Finland

U>DIRECT, the UK-based independent pay-per-view broadcaster, has hailed last night?s coverage of the Finland versus England soccer World Cup qualifier as a ?very successful evening?.

Six European cities desperate for their two weeks in the world spotlight will pledge their undying loyalty to the Olympic movement next week as the contest to host the 2006 Winter Games reaches its climax.

Video-on-demand company Yes Television has launched its first dedicated sports channel.

Turin officials have identified Swiss rivals Sion as potential winners when the IOC votes this Saturday to decide the venue for the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Finnish retailer and kiosk chain Rautakirja has raised its stake in sports management group Jokerit HC Oy by 6.2 percent to 34.4 percent for an undisclosed sum.

The Austrian town of Klagenfurt kicked off the final day's campaigning for the right to host the 2006 Winter Games, wheeling out 1976 Olympic downhill champion Franz Klammer to try to win over the International Olympic Committee.

Australia's oldest living Olympic athlete, who competed in the 1928 Amsterdam Games, opened the village for the Sydney Olympics as the first of an eventual 10,000 competitors moved in on Saturday.

The European Commission has sought to dismiss any idea the EU might give a blanket exemption to the collective selling of sports broadcasting rights, a practice seen as an illegal cartel.

Turin have beaten the Swiss favourites Sion to host the 2006 Winter Games in the first selection of a host city since the Salt Lake City bribery scandal.

The English Football Association has chosen the venue for England?s first ever World Cup qualifying tie to be staged outside of Wembley Stadium.

Australia's greatest ever Olympian, swimmer Dawn Fraser, has warned the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of a possible athletes' protest at next year's Sydney Olympics if the organisation refused to reform itself properly.

The English Football Association says it is to fight hard to ensure away ties featuring the English national team do not find themselves being sold exclusively to pay-per-view operators.

Nestling in vineyards on the outskirts of Vienna, the tiny village of Seebarn is an unlikely place to host a cricket tournament - especially one involving Finland and Croatia. For more on this story see the FEATURES section of sportbusiness.com.

The manager of the England national soccer side has hit out over a deal to sell domestic TV rights of an upcoming World Cup qualifier to a pay-per-view channel.

The IOC has annunced an autumn programme of evaluation visits to cities hoping to stage the 2006 Winter Olympics.

A three-year agreement between the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and the NHL over compensation payments for players leaving IIHF-federations to find their fortune in the big money US league, is on the verge of being ratified.