UEFA president Michel Platini, along with International Olympic Committee (IOC) vice-president Mario Pescante, have urged action to tackle the illegal betting scandal in Italian soccer. 

Platini said that “finally someone is doing something” with regards to the issue overhanging the sport in Italy, adding: “We had already forecasted it a few years ago, now national and international authorities have been aware.

“It’s good. Late is better than never. UEFA can help, but we are not the policemen,” Platini said in reference to the bribery allegations engulfing Italian football.

On Wednesday, the Italian football federation banned former Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi, involved in a criminal trial into the match-rigging, and ex-Juve director Antonio Giraudo from soccer for life. Moggi had already been banned for five years following the 2006 match-fixing scandal which saw the Italian soccer giants relegated and stripped of two Serie A titles.

The ban comes as a new Italian match-fixing scandal has generated more negative headlines for the country’s soccer chiefs. At least 16 people, including former player Beppe Signori, were last week arrested due to illegal betting on primarily Serie B matches. Prosecutors in Cremona are investigating 18 matches. Signori was questioned and later released.

But the scandal has widened to include Serie A matches. Austrian betting firm Skysport365 informed Italian prosecutors of unusually high bets of millions of dollars placed on some games in the top-flight last season.

Mario Pescante, Italy’s vice president of the International Olympic Committee, has expressed his concerns, stating: “In our football there is the hand of organised crime, which certainly makes us understand the system we are talking about: Mafia, Camorra, Sacra Corona Unita, which constitute the rotten system in our country.”

Pescante, who is leading Rome’s bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics, added: “It is not a small incident, it is a serious phenomenon, bigger in Italy than in other countries.”

The scandal has attracted criticism from Serie A TV rights holder Sky Italia, whose CEO Tom Mockridge said earlier in the week|: “This show outside the pitch is demeaning to say the least. We have invested millions of euros in the authenticity of football these years. 

“Only with a serious change of course we will ensure again these TV rights.”

It has been confirmed that Stamford Bridge, the home of English Premier League soccer club Chelsea, will host the Leaders 2011 conference for a fourth consecutive year.

Organisers of the Football, Sponsorship and Performance conferences confirmed yesterday, February 21, that this year’s main event will take place on October 5-6, with the event once again coinciding with ‘international football week’.

The event is expected to be another sell out, with attendance capped at 1,000 senior level executives from a range of different sports, linked to clubs, leagues, associations, federations and brands.

With Leaders in Football, Leaders in Sponsorship and Leaders in Performance running concurrently over the two days, there will be an expanded programme of events and numerous networking opportunities.

FISA, the World Rowing Federation has signed an agreement with Samsung Electronics to become an Official Sponsor and Technology Partner of FISA and its major World Rowing regattas.

This sponsorship commences with the 2010 World Rowing Championships which will take place from October 30 to November 7 on Lake Karapiro, New Zealand. It continues for the following two years during which Samsung will be the Title Sponsor of the Rowing World Cup annual series, currently comprising three international regattas and, an Official Sponsor of the 2011 World Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovenia.

Samsung has acquired a substantial package of rights which includes televised advertising boards and graphic data-inserts in the international television signal of all World Rowing regattas for transmission around the world on many prominent television networks.

Denis Oswald, President of FISA, said: “A valued Olympic TOP sponsor since 1997, Samsung has come to appreciate Rowing’s unique values and targeted reach. In our many discussions over the last few months, it has become clear that our sport has a very important part to play in Samsung’s global communications strategy. I am genuinely proud that one of the world’s most successful companies has chosen to partner rowing.”

“As a global leader when it comes to supporting sport and athletics, Samsung is very proud to sponsor the 2010 World Rowing Championships and the Rowing World Cup,” said Gyehyun Kwon, Vice President and Head of Worldwide Sports Marketing at Samsung.

“Sports sponsorship allows us to connect with global markets and communicate our corporate mission and values and is a key conduit in building brand equity in the minds of consumers.”

Samsung is an established leader in innovative digital technologies sponsors many sports events and teams around the world including the Olympic Games as a Worldwide Partner, the Chelsea football club of the English Premier League, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), and the Asian Games.

Stuart Regan, try the Scottish Football Association chief, sale is confident Glasgow can become a host city for Euro 2020.

Scotland is competing against 18 other national associations but Regan believes Hampden’s involvement with European football, hosting three Champions League finals and the showpiece games in two other European competitions, will give them an edge.

“Firstly, we have every reason to be positive ahead of Friday’s announcement,” he said. “Hampden Park is synonymous with great moments in European football.

“From arguably the greatest game ever, between Real Madrid and Eintracht Frankfurt, in the 1960 European Championships, to arguably the greatest goal ever scored in the Champions League, by Zinedine Zidane for Real against Bayer Leverkusen in 2002. 

“On top of that, the stadium, the city and the country have vast experience in putting on world-class entertainment. 

“The Commonwealth Games at Hampden have been hailed as the best ever and Scotland will shortly be hosting the Ryder Cup before a huge global television audience. 

“I am certain that the city of Glasgow and the National Stadium would provide an ideal venue for the European Championships’ 60th birthday party and I would like to thank everyone involved in putting this excellent bid together.”

Organisers of the Rio 2016 Olympics and Brazilian higher learning institution Estácio have signed a partnership that will allow the company to train 120, sales 000 workers ahead of the prestigious event.

As an Official Supporter of the Olympic Games, medic the contract covers the development of teaching content and its instruction across 1,600 courses, in partnership with the Rio 2016 Olympic Organizing Committee.

“We are in no doubt that the training of our workforce is in good hands and that this partnership will be fundamental to the success of the Games,” said Rio 2016 president Carlos Nuzman.

The learning modules, held between February and July 2016, will last between four and twelve hours, with Rio 2016-focused topics such as ‘Service Excellence’ and ‘Leadership’ on the agenda. The bulk of the technical training will involve staff at the Games venues, and courses will be offered face to face, online and in a combination of the two, some being hosted by Estácio and others by the Organising Committee itself, depending on the subject.

Estácio will also use its infrastructure in ten cities across Brazil as registration centres for volunteers. Applications for the Rio 2016 Volunteer Programme will begin on August 28 with the selection phase held between February 2015 and May 2016.

“Together, Estácio and Rio 2016 will leave an important training legacy in the sports industry,” said Marcos Noll, executive director of further education at Estácio.

USA Triathlon have announced a partnership with the Boy Scouts of America, viagra buy with the aim of promoting healthy, impotent | active lifestyles through the organization’s Splash & Dash Youth Aquathlon Series.

Fifty swim-run events from across the United States comprise the third annual Splash & Dash Youth Aquathlon Series, which runs from March through November 2014. 

As an official series associate in 2014-15, Boy Scouts of America (BSA) will communicate series events to corresponding BSA Local Councils and encourage participation to improve the health and well-being of the nation’s youth population. BSA will also develop a co-branded “SCOUTStrong Fit · Fuel · Fun” patch to be distributed to all series participants. The USA Triathlon Splash-and-Dash-in-a-box program, which outlines how to host a youth aquathlon, may also be distributed to BSA Local Councils for use in summer youth camps.

“The USA Triathlon Splash & Dash Youth Aquathlon Series has proven to be a wonderful way to introduce youth to multisport activities while promoting a fun, healthy lifestyle. We are proud to team up with Boy Scouts of America to continue growing youth participation,” said Rob Urbach, USA Triathlon CEO. “This will allow for greater awareness of the opportunities in our sport and we look forward to providing children with skills they need to participate for years to come. I know our youth athletes will be very proud of earning their patch.”