Football: Liverpool may be reinstated in Cup-Winners' Cup

IN A TURN of events reminiscent of Leeds United's reinstatement in the European Cup earlier this season, Liverpool may find themselves back in the European Cup- Winners' Cup if Uefa find that Spartak Moscow, who beat them in the second round, fielded an ineligible player.

Uefa's control and disciplinary committee are looking into the case of Spartak's midfielder, Mikhail Rusayev, who came on as a substitute in both legs of the Russians'

6-2 aggregate victory. Uefa claim they have not received an international clearance certificate, following his transfer from the German Second Division side, Oldenburg.

The Germans say they still hold Rusayev's registration and that the Russian association never contacted the German federation to clear the player. 'It would appear that while his transfer details were in order, he did not apparently have the appropriate licence,' a Uefa spokesman said.

Uefa said there should be a decision by the end of the week. Possible courses of action include a play-off between Liverpool and Avenir Beggen of Luxembourg, Spartak's victims in the first round, or a replay of both ties.

Most likely, though, is a fine. 'The rules may have been broken but I don't think it will go as far as Uefa declaring the player ineligible,' the spokesman said. 'It may be that Spartak Moscow did not even know the international transfer certificate had not been issued.'

Whenever a player moves to a different country, a certificate has to be issued by the releasing FA, signed by the receiving FA and copied to Fifa and Uefa.

Oldenburg's commercial manager, Rudi Assauer, said: 'We decided not to extend Rusayev's contract but he was not officially put on the federation's transfer list, which is required, because he still owes the club dollars 10,000 ( pounds 6,800).' The Russian's debts mounted after a car crash and insurance problems.

The Uefa president, Lennart Johansson, said yesterday that the Uefa Cup entry may be increased from 64 to 96 clubs. 'This is under study at the moment,' he said. 'The Uefa family is growing.'

There are now 37 full member associations and seven provisional members, including Armenia and Belarus, which were admitted at the Uefa executive committee meeting in Istanbul yesterday.

Eric Cantona made his Manchester United debut in Lisbon last night against Benfica in the testimonial for Eusebio. In a 1-0 defeat for United, settled in the 81st minute by Rui Costa, Cantona's principal contribution was a second-half booking for a blatant foul.

Steve Williams, the former England midfielder, may be sacked as deputy manager by Exeter City after a row with manager Alan Ball. Williams walked out of training and failed to turn up for Saturday's game at Reading.

Hristo Stoichkov, the Barcelona and Bulgaria striker, has arrived in Israel and demanded to play in tonight's World Cup qualifying tie. 'I want to see the man who has the guts to drop me,' Stoichkov said. Dimitar Penev, the national coach, dropped Stoichkov because he left the squad on Friday to play for his club in Sunday's 5-0 Spanish League win over Espanol.

Graham Kelly, the Football Association chief executive, gave evidence for the defence yesterday in the trial of Brentford striker Gary Blissett, who is accused of causing grievous bodily harm to the Torquay United defender, John Uzzell. Kelly told the court that the incident was an 'ordinary aerial challenge', and that he saw probably 200 such clashes a week if he attended four matches.

The jury at Salisbury Crown Court have seen a video of the incident, which occurred during a Third Division game on 14 December last year. It left Uzzell with a broken cheekbone and a fractured eye socket.