Argentina have agreed to play two exhibition matches in India and Bangladesh at a discount rate in an attempt to expand its fan base in one of the world’s most populous regions.

Argentina will play Venezuela in Kolkata, abortion India, drugs on September 2 before moving to Bangladesh capital Dhaka to meet Nigeria four days later. The company that owns the rights to Argentina’s exhibition rights, anesthetist World Eleven SA said it promised to take the best national roster and reduced its asking price.

World Eleven President Guillermo Tofoni said: “We have made a good price for them because we are interested in opening up new markets. It’s interesting because our idea is to play with our top players including Messi because we see lots of opportunities in India.”

Tofoni and Dharamdutt Pandey, chief executive officer of Kolkata-based Celebrity Management Group, which bought the game rights, declined to say how much the deal is worth. However, in 2009, Tofoni said World Eleven charged about US$1m for an Argentina game.

Sky Sports have continued their long relationship with the British & Irish Lions by securing a new broadcast deal of their tour to to Australia next year.

Sky Sports viewers with Sky will be able to enjoy all three Tests plus seven tour matches in June and July 2013 across TV, PC, mobile and tablet devices.

The deal extends the relationship between Sky Sports and the British & Irish Lions into its 17th year and the tour will be the fifth shown exclusively live by the broadcaster since 1997.

The British & Irish Lions will take on World Cup semi-finalists Australia in three Test matches plus tour fixtures against the likes of Australia’s Super Rugby teams. The tour begins in June with a match against the Barbarians in Hong Kong.

Barney Francis, managing director at Sky Sports, said: “This deal secures even more fantastic live rugby union on Sky Sports. Our viewers can enjoy a fascinating build up to the Lions tour, which itself promises to be a must see event.

“This deal provides Sky Sports with an unrivalled choice of high quality action. Together with the British & Irish Lions, we have long-term agreements in place to show the best in live sport, including Premier League and UEFA Champions League football, Test and one-day cricket, Formula One plus European, Ryder Cup and US tour golf. Our coverage also remains pioneering and available across multiple platforms. Taken together, Sky Sportsremains the home of sport, with the best line-up of sport in the UK and Ireland.”

John Feehan, the British & Irish Lions CEO, added: “We are absolutely delighted that Sky will be showing the British & Irish Lions tour to Australia and Hong Kong live next year. Over the last number of tours we have come to expect only the best coverage and huge commitment from Sky to showcase the best of British & Irish rugby talent. This continued support fromSky is particularly welcome for next year which will mark our 125th anniversary as the British & Irish Lions.”

The CEO of the German Football League (DFL) Christian Seifert has hailed the “booming” elite league of soccer in the nation, generic the Bundesliga, doctor after the top flight generated a record collective attendance for the 2010-11 campaign.

The Bundesliga pulled in an average of 42, rx 101 spectators per match to mark a 0.7% increase on the previous season, while a total of 12.88 million fans watched 306 top-flight matches in Germany. The 18-team Bundesliga has attracted the highest average attendance of any domestic league in world soccer for several seasons.

Seifert stated: “For the ninth time in the last 10 years we have had an increase in fans going to stadia. The Bundesliga is booming without a doubt and yet again it is the strongest league in the world in terms of attendances, as reflected in the fact that almost 94% of games were sold out. An exciting competition with attractive matches, family-friendly prices and modern stadia are the key factors.”

According to a study released by Deloitte’s Sports Business Group last week, the Bundesliga was the most profitable league in Europe from the 2009-10 season. The Bundesliga also generated the second-highest revenues in Europe, second only to the English Premier League.

Sky Sports have retained the rights to air Spain’s La Liga for a further three years adding to their already bustling soccer portfolio in the UK

The new deal, which begins with the 2012-2013 season, will provide Sky Sports with more than 100 matches from Spain’s top league. That means viewers will be able to watch many of the country’s Euro 2012 winning squad on Saturday and Sunday nights plus fixtures from the Copa del Rey. 

Barney Francis, managing director of Sky Sports, said: “This is even more good news for Sky Sportsviewers who enjoy the diet of Spanish football across Saturday and Sunday evenings. La Liga  is one of the most exciting leagues in the world and the likes of Ronaldo, Messi and Iniesta provide fantastic entertainment each week of the season for football fans.”

Sky’s weekly Spanish football magazine show Revista de La Liga will return with news, interviews and analysis throughout the season whilst coverage will also extend to Sky Sports News HD.

Sky’s Spanish football expert and former Real Mallorca  player Gerry Armstrong added: “This new deal will be music to the ears of all the followers of La Liga. The league’s popularity has grown over the last 16 years that Sky and myself have been involved and the number of people that stop me in the street to comment on how good it is has snowballed. I can’t wait to see if Jose Mourinho can do it again, or will Barcelona bounce back? Bring it on!”

Sky Sports viewers with Sky will be able to enjoy live matches across TV, PC, mobile and tablet devices, as well as a wealth of support programming.

The new deal for La Liga follows recent renewals with the Premier League (to 2016), British & Irish Lions (2013), The European Tour (to 2018), UEFA Champions League (to 2014/15), Football League (to 2014/15), England and Wales Cricket Board (to 2017), ICC Cricket (to 2015) and Rugby Football League (to 2016).

The Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST) would “cautiously” welcome a flotation of the English Premier League champions after a Sunday Times report suggested the Glazers, who acquired the club in 2005, have held talks with a number of investment banks about listing the club on the Hong Kong stock market.

MUST, a group campaigning for an end to the Glazer family’s control of the club, chief executive Duncan Drasdo told The Manchester Evening News that the flotation “could be an opportunity for supporters to once again share in the ownership of their club”.

Drasdo called for a full IPO listing, “signalling a clean exit for the Glazers”, and added that the valuation “would have to be realistic – something closer to £1bn (US$1.63bn) rather than the £1.5bn ($2.45bn) that the Glazers seem to feel is possible”.

In March, United parent company Red Football Joint Venture Ltd. announced a record £104.7m ($170.8m) fiscal-year loss due to costs related to swapping a long-term bank loan for a bond last year as well as lower income from player sales.

Drasdo also called for available shares to be “available to all Manchester United supporters and floated on the UK market to maximise accessibility”, and added: “Many supporters would hate to see the Glazers walk away with a huge profit, but it isn’t about them.

“It is about what is best for Manchester United – the club and its supporters. If we wish to persuade the Glazers to go for a full flotation then a million Manchester United supporters standing together, represented through MUST, could present a compelling argument.”

CBS Sports Network has announced that it has signed a deal to broadcast the United Football League games starting this autumn.

The deal represents a small boost to the four-year-old league that has been attempting to gain traction as an alternative to the NFL with franchises in U.S. territories without a professional club such as Las Vegas and Virginia.

Over the years, other attempts at launching a viable alternative to the NFL have failed including the USFL in the 1980’s and Vince McMahon’s XFL a decade ago. The UFL seemed to be headed to a similar fate. Last year, the league reportedly experienced some financial problems that caused the delay of the season. The team located in Hartford was contracted, and negotiations for TV deals with CBS and TNT failed.

Headed into the 2012 season, the UFL has found new luck and announced Thursday that a deal had been reached for coverage on CBS Sports, a cable network that reaches 99 million households.

The eight-week season will kick off on Sept. 19. The plan is for CBS to televise two games a week — on Wednesday and Friday, two days that the NFL have not yet claimed for any games.

Unlike past leagues, the UFL has always stressed that it doesn’t see itself as a competitor to the NFL. The new league has recruited heavily from the NFL ranks. Its first commissioner was a former executive with the Jacksonville Jaguars. The league has famous former NFL coaches that run teams including Marty Schottenheimer and Jim Fassel, and its player ranks have included former NFL pros like Jeff Garcia, Josh McCown, J.P. Losman and Daunte Culpepper.

“Fans have an appetite for football at all levels and we’re excited to showcase the UFL,” said Dan Weinberg, senior vice president for programming at CBS Sports Network in a statement.

President of European soccer’s governing body UEFA, Michel Platini has hailed the decision of the English Football League (EFL) to implement Financial Fair Play regulations in the Championship, the second tier of English soccer.

The league’s clubs will only be allowed to spend what they earn from the 2012-13 season, while sides in League One and Two will not be permitted to spend more than 55% of their turnover on player wages.

The news comes after the Championship has seen a number of clubs struggle with the financial fall-out of relegation from the Premier League in recent years and clubs that breach the rules are likely to be handed a transfer ban as a first sanction, although the possibility of points deductions have not been ruled out.

Platini told Sky Sports: “We are very happy to see that Football League clubs, under the umbrella of the Football Association, are again taking the initiative on good governance issues by introducing Financial Fair Play.

“We are delighted that enlightened football bodies across the continent are trying to restore financial sanity to football on a national level, just as we are trying to do on a European level.”

Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) announced today that it has signed a five-year agreement with Fox International Channels Latin America to broadcast the CONCACAF Champions League soccer matches.

The deal starts with the 2012-13 championship commencing on 31 July and gives FOX Sports exclusive rights in Latin America, including both pay-TV and the digital platforms throughout the region. Additionally, in Mexico and South America, FOX Sports will have total exclusivity as the rights in these territories also include free TV.

“Our agreement with Fox International Channels Latin America puts the CONCACAF Champions League in perfect position to grow and fans throughout the region will be able to enjoy the competition like never before,”said CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb.”With Fox’s many broadcast platforms and technologies, the Champions League will be presented in ways the fans want and expect.”

FOX Sports will broadcast more than 40 games live and delayed through its wide multimedia platform that consists of FOX Sports, FOX Sports+, their HD versions and FoxSportsla.com. It will also provide enhanced coverage on its shows such as Central FOX and La Última Palabra (The Last Word), and through a weekly CONCACAF Champions League highlight show.

“We’re very pleased with this new agreement and relationship with CONCACAF,” said Carlos Martinez, president of Fox International Channels Latin America, in a statement.”We are confident that we’ll turn this tournament into a favorite and make it one of the strongest in the region, leveraging FOX Sports’ wide reach and the synergies of our entertainment, lifestyle and factual channels in Latin America, as we have already done with other Latin American and European events.”

The CONCACAF Champions League, inaugurated in the 2008-09 season, is the confederation’s annual club championship. It features 24 teams from each of CONCACAF’s three sub-regions — North America, Central America and the Caribbean.

The winner of the CONCACAF Champions League qualifies for the FIFA Club World Cup.

Barcelona’s vice-president of finance, stomach Javier Faus, allergy has claimed that “the most financially solvent club in the world” within the next three years despite revealing an annual loss of Eur21 million in the latest set of financial accounts.

Faus reported that the club’s gross debt has been reduced from Eur532 million to 483 million and the net debt has been cut from Eur431 million to Eur364 million. The club’s turnover was Eur420 million for the last financial year, viagra buy but costs reached Eur441 million.

Faus acknowledged that there was still a lot of work to do to improve the bottom line of the newly-crowned UEFA Champions League winner, adding: “We want to decide our future and to do so we must reduce the debt to acceptable levels. There has been great effort, which will continue over the next two years, to reduce this debt. Barcelona lost Eur83 million last year and Eur21 this year, and we can’t afford to continue losing money.”

Faus added that Champions League-related revenues had increased from Eur39 million to Eur62 million thanks to Barcelona’s 3-1 victory over Manchester United in last month’s final, but reward payments for winning Europe’s top club competition also reached Eur28 million.

North Korea is set to air the London Olympics after a new deal was agreed with Asia’s broadcasting union.

Korea Broadcasting System (KBS) said in a statement that, Kim In-Kyu, president of KBS and the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), had reached agreement in Pyongyang this week with the North’s radio and television broadcasting committee (KRT).

KBS said that North Korea had already sent six television production workers to London.

The agreement includes “a special condition that KRT broadcast at least 200 hours of major events of interest to North Korea via terrestrial channels”, the statement said.

It was not clear whether coverage would be broadcast live or recorded.

South Korea’s private SBS station retains the right to air the Games for the entire Korean peninsula, including North Korea, until the Olympics of 2024.

The company said it would broadcast the games in the South along with two public broadcasters KBS and MBC. It had tasked ABU with handling the rights in North Korea.

The statement also said that agreement had been reached on helping North Korea secure broadcast rights for other major events including the 2014 Asian Games, the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games.

“The two parties have also agreed on finding ways to further cooperation in contents, technical and training programmes,” KBS said.

The announcement came as Olympic organisers apologised after a mix-up on Wednesday over North Korea’s flag prompted its women’s football team to walk off the pitch in an embarrassing start to the Games.

The squad were pictured next to the national flag of South Korea — with whom the North are officially still at war — at their opening match against Colombia at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland.

North Korea has sent 51 athletes to London to compete in 11 events including women’s football, weightlifting, table-tennis and wrestling.