Sports digest: Bundesliga president Reinhard Rauball calls for FIFA president Sepp Blatter to resign 15-07-2012

The head of Germany's soccer league has called on FIFA's president to resign over a bribery scandal.

Bundesliga president Reinhard Rauball told Germany's Welt Online that FIFA chief Sepp Blatter should step down as soon as possible so that soccer's governing body can make a fresh start.

Blatter has acknowledged he knew about payments by marketing agency ISL to former FIFA chief Joao Havelange but insisted they were legal in Switzerland in the 1990s.

Blatter insists "it is difficult to measure the past by today's standards."

"Bribery is unacceptable and I neither tolerate nor seek to justify bribery, but this is what I am now accused of," Blatter told Sunday's editions of Swiss paper Sonntagsblick in comments provided by FIFA. "The Swiss Federal Court has this week proven wrong all those people, who for years have accused me of having taken bribes.

"Now it is on record what I have always said: I have never taken nor received any bribes ... the people who attack me now know this is the case but still they persist. They want me out."

Rauball also called for an extraordinary FIFA congress where members should strip Havelange of his honorary presidency.

Chelsea of the English Premier League has announced its roster for its exhibition tour of the United States.

Among the 30 players set to take part in the four-match tour is former England captain John Terry, a defender who was acquitted Friday of racially

---

Advertisement

---

abusing an opponent in a league match in October.

The tour features the first soccer match at the new Yankee Stadium, with Chelsea taking on Paris Saint-Germain on July 22 after opening the tour in Seattle against Sounders FC of Major League Soccer on Wednesday.

Jacob Peterson and Teal Bunbury scored, and Sporting Kansas City beat the Columbus Crew in MLS play 2-0 to grab sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference. ... Rookie midfielder Luis Silva scored in the eighth minute and Toronto FC downed the New England Revolution 1-0. ... Carlos Valdes' goal in the 91st minute lifted the Philadelphia Union past the Montreal Impact 2-1. ... Fabian Castillo scored in the 81st minute and FC Dallas ended a 13-game winless streak with a 2-1 victory over Colorado.

Tennis

Jennifer Capriati's tennis career -- and her teenage life -- took a number of twists and turns. Capriati and several others were inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame during a 90-minute ceremony in Newport, R.I.

Joining Capriati were recently retired players Gustavo Kuerten and Manuel Orantes, tennis industry executive Mike Davies and wheelchair champion Randy Snow, who was honored posthumously.

Top seed and defending champ John Isner advanced to the final at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships by beating fellow American Ryan Harrison 7-6 (4), 6-3. Isner will face Australia's Lleyton Hewitt in the title match Sunday. Hewitt defeated American Rajeev Ram 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.

Miscellany

Australian sprinter John Steffensen has threatened to boycott the London Olympics after alleging racism because he was not selected to run the 400 meters.

Steffensen, in a TV interview, accused Athletics Australia of racial vilification and said he would bypass the games in protest.

Timothy Peters won the NASCAR trucks series race at Iowa Speedway, notching his first victory of the season.

more read here