Eastern Europe

The IOC has annunced an autumn programme of evaluation visits to cities hoping to stage the 2006 Winter Olympics.

World Cycling Limited (WCL) and the Polish Cycling Federation have announced the founding of the Solidarity Cup, an international friendship series consisting of two major cycling events in Poland and the United States.

Polish soccer is in crisis after being ruled by an ageing, incompetent and scandal-prone clique which has failed to grasp free market realities since communism fell in 1989, the sports minister has said.

A FIFA delegation in Poland is resolving a two-month stand-off between the government and Polish football authorities that threatens the country's involvement in international competition.

The Polish Football Association (PZPN) has said that FIFA intervention had failed to resolve a dispute with the government which could see Poland barred from international competition.

The Polish Sports Ministry has welcomed a proposal by the country's top soccer clubs to stave off the threat of an international ban.

Polish soccer clubs vowed on Monday to continue a domestic strike until the resignation of a federation head at the centre of a stand-off with the government.

Polish soccer clubs has voted to suspend their league strike despite an unresolved conflict with the soccer federation (PZPN).

Poland's government has approved a bid by Zakopane to host the Winter Olympics in 2006.

The Bulgarian government has revoked the licence of the country's ruling soccer body, accusing it of failing to take action in a doping case.

The tiny South Pacific island republic of Nauru has been awarded the 2001 world weightlifting championships, beating some of the sport's giants, Nauru's Director of Sport has said.

The volleyball world championship's fashion police have struck, fining seven teams $3,000 each for ignoring its new dress code.

Polish Sports Minister Jacek Debski has renewed hostilities with the national soccer federation (PZPN) by declaring that its statute violated the law and its management was therefore illegal.

Turin officials have identified Swiss rivals Sion as potential winners when the IOC votes this Saturday to decide the venue for the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Turin have beaten the Swiss favourites Sion to host the 2006 Winter Games in the first selection of a host city since the Salt Lake City bribery scandal.

At the demand of FIFA, Poland's scandal-ridden soccer federation holds presidential elections on Monday which will determine if the country's football industry is rebuilt or sinks deeper into isolation.