Italy

ESPN International has signed a deal to globally broadcast the 2003 UEFA Champions League Final to more than 140 countries throughout Latin America, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the Pacific Rim.

ESPN has signed a number of major new European TV deals for the Indy Racing League, just prior to its calendar highlight, the Indianapolis 500 this weekend.

FIFA has confirmed it will be a straight shoot-out between the US and Sweden to host the rescheduled Women's World Cup finals.

The power of the UEFA Champions League has again been demonstrated after massive domestic TV figures were reported for the semi-final second-legs staged this week.

International research company Sports Marketing Surveys have opened a new office in Spain - coinciding with this week's SportAccord conference in Madrid.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has confirmed the commonly held belief that the US is hot favourite to host the rescheduled Women's World Cup, after the event was pulled out of China because of the SARS epidemic.

The US is firm favourite to land the short-notice right to host the FIFA Women's World Cup soccer tournament as the deadline looms later this week for bids to be submitted, following the decision to pull the event out of China because of the SARS epidemic.

Officials from Major League Baseball have visiting various sports venues in Italy with a view to playing regular season games in the country next year.

Italian soccer is set for a shake-up after plans were unveiled to divide Serie B into regional groups from the start of the 2005/6 season.

Vernon Pugh, chairman of the International Rugby Board (IRB), has passed away.

Media reports suggest that French president Jacques Chirac has officially confirmed Paris' intention to bid for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Tonga has joined Italy in threatening to withdraw from this year's Rugby World Cup due to the scheduling of the pool matches.

Sector, the Italian sports watch manufacturer has signed a deal with Eurosport to leverage its involvement in the MotoGP.

German soccer giants Bayern Munich has threatened to walk away from the Bundesliga should it be docked points over a secret EUR21.5m marketing deal between it and KirchMedia.

Television ratings for the second group phase of this year's Champions League - which is to be axed next season - were largely dictated by on-the-pitch performance according to new research by Mediametrie Eurodata.

CART has signed broadcast deals to show the German 500 race to the domestic audience.