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.

A high total of 21 Indian Olympians have told the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) not to accept Dow Chemical’s sponsorship for London 2012 Olympics.

At a press conference organized by five Bhopal disaster survivors’ organizations on Monday, Olympians Inam – Ur – Rehman, B P Govinda, Syed Ali and Jalaluddin Rizvi demanded that the organizers of the London Olympics 2012 cancel the sponsorship of Dow Chemical Company, current owner of Union Carbide, the American multinational responsible for the continuing disaster in Bhopal.

The Olympians said that in view of the current plight of the victims and the environment in Bhopal, Dow’s sponsorship is offensive to the spirit of the Olympic Games.

They said that national and international Olympians should oppose the unholy alliance with the poisoner of Bhopal. They presented a list of 21 Indian Olympians who have so far signed on to an ongoing petition addressed to the organizers of the London Olympics 2012 – LOCOG.

The Bhopal survivors’ organizations condemned the Indian government and the Indian Olympic Committee for their deliberate inaction regarding sponsorship of the Olympic Games by a corporation responsible for poisoning and maiming thousands of Bhopal citizens.

Rashida Bee of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh, said: “It is three months since we requested the Prime Minister and the Acting Chairman of the Indian Olympic Committee to register the country’s opposition to Dow Chemical sponsoring the Olympic Games in London next year but neither of them has moved on this.”

The organizations said that as 100 % owner, Dow Chemical is sheltering Union Carbide that is absconding from charges of culpable homicide in Indian courts for the last 19 years. 

They pointed out that Dow Chemical is also violating Indian laws by refusing to clean up the toxic contamination of soil and ground water caused by reckless dumping of hazardous waste by Union Carbide, USA.

Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action pointed out that the Indian government has blacklisted Dow Agrosciences for bribing government officials. 

She said that recently the government has also cancelled the registration of three pesticides of this wholly owned subsidiary of Dow Chemicals for the same criminal offence.

“We are certainly not against the London Olympic Games, said Balkrishna Namdeo of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha, “in fact we are opposing the besmirching of the reputation of the Olympic Games through its association with a criminal corporation.”

Nawab Khan of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha said that the survivors of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal would observe its 27th anniversary as a day of action against Dow Chemical’s sponsorship of the London Olympics.

Safreen Khan of the Children against Dow / Carbide, said: “Because of Dow Chemical’s refusal to clean up Bhopal’s poisons, hundreds of children are being born disabled. It is indeed shocking that the organizers of the London Olympics have not cared to find out about their sponsor’s misdeeds.”

Russia have started a ambitious bid to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup, having just made their debut at the tournament at this year’s edition.

The sport is in line for major investment in the country following its addition to the Olympic programme, and has been added to the curriculum in a number of schools around Moscow, with more to follow across the country.

A statement on the Russian Rugby Union (RRU) website, read: ‘During our board meeting RRU president Vyacheslav Kopyev stated that Russia would lodge a formal bid to host the World Cup in 2023. The Russian team had a respectable showing in New Zealand, scoring eight tries – a great achievement for the World Cup debutants.’

The country will host the rugby sevens World Cup in 2013 – the last edition of the competition before it is added to the Olympic roster from 2016 – and the RRU noted that it has set an objective of winning the competition.

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Related discussion: Russia to bid for 2023 Rugby World Cup

USA Gymnastics today announced that Luan Peszek has been named vice president of women’s program, effective immediately.

She will be responsible for the overall direction and management of the women’s program, which includes elite, the athlete development pipeline, the Junior Olympic program, and women’s program administrative responsibilities.

“Luan has the perfect combination of experience for this position – familiarity with the breadth of women’s program, extensive working knowledge of women’s gymnastics and our organization, and demonstrated leadership skills,” said Steve Penny, president of USAGymnastics.  “I am confident she will be an excellent leader and her administrative skills will be an important asset in her new role.  Her passion for gymnastics and commitment to excellence are hallmarks of her character and will be invaluable to the women’s program.”

“I’m honored to become the vice president of women’s program for USA Gymnastics,” said Peszek, who has been with USA Gymnastics for 25 years.  “I look forward to working with the incredibly talented group of athletes, coaches, judges and administrators who comprise the women’s program, and I am excited to be a part of the team that will continue the legacy of excellence associated with our collective efforts.”

Most recently, Peszek was managing director of communications for USA Gymnastics.  She managed content and advertising for both magazines, “Technique” and “USA Gymnastics,” event programs, Congress Guide, etc.; oversaw content for usagym.org and other organizational materials; managed photography, social media and graphic design; and was the liaison with NBC Sports for gymnastics broadcasts.  Peszek has coached at both the Junior Olympic and NCAA levels; authored “Gymnastics Almanac”; and is a writer for Encyclopedia Britannica.  Her experience in the sport also includes involvement in event management and volunteer efforts.  She joinedUSA Gymnastics in 1988 as director of publications.

Peszek earned a Bachelor of Arts in advertising at the University of Illinois, where she was a member of the gymnastics team.  She earned her Masters of Art in journalism from Northern Illinois University.  She is married and has two daughters, both of whom are gymnasts.