Charleroi midfielder Tim Smolders will leave the Zebras in January to join Michel Preud D’Homme’s Gent. Smolders has signed a three and a half year contract with the Buffalos, and becomes their second winter signing after Westerlo’s Stef Wils.
Smolders previously played for Club Brugge and RBC Roosendaal before joining Charleroi.
Real Madrid have appointed former Tottenham Hotspur and Sevilla boss Juande Ramos as their new manager. Ramos succeeds Bernd Schuster, who was shown the door after Los Merengues were beaten 4-3 in the league by Sevilla on Sunday. Ramos’ first game in charge will Real’s last Group H Champions League game, against Russian side Zenit St.Petersburg. After the European clash, Real meet bitter arch rivals Barcelona at the Nou Camp on Saturday, a game which Schuster had already said Real could not win because of their current injury and player crisis.
Ramos has been handed a six month contract, and is Real’s eighth coach in the last five years.
Norway boss Åge Hareide has resigned as manager of the country’s national football team. Hareide, 55, took over from Nils Johan Semb in 2003, but failed to take the team to Euro 2004, Euro 2008 and the 2006 FIFA World Cup.