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).

Santa Clara County have pulled $30 million in tax funds from the new San Francisco 49ers stadium.

County officials told the Mercury News that they would rather spend the money on teachers.

The team and the city say voters had specifically earmarked redevelopment money to help build the $1.2 billion stadium and that the county has no right to keep it.

The revocation occurred by a new board that oversees property tax from redevelopment zones. The move was so unexpected that Santa Clara leaders say it was done in violation of public notice laws.

Santa Clara voters approved a 2010 measure that allocated $40 million in redevelopment funds for the stadium, drugs which is set to open in 2014. Construction began in April.

The Rugby Football League (RFL) have announced that University of Gloucester All Golds will compete in Championship One next season.

The south west outfit are the third of the four new teams who will be added to the lower tiers of the rugby league pyramid next season.

The club will be based entirely at the University of Gloucester, cough who will run the club, and will continue to maintain close links with Leeds Rhinos.

The Yorkshire club has been helping to develop the game in the south west of England for several years.

“We are delighted to announce that University of Gloucestershire All Golds will join Northampton and Hemel Stags in taking their place in Championship 1 in 2013,” said RFl chief operating officer Ralph Rimmer.

“The All Golds are another exciting addition who will enhance the competition and the sport in many ways.

“Once again we are breaking new territory for Rugby League in terms of geographical expansion which will ultimately grow the player pool by giving increasing numbers of players from across the country the opportunity to play the sport at semi-professional level.

“They have a remarkable combination of history combined with some exciting plans for the future and with their set-up at the University they will be unique amongst their peers.”

The club are currently among the top eight student sides in the country, and finished third in the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) Super 8 League last season.

They also have a junior academy in place and run U14, U16 and U18 squads, as well as helping to develoop the game in local schools and colleges.

“The announcement builds on many years of hard work, led by both enterprising students and supportive members of the local community,” the university’s director of sport Andy Pitchford said.

“The team now play at the very highest level of student sport, with 12 student internationals, two full internationals and three students who have made their professional debuts this season. The professional club is the natural next step for those both on and off the pitch.

“We are particularly grateful to Lionel Hurst, the Chairman of our Student/BUCS club, for his leadership and for his encouragement to push for this ambitious project.  We are grateful to all of the partners who have helped us to bring this to reality, including the RFL and the Leeds Rhinos.”

The World Squash Federation (WSF) is launching a new marketing campaign titled ‘Back the Bid 2020′ to tap into the huge support that players, fans and corporate organisations are showing towards Squash’s campaign to get the sport into the Olympic Games by 2020.

WSF President, N Ramachandran said: “With individuals and companies expressing an interest in playing a part in supporting our Olympic campaign, we felt now was the right time to provide an opportunity for them to do so through Back the Bid 2020.

“I have been struck during the years of my Presidency what an enormous reservoir of goodwill there is for our sport, especially from our huge playing community across the world. They all are keenly interested in where squash is and what we are trying to achieve – and I’m often asked ‘how might I help?’.

“‘Back the Bid 2020′ is designed to provide exactly that opportunity,” added Ramachandran.

“Inclusion in the Olympic Games would be a huge opportunity for Squash, especially for youngsters who will come into the sport – and the feedback we have had from fans world-wide since launching our 2020 Olympic campaign in July has been phenomenal. Many just want to play their part and ‘Back the Bid 2020′ will enable them to do so.”

Everyone who contributes to the ‘Back the Bid 2020′ campaign will automatically become a Friend of World Squash, the ongoing linked WSF programme.

LG Electronics along with the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI), advice the official sanctioning body of professional golf in India concluded the high profile ‘LG Race to Ireland’ a unique Pro-Am format golf tournament. The tournament, asthma which was held from November 3 – 7 at the Jaypee Greens Golf Resort, Greater Noida, saw high quality strategic golf by professional golfers along with industry leaders and corporate honchos. The winning team received a lifetime opportunity of competing at the Pro-Am of the prestigious Irish Open with, all expenses paid.

The announcement of LG race to Ireland made last week through a press conference saw the presence of H.E. Mr. Kenneth Thompson, the Ambassador of Ireland which was followed by a gala dinner, announcing the teams and celebrating the opening of the game. The gala dinner attended by prominent socialites such as Kapil Dev and Suhel Seth, had an enthralling performance by celebrated entertainer Ash Chandler and an by renowned Jazz artist Sonam Kalra. The tournament concluded on the morning of 7th Nov, 2010 with the announcement of the winners.

Mr. L K Gupta, Chief Marketing Officer, LG India, said, “LG’s foray into the elegant world of Golf is to reinforce its premium positioning and brand building in the Indian market. The company will focus to build this event over the years to provide a strong platform to bring together the best talent from professional golf and the corporate boardrooms.”

Key highlights of the game:

– The game saw India open winner C Muniyappa and PGTI regulars Mahesh Kumar and senior professional Gaurav Ghei participate in the tournament.
The PGTI 1 team comprising of professionals Amandeep Johl and Arjun Singh and amateurs Mr. Kapil Dev, Ms. Nooraine Fazal and Mr. K K Bajoria won the LG Race to Ireland Pro-Am at the Jaypee Greens golf course on Sunday.

Mr Padamjit Sandhu, Director, PGTI said, This event was a success, and it helped us to bring the best professional and amateur golfers on the same platform. I am sure the winning CXO have learnt to strengthen their team work and strategise. We are confident that the LG-PGTI partnership will help create high value and strong growth platforms for the sport of golf in India.”