SOCCER NOTES: GALAXY IS CLOSER TO NEW PLAYING SITE DOMINGUEZ FACILITY COULD GET OK TODAY.

Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Services

The Galaxy cleared a major hurdle on Tuesday in its quest to move from the enormous, 96,636-seat Rose Bowl into cozier quarters on the campus of California State University Dominguez Hills.

Those quarters - a 30,000-seat soccer-specific stadium - have yet to be built, but the Finance Committee of the California State University Board of Trustees gave its unanimous approval to the concept at a meeting at Long Beach State. The full board is expected to approve the plan this morning.

If that happens, the Galaxy, which has been talking about leaving the Rose Bowl since October of 1998, could be playing in its new stadium by April 2002, said Tim Leiweke, the team's president. The Galaxy has played at the Rose Bowl since Major League Soccer's inaugural season of 1996.

The stadium plan put forth Tuesday by the Galaxy and James E. Lyons, president of Cal State Dominguez Hills, calls for several ambitious renovations on a portion of the Carson campus that is now occupied by a velodrome that was used for bicycle races in the 1984 Olympic Games. The location occupies 85 acres of property on the western portion of the campus.

The Galaxy and its owner, billionaire Philip F. Anschutz, operating under the formal name of Anschutz L.A. Soccer, want to add several improvements to the site at a total cost of $85 million, officials said.

The plan calls for:

--A 30,000-seat soccer stadium;

--A 12,000-seat tournament tennis stadium;

--Fields and support facilities for the United States Soccer Federation's National Training Academy;

--Locker rooms, weight rooms, offices, video rooms, a gymnasium, pool and track;

--Housing for as many as 240 people.

Tuesday's approval of the plan was a necessary step in Leiweke's quest to have the U.S. Soccer Federation move from its current headquarters in Chicago to Los Angeles.

``The next thing we have to do is win the bid for the USSF to move here,'' Leiweke said. ``They have 12 proposals, but we understand we're one of two favorites.''

- Frank C. Girardot < --All-Spanish final: Real Madrid has set up a historic all-Spanish final in the European Champions League with a goal from a Frenchman.

Nicolas Anelka's header in the first half was enough for Real to win its home-and-home total-goals semifinal against Bayern Munich 3-2. Bayern Munich won Tuesday's game 2-1; Real won the first leg last week 2-0.

Real Madrid, which has won Europe's top club soccer competition a record seven times, will travel to Paris for the May 24 final. It will be the first time two teams from the same country meet for the championship.

In the other semifinal, featuring two Spanish teams, Valencia takes a 4-1 lead to Barcelona for their return leg today. The team with the highest goal total following today's game will advance.

--Premier League problems: Some English Premier League soccer clubs face financial ruin if they continue to pay huge salaries to their players.

According to a survey, the total wage bill for the 20 Premier League clubs increased by 31 percent to $607.4 million during the 1998-99 season.

Salary costs accounted for more than 59 percent of the clubs' finances as the growth in salaries outstripped the 18 percent rise in the league's combined turnover, which totaled $1.025 million.