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Australia now FIFA's highest-ranking Asian nation

Australia is the highest ranked nation in the Asian Football Confederation, according to the latest FIFA World Rankings. The Socceroos' last 16 finish in the FIFA World Cup 2006 saw the new AFC member soar nine places to 33 in the rankings, their highest position since 1998. Iran are second in Asia in 47th position, down 24 spots after a big loss of 62 points, while current Asian champions Japan are a distant third in 49th position. Central Asians Uzbekistan are in 50th spot, followed by the Korea Republic who are 56 after a lacklustre World Cup campaign. The new criteria for deciding the rankings saw Saudi Arabia suffer the biggest drop (down 47 places) to skid way down to 81 after a massive loss of 252 points. Kyrgyzstan, who won the AFC Challenge Cup in April, are the most improved side under the new system with a leap of 26 spots (though they actually lost 88 points), which pushed them up to 121. Guam is now the lowest ranked team in Asia in 196 position.

While heartened by Australia’s ranking, Football Federation Australia Chief Executive Officer John O'Neill was puzzled by the relatively modest improvement in Australia’s official position. "While Australia’s move of nine places is obviously positive, it is a little perplexing when compared with some of the other ranking changes. It appears that there are countries, for example, that have had large improvements of 20+ places, to a position higher than Australia’s, when they did not qualify for the recent World Cup. While we understand that the ranking system considers several years-worth of results, Australia’s relatively meager improvement would not seem to accurately reflect the achievements of the Socceroos over the last year or so. We will be seeking further information from FIFA so that we can better understand the way the new ranking system works. That should help us address the apparent dichotomy between the many independent acknowledgements of the team’s performances on one hand, and these clinical but somewhat counter-intuitive official rankings, on the other,” he told Asian Football Business Review.

Brazil still lead the rankings with 1630 points but new world champions Italy (1550 points) are closing in after rising to second from 12th position. The new rankings reportedly take into account the importance of matches and the strength of opponents.

English League transparency on agent's payments

Following its continuing policy on transparency the English Football League has released the latest figures on transfer spending and club expenditure on agent’s fees. The League obliges its member clubs in the Championship and Leagues One and Two to produce a list every six months of payments to agents. According to the new report, quoted by Soccer Investor (13 July) spending on agents' fees among Football League clubs dropped by 2 percent in the year up to July 2006. In total, £7.66 million was spent on player representatives over the course of last season, a fall of £160,000 on the previous 12 months. Leeds United were the Football League's biggest spenders on agents with an outlay of £604,800, closely followed by Southampton with £575,000. Oxford United, who were relegated from the Football League in May, spent more on fees than any other club in League Two, paying £15,800.

See also: How the Indonesian FA manages Player's Agents (24 May) and Malaysian champion club wants to avoid Player's Agents (15 June)

Football leadership challenge hots up in Philippines

The challenge to Philippine Football Federation president Johnny Romualdez is heating up with key opponents attacking him on transparency, professionalism and programming issues. “There is a problem of professionalism ... Romualdez does not follow the rules of the PFF itself,” Laguna Football Association president Jun Pacificador told the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum in Manila on Tuesday. Joining Pacificador in the session were former PFF president Honesto Isleta and National Capital Region Football Association president Pocholo Borromeo.

Pacificador cited Romualdez’s abrupt cancellation of the National Futsal Championship that Laguna was set to host in December last year as an example of his unilateral decision-making. “After Johnny assured two months before the tournament that it would push through, he suddenly tells us that the event has been cancelled. We were ready to host and had already spent our resources for the competition,” he said as quoted by The Manila Times. The scrapping of the national squad to the Asian Football Confederation's Women's Under-19 tournament in January was another sign of the PFF’s inefficiency, he said

Pacificador also noted the case of a Laguna football official suspended for 18 months by the PFF for unsportsmanlike conduct for attacking a player with a knife in a tournament. “When you are suspended, you are not supposed to have any contact with the PFF or any other football association. And yet we learned that the PFF appointed him as an adviser for youth development, with an allowance to boot, while he was still suspended,” he said.

Pocholo Borromeo said Pacificador and several other PFF members would press for the accounting of the sports associations’ books, which, he said, Romualdez had already twice declined. The PFF reportedly spent P90 million over the past years and had earmarked a P40-million budget in 2006. “All we want to ask is where did the money go? We do not see any evidence how that much money was spent,” he said.

Borromeo was sad to note that in men’s football, the Philippines ranked 42 out of 45 in Asia and was 191 out of 205 soccer-playing countries in the world, despite the money being spent by the PFF. “We are the oldest football federation in Asia that will mark a century next year, yet this is how low we have become,” Borromeo said.

The Malaya News yesterday reported that Romualdez was not available for comment but today published a letter from the PFF president under the fiery headline, Long live Philippine football, long live the PFF. In it, Romualdez called his opponents "a few recalcitrant provincial association members" who are "set to destroy Philippine Football and the PFF by sensationalizing whatever fault they can, real or perceived." He challenged them to stand for election at the PFF's regular congress in November 2007 where "anyone nominated and seconded for president may run". He said that an Extraordinary Congress could also be called upon request of at least two-thirds of PFF's members and the president can be removed if the Board of Governors proposes such to the Congress. But "no such proposal exists," he stated.

He said he had a meeting two days prior with Pacificador, National Capital Region FA representative Ramon Jose and and Rizal FA president and PFF legal adviser Emigdio Tanjuatco III at which "Jose and Pacificador agreed that their request to audit PFF’s books would be granted when the revocation of their SEC registration is lifted." He said that the PFF had explained that an internal audit was being conducted by three provincial association presidents of the highest integrity and that LFA and NCRFA could have these presidents ask whatever questions they wanted concerning the PFF’s finances. "It was also agreed (or so it seems) that all should refrain from using media to air grievances ... since doing so would not be good for Philippine Football especially while the World Cup is on," he said.

"If unsatisfied with the above, any member may request for their own audit which will be granted for as long as such is done within reasonable limits. Despite the opinions of some lawyers that the PFF should in fact be the one to audit the provincial associations since we are the ones giving them money (and not the other way around), the PFF will open its books to all qualified," he said.

Regarding the NCRFA's "threats of filing estafa charges," Romualdez said that was their option. "If the courts decide that they have a legal identity despite the revocation of their SEC registration that is the option of the courts. If the courts decide that there is estafa that is their option. But it is also our option to insist that the recalcitrants work on the lifting of these revocations before opening our books to them. It is also our option to name a reasonable time and date and to define reasonable procedures for any audit," he concluded.

See also: New leadership dispute hits Philippines Federation (10 June)

New Indian network for UEFA Champions League

The Sharjah-based TEN Sports has signed a three-year, exclusive broadcast rights agreement with the UEFA to televise its European Champions League in the Indian subcontinent. The new deal will start in September and will include 1,000 hours of Europe’s leading football action, said a statement from the Taj Entertainment Network (TEN) Sports.

"We are delighted to welcome TEN Sports as a new broadcast partner for the UEFA Champions League from next season," UEFA CEO Lars-Christer Olsson said in the press release. "We will have our own live studio shows around each day of Champions League football, bringing goals and action from every game played that day, further enhancing the viewing experience for a tournament that is growing in stature every year and is by far the most competitive club football in the world," said Peter Hutton, vice-president (programming) of TEN Sports.

The new Champions League season will be the 52nd edition of the club tournament. The live coverage of the Champions League matches on Ten Sports starts from 12 September till the final is played at Olympic Stadium, Athens, on 23 May 2007. There will also be daily special programs for the Champions League, bringing goals and action for every game played.

Sports Event Management Conference in London

Strategies for designing and delivering a seamless and effective venue overlay will come under the spotlight at the inaugural International Sports Event Management Conference at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London, on 22-23 November. Creating venue and event overlay has become a crucial factor in the management of all major events. It is the term for the design and provision of the facilities in and around a venue which enable it to meet the specific operational needs of a particular event.

Jeff Keas, Associate Principal at HOK Sport and a specialist in facility and overlay design, will draw on his experience of projects ranging from the 1994 FIFA World Cup to the Atlanta, Sydney and Salt Lake City Olympic Games, to lead a session which underscores the increasing importance of efficient and cost effective event overlay in the major events sectors.

The two-day ISEM conference is presented by Rushmans, organisers of the successful International Sports Security Summit for the last two years. ISEM has been developed to deliver key information and contacts to all those involved in hosting and managing sports events and the companies which service and supply them. A comprehensive exhibition of services and products which support and enhance the work of sports event managers will run alongside the conference. Breaks and networking sessions will be tailored to maximise exhibition footfall and the opportunities to mingle.

Delegate, Sponsor & Exhibitor information available from Andy Clark on +44 (0) 1264 852 016 or email aclark@rushmans.com. Web: www.sportseventmanagement.com

China police claim 20 online betting rings smashed

Police in Shenzhen, in China's Guangdong Province, claim to have smashed an illegal "online football betting" ring. They arrested 46 suspects, froze about 7 million yuan (US$875,000) in deposits, and seized 1.37 million yuan in cash, plus five luxury vehicles. Xinhua newsagency reported that the city's public security authorities had received tips late last month that a ring was organizing online football gambling. On 23 June authorities set up a task force of 156 officers. After eight days, investigators targeted 19 suspects. On 4 July officers launched a citywide pounce on the ring. The suspects, including the alleged ringleader surnamed Lin, a 40-year-old man from Taiwan, have confessed, Xinhua stated, and police have detained 11 people for criminal investigation.

According to Zhang Liuhao of Shanghai Daily, Chinese police cracked more than 20 online football gambling cases during the FIFA World Cup, detained more than 100 suspects and froze 30 million yuan.

See also: Illegal football gambling losses lead to crime spree (10 July)

FC Barcelona makes marketing moves into Asia

Spanish champion FC Barcelona has sealed a three-year partnership with Singapore-listed Asia Pacific Breweries, makers of Tiger Beer, to increase the club's regional brand image and fan base. The partnership will see the Catalan club undertake major promotional activities in South East Asia with fans being offered opportunities to win paid trips to watch Barcelona games at its Camp Nou stadium, along with shirts and other club memorabilia. The club won the Spanish La Liga title for the second straight year and was crowned European champion in May when it beat English Premier League club Arsenal.

Coincidentally, this is Tiger Beer's second such partnership after previously signing with Arsenal. "What we are trying to do is build a portfolio, a group of the world's best clubs, for what we think is the world's best football fan club. Asian fans are different, they want to have selection of football and we chose not to have another club in the EPL because our favourite club is Arsenal in the EPL," Les Buckley, the brewery's group commercial director, told Patwant Singh of Singapore's Channel NewsAsia. He also assured football fans that the partnership was not simply a chance for European clubs to exploit Asia. "It is important that everybody plays their part and does their duty to raise the quality of the game," Buckley told Today newspaper.

"Tiger is now the official partner of Futbol Club Barcelona in the South East Asian markets of Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos," the club's international business director, Javier Munoa, detailed. "This is going to be a very ambitious program ... what we want to do is create many moments of contact between the fans and Barca," Munoa told AFP, adding that the club wanted to be one of the top global clubs. "We think there is room for up to five and we think in Asia, South East Asia is key. Compared to other regions like South America where they follow mainly their domestic league, here the fans follow their domestic leagues but they also follow the international leagues," he said.

Part of Barcelona's Asian promotion strategy will be representing Europe at the FIFA Club World Cup (formerly Toyota Cup), played in Japan. "For this summer and the next 12 months, we plan to come three times to the region. We are planning to go to play the Toyota Cup in Japan in December. And in the end of the next season, we are planning to come twice to Asia to play friendlies," Munoa told CNA.

Munoa acknowledges English clubs Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool are ahead in terms of building their brand image with Asian football fans but he sees the gap closing with such stars as Ronaldinho, FIFA's World Player of the Year who played for Brazil during the just-concluded World Cup. "It helps a lot. Ronaldinho has become a global icon," said Munoa. "He's the best player in the world and he is also the most popular ... It's a good combination."

The club's commercial manager Esteve Calzada, is visiting East Asia to sign deals with Titan Sports (an exclusive Barça magazine for the Chinese market), Sports CN (producing an exclusive Chinese language website) and Eurosoccer (Barça TV to be broadcast throughout China) in Beijing and with Rakuten (for the use of credit cards carrying the Barça logo, the creation of a Japanese language website and an exclusive Barça magazine for sale in Japan) in Tokyo.

See also: Barcelona tipped to promote UN agency on shirts (6 July) and Tiger beer marketer on "a good football night out" (29 May) and Tiger Beer ramps up promotion of English football (3 Nov 05)

World Cup TV piracy boosts Asian bar/club profits

The Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia has noted that the unlicensed screening of FIFA World Cup matches in bars and clubs has been alarmingly widespread in Hong Kong. “We are very concerned with the ongoing tolerance of widespread piracy in one of the world’s most advanced economies, Hong Kong,” CASBAA chairman Marcel Fenez said. “Despite efforts by Hong Kong to champion its world class status, when it comes to the basics of sports and entertainment intellectual property rights protection, the SAR still lags behind other media hubs such as Singapore, Sydney, Seoul and Tokyo.”

According to Telecom Asia, while the World Cup boosted Hong Kong bar revenues by up to 50 percent, independent estimates suggested that at least one-third of the cash was generated by screening pirated TV programming from markets such as the Philippines and South Africa. The Asian Football Business Review observered the same phenominum in other Asian countries.

Australia Government expert links football to trade

The Chief Economist of the Australian Trade Commission, Tim Harcourt, has calculated the impact of Australia's celebrated return to the FIFA World Cup finals this year. "The Socceroos reflect the cultural diversity of Australia and actually highlight the important links between soccer, ethnicity and exports," he told Asian Football Business Review. "Austrade/Sensis research shows that successive generations of immigrants have set up successful exporting businesses, as well as playing and following soccer. The research reveals that a small and medium sized exporter is more likely to have an overseas born owner than a locally born one," he said. But how does the World Cup impact on exports and investment?

Firstly, let’s take the World Cup finals itself. Given its recent woes, the German economy needs a shot in the arm, although we must remember that Germany is still the world’s third largest economy, its largest exporter and the engine room of European manufacturing exports. Will the World Cup make a difference? According to Deutsche Bank, the Cup will boost spending by 5 billion euros and attract at least a million visitors to the country. Does this have any implications for Australia? There are 2,507 Australian companies exporting to Germany, which is the second most important European destination for Australian exporters after the UK. According to Rebecca Baring, Austrade’s Trade Commissioner in Frankfurt, Australian exporters have made successful in-roads into the larger consumer markets: “Australian businesses are doing well in markets such as food and beverage, IT, advanced manufacturing and professional services. But we could do more in manufacturing as Australia has the potential to be a key a supplier of components in German manufacturing supply chains.” On the investment side too, many larger Australian corporates have established themselves in the German market. Well known high profile companies like Amchor, Brambles, Cochlear, Qantas and Fosters are all there and Macquarie Infrastructure is looking to expand its European presence in the German utilities sector. The World Cup may be an opportunity for more Australian businesses to think about Germany again.

Secondly, after the World Cup is over, there’s plenty more to look forward to. Economically speaking, perhaps a more significant development is the Socceroos’ entry into the Asian Football Confederation. Australian football’s recent success in joining the AFC provides Australia with a real chance to build some Australian-Asian sporting tradition and to generate spin-offs for trade and business in the region. According to the Lowy Institute’s Anthony Bubalo, AFC membership means that, for the first time, Australia will have a significant, on-going sporting relationship with a large number of Asian countries: “Between 2006 and 2009, the Australian national side will play at least 18 full competition home and away matches against other Asian sides. As well as matches, there’s sponsorship, media and TV rights, and of course, travel and tourism in the region. Australia has a real opportunity to economically benefit from its new footballing ties with Asia”.

Thirdly, there are the business spin-offs from sport itself. It has happened at the Sydney Olympics, the Rugby World Cup in 2003, and more recently at the Commonwealth Games. Schmoozing around sporting events can bring real business benefits. Business Club Australia, a sports business networking programme developed by Austrade for the Sydney Olympics, generated $1.2 billion in business deals at those games, around $425 million at the Rugby World Cup, and, even though its early days, $930,000 from the Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

Harcourt has concluded that Australian sporting expertise (and related expertise in event management) has become a ‘knowledge export’ on its own terms. "Moreover, the Beijing Olympics and London Olympics bids are leveraging skill and experience developed by Australia during Sydney 2000," he said.

See also: Australia takes Asia to five in 2006 World Cup finals (17 Nov 05)

Shin reiterates sharp criticism of Korean football

A controversial football commentator severely criticised the Korean Football Association for a "strategic mistake" in hastily appointing Pim Verbeek as new manager of the Korea Republic national football team. "Appointing a new manager was an issue that should have been determined by taking enough time for discussions and reviews," Shin Moon-sun said on CBS radio. He warned that deciding who will lead Team Korea even before the World Cup was over "will turn off many soccer fans from the nation's football league, despite the World Cup being a very good opportunity to promote the league."

Shin said K-League games now have practically no spectators. "Professional soccer players are playing one another in an empty stadium with no one to cheer them, despite our first-ever overseas victory in the World Cup and the very good performance by Team Korea in their match against Switzerland," he said when nominating two mistakes. "One is to blame the failure to advance into the final 16 on bad calls by referees, and the other to appoint Pim Verbeek as new manager in haste," he told Chosun newspaper.

Shin reiterated inflammatory remarks that cost him his job late last month, saying a controversial off-side decision in Korea Republic's game against Switzerland in the World Cup should not have been played up. "Korean Football Association president Chung Mong-Joon told the public he would protest against bad calls by referees over the off-side issue to FIFA, and it infuriated people and poured oil on the flames by not offering accurate information on the off-side rule to the people who didn't know enough about it."

Shin was branded a traitor by some when he sided with the referee over his decision to overrule a line judge who signaled Swiss forward Alexander Frei was off-side in Switzerland's game with Korea on 24 June. Frei scored a second goal for his team in the 32nd minute of the second half. Such was the outcry over Shin's remark that SBS, where he was meant to work until 10 July, sent him home on 28 June.

"There is a culture spreading in Korean society where the words of specialists are denounced by interest groups on the internet. I worry about this ailment of soccer insanity. Even though Germany is the host country, it is hard to find posters about the games outside of the soccer stadium. They enjoy the game, but we descend into an tmosphere of demagoguery and warfare. The victim of this is none other than me. We must fix this misguided soccer culture. It has reached the level of being absurd and disturbing. The silent majority agrees with my accurate and clear commentary, and really sees things that way," he earlier told Ryu Yi-geun of Hankyoreh 21.

Illegal football gambling losses lead to crime spree

Police warnings and FIFA monitoring appeared to have had little impact on massive illegal gambling on the World Cup in Asia. Isloated reports of arrests included about 100 caught in a raid an underground bookmakers in the southern Pakistan city of Karachi. Gambling records and television sets were also seized and the case was handed to police for further investigation, Citizens-Police Liaison Committee chief Sharfuddin Memon told AFP.

In Thailand, one in five Thais who reportedly placed bets with illegal bookies on World Cup matches, were unable to pay what they owed, according to a survey by KResearch which estimated the punters' total debt at 6 billion baht (about $25 million). The company interviewed 3,739 gamblers and found that 21.4 per cent were already in debt to a bookie who had accepted their bet without an upfront payment. Most were students under 25. The value of their losses varied from 200 baht to several hundred thousand. Broke gamblers reported that they had asked for extensions, offered to pay in instalments, borrowed money from friends or pawned assets. One in 10 reported harassment by loan sharks. In its report, KResearch predicted that crime would rise in the coming weeks as gamblers become more desperate. According to the firm, the number of asset-related crimes in Thailand in 2002, when the last World Cup was held, was 4.6 per cent higher than the year before.

The event was also blamed for crime in neighbouring Cambodia. Police in Phnom Penh locked up a destitute football fan for two days for lodging a false police report saying his motorbike had been stolen. In fact, he had lost it in a bet on a World Cup match. Sok Pagna, 19, had borrowed US$100 from a friend ahead of the France-Portugal match and turned over his motorbike as collateral, said police chief Kuy Phalla. He put the money on Portugal, which lost 1-0. With no cash to recover his bike, Sok told his mother it had been stolen. She took him to file a report. He later confessed to the officers and was detained for 48 hours.

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

The global top 10 teams by sponsorship income

1. ENGLAND - 49 million pounds.
Primary sponsors Umbro, McDonald's, Carlsberg, Nationwide, Pepsi

2. ITALY - 27.6 million pounds.
Primary sponsors Puma, TIM, Mapei

3. FRANCE - 25.5 million pounds.
Primary sponsors Adidas, Caisse d'Epargne, Brioche Pasquier, SFR

4. JAPAN - 16.6 million pounds.
Primary sponsors Kirin, Adidas, Saison Card International, FamilyMart, Fujifilm, JAL, Nissan

5. BRAZIL - 16.6 million pounds.
Primary sponsors Vivo, AmBev, Coca-Cola, Nike

6. GERMANY - 10.4 million pounds.
Primary sponsors Mercedes-Benz, Adidas, Coca-Cola, Lufthansa, McDonald's, Siemens

7. SPAIN - 8.7 million pounds.
Primary sponsors Adidas, Toyota, Santa Monica Sports, Mahou

8. USA - 7.7 million pounds.
Primary sponsors Budweiser, Gatorade, The Home Depot, Nike, Hyundai, Panasonic

9. NETHERLANDS - 7.3 million pounds.
Primary sponsors ING, Adecco, Heineken, Nuon, Tele2, Staatsloterij, Super de Boer, Nike

10. SWITZERLAND - 1.8 million pounds.
Primary sponsors Sporttip, Swisscom, Puma, Credit Suisse, Carlsberg, SwissLife

Source: Exclusive research by Marketing.

World cup telecasts viewed by 93m per game

The total aggregate live television audience for the FIFA World Cup 2006's 64 matches is expected to be 5.9 billion people, or 93 million people per game globally, according to Initiative Futures, a global media agency which collates data from every major market in the world. These figures are "program average audiences", meaning the average number of people who watched each game from pre-match build-up to post-match dissection. "Using a rough rule of thumb, the peak audience for any given game will be one and a half times the program average. Unlike football's world governing body, FIFA, which last week claimed that aggregate TV audiences for Germany 2006 would be 30 billion, Initiative uses only data from the official TV measurement supplier in each country, such as Barb in the UK. Neither do Initiative's figures include ratings of delayed footage, replays, highlights, news clips or out-of-home viewing ... FIFA includes the whole lot, without much detailed breakdown," Nick Harris reported in The Independent (UK).

The best-watched match up to the end of the second round was Brazil's group game with Croatia (160 million people, or 240 million peak), followed by Brazil v Australia (144 million), then Spain v France in the second round (137 million) and Japan v Brazil (131 million). No England games made the top 10.

The opener between Germany and Costa Rica attracted 30 per cent more viewers in six major Indian cities (where accurate meter data is available) than India's cricket tour to the West Indies at the same time. Australia's match against Brazil drew a non-prime time record average of 1.53 million viewers in Australia, peaking at 1.73 million at 3.46am. Women watched in growing numbers, especially in the UK, where 47 percent watching England v Sweden were women, a record in that country for football.

Viewers in America tuned in, with 10 million watching USA v Italy. (Mexico v USA in 2002 attracted seven million people). Argentina versus Mexico, in the second round, drew 6.7 million viewers on Univision, making it the most-watched sports event in the history of Spanish-language TV in the USA.

Top 10 most watched matches*

1 Brazil v Croatia 160m
2 Brazil v Australia 144m
3 Spain v France 137m
4 Japan v Brazil 131m
5= Germany v C Rica 128m
5= Brazil v Ghana 128m
7 Portugal v Neth'lands 122m
8 Argentina v Mexico 121m
9 Japan v Croatia 117m
10 Germany v Poland 114m

*Up to and including second round

See also: World Cup television audiences smash records (28 June)

Football's most memorable English-language quote

A poll organised by the Plain English Campaign to pick football's most memorable quote selected Scotsman Bill Shankly's “Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I’m very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.” Campaign spokesman Dave Smith said: “We surveyed 10,000 supporters in 80 countries. They really liked the power of the Shankly quote.".

Former Manchester United and France forward Eric Cantona came second with “When the seagulls follow the trawler, it’s because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea” and third place went to former England midfielder Paul Gascoigne for saying: “I never predict anything and I never will”.

The Plain English Campaign is an independent group which urges clearer information in public documents. Each year it takes great delight in naming and shaming bureaucrats, politicians and companies who mangle the language into incomprehensibility, Reuters reported.

Adidas pressures Indonesian supplier on workers

British NGO Oxfam claims international sportswear manufacturer Adidas has reneged on a promise to demand the reinstatement of 33 workers dismissed by an Indonesian supplier. "Adidas is the top sportswear sponsor at the World Cup," said Oxfam campaigner Kelly Dent. "But off the field the company deserves a red card for failing to support the human rights of workers. Oxfam has not seen any evidence that Adidas has put formal pressure on PT Panarub."

Adidas reportedly promised to formally pressure Panarub, after Indonesia's human rights commission ruled on 31 May, in a non-binding decision, that there were insufficient grounds to dismiss 33 workers after a one-day strike. William Anderson, Adidas's regional head of social and environmental affairs, insisted that the company had not altered its position. "We are continuing to support the [sacked] workers," he told John Aglionby of The Guardian (UK). "We have requested that the factory reinstate the workers and the factory has refused to act on our request."

He said Adidas was not willing to send Panarub, which supplies it with 650,000 pairs of shoes a year, a formal warning. "If we do and the company refuses to comply, we would have no choice but to terminate relations with them. Eleven thousand people could then lose their jobs."

Oceania wants Asian play-off for next World Cup

The Oceania Football Confederation wants its top national team to earn a place in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa through a play-off against the fifth-placed team of the Asian Football Confederation. Fiji FA senior vice-president Mohammed Yusuf revealed that an OCF proposal forwarded to FIFA also requests that the 2007 South Pacific Games be used as a preliminary World Cup series for Oceania's Pacific island nations. The new format would see the top three from the South Pacific Games progressing to a second phase playoff with New Zealand, with each team hosting three games.

"All the island nations will be represented at the SPG, so there will be a lot at stake," Yusuf told the Fiji Times. "It'll be the gold, silver and bronze winners up against New Zealand on a home-and-away basis," he said, adding that there would be no grand final with the team that accumulated most points declared the winner and handed a spot in the next qualification round. The OFC wants that to be against the fifth-placed team from the Asian playoff. Australia represented Oceania in this year's World Cup after beating the fifth-placed South American nation, Uruguay. The Socceroos have since transferred to the AFC.

Chinese and Koreans move on in English football

Seol Ki-hyun has become the third Korean player to join an English Premier League club after Wolverhampton Wolves sold him to newly promoted Reading for an initial fee of more than a million dollars. Seol is the longest serving Korean in Europe and in the EPL will expect to see action against his two compatriots Park Ji-sung of Manchester United and Lee Young-pyo of Tottenham Hotspurs. The 27-year-old winger played two matches for Korea Republic at the World Cup. Reading will have to pay more for him depending on appearances and a sell-on clause for the Wolves, AFCMedia reported.

Chinese international midfielder Li Tie is set to leave EPL club Everton for newly promoted Sheffield United, AFCMedia reported. The 28-year-old was released by Everton at the end of last season after a poor season hit by injuries. Li is currently training with Sheffield's China League subsidiary, Chengdu Blades FC, and expects to join pre-season training in England next week after his visa is received.

Why Chinese are fanatics for international football

According to Zhou Huiying of Central News Agency, people living outside of China do not understand how fanatical the Chinese people are about the World Cup. Shortly after the beginning of the tournament on 9 June there were several suicides of Chinese fans because their favorite team lost. This, he wrote, is more difficult to understand as "the team that lost was not the Chinese team, which failed to even make the playoff cut."

How did this enthusiasm for international football begin in China? Just after the isolation and mayhem of the Cultural Revolution, mainland China began live broadcasts of world football games in 1978. Then, on 18 October 1981, the Chinese national team beat the favoured Kuwaiti team by three to zero in the World Cup Asia preliminary tournament. That evening, local university students' emotions were boiling over.

"Youths headed by the students from Beijing and Tsinghua Universities marched in the streets, celebrating a seldom seen victory for the Chinese team. Beijing University students shouted out 'Strengthen China,' which connected the ball game to a sense of the rise and fall of the country. The People's University did not allow students to participate in the rallies; the doors were locked. Unable to control their emotions, some students crawled out of the apartment windows to join the parade for this rare celebration," Zhou explained.

"Some say that the student parade that evening was the first spontaneous student movement since the Chinese Communist Party took over in 1949. Since then, fans' enthusiasm is growing more intense with each World Cup playoff," he added.

See also: Chinese broadcaster apologises for anti-Aussie call (28 June)

Football helps eliminate child 'ball stitching' labour

With only a pile of bricks serving as goalposts and white lines drawn in the dust, the 20 or so boys running after the ball with enthusiasm and energy defied the scorching 47°C heat in this industrial city in northwestern Pakistan. Far away from the luxurious lawns of the German stadiums during the World Cup, this football match was organized under an International Labour Organization-IPEC project designed to remove children from labouring in cramped and dangerous workshops and get them into schools and onto the playing field. For the boys on the field, it seemed like more fun than their former tasks of stitching football or making surgical instruments, Fibre2Fashion reported.

The same week, ILO-IPEC, the football world body FIFA and the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry officially launched a pilot project to incorporate football matches into their existing child labour prevention and elimination programmes in Sialkot District. The pilot represents the newest phase of the Elimination of Child Labour in the Soccer Ball Industry in Sialkot project, launched in 1997, which has become a proven trendsetter in combating child labour in Sialkot District through combining workplace monitoring with education, health and social protection programs.

In 1996, trade unions helped bring to light the extent of child labour in the football industry of Pakistan. As of 1997, the ILO, through IPEC, has worked with the Government of Pakistan, FIFA, the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry , trade unions, manufacturers, UNICEF and NGOs to combat it. While in 1996, an estimated 7,000 children were working stitching footballs, IPEC monitors have found no instances of child labour at the soccer ball stitching centres since March 1999, and the bulk of the production had been transferred to these centres from homes.

IPEC and its partners succeeded in educating more than 10,000 children through 255 non-formal education centres, and mainstreaming 5,800 of them into the formal education system. Jobs for women were secured by setting up a number of all-female stitching centres.

Raising awareness of the value of education and the negative impact of premature involvement in work for children has contributed significantly to the goal of eliminating child labour in the football stitching industry and more widely in the Sialkot area. Today, efforts continue to remove children from the less than 5 percent of stitching workplaces that do not participate in the monitoring programme and other branches, including the surgical industry. Thanks to the ILO-IPEC programme, most of these children removed from work attend formal schools in Sialkot, or having successfully completed their schooling, are now working under improved conditions in local factories. The district Government spends around 70 percent of its budget on education, and has passed a resolution to make Sialkot a child labour-free zone.

European 'stan takes on Central Asian neighbours

UEFA member Kazakhstan has overwhelmed its Asian Football Confederation neighbours Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in recent Central Asian friendlies. AFC Challenge Cup semi-finalists Kyrgyzstan went down 1-0 to Kazakhstan in Almaty on 5 July, the first match between the two teams since 1994. “We fielded an experimental squad today with three under-20 players," Kyrgyzstan coach Boris Podkorytov told AFCMedia. “I’m satisfied with our performance, but not result." Kazakhstan thrashed Tajikistan 4-1 three days earlier.

Kuwait meets Australia before domestic kick-off

The Kuwait Football Association has announced dates for its four major domestic competitions. Al Arabi defends its Al Khuraifi Cup title when the pre-season compeition kicks off on 7 September with the participation of all the 14 league teams. Kuwait Sports Club will defend its Kuwaiti Premier League title from 23 November through to 2 April 2007. The Crown Prince’s Cup follows next from 5 April - 26 May while the Kuwait Prince’s Cup runs through 29 May to 12 June. “We have taken the opinions of the clubs as well so that their will be no clashes between our dates and their international participation,” KFA Competitions Committee chairman Mubarak Al Mua’asab told AFCMedia.

Kuwait national team coach Mihai Stoichita is planning for the next AFC Asian Cup 2007 qualifier on 16 August in Sydney against Australia. He told AFCMedia that he expected the Socceroos will be in top gear in their own backyard. Kuwait were held to a 1-1 draw on Match Day 1 by Lebanon and a goalless draw against Bahrain in the next.

“It (Australia) is a complete team with enough resources on the bench and even if 10 players retire after the World Cup it doesn't mean much as the team have enough stars in all positions on the pitch,” said the 51-year-old former coach of Armenia. “They play more or less like England as they depend on long balls and are also very strong. I have decided to play against them using 4-4-2 or 3-5-2 formation,” Stoichita said, adding “I am confident of getting a good result against them and I will try to make the players confident as well as both teams stand a 50% chance of winning the match.”

Barcelona tipped to promote UN agency on shirts

UEFA Champions League winners FC Barcelona are set to promote UNICEF on their shirts next season. A club spokesman quoted by Soccer Investor (6 July 2006) said discussions with the United Nations children's agency are "very advanced" and the Barca’s board aimed to settle a deal "within a few weeks" in order to be able to announce the deal on the pre-season tour to the USA. Barca's president Joan Laparto recently ruled out commercial sponsorship on the shirts in favor of a humanitarian message. The agreement on shirt sponsorship would form part of a larger one comprising "various strategies and forms of collaboration to unify the two brands," Xavier Cambra told El Mundo Deportivo (5 July 2006).

The Catalan club is the only major European team not to have a shirt sponsorship deal in place. In the past they were close to striking deals with the Chinese authorities to advertise the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and Austrian online betting company BetandWin, but neither deal was finalised.

The Catalan club is also set to announce a profit of around €15 million for the 2005-06 season, meeting its budgetary target for the campaign. The board will announce the results officially in August after they have been audited, according to Spanish media reports.The club is expected to bring in revenues of around €300 million for the 2006-07 season, a substantial increase on the 2005-06 season due mainly to the start of a new TV rights contract. An offer from the Mediapro agency will give the club a minimum of €125 million a year from its television rights from next season, an offer that its existing broadcast partner Televisió de Catalunya can still match. The deal means that in five years the club has moved from an annual budget of €170 million and a loss of €60 million (for the 2002-03 season) to a budget of at least €280 million for 2006-07.

See also: Barcelona turns down Asian sponsor for its shirt (7 Oct 05)

Zinedine Zidane in Bangladeshi football promotion

Controversial World Cup star, Zinedine Zidane, will arrive Bangladesh on 7 November to jointly inaugurate the first workshop of Grameen-Danon Foods Company with the company's chairman, Frank Ribo. According to Bangladesh media, Grameen-Danon will be manufacturing "energy yogurt" to "fulfil the shortage of growth of the Bangladeshi babies." The company will also sponsor a Bangladesh Under-12 football team with the "little boys of the different districts of the country." Zidane, the captain of the French national team, will stay two days and participate in Bangladesh Football Federation programs, including the formal opening of an international youth football competition arranged by Grameen-Danon.

England kit sales up despite early World Cup dump

The England football team may have been dumped out of the World Cup in the quarter finals but for the makers of the squad's distinctive '3 Lions' kit the tournament was a spectacular success. Umbro, which made the kit worn by the England team during its famous World Cup victory in 1966, said this year's event had made for the best-selling away shirt of all time. It said total wholesale equivalent sales - effectively sales at retail prices - experienced a 41 percent increase on the same period last year and up 26 per cent compared with the last tournament year in 2004, Miles Costello of The Times (London) reported. Umbro makes kits for 150 football teams worldwide and income from wholesale contracts and additional royalty fees from licensees in Europe, Asia and Latin America are all ahead of last year.

Two referees may be used in FIFA World Cup 2010

Sepp Blatter, president of FIFA, revealed measures to David Miller of The Daily Telegraph (UK) that should improve referee efficiency at World Cup 2010 in South Africa. To be discussed at the International Board autumn meeting in Zurich, the most revolutionary is the possible introduction of the two-referee system, tested by FIFA but previously rejected by Italian referee, Pierluigi Collina. Another is use of balls containing electronic chips, to determine goal or no-goal.

Some 10 years ago, Miller discussed with Blatter the two-referee system, first piloted by the British Army FA in the 1950s. "At the beginning, there was a reluctance to consider the system," revealed Blatter. "Then we had tests conducted in Malaysia and Sao Paulo, Brazil, with encouraging results, but an unsatisfactory reaction in Norway and Italy. The response of Mr Collina, and others, was that it did not work, that 'there can only be one man'. But now we are facing a situation in the game where the pace is such that we must ask if there should be a further experiment. We observe the situation in ice hockey, for instance, with two referees and two assistants on a much smaller arena and they have no [personality] clashes with the players because they know the game."

On reliable electronic goal sensing technology, Blatter is concerned that the electronic beam-detector system is vulnerable to being obscured by limbs. "We are near to reaching a conclusion in collaboration with the Cairos-Adidas company," he said. "This is the solution. We will experiment with the ball in next year's FIFA youth championships, the under-17 in Korea and under-20 in Canada. Tests were carried out in Italy with the beam, but evidence showed it could be cut. The only trial with a ball embracing a chip was last year in Peru. It worked, but not with sufficient evidence for the international board to adopt it."

He dismissed outright any thought of a sin-bin for brief suspensions during a game. "Temporary expulsion is used in junior football, for educational purposes, but is not appropriate, we think, for the senior professional game." However he agreed that the principle of retrospective discipline, based on video evidence of incidents not detected by the referee, might be intensified. "The committee can impose sanctions on TV evidence, and even waive a card if thought to have been incorrect. In this tournament, videos have been inspected daily without finding cause for action. The principle has been in use since 1994."

Miller listed the benefits of using two referees in a game:

• Referees operate diagonally opposite each other on outside section of each half, overlapping where necessary into the other half, 15-20 yards inside touchline.
• This more than halves physical stress, as referees currently run up to 7 miles.
• The two views of any incident from 180-degree angles eliminate the "blind side". Statistics reveal many fewer fouls because players are aware of easier detection.
• There is a huge psychological factor: players and crowd cannot be angry with two men in the way they can demonise one.
• The referee is removed from central midfield area, where he is often in the way.
• At free kicks, each end of the free kick is controlled by one referee.
• Statistics show the ball remains in play more and players subconsciously veer away from referees on the outer edge of the field.
• Though assistant referees are retained, each referee is more often able to give instant whistle on offside decisions.

India now seriously hunting for "expatriate talent"

India needs expatriate talent, self-belief and patience to re-build its football team, according to new national coach Bob Houghton. He said India should start playing friendlies on a regular basis to improve its ranking and allow the team to avoid running into seeded teams early in international tournaments. "To be ranked 117 is a major underachievement for a country with this sort of resources," he said in an interview after taking charge of the national camp.

He stated that one of his first priorities is to tap into overseas talent. "There are some players of Indian origin playing in Europe, some quite good ones actually, and in England and Holland. It is possible that if, logistically, you get them and secondly if they are interested, if you can get three or four players, it will definitely strengthen the level." Footballers such as Michael Chopra, who will play in the English second division for Cardiff City in the coming seaso, and some in the South African league are the targets.

Only Indian passport holders can represent the national team. However, rule changes allow persons of Indian origin to acquire a passport. FIFA regulations allow players with dual citizenship or nationality, who have not played international soccer above under-23 level, to apply to change the country they represent as long as they do it before they are 21.

See also: Houghton impressed with enthusiastic India squad (28 June)

Mastercard sponsors Beijing Community Cup 2006

China ClubFootball has announced that the 2006 MasterCard World Community Cup will be held in Beijing on 2-3 September as an integral part of MasterCard's Charity Football Campaign, which aims to raise 1 million RMB for charity in 2006. This year's beneficiaries will be the Red Cross, Unicef, and the Beijing-based Huiling charity, and the campaign will feature a series of one-day events, backed up by a MasterCard-sponsored ClubFootball Community Card, and a series of SMS competitions offering fans the chance to win genuine World Cup and European football memorabilia.

The Beijing Community Cup is an annual football fundraiser, organized by China ClubFootball and the British Chamber of Commerce in China. In 2005, the tournament took place in the Workers' Stadium and featured 48 teams in five-a-side matches.

Established in August 2001, China ClubFootball FC Ltd (Wanguo Qunxing Zuqiu Julebu) is Beijing's first joint venture football club. ClubFootball is a partnership between Amateur Football Holdings Ltd and Beijing Fuying Natural Technologies Ltd. The CFA, BFA and Beijing Administration of Industry and Commerce license the club to undertake all amateur football related activities.

Stadium refit delays Indonesia's Anniversary Cup

The Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) has decided to postpone its Anniversary Cup tournament from 1-16 August until a future date because of continuing renovations to the Gelora Bung Karno stadium in Jakarta to ensure it meets Asian Football Confederation standards to host part of the Asian Cup 2007 finals. The stadium, the largest in Indonesia, is now not expected to be ready until after September which coincides with the start of the Muslim fasting month, Ramadan. “The tournament is postponed because the renovation is still going on and won’t be complete by August,” said PSSI General Secretary Nugraha Besoes. Unfortunately, because of invited international teams, it will be difficult to shift the tournament. “Other stadiums outside Jakarta are still not properly equipped to international standards. If we cannot hold the tournament this year, we will arrange it on a larger scale next year,” he said.

The PSSI expected the Anniversary Cup would be both a soft launching for the upgraded stadium as well as a trial match against international teams for the Indonesian national side. Besoes confirmed that Malaysia was definately invited as Indonesia will be particpating in the Malaysian Merdeka Cup in August in Kuala Lumpur. In February, Asian Football Business Review reported that PSSI had invited Vietnam to play four friendlies in Jakarta this year, including the Anniversary Cup. Vietnam said that would not be possible because Vietnamese players would be busy with V-League duties. In other eras, however, the Anniversary Cup attracted attractive teams such as the Australia U-23 side in 1975 and Queens Park Rangers and Feyenoord (which featured Dutch legend Johan Crufyin) in 1982.

Besoes saw the Anniversary Cup as the first part of the national teams "long journey" to the 2018 World Cup. “All of that could come true if we have good team work, responsibility and all appreciate the challenge. It is a turning point time for Indonesian football,” he said.

The national team is still scheduled to train in Saudi Arabia from September until December. They will return to South East Asia in January to play in the ASEAN Football Federation championship in Kuala Lumpur then relocate to England for long-term training. Coach Peter Withe has selected Solihull, near Birmingham, as the base to use the physical training facilities at Warwick University. The team will be home for the Asian Cup which will be played in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam in July 2007. The three co-hosts automatically enter the finals.

Australian stamps praise World Cup Socceroos

THE better than "rated" achievements of the Australian national football team in the 2006 FIFA World Cup are being celebrated with the special edition release of a stamp sheet. Australia made it through to the second round after beating Japan, drawing with Croatia and defeated by Brazil but were eliminated by Italy in the final controversial moments of their match. Players Mark Viduka, Tim Cahill, Mark Schwarzer, Harry Kewell, John Aloisi, Craig Moore, Marco Bresciano and Brett Emerton, along with coach Guus Hiddink, all feature. The nine green and gold 50c stamps from the 'Soccer in Australia' stamp issue are available at Australia Post from today, AAP reported.

FIFA suspends Greece from international football

Current European national champion Greece has been suspended from international competition by football's ruling body because of government interference in the domestic administration of the sport. FIFA announced the sanction stating the Greek FA and all its members - clubs, players and officials - were "suspended with immediate effect and until further notice from all international contact." Under the ban, Greek clubs cannot enter qualifying for the Champions League next month.

FIFA's Emergency Committee, comprising the presidents of all continental confederations, decided that the administration of the Hellenic Football Federation did not comply with FIFA's statutes regarding independence of the decision-making process from government. In September 2005, the federation was given a 15 July deadline to obtain from the Greek government an amendment to the national law on sports so that the national association conformed with international and European football regulations.

FIFA said Greek authorities have failed to deliver on commitments to amend the law. "In fact, the recently presented draft of a new law on professional leagues constitutes another example of interference from the government in football affair," FIFA said in a statement quoted by AP.

Greece's opening qualifying match for the 2008 European Championship had been scheduled for 2 September at Moldova. The Greeks also were supposed to play an international friendly at England on 16 August.

Japan, China and Korean clubs in fourth A3 Cup

League champions from Japan, China and South Korea will battle for the bragging rights of being the best club in East Asia in the fourth edition of the A3 Champions Cup in August. The tournament features J-League champions Gamba Osaka, K-League winners Ulsan Hyundai, China Super League champions Dalian Shide and the J-League Nabisco Cup winners JEF United Chiba. The four will engage in a round robin tussle through 2-8 August. All the games will be played at the Tokyo National Stadium, AFCMedia reported. Suwon Bluewings won the 2005 competition sponsored by Nissan.