Industry Shorts: Sport England, Emirates, Team GB

Sport England has confirmed that an extra £1m of National Lottery funding will go to grassroots women’s football in the lead-up to the UEFA European Women’s Championships 2022, which takes place in England.

The investment will support the development of local plans within EURO 22’s eight host city legacy groups, which include a combination of key partners from football, local authorities, Active Partnerships, education, public health and culture.

These legacy groups are working towards a common EURO 2022 Legacy Plan and will each be awarded around £100,000 to create recreational women’s football opportu

Emirates has extended its long-running partnership with Italian giants AC Milan in a new deal which will see the pair reach 17 years of collaboration.

The pair first partnered in 2007, with the Dubai-based airline becoming the Rossoneri’s shirt sponsor in 2010. The new three-year deal will see the airline continue as the Serie A club’s shirt sponsor, and will see the partnership continue until 2023.

TikTok and Team GB have partnered in order to launch a new public fitness initiative as part of I Am Team GB campaign.

Team GB is inviting the nation to keep moving at home, with athletes and influencers setting simple, fun challenges for the public to participate in at home.

Featuring the likes of double Olympic Gold medallist Max Whitlock and snowboarder Aimee Fuller, the initiative will allow users to get involved with a series of in-app activations, including the hashtag challenge #TeamGBGames. Whitlock and Fuller will also create a tailored Team GB playlist on the Sounds page to guide users through their own workout routines. 

The new initiative asks ‘I Am Team GB. Are You?’, and will run until Friday 31st July.

Extreme E has revealed that it is in ‘advanced talks’ with global electric car manufacturer Fisker to become the first works team entrant into the series.

Fisker, the creator of sustainable electric vehicles and advanced mobility solutions, says the pair are ‘aligned’ in their mission to bring electric cars to the mainstream.

Extreme E says it aims to be a ‘race to road test bed’ for the electric vehicle industry and a platform to accelerate the industry’s development.

Commonwealth Games Federation President Dame Louise Martin has stepped down from the Birmingham 2022 Board.

The news comes as local politicians called for the Board to better reflect the West Midlands’ ethnic and cultural diversity, and Martin has resigned in order to improve representation.

She will be replaced by Sandra Osborne, the President of the the Barbados Olympic and Commonwealth Games associations, and a CGF Executive Board member. 

Coventry City have denied withdrawing from negotiations with Gallagher Premiership side Wasps over the League One champions’ use of the Ricoh Arena.

The football club will play its games in the Championship next season, and will do so at St Andrews in Birmingham in 2020/21 after an EFL deadline to confirm their home ground passed on Friday.

Coventry have denied pulling out of negotiations, and have said that an indemnity was required as part of the deal – something the football club’s Chief Executive, Dave Boddy, says would have put the club at ‘substantial risk’.

A Wasps statement said the rugby club was, ‘deeply disappointed’ in Coventry’s ‘late decision to withdraw’, and that it ‘will be looking carefully at elements of what they have claimed, and may possibly comment further in the next couple of days.’