CHAMPIONSHIP - The Czech and Slovak national soccer teams will face off against each other for the first time in a major international competition during the Euro 2008 qualification matches. The matches will start in September. The top two teams from each group will advance to the Euro 2008 championship.

TENNIS - Czech tennis player Martin Damm and Indian Leander Paes' winning streak at the 2006 Australian Open men's doubles competition ended in the final Jan. 29 against Bob and Mike Bryan of the United States. The Bryan brothers beat the Czech-Indian team in three sets to claim the title. In men's singles, Swiss tennis star Roger Federer dominated the field. Amelie Mauresmo of France won the women's singles title.

SCANDAL - The Regional Court in Kroměříž leveled fines Jan. 26 on seven officials involved in Czech soccer's biggest corruption scandal ever, which erupted in March 2003 after police discovered proof of fixing in the Gambrinus liga. While none of the officials received prison sentences, they were fined as much as 300,000 Kč ($13,000) and banned from participating in professional soccer for the next five years.

WINNER - Petr Čech, goalkeeper for the Czech national soccer team, was named the best goalkeeper in the world in 2005 by the Federation of Football Historians and Statisticians. Last year, Čech's team Chelsea won the English Premiership and FA Cup. Čech didn't concede a goal for a Premiership record 1,032 minutes.

RETIREMENT - Eva Němcová, captain of the women's national basketball team, has retired from professional basketball, citing a chronic knee injury. The 33-year-old Němcová was the first Czech to join the Women's National Basketball League (WNBA) in America. She played for the Cleveland Rockers.

PRESIDENT - On Jan. 23, former Czech national soccer team head coach Jozef Chovanec was named president of the Sparta Praha soccer club. Chovanec played for Sparta for 12 years and also coached the club to the Gambrinus liga title in 1997. Last season, he was a coach for Krasnodar, which plays in the second Russian league.

TRANSFER - Slavia Praha soccer club agreed Jan. 30 to loan defender Martin Latka to English Premiership team Birmingham City for four months. The 21-year-old will undergo medical tests before the contract can be signed. Latka would become the second Czech to play for Birmingham City. The first was Jiří Jarošík, who joined the club last winter.

COMMENTATOR - Czech national soccer team star Pavel Nedvěd will be a television commentator for the Winter Olympics. Nedvěd, who plays for Juventus Turin, said he would work as a commentator for an Italian television station during the Czech national hockey team's game against Italy in the Turin Games.

BIATHLON - Biathlete Petr Hradecký won the gold medal in Jan. 29's 10-kilometer (6.2 mile) race in the World Junior Championship race in Presque Isle, Maine. The world championship races will continue until Feb. 5.