Spanish football champions Barcelona have joined forces with Beko and UNICEF to raise €1m ($1.21m/£879,000) as part of a new campaign to tackle childhood obesity worldwide.

The LaLiga giants have teamed up with the Turkish appliance brand and United Nations programme, to launch ‘Eat Like a Pro’ (ELAP). The scheme will encourage people across the globe to share their healthy eating habits on social media. For each #EatLikeAPro post that appears on Instagram or Twitter, Beko will donate €1 ($1.21/£0.88p) to UNICEF.

The ELAP campaign will grant families access to the eating habits of the Barcelona players while educating parents and children about the importance of a healthy diet and a balanced lifestyle.

Beko will also give up its brand visibility on the Barcelona players’ sleeves during this weekend’s El Clásico, in a bid to highlight the healthy eating initiative.

“Childhood obesity is a worldwide issue and we are delighted that three leading global brands are uniting to help tackle the challenge,” said Beko US President Hasan Yardimci.

“In all our programs that use the FutbolNet methodology, and that are reaching 120,000 children and youth around the world, we use the physical activity and the value of respect, in this case respect towards oneself, to reinforce healthy habits,” added Jordi Cardoner, Vice President of Barcelona and the Barça Foundation.

If current worldwide trends persist, 70 million children will be overweight by 2025.

New York Cosmos owner, Rocco Commisso, has offered a half-a-billion dollar (£366m) cash boost to the North American Soccer League (NASL) over a 10-year period, provided he receives certain guarantees from the federation.

It’s reported Commisso wrote a letter to the new president of US Soccer, Carlos Cordeiro, earlier this month, outlining his investment plans for the NASL, which the Cosmos have played in since returning to competitive action five years ago. The investment deal would include $250m (£183m) of Commisso’s own cash, with the other half to be raised from other investors.

The proposal is dependent on US Soccer guaranteeing the NASL a ten-year window to align with the federation’s division regulations. Commisso also wants the governing body to restructure itself to remove what he sees as favouritism towards Major League Soccer (MLS) and its player development partner the United Soccer League (USL).

Commisso’s offer comes in reaction to US Soccer’s decision to revoke the NASL’s Division 2 status at the end of last year when the league failed to meet standards for that tier. The NASL then announced that it was cancelling its 2018 campaign after Commisso’s legal attempt to reinstate its Division 2 status failed.

Commisso’s investment would provide funding for updating stadiums and allow 10 teams to play as soon as next year.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has appointed Sébastien Gillot as Director, European Regional Office and International Federation Relations.

Mr Gillot, who is currently Head of Communications for the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), will begin his new role on 13th August. He will be based at WADAs offices in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Mr.Gillot will replace Benjamin Cohen, who is leaving WADA in the coming weeks to become the first Director General of the new International Testing Agency (ITA).

The Frenchman departs UCI after 4 years. He previously held various senior positions in the sports industry including Director of Public Relations and Communications for the International Boxing Association (AIBA), from 2011 until 2014.

Dugout is to expand into the Middle East and North Africa region after receiving £8.275m ($11.6m) in fresh investment.

The digital football media company received the cash injection from an investors group led by US businessmen David and Frank McCourt. David McCourt is chief executive of tech investors Granahan McCourt Capital and also the founder of ALTV.com, one of the fastest growing free streaming services in the MENA region. Meanwhile his brother, Frank, is chairman and chief executive of McCourt LP and McCourt Global.

Dugout are keen to grow their brand in the MENA market, with Arabic to be added to its language base shortly.

Elliot Richardson, founder and chairman of Dugout, said: “This investment keeps the momentum going and partnerships with innovators like ALTV and Alchemy Media both enhance our technology offering and open up key markets like the Middle East and North Africa, where we know our club partners have such huge support.”

David McCourt, of Granahan McCourt Capital, added: “Dugout represents an excellent opportunity to capitalise on two significant global trends. Firstly, the huge demand for great, original and highly-personalised content. Secondly, the soaring popularity of football in practically every market.”

Dugout is the only media company to be run by nine of the world’s richest football clubs including Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.

LaLiga’s expansion into Nigeria has gathered further momentum after agreeing a regional partnership deal with the makers of Big Cola, AJEAST Nigeria.

Under the agreement, the multinational drinks manufacturer will gain access to intellectual property, marketing rights, tickets, merchandising and exclusive content from LaLiga’s top flight clubs.

The strategic partnership was announced at a press conference in Lagos yesterday. The move confirms AJEAST’s status as a major player in the development of football in the country.

Gregory Bolle, LaLiga’s Head of Global Partnership Sales, said of the deal: “LaLiga loves Africa and Nigeria is a strategic country for us, because of its fans and numerous football talents such as Francis Uzoho (Deportivo de la Coruna) and Oghenekaro Etebo (UD Las Palmas). LaLiga is proud to kick off this partnership with a leading beverage brand such as Big Cola. This partnership will allow our millions of Nigerian LaLiga fans to further engage with the best league in the world.”

Theo Williams, Country Director of AJEAST Nigeria, added: “We are proud to launch this partnership with LaLiga. This partnership provides us with a remarkable platform to broaden Big Cola’s profile and values, while giving us another opening to create distinctive experiences for football fans all over Nigeria.”

The length of the deal and its financial figures were not disclosed.

Big Cola is one of Nigeria’s best-selling soft drinks.

Britain’s biggest privately-owned company has teamed up with Sir Ben Ainslie in a £110m ($151.5m)-bid to win the 2021 America’s Cup.

INEOS are backing the 41-year old to finally land sailing’s oldest trophy, which has eluded Britain for its entire 168-year history.

Four-time Olympic gold medallist Ainslie will skipper the 2021 boat.

New Zealand are the current holders of the cup competition, defeating Oracle Team USA in last year’s ‘Auld Mug’. Ainslie was Oracle Team USA’s tactician when it staged a remarkable comeback from 8-1 down to win the 2013 America’s Cup 9-8.

INEOS Chairman and keen amateur sailor, Jim Ratcliffe, said of the partnership: “With the skill of Sir Ben Ainslie and his team, I think Ineos Team GB has a great chance of success in 2021 and I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

The winners of the inaugural STA Start Up Awards have been announced on iSportconnect.

Judges on the awards panel, which included MD for Microsoft Startups, Warwick Hill, considered dozens of entries from around the world.

The event, which recognises new tech businesses, was split into 12 separate categories.

Successes included Find a Player for ‘Best Startup App Company’, SeatServe for ‘Best Sport Commerce’ and REFSIX for ‘Best Wearable’.

For more details on these and the rest of the winners from the STA Start Up Awards, click on the video below:

US cable operator Comcast has made a formal £22bn ($30.7bn) bid for Sky that values the UK broadcaster at £12.50 ($17.43) a share.

It’s reported the move threatens 21st Century Fox’s attempts to take full control of the pay-tv group.

Rupert Murdoch has already agreed to buy the 61% of Sky it does not already own – an offer worth £19bn ($26.5bn).

Sky said it was withdrawing its recommendation for the Fox bid following Comcast’s proposal.

Sky shares closed 3.4% higher at £13.59 ($18.95) on Wednesday, suggesting a bidding war for control of Sky could begin. Disney, which struck a $66bn ($92bn) agreement with Fox four months ago, could also make a play for Sky.

Comcast say its bid came with a series of commitments on Sky ownership and UK investment which includes a 10-year commitment to Sky News.

Comcast is already America’s largest provider of cable and broadband with 29m customers.

The German Football Association (DFB) has officially submitted its bid to host the 2024 European Championships.

President Reinhard Grindel handed over the bid documents to UEFA on Tuesday, alongside bid ambassador and former Germany captain Philipp Lahm.

The DFB declared its interest to host the tournament in March last year, and has submitted its dossier ahead of the 27th April deadline.

Grindel said of the proposal: “We are submitting an excellent bid concept for a perfectly organised tournament, which offers a great opportunity for UEFA to further develop European football. UEFA Euro 2024 staged in the heart of Europe will enable all of the participants to be given the best possible support by their fans.”

Germany have won the Euros three times and last hosted the competition in 1988.