Sporting Briefs...

Austria: Rapid Vienna coach Josef Hickersberger will take charge of Austria's national team from next year, the Austrian soccer association (OeFB) said yesterday. The appointment comes three weeks after the OeFB sacked Hans Krankl following Austria's failure to qualify for next year's World Cup. The association said that it still had to negotiate the details of the handover from Rapid to the national team, but that talks about that matter had been very positive yesterday. Hickersberger previously coached Austria between 1987 and 1990.

Order In Stadiums: French interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy wants soccer fans encouraging violence to be banned from stadiums. "There are fans associations who call for violence against fans from other clubs, but also against other fans from their own club," Sarkozy said. "I want these associations to be banned and broken up." Earlier this month, police arrested 85 people after fights erupted between two groups of PSG supporters, the Tigris Mystics and the Boulogne Boys, before a home game against Nantes.

Angry Aulas: Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas has threatened not to release his players for France's friendly against Costa Rica scheduled for Nov. 9. The game will be played on the French-administered Caribbean island of Martinique three days before France face Germany in a friendly in Paris. "If I read the rules, we are not obliged to release them so I will talk with coach Houllier and the players," Aulas said. "If I were the only one to decide, I would not release them." FIFA set aside Nov. 16 for international friendlies, which means theoretically the clubs are not obliged to release their players for the Costa Rica game.

Ascoli: Serie A club Ascoli have been ordered to play their next two games behind closed doors after an away fan was struck in the face by a firework on Sunday. A female Sampdoria supporter needed medical treatment after a 'rocket' launched by an Ascoli fan hit her causing facial injuries. Italian soccer's 'Sporting Court' also imposed a 10,000 euro fine on Ascoli. Fireworks are frequently lit or thrown in Italian stadiums despite formally being banned from all venues. The Italian parliament last week passed new legislation aimed at cracking down on disorder in football stadiums.

Play-off date: Australia are considering a request from Uruguay to switch the first-leg date of the World Cup qualifying play-off between the teams. The opening leg is scheduled to take place in Montevideo on November 12 and the return match in Sydney four days later, the winner of the tie advancing to next year's World Cup finals in Germany. However, the Football Federation of Australia (FFA) has received a request from Uruguay asking that the Montevideo match be brought forward a day to allow the teams an extra day off for the long trip from South America.

Romania boss: Romanian Soccer Federation (FRF) president Mircea Sandu said yesterday he would stand for a new four-year term in December. Sandu, who has led the FRF for 15 years, had announced in April he would not seek re-election. Sandu has come under fire for Romania's failure to qualify for major tournaments. Romania failed to make the 2002 and 2006 World Cup finals as well as Euro 2004. Local media have accused Sandu and his team for bad management and for failing to deal with rising corruption.