Germany

Media group Vivendi Universal has confirmed that it was in talks with Germany's Bertelsmann about merging their sports rights interests to create a leading pan-European player.

The opening leg of the UIM Formula 1 Powerboat World Championship in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, will be used as a benchmark for other venues of the 14-round UIM world championship

Munich might miss out on the 2006 World Cup if it fails to reach an agreement on a new stadium, Franz Beckenbauer has said.

Soccer Australia (SA) chairman Basil Scarsella has won a vote 12-11 to succeed controversial New Zealander Charlie Dempsey as president of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC).

German justice authorities said on Wednesday they were investigating the death of East German soccer star Lutz Eigendorf who defected to West Germany in 1979 and was killed in a mysterious car accident four years later.

Germany is considering bidding for the Olympic Games and will unveil details of its plans next week, the German Olympic Committee (NOK) has said.

The Oceania Football Confederation is expected to elect Australian Basil Scarsella as its new president on Thursday in place of New Zealand's Charlie Dempsey who controversially quit the post in July.

Olympic organisers could be forced to switch soccer games away from Canberra because of worries that its new playing surface would not be ready.

FIFA has firmly rejected South Africa's request for arbitration over last month's vote to award the 2006 World Cup finals to Germany.

South Africa?s 2006 bid leader Danny Jordaan will ask FIFA to award his country the 2010 World Cup, following the controversial vote to give Germany the tournament in 2006.

FIFA's executive committee will discuss an overhaul of the system for selecting hosts for future World Cups at its meeting next month..

England World Cup 2006 bid officials have spoken of their extreme disappointment at their second round exit during today?s FIFA executive committee vote.

Soccer's world governing body FIFA said "no sanctions were foreseen" against Brazil for pulling out of the race to host the 2006 World Cup at the 11th hour.

England's bid to stage the 2006 World Cup finals appears to have been dealt a fatal blow by the violent behaviour of the hooligans who caused mayhem over the weekend in Belgium, according to senior FIFA figures.

Sports.com has been chosen as the exclusively designated Official Sports Partner of Wimbledon.org for the All England Tennis Club.

German insurance group Allianz AG has formed a partnership with Formula One team BMW Williams to cooperate in sponsoring, risk management and financial services.