Netherlands

Ajax Amsterdam has taken a majority stake in Belgian first division side Germinal Beerschot of Antwerp.

Euro 2000 co-hosts Belgium will spend close to $25million on security arrangements for the tournament, which begins June 10th. The Belgian Minister of the Interior, Antoine Duquesne, revealed that Belgian government spending to guarantee safety during the tournament is estimated at a total of 25 million Euros (approximately US$23 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.

A huge image of Dutch soccer midfielder Edgar Davids will be plastered on the Netherlands' tallest office building as the Dutch begin to hype Euro 2000.

Fast-food chain McDonalds apologised to Maltese footballers for a Dutch advertisement poking fun at their chances of making it into the European championship this summer.

Euro 2000 organisers have freed up well over 50,000 tickets for this summer's championships and plan to sell them from Thursday.

UEFA?s official EURO 2000 website will be launched tomorrow at a special ceremony in the King Baudouin stadium in Brussels.

UEFA and FIFA face almost certain disappointment in their efforts to persuade the European Union to reverse some of the most damaging effects of the Bosman ruling, EU officials have warned.

Only a few hundred tickets are left unsold for this summer's Euro 2000 soccer championships, according to the tournament organisers. Sale details of the remaining tickets will be released in the next couple of weeks.

Sportal has confirmed it has become an official sponsor of the UEFA European Football Championships.

Belgian authorities acted out their Euro 2000 "disaster plan" earlier this week at Brussels' King Baudouin Stadium, the ground rebuilt and renamed after the 1985 Heysel tragedy.

Amsterdam and Eindhoven are to ban outdoor television screens for showing matches during the European championship finals in June because they are worried that rival fans will clash.

The Extreme Sports Channel has extended it reach to include the city of Louvain in Belgium.

Most players in this year's Euro 2000 tournament will have to pay 18 percent of their earnings in tax, tournament officials have announced.

Celtic could soon leave the Scottish Premier League and join a new Atlantic League aimed at leading clubs who dominate Europe's second tier competitions, a club spokesman has said.

The Dutch Parliament will debate whether to create a bill to make black market tickets sales illegal during Euro 2000.