FIFA, 25 hours after making the announcement that Issa Hayatou had been appointed the head of the committee for the London 2012 Olympic football tournament, completely denounced the appointment citing technical errors for the miscommunication. 

The FIFA website had even been updated with the president of the Confederation of African Football’s name listed as chairman of the two committees yesterday.

But in an astonishing U-turn, FIFA last night backtracked on the announcement, denying that the controversial African football boss, who has twice faced corruption allegations in the last year, had been awarded the FIFA positions. 

“Due to a technical error, appointments for FIFA standing committees have appeared on the FIFA website,” said the FIFA statement released to media at 19:00 CET on Wednesday.

“The appointments for the chairman and deputy chairman of the FIFA standing committees will be communicated in due course. 

“Therefore, Issa Hayatou has not been appointed as chairman of the organising committee for the Olympic football tournaments.”

The appointments, supposedly signed, sealed and delivered by FIFA boss Sepp Blatter, had attracted heavy criticism as Hayatou, an IOC member from Cameroon, name is still fighting off bribery allegations relating to a BBC Panorama documentary. He is currently the subject of an IOC investigation.

New high-profile jobs for Hayatou hardly fit with Blatter’s pledge to clean-up FIFA “from within” following a disastrous year for the federation which has been rocked by a series of bribery scandals.

As new chairman of the GOAL Bureau, Hayatou would have replaced disgraced Mohamed Bin Hammam, who was handed a lifetime ban by FIFA in July following alleged attempts to bribe Caribbean voters in the FIFA presidential race.

The statement on Hayatou’s FIFA appointments has since been removed from the CAF website.

Hayatou previously chaired FIFA’s Olympics committee from 1992 to 2006. He has been an IOC member since 2001.

He was among three FIFA executives charged with accepting bribes in a BBC Panorama investigation aired just prior to the Dec. 2 vote on the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. It was claimed he took a kickback in the $100 million scandal in the 1990s that engulfed FIFA’s now-defunct marketing partner ISL.

Hayatou denied accepted 100,000 French Francs (about $20,340), saying it was a payment towards his confederation’s 40th anniversary celebrations.

Hayatou was implicated in another bribery scandal earlier this year when The Sunday Times claimed the Qatar 2022 World Cup bid paid him a bribe in exchange for his vote. He denied any wrongdoing and FIFA cleared him after it received no evidence to back up the allegations.

The International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA) has agreed a four-year extension to the European Broadcasting Union’s (EBU) broadcasting deal.

The new deal will allow EBU member broadcasters to cover four European and three World Wrestling Championships, click whilst the EBU will continue in its role as worldwide distribution partner.

Raphael Martinetti, order President of FILA said: “We are pleased to continue our excellent partnership with the EBU, the strongest media consortium in Europe.

“This gives a unique possibility for Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling to grow into new markets and continue the recent and positive development of our fantastic Olympic sport.”

The two companies began their partnership back in 1988.

Serie B, symptoms the second tier of Italian football, here has secured international media rights with the B4 Capital agency, marking the first time the league’s rights have been separate from Serie A.

The deal is valid for the next three-seasons and the President of Serie B was delighted at the historic partnership.

Andrea Abodi, who has held the presidential role since 2010, said the agreement showed Serie B was “continuing on its path of growth and consolidation of a sporting and economic identity that will take effect even beyond the boundaries of the Italian peninsula.”

Serie B kicks off on Friday 24 August, between Modena and Hellas Verona, who formed a promotion push in last season’s campaign.

Sportfive have sold the Israeli broadcast rights for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

The Sports Channel has acquired the rights to broadcast in Israel and Sportfive is selling the rights to the Games in 40 European countries.

Sportfive engineered a US$315 million deal with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in February 2009.

Shaila-Ann Rao, decease Chief Executive of Sportfive said: “”We are confident that The Sports Channel will ensure top quality and innovative live coverage and excellent programming at both events.”

The terms of the deal allow The Sports Channel to show free-to-air, free ed pay TV, pay-per-view TV, video-on-demand TV, internet, mobile and radio rights within Israel.

FC Barcelona’s vice-president of finance, Javier Faus, believes club’s finances remain in a “delicate situation” and has pin pointed the importance of its sponsorship deal with the Qatar Foundation ahead of a critical vote this month.

Speaking at a press conference addressing Barcelona’s finances for the end of the 2010-11 season and presenting its budget for 2011-12, Faus outlined the club’s position has improved but more work must be done. Barcelona currently has a net debt of Eur364 million ($502mn) and Faus stated that reduction to a level of “just over Eur200 million ($276mn)” is the target.

“We followed an austere line, we’re committed to growth and we’ve reduced the debt, but we’re still in a delicate situation,” he said. “The debt is still too high for us to be able to dictate our future. We can’t afford to owe so much money to the bank, and we need to generate more income.”

The team jersey already bears the Qatar Foundation logo this season, but the club’s general assembly must ratify the €170 million ($225 million), five-year deal on Sept. 24.

Faus said on that without the €30 million ($40 million)a year the club is set to make from the deal this season it “would suffer losses.”

Faus maintained the importance of Barcelona not relying too much on the banks, but revealed that debt levels have been reduced from Eur430 ($593mn) to the current Eur364 million ($502mn) in one season.

“It’s not the debt that we want, and we have to reduce it further, to sustainable levels, with regard to the cash flow generated by the club. We’ll continue to work on it,” he added. Looking to the current season, the club has budgeted for a profit of Eur20.1 million ($27.7), revenues of Eur461.1 million ($636.5mn) and costs of Eur430.2 million ($593.9mn) based on targets of successfully defending its LaLiga title, and reaching the quarter finals of the UEFA Champions League.

BeIN Sport, the Al Jazeera owned start up channel in the United States, has acquired the package to show Concacaf World Cup qualifying matches.

The package was bought from South American agency Traffic Sports Marketing and will include all qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Yousef Al Obaidly, beIN Sport Manging Director said:  “By securing these exclusive TV rights, beIN Sport again shows why it’s the place for US fans to be in the best soccer action in the world.

“Fans can now cheer on the US men’s team as they compete on the world stage, and they can see it only on beIN Sport.”

The channel already has deals in place with Ligue 1 in France, La Liga in Spain, Serie A in Italy, and the Capital One Cup from England.

BeIN Sport launched last week in the US and is currently carried on DirecTV’s sports platform.

The channel shows Serie A, La Liga, Lique 1 and the Capital One Cup competition in England.

However, the network is only available to roughly seven per cent of US television households at present.

The news comes on the back of beIN Sport acquiring the rights to show the National Football League (NFL) in France.

Scottish Premier League side Motherwell’s objective of a creating a club wholly owned by supporters is starting to be realised after revealing they plan to bring two fans on to the board by early next year.

The club are devising a membership scheme to take over from former chairman John Boyle’s majority shareholding and Fir Park vice chairman Derek Weir is excited by the prospect.

Weir said: “John has kindly gifted his shares and we’ll use them to try and raise money and, more importantly, to get fans involved. We’ve come up with the idea of the Well Society and supporters can subscribe at different levels, starting at £300 for a season – going all the way up to local businesses putting in £25,000. It will be one member, one vote and the society will have representation, with an initial couple of slots on the board.

“The ultimate aim, once the society is up and running and functioning properly, is for all of John’s shareholding, which is the controlling interest, to be transferred over and the fans would directly own the club.”

Around 45% of Boyle’s holdings will be made available, with the remaining 55% moved when the society is ready to take on majority control of the Scottish Premier League club.

Around 300 fans turned up at an open meeting on Monday to hear more about the plans, which are awaiting approval from the Financial Services Authority.

The first to sign up was Scotland international James McFadden, who launched his career at Fir Park, while club captain Stephen Craigan has pledged to become member number two.

Weir expects the scheme to be launched in November, with the club hoping to raise £1.5m over the next 12 months.

Qatari-owned television channel, health BeIN Sport, arthritis have acquired the rights to show National Football League (NFL) games in France, from September.

The channel will broadcast four live games a week, starting with the New York Giants against the Dallas Cowboys on 6 September.

Games will be broadcast on Thursdays, Sundays and Mondays, and the deal includes the right to show the Super Bowl on 3 February 2013 in New Orleans.

The rights for the Super Bowl will be shared with fellow broadcaster W9, who extended their deal to cover one of the most popular sporting events in the world.

National Rugby League (NRL) clubs have every chance of becoming profitable businesses on the back of the AU$1 billion broadcast deal struck with Fox Sports and Nine.

That is the view of David Trodden, the NRL’s Club Council spokesman, who believes that the 15 clubs who have been operating at a loss, now have the chance to make money.

As reported on Tuesday, the NRL signed a deal with the broadcasters, worth AU$1.025 billion (US$1.08 billion), which included cash and advertising components.

Speaking to an Australian newspaper, Trodden expressed his hope for the deal: “There was always a view in club land about the TV deal delivering long-term financial viability for the clubs and the game. I think that this deal will do that.

“Fifteen out of 16 clubs have been operating at a loss and I think that this provides an opportunity for 16 of the 16 clubs to be on a solid financial footing and not make losses any more.

“It’s a pivotal moment in the history of the game.”

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The transfer window for the Barclays Premier League made clubs spent a estimated total of £485 ($786m) million in the summer window a 33% increase from last year but has the spending made clubs forget the importance of the FIFA fair play regulations?

Deloitte stated that England’s 20 top-flight clubs spent £120 ($194.6m) million more than in the corresponding window in 2010 after the 2011 summer window shut yesterday evening. Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United each spent more than £50 million on transfers this summer, with these five clubs responsible for about two-thirds of the Premier League’s total transfer outlay.

Dan Jones, Deloitte Sports Business Group partner, said: “This summer’s spending is largely focused amongst the top end Premier League clubs most strongly competing for domestic and European success and the consequent financial rewards.”

The Net spending is expected to about £10m ($16.2m) for most clubs in the Premier League.

But Micheal Cunnah, Isportconnect Advisory Board member, believes that continued investment like this is not feasable as the fair play rules will be implemented in 2013/14 season. He is especially critical of Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Stoke City.

“Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City and Stoke City all made big net investments in their playing squads. All are in UEFA competitions and so how is this continued level of investment going to affect their chances of staying within the UEFA financial fair play rules?” he asked on the discussion page on the Isportconnect website.

Financial fair play requires the clubs to break even- clubs must not spend more than they generate over a period of time.

To follow this discussion click here