The Rangers, who have won 11 of the past 12 Scottish titles, are fourth in the Premier League standings. Flo's fee doubles the Scottish record of 6-million pounds paid by Celtic, also to Chelsea, in July for Chris Sutton.

"I think it can be a great move for me," Flo told the Rangers' official Web site. "Rangers are such a big club who are capable of winning something major, and that is what I want, of course."

The 6-foot-4 Flo joined Chelsea for 300,000 pounds from Norway's Brann Bergen in August 1997. He played 95 matches for the west London club, scoring 50 goals. He has started two Premiership matches since Claudio Ranieri took over as coach in September.

"I loved playing for Chelsea," Flo said. "They are a great club, but I was not playing enough. And it was time for me to change."

OTHER SOCCER: The Portuguese club Benfica said it was negotiating with Turkey's Galatasaray to sign Brazilian striker Mario Jardel. Benfica offered $20-million and its Dutch international forward, Pierre Van Hooijdonk, for Jardel, sports daily A Bola reported. Benfica declined to comment on details of the talks. ... West Ham opened talks with English Premiership rival Liverpool about signing Cameroon international defender Rigobert Song, the clubs' Web sites reported. West Ham is targeting Song, 24, as a replacement for Rio Ferdinand, who is considering a move to Leeds United. West Ham agreed to sell Ferdinand to Leeds this week for a British record 18-million pounds ($25.8-million). ... Prosecutors requested three-year suspensions for seven Italian players accused of fixing a game this season. The Italian Cup game between Atalanta and Pistoiese on Aug. 20 ended 1-1. The Italian soccer association opened an investigation after noting what it called unusually heavy betting for the first-round game at Bergamo. ... Barcelona didn't look like a middle-of-the-pack team, beating Belgium's Club Brugge 2-0 in the UEFA Cup's third round. Rivaldo and Patrick Kluivert scored six minutes apart in the first half to lead Barcelona, which is ninth in Spain's 20-club league with a .500 record. Elsewhere, Italian leader AS Roma beat Hamburg 1-0 and AC Parma let a 2-0 lead slip in a tie with Munich 1860. At Athens, Nicky Barmby and Steven Gerrard put Liverpool up 2-1, but Alexis Alexandris tied the score in injury time with his second goal for Olympiakos.

BASEBALL: Braves rightfielder Brian Jordan says playing hurt last season didn't pay off for him. "You figure you work so hard and you sacrifice your average for the team, and all of a sudden you're getting graded on your numbers," he said. "Now I'm an inconsistent player. If I was just like everybody else, like a Larry Walker or somebody else, I would have sat out for the season and sat on my .300 average and just got healthy." Jordan, who has three years remaining on his five-year, $40-million contract, has been the subject of trade rumors. Atlanta has been discussing moving third baseman Chipper Jones to the outfield, and trading Jordan would create an opening. ... Ryan Rowland-Smith, a 17-year-old right-handed pitcher from Australia, agreed to a minor-league contract with the Mariners. Rowland-Smith became the 21st player from the New South Wales Institute of Sport to be signed by a major-league team since 1995.

CYCLING: A teammate of Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong was cleared of using performance-enhancing drugs by his national federation. There were irregularities in the testing procedure of Luxembourg's Benoit Joachim, federation secretary general Ed Buchette said. He cited an excessively long period between the race and the drug analysis. Joachim, who rides for Armstrong's U.S. Postal Service team, was accused of taking the banned steroid nandrolone after a test at his victory in the Luxembourg national championship June 25.

SKIING: Germany's Martina Ertl, the overall leader, faced an early-season threat from Croatia's Janica Kostelic as the world's best women returned to Aspen, Colo., for the first time since 1988. After three World Cup races in which she finished first, second and seventh, Ertl has amassed 216 points. Sweden's Anja Paerson is second with 133 points, and Kostelic a rising third at 132. The Aspen schedule calls for a super-giant slalom today and a slalom Saturday. ... A season-opening World Cup Nordic race will be moved to Beitostolen, Norway, next week because of poor snow conditions in Lillehammer, Norway. Lillehammer, site of the 1994 Winter Olympics, canceled two World Cup Nordic combined events set for next week because of warm weather and lack of snow.

SKATING: Two figure skaters who were once Russian teammates highlight the Lalique Trophy, the fifth event of the International Skating Union's Grand Prix series. The men's women's and pairs short programs are today in Paris along with the original portion of the ice dance. All the finals are Saturday. Maria Butyrskaya of Russia, who won the Russian, European and world titles in 1999, faces former teammate Julia Soldatova, a former Russian now representing Belarus.

AUTO RACING: Four-time world champion Juha Kankkunen won the rain-soaked first stage of the Rally of Britain in Cardiff, Wales. He finished in 2 minutes, 19.5 seconds in his Subaru in the 1.5-mile stage. Marcus Gronholm and Richard Burns resumed their battle for the world rally drivers title, with each timed in 2:21.5. They are separated by nine points in the title race.

CRICKET: Australia took control on the opening day of its five-Test series against the West Indies, reaching 107-1 at stumps after dismissing the tourists for 82. The Windies, who were 45-2 at lunch after losing the toss, lost their remaining eight wickets for 37 runs as Glenn McGrath returned figures of 6-17 in 20 overs to become his country's third highest wicket-taker. ... Larry Gomes, a member of the all-conquering West Indies team of 1984, said Australia is set to take advantage of West Indian batting frailties to break his side's record run of 11 straight Test victories. ... English county club Worcestershire is set to offer former captain Tom Moody the role of director of coaching after Zimbabwean David Houghton withdrew his application.

OLYMPICS: Military patrols, special commando units and more than 1,000 surveillance cameras could be part of security measures for the 2004 Olympics to confront Athens' history of attacks and bombings, the Associated Press reported. Worries about violence during the Games have pushed authorities to propose the most aggressive anti-terrorism controls in Greece, where police have been unable to stamp out groups blamed for decades of killings and other attacks. A tough stance is demanded by the International Olympic Committee, which wraps up a three-day review of Athens' problem-ridden preparations today. ... The inaugural races at the new speedskating oval in Kearns, Utah, will be moved to other venues because of a problem with the concrete floor. U.S. Speedskating President Fred Benjamin said arena manager Nick Thometz decided to cancel the January races because there is 50 percent chance the $27-million oval won't be ready. U.S. skaters had hoped to be training at the covered 2002 Utah Olympic Oval by September, but a portion of the suspension-cable roof buckled April 19. ... Australian defense personnel investigated two suspected bomb cases during a $285-million security effort at the Sydney Olympics, a government committee was told. A total of 5,622 personnel, 2,201 of them reserves, were involved in the security operation which included extensive checks of public transport and other vehicles.

HORSE RACING: Kashatreya won the Thanksgiving Day feature at New York's Aqueduct, pulling away in the final yards to win the $111,900 Fall Highweight Handicap by three-quarters of a length. ... El Cielo goes for his third straight graded stakes victory today in the $200,000 Hollywood Turf Express at Hollywood Park. Euro Empire heads a field of 11 in the $200,000 Miesque Stakes for 2-year-old fillies, to be run earlier in the day. ... Lazy Slusan, with Kent Desormeaux aboard, beat Feverish by 11/2 lengths in the $76,950 feature race at Hollywood Park.

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