Italy

Italian Serie A soccer team AS Roma debuted on the Milan bourse today with solid gains, but market players said emotional buying and speculation would determine potential upside more than the club's fundamentals.

Sportal has signed a major sponsorship deal with European online and recruitment portal StepStone.

The prospect of a revolt by Italian cycling teams in the Giro d'Italia has receded following talks with the organisers.

Shares in Serie A soccer club Societa Sportiva Lazio opened up more than 60 percent after winning the Italian league championship for the first time in 26 years and only the second time in the club's 100-year history.

UEFA Cup finalists Galatasaray must put their finances on a stronger footing if they want to join the elite of European soccer, coach Fatih Terim has said.

Internet portal Sportal has launched its first TV advertising campaign ? due to run until Euro 2000.

Italian Serie A soccer club Udinese Calcio has said that for the first half of their financial year to end-December 1999 they posted pre-tax profit of 84.5 billion lire ($39 million) against a previous 37.4 billion.

Pope John Paul has told Europe's soccer authorities to protect sporting ideals and make sure that the game was not just about cash.

FORMER Marseille owner Bernard Tapie, who has been out of football since the 1993 Marseilles match-fixing scandal, is set to make a return to the game ? possibly in Italy.

The flotation of Italian first division soccer club AS Roma has been postponed to the second half of May, the club's director-general said.

Juventus's Alessandro Del Piero is the world's best paid soccer player, according to a survey conducted by the magagzine France Football.

More than half of Italian soccer fans say that commercialisation is behind the downturn in fortunes experienced by their country's football teams.

Italian first division club Torino, one of the fallen giants of Serie A, said it had been bought by a local businessman for a reported fee of 35 billion lire ($17.11 million).

The media arm of Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica may lead a European soccer superleague project which would replace the current Champions League format, a company source has said.

Mike Tyson's May 20 fight against fellow American Lou Savarese in Milan has been delayed.

Rome's Olympic stadium, home of the soccer league matches of Roma and Lazio, is to be sold within the year together with the swimming pool and tennis fields of the Italian capital's "Foro Italico" sport complex.