinsky, a spokesman for Ukraine's Euro 2012 preparation ministry.

Pretoria  - South African security forces will have six extra helicopters at their disposal for the 2010 World Cup in the country, Nathi Mthethwa, the Minister of Safety and Security confirmed Thursday.

Two helicopters have already been purchased while a further four will be delivered by the end of the year.

"The security preparations and equipping of the police for the 2009 Confederations Cup and the 2010 World Cup are progressing well," said Mthethwa.

Munich  - Several leading Italian clubs are interested in signing Bayern Munich's Bastian Schweinsteiger, but club manager Uli Hoeness said Thursday he was confident of keeping the midfielder at the German champions.

The 24-year-old Germany international's current contract expires at the end of the season and Hoeness said Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus had shown an interest in the player.

However Hoeness said Bayern "would come up with something" to keep Schweinsteiger at the club he has played for since joining as a youth team player.

Hoeness said Bayern would also be offering midfielder Ze Roberto a new contract although the 34-year-old Brazilian has said he wants to leave at the end of the season.

Sao Paulo - Brazilian football legend Pele made clear his scepticism as to the likelihood that Diego Maradona might be successful as coach of Argentina's senior team.

"Great stars, great players do not usually make good coaches. And sometimes a footballer that was not so brilliant in his career becomes a great coach," Pele noted, in comments that Brazilian media published Thursday.

Pele and Maradona are regarded as the two great candidates for the title of the best football players in history.

Milan - Napoli are set to show no respect for giants AC Milan when they visit them late Sunday looking to retain the top spot in a surprising Serie A season.

The leading duo of Napoli and Udinese, who boast a better goal difference, have 20 points from nine games after convincing wins against Reggina and Catania in a midweek round, with Milan trailing on 19.

Champions Inter Milan welcome bottom side Reggina Saturday, but have been the least convincing among the top teams as two consecutive scoreless draw saw them lose a top spot they grew accustomed to in the past two seasons.