Belgium

European Parliament votes against player quotas - 9 May 08

The European Parliament voted yesterday in favour of a report, which opposes the introduction of rules such as Sepp Blatter’s proposed ‘6+5’ limit on the number foreign players at football clubs.

G-14 welcomes UEFA Champions League u-turn - 3 Dec 07

The head of the G-14 group of Europe’s most powerful football clubs has welcomed UEFA's u-turn on proposals to revise the qualification route for the Champions League.

Belgium and Netherlands Football Associations announce interest in joint 2018 bid - 15 Nov 07

The presidents of the football associations of Belgium, François de Keersmaecker, and the Netherlands, Mathieu Sprengers, officially announced their interest in submitting a joint bid to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup™.

ESA debates sponsorship evaluation framework - 9 Nov 07

The European Sponsorship Association's ‘Future Sponsorship’ conference (November 8-9) in Brussels has discussed the establishment of a new framework for sponsorship evaluation.

European Sponsorship Association opens Brussels office - 6 Sep 07

The European Sponsorship Association (ESA) expanded with the opening of an office in Brussels. This follows a period of growth for the membership association which looks after the interests of sponsors, rights holders, agencies and professional advisors working within the sponsorship industry.

ING AGREES SPONSORSHIPS FOR BELGIAN AND AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX - 13 Jun 07

ING reinforced its commitment to Formula One with the announcement of the title sponsorship of the Belgian Grand Prix, to be held at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit on September 14-16th.

CITIES IN HUNT FOR 2014 PRESENT TO EOC - 8 Dec 06

The three cities bidding to host the 2014 Winter Olympic Games will present their case to the general assembly of the European Olympic Committee (EOC) in Brussels today.

SPONSORSHIP IS THE WAY FORWARD - 7 Nov 06

The major issues facing the sponsorship industry were addressed at the annual ESA Conference, ‘Future Sponsorship’ held in Brussels last week. The opening keynote speech came from Havas Chief Executive Officer Fernando Rodés, who confirmed the increasingly important role sponsorship will play in the coming years, describing it as the way forward for marketing. “It is sponsorship’s ability to deliver marketing’s current needs – namely the interactivity and connection between the brand and consumers”, said Rodés.

MEDIA PARTNERS & SILVA RENEWS SERIE A CONSULTING DEAL - 3 Nov 06

Acid Sport, the French-based company agreed a three-year extension to its consulting deal with Media Partners & Silva.

FIFA SET TO ACT ON COMPENSATION - 25 Sep 06

FIFA, world football’s governing body, could be set to reach a compromise deal with the G14 group of leading football clubs over the issue of compensation for clubs whose stars are on international duty.

SLIMMED DOWN F1 CALENDAR UNVEILED - 30 Aug 06

Motorsport world governing body the FIA has unveiled the trimmed down calendar for next year’s Formula One season.

SPORTELMONACO 2006 EXHIBITION SPACE SELLING OUT - 14 Aug 06

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.

ESPN CLASSIC EXTENDS REACH TO SPANISH MARKET - 5 Jul 06

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.

MASSEY NEW OCTAGON UK CHIEF - 27 Apr 06

Marketing giant Octagon has confirmed Coca-Cola executive Nick Massey is to take over as managing director of its UK operation – Octagon UK.

ESPN CLASSIC LAUNCHES IN TURKEY - 24 Mar 06

Turkey is the latest country to sign up sports TV network ESPN Classic, following a carriage deal inked with Turkey’s leading digital platform, Digiturk.

NASN PITCH IN WITH EXCLUSIVE MLB DEAL - 14 Mar 06

NASN and Major League Baseball (MLB) have reached a groundbreaking five-year, pan-European broadcast deal, beginning with the 2006 season.

VENUE FEARS PROMPT PROBE - 26 Jan 06

Safety concerns at a leading European stadium could lead it to be replaced as a nation’s traditional home venue.

IAAF MAKES GOLDEN LEAGUE CHANGES - 30 Nov 05

Next year's Golden League athletics meetings will start in Oslo on June 2, the sport's ruling body (the IAAF) said.

BELGIANS SEEK ECCLESTONE HELP - 9 Nov 05

Belgium's regional Walloon government is set to ask Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone for help to secure the future of the country's grand prix.

TV TRIO FOR EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL - 27 Oct 05

Euroleague Basketball has agreed television deals with BR3 Germany, BETV Belgium and MegaSports in the Ukraine.

EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL IN EUROSPORT DEAL - 26 Oct 05

Euroleague Basketball and the pan-European sport channel Eurosport 2 have announced a new deal for coverage of the ULEB Cup, starting on November 8, 2005.

EU DENIES FIFTY PER CENT CAP - 17 Oct 05

European officials have denied that they ever proposed the FA Premier League would have to insist on no single broadcaster winning the rights to 50 per cent of future games.

TWO SENIOR PROMOTIONS AT OCTAGON - 14 Oct 05

In a bid to bolster its event management expertise, Octagon has promoted Bob Verbeeck to president of global event management.

UEFA WEBSITE SCORES NEW HIGH - 15 Sep 05

The official UEFA website, uefa.com, registered a record number of page views and visits following last night's Champions League games.

NASN SECURES NFL RIGHTS IN EUROPE - 15 Sep 05

NASN (the North American Sports Network) has acquired exclusive broadcast rights to the National Football League (NFL) in 17 European countries and shared rights in another four.

NASN SECURES NFL RIGHTS IN EUROPE - 15 Sep 05

NASN (the North American Sports Network) has acquired exclusive broadcast rights to the National Football League (NFL) in 17 European countries and shared rights in another four.

SIA ON TRACK WITH EUROSTAR - 13 Sep 05

The Sport Industry Awards has agreed a major new partnership with Eurostar, the fast train service linking the UK with France and Belgium.

OLYMPIC AND SPORTS MARKETING JOINT VENTURE - 28 Jun 05

Burson-Marsteller and Helios Partners have joined forces in an Olympic and sports marketing business relationship.

GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY FOR IAAF AND TWI - 28 Jun 05

The IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) has appointed TWI to distribute the exclusive worldwide TV rights for the its TDK Golden League from 2006 to 2009.

ESPN'S DAZZLES VIEWERS - 4 May 05

ESPN Classic Sport has teamed up with Belgian diamond co-operative, The YAM (Young Antwerp Manufacturers), and Diamdel, a specialist supplier of rough diamonds, to stage a dazzling competition for viewers.

UEFA AGREES CHAMPIONS LEAGUE RIGHTS - 30 Mar 05

UEFA has awarded French speaking and Flemish speaking Belgium broadcast rights to RTL-TVI and VTM respectively.

TV DEAL FOR BRAZIL/ARGENTINA QUALIFIERS - 29 Mar 05

World Champions Brazil and South American arch-rivals Argentina will have their 2006 World Cup qualifying matches televised in Scandinavia and Turkey under new distribution agreements, rights owner Traffic Sports Marketing has announced.

SPORTEL ASIA REGISTRATION BOOST - 9 Mar 05

With less than a week to go before SPORTELAsia 2005, all floor space has been sold and more than 250 companies from 41 countries worldwide have registered for the market.

SPORTEL ASIA REGISTRATION BOOST - 9 Mar 05

With less than a week to go before SPORTELAsia 2005, all floor space has been sold and more than 250 companies from 41 countries worldwide have registered for the market.

NBA ALL-STAR'S GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION - 17 Feb 05

The 2005 NBA All-Star events will be televised in 214 countries in 45 languages via 97 international telecasters.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE RIGHTS SALES KICK OFF - 10 Feb 05

UEFA has begun sales of broadcast rights to soccer’s UEFA Champions League for the 2006-2009 seasons.

ESPN CLASSIC SPORT LAUNCHES IN PORTUGAL - 24 Jan 05

ESPN Classic Sport has launched in Portugal on popular cable network Cabovisao.

ESPN CLASSIC SPORT LAUNCHES IN PORTUGAL - 24 Jan 05

ESPN Classic Sport has launched in Portugal on popular cable network Cabovisao.

ESPN CLASSIC SPORT TO DEBUT IN BELGIUM - 10 Jan 05

ESPN Classic Sport is set to launch in Belgium on Monday, following a carriage deal secured with leading Belgian cable operator Telenet.

THE WEEK THAT WAS... - 17 Dec 04

Editorial director Kevin Roberts reviews the issues of the past seven days.

EUROPEAN LEAGUES TO FORM PRESSURE GROUP - 1 Dec 04

Fifteen European soccer leagues, including those from England, Italy, Spain, Germany and France plan to form a federation to ensure their voices are heard in dealings with UEFA and the European Union.

NEW POSITION FOR LOTTO'S LANDI - 23 Nov 04

Alberto Landi is Lotto Sport Italia’s new marketing and communication director.

BRUSSELS PULLS OUT - 29 Oct 04

Brussels has withdrawn from the race to host the 2009 World Athletics Championships due to financial difficulties, officials have announced.

NORDIC WORLD CUP RIGHTS DEAL - 19 Oct 04

Infront Sports & Media has reached an exclusive agreement with a group of leading Nordic broadcasters for a substantial package of rights to FIFA’s top events, including the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

UEFA IN HOMEGROWN TALENT PLEA - 5 Oct 04

UEFA has urged its member associations to embrace proposals to "create a level playing field" by introducing a Europe-wide policy on clubs using homegrown players.

INFRONT SECURE CZECH WORLD CUP RIGHTS - 1 Oct 04

Infront Sports & Media has reached an exclusive agreement with Czech TV for the television rights of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in the Czech Republic.

THE WEEK THAT WAS... - 1 Oct 04

Editorial director Kevin Roberts reviews some of the issues of the past seven days

INFRONT SECURE WORLD CUP RIGHTS - 27 Sep 04

Infront Sports & Media has reached an exclusive agreement for the television rights to the 2006 FIFA World CupTM for the territory defined as French-speaking Belgium.

TALKSPORT IN BBC SPAT - 14 Sep 04

UK radio station TalkSport has complained to the European Commission that the BBC overpaid for its three-year deal to broadcast live Premiership football.

Nations set for 2012 push - 12 Jul 04

Scotland and Ireland are set to team up once again to present a joint bid to stage the Euro 2012 soccer tournament.

IAAF's Euro bids - 2 Jul 04

Europe will host the 2009 IAAF World Championships after the final bids to stage the athletics showcase were received by the sport’s governing body.

Financial backing for Champions Tour - 30 Jun 04

The Stanford Financial Group has signed up as official sponsor of the rankings on tennis’ Delta Tour of Champions.

G14 hopes for Swiss support - 3 Jun 04

The G14 hopes to discover later this month if Swiss competition chiefs will push for further action against FIFA in the on-going row over the use of players for international tournaments.

G14 meeting next week - 26 May 04

European soccer lobby group the G14 will meet in Brussels next week to consider its next move.

Eurodata set for Euro 2004 - 23 Apr 04

International TV data bank service Eurodata TV is to launch a service during this summer’s Euro 2004 to provide its clients with overnight TV audiences of all the tournament’s matches.

Sponsorship's new Proposal - 9 Mar 04

A new sponsorship consultancy has been set-up – created following a comment made in our sister publication SportBusiness International.

Blackshaw's latest legal challenge - 5 Mar 04

International sports lawyer, and regular sportbusiness.com contributor Ian Blackshaw has been appointed the first Fellow of the International Sports Law Centre at the prestigious Asser Instituut in The Hague, Holland.

Hammonds strengthen sports side - 4 Mar 04

UK law firm Hammonds has appointed two partners from Olswang: EU and competition law partner, Alasdair Bell, and sports and advertising/marketing law partner Louise Quinn.

MotoGP speeds up TV growth - 10 Feb 04

MotoGP's TV growth shows no signs of slowing after it clinched a string of rights deals as it continues to rev up for the start of the new season.

Mosley and EC clash again - 23 Jan 04

The war of words between Formula One chiefs and the European Commission has flared up once more, with FIA chief Max Mosley calling recent comments ‘unacceptable’ – heightening the prospect of a boycott of European races.

'Serious' risk of F1 boycott - 21 Jan 04

Max Mosley, president of motorsport governing body the FIA says he is hopeful a resolve will be reached after new EU regulations cast a shadow over a number of European races – but confirmed there was a ‘serious’ risk of races being boycott.

ESPN Classic goes English - 17 Dec 03

Archive sports network ESPN Classic Sport is branching out even further by rolling out a new English-language channel in over 50 European countries.

MotoGP figures leap - 16 Dec 03

Live coverage of MotoGP races in 2003 has increased by an average of 138 million – according to rights holders Dorna.

UEFA opens on EU doorstep - 26 Nov 03

UEFA has opened a new office in Brussels in a bid to deal more closely with European Union chiefs.

Beach soccer set for expansion - 6 Nov 03

The European Pro Beach Soccer League (EPBSL) is set to expand in 2004 after organisers agreed to take on more clubs.

ESCA examines regulations - 5 Nov 03

The regulation of sponsorship across Europe will be one of the main topics of debate at the ESCA Congress later this month.

Italian law under EC spotlight - 4 Nov 03

A number of major Italian soccer clubs face a possible financial crisis if the EU rules against a rule passed by the Italian government granted clubs the opportunity to spread repayment of debts.

WTA's Scott enters debate - 29 Oct 03

Larry Scott has further stoked up the debate over sponsorship measurement by calling on new techniques to focus on return on investment.

ESCA early bird discount - 6 Oct 03

Time is running out to take advantage of the early bird registration discount for next month’s ESCA Congress – one of the most important dates in the European sponsorship calendar.

Brussels braced for 2016 bid - 24 Sep 03

Belgium's capital Brussels has said it plans to bid for the 2016 Olympic Games.

ESCA set for Congress - 19 Sep 03

Sport sponsorship will play a central role in the annual ESCA Congress which takes place in Belgium this November.

FIA confirms F1 2004 calendar - 11 Sep 03

Belgium is back and China and Bahrain join the fold - the FIA has finally confirmed next year's Formula One World Championship calendar.

Bernie comes clean - 15 Aug 03

Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone has finally confirmed what most assumed all along - that the Canadian Grand Prix has been ditched from the 2004 calendar.

Smoking kills Canadian GP - or does it? - 8 Aug 03

Bernie Ecclestone has denied he has ditched next year's Canadian Grand Prix - a move which seemed sure to fuel speculation Formula One would stage a second US race.

Spa set for F1 return - 5 Aug 03

Formula One racing is due to return to Belgium next season after the introduction of a law to enforce a complete ban on tobacco advertising was postponed until July 2005.

Spa set for F1 return - 30 Jul 03

The Spa race track in Belgium could find itself back on the Formula One calendar in 2004 after the government relaxed its stance on tobacco advertising.

FAPL alters TV rights packages - 25 Jul 03

Under increasing pressure from the European Commission, the FA Premier League has altered the TV rights packages available to bidding broadcasters.

ESCA set date for congress - 11 Jul 03

The European Sponsorship Consultants Association (ESCA), has confirmed the date of its annual congress.

London wants 2006 Tour de France - 4 Jun 03

London is hoping to bring the start of the 2006 Tour de France cycling race to its streets.

Spa wants its F1 spot back - 3 Jun 03

The Belgian government is planning a last-ditch attempt to help its Spa motor racing arena regain its place on the Formula One circuit.

ESPN widens Indy appeal - 19 May 03

ESPN has signed a number of major new European TV deals for the Indy Racing League, just prior to its calendar highlight, the Indianapolis 500 this weekend.

Bernie hints at Austrian return - 14 May 03

Austria's hopes of getting back on to the Formula One calendar has been boosted after Bernie Ecclestone said he was keen for the race to be reinstated.

Legal expert confirmed for seminar - 12 May 03

A new legal expert has been confirmed for the iGaming and Gambling seminar to be staged in London next month.

UEFA signs new CL broadcast deals - 25 Apr 03

Soccer governing body UEFA and its marketing partner TEAM have announced a clutch of TV rights deals for the new Champions League contract.

G-14 sets up Brussels summit - 24 Apr 03

Influential soccer group G-14 is to meet in Brussels on April 29 to discuss the impact of too many international matches on Europe's top clubs.

Premier League's EU warning - 14 Apr 03

The English Premier League is believed to have informed the European Union that the proposed overhaul of the next TV rights contract could lead to the demise of English football.

France gets new CL rights deal - 18 Feb 03

UEFA and its agency partner TEAM Marketing have signed a TV rights deal in France for the next Champions League contract.

MotoGP signs TV deals - 18 Feb 03

MotoGP has secured new television deals with major terrestrial networks in both Belgium and the Republic of Ireland for the upcoming 2003 season.

Spa return to F1? - 31 Jan 03

Spa, the Belgium Grand Prix dropped from the Formula One calendar due to its government's ban on tobacco advertising, could be returning to the Grand Prix circuit next year.

Dentsu recruits AMS for IAAF - 20 Jan 03

A Swiss-based sports marketing company founded by former executives of ISL, has been appointed by Dentsu to manage the broadcast rights for the IAAF Golden League.

Spa loses last F1 hope - 12 Dec 02

The Spa motorsports track in Belgium will not return to the Formula One circuit after the country's government confirmed a ban on tobacco advertising.

CART's European revamp? - 25 Nov 02

Reports suggest that the CART motor racing franchise is close to finalising a deal to restructure the European races in its calendar.

Belgium, Israel sign new CL deals - 22 Nov 02

UEFA and its agency TEAM Marketing have announced two new broadcast rights deals for the next Champions League contract in Belgium and Israel.

Istanbul wins place on the grid - 21 Nov 02

Istanbul has been awarded a Formula One race in 2005 according to Turkey's motor sports federation.

Adidas alters European structure - 19 Nov 02

German sports brand adidas has brought together its UK and Benelux operations under one management team to form adidas Area North.

Stoll joins ESCA line-up - 13 Nov 02

A leading figure from the European Commission has been confirmed to address a major sponsorship conference in Belgium later this month.

G-14 agree salary cap - 6 Nov 02

The G-14 – the lobby group formed of Europe’s leading soccer clubs – has, as expected, agreed a salary cap in a bid to halt the spiralling drain of wage demands on club finances.

G14 to agree salary cap? - 5 Nov 02

European soccer power group, the G14, meet in Brussels today for crunch meetings over spiralling wage bills - with a wage cap likely to be a key discussion point.

UEFA's cash handout - 1 Nov 02

European soccer's governing body UEFA is to pay a maximum EUR340,000 ($337,178) to each of its 52 member associations in December and again in December 2003.

Toyota F1 looks to future - 30 Oct 02

John Howett has been appointed president of Toyota Motorsport, with Ove Andersson continuing in his role as team principal of the Japanese giant's Formula One team.