IMG Worldwide has announced the arrival of Italian soccer personality Alessio Secco who will join the company in a consultancy role in the IMG Football Division in Italy.

Secco spent 13 years with the famed Serie A giant Juventus. In 1997 he took up the role as a press attaché before being named team manager in 2000 before being promoted to sports director in 2006. The Tourin born Secco resigned his position in June of this year.

“I am very pleased and proud to be an IMG consultant on the Italian Football market. It was not easy to decide about my professional future after 13 years working for Juventus Football Club, but the high professional level of people working for IMG and the great opportunity of exchanging experiences with them, led me to the choice to join IMG. I am sure that this collaboration will satisfy both parts,” said Secco.

Fernando Soler, Senior Vice President of IMG added: “We are very pleased to have a sports executive of Alessio Secco’s experience and professionalism working with us. Over his years with Juventus, Alessio has developed outstanding contacts within the football industry which we expect to be very helpful as we expand our business in Italy.”

US Formula One has been slapped with a hefty fine of 309,000 Euros after it failed to make its entry into the 2010 Formula One season.

The decision automatically disqualifies the country’s racing team from participating in any Federation Internationale de l’Automobile championship.

US F1 has intended to enter Formula One this season but shortly before the opening round it said it would not be ready in time. The FIA’s World Motor Sports Council (WMSC) held a hearing in Paris on June 24 to decide the team’s punishment.

The team claimed at the hearing they had no choice but to pull out. They said uncertainty about the signing of a new Concorde Agreement – the commercial agreement between F1 teams and the series management – and proposed budget-cap rules had hit their preparations.

They also said negative comments by Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone about their chances of making the grid had deterred sponsors.

The FIA said the WMSC did not accept US F1’s arguments and “considered that the team, whilst well-intentioned, had displayed poor financial management and had underestimated the requirement to present an F1 car for the 2010 season in time and with the financial resources available to them.”

Under Armour, a kit supplier for Tottenham Hotspur from next season, has tasked brand communications company, Pretty Green, with building awareness of the brand, products and sponsorships within the UK. 

The agency was first brought in to run a project in 2011 to launch the Under Armour Welsh Rugby Union kit.

Pretty Green will look to educate consumers about Under Armour products through product placement, product launches, sponsorship and athlete activation and brand PR across sport, lifestyle and trade platforms. 

The agency’s remit will also include digital, involving development of Under Armour’s UK social media strategy across platforms including Facebook and Twitter.

Pretty Green will report to vice-president of global comms and entertainment, Diane Pelkey, who commented: “As an expert in brand building, PrettyGreen brings to the table a proven track record and the ambition to tell the Under Armour story and engage our key consumer audiences. The team has extensive sport and lifestyle media contacts, impressive digital credentials and strong sports marketing experience.”

Lucy Mart, head of Sport at PrettyGreen, added: “Opportunities to work with true innovator brands don’t come along every day. Under Armour has a unique offering and its products are pretty much unrivalled by any other sports apparel brand. 2012 is set to be a monumental year for Under Armour.”

Founded in 1996, the company’s products are now sold worldwide and worn by athletes including US swimmer Michael Phelps, England footballers Michael Dawson and Bobby Zamora and Welsh rugby union player Jamie Roberts.

Under Armour recently revealed healthy revenue growth.

by Ismail Uddin

Chelsea FC are looking to secure a naming rights sponsor for their Stamford Bridge stadium in the new year.

This follows last month where iSportconnect reported the club’s failed attempt to buy back the land on which the ground is built, could have facilitated a move to a new venue.

Chief executive Ron Gourlay said: “We have outgrown our stadium. We hope to make an announcement on naming rights in the next six to eight months. It would make a big step as we have to drive up the revenues.”

Gourlay first mentioned selling the stadium rights in 2009, stipulating that Stamford Bridge should remain in the new title and that a lease would be for between seven and 10 years.

Stamford Bridge currently holds 42,449 fans which drops to 38,000 on Champions League nights because of Uefa restrictions.

Gourlay said no decision had yet been made as to whether a new vote will be called at next month’s Annual General Meeting but insisted: “We need a 60-65,000 stadium. We have the eighth biggest stadium in England and the 61st biggest in Europe.

“But when you look at the activity of stadiums planned for next few years, we will fall out of the top 75 which can only be restrictive to the football club. We have corporate hospitality that is second to none and 30,000 season ticket holders.

“In the meantime we continue on our conversations to see if there is any way at all to extend Stamford Bridge.”

Brazilian Sports Minister Orlando Silva is feeling the heat after more evidence of alleged corruption emerged leaving him on the brink of losing his job.

Silva rushed back from the Pan American Games to his native Brazil earlier this week after allegations published in magazine Veja claimed that he aimed to embezzle as much as $23 million for himself and his communist party over eight years from a number of projects, including one that promotes sport for poor children.

But despite Silva’s emphatic denials of wrongdoing, his position is becoming increasingly precarious after the chief public prosecutor announced a formal inquiry into the issue and details emerged of sloppy bookkeeping and favouritism in the sports ministry’s contracts with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).

Reports also suggest that 59 contracts signed by the Sports Ministry between 2006 and 2011, during which Silva has been in charge, did not comply with regulations.

This suggests that even if Silva is not directly linked to corruption, he may ultimately be held accountable for poor oversight due to the fact that it happened on his watch.

The Brazilian Sports Minister is continuing to protest his innocence as the investigation continues but the issue could have major repercussions on both the FIFA 2014 World Cup and Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games – which Brazil are hosting – due to the fact that Silva is the Government lead on both projects.

Silva has been involved in both global sporting events since their infancy after being named Sports Mnister by former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva back in 2006.

He is currently the only Minister from Brazil’s Communist Party that is part of President Dilma Rousseff’s Coalition Party and maintained his high-ranking position when Rousseff came to power at the beginning of the year largely due to his heavy involvement and knowledge of the 2014 and 2016 projects.

The 2014 organising committee has been criticised by FIFA regarding serious delays to construction but the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic preparations were praised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Coordination Commission who last visited the city in June this year.

The scandal around the Sports Minister however, is an unwanted problem for both projects and also another unwelcome scandal for the Cabinet of Rousseff as since she took over as President in January four ministers have resigned or been sacked after being accused of corruption all denying any wrongdoing.