Africa

An Australian IOC member alleged to have taken his family on four free holidays to Salt Lake City has angrily denied any wrongdoing and accused the city's Board of Ethics of defamation.

The East and Central Senior African Challenge Cup in Uganda will go ahead as planned next month despite the scare over the Ebola virus which has killed more than 60 people, officials in Nairobi confirmed on Tuesday.

A bruising three-month battle for the FIFA presidency reaches a climax on Monday when Sepp Blatter and Lennart Johansson contest the biggest job in soccer.

The draw for the 2002 World Cup, the biggest in the tournament's 69-year history, will involve 195 nations and be seen live on Tuesday by a television audience of about one billion people.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) will visit Ghana and Nigeria early next month for a final look at stadium and television facilities for the African Nations Cup finals. The CAF inspection team's visit comes after concern was raised by several television broadcasters last month over the state of preparations for filming the 16-team finals, which start on January 22.

Tickets for African Nations' Cup matches in Nigeria will sell for as little as 100 naira (one dollar) each to draw big crowds, organisers have said.

Said CSA president Jim Fleming: "We have requested this information from FIFA with a view towards submitting a bid for the 2003 World Youth Championship

The World Cup failed to boost advertising revenue for Britain?s ITV network which saw June figures fall some #8 million ($12m).

Nigeria's organising committee for next year's world youth soccer tournament said on Sunday they were confident FIFA would be satisfied by the country's preparations after an inspection this week.

Four people were shot dead by soldiers at a soccer game in the southern Nigerian town of Warri after ethnic rioting erupted over a disputed refereeing decision, witnesses said.

The European Union rewarded Nigeria's has moved towards democracy by dropping diplomatic and sporting sanctions while keeping an arms embargo in place.

FIFA officials are expecting Nigeria on Monday to inspect facilities for next year's world youth cup, a spokesman for the Nigerian tournament organisers said on Sunday.

A FIFA health team inspecting Nigerian facilities for next year's World Youth Cup has cited inadequate emergency and laboratory facilities at match venues.

European soccer's governing body UEFA has said it would propose a joint meeting with world body FIFA in March to coordinate efforts to combat drugs.

A team from world soccer governing body FIFA has begun inspecting hotels in eight Nigerian cities to decide if they are good enough to be used at the World Youth Cup in April, organisers have announced.

A FIFA delegation was reported to be satisfied with facilities in Lagos as it began a final inspection to decide if Nigeria should host the World Youth Cup.