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World club championship commences 11 Dec

The FIFA Club World Championship Toyota Cup, previously known as the Toyota Cup, is played annually amongst the six confederations that comprise the Fédération Internationale de Football Association.

This year's participants are the winners of the Asian Football Confederation, Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia; Confederation Africaine de Football Champions League, Al Ahly of Egypt; CONCACAF 2005 Champions Cup, Deportivo Saprissa of Costa Rica; CONMEBOL 2005 Copa Libertadores, Sao Paulo FC of Brazil; OFC 2005 Club Championship, Sydney FC of Australia; and the UEFA 2005 Champions League, Liverpool FC of England.

Quarterfinals: 11 December, Al Ittihad versus Al Ahly; 12 Dec; Sydney FC v Deportivo Saprissa. Semifinals: 14 Dec, W1 v Sao Paulo FC; 15 Dec, W2 v Liverpool FC. Match for 5th place: 16 Dec, L1 v L2. Match for 3rd place: 18 Dec, L3 v L4. Final: 18 Dec, W3 v W4.

Fox Sports International has acquired the exclusive territorial broadcast rights for the FIFA Club World Championship Toyota Cup Japan 2005 and 2006 covering the USA, Canada, Mexico, Central and South America (excluding Brazil) and the Caribbean.

Important findings on football nutrition and fitness

"Football players can stay healthy, avoid injury and achieve their performance goals by adopting good dietary habits," a three day FIFA conference on player nutrition agreed.

Invited participants were from the UK, Australia, Denmark, New Zealand, Scotland, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, US and included representatives from such major clubs as Real Madrid, Rangers FC, Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers FC, Sao Paulo FC and CD Chivas. A unique aspect of the meeting was the interaction of researchers with practical experts working in professional clubs. The goal of the meeting was to update the consensus statement issued 10 years ago with the latest findings so that the football community can benefit from the latest sports nutrition research.

Nutrition and hydration are important factors in athletic performance. Dehydration by as little as 2% of body weight affects performance. Food is the fuel source for the high energy demands of sport in general and specifically in football. In the presence of adequate and sound nutrition, the player is able to fuel the demands of their sport. Yet when food intake is inadequate or poorly chosen, fatigue occurs earlier, performance declines, and the risk for injury increases.

"The energetic and metabolic demands of football training and match play vary across the season, with the level of competition and with individual characteristics. Typical energy costs of training or match play in elite players are about 6 MJ (1500 kcal) per day for men and about 4 MJ (1000 kcal) for women," the seminar found.

"The football player should eat a wide variety of foods that provide sufficient carbohydrate to fuel the training and competition program, meet all nutrient requirements, and allow manipulation of energy or nutrient balance to achieve changes in lean body mass, body fat or growth. Low energy availability causes disturbances to hormonal, metabolic and immune function and to bone health.

"An adequate carbohydrate intake is the primary strategy to maintain optimum function. Players may need 5-7 grams of carbohydrate per kg body mass during periods of moderate training and up to about 10 g/kg during intense training or match play."

Over the course of the meeting, it became very apparent the key role that carbohydrates play in preparing for a match, performance during play, recovery from play, preparation for the next session and much more. One fact that became very clear: despite football being the most widely played game in the world, research on football performance lags far behind the extent of participation.

To understand the energy demands of football, Dr Jens Bangsbo (DEN) described the running volume and intensity required in football match performance. In addition, he showed how the interaction of aerobic and anaerobic energy supply during match play can affect the development of transient and overall fatigue during a match.

Football, like most all sports, requires the player to eat more than non-players. The needs of the footballer were address by Dr Louise Burke (AUS) who outlined the overall energy needs as well as the individual needs of protein, fat, and carbohydrate by focusing on the accidental or deliberate mismatch of intake vs. expenditure; a problem that is often seen in female players. This mismatch can affect not only performance, but also health issues related to hormonal, metabolic, and immune function.

Food intake on match day can have a profound affect on match performance. Dr Clyde Williams (UK) discussed how food choices, volume, and timing influence exercise performance later that day.

Football is played in all environments and regardless of the location, footballers dehydrate and lose sodium leading to reduced performance. Football-specific research in dehydration was presented by Dr Susan Shirreffs (UK) who outlined the degree of fluid losses and strategies to minimize the effects of dehydration on performance. The issue of extreme heat and scheduling fluid breaks was a lively discussion.

Physical training promotes physiological adaptations and with nutrition being a key factor in performance, it may well have some influence on the training-induced adaptations. This interaction was discussed by Dr John Hawley (AUS) who showed just how closely molecular and cellular events of skeletal muscle are related during both exercise and recovery and that nutrient intake and supplementation can be potent factors in training adaptations.

The worldwide popularity of football means that matches will be played in virtually every environmental condition. Dr Lawrence Armstrong (US) highlighted the impact of heat, cold, attitude and jet lag on football performance. Nutrition has been mentioned as a potential intervention when players change environments and Dr Armstrong provided evidence that favored or failed to support nutritional factors in counteracting environmental factors.

Dr Ron Maughan (UK) showed that beyond being an energy source, alcohol impacts multiple systems that can have a negative influence on performance and recovery from play. A further issue is that alcohol intake may influence nutritional choices that will further affect recovery after play.

No subject raises more debate than the use of dietary supplements. Dr. Peter Hespel (BEL) showed the extent of supplement use in sport and the problems associated in the unregulated supplement industry. In general, supplements have little if any effects on football match performance. A substantial fraction of supplements are contaminated with banned substances and the risk of a positive doping test outweighs any potential benefits.

Training and competition place extensive stress on the immune system. Dr David Nieman (USA) pointed out how the increase in training and poor food choices can impact the immune system by emphasizing the importance of carbohydrates not only in performance, but also in maintaining immune integrity.

Many feel that fatigue is isolated to muscle. Dr Romain Meeusen (BEL) outlined the complexity of the topic showing that the brain also suffers from exercise-induced fatigue. As in other studies, ingestion of carbohydrate during exercise can minimize the degree of fatigue in the brain.

The bulk of football-related research is directed at adult males, but with 20% of the worldwide player pool being female plus the massive numbers of youth players, the unique needs of these groups can not be ignored. Dr. Christine Rosenbloom (USA) presented information on females and youth players. Females and younger players are more likely to eat and drink less than needed and choose less carbohydrate than recommended.

Finally, the role of the referee was highlighted by Dr Tom Reilly (UK). During a match, each team tries to keep players hydrated during normal stoppages in play. In many situations, the referee has no one to provide fluids.

"Dr Reilly also showed that the referee runs as much as the players and must pay attention to their energy intake to be adequately fueled to delay fatigue as long as possible. A fatigued referee, either by dehydration or low muscle fuel, can have a significant impact on match outcome. Unfortunately, the impact of nutrition and hydration strategies on referee performance is largely ignored.

FIFA furthers football development around Asia

During December, the FIFA Development Division will be conducting a number of projects in Asia, including a trip to Indonesia to remember the victims of the Tsunami disaster on year on:

Between 5-16 December the FUTURO III Coaching Instructors' Course will be conducted in India. Participants (all Asian Football Confederation "A" License holders) from India, China, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, Korea Republic and Sri Lanka will benefit from the experience and teaching abilities of Swiss coach Jean-Marie Conz (U-17 national coach in Saudi Arabia since 2000) and Rodrigo Kenton (coach of the Olympic Team of Costa Rica in Athens 2004).

On 22 December, the president of the AFC, Mohamad Bin Hammam, will inaugurate the second GOAL project for Jordan. FIFA president Joseph S. Blatter inaugurated the first project, the FA headquarters in 2001. This next stage, the inauguration of the Jordan Football Association training centre, will serve to continue the development of football in the country.

On 26 December, the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) will organise several football activities in Aceh to remember the victims of the Tsunami disaster. These activities include a youth tournament and distribution of 'Football For Hope' boots for schools and clubs.

Aussies may take weak side to Asian Cup game

Australia's No 2 coach, Graham Arnold, has declared himself ready to take the reins for the Socceroo's first Asian Cup match on 22 February. Head coach, Guus Hiddink, is reported to be "almost certainly unavailable" because of commitments with PSV Eindhoven in the UEFA Champions League or UEFA Cup.

According to David Lewis in the Daily Telegraph, Australia's top players are also likely to be missing from an Asian Cup qualifier that falls outside designated FIFA dates on foreign soil "strengthening the hand of clubs that are reluctant to release Tim Cahill, Mark Viduka, Harry Kewell, Lucas Neill, Vince Grella and the rest".

With the match also falling within the four-team A-League finals and with Football Federation Australia expressing a preference that call-ups to local players also be kept to a minimum to protect the integrity of the series, "that only leaves players from the three locally based clubs not involved in the playoffs, plus European-based fringe Socceroos eager to stake their World Cup claims in what Arnold describes as a 'banana skin' match. It could provide a chance for foreign-based players Ljubo Milicevic, Jon McKain, Michael Thwaite, Mile Sterjovski and Joel Griffiths."

Australia will kick off in Asian competition in the lowest (fourth) tier of rankings. On current FIFA rankings, Australia (49) is headed by only four Asian teams, but despite this will start life alongside minnows such as Guam, Macau, Brunei, and Afghanistan. Thus it could, in theory, be drawn against nations such as Japan, China or Iran (top seeds), South Korea, Iraq or Saudi Arabia (second seeds) and United Arab Emirates, Syria and Lebanon (third seeds).

"We will start in the fourth tier, and we accept that," FFA chief executive John O'Neill told Michael Cockerill of the Sydney Morning Herald. "They consider us a new team, and, therefore, like all new teams we will start without a ranking. It means we have to work our way up from the bottom, and while that may make life a little bit difficult at the start, that's what we'll do."

Australia has to exert caution if it approaches its first Asian Cup rounds with a weakened side, even if their opponent is well down in rankings.

In 1981 Australia played Indonesia in Jakarta in an Oceania Group preliminary of the 1982 FIFA World Cup. Having beat Indonesia 2-0 in the first round in Melbourne, Socceroo coach Les Scheinflug did not take his best players on the away trip.

On 30 August, before a 25,000 crowd, Indonesian coach Witarsa saw his side (Purwono, Simson Rumahpasal, Didik Darmadi, H.Asnan, Riono Asnan, Herry Kiswanto, Hadi Ismanto, Abdulrachman Gurning, Risdianto, Rully Nere, Daniel Sirey) take down the Australians 1-0, knocking them out of Oceania Group contention.

The draw for the 2007 Asian Cup will occur at AFC House on 4 January and will place each of the participating nations - Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Korea Republic, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Yemen - into groups of four teams.

Only the top-two sides from each group will qualify for the prestigious 16-nation Asian Cup tournament which will be played across Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam in July 2007.

What makes a good World Cup marketing mascot?

Goleo VI, the German lion is ready for the FIFA World Cup 2006, even as Willie, another football-playing lion that inspired England to victory against Germany in the 1966 World Cup, remains the most popular of all World Cup mascots. Willie's success led to a mascot becoming a regular feature of the World Cup. Of all the cuddly figures, which have been used to promote the finals over the years, Willie still remains one of the most enduring, reported the German newsagency, DPA.

According to Martin Pross, creative director of the Berlin advertising agency Scholz and Friends, Goleo might not seem the ideal choice as a mascot for Germany but he does have some appealing features.

"The lion figure doesn't really fit in with Germany, a country regarded as intellectual and bureaucratic, but who said a mascot has to be logical? The good thing about a fake animal is that he can get away with anything from criticising to comforting people," he told DPA.

These days football is all about international understanding, said Nils Jockel, organiser of a new football exhibition in the port city of Hamburg. He believes Goleo may be "a fluffy, silly kind of figure" but his very lack of significance makes him neutral and thereby unassailable.

Worldwide turnover in World Cup memorabilia is estimated at nearly € 1.6 billion and most of that will be earned in Europe. By comparison, the 1998 World Cup in France generated an income of € 1 billion, with € 1.2 billion coming from the 2002 event held in Japan and South Korea.

ESPN takes sport content to mobile phone market

The Walt Disney Co is counting on its ESPN sports franchise to help it establish a toehold in mobile media, first in in North America, with a wireless phone service that delivers news, scores and video highlights. The company's Mobile ESPN is one of the latest "mobile virtual network operators" in the USA targeting lucrative niche audiences with branded content and wireless services.

Meg James reported in the Los Angeles Times that Mobile ESPN is tackling the sports-addict market with a "manly man's black phone and a sales pitch that centers on offering men a portable refuge from the women in their lives".

She quoted the company's website: "Now, it doesn't matter where you are ... Shopping with your wife during football season, now you don't have to miss out on up-to-date fantasy stats…. At your best friend's wedding, now you can dish him the basketball scores while he's at the altar…. At your daughter's softball game, now you'll know if your team made the final field goal."

ESPN's phone will cost US$ 499 (US$ 399 after a rebate) and monthly service plans range from US$ 64.99 to US$ 224.99 which Salil Mehta, executive vice president of ESPN Enterprises described as an "incredibly competitive price." He added that ESPN reaches 97 million people in an average week through its cable television programming and other properties. And male sports fans spend, on average, two hours a day with ESPN.

James reported that virtual networks allow companies to target niche audiences without incurring the enormous expense of building their own wireless network. In South Korea and parts of Europe, virtual networks have become hot commodities. In Denmark, for example, virtual networks target fans of soccer teams ... and advertisers are watching with interest."

Said Courtney Jane Acuff, wireless marketing specialist for Digits: "It's a way for advertisers who use sports as a pillar of communication to become engaged. It's one-stop shopping. It's definitely a way to engage the sports enthusiast."

Sport accounts for 80% of European sponsorship

The sponsorship industry can expect a significant boost with expenditure expected to double by the end of the decade, according to the European Sponsorship Association.

“There is a growing feeling that marketers are recognising sponsorship as an essential part of the marketing mix and accepting that it can make a substantial difference not only to brand awareness but more significantly to a company’s bottom line," chairman Nigel Currie told the ESA's Annual Congress in Rome.

Sports Business reported he went on to say that the annual sponsorship spend across Europe was now € 7.5 billion, with sport accounting for 80 percent of this. “The current spend on sponsorship is eight percent of the total marketing spend across Europe. We expect this figure to rise to around 15 percent by 2010,” he said.

'Early marketing choice' delivers world to Juventus

Only 9,623 spectators (of which only 4,161 bought tickets; the rest were season ticket-holders) watched Juventus defeat FC Bruges at home in the Stadio Delle Alpi, a win that secured the Bianconeri’s place in the knockout stages of the Champions League. But sponsors and television companies continue to pour money into Juventus.

"They attract more sponsorship than any other club in the world and also boast one of the most lucrative television deals, earning a guaranteed £48.5 million for their domestic digital terrestrial and digital satellite rights alone," Gabriele Marcotti described in The Times.

“In 1897, when a group of university students from Turin founded the club, they could have called it Torino, but they chose a totally nongeographic word, Juventus,” Romy Gai, the club’s commercial director, told Marcotti. “I suppose it was an early marketing choice. It disengaged the club from territorial issues. In a world where many are proud of their roots, you could freely support Juventus without supporting Turin, which might be a rival to your own city. It invited people everywhere to come on board.

“There are people — in Asia, South America, other far-away places — who consider themselves Juventus fans but don’t know where we are from. They know we’re from Italy of course, but they might not know we’re from Turin.”

To Juventus fans, Marcotti observed, "Turin is little more than an address, unlike their cross-town rivals Torino, who wrap themselves in the city’s colours and culture at every occasion. And this is why Juventus, the most successful club in the history of Italian football, have an average home attendance (29,122) only marginally higher than Torino (24,188), who are in Serie B and have won one league title in the past 55 years."

The origins of their popularity, in addition to the club’s name, are not hard to fathom. “The big one is that we’re historically one of the most successful teams in the world,” Gai said. “We have won 28 league titles. Among the major European leagues, only Real Madrid have won more and they have just one more than we do. Winning generates more fans, it’s a basic fact.

“As important, I think, is that we have had the same owners, the Agnelli family, since 1923. That has given us both tradition and identity, affording us the opportunity to make long-term plans.” The result is a club which is truly unique: more popular away than at home.

One of the maxims of selling is 'know your customer' and Marcotti concluded that Juventus do this better than most: "Their customer, ultimately, isn’t the Turinese shivering at the Stadio Delle Alpi. Chasing his euro is not as important as satisfying the tens of millions elsewhere around the globe."

Beckenbauer agrees: the 'future of football is Asia'

Germany's Bayern Munich FC is lifting the profile of its development team participating in India's 111th IFA Shield tournament. Club president, Franz Beckenbauer, contributed a guest column in today's Hindustan Times in which he regreted not having played in the 1977 shield with the New York Cosmos.

"Shortly before I joined Cosmos New York, this team of stars had also made a stopover in Calcutta. Pele and my other colleagues often told me of this experience afterwards, especially about the inspiring reception they received in India. They had never thought that the people here would be so football crazy."

He promised he would visit India "in the next few years" as "the future of football lies in Asia".

See also: Bayern Munich discovers India in "South East Asia" (9 Nov)

Pakhtakor win Cup; Avispa Fukuoka promoted

Anvar Soliev’s first half strike helped Pakhtakor lift the Uzbekistan Cup after defeating Neftchi 1-0 in the final. AFCMedia reported the match was played in front of 5,000 spectators and Soliev scored in the 24th minute. This is the seventh time Pakhtakor have won the Uzbek Cup (1993, 1997, and since 2001). Pakhtakor, who are also the league champions, and league runners-up Mashal will represent Uzbekistan in the 2006 AFC Champions League.

Avispa Fukuoka were promoted to Japan's first division after gaining a point from a goalless draw at home to Tokushima Vortis, Reuters reported. Avispa returned after a four-year absence and will join second division champions Kyoto Purple Sanga in the top flight next season.

AFC confirms 2006 women’s competitions

The Asian Football Confederation's Women’s Committee has confirmed the dates for the two AFC women’s competitions in 2006 begining with the AFC U-19 Women’s Championship qualifiers from 21 February to 4 March. The draw for the qualifiers will be done once the hosts for the final competition (19-30 April) are confirmed.

In another decision, the AFC U-17 Women’s Championship will now be known as the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship. The qualifiers for this tournament will be held from 4-16 September 2006 with the Final competition held in 2007.

China Super League kicks off 2006 with more teams

The 2006 China Super League will kick off on 11 March and run for 38 weeks. The schedule was released by the Chinese Football Association after consultations in Beijing with presidents of the Super League clubs.

Sixteen teams will play a total of 240 games with the bottom two being relegated and the top two China League teams gaining promotion. Relegation will be introduced from this season onwards after major clubs had threatened a boycott citing lack of sponsor interest.

Sinosoc reported that more teams will be eligible for the China FA Cup, while the CSL Cup has been cancelled after just two seasons.

Current CSL champions Dalian Shide and Shanghai Shenhua will play in the Chinese Super Cup, the curtain raiser, a week before the league starts.

Titan Sports, a Chinese newspaper, reported that former China coach Bobby Houghton will return to the country to guide struggling Super League team Shenyang Ginde. It said he will earn about US$ 20,000 per month on an 11 month contract although the club will release him early if the Chinese national team offers him a coaching position.

The north-eastern team finished second-to-last among the Super League's 14 teams last season.

According to AP, Houghton has said he's interested in again advising the national team, which has struggled since qualifying for its first-ever World Cup finals in 2002. He was praised for developing young players during his 1998-2000 stint as China's coach.

He left Uzbekistan earlier this month after leading the Central Asian side to the brink of qualifying for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

China's current coach, Zhu Guanghu, says he wants to bring the former Fulham midfielder back as a technical adviser, but has reportedly been unable to come up with the funds.

China and Australia women draw in Central Coast

China and Australia's national womens' team, the Qantas Matildas drew 0-0 with in the first of a two-match series played last night in Gosford, NSW, prior to the Hyundai A-League game between Central Coast Mariners and Queensland Roar. Although China is ranked ninth in the world, seven positions above Australia, this was the fourth consecutive match the Australian defence has kept the opposition scoreless following on from the team’s successful tour of the USA last month.

Australia and China will play a second international ahead of next week’s Round 15 A-League 'blockbuster' between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory at Aussie Stadium on Saturday 3 December. Before then the two teams will also have a practise match at the Mingara Recreational Club on the Central Coast on Thursday 1 December. The Chinese will round out their tour schedule with a practise match against the Qantas Young Matildas also at Mingara on Monday 28 November.

The qualifying tournament for the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup is currently scheduled for July next year, with both the final tournament and the 2008 Olympic Games to be held in China.

UPDATE

The Qantas Matildas concluded their series against China with a scoreless draw at Aussie Stadium in Sydney (3 Dec). Australia currently ranked 16th in the world - seven places behind China - have defeated China only twice in 21 encounters prior to this series.

Dr George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 Nov 2005)

Dr George Best, reputedly one of the best to have ever played football at its highest levels, died today after a long illness. A Northern Ireland international footballer, he is mainly remembered for his time with Manchester United FC where he played 466 games for 178 goals between 1963 and 1974. He still holds the record for the most goals by a MU player in a single match, six against Northampton Town, FA Cup fifth round on 8 February 1970. MU won the match 8-2.

Best helped MU win the English Football League Championship in 1965 and 1967 and the European Cup in 1968. The same year, he was named European Footballer of the Year and Football Writers' Association Player of the Year.

He played for numerous lesser clubs over the following years including four games in Asia at the Brisbane Lions FC (Australia) in 1983. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland in 2001 and made Freeman of Castlereagh in 2002.

Dr Best maintained his celebrity status through lifestyle choice and television commentary and many of his quips are legendry: "I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars - the rest I just squandered" and "If you'd given me the choice of beating four men and smashing in a goal from 30 yards against Liverpool, or going to bed with Miss World, it would be a difficult choice. Luckily, I had both" are two of the most famous.

Win tickets and travel to the 2007 Asian Cup final

Celebrating its Annual Awards ceremony at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur on 30 November, the Asian Football Confederation is offering a special competition to win tickets to watch the final of 2007 Asian Cup final.

Four countries - Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand - are hosting the premier continental event this time.

All you have to do is to guess which of the three final short-listed three players - Saudi Arabia's Sami Al Jaber and his teammate Hamad Al Montashari and Uzbekistan international Maksim Shatskikh - will win the AFC Player of the Year Award.

Three grand prizes are up for grabs, which include two economy class return tickets from home country to the city where the final will be played, accommodation (three days and two nights) in one hotel room, internal transportation and two tickets for the finals.

For more information, visit AFC Fanzone. Contest closes on 30 November 2005 at 1700hrs GMT+8.

AC Milan's Leonardo says India 'much like' Brazil

Visiting Kolkata, India, with the AC Milan U-18 team as a goodwill ambassador as part of Fiesta Italia celebrations, Brazil's 1994 World Cup winning side's left back Leonardo de Araujo vividly remembers the 'saddest day" of his life. ''It was the only time I have seen a red card in my entire career and I regret that incident till today, '' Leonardo told reporters.

"It happened at the heat of the moment. I have grown as a footballer after that, but the sadness remains. It was not intentional," he said of the 4 July 1994 incident where he elbowed United State's Tab Ramos in the face.

Asked about Indian football he said it was was "much like that of Brazil" in that "there is a passion for the game and it can improve greatly ... You need to have more exchange programmes and more grassroots training. The other things will fall into place automatically,'' he said.

Impressed by the aggressive display by Bengal Colts, who sprang a surprise winning the match against Milan junior 2-1 (Rajib Ahmed and Lalkamal Bhowmick scoring for the winners), Leonardo said "India should go for exchange programmes like Japan did to succeed in world football".

Express India also reported that Leonardo, who himself spent over half an hour on the ground, had special praise for Bengal striker Ayan Chowdhury and said "even at their early twenties these boys are quite strong minded and passionate. They are very fast but need to restrain a bit sometimes to retain control over proceedings".

He said AC Milan will consider helping India improve its football standard. "We cannot confirm it, but will definitely consider to do something in future," he said.

See also: Bayern Munich discovers India in "South East Asia" Update (14 Nov)

Thousands of Aussie juniors get free Nike footballs

Football Federation Victoria, which runs soccer in Australia's smallest mainland state, has reported a substantial increase in player registrations, males, females and juniors, as a result of Australia's World Cup qualification last week. From a state population of just over five million (similar to Scotland or about 10% more than Singapore), FFV expects to have between 110,000 and 120,000 participants in its 2006 season, more than tripling the 30,000 of 2001.

The FFV has struck a deal for its GoalKick promotion program that provides every junior who registers with a Nike soccer ball. "We want every young player who registers to have a ball with him at home. They can practice in the back yard, they can play with their mates," FFV CEO Tony Pignata told Peter Desira of the Herald Sun. "We want them to live, eat, sleep with soccer. Just love it."

Marco Bresciano, the scorer of the Socceroos' goal against Uruguay, has been signed as the program's ambassador. "He was happy to be involved. He gets nothing out of it," Pignata said. As, well, Milo has signed a two-year deal to provide funds to promote the GoalKick program

The VFF has 430 registered clubs, most of them running several teams from seniors down to under-7s, and its semi-pro, state Premier League is sponsored by Vodafone.

With the rapid increase in players, the FFV's biggest issue is grounds and it is working with local governments to convert grounds no longer used by Australian-Rules to convert into soccer grounds. "This is not about us against [the other codes] and we don't think they are in trouble but kids do try different sports and kids who were umming and aahing before qualification now definitely want to have a go," Pignata said.

UPDATE

Australian-Rules is also suffering from lack of grounds in Victoria, its Football Victoria executive Mick Daniher told Damian Barrett of the Herald Sun (2 Dec). "We haven't changed anything we are doing, and won't be changing anything, in light of the soccer [World Cup] qualification. That's not to say we don't respect soccer, it's just that our programs and strategies are always being worked on three years in advance ... Soccer may get some growth from people who aren't currently playing sport, as opposed to people leaving [Australian-Rules] football for soccer," he said.

"As it stands, we don't have enough ovals ourselves," he said. "And that is a direct result of growth. In 2005, we had more than 124,325 people in Victoria participating in the game at club level. Then there is Auskick (45,000 participants in 2005). Between 2004 and 2005, there were 165 new teams added. That is the best growth we have recorded in the 15 years since we started compiling these figures." Australian Sports Commission figures for 2004 showed total participation in Australian-Rules in Victoria was 210,297, compared with 29,106 for soccer.

Bhutan drops out of youth games because of exams

Bhutan Football Federation expects to have to pay fines of about US$ 16,000 for not playing in the Asian Football Confederation under-17 and under-20 qualifying championships. “We are expecting to be slapped maximum fines because we withdrew at the last minute after the venues had been fixed, fixtures had been drawn and the host countries had invested for the organisation,” a BFF official told Bishal Rai of Kuensel-Online.

The withdrawal was caused by the Bhutan education department refusing to release Class X and XII boys playing in the teams on the grounds that they had to appear at examinations. The BFF has previously assured the education department that the tournament would be conluded about two weeks before the examinations and the parents had consented to let their boys play in the games in Bangladesh and Kyrgyistan. The BFF had previously decided not to include players from Classes VII, IX and XI because their annual school examinations coincided with the tournament.

While the U-20 national team comprised mostly of boys from Thimphu schools, a nine month ‘talent hunt’ had meant the U-17 team had players from across the country.

More nominations for AFC 2005 football awards

Chinese players have been nominated for four Asian Football Confederation annual awards, Shanghai Daily reported. China's Wang Dalei, goalkeeper of the national under-17 team, was named for the Youth Player of the Year, along with Democratic People's Republic of Korea's Choe Myong Ho. Ma Xiaoxu was included in the Women's Player of the Year list while the women's U-17 team was nominated for the Women's National Team of the Year.

Hong Kong will compete for the AFC Fairplay Award against South Korea and Lebanon.

Japan Football Association president Saburo Kawabuchi has been selected as the inaugural recipient of a new award recognizing the development and promotion of football in Asia. The 68-year-old will receive the Diamond of Asia from Asian Football Confederation president Mohamed Bin Hammam in Kuala Lumpur on 30 November, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

See also: AFC must define who is "Best" and who is "Asian" (21 Nov)

ESS TV mikes up refs at Kolkata's IFA Shield

In what is said to be a world first, referees will wear a radio microphone in the IFA Shield commencing 24 November in Kolkata, India. ''For the first time ever in the history of the game a referee is going to carry a radio microphone on the ground. He will be wearing a one-way radio microphone which will pick up his voice and that of any player in very close proximity," announced Subrata Dutta, honorary secretary of the Indian Football Association, the controlling body of football in the state of West Bengal.

''Due to the crowd noise the microphone won't pick up any voices much further than a few metres away. The signal from the microphone will be used only when there is a moment when he is talking with players, explaining decisions, '' he explained.

Dutta told Business Standard that business is "now backing" football in India. ISA Shield sponsorship has topped Rs 10 million from the likes of Allahabad Bank, Chirag, Playwin, Sangbad Pratidin, SWC, HHI, Hindustan Times, Apollo Gleneagles Hospital and broadcaster ESPN-Star Sports.

ESPN Star Sports has also announced that it will be flying five footballers from the Kolkata Police Friendship Football Tournament played earlier this year, Tapas Dolui, Papu Das, Sanjay Mallick, Tapas Das and Arshad Ali, for a guided tour of London's football stadiums including the home grounds of top English Premier League clubs, Chelsea and Arsenal.

"Soccer is a craze in Kolkata, be it international, European or local and this is ESPN STAR Sports' initiative to present a learning opportunity to upcoming talent from the pool of players in the tournament," said ESPN Star Sports VP sales and marketing Sricharan Iyengar.

The Kolkata Police Friendship Football Tournament is a police initiative to reach out to the youth of Kolkata in an informal and friendly manner. It generated huge interest in the city with more than 500 teams participating, a significant increase from 461 teams that competed last year.

See also: Bayern Munich discovers India in "South East Asia" (9 Nov)

AFC applies vision to 'wake up' Indonesian football

Launching the Vision Asia program for Indonesia, Asian Football Confederation secretary-general, Dato Peter Velappan, told Indonesian media that the nation's football was at a "critical point" in its development. "Forty years ago, Indonesia football was victorious, but since then it has been in a slumber," he said after a two-day evaluation meeting with the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) and other stake holders.

"Through this program, Indonesia has its final chance to either succeed or collapse," he said.

The customised Vision Indonesia program, to be introduced in the cities of Bandung (West Java province) and Yogyakarta (Yogyakarta province) on Java island next year, is a football development master plan integrating marketing, coach education, competition, football fans, futsal, media, national associations and clubs, referees, sports medicine, women’s football and youth and grassroots.

The first two pilots will include the establishment of city leagues in both municipalities. Bandung has a population of 2.14 million in an area of 171 km2 (provincial population, 24.4m) while Yogyakarta has only 395,000 residents in an area of 32 km2 (provincial population, 3.1m). Although both municipalities host large numbers of universities and colleges of higher education, Asian Football Business Review understands their development will not be included in the introductory phase.

Dato Velappan described Vision Asia as "an extraordinary program" which will assist Indonesian football to realise its potential. If successful, he said, the program will be expanded to 10 major cities in 2007.

The GOAL project of the world football body, FIFA, chaired by AFC president Mohamad bin Hammam, is also considering a proposal to finance the building of a new national headquarters for PSSI.

"Indonesians are born with a passion for football. With a population of over 10 million playing football, Indonesia is a goldmine. AFC and FIFA will help Indonesian football in everyway possible," he said earlier.

"In the 1960s and 1970s, there was only one team to talk about - Indonesia. They were known as the 'Brazil' of Asia. Indonesian football has been fast asleep and we want them to wake up and be a good footballing nation once again. Indonesian football cannot waste anymore time," he added.

Malaysia ponders full-time refs, FIFA coach opines

The Malaysian Football Association is considering employing full-time referees for the M-League. Currently, most referees in Malaysia are also full-time government officials. "We are constantly thinking of ways to upgrade our referees’ competence. Having full-time ones is a possibility but the financial implications could be huge," said deputy president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah after opening a five-day workshop in Kuala Lumpur conducted by former England FA head of referees, John Baker.

Baker, now on the FIFA referees board and author of The Official FA guide to Basic Refereeing, is the second Englishman in successive years to conduct a course in Kuala Lumpur after David Elleray. "It’s going to be exciting working with the group. This is my first time in Malaysia but I was told there are quite a number of referees whose performance have been recognised by FIFA," he said.

Rizal Hashim of the Malay Mail reported that Baker "was not afraid to contradict" FIFA's response to the referee's ruling in the Asian qualifying match between Uzbekistan and Bahrain on 3 September which it declared invalid and then ordered the game to be replayed. "I believe FIFA rushed into a decision," Baker said.

MU and Vodafone split as shirt sponsorship soars

Vodafone and Manchester United have agreed to cut short their shirt sponsorship deal from the end of this season, a move that concludes a relationship that began when Vodafone took over as shirt sponsor from Sharp in early 2000. The €52 million, four-year deal was only renewed by the mobile telecom last Northern summer and Ben Carter of Brand Republic speculates that the football club's new owners, the Glazer family, did not want to continue to work with Vodafone.

On its official website, Manchester United confirmed that it would be looking for a global sponsor and that initial discussions with international brands had proved that there was interest in such a deal. Chelsea already changed its shirt sponsors from Emirates Airlines to Samsung as the latter had a "global footprint".

"The Manchester United shirt is the most iconic in sport. The club feels that, in the current market, there is a genuine chance to attract significant additional investment," Andy Anson, MU commercial director, said.

Vodafone said it has signed a three-year agreement to sponsor the UEFA Champions League from July 2006. The deal will see Vodafone become both an Official Partner and the Official Mobile Network of the league. Companies spend about US$ 36 million to tie their wares to the Champions League, the richest club tournament in world soccer, according to Sportbusiness International magazine quoted by Bloomberg. The competition's other partner sponsors are Heineken, Mastercard, Ford Motor Co and Sony's Playstation. UEFA, the sport's ruling body in Europe, plans to have another sponsor in time for the 2006-07 competition.

The seventh edition of the SPORT+MARKT European Jersey Report, just released, confirms that for the second consecutive year the prices paid by shirt sponsors in the key European football markets of the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, and the Netherlands for the 2005-2006 season grew.

The total sum derived from shirt sponsorship from the clubs in the top division of the six key European markets (England, France, Italy, Germany, Netherlands and Spain) for the 2005-06 season grew by 3% on last season’s total, the report found, rising from €333.1m to €343.4m.

Compared to five seasons ago, the total is almost 40% higher. This increase was despite a significant club such as AS Roma in Italy still going without a main sponsor three months into the season. Furthermore, with two significant shirt sponsorships in Spain (FC Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao) yet to be struck, despite the clubs getting permission from their members to seek such deals, there is scope for a further increase in the size of this market in the near future.

"With greater marketing spend likely to be directed towards football and football-related activity in the coming 12 months due to the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, it is not surprising to see continued growth in this area of sponsorship. However, there still seems to be a gap between the values that clubs which participate in the UEFA Champions League are able to generate from jersey sponsorship, and those that do not, and the values outside of the English Premier League top six clubs remain comparatively low when other markets are viewed," Oliver Butler, communications manager at SPORT+MARKT told Asian Football Business Review.

Juventus retained the No 1 spot it held with its 2004-05 deals with Sky Sport and Tamoil. Under the new sole deal from this season with the Libyan-owned oil company Tamoil, its annual revenue has jumped €3.5m to €22m. The €17m deal between Deutsche Telekom and Bayern Munich remains unchanged in second spot, but Real Madrid’s €14m deal with Siemens is now edged into fourth spot by the new deal signed between Chelsea and Samsung Mobile, which at €14.5m, also makes it the biggest in England. The deal it usurps, between Vodafone and Manchester United, dropped to fifth in Europe.

These five deals now total €80.5m, meaning that 23.6%, or almost a quarter, of the European total is concentrated among these five clubs from four leagues.

After a decline in the two previous seasons, shirt sponsorship in the EPL has returned to growth climbing 4% from €60.8m in total to €63.2m. However, this is largely thanks to the improved deal that Chelsea struck with Samsung ... which also managed to increase the wealth gap between the average of the Top Five deals and the Bottom Five deals in the Premiership.

While the average of the Bottom Five (West Bromwich Albion, Sunderland, West Ham United, Portsmouth, Blackburn Rovers) did edge up to €600,000 per year, that of the Top Five (Chelsea, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Arsenal, Liverpool) climbed to €9.5m.

In fact when the next best deal (Tottenham Hotspur-Thomson) is considered, these six deals take up 81% of the FAPL total of 19 deals (Wigan’s deal with JJB is discounted due to the relationship between sponsor, club and the mutual owner).

Looking at the different industry sectors that are spending their marketing budgets in shirt sponsorship, whereas in the number of deals banks and financial services clearly lead the way with 29 deals (almost double the next sector, travel/tourism) the leader in terms of the money spent is easily the telecommunications sector with €82.4m, an average of around €5.9m a club and a quarter of the total spend. The energy supplier sector spent the most per club, at €9.7m on average a deal, thanks largely to the Juventus/Tamoil deal.

Further information at www.sportundmarkt.com.

UPDATE

Businessweek reported: "Nabbing the Real Madrid sponsorship, for an undisclosed sum, is the latest move in BenQ's attempt to pull off a brash corporate transformation. For years, Taiwan's electronics manufacturers made pretty good money as outsourcing specialists for Western or Japanese companies with big-name brands. But with margins shrinking as customers continually demand price cuts, the Taiwanese -- especially the island's computer makers -- are struggling to eke out a profit even as their sales soar ..."

"We don't want to fall into the same trap as the PC business," K.Y. Lee, BenQ's chairman, told Businessweek. With a strong brand of its own, he said, BenQ will be able to command higher margins and better control its destiny. "We must be able to promote our brand name," he said.

FIFA and Coca-Cola extend partnership till 2022

World football body, FIFA and the Coca-Cola Co have extended their commercial partnership through 2022 in a deal worth about US$ 500 million. According to AP, Coca-Cola is the fourth blue chip company to join FIFA's top tier of sponsors for the 2007-2014 period. The others are German sports equipment supplier Adidas, South Korean car maker Hyundai and Japanese electronic giant Sony. The final two companies will be named soon under a new arrangement whereby FIFA opened the bidding for sponsorship for the first time.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter and Coca-Cola chairman and chief executive officer E. Nevill Isdell signed the partnership agreement at a ceremony in Cape Town, one of the venues for the 2010 World Cup. Blatter said Coke was the only partner so far to commit itself through 2022 and recalled that back in 1975, FIFA was desperately looking for sponsors to shore up its rocky finances.

Coke and FIFA have been official partners since 1978, although the company's backing of the sport dates back to 1950 when it started advertising in World Cup stadiums. The partnership agreement guarantees Coca-Cola exclusive rights as nonalcoholic beverage supplier to all FIFA's major competitions, including the World Cup and sales rights for television and stadium advertising.

Coke will sponsor a new "FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour" to parade the World Cup trophy throughout Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe. It also plans a new initiative to make discounted tickets available for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa to counter mounting criticism that the cost of tickets will be way beyond the reach of ordinary African soccer fans.

Beckham 'acquired' for Japan 'Pay-Per-View' yield

"After winning, three La Liga and three Champions Leagues between 1997 and 2003, Real Madrid were the most popular, and perhaps the most profitable, club in the world. But President Florentino Perez was not satisfied," Ken Pendleton wrote in his article Football, Futbol, Calcio: Money, the Root of a Real Crisis, on the US pro-football players website. "He wanted to win everything all the time, he wanted to make them into a global brand - as if they weren't already - and he wanted, as we shall see, to do it on the cheap".

An important part of this strategy, apparantly, was to capture England captain David Beckham's appeal in Asia:

"... he acquired David Beckham, even though he once emphatically dismissed the idea ('Never, never, never, seven times never') and let Ronaldinho go to Barcelona. The fact that the latter was a vastly superior player was not, as one of the club's director's explained, the point: 'Ronaldinho is so ugly that he'd sink you as a brand. Between him and Beckham, I'd go for Beckham a hundred times' ...

"In order to capitalize on Beckham's celebrity, Real Madrid set out a 30,000-mile world tour, sometimes playing matches in 90 percent humidity. Luis Figo hoped that 'this doesn't cost us ' next season, but Perez was looking after what he saw as the bigger picture.

"The goal, according to him, was to use Beckham's 'universality' to promote Real's 'evangelization' throughout East Asia: 'When Pay-Per-View hit Japan we could make in a day what Spain yields in a year' ...

"The irony in all this," Pendleton argued, "is that Barcelona is now the most popular team in the world and Ronaldinho's replica jerseys are the most widely sold."

See also: Real Madrid TV, the 'galáctico' of brand building? (7 Nov)

Manipur to boycott Indian nationals because of ref

India's regional All Manipur Football Association has decided to boycott the national Under-19 and Under-14 football tournaments organized by the All India Football Federation in protest against a referee's decision in the 60th Santosh Trophy Football Tournament in Cochi, Kerala.

The complaint was that the referee allowed Goa to restart the game even as most of the Manipur players were celebrating W Tomba`s "brilliant goal in the 88th minute, off a classy swerving free kick" and an equalizer was scored by Goa`s Climax Laurence "even before the applause for Tomba`s goal subsided or the TV cameras had time to shift focus to the centre circle".

Announcing the boycott decision to media AMFA president, A Santosh Kumar, said that immediately after the incident, the Manipur team manager lodged a complaint contending violation of Rule No 8 of the Laws of the Game, and Article No 15 of the Regulation of the Championship. However the organizing committee, the referee, assistant referees, referees inspector and match commissioner, "citing evidence of video clippings of the match supposedly available," dismissed the complaint.

If the AIFF decides to penalize AMFA for boycotting these tournaments, AMFA will "gladly accept the consequence", the president said.

Goa won the Santosh Trophy, defeating Maharashtra 3-1 in extra-time on 21 November.

See also: Air India Express named sponsor for Santosh trophy (5 Nov)

China's season not good enough for fans, media

China Super League club Dalian Shide were the clear-cut champions of Chinese football this year, taking top spot in the league ranking and winning the top domestic cup. However Reuters reported that turn-out was low at Sunday's game where Dalian captured the China FA Cup with a 1-0 win over Shandong Luneng and, on Monday, "one of Beijing's top newspapers gave less space to coverage of the FA Cup final than it did to the departure of Manchester United captain Roy Keane".

And, while Dalian Shide's deputy chairman was so excited about the team efforts he named his new-born daughter "Shuangguan", which means "double champion", Dalian's Serbian head coach Vladimir Petrovic Pizon said he wasn't getting "over-excited" as "my goal now is to win the Asian Champions League next year."

Dalian's talent is the product of an "excellent youth academy", according to Stewart Park, co-founder of Sinosoc.com. "The influence of Shide Group president Xu Ming is also an important aspect," Park told Reuters in explaining the secret of Dalian's success.

Reuters reported that the nature of Xu's influence is "a matter of debate". He also owns or controls other Super League clubs which the domestic media have dubbed "Dalian's allies" and indirectly accused of deliberately offering little opposition to Shide. "This season, Dalian's allies still acted like their bodyguards," the state-run China Sports Daily said. "Because of their allies' actions, Dalian's championship is less meaningful."

See also: AFC bans top China player and coach for 6 months (12 Nov)

AFC must define who is "Best" and who is "Asian"

The Asian Football Confederation has confirmed that players who are unable to travel to Kuala Lumpur on 30 November will not be considered for the Asian Player of the Year award and that its three finalists from 10 shortlisted nominees are Saudi Arabians Sami Al Jaber and Hamad Al Montashari along with Uzbekistan's Maksim Shatskikh. Both Al Jaber and Al Montashari play in Saudi Arabia for Al Hilal and Al Ittihad respectively while Shatskikh is at Ukraine's Dynamo Kiev.

Because of known travel problems, the policy effectively eliminated five of the six European-based players who made the shortlist: South Korea's Park Ji-sung and Lee Young-pyo, Japan's Hidetoshi Nakata and Shunsuke Nakamura and Iran's Ali Karimi. Completing the list of 10 were Iran's Javad Nekounam of Pas and Saudi goalkeeper Mabrouk Zayed of Asian champions Al Ittihad.

Mr Sam Ka, general secretary of the Korean Football Association, told Reuters newsagency that AFC president Mohamed Bin Hammam had sent a fax to Korea explaining the body's stance. "We understand that it would be better for the player to attend the ceremony, but we still believe that the best player deserves the award, not the player who is able to attend," said Ka. "It's not only about Park or Lee Young-pyo. There's Nakamura, Nakata and other European-based players who cannot win as well."

Given the title of the award, the policy decision and the choice of the three grand finalist has caused confusion amongst football fans. Goal.com's John Duerden, for instance, said he understood from discussion with the AFC "that if any player wasn’t in Kuala Lumpur to collect the award in person ... then he would forfeit the prize which would then go to the person with the second highest number of votes". That, he said, "was shocking enough" but "the fact that Park, or Karimi, or Lee, or Nakamura, didn’t even make the top three is mystifying."

He asked that, if a "voting panel consisting of AFC Executive Committee members, national coaches from the 45 member associations and AFC’s commercial partner, World Sport Group voted to narrow the nominees to three" ... could it be that they "were not allowed to choose for players that may not have been able to attend the ceremony, for example, those in the middle of the European season? Surely not, but a look at the chain of events raises suspicions."

Perhaps the AFC should consider changing from Asian Player of the Year to the Player in Asia of the Year award although that too could prove controversial if "non-Asian" players in competitions within the Asian Football Confederation were not to be included.

This semantic problem seems to have already caused the AFC to scrap the Coach of the Year prize for 2005 because, as Reuters reported, "the most successful coaches over the past year are not Asian".

With largely Caucasian-peopled Australia now becoming a member of the AFC, surely these definitions should be clarified around residency or citizenship or competition. Otherwise misinterpretations or racism may spoil the recognition of Asia's football champions and their coaches and teams.

Take for instance the following complaints by Wanchai Rujawongsanti in Thailand's Bangkok Post regarding the possibility that securing World Cup finals berth representing Asia "in the future could become just a formality for the Aussies":

"First and foremost, it would be ridiculous if Australia represent Asia in the World Cup or other major football tournaments. It would be like a beauty queen who looks more like a farang representing Thailand in an international beauty pageant.

"Accepting Australia could be tantamount to Asia losing a World Cup slot as the Aussies are better than most - or even all - Asian countries ... AFC's decision to grant Australia membership appeared to be for political rather than footballing reasons," he said.

For harmony, AFC needs to define both who is "Best" and who is "Asian".

See also: Asia's best players getting global recognition (7 Oct)

Indonesian Cup high drama at Bungkarno Stadium

Firman Utina netted a hat-trick as Arema Malang scored a 3-2 extra-time victory over Persija Jakarta in the 2005 Copa Indonesia final, giving the East Java-based team a spot in next season’s AFC Champions League. "Utina completed his treble six minutes into extra time at Jakarta’s Gelora Bungkarno Stadium to give his side their first title since their 1992 Indonesia league victory and extend the heartbreak for Persija fans, who also saw their side lose 3-2 to Persipura Jayapura at the same venue in the Indonesian league playoff final two months ago," reported Arya Abhiseka for FootballAsia.com

A crowd of about 50,000, including thousands of Arema fans who had travelled 16 hours from East Java, were present at the Bungkarno Stadium, hosting its final game before a year-long renovation to prepare it for its role in the 2007 Asian Cup. They were treated to a match of "high drama", which featured attacking football, a 12-minute walk-off by Arema, a 5 minute walk-off by the referees, 10 yellow cards and two red cards.

Security problems were again apparant at Indonesia's national stadium which is managed by the central government. Roudy Persija fans were allowed to occupy the balcony above the Indonesian Football Association's VIP section and pelted football officials, guests and the honoured veterens of four decades of Indonesian national teams with rubbish and water bottles, some of which were reportedly filled with urine.

PFF and Sindh State plan successful SAFF Cup

The Pakistan Football Federation and the state government of Sindh are making an "all out' effort to ensure the South Asian Football Federation Football Championship 2005 is a success. "We got the honor of staging South Asia’s showpiece soccer events because we are doing our efforts with sincerity and full devotion to take Pakistani soccer into a reputable berth," PFF secretary general, Muhammad Arshad Khan Lodhi, told media.

He was speaking after a discussion with Sindh Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs, Qamar Mansoor on matters related to the eight-nation biennial event which commences in Karachi with Pakistan's clash with Sri Lanka on 7 December 2005. The final will be held on 17 December.

The minister said his government wants football to be the number one game in Sindh: "We are looking [for] sensible referees [and] coaches from the PFF so that our new talented players can learn [the] latest development in soccer ..." He also asked PFF to approve an annual Karachi Cup International Football Tournament, to be organised jointly by the state government and Sindh FA.

"Our all four provincial associations are also showing their guts. We will leave no stone unturned for the promotion of soccer and it is our aim to put Pakistani soccer on the same level as that of cricket and hockey," Mr Lodhi added.

Two out of three touring Malaysian clubs "arrive"

Newly promoted Malaysian Super League side, Selangor, was delighted with its eight-day visit to Melbourne and Sydney where they played against Victoria-state Premier League club Fawkner-Whittlesea Blues (losing 2-3) and New South Wales-state Premier League clubs, Marconi Stallions (losing 1-4) and Hajduk Wanderers (winning 1-0). Selangor FC has been home to many Australians over the years, including Alistair Edwards, Ante Kovacevic, David Mitchell, Ross Aloisi, Joe Biskic and Mehmet Durakovic.

The trip to Australia was a reward to the 22 players for winning the Malaysia Cup, FA Cup and Malaysia Premier League title, a treble record not previously achieved by any state in Malaysia.

The squad trained daily in preparation for the new Malaysian football season which begins on 3 December. "Our players gained valuable experience and they are bound to benefit from it. I have already found a change in our players' attitude and they appear to be motivated and very keen about their football careers," Datuk Dr Mohd Satim Dimen, vice president of the FA of Selangor, told Neville D'Cruz of Bernama newsagency.

He said a highlight was going to the Telstra Stadium to watch Australia play against Uruguay in their World Cup qualifying match. "It was a great game and Australia deserved to win," he said, adding that Australia's participation in the World Cup in Germany next year will draw world attention to the region which will be good for the game in Asia.

Taiwan's Dah Lih Puh Super Cup Football Tournament concluded at Taichung Football Field with another newly promoted Malaysian Super League club, Negeri Sembilan, showing solid defense and strength in attack to defeat Taiwan First Division runner-up Taipower 3-0 in the final. Sembilan's victory meant it was crowned DLP Super cup champion and scooped the NT$ 200,000 prize money.

The DLP team, which comprised Brazilians and players from Taiwan's National Football Training Team and took it's name from Taichung-based shoe manufacturer Dah Lih Puh, the tournament's sponsor, finished in third place match after winnning 5-2 against Taiwan First Division champion Tatung.

"Before leaving Malaysia, I told my boys this is not just a friendly tournament." Devan, the Malaysian club's coach, told Robert Lee of Taiwan News. "We needed to be champion to get more confidence to challenge in the Super League," he said. "Now we have achieved our target. I am satisfied at this moment, but the most important is the Super League. I hope that we will be one of the top three by the end of the season."

And after two games against Taiwanese teams, Devan had some words of advice for his hosts. "Taiwan's players have really good spirit ... Tatung and Taipower are all very aggressive on the ground," he said "but their skill is not enough. Maybe that's the main difference between us."

Malaysian Super League champion, Perlis, has disappointed Indian football fans, tournament organisers and broadcasters by pulling out of Kolkata's historic IFA Shield at the last minute. "In rage", the IFA secretary has shot off a letter of complaint to the All India Football Federation to take up the case with the Asian Football Confederation and FIFA.

Perlis had given a written confirmation to play in the tournament on 10 November. Then on 17 November, it sent another letter informing of its unavailability. The reason it gave was that the 2006 Malaysian league had been rescheduled and will begin in December 2005 instead of February 2006 and so it will miss a couple of matches if it was to participate in the Shield.

According to Jaydip Sengupta of Express India, an Indian club, probably JCT, was to replace Perlis and the match against Ever-ready played on 20 November just before the Mohun Bagan-Mohammedan Sporting encounter.

See also: Malaysian club to join Taiwan's Da LI Pu Cup (9 Nov) and Bayern Munich discovers India in "South East Asia" (9 Nov)

Domestic EPL TV broadcast monopoly to end

According to an agreement between the English Premier League and the European Commission competition authorities, exclusive domestic television broadcasting coverage of live Premier League football will come to an end when the next rights deal starts from 2007. The decision to break up the exclusive deal enjoyed by BSkyB will see live broadcasts split into six "balanced" packages, with no single broadcaster able to buy them all.

NTL, the cable company, said it had always lobbied for a 50:50 split of the rights. The broadcaster, which recently mergered with Telewest, said it would look at each rights package on its merits, but is not expected to challenge Sky for a significant proportion of the games.

"The commitments offered by the Premier League should ensure that the media rights are sold in a fair and transparent manner and give British football fans greater choice and better value," Neelie Kroes, the EU competition commissioner said, as quoted by Sports Business. News Ltd-associated BSkyB is currently paying £ 1.02 billion over three years for all live Premier League games through 2007.

Vietnam elite clubs demoted for match-fixing

V-League club East Asia Bank-Pomina Steel (EABPS), whose officials are being prosecuted for match-fixing, has been demoted by the Vietnam Football Federation to the first division, AFCMedia reported. The VFF also demoted first division club Can Tho, which has also being indicted in the raging match-rigging scandal, to the second division.

The Thanh Nien newspaper reported that the punishment was mild compared to the earlier tough stand of top VFF officials who said that EABPS would be demoted to the second division as its managing director and entire coaching board were proved to be guilty after police investigations. However, at a recent meeting here, the VFF Standing Committee unanimously agreed to demote the club just one level, a source told the newspaper. The VFF is likely to fill the vacant places with other clubs.

See also: V-League coach and ref arrested for corruption (10 Nov)

Nepal and Bangladesh cohost AFC Challenge Cup

Nepal and Bangladesh will co-host the inaugural Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup next year, the AFC has announced. Played 25 March - 9 April 2006, the event features 16 'emerging' footballing countries of Asia, divided into four groups. League matches of Group A and B will be played in Nepal while the league matches of Groups C and D will be hosted by Bangladesh.

Group A includes India, Taiwan, Philippines and Afghanistan; Group B has Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Brunei; Group C has Palestinian territories, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Guam; and Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Macau make Group D.

See also: Asian continental tournament developments (2 Nov)

Tokyo Verdy still for Champions League if relegated

Japan Football Association president Saburo Kawabuchi has announced approval for Tokyo Verdy FC to play in next season's Asian Champions League even though if the club is relegated to Japan's second division.

Verdy, which booked a place in the ACL by winning the Emperor's Cup on 1 January, occupies one of the two automatic relegation spots with four matches left to play in the season.

Along with this year's J-League champions, the Emperor's Cup winners from the previous season receive an Asian berth, a system that Kawabuchi said may have to be reconsidered in order for the most recent winners to qualify.

"The Asian Football Confederation has said the Emperor's Cup winners have the legitimate right to play [in the ACL] and they also said there is no problem with the participation of a second-division team," Kawabuchi said in The Japan Times.

The bottom two teams J-League clubs are automatically relegated while the third from bottom plays a two-leg relegation-promotion playoff with the third-place finishers in the second division.

Australia takes Asia to five in 2006 World Cup finals

Australia beat Uruguay in a dramatic penalty shoot-out to qualify for next year's World Cup in Germany, their first finals appearance since 1974. The "Socceroos" become a member of the Asian Football Confederation from 1 January 2006 and with their qualification alongside Saudi Arabia, Japan, Korea Republic and Iran, the number of Asian countries in the World Cup has risen to five. Bahrain missed out on a sixth place for Asia when it lost 2-1 on aggregate to Trinidad and Tobago in the AFC/CONCACAF playoff.

Asia currently has 4½ spots in the 32-team World Cup but the AFC wants at least one and possibly two more in time for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. "We are hoping for this very much," AFC general secretary Peter Velappan said recently.

Uruguay, World Cup champions in 1930 and 1950, won Saturday's first leg of the playoff between Oceania and South America in Montevideo 1-0 but the Australians reversed the score in Sydney with a brilliant first half goal from Marco Bresciano. Australia won the shoot-out 4-2 with Spanish-based striker John Aloisi scoring the decisive goal from the spot after the teams finished the two legs 1-1 on aggregate. It was the first time that a penalty shoot-out victory has led directly to a place in the World Cup finals, Reuters reported.

"We thought it was going to happen. We've been dreaming of this for 32 years," said Aloisi. "You couldn't ask for a better finish, with 83,000 people here to watch us and 20 million people in Australia following us. I just can't believe it," added the Alaves forward.

"It is a huge compliment that they were so coachable," said recently appointed Australian coach, Guus Hiddink. "At times, they were complaining that we were working too hard. But I think it was worth it. "

Football success last night means a place in the 9 December World Cup draw in Leipzig, followed next June by at least three group games before a cumulative TV audience of 30 billion people.

But the Australian government also has the idea of leveraging increased trade and investment off the Socceroo's participation in the World Cup and the country's new 'home' in the Asian Football Confederation.

For instance, Business Club Australia, a sports business networking program developed by the Australian Trade Commission for the Sydney Olympics, generated A$1.2 billion in business deals at those games and around A$370 million at the Rugby World Cup held in Australia. BCA is in full gear for the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006 and is now focusing on the networking spin-offs from football.


"Australia’s trade patterns do reflect its AFC membership," said Austrade's Chief Economist, Tim Harcourt in his latest analysis, Sporting ties kick-start Australian-Asian trade momentum.

"According to Austrade research, the top ranked AFC nations account for around of A$42 billion in exports compared to A$13.6 billion of the top ranked FIFA nations. In essence, by gaining admission into the AFC, John O’Neill and his team at the Football Federation of Australia not only gave soccer fans something to cheer about, but they have also given Australia a long run economic benefit as well in terms of trade."

See also: AFC rooting for Australian win against Uruguay (21 Oct)

What keeps English football so popular?

Since it formulated the game some 140 years ago, English football has always maintained world-wide interest. But with the growth of so many other great competitions, what keeps it popular today? According to the inaugural Barclays Premiership Global Fans Report 2005, top flight English football is the most popular in the world "because of its players, goals and style of football"

Published by Barclays PLC the report analyses the opinions of over 26,000 fans from 170 different countries, in 12 different languages and provides marketing insights into a global community of football fans who absorb the 1,000 hours of English Premier League action seen in 517 million homes around the world every week.

League Appeal: Players (52%), goals (47%) and style of football (31%) were voted by global fans as the most appealing aspects of top flight English football. Italian and Portuguese fans bucked the trend, they voted 'atmosphere' as the most attractive part of the EPL (67% and 57% respectively). Nearly half of the respondents from Brazil (46%) revealed that they followed the EPL because of the style of football.

Fan Behaviour: Nearly half the fans surveyed owned an EPL club shirt or item of clothing (48%), videos of club highlights were the second most popular football related purchase (32%). The global fan predominately keeps up to date with all the action on TV for an average of 106 minutes each week. This is followed by the internet (83 mins per week) and newspapers (45 mins per week). Fans in Australia spend the most time playing football (51 minutes per week) whilst fans in Pakistan spend the most time watching football on TV (124 minutes per week)

Clubs: Manchester United has the biggest overall global fan base (25%) and Old Trafford was voted the greatest football stadium in the world (22%).

Soccerex: failing to interest clubs outside the Gulf

Soccerex has become the leading annual Middle East football convention since it settled in Dubai in 2001 and this year's has been a success according to local and international media interviews with organising officials.

"This time there are more than 2,000 delegates, from 650 last year," new business development manager, Steven J Allen, told Khaleej Times. He explained that Soccerex this year, had attracted companies from different business backgrounds, but not only football. “We have companies here dealing in banking, ticketing and even law firms,” he added. "There's more business than you can shake a stick at," organiser Duncan Revie said to Bloomberg.

The event also received media attention from controversial remarks from the many English guest speakers. For instance English Football League chairman, Sir Brian Mawhinney, took the English Football Association and the English Premier League to task over the regulation of agents' fees. His use of the forum to threaten a breakaway by his 72 clubs over the issue took a domestic issue global and was widely reported.

There is concern, however, that Soccerex may not develop into the international event its owners and the Dubai government are hoping for.

According to Soccer Investor (16 November), there are not enough clubs attending and it has an "over-strong Emirates bias". The industry journal, a Media Partner to the event, estimated the number of delegates at a much lower 1,200 of which "only 151 were representatives of clubs" and where "35% of the club total was accounted for by representatives of clubs from the Gulf states".

Soccer Investor further suggested that that football clubs in the Gulf, "with state of the art facilities but few fans", have a "very different demand function for goods and services than many of their European and even other Asian counterparts" and, with the "few big clubs attending providing mainly speakers, there were few opportunities to reach the ultimate buyers of the products sold by many of the exhibitors: player analysis systems, artificial turf, stadium design, ticketing systems, security systems."

World Cup television revenue to increase by "25%"

The 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany will attract an increase of about 25 percent in television revenue to US$ 1.7 billion, Deloitte & Touche LLP said. The four-yearly event will generate US$ 1.1 billion, or 65 percent of its total, from European broadcasters, the accountancy firm told Bloomsberg. South America and Asia will each pay more than US$ 200 million while the Middle East, North America, Africa and Oceania will bring in US$ 50 million or less.

FIFA said it expects revenue of 793 million Swiss francs (US$ 602 million) in 2006, a 12 percent increase from 2004, when it last reported results. The ruling body has lifted the prize money it will give the 32 teams at the World Cup by 38 percent to 332 million francs. That will go to national federations, which are responsible for their national teams.

Iran bans Korean sponsor over nuclear vote row

Furious over the Republic of Korea's opposition to its nuclear program, the Iran government unilaterally ditched the South Korean sponsors of a friendly international football tournament. "From today, no competition will have a [South] Korean sponsor, and that goes for all sports federations," the student agency ISNA quoted national sports official Mehdi Ghadami.

The event once known as the “LG Cup”, backed sinced 1997 by the South Korean electronics giant, was to go ahead with another title, “The peaceful usage of nuclear energy is the definite claim for Iranians”, reported Pakistan newspaper Daily Times.

Iranian football officials said they were looking for local sponsors to meet the five to six billion rials (US$ 550,000 to 660,000) required to cover the event.

The political intervention is in response to South Korea's decision to co-sponsor an International Atomic Energy Agency resolution in September that paved the way for Iran to be brought before the UN Security Council over its disputed nuclear program.

This year’s competition featured four teams: Iran, Macedonia, Paraguay and Togo. Romania was due to take part but pulled out after Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for Israel to be “wiped off the map” -- and was replaced by FYR Macedonia "B".

Paraguay won the tournament on Sunday after beating Macedonia 1-0 at Azadi Football Stadium. Iran finished third after beating Togo 2-0, AP reported.

Chelsea's Kenyon outlines global growth strategy

Chelsea FC chief executive Peter Kenyon has a master-plan of making the English Premier League title-holder profitable in five years and the number one internationally recognised club in ten years' time. Just under two years since he started working at Chelsea after leaving Manchester United, reported Ben Lyttleton of Scotland on Sunday "he is confident that his ambitions are firmly on track".

Addressing the International Football Arena in Zurich, Kenyon was keen to point out that the initial investment from owner Abramovich was only £60 million, "considerably less" than the £800 million the Glazer family spent on the purchase of Manchester United, allowing some £300 million to be readily made available to spend on new players.

Investment at this stage is key to the strategy of building success for the future, according to Kenyon. Chelsea spent £24.5 million buying out the existing contract with kit manufacturers Umbro, who will be replaced by Adidas next season on a £12 million-per-year deal. They also changed shirt sponsors from Emirates to Samsung as the latter had a "global footprint".

The club is designing customised packages to fan-bases abroad. These might include memberships to local supporters' club with discounts off products, sweepstakes offering trips to the stadium, or priority access when Chelsea tour fans' home territory.

"It's not done on the basis of coming in for ten days [for a tour] then going away for two years. It's about building a sustainable presence and that takes time and resources, and partnerships in the right areas. And our partners Adidas and Samsung are key to assisting with that," he said.

As for Asia, Kenyon said that football in the region "has been targeted as a key area of development to successful business there but it cannot be done overnight. It's hard work, and needs a lot of investment." He added that, in Asia, Chelsea will need a team of people on the ground who can use the local language.

UPDATE

Speaking at Soccerex, a Middle-East football convention in Dubai, Kenyon said it was "essential not to let television exposure wreck the English game - but at the same time insisted the balance was just about right" (ESPN News). "We have got to keep the balance between the number of games on television and ensuring our stadiums are full. But don't under-estimate the importance of television revenue which funded stadia development and, more importantly, funded our ability to attract worldwide players into the game," he said.

Kenyon called upon clubs to find a solution to the issue of compensation for players injured on international duty. While some clubs have advocated governing bodies paying into an insurance fund to cover losses incurred, Chelsea reportedly supports a sliding scale where governing bodies with the ability to do so would make a contribution to players' wages.

He played down his club's continued exclusion from G14, the elite group of 18 European clubs who were meeting at EXPOGOAL, a European football convention in Milan, Italy to discuss international duty comopensation, television rights and the format of the European Champions' League.

"We are members of UEFA's European Club Forum and so is everyone else," he said. "Yes, we have the stature to be there -- as members of G14 -- but, for whatever reason, we are not. It is one of those things."

Kenyon also said he was not in favour of a European super league, insisting it would do nothing to improve the game. "If you talk to the clubs, they don't want to play AC Milan and Bayern Munich every other week,' he added. 'It's not something that the supporters want.'" (14 Oct)

See also: Umbro spends Chelsea funds in Asian markets (4 Oct)

Charlton Athletic backs A-League's Knights in NZ

A-League club NZ Knights have welcomed Les Reed and Steve Gritt to New Zealand from English Premiership League club Charlton Athletic on a week long visit to further assist the Knights with the implementation of an Academy program. The Knights are a remarkable venture. Based in New Zealand in the Oceania Football Confederation, they are a franchise of the national professional league of new Asian Confederation member, Australia.

This hybid arrangement sometimes disadvantages the club; it was not, for instance, invited to participate in either the Australian or New Zealand qualifying rounds of the Oceania club championship. However, the Knight's special program with Charlton appears to have a dual role in building for a healthy future in the A-League while assisting the long-term future of soccer in New Zealand.

Both Reed and Gritt are employed by Charlton’s community program and youth development and it is through this expertise and guidance that the Knights, supported by New Zealand Soccer, wish to develop strong relationships with the grass roots of the game.

"As the only professional club in New Zealand we have a responsibility to help foster interest in the game but also to help identify good young talent as early as possible. The Charlton Young Knights Academies are about participation and the delivery of a quality football experience for children of all abilities but will also help identify the children that will then go on to elite programs. Our business plan clearly identifies contributing towards the overall enjoyment and participation levels of children throughout New Zealand, the Charlton Young Knights will help us do that," Knights chairman, Anthony Lee, said.

The CYK academies are targeted towards children aged 5 to 14 years and are very much at the grass roots of the game, the base of the pyramid so to speak. The intention is to provide top quality coaching programs during school holidays, after school and on weekends. The academies will also provide access to Knights players and exposure through mainstream media such as the Young Knights program on Sky Television New Zealand.

(Pictured from left: Knights chairman Anthony Lee, Charlton's CEO Peter Varney and deputy chairman Bob Whitehand).

The four-year deal between Charlton and the Knights was signed in June this year and, according to Charlton CEO, Peter Varney, “It's an exciting partnership on a number of levels. It will include the exchange of players at senior and academy level and we'll also share ideas and our experience with regard to community-based activities."

He added: "I have been asked several times abut the identity of the first New Zealand player we will sign, but the Knights are being asked which will be the first Charlton player they will sign. We think it's a great market for us. More than 60 percent of the people there have access to UK passports and it a great opportunity for us to make our mark.

"It's very difficult for young players, say 18 to 19-year-olds, to break though in the Premiership now so there is an opportunity for them to go to New Zealand and play first-team football, and there is also an opportunity perhaps for players towards the end of their careers. In reserve-team football there comes a point when young players plateau, because it is played in a false atmosphere with small crowds … if we can get those players out there playing in a competitive league where points really matter in front of big crowds, that can only be good for them.

"Sky have a five per cent stake in New Zealand Knights ... and that helps in terms of coverage going forward as well. Apart from any benefits from club to club we want to spread the name of Charlton further and further across the world," he said.

Malaysian stakeholders focussed by FIFA program

Malaysian football stakeholders were given the opportunity to raise criticism and suggestions at a lively three-day workshop at the PJ Hilton in Kuala Lumpur between 9-11 November, organised by the Football Association of Malaysia. The major theme was to relaunch Malaysian football so that it can compete for the attention of Malaysian fans with the far more popular English Premier League broadcasts, tours and merchandise.

"With the exception of Perak, Perlis, and Pahang who have been consistently able to command big turnouts, the remaining States in the Malaysian Super League and the Premier League have been playing to virtually empty stadiums," reminded the New Straits Times' Lazarus Rokk.

The platform for the talks was the Com-Unity program (see PDF) developed by the world football body, FIFA, for building cooperation within the football 'family' and with the broader community. A Com-Unity workshop was held in Cambodia last year and recently in Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

The FIFA delegation was headed by Jurg Nepter and included David Borja FIFA development manager Asia and Oceania, John Windsor FIFA development officer, marketing instructor Winston Lee and communication instructors Les Dickens and Mark Gleeson. President bin Hammam and other leaders and executives of the Asian Football Confederation were also heavily involved. (Pictured from left FAM's Tengku Abdullah and AFC president, Mohamed bin Hammam).

Of the more than 120 registered participants, media and Government officials and national sports officials were well represented but only nine of the important state football associations turned up (and, in most cases, were not represented by their decision-makers).

At the opening ceremony, FAM deputy president, Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, focussed attention on football's failure, as the country's number one sport, to effectively market itself. “National and State football bodies ought to learn how to market their products instead of waiting for sponsors,” he said.

Day One of the workshop was concerned with Relationship Management. "We need to look at improving relations between the different football partners as communication will allow them to realise the same objective. This will encompass social, economic as well as educational matters," FIFA's Jurg Nepter said. One problem in football management is the FAM-state FA relationship, particularly concerning the funding of local development. (Pictured from left: FAM deputy president Tengku Abdullah with FIFA's Jurg Nepter)

Day Two was concerned with Communications and media professionals took the opportunity to review a system in which, one noted, “nothing much has changed in the past 20 years.”

FIFA media instructors Gleeson and Dickens said it was imperative for FAM to employ a communication officer. Football pundit Serbegeth (Shebby) Singh called on FAM to make Malaysian football records accessable. “FAM are custodian of statistics and immense footage and all this history should be made available on the Internet. If one wants to know the starting line-ups from the 1978 Malaysia Cup final, the data would be available quickly. Accessibility is the greatest tool for marketing a product,” he said.

Topics discussed ranged from professionalism, the lack of Chinese players in the Malaysian game to media facilities at stadiums but FAM general secretary Datuk Seri Dr Ibrahim Saad's candidness about the state of the FAM and the State associations was a highlight.

"FIFA is living in the modern age, FAM is in the stone age while the State FAs are in the dark age. That is how we can describe Malaysian football currently," he said.

According to Vijesh Rai, it was pointed out to football officials that while the media is there to support football, the responsibility of developing and managing the sport lies in the hands of FAM and the State FAs. The Malaysian Super League and Premier League had to be planned with minimal postponements to fixtures to ensure maximum fan support. A successful national team was also the benchmark if football is to continue attracting huge crowds and blaming extensive media coverage of the English Premier League and other international competitions "is not the answer for dwindling gates".

Ibrahim agreed, saying "I agree that we cannot blame coverage of the EPL and other tournaments as the reason for football's troubles." And, at the end of the day, he accepted 11 resolutions including an SMS service to provide results, discussions with broadcasters RTM and TV3 to make available matches of yesteryear when Malaysia was a force in Asian football and a beefed-up FAM media department.

Day Three focussed on Marketing and the need, as AFC's marketing director, Clare Kenny, emphasised, to achieve professionalism, transparent and trusting partnerships, open communication and client servicing.

AirAsia Group Chief Executive Officer, Datuk Tony Fernandes, told the workshop that his company was not sponsoring Malaysian football because he had only ever received verbal queries. AirAsia has an international sponsorship deal with Manchester United believed to cost about RM 14 million.

"Neither FAM nor any of the State FAs have formally forwarded a proposal to us,” he said. “How can we sponsor anyone without any proposals? Of course, we are keen on associating ourselves with Malaysian soccer, but we have to look at the proposals first ... Sponsorship these days is a business deal between parties, for the mutual benefit of all concerned,” he said.

FAM appeared serious about implementing all undertakings reached in the workshops and will have a "watchdog", FIFA Goal Project development officer Windsor John Paul, looking over to ensure it does just that. Tengku Abdullah, who closed the final session, welcomed Paul’s role in ensuring that the three-day seminar "isn’t reduced to just talk".

Tengku Abdullah agreed that the seminar was an eye-opener.

"In Malaysia, the marketing and merchandising of football is not taken very seriously as football is always about the national team. We have to change this concept as football is a huge industry and the fact that FIFA spends US$ 100 million a year on development programmes indicates how important it is for us to develop the game further in Malaysia. We have done reasonably well but our eyes have been opened and we, and I mean all levels of football, must work together towards this."

Among the key proposals that FAM has to implement are appointing a technical director, a full-time marketing manager (within six months), a national level media officer and state level media officers. FAM must also create an annual sponsorship activation programme, starting next month, and they must propose to the State FAs that they appoint marketing officers as well.

A joint consultative committee, to be chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, will also soon be formed. Other members of the committee will include the relevant ministers, FAM officials and individuals.

"I have discussed it with the DPM and he has agreed that a joint consultative committee be formed,Tengku Abdullah said, adding that implementation is a problem.

"Implementation has been our biggest problem. We have a structure similar to FIFA, the world governing body. But every time we implement a programme, it does not work. We need the input of the consultative committee because FAM simply can't do it alone. It's very straight forward actually. We need everyone to chip in to make sure there is improvement in the local football scene. The specifics of the consultative committee will be known once we have our first meeting,” he said.

He also pointed out that the prevailing financial structure whereby by FAM distributes RM 8.5 million annually from sponsor Telekom Melaka is not practical and the state FAs must look at being financially independent.

“I believe that we need to look at three optional years in qualifying for the World Cup – in 2014, 2018 and 2022,” he added. “But in order for that target to be achieved, we need to do a lot of work and improve on areas of responsibility where obviously we will also need the help of the government. We are not talking about achieving FAM’s target but rather of the country and as such, everybody has to chip where it should be a national agenda and mission. Let’s share the dream together.”

See also: Malaysia to upgrade admin and player skills (28 Oct)

Korean players "must unite and repay football fans"

The recently appointed Korean Football Association managing director, Kim Ho-gon (54), is reportedly so swamped with work that he no longer has time for regular gym workouts. The KFA official is dealing with the aftermath of a parliamentary inspection, incorporating the organisation and preparing the national team for 2006 World Cup Germany preliminary matches. The former manager-turned-official's major goals are to unite all Korean footballers; to "vitalize" Korean junior soccer; and to create an armed forces league to accommodate football talent in the military services.

According to Donga's Won-Hong Lee, the most pressing issue Kim faces is helping Dick Advocaat’s team prepare for the World Cup. “We’ll call in players to training session that will last for 45 days starting 15 January and ending in late February. A total of seven A-matches are scheduled during this period. This is how we plan to prepare for the Asian Cup preliminary that will be held in February next year,” Kim told him.

He stressed that Koreans must "clear their head" of 2002 World Cup euphoria. He pointed out China’s potential based on her vast population and Japan’s solid athletic infrastructure and said Korean football "should not get too comfortable" in its current position. “Footballers must unite and repay football fans for their support” he said.

AFC bans top China player and coach for 6 months

Former Partizan Beograd and AEK coach Ljubiša Tumbakovic will not be able to perform his role as the coach of Shandong Luneng in the China Super League in the next six months. The Asian Football Confederation has suspended him for attacking one of the match officials in his team’s Asian Champions League duel with Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia in September.

Tumbakovic's players, Predrag Pažin and former "Chinese Footballer of the Year" Zheng Zhi were also been banned "but while the Serbian defender won't be able to play for 13 months the Chinese international has been suspended for just six despite the fact that he also spitted and abused the referee", Yugo-website, Jadrand Sport, reported. The coach and both players were also each fined US$ 4,500.

Zheng Zhi's absence will be felt by the China PR national side. The ban came into effect on 9 November meaning he will miss the two upcoming friendlies against Serbia and Montenegro and Bulgaria on 13 and 16 November respectively.

UPDATE

The Asian Football Confederation has reduced the punishment to Chinese midfielder, Zheng Zhi, after hearing an appeal from China Super League club, Shandong Luneng, China Broadcast reported. Instead of a suspension from all competitive matches, the new decision only bans Zheng Zhi from playing in the AFC Champions League next year (3 Dec).

Hotel building "spurt" for 2006 FIFA World Cup

Deloitte's HotelBenchmark Update on Europe to be released on 22 November 2005 reports that Germany is gaining a slate of new hotels due to the 2006 FIFA World Cup. “Already this year, the market has seen the opening of the 251-room Express by Holiday Inn Berlin Anhalter Bahnhof; the 274-room Dorint Novotel Berlin am Tiergarten; the 267-room Courtyard Berlin City Centre and the 505-room Maritim, with more new hotels to come,” the update states.

“This spurt of activity is due to the FIFA World Cup Football Championships, which will be staged during the summer 2006, when at least 3m fans will attend one or more of the 64 matches being held at 12 venues across the country.

“With domestic demand accounting for 87% of current overnight hotel accommodation, the German government regards hosting the World Cup as a way to widen the country’s appeal and attract more lucrative international visitors. This plan is being supported with improved rail and road infrastructure, and new air routes, including direct flights between Hamburg and Newark; and between Hamburg and Dubai. Budget operator easyJet has also added routes from a number of UK locations to Berlin, Dortmund and Munich.”

Malaysian terrorist "was a Manchester United fan"

A former student of a key Malaysian terror suspect who was killed in a dramatic police raid in Indonesia this week professed astonishment at the bomb-maker's true identity, calling him a "fun teacher" and "passionate soccer fan".

Lum Chih Feng, 27, who took a class on thesis writing and property valuation taught by Dr Azahari bin Husin at the University Teknologi Malaysia, told media his teacher once spoke about bomb-making during a lecture, "but never went into details".

Lum said Azahari was a jovial man who talked about going to watch English Premier League football games when he studied in Britain. "He often told us how he used to support the English teams and there was one occasion when he demonstrated how he used to remove his T-shirt when his team scored a goal ... if I remember correctly, he was a Manchester United fan," Lum said.

In September it was reported that al-Qa'ida terrorist leader, Osama bin Laden, toured Europe with his family in his teenage years and became an Arsenal FC fan

New ESPN Star Sports football show in Cantonese

ESPN Star Sports has launched a second edition of its popular football magazine program, Here We Go in Asia, this time tailored for Hong Kong viewers. Hosted by Jackie Pang, the Cantonese version airs every Friday night on the ESPN Hong Kong channel at 10.30 pm on PCCW’s now Broadband TV platform. The show covers predictions and analysis of English Premier League matches and also takes a look at major European Leagues including UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup. Each week, Pang is joined by two guests including current and ex-players, coaches and managers from Hong Kong.

This new edition, Televisionpoint reports, "adds to the extensive football programming on ESPN and Star Sports in Hong Kong, including full and exclusive coverage of the English FA Cup, FA Community Shield, and Senior and Under 21 England home team matches.

Singapore's 2006 S-League roster announced

Singapore's national elite competition, the S-League, will be expanded from 10 teams to 12 for the 2006 season. The announcement was made by S-League CEO How Seen Yong and reported by AFCMedia.

The new season will see the return of Gombak United FC, a joint venture between Sengkang Marine FC and Paya Lebar Punggol FC to form Sengkang-Punggol FC and the introduction of a third foreign team, Sporting Afrique FC.

The 2006 league will comprise three foreign teams, eight local clubs and a FAS representative Under-23 side, the Young Lions.

The 12 Clubs are: Albirex Niigata (S) FC, Balestier Khalsa FC, Geylang United FC, Gombak United FC, Home United FC, SAF FC, Sengkang-Punggol FC, Sinchi FC, Sporting Afrique FC, Tampines Rovers FC, Woodlands Wellington FC and Young Lions

Fatal violence a problem in China amateur games

Eight footballers in east China's Shandong province have been charged with “intentional injurying” after they beat to death a rival player during a local amateur tournament match, Xinhua newsagency reported. According to the People's Procuratorate of Zibo, the violence erupted in the city's stadium on 23 July when the home team Zibo Sunday Saints hosted the Weifang Devils from the neighbouring city of Weifang. In the second half, Zibo mid-fielder Liu Xiaolei was attacked by several Weifang players after a squabble turned sour and Liu died of severe neck injury five days later in a local hospital.

The newsagency reported that “violence is not stranger to China's scandal-plagued football leagues, especially the amateur ones that largely fell out of sufficient supervising of the authority”.

On 25 September angry players in a national amateur league match held in central province of Sichuan crushed the referee's hand and leg bones and left him mild concussed.

On 25 June, in a match of the Asian Football Confederation-sponsored city football league in the eastern city of Qingdao, a fan was hit on the face by a furious player who stormed up the stand after being thrown bottles and water melon rinds.

Four second-round FIFA goal projects go to Asia

Second Goal projects in Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam and Guam were approved by FIFA’s Goal Bureau during its meeting in Zurich chaired by Mohamed bin Hammam (Qatar) on 7 November 2005, FIFAMedia reported.

This brings the total number of FIFA members to benefit from the Goal Program to 176 and the number of projects that have been completed or have been approved and are in the planning stage to over 200. Of those projects, over 120 have already been completed.

The brainchild of FIFA president, Joseph Blatter, Goal projects are tailor-made to suit the needs and priorities of individual associations and have included the building and refurbishment of association headquarters to safeguard the independence of football administrations, the construction of technical centres and the provision of all-weather artificial pitches to raise standards and boost the facilities available at national and regional levels.

V-League coach and ref arrested for corruption

Vietnamese police have arrested a V-League coach and a referee for bribery as part of the widening investigation into match-fixing. Coach Nguyen Thanh Vinh (left) was taken into police custody in Ho Chi Minh City and FIFA-certified referee Truong The Toan was arrested in Hanoi for their involvement in the scam, a Ministry of Public Security official told Associated Press.

Vinh, coach of the East Asia-Pomina Steel team, is accused of ordering his assistant to give bribes of VND 130 million to a referee and his three assistants after the Ho Chi Minh City team earned promoted to the V-League earlier this year. Toan was accused of receiving VND 25 million from the team in a separate incident.

On Wednesday, the Vietnam Football Federation decided to suspend Vinh, his assistant and the team's manager and 14 referees for their involvement in the scandals. The VFF is also considering relegating EA-PS to the second division.

In an earlier interview with Thanh Niennew news (18 Oct), Vinh denied he had bribed referees but admitted his team had tipped them millions of dong:

"I didn’t bribe any referees; the money was a tip to all referees in the VFF’s national referee council, given at the time the football season 2005 ended. I contributed VND 40 million which was my prize for leading the club and gaining the V-League promotion, a part of the VND 130 million. I just wanted to share my success with others," he said.

See also: No 'unity' for accused Vietnamese sports director (5 Nov)

Local challenge to Man United's Dubai Academy

When the 50 million square feet Dubai Sports City development was unveiled to investors in March 2004, the president of Dubai Sports City LLC, Khalid Al Zarooni, announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Manchester United Plc to run the permanent DSC football academy which will be attached to a multi-purpose outdoor stadium with a seating capacity of 25,000.

'We are confident,” said David Gill, ManU’s CEO, “that the evolution of this unique facility will encourage more young people to participate in football and achieve their full potential.”

Since being taken over by Malcolm Glazer, however, Manchester United’s Dubai-connection is now being touted as a means to “counter the spending power" of Roman Abramovich's Chelsea.

“We have to spread our wings as best we can to find new talent,'' Manchester United coach Alex Ferguson, said at a press conference in Dubai. “The hope of bringing on players like Beckham, Giggs and Scholes is why you invest in academies,” he said.

Having noted that the football club was setting up its first football school in the Middle East as its European fan base fell by a third in the six months to July, Bloomberg newsagency observed that the location of the academy may have something to do with Dubai's development needs rather than player talent.

“United is adding to the list of sports institutions setting up operations in the Gulf state, which offers tax breaks to attract foreign investment and broaden its oil-based economy,” it reported.

This was a point unexpectedly taken up by a Dubai media, 7Days, in its editorial, “Go ahead and dream, but United are fooling no-one” :

“Manchester United Soccer Schools (MUSS) are coming to Dubai, and for budding footballers and Dubai Sports City investors this can be nothing but good news. We’ve known for aeons that United were coming to town. But yesterday provided the first chance for the city’s media to ask: ‘Why here?’

“… If Dubai and the region around it isn’t considered a hotbed of footballing talent - and it isn’t - then what of MUSS’s other locations? Namely: Hong Kong, the US city of Seattle and - most unapologetically of all – EuroDisney …

“The question on 7Days’ lips was why on earth are United sending their coaches to places like Dubai and EuroDisney, and not a more traditional breeding ground - somewhere like Brazil perhaps?

“Ferguson had the answer, kind of. ‘The problem we’ve got with Brazilian boys is their national status,’ he said. ‘If they aren’t EU citizens then they have to be fully fledged internationals to qualify for a work permit, plus they can’t leave the country until they’re 18 …’

“7Days: ‘But won’t you have a similar problem here in the Middle East?’

“Ferguson: ‘Yes, it will be the same, exactly the same in fact ... But the thing is, Brazil is such a massive country so it’s pretty hard to say you could put a Soccer School in any particular area. We could always put it on the Copacabana Beach!’

“The joke hid the sinister truth … United employ a full-time scout in Brazil (who presumably doesn’t have a problem with it being such a “massive” country) whose job it is to report back if he discovers a bright prospect ... United don’t need to send a team of coaches halfway across the world in search of the next Pele - and that is not the reason they are coming to the United Arab Emirates …”

One wonders, if it is not "sinister" for the International Cricket Board to relocate to brand-new, oil-subsidised headquarters on the edge of the Arabian desert, why not global facilities of an American-owned, English football club?

Real Madrid and Beijing Guo'an sign co-operation

Real Madrid and China Super League club, Beijing Guo'an, have signed a cooperation agreement to expand the Spanish side's image in Asia and to develop the Chinese football club. Xinhua newsagency reported the agreement was signed on Wednesday in Madrid.

According to the agreement, Real Madrid will lend its sporting, technological, commercial and strategic knowledge in order to help develop Beijing Guo'an and football in China. In return the Chinese side will support the development of the Real Madrid brand in China.

Real Madrid played Beijing Guo'an in July on a promotional tour of East Asia prior to this season, the third time they have toured the region in as many years.

Beijing Guo'an, playing as Beijing Hyundai, is part of the CITIC Group (China International Trust and Investment Corporation). It won the China FA Cup in 1996, 1997 and 2003 and the China Super Cup in 1998 and 2003.

UPDATE

Sinosoc reports that Real Madrid is now a part-owner of Beijing Guo'an: "According to the terms of an agreement signed by Guo'an board director Li Shilin and Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, the Spanish giants will initially own 5% of the club, with a view to increasing their investment in the future ... The initial plan was for Real Madrid to buy 60% ..."

Sinosoc says Real Madrid is paying 800,000 euros for the 5% stake.

Real will send a team of coaches to assess the Chinese team's strengths and weaknesses and come up with a adjustment plan, then will lend Beijing Guo'an three foreign players, probably from reserve teams and three coaches for next season. The Spanish club has also pledged to help Guo'an attract sponsorship, "and the team could be renamed Real Beijing Guo'an from next season".

See also: Taiwan's BenQ is next Real Madrid shirt sponsor (9 Nov)

First A-League heading for one million spectators

The new Australian A-League is heading for over one million paying spectators in its first season. At the halfway mark, the aggregate attendance for all 44 matches of the eight team competition stands at 492,716 with an average attendance of 11,198.

According to The Age, the average attendance already compares well with several other established leagues around the world (excluding top-tier leagues such as England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy and Spain):

18,585 JAPAN
17,124 ENGLISH CHAMPIONSHIP
15,108 UNITED STATES
11,352 SOUTH KOREA
11,198 AUSTRALIA
9,607 BELGIUM
9,768 PORTUGAL
9,487 NORWAY

A further bonus for Football Federation Australia is the sell-out crowd for the Powerade Series FIFA World Cup Qualifying clash against Uruguay at Sydney’s Telstra Stadium on 16 November. Now up to 12,000 supporters unable to get one of the 82,000 tickets will be able to watch the game on a 7m x 4m super screen outside the ground sponsored by National Australia Bank and Sydney Olympic Park.

See also: AFC rooting for Australian win against Uruguay (21 Oct)

Malaysian club to join Taiwan's Da LI Pu Cup

A newly promoted Malaysian Super League club has announced it will participate in the Da Li Pu Cup organised by the Chinese Taipei Football Association in Taichung city, Taiwan, from 18 to 20 November 2005. Team manager, Datuk Ismail Lasim, said the Negeri Sembilan squad will comprise five officials and 20 players.

"The invitation was in view of our elevation to the Super League in the new season beginning Dec 3," he told Bernama newsagency. He said the tournament would give an opportunity to the team to gain valuable experience and exposure and also “form part of our preparation for the Super League next month.”

The Da LI Pu Cup is sponsored by the Da Li Pu Group and the Taichung City Government. The four contestants, Da Li Pu FC, Tatung FC, Taiwan Power Company FC and the Malaysian club will be competing for a first prize of NT$ 200,000, second prize of NT$ 150,000, third of NT$ 100,000 and fourth NT$ 50,000.

Asian Football Business Review understands that the Chinese Taipei Football Association is in the process of reorganising the format of Taiwan’s top league.

Bayern Munich discovers India in "South East Asia"

Germany's Bayern Munich FC is participating in the 111th Indian regional IFA Challenge Shield which kicks off on 24 November and concludes on 4 December. Described as a "B" side, the Bundesliga club's squad will showcase "upcoming stars of German soccer" although players with senior team experience like Andreas Ottl, Mathias Zimmermann and Ghanaian Christian Saba may accompany the youngsters.

"As one of the top clubs in the world, we know we have to go to Asia. And in Asia, we cannot confine outselves to China and Japan. But we also need to visit countries like India, Thailand and Vietnam," Martin Haegele, the head of the club's international affairs department, told media. Last year, Bayern toured Japan playing teams FC Tokyo and Jubilo Iwata.

"We have toured Japan previously and that was a wonderful experience. We want to expand our base in South East Asia and India is a big football market,'' he said, as reported drolly by The Hindu and other newspapers. India, however, is in South Asia rather than South East Asia.

He also admitted that the club did not have much idea about Indian soccer. "The only thing I know of India is that it is a country of one billion people. But now from some of my footballer friends I have been told of the passion for the game in Kolkata."

Haegele made an early visit to Kolkata's Salt Lake Stadium and said the "ground is okay. Our players are on a goodwill visit and will not complain about anything.''

The IFA Shield is India's oldest football tournament first won, in 1893, by the Royal Irish Rifles who defeated WDRA (1-0). In 1911 Mohun Bagan AC was the first Indian team to win the IFA Shield Trophy, a "beginning for Indian teams" in the British-ruled sub-continent and in mainstream football.

The Indian Football Association is the original football body in India and was directly affiliated to the Football Association of England. It was instrumental in creating the All India Football Federation to govern football on a national basis and still administers football in the state of West Bengal.

In this year's Rs 2.5 million competition, Bayern Munich is directly seeded in the semi-finals with five Indian clubs qualifying for the finals through two groups. IFA secretary Subrata Dutta said East Bengal and Mohun Bagan will be in one group while the other group will comprise Mohammedan Sporting, Eveready and Malaysia's Perlis Club. All the matches will be played under floodlights and the semi-finals and the title clash will be telecast on ESPN-Star Sports.

UPDATE

The Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce Consul General in Kolkata, Agostino Pinna, has announced that an AC Milan junior team will take part in an exhibition match as part of the Festa Italiana 2005 from 20-30 November. The U-19 AC Milan team is being coached by Alessandro Musicco and their opponents, the Bengal U-19 team which is the champion team of India, will be coached by Krishnendu Banerjee. The Italian team, accompanied by Brazilian international Leonardo Nascimento de Araujo, a former AC Milan player, will also play exhibition games in Mumbai on 22 and 26 November. (14 Oct)

Taiwan's BenQ is next Real Madrid shirt sponsor

BenQ Corp, Taiwan's biggest handset maker, has agreed to sponsor Real Madrid from next season through 2010. Having bought the unprofitable cellphone unit of Siemens AG's on 1 October, for €250 million, BenQ appears to also have inherited the German company's sponsorship rights to the Spanish football club. Siemens has sponsored the club since 2002 and its current contract expires next June.

Real Madrid will wear the BenQ-Siemens brand on its shirts and display the logo at its Santiago Bernabeu stadium, BenQ said in a statement. Spanish sports daily Marca reported the five year contract to be worth €100 million.

The association with BenQ will boost Real Madrid in Asia, the team's marketing director Jose Angel Sanchez said in The Taipei Times. The team went on tours of China and Japan in the last two years to boost its brand.

South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co reportedly pays £10 million a year to put its name on English Premier League club Chelsea's shirt.

UPDATE

According to The Independent (UK), the BenQ shirt sponsorship will earn Real Madrid €24 million per season on top of €40 million a year received from Adidas which makes the club's all-white strip. (13 Nov)

This compares to £14.7 million Italian club Juventus is paid by the oil company Tamoil, which is owned by Al Saadi Gaddafi, son of the Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi (the Gaddafis also own 7 per cent of the club) the £11.4 million a year Bayern Munich gets from T-Mobile, Chelsea's previously mentioned £10 million deal with Samsung and Manchester United's £9 million a season from Vodafone.

See also: Is Real Madrid now the world's 'biggest club'? (4 Oct) and Barcelona turns down Asian sponsor for its shirt (7 Oct).

Samurai swords add edge to Japan's World Cup kit

A replica of a football locker room to be used by Japan's national team in the 2006 FIFA World Cup has been set up in Tokyo to show off the new national uniform. Eleven lockers have been arranged in an "L" shape near the entrance of the Shibuya 109 Square building and visitors can touch the uniforms hanging inside.

Adidas Japan K K, which designed and produced the uniform, organized the event to promote the new uniform which was unveiled by the Japan Football Association on Monday.

Keiko Kurahashi, 35, a housewife shopper hailed the new uniform. "The collar looks sharp and the whole thing is really cool," she told Mainichi.

The new uniform is dark blue with sky blue features, symbolizing the team's hopes to fly high. A curve in the shape of a samurai sword runs down both sides. Adidas says the design represents "the samurai spirit".

Competition final wins to China, JEF and United

JEF United Chiba finally won its first ever title as a J-League club when they defeated Gamba Osaka 5-4 on penalties in Japan's Nabisco Cup final. Watched by 45,000 fans at the National Stadium, Gamba started as favourites and indeed had the better chances of the game. However, outstanding performance by JEF captain Yuki Abe and particularly the man of the match display by goalkeeper Yosuke Fujigaya ensured JEF kept a clean sheet through-out the game.

China PR has won the East Asian Games football competition for the first time in four attempts. Comprising mostly of players targeted for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China PR beat Korea DPR 1-0 in a match which had very few chances for both teams. It was only in the 72nd minute that the goal was scored as Chen Tao rose to head home the winner. Japan finished third after beating Korea Rep 4-1.

Home United overcame an early goal to beat Woodlands Wellington 3-2 in the final of the RHB Singapore Cup at the National Stadium.

Japan FA builds flag pole highlighting 2050 goals

The Japanese Football Association plans to build a "2050 Pole" to symbolize its "2005 Declaration" and supporting members are being sought to finance it. The declaration was announced on 1 January this year to clarify the Association’s mid- and long-term objectives and directions. The goals include expanding the “football family” to 5 million by 2015 and 10 million by 2050, and hosting the World Cup again by 2050 and winning that tournament.

The "2050 Pole" will be installed in the front entrance of the JFA headquarters in Tokyo next January. On days when national teams have matches or there are other major JFA events, the JFA flag will be raised.

To build the pole, the JFA is inviting a total of 2,050 supporting members, each contributing 2,050 yen. The JSA has around 30,000 registered teams and 850,000 registered players. The names of supporting members will be carved in the foundation of the pole.

Schedule delay as football teams drop SEA Games

The further delay in announcing the football roster for the South East Asia Games (SEA Games) is due to two men’s and two women’s football teams withdrawing from the event on Friday. Both the men’s and women’s events are reportedly still due to start on 20 November.

The Brunei and East Timor men’s teams pulled out leaving group A with five teams and group B with four. Vietnam and Thailand are the two seeds at the event. The withdrawal of the women's teams of Malaysia and Singapore left only five teams - Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand and the host Philippines.

UPDATE

The SEA Games men’s football groupings have been announced: Group A includes Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia and the host Philippines. Group B includes Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar, Singapore and Laos. The tournament commences on 20 November in Manila.

See also: Philippines delay South East Asian Games draw (21 Oct).

Real Madrid TV, the 'galáctico' of brand building?

When Real Madrid's international stars, David Beckham and Zinédine Zidane, play this season, the multimillionaire "galácticos" will be starring in no fewer than four full-length movies and on two new 24-hour television channels in English and Spanish. Also coming soon are manga-style cartoons, a Muppets television show, mobile phone clips, video games, podcasting and, perhaps, even theme parks in Madrid and Miami. "Our colloquial term for this is that we're a multimedia cathedral," Real Madrid's managing director for media, Michael Novack, told Doreen Carvaja of the International Herald Tribune.

Last month, Real Madrid took a booth for the first time at Mipcom, the global television trade show in Cannes, to seek alliances with cable and satellite operators to distribute 24-hour Real Madrid TV ... The newly revamped channel has hired journalists from the BBC, CNBC and MTV for its programs and the club intends to send them to cover the athletes when they play for individual national teams in the World Cup. Real Madrid TV is already carried on seven satellite stations reaching Asia, Europe, the United States and the Middle East.

UPDATE

David Beckham is releasing a men's fragrance called "David Beckham Instinct". Made by Coty, the scent features grapefruit, mandarin leaf, cardamon seeds and patchouli. Coty said the scent created "a personality both unconventional and uncompromising" that also "reinvents the codes of elegant masculinity." The scent will only be available in Europe and Asia (11 Oct).

See also: Real Madrid TV changes business model (4 Sept)

World Club Championship waits on African result

One of Australia's new A-League clubs, Sydney FC, makes its Asian debut this coming December representing the Oceania Football Confederation at the FIFA World Club Championships in Japan. Less then 18-months old, the young club faces CONCACAF champions Deportivo Saprissa (Costa Rica) in the first round on 11 December with the winner set to face English giant and current UEFA Champions League holder, Liverpool FC, in the semi final.

South American superpower Sao Paulo from Brazil is the other team that has been seeded through to the semi finals with Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia representing the Asian Football Confederation to meet either Ahly (Egypt) or ESS (Tunisia) representing Africa in the first round. The deciding second leg of the African Champions League will be played on 12 November.

Sydney FC has confirmed that Japanese great Kazuyoshi Miura has joined the club. The former international will play four A-League games in Australia then continue with the club to the CWC in Japan as part of his two-month stint. The Courier Mail (4 November) reported that Sydney FC, Miura and Japanese club Yokohama had earlier agreed to the deal but had to wait for Football Federation Australia's stamp of approval.

"Sydney FC is preparing to start the Australian venture into Asia with the Club World Championships and ... Certainly having Kazu on board for that journey will help Asia, and in particular Japan, identify with Sydney FC and Australian football," Sydney chief executive Tim Parker said. "Asia is the future of Australian football and we're building a bridge just by being over there for the world championships and hopefully this will make us the home town favourites," he said.

The 2005 trophy is sponsored by Toyota.

UPDATE

Egypt's Al Ahly beat Tunisia's Etoile Sahel (ESS) 3-0 in Cairo on 12 November to become the African champion club. They will meet Saudi Arabia's Al Ittihad in the first round of FIFA's World Club Championships.

No 'unity' for accused Vietnamese sports director

The director of the Thua Thien Hue provincial government’s sports department has asked to resign from the Vietnam Football Federation’s Executive Board. This follows police being presented with a tape on which Ngo Van Tran offered VND 100 million (US$ 6,300) to Ho Minh Dong, star defender of Khatoco Khanh Hoa to throw a V-League game between Huda Hue and Khanh Hoa on 20 July. Dong had formerly played for Tran at the Hue football club.

In his written request to VFF chairman Nguyen Trong Hy, Tran cited his admission of bribery, poor health and a “lack of unity” in the VFF for his decision.

See also: More disclosures on 'the rot in Vietnam football' (16 Sept)

Air India Express named sponsor for Santosh trophy

Fresh from its success with India's Federation Cup tournament, where it introduced Alchemist as the naming sponsor for the first time, Zee Sports has since signed-up low-cost airliner Air India Express for the 60th Santosh national football championship trophy.

Air India Deputy Commercial Director Darius Chibber told media the Air India Express Santosh Trophy sponsorship is for one year with further options. “The sponsorship coincides with the introduction of four weekly flights from Kozhikode to Sharjah and Mumbai. As football is the most popular sport in Kerala, which is the main destination of the Air India Express, we are happy to associate with the event,” he said.

Mahindra United defeated Sporting Clube de Goa 2-1 in extra-time to win the Alchemist Federation Cup title at the Nehru stadium on 30 October. Shanmugham Venkatesh of Mahindra was judged the best player of the tournament. Mahindra received a cash prize of US$26,500 and Sporting US$15,500.

Zee Sports have a ten-year contract with the All India Football Federation for marketing and telecasting football events in the country. The schedule includes three domestic tournaments (Federation Cup, the Santosh Trophy and the National Football League) and the two international events (Nehru Cup and the Rajiv Gandhi Cup).

See also: Zee kicks off India's Alchemist Federation Cup (20 Oct)

Aussie seven-year-old sparks European interest

An Australian six-year-old youngster was trialled by one of Europe's leading football clubs, Barcelona, last January. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Panos Armenakas was invited on a month-long, all-expenses-paid trip to play with Spanish giant and was offered a place in the club's elite junior squad. The youngster, who plays with Abbotsford FC in Sydney's suburbs, turned down the offer at the time.

However, now a mature seven-years, Panos will head to England to train with Bolton Wanderers next month.

Panos's father, John, is adamant that he is not treating his son as a commodity. He told reporter Ben Cubby that he got interest from the big clubs by first sending a DVD and was then astonished by the response. "Everything was prepared for us. They treated the young players exactly like the professionals - it was all about skill and 'touch' play. Even the under-eights are coached by professionals, former international players. It's amazing and Panos loved it."

What are Royals doing for eastern Asia football?

Attending a training session at Charlton Athletic FC in preparation for his role as president of the English Football Association, Britain's Prince William told reporters he wanted to encourage more people to play football. The Prince will replace his uncle the Duke of York in May 2006 - just in time for next year's FIFA World Cup.

"I really want to try and get more kids involved in football," he said. "The power of football is huge and I think it needs to be harnessed. At the same time the sportsmanship side of football is a key issue to focus on. I don't want to be just a figurehead. I want to help football ... and generally support football in every way I can."

The prince, who is second in line to the throne of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (and many other countries, including Australia), is due to join the British army next year as an officer cadet at Sandhurst military academy.

Eastern Asia is rather bereft of ruling royal families these days but 'blue-blooded' passion for the round ball game is widespread amongst the region's mostly non-oil-endowed monarchs

By far the most prominent regal promoter of football in Asia in recent years was surely Japan's Prince Takamado who sadly passed away on 21 November 2002 at only 47 years old. The Prince, who died of a heart attack suffered while playing squash, had been the honorary patron of the Japan Football Association since 1987. His interest in the sport started at elementary school when he watched Mitsubishi Diamond Soccer on television.

He worked tirelessly to establish the J-League and to support Japan's bid for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, frequently hosting receptions for visiting dignitaries. During the World Cup, Prince Takamado attended 19 games, which was the highest number of anyone in Japanese football. "I remember watching the Japan-Tunisia game at Osaka. When Japan won to qualify for the second round, he stood up, raised both arms in the air and we embraced each other," said friend and broadcaster, Shun-ichiro Okano.

The Prince's work continues to be carried out by his wife, Her Imperial Highness Princess Takamado who accepted most of the Honorary Patron or Honorary President positions that he held in the hope that she will be able to carry out his wishes. These include the Japan Football Association.

Football was first introduced in Thailand during the reign of King Rama VI upon the return of princes and members of the noblemen's families from overseas. In 1911, the king established the Football Association of Siam, which subsequently became a member of FIFA. In 1952, the association was renamed the Football Association of Thailand under Royal Patronage, and tasked with organizing domestic and international football competitions, including the Kings Cup.

Nepal's Royal Highness Crown Prince Paras Bir Bikram Shah Dev is said to be a football buff with a soft-spot for the local Three Star Club and often attends football matches accompanied by his children, Princess Purnika and Prince Hridayendra, the next in line to the throne.

Prince Paras inaugurated the AFC President’s Cup football tournament in May and his recent lengthy meetings with Asian Football Confederation officials promoted them to invite him to present the gold medal in football in the SA Games, scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka in April 2006.

Brunei's Royal Highness Crown Prince Pg Muda Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah owns the DPMM FC which will play in the Malaysia League next year. He was the club's goalkeeper when it was founded as a Brunei high school club in 1994 and remains its Chairman today. The Prince and Her Royal Highness Paduka Seri Pg Anak Isteri Pg Anak Sarah took time out to watch an S-League football match during a recent official visit to Singapore.

Cambodia's Royal Highness Samdech Krom Preah Norodom Ranariddh is president of the National Olympic Committee and often takes part in ceremonial activities involving football competitions. His father, the Retired King Norodom Sihanouk is known to post messages on his personal website cheering the French national football team. However, when a young man, King Norodom enjoyed playing football for the Royal Palace XI (pictured here after a game against Army in January 1963).

In Malaysia, a current imbroglio within the Football Association of Malaysia is raising the question whether a senior Royal or politician should lead the sport or, as comentator Razak Yaacob, diplomatically put it, "professional managers who know what they are doing".

However, the Sultan of Pahang and, later, Yang di-Pertuan Agong VII of Malaysia, Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Al-Musta'in Billah Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Abu Bakar Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mu'adzam Shah, remains a powerful influence in the federal kingdom's football. According to the official Malaysian Monarchy website, Sultan Ahmad was "the country’s number one sports fan". In 1982 he was awarded the International Olympic Football Award (the only Malaysian so far to receive this prestigious award) and he has been president of FAM since 1984. Under his leadership, Malaysia succeeded in regaining the Merdeka Cup after 9 years, by defeating South Korea 3–1 in additional time on 17 February 1993. His son, Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah is currently deputy president of FAM.

Sultan Ahmad also played a prominent role in regional football. He became president of the Asian Football Confederation in 1994 and was significantly involved in the first-ever World Cup being staged in Asia. He held the AFC post for two terms but decided not to seek re-election for a third term and was replaced by Mohamed Hammam of Qatar. On steppijng down from the AFC in 2002, he received FIFA's highest and most prestigious award, the FIFA Order of Merit.

Australia, the newest member of the Asian Football Confederation is also a federal monarchy, sharing the crown of the United Kingdom. When it comes to sport, however, Australia is decidedly a republic and the pro-UK sporting roles of British Royals such as Prince Andrew are conveniently ignored. So long as Australian wins, that is.

New four-country tournament mooted for SE Asia

Indonesia has proposed a new annual football tournament with Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam to start in January 2006. The idea was raised during a meeting between the Indonesian (PSSI) and Malaysian (FAM) football associations last week, the Jakarta Post and regional media reported. FAM vice president, Raja Ahmad Zainuddin Raja Omar, confirmed the proposal "will be presented to the football associations of the four countries."

The national football teams of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) currently play two official tournaments, one within the SEA Games and the other, the Tiger Cup. However, the Tiger Cup is in threat of being wound up after the main sponsor, Tiger Beer, decided to walk away from the event some six months ago.

Asian Football Business Review understands PSSI is concerned with the limited number of games the Indonesian national side currently plays at home. This affects spectator interest and sales of the national kit marketed by addidas. With the national stadium closing for renovation for the 2007 Asia Cup, internationals played in Indonesia for the new tournament will probably be shared around new provincial stadiums.

See also: US$2M sponsorship still sought for ASEAN Cup (17 Oct)

Sport and Technology: The Conference 2006

Sport and Technology: The Conference 2006 is again sponsored by BT Media and Broadcast. Held at London's state-of-the-art BT Centre, the conference follows a discussion-style format with speakers from organisations including BT, BBC Sport, the Australian Football League, PSV Eindhoven, Sports Resource Group, Deltatre, Hawk-Eye Innovations, Cat Games, Kirkpatrick and Lockheart, Wasserman Media Group, Sportev and Premium TV. The conference is devised and produced by ArkSports and commercial partners include Aura Sports, Skinkers, SportBusiness Group, Screen Digest, AV Specialist Magazine and SportAccord. Delegate numbers are limited to 172.

Puma expects profits to rise with World Cup 2006

Puma AG, the sports apparel and shoe maker that has lagged behind rivals adidas-Salomon AG and Nike Inc, said its third-quarter profit rose 11 percent as demand for its sports shoes surged in the United States.

Demand for its clothes and shoes rose in all its key markets, including Europe and Asia, but rose 63.6 percent year-on-year in the United States to US$ 164.96 million, with footwear accounting for nearly 49 percent of the revenue. In Europe, sales rose 5 percent to US$ 416.6 million, while in Asia and the Pacific Rim, sales rose by 11.6 percent to US$ 65 million in the quarter.

Puma has expanded its presence in soccer, and is expecting an increase in sales of soccer products ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2006 event in Germany next summer. Chief Executive, Jochen Zeitz, said the company would see an increase in its soccer-related apparel sales. "We expect solid double-digit growth in football next year," he was quoted by AP's Matt Moore.

Puma is sponsoring nine teams in next year's tournament, including Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Iran.

See also: World Cup products to boost Addidas sales (13 Oct)

German development partners back Indian football

The German Football Association (DFB) has been involved in worldwide development of football since 1962 with the German Olympic Committee (NOK) and the Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), a government international development agency. The partnership sends football experts around the globe and one of them, Thorsten Spittler, is currently in India to conduct a four-week program for Goan coaches at Duler (Mapusa) from 14 November.

Goa Football Association secretary, Savio Messias, said Spittler's program is approved by the All India Football Federation and the Goa Football Association and funded by the German Ministry for Foreign Affairs. He will teach the coaching theory, techniques, tactics, practical coaching of grassroot and youth teams, psychology of coaching, common injuries in football and their treatment and theory and practice of goalkeeping.

Spittler has previously run courses in India in Patiala (Punjab), Kolkata (West Bengal) and Bangalore (Karnataka) and DFB has been active in development work in Kazakhstan, Uzbekstan, Rwanda, China, Thailand, Gustenala, Lebanon and Togo.

Political storm likely over UNPO's Viva 'World Cup'

The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) has announced plans to conduct the first Viva World Cup in the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in November 2006. The tournament, organised by UNPO's "New Federation" football body, provides for round-robins of four groups of four teams leading to semi-finals, ranking games and, then the Grand Final to be played in the Attaturk Stadium (30,000 seats).

UNPO is a controversial organisation which purports to represent some fifty minority and ethnic groups, including "indigenous peoples, occupied nations, minorities and independent states or territories who have joined together to protect their human and cultural rights, preserve their environments and to find non-violent solutions to conflicts which affect them."

The NF claims 19 provisional members include two provinces of Indonesia, Papua ("West Papua") and Maluku ("South Moluccas"); Tibet (absorbed by the Peoples Republic of China in 1950); Somaliland (the former British protectorate within Somalia); Zanzibar (part of Tanzania but retains membership of Confédération Africaine de Football); Gibraltar (blocked from UEFA membership by Spain), Occitania in southern France; Jersey in the Channel Islands; Monaco, Kosovo, Greenland and the Falkland Islands.

Teams at the Viva World Cup reportedly will also include representatives of the Roma (Europe's gypsies); the Sami (also knowna as Lapps, an indigenous people across Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Russia) and the Kurds (whose homeland is split between Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria).

The independence of Northern Cyprus is currently only recognised by Turkey which stations thousands of troops in its territory on the Mediteranean island shared with the EU-member, the Republic of Cyprus. Turkey is a strong opponent of Kurdish separatism.

Tiger Beer ramps up promotion of English football

Having divorced itself from the sponsorship of one of Asia's most popular tournaments, the ASEAN Cup, Singapore's Tiger Beer is increasing its promotion of the English Premier League and the Arsenal Football Club in the region.

The brewer is currently hosting the Tiger Arsenal Trophy Tour "to give football fans in four Asian countries the chance to celebrate Arsenal’s victory over Manchester United in the FA Cup competition last season". Thailand is the last stop in the tour before the trophy heads back to England.

“Only four countries in Asia - Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand - were privileged to be part of this celebration. We have prepared tonnes of fun activities for die-hard fans of English football to give them a chance to be part of this historical moment and have their picture taken with the trophy. There will also be a parade around Bangkok to mark this great achievement by the Gunners,” said Kitinan Kunapermsiri, marketing manager of Thai Asia-Pacific Brewery Co Ltd, in The Nation.

The Cup and the other Arsenal memorabilia including the boots of all-time leading club scorer Thierry Henry and the jersey of Dennis Bergkamp will be taken on a tour of city hot spots. Celebrities from the entertainment world "who are genuine fans of the English Premier League" will also join in the activities organised by Tiger Beer.

Football's "momentous" TV rights deal in the USA

FIFA has awarded US TV rights for all its events to ABC/ESPN and UNIVISION in the biggest deal for a single territory in its history.

Football's world governing body has secured an unprecedented long-term commitment from the two networks that covers television broadcasting and a wide range of media rights, such as multimedia broadband internet and mobile telephony, to all FIFA events for the US territory from 2007 to 2014.

According to FIFA, the agreement consists of a record cash payment of US$ 425 million and ABC/ESPN and UNIVISION will additionally run substantial promotions for FIFA events and the FIFA brand across the USA during the entire period of the contract.

ABC Sports and ESPN have been granted the exclusive English language rights to cover the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2014 FIFA World Cup in full within the US territory as well as the FIFA Women's World Cups in 2007 and 2011 and all 11 other FIFA events. At the same time, UNIVISION has secured the equivalent Spanish language options.

How far football's come in the USA:

FIFA president Joseph Blatter called this a "momentous deal" and a recent observation by US sports writer Michael Hiestand adds perspective to that claim:

"ABC, NBC and Fox have talked to FIFA, soccer's world governing body, about paying for English-language US. TV rights for the World Cups in 2010 and 2014. That a network might actually write a check might not sound like a breakthrough. But no network would pay for the TV package for the 2002 and 2006 Cups, which also included the 2003 Women's World Cup," he recalled in USA Today.

"That left Major League Soccer, founded in 1996 to capitalize on soccer interest that would supposedly bloom after the USA hosted the 1994 Cup, having to buy those rights for $40 million so the games would air. Then MLS, through its marketing arm, bought time on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 and included its TV rights as part of the package ..."

Stunning progress.

Asian continental tournament developments

The Asian Football Confederation has divided its 45 member nations into three different levels and created club competitions for each level. The top 14 'mature' associations play in the AFC Champions League, the next 14 'developing' associations compete in the AFC Cup and the remaining 17 'emerging' association take part in the AFC President's Cup.

AFC Champions League

Twenthy-eight teams qualify for the AFC Champions League by becoming national league champions or winners of a national cup competition. Apart from the title, they compete for US$ 500,000 prize-money and a place in the FIFA Club World Championship.

In 2005 the clubs represented China, Korea, Kuwait, Japan, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Syria (promoted from the 2004 AFC Cup competition to replace Bahrain which had been banned following the withdrawal of both its teams from the AFC Champions League 2004).

The A-League's head of operations, Matt Carroll, told the Sydney Morning Herald's Michael Cockerill he will be surprised if Australian clubs are admitted to next year's Asian Champions League. There have been growing signs in recent weeks that the 2006 ACL will be out of bounds to A-League clubs, partly because Australia will not officially be a member of the Asian Football Confederation until 1 January 2006.

"It now seems likely that A-League clubs will have to wait until 2007 to join the lucrative competition, although there is one consolation. By then, the ACL is set to be expanded from 28 to 32 teams, and Australia may have its own representation increased from two to three clubs," Cockerill reported.

AFC Cup

AFC Media reports a "scintillating brace" by Khaled Al Maaltaah helped Jordan’s Al Faisaly lift the 2005 AFC Cup by defeating Al Nejmeh of Lebanon 4-2 on aggregate following a 3-2 win in the second away leg here on Wednesday at the Beirut Municipal Stadium. The trophy will reside in western Asia for the second consecutive year after Syrian club Al Jaish won it in 2004.

AFC President's Cup

The AFC held the first President's Cup for clubs from 'emerging' footballing nations at Kathmandu, Nepal, last May with Tajikistan’s Regar TadAZ winning the trophy.


UPDATE

AFC Challenge Cup

The AFC now plans to launch a further competition to assist the development of the game in the continent's 'emerging' football nations. Unlike the AFC Presidents Cup, the new AFC Challenge Cup is a competition for national teams.

The competition will feature 17 countries and will be held on a biennial basis in a single country, with all expenses to be borne by AFC. Bangladesh, Nepal and India have already shown their interest to host the inaugural edition. There will be no qualifying encounters and all 17 teams will go directly into the competition.

According to Football Pakistan, the nations selected to compete are Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, Guam, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Macau, Mongolia, Nepal, Palestine, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Tajikistan and Timor Leste.

See also: AFC tips more tournaments for South Asia nations (22 Oct)

Foreign clubs join Vietnam's Bing Duong TV Cup

The sixth Binh Duong Television Cup will kick off in Go Dau Stadium, Binh Duong Province, Vietnam, on Friday, 4 November. The international tournament, recognised by the Asian Football Confederation, features S-League's Tampines Rovers, Chinese League runners-up Xiamen Lanshi and V-League clubs Southern Steel-Sai Gon Port (TMN-CSG) and Binh Duong in Group A and Thailand Electric Power, South Korea's Hyundai Mipo and V-League champion Gach Dong Tam-Long An (GDT-LA) and runners-up Da Nang in Group B. The top two teams from each group will progress to semi-finals.

Vietnamese clubs have won the trophy each year since it was launched by Binh Duong Television in 2000. Sai Gon Port (now TMN-CSG) won in 2000, HCM City Police (now Eastern Asia-Pomina Steel) won in 2001 and Binh Duong claimed back-to-back victories in 2002 and 2003. Last year, GDT-LA took home US$20,000 in prize money after beating South Korea’s Suwon City 3-1 in the final .

FAM to invite Singapore back into Malaysia Cup

The Football Association of Malaysia is proposing to invite the national team of the Republic of Singapore to return to the 85-year-old Malaysia Cup from next season. FAM vice president Datuk Raja Ahmad Zainuddin Raja Omar said the proposal would be discussed in the FAM Council to seek the views of all the Malaysian states. However, he told the Bernama newsagency the move is aimed at increasing interest in the tournament as well as improving the performance of Malaysian players by exposing them to a national-level team.

Singapore won the Cup 24 times, trailing only this year's winner, Selangor, which has been champion 31 times. The country withdrew in 1994 when the Football Association of Singapore launched its S-League.

FAM's intiative may shock Singapore skipper Aide Iskandar who last week announced he was leaving Singapore's 2004 S-League champion, Home United FC, to join Johor in Malaysia second division (Premier League) coached by Sazali Saidon. Aide told Kuala Lumpur's Star newspaper that a major motivation to join a Malaysia club, the first Sinagporean to do so since Hasnim Haron played for Johor in 1994, was the crowd and passion that he saw in the 1994 Malaysia Cup final at Shah Alam which “keeps burning” in him.

"The euphoria of winning a unique double – the Malaysia Cup and the League Cup in 1994 – was cut short for young Singapore defender Aide Iskandar," the newspaper commented. "That was the year when the Lions announced their pull-out from the M-League soon after achieving the double and in the process severed their longstanding football links with their neighbours. Young Aide, then 19, saw only five minutes of Malaysia Cup final action as a substitute but it was inspirational. The Lions romped to a 4-0 win over Pahang to lift the prestigious Malaysia Cup at the Shah Alam Stadium and the win left a lasting impression for Aide"

Auide said he loved challenges. "It was a challenge for me to win the Tiger Cup for Singapore and we did it. Johor too have their ambition ... they want to gain promotion to the Super League and play in the Malaysia Cup,” he said, adding that the 11-year wait to play in the M-League has finally come true.

See also: Malaysian League may be broadened after bans (16 Oct)