Greeks given clearance to keep playing

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Greece will continue to play in the World Cup and will not be suspended from international football, the game's world governing body said yesterday.

Greece

Greece will continue to play in the World Cup and will not be suspended from international football, the game's world governing body said yesterday.

There had been fears that England's World Cup qualifier in Greece on 6 June might be in jeopardy, but Fifa declared: "The imminent suspension of the Greek Football Association from international football activity has been averted with the signature of a Joint Declaration by the Greek government, the Greek FA and Fifa."

Greece were in danger of being suspended because Fifa was concerned that, contrary to its regulations, the country's government was wielding excessive influence over football in the country.

The FA and the government had been locked in a year-long feud over proposed sports ministry reforms which dealt with topics such as drug controls, revenues from the pools and cross-ownership of clubs. Yesterday's agreement followed a meeting at Fifa's headquarters in Switzerland. Chaired by the Fifa president Sepp Blatter, the Greek sports minister Georgios Floridis and the FA president Konstantinos Alexandridis were both present.

In Greece, the culture minister Evangelos Venizelos said: "It is important that there is a climate of understanding concerning the image of Greek football, in view of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games."

Germany

The Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg have suspended their Nigerian striker Jonathan Akpoborie after an aid organisation accused him of being involved in child slavery.

The international children's aid group Terres des Hommes claims that Akpoborie owns a ship which ferries child slaves and Wolfsburg have banned him from the club while they investigate the accusations. A club statement read: "Due to the high credibility of the Terres des Hommes organisation, we are forced to suspend Akpoborie from playing and training duties until this case is cleared." Akpoborie denies any association with the ship.

Denmark

A pitch in a Copenhagen suburb will host one of international football's more bizarre encounters when Greenland meets Tibet in an unofficial friendly on 30 June.

A Dane, Michael Nybrandt, who has been working on arranging the match for almost a year, is coaching the 20-man strong squad of exiled Tibetans, while the former Danish national coach Sepp Piontek is at the helm of Greenland.

Neither Greenland nor Tibet are members of Fifa, hence the match's unofficial status, though last year Greenland said they were considering an application to join Uefa, European football's ruling body.

Behind the scenes, though, a serious political game is being played out, with China apparently trying to stop the match. The Danish Football Association has acknowledged that it has been approached by the Chinese embassy in Copenhagen regarding the game.

"We are subject to Fifa regulations and we therefore cannot have anything to do with the match," the FA's secretary-general, Jim Stjerne Hansen, said. "We would never get Fifa's approval to host the match, as the Chinese Football Association would never allow such a match to be played."

Along with other European Union member states, Denmark officially recognises Tibet as a part of China.