Italy

Italian soccer giants AC Milan have surprisingly won twice as many votes as Manchester United in a poll to find out the most popular team among Chinese fans.

Share trading in Lazio has been suspended with the Italian soccer club's owners Cirio seeking a sale.

Rugby's Hong Kong Sevens is set to go ahead as planned - despite the high-profile withdrawals of the Italian and French national teams.

The Hong Kong Sevens rugby union tournament is the latest sports event to be disrupted by the onset of the war in Iraq.

European soccer's governing body is set to approve its budget for the 2003/4 financial year when the XXVII Ordinary UEFA Congress takes place in Rome at the end of this month.

Inter Milan's push into the Asian marketplace has been boosted after it signed a five-year deal with Japanese sports retailer JSV.

Advertising and marketing giant WPP has unveiled a major new sport sponsorship tool.

Finance figures for sportswear giant adidas have recorded encouraging growth in 2002 - with executives forecasting better results to come.

The FIFA World Cup 2014 will be staged in South America, soccer's world governing body has confirmed.

The selection of the host cities for the 2004 Champions League and UEFA Cup finals are among the issues on the agenda when soccer governing body UEFA gathers for its executive board meeting scheduled for the end of the month.

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone and his Croatian-born wife, Slavica, today announced their support for the Croatian city of Rijeka’s bid to host the XVI Mediterranean Games in 2009.

ESPN Classic Sport has reached a new multi-year agreement with NBA that will allow the archive sports channel to televise a select package of vintage basketball games.

Milan Channel, the dedicated club TV channel of Italian team AC Milan, is bidding to attract commercial partners through a new package offering.

Asian soccer promoter and marketing consultants ProEvents Management has teamed up with Japanese advertising agency Dentsu as its exclusive strategic partner to develop all European soccer club business in the region.

A lawsuit has been filed by a Swiss bank against corporate hospitality company Sports Mondial over the standard of its service at the 2001 Champions League Final.

Italian soccer team Inter Milan has agreed a three-year deal with Japanese communications company Dentsu for the development of the club’s business in the Far Eastern country.