The final deadline for entry into the Football Business Awards is Wednesday 15th August. Some of the biggest names in football have already entered the awards.

The awards ceremony will be held at a gala dinner at Chelsea FC’s Stamford Bridge in November.

Make sure your club, business or innovation gets the recognition it deserves, enter the awards here www.footballbusinessawards.com

FOX Sports has acquired Australian rights to broadcast the Spanish La Liga and Italian Serie A for the next two seasons.

Australia’s sports leader will broadcast two live matches each week with an additional two matches on delay from both leagues, starting with the Madrid and Turin derbies this Sunday, 29 September.

Socceroos legend and current Melbourne Heart coach John Aloisi, who was the first Australian ever to play and score in La Liga, the English Premier League and Serie A, has praised the broadcast deal.

“It is fantastic for Australian football fans to be able to enjoy two of the top club competitions in world football,” Aloisi said.

“Fans can not only look forward to watching big matches such as the Manchester Derby, but now they can catch the Milan and Madrid derbies, and see world-class players like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo live every week.

Aloisi, who played 48 games in the Italian top flight with Cremonese between 1995-1997 and in Spain’s La Liga between 2001-2007 for Osasuna (121 games) and Alaves (58 games), said there was growing appetite for European club football in Australia.

“Having played in Italy and Spain, I always keep a close eye on the competition and they are growing in popularity each year in Australia,” Aloisi said.

“I think football fans across Australia will welcome this broadcast deal.”

Fox Sports already shows all 380 Barclays Premier League matches as well as every match from the domestic Hyundai A-League.

Fotball Federation Australia CEO David Gallop has welcomed the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Executive Committee’s decision last night in Kuala Lumpur to nominate Australia’s Moya Dodd as a candidate to the FIFA Executive Committee (ExCo) position of women’s football representative.

Moya is currently an AFC Vice-President, discount Chair of the AFC Women’s Committee, an FFA Director and a former Matildas vice-captain.

“Moya’s nomination in itself is a significant step for Australian football and indeed Australian sports administration,” said Gallop.

“The FIFA Executive Committee is the most powerful and influential administrative body in world sport and having elected Australian representation would bring immeasurable status to our nation and Australian football.

“It’s appropriate that Moya has been nominated as a candidate for the specific FIFA ExCo seat to represent women’s football. Moya has a lifelong passion for the game and Australia is a leading nation for women’s football, having 20% of all players being female, running a national club competition the Westfield W-League and being a top 10 nation on the FIFA rankings.”

The election for the FIFA ExCo women’s position will be held during the FIFA Congress in Mauritius in May this year.

 

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The Asian Paralympic Committee (APC) and the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to work together in enhancing broadcasting coverage and awareness of Paralympic events and sports in Asia.

This partnership will ensure broadcasting arrangements for Para games such as the 2014 Incheon Para Games and other APC major sport championships.

The first venture from this collaboration however, drugs will be the Asian Youth Para Games (AYPG) Malaysia 2013, to be held in Kuala Lumpur from 26 to 30 October 2013. ABU will be the Games Broadcast Partner and produce live feeds, highlights and news packages, as well as assist with distribution of the AYPG news package and highlights to its members through Asiavision. ABU has 255 members spread across 63 countries.

Dato’ Zainal, who is also chairman of the upcoming AYPG Malaysia 2013, said: “APC is proud to be associated with ABU and sees this partnership as one that will propel Para-sports in the region to a different level starting with the AYPG 2013.”

“The signing of this MoU marks a new milestone in the Paralympic movement in Asia.  Although the idea to promote and enhance the value of Para sports and Paralympic movement in the region through a partnership between ABU and APC is something that has been on our minds for some years, it is only now that the idea has come to fruition. “

Apart from the Asian Para Games (held once in every 4 years), APC’s other major Games include the Asian Youth Para Games, Asia Open Winter Games (in the pipeline), regional Games and various individual championships.

The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) have announced Lausanne-based Broadreach Media will distribute its TV and new media rights in Asia, Africa, Americas, Oceania and Russia, in a 4-year deal. 

IFSC is the world governing body for sport climbing and each March-December season produces over 150 hours of HD content from over 20 IFSC events, comprising Boulder, Speed and Lead Climbing World Cup Series and also its biennial IFSC World Championship and annual Youth World Championships..

IFSC President, Marco Scolaris, commented, “The last decade has been a period of spectacular growth for both sport climbing and the organization.Sport climbing has gained credibility not only as competitive sport, but also for its social values. It has now all the maturity to deliver professional competitions with top athletes to a large audience. Pushing state of the art content to TVs has become an evidence and gaining TV exposure is now one of IFSC’s priorities. Our athletes deserve it.”

Steven Morris, Director of Broadreach Media Europe commented: “Broadreach Media is a market specialist for emerging niche-sports, particularly in developing territories. We specifically targeted IFSC sport climbing as a new client, because it’s cool, very telegenic and especially because of the fast-growing number of medal-winning Russian and Asian athletes in the sport.”

English League One’s Swindon Town have announced they have reached an agreement on a takeover which should safeguard their future.

No details of the consortium itself were released, though reports suggest it is led by Banbury owner Jed McCrory.

A statement on swindontownfc.co.uk read: “Completion of the sale is dependent upon approval from the Football League, which we hope to obtain in the next few days.

“Upon completion, most of the club’s existing debt will be written off, the threat of administration will be avoided and Paolo Di Canioand the squad will be able to concentrate on football and the challenge of making Swindon a Championship club next season.”

Chairman Sir William Patey added: “This is an important day for the club, with the current owners writing off most of their debts and the new consortium’s funding, the club has a strong financial base to continue the battle for Championship football.”

Swindon sold star winger Matt Ritchie to League One rivals Bournemouth on Wednesday night for a fee believed to be in the region of £400,000.