The Germany city of Braunschweig and the Russian city of Cheboksary will host the top leagues of the 2014 and 2015 European Athletics Team Championships, sale following decisions by the European Athletics Council on Saturday.

Braunschweig prevailed over Ostrava (Czech Republic) in the contest to host the top division of the 2014 championships, sales while Cheboksary was the sole bidder for 2015.

European Athletics President Hansjörg Wirz said: “We congratulate Braunschweig and Cheboksary and look forward to excellent European Athletics Team Championships in the summers of 2014 and 2015. 

“They have shown the Council that they are ready to host these prestigious championships in terms of competition, asthma logistics and promotion.

Each city delegation made its final presentation to the European Athletics Council during its 133rd meeting this weekend.

The 2-4 November Council meeting is taking place in Bucharest, Romania, at the Athenee Palace Hilton Hotel.

Gateshead will host the 2013 edition of the European Athletics Team Championships super league.

Scotland will bid to host the opening stages of the Tour de France.

EventScotland will collaborate with British Cycling UK to develop a formal proposal to stage the Grand Depart in Edinburgh, before the race heads south.

The organisation has been working towards bringing the tour to Scotland for a number of years, aiming to keep it in the UK for as long as possible.

Watched by around two billion people every year and attracting up to two million spectators to watch the opening stage, the Tour de France is one of the world’s largest sporting events.

The tour was last in the UK in 2007, when London and Kent hosted the Grand Depart and opening stages.

Officials expect 2017 to be an opportunity for another ‘mega-event’ following the 2012 Olympic Games and 2014 Commonwealth Games, and the proposal has received full backing from the Scottish Government.

Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond said: “Scotland has a strong relationship with the international cycling community, and I am delighted that a proposal is being developed for the opening stages of the Tour de France.

“To bring such a fantastic event to Scotland would be a huge coup, but we have a strong track record and I know that the country has a huge amount to offer ASO and the cyclists taking part.

“The Scottish Government is committed to supporting major international events, and I have no doubt that the combined expertise of the UK partners would lead to a first-class opening stage of the Tour.”

Discussions are currently ongoing between UK partners and tour organisers, with particular support from UK Sport.

Simon Morton, director of Major Events and International Relations at UK Sport, said: “Our ambition after the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games is to attract some of the world’s most prestigious sporting events to the UK and cement our position as one of the world’s leading host nations. We have already secured the 2015 World Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow and 2017 World Athletics Championships in London, to name a few.

“The Tour de France is a spectacular competition, and would provide a fantastic opportunity to engage the British public in the sport, so we welcome the opportunity to work with EventScotland and British Cycling to look at bringing the opening stages to the UK in 2017.”

FIFA has imposed worldwide bans on six Zambian players involved in a match-fixing scandal in Finland after the conclusion of their appeal.

physician 255, 255, 0.917969);”>The six men played for Rovaniemi Palloseura and were originally convicted of accepting bribes of $15,000 to $57,000 each to affect the outcome of matches.

The Football Association of Finland (Faf) had already banned Godfrey Chibanga, Chileshe Chibwe, Steven Kunda, Christopher Musonda, Chanda Mwaba and Nchimunya Mweetwa who were given suspended jail sentences.

But the Faf bans handed out after their convictions in 2011 have now been extended by FIFA to cover football globally.

FIFA’s disciplinary committee has hailed the sanctions to be “another important decision in its fight against match-fixing”.

The investigation centred on a Singaporean man, Wilson Raj Perumal, who was sentenced to two years in prison after earning $210,000 by fixing results in Finnish league matches.

Perumal was originally arrested in February 2011 after entering Finland using a fake passport and was later convicted of illegal border crossing and forgery as well as bribery.

FIFA also suspected Perumal had fixed international games featuring Asian and African national teams.

The National Football League’s (NFL) Green Bay Packers are raising ticket prices between $3 and $5 per ticket for the 2012 season.

Tickets in Lambeau Field’s end-zone sections will increase $3 to $72 per game, tickets from the 20-yard line to the end zone will increase $4 to $80, and tickets between the 20s will increase $5 to $92. Suite tickets also will increase $5 to $92.

“For the Packers, ticket revenue continues to be an important component of our ability to remain financially competitive with the other 31 NFL teams,” Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy said Thursday in a letter to season ticket holders. “Our goal each year is to be at the league average in terms of our ticket prices. This increase maintains our position near the league average.”

The team’s season-ticket waiting list currently stands at approximately 96,000.

The Packers have made the playoffs three years in a row, following up on their Super Bowl victory with a 15-1 regular season and a loss to the New York Giants in the divisional round of the playoffs.

In his letter, Murphy also updated ticket holders on the Lambeau Field expansion project, which includes a new sound system, two new video boards, 6,700 additional seats in the south end zone, two new gates and a new concession sales system. The project will be completed in time for the 2013 season. The video boards are expected to be in place for 2012.

“Our investment in the stadium will continue to provide value to the top-rated game-day experience at Lambeau Field,” Murphy said.

The Packers are funding the $143 million expansion project partly through a stock sale, and have sold more than 250,000 shares at a cost of $250 each — even though the stock’s value will not go up and there are no dividends. Stockholders get voting rights and can attend annual meetings.

The Packers are the NFL’s only publicly owned team and have recently sold stocks in the team.

by Ismail Uddin

World Sailing Championships organisers were put on high alert today after a sighting of a four-metre shark in Fremantle threatened to derail the Perth-based tournament.

Event director John Longley outlined extra precautions today, including aerial patrols, after a fisherman reported seeing the shark near the competition area on Tuesday evening.

“The report was made by a professional fisherman who is regarded as a reliable source,” said Longley. “We have informed Western Australian government authorities who will ensure that the usual helicopter shark patrol will concentrate on checking out the Fremantle course area.”

A spokesman for the event said it was highly unusual for such a large shark to be spotted in such an enclosed area as the fishing harbour.

Organisers are mindful of any potential danger to the hundreds of international sailors competing in the world championships, many of whom are competing to qualify for next year’s London Olympic Games.

Rules for the world championships, which began on Saturday, were actually changed to cover for sharks. Longley said sailors who need assistance getting back in their boats after capsizing would not be penalised. Under normal circumstances a sailor being helped back into his boat would be disqualified.

No racing has been delayed by the shark sighting.

Organisers were hoping to stage a few extra races on Wednesday to make up after big summer storms rolled across Fremantle on Tuesday forcing the cancellation of nearly the whole day’s racing.

There’s been several fatal shark attacks in and around Perth in recent months.

Among them, a 64-year-old man died while swimming off the popular Cottesloe Beach in October.

A US national was fatally attacked while diving off Rottnest Island, also in October.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), treat together with its exclusive Marketing Partner Dentsu, discount have introduced the first ever IAAF centralised Licensing Programme which will enable fans to purchase officially licensed goods online as well as on site at events.

In order to implement this programme, salve IAAF Official Partner adidas  and The Great Branding Co. Ltd have worked together on the project design, production and distribution.

As a first step of this global initiative, the Licensing Programme will be developed within the framework of the next  IAAF World Championships, Daegu 2011. The Daegu 2011 official licensed products are now available on www.merchstore.net/IAAF 2011/ and will also be sold on site in Daegu.

This website store, the first in the history of the IAAF, will permit fans all across the world to purchase quality products in real time.

Following Daegu 2011, the Licensing Programme will be extended to other IAAF World Athletics Series events.

Forbes has compiled a list of Major League Baseball’s (MLB) most overpaid players by position with St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Kyle Lohse and Houston Astros outfielder Carlos Lee providing the least reward for their pay in 2010.

The VORP score which was used to single out the underachieving mega stars uses myriad stats to measure a player’s productivity over and above that of a minimum salaried rookie.

At First Base, Colorado Rockies’ Todd Helton earns a salary of US$16.6m and with a VORP of 4.6, is overpaid by $13.7m.

At Second Base, New York Mets’ Luis Castillo earns a salary of $6m and with a VORP of -2.2, is overpaid by $6.8m.

In at Shortstop, the New York Yankees’ Derek Jeter earns a salary of $22.5m and despite a VORP of 27.3, is overpaid by $7.5m.

The Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez is also in the side at Third Base, earning a salary of $32m. His VORP of 36.1 means that according to Forbes, he is overpaid by $12.3m.

In the Outfield, the aforementioned Carlos Lee of the Houston Astros earns a salary of $18.5m, but with a VORP of just 1.3, is overpaid by $17.4m.

Joining Lee in the Outfield is New York Mets’ Carlos Beltran who also earns $18.5m. His greater VORP of 10.5 in contrast to Lee means he is overpaid slightly less at $12.5m.

The final Outfielder is the San Francisco Giants’ Aaron Rowand earning a salary of $12m. His dismal VORP of -1.6 means he is also overpaid by $12.5m.

Detroit Tigers’ Catcher Gerard Laird is the league’s least profitable in terms of results, earning a $4m salary, pitching in with a VORP of -10.1, being overpaid by $9m.

Cardinals Starting Pitcher Lohse has the worst VORP of the team at -22 and with a salary of $8.8m, is overpaid by a whopping $20m.

Finally, Relief Pitcher Trevor Hoffman of the Milwaukee Brewers completes the side, earning $7.5m but returning with a VORP of -4.2, meaning he is overpaid by $9.3m.

The proposed takeover of National Hockey League (NHL) side the Phoenix Coyotes has moved further considerably after a new lease was agreed for the NHL team at Jobing.com Arena by the Glendale City Council.

Matt Hulsizer is hoping to renew the fortunes of the side which went into bankruptcy and has taken a huge step in doing so following the recent decision. The council voted 5-2 in favour of a lease which will cost the city US$197m over a six-year period. Hulsizer’s buy-out is now expected pending an approval from the NHL’s board of governors.

Hulsizer will receive $100m for parking rights from the city and a further $97m as a fee for operating Jobing.com Arena, giving him the option to buy the Arena after five years. The latest decision was seen as Hulsizer’s biggest obstacle and now a buy-out could be completed within a matter of weeks.

“I’m happy the council went this way and the hard work starts now,” said Hulsizer. “We have a long process, but in the end I think we’re going to build a great product.”

Hulsizer said he doesn’t expect the Coyotes to make money “for a long time”, but he added: “I will tell you that 10 or 15 years from now, I think, along with the economy, things are going to come back.”

ESPN STAR Sports and SBS Media Holdings are launching a new joint venture in Korea, sale SBS ESPN, which will feature local and international sports programming.

The new channel will deliver live and exclusive coverage of sporting events such as the Barclays Premier League, Scottish Premier League, French League, Asian Football Confederation (AFC); major Tennis Grand Slams in the Wimbledon and Australian Open in addition to the WTA Tour; as well as The US Open Championship, NCAA Basketball and International Skating Union events, among others. SBS ESPN will also feature local sports such as Korean football, basketball and baseball leagues. The channel will be broadcast entirely in Korean.

Manu Sawhney, ESPN STAR Sports’ managing director, commented: “We are very pleased to partner with SBS to enhance the overall experience of sports fans with the most comprehensive sports offering. It is always our endeavor to showcase the best sporting content from around the world to fans in the most entertaining, engaging and localized manner and we were very heartened that SBS too strongly shares this belief with us. This association with SBS reinforces our commitment to sports fans in Korea and we look forward to work closely with them to bring in more compelling and relevant offerings for fans in the market.”

Ha Kum Loul, SBS Media Holdings’ CEO and president, said: “We are excited about this venture with ESS. It is enhances our quality of services to Korean viewers as well as reinforces our reach to the world sports market. Given ESS and SBS’s vast experience and impressive records, both regionally and globally, we’re confident that SBS ESPN will continue to develop sports events and properties for sports fans.”

English soccer club, Sheffield Wednesday have suffered a major setback in their battle against a High Court winding-up petition after the major financier in a proposed takeover withdrew his interest.

The club is due in court on November 17 over their debts to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, with a fear of going into administration should no takeover be completed before that date.

A deal looked likely when the club announced three weeks ago that £2million of funding was to be advanced by a consortium led by Kevin Mundie, a senior executive at Certified Oilfield Rentals, which was seen as heralding a full takeover to follow.

But a spokesman for Mundie told the Yorkshire Post: “For business and personal reasons which are wholly unconnected with the club, Kevin Mundie and COR have regrettably felt they must withdraw from further involvement in the proposed purchase.

“Other consortium members are continuing to discuss further involvement and a statement will be made shortly.”

The Co-operative Bank had provided £800,000 to stave off a previous winding-up petition against Wednesday in September.

Former chairman Dave Allen, now majority shareholder at Chesterfield, says he is prepared to give up his 9.5% holding in Wednesday for nothing and also waive interests on his loans to the club as they bid to push through a deal.

He said: “If I get the £1.5m I loaned to the club back, without interest, I will give them my shares. In total, I’m owed about £2.4m but I’m prepared to take £1.5m.”