Croatia

The joint Scotland and Ireland bid to host the Euro 2008 soccer championships is set to unveil Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson as its new ambassador today.

The joint Scotland and Ireland bid to host the Euro 2008 soccer championships is set to unveil Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson as its new ambassador today.

Octagon CSI - the television arm of the global sports marketing agency - has signed a TV rights agreement with the Japan Football Association.

Hungary will build a new stadium and renovate seven existing grounds if it is chosen to host the 2008 European championships.

A total of seven candidates have confirmed their interest in hosting UEFA's soccer showpiece - Euro 2008.

Candidates to host soccer's Euro 2008 tournament have until the end of today to submit official bids to governing body UEFA.

Platini, who had a glittering playing career leading France to victory in the 1984 European Championships and also later managed the side, is hoping to gain a seat on both bodies during elections at the UEFA Congress in Stockholm on April 25.

Scotland is considering a joint bid with the Republic of Ireland to host football's 2008 European Championships according to UK newspaper reports.

Bosnia and Croatia have confirmed they will bid to host soccer’s European championships in 2008 – and have delivered preliminary details to ruling body UEFA on their plans.

IEC in Sports has secured two new deals for the television rights for next year's European Table Tennis Championships and the Biathlon World Cup.

A British punter has won £27,000 ($37,960) after betting £240 ($338) on Croatia's Goran Ivanisevic to win Wimbledon at odds of 150-1.

Hungary has decided to make a solo bid for the 2008 European Championships after unsuccessful talks with potential co-hosts Croatia, youth and sports Minister Tamas Deutsch said.

Canadian broadcaster TSN says first round World Cup matches have produced outstanding ratings.

In a rare show of European unity, French Finance Minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn joked that France and the Netherlands should share the World Cup, predicting their soccer teams would meet in the July 12 final.

Sunday night's World Cup final between France and Brazil set a new television audience record in host country France with an average of 23.626 million people watching, a spokesman for audience measurement body Mediametrie said on Monday.

TF1, France's biggest private terrestrial television station, had receipts of 52 million francs for advertising it carried during the World Cup final on Sunday, an advertising executive at the station said.