Nordics

Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge Roekke will lay out almost 500,000 crowns ($66,390) to make sure his hometown soccer team Molde get plenty of support for a match against Oslo's Valerenga this weekend.

A Norwegian firm that controls English premier league soccer club Wimbledon denied a report that it also wanted to buy second division Manchester City.

Athletics chiefs have revamped their fixture list for next season in a bid to make Wednesday nights a focal point for top-class track and field.

A year before the Euro 2000 soccer championships, organisers received a possible taste of things to come as hooligans linked to Rotterdam's Feyenoord fought with police and wrecked the centre of their own city.

Seeking to stabilise opinion on the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, the chairman of the International Olympic Committee's co-ordination commission, Swiss lawyer Marc Hodler, whose allegations of bribery against his colleagues triggered the biggest Olympic scandal in history, has said the hiring of IMG to recruit more 2002 Winter Games sponsors will help the Salt Lake City games to recover.

FIFA has ordered Portugal's Benfica to deliver immediately a bank guarantee to Norway's Rosenborg Trondheim to honour a transfer agreement for striker Sigurd Rushfeldt, the Norwegian Football Association has said.

English Premier League soccer club Charlton Athletic will be the first team to test the Football Association?s new laser system to help assistant referees judge offside decisions more accurately.

ABC and ESPN have bought the exclusive broadcasting rights in the US market for premier IAAF events in a three- year agreement with the IAAF and ISL Worldwide.

Setanta.com, the Irish sports content provider, has signed two contracts worth #1million ($1.45m) with mobile phone companies in Norway.

Newcastle United's St. James' Park will host England's World Cup qualifier against Albania, the FA has said.

Just when Norwegian football appears to be resolving its internal crisis over three national team players refusing to sign the Norwegian Football Association's sponsorship deal, the Norwegian Track and Field Association (NFIF) is facing the same ordeal.

The second annual Oslo Racing Festival will not be held this year after a dispute between festival organisers and the Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC) over costs failed to be resolved.

The international careers of four of Norway's top players are still hanging in the balance following a last minute hitch over a compromise deal on marketing rights with the Norwegian Football Association.

Norwegian alpine skier, Lasse Kjuus has been fined 10,000 kroner ($1,140) by the Norwegian Ski Association for breaching Norway's rules against mixing sports and alcohol for commercial purposes.

Leading global soccer star web site control Icons Worldwide Limited (Icons) has added a host of major players to its portfolio with the acquisitions of Sportprofiles International Limited and Futbolweb SA, a subsidiary of Canal 21, both leading internet sports companies.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) vice-president Dick Pound said on Wednesday that Athens was far behind in preparing the 2004 Olympics but denied the IOC was considering moving the Games.