Juventus Women defeated Fiorentina amidst a record crowd of 39,000 fans in a league match in Italy.
Juventus secured the victory by 1-0 at the Allianz Stadium. The tickets were free for the game and the supporters beat the previous record of 14,000 in attendance.
The news comes a week after Barcelona beat Atletico Madrid 2-0 at the Wanda Metropolitano – with a record crowd of 60,739 in attendance for a women’s game in Europe.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has partnered with Booking.com to be the exclusive Accommodation and Attractions Booking Partner for all its events.
The five-year global deal includes all ICC events around the world, including the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 in England and Wales, the ICC Women’s and Men’s T20 World Cups in Australia in 2020, the ICC Women’s World Cup in New Zealand in 2021, the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in India in 2021, the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2022 and the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in India in 2023.
ICC General Manager – Commercial, Campbell Jamieson, said: “We welcome Booking.com, which is one of the world’s leading travel brands, into the international cricket community as a strategic global partner for the next five years. Together we want to make it easier than ever for cricket fans to travel to an ICC global event and ensure more of the world can enjoy this great game.”
Pepijn Rijvers, Senior Vice President, Booking.com, said: “The opportunity to experience the excitement of an international cricket tournament in person is a compelling reason to travel for millions of Booking.com customers around the world.
“With more than a billion fans globally, we’re delighted to be celebrating one of the world’s biggest sports together with the ICC, combining the thrill of world-class competition and travel.”
Gafur Rakhimov, Uzbek businessman who is the President of the International Boxing Association (AIBA) has expressed his intention to step aside as the head of amateur boxing.
AIBA is being investigated by the International Olympic Committee for governance and financial mismanagement.
Rakhimov, who has been Vice President of AIBA since 1998 is being accused of having links to the heroin trade by the US Treasury. The investigation could lead to Aiba being stripped of the right to organise the boxing tournament at Tokyo 2020.
Rakhimov in his statement said : “However, despite these efforts, there have been many discussions these last few months about the future of Olympic boxing. A lot of that was mainly focused on politics and not sport. While I had truly hoped and believed that sport and politics could be separated, and that the good work and positive changes being infused into Aiba would be recognised, the politically based discussions have put into question the progress being made throughout the Aiba organisation.
“Once again, as I have stated before on numerous occasions, I attest and confirm that the allegations against me were fabricated and based on politically motivated lies; I trust that the truth will prevail. Nevertheless, I have always said that I would never put myself above boxing, and as president, I have a duty to do everything in my power to serve our sport and our athletes.”
FC Bayern has agreed a youth partnership with the Singapore Sports Council (SportSG) in Singapore.
The deal involves the international youth tournament series “FC Bayern Youth Cup” alongside with FC Bayern coaches exchange and education programs.
Jörg Wacker, FC Bayern executive board member for internationalisation and strategy said: “Football is becoming more and more popular in Singapore, and we’re proud to cooperate with SportSG. An extensive exchange of knowledge and our continuous support of the development of youth football in Singapore is the focus of the partnership.”
SportSG CEO Mr Lim Teck Yin said, “More than providing affordable football programmes for children and youth, we pride ourselves in enhancing the quality of our programmes. We partner like-minded clubs that bring excitement and excellence to our participants. We are very happy to have a famous global brand in football, FC Bayern, as long-term partner to enrich our existing programmes.
“There is a lot to learn from them with their long-standing record of producing well-rounded players. Their expertise will definitely help to inspire upcoming talents, encourage more players to train seriously and I hope that we will see sustained and increased interest in the sport over the years.”
LaLiga has become the first European league to unveil its OTT service named LaLigaSportsTV to boost the popularity of Spanish sport.
LaLigaSportsTV will be available for free with live content to be made available from all sports represented by a Spanish sporting federation.
The service will be available via mobiles, tablets, Samsung Smart TV and screen mirroring. Apart from soccer match highlights and pre and post-match interviews, other sports like badminton, basketball, boxing, gymnastics, handball, hockey, motor racing, snooker among others will be available.
LaLiga president Javier Tebas said: “The aim is to offer less high-profile sports greater and improved visibility via a platform where content is quickly and easily accessible, allowing fans to enjoy their favourite sport wherever, whenever and however they want.”
Jose Hidalgo, president of the Spanish Sports Association, said: “LaLigaSportsTV is a platform that will bring about a digital transformation and will offer exposure to the work carried out by each of the Spanish sporting federations.”
Paco Hernández, captain of the Spanish Rugby Team7, said: “For us it is a pride to wear the logo of a brand as prestigious and representative of Spain as it is LaLigaSports throughout the world. Now, with the new OTT from LaLiga, we are convinced that Rugby and the rest of the sports will have more visibility, which will also help our Federation when it comes to finding new sponsors. ”
Tottenham Hotspur FC has appointed staffing agency StreetPR to provide a team of ‘fanbassadors’ – fan ambassadors, to welcome supporters to its games.
The agency will be delivering services at the soon to be opened new stadium, currently called the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, until a naming rights deal is signed with a sponsor.
The ‘fanbassadors’ will be deployed outside the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the hours before kick-off and will meet and greet fans and hand out flags, stadium guides, posters and offering face painting for youngsters.
Dorian Payne, Client Services Director at StreetPR, said: “What can I say? We were over the moon when Tottenham asked us to provide fanbassadors at Wembley, and you can imagine how chuffed we are to be working with them at their amazing new stadium.
“They are a worldwide brand, and we’ve been developing a whole range of new fun and engaging activities which we’ll be rolling out as the season progresses to engage fans, and drive Tottenham Hotspur’s membership sign up.”
Indian streaming platform Hotstar has been named as the official digital streaming partner for the VIVO Indian Premier League 2019 in the UK.
As part of the deal, Hotstar will livestream all the matches starting March 23 in HD quality. Hotstar’s video-on-demand feature further allows subscribers to replay the match at their convenience with customized highlights of the best moments.
Subscribers will also have access to an exclusive dugout commentary feed that provides in-depth analysis. Regional and expert commentary will also be available in six languages (English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Bengali).
Ipsita Dasgupta, President – Strategy and Incubation, and Hotstar International at Star India said: “VIVO IPL has captured the hearts and minds of millions of cricket fans all over the world. We are proud to recreate the signature cricket experience in the homes of passionate fans in the UK, bringing them closer to the game.
“By leveraging our technology, deep consumer insight, and expertise in cricket coverage, Hotstar presents the VIVO IPL and all the stories surrounding the famed tournament and its heroes in an immersive and engaging style.”
Hotstar recently unveiled VIP subscription for original content.
World Archery has appointed Vanguard as its first optics industry partner.
As part of the deal, the company will provide spotting scopes for televised finals at events on the Hyundai Archery World Cup circuit and at the Hyundai World Archery Championships.
Vanguard optics will be placed on the field of play during televised finals and set-up will be allowed for added microphones and cameras to enhance broadcast coverage.
World Archery secretary general Tom Dielen said: “This new partnership gives us flexibility and an opportunity to innovate our broadcast product – but it would only be possible if we were certain the equipment we were placing on the field would live up to the expectations of our athletes and coaches.”
Vanguard senior marketing manager M Harold Jankowiak said: “Sporting optics might not attach to an archer’s bow but they are still critical pieces of equipment. Accurately spotting arrows can mean the difference between victory and defeat.”
“We’re proud to be supplying high-performance optics for use at world-class archery competitions this season. Many Vanguard employees are avid archers and the company is committed to supporting archers at all levels.”
English Premier League team Wolverhampton Wanderers FC has named Alibaba owned Youku Sports as its media partner in China.
As part of the deal, Youku will be responsible for the distribution of exclusive video content from the club across multiple outlets.
Youku’s logo will be displayed on perimeter boards at Wolves home stadium and will bring exclusive Internet content rights and other benefits such as invitations to season-end dinners and usage of the VIP Suites for the Chinese fans.
Wolves will further be taking part in the Premier League Asia Trophy in China.
Eleven Sports has extended its agreement with Formula 1 in Poland until 2022.
As part of the deal, Eleven Sports will show all the action from every race weekend exclusively live throughout the 2020, 2021 and 2022 seasons.
Eleven will further sub-license highlights to Polsat and abridged live race programmes to TVP commencing from the 2019 season, which will provide extensive free-to-air coverage for the sport throughout the term.
Michaella Snoeck, Senior Manager, Media Rights at Formula 1, said: “We are delighted to have extended our long-standing partnership with Eleven Sports for a further three seasons. Eleven Sports will broadcast a comprehensive offering made up of their high quality on-site production and international feed coverage across their channels, which will be further enhanced by their sub-licensing partnership with both Polsat and Telewizja Polska SA, providing expanded free-to-air coverage to further support the growth of Formula 1 in Poland.”
Krzysztof Świergiel, CEO of Eleven Sports in Poland, said: “With a big following of loyal fans who love the thrilling spectacle of Formula 1, the series has become a very important part of our premium offer in Poland. It has been a top priority to secure this extension and we are delighted that we will continue to cover every single lap with comprehensive, in depth coverage from every race weekend.”