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Andre Villas Boas is on the brink of becoming Chelsea's new manager after tendering his resignation as Porto coach.

Porto confirmed the news to the CMVM (Portuguese stock market) following reports from the Lusa news agency that the 33-year-old quit via fax.

Villas-Boas will officially leave his position once the terms of his release clause, 15 million euros, are met by prospective employers, Chelsea.

The statement reads:

"Porto Football Club, under the terms of article 248, number 1 of the Securities Law, informs the market that Porto Football Club was today notified of the intention of its coach, Andre Villas Boas, to rescind, with no just cause, his sporting contract of employment with this company, activating the respective release clause, with immediate effect.

"Therefore, the employment contract will be considered, by this company, rescinded, with the deposit of the amount specified (in the release clause)."

Chelsea has been searching for a manager since relieving Carlo Ancelotti of his post at the end of the season after he failed to build on his double-winning first season at the club.

Villas-Boas won a treble in his first year of management at the club last season.

He managed to break multiple records in his short time there, including highest number of consecutive wins in the Portuguese league and the biggest margin of points over the second-placed team.

He became the youngest coach to ever win a European competition when he guided the Portuguese league champions to victory in the Europa League just over a month ago.

Prior to Porto, Villas-Boas was manager at Academica in Portugal for the 2009-10 season, which was the catalyst for being hired as Porto head coach.

The young Portuguese coach also worked with Jose Mourinho at Chelsea and Inter during his respective stints at the clubs.

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Labels: Andre, Become, Chelsea, Goalcom, Manager, Porto, quits, VillasBoas

BUENOS AIRES, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Estudiantes coach Alex Sabella has resigned, the Argentine champions’ press officer said on Thursday.

“He did a sidestep yesterday but today he phoned (club president Ruben) Filpas and said he was leaving,” Diego Raimundo said.

Sabella, who steered Estudiantes to their fourth Libertadores Cup in 2009 and the Argentine Apertura title in December, had given himself time to reconsider having told the club and players on Wednesday that he was quitting.

(Reporting by Rex Gowar; editing by Ed Osmond; to query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Labels: Argentine, champions, coach, Estudiantes, quits, Reuters, Sabella

By Nick Mulvenney

SYDNEY, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Dutchman Edwin Lugt quit as chief executive of Australia’s soccer champions Sydney FC on Tuesday, eight days before the start of the club’s Asian Champions League campaign.

Lugt, who joined the A League club in September 2009 after running the Dutch second division for several years, will stay on until the end of the ACL campaign in May, according to a statement on the team’s website (www.sydneyfc.com).

“I have thoroughly enjoyed continuing building the foundations of our club, in particular by further strengthening the relationship with our fans as well as with the wider community including grassroots football,” Lugt was quoted as saying. “Without fans there is no football club.

“I am happy that I have been able to make a contribution to this process during the last 18 months but it is now time to move on.”

Local media reports said Lugt had become increasingly frustrated after being sidelined by vice-chairman Scott Barlow, the son-in-law of Russian owner David Traktovenko.

“On behalf of the board I would like to thank Edwin for the contribution he has made to Sydney FC during his time at our club and wish him all the best for the future,” Barlow said.

The club, once considered the glamour team of the A league, suffered a terrible season as champions, finishing ninth out of 11 teams this term, and playing in front of dwindling crowds of under 10,000 at their 45,500-seater ground.

Sydney face South Korea’s Suwon Bluewings in their opening ACL Group H match at Sydney Football Stadium on March 2.

(Editing by Ossian Shine) (For the sports blog Left Field go to: http://blogs.reuters.com/sport))

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Labels: Chief, executive, quits, Reuters, Sydney

LONDON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Lionel Messi struck a late winner to earn Barcelona a 2-1 win over Athletic Bilbao on Sunday and keep the Spanish champions five points clear at the top of La Liga.

In Italy, Claudio Ranieri resigned as AS Roma coach after they squandered a 3-0 lead to lose 4-3 at Genoa.

SPAIN

Lionel Messi rescued a nervy Barcelona with a late goal to earn a 2-1 victory over Athletic Bilbao in a thrilling La Liga match on Sunday. The World Player of the Year dinked in the winner in the 77th minute as Barca desperately poured forward after Andoni Iraola had cancelled out David Villa’s early opener with a 49th-minute penalty.

Barca moved on to 65 points from 24 matches, keeping Real Madrid five points back in second after Jose Mourinho’s outfit eased to a 2-0 victory over Levante on Saturday.

Fourth-placed Villarreal’s faltering form continued when they were held 1-1 at home by basement side Malaga and new Osasuna coach Jose Luis Mendilibar led his team to a stunning 4-0 win over sixth-placed Espanyol.

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ITALY

Claudio Ranieri quit as coach of AS Roma after they surrendered a 3-0 lead to lose 4-3 at Genoa while fellow underachievers Juventus were beaten 2-0 at lowly Lecce after having Gianluigi Buffon sent off early.

Leaders AC Milan needed a controversial Robinho goal where he used his arm and a late strike from substitute Alexandre Pato to see off Chievo 2-1 but second-placed Napoli kept pace with a 1-0 win over Catania.

Inter Milan in third also had some luck with Andrea Ranocchia’s winner in a 1-0 victory over Cagliari counting despite the Italy defender looking offside.

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ENGLAND

Leyton Orient grabbed the limelight in the FA Cup when they grabbed a dramatic last-minute equaliser to force a 1-1 draw at home to Arsenal in their fifth round tie on Sunday.

The League One side stole the thunder from Everton who ended Chelsea’s dreams of a third successive FA Cup final victory with a 4-3 penalty shootout win at Stamford Bridge after their fourth round replay ended in a 1-1 draw after extra time.

Minor-league Crawley Town also hit the headlines after making Premier League leaders Manchester United, who have won the FA cup a record 11 times, battle for a slender 1-0 win at Old Trafford.

Manchester City kept alive their chances of a first major trophy since 1976 when they thumped League One Notts County 5-0 in a fourth round replay at Eastlands.

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FRANCE

Leaders Lille went down 1-0 at Montpellier, allowing Stade Rennes to cut the gap at the top to two points with a late penalty in a 2-1 victory at Toulouse.

Olympique Marseille, Olympique Lyon and Paris St Germain also all won to set up a thrilling finale to Ligue 1 with five clubs within four points of each other with 14 games left.

Girondins Bordeaux and Monaco lost again as their poor seasons contrast markedly with France’s other big names.

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SCOTLAND

Celtic took a big step towards the Scottish Premier League title by beating their Old Firm rivals Rangers 3-0 at Parkhead on Sunday to move eight points clear at the top of the table, although Rangers have two matches in hand.

Gary Hooper scored twice in the opening 28 minutes to put Celtic in command before Kris Commons made it 3-0 20 minutes from time as the big two played out the fourth of their seven planned meetings this season, including cup games.

Third-placed Hearts moved to within two points of Rangers when they beat Dundee United 2-1 on Saturday but have also played two more matches than Walter Smith’s team.

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NETHERLANDS

PSV Eindhoven brushed aside 10-man NAC Breda 4-1 to go two points clear at the top of the Dutch league as rivals Twente Enschede were held 1-1 by NEC Nijmegen.

Twente had Emir Bajrami to thank for a point after he cancelled out an early opening goal from Nijmegen’s Niki Zimling.

(Editing by Dave Thompson; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Labels: Barcelona, clear, keeps, quits, Ranieri, Reuters, RoundupMessi

By Derek Hunter at the NIA, Birmingham Last updated at 8:00 PM on 19th February 2011

Mo Farah bade farewell to Britain in glorious style yesterday when he smashed not only a 29-year-old British 5,000 metres record, but the European one too.

The European 5,000 and 10,000 metres champion announced on the eve of the Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham that he is basing himself and his family in Oregon for the 18 months before the 2012 Olympic Games. 

He will be coached there by American running legend Alberto Salazar. The records were his leaving presents.

Ironically, it was his future training partner in American Galen Rupp who pushed him all the way. But he paid greater tribute to the sell-out crowd in the NIA, telling spectators: 'Thank you, guys. You were massively important.'

He has one last commitment to Britain before he moves, a bid to defend his 3,000 metres title at the European indoor championships in Paris next month. Nobody now will be betting against him. Nick Rose's British record of 13:21.27 has stood since before Farah was born in Somalia in 1983. But since Farah smashed Dave Moorcroft's 28-year-old outdoor British record last year, it was on borrowed time. Farah beat it by more than 10 seconds in 13:10.60 and the year-old European record by 0.53sec.

The two-year programme Phillips Idowu conceived to take him to the top of the Olympic podium in his own backyard in Stratford next year had lift-off in his first competition of the schedule.   Idowu, who dreams of becoming the first man ever to win all six major indoor and outdoor titles, hopped, stepped and jumped to 17.57 metres to comfortably beat 2004 Olympic champion Christian Olsson.

The only man this year to jump further, and only by seven centimetres, is world indoor champion Teddy Tamgho, the Frenchman in training for the European indoor championships in Paris.

Idowu is missing that championships but will give Olsson a return match in Stockholm on Tuesday. 'My best-ever indoor season opener, world class,' said Idowu.

What a difference a week made to Kelly Sotherton. Last Sunday she was crying tears of joy after winning her first national track title in her first outing as a 400 metres runner, yesterday she finished sixth and last - exposing her tactical naivety over the tight two laps.

Former Commonwealth heptathlon champion Sotherton won the national title by forcing the pace, leading from gun to finish, but this time she seemed anchored to her starting blocks. She was last every step of the way in a time of 53.70sec, slower than her week-old debut and almost two seconds behind Jamaican winner Novlene Williams-Mills.

'I got my tactics really wrong but I'm not upset. You can't be upset every time you have a bad race,' said Sotherton, 34, who switched to the 400 when doctors told her to quit the heptathlon because of a prolapsed disc in her spine.

'I felt stronger and better than last week. It's all a learning experience and everybody ran well apart from me. But it's not like the heptathlon. When I get it wrong I can put it right the next week, not six months later.'

She will have that chance in Paris but only in the relay because last week's time did not qualify her for the individual event. 'The relay was always the plan,' she said.

Two more Britons will go to Paris as No 1 in Europe this year - Trinidad- born, Bedford resident Nigel Levine, 21, who won the 400 metres in 46.17sec and Helen Clitheroe, 37, who finished fourth in a 3,000 metres won in the year's fastest time by Ethiopian Sentayehu Ejigu.

Clitheroe's time of 8:39.81 is two seconds faster than any other European has run.

Labels: breaks, daily, Farah, quits, records