Sporting Briefs

Hargreaves: Owen Hargreaves suffered a suspected broken leg in Bayern Munich's 2-1 defeat by Arminia Bielefeld yesterday, the German champions said. The England midfielder was taken off midway through the first half of the Bundesliga clash following a challenge from Thorben Marx. Hargreaves has a suspected fracture of the left fibula, said Bayern. He will need tests back in Munich before there is a clear idea of the extent of the injury.

Italian FA: The head of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), Guido Rossi, has been drawn into a row about a conflict of interests after accepting a second job as president of the company that sponsors Serie A and Serie B. Rossi's appointment on Friday as president of Telecom Italia threatens to derail the programme of reform he set in motion in the wake of the Serie A match-fixing scandal. Rossi has not said whether he intends to resign, but an FIGC statement yesterday suggested he wanted to stay on.

Cocu: PSV Eindhoven captain Phillip Cocu has torn a muscle in his thigh and will be sidelined for weeks, the Dutch club said. The 35-year-old was suspended for Tuesday's Champions League Group C opener against Liverpool and is not expected to be fit for their second match at Girondins Bordeaux on Sept. 27.

Coe: FIFA have named twice Olympic 1,500 metres champion Sebastian Coe as chairman of the organisation's new independent ethics committee. Coe, the chairman of London's 2012 Olympic organising committee, will take charge immediately of the judicial body which will consider alleged breaches of FIFA's code of ethics by officials, players or players' agents.

Monaco: Ligue 1 club Monaco said yesterday Austrian online betting firm bwin.com, whose joint chief executives were detained for questioning by French authorities, would remain their sponsors. Manfred Bodner and Norbert Teufelberger, joint CEOs of bwin, were detained for questioning by French authorities on Friday because of alleged violation of French gaming laws.