The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) has become the Title Partner for Soccerex Europe, taking place from September 5-6 in Oeiras, Portugal.

Soccerex will work closely with the FPF in the preparation and production of the event, using its extensive network and experience to help coordinate the conference programme and put the Portuguese football community in touch with its international peers.

The FPF will collaborate on the programme and help define the conference concepts, using the knowledge and experience gained with the organisation of Football Talks, which were attended by figures such as Gianni Infantino, Aleksander Ceferin and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

FPF CEO, Tiago Craveiro, will share his ideas as part of an extensive Soccerex Europe programme focusing on the future of football across the continent.

The FPF’s collaboration with Soccerex will facilitate the participation of the Portuguese football community, allowing participants to benefit from various contacts and numerous business opportunities in this important international event, thus stimulating the growth of the football industry in the country.

The Managing Director of Soccerex, Philip Gegan, said: “It is a privilege for us to have the Portuguese Football Federation as the Title Partner of our event. Under the leadership of Fernando Gomes, the FPF has become synonymous with innovation and success, notably with their historic triumphs in the 2016 Euros, which were replicated by the U-17 and U-19 teams in their respective classes, the inaugural Nations League and with Beach Soccer and Futsal teams which have conquered Europe.”

“Having these qualities associated with Soccerex and being able to count on their support in the development of the event will only benefit the experience of participants, both Portuguese and from the wider football community”.

For more information on Soccerex Europe and how to purchase a delegate pass, please visit www.soccerex.com/europe.

 

The International Olympic Committee on Thursday gave India the all-clear to resume bidding for major sports events, lifting a ban that had been triggered when Pakistani athletes were denied visas to compete in the country.

In February the IOC suspended all Indian applications to host future events after two Pakistanis were denied visas to compete in New Delhi.

Reuters reports:

The denial of entry visas for two shooters, who were due to take part in a World Cup event in February, followed an attack by a Pakistan-based militant group in the disputed region of Kashmir, which killed at least 40 paramilitary police.

“We have received the assurances of the Indian government that they will in the future respect the Olympic charter and that they will give permission to enter India for all athletes who want to participate in the relevant events,” IOC President Thomas Bach told a news conference.

India has accused its neighbour of not doing enough to control the militant groups responsible for the Kashmir attacks. Pakistan has denied any involvement.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) last year laid out an ambitious road map to host the Youth Olympics in 2026, the Asian Games in 2030 and the Summer Olympics for the first time in 2032.

Ahead of the one-year countdown to the Olympic Games in Tokyo (July 24 to August 9, 2020), ATPI Sports Events is proud to announce that ticket sales will be open to Canadians on June 26, 2019 and will be available for purchase at www.atpi.ca. ATPI Sports Events is the official and exclusive source of Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 event tickets in Canada, making it the only organisation authorized to offer tickets to Canadian residents.

In addition to Olympic tickets, ATPI Sports Events will provide full-service hospitality packages for Tokyo 2020, including flights, accommodation, ground transportation, pre-travel information, English and French support on-site and sight-seeing excursions. All packages are fully customizable.

As the official ticketing, travel and hospitality partner of the Canadian Olympic Committee and Team Canada, ATPI Sports Events has already secured the best hotels within the Olympic zones, close to competition venues. Conveniently located near extraordinary restaurants, cultural attractions, lively nightlife, world-class shopping and of course the Olympic Games, accommodation options will offer convenient access to the best Tokyo has to offer.

Mathieu Marois, General Manager at ATPI Sports Events Canada, said: “We are proud to continue our official partnership with the Canadian Olympic Committee and Team Canada and look forward to building upon our successful delivery of travel and hospitality packages. The Olympic Games in Tokyo will generate huge international demand and our preparations are already well under way, so supporters can be assured of the best possible experience when they travel to Japan.

“Our business has considerable experience catering for the particular needs of elite sportspeople and delivering what really matters for them. We are always in awe of the sports teams’ exceptional skill and dedication and we are always very proud to play our part and ‘join’ the team.”

The partnership – which underlines the company’s position as the leading travel and events management company for the global sports industry – builds upon ATPI Sports Events long-standing agreement to handle the travel requirements of the Canadian Olympic Committee, Team Canada marketing partners, athletes’ friends and families, general public, and corporate companies across Canada.

LaLiga’s global battle against audiovisual piracy has gathered new momentum in Ecuador, where for the first time, a content block has been activated for the violation of intellectual property rights at the request of LaLiga.

SENADI (the National Service for Intellectual Rights) has ordered the blocking of five different websites with names stemming from the ‘Rojadirecta’ platform which used to provide illegal streams of LaLiga matches.

The decision sets an important precedent that paves the way for possible blocks of other portals that infringe ownership rights, while strengthening the role of blocking as a tool in the fight against online audiovisual piracy.

These blocks have been implemented thanks to the commitment of SENADI to the defence of intellectual property rights. The public institution, which is affiliated with the Secretariat of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, is the authority entrusted with the regulation, management and control of intellectual rights in Ecuador.

From now on, any user who navigates to the illicit sites will be automatically redirected to a website which will provide information on the block applied to the sites.

“This has been a success for LaLiga, but above all for SENADI and Ecuador, which has taken a big step forward in the battle against audiovisual piracy across the country,” explained Melcior Soler, the Director of LaLiga’s Audiovisual Department.

“For LaLiga, it’s another step down the path to protect intellectual property rights. The number of affected users isn’t the only important factor here, but also the fact that a major precedent has been set for the future.”

Meanwhile, Alfonso Rivera, the Director of Intellectual Property and Antipiracy at Tobar ZVS, the firm that fronted the operation, stated, “We’ve been battling to protect intellectual property rights in this country for many years. The website block measure, which was imposed by SENADI for the first time, is great news for all copyright holders in Ecuador. The violation of intellectual property rights must be combatted whichever platform it takes place on.”

LaLiga’s commitment to the battle against piracy over the last five seasons has seen the investment of significant resources, both in human and technical terms. These endeavours have seen access to over 30 illegal streaming sites blocked in Spain and the closure of around 20 sites.

Extensive work is also taking place on the international stage. The blockings in Ecuador join those already secured recently in Brazil, Peru and Denmark. The most common forms of piracy that LaLiga is battling against are streaming sites, applications, unauthorised content posted on social media, illegal satellite devices and illegal IPTV platforms.

 

British Basketball League (BBL) has secured an extension to its deal with Perform as the league’s exclusive betting rights partner.

The original Perform and BBL agreement resulted in massive exposure for the league, including 242 League games streamed live and worldwide on Live Basketball TV for the first time, as well as 32 games broadcast on the BBC sport web site.

Under the new three-year deal sees Perform continuing as the BBL’s exclusive betting rights partner for its Watch&Bet and RunningBall products.

“We are delighted to have extended our partnership with BBL and believe this partnership illustrates Perform’s commitment to investing in global and British Basketball,” commented Alex Rice, Chief Rights Officer, Perform.

“We are excited about the BBL plans and are looking forward to continuing as the exclusive betting rights partner.”

Bob Hope, Commercial Director, BBL, added, “I am so pleased that Perform has committed to BBL once again and agreed to continue as our exclusive betting rights partner. Their commitment clearly shows the confidence that Perform has in the League.”

“The income generated by this partnership will underpin the financial security of the BBL. It will give us the stability we require to expand our presence in the UK sporting market and beyond even further, as well as enable us to forge new partnerships in a range of commercial sectors.”

From left in photo above: Vince Macaulay (BBL Coach of the year), Alex Rice (Chief Rights Officer of Perform), Bob Hope (Commercial Director of the BBL) and Justin Robinson, (BBL`s Most Valuable Player of the year).

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday thrashed out the plan for the boxing qualification and competition for next year’s Tokyo 2020 Olympics as it looks to run them without the suspended international boxing federation AIBA.

It also proposed almost trebling the number of women boxers to 100 out of the 286, up from 36 at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

Reuters reports:

The IOC recommended last month that boxing should keep its place at next year’s Games but recognition of AIBA, the governing body of the sport’s amateur version, should be suspended until the issues surrounding its finances and governance are resolved.

The IOC Executive Board on Wednesday finalised weight categories (eight men, five women) for the Tokyo Games as well as the qualification system.

A sharp increase in women boxers compared to Rio was also proposed while men’s numbers are to be reduced from 250 to 186. Rio also had a total of 286 boxers.

There will be four regional qualifiers (Africa, Europe, Asia/Oceania and Americas) to be staged between January and April next year while Japan, as hosts, will have the opportunity to directly qualify four men and two women.

“To allow the athletes a second chance to qualify for Tokyo we will have a final Olympic qualifying event probably in May next year,” IOC Sports Director Kit McConnell told a news conference.

All IOC Executive Board decisions will need to be ratified by the IOC session in Lausanne next week.

AIBA has been in turmoil over its finances and governance for years with the federation $16 million in debt and an ongoing bitter battle over the presidency that has split the body internally.

AIBA largely depends on Olympic Games revenues to survive between Games and has started letting people go as a result of its Olympic exclusion.

The IOC has set up a task force headed by Japanese IOC member Morinari Watanabe, head of the international gymnastics federation, to organize qualifiers and the Tokyo Games competition.

A separate task force, headed by Serbian IOC member Nenad Lalovic, has been assigned to look into the ties with AIBA.

McConnell said Watanabe’s task force, which does not include any member from the wider boxing family, would rely on some boxing expertise with AIBA providing details for referees, judges and other officials to be used in Tokyo.

“It is important that this direct contact with AIBA is maintained,” McConnell said.

He said other boxing experts would be consulted in the process.

“The task force has no direct representation of boxing federations but we will be calling on boxing expertise,” he said.