The America’s Cup has entered into an official strategic partnership with Sina Sports.

Through the partnership, Sina Sports becomes the “Official Digital Media Partner of America’s Cup in China.”

Read more HERE.

The German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) has chosen Hamburg ahead of Berlin to be its candidate city to host the 2024 Olympic Games.

The decision was made at a press conference by DOSB president Alfons Hörmann, abortion who said: “We agreed by majority for the city of Hamburg and that is why we are standing here today, united, with this recommendation.”

Referring to the bids from both Hamburg and Berlin, he added: “Both cities presented excellent concepts. Hamburg has a fascinating and compact concept that fits excellently into the IOC reform process.”

The decision will need to be ratified at an Extraordinary General Assembly of the DOSB in Frankfurt on 21 March.

Hamburg will compete with Boston and Rome to host the 2024 Games and Paris is also expected to be announced as a candidate city.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will select the host city in 2017.

“We believe that for Hamburg, for Germany, and for everyone who loves sport, this will be a big deal,” said Scholz speaking to reporters after the announcement.

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The iSportconnect Directors’ Club made a hugely successful debut in Moscow yesterday evening bringing together a good sized and active crowd for this first event of its kind in Russia. 

The event, in association with PwC, brought together a total of around 50 delegates who were treated to a truly impressive panel, which featured international and local speakers, and an interesting combination of people representing leagues, clubs and sponsors.

The panellists were Rick Parry, founding CEO of the Premier League and former chief executive of Liverpool FC; Sergey Pryadkin, President of the Russian Football Premier League; Roman Babaev, General Director of the CSKA Moscow Football Club; Irina Tikhomirova, Director of Marketing and Communications of the Dynamo Moscow Football Club; and Alexander Ovechkin, Head of Football Assets at Coca-Cola Russia (filling in for Coca-Cola Russia Director of Marketing Assets, Mickael Vinet).

The discussion sessions were led by co-moderators Michael Cunnah, Chairman of iSportconnect, and Oleg Malyshev of PwC.

It was a lively, impassioned conversation – that switched back and forth between English and Russian – on the challenges and opportunities of doing business in the Russian sport industry, with a focus on Russian domestic football. 

Michael Cunnah said: “I thoroughly enjoyed today’s event, our first event here in Moscow. I have a feeling that we just scratched the surface.

“It was such a big topic that there were many aspects that we didn’t have the time to fully discuss. I hope that we will come back another day to continue the conversation and maybe chart some of the progress that has been made.”

International guest speaker Rick Parry was very well received by the local delegates who gathered for the event.

He shared experiences and brought insight from the early years of the English Premier League, pointing out that the Premier League faced many of the same challenges that Russian football faces today, and also pointing out that Russian football has some definite strengths to build on, such as a large population, a rich tradition and a potentially huge catalyst in the upcoming 2018 World Cup.

Speaking after the event, Rick Parry said: “Great to see decision-makers coming together to debate issues, problems and opportunities. We don’t try to impose English solutions; we say to people that we had some problems in England, we have some experience – and maybe some of that is relevant and can trigger solutions that are right for Russia.

“That’s never easy, but what I saw tonight is some energy, some desire and some enthusiasm to find solutions.”

The event was extremely interactive. The discussion soon spread from the panel out to the floor, with so many representatives of Russian and international sporting organisations, as well as Russian and international brands, in attendance.

Oleg Malyshev added: “I believe that the event was very successful. I am pleased that we were able to gather a really interesting group of decision-makers who are involved in either managing sports clubs or managing investments in and sponsorship of clubs.

“In particular, I think it was great that the format allowed us to have a truly open discussion on what we need to change and what we need to do to make sport a more successful business.”

Several delegates expressed their satisfaction with the format of the event – in particular the frank, open and informal tone. Several noted that opening up a dialogue among sports industry players was an important first step in addressing the challenges and seizing the opportunities presented by today’s Russian football industry.

Many participants said they’d welcome the opportunity to attend any further such events and to chart progress against some of the points raised in last night’s discussion.

Panellist Sergey Pryadkin commented: “I liked the event and thought it was extremely useful. As leader of the Russian Football Premier League, I can say that we will continue to participate in and help support the organization of such events in Russia in the future.”

More pictures below

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(Panellist Irina Tikhomirova, Director of Marketing and Communications of the Dynamo Moscow Football Club)

(Panellist Sergey Pryadkin, President of the Russian Football Premier League)

(Questions from the floor during the Q&A session)

(Delegates involved in the discussion) 

(Alexander Ovechkin, Head of Football Assets at Coca-Cola) 

(Roman Babaev, General Director of the CSKA Moscow Football Club)

(Networking in full flow in Moscow)

The Directors’ Club will be returning to London on 17th March, for more information visit the event webstte here. 

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The Race of Champions (ROC) will return to Thailand after a successful debut in 2012, nurse with Bangkok’s Rajamangala Stadium hosting the event in December 2013.

The 2013 ROC is staged for December 14-15 and will again be title sponsored by Red Bull and Singha.

Drivers from Formula One, cialis World Rally, and Touring Cars, Le Mans, MotoGP, IndyCar and the X-Games are bought together for the end-of-season competition, which has been held every year since 1988.

Governor of the Sports Authority of Thailand, Kanokphand Chulakasem said: “We are delighted to play host to the Race Of Champions again. Last year’s ROC was Thailand’s largest motor sport event ever. It was an enormous success and put Thailand on the map for major sports events.”

This year’s race will begin with the ROC Nations Cup on Saturday 14 December, followed by the main event the following day.

Race organiser Fredrik Johnsson added: “We are happy that Thailand has seen off strong competition to win the bid to stage both the 2012 and 2013 Race Of Champions. Our debut in the vibrant city of Bangkok went well and we are delighted to have such illustrious partners on board again.

“ Last year we held the first ever ROC ROCKS Fan Festival and we will continue that, bringing the sport even closer to the fans. This is a unique chance to see some of the best drivers in the world fighting it out in identical cars so we look forward to a packed house this time.”