Europe

English Premier League club Manchester United has launched on Line, one of Asia’s largest social messaging platforms.

English Premier League (EPL) football club Aston Villa has appointed former Arsenal chief commercial officer Tom Fox as its new chief executive.

The Association of Football Agents (AFA), which represents more than 300 agents in the UK, has appealed to the European Commission to block plans by football’s world governing body Fifa to reform the sector.

Barcelona will go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after football’s global governing body Fifa today (Wednesday) rejected the Spanish Liga club’s appeal against a transfer ban beginning in January 2015.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) has ended uncertainty over the hosting rights for its 2015 Track World Championships after it announced that the French town of Saint Quentin en Yvelines will stage the event.

The FIA, motorsport’s global governing body, has announced that the new Sochi Autodrom in Russia is ready to host its first Formula One grand prix race in October.

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko insists the country will press ahead with its hosting plans for the 2018 Fifa World Cup despite recommendations from world football’s governing body that it should scale back the number of host cities and venues.

Artemis Racing has become the second team to confirm its challenge for the 2017 America’s Cup, following Emirates Team New Zealand.

British Cycling has announced that the velodrome used during London’s hosting of the 2012 summer Olympic Games will host the second round of the International Cycling Union’s (UCI) 2014-15 Track World Cup later this year.

Jim Pallotta, chairman and president of Italian Serie A football club AS Roma and managing director of financial services firm Raptor Group, is the latest speaker to be revealed for the Leaders Sport Business Summit in London on October 8-9.

Russia has delivered its first stadium for the country’s hosting of the 2018 Fifa World Cup, with the Kazan Arena staging its first football match on Sunday.

The Czech Grand Prix is set to remain on the MotoGP calendar for the coming years after event stakeholders held positive talks over the future of the event, one of the most popular rounds of the motorcycling series.

A potential strike by Danish footballers has been averted at the last minute after the players’ union and the Divionsforeningen, the body that operates the top-tier Superligaen, agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

Baku 2015 chief operating officer Simon Clegg has said Azerbaijan’s staging of the inaugural European Games will serve to enable Europe to catch up with other continents in the multi-sport event hosting sphere, adding that organisers are determined to avoid “gigantism” in their planning for the Games.

Portuguese Primeira Liga football club Sporting Lisbon has announced it will sever its ties to Doyen Sports, an investment fund that finances player purchases for professional teams, amid a dispute over the future of defender Marcos Rojo.

German Bundesliga football club Borussia Dortmund has recorded profits in excess of €10m ($7.5m) for the third consecutive year, while it has surpassed its target of €250m in revenue for the 2013-14 financial campaign.