Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson said today that Cristiano Ronaldo was staying at the club.
"The matter is closed now, he's a Manchester United player," Ferguson said at a news conference. "He's going to be a player here."
Meanwhille, Real Madrid won't sign any more players this offseason after Rafael van der Vaart, the club's President Ramon Calderon said, hinting a move for Ronaldo is unlikely.
Netherlands midfielder Van der Vaart today completed his move to the Spanish soccer champion from Hamburg, signing a five-year contract.
He's "our first signing of the year and definitely the only one," Calderon told reporters in Madrid, in comments broadcast on Radio Marca. He didn't mention Ronaldo.
Madrid since June said it would like to acquire Ronaldo, English soccer's two-time player of the year, if he decides to leave Manchester United.
United complained to world ruling body FIFA in June, saying Madrid "continued to involve itself in the future" of the Portuguese forward. Madrid denied wrongdoing, saying it hadn't held talks with Ronaldo.
FIFA took no action and instead asked the Spanish soccer federation to remind the team about the "potential legal consequences" of inducing Ronaldo to break his United contract, which has four years to run.
Rangers dumped from Champions League
Rangers, a finalist in May's UEFA Cup, was dumped out of European soccer competition at the first hurdle by Lithuanian club FBK Kaunas.
The Scottish team last night lost the second game of a two- match Champions League qualifier 2-1 after drawing the first match in Glasgow 0-0.
Linas Pilibaitis got the winning score four minutes from the end as Rangers, which went into the match with a lone striker in Kenny Miller, played for a draw.
Rangers lost the final of the second-tier UEFA Cup 2-0 to Zenit St. Petersburg last season after finishing third in its Champions League group behind Barcelona and Lyon. Teams that lose at this stage of European soccer's richest competition aren't compensated by dropping into the UEFA Cup.
Madrid get Dutch star
Netherlands soccer midfielder Rafael van der Vaart is to join Real Madrid from Hamburg on a five-year contract, the Spanish champion said.
Van der Vaart, who sat out an exhibition game between the teams two days ago, told his Web site he would be presented by Madrid tomorrow. Sports newspaper Marca put the transfer fee at 10 million euros ($15.6 million).
Hamburg confirmed it agreed to the trade, without giving financial details. Van der Vaart's signing is subject to a medical exam, Madrid said on its Web site.
"I have always wanted to move to Spain," Van der Vaart, whose mother is Spanish, told his Web site. "I have a strong bond with that country."
He'll be the second off-season signing by Madrid after Argentine defender Ezequiel Garay, who will remain at his former club Racing Santander on loan.
Van der Vaart, 25, joined Hamburg from Ajax in 2005. He'll become Madrid's fifth Dutch player after Ruud van Nistelrooy, Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben and Royston Drenthe.
Sneijder avoids surgery
Real Madrid's Wesley Sneijder won't need surgery after tests today found a knee ligament injury was less serious than first thought.
The Dutch midfielder, hurt in a challenge by Arsenal's Abou Diaby in an exhibition game yesterday, may resume playing in three months, Real Madrid said on its Web site. The Spanish league opens Aug. 31.
Sneijder, carried from the field at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium on a stretcher, could have been sidelined for six months if he'd damaged cruciate ligaments. Torn cruciate ligaments normally require surgery.
The 24-year-old joined from Ajax for a 27 million-euro ($42.2 million) fee a year ago. Restricted by injury, he started only 27 of 38 league games last season.
Euros drew big revenue
Last month's European Championship soccer tournament generated 1.3 billion euros ($2.03 billion) in sales from television rights, sponsorship, tickets and corporate hospitality, up 53 percent from the 2004 event.
"We set ourselves the challenge of organizing the best European Championship final round," the Austrian and Swiss football associations and Euro 2008 organizing committee said in a statement. "The results of studies and surveys show that we succeeded."
Spain beat Germany 1-0 in the final to claim the crown for a second time, 44 years after its only other major title. A record 14.5 million people in Spain watched the June 29 match, the highest recorded television audience in that country.
All 31 matches at the three-week event in Austria and Switzerland, including the championship game in Vienna, were sold out, lifting ticket revenue to 90 million euros.
Media revenue at the 16-nation championship was up to 800 million euros, from 560 million in 2004, commercial income increased by around 100 million euros to 280 million, and corporate hospitality sales more than quadrupled to 130 million euros. Net income rose to 250 million euros, from 223 million in Portugal four years ago, Austria's APA news agency reported.
The revenue generated "will help benefit the whole European football family, some of it being used to fund youth and women's final tournaments and the rest being distributed among UEFA's 53 member associations in the form of lump-sum payments and project sponsorship," European soccer's governing body said in today's statement.
UEFA said the event's Web site had 62 million visitors, while at least 155 million people watched each match.
—Combined wire reports