MAGAZINE INSIDE - FIFA.com

CONTENTS 

The Final Draw for the 2006 FIFA 

World Cup in Leipzig was an 

opportunity to see old friends and 

to make new acquaintances. How 

did Lothar Matthaus and Roger 

Milla fare at table football? What 

did new German Chancellor Angela 

Merkel think of the draw? 68 

FIFA Calendar 

February to June 2006 65 

INSIDEPEOPLE 68–69 

Websites 

of the confederations 

and associations 71 

FIFA Publications 72 

World Rankings 

Men 76–77 

Women 79 

Reports 

from the six confederations 80–81 

INSIDEINFO 82 

FIGURE 

OF THE MONTH 

847 

The number of matches played 

in the preliminary round of the 

2006 FIFA World Cup. From 

the 194 teams who entered, we 

are now left with the 31 teams 

that, together with host nation 

Germany, will play in the fi nal 

round in Germany in June and 

July. A total of 2,464 goals were 

scored in the 847 matches and 

over 18 million fans (average: 

22,000) fl ocked to the stadiums 

to watch the matches. For 

more facts and fi gures on the 

preliminary round, please visit 

www.FIFAworldcup.com. 

2006 FIFA World Cup 

CHF 24.5 million for 

world champions 

As announced by FIFA General 

Secretary Urs Linsi after the meeting of 

the Organising Committee for the FIFA 

World Cup in Leipzig on 6 December 

2005, the winners of the 2006 FIFA 

World Cup Germany will take home 

prize money of CHF 24.5 million. The 

runners-up will pocket CHF 22.5 million 

while the teams coming third and fourth 

will each receive CHF 21.5 million. 

The total prize money to be awarded 

by FIFA will amount to CHF 332 million. 

Advance payments totalling 32 million 

(one million for each association taking 

part) will be made as a contribution 

towards preparing the fi nalist teams. 

Each association will receive CHF 2 

million per match in the fi rst round and 

can thus rely on a guaranteed income 

of at least CHF 7 million. The teams that 

lose in the round of sixteen (9-16) will 

each earn CHF 8.5 million whereas the 

losing quarter-fi nalists (5-8) will each 

pick up CHF 11.5 million. 

FIFA will also bear the costs of travel 

for each delegation comprising 45 

PRIZE MONEY 

Total prize money 

Place in CHF million 

17-32 6.00 

9-16 8.50 

5-8 11.50 

Fourth 21.50 

Third 21.50 

Second 22.50 

World Champion 24.50 

people as well as part of the costs of 

accommodation. 

Of the remaining amount of CHF 300 

million, fi ve per cent (CHF 15 million) 

will be set aside for an insurance fund 

intended to compensate clubs via their 

associations if any of their players suffer 

injury during the World Cup fi nals. 

Once compensation has been paid out 

for such cases, the remaining amount 

will be distributed among the associations. 

FIFA General Secretary Urs Linsi in Leipzig. PHOTO: IMAGO 

magazine INSIDE 

FEBRUARY 2006 

MAGAZINEINSIDE 

63

64 

INSIDE 

Pushing ahead with professional referees 

At a meeting chaired by President 

Joseph S. Blatter in Leipzig on 7 

December 2005, the FIFA Executive 

Committee resolved to press ahead 

with professional refereeing and noted 

that a working group of the Referees 

Committee had started work on this 

project. Furthermore, the committee 

approved the new regulations 

regarding nominations for the FIFA 

List of International Referees, Assistant 

Referees and Futsal Referees and noted 

that the 2006 edition would comprise 

884 match offi cials. The allocations per 

confederation are as follows: AFC 191, 

CAF 233, CONCACAF 93, CONMEBOL 

74, OFC 25 and UEFA 268. 

President Blatter also reported on the 

Task Force For the Good of the Game, 

which the Ordinary FIFA Congress in 

Marrakech (Morocco) had approved on 

12 September 2005. 

The Executive Committee also 

discussed the following points: 

- Proposals will be made to the 2006 

FIFA Congress for modifi cations to the 

provision regarding age in the Men’s 

Olympic Football Tournament. Hitherto, 

three players over the age of 23 have 

been able to compete. This rule will be 

Groundbreaking decision 

FIFA Calendar February to June 2006 

3 February Asuncion 

South American Football Confederation 

(CONMEBOL) congress 

14 February Zurich 

Meeting of the Organising Committee for the 

Olympic Football Tournaments 


Meetings of the Players’ Status Committee and the 

Legal Committee 


Meeting of the Committee for FIFA Women’s 

Youth Competitions 


Meetings of the Organising Committee for 

the FIFA Club World Championship and the 

Associations Committee 

3-4 March Lucerne 

120th Annual General Meeting of the International 

Football Association Board (IFAB) 

3-4 March Dusseldorf 

2nd International Football and Sports Medicine 

Conference 

5 March Dusseldorf 

Meetings of F-MARC, the Sports Medical 

Committee and the confederations’ medical 

committees 


MAGAZINEINSIDE magazinemagazineINSIDE 

On 8 December, the Hamburg district 

court pronounced a judgment 

confi rming the protection of FIFA 

trademarks. The court decided 

that FIFA was entitled to forbid the 

Ferrero company from using the mark 

“Deutschland 2006” on its products. 

In reaching its decision, the court 

referred to FIFA’s German and European 

registered marks. This pronouncement 

of trademark protection in FIFA’s favour 

reaffi rmed yet again that no other 

company may make commercial use of 

these marks. The judgment was passed 

in temporary injunction proceedings 

Follow all the action of all 

matches and extensive 

editorial coverage on 

abolished for the 2008 Olympic Football 

Tournament. The IOC’s recent decision 

to admit twelve teams (hitherto ten) 

to the women’s competition was also 

welcomed. 

- The proposal was approved for 

the number of teams in the new U-17 

women’s competition starting in 2008 

to be increased from 12 to 16. 

- The organisation of the FIFA Futsal 

World Championship in 2008 was 

awarded to Brazil. 

- The dates for the next African Cup of 

Nations in Egypt from 20 January to 10 

February 2006 were offi cially approved 

in accordance with the international 

match calendar. 

- The FIFA Emergency Committee’s 

decision on 1 November 2005 to 

award the USA television rights for 

the 2007-2014 period to ABC/ESPN 

and Univision for USD 425 million was 

ratifi ed. 

- Furthermore, the executive agreed 

that the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking 

should be revised. The new system will 

come into effect after the 2006 FIFA 

World Cup and will include data from 

the previous four instead of eight years 

for evaluation purposes. 

that FIFA had initiated against Ferrero 

in a move to protect its exclusive rights 

towards its own contractual partners. 

Despite the fact that Ferrero had 

expected such a petition from FIFA and 

had therefore deposited a so-called 

letter of protection with the court 

outlining its legal interpretation, the 

Hamburg district court ruled in favour 

of FIFA. In previous proceedings, the 

Hamburg district court had decided 

that Ferrero’s attempts to register 

“Deutschland 2006” as a mark were 

unfairly obstructing FIFA’s commercial 

activities. 

FIFAworldcup.com 

On the question of member 

associations, the executive body passed 

the following decisions: 

- to ratify the Emergency Committee’s 

provisional revocation of the Yemen 

Football Association’s suspension; 

- to grant the Kenya Football 

Federation another deadline of two 

months in which to bring its structure 

into line with the FIFA Statutes, or else 

be suspended; 

- to suspend the Algeria football 

association as from 23 December 2005 

unless the elections planned for 22 

December are carried out in accordance 

with the association’s applicable 

statutes; 

- to suspend payments from the 

Financial Assistance Programme 

(FAP) to the Football Association of 

Brunei Darussalam for as long as the 

association fails to submit its statutes to 

FIFA. These statutes should have been 

received by 15 April 2004. 

Finally, FIFA General Secretary Urs 

Linsi informed the Executive Committee 

that Michael Schallhart, the Director of 

the Executive Offi ce of the President, 

had been appointed Deputy General 

Secretary. 

New languages 

FIFAworldcup.com is produced, designed, 

hosted and marketed jointly 

by FIFA and Yahoo! The offi cial site 

has fi ve main sections: Tournament, 

Classic Football, Fun and Games, Organisation 

and Destination Germany, 

each of which contains breaking news, 

real-time results, photo galleries and 

archived video highlights from the 

vaults of FIFA. FIFAworldcup.com now 

has three additional languages – Portuguese, 

Italian and Korean – to take the 

total number of languages to seven. 

“FIFA is very pleased to announce the 

expansion of FIFAworldcup.com with 

new languages and new features for 

soccer fans worldwide,” said Jérôme 

Valcke, director of the FIFA Marketing 

& TV division. 

6-8 March Dusseldorf 

2006 FIFA World Cup Germany team workshop 

9 March Zurich 

Internal Audit Committee meeting 


Meetings of the Technical and Development 

Committee and the Football Committee 


Meetings of the Board of FIFA Marketing & TV AG, 

the Marketing and Television Advisory Board and 

the Strategic Studies Committee 


Meetings of the Finance Committee, the Goal 

Bureau and the Tsunami Task Force 


Meetings of the Bureau of the 2006 FIFA World 

Cup Germany and the Executive Committee (1st part) 


Executive Committee meeting (2nd part) 

22-25 March Frankfurt 

2006 FIFA World Cup Germany referees’ 

workshop 

23 March Budapest 

European Football Confederation (UEFA) congress 


Referees Committee meeting 

11 April Zurich 

FIFA fi nancial media conference 

24-25 May Zurich 

Blue Stars/FIFA Youth Cup 

2 June Munich 

Meetings of the Internal Audit Committee and the 

Board of FIFA Marketing & TV AG 

3 June Munich 

Meetings of the Finance Committee, the 

Organising Committee for the 2006 FIFA World 

Cup and the Strategic Studies Committee 

4 June Munich 

Executive Committee meeting 

5 June Munich 

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and 

Confederation of North, Central American and 

Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) 

6 June Munich 

FIFA Congress 

7 June Berlin 

FIFA World Cup Gala 

9 June-9 July 

2006 FIFA World Cup Germany 

FEBRUARY 2006 FEBRUARY 2006 


65

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● Facts 

● Background 

stories 

● Emotions 

● Worldwide 

Authoritative, 

informative 

and on the ball 

GEORGE BEST 

The football family is mourning 

the loss of one its most popular 

members. On 25 November, former 

Northern Ireland international 

George Best died of multiple organ 

failure in London at the age of 59. 

Best was Manchester United’s most 

outstanding player at the end of 

the 1960s and the beginning of 

the 1970s. In 1968, the winger led 

his team to victory in the European 

Cup – the fi rst triumph by an English 

club in the competition. Best was a 

spectacular player with pace and an 

array of tricks on the ball. He was 

considered one of the best players 

of his era, but by dint of birth, he 

never had the chance to play at the 

World Cup fi nals. Before ending his 

career, he had a spell in the USA. 

Discipline was a problem, however. 

Best regularly hit the headlines off 

the pitch as well as on it and sadly 

became addicted to alcohol. His 

most legendary quote was “I spent 

a lot of money on booze, birds and 

fast cars. The rest I just squandered.” 

Despite several detoxifi cation 

programmes, he was unable to 

shake off his addiction. In the last 

few years of his life, Best worked as 

a TV pundit. George Best was laid to 

rest in Belfast on 3 December 2005. 

SYMPATHY 

Former Italy coach Ferruccio 

Valcareggi passed away in Florence 

on 2 November at the age of 86. 

Under his stewardship, the “Squadra 

Azzurra” won the European 

Championship in 1968 and fi nished 

as runners-up at the 1970 World 

Cup. 

In a letter of condolence to the 

president of the Italian football 

association, Franco Carraro, FIFA 

President Joseph S. Blatter recognised 

Valcareggi’s services to football. “He 

will always remain in the memory of 

football fans in Italy and all over the 

world. Our deepest sympathy goes 

out to his family.” 

Coca-Cola 

sign deal to 2022 

FIFA and Coca-Cola have reaffi rmed 

their partnership in a landmark deal 

that marks a clear commitment to 

sustained development in the world’s 

most cherished sport across all divides. 

FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter and 

Coca-Cola Chairman E. Neville Isdell 

put pen to paper on the agreement in 

Cape Town, South Africa, host nation 

for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. 

Coca-Cola’s involvement in the nonalcoholic 

beverages category from 2007 

to 2022 embraces all FIFA competitions, 

including the four FIFA World Cup 

fi nal competitions in this period, as 

well as development initiatives and any 

special events organised by the world 

governing body. Coca-Cola is thus the 

fourth company after adidas, Hyundai 

and Sony to join the prestigious group 

of six top-tier FIFA sponsors granted 

an exclusive tie-up with FIFA and its 

activities both on and off the pitch from 

2007 to 2014. 

“UNSTINTING SUPPORT” 

“This agreement teams us up 

with one of world football’s leading 

advocates in a long-lasting relationship 

that bears witness to the enduring 

appeal of football,” said FIFA President 

Blatter. “We are greatly indebted to 

Criticism dismissed 

FIFA has fl atly rejected the criticism 

levelled at it by the World Anti- 

Doping Agency (WADA) and its 

president Richard Pound on Monday, 

21 November, particularly in view 

of the fact that Pound had offi cially 

declared at the 117 th session of the 

International Olympic Committee in 

Singapore at the beginning of July that 

all 35 Olympic sports federations met 

the requirements of the World Anti- 

Doping Code. 

On 29 September 2005, FIFA requested 

the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) 

Coca-Cola for their unstinting support 

of football and for sharing our vision 

of making the game transcend gender, 

age, race and socioeconomic status.” 

“This recommitment by Coca-Cola 

to the world’s most popular sport and 

its fans affords us new opportunities 

to bring people closer together 

through football,” explained Coca- 

Cola Chairman and CEO, E. Neville 

Isdell. “Our heritage with football and 

FIFA is further energised through the 

renewed and far-reaching partnership 

we celebrate today.” 

TICKET FUND PLANNED 

Coca-Cola has been an offi cial 

sponsor of the FIFA World Cup 

since 1978, but the multinational’s 

association with the game dates back 

to 1950 when it supported the World 

Cup local organising committee. The 

Atlanta-based corporation champions 

football in many different areas, a 

commitment that is amply refl ected in 

the new deal. Coca-Cola will join FIFA 

and other FIFA Partners in setting up the 

2010 FIFA World Cup Ticket Fund, 

which is designed to benefi t those 

South Africans who otherwise would 

not be able to afford a ticket for the 

world’s biggest single-sport event. 

in Lausanne, Switzerland, for an opinion 

on the law of sanctions in relation to 

legal persons based in Switzerland. 

FIFA’s request was issued in the light 

of ongoing discussions with WADA, 

which requires that athletes be given 

an automatic two-year ban for a fi rst 

doping offence. 

FIFA maintains that a standard penalty 

of this kind is questionable from a legal 

point of view as it could be reduced 

only under very limited circumstances 

and it does not take into account the 

extent of the offender’s guilt. 


FEBRUARY 2006 


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68 

magazineINSIDE 

FEBRUARY 2006 

Two men, 

ten World Cups 

Between them, Lothar Matthaus 

and Velibor “Bora” Milutinovic have 

contested a total of ten World Cups as 

a player and coach respectively. Matthaus, 

45, Germany’s most-capped 

international with 145 appearances and 

the only outfi eld player to take part in 

fi ve World Cup fi nal competitions (1982, 

1986, 1990, 1994 and 1998), is the current 

Hungary boss, while Milutinovic is 

currently out of work. Nevertheless, it 

cannot be ruled out that the 65-yearold 

Serb will be back in charge of a 

national team at the 2006 World Cup. 

He was, after all, involved in all of the 

last fi ve tournaments, coaching Mexico 

in 1986, Costa Rica in 1990, the USA in 

1994, Nigeria in 1998 and the People’s 

Republic of China in 2002. At the draw 

for the 2006 World Cup fi nals in Leipzig 

last December, Matthaus and Milutinovic 

reminisced about certain matches while 

looking forward to the forthcoming 

World Cup. Both were convinced that it 

will be “a magical tournament”. 

INSIDEPEOPLE 

Matthaus/Milla 10 

Karembeu/Radebe 8 

Lothar Matthaus, Roger Milla, Christian Karembeu and Lucas 

Radebe were the epitome of world-class on the pitch, and they are 

not bad at table football either. At the draw for the World Cup fi nals 

in Leipzig, Matthaus and Cameroon legend Milla issued a challenge to 

Karembeu, a World Cup winner with France in 1998 and Radebe, the 

former South Africa defender. The pairing of Matthaus/Milla won an 

exciting game 10-8. “Man of the match” was Milla, who scored the 

majority of his team’s goals despite operating the bars used to move 

the goalkeeper and the defence. Milla celebrated his goals almost as 

frenetically as the ones he scored at the World Cups in 1990 and 1994 

– although he did refrain from dancing the lambada in Leipzig. 

FOTOS: FOTO-NET 

Angela Merkel 

in confident mood 

The World Cup draw in Leipzig was watched 

by an audience of nearly 3,500 people, 

including many high-ranking guests. Germany’s 

new chancellor Angela Merkel was 

in attendance, as were federal president 

Horst Kohler and Franz Muntefering, vicechancellor 

and minister for employment and 

social affairs. Like many of her compatriots, 

Mrs Merkel was very taken with the 90minute 

show. “It was a superb occasion. I’m 

already looking forward to the World Cup, 

when Germany and her people will show 

themselves to be outstanding organisers and 

hosts,” said Merkel, who intends to attend 

the Germany matches in person, but would 

also like to see Brazil and Argentina in action. 

While in Leipzig, the German chancellor was 

initiated in the secrets of football and the 

success story of the FIFA World Cup by 

FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter. 

Old rivals, 

old friends 

Hungarian duo Gyula Grosics and 

Jeno Buzanszki and Germany FR’s 

Horst Eckel were on opposite sides 

in the 1954 World Cup fi nal at the 

Wankdorf Stadium in Berne. More 

than 51 years later, the three met 

up again at the FIFA banquet held 

on the occasion of the World Cup 

draw in Leipzig. Goalkeeper Grosics 

and defender Buzanszki, both now 

80 years of age, revealed just how 

much the 3-2 defeat suffered by the 

Hungary’s magical Magyars had hurt 

them. Eckel, 74, a former defender, 

and Uwe Seeler, 69, who took part in 

four World Cups but was not involved 

in 1954, also took the opportunity to 

rekindle old memories and discuss the 

forthcoming tournament with their 

friends and former rivals. 

FIFA President awarded top honour 

Joseph S. Blatter was awarded an honorary doctorate by Bulgaria’s 

National Sports Academy on 15 November. The FIFA President received 

the award in the Bulgarian capital, Sofi a, in recognition of his “great 

contribution to the expansion of football around the world,” said 

Lachezar Dimitrov, rector of the academy. 


FEBRUARY 2006 


69

FIFA Web Addresses Confederations and Associations 

Confederations 

AFC 

CAF 

CONCACAF 

CONMEBOL 

OFC 

UEFA 

Associations 

Albania 

Algeria 

Andorra 

Angola 

Argentina 

Armenia 

Aruba 

Australia 

Austria 

Bahamas 

Bahrain 

Bangladesh 

Barbados 

Belarus 

Belgium 

Belize 

Bermuda 

Bosnia-Herzegovina 

Brazil 

British Virgin Islands 

Brunei Darussalam 

Bulgaria 

Burkina Faso 

Cameroon 

Canada 

Cayman Islands 

Chile 

China PR 

Chinese Taipei 

Colombia 

Costa Rica 

Cote d’Ivoire 

Croatia 

Czech Republic 

Denmark 

Ecuador 

Egypt 

El Salvador 

England 

Estonia 

Faroe Islands 

Fiji 

Finland 

France 

FYR Macedonia 

Gambia 

Georgia 

Germany 

Ghana 

Greece 

Guam 

Guatemala 

Guyana 

Hong Kong 

Hungary 

Iceland 

Indonesia 

Iraq 

Israel 

Italy 

Jamaica 

Japan 

www.the-afc.com 

www.cafonline.com 

www.concacaf.com 

www.conmebol.com 

www.oceaniafootball.com 

www.uefa.com 

www.fshf.org 

www.faf.org.dz 

www.fedandfut.com 

www.fafutebol.com 

www.afa.org.ar 

www.armenia.fi fa.com 

www.avbaruba.aw 

www.footballaustralia.com.au 

www.oefb.at 

www.bahamasfootballassoc.com 

www.bahrainfootball.org 

www.bffonline.com 

www.barbadossoccer.com 

www.bff.by 

www.footbel.com 

www.belizefootball.bz 

www.bfa.bm 

www.nfsbih.ba 

www.cbfnews.com.br 

www.bvifa.com 

www.bafa.org.bn 

www.bfunion.bg 

www.fasofoot.com 

www.cameroon.fi fa.com 

www.canadasoccer.com 

www.caymanfootball.ky 

www.anfp.cl 

www.fa.org.cn 

www.ctfa.com.tw 

www.colfutbol.org 

www.fedefutbol.com 

www.fi f.ci 

www.hns-cff.hr 

www.fotbal.cz 

www.dbu.dk 

www.ecuafutbol.org 

www.efa.com.eg 

www.fesfut.org.sv 

www.TheFA.com 

www.estonia.fi fa.com 

www.football.fo 

www.fi jifootball.com 

www.palloliitto.fi 

www.fff.fr 

www.ffm.com.mk 

www.gambiafa.org 

www.gff.ge 

www.dfb.de 

www.ghanafa.org 

www.epo.gr 

www.guamfootball.com 

www.fedefut.org 

www.gff.org.gy 

www.hkfa.com 

www.mlsz.hu 

www.ksi.is 

www.pssi-online.com/id/index.php 

www.iraqfootball.org 

www.israel-football.org.il 

www.fi gc.it 

www.jamaicafootballfederation.com 

www.jfa.or.jp/e/index.html 

Jordan 

Kazakhstan 

Korea Republic 

Kuwait 

Kyrgyzstan 

Latvia 

Lebanon 

Lesotho 

Liberia 

Liechtenstein 

Lithuania 

Luxembourg 

Malaysia 

Maldives 

Malta 

Mexico 

Moldova 

Monserrat 

Morocco 

Netherlands 

Netherlands Antilles 

New Zealand 

Nicaragua 

Nigeria 

Northern Ireland 

Norway 

Pakistan 

Palestine 

Panama 

Peru 

Philippines 

Poland 

Portugal 

Puerto Rico 

Qatar 

Republic of Ireland 

Romania 

Samoa 

San Marino 

Sao Tome e Príncipe 

Saudi Arabia 

Scotland 

Serbia and Montenegro 

Sierra Leone 

Singapore 

Slovakia 

Slovenia 

Solomon Islands 

South Africa 

Spain 

Sri Lanka 

St. Kitts and Nevis 

St. Vincent and the Grenadines 

Swaziland 

Sweden 

Switzerland 

Togo 

Tonga 

Trinidad and Tobago 

Tunisia 

Turkey 

Turks and Caicos Islands 

Uganda 

Ukraine 

Uruguay 

USA 

Uzbekistan 

Venezuela 

Vietnam 

Wales 

Zambia 

Zimbabwe 

www.jfa.com.jo 

www.fsk.kz 

www.kfa.or.kr 

www.kfa.org.kw 

www.ffkr.kg 

www.lff.lv 

www.lebanesefa.com 

www.lesothofa.com 

www.liberiansoccer.com 

www.lfv.li 

www.futbolas.lt 

www.football.lu 

www.fam.org.my 

www.famaldives.gov.mv 

www.mfa.com.mt 

www.femexfut.org.mx 

www.fmf.md 

www.monserrat-football.com 

www.frmf.ma 

www.knvb.nl 

www.navusoccer.com 

www.nzsoccer.com 

www.fenifut.org.ni 

www.nigeriafa.com 

www.irishfa.com 

www.fotball.no 

www.pff.com.pk 

www.palfa.com 

www.fepafut.com 

www.fpf.com.pe 

www.philfootball.info 

www.pzpn.pl 

www.fpf.pt 

www.fedefutbolpr.com 

www.qatar-football.com 

www.fai.ie 

www.frf.ro 

www.soccersamoa.ws 

www.fsgc.sm 

www.fsf.st 

www.saff.com.sa 

www.scottishfa.co.uk 

www.fsj.co.yu 

www.slfa.tk 

www.fas.org.sg 

www.futbalsfz.sk 

www.nzs.si 

www.siff.com.sb 

www.safa.net 

www.rfef.es 

www.srilankafootball.com 

www.sknfa.com 

www.svgnetworks.com 

www.nfas.org.sz 

www.svenskfotboll.se 

www.football.ch 

www.ftf-enligne.tg 

www.tongafootball.com 

www.tnt.fi fa.com 

www.ftf.org.tn 

www.tff.org 

www.football.tc 

www.fufa.co.ug 

www.ffu.org.ua 

www.auf.org.uy 

www.ussoccer.com 

www.uzfootball.com 

www.fvf.org.ve 

www.vff.org.vn 

www.faw.org.uk 

www.faz.co.zm 

www.zimbabwesoccer.com 


FEBRUARY 2006 


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72 

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FEBRUARY 2006 

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73

Task force: more transparency 

The FIFA Task Force for the Good of 

the Game offi cially started work with 

a meeting of the Working Group for 

Financial Matters attended by FIFA 

President Joseph S. Blatter. The lively 

and constructive debates resulted in the 

working group unanimously agreeing 

on the urgent need to greatly improve 

fi nancial transparency at all levels to 

help protect the integrity of the game 

and its competitions. 

Issues such as corruption, betting, 

ownership of more than one 

football club by a single individual 

or organisation, money-laundering, 

controlling the fl ow of money in player 

transfers, developments in the transfer 

market and the role of players’ agents 

were all on the agenda. First of all, the 

working group, chaired by Mathieu 

Sprengers (Netherlands), took stock 

of all of these issues and listened to a 

report from Dr Protogenes Pinheiro de 

Querioz, a Brazilian police offi cer who 

led investigations into the origin of 

funds behind the purchase of Brazilian 

club Corinthians, and into Brazilian 

referee Edilson Pereira de Carvalho’s 

attempts to manipulate football 

matches. The working group members 

then studied the regulations that are 

in force for all of the above matters, 

before they opened their discussions 

by expressing ideas with the aim of 

formulating concrete proposals for their 

next meeting in Zurich on 8 February 

2006. A separate meeting on illegal 

betting will also be held a day earlier. 

“The decision to create the Task Force 

No smartball at World Cup 

adidas has confi rmed that the socalled 

smartball technology that uses 

the ball as an information carrier 

will not debut at the 2006 FIFA 

World Cup. The technology was 

not tested at the FIFA Club World 

Championship TOYOTA Cup Japan 

2005 in December. 

In consultation with world football’s 

governing body, FIFA, and in close 

cooperation with development 

partner Cairos Technologies AG in 

Karlsbad, Germany, it was decided to 

focus on the further development and 

testing of the system before using it at 

tournaments on the highest level. 

Cairos Technologies AG is the leader 

in the sector of highly accurate, highresolution 

3-D localisation of dynamic 

objects. Cairos was founded in June 

FIFA Task Force 

for the Good of the Game 

Working Group for Competitions: 

Adriano Galliani (Italy/Chairman), Michel 

Platini (France/Deputy Chairman), Dr. 

Michel D’Hooghe (Belgium), Gerhard 

Mayer-Vorfelder (Germany), César Luis 

Menotti (Argentina), Theo van Seggelen 

(Netherlands), Emilio Butragueño (Spain), 

Walter A. Brunner (Switzerland), Vitaly 

Mutko (Russia), Kalusha Bwalya (Zambia), 

Pierluigi Collina (Italy), Johan Cruyff 

(Netherlands), Arsène Wenger (France), 

Lars-Christer Olsson (Sweden/represented 

by Giorgio Marchetti). 

2000 and came up with the initial 

idea of tracking an object on the pitch 

in order to support the referee in his 

decisions. 

The Cairos system has been 

developed and optimised for situations 

in which fast moving objects must be 

located exactly and securely with very 

small transmitters. 

The principles used in the system can 

also be applied in different situations: 

in sport, such as American football, 

association football, basketball or ice 

hockey, but also in industry, such as in 

security matters at airports and gates, 

in large docks, in military operations 

or in many other situations besides. 

Cairos AG is the exclusive worldwide 

distributor for the Cairos system in 

sport and industry. 

for the Good of the Game has been 

vindicated, not only by the fact that 

various sectors of international football 

are represented in the Working Group 

for Financial Matters, but also by the 

relevance of the members’ comments 

and ideas, and by their shared 

determination to identify problems and 

to work together to fi ght them,” said 

the FIFA President. 

Working Group for 

Financial Matters: 

Mathieu Sprengers (Netherlands/Chairman, 

pictured), Ricardo 

Terra Teixeira (Brazil/Deputy Chairman), 

Gilberto Madail (Portugal), Philippe Piat 

(France), Richard Scudamore (England), 

Joan Laporta (Spain), Roger Vanden 

Stock (Belgium), Urs Linsi (Switzerland), 

Lars-Christer Olsson (Sweden), Dato’ 

Peter Velappan (Malaysia). – Guests: 

Julio Grondona (Argentina), Dr. Protogonés 

Pinheiro de Queiroz (Brazil). 

More dialogue 

The Working Group for Competitions 

held its fi rst meeting at FIFA 

headquarters in Zurich on 29 November 

2005. The issues discussed included 

the international match calendar 

and the structure of domestic and 

international competitions, relations 

between clubs and national teams, the 

decline in the competitiveness of some 

competitions and the fi ght against 

doping, one of FIFA’s priorities. 

“While discussing the recent 

problems between FIFA and some 

clubs, such as the ‘Charleroi case’, 

the Working Group for Competitions 

came to the conclusion that dialogue 

should replace confrontation in the 

FIFA family,” said Dr Michel D’Hooghe 

(FIFA Executive Committee member 

and president of FC Brugge). 


FEBRUARY 2006 


75


76 


Brazil and Ghana 

take annual awards 

For the fourth year in a row, Brazil 

take the Top Team title after fi nishing 

the year at the top of the table and 44 

points clear of their nearest competitor, 

a position they resiliently held on 

to for the entire year. The Czech 

Republic, fi nishing in second position, 

bettered their end-of-2004 ranking 

by two positions, while other notable 

movers within the top ten include the 

Netherlands (3 rd , up 3 ranks on 2004), 

Mexico (5 th , up 2) and the USA (8 th , 

up 3), who made it to their highest 

Rank Team +/- Ranks Rank Points +/- Points 

Nov-Dec 05 End of 04 Dec 05 Nov-Dec 05 

1 Brazil 0 1 840 -1 

2 Czech Republic 0 4 796 0 

3 Netherlands 0 6 791 0 

4 Argentina 0 3 772 -2 

5 Mexico +2 7 768 0 

Spain +1 5 768 -3 

France 0 2 768 -4 

8 USA 0 11 767 +1 

9 England 0 8 757 0 

10 Portugal 0 9 754 0 

11 Turkey 0 14 748 -1 

12 Italy 0 10 741 0 

13 Denmark 0 14 733 +1 

14 Sweden 0 13 732 +1 

15 Japan 0 17 715 +2 

16 Germany 0 19 708 -2 

Greece +1 18 708 0 

18 Uruguay 0 16 706 0 

19 Iran 0 20 703 +1 

20 Croatia 0 23 701 0 

21 Costa Rica 0 27 699 0 

22 Poland +1 25 696 0 

23 Cameroon -1 23 695 -2 

24 Colombia +1 26 692 0 

Nigeria +1 21 692 0 

Ireland Republic -1 12 692 -4 

27 Romania 0 29 686 0 

28 Tunisia 0 35 685 +2 

29 Korea Republic 0 22 680 -2 

30 Senegal 0 31 672 0 

Paraguay 0 30 672 0 

32 Egypt +1 34 665 +2 

33 Saudi Arabia -1 28 663 -6 

34 Russia 0 32 662 0 

ever ranking position (6 th ) in July of 

this year. Ghana eventually won the 

race for the Best Mover title, shaking 

off competition from Ethiopia and 

Togo, while Ethiopia stood out when 

it came to improving ranking, climbing 

39 places in 2005 to reach 112 th , with 

Togo (56 th , up 33) and Scotland (60 th , 

up 26) also gaining more than 25 

ranking positions. Scotland top the 

list of most richly rewarded matches in 

2005 by collecting 44.4 points in their 

3-0 victory over Slovenia in October – a 



35 Switzerland +1 51 656 +2 

36 Morocco -1 33 655 0 

37 Ecuador 0 39 651 +1 

38 Norway 0 35 649 0 

39 Bulgaria 0 37 638 0 

40 Ukraine 0 57 630 +3 

41 Honduras 0 59 628 +2 

42 Jamaica +1 49 626 +1 

Cote d’Ivoire -1 40 626 0 

44 Israel 0 48 622 0 

45 Slovakia 0 53 621 +2 

46 Finland -1 43 614 -5 

47 Serbia & Montenegro 0 46 612 0 

48 Australia +1 58 610 0 

49 South Africa -1 38 609 -2 

50 Ghana 0 77 608 0 

50 Trinidad and Tobago +1 63 608 +1 

52 Bahrain +1 49 603 +2 

53 Zimbabwe +1 60 601 +1 

54 Iraq +20 44 597 +51 

55 Belgium -3 45 596 -7 

56 Togo 0 89 585 +3 

Guatemala -1 71 585 +1 

58 Zambia -1 70 579 0 

59 Uzbekistan -1 47 573 -5 

60 Scotland +1 86 572 0 

61 Angola +1 72 570 0 

Belarus -2 69 570 -3 

63 Mali -4 51 569 -4 

64 Chile -1 74 562 0 

65 Bosnia-Herzegovina 0 79 561 +1 

66 Peru -1 66 560 0 

67 Venezuela 0 62 555 -1 

68 Slovenia -5 42 553 -9 

FIFA World Cup qualifying win which 

unfortunately came too late for the 

Scots. Trinidad and Tobago were the 

most active team in 2005, contesting 

28 matches. To date, a total of 743 

matches have been played in 2005 with 

some additional games outstanding 

(SAFF Cup, friendlies), which means 

2005 was rather ‘quiet’ in comparison 

to previous years. Almost half of the 

matches (352) played were part of the 

preliminary competition for the 2006 

FIFA World Cup Germany. 



69 Austria +3 83 550 0 

Latvia +1 65 550 -2 

71 Wales +1 68 549 -1 

72 China PR -3 54 548 -6 

Kuwait -4 54 548 -7 

74 Hungary -3 64 547 -4 

75 Cuba 0 76 546 +1 

76 Estonia +1 81 543 +2 

77 Congo DR -1 78 541 -1 

78 Panama 0 100 536 +1 

79 Guinea +1 86 531 0 

80 Algeria +2 73 522 -2 

Libya +3 61 522 -1 

82 Albania +3 86 517 0 

Korea DPR +2 95 517 0 

84 Canada +3 90 512 0 

85 United Arab Emirates +3 82 509 -1 

86 Jordan -2 40 503 -18 

87 Macedonia FYR +3 92 502 0 

Burkina Faso +2 84 502 -3 

89 Rwanda +17 99 488 +42 

Kenya +3 74 488 -7 

91 Oman -12 56 484 -50 

92 Sudan +1 114 483 -4 

Singapore +3 112 483 +1 

94 Iceland -1 93 482 -5 

95 Qatar -14 66 478 -49 

96 Cyprus +1 108 472 0 

Bolivia 0 94 472 -2 

98 Haiti -7 95 465 -31 

Syria +9 85 465 +23 

100 Lithuania -2 100 464 -1 

101 Uganda +8 109 463 +29 

Botswana -2 102 463 0 



103 Northern Ireland -2 107 461 +1 

104 Gabon -2 109 459 0 

Georgia -4 104 459 -3 

106 Malawi -2 109 451 +1 

107 Moldova +1 114 442 +1 

108 Armenia +2 119 431 +1 

109 Indonesia -6 91 418 -37 

110 Congo +1 117 411 -2 

111 Thailand -6 79 408 -41 

112 Ethiopia +16 151 399 +48 

113 Benin +2 122 396 0 

114 Azerbaijan -1 113 394 -6 

115 Barbados +4 121 386 -1 

116 Turkmenistan -4 98 385 -16 

117 Hong Kong 0 133 383 -7 

118 Malta +5 134 371 0 

Cape Verde Islands +2 129 371 -1 

120 Vietnam SR -6 103 368 -31 

New Zealand -2 95 368 -20 

122 Liechtenstein +2 142 366 +1 

123 Malaysia -7 120 358 -35 

124 El Salvador -4 106 357 -15 

125 Andorra +2 138 356 0 

Lebanon -5 105 356 -16 

127 India +8 132 355 +31 

128 St. Lucia -3 114 344 -15 

129 St. Kitts & Nevis -1 118 337 -14 

130 St. Vincent/Grenadines -4 137 336 -22 

Mozambique 0 126 336 -8 

132 Faroe Islands -1 131 325 -7 

133 Maldives +14 139 323 +41 

134 Swaziland -3 126 322 -10 

135 Fiji +1 135 317 -6 

Liberia -2 123 317 -11 

137 Kazakhstan +2 147 314 -1 

Palestine 0 126 314 -8 

139 Yemen -5 124 310 -15 

140 Solomon Islands -2 130 303 -13 

141 Tajikistan 0 136 299 -10 

Tahiti -1 124 299 -14 

143 Mauritius +1 140 284 -8 

144 Sri Lanka 0 140 281 -11 

145 Lesotho +1 144 267 -16 

146 Vanuatu +2 143 266 -10 

147 Burundi -4 152 265 -40 

Myanmar -5 144 265 -43 

149 Madagascar 0 147 264 -9 

150 Luxembourg +2 155 256 0 

151 Grenada -1 144 249 -20 



152 Nicaragua +2 158 244 0 

Surinam -1 149 244 -13 

154 Antigua +1 153 239 -4 

155 San Marino +2 164 238 0 

156 Chinese Taipei 0 155 237 -4 

157 Kyrgyzstan -4 150 235 -10 

158 Pakistan +10 177 231 +51 

159 Chad -1 168 229 -3 

160 Bangladesh +10 167 224 +48 

161 Namibia -1 158 219 -5 

Bermuda -3 157 219 -13 

163 Sierra Leone -1 160 213 +9 

164 Gambia -3 154 205 -10 

165 Tanzania +10 172 196 +46 

166 Papua New Guinea -2 161 191 -6 

167 Guyana 0 182 185 0 

168 Netherlands Antilles -2 163 184 -6 

169 Eritrea +3 169 182 +13 

170 Laos -5 162 180 -15 

171 British Virgin Islands -8 165 176 -26 

172 Dominica -3 165 171 -8 

173 Equatorial Guinea -2 171 169 -4 

174 Dominican Republic -1 170 157 -7 

175 Nepal +6 177 153 +17 

176 Seychelles -2 173 152 -4 

177 Niger -1 173 144 -5 

178 Mauritania 0 175 139 -5 

179 Mongolia 0 185 137 -1 

180 Belize +1 181 134 -2 

181 Cayman Islands -5 176 133 -16 

182 Samoa -2 179 131 -6 

183 Central African Rep. 0 180 128 -4 

184 Somalia +4 193 111 +23 

185 Tonga -1 183 110 -4 

186 Guinea-Bissau +5 190 109 +34 

187 New Caledonia -2 186 104 -3 

188 Cambodia -3 184 95 -12 

189 Afghanistan +9 200 85 +31 

190 Bhutan -1 187 84 -1 

191 Philippines -4 188 77 -13 

192 Macao -2 188 75 -3 

193 Bahamas -1 192 68 -4 

194 Cook Islands 0 190 65 -5 

195 Puerto Rico -2 194 62 -9 

196 US Virgin Islands -1 196 58 -5 

197 Sao Tome e Principe -1 195 55 -4 

198 Anguilla -1 197 52 -3 

199 Brunei Darussalam 0 199 49 -2 

200 Djibouti +1 201 46 +13 



200 Aruba 0 198 46 -3 

202 Montserrat 0 202 30 -1 

203 Turks and Caicos 0 203 22 -1 

204 Guam 0 205 20 0 

205 American Samoa 0 204 15 0 

Note: Teams inactive since 1997 and teams which 

have not played yet do not appear in the table. 

The Ranking System 

The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking 

evaluates all matches played by 

senior national teams, i.e. 

World Cup fi nal matches 

World Cup preliminary matches 

continental championship fi nal 

matches 

continental championship 

preliminary matches 

friendly matches. 

The calculation of a team’s points 

from a certain match is based on 

the following six criteria: 

winning, drawing and losing 

number of goals 

home or away match 

importance of the match 

(multiplication factor) 

strength of the opponent 

regional strength 

(multiplication factor) 

To ensure that the FIFA/Coca-Cola 

World Ranking always refl ects 

the current status, FIFA primarily 

evaluates matches played in the 12 

months prior to the date on which 

it is issued. Performance over the 

previous years is also taken into 

account, however. Basically, the 

score obtained from the current 

12 months is added to that of the 

immediately preceding seven years, 

with each previous year being 

devalued continually. 




77

Germany still lead the way 

The third year-end FIFA Women’s 

World Ranking is once again headed 

by world and European champions 

Germany. Success in this year’s 

European Championship has doubled 

Sylvia Neid’s team’s advantage over the 

American Olympic champions, while 

Norway (3 rd ) and Brazil (4 th ) – the only 

South American team in the top ten 

– lie some way back in third and fourth 

respectively. 

The remaining places in the top 

ten are occupied by Sweden (5 th ), 

Korea DPR (6 th ), France (7 th ), Denmark 

(8 th ), China PR (9 th ) and Italy (10 th ). 

In terms of the number of points gained 

in 2005, Germany (+ 53 points) and 

Rank Team +/- Ranks End of 04 Rating +/- Rating 

Sep 05 - Dec 05 Dec 05 Sep - Dec 05 

1 Germany 0 1 2234 1 

2 USA 0 2 2184 -7 

3 Norway 0 3 2100 6 

4 Brazil 0 4 2053 0 

5 Sweden 1 5 2012 7 

6 Korea DPR 1 8 1999 0 

7 France -2 9 1997 -32 

8 Denmark 0 7 1977 -4 

9 China PR 0 6 1950 -7 

10 Italy 0 10 1939 8 

11 Japan 0 13 1908 0 

12 England 2 14 1905 33 

13 Canada -1 11 1904 0 

14 Russia -1 12 1891 -2 

15 Australia 1 15 1866 14 

16 Finland -2 16 1845 -27 

17 Netherlands 1 17 1821 22 

18 Ukraine 1 19 1805 22 

19 Iceland -2 18 1804 -14 

20 Spain 0 20 1778 24 

21 Czech Republic 2 22 1776 31 

22 New Zealand -1 21 1751 0 

23 Korea Republic -1 26 1748 0 

24 Nigeria 1 24 1736 -3 

25 Chinese Taipei -1 23 1733 -8 

26 Mexico 0 25 1729 -4 

27 Switzerland 0 30 1685 -2 

27 Poland 5 32 1685 35 

29 Scotland 0 29 1665 -10 

30 Serbia & Montenegro -2 31 1662 -19 

31 Belgium -1 27 1648 -26 

32 Ireland Republic 3 35 1632 8 

33 Romania 0 33 1629 -3 

34 Peru 0 38 1627 0 

35 Hungary -4 27 1625 -47 

36 Vietnam SR 7 43 1604 18 

36 Argentina 1 37 1604 0 

38 Colombia 0 36 1600 0 

39 Trinidad and Tobago 2 39 1593 0 

40 Portugal -4 34 1592 -22 

41 Thailand -1 41 1587 -9 

42 Belarus 0 40 1585 -2 

43 Slovakia -4 42 1580 -19 

England (+ 39) lead the way. However, 

the Best Mover of the Year comes 

from Asia, with Vietnam climbing 

seven places to 36 th on the back of an 

impressive haul of points. 

Other teams heading in the right 

direction include Poland, Slovenia and 

Northern Ireland, while Mozambique 

(down 6), Portugal (down 6) and 

Hungary (down 8) are the teams who 

have lost the most ground in 2005. 

Egypt, Bermuda and FYR Macedonia 

now appear in the FIFA Women’s World 

Ranking, in contrast to Morocco, who 

for the time being are no longer listed. 

The ranking currently features 123 

teams, who are evaluated on a number 



44 Myanmar 0 46 1571 13 

45 Austria 2 47 1559 27 

46 Costa Rica 0 45 1547 0 

47 Croatia -2 44 1531 -23 

48 Bulgaria 0 48 1521 0 

49 Uzbekistan 0 49 1504 0 

50 Ghana 0 50 1494 0 

51 Chile 0 51 1487 0 

52 Ecuador 1 52 1463 0 

53 Tonga * 2 55 1461 0 

54 Wales 2 56 1451 0 

55 Greece -3 53 1449 -17 

56 India 1 58 1443 0 

56 Haiti 1 57 1443 0 

58 Egypt * 1 1440 0 

59 Papua New Guinea 1 59 1429 0 

60 Lithuania 1 60 1399 -2 

61 Latvia 1 61 1382 -8 

62 Panama 1 63 1375 0 

63 Kazakhstan 2 64 1366 0 

64 Indonesia 0 62 1361 -13 

65 Paraguay 1 66 1354 0 

66 Hong Kong 1 65 1353 0 

67 Israel 2 71 1349 3 

68 Uruguay 0 67 1347 0 

69 Turkey 1 68 1344 0 

70 Slovenia 5 75 1339 26 

71 Faroe Islands 0 70 1334 0 

72 Guam 0 69 1325 0 

72 South Africa 2 73 1325 2 

74 Fiji -1 72 1324 0 

75 Malaysia 1 74 1299 -6 

76 Jamaica 1 76 1294 0 

77 Northern Ireland 6 83 1293 22 

78 Algeria 0 78 1285 0 

79 Mali 0 79 1283 0 

80 Venezuela 0 77 1282 0 

81 Guatemala 0 80 1278 0 

81 Philippines 0 81 1278 0 

83 Cameroon 1 82 1268 2 

84 Estonia 1 84 1229 0 

85 Bosnia-Herzegovina 1 85 1225 0 

86 Bolivia 1 86 1220 0 

of factors, including match results, home 

advantage, the signifi cance of a match 

and the strength of the opposition. 

The ranking is published four times per 

year. According to the Big Count survey 

published by FIFA in 2001, 22 million 

women and girls around the world play 

football. 



87 Vanuatu * 1 87 1208 0 

88 Singapore 4 90 1203 6 

89 Dominica * 0 88 1199 0 

89 Surinam 0 88 1199 0 

91 Honduras 0 90 1198 0 

92 Moldova 2 93 1197 7 

93 Angola 0 92 1191 0 

94 Senegal * 1 94 1184 0 

95 Zimbabwe 1 95 1179 0 

96 Congo DR 1 96 1172 0 

97 El Salvador 1 97 1160 0 

98 St. Lucia * 1 98 1158 0 

99 Tahiti * 1 99 1155 0 

100 Cook Islands * 1 101 1143 0 

101 Samoa 1 102 1122 0 

102 Dominican Republic * 2 104 1114 0 

103 Malta 0 103 1113 -3 

103 Nicaragua * 2 105 1113 0 

105 Bahamas * 1 106 1111 0 

106 Ethiopia 1 107 1084 0 

106 Guinea 1 107 1084 0 

108 Armenia 1 109 1064 0 

109 Congo * 1 110 1056 0 

110 Maldives Republic * 1 100 1044 0 

110 Swaziland * 1 111 1044 0 

112 Puerto Rico * 1 112 1036 0 

113 Zambia * 1 113 1027 0 

114 Botswana * 1 114 1026 0 

115 Cyprus * 2 116 1023 0 

115 Gabon * 2 116 1023 0 

117 Bermuda * 2 974 0 

118 Namibia * 2 118 970 0 

119 Macedonia FYR * 2 939 0 

120 Mozambique * -5 114 923 -103 

121 Cayman Islands * 1 119 917 0 

122 Belize * 1 120 882 0 

123 Tanzania * 1 121 788 0 

Team: *= provisional ranking 


FEBRUARY 2006 


79


80 


AFC CAF CONCACAF 

A FIFA Com-Unity workshop for the Football 

Association of Malaysia (FAM) held 

in November proved to be a resounding 

success, with non-governmental organisations 

(NGOs) and the media agreeing 

to join hands and work for the good of 

the community through the beautiful 

game. The course focused on communications, 

marketing and the role of NGOs 

and was inaugurated by AFC President 

Mohamed bin Hammam. Jurg Nepfer, 

FIFA’s head of course programmes, 

steered the three-day course. 

In his opening speech, Bin Hammam 

underlined the importance of marketing 

and communications in developing 

the game. “There are huge fi nancial 

opportunities around us, but so far our 

associations, clubs and leagues have not 

been able to pick this up due to a lack 

of knowledge and know-how,” he said. 

“We need to have these skills if we want 

to take our football to the next level.” 

FAM General Secretary Ibrahim Saad 

stressed the need for a fl exible mindset 

to adapt to the fast-changing world of 

football. “We must not only concern ourselves 

with matters on the fi eld but also 

with marketing and communications,” 

he said. “This workshop provided us with 

the opportunity to renovate and innovate 

our administration in order to cope with 

the demands of the modern game.” 

A nationwide professional league will be 

launched in Bangladesh in October 

2006 as part of the AFC’s “Vision Asia” 

project. The “Vision Asia” team provided 

the rules and regulations for the new 

league. To strengthen its administration, 

the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) 

has already started recruiting professional 

staff. “I hope the new structured 

league will boost the game in the country 

and help the teams in a big way,” said 

BFF General Secretary Anwarul Hoq 

Helel. “The league will have 10 to 12 

clubs, including clubs from the far-fl ung 

areas of Chittagong, Slyhet, Khulna, 

Rajshai and possibly Barisal.” 

Michelle Chai 

Top club Al Ahly from Egypt lifted their 

fourth African Champions League trophy 

on 12 November after beating Tunisia’s 

Etoile du Sahel 3-0 in front of a jubilant 

home crowd. The fi rst leg in Sousse had 

ended in a goalless draw. Al Ahly from 

Cairo is one of the most traditional and 

prestigious clubs in Africa and the most 

successful one in Egypt, having won 

the domestic league 30 times and the 

national cup competition on 33 occasions. 

Forces Armées Royales (FAR) became 

the first Moroccan side to lift the 

Confederation Cup on 19 November 

after beating Nigeria’s Dolphins 3-0 in 

the second leg of the fi nal to win 3-1 on 

aggregate, having lost 1-0 to Dolphins 

in the fi rst leg. Accra Hearts of Oak from 

Ghana won the fi rst ever Confederation 

Cup in 2004. FAR from the city of Rabat 

is the most successful Moroccan club 

(11 league titles, 8 cup titles) followed 

by Wyad AC (WAC) from Casablanca (10 

league titles, 9 cups). 

Rafi q Khan, President of the Zimbabwe 

Football Association (ZIFA), told local 

media in November that the “Warriors”, 

Zimbabwe’s senior national team, would 

gather for a training camp on 26 December 

in preparation for the 2006 African 

Cup of Nations and remain together until 

the Egypt fi nals, which roar into life on 

20 January 2006. The “Warriors”, who 

make their second successive Nations 

Cup appearance in very diffi cult company, 

are hoping to survive in a Group 

D that also includes World Cup-bound 

Ghana, and powerhouses Nigeria and 

Senegal. Suleiman Habuba 

Trinidad & Tobago will be the fourth 

Caribbean team in history to play in the 

FIFA World Cup fi nals when the team 

takes to the fi eld in Germany in June. A 

play-off victory over Asian rivals Bahrain 

means that the “Soca Warriors” join 

Jamaica (France 1998), Haiti (Germany 

1974) and Cuba (France 1938) on the 

list of Caribbean teams to play in FIFA’s 

global showpiece event. 

Mexico will host the CONCACAF 

Women’s Under-20 Final Round from 

18–27 January 2006. The tournament, 

from which three teams will qualify for 

the FIFA Women’s U-20 World Championship 

Russia 2006 (16 August – 2 

September), has hosts Mexico in Group 

A alongside Canada, Panama and Trinidad 

& Tobago, while Group B has the 

USA along with El Salvador, Jamaica 

and Surinam. 

This event will be the fi rst time that El 

Salvador have played in the fi nal stages 

of a CONCACAF women’s tournament. 

They earned a place in the CONCACAF 

Women’s Under-20 Final Round by fi nishing 

fi rst, ahead of Costa Rica and Guatemala, 

in one of the Central American 

qualifying events. 

The path is clear for a Toronto-based team 

to join the USA’s top men’s professional 

league, Major League Soccer (MLS), following 

a decision of CONCACAF’s Executive 

Committee on 21 November. 

The committee unanimously supported 

the proposal, already approved by both 

The Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) 

and the US Soccer Federation (USSF), 

that a Canadian team could enter the 

MLS starting with the 2007 season. 

The Toronto-based team will be the fi rst 

non-US club to compete in the MLS. 

The league, which has just celebrated its 

tenth anniversary, is currently comprised 

of 12 teams based in cities across the 

USA. Jason Hughes 

CONMEBOL OFC UEFA 

A survey conducted by Uruguayan 

Sports Web has revealed that 62.4% of 

fans would like to see a new national 

coach in place. Despite being asked by 

the Uruguayan football association to 

continue in his position, Jorge Fossati 

refused to take charge of the friendly 

match against a Galicia XI on 29 December. 

And with that, he waved goodbye to 

the national team of Uruguay. 

Fossati had taken over in April 2004 

after a series of defeats and managed 

to steer the team to fi fth place in the 

South American qualifi ers of the 2006 

FIFA World Cup, after remaining 

unbeaten throughout the second half 

of the qualifying campaign. But in the 

deciding play-off against Australia, 

Uruguay’s luck ran out. He described 

that day as the worst thing that has ever 

happened to him. 

On 25 November 2005, in an unprecedented, 

ground-breaking decision in 

the history of Colombian football, 

two hooligans of Independiente Santa 

Fe from Bogota were sentenced to 20 

years of prison for attacking two other 

spectators with knives at the Campin 

stadium during a match against America 

de Cali on 11 May 2005. 

The attackers were named as Julio 

Alberto Trivino and Augusto Eduardo 

Bonilla, and the victims of the brawl, 

which was captured on television, were 

Jeison Ortiz and Kevin Gomez. 

The president of the Venezuelan football 

association (VFF), Rafael Esquivel, 

met national coach Richard Paez on 

16 November 2005 to discuss his new 

contract and future plans for the Venezuela 

team. 

The VFF plans to keep Paez as the 

national coach for the 2007 Copa America 

and the next World Cup cycle. Given 

that the coach is willing to continue in 

his position, all they have to agree on 

are certain outstanding points. It seems 

a foregone conclusion that he will stay 

on. Jorge Barraza 

Sobou FC were one of the fi rst clubs 

to confi rm their place in the 2006 OFC 

Club Championship with their fifth 

consecutive Papua New Guinea 

national club title at Laiwaden Oval in 

Madang. Sobou defeated Cosmos 4-2 

in the fi nal with goals from Solomon 

Islander Clifford Wate (2), Sovera Guti 

and Andrew Kasam. Andrew Lepani 

replied twice for Cosmos. In the match 

for third place, Momads defeated Blue 

Kumuls 3-0. Sobou also played in the 

2005 OFC Club Championship in Tahiti 

with limited success and will hope for a 

better outcome this year. 

Still in Melanesia, the Solomon Islands 

recently opened their second phase FIFA 

Goal project in Honiara. Solomon Islands 

Football Federation (SIFF) president 

Martin Alufurai announced that the Alan 

Boso National Soccer Academy would be 

a facility dedicated to the development 

of youth and women’s football in the 

country. The ceremony also served as 

an opportunity to remember the hard 

work of Matthew Kausimae, the former 

CEO of SIFF, who passed away just days 

before the inauguration ceremony. OFC 

president Reynald Temarii attended the 

ceremony as a guest of honour. 

Delegates from all 12 OFC member 

associations descended on Moorea in 

French Polynesia recently to discuss 

the strategic direction of the confederation 

during a three-day workshop. Input 

was sourced from the member associations 

regarding the development of the 

OFC competitions calendar from 2006 

to 2009 and the OFC technical strategy. 

The workshop was also an opportunity 

to congratulate Australia on their qualifi 

cation for the 2006 FIFA World Cup 

and to bid them farewell from the confederation. 

FIFA’s Walter Gagg was on 

hand to witness the sense of unity and 

friendship among the football family of 

Oceania that was strengthened by the 

workshop. Seamus Marten 

The Portuguese football association 

recently launched one of its most ambitious 

projects: the construction of the 

Portuguese House of Football (Casa 

das Selecções/Casa do Futebol) on the 

outskirts of Lisbon. The centre will cover 

16 hectares and will boast four football 

pitches and all the necessary facilities for 

the country’s national teams to prepare 

for matches. The centre will also have 

its own hotel, a restaurant, tennis courts 

and a sports hall. Work is already underway 

and the fi rst stage of the project is 

scheduled to be completed by the end 

of 2006. 

Jaka Jakopic is a former NK Domzale 

player who successfully fought cancer. 

He recently returned to football and also 

encouraged the Slovenian footballers’ 

association (SPINS) to join the “Heads 

up” campaign that aims to improve 

public awareness of cancer and fi ght 

against misconceptions of the disease. 

The campaign has also raised funds to 

help cancer sufferers. 

The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) 

has joined forces with the Irish Rugby 

Football Union and the Irish government 

to build a new stadium at Lansdowne 

Road. The entire project has a budget 

of EUR 365 million. Work is scheduled 

to start in early 2007 and should be 

completed by mid-2009. Andre Vieli 




81


82 


FEBRUARY 2006 

ELECTIONS 

Ethiopia 

General Secretary: EJIGU Ashenafi 

Treasurer: YADETA Abu 

Niger 

FENIFOOT 

Avenue Francois Mitterrand 

Case postale 10299 

NIAMEY 

Niger 

General Secretary: ABDOU Sani 

Treasurer: HASSANE DIABRI Ounteini 

Papua New Guinea 

General Secretary: DIMIRIT Mileng 

Telephone: +675/475 1359 

CONGRATULATIONS 

to the leading fi gures in world 

football who will be celebrating their 

birthdays in March 2006: 

FIFA Executive Committee member 

Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder 

will be 73 on 3 March 

FIFA Honorary Member 

Charles J. Dempsey 


FIFA President 

Joseph S. Blatter 



Poul Hlydgaard 



Dr. Ferdinand Hidalgo Rojas 


FIFA Executive Committee member 

Amadou Diakite 



Abdullah Al-Dabal 


Constructive dialogue 

At the instigation of Richard Caborn, 

Sports Minister of the UK, FIFA and 

UEFA met a European ministerial delegation 

in Leipzig on 8 December. The 

meeting proved to be very constructive. 

Joseph S. Blatter, FIFA President, Julio 

Grondona, FIFA Senior Vice-President 

and CONMEBOL representative, Lennart 

Johansson, UEFA President, Issa 

Hayatou, CAF President, Urs Linsi, FIFA 

General Secretary, Lars-Christer Olsson, 

UEFA Chief Executive Offi cer, as well 

as Jérôme Champagne, Delegate of 

the FIFA President, discussed the major 

challenges facing modern-day football 

and the question of the special nature 

of sport with Richard Caborn, Jaime 

Lissavetski, Spain’s Secretary of State 

for Sport, Christoph Bergner, Germany’s 

Parliamentary State Secretary, and 

Francisco Ghirelli, General Secretary of 

the Italian football association, representing 

Mario Pescante, Italy’s Secretary 

of State for Sport. Jan Figel (Slovakia), 

EU Commissioner for Education, Training, 

Culture and Multilingualism, took 

part in the debates via teleconference. 

The football representatives thanked the 

members of the European political community 

for their invitation, emphasising 

the principle of the autonomy of football 

as well as the specifi c nature of the 

sports world, as advocated by European 

Union texts, especially the Declaration of 

Nice announced in December 2000. 

FIFA MAGAZINE MARCH 2006 

INSIDEINFO 

Translations in this issue: Gabriela Straube (Head), Scott Burnett, Marilyn Jones, Stuart Makin. Hurst & Freelancers 

Hurricane fails to stop FIFA 

When hurricane Wilma hit the coast 

of Mexico, it surprised FIFA managers 

who at the time were organizing a Financial 

Assistance Programme seminar 

in Cancun. But it did not stop them. 

On the third day of the seminar, they 

heard that the hurricane was expected 

to reach Cancun and they reacted immediately. 

During a four-hour emergency 

meeting, they decided to hire a 

plane to take all participants to Mexico 

City. Everything was organized immediately 

and all seminar participants 

were swiftly evacuated together with 

some fortunate families. “There were 

a few families with children at the airport 

desperately trying to get a fl ight 

out of Cancun so we decided to take 

them with us” said one of the FIFA development 

managers. Once in Mexico 

city the seminar resumed the next day 

as if nothing had happened. A hurricane 

passed by, but even the force of 

nature could not stop football. 

Beach soccer in Argentina 

FIFA decided to host its fi rst beach 

soccer pilot course for coaches and 

referees in Buenos Aires in October. 

The course provided instruction for 

coaches and referees, who divided the 

time between practical and theoretical 

exercises. Taking part in the referees 

course were 15 futsal match offi cials. 

NEXT ISSUE 

2006 FIFA World Cup Australian striker Mark Viduka 

FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter turns 70 

Statistics International matches 

Brazilian league Foreigners and veterans 

Nigeria Special football project 

Claudio Reyna 25 questions, 25 answers

MAGAZINE INSIDE - FIFA.com

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