Germany

Mobile phone network Vodafone will this week launch an international advertising campaign based on it sponsorship of the Ferrari Formula One team.

UK player agency First Artist and its Swiss-based subsidiary, FIMO Sport Promotion, have created a joint venture partnership with two European football management agencies.

Germany has abandoned preparations to compete in yachting's most prestigious trophy, the America's Cup, next year due to a lack of sponsorship.

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has played down speculation that a dispute exists between himself and Franz Beckenbauer over who is really in charge at Bayern Munich.

Germany will host the Confederations Cup in 2005 as a dress rehearsal before staging the World Cup finals the following year, the German Football Association (DFB) said yesterday.

Tom Walkinshaw (pictured) has said a new Formula One team - rising from the purchased ashes of the failed Prost team - could be on the grid at the end of this month.

German sports rights broker UFA Sports has confirmed it is changing its name - branding its operation as Sportfive.

Applications to stage the 11th men's hockey World Cup have been received from six countries, International Hockey Federation (FIH) president Els van Breda Vriesman said yesterday

Today is the last day for contenders to formally indicate their intention to host the 2005 World Athletics Championships. The International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) is expected to receive bids from six cities.

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.

Rome has made a formal bid to host the World Athletics Championships in 2005, the third-biggest sporting event in the world, Italy's Athletics Federation FIDAL has confirmed.

Kate Hoey, the UK's former sports minister has told BBC journalists that the British government wasted £10m ($14.3m/EUR16.4m) in a fruitless bid to host the 2006 World Cup.

Italian soccer may soon be shown on a single pay-TV platform now that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has pulled out of Stream, its ill-fated pay television venture.

Jordan's 2002 commercial launch will be run by Deutsche Post, the Formula 1 team has said, strengthening suggestions that the Bonn-based company will become the team's title sponsor.

SportBusinessTV's first edition of In Focus spotlights the different viewpoints of Marc Jorg, Controller of Sports for the public service broadcast members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) with those of Dr. Alexander Liegl, Managing Director of Sports Rights, Kirch Media

German media giant Kirch told delegates in Munich yesterday that the 2006 World Cup will be significantly more lucrative than this summer's event because it will be held in Europe where television rights are worth more money.

Swiss watch maker Oris has tied up a sponsorship deal with Britain's newest Formula One driver Allan McNish.

Moscow's bid to host the 2005 World Athletics Championships has an excellent chance of success, the head of Russian athletics said.