Portugal

The president of the Colombian soccer federation (FCF), Fina Alvaro has dclared he has the support from FIFA for a 16-team Copa America in 2001 in Colombia, according to the soccer industry newsletter Soccer Investor Weekly Bulletin.

A crippling pilots strike kept most Air France flights grounded for a second day on Tuesday but negotiations were set to resume in the afternoon, raising hopes the dispute could be settled before the start of the World Cup.

A season-long experiment of using two referees to control matches is likely to be approved at the annual meeting of soccer's law-making International Board on Saturday.

Beach soccer is to win the official recognition of governing body FIFA this week in a move that will greatly enhance the sport?s chances of winning Olympic status by 2008.

Clubs who form a breakaway northern European League will not be able to take part in the lucrative Champions League, according to European soccer's ruling body UEFA.

CSS Stellar, the British-owned sports and entertainment management group, has issued a prospectus for its forthcoming flotation on the Alternative Investment Market.

In a move that could be imitated by other charge card businesses, Portugal Telecom SA, has signed agreements with three of Portugal's top soccer teams to offer branded calling cards.

Sports ministers from the 15 European Union nations are to meet in Lisbon today to decide what role the bloc should play in the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and whether the EU should pay some of its running costs.

Portugal has won the race to host UEFA?s 2004 European Championships.

A new European Super League moved several steps closer after announcemnts from UEFA, and top clubs Manchester United, Arsenal and Ajax Amsterdam.

A season-long experiment of using two referees to control matches is likely to be approved at the annual meeting of soccer's law-making International Board on Saturday.

Sportal, the troubled UK-based sports internet company, has told sportbusiness.com it has room for ?cautious optimism? over finding an investor to save it from administration.

UEFA is understood to have demanded guarantees from troubled Swiss marketing giant ISL before signing away sponsorship and marketing rights for Euro 2004.

A Congressional commission investigating Brazilian soccer spread to Portugal on Wednesday as two of its members arrived in Lisbon in their search for the so-called mafia of fake passports.

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), in conjunction with Lisbon-based Regino Cruz Arquitectos e Consultores (RCAC) has been awarded first prize in a design competition for the new Algarve Stadium in Faro, Portugal, amongst eight short-listed proposals. The winning team also includes Sport Concepts, the UK-based specialists in stadium design.

Europe is not only ready for stadium naming rights but the first companies to enter the market will get the best deals, said Charles Aster of New York-based attorneys Coudert Brothers during an afternoon work-shop at Sport Business 2000.