JERSEY CITY, New Jersey (Ticker) -- In a shock decision Tuesday, 10 of the 12 Scottish Premier league clubs have threatened to form a breakaway league in two years.

Glasgow Celtic and Glasgow Rangers, the "Old Firm" teams, would be the only remnants of the SPL if the teams indeed decide to depart.

As is commonplace these days, the dispute revolves around television revenues. Last week, the "Old Firm" clubs effectively blocked plans by the League to start a television subscription service which would have provided much needed money to struggling provincial sides such as St. Johnstone and Dundee United.

The situation is indeed critical: The Glasgow clubs typically outdraw the combined rest of the league on any given weekend, a disparity that is forcing many Scottish clubs into near bankruptcy. In addition, the "Old Firm" clubs, who due to their age and financial clout control the SPL board, have sought to leverage their power into overseas and English markets, perhaps at the expense of the rest of the league. Earlier this year a proposal had been floated to allow the Glasgow teams into the English Premier League, but the EPL and UEFA both expressed coolness to the idea.UEFA DEMANDS FIFA MEETINGFIFA, world soccer's ruling body, has called an emergency meeting of its executive committee after president Sepp Blatter stopped an audit of the organization's finances. Blatter's April 11 decision to halt the investigatio, which was started against his wishes, was labelled "unacceptable" by Lennart Johansson, president of Europe's controlling body UEFA.

Blatter, under pressure for months over his running of the world's most popular sport, said it was necessary because of a possible break of confidentiality involving a member or members of the executive committee.

"In order to guarantee and to protect the interests of FIFA and the FIFA executive committee, I have to suspend the work of the FIFA ad hoc Internal Audit Committee pending an investigation into a breach of confidentiality and the way documents, which have been given to the members of the Committee, have been handled. Therefore today's meeting has been postponed. No further documents will be disseminated until the security of all documents is certain and confidentiality re-installed," Blatter said in a statement. Blatter's letter to David Will, chairman of the Internal Audit Committee, was dated April 11 and posted on the FIFA website on Friday as Johansson demanded an emergency meeting of FIFA's executive committee be called. The emergency meeting will be held on May 3.CONCACAF/FIFA FEUD CONTINUES FIFA general secretary Michel Zen Ruffinen has threatened to sue North and Central American football confederation CONCACAF. CONCACAF, in an April 7 statement, accused Zen Ruffinen of urging two of their officials to back Issa Hayatou against Blatter in the election at the end of May in Seoul.

Zen Ruffinen said in a FIFA statement accusations that he contacted CONCACAF president Jack Warner and general secretary Chuck Blazer in order to solicit support for African confederation president Hayatou were false. The statement added: "If these accusations are not withdrawn by CONCACAF in their entirety and in writing by April 15, legal proceedings will be commenced with a view to right these prejudicial comments." Both Warner, who has had a controversial reign in charge of CONCACAF, and Blazer are known to be firm allies of Blatter's. Zen Ruffinen also alluded to an internal FIFA investigation into missing correspondence concerning Warner in the years 1989 and 1990 - and part of 1991 - which has disappeared from their archives. "On April 3 the department responsible in the FIFA general secretariat discovered that the entire correspondence written in 1989 and 1990 and part of the correspondence in 1991 regarding Jack Warner has disappeared from the FIFA archives. This case and a similar incident concerning correspondence of the former FIFA president Joao Havelange are now the subject of an internal complaint sent personally to the FIFA president.

"The FIFA general secretariat is currently considering whether to bring charges against person or persons unknown to the appropriate authorities."WORLD CUPEngland captain David Beckham was stretchered off in tears shortly into Manchester United's European Champions League semifinal, second leg tie against Deportivo La Coruna at Old Trafford with a broken bone in his left foot the result of a brutal two-footed tackle from the Spanish side's Argentine defender Pedro Duscher. Beckham will be out of action for up to eight weeks with England's opening World Cup game against Sweden coming on June 2.

Football Association (FA) chief executive Adam Crozier refused to rule Beckham out of this summer's World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea, noting that coach Sven Eriksson has until May 21, the FIFA deadline, to name his 23-man squad for the World Cup. A six week layoff would have Beckham in a race to be match fit for the match against Sweden in Saitama. Were he to be sidelined for eight weeks, Beckham would miss the game against Sweden and be extremely unlikely to face Argentina in Sapporo on June 7. But he could play in England's third Group F game against Nigeria in Osaka on June 12.Japan's World Cup players will each be rewarded with an $75,000 bonus if they advance to the 16-team knockout round. The Japanese Football Association executive board decided to reward the 23 players if they made the knock-out round; the bonus was not specified but was estimated by local media to be around 10 million yen ($75,760) each for the players, including those on the bench.NAMES and NOTES IN THE NEWSAFRICA: Algeria, Egypt, Gabon, Cote-d'Ivoire, Libya and South Africa all will bid to host the African Nations Cup 2006, the African Football Confederation (CAF) announced. The CAF will name the country to host the competition next September.ARGENTINA: Americo Gallego has been appointed as the head coach of Independiente. Gallego succeeded Nestor Clausen, who resigned after his side's defeat to Argentinos Juniors in the Clausura 11th day.CROATIA: Former Croatian international defender Slaven Bilic said he would quit his job as coach of top Croatian club Hajduk Split at the end of the season. The 31-year-old, who began his career at Hajduk before going on to play in Germany and then for Everton, was appointed Hajduk boss in November. Bilic added that he would remain a member of the Hajduk management. The coach of Dinamo Zagreb Ilija Loncarevic was dismissed on Monday following the club's 3-2 defeat against Rijeka in the national championship. Loncarevic, 57, who was appointed coach in 2001, was previously the head of Dinamo's youth school. He will be replaced by his deputy Marian Vlak.ENGLAND: A British court has given bankrupt broadcaster ITV Digital another week (April 15-22) to settle a dispute with English football clubs that has brought the television group to its knees. The High Court granted a seven-day reprieve for administrators Deloitte and Touche to try to restructure ITV Digital and resolve the contract row with the English Football League that lies at the heart of the broadcaster's financial woes. The administrators, who took over ITV Digital at the end of March when it filed for bankruptcy, said although they remain hopeful a deal can be thrashed out, they were still preparing for the worst possible outcome -- the sale of the company. England defender Jonathan Woodgate was cleared by Leeds United of any blame following an incident which has left him out for the remander of the English Premiership season with a fractured jaw. In a statement Leeds chairman Peter Ridsdale said, Woodgate's injury had been caused by "horseplay" with a friend. Woodgate, 22, sustained the injury while out with a group of friends on April 10 in his hometown of Middlesbrough, northeast England and had to undergo surgery at the city's General Hospital. Ridsdale, however, added that Woodgate could face disciplinary action by the club as a result of the incident. Chelsea's Italian coach Claudio Ranieri signed a new five-year contract on April 12. Ranieri had been linked with Barcelona after the Spanish club revealed he was on a shortlist to replace Carles Rexach. However, Ranieri responded by pledging his future to Chelsea ahead of Sunday's FA Cup semifinal against London rivals Fulham.FRANCE: Lyon striker Sydney Govou, eyed by a number of top European sides (Arsenal, Liverpool, Barcelona, Inter Milan), has signed a two-year extension to his current contract on considerably revised terms, the French daily Le Parisien reported. Thus, the high-profile striker will stay at the French outfit till 2008. Argentinean coach Angel Marcos, who joined FC Nantes during the winter transfer window, will stay at the French outfit for at least another season.GERMANY: German football clubs have called for their star players to lower their wage demands after the collapse of the Bundesliga's main broadcaster KirchMedia. And some club officials fear that the fallout from the German media giant Kirch's core unit, which filed for insolvency on April 9 could lead star players such as Bayern Munich goalkeeper Oliver Kahn and Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Michael Ballack to quit Germany in search of higher salaries in England, Spain or Italy. Kirch's woes are mainly linked to its pay-TV business, Premiere, which had secured the rights to the Bundesliga from the 2000-2001 season until 2003-2004 at a total cost of E1.53 billion ($1.13 billion) Premiere, which is losing two million euros a day, is expected to continue showing matches until the end of the current season and the German Football League (DFL) insists it has sufficient reserves to help any clubs who suffer a shortfall in revenue in the short term.ITALY: The Italian League has given a green light to Juventus' request to play away from Turin in next season's home matches while awaiting the completion of the restoration of "Delle Alpi". There is a poll on the Juventus official web site for the supporters to choose the new temporary ground between Monza (near Milan), Piacenza, Reggio Emilia and Cesena. Juventus chief officer Antonio Giraudo affirmed they would take these suggestions in consideration. The stadium Juventus will choose has to have approximately 30.000 seats. AS Roma's Argentinian forward Gabriel Batistuta was discharged from the hospital on Monday after an overnight stay, his club announced on its website. Batistuta, 33, needed stitches to his lip after he was accidentally kicked in the face by Parma defender Fabio Cannavaro during the match won 3-1 by Roma at the Olympic Stadium. The veteran forward appeared to lose consciousness briefly after the incident but doctors say he can return home to continue his recuperation although he will need to rest totally for three days.PORTUGAL: Portugal and Real Madrid midfielder Luis Figo, who is expected to play a starring role in this year's World Cup finals, is to be named an ambassador for UNICEF. Figo, named World Footballer of the Year in 2001, will be nominated in an official ceremony in Lisbon on Apr 15, the United Nations Children's Fund announced. UNICEF has reached an agreement with football's world governing body that this year's World Cup finals in South Korea and Japan will be dedicated to children around the world.SPAIN: Feyenoord Danish international striker John Dahl Tomasson has achieved an agreement with FC Barcelona on his move to the Spanish club next season. The 25-year-old's contract with the Dutch club expires at the end of the season. Barcelona is expected to offer a four-year contract.UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Roy Hodgson has signed a contract with the Football Association of United Arab Emirates (UAE). The 54-year-old Englishman will coach the country's national team until 2004 and will receive E3.5 million ($3.04 million).UNITED STATES: Paul Dalglish, the son of Scottish football legend Kenny Dalgish, is having a trial with D.C. United. The 25-year-old forward has played with English powerhouses Liverpool and Newcastle as well as his father's former club, Scottish giants Celtic.