Soccerex have extended their line-up for the European Forum, pharm held in Manchester, March 30-31, announcing that manager of English Premier League soccer club Aston Villa Gérard Houllier, Burnley central defender and Chairman of the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) Clarke Carlisle and Chief Operating Officer of Wasserman Media Group, Sam Rush will speak at the Soccerex European Forum, 30-31 March, Manchester.

They will be part of a panel titled “Will financial regulation improve football?” which will look to assess the potential positive and negative impacts of European soccer’s planned financial regulation. The session will begin with an exclusive presentation on the financial fair play concept by Andrea Traverso, Head of Club Licensing, UEFA, the man responsible for the implementation of UEFA’s financial fair play rules.

Traverso will then join his fellow panellists to discuss the rules, how they will be implemented and the effects they will have on the many and varied stakeholders in the industry. The session will be moderated by Dan Jones, Partner, Head of Sport Business Group, Deloitte.

The panel combines a selection of football stakeholders ensuring the different viewpoints of manager, player and agent are covered. Clarke Carlisle, who was appointed as PFA chairman in November of last year, commented: “I am really excited to be representing the PFA and giving a player’s perspective on this important issue to Soccerex’s audience of football industry leaders.”

This not-to-be-missed panel is part of an exciting conference agenda covering topics such as the German football model, the different commercial challenges facing clubs, digital media and fan interaction, sponsor and rights holder relationships, and Eastern Europe’s upcoming tournaments and market development.

Holiday Inn is set to offer rooms at a £20.12 rate in an attempt to bolster its sponsorship of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

LOCOG has confirmed that this coming Monday 20th December, cheap as the 20th day of the 12th month, viagra will be 2012 day, pills with sponsors of the Games will be rolling out more activities. To mark the occasion and celebrate its partnership with the Games, Holiday Inn, official hotel provider to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, is releasing rooms for just £20.12.

Rooms will be available to book for the £20.12 deal on 20th December from 00.01 hours to 23.59 hours for stays at 171 participating Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels. The deal involves a stay on any date between 26th December 2010 and 9th January 2011 (excluding 31 December).

Holiday Inn is currently undergoing a huge relaunch with a over US$1bn of investment across more than 3,400 hotels and 430,000 rooms worldwide.

Other elements of Holiday Inn’s London 2012 partnership include providing over 1,500 free nights to support 50 emerging and established British athletes.

Liam Ferguson has been appointed the new Director General of the International Surfing Association with immediate effect.

Ferguson will replace Bob Mignogna who resigned his position, denture and will remain on as a Senior Advisor to the ISA President and the organization as it pursues its Olympic ambitions.

Mignogna was named ISA Director General in March 2010 and was responsible for running the day-to-day operations of the organization. During his time as Director General, the ISA experienced tremendous growth in ISA events, expanded its educational programs, and ISA membership grew from 57 to 86 nations.

Ferguson is a veteran of the surfing industry with 25 years of professional experience in the action sports community including most recently as ASP Vice President of Sponsorship Integration. Having held high-level leadership positions in management, marketing and media, Ferguson is one of the most respected executives in the industry and will bring an exceptional breadth of business experience to the ISA.

“I am excited about this transition in the leadership of our organization,” said Fernando Aguerre, ISA President. “This new structure not only expands and strengthens the ISA with the addition of Liam’s outstanding leadership, experience and skills, but also enables us to continue to benefit from Bob’s wisdom and exceptional career in the surfing industry”.

“I truly appreciate what Bob has helped me accomplish at the ISA during his time with the organization,” Aguerre continued. “Most importantly by taking care of the day to day, he allowed me to spend my energy and time in key strategic matters for the ISA and its member federations, and of course working with the Olympic Movement towards the inclusion of surfing in the Olympic Games. I will continue to seek his counsel and advice on various matters, and am happy that he will remain involved with the ISA in an honorary capacity. Muchas gracias Bob.”

“I am honored and excited to join Fernando and the growing family of member countries in the International Surfing Association”, said Ferguson. “This is a unique opportunity to blend my 25 years of surf industry expertise with the ISA’s goal of developing surfing globally. I am very proud to join this organization that brings together top athletes from around the world regardless of race, religion and cultural differences to share the fun surfing lifestyle. I am especially looking forward to offering my contribution and support to the ISA’s important mission of having surfing included in the Olympic Games.”

The 2016 Commonwealth Judo Championships has been awarded to South Africa.

The decision was made at the 2014 Commonwealth Judo Association Congress held on 22 July 2014 at the University of Glasgow.

The event will be held in the city of Port Elizabeth. South Africa saw off stiff opposition from India and Scotland, ed with Malta retracting their bid during the presentations.

This is the first time that the Commonwealth Judo Championships will be held on the African continent. 

Also at the Congress, generic Rick Kenney (SCO) was re-elected unopposed as Executive President of the British Judo Association, medicine on a mandate to further modernise the Association, to continue to build strong relations with the International Judo Federation, and to establish judo as a core sport in the Commonwealth Games programme.

Other Executive Officer positions were as follows:
Dr Richard Briggs (NIR), Vice-President
Envic Galea (MLT), Vice President
Dr Mike Callan (ENG), Secretary General and Treasurer
Mr Malcolm Limrick (WAL), Sports Director

There were four Executive Members elected; Professor Alexandar De Souza (NGR), Mr Barry James (ENG), Mr Sotos Tricomitis (CYP), and Mr Man Mohan Jaiswal (IND). They join the incumbent Executive Committee members Mr Temba Hlasho (RSA), Ms Estony Hattingh (BOT) and Fr Jude McKenna (ZAM).

Basel in Switzerland has been announced as the host of the World Men’s Curling Championship in 2016, sale the World Curling Federation has announced.

The championship will take place between 2-10 April in the St Jakobshalle which has a capacity for 9, ailment 000 spectators.

This will be the third major international curling event hosted by the city, following the World Men’s Curling Championship in 2012 and the 2006 Le Gruyère European Curling Championships.

Significant interest was generated by the World Men’s Curling Championship in Basel in 2012. Over 45,000 people attended the event held in the St Jakobshalle over the nine days of competition. To add to that, TV coverage from the event was viewed by a global cumulative audience of 25 million people in the markets chosen for analysis by the WCF (Canada, Europe & China).

“We are delighted to be returning to Switzerland and the city of Basel for the World Men’s Curling Championship in 2016,” said WCF President Kate Caithness. She continued: “Basel has proven time and time again that it can put on a first class curling event and we look forward to seeing them showcase our sport to the world once again in 2016.”

Bruno Schallberger, President of the local organising committee for the event, is also excited about the event returning to Basel. He said: “I am very proud to welcome the world curling family for the third time to Basel and to Switzerland. We will work very hard to make the World Men’s Curling Championship in 2016 an unforgettable event for the competitors as well as for the spectators and we look forward to seeing you all in Basel in two years time.”

IMG has announced its subsidiary IMG Tennis has bought The AAMI Classic, an eight man singles-only tennis invitational event in Melbourne, Australia.

IMG purchased the tournament from Colin Stubs Enterprises who started the event in 1988 in partnership with the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club (KLTC). As a result, IMG and KLTC will be equal partners in this venture. 

The tournament, which celebrated its 25th anniversary this year, has been highly successful and over the years has attracted players such as Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Roger Federer. It is widely considered the premier lead-up event for the world’s top male players to the first Grand Slam of the regular tennis season, The Australian Open, and the only tournament to be held in the same city as the Open, in Melbourne.

“We are very pleased to now own this outstanding event with our partner KLTC,” said Fernando Soler, Senior Vice President and Global Head of IMG Tennis. “It further strengthens IMG’s role in tennis in this important and growing area of the world and continues IMG’s long and successful role in the history of Australian Tennis.”

“We could not ask for a better partner in this outstanding event than IMG,” said Ian Hill, president of the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club. Their expertise and global reputation for staging some of the world’s greatest tennis events will surely take the AAMI Classic to new levels.”

The tournament is held annually in January, a week before the Australian Open, on outdoor hard courts at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club. Eight invited players participate in the tournament in a promotion/relegation format, playing three matches each over four days to determine the standings from the first place (won all three matches) to the eighth (lost all three matches).

“IMG is excited to take ownership and partner with KLTC on this important event,” said Brian Cooney, Senior Vice President, Director of Tennis. “It is a privilege and honor to follow Colin Stubs as Tournament Director following his 25 years at the helm. The AAMI Classic plays a very important role in the Australian Open Series. In addition, The KLTC is the most prestigious tennis club in Australia and the perfect location for the tournament. I’m looking forward to putting IMG’s stamp on the event.”