Newslines: Portugal recall suspended trio

Portuguese selectors yesterday recalled defender Abel Xavier, striker Nuno Gomes and midfielder Paulo Bento to their squad for the Group Two World Cup qualifier with Andorra on February 28th after their suspensions from the Euro 2000 semi-final against France ended.

The Premier League will earn £178 million from overseas broadcast rights over the next three years. The deal was announced following yesterday's meeting of Premier League chairmen, which also set a deadline of the end of April for negotiations on a new sponsor to be finalised. The deal for overseas broadcast rights was agreed with a consortium made up of Canal+, Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp, TWI and Octagon CSI.

The Football League have charged Chesterfield with a number of breaches of its regulations, following a recent investigation conducted by the Football League in conjunction with the Football Association. The charges relate to breaches of player transfer regulations, irregular payments, and the under-reporting of gate receipts.

Ipswich have signed Celtic striker Mark Burchill on loan until the end of the season. Burchill goes straight into the squad for tomorrow's home clash with Everton, as Town will be without strikers Marcus Stewart (suspended) and Richard Naylor (injured). The Scottish Football League yesterday agreed to postpone crisis club Airdrie's weekend fixture with Ross County. Administrators KPMG made the request to buy time to find a solution to the club's problems.

The European Commission (EC) and soccer's world and European ruling bodies cleared most obstacles to a deal on a new player transfer system during talks on Wednesday, a Commission source said yesterday. The source said UEFA and FIFA and the Commission were moving closer to an agreement over how to penalise a player who breaks his contract.

England's new coach Sven Goran Eriksson will today name the players to face Spain in a friendly on February 28th at Villa Park.

Three Italian players were handed 16 month bans yesterday for doping offences. The Italian Football League named the players as Christan Buchhi and Salvatore Monaco from Serie A side erugia and Andrea Da Roid from second division Pescara.