The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) have revealed the Olympic Flame will be within 10 miles of 95% of the UK population when the 2012 Olympic Torch Relay makes its journey around the country ending up in the capital for next summers games.

The announcement of the 1, doctor 018 villages, cheap sale towns and cities on the route means LOCOG has matched its target of taking the Olympic Flame to within an hour’s journey time of 95% of the population. 

Over 95% of the population will be within 10 miles of the Olympic Flame next summer. The street by street detail of the route will be confirmed next year. 

LOCOG has worked closely with representatives from a number of sectors in each Nation and Region to devise the route. 

Not only does the route include villages, town and cities, the Olympic Torch Relay will also take in hundreds of landmarks and will showcase and celebrate the diversity of the UK. 

LOCOG has also announced a selection of the modes of transport by which the Olympic Flame, including horseback, bicycle, tram and steam-train.

Every county in England and every Local Authority area in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales will host the Olympic Flame.

Sebastian Coe, Chair of LOCOG, said: “I’m delighted that the Olympic Torch Relay will take the 2012 Games to almost every corner of the UK and that we have achieved our ambition to take the Flame to within an hour’s journey of 95% of the population. Now everyone is invited to plan their welcome and find out where they can go to be part of this historic occasion. The Olympic Games are coming to you as the Olympic Flame gives our people and places their moment to shine.”

Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, added: “When the Olympic Flame arrives here in the UK on 18 May next year it will mark the final countdown to the greatest sporting event the country will host in our lifetime. The Olympic Torch Relay will be an amazing opportunity for people to see the Olympic Flame in their own towns and communities. The Flame’s journey is steeped in the rich history of the Olympic Games, travelling from Athens then right around the UK. I encourage everyone to get out and take part in the excitement of the Torch Relay as it comes through their town.”

The 70 day Olympic Torch Relay, presented by Coca-Cola, Lloyds TSB and Samsung, will start at Land’s End, Cornwall on the morning of 19 May 2012. On leaving Land’s End, the Olympic Flame will travel an estimated 8,000 miles around the UK.

On the final day of the Olympic Torch Relay, it is LOCOG’s intention that the Olympic Flame will travel down the River Thames as it makes its way to the Olympic Stadium on 27th July 2012 for the lighting of the cauldron at the Opening Ceremony, signifying the official start of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Morocco is on the verge of becoming the first African nation to host the Fifa Club World Cup after being left as the sole bidder for the 2013 and 2014 events.

FIFA says only Morocco met Saturday’s deadline to bid after Iran, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates previously entered the contest.

FIFA will confirm the decision in December.

Morocco lost four times in bids to host the World Cup, including the 2010 competition awarded to South Africa.

Africa has never staged the Club World Cup which was first held in Brazil in 2000.

Japan hosted four times from 2005-08 and will again in December and next year. The UAE hosted twice in Abu Dhabi.

The knockout competition includes the champion club of each of FIFA’s six continental confederations plus the host nation’s champion.

Fifa says only Morocco met Saturday’s deadline after South Africa, Iran and the United Arab Emirates withdrew bids.

Celtic, who were drawn in Group H in the Champions League draw, have boosted the financial output of the other Scottish Premiership teams after it was revealed they would receive a £1.5m payout as a result of Celtic’s participation.

The cash, which is a “solidarity payment” from European football’s governing body, will be shared equally between the 11 other clubs in Scotland’s top flight.

As it is not a commercial revenue, the money will not go into the central pot which is shared between all 42 sides under the Scottish Professional Football League banner and distributed based on where a club finishes on the league ladder.

Clubs also shared £1.5m last season as a result of Celtic reaching the group stage, where they faced Barcelona, Benfica and Spartak Moscow.

This year they have been drawn against AC Milan, Ajax and Barcelona.

No additional money is distributed to teams if the participating club reaches the knockout stages.

Celtic will themselves receive a guaranteed £16m from UEFA for their participation in the Champions League groups this season.

That figure could rise depending on their results against AC Milan, Ajax and Barcelona, with £852,000 on offer for each win and £426,000 for a draw.

Russia and Singapore have teamed up for a joint business venture to develop airports being used for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympics Games.

Russian business tycoon Oleg Deripaska, Singapore’s Changi Airport and Russian state lender Sberbank announced a 50-30-20 per cent division of shares in the venture, with Sberbank investing $120 million and Changi contributing $200 million to the project.

Deripaska’s Basic Element Group is investing $500 million and are hoping to capitalise on the cluster of airports in the Black Sea region, including in Sochi and Krasnodar.

As well as hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, Sochi is staging Formula One in the coming years and games during the 2018 World Cup, while both Krasnodar and Rostov are also set to host World Cup matches, meaning the region will require a significant expansion of air capacity for that tournament.

With total air passenger traffic estimated to beat five million in 2011, upgrading airport infrastructure is a key part of the region’s regeneration, with an exciting decade of sport ahead.

German Gref, the chief executive of Sberbank, said: “It is a financial investment for us. We do not manage airports and do not intend to. We see great potential for value increase in Krasnodar region airports, especially in view of the upcoming 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, as well as the World Cup that Russia will be hosting in 2018.”

Andrei Yelinson, deputy general director of the Basic Element Group, added: “We are planning to allocate our current airport assets of Sochi, Krasnodar, Gelendzhik and Anapa as a form of investment in the JV. Our stake will come to 50 per cent plus one share, the Sberbank Investment is 20 per cent minus one share and that of Changi Airports is 30 per cent.”

Rio 2016 organisers are offering architects interested in designing the golf course for the Olympics to submit proposals this month, herbal with a winner to be announced before Christmas.

The Rio Olympic committee have set a deadline of Oct. 28 for companies or individuals wanting  to apply, and the winning candidate will be announced Dec. 23.

Applicants must have prior course design experience, and the project will have to meet several specifications put in place by organizers. The committee also said the course also would have to leave a legacy to Rio and become “an important tool for youth transformation through sport.”

Some of the sport’s top names have expressed interest in designing the course, including Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Greg Norman.

The proposals will be examined by a jury made up of members of the IGF, the 2016 Olympic committee and the city of Rio.The committee said the winner would be paid $300,000 for the design. Any international company bidding for the design must have an office legally established in Rio.

Nicklaus and Annika Sorenstam, among those who helped persuade the International Olympic Committee to bring golf back to the Olympics, said in May 2010 they were interested in building the golf course. They offered to do it for free. Norman is working with retired Mexican star Lorena Ochoa.

Nicklaus said: “Because of how the Olympics are regarded and respected, I see this as a tremendous opportunity to introduce and grow the sport of golf in new and emerging markets. I would very much like to further that objective by collaborating with Annika on the design of the Olympic venue in Rio.”

The Rio golf course will be built in the Barra da Tijuca neighborhood, which will hold most of the Olympic venues. The course is expected to be located about 3 miles from the athletes village.

The committee said that after the games, the course would be managed by a “private operator with the chief purpose of promoting golf in Brazil and in South America, representing one of the most important games’ legacies for sport development in the country.”

Golf was initially inducted at the second modern Olympics in Paris in 1900, but was dropped after the 1904 games in St. Louis. The sport was reinstated by an IOC vote in 2009 that also guaranteed it a place in 2020.