Tarlós is running for re-election on October 12 and was responding to a question regarding a potential Olympic bid from his main rival, opposition centre-left candidate Ferenc Falus. Tarlós said, according to the Budapest Business Journal, that although the summer Games would have a major impact on tourism and sport in the Hungarian capital, now is not the right time to proceed with such a plan.

Tarlós’ comments come after MOB president Zsolt Borkai last week lent his backing to a possible Budapest bid for the 2024 Games, stating that “concrete steps” could be taken in the near future towards formalising an offer.

While acknowledging that the Committee still has a long road to travel before a formal bid, Borkai had added that “our intentions are unequivocal – we would like to host the best athletes in the world in Budapest”. Attila Szalay-Berzeviczy, head of BOM, a non-profit group of corporations and individuals backing an Olympic bid, said that while a bid for the 2028 Games would be “realistic,” the possibility of trying for 2024 “would not be surprising”.

Budapest has previously bid for five editions of the Games, but Hungary has never been awarded the Olympics. 

Formal bidding for the 2024 Olympics will begin in 2015, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) due to select a host city in 2017.

To find out more about bidding for major events, register for HOST CITY Bid to Win at www.bidtowin-hostcity.net.

The Asian Tour has agreed a three-year deal to host the ‘Dubai Open’ with Golf in Dubai, which has run the European Tour’s Dubai Desert Classic since 1989 and also organises the Dubai Ladies Masters tournament and the MENA Golf Tour.

Golf has become a key component of Dubai’s ambitious drive to host 20 million visitors annually by 2020 – the year in which the city will host the World Expo.

The Asian Tour said talks with prospective sponsors and different Dubai golf clubs are at an advanced stage, adding that Golf in Dubai will soon announce the official title, venue and dates of the newest tournament in the city.

Hailing the new event as an “important stop” on the calendar, Asian Tour chairman Kyi Hla Han said: “With so many prestigious tournaments, in particular the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, happening out there, the city is ideally placed to capitalise on its unique position as a diverse and high quality golfing destination.

“The Asian Tour is delighted to be coming to Dubai and I am sure our players will be very excited to compete in this new and exciting event in December. As a players’ organisation, the Asian Tour is represented by an eclectic mix of the finest players from across the region and internationally and we look forward to entertaining golf fans in Dubai.”

Mohamed Juma Buamaim, vice-chairman and chief executive of Golf in Dubai, added: “Events like this will continue to strengthen our strong historical ties with Asia. Dubai’s economy benefits both directly and indirectly from golf tourism, and there is a positive synergy between golf and the key tourism sectors. Golf is just one of the many reasons that people visit Dubai to savour the experience of playing on courses of international standard.”

Today’s news comes after it was announced last month that a new tournament in Mauritius will become the first tri-sanctioned event to be endorsed by the sport’s European, Asian and Sunshine Tours.

The three Tours, which are all founding members of the International Federation of PGA Tours, confirmed that the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open will take place at the Heritage Golf Club on the island from May 7-10, 2015.

HOST CITY Bid to Win, the inaugural event organised by the leading magazine for hosting major events, is attracting the highest calibre of speakers. 

Sir Craig Reedie, Vice President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has confirmed that he will deliver the keynote address to the conference, on the subject of “Why Should Cities Bid for Events?”

The subject is highly topical as the conference takes place a few weeks before the IOC is set to announce the recommendations of its Olympic Agenda 2020 working groups, the foremost of which is a review of bidding procedure to boost the appeal of the Games.

After his keynote address, Sir Craig Reedie will be joined by Hasan Arat, a member of the Agenda 2020 working group on bidding procedure, on a panel discussion entitled “Olympic Agenda 2020: The Bidding Process Under Review”. 

While the possible outcomes of Olympic Agenda 2020 will not be revealed until after the Extraordinary IOC Session on December 8th in Monte Carlo, the panel discussion at Bid To Win will address many of the concerns under review, focusing on the recommendations of four European NOCs. 

This will be followed by an exclusive update from Rio 2016 on progress in the Olympic host city. The panel sessions that follow address the key concerns of cities and rights holders of sports, business and cultural events.

Other confirmed speakers include: Jürgen Müller (Head of FIFA World Cup); Wang Wei (Vice Chairman, Beijing Olympic City Development Association); David Grevemberg (CEO, Commonwealth Games Federation); Janez Kocijancic (Vice President, International Ski Federation; Dimitri Kerkentzes, (Chief of Staff, BIE); Panos Protopsaltis (Director of Transport, Baku 2015); ROCK IN RIO; Joe O’Neill (International Business Development Director, ARENA GROUP); Peter Tindemans (Secretary-General, EUROSCIENCE); Ali Kiremitçioglu (CEO, Istanbul 2020 Bid Committee); Iain Edmondson (Head of Major Events, London & Partners); Jordi Joly, (CEO, Barcelona City Council); Georg Spazier (CEO, Innsbruck Tirol Sports); Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros (CEO, ICSS Europe); Mike Lee OBE (Chairman, VERO); Helen Rowbotham (Director of Consulting, CSM); Robert Datnow (Managing Director, The Sports Consultancy); Lars Haue-Pedersen (Managing Director, TSE Consulting); Ben Avison, (Editorial Director, HOST CITY); Koos Tesselaar (Vice-Chairman, NIBC Bank).

“The momentum around Bid to Win has built up so quickly and we are thrilled to have such a distinguished array of speakers confirmed at this stage,” said Ben Avison, Editorial Director of HOST CITY and Chairman of Bid to Win. “The beautiful St James’ Court Taj Hotel will be the perfect venue for the occasion.”

HOST CITY Bid To Win conference takes place on Tuesday 28th October, with a drinks and buffet reception on the evening of Monday 27th October. To REGISTER visit www.bidtowin-hostcity.net

The French capital has secured the event following a decision taken by the UWW during the ongoing 2014 World Championships, which commenced on September 8 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and will run through to September 14.

French Wrestling Federation (FFL) president Alain Bertholom said that the event would place a “tremendous” spotlight on wrestling in France for both men and women.

“The organisation of the World Wrestling Championships in Paris will be a major factor in the development of the discipline in the coming years,” he added.

The 2017 World Championships will mark the first time that France will host the combined men’s freestyle, Greco-Roman and women’s freestyle championships.

The Parisian commune of Créteil previously hosted the 2003 men’s Greco-Roman World Championships before wrestling’s disciplines were merged into a unified event in 2005. The US city of Las Vegas will host the 2015 World Championships, with the 2016 event yet to be assigned.

The decision to award the 2017 World Championships comes just days after newly-named global wrestling governing body the UWW elected Nenad Lalovic as its president. Lalovic will serve a six-year term in office having taken over as acting president of the previously-labelled International Wrestling Federation (FILA) last year.

Wrestling’s world governing body voted on Sunday at its regular congress to rebrand the organisation in a bid to encourage new ideas to promote and market the sport following a turbulent period in its recent history.

Lalovic had previously secured wrestling's place on the programme for the Olympic Games after the International Olympic Committee had voted to remove the sport from the event.

The IIHF will make a decision on the respective bids from the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation and Swiss Ice Hockey Federation at its 2015 Annual Congress in Prague during the Czech Republic’s hosting of the national team tournament in May next year.

Slovakia hosted the 2011 World Championship in Bratislava and Kosice and the two cities are at the heart of its latest bid, with the possibility of adding a new multifunctional arena should one be built elsewhere in the country. Bratislava was also a host city when the former Czechoslovakia staged the event in 1959 and 1992.

The Swiss Ice Hockey Federation will announce its bid venues in October. Berne and Zurich-Kloten were its host cities when it last staged the World Championship in 2009 - the eighth time the competition went to Switzerland in its history.

Russia and France/Germany will host the 2016 and 2017 World Championships respectively, while Denmark won a landslide vote in May to serve as host for the first time in 2018. The Scandinavian country had fallen short on two previous occasions.

Denmark’s successful bid will result in Copenhagen and Herning serving as host cities under a proposal that overcame a pitch from the Latvian capital Riga by 95 votes to 12. The latter bid was seeking to hold the tournament at Arena Riga, which was home to the 2006 World Championship.

This year’s IIHF World Championship took place in Minsk, Belarus. The host nation bowed out at the quarter-final stage to bronze-medal winner Sweden, which in turn lost to eventual winner Russia - 5-2 final victors over Finland.

Matches took place at the Minsk Arena and Chizhovka Arena, which had respective capacities of 15,000 and 9,600.

The influential ExCo member Moya Dodd, told HOST CITY that FIFA needs to make its host city election process more transparent by removing the secrecy around voting.

And in the wake of Sepp Blatter’s confirmation that he will stand for a fifth term as FIFA president, more executive committee members have publicly backed suggestions that limits should be imposed on terms of office. 

Asked by HOST CITY at Soccerex Global Convention whether increasing the number of people with the right to vote would improve perceptions of FIFA, Dodd said “The more important measure would be to make voting open. 

“If people are answerable for how they voted, it’s visible, it’s clear who they supported, then there’s no suggestion that there are multiple promises for a single vote. I think it would do a lot to rid the process of those sort of suspicions, if it was open voting.”

FIFA’s 27 executive committee members currently have the right to vote on the issues that govern world football. Just 22 people were eligible to cast votes for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups, as compared to the 94 IOC members that elected the host city of the 2020 Olympic Games. 

Another concern is that football’s world leaders are able to govern for an indefinite length of time. On Monday, FIFA’s 78-year old president Sepp Blatter confirmed in a video presentation to Soccerex Global Convention that he would stand for a historic fifth term. 

On the same day, FIFA Vice President Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein told the press that he supports time limits on terms of office – while stressing that Blatter has every right to stand again under the current rules. 

“The process of reform within FIFA needs to continue and eventually we should look at instigating term limits and maybe not just for the FIFA president but also for executive committee members as well, including myself,” Prince Ali said.

Speaking at Soccerex on Tuesday, Moya Dodd, who is vice president of the Asian Football Confederation as well as a FIFA ExCo member, said “In Asia we have a limit on age and terms. I think term limits are healthy. Age limits are discriminatory and not the best way to ensure turnover anyway.”

Jim Boyce, who at 70 is eight years younger than Sepp Blatter, said “I am in favour of an age limit and a time limit. I honestly feel that if someone has three terms – that’s 12 years – or an age of 75, then they have made a good contribution and it’s time for someone else to contribute.”

As well as the issues of age and tenure, FIFA is tackling a gender imbalance – a drive that began with Dodd’s appointment last year.

“It’s inevitable that more women become involved in the game and will be a strong part of the management of sporting enterprises,” said Dodd. 

Uefa president Michel Platini has decided not to stand against Sepp Blatter and it is not clear who might challenge Sepp Blatter to the presidency. Michele D’Hooghe, FIFA ExCo Member, told delegates at Soccerex “Michel Platini gave a very positive message to the last meeting of the presidential general secretaries of FIFA in Monaco at end of August. He didn’t say ‘I don’t go for FIFA’; he said ‘I choose for UEFA’."

To find out more about potential changes to bidding procedures for major events including the FIFA World Cup, register for HOST CITY: BID TO WIN, which takes place in London on 28th October 2014

Three of FIFA’s most influential figures voiced concerns at Soccerex Global Convention about the media crisis that has engulfed football’s governing body in recent times, expressing a need for action to counter negative perceptions. 

Quizzed by Soccerex consultant David Davies about the impact of the ongoing media allegations about FIFA’s affairs, in a panel discussion entitled “A Word from the Wise”, FIFA Executive Committee Member Michel D’Hooghe said “I think we must be very honest and say that this has been very damaging for the reputation of FIFA.

“Although FIFA does many good things, these things never appear in the media. It’s the bad things that give, for the moment, FIFA a bad reputation.”

And according to Jim Boyce, Vice President of FIFA, the press is not the only source of negative attacks. “We are not only talking about the English press – the FA have come out and made certain statements regarding FIFA” said the Northern Irish ExCo member.

“There is a perception that when England lost the bid, that’s when most of the adverse criticism started. Some of the criticism is entirely justified, but an awful lot is not entirely justified.

“There are a lot of good people in FIFA – they shouldn’t all be tarnished with the same image. I am proud to finish my career as being Vice President of FIFA.”

The challenge for FIFA is to communicate its positive contributions to the world. “I am not blaming the media; I think we have to blame ourselves,” said D’Hooghe. 

“We need to have better communication of the good things that FIFA is doing. Do you hear about 20 centres for hope? Do you hear about restoration of sports facilities after the tsunami? 75 per cent of all FIFA funding goes back into infrastructure.

“Whoever is or will be president, this will be one of his first obligations: to restore confidence in FIFA, to prove to the world that FIFA wants to good for people all over the world. We are promoting football for health to youth in many countries. 

Another major priority is to tackle the issue of transparency. “We are challenging transparency and integrity, to restore confidence in FIFA, to prove to people that FIFA wants to good,” said D’Hooghe.

Also on the panel was Moya Dodd, who joined FIFA’s Executive Committee in 2013. “I get people asking me how it feels to be part of the problem now I’ve joined the FIFA ExCo,” she said. “It’s difficult for people from outside it to understand how it works.

“What’s important is that the leadership of any organisation at board level is independent from the day-to-day flow of interests that tend to make decision-making difficult.”

The showpiece conclusion to the men’s tournament will be staged at the multi-purpose Lille Arena, which will have a capacity of 27,000 for the EuroBasket.

For the first time, the group phase of the competition will be shared between four countries, with Zagreb (Croatia), Berlin (Germany) and Riga (Latvia) joining Montpellier in France as host cities.

“This is an important moment in the history of European basketball, as we have voted not only for the hosts of next year's event but also on pioneering a new concept, with four hosts,” Fiba Europe president Turgay Demirel said. “All bids were of the highest quality and it was not easy to choose between them. I would like to thank all bidders for their commitment and their excellent preparation work, coming up to the vote.”

A total of 16 national bodies expressed an interest in hosting the tournament, leading to eight formal bids. Finland, Israel, Poland and Turkey were the countries to miss out in the bidding process. Croatia, France and Turkey tabled bids to host one of the four group phase pools and the final phase knock-out round, while Turkey bid to organise the final phase only. All other bids were solely for pool-phase hosting.

France was left as the only candidate to host the final phase after Turkey shelved its bid and Poland and Croatia withdrew their pitches for the showpiece stage before the Fiba Europe board met to finalise hosting arrangements.

EuroBasket 2015 was originally slated to take place in the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv, Donetsk, Lviv, Odessa, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk before the ongoing political unrest in the eastern European country persuaded Fiba Europe into a June re-think. After removing the tournament from Ukraine, Fiba Europe said it would seek to determine whether the country could host the 2017 edition of the biennial event.

EuroBasket 2015 will take place from September 5-20 next year and the tournament will serve as a qualifying competition for the Rio 2016 summer Olympic Games.

A modular solution from Arena Seating – part of global event supply company Arena Group – has been selected for St George's Park, the English FA’s national football centre. 

Five uncovered demountable grandstands, consisting of four tiers each, will be located along a covered, elevated walkway overlooking the elite training pitch and reconfigured as required by the venue’s event programme. 

Speaking at Soccerex Global Convention in Manchester, Dave Withey, Arena UK & Europe’s sales and marketing director, said: “It will essentially be a permanent installation to begin with, but the modular nature of the system means that the grandstands can quickly and easily be reconfigured and moved elsewhere when needed; such as the indoor Futsal hall or any of the 12 outdoor pitches. 

“St George’s Park hosts a variety of different events, in various locations across the site, so the ability to do this was a vital part of the FA’s brief. They can then be moved back to the elite training pitch, negating the need for any additional storage facilities.” 

 The grandstands will be installed on the 15th October by six crew in a single day. Arena Seating will train St George’s Park on how to reconfigure and extend the grandstand for larger events, using Arena’s rental stock.

“There is no need for permanent construction work, making it extremely cost effective,” said Withey. “This is achieved without compromising on spectator comfort and viewing angles, which is very important for a world class facility like this.” 

St George’s Park, based in Burton-upon-Trent in Staffordshire, is the preparation ground for all of the England national football teams and home to the FA’s coaching and development work. 

Arena Group is exhibiting at Soccerex Global Convention at stand 219. The company will also be exhibiting at HOST CITY: BID TO WIN conference, which takes place in London on 28th October 2014. For more information visit www.bidtowin-hostcity.net

Two of football’s most influential figures are to speak at the World Football Forum in Moscow on 13th November 2014, with successful event hosting and financial fair play on the agenda

Ricardo Trade, CEO of the local organising committee of Brazil 2014 will tell the World Football Forum audience about his experience of organising the world’s biggest single-sport event. 

After playing as goalkeeper of the Brazilian handball team, Ricardo Trade became team trainer and supervisor for the Brazilian Volleyball Federation, participating in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. Trade was operations director of the 2007 Rio de Janeiro Pan-American Games and participated in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games’ victorious bid campaign.

Ron Gourlay, Chief Executive of Chelsea Football Club will lead a discussion of UEFA financial fair play (FFP) regulations. Since the introduction of FFP in 2011, clubs that have qualified for UEFA competitions have to prove they do not have overdue payments towards other clubs, their players and social/tax authorities from throughout the season. 

Through this initiative, UEFA aims to prevent clubs going into debt, even applying sanctions that include exclusion from European competitions between 2014 and 2015. The World Football Forum 2014 provides the platform for one of the world’s most successful football clubs, Chelsea FC, to explain how they are tackling this current and fundamental issue in European club football, from the commercialisation of the stadium assets to grass root youth development.

The World Football Forum in Moscow, which takes place on 13th November 2014, is a partner event of HOST CITY