UEFA confirmed yesterday that players who had picked up suspensions in qualifying matches for this summer's European Championship would have to serve their bans during the tournament's first round.

Some qualifiers, notably Germany, had asked UEFA to wipe the slate clean for players accumulating a ban in the qualifiers to allow them to compete on the same terms as hosts England.

Players who face missing out are Spain's Miguel Angel Nadal, suspended for two matches, while Juergen Klinsmann and Steffen Freund of Germany, Daniel Prodan (Romania), Yuri Nikiforov (Russia), Marc Hottiger (Switzerland) and Danny Blind of Holland are all suspended for one game.

Better news for Klinsmann is that he has been named the world's top scorer of 1995 by the international federation of football history and statistics. Klinsmann scored 17 goals in all international competitions for both club and country during the year.