Germany

German-based company UFA Sports which has made its name by snapping up TV rights to European soccer clubs, has secured deals with more than half of the clubs playing in the first round of this year's UEFA Cup competition.

French commercial TV channel TF1 , which has bought exclusive French rights to the 2002 World Cup soccer tournament, said it is seeking four parties to each pay EUR2.3 million ($2.03m) to sponsor live match coverage.

UK-based advertising giant WPP has completed the acquisition of the Hamburg-based football rights agency Global Sportnet.

The FA has been told that it needs to tighten up its management structure to make Wembley Stadium more attractive to financial institutions in the City from which they need to raise £715million ($1bn/EUR1.2bn) to re-build the arena into a state-of-the-art stadium.

The boom in TV soccer deals could be nearing an end, according to the senior vice-president of German media giant Kirch.

The IAAF has received interest from eight cities to host the 2005 World Championships following the withdrawal of London at the end of last year.

Eight cities have shown an interest in staging the World Championships competition in 2005 after it was controversially taken away from the UK after the Picketts Lock debacle.

British Eurosport, subsidiary of media company Eurosport, has bought the broadcasting rights to the African Nations Cup football competition for the next six years for an undisclosed sum.

Germany's Krombacher Brewery has become the new title sponsor of international luge event the Challenge Cup.

Allianz AG, Europe's biggest insurer, and Bayern Munich have confirmed they were in talks about a deal under which Allianz would become sponsor for Munich's new EUR250million ($223.8m) stadium.

New CART CEO Chris Pook has praised NASCAR’s approach and promised a management reshuffle will mark the beginning of a CART revival.

World Wrestling Federation Entertainment (WWFE) will be staging a series of international live event tours in Asia, Europe and Australia in 2002, starting with a three-city tour through Asia in March.

Munich has became the last of 16 German cities to submit a bid to stage matches at the 2006 soccer World Cup finals in Germany.

Germany’s Krombacher Brewery is to become a major sponsor of luge, following the announcement of a three-year deal with KirchSport AG.

The UEFA executive committee begin a two-day meeting today in Nyon to discuss key changes to the Champions League - including which agency should market the tournament.

European countries are to lobby UEFA for more money from next year's World Cup amid concerns that most of the profits from football tournaments go to FIFA.