Germany

UEFA chief executive Gerhard Aigner says that the Champions League needs to be reformed to prevent fans losing interest in the tournament, according to a report in a British newspaper.

Hamburg-based sports marketing agency Global Sportnet has signed a five-year contract with Italian Serie A soccer club Juventus FC.

The initial public offering of Borussia Dortmund, the first German soccer club to list its shares, was priced at 11 euros per share, said the lead manager Deutsche Bank.

The Oceania Football Confederation's extraordinary congress called to elect a new president ended in disarray on Thursday without the vote being taken.

Olympic organisers were more confident on Wednesday of being able to prepare a soccer pitch playing surface at Canberra in time for next month's Games, averting the need to move matches away from the federal capital.

FIFA is to implement a new rotation system in awarding the rights to host its premier property, the World Cup.

The German government has confirmed that it will offer financial support to Berlin and Leipzig for the facelifts of their soccer stadiums ahead of the 2006 World Cup finals.

European basketball is set to be split into two opposing camps in Thessaloniki today when newcomers ULEB will challenge the sport's governing body FIBA by announcing its own rival to the recently launched Suproleague.

Moroccan officials said they felt betrayed on Thursday after falling out in the first round of voting to stage the 2006 World Cup ? and then faced further humiliation when their support for South Africa failed to bring the tournament to the continent.

An influential FIFA executive committee member has promised to stick by England at this week?s crucial vote ? a move which may see it avoid a humiliating first round exit.

South African World Cup 2006 bid officials have said it would be a pity if the chances of rivals England were scuttled by UEFA'S threat to expel the English team from the European championship finals.

ESPN International has acquired a package of more than fifty 2002 World Cup qualifying matches from the European group, including matches involving England, Italy, Germany, Spain, The Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Norway, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Denmark and Portugal.

Boris Becker has criticised the new format of men's professional tennis and said that the game is heading for a crisis.

The eight European members of the 24-man FIFA executive committee could cast their votes for England?s World Cup 2006 bid en bloc if Germany is eliminated in the early rounds of voting.

Germany need to give their all in the closing stages of the race to hold the 2006 soccer World Cup finals, German bid chief Franz Beckenbauer said.

OnDigital, the UK's digital terrestrial pay-TV unit, jointly owned by Carlton and Granada, has won the exclusive live rights for The Master Series tennis, according to The Observer newspaper.

The Prince of Wales, Prime Minister Tony Blair and film star Hugh Grant will lead attempts to impress international soccer chiefs who will inspect England's World Cup 2006 facilities this week.

Former World Cup hero, Sir Bobby Charlton, championing England's campaign to host the 2006 World Cup, has appealed to Africans to support England if two bids from their own continent are unsuccessful.