The South African Football Association (SAFA) has appointed a new CEO as Dr Robin Petersen was unveiled. Petersen is expected to develop the sport following last year’s staging of the FIFA World Cup.

Petersen will succeed Leslie Sedibe, treatment who left the post in January when his one-year contract ended.

Petersen has an extensive background in football administration having served as head of the domestic Premier Soccer League from 2000 to 2001 and general manager of South Africa’s failed bid for the 2006 World Cup.

He will play an important role in managing SAFA’s reported US$102 million legacy windfall from the World Cup, rx which will be mostly channelled into development structures.

SAFA president Kirsten Nematandani said: “We believe that Dr Petersen has the necessary qualifications, experience and expertise in business and football to assist SAFA to deliver on our mandate. We are happy to have made this appointment and now we can focus on our core business of running the game of football in this country.”

Petersen added: “I am passionate about the game of football, and I could not stay away from it for too long. I am also passionate about football development and will strive to ensure we work hard on it. To ensure our success, we need to ensure we have the right structures – administratively, commercially and strategically.”

SportsMax have revealed they will broadcast the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour to the Caribbean audience starting this year through to 2016.

International Media Content Ltd (IMC), SportsMax’s parent, has signed a four-year agreement with Swedish rights company IEC in Sports for the broadcast rights to the WTA. 

As the new broadcast partner of the WTA in the region, SportsMax will broadcast 22 tournaments per year, including all semi-finals and final matches from the WTA tournaments. SportsMax’s coverage is scheduled to serve up on February 15 with the Qatar Total Open featuring all top 10 WTA ranked players. The strong field will be led by this year’s Australian Open champion and defending Qatar Open champion Victoria Azarenka, two-time Qatar Open champion Maria Sharapova, plus Grand Slam and Olympics champions Venus and Serena Williams, and 2011 Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova.

SportsMax Marketing Manager Tanya Lee, said: “The WTA Tennis with a list of high profile players will be a great addition to our already strong line-up of football, cricket, track and field, and boxing programming. We continue to build on the best sports line-up on television in the Caribbean, as we look to cater to all sports lovers.”

Along with the WTA rights through 2016, SportsMax’s parent IMC is the regional rights holder of premium content such as Barclays Premier League, UEFA Champions League, FIFA, West Indies away tours, Ashes, Indian Premier League and IAAF Grand Prix Meets. The 2013 WTA season includes Tennis Championships in Qatar, Istanbul, Dubai, Miami, Rome, and Tokyo, among others from February 15 to October 27, 2013.

Plans to redesign the Cardiff City brand has been met with opposition by more than 1,000 Cardiff City fans.

Supporters have begun to voice their concerns after a remarkable 24 hours in which it emerged the club’s Malaysian owners propose to change the team’s kit from blue to red and replace the Bluebird emblem with a Welsh dragon from next season.

Fans warned the changes risk “damaging the heritage of the club” and making it “unrecognisable in all but name”.

Club chiefs moved to placate supporters at a meeting last night, but a significant proportion are furious at the proposed changes, which have been ordered by Cardiff’s billionaire Malaysian backer Vincent Tan.

The proposals are contained in a major review of the way forward for Wales’ capital city club as Cardiff’s Malaysian owners plan the best method to deliver Premier League football.

They include a new strip of red shirt (with black trim), black shorts and red socks, that the owners believe will be more marketable in Asia. The team’s away kit will become blue.

A new badge which will be in the form of a red Welsh dragon, rather than the traditional bluebird, is also proposed.

Are Cardiff’s Malaysian owners right/wrong to propose this? Discuss here: http://bit.ly/IVHVN9

Andrea Dini has been appointed as UIM Secretary General, replacing Régine Vandekerckhove, who led the UIM Monaco office since 1992.

43 year old Andrea said: “After many years of appreciated services to the industry and the sport of Powerboating, it’s a great honour and an opportunity for me to focus my knowledge and experience at the service of the World Governing Body, the UIM.

“It’s like crowning a dream after several years of hard and professional work for our Sport. Let me thank the UIM Council and all the people who gave me their confidence and trust for this great opportunity.”

NBC Sports Network has entered into a three-year partnership with World Series of Fighting (WSOF) to deliver live, world championship Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fight programming.

The agreement calls for a minimum of six live events annually on the national television platform that reaches over 80 million homes beginning with the promotion’s second event, “WSOF 2,” live 23 March.

Additionally, later this year, NBCSports.com will live stream World Series of Fighting events via TV Everywhere.

“We are thrilled to call NBC Sports Network the home of World Series of Fighting,” said World Series of Fighting President and six-time world kickboxing champion, Ray Sefo. “This partnership will allow us to build the World Series of Fighting brand of world-class MMA competition before a dedicated national audience of passionate sports fans and place our athletes on the big stage that they deserve.”

The inaugural World Series of Fighting 1 aired live on NBC Sports Network on 3 November last year.

Rangers are back in financial uncertainty after American businessman Bill Miller withdrew his bid to takeover the Glasgow club. 

Miller was selected as administrators Duff and Phelps preferred bidder last Thursday over a rival offer from the Blue Knights and Brian Kennedy.

However, Miller vehemently changed his course and announced today that he has withdrawn his offer to take over the Scottish Premeir League outfit.

A statement from Miller read: “As soon as I was announced as preferred bidder for Rangers, my team began to press ahead with our due diligence. Until then, information had been limited to what was made available in the internet data room and questions addressed to the administrators and their staff.

“In addition, I had preliminary discussions with the Scottish Footballing Authorities and limited discussions with Ally McCoist. Upon being named preferred bidder, discussions with Rangers staff started and discussions with all interested parties intensified.

“We continued to work through the holiday weekend in order to meet a very compressed schedule. By late Monday night, it became clear to me that preliminary information, discussions and analysis were, unfortunately, more optimistic than reality.

“Having no intention of negatively affecting the potential outcome of the club’s future and after hearing the message from Rangers supporters and fans loud and clear (“Yank go home!”), I notified the administrators today that I have withdrawn my bid for Rangers and will not be moving forward.

“I am deeply disappointed as I had considered the opportunity to bid for one of the most historic football clubs in the world, an honour and a privilege. I wish Rangers fans, supporters and employees my very best. I hope all your dreams and wishes come true. You certainly deserve it.

“I am most disappointed that I won’t have the opportunity to walk into Ibrox Stadium on the day of an Old Firm match as my friends tell me the hair on my arm will stand up and I will never witness such passion and spirit at any sporting event.

“God Speed, Rangers!”

English Premiership Soccer team Fulham have announced that Jonathan Gregory as the new commercial director. He will start with immediate effect.
A recent position of Mr Gregory’s was as a director of England’s unsuccessful bid for the 2018 World Cup bid. 50 commercial partners were close however Russia’s successful bid ended them hopes.

Before his World Cup appointment he worked with Wembley Stadium as commericial director where he attracted three founding partner brands – Microsoft,Umbro and Carlsberg.

Serie A clubs Atalanta, Siena and Novara have been accused of match-fixing pertaining to manipulation of games and bet frauds, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) confirmed.

In a comprehensive 48-page list released by the FIGC, 22 clubs were named along with 61 individuals that have been reported to the football authorities in connection with a match-fixing and betting investigation.

A statement from the FIGC read: ”Regarding the investigation carried out by the magistrates of Cremona, the Federal prosecutor has reported to the Disciplinary Commission 22 clubs, 61 people, of which 52 were active players at the time of the investigation, four were executives and three were registered as coaches.”

The investigation has been carried out by magistrates of the northern Italian city of Cremona and its focus is on 33 games over the past two seasons, the majority of which were in Serie B.

However, matches played in the last two Coppa Italia tournaments are under scrutiny.

In an earlier investigation, 17 people were arrested by Italian police last year, including Atalanta captain Cristiano Doni.

Atalanta, who had been promoted to Serie A at the end of the 2010-11 season, began the current campaign with a six-point deduction as punishment for match-fixing.

Doni was banned from football for three and a half years by the FIGC’s disciplinary committee.

IFM Sports Marketing Surveys have bolstered its leadership team to develop and deliver its full range of research initiatives and advisory services by appointing Michael Stone as Head of Research and Consultancy and promoting Jon Stainer to Deputy Managing Director. These two key appointments have been made as a result of continued substantial growth in the business, cialis particularly in the Middle East and Asia.

Managing director Les Kelly said: “In Michael Stone we have recruited an experienced senior market research consultant with over 20 years’ experience working with blue chip companies at Synovate and the Electoral Reform Service. With over 10 years’ experience at IFM SMS, sales Jon has a wealth of knowledge across all areas of our business. He will continue to head up our Sales & Marketing operation ensuring that our renowned customer focused outlook remains central to the business going forward.   These two key appointments, along with the creation of a focused in-house marketing team, reflect our continued commitment to offering industry leading research and consultancy to our clients.”