Premier League champion Manchester United tops Forbes magazine’s list of soccer’s most valuable clubs for the sixth year with an estimated market value of $1.8 billion.

The 18-time English champion, controlled by the Florida- based Glazer family, is followed by record nine-time European Cup winner Real Madrid, with a value $1.3 billion. London-based Arsenal, the subject of takeover speculation, completes the top three with a $1.2 billion valuation.

Tournament sponsor adidas has unveiled the official match ball for the final of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

The adidas ‘JO’BULANI’ is a unique gold-coloured version of the ‘JABULANI’, the official match ball of the 2010 FIFA World Cup launched earlier this year and its name is a tribute to Johannesburg or Jo’burg, the City of Gold.

Speaking exclusively to Sportindustry.biz’s sibling website in South Africa, Nunu Ntshingila, chief executive officer of Ogilvy South Africa, has expressed her belief that sport will continue to benefit from increased levels of marketing investment even after the World Cup has been and gone.

Coca-Cola is unveiling three new television advertisements as part of its global marketing campaign to support its sponsorship of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Elimination from the Champions League at the quarter-final stage is likely to cost Manchester United a drop in income of around £15 million compared to last year.

UEFA distributes €4 million (£3.5m) to each semi-finalist of the Champions League and €5.2 million (£4.5m) to the beaten finalist (Manchester Utd’s position last year). The club would also have earned a likely £3m plus from gate receipts and commercial revenues from hosting a semi-final.

World Cup sponsors are failing to exploit internet search, new research has found.

A report by digital specialist Tamar claimed that Adidas, Coca-Cola, Emirates, Hyundai and Sony were not linking their activity to online search terms such as “soccer world cup” and “world cup 2010”, or leveraging exclusive Fifa technology online.

World Cup organizers say 500,000 tickets are unsold and fear ”tragic” empty stadiums at soccer’s showcase event.

FIFA said Friday the tickets would go on sale over the counter to the general public in South Africa from April 15. Organizers will then have less than two months to sell nearly a quarter of the tournament’s total match tickets to avoid empty seats.

The Women’s Professional Soccer league survived a rough first year that saw its regular season leader, the Los Angeles Sol, disbanded in an owners’ dispute. Now, with two new expansion teams in Philadelphia and Atlanta added to the roster, WPS is preparing to launch its second season with Kick-Off Week promotions tailored for three of its team locales.

Budweiser is looking to leverage its sponsorship of the World Cup with a global multimedia campaign featuring a football-themed online reality show and its “largest” ever on-pack promotion in the UK.

Powerade has launched its first-ever global integrated marketing campaign – ‘Keep Playing’, in the build up to the FIFA World Cup this summer.

The campaign is predominantly based online and will look to highlight the presence of Powerade on the pitch during the tournament in South Africa as FIFA’s official hydration partner.