Europe

The head of the International Rugby Board broke an agreement which would have allowed New Zealand to co-host next year's World Rugby Cup, media reported this morning.

Football securitisation arranger Stephen Schechter is leaving the City bank Lazard LLC to set up a firm dedicated to arranging financing for European soccer clubs.

The Extreme Group - the London-based extreme sports TV distribution company - has expressed plans to break into the lucrative US market.

UEFA has reassured Portugal it will not lose the right to stage soccer's 2004 European Championships - despite wrangles over the building of new stadia.

Opponents of FIFA president Sepp Blatter scored what could prove to be a significant victory when their wish to set up an internal investigation of FIFA's finances was agreed at an extraordinary meeting of the executive committee.

The Scottish Premier League (SPL) has secured substantial funding for its proposed TV channel, according to recent reports.

Real Madrid 'celebrated' its 100th birthday yesterday with defeat in the Spanish Cup final against Deportivo la Coruna - but with the club's financial base more assured than ever before there will be more glory nights for the Spanish giants.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter is to give a lecture at Bocconi University in Milan next week.

A suspected North Korean spy ship, sunk by the Japanese coastguard at the end of last year, may have been carrying weapons aimed at disrupting this summer's World Cup in Japan and South Korea, according to Agence France-Presse.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter received a demonstration of support fromthe president of the Royal Spanish Football Association, Angel Maria VillarLlona, and the president of Real Madrid, Florentino Perez, on the day ofReal Madrid's 100th birthday.

The organisers of the 2004 Olympic Games were accused by Athens hotel owners of not doing enough to ensure Greek tourism would receive a major boost from the Games.

UEFA will float the idea of a new national team competition to replace the "friendly" internationals guaranteed in the new FIFA calendar, UEFA spokesperson Mike Lee has told sportbusiness.com.

Denis Oswald, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) overseer, has said that there are still numerous problems to be solved before Athens hosts the Olympic Games in 900 days time.

The G14 group of major European football clubs are seriously considering introducing a wage caps to prevent a string of club bankruptcies, a Real Madrid official told delegates at the European Football conference in Madrid.

Representatives from rival basketball groups FIBA and ULEB have held talks in Spain with a view to them both co-operating with the running of the Euroleague.

Hungary will build a new stadium and renovate seven existing grounds if it is chosen to host the 2008 European championships.