MELBOURNE: Melbourne Victory captain Mark Milligan ended weeks of speculation around his future on Wednesday by announcing a move to Abu Dhabi-based club Baniyas. The A-League champions said the Socceroo would move to the Arabian Gulf League club in the UAE next month on a two-year deal. “Mark has been a wonderful servant for Melbourne Victory who has led by example at every opportunity,” Victory coach Kevin Muscat said. “The offer from Baniyas presents a significant opportunity for Mark and his family that he would like to pursue. Milligan, 29, made 73 A-League and five AFC Champions League appearances for Victory following his arrival in January 2012 from J-League club JEF United Chiba.

Elvedi inks deal

BERLIN: Borussia Moenchengladbach, who will be playing in the Champions League next season, have agreed with Swiss youth international Nico Elvedi on a four year-contract pending a medical later on Wednesday, the club said. Defender Elvedi made his Zurich debut as a 17-year-old last year and has also played 23 games for Switzerland’s youth teams. He will sign his contract to 2019 straight after his medical, Gladbach said. “Nico is a major talent who we think can make the leap to the Bundesliga,” said Gladbach sports director Max Eberl. Gladbach finished third in the Bundesliga last season, reaching the Champions League group stage for the first time.

British worker dies

BAKU: A British national who was a contractor working at the inaugural European Games died in a car accident in Azerbaijan’s host city Baku, his employer said on Wednesday. The unnamed person “died following a traffic accident... on 23 June,” said a statement sent out by FiveCurrents, a production company in charge of the opening and closing ceremonies at the event. “The team member was a British citizen who worked for a company contracted by FiveCurrents, the Baku 2015 Ceremonies production company.” An AFP journalist who was at the scene close to the athletes village saw that the driver was killed in the head-on collision. The accident is not the first tragedy to befall the Games: last week an Austrian synchronised swimmer was placed in an artificial coma after being run over by a bus.

Caruso included

PARIS: Italian rider Damiano Caruso has been included in the American team BMC’s line-up, headed by Tejay van Garderen, for next month’s Tour de France. Carsuo, 27, will make his debut in the Grand Boucle after finishing eighth in the Giro d’Italia in May. Van Garderen, who came fifth in the Tour last year and in 2012, finished second in the recent Criterium du Dauphine and was wearing the yellow jersey going into the final stage. Belgium’s Philippe Gilbert, a former world road race champion, is missing due to injury, but Spanish veteran Samuel Sanchez is included. The 37-year-old was a 2008 Olympic champion, and was fifth in the 2011 Tour de France where he won both a stage and the polka dot climb points jersey.