Munich - Bayern Munich Willy Sagnol faces the end of his football career over an Achilles tendon injury, the local tz daily reported on Tuesday.

Sagnol, 31, said that an operation scheduled for this week to ease the pain has been scrapped. Asked whether he has hope of returning to the pitch, he told the tz: "I don't know where to get it from."

The former France defender has not played since May and underwent surgery in August. He had initially hoped that another operation would put an end to his misery and allow him to return to the pitch.

Sagnol came to Munich in 2000 and has a contract until 2010.

Johannesburg - Visitors needing visas to visit South Africa for the 2010 World Cup will be issued with a special event visa, Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said on Tuesday.

"This will be the first time that such a visa will be used by a country hosting a major world event," he said.

The event visa will apply mainly to African visitors from non-Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries who would normally require visas to enter South Africa.

It will also be issued for the Confederations Cup next year.

Hamburg - Bayern Munich will be going out for victory at Olympique Lyon on Wednesday to make absolutely sure of top spot in Group F of the European Champions League.

A win followed by a victory on Saturday at VfB Stuttgart - and possible top spot in the Bundesliga - would be the perfect end to the year for Bayern in Juergen Klinsmann's first term in charge.

Yet a defeat in Lyon might conceivably be considered a good omen for the German champions.

The last time Bayern lost on French soil - a heavy 3-0 defeat at Lyon in March 2001 - they went on to win Europe's top crown just two months later.

Athens - A crucial European Champions League match between Panathinaikos Athens and Anorthosis Famagusta was due to go ahead as planned on Tuesday night after security guarantees were given by the authorities in the riot-plagued Greek capital.

The European Football Union UEFA gave the nod after meeting earlier in the day with police representatives and officials from both clubs.

Calgary, Canada - Olympic speedskating champion Cindy Klassen of Canada will si

Lausanne, Switzerland - Some 500 drug samples gathered at the Beijing Olympics will be retested for a new generation of the blood booster EPO and for insulin, the International Olympic Committee announced on Tuesday.

The IOC said in a press release that the retested samples are mainly from endurance events in cycling, rowing, swimming and athletics from January onwards. First results are to be announced by late March.