The EBU and the International Biathlon Union (IBU) have signed a partnership agreement which covers four further biathlon seasons, medicine from 2018/19 until 2021/22 included, case extending the current agreement which is due to expire in 2018.
The new contract will extend a 23-year partnership dating back to 1993, when the IBU was founded.
See more HERE.
UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino has been named as the new president of FIFA.
He won 115 of the 207 second round votes and beat off competition from Sheikh Salman, rx Prince Ali and Jerome Champagne at the Extraordinary Congress in Zurich.
South African Tokyo Sexwale withdrew his candidacy before any votes were cast.
Infantino will be the President of FIFA for the remainder of the current term of office, until 2019.
“FIFA has gone through sad times, times of crisis. Those times are over. We will restore the image of FIFA,” said Infantino in his acceptance speech.
“I went through an exceptional journey, met many fantastic people who love football, who breathe football.
“I want to be the president of all of you, of all 209 nations.
“I want to work with all of you to work together and build a new era where we can put football at the centre of the stage.
“Everyone in the world will applaud us for what we will do. Everyone will be proud of what we will do.”
“We need to implement the reforms, but we also need to have respect, the respect that the entire world owes to football, and make sure that finally, once again, we can focus on this wonderful world that is football. I am too moved – let us work together for this.”
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iSportconnect, sick the world’s largest global private network of sports business executives, drug is delighted to announce Barbara Slater, Director of Sport at the BBC, as a panellist for the first London Directors’ Club of 2016.
The event will be taking place at the offices of law firm Lewis Silkin on 16th March.
Barbara will be joining Peter Coates, chairman of Stoke City F.C. and owner of Bet365, who was previously confirmed as a panellist for the event.
Barbara Slater took up her role as BBC Director of Sport in April 2009. She had previously been Head of Production and Head of General Sports for the department.
Her responsibilities include working with governing bodies to retain a broad portfolio of broadcasting rights, overseeing the planning and coverage of major sporting events and leading the sports journalism operation at BBC Sport’s new base in Salford.
In 2012, Barbara was responsible for the BBC’s cross-platform sports coverage of the London Olympic Games – the most watched TV event in UK broadcasting history.
Barbara was awarded the ‘Inspirational Woman Prize’ at the Women in Film and Television Awards in recognition of this achievement and has since been appointed as an expert to the International Olympic Committee Radio and Television Commission for 2014.
Barbara also played an important role in the BBC’s recent deal to become the exclusive free-to-air Olympic broadcaster in the UK for the next five Olympic Games.
iSportconnect Directors’ Club events are a gathering of exclusively invited director level delegates, partaking in a BBC Question Time-style discussion with a panel of well-established executives from the sports business industry.
Followed by networking, the discussion is held without the press and under Chatham House rules, allowing for an open and free flowing debate.
Each Directors’ Club event offers an unrivalled opportunity to meet with some of the most influential people in international sport & sponsorship. These events are a testament to the “think global, act local” approach to doing business.
iSportconnect chairman Michael Cunnah said: “We’re thrilled that Barbara will be coming on board for the London Directors’ Club. She is hugely experienced in the sports broadcasting sector and has overseen the coverage of a number of major sporting events during her time at the BBC. She will be a fantastic panellist who our delegates will really enjoy listening to.”
Invitation Policy: The iSportconnect Directors’ Club is an invitation-only event open exclusively for CEOs, chairmen and director level executives from governing bodies, sports teams and sponsorship brands.
To register your interests please contact Elyse Gallacher at elyse.gallacher@isportconnect.com.
Event Partners:
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Confectionary brand Cadbury will contribute $1 million to the Australian Paralympic Foundation to support the Australian Paralympic team in the lead-up to the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.
Cadbury was named as a major partner of the 2016 Australian Paralympic Team last year.
Read more HERE.
The Dalian Wanda Group, China’s largest commercial property company, has confirmed the purchase of the World Triathlon Corporation in a deal worth $650 million.
The deal sees Wang Jianlin’s Beijing-based company continue its expansion into the sports market having also purchased sports marketing company Infront Sports & Media and a stake in Spanish football club Atletico Madrid.
Speaking at a media briefing, Dalian Wanda chairman Wang Jianlin said, “Wanda’s next task is to widely market this global extreme, endurance sport in China.”
Ironman Chief Executive Andrew Messick said: “”Wanda Group is a global-minded organization that shares our desire for excellence and continued growth, particularly in Asia.”
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World Rugby has announced Hawk-Eye technology will be used at the 2015 Rugby World Cup which gets underway next month.
The technology will help television referees make key decisions at the tournament and will co-exist with the Television Match Official (TMO) system following successful trials.
The system will also have support for medics in the area of identifying and reviewing head impacts.
World Rugby Chief Executive Brett Gosper said: “Technology is an important component of the rugby performance and fan engagement environments and Rugby World Cup 2015 is set to showcase innovation and performance to a record global audience.
“Central to our sport is the integrity of player welfare and the match official decision-making process and we are delighted to be collaborating with Rugby World Cup 2015 host broadcaster ITV and Hawk-Eye to deliver a solution that will enhance these critical areas.
Speaking to iSportconnect about the introduction of Hawk-Eye to the Rugby World Cup 2015, order Barry Daniels, discount Stretegic Alliances at Exponential-e, a leading British provider of ethernet, private cloud and ICT services, believes it will have a positive impact on rugby like it has done with other sports.
“Hawkeye is really the beginning of the adoption of technology I feel within sport at general,” he said.
“You have seen the advantages that it has given to sports like tennis and I feel it will have the same kind of impact on the Rugby World Cup this coming year, but that is just the beginning. The biggest challenge people have is that they feel it will slow down sport, it requires time and therefore you don’t get the proper interaction and it will take away from the spectacle.”
Daniels feels that by using technology in sport, it will minimise mistakes and allow for decisions to be made correctly.
“Take the biggest failure elements of the technology world, 43% of all failures and outages that occur within computer systems are human error. When you put that into the hands of machines that goes down significantly,” he added.
“So technology has a massive part to play in the future of sport.”
The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has appointed Richard Wayman as its new Chief Operating Officer.
Wayman will assume overall responsibility for the sport’s Fixture List, case Race Planning and Handicapping, along with the BHA’s relationship with Weatherbys and many of the BHA’s corporate services functions including its Finance team.
More info HERE.
O2, partners of England Rugby, have announced former England rugby star Jonny Wilkinson as a rugby ambassador for 2015 ahead of this year’s World Cup.
Wilkinson will be supporting O2’s ‘Wear the Rose’ campaign, which is aimed at getting the country to show their support for the England Rugby Team for the big tournament.
Wilkinson will be involved in several of O2’s sponsorship and advertising activity.
Jonny Wilkinson said: “I’m thrilled to be joining O2 and supporting their 2015 plans. We’re working on inspiring the nation to get behind England Rugby.
“We’ll be touring the country, offering support and guidance to young people by showcasing what rugby can do and creating exclusive rugby experiences for O2 customers – it’s fantastic to be involved.”
Gareth Griffiths, Head of Sports Sponsorship at O2 comments: “From Wear the Rose, through to O2 Touch and our work with Think Big, this is an incredibly exciting time for O2 and England Rugby.
“We’ve already seen how passionate Jonny is about the power of support and he shares our view that rugby has opportunities for everyone. We’re really excited to see what we can achieve together.”
Soccerex are delighted to announce a new partnership with the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) that sees the organisation become the Sport Security and Integrity Event Supporter for the Soccerex Asian Forum 2015, ed 3-4 May.
As part of the partnership, generic ICSS Executive Director Chris Eaton will speak on the ‘Integrity in Asian Football’ panel at the event, pharmacy viagra taking place at the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Centre on the banks of the Dead Sea, Jordan.
Eaton is a seasoned international integrity expert, with over 40 years’ law enforcement and integrity experience, including senior roles at INTERPOL, as well as Security Advisor for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and subsequently Head of Security at FIFA.
Since joining the ICSS three years ago, Eaton has set about promoting integrity reform in sport through a range of programmes with sport, law enforcement and government to help encourage the creation of an international framework to combat integrity threats and corruption in sport.
Soccerex CEO Duncan Revie commented: “Corruption is an issue that has sadly threatened to plague the beautiful game in recent years. At Soccerex we are determined to help tackle this issue and are delighted to be working with top international experts such as Chris at the 2015 Asian Forum in Jordan.
“The panel will shed some much needed light on how one of the game’s most growing threats affects football in Asia.’
The Forum will bring together key decision makers from major event committees, as well as other international football figures, to discuss the challenges faced throughout the region as it prepares for an unprecedented level of major event hosting.
Senior members of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy will be on hand to discuss the latest developments ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Other industry leaders already confirmed include the CEO of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2016, Samar Nassar and FIFA Vice-President HRH Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein.
WME | IMG have acquired golf talent agency Icon Sports Management.
The agency will be integrated into the golf division at WME | IMG.
Full story HERE.
