The UEFA Futsal EURO 2018 final tournament will take place in Slovenia, following a decision by the UEFA Executive Committee on Monday in Nyon, Switzerland.

The bid from the Football Association of Slovenia (NZS) was selected ahead of others from FYR Macedonia and Romania. 

The venue for the tournament will be the 12,500-capacity Stožice Arena in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana. 

Slovenia hosted the UEFA European Under-17 Championship, but this will be the first time it has hosted the Futsal final tournament organised by Slovenia.

The UEFA Futsal EURO 2016 will take place in Belgrade from 2–13 February next year. Previous hosts of the tournament include Belgium (2014), Croatia (2012), Hungary (2010), Portugal (2007), Czech Republic (2005), Italy (2003), Russia (2001) and Spain (1999).

At the Executive Committee meeting, UEFA also appointed Sporting Clube de Portugal as host of the 2014/15 Futsal Cup finals.

Futsal is a form of five-a-side football played indoors on a hard surface.

Poland was selected to host the 2015–17 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final tournament.

The 2016/17 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament was awarded to Georgia while Finland will host the 2017/18 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament.

Croatia was selected to host the 2016/17 UEFA European Under-17 Championship final tournament, while England will host the 2017/18 UEFA European Under-17 Championship final tournament.

The 2016/17 UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship final tournament was awarded to Northern Ireland, while Switzerland will host the 2017/18 UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship final tournament.

The Czech Republic was awarded the 2016/17 UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship final tournament while the 2017/18 UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship final tournament goes to Lithuania.

The UEFA Executive Committee also received what it described as a “positive update” on the preparations for UEFA EURO 2016, which begins 500 days from now.

UEFA EURO 2016 takes place in ten venues across France between 10 June and 10 July 2016.

The Boston 2024 bid committee has appointed Richard Davey, former Massachusetts Transportation Secretary, as its new CEO. 

He succeeds Dan O’Connell, who successfully led the group that was selected as the US Olympic Committee (USOC)’s contender for the 2024 Olympic Games, against competition from Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington D.C.

“This is a terrific opportunity to build upon all the great work and planning that has already been done,” Davey said in a statement.

“But in many ways this is just the beginning. Over the next year we will be in every community in Boston —and in every region of the state—to get the thoughts and input of the public on what a 2024 Games would look like and the kind of legacy it could and should leave for Massachusetts.”

Davey was appointed Transportation Secretary of Massachusetts Department of Transport (MassDOT) in 2011, a position he held until stepping down in October 2014. 

Before this, he worked for the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Company, where he rose to the position of general manager and went on to manage the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 

The effectiveness of the city’s transport system was a central component of Boston 2024’s submission to the USOC, which highlighted the fact that most venues are within walking distance of public transport. 

Boston’s USOC submission also outlines US$5.2bn of public investment in “existing transport infrastructure” and US$10bn of public investment in “planned transport infrastructure”. 

Dan O’Connell, the outgoing leader of Boston 2024 who previously served as Housing and Economic Development Secretary for Massachusetts, will remain on the bid’s executive committee.

“Dan O’Connell was integral in making the case over the last year that Boston could host a Games that was sustainable, cost-effective, and that would leave a lasting legacy for Boston and Massachusetts,” said John Fish, chairman of Boston 2024 in a statement. 

The 2019 Netball World Cup will be hosted in Liverpool, England Netball announced yesterday. 

“England put in a strong bid and we are confident that they will deliver an outstanding event in an excellent venue in the city of Liverpool,” said the Hon. Molly Rhone, OJ, CD, president of the International Netball Federation (INF), which owns the rights to the tournament.

“It is an exciting time for netball right now, which is growing at an unprecedented rate throughout the world.  We look forward to seeing this growth continue to soar and to working with the organising committee in bringing the INF’s most important event to England in 2019.”

This will be the third time that England has hosted the competition in its 56-year history. Previous locations include Birmingham in 1995 and the very first staging of the tournament in Eastbourne, 1963.

“Having worked with Liverpool to host major global tournaments previously, we have a proven track record of being able to stage such a prestigious event and we look forward to welcoming the netball world to the North-West, said Joanna Adams, CEO of England Netball.

“On behalf of England Netball, I would like to thank all parties who worked with us on securing this bid.

“This is a massive tribute to the wonderful army of volunteers who have helped us to grow the game in our country. Without their support we would never have been in a position to bid for, let alone win, the rights to host a Netball World Cup.”

The 2019 Netball World Cup forms part of UK Sport’s Gold Event Series, which is investing around £40million of National Lottery funding to attract events to Great Britain.

“Through the Gold Event Series the UK is building an international reputation for staging world class major sporting events with its compelling mix of state-of-the-art facilities, great infrastructure and technical know-how as well as its army of experienced volunteers,” said Liz Nicholl, chief executive of UK Sport and a former Chief Executive of England Netball. 

“Netball is thriving with unprecedented growth in participation, support from sponsors and exposure in the media.  Add to this the Government’s strong commitment to promoting women’s sport, and I really do believe that Liverpool offers the perfect platform to help the International Netball Federation develop and grow this fantastic sport, not just in England but globally."

The venue will be the ACC Liverpool, which hosted the World Netball Series in 2011. The World Heritage waterfront site includes the Echo Arena as the competition venue, the Exhibition Centre as the athlete training venue and the BT Convention Centre, which will host the INF Congress.

A new four-star Pullman hotel on the ACC Liverpool site, will be the official INF event hotel.

"The stunning ACC Liverpool will be the perfect stage for the event and we are looking forward to welcoming a global audience of competing nations and putting on a show the sport can be truly proud of," said Joe Anderson, mayor of Liverpool.

The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) has confirmed that it is not yet considering a bid for the 2024 Olympic Games as it has committed its resources to winning the bid for Durban 2022 and would require further information from the IOC before considering an Olympic bid.

“The bidding process for the CWG requires enormous time, dedication and resources in order for one to put forward a successful bid,” said SASCOC in a statement on Wednesday.

“With our focus solely on delivering the games to the city of Durban, the Board of SASCOC will not be diverted from this mission.”

HOST CITY reported on Monday that a bid for the Olympic Games incorporating cities all over South Africa was being contemplated. This would be made possible through the IOC’s recent Agenda 2020 changes to bidding procedure. 

SASCOC was not able to verify this when contacted by HOST CITY on Monday. 

Shortly after the publication of this report, which was picked up on by various other media, SASCOC issued a statement saying that they were being inundated with queries from media on whether SASCOC is intending to bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games. 

“An Olympic bid is not currently under consideration,” SASCOC confirmed.

“The Board of SASCOC is at this time fully committed to bidding for the Commonwealth Games in 2022. The first step is to win the bid and then to deliver a successful Games,” said Tubby Reddy, CEO of SASCOC.

“The Board has not received any notification or correspondence from the International Olympic Committee with regard to the bidding process for the 2024 Olympic Games. Therefore, the issue of South Africa bidding for the 2024 Olympic Games does not arise.

“Once this communiqué is received, the SASCOC Board will engage with Honourable Minister Fikile Mbalula and National Government on whether one is going to consider an Olympic Games bid in 2024.”

In support of Durban’s bid for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, SASCOC exhibited at HOST CITY Bid to Win conference in October, which attracted an extremely high level of speakers and delegates including David Grevemberg, CEO of the Commonwealth Games Federation. 

Durban faces strong competition from Edmonton in its bid to host the Commonwealth Games. 

“Winning the bid for the CWG will be very significant for the City of Durban, especially as the other city is Edmonton, Canada,” said Reddy. 

“Canada has already hosted the Games four times. We are seriously focused on the prize of winning the bid and we will not be distracted by other issues that have not been sanctioned by the SASCOC Board.”

The host city of the 2022 Commonwealth Games will be elected on 2 September 2015.

SASCOC has until 15 September 2015 to define its applicant for the 2024 Olympic Games. 

The majority of Massachusetts residents support Boston’s bid for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, as long as the bid comes at no cost to the taxpayer.

This is the finding of an independent poll conducted by Sage Consulting on just over 1,600 people in the state of Massachusetts. 

While the results of the poll showed overall support for the Games bid, at 55 per cent, it also revealed that a more pronounced majority of 61 per cent are opposed to public spending on the project.

The poll also showed that more people were sceptical about the economic legacy of the Games than those who believed it would bring lasting benefit.

Majority support

The most popular response to the question “how strongly do you support or oppose the bid” was “strongly support”, with 35 per cent ticking this box. With 20 per cent saying they “somewhat support” the bid, the poll showed an overall majority of 55 per cent supporting the bid. 

Support for the bid would not necessarily translate into ticket sales, however. Just 45 per cent of respondents said they would either “definitely” or “probably” attend the Games in person. 

Economic benefit

Slightly more people believed that Games expenditure was “unlikely” to produce lasting benefit for Boston (46 per cent) than those who said this was “likely” (49 per cent). 

In answer to the question about “lasting economic benefit for Boston”, the largest group of respondents (29 per cent) said that this was “very unlikely” while 19 per cent thought it “somewhat unlikely”. 

This means 48 per cent of people thought economic benefit was unlikely, as compared to 44 per cent that deemed it to be likely. 

“Taxpayer dollars”

The strongest opinions revealed by the poll were in response to questions about the financing of bidding for and hosting the Games. 

43 per cent of respondents would “strongly oppose” the use of “taxpayer dollars” to fund the bid. Coupled with the 18 per cent who “somewhat oppose” this, the poll reveals that a clear majority of 61 per cent are opposed to public finance of the project. 

Boston’s bid is planned to be financed privately and, if successful, the bid committee has pledged that any infrastructure projects relating specifically to the Games will be entirely privately financed, However, the poll indicated that 55 per cent believe that “financial support for the Olympics will come at the expense of other worthwhile causes,” as compared with the 23 per cent who believe “most costs will be carried by business”.

Positive start

Public support for the Olympic Games is an important metric on which the bid will be evaluated and the overall support for the bid at this early stage will be seen as a positive.

A recent gathering of opponents to Boston’s bid, organised by “No Boston Olympics”, attracted little more than a hundred people. 

The US Olympic Committee has been quick off the blocks in announcing Boston as its contender for the 2024 Games, with only Rome the only confirmed competitor. 

Germany is expected to put forward either Berlin or Hamburg. A number of other cities and countries are said to be contemplating bidding, including Baku, Budapest, Doha, Istanbul, Paris and South Africa.

FIFA’s Committees for Women’s Football and the Women’s World Cup are proposing to the Executive Committee that the inaugural Women’s Club World Cup should take place in 2017.

Executive Committee member Moya Dodd convened a meeting of the FIFA Task Force for Women’s Football in Zurich on Monday, when the date of 2017 was proposed for the Women’s Club World Cup. 

The Task Force noted that the competition is important “to create an annual showcase of elite women’s football and to provide an incentive not only to clubs, but also to confederations and member associations, to strengthen club football and club structures in their respective regions.”

This proposal is being examined by the Committees for Women’s Football and the Women’s World Cup on Tuesday, before a proposal is to be sent to the Executive Committee.

The FIFA Executive Committee, which decides on the introduction of all new competitions, holds its next meeting on 19-20 March.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter announced the creation of the Task Force in October 2013 in order to identify and establish priorities for the development of women’s football.

As well as the Women’s Club World Cup, the Task Force also discussed how to implement the ten key development principles for women’s football, which were first discussed at the group’s first meeting a year ago and approved at the 64th FIFA Congress in São Paulo.

“The approval of the ten key principles by the FIFA Congress last June marked a major milestone for the development of women’s football,” said Moya Dodd.

“These principles have laid a foundation from which to build on, sending a clear message to confederations and member associations on what FIFA expects of them to continue growing the women’s game. 

“FIFA is also taking concrete action, for instance the doubling of women’s development funding for the 2015-2018 cycle, and now further progress is being made towards the creation of a FIFA Women’s Club World Cup. All of our efforts need to go in one direction in order to see more women on the football pitch but also involved off the pitch as well.”

Other topics discussed at the Task Force meeting included Futsal, the professionalisation of the women’s game, club licensing, medical issues and strategies to increase female 

Bach wants the often criticised bidding framework to be transformed into an “invitation for discussions and partnership” as opposed to a generic tender process.

Recent struggles with the selection process for the 2022 winter Olympic Games have cast the current method in an unfavourable light.

Only Beijing, China and the Kazakh city of Almaty remain as candidates after Oslo this month became the latest potential host to drop out the running. Norway’s government opted out of providing the necessary financial support to host the multi-sport showpiece amid concern over prohibitive costs.

Oslo followed Lviv in Ukraine, Krakow in Poland and Stockholm in Sweden by pulling out of the race for the 2022 winter Olympics, while public referendums put paid to bids from Munich in Germany and St Moritz in Switzerland.

At its two-day meeting in Montreux, Switzerland, the IOC executive finalised proposals that its full membership will vote on this December in Monaco. 

As quoted by the Associated Press news agency, Bach said: “What we did in the past was send out a paper at a certain point in time saying, 'If you want to bid for the games, here are the conditions you have to fulfil, so you better tick all the boxes in the questionnaire because otherwise you have no chance.

“In the future, we want to invite potential bidding cities to study how Olympic Games would fit best into their social, sports, economic and ecological environments, then present this plan to us. Then we are ready to discuss and give our advice rather than just judge what has been presented to us.”

One measure rejected under Agenda 2020 was the reinstatement of member visits to candidate cities, which were barred in light of the 1999 vote-buying scandal that marred Salt Lake City’s successful bid for the 2002 winter Olympics.

In other news, Israeli company International Security & Defence Systems (ISDS) claims it has secured the contract to plan and coordinate security arrangements at the Rio 2016 Games under a deal worth $2.2bn (€1.7bn).

ISDS vice-president Ron Shafran told IsraelDefense magazine of the firm’s tie-up with the local organising committee. ISDS has previous Olympic experience at Barcelona 1992 and Sydney 2000, while it also worked on the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa.

IOC Vice President Sir Craig Reedie will discuss bidding procedure with other rights holders and cities at HOST CITY: Bid to Win in London on 28th October. Register at www.bidtowin-hostcity.net

The inaugural Host City: Bid to Win conference has provided a thought-provoking and timely debate on bidding procedures for major events.

The conference examined engaging themes central to the debate including the IOC’s proposed Agenda 2020 reforms and emerging trends in the bidding for and hosting of large-scale, multi-sport and cultural events.  

Speaking at the one-day conference at the St James’ Court, A Taj Hotel in London, IOC Vice-President, Sir Craig Reedie, said the IOC is determined to change its approach in response to the current bidding climate around major events.

“The evidence of the 2022 winter bids shows us that this is necessary. The IOC is right to look at its processes and try and correct the current situation. It wants to adopt a partnership approach and start a dialogue with bid cities.

Reedie also called for the communications gap to be plugged between the IOC and Host Cities.

“The IOC faces a communications gap. There has been a failure to get Host Cities and members of the public to understand that there are two budgets, an organising committee budget for staging the games, and a non-organising committee budget which looks at infrastructure and legacy for the host city.”

“Sochi was certainly not encouraged by the IOC to make the scale of investment that they did. It was for the future of the city not the two weeks the games were hosted.”

Stefan Lindeberg, President, Swedish Olympic Committee, agreed a breakdown in communication had occurred during Sweden’s recent attempts at bidding for the Winter Olympic Games.

Lindeberg, said: “The public has to understand the costs and the risks. The process needs to be transparent and this needs to be communicated much earlier in the bidding process.

“We want much more cooperation from the IOC. We want a situation where we start with a discussion about our city, our legacy, what we want from the Games then work with the IOC to create a host city contract that we understand not something that is imposed on us.”

On declining to bid for 2022 Winter Games, Lindeberg said: “If we could do it again our answer would be yes. At the time we needed a much clearer statement from the IOC about exactly what it means to bid. If we had had the discussion we are having now in January, our answer would have been yes.”

Speaking on the same panel, Alexander Koch, FIFA Corporate Communications Manager, discussed how rights holders choose host cities:

“We need to be asking the countries why they are bidding. In the media it is quite often reduced to the economic value but if you ask this question to each country you will get vastly different answers. If we take Germany, for example, they had a very clear vision for why they wanted to host the 2006 World Cup – to present a unified Germany to the world. The decision to host has to make sense for that country. That is why 2018 went to Russia and 2022 went to Qatar because their bids made the most sense for their countries.”

In a later panel which looked at evaluating bidding and hosting around the world Mario Andrada, Executive Director of Communications for Rio 2016, said:

“The venues will be ready on time; we are 100% confident of that. Our focus will be on transport, accommodation and getting the people ready so they have confidence in the legacy for Rio.

“We will, of course, learn lessons from London 2012 but Rio 2016 will be a different Games, it will have a Brazilian soul. We have to show it is good for the city, good for the country and good for the population. We want to focus on the self-esteem of our people and to deliver an intelligent and efficient Games with a clear and tangible legacy.”

WPP Chief Executive Sir Martin Sorrell, on the issue of the cost of hosting major events, said:

“The argument has not been as made cogently as it could be, bidding just accelerates the investment which is necessary anyway, be it airports, rapid transport or other city infrastructure.  The benefit of the legacy is not being articulated as strongly as it could be by cities.

“Communicating the legacy of hosting these events, the intangible side of it, is critical to engaging the public. In order to achieve success you have to articulate clearly the benefits of staging an Olympics, a World Cup or a Grand Prix.”

Host City: Bid to Win brought together experts and decision makers to explore the challenges and benefits of bidding for major global events. At a time when the bidding process for events is under the spotlight Host City: Bid to Win has engaged expert insight into the heart of the debate including the IOC’s proposed Agenda 2020 reforms and emerging trends in the bidding for and hosting of large-scale, multi-sport and cultural events. 

For further information on Host City: Bid to Win please visit: http://www.bidtowin-hostcity.net

The IAAF evaluation commission left Doha on Friday, having completed their inspections of all three cities bidding to host the 2019 World Athletics Championships, having visited competitors Barcelona and Eugene earlier in October.

The IAAF’s group of experts is producing reports evaluating the bids to host the 2019 IAAF World Championships. The host city of the flagship biennial athletics event will be elected at the IAAF council meeting in Monaco on 18 November.

Qatar's biggest city officially submitted its candidature file to host the Championships on September 25 and is competing against bids from Barcelona and Eugene in the US state of Oregon. 

Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, secretary general of the Qatar Olympic Committee and Dahlan Hamad, the president of the Qatar Athletics Federation, welcomed the evaluation commission, chaired by IAAF Vice-President Sebastian Coe, on Thursday. 

The Doha 2019 Bid Committee and its partner, the Aspire Zone presented to the IAAF at Khalifa International Stadium. 

“It is an honour to welcome the IAAF Evaluation Commission on their inspection tour of Doha and we hope to demonstrate Doha’s true character as a sporting hub for the region and the world,” said Hamad. “We are committed to continuing our work with the IAAF to develop athletics and ensure a lasting legacy from the World Championships for generations to come.”

Ali Saeid Al Fhaida, acting director of Aspire Logistics, took the Evaluation Commission on a tour of the Aspire Zone’s facilities, which have played host to several international sporting events including the 2006 Asian Games, the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships and the 2011 Arab Games.

Doha is also hosting the 2015 Asian Youth Athletics Championships.

The commission also saw the ongoing renovation of the Khalifa International Stadium, where they were greeted by members of the Qatar National Athletics team as well as Russian hurdler and Doha 2019 Ambassador Sergey Shubenkov. 

“I am supporting Doha 2019 because I believe that it would inspire a whole new region to participate in athletics,” Shubenkov said.

“The Middle East has never hosted the World Championships before and 60 per cent of this region’s population is under the age of 30. This brings an unrivalled opportunity to showcase athletics and introduce a new generation to track and field.” 

Another bid partner, Msheireb Properties, gave a presentation to the commission at its Enrichment Center on Doha’s Corniche waterfront, giving more information about its ambitious plans for an “Athletics City” that would replace the traditional Athletes’ Village concept.

A single, brand-new 35 hectare mixed-use development called Msheireb Downtown Doha, in the heart of the city, will be handed over in its entirety for the dedicated use of the 2019 Championships.

The commission also visited the Qatar National Convention Centre, which would host the IAAF’s Congress in 2019 in the event of Doha overcoming Barcelona and Eugene in its bid to host the World Athletics Championships.

After the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup, the IAAF World Championships is the third largest sporting event in the world, with more than 200 participating nations, more than 2,000 athletes and an estimated global TV audience of 6 billion over 200 territories and 9 days of competition.

The next IAAF World Championships will take place in Beijing in 2015 followed by London 2017.

Rio's venues will be ready to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2016, despite the slow start to construction, the event's communications director said at Host City: Bid to Win on Tuesday.

“There is not a chance in the world that Rio will not be ready venue wise,” said Mario Andrada, executive director of communications, Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic games.

“The construction of the Barra Olympic park is coming off the ground and the whole Olympic village will be ready around mid-2015,” Andrada said.

The comments were made at Host City’s unique Bid to Win event in London, where event organisers, bidding committees and rights holders were able to discuss issues related to bidding for major sports and cultural events.

Many observers have questioned Rio’s ability to meet its obligations for the 2016 games.

Long-term legacy issues underpin investment plans for Olympic construction projects and Rio intends to transform areas of the city using the Games as a catalyst, by using a mixture of public and private investment.

“This [the Barra Olympic Village] is a private enterprise and after the Games will be sold as condos – and there has been a complete redesign of the transport system in the area.”

Andrada explained the reasons why certain aspects of its Olympic Games preparations have been called into question.

“The Deodoro was a little late but we are now moving ahead and catching up. It is important to know in our case the bar is set really high following London but we have to mindful of our spending and our obligations to the Brazilian people. This is one of the reasons why we started the Deodoro a little late,” Andrada explained.