The nine bids come from :-

England
Russia
Australia
USA
Japan
Mexico
Indonesia
Spain-Portugal
Belgium-Netherlands

No nations were allowed to bid from Africa or South America according to FIFA’s rotation policy. South Africa will host the 2010 World Cup, with Brazil hosting it in 2014.

FIFA’s committee will choose the winner in December 2010.

England, USA, Spain and Mexico are the only nations to have hosted the World Cup before. England did in 1966, while Mexico hosted it twice- 1970 and 1986. The USA hosted it in 1994. Spain hosted it in 1982.

Successful hosts must have at least 12 stadiums with a capacity of over 40,000. The final must be played in a stadium with a minimum capacity of 80,000

Willem II 0-2 FC Twente  (Blaise Nkufo, Marko Arnautovic)

Steve McLaren’s Twente reduced Alkmaar’s lead at the top of the Eredivisie to eight points as they beat Willem II 2-0.

Heerenveen 5-1 Sparta Rotterdam (Danijel Pranjic,Patrik Ingelsten,Roy Beerens, Michal Svec ,Bonaventure Kalou /Edouard Duplan )

Heerenveen ran riot at the Abe Lenstra Stadium, scoring four times in the last twenty minutes. Sparta also had two players sent off- Kim Jaggy and Ruud Knol

Groningen 2-0 Roda JC ( Danny Holla, Tim Matavz)- This game was played on Friday

Roda continued to remain in the relegation zone as they slumped to a 2-0 defeat to Groningen.

Vitesse Arhem 0-3 NAC Breda ( Nourdin Boukhari, Anthony Lurling, Czeber Feher)

NAC Breda claim all three points at the Gelredome. Boukhari opened the scoring, with Lurling and Feher adding to his initial strike in the second half.

SC Heracles Almelo 1 – 1 FC Volendam ( Jan Wuytens/ Melvin Platje)

Jan Wuytens rescued a late point for Heracles Almelo after Melvin Platje had given Volendam the lead in the 70th minute.

Hertha Berlin 1-0 Bayer Leverkusen ( Andriy Voronin)

Voronin’s eighth goal of the season keeps Lucien Favre’s side four points above Bayern Munich in the league.

Karlsruhe 0-1 Arminia Bielefeld (Zlatko Janjic)

Karlsruhe remain stuck at the bottom, losing this crucial fixture to Bielefeld. Arminia now have 24 points from 24 games.

VFL Bochum 0-3 Bayern Munich (Ze Roberto 32′, Philipp Lahm 60′, Martin Demichelis 90′)

Bayern Munich, playing without Franck Ribery and Miroslav Klose ( injured during the match) despatched Bochum without a sweat at the Rewirpower Stadium. Ze Roberto, Lahm and Demichelis scored for the defending champions.

Cologne 2-4 Borussia Monchengladbach (Miso Brecko*2/ Michael Bradley*2, Karim Matmour, Rob Friend)

Gladbach move above Cottbus with this crucial win over Cologne. However they still remain in the drop zone as Bochum have a better goal difference than them. Bad result for Cologne, but they are still in a safe mid table position.

Frankfurt 1-1 TSG ( Michael Fink/ Carlos Eduardo)

Winter leaders Hoffenheim’s title challenge seems to be fading away, and they were dealt another blow when they failed to pick up three points at Frankfurt. Carlos Eduardo’s first half strike was cancelled out by Michael Fink. Hoffenheim are now six points behind leaders Hertha Berlin.

Wolfsburg 4-3 Schalke ( Grafite*3, Edin Dzeko/ Heiko Westermann, Jermaine Jones, Kevin Kuranyi)

Grafite’s hat trick allowed Wolfsburg to beat Schalke in this seven goal thriller at the Volkswagen Arena. Felix Magaath’s boys are now tied with Bayern on points, but are third on goal difference. Schalke miss out on an oppotunity to climb over Leverkusen and Stuttgart in the table.

Hannover 96 4-4 Borussia Dortmund ( Jiri Stajner, Arnold Bruggink, Mike Hanke, Mikael Forssell/ Alexander Frei*2, Florian Kringe*2)

Hannover came back from two goals down to snatch a point in this fixture at the AWD Arena. Dortmund lead 4-2 with ten minutes to go, but Mike Hanke’s goal followed by Forssell’s penalty gave the home side a draw. Dortmund further lose ground, but Hannover get a very valuable point.

However West Ham are hopeful that the youngster will recover in time to play some games towards the end of the season.

Collison’s injury is a big blow to Zola, because it comes immediately after Swiss midfielder Valon Behrami was ruled out due to a knee injury too.

Collison has been one of West Ham’s more consistent players this season, and his services will be missed as the season draws to a close.

The 20 year old dislocated his knee cap and is likely to be out for close to two months. Collison was replaced by Jonathan Spector in the 78th minute in that game.

John Toshack is also sweating on the fitness of centre back James Collins and striker Craig Bellamy.

Mexican striker Cuauhtemoc Blanco is second in the list with $2,943,702, while former Aston Villa forward Juan Pablo Angel is third with $1,798,000.

Former West Ham and Arsenal star Freddie Ljungberg earns $1,314,000 at Seattle- a complete waste of money in many people’s opinion given how the Swedish star has played so far.

Landon Donovan and Guillermo Barros Schelotto follow Ljungberg with $900,000.00 and $775,000 respectively.

New England Revolution’s Taylor Twellman rounds off the top ten. He earns $420,000.

Puyol had to be stretchered off in the last minute of the game, and is expected to miss Barcelona’s second leg Champions League round of 16 game against Lyon, as well as two La Liga games against Almeria and Malaga.

Barcelona extended their lead at the top of La Liga to six points as rivals Real Madrid could only draw 1-1 against local rivals Atletico.

This adds to the defensive woes of the Blaugrana as Eric Abidal and Gabriel Milito are also out. Pep Guardiola will have to do some defensive re shuffling and hope that it works till Puyol recovers from his ankle injury.

Eintracht Frankfurt 1-2 Schalke 04 ( Michael Fink 81′/ Rafinha 39′, Heiko Westermann 83′)

Heiko Westermann’s 83rd minute winner gave Schalke three vital points in a hard fought encounter against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga on Saturday.

In a match that saw eight yellow cards being dished out by referee Florian Meyer, Schalke took the lead six minutes before half time through defender Rafinha.  The Brazilian drilled home a shot from 12 yards after the ball had been laid into his path by Jefferson Farfan.

Michael Fink equalised for Frankfurt in the 81st minute, getting a free header at the far post from Martin Fenin’s cross.

The celebrations barely lasted a minute as Westermann scored the winner almost immediately. Orlando Engelaar whipped in a free kick, and the ball took a deflection off Frankfurt defender Habib Bellaid. It landed in the path of Westermann, who poked it into the roof of the net.

Hannover were determined not to allow Bayer space in the attacking third of the pitch, and defended resolutely. Bayer skipper Simon Rolfes rued his side’s inability to break Hannover down.

Hannover took the lead through Bruggink in the 33rd minute, assisted by fellow striker Jan Schlaudraff.

Bruggink and former Leverkusen player Jacek Krzynowek both had opportunities to kill the game off in the second half, but were unable to do so.

Bayer’s best chance of the game came in the first half, when Hannover keeper Robert Enke had to produce an excellent save to deny Stefan Kießlin.

Toni Kroos also made his first appearance in a Bayer shirt, but even his presence could not stop Leverkusen from slumping to a defeat.

The 18 year old, who has played well at right back this season for United, sustained the injury in last Saturday’s  2-1 win over Blackburn Rovers.

Rafael thus misses out on a chance to appear in Sunday’s Carling Cup final against Tottenham Hotspur.