Twenty20 Champions League to be staged in India

REUTERS - Sports news in brief from around the world on Thursday.

Cricket - The inaugural Twenty20 Champions League, jointly organised by the Australian, Indian and South African boards, will be played at three venues in India from Dec. 3 to 10, organisers said on Thursday.

An off-shoot of a highly successful Indian version, the $6 million prize money Champions League will feature eight teams, two each from Australia, India and South Africa and the champions of the English and Pakistani domestic leagues.

Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai will host the league matches with the final being played in Mumbai. The tournament will be contested by 12 teams in year two, organising chairman Lalit Modi said.

Soccer - Qatar, who lead their 2010 World Cup qualifying group, were to appoint Frenchman Bruno Metsu as their national team coach on Thursday, a Qatari official told Reuters.

Metsu, who steered Senegal to the quarter-finals of the 2002 World Cup, quit United Arab Emirates at the weekend and replaces Uruguayan Jorge Fossati, whose contract was terminated on Tuesday after Qatari soccer chiefs decided his recovery from recent stomach surgery would take too long.

Soccer - Watford manager Adrian Boothroyd has been charged with using with abusive and/or insulting words towards a referee after the "ghost goal" awarded against his team in Saturday's Championship (second division) match, the FA said on Thursday.

Linesman Nigel Bannister signalled for a Reading goal when the ball had crossed the byline two metres beyond the post. After the game finished 2-2, Boothroyd said: "I've never seen anything like it. It's like a UFO landing, a mistake like that."