On Wednesday 27 October at 12 midday (CET), asthma FIFA’s Director of Competitions Mustapha Fahmy will conduct the draw for the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2010 presented by Toyota at the Home of FIFA. The draw will be streamed live on Fifa.com.

The competition will be held in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates from 8-18 December 2010. The opening game will feature UAE League champions Al Wahda against OFC O-League champions Hekari United of Papua New Guinea.

The winners of that game will then proceed to the quarter finals where they could be drawn against either Pachuca CF (Mexico), ed the AFC Champions League winners (Korea Republic’s Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma or Zob Ahan of Iran) or the CAF Champions League winners (TP Mazembe Englebert from DR Congo or Tunisia’s Esperance).

Waiting in the semi finals will be Italy’s Internazionale Milano, winners of last season’s UEFA Champions League and S.C. Internacional of Brazil, the reigning Copa Libertadores champions representing CONMEBOL.

SNTV, the joint venture between The Associated Press (AP) and IMG Worldwide, announced it has secured sports digital rights for customers of its SNTV Digital service which launched at last October’s Sportel.

The world’s leading television sports video news agency now has the rights to provide Bundesliga, Brazilian League, French Ligue 1 football highlights, WTA and U.S. Open Tennis, as well as FIS World Cup Skiing and Ski Jumping, and other alpine events, to eligible clients of its SNTV Digital service, including broadcasters wishing to make these clips available on their websites. SNTV also confirmed it has cleared Euroleague basketball digital rights.

The new content is available in SNTV Digital’s football and ‘all sport’ products, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and available in a full range of technical formats and delivery options including online, mobile, tablet devices and connected TVs. It will be made available as ready-to-publish clips with voice-over also available. In addition, the content is available as ‘raw’ edits of 2-to-4 minutes, if clients wish to adapt the content themselves.

SNTV Managing Director Martin Kay said: “We made a commitment at the launch of SNTV Digital to invest in additional digital rights to extend our market-leading services. Today’s announcement, following discussions with our rights holder partners underscores that commitment.”

Kay continued: “We are also heavily invested in global newsgathering to serve both broadcast and digital clients, we are counting the days to Euro 2012 and the Summer Olympics where our ‘road to…’ coverage is already well underway. The volume and quality of our news content leading up to and during these key sporting events will be tremendous, cleared for digital use and available in high definition.”

SNTV is the world’s leading television sports video news agency whose mission is to deliver the most relevant sports news to its customers, in the most useful ways. SNTV is a partnership between IMG Media, the world’s largest independent producer and distributor of sports programming, with more than 40 offices worldwide, and The Associated Press, the backbone of the world’s information system.

by Ismail Uddin

Seven people have been killed in a stampede at a football stadium in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, officials say. reports BBC.

The crush happened as a crowd tried to enter Nyayo National Stadium to watch a match between two of Kenya’s most popular teams. Six people died at the stadium while another person died later in hospital, a Kenyan Red Cross official said. The Premier League match between Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards continued despite the deaths.

Jack Oguda, head of the Kenya Premier League, was reported as saying an inquiry would be launched to establish why fans could not access the stadium, which he said was not full.

The BBC’s Will Ross in Nairobi says that the game was stopped only for a few minutes after the stampede, and that most people inside the stadium were probably not aware of what was happening outside.

This same stadium was banned by world federation FIFA from hosting World Cup qualifying matches after a crowd stampede at a game against Morocco in June 2005 when a crowd forced down gates before the game, killing a 15-year-old supporter and injuring 15 other fans.

FIFA disciplinary committee ordered Kenya to play their next against Tunisia behind closed doors and imposed a fine of $19,000.

Grammy Sports has signed a three-year deal for exclusive Thai rights to broadcast live Carling Cup matches from September onwards.

The matches will be televised on GMM Sport One and GMM Football Plus.

Managing director Kobkiat Sangwanich said the Carling Cup was Grammy Sports’ latest big name acquisition offered to fans via the 1Sky settop box since the beginning of 2012.

“Grammy will not stop at with this, but continue to select the best content for Thai sports’ fans,” he said.

Paiboon Damrongchaitham, chairman of GMM Grammy, said the company is negotiating with Free TV to become a co-broadcaster and plans to connect with Thai football fans through its “GMM Sport, every one can watch”, campaign. The viewer ratings for the Carling Cup are close to those of Premier League matches,” said Paiboon, highlighting the quality of the competition.

Besides owning the broadcast rights for the Europa League, Grammy is now negotiating for the JLeague, Asian football’s top-flight league, in Japan.

by Ismail Uddin

Portsmouth have been sold to Balram Chainrai, Levi Kushnir and Deepak Chainrai after a deal was struck to allow the club to exit administration.

A financial agreement with former owner Alexandre Gaydamak paved the way for the club’s sale, which has been approved by the Football League.

“It’s a significant moment involved for everyone involved at the club,” said Pompey chief executive David Lampitt.

Balram Chainrai added: “We’re not going to make any rash promises.”

The Football League has lifted the transfer embargo imposed on Pompey, although all deals will require the League’s approval, while the club must also submit monthly financial reports for monitoring.

On Friday the club had claimed they were on the brink of ceasing trading because Gaydamak had refused to sign a deal to sell to Chainrai.

But Gaydamak said late on Saturday that a new agreement had been agreed.

Balram Chainrai, a Hong Kong-based businessman, became Pompey’s fourth owner inside a year when he assumed control of the club in February 2010 before putting them in administration soon after.

“We need to stabilise and Levi and I will be taking time to get a closer understanding of the business so that we can ensure the club is taken forward in the right way,” added Chainrai.

The saga surrounding the ownership of Portsmouth, who won the FA Cup in 2008, began in August 2009 when Gaydamak sold the club to Sulaiman Al Fahim.

Two months later Ali Al Faraj become the new owner when he acquired 90% of the shares from Al Fahim.

Three weeks after that Chainrai lent Al Faraj £17m but the off-pitch turbulence continued as Avram Grant replaced Paul Hart as manager, the club failed several times to pay its players on time and HM Revenue & Customs issued a winding-up order over tax issues.

In February 2010 Chainrai seized the club’s assets before placing the club in administration with debts estimated to be about £120m.

The club subsequently had nine points deducted for going into administration, were relegated from the Premier League and in June appointed a new boss in Steve Cotterill.

In August Portsmouth survived an attempt by HM Revenue & Customs to block a Company Voluntary Agreement, which could have prevented the club exiting administration.

As recently as Friday the club claimed it appeared “likely to close” after a row over £2.2m owed to Gaydamak saw talks break down.

However, on Saturday it was announced Portsmouth would pay Gaydamak £2.5m in instalments over the next five years and the saga was finally concluded late on Saturday when Chainrai resumed control of the club.

The club’s administrators confirmed a deal worth 20p in the pound to unsecured creditors has also been agreed.

The south coast outfit currently lie 13th in the Championship, the second tier of English football.

“We’re now in a position where we can look to move forward on a more stable financial footing,” said David Lampitt.

“This has been an extremely tough journey and the legacy of past events at the club means we still have a long way to travel and a number of battles to fight. ”

Source : BBC Sport

Jeremy Lin’s impressive performances have helped bring back pro basketball and hockey games back on cable TV.

MSG Networks and Time Warner Cable ended a 48-day impasse late Friday afternoon and reached a tentative agreement that enabled area cable subscribers to receive the regional sports networks in time for Friday night’s NBA and NHL games.

In separate news releases, both parties credited Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and NBA commissioner David Stern for “assistance (that) helped allow the parties to reach an agreement,” the MSG statement read. No terms of the agreement were disclosed, and neither company returned phone messages for elaboration.

Pressure on both sides had been building because of the recent emergence of Lin, a New York Knickspoint guard who went from an end-of-the-bench player to a national celebrity in a matter of days.

“Our office has worked diligently with Time Warner Cable and MSG Networks over the last month to bring about a resolution to their dispute,” Schneiderman said in a statement. “We are pleased that both parties have reached an agreement that will finally allow Knicks, Rangers, and Sabres fans to enjoy the rest of this season’s games.”

Games involving New York’s professional teams, as well as other network programming, had been blacked out since Jan. 1, when the previous contract expired. There had been no meaningful negotiations until the politicians began urging MSG executive chairman James Dolan and Time Warner CEO Glenn Britt to get a deal done.

Cuomo called each company’s top executives in the past two days, according to another state official. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because negotiations were private.

“I applaud both Mr. Dolan and Mr. Britt and their companies,” Cuomo said in a statement. “I thank them for being responsive to the needs of New Yorkers.”

Stern stepped in over the past two days, telling the sides how important it was to get Lin back on TV for both parties, for the league and for basketball itself, said one person close to the talks who requested anonymity.

MSG’s ratings for the six Knicks games in which Lin has started have increased 109 percent, according to the network.

ESPN had its biggest regular-season Friday night audience so far this season, 34 percent above the average with 3 million viewers, when Lin outscored Kobe Bryant with 38 points to beat the Lakers on Feb. 10.

The agreement calls for the cable company to carry not only MSG and MSG+ but also Fuse, a music network that Time Warner senior vice president Mike Angus said in the days during the blackout “is watched by fewer than one-tenth of 1 percent of the customers who have it available.”

by Ismail Uddin

HBO have announced that Floyd Mayweather Jr. will challenge WBA junior middleweight titleholder Miguel Cotto on HBO Pay Per View from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on May 5.

“We’re thrilled that Floyd Mayweather’s fight with Miguel Cotto will be presented by HBO Pay-Per-View,” said Ken Hershman, president of HBO Sports in a statement. “We look forward to working with Floyd, Miguel, Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions on this special event.”

Mayweather-Cotto will headline an under card that will also feature WBC 154-pound beltholder Saul “Canelo” Alvarez defending his belt against Sugar Shane Mosley.

Mayweather has fought nine of his past 10 fights on HBO Pay Per View, including his last eight bouts and, most recently, his fourth-round knockout victory that dethroned Victor Ortiz as WBC welterweight titleholder in September.

Mosley, however, fought for the first time on rival Showtime Pay Per View in his last fight, a unanimous decision loss to WBO welterweight beltholder, Manny Pacquiao, in May.

Losing Pacquiao-Mosley to Showtime played a role in the departure of former HBO President of Sports,Ross Greenburg, who announced his resignation in July after having been at the helm since September of 2000.

Hershman left a similar position at Showtime to be installed as Greenburg’s replacement, taking over in early January.

by Ismail Uddin

ailment helvetica, store sans-serif;”>EBU Retains Rights To Cycling’s Vuelta

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Cycling’s Vuelta a Espana will continue to receive substantial free-to-air television coverage after Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) and Unipublic agreed a four-year extension to their contract with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

 

The EBU has now committed to the event from 2012 to 2015. TV coverage of the race will be provided by Spanish EBU member TVE, with which Vuelta organisers ASO and Unipublic renewed their agreements last year.

“This new contact is excellent news for the Vuelta, and for cycling in general, because EBU members – which screen many other cycling events as well – offer consistent, comprehensive coverage throughout the season,” said Yann Le Moenner, Director General of ASO.

Stefan Kuerten, EBU Director of Sports And Business, added: “We are extremely pleased that the Vuelta has decided to continue its successful partnership with the EBU. This extended co-operation shows a shared belief in the importance of wide-reaching, free to air exposure for top cycling events such as the Vuelta a Espana.”

Spain’s Juan Jose Cobo was the shock winner in the 2011 Vuelta.

 

By Marc Sibbons