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Conference of presidents and general secretaries 03

EuropeanClub Forum 06

Meridian Cup in Turkey 10

Promotinglocal training 14

Conference of presidents and general secretaries 03

EuropeanClub Forum 06

Meridian Cup in Turkey 10

Promotinglocal training 14

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In the space of just a few days at the beginning of February, threeimportant meetings were held at UEFA’s offices in Nyon: a session of its Executive Committee, an extraordinary conference of the presidents and gen-eral secretaries of the member associations, and the European Club Forum.

A sign of the times, many of the subjects discussed at thesemeetings were of an economic nature, such as the sale of TV rights andthe repositioning of certain competitions to raise their value. These eco-nomic questions are often closely linked to legalaspects, especially with regard to European legis-lation, which gives further weight to the argumentthat it is vital for the national associations to havethe necessary knowledge and expertise in thesefields in order to be able to deal with their part-ners on an equal footing. It is only in this way thatthe associations, which constitute the traditionalbasis of football, can fulfil their role of governingfootball as a whole in their respective territories, while defending the general interests and maintaining a balance between the different partiesinvolved.

The three meetings had one item in common – the promotion ofthe local training of players – and it was reassuring that the measures pro-posed and adopted by the Executive Committee largely met with a positiveresponse from the conference delegates and forum participants.

Not only is such consensus encouraging, it also demonstrates theimportance of dialogue, since these measures are the result of wide con-sultation. It also shows a general awareness of the fact that after years ofunrestrained developments a certain degree of control is now required.

The same need was felt during the European Club Forum whenplayers’ agents were discussed. By putting individual and immediate inter-ests first, a state of chaos has been allowed to develop in this area, to theadvantage of third parties in particular.

The European football family is not immune to the general rules. If it wants to be sure that others do not take it upon themselves to sort out its problems, then it had better put its affairs in order itself. And this requires dialogue, mutual respect and understanding above all else.

Lars-Christer OlssonChief Executive

I t ’ s g o o d t o t a l kEditorial

IN THIS ISSUE

Conference of presidents and general secretaries 03

Referee courses 05

European Club Forum 06

World Cup qualifiers 08

Meridian Cup 10

Executive Committee decisions 14

News from member associations 17

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COVERThe Meridian Cup gives young players like Spain’s Carmona (in red) and Egypt’s Ayman a unique opportunity to experience football from another continent.

PHOTO: UEFA

we care about football

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The Kazakhstan FA was the

only association absent from the con-

ference, the main aim of which was to

present the Top Executive Programme

(TEP) intended for the presidents and

general secretaries or Chief Executives

of the member associations. In his

opening speech, the UEFA President

placed the new programme in the cur-

rent context of European football,

where the massive influx of financial

resources had led to a shift in power

from the national associations to the

leagues and clubs. It was therefore

necessary to redress the balance and

help restore the importance of the

national associations, which were the

foundation on which UEFA was built.

Geoffrey Thompson, UEFA

vice-president and chairman of the

Executive Committee’s National Asso-

ciations Working Group, said that the

role of the national associations

needed to be clearly defined. They also

needed to be well organised, well

structured and always seeking to im-

prove. He also stressed the impor-

tance of transparency, solidarity and

dialogue. The national associations

should recognise the needs of the

leagues but also ensure continuity.

UEFA Chief Executive Lars-

Christer Olsson also advocated dia-

logue. He said that the proposed pro-

gramme was not a training pro-

gramme but one of action; it was a

question of taking initiatives so that

the national associations remained in

control of football.

Jacob Erel, head of UEFA’s

new National Associations division,

presented the Top Executive Pro-

gramme, which is based on the fol-

lowing ten points:

■ national association management;

■ relations with national authorities;

■ commercial/marketing management;

■ information technology;

■ relations and cooperation with

other sports entities;

■ human resources, qualification

of staff;

■ setting of targets and long-term

strategies;

■ financing, budgeting and

accounting;

■ project management;

■ media relations, communication

and public relations.

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Presidents and General Secretaries

AN EXTRAORDINARY CONFERENCE OF THE PRESIDENTS

AND GENERAL SECRETARIES OF UEFA MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS WAS HELD

AT UEFA HEADQUARTERS IN NYON ON 3 FEBRUARY.

Strengthening the national associationsStrengthening the national associations

The ExecutiveCommittee and the UEFAChiefExecutive.

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This initial phase will prepare the way

for visits to 25 other associations

between May and October this year.

Once the needs have been

identified, a tailor-made programme

will be devised for each association,

including three modules (strategic and

financial management; relationship

management, PR and marketing; man-

aging human resources, technology and

change). Held in Nyon, each module

will be attended, in principle, by dele-

gates from five national associations,

with the first module planned for the

second half of 2005. In total, there will

be around 30 modules lasting two to

three days, spread over a two- to three-

year period.

The working method will

promote dialogue and exchanges of

views and experiences. Experts and

well-known personalities will also be

involved.

In parallel with and comple-

menting the Top Executive Programme,

UEFA will continue its HatTrick pro-

gramme with a special emphasis on

education. CHF 20 million has been set

aside for the 2004–2008 period and

new training (grassroots football

administrators, fitness coaches, etc.)

and management courses (IT, PR,

security, etc.) will be added to the

existing refereeing, coaching and

medical courses.

Under-21s, referees, licences

and agents

Various other topics were

also addressed at the conference.

The delegates noted the plans to

amend the calendar of the European

Under-21 Championship, the final

round of which would be played in

odd-numbered years, starting in

2007, in order to enhance the value

of the competition.

They expressed interest in

the plan, but were also concerned

about the increased costs and logisti-

cal complications of separating the

Under-21 and senior competitions.

The participants also heard

about the UEFA Convention on

Referee Education and Organisation

approved by the Executive Committee

the previous day.

Regarding the introduction

of the UEFA club licence at national

level, the participants preferred the

option of voluntary implementation

rather than a compulsory measure

enshrined in the UEFA Statutes.

Before a presentation of the

current advantages and prospects

for the future development of the

extranet system, which enables the

national associations to exchange

information with each other and with

UEFA, the delegates were asked by

Giangiorgio Spiess, Executive Com-

mittee member, to use UEFA-licensed

agents (of which there are currently

74) to organise friendly matches

and tournaments involving their

national teams.

The programme is designed to

meet the specific needs of each associ-

ation. It will begin in March 2005 with

visits to three pilot associations (Den-

mark, FYR Macedonia and Slovakia) by

members of the Executive Committee

and senior UEFA administrators, who

will gather all the information neces-

sary to determine their specific needs.

Encouragingyouth training

The presidents and general

secretaries had already heard about

UEFA’s plans to protect the training

of young players at their conference

in Lisbon in July last year, and while

in Nyon, they were informed about

the rule adopted by the Executive

Committee the previous day (see

page 14). The top executives largely

welcomed the decision, and many

also stressed the need to protect

the training clubs, which were often

“stripped” of the fruits of their

training efforts.

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Fitness tests and discussions.

Referees find mass confrontationshard to cope with.

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“What struck me forcibly,” he commented, “was that, when thenew referees arrived for the 14th Introductory Course, they looked likeathletes; they were highly moti-vated, willing to learn and very wellprepared.”

In terms of physical prepa-ration, the newcomers were out-standing, while the top referees had achance to evaluate the new fitnesstests currently being introduced on anexperimental basis by FIFA. But othertypes of preparation were also on theagenda, practically all of which passesunnoticed by the general public.

A briefing at the hotel con-firms who does what – for instance,the areas of the pitch where the referee would welcome help from hisassistants and exactly how that help is to be provided and communicated.The fourth official goes through hischecklist of duties – not least how he

WITH VOLKER ROTH CALLED TO NYON FOR A MEETING OF UEFA COMMITTEE

‘CHAIRPERSONS’, IT WAS LARS-ÅKE BJÖRCK WHO WAS IN THE CHAIR AT THE PRESS

CONFERENCE WHICH ROUNDED OFF THE ANNUAL REFEREE COURSES STAGED

THIS YEAR FROM 31 JANUARY TO 3 FEBRUARY IN ANTIBES IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE.

Referee coursesin Antibes

A c t i n g a g a i n s t a c t o r s

intends to manage the technical area– and the team decides which pointsneed to be raised at the organisationmeeting on the morning of the match.Referees, like coaches and players,also do their homework, and PierluigiCollina usually watches at least fourinternational matches over a weekendso that, when he leads his team into a UEFA match, he can brief themabout the two sides’ playing styles, if and how they operate the offsidetrap, and so on.

All of this will rapidly becomeroutine for the new international referees, many of whom will be makingtheir debuts in the next few weeks.For the top referees whose interna-tional curriculum runs to severalpages, it was more a question of fine-tuning and, in Antibes, they werejoined in their discussion groups bythree former star players, ZvonimirBoban of Croatia, Emilio Butragueño

from Spain and German attacker Hansi Müller. Understandably, muchof the debating focused on topics that were on the agenda for the immi-nent meeting of the International Football Association Board and which,by the time you read these lines, may have become reality rather thantalking points.

But players and referees pin-pointed two areas of special concern:simulation and the amount of holdingand shirt-pulling in the penalty area.Both, they felt, require a concerted effort by players, coaches, media andsupporters if they are to be erradicatedand prevented from tarnishing the image of the game. Simulation is doublydamaging as a player’s attempt todeceive the referee frequently leads toone of the other situations which thereferees find disturbing – mass con-frontations. The term is frequentlyused to describe mass protests at anunpopular decision but, sadly, scenesof aggression between opposing players are becoming more frequent in response to accusations of ‘diving’ and feigning injury. “The game as aspectacle demands that simulationbe punished,” commented Emilio Butragueño. “And I think we shoulduse video evidence to punish playerswho deceive referees.” Hansi Mülleragreed. “Our only chance is for severepunishment to act as a deterrent. We won’t erradicate it overnight because some of it has become instinc-tive. But, for the good of the game,we have to reduce it.”

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Although the Chairman wasdisappointed by the poor turnout (almost a third of member clubs wereabsent), he will have been delightedby the level of interest shown by thedelegates in the issues discussed,with contributions from a large num-ber of speakers.

Six topics were on the agendaon day one, followed by two more onthe second day.

No comments were made onthe main proposed changes to the club competition regulations for the2005/06 season. It is true that themost important amendments weresuggested by the clubs themselves,i.e. the proposal that clubs should beinvited rather than obliged to par-ticipate in the FIFA Club World Cham-pionship, the cancellation of singleyellow cards after the qualificationmatches and permission, during theJanuary transfer window, for clubs involved in a European competition tosign and field one player who has al-ready participated in another Europeancompetition during the same season.

The UEFA Champions Leaguemarketing strategy for the 2006-09period was generally welcomed by the participants. For the most part, itremains the same as the current sys-tem, although it makes provision foran increase in the number of official

THE EUROPEAN CLUB FORUM HELD ITS FIRST PLENARY MEETING OF THE YEAR IN NYON

ON 7 AND 8 FEBRUARY, WITH KARL-HEINZ RUMMENIGGE IN THE CHAIR.

C a l l f o r s o l i d a r i t yb e t w e e n c l u b s

European ClubForum

sponsors from four to six (and the abo-lition of official suppliers). The starball, the symbol of the competition,should also be used for all UEFA Cham-pions League matches. The biddingprocess for TV rights began in Februaryfor the first two markets, Belgium andthe Netherlands.

New UEFA Intertoto Cup format?

In addition to the question andanswer sessions that were held aftereach presentation, the club delegateswere able to express their opinions indiscussions held in four groups, witheach club assigned to a group in accor-dance with their UEFA coefficients. Mostclubs were in favour of amending theformat of the UEFA Intertoto Cup fromthe 2006 season. One plan presentedto them involved reducing the numberof participating clubs (49 instead of 61)and matches and limiting access to justone club per association. Two optionswere proposed, each resulting in thequalification of 11 teams, one for thefirst qualifying round of the UEFA Cupand the other for the second qualifyinground of the same competition. Thefirst option would mean starting thecompetition in the second rather thanthe third week of June. Most of the Forum clubs believe that participationshould be compulsory, although the“big” clubs disagree.

Super Cup venue

The contract with Monacofor the UEFA Super Cup expires thisyear and it seemed an appropriatetime to think about the future venueof this competition. As well as main-taining the status quo or movingthe match to two other Europeancities (Barcelona and Geneva), it hasbeen suggested that it be playedoutside Europe in order to promoteEuropean football, with all the po-tential economic spin-offs. A signifi-cant number of delegates were keenon the idea of moving the event toChina, but the group of “big” clubs,who were most likely to be involvedin the competition, remained un-convinced by plans to hold it inAsia. They would prefer the matchto be played in the stadium of oneof the two participants, to be drawnout of a hat.

UEFA Champions League audience figures are presented to the Forum.

Two days of intense discussions.

by UEFA experts to give this competi-tion a strong identity as well as a solidbrand image. The centralised brand-ing of the competition comes into effect from the round of the last 32.

The question of the cen-tralised marketing of media rightsfrom the quarter-final stage, however,continues to divide opinion, with the majority in favour and the groupof the most powerful clubs stronglyopposed.

The problem of player agents

All the delegates were inagreement concerning the final itemon the agenda, the issue ofplayer agents. After pre-sentations by David Dein(Arsenal FC) and EricLeport (FC Nantes Atlan-tique) concerningthe situation inEngland andFrance, around-tablediscussionwas chaired byRoger VandenStock, Vice-Chairman ofthe UEFA Club Compe-titions Committee, involving David Dein,Eric Leport, Karl-HeinzRummenigge (FC BayernMunich), Roberto Bettega(Juventus), Arie van Eijden(AFC Ajax), Peter Lawwell(Celtic FC), Niels-ChristianHolmström (FC Copenhagen)and John Borg (Birkirkara FC).Their conclusion, which wasshared byeveryonepresent,was thatsome-thing

urgently needs to be done to bringthis situation under control. Thishighly complex issue needs to beaddressed in consultation with FIFA,since the regulations should be thesame in all countries (taking into account the requirements of na-tional legislation) and the transfersystem should be included in thediscussion of agent-related ques-tions. Several delegates pointed outthat the clubs themselves were nottotally blameless for this situationand should probably begin by beingself-critical. The meeting thereforeconcluded with a welcome call

for solidarity between clubs and for trans-parency.

Fear of artificial turf

The decision taken by the UEFAExecutive Committee last November toallow artificial pitches in UEFA competi-tions from the 2005/06 season pro-voked some lively responses amongstthe delegates. Even though pitcheswould have to meet certain qualitystandards and the decision was basedon experiences during pilot projectsand a broad consultation procedure,several club representatives thoughtthat the decision had been taken pre-maturely. They therefore asked the Executive Committee (represented atthe meeting by two of its members,Eggert Magnusson and GiangiorgioSpiess) to review its decision and post-pone its implementation by a year.

Promotion of training

Another recent Executive Committee decision, however, was gen-erally welcomed by the clubs: the deci-sion to promote the training of playersby the clubs and to require clubs in-volved in UEFA competitions to includea steadily increasing number of locallytrained players in their squads (seepage 14).

However, the clubs empha-sised the need to combine this measurewith collateral provisions to protectclubs that train players and to preventthe creation – or the growth – of atransfer market mainly involving veryyoung players.

Debate on UEFA Cup centralisation

Day two began with a review ofthe new UEFA Cup. The revised format,which has not yet even completed itsfirst season, is certainly still too newfor any definite conclusions to be drawn,but the early signs are good and theForum participants, on the whole, con-firmed the positive effects of thechange. They were also unanimous intheir appreciation of the effort put in

The UEFA Cupgroup matches(here, Newcastle vSporting Portugal)have received a positive reaction.

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In Group 1, the Netherlands are the only nation to remain

unbeaten, having won all their matches except for a draw

in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The Dutch

have found new energy under the leadership of former AC Milan

star Marco van Basten and, not surprisingly, lead the group

with the same number of points as Romania (managed since

the beginning of December by new coach Victor Piturca) with

a game in hand. Finland and, in particular, the Czech Republic

are waiting to pounce, while the FYR Macedonia, Andorra

and Armenia are already a long way behind. Despite their

defeat in the Netherlands, the Czechs remain hopeful

of qualifying and erasing the disappointment of their defeat

to Greece in the semi-finals of EURO 2004.

Ukraine looking good

Ukraine have performed very well in Group 2,

where they have already opened up a six-point gap

ahead of Greece, who are two points ahead

of Denmark, Turkey and Hans-Peter Briegel’s

Albania, who have enjoyed the luxury of

beating current European champions Greece.

The Ukrainians’ best result so far has been a win in Turkey, thanks in particular

to two goals by Andriy Shevchenko, and four of their remaining five matches are

on home soil. Greece are suffering something of a hangover, but they are not out

of the running yet, as they proved when they broke Denmark’s unbeaten run

this month. Georgia, coached by Frenchman Alain Giresse, are still in with a hope

too. In fact, only Kazakhstan, who have lost all four matches so far, are already

out of the picture.

Despite one of the worst results in their history – a draw in Liechtenstein –

Portugal have clearly got over their disappointing performance in the final

Portugal (Deco) beat Russiaresoundingly.

AndriyShevchenkohas helpedUkraine off to a good start.

The Republic of Ireland (Roy Keane) remain unbeaten.

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2006 World Cup qualifying competition

E a g e r l y a n t i c i p a t e d r e s u m p t i o nTHE NEXT ROUND OF QUALIFICATION MATCHES FOR THE 2006 WORLD CUP

WILL SOON BE UPON US. THE EIGHT GROUPS OF EUROPEAN TEAMS WILL SHORTLY

BE REACHING THE HALF-WAY POINT. SOME HAVE ALREADY ONE FOOT

IN THE FINALS, WHILE OTHERS HAVE MADE UNEXPECTED ERRORS THAT MEAN

THEY CANNOT AFFORD TO PUT ANOTHER FOOT WRONG.

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The Netherlands have found new energy,

as demonstrated by Dirk Kuyt, against

Finland’s Joonas Kolkka.

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of EURO 2004. Luiz Felipe Scolari’s

men have made amends in style by

winning their other four matches, includ-

ing an historic 7-1 defeat of Russia.

Portugal stand alone at the top of the

group. In second place, Slovakia are

currently ahead of Russia, whom they

held to a draw in Moscow. Latvia and

Estonia are putting up some surprising

resistance, while Liechtenstein are

also doing better than expected, in

contrast to Luxembourg, who have

yet to notch a point.

Four unbeaten teams

Group 4 is one of the most

finely balanced. Three teams – the

Republic of Ireland, France and Israel –

currently share top spot, while Switzer-

land, who have played a game less,

are three points behind. All of these

countries are still unbeaten and in with

a chance of qualifying. The same can

no longer be said of Cyprus and the

Faroe Islands, who each have one point

from the match they drew against each

other. While the Irish are enjoying

success again under Brian Kerr, particu-

larly at home, France, who are in a

rebuilding phase and have been held

to two home draws, are struggling

to return to their best. Raymond

Domenech still has a lot of work to do.

It is no surprise that Italy top

Group 5. Marcello Lippi’s men have

begun their World Cup campaign well,

apart from a humiliating defeat in

Slovenia, which they must have found

hard to swallow. Norway and Slovenia

are waiting for the “squadra azzurra” to

slip up again, ahead of Belarus, a very

disappointing Scotland and Moldova,

who will all struggle to climb out of

the bottom three places. After hosting

the Scots in March, Italy will face three

consecutive away matches, which

might open the door to their rivals.

England are the only undefeated

members of Group 6. Sven-Göran

Eriksson’s team have been held only

once (in Austria). Their only rivals

for first place are Poland, who

are enjoying a good cam-

paign but missed their

chance when the Eng-

lish visited Chorzów

in September. While

Austria have certainly not given up

hope, Northern Ireland and Wales, who

have managed just two draws, have

been disappointing. Wales’ poor return

so far, which is no better than that

of Azerbaijan, means that they have

virtually no chance of qualifying.

Surprises and disappointments

The big surprise in Group 7

is not so much the fact that top spot is

occupied by Serbia and Mon-

tenegro, whose techni-

cal strength is well

known, but the disap-

pointing start made by

Spain. The Spaniards

may only have played four

matches so far, but they have won

just two. Luis Aragones’ men have only

managed to beat San Marino and

Belgium, who are in an even worse

position. With just one point in the

bag, the Belgians would be bottom of

the group if it were not for San Marino.

It will be very difficult, if not impossi-

ble, for them to catch Serbia and Mon-

tenegro, who already have ten points,

or even Lithuania who, with two wins

and two draws under their belts, are

putting up an admirable fight. Mean-

while, Bosnia-Herzegovina, who have

only played two matches, may still have

some tricks up their sleeves.

Sweden are living up to their

role as favourites in Group 8, which

they currently lead. However, it could

Jermain Jenas (England, left)andAzerbaijan’sGurbanGurbanov.

Serbia andMontenegro(SavoMilosevic, left)are in a better positionthan Belgium(TimmySimons).

Sweden’s Fredrik Ljungberg gets the ball across, despite the best efforts of Iceland’s Petur Marteinsson.

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Italy (GianlucaZambrotta) are heading their group

despite losingagainst

Slovenia.

be argued that Bulgaria and Croatia

are better placed, since they are only

two points behind with a game in

hand. The Croatians pulled off a great

result with a win in Sweden in Septem-

ber. Meanwhile, Bulgaria who, like

Croatia, are still unbeaten, have started

the campaign well, particularly by

winning in Iceland and holding Croatia

to a draw on their own patch. Sweden,

who still have to travel to Croatia and

Bulgaria, amongst others, will certainly

not have it all their own way. While

Hungary may still pose a threat to the

teams above them, Iceland and Malta

will have to be content with the oppor-

tunity to ruffle a few feathers.

André Winckler

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Sierra Leone’sgoalkeeperSylvanus Moorismakes a great saveagainst France.

Matu and the rest of hisCameroonteam-mateshad to adapt to the conditions.

Despite this rather late ap-pointment and the change of one ortwo facilities, the Turkish Football Association (TFA) took up the challengewith great enthusiasm, endless perseverance and a formidable touch of improvisation.

TURKEY WAS ENTRUSTED WITH THE ORGANISATION AND STAGING OF THE 5TH CAF/UEFA MERIDIAN CUP

IN FEBRUARY 2004, I.E. JUST ONE YEAR BEFORE THE TOURNAMENT.

5th Meridian CupD a y b y d a y

Since February 2004, the TFA,CAF and UEFA have been working hardto prepare for this competition, whichoffers international football matches tofour youth teams from each of the twocontinents involved, Africa and Europe.The competition format, the tourna-ment’s logistical structure and the pro-motional activities are dominated bythe spirit and philosophy agreed by thetwo confederations – friendship, mutualrespect, exchange of interpersonal,

cultural and sporting valuesand, of course, fair play.

The following reportaims to provide thereader with an insight

into the ratherspecial atmos-phere of this com-petition.

The preparatoryactivities do not vary

much from those carriedout for any UEFA youth final round, except that

the travel arrangementsfor all seven visiting teamsare all organised by UEFAand its in-house travelagency. Another particu-larity of this project consists in the coopera-tion between three organisations, on thisoccasion, the TFA astournament hosts, and

CAF and UEFA as compe-

Mevlüt Erding (France) breaks away from David Simbo (Sierra Leone).

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tition organisers. As has alwaysbeen the case since the competitionwas launched in 1996, the relation-ship between these three partieswas congenial, supportive and en-thusiastic.

The majority of the staffrepresentatives from the TFA, CAF and UEFA arrived at the tourna-ment centre in Kusadasi on Sunday, 30 January, using the rather quiteperiod before the arrival of theteams to carry out the final prepa-rations for the event, like setting up the tournament headquarters, revisiting all match stadiums andtraining grounds, finalising room allocations, menu plans and meet-ing room facilities with the hotel,preparing the welcome procedurefor the delegations and CAF/UEFAofficial representatives, and so on.

Tuesday, 1 February Preparations continued

throughout the day. Just in time forthe arrival of the first two teams –France and Sierra Leone, at 17.00and 20.00 respectively – everythingwas arranged and set up at the hotel and the two delegations couldbe welcomed and comfortably accommodated.

Wednesday, 2 February While yesterday’s late-after-

noon arrivals created some move-ment at the hotel, today’s activitiescould be described as a windymorning, a stormy afternoon and an“assault” in the evening. Delega-tions, most of the committee mem-bers, and official representativesfrom the TFA, CAF and UEFA arrivedat the hotel throughout the day andkept everyone busy. Unfortunately,two teams – Cameroon and Nigeria– had still not arrived at the tourna-ment venue by midnight.

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Left to right:Jim Boyce,Baba Sakhoand Metin Tüncer.

A good headerfrom Turkey’sErgin Kelesagainst Cameroon.

Thursday, 3 February Today was spent mainly

looking into the itineraries of the remaining two teams, finding how to arrange the best possibleconnections from Istanbul toIzmir, the nearest airport to Kusadasi, and calculating theapproximate time when the two delegations would finallyarrive at the tournament head-quarters. Early in the evening itwas confirmed that Nigeria would arrive before midnight. With regardto the Cameroonian team the situa-tion caused some serious concernssince the delegation had to be dividedinto three groups and three differ-ent travel schedules, resulting in 11 players arriving at around 02.00 in the morning and the remainingplayers having to be transported directly from the airport to the matchvenue the following day. Despite this far from ideal situation for theteam, the organisers breathed a sigh of relief when it was confirmedthat all eight teams would be readywith teams tomorrow at around13.30 at the four stadiums.

To make matters worse, the weather (heavy rain and wind allday) have not made the organisers’life any easier.

Nevertheless, on the day of the heads of delegation meeting,a pre-tournament press conferencewas organised to promote the eventlocally, the teams got down to someserious preparation, the refereeswere put through a fitness test, andvarious other meetings and visitstook place in order to prepare forthe matches the following day.

Friday, 4 February Despite their early morning

arrival, the 11 Cameroon playerswere the first at breakfast at 08.00.It was nice to see the players lookingreasonably well, in good spirits andlooking forward to the afternoonmatch and to the arrival of the restof their squad. Unfortunately, this at-mosphere was very soon dampenedwhen the message came in that thethird Cameroon group, including theremaining seven players, wereblocked in Dubai and could not getto Izmir in time for the match.

Due to the lack of adequatefloodlighting installations in the selectedstadiums and the fact that nightfallstarts mid-afternoon, as well as to attract

as many school children as possi-ble to the matches, the kick-offtimes for all games was fixed at 13.30 local time (12.30 CET).

Considering the results of the last tournaments and theserious travel problems encoun-tered by two of the four African

teams, it was no big surprise to manyof the regular observers of the tour-nament that the ranking after the firstfour matches stood at 12 points for Europe, with a goal average of 14-2.With their depleted squad of only 11players, Cameroon tried heroically to resist the reigning European Under-17champions, France, but without success.Luckily for Cameroon, their goalkeeperwas on form and made some outstand-ing saves, but he could do nothing tostop the seven French strikes.

Miraculously, rain did not stopplay and kept its distance until the endof the tournament. The wind droppedtoo, and the temperature improved.

At the end of each match day, a debriefing took place in the eveningto discuss any organisational weak-nesses and to take immediate action to remedy any irregularities before the next match day.

Saturday, 5 February For once, the day started

with better news. The remainingmembers of the Cameroon teamwould be arriving in the afternoon.

Today was totally domi-nated by recovering from the ten-sions, nervousness, cheering anddisappointments of the last twodays and preparations for the nextmatch day.

With the first contacts onthe field, the ice was also broken off the field and the players startedto mix with each other in order to create the expected atmosphere. Thereporter from uefa.com also helpedenhance the feeling of solidarity by interviewing players and publish-ing the interviews immediately onUEFA’s website.

The evening of this first restday was also used by the TFA to invite officials from the CAF andUEFA delegations for a lovely dinneroutside Kusadasi, confirming – if con-firmation were needed – the world-famous hospitality of this country. It was also a perfect opportunity forthe delegations to exchange gifts,and for Jim Boyce, Chairman of theOrganising Committee, to officiallythank the TFA for the excellentpreparation and organisation of thetournament so far.

Enthusiastic young Turkish supporters in Kusadasi.

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Time to say goodbye.

The representativesof the TFA, CAF and UEFA.

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forecast for the next three daysshowed no sign of improvement, thematch was finally cancelled.

The teams used the secondrest day to recover from the first two match days and to prepare fortomorrow’s games.

Tuesday, 8 February The third match day was a

copy of the first, resulting in fourwins for the European teams. How-ever, given the difference in the goalaverages between these two days(14-2 and 7-1), the African playersseem to be gradually getting used tothe rather cold weather conditionsand the European playing style. Itwould therefore come as no surpriseto anyone here if Africa were to secure a win on the last match day.

Following the arrival of UEFATechnical Director Andy Roxburgh,table discussions are being organisedwith the eight coaches.

Everyone here is now look-ing forward to one of the high-lights of the event, the social day tomorrow, which includes a mini-tournament played on a mini-pitchbetween the staff members of theeight delegations, CAF, the Turkish FAand UEFA.

Wednesday, 9 FebruaryToday was used by most of

the teams to visit the various attractionswhich this region has to offer.

Consequently, the hotel wasfairly empty and quiet, allowing thosewho had enrolled for the four-teamfriendly mini-tournament played on thehotel’s mini-pitch to prepare and getready. The “orange” team featured twoformer top players, Paulo Sousa (Ben-fica, Juventus and Borussia Dortmund)and Abu Sankoh (current coach of theSierra Leone Under-18 team and formerinternational) and was obviously thefavourite. Not surprisingly therefore,this team played the best football andwon the tournament.

A good hundred players, offi-cials and some curious onlookers sur-rounded the pitch and applauded somegreat movements, appreciated PauloSousa’s still excellent technique andcheered the speedy centre forward AbuSankoh, who scored the two winninggoals in the final.

The match was followed by a reception to which the entire local organising committee was invited andduring which all volunteers received a gift.

Jim Boyce and Baba Sakho,head of the CAF delegation, thankedthe Turkish tournament director, Metin Tüncer, and his team for theiroutstanding work and efforts so far. A joint dinner with all the teams, officials, referees, CAF, TFA and UEFA representatives concluded theCAF/UEFA social day.

Thursday, 10 February The teams used the penulti-

mate day of the tournament for finaltraining in preparation for the fourth and last match day on Friday.

CAF and UEFA organised a finalday meeting in the morning at whichthe heads of the eight delegations werealso given the opportunity to expresstheir views and suggestions on theMeridian Cup.

One particular element of thiscompetition was discussed in depth,the age difference between the Euro-pean and African teams, which essen-tially explains the big gap in the rank-ings. CAF said that it will discuss thismatter internally to find the best possi-ble solution for the next tournament.

Sunday, 6 February The second match day fo-

cussed on the revival of the Africanyouth teams, who were keen to reducethe gap in the rankings between thetwo competing continents. Unfortu-nately, they managed to add only one point to their tally, with Egypt andPortugal drawing.

This second match day con-firmed the first impressions that theAfrican teams were too young, withmost of the players being a couple ofyears younger than their European opponents. Despite the excellent tech-nical skills of the African players, theycannot compete on an equal footing at this level with the top youth playersfrom Europe.

As on the first match day, nomajor incidents were reported by thematch officials and all matches wereplayed with a lot of commitment andenergy but with equally high respect for the spirit of fair play.

Monday, 7 February The morning was dominated by

the question of whether the Meridiangala match between Turkey and Tunisiascheduled for Wednesday could takeplace. Following heavy snowfall on thecity of Istanbul, and since the weather

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Draw for 2005 EuropeanWomen’sChampionship

The European Women’s Cham-pionship final round will kick off in England on 5 June, with thefinal to be played on 19 June.

The draw for thegroup stage of the finalround was held on 19January in Manchester,where an openingmatch will be played.

The eight finalists were dividedinto the following two groups:

A: England, Sweden, Finland,Denmark;

B: Germany, France, Norway,Italy.

The group matches, to be played inManchester, Preston, Warrington andBlackburn, will conclude on 12 June. The top twofrom each group will playthe semi-finals in Prestonon 15 June and in Warring-ton on 16 June. The finalwill take place in Blackburnon 19 June.

The draw, which was carried out with the help ofthe England men’s nationalteam coach, Sven-GöranEriksson, also provided theopportunity to unveil thenew trophy for this competi-tion. The previous trophywas retained by Germanyfollowing its three consecu-tive victories between 1995and 2001.

■ The semi-finals of the 4th UEFAWomen’s Cup will be played in April.Djurgården/Alvsjö will face Arsenal(first leg in Stockholm on 7 April, return leg on 15 April), while 1.FFCTurbine Potsdam 71 will play SKTrondheims-Øm (first leg in Germanyon 9 April, return leg on 16 April).

Minister for sport Richard Caborn, Karen Espelund, chairwoman of the Women’s Football Committee, and Sven-Göran Eriksson.

The new trophy, weighing 4 kg and standing 42 cm high, is the work of the Italian firm Bertoni.

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It was also proposed that CAFand UEFA would in future make the travelarrangements for their respective teams.

Friday, 11 February The last match day was a copy

of the second one, with three defeats andone draw (Portugal v Sierra Leone 0-0).The matches were marked by many basictechnical errors which showed that theprevious three matches, daily trainingsessions and numerous bus journeyswere starting to take their toll on theplayers. Nevertheless, all matches wereplayed in a spirit of fair play and no further red cards were added to the fivealready issued.

Local attention today focussedon the home team’s match againstCameroon in Kusadasi, in front of an enthusiastic crowd of over 3,000.

This match was attended by the TFApresident, Levent Bicakci , UEFA vice-president Senes Erzik and other senior of-ficials from the TFA and local authorities.

When the final whistles blew at the four match venues, the sporting side of the tournament concluded.Since some of the teams were leavingearly the next morning, the farewellevent began at 18.30 with an awardsceremony.

On behalf of all the players, Erdem Mülayim from Turkey and SamuraSalifu from Sierra Leone thanked theTFA, CAF and UEFA for the excellent organisation and staging of the 5thMeridian Cup and for having offeredthem this unforgettable adventure andthe unique opportunity to meet foot-ballers from another continent.

Saturday, 12 February The last day was obviously

taken up with departures and dis-mantling and packing the material. A very special word of thanks has to go to the numerous volunteers whoworked on this event with tremendousdedication and commitment.

To recap, the behaviour of the teams on the field was excellent interms of sporting values, discipline andfair play. Their attitude off the field wasabsolutely in line with the competition’sname, “Meridian”, which symbolises the close ties between our two conti-nents, not only in a geographical sense,but also in terms of history, culture and footballing values.

The tournament will now beanalysed in depth and the conclusionstaken into account when it comes topreparing the next edition.

A report on the 5th MeridianCup will be published with the May issueof uefadirect.

The resul tsCameroon – France 0-7Sierra Leone – Spain 0-3Portugal – Nigeria 1-0Turkey – Egypt 3-2

Spain – Cameroon 4-0France – Sierra Leone 2-1Nigeria – Turkey 0-4Egypt – Portugal 0-0

Cameroon – Portugal 1-3Sierra Leone – Turkey 0-1France – Nigeria 2-0Spain – Egypt 1-0

Turkey – Cameroon 3-1Portugal – Sierra Leone 0-0Nigeria – Spain 0-1Egypt – France 1-4

Europe won the Meridian Cup,and the fair play prize went toTurkey.

Jim Boyce and Baba Sakho present the Meridian Cup to the four European captains.

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The European Under-21 Championship would benefit from greater exposure. Here, the 2004 final between Italy (Gilardino, in blue) and Serbia andMontenegro (Bisevac).

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Activitiesand competitions

Tr a i n i n g m e a s u r e s

Several important itemswere included on the agenda for thismeeting, which was held the day after a series of strategic discus-sions about UEFA’s role and future.One of the main objectives of themeeting was to define measures topromote local training of playersand to support the development ofnational teams.

Following broad consulta-tion of all interested parties, includ-ing supporters (via uefa.com), theExecutive Committee opted for thefollowing measures, which will be

SportFive awarded EURO 2008 TV rights

At its February meeting, the Execu-tive Committee decided to award thetask of marketing the EURO 2008 Euro-pean TV rights to the SportFive agency.

Ten agencies or companies had submitted bids and, following exami-nation of their proposals, had beenwhittled down to two candidates: theEBU and SportFive.

By opting for SportFive, the Execu-tive Committee has broken with tradi-tion, since the EBU has always previouslybeen UEFA's TV partner for EuropeanChampionship finals. However, it hasstuck with its policy of offering coverageof the tournament to as many TV viewersas possible by ensuring that the rightsare sold primarily to free-to-air channels.They will be sold on a market-by-marketbasis, as is already the case with UEFAChampions League matches, rather than globally.

THE UEFA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE HELD ITS FIRST MEETING

OF 2005 AT THE HOUSE OF EUROPEAN FOOTBALL IN NYON ON 2 FEBRUARY,

WITH LENNART JOHANSSON IN THE CHAIR.

gradually introduced in the UEFAclub competitions: in the 2006/07season, each club’s squad, whichwill be limited to 25 players, willneed to include four locally trainedplayers (in principle, two playerstrained by the club itself and twomore trained by a club within thesame national association).

In 2007/08, the number will increase to six of the 25 squadmembers (three trained by the cluband three within the association).

In 2008/09, each squad of25 players will need to include eightlocally trained players (four fromeach category).

“Training” refers to a periodof three years (not necessarily con-secutive) between the ages of 15 and21. This sporting measure, whichdoes not discriminate on the basisof nationality, will apply to the UEFAclub competitions, although UEFA is urging all its member associationsto introduce the same rules at domestic level.

Competition formatsOn the competitions front,

the Executive Committee decided togive itself more time to analyse theapplications from stadiums wishingto host the 2006 and 2007 clubcompetition finals. It will make thesedecisions at its meeting in April, before the UEFA Ordinary Congressin Tallinn.

The chairmen of the UEFA committees had a meeting with the UEFA President and Chief Executive in Nyon on 4 February to discuss the role of the committees, among other matters. Seated, left to right: Josep LluisVilaseca Guasch (Control and Disciplinary Body), Michel Wuilleret (Appeals Body), Jan Peeters (AssistanceProgrammes), Lars-Åke Lagrell (National Teams), David Richards (Professional Football), Karen Espelund (Women’sFootball) and Petr Fousek (Futsal). Standing: Lars-Christer Olsson, Vlatko Markovic (Technical Development), Urs Vogel (Medical Committee), Lennart Johansson, Volker Roth (Referees), Michael van Praag (Stadium and Security),Jim Boyce (Youth and Amateur Football). Absent: Friedrich Stickler (Club Competitions).

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In the first two months of2005, UEFA has intensified its political efforts to explain andbuild support for its proposalson the local training of players.High-level meetings have takenplace in Brussels and the capi-tals of the EU’s member states. In many governments and insti-tutions, politicians and officialsrecognise UEFA’s concerns andsupport the new plans.

In January, UEFA CEO, Lars-Christer Olsson, headed a UEFAdelegation at meetings with theEuropean Commission inBrussels. This was UEFA’sfirst formal meeting withthe two members of theEuropean Commissionthat have most influenceon European sport overthe next five years: JánFigel (photo), Commissioner forEducation, Training and Culture,and Neelie Kroes, Commissionerfor Competition. Mr Figel’s responsibilities include sport.

The meetings with the Com-missioners took place in a positivespirit, and the two politicians werewilling to listen to UEFA’s argu-ments. Although the Commissiondoes not have the right formally toapprove UEFA’s plans for the localtraining of players, it is importantthat UEFA inform and consult Europe’s political authorities sothat they understand our thinking.

Also in January, a UEFA teamled by Per Omdal, UEFA Vice-Presi-dent, held the latest meeting withthe ‘Friends of Football’, the cross-party group of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs).Twelve MEPs from eight countriesattended the Brussels meeting,

Reportfrom Brussels

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Futsal continues to expand in popularity.

Lennart Johansson and hiscolleagues also postponed until April their decision on the format ofthe EURO 2008 qualifying competition.They noted a proposal under which, in order to prolong interest in thecompetition, only the seven groupwinners would qualify automaticallyfor the final round. Each runner-upwould face a third-placed team fromanother group in a play-off round forthe other seven places. Austria andSwitzerland have already qualified asthe host countries.

The Executive Committee also welcomed a proposal to enhancethe value of the European Under-21Championship by playing the finalround in odd-numbered years from2007 onwards. Under the current system, the tournament is squeezedinto the period between the club finalsand the final round of the EuropeanChampionship or World Cup. As wellas changing the timing of the tourna-ment, the host country would be des-ignated at an earlier stage and, everyfour years, could be the country dueto organise the senior EuropeanChampionship, for whom the Under-21 tournament would serve as a dressrehearsal. The consequences of sucha change, including the clash withFIFA events, still need to be examinedclosely before a decision is taken.

UEFA Futsal Cup semi-finalsHowever, the Executive Com-

mittee did adopt changes to the for-

Eight candidates for EURO 2012By the closing date of 31 January, the UEFA administration

had received eight bids to host EURO 2012.These included two joint bids from Croatia/Hungary and

Poland/Ukraine.Individual bids were submitted by Azerbaijan, Greece, Italy,

Romania, Russia and Turkey.Three candidates will be selected at the end of this year,

with the final decision to be taken in December 2006.

mat of the UEFA Futsal Cup which,from 2005/06, will include semi-finals played over two legs. Untilnow, the second qualifying round(with two mini-tournaments of fourteams) has been followed immedi-ately by the final. From now on, thesecond round, which will still consistof two mini-tournaments, will pro-duce four semi-finalists. The addi-tion of an extra round reflects theever-increasing popularity of futsal.

Other competition-relateddecisions:

■ the organisation of the final round of the European Under-17Championship in 2007 was awardedto the Belgian FA;

■ the Austrian FA will organ-ise the final round of the EuropeanUnder-19 Championship in 2007;

■ the Icelandic FA will organise the final round of the2006/07 European Women’s Under-19 Championship.

Coaches circle and referee convention

The quality of coach edu-cation is an important priority forUEFA, since it directly influences the quality of play. For several yearsnow, UEFA has been organisingcourses, seminars and forums fortechnical directors, national coachesand even elite club coaches.

It will continue to do so but,in addition, the Executive Committee ➜

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A convention for referees.

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where the discussions again focussed on UEFA’s proposals forthe local training of players.

The ‘Friends of Football’ havebeen very supportive of UEFA’splans since the discussions firstbegan in the autumn of 2004.However, the MEPs have also of-fered a useful indication of thepolitical and legal obstacles thatmay face the proposals. Janu-ary’s discussion centred on therisk that UEFA’s rule-change mightexacerbate the international market for young players. SomeMEPs suggested that new rules to protect young players wereneeded in parallel to the propos-als on local training.

UEFA has invited the ‘Friendsof Football’ to visit the House of European Football later thisyear, so that MEPs can see UEFA’swork ‘behind the scenes’.

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➜ Before the competitions re-sumed after the winter break and onthe basis of 1,129 matches, the coun-tries were ranked as follows:

1. Norway 8.251 points2. Denmark 8.2403. Sweden 8.1024. Estonia 8.1005. England 8.0656. Germany 8.0567. France 8.0418. Ukraine 8.0159. Spain 7.99310. Switzerland 7.958

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Investigation into the EURO 2004 qualifier between Armenia and Greece

The investigation into allegedcorruption in relation to theabove-mentioned match hasreached a conclusion. It did notfind any irregularities relating to the EURO 2004 qualificationmatch concerned and did notimplicate the Greek Football Association or its president inany way.

has approved the creation of a UEFA Coaches Circle which will in-clude around 700 coaches. The aimis to provide them with additionalinformation in the form of technicalreports, videos, specialist publica-tions and even an email informationservice.

The UEFA Executive Com-mittee is also interested in refereesand agreed to the drafting of a UEFAConvention on Referee Educationand Organisation, to be modelledon the coaching convention.

■ The Executive Committeealso prepared for the XXIX UEFA Ordinary Congress, to be held inTallinn on 21 April. It approved theCongress programme and agenda,as well as the balance sheet as at 31 July 2004, the income statementfor 2003/04 and the budget for2005/06.

Fair play: provisionalpositions

As in previous years, up-holding UEFA’s principles of fair playwill be one way of qualifying for theUEFA Cup.

Fair play and soli-darity both count inthe UEFA Fair Playcompetition, since itis the behaviour of all

teams (national teams and clubs) involved in UEFA competitions whichis taken into consideration in thetable drawn up by UEFA at the endof the season. Three clubs will again be offered UEFA Cup places in this way.

A gesture that may help earn a place in the UEFA Cup.

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NOTICES■ The UEFA Treasurer, MathieuSprengers, was re-elected president of the Dutch Football Association in December.

■ The English Football Association has appointed Brian Barwick as its new Chief Executive.

■ On 1 February, Lutfi Aribogan became the new general secretary ofthe Turkish Football Association.

■ The Executive Committee haschanged the date of its November 2005meeting in Malta to 7/8 November.

■ The XXXI UEFA Ordinary Congresswill take place in Germany on 25 Janu-ary 2007.

■ Following FIFA’s decision to bring for-ward the end of the 2005/06 season,the 2006 UEFA Cup final will take placeon 10 May and the UEFA ChampionsLeague final on 17 May.

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Newsfrom member associations

Tool to improve youth coachingAt the end of January, the Belgian FA (URBSFA) launched the Dexia Foot Pass,which is designed to analyse and, if necessary, improve the quality of youthcoaching.

This new tool is different insofaras it is not limited to youth coaching in pro-fessional clubs. It also applies to amateurclubs.

The main aim of the project is toimprove the quality of coaching. The objec-tive of theDexia FootPass is sim-ple: “To con-stantly stimu-late the pro-motion ofhome-grownplayers by offering them high-quality coaching and to systematically increase the use ofhome-grown players in order ultimately to produce successful club sides, a talentednational team and a higher standard ofplay in Belgian football in general.”

In order to improve the quality ofyouth coaching, it is necessary to work atgrassroots level.

– Clubs and their youth teamcoaches are the first target group. Thewhole strategy is based on PASS (Profes-sional Academy Support System), which is subdivided into four parts: an assessmentsystem, a quality manual with practical examples, a “youth coordinator” manage-ment course and a certification system withquality labels.

– Young players form the secondtarget group. A system has been developedfor them, based on a new training concept(Dribble & Double Pass Game), which devel-ops players’ technique and intelligence.

– Finally, the parents of youngplayers are the third target group of theDexia Foot Pass, which offers them perma-nent assistance, including general and specific advice.

– Following the disaster in South-East Asia, the URBSFA has decided to donate25,000 euros to the SOS Children’s Villagesorganisation. It has also asked all its affili-ated members, clubs, players, referees andsupporters to show their support by givingmoney to this FIFA-sponsored organisation.

– A minute’s silence was alsoheld at all matches played in Belgium during the weekends of 8 and 15 Januaryin order to pay a final tribute to the thousands of victims.

François Vantomme

Youth Camp in MedugorjeThe Football Federation of Bosnia andHerzegovina (FF BHZ) used the winter breakto organise a football camp for all theyouth categories. Potential candidates forthe Under-19 and Under-17 teams par-ticipated in the camp, held at the Cyrcleinternational sports centre in Medugorje,near Mostar, in January.

The first camp of its kind was organised ten years ago, right after the warin Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Makarska(Croatia).

The camps used to be held onlya short while before the qualifying tourna-ments for the European youth champi-onships, which is why they did not producegood results.

“We were not satisfied with the results of the youth teams, consider-ing they are the future of Bosnian foot-

ball, so we had to find a way to selectthe best, and then to prepare them forUEFA competitions. As a result, we organ-ised this camp, where young playerstrained with our best coaches. We alsoinvited guest coaches from neighbouringcountries. This format has proved suc-cessful and we will therefore continuewith this practice,” said Ahmet Pasalic,director of all Bosnia and Herzegovinanational teams.

The youngest age category, theUnder-15s, were invited to the camp too,and a similar camp was organised for the girls in Igalo (Monte Negro). All headcoaches, Nikola Nikic (Under-19s), VelimirStojnic (Under-17s), Dusko Petrovic (Under-15s), and Namik Nuhbegovic (girls)were well pleased with the efforts put inby their players during the camp.

This is further proof that the organisation of national youth leagues is agood idea, but with fewer leagues thanthe four that are staged in Bosnia andHerzegovina at present.

The camp was also successfulthanks to the contribution of former famousplayers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, DragoSmajlovic, Josip Katalinski and Danijel Piric. Additional camps will be organised insummer, as well as before the start of quali-fying tournaments. The FF BHZ is going to be hosting a qualifying tournament in theEuropean Under-19 Championship in theautumn, involving Bulgaria, Croatia andIceland, alongside the host nation. TheUnder-17s will be playing their qualifyingtournament in Finland, against the hosts,Greece and Slovakia.

On the last day of January, theexecutive committee of the federation met in Sarajevo and, in accordance withthe presidential rotation system, IljoDominkovic takes over as FF BHZ presidentfor the next 16 months.

Fuad Krvavac

The Under-17 team of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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EURO 2004 analysed in EgyptSven-Göran Eriksson was in Cairo lastmonth at the behest of Egyptian sportsmarketing company PromoSport and theEgyptian Football Association. The Englandcoach was invited to address over 200 rep-resentatives of Egyptian football in a spe-cial seminar focusing on a technical analy-sis of EURO 2004. During a two-hourQuestion & Answer session, the audienceexpressed considerable interest in theEnglish experience of last year’s EuropeanChampionships and Mr Eriksson’s views on the performances of the other teams,notably preparation, tactical strategies,strengths and weaknesses.

The FA delegation also comprisedManchester United’s highly respected fit-ness coach, Professor Valter di Salvo, whospoke specifically on issues concerningplayer fitness and analysis, and methods

vis-à-vis maintaining optimum fitness during long seasons and through tour-naments.

“The one-day seminar was ex-tremely well received and well attended,”said Jane Bateman, The FA’s Head of Inter-national Relations, who coordinated thevisit. “We were also received by theEgyptian FA and the Egyptian Minister ofYouth, whose remit includes sport. It wasa useful opportunity for us to learnabout football in Egypt and to respondto the extensive interest the Egyptianshave in the structure and managementof the English game. We also took the opportunity to visit the CAF headquartersin Cairo to finalise this year’s FA-CAF Cooperation Programme.”

The FA is particularly active inAfrica, both through its cooperation withCAF and the UEFA-CAF Meridian Projectwhich partners England with Botswana,Lesotho and Malawi. This was The FA’sthird seminar presentation in Egypt inthree years.

For further information, please refer to www.TheFA.com/international-relations.

Jane Bateman

Pro coaches graduateFinland has gained nine new top domes-tic coaches, following the graduation ofthe students on the Finnish Pro Licencecoach course. The course was completedat the end of January, when the studentspresented their theses after a year of hard work.

“This year’s group had a goodattitude. It takes a lot to graduate, so it is easy to be pleased for those whomade it. The main topics of the students’papers were talent academies, matchtempo and physical training. In our coacheducation programme, we aim to con-centrate more and more on planning,leading and evaluating performance,”says Janne Lindström, Director of CoachEducation at the Finnish FA.

The next domestic Pro Licencecourse begins in 2006. And just beforethe new coaches embark on the pro-gramme in January, there will be a newcrop of UEFA Pro Licence graduates, from the second UEFA Pro Licence course,which began in February. Coaches whohave obtained the Finnish Pro Licence since2002 may apply directly for the UEFA ProLicence, given that they fulfil the UEFA Pro Licence requirements.

Sami Terävä

DFB and DFL rake in 4.6 million eurosfor tsunami victimsThe German FA, in cooperation with theGerman Football League, has organised a benefit match for the victims of thetsunami disaster in South-East Asia. Thematch, played at the AufSchalke Arena on 25 January, brought together the Ger-man national team and an all-star team of international Bundesliga players. Underthe motto “Playing against each other – winning together,” the match raised approximately 4.6 million euros.

The sum raised includes a donation of 200,000 euros from the Ger-man national players, the gate receiptsfrom the 51,904 crowd and donationsfrom DFB sponsors. EUR 1.5 million wassent as emergency aid to help fund thereconstruction of a hospital in BandaAceh, which was hit particularly hard bythe disaster.

The remaining money will be dis-tributed by the DFB’s Egidius Braun Foun-dation, which organised the benefit matchin Schalke with the agreement of the DFBand DFL. It will be given to needy peopleand other social projects, while sports-

related ventures will also be supported as part of the FIFA and UEFA assistanceprogrammes.

Niels Barnhofer

EURO dreams with CroatiaIn early September the Croatian and theHungarian national teams played to apacked house in Zagreb in the first roundof their 2006 World Cup qualifier. Althoughthe derby caused huge rivalry, the two parties announced a joint plan only a fewmonths later, when the political leadershipof the two countries supported the initia-tive of the two football associations, HNSand MLSZ, to launch a joint bid to hostEURO 2012.

Both candidates have previousexperience of bidding for such a greatevent. Hungary first made a joint bid withAustria for the 2004 finals, and later made a solo bid for EURO 2008, a projectthat generated positive feedback from all around the continent.

Croatia is also keen to invite football supporters to this region in theheart of Europe, as it did in a joint bidwith Bosnia & Herzegovina for EURO 2008.

The two countries declared theirintention on 28 January in Nagykanizsa, aHungarian city close to the Croatian border.The governments were represented by Romana Caput-Jogunica, Deputy Minister,and Zelimir Janjic, State Secretary for Edu-cation and Sport in Croatia, and AttilaAbraham, head of the Hungarian SportsOffice (NSH), who signed a declaration regarding the two countries’ cooperation.“There have been some political changesin the last decade, but all of the gov-ernments have agreed on one particularquestion: that Hungary should bid forthe European Championships and thatwe have the will and ability to stage ithere. It demonstrates consensus withinHungarian society in respect of its loveof football,” confessed Imre Bozóky, MLSZpresident. “It’s symbolic that an EU mem-ber, Hungary, and a would-be member,

Sven-Göran Eriksson and some of the English delegation in front of the famous pyramids.

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Croatia, are candidates together,” headded. Vlatko Markovic, president of HNS,was even more daring, saying, “I believethat our experience makes us one of thefavourites from UEFA’s point of view.”

Zagreb would hold the openingceremony and the first match in the tourna-ment, whilst Budapest’s renovated FerencPuskás national stadium would be the venuefor the final.

Márton Dinnyés

Top players in 2004National team captain and Chelsea FC strikerEidur Gudjohnsen was elected IcelandicSports Personality of the Year 2004 by theIcelandic Sports Writers’ Association. Twoother footballers were among the ten can-didates for the award, Hermann Hreidarssonof English side Charlton Athletic, andHeimir Gudjónsson, captain of current Ice-landic champions FH Hafnarfjördur. Gud-johnsen, who is getting closer to RíkhardurJónsson’s all-time goal-scoring record of 17 for the national team, scored four goalsin seven internationals in 2004, and his total now stands at 13 goals in 34 matches.The last time a footballer was awarded this prize was in 1987, and the player wasnone other than Eidur’s father, Arnór Gudjohnsen, who was playing for Belgianclub Anderlecht at the time.

The FA has created a special com-mittee to select its own footballers of theyear. Among the selectors are former players,coaches, referees, officials and media repre-sentatives. Unsurprisingly, Eidur Gudjohnsenwas named top man in 2004, and MargrétLára Vidarsdóttir of cup winners and leaguerunners-up ÍBV Vestmannaeyjar was namedwoman footballer of the year. Vidarsdóttirhas a good goal-scoring record for the national team, 11 goals in 14 matches, butalthough her 48 goals in 40 top-divisionmatches is an impressive return, she hassome distance to go if she wants to beatOlga Færseth’s amazing record of 228goals in 166 top-division matches.

Ómar Smárason

Bid generates enthusiasmThe Italian FA (FIGC) and, therefore, thewhole of Italy as a sporting, social and eco-nomic entity, has put in a bid to host EURO2012. The FIGC had been considering thisstep for some time and made its plansknown at the XXVII UEFA Congress in Romein March 2003. It is 25 years since the finalround was played in Italy and the 1990World Cup remains the last major footballevent hosted in our country.

FIGC president Franco Carrarodid not officially submit the bid until hehad received the unanimous support ofthe Federal Council as well as the fullbacking of the government. Prime MinisterSilvio Berlusconi immediately entrusted Gianni Letta, Under-Secretary to the Presi-dent of the Council of Ministers, with thetask of coordinating all the elements ofthe bid, which will include government action and decisions to assure UEFA thatthe tournament can be organised underoptimal conditions.

As a major tourist destination,Italy is well equipped to organise such anevent, although it has one major problemto address: its stadiums are not currentlysuitable for the demands of the Italianchampionship and European club competi-tions. They need to be completely reno-vated in order to become more modernand comfortable and to comply with safetystandards both internally and in their immediate surroundings.

Under the plans which the FIGC is currently working on, the stadiums(which are owned by local authorities)would be made over to or leased to theclubs for 30-50 years. The clubs wouldthen ensure the stadiums were adapted tomodern standards using funds loaned atparticularly favourable rates. This arrange-ment should avoid overspending and guar-antee the clubs a degree of ownership.

All 12 cities which staged the1990 World Cup have already shown greatinterest (Rome, Milan, Turin, Verona,Udine, Genoa, Bologna, Florence, Naples,Bari, Palermo and Cagliari), while others(particularly Venice) have also expressedan interest or are expected to do so. Thisshows the level of enthusiasm generatedby the possibility of hosting EURO 2012amongst a general public which is has always been passionate about and keen toparticipate in our sport.

Sergio Di Cesare

Cheque for Special Olympics teamAs part of its 70th birthday celebrations,the Liechtenstein FA decided to make dowithout presents and collect donations forthe national Special Olympics team instead.A total of just over CHF 9,000 was col-lected, a sum topped up to CHF 10,000 by the LFV itself.

The cheque for CHF 10,000 washanded over at the end of December. Athletes’ representative Sonja Hemmerleand coach Theresia Frick-Heeb gratefullyaccepted the cheque, which was presentedby the captain of the Liechtenstein footballteam, Daniel Hasler.

All the money will go directly to the athletes, since all the team officialsand coaches are volunteers. The next international event for the Special Olympics

team is already just around the corner, witheight Liechtenstein athletes due to partici-pate in the Special Olympics in Nagano (21 February to 8 March).

The Liechtenstein FA wishes all theathletes good luck and success there.

Roland Ospelt

A new coach for a better future?Our national football team, which was extremely popular not so long ago, has suffered numerous cruel setbacks and disappointments in recent years.

The 4-0 defeat against Liechten-stein on 13 October was without doubt thelowest point in the history of Luxembourgfootball.

In December, the new FLF manage-ment team, led by the federation’s president,Paul Philipp, decided after careful consid-eration to take some fairly drastic measuresto address the situation.

The first step was to terminate the contract of Allan Simonsen by mutualconsent and was inevitably followed by therecruitment of a new national coach.

The new man at the helm is formerLuxembourg international and long-time captain of Standard Liège, Guy Hellers, whosemain occupation for the last few years hasbeen to run the FLF football academy. He istherefore more qualified than anyone to assess the current situation of football inLuxembourg.

Guy Hellers, 40, has signed a contract until 31 December 2007 and willcombine his position as national coach withcontinued responsibility for sporting mattersat the FLF football academy.

Since the start of the current sea-son, Guy Hellers has made various changes inconnection with the national youth teams.The elite players in the Under-19 and Under-21 age groups have been brought togetherto form the “A1 squad”, which now trains together three times a week at the nationalfootball centre in Mondercange.

As well as the A1 squad, the FLF football academy runs the Under-13, Under-15 and Under-17 teams, which train

Guy Hellers,the newnationalcoach.FL

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between three and six times a week under theexpert guidance of qualified FA coaches.

Most current members of the A1 andnational first team squads have progressed allthe way through the academy ranks and areexpected to form the backbone of the nationalteam in future.

The FA management team is convinced that these measures will help Lux-embourg football to regain the status andrecognition it deserves in the medium term.

Joël Wolff

New statutesThe end of 2004 was more than busy, with the Football Federation of Macedonia involvedin important activities.

The second week of Decemberbrought the first part of the current domesticchampionship to a close. For the first time, FC Rabotnicki Kometal from Skopje are in thelead at the halfway stage. Local rivals and five-time domestic champions FC Vardar are closein contention.

Finally, after a lengthy process, thestatutes of the Football Federation of Mace-donia (FSM) have been completed in accor-dance with FIFA’s Standard Statutes and withthe assistance of UEFA. The final version wasaccepted and adopted by the FSM General Assembly. FSM president Haralampie Hadzi-Risteski has stressed that the new statutes willallow further democratisation, transparencyand development in football in The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, but, at thesame time, will be the basis for popularisingthe game throughout the country, especially at youth level.

Before the seasonal holidays, theFSM traditionally announces its players of theyear. For 2004, the best international playerwho successfully represents his country abroadwas named as Goran Pandev, who plays withS.S. Lazio in Roma. International Aleksandar Vasoski of FC Vardar was named best player inthe domestic championship, while the bestclub award went to the current leaders in thetitle race, FC Rabotnicki Kometal. Their coach,Gjorgi Jovanovski, was named coach of the year.And last but not least, FC Sileks from Kratovowon the fair play award. In total, awards weremade in 18 categories, and on the occasion of the awards ceremony, the FSM paid specialtribute to a great friend of football and regularspectator of national team games, the tragi-cally lost president of The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Boris Trajkovski.

Press Office

Looking towards the futureConfirmation that the Malta FA is beginning to reap fruit from its policy of laying more emphasis on the youth sector was provided by

recent results obtained by the Malteseyouth teams in UEFA’s mini-tournamentsand those of the Under-21 team in theirEuropean Championship qualifiers. MarkMiller’s team’s latest 3-1 victory overItaly’s Under-20s in a friendly match wasanother feather in Malta’s cap.

Malta’s UEFA rankings in the Under-17 and Under-19 categories are cred-itable and the fact that some other morerenowned continental nations feature lowerthan the Maltese teams in these lists willpush the MFA even further in its commit-ment to nurture youth football more assiduously.

The foundations for this positivetrend are laid on a more streamlined structure of the football nurseries in Maltawhereby high standards in technical andadministrative fields are being set and adhered to. Coaching courses and youthdevelopment programmes under the stewardship of Technical Director HorstHeese are also bearing results.

The Youth FA, a body within the Maltese federation, is doing sterlingwork in this sector. Besides overseeing the nurseries, it runs the national Under-14and Under-16 leagues, from where themost talented youngsters pass on to thenext categories up at club and nationalteam level.

Club nurseries are enthusiasticabout the mini-pitches to be built all overEurope as part of UEFA’s grassroots pro-gramme. They see this project as a well-conceived idea for bringing safe playingfacilities within close reach. The interestshown in this project in Malta and its sisterisland, Gozo, is very encouraging.

Via the Malta FA, the nurseriesare also reaping the benefits of UEFA’sother assistance programmes, which willpresent youngsters with endless opportu-nities for discovering and developing theirnatural skills.

Malta’s Under-21 captain Roderick Bajada (in white)against Hungary’s Daniel Tozser.

D. A

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Thanks to these initiatives, UEFAwill certainly open the way for the Malta FAand other member associations to explorenew possibilities for ensuring a better future for the game.

Alex Vella

Football for girls is booming The Football Association of Norway (NFF) isexperiencing a fantastic development in football activity among children. The numberof teams participating in football in 2004was 10.4% higher than the year before, andreached a total number of 23,473 teams.And it is the girls who have really discoveredthe joy of football. The statistics show that in some regions there were 50% more girls’teams in 2004 compared with 2003. In total,the number of girls’ and women’s teamsgrew by 22% in one year.

There are now more than 5,400girls’ and women’s teams, and the NFF esti-mates that more than 100,000 girls are playing football, out of a total of 400,000football players in Norway and a populationof 4.5 million. The exact number of activeplayers will be known in March.

The NFF’s president, SondreKåfjord, explains that there are three factorscontributing to this positive development in grassroots football. He believes that it isimportant that the NFF is focussing first andforemost on enjoyment, and having fun inchildren’s football; secondly, because the NFFhas set very ambitious goals for new facili-ties, primarily artificial turf; and thirdly, itaims to educate as many volunteers as pos-sible as coaches, leaders and referees. TheNFF Plan of Action for 2004-2007 points outthat there is a need for 50 new full-sizepitches with artificial turf every year to meetthe growth in activity. In 2004, 58 new full-size football grounds were built for grass-roots football, and 24 pitches for seven-a-side football, all with artificial turf.

To be able to take care of all thesechildren, and give them a satisfactory expe-rience, it is important to educate parents andother volunteers as football coaches andleaders. Last year, the NFF had more than40,000 persons participating in differentcourses.

Roger Solheim

Poland and Ukraine offer to host EURO 2012

The football associations of Polandand Ukraine have officially declared theirreadiness to host EURO 2012. The idea of thejoint bid was born about two years ago, andan agreement was signed in Lviv on 28 Sep-tember 2003 after a joint meeting of theboards of the two associations.

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“This is a great challenge. Theidea fits in with the current political climate and is very important for bothour nations, who would like to improvetheir living standards,” said MichalListkiewicz, president of the Polish FA.

The initiative of the Polish FA has received strong support from the Polish President, Aleksander Kwasniewski,and guarantees from the government. The final decision was taken by the PolishFA’s board at its meeting on 31 Januarythis year.

“We intend to host the 16 bestEuropean national teams in 2012. ThePolish FA and our Ukrainian partnersshare the same attitude in this respect.We will do our best to be appointed hostsof EURO 2012 by UEFA on 8 December2006,” said Adam Olkowicz, chairman ofthe bid committee.

The challenge is not an easy one.We will be running against countries ofgreat sporting and economical potential.Winning will surely be a very difficult task,but as former famous Polish singer AnnaGerman sang: “Success is the prize fordaring.” We really hope it will be.

Michal Kocieba / Bartek Marks

New staff for technical developmentThe Football Association of Ireland (FAI) is making a very conscientious attempt tobring the message of football to every corner of the Irish nation.

With former Republic of Irelandinternational goalkeeper Packie Bonner appointed to the position of the associa-tion’s Technical Director, it is sparing noeffort to bring the game to every level ofplayer throughout the country.

As its efforts continue to gainmomentum, the association has announcedit will be appointing 15 additional staff aspart of its technical development plan.

The association states that“eleven new positions have already beenapproved and a further four existing vacancies will also be filled to boost theassociation’s ability to increase partici-pation and develop the game in 2005and beyond.”

Packie Bonner says “the additionof new staff in key positions and the filling of existing vacancies provide theassociation with the structure to kick-start the implementation of the 2005programme.

“The additional resources will enable us to expand existing pro-grammes and, over time, deliver realbenefits to the grass roots of the gamein Ireland.

“The Technical DevelopmentPlan is about creating the best pathwaysto develop the game among all the com-munities throughout the country andwe’re delighted to add to our team ofhighly-qualified Development Officersand National Coordinators in meetingthis challenge.”

The Technical Department of the Football Association of Ireland will nowhave a staff of 39, including Regional Development Officers and National Coordi-nators, directly developing the gamethroughout the country.

“We have an excellent team ofdedicated staff bringing our programmeto thousands of participants, schoolsand colleges,” Packie Bonner goes on.

“The addition of further staffwill bring a welcome boost to our abilityto attract more people into the game.”

The Football Association of Ire-land is hopeful that it can also work withlocal authorities in the creation of newcommunity-based development officers tofurther boost the game’s development.

The key additions to the TechnicalDevelopment Plan structure are:

■ 3 Unit Managers■ 3 National Coordinators■ 3 new Regional Development Officers■ 1 physical fitness/sports science

expert■ 1 administrator■ 2 Regional Development Officers

(vacancies)■ 1 Head Tutor (Coach Education)

(vacancy)■ 1 Coach Education Administrator

(vacancy).Brendan McKenna

Cornel Dragusin, a quiet heroCornel Dragusin will turn 79 in March, buthe remains very active and deeply in lovewith his job as a coach.

An honorary coach in Romaniasince 1990, he received the UEFA Pro diplomain recognition of his work at the first Procourse run in Romania, whichhe taught. He hasattended numer-ous UEFA coach-ing courses and isstill involved incoach educationat all levels. Hiswork is alsorecognised andappreciated bythe UEFA techni-cal staff.

He started coaching in 1950 withthe youth team at the Progresul club inBucharest (now FC National), where he wonthe national youth championship in 1954before moving up to the reserves and finallythe A team, with whom he won the Roman-ian Cup in 1958/59.

During the 1960s, he alternatedbetween spells as Progresul coach andposts abroad: in Iraq in 1962 and with theSyrian national and military teams between1965 and 1967.

In 1969, he spent 45 days visit-ing some of the top English clubs: Arsenal,Chelsea and Manchester United. On his return, he wrote a book, “In Football’sHomeland”.

In November 1970, he was recruited by the Romanian Football Associa-tion (FRF), for whom he worked until No-vember 2002. During that time, he coachedthe national A, Under-23, Under-21 andOlympic teams.

Between 1986 and 1990, he wasassistant coach to the Romanian nationalteam, which qualified for the World Cup finals in 1990 and reached the last 16.

He was director of the nationalcoaching school from 1990 to 2002, a periodduring which the best players in Romania’shistory obtained their coaching licence: they included Gheorghe Hagi, GheorghePopescu, Gavrila Pele Balint, Ovidiu IoanSabau, Mircea Rednic, Ilie Dumitrescu andDan Petrescu.

Nowadays, he remains an activemember of the FRF Technical Committeeand the Managing Committee of the nationalcoaching school, as well as teaching on Pro and other courses.

He is sometimes nicknamed “theSpy” because he spent decades watchingopponents on behalf of several nationalteam coaches, providing them with detailedinformation.

Cornel Dragusin has always en-joyed a special relationship with membersof the press, who have always respected and admired him.

Admiration and respect: thesewords sum up the contribution made byCornel Dragusin to the FRF over the past 32 years.

Dan Cristea

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Michal Listkiewicz (left) and Zdzislaw Krecina, president and general secretary of the Polish FArespectively.

FRF

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Two international tournamentsThe Football Union of Russia has organisedtwo tournaments simultaneously for the sec-ond year in a row – the XIII Commonwealthof Independent States (CIS) Champions Cupand the XVII International Youth Tournament.The events, which are held in memory ofValentin Granatkin, former FIFA vice-presidentand USSR Football Federation president),took place in Moscow from 15 to 23 Januaryon the artificial pitches in the Dinamo andSpartak sports halls. Dinamo was fitted outwith new-generation artificial turf just beforethe tournaments began.

There were 16 participants in theCIS Champions Cup - all the champions ofthe former Soviet states plus the Russian Under-19 team. Russian champions LokomotivMoscow won the tournament, beatingNeftchi (Baku, Azerbaijan) 2-1 in the final.

Eight under-18 teams were invited to take part in the youth tournament – Belarus, China, Iran, Latvia, Lithuania,Poland, Russia and Ukraine. Russia beatUkraine 4-1 in the final, while Belarus tookthird place with a 1-0 win over Iran.

FIFA president Joseph S. Blatter andMichel Platini, member of the FIFA and UEFAExecutive Committees, attended the openingceremony of the CIS Champions Cup andopened the tournament by kicking a ballfrom the centre spot.

All teams were satisfied with thehosts’ welcome and the level of organisationof the tournaments in covered halls duringthe Russian winter. There was general praisefor the new artificial pitch of the Dinamohall, and everybody would like to meet upagain next year.

Dmitri Sevastianov

New women’s coach takes overSwedish coach Anna Signeul has been put in charge of the Scotland women’s team, starting at the beginning of March. She takes

22 uefadirect 3.05

over from Vera Pauw, who returned to theNetherlands in the autumn after taking Scot-land into UEFA’s first division for women’snational-team football.

Anna’s first game in charge is afriendly against Belgium on 12 March at McDiarmid Park in Perth, and she will be eagerly awaiting the next competition draw,as her long-term goal is to ensure the teamqualifies for the European Women’s Cham-pionship play-offs in 2007.

The 43-year-old Swede has exten-sive experience in European competition and had been head coach for the Swedishgirls’ teams since 1996, with the highlight ofher career being victory in the EuropeanWomen’s Under-18 Championship, as it wasat the time. As a player, she made over 240 appearances in the Swedish Women’sPremier League.

Anna said: “I am honoured to bethe Scotland women’s national coach andrelish the challenge. The Scottish FA has invested a lot of resources in women’s foot-ball and I am delighted with the opportunityto join the association.”

Meanwhile, the Scottish FA has announced it will be sharpening its focus onyouth and grassroots, and clubs have beengiven financial support for their youth pro-grammes. A ten-year Youth Action Plan hasalready started to take effect, and David Taylor, Chief Executive, said: “All of ouravailable energies and resources must, atthis time, be directed towards the develop-ment of youth football. This is essential if we are to help create a brighter futurefor the international team and raise par-ticipation levels in Scotland.”

Andy Mitchell

SFV still supporting child and youth protection When the Swiss FA (SFV) published a brochureon the theme “Child and Youth Protection in Football” six years ago, it recognised thatchildren involved in sport could be harmed inmany different ways. The SFV’s main objec-tive in producing this publication in coopera-tion with the Swiss Child Protection Authoritywas to reduce cases of sexual abuse, which

unfortunately were all too common, to anabsolute minimum. With the help of experts,this theme has been covered in depth on aregular basis in further training for coachesand club officials.

The SFV has recently been playing an active part in Swiss Olympic’snational campaign on the theme “sexualexploitation in clubs”. It has written to its1,400 or so clubs, urging their coaches tosign a comprehensive 15-point code of conduct in which they promise to respectchildren’s physical and mental integrity.

Pierre Benoit

Joint bid with Poland to host EURO 2012On 31 January, the Football Federation ofUkraine (FFU) organised a press confer-ence to officially declare its intention topresent a joint bid with Poland to co-hostthe European Championship finals in 2012.Oleksandr Bandurko, FFU vice-presidentand executive director, and Ivan Fedorenko,vice-president of the National OlympicCommittee and chief executive of the bidorganising body, were in attendance. Thedecision to submit a joint bid had been announced by Grygoriy Surkis and MichalListkiewicz, presidents of the FFU and Polish Football Association (PZPN) respec-tively after a joint meeting in Lviv back on28 September 2003.

The initiative of the FFU and PZPNis supported by the presidents and gov-ernments of Ukraine and Poland. OleksandrBandurko said that the event was impor-tant to the country as a whole; the prepa-ration and organisation of the finals wouldcontribute to the European integration,economic and social development ofUkraine.

Valeriy Nikonenko

Viacheslav Koloskov, president of the RussianFootball Association, presents the trophy to thecaptain of Lokomotiv Moscow, Dmitri Loskov.

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Anna Signeul.

UEFA

Oleksandr Bandurko (left) and Ivan Fedorenko.

FFU

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Birthdays

Josep Lluís Vilaseca Guasch (Spain), Chair-man of the Control and Disciplinary Body,celebrates his 75th birthday on 8 March. On16 March, Günter Linn (Germany), memberof the Referee Observers Panel, will be 70.Two members of the Match Delegates Panelturn 60 in March: Benny Jacobsen (Denmark),on the first day of the month, and LucienKayser (Luxembourg), on 11 March. VladimirAleshin (Russia), member of the Stadiumand Security Committee, reaches the samemilestone on 9 March. Celebrating theirhalf-centuries this month are Michail Kassa-bov (Bulgaria), member of the Match Dele-gates Panel, on 22 March, Pavel Cebanu(Moldova), member of the Technical Devel-opment Committee, on 28 March, and AlanSnoddy (Northern Ireland), member of theReferee Observers Panel, on 29 March.

Best wishes for a happy birthday are alsoextended to:

● Sergey Tatulyan (Ukraine, 1.3)● Damir Vrbanovic (Croatia, 2.3)● Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder (Germany, 3.3)● Dragan Stojkovic

(Serbia and Montenegro, 3.3)● Esa Antero Palsi (Finland, 4.3)● Boris Durlen (Croatia, 6.3)● Liana Melania Stoicescu (Romania, 6.3)● Pedro M. Aurteneche Viñegra (Spain, 7.3)● Dusan Maravic (Serbia and Montenegro, 7.3)● Branimir Babarogic

(Serbia and Montenegro, 7.3)● Jean Schiltz (Luxembourg, 7.3)● Tomás Gea (Andorra, 7.3)● Juraj Oblozinsky (Slovakia, 8.3)● Alexis Ponnet (Belgium, 9.3)● Hendrik Kesler (Netherlands, 9.3)● Ruben Hayrapetyan (Armenia, 9.3)● Joseph S. Blatter (Switzerland, 10.3)● Amãndio de Carvalho (Portugal, 10.3)● Mateo Beusan (Croatia, 10.3)● Olga Zhukovska (Ukraine, 11.3)● Jean-François Crucke (Belgium, 12.3)● Vlastibor Minarovjech (Slovakia, 13.3)● Thomas Partl (Austria, 13.3)● Jan Obst (Czech Republic, 13.3)● Robin Russell (England, 14.3)● David Taylor (Scotland, 14.3)● Alexander Chernov (Russia, 16.3)● Liutauras Varanavicius (Lithuania, 17.3)

● Christakis Skapoullis (Cyprus, 18.3)● Marcello Nicchi (Italy, 18.3)● Andreas Georgiou (Cyprus, 18.3)● Steve Williams (England, 19.3)● Rune Bratseth (Norway, 19.3)● Lambros Adamou (Cyprus, 20.3)● Aristides Stathopoulos (Greece, 20.3)● Bülent Yavuz (Turkey, 20.3)● Jim Boyce (Northern Ireland, 21.3)● Gines Melendez Sotos (Spain, 22.3)● Andrea Lastrucci (Italy, 23.3)● Stefan Reshko (Ukraine, 24.3)● Maurizio Laudi (Italy, 24.3)● Kurt Helmer Sørensen (Denmark, 25.3)● Ray Kiddell (England, 26.3)● Anatoli Milchenko (Georgia, 26.3)● Wilfried Straub (Germany, 26.3)● Kemal Kapulluoglu (Turkey, 26.3)● Konstantin Vikhrov (Ukraine, 27.3)● José Antonio Casajús (Spain, 27.3)● Armen Minasyan (Armenia, 27.3)● Mario van der Ende (Netherlands, 28.3)● Edgar Obertüfer (Switzerland, 29.3)● Stefan Ormandjiev (Bulgaria, 29.3)● Aleksei Mikhailichenko (Ukraine, 30.3)

New publications

UEFA

Match agentThe Panel for Licensed UEFA Match Agents hasgranted a licence to:

Damian McGrath – Playhard Sports3 Newall Hall MewsOtley – GB - Leeds LS21 2SFTel. +44 1943 464 297 – Fax +44 1943 851 177Email: info@playhardsports.co.uk

ALMANACCO ILLUSTRATO DEL CALCIO 2005 This sexagenarian is as fit as a fiddle. The64th volume of the series published by Paniniand edited by Fabrizio Melegari is even more

colourful than before, butwhile the photos and illustra-tions are pleasing to the eye, itis still the sheer quantity andaccuracy of the statistical datathat make this guide an essen-tial tool for anyone requiringinformation about Italian foot-ball, not forgetting the 100 or

so pages devoted to the international game.(Panini S.p.A., Viale Emilio Po, 380 – IT-41100Modena. Tel. +39 059 382 111).

KRONIEK VAN HET BELGISCH VOETBAL-APACHEN EN BROODSPELERSAfter a first volume dedicated to the pioneersof 1863-1906, the second volume of thischronicle of Belgian football covers the period1906-1914 on a season-by-season basis. The

authors, Jean Fraiponts and DirkWillocx, look at national com-petitions as well as matchesplayed by the national team,with facts and figures supple-mented by anectodes and doc-uments. Non-Flemish-speakerswill enjoy the 200 or so photosfrom the era covered, while

statisticians will enthuse over the lists of results,tables and team line-ups. (Assoc.Be bvba –Frankrijklei 8 – BE-2000 Antwerpen –www.voetbalkroniek.be).

SPORT & NATIONALITÉSLa mondialisation du sport françaisThis study by lawyers Serge and Michel Pautotexamines the internationalisation of sportscompetitions, whether in cycling, tennis orfootball. Using statistical data, they show howthe phenomenon is affecting both nationalcompetitions, such as the French and Englishfootball championships, and national teams,which are increasingly made up of players ply-ing their trade in several different countries(EURO 2004 is used as a reference). Their con-clusion: nationalism in sport is obsolete,something over which the lawyers of Polishbasketball player Lilia Malaja can only rejoice.(Legispor – 8, rue d’Arcole – FR-13006 Marseille. Fax: +33 491 57 11 60 – email:legisport@wanadoo.fr).

Upcoming events

MEETINGS

9.3.2005, NyonStadium and Security Committee

10.3.2005, NyonFutsal Committee

17.3.2005, NyonClub Competitions Committee

18.3.2005, NyonDraws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the UEFA Champions Leagueand UEFA Cup

COMPETITIONS

8/9.3.2005 UEFA Champions League: first knock-outround (return legs)

10.3.2005 UEFA Cup: round of 16 (first legs)

16/17.3.2004 UEFA Cup: round of 16 (return legs)

CommunicationsBirthdays – Calendar

we care about football The views expressed in signedarticles are not necessarily theofficial views of UEFA.The reproduction of articles or extracts of any informationpublished in uefadirectis authorised, provided thesource is indicated.

Official publication of theUnion des associationseuropéennes de football

Editor André Vieli

Produced by Atema Communication SA, CH-1196 Gland

Printed by Cavin SA, CH-1422 Grandson

Editorial deadline: 11 February 2005Communications and Public Affairs Division

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