Following are the top 10 world sports stories in 2005 selected by Xinhua News Agency (listed in time order):

1. German referee Robert Hoyzer who admitted fixing matches was sentenced to two years and five months in prison in November for his part in a scandal which has embarrassed the 2006 World Cup host and shocked the soccer world.

2. Bulgarian member Ivan Slavkov, implicated in a BBC television documentary last year on alleged Olympic corruption, was ousted from the International Olympic Committee in July.

Suspended IOC vice president Kim Un-yong of South Korea resigned in May rather than face expulsion at the Singapore IOC meeting. Kim was suspended by the IOC last year after being convicted of corruption charges in South Korea.

3. American billionaire Malcolm Glazer spent 790 million pounds to include the Manchester United as his private property in June.

4. London beat Paris, Madrid, Moscow and New York to win the right to host the 2012 Olympic Games on July 6.

5. The International Olympic Committee kicked baseball and softball out of the 2012 Olympic program.

6. After Lance Armstrong won his seven straight Tour de France in July, the French sports daily L'Equipe published a story alleging the American cyclist had taken the banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin) in 1999.

7. Spain's Fernando Alonso became Formula One's youngest champion at 24, ending seven-time winner Michael Schumacher's string of five straight season titles.

8. The 32 slots for the 2006 World Cup finals were decided as Togo, Ghana, Angola, Cote d'Ivoire, Trinidad and Tobago qualified for soccer's premier event for the first time. Australia returned to the finals after a hiatus of 32 years.

9. Three-time Olympic weightlifting gold medalist Halil Mutlu was banned for two years for steroid use.

The Turkish lifter, who tested positive for nandrolone at the European championships in Bulgaria in April, is banned until April 2007.

10. Manchester United legend George Best, widely regarded as the best soccer player Britain has ever produced, died on Nov. 25 at 59 after decades of alcohol abuse.

Source: Xinhua