Greece

Leading sports industry companies have renewed their top-tier sponsorship agreements with SportAccord, which will be held in Athens this year.

Athens has signed an agreement to host the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, which will take place June 25 through July 4.

The organisers of SportAccord will expand their offer of features aimed to serve cities that host or want to host sports events around the world.

The International Olympic Committee short listed five cities as Candidate Cities to host the first Summer Youth Olympic Games in 2010 - with Moscow seemingly heading the race.

Olympic Top partner Coca-Cola has made a $2 million donation to the Hellenic Olympic Committee towards the restoration of its site in Ancient Olympia, which was damaged by recent forest fires in Greece.

The Greek island of Rhodes will play host to the triathlon world after being added to the 2007 BG Triathlon World Cup series.

Liverpool FC and AC Milan will battle it out for a windfall of up to £67 million when the 2007 UEFA Champions League Final kicks off tonight, according to research commissioned by MasterCard.

Euroleague Basketball’s 2007 Final Four in Athens this weekend will break records for media coverage.

Independent agency, Hyperactive was appointed by mobile phone company Vodafone to organise and execute Vodafone’s hospitality programme around the UEFA Champions League.

Euroleague Basketball has signed a hospitality programme for VIP guests and fans at the 2007 Final Four.

Rugby union’s premier European club competition, the Heineken Cup, has secured distribution in over 100 countries.

With more than 2 months to go before the opening of SPORTELMonaco 2006, exhibitors have committed to more than 85% of the expanded floor space in the Grimaldi Forum.

Nationwide Building Society and The Football Association (The FA) announced today (Friday 11 August 2006), a new partnership that will see Nationwide become the exclusive Official England Team Sponsor.

A new report from the European Tour Operators Association says that the London tourism industry will suffer a decline rather than receive a boost because of the 2012 Olympics. “There is no strong link between hosting sporting events and increased tourism” says the ETOA.

The FC)dC)ration Internationale de l’Automobile approved the calendar for the 2007 World Rally Championship, adding three new races in Ireland, Norway and Portugal. The new races replace those in Australia, Cyprus and Turkey. The FIA said in a statement that its World Motor Sport Council had approved a calendar which would continue to run on the existing January-November format instead of the proposed August-May switch. It said that it would decide whether to add further events to the calendar at its next World Motor Sport Council meeting.

European champions Greece have been banned from international football competitions by world governing body FIFA because of government interference in the sport.

A top executive with Visa says the Turin Olympics and Paralympics have helped propel the brand's point of sale penetration to new levels in Turin and across Italy.

Reebok has agreed an endorsement deal with British boxing sensation Amir Khan, making him the first ever boxer to be signed up by Reebok UK.