Italy

The coach of the Italian rugby team has said he wants his side to remain based at decaying Rome stadium Stadio Flaminio, despite the 80,000 crowd predicted to attend an Italy-New Zealand match at the San Siro in Milan.

An Italian court has blocked a deal agreed by Italian pay-broadcaster Sky Italia for a package of rights for Italian league football for the 2010-11 and 2011/12 seasons.

AC Milan have appointed the Italian arm of the Infront agency to market and implement its sponsorship rights under a six-year deal beginning in the 2010-11 season.

The southern Italian city of Palermo has expressed interest in hosting the 2020 Olympics alongside Rome and Venice.

The Italian Lega Calcio, the governing body of Italian professional football, and the international sports marketing company Infront announced the details of the tender for the international media rights for Italy’s Serie A and B at a SPORTEL Monaco press conference yesterday.

The mayors of Italian cities Rome and Venice have announced they both want to bid to host the 2020 Olympics.

Italian sportswear manufacturer Legea has agreed a deal to supply kit to the national football teams of Iran.

Santander unveiled a five-year sponsorship deal, running from 2010 to 2014, with Italian Formula One team Ferrari at Monza on Thursday before the Italian Grand Prix.

The Italian Rugby team's test against South Africa has been moved from Florence to Udine after the football league switched Fiorentina's Serie A match against Parma to the stadium on the same date.

Spanish banking group Santander is to be announced today as the new title sponsor of the Ferrari Formula One team.

Fininvest, the company which owns AC Milan, has denied an Italian newspaper report that company owner, the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, is considering selling the club to Libyan sovereign funds.

Italian football club Inter Milan will introduce its plans for its new 60,000-seat stadium at this year’s SPONSORs Sports Venue Summit, which takes place in Munich on September 7 and 8.

Serie A and Serie B, the top two Italian football divisions, are to split in an effort to revive the Italian game’s commercial fortunes, which have slipped behind the English Premier League and Spain’s La Liga in recent years.

Texas businessman Tim Barton reached a preliminary agreement to purchase Italian Serie A side Bari, which returns to the top-tier league this season for the first time since 2001.

Silvio Berlusconi, Italian prime minister and owner of Serie A football team AC Milan, has criticised “unacceptable” footballer wages and called for a salary cap to be introduced in the sport.

Italian clubs Fiorentina, Catania and Cagliari will play in a new pre-season football tournament, called the Dahlia Cup, being organised by the MP & Silva agency and Italian broadcaster Dahlia TV.