Premier League football team, allergist | Everton, have signed a two-year deal with Dafabet to become the side’s International Betting and Gaming Partner.

The Asian company offers users a sportsbook service that covers over 5000 live events from across the world on a weekly basis.

Fans of the Merseyside team who live abroad will be able to make use of promotional offers and competitions.

Dimitris Karatzas, Online Gaming Director at Dafabet, said: “After searching for the right partners to bring our brand to the Barclays Premier League and the millions of football fans around the world that the league attracts, we are delighted to announce our new association with Everton Football Club.”

“We are aware of the club’s tradition in top-flight football and hope to help extend the fanbase across Asia.

“We are sure this is the start of a long-term and mutually beneficial partnership.”

Dave Biggar, Commercial Director of Everton Football Club added: “Dafabet are new to the Premier League for the 2012/13 season and we are delighted to work alongside them to offer our overseas supporters a premium betting service.”

Dafabet have signed a similar deal with West Bromwich Albion and boast Newcastle and England legend Alan Shearer as a brand ambassador.

The deal comes a week after the Blues announced Paddy Power as the Club’s official Online Betting Partner across the UK, Ireland and Italy.

London 2012 Olympic security plans has impressed New York’s police chief, rejecting suggestions that US officials were concerned about arrangements for the Games. 

Commissioner Raymond Kelly said London’s police and security planning was far more comprehensive and organised than had been the case for the Atlanta games in 1996, when he was personally involved in a federal government role. 

“It seems they really have a handle on just about any contingency that might take place,’ Kelly said in London during a trip to meet Olympic security chiefs, senior London police and officials at MI5 domestic security agency.

“We’ve been universally very much impressed with everything we’ve seen. As far as I can see they have done an excellent job preparing all of their forces.”

Last November, the United States denied that there had been a diplomatic row over the Olympic security planning, following a newspaper claim that 1,000 agents including some 500 from the FBI, would be sent to protect US athletes and officials.

Chris Allison, Britain’s national Olympic security coordinator, said the claim was ‘rubbish’ and that the reported FBI contingent had been grossly exaggerated.

“I think the FBI role is a supportive one. I don’t think they’re here with specific concerns,” Kelly said, dismissing the idea that the London police needed their assistance.

He added “We were takers rather than givers, put it that way.”

Allison and other senior British security figures have said protests and public order issues rather than al-Qaeda and international terrorism were the most likely threats to the Games.

Last year, Britain suffered its worst rioting in decades and there have been high-profile anti-capitalist protests in London, some inspired by New York’s Occupy Wall Street moment.

Kelly said he had discussed the riots with his London counterparts and it was an issue that they had factored in, with plans for a rapid mobilisation to deal with any unexpected events.

“Will there be demonstrations, will there be protests of some sort? Sure. That’s a given in this day and age. It’s something that happens in New York and London literally everyday,’ Kelly said.

‘But the Met is well experienced. They’re well prepared to handle it.”

The government has waived away rumours that civil servants had been told to stay at home during the London 2012 Olympics by suggesting there would be no reduction in the amount of work they do but instead vary their travel patterns.

Dismissing newspaper reports that Whitehall had told staff to “stay home for the summer” due to Olympic disruption, a government spokesman said in a statement:

“We are encouraging staff to plan ahead and consider different work and travel patterns during the games. This might include walking or cycling, changing their route or travel to and from work or re-timing their working day to avoid the busiest periods.”

17 departments, including the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Justice, have signed up to the government’s target to vary 50 per cent of journeys by their civil servants. The Home Office and the Foreign Office, which both have signifiant roles in the games, have pledged to change their travel arrangements where possible.

The government statement went on: “In some cases working from home is an option, but it is only one option, it is not appropriate for all staff. In every case, staff will be expected to work just as hard and for the same amount of hours as if they were in the office.”

The Department of Transport, which is leading the planning process, was not able to say how many staff had opted to work from home.

A multi-media deal has been secured between electronics company Sharp and British Eurosport to sponsor the channel’s entire cycling coverage, cure and develop an association with live race data from major events, patient for the upcoming 2011 season.

The deal, brokered by Sharp’s media agency, Media by Design, is a six-figure sum and will give the company elements around titles and break-bumpers on the channel, online advertising, TV ad sports and the ability to provide assets for editorial content on-air or online. 

Sharp’s logo will also appear alongside official live data to activate Sharp’s role as British Eurosport’s official cycling insight partner, with a view to develop its own data information stream by late 2011.

Paul Molyneux, Sharp UK managing director, said: “We believe we can use our mindset as an inventor to deepen the enjoyment and involvement of fans, offering a higher level of insight into the sport and adding a new dimension to Eurosport’s coverage.” 

Guillaume Canard Duchene, head of UK sales for Eurosport added: “The additional branding and integration around the race data can only add to our viewers enjoyment of the sport and demonstrate Sharp’s technical abilities.”

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) have announced the conclusion of a broadcasting agreement in Italy, try by IEC in Sports, ailment IAAF’s exclusive media rights agency for Europe and Africa, recipe with public broadcaster RAI, for the 2011-2013 IAAF World Athletic Series (WAS).

The deal with RAI covers all the IAAF WAS events through 2013 and provides strong extensive coverage for the 2011 and 2013 IAAF World Championships that will take place in Daegu and Moscow respectively.

This is the third broadcasting agreement that IEC has brokered with RAI on behalf of the IAAF following contracts covering the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Doha and 2010 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz.

RAI is the public Italian broadcaster with the largest audience reach, and until 2009 had been the IAAF’s broadcast partner in Italy, through the previous EBU broadcasting deal.

IAAF President Lamine Diack stated: “Following deals in the UK and France with Channel 4 and France Televisions, I am encouraged that the IAAF has now secured the third of the top five European territories.”

The IAAF now has confirmed deals in some 65 territories throughout IEC’s territory, and all but one of those concluded so far in Europe are with terrestrial broadcasters, with additional announcements expected in the near future.

The organising of major sporting events in India has come in for yet more scrutiny after the National Games organisers came in for criticism following a number of major problems reported over the first two days of the event in Ranchi.

According to The Times of India, apoplectic media facilities did not work for hours, viagra buy security check points were overwhelmed by spectator numbers and there were no tables or seats for the judges at the taekwondo competition, with T Praveen Kumar, the Taekwondo Federation of India Secretary General furious with the lack of facilities at his sport’s competition.

Kumar told reporters: “Only tall claims were made by organisers. What could be worse than judges not being provided with chairs for the matches?”

The National Games finally started on Saturday after being postponed six times due to incomplete infrastructure, but the latest news will further damage India’s event-hosting image after problems engulfed the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi and more recently, issues regarding the preparations of stadia for the upcoming International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup.

According to Deloitte’s figures, Real Madrid have topped the league table of the world’s 20 richest soccer clubs for the sixth consecutive year.

Deloitte’s Football Money League, based on season 2009-10, also said the combined revenues of the 20 clubs had passed 4bn euros (US$5.45bn) for the first time.

Real’s arch-rivals Barcelona retained second spot in the list, ahead of Manchester United who remain third. Despite the two Spanish giants topping the sports rich list, there is still a strong involvement in the world’s top 20 clubs from England with 7 teams represented.

Mega-money spending Manchester City were perhaps unsurprisingly the biggest climbers in the rankings, but despite the money being pumped into the club, expenditures on players over the past year failed to see them break into the top 10. The Eastlands outfit rise up from 20th to 11th.

Premier League quartet Manchester United (3rd), Arsenal (5th), Chelsea (6th) and Liverpool (8th) all claim places in the top 10, with Tottenham Hotspur (12th) and Aston Villa (20th) joining them in the top 20.

Full Top 10 List:

• 1. Real Madrid: $597.2m
• 2. Barcelona: $541.8m
• 3. Man Utd: $476m
• 4. Bayern Munich: $439.6m
• 5. Arsenal: $373m
• 6. Chelsea: $348.2m
• 7. AC Milan: $320.9m
• 8. Liverpool: $306.6m
• 9. Inter Milan $305.9m
• 10. Juventus: $279m

The British Fencing team have made wholesale changes to its coaching staff in an attempt to ensure success at the upcoming London 2012 Olympics. The main change sees performance director Graham Watts dropped from his role after 10 years in the job.

Watts first held the position in a voluntary agreement but was rewarded with a part-time contract as a paid contractor. He will now leave his post with immediate effect to be replaced by a Performance Management Group along with a full-time performance manager.

Olympic Qualifying begins in April and the new system has been introduced to enable the new management to work alongside UK Sport to offer state-of-the-art performance management tools and processes to the team.

Last year fencing was awarded £2,519,335 (US$3,899,227) funding by UK Sport for the four-year cycle which also includes London 2012 with at least one bronze medal being set as a target. Britain’s previous record in the sport features just one gold amongst 16 medals in total though the nation has not made the podium since 1964.

British Fencing’s chief executive Piers Martin has promised that coaches and support staff will remain in place for now, but warned an immediate financial and performance review will determine future needs.

Indian cricket team captain Mahindra Singh Dhoni signs a Rs 260 million (US $5.7million) endorsement deal with world’s second largest spirits firm, viagra 40mg the UB Group, try believed to be the single biggest for an Indian sportsperson. As a part of the deal with the UB Group, Dhoni will become the brand ambassador for McDowell’s soda for a period of three years.

Earlier this year, Rhiti Sports Management along with Mindscapes One, signed a Rs 2.1 billion deal with Dhoni to manage his endorsements and brand associations.

“Currently Dhoni is the face of 23 brands and charges over Rs six crore per endorsement,” Pandey added. The pack of brands endorsed by Dhoni includes Reebok, Aircel, Godrej and TVS Motor.

During the first six months of this year, Dhoni topped the chart for celebrity endorsements on television, leaving behind not only Bollywood star, Shahrukh Khan and cricket legend, Sachin Tendulkar, but also the gorgeous ladies of the silver screen.

According to the Adex survey of TAM Media Research, while Dhoni endorsed brands for 24 companies on TV, Shahrukh and Sachin were seen promoting the products of 16 and 15 firms, respectively.

Edmonton might remain on the IZOD IndyCar schedule after all. The race appeared dead earlier this month when the city and promoter could not agree to terms. The Edmonton City Council approved a plan involving an additional $3 million in parking revenues and private partnerships.

That is expected to pave the way for Montreal-based Octane Motorsports Events Inc. to serve as race promoter for the next three years.

The Edmonton Sun has also reported the race is expected to held in late July, prostate but the promoter still has to re-work a deal with IndyCar.

Octane also runs the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix and NASCAR Nationwide races in Montreal.