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Touchline • Issue 14 • 29
The National Football League (NFL)
has confirmed the addition of a second
regular season game in London in 2013,
with the Minnesota Vikings agreeing a
one-year deal to give up a home game for
the switch to Wembley.
The NFL has been long seeking to bolster its presence in the
UK market and the Pittsburgh Steelers have been confirmed
as the opposition for the Vikings, with the game scheduled
for September 29, 2013. This is in addition to the previously
announced game set for October 27, 2013 – also at Wembley
– when the Jacksonville Jaguars will host the San Francisco
49ers.
“Since we started playing regular-season games in London five
years ago, we have heard very clearly from our UK fans – they
want more football,” said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. “We
are excited to play two games in London and take this next step
in the growth of our game. We believe that more football will
lead to more fans.”
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The International Cycling Union (UCI)
has announced that the Qatari capital
of Doha will stage the 2016 World Road
Cycling Championships, marking the first
time the event has been held in the
Middle East.
Qatar will also welcome the World Swimming Championships in
2014, the Handball World Championships for men in 2015 and
the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The Italian city of Florence will host the next edition of the
World Road Cycling Championships in 2013, before moving to
the Spanish city of Ponferrada in 2014, then the American city
of Richmond in 2015.
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The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has
selected Hanoi as the host city of the
2019 Asian Games.
OCApresident H.E.SheikhAhmadAl-Fahad
Al-Sabah said, “Everyone remembers the
Asian Indoor Games in Hanoi in 2009 and all the participants
were very satisfied and wanted to go back to Vietnam. Vietnam
will also host the 5th Asian Beach Games at Nha Trang in 2016,
and through this experience I am confident they will organise
a very successful Asian Games in 2019. Through my experience
in sport and also in finance and the economy, Vietnam is always
committed and delivers on its promises. Vietnam has all the
tools – a country with big potential and a booming economy.”
Indonesian candidate city Surabaya missed out in the bidding
but was left with some compensation by being appointed as
host of the Asian Youth Games in 2021, with the Sri Lankan city
of Hambantota landing the 2017 event.
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The European Olympic Committees (EOC)
voted on 8 December to approve the
long-running bid to establish a European
Games, with Baku in Azerbaijan set to
stage the first multi-sport event in 2015.
The EOC’s 41st General Assembly in Rome saw 38 votes cast in
favour of the Games, with eight against and three abstentions.
The prospect of a European Games was first suggested in
2010 and will give the continent an event similar to the long-
established Pan-American Games and Asian Games.
The European Games will take place every four years and will
include 15 Olympic sports and two non-Olympic sports which
are yet to be chosen. EOC president Patrick Hickey said Baku
2015 is devised as a test event for the European Games concept,
with the hope that it can prove a viable competition for the
long term.
However, the European Games is set to take place without
several key sports. The European Athletics Association has
already voted against the participation of its members, while the
issue of accommodating another new event into a busy schedule
could also see other sports such as swimming fail to be present
for the inaugural event.
Baku was awarded the 2015 European Games as the only city to
put forward a bid and the event is likely to boost the Azerbaijani
capital’s ongoing drive to bolster its position as a sports host.
Baku officials in May insisted that the city will continue its
efforts to bring a future edition of the Olympic Games to the city
despite having its bid rejected for a second consecutive time.
Baku and Doha were eliminated from the race to host the 2020
Games after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded
Istanbul, Madrid and Tokyo candidate city status.
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Build up to the 2010 NFL game at Wembley Stadium
© THOMAS UK