The English Football Association (FA) chairman David Bernstein has put pressure on FIFA to postpone its presidential election to allow a new candidate to come forward.

The FA announced in recent weeks that it would abstain from voting at the elections tomorrow, prostate June 1, there saying: “There were two main reasons for this decision. First, a concern, that a series of allegations relating to FIFA ExCo Members made it difficult to support either candidate.

“Secondly, a concern about the lack of transparency and accountability within the organisation, contributing to the current unsatisfactory situation.”

After the chaotic weekend of corruption allegations recently passed, the body has stated, through chairman David Bernstein, that the Congress should be delayed and that an independent party should be appointed to overlook how FIFA is run.

The statement added: “Events of the last few days have reinforced our views, and we call on FIFA and ask other national associations to support us with two initiatives.

“First, to postpone the election and give credibility to this process, so any alternative reforming candidate could have the opportunity to stand for President.

“Secondly, to appoint a genuinely independent external party to make recommendations regarding improved governance and compliance procedures and structures throughout the FIFA decision making processes for consideration by the full membership.

“This has been a very damaging time for the reputation of FIFA and therefore the whole of football. To improve confidence in the way the game is governed at the very top, we believe these requests would be a positive step forward and the minimum that should take place.”

The Scottish FA have echoed the sentiments of their English counterparts, claiming that the elections should be put off for between 3 and 6 months.

English Premier League soccer club Manchester City has confirmed that it is looking to sell naming rights for its City of Manchester Stadium after chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak said the club’s FA Cup Final victory and Champions League success had made the club more attractive to sponsors.

Al-Mubarak added that the big spenders of the English game would be “exploring every single commercial avenue” after qualifying for the UEFA Champions League for the first time and winning its first trophy for 35 years with the 1-0 FA Cup victory over Stoke.

The chairman said: “I believe we have a bigger commercial opportunity, including naming rights all for the benefit of maintaining the strength of the squad.

“And also for maintaining the financial strength of this company.”

The City of Manchester Stadium was originally designed as part of Manchester’s bid to host the 2000 Olympics and was the centrepiece of the city’s 2002 Commonwealth Games.

After the Games, it was converted for use by Manchester City who relocated from their long-time home at Maine Road

The ground is owned by Manchester City Council, not the club, though a Manchester Council spokesman declined to comment on whether the council would get a share of the naming rights deal.

The International Boxing Association (AIBA) is has announced that it has opened the bidding process for both the 2015 World Boxing Championships and 2015 Junior World Boxing Championships. 

With the 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships set to serve as Qualifying Event for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, anabolics which city will follow in the footsteps of Baku.

The prestigious Junior World Boxing Championships, cough formerly known as the Cadet World Championships, unites the cream of the crop of 15 to 16 year-olds from around the globe, giving the world a first glimpse of the boxing stars of tomorrow. After the extremely successful previous edition in Astana and the much anticipated ninth instalment in Kiev in August this year, the interest in the hosting of the 2015 tournament is expected to beat all previous records.

For the first time in history, the process is open to cities, and not only for National Member Federations.

Usian Bolt sprint to victory in the 100m was seen by a whopping 20 million viewers on BBC last night.

Usain Bolt retained his 100m Olympic title last night with a peak of 20 million people watching at home. The race attracted a five-minute high of 19.36m (64.51%) viewers on BBC One at 9:50pm, abortion reports Broadcast.

An additional 628k (2.09%) watched on one of the BBC’s 24-dedicated Olympic channels, BBC Olympics 3. Furthermore, 3D coverage managed to pull in a crowd of 66k (0.22%) at 9:50pm on BBC HD.

Those viewing figures have topped the previous ratings high for the Olympic Games, as yesterday iSportconnect reported that the BBC had scored its biggest Olympics audience outside the Opening Ceremony with 17.1 million viewers tuning in to see Team GB take away 3 Golds in the Athletics.

English rugby union team, Leicester Tigers, has partnered with Edge 10 and IBM to implement predictive analytics software that it hopes will help prevent player injuries.

The team will be using a wide range of data from training and games to assess the risk of injuries to its players. This could include physical information such as distance covered and movement on the pitch to information on how well the player slept the previous night.

This data is then used to spot trends that can precede an injury. For example this could be a player rating very highly in two or more ‘fatigue parameters’ that the club sets.

Players can then have individual training schedules devised that can reduce their injury proneness. The data will be pulled together from IBM’s predictive analytics product SPSS Modeler into Edge 10’s reporting portal.

Rugby is an incredibly physical sport with as many as one-quarter of all players picking up injuries during the season. On average a hamstring injury will cost a team an average of 14 playing days.

While this means teams will not be able to put out their strongest team as often as they would like, which impacts on-field performance, it can also impact a team off the pitch. An injured player will still be picking up his or her salary while out of action.

Andy Shelton, head of sports science for Leicester Tigers, explained what sort of impact injuries can have on a club’s fortunes. “We’re playing on an uneven playing field with our European rivals because of the salary cap we have to play under. They can replace one highly-paid international with another; we cannot.”

“So we have to spend our money more wisely to gain any competitive advantage we can. It’s common sense but we always do better when our key players are fit, so that means we have to avoid injuries,” he added.

The platform will be rolled out across the club, from the under-19 Academy players up to the first team. As well as preventing injuries throughout the club, the predictive analytics software will also be used to help spot the best young players coming through the ranks, improving the percentage that graduate to the first team.

“Sport is no longer just a game, it’s becoming more and more a scientific undertaking which is driven by data and numbers,” added Jeremy Shaw, director, IBM Business Analytics for Media and Entertainment. “Gone are the days of relying on raw talent and gut instinct alone to succeed.”

CBR has reported previously on how sports clubs are using predictive analytics to gain a competitive advantage.

Manchester City is also using IBM software to help it identify transfer targets that will improve the club’s on-field performance. For example the software revealed the team was very poor at retaining possession in and around their opponent’s penalty area. The club then studied players across the world that were very good at keeping possession in that part of their field and used that information to identify transfer targets.

Lamine Diack is set to extend his reign as President of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) into a fourth term by being re-elected unopposed at the sport’s Congress later this year.

It has been confirmed that no-one else put themselves forward to challenge him despite rumours that IAAF vice-presidents Sebastian Coe, the former double Olympic 1500 metres champion who is now the chairman of London 2012, and Sergey Bubka, the world record holder for the pole vault, had both been mentioned as possible candidates.

Diack had succeeded Primo Nebiolo after the Italian’s sudden death in 1999 and the Senegalese, who will turn 78 next month, had said when he had been re-elected for another four-year term at Osaka in 2007 that he would not stand again.

He has since changed his mind and claimed that he has been reinvigorated by the prospect of overseeing the sport up until London 2012 and beyond, adding: “I am in very good health, and have even started doing daily exercise again.

“I am very enthusiastic and optimistic about the sport, and really want to complete my mission during my last mandate as head of the IAAF. “

On August 24, the same day that Diack will be officially re-elected at the IAAF Congress in Daegu, there will also be elections for the IAAF Council, which Coe and Bubka will both be contesting.

The candidate who gains the most votes is set to be installed as the senior vice-president, putting them in prime position to take over when Diack steps down in four years time and Diack stated: “I am sure that after the Congress in Daegu we will elect a very experienced and competent team, and I especially look forward to working hard with them in the interests of athletics.”

Major new £1.45bn (US$2.35bn) retail and leisure development, Westfield Stratford City, that will form the gateway to the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, is still looking to host both rights-holding and non-rights-holding broadcasters during the Games with facilities in place that offer a spectacular view of the Olympic Park.

Westfield Stratford City will be the largest urban shopping centre in Europe with 1.9 million square foot of retail and leisure land, 300 shops and over 50 places to dine upon its scheduled opening on September 13.

There is still a limited number of leases available, including space on the top floor of the venue for rights-holding and non-rights-holding broadcasters.

Westfield Stratford City are due to host two non-rights-holding broadcasters during the London 2012 Games already, and with the location offering arguably the best view around of the Olympic Park as well as brand new facilities able to cater for all media demands, the retail centre are confident they will have at least five or six broadcasters working at the venue during the Games.

Mark Zimmer, the Westfield Stratford City Head of Olympic Brand Alliance, stated: “At present, we are set to have two non-accredited broadcasters broadcasting from this venue but we are currently in talks with a number of accredited broadcasters and by the time we get to London 2012; I imagine we will have a combination of both here.

“It obviously works for both because the venue is not actually on the Olympic Park but offers a spectacular view of it and it also has all the facilities to cater for the media following an in-depth feasibility study from us.

“The location is obviously a fantastic one for all of our partners and during the Games, we have so far confirmed that two major National Olympic Committees will be hosting cooperate functions with us.

“Retailers leasing here also have a huge advantage as 70 per cent of visitors to the Games will pass through Westfield City Stratford and therefore walk directly past the retail shops.

“We will clearly have to be careful regarding ambush marketing on the Olympic Games and abide by the strict laws in place.

“We also want to be good neighbours to the London 2012 Organising Committee so the Official Olympic Sponsors have been offered first refusal on taking up the space here.

“However, that doesn’t rule out other companies being based here and receiving the huge advantage of having so many people here before, during and after the Games.

“Around 10 million people will visit the 2012 Olympics including 20,000 journalists, 10,500 athletes, 5,000 sponsors, 70,000 volunteers and 9.7 million ticketed spectators so to have around 70 per cent of them coming through Westfield City Stratford is a huge boost and illustrates the phenomenal benefits to retailers based here.”