Promising Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere has been warned by UEFA after breaking strict betting regulations.

Wilshere, who missed last season with an ankle injury, was investigated by European football’s governing body after implying he had placed a wager on an Arsenal team-mate during a Champions League match in December.

The 20-year-old tweeted that fellow Gunner Emmanuel Frimpong was “worth a cheeky £10” to open the scoring at odds of 150/1 in a clash with Greek side Olympiakos.

Wilshere later added: “Frimmy nearly won me some money there!” as his then team-mate hit a shot into the side-netting with the game still goalless.

After a seven-month investigation, UEFA deemed Wilshere had broken its laws but decided against a possible ban for the midfielder.

A UEFA spokesman said: “The player has been warned for being in breach of the principles of integrity of matches and competitions. The disciplinary measure was a warning.”

West Bromwich Albion shirt sponsors Bodog have come under fire following a website operated by the company being shutdown by US government’s homeland security.

The gaming firm’s stateside online operation was halted by government agents on Monday and the news was announced on Bodog founder Calvin Ayre’s website.

The site now states that the domain name has been seized by the Homeland Security investigations department.

Bill Beatty, anesthetist a spokesman for the Bodog chief, doctor alleged the move was part of a government plan to abolish all online gaming sites to clear the way for the big Nevada-based casinos to enter the market.

Bodog also claimed that the site had not been operational for almost a year and its UK operation, prostate which sanctioned the Baggies’ £2million two-year sponsorship deal, has never taken bets from the USA. Its lawyers are working to reclaim the webpage.

by Ismail Uddin

TV-Moderator und Gutfried Markenbotschafter Johannes B. Kerner und Gutfried Gesellschafter Michael Nölke haben in Frankfurt eine 40.000 Euro-Spende an Dr. Michael Ilgner, Vorstandsvorsitzender der Deutschen Sporthilfe, übergeben. 
Die Geldspende wird von der Sporthilfe zur Nachwuchsförderung eingesetzt, um junge Sporttalente wie den Zehnkämpfer Jan Felix Knobel auf ihrem Weg in den Leistungssport zu unterstützen.

„Wir freuen uns sehr über die umfangreiche Spende von Gutfried im Rahmen unserer Kampagne ‘Dein Name für Deutschland’. Die 40.000 Euro werden in die Förderung unserer zahlreichen Nachwuchstalente in der gesamten Republik fließen”, so Ilgner. 

„Im Jahr unseres 40jährigen Jubiläums von Gutfried war es uns ein großes Anliegen, die Sporthilfe bei ihrem wichtigen gesellschaftlichen Auftrag der Sportförderung zu unterstützen. Wir wünschen allen Nachwuchssportlern viel Erfolg und Glück auf ihrem Weg in den Spitzensport”, so Michael Nölke, Gesellschafter der Heinrich Nölke GmbH Co. & KG. Auf der „Gutfried Jubiläums-Geflügel-Fleischwurst” wurde die Kooperation von Gutfried und der Deutschen Sporthilfe im vergangenen Jahr beworben, über jede verkaufte Wurst floss ein Betrag in den Spendentopf.

Aktiver Sportreporter gegen ehemaligen Wasserball-Nationalspieler und einen jungen Nachwuchssportler: Im Rahmen der Spendenübergabe fanden Johannes B. Kerner, Dr. Michael Ilgner und der Zehnkämpfer Jan Felix Knobel die Zeit für ein sportliches Match an der Tischtennisplatte. Am Ende einigten sich alle auf ein faires Unentschieden.

The International Triathlon Union (ITU) announced yesterday, March 1, that a sponsorship agreement has been signed with leading eyewear brand Oakley to become the Official Global Eyewear Sponsor of the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series.

Oakley will be the seventh global partner of the world’s premier triathlon series, which has created major sponsorship and broadcast opportunities since launching in 2009. Last year 21,000 athletes competed in mass-participation races in front of 700,000 spectators and global television audiences in 149 countries. It is expected to attract higher numbers in 2011, helping Series sponsors and partners extend their reach to wider audiences.

Marisol Casado, ITU President and IOC Member, stated: “With its product quality, Oakley has been favoured by many triathletes from elite to amateur competitors. The new partnership will earn big cheers from existing fans and attract new audiences through the exciting sport of triathlon.”

David Hyam, Oakley’s Sports Marketing Manager of Europe, Middle East and Asia, said: “Partnering up as Official Global Eyewear Sponsor of the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series underlines our deliberate step in strengthening our position as being the most recognised and respected premium optical brand in performance eyewear.”

Paul Coleman, Managing Director of ITU World Championship Series, added: “Oakley is a global high profile brand that ITU is excited to develop successful partnerships with. Attracting Oakley as global partners of the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championships Series is another clear statement that we are successfully establishing the series as a major sports platform.”

StarHub announced yesterday, buy February 17, ed that it has secured the broadcast rights to various rugby leading events, including Six Nations Championships, Tri Nations and Super Rugby, otherwise known as Super 15.

The rights were acquired from international sports broadcaster, Setanta Sports. With this latest coup, StarHub TV will offer rugby fans top-notched rugby matches which are highly sought after.

Ms Sandie Lee, StarHub’s Vice President of Content stated: “StarHub is pleased to add rugby to the suite of sporting events on our platform. We have consistently enhanced the value of StarHub TV by acquiring content that add depth and breadth to our service. With the major events now available on StarHub TV, fans’ thirst for some action-packed rugby matches will now be quenched.”

Mr Roger Hall, Setanta Sports Asia’s Managing Director added: “We are delighted to partner with StarHub to bring extensive coverage of the major rugby competitions in Singapore. We are also glad to be able to immediately offer ‘live’ coverage of the key matches from the Six Nations and Super Rugby through SuperSports. Both Six Nations and Super Rugby draw a huge following worldwide and through this partnership with StarHub, we believe local rugby fans will be delighted.”

Last night the Sacramento City Council voted unanimously to spend the next three months working with downtown developer David Taylor and arena builder ICON Venue Group in analyzing the financial feasibility of a new NBA Kings venue.

Taylor said that he would begin “trying to meet with the Kings” this morning. Team ownership has stopped speaking publicly about the arena process.

The study will be free for the city. Once it is complete, sale the city will conduct its own analysis and bring it back to the council.

The US Soccer Federation is being sued for $US50 million ($51.5m) by a former promoter of professional games in the US.

The lawyer behind the legal action said that he had asked a US court last week to compel FIFA executives in Switzerland to disclose their dealings with the USSF on the suit.

Soccer powerbrokers in the US say they were confident they could beat the lawsuit and fend off any threat to their bid for the World Cup.

The US is the frontrunner for the 2022 event, ahead of Australia, Qatar, Japan and South Korea. A European bid is certain to win the 2018 World Cup.

A judge in Chicago gave heart to the litigants in July by ruling that the federation had a case to answer on claims that it was involved in racketeering, extortion and anti-competitive behaviour when it forced promoters to pay large fees for the right to hold matches in the US between foreign professional clubs, including Manchester United and Barcelona.

The promoter, ChampionsWorld, paid $US3m to hold such matches between 2003 and 2005, and sold more tickets than the US Major League Soccer competition.

ChampionsWorld claims those fees pushed it into bankruptcy in 2005 and its creditors are suing the USSF for $US50m damages.

A court ruling that the USSF and FIFA had no right to demand the fees would knock a hole in the federation’s revenue and set a legal precedent that could allow other promoters to demand repayment of millions more in fees.

Supporters of the lawsuit said the USSF could be bankrupted, compromising its ability to host the World Cup, if the court decided ChampionsWorld was driven out of business by predatory behaviour by the federation and FIFA.

Soccer United Marketing, an MLS spin-off, does most of the promotion of international soccer matches in the US. Its revenue has helped MLS to survive its growth years and fund the World Cup bid.

Alan Rothenberg, president of the federation when the US hosted the 1994 World Cup, said he expected the federation to defeat the lawsuit, and even if it lost it had a strong enough balancesheet to avoid bankruptcy.

The federation’s revenue stream from international matches ranked well behind its earnings from television rights and gate receipts for US national team matches, he said.

In the year to 2009, the federation made $US2.9m from fees on international matches, and this year it is likely to have taken more than $US3m from more than 40 international matches involving clubs such as Real Madrid and Manchester City.

Jamie Brickell, the lawyer representing the creditors, said he hoped to be in court by the middle of next year and he was confident of success after a ruling in July by Circuit Court judge Harry D. Leinenweber.

“The judge agreed with us that there is no statute in American law that says the federation has authority over all professional soccer, or that FIFA has the power to give anybody the right to govern professional soccer,” Brickell said.

He hoped Judge Leinenweber would next week direct FIFA to provide information about its role in the matter.

The USSF tried to have the lawsuit dismissed, arguing US legislation on sport, and internal decisions by FIFA, had given it the right to impose the fees on promoters, but Judge Leinenweber said the case should go ahead.

He ruled that the federation had no right to govern professional soccer except in the Olympics.

“ChampionsWorld has sufficiently alleged a pattern of racketeering activities,” Judge Leinenweber wrote.

US laws did not appear to give the federation monopoly control over professional soccer in the US, he said, and if it had that control, USA Basketball, which ran the amateur sport, would also have control over the NBA.

“It is extremely difficult to conclude from a reading of the plain text (of the relevant legislation) or its legislative history that Congress intended such a result,” he wrote.

“The court holds that, as a matter of law, the act does not give the USSF authority to govern professional soccer in the US, except to the extent necessary for USSF to govern the participation of professional players in the Olympic Games and related events.”

The International Cricket Council has formed a three-member tribunal under the leadership of Michael Beloff QC that will look into the case against three suspended Pakistani cricketers allegedly involved in “spot fixing”.

“The International Cricket Council (ICC) can confirm that, during a telephone hearing earlier today, the Chair of the ICC’s Code of Conduct Commission, Mr Michael Beloff QC, formally appointed an independent Anti-Corruption Tribunal to determine the alleged breaches of the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Code by three Pakistan players – Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif,” the ICC said in a statement.

Apart from Beloff the three-member tribunal will be made up of Justice Albie Sachs from South Africa and Sharad Rao from Kenya. The hearing is scheduled to take place from 6-11 January 2011 in Doha, Qatar.

“The three-person tribunal will be made up of Mr Beloff QC (as Chair), together with two other Code of Conduct Commissioners – Justice Albie Sachs from South Africa and Sharad Rao from Kenya – as per the appointment procedure described in the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Code. During the telephone hearing it was also agreed that the full hearing would be scheduled to take place from 6-11 January 2011 in Doha, Qatar,” the statement said.

According to AFP, the decision to shift the hearing to Doha was taken as Asif is barred from entering in United Arab Emirates after he was deported in 2008 on possession of banned drugs.

“The three players were charged under Article 2 of the ICC Anti-Corruption Code on 2 September 2010 and have been provisionally suspended since that date. Two players –Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir – had an appeal against that provisional suspension dismissed on 31 October 2010. All three players remain suspended from all cricketing activities,” the statement concluded.

Salman and Aamer had accused the ICC of delaying the verdict on the case last month but the ICC denied the accusation, saying they wanted an urgent solution to the case.

The scandal broke after a report by British tabloid The News of the World prompted Scotland Yard to launch an investigation into allegations of spot-fixing during the Lord’s Test against England in August.

Police raided the team’s hotel in London and questioned Salman, Aamer, Asif and bowler Wahab Riaz, but they have yet to level any charges. The International Cricket Council (ICC) suspended the trio and late last month rejected appeals from Salman and Aamer while the third Asif withdrew his appeal.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Atlanta likely will have to build a new stadium if it wants to host its third Super Bowl.

Goodell was in the city Thursday night to attend the Falcons’ game against the Baltimore Ravens at the 18-year-old Georgia Dome.

The 72,000-seat stadium hosted the championship game in 1994 and 2000, but Falcons owner Arthur Blank has since been rebuffed twice in efforts to land another Super Bowl.

“The bar has been raised because you’re getting great facilities around the country in great communities,” Goodell said during a reception before the game, held on a rooftop overlooking Centennial Olympic Park. “These games are a tremendous value to the communities, so there’s a lot of competition for it. So I think a new stadium with this great community would be beneficial to bringing another Super Bowl to this community.”

Goodell said contentious talks with the players toward a labor agreement are linked to the owners’ desire to keep a greater share from revenue-sharing, funding that could be used to help finance new stadiums. Minnesota, San Francisco, Oakland and San Diego also are looking to replace aging facilities.

“That’s one of the reasons we’re focused on restructuring the collective bargaining agreement, to make sure that we have the kind of structure that will allow us to make those kind of investments in the game and the communities which allow the game to continue to grow,” Goodell said. “That is good for the players, good for the teams, good for the communities. That’s something we want to continue to focus on.”

The contract with the players runs out in March. If a new agreement can’t be reached, the 2011 season could be in jeopardy.

Goodell said the labor talks and steps to protect the players from serious injury are his primary concerns. The league already has cracked down on helmet-to-helmet hits with hefty fines.

“I am relentless on this point,” the commissioner said. “It’s important we do everything we can to make our game safe. That goes to our rules and our leadership. We’re promoting safety for our players and other people who play our game. We all know that what happens in the NFL moves on down” to colleges, high schools and youth leagues.

Source: Associated Press

The PGA Tour’s season-opening tournament at Kapalua has a new sponsor and a new name.

The tour announced Thursday that Hyundai Motor America has taken over as the title sponsor on Maui for a winners-only tournament that now will be called the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

Seoul Broadcasting System had signed a deal through 2019 to be the sponsor, and will continue to support the tournament.

By changing the name of the tournament, the tour goes back to its tradition of when it began in 1953 in Las Vegas. It had been the “Tournament of Champions” until Mercedes began as sponsor in 1994.

The winners-only event moved to Kapalua in 1999. It most recently was called the SBS Championship.