Hungary

Hungarian retail group Fotex bought a majority stake in first division soccer champions Ferencvaros on Saturday in a deal worth 2.4billion forints ($8.38m), commercial television station RTL Klub said.

Hungary's Football Association is raising almost $30 million to help reorganise soccer so the professional game can finance itself.

Austrian and Swiss soccer officials will meet in Bern on March 9 to discuss a possible joint bid to host the 2008 European Championships, officials said on Tuesday.

The opening leg of the UIM Formula 1 Powerboat World Championship in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, will be used as a benchmark for other venues of the 14-round UIM world championship

Canada said it might submit a bid to host the 2010 World Cup as a way of sending a message to the world that it was serious about one day hosting the world's premier soccer tournament.

A proposed ban on cigarette advertisements in Hungary has shocked tobacco producers and could jeopardise Formula One races in the country.

Austrian and Swiss soccer federation officials met in Vienna on Tuesday to discuss a possible joint bid to hold the 2008 European championship finals.

The Lithuanian soccer federation has named Liutauras Varanavicius, chief executive officer of Ukio Bank, to replace acting president Vytautas Zimnickas.

Austria's soccer federation has been approached by Switzerland's head of state Adolf Ogi to discuss a possible joint-bid for Euro 2008, according to local media reports.

The Hungarian FA has sold the TV rights to first division matches for the next three years to Hungarian TV channel MTV and Dutch cable firm UPC, in a HUF3.1bn (#7.5m) deal.

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.

The central England city of Birmingham has been awarded the 2003 world indoor athletics championships beating off the opposition of Budapest.

News Corp and Liberty Media has announced that its joint venture Fox Sports International is to launch a sports television channel targeting viewers in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey.

Hungary's first division soccer league has been given a new look after the fifth-placed club was taken over and promoted Szeged folded.

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge has dismissed claims New York should be automatically handed the 2012 Olympic Games in the wake of the suicide plane attacks in America.

IOC president Jacques Rogge has dismissed claims New York should be automatically handed the 2012 Olympic Games in the wake of the suicide plane attacks in America.