Football Association chief executive Brian Barwick has confirmed the television rights for England and FA Cup matches have been awarded to ITV and Setanta Sports starting in the 2008-09 season.

The new deal comes after the FA’s partners since 2001 BBC and Sky were outbid for the package, which takes effect from August next year and will run until July 2012.

It will generate £425million for the FA over the four-year term - a 30% increase from the current £300million agreement with BBC and Sky. (Read full article…)

Manchester United remain the most valuable football team in the world, according to Forbes business magazine.

The annual list ranks United above Real Madrid with Arsenal leapfrogging AC Milan into third spot and Chelsea in eighth position.

Meanwhile, David Beckham has lost top spot to Ronaldinho as the world’s highest-earning footballer.

Ten Premiership sides appear on Forbes’ list of the world’s 25 most valuable football teams followed by clubs from Italy (four), Germany (four), Spain (two), France (two), Scotland (two) and Holland (one). (Read full article…)

LAST CHANCE FOR BAYERN MUNICH AS THEY TAKE ON SCHALKE 04 THIS WEEKEND LIVE ON GOLTV

GOLTV continues to give you the best matches and all the stars every week.

Kick off your weekend BIG and watch Bayern Munich vs. Schalke 04 this Saturday, March 31st @ 9:30am ET LIVE as they chase their last chance at the Bundesliga Title. Bayern Munich is currently nine points behind Schalke and they hope Canadian born Owen Hargreaves can help narrow the gap.

The action continues all weekend long with nine live matches on GOLTV showcasing stars like Ronaldinho and Canadian Julian De Guzman. Sunday, April 1st is the Spanish invasion on GOLTV with four matches. Tune in at 1pm ET for the Celta vs. Real Madrid match. Third place Real Madrid should have an easy victory over Celta but are short a few stars as Cannavaro is suspended while Beckham and Carlos remain injured. (Read full article…)

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

Saturday, March 31st, 2007

17:00 - 19:00 ET– Barclays English Premier League: West Ham v Middlesbrough ***DELAY***
With the end of the season rapidly approaching, West Ham have only eight matches left to overcome the eight point gap between themselves and safety. Those eight matches will hardly be a walk in the park, however, with the Hammers slated to face 5 of the Premierships top 6 in that time. First, however, they will face Middlesbrough, who won this season’s reverse fixture 1-0 at the Riverside . (Read full article…)

At just the halfway point of the month-long application phase for UEFA EURO 2008 tickets, fans from 128 countries have made 2.5 million ticket requests.

Although 233,000 fans worldwide have already applied for tickets via the official website, euro2008.com, applications will be accepted until midnight on 31 March, with all requests having the same chance of being picked, regardless of when it was submitted.

The 2008 UEFA European Championship final round will take place between 7 and 29 June in Austria and Switzerland.

Christian Mutschler, Euro 2008 SA tournament director Switzerland, said fans from three European countries were especially eager to get tickets. (Read full article…)

According to FIFA president Sepp Blatter, the system of rotating the World Cup among continents could end after the 2014 tournament, a move that could hurt the United States’ bid for 2018.

“The FIFA executive committee has decided that the process of the rotation will go to 2014,” said Blatter at a news conference Friday.

A decision will be made when the executive committee meets in Durban, South Africa, before the 2010 qualifying draw on Nov. 23. That is also when the executive committee will choose the site of the 2014 tournament, which is designated for South America and is likely to be held in Brazil.

Under the rotation system, the 2018 tournament should be held in the North and Central American and Caribbean region, but the British government said it would back a bid by England.

FIGC, Italy’s FA, has extended its contract with Puma beyond the World Cup tournament in 2014.

This secures Puma’s sponsorship of Italy’s national club for Euro 2008 and the World Cup in South Africa in 2010.

Puma will continue to provide the FIGC Italian men’s and women’s national clubs, as well as the Futsal and Beach Soccer clubs, with clothing and accessories, the company said in a statement today.

Since 2003, Puma has sponsored Italy’s national football team, which won last year’s World Cup in Germany.

Organisers of next year’s soccer extravaganza UEFA Euro 2008 say demand for tickets has been massive since the first batch when on public sale at the beginning of March.

More than 2.5m ticket requests have been received from 128 countries at the halfway stage of the month-long application phase.

Applications for tickets will be accepted until midnight on March 31.

The 2008 UEFA European Championships will take place in Austria and Switzerland between June 7-29.

Christian Mutschler, Euro 2008 tournament director, Switzerland, said: “In the league table of applications from fans, Switzerland has opened up a clear lead, followed by Austria and Germany.”

Chelsea Football Club launched a Korean language website with web partners MediaCorp in Seoul.

Korea is a key strategic market for Chelsea following its five-year partnership with Samsung, as Official Club Sponsors, which began in 2005. The launch of the new site http://kr.chelseafc.com represents the latest development in Chelsea’s new media strategy abroad.

In January the club unveiled its first Mandarin language website for China and there are plans for further websites in other key overseas markets.
Chelsea CEO Peter Kenyon said, “we are delighted to be launching this website with our partner MediaCorp.”

“Korea is very important to Chelsea, especially because of our partnership with Samsung. We see the launch of our Korean language website as the first in a number of exciting initiatives that we will be undertaking, many of which will be with Samsung.”

The connections between Chelsea and Samsung will be extended this summer when the Samsung Bluewings take part in a four-team tournament in Los Angeles with Chelsea, LA Galaxy and Tigres. Chelsea last played the Bluewings in Seoul in May 2005 to celebrate the signing of the sponsorship agreement.

Sports Fans Flying JetBlue Can Now Enjoy The Best In International Sports Broadcasts on Setanta Through JetBlue’s DIRECTV® Programming

SAN FRANCISCO & NEW YORK (March 26, 2007) – Sports fans can now tune in to the best in international sports programming while in the air through a new agreement announced today between Setanta Sports North America and JetBlue Airways Corporation (Nasdaq:JBLU). Under the agreement, Setanta Sports’ premier European and international soccer and rugby programming is now available on all flights via JetBlue’s live onboard television service, provided by DIRECTV.

JetBlue customers will now be able to enjoy premier European and international soccer and rugby matches, including LIVE and exclusive English Premiership matches, top European club rugby, Tri-Nations, and later this year the Rugby World Cup, all from the comfort of their all-leather seats, equipped with personal seat-back television sets. The programming, which features live, 24-hour coverage on Saturdays, is part of a winning lineup of 36 free DIRECTV® channels provided by JetBlue, the most live TV available on any airline. (Read full article…)