Arsenal Holdings plc has announced the £26million sale of the Queensland Road development site to Barratt and London & Quadrant.

Work has been underway on the site next to the Emirates Stadium for the past year. When completed the £128m development will comprise three residential towers offering apartments ranging from studios to 1000 square foot penthouses. The development will also include two fitness suites, order a landscaped podium garden, commercial premises and a cafe. Sales are expected to launch in September.

The sale of the development, which will be reported in the 2012/13 financial results, was completed by the Club’s property arm, Ashburton Trading Ltd, who were represented by its property development partner Antony Spencer.

Arsenal Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis said: “This is another important milestone for our property business which has provided a consistent flow of income over recent years. This money has been an important factor at a time when we have been building our capability to drive commercial revenues. This is the last major property deal open to us although we have some smaller projects in the pipeline.”

Alastair Baird, Regional Managing Director Barratt London added: “We are delighted to be building this landmark development in conjunction with our partner L&Q. It will bring desperately needed high quality homes to the area and will form part of our expanding presence across London.”

Rugby in China has received another significant boost with the announcement that the International Rugby Board has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the city of Guangzhou in China and the Chinese Rugby Football Association (CRFA). 

The MOU is designed to jointly foster the Game and give structure to Rugby’s growth in the Guangzhou region with all parties giving their full commitment to making sure the Game goes from strength to strength in one of Rugby’s most exciting emerging markets.

With the national team taking part in the IRB Women’s Sevens Challenge Cup this weekend in London, medstore the Chinese authorities have reaffirmed their commitment to growing both men’s and women’s Rugby, generic particularly given the opportunities that now exist with the sport’s re-inclusion in the Olympic summer programme from 2016.

IRB Head of Development and Performance Mark Egan was in Guangzhou, pharm along with IRB Regional General Manager for Asia Jarrad Gallagher, to sign the MOU on behalf of the IRB and to hold extremely fruitful discussions that focused on the possibility of staging future international Rugby tournaments in the city and also the development of Rugby in the city’s schools and universities.

“With over 80 per cent of the world’s youth, the IRB has identified the Asia region as being a key growth area for Rugby and the signing of this Memorandum of Understanding is another step forward in that regard. Guangzhou is set to become a centre of excellence and a genuine hub for the sport in China,” said Egan.

“The IRB’s commitment via the MOU is to support the development of the Game in the region through the introduction of grass roots programmes in schools and universities, delivering extensive training and education programmes for coaches and referees and promoting the establishment of both domestic and international Rugby events in the Guangzhou area.”

“An independent study highlights an 18 per cent increase in participation rates in Asia since Rugby World Cup 2007. The reasons for that growth have been attributed to the growing profile and success of Rugby World Cup, the IRB’s investment strategy and also Rugby’s re-introduction into the Olympic Games from 2016.”

“The IRB is investing approximately £9 million into the development of Rugby in Asia between 2009 and 2012, a region where men’s and women’s Fifteens and Sevens is going from strength to strength. We have already witnessed a significant uplift in China where Rugby Sevens will be included in the China National Games for the first time in 2013 and where the Asian Games Rugby Sevens event held in Guangzhou in 2010 attracted a capacity 30,000 crowd.”

“With Rugby World Cup 2019 set to be staged in Asia for the first time, the Game in China is set to benefit from that boost in profile.”

The IRB delegation, led by Egan, visited a number of venues in the city, including V Tianhe Stadium and Kangwei Stadium (Zengcheng), as well as schools, universities and the site of the proposed Rugby training centre. There will be a number of follow-up visits in the coming months to lend further support and to assess progress.

Manchester United are in the midst of creating its own branded global social network and media outlet, recipe after employing SapientNitro as its digital agency, ambulance to handle its digital strategy, discount digital marketing communications and online experience.

The Premier League-winning side aim on targeting its international base of an estimated 350 million supporters.

The agency will help to design and build a digital platform that will provide a network for Manchester United fans worldwide, rolling out in stages over the next two years.

The club has identified a target of more than 500m fans, after research agency TNS estimated a potential global audience of 660m with an allegiance to the club. The Manchester United Facebook page has attracted 20m fans in the year since it launched.

The platform will host multimedia content and offer advertising and sponsorship opportunities for brands. It will also sell items such as club merchandise through an ecommerce function.

The aim is to drive engagement with the club’s fans and tap into Asian markets, where Manchester United has a strong following and smartphone use is growing rapidly.

The club will offer fans exclusive content, such as videos featuring star players, and content from TV channel MUTV.

Manchester United won last year’s Premier League title and finished as runner-up in the 2011 Champions League, losing to Barcelona in the final at Wembley.

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has denied reports it offered to play a charity match in Pakistan to raise funds for victims of the country’s floods.

An official of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had said the New Zealand team had offered to help the flood victims and may be touring Pakistan to play exhibition matches, with the funds raised going to the affected.

But although NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan said he had contacted the PCB saying cricket as a whole should be a part of the relief effort, he said playing in Pakistan was not an option due to security fears.

Vaughan said: “At no point did we offer that the Black Caps would be touring as they certainly won’t be playing there this year.

“It would be nice to think that in a cricket-loving country such as Pakistan that cricket could play a part in alleviating some of the suffering that is going on there.

“But at this point in time there is no way anyone can consider putting a cricket team into Pakistan to play.

“If anything, the security risk will be greater now than at any other time so I don’t see the Black Caps going to Pakistan in the short term.

“But if there are ways to help the people of Pakistan, the cricketing community should be doing everything to help.”

Bundesliga have unveiled the German league’s first official YouTube channel.

This new offering is the perfect complement to the existing media partnerships that allow all 209 FIFA members’ states to watch the German professional football league.

“For me personally, the Bundesliga is one of the top leagues in Europe,” said Franck Ribery, “European Footballer of the Year” for the Champions League winner FC Bayern Munich. “The unique atmosphere at the stadiums, the excitement and the footballing level are exceptional. Via YouTube even more fans all over the world now have the chance to experience that feeling. This is great!”

An in-house editorial team will produce new clips with English-speaking comments every day along with 20 different articles per week that are individually adapted for the fans in different countries. From the five most beautiful goals of the match day to historical scenes: the official YouTube channel offers the latest highlight scenes, comprehensive videos of German and international stars – and unforgettable moments from the touching Bundesliga history.

Stephen Nuttall, Senior Director, Sports, YouTube EMEA: “We’re delighted to be able to offer Bundesliga highlights to YouTube’s international football audience, who can now enjoy watching many of the world’s best players from Germany’s top division. YouTube is a destination for goals and highlights and this deal adds another top league to YouTube’s football offer.”

Brazil and Mexico have been given hosting duties for the inaugural 2013 FIVB Volleyball Under 23 World Championships Open, capsule The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) has announced.

Brazil will host the men’s event and Mexico the womens. 

The FIVB Sports Events Council had announced during its two-day meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, which finished on Tuesday, the introduction of a new tournament as part of the FIVB’s volleyball calendar in 2013. The FIVB Volleyball Under 23 World Championships Open for men and women will provide another opportunity for age-group players to participate in an international tournament with the goal of reducing the gap between age-group and senior level volleyball. 

The FIVB Volleyball Under 23 World Championships Open for women will take place in Mexico from July 12-21 while the men’s edition will take place from August 2-11 in Brazil. There will be 12 participants per gender, which will be filled by two countries from each continent (to be determined by the confederations’ own qualification criteria), the highest ranked country in the senior FIVB world rankings and the host country.

FIVB executive vice-president in charge of volleyball events Mr Aleksandar Boricic, told iSportconnect: “The FIVB is consistently looking at ways to enhance its volleyball competitions and products and we see the new FIVB Volleyball Under 23 World Championships crucial in achieving this goal.

“We already have a strong level of participation at the under 18 to under 21 age group levels and with this new competition, it will provide another step for the future stars of volleyball to be able to take on their way to the senior level. Volleyball continues to grow in popularity around the world and this new tournament will help satisfy the demand for a new level of competition for many new countries. The feedback from our federations is that they need this extra competition and we are pleased to be able to accommodate and help with the continued growth of our sport.”

Paul Walsh, Diageo CEO has suggested a proposal to ban drinks firms sponsoring sporting events in Ireland as “ridiculous”, according to reports.

Earlier this year, an Irish government steering group urged ministers to phase out such sponsorship by 2016 and in May, Ireland’s health minister Róisín Shortall pledged to go ahead with the ban.

But, the Irish Independent reported Walsh as saying: “I think it’s ridiculous. Guinness has got a rich heritage of involvement in sports, whether it’s rugby or other sports.

“For the home of Guinness, this wonderful global, iconic brand, which is providing so much revenue to this country by their exports, for anybody to consider in some way restricting its ability to leverage its brand, strikes me as very, very short-term populist thinking,”.

Among Diageo current sponsorship deals is Guinness’ backing of the Gaelic Athletic Association’s All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship.

Walsh claimed that the effects of a ban will only be realised some years after it is implemented. “The first year you won’t notice it, the second year you won’t notice it. In ten years you’ll be saying, ‘What’s happening?’,” he said.

Following the revelations of the ISL documents IOC president Jacques Rogge will discuss the matter in a IOC board meeting.

The revelations of the ISL court file which names two senior FIFA figures, Joao Havelange and Ricardo Teixeira as having taken bribes. The IOC look to delve deeper into the scandal.

“I expect them to be discussed at the executive board, of course,” IOC president Jacques Rogge said in a conference call on Monday.

He ruled out, however, any sanctions against Havelange, who was the oldest IOC member when he resigned in December days before facing an ethics hearing.

Rogge also said by resigning, Havelange was no longer part of the Olympic family, neither as a member nor as an honorary member.

“Mr Havelange is not any more a member and he does not fall under IOC rules. That goes without saying. Mr Havelange has resigned as member and he is not eligible to become honorary member.”

ISL sold the commercial rights to broadcast World Cup tournaments on behalf of FIFA. It collapsed with debts of around $300 million in 2001.

Blatter, who has been with FIFA since 1975, and succeeded Havelange as president in 1998, said last week he knew that payments were being made. He referred to them as “commission” and said they were not illegal at the time.

Havelange is still FIFA’s honorary president while Teixeira quit his post earlier this year, shortly after resigning as president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF).