The Football Association (FA) chairman Greg Dyke has announced he will not seek re-election as when his current term ends in June.

Dyke has been the chairman of the FA since 2013.

More info HERE.

The World Rally Championship (WRC) has agreed multiple global broadcast agreements that will see the 2016 event screened in over 150 markets. 

WRC has signed new broadcast deals with broadcasters in markets such as Belgium, discount UK, China, Japan and more.

Full story HERE.

iSportconnect, sale the world’s largest private network for sport business professionals, ed is delighted to announce Daniel Marion, capsule UEFA Head of ICT, Stefan Vlad Marinescu, Director General at Sportaccord, and Roberto Garcia Riopedre, Head of Sales and Marketing at ATOS, as panellists for the second iSportconnect Digital Media and Technology Masterclass in association with SportAccord at the MSI in Lausanne.

The iSportconnect Digital Media and Technology Masterclass premiered in London earlier this year for delegates to “Get Ahead of the Game.”

The exclusive, invitation-only Masterclass series, is a unique gathering providing sports digital media and technology executives the chance to learn from each other. Delegates will also hear industry insights, join in on discussions and network in a relaxed environment.

The day will be divided into 2 sessions: Digital Media in the morning and Technology in the afternoon. The digital session will be moderated by Richard Ayers, CEO of Seven League, with the Technology session moderated by Sanjeev Katwa, former IT Director at City Football Group.

Mr. Marion, Mr. Marinescu and Mr. Riopedre are the latest panellists to be announced for the Lausanne event which will be hosted at the Maison du Sport International, home of many national federations on September 30.

They join FIFA head of digital, Matt Stone and O2 head of sports sponsorship, Gareth Griffiths.

Daniel Marion joined UEFA in 1998. He has held several senior IT positions and is now in charge of all of UEFA’s IT services.

Vlad Marinescu has been the director general at Sportaccord since July 2013 after his previous role in charge of the presidential office at the International Judo Federation (IJF) in Budapest.

Roberto Garcia joined MSL Technology in 1997 and when Atos MEV (Major Events Department) acquired the company, he joined Atos in the merge.

Based in Lausanne, Garcia is now the Head of Sales and Marketing at Atos MEV, working closely with International Sport Federations and Sports Governing Bodies and Organisations.

Michael Cunnah, chairman of iSportconnect, said: “I am delighted to welcome Daniel, Vlad and Roberto to our panel for our first ever Digital Media and Technology Masterclass in Lausanne.

“The first event in London was very successful in examining what the sports organisations, who are considered to be leading the market, are actually doing. The value of the day was that there was clear and valuable insight into which digital commercial initiatives are working well and which less so. I look forward to similar revelations in Lausanne.”

Date: September 30^th, 2014

Location: Maison du Sport International SA, Lausanne, Switzerland

Invitation policy: The Digital Media and Technology Masterclass is an exclusive invite-only event to heads of digital media, technology and other similar positions.

To register your interest please contact Sylvia-Line Lamaro: sylvia-line@isportconnect.com

To watch our previous Masterclass event please click here.

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By Keir Radnedge

FIFA judge Hans-Joachim Eckert has insisted that only four people have seen the Garcia report into the World Cup bid scandal.

President Sepp Blatter and the executive committee were all being kept in the dark and no leaks would be forthcoming before he delivered his verdicts some time early next year.

Eckert, anabolics from Germany, cheap ed was appointed in 2012 at the same time as American lawyer Michael Garcia took up the role of investigator under the newly-created independent ethics system.

Garcia has spent much of his time delving into allegations concerning the award of the 2018 finals to Russia and, pharmacy in particular, of 2022 to the tiny but wealthy Gulf state of Qatar.

Early this month he handed his vast, completed report and recommendations to Eckert who has promised a decision by “the end of October, start of November.” He added: “I understand it’s urgent.”

Not urgent enough, to produce decisions this year. Eckert indicated that further discussions would be necessary with Garcia before any disciplinary action could be undertaken with decisions not until next spring at the earliest.

Eckert set out his view of the logistics and confidentiality at a conference on ethics in sport which was hosted by the world federation today at its headquarters in Zurich**.

The report, he stated, “includes 430 pages and anexes as evidence including 200,000 pages.”

That was a challenge even for him. Eckert added: “Even though I am used, as chairman of an adjudicatory chamber in economic chambers, to reading fast I will take some time. You cannot simply go over this, you have to read it very precisely.”

Eckert then specified the tight control he and Garcia had exerted over the report. He insisted that no-one – from FIFA president Sepp Blatter to executive committee members of World Cup officials – had seen as much as one page of the documents.

“This report have definitely been seen by four persons only: Mr Garcia, Mr Cornel Borbely his deputy, Alan Sullivan [deputy chairman, adjudicatory chamber] and myself,” said Eckert.

“No-one else has seen this report. FIFA and bodies of FIFA have not got this report and that’s the way it was meant to be – just to be clear about this.

“I have read in the media that FIFA had access. You can be assured that we, as professionals, know how to safeguard the report to not give anyone access to it.”

No-one had put him under any pressure over the investigation, the report, its content or the possible outcome.

Eckert said: “It is with great interest that I have read who ought or is alleged to have applied pressure to me. It’s absolutely wrong to say anyone from the executive committee or former members of the executive committee should have called me over the matter.

“If that had been the case then Mr Garcia would have to deal with new cases.

“In article 36 paragraph one of the statutes there is an obligation of secrecy for all members of the ethics committee and we will comply with this. So, before final decisions are taken, you cannot expect anything to be disclosed from this report to the public.”

Eckert did acknowledge media eagerness for transparency. He said: “Of course I know that the media say: ‘We want to know what there was,’ and you will know . . . but the persons potentially affected deserve to have their privacy protected because we have to presume people are not guilty.”

Eckert offered one brief allusion which might be assumed to have been connected with the ‘watch gifts’ episodes on which senior figures and federations had been ticked off the ethics committee on Thursday.

Maintaining high standards on ethics was not, he said, “a matter of accepting a small gift. These things are insidious. The ethics rules apply to everyone.”

Finally, reviewing his responsibility and philosophy, Eckert said: “I can assure you that we, and this includes my colleague [Mr Garcia], will use this power responsibly and moderately.

“The ethics rules have been shown to be effective and have come to grips [with issues] . . . All of us, whether officials or politicians, have a responsibility to the players. We need to uphold ethical and moral rules in sport and enforce  them.

“This is what we owe to our athletes.”

** The 1st World Summit on Ethics in Sports was organised by the World Forum for Ethics in Business and hosted at the Home of FIFA in Zurich.

Organisers for the Rio 2016 Games have revealed ticket pricing aimed at making attendance “as affordable as possible, malady ” with tickets for the 100m final set to cost just half of what it did at London 2012.

Athletics fans keen to see Usain Bolt target a third straight 100 and 200m golden double will pay a maximum of 12000 Brazilian reais ($545) compared to the $1160 London equivalent.

7.5 million tickets will go on sale for the August 5-21 event in Brazil, anabolics | with roughly half available for sports fans to buy according to the organisers – around 3.8 mllion – for 70 Brazilian reais or under across 717 events in 28 sports.

There will be five price categories: A for the most expensive, sale to E for the cheapest, including the opening ceremony at the Maracana stadium, where the best seats will cost around 4,600 reais ($1973) and the cheapest at only 200 reais ($86).

Top category tickets for the football final in Rio will be 900 reais ($386), with the women’s preliminary games priced at 70 reais and the men’s at 100 ($43).

Tickets to the men’s and women’s tennis trophy matches will be priced at around 700 reais ($300).

There are also cheap tickets for sports such as basketball, beach volleyball, mountain biking, field hockey and weightlifting, with prices as little as 40 reais ($17).

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The Circuit of Wales, symptoms a new £280m ($418.3m) multipurpose development in Ebb Vale, physician Wales, arthritis has been handed outline planning approval by Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council, despite opposition to the track.

Some protestors claimed the motor sport centre would be a ‘white elephant’ in the area, but other estimations claim 750,000 people will visit the facility each year, generating £50m ($75m) a year for the uK economy.

The facility is due to be completed in 2015-16 and is designed to host international motor sport events and will include a 3.5 mile track, a motocross tracj, a karting track and off-road driving facilities.

It is anticipated that 3,000 jobs will be created through the construction phase and between 4,000-6,000 once it is complete.

Jonathan Jones, Head of Training and Recruitment of the Heads of the Valleys Development Company Ltd said: “The project will change the outlook and aspirations of thousands of young people across the Blaenau Gwent community and give them opportunities for training and careers in retail, services, technology and the automotive industry.

“Through the creation and support of apprenticeships and local education initiatives, the Heads of the Valleys Development Company is committed to ensuring that a high percentage of these jobs will be sourced from the local Blaenau Gwent area.”

Largest of its kind

At 830-acres, the development will be the UK’s largest every privately led capital investment programme in a motor sport-related infrastructure.

Michael Carrick, Chief Executive of the Heads of the Valleys Development Company Ltd added: “It is a hugely important development, not just for the regeneration of Blaenau Gwent but also for the UK economy, and will enable significant private capital to be mobilised.

“This is a showcase for a new type of investment model, a partnership between private investment and government to deliver a transformational business to the region.”

Location: Singapore

Closing date: N/A

Overview:

Key Responsibilities

Focusing on APAC, this VP Director of Partnership role will be responsible for leading City Football Marketing (CFM)’s Partnership team of professionals based both in Singapore as well as other relevant territories (currently, Tokyo, Shanghai & Melbourne) whose primary focus will be:

– To generate revenue growth for all the group’s properties which currently include Manchester City FC, Manchester City Women’s team, New York City FC, Melbourne City FC and Yokohama F. Marinos; as well as any other property that CFM will be asked to commercialize in the future.

– To manage the relationships and deliver maximum value for the group’s partners based in the APAC region. Additionally, the role also takes accountability for the management and planning for existing partners and their activations within the region.

-In conjunction with the SVP Partnerships, this role will be responsible for the development and execution of the strategy to continually grow the revenue originating out of APAC. The main revenue streams will be generated from a combination of ‘new business’ and uplifts in the portfolio of existing partners.

-To ensure delivery of the annual targets set-out by the SVP Partnerships.

-To devise an annual partnership plan based on market knowledge and relationships.

-To oversee and execute the corresponding budget and P&L responsibility for the commercial side of the CFG APAC business.

-To deliver revenue growth through the development of sales strategies and management of a highly skilled team of sales and activation professionals.

-To create the adequate structure, environment and to apply the right performance tracking methodologies and reporting systems to ensure a continuously high performance of the team

How to apply: Click here to apply

Watford Football Club is delighted to announce that it has reached an agreement with Divisa Capital to be the club’s new Official Foreign Exchange Partner. Commencing immediately, ask the deal will run for the next three seasons.

Under the terms of the agreement, Divisa Capital will play a critical role in helping the club access and utilise market leading FX rates as the club’s exclusive foreign exchange partner. Divisa Capital will benefit from Watford’s hospitality and advertising opportunities as well as a suite of rights that include access to the Club’s IP and integration across the Club’s communication channels.

This agreement, finalised with the assistance of leading sports agency SportQuake, reflects the growing appeal of the Club as it continues to go from strength to strength on and off the field. Partnering with Divisa Capital, a global brand, with offices in the UK, US, New Zealand and the Republic of Armenia, demonstrates the progress the Club has made over the past few seasons and shows the growing appeal of Watford and the Premier League.

Spencer Field, Commercial Director of Watford Football Club, said: “As we continue to move forward as a club, it is important that we can work with brands to deliver business results on a global basis. We are delighted that Divisa Capital, as an ambitious International company, has recognised the potential of the Club and we look forward to working with them over the next three years.”