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FAPL drops "English" off Barclays Premier League

Barclays has appointed Saatchi & Saatchi to handle the global marketing of its FA Premier League football sponsorship. The advertising agency has been tasked with creating sponsorship idents and promotional campaigns to back worldwide broadcasts of English Premiership matches. “Saatchi & Saatchi will be responsible for promoting the Barclays Premier League around the world. This marks the first truly global push we have initiated for the League,” Richard Mackey, head of sponsorship PR at Barclays, said.

The appointment comes days after the Barclays Premier League re-branded to drop the word ‘English’ in its global activities and create a single unified identity. The competition had been known as the Barclays Premiership in the UK and the Barclays English Premier League overseas. "The decision was taken after extensive research with fans and other stakeholders during the Premier League's recent re-branding exercise showed the need for a single unified identity, The FA Premier League's official website stated.

"We are confident that our simplified and strengthened global identity will help fans associate better with our fantastic competition," Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said and Barclays President Robert E. Diamond Jr added: "We're delighted to be the title global sponsor of the Barclays Premier League because of its huge appeal among fans across the world. Introducing a single name for the competition presents our brand in a consistent way across the world."

How interesting that the name change will "help fans associate better" with the product once identified with England.

How the English Premiership is the world's richest

English Premier League players will earn more than £1 billion for the first time next season thanks to television, sponsorship and merchandising deals. Leading players could command as much as £200,000 per week, or a record £10 million a year, over the next three seasons, accountancy firm Deloitte said in its Annual Review of Football Finance report. "The Premiership is the richest soccer league on the planet with leading clubs like Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal enjoying a following among millions of fans around the world with more than 200 countries showing Premiership matches," Elena Moya reported for Reuters. The growing wealth gap between the English league and its European counterparts is set to widen as the Premiership's revenues continue to rise. It generated £1.4 billion in revenue last year, ahead of Italy's £1 billion , Germany and Spain's £800 million and the £600 million in France and, next season, the EPL's operating profit is expected to double to £260 million pounds, from this season.

"Whilst the players will be the main financial beneficiaries from the new TV deals, English clubs will continue to invest in their stadia and youth facilities, which is a vital element of a successful business strategy," said Alan Switzer, a director at Deloitte's Sports Business Group. English clubs will continue to invest in their stadia and youth facilities, which is a vital element of a successful business strategy. The clubs are expected to improve their marketing and expand sales outlets to boost profitabilit. The game will transform into more of a longer, family activity with food, drink and shopping outlets located inside new stadiums while advertisers and sponsors will aim to strengthen their relationship with clubs by using popular team brands to sell more products.

"The industry is attracting billionaires from around the world, including the United States, who are likely to continue buying English clubs over the summer. Manchester United and Liverpool are already owned by US. tycoons Malcolm Glazer, and George Gillett and Tom Hicks, respectively, while former Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has made a formal bid for Manchester City. "Football teams aren't trophy assets, they're real businesses," Ken Goldsbrough, European head of the media, communications and entertainment unit at GE Commercial Finance, a General Electric unit expanding in the European soccer market as a lender, told Reuters.

Seeking a return on their investments, the new owners are expected to import some ideas from abroad. The more American and American-influenced owners in the UK and in Europe, the more potential for American ideas being implemented, particularly from the National Football League," said Lawrence Schechter, a director at Schechter & Co, an investment bank that has raised debt for football clubs. "I am a devout capitalist, more right-wing than Attila the Hun, but the NFL is a perfect example of socialism working in a capitalist market," Schechter said. "Certain elements will be brought, others won't work."

The new investors aren't expected to introduce changes that affect how the game is played on the field, however, said Dan Jones, head of Deloitte's Sports Business Group. "I see the Premiership becoming more commercial. That's not a bad thing, but excessively commercial would be a bad thing," he said. Stadium food and drink outlets are seen expanding and improving, while deals with commercial sponsors are likely to go beyond just showing a brand on a shirt, Jones said. "Football is played in front of more people, bigger sponsors and bigger stadiums, but the essence remains the same and that's where the value is," Jones said. "I can't do what Ronaldinho does, but it's the same game that I played as a child and that my children play now."

Leading UK football agent Sky Andrew believes "it is only right" that Premiership players benefit even more from the league's increasing wealth. Andrew, whose clients include Sol Campbell and Jermain Defoe, feels players' salaries should increase as a result. "The money has increased and as we saw in the recent play-off game, it was worth £60 million to the winning club. Derby are now in the game, they are in the Premier League. It is only right if clubs are generating that kind of money from merchandising, gate receipts and Sky (TV) money that footballers should be rewarded accordingly, " he told BBC Radio Five Live. Andrew also suggested that clubs will need to keep paying increasing amounts in wages to compete at the top. He added: "Competition in the Premier League is getting more and more fierce. In order to stay in the Premier League they have to get the best players. It is supply and demand."

AFC President's Cup to be played in September

The third AFC President's Cup football tournament is rescheduled to September 2007, Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat, the President of the Pakistan Football Federation announced. The Asian Football Confederation's annual third-level club competition, which was scheduled to be held in Lahore, Pakistan, from 17-27 May, brings together the league champions of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Nepal, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Taiwan and Bhutan.

FIFA counts: Asia leads confederations in players

The world football body FIFA has revealed its survey of 207 member associations in 2006, many of which do not have accurate player registrations, which provides an interesting insight into the growth of football worldwide, in terms of participation, increasing match attendances and TV audiences. The data for FIFA's Big Count 2006 was collated in the first half of 2006 using a traditional questionnaire and an online survey and achieved a response rate of over 75 percent. FIFA used Big Count 2000, a UEFA survey from 2005 and other internal surveys to supplement missing data from associations and as a plausibility check.

The survey showed that some 265 million male and female players and a further five million referees, coaches and other officials are involved in football, giving a grand total of 270 million people, or four percent of the world’s population.

“Football’s popularity remains undiminished and is actually increasing,” reflected FIFA President Joseph S Blatter. “If you count the relatives and close friends of active participants in football, who share in their passion for the game as fans and support them in other ways, the total number is even more impressive: well over a billion people worldwide are involved in football – at all levels of society and across all borders.”

Here are some of the most important findings of the Big Count 2006:

The overall total of 265 million male and female players is almost ten per cent higher than the number recorded six years ago (242 million). Of the 265 million, 26 million or around ten percent are women;

Since 2000, the number of registered male and female footballers has increased by around 23 percent to over 38 million;

The growth in women's football is particularly striking, with the number of registered players up 54 percent to 4.1 million, while the number of registered players in the men's game has likewise seen an increase of 21 percent to 34.2 million;

The number of unregistered occasional players, which was first recorded in the previous Big Count study, is up seven percent to 226 million; There is now a combined total of over one million futsal and beach soccer players (both male and female);

In terms of regional differences, the Asian Football Confederation 85 million footballers) has a clear lead over the other five confederations (UEFA: 62 million; CAF: 46 million; CONCACAF: 43 million; CONMEBOL: 27 million; OFC: 0.5 million). However, if the proportion of footballers to the total population is taken into account, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL and UEFA are ahead of the other confederations with seven percent each;

The number of clubs (301,000) is similar to the figure recorded in 2000. That said, the total number of teams (1.7 million) has increased by approximately 200,000.

The study was scientifically observed by Lamprecht & Stamm SFB AG, a social research company based in Zurich.

Broadcast agency selected for Barcelona Asia tour

The IEC in Sports agency has been appointed international television coordinator for the 2007 FC Barcelona Asia Tour. The company also handled the international television distribution of the 2004 and 2005 tours. IEC’s role includes distribution of the international television rights in certain territories for selected matches, production and transmission services for Spanish broadcasters, world feed production and commentary services. “Both China and Japan represent markets with enormous football potential and like our city, we all have a real passion for the game” said Javier Munoa, Director of International Business for FC Barcelona.

FC Barcelona will play three matches: Beijing Guoan, 5 August, Beijing; Yokohama Marinos, 7 August ,Yokohama, Japan; and Mission Hills Invitational XI, 10 August, Hong Kong SAR. The match in Beijing will mark the one-year countdown to the start of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

UAE exchanges Indonesia for South Korea friendly

The United Arab Emirates national football team will play South Korea on 30 June in Singapore as its final friendly before the Asian Cup tourmanent. Initially the warmup match was scheduled against Indonesia in Jakarta however UAE coach Bruno Metsu decided not to travel far from his team's training camp in Malaysia from 13 June to 4 July. The other three warm-up matches are unchanged: Malaysia on 21 June and Bahrain on 27 June 27, both played in Kuala Lumpur, and then Saudi Arabia on 24 June in Singapore. The UAE will leave for Vietnam on 4 July as the Asian Football Confederation asked the Group B teams to be present there by that date, Sayed Ali reported for Gulf News. UAE plays its first match in the finals against hosts Vietnam on 8 July.

Barcelona backs Wei Wei's women's football song

Chinese singer and megastar Wei Wei has joined hands with world famous football club FC Barcelona for a new music video release saluting women's football. The parties have reportedly agreed for the US-based Velletri Soccer Group to be a major partner in the project.

"The music video will be launched in connection with Women's World Cup 2007 in China, starting in September. In the video there will be youth players representing VSG acting together with players from FC Barcelona. Wei Wei will sing a brand new song with the players," Jan Kallman, PR and Communictaion Manager of VSG, told Asian Football Business Review.

"This is a fantastic project for all parts. For VSG there will be global awareness of our concept and a great opportunity to increase our business. With expanding business more children of the world will make it in to our schools and soccer academies. Asia is also a very hot market for European soccer clubs. They are looking for possibilities to broaden their fan base," he said.

Australia wins major FIFA and AFC football events

Football Federation Australia has won the right to host two highly-prestigious major events in Australia in the next twelve months. FFA Chairman Frank Lowy and Chief Executive Ben Buckley announced that Sydney will host two special events in the next twelve months – the 2007 Asian Football Confederation Gala Awards in November this year, and the 2008 FIFA Congress in May 2008.

“The FIFA Congress – which is effectively international football’s “parliament” – is the largest off-field football event in the world. The vote of confidence that FIFA has shown in Sydney, to play host to in excess of 2,500 delegates and media from FIFA’s 205 member nations at such an auspicious event is really tremendous,” Lowry said.

“In addition, for Australia to be selected also to host the AFC’s showcase awards night, in the space of twelve months makes a terrific statement about our newfound place in world football, and really augers well for the future. We would like to thank FIFA and the AFC for placing their confidence in the FFA and Sydney, and the NSW Government for their continued support of football in Australia,” he added.

Church's Peace Cup keeps clash with Asian Cup

The privately-funded, biennial Peace Cup Korea has announced that its 2007 invited participants are English Premier League clubs Reading and Bolton Wanderers alongside K-League side Seongnam, J-League club Shimizu S-Pulse, France's Olympique Lyon, Mexico's Chivas de Guadalajara, Argentina's River Plate and Italy's Udinese. London-based Tottenham Hotspurs has declined to defend its 2005 title. "The Peace Cup tournament is aimed at conveying to the world a culture and vision for peace through football," said Kwak Chung-hwan, chairman of the organizing committee which represents the Sun Moon Soccer Foundation and Interreligious and International Peace Council, both established by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon of the Unification Church, the founder of News World Communications Inc, which owns United Press International.

However the organisers appear to have rejected comments made just two days ago by Malaysia's Youth and Sports Minister, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said about Manchester United's cancellation of a friendly game in Kuala Lumpur on 27 July because it overlapped with the Asian Football Confederation's prestigious Asian Cup 2007. The Minister said the Malaysian Government still welcomed any offer from international clubs to play friendly matches in the country. "However, the timing should not clash with other important tournaments."

The Peace Cup, set to be played 12-21 July in seven cities across South Korea with US$2.4 million in prize money on offer, most definitely overlaps the Asian Cup played 7-29 July in South East Asia. As well, South Korea's national team is regarded as red-hot favourites to win through its Group D round, and quarter and semi finals to appear in the Asian Cup Final in Jakarta on 29 July.

"We don't see a big problem that the dates are overlapping," an official at the Peace Cup organising committee told Jack Kim of Reuters by telephone. "It's a matter of making sure there are no games overlapping with Korea's games in the Asian Cup," the official added without addressing the issues of competing television and sponsor interests.

Radio Australia has also reported that "South Korea's Peace Cup organisers are negotiating for survival with Asian Cup organisers" and that "a Peace Cup spokesman says they have begun moving the schedule around to avoid conflicts."

Semi-pro state club humbles Malaysian squad

After being beaten by two Australian A-League clubs in pre-Asian Cup warm-up friendlies, Malaysia's national team lost embarrassingly 1-0 to a semi-pro club of the NSW State Premier League, Bankstown FC. The Malaysians now resume training in Pulau Pinang from 7-15 June 2007. Malaysia has lined up friendlies against Saudi Arabia, UAE and Oman next month before they start their AFC Asian Cup 2007 campaign in Kuala Lumpur against China on 10 July.

Malaysia: Tours 'should not clash' with tournaments

Malaysia's Youth and Sports Minister, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, has thanked FIFA for re-sanctioning the G-14-backed Champions Youth Cup scheduled to be held in Malaysia from 5-19 August. "I would like to express the government's sincere thanks to FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who has decided to give back the sanction by the world football governing bodies' executive committee at their meeting in Zurich yesterday,” she said after officiating the fourth Asian regional inter-government meeting on anti-doping in sports in Kuala Lumpur.

Commenting on the reasons behind the decision, she said one of the reasons might be FIFA's emphasis on the importance of youth development, Bernama news agency reported.

On the cancellation of Manchester United's promotional match against a Malaysian XI in Kuala Lumpur on 27 July, the Minister said the Malaysian Government still welcomed any offer from international clubs to play friendly matches in the country.

"However, the timing should not clash with other important tournaments," she quipped.

AFC backs Vision India Manipur League with cash

The Asian Football Confederation has assured the All Manipur Football Association of financial help to implement its Vision India pilot project. On a day long tour of Manipur state, Brendon Menton, the AFC's Director for National Associations and Clubs, said monetary help would complement the technical expertise offered. "A meeting at the Vision office discussed the future of the Manipur State League, the first of which saw the relegation of two teams, SAI and Youth Welfare Organisation. In the second league, which is scheduled to kick off in October, North Imphal Sporting Association and United Sporting Association will fill in," reported Robert Sapam for The Telegraph. The AFC also stressed the need to hold an AFC ‘B’ Licence course next year in the state.

Major Indian capital city football club is privitised

India's New Delhi Heroes, has been taken over by art auction house Osian's and IOS Sports & Leisure, marking the first time that a professional sports management agency has bought a football club and the first ever corporate takeover of a football club in the capital city. Osian's is title sponsor of the Durand Cup, India's oldest tournament while IOS its the event manager. Established in 1939, the club has an outstanding history. It won the inaugural DCM Cup in 1945 beating King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry 3-2 in the final and is six-time Delhi Soccer Association League winners (1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958 and 1959).

"This takeover is another step in our continuing process to develop the game in India. We want to make the club a pioneer in Indian football. Right from its management to training facilities available, everything will be world class. We will conduct regular training camps under foreign coaches and build a youth academy and a training centre to foster talent," Neville Tuli, founder-chairman of Osian's, said, adding that one of the long-term objectives of the takeover is to compete and win the National Football League, which goes professional from the 2007-08 season.

"We aim to sign on players who have represented the Indian team or have played for National Football League Division 1 clubs. The coaching team will consist of top coaches and training staff. We want to work our way up to the top tier of the NFL, but we will be taking things one at a time," IOS CEO Neerav Tomar said.

China loses stars in squad for USA friendly tour

China will be without regular captain Zheng Zhi and other top players from China Super League clubs Shandong Luneng and Shanghai Shenhua in its 23-man squad facing the USA in a friendly on 2 June and then Major League Soccer clubs Los Angeles Galaxy on 5 June and Colorado Rapids five days later, Chinese Football Association spokesman Dong Hua told Reuters. Shandong and Shanghai will play the champions of Japan and South Korea in the East Asian Champions Cup from 7-13 June, ruling out Zheng, who recently returned to Shandong after a loan spell at English Premier League club Charlton. China coach Zhu Guanghu, who faced renewed calls for his dismissal after China were beaten by Thailand earlier this month, will be using the trip as part of his preparations for July's Asian Cup finals.

Squad: Goalkeepers: Zong Lei (Changchun), Yang Jun (Tianjin) Defenders: Xu Yunlong, Zhang Shuai (both Beijing), Zhang Baofeng (Changchun), Chen Dong, Zhai Yanpeng, Zhang Yaokun, Ji Mingyi (all Dalian), Xin Feng (Shenzhen), Sun Xiang (unattached); Midfielders: Wang Dong, Du Zhenyu (both Changchun), Zhao Xuri (Dalian), Cao Yang, Hao Junmin (both Tianjin), Zheng Bin (Wuhan), Shao Jiayi (Energie Cottbus), Li Tie (unattached); Strikers: Du Wenhui (Beijing), Wang Peng (Dalian), Qu Bo (Qingdao), Dong Fangzhuo (Manchester United)

Chelsea FC supports expansion of Right to Play

An unspecified number of officials from English FA Cup winners, Chelsea FC will lead eight players of the club to visit Ghana from 29 May to 2 June. Though the identities of the players are not immediately known, officials say they will include two from the senior team and six players from the London club's junior side. The team of officials and players are visiting as part of a recent pact signed between the English Premier League club and Right to Play, an athlete-driven international humanitarian organisation that uses sports and play as a tool for development of children and youth in the most disadvantaged areas of the world, All Africa reported.

At a pre-visit media briefing held last Wednesday, Rose Annan, Regional Communications Coordinator, empahsised that sport and play are essential development building blocks that help to foster healthy physical, social and emotional development of the child. She said sport and play could be used to: promote children's health and well-being; further social inclusion and cohesion; and contribute to health, education and economic development.

Last January, the Blues agreed a 6-year partnership deal with Right to Play, making the humanitarian body the football club's first ever global charity partner. And four players of the club namely; Ghanaian international Michael Essien, English pair Frank Lampard and Joe Cole, and Ivorian Salomon Kalou accepted to be Chelsea Ambassadors for Right to Play. The partnership aims to raise more than £2 million over the period to support Right to Play's extensive humanitarian activities in 22 countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Thrilled at the deal, Johann Olav Koss, President and CEO of Right to Play said "this partnership is a testament to our shared belief in the power of sport to make a positive impact on the lives of children."

Indian players get changes to standard contract

All India Football Federation has assured players it will meet their demands to change its standard contract. "The Federation has agreed to make changes in the contract to ensure equal bargaining power for both clubs and players," footballer Bhaichung Bhutia, president of the Football Players' Association of India, told media. The announcement came after an FPAI delegation, including Bhutia, FPAI CEO Sumit Mukherjee and current player Deepak Mondal, met with AIFF General Secretary Alberto Colaco and conveyed their apprehensions about the contract, particularly clauses that appear to reflect European, not Indian conditions.

One of the other demands of the FPAI was a corpus for retired footballers. The players' body wants the AIFF to have a benevolent fund with an initial amount of Rs 10 million with a member of FPAI on the trustee board. "The Federation has agreed to consider this proposal for the benefit of all players of yesteryears," Bhutia said. The other points of contention were individual contracts signed by players, which may directly compete with club sponsors and regulations to deal with footballers' injuries. The FPAI said the players should have the right to sign individual endorsements and should not be forced to endorse products of the club's sponsors. This provision deals mainly with the boots and gloves as they are considered to be performance-enhancing items of the kit.

On the injury front, FPAI wants the clubs to make medical insurance of players compulsory. According to the present contract, the club can deduct a player's salary if he is injured for more than six weeks. The FPAI requested medical insurance to ensure that no player will suffer a loss.

FIFA approves G-14-backed U-19 Cup in Malaysia

The world football body FIFA has re-endorsed the G-14-backed Champions Youth Cup being played in Malaysia during 5-19 August. "In accordance with article 76 of the FIFA Statutes (International matches and competition), the Football Association of Malaysia was instructed to cancel a friendly match against Manchester United that had been due to take place in Kuala Lumpur during the period of the AFC Asian Cup. The same association was given permission to hold the “Champions Youth Cup” from 5 to 19 August 2007," an official news report on FIFA's Executive Committee meeting stated.

The CYC tournament will involve U-19 teams from G-14's members, AC Milan, Ajax Amsterdam, Arsenal, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Porto, Inter Milan, Juventus, Manchester United, Paris St Germain and PSV Eindhoven plus invited teams from Boca Juniors, Flamengo, Chelsea, Qatar and hosts Malaysia. According to Malaysia's The Star, FIFA President Sepp Blatter acknowledged that “The teams taking part are not just from the G-14 group but also Qatar and Malaysia.”

FAM General Secretary Datuk Seri Dr Ibrahim Saad earlier revealed that when "the event was initially known as the G14 tournament last March" FAM had "informed FIFA of our disapproval" as the G14 group, which represents 18 of Europe’s top clubs, is not recognised by FIFA or UEFA. But "after the organisers – UK-based Gifted Group Ltd – decided to change the competition from a G14 event to CYC which will include teams from Europe, Asia and South America" FAM then "requested for FIFA’s sanction of the event" which resulted in FIFA's approval on 8 March.

FIFA's abrupt withdrawal of its endorsement followed just days after the FAM informed the Asian Football Confederation that it could not prevent English Premier League club Manchester United playing a football game in Kuala Lumpur during the AFC's prestigious Asian Cup because the match was a "government and private sector initiative".

Despite threats of legal action by G-14 and GGL, the fate of the two events have seemed intricately linked ever since.

FIFA's Blatter congratulates Man Utd "decision"

With still no official statement from English Premier League club Manchester United that it has abandoned its scheduled 27 July friendly against a Malaysian XI in Kuala Lumpur, the President of football's world body, FIFA, has congratulated the club on not proceeding.

"I compliment Manchester United on their decision not to go there. Their other matches on the tour in Japan, Macau and Korea will go ahead. Those matches do not conflict with any Asian Cup matches," Sepp Blatter told a news conference in Zurich.

"We were able to convince Manchester United that the international calendar reserves the second half of June and the whole of July for the confederations. We have nothing against clubs touring other countries, of course, but at that time in Malaysia the United match virtually clashes with the semi-final of the Asian Cup," he said as quoted by Reuters.

The Asian Football Confederation previously expressed its disappointment with Manchester United's entire 17-27 July Asian match program clashing with the Asian Cup during 7-29 July but could only restrict the final game as the Football Association of Malaysia, backed by the Government of Malaysia, had signed a binding co-hosting contract agreeing not to promote any other football activity for the entire month of July.

The AFC has also indicated that it regards the scheduling of the English Premier League's annual Barclay's Asian Trophy in China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region during 24-27 July as also highly inappropriate. The series, featuring three EPL clubs and the Hong Kong FA Cup winner, will be played on days either side of the Asian Cup's critical Semi-Finals which may feature top East Asian nations Japan, South Korea and China and AFC newcomer Australia.

Aston Villa beats CC Mariners in Philips HK 7s final

Australia's A-League club Central Coast Mariners was defeated by English Premier League club Aston Villa 1-0 in the final of the Philips Lighting Soccer 7s at the Hong Kong Football Club. Aston Villa, defeated 2-0 by the Mariners in Group D yesterday, overcame an exhausted Central Coast outfit, which had only one hour earlier earned their place in the final after a penalty shoot out win over Hong Kong's Happy Valley.

"It’s one step better than the last time we were here," said Mariners Football Manager Lawrie McKinna after the match. "I think the fitness component got to us, as in the last two games we were a bit flatter and not as sharp as we have been, no doubt given that we’ve only been back at training for a week and a half," he told SportsAustralia.

Aston Villa: Robert Olejnik (gk), Eric Lund, Shane Lowry, Jonathan Hogg, Mark Albrighton, Zoltan Steiber, Tobias Mikaellson, Chris Heard, Damien Bellon, Yago Bellon. Central Coast Mariners: Matthew Trott (gk), Ian McAndrew, Bradley Porter (Neil Woodcock 17’), Nigel Boogaard, Matthew Osman, Alex Wilkinson (Adam Kwasnik 11’), Mile Jedinak, Matt Simon.

Naka brings silverware, financial rewards to Celtic

Shunsuke Nakamura has now helped Scottish Premier League club Celtic to two premierships, one League Cup, and today's Scottish Cup and helped the Hoops to reach the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League for the first time. The 28-year-old playmaker is the first Japanese to score in the Champions League, which he did against Manchester United on 13 September last year, and the first Japanese to win back-to-back league titles outside Japan. Since his arrival at Celtic Park from Italy's Reggina in 2005, Japanese journalists have been a fixture at all Celtic games. "Everybody in Japan knows him, even people who have no interest in football at all. He transcends the game," said Naoki Chiba, a London-based sports writer with the Yomiuri Shimbun, the world's best-selling newspaper at 10 million copies per day.

"If all Nakamura's attributes make him a coveted man - and Tottenham are the last club reported to be interested, for a fee upwards of £6 million - then one of the more remarkable aspects of his time is Glasgow is that he has paid his own way. Certainly Celtic are well on the way to recouping the £2.7 million they paid via direct Naka-related income," commented Nick Harris in The Independent. "In his first season they made around £400,000 on commercial deals from Nakamura. That has increased this season. They also made £1 million-plus for an exhibition game in Tokyo at the start of this season. Reggina sold 130,000 Nakamura shirts in Japan. Celtic will outstrip that, and also have a profitable Japanese-language website."

Tottenham adds Chinese to gambling shirt logo

English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspurs is looking to increase its their profile in East Asia by sporting Chinese characters promoting internet gambling on its shirts. The Mandarin script will appear next to the logo of shirt sponsor Mansion on the club’s away shirt. The Gibraltar-based on-line gambling business is reportedly owned by billionaire Putera Sampoerna, Indonesia's third-richest man. In May 2005 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 last year 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"

"The Club has always enjoyed massive international support and it is a mark of our tradition and success that we can now look to broaden our appeal in markets such as China. Working in the Chinese market is an exciting prospect for us and for our partners, Mansion. We look forward to exploring the Chinese market in the years ahead working closely with Mansion, who already have many customers in this part of the world," Executive director Paul Barber told the club’s website.

Malaysian officials still complaining about Man Utd

Manchester United two days ago told media it had recognised that it could not play a promotional game in Malaysia on 27 July without the official approval of the Asian Football Confederation. The club's statement said it hoped issues "can be resolved by the relevant parties to ensure that this celebration match can take place as planned" and said "a further announcement will be made in due course."

International media took into account the AFC's well-stated opposition to the game being held during the build-up to its prestigious Asian Cup final on 29 July and announced, therefore, that the English Premier League champion had abandoned its scheduled visit to Kuala Lumpur.

While Manchester United is yet to make a subsequent announcement, Malaysian football, government and political officials have continued to voice complaints about the AFC's refusal to approve or compromise on an intended breach of contract by the Football Association of Malaysia and the Government of Malaysia.

"We appeal to the AFC to look into the move by the government to bring Manchester United," FAM Vice President Raja Ahmad Zainuddin Raja Omar told AFP. "The Prime Minister of Malaysia himself personally wanted to see that match and I do hope they can give consideration to that," he said.

"I understand the stance of the AFC, but I hope they can be flexible for the sake of football and allow them to play on July 27," said Laurence How, President of the Malaysian Manchester United Supporters Club. "I would like to emphasise that it is not Manchester United which is inflexible. They have a schedule to follow," he confusingly argued.

"We are sad if they are not coming," Malaysian Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan Mansor said. "We have already spoken to the AFC a couple of times, but the trouble with the AFC is that they are not compromising. The final is not even played in Malaysia so I am confused and upset ... We've got to find out why [Manchester United] are not coming. I have not spoken to them. As far as the government is concerned, we want them to come," he told state-owned Bernama newsagency.

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin, a fiery political leader, also urged the AFC to reconsider its stance. "I call on AFC president Mohamed Hammam to do the honourable thing by acceding to Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said's request to allow Manchester United to play on the said date. No one is questioning AFC's legal right to prevent the MU match from taking place or the binding contract between the FA of Malaysia and AFC. The issue now is whether or not Hammam will accommodate the wishes of the government and the hopes of Malaysian football fans," said Khairy in a statement issued to Bernama.

"If Hammam is unwilling to agree to this request, it will be a tremendous insult to the Government of Malaysia which houses the AFC headquarters and has been a strong supporter of AFC and Asian football in general," Khairy an ardent Manchester United fan, unsubtly warned.

See also: Malaysian Govt: "AFC's views are not important" (23 May) and Shock: Man Utd shown "new info" backing AFC (23 May) and AFC President meets EPL and Man Utd leaders (23 May)

HAGl-Arsenal Academy starts first Viet selection

Foreign experts associated with the joint venture Arsenal Football Academy in Vietnam started their first recruitment in Central Highlands province of Dak Lak from May 26-28. This national, pre-qualification stage will last till July. Only 16 applicats will qualify and be recruited for a seven-year training program at the Hoang Anh Gia Lai – Arsenal Academy.

In the first day of selection in Daklak, four out of 50 boys met technical requirements from the experts Robert Procureur and Guillaume Graechen, who will continue their job in other provinces. The four 11-year-old children are A Thuyn Mlo of Ede ethnic minority, Nguyen Van Lam, Doan Quoc Viet, and Nguyen Duc Thanh, Thanh Nien newspaper reported.

It is estimated that up to 20,000 boys from across the country will be tested in the pre-qualifiers. The 16 finalists will benefit from the free training course, with the first session to start late this year, and the players’ parents will receive 10 percent of their transfer fees after graduation, according to HAGL.

They will live, learn football, and follow an academic curriculum at the academy – a joint venture between Vietnamese top-flight V-League club HAGL and the world-famous English club Arsenal. The five-hectare school – with two stadiums, a building with 30 double rooms, and space for other facilities – costs US$4 million equally shared by the two partners.

India to build National Football Academy in Goa

The All India Football Federation is set to build a national academy in Margao, Goa. “We have acquired land beside the Fatorda Stadium in Margao and we will have a national academy where we can accommodate 50 trainees,” AIFF secretary Alberto Colaco said in New Delhi recently. "The money needed will come from FIFA’s annual fund, which the world body gives to its members every year. Part of the money will be from the fund that we got last year and the rest we will get this year,” said Colaco. The world body FIFA gives US$250,000 to all its member associations every year.

Yamaha to sponsor Vietnamese Men's, U-23 teams

Japan-headquartered Yamaha Motor Company will soon become a sponsor of Vietnamese football with an imminent announcement of financial assistance to the Men’s and U-23 teams through a one-year contract with the Vietnam Football Federation. According to Thanh Nien newspaper, the sponsorship value has not been revealed yet but is likely to be more than the US$200,000 paid by the first sponsor, roof tile manufacturer Hoa Sen.

Nike resumes hand-made football prodn in Pakistan

Nike, the official supplier of footballs to the English Premier League, is to resume making hand-stitched leather balls in Pakistan, six months after it stopped production there amid child-labour concerns. The company has signed a new contract with Silver Star, a leather processor based in Sialkot, after a tender process that Nike says was designed to promote a broader modernisation of the sector centred around the city in northern Punjab. Nike’s decision in November to end production at Saga, its former supplier in Sialkot, followed what Alan Marks, a company spokesman, said was “primarily a fundamental breach of trust” in its management over failures to remedy problems with labour conditions.

Nike was the factory’s main client, taking around 80 per cent of its production, and many of the estimated 3,000 workers at the factory have subsequently lost their jobs. Saga was producing 6 million of the 40 million leather footalls produced in Pakistan annually. "Unlike the global clothing business, where contracts can be moved relatively rapidly between factories and companies, the quality and scale of the leather industry in Sialkot is globally unique, leaving Nike with a significant shortfall in its supply of hand-stitched balls," Jonathan Birchall explained in the Financial Times.

The new contract requires the new supplier to use only registered full-time employees paid hourly wages to work on its premises, rather than piece work. It also stipulates that its workers be able to form or join trade unions. However, the initial contract is for a fifth of the volume of balls originally produced for Nike by Saga, although Nike says it will buy more as Silver Star’s capacity develops.

Budweiser sponsors EPL to target UK and China

US beer company Anheuser-Busch has announced it is renewing its sponsorship of the English Premier League. The worldwide deal, extended to all company brands, commences on 1 June with main focus in the UK and China on Budweiser. the “Official Beer of The Premier League” and “Official Website Partner” until 2010. "We are delighted to renew our relationship with what is officially the greatest football league in the world. This ongoing deal will allow Budweiser to reach Premier League fans around the globe. Budweiser and the Premier League set the very highest standards in everything that we do, and we look forward to continuing this successful partnership,” explained Tony Pontur, vice president of global media and sports marketing at Anheuser-Busch, to The Publican.

The lager brand, which has been an official sponsor of the Premier League since 2002, will have the rights to use its corporate logo and Lion and Trophy marks, gain access to selected player imagery and get match tickets for promotional activity. Budweiser will also become official beer of the 2007 and 2009 Asia Trophy tournaments. The brand is also continuing its official beer sponsorship of Manchester United, Manchester City, and the FIFA World Cup.

Thousands of Australians book Asian Cup on line

Football Federation Australia advises that the Socceroos' first appearance at the finals of the AFC Asian Cup 2007 in the group stage in Bangkok, Thailand, "is set to attract a huge number of supporters with fans snapping up thousands of tickets via the internet" as "early indications from the Asian Football Confederation are that up to 5,000 tickets have been purchased from Australia across their three pool matches in Bangkok." Australian fans travelled in their thousands to Germany to support the team at the FIFA World Cup last year and the numbers could be just as impressive in Thailand.

For Australians who can’t get to the matches, Fox Sports has announced it will be showing every match of the region’s showpiece football event on Pay-TV throughout Australia. Of the 32 matches, 28 will be broadcast live with the other four on immediate replay due to conflicting kick off times on the last two days of the group stage. On those two nights, viewers can watch four straight Asian Cup matches in a football marathon.

Fox Sports commentators Simon Hill, Robbie Slater, Brenton Speed, Paul Trimboli and Ange Postecoglou will also be heard all over the world with Fox Sports supplying English-speaking commentary to an expected worldwide audience of 200 million people, through ESPN Star Asia, Euro Sport and LBC.

Mastercard, Visa still in court over FIFA World Cup

An American appeals court has ordered a lower court to revisit a ruling that returned a coveted sponsorship deal for the FIFA World Cup football tournaments to MasterCard Inc. Last December, US District Judge Loretta Preska ruled that MasterCard, not rival Visa International, should be granted a further eight-year contract with football's governing body, FIFA. MasterCard already had sponsored the tournament for 16 years.

However a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said Preska needed to clarify whether a 2006 agreement between MasterCard and FIFA was binding and whether it would supersede a 2002 contract under which MasterCard contended it had the right of first refusal on a new pact. At the same time, the appellate court said: "The district court is free to reconsider other aspects of its original decision and relief ordered if the answer to the question for which we have remanded the case causes the court to rethink one or more of its rulings."

MasterCard, in a statement, said that it "looks forward to Judge Preska addressing this particular issue and final resolution of the ongoing matter," reported Martha Graybow for Reuters. FIFA said the appellate ruling was what the football body "has already long requested, that it clarify the question of which contract between FIFA and MasterCard is valid. In this respect, FIFA is very pleased with the judgement." Visa said it had no immediate comment. The appeals court last year rejected Visa's bid to become a party to the lawsuit.

Manchester Utd plays educational role in Malaysia

The wonders of Manchester United in Malaysia: According to English-language newspaper, The Star, the English Premier League champion club is playing a role in encouraging junior school students in Petaling Jaya, a district neighbouring Malaysia's capital city, Kuala Lumpur, to improve their English for their UPSR certificate as well as to provide for a smooth transition to secondary school. As part of the "learning English using the Newspaper-in-Education" program, MIC is sponsoring the supply of 5,000 copies of The Star to four Tamil-language schools in the district every Wednesday for 20 weeks.

English teacher K. Samunarani said The Star's NiE pullout had helped to motivate her pupils to learn English in a fun way. “My pupils enjoy their lessons now because they find the activities challenging, yet stimulating at the same time. The colourful pictures also help to get their attention and make learning easier. Since the pupils have become more interested, they are learning faster too,” she said. Year Six pupil M. Jaswinee said she liked Stuff@school because the activities involved her two favourite subjects – Science and Mathematics. “It also has stories about my favourite football team, Manchester United,” she said.

Chelsea boosts Samsung name recognition by 68%

Since South Korea-headquartered Samsung Electronics signed up as major sponsors of the English Premier League club Chelsea in April 2005, the company's name recognition has been boosted by 68 percent. "Thanks to Chelsea's success, sales of mobile phones and LCD TVs in Europe increased by 12 percent and 177 percent respectively in 2006 year-on-year," Samsung announced. The electronics giant predicted that sales of mobile phones will grow 29 percent and LCD TVs 79 percent in 2007, based the current growth rate. Total sales in Europe rose 11 percent in 2006 compared with 2005. In 2007, total sales are expected to increase by 26 percent year-on-year.

The South London club were the EPL champions of the 2005 and 2006 and also secured the 2006-07 FA Cup trophy last Saturday by beating rivals Manchester United. Chelsea's games have been broadcast in 204 nations worldwide to "some 2.9 billion soccer fans".

September launch for Qatar professional Q-League

The Qatar Football Association has launched a project aimed at making the country’s football leagues completely professional with its Professional League Development Committee introducing major elements of the new league’s programs at the start of the next football season in September. “Having the clubs to work together with professional experts is a significant component to launching a league that can have immediate credibility and success. Required funds will be made available to the clubs to meet the challenges. We hope we can attain goals, say in 2012,” ” PLDC Chairman Ahmed A al-Sulaiti told Suman Malla of the Gulf Times.

According to Ulrich M Linke, General Manager of the committee, each of the premier division clubs in the Q-League will be provided with foreign experts, who will assist and train club’s staff to manage those departments and make sure everything is correct in the fundamentals, organisationally and financially. “The main objective of the project is to cultivate European-style professional clubs that can help develop strong players for national teams," he said, adding that foreign experts will help transform the football teams into legal entities in order to enable them to develop. “They will gradually hand over the charge to the local authorities,” he explained.

Pointing to the existing disparity in pay package between foreign and local players, Linke said the committee will be emphasising on foreign players of high quality below 31 years of age at the time of signing, barring a few exceptional cases. “We need to provide bonus and incentives to local players on top of what they are already earning now. We should also care for the reserve players," he said.

Each club will work on developing a wider fan base through customer binding programs and hospitality strategy - including a season ticket system. Experts will be exploring various avenues to enhance clubs’ revenues, such as sales of broadcasting rights and shirt sponsorship.

The formulation of a media policy will allow promotion of matches, the clubs and the league. We would take the help of TV and mobile phone operators. Some of the top players in Qatar’s key markets would be used as role models to tap international sponsors,” he said.

Research into brands, sponsors in English football

Football Fans Census has released Brands In Football 2007, a definitive guide to UK soccer sponsorship detailing more than 1,000 sponsorship and partnership arrangements with over 700 brands and listing over 150 organisations and competitions including 128 British Clubs and the contacts at their commercial departments. The 200 plus page report covers available sponsorship opportunities as well as current sponsors including: kit manufacturers; stadium sponsors; stand sponsors; official partners including gaming and betting, affinity cards, beverages, catering and travel.

“Soccer offers a unique range of opportunities for sponsorship from global to grass roots and Brands In Football 2007 reflects that. It is a must for clubs, brand managers involved, or planning on getting involved, in football as well as advertising agencies, PR companies and sponsorship consultancies with clients in soccer,” Nigel Jones, company representative said.

According to the report, the following Online Gaming brands were involved in the English Premier League as at the end of its 2006-07 season:

Arsenal - Paddy Power
Aston Villa - 32red.com (Club sponsor)
Blackburn Rovers - Bet24.com (Club sponsor)
Bolton Wanderers - Betfred
Charlton Athletic - Ladbrokes, Paddy Power (Online)
Chelsea - Ladbrokes, Coral (Online)
Everton - Littlewoods Gaming, Coral
Fulham - Coral (Online), VC Casino (Casino Partner)
Liverpool - Paddy Power (Online)
Manchester City - Totalbet
Manchester United - Betfred
Middlesbrough - 888.com (Club sponsor)
Newcastle United - Bet365
Portsmouth - Ladbrokes
Sheffield United - Ladbrokes
Tottenham Hotspur - Mansion (Club sponsor)
Watford - Ladbrokes
West Ham - Ladbrokes, Pinnacle (Online)
Wigan Athletic - Tote Plc

Premier League clubs with mobile network partners:

Arsenal - O2
Aston Villa - T-Mobile
Charlton Athletic - T-Mobile
Chelsea - Orange
Liverpool - Orange
Manchester City - Orange
Middlesbrough - O2
Reading - Vodafone

Brands In Football 2007 is available in hard copy at £495 and can be ordered at www.brandsinfootball.com. Other Football Fans Census surveys and reports can be reviewed and purchased through www.footballfanscensus.com/reports.html.

Kazuyoshi Miura entertains Sydney in Tokyo

Japanese football legend Kazuyoshi Miura hosted players and oficials of Australian A-League club Sydney FC during their last night in Tokyo after failing to reach the knockout stage of the Asian Champions League by drawing 0-0 against Urawa Red Diamonds. "King Kazu paid for the visitors' tab at an expensive restaurant in Roppongi, Tokyo, a well-known party district in the Japanese capital. The former FC guest player was also a visitor to the team's hotel earlier in the week," reported FoutFourTwo Australia magazine.

VFF slaps stadium ban on V-League Saigon Ports

The Vietnam Football Federation has announced a stadium ban and a pecuniary fine of VND30 million (US$1,900) against V-League club Saigon Port for its failure to contain fan rioting in a match last Sunday at the Seventh Military Zone stadium. The riot cause play to be stopped in the 66th minute of the 12th round match with Thanh Hoa.

The VFF ruled that the remaining 24 minutes of the game, which Saigon Port was leading 2-0, must be played on 1 June at Da Nang’s Chi Lang stadium. Saigon Port has also been banned from hosting Danang on 9 June.

Earlier this year Thanh Hoa was ruled to have suffered a 3-0 defeat in the sixth round in April after its home fans encroached upon the pitch, forcing a delay in the game with Danang for almost an hour, Thanh Nien noted.

Malaysian Govt: "AFC's views are not important"

The Government of Malaysia insists that English Premier League champions Manchester United will make their trip to Kuala Lumpur as planned, regardless of the wishes of the world football body FIFA, the Asian Football Confederation and the terms of the contract signed by the Football Association of Malaysia to co-host the prestigious AFC Asian Cup 2007. "I've verbally informed the Manchester United club that they can come to Malaysia and we will make arrangements with the team to facilitate their visit to Malaysia," Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor told state newsagency Bernama.

He said that in conjunction with the visit, a friendly match planned between Manchester United and a Malaysian selection would be held as scheduled on 27 July in keeping with the desire expressed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who is now on a visit to Japan.

Asked about the pressure and risks the FAM could face following the Cabinet decision, Tengku Adnan said the decision was made in the interest of the country and Malaysians.

"The AFC's views and risks to be faced are not important. What's important is that we have decided that Manchester United can come to Malaysia," he said.

Shock: Man Utd shown "new info" backing AFC

In a stunning surprise, "new information" has come to the attention of English Premier League club Manchester United today "concerning the Football Association of Malaysia’s agreement with the Asian Football Confederation to act as host for the Asian Cup, which means the club cannot play the game without the official approval of the AFC."

Manchester United CEO David Gill is currently in Kuala Lumpur attempting to resolve a row which has erupted over a game Sir Alex Ferguson’s men were due to play in the Malaysian capital on 27 July. The date comes before the end of the Asian Cup, which runs from 7-29 July, for which Malaysia are one of four co-hosts.

Gill has had a series of meetings today with the Malaysian Youth and Sports Ministry, the FAM and the AFC and the club "hopes that the issues can be resolved by the relevant parties to ensure that this celebration match can take place as planned."

According to the Manchester Evening News, "Gill will remain in Malaysia overnight in an attempt to broker a peace deal but with the AFC now in a supremely strong position, it seems virtually certain the visit will be postponed as United are due to play Serie A winners Inter Milan at Old Trafford on August 1.

"However, even if Gill reluctantly backs down, in what would be an embarrassing move for the tour organisers, United remain committed to the other three parts of the trip, which take in visits to Japan, South Korea and Macau."

AFC President meets EPL and Man Utd leaders

Asian Football Confederation President Mohamed bin Hammam today had a "significant meeting" with English FA Premier League Chairman, Sir David Richards and Manchester United FC Chief Executive, David Gill concerning the proposed match between Manchester United and a Malaysia XI team, scheduled to take part during the AFC Asian Cup 2007 in Malaysia.

The AFC President reiterated AFC’s position that the match should be re-scheduled to ensure it does not coincide with the tournament in July. AFC also explained the contractual obligations of Malaysia and the Football Association of Malaysia as a host association, and the efforts made by AFC since September 2006 to ensure that no other football competitions should take place in Malaysia for the duration of Asia’s premier competition.

“I really appreciate the gesture that David Gill and Sir Dave Richards have displayed by coming here to AFC House to meet face to face to discuss this issue,” Bin Hammam said following the meeting.

“We have presented our case to Manchester United and fully explained our position. At the end of the day, we have not left any stone unturned to seek a solution amicably, and we very much hope that we can all seek a compromise to protect the interests of the AFC Asian Cup 2007 and the development of Asian football.

“We have made the request, and we shall await the response,” he said as quoted by the AFC's website.

FC Barcelona targets Japan for revenue expansion

Spanish La Liga club Barcelona will receive €2 million for each match on its East Asian tour this Northern summer plus a share of gate receipts and are desperate to make further inroads into what is now considered as a primary revenue market outside Spain, according to the finance boss of the Primera Division club Ferran Soriano.

"Barca" are huge in Japan and sell more shirts there than any other country so the Asian nation is rapidly becoming the board’s main focus in terms of financial development. Soriano explained to Soccer Investor (23 May) that there are 3,000 Barca club members inJapan - 859 of whom subscribed during a recent two-week window made available to do so in Japanese onthe club website - and he wants more.

“There is money in Japan and it’s a market that likes football,” he said. “In South America there are lots of fans but no money and what there is of a market is already taken up by Argentine sides such as Boca Juniors and River Plate. In the USA there is money but no fan base but in Japan there is money and no other club comes close to us in terms of popularity.”

Soriano explained that Barca are determined to build their brand internationally rather than locally. "A kid from Santander or Newcastle will buy his team’s shirt but what interests us is that the kid in Singapore or Toronto buys the Barca shirt." The thinking goes along with Barca’s ethos that they are “more than a club” - endorsed in agreements like their recently agreed one with children’s charity UNICEF.

Melbourne Victory gets use of new state stadium

Australian A-League 2006-97 premier and champion club Melbourne Victory has agreed to be a part-time anchor tenant of its home city's latest super sports stadium. The A$268 million rectangular soccer, rugby league and rugby union stadium in the Victorian state capital's 1956 Olympic Park precinct will be shared by Melbourne Victory and National Rugby League club Melbourne Storm and will also be used as a training facility by AFL club Melbourne FC. Building will start later this year and should be finished by late 2009.

Melbourne Victory and Football Federation Australia had pushed for the venue to be upgraded to 50,000 capacity from the original plan of 20,000 seats. A compromise reached with the Victorian state government means that the stadium will be configured for 31,000 seats and Melbourne Victory will be able to transfer at least five of its regular season games to the nearby 60,000-seat Telstra Dome to meet spectator demand.

Malaysia goes down to second Australian club side

Two-years old Australian A-League club Central Coast Mariners defeated AFC Asian Cup 2007 co-host Malaysia 3-0 in a friendly watched by 2,000 spectators at Pluim Park, north of Sydney. While this was the Mariners’ first game since returning to full pre-season training last Tuesday, the touring Malaysian line up boasted a gallery of players set to feature in July at Asia’s showpiece quadrennial event. Two-years old Sydney FC earlier defeated the Malaysians 2-0 at Edensor Park in Sydney’s west.

See also: Aussie Central Coast meets Malaysia before HK 7s (17 May)

UAE First Div clubs permitted more foreign players

The UAE Football Association Tournaments Committee has given the green signal to its First Division clubs to sign three foreign players for the 2007-2008 season. Two foreign players will be allowed for Second Division clubs. According to Sayed Ali of Gulf News, the increase of foreign players to three from two is "a victory for the Abu Dhabi clubs, who have been seeking to add a third foreigner for a long time now." Although the FA was concerned about the financial strain of employing more foreign players, it also considered it will be required to permit five foreign players per club when the professional league is introduced in two years time.

Vietnamese police release five football officials

Vietnamese police have released five football officials who had been detained on suspicion of involvement in match-fixing. Nguyen Thanh Vinh, former coach of V-League club Song Lam Nghe An; Tran Manh Cuong, the club’s assistant coach; and three referees Nguyen Quang Huy, Nguyen Tien Dung, and Pham Cong Duc had been arrested along with nine others last year on allegations of bribing referees to the tune of VND130 million (US$8,125) in 2004 to help First Division club East Asia Bank–Pomina Steel get promoted to the topflight V-League.

While the other nine, seven referees, a former coach, and the director of a provincial sports department, will appear in court next July, Nguyen Thanh Vinh has already been convicted in another bribery case. In 2000-01, when he was with V-League club Song Lam Nghe An, he bribed a referee VND100 million ($6,250) so that his club could win the title. According to Thanh Nien, Prosecutors have recommended 13-20 years in jail for the 61-year-old coach.

Stars and cheap seats for Barca China Tour 2007

Former FIFA World Player of the Year Ronaldinho, star striker Samuel Eto'o and teenage sensation Lionel Messi will lead Spain's Barcelona club against Chinese Super League club Beijing Guo'an on 5 August. The friendly, played after the conclusion of the Asian Football Confederation's prestigious Asian Cup 2007, is an important feature of the 2007 Spanish Culture Year in China and the one-year countdown celebrations to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The Audi Barca China Tour will also include games in Japan and Macau.

"The club has promised to send their strongest team to China," Liu Hongwei, one of the tour promoters, told China Daily. "The club also promised that even if one of their superstars is sold, they will buy a new icon to join the tour. The deal has been made between the two sides and the club will have to take responsibility if the top players are not included in the tour."

Barcelona has been gaining in popularity in China but its previous trip was a calamity. They took on Shanghai United the day after the 2004 Asian Cup final, which China lost to Japan and very few fans turned up to watch. "In 2004, Barcelona's visit to Shanghai was a total flop and the club felt it damaged their image," Liu said. "So they want to repair it with a first-class squad and performance."

Organisers will put in an extra 6,000 seats to take the capacity up to 35,000. Liu added the limited number of seats will not lead to an increase in price. "We will keep the price at a lower level than Real Madrid's tour to Beijing two years ago. It is important to protect the sport's market so we will not increase the price and undermine the fans."

See also: Barcelona to support grassroots programs in China (18 May)

Malaysian Govt not party to suing FIFA says Said

The Malaysian Government is not involved in a civil suit filed by Gifted Group and G-14 against the world football body FIFA for withdrawing its endorsement for the Champions Youth Cup tournament in Kuala Lumpur scheduled for 5 to 17 August, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said has announced. She said her ministry was not planning to take any action against FIFA for reversing its decision after having endorsed the tournament and was waiting for the outcome of the FIFA Executive Committee meeting on 1 June.

Last Wednesday, the secretive London-based Gifted Group, the promoter of the tournament, and G-14 filed a suit against FIFA in Brussels for reversing its decision. FIFA withdrew its approval for the tournament on 30 April after endorsing it in March on the grounds that it involved G-14, a European club-based football organisation it does not recognise.

China FA gives coach Zhu an Asian Cup ultimatum

China's national football coach has been given an ultimatum to lead the squad to the final four of July's AFC Asian Cup 2007 and avoid the errors that led to a recent defeat to Thailand. Embattled coach Zhu Guanghu, ordered to Beijing for two days of talks with top officials following last week's humiliating 1-0 loss in Bangkok, was told, "get to the last four or else," he told Titan Sports weekly. He said he was told by China's Football Association chief Xie Yalong to do whatever was necessary in terms of reshuffling the side or changing tactics in order to improve the team's chances at the Asian Cup.

Zhu argued that the team which played against Thailand was basically a second-string side deprived of many of its European-based players and with only two or three members who would make it to the Asian Cup team. However he took the blame for tactical errors in Bangkok and for failing to take into consideration the sapping effect of the Bangkok heat on his players. "I never though the heat would have such a killing effect on the players," he said. "If we had tried to control the ball and keep possession and save our energy ... we may have had a better result."

UEFA website now available in Chinese Mandarin

The Union of European Football Associations has launched a Chinese-language version of uefa.com. The website is produced by UEFA Media Technologies in partnership with Sina.com, the biggest portal on the Chinese market. UEFA claims the move brings top European football closer to Chinese football fans not only in China, but also around the globe, and addresses the growing demand and popularity of football in Asia. Together with English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese and Korean languages, Chinese Mandarin is the tenth language available on to European service and reports on key UEFA competitions such as the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup and UEFA EURO 2008, as well as exclusive pay-per-view video highlights.

“This is a major step forward in our efforts to bring the passion of European football to the football fans around the world. With SINA, we have found a partner that can help us bring our vision of the world’s biggest game to the world’s biggest audience," Alexandre Fourtoy, CEO of UEFA Media Technologies SA, said. The site can be accessed at cn.uefa.com

Indian Professional League to launch on 30 Sep

Ten teams will participate in the first Indian professional football league when it kicks off on 30 September through to the last week of February 2008. Although two sides will face relegation at the end of the first season, the number of clubs in the league will increase by two in 2008-09 and two more in the 2009-10 season. Details are still pending as the All India Football Federation organises another round of discussions with the participating clubs regarding implementation of the various criteria decided for the league. "An AIFF delegation will visit the states concerned for this purpose, the AIFF executive committee decided in its meeting which approved the format and road-map for launching the professional league in India," Zee News clarified.

The AIFF executive committee also endorsed a national team development program presented by national coach Bob Houghton and is considering keeping a group of forty U-16 to U-23 players together for two or three years to provide them better training and exposure. The federation has done away with the zonal competitions and has decided to have age group national tournaments at multiple venues within a state. If this is not possible, the federation may consider proposals for co-hosting of tournaments in two neighbouring states.

Bolton concerned AFC could delay 'Peace Cup'

Participants in the privately-run Peace Cup held in the off-season in South Korea have now expressed concern about the tournament's clash with the Asian Football Confederation's prestigious Asian Cup 2007 being played in Hanoi, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok between 7-29 July. The South Korean national side is regarded as a hot favourite to win its way through to the Asian Cup Final.

According to Gordon Sharrock in This Is Lancashire, English Premier league club Bolton Wanderers' plans to play in the Peace Cup, alongside Reading FC, between 12 and 21 July could hinge on the diplomatic skills of Premier League chairman, Sir Dave Richards who will soon visit the Asian Football Confederation headquarters in Malaysia.

The AFC has complained to the world football body, FIFA, whose President, Sepp Blatter, "has advised that no tournaments or tours should take place in the Far East while the Asia Cup is being staged - a stance that would affect Liverpool, Fulham and Portsmouth, who have signed up for the Premier League's Asia Tour in Hong Kong, Reading, who have applied to enter the Peace Cup along with Wanderers, and Manchester United, who have arranged a lucrative tour."

French Champions Trophy may be played in China

French Ligue 1 champions Olympique Lyonnais and Cup winners FC Sochaux will play off in the traditional new season's Champions Trophy, but this year the game may be played in Tianjin, China, on 24 July. The reason is that both clubs are in Asia during the off-season, Sochaux in China for a training camp and Olympique Lyonnais in South Korea to take part in the invitational Peace Cup in Seoul from 12-21 July.

The promotional concept is for the game to be played in the 60,000-capacity Tianjin stadium (120km of Beijing) at 09.00 PM local time (03.00 PM in France) and broadcast live in both countries to an estimated record audience of around 250 million viewers. Both the French and Chinese FAs have reportedly given their approval to the proposed game and the clubs are waiting for the agreement of the LFP, its marketing department and France Television.

Brazil's top clubs offer football alliance with India

When India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva sit down together in New Delhi next month to advance the strategic dialogue between the two countries, their backroom boys will be working on an agenda that will uplift Indo-Brazilian ties into an enduring people-to-people partnership. Accompanying President Lula to India, although on a separate itinerary, will be a six-member national football delegation from Brazil, the only five-time champions in the FIFA World Cup. Led by Fabio Andre Koff, President of Clube dos 13, an umbrella organisation of Brazil’s top 20 football clubs, the delegation hopes to start discussions with the All India Football Federation to sign a bilateral cooperation agreement to enhance the standing of Indian football.

Koff told KP Nayar of The Telegraph that an eight-point agenda to be discussed with AIFF leaders will allow Indian football players to train at Brazilian professional football clubs and, “depending on the time of the year, could participate in official games of their teams at the Brazilian National Football Championship.” The agreement will provide for Indian coaches and assistant coaches to spend time with Brazilian professional football teams “in order to have a hands-on apprentice(ship) on the football techniques” in Brazil and to improve their coaching capabilities. In addition, football clinics will be held in India where Clube dos 13 experts will share their “expertise in coaching, refereeing, nutrition, sports science and club management”.

The proposed agreement has provisions for 10-12-year-old young Indians identified with football potential to go on learning trips to Brazil as part of a long-term plan to nurture the game in India. There are also plans for Brazilian clubs to participate in friendly football tournaments in India.

Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s ambassador in Brasilia, said the Brazilians were looking at the possibility of getting Indian corporate entities to sponsor Brazilian teams or tournaments to enhance bilateral awareness of each other. He said Koff and his delegation was expected to meet AIFF President Priya Ranjan Das Munshi and vice-president Praful Patel in New Delhi on 4 June. Joao Gilberto Vaz, Clube dos 13’s representative for the Asian Pacific region, said a parallel side to the proposed football cooperation with India consisted of plans to telecast Brazilian football matches in India.

Indian club probes corruption after huge loss

Leading Indian football club Mohammadan Sporting has launched an internal investigation after suffering a 9-0 flogging in the National League on Saturday by Mahindra United. “It’s a complete sabotage by the players and we aren’t even ruling out possibilities of match-fixing,” club General Secretary Sultan Ahmed told the Times of India newspaper yesterday. He said a three-member committee would investigate the issue.

Qatar hiring 10,000 Viet mercenaries for Asian Cup

Qatari sports authorities are seeking to ‘hire’ some 10,000 Vietnamese to support their national football team during the AFC Asian Cup 2007 to be co-hosted by Vietnam in July. They reportedly made the request to authorities managing the Seventh Military Zone Stadium, which will host Qatar’s matches, while on a visit to survey the facilities there. The army unit told them to contact local students associations.

Payment and other conditions were not divulged though the Qatari delegation has placed orders for making uniforms for what Vietnamese youth and sports newspaper Thanh Nien described as "the mercenaries".

Qatar is scheduled to play Japan, the host Vietnam, and the United Arab Emirates in Group B, respectively on 7, 12 and 16 July.

Building Asian Brands: AFC Champions League

With a place in the quarter-finals of the AFC Champions League at stake, Urawa Reds, second in Japan's J-League, are warm favourites to progress, needing only a draw at home at the expense of Australian A-League club Sydney FC on Wednesday night.

A capacity 65,000 crowd at the Red's Saitama Stadium is possible. By the end of last week, almost 50,000 tickets had been sold.

According to one official, the demand is higher than for recent visits by Bayern Munich, Manchester United and Real Madrid.

Brazilian Jorvan Vieira to coach Iraq to Asian Cup

The Iraq Football Association has appointed Brazilian Jorvan Vieira to coach the country's national team. Vieira replaces Akram Salman, who was sacked last month after Iraq's early exit from the Arabian Gulf Cup in the United Arab Emirates in January, the football association's president, Hussein Saeed, told Associated Press. He said Vieira was hand picked from a shortlist, after 40 candidates applied for the job. Saeed would not disclose any details on the terms and amount of the contract, which will see Vieira lead the Iraqi team in July in Bangkok, where it takes on co-host Thailand, Oman and Asian newcomer Australia in Group A in the AFC Asian Cup 2007.

LGE sponsors friendly between Jordan and Iraq

At a Jordan Football Association press conference, LG Electronics announced its sponsorship of a friendly football match bringing together the Jordanian and Iraqi national football teams and the retirement campaign of Captain Mohannad Mahadeen, captain of both the Jordan national team and the Al Faisali football club. The conference was held in the presence of HE Nidal Al Hadeed Deputy Chairman of the Jordan Football Association, Mohammad Al Joueiber Secretary General of Al Faisali FC, Kevin Cha General Manager of the LGE Jordan and Iraqi Offices, Ghazi Farouq Assistant Managing Director for Marketing at the Middle East Complex, an agent for LGE products in Jordan and Captain Mahadeen.

The retirement of Captain Mahadeen will take place during the friendly between Jordan and Iraq on Friday 8 June at the Amman International Stadium. During the match’s half-time LGE will hold a raffle draw for all ticket holders thereby granting them all an opportunity to win prizes including an LCD 32 inch monitor from LGE, LGE washing machines, a 29 inch TV from LGE, an LGE 21 inch Flatron TV, an LGE 1 ton AC, LGE Audio players, and more. In an aim to further strengthen the ties held between himself and his fans, Captain Mahadeen will also be present at Mecca Mall on 24 and 25 May to sign posters.

“We are fully aware of the hardships that Iraq has been going through, and it is our role as an international entity that prides itself with its ability to fully integrate with the local communities it operates within to support Jordan and Iraq’s national football teams, we also would like to extend our best wishes to our national team in their participation in the West Asian Football Championship. We will continue to support national initiatives and we are proud to have amongst us Captain Mahadeen, an individual who is the embodiment of success and persistence,” Mr Farouq told media.

Indonesia to welcome Valencia after Asian Cup

Spanish club Valencia may play a friendly in Indonesia after the AFC Asian Cup 2007 following the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI)'s determination that its hosting contract with the Asian Football Confederation meant it is not allowed arrange any friendly match during the Asian Cup and three days after it.

Valencia's promoters, Daffa Creative House supported by Lighthouse, first suggested 30 April, the day after the Asian Cup Final is played at Jakarta's Bung Karno national stadium. “It is impossible arrange in July 30, it’s only one day after the final match. We still have lot to do after it,” said Nugraha Besoes, PSSI Secretary General. “Valencia is a big team, it’s a great opportunity to welcome them here,” he added.

India to launch 'Soccer Star' reality television show

Buoyed by the success of reality program, Cricket Star, launched last October in India on Doordarshan National, Zee Sports and Zee TV, London-based Emerging Media is set to follow with Soccer Star in June/July. “The company has already entered into a partnership with Liverpool Football Club, which will offer its specialised training to the winner of the show. Many LFC stars and coaches will participate in the testing process and anchor the show,” said Manoj Badale, Chairman of Emerging Media. “The program expansion is part of the company’s plan to expand its suite of programs to eight in the next two years. We have a Rs 250 crore outlay for this purpose,” Badale told the Hindustan Times.

Indian PM says 'unleash national sports movement'

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called on his country's sports administrators to "unleash" a new nationwide "wave of sports consciousness and development" involving the young. He also said that sports and games should be made compulsory in schools and colleges. "I do believe we need a new social compact involving all stakeholders to launch a nationwide movement of youth in sports," he said after opening the newly built Olympic Bhavan of the Indian Olympic Association in New Delhi.

"I am sure that given the right opportunity, our youth will show impressive results. I suggest that we should seriously think of making sports and games a compulsory part of the educational syllabus in our schools and colleges, he said as quoted by the Hindustan Times. "Countries that stand out in the world of sports are the ones that have in fact made them an integral part of their educational curricula. By doing this we will not only promote the cause of the Olympic Movement in India but also enable our youth to remain healthy and physically fit."

Beckenbaur, Beckham, Platini 'to tour' rural India

For 45 minutes, India's President A P J Kalam kept Sepp Blatter, President of the world football body FIFA transfixed as he quoted profusely from a book by French football star Michel Platini and talked of his "own dream" of popularising the sport in India's 600,000 villages. "I have a dream and the dream is to make football popular in the villages of India so that more and more young people play it. For this I want top football stars to visit the villages and meet the children," Kalam told Blatter when the latter called on him last month during his India visit.

Impressed by what Kalam said, Blatter said FIFA plans to send three famous footballers to India next year, Franz Beckenbaur, Beckham and Platini, who will tour rural areas interacting with children, a senior official of All India Football Federation told the Hindustan Times.

Thaksin firming on Manchester City takeover offer

Thaksin Shinawatra will make a formal bid for Manchester City in the next few days' as the exiled former Thailand Prime Minister seeks to become the eighth foreign - and first Asian - owner of an English Premier League club. Thaksin and former City player Ray Ranson are vying for control of the northern England team that last won a trophy 31 years ago. Ranson submitted a revised takeover proposal in April after City's board dismissed his initial plan.

Investors are tapping into the worldwide appeal of the richest soccer league, which is set to share record broadcasting revenue of US5.3 billion over the next three years. Thaksin will bid 100 million pounds, Thailand's Nation newspaper reported however, Noppadol Pattama, his lawyer, declined to discuss terms. "The formal bid will be made in the next few days and we hope to get a decision by the end of the month," he told Grant Clark of Bloomberg from London.

Thaksin ,has been based in London since a Thai military coup overthrew him on 19 September but he will still seek Thailand central bank approval to withdraw the money to purchase City, the Nation reported. Noppadol said Thaksin will be able to access his accounts in Thailand. "There's no problems with the funds,'' Noppadol added. "We'll be able to comply with Thai and English law.''

Sony joins sponsors of Australia and Socceroos

Sony has become an official supplier of Football Federation Australia and its national teams. Bringing a local angle to Sony Corporation’s existing global relationship with football’s world body, FIFA, Sony’s partnership with the FFA will give the company access to the Socceroo players, games, branding and merchandise through to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. In addition, Sony has also struck a relationship with star player Tim Cahill who will feature in upcoming Sony Australia promotional activity.

“The FFA is delighted to add another global company to its prestigious list of partners and suppliers,” FFA CEO Ben Buckley, said. “Sony has a tremendous partnership with football worldwide and we look forward to working with Sony on programs to develop football in Australia. With the Qantas Socceroos in action against Uruguay on 2 June in Sydney and the AFC Asian Cup just around the corner, it continues to be a very exciting time for football in Australia.”

Carl Rose, Sony Australia’s Managing Director, said: “With the popularity of football in Australia going from strength to strength following the excellent performance of the Socceroos at the World Cup 2006, we’re proud to become an official football partner here in Australia. We have great respect and admiration for the energy, enthusiasm and dedication to the sport in Australia shown by the FFA and all the Socceroos players. We look forward to working with the FFA to drive forward football in Australia and exciting our Sony customers along the way. Partnering with Tim Cahill, already a Socceroo legend, is very exciting for us. We’re developing programs with Tim that will help motivate and inspire young footballers in Australia.”

AFC finally announces President's Cup postponed

The Asian Football Confederation today confirmed the postponement of the 2007 AFC President’s Cup, the continent's third-level club competition, which was scheduled to be held in Lahore, Pakistan, from 17-27 May. The league champions of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Nepal, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Taiwan and Bhutan take part in this competition.

The AFC stated the delay was "due to the failure of some teams and officials in obtaining Pakistani visas on time" and said "new dates and venue" will "be announced at a later date."

See also: 2007 AFC President's Cup in Pakistan postponed? (14 May)

Electronic Arts licenses FIFA Online into China

Electronic Arts has made official a US$167 million investment in one of China’s leading online game operators, The9. The two companies also announced a license agreement that gives The9 exclusive rights to publish EA’s FIFA Online throughout mainland China. With FIFA Online currently enjoying 4.4 million subscribers throughout South Korea, the agreement is intended to further increase EA’s penetration of the online gaming market in Asia.

"EA will be a strong partner for us in the rapidly expanding online game market in China," Jun Zhu, Chairman of The9 told media. "We are seeing strong interest in online sports games in China with the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympics and the FIFA World Cup in 2010, and FIFA Online is set to be a top favorite in the Chinese market."

According to Hubert Larenaudie, President, EA Asia Online, the agreement is a "significant step" in EA’s approach of building the online gaming market throughout Asia. "The9’s proven expertise will be a tremendous advantage in bringing FIFA Online to a growing market and we look forward to partnering with them to bring the best online football gaming experience to millions of Chinese gamers and football fans," Larenaudie said.

Vietnam funds new Laos national sports centre

The Vietnamese Government has granted neighbouring Laos US$4 million to build its first-ever national sports training centre. The project, some 15 km north of the capital city Vientiane, is being built on an area of almost 12,000 square metres, with construction finishing next year. The complex is complete with offices, motels for athletes, sports courts, football stadium, a multi-purpose gymnasium, as well as other sports facilities that could well meet standards in organizing international sports events.

At the ground-breaking ceremony, Somsawat Lengsavad, Dputy Prime Minister of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, said the centre will play an essential role in training elite athletes for domestic and international competition, Than Nien newspaper reported.

South Asian Championship confirmed for 10-22 Dec

The 2007 South Asian Football Federation Championship has been confirmed for 10-22 December in the National Stadium in Male in The Maldives and the Sugathadha Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka. A meeting of the South Asian Football Federation held in New Delhi agreed to the timing and venues and decided the opening ceremony will be held in Male and the closing ceremony, along with the tournament final, in Colombo.

This year's tournament will include India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Maldives, Bhutan and Afghanistan. Of the six editions played so far, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are the only three nations to have won the biannual championship.

Scording to Xinhua, the Football Association of Maldives is hoping to swap the opening ceremony for the closing. "Right now it's agreed to have the opening ceremony in Male. But we want the closing ceremony to be held in Male instead of opening ceremony," FAM Vice President Abdul Hameed Abdul Ghafoor said. "So we have decided to have a further discussion to finalize it."

Figos and Milo sponsor Malaysian U-12 events

Malaysia's Figos U-12 football league was held for three consecutive weekends at the Rubber Research Institute ground in Sungai Buloh recently. The league, with the tagline “Style with Figos & Grow with Milo”, culminated with a knockout competition involving all nine teams, Gen Pro, Youth Football Academy A (YFA-A), Ferrari Junior KL, Malaysian Indian Football Association (Mifa), Youth Football Academy B, Jerung Pintar Football Club, Kajang Soccer Academy, Negri Sembilan Indian FA and Lembaga Getah Malaysia. Gen Pro beat Mifa at the cup's sudden death stage and received products worth RM2,000 (Mifa received products worth RM1,000). The league title went to YFA-A which received RM2,000 and products worth RM2,000, (runners-up Gen Pro, RM1,000 and products worth RM1,000 and Mifa, RM750 and products worth RM750).

AFC to Malaysia: Honour Asian Cup agreement

Asian Football Confederation President Mohamed Bin Hammam said he is trying to meet Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to discuss English Premier League club Manchester United's planned visit to Kuala Lumpur during the Asian Cup after Football Association of Malaysia officials backtracked on a decision to scrap the 27 July match. "The crux of the matter is about honouring an agreement. If there happens to be a breach of agreement, it has wide-ranging legal repercussions," he said as quoted by AFP. "We do not think it is too much to ask for the continent and people of Asia to be exposed to our tournament just for one month. It will be our pleasure if Malaysia were to host the United match in early August.'

Malaysia, one of four Asian Cup co-hosts, last year signed an agreement not to promote other matches 10 days before the 7-29 July Asian Cup and three days afterwards. He said there was "room for compromise" and insisted he had never wanted the match axed altogether. "The AFC had never called for the United game to be called off. We only want them to reschedule their match,'" he added. "This issue is not about AFC against United or Asia versus Europe. All we ask is for the various parties to give us the breathing space to ensure that the Asian Cup becomes a resounding success."

Worldwide Sports Peace Initiative Based in Monaco

Taking advantage of the opportunity of the Olympic Truce International Forum taking place in Olympi, Greece from 18-21 May, Joel Bouzou has announced the establishment of Peace and Sport (Organisation pour la Paix et le Sport), a worldwide initiative based in Monaco under the High Patronage of his Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco. As an International Olympic Committee member and a recognized sportsman competing in five Olympiads, Prince Albert has constantly promoted the fundamental values of culture and peace conveyed through sport.

"Even more than an education, Sport is mixing people for a better understanding and thus contributes to a better World. Sport is finally just more than sport, Sport can contribute to Peace. This is why, as some others, we have made our own contribution from Monaco," Prince Albert declared this April in Beijing during the Assembly of the General Association of the International Sport Federations.

Supported by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the United Nations, Peace and Sport intends to lead actions all around the world in favor of "sustainable peace, on the basis of its values, namely independence, neutrality and perseverance," explained Mr Bouzou, the founding President of the organisation, former Olympic medalist, modern pentathlon world champion, General Secretary of the UIPM and Executive Board Member of the World Olympians Association.

Peace and Sport will use its natural relationships with governments, sport governance, and key companies to fund concrete local projects on specific post conflict zones. Peace and Sport will also involve role model Olympians to touch and attract the youth from these zones to sport and show them that sport is more than just a game, that it can bring people together in peace and harmony.

President Bouzou has built Peace and Sport based on his experience of Together through Sport, a French initiative that he created in 1991 and developed with the World Olympians Association and the International Olympic Committee from 1996 to 2006. "Through this experience we demonstrated that conceptualised action can bridge the gap between two worlds which very often, deliberately or otherwise, have tended to ignore each other and can help work towards better social cohesion," he said.

Peace and Sport partners include Crans Montana Forum, an international organisation which daily collaborates with governments of the whole world and has assisted them to progress on the paths of international cooperation for the last 20 years; and World Olympians Association, which will assist Peace and Sport" for its local projects by involving the Olympians to be used as role models in order to attract the kids with the programmes.

Peace and Sport will organize a yearly International Forum, with the first edition to be held in Monaco from 28-30 of November 2007. This Forum is expected to assemble major partners, Heads of State and government, international sport federations, international, national and regional organizations and private Companies having sport as their field of activity.

Premier League and Man Utd CEOs to meet AFC

Two of English football's top powerbrokers are flying to Malaysia this week in a bid to negotiate a "peace treaty" over English clubs scheduling commercial friendlies in Asia during the running of the Asian Football Confederation's prestigious Asian Cup in July. English Premier League chairman Sir Dave Richards and Manchester United FC chief executive David Gill have a summit in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday with Mohamed Bin Hamman, the AFC's forward-thinking President who has just commenced his second term of office.

According to London's Daily Mail, "Hamman is putting heavy pressure on individual countries to prevent foreign touring teams playing matches from July 7-28 while the Asian Cup is being staged. This demand, subsequently backed by FIFA overlord Sepp Blatter but ignored by the tour organisers, affects United, Liverpool, Portsmouth, Fulham, Bolton and Reading, who have all signed lucrative contracts to play in Asia during the summer. The Premier League have their Asia Tournament in Hong Kong, featuring Liverpool, Portsmouth and Fulham, while Bolton and Reading are in Korea and United are visiting Japan, Macau, Korea and Malaysia."

This is first time UK media have linked the Premier League's Asian Trophy tournament being played this August in Hong Kong with the AFC's dispute with Manchester United's private game in Kuala Lumpur. In both cases the AFC is showing its extreme displeasure that its efforts to raise publicawareness and involvement in top-line Asian competitions are being undermined by Europeans but the Manchester United-Malaysia imbroglio also involves allegations of breach of contract and inducements to breach contract.

Perhaps referring to FIFA's concern about the G-14-origins of the "Champions Youth Cup" scheduled to be played in Malaysia in August, the Daily Mail continued: "Blatter's involvement has raised the stakes in the simmering club v country issue, with the FIFA chief doing all he can to stop the relentless rise in club football, which threatens to destroy the traditional FIFA confederation-national association chain of command. Richards and Gill form an unlikely double act given the current bad feeling between the Premier League and champions United."

See also: Malaysian FA backs Govt support for Man United (14 May) and Barclays Asian Trophy clash with AFC Asian Cup (10 May)

Malaysians pioneer sports tourism to England

The Malaysia Airlines - English Premier League tourist package launched last December is set for a revamp in the next football season. With the package to be called Football by Design, MAS together with its partner at home, Holiday Tours Sdn Bhd, and its British partners, AKA Event Travel and Services and Visit Britain, want to bring the first of its kind Premier League package to the Asian region. MAS communications division advertising & promotions executive Khairul Syahar Khalid said the new package promises to be far more flexible and offers more choices.

Promoting the new package, a group of Asian journalists were treated to a special flight to England to watch a match between Manchester United and Arsenal at the latter club's new Emirates football stadium at Highbury, London. They were introduced to the stadium with lunch in the Matchday Experience club which caters for 700 people. "It was two hours before the match and we were then introduced to our personal waiter who made sure we always had food on our table and our cups full of any beverage we desired ... while we enjoyed the delicious set-menu of gourmet food that included a chunky Jack-Daniels steak, salad, bread with various cheeses and dessert, the fact that there was going to be a football match soon seemed almost secondary,a" recalled Royce Cheah in The Star (Malaysia).

AKA Event Travel and Services Managing Director Alan Kotz hospitality packages at the Emirates stadium came at a price of £250-£350 per head, depending on the match category (top-flight matches are more expensive). "On occasions, the MAS package may incorporate a hospitality package, depending on the availability of tickets. As is the case with the other top teams and their stadiums, match day experiences are of similar quality and standard. Watching a football game is not just about the match anymore, it is about having a great all-round experience. From the personal and efficient service we get, right up to the quality and standard of food – it is painstakingly put together to ensure that fans get the best possible experience on a match-day,” he explained.

A package need not be exclusively for those who want to head to Britain just to watch a match. It can be tailored for corporate clients or those who are on business trips here and need some entertainment at night or during the weekend. A ballpark figure for the revamped Football by Design package is around RM4,000 and upwards, which includes flight and match tickets, accommodation (two nights with breakfast) and transfers.

Dehli organises football camp for school boys/girls

A 40-day football coaching camp for Indian school boys and girls in the age group of eight and 16 years is to be conducted by the Delhi Soccer Association at the Ambedkar stadium from today. The camp is part of the strategic development plan under the Asian Football Confederation's Vision India-Delhi Pilot Project, a DSA release said. Coaches include O P Malhotra, B S Chauhan, Joginder Singh, Rohit Prashar, Melyen D'Souza, Tarun Roy, Anadi Barua, Nirmal Singh and Harish Kuma.

Thailand govt quiet on Thaksin's move on Man City

Thailand's military-installed Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said he is unworried about the English Premier League moves by ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra because "serious legal cases against him are about to be brought to trial." He said he was unperturbed by local media reports that Thaksin had already inked a deal to buy Manchester City, following negotiations with the football club's manager. "I think that Thaksin is worried about the court cases against his family which are about to start now," Surayud said, as quoted by Xinhua.

The Bank of Thailand said on Wednesday that it had not yet been asked by the ex-PM to transfer 6 billion Baht (about USA$171 million) in cash in his accounts from Thailand to buy Manchester City.

FA Malaysia confident Govt has all Man Utd facts

The Football Association of Malaysia does not plan to have a meeting with the Malaysian Government to further explain the controversy about Manchester United's visit to Malaysia scheduled for 27 July. Its vice president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah said that the FAM believed the government leadership was fully aware when stating support for the English Premier League champions visit to the country. He said that FAM had also sent letters to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to explain its position on the matter.

"We can only wait and see. If the visit materialises, well and good," he said as reported by state newsagency Bernama.

Malaysian Govt 'guaranteed' FAM Asian Cup deal

Asian Football Confederation President Mohamed Bin Hammam has reiterated that football's continental authority had done no wrong in witholding support for English Premier League club Manchester United’s tour of Asia during the 7-29 July Asian Cup Finals and was but enforcing the contract signed by the Football Association of Malaysia when it had requested be an Asian Cup co-host in 2005.

“We are sorry the issue had been twisted up ... we did not ask to cancel the tour. We simply wanted it to be re-scheduled. We have all the relevant documents of the agreement and there should not be any misunderstandings,” said Hammam. He said according to the agreement the MU game could be held either 10 days before or three days after the completion of the Asian Cup Finals.

The tour promoters appointed by Manchester United, ProEvents, had planned to kick off the tour against J-League champions Urawa Red Diamonds on 17 July in Saitama followed by matches against FC Seoul (20 July), Shenzhen FC in Macau (23 July and a Malaysian XI in Kuala Lumpur (27 July). The match in KL is two days before the Asian Cup final in Jakarta.

“We are always looking to seek an amicable solution to this problem ... not look for conflicts,” said Hammam while distributing copies of the Malaysian Government's guarantee letter issued by the Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Azalina Othman Said, which clearly spelled out their obligations to the AFC Asian Cup 2007, The Star's Eric Samuel reported.

Hammam also issued a copy of his letter addressed to English FA Premier League Chairman Sir Dave Richards in September last year on the dates for the Asian Cup Finals which would be hosted by Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand. He had sought their understanding to avoid United's summer tour from clashing with their flagship tournament in the region.

National Indian football trophy returns to Kashmir

A major Indian football tournament is returning to the state of Kashmir after nearly three decades amid a decline in insurgency-related violence, Football Association officials told AFP. The Santosh Trophy, a popular national event, will be held in summer capital Srinagar, the urban hub of Kashmir’s Islamist insurgency. The tournament was last held in the scenic Himalayan state in 1978, almost a decade before rebels launched a deadly separatist revolt, often from neighbouring Pakistan territory.

The number of insurgency-related deaths has dropped from ten a day in 2001 to two in 2007, due to a peace process in place between India and Pakistan since 2004. Both countries hold sections of the state but each claim it in full. They have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.

“Allah willing, the competition for Santosh Trophy will be held in Kashmir in July,” said Zamir Ahmad, head of Kashmir’s state Football Association. Indian national officials visiting the region to oversee preparations for the event said the competition would help the game in Kashmir. “Football is the main game here. I am sure if such a mega event is held here, people would get more involved in football,” said Subrotto Dutta, vice-president of the All India Football Association. “In the near future, I see a very rosy picture for football in Kashmir. We would do all that is needed to rejuvenate the game in Kashmir.”

Kashmiri footballers said they were looking forward to the event. “It will revive old memories and football in Kashmir,” said former captain Majeed Kakroo, one of many Kashmiris who played for India.

Man Utd match in KL faces "legal repercussions"

Asian Football Confederation President Mohamed Bin Hammam has warned of "wide-ranging legal repercussions" if English Premnier League club Manchester United goes ahead with its proposed tour match in Malaysia during the Asian Cup in July. "The crux of the matter is about honouring an agreement," bin Hammam said in an open letter printed by the Malay Mail. "If there happens to be a breach of agreement, it has wide-ranging legal repercussions. We do not think it is too much to ask for the continent and people of Asia to be exposed to our tournament just for one month," he added. "It will be our pleasure if Malaysia were to host the United match in early August."

Malaysia, which will jointly host the Asian Cup with Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, signed an agreement last year not to promote any other matches 10 days before the July 7 to 29 Asian Cup tournament and three days afterwards, Aljazeera confirmed. "There is room for compromise," the AFC chief said. "We have sought an audience with the prime minister ... We owe it to him to explain our side of the story."

South Korea's LG sponsors England's Fulham FC

LG Electronics, the South Korean-based global consumer electronics and mobile communications company, has announced it has agreed a three-year main team and shirt sponsorship with English Premier League club Fulham. The deal is the most significant sponsorship agreement in the club’s history. The future 20007/08 season Club kit sporting LG’s ‘smiling face’ logo will be launched over the summer. LG will obtain significant brand profile at the ground, with LG flat panel TVs to be seen throughout Craven Cottage stadium and LG enjoying major presence on the new LED perimeter boards around the pitch. LG will also gain a higher sales positioning profile at London department store Harrod’s owned by Mohamed Al Fayed, the chairman of Fulham Football Club.

“LG Electronics is a market leader in the field of electronics and telecommunications and I am delighted it has committed its support to both Fulham and Harrods. Ten years ago I invested in the Club and have seen us rise from the second division to become a firm fixture in the Premiership. Our association with this great company reflects my continued ambition for the Club, and we look forward to a fantastic new season, together taking the Club to even greater heights,” Fayed said.

Fulham will be participating in the third edition of the English FA Premier League's Asian Trophy in Hong Kong in July.

See also: Has LG promised Fulham sponsorship for Lee? (10 May)

US Govt brings youth football clinics to Philippines

The USA World Cup Soccer Sports Initiative is coming to the Philippines. This program brings American football professionals overseas to hold soccer clinics for both youth and coaches. The program, created by the USA Government in partnership with the USA Soccer Federation, emphasises teamwork, respect, leadership and conflict resolution and how these athletic qualities can translate into life skills and academic achievement. The US football professionals, both players and coaches, serve as Sports Envoys for the US Department of State.

Two American football champions, Tiffany Roberts and Linda Hamilton, will offer soccer clinics for both boys and girls in Manila, Iloilo, and Bacolod in partnership with the Philippine Football Federation. They will also hold sessions for coaches in all three areas. Ms Roberts and Ms Hamilton are both award-winning players who are now coaching. They were on the US Women's National team, represented the United States in the Olympic Games, and won medals in the Women's World Cup.

US Ambassador Kristie A. Kenney will officially open the youth clinic in Iloilo and give remarks during the 2:40 pm ceremony on 21 May. Ms Marilou Rubio from the Philippine National Women's Football Team will also be present to mentor youth during the clinic. The clinics will be held at the Philippine Football Federation National Training Center, Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo on 21 May: 2:40-3:00 pm, Kickoff Ceremony; 21 May: 3:00-5:00 pm, Boys' Clinic; 22 May: 7:45-9:45 am, Girls' Clinic.

Barcelona to support grassroots programs in China

Spanish football club Barcelona is looking to gain a foothold in the Chinese market by co-operating with the Chinese Football Association. "I've noticed that a lot of European clubs are trying to link up with Chinese clubs but I can tell you frankly we are here not for money," Javier Munoa, Barcelona's International Business Director, told Zhao Rui of China Daily.

"We are here to help Chinese football, from grassroots to professional league, I know there is a lot of work to be done before selling any of our products here. We want to build our image by way of supporting Chinese football. It doesn't happen overnight as we will put our efforts in China in a very long term We want to build a strong foundation in China and that's why we are looking to work with and build co-operation with the CFA," he said.

Munoa said the club is planning to set its sights on China's grassroots football first and is likely to join Vision China, an Asian Football Confederation program that focuses on setting up competitive amateur leagues to attract sponsors and fans.

"Given our long-term cooperation with Chinese football, we need to do some work to know about the culture and people here. I hope to leave some legacy for fans rather than just some commercial matches," he said. As a part of the project, Barcelona will visit Beijing on 5 August.

Another American eyes English Premiership clubs

A fourth USA-based takeover of an English Premier League club is on the cards after wealthy businessman Will Chang reportedly announced he is considering an acquisition. Chang, owner of Major League Soccer club DC United and chairman of the California-based Westlake Group, is understood be considering two as-yet unnamed clubs. “The English Premier League is the best-managed and most powerful of all football leagues in the world today. It is the group’s intention to purchase a stake in the very near future,” he said at a conference in Beijing.

"A lot of people have said the English Premier League has been fully valued but I think there's still a lot of value. There's also value in other leagues in Europe which haven't caught up with England," he told Bloomberg. "Americans are so much more advanced in terms of how they monetize sports marketing. These guys who are very, very smart are going into Europe because they think they can develop more opportunities using those brands. We think we can do the same."

Chang said he may buy on his own, on behalf of DC United or for Westlake, while other partners may be involved. General Electric Co. said this week it may purchase at least one European team. Chang said he wasn't involved with GE.

UN mission after FA Cup final for Chelsea's Drogba

English Premier League club Chelsea striker Didier Drogba will end his season in Saturday's FA Cup final against Manchester United and embark on very different sort of work for the United Nations fighting poverty. Having helped the Ivory Coast reached their first World Cup at last year's finals, he is well aware of the sense of occasion at the first FA Cup final at the new Wembley. "It's going be a fantastic moment, a bit like the last World Cup." But he added: "It's a good moment only when you win ...You need the commitment, you need to be more than 100 percent. It's going to be a very good final."

Drogba was appointed in January as a Goodwill Ambassador for the fight against poverty by the UNDP, joining Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo. "It's to give everybody a chance to have a good life. We have this chance, we are in a better position than people in Africa or Asia. To go there and give them what they need is very important for us. To go and try to build some schools is very important because the children are the future of our world," he told Trevor Huggins of Reuters.

AFC hopes for solution to Malaysia's Man Utd row

Asian Football Confederation President Mohamed Bin Hammam has dismissed any talks of Malaysia being removed as one of the four hosts of the Asian Cup finals scheduled from 7-29 July over Malaysian Government and Football Association of Malaysia support for English Premier League club Manchester United's proposed match in Kuala Lumpur on 27 July, two days before the final of the AFC's prestigious Asian Cup.

"I am committed to seek an amicable solution to this," Hammam told Eric Samuel of The Star and other local reporters. "I don't want to talk or speculate of the consequences ... all I am saying is that I am honouring my word," he said.

Malaysia "surprised" by G-14 legal attack on FIFA

Malaysia's Sports Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said and Football Association of Malaysia General Secretary Datuk Seri Dr Ibrahim Saad both expressed surprise about the action of secretive London-based Gifted Group Limited, the promoter of the G-14-backed Champions Youth Cup, to take football's world body FIFA to court. Both said GGL should have waited for FIFA's executive committee to decide on whether to sanction the CYC when it meets in Zurich, Switzerland.

"I only came to know of their action through the media. I’m totally surprised as I was made to understand that FIFA is going to give an answer on the sanction for the CYC by Saturday," the Minister said yesterday. The Sports and Tourism ministries are the main sponsors of the CYC, having paid RM17 million for the staging rights of the CYC, which is part of Malaysia’s 50th Independence Day celebrations.

G-14 and FIFA in court battle over CYC in Malaysia

G-14 and FIFA face another day in court after the group representing 18 of Europe's most powerful football clubs joined a lawsuit taken by the promoter of a major youth tournament against the world governing body. "It was the latest action in a battle between the G-14, representing clubs such as Manchester United and Real Madrid, and FIFA over issues such as compensation for players injured on international duty," commented Darren Ennis of Reuters.

Secretive London-based Gifted Group Ltd, the organiser of the self-described Champions Youth Cup in Malaysia, together with G-14 filed a lawsuit this week in Brussels against FIFA over its failure to give the tournament its official endorsement. Both GGL and the G-14 have also lodged a complaint against FIFA with the European Commission, accusing them of abusing their dominant position, GGL chairman Jonathan Price told Reuters.

A FIFA spokesman said the organisation had received a copy of complaint. "But since this is now subject of a complaint, FIFA cannot comment for time being," he said. Price said FIFA had "done a U-turn after finding out the G-14 are involved and we are seeking an injunction to stop them interfering. After initially endorsing our competition, FIFA's perceived involvement of G-14 meant they reversed this position nearly two months later, leaving the tournament's future hanging in the balance."

G14 general manager Thomas Kurth confirmed that his organisation, whose clubs were due to send 11 teams to the 16-club tournament in August, had joined the case.

Aussie Central Coast meets Malaysia before HK 7s

Australian A-League club Central Coast Mariners will host Malaysia at Pluim Park on 22 May. The Malaysian squad is currently in Australia preparing for its first appearance at the Asian Football Confederation's prestigious Asian Cup tournament since 1980. Last night, Sydney FC defeated the touring Malaysians 2-0 at Edensor Park in Sydney’s west. Malaysia are ranked 156th by FIFA’s World Rankings, lower than any competing nation on show at July’s Asian Cup.

“We’re delighted to be welcoming the Malaysian national team to the Central Coast for what we anticipate to be an exceptional spectacle of international football right on our doorstep,” said Mariners Executive Chairman Lyall Gorman. “Such a fixture provides us with another fantastic opportunity to promote the Central Coast region to an international audience. The enormity of the Asian Cup cannot be understated and millions of Malaysian football enthusiasts will be keenly anticipating the outcome at Pluim Park, all the while recognising the Central Coast Mariners name.”

Among those set to feature for Malaysia are leading marksman and co-captain Hairuddin Omar, who is one of Malaysia’s most prolific goal scorers of all time and an integral member of Pahang, and highly rated 24-year-old defender Veeran Thirumurugan, who plays for Kedah. Three current members of the Mariners’ squad, Andrew Clark, Greg Owens and Tom Pondeljak, have experienced the Malaysian domestic football scene previously; Clark with Kedah in 2003, Pondeljak with Johor in 2004 and Owens with Johor FC, in 2005.

“We’re very much looking forward to the challenge of a nation that is building towards their biggest international appearance for a number of years,” said Mariners Football Manager Lawrie McKinna. “Malaysia will provide us with a great test so early in our pre-season - the first match of a pre-season program that we’re confident will see us prepared in the best possible fashion ahead of our third season.” Following the match, McKinna will lead a squad of ten players to Hong Kong, where the Mariners will contest the Soccer 7s. The Mariners have been placed in Group D with local sides Hong Kong FC and City University of Hong Kong, with the biggest challenge facing McKinna’s charges likely to come from English Premier League side Aston Villa.

Melbourne and Sydney fight for LA Galaxy friendly

Australia's two biggest A-League clubs, 2005-06 premiers Sydney FC and 2006-07 premiers and champions Melbourne Victory are both pitching to attract a friendly against David Beckham's new MLS USA club LA Galaxy. Sydney claims it has the inside running with a match a tentatively set down for Tuesday, 27 November in Sydney's former Olympics stadium. However, Melbourne Victory chairman Geoff Lord confirmed that his club has also been negotiating with the tour organisers to stage the game.

"We have been having ongoing discussions for some time," Lord told Ray Gatt of The Australian. "Obviously we feel we deserve to play the Galaxy. Melbourne's ability to stage big sporting events is renowned and I am sure we would sell out 58,000 at [Melbourne's roofed] Telstra Dome for such a game. But Galaxy is just part of some big plans we have in terms of exhibition matches ... and that's all I can really tell you about that at this stage."

Sydney FC officials are adamant the game should be played in what they surprisingly call "the greatest city in the world". The club believes it has had the inside running with Sydney FC part-owner, Australian and Hollywood actor Anthony LaPaglia, intimately involved in the negotiations. "Where else would you play the game but in the best city in the world and against the best club in the country," Sydney chief executive George Perry precociously told Gatt. "We have been in talks for some time. Obviously Anthony has played a pivotal role because of his friendship with (LA president and general manager) Alexi Lalas. I am sure we would get a huge crowd at [Sydney's] Telstra Stadium."

Bayern Munich HK match no clash with Asian Cup

German Bundesliga club Bayern Munich has confirmed its team will play a friendly in Hong Kong on 1 July. The team will start its preseason training on 29 June and will immediately travel to Asia, where to play the one game before returning to Bavaria on 2 July. The club will then to hold a preseason training camp in Donaueschingen from 8-15 July. The club's Asian schedule does not clash with the Asian Football Confederation's prestigious Asian Cup tournament being conducted in Bangkok, Hanoi, Kuala Lumour and Jakarta during 7-29 July.

China goes down to Thailand in Bangkok friendly

China has lost to Thailand 1-0, the first time in 14 years. Zhu Guanghu's team went to Bangkok for the friendly as preparation for the 2007 Asian Cup which kicks off on 7 July but was without top players Li Weifeng and Du Wei, who couldn't take part in the match due to injuries. "Thailand's style is similar to Malaysia's. Since China will be in the same group with Malaysia in the Asian Cup, it was a good chance for Zhu Guanghu to test his players in a friendly with Thailand," China's CCTV observed.

See also: Thai coach plays down chances to win over China (10 May)

French retailer firm on price to purchase Puma

French retailer PPR will not raise its €330 a share offer for German sportswear group Puma, PPR Chairman Francois-Henri Pinault reaffirmed. "It is firm and definitive," Pinault told PPR's annual shareholder meeting, as quoted by Soccer Investor. PPR bought a 27 percent stake in Puma last month and on Monday launched its offer to buy out other Puma shareholders. The offer runs to 20 June and is expected to be accepted.

Puma registered growth of nine per cent in the first term of 2007. The German firm generated income of €675 million, meaning a 3.7 per cent increase in profits. "We’re very happy with our start to the year,” said Puma president Jochen Zeitz. “Despite tough market competition we hope to have an increase in orders on account of the major sporting events to be carried out in 2008. We’re planning to take long-term action.”

Malaysia's CYC promoter on taking FIFA to court

Secretive London-based Gifted Group Ltd, the promoter of the Champions Youth Cup scheduled for Malaysia in August, together with the G-14 group of top European football clubs, have brought a lawsuit against football’s world governing body, FIFA, at the Civil Courts of Brussels. They have asked for interim measures to prevent FIFA from negatively interfering with the organisation of the CYC and have also lodged a complaint against FIFA with the European Commission, accusing it of abusing its dominant position.

"In 20 years in this industry, I have never previously taken or threatened legal action against any sporting organisation and it is with great regret that I do so now. FIFA’s actions however, have left us with no alternative," GGL Chairman Jonathan Price said in a statement quoted by the New Straits Times. "Their behaviour does not seem to be compatible with their purported mission ie, ‘the good of the game’. The Champions Youth Cup is a force for good, driven by sporting considerations and pitting the best young footballers in the world against each other to gain international experience. FIFA's reversal of their previous decision has placed us in an impossible position. We have acted at all times in accordance with their regulations and in good faith on the basis of their initial decision. Consequently we have entered into agreements with broadcasters, sponsors, and suppliers and we cannot simply walk away from these.

"We have communicated to FIFA via the Football Association of Malaysia that the Champions Youth Cup is not a G-14 tournament and that they do not have an operational role in it. I have never sought to hide G-14’s support for the Champions Youth Cup and they have assisted us greatly in coordinating invitations to their member clubs. But there is nothing in FIFA’s regulations that says you are not allowed to talk with G-14 or that not doing so is a condition of obtaining sanction. We can’t sit around hoping that our representations via third parties will bring a change of heart.

The reality is that we are contractually obligated to the Malaysian Government to run a tournament in a little over two months’ time and FIFA’s actions are causing us great damage."

"We fully respect the Asian Football Confederation and the importance of the Asian Cup. We have noted president Mohamed Hammam’s comments that European teams are welcome in Asia in August and I do not believe that a youth tournament in August will cause any harm to Asia’s premier competition taking place in July. We have, however, written to the AFC to confirm that we do not wish to detract from the success of the Asian Cup. Our commitment on this front is in no way diminished by the actions we have taken regarding FIFA. I sincerely believe that we are on the same page as the AFC when it comes to the future development of the game in Asia. Unprompted by any of the game’s governing bodies; we have embraced a long term development approach to give something back to Asia. Our host agreement with Malaysia includes a commitment from the participating clubs to provide development assistance. On Friday and Saturday of last week, the Malaysian Under-16 team trained at and played against Arsenal as a result of this initiative. I defy anyone to suggest that this can be considered as anything other than hugely positive".

"All we want to do is to organise a youth tournament and not get dragged into the politics of the sport. In this regard, I have obligations to a number of parties but perhaps most importantly to the Malaysian people who deserve the chance to watch the world’s best young players in action and to future generations of Malaysian children who deserve the chance to play football at the highest level"

Chelsea would 'not go' to Asia during Asian Cup

Bruce Buck, the Chairman of English Premier League club Chelsea, has confirmed that Chelsea will be making a pre-season tour to China in 2008. He emphasised, however, that the club's approach to the Chinese market includes unique and exclusive co-operation agreements with the Asian Football Confederation and the Chinese Football Association to promote grass roots and youth football.

The relationship with the AFC, the equivalent of UEFA in Asia, is a key one and Buck emphasised that Chelsea would not jeopardise that relationship. "For one thing we're not going to take our club to Asia when the Asian Cup is taking place. That's lesson Number 1," he said.

"Our approach is based on something in addition to just doing club tours. This is consistent with our general club approach and that of our owner Roman Abramovich, who believes an important part of our mandate in football is to do a lot of good for football generally. Of course there is also a business objective with such an important market as Asia and in particular China. We can invest and harvest. We're not sure when we're going to harvest and what we're going to harvest. At the moment we're just trying to build up general awareness, not just brand awareness, and play a role in keeping kids off the streets by playing football, increase participation and encourage a healthier lifestyle," he said.

Americans bring 'fresh' marketing to English clubs

"In England," wrote Ridge Mahoney in USA Today, "football fans have been accustomed to their clubs being almost community organisations, with management using revenue mainly to acquire players and hold ticket prices steady. Many see the American owners of Manchester United, Liverpool and two other English Premier League clubs as nothing less than threats to a treasured part of English culture. European soccer has never been a pure business."

Sean Hamil, a lecturer at the University of London's Birkbeck Sports Business Centre and a board member of Supporters Direct, a publicly funded body that helps groups of fans buy ownership shares of teams, told Mahoney, "It's always been about the glory on the field. Fans are unhappy not because (new owners) are American but because of an instinctive distrust of big business people" being in soccer."

For all the angst in English soccer over US marketing tactics, few sports leagues in the world have been more effective at popularizing or commercialising their product than the Premier League.

"Revenue, especially from TV, is soaring," Mahoney noted. "Corporate sponsors' logos dominate the fronts of team jerseys. Most clubs have prominent partnerships with online sports betting and gaming companies. And a bank's name now is part of the league's name (it's officially called the Barclays Premiership) ... The worldwide passion for soccer and the expanding marketing opportunities that surround it have made the sport's top leagues overseas increasingly attractive to super-wealthy US investors."

However, "the American investors see their type of aggressive marketing as a way to extract untapped revenue in European soccer strongholds and they see a range of marketing opportunities in the USA and Asia. The Liverpool brand is 'very underdeveloped,' [new US co-owner]`Hicks says. '[Gillett] and I view the growing globalization of sports differently' than previous majority shareholder, Doug Ellis. We very much want to build a brand, particularly in Asia, but also in North America and South America, as well as Europe' ... [Premier] League CEO Richard Scudamore welcomes his league's American investors. 'They do bring some freshness to it in terms of marketing,' he says. 'The presentation and the materials, yes, but also the raw, brash enthusiasm of it. Your marketing is much more direct than ours in many ways.'

"It's not as if the Premier League is lagging on the business side. League figures indicate that each week of its regular season, which runs from late August to mid-May, its matches are watched by 76 million fans in nearly 200 countries. During the last five years its annual revenue has doubled to $2.73 billion, according to a report by the accounting firm Deloitte Touche. The figure will rise when a three-year, worldwide TV deal worth nearly $5.5 billion begins next season. At an average of $1.83 billion a year, the money from the deal won't match the NFL's annual average of $3.7 billion. But the Premier League's deal tops the national deal of any other US pro sports league."

Beckham soon to reveal China host for academy

Former England captain David Beckham will set up a football academy in China and tour the most populous nation with the Los Angeles Galaxy, the Major League Soccer USA club's owner told Grant Clark of Bloomberg. Beckham, who will join the Galaxy from Real Madrid in July, will choose Shanghai, Beijing, Macau or another unidentified Chinese city as the site for his first academy in Asia, said Tim Leiweke, chief executive officer of Anschutz Entertainment Group, the Los Angeles-based company that owns the Galaxy. "We'd like to have something done with David by the time he starts playing for the Galaxy because we're going to have other things we're doing here. We'll be announcing extended training and touring of China," Leiweke said.

"I've always had fantastic support from people in Asia and it is an honor to have an academy there," Beckham said in a tender document for an academy in Asia issued in July. The 32-year-old former Manchester United midfielder has established youth academies in Los Angeles and London as part of ventures with Anschutz. Simon Fuller's 19 Entertainment, which created American Idol, is a partner of the Asia academy. The London academy, located next to the former Millennium Dome in Greenwich, is reportedly the biggest children's sports teaching facility in Europe.

Chelsea calls off Asian tour because of injuries

English Premier League club Chelsea has called off its proposed May tour of Asia because of a spate of injuries. The club had discussed holding matches in Singapore, South Korea and China during the week of the UEFA Champions League final after losing to Liverpool in the semifinals. "It's off,'' club spokesman Bruce Buck told Grant Clark of Bloomberg. "We just have too many injuries at the moment.''

Chelsea faces Manchester United in the English FA Cup final in four days at the new Wembley stadium in London, with coach Jose Mourinho saying he has just 15 fit players. Michael Ballack, Arjen Robben and Andriy Shevchenko are among the sidelined stars in football's most expensive squad.

Unlike Manchester United's controversial commercial tour in Asia during the Asian Football Confederation's prestigious Asian Cup in July, Chelsea works closely with the continental body. "The London club has become a leader in taking a responsible approach in Asia," AFC President Mohamad Bin Hammam today told a Beijing conference by video. "Our relationship sets the example for other clubs to follow."

FF Australia Chairman keeps pressure on reforms

Football Federation Australia Chairman Frank Lowy has moved to counter a perceived lack of football knowledge at the game's highest levels, as he unveiled a wholesale shake-up of his board. An Extraordinary General Meeting to be held two days after the Socceroos play Uruguay on 2 June will see the election to the board of Jack Reilly, goalkeeper of the 1974 World Cup Socceroo team, former Matildas vice-captain Moya Dodd and Les Owen, recently retired CEO of Axa.

"The game is doing well – but we need to reform it further," Lowy told Tom Smithies of The Daily Telegraph. "We've had a good start but there's a fundamental need to get the game into the mainstream codes. Now we're working on a blueprint to reorganise the game from the grassroots to the top level, and it's no secret we're short of funds. Reform will need to go hand in hand with (new) funding. Six of the seven (board members) are steeped in the game, and some are in the executive of the financial world. We've been hand to mouth until now and we need a lot of new money, otherwise the game will stagnate."

Lowy conceded that the nominations were designed to increase the footballing acuity on the board, in the face of accusations there were not enough football people. "There's no doubt about that – we are listening to the community," he said. "At the same time, the chairman of Melbourne Victory you can't say is steeped in the tradition, but look at what they've done. Luckily we've been able to find people steeped in the game but at the same time with enough corporate and financial knowledge to assist the board with its aspirations. The past three years I started by myself then got a few people with me, but it was not too formal. I intend to put in some formality – the involvement of the board to be greater. We have a very capable management and of course a separation with the board – but within those limits we can expect the board to be very active on funding, to set the agenda, to support management but also constructively criticise."

Lowy, who will be one of the three directors up for re-election in four years, pointed to a broad wishlist when asked which particular projects he saw as the priority. "All of the above – a national youth league, we need a national coach. We need to organise the game from the bottom to the top in a homogenous way. It's a serious business – we've had a great three years, but the hard yakka comes now. It all needs to be built on, it's all fragile and we need financial stability."

India-Bangladesh border military in soccer clash

Football teams representing the border forces of India and Bangladesh played a friendly football match in Dawki. Organised by India's Border Security Force, the game was aimed at promoting confidence building between them. "This is the first match between BSF and Bangladesh's Bangladesh Rifles. I believe that such matches will promote friendly relation between the two countries," B Rahman, Captain of the Bangladesh Rifles team, told Daily India/ANI.

Hailing the initiative, the Bangladesh Rifles teams said this maiden attempt would greatly help to generate goodwill between the two countries."It will be continued. We have other games like volleyball more or less every month. We have trust and respect for each other," said Abul Hussain, the Commander of Bangladesh Rifles. The Indian side thrashed the Bangladesh side 4-0.

India and Bangladesh share a 4,096-km frontier, regarded as one of the world's most porous borders. It is guarded by about 45,000 BSF troops on the Indian side.

Football gaming causes Japanese computer crash

Japan’s football gambling agency suspended sales in a football betting competition after the system crashed on a deluge of people seeking to win more than US$ 6 million dollars. The computer failure to handle millions of buying orders, forcing the National Agency for the Advancement of Sports and Health to halt sales on Tuesday. “Legally speaking, those who hold the tickets so far would be eligible for the results, but I don’t know how the agency will handle this emergency situation,” an agency spokesman said. Japan has few legal betting venues other than horse-racing, although its thousands of noisy “pachinko” pinball parlours are seen as a thinly disguised form of gambling.

Japan introduced a football lottery in November 1998 in hopes of financing the then fledgling J-League and creating interest in the sport in the nation of baseball and sumo. The lottery drew little interest until the creation in September of BIG, which has drawn in players looking to get rich quickly. Players of BIG bet on a combination of match results in the J-League and win if a computer randomly selects their choice, AFP reported.

FAM knows terms of Asian Cup "binding contract"

The Football Association of Malaysia is seeking a compromise with the Asian Football Confederation over the controversial Manchester United tour, failing which the national association will abide by the wishes of the government to let Manchester United play against a Malaysian selection on 27 July at the National Stadium. That was the message yesterday from FAM deputy president, Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah who is also an AFC vice president. "I would like to respect the wishes of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and the Malaysian Government that the Manchester United tour will go on in conjunction with the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Merdeka," he said.

The FAM is in a dilemma as it has signed an agreement with AFC that during the Asian Cup from 7-29 July, it will not promote or stage other events and this legality is what worries Tengku Abdullah, observed Christopher Raj in the New Straits Times. "We have a binding contract. We went through it with our lawyers and we know what is stipulated in the contract, but I still want to use our office and try to solve this problem amicably. Our priority is still the Asian Cup and the FAM is committed to it."

Munich and Barcelona slam Man United Asian tour

German Bundesliga club Bayern Munich insists it will not schedule games in Asia that would clash with the dates of the Asian Football Confederation's prestigious Asian Cup 2007 being played 7-29 July. Martin Haegele, Bayern's head of international affairs, told media in Beijing, China, that the club had already rejected a match against Japan's Urawa Red Diamonds because the game would clash with the Asian Cup, the region's equivalent of the European Championship.

However, English Premier League club Manchester United, which last visited Asia in 2005, is scheduled to open its commercial Far East tour on 17 July against Urawa in Saitama before taking on FC Seoul three days later at the Seoul World Cup Stadium. The third game against China's Shenzhen FC is scheduled for 23 July at Macau Stadium and the tour is scheduled to conclude in Kuala Lumpur with a match against a Malaysian XI just two days before the Asian Cup final.

"It doesn't show respect to Asia," Haegele said of Manchester United's tour. "We want to be different from clubs that just come to milk the cow." He commented that Manchester United was adding fuel to FIFA President Sepp Blatter's argument that rich European teams acted only in self-interest. Bayern wants to build long-term relationships in Asia and not just "sell a few jerseys," he added. "Normally I'm not a friend of Sepp Blatter but in this case United gave him the best argument," he said.

Spanish La Liga champion Barcelona, which has a game scheduled in Beijing on 5 August, said Manchester United was only thinking of its Asian supporters when it arranged its tour. "But we have to respect the local leagues," Casper Stylsvig, Barcelona's regional manager, told Grant Clark of Bloomberg. "We will learn from Manchester United's experience and avoid doing the same."

“FAM could be isolated - there are consequences"

The Football Association of Malaysia risks facing sanctions by the Asian Football Confederation if the Manchester United friendly against the Malaysian Selection goes ahead as scheduled on 27 July. The Red Devils are due to play in Kuala Lumpur two days before the Asian Cup final in Jakarta. The AFC and FAM signed an agreement last year barring the promotion of any other football events during the Asian Cup. Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, the deputy president of FAM, admitted that they have put themselves in a tight spot. In fact, he himself will be facing a tough question. He is, after all, an AFC vice-president and he will be going against the decision of the AFC Congress that was made on Tuesday.

“Personally, it is tough on me and everything is on me now ... I am also on the chopping block, I guess, but I hope not. I will answer that question when we come to the bridge ... I might be out of the job,” he laughed.

“FAM could be isolated ... there are consequences and there will be consequences but we will try to consult again and appeal to the AFC, hoping for some flexibility. It is not only the FAM’s future here ... it involves the people and the government,” he said. “We would like AFC to re-consider. Every agreement can be negotiated. To be honest we have liaised with AFC twice even before the statement made by the Prime Minister (on Friday). But, both our appeals have been shot down. We don’t want to talk about the consequences ... we are celebrating our 50th year of celebration. Let us celebrate first,” he said as quoted by The Star.

Maradona postpones Asian tour after leaving clinic

Argentine football legend Diego Maradona has postponed his Asian tour to give him time to recover from his recent stint in a rehabilitation clinic, an Argentine embassy official told AFP. Maradona, 46, was due to head to Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand next week, but the tour has been postponed until late June after his treatment for alcohol abuse, the official said. "He needs time for physical therapy in order to recover from his treatment for alcoholism," the embassy source said, adding that no new dates for the tour have yet been set. He was hospitalised earlier in April for hepatitis linked to heavy drinking and was released from a Buenos Aires clinic on 6 May.

2007 AFC President's Cup in Pakistan postponed?

The AFC President's Cup, the Asian Football Confederation's third-level club competition after its AFC Champions League, has been reportedly postponed from 17-27 May to an unknown date. A spokesman of the Pakistan Football Federation told APP that the eight nation tournament has been postponed "due to situation beyond control of AFC and PFF" and that "fresh dates will be announced later when received by AFC."

The unnamed official speculated that the postponement could have been caused by Bhutan not furnishing the names of its team's players by the AFC Cup deadline. "The situation left PFF in trouble as they have to arrange visas for the visiting team and it was not possible to do so in the given time frame," APP surmised.

However the AFC has recently adopted a tough line on similar breaches of regulations by refusing to allow the team concerned to participate in the tournament. Perhaps the current political instability and violent street demonstrations in Pakistan are more significant factors.

How stadium design affects football results

A research paper co-authored by a University of Salford academic has statistically confirmed that the decision to take out the running track at England's new Wembley stadium can help the home team win more games. After studying over 350,000 individual minutes of Premier League and German Bundesliga football, Dr David Forrest from the Management and Management Sciences Research Institute and his colleagues from Lancaster and Central Lancashire universities have confirmed that the crowd’s pressure on a referee’s subconscious leads to him producing fewer red and yellow cards to the home team - but that this effect is reduced when the stadium has a running track around it.

Previous studies into refereeing decisions have looked at the number of yellow and red cards awarded to each team during a game, but Forrest felt that this did not include sufficient detail. Instead, the researchers have calculated the probability that a card will be awarded during each minute of a game - allowing other factors which may influence the referee to be considered.

“We’ve been able to take into account the increased tension of a derby match and factors such as the away team having to defend more and having to chase a game late on. Even then, the referee still shows bias towards the home side," Forrest said. “Interestingly, it seems that stadium design can also affect the referee - in the Bundesliga several stadia have an athletics track around the pitch. We have shown that the home team there receives less favouritism from the referee as the fans are further away and unable to exert so much psychological pressure. The stadium architecture can really affect the home team’s results.”

Dr David Forrest is a media expert specialising in the study of gambling - notably lotteries, sports betting and sports economics. His associates were Babatunde Buraimo of the University of Central Lancashire and Robert Simmons of Lancaster University.

Malaysian FA backs Govt support for Man United

The Football Association of Malaysia has reportedly turned its back on solidarity with other members of the Asian Football Confederation and succumbed to pressure from the Malaysian Government to reverse its position on the planned commercial promotional game against a 'Malaysian XI' in Kuala Lumpur during ther Asian Cup by English Premier League club Manchester United.

"The FAM respects the statement by the Prime Pinister of Malaysia that the Manchester United tour should go on as planned to be part of the celebration for Malaysia's 50th anniversary" the FA said in a statement quoted by AFP.

"FAM will probably face consequences from FIFA and the AFC, but we are hoping to negotiate and appeal to them to sanction Man United's tour here in consideration of Malaysia's 50th anniversary," the statement added

"We have to abide by the ruling of the Asian football family. Manchester United can't come in July," FAM Deputy President, Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, told Reuters last week. Abdullah was speaking just after FIFA president Sepp Blatter and AFC president Mohamed Bin Hammam pleaded for countries to withdraw support for Manchester United's tour of Asia during the 7-29 July AFC Asian Cup.

"Malaysian officials were clearly taken aback by the show of support from the AFC's 45 other members, who all clapped loudly after Blatter and Hammam made their requests," the newsagency had reported. "We saw the reaction of the Asian football family and we have no choice," Abdullah said. "Malaysian fans will be disappointed. I sympathise but we know the wishes of the president and we have to support that."
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Everton FC packages its coaching secrets online

For years, the Youth Academy of English Premier League club Everton has enjoyed huge success in producing quality footballers. Wayne Rooney, Leon Osman, James Vaughan and Victor Anichebe - to name just a few - all came through the ranks at Everton.

Now anyone from across the world can follow The Everton Way online. Coaches can discover the methods used by the blues, while players can follow the programme just like the Toffees’ trainees - and all can be explored at the click of a button. The website offers hundreds of video clips, editorial walkthroughs and audio commentary guide you through the unique journey to develop players the Everton Way.

Everton first team player James Vaughan is delighted with how well things have gone for him at Goodison since arriving as a nine-year old. "The Everton Way has certainly worked for me and it has also worked for a number of other young players. One of the first things fans say to me is that they always like to see home-grown players do well and for everyone to get the chance to see the way it all works is great,” he said.

“There is huge appeal to develop the game across North America, Canada, Australia and many other global territories," said Everton Chief Executive Keith Wyness. “This proven Academy program acts as the perfect tool to provide quality football knowledge to coaches and players across the world, and further cement Everton’s reputation as a top Premiership Club that produces excellent home-grown talent.”

And despite player development being highly competitive amongst Premier League clubs, Everton is proud to be the first club to open the doors and reveal their techniques. “Never before has a Premiership Club dared to divulge the secrets of successful player development. We are delighted to share our knowledge with the world and make an impact on global football development,” Academy Manager Ray Hall added.

To learn more about The Everton Way, visit www.evertonway.com

Malaysian Minister: AFC President "has no rights"

Malaysia has never prevented Manchester United FC from coming to Malaysia at the end of July, but indeed welcomed them, Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said."How could we not allow them to come here? It is their summer holiday program and one of the countries they will stop at is Malaysia because Tourism Malaysia and AirAsia are among the sponsors of the Manchester United games this season," he told Bernama news service.

"I was shocked ...the AFC's view is too narrow. He [Asian Football Confederation President Mohammed Hammam] said Manchester United should not come to Malaysia since the Asian Cup would be on. Manchester United's presence in Malaysia is not a problem, so the AFC should let the fans meet their favourite players as this is one way to develop Malaysian football. The AFC president should not be talking for Malaysia ... he has no connection with Malaysia," he added.

Adnan said he would contact Gill and inform him that Malaysia had no objection to Manchester United's visit and he would meet FAM and other relevant parties on the issue raised by AFC. "He [Hammam] has no right, AFC is only concerned with the tournament [Asian Cup]. Manchester United can come and if necessary, we can ask them to play in another place like Penang, Langkawi, Sabah or Johor Baharu instead of Kuala Lumpur." He said Manchester United could even be asked to play beach soccer or hold football clinics.

Consequences of Malaysian devil-may-care attitude

Manchester United FC are keen on playing in Malaysia but the Asian Football Confederation are saying no because it will clash with the Asian Cup. "So, how did we end up with this mess?" asked D Raj in The Star, before blaming Malaysia. "Let's examine the facts. Four years ago, Malaysia bid for – and were granted – the right to host the Asian Cup ... The host job came with a caveat – you may not do anything to jeopardise the success of the Asian Cup. You know, like hosting an English Premier League team or having the Arsenal and Juventus youth teams over for a championship.

"Malaysia, meanwhile, was giddy with the euphoria of celebrating its 50th anniversary, and when the Manchester United offer came along, they jumped at it. But the AFC remembered the fine print. They shot off a letter to the FAM telling them not to concentrate on the Manchester United match. Remember, we have an agreement, they told the FAM. That was in November of last year. The FAM made all the right noises. Never fear, they said, these are two different events and never shall the twain meet.

Then, wham! The Manchester United match is scheduled smack between the semi-finals and final of the Asian Cup. Yes, the final is in Jakarta. But where do you think the hearts and souls of the EPL fans in Indonesia will be? And if Indonesia are not in the final, boatloads of our neighbours could be on their way here. ... So much for trying to revitalise football in the South-East Asian region.

"They are being called heartless but one's heart does go out to the AFC. After all, it was someone on the Malaysian side who messed up with the scheduling. As always, it was the Malaysian style of doing things, a devil-may-care attitude, if you want. We just go ahead and do things, and to hell with the consequences. And now that the consequence has come home to roost, the Devils match may be no more. And we start blaming others. That's how it's so often done.

"Back in 2004, the FAM even had to compensate fans when they had to postpone the FA Cup final between Terengganu and Perak. They had scheduled the Cup final on the day the AFC Youth Championships started. And what's more, Malaysia were hosts then, too. Any wonder then that the AFC are really teed-off?"

Malaysian PM hopes AFC understands his wants

Attending a news conference after attending the opening of the 61st MIC general assembly at the Putra World Trade Centre, Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told media that he did not think Manchester United playing a game in Kuala Lumpur during the Asian Cup would affect the Asian Football Confederation's premier, four-yearly tournament. "The Asian Cup series in Malaysia will have ended by that time and will not affect the match. I hope they understand that this is what the government wants," he said.

Asked about the sudden cancellation of the Archbishop of Canterbury's conference on Muslim-Christian dialogue.that was supposed to take place in Malaysia, the Prime Minister said the event was postponed because of his busy schedule. "I have an important role to play in the conference so I didn’t want it to be held when I was not around. So we will have to find some other date for the conference," he explained.

Palestine-Israel team to play against Real Madrid

Members of the national team of Asian Football Confederation-member Palestine will join with players from neighbouring UEFA-member Israel in a friendly against Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid, still starring David Beckham. The Spanish team is scheduled to arrive on 19 June, just before Beckham is slated to depart for the US to join Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy, with whom he signed a five-year contract earlier this year. The game is organised by the Peres Centre for Peace, founded by Nobel Peace laureate Shimon Peres in 1996 to encourage economic and grass-roots cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians.

The Real Madrid players are to meet with young Israeli and Palestinian football players during their visit. The Peres Centre's soccer program provides after-school football lessons and math and English tutoring sessions twice a week and also engages over 1,600 Israeli and Palestinian boys and girls in its "Twinned Peace Sport Schools" program, which comprises sport training (football or basketball), Peace Education instruction, auxiliary educational support and joint Palestinian-Israeli sporting and social activities.

In December last year, the Peres Centre organised a friendly between a similar Palestinian-Israeli team and a team representing the southern Spanish region of Andalusia which attracted 35,000 fans to Seville’s Sanchez Pijuan Stadium. The proceeds from the match were designated to financing schools in Palestinian territories in a project sponsored by the Andalusian regional government. The previous year, an Palestinian-Israeli team played against FC Barcelona and Palestinian-Israeli youth teams played against FC Bayern Munchen's youth teams.

PIA revives its football team for Pakistan 'top-slot'

Unlike many airlines that sponsor national football teams or clubs, Pakistan's national carrier, the state-owned Pakistan International Airlines, has decided to revive its football team and to re-enter the top-slot of domestic football. "We have decided to revitalise our team and we have appointed former international Tariq Lutfi as the manager, " said Lt Col Moin Rauf, PIA General Manager (Sports) on his return from the Asian Football Confederation congress in Kuala Lumpur. "People will see once again in action the most successful team in Pakistan football history, PIA, with nine titles, followed by Punjab (8 titles), Karachi (6 titles) and Pakistan WAPDA (five titles)," he told APP. The PIA team was disbanded in 2003.

China selects squad for 16 May Thailand friendly

China coach Zhu Guanghu has announced a 22-man squad for the 16 May friendly against AFC Asian Cup 2007 co-hosts Thailand at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok. Guanghu has called up Shandong Luneng defender Jiao Zhe while Zhang Shuai makes a comeback after a long period on the sidelines. Also on the roster are two overseas based players - Lie Tie (Sheffield United) and Shi Jun (Young Boys Bern). China are in Group C for the competition alongside Iran, Uzbekistan and co-hosts Malaysia while Thailand will face Australia, Oman and Iraq in Group A.

Squad: Li Leilei, Jiao Zhe, Li Jinyu, Han Peng (Shandong Luneng), Zhang Yaokun, Yan Song, Chen Dong, Ji Mingyi (Dalian Shide), Xu Yunlong, Zhang Shuai (Beijing Guoan), Li Weifeng, Du Wei, Jiang Kun (Shanghai Shenhua), Cao Yang, Yang Jun, Hao Junmin (Tianjin Teda), Wang Dong (Changchun Yatai), Zhao Jun Zhe (Liaoning), Xin Feng (Shenzhen), Qu Bo (Qingdao), Li Tie (Sheffield Utd), Shi Jun (Young Boys Bern)

Malaysian PM still welcomes Man United to play

Malaysia's Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has asked the organisers of Manchester United's promotional game in Kuala Lumpur to go on with the event. "We hope the organisers of the English team's Malaysian tour will not cancel it as it is part of the government's Visit Malaysia Year 2007 campaign," he told reporters here after delivering his message to his UMNO party members in conjunction with the party's 61st anniversary celebration. Abdullah, who is also UMNO president, appeared surprised with the question on the impending cancellation of the newly crowned English Premier League champions' tour here, asking: "Why?"

"We want the Manchester United team to come here as this year is Visit Malaysia Year. If they come here, we believe that many of their fans from the region like in Singapore and Thailand will be here too for the match. We know how great the club is and they will be a big attraction to football fans here," he added. According to Bernama, the state-owned news services, "dismissed sabotage for the decision to cancel the match."

Bangkok Post: Blame Malaysia not Man United

"European clubs may have to think twice if they should include Malaysia on their Asian tours," wrote Wanchai Rujawongsanti in the Bangkok Post. "A few years ago, Real Madrid were scheduled to play in Malaysia but the match was cancelled because they asked for too high a fee. This prompted AFC Secretary-General Peter Velappan, a Malaysian, to label the Spanish giants ''bloodsuckers'. It is not Man U's fault. If the AFC and FIFA want to attack any party, they should target the organisers and countries that are to host them."

WHU's Neill tips undefeated Australia in Asian Cup

Socceroo defender Lucas Neill is confident his English Premier League club, West Ham, can avoid relegation this weekend and that Australia can remain undefeated through the AFC Asia Cup 2007 tournament in July. "I want to see another great hype created around the game," he told Michael Lynch of The Age. "I expect us to go through and be undefeated. I really think we have got a team now and a squad there to handle the conditions. Enough of us have played on the bigger stages now not to be inhibited. I really see that taking us all the way to the end ... I see ourselves as the biggest dangers. If we don't approach every game with the perfect preparation and mentality we will come unstuck. We will need to be at our very best on and off the pitch."

Neill believes that Australia's approach to tournament play should be modelled on the traditional slow starter Italy because top players like Tim Cahill and Harry Kewell have missed so much football this season and will need to bring themselves gradually up to speed.. "There will be a couple of games where they won't have to be at their 100 per cent, as long as they can start slow and by the third, fourth, fifth game start to hit form," he said of his big-name teammates. "If we can compare our tournament to the way Italy usually do it, start slowly and really be peaking towards the end."

World Cup coach Guus Hiddink had predicted a performance drop off after the excitement of Germany as his successor, Graham Arnold, rebuilt the team after the retirement of several elder statesmen of the Australian game. But Neill is delighted that does not appear to have been the case. "Guus said there were hangovers after World Cups because there's such a lot of hype and you come back to reality. But I think we have gone on to another level, we have set a benchmark. There's not a lot you have to do to get players excited by the Asia Cup. It's an opportunity to win more honours for the national team. It will be recognised as a huge tournament, one we want to win. You don't get many tournament opportunities and you grab them when you can."

Japanese fans rush Vietnam tickets for Asian Cup

Vietnam media reports that a large number of Japanese football fans have already booked tickets for Group B games of the AFC Asian Cup 2007 to be played in Hanoi, Vietnam. “Big orders for tickets mainly come from Japan while Vietnamese fans seem to be hesitant,” an employee of VFD, a ticket distributor, said.

"There are several reasons for this situation," VietNamNet Bridge reported. "The first is the ticket price for matches held in Vietnam are cheap compared to the living standard of Japanese people. A first-class ticket is priced at only VND150,000 (less than US$10) while in Japan, to watch the Japanese national team, fans have to pay $30-$40 per ticket. The second is that the Asian Cup will take place in mid July, the travel season of Japanese people. They can come to Vietnam to travel and watch football at the same time."

According to VFD, travel firms are the first that asked about tickets for the Asian Cup and the first to book tickets via the internet. The final round of the Asian Cup is expected to be a lucrative opportunity for Vietnamese tourism companies and they don’t want to miss it.

The Vietnam Football Federation has established 10 special sub-committees to serve the Asian Cup: material conditions, finance-taxation, commercial rights, logistics-protocol, press and information technology, security, invitation ticket distribution, health and doping tests, national team, and the secretariat. “We will try our best to organise a successful Asian Cup not only in technical aspects but also to create a friendly and warm Vietnam in the eyes of international friends,” VFF Secretary General Tran Quoc Tuan said.

Barclays Asian Trophy clash with AFC Asian Cup

It is true that the news that the third edition of the English FA Premier League's Asian Trophy will be played in Hong Kong during the Asian Football Confederation's prestigious Asian Cup (7-29 July) came us as surprise to Asian Football Business Review. We'd previous reported the promotional tournament to be scheduled for the week before the Asian Cup began or in August, after its conclusion. Instead, the series is confirmed to be played on days either side of the Asian Cup's critical Semi-Finals finals which may feature top East Asian nations Japan, South Korea and China and AFC newcomer Australia.

The Premier League said the first round of its made-for-television, rebadged Barclays Asian Trophy will be played as a double-header at the 40,000-seat Hong Kong Stadium on 24 July with Portsmouth playing Fulham followed by Liverpool against the Hong Kong Football Association Cup winner. The final will be played on 27 July. Two broadcasters have been so far announced: all matches will be screened in Hong Kong by NOW TV and in the UK by Sky Sports.

"We know that we have a lot of fans in Hong Kong and are looking forward to playing in front of them again," Liverpool Manager Rafael Benitez said.

"We are delighted to be able to take part in this prestigious competition, and look forward to completing our pre-season preparations on a high,” David McNally, Managing Director of Fulham, said.

"We are very much looking forward to play in the Barclays Asia Trophy and playing two competitive matches so close to the start of the new season will play a big part in our pre-season preparation. Hong Kong is a beautiful part of the world and I'm sure the players will revel in the surroundings," Portsmouth Manager, Harry Redknapp said

“The Barclays Premiership has a fantastic following across East Asia, and nowhere more so than in Hong Kong. This is a great opportunity for those fans who follow our competition week in week out to experience what a Barclays Premiership game is like in the flesh," Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said.

"Hong Kong is one of the financial hubs of Asia where we have a growing presence so we are delighted to be sponsoring this tournament for the first time. The Barclays Asia Trophy will give us a powerful brand visibility and the chance to engage with football fans outside the UK," said Barclays President, Robert E. Diamond Jr.

20 years of England's football business revolution

Less than 20 years ago, English football was known more for radical fans and decrepit stadiums than for the sort of classy crowd that now fills the suites at the Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford. But the question that arise is that how did the local game of the English working class become a global business? Extracts from Adam Smith's review of the change in England's football business fortunes in Time Asia magazine:

Before English football could take over the world, it had to sort itself out. Though a powerhouse on the field - its teams were champions of Europe four times between 1977 and 1984 - Liverpool's fans had a reputation for being a dangerous disgrace. When some of them rioted at the 1985 European final in Brussels, 38 fans of the Italian team Juventus were killed. It would be five years before English teams were allowed to play again in European competitions. Back home, aging stadiums offered neither comfort nor safety; in 1989, 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death on an over-crowded terrace at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield. Financially, too, the game was a mess.

Most top-flight team owners poured money into their local team in the hope of boosting their social standing, not its bottom line. Even Manchester United, English football's most successful team in the last decade, was led through much of the 60s and 70s by an enterprising local butcher.

But the 1990s brought change. The official report into the carnage at Hillsborough mandated that top grounds had to be all seated by mid-1994; the government even offered millions of pounds to help pay for reconstruction. Out went crumbling terracing; in came safer seating and improved facilities that made fans feel more like spectators than animals. And as the game began rebuilding its domestic appeal, a handful of chairmen with a sharper eye for profits made a bold move.

For years, the top teams had threatened to split from England's four-tier, 120-year-old football league, claiming that with a domestic game in the doldrums and top clubs impotent against Continental opposition, they needed a greater say over their own affairs - and the enhanced broadcast revenue they thought they could win.In 1992, England's top clubs walked out of the Football League to form the Premier League, a commercially independent alliance able to hammer out its own TV deals on behalf of all its teams. Nobody went short. Sky, a satellite-TV broadcaster that is part of Rupert Murdoch's media empire, forked out around $350 million to air the élite's first five seasons in Britain.

The game was transformed. For fans accustomed to the stodgy - albeit free - coverage offered by terrestrial channels, Sky's whizzy stats and graphics brought football up to date, and made it much more entertaining. Fans were treated to fireworks and dancing girls at grounds.

As player salaries have ballooned, talented foreign players have made a beeline for England; there are now more than 300 overseas players on Premier League clubs' books. When the four top teams clashed one weekend in January - Liverpool against Chelsea, and Arsenal against Manchester United - players from 18 different countries, from Togo to Norway and Serbia to Brazil, took to the turf in those two games alone. Businesses have been booming too. Current league sponsor Barclays Bank recently committed $125 million in a new three-year deal, up 15 per cent from its present agreement.

To see the new face of football, there's no better place than Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United. The ground has been expanded three times in the last 12 years, and now holds 76,000 compared with just 44,000 in the early 1990s. There are two-dozen suites hosting between 44 and 700 on a match day, and 164 boxes, costing between $34,000 and $300,000 each for a season. There's fine dining - you can get smoked halibut and quails' eggs with caviar in the Gallery. Even the canvasses on the restaurant's walls are up for sale. There's similar grandeur on offer at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge stadium, too, where business leaders are escorted to their suite by glamorous women in sharp suits.

For all its success at home, it is the Premiership's global reach that sets it apart from other sports leagues. Of course, translating an Asian fan base into revenue isn't simple. Adding an Asian player to the ranks can help. When Manchester United goes to Malaysia, Korea, Japan and China this summer, shirt sponsor AIG will be with the team every minute. When one shareholder wondered why AIG would spend so much on the U.K., a relatively modest part of its empire, ceo Martin Sullivan explained: "I am not buying the U.K. I am buying Asia."

The Premiership's triple play — losing the hooligans, luring big money at home, expanding overseas — has made it the envy of other sports leagues.

In the 2005-06 season, estimated revenue hit $2.5 billion, much more than that of any other league in Europe. The Premiership still lags behind major U.S. leagues like the National Basketball Association or the National Football League — the latter earned more than $6 billion in 2005-06. But with only 20 clubs competing in the English league, average club takings are already more than in the NBA.

With that kind of stability, building a brand in Asia and other foreign markets may not seem such a stretch, even for relatively small clubs. Analysts are impressed. "If a club hasn't got a high profile or heaps of cash, building relationships in the local market is a cost-effective way to build brand awareness and suit longer-term Asian sensibilities," says Geoffrey Gold, ceo of Football Dynamics Asia.

Has LG promised Fulham sponsorship for Lee?

Lee Chun-soo has denied that English Premier League club Fulham is interested in him because of a sponsorship deal with South Korean electronics giant LG. Reports in Seoul claim LG has agreed to become the main sponsor of Fulham next season on the condition that a Korean player joins is signed in the summer. The club made a loan offer last month for the 25 year-old winger. ”I have heard what has been said about Fulham and LG’s sponsorship contract but it is irrelevant,” Lee told goal.com Asia Editor, John Duerden. “If Fulham had been relegated perhaps I would have had to think again but I was happy when I heard the news of their survival.” The deal is not done yet however. Lee’s K-League club Ulsan Hyundai Horang-I initially refused Fulham’s offer and last week made a counter-offer to the Cottagers.

Indonesia confirms home friendly against Jamaica

Jamaica has been confirmed to take on Asian Cup 2007 co-hosts Indonesia in a friendly next month in Solo. The Indonesian national team which is currently in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, until the end of the month will take on Jamaica on 21 June at the Stadion Manahan in Solo, Central Java. The match follows the cancellation of the earlier planned game against Uruguay in a test match at the venue of the Asian Cup 2007, Stadion Utama Gelora Bung Karno, on 6 June. Instead, the Indonesia national team will play Hong Kong on 1 June and then Singapore two days later at Bung Karno.

Another friendly game has been planned for 30 June, probably against United Arab Emirates at the Stadion Maguwoharjo in Sleman, Yogyakarta, although the possibility of other international matches as part of the run-up programme will depend on the match fees requested. The team which started their camp last week in Kalimantan will play against local clubs first until the end of the month before moving on to harder opponents as they progress through the towns of Surabaya and Malang and on until they reach Jakarta.

Japan may oppose AFC stand on Man United tour

Japan Football Association chief Saburo Kawabuchi has reportedly called criticism of Manchester United’s July tour of Asia “unbalanced.” According to Nikkan Sports daily, Kawabuchi said the Asian Football Confederation over-reacted by calling on the English champions to change the tour dates. “I think breaking contracts would be more of a problem,” Kawabuchi said, referring to United’s four matches across the region from 17 to 27.July. “The AFC’s stance is too unbalanced. Are Japanese clubs not allowed to play against the top clubs in the world?”

Man United "sad and disappointed" by Malaysia

Manchester United chief executive David Gill is "sad and disappointed" that his team's visit to Malaysia has been cancelled. Gill wrote to Malaysia's Tourism Ministry after the Football Association of Malaysia bowed to pressure from the Asian Football Confederation which does not want any football event to clash with its flagship tournament, the Asian Cup, from 7-29. July. United were due to play in Kuala Lumpur against a Malaysian select team on 27 July, two days before the Asian Cup final in Jakarta. The AFC and FAM had signed an agreement last year in which the Malaysians were barred from promoting any other football event in July.

"We are extremely sad and disappointed to hear that we are not welcomed," Gill's letter was quoted as saying in the New Straits Times. "Malaysia is our second home. We played there in 1995, 1999 and 2001 - more than anywhere else in Asia. We are proud to come and celebrate [Malaysia's] 50 years of independence and it's a once in a life-time celebration. We were very much looking forward to celebrating with our fans."

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong-based promoter of the United tour, which also includes matches in Japan, South Korea and Macau, is confident the Malaysian part of the program will continue. "All four legs will go ahead as planned," Paul Kam, chairman of ProEvents Management Ltd was quoted as saying by South China Morning Post. "There is a lot of speculation going on, but everything will be resolved soon." The paper said that Macau organisers would cancel ticket sales on 2 June should promoters fail to provide proper assurances that United will play there.

And Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, Deputy President of the Football Association of Malaysia, said officials would appeal to the AFC on behalf of the government to salvage the planned match. "Give us a few days more to sort out matters," he was quoted as saying by The Star. "We don't want to rush and jeopardize our efforts to save the situation."

Thai coach plays down chances to win over China

Thailand's national football team head coach Chanvit Phalajivin has asked fans not to expect too much when Thailand play China in a warm-up match to the AFC Asian Cup 2007 in Bangkok's Rajamangala Stadium next Wednesday. "Because of Thailand Premier League fixtures this weekend, we can only get the players together for training after Sunday. For the match against China I just want to see which players are ready for the Asian Cup and where there are any weaknesses. So please don't expect too much," he said as quoted by the Bangkok Post. He added he would be happy for Thai stars currently playing in Vietnam and Singapore to join the squad, but he does not know whether their clubs will make them available.

Berlin to host friendly against Iran Women's team

Berlin's local amateur women's football club SV Al Dersimspor is ready to host a friendly face-off with the Iran women's national football team in the German capital on 1 June, a top club official told the Islamic Republic News Agency. "We are extremely delighted that the Iranian women's national football team is coming. We will do our utmost to be very good hosts, just like the Iranian side was last year when our team played in Tehran," said the deputy chairman of Dersimspor, Guersel Yildiz. "We had to move to a bigger stadium because we are expecting up to 5,000 spectators for the match," he added.

Yildiz stressed that the upcoming game was aimed at promoting projects like women's football and the integration of migrants in Germany. "We hope to finance these projects with our ticket sales," added Yildiz whose team includes mostly Turkish but also Arab, German, Japanese and Polish women footballers." He pointed out that the Berlin and German Football Federation have made financial commitments to cover part of the game cost, estimated at around 14,000-15,000 euros. The Iranians will pay for the flight tickets while the German host will cover all other expenses, Yildiz said.

Dersimspor managed a 2-2 tie against the Iranian women national football squad last year when they met each other at Tehran's Ararat stadium. It was the first match of an Iranian women's football team against a European rival.

European clubs told: Give to Asia instead of take

Top European clubs that tour the lucrative emerging markets of Asia need to do more to develop the game here instead of just turning up, taking the money and running. That's the message from FIFA President Sepp Blatter. Asked by AFP if clubs should be doing more to help Asian football, Blatter said: "Definitely. It's good if the big clubs come but they should give something and not just take away. They have already taken a lot of money through television rights in Asia. If they are coming personally it is good to expose the stars but make sure you hold activities around the football. Invite youngsters, help some charities or do humanitarian activities, conduct clinics with the players. This would be good instead of just coming in and training, sleeping, playing and leaving. It should be more, to give and take -- that's life."

While he welcomes European clubs touring Asia at the right time, Asian Football Confederation President Mohammed bin Hammam is adamant that they need to put more back into developing Asian football. “I think this is the mentality of the administrators when they organise these sorts of matches. Some will be leaving behind a legacy that benefits the youth and the football of the country,” he told AFP. “But some don’t care, they just want to collect the money and go. I think if they are a big club they are role models, and this gives them a responsibility to those who are less advanced. Part of the money (they earn) has to go to support youth programs in this region. Schools need sports equipment, the leagues are suffering, they are poor and can’t organise themselves. If you want to do a good thing there are a thousand ways to do it.”

Singapore won't 'aggravate' Malaysia over Man U

Football Association of Singapore Vice-President John Koh was quick to quash the idea of inviting Manchester United to play in the island Republic following Malaysia's cancellation of its leg of the English Premier League club's Asian tour. Speaking from Kuala Lumpur, where he was re-elected to the Asian Football Confederation executive committee, Koh told Cubby Leong of Today Online that "hosting one of the legs of the tour was never on our radar. In any case, it is too short notice now for anyone to conduct any sort of negotiations."

More to the point, Singapore would not want to "aggravate the situation by putting our hands up" and breaching the show of solidarity by the AFC nations. "The Asian Cup is Asia's premier competition and must be respected. Manchester United's tour is just a series of friendly games," he said. Asked why the issue of Malaysia as hosts had only just surfaced, when the trip had been in the works for a while, Koh suggested that behind-the-scenes negotiations over the last few months "probably didn't work out."

Only Japan, Korea, Australia in Champions League?

The Asian Football Confederation insists that, from 2009, only teams from professional leagues will be eligible to enter the AFC Champions League, the region's elite event. If the rule were imposed immediately, only teams from three countries, Australia, Japan and South Korea, would be eligible, AFC President Mohamed Bin Hammam told Reuters. "What we are looking for is 32 teams playing in top competition. Even if those 32 teams come from just six or seven countries, that is still the way to become successful."

Bin Hammam's oft-stated aim is for Asian clubs to be able to compete with the biggest names in Europe on the playing pitch and in terms of financial clout to attract the best players. "Television and sponsors only pay for top products, that is a reality," he told reporters in Kulala Lumpur.

He said Asian football authorities must also boost the sport by guarding against problems such as government interference, as well as internal issues such as doping, match-fixing and fielding over-aged players in youth competitions.

"There are signs that the values of our game are being threatened by people in our own midst," he added, as reported by Associated Press, without identifying any country. "Unfortunately, some of us have tried to twist the rules and regulations of football for short-term glory and success."

The AFC is conducting a study into professionalism in Asian soccer, chaired by Japanese Football Association president Saburo Kawabuchi who told delegates to the AFC Congress that it is vital to reformat the Champions League to make it more attractive.

"The level of football in Asia has risen tremendously in the last few years but unfortunately we are still not close enough to the top level in the world yet. The FIFA World Cup 2006 is a good example as not a single Asian team advanced from the group stage, that is excluding Australia, a newly-joined country. We need to drastically develop the clubs which will in turn directly impact on the development of the national team for a meaningful breakthrough," he said.

"This involves raising the level of competition. The new format will see the most powerful Asian clubs compete. The point is to create a system which is linked to the top level of the world. The dreams of clubs, players and supporters will be linked to the world."

Govt must support single host for 2011 Asian Cup

Countries bidding to host the 2011 AFC Asian Cup must guarantee government support or face swift elimination, Asian Football Confederation President Mohamed Bin Hammam has announced. Qatar, Iran and India are seeking the right to stage the event, with the winner to be announced on 28 July, the day before the 2007 Asian Cup final in Jakarta.

"We have three candidates and definitely we have certain criteria and standards that must be met and this is a must. If any country cannot meet these requirements we would have no hesitation in eliminating them. They need to guarantee government support of the event as well as ensure proper infrastructure and security. The country's national association must also show an eagerness to organise the tournament efficiently," Hammam told Nazvi Careem of Reuters.

The president's call came just two months before the start of the Asian Cup, which is being co-hosted by Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam and has been beset by problems over the past three years. Hammam is determined to avoid another headache in 2011, admitting that the problems leading up to the 2007 Asian Cup had tarnished the tournament's image. "There will only be one country from now on," he said.

"I cannot compromise the image of this competition any more. The winning country has to meet very high standards."

AFC completes presidential, commitee elections

Mohamed Bin Hammam of Qatar was unanimously confirmed as President of the Asian Football Confederation for a second four-year term at the 22nd AFC Congress held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He was the only candidate running for the position. “I am immensely grateful for this vote of confidence,” Bin Hammam, who coincidentally celebrates his 58th birthday today, told AFC Media.

“My re-election demonstrates the solidarity in Asia and the confidence among AFC’s Member Associations that AFC is heading in the right direction as far as football development in our continent is concerned,” he said. “I think we have achieved a lot in the last five years since I first took office. But there is still much needed to be done and it will be my endeavour to see that Asian football is one day recognised as the best in the world. We need to set the highest benchmark possible in terms of professionalism.”

Also re-elected unopposed as AFC Vice-Presidents were Zhang Jilong (China PR), Vernon Manilal Fernando (Sri Lanka), Tengku Abdullah Ibni Sultan Ahmad Shah (Malaysia). Yousuf Yaqoob Al Serkal of the United Arab Emirates, who was elected for the first time, will be the fourth Vice-President. Chung Mong-joon of South Korea was re-elected as Vice-President of the world football body FIFA and Junji Ogura (Japan) and Dato Worawi Makudi (Thailand) retained their positions as FIFA Executive Committee members.

On the AFC Executive Committee, Richard Lai (Guam) was elected unopposed from East Asia while Zaw Zaw (Myanmar), Dali Taher Suryadharma (Indonesia) and John Koh Nam Sang (Singapore) were voted without contest from the ASEAN region. From the South and Central zone, Ganesh Thapa (Nepal), Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi (India), Bakhtier Rakhimov (Uzbekistan) and Mohsen Safai Farahani (Iran) were elected to the AFC Executive Committee unopposed while, from West Asia, Hafez Al Medlej (Saudi Arabia), Saif Hasil Rashid Al Maskery (Oman) and Hussain Saeed Mohamed (Iraq) were elected unopposed. Farouk Bouzo of Syria was re-elected as AFC Honorary Treasurer.

Malaysia talks of cancelling Man United tour match

Manchester United will be asked to cancel their July tour match in Malaysia after organisers bowed to mounting pressure from the Asian Football Confederation. "We have to abide by the ruling of the Asian football family. Manchester United can't come in July," Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah told Reuters. Abdullah was speaking just after FIFA president Sepp Blatter and AFC president Mohamed Bin Hammam pleaded during the body's Congress for countries to withdraw support for Manchester United's tour of Asia during the 7-29 July AFC Asian Cup.

"If they want to come during that time they can't," Abdullah said. "The sanction has not been given by the AFC and we have to follow it. Manchester United cannot come to Malaysia during the Asian Cup. They will have to rearrange their schedule. ... It is bad news for the fans but it is the feeling of the family of Asia," said Abdullah. "By the look of it the Asian Cup will have to take precedence. We all have to support Mr Bin Hammam's call for Manchester United not to come to Asia at all during the Asian Cup. The feeling is that they have to reschedule," he said.

"Malaysian officials were clearly taken aback by the show of support from the AFC's 45 other members, who all clapped loudly after Blatter and Hammam made their requests," Nazvi Careem reported. "We saw the reaction of the Asian football family and we have no choice," Abdullah said. "Malaysian fans will be disappointed. I sympathise but we know the wishes of the president and we have to support that."

United were due to play in Kuala Lumpur on July 27, two days before the Asian Cup final in Jakarta. The AFC and Football Association of Malaysia last year signed an agreement banning the promotion of any other football event during the Asian Cup.The English Premier League champions are also due to visit Japan, South Korea and Macau.

Malaysia may dump Man United for G-14's CYC

According to Rizal Hashim in the Malay Mail, the controversial G-14-linked Champions Youth Cup scheduled to be played in Malaysia in August is expected to proceed as planned. "But there’s a catch," he wrote. "In a tit-for-tat move, FIFA may re-sanction the CYC, provided the match between a Malaysian selection and newly-crowned English Premiership champs Manchester United on July 27, smacked right in the middle of the Asian Cup, is called off. This is one of the options spelt out to the FA of Malaysia after a delegation comprising its top brass met FIFA president Sepp Blatter, hours after the Swiss officiated the Goal project at Bukit Jalil, to lobby for the world body’s blessings for the CYC.

"The delegation, it was learnt, was headed by FAM Deputy President, Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, who is also the Asian Football Confederation Vice-President. Tengku Abdullah and FAM General Secretary Datuk Seri Dr Ibrahim Saad declined to comment. People familiar with the issue said if the proposal is accepted by FAM, the organisers of the CYC, Gifted Group Limited, would help chip in for Kuala Lumpur’s Asian Cup promotional blitz."

FIFA's Blatter tells Man United to move tour dates

The world football body FIFA has urged English Premier League club Manchester United to postpone its planned Asian tour in July, backing Asian Football Confederation Mohamed Bin Hammam's strong criticism of the club for scheduling a commercial program that clashes directly with the region's top tournament. Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Macau, which hope to host Manchester United, should select new dates that do not clash with the 7-29 July dates of the AFC Asian Cup, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said. "It is legitimate to say you are welcome but please not at a time when we are playing, according to an international calendar accepted by the whole football family, our biggest competition in July here in Asia," Blatter said in a speech to the AFC's annual congress.

“The Asian Cup is on a date reserved for competitions for the confederations and they should also be respected by clubs who are touring in the same region where these competitions are taking place. I would personally appeal to the club, to the associations, but also to the organisers in the different countries. We have an opportunity for solidarity for football,” he said. "As president of FIFA, I appeal to your solidarity ... solidarity and respect are two things that go together," he said.

He also revealed he had been in contact with English Football Association chairman Geoff Thompson. “I had an opportunity to speak with him the other day when we met in Nyon and he said ’I will work on that’ but that it’s not so easy because this was an invitation by the Government (of Malaysia), not the federation,” said Blatter. “But we have a structure in FIFA and I told the Sports Minister here in Kuala Lumpur yesterday that when you organise a tour you have to go through the national association. They have to ratify such a match. They have to inform the confederation. For the clubs, FIFA’s okay is not necessary but I’m sure if such a case will be presented to the club, Manchester United, that the organisers of the tour will understand such a situation.”

Oldham Athletic U-20 squad arrives in Bangladesh

Young footballers of English League One club Oldham Athletic have arrived arrived in Dhaka to play three exhibition matches against Bangladeshi teams. The U-20 side begins its campaign against Mohammedan Sporting Club in the Bangabandhu National Stadium. They will face the Bangladesh U-23s in Sylhet on 10 May and return to Dhaka for the last match against Abahani on 12 May. The two matches to be held in the capital will be telecast live by satellite channel ATN Bangla. Apart from playing, the Latics will also be involved in promotional work with local players. It is likely that a number of Bangladeshi youngsters would be selected to visit the UK for further intensive training at a future date.

The club's CEO Alan Hardy told a press conference held at Bangladesh Football Federation Bhaban and attended by BFF Senior Vice President Monir Ahmed that a number of coaches are amongst the 18 touring officials. They will work with players to test their skill as well as local coaches to exchange modern technique. Players with satisfactory skills could well be trained at the Oldham Academy.

The tour is being supported by Royal Bengal Airlines, Shamoli Lifestyle, Dhaka Regency, Millon restaurant, Blue Tiffin restaurant, Shireen restaurant, Blue Ocean restaurant, Balti Taste, The Better Gym, Tricon Product Sourcing, G10 Design and Print and Marlboro Express.

Manchester United tour is "a kind of colonialism"

Asian Football Confederation President Mohamed Bin Hammam launched a stinging attack on English Premier League club Manchester United, calling them "disrespectful" and demanding they cancel their tour of Asia which is planned to go ahead during the AFC Asian Cup in July. "Cancel your tour - this is the message on behalf of the whole Asian football family, all our players, our coaches," bin Hamman said in response to questions on the sidelines of the Asian Football Confederation Congress in Kuala Lumpur. "It i