BELGRADE, Jan 10 (Reuters) – Ghana coach Goran Stevanovic
believes Ivory Coast, Senegal and dark horses Mali are the
greatest threat to his team’s chances of winning their first
African Nations Cup since 1982.

Ghana are among the favourites for the Jan 21-Feb 12
tournament in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon but Serb Stevanovic,
who took charge a year ago, said the failure of some of Africa’s
top teams to qualify meant the battle for the continental title
was more competitive than ever.

BELGRADE (Reuters) – Serbian champions Partizan Belgrade sacked managing director Mladen Krstajic on Monday after the club’s early exit from European competition in August triggered a conflict with the club’s president Dragan Djuric.

Coach Aleksandar Stanojevic said he would step down as soon as he returned from vacation to stand by Krstajic, whose feud with Djuric boiled over last weekend when the pair blamed each other for their failed campaign in Europe.

BELGRADE, Dec 26 (Reuters) – Serbian champions Partizan
Belgrade sacked managing director Mladen Krstajic on Monday
after the club’s early exit from European competition in August
triggered a conflict with the club’s president Dragan Djuric.

Coach Aleksandar Stanojevic said he would step down as soon
as he returned from vacation to stand by Krstajic, whose feud
with Djuric boiled over last weekend when the pair blamed each
other for their failed campaign in Europe.

BELGRADE (Reuters) – Kyle Singler took a road less travelled for a player with a college basketball title under his belt and his decision to swap the NBA for Europe was vindicated in an impressive Euroleague debut for Real Madrid Thursday.

Singler, who steered Duke to their fourth NCAA title in 2010, scored eight points in 24 minutes on the court as a starter in Real Madrid’s 101-83 home win over Partizan Belgrade.

BELGRADE, Dec 12 (Reuters) – Red Star Belgrade coach Robert
Prosinecki has put 11 players on the transfer list after the
1991 European Cup winners endured a poor first half of the
season.

Red Star headed into the December-March winter break 10
points behind Serbian champions and league leaders Partizan
Belgrade. They also suffered a 20th successive early exit from
European competition.

LONDON, Dec 10 (Reuters) – By Zoran Milosavljevic

BELGRADE, Dec 10 (Reuters) – Serbian champions Partizan
Belgrade went 10 points clear at the top with a 3-0 win at
bottom team Metalac Gornji Milanovac on Saturday in the last
round of matches before the winter break.

Partizan, chasing a record fifth successive league title,
have 42 points from 15 games after Eduardo Pacheco, Stefan
Babovic and Zvonimir Vukic made light work of their visit to
Metalac.

BELGRADE, Nov 29 (Reuters) – Red Star Belgrade managing director
Ivan Adzic stepped down on Tuesday after coming under fire from
the club’s fans following a 2-0 home defeat by champions and
bitter city rivals Partizan.

Saturday’s defeat, which was also marred by serious crowd
trouble and a touchline brawl between rival players and staff,
left 1991 European Cup winners Red Star seven points behind
first division leaders Partizan.

BELGRADE, Nov 26 (Reuters) – Serbian champions Partizan
Belgrade won an ill-tempered derby 2-0 at Red Star on Saturday
to charge seven points clear of their city rivals at the top of
the league.

Midfielder Zvonimir Vukic and striker Marko Scepovic scored
second-half goals for the leaders to stretch their unbeaten
league record against Red Star to nine games.

BELGRADE, Nov 24 (Reuters) – Foreign Minister Vuk
Jeremic was elected Serbia’s Tennis Association (TSS) president
on Thursday in what he described as a bid to boost the country’s
image and create a conveyor belt of talent.

Jeremic, who broke into the tennis spotlight in April when
he granted diplomatic passports to Serbia’s top players
including world number one Novak Djokovic, took over from
long-serving TSS president Slobodan Zivojinovic.

ZAGREB, Nov 16 (Reuters) – The lack of support and
opportunities for young players at clubs lies at the heart of
Turkey’s inconsistency on the big stage and their failure to
reach Euro 2012, coach Guus Hiddink said.

Tuesday’s 0-0 draw in Croatia which completed Turkey’s 3-0
aggregate defeat in their playoff was in all likelihood
Hiddink’s last game in charge and he criticised an “inefficient
system” depriving young players of a chance to develop.