Sporting Briefs...

Licences withheld: Neuchatel Xamax and St Gallen are among eight clubs from the top two divisions to be refused playing licences by the Swiss football league. Along with the two top flight teams, second division sides Baulmes, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Lucerne, Sion, Juventus Zurich and Wil were also provisionally denied a licence, mainly on financial grounds. The clubs have five days to appeal against the decision. Xamax, who have estimated debts of around 1 million Swiss francs ($838,900), have already scheduled an extraordinary general meeting for today to address their financial problems.

Anderlecht: Anderlecht can crank up the pressure on leaders Club Bruges when they kick off the weekend's Belgian league action today. The champions will cut the gap to three points if they can win at Westerlo with Bruges travelling to Excelsior Mouscron 24 hours later. Racing Genk and Standard Liege, level on points in third, will both have European aspirations tomorrow. Genk play host to relegation strugglers Oostende while St Truiden can do their neighbours and themselves a favour if they get a result in Liege. St Truiden are sitting just above the relegation zone.

Figo: Carlos Queiroz is trying to persuade Sir Alex Ferguson to sign Luis Figo from Real Madrid after it became clear that the Portuguese international no longer has a future in Madrid. The Manchester United number two is set to hold talks with Madrid president Florentino Perez at the end of the current season in a bid to capture Figo on a free transfer. Ferguson has been a long-time fan of the former Barcelona midfielder and would not take much convincing that he is worth a risk as a free agent. Figo has fallen out with Madrid after they decided not to renew his contract which expires in 2006 and is also furious that he been dropped to the bench for the last three league outings.

Primera Liga: Osasuna claimed a dramatic 3-2 Primera Liga win over Villarreal yesterday that effectively secured their future in the top flight and dealt a blow to their opponents' hopes of earning a Champions League place. Australian striker John Aloisi grabbed a dramatic victory for King's Cup semi-finalists Osasuna when he beat the offside trap to drill home a perfect pass from Pablo Garcia two minutes from time. The result left Osasuna 15 points clear of the relegation zone with five games left to play. Defeat for Villarreal meant that they missed the chance to move up into the Champions League berths and instead remain in fifth place, a point behind Espanyol.