Germany

The rebuilding of Wembley Stadium, centrepiece of England's 2006 World Cup bid, may be delayed a year because its owners and the local council cannot agree on who should pay for improved transport links.

A French proposal for a European watchdog to oversee the financial activities of soccer clubs is winning approval from other nations, French officials have said.

On the day that News Corps and Vivendi have proposed a joint shareholding of their digital businesses, European media big-hitters Bertelsmann, Groupe Bruxelles Lambert and Pearson (PTV) have agreed to merge CLT-UFA, Europe's leading commercial television and radio broadcaster, with Pearson Television, the independent television production company.

Purple Interactive, the company behind the unofficial formuala1.com web-site, is to a launch Eurosoccer.com, a major new site for fans of European soccer.

The Cologne athletics meeting, for years Germany's largest outdoor event after Berlin, will no longer take place because of lack of interest from sponsors, meeting director Manfred Germar said.

Euro 2000 organisers have freed up well over 50,000 tickets for this summer's championships and plan to sell them from Thursday.

Germany's former Olympic fencer Thomas Bach said on Friday he would seek election as an International Olympic Committee (IOC) vice-president at a session in September in Sydney.

InterClubNet Ltd, the communication system provider, has unveiled InterClub, a private and secure communication and information system for football clubs and officially recognised bodies. The system, which is due to launch at the end of May, allows clubs to exchange player transfer information online, as well as providing a forum for other club business such as arranging friendly matches and merchandising agreements.

The British government has dismissed a report that England might team up with Germany in a bid to host soccer's 2006 World Cup rather than press its own case.

Countries bidding for the 2006 soccer World Cup are beginning the countdown to decision day ? exactly 100 days away.

Germany need to give their all in the closing stages of the race to hold the 2006 soccer World Cup finals, German bid chief Franz Beckenbauer said.

South Africa has invited African soccer greats Abedi Pele of Ghana and Cameroon's Roger Milla to be ambassadors for their 2006 World Cup bid.

England's 2002 World Cup qualifying match against Germany on October 7 will be held at Wembley Stadium, the English FA has confirmed ? delaying the demolition of the venue by three weeks.

FIFA's technical inspection team has given South Africa's bid to host the 2006 World Cup finals an unequivocal thumbs-up on Tuesday after a five-day tour to check the country's readiness.

German first division club Hertha Berlin appointed Rupert Scholz, a former federal defence minister, as their new chairman on Sunday after Robert Schwan said he would not seek reelection.

South Africa wants the 2006 soccer World Cup, deserves it and is more than ready to make it work, the country's newspapers declared on Thursday as a crucial FIFA inspection got underway in Johannesburg.