Football Briefs: Everton sack Allardyce as manager

News of all that's transpired on and off the football field

Everton sacked manager Sam Allardyce on Wednesday after a six-month reign that saw the former England national team boss steer the Merseyside club to eighth place in the Premier League.

Allardyce, who replaced sacked Dutch manager Ronald Koeman in November with the club 13th and five points above the relegation zone, still had a year to run on his contract.

"On behalf of the Chairman, Board of Directors and Mr (Farhad) Moshiri, I'd like to thank Sam for the job he has done at Everton over the last seven months," Everton's newly-announced CEO Denise Barrett-Baxendale said on the club's website.

"Sam was brought in at a challenging time last season to provide us with some stability and we are grateful to him for doing that. However, we have made the decision that, as part of our longer-term plan, we will be appointing a new manager this summer and will be commencing this process immediately."

Despite a doing a solid job, the 63-year-old Allardyce had fallen out with a large majority of Everton's fans who were not impressed with his management style.

West Ham part company with manager Moyes

West Ham United manager David Moyes has left the club following the end of his short-term contract, they said on Wednesday.

The 55-year-old Moyes, who replaced the sacked Slaven Bilic in November, guided the relegation-threatened Premier League club to a 13th-placed finish.

"Having taken stock of the situation and reflected now the campaign is complete, we feel that it is right to move in a different direction," the club's co-chairman David Sullivan said in a statement.

Bengaluru FC qualify for AFC Cup knockouts

Benguluru FC produced a professional performance to blank Abahani Dhaka 4-0 before outside help from Aizawal FC ensured their qualification for the Inter-Zonal semifinals of the AFC Cup.

Daniel Segovia (13th min), Nishu Kumar (16th, 58th) and Sunil Chhetri (60th) struck for Bengaluru, who topped Group E with a resounding win and advanced in the competition. 

Bengaluru needed a win to qualify and were also relying on Aizawl FC to beat Maldives' New Radiant.

Moments after Bengaluru's win, Aizawl came to their rescue by defeating New Radiant 2-1.

Bengaluru finished the group on 15 points, New Radiant 12 and four points apiece for Abahani and Aizawl.

The Blues were always in control of the game and led 2-0 at half time courtesy goals from Segovia and Kumar.

Bengaluru had 55 percent ball possession with 11 of their 16 shots on target. Abahani only entered the striking area five times and had just one shot on target.

The outcome was on expected lines but with qualification on the line, Bengaluru had to deal with pressure. 

Bengaluru's previous visit to Dhaka had ended in defeat to the Bangladeshi side in the group stages of last year's AFC Cup campaign with late goals from Saad Uddin and Rubel Miya handing Roca's men a 0-2 loss.

In a more recent meeting between the sides, Daniel Lalhlimpuia scored a 72nd minute winner at the Kanteerava Stadium in March when Blues began their continental campaign

Bengaluru had beaten Aizawl 5-0 in their previous game.

Former Thai football boss' ban reduced by FIFA Appeal Committee

Former Thai football chief Worawi Makudi saw his ban from the sport slightly reduced to three and half years from five on Wednesday after a ruling by world body FIFA's appeal committee.

Worawi had received the original ban from FIFA's ethics committee in October 2016. That was after he had been handed a suspended 16-month prison sentence by the Southern Bangkok Criminal Court for altering documents ahead of the Thailand football association's presidential election in 2013.

Last year he was declared not guilty of forgery and falsification by an appeals court in his country, however FIFA still maintain there were infringements on their code of ethics.

"The FIFA Appeal Committee has partially confirmed the decision taken... on 10 October 2016, reducing the ban from all football-related activities... imposed on Mr Makudi from five years to three years and six months, and confirming the fine of CHF 10,000 ($9,988)," it said in a statement.

Maradona appointed Dynamo Brest chairman in Belarus

Argentina great Diego Maradona has been appointed as the chairman of Dynamo Brest on a three-year contract, the Belarusian Premier League team said on Wednesday.

A 1986 World Cup winner, Maradona stepped down from his role as the coach of Al-Fujairah FC last month after the United Arab Emirates club failed to gain automatic promotion to the first division.

"Diego Maradona will supervise the areas of club's strategic development, and also cooperate with its all structural departments, including the Academy of Dynamo Brest," the club said in a statement on their website https://en.dynamo-brest.by.

The former Barcelona and Napoli forward previously managed UAE team Al-Wasl along with the Argentina national team from 2008 to 2010.

Saudi World Cup referee gets life ban for match-fixing attempt

Saudi Arabia has banned referee Fahad Al Mirdasi from football for life for a match-fixing attempt, weeks before he was due to fly to Russia to officiate at the World Cup, the country's football federation (SAFF) said in a statement late on Tuesday.

Al Mirdasi had confessed to offering to fix Saturday's King's Cup final on behalf of the Al Ittihad club, the SAFF said. It added that it had requested FIFA hand him a lifetime global ban as well as removing him from the World Cup list.

The 32-year-old referee made the approach to Al Ittihad chief Hamad Al-Senaie, who immediately handed over the WhatsApp messages to SAFF officials who in turn alerted the relevant government authorities, SAFF said.

Al Mirdasi was taken into police custody where he confessed to soliciting the corrupt payment, the statement from the SAFF Ethics Committee added.