Soccerex, here the global leader for the business of football, capsule has launched a Fantasy League game for the 2012 UEFA European Championships. The game, powered by Fantasy League Ltd, is free to play and will allow people from across the industry to test their skills against friends and colleagues during the tournament (8^th June – 1^st July).

There is added incentive to play the Soccerex Euro 2012 Fantasy League game with Soccerex offering a range of prizes including signed football shirts, an ipad2 and, for the winner, a VIP trip for two to Rio de Janeiro for the Soccerex Global Convention 2012.

The game is live now at http://soccerex.fantasyleague.com. You have until 18.00 BST on 8^th June to submit your team, with unlimited team changes available until this date. For full details of game regulations and prizes please go to http://soccerex.fantasyleague.com.

Commenting on the game’s launch, David Wright, Marketing Director, Soccerex, said:

“The football industry will be focusing on events in Poland and Ukraine this summer and our game will give our clients a light-hearted way to engage with each other around the tournament. Whether you are playing to win the trip to Rio, to beat your colleagues or just for the fun of it, there is something it for everyone involved in football.”

Richard King, Commercial Director, Fantasy League added:

“We are delighted to partner with Soccerex and run a Fantasy League for their audience during Euro 2012. We wish all the entrants the very best of luck in winning a fantastic trip to Rio for the Soccerex Global Convention 2012!”

The 2014 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup will be hosted in the Maldives, here the AFC competitions committee announced on Wednesday.

India, advice which was among four countries that had submitted bids, remedy was not considered since it had already hosted the tournament in 2008.

India was interested in hosting the tournament as the winner would have earned direct qualification to the Asian Cup 2015 in Australia.

The committee also approved DPR Korea’s exclusion from future AFC Challenge Cups and maintain automatic qualification for top three teams from the 2015 edition in the next edition.

Taking into consideration the views of AFC Technical Committee, the members decided to maintain a format of festival for U-14 age group rather than organising AFC U-14 Championship.

Olympic medallist Rebecca Adlington has been announced as an ambassador for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

Adlington said: “It’s a privilege to be involved as an ambassador for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and I’m thrilled to be able to voice my support to the next major sporting event coming to the UK.

“The huge success of London 2012 will only increase the excitement and interest towards the Games and I can’t wait to be part of the journey to 2014.”

She will be involved held in event in Glasgow on Thursday at which the official Games mascot will be launched.

Lord Smith, chairman of Glasgow 2014, said: “Rebecca is Great Britain’s greatest ever swimmer and she is such a well-known personality across the sporting spectrum.

“Alongside Sir Chris, Rebecca will promote the Games and help ensure as many people as possible make the most of Scotland’s largest ever sporting and cultural event.”{jcomments on}

TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE

2,000 BMX riders descend upon Birmingham this week to take part in the UCI BMX World Championships at the National Indoor Arena (NIA) from May 24^th-27^th.  The event will showcase four days of exhilarating, adrenaline fuelled BMX Racing, with Olympic GB hopefuls Shanaze Reade and Liam Phillips competing in their last event before the London 2012 Olympics.  Tickets are still available at www.bmxworldchamps.com to watch them in action.

A BMX Racing track is being built from scratch in the NIA in just one week, building dirt jumps and trails to replicate an outside BMX track, with capacity to seat an audience of over 4,000 on each of the four days of racing.  Over 8,000 pallets and 3,000 tonnes of dirt have been sourced to construct the track from local suppliers.

The event has two different standards of rider competing, including an elite racing ‘Championships’ competition and the amateur ‘Challenge’ class.  Whilst tickets can be bought across the whole Championships, the organisers have packed most of the finals into two showcase nights of racing and entertainment including music from international DJ Christian Stevenson. ‘Challenge’ class finals and elite time trials will be the focal point of the Friday evening, whilst Saturday night will see the Elite Championship finals, where the world’s best riders will race elbow to elbow for the honour of wearing the rainbow stripes of World Champion for the next 12 months.

Three times winner of the UCI BMX World Championships Shanaze Reade said, “I’m really looking forward to competing in Birmingham in a few weeks. It’s fantastic that Birmingham is hosting the World Championships and taking another World Championships title would be great preparation before the Olympics. I’m really excited about competing in my home country at major competitions twice this year.”

Steve Hollingworth, Assistant Director of Sport & Events at Birmingham City Council said, “In what is a huge year for the sport of BMX, hosting the BMX World Championships is yet another major event to further enhance Birmingham’s reputation as a World Class Sporting City. The sport of BMX is rapidly growing in popularity in the city and the legacy of the BMX World Championships can be appreciated with the newly built Birmingham BMX Track at Perry Park which opened last year.”

Jonny Clay, Event Director for the UCI BMX World Championships said, “The 2012 BMX World Championships is the latest in a string of major events that British Cycling has successfully bid for in recent years. We can already see the legacy of the event here in Birmingham with the creation of the new International BMX facility at Perry Park.  It’s really exciting that the World Championships are in Birmingham this year, only months before the Olympics.”

or follow @BMXWorlds on Twitter

 

Michael Roche, medical the Executive of Singapore GP, recipe the promoter of the Formula One race in the country, says that despite incredible success, the circuit can do much to improve itself.

Speaking exclusively to iSportconnect, Roche said that the track cannot afford to stand still in today’s environment. “There are so many areas we can improve and we try and cover every touch point; how our website looks, how our ticketing website and how you book a ticket, when you get the confirmation of a ticket and then when you receive the ticket’s in beautiful packaging, so the whole experience must follow through to when you get to the circuit,” he said.

Following on from that point, Roche said: “You can always improve and you must improve because what you did five years ago is now passé. If all you do is deliver what you did before, people will say it’s not as good, as perception is “oh, I already been to that.”

“So, all the time you have to sharpen your pencil and look at all areas and see how you can innovate, how you can make it different and how you can put a spin on it.”

USA Rugby is making bold and aggressive moves to advance its organization by appointing Pam Kosanke as Chief Marketing Officer to lead all internal and external marketing and sponsorship efforts for the organization.

Kosanke joins USA Rugby from Leo Burnett in Chicago, IL where she was a Vice President and oversaw several highly awarded blue-chip consumer product goods (CPG), retail and QSR (quick service restaurant) accounts including McDonald’s. She also led sponsorship activation for various football, Olympics and NASCAR events on Allstate Sports. Additionally, Kosanke volunteered on the communications team for the Chicago 2016 Olympic Bid Committee. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan where she played Varsity Softball as an Academic All-American, and earned her Bachelor’s of Business Administration.

“Pam is uniquely suited to spearhead our marketing department and help position USA Rugby as a world class organization that champions and develops the sport of rugby in America,” said Nigel Melville, USA Rugby CEO and Director.

Kosanke’s expertise on and off the rugby field will help prepare the organization for the sport’s first appearance at the 2016 Olympic Games and beyond. She is a well respected and seasoned rugby veteran who is a current USA Women’s National Rugby Team player and played in both the 2006 and 2009 Women’s Rugby World Cups. Kosanke was recently selected as an International Athlete representative to the USA Rugby Congress and was named Rugby Magazine’s Female Player of the Year in 2011.

“I am thrilled to create a reinvigorated expression of the USA Rugby brand leading into the 2016 Olympic Games,” said Pam Kosanke. “Joining USA Rugby is a perfect marriage of my passion for sport and career. Now that rugby is an Olympic sport again, the opportunity for growth is legendary. USA Rugby must turn the corner with podium-worthy performance on all levels.”

David Dein, ampoule former Vice Chairman of Arsenal FC and the Football Association, remedy has joined the line up for the inaugural Soccerex Seminar Lagos, sales 27 – 28 September 2012.

David will call upon his vast local and international experience to deliver a masterclass on the hot topics in football today, with particular focus on the market in West Africa. David has been a regular visitor to the region and a strong advocate of its business potential. Commenting on the Soccerex Seminar Lagos, David said:

‘Nigeria is like my second home – I have been travelling there for over 30 years. The passion and ability that West Africa has for the beautiful game is immense and the economy is now growing rapidly, resulting in increased opportunities around football. In that sense, it is perfect timing that Soccerex has decided to come to Lagos – and I am really looking forward to being part of it.’

Given David’s strong Arsenal connections, his participation has added relevance as it will come shortly after the club have completed their first ever pre-season tour of Nigeria.

David’s session will be part of an agenda designed to promote industry best practice and highlight the growth potential of the region. The conference line up for the event will address key regional and international issues such as Football in West Africa, Youth Development, The Business of Football, Doing Business in West Africa and Social responsibility.

For more information on the Soccerex Seminar Lagos please go to www.soccerex.com/lagos

Major League Soccer (MLS) is exercising it’s plans to add a second team in New York but David Beckham will not be allowed to buy into the new franchise when he retires from playing.

MLS commissioner Don Garber, speaking to reporters on Monday in his annual “state of the league” call, said the organisation was in talks with New York City and was hoping to add a second team in the United States’ biggest market in 2016.

If agreement can be reached, the team would be based in Queens, near the national tennis center and Citifield stadium where Major League Baseball’s New York Mets play their home games.

“There’s a lot of work that needs to happen to finalise our agreement with New York City over our use of the land and our ability to lease that land to build a stadium,” Garber said.

“I do believe that we will resolve that shortly. I can’t put any timetable on that, but we are at the finish line.

The addition of the team would lift the total number of sides in the MLS to 20 and create an instant local rivalry in New York, which already has the Red Bulls.

Garber said ”many ownership groups“ were interested in funding the team but Beckham would not be considered despite expressing interest in owning a franchise when his playing days are over.

As part of the deal to lure the former England captain to the United States, Beckham has an option to buy an expansion franchise but Garber said there was a clause in his contract excluding the Big Apple.

”Anything’s a possibility other than his right to exercise that option in New York,“ Garber said.

Beckham, who joined the Los Angeles Galaxy from Real Madrid in 2007, is quitting the MLS after Saturday’s Cup final against Houston.

Garber said his contribution to building the fledgling league was impossible to calculate but there was no doubt he was leaving the league in a better state than when he joined.

”No-one could argue that he hasn’t over delivered,“ Garber said.

”His presence here served without doubt as a catalyst for other world class players to come here.

“We needed David Beckham in 2007 to help drive our credibility … but we don’t need anything today to get us to the next level.”

London Mayor Boris Johnson will chair his London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) following the success of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Johnson said the Games legacy, including the future of the Olympic Park and the continued regeneration of East London, is a top priority as he personally oversees the process as chair of the LLDC Board. 

“Securing the future of the Olympic and Paralympic legacy and building on the regeneration of East London is a matter of huge importance to me personally,” Johnson said.

“It is vital that I continue to be at the forefront of the decision-making, driving forward the huge task of delivery. The chairmanship of the LLDC will enable me to do just that, building on what has already been achieved.”

The former MP for Henley also confirmed the appointment of Daniel Moylan, his aviation advisor and current chair of LLDC, to spearhead a new aviation policy unit with a brief to develop air infrastructure links to benefit business in London and the South East.

“Daniel Moylan is a gifted politician with a superb brain. I’ve asked Daniel to take on one of the most important challenges of my second term, the vital task of driving our aviation policy,” Johnson added.

“London is the heartbeat of the UK’s economy. We must remain competitive, and to do that we need a coherent aviation strategy for 21st century London. Daniel Moylan will help me deliver that.”