The organiser from the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 have been forced to redraw the second and third leg routes on the 39,000 nautical mile round the world challenge because of security problems from piracy issues.

The original route would have taken them through an East African corridor in the Indian Ocean on the second leg from Cape Town to Abu Dhabi and again in the third leg from Abu Dhabi to Sanya in China.

But after taking advice from marine safety experts Dryad Maritime Intelligence and the sport’s governing body, the International Sailing Federation (ISAF), race organisers decided that sticking to the original route would put crews at too much risk.

Instead the boats will race from Cape Town to an undisclosed ‘safe haven’ port, where they will be transported closer to Abu Dhabi, and then complete the leg from there. The process will be reversed for the third leg before the race continues on to Sanya, the fourth of 10 host ports in a race that will not finish until July 2012.

“This has been an incredibly difficult decision,” said Volvo Ocean Race Chief Executive Knut Frostad. “We have consulted leading naval and commercial intelligence experts and their advice could not have been clearer: ‘Do not risk it.’

“The solution we have found means our boats will still be racing into Abu Dhabi and competing in the in-port race there.

“Abu Dhabi is a very important part of our plans, a real highlight being the race’s first-ever stopover in the Middle East, and we will now have a really exciting sprint finish to the emirate over the New Year period as well.”

Piracy has become a well-organised and highly lucrative business and it has expanded into a vast area off the coast of Somalia. In 2010 a record 1,181 seafarers were kidnapped by pirates, according to figures supplied by Dryad.

The most recent vessels released endured hijackings lasting an average of 213 days and it has been estimated that last year $150 million was paid to pirate gangs in ransoms for ships, cargoes and crews.

Frostad emphasised that the race would still be a round-the-world challenge. “We continue to be the only continuous sporting event to visit five continents over nine months of gruelling sailing,” he said.

Race director Jack Lloyd, also a senior ISAF official and respected Olympic and America’s Cup umpire, described the change as a “bump in the road which has to be negotiated, albeit a very expensive bump” rather than a race-changing suspension in the action.

Abu Dhabi will host the race from December 30 to January 14 with a purpose-built race village at its Corniche waterfront site and a headline New Year’s Eve concert amongst various festivities set to provide a spectacular welcome to more than 100,000 visitors.

Karen Jaques, COO of Dryad Maritime, said: “We have a long-standing relationship with Volvo Ocean Race and have been comprehensively involved in its risk management process since the last race in 2008-09.

“We will be working closely with the Volvo Ocean Race team to ensure that only essential disruption is needed.”

ISAF´s have a clear position that sailing in waters affected by piracy is too risky.

“The measures taken by the Volvo Ocean Race are very much in line with the advice that the International Sailing Federation has been giving for some time.” said ISAF Secretary General Jerome Pels.

“The ISAF strongly urges all yacht skippers intent on sailing anywhere in the area to seek an alternative, which the Volvo Ocean Race is now providing.”

Swiss side FC Sion were subject to a FIFA Warning to the Swiss FA over a ban on signing players imposed on the club before their European qualifier.

FC Sion, unhealthy who travel to Celtic Park on Europa League qualifier duty on Thursday, doctor took the ban to the Swiss courts, symptoms which overturned the earlier FIFA ban, imposed as punishment for inducing a player to break his contract.

Fifa’s rules are clear, clubs in member associations cannot revert to civil courts to challenge a penalty imposed by their association or an international association.

Today, Tuesday 16 August, FIFA said, “FIFA and Uefa, in a letter sent on 10 August, underlined the strict application of the regulations and informed the Swiss Football Association that they are expected to comply with them and to take the necessary measures to respect them.

“FIFA does not put any pressure on the Swiss Football Association but, jointly with UEFA, only refers to existing regulations.”

If Sion play any of the six players they registered this summer against Celtic on Thursday they expose themselves to disqualification from the tournament, with Celtic being awarded the tie, irrespective of the result.

Sion would be foolish to risk FIFA’s rath in this way, so chances are the tie will be settled on the field, but it’s far from ideal preparation for an important European tie.

Tiger Woods will follow his agent, Mark Steinberg, to Excel Sports Management, the company announced Monday.

Steinberg joined Excel after more than a decade of working for sports agency IMG.

Steinberg released a statement, saying: “After meeting with a number of agencies and businesses, I decided Excel was the perfect fit.”

Woods has not played since mid-May because of the problems, and will miss the British Open that begins this week.

On his official website last week, Woods said: “Unfortunately, I’ve been advised that I should not play in the British Open.

“As I stated at the AT&T National, I am only going to come back when I’m 100% ready as I do not want to risk further injury.”

He continued: “That’s different for me, but I’m being smarter this time. I’m very disappointed and want to express my regrets to the British Open fans.”

Woods suffered injuries to his left knee and left Achilles tendon during the Masters in April and withdrew after nine holes of the Players Championship when he inflamed his leg again.

“In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have competed at the Players but it’s a big event, and I wanted to be there to support the PGA Tour,” Woods added.

“I’ve got to learn from what I did there and do it right this time and not come back until I’m ready.

“I think my best years are still ahead of me, and I’m very confident and optimistic about the future,” he said.

Former Toronto FC director Earl Cochrane has been named the acting deputy general secretary of the Canadian Soccer Association from the new year.

Cochrane joined Toronto FC in 2006 and served as director of team and player operations with Toronto FC until being released in September. He also served as academy director and interim general manager. He was previously director of communications with D.C. United (2005-06) and national teams manager with the CSA (2001-05).

“We are pleased to welcome Earl Cochrane back to our Canada Soccer team, generic ” CSA general secretary Peter Montopoli said in a news release. “Earl is an organized and versatile sports professional whose experience will be extremely valuable to our organization as we prepare for two of the most important years to date for our sport in this country.”

Canada will host the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in 2014, generic and the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2015. The CSA will also be preparing the men’s national team for FIFA World Cup 2018 qualification and overseeing ongoing changes in the domestic player development system.

According to the CSA release, cheap order Cochrane will “oversee the soccer administration of Canada Soccer, including sport governance, discipline and appeals, player registration and transfers and national competitions. He will also be responsible for member relations with Canada Soccer’s provincial/territorial Associations, professional leagues and clubs and other national sport and multi-sport organizations.”

Zum Ende der Paralympischen Spiele in London zieht Lutz Marmor, pilule Intendant des in der ARD für die Berichterstattung federführenden NDR, cialis eine positive Bilanz: “Die Welle der Begeisterung in Großbritannien hat sich von den Olympischen Spielen auf die Paralympics übertragen”, herbal so Marmor, “ich denke, diese besondere Atmosphäre und die beeindruckenden Leistungen der Athletinnen und Athleten haben wir unserem Publikum in Deutschland gut vermittelt.”

Im Schnitt sahen 0,92 Millionen Menschen die Paralympics-Sendungen im Ersten. Das entspricht einem Marktanteil von 8,7 Prozent. Das Erste hatte im Vergleich zu Peking 2008 seine Sendezeit fast verdoppelt und damit das Zuschauerinteresse steigern können. Neben der Eröffnungsfeier am 29. August, die 1,82 Millionen Menschen verfolgten (12,7 Prozent Marktanteil), verzeichnete die Übertragung des Judo-Halbfinales am 31. August mit 1,67 Millionen Zuschauern (7,5 Prozent) das größte Interesse. Am selben Tag konnte der Auftakt der Leichtathletik-Wettbewerbe 1,65 Millionen Menschen begeistern (8,6 Prozent), 1,47 Millionen (6,9 Prozent) sahen nur wenig später das Finale im Schießen.

Großen Zuspruch verzeichnete auch das Paralympics-Angebot der ARD im Internet unter www.sportschau.de/paralympics. Bis zum 8. August zählte die Seite bereits mehr als 6,4 Millionen Page Impressions (PI). Damit liegen die Zugriffe etwa zehnmal so hoch wie vor vier Jahren. Den höchsten Tageswert erzielte das Angebot am 30. August mit 672.000 PI.

Das ARD-Radioteam versorgte die Hörfunkprogramme des Senderverbundes aus London. Gefragt waren vor allem Geschichten über die “Typen” der Spiele, schnelle Nachrichten und Einschätzungen. Rund 120 sportliche Zusammenfassungen, Porträts und Hintergrundberichte sowie etwa 70 nachrichtliche Beiträge wurden produziert. 90 Mal standen die Reporter den Programmen in Deutschland als Experten in Live-Gesprächen zur Verfügung. Gespräche und zahlreiche Live-Reportagen aus dem Olympiastadion und der Schwimmarena rundeten das Angebot ab.

Cincinatti Bengals coach Marvin Lewis has banned his players from tweeting during training camp, a way of trying to get them to focus while they work out at their downtown facility the next few weeks.

He imposed the ban after consulting team leaders about the social media crackdown.

Many Cincinnati players tweet regularly, keeping up with each other, friends and family. So far, they’ve gone along with the ban.

“I don’t think it’s something where we’re trying to fine guys $10,000 if they Twitter something,” said offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth, who doesn’t have a Twitter account. “I think we’re just more saying, ‘Let’s let our focus be on what we do.'”

Fine with Lewis, who is particularly wary of players spreading information about injuries through social media. Rookie cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick unintentionally crossed the line when he tweeted earlier in the week that he had a leg injury.

Lewis informed the players of the ban when they reported for the start of camp this weekend.

“I don’t see how tweeting is going to help us win a football game,” Lewis said. “So it’s part of being selfless right now. It’s not best for our football team to be involved in that. It’s best that we just take care of ourselves and not announce what we’re doing or not doing, or who did this or who did that, and commenting on what’s going on in other spots. Let’s be football players.”

Lewis struggled for years to try to get former Bengals receiver Chad Johnson to cut back on his social media comments. Johnson would use Twitter and other media to bait opponents or post photos of himself getting treatment for an injury.

The NFL’s relationship with social media has been in transition for years. Some teams cracked down on players, fans and reporters using social media during training camp workouts. The league adopted a policy in August 2009 that permits players to use social media except during a limited time frame, from 90 minutes before the kickoff of a game until after traditional postgame interviews are completed.

The construction of Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana stadium has been halted after construction workers went on strike following an on-site accident which hurt one of the workers.

The $595 million redevelopment project will see a new stadium formed within the shell of the original epic facility, ailment which opened for the 1950 World Cup. The iconic Maracana is the centrepiece of Brazil’s hosting of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and is expected to stage the tournament’s final.

However, order problems began when one of the workers was badly burnt on Wednesday when an oil barrel with chemical residue exploded. Up to 1, treatment 500 people work on the stadium in rotating shifts and clearly felt a demonstration was needed to improve rights such as working conditions, pay and health care. “We must improve our working conditions which are not ideal. We’ll only return to work when our demands have been heard,” workers’ union director Romildo da Silva told Reuters.

Strikes have become a familiar story as one of the other venues the Mineirao stadium had workers strike for four days in June after poor conditions and bad pay.

Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) president Michael Fennell will retire from his role after 17 years and is set to be replaced by Malaysia’s Prince Tunku Imran.

76-year-old Fennell has overseen the last four Commonwealth Games but he will not seek re-election at the CGF general assembly in St Kitts in November, the CGF said in a statement.

The statement added that Imran, 63, who has served 11 years on the CGF board as the vice-president, was the only nominee for the top post.

Last year’s Delhi Games was probably the toughest assignment for Jamaican Fennell with chaotic preparations and a series of well-publicised organisational blunders in the lead-up to the event.

Indian federal agencies are still investigating the 2010 Games local organisers for corruption allegations which have transformed into major political wranglings.

The elections for the CGF executive board will be held on November 11 later this year, when the 71 member nations will also vote to decide between Australia’s Gold Coast or Sri Lanka’s Hambantota as to who should host the 2018 Games.

The 2014 Games will be held in Glasgow, Scotland.

Octagon has been appointed by Nivea for Men to activate the brand’s new soccer campaign – The Great Football Experiment. 

Nivea for Men signed up as an official supplier to the FA and England National Team in 2010 and is now building on the relationship with The FA and has appointed the Sports and Entertainment agency to engage with fans and those that play the game on a regular basis. 

‘The Great Football Experiment’ plans to establish whether ‘Preparation is Everything’ and if training and management from former England manager Terry Venables, former England player Ray Wilkins and former player and current England goalkeeping coach Ray Clemence can unveil potential in an average Sunday League team.

The selected team will also receive regular training from FA qualified coaching staff, physiotherapy, nutrition advice, sports psychology, new kit and training equipment. The campaign will challenge the chosen team to prove that their first rate training has paid off by competing against a team of England legends at the end of the season.  

Octagon will be responsible for activating the programme including PR, Event Management, securing talent and managing the relationship with The FA. 

Lindsay Key, brand manager Nivea for Men said: “Our partnership with the England Team provides us with a fantastic opportunity to position our products as part of the essential preparation of playing and watching the sport. 

“Octagon have a proven track record in developing sponsorship campaigns that deliver clear business objectives so it’s great to be working with them on this project.” 


Octagon vice president, Matt Hales added: “This campaign is a great example of how a sponsor can use the assets they buy into in a creative way to achieve clear business objectives. 

“This campaign is about using The FA assets creatively to enable us to drive the brand proposition that Preparation is Everything.”