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Ladbrokes tips 400% increase in World Cup betting

UK-based international sports betting agency Ladbrokes has predicted that the betting industry will turn over £1 billion during the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany. The worldwide industry saw over £250 million wagered on the last tournament in Japan and Korea in 2002, but developments in betting technology, greater access to the internet and more sociable kick off times are likely to see that figure quadruple, according to the firm.

Ladbrokes spokesman Robin Hutchison told Betting Business (Jan 2006) that "the whole sports betting industry is about to go stratospheric. The last World Cup was big and Euro 2004 bigger but neither will be anything like this year’s festivities ...The internet has revolutionised gambling and the advent of betting in play during matches has sent turnover soaring.”

Worldwide internet betting has grown dramatically in the past four years and is predicted to reach around £10 billion in the UK alone in 2005. According to industry experts Neilsen, the global internet population was around 553 million in 2002. For the World Cup it will be 1.35 billion. Intel estimates that the number of broadband connections is now around 150 million – up from just 58 million at the time of the tournament in Japan and Korea.

Wagers on the World Cup could be even higher if sports betting on the new generation mobile phones was more widely available. A recent European conference suggested that sports betting on mobile phones is being delayed by network operators and betting companies failing to establish a workable revenue sharing structure, Betting Business reported.

Robin Bosworth, a gaming market analyst with Schema, told the December 2005 C-5 Mobile Gambling conference in Madrid that that current mobile betting transaction value in Western Europe is approximately $1-1.5 billion, less than one percent of all betting transactions and less than five percent of all online betting transactions. While his research suggests that mobile betting is a complementary distribution channel and not competitive with online betting, the economics still do not match up with the business models of the telecoms industry. “Most network operators require a revenue share of 50 percent,” he said. “When there is a margin of just eight percent on sports betting, that requirement is going to have to come down to two per cent. Consequently, the subject of revenue sharing takes more time than any other in meetings,” he said.

Although sports betting is the only form of mobile gambling permitted in Italy, Tiziano Tonti, director of games and gaming at network operator 3, confirmed revenue share is a major issue. "Selling voice and ringtones are very easy things to make money from, but when you run the economics of betting over our customer base it’s hard to make it work.” And while 3 should be in a strong position to market live football betting as the operator holds the third generation rights for the Champions League and the principal Serie A clubs in Italy, Tonti admitted: “We will never be able to act like true betting partners because we cannot award betting licenses to partners, nor can we pay customer’s winnings at point of sale.”

Perak and other officials banned by Malaysia FA

The Football Association of Malaysia has banned Perak FC team manager Dato Jamal Nasir Rasdi for one year on disciplinary grounds, AFCMedia reported. Rasdi, who is also a vice-president of the FAM, has been banned for making statements against the FAM, said the association’s official website. He was facing three charges and after drawing a one-year ban for speaking against the FAM, he was also slapped with two financial penalties and a two-match ban for entering the field and abusing officials.

Another team manager, Adzmi Saad of Perlis, was given a two-match ban for throwing a bottle at fans during the match against MPPJ. The head coach of Melaka Telekom, Irfan Bakti Salim has been banned for a match for violating discipline.

See also: Malaysia FA accused of 'grudge' against Perak FC (28 Jan)

J-League season breaks for World Cup broadcasts

Japan's new J-League season will kick off on 4 March with an opening clash between title holders Gamba Osaka and runners-up Urawa Reds. The next day there will be eight first-division encounters involving 18 teams. The league will take a long two-month break for the World Cup. Twelve games are on the schedule before 7 May when the first division takes a break until 19 July. The World Cup is from 9 June to 9 July. The second division will kick off on 4 March too with 13 teams meeting each other four times. As this division will not break for the World Cup, it will also conclude its season on 2 December.

Nabisco Cup matches will be held from 29 March to 21 May with the last eight in June, the semifinals in October and the final in November. The Super Cup, the traditional curtain raiser for the J-League, is set for 25 February between Gamba and Emperors’ Cup winners Urawa.

FIFA mulls over stronger anti-racism penalties

Football clubs should be docked points if their fans or players use racist abuse because fines don't have enough effect, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Thursday, AP reported. “I am so disappointed. It is a shame for football that in the year 2006, you still have racism,'' Blatter told a press conference at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.

“The only way to fight this is to do exactly what we have done when it came to violence. We have to take away the points because it happens in those leagues where the money is sufficient so, even if you gave a fine of US$100,000, it would be paid the next day. That does not change the attitude, so you have to go into a sporting sanction.''

Former football star Pele said the problem of racism in football grounds appeared worse than when he was playing because top-class teams contain more non-white players now. “When I started to play, we didn't see black people in other national teams, only in Brazil,'' Pele said. “Today you have black players all over the world.''

Thai Government to drop Premier League support

The Government of Thailand has "made it clear that it will support the Football Association of Thailand’snew Premier League only until 2009. After this the league will lose all government assistance," AFCMedia reported. FAT duputy president Chaiyapak Siriwat is quoted as saying he had been told by the government that any help with sponsorship and management of the new 12-team league will completely stop in 2009.

See also: Concern grows over Thai government football (22 Dec) and Government move may sabotage Thailand football (17 Dec)

Malaysia FA accused of 'grudge' against Perak FC

Mustapha Kamaruddin reports in the Malay Mail that Perak Football Club fans are of the opinion the Football Association of Malaysia practices "double standards" when delivering sentences on players and officials who misbehave. "What they want is for FAM to be fair – otherwise fans will lose faith in them or worse, in local soccer. Their grouses and frustration are understandable," he wrote.

"Looking at statistics, Perak officials and players seem to be given stiffer sentences. The latest was the 12-month ban on team manager Datuk Jamal Nasir Rasdi for his outburst in the media on referee Manjit Singh’s performance in the Perak-MPPJ match on 31 December. There were others who committed the same offence but received lighter sentences ...

"It is not known why FAM have a 'grudge' against Perak. It started in 1991 when team manager Raja Ahmad Zainuddin Raja Omar was banned for three years for his outburst against a referee and FAM after the FA Cup final against Selangor. Never before has an official been banned this long for speaking his mind. In the late 1990s, Perak were fined RM50,000 for refusing to play against Sarawak in Kuching as they felt the lighting were poor and not conducive for a match. Raja Ahmad, now a Datuk, was the team manager then with the controversial Karl Weigang as coach."

Kamaruddin also alleged there "were several other incidents where Perak received stiffer punishments than other teams. Perak skipper Ahmad Shahrul Azhar was banned 12 months for his antics against the fourth official after receiving a red card against MPPJ."

Football-based 'Reality TV' series hits Malaysia

An innovative football realty television show has been launched on the TV3 network in Malaysia. The MyTeam series will screen for 11 weeks starting culminating in the show's amateur team (assembled through trials) playing the official Malaysian national team on 28 May at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil.

Having sanctioned the program and even allowed its national team to be "sparring partners" in a match, Football Association of Malaysia has been "getting a lot of flak for allowing their players to be 'degraded' in agreeing to take on an amateur team that would have only trained for eight weeks in an official match. "This, many felt, is Malaysian soccer going to the pits", the Malay Mail reported.

Jason Lo, the CEO of Maya Team Sdn Bhd, creator and promoter of MyTeam, said the formation of the team was not to challenge FAM, but just offering another option to identify talent, and more importantly, to prod the general public into talking about local soccer games.

"Much have been reported in the newspapers, television and radio about the MyTeam playing the national team since we launched it last week.This is something we were hoping for," he said. "Whether good or bad, people are talking about local soccer. In recent years, we have not been able to get this kind of hype for a match involving the national team."

China telephony/internet World Cup deal signed

FIFA's marketing agents, Infront Sports & Media, has clinched the latest new media broadcast deal for this summer’s FIFA World Cup.The agency has signed an exclusive deal with SMG Broadband Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Shanghai Media Group, giving the latter rights to the potentially hugely lucrative Chinese market.

According to Sports Business, the rights cover all 64 matches and are in the mobile telephony and world wide web categories. They include up to four minutes of video material per match for near-live or delayed highlights via mobile networks and the internet. SMG has also acquired archive material from the 2002 World Cup as part of the agreement.

Samsung considers sponsoring Barca, AC Milan

Samsung Electronics plans to make more deals with football clubs in Europe given its success with shirt sponsorship for English football giant Chelsea last year. Barcelona of Spain and AC Milan of Italy are being considered by the world's third largest mobile phone maker, Hwang Seong-soo, Samsung's global marketing executiv, told Cho Jin-seo of the Korea Times. The possible deals are expected to amount to up to $30 million per year.

"It was a fantastic decision for Samsung to sponsor Chelsea. We already have earned more than we invested, so we are considering making other sponsorships with big football clubs in Europe,'' Hwang said. ``We have done research and a profitability analysis for FC Barcelona of Spain and AC Milan of Italy.''

Hwang said that the Chelsea sponsorship boosted its mobile phone sales in Britain to become the top brand over Nokia. The monthly handset sales in the country surged 58 percent from August to October, from 228,000 to 359,000. Samsung's market share also rose accordingly. It was 12 percent last February before signing the sponsorship deal and it increased to 18 percent in October. Samsung was also recognized as the most satisfying handset brand in Britain in 2005's consumer survey, the company said.

Until last year, South Korea's largest conglomerate shunned football and preferred baseball, rugby and golf as its corporate sports. But after recognizing the unmatched influence of football as a marketing tool, Samsung is also turning its eyes towards the world's most popular sport. The Chelsea deal was the first outcome of such efforts.

"Samsung has been investing in sporting events with premium images, such as the Olympics and equestrian events. But we are gradually leaning toward sports that have more passion, such as football,'' Hwang said. "The Chelsea deal was a very successful case because the two [Samsung and Chelsea] shared the same corporate color [blue] and brand image _ a rising star and a fastest growing brand,'' he said.

Samsung's final decision may come in June after the European football season ends. "The football season is still going on in Europe, and we will get the final evaluation on the Chelsea investment around June when the season is over. We will look at the results and decide whether to make another partnership,'' Hwang said.

Fulham's Zesh helps build Pakistan's profile

Fulham FC's Zesh Rehman returned home to England recently after his international debut for Pakistan, confident that the south Asian country has laid the foundations from which to build a successful footballing side. The South Asia Football Federation tournament was held in Karachi last December and although Pakistan failed to triumph by lifting the trophy, Rehman saw enough to tell him that the country has the potential to go on to greater things in future.

Speaking exclusively to The Khaleej Times, Birmingham-born Rehman said he had no way of knowing how the people of Pakistan would react to his arrival in the country of his parent’s birth but was left in no doubt he would be feted everywhere he went, when he stepped off the aircraft at Karachi airport ... For every Pakistan fixture, the stadiums were packed, with thirty thousand passionate fans, cheering Rehman’s every touch.

“Ten players in our team are under twenty four, and we will learn from this competition. It has been a great experience for me personally, and I think we are just lacking in finishing off in front of goal. I now want the team to improve,” Rehman said.

The Pakistan players met regularly and team prayers before games and training were something which Rehman says gave him a sense of spirituality and a whole new perspective on life. Such are the trappings of riches of an English Premier League player, Rehman is already a wealthy young man, that when the PFF handed Rehman his pay for the tournament he made a genuine gesture towards his team-mates.

"I just said, look its been an honour and a great experience for me to meet you all, and play in the same side as you." He then instructed his pay packet be divided between the rest of the team.

Iran still faced with calls for World Cup ban

Leading figures in Iranian football have rejected calls from German parliament members - hosts of the FIFA 2006 World Cup - to disqualify their national football team from this year's finals, Soccer Investor reported (26 Jan).

The MPs - backed by former West German international midfielder and 1974 World Cup winner Wolfgang Overath - suggested that Iran should be banned from taking part following its resumption of nuclear fuel research and the anti-Israel remarks made by the country's hardline president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Iranian fans turned out in thousands to meet German club side Bayern Munich when they player Persepolis in a recent friendly. Many were proud to see Ali Karimi - a former Persepolis player now on Bayern Munich - back in his native country. At the time, Bayern's sporting director, Uli Hoeness, said the game did not show support for President Ahmadinejad, and that Bayern were "playing for the people, not for the regime".

And Sayid Ali ipour Hosseini, a writer for the Iranian daily World Of Football, said sports should not mix with politics. "Mr Ahmadinejad didn't qualify for the World Cup, the soccer team did - and the soccer team didn't say anything to be disqualified," he said. "Politics is not football, it's politics

See also: German chancellor will "not push to punish" Iran (20 Jan)

World Cup credit card by Standard Chartered MY

Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Bhd expects football fans to expand its credit card base. It has become the first in Asia ex-Japan to launch credit cards in conjunction with the upcoming FIFA World Cup. At the product launch, country head of consumer banking for Malaysia, Srinivasan Shyam, said the bank expected 30,000 to 40,000 cardholders to sign up over the next five months.

The two cards are the GOAL! Card - 2005 FIFA World Cup Limited Edition that will be issued until 30 September and GOAL! Card - Foot on Globe - Have the World at Your Feet. Subscribers to the GOAL! MasterCard stand a chance to win the grand prize of two tickets for the Brazil vs Croatia opening match and two tickets to the 2006 FIFA World Cup final match. The prizes come with airfares to Germany for both matches as well as accommodation and a MasterCard prepaid card worth 500 euros.

“As the first bank to bring you the World Cup, we will not only take you to Germany but with sponsorship from Phillips, you can also win plasma TVs and home theatre systems to make watching the World Cup a really exciting experience,” said chief executive officer and managing director Shayne Nelson, as reported by The Star. The Road to World Cup Contest also offers pairs of tickets to five other World Cup matches.

Asians feature in Manchester United sponsor bid

English Premier League club Manchester United expects to secure a world-record shirt sponsorship deal in excess of £15 million a year before the end of the season. It will replace the £9 million-a-year contract cancelled two years early by communications company Vodafone last November.

Electronics company Sony and the UAE-based Etihad Airways are rumoured to have been in talks with United, according to the UK's Daily Telegraph. Real Madrid (£14 million a year with Siemens), Bayern Munich (£12 million - T.com) and Chelsea (£10 million - Samsung) currently leave United trailing in their wake in the shirt sponsorship league.

"But United are confident the market has moved on since it signed the Vodafone deal," Sports Business reported.

Four Asian Cup hosts sign agreement with AFC

Representatives of the football associations of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand Vietnam signed a legal contract with the Asian Football Confederation on Monday confirming their countries as official co-hosts of the AFC Asian Cup 2007. The four nations are slated to host Asian football’s premier international football competition from 7-19 July 2007 and their signing of the document in Kuala Lumpur reaffirmed their commitment to making the tournament a success.

Speaking ahead of the signing, AFC president Mohamed bin Hammam admitted that the four co-hosts face a number of difficult challenges but expressed confidence that they will do a good job in 2007. “I am positive that our four organizing associations will all rise to the challenge of hosting what we hope will be AFC’s best competition to date. We are all determined to work together to make a very successful competition,” he said. “Up until now, all planning is going to schedule. The signing of the Organisation Association Agreements is a milestone in the staging of AFC competitions as we enter a new era of professionalism.”

Penang FA attracts sponsor for Super League team

Eastern & Oriental Bhd is officially the ‘Rakan Sukan’ (partner in sports) for the Penang state FA, K Kandiah reported in the Malay Mail. The company will sponsor the State Super League team with RM2 million per year. The MoU was signed by the Eastern & Oriental Bhd chairman Datuk Azizan Abdul Rahman and Penang FA president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon at the E&O Hotel’s Cornwallis Suite in George Town yesterday.

E&O Group managing director Datuk Terry Tham said: "As in all agreements there is an escape clause in this MoU too. Play well and don’t get relegated to continue receiving our sponsorship. We expect Penang to win the MSL trophy. We will reward the players with a 10-course dinner in fine dining."

Tsu Koon thanked E&O for being the first corporate group to sponsor a team in the MSL. "We need around RM4 million to conduct all our activities which includes the MSL, Under-21 President Cup, Under-19 Milo-Youth Cup, the age-groups and the soccer academy. RM3 million is spent on the Super League and with E&O’s RM2 million our financial troubles are greatly reduced. The State Sports Council have contributed RM150,000" he said.

WSG's grip on startling Asian football TV audiences

It would seem outrageous, commented Television Point, that Indian TV networks should be bidding some ridiculous amounts for TV rights to Indian football, a sport where India is ranked 140th in the world. "Also importantly, almost at the same time of the news breaking that Indian channels were bidding huge sums, there filtered in news, hardly reported in Indian media, that the World Sport Group ... had signed a seven-year-deal worth US $200 million with the Asian Football Federation. That deal is to run through till 2012."

"Getting Indian rights first, and then looking at Indian footprint rights for Asian football from WSG, would make for an ideal package for any sports channel," Television Point observed. "While Zee has finally launched Zee Sports, the buzz is that NDTV could also be planning a sports channel with a foreign collaboration."

A recent set of figures made available about Asian football, showed that the Asian Cup 2004 final between China and Japan smashed viewing records in China, the world’s most coveted market. It broke records of even the 2002 FIFA World Cup final, as it became the most watched single sports event in the history of Chinese television. Figures showed a staggering 43.1%of people watching television in China at peak time during the final were tuned in to CCTV to watch China play in their first Asian Cup final in 20 years.

These figures on a nationwide scale mean over 250 million people saw China lose 1-3 to Japan. Put that alongside the audience highs of 24 million for the final of Euro 2004 and substantially lower figures for other major European football league telecasts, and you get the picture.

Now come to the statistics released by the AFC vis-à-vis fans at the stadium for the AFC Cup this year. Even though Indian clubs did not make a huge impact in AFC, fans turned out in big numbers overtaking those in other countries. AFC figures show that 52,000 fans turned up to watch East Bengal and Dempo Sports Club in action, and 30,000 fans turned up to see East Bengal play Muktijoddha Sangsad of Bangladesh at the Salt Lake Stadium in March. East Bengal showed its strong fan-base with over 40,000 loyally attending all their three encounters. This constituted 25% of the total attendance for all the stages of the group matches, which stood at 156,000, according to the AFC.

Meanwhile, the Indian Football Association and Total Sports Entertainment India are arranging the tender for the telecast rights of West Bengal football for a period of next five years.

Senior official arrested for gambling in Vietnam

Bui Tien Dung, Vietnam's general director of the Ministry of Transport’s Project Management Unit 18 (PMU18), was arrested on 20 January for involvement in a gambling scandal.

On the morning of January 20, Dung and Nguyen Viet Bac, deputy general director of the Ministry of Transport’s Highway Development Company, were questioned by police. After several hours, Dung was escorted to his house on Truong Chinh Street, Hanoi, which police searched for two hours. Dung was then arrested. Investigators have requested the People’s Procuracy prosecute Dung for gambling. The Ministry of Transport has also temporary suspended him from the General Directorship of PMU18.

According to VietNamNet, documents found on Bui Quang Hung’s computer, Dung spent nearly $2.4 million in around two months betting on football. Dung, 47, has held the post of PMU18 general director since 1998. The unit is currently managing several large transport projects, such as Bai Chay Bridge, National Highways 18, 10, 2, 3 and others.

Transport Minister Dao Dinh Binh called for efforts to fight corruption and losses in the transport sector at a meeting in Hanoi. Though the management skills of many transport officials are considered poor by international standards, the transport ministry is assigned to manage a large volume of capital. This year, the ministry has been allocated $1.5 billion to improve transport infrastructure nationwide. “We are facing a great threat from corruption and losses,” Mr Binh said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Pham Van Khai has requested Transport Minister Binh report on the gambling scandal before 25 January.

German chancellor will "not push to punish" Iran

New German chancellor Angela Merkel will not push to prohibit Iran from the FIFA World Cup because of controversial statements from Iran's president about Israel and the Holocaust, a government spokesman said. Ulrich Wilhelm said Merkel is not of the opinion that Iran's team or the country's fans should be punished over the remarks about Israel and the Holocaust by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which she has dismissed as unacceptable, Soccer Investor reported (20 January)

"Chancellor Merkel has made clear she personally doesn't believe in measures such as banning Iran from the World Cup that Germany is hosting," Wilhelm said when asked about a letter from an Israeli member of parliament urging her to exclude Iran. "That would punish the sportsmen and the sport enthusiasts, the people, for the actions of a government," Wilhelm added. "But she believes his deplorable remarks are unacceptable and must be challenged politically in every way possible."

Gilad Erdan, chairman of the Israeli parliament's sports subcommittee, wrote to Merkel urging her to ban Iran from the tournament unless it retracts its views on Israel and the Holocaust. Six million Jews died at the hands of Germany's Nazi terrorist regime between 1933 and 1945. Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany, punishable with a prison term of up to five years.

See also Blatter on professionalism and other Asian issues (27 Dec) and World Cup 2006 "tough draw" for Asia-5 says AFC (10 Dec).

PRC's Qingdao Etsong FC may be for sale

Chinese cable manufacturer Qingdao Zhongneng Group has announced plans to sell its majority ownership in Qingdao Etsong Football Club, Soccer Investor reported (13 January 2006). Represented by the local Qingdao Sports Bureau, Zhongneng held a press conference to thank the club and its fans for the support that saw the team finish the 2005 China Super League in seventh position, but revealed that in 2006 they can no longer guarantee the financial backing they have given since buying the club from state-run tobacco producers Qindgao Etsong Group in December 2004.

Zhongneng say they will give priority to proposals from companies in the Qingdao area, but ill also accept offers from potential partners in other Chinese provinces. According to the local media, however, Zhongneng held the press conference through the sports bureau to put pressure on the Qingdao local government in order to get the kind of preferential treatment that would make it worthwhile to continue running a football club.

Australia reveals winning A-League trophy design

Football Federation Australia and Hyundai have revealed the winning design of the Hyundai A-League Champion’s Trophy competition. "With only a few weeks left until the Final Series begins on 10 February, every player and fan can now visualise and dream of the trophy that their club captain could hold aloft on Grand Final Day, Sunday 5 March", FFA's press release stated.

D3's winning design was chosen based on the votes of thousands of fans across the country, as well an exclusive panel of expert judges.

“The aim has always been to develop a trophy that is both prestigious and enduring, but also differentiates the Hyundai A-league competition from the other sports. We have a new national league and we feel it is important to re-define the conventional view of a trophy to reflect this,” John O’Neill, Chief Executive Officer, Football Federation Australia commented.

The Hyundai A-League trophy will be awarded to the winning team at the Grand Final (who will be referred to as the Champions).

Football gambling a possibility in Vietnam

Vietnam is considering whether to accept legal bets on football, according to a report by China's Xinhua newsagency quoted by Soccer Investor (9 January 2006). Authorities now believe a betting business would earn funds for the country's sports bodies and help to prevent rampant illegal betting. Vietnamese newspaper Pioneer is reported to have claimed that a document sent to the Vietnam Football Federation on 5 January by Nguyen Danh Thai, director of the country's National Sports and Physical Training Committee, said the committee will submit to the government a scheme on launching the service for approval.

Thai claims that legal soccer betting would help to fund local soccer and contain illegal betting. The move comes immediately after the country's biggest sports scandal when Vietnam national team players admitted taking money from bookies in the recent win against Burma at the South East Asia Games in the Philippines. Players are suspected of colluding with gamblers to hold down the score in a second match against Malaysia, although most sources contend the final that Thailand won was not fixed.

Since August 2005, local police have uncovered some 50 local corrupt referees. Although betting on sports is illegal in Vietnam, it is common, especially in urban areas. Vietnamese police have recently detected several cases in which local bookmakers paid players to change the results of important matches. To date 19 out of 60 local referees and teams' officials who have allegedly involved in match-fixing over the past two years have been prosecuted.

AFC concludes draw for Asian Cup 2007 qualifiers

The Asian Football Confederation has confirmed that the final competition of the AFC Asian Cup 2007, co-hosted by Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, will take place from 7-29 July 2007. The final round draw will be held in December 2006 following the completion of the qualification competition, which begins on 22 February and ends on 15 November 2006.

The first two qualifying matches are scheduled for 22 February and 1 March with other matches played on set days in September, October and November. However, in a concession to the AFC members (Japan, Korea Republic, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Australia) participating in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the organising committee will allow those teams to reschedule their Asian Cup qualifiers on 1 March to 1 September 2006 so that they will be able to arrange warm-up friendlies on that date.

Prior to the draw for Asian Cup qualification held at AFC House in Kuala Lumpur today, it was announced that Sri Lanka had withdrawn due to their poor performance in the SAFF tournament. Their action is being referred to the AFC Disciplinary Committee which can impose sanctions. Pakistan, which lost its preliminary play off for qualification against Bangladesh, was selected to replace Sri Lanka.

At the draw, twenty-four teams were slotted into six groups of four each for the two-legged qualifiers:

Group A: Japan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, India
Group B: Iran, Korea Republic, Syria, Chinese Taipei
Group C: Jordan, Oman, UAE, Pakistan
Group D: Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Australia
Group E: China PR, Iraq, Singapore, Palestine
Group F: Uzbekistan, Qatar, Hong Kong, Bangladesh

The top two from each of the six groups will qualify for the finals along with Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam who qualify automatically as co-hosts.

UPDATE

AFC president Mohammed bin Hammam said he expected all the top teams to progress and was relieved that the possibility of three leading teams being drawn in the same group didn’t happen. "It could have been a worse scenario, where one of the top teams faced elimination but now I think all the top teams will go through,” he said as reported by AFP (5 Jan). "From our point of view, the commercial side of things is going well. The TV is fixed up and all we need now is for the fans to fill the stadiums."

However the co-hosting of the finals by four countries is a decision the AFC now regrets. "It is proving very difficult for us. We have to have four organising committees, four media centres and there are also financial considerations," bin Hammam said. "It was my mistake. If we had a choice we definitely wouldn’t do it again."

"Part of the problem in 2007," AFP commented, "is that Vietnam is a co-host and the country is now embroiled in wide-reaching football corruption scandals. Bin Hammam said he had told the Vietnamese authorities that no Vietnamese officials would be used in AFC events until the problem was fixed."

See also: Seeds and pots allocated for 2007 Asian Cup draw (17 Dec)

Unified, Australia and Asia are "fairly unbeatable"

Australia this week became the 46th member of the Asian Football Confederation on New Year's Day. "Asia is the future,'' Frank Lowy, the chairman of Football Federation Australia, reemphasised in an interview at the recent Asian football awards in Kuala Lumpur, "for sports and for business."

Australian football officials are counting on regular games against 45 countries, including Japan, China and South Korea, to establish a foothold in a region of 3.7 billion people.

"Asia-Pacific is becoming an increasingly integrated trading and political block,'' explained Seamus O'Brien, president of World Sports Group, which paid more than $200 million for the television and marketing rights for Asian soccer until 2012. "Unified, Australia and Asia are a fairly unbeatable group on and off the field," he told Dan Baynes of Bloomberg.

See also: Australia's year of 'destiny' not just for World Cup (23 Dec)

British sports minister backs inquiry into football

British sports minister Richard Caborn insists foreign investment in English football will be monitored to ensure it does not distort the game. Caborn has instigated an inquiry into football which is being overseen by UEFA and also involves FIFA, Sportinglife reported.

He said this will cover rich investors ploughing huge amounts of cash into clubs in foreign countries. He added that the source of this money should be transparent and properly regulated.

"I don´t want to comment on individual clubs but there are concerns about the money coming into the English game from outside the country," he said.

The inquiry is also expected to look at ideas such as universal regulation of players' agents and introducing a 'fit and proper persons' test for club directors as already operates in the English Premier League and Football League.

Acting in his role as chairman of European Sports Ministers, Caborn is pursuing a change in the law to force a limit to wages in European football. He said that the money clubs save by bringing in a salary cap should be passed on to the supporters.

"There is no doubt that high ticket prices have driven some supporters away," he told the Sunday Express. "There should be special prices for families and subsidised away travel, particularly when we can see how far some fans will travel - even if there is a danger of games being postponed."

Caborn said he had been in contact with G14 - the group of Europe's most powerful clubs. "G14 have written to me and suggested that a salary cap should be 70 percent of clubs' income. Well, if they each save 30 percent then they should give some back to their fans," he said.

Chan and DiVito for Bollywood football movie?

Indian media reports have it that martial arts star Jackie Chan and Hollywood actor Danny DeVito will "most likely" come together for a Bollywood movie. According to Apunka Choice, they are to star in Indian moviemaker Iqbal Rizvi's action comedy ‘90 Mins’, which is set around two soccer teams competing to win a major reward for their schools.

Shooting for the movie is "likely" to begin in February in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Genting Highlands in Malaysia with its release "during the football World Cup in June".

Japan's Emperor's Cup winner has global target

After his Urawa Reds won their first Emperor's Cup victory in 25 years, manager Guido Buchwald said the club's ultimate goal is to make an impression on the world stage. "We have global ambitions, but to get there we had to advance first to Asia," he told Andrew Mitchell of Asahi Herald, after the Reds 2-1 victory over Shimizu S-Pulse at Tokyo's National Stadium on 1 January.

The winner of the Emperor's Cup represents Japan at the Asian Champions League with the winner of that tournament advancing to the FIFA Club World Championship featuring the top clubs from six continents. "We have now qualified for the 2007 Asian Champions League and I am very proud of that. We will all be celebrating today," Buchwald said.

The 44-year-old former German national team defender recently inked a one-year extension to his contract with the Reds that will keep him at the club until January 2007.

Rich Freeman in the Daily Yomiuri noted that this was the third Emperor's Cup victory for Gert Engels, currently assistant coach at Urawa reds.

"Back in 1999, Gert Engels won his first Emperor's Cup - Japan's equivalent of the FA Cup - when he coached Yokohama Flugels to a 2-1 victory over S-Pulse. In 2003, he returned to the National Stadium to lead Kyoto Purple Sanga to a 2-1 extra-time win over Jubilo Iwata, before completing his hat trick on Sunday as assistant coach to Guido Buchwald at the Reds. But as the genial German pointed out, all three victories were very different," he recorded.

ESPN Star Sports registers' double digit growth

Asia's leading sports network, ESPN Star Sports, has registered double digit growth and an official statement quoted by Indian Television claimed that the network witnessed 50 percent increase in overall advertising revenues and 20 per cent surge in non-football programming revenue.

Returning sponsors such as Tiger Beer and Toshiba have seen significant brand recognition, brand recall and measurable results through their sponsorship of the English Premier League, while Toyota's association with SportsCenter, the network's flagship news show, has delivered the audiences and the ratings, the release said.

The total numbers of advertisers on the network also grew by 10 percent each year since 2003 and include Malaysia Airlines, IBM, Johnny Walker, O2 and Volvo.

Thai King's Cup and Vietnam Super Cup winners

Latvia edged North Korea 2-1 to win the 36th Thailand King’s Cup on 30 December. The tournament was played this year in southern Thailand as part of the program to commemorate the victims of the 26 December 2005 tsunami disaster. The Latvian goals were scored in the space of a minute just before half-time with the first one slammed home by Girts Karlsons in the 41st minute and Andrejs Prohorenkovs punched in the second moments later. DPR Korea clawed back into the match in the second period through a 47th minute goal by Hong Yong Jo but the Latvians marshalled their defences to hold, AFCMedia reported.

Mitsustar Haier Hai Phong defeated V-League champions Dong Tam Long An 2-1 in the Vietnam Super Cup on New Year’s Day. The Super Cup has been played since 1999 between the champions of the V-League and the National Football Championship. Long An took the lead in the first minute of the second half through Van Hung but Hai Phong’s Van Thanh restored parity 20 minutes later. The winner was unleashed by Nsengiyumva Julien, AFCMedia reported.

Singapore tenders for new national sports complex

Singapore has invited potential bidders for a new SG$ 800 million sports complex. The island republic will decide on a contractor by mid-2007 and the designated new “sporting hub” is expected to be completed by 2011.

"This will eventually become a national icon," Singapore Sports Council chairman Alex Chan told En-lai Yeo of Associated Press. "This will provide a competitive edge when Singapore goes out to bid … for multi-sport events, for example the South East Asian Games, Asian or Commonwealth Games."

“The 35-hectare site, located near the business district and its soon-to-be-built casinos, are part of the country's attempts to shed its dull image and attract new investment for an economy heavily reliant on manufacturing and electronics,” Yeoh commented.

The aging National Stadium will be torn down, and replaced by a new 55,000-seat venue with a retractable roof capable of hosting football, track, tennis and rugby events. Nearby, an indoor arena will complement the existing Singapore Indoor Stadium.

And there will be specific space for retail outlets too. The venues will "add to the vibrancy of Singapore," Chan said.

A non-compulsory Tender Briefing will be held on Friday 20 Jan 2006 at 1430 hours at the Singapore Sporst Council threatrette located at 15 Stadium Road, Singapore 397718. All interested Tenderers wishing to attend must register via email: ssc_sportshub@ssc.gov.sg.