Hamburg  - Former Bayern Munich and Germany goalkeeper Oliver Kahn has turned down the job of general manager at troubled Bundesliga club Schalke 04, Kicker sports magazine reported Friday.

Kicker said that according to its information, Kahn, 39, will inform Schalke he has no further interest in the position.

There was no immediate confirmation.

Kahn was interviewed following the dismissal of Andreas Moeller on March 9.

Schalke on Thursday also dismissed Dutch coach Fred Rutten.

Hamburg - Defender Thimothee Atouba wants to extend his contract at Bundesliga club SV Hamburg when it runs out at the end of the season.

"I want to stay," the 27-year-old Cameroonian told Friday's Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper.

Atouba is currently building up his fitness as he continues his recovery from an Achilles tendon injury sustained last October.

"If things continue as they are then Timmy could be available for us in the final games of May," said Hamburg coach Martin Jol.

Hamburg  - There was a time when a sofa could have a pressed board on the back because it would never be placed anywhere except against a wall.

Trend experts say those days are over as individual rooms are blending into one another to create large living spaces that are divided only by a shelf or sofa. And this development is having an affect on other furniture as well.

"All furniture fits everywhere," is how the association for the German furniture industry describes the new trend in words.

Hamburg  - The big car makers presented a flurry of alternative driving concepts and eco-cars at the recent Geneva Motor Show leaving many a motorist wondering when such cars will be available in the showroom.

The next three years will bring a number of cars onto the roads that have so far only been seen as concept studies at big motor shows or circulated on the internet as teaser images. Yet much of what we have seen lately remains hype and may only appear on our roads 10 years from now.

Hamburg - East German biathletes were given banned substances in drinks during the 1980s, Olympic biathlon champion Jens Steinigen said Tuesday.

Speaking to German Press Agency dpa Steinigen said that the practice was then stopped.

"The team doctor at the time then stopped this as there were obviously problems with giving the right doses. Nobody knew how much the athlete drank and thereby took doping substances," he said.

Hamburg - Former world champion Kimi Raikkonen appears to be standing before a make-or-break season at Ferrari.

"As a driver and a Ferrari man, he is well aware that it's an important season. He's intelligent enough to understand that," Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali told Monday's Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper.

The 2009 season getting underway this weekend with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, and Domenicali said Raikkonen's performances this year were certainly important as to whether he has a long-term future with the Italian marque.