Sydney Swans director Andrew Pridham will replace long-serving Richard Colless as chairman of the Australian Rules Football League club next year.

Colless last month said he would not be seeking re-election when his term ends in February.

Pridham will step into the role having served on the Swans board for the past 12 years, while Andrew McMaster will continue as deputy chairman, the club announced in a statement on Wednesday.

Colless said he was delighted that the two senior positions were going to be filled by sitting board members who had a strong understanding of the Swans’ culture and values.

“We believe this is best achieved by, if you like, people serving a genuine apprenticeship,” added Colless.

“I’m sure the handover will occur as smoothly as the Paul Roos/John Longmire transition did.”

Colless assured fans that the appointments were not a sign of complacency within the board or club.

“We remain totally committed to continual improvement in all facets of our activities. To do otherwise is a guarantee for mediocrity,” he said.

Rio de Janiero Chief Executive, Leonardo Gryner has acknowledged that they are struggling to recruit enough skilled Brazilian workers to help it prepare for the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics and will probably need to look abroad for the expertise it needs.

There is a particular shortage of engineers with expertise in project management, he admitted. “Today we have 181 employees involved in organising the event, when the forecast was that we should have 274 by this time,” said Gryner.

At its peak, Rio 2016 is expected to employ more than 4,000 people. At the same time organisers of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil are also looking to recruit high-calibre staff.

Gryner said: “As the Brazilian economy is heated, there is talent shortage in the market. But employees who are hired are compensated by a salary greater than originally anticipated.”

Gryner believes there will be a lot of foreign interest.

“Traditionally, 20 to 25 per cent of the workforce employed in each edition of the Olympics is foreign. In Rio, we can expect that figure to raise to 30 per cent due to lack of manpower. Our salaries are competitive abroad because we are paying the dollar, an amount consistent with the international market,” he said.

It is estimated that by the end of 2016 the Brazilian economy will need an extra 20,000 construction workers to keep up with demand. 

To help fill the gap, the Referral Service construction of the Center for Industrial Learning (SENAI) is planned to open next year, two schools offering vocational training for the construction industry.

From late 2012, it is expected to train 6,000 professionals each year.

Bob Hersh has been elected as the new head of the Evaluation Commission for the 2017 World Championships following his appointment as senior vice-president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

The American will lead a nine-member delegation that will visit London and Doha next month to produce a report that will assess the two cities respective bids ahead of a meeting of the IAAF’s ruling Council in Monte Carlo on November 11.

Hersh, a Harvard Law School graduate, replaces former Olympic pole vault champion Sergey Bubka, who headed the Evaluation Commission that oversaw the bids for the 2015 World Championships.

London failed on their bid on that occasion due to concerns over the legacy of their stadium.

The Evaluation Commission will be seeking reassurances during their visit, which is scheduled to take place between October 2 and 4, that London will have a Stadium to host the event if they are awarded it.

Memories are still fresh within the IAAF that in 2001 were awarded the 2005 World Championships but then Prime Minister Tony Blair broke a promise to build a stadium at Picketts Lock to host the event and it was eventually moved to Helsinki.

But London will be encouraged that Bubka, a vocal long-time critic of London’s failure to secure the future of the Olympic Stadium, has been removed from the Evaluation Commission after he lost his position as senior IAAF vice-president at the elections in Daegu last month.

London will be encouragement from the inclusion on the Commission of Namibia’s former world 200 metres champion Frankie Fredericks.

He was a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Evaluation Commission that inspected London’s bid for 2012 and is now on the Coordination Commission that is overseeing the preparations.

Other members of the Commission include Mexico’s Cesar Moreno Bravo, an honorary member of the IAAF Council, IAAF general secretary Pierre Weiss, who is from France, and his British deputy, Nick Davies.

The Commission also includes another Briton in Nigel Swinscoe, a Lougborough University graduate, who will be representing AMS, the servicing company of Dentsu, the IAAF’s marketing agents.

Dentsu will also have a representative on the Commission who will sit alongside Paul Hardy, the Canadian who is the competition manager of the IAAF, and Isabelle Dupuis, Weiss’ personal assistant.

The Commission will visit the Olympic Stadium on October 3, the second day of their visit to London, and will hold a press conference the next day before leaving for Doha, where they will stay until October 6.

London 2012 organisers have decided it’s next financial report and accounts will have to wait to be published until after the Games.

The organisation disclosed in its report for the year ended 31 March, 2011, published last week, that it had extended its accounting reference date to 30 September, 2012.

This means that “the majority of the remaining lifetime revenue and expenditure will be captured in one accounting reference period”.

It also means that staff will not be sidetracked by the rigours of compiling a detailed account of their year’s operations in the final weeks before the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games actually take place.

On the other hand a detailed picture of London 2012’s business operations in the most critical phase of its corporate lifecycle will not be produced until many staff members have left. Under the timetable currently envisaged, information for the 18-month period to 30 September, 2012 will be audited in the last two months of that year, with accounts published in 2013.

Subsequent to that, there will also be a final set of accounts covering the six months to 31 March, 2013. Once this exploit has completed its functions, London 2012 will embark on the formal process of dissolving the company.

The Madrid Olympic 2020 bid will be headed up by the President of the Spanish Olympic Committee AleJandro Blanco, the Mayor of Madrid, Alberto Ruiz Gallardon announced.

Gallardon said that he felt like this appointment was very important and that choosing “the head of Spanish sport” as the leader was the best solution as he thought the role “required a strong professional personality from the world of sport”.

The Mayor was in the top position for both of Madrid’s failed 2012 and 2016 bids and has decided to change strategy this time around.

Madrid ran against London, Paris, New York and Moscow for the 2012 Games that London will host next year.

In 2016 the contenders were Rio de Janeiro, Madrid, Tokyo and Chicago and Rio took home the prize to host the first South American Games.

This 2020 race will see both Tokyo and Madrid back for a consecutive try to land the Olympics. It will also make Madrid’s third bid in a row.

The final decision will be voted in September 2013 at the IOC session in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Bangladesh Cricket Board’s media broadcast rights have been sublicensed to Pakistan’s leading sports channel Geo Super.

The deal enables Geo Super to broadcast all international cricket hosted by the Bangladesh Cricket Board till 2020. Pakistan team will travel to Bangladesh twice during the period of this contract, whereas India also visits twice to play cricket with its eastern neighbour.

Ashish Chadha,part of Sporty Solutionz who sublicensed the deal, said: “We are proud of our association with the Bangladesh Cricket Board and Geo Super. BCB will  host  some  of  the  best  cricket,  including  tours  by  the Pakistan cricket team, during the course of this deal. I am sure this broadcast deal will usher a new era for cricketing ties between Bangladesh and Pakistan and for cricket lovers in Pakistan.”

GEO TV Network president Imran Aslam added: “Bangladesh cricket has always been special to the people of Pakistan, who admire the tenacity and fighting spirit   of the Bengal Tigers. GEO Super, Pakistan’s first sports channel, is proud to be associated with Bangladesh Cricket and will provide a perfect platform for showcasing the sport and all its glorious uncertainties through state of the art production values. We look forward to a long association and unmissible action. For viewers this is a free hit. We will like to thank Sporty Solutionz for helping us grab this opportunity.”

Soccerex is delighted to announce that Zambia national football team manager, Herve Renard will be speaking at the Soccerex African Forum on 1-2 October.

As one of the youngest and most successful managers currently working on the continent, Renard will be joining a panel of other managers and players to tackle the key issues, including the continent’s different approaches to player development, the support and funding made available, the challenges and benefits of African players moving to European football and one of the most important factors: learning to cope with the pressures of managing and playing in a football-crazy continent.

After a 15-year playing career in France, Renard started his coaching career in 1999 and has gone on to manage sides in France, China, England and Algeria, as well as being head coach of the Angola and Zambia national teams. Currently in his second spell in charge of Zambia, Renard led them to their first African Cup of Nations title in 2012 in Gabon, only a few hundred metres inland from the place where the fatal plane crash which caused the death of 18 players of the Zambian national team in 1994. His reign has also seen ‘The Copper Bullets’ rise 30 places up the official FIFA World Rankings, including a 15-year high of 34^th place in 2012.

Herve Renard said: “the Forum will be a great opportunity to meet all of the relevant people concerned about the development of African football. It will be an interesting discussion where we can share our ideas and the different methods we’re currently using within the game.”

Soccerex CEO Duncan Revie remarked: “It’s of great pleasure to welcome Herve to the Forum. As manager of one of the best teams in Africa he will be able to provide a great insight into life behind football management on the continent as well as the fantastic journey Zambia went on in winning the 2012 African Cup of Nations.”

The Soccerex African Forum aims to unite the business of football in Africa by bringing together 1,000 senior football decision makers together with businesses from across the continent and the rest of the world, for two days of unrivalled learning, networking and business opportunities. You can find the conference agenda for this year’s Forum here: http://www.mysoccerex.com/AF13ConferenceProgramme.pdf

For further information about this event please call +44 (0)208 987 5522 or visit http://www.soccerex.com/africa