MUMBAI: Is gambling in sport good for business? Will 2012 be another year of headline convictions and corruption in a major competition? Is betting an integral part of commercial success, or a risk to the competitive integrity of the sport industry? What?s next for gambling in sport?

These questions and many more will be debated at the Global Sports Forum Barcelona 2012 (GSFB), from 7 ? 9 March, as ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat joins Fifa head of security Chris Eaton, and Norbert Teufelberger, Co-CEO of online gambling company Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment for a panel discussion on ?Gambling in sport.?

Eaton, who recently estimated that ? 300 billion- ? 500 billion is gambled on sport across the globe every year, has been involved in international criminal investigations for 40 years. He joins the panel to discuss his view that as many as 70 per cent of bets placed on sport fixtures go through unregulated and unregistered bookmakers, which is threatening the integrity of professional sport.

Havas Sport and Entertainment president, CEO Lucien Boyer who is also the general commissioner of the Global Sports Forum Barcelona, said, ?Gambling and corruption in sport remains a top priority for governing bodies across the globe, with three Pakistan cricketers convicted of spot-fixing and Fifa appointing Chris Eaton to a new head of security role in 2011.?

?In such a big year for sport, the GSFB 2012 is leading the way in tackling the issues that are of vital importance to the future of the sport industry and we are delighted to welcome five of the industry?s leading experts to the Forum. We will be investigating how sport can manage legal gambling and eradicate the illegal bookmaking culture to protect the industry we all know and love.?

Lorgat recently highlighted the danger illegal gambling posts to sport, telling BBC Test Match special that spot fixing in cricket is ?the most significant issue we need to tackle.?

?You cannot underestimate the value of protecting your integrity and the reputation of the game and if that was to go, we?ve got no game. I think we have shown we will not rest until we do tackle the issue,? Lorgat told the BBC.

Lorgat, Eaton and Teufelberger will also be joined on the panel by John Abbott, Chairman of the Interpol steering group for the Interpol ? Fifa initiative to reduce corruption in football, and Warren Phelops, gambling policy representative for the European Sponsorship Association.

MUMBAI: FIFA president Sepp Blatter is set to make his second visit to India next month as the world body looks to develop the largely untapped market which has been realising its potential off late.

Blatter, who had last visted India in 2007, will touchdown on India on 9 March.

"Blatter?s visit shows how much importance FIFA is giving to India," All-India Football Federation (AIFF) vice-president Subrata Dutta said in a statement. "The world body?s support in building the right kind of infrastructure in the country has been beyond our expectations."

Four football academies supported by FIFA are being built in Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi, Dutta said.

According to Dutta, the AIFF?s plans to bid for U-17 World Cup in 2017 will be a real changer if all goes through as per plans.

"If India becomes the host nation, we will get a direct entry into the tournament," said Dutta. "It will encourage more kids to play football and take it up as a career option. It will also enable us to develop a quality structure for the sport."

MUMBAI: The All India Football Federation Monday softened its stance towards the West Bengal Football Association backed Premier League Soccer (PLS) just a day after threatening to take away the permission to host the inter-city tournament.

AIFF president Praful Patel clarified that the federation was all for the league but had to take steps to ensure the organisers adhere to principles of "good governance".

The franchise-based league was heading towards uncertainty as the AIFF asked FIFA to temporarily suspend the six PLS clubs from using Transfer Matching System (TMS), which allows a club to recruit foreign players thereby leaving a question mark on the participation of international players in the league.

"There was never an issue related to Bengal Premier League Soccer. We have no problem with the tournament, it is a good initiative and we want other states also to encourage the league," AIFF president Praful Patel said after an emergency committee meeting on Monday.

"The foreign players are under the FIFA and if there is a FIFA regulation they have to follow it. It is not an AIFF stipulation. AIFF just wants to ensure good governance otherwise we would be troubled internationally. We just helped the tournament to follow a right path," he added.

Earlier, the AIFF had suspended the passwords that were provided to the six PLS clubs following the organiser?s inability to provide documents relating to affiliation of the clubs. The suspension of passwords has been revoked after the IFA clarified its stance.

Under FIFA rules, no club in the world can recruit a professional foreign footballer without going through the TMS. Once certified by the national association as a genuine organisation, FIFA provides each club a separate password to enter into the TMS.

AIFF general secretary Kushal Das said the national federation had to act due to queries raised by the international body thereby allaying fears that it was jeopardising the league, which has attracted million of dollars in investment from corporates.

"FIFA had raised the issue over the registration of the clubs and federation just wrote to the IFA regarding the same. And after the necessary clarifications the suspension was revoked. We never created any hurdle in the organising of the tournament, in fact we had approved the league long-back in 2011," AIFF general secretary Kushal Das said.

AIFF vice-president Subrata Dutta explained that the IFA will abide by rules.

"We received an e-mail from Utpal Ganguly and he has assured us that the IFA will abide by all the terms of AIFF. He also said following the FIFA rules all the clubs have been registered under the respective district sports associations," Dutta said.

"Ganguly has already spoken to the franchisees and they have assured 50 per cent of the payment in advance and they will furnish a bank guarantee, which will be forwarded to IFA and the association will in turn forward it to the AIFF," Dutta added.

MUMBAI: The ambitious Premier League Soccer may come a cropper as the AIFF, football?s governing body in India, has asked Fifa to temporarily suspend the six PLS clubs from using the Transfer Matching System (TMS) following the organisers inability to provide documents relating to affiliation of the clubs.

The suspension from TMS means that the PLS would not be able to seek the transfer of PLS? iconic players like Fabio Cannavaro, Hernan Crespo and Jay Jay Okocha as Fifa rule stipulates clubs to recruit international professional players only through the TMS, an online system used by all its members.

The AIFF had withdrew passwords earlier provided to the six PLS clubs following the affiliation controversy.

In order to gain AIFF?s recognition, the PLS clubs have to be affiliated to the IFA, which is the governing body of football in West bengal.

For IFA, under whose affiliation the league has been launched along with its commercial partner Celebrity Management Group, time is running out as the organisers have to provide the necessary documents to the AIFF before 15 February, which is also the international transfer deadline.

If the organisers fail to provide relevant documents by today, the AIFF would withdraw permission to the tournament. The AIFF has called for a meeting of its Emergency Committee, where a final decision on the PLS would be taken.

"We have told the IFA to provide the documents in time but time is running out. For the tournament to be held, FIFA will have to give clearance of the foreign players by February 15. We have not received from IFA the necessary documents of the six clubs till now. "If AIFF does not get the documents by Monday (Feb 13) when the Emergency Committee meets, the permission given to IFA to hold the tournament will be withdrawn," PTI quotes a top AIFF official as saying.

Brushing aside concerns, IFA Secretary Utpal Ganguly said that the necessary documents would be provided by Monday morning before the AIFF Emergency Committee meeting starts.

MUMBAI: The Olympic Council of Asia has entered into a long-term deal with MP & Silva, an international sports media company, which will see the latter becoming global media rights distribution partner for all OCA organised events.

Some of the properties that MP & Silva will work on include the 2012 Haiyang Asian Beach Games, 2013 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Incheon, 2013 Asian Youth Games in Nanjing, 2013 Asian Unity Games in the Philippines, 2014 Phuket Asian Beach Games and the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, which is the OCA?s falg-ship event which sees participation from a record 45 countries and is second only to Olympics in terms scale and size.

The agency will work in close coordination with OCA?s marketing agency Dentsu for the distribution of these rights.

OCA Director General and Technical Director Husain Al-Musallam added, "Through this partnership we are really engaging fans on a global scale, giving them the opportunity to follow all our competitions and to embrace the excitement surrounding the Asian Games."

MP & Silva has established itself as the leading sports media agency in Asia with offices in Beijing, Dubai, Hanoi, Singapore and Tokyo providing over 5,000 hours of programming to over 70 broadcasters, including CCTV, Al Jazeera, Starhub, NHK, J Sports, KBS, SBS and MBC.

The company?s Asian portfolio includes a wide range of European football championships such as Italian Serie A, English Premier League, Spanish La Liga and others, as well as Fifa 2014 World Cup qualifying matches rights.

?MP & Silva has developed very strong links with Asian and Middle Eastern broadcasters and sports governing bodies over the years, and having the chance to be part of the Asian Games? media strategy and distribution is incredibly rewarding to us,? said MP & Silva Group CEO Andrea Radrizzani.

?In our capacity as Partner we will also act as media advisor in order to guarantee the highest level of production guidelines and innovation ? including digital strategy and on social media portals. Our objective is to contribute to the success of the Olympic Asian sports movement and improve its reach to other regions of the world.?