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AFC plans very concerted effort to improve leagues

The Asian Football Confederation has again called on its member associations to raise the standard of their national competitions if the continent is to avoid a repeat of its poor performance at this year's FIFA World Cup. Earlier this week, AFC president Mohamed bin Hammam said in a statement that "everyone was expecting our teams to do much better than they did. It is my belief that this defeat is because of poor competition structures, particularly club competitions, both at national and confederation level.

An AFC official subsequently told Associated Press that there would be a "very concerted effort" to help restructure and relaunch leagues, improve match formats and boost technical and administrative professionalism over the next four years. "We are looking at a strategic level ... which will help us become confident that we will see the level of football improve," the official said on condition of anonymity because she was not allowed to make public statements on behalf of the organisation.

See also: Asia must build stronger leagues to raise standard (26 June)

Arsenal "not guilty" in Belgium's African player farm

English Premier League club Arsenal has been cleared by the world football body FIFA of any breach of club ownership rules over their dealings with Belgian team Beveren. The BBC Newsnight program alleged that Belgian police found Arsenal made an irregular £1 million payment to Beveren and FIFA asked the Football Association to investigate. The FA absolved Arsenal of any wrongdoing and FIFA will take no further action. "There is no evidence or indication of any infringement of the relevant regulations," FIFA said in a statement quoted by Soccer Investor. Arsenal maintained its payment to Beveren was by way of a loan "to assist in stabilising the finances of Beveren" and denied having a controlling influence over the club.

See also: FIFA probes Arsenal's deal with Beveren's Guillou (2 June) and Arsenal options 2 first-year Thai academy students (25 May)

Open beta FIFA World Cup game's online success

FIFA Online, an online football game only available in South Korea, has set a new record. According to is producer, EA, the open-beta phase game hit a high of 100,000 concurrent users, with the most people to play the game in a single day at a staggering 600,000. "We worked hard to get the game up and running in a time frame that allowed people [to] weave the online game into their overall summer soccer experience," EA spokeswoman Tammy Schachter told GameSpot. "Although the game is not tied to the World Cup, it made sense to launch it in a time frame when the world is celebrating soccer." EA has the FIFA license until 2014.

Corruption link to slump of Asian domestic leagues

Mohamed bin Hammam, president of the Asian Football Confederation, has identified corruption as a key element in spectators "turning off" from local leagues in Asia and preferring to watch on television what they see as fairer and more professional football competitions from Europe. "There is a great threat to the game from corruption, from match-fixing, from money-laundering," he told Donald Greenlees of the International Herald Tribune. "The game needs to be looked after more wisely."

Hammam recalled Malaysia expelling or jailing many top players and officials a decade ago in what appears to have been a successful anti-corruption campaign. "But as one country claims success in eradicating the problem, it emerges elsewhere, Greenlees commented. "In these circumstances, no country is safe," Hammam agreed by telephone interview.

The cost to the game is measured not only in declining confidence among spectators, investors and sponsors, but also, according to veteran coaches, in poorer performances on the field. "I think corruption has a lot to do with it," Bobby Houghton, former coach in China and now Indian national coach, said. "Whether it is a fact or perceived, once the corruption thing appears it's difficult to stamp it out, it's difficult to make people believe it's stamped out. Every bad refereeing decision or bad performance by a player is questioned."

Since 2003, the Asian Football Confederation has refused to accept referees from countries where corruption is perceived to be rife. "There are countries where we are not recruiting anyone - no officials, no managers," Hammam said, while declining to name the countries.

Steve Vickers, chief executive of Hong Kong-based International Risk, who investigated illegal gambling for the gambling industry, told Greenlees there were indications that even in countries in Asia where gambling was legal, like Japan, bets made with well-organized illegal syndicates accounted for up to 70 percent of total gambling on some sports. "It's a major organised-crime enterprise," Vickers said. "The explosive growth in illegal gambling has been in football betting."

Dong Lu, who does television football commentary and writes for Sports Weekly, China's biggest national sports newspaper, said management and playing standards had improved in the years after the creation of the first professional league in 1993. However, he added "confidence has been eroded. The unceasing reports about black whistles and match- fixing have convinced investors and advertisers that it's a bad vehicle for their business."

Comment: Don Greenlees' excellent report is worth reading in its entirety. What is does miss, perhaps, is the possible link between the popularity of European football, particularly the English Premier League, and those many Asians whose interest in football is based more on gambling than love of its aesthetics or athletics. After all, if the local league is considered corrupted, why "take a punt". It will be interesting to track next season's television popularity of Italian football in China and other Asian countries if the charges of massive match-fixing by any of the Serie A clubs Juventus, AC Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio, Reggina, Siena and Empol and Serie B sides Messina, Lecce and Arezzo, are proven in court.

See also: Asia must build stronger leagues to raise standard (26 June)

FIFA and Indonesian FA assist earthquake victims

A representative of the world football body, FIFA, has completed a survey of earthquake damage of football facilities in Indonesia's Yogyakarta special province in central Java. On 27-28 June, Jey Sing inspected Bantul and Sleman districts and visited the dormatories of football clubs Persiba Bantul (which suffered total damage) and PSIM Yogyakarta (the founding location of the PSSI 76 years ago). The 5.9 scale earthquake in May damaged the stadiums of Bantul, Tridadi and Mandala. However the US Marine medical team was able to use Pacar stadium in Bantul (home of the Persiba Bantul football club) as an emergency hospital to treat local earthquake victims.

Because of the devastation, the Indonesia League Committee (BLI) agreed to allow three clubs from the region, PSIM Yogyakarta, PSS Sleman and Persiba Bantul, to retire from 2006-07 competitions without penalty. "They asked BLI and participating clubs to understand their condition. They felt it impossible to continue playing the rest of their matches this season," said BLI Director Andi Darussalam Tabusala . Before the meeting board members inspected the region carefully. "From our inventories 90 percent of local players were hit by that disaster, including their family home. Meanwhile a lot of foreign players have left,” Tabusala said.

Houghton impressed with enthusiastic India squad

India will be aiming to pick up its first points in the AFC Asian Cup 2007 qualifying campaign, newly appointed national coach Bob Houghton told Navhind Times. After losing their first two games 6-0 to Japan and 3-0 to Yemen, India is at the bottom of Group A and will play Saudi Arabia at home in their third match on 16 August. "We would like to earn points against Saudi Arabia and Japan and if we can do it, I think it will be a major step forward towards achieving greater goals in the future. I like the players’ attitude and the boys are quite disciplined and willing to learn enthusiastically,” Houghton said in Goa.

He stressed the need to scout a few quality players from the youth team. “If we can build a team with a few good players who can really make a difference to the team’s performance then it will motivate the team,” Houghton, who earlier coached China and Uzbekistan, added. “The emphasis will be to improve the current senior side’s performance and simultaneously work with the juniors keeping the future interests in mind."

As previously reported by Asian Football Business Review, India will take part in the four-team Vancouver tournament in Canada from 19-23. The event also includes Vancouver White Caps club, China U20 and Cardiff City teams.

Houghton also confirmed that the All India Football Federation is planning to persuade players of Indian origin to appear for national selection. “It’s a good idea if we can succeed in spotting talent abroad it could very well galvanise Indian football in a positive way,” he said.

See also: India prepares for first matches under new coach (23 June) and India's "Project World Cup" for South Africa 2010 (16 June)

Chinese broadcaster apologises for anti-Aussie call

A China Central Television sports announcer faxed an apology from Germany to the home audience yesterday for his over-the-top commentary in the last few minutes of Monday's World Cup match between Italy and Australia. "I put too much personal emotion into my live comments," Huang Jianxiang said in his apology, which was read on the air by a Beijing anchorman last night and posted on the station's website. "I am sorry for the discomfort and hurt I brought to everybody," he said.

Huang admitted in his letter that he was supporting Italy, which won the match on a penalty shot in the final minute. He had covered the Italian league for many years and hoped the Italian national team would advance into the cup's quarterfinals. "Long live Italy!" he screamed and "No more chances for Australia!"

After the game was over with Italy blasting home a controversial penalty, Huang justified his hysteria by saying that he had never liked Australia. "The reason?", commented Wang Yong in the Shanghai Daily; "Australia is now a member of the Asian Football Confederation, which means China will face one more rival in any future games. It's ok for Huang to have a favorite team. But it's unforgivable for him to hate Australia simply because it will be our rival."

According to Reuters, after the match Huang had said he could not remember what he had said in the heat of the moment and his preference for Italy was because he had commentated on Serie A for many years. "I'm more familiar with Italian players ... and I don't like Australians indeed," he said. "I was hoping they'd do badly here ... "

CCTV later repeatedly aired footages of Australia's failed attempts at goal with a subtitle hailing "Australia bows out like a true hero."

World Cup television audiences smash records

A cumulative television audience of about 30 billion is expected to view the World Cup finals and break records for the world’s most-watched sports event, Dominik Schmid, CEO of Infront, the company that sells the global TV rights for the World Cup on behalf of FIFA, has confirmed. “We estimate that the cumulative global audience for the World Cup will be more than 30 billion. Audience viewing records and market share are significantly more than in 2002 and in some countries records are being broken day after day. Research also shows that 40 percent more women are watching the World Cup than in 2002. The overall figures are not just confined to countries competing in the finals,” he disclosed.

According to Reuters, the total viewing audience in China for the England-Paraguay group match was 62.9 million people – larger than the populations of England and Paraguay combined. Figures in the host nation were significantly higher than in 2002, up 51 percent, according to the figures released by Infront. Figures in North, South and Central America, Asia and the Far East and Oceania were all equally impressive. Brazil’s opening two matches attracted 60.5 million and 54.5 million viewers respectively, both achieving a market share of 90 percent in the region. The Argentina-Mexico second-round match in Leipzig on Saturday, broadcast on Univision in the United States, attracted 6.7 million viewers, the most-watched sports event in the history of Spanish-language television in the USA.

Schmid added that the global TV audience for the 2002 final between Germany and Brazil was 1.1 billion – approximately one in every four people on earth. “I am not sure the figure will be much higher this time,” he said, “I think that is about as high as you can go but we will see.”

Italy's win: 'diving', corruption and conspiracies

Italy's man of the moment Fabio Grosso insists he didn't take a dive to earn the penalty that ousted Australia from the World Cup. Australians were stunned when Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo pointed to the penalty spot after Grosso tumbled over prone Socceroos defender Lucas Neill in the final seconds. The penalty converted by Francesco Totti gave Italy a 1-0 win and a place in the quarter-finals.

Most media described the decision as "controversial" at least. Even Grosso's team mate Gennaro Gattuso reportedly confessed that "The referee made a mistake" which, he innocently assumed, made up for the ejection of team mate Marco Materazzi with a straight red card 40 minutes earlier.

Accusations of the Italian national side winning by 'diving' has added an extra unpleasantness to the corruption stigma Italian football is currently bearing due to the inquiry into alleged match-fixing by Serie A clubs Juventus, AC Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio, Reggina, Siena and Empoli and Serie B sides Messina, Lecce and Arezzo nd scores of officials, referees and linesmen.

However, a truley bizarre accusation has surfaced in the usually authoritative LA Times (USA). Its controversial soccer writer, Grahame L Jones, has accused the world football body, FIFA, of manipulating football's highest level, including the outcome of games:

"The seed for Australia's 1-0 World Cup defeat by Italy on Monday on a blatantly incorrect penalty kick ... was sown in South Korea four years ago," he wrote. "That's when Italy was robbed blind in a 2-1 overtime loss to South Korea in a second-round World Cup game that was atrociously refereed by Ecuador's Byron Moreno ... The loss eliminated the Italians and — much to the delight of soccer's movers and shakers — sent cohost South Korea on a run that took it to the semifinals and an eventual fourth-place finish. Given the massive public support for the team, keeping South Korea alive as long as possible was very much in FIFA's interests. So Italy paid the price.

"This time around, the price has been paid back. Things are all square with Italy. Australia will get the makeup call next time around, at South Africa in 2010, assuming it qualifies. That's how it works. It's about making hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate sponsorships and television contracts. Fat cats greasing fat cats. It's not really about sport or sportsmanship. Only the naïve believe that ..."

Read the whole article. "Honest," he concludes, "You can't make up this stuff. Only FIFA has that talent ..."

See also: Europeans shaken by Italian corruption allegations (18 May)

TribalFootball.com expanding via Asian languages

TribalFootball, the football website that celebrates the "towns and cities, states and provinces, countries and continents all competing in their chosen colours and designs in stadia ranging from old suburban grounds right through to the hi-tech venues with retractable roofs" is expanding into Asian-languages. Launched in 2000 from Australia, the English-language service attracts 10 million page views per month and is ranked as high as 4th largest soccer media site by www.ranking.com. Currently its user traffic comes from Europe 40%, Asia 20%, North America 15%, South America 10%, Africa 5% and Oceania (including Australia) 10% but Asia is growing rapidly as is North America.

"We expect traffic will grow further once the various language versions of tribalfootball.com come online, Lou Sticca - the major shareholder/co-founder and commercial director - told Asian Football Business Review. "Our target market is everyone that can access a computer. Realistically the fans go to tribalfootball.com because we provide regular updates from our global network of contributors (journalists, players and coaches) and the fans get a very quick overview of what is happening in world football in relation to player moves, recruiting targets from clubs and coaches, bust ups and departures from clubs and national teams, the inside news from players at clubs, etc," he said.

Tribalfootball has licensed Panawork Inc, a Korean company, to reproduce the website in the Korean language (the url will be korea.tribalfootball.com) and there are discussions underway with potential licencees for Japanese, Indian, Malay, Chinese and Indonesian. versions in Asia and, over the next 24 months, European languages such as Spanish, Italian, Portugese, German and French will be rolled out.

The company has also licensed a number of businesses that produce merchandise sold online and will be extending its products through online shopping and then into retail markets. The range will include leisure clothing as well as branded football boots, runners and other fashion footwear.

New academy highlights "business opportunities"

USA-based Velletri Soccer Group Inc, a newly founded football player development organisation with Swedish management, has begun operations in Asia starting with the Philippines. Football is taught according to the IFK Göteborg youth development program ‘Secrets of Soccer’ which VSG has the rights to use and the club’s academy executive, Roger Gustafsson, is also a consultant to VSG. The Philippine school anticipates a first quarter 2007 intake of "35 academy players" and "836 soccer students". VSG claims to also operate in Argentina, Brazil, Ghana, and Trinidad & Tobago with China, Malaysia, Haiti, Mexico, Paraguay and South Africa scheduled to join in 2007. Ghana’s football national Derek Boateng (pictured) is a VSG ‘ambassador’.

“Our business idea is to raise the best soccer players in the world. This is done with a new, modern and responsible concept by running academies, primarily in developing countries, where school education and professional soccer training are combined already from pre-school," Jan Källman, VSG Communication Manager, told Christer Nilsson of Scandasia. “VSG is somehow similar to a charity where you sponsor a child’s education and upbringing but we are also different because we have a clear sports and business focus."

The actual financial core of the program is the 'Soccer Sponsorship' of a student by individuals and companies. The concept starts in early ages, when the children are six years old. "The Soccer Sponsorships are ... an investment that yields a profit if the student becomes a professional soccer player," the company states.

"VSG is a new, different and independent player on the market and will be a major supplier of soccer talents to professional European clubs as well as national clubs. VSG has a clear commercial focus and offers different business opportunities for sponsors and partners through various products," Källman further explained. "Asian players are hot in European clubs following the last World Cup in Japan and South Korea. And soccer is big business in Asia. Look at all corporate sponsors from Asian countries that support soccer one way or another ... VSG intends to be a responsible actor in this growing soccer, market, producing great players and well educated human beings, often in liaison with charity organizations, as well as making money for sponsors and partners."

World Cup: Where Philippine football went wrong

An editorial in the Philippine Daily Inquirer reflected on The Philippines' lost opportunities for World Cup action:

"All the world is going gaga over the World Cup, but the Philippines is one of the few countries that has not been caught up in the infectious enthusiasm over the games ...

Soccer was one of the popular sports in the Philippines until the late 1950s or early 1960s, when basketball began to gain popularity among the youth, thanks to the intercollegiate and inter-university contests, and later, the commercial leagues that used teams to promote and advertise their products.

Joseph Blatter, president of FIFA, recalled in an interview in January 2005 that 51 years ago the Philippines was one of the founding members of the Asian Football Confederation and was prominent in the Asian football scene. “But because of the American influence, basketball became the No 1 sport in the Philippines,” he added ...

Football is not necessarily a game for tall men (for instance, Maradona is only 5 feet 6 inches tall), and that is why it is a game where Filipinos can be competitive. Filipinos are naturally swift and fluid in their movements, graceful and very adaptive. Let us hope that with the renewed interest sparked by the World Cup, Filipinos will again take up football where they have a better chance to win than in basketball, a game for the really tall men."

Korea Republic street cheering ends "dark history"

"They wore red T-shirts and headbands. Some had their faces painted. They waved national flags, chanting 'Daehanminkuk' (Republic of Korea) to a distinct rhythm of drumbeats. The mood was one of uninhibited excitement. Such scenes, in support of Korea's World Cup matches in Germany, were witnessed at street cheering events at Seoul Plaza and other rally points across the nation," Shin Yong-bae reported for the Korea Herald.

However Seoul National University Professor Song Ho-keun believes there is more to the Korean fans' mass cheering. "(Foreign news media) may interpret the spectacle to indicate Korea's expression to join the ranks of advanced countries," he said in his column that ran in the JoongAng Ilbo. But he said the cheering reflects the Korean people's "thirst for a festive rally" in public plazas that had been long marred by ideological battles. "The cheering rallies demand to end Korea's 'dark history,' which was characterized by division and exclusion," the sociologist said.

Myongji University Professor Kim Jung-un used socio-psychology to attach much significance to the 2002 and 2006 World Cups. "Our community is accustomed to demanding noble values like freedom and democracy. But the 2002 cheering events brought about happiness and fun," he said in a debate forum organized by the Chosun Ilbo.

Zee, AIFF kick off 3-week Indian football roadshow

Goal 2010, a collaborative effort between Zee Sports and the All India Football Federation is designed to raise the awareness of domestic football throughout the country through a three-week series of high profile roadshows in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune Lucknow, Kolkatta and Jaipur. "We realise the power of the great game in unifying people. The AIFF with its partner Zee Sports is committed to taking Indian football to the highest possible stage in world football. We appeal to the people of the country to come forward and support us in making this dream a reality," AIFF chief Priyaranjan Das Munshi said at the kick-off in Chandigarh.

"The countrywide roadshows will attempt to create hype about different and unknown facets of Indian football and also try to form a fan base in parts of the country where the game is yet to catch the fancy of the public at large. For this legends of Indian football will be roped to give the marketing blitz recognisable faces," Television Point commented.

AIFF has a 10-year telecast deal with Zee Sports television in which around 100 matches from the National Football League, Federation Cup and Santosh Trophy are shown live on television ever year, besides beaming all international matches featuring India live into drawing rooms.

"AIFF has the full backing of FIFA in this effort and we seriously want to increase the reach of Indian football. We have undertaken a multi media marketing and promotional campaign across the country. As part of the campaign several below the line activities including road shows, pub screening and football kiosks were initiated in several cities to popularise soccer in India." added Gary Lovejoy, Chief Operating Officer, Zee Sports.

See also: India's "Project World Cup" for South Africa 2010 (16 June)

Asia must build stronger leagues to raise standard

Asian Football Confederation president Mohamed bin Hammam commented to AFCMedia on the performance of the five Asian teams at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany:

“Our results in Germany, with the exception of Australia, have brought great disappointment to many Asian fans. Everyone was expecting our teams to do much better than they did. However, this doesn’t mean that our national associations did not try their level best. It is my belief that this defeat is because of poor competition structures, particularly club competitions, both at national and confederation level. We will not see any improvement at the international standard unless we restructure and improve the professionalism in our clubs and in our leagues.

"We need to professionalise all aspects of the game, including administration and management, to really create professional leagues comparative with those outside Asia. As President of AFC, this is my focus for our next stage of development. We can achieve this, and this should be Asia’s future objective.”

On Australia's entry into the second round, Hammam applauded the new AFC member’s achievement.

“They are our only hope for Asia to be represented in the latter stages of the tournament, and I personally hope they continue into the quarter-finals and beyond. In my mind, a key contributor to their success is that most of their team plays in very strong leagues. They are well prepared for the high standards at the World Cup. We need to build strong leagues in Asia so that our national teams have the same experience to bring to the field in such important competitions.”

See also: Asian FC pleased with Australia's World Cup rise (16 June) and Call for Asia's World Cup teams to 'honour the fans' (18 May)

USA-Malaysian women in U15 football program

Malaysian women football players are busy with an exchange program with the United States which includes football clinics for about 400 young female athletes. Organised by the Ladies Football Association of Malaysia and the US-ASEAN Education Forum, the “United States-Malaysia: Women in Soccer Exchange Program” includes clinics in Klang Valley, Penang and Sarawak open to under-15 females. The second component of the program will involve a trip to the United States for a Malaysian team where they are expected to participate in training activities and engage in social and cultural outreach activities.

The clinics are conducted by highly successful American female coaches who have participated in the country's multiple Division One collegiate National Championships and Academic All-American Youth US National Team, besides having an extensive US and international coaching experience. “We are pleased to have the opportunity to learn about the American style of playing and coaching," Tunku Dara Tunku Sri Naquiah, the president of LFAM told Bernama news service, adding that the program will contribute to enhancing the development of women's soccer in Malaysia.

See also: US State Dept takes young Asians to World Cup (17 June)

World Cup briefs from Asia

The World Cup has transformed much of Asia into a region of night owls, with people staying up through the night to watch games live. In Singapore, for instance, pubs in the trendy Boat Quay area are packed as people gathered around large screens. A more surprising venue is Al-Istighfar mosque, which is showing the games on two large screens, and serving hot food, to attract young people. "It's very comfortable here," Quairul Asmai, 18, a student, told The Straits Times newspaper. "There are no fights. It's very civilized."

Seoul was a sea of red as Korea Republic fans made their way to their homes, schools and workplaces after their national team drew with 1998 champions France. An estimated one million Red Devils had gathered at 'group cheering points' across the country with Seoul police putting the number in the capital alone at 280,000. In Masan Prison in Korea's south-east, inmates were granted special permission to turn on the TV at 3.50am for the crucial clash. The Los Angeles Times reported that more than 20,000 Red Devils had gathered at the LA Lakers' Staples Center to watch the action from Leipzig.

The Chosun Ilbo's editorial on Korea Republic's game against France recalled the country's first-ever World Cup match in Switzerland in 1954 when Korea was thrashed 9-0 by Hungary. "But at the time the nation's per capita income stood at a mere US$70 and the national team had US$200 to spend on their trip," the newspaper said. However today, "when China's state-run TV network said, 'Korea is Asia's pride' and a French player called them 'a team filled with enthusiasm' they really meant it. And so Korea is emerging as a nightmare for global football powerhouses."

In China, the World Cup coverage on state-run television kicks off about 30 to 40 minutes after the whistle has blown in Frankfurt, Munich or Kaiserslautern marking the start of the game. One possible explanation: Beijing's censors are buying time so they can be on the safe side if anti-Chinese demonstrators infiltrate the German World Cup stadiums. "If members of the Falun Gong unfurl protest banners, Beijing will still have time to cut the footage, making sure it doesn't make its way into the homes of the millions of Chinese who have their eyes glued to their television sets," commented Andreas Lorenz in Spiegel.

Hong Kong may not have a team at the World Cup but that has not stopped interest reaching stratospheric proportions because of the craze for football betting. Sports gambling was legalized to curb illegal football betting, which totaled at least HK$20 billion in 2001, according to government estimates quoted by Reuters. Taxation of legal football gambling meanwhile raised HK$2 billion in fiscal 2004/05, helping push government finances into the black for the first time since the Asian financial crisis. Gambling on matches has become so popular that even 10 percent of school children aged between 9 and 12 said they planned to bet on World Cup matches in a survey by Watsons Athletic Club. The survey also reported that 47 percent of girls said they planned to watch the World Cup. Local newspapers meanwhile reported the government fears some legislators may not turn up for a crucial vote on funding a new government headquarters because it coincides with the later stages of the World Cup.

Javed Akhtar Baloch, a councillor in a poor, densely populated district of Pakistan's biggest city, is a happy man. While the residents of his Lyari district in the port city sit rivetted infront of televisions watching the World Cup, he will not have to deal with the usual daily flurry of street crime and drug abuse. "The youngsters and agitated elders forget their miseries and just pray for Brazil," he told Reuters. Police confirmed there were fewer reports of street crime while the World Cup was on. Lyari is known in Pakistan for being a football hotbed, with a majority of its youngsters opting to play the game instead of the national sport of cricket. The district, which has a population of 1.6 million, has 140 registered football clubs.

For the very first time, the residents of Bac Yen District commune in Vietnam's northern mountainous province of Son La can now watch their favourite football team playing in the FIFA World Cup 2006. Hoang Trong Nam, Director of the Son La Electricity Department, said that the department recently used capital from a number of sources to invest in installing electricity grids in remote, isolated and extremely poor areas. "Problems with the weather, climate, traffic, communications and terrain were all overcome and so, finally, electricity has reached people in that extremely poor commune," he told Vietnam News Service.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter said it was incomprehensible that match officials did not intervene when English referee Graham Poll gave Croatia's Josip Simunic three yellow cards during Croatia's 2-2 draw with Australia. Blatter said that with the four match officials in contact by radio link, one of the assistant referees should have alerted Poll to his mistake. "An error of this kind should not happen when there are four people in the team. What is incomprehensible is that no-one intervened. I cannot understand it, it is like a blackout. One of them should have intervened and run on the field and said 'stop, stop'. I place my trust in the referees committee. I think they have enough tact to deal with this case," he told a press conference.

The world "Aussie Rules" body, the Australian Football League, appears to be responding to the Australian public's fanatical support for Football Federation Australia's Socceroos at the World Cup. The AFL has just published a booklet that explains Aussie Rule’s basics in 17 different languages for new immigrants to the country. Over 850,000 people have chosen to call Australia home in the past decade and the AFL is keen to convert as many as possible from soccer to the indiginous Australian game. The booklet is supported by multicultural officers who visit schools and deliver a six-week program, which includes attending an AFL match.

FIFA and the German football association, the DFB, may have set a precedent by allowing a tournament featuring countries rejected by FIFA to be played in the week before the World Cup, according to Steve Menary at Play The Game. Organised by Hamburg club, FC St Pauli, the FIFI Wild Cup featured the home side, the British colony of Gibraltar, a team of exiled players from Tibet (a country absorbed by the Peoples Republic of China), the island of Zanzibar (a state of the African republic of Tanzania), North Cyprus (whose independence from the Republic of Cyprus is only recognised by neighbouring Turkey and Greenland (a dominion of the Danish crown). "We informed FIFA about this tournament and received the answer that the tournament is not covered by FIFA regulations so that they have no obligations because of the participance (sic) of non FIFA-members. So at the end its people who want to play football and there is also some social benefit. Let them play," Willi Hink, DFB head of amateur sports, referees and women’s football, told Menary.

FIFA officer visits Pakistan to check quake relief

FIFA Goal Project development officer, Vernon Manilal Fernando, is visiting Lahore for discussions with Pakistan Football Federation president Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat at Football House, on Ferozpur Road, whose foundation-stone was laid by Asian Football Confederation president Mohamed Bin Hammam on 8 January 2004. A former president of the Football Federation of Sri Lanka and now a vice president of the AFC, Manilal will review five football-related projects in areas badly hit in last year’s earthquake. FIFA and AFC are providing US$ 7,00,000 for football-related facilities in the areas affected by the 8 October earthquake; FIFA contributing US$5,00,000 and AFC US$2,00,000. Faisal had already talked to FIFA President Sepp Blatter on this matter during 56th FIFA congress on 7 and 8 June at Munich and was assured of full FIFA cooperation to help rehabilitation work.

Vietnam leaders go as anti-corruption fight looms

Two months ago, Jan McGirk remarked that Vietnam's ruling Communist Party may be set for a change of guard after disclosures of a betting scandal had touched the highest echelons of the government. She tipped the "anticipated exits" of both President Tran Duc Luong and Prime Minister Phan Van Khai (pictured) following 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.

"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," she wrote.

Yesterday, Vietnam's President Tran Duc Luong, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, and National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Van An, one by one read their resignation letters to the legislative assembly. They were accepted. "It's necessary to reshuffle several senior positions of the nation to ensure comprehensive Party leadership, harmonize the leadership of the Party with the State and guarantee the succession of the national leadership," Communist Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh told the parliament.

"Manh promised to boost efforts to fight corruption, which the party recognizes as a threat to its rule and its hopes of lifting the Southeast Asian country out of poverty in the next 10 to 15 years," Grant McCool of Reuters reported.

See also: Betting scandal impacts on Vietnam's government (20 Apr) and Viet-Canadian illegal-football-bettng boss arrested (25 May)

Chelsea FC hosts China marketing event in London

A delegation of senior Chinese sports government officials are flying into London next month to speak at a one-day conference hosted by English Premier League champion Cheleas FC aimed at identifying opportunities in the fast emerging market. The officials will be attending C-Zone, an event designed to help those in the sport industry capitalise on the opportunities offered by China's new generation of consumers and identify how to succeed. It takes place at Chelsea's home stadium, Stamford Bridge, on 11 July. Among those jetting in will be Chen Feng, deputy director of BOCOG Marketing who will discuss how the Olympics serve companies as a global promotion platform. Also attending will be Zhang Huanzhi, secretary of the Beijing Sports Foundation and Chen Xiyao, vice secretary of the China Sports Industry Association.

See also: Chelsea partners IPA symposium move into China (7 Jun) and AFC signs "Vision China" MOU with Chelsea FC (25 Apr)

Melbourne Victory aims for profit in its second year

Melbourne Victory, the Samsung-sponsored exclusive A-League franchise in Australia's second largest city (and capital of Victoria state) is aiming for "a small profit next year of up to A$200,000" in only its second year of existance. "In the last couple of weeks we have noticed increased requests for sponsorships and memberships," club chairman Geoff Lord told George Lekakis of the Herald Sun (Melbourne). "I wouldn't try to put a figure on it, but the value of the game has gone up and making the second round of the World Cup should lead to more support for the local competition." He also disclosed that losses for the club's 12 months to the end of June are likely to be about A$1 million.

Lord's private business vehicle, the commercial property investor and developer, Belgravia Group, is fast catching the YMCA as Australia's biggest operator of exercise and sports facilities employing 3000 people across every state and territory and is "out there on our own in golf courses." A former chairman of the Australian Football League club Hawthorn Hawks, the fifty-nine year old owns 50 percent of Melbourne Victory with the other half owned by the Football Federation of Australia (10 percent) and a coterie of private investors. His half share reportedly cost him A$500,000, less than two years ago.

"I want to give something back to Melbourne and to build an iconic football club would be a wonderful thing to do," he said. "I also felt that if you got the timing right the value of the license and the value of the club could escalate. At the moment a naming rights sponsorship of a Melbourne-based AFL club garners up to $2.5 million and support for Victory is only a fraction of that."

The upside value in the franchise was underlined in August last year when Australian mobile phone czar, Crazy John's owner John Ilhan reportedly offered to sink A$20 million into the club if FFA agreed to hand him sole ownership without any involvement from Lord. "I wanted a guarantee that Lord and his shareholders walk. Why would I want to be involved with them?" he told the Herald Sun's Peter Desira last August. Lord said he was not aware he said that, "but he's a very nice young man and I'm always happy to have a chat with him," he told BusinessDaily. "I've never spoken face-to-face with John or had a phone call from him, but I'm happy to talk to anyone who wants to be involved as an investor."

Victory did not qualify for the inaugural finals series in the A-League this year but uncovered a solid support base with an average home game attendances of almost 14,000, virtual capacity of its Olympic Park home ground. The club signed about 8000 members last year and directors are hoping membership will jump to 13,000 or more for the next season, Lord told Ian Porter of The Age (Melbourne).
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"When you recognise there are two million people in Victoria who are sympathetic to soccer and there are over 200,000 registered players in the state, I believe that people have been starved for a long time of watching a neutral club with no ethnic allegiances," he said. "If you look at the former National Soccer League clubs such as Melbourne Knights or South Melbourne Hellas, they had very strong ethnic ties. We're trying deliberately to have a side that appeals to all of Melbourne and Victoria."

Lord won the franchise license over rival bids from Football Federation Victoria (which administers the game on a state-basis) and South Melbourne Hellas (the leading Melbourne-based, Greek immigrant supported club in the defunct National Soccer League). The A-League, however, was designed to creat new broad-based clubs rather than represent state associations or ethic communities. "We appeared at the eleventh hour with the benefit of being a commercial organisation with some financial strength and a history of being involved in sports management," said Lord. "We met the criteria that the FFA was interested in having in Melbourne."

Lord told Lekakis that he would never have entered the bidding process had the FFA vision - exclusive licenses for the first five A League seasons, the A-League season be held in summer and entry for the top Australian clubs to participate in the Asian Champions League - not matched his own. He now wants the Victory to have an option to extend its exclusive position in the Victorian market by another five years. "We haven't been granted that yet, but we have been given assurances that if we are good corporate citizens and run the club responsibly, then the FFA will grant the extension," he said. "We have also been told that if the FFA admits more teams to the A-League then they wouldn't come from Melbourne or Sydney."

He also successfully lobbied the Victorian state government to secure its support for proposals to redevelop the pitch and facilities at Olympic Park. The government announced earlier this year that it would spend A$200 million to improve the venue as a dedicated football "rectangular stadium" with capacity to accommodate crowds of up to 25,000.

See also: Melbourne to build a new football-specific stadium (23 Jun)

South Asian Games football series in Sri Lanka

The football series of the 10th South Asian Games will be held from 14-26 August 2006 in Sri Lanka. Group A includes Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Maldives and Bhutan while India Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Nepal have been drawn in Group B. Unlike the South Asian Football Federation Championship, the biannual SAG football event is age-restricted to U23.

Melbourne to build a new football-specific stadium

Design work is continuing on a spectacular new 20,000-25,000-seat, football stadium to be built in Melbourne's Olympic Park precinct in the Australian state of Victoria. The stadium’s cutting edge Bioframe design features a geodesic dome roof to fully cover the seating area while using 50 percent less steel than a typical stadium roof. Once completed, the "rectangular stadium" will be the new home for the A-League club Melbourne Victory.

It will also be used for matches by the National Rugby League team Melbourne Storm as well as featuring a sports campus, including an elite training centre, and providing office accommodation for Victory, Storm, the Australian Football League club Melbourne Demons, Football Federation Victoria, Victorian Olympic Council, Olympic Park Sports Medicine, the Victorian Rugby Union and Tennis Victoria.

The estimated cost of the stadium will be around A$190 million. The Victorian state government will make a contribution of A$149 million towards this cost, with the balance funded by Melbourne and Olympic Parks Trust, tenants and suppliers. The final costs and completion timetable will be determined following the selection of the building contractor and the negotiation of detailed arrangements with all potential tenants, sponsors and suppliers.

The newly scoped stadium is expected to be completed in 2009 with some elements completed earlier. It will complement Melbourne's two oval-shaped stadiums, the historic Melbourne Cricket Ground (98,000 capacity) and the roofed Telstra Dome (60,000 capacity) and will replace the 14,000-capacity football-athletics arena built for the 1956 Olympic Games.

World Cup: Where Indian football went wrong

Rajdeep Sardesai, Editor-in-Chief of CNN-IBN and Channel 7 India, reflected in the Hindustan Times on India's lost opportunities for World Cup action:

"Three decades ago, soccer for most Indians was still about East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, and the Goan clubs. Sure ... the Bengali, and most certainly the Goan, have always seen themselves as Brazilians in spirit, if not quite in style.

In the paaras of Kolkata and the beaches of Margao, football has always been a spiritual, as much as a physical, experience, the stadium — a shrine, a place of worship where the men in yellow and blue were demi-gods. And yet, while the Peles and the Maradonas were always part of the Indian footballing consciousness, the reality of the game was still defined by domestic soccer. East Bengal versus Mohun Bagan determined the market price of the next day’s ilish maach and chingri just as much as the quantity of rum in Mumbai’s Catholic heartland depended on whether Dempo or Salgaocar had reached the finals of the Rovers Cup.

Our heroes too were home-spun. How lovingly we cut out pictures of the Habibs, the Ranjit Thapas and the Brahmanands from the centrefold of sports magazines, to paste them up on our whitewashed walls of pre-liberalised India, photos that yellowed and crumbled under the probing fingers of time and mothers! Those photos were part of our romance with the game ... And yet, the mediocrity never seemed to concern us. It was almost as if we were happy to be cocooned from the rest of the universe in the only truly global sport.

All that has changed rather dramatically in the last few years. My son has little knowledge about the star Indian players. He knows of Baichung Bhutia, perhaps the only contemporary Indian footballer of any star value. But the rest of his football heroes are all shaped by the Western world. He has bought a Frank Lampard shirt from the local market, has registered on the web to become a member of the Chelsea supporters club, has a large poster of John Terry on the wall, and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the teams playing in the English Premier League. As he and his friends play out a Premiership match on Playstation, it’s obvious that their passion for football has moved well beyond Dempo and East Bengal. At the heart of the addiction: satellite television.

Ten years ago, the social conservatives in the country railed against what they saw as the corrupting influence of daytime soaps like The Bold and the Beautiful. They need not have worried. Today, the family soap is the ultimate desi cultural phenomenon, the saas-bahu sagas having pushed out American serials to the margins of the television-watching viewership. Ditto with the news channels, many of whom have localised content to such an extent that there seems little space for world affairs in the 24-hour news wheel.

However, if there is one niche in the television business which has been actively globalised, it is sports. Sure, cricket remains the ultimate sporting religion, but increasingly other sports — most notably soccer, and even more remarkably Formula One — have begun to compete for mindspace and airtime like never before. Just to share one example: on CNN-IBN, we have 12 sponsors for our football coverage, four for the cricket series.

It’s almost as if football has become a symbol of the power of the new economy: the sport is universal, and for the multinational brands in particular, it provides the perfect stage to establish the connection between the Indian middle-class consumer and the global marketplace ... But while in cricket, television has strengthened the local appeal of the game, in football just the opposite has happened. The weekly coverage of world soccer matches has meant that the Indian metropolitan viewer is now sharing a global experience. You can sit in Gurgaon and feel the buzz in Manchester. In the process, the stark mediocrity of Indian football has been cruelly exposed like never before.

No longer can we celebrate in the achievements of our domestic teams because we now know just how far behind the rest of the world we really are. To be ranked 117th in the world, and to watch tiny Trinidad and Tobago — a country that will fit into the pocket of any city suburb — perform so well in the World Cup, is a wake-up call ...

Fifteen years ago, Japan, then on par with us in global soccer rankings, embarked on an ambitious long-term soccer training and talent spotting programme. The Japanese league was professionalised, foreign coaches and players were brought in, and the entire domestic structure was overhauled. Today, Japan is an Asian superpower that competes with the best in the world."

See also: Unnikrishnan lists the faults of Indian football (3 June)

India prepares for first matches under new coach

Thirty Indian players took part in the training session with newly-appointed coach Bob Houghton at the Indian national football camp to select the national team for a four-nation tournament to be held in British Columbia, Canada, next month. The 19-23 July tournament, organised by the Vancouver White Cap club, includes India, China's under-20 team and Cardiff football club. Salgaocar caoch Savio Medeira and Dempo Assisant Coach Maurico Afonso were seen assisting the Houghton during the training session, which lasted for about two hours. Ex-Goa coach Marcus Pacheco handled the goalkeeper's job.

Indian captain Baichung Bhutia was absent due to his ongoing World Cup television commitments but is expected to join later, sources of The Hindu said. Alvito DaCunha, Climax Lawrerence, Abhishek Yadav, Habibur Rehman Mondal and Mahesh Gawli did not take the field due to injury, while N S Manju, who was down earlier due to typhoid also watched the proceedings from the bench. Tomba Singh and Kalyan Chaubey also were not present with the latter known to be in Germany to watch the World Cup.

Medical, NGO groups oppose football-alcohol links

Medical organizations and activist non-government organisations have called on FIFA, football's governing body, to get rid of alcohol promotion at World Cup events and on match broadcasts. More than 260 diverse health, youth, sports, and religious groups from 43 nations endorsed a global resolution urging organisers to "stop undermining the positive values of sport by putting beer ads in front of so many young football fans worldwide". Anheuser-Busch, the world’s largest brewer and producer of Budweiser, is an official partners of the 2006 FIFA World Cup and has prominent visibility at all venues. It sponsors the Man of the Match award for each game, sells its beer at matches, and advertises extensively on broadcasts of World Cup matches.

“It’s time to break the tie between alcohol marketing and high-profile sporting events,” said George A Hacker, Director of Alcohol Policies at the Washington-based Center for Science in the Public Interest and a member of the board of directors of the Global Alcohol Policy Alliance. CSPI organized the resolution effort.

“FIFA is now on notice that there is widespread opposition to Budweiser’s hijacking the values of sports to promote drinking to hundreds of millions of fans, including young children, around the world ... FIFA touts its responsibility to promote health and points to its elimination in 1986 of tobacco advertising in all its tournaments. If FIFA had a genuine concern about promoting health, particularly among the hundreds of millions of its youngest fans, it would give the boot, as soon as possible, to alcohol sponsorship, signage and advertising,” he said.

The resolution calls on FIFA to examine the role of marketing alcoholic beverages in the World Cup for “consistency with the values of sport, health, and fair play represented by international sports competition.”

“Advertising alcoholic beverages at the World Cup, perhaps the premier global family event, is totally unacceptable,” said J. Edward Hill, MD, American Medical Association Immediate Past President. “We know exposure to television advertising for alcoholic beverages increases the likelihood that children will drink and consume alcohol more heavily. Eliminating all alcohol advertising and marketing at all future World Cup tournaments would demonstrate a commitment to promoting the health of youth and sports fans worldwide.”

“In a developing country health is the foundation upon which the wealth of the nation is built and strengthened, Dr S Arul Rhaj, Vice President of the Commonwealth Medical Association, said. "Alcohol is harmful to you, your family, and society. It damages your health, wealth, mind, and peace.”

In addition to FIFA, the resolution will be sent to the World Health Organization, and to health and sports ministers around the world. The WHO is currently examining world-wide alcohol issues in preparation for a report to the Sixtieth World Health Assembly in May of 2007.

World Cup: Where Malaysian football went wrong

L Jaiarajo of Bernama news service reflected on Malaysia's lost opportunities for World Cup action:

"For the record, the Malaysian squad had never made it to the World Cup finals although they did qualify for the 1972 and 1980 Olympics in Germany and Moscow respectively ... At the Munich Olympics in 1972, Malaysia put up a commendable show with host West Germany, managing to hold the Germans to a scoreless first half before succumbing to three goals with no reply in the final 45 minutes. They gained some measure of pride after defeating the United States 3-0 in the next game but were bundled out from playing in the next round ... The national side did not take part in the Moscow Olympics ... It was rather unfortunate as the Malaysian squad ... had beaten a strong South Korean side who featured players like Kim Jae Han and Cha Beum Kun, to qualify ...

In 1951, Tunku became the Football Association of Malaysia's president. FAM was inducted as a member of the Asian Football Confederation in 1954 before becoming a full-fledge member of FIFA two years later.T unku's love for the game was the catalyst for the construction of the Merdeka Stadium, and in 1957, it became the hallowed ground for all Malaysians when it was the venue to announce Malaya's independence.

During that time, Malaysia was also home to one of the oldest football events in the region, the Merdeka Tournament, held in conjunction with the country's independence in 1957. With such a head start over the others in the region, Malaysia was a leading football force and enjoyed success in the 60s right up to the early 80s.The best years of Malaysian football were undoubtedly from the early 1970s to the early 80s. Malaysia, Japan and South Korea were the three main rivals in Asia, each always treating one another with respect.

But while the Japanese and South Koreans have made quantum leaps since, to compete at the world stage, Malaysia's fortunes have taken a dip for the worst ... Malaysian team's ranking continue to slip from 118 to 127, lower than some of the poorest countries in the world like Sudan (97) and Ethiopia (112). With Malaysian football no longer able to dominate even at the Southeast Asian level, local football fans have slowly turned their interest to foreign leagues in Europe, especially the English Premier League as well as the Spanish and Italian Leagues.

Football critics put the blame on FAM's inefficient and autocratic management for the downfall of Malaysian football. There could be some truth to this as many foreign coaches, who met successes with other teams, had come and gone without making much headway ... But in all fairness, grooming a set of players for national duty is not the job of a national coach because a coach is not supposed to go into the very basics at that level ... Players must come through a structured development programme, which gives importance to ball skills above everything else.

Just look at where the Brazilians are with their exuberant ball skills. In Brazilian academies, which number in the thousands, the emphasis is on ball skills, like juggling. Endurance training takes a back seat in their early training years. The reason: Endurance can be acquired over a short period and at a later stage while learning ball skills at an advanced age might be difficult ...

Malaysian players, more often than not, are comfortable with playing for their respective states and have no desire to play at a different level unlike players from countries like Japan, South Korea or rising force China whose players are already making an impact in major leagues in Europe."

World Cup: Where Indonesian football went wrong

Primastuti Handayani reflected in The Jakarta Post on Indonesia's opportunities for World Cup action:

"Remember Ramang? Most of us will probably say, 'Oh, yes, that's the ninth month of the Islamic year,' or simply 'Ra what?' It is a name only familiar to those who really know their local soccer history ... That name became famous about half a century ago, when Indonesia forced the Soviet Union to a goalless draw in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics ... But even in this millennium, that achievement is the best we can recall of our national team ...

Many people will say 'dream on, we'll be waiting for doomsday to be in the World Cup'. Do we lack the passion or the desire to be among the best? If the four Asian countries can do it, why can't we? It is interesting to hear what some people say. With a population of over 230 million, why is it so difficult for us to pick the best 11?

Indonesia now has two leagues -- Djarum Indonesian League and Copa Dji Sam Soe -- and, in many areas, they have huge support. But that does not help our players improve their skills ... The PSSI has hired a number of foreign coaches, from Henk Wullems to Peter Withe, but almost every new initiative has been a complete flop.

Though soccer remains the most popular sport here, no support comes when it really counts. Not all cities have an international-standard soccer field. Some schools do not even have a soccer roster. Others do not offer physical education. Indonesia has no soccer idol. Unlike Japan, with Hidetoshi Nakata, or Korea, with Park Ji-sung, our players' poor fitness levels and skills are not nearly good enough for a major European league.

It is interesting to hear sports observer Mangombar Ferdinand Siregar's opinion. He suggested the government starting recruiting street children to be soccer players. They live tough lives, he argued, so they will fight their best on the field, 'We need that kind of fighting spirit.' Sounds feasible to me; but will the government listen? We need to do something in a hurry, or else. Perhaps producing a show named Indonesia Soccer Idol would find us some superstars. "

Asia leads entertainment, sports, media growth

The global entertainment and media industry has entered a solid growth phase and will increase at a 6.6 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) to $1.8 trillion in 2010, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers' Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2006-2010. New revenue streams are growing rapidly, the growth of physical formats has slowed, and availability of licensed digital distribution now provides consumers alternatives to piracy, the report says.

Digital technologies, chiefly broadband Internet and mobile, are becoming established and increasingly lucrative distribution channels that are changing the way consumers acquire entertainment and media content. Global spending via online and wireless channels reached $19 billion in 2005 and will increase to $67 billion by 2010, the Outlook says. Digital technologies consist of five categories: online rental subscriptions and digital streaming in filmed entertainment, licensed digital downloads and mobile music in recorded music, online and wireless video games, electronic books and online casino gaming.

"Virtually every segment of the entertainment and media industry is shifting from physical distribution to digital distribution of content," said Wayne Jackson, global leader of PricewaterhouseCoopers' Entertainment & Media Practice. "As this shift continues, we see more revenue opportunities for entertainment and media companies. So while physical distribution of content is declining, that decline will be offset somewhat by digital distribution, which is driving and creating new growth opportunities."

"We expect that Asia Pacific will remain the fastest-growing region for the industry, reflecting both the underlying economic growth and local developments and initiatives. The growth will be led by double-digit increases in Internet, TV distribution, casino and other regulated gaming and video games," said Marcel Fenez, Asia Pacific leader of PricewaterhouseCoopers' Entertainment & Media Practice. "Significantly, we also expect that the People's Republic of China will pass Japan in 2009 to become the largest market in Asia Pacific."

Continued expansion in the broadband household universe will be a major growth driver, and wireless subscriber growth and rollout of next generation handsets and high-speed wireless networks will stimulate mobile markets. In 2005, the broadband universe totaled 187 million households, up from only 30 million in 2001. By 2010, there will be an additional 246 million broadband households, bringing the total to 433 million globally. The number of people with a wireless telephone subscription is also growing rapidly, with a total of 1.8 billion globally in 2005. That figure will rise to 2.8 billion by 2010, adding one billion potential customers to mobile content during the next five years.

Asia Pacific remains the fastest-growing region, led by explosive growth in the People's Republic of China and India. Spending in Asia Pacific will average 9.2 percent compound annual growth-the highest of all of the regions- reaching $425 billion in 2010.

The sports market will also see a further boost due to a revitalized TV rights market and by revenues from sponsorship and merchandising around the two FIFA World Cups (Germany in 2006 and South Africa in 2010) and other major sporting events taking part in the territory.

Casino and other regulated gaming rose by 10.9 percent, the second fastest growing segment in 2005. Rapid growth in online gaming and new casinos will propel growth, with Asia Pacific expected to experience the largest increase because new casinos in Macao will make that portion of the People's Republic of China a major casino gaming destination. Spending will increase from $82 billion in 2005 to $125 billion in 2010, an 8.8 percent CAGR.

PricewaterhouseCoopers' Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2006-2010, the seventh annual edition, contains in-depth analyses and forecasts of 14 major industry segments across five regions of the globe - the United States, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Canada - plus a Global Overview. It is available in hard copy or electronically (PDF) for US$995 at www.pwc.com/outlook. The "Global Overview" is available separately for US$95 in hard copy or electronically, and individual segment chapters are also available for US$95 in electronic format only.

Timor Leste captain stars in US, eyes off Portugal

Alfredo Esteves, the football captain of Timor Leste, the troubled young South East Asian nation, played a leading role in USA club Minnesota Thunder’s 4-1 victory over Miami FC, a team which boasts Brazilian stars Romario and Zinho, the Asian Football Confederation reported. The Timorese defender is currently making waves in the USL first division with his solid defensive skills and proved invaluable to his team’s win over Miami.

"Today was an exciting day for me," said the Portuguese-Timorese (born in Lisbon, Portugal) player, who is under contract with MN Thunder for two more seasons. "Today’s result is important and I want to dedicate it to the people of Timor Leste,” said Esteves, who is likely to sign a contract with Portuguese I Liga outfit Desportivo das Aves. If and when the signing takes place, Esteves will become the first Timorese and South East Asian player to play in one of the major European leagues.

Sing Lions lose "home game" to Robbie Williams

The Singapore Sports Council has instructed the Football Association of Singapore to give up their booking of the National Stadium, booked in January, so that visiting British music superstar Robbie Williams can hold a concert there on 18 November. The Singapore Lions expected to play their important Asian Cup qualifier against Palestine at the 60,000-seater National Stadium on 15 November but will now be switched to the 6,000-seat Jalan Besar Stadium.

Football officials expressed their disappointment. "I am very disappointed with the decision, especially since the FAS had made a booking for the venue well in advance," Singapore’s technical director P N Sivaji told Jose Raymond of Today. "It does not help the development of Singapore football. It also deprives the fans from coming out to cheer Singapore on especially in a tight group that could go all the way to the wire." National coach Radojko Avramovic added: "If it goes right to the end, the boys should play in a fantastic atmosphere with as many fans behind them as possible."

Depending on the results of Singapore’s double bill against China in August and September and an away tie against Iraq on 11 October, "the match against Palestine could well be the Lions’ decider. They are currently in second spot in Group E behind China, but all four teams in the group have the same number of points, three after two games," Raymond commented. The FAS reportedly tried to have the date of the fixture changed, but the Asian Football Confederation turned down the request.

Pakistan revives National Club Championship

The Pakistan Football Federation has announced that eight top clubs will vie for honours in the 9-day National Club Football Championship which has been re-introduced after a lapse of 12 years. A PFF spokesman told Daily Times that the holding of the event was "one of the many landmark steps taken by PFF president Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat for the revival of the game at the grassroots level". The participating clubs are Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, NWFP, FATA, Islamabad, Northern Areas and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Officials will be Chaudhry Muhammad Asghar (match commissioner) and Mian Abdul Bari (referee inspector) at Model Town C-Block Ground and Muhammad Arif Siddiqui (match commissioner) and Chaudhry Abdul Rasheed (referee inspector) at Railway Stadium. Referees will be Asif Kiyani, Rauf Bari, Waheed Murad (Lahore), Abdul Karim, Yunus Lal (Karachi), Jahanghir Khan (Quetta), Muhammad Amin (NWFP), Rana Naseer Ahmed (Shah Kot Punjab), Shahid Rasheed (Arifwala), Ulfat Ali Khan (Punjab) and Mehar Mukhtar (Okara).

Sporting Afrique players win new salary package

African footballers contracted to Sporting Afrique club which plays in Singapore's professional S-League have won substantial increases in their salary package. As disclosed by Today on 7 June, the 22 players were previously receiving only an average of $100 a month and were crammed in one house at Seletar Hills and fed a monotonous menu of rice and chicken. The players, recruited mostly from Kenya, Cameroon and Nigeria, expected to earn $1,600 a month and didn't realise that they had agreed that the company could deduct $1,500 for food and pitiful accommodation. The disclosure sparked massive public reaction, with many fans condemning the club for exploiting its players.

Two weeks of hard negotiations by stakeholders, including the Football Association of Singapore, resulted in the players accepting a new deal, which increases their monthly take-home salary to about S$600 a month. They will also be entitled to earn up to $1,000 a month on a new bonus system, depending on their results. The club will also be sourcing for two more houses for the players to live in till the season ends, with catered meals thrown in.
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"It is a good outcome," FAS president, Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee, told Jose Raymond of Today. "The club addressed the players' grievances and can now move on and concentrate on the football. Sporting Afrique have some very good players and have added a new dimension to the S-League with their blend of football."

World Cup briefs from Asia

In China, an online survey revealed that more than 80 percent of Chinese women planed to watch at least some of the World Cup matches, Turkish Daily News reported. "Surprisingly there is a considerable share of the female audience who are open to watching the game," said Rene Bos of AC Nielsen. "In fact, only 15 percent of females have indicated no interest in the game." Despite China's failure to qualify for the finals, the survey revealed that 30 percent of the women were "very much interested" in watching matches. Two-thirds of male respondents expressed the same level of interest with 65 percent intending to watch "as much as possible" of the finals.

The Korea Tourism Organization created an "outdoor cheering" tour program to attract tourists from Malaysia, Canada and the United States. The package turned out successful, with about 2,500 fans visiting Korea during the 2006 World Cup finals. According to The Korea Times, some 110 of 750 Malaysians who purchased the two-day or three-day package programs cheered the Korean team during its first telecast game. The previous day they practiced Korean football cheering songs and dances and took part in cheering at Sangam World Cup Stadium, Seoul Plaza and other places in small groups.

South Korea's Lee Young-Pyo quoted by the Sydney Morning Herald: "We have 12 players in the squad who are Christians and that gives us added strength. In 2002 there were six, now there are 12. That is a very good thing for us. I believe Jesus will give me a good result at this World Cup."

Mohammad Yazid of The Jakarta Post: "Soccer is very popular in Indonesia even though the country has never sent a team to the World Cup. Millions of Indonesians, the majority of them Muslims, idolize international soccer stars, even though most of the players are Christians. Have you ever heard of Indonesian soccer fans deciding not to watch the major European leagues just because the players often make the sign of the cross before entering the field or after scoring a goal? ... Let us focus our attention on soccer as a "religion". Without sloganeering or campaigning, this international soccer championship has taught us that soccer is a peaceful religion. Silently it guides soccer fans to realize that the broad green field with goalposts on each end is a home we can all share ... As a nation that calls itself religious, what then can we learn from the universal values of soccer as a "religion?" Many of us ... tend to practice our religion very literally and refuse to hear other "truths". Perhaps this is reflected in our failure to develop soccer here."

Thailand’s Buddhist monks must swear off many earthly pleasures, but the government has given them the green light to enjoy World Cup football, a religious affairs official told AFP. Thai monks will be allowed to watch the matches because exposure to worldly affairs including football is beneficial for their religious education, said Preecha Gunteeya, director of Thailand’s Religious Affairs Department. But he added: “The must be clam and quiet, and there must be no gambling.” Officials say punters are expected to bet almost $1 billion, 23 percent more than at the last cup four years ago.

In neighbouring Cambodia, AFP added, the chief Buddhist monk in the capital Phnom Penh warned that monks found watching the World Cup "must be punished and kicked out from their pagodas".

Cambodia's prime minister has urged football fans to stop betting their money and belongings on World Cup matches. "If you are betting on soccer matches, just bet verbally," Hun Sen said, as quoted by The Star (Malaysia). "Just watch it, but don't sell your cows, motorcycles, cars, houses or land for bets on soccer."

Thailand police are searching for a gunman who shot and killed two football fans after complaining they were cheering too loud while watching the World Cup on television. The two men, both Thais, cheered Italy's first goal against Ghana at a restaurant at Pattaya beach resort. A man seated nearby asked them to quiet down, prompting a heated argument during which the man pulled out a handgun and shot the fans at point-blank range, Police Col. Somnuek Chanket confirmed. "Police know the identity of the gunman, who fled after the shooting, Somnuek said. Thailand has never competed in the World Cup," Reuters reported.

Revolutionary football boot ready for the market

The Premier League of the Australian state of Victoria has reportedly successfully trialled a revolutionary new football boot, the Zygo. It was developed by Con Hatzilias who got interested in footwear design during marketing studies at Melbourne's RMIT University after he had a chance meeting with David Miers, the man who developed the Blades football boot, which replaced studs on the sole of the boot with a series of diagonal blades. "I had always known I wanted to do something with sport, make something, make a contribution that would stay on as my legacy. Meeting David was a spark, it helped focus my thoughts on making footwear," Hatzilias told Nabila Ahmed of The Age (Melbourne).

After weeks of drawing and sketching, an idea came to him about making a boot that would be as sensitive to touch and feel as a human fingertip. He thought if he could transpose the patterns of a fingerprint onto a boot, then that boot might make a player more sensitive to the touch of the ball and thus lend greater accuracy and consistency. He drew a design encapsulating a multi-ringed skin for the boot. He called this design Zygo technology. Zygo, from Greek zugo, means pair, symbolising in this case a pair of shoes, two circles on each ring on the shoe, a pair of feet, two teams on the field, two halves of a match and two goals at either end.

Hatzilias, who now works at Tennis Victoria, got his patented design on ABC television's The New Inventors program and, from that publicity, a group of business investors, ranging from the gaming company Tabcorp to the sports goods industry, formed a company, ESUS. Since last year ESUS has opened operations in Australia and New Zealand making and selling basketball shoes, health shoes and socks to sports goods retailers, and plans to release Hatzilias' Zygo shoes — costing between A$69 for children and A$189 for the top-of-the-range adult model — into shops in time for Christmas.

Further details from: Stuart Mitchell, Email: stuart@esus.com.au, Tel: +61 (0)3 9425 9900; Fax: +61 (0)3 9425 9911. Web: www.esus.com.au

World Cup accused of priority tickets for beauties

One media commentator believes that he has uncovered a new World Cup ticketing scandal: the preferential seating of professional models at matches.

"At the Trinidad & Tobago game, seated right across the aisle to me was just about the most fabulous woman I have ever seen. Blonde, wonderfully made up and wearing a little dress so tight that it was me who could hardly breathe. She appeared unaccompanied and unconcerned throughout the match," Danny Baker wrote in The Times (London). "Now I knew for sure. The clincher came when England eventually scored. Not a flicker from our girl. When John Terry had earlier hoofed it off the line to deny T&T the lead? Same reaction. I can’t say I was complaining, but what the hell was she doing there?"

His mind drifted back to the streets of Nuremberg streets five hours previously where he'd witnessed the desperate efforts of fans to purcxhase tickets for the game , even at outreageous prices.

"And yet, here in spiffy row H was Miss Universe filing her nails and stifling yawns between corners, though, to be fair, on the night, she was not alone in that. I have yet to see a single game that doesn’t feature at least a dozen similar fantastic creatures, separately hamming it up in their close-up. During the last Mexico match, a trio of them held hands, dancing wildly and still managing to look straight into camera! After 30 years in TV I can still barely find the lens from ten feet away. So are FIFA and the German TV authorities in cahoots cynically to pepper these games with ready-made images of advertiser-friendly, compliant professional football fans?"

The penny dropped for Baker when the beauty jumped out of her seat during a period of otherwise inaction.

"In those moments of startling fever she must have been getting her close-up shot on television. Quite how they were cueing her I don’t know, but I promise you one of her earrings did look suspiciously like a wire. Of course, the fact that TV directors regularly show us wonderful-looking women during internationals is well known to the point of cliché, but particularly in this tournament I have detected an element of perfection in the female fan as delivered by television that carries the whiff of central casting," he charged.

Andhra Pradesh state backs Indian football revival

The World Cup football bug has bitten the Sports Authority of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. G. Kamala Vardhana Rao, Managing Director, has decicided the SAAP will conduct district-level football tournaments across the state, irrespective of whether the Andhra Pradesh Football Association is active or defunct in some regions. "It is disgraceful that when the whole world is watching World Cup soccer, not much activity is going on in the city except at the Trimulgherry Village Grounds which was once known for producing famous names of Indian football," he explained.

According to V V Subrahmanyam in The Hindu, Rao made it clear to APFA secretary Anees-ul-Mulk that the state government had decided to revive football in a big way and the first step would be to conduct the district-level tournaments under the supervision of District Sports Development Officers. The APFA secretary reportedly "bowed to the request of SAAP" and promised to involve all the affiliated clubs and teams in the SAAP football tournament.

Subrahmanyam reported that additional to the SAAP football tournament, a forerunner for the Chief Minister's Cup to be held in August this year, the government has given the APFA a "positive response" to help revive the nearly-forgotten All-India Nizam Gold Cup.

US State Dept takes young Asians to World Cup

The United States State Department has taken an interest in the FIFA World Cup through an international youth program sponsored by its Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the US Soccer Foundation, the US Soccer Federation and Major League Soccer and managed by World Learning's Delphi International. The program endeavors to build international understanding and respect between young people around the world as well as reflecting the 2006 World Cup theme of “a time to make friends.” Thirty young male and female football players aged 13-18, from 13 countries including Afghanistan, Bahrain, China, Indonesia, Lebanon, Malaysia, Pakistan and Uzbekistan, are participating.

The program included visits to Washington DC and New York City - where they met President Bush and Secretary of States Condoleezza Rice as well as honed their football skills by attending the practice of MLS team DC United - before heading to Germany to watch the 22 June World Cup match between the United States and Ghana. The participants, both boys and girls, also scrimmaged with American youths and the US collegiate football champions from the University of Maryland.

In an interview with the Washington File, Under Secretary of State Karen Hughes, who hosted a pizza and ice cream party for the program participants at her home, explained the importance of the World Cup exchange program and expressed her pride in leading the youth delegation to the match in Germany. “Sports is a common language that fosters dialogue across borders,” she said. “These young people are the future leaders of our world and it is a privilege to be a part of introducing them to America and to each other.”

Download World Cup toolbar in national colours

BlogEverywhere.com has launched a 2006 World Cup toolbar, which allows individuals to customize their toolbar in the colors of their favorite football playing nation. This toolbar also enables them to receive the latest news on matches, scores and highlights delivered to their browser as a ticker. In addition, they can make and read comments on the web pages they are currently viewing. The toolbar also gives its users features such as enhancing their e-mail experience on Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail and Rediffmail; enabling users to express their opinions on any piece of news found on any web page from within their browsers; the ability to search multiple search engines from the toolbar.

Download at www.blogeverywhere.com/worldcup.

Asian FC pleased with Australia's World Cup rise

Football Federation Australia chief executive John O'Neill is excited about how the outcome of this World Cup will improve Australia's standing in Asia. He said Asian Football Confederation delegates "are all saying this is exactly why we wanted Australia because we are a strong team. The AFC have been very positive in promoting the fact that Asia has five teams in Germany and we are one of them. Ultimately, Asia wants more places in the World Cup [the AFC now has 4½ spots)] and performances like this will help the cause. As for the seedings, there are real, concrete benefits for us. When we went into Asia on January 1, we had a FIFA ranking, but not an Asian one. That's why we have gone into the (2007) Asian Cup qualifiers as an unseeded team. But this result should mean we will be ranked one or two in whatever (World Cup) pool we end up in."

According to Michael Cockerill in The Age (Melbourne), Australia's successful start to the World Cup also adds momentum to recent proposals for an annual tri-nations tournament involving Australia, Japan and South Korea, a concept that could expand to include North Korea and China. "It's early days, but we had some discussions in Munich last week about this, and there's a general enthusiasm to explore the possibilities," O'Neill told him. "But it's all about finding enough FIFA (international) dates."

Even before Australia's 3-1 victory over Japan FC president Mohamed bin Hammam told The Associated Press that he knew the match would have a dramatic impact on the continent, regardless of the result. He views Australia as a crucial contributor in the development of the sport in Asia gives the AFC an additional candidate-host for football's quadrennial championship. "I think 2018 will be the right time for us to rehost the World Cup," Hammam said. "We have so many candidates: China, Australia - they're very ready - we have India if they want to accept the challenge. These are the three major markets for 2018."

Hammam has no problem promoting Asia's newest member federation for such a major event. "Australia as a continent is enjoying a very strong economy. The infrastructure there wouldn't require much investment," he said as reported by Mainichi MSN (Japan). "The governments always support the big events like World Cup - I believe Australia would host a very good World Cup. If Asia has the best market and the best candidates, why can't it be elected," Hammam said. "I would like to see the competition between Asia and Europe, or CONCACAF - we have to give the world the best World Cup to keeping enhancing the image."

Philippine junior development program takes shape

Except for school tournaments, summer clinics and competitions sanctioned by the Philippine Football Federation, football is an unfamiliar territory for the average Filipino youngster. This, however, could change significantly in the future as PFF intensifies its nationwide campaign to place the Philippines in the football world map.

PFF runs five regional training centers in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao and has a national training center in Barotac Nuevo in Iloilo. According to Roy Mendina of ABS-CBN News, the federation is also banking on a study done by a German doctor to improve the country’s football status. Bernhard Zgoll, who first arrived in Manila in mid-1978, was tasked by the government to diagnose and analyse the Philippine "football condition". Following a three-month study, Zgoll came up with a report, part of which said: "Nothing short of a complete and thorough overhaul is needed before the sport can be given the proper impetus for growth."

One of Zgoll’s recommendations was that "nationwide and unified football competitions all over the Philippines [should be established] on different levels, including competition of youngsters." He also said that competitions should be supported by local government authorities. Recently, PFF came up with a grassroots football program patterned after Zgoll’s study.

The program was held at the Marikina Sports Center. School and club teams from Metro Manila and guests from Davao, Masbate and Baguio participated in the seven-a-side football festival. Aside from the tournament, PFF, together with Federacion Andaluza de Futbol launched a coaching course in May at the Philsports Complex in Pasig City. The course focused on youth development. It also provided tools to better prepare the coaches for the centers of football excellence which will be established in provinces, PFF said.

A federation member, the Davao Football Association, is implementing the PFF-backed "Kasibulan Project" that caters to players six to 12 years old. DFA also has the Delta Project and the Center for Football Excellence. These are what DFA termed as "peculiar strategies" that comprise the other part of grassroots development. That "other" part, DFA told Medina, is the complementary progression that would polish the outstanding talents sieved from the Kasibulan programs. "This is our comprehensive scheme to gratify the distinct proficiency of the best and brightest - the elite - a continuing process for our future football standouts," DFA said.

Indonesian police hunting for World Cup bookies

Indonesian police are stepping up their operations against gambling by targeting internet bookies, particularly those operating during the 2006 FIFA World Cup. All forms of gambling in all media are currently illegal in Indonesia. "We are anticipating an increasing trend of gambling during the World Cup. Detectives have identified several bookies involved in gambling through cellular phones, emails and facsimiles. We hope to be able to catch them soon," National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam told The Jakarta Post (16 June).

He said the National Police's cybercrime unit had identified several bookies using email addresses and cellphone numbers to place bets and was tracing the sources of the network.

"Felix" a long-time Internet gambler, however, told the newspaper he was not afraid of the police's threat. "Why be afraid? The police won't care about petty gamblers like me. They'll hunt the bookies," he said.

One of the world's leading on-line 'bookies', Mansion, is owned by Indonesian billionaire Putera Sampoerna, Indonesia's third-richest man. Last May his family raised about US$2 billion by selling control of clove/tobacco kretek cigarette manufacturing company, PT Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna, to Altria (Philip Morris) for US$5 billion.

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

Mansion is very well known to the Indonesian football public through the announcement of its new sponsorship of English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur - reportedly worth at least £34 million over the next four seasons.

See also: Asian police mostly clamping down on gambling (30 May)

FIFA Best Player sponsor out of flavour with Saudis

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia players will boycott FIFA's man of the match award during the World Cup because it is sponsored by Anheuser-Busch, the US brewry that manufactures Budweiser beer. "It's a matter of principle. No special meeting or decision needed to be taken. Saudi players will not accept an award linked to the maker of an alcoholic beverage," said Abdullah al-Dabal, a Saudi football federation official, quoted by Henry Chu in the LA Times.

He said as a Muslim nation, it was unacceptable for any of the Saudi players to accept such an award. Saudi officials told organizers of the decision before the 2-2 draw between Saudi Arabia and Tunisia (also a Muslim country). The man of the match award was given to Tunisia's Ziad Jaziri.

We recall that Brunei refused to play in the ASEAN Cup when it was sponsored by Tiger Beer of Singapore for a similar reason. However football-crazy Malaysia and Indonesia, both Muslim-majority nations, continued to participate.

Malaysian champ wants to avoid Player's Agents

To defend its Malaysian Super League title, newly-crowned champion Negeri Sembilan Nazawant wants to recruit South American players to strengthen its midfield and striker lineup for next season. However Negeri Sembilan Football Association president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said his FA had learnt a lesson not to depend too much on agents and has now sought the help of the Asian Football Confederation to attract players directly through the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) and its affiliates.

"I've talked to my contacts in AFC in getting these players. We prefer Brazilian, Argentinean or Colombian. I would like it to be done since some players brought in by their agents were under-performers and not quality players. Before, we had to choose the players that were suggested to us and desperately ended up paying a huge amount of money for under-performers although they are national players back home," Mohamad told Bernama newsagency.

Negeri Sembilan currently has three imports -- Christian Bekamengo Bekamenga from Cameroon, Australian Jason Williams and Nigerian Buston Nagbe Brown.

"Aussie Rules" and Rugbies worry about Soccer

Football Federation Australia's powerful Australian Rules and Rugby League and Union competitors were shocked by the ratings success of the Australia-Japan round of the World Cup. Shown late Monday night on the usually low-rating government multicultural network SBS, the Group F fixture was watched by 2.166 million across Australia's five metro markets.

In comparison, Rugby League's prime-time, Wednesday night State of Origin clash on the Nine Network attracted only 1.66 million viewers and the Sunday night live broadcast of the Rugby Union Test between Australia-England on Seven averaged less than 1.04 million across the country.

The Australian Football League denied it was concerned when a crowd of 95,000 attended FFA's pre-World Cup friendly between Australia-Greece at the Melbourne Cricket Ground - well above the 78,733 for the much anticipated heavy-weight, Melbourne-Collingwood derby at the same ground in the AFL's only game in town on Monday's Queen's Birthday holiday. But the FFA's television rating success stung the AFL. So too news that the DVD of the Australia-Uruguay qualifier has now outsold the AFL's 2005 Grand Final DVD (which features the historic win for the code's Sydney Swans club).

Not surprisingly it is now confirmed that AFL chief Andrew Demetriou has flown to Europe for five days, primarily to see Australia play Brazil in Munich on Sunday night.

FFA's chief executive John O'Neill, a former chief executive of the Australian Rugby Union, knows the fears rival codes have of soccer ever getting it right in Australia and says that time has finally come. "We [at the ARU] used to look at football, soccer, as a competitor and say one day they will get their act together and when they do we better be careful," he he told Paul Kent of the Courier Mail (Brisbane). "They may have had a participation base but there was no content and no success at national team level. Now we've got success at the national team level at the world's greatest event."

Australian Federation extends control of Perth club

Football Federation Australia has announced a "path forward for Perth Glory" to sustain the owner-less club through its second season in the Hyundai A-League. According to FFA Head of Operations, Matt Carroll, the plan includes the creation of a Steering Committee oversee the operation of Perth Glory and the recruitment key senior management. A high caliber Chief Executive Officer, Commercial Operations Manager, Football Operations Manager, Media & Communications manager and a new Head Coach for Perth Glory will be sought immediately. The steering committee will comprise the new CEO, the Head Coach, a representative from Football West and Carroll himself.

The FFA agreed on 30 April to release the Glory’s initial owners prematurely from their five year Participation Agreement. FFA then immediately received expressions of interest from four parties, indicating their strong desire to take ownership of the Perth license. Throughout the course of May, the interested parties were extensively assessed based on: commercial viability; ability to own and operate a professional sports organisation; the apparent fit with the overarching A-league strategy; and the apparent fit with the Perth and Western Australian culture and supporter base. During this time, FFA personnel have reviewed all elements of the Perth Glory operation, to ensure that preparations continue to be progressed appropriately for Season II.

Two of the four parties progressed to formal applications. Late last month the Singapore-based World Sport Group withdrew their application citing issues with other aspects of their business. Discussions with the other applicant, a Perth-based consortium, Centerfield Investment, continue. At present, the conditions of assessment have not been fully satisfied by the Centerfield Investment bid and therefore discussions are ongoing in regard to a new owner of Perth Glory.

“While we had hoped to conclude the process of finding a new owner for Perth Glory by now, the FFA believes it is more important to install the right owner than to get it done quickly. Since the Pre-Season competition and the Hyundai A-League season are rapidly approaching, the FFA has taken the decision to continue managing Perth Glory until such time that a suitable owner is found,” said Carroll.

“This decision means that the FFA will proceed quickly to appoint people in key management positions to allow Perth Glory adequate time to prepare the players and club for the upcoming Hyundai A-League season. The FFA will ensure Perth Glory remains a viable and competitive club – with a strong affinity with the Perth Football (Soccer) community and the Western Australian Community at large – that will be of interest to potential investors in the future,“ concluded Carroll.

See also: World Sport Group rethinking its Perth Glory bid (27 May)

World Cup clash starts Australia and Japan rivalry

A new Asian football rivalry may have emerged from yesterday's FIFA World Cup Group F contest between Australia and Japan played in Kaiserslautern, Germany. Australia, representing Oceania at this tournament but the newest member of the Asian Football Confederation (and ranked lowly by FIFA at 42) punished the current Asian champion, Japan (ranked at 18) in a 3-1 victory. Substitute Tim Cahill made history in dramatic style, scoring Australia's first goals in a World Cup final with two goals in the last six minutes followed by another by substitute John Aloisi in injury time.

A disputed goal from Shunsuke Nakamura had given Japan a 26th-minute advantage, his cross floating over keeper Mark Schwarzer who seemed to have been impeded by Atsushi Yanagisawa as he came to punch clear. Egyptian referee Esam Abd El Fatah waved away furious protests from the Socceroos at the time but after the game reportedly apologised to the Australians for a wrong decision.

Australian player Lucas Neill was asked if he realised he had just played in one of the great moments in Australian sport. "I hope so," he said. "I just think it epitomises what Australia's all about. Every sport we compete in, we've got this never-say-die attitude. We never know when to quit and we have all been brought up as winners, and I think it has shone through again today."

Before the game, the Australians reacted angrily to allegations by Japanese Football Association chief executive Saburo Kawabuchi. "Australia are guilty of a lot of dirty fouls," Kawabuchi told sports magazine Japanese Sport Daily Hochi, as reported by The Age (Melbourne). "They target ankles in particular. Japan must stand up to them." Playmaker Shunsuke Nakamura also bought into the argument, saying Japan hopes to be able to draw fouls around the edge of the box because of the Socceroos' penchant for getting stuck in.

But Socceroos coach Guus Hiddink described the Japanese comments as "irresponsible behaviour" and said the furore arising from Australia's style of play in the 1-1 draw against Holland last week was designed to influence referees. "That's ridiculous," an angry Hiddink said of the comments. "I am getting very angry when people are suggesting this. We have a good team, they like to fight in a game, and when people come out with this (these comments) ... it is irresponsible behaviour."

Mark Viduka, Australia's captain, echoed Hiddink's sentiments. "I don't know what all the fuss is about," the Middlesbrough forward said. "As Australians, we play fair. We are very competitive people and we like to win. We will never pull out of a tackle but that doesn't mean that we go out to hurt people.

In other World Cup matches involving Asian teams to date, Iran (ranked 23) was beaten 1-3 by Mexico (ranked 4), South Korea (ranked 29) beat Togo (ranked 61) 2-1 and Saudi Arabia (ranked 34) drew 2-2 with Tunisia (ranked 21)

South Korea buys World Cup TV rights for North

The Central Television Station of North Korea (DPRK) commenced television broadcasts of South Korean (ROK) recordings of the FIFA World Cup with the match between England and Paraguay, the Korea Times reported. The match was recorded and transported to Pyongyang by South Korean broadcasters after the South Korean Central Broadcasting Commission agreed to help the North broadcast the sporting event. South Korea reportedly agreed to pay some US$150,000 to FIFA agent, Infront, for the broadcast rights for North Korea.

See also: North Korea asks South's help for World Cup TV (30 May)

Football entering advertising "big league" in India

The 2006 FIFA World Cup has reportedly sent "cricket-crazed Indians into a soccer frenzy". Writing in the online journal, Asia Times, Siddharth Srivastava claims that "the game has never been bigger in the country, with a legion of fans spurred into hyperdrive by the tournament in Germany". He quoted a survey across nine cities in the country that says Indoans now rate footballers over cricketers: Ronaldo over Rahul Dravid, David Beckham over Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ronaldinho over Yuvraj Singh.

The 2002 World Cup held in Japan and South Korea catapulted football for the first time into the top league in India, with TV ratings that compared to the best-performing soap operas and one-day cricket matches. Euro 2004 continued the growth and had a cumulative audience reach of 32.3 million viewers. ESPN is looking to replicate its success telecasting the English Premier League in Hindi. EPL has a reach of 42.8 million, which means almost 50 percent of the cable-TV-wired homes across India has sampled the league. The viewership for the Spanish Premier League has also been growing steadily, reaching nearly one in three cable homes in 2004-05. ESPN is expecting the total Indian viewership for this World Cup to be in excess of 150 million, a fivefold increase over the audience for the 2002 event.

"Advertisers feel that India is fast moving from a one-sport country to interests in tennis, golf and soccer, though cricket remains by far the No 1 sport. Coca-Cola has budgeted $1.5 million for World Cup initiatives, while Adidas plans to spend 8-9 percent of net sales on total marketing efforts in India," Srivastava reported. "Expecting a surge in television sales, TV maker Onida has set aside $2 million for Cup promotions. Top car companies such as Maruti and Hyundai have devised specific schemes to make the most of the football frenzy. So have the two-wheelers Yamaha and Hero Honda ... ESPN has sold all its TV spots for all 64 World Cup matches, though the rates for the ongoing India-West Indies cricket series still go at twice the price for a 10-second spot. ESPN has gone in for bulk sales to 10 main advertisers with budgets ranging from $3 million to $4 million.

"Online and mobile-content players are prepared to re-create the magic through videos, live tickers, news reports, features, image galleries and audio commentary, with ad revenues expected to be up by 8-10 percent. Mobile2win, India's leading wireless value-added services player, has acquired the exclusive rights to distribute Cafu football content in India (Cafu is the nickname of Brazilian team captain Marcos Evangelista de Moraes) ...

"A recent report on TV ad spending showed a marginal dip of 2 percent on cricket in 2005 vis-a-vis 2004. The report also says there was a 41 percent increase in the number of brands that advertised on soccer (notably, this was despite 2005 not having any major international soccer event), while the number of brands that advertised on golf went up by 74 percent.

"These figures are, however, still puny compared with the amounts likely to be spent for the Cricket World Cup next year. Recently, the Board of Cricket Control of India claimed to have become a ''billion-dollar property'' after it awarded the global media rights for all matches to be played by India on neutral venues to Zee Telefilms Ltd for $219.15 million," Srivastava observed.

Italian World Cup win "will benefit" global economy

The world economy will benefit most from an Italian victory at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, according to ABN AMRO economists in their 3rd Soccernomics 2006 study. Although the direct economic impact (higher sales in bars and cafes) is marginal, good performances on the pitch can certainly stimulate an economy. In the past, countries winning the World Cup added around 0.7% to their economic growth. And at the last three tournaments the winning country's stock market considerably outperformed the losing finalist's market. On average there was 10% positive effect in the winner and a 25% negative effect in the loser.


According to Charles Kalshoven of the ABN AMRO Economics Department, "the Italian economy is hampered by an inflexible labour market and deteriorating competitiveness. An Italian victory in the World Cup final would boost consumer and producer confidence, and thus lead to more spending and investment. 'Made in Italy' would also reap more benefits abroad. This may well push economic growth upwards, which would then give the government scope to introduce economic reforms."

ABN AMRO's economists take as their starting point the imbalances in the world economy, above all the US current account deficit. Additional growth in Europe would cushion the inevitable correction to this situation. To achieve this, a major European country needs to win the World Cup to spark an economic upswing. The 'economic final' in soccernomics should therefore be between Germany and Italy, with Italy lifting the World Cup.

Fan gets too close to football for religious comfort

A 21-year-old Malaysian university student was yesterday fined RM1,200 for committing the Islamic religious crime of khalwat (close proximity) with one of the imported football stars of the Malaysian Premier League club, Kelantan. A pharmacy student at the International Islamic University, Ms Farrah Aina Safian Sauri, 21, pleaded guilty to committing the offence with Argentinian footballer Gustavo Alberto Romero at a flat in Kubang Kerian at 1.15am on 7 May. She was charged under Section 9(2) of the Kelantan (state) Syariah Criminal Code at the Kota Baru Lower Syariah Court. The offence carries a maximum fine of RM2,000 or a year in prison.

When the charge was read to her before Syariah Court judge Nik Najib Che Hassan, Farrah Aina pleaded for a light sentence, saying she was still studying. "I am the eldest in my family and they have placed all their hopes on me. I have repented and I promise never to repeat the offence." She admitted visiting the flat of Romero, a striker on the state team, on at least three other occasions.

Syariah public prosecutor Abu Bakar Abdullah Kutty said according to the facts of the case, enforcement officers from the Kelantan Islamic Affairs Department (JAHEAIK) found the woman in the flat Romero shared with another imported player, Thai national Sarif Sanui.

Judge Nik Najib said Farrah Aina was old enough to be aware of the consequences of her actions, Sheridan Mahavera of the New Straits Times (Kuala Lumpur) reported. Aina, who was unrepresented, paid the fine.

Goldmans Sachs on World Cup success indicators

The Goldman Sachs World Cup and Economics 2006 survey suggests there is a limited link between football and finance. Six of the countries in the G7 wealthy economies, for instance, are in the top 20 football nations according to FIFA world rankings. Surprisingly, the richest of the G7 nations, the United States, is also the highest ranked by FIFA, in fourth place. France is in seventh place, England 10th, Italy 14th, Japan 17th and Germany, this year’s World Cup finals host, languishes in 19th place. Of the G7 countries, only Canada is not in the finals.

Goldman Sachs says that when it comes to footballing success, population size matters. Luxembourg, Switzerland and Norway have three of the highest living standards in the world but feature nowhere in the World Cup. By contrast, the four most populous countries in the European Union -- Britain, Germany, France and Italy -- are the only European nations to have lifted the trophy. “This suggests that there may be a common denominator between size and football success,’’ said Jim O’Neill, the company’s chief economist. “Perhaps it is simply the size of population that matters for football success in Europe. Other economic measures matter less.’’

Using stock market performance as an indicator of football success Goldman Sachs state that looking at market statistics since the last World Cup in Japan and South Korea four years ago, the favourites this time would be Ukraine, (Ukraine whose market is up 699%), but Goldmans' rates their chances at just 1.1%. Argentina whose stock market has gained 548% since the 2002 Cup is given a 7.4% chance of lifting the trophy come July 9. "Brazil is the undisputed favourite, with a 12 per cent probability of winning the Cup," concludes Goldmans' Themistoklis Fiotakis.

To calculate its betting tips, Goldmans took FIFA's world rankings and combined them with average odds by bookies to create an "initial probability". Then it penalised countries according to the toughness of their schedules. Australia comes level with Costa Rica at 0.6%. Australia's footballing fortunes parallel its terms of trade, according to Goldmans' Tim Toohey. "One can only assume that should commodity prices continue on their current trajectory, Australia will feature prominently at future World Cups," Mr Toohey wrote in the report. At 44th, Australia has one of the worst football rankings among competing countries yet one of the higher levels of gross national product.

New leadership dispute hits Philippines Federation

Four hundred local Philippine football aficionados get to honor former football greats from the sixties to the eighties in the Philippine Football Federation Grand Awards Night at the Renaissance Hotel in Makati City. Among the former football figures to be cited are Manuel Nieto, Faustino Lim, Danny Weineki, Quintin Co, Eddie Llamas Jr Mindo Fajardo, Henri Kahn and Honesto Isleta, the last two former PFF presidents. "A highlight of the evening includes the awarding of the Mr And Mrs Football of the Year," PFF vice president Tony Chua told the Manila Times. Mark Villon (pictured), who saw action for the national team in the 23rd Southeast Asian Games, will be awarded as Mr Football while Edna Agravante and Andrea will share Miss Football honors.

PFF president Johnny Romualdez, who took part in the FIFA Congress in Munich, will be going straight from the airport to welcome past and present football starts in the event sponsored by Lufthansa, the German national carrier. However, just months after dodging a vote of no confidence, Romualdez is facing a new threat to his leadership.

"The PFF is not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Certification of Registration was revoked by SEC on 3 November 2003 due to noncompliance with reportorial requirements," Asian Football Confederation Women's Committee deputy chair Cristy Ramos told Sun Star Cebu. "Thus, all acts done after revocation have no legal effect, including the 30 November 2003 PFF election. Johnny Romualdez cannot be the legal president," she anniounced. Asked to comment on the issue, Romualdez said he refused "to be led to a press war" and said Ramos should take her complaint "through proper channels."

However, the Philippine Olympic Committee quickly requested former PFF president Rene Adad to help out in the ongoing football leadership dispute. POC legal counsel Emigdio Tanjuatco informed Adad of his need to get involved after learning that the Securities and Exchange Commission revoked the certificate of incorporation of the PFF three years ago and no action was taken to correct the situation afterwards. Tanjuatco explained in his letter to Adad on 5 June that if the situation is not addressed, it will "create doubts on the PFF’s legal capacity to act" and receive assistance from its benefactors, or sponsors.

Members of the PFF, which include National Capital Region Football Association president Jose Vito Borromeo, is endorsing Adad in helping convince the SEC to lift its order of revocation. "Concerned members of the Philippine football community believe that Adad is a good choice to take over the affairs of the PFF in a holdover capacity," commented Peter Atencio of Manila Standard Today. "This is because Adad was still the legally recognized president of the PFF before the situation came about."

See also: Media highlights Philippine leadership intrigues (14 Feb)

India's "Project World Cup" for South Africa 2010

The All India Football Federation has launched Project World Cup which aims to take the national football team to South Africa in 2010. "If this project yields the result, India will be sharing the dais with soccer giants in the FIFA World Cup," AIFF president, Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, said at a World Cup-eve function in New Dehli. "If we fail to do it by 2010, we will try for the next edition of the tournament (in 2014)," he added. At the function, Olympian and former Indian captain, Goswami, said he was banking on India's new coach, Bob Houghton, to deliver the goods. "We had our days of glory in the past, but somehow we could not make it to the World Cup. Now, with a new British coach for the national team, I hope we would finally make it in 2010," he said, as quoted by PTI. Apart from Goswami, present and past stars included Sailen Manna, Syed Nayeemuddin, Inder Singh, Mohd Habib, Prasun Bannerjee, Jo Paul Ancheri and Baichung Bhutia.

However, not all opinion-makers are convinced. Earler, the Hindustan Times compared the football record of China and India: "As in all other departments, the best way to investigate India’s utter ineptitude in the Beautiful Game is to compare it with China. The People’s Republic (ranked 68) ... has qualified to the World Cup finals once. Our Republic (ranked 117) hasn’t. China’s first bid to qualify for the World Cup was made in 1957; India’s was in 1986. While the Football Association of China has a moderately up-and-running Jia A (Top A) League running since 1994, India’s Super League and other domestic fixtures have been on a downward spiral ... The Kuala Lumpur-based Asian Football Confederation was hired to launch ‘Vision India’ in 2005, but we’re still having trouble spotting the goalpost."

And on the AIFF's special function in New Dehli, the newspaper commented: "On Friday evening, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry along with the All India Football Federation — both headed by Priyaranjan Dasmunshi — reportedly arranged for a special viewing of the World Cup opener. Among those invited were Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, several cabinet ministers, MPs, ambassadors and former footballers. India’s World Cup 2010 Qualification Project (sic) was also announced. Now it’s not our business to give Mr Dasmunshi any advice, but there are rumours of Beijing ‘talking cricket’. So maybe it’s wise to keep our eyes on the other World Cup, the one that’s played with a smaller ball, by fewer countries and the one in which, hopefully, the Chinaman will remain a left-arm leg-spin for a very long time."

But with a new professional league in the near future and a new national coach, fresh concepts are now being developed at the AIFF's brand new headquarters. For instance, the involvement in France's World Cup challenge of Vikash Dhorasoo, the Mauritius-born, Paris St Germain midfielder of Indian parentage, is of particular interest to Indian football officials hunting for Indian-linked players in the diaspora. "Anyone who has got the credentials, we are very much interested in," Albert Colaco, AIFF secretary told N. Ananthanarayanan of Reuters. "Now Indian youngsters abroad are taking up football," Colaco said, "India has definitely got (footballing) links, like Senegal and Jamaica." The AIFF has a list of players based in Europe and United States thanks to the help of a German-based portal on Indian football, www.indianfootball.com.

Taiwan football embarrassed by poor promotion

Chiu Yi-jen, the director-general of the Chinese-Taipei Football Association, felt embarrassed attending the FIFA congress in Munich recently. "Foreign football officials asked me: 'We cannot understand this. Since money is not a problem for Taiwan, why don't you do more to promote football?'" Chiu told the Republic of China's Central News Agency. "They pointed out that among countries whose per capita GNP is above US$10,000, Taiwan's football ranking is the lowest," he said. Chiu's conclusion: Taiwan must do more to promote football - specifically, professional football.

Taiwan is 156th in FIFA's world rankings, more than 100 places below neighbours Japan (18), South Korea (29) and also far behind the Peoples Republic of China (68). Sports analysts say the government, holder of the world's third-largest foreign currency reserves after China and Japan, has not been keen to promote the sport. Taiwan's Education Ministry promotes football in schools, but last year's physical education budget of 480 million Taiwan dollars (US$14.6 million) was down by half compared to 2001.

That trend has many Taiwan sports teachers feeling pessimistic about the sport's future. "To promote soccer, we must start from primary schools and organize soccer contests between primary schools," Lee Chun-Jung, a sports teacher at the Chung Cheng Industrial High School, told David Chang of the Deutsche Presse-Agentur. And Chao Jung-jui, a professor at the National Taiwan College of Physical Education, said professional football teams are urgently needed.

Inside Australian football's financial turnaround

The World Cup is a financial boon for all football associations but particularly for those directly involved such as Australia which is in the finals for the first time since 1974. "The most significant benefit is the prize money that FIFA has set aside, which was for this World Cup Sfr332 million," John O'Neill, chief executive of Football Federation Australia, told Simon Hoyle of the Sydney Morning Herald. "That means we got Sfr1 million to assist with the costs of preparing for the World Cup, plus another Sfr6 million appearance fee. So that's Sfr7 million straight to our revenue line." Should the Socceroos progress beyond the group stage, the prize money will increase dramatically.

The "World Cup effect" is already worth A$20 million to FFA, whose total turnover in 2005-06 will be about A$49 million. That includes the Sfr7 million of World Cup money, sponsorship income of about $12 million, and gate receipts, "somewhat enhanced by the game against Uruguay and the sell-out against Greece", of about A$11 million. The sale of broadcasting rights will pull in about A$2.3 million for the year, government grants about A$5.4 million, merchandising about A$2 million, and "miscellaneous" activities A$4.3 million.

O'Neill says broadcasting revenue will soar to about A$16.3 million from next year on, as a direct result of the Socceroos' success to date. "I would suggest that if we hadn't qualified, I think Foxtel would not have looked on us as favourably," O'Neill says. FA's sponsorship income is forecast to rise to $17 million, as existing sponsors renew and new sponsors sign up. Gate receipts will decline as World Cup fever subsides. But Australia's new place in FIFA's Asian Football Confederation will help underpin television interest.

"The whole windfall effect of the World Cup cannot be underestimated," O'Neill emphasised but added that it's only one part of FFA's plan to rejuvenate Australian football. "I have been in this job just over two years," he told Hoyle. "Going back to when I joined, the P&L and balance sheet of [FFA predecessor] Soccer Australia was a disaster. On and off the field the game had lost its credibility. The game had no content [and] the Socceroos hadn't played at home for 31 months."

The Socceroos' appearance at the World Cup over the coming days in Germany will support FFA's plans. "Sponsors came to the table with some reservations, a fair degree of caution and relatively modest amounts of money," O'Neill said. "But that's where we had to start, to get people in the door. Once they were in the door, they got a worthwhile experience."

English League votes for new Player Agent rules

English Football League clubs have voted to introduce a raft of new measures to tighten up the rules on players´ agents. The clubs are to ban ´dual representation´ - the practice where an single agent represents both a player and a club in a transfer deal - and players will be responsible for paying their own agents rather than presenting the bill to their clubs. Agents will also need a formal agreement to represent players, and clubs employing agents will be required to have similar arrangements in place. Additionally, clubs have voted to establish a ‘Register of Interests’ in which club officials must disclose to the League any interest or influence they have in the business of an agent. The new rules were agreed at the Football League´s annual general meeting held in the Algarve, Portugal.

Chengdu-linked Sheffield United cancels China tour

Newly promoted English Premier League club Sheffield United has called off its pre-season tour of China and will instead play in Scotland, Soccer Investor reported (9 June), because the World Cup has delayed the new season and the club wants to avoid fixture congestion. The Blades open their pre-season campaign on 13 July with a game away at Worksop Town and will then travel to Scotland although dates and opposition have yet to be finalised. The club finalised the acquisition of a majority stake in China League club Chengdu Wuniu, based in western China, six months ago.

See also: English Championship club acquires Chinese club (13 Dec 05)

Eathquake victims face prospect of no World Cup

Earthquake survivors on Indonesia's Java island have endured unimaginable suffering but some say they are now facing the final straw: missing out on watching the FIFA World Cup. Avid football fan Faturohman, a resident of devastated Wukirsari village in Yogyakarta provinces's Bantul district, told AFP that the prospect is painful for him. "Owww, I am ruined. The electricity in this area is only enough for lights. We can't watch TV and besides that, my set is flattened by rubble from my house," said the 19-year-old, who injured his leg while escaping the quake.

Wukirsari is among the many villages in Bantul almost totally levelled by a 6.3-magnitude quake on 27 May which killed more than 5,800 people and left more than 420,000 homeless. The only power for lighting some 20 homes that survived the quake here is emitted feebly from a single generator.

Yogyakarta's governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, said his administration was "considering providing television and radio" units in public areas for quake victims. "We understand that the public needs entertainment in a situation such as this one," the Sultan told reporters.

Japanese singers open Tokyo indoor Futsal court

A girls' futsal team featuring members of the popular all-girl Japanese pop group, Morning Musume, staged a match against a team of cabin attendants for Japan Airlines (JAL) with the singers achieving a solid victory. The Morning Musume team, "Gatas Brilhantes HP", played JAL's "Samurai Crew" and won 7-1. The match was held as part of an event produced by Japanese football player Tsuneyasu Miyamoto marking the opening of the Football Park Court futsal ground in the Marunouchi Building in Tokyo's Chiyoda-ku. "It felt strange to be playing a match inside a building, but when the game started I was able to enjoy it like I always do," said 21-year-old Gatas captain Hitomi Yoshizawa. Another member on the team, Nozomi Tsuji, said she was looking forward to watching the World Cup. "Four years ago, I didn't even know the rules, but this time I feel like painting Japanese flags on my cheeks and going to cheer the team on at the venues," she told Mainichi News.

FIFA to limit top domestic leagues to 18 teams

The world football body, FIFA, is demanding that top domestic football leagues reduce their number of teams to a maximum of 18. "This cannot be done immediately," FIFA president Seth Blatter said at the conclusion of the FIFA Congress. However, according to Associated Press, Blatter indicated he wants the leagues down from 20 teams by the start of the 2007-08 season. "This was the decision today of the congress, and we will do that," he said. "Clubs will be happy, they will go back to 18, they will save four (match dates) and four more days will be available." Blatter repeatedly has pressured major European leagues to reduce their first-division membership and lessen the number of games for premier players, who would then be more available to national teams. But the leagues have resisted because of financial concerns.

The proposal was one of several initiatives approved overwhelmingly by the congress. FIFA also will amend its laws to raise the minimum suspension for doping offences from six months to two years, but still allow national associations to reduce the penalties under specific circumstances.

The task force also recommended establishing a system to licence clubs within five years; require teams to provide youth development, have an appropriate stadium and training facilities, and have qualified administrators; and produce an annual financial report for review. Among other suggestions were better monitoring of agents and devising a method to track the flow of money in player transfers.

The congress also approved the establishment of a more independent ethics committee. FIFA members with legal backgrounds will be appointed to the committee, which will not be chaired by an executive committee member.

FIFA's finances improved from four years ago, when the organization acknowledged losses of about US$60 million, mainly due to the collapse of its partner ISL Marketing the previous year. For 2005, FIFA showed a surplus of US$162.7 million on revenues of US$664.4 million. General secretary Urs Linsi predicted FIFA will see its revenues jump about US$700 million in the next four years. "Four years ago, supposedly we were not good," said Blatter, who faced a stiff re-election campaign in 2002 because of the financial figures and amid allegations of mismanagement. "Now we're very good. We are criticized when we're poor, we're criticized when we're rich."

Afghanistanis to watch World Cup live in TV first

The 2006 World Cup finals are to be shown live on Afghanistan television for the first time. An official of Afghanistan's Tolo TV station told Xinhua newsagency that Tolo, as well as the national station and a commercial one, will broadcast the Cup's key matches live. FIFA has reportedly "forgiven their fees" for acquiring the right to broadcast the matches. "During Taliban's regime from 1996 to 2001, entertainment like music, films and some sports were forbidden in this country of about 25 million. After Taliban's collapse, recreation, art and so on reappeared in this country," Xinhua commented.

UPDATE

The Islamist faction that has just taken control of Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia in eastern Africa, has reportedly dispersed hundreds of residents protesting against moves by Sharia religious courts to stop them watching the World Cup there (10 June). "The Islamic militia of the area issued an order to stop them watching films as well as the World Cup this year in Germany," said Elmi Muse, a resident contacted by Reuters. "It is unacceptable to oppress the people," he added.

See also: Good footballing news from Afghanistan (16 May)

AFC's Velappan discusses highlights of his career

On 27 December 2007, Asian Football Confederation Secretary General Datuk Peter Velappan will retire after 29 years with the continent's football management body. Described by Anita Anandarajah of the New Straits Times (Kuala Kumpur) as the "Tamil school boy from Siliau Estate School in Negri Sembilan", Velappan told her some of his best memories of his career so far.

The Korea/Japan World Cup is especially close to his heart, the seed of an idea which germinated from former FIFA president Joao Havelange when the pair were en route to Tokyo in 1994. “Havelange wanted Asia to host the World Cup and at that time, only Japan was economically sound and had just begun serious professional football by introducing the J-League. When Japan applied to be the host in 1995, Korea launched an aggressive campaign to host the event,” he explained. AFC decided to recommend both Korea and Japan. The next day, Sepp Blatter, then FIFA general secretary, called for the letter of recommendation to be removed. “I worried that if Korea won the bid, we would lose our economic partner in Japan, which might then switch to other sports like baseball,” said Velappan.

Havelange agreed to have Korea and Japan as joint hosts and placed the responsibility on Velappan to see the partnership through in his capacity as co-ordination director. “It was the best World Cup ever, the World Cup of Smiles. It was the first time two countries with a frosty political history were united via football. Twenty-four million Koreans began celebrating on the streets,” he said.

Velappan has earned the nickname Pistol Pete for his blunt comments over the years, including for questioning Beijing’s suitability to host the Olympics. “In this job honesty and transparency gains respect. Mine has been an honest journey with direct communications. I call a spade a spade, without fear or favour."

On Malaysian football: “As a Malaysian, I really want her to realise her potential and play in the Olympics again,” said Velappan, who led the Malaysian team into the 1972 Munich Olympics. “These days only professional players can play in the World Cup. These events are not for amateurs. We need a very good professional football system. Japan proved that the J-League was instrumental in providing quality players from grassroots. We have enough talents in Malaysia and it is so important that these talents are developed along a professional system. We don’t have to worry about facilities,” he said, responding to a comment on Malaysia’s success in the 1970s despite the absence of state-of-the-art stadiums and lucrative sponsorships.

With retirement on the horizon, Anandarajah, observed, the 70-year-old looks anything but ready to throw in the towel. “After such a career, it won’t be easy to ditch football and do something else. I will start writing memoirs on my life in football. I may go back to university and, for egotistical reasons, do a PhD on the sociological, political and economic perspectives of football,” he said.

New movie tells of Iranian womens' love of football

Iranian film director Jafar Panahi is hopeful that his new film, a light-hearted critique of a ban on women going to football matches, will not fall foul of the Islamic Republic’s censors. “I have been waiting for permission ... but they’ve not said ‘yes’ or even ‘no’,” he told AFP. The film, Offside, depicts a group of girls who disguise themselves as boys in a bid to illicitly watch their national side qualify for the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany. “I chose the title since the term is a punitive measure for trying to score illegally, and the girls in my film are also trying to get into the stadium illegally, said the 46-year-old director.

"Most of my films talk about restrictions imposed on human beings, and here women are more restricted than men. So I used soccer as a means to show the restrictions ... During my shooting on location in Azadi stadium in Tehran, I sensed that some people in the football federation are inclined towards allowing women to enter the stadium. They see the current rule is hurting the image of football in Iran,” he said. “Since women are not allowed in stadiums, the chants from the spectators are full of profanities. But if they allow women in, these profanities will subside,” he predicted.

Iranian women have been barred from football matches since the 1979 Islamic revolution and clerics argue that women in stadiums is a recipe for disaster, given that they would see “bare legs” of male players. "So, Panahi’s tribute to Iranian women fans, which scored a Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year, also looks doomed", Farhad Pouladi of AFP commented.

See also: All women still banned from Iranian football games (8 May)

Chelsea partners IPA symposium move into China

Chelsea FC’s bid to attract fans in Asia has taken another step forward after the English Premier League champion signed a five-year partnership deal with the International Football Arena which holds an annual symposium of leading figures from the sport and in 2007 will hold the event in Beijing, China. “The IFA is the leading independent international forum of the football industry. Over the last few years it has established itself as the foremost debating arena for the major issues and developments in football," Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon told media. “I am delighted that Chelsea will become an official partner and promoter of the event with the IFA now looking to take its unique format into new areas, starting with China.”

Chelsea FC is already forging an innovative series of relationships in China and Asia with the Asian Football Confederation and the Chinese Football Association. And in its role as an official ambassador for London, Chelsea is also promoting Olympic co-operation between Beijing 2008 and London 2012 by inviting the Chinese Olympic team to train at Cobham. In the last seven years the IFA symposium has built up its reputation as an independent platform for football’s international decision makers, attracting top-ranking representatives to Zurich to discuss topical issues.

See also: AFC signs "Vision China" MOU with Chelsea FC (25 Apr)

Man City and Atletico Madrid in China tournament

English Premier League club Manchester City will be participating in the four-team Shanghai International Tournament to be held in China in August. China Super League club Shanghai Shenhua will host the tournament with Japan's Kashima Antlers and Spain's Atletico Madrid making up the rest of the opposition. City travelled to Asia for their last pre-season when they took part in the FA Premier League Asia Trophy in Bangkok, Thailand.

Football's role as a "recruitment tool for terrorism"

Noor Huda Ismail, a consultant on the impact of religion on political violence in South East Asia, warns that football may be one of the tools that violent jihadists are using to forge an esprit de corps and links among themselves. Ismail, an Indonesian, has been doing extensive research on jihadist networks and religious extremism and is a regular contributor to newspapers ranging from the Washington Post to the Straits Times and the Jakarta Post. He is currently a British Chevening scholar undertaking postgraduate program on International Security Studies at St Andrews University, UK.

"To have a strong and cohesive group among jihadists is necessary and soccer serves this purpose perfectly," he wrote in Football recruitment tool for terrorism in today's Jakarta Post. "It facilitates personal contact and the expansion of informal networks which, in their turn, encourage individual participation and the mobilization of resources. These informal individual connections contribute to jihadist activity in a variety of ways. First, they facilitate the circulation of information and therefore the speed of decision making. In the absence of any formal coordination among jihadi organizations, recruitment, enlistment and cooperation are done among individuals. Another important function of multiple informal individual relations is their contribution to the growth of feelings of mutual trust."

He provided four cases supporting his argument:

Mohammad Saifudin, the deputy of the Al Ghuraba sleeper cell in Pakistan, said in a jail interview in 2004 that besides studying, members of the cell also played sport. "Our favorite sport was soccer. We played with other study groups such as Al Bayan," he said.

The second case is from southern Thailand, last year, involving a fringe Islamic group wanting to make Pattani an independent state that had conducted a series of coordinated attacks on 11 police posts in three provinces that left at least 112 people dead. Some of attackers were from a local football team, a tight-knit group of men between the ages of 18 and 32. Many of the men had played together since they were schoolchildren. Just two days before the attack this football team beat out seven other teams to win a local tournament.

The third case can be found in Spain's jihadist network in 2005. The leader of the cell, Imad Yarkas, was known to many through informal football games among the Syrian immigrant community.

The fourth example is the fact that Osama bin Laden himself reportedly loves football, according to his former teacher at Al Thagher. Writer Steve Coll, in New Yorker magazine, described how informal tutoring using football at the school was a very powerful tool for attracting students to engage a tough subject such as memorizing the entire Koran. In Coll's article, a former student said that a teacher at the school "promised that if we stayed we could be part of a sports club, play soccer. I very much wanted to play soccer. So we began to stay after school with him from two o'clock until five".

"Thus," Ismail concluded, "recruitment into most jihadi groups is not like recruitment into the police or army or college. Indeed, previous formal or informal membership in action-oriented groups such as soccer or cricket teams, and other informal ties, may facilitate the passage from radicalization into jihad and on to joining suicide attack teams."

UPDATE (1)

With the death of the Al Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab Zarqawi, we are reminded of the profile on him published in The Observer (London) on 29 May 2005. During his Jordanian childhood, Paul Harris observed, "Zarqawi quickly became a tearaway. He spent his time scrapping and playing football in Zarqa's dusty streets and surprised no one by dropping out of school aged 17 ..."

UPDATE (2)

The US Public Broadcasting System's Frontline program discussed the case of Nizar Trabelsi, the only known former professional football player to join the Al Qaeda terrorist network (25 Jan 2005). The Tunisian was convicted in 2003 of plotting to drive a car bomb into Kleine Brogel, a NATO airbase in Belgium where US military personnel work and sentanced to 10 years gaol. Trabelsi played professional football in Germany in the late 1980s and early 1990s, initially for Fortuna Düsseldorf, but then drifted from team to team, developed a cocaine habit and racked up criminal offenses.He embraced radical Islam in the mid-1990s and, during training in Afghanistan, had face-to-face meetings with Osama bin Laden.

UPDATE (3)

When visiting London back in 1994, author Adam Robinson wrote in his book Bin Laden: behind the mask of a terrorist, Bin Laden is thought to have cheered on Arsenal FC at their Highbury stadium for at least two European ties, against Torino and Paris St Germain. It is even suggested he bought his son Abdullah a replica shirt in the club shop after having been blown away by the Highbury atmosphere.

And Chris Bryant refers in Spiegel (14 June) to a videotape released by the US Defence Department in December 2001 in which Bin Laden and his coterie make two references to soccer. Firstly Bin Laden recalls a prophesy that one of his own al-Qaida supporters relayed to him, "I saw in a dream, we were playing a soccer game against the Americans. When our team showed up in the field, they were all pilots!" Secondly, another man on the tape describes to Bin Laden his experience of watching the 9/11 attacks on television. "The scene was showing an Egyptian family sitting in their living room. They exploded with joy. Do you know when there is a soccer game and your team wins? It was the same expression of joy."

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

Europe's G-14 consider radical competition change

A radical plan to restructure international football to the benefit of powerful European clubs envisages the FIFA World Cup being held every two years, the Financial Times reported on Monday. The proposal, called Grand Slam World, is part of a presentation commissioned by the G-14 group, an alliance of 18 of the richest sides in Europe, by Hypercube, a Dutch consultancy.

Making the World Cup a biennial event is the most radical of four options outlined in a 36-page presentation, the newspaper said. Another option called Grand Slam Euro would see continental tournaments, such as the European championship, also held every two years, while a possible World Cup for clubs would be contested every four years. A third option, under which weaker countries would have to pre-qualify for continental championships, would permit expansion of the lucrative annual European Champions League.

Malaysian volunteers "to nab" illegal football fans

Members of Malaysia's People's Volunteer Corps (RELA), an organisation of uniformed part-time volunteers which assists regular police and immigration officials in mass arrest and detention operations, will be very busy this coming World Cup season. This is not because they will be preoccupied watching live telecasts of matches. Instead, they will be out on the streets to nab illegal immigrants.

According to The Star, RELA believes illegal foreigners will sneak out from their hideouts to patronise eating outlets screening live matches.

"We have our own strategies to detain them and the best time for us to do so is during the World Cup when soccer fans will attempt to make their way out to watch the games,” RELA state director for Negri Sembilan, Shamsudin Yusoff, told the newspaper.

He said the latest trend was for foreigners to enter the country on tourist visas and go into hiding after their permit expired. "During interrogation, we found that many of these illegal immigrants discarded their passports once they gained entry into Malaysia, hoping to blend in with the locals," he said.

Calcutta Football League scores 5-year sponsor

Major sponsors of the Indian cricket team and the India hockey team, the Sahara Parivar Group, has signed a five-year deal with the Calcutta Football League. While the sponsorship will lift the profile of the local league, Sahara also plans to promote the sport at the grassroots level, by supporting football in East Bengal state "from the nursery to the senior level", Express News Service reported.

The Calcutta Football League is the oldest football league in Asia and one of the oldest in the world. Since 1934 only one club besides Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting, has won the league title. In 2005, Mohun Bagan won the CFL's Premier division.

Trial disrupts Hyundai World Cup marketing plans

When South Korea's biggest automaker created the World Cup slogan "Be There With Hyundai," its image-makers didn't expect Chairman Chung Mong Koo to be in a courtroom during the football finals. According to Heejin Koo of Bloomberg, the head of Hyundai Motor Co, Korea's only official World Cup sponsor, will miss the games in Germany because he's standing trial in Seoul on fraud and embezzlement counts. The charges against Chung, most of which he denies, are damping Seoul-based Hyundai's plans to showcase its Sonata sedans and Tucson sport-utility vehicles at the event.

"We are canceling events that would have allowed our top executives to meet with reporters, FIFA officials and corporate clients,'" said Park Chae Hoon, head of sports marketing at Hyundai. "Still, the overall marketing by our representative offices in Europe will go ahead as planned." Chung, who's unavailable to comment, had planned to attend the World Cup tournament, Park said. He has repeatedly denied embezzling 120 billion won ($127 million) from Hyundai and setting up a slush fund for bribing government officials, according to his lawyer.

Hyundai expected a 70-fold return on its 10-year World Cup sponsorship agreement with football's governing body FIFA, Park said. The championship matches attract a total audience of 28.8 billion people. While Hyundai won't disclose its investment, Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co is paying US$500 million to sponsor the next four World Cup competitions.

See also: Hyundai provides 1250 vehicles for FIFA World Cup (5 May)

Australia launches elite player development review

Football Federation Australia has announced the launch of an elite player development initiative, designed to ensure Australia’s future competitiveness in international Football. The review, claimed by FFA to be "unprecedented in Australian sport", will involve an extensive examination of talent identification and development programs amongst Australia’s major international football competitors around the world, as well as other relevant sports within Australia. The review will also consult widely within the football community in Australia, and invite submissions generally from interested parties across the country.

The project team includes Dr Michael Crawford (Corex); Matt Carroll, FFA Head of Operations; John Boultbee, FFA Head of High Performance, Dr Rob van den Honert, FFA Manager – Research, Analysis and Strategic Projects, and Jason Gulbin, Manager of Talentsearch at the Australian Sports Commission.

The outputs from the research and analysis will provide a thorough, objective, fact-based platform from which the project team will be able to make recommendations to the FFA Board in October this year on an optimal system for talent identification and development. While focused initially on the men’s game, the scope of the project will include the application of the resultant recommendations to elite development for women’s football also.

“We cannot afford to tinker around the edges of the existing systems, but nor should we replace existing assets with imported ones just for the sake of it," said FFA Chief Executive Officer John O’Neill. "We need to custom-design the most effective solution for our unique circumstances. FFA will be working with all the stakeholders in Australian football to develop and implement an affordable plan.”

A World Cup trivia quiz from Changmai, Thailand

James Austin Farell, who advises that the most spoken English word in Thailand is 'Liverpool', is running a quiz as a pre-World Cup promo in his City Life column. The prize is a 1,000 baht voucher for food and beverage at the UN Irish Pub in Changmai. You may have to be in northern Thailand to win, but James is inviting entries from anywhere.

1. How many non-South American teams in the first World Cup?
2. Who picked the Romanian team in the first World Cup?
3. Feb and March 2004, what was the final score of the Bemuda and Monserrat tie?
4. Which African nation qualifier was the only nation that has qualified before?
5. Which teams were in England's first round group in 1966?
6. Who was the top scorer in the 1966 World Cup?
7. Which team won the fair play award in the last World Cup?
8. At what venue was the England-Argentina game played in Japan?
9. Who was sent off for Brazil in their quarter final game?
10. In which country was football supposedly first played?

Send your answers to james@chiangmaicitylife.com.

Free World Cup-related toolbar

ToolbarPro, a Malaysian company, is offering a free World Cup-related computer toolbar. The web browser application offers latest results, news and updates on the FIFA World Cup. It allows for searches on Google, Yahoo! and SoccerNet. Football fans can also chat on the toolbar and share views and opinions on the World Cup. Download at wc2006.toolbarpro.net.

Oceania directly to CWC but NZ Knights in limbo

Is this the final word? According to news reports, the Oceania Football Confederation will be guaranteed direct entry to FIFA's Club World Cup played annually in Japan, despite being represented by a predominantly amateur team. A meeting of FIFA's executive committee decided against forcing the Oceania champion into another playoff for a place at the December tournament, OFC president Reynald Temarri told Associated Press on Sunday. A formal announcement was expected Monday, ending speculation that Oceania champion Auckland City would have to play off against the Japanese J-League champion for its place in the six-team format.

"I proposed that we go straight to Japan, rather than have a playoff, and my colleagues agreed," Temarri said. "Now it's our duty to be ready." Soccer New Zealand team Auckland City won the Oceania qualifying tournament last month over over Tahiti's AS Pirae and will join the Asian, African and CONCACAF champions in the opening round. The winners of that group progress to the semifinals, joining seeded South American and European teams, while first round losers play off for fifth and sixth places, a match won last year by Australia's Sydney FC.

The world club championship was relaunched last year to feature the champions from FIFA's six continental confederations. It replaced the earlier Toyota Cup format that pitted the top European and South American clubs in an annual match in Tokyo. Brazil's Sao Paulo beat English Premier League club Liverpool in the 2005 final which, not surprisingly, featured the champions of South America and Europe.

One of the criticisms of the 2005 tournament was that it lacked atmosphere because no local Japanese club was involved. No Japanese clubs figure in the last eight of the Asian Champions League, the regional qualifying tournament and Japan's last hope of having a representative at the World Club Championships was the mooted playoff against Auckland.

Acceding to a desire by competition sponsors Toyota that there be a host-nation presence in Yokohama to bolster crowd numbers, they are reported to have lost money on last year's tournament, FIFA president Seth Blatter proposed that the OFC representative should play the J-League champion, with the winner going into the main draw. He met opposition from some FIFA members who pointed out this was a contest between confederation champions and the Japanese League winner did not fit that criterion.

A further proposal was that the OFC champion should play last year's winner - in this case South American champion Sao Paulo (Brazil) - with the victor going into the main draw. That too met opposition, with some pointing out it would be unfair on the OFC team.

Yet another was made by Football Federation Australia, which moved from Oceania to Asia on 1 January this year, that the New Zealand-based club that plays in its professional A-League, the NZ Knights, should participate in the OFC's championship tournament, despite the fact that it plays in an Asian Football Confederation league.

FFA head of operations Matt Carroll confirmed to Michael Cockerill of the Sydney Morning Herald that the Knights will not be able to use the A-League as a launching pad for playing internationally - even if they win the A-League premiership or 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 Cup.

"This is a new problem for the AFC because New Zealand is, of course, a member of Oceania, whereas Australia is a member of Asia," Carroll said. "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 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 CWC. 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."

That this has clearly been ignored by the other stakeholders, seemingly leaves the Knights in limbo, accepted neither by Asia or Oceania.

OFC secretary-general Tai Nicholas said his confederation had maintained all along that whichever OFC club won the right to play in the CWC would prefer to take their chances in the main draw. "It has now reached a situation that needs to be sorted out," he told Terry Maddaford of the NZ Herald in May. "Sepp Blatter has said there will be no more discussion until the FIFA executive meeting on 4 June."

See also: Japanese team confirmed for 2006 Club World Cup (23 Mar) and Japan still pushing for local team in Club World Cup (21 Mar) and Oceania 'request' changes FIFA 2006 Club Cup (20 Feb) and FIFA 'to allow' host team at 2006 Club World Cup (14 Feb) and Sao Paulo crowned FIFA's Club World Champions (19 Dec)

FF Australia responds to television sale criticism

Football Federation Australia has responded to criticism of its sale of broadcasting rights exclusively to subscription television. Seth Blatter, president of the world football body, FIFA, was one to publicly questiom whether the right decision was made. "It's a decision to take between money or exposure and I'm not so sure that the right decision has been taken, but it's not up to me to make this decision," he told The Sunday Age (Melbourne). "I will not interfere in governmental decisions, but when it comes to the national team, I would say, yes, the national team should be accessible to everybody."

FFA head of operations Matt Carroll disagrees. "Until last year, we really had nothing to sell," he told the Age's David Sygall. "We received some money for Socceroos matches and a small amount of money for the A-League. But, having said that, we needed to prove ourselves. We now have a competitive and attractive national competition."

Carroll said the governing body needed such a deal because the sport was "coming off a low base" and revenue was critical. "Specifically, this deal will enable us to provide $2 million grants to each of the A-League clubs, which is critical for those clubs to be able to grow," Carroll said. "Plus, it will put money into the FFA to enable us to grow the game in other areas, particularly grassroots, and through the state federations.

"(Pay TV) is accessed by more than 25 percent of the population, particularly in the big cities. The ratings Foxtel was achieving from the A-League were better than we ever got on free-to-air TV. It's always a question where to have our matches broadcast. We went to the market and the free-to-air channels, including SBS, had their opportunity, but no one could match the money offered by Foxtel. It's critical at this time in the game's renaissance in Australia that we have a secure source of revenue."

Asked whether, by signing an exclusive deal with Foxtel, the FFA had missed a chance to truly attract mainstream support for football, Carroll said: "Look at Super 12 and Super 14 rugby. It's been on pay TV since its inception and it's managed to be a reasonably mainstream sport. If we hadn't secured this broadcast deal it would have been very hard for us to stay alive."

Foxtel has the right to sell the football coverage, but it is unlikely to do so. Fox Sport's marketing director Adam Oakes said the broadcaster's aim was to acquire good quality, exclusive properties. "The benefit from that for the sport is that they get a lot of money," Oakes said. "The benefit for us is that we hopefully get a property that people are passionate about and are prepared to pay for."

See also: Blatter praises Australia but not FFA's pay TV deal (27 May)

Players move as China takes a World Cup break

Many millions of Chinese will be glued to the blanket television coverage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals even though China failed to qualify and the games will mostly be shown in the middle of the night. "China has a massive number of football fans who will stay up to watch the matches, and I'm one of them," the country's Premier, Wen Jiabao, told German Chancellor Angela Merkel on her visit to Beijing last week.

In domestic news, an agent representing Beijing Guoan has confirmed the China Super League club's interest in Real Madrid midfielder Zinedine Zidane. Beijing Guoan and Changchun Yatai are both interested in bringing the French star to China for next season and the agent representing the former says Zidane hasn't knocked back the proposal. "Zidane is looking for a new stage, which is China," said the agent, as quoted by Tribalfootball.com. Beijing Guoan have a partnership agreement with Real Madrid and the CSL is actively seeking higher profile international players after this month's arrival of German and former Bayern Munich centre-forward Carsten Jancker.

However, Beijing Guo'an is currently suing German Second Division club 1860 Munich for €600,000 in a dispute over loan payments for China midfielder Shao Jiayi, a Chinese newspaper reported. Shao, 26, was loaned to TSV 1860 Munich in 2003, but state media noted by Reuters last August reported that the German club had failed to make scheduled payments on the four-year deal. The Beijing News said the club had consulted a sports lawyer at Real Madrid, who have a co-operation deal with Guo'an.

"In international legal disputes, there can't be any mishaps," the paper quoted Guo'an's general manager Li Xiaoming as saying. "We have made meticulous preparations." Shao said he had completed his contract with Munich 1860 and hoped the dispute could be settled so he could move on, possibly to newly-promoted Bundesliga club Energie Cottbus. Shao's agent said Cottbus were very interested in the player, despite his stint in Munich being marred by injury and lack of game-time.

Down Under, a Chinese Under-23 international, Zhang Xiaobin, has signed a two and a half year contract with the Victorian (state) Premier League club Kingston City FC. The 21 year old attacking midfielder had been playing for the New Zealand Knights in the Hyundai A-League but found first-team opportunities limited. Zhang Xiaobin came to England as a 16 year old, on his own, with no family or friends and without speaking the language. Despite these obstacles he did very well and won two Under-23 caps for China at the age of 18.

Although Stockport wanted to offer Xiaobin professional terms, work-permit restrictions prohibited this and forced him to look abroad. Before joining the Knights Zhang had trials with Feyenoord feeder club KVC Westerlo in Belgium, but this was cut short through injury. There was subsequent interest from PSV Eindhoven and Red Star Belgrade but it was the New Zealand Knights who made the first firm offer. Unfortunately the move to New Zealand disappointed, with Zhang starting just two games with ten appearances from the bench, and scoring one goal.

Zhang’s agent, Nigel Empson of Prosporta, feels the move to Kingston gives Zhang an excellent opportunity to get his career back on track. “The Knights struggled from the first game and were forced to adopt a very defensive approach. Naturally, as an attacking player, this restricted Xiaobin’s first-team chances. Here things are different – Kingston plays an attacking game ideally suited to Xiaobin, and they’re second in the League: I am extremely confident that he will get regular first-team games and the chance to play for an ambitious and supportive club," he told Asian Football Business Review.

Europeans agree: No place for racism at World Cup

German and international football officials are taking steps to discourage racism at the upcoming World Cup. The world football body, FIFA, has begun a campaign that includes a series of anti-racism TV commercials, and banners to be displayed at all World Cup matches. FIFA officials said racist incidents by fans will not interrupt game play, but players and coaches have been threatened with sanctions, The New York Times reported.

While many say the atmosphere of the World Cup may itself limit racist behavior, others say such behavior will simply be moved outside the stadiums. "We have to differentiate inside and outside the stadium," said Kurt Wachter, coordinator of Football Against Racism in Europe. "We're sure we will see some things we're used to seeing. It won't stop because of the World Cup."

In Scotland, for instance, Northern British football fans have been warned to "guard against" anti-English racism during the World Cup. The Commission for Racial Equality said Scots should not feel that they ought to support the Auld Enemy but the watchdogs warned the World Cup must not be seen as an excuse for anti-English feeling.

"What could be seen by some as harmless banter between rival fans will impact on others as raw hostility directed against a whole nation. There's an all too common misperception that racism only occurs where people are visibly different. In fact, racism occurs when any person is stereotyped, harassed or discriminated against on the basis of their colour, race, ethnic or national identity. Using the World Cup as a pretext for hostility against any nation or race, including the English, is racism," CRE Scotland director Ali Jarvis told Magnus Gardham of the Daily Record.

The CRE saw a rise in complaints about anti-English racism in the run-up to the 2002 World Cup and have already received a number of calls from people concerned that anti-English comments are creating "tension and hostility".

In the southern British principality of Wales, police have also warned that any complaint of anti-English chants or jokes will be treated as a racist attack and could land football fans in jail. Police have been told remarks about the English should be treated no differently than attacks on ethnic minorities. "If it's a specific racist term, that person is liable to be arrested. Shouting something like 'English b*****d' could be considered a racist attack if somebody is offended by that. It's no different to calling somebody a 'Pakistani b*****d', a Welsh police source told Matt Withers of Wales on Sunday. "It could be all sorts of English comments. There are people who find being called 'Taffy' by the English racist. It all depends on the complaint."

But Paul Corkrey of Football Supporters' Federation Cymru described the decision as "nonsense". He said: "I really, truly think it's got out of hand. They've gone over the top. It's going to set a precedent and cause problems for the police. What happens if Yorkshire people start kicking off against Lancashire people? They're making a rod for their own backs. Corkrey said he would be supporting "whoever is playing against England".

Unnikrishnan lists the faults of Indian football

Indian football's lack of drive, poor infrastructure and outdated training methods have led the game to dribble aimlessly for too long, wrote M.S Unnikrishnan of Tribune India. "The best-known face of Indian football, Baichung Bhutia said the decline of the game was mainly on account of the All-India Football Federation’s failure to have the right kind of people at the helm ... Bhutia said wistfully how he longed to be part of the upcoming World Cup in Germany, though he knows fully well that it’s just wishful thinking. For, it will take India, ranked 117, several decades to break into the elite group of the best 32 teams in the world. The last Indian win was a 2-0 effort against Afghanistan in the AFC Challenge Cup at Chittagong, but were humiliated by Nepal with a 3-0 win in the quarter-final in April this year," he commented.

Unnikrishnan listed the faults of Indian football:

Neglect at the grass-roots level: No concerted, scientifically modulated training programmes for juniors. "Indian coaches are so far behind in their coaching techniques that they cut a sorry figure when pitted against reputed teams" but "Mercifully, the AIFF has appointed well-known British coach Bob Houghton as the new chief national coach and he will be assisted by two Indian coaches, mainly for grooming junior talent and strengthening the base".

National Football League: "A pointless exercise, though the league has made the AIFF coffers rich". Because NFL matches are played only at select venues from where the competing teams belong the "very idea of taking the game to all corners of the country ... has been defeated". A Second Division League was started to address this problem has "not made much success either".

Extinction of many tournament: "An insensitive AIFF couldn’t care less when tournament after tournament folded up as it was obsessed only with the NLF, mainly because money was directly coming into its pockets" such as through Zee Sports and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation sponsorships. "Most of the prestigious club tournaments have downed their shutters as it was difficult to invite top clubs and players. For, according to the present rule of the AIFF, a tournament has to be completed within 12 days, featuring only eight or ten teams, and top players attending India camps would not be released to play for their respective clubs. Only the National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy and the Federation Cup for clubs continue to hold on, weathering heavy odds."

Lack of infrastructure: The Karnataka Football Association is the only state body to have its own stadium, Kanjeevara, in Bangalore while the other state associations have just minimal infrastructure. Even the Ambedkar Stadium, which has been chosen for Asian Football Federation's Vision India pilot project in Delhi, is often let out by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi for political functions, "despite the frantic efforts of Delhi Soccer Association secretary N K Bhatia to stop the 'misuse'."

However, AIFF's first fulltime Secretary, Alberto Colaco, explained to Unnikrishnan that now the federation is making it mandatory for State associations to hold longer leagues, the impact and profile of the "game is set for a makeover". At present, only Goa, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu hold longer leagues, while Punjab, Kerala, etc. restrict their leagues to a couple of weeks. He promised that the NFL would also be run in a much more professional manner in the coming years as the FIFA and the AFC are extending a helping hand to streamline the football set-up in the states.

“Our biggest problem is non-availability of grounds. But we are in the process of addressing this lacuna, Colaco said. “FIFA and AFC are trying to provide us maximum guidance and we plan to work at three levels—short term (two years), medium term (five years) and long term (10 years)—to lift the standard of Indian football. Everyone has to pitch in with honest efforts to turn the game around,” he added.

FIFA probes Arsenal's deal with Beveren's Guillou

The world football body, FIFA, has reportedly launched a probe into whether English Premier League club Arsenal breached rules governing fair play and conflict of interest - allegations serious enough to expose the club to possible expulsion from the UEFA Champions League. According to BBC Newsnight, a police probe in Belgium has concluded Arsenal made secret payments of £1 million to the Beveren football club.

"A company with no name wanted to invest a million pounds in the club. We thought it rather bizarre," Christian du Four, the Investigating Magistrate in the Flemish town of Dendermonde, told Newsnight. At the same time the team threw out most of its Belgian players and replaced them with unknowns from an academy in Ivory Coast. Belgian police suspected the fog of secrecy was hiding criminal involvement. Instead after an investigation they have told Newsnight that they found Arsenal's secret hand behind the money.

Arsenal has a public deal with Beveren to play friendly matches and loan players but repeatedly denied putting money into the club. Arsenal now admits it did loan money, indirectly, to Beveren. "Arsenal confirms that it has never owned, directly or indirectly, any shares in Beveren or had any power whatsoever to influence its management or administration. It did in 2001 provide funds of 1,570,703 euros by way of loan to a member of the consortium to assist in stabilising the finances of Beveren," an Arsenal spokesman said.

According to Newsnight, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was given his break in management by Jean Marc Guillou, manager of Cannes in the early '80s with Wenger his assistant. Guillou and Wenger bought players cheap from Africa. Their first success was Youssouf Fofana bought from Ivory Coast. By the 1990s Wenger was manager of Monaco. His old friend Guillou came to him with an idea to turn Ivory Coast into a football factory. Monaco put money into an Academy in the Ivorian capital run in cooperation with the local team Africa's top side ASEC of Abidjan.

The academy recruited 12-year-olds and trained them up. Chelsea's new recruit Salomon Kalou, Arsenal's Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Eboue and half the Ivory Coast World Cup squad are graduates of that Academy. But after Wenger left Monaco the club stopped funding the academy and Guillou needed more funds to keep it going until the youngster were old enough to sell. Newsnight has obtained a document signed by Guillou which lists 11 investors including himself.

According to the document they expected a 300% profit on their investment which would be made by selling the academy players on to Europe. ASECs boss Roger Ouegnin told BBC Newsnight: "They are not investors they are usurers." Also listed is Wenger who according to the document expected to make nearly £100,000 on a £30,000 investment. The payouts are still frozen subject to a series of legal cases in Belgium and France but BBC Newsnight understands that Wenger now says there was a misunderstanding and his payment was a donation not an investment.

The first four players including Toure were sold directly from the Academy but it was difficult to get work permits for Ivorian players to compete in the top European leagues unless like Toure they already had enough international appearances to qualify. Guillou hit on the idea of buying up a Belgian first division club cheap since the Belgian FA had relatively weak regulations. Once playing in a European League they would come to the attention of bigger clubs.

Guilou did not have access to the amount of money required to take over a Belgium club but he knew a man who did. Reading from his investigation, Mr Du Four said: "Jean Marc Guillou who is the manager of Beveren has very close contacts with Arsene Wenger the coach of Arsenal and that is why they went ahead with the contract." He then highlighted one contract signed by Arsenal Vice-Chairman David Dein. The contract shows Dein agreeing to advance 12 million Belgian francs on behalf of Arsenal Football Club in an interest free loan to an associate of his called Raoul de Waele. The loan was to establish a company called Goal which would take over control of Beveren football club. The loan and other money advanced by Arsenal would be repaid out of Goal's share of transfer profits. Du Four says that in all Arsenal put in £1 million.

An unidentified director of Beveren told Newsnight that the club agreed to give most of the profits from the sales of Ivorian players to Goal and Guillou. In the first year the split would be 60% for Goal, 30% for Guillou and just 10% for Beveren but in the following years the club would get 30% and Goal would get 40%. The club sold players all over Europe including to France, Ukraine and Greece and of course Eboue to Arsenal in January 2005 just after he had married his Belgian girlfriend and acquired European citizenship.

Beveren is reportedly again penniless and despite the last-ditch win has been threatened with relegation over its financial problems. "Whatever happened to the millions in transfer fees very little of it seems to have ended up at the club," Newsnight claimed. "The Ivorian stars Toure and Eboue are happy and will be facing Argentina in the World Cup in just over a week but back in Abidjan there is unhappiness that little of the money generated by football has made it back to the Ivory Coast. Roger Ouegnin at ASECS is still waiting for the £1m that he say Beveren owe them. He and Guillou are counterclaiming against each other. Ouegnin also claims Arsenal have not paid him £500,000 which he says they owe for Kolo Toure even though he says it is just a 'drop in the ocean' for them when Toure is worth £10 million plus."

FIFA president Seth Blatter is now seeking to ensure such practices are not possible in future. "[At] Beveren there are 11 players from Africa in the same team; in Dinamo Moscow the last season there were 10 players from Brazil or Portugal," he said. "These are deviations in football."

See also: Arsenal options 2 first-year Thai academy students (25 May)

WSG adds Indian office to its Asian sports network

Singapore-based World Sport Group has opened its own office in India to add to its facilities in Beijing, Beirut, Hong Kong, Sydney and Tokyo, where global communications giants Dentsu Inc, which owns a substantial share in WSG, are based. WSG is also the exclusive commercial partner of the Asian Football Confederation and South Asian Football Federation a relationship that dates back to 1993.

According to Television Point, WSG already has marquee properties in India, including the Hero Honda Indian Golf Open, for which WSG owns the exclusive commercial rights for the next five years. WSG also has a proven track record in cricket, India's leading sport, through its work with the International Cricket Council, restructuring the organisation's commercial rights inventory and managing sponsorship and television licensing for Global Cricket Corporation in India through a previous joint venture with an Indian sports company.

See also: World Sport Group rethinking its Perth Glory bid (27 May)

BBC to restrict online World Cup to UK residents

The British Broadcasting Corporation has signed a deal with Infront Sports & Media, the company responsible for the worldwide marketing and sales of the broadcast rights to the 2006 FIFA World Cup, which will allow internet users to watch all the games online. The BBC's TV games will be live and free-to-air with online viewers able to access the games at www.bbc.co.uk/worldcup and www.bbc.co.uk/sport although viewing of these matches will be reportedly restricted to computer users resident in the UK.

All of the BBC's group games will be available on these sites, as well as all the subsequent games the BBC has in the knockout stages. The BBC will also have the exclusive rights to England's second round and quarter-final games should they reach that stage. Furthermore, the BBC has non-exclusive rights to short highlights from every 2006 World Cup game. There will be four-minute clips from all of the 64 matches available on-demand whenever users want to view them.

In addition to watching the games, online users will be able to hear and read about the latest actions – BBC Radio Five Live will have an audio stream from the 2006 World Cup games and there will also be live minute-by-minute reports on every match written by BBC journalists.

Al Ahli is struck out of AFC Champions League

Al Ahli FC, the new UAE league champions from Dubai received bad news as they celebrated their triumph after a gap of 26 years. The Asian Football Confederation has confirmed that runners-up Al Wahda and not Al Ahli will take part in next year's AFC Champions League as the Dubai club will be serving the second year of their two-year suspension.

With Al Ain booking one of the two berths to the 2007 AFC Champions League after winning the President's Cup earlier in the season, Al Ahli looked to have booked the second berth after their 4-1 win in the play-off over defending champions Al Wahda last Friday. However, AFC clarified that the two-tournament ban on Al Ahli was still in place. Al Ahli incurred the two-tournament ban and a $94,500 fine after they refused to travel to Uzbekistan to play Neftchi Fergana in their final Group C match of the 2005 Champions League citing 'security concerns'.

On appeal, the fine was reduced to $54,000 but the suspension was upheld, meaning that Al Ahli will not be eligible for the 2007 AFC Champions League and Al Wahda will join President's Cup winners Al Ain in next year's edition of the event, M. Satya Narayan of the Gulf News reported.

Free FIFA World Cup highlights on 24-hour delay

Football fans will have access on fifaworldcup.com to video highlights of all 2006 FIFA World Cup matches free of charge and without the need for registration. From 9 June to 9 July 2006, a two-minute professionally produced video will be available 24-hours after the final whistle of each game in Asia and the Middle East (in Germany a 48-hour delay but everywhere else the delay is less than an hour) on the official Word Cup website. Through the collaboration of FIFA, Yahoo! and the holder of the worldwide broadcast rights for this event, Infront Sports & Media, FIFAworldcup.com will be the global internet video highlights provider, bringing the best of the 2006 FIFA World Cup action to fans, no matter where they may be.

Additionally, the website will offer a mobile service through which fans can follow the ction. Using a mobile phone browser, fans will have instant and uninterrupted access to the latest tournament news in 8 languages. To follow all the 2006 FIFA World Cup matches live, a Matchcast client application for mobile phones must be downloaded from the website, which will feature minute-by-minute commentary as the match unfolds including all the goals, historic match-ups, trivia and more. Furthermore, fans can stay up-to-date with a variety of free SMS alerts including goals, match scores and daily news updates by subscribing on the mobile section on FIFAworldcup.com.

English Premier clubs still ahead of European rivals

Deloitte & Touche’s latest Annual Review of Football Finance reports that English Premier League clubs’ total wages have dropped for the first time in the league’s history. The report also confirms that, the Premiership clubs remain by far the biggest earners in world football, with the top 20 clubs generating over £1.3 billion in revenue. "Over the past decade, we have seen Premiership wages rise by an average of 20% each year. The 3% reduction in the total wage costs for Premiership clubs, based on the latest available figures for the 2004/05 season, provides a stark contrast. Our latest analysis further supports the improving balance between revenue and costs, not just in England, but also across Europe. The need to ‘save clubs from themselves’ with a salary cap now seems far less important than it did five years ago,” Dan Jones, Partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, commented.

The 15th annual report also highlights the prowess of the Premiership compared to its global rivals. While the German Bundesliga and Italian Serie A clubs had the biggest leaps in financial fortunes, with revenues up 17% and 16% respectively, English Premiership clubs remain well ahead. Premiership clubs benefit from a more even spread of revenue across different sources and different clubs, and greater profitability than European rivals.

The Big Five European leagues generated 54% of the total £7.8 billion European football market. These are the top tier leagues in England (£1.3 billion), Italy (£0.9 billion), Germany (£0.8 billion), Spain (£0.7 billion) and France (£0.5 billion);

Clubs in Germany (17%) and Italy (16%) had the highest rates of revenue growth for the 2004/05 season, compared to 1% in the English Premiership In addition to the English Premiership, clubs in Italy (down 2%) and France (down 3%) also managed a reduction in total wages costs in 2004/05. Across the ‘big five’ leagues, the ratio of wages to revenue continues the improving trend of recent years

English clubs are the most profitable in Europe, followed by Germany. For 2004/05, a record 14 clubs reported pre-tax profits. Revenue generated by the English Championship clubs of £306m reaffirms it as Europe’s sixth biggest league, after the Big Five, and an impressive £134m ahead of the next biggest second tier league in Europe (Italian Serie B)

“We expect English clubs to continue to lead the world financially," said Paul Rawnsley, Director in the Sports Business Group. "The new TV deals are set to boost Premiership clubs’ revenues to over £1.7 billion from 2007/08. Whilst the majority of the increase is likely to be spent on players, there will also be further investment across the clubs’ businesses to secure this broad based future success.”

Other key findings of the Deloitte Annual Review of Football Finance 2006 include:

• While other European leagues cannot rival the ‘big five’ in terms of absolute revenues, the majority continue to achieve year on year revenue growth. Comparatively, these leagues rely less on broadcasting income and more on commercial and matchday income streams. However, for many leagues, a significant percentage of revenue is generated by a handful of clubs. This pattern is then replicated in wages and salaries costs, and ultimately in on-field performance.

• The lower rates of revenue growth continue as England’s top 92 clubs generated total revenue of £1.8 billion in 2004/05, up just 2% from 2003/04. The average Premiership club generated revenue of £67m in 2004/05 (£66m in 2003/04), compared to £13m (£12m in 2003/04) for a Championship club. As a result of improved cost control, Premiership clubs’ operating profits increased to a new record of £162m in 2004/05 and only Chelsea and Fulham reported operating losses. The new broadcast deals provide the opportunity for increased profits from 2007/08 if clubs are able to continue to control wage inflation.

• Manchester United reported the highest operating profits in English football (£33m), down from the record £52m the club reported in 2003/04. Liverpool’s success in winning the UEFA Champions League helped boost their operating profits to £25m and reduced the gap between Manchester United and the second placed club. Overall the Premiership clubs reported pre-tax losses of £78m (improved from £128m in 2003/04). There were 14 clubs reporting pre-tax profits, up from ten clubs in 2003/04 and five clubs in 2002/03. If Chelsea’s results are excluded, the Premiership clubs are profitable at a pre-tax level for the first time since 1998/99.

• The Championship play off final continues to represent the biggest financial prize in world football, worth at least £40m to 2006 winners Watford. This figure is likely to grow to over £50m for the 2007 final. Championship clubs’ revenues continued the solid improvement of recent years and surpassed the £300m mark for the first time in 2004/05, up 7% to £306m.

• Net transfer fees, although down by a quarter, were still nearly £200m. Overseas clubs, particularly those in Spain and France, continue to benefit greatly from spending by English clubs. • In total, over the past two years, almost £0.5 billion has left the English game in transfer payments to non-English clubs and agents. This European investment – allied with homegrown English talent – helped Liverpool win the Champions League in 2004/05 and two English clubs reach European finals in 2005/06.

• Investment in stadia and facilities by the top 92 clubs since the start of the Premiership is now almost £2 billion. Over the same period, estimated total revenue into the top 92 clubs has been c.£13.3 billion. This means that around 15 pence of every pound coming into football has been spent on facilities development.

• Attendance levels remain strong, after tremendous growth throughout the 1990s. Average attendances have risen from 21,159 during the first year of the Premiership to 33,887 in 2005/06, a growth of 60%. Premiership stadia remain over 90% full on average across the 380 games for the ninth successive year. Although the Football League experienced a slight dip in aggregate attendances in 2005/06, the trend line over recent years is upwards. With total attendance at over 16m, the Football League continues to be one of the best supported football competitions in Europe.

• In Europe, Bundesliga average attendances in 2005/06 were over 40,000 per game – comfortably the highest in world football. Meanwhile, attendances in Italy continue their significant decline. Serie A average attendances are estimated to have fallen by 15% to 21,700 in 2005/06. There is a significant strategic challenge in Italian football to modernise its stadia and mobilise its fan base.

The 2006 edition of the the Deloitte Annual Review of Football Finance 2006 is available at £400 per copy or at the student discount rate of £40 per copy.

UK police 'lock-down' 3,500 English football fans

Some 3,500 English citizens will be ordered to report to their local police stations at kickoff times or hand in their passports to prevent them attending the 2006 FIFA World Cup series in Germany. According to UK Sports Minister Richard Caborn, Britain's security organizations have compiled a list of people who could "pose a threat" at the tournament. Police will be on duty at airports, seaports and train stations to stop them from leaving the country.

Riots at the 1998 World Cup in France and Euro 2000 in Belgium and the Netherlands prompted the British government to take tougher action to stop known troublemakers from traveling to England games. "The banning orders, which number about 3,500, will take out the core of what we see as the main troublemakers," Caborn said. "This was effective in Euro 2004 and hopefully it will work in Germany."

Even within England football supporters are being targeting by security forces. In the sleepy towns of Kidderminster, Stourport and Bewdley, for instance, West Mercia Police promise a heavy presence on match days involving England to crack down on troublemakers. According to the Express and Star, the police will use mobile CCTV units to spot and identify drunken hooligans and will be asking pub landlords not to promote binge drinking during the tournament.

"There is potential for a lot of trouble," James Bandy, deputy editor of Match, England's biggest football weekly, told Mary Jordan of the Washington Post. He said he believes most law-abiding fans applaud "anything to stop it."

However, in a new era of global terrorism, most English football fans yearn to travel the world in support of the "Three Lions" without being seen as the root of all evil.

"Take the so-called 'fans' embassy' ... a van or a car that gets a Cross of St. George sticker plastered on the side together with a phone number fans can call if in trouble," noted Danika Kirka of Associated Press. "The 'embassy' is driven to a conspicuous spot where England fans will see it, such as the center of town or the driveway of the stadium. Volunteers staffing the embassy try to answer the critical questions, such as 'Is it legal to drink in the streets?' If there are rumors about vendors having tickets for sold out games, the embassy will try to find out if they are true and where the tickets can be had," she wrote.

"You don't find that in the Rough Guide," Kevin Miles, the international coordinator of Football Supporters Federation, an independent fans organization with 130,000 members, told Kirka. Miles and other fans recognized that while there was plenty of criticism of England supporters, there was little help for them if they got into trouble. So in addition to founding the "embassy," a core of volunteers roam the streets of foreign cities to hand out information to fans describing the country they are visiting.

Bangladesh finds football professionalism not easy

Bangladesh's professional football league will take time to take a shape, a senior official of the Asian Football Confederation, Brendan Menton, told BDNEWS. "Don't expect achieve a miracle in a short time," AFC's Director of National Associations and Clubs Department had warned a three-day workshop to update the representatives of the 12 participating teams in the new pro-league. Earlier, Bangladesh's legendary football hero Kazi Salauddin said the professional league will be a historic move for Bangladesh football.

Menton recalled the objective of AFC's Vision Bangladesh program introduced two years back. "The launch of the professional football league in Bangladesh in September will probably be the first high profile progress under the Vision Bangladesh," he said, adding however that "it's not possible to develop a league like J-League in Bangladesh in just one year ... we want to maintain slow and steady tactics to develop a strong professional league."

Media reports suggest that Faridpur DSA is likely to be dropped from the new league as they are non-responsive to the professionalim process and will be replaced by Rahmatganj.