Paris was confirmed as the host city for the 2020 European Athletics Championships, European Athletics confirmed on Friday. European Athletics President Svein Arne Hansen said, "It's an ambitious yet realistic project, which will enable us to return our sport to center stage again, shortly after the Olympic Games." Paris was the "sole bidder following the withdrawal of Tbilisi last year." The 26th edition of the championships will take place at the Stade Sebastien Charlety from Aug. 26-30 (REUTERS, 4/28).
Belgium's most senior football official "doubts that a planned new stadium in Brussels can be ready" for Euro 2020. FIFA Council member Michel D'Hooghe said that "time is running out to solve political problems" with the 60,000-capacity Eurostadium project. D'Hooghe said: "If they want to build it they have to start building very soon, and there I have severe doubts" (AP, 4/29).
Liverpool has been named as the host of the 2018 Boccia World Championships in August. The event, the biggest on the boccia calendar outside of the Paralympics, will take place from Aug. 9-19 at the Exhibition Centre Liverpool. Boccia is a precision ball sport that is played by people with cerebral palsy and other impairments that affect motor skills (BBC, 4/28).
Nearly 150,000 fans filled the grandstands at the Sochi Autodrom for the Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix, with 60,000 spectators watching Sunday afternoon's race. The event also saw high levels of fan engagement online through the weekend, with F1's social media content receiving 123 million impressions and 11.6 million video views across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Video footage of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was the most popular Facebook post over the weekend, reaching more than 3.9 million people and being watched more than 1.08 million times (F1).