Sports News

Turning to sport and the Pavel Horvath transfer saga has finally reached its conclusion. The Slavia Prague midfielder - a member of Josef Chovanc's Euro 2000 squad - will be wearing the colours of Sporting Lisbon next season after signing a 5-year deal with the Portuguese team.

Horvath has been in dispute with Slavia since his original move to the Belgian club Standard Liege was scuppered in May. The playmaker had threatened to take the Prague team to court after the two parties differed upon the interpretation of his contract. "I am looking forward to it," Horvath told Czech daily Sport, "Playing for Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League is a great motivation for me and a chance to prove that I can continue to improve."

Another player of the Euro 2000 squad that has put pen to paper on a lucrative deal is Pavel Srnicek. The 32-year old goalkeeper has signed a lucrative three-year deal with the Italian Serie A club Brescia, after walking out on the English Premier League team Sheffield Wednesday last month. Srnicek had been expected to join Napoli but the move fell through due to the Czech's wage demands.

Quickly to the Intertoto Cup, and all three Czech teams - Sigma Olomouc, Chmel Blsany and Marila Pribram - made it through to the third round after the weekend's matches. The greatest reward though undoubtedly goes to Pribram - their 4-3 aggregate win over LASK Linz of Austria means that they have a glamorous third-round clash against the English club Aston Villa to look forward to.

Finally to Helsinki, where there was some success for the Czech team in the European Swimming Championships on Sunday. In the women's 50m backstroke, Ilona Hlavackova took home the bronze, finishing just 4 tenths of the second behind the winner, Nina Zhivanevskaya of Spain.