Big-spending Real Madrid is reportedly set to receive two multimillion euro bank loans to help fund signing Kaka and the expected hiring of Cristiano Ronaldo plus any other player purchases. Madrid recently signed Kaka and agreed a fee for Ronaldo for a combined €159 million ($221 million) as part of president Florentino Perez's bid to build a star-studded squad for the nine-time European Cup champions.

Spanish building society Caja Madrid said yesterday it has agreed to issue a loan of euro76.5 million ($106.3 million) to Madrid, which has put up two undisclosed sources of collateral. The bank's board of directors approved the loan Monday, said a bank official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity. He refused to specify what the money was for but news reports said it was for financing Perez's spending spree.

Berlin excluded

BERLIN (AP):

Berlin, which staged the opening meet of the Golden League on Sunday and which will host the athletics World Championship in August, will not be one of the stops of the future Diamond League, an elite series of meets on three continents. The governing body of world athletics published yesterday the final list of 14 cities that will host the Diamond League series, which starts next year as an expanded and modified version of the Golden League. Berlin, which could not meet all the requirements, was not included.

The 14 cities picked by the IAAF for the series and dates of the meets are as follows:

Doha, Qatar, May 14; Shanghai, May 23; Oslo, June 4; Rome, June 10; New York, June 19; Eugene, Oregon, July 3; Lausanne, Switzerland, July 8; Gateshead, Britain, July 11; Paris, July 16; Monaco, July 22; Stockholm, Aug. 6; London, Aug. 13-14; Zurich, Switzerland, Aug. 19; Brussels, Aug. 27.

Police stewardship

JOHANNESBURG (AP):

Stewards hired to work during a Confederations Cup match in Pretoria failed to show up because of a pay dispute with their employer, leaving police to check tickets at the turnstiles. The local organising committee for the eight-team, 16-match tournament in South Africa hired a company to provide stewards for matches, but the dispute forced police to help out on Monday, said Rick Mkhondo, the 2010 World Cup organising committee spokesman.

"Yesterday, there was an employer-employee disagreement over payment and therefore the stewards were relieved of their duties and the people who were working there were volunteers and the police," Mkhondo said yesterday. "This is the trend that we're going to follow."

Egypt's complaint rejected

JOHANNESBURG (AP):

FIFA yesterday rejected an Egyptian complaint related to the decision-making process that gave Brazil a late penalty and a 4-3 win at the Confederations Cup. Egypt defender Ahmed Al Muhamadi was red-carded for using his right arm to stop a goal-bound shot on the line and Kaka converted the resulting penalty Monday in Bloemfontein.

The Egyptians later claimed that the fourth official used a television replay to make the call and said they would protest the decision. Referees are allowed to consult with their assistants but the use of television replays is not sanctioned by FIFA.

"A thorough analysis ... revealed that the decision in question was achieved through teamwork between the match referee and his assistant referee Number 1, Mike Mullarkey, who confirmed the offense to the referee from his clear viewing angle," FIFA said in a statement.

After Al Muhamadi used his arm to stop the shot from Brazil captain Lucio, he collapsed as if hurt, holding his head. Referee Howard Webb first pointed for a corner after play was stopped, but then awarded the penalty and handed out the red card.

PCB to retain fees

ISLAMABAD (AP):

The International Cricket Council has agreed to pay the Pakistan Cricket Board a fee of more than $10 million as a World Cup co-host, despite Pakistan being stripped of its scheduled 14 limited-overs matches for security reasons.

Pakistan lost the rights to stage its share of the 2011 World Cup matches in April due to security fears in the wake of an attack on the Sri Lankan team by gunmen in Lahore.

Each World Cup host country is guaranteed a payment of $750,000 for every allocated match and co-hosts Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka accepted at an ICC meeting in London on Monday that if any of Pakistan's 14 matches were to take place in their countries, they would not be due a fee for hosting them.