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8.06
No 52 – August 2006
Fourth
world title
for Italy
03
Looking
towards
EURO 2008
05
Doping Control
Officers’
seminar
10
Club
competition
schedule
16
COVER
IN THIS ISSUE
Fabio Cannavaro, Italy’s captain,
celebrates his country’s fourth
World Cup victory. At the same time,
Italy took their revenge on
France for defeating them in the
final of EURO 2000.
In the referees’ camp
06
Eleven questions for Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder
09
Stepping up the fight against doping
10
World Cup: the might
of Europe
03
Club competition schedule
16
Lessons for EURO 2008
05
News from member associations
17
PHOTO: KAPPELER/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Editorial
Putting the fans first
The World Cup in Germany has ended triumphantly for Europe’s representatives, who, by occupying all four semi-final places, reaffirmed their determination to continue what has become an established tradition – barring Brazil’s 1958
victory in Sweden – of claiming the top honours on the turf of their home continent.
This success for European football is, of course,
extremely gratifying since it illustrates once again the excellent
quality of the work being done within our national associations. It is also a sign of promise for the future: alongside the
established stars, many talented young players made a major
contribution to the success of their respective teams.
Every aspect of the World Cup has been or will be
dissected, and this will provide vital information for the next
major international competitions, starting with EURO 2008, the qualifying matches
for which get under way in August.
From a wider perspective and at the risk of being slightly provocative, I could
say that, in the end, the name of the winners of a competition such as the World
Cup is by no means the most important element – without wishing to devalue the
status of world champions or the prestige and positive effects of their victory in the
competition. No, in my opinion, it is the overall impact of such an event that really
matters. The world may not have changed during the month of the tournament,
unlike during the Olympic Games of ancient times, which brought about a temporary
cessation of armed conflict. However, the month-long football fest in Germany has
enabled prejudices to be overcome, dialogue to be facilitated and, in many cases,
closer links to be forged between different sets of supporters, despite the stakes
involved. Thanks to technical progress, the festival has embraced the whole world,
with vast crowds gathering in front of giant screens to watch the matches.
Everything should be done to keep this passion alive, and perhaps the best
way of doing so is to put the fans first. Among other things, this means not letting
the commercialisation of the game get out of hand and, above all, providing highquality entertainment with teams that are not afraid to go for goal, in the awareness
that, ultimately, the success of the tournament has to be the first priority of all
those taking part. In Germany the defining images were not of troublemakers but
of dedicated fans enjoying themselves. Let us aim to keep it that way in the future.
Lars-Christer Olsson
The supporters were there
to have fun.
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EMPICS
Chief Executive
we care about football
World Cup
PAVANI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
A triumph for Italy
and a triumph for Europe!
ITALY BECOMING WORLD CHAMPIONS FOR THE FOURTH TIME IN THEIR
HISTORY WAS NOT NECESSARILY WHAT THE BOOKMAKERS HAD PREDICTED. BUT
MARCELLO LIPPI’S TEAM DELIVERED THE GOODS WHEN IT MATTERED IN A
COMPETITION WHICH SAW THEM CLINCH THE FINAL ON PENALTIES AGAINST FRANCE,
WHO ALSO MADE AN EYE-CATCHING RETURN TO THE WORLD STAGE. WITH
SEMI-FINALS THAT WERE AN ALL-EUROPEAN AFFAIR, THE WORLD CUP IN GERMANY
REAFFIRMED THE FOOTBALLING SUPREMACY OF THE OLD CONTINENT.
Even if Italy’s success was not
expected, they showed a rare solidity
throughout the World Cup. In fact they
only conceded two goals in the whole
competition, including the final, and two
atypical goals at that, namely an own
goal against the United States and a
penalty against France. This is testimony
to the soundness of the defence, which
was superbly marshalled by Fabio Can-
navaro and made light of the injury to
Alessandro Nesta, who was successfully
replaced by Marco Materazzi. The Italians
also had the best goalkeeper of the tournament in the shape of Gianluigi Buffon,
who was the inevitable choice for the
Lev Yashin prize. Even though Francesco
Totti was not at his outstanding best
owing to lack of match practice after
fracturing his fibula in February, Andrea
Pirlo was dazzling in midfield, especially
playing a key role in set-piece situations.
Up front, Marcello Lippi had a rich supply
of talent at his disposal. Even though
little was seen of certain players, such as
Filippo Inzaghi, all the strikers (Luca Toni,
Vincenzo Iaquinta, Alberto Gilardino
and Alessandro Del Piero) scored at least
once. Against France in the final, Italy
certainly struggled but they resisted
French pressure during the second half
and showed nerves of steel during the
ordeal of the penalty shoot-out. So their
winners’ crown is far from undeserved.
So near and yet so far for France
The re-emergence of France as
a leading contender was particularly unexpected given that their first two group
matches against Switzerland and South
03
SCHAMBERGER/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
SIMON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Korea ended in unconvincing draws.
But Raymond Domenech’s team grew in
stature as the competition progressed
and hit top form in the round of 16 to
beat Spain, despite the latter’s brilliant
performance in the group matches. But
once again, the Spaniards failed to live
up to expectations and bowed out prematurely. In this tournament, France
possessed a defence which was excep-
tionally sound, and in Zinedine Zidane
they had a player who had undergone
a complete renaissance. It is a great pity
that the French maestro spoilt his final
appearance and sullied his reputation
with an unsavoury action that earned
him a red card. Frank Ribery was a revelation, while Thierry Henry confirmed his
reputation as one of the fastest strikers
on the planet.
A successful World Cup
for Germany
Germany not
only staged a perfect
World Cup but
secured a fully
deserved third
place with their victory over Portugal.
GETTY IMAGES
Lilian Thuram’s
experience
was crucial to the
solidity of the
French defence.
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This World Cup
was a real fan fest,
in the German
stadiums
and virtually the
world over.
After some uneasy warm-up games,
Jürgen Klinsmann’s squad put in some
extremely positive performances,
winning over the public with their
attacking football. In their group, they
outclassed Costa Rica, Ecuador and
a very disappointing Poland. In the
round of 16, they made short work
of a Swedish team which had been
much more dynamic in previous
matches and should have done better,
with strikers of the calibre of Henrik
Larsson and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. And
they continued to astonish everyone
by disposing of Argentina – who had
been billed as the danger men – in a
penalty shoot-out in the quarterfinals. It was in the semi-final
against Italy that things got
tougher for the Germans, who,
even so, only lost out in the dying
minutes of the second period of
extra time. Even though there were
star individual contributions from the
likes of Miroslav Klose, the tournament’s top goalscorer, it was once
again the strength of Germany’s team
spirit which shone through.
Portugal, who finished in
fourth place, produced some fine
performances but, as was the case at
EURO 2004, Luis Felipe Scolari was
unable to lead his team to success in
the way he had done with Brazil in
2002. The Portuguese negotiated the
group phase without difficulty, winning all three games, before ejecting
a below-par Dutch team from the
competition in a stormy second-round
match. In knocking out England on
penalties, Portugal showed great discipline, but in the semi-final against
France, their efforts were in vain.
A penalty by Zidane overcame their
resistance, with their strike force
unable to muster an effective reply.
Another striking feature of
this World Cup was the shock defeats
of the top South American teams,
A mixture of results
Although England had hoped
at least to reach the semi-finals and
were therefore bound to be disappointed, Ukraine celebrated their presence in the quarter-finals as a historic
success, even though their subsequent
elimination by Italy came as no surprise.
Despite being knocked out on penalties
by Ukraine in the last 16, Switzerland
also had a fine run in the competition.
Shortcomings in attack caused problems, however, though the defence
was extremely reliable. But Köbi Kuhn’s
team will be out to enhance its reputation during EURO 2008, which Switzerland will be hosting jointly with Austria.
Looking at all the European competitors, the biggest sources of disappointment were Poland, as already mentioned, and Serbia & Montenegro, who
lost their three group matches and
suffered the heaviest defeat of the
tournament at the hands of Argentina.
Otherwise, the Czech Republic, despite
getting off to a good start, had hoped
to do better than be pipped by Ghana
for second place in what was undeniably a very tough group.
André Winckler
THE FIFA WORLD CUP IN GERMANY IS ALREADY HISTORY. EURO 2008
LIES AHEAD. MARTIN KALLEN, COO OF EURO 2008 SA, WAS AT THE
WORLD’S BIGGEST SPORTING EVENT AS AN OBSERVER. THE 43-YEAR-OLD
SWISS CITIZEN SHARES HIS WORLD CUP EXPERIENCE WITH US.
The World Cup caused
euphoria all over the world. What
did you think of it as an expert?
The organisers – led by Franz
Beckenbauer and Horst R. Schmidt –
have set the bar very high for us. It was
an extremely positive experience. The
atmosphere in Germany couldn’t have
been better.
What lessons were you able
to learn for EURO 2008?
Only certain comparisons can
be made. The World Cup involves 64
matches and 32 teams, whereas the
European Championship final round is
half that size, with just 31 matches and
16 teams. The most striking aspect was
the resounding success of the fan zones
in the host cities, particularly in Berlin.
The cities played an enormous role as
far as enthusiasm was concerned. What
we saw in Germany during the last few
weeks was exemplary in all respects, and
showed the way ahead. The number of
visitors – some 20 million altogether –
exceeded all expectations. The benefits
in terms of image and promotion are
immense. It was also the first time that
there was a special website for the fans, a
service that was extremely well received.
The matter of security was
a topic of great discussion before the
event. What is your assessment?
In general, there have been no
major incidents at World Cup or Euro-
pean Championships since 1996.
Fortunately, these events are turning
more and more into huge parties.
In any case, the German
police were very well prepared. They
were inconspicuous but effective.
We were mainly interested in seeing
what happened at the stadiums,
particularly at the entrances. There
were no major problems, not even
at huge arenas like Dortmund and
Berlin. This was very important for us
to see at first hand, and we think
we are working along the right lines
as far as security and ticketing are
concerned.
How did you rate the Swiss
national team?
Very positively. The excitement in Switzerland was hard to beat.
After the win against Togo, the whole
country was in raptures. There were
around 45,000 Swiss fans at the
match in Dortmund, and the support
in Stuttgart was not much less...
So finally, how many Swiss
and Austrians will there be in the
stadiums for EURO 2008?
Ticket sales begin in March
2007 and roughly 75 percent will be
on general sale. And we are reserving
20 percent for each of the participating teams per match. In Germany,
each participating team received an
eight percent share of the tickets.
A sea of red in the
stadiums in Germany for
Switzerland’s matches.
GETTY IMAGES
MILLAUER/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
with Argentina and defending champions Brazil having been among the
favourites. After making a strong start,
both teams then took their foot off
the accelerator. In the quarter-finals,
Germany wiped out Argentina’s singlegoal lead with just ten minutes of
normal time left on the clock and the
South Americans ultimately lost on
penalties. Brazil went out with a whimper to France in the quarter-finals,
seemingly unable to mount a comeback. Of the African teams, only Ghana
emerged from the group stage unscathed, but they came to grief in
the last 16 against a Brazilian team
which at that point seemed to be well
on course.
LOOKING AHEAD
TO EURO2008
05
I. SANOGO/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
HEIMANN/BONGARTS/GETTY IMAGES
Physical
preparation,
including
training and
warming up
before the
match, is crucial
for referees.
The World
Cup with the
referees
The 33rd team
THE SHADE OF THE TREES MAKES THE PARK A RELAXING PLACE.
WITH THE SUN BARELY RISEN, A FEW BRAVE SOULS ARE OUT JOGGING BEFORE
EMBARKING ON AN ACTION-PACKED DAY. THE REFEREES ARE NO LONGER
THE AMATEURS IN THE PROFESSIONAL WORLD OF FOOTBALL.
Since EURO 2000, the referees
have formed the 17th or the 33rd team,
depending on the tournament (European Championship or World Cup). They
share the same hotel, train together,
spend their leisure time together and
enjoy what may be an unfamiliar kind
of peace and quiet. The Kempinski Hotel
Gravenbruch, close to Frankfurt airport,
is hosting a delegation of around 160
people, including the 26 World Cup
referees and their 52 assistants, members of the FIFA Referees Committee,
K. LENTZ/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
UEFA and FIFA have developed
an impressive training programme both
for their respective major final rounds as
well as throughout the year. Most referees
have to juggle the demands of football
and professional life. During the season,
this combination exposes them to a hectic
lifestyle, especially as, in addition to their
day jobs and the matches, they follow
a specific training programme devised by
specialist fitness coach Werner Helsen
and his team, in addition to the courses
organised by FIFA and UEFA.
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two psychologists, coaches, physiotherapists, doctors and even an acupuncturist,
plus administrative staff and ten security
guards. The referees got together two
weeks before the start of the tournament for a period of nearly seven weeks.
They have a set programme: breakfast
between 7 and 9, training from 9.30
to 12, lunch from 12.30 to 2, with theory
sessions to follow. After that, they
can to do their own thing until dinner
time, which is from 7.30 onwards.
Andreas Werz, the referees’ spokesman,
says: “It is vital to look at various phases
of the game and the decisions taken,
whether the latter were correct or not.
We analyse them in a constructive way.”
These sessions take place in English, the
working language of refereeing, and the
officials’ linguistic knowledge has been
tested twice – a first in itself.
As responsible adults in their
late 30s/early 40s, the referees are given
considerable freedom of movement.
They have their own rooms, they have
access to a gym, swimming pools and
computers. They can take time out alone
or go on organised trips. “Even so, life in
a group implies certain rules: punctuality,
order and wearing a uniform, since we
are all members of a team,” says Werz.
The family of referees has
many different hues but the cultures
mingle easily. Greetings and good wishes
accompany those going off to referee,
congratulations await them when they
return. The vast amount of coming and
going is head-spinning but it takes place
without a hitch. The hotel staff have
entered into the spirit of things and form
an integral part of the team, performing
tasks which go way beyond the call of
duty. Enormous attention is paid just to
the task of meal preparation in an effort
to cater for all tastes.
Since EURO 2004, the match
officials have formed teams of three
from the same country or confederation.
They communicate with glances, through
body language. Being in such a team
also makes it easier to discuss any prob-
A tournament
on home turf?
“Give us a photo, Markus!”
The World Cup referees and their
assistants are training on the
pitches at Neu-Isenburg, shielded
from outside scrutiny as they are
at their hotel. The stewards, kind
souls as they are, have let a few
kids through. Markus Merk puts a
friendly arm round the children
while a physiotherapist takes the
photo. Maybe some of them will be
inspired to take up refereeing …
The ”mentors
and talents” scheme
Two of the European referees
are newcomers to this year’s World
Cup. Frank Debleeckere from Belgium,
Werner Helsen’s “guinea pig”, who he
works with throughout the year, and
Massimo Busacca from Switzerland
have benefited from the UEFA “mentors and talents” scheme launched in
2001. They were part of the first generation of European “talents”, comprising 30 promising young referees.
Some 1,500 training sessions and
200 matches later, their dream has
become a reality. With their youthful
enthusiasm, they blend in easily with
their more experienced colleagues.
They have already been part of the
referees’ team during youth tournaments and have gained experience
officiating at Champions League
matches. Although a company director
in his day job, Busacca has not been
bored during this long “sabbatical”.
“The days pass quickly, there’s always
something to do: training, video sessions, matches, excursions too whenever possible. We’re a closely-knit
team, which is crucial for building
trust. I’m learning a lot from the contact with my fellow referees, and the
mix of cultures is very enriching too.”
P. P.
Markus
Merk
As the referees prepare to
return to the hotel at the end of
the training session, they all have
a kind word for their young supporters. Some of them are trying
hard to remember a few words of
German. Apart from the countless
interviews and the kids’ adulation,
Markus Merk does not feel as
though he’s officiating in his own
country. “In every stadium, I see
only foreign flags. When the Dutch
play, half the stadium is orange.”
The German’s fourth major
tournament will also be his last,
since he will soon reach the retirement age for referees. “Since EURO
2000, back-up for the referees has
been constantly improving. It’s a
well-oiled machine. The number
of referees has also been reduced,
which gives us all more matches.
This is a positive development.”
A total of 48 potential referees
and their assistants have been in
special training for 18 months,
attending courses and subjected
to medical tests, including cardiac
monitoring, in the wake of the
tragic sudden death of the player
Marc-Vivien Foé.
P.P.
Two days before, we do less physical
work. Three days before, the session alternates between speed and endurance
training. The day after the match, there
is the cool-down session, and the day
after that is devoted to rest.”
Pascale Pierard
EMPICS
Massimo
Busacca
lems that arise and reduces the isolation
of the men in black.
Self-reliant as they are, they do
not give much away, but one thought
preoccupies them all: since only the best
of them will be kept on to officiate in
the later stages of the competition, who
will it be? Their fate is being played out
on the pitch, under the scrutiny of the
referee observers and the billions of
TV viewers who watch endless replays
of the incidents where the officials
have to take instant decisions. “If they
wish, the referees can get help from
the psychologists with handling stress,
media criticism, etc.”
Werner Helsen and his team
work until the evening to help keep the
referees fit. They are fitted with heart
monitors to keep track of their progress.
“We analyse the data immediately after
a training session and, if necessary, we
adjust the routine. We’ve been training
them for the last 18 months. They are
now given weekly programmes via the
Internet. Nine weeks before the World
Cup, they started on a special preparation routine. The sessions are shorter
during the tournament itself.” With the
extra physical effort resulting from the
heatwave, plenty of water has been
needed in addition to the mineral supplements.
This has been Helsen’s 11th
tournament in six years, but even with
his experience, his task is huge. The
referees are divided into several groups,
as are the assistants, whose programme
is not always identical. “The day before
the match, we put the focus on speed.
M. OESER/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
GETTY IMAGES
Referees
also have to
be prepared
to deal with
the media, as
demonstrated
by Horacio
Elizondo
(Argentina).
07
Playing
hard
but playing
fair.
An
afternoon
with a
difference
for the
MEPs.
Report
from Brussels
Special Olympics
To u r n a m e n t
UEFA AND SPECIAL OLYMPICS ORGANISED THEIR SECOND EU FOOTBALL
TOURNAMENT ON 21 JUNE AT THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT IN BRUSSELS. AROUND
A DOZEN SPECIAL OLYMPICS ATHLETES PLAYED IN MIXED TEAMS
ALONGSIDE MEMBERS OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT (MEPS) AND OFFICIALS
FROM THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION.
all the teams combined well despite
the mix of nationalities and languages.
It needed a tense penalty shoot-out
to separate the three teams.
Peter Vervecken, a FIFA referee
from Belgium, kindly took charge of
matters on the pitch, and enjoyed the
chance to work in a more relaxed environment. “This reminds us what football is really about,” he said, changing
back into his civilian clothes at the end
of the afternoon.
Chris Heaton-Harris, a British
MEP and member of the ‘Friends of
Football’, played in all positions on the
pitch, including goalkeeper, and again
impressed with his long-range shoot-
PHOTOS: SERGE BRASSINE
Following the success of
the first such event, which took place
in October 2005, UEFA and Special
Olympics decided to make the tournament a regular fixture in the European
Parliament’s calendar. The games take
place on a pitch directly behind the
Parliament’s hemicycle, which allows
MEPs and their assistants to escape
from their offices and see grassroots
football in action.
This year’s tournament was just
as competitive as the previous one, with
all teams running and tackling hard on
a humid afternoon. Some of the MEPs
showed that old legs could still produce
a burst of speed or a clever pass, while
ing. Before returning to the voting
chamber in the Parliament, Mr HeatonHarris used the medals ceremony
to remind everyone that “this was a
very special afternoon for everyone
involved, and another great example
of football’s unique power to bring
people together.”
For Special Olympics, the
tournament was a further milestone
in their efforts to develop a new attitude in Brussels towards people with
intellectual disabilities and their role
in sport. For UEFA, the event was
a chance to show our stakeholders in
the EU that UEFA actively promotes
the idea of sport for all, and supports
football of all levels and abilities.
Special Olympics Europe/Eurasia, based in Brussels, supports development in 57 national programmes.
By the end of 2005, more than 400,000
individuals were participating yearround in Special Olympics activities in
this region. As he presented the medals
at the end of the games, Michael
Smith, managing director, commented
that the mini-tournament with the
European Parliament and Commission
“demonstrates how sports improve
our understanding of the gifts and
abilities of people with intellectual
disabilities.” This year’s event also promoted the three-month countdown
to the Special Olympics European
Youth Games, which will take place
in September in Rome.
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Germany
3.3.1933
President of the German FA (DFB).
Eleven questions
for the Executive
Committee members
IN THE TENTH IN OUR SERIES,
GERHARD MAYER-VORFELDER ANSWERS
OUR ELEVEN QUESTIONS.
Your first contact with
football?
My first football memory goes
back a long way. It must have been
at the end of the 1930s, when my
father took me to watch our home club
Walldorf Astoria near Heidelberg for
the first time. Two players were sent
off and I remember clearly being totally
baffled at the time that they were
not allowed to take any further part
in the game.
First experience of UEFA?
This was a disciplinary case concerning a UEFA Cup match. The player
Bernd Förster had passed himself off
as his brother Karl-Heinz to receive the
yellow card which the latter had been
shown – both played for VfB Stuttgart at
the time – and it all came out during the
proceedings. Unfortunately they were
both penalised by UEFA...
A player?
Asgeir Sigurvinsson from Iceland, who I signed from Bayern Munich
when I was president of VfB Stuttgart.
He felt very much at home at VfB and
became one of the best attacking midfielders in the Bundesliga at that time.
A memorable match?
For me, the biggest match
was the 1954 World Cup final in Berne
which Germany won 3-2. As a student
in Heidelberg, I watched the match
on a small black-and-white TV in a pub.
The match had a huge effect on us
youngsters in Germany because the
World Cup victory and people’s reac-
Member of the UEFA Executive
Committee since 2000.
Gerhard
Mayer-Vorfelder
tion to it was a step towards Germany’s
reintegration in the international community
after the Second World War.
A memory linked to a
UEFA activity?
Again it’s connected with disciplinary proceedings. I was representing
one of our players and before the proceedings opened, the judge told me
that I would be allowed to speak twice.
Since I’d already asked witnesses two
questions, he wouldn’t let me argue
my carefully constructed case on the
grounds that I’d already spoken twice.
It’s a good example of how UEFA’s
disciplinary proceedings have also had
to conform to changes in civil law.
Defender or attacker?
Neither. Right midfielder.
We give you a ball, what
do you do with it?
I play football with my sons.
A town?
Stuttgart. It’s the city with which
I had the closest links as a politician and still
do as a sports administrator. It’s my home.
Detective story or economic
treatise?
What I like best is a history book or
at least a historical novel.
Sea or mountains?
I grew up in the Black Forest, so it has
to be the mountains. In the past I used to go on
a skiing holiday every year – today I still like hiking
in the Allgäu.
A dream?
A recurring dream is to win the World Cup
with the German national team. Maybe next time!
PHOTOS: UEFA
PORTRAIT
GERHARD
MAYER-VORFELDER
09
Dr Jacques Liénard,
member of
UEFA’s DCO Panel.
UEFA
UEFA
The doping
control officer’s
equipment.
Anti-doping
measures
Well-trained and reliable DCOs
THE ANTI-DOPING UNIT RECENTLY HELD THE SECOND UEFA SEMINAR FOR DOPING CONTROL OFFICERS (DCOS) IN NYON.
On 11 and 12 June, 34 current
DCOs and 11 candidates, all medical
doctors, gathered at UEFA’s headquarters
for an initial training course or refresher
course accordingly.
The agenda was a busy one,
combining practical tests, written examinations, language tests, the presentation
of the latest detection techniques and
role playing in stressful or tense situations.
The need to remain at the top
The mission is clear: UEFA wants
the best DCOs. It is taking a stand and
making no secret of its determination
to fight doping in football. To this end,
it is calling on professionals already
working for NADOs (national antidoping organisations) and national
team doctors. It wants to train them
and give them the support they need
to operate in a professional manner,
as well as helping them to pass on the
prevention message.
As well as the tests themselves, a great deal of attention is paid
to education and training.
”These are the main starting
points. You have to make contact
with the players and coaches, and
particularly with the doctors,” said
Dr Jacques Liénard, member of the
Anti-Doping Panel, who also referred
to all the work carried out over the
past two years.
Positive dialogue
Group discussions gave the
DCOs a chance to tell UEFA about
some of the problems they encounter
in their day-to-day work. What can
UEFA do to help them? What can be
done to improve the understanding
and collaboration of team doctors and
players themselves? When travelling
by air, how can boarding procedures
be simplified when luggage contains
samples? What should be done if the
tested player seals the A sample before
the end of the procedure? What if the
testing room is not up to the required
standard? What do you do if no witnesses are present when the envelopes
are opened, and so on? So many
UEFA
The DCO seminar
in Nyon in June.
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NENAD DIKIC
NENAD DIKIC
The DCO has a difficult job.
Question of mentality
Although the task seems easy,
the reality is quite different. A DCO’s
work is totally confidential. Unlike
UEFA delegates or referees, they are
not looked after by the host association
or club. They have to make their own
travel arrangements, find the stadium,
make initial contact on arrival at the
stadium, set up the testing procedure,
prepare the testing room, prepare the
draw, manage the end of the match
and the arrival of the players, deal with
the different reactions of the players,
take the samples, send the samples to
the laboratories and write the reports
to be sent to UEFA.
Mattia Piffaretti, a sports
psychologist who has assessed different
situations while accompanying DCOs,
recreated those scenarios in order
to suggest precise, specific solutions.
Although apparently simple, a DCO’s
tasks can be stressful, and this may
have a clear impact on the outcome.
According to Mattia Piffaretti, there
is a risk of burnout and fatigue and it
is important to provide DCOs with
psychological tools that can help them
to adopt the best strategies and use
as little energy as possible. It is a matter
of being an effective leader, taking
control of the situation, whatever
opposition and unforeseen events may
get in the way.
When required to undergo a
doping test, all players react differently.
Some will be assertive and sure of
themselves, others will be in a hurry, or
even worried, anxious or aggressive.
The DCO therefore needs to use the
most appropriate tool for the type of
person they are dealing with.
“When they are working, DCOs are
under constant stress; during the seminar,
the practical work concentrated on specific
situations which the DCOs are very familiar
with, but in which they might sometimes still
be hesitant,“ added DCO Dr Pavel Malovic.
2005/06
test results
During the 2005/06 season,
the 32 teams in the UEFA Champions League were all visited
by UEFA DCOs, who tested
Latest developments
Dr Martial Saugy, director of the
doping laboratory in Lausanne, described
the latest detection techniques to the
participants, explaining that the fight
against doping would, in future, involve
blood tests as well as urine tests. “Information about new laboratory testing
techniques is extremely inspiring; it is
something we need to discuss and understand,“ said Dr Malovic.
ten players in almost all cases.
None of the 423 players tested
during 43 visits tested positive,
including in the 361 analyses
for EPO, a substance used to
boost endurance and physical
strength. The club officials and
players were very cooperative.
In-competition testing
produced seven positive cases
among the 925 players tested
More tests
The number of tests will rise next
season. While 925 tests were conducted
in 2005/06, no less than 1,100 will be
carried out in 2006/07 across all UEFA competitions, including the qualifying phase
for EURO 2008, youth, women’s and futsal
competitions, in addition to out-of-competition testing.
UEFA is therefore demonstrating
its desire to promote prevention and
education. The panel will continue to pursue these goals. Its members have recently
benefited from the arrival in their midst
of representatives of the professional
leagues and FIFPro.
(including 289 EPO tests). Four
of these cases involved the use
of recreational drugs by youth
players, while two occurred
at women’s tournaments in
which players had failed to
declare the use of Beta-2 antagonists to treat asthma.
The final case concerned the
Middlesbrough FC player Abel
Xavier, who tested positive for
anabolic steroids at a UEFA Cup
match and was suspended for
18 months by the UEFA Control
and Disciplinary Body.
In recognition of his 27 years of
collaboration with UEFA, Dr Hans-Joerg
Eissmann was presented with an engraved
plaque by Dr Urs Vogel, Chairman of the
UEFA Medical Committee. Dr Eissmann was
a member of the Anti-Doping Study Group
between 1979 and 1986, Chairman of the
Medical Committee from 1986 until 1998,
expert adviser to the same committee
between 1998 and 2000 and, finally,
a DCO since 2000.
NENAD DIKIC
questions need to be answered in
order to make the whole process even
more professional.
Dr Hans-Joerg Eissmann with Dr Jacques
Liénard (left) and Dr Urs Vogel,
chairman of UEFA’s Medical Committee.
11
An emblem
for the city
FC Utrecht: a regional
reference point
MORE THAN A DECADE AFTER THE BOSMAN RULING, THERE IS A GREAT
TEMPTATION TO NEGLECT THE DEVELOPMENT OF TALENTED YOUNG LOCAL PLAYERS,
WHO ARE INEVITABLY LURED AWAY TO RICHER PASTURES, WITH OTHERS
REAPING THE REWARDS FOR THE HARD WORK DONE.
The development of players
costs a great deal of money and effort,
and disappointment often ensues at
the departure of a promising young
player, who is sometimes barely out of
adolescence.
The youth academies in France
have a reputation
PRO SHOTS/RUUD VOEST
Nassir Maachi
(red), one of
Utrecht’s young
homegrown
players.
12
uefadirect 8.06
that goes before them, but the Dutch
schools are not so far behind. Who can
forget the dazzling football played by
Ajax in the 1970s, for
example? Other, smaller
Dutch clubs can also
EMPICS
DE SWART/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
FC Utrecht cannot
vie with the great
Dutch teams but
are still capable
of shining against
them, as they
did when they beat
Ajax last season.
boast considerable achievements on
the educational and social fronts and
let nothing stand in their way in this
respect. Take FC Utrecht. Even though
they enjoy a certain status in the domestic championship and qualify regularly for European competition, they
cannot rival the three customary leaders, Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord. They
tend more towards flashes of brilliance,
for example in the Dutch Cup. However,
they do not succumb to the temptation
of recruiting masses of average foreign
players who they could immediately
put in the team because of their experience. No, in a squad of about 28 players, there are around 15 Dutchmen,
including a few from Suriname, the
former Dutch colony. A glance at the
players’ profiles reveals that most of
them were born in Utrecht or the surrounding area and started their professional careers in the club which is the
emblem of the city.
Regional identity
Koos van Tamelen, head of the
FC Utrecht academy, has a whole team
of assistants involved in training
young players in the hope that
they will play for the first team one
day. “We all do a lot of scouting and
recruitment work in the Utrecht area.
We then train the youngsters in the
hope that they will make the breakthrough with us. It’s essential for the
supporters. They love to encourage
footballers from their own city. People
who live near a player who does well
want to go and see him play in the first
team. It gives the team an identity.”
FC Utrecht has five teams for
different age groups comprising about
100 children in all: the D team (children
born in 1993/94), C2 (1992), C1 (1991),
B (1989/90) and A1 (1988). “All the
teams operate according to the same
system: 4-3-3 with a forward-pointing
midfield triangle. From the second year
in the youth A team, the best
players can join our B team,
Jong Utrecht, the “young
hopefuls”. If they do well
here, they can join the
first team.” These are not
PRO SHOTS/RUUD VOEST
PRO SHOTS/RUUD VOEST
In Daan Huiskamp,
FC Utrecht are
putting their trust in
a young player
between the posts.
A family-oriented club
With some 275,000 inhabitants, the city of Utrecht does not
have the same potential as Amsterdam or Rotterdam, but it has considerable plus points of its own and its flagship club reflects its identity.
Founded in 1970, FC Utrecht is a young, dynamic and familyoriented club. The tragic death of the player David Di Tommaso last
autumn affected the whole squad. The club will never assign his shirt
number to any other player. It organised a moving ceremony in memory
of its French player and a few months later, coach Foeke Booy said: “His
death affected us deeply. The grief we felt brought us closer together.
This solidarity worked in our favour in the league. David was very much
in our thoughts all the way through the season.”
PRO SHOTS/R. HOOGENDOORN
empty words. Last season’s squad
included a number of budding young
stars: Daan Huiskamp, Rick Kruys, Nassir
Maachi, Kees van Buuren and Dwight
Tiendalli are all only 20, Bas Mooy is 21,
Leen van Steensel 22 and Edson Braafheid 23. Most of them already have
gained plenty of experience playing in
the Dutch top flight, the Eredivisie.
Although the French academies
and Ajax, for example, also take care
of their young footballers’ schooling,
FC Utrecht does not have an official
working arrangement with the schools
but concentrates just on the football.
Based in a medium-sized city with negligible problems of delinquency or poverty,
it does not have a specific integrationorientated project. Regardless of their
circumstances, the children playing at
FC Utrecht are united by their passion
for football, a passion which keeps them
away from other sources of temptation.
“Our children speak their minds, they
don’t beat about the bush, but they
aren’t difficult. These are not problem
kids.”
Utrecht do not dwell too much
on the perverse effects of the Bosman
ruling. “Clearly we cannot keep our
youngsters when richer clubs come in
for them. It’s easy for Heerenveen,
Feyenoord, AZ Alkmaar and others to
attract our most talented players. We’re
resigned to this and we try to adopt a
positive attitude. The development of
young players in itself has not become
more difficult. In any case, our philosophy has not been influenced by this
development in football. We want our
fans to come and watch FC Utrecht,
even if there are a number of Belgian
and French players in the first team.
Our foreign players have to bring real
added value to the team, by plugging
a gap in the squad or being able to
coach young players.”
Pascale Pierard
Edson Braafheid
and Dwight Tiendalli
join forces to
block an FC Twente
opponent.
FC Utrecht’s coach,
Foeke Booy,
pays homage to
David Di Tommaso.
FC Utrecht have won the Dutch Cup three times and the Dutch
Super Cup once. Any qualification for European competition is welcome
not just in financial but also in sporting terms, as Koos van Tamelen says:
“In this way, our players gain valuable international experience, which
is then reflected in the domestic championship. Unfortunately, this season
we lost the play-offs so we won’t be playing in Europe in September.”
Even if the academy’s greatest success is the regular breakthrough of
young Utrecht players into the first team, the youth teams have also won
various competitions, such as the C1 cup in 2000/01, the C1 championship
in 2003/04 and 2004/05, and the C2 championship in 2005/06.
P. P.
13
Thomas Partl
(Austria)
takes over from
Josep Lluis
Vilaseca Guasch
(Spain) as
chairman of
the Control &
Disciplinary
Body.
UEFA/PEPLER
UEFA
J.-P. CLATOT/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Lennart
Johansson:
feeling fit
to carry on the
good work.
Meetings and
other activities
Lennart Johansson
seeks another term
THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MOVED ITS FOURTH MEETING
OF THE YEAR FROM REYKJAVIK TO BERLIN, WHERE IT MET ON 11 JULY
age limit of 70 laid down in the
UEFA Statutes.
The new terms of office
started on 1 July and, exceptionally, run
for three years, to bring them into
line with the new timing for Executive
Committee elections, which will
now take place at UEFA Congresses
in odd-numbered years.
There is no change in the
number of committees (eleven), which,
in principle, each comprise eleven
members:
■ Assistance Programmes, new
chairman Pekka Hämäläinen (Finland)
UNDER THE CHAIRMANSHIP OF LENNART JOHANSSON.
The Swede, who was elected
UEFA president at the Malta Congress in
1990, informed the committee of his
intention to stand for a fifth term of
office in next January’s elections in Düsseldorf following all the encouragement
he has received to do so, as well as out
of a desire for continuity, combined with
the energy and commitment to carry on.
Of the two associations bidding
to host the final round of the 2007- 09
European Women’s Championship,
Finland and the Netherlands, the committee decided that it wanted to allow
as many associations as possible to host
UEFA events and therefore opted for
Finland. It also approved the regulations
Pekka
Hämäläinen
(Finland) replaces
Jan Peeters
(Belgium)
as chairman
of the Assistance
Programmes
Committee.
for this competition, which will now
conclude with a 12-team final round.
The Executive Committee also
approved the Under-19, Under-17
and Women’s Under-19 Championship
regulations for 2007/08.
■ Club Competitions, chaired
by Friedrich Stickler (Austria)
■ Futsal, chaired by Petr Fousek
(Czech Republic)
■ Medical, chaired by Dr Urs Vogel
(Switzerland)
■ National Teams, chaired by
Lars-Åke Lagrell (Sweden)
Committees
and panels
The terms of office of
UEFA committee and panel members
finished at the same time as the
2005/06 season and at its meeting
in Scotland in May, the Executive
Committee decided on their new
compositions, respecting the upper
■ Professional Football, chaired by
David Richards (England)
■ Referees, chaired by Volker Roth
(Germany)
Stadium & Security, chaired
by Michael van Praag (Netherlands)
■
Technical Development, chaired
by Vlatko Markovic (Croatia)
■
Women’s Football, chaired
by Karen Espelund (Norway)
■
■ Youth & Amateur Football,
chaired by Jim Boyce (Northern Ireland)
In addition to these eleven
committees, there are the three disciplinary bodies, whose members are
usually elected for four years but whose
terms will exceptionally run until
2011 this time:
EMPICS
■ Control & Disciplinary Body,
new chairman Thomas Partl (Austria)
■ Appeals Body, chaired
by Michel Wuilleret (Switzerland)
■
Disciplinary inspectors
The European Women’s Championship is
gaining steadily in popularity, as demonstrated
by these young English supporters.
14
uefadirect 8.06
Referee Certification
■
Refereeing Guidelines
■
Stadium Construction &
Management
All-Spanish
UEFA Super Cup
Although the new UEFA
club competition season actually got
under way right in the middle of
the World Cup with the first rounds
of the UEFA Intertoto Cup and continued in July with UEFA Champions
League and UEFA Cup qualifying
matches, the official kick-off to
the 2006/07 UEFA season will take
place in Monaco again.
As usual, the highlight
of the week – during which
a number of draws and
various meetings are on the
programme – will be the
UEFA Super Cup, which will
take place on 25 August at its regular
venue of the Stade Louis II.
This year, it will be an all-Spanish
affair, with the reigning UEFA Champions
League title-holders, Barcelona, meeting
the winners of the 2005/06 UEFA Cup,
Sevilla.
It is the first time since the Super
Cup has been staged in Monaco that
it will involve two teams from the same
national association. Before 1998, it
happened twice, involving Italian clubs
on both occasions and AC Milan in each
case – versus Sampdoria in 1990 and
Parma in 1994.
Sevilla will be making their
first appearance in the UEFA Super Cup,
while Barcelona are old hands, having
already taken part four times, with two
wins (1993 and 1998) and the same
number of defeats (1983 and 1989).
The draws for the preliminary and main rounds of the
2006/07 UEFA Futsal Cup were made
at UEFA headquarters on 6 July.
The sixth edition of this
competition has beaten
the record twice over in
terms of participation,
seeing the number of
clubs taking part go up
from 34 last season to 40 this time
round, and the number of associations
represented increasing from 33 to 39.
Spain is the only association to have
two clubs taking part, its domestic
futsal champions and the title-holders,
Boomerang Interviú.
The preliminary round, which
will take the form of mini-tournaments,
involves 16 teams, six of whom come
from associations who are making
their debut in the competition: Austria,
Germany, Malta, Scotland, Sweden
and Switzerland.
The draw produced the following groups for this stage:
Group A: Futsal Mad Max
(Finland), Adana Yerevan (Armenia),
Roubaix Futsal (France), Scottish futsal
champions
Group B: Granvalira FC
Encamp (Andorra), Toligma Chisinau
(Moldova), Doncaster College (England),
Uni Futsal Bulle (Switzerland)
Group C: FC Mladost Sofia
(Bulgaria), KF Tirana (Albania), Hibernians FC (Malta), Skövde AUK (Sweden)
Group D: FK Nafta Mazeikiai
(Lithuania), Parnassos Nicosia (Cyprus),
Uni FC Münster (Germany), USC Eugendorf (Austria)
The mini-tournaments will
take place from 9 to 17 September and
be hosted by the clubs highlighted in
bold. The group winners qualify for the
main round, where they will be joined
by 20 other participants in the following
groups:
Group 1: Kairat Almaty
(Kazakhstan), Arzignano Grifo (Italy),
Slov-Matic Fofo Bratislava (Slovakia),
KMF Partizan Sarajevo (Bosnia &
Herzegovina)
Group 2: MNK Split (Croatia),
Athina ’90 (Greece), Araz Naxçivan
(Azerbaijan), winner Group C
Group 3: Sporting Clube de
Portugal, Clearex Chorzow (Poland),
KMF Alfa Parf Skopje (FYR Macedonia),
winner Group A
Group 4: Dorozhnik Minsk
(Belarus), Iberia 2003 Tbilisi (Georgia),
CC LKW Jistebnik (Czech Republic),
winner Group D
Group 5: FC Shakhtar Donetsk
(Ukraine), FC Raba Riga (Latvia),
Gödölloi FK (Hungary), winner Group B
Group 6: KMF Marbo Belgrade
(Serbia), FC Marlène Kras Ster (Netherlands), GIP Beton MTO Zagorje (Slovenia), CIP Deva (Romania)
From the main round, which
will take place from 9 to 15 October, the
group winners and runners-up progress
to the elite round, for which the top
four clubs in UEFA’s futsal rankings –
Boomerang Interviú, DFK Dinamo Moscow, Action 21 Charleroi and El Pozo
Murcia – qualify automatically.
The draw for the elite round
will be made on 31 October and the
four group winners will take part in
the new-style final round in the form
of a tournament
including
the semi-finals
and the final.
Petr Fousek,
chairman
of the Futsal
Committee,
conducted
the draw.
UEFA
■
Record number
of entries for
the UEFA Futsal Cup
UEFA
GETTY IMAGES
The Executive Committee
also decided on the composition of the
panels. They abolished the Disability
Football, External Legal Experts, Players,
Ticket Management & Distribution, and
Youth & Amateur Football panels and
created three new ones:
All ready
for the
Futsal Cup
draw.
The players of
France and Brazil
join the referees
in sending out
a message against
racism, which
the World Cup
certainly did its bit
to help eliminate.
15
After the draw,
a workshop
was organised
for the hosts
of the
Women’s Cup
mini-tournaments.
UEFA
Karen Espelund,
chairwoman
of the Women’s
Football
Committee,
announces the
results of the
draw for the UEFA
Women’s Cup.
UEFA
2006/07 club competition schedule
UEFA Women’s Cup
kicks off in August
Like last season, 43 clubs representing 42 national associations will
be taking part in the 2006/07 UEFA
Women’s Cup.
Germany is the only association with two
clubs taking part in this sixth edition: title-holders 1. FFC
Frankfurt and the domestic champion women’s club,
1. FFC Turbine Potsdam, former winners of the UEFA
women’s club competition. The third club to have won
the competition to date, Umea IK, are also in the starting line-up. Thanks to their UEFA rankings, these three
clubs, along with Brøndby IF, Arsenal LFC, Kolbotn IL
and Sparta Prague, are able to sit it out until the second
qualifying round, having earned a bye for the first
qualifying round, which will consist of nine groups of
four teams that the draw fashioned as follows:
Group A1: Saestum (Netherlands), Cardiff City LFC
(Wales), Dinamo Maksimir (Croatia), Dundalk WFC
(Republic of Ireland)
Group A2: FCF Juvisy (France), Hibernian LFV (Scotland), KI Klaksvik (Faroe Islands), RCD Espanyol (Spain)
Group A3: SV Neulengbach (Austria), SU
1. Dezembro (Portugal), Newtonabbey WFC (Northern
Ireland), Breidablik (Iceland)
Group A4: KS AZS Wroclaw (Poland), Zuchwil 05
(Switzerland), ZFK Shkiponjat (FYR Macedonia),
HJK Helsinki (Finland)
Group A5: Universitet Vitebsk (Belarus), ZNK SFK
2000 Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Gintra
Universitetas (Lithuania), ASD Fiammamonza (Italy)
Group A6: Masinac-Classic Nis (Serbia), KFC Rapide
Wezemaal (Belgium), Pärnu JK (Estonia), ZNK Pomurje
(Slovenia)
Group A7: Alma KTZH (Kazakhstan), Clujan Cluj
Napoca (Romania), WFC Rossiyanka (Russia), FK Slovan
Duslo (Slovakia)
Group A8: Legend-Chekseal Chernigov (Ukraine),
Maccabi Holon (Israel), Kokkinochovion
Famagusta (Cyprus), FC PAOK (Greece)
Group A9: Gömrükçu Baku (Azerbaijan),
Femina Budapest (Hungary), NSA Sofia (Bulgaria),
Narta Chisinau (Moldova).
(Mini-tournament hosts marked in bold.)
The first qualifying round will take place from
8 to 13 August and the second – where the seeded
clubs are joined by the nine group winners from the first
qualifying round – from 12 to 17 September. The results
of the draw for the second qualifying round will be
published in a future edition of uefadirect as well as on
uefa.com.
16
uefadirect 8.06
UEFA Champions
League
11/12 July 2006: first qualifying round, first legs
18/19 July: return legs
25/26 July: second qualifying round, first legs
28 July, Nyon: draw for the third qualifying round
1/2 August: return legs
8/9 August: third qualifying round, first legs
22/23 August: return legs
24 August, Monaco: group match draw
12/13 September: group matches, matchday 1
26/27 September: matchday 2
17/18 October: matchday 3
31 October/ 1 November: matchday 4
21/22 November: matchday 5
5/6 December: matchday 6
15 December, Nyon: draw for the first knockout round
20/21 February 2007: first knockout round, first legs
6/7 March: return legs
9 March, Athens: draws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals
3/4 April: quarter-finals, first legs
10/11 April: return legs
24/25 April: semi-finals, first legs
1/2 May: return legs
23 May, Athens: final
UEFA Cup
13 July 2006: first qualifying round, first legs
27 July: return legs
28 July, Nyon: draw for the second qualifying round
10 August: second qualifying round, first legs
24 August: return legs
25 August, Monaco: first round draw
14 September: first round, first legs
28 September: return legs
3 October, Nyon: group match draw
19 October: group matches, matchday 1
2 November: matchday 2
23 November: matchday 3
29/30 November: matchday 4
13/14 December: matchday 5
15 December, Nyon: draws for the rounds of 32 and 16
14/15 February 2007: round of 32, first legs
22 February: return legs
8 March: round of 16, first legs
14/15 March: return legs
16 March, Glasgow: draws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals
5 April: quarter-finals, first legs
12 April: return legs
26 April: semi-finals, first legs
3 May: return legs
16 May, Glasgow: final
News
from member associations
Peter Persidis, Andreas Herzog and
Josef Hickersberger watched nearly all
the group matches involving European
teams and by the final they had attended
40 matches in person altogether.
Barbara Kontner
BELGIUM
ARMENIA
New president
The proud winners of the tournament show
their elation.
The tournament motto was
“Wish a win for your school team”. The
young participants will remember the
event for a long time, especially those
that went away as winners.
Arayik Manukyan
AUSTRIA
Observation trip to Germany
During the World Cup in Germany, the Austrian FA sent a delegation
to Germany from 8 to 26 June to witness
such a massive event at first sight. Two
Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder (centre, with
Friedrich Stickler, president of the Austrian FA
on his right) receives one of Austria’s highest
sporting distinctions.
years ahead of EURO 2008, which
Austria is co-hosting with Switzerland,
the Austrians were able to see for
themselves the enthusiasm that such a
tournament stirs up, enthusiasm and
enjoyment that visitors to EURO 2008
should also experience in the two host
countries.
The World Cup final round
was a unique chance for the Austrian FA
to show the host city authorities, politicians and colleagues what an incredible
opportunity the staging of EURO 2008
represents for Austria and Switzerland.
As well as gaining experience,
the delegation also attended matches
in Munich, Stuttgart and Nuremberg,
and, of course, were also able to convey
their enthusiasm and eager anticipation
about hosting the next European Championship final round.
On the day of the opening
World Cup match, Gerhard MayerVorfelder, president of the German FA,
received one of the highest Austrian
honours that can be awarded in sport
from the state secretary for sports, Karl
Schweitzer, at a reception hosted by
the Austrian FA at Schloss Aufhausen.
This was the Austrian FA and Austria’s
way of thanking Gerhard MayerVorfelder for the personal and friendly
cooperation with which he has always
assisted the Austrian FA.
The sports department of the
Austrian FA, headed by national coach
Josef Hickersberger, was also busy
at the World Cup. Willi Ruttensteiner,
24 June 2006 was an important date in the history of Belgian football as it was the day that the Belgian
FA (URBSFA) elected a new president,
following the announcement made by
Jan Peeters a while ago that he wished
to step down from the top office.
The many people present at the
association’s headquarters on election
day were eager to know who was going to take over at the helm. However,
they had to bide their time as a general
meeting – the last with Jan Peeters in
the chair – preceded the elections that
were so eagerly awaited by the executive committee and the announcement
of the new president of the association.
Apart from its usual business,
the general meeting was also an opportunity for various figures, including
Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC),
to look back at the outgoing URBSFA
president’s term in office and to praise
his merits. In a crowning accolade, an
emotional but composed Jan Peeters
received the Great Order of Baron Laveleye, the highest award of the URBSFA.
Once the business of the general meeting was out of the way, the
executive committee embarked on the
process of electing the association’s
new president. The winning candidate
was François De Keersmaecker. It is a
fitting promotion for this 48-year-old
lawyer from Mechelen who has been
a member of the association for many
PHOTO NEWS
FFA
Coca-Cola and the Football
Federation of Armenia (FFA) have organised the first inter-school tournament in
Yerevan involving 12 schools. Over 160
boys and girls took part. The 16 teams
were divided into four groups. Coca-Cola
provided the balls and kit. Professional
referees took charge of the tough and
interesting matches. The FFA, the organisers and the local authorities thought
it was very important to ensure that the
tournament was a festival of football, so
it was played on mini-pitches constructed
with the aid of UEFA’s mini-pitch programme. The final match was played on
9 June – the same day as the World Cup
opening match – at the Pyunik stadium,
home of the Armenian champions of
the same name.
GEPA
Wish a win for your school team
François De Keersmaecker is the new president
of the Belgian FA.
17
BOSNIA AND
HERZEGOVINA
New season begins
F.KRVAVAC
The new Bosnia and Herzegovina premier league championship
kicks off on 5 August. All the teams
started their preparations for the new
season at the end of June.
Amar Osim is one of the first holders of the
Pro coaching licence in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
FK Zeljeznicar, NK Orasje and
NK Posusje have hired new coaches, in
the persons of Nenad Starovlah, Anton
Josipovic, and Dragan Jovic respectively,
and if past experience is anything to go
by, there could be a few more changes
by the time the new season starts.
NK Zrinjski were the first Bosnian
team to get going in UEFA competition
and they made in through to the second
round of the UEFA Intertoto Cup, eliminating Marsaxlokk from Malta in the
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first round, who they defeated 3-0 in
the first leg in Mostar and achieved a
1-1 draw against in Malta. In the second
round, NK Zrinjski came up against
Maccabi Petach Tikva from Israel.
NK Siroki Brijeg contested the
first preliminary round of the UEFA
Champions League against FC Shakhtyor
Soligorski from Belarus, while FK Sarajevo
and NK Orasje played Ranger’s from
Andorra and NK Domzale from Slovenia
respectively in the first preliminary round
of the UEFA Cup.
The Bosnia and Herzegovina
women’s team played their last World
Cup qualifying match against Malta,
drawing 1-1, and finishing sixth in the
group.
All the domestic junior, youth
and women’s competitions have finished.
The NK Siroki Brijeg junior team followed
their seniors and won the Bosnia and
Herzegovina championship, beating their
counterparts from NK Jedinstvo from
Bihac 2-0 at the Pecara stadium in Siroki
Brijeg. Third place went to NK Modrica
Maxima, who beat NK Zrinjski 4-1.
The finals of the youth competition took place in Bijeljina. The winners
in this category were FK Sarajevo, who
beat FK Borac from Banja Luka 7-6 in a
penalty shoot-out. The score at the end
of regular time was 2-2. In the match for
third place, FK Sloboda performed better
than NK Zrinjski and secured a 3-2 win.
The women’s finals were held in
Travnik. For unknown reasons, ZFK Borac
from Banja Luka did not show up, so
the players of SFK 2000 from Sarajevo
defended their title and beat ZNK Iris
from Zenica 6-0.
At the training centre of the
Football Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, the first intake of trainee
coaches completed the fourth term of
the UEFA Pro licence programme, and
sat their final exams. Subsequently,
the first coaches to hold the Pro licence
are Abdulah Ibrakovic, Ratko Ninkovic,
Dragan Jovic, Ivo Knezevic, Husnija
Arapovic and Amar Osim.
In a last friendly match before
the beginning of the EURO 2008 qualifiers, the national team of Bosnia and
Herzegovina will play France at the
Asim Ferhatovic Hase Olympic stadium
in Sarajevo on 16 August.
In Cetinje and Bar, the junior
teams of Montenegro and of Bosnia
and Herzegovina played the first inter-
national matches in the now independent country of Montenegro. In Cetinje,
the result was 1-1, while the match in
Bar ended goalless.
Fuad Krvavac
CROATIA
Sports act passed
Summer is always a busy time,
with lots of different competitions going
on, particularly in the youth sector.
We are proud to have staged the 54th
annual “Kvarnerska rivijera” youth tournament, the second oldest of its kind in
Europe. This year the winners were the
host team, NK Rijeka. We are also very
happy that numerous other youth tournaments are being organised covering
the U-10 to U-14 categories and that
some of them are becoming international. It is interesting to follow the talent
and performance of our boys and to
compare them with the visiting teams.
This year we paid special attention to the clubs founded by Croats
outside of the homeland. Everywhere
where larger group of Croats emigrated,
they founded football clubs. In some
countries, especially overseas, they contributed greatly to the development
of football. One of the most successful
clubs – FC NK Metros-Croatia Toronto –
came to Croatia to celebrate their 50th
HNS
years and who has already held important offices within the association for a
long time, as well as enjoying the support of the amateur football sector. His
enthusiasm was visible on his face, and
his desire to modernise the association
and to simplify the way it is run is more
than heartening.
In other elections, Roger Vanden Stock, Jean-Pierre Notelteirs, David
Delférière and Michel Preud’homme
become vice-presidents, Antoine Vanhove is the new chairman of the technical committee, and Jean-Pierre Notelteirs takes charge of the futsal committee, replacing Pierre Schiepers, who had
decided to step down from the executive committee.
We are confident that Belgian
football as a whole will benefit from this
new setup and continue to progress.
Pierre Cornez
FC Croatia Toronto visit the Croatian FA’s
offices in Zagreb.
FRANCE
National violence watchdog
French football is taking a firm
stand against violence, racism and other
forms of antisocial behaviour with the
support of the public authorities and by
means of appropriate tools.
The national violence watchdog
for amateur football has been set up by
the French Football Federation (FFF) to
record every kind of incident that occurs
in order to quantify and study them,
and, above all, in order to be able to
respond to them and prevent them happening again. The watchdog is managed
by the Amateur Football League (LFA)
chaired by Fernand Duchaussoy. The
antisocial behaviour, threats, abuse,
assaults, vandalism, acts of racism and
so on that are far too common a sight
on football fields and in stadiums are
putting football at risk and undermining
GEORGIA
We are one team
On the initiative of the Georgian Football Federation (GFF) a national
football team fan club has been set up
in cooperation with the Ultrastepcom
group. The inauguration ceremony took
place at one of the main cinemas in
Tbilisi. Besides the fans, the ceremony
was attended by the GFF management,
the head coach of the national team,
Klaus Toppmöller, government officials
and many other well-known personalities. A clip presentation of the national
team’s anthem was shown at the event.
The producers have also been working
on a documentary film about the Georgian national team. The organisers of
GFF
its social and educational role, and therefore more than justify the creation of this
instrument as part of the national fight
against violence and racism. In the face
of these phenomena, clubs, managers,
instructors, referees,
players and spectators often find
themselves powerless and helpless,
for want of training,
information and
knowledge of
where to turn or
how to respond.
By setting up this
watchdog (tested
in five leagues and five districts), the FFF
and the LFA aim to safeguard football
and all of those involved in it, to strengthen its social integration role, to provide
solutions suited to its decentralised structure (clubs, districts, leagues), to propose
concrete aid to victims of violence or
racism and, ultimately, to make a significant contribution to halting these trends.
For the purposes of the watchdog, each league and district is being
asked to appoint a liaison person to
report to the LFA. The information will
be obtained from official match sheets,
referee and delegate reports, and incident
report sheets provided to the clubs, as
well as from local press reports, casual
information and various forms of correspondence. Thanks to having access to
the federal intranet, the liaison persons
can record their information and transmit
it directly to the LFA.
After a two-month pilot phase
in ten local football organisations and
subsequent evaluation, a detailed users’
manual for the computer application was
sent to all the leagues and districts in
May. It will serve as reference material
for the different meetings organised by
the liaison persons in each region, which
someone from the LFA will attend if
necessary. The aim is to have the watchdog up and running by the start of the
2006/07 season. All the information and
reports from the field will be processed
with a view to improving the welcome
extended by clubs, providing training for
all the parties involved in football, and
giving consideration to new ways of
running and organising competitions so
as to prevent and raise awareness about
violence and racism.
Press service
FFF
anniversary. In 1976, the professional
club FC Croatia Toronto won a professional Canadian championship. These
clubs are showing great interest in taking
part in the first world championships for
immigrant clubs scheduled to take place
in Zagreb in 2007. The German city of
Essen will host a European championship
first, from which the top three will qualify
for the world championship.
Preparations for the new championship season are under way. The
competition system has been changed
significantly. The first division still consists
of 12 clubs, but from now the teams
will play each other three times. There
will now be only one second division,
composed of 16 clubs, and three third
divisions, each comprising 16 clubs.
In an important development,
the Croatian parliament has passed a
sports act. We look forward to the new
opportunities this will open up, mainly
with regard to the development of football, especially in schools, the protection
and construction of new football pitches,
as well as financing. Professional clubs
may also now be organised as commercial sports companies.
Well-established grassroots
activities are also under way, including
the “Open Fan Football School” and the
“Youth Games”.
Ante Pavlovic
A live national team mascot.
the event presented the fans with CDs
of the different versions of the clip as
well as T-shirts with the national team’s
slogan, “We are one team”. There was
another surprise for the fans – a live
wolf cub mascot was presented. The
guests and players attending the meeting expressed the hope that the twelfth
member of the team – the fans – would
heartily support the national team
driven by the conviction that We Are
One Team.
Bakar Jordania
HUNGARY
First diplomas in football
management
The first group of students
successfully passed the Hungarian Football Association’s (MLSZ) basic course
in football management last month.
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MLSZ
The football management graduates.
Thanks to a long accreditation
process between the state and the FA,
these diplomas are all approved by the
Hungarian state as well.
Many regional FA leaders and
club managers took part in the first
edition of the football managers’ course.
Given the high level of interest, the FA
will start running a second course come
the autumn.
Showing how important this
project is to the MLSZ, the diplomas were
presented by István Baranya; Ildikó Kmety,
MLSZ general secretary; and two vicepresidents, Antal Dunai and Ferenc
Nemes.
Márton Dinnyés
ICELAND
Sponsorship contracts extended
The importance of sponsorship
and marketing in today’s football world
can never be underestimated, as the
sport of football is a very effective tool
for companies to improve brand awareness and image.
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Earlier this year, the Icelandic FA
introduced a new sponsorship structure.
Sponsors are now fewer than before, the
contracts are bigger than ever, and more
emphasis will be laid
on marketing operations within the FA,
in cooperation with
the companies that now form the FA’s
group of sponsors. In recent years, the
number of sponsors consisted of over a
dozen companies, but that has now been
decreased to seven carefully selected
partners, an elite group of major players
that, together with the FA, form a very
solid team. The seven companies are
Icelandair, Vodafone, VÍS insurance,
Coca-Cola, Landsbanki, Mastercard and
the Icelandic Football Pools company.
Also, the FA has negotiated contracts
with several other companies to act as
the FA’s official service providers in their
respective sectors.
Since the 2004 season, both
the men’s and women’s top divisions in
Iceland have been sponsored by Landsbanki, and the respective domestic cups
by VISA. Earlier this year, four-year extensions to these sponsorship contracts were
signed, valid until the end of the 2009
season. Prize money in these competitions is equal for both sexes, without a
shred of doubt a unique situation in the
world of football today. Again, the importance of solid sponsorship, complemented by good marketing, in today’s competitions must not be underestimated.
Ómar Smárason
of football coverage. With support from
the LFF and adidas, all World Cup games
in June and July were shown live in the
largest cinema in Latvia. Two Latvian
television channels also showed the
matches live, with commentary provided
by national team players and officials.
LATVIA
Focus on football
at media sports event
As in previous years, the Latvian
Football Federation (LFF) sponsored the
12th Media Games held in mid-July with
a special focus on football. A total of 40
teams from nearly all the major Latvian
media went to live in tents and play a
variety of sports for three days at a venue
some 50 kilometres outside Riga. Football, volleyball, hockey, relay races, tugof-war, bobsleigh, water sports, darts,
car pulling, chess and golf were among
the sports and games played according
to specially adapted rules by the media
representatives taking part.
The event represented a break
for the journalists after a hectic month
LFF
KSI
The graduation ceremony at the beginning of June was the end of a long
process during which the 28 students
learnt how to manage a club successfully.
The course included economics, management and basic legal studies.
“Football leaders have to be
aware of their responsibilities and therefore have to learn from the western
European examples and from qualified
teachers,” explained István Baranya, head
of the MLSZ’s adult education institute.
“The FA is also aware of its role in this
process, which is why we have turned our
attention to the education of managers
as well such as referees, coaches and
physiotherapists.”
Media representatives at the stadium in Skonto.
Otherwise, the LFF board decided at its last meeting to set up a social
fund for Latvian football, as a new social
responsibility initiative. This will be an
instrument for providing financial help
for any former footballers who are now
living in difficult circumstances. Clubs
and other corporate partners of the
Latvian FA will be invited to make a
donation to the fund. Moreover, in addition to its partnership with UNICEF,
the LFF bought a number of footballs
autographed by David Beckham which
it plans to present in the area of youth
football. It is also supporting the beach
soccer tournament in the resort city
of Jurmala, where the season is now at
its peak with temperatures rising above
30 degrees.
Otherwise, the Latvian national
team is preparing for the match in Moscow on 16 August. Before that, Lithuanian clubs FHK Liepajas Metalurgs and
FK Ekranas and the Estonians of FC
TVMK will compete in the Baltic Champions Cup in Liepaja from 10 to 12 August, during which event the LFF will
also be organising a conference on club
football.
Martins Hartmanis
LITHUANIA
A tournament for children’s home
On 8 and 9 July, the Lithuanian
Football Federation brought together
300 children from children’s homes for
a tournament in Kaunas modelled on
the World Cup and staged under the
slogan “The World on the Football
Field”. Each team represented a different
national team participating in the 2006
World Cup in Germany and the youngsters (10-14 years old) wore the colours
of their respective teams.
The tournament also included
a cultural programme, with visits to the
zoo and the cinema on the agenda. On
the last day, they watched a live broadcast of the World Cup final in Lithuania’s
national stadium.
The tournament was sponsored
by the Germany embassy in Lithuania.
The winners received a glass
replica of the real FIFA World Cup.
Vaiva Zizaite
MALTA
Capping a season
In Maltese football, the 2005/06
season has given way to another tenmonth stretch which is
due to start in August
with the BOV national
leagues.
RYS/BONGARTS/GETTY IMAGES
Malta v Japan
in Düsseldorf.
It was yet another cycle full
of activity both on the field of play
and administratively. Like any other
association, the Malta Football Association (MFA) has no respite and work
even goes on more intensely during
the short interval between one season
and another.
The main honours were
shared between Birkirkara and Hibernians, with the former winning the
championship and the latter landing
the knockout competition, the U*BET
FA Trophy. The three other minor
honours in the top sphere were won
by these two teams and Sliema Wanderers.
A minimal 1-0 defeat at the
hands of Japan in a friendly match
early in June helped Malta’s national
team end the season on a hopeful
note, just as they had started it when
they held Croatia and Bulgaria to 1-1
draws in the 2006 World Cup qualifying matches.
Two 2-1 defeats against
Georgia in a European Championship
play-off brought an end to the only
competitive commitments for the
Malta Under-21 team during the year.
On the other hand, several satisfactory results obtained in overseas
competitions by the island’s national
youth teams in different categories
suggest that these youngsters are
being groomed along proper lines.
The MFA annual general
meeting in late July brought the administrative curtains down for the
season.
The stage is now set for
2006/07, a season which promises to
open new horizons in the various
sectors of Maltese football, as a number of technical and infrastructural
projects are in the pipeline.
Alex Vella
MOLDOVA
Moldova Cup gets bigger
The 7th Moldova FA International Football Tournament – otherwise known as the FA of Moldova
Cup – was dedicated to the 15th
anniversary of the independence
of the Republic of Moldova.
This time the number of
participating teams was
increased to six. Apart from the host
nation, the other participants were
the Under-17 national teams of Azerbaijan, Belarus, Cyprus, Romania and
Ukraine. Moldova and Romania met
in the final for the second time. It was
time for Romania to take their revenge on Moldova, who won the final
five years ago in a penalty shoot-out,
which they did in spectacular style,
winning 5-1.
The players of the tournament were: Usman Umarov (goalkeeper), Azerbaijan; Paschali Michalis
(defender), Cyprus; Stanislav Pricinenko (mildfielder), Ukraine; Vitalii
Rusnitschii (striker), Belarus; Marius
Alexe (leading scorer), Romania and
Ion Leagu (best player), Moldova.
The awards ceremony was
attended by Valery Tchoukri, head of
the FIFA development office in Moscow, who said: “It is worth mentioning that the importance and value
of this tournament have grown enormously, as shown by the fact that
many countries now want to take part
in this tournament. I am also pleased
to see that the training and development level of young football players
from the competing countries has
increased.”
In other news, the following
events have been held in Moldova
as part of the UEFA Summer of Grassroots Football:
– the Gugutsa U-14 and U-15
competitions, in which 5,000 children
participated. The preliminary competitions were played in April and May.
The finals were held in the city of Balti
from 15 to 19 May, in which 148 children competed.
– the Gugutsa U-12 and U-13
competitions, again involving 5,000
children. The preliminary competitions
were played in April and May. The
finals were held in the city of Drochia
(situated in the north of Moldova)
from 31 May to 4 June, with 132 children taking part.
Both of the above-mentioned
competitions attracted great interest
from the local authorities. And with
their help we were able to run these
events with a holiday atmosphere.
All participants received gifts from
UEFA and the FA of Moldova.
Vasile Vatamanu
and Ghenadie Scurtul
21
ROMANIA
FRF
Given the complexity of today’s
football and the context of Romanian club
football, in which a lot of foreign coaches
work with their own technical staff (including physios from various football schools),
the federal coaching school of the Romanian FA felt the need to take action.
Under the leadership of Dr Viorel
Cojocaru, professor at the national sports
academy and also secretary of the Romanian FA’s technical committee, the first
course for professional physiotherapists
was organised. The aim was to train Romanian physios who are able to develop
and to run training sessions and turn them
into professional football physiotherapists.
The school decided to organise
the course in 30 eight-hour modules consisting not only of classroom lessons but
also practical sessions, led by some experienced foreign physios, such as Jacques
Devismes, Marco Onetto and Diego Longo.
Some of the classroom teaching was also
provided by experienced coaches. In addition, the physios watched several videos
and took part in several training sessions
of Bucharest first division clubs.
The first course of its kind for physios.
As a result, 27 physios graduated with flying colours. They join the
two physios who graduated from a similar
course in Coverciano as Romania’s first
professional physios. Other courses are
now planned.
Paul Zaharia / Viorel Cojocaru
SERBIA AND
MONTENEGRO
A historical meeting
On 28 June, the FA of Serbia and
Montenegro held its last general meeting in Belgrade in its current composition
comprising the Football Association of
Serbia and the Football Association of
Montenegro and adopted a decision to
dissolve this association. In this way, football followed the political will expressed
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uefadirect 8.06
The 2006 World Cup final round was the swan song
of the national team of Serbia and Montenegro.
by the people of Montenegro on 21 May
in favour of independence and the creation of a state of their own.
All the delegates present – 24
from the FA of Serbia and 13 from the
FA of Montenegro – voted for the dissolution of the former FA of Serbia and Montenegro, leaving in its wake two separate
football associations, the FA of Serbia and
the FA of Montenegro. On a political and
sporting level, the FA of Serbia is the legal
successor of the former FA of Serbia and
Montenegro. The FA of Montenegro has,
however, already applied for membership
of FIFA and UEFA.
On this basis, the national team
of Serbia will play in the EURO 2008
qualifying round in Group 1. Their first
match is scheduled for 2 September
against Azerbaijan in Belgrade. Meanwhile, Serbia’s first friendly match will
be on 16 August, when they play the
Czech Republic in Prague.
The dissolution of the old association was easy and peaceful. Football
officials understand and respect the will
of the people of Montenegro. The union
of Serbia and Montenegro succeeded
the old Yugoslav federation which was
founded on 19 April 1919. Now, nothing
remains of Yugoslavia and every former
republic has an independent football association and national team.
The last president of the FA of
Serbia and Montenegro, Tomislav Karadzic,
said: “I am glad that we finished everything in a very professional manner. We
had some success but also some disappointing situations. Maybe we could have
done something better in the World Cup
in Germany, but we could not fulfil our
expectations. I wish both sides all the
best and many happy times in the future.
We will maintain our close and good relationships.”
The president of the FA of Serbia
is Zvezdan Terzic, a former OFK Belgrade
midfielder and director. His counterpart in
the FA of Montenegro is Dejan Savicevic,
a former international midfielder who
also played for FK Buducnost Podgorica,
EMPICS
First course for physios
FK Crvena zvezda, AC Milan and Rapid
Vienna. Both new association presidents
have terms that run until 2009.
At the last joint general meeting,
a FIFA/UEFA delegation headed by UEFA
vice-president Per Ravn Omdal was also
present, and Omdal said:
“We are delighted to have seen
such friendly and highly professional proceedings. Serbian-Montenegrin football
has given so many brilliant players and
results to European and world football and
I am sure that both sides will have success
in the future. We are ready to help and
support both football associations.”
Aleksandar Boskovic
TURKEY
Football villages
The Turkish Football Association
(TFA) is starting a very important project
with the help of the government and
ministry of education. The association is
going to set up football villages in several
parts of Turkey where children can get
football training in the summer months.
The project will first start in the eastern
regions of Turkey before moving further
west. In the first year, the TFA is planning
to reach around 500-600 children.
The Turkish national team will play
an away friendly game against Georgia on
7 February 2007 in Tbilisi. The Under-21s
will also play a friendly on the same day.
The Under-16 national team took
part in the traditional Viktor Bannikov
tournament in Ukraine and finished fourth
in the friendly tournament.
A UEFA delegation conducted a
site visit to the Fenerbahce Sukru Saracoglu
stadium, which is a candidate to host the
2008 UEFA Cup final. The delegation had
meetings with officials from the TFA, the
local authorities, the police, Fenerbahce
club and the airport authorities.
The TFA invited Turkish international
referees and referee committee members
for the FIFA World Cup final on 9 July.
Ilker Ugur
UEFA
Communications
Birthdays – Calendar
Birthdays
Ioannis Economides (Greece), member
of the Futsal Committee, celebrates his
60th birthday on 23 August.
Also celebrating birthdays in August
are:
● Theodore Theodoridis (Greece, 1.8)
● Sheila Begbie (Scotland, 1.8)
● Süheyl Önen (Turkey, 2.8)
● Philippe Diallo (France, 2.8)
● Andreas Schluchter (Switzerland, 3.8)
● Lamberto Perugia (Italy, 5.8)
● Yehuda Wilk (Israel, 5.8)
● Konstantin Eremenko (Russia, 5.8)
● Piet Hubers (Netherlands, 6.8)
● Stefano Braschi (Italy, 6.8)
● Pierino Lardi (Switzerland, 7.8)
● Peter Donald (Scotland, 8.8)
● Plarent Kotherja (Albania, 8.8)
● Nico de Pauw (Belgium, 8.8)
● Pierre Schiepers (Belgium, 9.8)
● Odd Flattum (Norway, 9.8)
● Roy Hodgson (England, 9.8)
● Heinz Fahnler (Austria, 10.8)
● Keith Burge (Wales, 10.8)
● Ettore Mazzilli (Italy, 10.8)
● Dr Urs Vogel (Switzerland, 11.8)
● Jean-Marc Puissesseau (France, 13.8)
● Roger Vanden Stock (Belgium, 13.8)
● Joseph Mifsud (Malta, 13.8)
● Cornel Cristian Bivolaru (Romania, 13.8)
● Jacques Lagnier (France, 16.8)
● Alan Hutchings (England, 16.8)
● Dane Jost (Slovenia, 18.8)
● Vitalijs Liholajs (Latvia, 19.8)
● Patricia Gregory (England, 19.8)
● Hans Reijgwart (Netherlands, 19.8)
● Frantisek Laurinec (Slovakia, 19.8)
● Per Ravn Omdal (Norway, 20.8)
● Carmelo Bartolo (Malta, 21.8)
● Kazimierz Oleszek (Poland, 22.8)
● Geoffrey Thompson (England, 23.8)
● Enrique Gonzalez Ruano (Spain, 24.8)
● Nicolae Grigorescu (Romania, 24.8)
● Thomas Slosarich (Denmark, 24.8)
● Josef Poucek (Czech Republic, 25.8)
● Giancarlo Abete (Italy, 26.8)
● Regina Konink-Belksma
(Netherlands, 26.8)
● Karl Hopfner (Germany, 28.8)
Joseph McGlue (Republic of Ireland, 28.8)
Askar Akhmetov (Kazakhstan, 28.8)
Pedro Manuel Correia Magro
(Portugal, 30.8)
● Paulo Sousa (Portugal, 30.8)
● Christer Fällström (Sweden, 31.8)
● Aivaz Kaziakhmedov (Russia, 31.8)
● Pedro Dias (Portugal, 31.8)
●
●
●
Upcoming events
Meetings
23.8.2006, Monaco
Club Competitions Committee
24.8.2006, Monaco
Draw for the UEFA Champions League
group matches
25.8.2006, Monaco
Draw for the first round of the UEFA Cup
29-31.8.2006, Nyon
Seminar for Elite Referees
30.8.2006, Nyon
Seminar for Assistant Referees
31.8-1.9.2006, Nyon
Elite Club Coaches’ Forum
Competitions
1-2.8.2006
UEFA Champions League: second
qualifying round (return legs)
8-9.8.2005
UEFA Champions League: third qualifying
round (first legs)
8-13.8.2006
UEFA Women’s Cup: first qualifying round
10.8.2006
UEFA Cup: second qualifying round
(first legs)
22-23.8.2006
UEFA Champions League: third qualifying
round (return legs)
24.8.2006
UEFA Cup: second qualifying round
(return legs)
25.8.2006, Monaco
UEFA Super Cup
Notices
■ On 19 June, the executive committee of the Albanian FA appointed
Roland Mici as the new general
secretary of the association. His predecessor, Arben Bici, becomes head
of the international department.
■ On 24 June, the Belgian FA
elected a new president, François
De Keersmaecker.
■ On 28 June, the FA of Serbia and
Montenegro was officially dissolved.
The new FA of Serbia is its legal
successor.
■ Antonio Di Sebastiano is the
new general secretary of the Italian
Football Federation.
Match agents
The Licensed UEFA Match Agents Panel
has granted licences to:
Iñigo Ocariz Gaubeca
Go Sport S.L.
Errebitarte, 7 – 1° Dpto 6
ES-48930 Getxo
Spain
Tel.: +34 944632286
Fax: +34 944022995
Mob +34 600927029
Email: [email protected]
Mohamed Segueni
L’AJAACS
Maison Q. Kennedy
Rue André Faucher
FR-28100 Dreux
France
Tel.: +33 237642181
Fax +33 237642181
Mob +33 629469732
Email: [email protected]
Ignacio Funes
Sports & Stages, Sport Tourism S.L.
Nestor de la Torre, n° 5
ES-35006 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Spain
Tel.: +34 609530813
Fax: +34 902364474
Email: [email protected]
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