Presidential candidate says Eriksson will join Real

The Real Madrid presidential candidate Arturo Baldasano claims the England manager Sven Goran Eriksson has agreed to become the club's new head coach, subject to the result of next month's elections.

Baldasano, a lawyer, is among the contenders to take charge at the Bernabeu after the 2 July elections, and he wants to bring Eriksson to Madrid, to work alongside Vicente del Bosque who would become director of football.

Launching his campaign, on Spanish radio, Baldasano said: "My team have spoken to Eriksson and he has given a commitment that if I win the election he will come and coach the team."

Eriksson, 58, will leave the England postafter the World Cup finals, and has often been linked with the Madrid job. The Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, was linked with Madrid last week after the former world rally champion Carlos Sainz, running mate of Juan Miguel Villar Mir, claimed he was their main target.

The former president, Lorenzo Sanz, Juan Palacios and Ramon Calderon are the other candidates for the elections. Sanz has said he will bring back Vicente del Bosque as Real coach if he wins the election.

Sanz, president from 1995 to 2000, promoted Del Bosque from within the club to replace John Toshack.Del Bosque was coach for three years before being sacked by Florentino Perez in 2003, having steered Real to two European Cups and two league titles.

* No Italian teams will enter the Intertoto Cup this year due to the corruption scandal in Italy.