33rd Ordinary UEFA Congress in Copenhagen 03 11 ... - UEFA.com

SportsfileHungary ishosting thefinal roundof theEuropeanFutsalChampionship.Getty ImagesSpain’s XaviHernandezdonates acheque forEUR 100,000to the ICRC.Bongarts/Getty ImagesThe GermanFootballAssociationtakes a standagainst racism.one else had managed to hold Zvezdaeven to a draw.In the final, Zvezda meetother UEFA Women’s Cup debutantes,FCR 2001 Duisburg. The Germanside only entered the competition inthe second qualifying round, but theirrecord over seven matches is just asimpressive with six wins and one draw.It was in the first leg of their semifinalin Lyon that Duisburg were heldto a draw (1-1), but they came backwith a 3-1 win at home.The first leg of the final isin Russia on 16 May. The two teamsthen meet in Duisburg on 22 May.This is the last time the final will beplayed on a home and away basis –next season the competition will havea new format, under the new nameof UEFA Women’s Champions League.European FutsalChampionship –First final round withtwelve teamsThe final round of the2009/10 European Futsal Championshiptakes place in Hungaryand, for the first time, there are12 finalists.Hungary, who qualifyautomatically as hosts,found out who theywould be up againstwhen the qualifyingmatches were completedin mid-March. Ukraine, Spain,the Czech Republic, Italy, Belgium,Portugal and Russia won the qualifyingmini-tournaments and will bejoined in Hungary by the best fourrunners-up, Belarus, Serbia, Azerbaijanand Slovenia.The final draw is being heldat the Kölcsey Convention Centre,Debrecen, on 24 September. The12 teams will be divided into fourgroups. The final tournament takesplace from 19 to 30 January.Football and socialresponsibilityAccording to Senes Erzik, aUEFA vice-president and chairman ofthe Fair Play and Social ResponsibilityCommittee, “social responsibilitymust be written in UEFA’s DNA”.After the Unite AgainstRacism conference inWarsaw in early March,UEFA has continuedpursuing many activitiesin the field of social responsibility, oneof which was Earth Hour, organised bythe World Wildlife Fund (WWF) on28 March. This consisted in turning offall lights as a mark of awareness ofclimate change and the need to preservethe environment.Also, at the UEFA ChampionsLeague quarter-final betweenFC Barcelona and Olympique Lyonnaison 10 March, UEFA presented aEUR 100,000 cheque to Xavi Hernandez,captain of the uefa.com users’ Team ofthe Year. Xavi donated the money tothe Score for the Red Cross campaign,launched at EURO 2008 in support ofthe International Committee of theRed Cross (ICRC) rehabilitation projectfor landmine victims in Afghanistan.In addition, UEFA is onceagain participating in the annual SpecialOlympics Europe/Eurasia (SOEE) footballweek, which takes place from25 April to 3 May this year. A unifiedmatch between UEFA staff and SpecialOlympics players is being held on27 April in Nyon.Many of the member associationsalso have campaigns underway. In Belgium, for example, the“En un goal, de la rue à l’école” project(one goal, from street to school) hasbeen launched in favour of childrenin Africa; in Germany, the footballassociation showed racism the redcard in March; the Association ofEuropean Professional FootballLeagues (EPFL) organised a weekendagainst hunger; and clubs are followingsuit, with FK Partizan of Belgrade,for example, bringing footballersand basketball players together to sayno to racism.Football, a ray of light in a cloud of gloom, as depicted by Dix,a cartoonist at the anti-racism conference in Warsaw.15