By AVI CREDITOR

Landon Donovan has won over everyone from Everton's manager to teammates to the UK media since his loan spell in England began early last month.

Now he has won over Everton's fans as well.

Donovan was named Everton's Player of the Month, an award voted on by the Toffees' supporters.

Bayern Munich have failed in their attempt to overturn the ban imposed on Franck Ribery who is now confirmed to miss the Champions League final in Madrid. This is considered as a big blow for the Bavarian club considering the French star was hitting form in the latter stages of the Bundesliga and the Champions League.

Romanian striker will have to play professional football until he turns 50 in order to pay Stamford Bridge club what they are owed.

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Former Chelsea striker Adrian Mutu has lost his final appeal in a five-year legal battle and must pay the club £14m in damages for breach of contract.

The Football Association of Ireland announced today that Derry's Shane Duffy has been declared eligible to play for Ireland.
Duffy's change of association had been held up by the IFA who had brought a case to the Court Of Arbitration For Sport in an attempt to try and block Irish citizens born in the North of Ireland from representing Ireland at international level.

According to Neil Allen at The News, Portsmouth want to have a meeting with the Premier League to discuss lifting the transfer embargo. If the league does not agree to the meeting, then the club is prepared to "exercise the right to arbitration," where another party will make a decision.

By Gf60 The recent finding by the Court of Arbitration for Sport that Chel$ki were not guilty of inducing a breach of contract by Kakuta was a surprise. More of a surprise was the noting that the original contract between Kakuta and Lens was invalid. This raises more questions than it answers. A few hours before this finding was released, [.

The world of Drugs was rocked yesterday by reports that traces of Adrian Mutu had been found in a random test. Though Drugs has denied the charge, this is believed to be the second time that it has tested positive for the Fiorentina striker.

It is the latest crisis to hit Drugs, in a long and troubled career.

By AVI CREDITOR

Landon Donovan has won over everyone from Everton's manager to teammates to the UK media since his loan spell in England began early last month.

Now he has won over Everton's fans as well.

Donovan was named Everton's Player of the Month, an award voted on by the Toffees' supporters.

With the 2010 African Cup of Nations complete the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has wasted no time in drawing the qualifying groups for CAN 2012, to be joint hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. The draw took place today in Lubumbashi and here is what it threw up:
Group 1: Mali, Cape Verde, Zimbabwe, Liberia
Group 2: Nigeria, Guinea, Ethiopia, Madagascar
Group 3: Zambia, Mozambique, Libya, Comoros
Group 4: Algeria, Morocco, Tanzania, Central African Republic
Group 5: Cameroon, Senegal, DR Congo, Mauritius
Group 6: Burkina Faso, Gambia, Namibia, Mauritania
Group 7: Egypt (holders), South Africa, Sierra Leone, Niger
Group 8: Cote d'Ivoire, Benin, Rwanda, Burundi
Group 9: Ghana, Congo, Sudan, Swaziland
Group 10: Angola, Uganda, Kenya, Guinea-Bissau
Group 11: Tunisia, Malawi, Chad, Botswana
With Gabon and Equatorial Guinea already qualified as hosts, 14 places remain - 11 group winners and 3 best placed runners-up.

Former Northern Ireland manager Brian Hamilton has openly supported the right of players born in the North of Ireland to choose their own international future. Speaking on RTE radio, Hamilton stated that while he would prefer players to play for Northern Ireland, he accepted that players had the right to play for Ireland and that their choice should be respected by the IFA.

By Chris Wright

Fiorentina striker Adrian Mutu has been handed a nine month ban from football by The Italian Anti-Doping Tribunal (TNA) after failing two doping tests in January.

The 31-year-old forward twice tested positive for sibutramine an appetite suppressant following league games with Bari and Lazio.

French international misses Inter Milan tie.

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Franck Ribery will miss the Champions League final against Inter Milan after his club Bayern Munich had their appeal against a three-match ban rejected.

By Chris Wright

Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery has seen his appeal to overturn his Champions League suspension rejected by UEFA meaning he will now almost definitely miss the final of the competition on May 22nd.

Ribery received a straight red card following a pretty appalling challenge on Lisandro Lopez (see above) during the first leg of Bayern's Champions League semi-final clash with Lyon, which resulted in landing him with a three-game ban from the competition.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport will hear Franck Ribery's appeal of his suspension for the UEFA Champion's League final after UEFA itself told him no way.

The appeal was heard by UEFA, but they found that he still deserved to be suspended so Bayern is taking the next step before the May 22nd final.

Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery will miss the Champions League final after the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected his appeal against a ban.
The 27-year-old France playmaker turned to Cas after Uefa imposed a three-match suspension following his red card for a tackle on Lyon's Lisandro Lopez.

Its official, Bayern Munich's French international star Frank Ribery will miss the Uefa Champions League final after the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) and Uefa rejected his club appeal's.

Ribery who somehow held onto the hope that both CAS and Uefa would be lenient enough to allow him to feature for the German champions in Saturday's final, will not only miss out on a championship medal (should they win) but he will also have the undeserving pleasure of watching the match from the stands.

By Chris Wright

Should've talked to Frank

The Swiss Federal Court has dismissed Adrian Mutu's appeal and upheld the Court Of Arbitration For Sport's (CAS) decision that the Romanian forward is to pay Chelsea the €17.

Adrian Mutu has been ordered to pay former club Chelsea over £14million after losing his final appeal in a legal battle which has lasted over five years, the Swiss Federal Court announced.

The court confirmed that they have upheld the decision made by FIFA and the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Troubled Fiorentina striker Adrian Mutu has received yet another kick in the nads, with the news that he will be forced to pay Chelsea the princely sum of €17,173,990 (astonishingly precise figure courtesy of the Associated Press) in compensation after a five-year legal wrangle following his sacking by the club in 2004.

A failed drug test in 2004 cost Adrian Mutu has career at Chelsea and it now going to cost him £14 Million

The Swiss Federal Court confirmed this morning that they have upheld the decision made by FIFA and the Court of Arbitration for Sport, ending a legal battle that has lasted five years.

A failed drug test in 2004 cost Adrian Mutu has career at Chelsea and it now going to cost him £14 Million

The Swiss Federal Court confirmed this morning that they have upheld the decision made by FIFA and the Court of Arbitration for Sport, ending a legal battle that has lasted five years.

Portugal national team coach Carlos Queiroz will apparently be suspended six months by the nation's Sports Institute for aggressive behavior the coach displayed when the country's anti-doping agency visited the squad prior to the World Cup. No player tested positive during the visit, but Queiroz has been accused of disrupting the test due to his aggressive behavior towards the testers and foul language.

Sevilla were left disappointed yesterday after UEFA rejected their appeal to overturn a 1-0 defeat suffered at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain last month in a game during which Nene scored the only goal of the match late in the second half.
The Spanish club were left enraged after it turned out that the French side had apparently falsely registered their goalkeeper, Apoula Edel.

By Ollie Irish

What you talkin' about Willis?

Leaving no stone unturned in their efforts to conquer the known football world, Chelsea have signed Michael Gyasi, a German-born striker who has spent a couple of years learning his trade at Northampton Town's Centre of Excellence.

Bulgarian soccer coach Edward Eranosian has been suspended for four years for supplying his players with anabolic steroid pills before matches in Cyprus.

The coach was linked to the crime when APOP Kinyras players Carlos Marques and Lionel Medeiros both tested positive for performance enhancing drugs and admitted that their coach was the one handing out the illegal pills.

MILAN, Italy Sampdoria lost 1-0 at Serie A strugglers Parma in foggy conditions on Thursday when they again missed the guile of banished forward Antonio Cassano. Bulgarian striker Valeri Bojinov made light of poor visibility to score six minutes from time to lift Parma off the bottom. The win eased the pressure on Parma [.

Jay Bruce is regarded by many as one of the best young outfielders in the game. The Cincinnati Reds agree and have locked up Jay Bruce with a $51 million deal over six seasons. There is also a $12 million team option for a seventh season. The 23-year-old outfielder just completed his third season with the Reds.