Soccer giants Manchester United have agreed a partnership with Western India Football Association (WIFA) to bring one of the world’s best club-sanctioned coaching programmes to Mumbai.

Manchester United Soccer Schools (MUSS) is inspired by the elite academy which has produced some of the English Premier League’s most famous names, pharmacy such as Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Danny Welbeck. It will train young footballers to play the ‘Manchester United way’.

The newly laid Astroturf at the Cooperage ground will be the home for MUSS academy which will offer kids aged between 8 and 18 a chance to train under the supervision of MUSS’s coaches. The training programme will be based on MUSS key principles of coaching: technical, tactical, physical, mental and social.

Mr. Praful Patel, President, WIFA said: “We are excited to be working with the current Premier League champions Manchester United. Young footballers will train under the direct supervision of coaches from Manchester United Soccer Schools, with programmes developed by the world acclaimed Manchester United Academy.

“These intensive but fun football development programmes will significantly improve players’ skills at a young age. We believe that this partnership will nurture and inspire young talent and provide players with the opportunity to realize their own potential.”

Manchester United CEO, David Gill added: “We are delighted to be partnering with the WIFA in bringing this exciting training programme to India. Manchester United Soccer Schools coaches have tremendous knowledge, experience and passion for the game that they will be able to pass on, both to young players and coaches. This is a long term commitment and we hope we will make an important contribution to the growth of Indian football.”

The partnership will also give coaches the chance to attend development courses to get an insight into the way Manchester United prepares its players. This long-term training programme will be run by full-time.

talkSPORT has begun broadcasting the Capital One Cup after agreeing a three-season partnership with The Football League. 

The deal will also see talkSPORT become The Football League’s official commercial radio partner outside the UK as talkSPORT Live, viagra buy the station’s international service, prostate will broadcast selected matches including the semi-finals and final. Full commentaries will be available via talkSPORT.com, mobiles, and international broadcast partners in a choice of English, Spanish and Mandarin for listeners.

Moz Dee, talkSPORT Programme Director, said: “Live commentary has proved to be a huge draw for our listeners both in the UK and internationally and further adds to our credibility as the leading sports radio broadcaster as we now offer more live football than ever before. We’re delighted to be part of this historic competition and have a bigger partnership with The Football League. We’re also delighted to be working with Capital One at the start of their journey with this competition.”

Richard Heaselgrave, The Football League’s Chief Commercial Officer said: “This agreement represents another significant boost for the Capital One Cup as we take live commentary to millions of loyal talkSPORT listeners across the UK and beyond.

“We look forward to working with talkSPORT to continue growing the public profile of this competition.”

Beleaguered French soccer team AS Monaco might have a new Russian owner in the form of businessman Dmitry Rybolovlev, the club president has announced.

Rybolovlev, 93rd on the Forbes list of billionaires, sold his stake in fertiliser producer Uralkali for $6.5 billion in June 2010.

Etienne Franzi, AS Monaco president said: “We have a plan designed in such a way that everything will be decided before the end of the year and it will be Mr Rybolovlev and his group. It’s good news for AS Monaco and for French football in general.”

Seven times French champions Monaco who reached the champions League Final in 2004 have been struggling of late, languishing in France’s second division, Ligue 2, after been relegated last season and are at the bottom of the table this season after one win in 16 games.

Broadcaster TEN Sports is set to air US Open Tennis Championships again after extending for a period of four years, denture starting with the next edition in 2013.

TEN Sports has been telecasting US Open since 2005 and has acquired the rights for India, stomach Pakistan, Afghanistan, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Bangladesh, TEN Sports said in a statement.

The final Grand Slam of the year will add to the existing strong line-up of tennis programming on Ten Sports, it added.

In addition to the television rights, TEN Sports has also acquired the rights for mobile, internet and video-on-demand.

The renewal of the telecast rights for the US Open adds to the portfolio of the channel, which has properties like the UEFA Champions League, Europa League, French League, rights to live cricket action from five Test playing nations and WWE.

Ten Sports CEO Atul Pande said, “We are proud to be associated with the US Open, one of the biggest sporting events in the world. The conclusion of this agreement is of vital strategic importance as TEN Sports continues to deliver top-flight programming to our viewers. Rights holders know we have the best distribution of any sports network in the South Asian Market and they appreciate the value we bring to their product not only through having the largest audience, but also the way we present their product, through scheduling, production and expert commentary.”

USTA executive director Gordon Smith commented, “We are very pleased that Ten Sports has agreed to continue their relationship with the US Open. Ten Sports has been a good partner of the US Open for many years and their support demonstrates the continuing appeal of the US Open to a worldwide audience.”

German Football Association President and FIFA Executive Committee member Theo Zwanziger has once again blasted the decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, prostate suggesting that the criteria to host the tournament had been ‘perverted’. Although there have been calls to investigate into the process, advice the 2022 World Cup will definitely take place in Qatar.

Zwanziger has been an outspoken critic of the 2022 bidding since its decision, sale claiming that a number of his colleagues had been victims of government pressure to vote for the bid. His opinions hold a lot more weight after his appointment as Chairman of the new task force dedicated to revising FIFA’s statutes.

“The basic requirements for a host country have been perverted,” said Zwanziger.

“I have never understood how such a small country can be awarded one of the most important sports events in the world, especially as Qatar was in last place on the grid before the decision was made. I am allowed to say, a World Cup needs to have other basic conditions and I have my doubts whether sporting factors were taken into consideration enough.”

The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) announced today that it has accepted a joint bid from World Sport Group and Traffic Sports for the confederation’s international media rights.

The two-year deal was reached after due process from the CONCACAF Evaluation Committee, comprised of Victor Montagliani, Canadian Soccer Association President; Eduardo Li, Costa Rica Football Association President; and Cheney Joseph, Grenada Football Association President; who assessed the different bids.

“This is yet another broadcast agreement that will contribute to elevating our properties as global brands while expanding the reaches of our football,” said CONCACAF President, Jeffrey Webb.

The agreement includes full-match and highlight television broadcast rights for the 2013 Gold Cup, CONCACAF’s biennial championship for national teams that continues to grow in popularity with fans worldwide; the 2012/13 and 2013/14 editions of the CONCACAF Champions League, the UNCAF Copa Centroamericana, as well as next year’s CONCACAF Men’s Under-17 and Under-20 Championships.

Under terms of the deal, World Sport Group and Traffic Sports acquired the right to market the CONCACAF properties in all territories outside of the CONCACAF region, with the exception of rights for the Champions League in Latin America. Television, web and mobile communication devices will be utilized as transmission vehicles.

Jochen Losch, President International Business of TRAFFIC Sports, expressed to be “delighted to continue our long lasting relationship with CONCACAF, by marketing their every time more attractive football assets together with our friends and business partners from World Sport Group.”

“We’re very happy too extend our relationship with CONCACAF with this new contract, and we look forward to working with our partners at Traffic to build a world class platform for CONCACAF’s events,” said James Clarke, Senior Vice President, Content of World Sport Group.

Morocco is now favourite to stage the 2013 and 2014 FIFA Club World Cup, prescription after the Japanese Football Association (JFA) ruled out the possibility of bidding for the tournaments. Japan will stage the 2011 and 2012 editions of the competition. FIFA confirmed that Iran, medicine South Africa and the United Arab Emirates had pulled out in October, ed leaving a clear path for Morocco to become the first African country to stage the tournament. JFA President Junji Ogura’s reasoning behind the decision to shelf the hosting rights is to focus on securing leading women’s events. The women’s game in Japan is on a high following the national team’s World Cup triumph in July, defeating the United States in the final. “If we have it every year, it makes it difficult to host other competitions,” said Ogura said “If we want to stage the Under-20 World Cup or the Women’s World Cup it makes sense not to bid (for the Club World Cup in 2013 and 2014).” Club World Cup Organising Committee chairman Chuck Blazer highlighted FIFA’s support for Japan following the devastation caused by March’s earthquake and tsunami. He said: “I think it (the Club World Cup) is a wonderful opportunity, after those natural tragedies, to be of assistance. “FIFA is assisting with six projects in different venues, and donating US$6 million. I also think the fact that we indicated earlier this year that we would be going ahead with the tournament here was crucial in showing support for Japan and local football.”

ESPN has acquired multimedia rights to football’s NextGen Series, a six month European competition featuring the future stars of football.

The series, which is in all but name an Under-19 Champions League competition, will showcase the best young talent from 24 of Europe’s top clubs, including Premier League champions Manchester City, La Liga giants Barcelona, Scudetto winners Juventus and big-spending French club PSG.

ESPN starts its coverage of NextGen with Inter Milan vs Borussia Dortmund on September 26, with exclusivity to the series in the United States, Brazil, Latin America, the Caribbean, Oceania and the Middle East.

In all, ESPN International will telecast 18 matches on its television networks around the world this season, including the semi-finals and final. All NextGen matches will also be carried live on ESPN’s broadband platforms ESPNPlay.com (the Caribbean and Latin America), WatchESPN (Brazil) and ESPN3.com (the Middle East and Oceania).

“The NextGen Series is a tremendous showcase for young talent developing at Europe’s top football clubs,” Mike Walters, vice president of programming at ESPN International, said. “In addition to getting a forecast of who may shine in Europe’s top leagues and the UEFA Champions League in the near future, fans will get a first look at future internationals who may lead their countries at World Cup 2014 and Euro 2016.”

Justin Andrews, co-founder of NextGen said: “We’re delighted to be introducing NextGen to so many new territories outside Europe, and via such a great broadcaster. There is a clear appetite for NextGen across the globe, giving fans the chance to follow the future stars of football.”

 

The double Champions League exit by Manchester United and Manchester City might not be as damaging to Manchester’s economy as first thought, in fact it might have a positive effect, tourism chiefs have said.

United and City were both knocked out of Europe’s premier competition last night in what is being branded as black Wednesday.

Both will now both take part in the less glamorous Europa League instead.

But while Old Trafford and Etihad officials will be counting the cost as the Europa League’s prize money is dwarfed by that on offer by its bigger sister, the double defeat could open the doors to a whole new market for Manchester’s tourism trade, analysts say.

The Reds and Blues, if they avoid each other and their fellow Premier League clubs left in the competition, will be up against lesser-known European clubs whose fans may seize the opportunity of a rare trip to Manchester.

And with City now favourites and United second favourites to lift the trophy both will expect to enjoy an extended stay in the competition.

Brian Sloan, chief economist at Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, said: “The average European football fan spends £776 ($1,213) in the city according to data from Visit Manchester and I would not expect that to change for fans of teams in the Europa League.

“Perhaps supporters of some of Europe’s clubs will seize the opportunity to come to Manchester as they have never been before and don’t know when they will get the chance to come again.

“It could actually have a positive effect on the city’s economy.

“It’s is obviously really disappointing that both of the city’s clubs are no longer in the Champions League and they will lose out because of the decrease in prize money.

“It’s devastating for fans and they will miss out on the benefits of being in such a high profile competition.

“But it could have a positive impact on the numbers of visitors.”

The Perform group have agreed a deal with DFL Sports Enterprises, the worldwide sales and distribution arm of the DFL, to market and distribute live and highlights coverage of the Bundesliga 2012/13 season across digital platforms in Italy.

The partnership will see the DFL adopt an innovative new distribution model that will include streaming one live match per week for free across leading news publisher websites and sports portals, as well as Perform’s football website Goal.com, which reaches 1.6m fans in Italy per month. 

In addition to the live streaming, DFL will also distribute highlight clips via a Bundesliga channel on Perform’s sports VOD broadcast platform ePlayer, which reaches 8m fans in Italy and sits on all the leading publisher sites and portals, as well as on LG and Toshiba connected TVs via Perform’s LIVESPORT.TV application.

As part of the partnership, Perform will sell the advertising and sponsorship inventory across all of the live and on demand Bundesliga content in Italy. 
Kay Dammholz, Vice President Sales Audiovisual Rights at DFL Sports Enterprise commented: “In cooperation with Perform and their Italian media partners we are confident to deliver a top football offering to the numerous Bundesliga fans in Italy. Furthermore we expect to draw major learnings from this pilot project for possible further future activities in the digital field.” 

Jacopo Tonoli, Managing Director of Perform in Southern Europe added: “This is the first time a major football competition like the Bundesliga has adopted such an exciting distribution strategy. It is one of the world’s leading club football competitions and we are excited to be able to use our market leading products and partners to ensure fans of the Bundesliga can stay in touch with all the news and action.”