Previous Articles: International event on 3rd-party player ownership | Korea's LG pours money into European football | English FA and Player's Agents still in dispute | Sanjeevan Balasingham appointed to FIFPro Asia | One EPL player's salary equal to half gate income | Yeung still processing Birmingham City deal in HK | US military criticised for donating soccer balls | Australian anti-doping tribunal suspends Lazridis | Ghotbi on Asian Cup and South Korean players | Indian regional club aims for national respect | Breaking News: [HOME]

Everton CEO says build Asia ties or 'be left behind'

Having seen its business reorganisation catapult it into the top 20 of the world's richest football clubs, English Premier League club Everton is now assessing how to turn itself into a global brand. According to Ian Doyle of the Liverpool Daily Post, Everton CEO Keith Wyness is "hopeful of similar schemes" to the club's domestic retail partnership with JJB Sports "aiding the club's attempts to gain a foothold in the lucrative Asian market".

Wyness was reportedly critical of Everton's failure to fully capitalise on the opportunities available to them in Asia following the sponsorship deal with Thailand's Chang beer. And, warning of an impending threat to the Premiership's global dominance from the Asian market, he believes Everton, and their domestic rivals, must act now. "In short term we will be competing with the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United, but I think in the next 5-10 years we'll be competing with Asian leagues for players," Wyness told Doyle.

"They will get their act together, and we'll see the best talent think about going to China or Japan or wherever. That is why it is important for Premiership clubs like ourselves to captialise on our dominant position in those markets at present.

"And it is so crucial now to strengthen the club and take these steps forward, otherwise we will be left behind not only in the UK and in Europe, but also on the global stage," he said. "I hope the fans can understand that what often feels like a drive for pure commercial greed is instead trying to get a footing in an unlevel playing field that we will be in."

Everton are also looking to build ties with North America. "We're also doing a lot of work in Canada and are very active the US, and I think we will have some big announcements to do with the US very shortly," adds Wyness. "We're talking with Major League Soccer clubs over possible links, which historically haven't really worked. However, we want to have some meat to the agreement, some commercial tie-in, otherwise there's no point in us doing it. We think we may have found a formula to make it work. We're at the start of some pretty exciting stuff in North America," he said.

See also: Real Madrid overtakes ManU as world richest club (17 Feb) and English Premier League to cooperate with Asia (22 Sep 04) and Everton: we are 6th or 7th 'most popular' in Asia (10 Aug 05)

Chelsea to China and USA to become 'World No 1'

English Premier League club Chelsea is targeting North America and Asia as key markets for fan potential and business expansion. "Chelsea's vision is by 2014 to become internationally recognised as the world's No 1 football club" and "we intend to meet it," club CEO, Peter Kenyon told delegates to the World Congress of Sport in New York yesterday.

"Beyond London and in common with other top clubs we identified North America and Asia, specifically China, as key markets for fan potential and business expansion," Kenyon explained. "Ours is not a take the money and run philosophy. By building the profile and interest in Chelsea we are confident we can expand our business and build a platform for increasing our fan base, merchandising and sponsorship opportunities."

Chelsea used the opportunity to announce a new "strategic alliance" with American entertainment and sports company AEG, the owners of the Millennium Dome and four US Major League Soccer clubs, LA Galaxy, Chicago Fire, DC United and Houston 1836.

The deal includes a new pre-season tournament in Los Angeles starting next summer and to be held every two years and a specific alliance between Chelsea and LA Galaxy to exchange young players as well as medical and coaching expertise.

According to David Bond in The Telegraph, Chelsea is not the first English club to target America as a growing football market. He noted that Kenyon was the chief executive of Manchester United when the club began touring the United States and set up their marketing partnership with the New York Yankees baseball team.

But Kenyon described the New York Yankees-Manchester United partnership as "about awareness and positioning" while the Chelsea-AEG deal is a "deeper relationship."

See also: Chelsea for partnering not exploiting Asian football (2 Mar).

Malaysia's surprise FIFA Player's Agent Exam

The Football Association of Malaysia made an unexpected internet announcement on Tuesday that it will be holding a written examination today for Malaysian candidates wishing to be licensed as FIFA-registered Player’s Agents. The world football authority only accepts Players' Agents through the national football association, such as the FAM, where the applicant is a resident and/or a citizen. According to FIFA, there are currently only two FIFA Player's Agents in all of the 11 member nations of the ASEAN Football Association: Malaysia's Roland Klein (currently operating from Qatar) and The Philippines' Sheila S Que.

In accordance with FIFA regulations, the examination will consist of fifteen questions on international regulations and five on national regulations. Candidates are required to familiarise themselves with the FIFA Regulations for Status and Transfers of Players as well as the FIFA Players Agent Regulations

"A candidate should obtain at least 65% of the total amount of possible points in order to successfully pass the examination," said Dato’ Seri Dr. Ibrahim Saad, the general secretary of FAM. Furthermore, a licence will only be granted by FIFA to a candidate who, passing the examination, produces a receipt of the required professional liability insurance policy and signs the code of professional conduct.

FAM's website advised candidates "desirous of sitting for the examination" at 8.00 PM on 30 March 2006 at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya, "should register their interest with the FAM in writing and faxed it to +61 (0)3 7875 7984 BEFORE 2 pm on 30 March 2006".

FAM claimed the "late notification of details of this examination is due to the fact that the FAM has just received confirmation from FIFA allowing the national body to hold the examination on the date stipulated".

UPDATE: Asian Football Business Review has been informed (31 March) that the Football Association of Singapore intends to hold a FIFA Player's Agent examination in September 2006.

Communists misuse Indian captain in election ploy

Indian star footballer Baichung Bhutia is annoyed over the over the use of his video shots in Communist Party of India (Marxist) election campaign materials for the forthcoming West Bengal state assembly poll. "When they took my shots, they told me that it would be used to showcase development works in villages. No one told me that it would be used for a particular party," the Indian captain and East Bengal FC striker told reporters. Bhutia said his sole concern was to improve the standards of Indian football and not promoting a political party. "I'm concerned about football. I have nothing to do with any political party," the Sikkimese icon said.

The CPI (M)'s campaign film uses Bhutia's image to portray a resurgent West Bengal under the Left Front rule. Interestingly, in a recent interview in the Times of India Bhutia revealed: "My fictional hero is Howard Roark from Ayn Rand’s Fountainhead. Like him, I try to cross new frontiers."

Follow the money to World Cup ticketing

When football fans receive their tickets for the FIFA World Cup in June, they can use only MasterCard to pay for them. Why? Because MasterCard is an 'Official Partner of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany'. MasterCard, which along with other World Cup sponsors paid a combined total of US$770 million for entry into the elite club, is wooing millions of new customers by linking credit cards to the game. But the company believes that the exposure is 'priceless', the theme of its ad campaign.

"Link your brand into the fabric of the game so that there's a residual good will," John Stuart, senior vice president of global sponsorships for the company, told Doreen Carvajal of the International Herald Tribune. "We have trouble because we're a piece of plastic. It's easier if you're an Adidas football shoe, so the piece of plastic has to work hard to integrate itself into the passion."

MasterCard International began its alliance with the FIFA World Cup in 1990 as the Official Card and Official Product Licensee of Italia 1990. Based on the success of the original sponsorship platform, MasterCard elevated its stature by signing on as an Official FIFA Sponsor of a comprehensive package of tournaments played around the world which culminate with the World Cup. Since then, MasterCard has been an Official Sponsor of the FIFA World Cup in 1994 (USA), 1998 (France) and 2002 (Korea/Japan) and the 1999 and 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup (USA) as well as the 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, UEFA Champions League and CONMEBOL Copa America.

With these alliances, MasterCard and its members have ties to the world's most-viewed sporting events. MasterCard's Deborah Hughes told Gideon Rachman of The Economist the World Cup “delivers the most broad-based international TV audience possible” and pointed out that after the previous tournament, MasterCard issued 1.5 million “World Cup Affinity” credit cards. Most of them were new accounts.

For the 2006 World Cup, Mastercard affiliates around the world have released branded cards giving customers the chance to win prize packages of business class return air ticket to Germany, World Cup Football Match ticket, hotel accommodation and hotel transfers to and from the match venue. Some Mastercard issuers are offering an invitation to an exclusive Football Fever cocktail party, "where you’ll meet Pelé", others offer as bonus prizes notebook computers or LCD screens or even World Cup T-shirts,

In terms of television viewership, the 2002 FIFA World Cup had a cumulative television audience of 28.8 billion worldwide in a total of 213 countries over the 64 FIFA World Cup matches. A total of 41,435 hours were broadcast worldwide, a 39% increase in coverage as compared to the 1998 FIFA World Cup. The official global television audience for the Final of the 2002 FIFA World Cup (Brazil v. Germany) was 1.1 billion, the most viewed match in FIFA World Cup history.

See also: Man-United-branded Barclaycard charges into Asia (22 Mar) and World Cup credit card by Standard Chartered Malaysia (21 Jan)

Asian fans make Liverpool "attractive" for takeover

The board of current European club champion, Liverpool FC of the English Premier League, has confirmed to shareholders that it "is continuing discussions with a number of parties regarding a potential investment of new funds into the club." Although the structure of any such investment is uncertain, it may include an offer for the entire share capital of the club. According to Chris Noon in Forbes, this expected a share valuation of about £200 million.

Liverpool has its eye on a £170 million stadium change but the price of a new 60,000-seater development has almost doubled, Noon reported, so outside investment is practically inevitable. Additional funds would allow the record 18-time English champion to buy the players needed to compete with Chelsea and chase a first league title since 1990.

Although Liverpool chairman David Moores is not known to be looking to yield his entire 51 percent shareholding, several names have been mentioned in connection with new investment to the club including Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the club's third largest sharegolder and British building magnate Steve Morgan, Hollywood-based film producer Mike Jefferies and the US NFL's New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

Bloomberg recalled that GMM Grammy Pcl, Thailand's biggest music-recording company, offered to buy 30 percent of Liverpool in June 2004. Paiboon Damrongchaitham, chairman and 53 percent stakeholder of Grammy, said in September he was still in contact with Liverpool.

On Wednesday, the club said that it was in talks with a shortlist of fewer than 10 possible investors but media reports are focusing on Spanish tycoon Juan Villalonga, the former president of Iberian telecoms giant Telefonica.

"I want to change Liverpool from a domestically focused club into a global force," Villalonga told the Daily Express two days ago.

Richard Hunter, head of UK equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers, added that the club was an attractive one for potential investors. "Few clubs have such a brand and such history," he said, as quoted by Soccer Investor (29 march 2006). "Liverpool has the ability to sell merchandise on a global basis, like Manchester United. Both are very well known and supported throughout Asia," he added.

Liverpool's website is currently polling fans resident in Thailand, Singapore and Japan.

Vietnam Minister suspended over illegal betting

Vietnam's deputy transport minister, Nguyen Viet Tien, has reportedly been suspended in a widening corruption scandal involving state funds. The Vietnam News Agency says the suspension order was issued by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai. Tien has already been questioned by police over the disappearance of millions of dollars of state money designated for construction projects.

Corrupt officials at a section of the transport ministry, known as PMU18, bet some of the money on top English and Spanish league football matches. The PMU18 is in charge of highway and other major infrastructure projects in Vietnam. Tien was director general of the section from 1993 to 1998 before being promoted to deputy minister.

In February it was revealed that Vietnam police had identified five leaders and four officers from State agencies who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in an illegal betting ring. Bui Tien Dung (pictured at his arrest in January), general director of PMU18 road construction project and Nguyen Viet Bac, vice director of Vietnam Expressways Corporation admitted their involvement in the betting ring.

The others were reportedly Bui Tien Dung’s superior, the general director of a State agency, and the director of a road construction project management board. Four officers include two from Vietnam’s Ministry of Transport and two policemen in Hanoi.

See also: Vietnamese officials bet thousands on football (2 Feb) and Senior official arrested for gambling in Vietnam (23 Jan) .

Europe's most easterly club to make Asian tour

Russian Premier League newcomer Luch-Energia FC is planning a tour to China and South Korea during the FIFA 2006 World Cup when their domestic championship is suspended. "What Luch-Energia call 'commercial friendly' matches with the top clubs from the region will take place instead," Soccer Investor reported (29 March 2006).

However, Luch-Energia will not be travelling long distances for its Asian tour. Its home is Vladivostok city in the Russian Far East, on the coast of the Sea of Japan and near both the Chinese and Korean borders. Vladivostok is the home port of the Russian Navy's Pacific Fleet and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai. The city's name means "controlling the East" in Russian and, in Chinese, "Sea Cucumber Marsh".

According to Eduard Nisenboim and Pavle Gognidze in UEFA magazine, Luch-Energia is Europe's most easterly club and is over 6,000 kilometres from Russia's capital, Moscow ... that's six time zones and sometimes a 14 hour air flight. "It takes us two days to adapt when we travel to Moscow but when we return home it takes a whole week to get back to normal. It's terrible that none of the scientific recovery programs can help the team. There's no secret recipe here. This whole thing is tougher for us than for anyone else," said coach Sergei Pavlov.

The club was called Luch before 2003, when it was renamed Luch-Energia due to sponsorship from Dalenergo, an energy distribution company.

Sponsors for AFC Challenge Cup 2006 unveiled

The Asian Football Confederation has unveiled bangla-link, one of the leading cellular phone operators in Bangladesh, as the presenting sponsor of the AFC Challenge Cup 2006 being held held in Dhaka and Chittagong from 1-16 April. Footwear manufacturer Bata and Partex Beverage were announced as official partners of the 16-nation tournament.

"Although no financial details were disclosed due to confidentiality clauses in the contract, it was learnt that the three corporate houses will provide about Tk one crore with banglalink, the exclusive presenting sponsor, giving the major share," The Daily Star reported.

AFC marketing manager Hicham El Amrani told The New Nation that banglalink will also provide 'communication support' during the event while Partex Beverage will provide soft drinks to the players and officials.

Banglalink's PR and Communication manager Solaiman Alam said his company is "committed to doing something for the development of Bangladesh soccer." Khalid Raja said RC Cola, a soft drinks brand of Partex Beverage, has been the official partner of Bangladesh Cricket Control Board for the last few years and now wants to get involved in Bangladesh football.

Premier League popular because no match-fixing?

The Hann match-fixing scandal was an isolated incident and will not effect snooker's assault on Asia, according to World Snooker's representative in China. Hann, who was the world No 22, was banned from professional snooker for eight years in February after newspaper allegations he had been paid £50,000 to lose a first round match at last year's China Open. "We don't have a big problem with that," World Snooker's Simon Leach told Reuters. "Quinten Hann was an exception and that's why he was dealt with so severely, he won't be back."

Leach thinks targeting Asia, the home of gambling syndicates behind scandals in other professional western sports, will not increase the likelihood of further match-fixing in snooker. "You don't get match-fixing in the English Premier League and a lot more money is gambled on that week in, week out," he said.

"Let's make a soccer team" near release by Sega

Let's Make a Soccer Team is the title of the European version of a Japanese football management game being released for PS2 by Sega. The game allows players to create their own football club from scratch and pit it against real-life football teams and players, managing every element of its progress in the process. A fabulous career in the managerial hotseat can begin in England, France, Holland, Italy, Germany or Spain where you've just three matches in a vital season left to play.

"Much of the management side of Let's Make a Soccer Team will be more than familiar to fans of this type of game, wannabe Alex Fergusons buying and selling footballers, dealing with the media and player concerns, establishing training sessions, fiddling with match tactics and ensuring the cash continues to flow in while catapulting your club to stardom," critiqued Stuart Bishop in Computer & Video Games. "In addition, Let's Make a Soccer Team features an 'advanced' 3D match engine via which players can monitor team progress and observe tactics in action."

VFF chairman made 'dizzy' by Da Nang's 0-15 loss

Following V-League team Da Nang's 0-15 thrashing in an Asian Champions League game in Japan, the chairman of the Vietnam Football Federation, Nguyen Trong Hy, said he was made "dizzy" by the result. "I couldn’t believe it. I can’t understand it, even though I know that Da Nang is focusing on the V-League rather than the Asian Champions League. I will go to Da Nang to see the club’s managers and players to find the reasons" he told VietnamNet.

"We must improve the image of Vietnamese football internationally," Hy said. "First of all the VFF has to bear the consequences because after the heavy failure of Da Nang, how will the Asia Football Confederation and FIFA look at Vietnamese football? It is sure that the image and prestige of Vietnam’s football will be affected greatly. I think that Da Nang did not think of this. Thus, we should not consider participation in regional tournaments by Vietnamese football clubs as their own business.

"Apart from improving the quality of clubs, we need to play our best at regional events. Football clubs must take responsibility for protecting the quality of the match as a way to respect the audience as well as protect the prestige and image of Vietnamese football in the world," he said.

World Cup intensifies Adidas - Nike 'football war'

Businessweek magazine tracks the hugely expenisve "football war" between adidas and Nike: The World Cup's global TV and Web audience is bigger than the Olympics' or the Super Bowl's -- 28 billion in-home viewers worldwide. Adidas is an official sponsor and paid for the rights to shut Nike out of TV advertising in the US for all 64 games. It's vital for Adidas "to dominate the World Cup," says CEO Herbert Hainer ... Nike isn't about to concede any sport to Adidas ... "Our goal is to be the No. 1 [soccer] brand in the world," says Nike President Charlie Denson.

Locked out of ad placements in the US during the World Cup games, Nike is going guerrilla to get exposure. While Adidas blows its dollars on traditional ads, including locking up most of the outdoor signs in Germany, where the matches are being played, Nike is taking the viral and digital route. The company teamed with Google Inc to create the world's first social network for soccer fans, Joga.com ... Nike is making the site a replica of top social network site MySpace.com for soccer-mad fans to commune with each other over their favorite players and teams, download videos, create discussion groups, and the like ... "It's this enormous focus on everything [soccer] that exists nowhere else that could make Joga.com so rich," says Stefan Olander, Nike's global digital director ...

Adidas is betting on buzz-generating designs and sponsorships of its own to win back share. Last year the company introduced a $250 computerized running shoe, Adidas 1, with a microchip that senses fit and performance and helps change the shoe's shape during a run. And it's looking to its World Cup ad blitz to position the recently launched +F50 Tunit soccer boots as the must-have footwear for soccer players ...

Addressing local design trends is paying off, too. Adidas took the lead from Nike in Japan after sponsoring the Japan national team in the 2002 World Cup and by coming up with the adiZero, a lightweight, thin-soled sneaker that hit the spot with Asian consumers. Adidas is growing faster than Nike in other Asian markets, too, notably in China. It spent $80 million to be the exclusive sneaker sponsor of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.

"Nike could be rocked back on their heels...this all sets the stage for [expansion in] China," says Jeffrey Bliss, president of Javelin Group, a sports marketing firm. In fact, Adidas' gains in Asia pushed Nike to spend $44 million to sponsor the India national cricket team ...

See also: Adidas fights off Nike/Puma 'World Cup' challenge (21 Mar) and Nike introduces India to Man United Premier Cup (17 Mar) and Nike reveals World Cup kits of eight nations (13 Feb) and Adidas confirms soccer growth targets in 2006 (13 Feb)

Al-Qaeda group plots poisoning English football

One of seven men accused of plotting a terrorist campaign in the UK suggested poisoning football crowds by selling spiked drinks at matches, the Old Bailey criminal court in London heard on Friday, The Guardian reported. Waheed Mahmood, one of seven defendants with alleged al-Qaeda links, also talked about delivering contaminated food and claimed he had actually sold poisoned burgers from a mobile vending cart somewhere in Britain, according to US supergrass Mohammed Babar.

Babar has already pleaded guilty in the US to offences connected to a UK bomb plot and has been flown to London to testify at this trial about the time he spent with some of the defendants in Pakistan and their alleged plans to attack the UK. Yesterday, he told the court that Mahmood discussed ways of bringing jihad to Britain while in a house in Juja Khan, Pakistan, with him and other men, including two of the other defendants, Anthony Garcia and Salahuddin Amin, in February 2003.

He said Mahmood later gave other examples of how to wage jihad in the UK. "He said you could just get a job in a soccer stadium, like a beer vendor, and put poison into the cans ... and hand the tins out."

See also: Malaysian terrorist "was a Manchester United fan" ( 11 Nov 05) and Could football have lead OBL to an early asylum? (30 Sep 05)

Sponsor for Indonesia's Copa Dji Sam Soe 2006

The Indonesian Football League Board (BLI) and cigarette company PT HM Sampoerna have signed a memorandum of understanding to hold the Copa Dji Sam Soe Indonesia 2006. BLI chairman Nirwan Dermawan Bakrie and Sampoerna managing director Angky Camaro signed the MOU, witnessed by Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) acting chairman Agusman Effendi, the Jakarta Post recorded.

"Copa Dji Sam Soe 2005 was a successful competition participated in by teams from all divisions. We are pleased to be holding it for a second year," Nirwan said. Arema Malang won last year's Copa, which entitled the club to compete in the ongoing Asian Champions League. However, the team was banned from the competition by the Asian Football Confederation due to late registration.

Japanese team confirmed for 2006 Club World Cup

New Zealand Soccer has "reluctantly accepted" a re-jigged draw for December’s Club World Championships in Japan. According to the football association's official website, the FIFA Executive Committee has finally ruled that the winner of Japan’s J-League will play the representative of the Oceania Football Confederation in a sudden-death, preliminary match to the tournement of regional club champions.

NZ Soccer chief executive Graham Seatter "understands the reasoning behind FIFA’s decision as Australia’s departure to the Asian Football Confederation on 1 January left Oceania as the only confederation without a professional league. FIFA fear Oceania’s amateur representative will be embarrassed on the pitch by the financial might of clubs such as Liverpool who played in last year’s tournament as European champions", the website reported.

“Whilst we’re obviously disappointed Oceania’s champion has lost its place in the main draw, we understand FIFA’s reasons and have to accept an amateur team is likely to struggle in an environment with professional clubs,” it quoted Seatter. “The Oceania winner still gets their trip to Japan and hopefully they’ll make the tournament proper anyway.”

However, this appears to contradict a statement by the CFC Organising Committee on 16 February that the Oceania Football Confederation itself "requested that the committee consider modifying its entry into the competition in order to assist the development of the region's club teams."

The OFC and NZ Soccer are left to fight a further move by FIFA to halve the US$1 million pay for Oceania’s first qualifier to US$500,000 because of the inclusion of the Japanese team. “We’ve made the point to FIFA that Oceania as a confederation struggle for money at the best of times and to take away this opportunity to receive significant revenue would be a very negative outcome,” Seatter said.

See also: Japan still pushing for local team in Club World Cup (21 Mar) and Oceania 'request' changes FIFA 2006 Club Cup (20 Feb) and FIFA 'to allow' host team at 2006 Club World Cup (14 Feb) and Sao Paulo crowned FIFA's Club World Champions (19 Dec)

First FIFA World Cup portal for China selected

China's leading online media, search and mobile value-added services company,announced today during a press conference that it has officially entered into an agreement with SMGBB.cn, a subsidiary of Shanghai Media Group, to form a strategic partnership to provide FIFA World Cup 2006 online video content in China. SMGBB.cn has been granted first ever exclusive authorization from FIFA to provide broadband internet video content of the World Cup 2006 event in mainland China and has selected Sohu.com as its exclusive portal partner.

Dr Charles Zhang, Chairman and CEO of Sohu.com, commented, "As Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Internet Content Sponsor and now SMGBB.cn's World Cup 2006 Exclusive Online Video Content Portal Partner, Sohu is taking the lead in becoming a major international online sports content provider in China. 2006 so far has been an excellent year for Sohu and we believe these partnerships will further solidify our sports content channel."

During the World Cup, Sohu.com and SMGBB.cn will jointly establish a World Cup channel, delivering real-time video highlights and tournament photos directly to football fans in China. The channel will feature exclusive World Cup 2006 content including event highlights, select clips, behind the scene footage in all the 64 tournaments and comprehensive reports -- all readily available online through rich media formats.

Liverpool incentives for new media sportscasting

The New Media Sportscasting Summit hosted by Servecast in Dublin, Ireland, yesterday saw leading sports industry experts discuss trends and opportunities for the delivery of sport over broadband and 3G. According to the survey of participants reported by Finfacts, broadband consumption of sports content will increase by 25 percent over the next three years.

Delegates heard that best way to minimise subscriber churn from broadband sports subscription services is to incentivise customers towards annual rather than monthly subscription. “Having a well presented preview function with sample content and offering occasional free video samples to get customer more used to watching video online is essential for successful subscriber recruitment. The best way to minimise subscriber churn is to incentivise customers towards annual rather than monthly subscriptions. Investing heavily in customer services and technical support is also key to keeping online subscribers,” said Stephen Michael, General Manager of Liverpool FC TV.

Simon Green, CEO of Setanta Sports US, emphasised that the new phenomenon of ‘Placeshifting’ means that the desire to have sports content anytime, any place is driving new media sportscasting. “We are in the entertainment business and must compete for our customer’s attention in a very busy market dominated by MTV, ipods, PSPs, TV Soaps, Cinema, Pubs and PCs,” he said.

Reduction in time delay to ‘as live’ will increase opportunities to incorporate in-running betting with online sports content; live pictures can sit alongside prices for events and web content dictated by the broadcast; and creation of more web-specific content will create opportunities to sponsor on-demand broadcasts linked to major racing events.

The fourth screen – the mobile phone – is vital in the communications mix for new media sports content. An understanding of mobile personalization, content recommendations and search capabilities in a wireless environment are key to enabling the success of mobile portal content propositions in the sports industry.

Malaysian MyTeam football TV reality show debuts

The slight drizzle did not deter fans of Malaysia’s reality TV football show, MyTeam, from making their way to watch its debut on a big television screen in Bangsar last night. Hundreds of fans made themselves comfortable on inflated chairs shaped like a football in Jalan Telawi 3 and were glued to the first of the 12-episode, half-hour series aired on TV3 at 10 pm, Dawn Chan reported in the Malay Mail.

Among those present at the event were MyTeam coach, Serbegeth ‘Shebby’ Singh, MyTeam executive producer Khairy Jamaluddin, his wife Nori Abdullah, New Straits Times Press Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Syed Faisal Albar, Media Prima TV Network chief executive officer, Datuk Farid Ridzuan, Naza Group of Companies chairman and chief executive officer Tan Sri S. M. Nasimuddin S. M. Amin, TM Group marketing senior vice-president Datuk Ranbir Singh and MyTeam executive producer and chief executive officer Jason Lo.

MyTeam, the brainchild of Maya Team Sdn Bhd, will look for 11 amateur soccer players to pit their skills against the Malaysian football team nationwide. To date, 26 amateur players have been chosen to train at the Bukit Jalil Sports Complex from 10 April to 27 May. The search began on Feb 18 in Johor Baru, with the final stop in Kuala Lumpur on 9 April, followed by the training camp. After selecting 11 players, MyTeam will be playing against the national team at Stadium Nasional in Bukit Jalil on 28 May.

Sponsors include TV3, New Straits Times, AirAsia, FAM, Youth and Sports Ministry, Pan Global Insurance, Westport Malaysia, Excel, Sports Planet and Adidas.

See also: Football-based 'Reality TV' series hits Malaysia (27 Jan)

English Premier League online rights sold in China

Shanghai Media Group has reportedly acquired the exclusive rights to telecast English Premier League programs online from GoalTV, an affiliate company of Britain's Yes TV. According to the state newsagecy, Xinhua, GoalTV owns the exclusive rights to telecast the the four biggest clubs in the English league -- Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal in Asia. In addition, it also provides a live telecast of French, Dutch and Scottish leagues.

More youths prefer watching TV programs online, among which sports programs are the most popular. No doubt the upcoming Olympic Games in 2008 will be the best news for the development of Chinese online TV, Xinhua said, citing Yes TV. An earlier survey showed the number of online TV subscribers in China will swell to 100 million by 2010, and the value of the new media market is expected to reach 200 billion yuan (US$24.92 billion).

In January, FIFA's marketing agents, Infront Sports & Media, signed an exclusive deal with SMG Broadband Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Shanghai Media Group, giving the latter Chinese market rights to cover all 64 World Cup matches 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.

See also: China telephony/internet World Cup deal signed (27 Jan).

Man-United-branded Barclaycard charges into Asia

Barclays Capital, the investment banking associate of English Premier League sponsors, Barclaycard, plans to expand its presence in Asia so its parent company, Barclays Plc, can earn 50% of revenue from outside its home turf of the United Kingdom within the next three years. The division, which opened in Asia in 2001, has offices in Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, China and Japan, and in its regional hub, Singapore and wants to make acquisitions in every market in which it operates.

"We are clearly on our path to achieve the target," Robert Morrice, chairman and chief executive officer (Asia Pacific) for Barclays Capital told Umesh Pandey and Chiratas Nivatpumin of the Bangkok Post. He said he was bullish on the Thai market, with the local bond market in particular poised for strong growth.

Barclaycard International, the world’s sixth largest general purpose credit card issuer, is also dipping its toes into Asia. In 2005 it relocated one of its most experienced business development executives, Ron Boddy, to Singapore to explore opportunities for growth in the region. “We’ve got an ambition to have an international business as meaningful as the UK one by 2013. It’s difficult to see how you would do that without a substantial Asian business,” the Barclaycard International commercial director for Asia Pacific told The Asian Banker.

Surprisingly, its first product in Asia uses a one-football-club brand rather than the image of the powerful English Premier League for which it is known world-wide as the naming sponsor.

Barclaycard has the right to market Manchester United branded credit cards anywhere outside of the UK and Singapore in a five year deal signed in 2003. Fans are able to apply for a range of credit cards offering exclusive cardholder benefits, including merchandise signed by their favourite players, welcome gifts and the opportunity to win Manchester United prizes. The card reward programme – Red Rewards - includes opportunities to win tickets to attend matches at Manchester United’s Old Trafford ground and the cards also offer prize draws.

Barclaycard launched its first co-branded Manchester United card in South Korea with Shinhan Card Co Ltd in January 2006. “We are delighted to be able to introduce the MU Card to football fans in South Korea especially as Park Ji Sung is playing an active part in Manchester United. Together with our partners Barclaycard and Manchester United, we are certain that fans throughout the country will welcome this new card and benefits,” Hong Sung Kyun, CEO of Shinhan Card Co Ltd said.

This agreement follows on from similar Asian cooperative deals in Thailand (launched with Payment Solution Company Ltd, an affiliated company established in cooporation between Shin Corporation Pcl and DBS Bank, in November 2005), Japan (with Orico, the country's second-largest bank, in March 2005), Hong Kong (with Dah Sing Bank in January 2005) and Malaysia (with Public Bank Bhd in November 2004).

In the United Kingdom, the right to market Mancehster United branded credit cards is held by the American bank, MBNA Corporation, reputedly the world’s largest independent credit card lender. The company also provides consumer loan and insurance products. MBNA is global leader in "affinity credit card" marketing with endorsements from more than 5,100 membership organisations, corporations, sports teams, and financial institutions worldwide. There are more than 850 such organisations in Europe including most English Premiership and Championship football clubs.

See also: World Cup credit card by Standard Chartered Malaysia (21 Jan)

English Championship may beat clubs to China

English Premier League club Chelsea may be approaching the Chinese market through the Asian Football Confederation's Vision China program but the English Football League, responsible for administrating the lower three divisions of the English competition, could become the first foreign league to enter a formal partnership with Chinese football administrators.

According to Nick Harris of The Independent (UK) the Football League was first approached last year by a Chinese provincial government wanting to tap into the "authentic" football offered by the League in England below 'premiership' level. Exhibition matches, education programmes, academy partnerships and merchandise deals are some of the areas where China and the League might combine forces.

Sources stressed to Harris that talks are in their infancy, with a lot of fact-finding still required on both sides. "But senior officials from the province, the identity of which is being kept under wraps, have visited England for discussions. They also attended the Carling Cup final last month as guests of the League," Harris disclosed. "A League delegation, headed by its chairman Lord Brian Mawhinney, will travel to China this summer to explore possibilities with the province in question. Mawhinney has an open mind on what a tie-up might involve but is interested only in 'significant and long-term' developments."

Foreign clubs have had mixed success in sustaining income from fans in the Peoples Republic of China, Harris further explained. Ever since West Bromwich Albion visited in 1978 most marketing planning, if any, has been focused on brand and kit licensing and off-season tours. Now relationship-building is seen to be imperative.

Real Madrid signed a co-operation agreement with China Super League club Beijing Hyundai in November last year and English Championship club Sheffield United recently became the first foreign club to buy a Chinese side, when they purchased Chengdu. However, Newcastle United's earlier tie-up with Dalian Shide and Scotish Premier League club Glasgow Rangers' with Shenzhen are already dormant.

"It's been a dash for cash but with little strategic thought," said Dr Simon Chadwick, the co-director of the Birkbeck Sport Business Centre, which has conducted research in China on the subject, including during Manchester United's tour last summer. "Teams have landed in China thinking, 'There's pots of cash to be made here', and then not found it. Outside the hot spots like Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, it's still a fairly agrarian society. A lot of people have low or no disposable income and even in the hot spots there's massive competition for that income."

"British clubs should have benefited from first-mover advantage," Dan Fletcher, a director of FMM International, commented, "but some lost interest very quickly when they realised there weren't going to be huge shirt sales."

Chinese fickleness is, apparantly, a sales issue. "In China, it's quite normal to follow Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Manchester United equally," Richard Li, FMM's man in Beijing told Harris. "It's hard to comprehend for English clubs that your allegiance can be spread, but it's often the case. It makes it all the more difficult to turn 'support' into money." It's harder still when fake merchandise can be bought for a pittance. One sample price for four full kits (Man Utd home and away, Chelsea home, Real home) was £20 combined - before the bartering began. With a bit of haggling, a shirt alone, albeit not of superior quality, can be yours for £1.50.

"So making a killing on merchandise is currently a myth, as is the idea that English football is No 1 here or that English clubs are on the verge of an internet-led windfall. Serie A and the Bundesliga vie for TV ratings supremacy, with matches averaging between 13 million and 15 million. The Premiership is not far behind, with Spain's La Liga trailing, hindered by evening kick-offs in Europe (the middle of the night here)," Harris opined, adding that local sources also point to European clubs' struggling Chinese-language websites as evidence that there is little will to pay for content, with or without live action.

"Manchester United, in common with Arsenal, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Roma, PSV, Juventus and others, have been paid a flat fee by a website provider to allow that provider to run their Chinese site. United will earn an estimated £300,000-£400,000 over three years. The theory is that the provider will profit from subscriptions but even as internet use expands - 130 million Chinese now use it - this is not happening. United's site was launched last year amid claims that they have 20 million Chinese fans and 94 million globally. That is actually a "name recognition" stat, not an allegiance as western football knows it. Local sources say providers doubt they will recoup their outlay," he observed.

"Western clubs can make some money from one-off tours, exclusive signed merchandise and possibly through franchising academies - but not, it seems, from restaurants, with all but one of Manchester United's 'red cafés' now shut down ...However, a liberalisation of the gambling laws could change everything in a country that spent an estimated £3.5 billion in illegal online wagers last year and no doubt Manchester United's potential shirt sponsor, the Gibraltar-based gambling site Mansion, has noted the potential."

See also: Asian-backed Mansion tipped to be ManU sponsor (4 March) and Chelsea for partnering not exploiting Asian football (2 March) and Ladbrokes targets Asia for sports betting expansion (26 Feb) and Poll: Italian clubs still "most famous" in China (6 Feb) and English Championship club acquires Chinese club (13 Dec) and Real Madrid and Beijing Guo'an sign co-operation (10 Nov).

South Korea innovatively renames its key players

Anyone aware of the predominance of the Kim, Park and Lee family names in Korea will appreciate the change in the way football players will be identified on their shirts. In the case of the Korea Republic national national side, for instance, its 23 player squad against Angola on 1 March included 12 Kim and Lee surnames. Three players -- Kim Do-hun, Kim Doo-hyun and Kim Dong-hyun -- are identified as D H KIM.

"There are many players in the nation with the same last name and distinguishing among them can be difficult," the Korean Football Association announced as quoted by The Chosun. "The current system also makes it difficult to increase international name recognition, so we have decided to change it."

As an example, the Manchester United striker currently wearing a shirt that reads J S PARK will instead be identified as JISUNG.

The new shirts will first be donned in friendlies at the end of May and later be seen at the World Cup in Germany. The system has already been tried and tested with the national women's youth team last April and the national women's team started to use it in the East Asia Football Federation games last August.

Adidas fights off Nike/Puma 'World Cup' challenge

Adidas, which has dominated previous FIFA World Cups, will sponsor fewer teams participating at this year's tournament than long-time arch rivals Nike and Puma. Just six teams will be playing in Adidas's trademark three-stripes kits, while Nike has signed up eight teams to wear its 'swoosh' logo.

"It's remarkable that market leader Adidas will have fewer teams than its toughest pursuer Nike," said analysts at German Landesbank Rheinland-Pfalz in a study quoted by Reuters. But Adidas has vowed to fight back and play out its role as an official sponsor of world football body FIFA, which will give it advertising rights in the 12 stadiums.

With a total global audience of 32 billion expected to watch the 64 matches on television - 10 percent more than in 2002, according to TV rights agency Infront - the competition to raise brand awareness has never been tougher. Marketing costs are treated as secrets but Adidas and Puma have said they will stage their biggest ever marketing campaigns, while Nike plans to spend more than at the 2002 Cup.

LRP analysts say Nike is still lagging Adidas in the market for football gear but has come closer with a market share of 30 percent. Adidas has some 35 percent and Puma around 9 percent.

See also: Nike reveals World Cup kits of eight nations (13 Feb) and Adidas confirms soccer growth targets in 2006 (13 Feb)

All World Cup games to be seen on US daytime TV

Football fans in the United States will enjoy live coverage of every single game of the 2006 World Cup on the ABC free-to-air network and its sports affiliate ESPN. The decision marks a major commitment to the sport by the TV channels, which are devoting precious afternoon airtime to the tournament. Though ABC and ESPN also transmitted the 2002 World Cup live from South Korea and Japan, those games took place in the early morning hours in the US and did not displace other programming.

The initial highlight of the coverage will be the US-Italy game on Saturday, 17 June, on the Disney-owned ABC channel. All of the tournament matches will be broadcast in high definition for the first time ever. During the World Cup, ESPN will also present World Cup Live - a daily highlight and analysis show of all the tournament action.

Sports consultant Neal Pilson told Variety newspaper that American interest in the World Cup has grown in recent years because "the US men's and women's soccer teams have become much more competitive."

FIFA World Cup Referees must say it "in English"

English is now the official language of world football refereeing, at least for those officiating at FIFA's 2006 World Cup in Germany, beginning on 9 June. FIFA regards English, German, Spanish and French as its official languages, providing translation services in all four at its media events. However, for the referees only English will do when they get together, except when they are actually doing their jobs.

FIFA has decided to use trios of referees and two assistants from the same country, or at least the same confederation and with a common language. "The trios have to speak the same language," FIFA general secretary Urs Linsi said as quoted by Kevin Fylan of Reuters. "It's important because when they are in the fray they need to be able to talk to each other without problems."

However FIFA also wants to make sure there is no confusion at referee headquarters. "It's important for an international team that when the referees get together they can communicate in one language," Linsi said. "They are a team and one language must be predominant. We've opted for English. The referees are going to have to speak and write in English. This is going to promote team spirit."

Japan still pushing for local team in Club World Cup

Japan Football Association president Saburo Kawabuchi said he will continue to lobby for world governing body FIFA to reverse a decision not to allow the J-League champion to play in the Club World Cup. The FIFA Executive Committee last week turned down a proposal from the Club World Cup organizing committee that this year's J-League champion be allowed to play in the tournament in Japan in December along with the club champions from the world's six confederations.

"We haven't given up on it and we'll continue to lobby for a berth through talks with a number of people concerned. I've heard that the door still remains open," Kawabuchi told The Japan Times. The newspaper reported that officials said the majority of the FIFA Executive Committee members insisted that the field of the Club World Cup be limited to the champions of the confederations. But the FIFA executives will discuss the issue again at a meeting in June.

See also: Oceania 'request' changes FIFA 2006 Club Cup (20 Feb) and FIFA 'to allow' host team at 2006 Club World Cup (14 Feb)

FIFA sells Asian and Oceania broadcast packages

Australia's government-owned, multilingual television network, SBS has snared an exclusive deal with football's governing body FIFA for control of Oceania region television rights - both free-to-air and pay TV and internet rights - for the next two World Cups (2010 in South Africa and 2014 expected to be staged in Latin America).

With Australia having transfered from Oceania to the Asian Football Confederation on 1 January this year, retaining Australia in the Oceania rights package appears to be an anomaly that might have slipped by Australia's three commercial networks and the Fox Sports cable system which all acknowledge the increasing value of the domestic A-league as well as international soccer.

In Australia, SBS televised the 1990, 1994 and 1998 World Cups exclusively, and shared coverage of the 2002 Cup with the Nine Network. It is covering the upcoming tournament in Germany on its own. The arrangement allow SBS to sell the pay-TV rights. It was keen to capture the online rights because as SBS head of sport Les Murray told Michael Lynch of The Age, "the networks are looking to control cross-platform rights because the industry is moving so fast and you do not want to be caught not being able to exploit them".

SBS will sell-on rights to Oceania broadcasters although the revenue will be small; apart from New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, most are tiny Pacific islands.

Japanese advertising firm Dentsu Inc, partnering with Switzerland's Infront Sports & Media AG, also announced it had won control of Asian broadcasting rights for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups and for all FIFA events between 2007 and 2014. The rights cover television, radio, broadband Internet and mobile telephony. According to Mainichi-MSN, Dentsu bought the Japanese rights for television, radio and internet broadcasting of the games during the period in March 2005 but the current venture extends those rights to all of Asia.

Dentsu did not say how much it paid for the rights, nor which countries the rights covered, but information available with Indiantelevision.com indicates that the consortium bid made by Dentsu and Infront, which was the incumbent, is estimated to be worth between $300-310 million. The 29-country deal covers the whole of Asia east of Iran and excluding Japan.

In terms of a value proposition, four countries that make up North Asia account for 55-60 percent of the bid amount. This includes China, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. South and South East Asia would take up the remaining 40-45 percent of the bid value and include Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Philippines and Singapore as major territories.

Dance craze backs South Korea's World Cup team

A formation dance pulled from a comedian's memory of his college freshman year is gaining immense popularity around the country. The comic dance, called kkokjijeom (literally meaning 'vertex' in Korean), was first introduced to the public on 31 January by actor Kim Soo-ro, a guest of popular KBS variety program "Sang Sang Plus". The public reaction to the group dance was explosive, which encouraged Kim to open a community-based website "World Cup 06 Kim Soo-ro's Summit Dance" to teach the dance movements. As of last Saturday, the website has over 97,000 registered members.

According to Lee Yong-sung in the Korea Herald, the nationwide popularity of the dance cannot be explained by its movements alone. "What went on in many viewers' minds, when they first saw the actor lead the formation dance on television, were the upcoming FIFA World Cup finals. "Cool, it's gonna be fun to perform the dance to cheer during the World Cup!" was the most dominant resposne to the dance, and Kim answered the urgent need by doing it again to "Oh, Pilseung (victory) Korea," the anthem which became popular during the Korea-Japan World Cup finals in 2002.

On March 1, more than 2,000 supporters of the Korea national soccer team gathered in front of the Seoul World Cup Stadium to cheer before the warm-up match against Angola. The same evening, K-pop stars such as Clone, Jewelry and NRG proved themselves to be kkokjijeom dancers with enthusiasm. "We shouted 'Korea' over and over with excitement during the last World Cup matches, which was great," said Kim, the webmaster of the Cyworld community. "But wouldn't it be even greater if all the crowd in red T-shirts dances together to cheer?"

V-League secures naming sponsor from round 10

The Vietnam Football Federation has signed a sponsorship contract with European Plastics Window Company for the current V-League national football championships. The league has played without a naming sponsor since its current season commemced on 15 January.

The previous sponsor, Dat Viet Sport Marketing company, withdrew its commitment following match fixing allegations among U-23 national team members at the SEA Games last December in the Philippines and in past national championships.

As the signing ceremony yesterday, the VFF’s exclusive marketer, the Vietnam Football Development Joint Stock Company, signed a one-year contract with the interior decoration business. "We are so happy today that the national championship have found funding and sponsors have not turned their back on football after such a serious crisis," said VFF’s general secretary Tran Quoc Tuan.

The VFF expects the tournament will bear the new name Eurowindow V-League from the 10th round on Sunday.

A-League players launch FFA 'grassroots' intiative

Australia's Hyundai A-League players are helping to "kick-start" the grassroots Telstra Football Anytime program. The nation-wide scheme commenced in Brisbane today with Queensland Roar players Chad Gibson, Massimo Murdocca and Remo Buess putting enthusiastic youngsters through their paces. Next month the scheme will commence in South Australia with players from A-League premiers Adelaide United at the sessions.

The Football Federation Australia program is an ideal introduction to football for 6-12 year old girls and boys as it is 'game-centred' and encourages children to play the game anywhere, anytime and with anyone! Its focus is on small-sided games and age appropriate activities with a particular emphasis on enjoyment.

For a cost of just A$66, children participate in six session program coordinated by FAA-accredited coaches who are specifically trained and briefed and receive a kit of equipment (a Nike Total 90 all surface football; a Nike Brasilia equipment bag; markers to use as goals and to mark out a field; and a drink bottle) that enables them to participate beyond the formal conclusion of the program.

The program also encourages parents to become actively involved in the delivery of the sessions and support their children as they experience the fun and excitement of playing football. Similarly, local clubs are also encouraged to become involved with their Community or School Telstra Football Anytime program to ensure that those parents and children who want to join local club football are able to do so.

Angry Thai club will not release players for nation

Thailand Premier League club, Thailand Tobacco Monopoly, has shocked the football community by deciding it will not release players to the national team squad for Asian Games training. Deputy chairman of the Tobacco Monopoly Football Foundation, Mongkongwat Ruthanon said there were a number of reasons for the action including the club's need for good results to defend their Premier League title, at present they are suffering a lot of injuries and also their coaches needed the players "to optimise their potential".

According to Tor Chittinand in the Bangkok Post, however, the true reason may be retaliation for being disqualified from the AFC Champions League. The club reportedly believes the Football Association of Thailand could have done more to help them after being banned from the Champions League for failing to provide documentation in time.

Thailand head coach, Charnwit Phalajivin said he did not think the club's decision will affect his national squad too much: "We have many good players in our squad," he said. "But it is a bit disappointing some TTm players won't have the opportunity to play for the national team."

See also: ASEAN clubs slam 'unprofessional' associations (1 March

Indian football manufacturers stitch up World Cup

India's football manufacturrers are keeping a hungry eye on export opportunities in the build-up to the FIFA World Cup in Germany. “There is lot of hustle bustle in football manufacturing units as well as other connecting units as most of them have already increased their production at least three times due to expected hike in the demand of footballs all over the world due to the World Cup, which comes after four years”, Satish Wassan, regional director of the Sports Goods Export Promotion Council told Business Standard.

Last year the export of footballs was almost 8 percent more than the previous year and with promotions for the upcoming World Cup, it could almost double, he said.

However, when asked why Indian footballs were not approved by the FIFA the international football authority, Wassan's excuse was Pakistan’s edge over Indian manufacturers. Multi-national companies like Adidas, Puma had set up specialised units in Pakistan which got raw material at cheaper rates and finer quality, he said.

“We are facing a threat from the China also, as it has already started manufacturing footballs with machine stitching. As production of Chinese units is in bulk, it costs less than the Indian units, which still believes in hand-stitching to provide better quality to the product,” he claimed.

AFC superviser to organise Manila's World Cup fun

Former Philippine Olympic Committee president Cristy Ramos-Jalasco will be in charge of organizing World Cup football festivities in Metro Manila this June. National Capital Region Football Association president Jose Vito Borromeo gave Jalasco her newest assignment, almost a week after she returned from Bangkok to supervise the matches of the Asian Football Confederation women’s under-19 competitions.

According to the Manila Standard Today, the World Cup opening celebration that Borromeo has tasked Jalasco to organise will start on 9 June at the Greenhills Shoppings Center.

Jalasco, a daughter of former President Fidel V. Ramos, is a senior adviser to the NCRFA board and chairman of its cities development program and was appointed last year as match commissioner of the AFC’s competitions for women.

Nike introduces India to Man United Premier Cup

Indian teenagers will now get a taste of international football through the Manchester United Premier Cup, launched in Kolkata today in the presence of star striker Baichung Bhutia and Subrata Dutta, secretary of the Indian Football Association. Bhutia, the Indian national team's captain, is the new brand ambassador of Nike, a five year contract appointment.

Nike said its partnership with the All India Football Federation to bring the MU Premier Cup to India every year aimed to popularise the sport at the grass-roots level and encourage young talents by giving them an opportunity to participate in a global tournament. "The effort bears testimony to our commitment to elevating the game in the country," said Sanjay Gangopadhyay, marketing director of Nike India, as quoted by Indo Asian News Service.

Founded as the NIKE International Premier Cup in 1994 and co-sponsored since 2003 by the Manchester United Football Club, the MUCP has become the largest international youth football tournament in the world, involving over 6,000 U14 boys teams from over 40 countries. In India, eight teams — Mohun Bagan, East Bengal, Mohammedan Sporting, Mahindra United, Tollygunj Agragami, JCT Mills, Vasco Sports Club and Ever Ready Association - will take part in the first edition with finals held from 22-26 March.

The winners of India will fly to Bangkok, where they will play in South East Asian regional finals against the champion teams from Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore, in May. The champions will progress to the world finals to be played in Europe later this year.

BBC doco, 'More than a game', kicks off in Asia

The BBC documentary about the 76-year history of the FIFA World Cup, More Than a Game (6x60'), has chalked up its 35th overseas territory, with Asian buyers now taking the show. The series, which promises to be the definitive account of the tournament, has been licensed to Discovery Networks India, Hong Kong Cable TV, MediaCorp in Singapore, SBS in South Korea, Channel 9 in Thailand and SBS in Australia. The deals were unveiled in the run-up to Sportel Asia 2006 in Shanghai.

"Millions of Asian TV viewers will now be able to share in the excitement and anticipation surrounding this year's event in Germany," Richard Hornsby-Smith, sport sales manager at BBC Worldwide, said. The BBC Bristol production was coproduced by BBC Worldwide and FIFA's archive partner, Infront Sports & Media, and features a combination of official FIFA World Cup film archive, interviews with the greats and behind-the-scenes moments from the tournament's history.

Agu Casmir's mysterious Indonesian 'adventure'

The fan club of Indonesian League club Persija Jakarta has finally commented on the strange case of Nigerian-Singaporean player Agu Casmir. A citizen of Singapore since 2004, Casmir was a member of the Singapore team which won the Tiger Cup regional football championship in 2005 but was a disappointment in the country's SEA Games campaign in the Philippines.

Dropped from the national team, the 21-year-old stunned Singapore's small football fraternity by signing with one of Indonesia's leading clubs, Persija, for 2006. But on 16 January, despite receiving a US$20,000 sign-on fee (reportedly representing 10% of his total salary package) he failed to turn up at the airport to meet his agent and disappeared. When contacted in Jakarta, the agent, "who only wanted to be known as Onana J", said that he was hopeful Casmir would still turn up. "He is supposed to be here and I hope that he gets here," Onana told Jose Raymond of Today Online (Singapore).

"This is the last thing we expected from a Singapore footballer. It is so unprofessional. His credentials were so good and we thought that we had signed a top striker," Persija coach Rachmad Darmawan told Raymond. "He was here last Thursday, signed a mega deal with us and we kept to our end of the bargain. But he is not here and we are very shocked that he has not even bothered to call us to explain what is happening."

Darmawan said that the club would file a report with the world football body FIFA if Casmir failed to turn up. "We have his International Transfer Certificate now, so he has to answer to us. We could also take further action, like terminate his contract because of his no-show and demand that the sign-on fee be returned to us. We are just hoping that this is all a major misunderstanding," said Darmawan.

Football Association of Singapore general secretary John Koh said he was "worried" about Casmir. "He did not inform us that he wanted to leave Singapore but when we got a request from his Indonesian club to release his ITC, we did because he was a free agent and has reached an agreement with his new club," he confirmed.

It was consequently reported in The Straits Times (19 February) that Casmir had purportedly been in Canada and had no intention of further pursuing a career in football. The report quoted former Woodlands Wellington FC manager, R Vengadasalam, as saying that Casmir was disillusioned with football and had no intention of returning to Singapore. He had taken the contract to prove that he could still command "a US$80,000 annual salary in South-east Asia".

But Casmir not only left Persija without a striker, he also failed to return the sign-on fee. The report said that Casmir acknowledged he took the money but had spent it all.

Hs Indonesian agent, Jules Onana, who "had made a missing-person report to the Singapore police when he was here last month to look for the player," the newspaper remarked, "is now responsible for repaying the fee".

Suddenly, for reasons that become clearer later, Casmir was presented at a press conference by the Football Association of Singapore on 27 February, to announce that he had re-signed with S-League club Woodlands Wellington on a one-year contract, under a deal in which the club would re-pay Persija his signing-on fee. "We know that Agu has made a grave mistake," Rams vice-chairman Francis Gomez told the media. "This is not a charity offer. This is a challenge for the club, for Agu, and for all of us in deciding what to do with people who make mistakes but deserve a second chance." Gomez further added that Casmir would be paid "below his market value" under the deal, but declined to reveal the exact figure of his new signing's salary.

The FAS announced it had suspended Casmir from the national squad for a year and fined him S$20,000, for his behaviour. "I am sorry for my actions, and I want to apologise to Persija, the FAS, and all football fans for causing this embarrassment," the 21-year-old responded. "I promise I will never do this again."

However, the embarrassment to Singapore's professional footballers and regulators was to continue. A week later, Ernest Luis of The New Paper (8 March) asked Casmir three direct questions: "Can he show his passport to prove he left Indonesia for Russia, Canada and England, as he claimed he did when he failed to honour his contract with Indonesian club Persija Jakarta in January. Can he name the clubs he went for trials with in Russia, Canada and England? Finally, can he name the 'London-based' agent whom he claimed last week, lured him to leave Indonesia for these trials?"

According to Luis, Casmir said 'no' to all the questions. "He also claimed he didn't know if the agent is FIFA-licensed. So the mystery surrounding the affair will linger for the rest of the year," Luis reported.

Now, Persija's Jakmania fan club fills in more gaps. Its website reported today that the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) general secretary Nugraha and the vice president of Persija, IGK Manila, had attended a special session of the FAS disciplinary committee to discuss Casmir's breach of contract. The Singaporeans were informed that Casmir had been introduced to the team and its supporters on 11 January and had been paid Rp186 million. He had attended Persija's pre-season training camp but complained that the field was not good enough for him and said he would leave to join a Russian club.

The rest, as they say, is history. But it should be noted that, despite numerous cross-border player transfers within South East Asia, there are currently no FIFA-licensed Player's Agents registered or active in Singapore or Indonesia.

China mulls over bidding for the 2018 World Cup

As the FIFA 2006 World Cup trophy arrived in China on its global exhibition circuit, sentiment is reportedly firmly in favour of bidding for the 2018 event. Citing sources inside the Chinese Football Association, a report from Sports Sina appeared to confirm the country's resolution. "This is China's maiden involvement in bidding for the World Cup and the CFA is making active preparations," read the report, adding, "China is very likely to win out in the competition if all factors are taken into consideration."

According to Fan Xuan of China Daily, the report drew wide attention in a nation that "craves for football success" despite a long list of flops in international tournaments. "China's decision to bid comes from three aspects: support from FIFA chairman Sepp Blatter; support from China's top sports administration; and the experience the country will gain after the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games," the report continued.

However, a contradictory report appeared the same day on the same site, citing a top CFA official. "I have yet to hear of this. The decision to bid for the World Cup is not something someone inside FA could make," said Nan Yong, vice president of the CFA. "It is up to China's sports administration or even higher up in the government."

Australia still only playing as 'invitee' in ASEAN

A meeting of the ASEAN Football Federation has ammended regulations governing regional competition in South East Asia. The changes so far restrict participation in SEA U17 and U20 tournaments to teams which have qualified for the 2006 Asian Championship finals with additional teams from other regions to be invited by the AFF to provide stronger compeition. The SEA U20 championship in 2006 therefore comprises Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia, as qualifiers, with Australia as the invitational team. Similarly, the 2006 SEA U17 event will draw Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar and an invitational team from the East Asia region.

The AFF changes appear to ignore the changed status of Australia which joined the Asian Football Confederation from Oceania on 1 January this year. The AFC's 46 national federations are divided into four groups – East Asia with nine federations, West Asia with 12, Central and South Asia 12, and ASEAN 13.

However, according to Than Nien newspaper (Vietnam), only 11 ASEAN zone football teams will be permitted into the two new SEA play-off divisions: the five lower-ranking nations Laos, East Timor, Brunei, Cambodia and Philippines will play pre-qualifiers and the two best teams will advance to join the six remaining regional teams, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Myanmar, Malaysia and Vietnam. The eight qualifiers, separated in two groups, will then play in group stage, semifinals and finals.

The excluded ASEAN zone countries - Australia and the Maldives Republic - are the only two in the zone that are not also members of the ASEAN Football Federation. This is consistent with the advice previously confirmed to the Asian Football Business Review by AFC deputy general secretary, Dato Paul Mony Samuel, who also acts as the AFF's general sectretary, that membership of the zone does not automatically include Australia in ASEAN tournements (inluding the ASEAN Cup, formerly 'Tiger' Cup) as the ASEAN Football Federation and the AFC zone - "are two different things".

UPDATE: According to the Vietnam Football Federation (19 March 2006), The chairman of the East Asian Football Federation, Takeo Okada, addressed the meeting of the ASEAN Football Federation and tabled the idea of both federations working closely together in fields such as training, marketing and communications. Okada’s plan would give teams in South East Asia further opportunities to compete against strong rivals in the East Asian region such as Japan, South Korea and China.

"Representatives agreed with Okada’s idea but worried about how to devise a plan to benefit all involved. A decision will be finalised at the conference in May in Cambodia, representatives concluded," the VFF reported.

At the meeting, the AFF also announced the South East Asian Football Championships, the former Tiger Cup, will officially kick off in January 2007. The competitor list so far includes Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar; two others who will play in an earlier qualifying round will finish off the roster.

It is still not clear what role, if any, Australia will play in the ASEAN group. Perhaps the AFC newcomer should have been placed in East Asia where it would have the opportunity of competing against strong - and more accomodating - rivals.

Brazil exports 804 footballers in 2005, value up 55%

Between 1994 and 2005 Brazil exported football players to foreign clubs valued at over US$ 1 billion, reported the O Estado de S. Paulo. T newspaper. The 2005 value was actually 55 percent higher than 2004, partially a result of the sale of young star Robinho from Santos to Spain's Real Madrid at an estimated figure of US$ 18 million. However 2006, a World Cup year, also shows an interesting surge with football player "exports" representing US$25 million for Brazil, according to a report from the Central Bank.

Brazil Football Confederation statistics confirm that Brazil is the largest market for overseas clubs looking for promising football stars at relatively cheap prices. In 2005 a total of 804 Brazilian football players were transferred overseas, a slight drop from 2004 with 857. Of that number 40 went to Japan; 20 to Germany; 15 to Saudi Arabia; 14 to Venezuela; 12 to the United States; 9 to Iran; 7 to Austria; 6 to Bosnia-Herzegovina; 5 to China; 5 to Hong Kong and 3 to Angola with the rest to other countries in all continents.

A-League awards night recognises exciting debuts

Perth Glory striker, Bobby Despotovski won the prestigious Johnny Warren Medal for the Hyundai A-League Players Player of the Year at the A-League Awards Night held in Sydney this evening. He was also one of four recipients of the Reebok Golden Boot Award having netted 8 goals along with Alex Brosque (Queensland Roar), Stewart Petrie (Central Coast Mariners) and Archie Thompson (Melbourne Victory). Perth Glory attacking midfielder Nick Ward collected the Hyundai Rising Star Award for the most outstanding Under 20 player in the A-League and his Western Australian club also collected the Fair Play Award for accruing the least number of yellow and red cards in the competition.

Central Coast Mariners coach, Lawrie McKinna, received the Hyundai A-League Coach of the Year Award as voted for by his peers. His team of young players won the A-League's pre-season competition was runners up in the Oceania Champions Cup and also runners-up in the A-League championship grand final. After the narrow final loss to Sydney FC, whose skipper, Dwight Yorke, was wrongly rumoured to earn more than the entire Mariner squad combined, McKinna (pictured here to the right of an early-season fan) told the Asian Football Business Review "it was a great season from the boys and we have put the Central Coast on the map."

Born in southwest Scotland in 1961, McKinna, a striker, debuted for Scottish Premier League side Kilmarnock as a 21-year-old. His coaching career began as an assistant with Australian National Soccer League clubs Sydney Olympic, Sydney United and Parramatta Power, which came either side of a lead role with NSW State League team Hills United. McKinna’s first season as an NSL coach was astonishingly successful. He beat a host of established coaches to claim the NSL’s coach of the year prize, after leading the Northern Spirit to their first finals campaign in three seasons.

Vision Asia club development workshop in India

As part of the Asian Football Confederation’s Vision Asia program, a two-day Club Development Workshop will be conducted by the AFC at Football House, Delhi, starting 3 April. Representatives of all National Football League clubs, plus six clubs who qualify for the final phase of the Second Division, have been invited. The workshop will emphasise club structure/administration, financial management, media/communications, marketing, event management and club regulations.

Arema to get answers on Champions League errors

The Indonesian League Board (BLI), an autonomous subsidiary of the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI), has told media that it requires a further two weeks before responding to Malang Arema FC's demand of compensation over the club's elimination from the Asian Football Confederation's 2006-07 Asian Champions League. "We will address all demands in a meeting with PSSI. And within two weeks, there will be a decision," BLI chairman Nirwan D Bakrie told a press conference at the Arema headquarters in East Java province yesterday.

Arema, along with Papua province-based Persipura FC, was expelled from the Champions League because BLI had been late in sending the clubs' registration documents to AFC House in Kuala Lumpur in Malasia. The AFC set 12 February as the deadline for the clubs to send the list of players. According to Wahyoe Boediwardhana in The Jakarta Post (12 March), some reports now say Arema's list of players reached the AFC on 13 February but the club has stated that it sent the list to BLI on 9 February.

"While Persipura seemed resigned to its fate, Arema has been vocal about demanding that the PSSI board resign and seek a possible automatic inclusion for the 2007 season. Last month, under pressure from demonstrating Arema fans, PSSI chairman Agusman Effendi promised to meet the demands of automatic inclusion, which many believe to be impossible," Boediwardhana commented.

At Saturday's meeting, Bakrie was accompanied by BLI executive director Andi Darussalam, BLI secretary Rogandi Soemadipraja and BLI manager Joko Driyana. Bakrie reportedly admitted that BLI had made internal mistakes which caused Arema and Persipura to be barred from the Champions League. He said that although it would be against the AFC ruling for Arema and Persipura to be allowed in the 2007 event, he promised to try.

See also: ASEAN clubs slam 'unprofessional' associations (1 March)

Hindi commentary added to Premier League games

Following the successful use of Hindi commentary for the UEFA Euro 2004 and FIFA Confederation Cup 2005, ESPN Star Sports has introduced broadcasts in the Indian language for the rest of the English Premier League season and other select football matches. Sunil Taneja and Puneet Pal Singh will do the commentary on a rotational basis from Singapore, Telepoint reported.

"Localisation of content has helped us increase our penetration in traditional markets of India," Sricharan Iyengar, vice-president, sales and narketing, ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd, said. "The Hindi telecast also enabled us to open up several non-traditional markets for soccer like Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra. The localisation adds a lot of value to our telecast, especially for viewers who find it difficult to understand the heavily accented English or for viewers who are not familiar with English at all."

European firm builds China market through football

Sinosoc.com reports that the Chinese Football Association has unveiled English IP telecom vendor iPhox as the China Super League's first title sponsor since Siemens Mobile withdrew its sponsorship before the 2005 season. IPhox has reportedly signed a five-year deal with the CFA, worth in the region of RMB80 million for the first season, with the investment to increase gradually over the following four years. "We are pleased with this collaboration. Iphox is a young Internet industry company and is confident it can take this chance to promote its IP phone service in China," CFA chief executive Xie Yalong said.

Update. The iPhox website currently carries the following disclaimer: iPhox Ltd would like to apologise to the CFA and to the people of China for languages and country problems with our software. We hope to have it fixed soon.

Football is a European 'icon' to Chinese tourists

When the Peoples Republic of China relaxed restrictions on foreign travel four years ago, European tourism chiefs rubbed their hands in anticipation of a surge in visitors that would rescue the sector from the woes of low bookings and security fears. "But while the number of Chinese visitors to Europe did indeed spiral to about a million last year," Hugh Williamson reported in the Financial Times, "the increase has also brought with it considerable challenges that are forcing European tourism chiefs to rethink the way they sell the continent to the world."

According to Monika Echtermeyer, a tourism expert at Bad Honnef University, Europe's biggest selling point for Chinese tourists is "the fact that the countries are close together, allowing visitors to travel to 12 of them in 10 days." Chinese visitors love to spend as little as possible on travel and hotels - €1,000 is a standard all-inclusive price for a 10-day trip - while saving money for shopping. Bus tours are the dominant means of travel and when Chinese do visit attractions, they want "classics", such as Paris's Eiffel tower.

Spain seems to have got this message. "We've recognised that, unlike Europeans who swarm to our beaches, Chinese visitors are attracted to our traditions - or their perceptions of them - such as bullfighting, flamenco dancing, as well as football, so these are the icons we put in our catalogues," said José Maria Callejon of the Spanish tourism authority.

See also: Football chosen to boost tourism to Britain (24 Sep) and Barcelona taps a major source of brand awareness (20 Sept)

Australian officials and player's agents start talking

As the heads of European football publically review player's agents and scrutinise the role they play in the football industry, Australia’s licensed player agents and Football Federation Australia have held an historic first meeting to discuss the future of the industry, its regulations and the game in Australia in general.

The FFA side, including head of operations Matt Carroll and A-League operations manager Rob Abernethy, met with the majority of Australia’s licensed player agents in Sydney to discuss A-League regulations and future planning, collective bargaining agreements, agent regulations and their policing, academies, development and a further wide range of issues that the agents wished to address.

"We had to wait patiently for a long time, as we understood FFA had a lot on their plate with reform, the A-League and World Cup qualification," Chris Tanner, chairman of the Australian Licensed Player Agents Association told Asian Football Business Review in a written statement. "The wait was worth it however, with Matt and his team filling us in on many future plans and developments. Working together, we are confident we can tidy up many areas of the often-misrepresented player agent industry.

"It was also pleasing that the FFA team were prepared to listen to our concerns relating to the conduct of some clubs and the policing of clubs and players who breach FIFA regulations when using unlicensed agents," he said.

The 20 agents were brought up to date with the plans and rules for next season’s A-League and offered unity with the FFA in a commitment to educating players, especially young players and their families, as to the risks of getting involved with high profile unlicensed operators, who talk big plans, but deliver career- endangering trouble.

"We have got some great young Aussie players in Europe right now, in trouble due to the nature of poorly constructed deals, done by unlicensed agents. I think it is fair to say from the mood of the meeting, that we encouraged FFA to put a stop to the rot, and they have agreed to work with us closely, including two forums each year to address issues in our area of the game," Tanner explained.

See also: Player's Agent who "wants to sleep well at night" (6 March)

Vietnam minister considering football betting plan

The Vietnam government is considering a plan to legalise football betting in a bid to stop rampant illegal gambling. The move is expected to generate up to US$50 million a year for the government, state-controlled media have reported. Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper quoted Vice Sports Minister Huynh Vinh Ai as saying his ministry is working on the proposal and will submit it to the government for approval later this year.

Betting on football is illegal in Vietnam although the country allows gambling on horse and dog racing and has had a legal lottery for many years and the minister said legalizing football betting in Vietnam makes sense as a way to control a huge public phenomenon that has generated multiple scandals in the country's football industry. "In Vietnam, the interests for betting are huge," he said. "We therefore need to have a legal formula on betting on soccer matches."

In January Nguyen Danh Thai, director of the country's National Sports and Physical Training Committee, copied the Vietnam Football Federation with a proposal it was sending to the government that would permit but regulate gambling in football for the benefit of sports and taxation.

Minister Ai said the government has still not decided whether to allow bets on only domestic matches or open it to international games. "We will benefit a lot because (we) can legally manage people who place bets on soccer matches and we can make an estimated profit of US$44 million-US$50 million a year," he said adding the money will be invested to develop football and other sports.

If the football gambling project is approved by the government, legalized betting will be initially tried out in several provinces over the next year or so, he said.

See also: Vietnam police raid 'illegal football gambling' home (27 Feb) and How Australia responds to surge in sports betting (12 Feb) and Football gambling a possibility in Vietnam (9 Jan)

Insight into European football consumer trends

SPORT+MARKT’s Football Monitor study of over 3,000 "interested" or "very interested" football fans aged 15-69 conducted towards the end of last year across the five key European markets (UK, France, Italy, Spain and Germany) has found that, in the field of football merchandising, fans claim to have spent approximately €6.9 billion on club-related merchandise within the past 12 months.

Oliver Butler, Communications Manager for SPORT+MARKT, told Asian Football Business Review that the UK has the highest level of spending on club-related merchandise Of the spending habits of different markets, the highest spending market on club-related merchandise by far is the UK, where the average spend in the last 12 months of those surveyed was over €180. When this figure is extrapolated, it means that about €2.7 billion was spent in 2005.

"Next are the French with an average of over €134, but the number of these French fans who spent money on football merchandise was less than half than those in the UK," he said. "The next biggest market was Germany with €1.7 billion."

Scarves and jerseys are the most popular articles of merchandising in Europe with 35 percent or about 44 million fans possessing either of these goods. Next come T-shirts with over 40 million fans saying that they own one.

Young fans have more merchandise, but fans aged 40-49 years spend more Fans aged between 15-34 years are the main age group which own football merchandise with over 37 million such fans. However, this group is not the largest spender of money on club-related merchandise within the last 12 months. Fans aged between 40 and 49 years are the highest spenders among the European fans, having spent €142 on average in the last year on clubrelated merchandise.

Real Madrid and Juventus were the clubs with the most popular merchandise across the five markets surveyed. Both had merchandise owned by over 8m fans, although almost half of Real’s came from abroad, whereas three-quarters of Juventus’s came from its home market. Next in popularity came Barcelona, AC Milan and then Manchester United.


British Market: Jerseys are the most popular article of merchandise in the UK, where almost half of the fans surveyed say they have one. Of the fans of English clubs surveyed who spent money on merchandise, the fans of Arsenal across Europe were the highest spenders spending 11% more than the average European fan. Fans of Barcelona, however, spent around €128, more than Arsenal fans, and outside of the fans of French clubs was the highest. Manchester United was the UK club which had the most merchandise owned by fans. Approximately 3.5 million fans said that they owned a piece of United merchandise. Next came Liverpool, Arsenal and the England national team.

French Market: Jerseys are the most popular item of merchandise in France, where almost half of the fans surveyed say they have one. The French fans are higher spenders than German, Italian or Spanish fans with an average spend of over €134. But the number of French fans who spent money on club-related merchandise in the last year was the lowest of the markets at around 7.1 million and they were the lowest share of fans who owned merchandise (just over half of fans). Olympique de Marseille fans in France were the highest spenders of the selected club fans researched spending over €160 on average in the last 12 months. It was also the club whose merchandise was most popular with over 3 million fans possessing an OM article.

Italian Market: In Italy, where the possession of football merchandise is the lowest among the five markets, scarves are the most popular item but only a quarter of fans say that they have one. Italy was also the market with the highest proportion of fans surveyed who had received their merchandising as a gift. Of the selected club fans surveyed the highest spenders were fans of Internazionale, who spent 20% more than the Italian average. However, Juventus was clearly the club with the most popular merchandise. Approximately six million Italian fans said that they owned a piece of Juve merchandise.

Spanish Market: In Spain, less than one-tenth of fans own a jersey and T-shirts are the most popular item, owned by half of fans. In contrast with other markets, it was the younger fans aged up to 29 years who were the highest spenders, spending over 20% more than the national average in the last 12 months. Both Barca and Real Madrid fans spent more than the average Spanish fan, but Barcelona fans were significantly higher, spending 10% above the average. However, there were more Spanish fans owning Real merchandise, around 4.5 million.

German Market: Scarves are the most popular merchandise article in Germany where almost 15 million fans have one. Bayern were clearly the most popular club in terms of merchandise with close to 7 million fans in Germany owning a Bayern article of merchandise, more than double the next team, Borussia Dortmund. Bayern fans on average spent €122 in the past 12 months, ahead of the German average.

SPORT+MARKT AG ia a leading consultancy specialising in communications research and sponsorship and responsible for innovations such as the Sponsorship Evaluation Tool, the European Naming Rights Evaluation Tool as well as providing a unique service for sponsorship evaluation via new Media Analysis Technology. www.sportundmarkt.com.

Call to "purify" Chinese Football's "sinful" ways

A Chinese political advisor has called for strict administration, public supervision and support for the resurrection of Chinese football. Self-discipline and stringent implementation of administrative measures are crucial for reining in match-fixing, collusion, group scuffle, gambling, drug taking, going whoring and other rampant scandals that have damaged the reputation of the football industry, said Yin Mingshan, a member of the Tenth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the top advisory body that is in a ten-day annual session.

Yin, an entrepreneur from southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, also pleaded for more tolerant and constructive media reports for the sound development of the game. He called on fans to return to the courts and continue support the football that is suffering the most difficult period. "Chinese football is sick but please do not discard it," he said.

"Yin's remarks came just before the start of the third season of China's scandal-plagued Super League this weekend," the official government newsagency, Xinhua, reported. "Crowds last season shrank to an average of 10,500 per game and television ratings were down to a cumulative total of about 120 million, compared with the average attendance of 24,700 and the combined TV ratings of up to 500 million eight years ago when Chinese domestic football was at the peak of its popularity." .

Chinese Football Association director Lang Xiaonong has promised to "purify the Super League environment" and CFA chairman Xie Yalong told the clubs last month to mend their "sinful" ways or he would consider abandoning the league, according to media reports.

Consumer electronics companies bless World Cup

Executives at the world's biggest high-tech fair, the CeBIT in Germany, said the 2006 FIFA~World Cup is a "godsend" for the market in flat-screen TVs, high-definition television (HDTV) and new mobile phones that can transmit broadcasts. "For them, it is the big date not to be missed," Paul Jackson, an analyst of media devices and marketing at Forrester Research, said of the major manufacturers.

"The European market will be fuelled by the World Cup," Hans Kleis, CEO of Sharp Europe, agreed. The Japanese electronics group is counting on doubling its liquid crystal display (LCD) television unit sales in Europe this year. Meanwhile the global market is set to expand to 36 million sets from 20 million in 2005.

From Toshiba, which is marketing the Qosimo G30 laptop with a free ticket to a World Cup game, to chip maker Intel, which invited football players to its CeBIT stand for a promotional event for a new video game, companies are increasingly turning to the World Cup to generate consumer enthusiasm.

"World Cup years always have strong sales growth for televisions and other accompanying accessories such as DVD players," said Philippe Poels, president of the French consumer electronics manufacturers association. In France, which hosted the tournament in 1998, the sector saw growth of more than 10%. "It created a lot of momentum which it managed to maintain for two or three years," Poels said.

Philips, an official World Cup sponsor, is also launching a new line of products to coincide with the event, according to Rudy Provoost, CEO of the Dutch group's consumer electronics division. "With our investment in such a partnership, we hope to win market share," he said, adding that the company was banking on consumers deciding there was no better time to trade in their old sets for flat screens and HDTV.

See also: World Cup a "unique catalyst" for LCD TV sales (22 Dec)

Unhappy India sacks its national technical team

Unhappy with India's dismal performance in the first two matches of the Asian Cup qualifying football tournament, the All India Football Federation today sacked national team coach Syed Nayeemuddin, manager P K Banerjee, assistant coach Gabriel Joseph and goalkeeping coach Atanu Bhattacharya. With a view on the team's preparation for the Asian Games in December, the Federation has decided to approach FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation for a suitable foreign coach.

The executive committee of the AIFF yesterday indicated that the axe would fall on Nayeemuddin following the team's poor showing in the matches against Japan and Yemen, who are ranked lower than India in the FIFA rankings.

"Considering the preparation of the Indian team in Asian Games, it was decided to reorganise the technical team of the AIFF and approach FIFA and AFC for a suitable foreign coach," the AIFF said in a prepared statement.

See also: Questions posed on the state of Indian football (5 March)

Nigel Empson quits FMMI to focus on Indian sport

Nigel Empson, founder of FMMI, has resigned his positions as CEO and Director of global football-business specialists FMMInternational to concentrate fully on building business in Indian sport

"Developing FMMI from scratch was a huge challenge, particularly during the first eighteen months in which we had to establish our place in the market. Over the last two years however, FMMI has seen its turnover and profitability increase dramatically, and it has acquired a very impressive portfolio of clients. In these circumstances I feel the time is right for me to move on and take up a fresh challenge," he told Asian Football Business Review in a prepared statement.

"I see huge potential in Indian sport and I want to play a leading role in helping the nation to realise that potential. Knowing China as I do I feel that India has the capability to compete with the biggest and the best in Asia, both in terms of its teams and in respect of attracting tournaments and events. Of course there needs to be a huge and sustained investment in coaching and facilities, but I sense that the awareness of these needs and the willingness to invest are developing."

Empson put together the groundbreaking partnerships between Leicester City FC, who were a Premier League club at the time, and Kingfisher East Bengal and the All India Football Federation. These saw LCFC COO Paul Mace fly to India to ink the agreements, and he was followed some months later by Academy Director Jon Rudkin who helped select and coach the India U17 squad in Kolkata

He then took East Bengal to compete at the Walkers Stadium in the Pepsi-Max Challenge against City and leading teams from Spain and Portugal. The special nature of the occasion was recognised by the British government with a reception at the House of Commons attended by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, while Defence Minister Jeff Hoon watched the Leicester City versus East Bengal match which resulted in a narrow and controversial 1-0 win for the home side

Empson arranged for Leicester City to host the India U17 squad for two weeks of intensive training and matches against the Academy sides of Leicester City, Stoke City and Birmingham City whom they defeated 1-0.

More recently Empson was instrumental in bringing AC Milan’s U18 team to India to play matches in Kolkata and Mumbai as part of Festa Italiana, the annual festival to promote trade between Italy and India.

Under Empson’s leadership, in less than four years FMMI grew to become a formidable player in the global football-business market. Its client base includes nine members of the G14 group of elite European clubs.

See also: AC Milan's Leonardo says India 'much like' Brazil (24 Nov)

Another European club secures Asian sponsorship

Emirates Airline are the new main sponsor of Bundesliga club Hamburg. Just one day after the Dubai-based airline officially inaugurated daily flights to the German city, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, its chairman and chief executive and HSV vice-chairman Dietmar Beiersdorfer announced the three year, multi-million euro deal. According to Soccer Investor, the sponsorship package will see HSV players sport the distinctive 'Fly Emirates' insignia on their shirts and the airline's branding prominently displayed on boards around the AOL Arena. The partnership will also provide Emirates with premier hospitality facilities at the club's home stadium and include provisions for joint marketing activities.

“We welcome Emirates as HSV's new main sponsor and are proud to join their portfolio of top global soccer properties including Arsenal and Paris Saint German in Europe," Beiersdorfer said. "Their support of our club is an endorsement of HSV's solid reputation and consistent performance." Emirates’ football sponsorships also include Official Airline for the 2006 FIFA World Cup and Official Airline for the Asian Football Confederation.

See also: Emirates outlines its sports sponsorship vision (13 Feb)

Aussies' early move to Champions League rebuffed

Football Federation Australia reportedly made last-minute overtures to play in the 2006-07 Asian Champions League starting this week. Having just joined the Asian Football Confederation on 1 January this year and with its national A-league just half-way through its first season, Australia was not included in the current Champions League program. However, wth four teams disqualified from the competition for failing to complete their paperwork on time (Thailand's Provincial Electricity FC and Tobacco Monopoly FC and Indonesia's Arema Malang and Persipura Jayapura), two of the tournement's seven qualifying groups now have only two competing clubs instead of four.

According to The Daily Telegraph (Sydney), FFA's informal approach last week to the Kuala Lumpur-based AFC gain late representation in the rich tournament was refused. "The reason the [Indonesian and Thailand] teams [were] ejected is because the AFC wants to set new standards of professionalism," a spokesman told the newspaper. "It's a warning to all clubs. If we invite Australia we will be seen as applying double standards. So Australia will have to wait until next year."

FFA head of operations Matt Carroll yesterday confirmed the Australian approach but added that the FFA's criteria for selecting the two Australian teams to take part in the 2007-08 series was not yet finalised. "Our way of thinking is the teams to represent Australia would be the winners of the minor Premiership and the Grand Final," Carroll said. "If the same team won both titles, then the losing grand finalist would play in Asia."

See also: First A-League championship won by Sydney FC (5 Mar)

Player's Agent who "wants to sleep well at night"

According to FIFA, football's world body, Singapore has not one registered Player's Agent (incredibly FIFA acknowledges only one in the whole of South East Asia!). But this hasn't diminished public interest in the somewhat colourful reputation of those that ply their trade in the big leagues of Europe, particularly the English Premier League which is the centre of football focus for most Singaporeans (and neighbouring Malaysians). Today, The New Paper profiled Rachel Anderson, the only female amongst the 291 player's agents registered by the English Football Association.

"In fact," the newspaper observed, "she is the only one in the world. A one-woman army taking on the establishment. Not just against the realm of the powerful English FA or the murky world of players' agents, she had also taken on the sexist Professional Footballers' Association to court. And won. When The New Paper called for a phone interview with the boss of London-based RA Management, her gloves were off immediately and she pulled no punches with her hard-hitting comments."

Anderson began her interview with a damning assessment of the culture that is said to exist in the English game. "It would take the fraud squad about 20 minutes to unearth all sorts of dodgy deals and people would be put in prison," she said. "I have said this before and I still believe this now. The names change but the frightening level of corruption never does. It is the alarming lack of decency which I cannot stand ... Oh, how I wish I can be granted amnesty so that I could testify against these agents! If I had been offered a bung or asked to offer a bribe, I would come clean and provide evidence. And if I had the absolute truth, it is guaranteed front-page news."

However, although she has 'heard things', she claims she has never been asked to partake in the sleaze. "I've never taken a bung or been offered one. That's because I have made it very clear that I don't want to get involved in such things. And all the managers and clubs that I've dealt with know this. Why should I be involved in bungs? I want to sleep well at night."

Surely, the New Paper asked, the English FA has a system of checks and balances to ensure that all transfer deals are done by the book. After all, when Anderson joined the industry 13 years ago, she had to lodge a £100,000 security deposit with the governing body, which will be confiscated if she is ever found guilty of any wrongdoing.

"A complete waste of money," she slammed. "The idea was that the £100,000 could be taken off any agent if they committed any fraud. Four years ago, the idea was abandoned and, now, all you have to do is get a licence through any national FA. Mine is with the English FA but there is nothing to stop a person getting a licence through any other national FA. And many do. If a Scottish-registered agent does a shady deal with a player in England, the English FA will just say, 'Sorry, nothing to do with us.' And so it goes on."

Player's Agents are currently in the spotlight of a FIFA-UEFA working group. According to UEFA chief executive Lars-Christer Olsson (pictured right), the necessity for monitoring agents is particularly urgent because many of the agents were handling huge financial amounts, or not conducting themselves in the proper manner. "There are agents that are behaving properly, and doing a good job, but there are also agents who are not," he said.

"We have got indications, for example, from some of the governments in Europe that they are afraid that agents were involved in money-laundering and other strange activities. We think there is a need for better control – an agent should perhaps be checked every second year, to know whether they are competent in the job," the CEO continued. "We think that is a reasonable demand – that you should have a certain knowledge about the business you are taking care of," he said.

Following studies, the the working group has developed recommendations in three main areas – access to the profession of agent, activity as an agent and enforcement of rules and regulations on agents. They have been be sent to the UEFA Executive Committee and other bodies for consideration. At the same time UEFA is also making a comprehensive survey of licensed European player agents with the aim of gaining a better understanding of the views of agents, who currently have no representative body at European level.

UN Security Council on Iran 'not a concern of FIFA'

FIFA has again responded to calls for Iran to be expelled from the 2006 World Cup because of the controversy over its nuclear activities and threats by its president to wipe fellow FIFA member, Israel "off the map", a top official said in Jakarta while touring with the World Cup trophy. "FIFA has nothing to do with politics," said Emmanuel Maradas (pictured right), a FIFA spokesman and special assistant to Sepp Blatter, the organization's president. "Iran is a FIFA member, they have qualified for the World Cup and they will be there to play football for the good of Iranian youth and for the good of peace."

Iran's national squad is scheduled to play its first match against Mexico in Nuremberg on June 11. The other teams in its qualifying Group D are Portugal and Angola. "Some critics have suggested the UN Security Council should act to ban the Iranian squad from the final tournament, Slobodan Lekic of AP commented. "The Security Council's decisions are not a concern of FIFA," Maradas said. "Iran will be welcome in Germany."

See also: AFC urges Iran FA to send its Articles of Association to FIFA (28 Feb) and : Iran claims offense over German football cartoon (15 Feb) and Iran still faced with calls for World Cup ban (26 Jan)

Questions posed on the state of Indian football

Is Indian football in complete shambles? Some experts believe so. "When the National Football League was in the blueprint stage, the Malaysian league acted as a model. Not many thought the Indian edition would finally see the light of day, so even a modest model was okay. But the League did happen, and credit to the current regime for that. However, leave alone development, soccer in the country has failed to even follow the path of evolution. The modest Malaysian model is all this league has achieved. Even with the second division of the League in place and prize monies at a decent level, not much has happened," Sujit Bhar opined in the Indian Express.

Indian Football Association secretary Subrata Dutta concurred. “The All India Football Federation should concentrate on five zones in the country — north, east, est, south and the north-east. Ten players in each, the under-13, under-16 and under-19 categories should be chosen and set up in academies. Pay them a stipend each, increasing with age. When they pass out of the u-19 category they can directly be accommodated in NFL teams for higher salaries,” he told Bhar.

Through this structure, the AIFF could monitor the youths' progress and then tie players to contracts that allow them only a certain number of matches for clubs and make them always available for the national team - with payment, of course.

That’s the view Mohun Bagan FC secretary Anjan Mitra shares. “Believe me, it is very difficult for a player to respect and fear the national coach and manager, however famous they may be, as much as he will his club officials,” Mitra says. “That is because the clubs’ ensure their future, their family’s future, their very existence,” he told Bhar.

“Such an idea was adopted in 1999, with 30-odd players,” said PK Banerjee, manager of the Indian squad. Those were the days of dribble wizard Krishanu De. “We did get some result, and we must go at it again.” Banerjee, though, debunks the theory that the clubs need to have much more say. “These are two different spheres.”

Mitra differs. “Have the clubs in decision making panels at the AIFF, take guidance, don’t formulate policy on your own,” he said. “Academies have to be set up by the federation. Then give a gestation period of three-four years. Results will come.”

And the foreigners? “Good Indian players, will be cheaper and will keep the foreigners on the bench,” Dutta said although Banerjee feels India needs them. “Fight with them, compete with them, get better in the process,” he told Bhar.

And what about the coaches themselves? National coach Syed Nayeemuddin has been vehemently opposed to foreign coaches. “What extra have they achieved with the Indian team?” the Dronacharya asked. “We can do an equal job, if not better.” Mitra disagreed. “The foreign element will induce respect and fear. Give the boys a good teacher and they will obey. Give them the best and they will respond. So what if he is a foreigner?” he said.

S-League highlights Sunday football in new season

Singapore's S-League promises "more fun and exciting football" in the new season starting on Monday. The package includes new clubs, African-backed Sporting Afrique and the Japanese Albirex Niigata, a higher salary cap to attract quality players and the introduction of a Sunday match.

"One of the recommendations from fans is we should have a Sunday game. This is to provide them more time to come and enjoy the game. At the same time we also look at it, it gives the clubs the opportunity to engage and connect with the fans," Winston Lee, the league's new chief executive told Patwant Singh of Channel NewsAsia.

"It's also an opportunity that we can leverage on. Currently, we are working with some of our sponsors of the World Cup to provide S-League fans a chance to win tickets to the World Cup by attending matches or getting involved in some of their contests," he said.

Malaysian football and "national self belief"

L.S. Sya is a member of the Asia Pacific Brands Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to the promotion of branding standards. The author of Branding Malaysia, he is now a Brand Identity specialist with London BrandMagic. Writing of "The Asian Century" in the New Straits Times (Kuala Lumpur), he included interesting comments about the failure of domestic football:

With the emergence of China and India as economic powerhouses, and because of our proximity to these countries, we are well placed to exploit their ascendancy. However, the key to elevating our economy to that of a fully developed nation will involve much more than mere dependence on fortuitous circumstances or the fortunes of our neighbours.

The way forward is to inculcate a national culture of innovation. To do this, we have to encourage the development of a national pre-disposition towards questioning the limitations and shackles of convention. This is the one national trait that has distinguished successful and thriving nations from the servile and obsequious colonies of times past.

For convention has several faces. One is as a social and geopolitical code or concordat of what is laid down as acceptable thinking or behaviour by others. The other, and less desirable one, is of a nation bound and paralysed by limiting national self belief and self confidence.

The Japanese were the first nation in Asia in modern times to first display this national trait. The Japanese transformed themselves from a nation subjugated to a nation with the second largest economy in the world. The Koreans, after suffering decades of humiliation as a colonised nation, followed in the Japanese footsteps to economic success. As the 10th largest economy in the world and third largest in East Asia behind Japan and China, South Korea can boast of being world beaters in semiconductors, mobile telephony and, more recently, automobiles.

Even in sports, like golf and football, the Koreans have shown how far they have come in throwing off the manacles of a limiting national self belief. The Koreans are beginning to produce an endless supply of golf champions, especially the women. First there was Pak Se Ri. Then there was Grace Park and a host of other Koreans who seem to be coming off a golfing assembly line. Just recently, their 16-year-old sensation, Amy Yang, won the Australian Ladies Golf Masters while K.J. Choi is making his presence felt in the men’s PGA Tour.

In the 60s, Malaysian football was more than a match for all Asia, including Korea.

Today, while our football is in the doldrums, the Koreans are a recognised international football nation. Park Ji Sung is a popular winger with Manchester United and his countryman ply their trade with some of the top clubs in Europe. The difference in the Koreans of those days and the Koreans of today is in their mindset. Today’s Koreans have cast off the shackles of their sad history, and regard themselves as equal to the rest of the world.

In the context of Brand Malaysia, if we are to take our rightful place in the ranks of the developed nations of the world, it is time we begin to push the envelope of national self belief.

First A-League championship won by Sydney FC

Sydney FC is the A-League's champion team. The 'big city' club of Australia's fledgling football competition ended Central Coast's fairytale run in today's Championship grand final, beating the Mariners in front of an A-League record crowd of 41,689 at Aussie Stadium (1-0). The win capped off a great first year in existence for Sydney which also, mid-season, beat Al Ahly, the champions of Africa, in their FIFA Club World Championship match in Japan in January.

"Sydney skipper Dwight Yorke, the competition's marquee player who flew halfway across the world and back the past week, fittingly lifting the A-League's inaugural championship trophy after proving the catalyst behind the home side's triumph," the Sydney Morning Herald reported. The former Manchester United star set up the winner in the 62nd minute by laying a perfect ball back for Steve Corica, whose thumping strike from 15 metres beat diving goalkeeper Danny Vukovic.

Adelaide United was crowned the A-League's Premier club before the Championship play-offs by finishing the season at the top of the standings. When Australia is admitted to the Asian Champions League in 2007, it will be represented by its Premier and Champion clubs.

Prior to the grand final, a television interview with Football Federation Australia CEO, John O'Neill, projected a massive increase in television income for the eight A-League clubs. "We are in a better position to renegotiate with people like Fox Sports and we are in earnest dialogue with them at the moment. We started off modestly and now, having been successful ourselves, Fox Sports see the merit of a long-term investment in football as a mainstream sport in Australia," he told ABC TV's Offsiders program.

According to Roy Masters in tomorrow's Sydney Morning Herald, consistent ratings for the A-League rivalled viewership for Rugby Union's SANZAR (South Africa, New Zealand, Australia) Super 14 competition, with its average audience only 3,000 per game less than SANZAR's.

"O'Neill confirmed his organisation was close to a deal with broadcaster Fox Sports which would see annual grants to the A-League wipe out the existing debt per club of A$1.5 million to A$2 million per year. The revised contract would represent arguably the biggest rise in TV income for any sport in the country at any time," Masters reported.

"FFA's current deal, struck at a time when Fox Sports had no genuine bidding rival, is only A$750,000 a year for three years. The new arrangement could see FFA earn A$20 million a year over a longer period. It is understood World Cup matches and Asian league games would be bundled with the existing A-League season to provide more product," he wrote.

See also: Sensational finish to A-League's inaugural season (2 Mar)

Al Jazeera TV targets India's oldest football club

It name has become synonymous with Middle East battlefront reportage, so, when Al Jazeera TV sent a team of officials to the Kolkata maidans as part of a novel effort in documenting Indian football heritage, it came as a pleasant surprise for the football-crazy city. Particularly for Mohun Bagan club, which is in the Doha-based television channel’s sights.

In the first such instance in recent history of a TV channel coming over from West Asia to exhaustively document an Indian football club, a team of four Al Jazeera representatives went about their task, researching on the club’s history and filming in detail.

And if the Qatar television channel’s project, Indian Football Development, goes according to plan then Al Jazeera’s viewers will get to witness a riveting detailed show on India’s oldest football club. Moreover, it was learnt that apart from airing the program itself, Al Jazeera is even planning to sell the documentary to a number of television channels across the globe.

The green-and-maroons’ general secretary Anjan Mitra, who accompanied the Al Jazeera team throughout their three-four day stay in the city, gave Newsline a lowdown on how the Doha channel went about its task.

“It was a pleasant surprise to find a renowned TV channel coming here all the way from Qatar to do a documentary on our club. While they were here, they did a lot of filming at the club’s premises and many of its players from the past and the present,” Mitra told Newsline.

"Al Jazeera is documenting our club in particular, mainly because of two reasons. Firstly, the FIFA Task Force recognition comes as a huge thing. And then there was the recognition in 1998, when the Asian Football Confederation chose this club as the best. Once the club fell in the same bracket with world giants Bayern Munich, Barcelona and River Plate, it naturally grew in significance,” he said.

Asian-backed Mansion tipped to be ManU sponsor

Manchester United is reportedly set to sign the biggest shirt sponsor deal in world football with an Asian-backed internet gambling company. The deal, if completed, will smash the British record currently held by Chelsea, whose deal with South Korean electronics giant Samsung is worth £11 million-a-year and will top the current world record £14 million-a-year Taiwan's BenQ Mobile pays Real Madrid. Other Asian companies reportedly in talks with United include Japan's electronics giant Sony Etihad, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates backed by the UAE's billionaire royal family and Qatar Airways.

Mansion (Gibraltar) Limited, privately acquired recently by Indonesian tycoon Putera Sampoerna, has tabled a world record £60 million ($170 million) four-year offer to replace Vodafone, whose contract expires at the end of the season.

"Mansion are the front runners. Their offer is a fantastic one and officials here believe the deal should be signed, sealed and delivered before the end of March," a ManU 'insider' confided to Nick Harris of The Independent (reprinted in Singapore's The New Paper). "It is widely accepted that the Far East market is the holy grail in the gambling business," the source said. "There's huge potential there and United are seen as a way in."

Sampoerna, 58 (pictured right), has personal assets estimated at upwards of $1.5 billion and ranks 13th on Forbes' list of South East Asia's 40 Richest People. Last March he sold his family's giant Indonesian clove/tobacco kretek cigarette manufacturing company, PT Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna, to Altria (Philip Morris) for $5 billion. Although criticised by Indonesia's government for not immediately reinvesting in the country's major infrastructure developments, the family's Sampoerna Foundation is a major contributor to social causes particularly education. A recent initiative is the founding of accessible English-language-curriculum high schools in Indonesia in partnership with the Australian International School.

Mansion provides internet poker and recently signed the biggest-ever televised poker deal with American TV giants Fox Sports Network. Its sports betting covers NFL and English Premier League, NBA and NCAA Basketball, Rugby and many more For bigger bets, Mansion Exchange combines interactive sports betting with the "competitive wholesale pricing of a live market".

Last month, Forbes reported that Sampoerna had made a £115 million approach to buy Les Ambassadeurs, the upmarket Mayfair casino owned by London Clubs International. A spokesman for LCI confirmed to Forbes that it had received an approach for "Les A" - as the flagship club is affectionately known - but refused to speculate on a suitor or price for a the gilt-lined converted mansion, which overlooks Hyde Park. A couple of Les A's punters are Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson (pictured left) and apparel billionaire Philip Green.

Eskay adds Indian touch to World Cup in Germany

In a win for the Indian textile industry, Mumbai-based Eskay K’n’It has received an initial order to supply 150,000 T-shirts to T-Com, a German telecom major. The company is a premium partner of the German Football Association and the 2006 World Cup to he held in the country. As part of its marketing strategy, T-Com will hand out special custom-made T-shirt to every spectator entering the stands. The total demand is of 1,500,000 T-shirts. Moreover, Eskay K’n’IT is also expecting an order to make jerseys for the German football team.

“We had supplied about 400 T-shirts to Germany in July 2005 when qualifying rounds were on. We had made jerseys for players and referees,” Navin Kumar Tayal, chairman of Eskay K’n’It, told Prince Mathews Thomas of the Business Standard. Later T-Com asked Eskay Kn’IT to supply 25,000 pieces for a trial run; the same marketing strategy used in the previous World Cup held in South Korea and Japan in 2002.

What makes these T-shirts special? "A special treatment — Weiking finish — is used to make the t-shirts. This enables the outer side of the fabric to suck sweat from the inside, keeping the players fresh," said Tayal. The company also imported dyes (five times the cost of the normal one) from Germany.

The 100 percent polyester T-shirt, which has the traditional German black-red-yellow stripes, is made of three different kinds of fabrics. The T-shirt has already featured in T-Com’s television ad for the World Cup. The T-shirts for T-Com cost about $4 per piece. "The cost is too low compared to the publicity T-Com will get through the T-shirts," Tayal quipped.

Tender for Australia's new Darwin Football Stadium

The government of Australia's tropical Northern Territory, one of the country's 'gateways' to Sourh East Asia, today advertised for the construction of the new Darwin Football Stadium at the Marrara Sporting Precinct. NT sport and recreation minister, Delia Lawrie, described the calling of tenders as a positive step forward towards the completion of a much anticipated election commitment.

"The tender for construction of the Darwin Football Stadium was called today for a total value of A$5.8 million and it is expected that a contract will be awarded by the end of April," she said. "I look forward to announcing the successful tenderer in the coming months and seeing heavy machinery move onto the site to start construction. Sport is an important part of our great lifestyle and we are proud to be delivering on this promise to the Territory football community."

Ms Lawrie said the contract includes two full sized international standard football (soccer) fields; grandstand building with seating capacity of up to 1000; change rooms and ablutions, first aid room, kiosk and referees room; flood lighting on main field; fencing, landscaping, paving and carparking;and access road.

"A$500,000 has already been spent on head works at the site, so the total value of this project is in fact A$6.3 million," said Ms Lawrie. The minister said construction should start by May and is scheduled to be completed by March 2007.

Further details from Office of Sport & Recreation (Tel: +61 (0)8 8982 2358; Fax: +61 (0)8 8982 2306; Email: sportandrec@nt.gov.au).

Malaysian pro club to slash salaries by up to 50%

Malaysian Super League club Selangor has told its players their salaries will be slashed following performances which has left the team at the bottom of the standings. According to Eric Samuel in The Star newspaper, foreign players are the worst hit, with their salaries to be cut by 50% while locals will have theirs deducted by between 10% and 20%.

“The players were warned that action would be taken if the poor run in the competition continues. After two reminder letters, council endorsed for the pay cut beginning from last month,” Football Association of Selangor secretary Hamidin Mohd Amin said.

Selangor won the Premier League last year and earned promotion to the Super League and also lifted the Malaysia Cup and FA Cup (pictured right). The FAS had hoped for a repeat of the team’s strong showing when they retained most of the team from last season including influential foreigners Bambang Pamungkas and Elie Aiboi of Indonesia and Argentine Brian Fuentes.

"But this time the team’s performance has been pathetic with not a single win recorded at home so far. They have conceded 26 goals in 10 games and have collected just six points," Samuel reported. The FAS had also issued an ultimatum to their goal-shy strikers Bambang and Fuentes to "shape up or ship out".

Selangor will play at home in the AFC Cup opener against S-League heavyweights Tampines Rovers on 7 March. The two are in Group F with Hurriya FC (Maldives) and Happy Valley (Hong Kong).

Malaysian and Myanmar bodies fined by AFC

The Football Association of Malaysia has been given a stern warning and fined $2000 by the Asian Footbal Confederation's Disciplinary Committee for lack of security during the AFC Youth Championship 2006 qualifier between Malaysia and Myanmar last December.

The match commissioner also faulted the FAM over the organisation of the match and warned that such incidents should not occur in the future.

The committee also held the Myanmar Football Federation liable for the conduct of its fans who threw objects onto the pitch and clashed with the Malaysian supporters. The Myanmar FF has been fined $1000. The decisions are not open to appeal.

See also: Crowd ruckus at Malaysia-Myanmar Youth match (16 Dec)

SEGA's Playstation2 Football Game Return

SEGA looks set to enter the football Playstation2 market with World Football Climax. After years of Virtua Strikers and SEGA Worldwide Soccer, details have today emerged of a new football title from the Japanese developer/publisher that promises to offer a more serious take on the world's favourite sport.

Currently in development for the Playstation2 and scheduled for an unspecified Japanese release in 2006, SEGA has secured licenses for the Spanish LFP, the Dutch Eredivisie and Gouden Gids along with the J-League. Early details reported by Chris Leyton at TotalVideoGames hint at more than 7000 players within the game taken from Europe's 6 major leagues, along with a unique "one-on-one" gameplay feature that makes use of a dynamic camera setup.

Sensational finish to A-League's inaugural season

Football Federation Australia has truly had a sensational 12 months since it replaced the moribund Soccer Australia in 2005. Qualifying for the 2006 World Cup, entry into the Asian Football Confederation and a first-up win in the 2007 Asian Cup and now, the successful conclusion to the inaugural A-League season this Sunday. With the local derby between Sydney FC and the Central Coast Mariners guaranteeing a capacity Grand Final crowd at Aussie Stadium in Sydney, the season's total attendance has topped 1.1 million.

Such is the interest in the play-off that cable station, Fox Sports, is showing the game live on a big screen at the Mariner’s home ground to cater for thousands of fans who could not get tickets to the game. “Our partnership with Football Federation Australia has delivered spectacular results as far as game attendances, interest in the competition, and television audiences and we are looking forward to an exciting decider on Sunday,” Fox Sports chief executive David Malone said.

Australia is a difficult market in that four football codes are represented by professional competitions: Australian rules (Australian Football League), rugby league (National Rugby League), rugby union (Super 14s) and soccer's A-League. But while soccer is in the top two codes for amateur football registrations in every state, on the national level it has been plagued by lack of professionalism. Until now.

At the Confederation of Australian Sports' Australian Sports Awards held in February, FFA's national team, the Socceroos won the Australian Sporting Moment of the Year, a new Award decided by the Australian public, for their World Cup Qualifier over Uruguay, then won gold for International Team of the Year. Importantly the FFA and A-League director of operations, Matt Carroll, was one of the three finalists in the Sports Executive of the year award.

While some of the A-League franchises may take all of their guaranteed five years exclusivity to enter into the black, national team successes in the qualifying rounds of the World Cup and Asian Cup could reap enormous benefits at club level for the competition’s seven Australian clubs. However the New Zealand based club, recording only two wins and attracting average home game crowds of less than 4,000 (dragging the competition average down to 11,290) will have to look to other inspiration for its improvement.

Louis White of The Australian noted that Sydney FC, the most highly publicised team in the competition, is a prime example of the financial battles that lie ahead. Despite more than 30,000 people coming through the gates for the second leg of the semi-final against Adelaide and an average crowd this season of 17,811, the club is forecasting to lose between A$3-4 million. This is at least A$1 million more than the original budget forecast.

"What has surprised us is the slow uptake on corporate sponsorship," Sydney Football Club CEO Tim Parker told White. "There has been a wait and see approach by the corporate sector and I think a lot of businesses have not understood the opportunity. It is fundamental to our success that we receive corporate backing."

FFA's Matt Carroll (pictured left) said that while all clubs budgeted for a loss in their first year, there were some areas the competition needed to work on. "I would give ourselves six out of 10 for what we have achieved," he said. "Certainly, we have exceeded expectations regarding attendances and the broadcast ratings have been tremendous, but one area we do need to work on is corporate sponsorship. We have to find and generate more revenue for the clubs. While the FFA will make a small profit from the competition, which will be reinvested into the A-League, the aim is for all clubs to break even by year three. We weren't helped by the weather this year with 40 percent of matches affected by rain. Crowd attendances are vital."

Carroll told White that the plan for the A-League is to build the foundation so that all teams are financially stable and then increase the number of clubs. "When we get to that situation we will add another two clubs, taking the tally to 10, which will automatically increase the amount of rounds played," Carroll said. "Research shows three rounds is enough and that we need to concentrate on the product that we have and build that up. New Zealand is a concern, though"

Two clubs, Melbourne Victory (the sole franchise in Australia's second biggest city) and Grand Finalist Central Coast Mariners have yet to complete their minimum capital financing as required by the A-League and the short-fall is currently held by the FFA. Information on equity opportunities in both clubs is available from Football Dynamics Asia.

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

Chelsea for partnering not exploiting Asian football

Asian football development appears to have scored a major victory in the battle to convince leading European clubs to partner with locals in promoting football over the long-term in Asia, the world's most populous region, rather than making short-term exploitation raids.

English Premier League champion, Chelsea FC, wants to help develop football in China and boost its commercial appeal in Asia by joining forces with the Asian Football Confederation. Bloomberg reports that Peter Kenyon, Chelsea's chief executive, held talks with AFC president Mohamed bin Hammam in Kuala Lumpur yesterday about playing a role in Vision China - the AFC's program for overhauling the sport's coaching and administration.

"It's not about us saying we know how to do Asia better than anybody here," Kenyon said. "It's about us saying `we've got some skills, you've got some vision, how can we work together to make it happen quicker?'"

Chelsea is shunning Manchester United's approach of trying to boost its business in Asia by playing exhibition matches and opening superstores. The London club wants to work with the football community to build long-term partnerships, Kenyon said.

"What was right for United was right at the time but the region has moved on and Chelsea's position and heritage is very different to United's," said Kenyon, who was chief executive at United before joining Chelsea. "We are taking a longer-term view and genuinely believe that the Asian Football Confederation is probably the best partner to be associated with."

Kenyon said Chelsea might provide technical and coaching expertise and advice on administration -- one of the major drives of bin Hammam's country-by-country Vision project. Kenyon is flying to Beijing this week for talks with the Chinese Football Association.

Chelsea, owned and bankrolled by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich (pictured right), may also lend its 20 million-pound ($35-million) training facility to the Chinese team at the London Olympics in 2012, Kenyon said.

AFC's Hammam said he was delighted to share plans with Chelsea. "I welcome the opportunity to seek mutual ground, and to demonstrate what can be achieved through bringing the right stakeholders on board ... Vision China has proven that Vision Asia works.

"In order for it to be sustainable over the long-term, we are now looking to engage the commercial sector in order for us to reach the grassroots level on a wider scale, to increase participation through the school leagues, achieve development both on and off the pitch with the city leagues, and ultimately provide a platform for greater success in China as a whole.

"Speaking in commercial terms, this programme provides a route to market that is not comparable with any other football product that currently exists," he said as quoted by AFCMedia.

"Asian officials have criticized European teams including United and Real Madrid for playing matches in the region without contributing to the sport's development. At the same time, clubs have struggled to turn their popularity in football-mad Asia into profit. United, which played in Beijing in July, gets less than 5 percent of revenue from outside the UK," Bloomberg commented.

"One thing Chelsea doesn't want to do is to come in for two weeks, tour and leave," Kenyon said. "We're looking for a sustainable program and a partnership to help develop the sport and at the same time ensure Chelsea becomes part of the very fabric of football in Asia.

"Chelsea’s mission is to build success, not buy success. This is directly compatible with the AFC’s plans. From what I’ve seen today with AFC’s development programme, Vision Asia, it will not be long before Asian football is on a par with European football. More importantly, they are very targeted, and committed to delivering logical, quality programmes that provide long-term benefits. This is definitely where Chelsea wants to be positioned also,” he said.

Chelsea, which is closing on its second straight Premiership title, plans to become the most internationally recognized club over the next decade, he added.

See also: Chelsea's Kenyon outlines global growth strategy (13 Nov) and English Premier League to cooperate with Asia (22 Sep) and and Asian Confed warns big clubs over exploitation (2 Sept) and Asia disappointed with many touring clubs ( 31 July)and FIFA: money-spinning tours harm Asian leagues (28 July)

Debate intensifies over ASEAN 'unprofessionalism'

The sacking of four top South East Asian clubs from the Asian Football Confederations' Asian Champion's League is intensifying debate within ASEAN over the lack of professionalism at both the national association and club levels. Thailand's 2005 champions Thai Tobacco Monopoly FC and runners-up Provincial Electricity Authority FC and Indonesian champion Persipura and cup winner Arema Malang were disqualified from the tournament after failing to submit their paperwork to the AFC by the 12 February deadline. However the clubs claim they were not informed correctly by the football associations and, in at least the case of Arema, documents were submitted in time but not passed on to the AFC.

In Indonesia, hundreds of Arema fans rallied in the Malang city in populous East Java province, demanding heads roll at the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) which they blame for the fiasco. Some 400 Arema fans took their protest to the Malang City Council, where several representatives met with councillors to ask that they back their demand for changes in the management of PSSI, Malang policeman Suwardi told AFP. “The number is about 400 and the protest is proceeding in an orderly and peaceful manner,” he said.

The Arema fan club website said that fans would Sunday head to the capital Jakarta, where the PSSI headquarters is based. They will demand that the management resign. It added that the fan club would ask Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to take over the PSSI until new bosses were appointed.

In Thailand, the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) denied allegations by TTM FC and PEA FC that the FAT is unprofessional, claiming that the association did not get enough co-operation from both teams. "It was very difficult to contact them, especially the TTM," said an FAT official. "The PEA brought their documents to the association on 10 February, but there were some mistakes with the players' list so the papers were returned to the club.

"FAT staff informed the PEA that the correct documents had to be re-submitted on the following day [Saturday] or even Sunday, which was the deadline, but they came back on 14 February. In the case of TTM, the FAT sent notifications several times but all we got was silence," the official told The Nation.

AFC sent the FAT a letter on 5 January informing them that the clubs must submit players' lists before the deadline and the association claimed it forwarded that information to the clubs two days later. On 24 January the AFC sent the regulations and details of registration to the FAT, who acknowledged the documents on 25 January before notifying the clubs to take them.

See also: ASEAN clubs slam 'unprofessional' associations (1 Mar)

South Korea studies K-League football fan "frenzy"

The Korean Football Association is conducting its first "trend study" on South Korean professional football fans in the years 1998-2002 to learn more about the causes of local "soccer booms" and their demises. "It is a timely effort as the 2006 World Cup and another soccer frenzy approaches. K-League officials have been complaining that Korean fans are only interested in the national soccer team. Some are even worried that the national soccer team might kill Korean pro league soccer," Jong-Koo Yang commented at Donga newsagency.

After the 1998 World Cup, the popularity of football in South Korea soared and the era was dubbed “the renaissance of Korean professional soccer.” Veteran players like Seo Jeong-won, Kim Do-hun and Kim Byeong-ji and rising stars such as Goh Jong-su, Lee Dong-guk and others filled the stands with fans. This "frenzy" simmered down, only to be rekindled threefold by the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup in which Korea made the final four. But that too died down.

"Hopefully," Jong-Koo Yang wrote, "Korean pro league soccer will be able to capitalize on the soccer frenzy and minimize the negative effect that World Cup aftermath will have on its popularity. The World Cup is an opportunity for the pro league to grow. Perhaps this time, we can prevent history from repeating itself."

V-League attendances pick up after worrying start

Vietnam's national V-League is gradually winning back football fans’ support after a series of serious scandals involving well-known players and officials. Crowds coming to see the V-League have recovered since the season started on 15 January but much promotional work needs to be done, according to Vietnam Football Federation statistics.

In the first round match fans averaged 6,833 in stadiums nationwide but the figure dropped to 4,500 in the next few rounds. In Ha Noi Stadium, for instance, a little over 100 fans bothered to support their team as the Tet holidays approached. The conditions improved since the fifth round, one week after Tet, with an average 8,333 fans in stadiums. However, the number dipped again slightly to 7,083 during sixth round matches.

This year the V-League expected to face difficulties after the national U-23 team’s match-fixing scandal at the 23rd South East Asian (SEA) Games in the Philippines last year that stunned Vietnamese fans and VFF officials and caused many sponsorship withdrawals.

"I was very nervous when the V-League started this season amid a climate of 20 players, coaches and referees getting mixed up in match-fixing in recent years. However, fans have not turned their backs on football," 35-year-old Tran Quoc Tuan, the youngest general secretary of VFF in Vietnam’s football history, told, Vietnam News.

Tuan speculated that the obvious answer for the fans’ return to the stadiums was the level of excitement in the beginning of the season, with first round matches such as Mikado Nam Dinh versus Khatoco Khanh Hoa, Pisico Binh Dinh taking on Hoang Anh Gia Lai and LG-Ha Noi-ACB hosting Da Nang. In addition, the upsets of both defending champions Gach Dong Tam Long An and two-time champion Hoang Anh Gia Lai in the first seven rounds were particularly gripping.

The number of fans affects the incomes of footballers and the clubs alike. In a year-end meeting, director of Da Nang Sports Department Nguyen Hong said the club had collected VND4 billion ($250,000) – equal to a club’s primary sponsoring contract for one year – from ticket sales through 2004. Hong also pointed to the last V-League match against Binh Duong, when Da Nang’s Chi Lang Stadium drew 35,000 fans and took over VND500 million ($32,000). Last year, Da Nang were V-League runners-up, and this year have a berth in the Asian Football Confederation’s Champions League.

ASEAN clubs slam 'unprofessional' associations

Four South East Asian (ASEAN) clubs expelled by the Asian Football Confederation from the Asian Champions League have slammed their Football Associations' roles in the debacle. Thailand's 2005 champions Thai Tobacco Monopoly FC and runners-up Provincial Electricity Authority FC and Indonesian champion Persipura and cup winner Arema Malang were disqualified from the tournament after failing to submit their paperwork in time.

The two Thailand Premier League clubs demanded the Football Association of Thailand improve its efficiency and collaboration among its members. "It's not fair ... We've only received the documents to enrol our team on 9 February ... so it was impossible to meet the deadline of 12 February. The FAT never informed us about regulations or methods for the AFC Champions League. We had to find every document ourselves and they [the FAT] never sent us any," TTM vice-president Mongkolwat Ruhanont told Montreechai Lumyongsatian of The Nation.

PEA manager Adisorn Kiatchokewiwat was also very disappointed with the lack of assistance from the FAT, saying they should provide more help to the teams, especially those with little inexperience. "We got the registration documents on 14 February, two days after the deadline. How come? We don't understand why the FAT didn't notify us earlier. As the national association, they take full responsibility for contacting the AFC, while as a club we can't. We did all we can but the AFC asserts that the regulations are the regulations. We regret the inefficiency of the FAT."

The two League Indonesia clubs affected intend to file lawsuits against the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) for compensation. Both clubs claim that deadline information from the AFC was not passed to them by either PSSI or the League Indonesia Board (BLI) and Arema Malang's coach Benny Dolo is emphatic the club handed the list of players to the PSSI on 9 February.

"We've had enough of of what PSSI has done to us," Arema's general manager Satrijo Budi Wibawa told Bola sports newspaper (28 Feb). "We're not the only ones shamed but all Indonesian supporters. We've done everything required of us including renovating our stadium to AFC standards. PSSI saying sorry is just not good enough," he said.

Muhammad Taufan, Arema's public relations officer, told Wahyoe Boediwardhanahe of the Jakarta Post (1 March) the club had prepared jerseys for the event, booked tickets to Korea, arranged hotel accommodations and organised the passports and visas for the players and officials.

"But the damage that cannot be measured is the damage to the morale of the players after they learned they would not be allowed to play in the international tournament," he said. "We would be subject to harsh punishment by the PSSI if we violated the league's rule. So what punishment should be handed to the PSSI for its lace of discipline?" Taufan asked.

Arema is demanding an investigation into the case, the resignation of all PSSI officials, reforms of the PSSI and an automatic berth as Indonesia's representative to the Asian Champions League in 2007. "That is the price the PSSI should pay for its mistake," Taufan said.

This season is the first time the AFC has not allowed late registrations, but last year they accepted delays of up to five working days with a fine of $5,000. AFC president Mohamed bin Hammam said on Friday that the decision to disqualify the clubs should serve as a lesson that amateurism would not be tolerated.

Iroically, Hammam, called upon Asian football clubs to demonstrate professionalism in order to develop the game at an AFC seminar held on 22 February for team managers of clubs participating in this year’s AFC Champions League and AFC Cup.

One week earlier, AFC secretary-general, Datuk Peter Vellapan, shocked delegates to the FIFA Futuro III Administration and Management Course by rebuking ASEAN football federations for being the Asian continent's bottom group in FIFA world rankings. He said the AFC felt that efforts to instil professional management skills among ASEAN officials had not been successful because officials who attended previous Futuro programmes failed to implement the skills they acquired.

"I hope the officials do not just come and sit through the courses. You have to go back and become a catalyst for improvement. If not there won’t be anything to talk about for the next 100 years," he said.

A joint statement signed by all 23 ASEAN participants of the course - including Indonesian and Thailand - rejected Vellapan's criticism.

See also: Indonesian club demands FA accounts for debacle (28 Feb) and AFC sacks ASEAN four from Champions League (25 Feb) and AFC president again calls for club professionalism (22 Feb) and ASEAN football officials reject Velappan's criticism (18 Feb) and Program promotes 'business of football' in ASEAN (14 Feb)

Asian Cup round meets World Cup preparations

Nine qualifying matches for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup are being played this Wednesday but Asia's five FIFA World Cup-bound teams are not taking part. Instead, AFP reports, they will use the night "to bond" and will play their Asian qualifying legs at a later date.

Asian champions Japan have recalled eight of their European-based stars, including Hidetoshi Nakata, Junichi Inamoto and Shunsuke Nakamura, for a friendly against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Germany.

South Korea, fresh from their 2-1 win against Syria last week, take on World Cup debutants Angola in Seoul, Saudi Arabia meet Portugal in Germany while Australia is holding a training camp in Holland.

Iran plays host to Costa Rica. They were originally to play Ukraine but their opponents pulled out saying the flight to Tehran was too long. The cancellation was viewed by Iranian papers as a political move, related to the Islamic republic’s "woes with the outside world".

The Asian Cup campaign has already claimed two scalps with the coaches of Bahrain and Oman being fired after their teams lost last week, to United Arab Emirates and Australia respectively.

The plum tie on Wednesday sees China, beaten finalists on home soil in 2004, meet West Asian Games champions Iraq in neutral United Arab Emirates. Singapore are in chilly Jordan for their Group E match against the Palestinians while India are looking to regain some credibility against Yemen. Taiwan take on Syria while Bangladesh try their luck against Hong Kong. Pakistan versus United Arab Emirates and a heavyweight clash between Qatar and Uzbekistan completes the round.

Indonesia's Aceh receives Rp15b from FIFA/AFC

Indonesia's tsunami and earthquake damaged province, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, has so far received some Rp15 billion ($1=Rp930,000) of assistance from the international football association FIFA for the rehabilitation of local football fields, deputy secretary general of the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI), Kaharuddin Syah, told Antara newsageny. He said the assistance is being used to rehabilitate the Dimurthala stadium in Lampineung village, Banda Aceh, Blang Paseh in Sigli, capital of Pidie district and Julok stadium in Bireuen district.

The rehabilitation activities are being processed "through tender", while the control of the project is being conducted by the Asia Football Association. PSSI is also submiting a proposal for more financial assistance from FIFA for the rehabilitation of other football fields in the districts of Calang and Singkil.

See also: FIFA and AFC fund repairs to Aceh's main stadium (25 Dec) and Football assists tsunami and earthquake victims (23 Dec)