The entire Racing Santander Board have resigned except for majority shareholder Ahsan Ali Syed, after financial difficulties have plagued the Spanish Primera club. 

A statement on the club website, read: “Members of the Racing Santander board (with the exception of the WGA company, represented by Ahsan Ali Syed) have decided to tender their resignation. The motive for this decision is to avoid placing the club in a situation of conflict and tension that could jeopardise its unity.”

Racing are currently second-bottom in La Liga and are struggling financially, having been declared bankrupt in July this year and placed into administration.

Syed bought the club in January but has yet to clear reported debts of 30 million euros ($42.4m).

Club president Francisco Pernia was among the board members who resigned. He got the attention of the fans earlier this week for the wrong reasons after he revealed on Spanish radio that he had treated himself to a luxury car at the club’s expense.

Cycling’s Tour of Britain will be broadcast live on television for the first time after a new deal with ITV.

The eight-stage, 1,350 kilometre race, which starts in Ipswich on Sunday, will be shown by ITV4, who have already broadcast the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana this year.

Niall Sloane, ITV Director of Sport, said: “Following our hugely popular coverage of the Tour de France as well as the Vuelta, we’re delighted to be able to bring ITV4 viewers a third major cycling event this year with all the key action from The Tour of Britain.”

The network will broadcast over 24-hours of coverage produced by Century TV, the company that has filmed the last five editions of the race.

Coverage will be broadcast live on ITV4 and streamed online via the ITV website. It begins on Sunday with live screening of stage one from Ipswich to Norfolk Showground at 1.45pm

Hugh Roberts, chief executive of Tour of Britain organisers, SweetSpot, said he was delighted that cycling fans anywhere in Britain would be able to watch the race live.

English League Two club, Plymouth Argyle (P&A) have announced they are very close to being bought by James Brent’s Akkeron Group.

After almost eight months in administration, Argyle could soon return to financial stability after The P&A Partnership announced this morning that they were satisfied with all aspects of the takeover at Home Park.

It is expected to lead the club out of administration, and the takeover will be completed later on Friday.

In a statement, Brendan Guilfoyle of The P&A Partnership said: “I am delighted that this morning we have agreed a deal that will see Plymouth Argyle Football Club coming out of administration.

“We have been assured that Akkeron will complete the purchase today. Like many other parties, ourselves and Walker Morris have waived a significant amount in fees to ensure the survival of the club.

“I would like to thank everyone for their patience and continued support during complex negotiations to save the club.”

Telemundo Media announced today it acquired the exclusive media rights for the United States of all the home games of the popular Mexican first division soccer team Club León.

As “The Official U.S. Network of León,” Telemundo will have the rights across all its platforms – broadcast, online and cable – to all of the pre-season, regular season and, if they qualify, the playoff home games of the popular team. The first game to air on Telemundo under the new deal will feature Club León vs. Chivas on Friday, September 14 at 10:30pm ET.

“Coming off a great performance with the 2012 London Olympics and having acquired the rights to the FIFA World Cup starting in 2015, this multi-year deal expands our portfolio of soccer properties and reaffirms Telemundo Media’s leadership position,” said Jorge Hidalgo, Executive Vice President of Sports at Telemundo Media. “With the León games, our audience will continue to enjoy the best professional Mexican soccer they’ve come to expect from Deportes Telemundo.”

Currently in third place in the first division of the Mexican soccer league, Club León is based in the city of León, in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico. The club’s origins date back to the 1920s when a group of local businessman founded León Atlético. After ten years in the second division, León was recently promoted to Mexico’s first division for the 2012–2013 season. In the past, León has won the first division title five times, in 1948, 1949, 1952, 1956 and 1992, and became the first Mexican “Campeonísimo” (winner of the league and the México Cup in the same year) in 1949.

Deportes Telemundo, Telemundo Media’s sports division, is one of the leading providers of Spanish-language sports content in the U.S. The “US Home of the Olympics in Spanish,”

Marcin Herra, who heads PL.2012, the body overseeing the array of projects from stadiums to airports and hotels to highways for Euro 2012 has claimed Michel Platini’s recent visit to Poland has highlighted that organisation is the key to a successful hosting of the tournament.

In his latest column for iSportconnect Herra suggests Platini’s comments about organisation is a important factor which has been overlooked.

“Since this is what Michel Platini also, or maybe first and foremost, talked about. Preparations in the scope of organisation cover more than 250 projects coordinated or realised by PL.2012 with more than 170 partners.”

Herra believes managing these issues will lead to the games running smoothly.

“The main issues include security (everywhere, not only on during the games) and transport – today each scenario is still within the realm of possibility and in the development phase – we are looking forward to the drawing of tournament groups scheduled for December 2^nd – the date which shall furnish us with the knowledge on the final form and course of the tournament. Next – the service for visitors,” he said.

“Volunteer work www.wolontariatmiejski2012.pl is of utmost importance, we have just launched the recruitment process aimed at recruiting approximately 3,000 city volunteers in 4 Host Cities. Their task will be to take care of the complex information services and high quality of services to be offered to our guests in June 2012.

“One can also not forget about the Euro Academy, i.e. trainings for the public sector funded from the EU resources (www.akademiaeuro.pl). Not to mention many other elements. We are also engaged in the national and urban strategies for transport services since it is an element that stands out as the most important component of organisation of transportation.”

During his visit Platini confirmed preparations for Euro 2012 were on track. “Where two years ago there was nothing but mud and rubble, modern stadiums stand today. Euro 2012 – I see no other way, but success,” he said.

Read his column A Brief of the Visit of the President of the UEFA in Poland – Marcin Herra.

beIN SPORT, drug the new independent 24-hour global network dedicated to live and exclusive coverage of the world’s best international sports, begins its complete coverage of the South American World Cup qualifiers this Friday.

beIN SPORT is the first sports network to carry every game of the CONMEBOL qualifying round and each game will be carried live.

In contrast to previous years, when games of the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying tournament could only be seen on pay-per-view or closed-circuit television, beIN SPORT’s programming is available to millions of subscribers to the nation’s largest satellite and cable TV distributors – including DIRECTV, DISH and Comcast, among others.

beIN SPORT will also televise its first U.S. men’s national soccer team CONCACAF World Cup qualifying game when they play Jamaica at National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica. Special coverage starts at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.

beIN SPORT again picks up the CONMEBOL action on Tuesday, Sept. 11 with another full day of back-to-back games featuring Chile vs. Colombia, Uruguay vs. Ecuador, Paraguay vs. Venezuela, and Peru vs. Argentina. Coverage starts at 3 p.m. ET/Noon PT.

“Because of our commitment to bringing the best in international sports to our viewers, these games are now available to millions of passionate fans who otherwise would not have been able to see them,” said Yousef Al Obaidly, managing director of beIN SPORT. “Our extensive coverage of these exciting World Cup qualifying matches demonstrates our unique approach that has led to one of the most successful network launches in recent cable TV history.”

adiposity sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;”>Rangers owner Craig Whyte has said he will sue the BBC for its “unfounded and defamatory” allegations of criminal behaviour in his past business dealings.

Whyte was accused, anabolics in a BBC documentary, of having control of Re-tex Plastic Technology during a seven year ban from being a director of any company, which is a criminal offence that can lead to a maximum jail sentence of two years.

Rangers banned the BBC earlier this week, claiming the broadcaster was carrying out a “hatchet job” on Whyte and had been biased in their portrayal of the club.

A spokesman for Whyte said : “Craig Whyte strenuously refutes these unfounded and defamatory allegations and has instructed his lawyers, Carter Ruck, to commence immediate legal proceedings against the BBC. Any repetition of these false accusations will also be met with legal action,”

Whyte’s lawyers told the BBC he had a minor investment in Re-tex but never held a directorial role.

Goal.com, the world’s largest football website has today confirmed that it will be streaming two of the Republic of Ireland’s crucial FIFA World Cup 2014 Qualifier matches and one friendly international match exclusively online on a pay-per-view basis.

These matches will not be available anywhere else in the UK, Northern Ireland and Australia. Thanks to Goal.com, fans of The Boys in Green based in these territories will not be missing Giovanni Trapattoni’s men in action.

International football agency Kentaro brokered the rights for the fixtures with sports media group PERFORM who own and operate Goal.com.

Goal.com is the largest football website in the world, providing football news in editorial and video form to over 30 million fans around the world and in the UK reaches over 3 million football fans (Google Analytics, August 2012).

Oliver Slipper, Joint-CEO of PERFORM commented: “This is an exciting development for us and we are glad to be able to bring these important qualifying matches to fans of the Republic of Ireland in the UK and Northern Ireland. For some time now, the internet has proved a worthy alternative to traditional broadcast and fans are far more accustomed to consuming live content through the PCs.”

In October 2009, PERFORM and Kentaro joined forces to exclusively stream the Ukraine vs England FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifier in the UK. This proved to be a hugely-popular, landmark event.

English Football League clubs are planning to abolish the tribunal system that sets fees when clubs cannot agree a transfer for home-grown players.

This came after the Premier League threatened to withhold funding for youth development if the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) was not voted through.

According to media reports, the Football League reluctantly advised its members to vote in favour of the system during Thursday’s meeting at the Bescot Stadium in Walsall.

If clubs had opted against the proposals, the annual funding they receive from the Premier League for youth development – over £5m-per-season – would have been withheld.

The clubs voted 46 for and 22 against, plus three no-shows and one abstention.

The Premier League decided in favour of adopting EPPP at a meeting in June.

The new proposals will guarantee clubs more funding for youth football over a guaranteed four-year period, but it could mean clubs receive lower fees for players under the age of 17.

A Football League statement said: “Following lengthy consideration, Football League clubs have voted to accept the Premier League’s proposals on the Elite Player Performance Plan. The League will now continue discussions with the Premier League on the implementation of the EPPP across professional football.”

Several clubs in the Football League are concerned the current tribunal system will be replaced by a set of fixed prices.

The new tariffs will see a selling club paid £3,000 ($4,738) for every year of a player’s development between the ages of nine and 11, and between £12,500 ($19,745) and £40,000 ($63,185) for 12 to 16 year olds depending on the club’s academy status.

The new proposals will result in an increased youth development payment for all 92 Premier League and Football League clubs over four years according to the Premier League.

ESPN have won the rights to show live coverage of the BDO Winmau World Masters for a second consecutive year.

The tournament will take place between October 10 and 14 in Hull City Hall, with ESPN broadcasting exclusively live coverage of key sessions from October 12 to 14.

The Winmau World Masters is the oldest established major in World Darts, having been played since 1974, and is one of the most prestigious titles in the game.

Jeroen Oerlemans, vice-president, TV Channels, ESPN EMEA, said: “We’re very pleased to bring viewers the Winmau World Masters again in 2012. Our first year broadcasting the competition was a great success and we’re looking forward to being part of the wonderful atmosphere and excitement.”

The Winmau World Masters 2012 will join an extensive portfolio of top class sport on ESPN. The tournament will sit alongside live televised coverage of the Barclays Premier League, FA Cup, Aviva Premiership Rugby, Clydesdale Bank Premier League, UEFA Europa League, European league football, international football, plus the best in North American sports, motorsports and much more.