Europe

MP Web, the new media company of Milan-based sports marketers Media Partners Group, and Italian Serie A soccer club AC Parma have signed an exclusive management agreement for the official website of AC Parma until 2009.

Francis Baron, secretary of the Rugby Football Union (RFU), has confirmed they will bid to host the 2007 World Cup tournament which will put England in direct competition with France.

English Rugby League team the London Broncos confirmed to sportbusiness.com that, contrary to earlier reports, no decision on who would take over from Virgin as the new owners of the club would be made until next week.

Leading Greek soccer club Olympiakos is planning to build a new stadium following the break down of talks with the club’s current stadium owners, the Greek Olympic Committee (GOC).

The terrible events in the US yesterday caused havoc with sporting events across the globe with all Major League Baseball games last night called off, this week's UEFA European soccer ties postponed, and a question mark hanging over this weekend’s NFL ties and golf’s Ryder Cup later this month.

England Rugby, the new joint venture between the Rugby Football Union and Premier Rugby, has appointed the largest independent television production company in the UK, TWI, to handle its sales of international television rights in overseas markets.

UK Athletics is set to announce a big sponsorship deal later this week.

Sportsetail, the merchandising business owned as a joint venture by the UK’s Hay & Robertson and BSkyB, has reached a European product and distribution agreement with FIFA for the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan.

London stock market-listed Sportsworld Media Group plc has issued a statement reiterating its confidence in meeting market expectations for the year ended 30 June 2001, despite a 20% fall (from a weekly high of 373.5p 312.5p) in its share price over recent days.

The New York Yankees has created its own television company called YES with hopes of doubling its broadcast revenues.

Amer Sports - the B

The five cities bidding to host the 2008 Olympic Games have begun delivering their final presentations ahead of this afternoon's decision in Moscow around 3.30pm BST.

Spanish soccer club Athletic de Bilbao has taken a pioneering step in Spain by launching its own brand of kit bearing the brand name "Athletic".

Britain's betting taxes will be scrapped in October and replaced by a tax on bookmakers' gross profits, the government said on Friday.

Beijing combined evocative images of ancient and modern China in its final bid for the 2008 Olympics on Friday just hours before the International Olympics Committee (IOC) votes on the host.

The Japanese city of Osaka was eliminated in the first round of voting by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the right to host the 2008 Summer Games.