Germany

Ferrari was fined $100,000 yesterday for bringing the sport into disrepute by ordering Felipe Massa to move aside and let teammate Fernando Alonso win the German Formula One Grand Prix. The matter has also been referred to the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council under Article 151c of its Sporting Code, which gives the governing body carte blanche to sanction Ferrari as it sees fit.

Car maker Volkswagen has signed up as the Premium Partner of the German Open Tennis Championship, to be held in Hamburg this week.

The Munich bid to host the Winter Olympic Games in 2018 has announced its new Board of Directors, including three new additions to the bid team.

Porsche has announced one new partner and a host of extensions of existing sponsorships for its motor-racing business.

The International Olympic Committee executive board has accepted all three applicant cities - Annecy (France), Munich (Germany) and Pyeongchang (South Korea) - as official bid cities for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.

A bigger proportion of the German public intended to watch the World Cup than the British public, according to a survey conducted in the days leading up to the tournament by SMGYouGov.

Figures for the 2009-10 season published by the German Football League (DFL) say the Bundesliga still holds the world’s highest attendance in spite of a slight drop on 2008-09.

Uefa president Michel Platini’s hope that switching the Champions League final from Wednesday night to Saturday night would attract more families was dashed, at least as far as television viewers were concerned, by last month’s Inter Milan-Bayern Munich final.

Premier League club Chelsea will play Bundesliga sides Eintracht Frankfurt and Hamburger SV in August, matches promoted by The Sports Promoters (TSP), a subsidiary of the Sportfive agency.

The Spanish and the Italians are the nations that have followed the qualifying campaign closest and are most looking forward to the World Cup, a survey by research company KantarSport has revealed.

Dairy producer Garmo has signed a two-year agreement with Stuttgart to have feta cheese brand Gazi on the German Bundesliga club’s shirt. The deal is worth €5 million per season according to the German media.

The Munich 2018 Bid Committee for the Winter Olympics has appointed marketing expert and Olympic Games marketing specialist Stefan Bruckner as its new marketing director.

Formula One's Mercedes GP Petronas has agreed to work with the sports rights agency Sportfive in a move to find sponsors and commercial partners from within Germany.

UEFA president Michel Platini has said Germany or Hungary could be asked to provide venues for the Euro 2012 football championships if Ukraine fails to show progress on its preparations for the event by the end of this month.

There were words of encouragement for Germany's non-football sports rightsholders yesterday from the CEO of the market's biggest satellite operator, Sky Deutschland, who said it was his company's “responsibility” to help grow secondary sports in the country, as it seeks growth in its business.

A crowd of 77,803 watched the opening match of this year's ice hockey World Championships between Germany and the USA in Gelsenkirchen, Germany on Friday.