Play the Game, the world communication conference on sport and society, will travel to the UK for the first time. Coventry is to be the first ever city outside of the Nordic countries to host the conference, which has been running for the last eleven years. The conference, taking place 8-12 June 2009, is to be co-organised by Coventry University’s Centre for the International Business of Sport (CIBS).

Every year since 1978, the Gerlev Physical Education and Sports Academy has awarded individuals and institutions from home and abroad with what has become one of Denmark’s most prestigious sports awards.

Today it was announced that Play the Game will receive the Gerlev Award 2008 next Saturday 4 October when the academy celebrates its own 70th  anniversary and the 30th anniversary of the award.

Long held suspicions of match-fixing in Bulgarian football materialised in the arrest of Bulgarian Ivan Lekov, vice chairman of the State Agency for Sport and Youth and member of the Executive Commission of the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU). This happened after a group of former referees went public about experienced bribes and match-fixings conducted by top positioned deputies in the BFU.

American media giant CBS has filed a lawsuit against the NFL Players’ Association, in response to threats by the Association that it would bring legal action unless CBS agreed to pay licence fees for use of player statistics in its NFL Fantasy Football tournament. The lawsuit marks another flashpoint in the debate over the limits of a free press in the world of sport.

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) is backing a formal complaint to UEFA against the Romanian Football Federation (FRF) and its president Mircea Sandu, after the football federation allegedly encouraged footballers to throw stones at journalists and verbally abuse them.

Many regulars at Play the Game conferences have been left amazed and outraged in equal measure by the research carried out by Canadian investigative journalist and academic Declan Hill, who has devoted years to researching the dangerous underworld that lies behind much of professional sport. Now, Hill has compiled his latest research into one book – The Fix.

A new internet TV channel will be transmitting 8 hours of live footage with commentaries daily as well as news from the Beijing 2008 Paralympics Games.

Former Olympic medallist Wilson Kipketer calls for changes to voting procedures for election to the IOC Athletes Commission. An election he feels has been subject to inappropriate and unfair procedures.

The International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education (ICSSPE) has appointed a new president, Prof. Dr. Margaret Talbot, who will succeed Prof. Dr. Gudrun Doll-Tepper at the beginning of 2009.

Long-held suspicions were confirmed in late March this year, when Chinese badminton coach Li Yongbo admitted to fixing one of the women’s singles semi-finals at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Thus far, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) has failed to get an explanation from China over the admission. The Badminton Players Federation (BPF) is keen for answers though, and calls for tough sanctions against the Chinese coach.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) is facing allegations that it accepted a payment of USD 3 million to endorse the place of the ‘keirin’ as one of cycling’s Olympic events, a claim the world governing body for cycling vehemently denies.

After a massive overhaul in strategic direction, content and layout, the improved ‘one-stop-shop’ on Sport & Development, sportanddev.org has been relaunched.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport’s ruling on the dispute between the International Handball Federation and the Asian Handball Federation over Asian qualification tournaments for the Beijing Olympics highlights a catalogue of failings by both organisations. John Ryan of teamhandballnews.com analyses the findings.

Nearly a year after the initial incident, the Danish women’s national football team are still waiting to find out who it was that spied on them in a Chinese hotel room at the 2007 Women’s World Cup. Despite protests by the Danish players, FIFA are refusing to investigate claiming the incident is not a sporting matter, while the IOC cites a lack of jurisdiction prevents its Ethics Commission from probing further.

In March this year, a Swiss court produced evidence that in the period from 1989 to 2001, the now defunct International Sport and Leisure company (ISL) paid officials from a number of sports federations 87.5 million euros to obtain profitable broadcasting rights. Yet, when the court’s verdict was published last week, six former ISL executives indicted in the case were cleared of most of the charges against them.

Via www.playthegameforopenjournalism.org the International Federation of Journalists  and the world communication conference Play the Game launch a helpline and a website to support thousands of foreign journalists in Beijing.

Organisers of the unique international Magglingen Conference on Sport and Development have been forced to cancel the event after its key funder has pulled out. Director of Play the Game, Jens Sejer Andersen, calls it a major setback and encourages  international sports federations to come up with new funding as proof of their commitment to sport and development.

What critics found unlikely has now turned into fact: Ruben Acosta has decided to leave the presidency of the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) at the end of the Beijing Olympics. He says he wants to make room for a new era, but his successor Wei Jizhong will mainly focus on “implementing and accomplishing all the projects already initiated by Dr. Acosta.”

Together with International Sport and Culture Association (ISCA) Play the Game has given its full support on cooperation with World Outgames 2009, a sports, culture and human rights event to be held in Copenhagen from July 25 to 2 August 2009.