FIFA: Goal-Line Technology not Accurate Enough

FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke claims that only two companies have come close to meeting world soccer governing body’s demands on goal-line technology,.

An agreement was reched by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) on Saturday, March 5, that tests on various systems will continue for another year, with the possibility of using such technology at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

However, FIFA was unconvinced by 10 systems tested last month in Zurich, with the governing body calling for 100 per cent accuracy.

In an interview with Sky Sports News, Valcke stated: “I don’t think the idea is to extend (tests) beyond 2012. IFAB has to make a decision. This deadline gives us, and the companies, another 12 months to work on tests.”

He added: “Even as an empty goal, just throwing the ball through to the goal, only two companies reached 98 per cent and 94 per cent. There’s not one company who has reached 100 per cent. It means that either it’s a technical problem, or it’s not good enough to be used for a 90-minute game. That’s where we have to be very careful.”

At the IFAB meeting in Newport at the weekend it was agreed that UEFA should be allowed to use its system of five match officials at Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. The two extra officials will be behind the goal-line and on the side of the goal next to the assistant referee.

In other news IFAB did address the official rules with regards to the wearing of ‘snoods’, banning them from the game with concerns over health and safety issues.

Celtic Park to Host 2014 Scottish League Cup Final

Celtic Park has been announced as the host of the 2014 Scottish League Cup final between Aberdeen and Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

The home of the champions was in the running for the showpiece event on Sunday, March 16 along with Rangers’ Ibrox Stadium.

Commenting on his choice of venue, SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster said: “Glasgow is blessed with having three stadia with over 50,000 capacity, the only European city with three such grounds.

“Hampden Park is out of action due to the Commonwealth Games this summer so we had to find an alternative venue for the final.

“We had two great venues to choose from, both of which have huge experience of hosting big European games, but Ibrox, we believe, has a game on the Saturday which is likely to be televised.

“So with a televised game at lunchtime on the Saturday there simply wasn’t enough time to de-rig Ibrox in time for the Sunday game so that’s the key reason we have gone with Celtic Park.

“And we are delighted to have a venue of over 60,000 with great experience of hosting really big games.

“We are very hopeful of a big crowd on the day. It has been some years since Aberdeen were last in a major final and I’m sure we will have many, many buses coming down as it’s also the first ever final for Inverness.

“So I think it’s a big game for both teams. I’m sure we’ll get a great support on the day and we’ll need a big stadium for the match. Detailed discussions over ticket allocation and prices will now be held with both teams and officials at Celtic Park.

“We have a couple of weeks now and it’s all hands to the pumps to make sure we have a great final and that we have an appropriate allocation of tickets for both sets of fans.”

Soccerex Confirms Dates for African Forum 2014 in Durban

Soccerex, generic the global leader for the business of football, cough has confirmed dates for the next Soccerex African Forum.  After two highly successful editions of the event, The African Forum 2014 will take place 18-19th November at the world famous Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, South Africa.

The Soccerex African Forum has grown from strength to strength over the past two years and has witnessed the world of football unite in South Africa. The event has attracted a wealth of high profile speakers including Hicham El Amrani, General Secretary CAF, Danny Jordaan, President SAFA, Jack Oguda, CEO Kenyan Premier League, Nic Coward, General Secretary Premier League to name just a few.

Commenting on the African Forum, Dr Robin Peterson, CEO SAFA Development Agency, said: “Soccerex is a fantastic B2B football forum, it’s the biggest in the world. I’ve had a long relationship with them and I’m delighted they were able to do this arrangement with the city of eThekwini and the Province of Kwazulu- Natal to bring the event here”.

The Forum will build on the business legacy of Soccerex’s stay in South Africa and will focus on a mixture of topical and global football issues specifically the key components that make up football development within Africa. This will include business best practice, building local facilities, grassroots development, all covered through an agenda-setting conference, exhibition and a programme of networking opportunities.

Commenting on the announcement, Soccerex CEO Duncan Revie said: “We have enjoyed a marvellous relationship with South Africa over a number of years and the city of Durban and its Moses Mabhida Stadium proved a fantastic venue for last year’s event, which saw our a record attendance –  our most pan-African attendance yet. I look forward to building on the success of last year’s event and to welcoming the world of football to Africa in 2014.”

The Soccerex African Forum 2014 will bring together 1000 senior football decision makers together from across the continent and the world for two days of unrivalled learning, networking and business opportunities to, once again, unite the business of football in Africa.

For more information on the Soccerex African Forum or any of Soccerex’s events, please go to http://www.soccerex.com/events/africa/

Former RFU CEO John Steele Becomes English Institute of Sport Chair

John Steele has become the new chair of the English Institute of Sport (EIS), allergist the science, medicine and technology arm of UK Sport.

Steele, CEO of the Youth Sport Trust and former CEO of UK Sport and the Rugby Football Union, has been appointed to chair the EIS at a time when delivering performance impacting science, medicine and technological solutions to British athletes is more crucial than ever before, if the ambition to win more medals at Rio 2016 is to be achieved.

Established in 2002, the Institute now has more than 250 staff providing approximately 4,000 hours of sport science and medical support to over 1,700 athletes across the country and at camps and competitions overseas every week. It worked with 86% of the athletes and 27 of the 29 sports that won a medal at the London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games.

Steele said: “I am delighted to take on this new role at the EIS a critical time for British sport as it looks to build on its tremendous successes in recent years. As a nation we are now amongst the best in the world at preparing our athletes for success on the global stage and I am proud to be involved in this process going forward.

“In my role as CEO of the Youth Sport Trust and now chair at the EIS I hope to influence sport from the very start of potential athletes’ careers right through to those currently performing at international level.”

UK Sport Chair, Rod Carr, said: “John is the ideal person to provide strong, dynamic leadership for the Institute as it continues to grow and evolve to embrace and pioneer advances in sports science, medicine and technology, and meet the needs of our Olympic and Paralympic sports.

“We have ambitions for British athletes, supported by the National Lottery funded World Class Programme, to do what no host nation has done before and win even more medals at the next Olympic and Paralympic Games, and the work of the Institute’s world leading experts will be key in keeping us ahead of our rivals.

“John is well known and respected within Olympic and Paralympic sport, and as we look to create a stronger, more sustainable UK high performance system I look forward to working in partnership with him and his team to lead British sport to achieve even greater success.”

Steele’s background as a professional rugby player and European Cup winning coach gives him valuable insight into the world of sports science and medicine. Described by Lord Coe as “an exceptional sports leader” he has also been a CEO in private, public and not for profit sports organisations.

Steele succeeds Steve Cram as chair of the EIS. Cram stepped down from the role in June 2013 after 10 years in post.

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Germany Interested in a 2024 Olympic Bid

Germany’s Olympic chief Thomas Bach has revealed Berlin or Hamburg could launch a German bid for the 2024 summer Olympics if conditions were right.

Bach, impotent who heads the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB), generic told Reuters in an interview both cities had shown a keen interest in bidding for the Games in a country that last staged a summer Olympics in 1972 in Munich.

“The DOSB must evaluate the election for the 2020 Games host because we have a strong interest in a summer bid through Berlin and Hamburg. As soon as possible, pills that is interest for the summer 2024 Games.”

Tokyo, Istanbul and Madrid are in the running for 2020 with a possible win for the Japanese capital increasing the chances for a European host four years later. 

The United States, however, is also likely to bid for 2024, hoping to bring back the Games for the first time since Atlanta 1996. The 2020 host will be elected next year, with campaigning for 2024 starting in 2015. Berlin in 1936 and Munich are the two German cities to have hosted summer Olympics. Berlin unsuccessfully bid again for the 2000 Games while Leipzig was cut from the shortlist for the 2012 Olympics in Germany’s most recent summer Olympics attempt. 

The DOSB has to nominate one city from Germany should more than one decide to proceed with an Olympic bid. Munich is considering a repeat candidacy for the 2022 winter Olympics after missing out on the 2018 Games to South Korea’s Pyeongchang. Any joint bid between Munich and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, like the one for 2018, would need wide public support, Bach said, after that bid was hampered by local opposition. 

“Conditions for good chances (for Munich 2022) would be wide support from the local population,” said Bach, who is also an International Olympic Committee (IOC) vice president. “The second condition is that you have bi-partisan support, coupled with the appropriate financial pledges for the bid itself and for the Games.”

Hong Kong’s Free-TV Struggles to Broadcast Olympics

Hong Kong’s leading sports official has written to the IOC to express his concern after a deal to air the London Games on a free channel apparently fell apart.

Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China President, Timothy Fok Tsun-ting, said he informed IOC President Jacques Rogge that “there is still no deal in place” between rights holder i-Cable and ATV and TVB.

ATV had originally planned to accept i-Cable’s offer and broadcast the Olympics on its English-language World channel.

Last week i-Cable and ATV said that negotiations have been put on hold because ATV broadcasts are available in areas of China’s Guangdong province, and this could infringe on the exclusive rights of mainland stations.

Fok said i-Cable is required to broadcast part of the Olympics- at least 200 hours- on a free-TV channel under the terms of its agreement.

Rogge has said earlier i-Cable will be “stripped of its broadcasting rights if its reach to audiences is not adequate.” {jcomments on}

FIFA Appoints Normalisation Committee to Bosnian Federation

However, and despite the efforts made by FIFA and UEFA to explain the situation to the members of the FFBH football family, the proposed statutory amendments were refused by the FFBH general assembly for the first time on 16 July 2010. As a consequence, the UEFA and FIFA Executive Committees decided in October 2010 to establish a final deadline of 31 March 2011 for the FFBH by which to adopt the new statutes or face an automatic suspension as from 1 April 2011. Furthermore, FIFA also decided that if such a measure was adopted, a normalisation committee would be appointed to replace the current FFBH Executive Committee in order to solve this situation which is damaging Bosnian football.
On 29 March 2011, the FFBH held an extraordinary general assembly during which the new statutory texts were rejected for a second time. Therefore, the FIFA and UEFA decisions of October 2010 came into force as from 1 April 2011 and the FFBH is currently suspended until further notice.
Due to the fact that a majority of the current members of the FFBH Executive Committee, including the members of the presidency, have openly and publicly opposed the adoption of the FFBH statutes, FIFA – with the support of UEFA – is of the opinion that this FFBH Executive Committee, and in particular its presidency, is not able to lead the FFBH towards a successful revision of its statutes, and therefore both organisations have been working together on the establishment of a normalisation committee to replace the current elected FFBH Executive Committee members (including the members of the FFBH presidency).
The FIFA Emergency Committee decided yesterday, April 12, to appoint a normalisation committee in order to solve the problems faced by the Football Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FFBH), which is currently suspended by both FIFA and UEFA.
A six person normalisation committee with football personalities from Bosnia-Herzegovina has been established and put in place with immediate effect following discussions with various stakeholders and following consultation with UEFA.

As of yesterday, this normalisation committee has taken over all statutory rights and duties of the FFBH Executive Committee as well as of the FFBH Presidency. The mandate of the normalisation committee will expire after new FFBH Executive Committee elections have been held according to the newly adopted FFBH Statutes.

FIFA has set the new normalisation committee the following tasks in its new role;

First phase:

* To prepare and convoke the ordinary general assembly of 2011, where the delegates have to adopt the FFBH statutes and take decisions on all other statutory items, by 26 May 2011 at the latest.

* To ensure that all connections/relationships with any members of the “former” FFBH leadership (FFBH Executive Committee and FFBH Presidency) are cut immediately with regard to the decision-making in financial, administrative, sporting and other matters, and to establish a road map for improvements in this respect as well.

* To take all necessary steps to further improve the financial situation of the FFBH, and to ensure that no new disputes or new financial obligations appear and that all currently known financial debts are paid in time and in full transparency.

Second phase:

* To prepare new elections of all statutory bodies in accordance with the newly adopted FFBH statutes by 30 November 2011 latest.

* To improve the quality within the FFBH administration and foster the credibility and image of the FFBH at national level, implementing any measures necessary as discussed with FIFA and UEFA.

 

Sony to Produce Wimbledon Finals in 3D for Global Broadcast

The finals of the famous British Wimbledon Tennis major will this year be filmed by Sony in 3D and screened live in high definition 3D to 3D capable cinemas around the world for the first time ever.

In partnership with the Wimbledon host broadcaster the BBC, the live 3D production will also be offered to interested global broadcasters after Sony and The All England Lawn Tennis Club announced their official supplier partnership to bring Wimbledon in 3D to suitably equipped cinemas around the world.

Sony will produce the men’s semi-finals, finals and women’s finals in high definition 3D as the official supplier of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships, working with SuperVision Media, their theatrical distribution partners, in this initiative.

Fujio Nishida, president of Sony Europe commented: “We are delighted to be working with the All England Lawn Tennis Club to bring such a high profile sporting event to consumers around the world in 3D.

“Watching tennis in High Definition 3D is a stunning experience, bringing the speed of the action and the emotions of the occasion to life; it is as close to the atmosphere and excitement of Centre Court as actually being there.

“With the Live 3D Wimbledon experience available in 3D cinemas across the world, many more people will be able to enjoy one of the world’s most iconic sporting events as though they were actually at Wimbledon.”

Ian Ritchie, chief executive of The All England Lawn Tennis Club, added: “We are delighted that our 3D partnership with Sony will not only guarantee we are at the cutting edge of live sporting television, but also deliver a compelling new viewing experience for our global audiences, especially amongst our younger supporters.”

Italian Cellino Family Set for Leeds United Takeover

Leeds United are close to being taken over by the Italian Cellino family after an agreement was made with the current owners.

In a statement on the club’s website on Saturday, GFH Capital confirmed they have agreed to sell a 75 per cent stake in United to Eleonara Sports Ltd, the Cellino family’s company.

Cellino, the owner of Serie A side Cagliari, has had a delegation in Leeds for the last week to prepare for the takeover and he was present at Elland Road for Saturday’s derby with Huddersfield.

His influence became further apparent on Saturday morning when Cagliari announced on their website that playmaker Andrea Tabanelli has been loaned to Leeds.

Cellino – an agriculture tycoon known as ‘The King of Corn’ in Cagliari – still has to pass the Football League’s Fit and Proper Person Test and that is not a given as he has previous conviction for fraud.

If he fails it, a consortium headed up by former Manchester United director Mike Farnan is standing by.

Farnan tweeted: “We continue to seek dialogue and have substantial backing with offers of support increasing by the minute.”

In a statement at lunchtime on Saturday, GFH said: “Following recent media reports and speculation, GFH Capital would like to confirm that it has agreed to sell a 75 per cent stake in the club to Eleonora Sport Ltd, a company owned by the Cellino family who have many years’ experience in football and who plan to invest substantially in the club including the re acquisition of Elland Road.

“Eleonora will be working on completing the required Football League approval.

“The Cellino Family is a well-known Italian sports family, who have owned Serie A side Cagliari since 1992. They come to English football with an ambition to support Leeds United financially to take it to the Premier League and a belief that the club can sustain top-flight status.

“Since the agreement, Leeds United is in discussion with Elenora Sport Ltd. on a number of issues concerning the club matters including the structure of the management of the first team.”

Leeds are currently 12th in the Sky Bet Championship and are eight points off the play-off places.

Deadline Extended for Sports Technology Awards Entries

Owing to overwhelming interest, viagra the submission deadline for the inaugural Sports Technology Awards has been extended to 20th December at 12 noon. We have already received a fantastic array of entries spanning the 22 award categories. If you are planning to get involved then now is the time to start working on your entry form.

With the increasingly role that technology plays across all aspects of sport, health the awards have been conceived to celebrate the innovators and pioneers in equipment, training, performance, apps, entertainment and media, from athlete to stadia, broadcaster to bookmaker, on the pitch and off. The finalists will be announced in late January and the winners will receive their awards at the lunchtime ceremony to be held in London on 4th April 2014.

For more information, please contact Andrew Binner on 020 7384 8214 or Andrew@sportstechnologyawards.com