Hamburg SV has handed Japan striker Naohiro Takahara a one-year contract extension running through the end of June 2006, the German first-division club said Saturday.
Hamburg Director of Sport Dietmar Beiersdorfer said that the club has decided to exercise its option of extending the 25-year-old's deal but did not reveal the terms and conditions of the new contract.
Takahara joined Hamburg on a 2 1/2-year deal from J. League club Jubilo Iwata in January 2003.
DUBLIN (AP) Ireland's national soccer and rugby teams may now use the country's flagship stadium, marking the end of a 120-year-old ban.