Italy

Uefa president Michel Platini’s hope that switching the Champions League final from Wednesday night to Saturday night would attract more families was dashed, at least as far as television viewers were concerned, by last month’s Inter Milan-Bayern Munich final.

Serie A football club Inter Milan’s new sponsorship strategy will see the number of team sponsors cut to 25 from 60, echoing a similar move announced recently by same-city rivals AC Milan.

The Spanish and the Italians are the nations that have followed the qualifying campaign closest and are most looking forward to the World Cup, a survey by research company KantarSport has revealed.

France, Italy and Turkey will hear this Friday if they have won the right to host the Euro football championships in 2016. Reuters has described the different tactics each country has endorsed in their pitch to Uefa.

AC Milan and its official marketing partner the Infront Sports and Media agency have introduced a new sponsorship structure at the Italian football club that will see sponsors reduced to 32 from the current 42.

Rome has been picked over Venice as Italy's bidder for the 2020 Olympic Games, the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) said yesterday.

Tennis’s ATP World Tour has extended until the end of 2012 its sponsorship deal with Japanese office equipment maker Ricoh.

Italian Serie A club Juventus has agreed a two-year deal with Betclic that will see the gaming company sponsor the Turin side’s traditional black and white home shirt only from 2010-11 to 2011-12.

The positive economic impact of the 2010 rugby union Six Nations tournament is $632.81 million, according to a report commissioned by Mastercard.

Media rights agency MP & Silva has hired the IMG agency to help it sell Italian football's Serie A and Serie B into the UK and Ireland, the Netherlands, Russia, Turkey, and countries in the Balkan region.

Italian Serie A club AC Milan is primed to sign a four-year shirt sponsorship contract with Dubai airline Emirates according to Italian press reports.

Clubs in the English Premier League spent £30 million on player transfers in the January window, the lowest for more than seven years and well down on last year’s £170 million record.

Inter Milan’s managing director Ernesto Paolillo and Arsenal’s chief executive Ivan Gazidis will tackle the thorny issue of football club financing at the Soccerex European Forum.

Italian football club Udinese is taking embattled English club Portsmouth to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for failing to pay for a player transferred between the clubs.

Sportswear brands adidas, Nike and Puma are the most recognisable football sponsors in the top five European markets, according to a new survey by Sport+Markt.

Organisers of the Giro d'Italia have met with city authorities in Washington DC, USA, and tentatively agreed to host the opening stages of the famous cycling race in the city in 2012.

Pay-broadcaster SKY Italia has acquired Italy’s broadcast rights for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.

The MP & Silva sports media agency has agreed a deal to exclusively distribute in Italy, the Middle East and Oceania, and non-exclusively in Asia, UEFA’s documentary film about the experiences of the refereeing team at Euro 2008.