South Korean former FIFA Vice-President Chung Mong-joon has confirmed he will officially announce his candidacy for the FIFA presidency next month.
Sepp Blatter this week officially confirmed his intention to step with world football’s governing setting 26 February as the date a new president will be announced.
Read more HERE.
The Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee has confirmed it has shortlisted eight IOC-recognised International Federations (IFs) who have proposed events for inclusion at the Olympic Games.
The shortlisted IFs are; World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), drugs World Bowling (WB) World Karate Federation (WKF), International Roller Sports Federation (FIRS), International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC), World Squash Federation (WSF), International Surfing Association (ISA) and the International Wushu Federation (IWUF).
The successful applicants will be invited for phase two of the process where the shortlisted IFs will submit further information by 22 July, with IF interviews scheduled to take place in Tokyo on 7-8 August 2015.
The final decision will be made by the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee at the 129th IOC Session in Rio in August 2016.
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One is responsible for the commercial health of cricket globally, the other sponsorship sales at the world’s second richest football club.
On Thursday, Campbell Jamieson from the International Cricket Council (ICC) and Manchester United’s Tom Hill will share insights from two of world sport’s most powerful commercial organisations with delegates at the first iSportconnect Directors’ Club event in the UAE for 2015.
The breakfast networking event in Dubai follows two successful seminars in 2014 organised by iSportconnect, the world’s largest global private network of sports business executives.
Hill, the Global Head of Sponsorship Sales for Manchester United Football Club, and Jamieson, the ICC’s General Manager – Commercial, will head a high-powered panel set to discuss “Home and Away Sports Marketing” at the Dubai International Financial Centre gathering.
They will be joined by Mohammad Al Alawi, Associate Director of Marketing, Falcon and Associates, and Andrew Phillips, Director of Marketing and Customer Experience at Daman Health Insurance.
The Directors’ Club events offer delegates an unrivalled opportunity to network in a relaxed and confidential environment while an open question time is sure to generate strong interaction given the star-studded panel and the event’s discussion topic.
“We’re delighted to bring the first Directors’ Club event of 2015 to Dubai,” said Jamie Cunningham, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Professional Sports Group which has partnered with iSportconnect for the 2015 Directors’ Club series.
“Dubai has established itself as a second home for many rights holders and athletes, whilst also using sport strategically to develop its overseas connectivity in both trade and tourism. With Expo 2020, it will no doubt continue to innovate, create and partner. It is the perfect location to debate home and away sports marketing.
“Manchester United is one of the leading sports brands in the world and has paved the way for other sports rights holders to commercialise their brands in local and international markets. They have done an incredible job with their global partnerships.
“We have some great speakers, partners and delegates for our first Directors’ Club event in the region in 2015. We look forward to seeing the UAE’s sports industry leaders on June 11th and to stimulating further innovation in the region.”
iSportconnect Chief Executive Officer Sree Varma is looking forward to welcoming delegates to Thursday’s event.
“We are very excited to be staging the Directors’ Club again in Dubai. After two hugely successful events last year, we want to continue to build the event,” Mr. Varma said.
“This time our new partners, PSG, will assist us to enhance the status of the Directors’ Club as the pre-eminent sports business event in the region.”
In partnership with:
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The World Anti-Doping Agency has responded to a BBC investigation which alleged American coach Alberto Salazar was complicit in the doping of Olympic 10,000m silver medallist Galen Rupp.
Salazar, a renowned athletics coach who also looks after double Olympic and world and European track champion Mo Farah, has been accused of violating anti-doping regulations. The investigation claimed that he was involved in doping US 10,000m record-holder Galen Rupp when he was 16 years old.
Salazar and Rupp both strenuously denied the claims. In a statement Salazar said the legal supplement Testoboost had been “incorrectly recorded as ‘testosterone’ medication”, and that “the allegations were based upon false assumptions and half-truths”.
The BBC Panorama programme also included a segment in which journalist Mark Daly took micro-doses of the blood-boosting drug EPO. The doses were enough to improve his performance, yet not enough to trigger a red flag in his biological passport.
WADA released a statement shortly after the programme went to air saying: “We have carefully viewed the BBC’s Panorama programme which includes some allegations suggesting doping in athletics.
“Among these, the programme alleges practices relating to coach Alberto Salazar of the Nike Oregon Project in the United States. Any investigation will be a matter for the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and the IAAF, and the relevant information shall be passed to them.
“We acknowledge that the programme also raises questions regarding the ability of athletes to dope by taking minimal amounts of performance enhancing substances without testing positive, otherwise known as ‘micro-dosing’. It is an issue that we are exploring in great detail with
experts from across the anti-doping community, and indeed it was highlighted in the recent Cycling Independent Reform Commission (CIRC) Report.
“Due to short detection periods for EPO and certain other banned substances, we now know that tests need to be carried out before competition and in certain circumstances overnight (from 11:00pm – 06:00am) as is set out in WADA’s revised International Standard for Testing.
“While the programme suggests that the journalist, through his experiment, was able to enhance his performance without recording an adverse analytical finding (AAF), we haven’t been provided any information that would validate this allegation nor is there anything in the programme which would indicate that his profile would have “beaten” the ABP programme.”
Also in the documentary US 10,000m world championship bronze medallist Kara Goucher was interviewed, who trained at Salazar’s Oregon Project until 2013.
She spoke of her concerns about Salazar and about her interaction with Rupp before the 2011 World Championships.
“I had a conversation with Galen in 2011 and he told me how tired he was and how he was so excited to have the season be over,” she said. “And fast forward a month and he shattered the American record. That’s not how it works.”
The allegations stemmed from a number of unnamed insiders.
It is worrying news for world of athletics at a time when they are building up to a decision on who will be the new president of the International Association of Athletics Federations.
Great Britain’s Seb Coe and Ukraine’s Sergey Bubka are the challengers to succeed Lamine Diack when he steps down as president at the IAAF’s August Congress in Beijing.
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Sports Recruitment International (SRI) is delighted to announce the appointment of David James as Managing Partner, ailment Executive Search.
Prior to joining SRI, sale David was Global Head of Sport & Leisure at CTPartners, one of the world’s largest search firms, working with some of the leading global sports clubs, governing bodies, government agencies, service providers, sponsors, rights holders, leisure venues and broadcasters assisting them with their senior management recruitment, strategic planning and transformation issues.
Previously, David was MD of Compass Group’s UK Sports’ business and a former Head of Commercial for the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU).
David commented, “I am delighted to be joining the team at SRI at this exciting stage of their development. I was extremely impressed by the quality and depth of their team and track record, as well as the focus they place on building close and long term partnerships with their clients and candidates.”
Managing Partner, Europe, Jim Chaplin said, “It is a great pleasure to welcome David to the team. His breadth of senior level search experience and expertise will further enhance the offering we are able to make to our clients.
“We were impressed by both his track record of recruiting exciting new talent from outside of the industry into sport, as well as the emphasis that he places on robust, innovative and imaginative search processes.”
SRI Chairman, Michael Squires added, “We continue to invest heavily in building the strongest team of specialist sports recruiters in the world across our international offices and David adds real quality and insight to our senior partner team.
“His experience of working within the industry for the SRU and Compass Group coupled with his role at CTPartners means that he is ideally placed to support our clients with their search requirements.”
The Chairman of the International Rugby Board (IRB), arthritis Bernard Lapasset, cialis has praised the growth of Rugby Sevens after 17 National Unions submitted tender documents to host a round of the Sevens World Series in 2015/16.
Documents were handed in to the IRB headquarters in Dublin by Argentina, abortion Australia, Brazil, Canada, England, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Kenya, Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland, Singapore, South Africa, United Arab Emirates and the USA.
Lapasset said: “We are delighted with the strong response from our Unions, cities and regional governments to the invitation to tender for the next cycle of our IRB Sevens World Series, beginning in 2015/16.
“We have received tenders from Unions representing every continent, which is a great reflection of the enormous strength and prestige of the Rugby Sevens brand as we build towards our Olympic Games return at Rio 2016.
“With its high-octane action on the field and festival atmosphere off it, Rugby Sevens is proving popular with cities and regional governments who see the great benefits of partnering with our Unions to tender for an event that brings significant benefit to the host destination.”
The 2013/14 HSBC Sevens World Series broke records, with 569,262 fans attending the nine events around the world and strong broadcast figures recorded.
The Russian Automobile Federation (RAF) has failed to submit its application to hold a Formula 1 race in Sochi in 2014 putting the proposed race in serious doubt.
Doubts had been cast over the status of the event after a dispute between the RAF and the organisers, who had set October 19 as the date of the race.
Disputes in marshalling personnel, commercial and intellectual property rights to the grand prix and the length of the contract have caused the issue.
Work had already begun on the venue, but the deadline of July 31 set out by the International Automobile Federation (FIA) was missed.
A statement issued by the RAF said: “The application to the FIA for submitting the Russian Grand Prix to the 2014 Formula 1 calendar was not sent in proper time as JSC Omega (Promoter) didn’t fulfil the necessary conditions.
“That is: [it] didn’t sign a contract with the Russian Grand Prix organiser, didn’t sign a deal for an application submission and also didn’t pay a fee to the FIA for including an event on the FIA F1 calendar.
“RAF informs that it is ready to include the Russian Grand Prix on to the FIA calendar under force-majeure conditions, permissible by the FIA, as soon as the promoter fulfils all the necessary formalities.”
The force majeure measure is now the only remaining option for the RAF to host a Russian GP in Sochi.
Sergey Ivanov, CEO of RAF, said: “The F1 grand prix of Sochi gave a huge boost to develop the system of staff preparation.
“Until the end of 2012, we received grants from the FIA to organise seminars as well as do other work. Now we need to continue that programme and broaden it, which requires additional funding for the RAF.”
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Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has announced the receipt of record breaking bids in its search for a new sponsor.
Four companies have made bids to become the Sri Lankan men’s and women’s cricket teams for three years from June 2013. The companies are: Dialog Axiata, Madison Media, the Sri Lanka Tea Board and Total Sports Asia. Two of the bids were worth over $15.5 million.
The new sponsor will be announced after the SLC’s Sponsorship & Executive Committees have evaluated the individual bids.
Just outside of Paris stands a nine-floor building which appears unremarkable among the many other offices in the Issy-les-Moulineaux district. Inside however, a fascinating story is continuing to develop: this is the headquarters of sports broadcaster Eurosport, where more than 500 employees help to drive Europe’s leading multimedia platform on a day-to-day basis. Eurosport is committed to maintaining the excellence embodied by its flagship channel, which broadcasts to 130 million homes in 59 countries on the continent and is long-established as the number one pan-European TV channel. However, the Eurosport story in 2012 is about much more than the one channel that was born in 1989. Constantly evolving and innovating, what exactly is the formula behind the platform’s ongoing success?
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Eurosport Corporate Video
In its unique positioning, Eurosport has to ensure its on-air content captivates a diverse audience across all its territories. There is certainly no margin for error in the Paris studios as live feeds are received and distributed to millions of screens worldwide. Director of Broadcasting and Programmes Julien Bergeaud cites tennis’ French Open, one of Eurosport’s staple events, to illustrate the broadcaster’s commitment to providing the best viewing experience: “Live sport is always the number one priority and our on-site presence, for example at Roland Garros where we had six different commentary teams this year, gets the maximum number of viewers to the heart of the action. It enables them to experience the intensity and emotion of Grand Slam tennis.” Whatever the sport, Eurosport provides the expertise sports fans demand. Commentary teams always feature a professional journalist and a former athlete chosen with local audiences in mind. Bergeaud explains: “These guys are dedicated professionals who commentate on their sports all year round – this consistency and expertise is how we attract fans and retain their loyalty.”
Eurosport consultants preparing to leave for the Tour de France