France

World and European soccer champions France have launched a publicity campaign aimed at keeping the French public interested in the team.

Brazilian soccer striker Ronaldo may shed some light on his mysterious performance in the 1998 World Cup Final when he appears before a congressional commission today.

Exxus, the sports business to business information provider, has won the contract to supply the English PFA (Professional Footballers Association) statistics on players, matches and teams for its 'Give Me

Canal Plus, the pay-TV subsidiary of newly formed French media giant Vivendi Universal (VU) is to sell its 49.5% stake in European sport channel Eurosport to launch a rival sports channel.

Juventus star and FIFA World Player of the Year Zinedine Zidane found himself caught between two car companies after appearing in a television commercial for US giant Ford.

Belgian Rudy Pevenage has been named the new sports director of German cycling team Deutsche Telekom.

Some 28 Chinese democracy activists have urged the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to press Beijing, which is bidding to host the 2008 Olympic Games, to free jailed dissidents.

Beijing plans to spend 100 billion yuan ($12.08 billion) cleaning up its heavily polluted air to improve its bid to host the 2008 Olympics, a government minister said on Friday.

Sport continues to generate the most viewers of pan-European television, according to the TGI Europa 2000 survey released today.

Aladdino, the free-to-access mobile Internet portal, has signed a cross-border European deal with Sportal the leading global provider of interactive sports content. Under the agreement, Sportal will be supplying football, Formula1 and horse racing news content for Aladdino-registered users of mobile devices in the UK, France and Spain.

Britain's leading triathletes, led by three-time world champion Simon Lessing, have called for the resignation of their national governing body's chairman because of fears that they will be barred from lucrative races in Europe in 2001 in the sport's first post-Olympic season.

Eleven soccer clubs from five of Europe's smaller nations are to keep alive the prospect of a breakaway "Euroleague" in the face of UEFA's failure to address their concerns.

Aladdino, the free-to-access mobile internet portal for both PDA and WAP platforms has signed a cross-border European deal with Sportal the provider of interactive sports content.

Japan has no plans to launch a new investigation into allegations the central Japanese city of Nagano bribed International Olympic Committee (IOC) executives to host the 1998 Winter Games.

Victoria has won the right to host the 6th World Cup Polo Championships 2001 at The National Equestrian Centre at Werribee Park, from 28 March to 8 April 2001.

The ongoing judicial inquiry into the US Postal Service cycling team may force two time winner Lance Armstrong to skip the event rather than face further investigation into doping allegations.