Soccerex has announced announce that Sir John Madejski will be speaking on the ‘Captains of Industry’ panel at this year’s Soccerex European Forum, anabolics 10-11 April, capsule Manchester, cough | which will be attended by approximately 1,500 industry decision makers from the world of football.

The panel will be chaired by Andrew Main Wilson, a highly experienced business leader who has interviewed over a hundred of the world’s greatest leaders in the fields of Business, Sport, Politics and Entertainment, including Bill Gates, Jack Welch, Lady Thatcher, Sir Richard Branson and seven England national football team managers.

The session will provide an insight into the unique relationship between big businesses and football; by focusing on what business leaders such as Madejski think of the finances of football and what best practice ideas can be applied from other successful industries.

Madejski, also highly respected for his business expertise in the publishing and hotel sectors, became Chairman of Reading Football Club in 1990, whilst the side was still in the third division of English football. He oversaw the club’s remarkable progress up into the Championship and then into the Premier League, for the first time in the club’s history, after winning the 2005/06 Championship. Sir John created the new Madejski Stadium in 1998 – a stadium worthy of Premier League football. He remains Chairman of the Royals after selling a majority stake to Anton Zingarevich in early 2012. He has also been a benefactor to several highly influential institutions, including the Royal Academy of Arts, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the University of Reading.

Sir John Madejski commented:

“After hearing great things about Soccerex I’m looking forward to attending the European Forum. The subject of business excellence in successfully running football clubs has never been more important and I look forward to debating the many issues with Andrew.”

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

It has been revealed by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) that if London is to host the 2017 World Athletics Championships at the Olympic Stadium, they will have to beat offer the challenge of four other bidding nations/cities.

The IAAF released a press statement revealing that Berlin – German, Budapest – Hungary and an as-yet-unnamed Spanish city had entered the race for the Championships after it was confirmed earlier in the week that both London and Doha already tabled bids for the event.

“With the deadline now closed, letters of intent from Member Federations interested in hosting the 2017 edition of the IAAF World Championships have now been received from five countries,” stated the IAAF.

The IAAF will confirm the candidate cities for the Championships on September 1 and then select the host city at a Council meeting in November. The next edition of the Championships will be staged in Daegu, South Korea, later this year.

The biennial event will take part in Moscow – Russian and Beijing – China in 2013 and 2015 respectively.

One issue for Doha is the extreme heat in the summer, but the country’s National Olympic Committee is in talks with the IAAF over possibly moving the event to later in the year. A Qatar Olympic Committee spokesperson told the Press Association: “We are presently considering the potential dates, and we will enter discussions with the IAAF over dates at the appropriate time during the bidding process.”

The spokesperson added: “Should Qatar’s bid for the championships be successful, the proposed stadium would be Doha’s Khalifa International Stadium which will be fully equipped with the latest environmentally friendly air-cooling technology.”

Gloucestershire County Cricket Club has announced that David Graveney OBE and Charles Cook have been appointed to the Club’s Executive Board.

Both high profile Bristolians, unhealthy David is a leading figure in English cricket having played for Gloucestershire, Somerset and Durham.  David first joined the Gloucestershire squad in 1972 and was officially appointed as Captain for the start of the 1982 season, a position he held until the end of the 1988 season.  David is currently the ECB`s National Performance Manager and President of the PCA`s Benevolent Fund.  He is a former Chairman of England selectors and Chief Executive of the Professional Cricketers’ Association.

Charles is a prominent corporate, media and sports lawyer in the city and is the Managing Partner of boutique corporate, property and private client firm, Cook & Co Solicitors.  Charles also sits on the board of several high profile businesses in the city and has many connections in the sports sector.

Graveney said: “I am honoured to have been invited to sit on the board and look forward to making a meaningful contribution, particularly on cricketing matters. I know I speak for my father (Ken Graveney) and uncle (Tom Graveney OBE) when saying that I am delighted that our family’s long association with Gloucestershire will continue.”

Cook added: “This is a very exciting time for the club. The development of the ground will ensure that first-class, with impressive facilities, will keep being delivered to the people of Bristol and Gloucestershire.”

A potential joint bid for the 2030 FIFA World Cup has been supported by the governments of Argentina and Uruguay in an attempt to bring the event back to South America, and Uruguay who hosted the first edition of the quadrennial tournament 100 years previous in 1930.

The host nation of the first ever FIFA World Cup went on to defeat Argentina 4-2 in the final and lift the trophy. Since then, Argentina have also triumphed on home soil, winning the tournament in 1978 and the Foreign Ministers of both countries have now placed their full support behind a tilt at 2030.

Argentina’s Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, is quoted by Reuters, saying: “We have agreed to set up a bi-national committee to support the initiative together with the national football associations to promote the candidature of Argentina and Uruguay for the 2030 World Cup.”

Argentina Football Association president Julio Grondona has also welcomed the news, but has warned that the financial considerations of staging a World Cup would need to be studied carefully.

Grondona told Argentine newspaper La Nacion: “I believe that we can be well-placed to host it, we will just have to see what demands are put on us. We would not hold a tournament which will enslave our country. If the demands are more than we can meet, it is best not to go through with it.”

Football Federation Australia (FFA) have unveiled today the format of the inaugural FFA Cup in 2014.

Preliminary matches involving over 600 clubs across Australia have commenced this month ahead of the national knock-out FFA Cup Round of 32 kicking off in late July.

That is the stage when the 10 Hyundai A-League clubs will join the 22 clubs who will have qualified from feeder cup competitions in eight states and territories – Queensland, sickness NSW, denture Northern NSW, Victoria, ACT, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia.

A live Round of 32 draw will occur in late June this year and will see four Round of 32 matches in which Hyundai A-League clubs will be the away team against semi-professional or amateur clubs at suburban or regional venues.

“The FFA Cup has taken on an almost mythical status among football fans who have longed for a national knock-out cup competition to fill a void in the football calendar,” said FFA CEO David Gallop.

“Today, the FFA Cup comes to life as a very tangible link between community football and the professional tier. It’s a unique sporting link from the locals to the legends.

“We all grew up with the romance of the English FA Cup and well remember the history of upsets. I’m sure the FFA Cup will bring the same fascination to fans across Australia.”

FFA also announced that Fox Sports has been appointed as the Official Broadcaster of the FFA Cup.

The Fox Sports coverage will include a minimum of 10 matches from the Round of 32 onwards, including all Quarter-Finals, both Semi-Finals and the FFA Cup Final.

Rick Kenney, illness Vice President of JudoScotland has recently been elected as Executive President of the Commonwealth Judo Association.

Rick was a member of the CJA Executive from 1990 and was elected as Senior Vice President in 1998. He attended Commonwealth Judo Championships in this position all over the world, including Mauritius; Malta; Canada: Singapore and New Zealand. He was Chairman of the Organising Committees when Commonwealth Championships were held in Scotland in 1998 and 1986.

He was previously Chairman of JudoScotland for 7 years and Vice Chair of the British Judo Association for 5 years along with serving 2 terms as Vice Chair of the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland.

The role of CJA Executive President is a demanding one with some 73 Commonwealth countries having involvement in the sport of judo at all levels from recreational to international representation. Judo has been one of Scotland’s most successful Commonwealth sports with gold medals won in Auckland in 1990 where Rick was the team coach and then in Manchester in 2002 where Graham Randall won gold.

Judo was a demonstration sport in Edinburgh at the 1986 Games, when Rick was also the team coach, and due to its success, the sport was then included in the following Games.

Rick said: “I look forward to developing judo across the Commonwealth over the next few years and am sure that the Glasgow Commonwealth Games will showcase our sport across the world. Scotland has a long tradition in judo at Commonwealth level stretching back to 1986 and I see a bright future for judo.”

It has been confirmed that the 2011 African Youth Championship, pills initially scheduled to be hosted in Libya, medstore has been moved to South Africa, who become the new hosts following the removal of the event due to political unrest in Libya.

The tournament was originally scheduled to commence in Tripoli on March 18, but was postponed due to the ongoing social and political unrest in the country.

Since then, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has confirmed that the tournament will run from April 17 to May 2 with South Africa set to stage the Championship for the first time in its history.

CAF president Issa Hayatou released a statement on Wednesday, March 16, saying: “We decided to move the U20 finals to South Africa. The Executive Committee took that decision on Tuesday.”

South Africa, which had originally not qualified for the tournament, will take Libya’s place and will face Mali, Egypt and Lesotho in Group A.