Giovanni Trapattoni has emerged as the favourite, ahead of Arsene Wenger and Ottmar Hitzfeld, to take over from Erich Ribbeck as coach of Germany.

Wenger has reaffirmed that he is staying at Highbury while Hitzfeld is not keen - leaving Italian legend and former Bayern Munich coach Trapattoni as the only interested candidate.

Bayern Munich president Franz Beckenbauer ruled out the possibility of Bayern boss Hitzfeld doing both club and national jobs.

'It would be impossible,' said Beckenbauer. 'Two days before a big Bayern game, we might have a huge international. That is not a good system.'

•  Norway's Liverpool defender Vegard Heggem is out of Euro 2000 after suffering a hamstring injury against Yugoslavia.

Tottenham forward Steffen Iversen broke his nose in Sunday's 1-0 defeat but is expected to play in the final group game against Slovenia.

•  Peter Schmeichel will not be bowing out of international soccer at the end of Denmark's Euro 2000 campaign.

The 36-year-old Sporting Lisbon goalkeeper, who has 124 caps, said: 'I have no intention of retiring from international football but I am not aiming to break any records either. I just want to carry on for as long as I can and enjoy it.'

•  Fiorentina have offered Portuguese striker Joao Pinto a four-year, £1million-a-season contract in a bid to keep international team mate Manuel Rui Costa at the club.

Rui Costa has insisted he will never play for Fiorentina again after the sale of his Argentinian friend Gabriel Batistuta to Roma.

'Joao Pinto is a player that interests us very much,' said Fiorentina president Vittorio Cecchi Gori. 'He is a talented player, who could fit in here. We will definitely be signing a top-class international striker. No more players will be sold.'