Ten Sports acquires broadcast rights for English Football League & League Cup

Sports broadcaster Ten Sports has secured Live and Exclusive rights to broadcast England's The Football League and League Cup for the next three seasons from this season onwards until 2014/15 for the South Asian market. As part of the agreement with rights agency MP & Silva, the TEN Network will be showcasing approximately 145 matches Live and Exclusive throughout the season.

TEN Network will be showcasing comprehensive, engaging coverage through its broadcast channels: TenAction+ and TEN HD. Together with the broadcast of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and the recently acquired French league rights, the TEN Network reinforces its position as the 'Home of Football' for the fans of the beautiful game in the Indian subcontinent.

Atul Pande CEO, Sports Business-ZEEL said, "Acquisition of The Football League and The League Cup till 2015 underlines TEN Network's commitment to football fans in the region to bring best of football action. This latest acquisition gives us an excellent promotional platform for our advertisers and partners. We have established a strong tradition in building and strengthening top-class football properties on our channels with the reach of our networks, multiple media platforms and world-class match presentation."

Andrea Radrizzani, MP & Silva's Group CEO, said, "We are glad to bring some of English football's most prestigious competitions to fans in South Asia, where the demand for quality football programming is on the rise."

The Football League is the world's oldest league football competition, consisting of the Championship, League One and League Two - the second, third and fourth tier of English football. Each league consists of 24 teams with the Championship including teams like Cardiff City, Bolton Wanderers, Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield Wednesday. The Championship itself is the fourth most-watched league in Europe and the Championship final is the world's most lucrative football match - with the winner standing to earn an estimated £90 million from promotion to the English Premier League.

The League Cup (known as Capital One Cup for sponsorship reasons) is part of the English football treble besides the Premiership and FA Cup, and is one of the most prestigious titles in England. A knockout competition that features all 20 clubs of the Premier League and 72 clubs of The Football League, the match calendar runs from August to February and it is the first major football title to be crowned during the season. Liverpool FC will defend their 2011/12 title after a thrilling penalty shoot-out victory against Cardiff City in the final at Wembley Stadium earlier this year.

Sheffield: Two clubs share same sponsors

The city of Sheffield has another first in football. Sheffield FC was the worlds first football club; but these days the top two clubs in the city are Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday.

Both clubs will play this season in the English League One (third Division from top) after Wednesday were relegated last year and United only a few weeks ago. Both are making a new start in League One with an aim to get promoted.

Now both clubs have signed a joint sponsorship deal with the firms Gilders Group (a Volkswagen dealer) and Westfield Health (a health insurance firm) which is said to be worth a six-figure sum for both sides.

That two sides in the same city have the same sponsor has happened before, e.g. in Scotland at Glasgow Rangers and FC Celtic or in India with East Bengal and Mohun Bagan who are co-owned and sponsored by the United Breweries Group.

The speciality in Sheffield is the fact that both clubs will sport different jersey's home and away, then when both sides where in talks with local companies many said that they would not like to sponsor one of the local Sheffield sides as either the Blades or Owls fans would be against such sponsors.

The deal sees Sheffield United sporting the Westfield Health logo in their home matches and the Gilders logo in their away games, while Wednesday will have the Gilders logo in their home games and Westfield Health in their away matches.

Hamann joins MK Dons

Midfielder Dietmar 'Didi' Hamann was one of my favourite players during his playing days and his career looked to be over last summer as he wasn't able to find a suitable club after Manchester City didn't renew his contract.
Hamann had made up his mind to stay in England with offers from Preston North End, Queen Park Rangers and Notts County.

But the most curious offer came from German sixth division club KFC Uerdingen, who had signed former Bundesliga top scorer Ailton and then wanted further former top players to strengthen their squad to fight for promotion, but for Hamann playing in the sixth division Niederrheinliga was more carnival then football so he declined the offer.

But now the former German international makes a comeback as a player-cum-coach at English League One side Milton Keynes Dons. 37 year old Hamann is still loved and adored on the British Isles since his days at Newcastle United, FC Liverpool and Manchester City.

The MK Dons, the former FC Wimbledon, hope with the signing of Hamann to give the club the right impetus to push for Championship promotion next season. For the club the signing of the Bavarian is their biggest signing by name ever.
MK Dons coach Karl Robinson hopes Hamann can use his experience on the pitch as well as the dressing room to lead the younger players. Hamann's focus now is to get fit again before the start of pre-season training.

During his playing days Hamann was a midfield strategist. Some would say his style was lethargic, he often slowed down the game and wasn't the most creative but still an influential player wherever he played.

Didi Hamann came out of the youth system at Bayern Munich and went on to play 59 times for Germany. He won the German Bundesliga, German Cup and UEFA Cup amongst others at the Bavarian giants before winning the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup, English FA Cup and League Cup titles with Liverpool.

In Germany Hamann will be mostly remembered for scoring in the 1-0 victory against England at Wembley on October 7, 2000; the last goal to be scored at the old Wembley stadium and being part of the 2002 FIFA World Cup squad which went on to reach the finals only to lose to Brazil.

It will be great to see Didi Hamann in action again...