Football news digest

Bobby Williamson's Uganda side continue the defence of their CECAFA Challenge Cup (for countries in east and central Africa) against Kenya in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, today. The former Kilmarnock and Hibs manager's contract ended months ago but Williamson, 49, is hoping to boost his bargaining position.

A draw with the Kenyans will be enough to earn Uganda, who have made a good start to their African Cup of Nations qualifying group, a place in the quarter-finals.

Winter World cup in 2022?

FIFA is considering staging the 2022 World Cup in January or February, according to reports.

Concern has been raised about the 55-degree heat in controversial host nation Qatar (see left) during the summer months and FIFA executive committee member Franz Beckenbauer has suggested a winter tournament would be one solution. That would mean all major leagues in Europe having to reorganise their fixtures calendars.

"It might make more sense to think about another solution," Beckenbauer told Bild Zeitung newspaper. "In January and February, temperatures are a comfortable 25 degrees. It would be a viable alternative to the enormous expenses involved in setting up air-conditioning for the stadiums and the fan zones.

Former Aberdeen winger Joe Miller has endorsed Billy Stark's candidacy for the vacant Aberdeen job and admits he would love to join him as part of the coaching team at Pittodrie.

Stark, the Scotland U21 coach, has been installed as the early favourite to replace Mark McGhee who was sacked last week.

Miller said: "Billy's got a fantastic job and his stock is very high because he's done ever so well with the U21s and could be an ideal candidate."

The pair played together for Aberdeen in the 1980s and Miller would like to return as assistant manager. "If the opportunity came along, and whoever gets the job, (for me] to go in as an assistant job, that would be fantastic," Miller said.

Bara in mad dash to Osasuna

Barcelona arrived by coach in Pamplona to play their La Liga match against Osasuna minutes before the scheduled start time of 7pm GMT, forcing a 50-minute delay to the kick-off time last night.

The Spanish champions were forced to make a hurried 350-km trip by train and bus to Pamplona, after originally believing they had an agreement to postpone the game to Sunday, the club said.

A wildcat strike by air traffic controllers had caused travel chaos at the start of a holiday weekend in Spain and Bara were unable to take their flight to Pamplona yesterday morning.

After Bara put out a statement to this effect, saying an agreement had been reached, the Spanish football federation (RFEF) and Osasuna quickly denied it, to say the match would go ahead as planned.

Spanish airspace opened again later in the afternoon, but Bara had set off by train to Zaragoza from where they transferred to a coach.