English Premier League soccer club Liverpool have said that they will reveal a £20m (US$32.85m) loss for the last full year of the reign of former owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

Despite revenues rising to £184m ($302.2m) in the 12 months to July 2010, net debt increased to £123m ($202m), incurring interest payments of more than £17m ($27.9m).

US company Fenway Sports Group, formerly New England Sports Ventures (NESV), bought the club in October of last year club for £300m ($492.6m) and since paid off £200m ($328.4m) of debt.

The latest accounts do not include the debt repayment, nor do they include income from the £80m ($131.4m) four-year shirt sponsorship deal agreed with Standard Chartered in September 2009.

Despite the loss, Liverpool’s managing director Ian Ayre sought to reassure fans that the club had a bright future, stating: “Since the end of the last financial year, Fenway Sports Group has paid off £200m of acquisition debt from the previous owners, dramatically reducing interest payments as a result and meaning we are able to invest more revenue in the team rather than servicing debt.

“We have also enjoyed significant commercial growth since these accounts were finalised, including our shirt sponsorship deal with Standard Chartered, which was the largest partnership contract in the club’s history.”

BBC has agreed a two-year deal to air Wales international football for the first time in eight years on its BBC Cymru Wales channel. 

The programmes will also be live on the BBC Sport website.

Wales’ friendly against Bosnia-Hercegovina on 15 August will be the first match shown, followed by the 2014 World Cup qualifiers against Croatia, Serbia, Scotland and FYR Macedonia.

Rhodri Talfan Davies, director of BBC Cymru Wales, said: “Sport is one of the major things that defines us as a nation and I’m delighted that BBC Cymru Wales will be showing television highlights of Wales’s home football internationals once again, complementing our existing radio and online coverage in English and Welsh, and giving the audience the best of Welsh sport on all platforms.”

The television highlights coverage for home matches is in addition to live broadcasts which have been on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and online for many years. Both radio stations and online will continue to cover all Wales’ games, both home and away. The programmes will also be available on BBC iPlayer.

Geoff Williams, head of sport for BBC Cymru Wales, said: “We know from our existing coverage that there is a real passion for football in Wales, and we are thrilled to be able to follow Chris Coleman and the Wales team on television, as well as radio and online.

“Coverage of the Welsh international team will complement our existing coverage of the Welsh Premier League and Welsh Cup, and we look forward to bringing action, analysis, news and views to our audiences for the next two seasons.”

Jonathan Ford, chief executive of the Football Association of Wales, said: “The Football Association of Wales is looking forward to a close working relationship with BBC Cymru Wales. We all recognise the high quality of sports coverage on BBC radio and television and we know this will be of benefit to Welsh football at all levels.

“It is an exciting time both on and off the field. We are about to embark on a World Cup qualifying campaign with the aim of reaching Brazil in 2014 and Welsh football supporters will be able to enjoy the journey with the highlights on BBC Wales television and live coverage on BBC radio.”

Scottish newspaper the Scotsman has reported that David Murray is likely to sell Rangers Football Club Plc (RFC), anabolics the Scottish soccer champions, generic for one pound (US$1.64) in order to facilitate a takeover by businessman Craig Whyte.

The report stated that Murray had been aiming to recoup the £6m ($9.85m) he paid in 1988 for a 93 per cent stake.

However, anesthetist selling the Glasgow-based club for a token sum is a way of ensuring the transaction is completed. The newspaper claimed that the takeover may be announced today, May 6, once a single outstanding issue has been resolved.

While Murray’s stake has a current book value of £10m ($16.4m), the club owes £22m ($36.1m) to Lloyds Banking Group Plc (LLOY), making his shares effectively worthless, the newspaper said.

UEFA have awarded all free-to-air media rights to Armenia TV for the UEFA Champions League in the period between 2012 and 2015 in Armenia.

Each matchnight, case public broadcaster Armenia TV will broadcast one live match, tadalafil as well as the weekly highlights programme.

All rights have been granted on a platform-neutral basis, with the rights also being exploited on the internet and on mobile.

English nPower Championship soccer club Leeds United has announced that its controlling stake is now owned by Ken Bates after consistent political and media pressure to reveal the club’s ownership

Bates, formerly the owner of Chelsea, has denied owning FSF Limited, the company that has owned Leeds since 2007 after the company took over at Elland Road when Bates had put the club into administration.

The Guardian, banned from Elland Road for questioning the club’s ownership, reported: “Bates had said he and [Patrick] Murrin were the owners of the club as holders of the two management shares in FSF. But he later said he had made an “error” and that there were in fact 10,000 shares in FSF with undisclosed owners.”

A statement from the club, attempting to resolve the confusion, read: “There has been much speculation in the media as to the ownership structure of Leeds United and its compliance with the relevant regulations of The Football League and The Football Association.

“The speculation has been further fuelled by the coverage of the Football Governance enquiry and the political obsession with the ownership of Leeds United. Both the Football League and the Football Association have confirmed that the current ownership structure of Leeds United complies with both their regulations.

“The scaremongering arising out of the football Governance enquiry has not been helpful and, whilst the Board were always confident that there were no issues, recognise the concern the unknown outcome of any Premier League questions, may have on our Members.

“To address this issue and in the hope that this brings an end to the speculation, the chairman, Ken Bates, has completed the purchase of FSF Limited for an undisclosed sum. FSF Limited is now owned by Outro Limited which is wholly owned by Ken Bates.”

Broadcasters Mediaset and Sky Italia have agreed a new exchange rights deal with UEFA over football coverage of the Champions League and Europa League in Italy.

Both operators will be able to offer coverage of the matches of Italian teams in the two championships for the next two seasons.

Mediaset will also be able to offer the best Italian Champions League match from Wednesday nights and the best Europa League match on Thursday via its free-to-air channel Italia 1.

Mark Palios, the former chief of the Football Association (FA), believes that recently promoted English Championship soccer side QPR will be deducted points following the hearing into their 2009 signing of Alejandro Faurlin.

As of yesterday, May 3, a hearing commenced centering around seven charges relating to the initial deal arising from the Argentine midfielder’s ownership. If the side are deducted points they could slip out of the automatic promotion places, meaning that Norwich would go up as Champions, followed by Cardiff City in second place.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4, Palios said that if the club are found guilty they would be docked points based on set precedents.

QPR manager Neil Warnock reacted angrily to media claims that the club could be docked as many as 15 points, which would scupper their elevation to the top flight.

The charges are with regards to an alleged agreement between the club and a third party in respect of Faurlin’s economic rights, and the alleged failure by the club to notify the FA of that agreement before the player was registered to play for them in England.

The club has also been charged with allegedly using or seeking to pay an unauthorised agent as part of the Faurlin deal. In addition, both the club and chairman Gianni Paladini have been charged with allegedly submitting false information in documents provided to the FA relating to a contract extension signed by Faurlin in October.

Palios stated: “There is a lot of precedent around playing an ineligible player and that ranges from the clerical errors around the transfer window, when they get small points deductions, to more serious situations.

“I think following the [Carlos] Tevez affair it is necessary for a statement to be made. This is more serious than a clerical error, so deserves a points deduction almost certainly.

“The second charge with regard to illegal payment to agents, I think there is a precedent when Luton got 10 points deducted for doing that.

“Interestingly, the FA said they tried and didn’t say they actually did make the payments to unregistered agents.”

Australia’s Seven Network could secure rights to future Olympics as Nine network may not be in any shape financially to make a bid.

The IOC has not yet entered negotiations with any Australian broadcasters for the rights to the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics or the 2016 Rio de Janiero Summer Games.

Seven was broadcaster of five summer Olympics in a row from Barcelona in 1992, until Nine won the London 2012 rights.

Industry sources said Network Ten was believed to be uninterested in bidding.

Several major sports broadcast deals are availableover the next 18 months, including the National Rugby League, Cricket Australia, V8 Supercars and the Australian Open. {jcomments on}

The three Home Nations Football Associations opposed to their players taking part in next year’s Olympic Games look set to continue their boycott despite a written guarantee from FIFA that a unified team will not affect their individual independence.

A letter sent by FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland promised that London 2012 would be a one-off in terms of an all-British team

However the assurance is believed to have made no difference and will not in any way change entrenched positions.

Britain’s new FIFA vice-president, Northern Ireland’s Jim Boyce, revealed that he would be happy – but only if formally requested to do so – to lobby FIFA on behalf of the three rebel Associations who fear that taking part in a unified team would ultimately lead to them losing their individual status within world football.

However, Boyce said Valcke’s letter of re-assurance was not prompted by him, adding: “I understand Jerome Valcke has written to them but I wasn’t the one to go to FIFA because I was asked not to do so.

“It was made abundantly clear to me by the Presidents of Scotland and Wales especially, and Northern Ireland, that they had already made their decision – and that they were not going to change it.

“It’s entirely up to them to decide if they are going to look at this but, as I say, they have told me they have made their decision and as the British FIFA representative, I have to respect that.”

It is understood that at least two of the three Home Associations – believed to be Scotland and Wales – took particular exception to the very suggestion of a written FIFA guarantee even though Boyce had no intention of going down this road without being requested to do so.

Boyce hinted that there would be no way out of the current impasse, with the last resort of a written FIFA assurance falling on deaf ears, saying: “[FIFA President} Sepp Blatter has stated it [a British Olympic team] would not affect in any way the independence of the three Associations.

“That was a verbal statement. I don’t know what prompted Valcke’s letter. Maybe FIFA themselves thought the British associations needed the same thing in writing.”

One other suggestion is that Olympic officials, increasingly anxious for a unified British men’s team at the 2012 football tournament, were the ones to put pressure on FIFA.

A free-TV executive said viewers in Thailand who rely on satellite or the Internet for their TV signal may experience blackouts during broadcasts of the 2012 Olympic Games.

Channel 3 Vice President Surin Krittayapongpan said because the TV Pool of Thailand had bought only terrestrial broadcast rights for the Olympics, thumb a black screen phenomenon similar to what occurred during Euro 2012 “could happen again.”

Krittayapongpan said the right to terrestrial broadcasts can be received by conventional antennae, but does not cover any satellite or Internet platforms.

Cable satellite TV operator True Visions has its own licence to broadcast the Games through its nine HD channels.{jcomments on}