Infront Sports & Media has secured the marketing rights of a one-off club vs international soccer friendly from FC Bayern Munich, order  Germany’s most successful club, who will host the Dutch national team at the Allianz Arena on 22 May 2012.

Under the terms of the agreement, Infront exclusively handles all media, marketing, ticketing and hospitality rights for the event, which features two of the world’s top teams in their respective competition formats.

The match is the amicable result of a dispute that FC Bayern Munich and the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) have been embroiled in over the past few months with respect to the injury of Arjen Robben at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The special game has been scheduled, by the KNVB and FC Bayern Munich, in the middle of an exciting soccer period – only three days after the Champions League final in Munich and two and a half weeks prior to the start of the UEFA EURO 2012.

Infront is handling all forms of media, marketing and ticketing rights on a worldwide basis, and the media rights package encompasses all television, internet and mobile rights with a major HD quality broadcast already planned.

The ticketing rights include the full capacity of the Allianz Arena, including all hospitality packages. The marketing rights cover the advertising boards in Bayern’s prestigious home ground.

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, CEO of FC Bayern München, stated: “As one of the leading agencies in football worldwide, supporting the game at every level, Infront has a great deal of experience in supporting international top events in football and deliver every relevant marketing aspect at high quality levels. This is why we have chosen the company for marketing this unique game as the head-to-head of Germany’s most successful football club and the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ Finalist.”

Günter Netzer, Member of the Infront Board of Directors, added: “This match will be a special event for the fans, who will be able to witness one of Europe’s top clubs play against one of the best national teams in the world. International superstars on both sides will turn this friendly game into a real football spectacle, providing for another highlight prior to UEFA EURO 2012™.”

The Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte has hired Vero Communications’ Rio de Janeiro office MLA True Communications to support its comms plans as it kicks off international outreach ahead of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

As the third largest metropolitan area in Brazil, denture Belo Horizonte is one of the 12 host cities of the global football tournament.

Flávia Rohlfs, viagra executive co-ordinator of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil for Belo Horizonte, said: “We want to make the most of the opportunities that this major sporting event will bring to our city and showcase to the world what Belo Horizonte has to offer to football federations and fans alike.” 

Belo Horizonte is also home to three professional football teams – Cruzeiro, Atlético Mineiro and América – as well as owning two of the best training centres in Brazil: the Cruzeiro Esporte Clube and Clube Atletico Mineiro.

The city’s Mineirão Stadium is currently scheduled to host at least three matches in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup and six matches in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, including one of the semi finals. 

Belo Horizonte mayor, Marcio Lacerda, said: “It is essential that the world becomes aware of the hospitality and attractions of our city and can come to enjoy it. The partnership with Vero will pave the way for Belo Horizonte to become a not-to-be-missed destination within Brazil and known for its commitment to being a fantastic host city for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.”

The European Swimming Championships have been moved from Antwerp after a budget shortfall leading to the event coming London.

Antwerp organizer Georges Straetemans, medstore who is also vice chairman of the technical committee of European swimming federation LEN, said the event will be held in London at the Olympic swimming complex.

LEN refused to comment ahead of a planned announcement later Thursday.London Olympic organizers denied the championship would be held in London. “The event will not be taking place in London,’ the committee said in a statement.

Straetemans said in a telephone interview that the shortfall was more than $525,000, but insisted he was confident organizers could have found new sponsors to bridge the gap before LEN decided to pull the championships out of Belgium.

The event was due to be held from May 16-27 in Antwerp. It is unclear if the dates will remain the same when it moves.

Antwerp had an ambitious plan to build a temporary swimming pool in its 12,000-capacity Sports Palace, counting on huge interest since the event would be held only two months ahead of the London Games.

“After one of the financial partners stepped out, the financial gap was such that we could no longer do it,’ Straetemans said.

by Ismail Uddin

English League Two side, Bristol Rovers FC, are on the verge of acquiring a new stadium after securing land deals with supermarket giant Sainsbury’s and the University of the West of England (UWE).

The construction of a 20,000 seater stadium near the University’s Frenchay Campus is being financed after Sainsbury’s agreed to buy Rovers current Memorial Stadium in order to build a supermarket.

Together the proposals represent a construction investment of £60m ($93m).

The UWE will lease the land to the club and get access for students to club facilities and media room on non-match days. Students will also have the chance to buy discounted match tickets.

The new ground is to be titled the ‘UWE Stadium’ and will include banqueting and hospitality suite, convenience store, gym, jogging track and teaching space for the University. 

Sainsbury’s proposal at the Memorial Stadium site includes a store, work space, community facilities, homes and ample parking.

Bristol City Council have been informed of Sainsbury’s application and South Gloucestershire Council regarding the new stadium, after extensive consultation.

Nick Higgs, Chairman of Bristol Rovers, said: “This agreement is a significant step in securing a sustainable future for the Club.

“The move to the Frenchay Campus will be fantastic for our supporters as they will be able to take advantage of the excellent transport links, including the A4174, Parkway and Abbey Wood stations and a new car park. Local residents and students will benefit from fantastic new facilities.”

Ben Littman, Regional Development Executive for Sainsbury’s, added: “This is a fantastic opportunity to invest in Horfield; speaking with the community will help to ensure that we propose the right mix of facilities in a development that is of an appropriate size and scale for the area.”

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has responded to the uproar caused by the British Olympic Association (BOA) by announcing that the BOA have been “non-compliant” with its global code and urged it to reconsider its policy.

The BOA have continued to stand by their by-law which prohibits drug cheats from competing for the nation at the Olympics but WADA have taken action against this.

Although the announcement would have been expected, WADA’s ruling is likely to aggravate tensions between the two bodies.

WADA’s foundation board met in Montreal on Sunday and declared that the British stance gave it no other option than to declare the BOA non-compliant – which, technically, puts Team GB at the London Games at risk.

Following the decision WADA wrote to the BOA urging it to review its policy.

However, the BOA insists it is standing firm on maintaining its policy, and want to test its right to keep lifetime bans in place and reportedly plan to take the case to the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

In October, CAS ruled the that International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) own rule barring serious doping offenders was unenforceable – a move that has allowed USA Olympic 400m champion LaShawn Merritt to try to defend his title at London 2012.

In a statement the BOA said the ruling had brought clarity and closure to its dispute with WADA, adding: ‘We look forward to receiving the formal findings from WADA setting out how they have determined the BOA’s selection policy is non-compliant with the world anti-doping code.’

British Athletes looking to benefit from the ruling are sprinter Dwain Chambers and cyclist David Millar are banned from the Olympic Games, under the BOA rules.

Discuss with Sarah Ellson (Partner at Field Fisher Waterhouse) and Sir Craig Reedie (Former BOA Chairman and current IOC representative)

Nielsen, seek the leading global research firm, drugs has revealed that last year’s World Cup in South Africa was the catalyst behind a 10.6 per cent recovery in the global advertising market in 2010.

The 2010 Q4 report by The Nielsen Company, based on published rate cards, showed that the global advertising industry posted a 10.6 per cent year-on-year increase to US$508bn last year.

The report claims that the World Cup helped to drive the second quarter, the fast growing of the four, to an increase of almost 13 per cent.

Randall Beard, global head of Advertiser Solutions for The Nielsen Company, said: “The 2010 FIFA World Cup brought the attention of hundreds of millions of soccer fans, and not surprisingly, advertisers followed with significant spending.

“It presented an excellent opportunity for advertisers to jump back into the market, revitalizing ad spend in multiple countries.”

The UK was one of a number of nations in Europe, alongside the likes of Belgium, France, Sweden and Switzerland, to have posted increases in advertising spend of approximately 10 per cent.