Nordics

Swedish soccer chiefs have confirmed its top domestic league will be expanded from the 2008 season.

European sports webcasting company Servecast announced the appointment of a new Business Development Director in Germany. This is the second European appointment by Servecast this year in order to meet growing market demand for advanced streaming media solutions in the sports industry.

The prestigious DNGalan athletics meeting awarded its international TV rights to IEC in Sports in a brand new three-year-agreement.

The International Badminton Federation announced the launch of the Super Series starting 2007.

Home appliance brand Electrolux has become an official partner of the ladies golf tournament, the Solheim Cup.

With more than 2 months to go before the opening of SPORTELMonaco 2006, exhibitors have committed to more than 85% of the expanded floor space in the Grimaldi Forum.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) recognised the Athletic Federation of Serbia and the Athletic Federation of Montenegro as two separate Members after Montenegro withdrew from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro.

Uefa President, Lennart Johansson, confirmed that he intends to seek a further, and final, term of office as Uefa President.

The FC)dC)ration Internationale de l’Automobile approved the calendar for the 2007 World Rally Championship, adding three new races in Ireland, Norway and Portugal. The new races replace those in Australia, Cyprus and Turkey. The FIA said in a statement that its World Motor Sport Council had approved a calendar which would continue to run on the existing January-November format instead of the proposed August-May switch. It said that it would decide whether to add further events to the calendar at its next World Motor Sport Council meeting.

The 24-hour sports channel ESPN Classic agreed a deal with Spanish telecoms company TelefC3nica for carriage on its IPTV platform Imagenio. The deal marks the channel’s first move into the Spanish IPTV market.

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The adidas Group has agreed a deal to take control of the distribution and license rights for the Reebok brand in China.

UK building society Northern Rock has been forced to pull the plug on a series of print and online adverts after its star – England striker Michael Owen – was flown home midway through the FIFA World Cup after suffering an injury.

TV audiences in Europe for the FIFA World Cup look set to beat expectations judging by the initial viewing figures.

After all the hype it is finally here – the FIFA World Cup 2006 kicks-off this evening in Germany and is set to smash TV viewing records.

The Ladies European Tour has confirmed seven countries have made bids to host the 2011 Solheim Cup.