Real presidential aspirant says Capello would be coach

MADRID, May 30: Ramon Calderon, an aspirant to the Real Madrid presidency, has said Juventus coach Fabio Capello would become the Primera Liga club's coach if he won the presidential election on July 2.

''If I am president Capello will be in Madrid on July 3,'' Calderon was quoted as saying in sports daily Marca today.

Yesterday Italian media quoted Capello as saying he had been approached by Calderon's team, though the former Real coach denied having agreed to anything.

Calderon, who has not officially thrown his hat into the ring yet, has also said he would appoint a foreigner who had helped Real win a European Cup to the post of sports director.

Former Serbia&Montenegro striker Predrag Mijatovic, who scored Real's winner in the 1998 Champions League final, is the favourite in the media to take that post.

Former world rally champion Carlos Sainz and construction magnate Juan Miguel Villar Mir presented their joint bid yesterday.

Three other candidates are expected to join the race: former president Lorenzo Sanz, Spanish businessman Juan Palacios and lawyer and economist Arturo Baldasano.

Real Madrid finished second in the Primera Liga to end their third successive season without a major trophy, their worst run of form in more than 50 years.

REUTERS