Spain’s top football division, La Liga, has launched the LFP International Cup, which is to be held in Asia starting in 2011.

The competition was launched at the Soccerex Forum in Singapore by La Liga CEO Francisco Roca Perez and Sergi Vieta of the Megapro agency, and is part of a long-term strategy by La Liga to increase brand awareness in Asia.

Details of the new tournament remain unrefined at the moment, but it was confirmed that three as yet unnamed La Liga teams will play in South East Asia either next July or August.

Roca said: “For us, this is a very particularly exciting and new development of the Spanish League. We are trying to change the gears in terms of how the Spanish League and its players are being promoted internationally.

“We feel we have a lot to offer to the world of football in general, and we think that Asia is one of the key areas for the expansion of football in general and of the Spanish League in particular.”

Vieta added: “After the exploits of Barcelona in the 2009/10 season, and with Spain recently emerging as World Cup champions, we felt that this is the best time to introduce the LFP International Cup and share the beauty of Spanish football with the Asian market.”

 

NBA team, Chicago Bulls have announced a five-year extension of its radio broadcast agreement with ESPN 1000 that will keep the team on the station through the 2016-17 season.

ESPN 1000 will air all regular season and playoff games, three preseason games, halftime, pregame and postgame as the flagship station of the Chicago Bulls Radio Network.

John Cravens, GM and vice president of ESPN 1000, said: “We are very pleased to renew this long-standing partnership between the Chicago Bulls and ESPN Chicago. These two great brands will continue to entertain Chicago sports fans for many years to come.”

ESPN 1000 has been the Bulls’ flagship station for 15 of the past 16 seasons.

Chicago Bulls president and COO Michael Reinsdorf, added: “We are excited about the opportunity to extend our association with a great brand like ESPN and to be able to continue to bring our fans every Bulls game via radio.”

The debt of Spanish La Liga champions Barcelona is much greater than first thought, after a new audit into the club’s finances have revealed a deficit of US$575.6 million following a loss of more than US$100 million last season.

The previous president, Joan Laporta, had previously claimed the club was US$14.3 million in the black last month.

But an audit carried out by Deloitte for new president Sandro Rosell has revealed extensive losses.

Barcelona vice-president Javier Faus told a press conference: “There is a structural problem. The sporting excellence of the past few years has not been reflected in excellence in economic management.”

At the end of June, the club was forced to take out a US$195 million loan to help pay players’ wages.

Qatar-based broadcaster Al-Jazeera has secured French broadcast rights to the Champions League for three seasons.

UEFA says it sold four of five available media packages covering 133 matches each season from 2012-15. The value of the deal was not disclosed.

Al-Jazeera replaces incumbents TF1 and Canal Plus as UEFA’s main broadcast partner in France.

UEFA says a fifth package — including first choice of games on 13 match dates, erectile and the final — has not yet been awarded.

Al-Jazeera’s deal continues its buying spree of sports media rights in France. It already has bought domestic and international rights to screen French league matches.

Al-Jazeera has Middle East and North African rights for the Champions League.

English Premier League side Everton has signed a two-year deal with 188Bet to become the offical betting partner of the team.

The deal signals a sixth partnership in the top flight of English football for the online gaming company. Chelsea, Aston Villa and Liverpool were signed up last season, after Bolton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic had agreed deals before that.

The sponsorship will be activated by a fan competition to win seats at a question-and-answer session with Everton manager, David Moyes.

188Bet chief executive Andy Scott said: “Everton FC is another fantastic addition to our valuable portfolio of partnerships with Premier League football clubs.

“It is a club steeped with tradition and history and shares many of the same brand values as 188Bet. We look forward to working with Everton’s passionate supporters as the club continues its exciting progress under David Moyes, making this a fabulous opportunity for Everton FC and 188Bet alike.”

Everton CEO Robert Elstone added: “188Bet demonstrated last season from their investment in the Premier League that football was key to their business and it is important that Everton partner with organisations who have a vested interest in our game.

“118Bet have a fantastic range of products that we will be able to offer Everton supporters including what we believe is the best online gaming sites the marketplace that will benefit our supporters and visitors to Goodison will also enjoy an brand new state of the art matchday betting serivice.”

Dutch sports broadcaster Sport1 has acquired the rights to show the Spanish Primera Division soccer tournament for the next three seasons.

This comes after iSportconnect reported the Chellomedia-owned broadcaster renewed the rights to show the UEFA Champions League for the next three seasons. Sport1 will air live games as well as edited highlights on its main channel as well as online and no less than four games from the Spanish competition live in HD each week.

Will Moerer, ed Sport1 general manager, tadalafil said: “In addition to the English Premier League, viagra 40mg our subscribers really enjoy the Spanish competition. It goes without saying that we are really pleased that we can continue to broadcast the Real Madrid and FC Barcelona games each week.”

English Championship side Crystal Palace is set to come out of administration after no appeal was lodged from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) objecting to the move.

Palace went into administration in January and only avoided going out of business last month thanks to a consortium stepping in.

And the news now means that the CPFC 2010 consortium, led by Steve Parish, can now apply for a transfer of Palace’s Football League share and take full control of the club.

Club administrator Brendan Guilfoyle said: “This is now the beginning of the end of the rescue of Crystal Palace.

“I would like to say a special thank you to Steve Parish. Without his determination and tenacity, it would not have been possible to resolve the many difficulties that arose during such complex and lengthy negotiations.”

 

UEFA have reached an agreement with National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU) and Television and Radio Broadcasting ‘Ukraina’ (TRK) for the broadcast rights for UEFA Euro 2012 in Ukraine.

The agreement will ensure an exceptional depth of coverage for the final tournament in this host country.

NTU and TRK will each broadcast 15 live matches exclusively on a free-to-air basis, order respectively on the First National and ‘Ukraina’ TV channels, online with the final match being transmitted live co-exclusively on both channels. The final draw, taking place tonight at 18:00 CET in Kyiv, will also be transmitted live on both channels. In addition, TRK will have the right to broadcast all 31 matches live on their TV channel Football on a pay basis.

The ‘Ukraina’ and Football TV channels will also transmit highlights programmes of all the 31 matches, magazine programmes promoting the final tournament, as well as exploit the rights for the respective matches via their internet and mobile platforms. This will ensure extensive and platform-rich coverage for the final tournament in Ukraine.

Guy-Laurent Epstein, Marketing Director of UEFA Events SA, said: “UEFA is delighted to welcome TRK into an exclusive group of UEFA Euro 2012 official broadcasters and is looking forward to working with both NTU & TRK to bring UEFA Euro 2012 to the widest possible audience in Ukraine.”

Football Federation Australia (FFA) chairman Frank Lowy has said he is confident Australia will be successful in its bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

A FIFA delegation begins a three-day inspection of the country today, abortion where it will visit and evaluate stadiums, herbal training facilities and hotels.

And Lowy is confident the delegation will like what it sees. He said: “I feel optimistic and I feel we have made a good case. There is sympathy for Australia. We are well known for staging world-class events and meet the best standards.

“We have been talking to the [FIFA] executive committee members, I expect come December the world will be in favour of Australia for 2022.”

Australia is competing with the United States, Qatar, South Korea and Japan to host the 2022 tournament.

Australia had originally intended to bid for the 2018 competition, but dropped out when it became clear FIFA wanted a European host.

Sports broadcaster Sky Sports will have exclusive rights to MMA’s Cage Warriors Fighting Championship (CWFC) events in 2012 after signing a 12-month contract with the London-based organisation.

The deal will see all ten scheduled CWFC shows next year broadcast on one of Sky Sports’ four channels (Sky Sports 1, 2, 3 & 4).

Sky’s coverage will begin on February 9 for Cage Warriors Fight Night 3 in the Middle East.

Cage Warriors director Graham Boylan, said: “The Cage Warriors Team have worked extremely hard over the past year by pulling off 10 shows in three different countries.

“2012 will be an even bigger year as we visit six different countries with another 10 shows. The following 12 months will see two eight-man tournaments and every Cage Warriors champion we have will be defending their belts.

“You will see the best professional athletes in the world competing and to have them showcase their skills on Sky Sports is a great step forward and a reward for all the hard work they put into their training every day in the gym.”

Cage Warriors was established in 2001 and staged its first MMA event in London in July, 2002.