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Kenyon: best club brands based on loyalty, passion

Modern football is no longer just about playing the game; it’s also about building football clubs as “brands”, Peter Kenyon told guests at a Kuala Lumpur Business Club luncheon on the theme "Building Brands – From Manchester United to Chelsea". Chelsea FC’s chief executive officer presented in the Malaysian capital on his way home to England after a successful series of meetings with football administrators in the People's Republic of China. Kuala Lumpur is also the residence of the Asian Football Confederation with whom Chelsea has just signed an MOU in support of the Vision China program.

“In football, loyalty and passion first and foremost come from the fans and without acknowledging the fans, then you cannot expect them to become a consumer or a customer," he told the intimate meeting of top business executives. "For far too long, football treated fans as fans and forgot what customers wanted. Clubs have now started to think about fans and the amount of money they bring into football. You have to engage them better and give them better facilities. Fundamentally, I don’t think you can buy success,” he said.

Kenyon, who moved from Old Trafford to Stamford Bridge, said the club's aim is to be the world's biggest club by 2014 - just 10 years after Roman Abramovich started bankrolling the club. "This is the biggest football opportunity in Europe in a decade," he said. "The job offers a huge amount of challenges. I am absolutely privileged to be involved in this industry and having helmed two premier brands - Manchester United with their great history and, now, Chelsea." He said Chelsea's game plan was to build up a stylish, contemporary image, apart from winning trophies, as they do not have the heritage or history of clubs like Real Madrid or Manchester United, Associated Press reported.

According to Zack Yusof in The Star, Kenyon attributed the phenomenal growth of football worldwide to satellite television with more people watching it than any other sports. The English Premier League alone had seen TV deals rising from US$120 million when it was started in 1992 to US$600 million now with the telecast of 128 matches per season. In 1992 when the EPL started, matches could be seen in only 27 countries but today it had grown to 194 countries. "Football is absolutely essential to the growth of satellite tv itself. It is just incredible how important football is to the media over the last five years. Football encapsulates everything, the excitement, passion, loyalty," he said. "This year being the World Cup year, 207 countries are now affiliated to FIFA, the world football governing body, and this is more than the United Nations. It's just staggering," Kenyon said.

Despite having been knocked out of the Champions League and the FA Cup, Chelsea is odds-on favourite to retain its English Premiership title, a feat only achieved by Manchester United. “The back-to-back Premiership title has only been done once in 15 years. There’s no doubt about it – the team which wins the Premier League is the best team of the season and that’s very different from competing in a club competition,” he emphasised.

Rajan Moses of the New Straits Times asked him if the salaries of football players in the English Premier League are getting too high and unrealistic. "We are involved in a global sport and the EPL is the most successful league in the world. It is televised to 195 countries on a regular basis. I think you have to put the salaries in that context ... it is a core part of what your business is ... it is your marketing spending and all that gets wrapped up in the sport. So I think the real cost is about how successful you are, against how much you have spent," he replied.

Azman Ujang of Bermana newsagency noted Kenyon's response to the question if controversies such as generated by Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho and his Manchester United counterpart Alex Ferguson helped to build a brand."Controversies come from the external view. Controversy starts when you win matches. If you don't win, nobody cares and there no controversies," he said.

On Chelsea's market development in China, Kenyan mentioned that "some 2,000 retail outlets were selling Chelsea's merchandise in China and the number was expected to increase by two per day until 2008".

He later told Matthew Garrahan of the Financial Times that "pseudo marketing strategies do not work ... fans want to see a football team that's successful; that's what drives commercial success." He added that Chelsea was on course to break even by 2010 and was investing in other long-term projects, such as the development of the Asian market. Chelsea has about 4 million supporters worldwide, although this is much less than the 50 million that reportedly follow Manchester United.

Kenyon continues to hold Man United in high esteem. Referring to its marketing expertise, he said: "They do it better than anyone else." But he expressed confidence Man United could be overtaken. "Three years ago I would have gone to China and there was nothing there but Man United [fans]. Chelsea are now there. Our growth trends are faster [than Man United] in new territories."

The number of Chelsea fans has increased by 300 percent since Abramovich took over three years ago, a period in which the club's rivals took "their eye off the ball", Kenyon said. "If you look at Arsenal moving to the new stadium, it's a fantastic project but it eats up time and while that was happening some of the on-pitch issues were not being addressed so quickly."

Sponsors tickets may go to fans at next World Cup

From 2010, the world football body, FIFA, may reduce the number of World Cup tickets available to sponsors to provide more for supporters of the participating national teams. A growing backlash against the perceived unfairness of the ticket allocation system for next month's World Cup in Germany is causing FIFA to review its policy. Currently, the teams share 8 percent of available tickets, FIFA's sponsors 16 percent and 11 percent are sold as part of hospitality packages. However the right of each of FIFA's 15 sponsors to buy 25,000 World Cup tickets is considered to be a key factor in keeping up the value of the FIFA sponsorship fees which fund the development of the game worldwide.

"The entire ticketing policy for the World Cup will be reviewed and revised after Germany," an un-named FIFA official told Denis Campbell of The Observer (UK), "There's a genuine interest to increase the 8 percent that goes to each of the 32 countries taking part. There will be a shift in the allocation of tickets going to different segments of the market which will increase the 8 percent. That 8 percent figure will go up. I'm certain that will be the case."

Franz Beckenbauer, the president of Germany's 2006 World Cup Organising Committee, is concerned that some games in Germany may not be full because the tournament's sponsors have not used all their 16 percent allocation. "I hope the sponsors make the most of their tickets," he told Germany's Tagesspiegel.

However there is arguement as to what percentage should be allocated in future to the teams. England head coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, English Premier League chief Richard Scudamore and players' union boss Gordon Taylor, see 8 percent as far too little, particularly when compared to UEFA's allocation of 18 percent to teams in the European Championship.

According to Campbell, FIFA will be helped in making changes "by the fact that it is regaining control over ticketing for 2010, after major tension with the 2006 Organising Committee, and reducing its number of sponsors from 15 to six. Those six may want fewer than the 490,000 seats which firms such as Adidas and Budweiser have been allowed to buy for Germany," he wrote.

See also: FIFA facing World Cup ticketing and swaps issues (13 Apr)

Bayern Munich to focus on Vietnam, Japan, China

Admitting that the Bayern Munich brand hasn’t developed as strongly in Asia as England's Manchester United and Spain’s Real Madrid, the head of the club's International Relations Division, Martin Haegele, has announced a commitment to football development in Vietnam. “Germany’s population is over 80 million and it is the same for Vietnam, and the two countries have the same characteristic - a passion for football. That’s why I believe that cooperation between the Bayern Munich club and Vietnam Football Federation will yield good results,” he said. (Pictured: VFF Secretary General and VFF Office Chairman Le Hoai Anh receive a gift Bayern Munich T-shirt from Martin Haegele).

If the VFF agrees, Bayern Munich will send a team of former stars to Vietnam this year, including Lothar Matthaeus. It is possible that before the 2007 Asian Cup, the club will send a team with its current stars to play a friendly in Vietnam. “That’s to help you have the best preparation for the final round of Asian Cup,” Haegele said.

VFF general secretary Tran Quoc Tuan has already asked Bayern to send experts in youth development to Viernam and to host Vietnamese national teams for training at its headquarters.

Bayern Munich has won two Intercontinental Cups, four European Championships, 19 German league titles, and 13 German Cups and is on target to become the first German team to repeat the domestic double. In the Bundesliga, Bayern currently has a five-point lead with three games remaining. It has more than 100,000 members, the second largest in the world after Spain’s Barcelona FC.

On this, his third visit to Vietnam, Haegele said his club chose Vietnam as one of three Asian countries, along with Japan and China, to step up its marketing campaign.

Veteran Indian coach objects to sitting for exam

Current Mohammedan Sporting FC coach Subhas Bhowmick plans to write to the Asian Football Confederation protesting against a proposal that all coaches in India's National Football League must have AFC coaching certification in future. According to the Telegraph (India) the All India Football Federation "is likely to implement" AFC general secretary Peter Velappan's suggestion that coaches should secure an AFC license before taking up a job at the club or state level "from the 2007-08 season".

“This is simply unfair and I’m going to write to the AFC about it. Given my success at the club level in a short span of three years, it would be unfair to ask me to obtain an AFC ‘C’ license”, Bhowmick said. “In three years as East Bengal coach, I won the NFL twice and once finished third. Even if you forget about the series of titles I won in this period, it would be difficult for others to repeat my success in the ASEAN Cup in Jakarta. After all these achievements, if you ask me to sit for a coaching examination, I have nothing to say”.

Malaysian football awards return after decade lapse

The Malaysian football awards are back in 2006 after a lapse of almost a decade. The grand ceremony, conducted by the Football Association of Malaysia in association with Coca-Cola, will take place at a leading hotel in Kuala Lumpur on 14 September, just two days before the Malaysia Cup final. “It has been far too long since we last had these awards. From this point on, we must aspire to make it happen every year, not just for the footballers but also for the fans,” FAM general secretary, Datuk Seri Dr Ibrahim Saad, said.

He explained that unlike in the past, the coming awards will not be decided by a panel of officials. “For the first time, the awards will be decided by the fans. The fans follow the game religiously every week and they know the players well. This is why we decided they should be the ones to select recipients of the awards,” he added.

According to the Malay Mail (Malaysia), there will be 12 awards. With the exception of the top scorer award, fans will have the opportunity to vote via SMS for the awards. To vote for their favourite defender, team or referee, for example, fans must key in the correct id code followed by the name of the player, team or official and send the SMS to 39988. To ensure fans are aware of how to vote, the scoreboards and banners in stadiums will carry the necessary information. Leaflets will also be distributed to fans who purchase tickets.

Philips technology for World Cup entry and lighting

As an Official Partner of the FIFA World Cup, Netherlands-based Royal Philips Electronics will play a significant role in supporting the 2006 event with world-class technology. The company is Europe's biggest and one of the world's main electronics manufacturers, with 161,500 employees in over 60 countries. It has been involved with the FIFA World Cup since 1986.

"At eight of the 12 grounds, Philips' technology will light up the action with unique color and brilliance," the company told The Korea Herald. Philips lights over half of all major sporting stadiums in the world and its Arena Vision technology is the first sports lighting system specially designed to enhance the theater and emotion of sports for everyone, whether they are in the stands or watching at home.

It also said the selected stadiums will also feature Philips' Vidiwall technology, giant video screens that capture the action in razor-sharp detail. "For fans not fortunate enough to have match tickets, the Vidiwalls will let them enjoy the next best thing - joining the atmosphere and watching the game on the large Philips screens to be installed in the public-viewing areas called Official Fan Fests in each of the host cities," the company said.

Every one of the 3.2 million tickets will incorporate an embedded Philips RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) chip. These tickets allow fans to pass quickly and safely through a venue's gates just by waving their ticket over the readers at the turnstile and walking through. Moreover, the unique codes on each ticket will help prevent illegal trading and make it impossible to gain entry with a counterfeit ticket, the company said.

Maldives asks for World Cup TV at "bearable cost"

The Maldives government has called on the Asian Broadcasting Union to help it gain "reasonable access" to free-to-air access for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The Maldives is an Indian Ocean nation with a population of less than 300,000 who live some 20 atolls. It was one of the countries damaged by the 2005 Tsunami.

The country’s Minister of Information and Arts, Mohamed Nasheed, told the opening ceremony of the ABU’s 80th Administrative Council meeting that the only free-to-air television station, TV Maldives, had been asked to pay more than US$600,000 to broadcast a limited number of games. He said the local cable operator had "been given" the broadcast rights to all 64 games but they had only 25,000 subscribers. He further suggested that the holder of the broadcast rights was taking advantage of the Maldivians’ love of football.

“Charging a small public broadcasting organisation such as ours whose only interest is to show its nationals their life-blood game is like taking away the means of our life and charging an exorbitant amount to return those means,” he said.

He claimed the satellite operator which had acquired the broadcast rights from FIFA was asking TV Maldives to pay “a tsunami amount of money. And if we understand correctly, there are richer and bigger countries that would pay only US$40,000 to watch all the 64 games."

He appealed to all members of the ABU to support its cause to obtain the World Cup rights “at a bearable cost that is commensurate with our nation, its population and its capacities”.

The Secretary-General of the ABU, David Astley, said the price being asked of TV Maldives was a 3,000 percent increase on what the broadcaster paid for the same rights in 2002. “The amount being asked is totally out of proportion to what other countries of this size are being asked to pay”. He said he had been informed that the government was drafting ‘listed events’ legislation which would require events like the World Cup to be made available to free-to-air television at a reasonable cost.

German Court denies FIFA "World Cup" protection

The world football body, FIFA, has suffered a serious setback in the protection of its trademarks following a German federal court's decision denying its exclusive use of the name of the 2006 Finals. The Karlsruhe-based court rejected the world football body’s attempts to secure a patent on the German-language slogan “Fussball WM 2006” (Football World Cup 2006). The court based its decision on the fact that “Fussball WM 2006” referred to a sports event and not to a body such as FIFA. The ruling applies to 860 products and services from a range of companies, although the case was brought by just two firms.

Although the ruling covers products in Germany, it could have wider implications, AFP newsagency commented. "In theory, the ruling means that FIFA can no longer give sponsors assurances that other companies will not advertise with the slogans." Lawyers for FIFA had argued that the body were solely funded by marketing revenue. FIFA secretary-general Urs Linsi said many of FIFA’s 205 affiliated national football federations were financially supported by marketing revenue.

India attracts European names for coach shortlist

Some prominent European footballing names will be called for interviews next month for the job of India's national coach. Former French coach Michael Hidalgo and Brian Kerr, who was in charge of Ireland until they failed to qualify for this summer's World Cup, are among 30 candidates who applied to succede Syed Nyeemuddin as coach. The All India Football Federation's shortlist was suggested by FIFA through the Asian Football Confederation

"The budget at AIFF's disposal will be an important factor in the final decision," a Federation spokesman told New Kerala News. The new appointee may be given the dual responsibilities of national coach and technical director, he added. The AIFF is keen to make the appointment before India's next international assignment in Canada in June.

See also: Unhappy India sacks its national technical team (10 Mar)

Vietnam moves closer to legalising football betting

The Social Republic of Vietnam's ministry of finance is drafting for government consideration an ordinance on lottery, betting rules for sports and entertainment activities, Thanh Nien newspaper reported. According to the draft, a limited or joint stock company with reserve capital of at least VND70 billion (US$4.4 million) could launch a betting service.

Betting rules will be issued by companies for each particular game or sport, of which companies will repay wagers to customers if the game or sport activities is cancelled or stopped mid way. The betting operation must be run independent of the sports or games activities themselves. "Amidst high demand from sports fans, there has been increasing calls for legal betting, creating a lofty new source of income to the national treasury," the youth association newspaper commented.

In March, the ministry of finance chaired a conference in Ho Chi Minh City to discuss the proposed ordinance. Delegates from lottery companies, the sports federation and the ministries of finance and public security analysed the benefits of legalised betting, including profits which could be utilised to develop amateur sports and providing an option to "underground betting". The ministry earlier estimated annual revenues from football betting could be as high as VND800 billion ($50.384 million).

Vietnam also allows race track betting on horses and dogs and certain prize-winning games. The country has two dog and horse bookmakers and 33 enterprises including 22 foreign-invested ones specializing in prize-winning games. Last year, the state lottery sector contributed over VND5 trillion (US$312.5 million) to the Exchequer.

See also: Betting scandal impacts on Vietnam's government (20 Apr)

Vietnam SEA Games players face more charges

Seven Vietnamese international footballers being prosecuted for match-fixing at last year’s SEA Games now face the additional charges of organised betting, AFCMedia reported. Four of the seven were jailed four months ago while three are under house arrest. If found guilty the footballers could be jailed for upto 10 years under Vietnamese laws.

Van Quyen, Quoc Anh, Quoc Vuong and Bat Hieu were jailed in December 2005 but Quyen and Anh were released last week. Van Truong, Hai Lam, and Phuoc Vinh are under house arrest. The seven players are suspected to have fixed the Vietnam-Myanmar match at the 2005 SEA Games in the Philippines which Vietnam won by a solitary goal.

See also: Betting scandal impacts on Vietnam's government (20 Apr)

Sports gambling may drive 3G cell tel expansion

Mobile gambling is touted as one of the big revenue drivers for mobile data services in the next five years. "But it's not easy money, and the house is the big winner, so the real value for cellos may be in 3G-based VAS packages that maximize 3G's multimedia channels, Fiona Chau revealed in Wireless Asia. As 3G networks become mainstream and handsets with advanced Java and video capabilities, many believe that such trends will help mobile gambling grow sharply over the next few years.

One source of optimism for mobile gambling enthusiasts is the rapid rise of remote gambling on the internet, which has opened up sports betting and casino-style gaming to a mass-market audience. With millions of consumers now gambling online, market watchers and industry players believe that the large gambling community spawned by the Internet will be replicated to varying degrees in the mobile data world, as the immediacy and perceived anonymity of the Internet is increased when using a mobile phone.

Estimates on the size of the mobile betting market vary widely. Figures from Informa Telecoms & Media indicate that the global mobile gambling revenues will grow from $1.2 billion in 2005 to $7.6 billion in 2010, split across the chief categories of sports and spread betting, mobile lotteries and scratch-cards, and casino and skill games. Juniper Research is even more bullish, predicting that global mobile betting will grow from $2 billion last year to $19.3 billion by 2009, with mobile lotteries becoming the most popular form of mobile gambling.

Either way, Asia is pegged as a key market for mobile gambling over the next few years. Informa says mobile gambling in Asia will grow from $426 million to $2.7 billion by 2010, making it the second largest market for mobile gambling after Europe. Juniper Research reckons that Asia will see strong growth of mobile lotteries, due to the strong culture of lottery in the region - and because most lottery apps don't require 3G capabilities to succeed.

"Mobile lotteries don't need 3G networks and are applicable in developing as well as developed markets, and Asia has both," said Bruce Gibson, senior consultant with Juniper Research. He told Chau there will be strong growth in subscriber numbers in Asia, much of it at the lower usage end of the market - many of whom will be low stake lottery players.

"However, that doesn't mean that mobile gambling is easy money. Gambling, like porn, is essentially an adult content service, and thus it faces many of the same barriers and challenges that mobile porn services face today. In virtually every market in the world, gambling in any form is highly regulated even when it's legal. And for some cellcos, the real value may not be in gambling services themselves, but the value-added services built around them," Chau commented.

In Asia, the most successful mobile betting story so far is in Hong Kong, where over 100,000 mobile users are now using mobile phones to buy lottery tickets or bet on football matches and horse racing, either via SMS or WAP. Beyond Hong Kong, however, mobile gambling is still a new phenomenon in the Asia-Pacific region, because of cultural and regulatory hurdles. In Singapore, mobile operator M1 is limited to offering notifications of lottery results as well as soccer odds and match results. Chua Swee Kiat, communication manager at M1, said the company is offering such betting materials as a value-added service with a number of third-party content providers either on a revenue sharing basis or fixed fee basis.

Some women may attend football without beating

The football world appeared impressed with the announcement by Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that reportedly allowed women to attend major sporting events in the Islamic Republic, ending a ban imposed since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. "Now, women will be permitted to attend football matches played all over the country. The new rule applies to both domestic league competitions as well as the national team games," the Asian Football Confederation's website commented approvingly.

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune saw it as "a significant move to relieve at least one of the pressure points" surrounding Iran's participation in the FIFA World Cup in Germany in June. He also noted that Ahmadinejad had decreed that some of the Islamic dress codes requiring women to cover their heads and bodies "should not be imposed by force."

Very encouraging. So much so that Hughes quoted Mahboubeh Abbass-Gholizadeh, a leading Irianian women's rights activist "whose leg was broken last year when she and other women were charged by militia" as they tried to gain access into the national stadium in Tehran.

"We consider this a victory for the women's movement," she said on Radio Free Europe. "Before Mr President issued this order, we were planning on creating some solidarity among Iranian women who live abroad. We were busy working on a campaign to attend matches at the World Cup and chant slogans and have placards."

It did, at first, appear that her president had actually gone further than expected. "The best stands should be allocated to women and families in the stadiums where national and important matches are held. The presence of women and families in public places help bring morality and chastity," he said.

But that was not the end of the story. Members of the religiously-vetted Iranian parliament criticised the decision. “We call on the president to annul the order to allow women into stadiums. The presence of women in stadiums is against moral, social and Islamic values. This is a hasty order. According to Islamic law, it is not right for women to watch men's bare legs" said the MP from Isfahan, Mohammad-Taghi Rahbar. Another said, if the reformists had tried this, there would have been "suicide bombers protesting" on the streets of Tehran. "Our point is not Islamic law. Women can go, but there needs to be cultural education beforehand. I think police can not even provide security for explosive materials, let alone security of women," argued yet another.

One religious leader, Fazel Lankarani, issued a fatwa against the presence of the women in stadiums.

The head of Iran Physical Education, Aliabadi, who had earlier confirmed women would be allowed to attend the games from the start of next season, later clarified the government's position. “The ban on single women still exists and we wont allow single women to attend any games. Only women who come with their familes will be allowed in,” he told reporters.

But women watching football may be only an extra cause of excitement at Iranian stadiums. Often football games become the venue for anti-government protest such as major riots in 2001 and 2005. According to one opposition group, a match in Tehran last weekend was disrupted by young people chanting anti-government slogans. Despite the heavy presence of the State Security Forces, the paramilitary Bassij militia and plainclothes agents, the demo quickly spread. “The sky above the stadium was filled with smoke and the youth attacked and damaged many transit buses and broke their windshields,” it quoted the state-run news agency IRNA.

MEANTIME German security officials are reportedly concerned that the Iranian fans and reporters expected to attend the World Cup to support their national team "may contain some dangerous elements at a time when relations between Tehran and the West are strained".

This follows earlier reports that local neo-Nazis have been identified as a security threat, in part because of sympathies with Iran. Wolfgang Schäuble, German interior minister, told a security conference that "it was now clear that some people in the far-right scene want to use the World Cup as means of raising their profile" and stressed that security measures would be tightened as a response.

"The extremist protests are aimed in part at expressing support for Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, Iranian president, who caused outrage last year by calling for Israel's abolition and by denying the Holocaust, according to intelligence officials," The Financial Times reported. "German security officials at the conference admitted that special security measures were being taken for the Iranian soccer team."

Although Holocaust denial is mostly seen, as UN chief Kofi Annan described it, as "the work of bigots", in Germany it is a serious crime punishable with a prison term of up to five years, a legal position introduced after the country's Nazi Terror Regime was destroyed at the end of the Second World War.

The German government has been one of the biggest critics of Ahmadinedjad’s anti-Israel and Holocaust denial rhetoric and German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been leading the European Union campaign to censure him.

However, despite Germany’s official stance, Wolfgang Schaeuble insists the government will not block a visit by Ahmadinedjad. “As far as I am concerned, he is welcome to come to the World Cup. We have every intention of being good hosts,” he said.

Mass protests can be expected if he does. Three former Iran players have announced they will protest any attempt to "politicize" the World Cup with a visit by Ahmadinejad.

"Don't let the Mullahs misuse the World Cup, the World Cup is a place for peaceful and civilized people, not a warmongering regime," said Hassan Nayeb-Agah, who played at the 1978 World Cup. "Don't let Mahmoud Ahmadinejad misuse the World Cup the same way Hitler did the 1936 Olympic Games." Nayeb-Agah was joined at a news conference by former teammate Bahram Mavadat and Asghar Adibi, a member of the Iran team from 1968-74.

The world football body FIFA has also strongly resisted calls for the Iran team to be expelled from the tournament because of Ahmadinejad's policies. But as Iran has to face the United Nations Security Council over its nuclear (uranium enrichment) program, FIFA may yet have to decide on accepting international sanctions against the country or not.

Precedents are quite recent. United Nations international sanctions banned the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from participating in international sporting events from 1992-1994. Although the country qualified for the 1992 European Championship it was replaced by Denmark in the play-offs. The country was also refused entry into the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

See also: UN Security Council on Iran 'not a concern of FIFA' (6 Mar) and 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) and German chancellor will "not push to punish" Iran (20 Jan) and Iran bans Korean sponsor over nuclear vote row (14 Nov 05)

Emirates Airlines offers World Cup match packages

FIFA's exclusive travel partner, Emirates Airline, recently introduced its Emirates FIFA packages to provide its Indian and Asian passengers with an opportunity to experience 2006 FIFA World Cup excitement. "Passengers purchasing Emirates FIFA packages to any of the airline's European destinations will receive complimentary match tickets to the game of their choice including the final," Emirates VP India and Nepal, Salem Obaidalla, told Indian Television. The packages, starting from Euros 1,810 per person, include Emirates flights to any of the airline's European destinations (return), two nights' accommodation from a choice of one of 12 cities where matches are being played, and a complimentary match ticket to any of the games, including the final, subject to availability.

Emirates is using television, print, outdoor and the internet to create awareness of its association with the World Cup. "The message of the campaign is that wherever you go and whatever cultural background you have, you'll find people all around the world having one thing in common: We all speak one language: Football. The key visual of a person running with his arms outstretched mimicking an aircraft - a move performed by footballers after having scored a goal - show an underlined link between Emirates and the sport of football," Obaidalla said.

Emirates is looking to tie up with certain Indian hotels and pubs for screenings. These will be called FIFA World Cup Zones.

Obaidalla said India is a key market for Emirates. Indian Ocean and West Asia contributed 9.7% of Emirates' total revenue for 2004 to 2005 and 18% of total passengers.

See also: Emirates Airline signs 8-year partner deal with FIFA (18 Apr)

FF Australia confirms massive TV rights increase

Football Federation Australia has confirmed that the domestic Pay-TV broadcaster Fox Sports has signed a seven year agreement, commencing 2007, to exclusively broadcast all Australian home internationals, the Asian Cup, Hyundai A-League and AFC Champion League. The agreement is worth in excess of A$120 million which, on an annualised basis, represents an almost 20 times increase on the revenue received from Fox Sport (A-League) and SBS TV (internationals) for the current season.

“This transaction creates a 'home of football' and enables the FFA to support and nurture the whole of the game, including the professional and community arms. The Socceroos will be beneficiaries, as will the Hyundai A-League, both at the overall competition level, as well as individual clubs; this deal enables the FFA to subsidise each club, equally, and thus will help sustain them," the Chairman of FFA, Frank Lowy, said

FFA Chief Executive John O’Neill said the announcement represented “a terrific deal for football at this early stage of its development as a mass entertainment sport in Australia" but stressed the challenges still facing the game in Australia.

“At this stage, above everything else, football needs security and sustainability. It is something that it has never had, and without it the game would remain fragile and vulnerable,” he said. “As significant as this agreement is, it is sobering to remind ourselves of the extraordinary resources required to operate such a uniquely diverse and expansive sport as ours. Eight national representative teams – men and women – as well as a genuinely national professional domestic competition and a grassroots participant base comprising more than a million players, means there are a lot of mouths to feed!"

See also: Australia may score 20 times increase in TV rights (21 Apr)

AFC signs "Vision China" MOU with Chelsea FC

English Premier League champions Chelsea is officially backing the Asian Football Confederation's "Vision" project to develop grass-roots football in China. Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon and AFC President Mohamed bin Hammam (pictured right at the Qingdao city league awards) signed a memorandum of understanding that the London club would provide technical and financial assistance to the program.

Bin Hammam, who has been critical of big European clubs coming on lucrative tours to Asia and leaving nothing behind, agreed it was "an historic moment" because "this is the first time a [European] club came to us and said 'take' and did not take from us."

"It fits absolutely with Chelsea's vision of being one of the big clubs by 2014," Kenyon told Nick Mulvenney of Reuters. "We've been successful on the field and what we're about is building a successful sustainable team and this is an extension of that. (But) we're not in this to get players cheaply or to come on tour or do those things. What we're talking about is investment in a long-term market and looking to support the local product, which is critical. It's really important for global football that Asian football is developing and then there's a benefit for everyone."

Kenyon said although there would be a financial element to the deal, Chelsea would primarily be looking to help out in marketing, media, training and sports medicine. "They're all core components of what we do every day and it's really evaluating those and bringing those to the table. What we're talking about is being a long-term partner," he said.

Vision China, part of the AFC's continental Vision Asia program, has successfully launched 10-team metro leagues in the Chinese cities of Qingdao and Wuhan and the project will now be extended to 15 cities including Beijing and Shanghai.

"What I've experienced in the last two days has been quite remarkable," said Kenyon at the Vision China Football Development Conference in Qingdao. "I think it's as exciting a football project as any that's going on in the world. They've proved in these two cities that it's not theoretical, it's really working."

See also: AFC and China FA meet with China Sports Minister (24 Apr) and Chelsea FC meets with China Football Association (12 Apr) and Chelsea FC an official London ambassador to China (8 Apr) and Chelsea to China and USA to become 'World No 1' (30 Mar) and Chelsea for partnering not exploiting Asian football (2 Mar).

AFC President's Cup shifted to Kuching, Sarawak

The second edition of the Asian Football Confederation President’s Cup has been shifted to Malaysia and will now be played in Kuching, Sarawak, instead of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, due to unavoidable circumstances. The tournament, which is for clubs from Asia's emerging footballing countries, will kick off on May 10 and the new date for the final is now May 21. The matches will be held at the Sarawak and Negeri stadiums, AFCMedia advised.

Eight teams have been split into two groups of four each for the group stage which runs through May 10-15. In Group A are Pakistan Army, Khemara of Cambodia, Bhutanese champions Transport United and Tatung of Chinese Taipei. The Group B has last year’s runners-up Dordoi-Dynamo of Kyrgyzstan, Tajik champions FC Vakhsh, Manang Marshyangdi of Nepal and Sri Lanka’s Ratnam Sports Club.

The top-two points earners in the groups advance to the crossover semifinals which will be played on May 17 and 18.

See also: Pakistan "will host" the third AFC Presidents Cup (15 Apr)

FIFA sets up "Early Warning" to monitor gambling

The president of FIFA, the football's world body, has launched an offensive against possible match-fixing at the World Cup finals. Mr Sepp Blatter revealed that FIFA is initiating a major anti-gambling strategy and will be asking referees to pledge they will not place any bets at the finals. He told reporters he would personally address all the 23 referees selected for the tournament that begins on 9 June.

"They will all sign papers to say that they, and their families, will never be involved in any betting or other similar problems," he said, as quoted by Tim Collings of Reuters. "I will speak to them before the tournament begins to make sure that they know everything about this and that they will adopt eight of the points raised by the recent International Football Association Board meeting. There are going to be 30 billion people who will watch these 64 matches and we have to be sure that the referees do their jobs properly."

It was also revealed that FIFA had set up Swiss-based company Early Warning GmbH to act as a watchdog on gambling in football and to study all the patterns and behaviour. FIFA general secretary Urs Linsi said that the new company would observe the whole activity of betting and gambling on football with particular attention to the World Cup finals. "We will study the market and look for signs of anything that is not appropriate and if we find something then we will act accordingly," he said. "It is a new thing for us, a new system and we need to do this."

Blatter conceded that gambling was part of society, but said it had no place in football. "The trouble is that football is a victim of its own popularity," he said.

AFC and China FA meet with China Sports Minister

The Asian Football Confederation's Vision China project moved another step forward today when AFC President, Mohamed bin Hammam and an AFC delegation met with the Peoples Republic of China’s Minister of Sport, Liu Peng. It is the first time the two leaders in sport had met and the main agenda item was the development of football in China, through the AFC’s established program with the China Football Association, Vision Asia. AFC presented the achievements to date in two Chinese cities, Qingdao and Wuhan and the plan for the expansion of the programme to fifteen additional cities in the next phase that will be launched tomorrow in Qingdao at the Vision China Football Development Conference.

“AFC is a great supporter of football in China. We have already seen the preliminary success in Qingdao and Wuhan, so I would like to say thank you to Mohamed bin Hammam and all people at AFC," the minister commented. “We will take care of the project; we will fully cooperate and take care of the project, Vision China, with AFC." The minister reportedly also outlined four key points and requested that AFC take into account the diversity of China and the different needs in the different cities.

The AFC president expressed the important that China has in Asia’s development plans, “If we fail in China, we fail in all of Asia. And if we succeed in China, we succeed in all of Asia. At AFC we are very impressed by the Ministry’s efforts to develop youth and grassroots sport. This meeting has given us a great opportunity to learn from the Minister and take his advice regarding the future of Vision China in Asia. We look forward to continuing our focus and hard work in China," he said, as reported by AFCMedia.

The China Football Association delegation was led by its General Secretary, Xie Yalong and included Yang Li Guo, the General Secretary of China Student Sports Federation and top CFA officials. The AFC delegation accompanying Hammam included AFC General Secretary Dato Peter Velappan, AFC Deputy General Secretary Dato Paul Mony and senior AFC development staff as well as Peter Kenyon, Chief Executive of Chelsea Football Club, and Peter Bratschi of the interantional sportswear company, NIKE, one of AFC’s most active current commercial partners. AFC and Chelsea FC are in advanced discussions regarding Chelsea’s support of the Vision China programme and overall football development in China.

Prior to meeting Minister Liu, Hammam warned that illegal gambling on football in China needed to be reined in by the government. “The illegal betting and gambling in China is a black mark on our football but we can't fight it simply through national associations,” he told AFP newsagency. “It requires government intervention to limit this through their own legal system, by putting the appropriate laws in place and enforcing them.

Establishing a well-regulated legal betting system, given the opportunity, can also help in controlling this problem,” he said. “Of course, the revenue can go back into the grassroots, to help develop football and communities.”

Chinese football has long been plagued by corruption, with underground gambling rings at the root of many of the Super League's problems, encouraging referees, players and coaches to fix matches. Before the season began this year, Chinese Football Association chairman Xie Yalong told Super League clubs to mend their “sinful” ways or he would consider abandoning the league.

See also: Great success for Vision China's new "city clubs" (7 Apr) and Call to "purify" Chinese Football's "sinful" ways (10 Mar) and Corruption threatens football growth in China (22 Jun 05)

Juventus offers "friendly" price game to Vietnam

Leading Italian football club Juventus has offered to play a friendly game in Vietnam at a “friendly” price during its Asian tour next month, a sports marketing company told Lan Phuong of the Vietnam national youth paper, Thanh Nien. Strata Sports Marketing said the Vietnam Football Federation was yet to reply but if the deal was successful, Juventus would play a Vietnamese national team in Hanoi.

Strata was marketing partner of the Vietnam Football Federation until 2002 and continued to directly sponsor First Division club Strata Dong Nai until this current season. It has also been the marketing agent for the All Indian Football Federation.

As part of a tour also to Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore, the game is intended to be played either on 22 May or 24 May at the My Dinh national stadium in Hanoi where Juventus last played in 1995.

Juventus is expected to bring its stars like Adrian Mutu, Zonathan Zebina, Marcelo Zalayeta, Christian Abbiati, Gianluca Pessotto, Olivier Kapo, Alessio Tacchinardi and others. Strata executive Mae Mua has reportedly agreed to work with the Vietnam Football Federation "to scratch up a team for a one-off match".

EPL low 14th in China's 'most watched' TV football

Is the English Premier League the most popular football competition in the world's most populace country, China? Probably not, is the considered opinion of Pierre Justo, Managing Director of TNS Sport China at CSM Media Research in Beijing. Writing in the quarterly Rating Horizon, Justo cautioned that while EPL may be the league "most largely broadcast" in China through a "huge number" of channels "most of those channels have indeed a very limited audience as they reach either locally or province-wide."

According to his company's data, football broadcasts in China in 2005 (excluding news and magazines) amounted to a staggering 2285 hours over 20 different channels (the "bulk" offered by CCTV 5, Dragon TV and Guangdong TV Satellite), making football the most aired sports. It accounted for a total 42% of the sports offered, far more than basketball (16%) and table tennis (6%). Football fans could follow the China Super League and six major foreign leagues - English Premier League, Liga, Bundesliga, Calcio, Liga and Ligue 1 - in addition to the major Cup and Champions competitions from Europe, South America, Asia and FIFA.

Overall, more than 35 different football events/properties were aired nationwide in China during the year with the following events receiving the most airtime: Italian Calcio (386 hours of broadcast), EPL (313 h), the Liga and Bundesliga (around 240h) and the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers (189 h).

But being on air is one thing and being watched is another story. Data on cumulative numbers of viewers puts the Chinese audience watching basketball during 2005 at 2.7 billion viewers compared to 1.4 billion viewers watching football. And, within the football segment, Italy's Calcio was first with 147 million viewers, the FIFA World Club qualifiers second with 121 million, the Bundesliga third with 115 million and the games played by the China National Team fourth with close to 100 million. The English Premier League ranked a distant 14th with only 36 million viewers ("hardly more in total than the FIFA World Club Championship event in Tokyo that lasted for only one week").

"Overall," wrote Justo, "a few properties over-perform compared to the limited time they were on air: apart from the above mentioned, there is the China Super League (‘'yes'', the Chinese do like watching their own football league), the AFC Champions League (‘'yes'', the Chinese like Asian football, especially when the Chinese clubs perform as it was the case in 2005 with Shenzhen Jianlibao reaching the last four), or even the FIFA World Youth Holland (once again thanks to the presence and good performance of the China Youth team). On the other side, some properties do not attract as many viewers as their TV exposure: apart from the EPL, the Liga is also suffering a lot despite an overall 6th ranking with 82 million viewers."

Justo opined that the EPL and Liga audiences suffer because of their regular early morning broadacts times ("it is difficult to wake up most Chinese 3 am") whereas the Bundesliga and the Calcio "offer quite a lot of games by the evening around 22:00" and the CSL or the AFC Champions League get a booster by airing in the afternoon or at the start of the evening."

Another reason is the reach of the channel broadcasting the program. "So far, on a nationwide basis, very few satellite channels can really ‘'reach'''as many households as CCTV 5 and in a lesser extent Dragon TV and Guangdong Satellite. And it is true that the EPL that boasts a high number of provincial satellite broadcasters (which often appears as a decisive edge) is suffering a lot from that when it comes to attracting, to reaching a wide base of viewers.".

Last but not least, he wrote, is the level of interest in each league. "Isn't it troubling to notice that the two leagues that started airing in China the sooner (over 10 years ago) were the Bundesliga and the Calcio?"

It is not a coincidence. According to CSM Media Research-TNS Sport's ‘'Sports on TV in China Overview Report'', China is different to other Asian markets in that the EPL is not, currently, a strong competitor to the Calcio and the Bundesliga.

See also: Germany building quiet footballing links to China (22 Apr) and Poll: Italian clubs still "most famous" in China (6 Feb) and Zhang award for promoting Italian football in China (6 Dec 05)

FAM explains Malaysia's 2006-2007 competitions

Dato’ Raja Ahmad Zainuddin Omar, the vice-president of the FAM; HRH Tengku Abdullah Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah, the deputy president of the FAM and Dato’ Seri Dr. Ibrahim Saad, the general secretary of the FAM.

The council of the Football Association of Malaysia has decided that its Super League 2006-2007 will have 14 teams participating. Dato’ Redzuan Tan Sri Sheikh Ahmad, the deputy president of the FAM said that the reason for these changes was not because of inconsistency in the policy of the national body but rather it was felt that playing three rounds of league matches currently is boring, the FAM website reported.

“The views from the state FAs and clubs from the recent brainstorming is that playing three rounds in the league is not only boring but also not financially beneficial,” said Dato’ Redzuan, who is also the chairman of the FAM Technical Committee. “The recommendations from the Competitions Committee were discussed at length where today after fine-tuning certain aspects of it; the Council accepted these suggested changes.”

The top six teams of the Super League will remain alongside the two promoted teams from the Premier League for a total of eight teams. The remaining six positions will then be decided via qualifiers between the seventh and eighth teams in the Super League and the second (A2 and B2), third (A3 and B3) and fourth (A4 and B4) teams in either divisions of the Premier League. The eight teams concerned will then be divided into two groups for the qualifiers to decide which three teams from each group which will make up the remaining six teams to play in the Super League 14 teams.

“We have not made the decision yet but it is likely that the qualifiers will be played during the World Cup month,” said Dato’ Seri Dr. Ibrahim Saad, the general secretary of the FAM, ass quoted by the website.

Although the Super League and the Premier League 2006-2007 season will have 14 teams each – where four teams from the current FAM Cup season will be promoted into the Premier League which will have only one division next year – there will however be changes to the FAM Cup for the new season.

Dato’ Seri Ibrahim said that only state FAs which have on-going leagues will be allowed to send a team to the FAM Cup competition for the 2006-2007 season. “Unlike the current situation where we accept all representatives from the state FAs, for the new season we have stressed on the need for the state FAs to have running leagues otherwise, they will not be allowed to take part,” he added.

Other decisions reached at the FAM Council meeting are:

- the Malaysia Cup 2006-2007 season will have 18 teams taking part which will be divided into three groups. It will comprise of the 14 state teams, plus ATM and PDRM and the two top clubs. The Malaysia Cup campaign will start after the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.

- the Premier League final for the 2005-2006 season will be held on June 10th, 2006 to make way for the closing ceremony of the SUKMA Games in Kedah.

- from next season onwards, there will be no more part-time coaches in either divisions of the Super League or the Premier League.

- there will be three (3) imports for the Super League but only two (2) for the Premier League.

- all matches for the 2006-2007 season will begin at 8pm while for the fasting month, there will be two matches being played.

- there will be no cooling-off period for imports already playing in Asean countries wanting to play in the Malaysian League although for those currently plying their trade in Malaysia, there is a one year cooling-off period.

- the minimum salary for players has been increased from RM1,500 to RM2,000 a month – there is no maximum set.

- two top clubs will be given direct affiliation to the FAM where they can sit in the Council and have voting rights.

- in the draw for the semi-finals of the TM-FA Cup, Negeri Sembilan NAZA has drawn Pahang while for the Singapore Under-23 team, it has drawn Perlis (pic). The first leg will be held on April 29th, 2006 while the return leg will be on May 13th, 2006.

Germany building quiet footballing links to China

Is the German Football Federation and the Bundesliga preparing for a major promotion to Asia during the World Cup year? Or did China's failure to qualify dampen the enthusiasm?

With German football's high profile on Chinese television and its leading football club Bayern Munich voted the eighth most popular foreign club in China, is there any concern about the gap in foreign broadcast revenues earned by the English Premiership and the Bundesliga -- and the rapid increase in high-level contacts being made in China by other competitions?

The question is asked as international marketing company Infront Sports & Media expands its China commitment from its strategic marketing partnership with the China Super League to exclusive global marketing partner for the Chinese men's and women's national football teams until the end of 2010.

Infront has big responsibilities with the FIFA World Cup being played in Germany this year. These include distribution of television rights, supervision of the Host Broadcast and broadcaster servicing.

Importantly, the German Football Federation is also a major client of Infront based on a working relationship that dates back more than 20 years. Infront's role includes the advertising and marketing rights of the DFB National team.

Since China failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup, there has been little news from one very targeted German funding initiative, the German-Chinese Football Academy (DCFA) in Bad Kissingen, Bavaria. Eckhard Krautzun was appointed Technical Director of the DCFA and coach of the Chinese U-20 team with the aim of producing a winning Chinese team for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The Chinese U-20 team was eliminated before the quarter finals from the FIFA World Youth Championship in the Netherlands in June 2005 but in early February this year Sinosoc reported that Krautzun was interested in resuming as coach of the team and that the DCFA had pledged 1.68 million euro to continue funding the program.

See also: Infront becomes exclusive marketer of Team China (7 Apr)

Football at Australia's new National Sports Museum

Australia's best showcase of sport will be housed at a new super museum at the recently redeveloped Melbourne Cricket Ground. The Federal Government has pledged a $15 million contribution to the world-class National Sports Museum. "This will make the MCG not only the greatest arena in Australia but the greatest historical sports trust in Australia and one of the greatest tourist attractions, " the national Treasurer, Peter Costello, told Karen Collier of the Herald Sun.

Due to open in November next year, the National Sports Museum is expected to attract more than 200,000 visitors a year. It will house the Australian Gallery of Sport and Olympic Museum, the Sport Australia Hall of Fame and the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame. The MCG itself is a clasified stadium and hosted the Olympic Games of 1956 and the Commonwealth Games of 2006. Sport Australia Hall of Fame chairman John Bertrand said the museum will inspire the young. "Sport is the essence of this country ... it generates pride from the community and it generates respect from around the world," he said.

The museum will draw on a collection of 35,000 items and up to 5000 items will be shown at any one time. The museum will campaign for the ball used in next month's football World Cup warm-up at the MCG between the Socceroos and Greece.

See also: Australia to get World Cup send-off by 98,000 fans (5 Apr)

AFC's WSG "interested" in buying Perth Glory

World Sports Group, the marketing partner of the Asian Football Confederation, is reportedly interested in buying A-League club Perth Glory. Last year WSG signed a seven-year-deal for AFC television and marketing rights worth US $200 million. Football Federation Australia assumed interim control of the club this month after its current owners, headed by chairman Nick Tana, reached an agreement with the FFA to terminate their participation agreement after only one season in the new Australian national pro-league.

Football Federation Australia's head of operations Matt Carroll said four groups remained interested in the Glory, the only A-League franchise in the huge state of Western Australia and that he was aware of the potential involvement of Argentine football legend Gabriel Batistuta in one of them. "I've heard that he is interested in maybe being part of a local consortium," Carroll told Jonathan Cook and Aaron Timms of the Sydney Morning Herald.

See also: Australia may score 20 times increase in TV rights (21 Apr)

Liverpool not expected to return to Asia preseason

Don't expect to see English Premier League club Liverpool touring Asia in the next pre-season. Anfield chief executive Rick Parry has "vowed that Liverpool won't put Steven Gerrard or his fellow internationals at risk from burn-out by chasing the dollar", Scott Wilson reported in the New Paper (Singapore). He wrote that Parry has said that Gerrard & Co must rest after the World Cup finals in June which means that Liverpool won't embark on pre-season tournaments to the USA or Asia in July and August.

"All of our preparation games will be Europe based and it will not be a long build-up - that's for sure," he quoted Parry. "The possibility of another long pre-season journey never came into our thoughts this time round. There will be no Far East or trans-Atlantic marathons - even though there will be no shortage of offers. We are planning a training camp in Switzerland and will have some games there. The players have been involved in an energy-sapping season and it is crucial the lads get the right preparation after giving everything throughout this season's long haul."

MasterCard legal action against FIFA's Visa shift

MasterCard International has filed a complaint in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York seeking an injunction against the Federation Internationale de Football Association, the governing body of the FIFA World Cup to prevent FIFA from moving forward with an agreement with Visa International to sponsor the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cups.

MasterCard claims that FIFA entered into that relationship despite having a contractual agreement giving MasterCard the right of first refusal to continue to be the category-exclusive sponsor of those events.

MasterCard's also states that after a period of negotiation in which FIFA assured MasterCard that it was not going to enter into an agreement with a third party, it proceeded in doing so.

"FIFA did this despite the fact that it had already provided MasterCard with a written contract -- including all terms -- which MasterCard signed and returned to FIFA, which then advised MasterCard that a deal with Visa was completed," the complaint alleges.

"This action by FIFA is a blatant and deceitful violation of our right of first refusal," said Noah Hanft, General Counsel, MasterCard International, "particularly as we had already signed and accepted FIFA's offer."

As part of MasterCard's 2002-2006 agreement with FIFA, which was signed in 2002, MasterCard says it was granted the right of first refusal to be the official and exclusive payment solutions sponsor of future FIFA World Cup events. Therefore, FIFA was precluded from entering into such an agreement with Visa.

"Among the key terms we bargained for in the 2002-2006 FIFA World Cup sponsorship negotiation was the right to obtain future FIFA World Cup sponsorship opportunities and a critical aspect of any sponsorship -- particularly one as significant as FIFA World Cup -- is continuity and the building of equity over time," continued Hanft.

"MasterCard will vigorously pursue legal action to compel FIFA to honor the 96-page written and binding agreement it has with MasterCard, providing for us to be an official sponsor of the next two FIFA World Cups," he said.

"MasterCard continues to move forward with the important customer and consumer programming related to the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, which begins in June," said Lawrence Flanagan, Chief Marketing Officer, MasterCard International. "A significant number of our customer financial institutions, more than 300 of them, are activating business-building programs worldwide."

See also: Visa replaces Mastercard in FIFA partnership (6 Apr) and Follow the MasterCard to World Cup ticketing (30 Mar) and Man-United-branded Barclaycard charges into Asia (22 Mar)

Adidas' World Cup +10 Campaign and +Challenge

FIFA Partner, Adidas, is busy with plans to leverage the World Cup. Its +10 campaign, launched in November last year, celebrates 'team spirit' and features some of the world's most celebrated football stars such as Michael Ballack, David Beckham, Raúl Gonzales, Kaká, Alessandro Nesta, Juan Román Riquelme and Zinédine Zidane. Its +Challenge is a global grassroots program which started with a tournament in Rio de Janeiro in January and has been followed by global focus tournaments as well as local initiatives in over 30 countries including 12 Asian markets: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, The Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.

"Football is our passion and Adidas is the only authentic and innovative football brand. We understand the game and the psyche of the players out there better than anybody else," Adidas India managing director Andreas Gellner told Ashwin Pinto of Indian Television. In India, the company is "rolling out" the +10 campaign and +Challenge initiative across Chandigarh, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore, Goa, Hyderabad and Delhi. ESPN Star Sports, which will air the World Cup in India, is assisting Adidas for the event. "At each global tournament venue, India being one of them, 16 participating teams per age category (13 to 14 and 15 to 16) show their skills to get one of the 40 places for the global Adidas +Challenge final in Berlin, Germany from 1 to 4 July 2006,” Geller explained.

See also: Adidas fights off Nike/Puma 'World Cup' challenge (21 Mar)

India expects $400,000 FIFA training centre grant

The All India Football Federation is expecting to receive US$ 400,000 from the world football body, FIFA, to assist in setting up regional training centres in four different parts of India. "The centres will be used to train promising youngsters in the finer points of the game as well as referees and coaches to ensure that the standard of football improves in the country," an AIFF spokesperson told the Press Trust of India.

The AIFF is presently identifying the locations for the centres and the federation has written to its state associations to guage their interest. Once the AIFF makes its recomendations, in September, FIFA Development Officers will visit to assess the suitability of the venues. A final decision by FIFA will probably follow in October or November. "The locations should have a proper stadium and other infrastructure which could be augmented to world class status with the help of the FIFA grant," the spokesperson said.

Indonesia's Arema promised 07 Champions League

The decision of the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) to promise Arema Malang FC a place in next year's Asian Champions League continues to be protested by other clubs, the Jakarta Post reported.

In 2006 Indonesia's two slots in the Asian Football Confederation's top club tournament were allocated to the National League (Liga Djarum) grand final winner, Persipura FC of Jayapura, Papua and to the Copa Dji Sam Soe champion, Arema FC of Malang, East Java.

However both clubs were expelled from the Champions League because PSSI and its autonomous National League Board (BLI) had been late in sending the clubs' players' registration documents to AFC House in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. The AFC set 12 February as the deadline for the clubs to send the list of players but the Indonesian details were not received in time.

Arema was particularly incensed by the clerical error as it confidently stated it had sent its list to BLI on 9 February.

While Persipura seemed resigned to its fate, Arema demanded that the PSSI board resign and sought automatic inclusion for the 2007 edition of the AFC event. In February, under pressure from demonstrating Arema fans, PSSI chairman Agusman Effendi promised to meet the demands of automatic inclusion, which many commentators believed to be impossible.

On 31 February, BLI chairman Nirwan D Bakrie, accompanied by BLI executive director Andi Darussalam, BLI secretary Rogandi Soemadipraja and BLI manager Joko Driyana, met with Arema in Malang. 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.

Bakrie later told a press conference that all demands would be addressed by PSSI "and within two weeks, there will be a decision."

PSSI finally issued a letter to Arema Malang FC advising that it will be guaranteed one of Indonesia's two slots in the 2007 Asian Champions League. The PSSI decision, SKEP-24/III/2006, was signed-off by chairman Agusman Effendi and secretary general Nugraha Besoes on 25 March.

According to the Arema Malang supporters' website, the letter mentioned that Arema will play in the 2007 Asian Champions League but Persipura would receive "different compensation", which Arema fans labelled as "nominal".

As for their own club's superior 2007 guarantee? "PSSI didn't want to play a joke with death," the Arema fans commented.

See also: Arema to get answers on Champions League errors (12 Mar) and Indonesian club demands FA accounts for debacle (28 Feb) and AFC sacks ASEAN four from Champions League (25 Feb)

India's football captain to star in mobile games

Indian electronic game development company Paradox has announced an alliance with Indian football star Baichung Bhutia and his agent, Total Sports and Entertainment India, and has signed a two-year exclusive worldwide contract to create mobile game titles based on the popular football celebrity. Winner of the Arjuna award, Bhutia is the only Indian footballer to have played professional club football in England (Bury) besides a short stint with Malaysia’s Perek and MK Land. Currently playing for the renowned East Bengal Club, the striker has scored over 200 goals in his professional career.

Targeting the increasing appeal of football in India, Paradox will develop a mobile game with "an exciting mix of strategy, skill and speed" and will "even feature some of Bhutia’s signature moves" well known to football fans.

“Baichung Bhutia is perhaps the only player in Indian football history to gain such a star status," Salil Bhargava, CEO of Paradox said. "He is one of the most prominent sporting icons in India and we look forward to a dynamic association with him and TSEIPL. With India on its way to becoming a hotbed for the wireless platform, sports-based mobile games are particularly gaining a huge popularity with the audiences. Paradox, as an organisation, is committed to offer top-notch content to them.”

See also: Communists misuse Indian captain in election ploy (30 Mar) and Nike introduces India to Man United Premier Cup (17 Mar)

Australia may score 20 times increase in TV rights

Australian football may have succeeded in negotiating a huge increasing in television revenue. According to media reports, Football Federation Australia is soon to announce a A$120 million television, seven-year deal with domestic Pay-TV network Fox Sports until 2013. At about A$17 million a year, it is still small compared to the AFL's A$156 million per year and the National Rugby League's A$80 million per year deals but it positions the sport close to the A$30 million per year the Australian Rugby Union receives from Pay-TV for its three-nation Super 14 series.

Significantly, it is almost a 20 times increase on the contract for the A-League's 2005/06 inaugural season, for which Fox paid A$750,000 in total.

According to Tom Smithies in the Herald Sun, the package agreed by FFA chief executive John O'Neill and FoxSports chief David Malone, will give the network about 90 A-League fixtures every season, six Socceroos games, the Asian Champions League, in which two A-League clubs will play from next year, plus Australia's Asian Cup qualifiers and finals.

The eight A-League clubs, each carrying unsustainable losses from the first season, could receive "up to A$10 million each immediately paying the vast bulk of the players' wages [and] with next season's salary cap expected to be A$1.6 million, the cash transfusion will transform the landscape in terms of the ability to attract high-profile players, whose salaries are outside the cap, and opens up the serious prospect of current Socceroos being tempted to return to play in Australia. It also will give the FFA millions to spend on grassroots development, from coaching development to the provision of better facilities," Smithies commented.

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

England football acts to restrict betting corruption

English footballers were warned yesterday by their players' union leader that insider dealing to make money on the betting markets could wreck their careers as stiffer penalties are introduced to fight the growing gambling culture within the game. Brendon Batson, the Professional Footballers' Association chairman, (pictured left of Sports Minister Richard Caborn) stressed that incidents in the professional game were rare. "Players are very much aware of what they can or cannot do with regards to betting. If you're talking about inside information - privileged information - then they're not supposed to share that.

"Everyone knows Alan Shearer is injured and there's a game coming up on Saturday in which he's not going to play. But if that injury had occurred behind closed doors and it wasn't known to the public, then you have to be careful players are not phoning people up and saying, 'By the way, we're going to have a weakened team because our main striker isn't playing'," he told the Integrity in Sports Betting Summit, reported by William Johnson of The Telegraph.

The initiative comes at a time when Wayne Rooney of English Premier League powerhouse Manchester United, has been the subject of extensive reports on alleged gambling debts of £700,000, but Batson said the Rooney case had not been a catalyst for the plan. "That is a matter for that individual, his club and the players' association in terms of educating younger players in terms of the dangers in general. The dangers are being approached by people who are intent on corrupt practices and also of being too heavily involved in the gambling industry," he said.

At the summit, British Sports Minister, Richard Caborn, unveiled a 10-point anti-corruption sports code. Nine sports have already endorsed the code to help close the net on betting cheats.

"Sports betting has changed dramatically in recent years," the minister said in a statement reported by Kate Holton of Reuters. "Advances in technology and increasing popularity mean there are now more ways to place a bet than ever before. But we can't let a few unscrupulous cheats drag the good name of sport through the mud. That's why I'm pleased that from football to snooker, sport now recognises the importance of working with betting operators and the authorities to crack down on betting cheats."

Under the code, sports bodies must include provisions in their rules and regulations governing the behaviour of their members in relation to betting. Their members will be expected to avoid any conflict of interest. The bodies will be expected to work closely with the police, National Criminal Intelligence Service and the Gambling Commission if corrupt practices are discovered.

Betting on sport has always been popular in Britain, with figures from the National Audit Office in 2005 estimating annual turnover at $95 billion. "However, the nature of betting has changed in the past decade with a move to the internet and phone accounts allowing people to place a bet at any time from any place, not just with bookmakers but also directly with fellow punters," Holton commented.

Japan's J-League lottery fails to hold its punters

Japan's Resona Bank is demanding a government-affiliated operator of the national football lottery pay 14.4 billion yen in overdue commissions by mid-May, The Asahi Shimbun reported. The bank is considering a lawsuit if the National Agency for the Advancement of Sports and Health, an independent administrative agency under jurisdiction of the education ministry, fails to present a viable repayment plan.

The Toto lottery, which debuted in 2001, allows punters to bet on the professional J-League. Subsidies to foster athletes and improve sports facilities are meant to be alloted from proceeds.

Lottery management entered into a five contract with Resona Bank to sell tickets, manage funds and pay prize money. Under the contract, which expired last month, the bank is due a certain percentage of sales as commissions. Until 2002, Resona received commissions in accordance with the contract. In 2003 and 2004, however, the lottery operator paid only half of the commissions due to a slump in sales. In 2001, annual sales were 64.2 billion yen, well below the initial estimate of 200 billion yen. Sales are estimated at 14 billion yen for the year ended March.

The lottery operator has proposed payments in installments for what it owes Resona. But the bank said it cannot accept further rescheduling unless the agency presents an acceptable repayment plan. To reduce costs and increase sales, the agency has stopped using Resona and has begun managing ticket sales and other operations directly.

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology said it has no plan to use public funds to make the commission payments. "Lottery costs should be covered with lottery sales," a ministry official told Kyodo newsagency.

The Yomiuri Shimbun earlier reported that the accumulated deficit of the lottery scheme had surged from 15.4 billion yen at the end of fiscal 2004 to about 22.4 billion yen at the end of fiscal 2005. Sales have continued to be sluggish since a new season of the J-League started in March, and it was feared the sales will not reach the target again in fiscal 2006.

The ministry reportedly plans to revise its ordinance limiting the number of betting opportunities in the lottery to 50 times a year, aiming to increase the maximum number by 10 or so. The agency introduced new versions of the lottery in addition to the initial version betting on all results of 13 games.

In March, two punters each won 200 million yen at Toto, the biggest ever payout in the lottery's history. The winners, who correctly selected the results of the weekend's 13 J-League games, earned the huge payout courtesy of a jackpot that accumulated when there were no winners in previous events.

Betting scandal impacts on Vietnam's government

Vietnam's ruling Communist Party may be set for a change of guard after disclosures of a betting scandal has touched the highest echelons of the government. According to Jan McGirk in The Independent (UK) , both President Tran Duc Luong, 68, and Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, 72, are expected to announce their retirement when Vietnam's 10th National Congress ends next Tuesday.

"Their anticipated exits follow an explosive series of corruption revelations after the news that more than 200 civil servants embezzled £4 million in government funds - much of it foreign development grants - to gamble on mainly European football matches," she wrote.

General Secretary Nong Duc Manh told more than 1,100 delegates that the party's Central Committee must "seriously make a self-criticism" for allowing corruption to "threaten the survival of our regime" and McKirk pointed oit that "analysts predict that Mr Manh, until recently considered a certainty for a second term as party head, may become the most senior figure brought down by the scandal."

The Transport Minister, Dao Dinh Binh, was compelled to resign two weeks ago after news media broke a scandal involving almost 200 of his ministry's employees. Bui Tien Dung, arrested in January, served as general director of project management unit 18, Transport's infrastructure division. In a single month-long losing streak last year, he placed bets worth £1 million, including £180,000 on a Manchester United-Arsenal game, and £150,000 on a Barcelona-Real Betis match. Earlier winnings had been lavished on mistresses.

"Sports gambling is now an obsession across Vietnam, not just in government offices. It has become so widespread that the national sports ministry may introduce a legitimate system for football bets, to take the lucrative trade out of the hands of cyber-bookmakers and touts, and generate money for the state," McGirk commented.

See also: Vietnam's new regulations on footballer duties (13 Apr) and Vietnam plea for "major surgery on corruption" (5 Apr) and Vietnam Minister suspended over illegal betting (23 Mar) and Vietnamese officials bet thousands on football (2 Feb) and Senior official arrested for gambling in Vietnam (23 Jan)

Japan's registered "football family" tops 1.2 million

Japan Football Association's registered teams and players hit 1,255,892 mark for 2005, indicating the steady growth of the Japan football family, JFA reported. The number of players went up to 876,702 - 1.7% more than the previous year's 862,045. The biggest growth was seen in the number of futsal players, which rose from 101,619 to 120,472, an increase of 18.6%. In addition, the total number of 11-a-side teams is nearing 30,000 with 29,132 registered teams -- 195 better than the previous year's 28,937.

Japanese football's national governing body sees these figures as a positive response to their efforts. With the help of the newly introduced on-line registration system, 188,582 referees and 1,020 referee instructors have joined the family as well as 46,233 coaches from across the nation.

Following the 2002 World Cup, which Japan co-hosted with Korea Republic, the JFA set out to expand JFA membership holders to 2 million. In January 2005, the JFA made the "2005 Declaration" and unveiled additional mid- and long-term plans to increase the football family to 5 million by 2015 and 10 million by 2050.

See also: Japan FA builds flag pole highlighting 2050 goals (7 Nov 05)

Emirates Airline signs 8-year partner deal with FIFA

The world football body, FIFA, today announced that Emirates Airline has booked a "first-class ticket into the heart of world football" by signing up as a FIFA Partner from 2007 to 2014 in the product category Airline Passenger Services. This partnership, sealed by FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter and Emirates Group Chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum at a signing ceremony in Dubai, represents by far the largest sponsorship deal the airline has entered into at a value of $195 million and further underscores the enduring appeal of football.

Emirates becomes the sixth and final FIFA Partner, joining adidas, Hyundai, Sony, Coca-Cola and Visa in the top tier of FIFA's new sponsorship program that awards six blue-chip corporations the highest level of affiliation to FIFA over an eight-year period.

Emirates will enjoy core sponsorship rights to all FIFA competitions, including the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa and the 2014 FIFA World Cup, as well as to the world football governing body's special events and development initiatives. Emirates' association with FIFA began in 2003 when it was an Official Partner of the FIFA World Youth Championship in the United Arab Emirates. Soon after, the Dubai-based airline signed up as one of 15 Official Partners of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany.

"We believe sport is an ideal vehicle to communicate with our passengers and football is a perfect platform for us to share and enjoy their passion and commitment. This Partnership will enable us to achieve global awareness of our brand at football events all around the world as well as in our home territory of Dubai," said Sheikh Al-Maktoum.

“It is our intention for the United Arab Emirates to host a FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup during the rights period, which would be the first event of its kind to be held in the Arab world. Emirates becoming a FIFA Partner is good for Emirates, good for Dubai and good for the UAE,” he said further.

In addition to hosting a FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, Emirates can also choose to host a second official FIFA tournament in the UAE, further enhancing the country’s position as a centre of sporting excellence.

A part of its Partnership status with FIFA is that Emirates has a commitment from FIFA to ensure that at least 22 matches including the opening match, two quarter-finals, two semi-finals, the third place play off and the final of both the 2010 and the 2014 FIFA World Cups may be shown on free-to-air television within the territory of the UAE. Emirates passengers will also benefit as Emirates has the exclusive right to broadcast matches of the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cups either live or delayed on its in-flight entertainment systems.

UPDATE

Hisham Al Gizouli in the Khaleej Times (19 April) quoted FIFA president Joseph Sepp Blatter saying that "the future of the game lies in Asia". He wrote that Blatter pointed out to international and local press at the Park Hayatt Hotel in Dubai that "three of their six partners are from Asia where the largest economies and two third of the world's population existed."

See also: Emirates' Singapore boss on World Cup impact 10 Mar) and Will Singapore match the UAE sports challenge? (7 Apr) and
Another European club secures Asian sponsorship (7 Mar) and Emirates outlines its sports sponsorship vision (13 Feb) and Arsenal is England PL's "fastest growing brand" (8 Aug 05)

Mature England-German review of one World Cup

The International Centre for Sport History and Culture, De Montfort University, Leicester, in cooperation with the Centre for British Studies, Humboldt University, Berlin, is organising a conference on England v Germany 1966-2006 - Football, History and National Rivalry on Saturday 20 May to mark the holding of the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

The conference will focus on the sporting rivalry between England and Germany, drawing both on English perceptions of Germany and German attitudes to Britain, looking at sport in general and football in particular. Speakers will look closely at England’s 1966 World Cup victory and its consequences as well as the wider place of sport in Anglo-German relations. There will be an international panel discussion at the end of the day’s proceedings, which will include leading European journalists.

Papers presented at the day-long seminar will include Germany and the International Sporting Community in the 20th Century (Prof Christiane Eisenberg, Humboldt University, Berlin); England v Germany: Revisiting The Summer of 1966 (Prof Tony Mason, De Montfort University, Leicester): All Over? Not Yet. 1966 and Modern British History (Dr Dilwyn Porter, De Montfort University, Leicester): Football and British Attitudes to Germany (Prof John Ramsden, Queen Mary, London University); Football and Memories of post-war Germany (Dr Christopher Young, Cambridge University); and the historian Prof John Ramsden, Queen Mary, London University, will draw on his new book on Anglo-German relations to show how the film 'Escape to Victory' shores up national stereotypes.

Richard Holt, Professor of History at DMU's ICSHC who has organised the conference, said: "Beating Germany at football has become a national obsession. This conference aims to explore this issue from both a German and English perspective."

Further details available at the De Montfort University website (pdf).

Australia to host 2006 AFC Women's playoffs

The South Australian city of Adelaide will host the 2006 Asian Football Confederation Women's Championships on 15-30 July. Nine teams, including Australia, will do battle for a place in the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup. "The tournament represents the best women's football teams in Asia and with the prize of qualification on offer it will be highly competitive," Football Federation Australia chief executive John O'Neill told The Advertiser.

Australia's Women's U-20 team, the Young Matildas, overnight qualified for the FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship in dramatic circumstances after coming from behind to defeat Japan 3-2 with a goal two minutes from time in the Asian qualifying tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia overnight. The team created history by being the first Australian team to qualify for a FIFA World Championship since Australia became a member of the Asian Football Confederation on 1 January.

Australia will join AFC Champions China, whom Australia defeated in the preliminary rounds and DPR Korea as the three Asia representatives in Russia next September. "We have qualified for the finals twice before as a member of the Oceania Confederation, said coach Alistair Edwards. "But this time we are going as an Asian team and I can tell you that our players are proud to represent Asia in this competition and we will do our best for the continent."

Indonesian minister proposes new sports complex

The Indonesian national government is reportedly planning to build a Rp 400 billion (about US$44 million) sports complex in Sentul, Bogor, just outside the Jakarta Capital City Province, but as yet has only Rp 5 billion to finance the project, Tempo Interaktif reported Monday. With that kind of money, the magazine commented, the government could only build one football field and housing for athletes, on the allocated 32 hectares of land.

"We are hoping the private sector will also finance the construction of the sports complex," State Minister for Youth and Sports Affairs Adhyaksa Dault said after a meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla. Depending on financing, the government hopes the complex will be completed in 2009.

The central government, through the State Secretariat, currently controls the Bung Karno Sports Center in down-town Jakarta. The 297-square-hectares of prime real estate houses the country's best sports venues, including the national football stadium (pictured above) but much of its area has gradually been surrendured to shopping malls and upmarket hotels, managed by private companies that won contracts from the State Secretariat to operate them.

It is not yet clear if the proposed new sports complex will result in the conversion of the existing facilities to full commercial exploitation, an intitiative that would be vigourously opposed by the Jakarta provincial administration.

ESPN Star Sports 'must share' World Cup in India

The Indian government has published its list of non-cricket, domestic and international sports events which must be shared with the public broadcaster, Doordarshan, over the next five years. The mandatory sharing of feed of listed events is part of 'downlinking' standards announced by the government in November 2005 and includes the summer and winter Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and Afro-Asian Games.

The list shows the increasing popularity of football across India. For domestic football, it includes the semi-final and final matches of the Subroto Cup, Santosh Trophy, Federation Cup, Durand Cup, National Women's Football and Junior National Football. All AFC Asia Cup matches featuring India must be shared as well as the tournament's semis and final.

However, also listed are major international competitions involving few or no Indian players or teams such as the semi-final and final matches of the UEFA European Cup and FIFA World Cup.

Earlier this month, ESPN Star Sports reached in-principal agreements with Doordarshan to cover shared broadcasts if the government listed the FIFA World Cup. According to Indian Television, ESS, which holds the exclusive rights for the India region, would share the feeds on a 75:25 revenue share basis.

See also: ESPN Star Sports targets 50% growth in S Asia (17 Mar) and
Cumulative World Cup viewers in India to top 804m (3 Mar)

How to avoid cable and watch live football for free

One of Singapore's leading newspapers has exposed how football fans are watching live international football on their computers, free of charge. According to Wang Meng Meng in The New Paper, applications such as PP Live, PP Stream, TV Koo, TV Ants, QQ Live, Feidian and SOP Cast have enabled fans to side-step paying subscription fees for cable television.

"Utilising peer-to-peer (P2P) technology, users with broadband internet access and with Windows Media Player (version 9.0 and above) installed on their computers are now able to stream live football matches and watch them on their screens. Instead of relying on servers, a P2P network depends on the computing power (the speed of the users' computers) and the collective bandwidth of the group to provide the fastest loading speeds for the moving images," he explained.

While Singapore's local cable television provider StarHub does not broadcast live football on the internet, foreign companies, particularly in China, are doing so and are offering a huge variety of leagues and games. With the help of websites like www.asiaplate.com, one is able to get an online TV guide and find out what games are live and which foreign channel is beaming it on the net.

Wang quotes one user of the service about its drawbacks: "Download times can be painfully slow sometimes. And programmes could be interrupted, which can be irritating when you watching a nail-biting match. Also, the images are not of the best quality. It is often pixellated. But what to do? It's free," he said.

StarHub told Wang that accessing the football through P2P is probably illegal. "StarHub believes that such acts constitute an infringement of intellectual property rights of the owners and the licensed broadcasters of the English Premier League, and viewers may incur personal liabilities for such unauthorised viewing. StarHub and ESPN Star Sports take a very serious view of this matter and would expect to take appropriate action against such unauthorised viewing, the company's corporate communications manager, Caitlin Fua, said.

Tajikistan wins inaugural AFC Challenge Cup

Tajikistan has won the inaugural Asian Football Confederation's Challenge Cup, defeating Sri Lanka 4-0 before a 5,000-strong crowd at the Bangabandhu National Stadium, Bangladesh on Sunday, AFCMedia reported. It was Tajikistan's first-ever title at continental level. The tournament provides a platform for international competition for 16 teams from emerging and developing countries in Asia: Afghanistan, Taiwan, Philippines, India, Guam, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Palestine, Brunei, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Macau, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Tajikistan.

As soon as Iranian referee Hedayat Mombini blew the final whistle, Tajikistan footballers rushed to coach Sharif Nazarov, giving the 60-year-old big hugs before tossing him into the air. “I may look old but I feel the youth is still inside. I want to work as long as I am alive," said Nazarov. “We came here to win the trophy and we are champions. Certainly, this victory is going to develop the game in our country," he told AFCMedia. “We have also proved that we are able to play at a higher level. I congratulate my players for keeping the tempo from the start and winning it."

Runners-up Sri Lanka won the Cup tournament's Fair Play Trophy. The Golden Boot went to Palestine striker Fahed Attal, who scored eight goals including a double-hattrick in their 11-0 win over Guam in the opening match. Tajikistan midfielder Ibraguim Rabimov was adjudged the Most Valuable Player.

See also: Sponsors for AFC Challenge Cup 2006 unveiled (29 Mar)

HR Minister's World Cup advice: Take your leave!

Malaysia's Human Resources Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Fong Chan Onn, believes workers should be allowed to take their annual leave to watch FIFA World Cup matches. “This is so that high levels of productivity can be maintained,” he told The Star. “It is advisable for those who are on normal working hours to apply for leave rather than be caught falling asleep at their workplaces after watching the matches,” he said.

Four years ago during the last World Cup, Dr Fong had said workers should be allowed to enjoy matches rather than to give lame excuses for not coming to work by producing fake medical certificates or being late for work. Dr Fong had also previously suggested factories provide facilities for their workers to watch live telecasts during break time. This, he said, could help foster better relations between employer and employees and would help boost workers’ performance.

ESPN Star Sports targets 50% growth in S Asia

ESPN Star Sports is targeting a 50% growth in South Asia in 2006-07 on the back of the FIFA World Cup. According to ESPN Software India vice president sales and marketing, Sricharan Lyengar, the satellite sports broadcaster is maintaining its subscription revenues from Indian cable TV operators while direct-to-home (DTH) has thrown up "an added opportunity" with Dish TV claiming close to one million DTH subscribers and new operator, Tata Sky, preparing for launch by the middle of the year. The "peripheral markets" of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are also expected to grow.

"We plan to make the World Cup bigger than India cricket," he told India Television. "That, at least, is what we will strive for. The frenzy has to flow into the rest of the football properties that we have and drive in more viewership for the English Premier League and Spanish League. The World Cup will create a bunch of new superstars who audiences will follow even after the event is over. Undoubtedly, the two leagues where these superstars will play are the EPL and the Spanish League. We hope to improve the stickiness for that kind of football as well. The big challenge for us is to exploit the World Cup in driving a new spike for football in future."

Asked what are the goals have been set for the World Cup, Lyengar said he expected the strong content "will provide us the handle to get our channels back on some of the cable networks where we were off and drive in higher revenues. Besides, it will help us reduce the average credit period in the market. With the World Cup, we will also start focusing in rural markets. We have packages for these operators ... What we need to do now is sell them ... We should have marketed EPL ... five years back when we dominated cricket content. As market leaders, we should have used the opportunity to popularise multiple sports as drivers."

Contribute to the "Words for Football" anthology

The co-editors of a forthcoming anthology of world literature related to football, Words for Football: World Literature on Soccer and the Human Condition (University of Nebraska Press), invite original submissions for possible inclusion. Essays, poetry, diaries, memoirs, short fiction, interviews, ethnographies, field reports, video and audio transcripts, dramatic readings, and plays — of no more than 5,000 words per submission— on all aspects of football, its culture, and place in daily life are welcome.

They are especially interested in contributions from Asia about the grassroots game, women’s soccer, and the meaning of football as a political, psycho-social, and aesthetic component in communities and among persons around the world.

Submissions in languages other than English are encouraged, if accompanied by an English-language summary of 100 to 150 words. The deadline for submissions is 1 June 2006. Please include a mailing address and e-mail address.

If your contribution of original work is accepted — either in full or in abridged version — you will receive a consent-to-publish form for your approval and a complimentary copy of the anthology when published.

Address or e-mail submissions as documents or PDF attachments to:

John Turnbull
The Global Game
629 2nd Ave
Decatur GA 30030-4827
USA

Email: submissions@theglobalgame.com

Feel free to forward this message and to post in appropriate forums. Please contact the co-editors with any questions or with leads to preexisting material of which they may not be aware.

Goan comments on proposed Indian Pro League

The All India Football Federation has released its draft club regulations for its 2007-08 Professional League based on the recommendations of Asian Football Confederation under the Vision India Strategic Development Plan and the FA of the country's leading football state is the first to offer comments.

“With Goan clubs forming a majority as far as representation at the [current] National Football League is concerned, it remains to be seen how effectively the clubs of both corporate and non-corporate origin make the most of the prescribed guidelines in order to streamline themselves to achieve higher standards of professionalism in Indian football,” Goa Football Association secretary Savio Messias told the Navhind Times. He added he would soon convene a meeting of Goan professional clubs to deliberate and interact at length on the guidelines.

Anthony Botelho, chairman of GFA’s youth development committee and former GFA secretary, said it was essentual that clubs fall in line but they need to be given more time to do so. "I believe that the National Football League should take a break now as was the case with the Japanese League which started flourishing once it commenced from the scratch. There is need for the AIFF to start afresh and look ahead positively before it wishes to re-launch the Professional League in 2007-08. I thought these regulations should have been enforced before the NFL was launched in the Indian circuit in 1996 itself, which in retrospect was done hastily. It’s 10 years too late,” he said.

He commented that the allocation each club's proposed budget for investment on facilities needed to be doubled to 20%. “Facilities such as practice grounds for the clubs besides home stadium and other training infrastructure form an essential part of the guideline for attaining professionalism which is very vital,” he said.

He also stressed the need to concentrate more on youth development as it was the clubs at the grassroot which essentially formed a major source of player supply to the bigger clubs and they needed to be compensated as per FIFA regulation. “The regulation is in force in Goa but there aren’t many clubs seeking compensation despite being entitled for their dues and not many clubs who need to compensate smaller clubs do so despite the provisions being made,” he said.

See also: New national Indian Professional League in 2007/08 (12 Apr) and AFC tells India to focus of club and player growth (4 Apr) and AFC notes progress in 'Delhi Vision" pilot project (30 Sep 05) and India told "not to let the momentum go" (21 Jul 05)

NZ Knights FC given reprieve by FFA's A-League

Brian Katzen, a London-based South African, is making a name for himself in owning football clubs that, so to speak, cross frontiers. Qualified as a Chartered Accountant with a Bachelors and Masters degree in Finance and Accounting, Katzen, spent four years working public accounting firms, then ten years working in the finance areas of manufacturing and distribution companies (specializing in seasonal companies and in working through successful turnaround situations) before co-founding Octagon Holdings in 1997, "a highly diversified international private equity firm that focus's on businesses that have a particular niche within an industry and that are poised for significant growth and expansion".

Among the ventures he's nursed back to health is the Swansea Football Club, which is based in the second largest city of Wales but plays in the neighbouring English Football League. In the space of four years the club has returned to the English Football League's Division 1 and is fighting for promotion to the Championship. "They've also built a new 20,000-seat stadium and crowds have increased from 3000 to an average of 14,000," noted Michael Brown in the New Zealand Herald.

Katzen's other football investment, the New Zealand Knights, is an even more interesting venture. The Knights, play in Football Federation Australia's professional 8-team Hyundai A-League, a competition not only in a neighbouring country ... but also in a neighboring continental zone - the Asian Football Confederation rather than New Zealand's home Oceania Football Confederation.

The question as to whether the Knights are an Australian club playing in NZ or vice versa may have to be determined if the club ever wins the A-League Championship or Premiership and qualifies for the AFC's Champion's League.

At the moment this seems a long way off as the Knights were the A-League's worst performing franchise - in terms of on field performance, crowds and marketing - in its inaugural season. In March, FFA Operations Director, Matt Carroll commented, "New Zealand is a concern".

This week the Knights concluded a round of discussions with FFA and New Zealand Soccer regarding the club's plans for the 2006-07 A-League season. Meetings were attended by Carroll, Katzen, Knights CEO Steve O'Hara and New Zealand Soccer CEO, Graham Seatter.

"Discussions over the past few days have proved fruitful in forging a partnership between the New Zealand Knights and New Zealand Soccer. There is still much work to be done but the club is aware of this. We will continue to monitor the Knights developments, just as we do with all A-League clubs. Overall, I am pleased that progress is being made," Carroll said.

Graham Seatter is also committed to supporting the Knights and sees a bright future for the franchise. "We echo our comments of recent weeks and months that New Zealand Soccer is committed to supporting the Knights and helping them succeed in the A-League. The meetings have proved beneficial in that respect as we explore all opportunities to build on the relationship and help develop the game in New Zealand," he said.

In the FFA press release, Katzen added that he was pleased with the outcome of the two days discussions and reaffirmed his commitment to the club before he headed away to spend the Easter break with his parents who live in New Zealand. "The FFA and New Zealand Soccer have both been very helpful in our discussions and will continue to provide great support and advice to the Knights. We are very clear in our aspirations and goals for the new season and beyond and have a dedicated team of staff, coaches and players working hard to ensure a successful future," he said, officially.

However, he also told Michael Brown that his goal was "to push to win the league every year because we are not doing it for fun, you know. We're here to make money, otherwise I wouldn't be around."

He also emphasised he wouldn't panic about the loss of $3 million last season as "everything is a long ride. It takes years to get things right because in business, you have to invest for the long term, otherwise it doesn't make sense. If you want a quick fix, it's like gambling. [What happened] last year makes me feel even more strongly about getting it right. It makes me want to prove to myself and other people that we can make it in a rugby-mad culture."

Katzen admitted to Brown that he probably didn't take enough of an active role last year and has already become more involved this time around to get things right.

UPDATE (9 May)

New Zealand Knights chief executive Steve O'Hara has been axed after just seven months in the job follows the resignation of manager John Adshead last month while board member Chris Turner has also quit the club, citing the growing influence of the FFA. "It came out of left-field and its taken me the whole weekend to recover, I'm very upset," O'Hara told Martyn Watterson. "I was rung by the chairman (Anthony Lee) and told the FFA said, if they were going to have continued involvement, they didn't want me to be in place. (Majority owner) Brian Katzen has obviously accepted that, or agreed with it and so that's how it came about."

He said it was more beneficial to have New Zealand interests backing the Knights, who finished with the wooden spoon last year. "In hindsight, what I should have done is everything I could to have the club 100 percent New Zealand owned. New Zealand investors will be resident here and will understand what's going on, whereas (UK based) Brian Katzen is 12,000 miles away. I believe that's not in the best interests of football because you need to be here to understand what's going on."

UPDATE (12 May)

FFA head of operations Matt Carroll has confirmed New Zealand Knights will not be able to use the A-League as a launching pad for playing on the world stage - even if they win the championship. From next season, two A-League clubs will qualify for the Asian Champions League, with the winner of the ACL going on to play in the lucrative FIFA Club World Championships.

"This is a new problem for the AFC [Asian Football Confederation] because New Zealand is, of course, a member of Oceania, whereas Australia is a member of Asia," Carroll told Michael Cockerill of the Sydney Morning Herald. "So are the Knights a New Zealand club playing in Australia or an Australian club resident in New Zealand? Their players are registered to us [Football Federation Australia] but I don't think either FIFA or the AFC are inclined to see it that way.

"We are now talking to Soccer New Zealand about a solution. If the Knights were given a place in the Oceania play-offs, I would imagine they would have a great chance of qualifying for the Club World Championships.Given that all the other clubs in Oceania are basically amateur, I would suggest that having the Knights playing regularly in the CWC would be the best way of branding New Zealand football on the world stage."

Pakistan "will host" the third AFC Presidents Cup

Pakistan will host the Asian Football Confederation's third President’s Cup at Jinnah Stadium next year, Pakistan Football Federation president Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat told the Daily Times. He said top Asian teams will participate in the event which will "boost the soccer promotion campaign being launched by the national federation.”

The AFC Presidents Cup is a tournament for league champion clubs from Asia's emerging footballing nations and was first won by Tajikistan's Regar-TadAZ in the play-offs in Nepal in 2005. The 2006 event, being held in Cambodia from 10-20 May, includes Transport United (Bhutan), Tatung (Chinese Taipei), Khemara (Cambodia) and Pakistan Army (Pakistan) in Group A and Dordoi-Dynamo (Kyrgyzstan), Ratnam Sports Club (Sri Lanka), FC Vakhsh (Tajikistan) and Manang Marsyangdi (Nepal) in Group B.

Hayat said international exposure builds confidence among the players and federation is trying its best to provide such opportunities to the players. He added that Pakistan's improving international ranking had been praised by FIFA president Sepp Blatter. “In my recent meeting with FIFA president, he promised to visit Pakistan after the World Cup to inaugurate FIFA House in Lahore,” he said.

FIFA House is a modern facility built at a cost of $800,000. It houses a football academy, coaching centre and allied facilities for holding seminars and coaching clinics for the benefit of the technical officials.

FIFA provided a grant of $640,000 through its Goal Project, the PFF generated $375,000 from its own resources, the Prime Minister of Pakistan gave a grant of Rs 10 million and the land was given by the Punjab state government.

AFC training and festival fortnight in Islamabad

The Asian Football Confederation will start two-week-long training programs and activities on Friday afternoon in Islamabad, Pakistan. The course includes a 13-day coaching course starting from Friday, a referee's course from 18-20 April and the AFC Under-14 youth festival from 22-26. April. Five countries including host Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan will participate in the activities, Xinhua newsagency reported.

Pakistan Football Federation Secretary General Arshad Khan Lodhi has assured Punjab Football Association President Muhammad Arshad Khan Lodhi and District Football Association President Mian Mubeen Razzaq that the PFF has taken effective age-verification procedures to eradicate players using fake-documents at the U14 Football Festival, The Pakistan Tribune reported.

Japan FA opens new Academy in Fukushima

The JFA Academy Fukushima, is a new school established by the Japan Football Association with the cooperation of Fukushima Prefecture and three towns from the prefecture in order to raise top Japan players. The opening ceremony, held at a hall in Tomioka, was attended by JFA honorary patron Princess Takamado, Fukushima Governor Eisaku Sato and JFA president Saburo Kawabuchi, as well as JFA ambassador and former Japan international Masami Ihara, the JFA reported.

For the inaugural year, 17 boys in the first year of junior high school and 23 girls, from the first year of junior high through the first year of high school, out of a total of 202 applicants, successfully passed the entrance selection. "I hope you will work hard with the pride of having been selected and with modesty, and become a player who can represent Japan and the world," Kawabuchi said in a speech at the ceremony.

The Academy, headed by JFA technical director Kozo Tashima as school master, was designed with the hopes of "raising top-class players with a cosmopolitan sense".

All the students will stay at a residential hall and go to schools in the area for academic studies while taking football lessons at the J. Village national training center under the guidance of JFA authorized coaches, with former Institut National du Football chief Claude Dusseau serving as special coach. The INF produced leading players such as Thierry Henry and Nicolas Anelka and has become a model for the JFA Academy.

"The Academy is one of the things we (JFA) are obliged to start in order to meet the promise of making it into the top 10 in the world, which we stated in the 2005 Declaration," Tashima commented. "We won't get the results immediately, but we should try our hardest."

AirAsia takes Malaysian U20 squad to Man United

Malaysia's national Under-20 squad, preparing for the Asian Youth Championship in Kolkata, India, in October, has been offered the opportunity to train and play against some of English Premier League club Manchester United’s budding stars. The squad, coached by K Rajagopal, will leave for a training stint at Man United’s football academy in Carrington, England, at the end of the month, which will culminate with a friendly against the Academy team.

The tour is sponsored by Malaysian private airline, AirAsia which is also the "official Low Fare airline" of Manchester United. Its "indefinite" sponsorship of the Malaysian Under-20 squad, apart from arranging the United stint, is also to ferry the team around various parts of Asia for training, friendly matches and competitions.

“FAM is grateful to AirAsia for their generous support towards the Under-20 team,” said Football Association of Malaysia general secretary Datuk Seri Dr Ibrahim Saad told local media. “AirAsia is committed to the development of youth in Malaysia through sports and our association with Manchester United has created the opportunity for us to contribute to the development of Malaysian football,” replied AirAsia Berhad CEO, Datuk Tony Fernandes. “It is our hope that the Malaysian Under-20 team will gain from this once-in-a-lifetime experience and be on their way to becoming world class players,” he said as quoted by New Straits Times.

Vietnam's new regulations on footballer duties

Following the match fixing scandal that tainted Vietnam's men’s football squad at the SEA Games 2005 in the Philippines, the Vietnam Football Federation has issued strict regulations on athlete roles, rights and responsibilities at international events. According to Lan Phuong in Thanh Nien, the newspaper of Vietnam’s Youth Association, this is the first official written document issued by VFF, "drawing on experience from internal disagreements among coaches, managers and footballers of the Vietnamese national football team".

Two of the most notable details of the eight-page-long Regulation of six chapters and 17 articles are athlete obligations to voice opinions and the roles and responsibilities of officials.

"The team’s head coach Alfred Riedl spoke highly of the regulations, saying they would help members behave professionally with clearly defined roles for both players and officials. The Austrian coach also said officials should not be the only ones allowed to speak to the press, as long as confidential lineup information is not given out. Vice captain Phan Van Tai Em said the regulations are fair as footballers can contribute ideas to officials on everything from training to tactics," Lan reported.

See also: Vietnam plea for "major surgery on corruption" (5 Apr) and Vietnam Minister suspended over illegal betting (23 Mar) and Vietnamese officials bet thousands on football (2 Feb) and Senior official arrested for gambling in Vietnam (23 Jan)

Speculation on future of Australia football leaders

There is media speculation of the future of Football Federation Australia's top two leaders. While Frank Lowy (pictured left), Australia's second richest man, said on the eve of the A-League grand final that he would stay on as FFA president for the another four years, Chief Executive John O'Neill is into the final nine months of a three-year contract and has not heard from Lowy about whether his term will be extended. "Lowy, of late, has acted more like an executive president, rather than a ceremonial one, raising the question of whether he will assume this role when O'Neill's term expires after the World Cup," commented sports writer Roy Masters in The Age.

"The status of president is all that counts in the corridors of FIFA, the organisation that runs the world's most popular sport. O'Neill would prefer the position of FFA executive president but if his term is not renewed, it's a role he would consider at the Australian Rugby Union, his former employer ...

"O'Neill (pictured right) has overseen the successful push into Asia, the renaming of the brand, launching the A-League and, of course, secured Hiddink to lead Australia to Germany. He is also renegotiating the Foxtel TV contract that could allow all A-League clubs to break square. But this does not deliver indispensability. FFA will hold elections in November for the first time since the federal government-initiated Crawford Report in 2003 demanded reform in the sport in exchange for a $15 million aid package," Masters wrote.

According to Masters, one A-league team co-owner ridiculed the idea of busy Lowy, boss of the international Westfield property group, taking a hands-on role, saying: "putting Frank in charge of FFA would be like asking Rupert Murdoch to run the National Rugby League."

FFA director and also Chairman of the Fairfax newspaper group, Ron Walker, made it clear Lowy was "the man" although he described O'Neill as "a first-class operator". He told Masters: "As long as Frank Lowy is there, I'm there. He's more than chairman of the board, he's boss. The way he's going, particularly his relationships with (FIFA boss) Sepp Blatter, we'll have a World Cup in Australia before we're in wheelchairs."

FIFA facing World Cup ticketing and swaps issues

World Cup tickets are trading on the black market because organizers have made it difficult to swap unwanted ones, fan groups and retailers told Ryan Mills of Bloomberg newsagency. Of 2.93 million tickets available for football's showpiece in Germany, fewer than half go directly to the public. Ruling body FIFA put 600,000 on sale after December's draw, when fans first got to know where their teams would be playing and is now restricting swaps. Demand has outstripped supply by five to one. The fifth and final round of applications starts 1 May.

"Fans are put in the unnecessary position of going to the black market because of the absurd way that FIFA runs the whole thing," Kevin Miles, an international coordinator for England's Football Supporters Federation, told Bloomberg.

FIFA last month started its own web site for transfers and yesterday set up a service allowing fans to appeal to an ombudsman if their request is turned down. Fans may only swap unwanted tickets under circumstances including illness or death, failure to get a German visa, or an 'act of God'. The ruling body also allows transfers within the family and says more widespread trading would be unfair to fans banking on the lottery. There were 52,653 transfer requests and 10,919 tickets for resale as of 9 April.

FIFA says 'black market' buyers risk being denied entry to games because tickets contain a chip with information personal to the original purchaser.

2007 AFF Cup venues and participants announced

The 2007 ASEAN Football Federation Cup, South East Asia's ultimate trophy, formerly called the Tiger Cup, will be co-hosted by Malaysia and Thailand. By virtue of their track record, Rizal Hashim reported in the Malay Mail, six teams have qualified automatically for the final rounds of the group competition which has been scheduled for January and early February next year. They are Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

The last two slots in the final round will be contested by five teams – Laos, Cambodia, Brunei, Timor Leste and the Philippines – in the preliminary competition to be held in the Philippines this coming November.

Two other members of the Asian Football Confederation - Australia and the Maldives - have been designated to the ASEAN sub-region for AFC administrative purposes but are not members of the AFF and are only included in AFF tournaments by invitation.

See also: US$2M sponsorship still sought for ASEAN Cup (17 Oct 05) and Vietnam concerned about Tiger Cup sponsorship (11 Oct 05)

New national Indian Professional League in 2007/08

After a decade-long experimentation with the National Football League the All India Football Federation announced that it will take another step towards professionalising national football. Addressing media at Football House in New Dehli after a two-day workshop on club development, Asian Football Confederation general secretary Peter Velappan confirmed that Indian football clubs "will have to sign a contract to play in the AIFF pro league, which will begin from the 2007/08 season".

The AIFF's new regulations are based on AFC guidelines, AIFF regulations and the local environment, India Times reported. And clubs must comply to be eligible to participate from 2007-08.

The AIFF has circulated the following draft regulations to state associations and to clubs who have asked to submit their comments by 30 April 2006:

Draft Club Regulations

Introduction

* These guidelines are recommendations by AFC in accordance with Vision India Strategic Development Plan. They set out the principles for regulatory requirements for the clubs to be eligible to participate in the AIFF Professional League.

* AIFF will develop and adopt their own Club Regulations for the AIFF Professional-League based on the AFC Guidelines, AIFF Regulations and the local environment.

*The clubs must comply with the Club Regulations established by AIFF to be eligible to participate in the AIFF Professional-League from season 2007/08. Specifically, there will be a legal contract between AIFF and the clubs participating in the Professional League. This contract will set out the contractual obligations of both AIFF and the Clubs. In particular, it will deal with the financial obligations of the clubs to AIFF and to their players.

* At the end of 2007-08 season, AFC and AIFF will review the Club Regulations and make the necessary adjustments for the subsequent season. The regulations should set higher targets for the clubs each consecutive season.

Guidelines

Legal Status

1. The Club should be a registered member of AIFF and/or its members.

2. The Club must be a legal entity complying with the local regulatory requirements. The club can be a corporate entity, members’ clubs, society or any other legal form permitted in India.

3. The Club must have a written constitution or statutes that set out their goals and objectives, organisation structures, ownership and administration. AIFF will oblige the clubs to include specific clauses governing

the operation of the clubs, their participation in the Professional League, their obligations to the League and AIFF and a code of conduct.

4. The Clubs must commit to and abide by a Code of Conduct governing the behaviour of its officials, technical staff and players.

5. The Club must specify a designated officer (or officers) who is (are) legally responsible for the Club and can sign binding contracts and agreements on behalf of the club.

6. The Club must abide with their constitution or statutes and must comply with all the legal and reporting requirements of legislation relevant to their status.

Structure and Administration

7. The club must have a Board, Management Committee or similar decision-making body, which has the authority to make decisions on behalf of the club and to appoint persons to implement such decisions and to administer the club.

8. The club must have a Head of Administration (General Manager, General Secretary or Executive Secretary). The Head of Administration must be a full-time position and must be consistently available and capable of managing the business of the club.

9. The Club must have a full-time Marketing/Development manager.

10. The Club must have a full-time event manager.

11. The Club must have an office for its administrative operations. The office should be equipped with modern telecommunication facilities.

12. The administration must have the capacity to deal efficiently with all decisions, instructions and requests of AIFF and the AIFF Professional-League.

13. The Club must have the capability to organise matches to the standard required by the AIFF Professional-League. The Club is responsible for the safety and security of referees, visiting teams, officials and fans. The Club will appoint a competent official to be responsible for all match arrangements and event management at designated home matches.

14. The Club will appoint a competent official to be the media officer for the club.
The Club must provide AIFF with written evidence that they are structured as above and have the capabilities specified. This will include the name and job descriptions of the people with the responsibility for the roles specified in the AIFF Club Regulations.

Finance

15. The club must have guaranteed financial resources that ensure it can meet its financial commitments for the duration of the season, with written evidence and guarantees supplied to AIFF.

16. The club must provide a budget plan to the AIFF that projects its income and expenditure for the season. AIFF is entitled to screen the documents and assess whether the club is able to financially sustain

its participation in the AIFF Professional-League. These documents must be submitted six weeks prior to the commencement of the League each season.

17. Not more than 70% of the budget can be spent on players and technical staff. At least 10% must be spent on youth development programmes with 10% on administration and 10% on facilities. (As the clubs develop, the proportion of the annual budget spent on players and technical staff should be further reduced.)

18. The Club must have the capacity to sell and control the ticketing for its ‘home’ matches. AIFF will specify the specific requirements for the clubs in this area.

19. A sponsorship for a minimum of two seasons duration for the club is strongly recommended, aimed at securing a stable foundation for the development of the club.

20. The club should establish and keep proper financial records. The club should set up and maintain an auditing mechanism on its financial performance.

21. The Clubs must provide audited accounts, on a confidential basis, to the independent AIFF Club Regulation Committee, within two months of the end of each season.

Access to Facilities

22. The Club must have access to a ‘home’ stadium for all its designated ‘home’ matches at the time scheduled by the AIFF Professional-League. This must be in the form of a written agreement between the club and the stadium owner. A copy of this agreement must be provided to AIFF. (AFC recognise that the local authorities must be consulted and their agreement received. The police (security) issue is particularly important. The objective is for the club to have guaranteed access to the stadium for its allocated home matches throughout the season).

23. The ‘Home’ stadium must have:

¨ Good playing surface

¨ Dressing rooms (Condition and facilities to be specified by AIFF)

¨ Referees room (Condition and facilities to be specified by AIFF)

¨ Administration rooms (Condition and facilities to be specified by AIFF)

¨ Media facilities for print, radio, live TV broadcast and electronic (Condition and facilities to be specified by AIFF)

¨ Conference & interview room

¨ Medical room

¨ Spectator facilities (including VIP area, hospitality area, family area and covered seating). Each area must be secure and have the facilities necessary.

24. The Club must designate an alternate home stadium to be used when its official home stadium is not available. This alternative stadium must have the facilities specified in these regulations.

25. The club must have access to adequate training facilities when required. This must be for a minimum of fifteen hours per week. This access must be in the form of a written agreement between the club and the owner of the facilities. A copy of this agreement must be provided to AIFF.

26. The training facilities must have the following.

¨ A full sized football pitch of good quality

¨ Balls, cones and other necessary training equipments

¨ Changing and shower facilities.

¨ Gymnasium

¨ Treatment room

(The quality and suitability of the training facilities must be approved by AIFF)

Technical & Youth Development

27. The club will have a minimum of twenty and a maximum of twenty-five players registered with AIFF for its senior team.

28. The club must establish written contractual relationships with its coaches and its players. A standardized contract will be used.

29. For season 2007/08, The Head Coach of the club must have a minimum of AFC ‘B’ License. AFC, jointly with AIFF, will organise a ‘B’ Licence course, for both new and existing coaches, in September 2006. For season 2009/10, the minimum requirement for the Head Coach of the club will be an AFC ‘A’ License. AIFF can specify higher coaching qualifications if this is practical. Also qualifications should be specified for assistant coaches, youth coaches and other technical staff.

30. The players must have access to sports medicine services and treatments. The players should have insurance coverage for their injuries and accidents occurring when playing, training and travelling. (AIFF need to specify the precise requirements)

31. Each club must appoint a club doctor (available as and when required) who is a specialist in the treatment of sports injuries to ensure that the players receive speedy and expert treatment for injuries

32. Each club must have a full-time qualified physiotherapist who is qualified in sports injuries. (AIFF will specify the qualifications required.)

33. The Club must participate in the league in the spirit of fair play and must accept all decisions made by the AIFF, the AIFF Professional-League Committee and the disciplinary bodies of AIFF.

34. The Club must commit to and formally sign the Code of Conduct for the AIFF Professional-League.

35. The clubs must commence youth programmes and play in a youth league from season 2007/08 onwards. These youth leagues will be established by AIFF and the State Football Associations at state level. AIFF will set out the format and duration of the competitions and the details of the club youth development programmes in terms of qualification of coaches, number of coaching sessions, the physical development of the players, the number of competitions and the education of the players.

36. Ideally, the club should establish strong links with local football clubs and academies, elementary and secondary schools, colleges and universities for both sports and community development purposes.

Identity and Fan Support

37. The club must register its name/identity, logo and colours (two sets) with AIFF.

38. The club must register its name and logo as a trade mark.

39. The club must have a stable identity. The club’s identity, colours and logo should remain constant and cannot be changed without the permission of AIFF. (This does not mean that sponsors’ names cannot be reflected as part of the name.)

40. The club should submit to AIFF and implement a year-round Programme to build up strong community support and a solid fan base. This is particularly important for the corporate clubs.

41. The Clubs must establish fan clubs in the local community to develop its fan base.

See also: AFC tells India to focus of club and player growth (4 Apr) and AFC notes progress in 'Delhi Vision" pilot project (30 Sep 05) and India told "not to let the momentum go" (21 Jul 05)

SportsAccord to appear in Beijing in April 2007

The organisers of SportAccord have announced that the international sports event will be returning to Asia in 2007. The fifth annual SportAccord convention will take place in the Beijing, China, host city of the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games on 23-27 April, 2007. The convention is a once-a -year opportunity for the commercial sector to meet with the sports movement, bidding cities and organising committees, to learn, to network and to do business.

"It is the place to discuss the key issues facing the sports movement alongside sponsors, architects, sports lawyers, broadcasters and other specialists. The convention includes open conference sessions, workshops, seminars, scheduled networking opportunities and an exhibition, all scheduled around the Associations’ meetings," Asian Football Business Review was told.

The 2006 event at the Hotel InterContinental in Seoul was attended by 900 delegates who were addressed by speakers selected from the most influential people in world sport. For the first time those sessions will be available to view over the internet, following a project in association Narrowstep, who were on hand to record all the conference sessions. Visitors to the website will have the opportunity to purchase and view any or all of the sessions.

Argentinia's Boca set to expand its brand in Asia

Argentina's Boca Juniors FC wants to expand its "brand" in Asia! According to Debora Rey of Associated Press, the club has followed the model of Real Madrid and Manchester United over the past 10 years and now hopes to match the success its team has had on the field - five Argentine titles and eight international trophies since 1998 - with prowess in business.

The latest promotion is part of the club's ultimate goal to go global and increase upon its annual gains of about $10 million. Boca has played friendly matches in Asia, has close ties with a club team in South Korea and an active fan club in Japan.

"For the first time we have designed a marketing plan in the club, something unprecedented for Argentina soccer. We see the potential of business," said Orlando Salvestrini, a representative from Boca Crece, the business that is managing the club's image. This will be a multinational promotion of the Boca brand as the club already licenced some 250 domestic products and servuices including a major credit card company, a sports apparel manufacturer and a tire maker.

"We want Boca to be a world brand," said Boca president Mauricio Macri.

Big Bollywood budget for Agnihotri's football movie

A new generation of Indian film-makers is to weave stories around football. "One of the most memorable ‘entry’ shots in Bollywood history is a drenched and dimpled Shah Rukh Khan racing through the football field in Dilwale Dulhaniya La Jayenge. He may not have done a Saptapadi a la Uttam Kumar, but his goal-scoring skills were enough to get the girls going deewana even before Kajol had set sights on her hero. Since then, Arjun Rampal’s tried the soccer act and so has Aftab Shivdasani, but that magic has clearly been missing. Football, of course, has never quite managed to rise above the montage sequences on the Bollywood screen despite Gurinder Chadha scoring so big with Bend It Like Beckham aka Football Shootball Hay Rabba," Pratim D. Gupta wrote in The Telegraph of Calcutta.

But now director Vivek Agnihotri is making a "mega soccer film" with some of the biggest names in Bollywood. “I am making it for UTV and they won’t make anything small after Rang De Basanti,” Agnihotri said. “It is a huge project on the scale of films like Krrish and Don. The game of football is the device I have chosen to tell my story. I am obviously not making a documentary on the sport.”

The film, tentatively titled Football, is being mounted on such a huge scale that UTV has got special permission to shoot the World Cup matches in Germany this summer, the footage of which will punctuate the movie. So, the shooting of the movie officially kicks off with the world’s most-watched sports tournament in June.

Turkmenistan League and Cup play-off schedules

The new Turkmenistan football league season kicks off on 15 April with eight teams competing. The Central Asian nation's top clubs include MTTU, Nebitchi, Merv, Turan, Shagadam and newcomers Ashgabat FC, Nisa and Kopetdag. The league will be played on a four round-robin format, AFCMedia reported. The last eight draw for the Turkmenistan Cup will match MTTU against Shagadam in the quarter-finals while holders Merv will play against Kopetdag. The other face-offs will be between Nebitchi-Ashgabat and FC Turan-Nisa. The quarterfinals home and way matches will take place on 15 and 19 August, the semifinals on 23 and 27 August and the Cup Final on 28 October in Turkmenbashi city.

Chelsea FC meets with China Football Association

English Premier League champion Chelsea Football Club met today with the Chinese Football Association and their worldwide strategic partner Infront to discuss a possible long-term co-operation arrangement. The three-and-a-half-hour meeting took place in Beijing where Chelsea was helping to promote London as part of the Mayor of London's delegation visiting the Chinese capital and Shanghai, the club's website reported.

The first stage of the arrangement will be an invitation to the Chinese Olympic team to train at Chelsea's academy and first team training centre at Cobham before the 2008 Beijing Olympics. That offer was revealed in Beijing on yesterday by Chelsea and the Mayor of London as part of the spirit of Olympic co-operation between the two cities who will host the next two Games in 2008 and 2012. The offer to use Cobham was confirmed and discussed at the meeting with leading members of the CFA.

Further details and logistics of the team's visit, as well as other potential aspects of the relationship will be discussed in more talks between Chelsea's chief executive Peter Kenyon and business affairs director Paul Smith with Infront.

"We had an excellent meeting with the CFA in which it was clear there was a mutual aim of assisting Chinese football through help to their Olympic team in the short-term, and to explore the possibilities of developing a longer relationship that would benefit both parties. Chelsea has always made it clear that the three key markets for the development of the club world wide are London, China and North America. This trip has been a great opportunity to further the first two of those and we recently announced a major strategic alliance in the United States with AEG," Kenyon said.

"The philosophy on all of these is that Chelsea wants to establish long-term partnerships which not only benefits Chelsea and the English Premier League but also the development of grass roots and top-flight football in these areas. In China, for example, 13 major European teams toured last summer, with few seeking to leave a deeper lasting market legacy. That will not be Chelsea's approach and we look forward to further positive dialogue with the CFA."

See also: Chelsea FC an official London ambassador to China (8 Apr) and Chelsea to China and USA to become 'World No 1' (30 Mar) and Chelsea for partnering not exploiting Asian football (2 Mar).

New trophy for nostalgic Singapore-Selangor rivalry

The island Republic of Singapore and the Malaysian state of Selangor will rekindle old friendships and contest for a new trophy when the all-star selections from both sides meet in May 2006 for the Sultan of Selangor’s Cup. According to the Football Association of Singapore website, the annual friendly fixture, now into its fifth edition, will be held at Singapore's National Stadium for the second time. “No one can erase the history between the two sides that harks back to the days when the old Malaya Cup started,” said Organizing Committee co-chairman Teo Hock Seng of Singapore. “We want to continue the fervent following of the rivalry between Selangor and Singapore. I am sure that we can draw a respectable crowd for this event.”

Teo’s Malaysian counterpart, Dato Abdul Karim Munisar, was also upbeat about the chances of the event’s continued success, after seeings crowds of 40,000 in 2004 and over 80,000 in 2005 when it was hosted at Selangor’s Shah Alam Stadium. “Many fans remember the nostalgic rivalry between Selangor and Singapore and this tie is sure to bring a special focus that will attract many spectators,” said Dato Karim. “The last two years have been a spectacular success with very good fan turnout, and I am sure we can continue to foster a good relationship between people from both sides.”

Besides maintaining old bonds, there will also be a new prize on offer, as the Sultan of Selangor has decided to raise the prestige factor of the event with a trophy he had personally acquired in London. The sparkling sterling silver trophy, valued at over S$100,000, is symbolic of "a friendship between two sides who share a football history which is almost 100 years old".

World Cup Cheer Park for Japan's Samurai Blues

To cheer along the Japanese national team's World Cup, campaign, the Samurai Blue Park, an official supporting area for fans in Japan, will be launched in Yokohama on 28 May. Located in the Red-Brick Warehouse in Yokohama, visitors will enjoy various activities and events such as Japan national team related films, German food and writing messages on a special form for the national team. Admission will be free. The opening hours of the park will be from 1 pm to 9 pm on weekdays and from 11 am to 7 pm on Saturdays, Sundays and national holidays. The final day of the park will be decided depending on the national team's performance.

See also: Samurai swords add edge to Japan's World Cup kit (8 Nov 05)

AFC president addresses missile attack on pitch

Asian Football Confederation president Mohamed Bin Hammam drew attention earlier this month to an exchange of missiles resulting in damage to football grounds in Israel and Palestine. "This is a crime against Palestine sports facilities and I will defiantly write to the confederation and Arab football associations," he said as quoted by Digger Matt Scott of The Guardian (UK).

The Palestinian stadium in the Gaza district, constructed under FIFA's Goal project, was struck by Israeli rounds in retaliation for rockets fired by Palestinian militia which hit a football field and surrounding facilities at Kibbutz Karmiya in Israel and caused light injuries to one person.

However, as the incident took took place at a time when the Palestinian national football team was taking part in the AFC Challenge Cup in Bangladesh, Hammam reportedly held a meeting with Palestine FA assistant general-secretary Nahid al-Hour and FIFA president Sepp Blatter ,who were in attendance, to discuss the situation.

Jerome Champagne, a representative of FIFA's president for special affairs, subsequently sent an official letter to Aviv Shiron, Israeli Ambassador to Switzerland (where FIFA is based), asking for an explanation. "We have just asked for explanations," Champagne told Associated Press in a telephone interview. "FIFA has been fighting for more than a century to make this game universal. To hit a football field is really the wrong signal."

The ambassador told Jeremey Last of the Jerusalem Post that, after checking with the authorities in Israel, "I got back to them [FIFA] saying that in the framework of Israeli activities against Kassam rockets and its launchers apparently the field was hit." Shiron said he also raised with FIFA the issue of the Kassam that hit the football field in Karmiya but that FIFA had not yet responded.

According to the Israel Football Association website, FIFA accepted the Israeli explanation and Champagne, in a telephone conversation with IFA General Secretary Haim Zimmer on 7 April, "stated unequivocally" that FIFA had no intention of imposing any sanctions on Israel and was not considering asking any other body to take action. The website said IFA has very close and continual dealings on a close personal level with FIFA President Sepp Blatter, General Secretary Urs Linsi and with Champagne and that Champagne was personally involved in the decision in 2004 to allow Israeli national teams and clubs to host international matches on home soil.

The IFA emphasised that "it always views positively FIFA's requests to assist the Palestinians and has often intervened with the Israeli authorities to help arrange travel permits for Palestinian national team players to travel to international matches" and "also tries to assist in other matters concerning Palestinian sports and their sports officials."

The IFA made no mention of incidents listed by foreign publications commenting on political acts of violence against Israel that were connected with football. These included an alleged official Palestinian football tournament named after a suicide bomber who murdered 31 people at a Passover celebration at the Park Hotel in Netanya in 2002 and the suicide bombing of the Maxim restaurant in Haifa in October 2003 which injured three officials from the Israeli club Maccabi Haifa.

FIFA subsequently announced that it will cover the costs of the rehabilitation of the football pitch of the Palestine Stadium. FIFA President Blatter said in a statement that in the world of today, which is disrupted by long-lasting disputes and violence, football is one of the very few universal tools mankind can use to bridge gaps between nations and peoples, and to symbolize what unites our planet over what divides it.

"I call on the relevant authorities to do everything they can to allow Palestinian and Israeli football to develop", said Blatter

However, the incident did draw attention to the anomaly that while Palestine plays in the Asian Football Confederation, neighbouring Israel plays in Europe - particularly as Israel was one of the 12 founding members of the AFC in 1956 and won the Asian Nations Cup in 1964 (runners-up in 1956 and 1960). Its youth national team won the Asian Nations six times and the Israeli league champions, Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Hapoel Tel-Aviv, won the Asian Champions Cup in three of its four first editions. As an Asian nation, Israel qualified for the quarter final stage of the Olympic football tournament in 1968 and the final stage of the World Cup tournament in 1970.

Apparantly, as a result of increasing numbers of Arab and Moslem countries joining the AFC, Israel was "expelled" from the confederation in 1974 and spent 15 years in international limbo (sometimes playing World Cup qualifiers through the Africa, South America and Oceania football confederations) until invited to compete in the European club cups in 1991. Three years later IFA was accepted by UEFA as a full member. In 2000, Israel made it to the playoffs of Euro 2000 and, in 2002/03, Maccabi Haifa became the first Israeli club to qualify for the UEFA Champions League.

Both the Israel FA and current Palestine FA claim their roots to the same Palestinian Football Association, founded in 1928 during the British Mandate and affiliated to FIFA as a full member the following year. Non-league games in the territory were organised much earlier: an Arab football team was reportedly formed in Al Rawdha school in Jerusalem in 1908 and the first "organised match" of Jewish clubs took place in 1912 between Maccabi Reihovot and a combined team of Maccabi Jaffa and Rishon Le Zion (later to become Maccabi Tel-Aviv).

The PFA was the first territorial sports federation in Palestine and was composed of Jewish, Arab and British army and police teams. National cup competition began the same year and a national league was founded four years later with the participation of nine clubs. In the 1934 World Cup qualifiers, a PFA representative side was beaten over two legs by Egypt, losing 1-7 and 1-4 in Cairo and Jerusalem respectively. The team's first goal ever was scored by Avraham Nudelmann. By playing in that qualifier, the team had the distinction of being the first from Asia in the World Cup. The PFA also participated in the 1938 World Cup qualifiers.

With the division of the British Mandate of Palestine into Jewish and Arab territories by the United Nations in May 1948, the original PFA split and the Israel Football Association was admitted directly to FIFA. However the current Palestinian FA was only affiliated in 1998.

Israel's first international game as an independent state was played in September 1948 when the national team made a tour to the USA. Domestically, the game has progressed consistently since the current national league was founded in October 1949. Despite constant threats and acts of war and terrorism against the country - intense enough for FIFA not to permit internationals being played in Israel until 2004 - there is a 12-team Premier League and four other divisions of 52 clubs which broadly represent the country's Jewish and Arab communities.

In 2004, the Arab-supported Hapoel Bnei Sakhnin FC won the Israeli Cup and qualified to play in the UEFA Cup. "It's important for me and for all the Arabs in Israel and all the people who believe in peace and co-existence," Shuwan Abbas, the team captain, told the BBC. "I think it's very important for the whole country to know how to practice co-existence."

According to the Palestinian page on the AFC's website, football development in the Arab territories was "short-lived" between 1948 -1967 when the West Bank district was administered by Jordan and the Gaza district by Egypt and during 1967-1994 when both districts were controlled by Israel. Since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, football activity has been on the rise with considerable assistance from FIFA. More recently, construction of a new PFA headquarters in the city of Beyt Lahya was funded by FIFA's Goal project and FIFA is also currently involved in the completion of tenders for the laying of three much-needed artificial turf pitches, one of which will be at Beyt Lahya HQ, with the others in Ram and Ramalla.

Problems remain: the PFA national team does not play any 'home' matches in the traditional sense of the word, with the bulk of Palestine's fixtures over the last two years staged in the Qatari capital, Doha. The team also has never trained on home soil; instead they use the Egyptian town of Ismailia, some 120 kilometres north of Cairo, as their base.

Domestically, the PLA has no permanent league and communication both inside the West Bank and between the West Bank and Gaza is difficult. "On many occasions, merely being able to collect 18 local players for a match can prove challenging due to the logistical and security issues entailed in leaving the West Bank and Gaza Strip, even for the short border-crossing into neighbouring countries, although the recent re-opening of the Rafah border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt undoubtedly signalled a significant change for the better," FIFA recently reported. The world body also acknowledged that it has worked "in conjunction with the Israeli FA to obtain the necessary visas for Palestine's national and club teams."

In November 2005, a joint Israel-Palestine team played a friendly against European powerhouse, Barcelona FC, before 32,000 fans at Nou Camp Stadium in Spain. The game was organised and financed by the Peres Centre for Peace and the Abu Shukr Sport Centre in Ram Allah and designed to promote peace between Israelis and Palestinians. A spokesman for the Peres Centre for Peace, Alon Beer, told Khalid Amayreh of Aljazeera.net the trip to Spain by the joint team was coordinated with the top echelon of the Palestinian Authority, including PA President Mahmoud Abbas and national security adviser Jebril Rajoub. "Our goal is to bring as many Palestinian and Israeli children together," Beer said.

Emirates' Singapore boss on World Cup impact

For Stephen Chu, the last few years have been a footballing revelation. "Before 2002, I really didn't pay much attention to football, let alone the World Cup and all its noise," the 62 year-old country head and area manager (Singapore and Brunei) of Emirates Airline confessed to Aldizon in the popular Singaporean tabloid, New Paper. "You could say that I wasn't really into it, although I did play some street soccer during my youth. And I really didn't understand why my two sons had such a passion for Manchester United," said Chu (pictured far right with fellows of Singapore's tourist industry).

When Emirates "went big" on football sponsorships around 2002, Chu had a sudden learning curve. The airline linked with English Football League club Chelsea and S-League team Home United in Singapore's domestic competition. In 2004, Emirates snared EPL's Arsenal in a $280 million agreement, which included rights to the Emirates name for the club's new 60,000-capacity stadium. And in the 2006-2007 season, the Gunners will wear shirts with the 'Fly Emirates' logo etched on them.

Then there's Emirates' official partnering of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. "It's the crown jewel of sports. It is the sport that can attract such a big crowd, and such a big TV audience all over the world. It engages people. This year's World Cup will attract over 28.8 billion viewers from more than 200 countries. That's about a billion viewers daily. And that's good for us,' Chu explained, adding, "Our involvement is good for our customers too. A lot of people who want to go to Germany can't get seats on Germany-bound flights.

"'Let's say they can eventually get there, but they can't find a hotel. Finally, when they can find a hotel, they can't find tickets. It's our aim to bring the game to our customers. All the countries in our network are selling the World Cup package. We transport them to the venue, provide them hotel rooms (which are in short supply) and top them off with free tickets to watch the games."

For Emirates, Chu's Singapore operations is an important gateway destination in the Asia Pacific region, with 42 flights weekly to Dubai (which offers connections to 80 destinations), seven flights a week each to Brisbane and Melbourne, and four times weekly to Jakarta. Chu's office is also part of the Emirates Skycargo route network, in addition to the cargo services it operates on its passenger flights.

New Paper asked Chu if his busy operation will be impaired or even compromised during the World Cup months. "I don't really mind if my entire Singapore office suffers from exhaustion after getting up in the middle of the night to watch the matches ... but I will leave it to each individual to see how far they could go. I want everyone to have a good time without compromising their health or our service levels," he replied.

See also: Another European club secures Asian sponsorship (7 Mar) and Emirates outlines its sports sponsorship vision (13 Feb) and Arsenal is England PL's "fastest growing brand" (8 Aug 05)

Rival electronic football games hit on to Korean TV

The rivalry between two popular electronic football games is extending on to South Korean TV screens with two game channels starting nationwide tournaments. Two months ahead of the World Cup kick off in Germany, the broadcasters are using famous football commentators Shin Moon-sun on SBS and Jang Ji-hyun on MBC ESPN to raise interest in their prefered video games.

Ongamenet, the leading game channel in Korea, started a FIFA '06 tournament on Saturday. The tournament features eight professional gamers and 24 amateurs, making it a competition of 32 teams in the same format as the real World Cup. The teams are split in eight groups to play the first round, and then are put into a do-or-die round of 16. The winner will be awarded 5 million won prize money. Four tickets to Germany's World Cup will be given to all semi-finalists.

"FIFA series is the only football game that has the license of FIFA," Kal Min-kyung, Electronic Arts Korea's public relations manager, told Cho Jin-seo of the Korea Times. "FIFA '06 has all the details of the players, teams and the game venues of Germany World Cup.''

The rival MBC Game's football show, using Winning Eleven 9 LE as its title, is comprised of nine separate seasons until December. The winners of each season will face off against each other in a playoff series at the end of the year. Developed by Japanese firm Konami, Winning Eleven puts an emphasis on realistic gameplay. Gamers can control every aspect of the game and can easily apply various tactics and formations without interrupting the game.

"I don't believe it will be very different from real football matches, MBC's Jang told Cho Jin-seo. "The games are based on real-world statistics so it won't be very difficult for me to commentate for the game show," he said.

Chelsea FC an official London ambassador to China

English Premier League champion club Chelsea Football Club has been named as an 'official ambassador' of the United Kingdom's capital city by the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. The honour came as it was announced that Chelsea FC chief executive Peter Kenyon will be part of a high level Mayoral delegation to China next week.

Lifelong Chelsea fan Lord Sebastian Coe, who led the capital’s successful bid for the 2012 Olympics, is also one of the ambassadors on the trip.

"It is a great honour for the club to represent London in this way. Chelsea's roots and heritage are set in our location in the capital, and if this can assist in promoting London in China then we are delighted to do that. We are also excited by the opportunity to help promote Chinese football and the English Premier League on this visit," Kenyon told the club's website.

The delegation’s trip is designed to promote co-operation between London and China, in particular the cities of Beijing, which will host the 2008 Olympics, and Shanghai.

The Mayors of London, Beijing and Shanghai will sign agreements to that effect while London will open offices in the two Chinese cities to promote the capital as a destination for Chinese business people, tourists and students.

Chelsea are building substantial football relationships in Asia. Kenyon recently held talks with the Asian Football Confederation, the first time a major European club had been in direct dialogue with the AFC. Those talks focussed around the AFC’s grass roots development program, Vision Asia, with a specific interest in Vision China and how Chelsea could help these programs.

Chelsea FC is sponsored by South Korean consumer electronics company Samsung.

See also: Chelsea to China and USA to become 'World No 1' (30 Mar) and Chelsea for partnering not exploiting Asian football (2 Mar).

Malaysians will be hard working at FIFA World Cup

Eight Malaysian football identities will be making contributions to the FIFA World Cup tournament in Germany during 9 June - 9 July. Asian Football Confederation general-secretary Dato' Peter Velappan already sits in the organising committee of the World Cup but leading the way on the operational side are AFC deputy general-secretary, Dato' Paul Mony Samuel who will be general coordinator at the Nuremberg Frankenstadion where England, Mexico and Japan will see action and FIFA development officer, Windsor Paul John who will be general coordinator for Berlin’s Olympiastadion, the venue of the opening match between Brazil and Croatia on 13 June, a quarter final and the Cup Final on 9 July.

"It is a honour to be appointed as the general coordinator for the World Cup, more so as I will be handling the Berlin venue where the final will be played," W Paul John told S Selvam of the New Straits Times. The role of the general coordinator is to ensure that all aspects of organising the matches, before, during and after the matches are well taken care of.

Former New Straits Times sports editor Lazarus Rokk, will be assisting FIFA director of communications Alain Leiblang to helm the Main Media Centre in Berlin while Dr Gurucharan Singh is a medical committee member, Nazri Abdullah is an assistant referees instructor, R. Indran is a security officer and Lim Kim Choon is with the technical study group.

ESS' EPL is watched by "80% of cable viewers"

ESPN Star Sports has announced that UK land wholesaler Profitable Plots has come on board for India coverage of the English Premier League. Profitable Plots will be an associate sponsor for the magazine show Malaysia Airlines Football Extra in the current EPL season, as a well as the upcoming 2006/2007 season which kicks off in August 2006. The show is broadcast on Sunday mornings with highlights from the previous day’s EPL action, interspersed with comments, phone-ins and email reactions from Asian supporters.

In addition, the company will be the presenting sponsor of ESS’ Goal of the Week competition during the 2006/2007 season. Each week, the contest will be promoted online and on-air on Football Focus, Here We Go, Goals! and Premiership Saturday. Football fans will then be invited to vote for their favourite goal in the Profitable Plots Goal of the Week competition.

According to ESS, its coverage of the EPL has scored its own goals "by becoming Asia’s most watched sports programming". Compared to viewers in England, sports fans in Asia get to watch ten matches each competition week, most of them live. The rest are on a quick turnaround and are accompanied by a line-up of programming that covers predictions, highlights, news and information as well as pre- and post-game analysis. "By the close of the season in May 2006, sports viewers in Asia would have seen up to 380 league matches on the two channels."

The channel claims that across Asia, more than 138 million viewers watched its coverage of the English Premier League during the 2004/2005 season. That represented 80 percent of cable viewers in the region. Another 60% enjoyed the action out of home. (Source: Infosys Singapore, Tam India, Nielsen Taiwan Telescope, CSM China).

A representative of Profitable Plots told Indian Television that by associating English Premier League football "with our own English Premier Land investments we can continue our growth and brand awareness".

Great success for Vision China's new "city clubs"

A China Football Development Conference will be held in Qingdao on 25 April as part of the Asian Football Confederation's Vision China project. The masterplan for developing and promoting football in China has made rapid strides after being implemented in Qingdao and Wuhan and this has encouraged the AFC and the China Football Association to hold the conference and introduce Vision China to 15 other football designated cities.

The conference will report on the status of Vision China and the success of the Qingdao and Wuhan projects, discuss and agree on the objectives of, and strategies for, the expansion of Vision China and football development in China, gain stronger and sustainable support for Vision China and football development in China from all levels - government, Ministry of Sport, Ministry of Education, business sector, media and the public.

AFC President Mohamed Bin Hamman and General Secretary Dato Peter Velappan will arrive in Qingdao on the afternoon of 24 April where they will attend the Qingdao City League Awards night. Following the next day's conference, the AFC officials will travel to Wuhan to attend the Project Wuhan School Football Awards Ceremony after attending a Wuhan School League match.

The AFC has already summarised the successful "metro" club model that has emerged in the Wuhan City League competition. Dong Feng Honda (DF Honda) Football Club, an amateur outfit founded by DF Honda Ltd in 2003, has set a successful precedent by staying in the top three since their second place finish in the 2005 season. DF Honda was also named the Best Club of the Season.

"A successful performance on the field is essential for building a successful club,” DF Honda’s general manager Liu Yvhe told the AFC's website. “Considering the realistic situation in China, I called up most of my players from different football schools, offered them not only a daily internal company job, but also a real chance to extend their football dream. We are working hard on building our own football culture and promoting football in grassroots rather than building an expensive club with short financial life-expectancy. Those players could have a monthly salary from their regularly job, plus a certain amount of allowance for the time involved in any competition and training. By doing that, we are running our first team and reserve team with 30 players each without any financial burden. That certainly insures our club’s financial and performance stability ...

"The Wuhan City League ... is a perfect platform for a grassroots football club like us who is looking for more playing time in a well organised league with healthy competition structure. We will also improve our performance within the City League as more football talents are discovered," he added.

The "metro" club concept may be a model for other emerging markets. Clubs are fundamental to football, both to play in competition and to develop football talents," said Brendan Menton, Director of AFC National Associations. "One of the big success of Vision China in its first year is the creation of many football clubs in both Wuhan and Qingdao.”

See also: Second phase of 'Vision Asia' in two Chinese cities (13`Dec 05) and Corruption threatens football growth in China (22 Jun 05)

Nokia promotes football "defend your turf" in India

Nokia India is rolling out a regional youth activation campaign based around its sponsorship of the English Premier League coverage on ESPN Star Sports. The 'Defend your turf' challenge was developed by 141 Worldwide, after the agency secured the project in a mid-2005 pitch against Saatchi & Saatchi.

Beginning 10 April, five-a-side footballers will compete to become the national champions with the prize of taking on the 'Boys from Brazil', a team of promising Brazilian football talent, Televisionpoint reported. The most valuable player of the tournament will be offered an overseas football training stint.

141 and Bates are the lead strategic agencies, working with Nokia's local market PR agencies which include Text 100 and Ogilvy PR. Above-the-line support includes a 'Defend your turf' TV promo, airing on ESS' Football Crazyshow, featuring the Brazilian players playing football "with a range of everyday objects".

Research identifies real cost of stadium ownership

New research at Cass Business School in London estimates that only 16 out of a sample of 92 English football clubs can afford the land they are using for their playing ground and recommends that clubs facing chronic financing problems, should investigate ground-sharing with neighbouring clubs, Soccer Investor reported (7 April). The study was carried out by Tony Key, Professor of Real Estate Finance and Dr Vicki Law at the Real Estate Finance and Investment Group at Cass.

Prof Key and Dr Law have produced a rule for the average attendance a club needs in order to generate enough revenue to justify the balance sheets: land value must be higher than residential land values in each area of the country. In central and greater London for example, where residential land commands upwards of £3 million an acre, a club would need to attract over 60,000 spectators to secure the land from property predators. In regions where land value is under £1 million per acre, 15,000 would secure solvency.

Professor Key and Dr Law created a football grounds database combining accounts data (turnover, debt, value of property on the balance sheet), ground capacity and attendance, the rents clubs could afford to pay as assessed by the Valuation Office Agency, plus estimates of what their grounds cost to redevelop, or what they would be worth if sold off for residential development.

It shows that in 2003 League clubs held £1.1 billion of property assets on their balance sheets, accounting for 90% of their tangible assets. As a typical construction cost of £1200 a seat, their stadia would cost £2 billion to rebuild. To finance that use of capital, they had a gross revenue of £1.5 billion, made a pre-tax operating loss of £213 million and they already had debts of around £1.2 billion.

"Football clubs make money on the land they use usually valuable urban land primarily on match days. That is an awfully light usage of land compared with covering it with houses or shops, for example. On average, football clubs are carrying £73 worth of property assets on their balance sheet for every £100 they make in gross revenue. That's twice as much as the average retailer. Only the hotel industry needs more property to generate a pound in income than football clubs," Professor Key explained.

The research states that clubs could ground-share with other clubs, co-locate with other sports, or build ancillary businesses with music, dining, catering and community facilities. "As pairings, Arsenal and Tottenham, Everton and Liverpool. Aston Villa and Birmingham, Chelsea and Fulham, would generate enough revenue to pay land prices for their grounds well above competing residential development and potentially generate large capital receipts from the sale of one ground," Colin Brady, author of The 90-Minute Manager: Lessons from the Sharp End of Management, commented.

However Prof Brady said clubs lack reliable evidence on the revenues and costs of a range of solutions for their ground sharing problems: "The work on grounds has been one of several studies of the football industry we have done at Cass and this work on the management of grounds is just one of the issues we will be looking at through wider surveys of clubs, as part of a general effort to apply management best-practice to the football industry."

Chelsea brothers still want to play for Philippines

Two Philippines brothers skipped the inaugural Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup in Bangladesh this month because they were worried about losing their reserve team places at English Premier League champions Chelsea. "If there was a chance I might lose my reserve team place, I wasn't going to risk it," 18-year-old striker Philip Younghusband told Talal Malik of Reuters. Midfielder James Younghusband, 19, added: "Last time, me and my brother played for the Philippines we weren't really in the [Chelsea reserve] team much - we found it hard to get back into it."

At the April 1-16 international tournament, the Philippines were knocked out after drawing two matches and losing one. "Maybe if the forward from Chelsea, the younger Younghusband was there, probably he could have scored and helped the team," said Jose Marcelina Carpio, deputy acting general secretary for the Philippine Football Federation. "Their level of football is different than other players in terms of maturity."

The brothers feel playing in qualifiers next November for the ASEAN Football Championships should not jeopardise their Chelsea commitments but might satisfy Philippine fans. "Don't think we've ignored the Philippines because we haven't gone to this tournament," Philip said. "There were concerns and we didn't want to risk it but we'll be playing soon hopefully."

Will Singapore match the UAE sports challenge?

Can Singapore's new Sports Hub compete against massive petrodollar investments on the sand dunes of the United Arab Emirates? "We are building world-class sporting facilities with the aim of bringing serious, world-class sport," said Englishman Malcolm Thorpe, marketing director for Dubai Sports City. "People are very used to going to the States and seeing fantastic sporting facilities anywhere you go. People don't say that about the Middle East [however] It's not just in the Middle East, but in Asia and what is known as the developing world, the culture of sports is going to drive very fast forward," he told The Star (Malaysia)

With a population of about 1.5 million, Dubai has broken ground on its Sports City, a $2 billion complex hosting five primary sports venues: a 60,000-seat outdoor stadium, a 25,000-seat cricket stadium, a 10,000-seat indoor arena, a 5,000- to 10,000-seat field hockey and and athletics venue and an Els-designed golf course. Manchester United has opened a football academy there and the ICC, which governs world cricket, relocated from London last year and is planning a training academy. American Butch Harmon is opening a golf school and David Lloyd is doing the same in tennis.

With a population of 850,000, Doha, the capital of UAE neighbour Qatar, has budgeted about $2.8 billion for the 1-5 December Asian Games, including about $700 million for its Sports City project. The centerpiece is the 50,000-seat Khalifa stadium, opened in 1976 and recently remodeled. The 15,000-seat Aspire Hall, completed last year, will host many of the Asian Games' events. Organizers also have built a 2,000-seat basketball arena and a neighboring aquatic center. The Aspire Academy for Sports Excellence opened in 2004 and is training 140 student-athletes - 75 percent from Qatar. Organizers expect 450 in five years, with a goal of 1,000. The academy also hopes to add 70 women by 2009. It already has coaches from 20 countries and has recruited athletes from Africa - and there are plans to recruit Brazilians - to beef up the football academy.

"This will confirm the position of Qatar on the map of sport business," said Abdulla Khalid Al Qahtani, director general of the Asian Games Organizing Committee. "Hopefully by the end of the games, we'll be the center of sport excellence in the Middle East and be recognized as a center of excellence in Asia."

Other Gulf states are constructing sports venues. The Formula One season began last month in Bahrain at a 2-year-old track. In Oman, a leisure-based facility called Blue City is planned to house sports venues and training academies.

See also: Singapore tenders for new national sports complex (1 Jan) and Local challenge to Man United's Dubai Academy (10 Nov 05) and Dubai targets football and global sports business (25 Sep 05)

Infront becomes exclusive marketer of Team China

Switzerland-based Infront Sports & Media has became the exclusive marketing partner for the Chinese men's and women's national football teams. The sports company, a marketing partner to the Chinese Super League and its wholly owned subsidiary, Beijing Infront Sports Consulting, signed an agreement with China Football Association that runs through to the end of 2010.

According to the agreement, Infront will work with the CFA on the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. It also includes the implementation of a comprehensive technical development plan for the teams in close partnership with the CFA. This will involve recruiting experts in specialized areas such as coaching, nutrition, scouting and mental conditioning. Furthermore, Infront will be responsible for organizing all the home and away friendly matches according to the requirements of the CFA.

The agreement also covers all key aspects of the marketing and technical development of the Chinese men's and women's national teams at all levels, breaking new ground in its approach. On the commercial side, Infront will market all sponsorship (except kit supply), television, new media and image rights.

"Infront has come up with an exciting concept. It is prepared to commit resources not just to the commercial program but to the development of the teams. In other words, it is sharing risks and rewards as a fully committed partner, identifying with the success of Team China in the most profound sense," said Xie Yalong, vice chairman of the CFA, as quoted by Xinhua.

According to Paul Wong, Infront's man in Beijing, the company has been working closely with the CFA in the last three years. "China has the world's largest television audience, rising consumer wealth and a public passionate about soccer. It has been called 'an embryonic superpower of world football', whose market is now an essential part of any forward-thinking brand's global strategy," he said.

Man U's $99m AIG shirt sponsor deal targets Asia

The shirt sponsorship deal between Manchester United FC and American International Group Inc, the world's largest insurer, announced today for US$98.98 million (£14.1 million/year for four years) is worth 57 percent more than the £9 million a year United has been receiving from Vodafone Group Plc.

However, while it is the largest shirt sponsorship in the United Kingdom, it is the second largest deal in the world -- just behind Tamoil's €22m deal with Juventus. Next is the €17m/y deal between Deutsche Telekom and Bayern Munich, equal with the Real Madrid and BenQ-Siemens deal for €17m/y, which also starts next season. Fifth is the €14.5m/y deal between Chelsea and Samsung Mobile announced last year.

However this is by far the largest shirt sponsorship deal for a financial services company. According to Oliver Butler of SPORT+MARKT AG, the financial services sector has been the most prevalent in shirt sponsorship in Europe in the number of deals (26 this season) but the largest deals until now have been around in the UK (Northern Rock with Newcastle United at €7.1m/y) and Germany (insurance company Victoria Versicherung with FC Schalke 04 at €7.5m/y), almost half of the total of the United.

"In all, financial services spent €64m on shirt sponsorship in Europe this season (at an average of €2.4m per club) behind the €82m spent by telecoms companies, so the AIG deal will significantly alter this balance," he told Asian Football Business Review.


"This relationship will mutually benefit both organizations, said Martin Sullivan, AIG's president and chief executive officer. "We look forward to maximizing the value of this high-profile sponsorship to help grow AIG's businesses around the world."

A study last month by Sports Marketing Surveys Ltd showed that Vodafone is the most recognized jersey sponsor among English football teams.

According to Bloomberg, AIG is among insurers vying for customers in China, where 90 percent of the 1.3 billion population lack health-care coverage. The company this week hired a vice-president to boost sales in Asia, where England's Premier League is the most-watched league.

David Gill, United's chief executive, said AIG’s global operations compliments the club's fan base and the relationship brings exciting "global prospects", particularly in Asia.

"We are looking to be more accessible to our global fan base, and having a partner with the knowledge and experience of AIG is invaluable,” he said as quoted by Reuters. "AIG has over 250,000 employees and agents in Asia alone — a region where we have an estimated 40 million fans. This deal presents both of us with so many possibilities."

He said that Bryan Glazer, son of US-based owner Malcolm Glazer, had been involved in setting up the partnership with AIG. United pulled out of a more lucrative contract with online betting company Mansion at the weekend and Gill said the AIG deal proved the Glazers were with the club for the long term.

“We could have taken a bigger deal. We didn’t. We took the deal that was right for Manchester United and this is with their [the Glazers’] full backing, approval and awareness. We are not just trying to make the fast buck. We are trying to do the things that make us stand out from the crowd."

See also: ManU ends sponsor talks with Asian-backed firm (4 Apr)

Football clubs continue to avoid Soccerex events

Soccerex held its second London Forum at the Institute of Directors yesterday. According to Soccer Investor newsletter (6 April), however, there was a scarcity in terms of representatives of football clubs, a problem that also occured at the Soccerex Dubai Conference and Exhibition last November.

"Soccerex claimed attendance was 400 delegates of which there were approximately 25 clubs represented (based on a quick scan of the list) which is around 6% of the list, a proportion which drops significantly if speakers from football clubs are extracted. However, there were some representatives of Leagues and Federations although some of the invitees and guests gaily announced by Soccerex in their many PR releases were not on the final list such as Mohammed bin Hammam, president of the Asian Football Confederation, Urs Linsi, general secretary of FIFA and Brian Barwick, CEO of the FA," the newsletter stated.

Students from the University of Liverpool attending the Forum surveyed delegates on a number of issues throughout the day. The survey revealed that; 69% of senior decision makers in football believe that "diving" is not a serious threat to the English Premiership. And 62% of delegates believe live video technology should be used during games to support referee’s decisions.

"These results would have been more interesting, of course, if the delegates had included a larger list of actual direct participants in the sport," the newsletter commented.

See also: Soccerex: failing to interest clubs outside the Gulf (16 Nov 05)

Visa replaces Mastercard in FIFA partnership

Visa has confirmed it has signed an eight-year deal as the new financial services partner of football's world governing body FIFA. A statement from Visa's corporate relations vice-president Mike Sherman said the contract would run from January 2007 to 2014 and Visa was taking the place of MasterCard.

"We are delighted to confirm that Visa has signed an eight-year partnership agreement with FIFA and will become one of six FIFA partners with global rights to a broad range of FIFA activities, including the FIFA World Cup and the FIFA Women's World Cup," the statement said.

Visa, which also has marketing programmes with the Olympic Games and the Rugby World Cup, gave no financial details in the statement. Sources told Reuters on Wednesday it was worth up to 200 million pounds ($350.4 million).

The agreement will cover the next two World Cups, in 2010 in South Africa and in 2014 and places Visa alongside Coca-Cola, Hyundai, Adidas and Sony who have already signed up as official partners with FIFA.

UPDATE

"This new sponsorship gives Visa Asia Pacific yet another exciting opportunity to draw even closer together, this hugely popular sport and its growing number of supporters the world over – cutting across all age, gender, ethnic groups and countries. Working with our member banks, Visa Asia Pacific will be able to offer exciting programs and promotions to its cardholders through this alliance with FIFA, thereby boosting tourism revenues and stimulating the retail and travel industries at the competition venues,” Rajiv Kapoor, Visa Asia Pacific’s Executive Vice President and General Manager for Marketing, said in a statement (10 April).

See also: Visa may take MasterCard's Work Cup exclusive (5 Apr) and Follow the money to World Cup ticketing (30 Mar) and Man-United-branded Barclaycard charges into Asia (22 Mar)

Thailand expects 'advert-free' World Cup telecasts

MCOT Plc, the operator of Thailand television network, Channel 9, has teamed up with the firm that has the rights to broadcast the 2006 World Cup, DhosPaak Communication Agency Co, to strengthen advertising sales revenue in lead-up programming. According to Bamrung Amnatcharoenrit in the Bangkok Post, the advertising will be sold based around an exclusive program, the World Cup Official Guide, which will go on air on 25 April, to provide in-depth coverage of the 32 football teams taking part in the tournament.

DhosPaak, a subsidiary of Thai Beverage Plc, is telecasting matches in association with Chang beer, another Thai Brewary division, which is the shirt sponsor for English Premier League club Everton. But, apart from that arrangement, the agency said it has arranged for the broadcast of "commercial-free live matches" for the one-month tournament.

"DhosPaak, the official broadcaster licensed by FIFA, has joined hands with Television Pool of Thailand, which consists of six free-to-air stations in Thailand - Channels 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and iTV," Montreechai Lumyongsatian reported in The Nation earlier this year. The broadcaster said audiences will have a better viewing experience than four years ago because it will also offer the Hi-Definition Fully Digital 16:9 system.

English football breaks Lao 'charm, quiet, serenity'

Luang Prabang, the ancient capital of the Lan Xang kingdom, is a UNESCO World Heritage site. As increasing numbers of travelers visit the city, up-market hotels are springing up to cater for well-heeled tourists. "I used to dream of Luang Prabang. It seemed in my imagination to be the most delectable of all Shangri-las," wrote Bradley Winterton in the Taipei Times.

"Other countries in Southeast Asia might be tainted by tourism, but not Laos. And whereas Vientiane must be the shabby, dusty capital it is so often described as, Luang Prabang must surely retain the purest essence of Buddhist charm, pastoral quiet and Asian serenity.

"The reality proves rather different. 'We accept Lao kip, Thai baht, US dollars and euros,' says a notice outside Nao's Place where the big draw is a large-scale satellite TV screen and live coverage of UK soccer. On the night Liverpool was playing Manchester United it was impossible to find a seat."

Indian govt may force ESS to share World Cup feed

ESPN-Star Sports, which is banking heavily on its "exclusive" rights to broadcast the FIFA World Cup in India, may suffer a setback as it may be forced to to share the feed with public broadcaster Prasar Bharati.

According to official sources quoted by The Hindu, the FIFA World Cup figures in the national government's tentative list of "events of national importance" whose feed will have to be shared with the public broadcaster in the "national interest". According to the newspaper, its sources said "ESPN-Star may be asked to share either the entire feed, or for some matches like semi-final and finals, with Doordarshan."

ESPN-Star has managed to sell a majority of the advertising space for the World Cup and is bullish on a record audience. "During the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, the Indian viewership had reached 75 million. We hope to take this figure to 100 million this time round and break all previous records," ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd managing director R C Venkateish said recently.

See also: Cumulative World Cup viewers in India to top 804m (3 Apr)

Vietnam plea for "major surgery on corruption"

Thanh Nien, the newspaper of Vietnam’s Youth Association, has published a public plea by Thanh Thao for an anti-corruption drive in the nation's sport and government. The newspaper has been a beacon in the struggle against crime, particularly involving football match-fixing and illegal gambling and its website has alerted the world to the gradual mobilisation of police and court action. The full text of the 5 April editorial follows:

The recent scandal involving multi-million-dollar embezzlement from infrastructure projects has sent shockwaves across Vietnam and requires the immediate removal of the diseased parts, the tumor. Transport minister Dao Dinh Binh has just slid down the “greasy pole”. He climbed up fast and descended faster. However, let’s put that aside.

What the public concern now is not whether H.E. Binh has resigned, been dismissed or both. It is also not the matter whether former permanent deputy minister [second only to the minister] Nguyen Viet Tien will be prosecuted or not. What should come will come.

What’s of public concern most now is what lessons the Vietnamese communist party and state has drawn from this scandal.

A single case of extravagance or indulgence entertained by the arrested PMU18 director Bui Tien Dung would cause anyone to shudder in disgust. PMU18 is an agency under the transport ministry responsible for managing several major infrastructure projects throughout Vietnam. Thus, Vietnamese people have been paying taxes so far to nourish corrupt officials who did not hesitate to slice off huge foreign loans to feed their wild hunger and indulge in their wildest fantasies.

Dung maintained at least several mistresses, each enjoying mansions and cars at their disposal. Dung and Tien once entered a restaurant, quarreled with the owner and broke his two teeth suspected to be over young waitresses. Had director Dung not been fortuitously found gambling millions of dollars on football, he and his seniors could climb higher and even penetrate the Party’s Central Committee. Perhaps only God knows who has succored and supported them during all those times, and for what purpose.

Dung’s and Tien’s recent arrest is a great breakthrough in a case serving as a great milestone for the nation, sending a clear message to all Vietnamese patriots and law-abiding citizens:

“The country cannot stand any longer the ‘tumor’ threatening to metastasize, ravaging its host body. Now, more than ever, just cut out the tumor from the body before it is too late”.

Though it is quite late now to talk of a major surgery on corruption, late is better than never. Normally, any surgery will inflict bodily pain on a patient. This one is more. It will as well deal enormous emotional distress.

Whatever, those who would probably depart after the scandal is nothing compared to the departure of a whole people’s faith.

Just think about it and act.

See also: Vietnam Minister suspended over illegal betting (23 Mar) and Vietnamese officials bet thousands on football (2 Feb) and Senior official arrested for gambling in Vietnam (23 Jan)

Visa may take MasterCard's Work Cup exclusive

Visa will be introduced as FIFA's new financial services partner at a news conference at the world football body's headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland. Visa CEO Christopher Rodrigues and FIFA president Sepp Blatter are expected to make the announcement, Associated Press, has reported. "The deal was confirmed Wednesday by officials close to the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement hadn't yet been officially announced," the newsagency stated, although "FIFA spokesman Andreas Herren said he was unable to confirm the deal."

If the contract is signed, Visa will become the fifth company to join FIFA's top tier of sponsors for the 2007-2014 period, joining Coca-Cola, Adidas, Sony and Hyundai. A sixth sponsor is expected to be announced at a later date. The deal will make Visa the official credit card at all of FIFA's major competitions, including the FIFA World Cup and give the company exclusive advertising rights. Visa is also a global sponsor of the Olympic Games and the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

Credit card rival MasterCard has been a longtime FIFA World Cup sponsor, including this year's tournament in Germany.

See also: Follow the money to World Cup ticketing (30 Mar) and Man-United-branded Barclaycard charges into Asia (22 Mar)

Australia to get World Cup send-off by 98,000 fans

A packed Melbourne Cricket Ground will give the Australian team a rousing send-off to their first FIFA World Cup in 32 years. The Socceroos take on European champion Greece on 25 May and it's a sellout. Tickets went on sale at 9 am yesterday and the last was snapped up about two hours later. More than 50,000 tickets had been sold in advance to football members and registered players in a Football Federation Australia email promotion called "the Football Family". But yesterday's stampede for seats took even FFA by surprise.

"This has exceeded our expectations," FFA chief executive John O'Neill told Peter Desira of the Herald Sun. "We would've been thrilled with a crowd of 70,000. Now it will be close to 98,000. It's an incredibly exciting outcome. To have a sellout at the MCG shows that the football-loving fans in Melbourne and Victoria have responded overwhelmingly to the Socceroos for what will be a wonderful game of football against the champions of Europe.

The match against Greece is being treated as the start of Australia's World Cup campaign. Australia plays two more friendlies in Germany, against the Netherlands and Liechtenstein, before its Group F matches against Japan, Brazil and Croatia in June.

AFC tells India to focus of club and player growth

Asian Football Confederation general secretary Peter Velappan wants Indian football clubs to professionally exploit the country's growing economy and the game's increasing popularity. "Our long-term plan is to make India a super power in soccer in Asia," he told a news conference, following a Vision India Club Development Workshop, reported by N Ananthanarayanan of Reuters. "India has the potential, its economy is developing at the rate of eight percent," he said. "Football should not lose out from this development."

Praising club football in Japan but critical of India's situation he warned of the danger of focusing on the national team at the expense of club development. "In Asia, many countries are building the house from the roof," he said. "Eighty percent of the budget is spent on national teams, leaving very little for the rest. Asian football is a golden product but it is still under the ground. We have to dig it, polish it, brand it and market it."

Velappan met officials of India's leading clubs over two days, who backed the move to revamp the national league, which has struggled since its launch in 1996. "The clubs were very positive," he said. "They have come to the limit of their patience."

He said Indian clubs should keep out foreign players for at least five years to nurture home talent and become the feeder line for the national team."I've seen some of them play in the league, they are no better than your players," he said. "With a population of 1.1 billion people, you should be exporting players and not bringing in sub-standard players."

Vellappan also mentioned that clubs participating in the workshop had complained that there was no development in the quality of football and performance of the national team. "One needs to develop youth programmes and a link between schools and clubs who will have age-specific teams," he said. "India has enough people but no mechanism and organisation to promote the game. The government needs to undertake capital expenditure to provide facilities in this regard," he added.

See also: AFC notes progress in 'Delhi Vision" pilot project (30 Sep 05) and India told "not to let the momentum go" (21 Jul 05)

Football pay-programs drift from cable to telecoms

The roll-out of internet television services by Asian telecoms operators is boosting a new generation of firms that supply niche and mainstream content for the platform. "But while the success of operators such as PCCW - 554,000 subscribers and counting - has the content providers drooling for now," Stuard Biggs wrote in the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), "but the versatility of internet protocol for delivering content could see content providers bypassing pay-television services altogether in favour of straight-to-desktop services as iTunes, YouTube and digital device initiatives such as Intel's Viiv, catch on.

Yes TV Hong Kong is one company with its feet in both camps, Bigg stated. The subsidiary of Britain's Yes Television surrendered its pay-TV licence in 2004, citing expensive access charges to PCCW's network but has reinvented itself as a content provider through its Goal TV football channel, an amalgamation of content from the TV channels of English Premier League clubs Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool, as well as live football from European leagues.

According to Yes TV CEO Thomas Kressner, the number of viewers watching the channel recently exceeded 20 million in Thailand, China, Singapore and Hong Kong, among other places. That figure looks set to increase once TVB Pay Vision, which carries Goal TV, begins showing on PCCW's Now Broadband service.

"Launching over Now Broadband will be a big deal for us," Biggs quoted Kressner. "Most operators buy our channel and offer it as part of the basic package, so a deal with Now [Broadband] will instantly increase our viewers." But just as significant, Biggs commemnted, is how operators such as Singapore's SingTel are using Goal TV to lure new broadband subscribers by making the channel available directly to PC - bypassing the pay-television set-top box.

"For now, Yes TV is playing down any potential conflict PC viewing and pay television, arguing that viewers will prefer televisions over desktops for the foreseeable future. For telecoms operators, however, the debate is arguably more pressing than for content providers, who can secure viewers' subscription fees regardless of the delivery platform," he wrote.

Big ambitions and Brazil for Thailand national team

Football Associatrion of Thailand president Vijitr Getkaew has set a high target for Thailand's national team for the next two years, including winning the ASEAN Football Championship (former Tiger Cup) and SEA Games. The biggest ambition is to qualify for the World Cup in South Africa in 2010, he said. "We must also reach, at least, the semi-finals of the Asian Games (in Doha in December) because we have reached them the previous two. Anything less is a failure for the team," he said as quoted by Bernama newagency.

FAT will give priority to grassroot development including setting up of several training schools throughout the country following the inaugeration of the National Football Training Centre at Nong Jok on 25 April.

World champion Brazil will play Thailand in a friendly football match in Bangkok later this year as part of the celebrations to honour the 60th anniversary of King Bhumibol Adulyadej's accession to the throne. FAT secretary general Worawi Makudi tolf the Bangkok Post that Brazilian Football Association president, Ricardo Terra Teixeira has agreed for the match to take place, months after the world champion defend their title in the World Cup tournament in Germany this June.

ManU ends sponsor talks with Asian-backed firm

The Manchester United Football Club has abruptly ended negotiations for shirt sponsorship with Gibraltar-based Mansion, an online gambling firm reportedly owned by one of Indonesian richest men, Putera Sampoerna. According to numerous newspaper reports, Man United's commercial director, Andy Anson, called Mansion COO, David Kinsman, on Sunday evening in London to tell him that the club was continuing discussions with another party but was terminating contact with Mansion.

Kinsman has since told media that Anson had verbally agreed a deal which would net United up to £70 million over the next four years, all of which was in cash and a substantial portion in an up front payment.

"It was indicated to us that we had done a deal and I flew in from China for a meeting with Andy Anson to that effect. It was something of a surprise therefore to be told that United had been negotiating with someone else. During the negotiating process we had no idea this kind of double dealing was going on. Manchester United have not acted as we expected them to," he told The Daily Mail.

"We are very disappointed at the manner in which Manchester United has concluded these contract negotiations and are very surprised that the discussions were terminated at this late stage in what we consider to be an unprofessional manner," he told Matthew Garrahan of the Financial Times and revealed that United had also been talking to Mansion about taking a 20 percent stake in a future Mansion IPO.

"In addition to the cash offer, the deal would have included a revenue share opportunity for the club in a co-branded online gaming product, potentially raising further revenue for both parties in international markets," he added.

Kinsman told The Telegraph he did not once meet with any member of the Glazer family, Man United's new United States-based owners, during the discussions and is mystified at their decision to turn down the deal.

"We dealt with two people during our negotiations - David Gill, the managing director and CEO, and Andy Anson, who is the commercial director of Manchester United," he expanded further to Reuters.

"It was Andy Anson who confirmed to me on Friday night that we had a deal, it was Andy Anson who advised me on Saturday night in writing as to his arrival details in London for this morning and it was Andy Anson who rang me at 5.45 last night to tell me they had gone elsewhere."

"He simply told me that they had decided to give the sponsorship to another company. I asked him [who it was] and he said I would find out later," Kinsman added. "I've been in business for some 35 plus years and I have done some very major business deals - much larger than this. I was quite disappointed the way this deal played out in the end," Kinsman continued. "I think it could have been avoided if there had been a different attitude as to how the deal was carried out on their side."

On a Mansion website, a Fox Sports Network executive vice president described Kinsman as "a marketing guru and a true brand builder." Kinsman joined Mansion (Gibraltar) Ltd as COO in November last year following the resignation of CEO David Dent, and assumed the most senior management role in the company. He previously had a long track record in the gaming industry in Australia, associated in executive management positions with Vidco, Olympic Gaming, Online Gaming Systems and Leisure and Gaming Corporation and as a consultant to gaming operators and suppliers.

A Manchester United spokesman said the club had never promised Mansion exclusivity in its sponsorship negotiations. "We would understand why anybody would be disappointed at not securing the shirt sponsorship deal for Manchester United. We have not and do not enter into periods of exclusive negotiation and every party we have discussed the shirt sponsorship with are aware of that. Our priority is to look for the most appropriate deal for Manchester United. We have been having discussions with Mansion, and we are sorry they feel that way and wish them every success in the future," he said.

FT reported that at least four companies are thought to be continuing talks with United on a shirt sponsorship deal although it is unclear whether an agreement will be struck in time for the start of the next football season. It named Etihad Airways, national airline of the United Arab Emirates, as remaining in talks with United while The Telegraph recalled that another Asian company, Korean electronics giant LG, had claimed last month that they had walked away from a £10 million-a-year deal.

See also: Man U may sign-up £60m shirt sponsor this week (2 Apr) and Asian-backed Mansion tipped to be ManU sponsor (4 Mar)

Cumulative World Cup viewers in India to top 804m

ESPN Star Sports is introducing special initiatives to spread World Cup 'fever' in India including a special Hindi-language feed for traditional markets. "We reckon that this edition of the FIFA World Cup will break viewership records in India," R C Venkateish, managing director, ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd, told Televisionpoint. "The convenient timings of the matches, with some matches starting as early as 6:30 in the evening, will add to the number of eye-balls for the World Cup. A total 75 million Indians sampled the telecast of World Cup 2002, with a cumulative audience reach of 804 million in India.

"The ratings of the FIFA World Cup have been higher than the ratings of an India cricket test match. Soccer is getting much bigger in India than it was in 2002, with over 55 million people watching the European League this season," he said.

The broadcaster will be undertaking a nation-wide search for eight school children to be chosen as FIFA fair play flag bearers at the World Cup. The contest will be a once in a lifetime opportunity for the school children to travel to Germany and stand with their favourite stars during the pre-match ceremony.

World Cup game now available for mobile phones

Electronic Arts has announced that, for the first time ever, football fans around the world will be able to download the officially licensed game of the 2006 FIFA World Cup for play on their mobile phones. The game will be available through major mobile operators across five continents, bringing the tournament and its superstars to life in the "most emotionally resonating interactive sporting experience ever" for the mobile phone.

In EA SPORTS 2006 FIFA World Cup mobile phone players can select any of the 32 finalist teams and lead them to the biggest prize in international football. Changing weather conditions affect the accuracy and power of strikes and passes and a variety of camera angles featured in the 3D version of the game.

The game, available in Chinese, English, French, German, Italian and Spanish will launch first across Europe in April 2006 and will subsequently become available through major mobile operators in Asia, North America, Australia and South America.

Man U may sign-up £60m shirt sponsor this week

Manchester United is expected to sign the biggest shirt sponsorship contract in world football history this week - a £60 million four-year deal with the Mansion online gambling group.

"Lawyers are going over the contract this weekend. We hope to have the deal signed by Monday or Tuesday," a Man United "insider" told London's News of the World.

"United needed to inform kit manufacturers Nike about their new sponsors by yesterday or face huge penalties," the newspaper further reported.

It also claimed that Mansion owner, Indonesian billionaire, Putera Sampoerna, had sent his son to England on Friday to tie up the deal with United which will launch a gambling promotion blitz into Asia.

See also: Asian-backed Mansion tipped to be ManU sponsor (4 Mar)

Taliban still cast shadow over Afghanistan football

India beat his team 2-0 in one of the early matches of the AFC Challenge Cup in Chittagong, Bangladesh, but Afghanistan coach Mohamed Kargar says he is confident that his team will soon earn a good position in Asian football. "We will soon obtain a satisfactory position for football in Asia as our young players are working hard," Kargar told Reuters. "We could not play well against India, despite good support from local spectators, because India is a stronger team," Kargar said.

He said football resumed in war-shattered Afghanistan only three years ago. "Football has regained its popularity as the country lacks other alternatives for entertainment in the conservative society," he said.

And although Afghanistan's women's football team now had "very good women footballers of international standard" from 14 local clubs, the government is still trying to break social taboos in sport, especially women's sport, imposed by the former Taliban regime.

"The Taliban are gone, but their legacy still works in different spheres," Kargar said.

Blatter: Asian FAs must develop "own programs"

FIFA president Sepp Blatter believes Asia's football governing bodies must come up with their own programs to develop the game. "FIFA is always ready to help, but initiatives must come from national associations to improve," he said at a press conference with Asian Football Confederation president, Mohammad Bin Hammam, at the start of their visit to Bangladesh. "Local football federations need to develop their own programs -- step by step," he said, as quoted by AP, adding that football's world governing body, FIFA, as well as the AFC, is already offering assistance under various projects including the Goal Program and Vision Asia.

Blatter formally inaugurated the Bangladesh Football Federation's new headquarters, built with FIFA assistance, in downtown Dhaka on Saturday. He also donated money from a FIFA tsunami fund to build soccer training centers in the coastal areas of Cox's Bazar and Barisal. The fund was set up to help tsunami-hit Asian nations.

Later he and Hammam inaugurated the AFC Challenge Cup, which features 16 emerging Asian football nations, Afghanistan, Taiwan, the Philippines, India, Guam, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Palestine, Brunei, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Macau, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Tajikistan. "I foresee the Challenge Cup having lots of success," he said. (Photo left: Palestine beats the Pacific island of Guam, 11-0 on the opening day).

Asked how the five Asian teams in the 2006 World Cup finals will perform, Blatter quipped they will "show us just what has happened here in Asia ... I'm sure at this World Cup there will be no teams flying easily through to the final." He further suggested that Asian teams may find it tougher in Germany than Korea and Japan in 2002 because European leagues are finishing early to allow their national teams more time to prepare.

"Don't forget, the visiting teams, especially those from Europe, came tired because the leagues were delayed and they played 10 days before the start of the World Cup," he said as quoted by Reuters. "This time we stop leagues on 15 May and now they have time to relax and prepare." Asia's representatives at the World Cup will be Iran, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and AFC newcomer, Australia.