Fans holding tickets for the World Cup in Brazil are being encouraged to offset the carbon emissions caused by their travel to the tournament.

A programme launched by FIFA on Thursday allows successful ticket applicants to sign up on a carbon offsetting page on FIFA.com, where they can enter a prize draw to win two tickets for the World Cup final.

FIFA is bearing the cost of the carbon offsetting; all that is required is a FIFA.com Club account and a successful ticket request reference ID.

The owner of the flagship event of the world's most popular sport will be keen to generate a positive legacy, given the problems Brazil is encountering in the construction and delivery phases.

“FIFA takes its environmental responsibility very seriously," said Federico Addiechi, FIFA’s head of corporate social responsibility.

"As part of our two-fold strategy with the non-profit carbon management programme BP Target Neutral, FIFA and the Local Organising Committee will offset 100 per cent of their own operational emissions and through the campaign launched today, we are encouraging fans to neutralise the carbon emissions resulting from their travel to Brazil.

“At the same time we use the FIFA World Cup as an opportunity to engage with millions of people and raise awareness of the environmental impact of our journeys and the ways to mitigate it.”

In a press release, FIFA acknowledged that “staging a tournament of this scale inevitably has an impact on the environment. Offsetting is one way of limiting this impact.”

The programme is supported by Cafu, the world’s only player to have appeared in three World Cup finals. “It just makes sense”, he said. “Supporting your team and supporting low carbon development in Brazil at the same time is a win-win for all. I am offsetting my travels related to the FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014 and encouraging everyone to do the same. It’s really easy to do and only takes a minute”.

The emissions will be offset through a portfolio of low carbon projects in Brazil, chosen by BP Target Neutral. 

“Each project is selected through a rigorous tender process and adhering to the standards set by the International Carbon Reduction and Offsetting Alliance with final selection made by an independent panel of environmental NGOs. The list of the exact offsetting projects selected, all of which result in social and economic benefits to local Brazilian communities, will be announced in June,” says FIFA.

The International Olympic Commission (IOC) Coordination Commission on Thursday completed its third inspection visit of PyeongChang, the host city of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, concluding that progress was good but that work could not be allowed to slip behind schedule.

The Commission highlighted transport management, accommodation contracting and developing the Mountain Olympic Village as areas where timeframes are particularly “tight” for the PyeongChang Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (POCOG).

Venue construction, test events, marketing and Games services have also been identified as “key areas that require POCOG’s focus over the next six months,” the IOC said in a statement. 

“We were able to see that a large amount has been accomplished by POCOG and its partners since our last visit in June 2013,” said Gunilla Lindberg, chair of the IOC coordination commission. “The 2018 Games are on the right track but it is clear that much work remains.”

POCOG President and CEO Jin-sun Kim said: “The eyes of the world are now on PyeongChang.

"This year is a big turning point for us. We must establish a solid framework. As I always stress, we have no time to practise and no time for trial and error. We will streamline our Master Schedule and set our priorities straight so that everything runs smoothly according to the timeline.”

The IOC said in a statement: “With timelines tight for the completion of accommodation contracting, the development of the Mountain Olympic Village and the transport management plan, the Coordination Commission encouraged POCOG to ensure that the appropriate focus and resources were dedicated to these important areas.”

Construction companies are being appointed for venues and some construction is underway. The commission “underlined the need for timelines to be carefully defined and adhered to, so as to avoid any impacts on test events.” 

The IOC will undoubtedly be keen to avoid a situation like Rio 2016’s, where construction is critically behind schedule. 

The commission also highlighted the need to prepare for the non-infrastructural aspects of test events, saying “the hiring and training of staff and volunteers should also begin in the near future”.

In the field of marketing, POCOG is in the process of finalising its first domestic partnership contract to build on progress so far. 

“The awareness of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games has been strengthened by the success of PyeongChang House in Sochi, and the very innovative Closing Ceremony segment, which presented the 2018 Games to a worldwide audience of millions,” the IOC said. “The Commission encouraged the local organisers to continue to engage and promote their Games at this high level over the next four years both at home and abroad.”

The meetings in PyeongChang were attended by all levels of government. “The participation of the International Federations, the Korean Olympic and Paralympic Committees, and the Korean national winter sports federations was also very beneficial and allowed POCOG to engage in in-depth discussions on all topics related to the venues and sport,” said Lindberg.

“We are confident that POCOG and Korea will deliver great Games for the athletes in 2018.” 

In June, PyeongChang will host the official IOC Debriefing of the Sochi 2014 Winter Games. The fourth Coordination Commission visit to PyeongChang will take place at the end of November 2014.

Soccerex and the Football League have signed a memorandum of understanding, committing to work together to make sure that football continues to develop across the League. 

The agreement gives the Sky Bet Football League a major role at the Soccerex Global Convention, which takes place from 6-10 September in Manchester. 

The Football League, the oldest competition in world football, today encompasses the three top divisions immediately below the Premiership. 

Addressing issues such as club ownership, finance and betting, the League and Soccerex will work together to make sure that senior representatives from every one of the 72 Football League clubs attend the event. The League will also have a significant presence within the exhibition and play an integral part of the conference programme. 

“Networking and knowledge sharing is an extremely valuable component for our development and Soccerex is the best football business event for this,” said Shaun Harvey, CEO of the Football League. 

“We will be working closely with them to ensure a strong turnout from our club members so they can make most of the important opportunities that Soccerex presents.”

Soccerex CEO Duncan Revie said: “Having grown up amidst the excitement and success of the Football League with my dad at Leeds United and Manchester City, I have witnessed what this institution has done for our sport. Signing this MoU signals our intent to work with the best in the business and we look forward to welcoming all of the 72 clubs to Manchester.”

The Football League join an growing roster of names lining up for the Convention that already includes FIFA President Joseph Blatter, FIFA Vice-President Jim Boyce, British Olympic Association Chairman Lord Coe, RFU CEO Ian Ritchie and England and Manchester United legend Sir Bobby Charlton.

The Convention kicks off with the Football Festival on 6-7th September with the conference starting on Monday 8th September.

For more information please visit http://www.soccerex.com/global or email enquiry@soccerex.com

Preparations for the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games are “the worst I have experienced” and “worse than Athens”, according to IOC Vice President John Coates.

“The situation is critical on the ground,” he said at an Olympic Forum in Sydney on Tuesday.

While the IOC is taking “unprecedented” action in an attempt to resolve “critical” construction delays, there is “no plan B” for the possibility of Rio not being ready to host the Games in 2016.

Coates has been involved in the Olympic movement for 20 years and has made six visits to Rio as a member of the IOC Coordination Commission, overseeing Rio’s preparations.

According to a statement from the Australian Olympic Committee, of which Coates is the president, IOC experts have been embedded in the organising committee, including construction project manager to ensure that works progress at the faster pace needed.

“The IOC has formed a special task force to try and speed up preparations,” said Coates. 

The Rio 2016 organising committee has not responded directly to Coates’ comments, but it has said that it welcomes the intervention from the IOC. 

“Very concerned”

“I’ve become very concerned, to be quite frank,” said Coates. “The last Coordination Commission visit earlier this month showed that they are really not ready in many, many ways. 

“And then we followed that up with a meeting in Turkey two weeks ago when 18 of the federations said the organisers were not ready in respect of their venues, particularly in the case of the eight sports in the second Olympic Park at Deodoro. Really, construction hasn’t commenced there apart from a bit of ground clearance.”

Speaking on the BBC World Service on Tuesday night, Jefferson Puff, a BBC correspondent in Brazil said “If Deodoro was their only concern I think the IOC would be in heaven, because it’s so much more than that.

“The subway in the city was supposed to be extended, and that has been delayed. The bay in which some of the maritime competitions are supposed to take place is completely polluted. Critics say it will be very hard to clean it up in time. 

“The budget for the Olympics is also a concern. You could argue that it’s basically a case of mismanagement of planning, of the money involved.”

“The challenges for sport leaders and team management is that they’re not getting answers to the questions when they go over,” said Coates. 

“Can they use the car parks in the village for recovery centres? What will be the time to take from this venue to this venue? All of those things, they’re being fobbed off. No one is able to give answers at the moment.”

"No plan B"

Despite the very real possibility that Rio might not be ready in time, there has been no mention of any other cities that might be ready to host if necessary.  

“The IOC has adopted a more hands on role. It is unprecedented for the IOC but there is no plan B. We are going to Rio,” Coates said. “From my experience it’s the worst that I have experienced but we just have to make it happen and that’s the IOC’s approach.

“You can’t walk away from this. And if this comes off, the first Games in the South American continent in the magical city in so many ways it will be a wonderful experience for the athletes.”

Comparisons have been drawn between Rio’s Olympic projects and Brazil’s last minute rush to host the 2014 World Cup, which starts on 12 June. 

“I think maybe the organisers of the Olympics are actually betting with destiny, betting with the future – hoping that they can accomplish the same,” said Puff. “Only for the critics, the delays for the Olympics are bigger than for the World Cup already, so one could argue that the game they are playing is quite risky.”

SIS Pitches has received an order to install a new indoor rugby training pitch for England Rugby Union. 

The facility at the prestigious Pennyhill Park Hotel in Surrey, UK is the official training base for the England Rugby Union senior team, who first used the facilities in the run up to the Rugby World Cup in 2003. 

Pennyhill Park is located just 40 minutes from the national stadium at Twickenham. The squad is residing and training at the hotel before all international fixtures for the next four years. 

The new pitch will use the SIS Rugger surfacing system that SIS Pitches installed at Allianz Park, home of Saracens Rugby Club in 2013. Other installations include Newcastle Falcons and Durham University. 

The installation at Pennyhill includes the base layer, shockpad and surface and is due to commence in June 2014.

According to SIS Pitches, SIS Rugger has proven durability and long lasting playing characteristics even after intensive use, and is easier to maintain than traditional fibrillated surfaces.

“The contract was won despite keen interest from other suppliers and we are delighted to have been selected for this prestigious project,” said Steve Spaven, Director of Sales at SIS Pitches.

Scottish supported businesses, which employ people with disabilities, have been awarded five contracts valuing £1m (US$1.7bn) to help prepare for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. 

Glasgow-based RSBi will provide a logistics workforce and handle materials for the Athletes’ Village. RSBi have also been awarded a contract for a specialist package including supply, installation and removal of curtains and blinds in the residential accommodation of athletes and team officials.

Dovetail will provide 7,500 single size mattress protectors while Haven will supply around 17,000 laundry bags for the Village. North Lanarkshire Industries (previously known as Beltane) will distribute baton-bearer uniforms for the domestic sector of the Queen’s Baton Relay, as well as being contracted to provide 7,500 pillows for the Athletes’ Village.

The supported business sector in Scotland provides employment to people with disabilities and a potential pathway into the open labour market. It employs around 1,000 people and generates a turnover of more than £32m (US$54m)per annum.

“The £1 million boost to Scottish supported businesses - on top of the 73 per cent of Games related contracts already secured by Scottish companies - is a perfect example of Scotland’s success in competing on the world stage,” said Fergus Ewing Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism.

“By helping people with disabilities to maintain and improve their overall independence and wellbeing, this announcement also reflects the crucial role supported businesses have in building a healthier and fairer Scotland.”

According to Paul Carey, Glasgow City Council’s convener of the regeneration and the economy policy development committee, Glasgow businesses and organisations have won more than £180million of Games-related contracts so far. “This is a tremendous economic legacy for the city,” he said. 

Moscow’s urban systems could cope with hosting an event on the scale of the FIFA World Cup “tomorrow”,  Sergei Sobyanin, Mayor of Moscow said on Saturday in an interview with TV channel Moscow 24. He also said that football infrastructure will need to be fully modernised before the city is ready to host.

The Mayor’s comments come just a few days after the revelation from his office, City Hall, that Moscow will spend US$8.1bn on preparing for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. This figure was four times as much as the US$2bn that the city’s top sports official Alexey Vorobyov said earlier in April would be spent on sporting and transport infrastructure.

The largest proportion of City Hall’s revised budget will be allocated to urban infrastructure indirectly associated with the event. Two thirds of the budget will go towards transport upgrades in Moscow, which currently experiences some of the heaviest traffic in the world. 

Eleven per cent of the spending will be spent on sports facilities, including the major task of redeveloping Luzhniki Stadium, which is Moscow’s biggest sporting infrastructure project. 

"The works are fully under way," said Sobyanin. “At the same time, training fields are being built and football infrastructure will become modern by then."

Sobyanin confirmed that the new Otkrytie, or Spartak stadium will open this year, along with a new Spartak metro station. He also said the number of hotel rooms in Moscow is growing by 1,000 each year.

The successful hosting of the IAAF World Athletics Championships in 2013 is evidence of Moscow’s capacity to host mega events, he said. “In terms of number of teams this is the second most spectacular event after the Olympics."

The Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar has confirmed that the size of the host nation is a factor in the decision to consider reducing the number of host venues to as few as eight.

“The process of selecting the final proposed line-up of host venues is ongoing in consultation with FIFA,” the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy said in a statement. 

“Given the size of our country, FIFA and the Local Organising Committee decided to look into reducing the originally proposed 12 venues to fit the country’s specifications while ensuring best playing conditions for all 64 matches. "

The statement reiterated the fact that eight is the minimum of number of stadiums generally requested by FIFA for a World Cup.

“The 2022 Local Organising Committee will submit by December 2014 a proposal for an appropriate number of host venues, whilst ensuring a suitable legacy for the country and the national league after the tournament. The approval of the final number of stadiums is envisaged by the FIFA Executive Committee by March 2015.”

Gilbert Felli, the IOC Olympic Games executive director and Jérôme Valcke, the General Secretary of FIFA, are to share the stage with other major figures in sports events to discuss the legacy of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. 

The conference, which is hosted by the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES), takes place in French on 6 May at the Expo Beaulieu Lausanne. Other speakers include CIES director and IOC member Denis Oswald, lawyer and former IOC executive director François Carrard and sports architect Miranda Kiuri. 

The meeting comes at a time when both Valcke and Felli have been closely scrutinising the progress of the FIFA 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Both events are experiencing serious delays that have threatened to impact the successful delivery of Brazil’s mega-sports events. Any problems in event delivery would reflect badly on the host nation and have a knock-on effect on legacy plans. 

“The results of such major sporting events are never guaranteed and therefore the legacy is always a theme of discussion, notably because of the costs incurred,” the CIES said in a news release on Thursday. 

“It is true that some countries have been able to deal with legacy better than others and for this reason CIES has decided to host this round table and gather experts just before the FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. This conference will allow everyone to better understand this challenge and its related issues, as well as the real legacy to these two major Brazilian competitions.

More information about the event  is available at http://www.cies.ch/cies/agenda/

FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke met with key figures in delivering the World Cup in Brazil on Wednesday to establish a rigorous framework for completing outstanding infrastructure work around Itaquerão stadium.

Construction works surrounding the stadium have to be completed be ready by 28 April, while temporary seating inside the stadium must be installed by 10 May, according to local media attending the meeting. A number of test events, starting on 28 April, will take place to ensure the readiness of the venue, which is also known as Arena Corinthians.

Valcke surveyed Itaquerão on Tuesday with Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo and Ronaldo Nazario, board member of the Local Organising Committee. "There is still much work to do; it's a race against time, but I can say that the opening match will take place here in the Corinthians stadium," Valcke is reported to have said.

At a meeting on Wednesday, the deadline for construction work outside the stadium, for which responsibility is shared between the municipal and the state government was set for 28 April. The deadline for completing temporary seating was set for 10 May. 

A walkway that connects the subway station to the stadium will also be completed in May, according to Julius Semeghini, state secretary of planning and regional development.

FIFA has also been monitoring road works around the stadium. According to local media, Rebelo said at the meeting "I had the opportunity to move around the vicinity of the stadium before entering to see the urban mobility works underway. I saw some completed, others in an advanced stage.”

Some small events to test the structure of the stadium have been scheduled for the 26 April, 1 May and 10 May, before FIFA’s evaluation. "The important date is the FIFA test game on 17 or 18 May. We will able to find out if everything is working and we will still have a period of three weeks to solve problems," Valcke  is reported to have said.

50,000 people are expected to come to the FIFA test event. According to Semeghini, the event will serve to assess the functioning of the integrated command and control centre, the security strategy established for the World Cup host cities.