Including - UEFA · 2015. 4. 10. · No 58 – Février 2007 6.09 No 86 – June 2009 Interviú Madrid win the UEFA Futsal Cup 03 Seminars for referees and mentors in Nyon 12 EURO

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UEFAdirect-86•E 15.5.2009 16:12 Page 1

A mix of nostalgia and anticipation

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Looking ahead to the U21 final round in Sweden 05

Croatia gets ready to host the UEFA Regions’ Cup 06

Women’s U17 championshipreturns to Nyon 07

Commemorative book for the centenary of the Romanian FA 10


News from memberassociations 16

This season’s European youth cham-pionship final rounds got under way inMay. The Under-17 men’s teams kickedoff first (Germany v Turkey), followed by the Under-17 women and finally the Under-19 men and women.Photo: Radloff/Bongarts/Getty Images

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Messageof the presidentThe run-up to this May's club competition finals was tinged with nostalgia.

While Istanbul prepared to host the last UEFA Cup final before the competition's rebirth as the UEFA Europa League, the long tradition of Wednesday evening finals inthe champions' competition would come to an end a week later at the Olympic Stadium in Rome.

This air of nostalgia brought back a host of memories as we recalled thecourage and perceptiveness of those who launched these competitions at a timewhen travelling around Europe was still a great adventure, the wisdom of the administrators who knew how to develop these competitions and gradually adaptthem to new conditions and demands, and, of course, the memorable matches and the exploits of the players who have written the history of these competitionsand acquired worldwide renown in the process.

However, although football feeds on nostalgia, it does not depend on it:what makes it move forward and keep on developing is the thrill of new challenges,a sensation that was also felt at the finals in Rome and Istanbul, in anticipation of the changes that are set to give fresh impetus to our club competitions.

In the Champions League, moving the final from Wednesday to Saturday reflects the extraordinary importance of UEFA’s flagship club competition. In its tentative early years, no one would ever have contemplated “stealing” a weekendfrom the national leagues' calendars for the European Cup. Nowadays, however, the Champions League plays a huge role in the domestic league season, especially in larger countries, where the fact that several clubs qualify means that the battle for places often continues right to the last. The Champions League final therefore deserves to be the climax of a week-long festival of football. The decision to open the competition up to more national champions should also increase its impact, justas the new Europa League should enable a broader range of teams to make theirmark on the European stage.

Always striving to do better: what better way of paying tribute to those wholeft us the valuable legacy of the UEFA club competitions?

Michel PlatiniUEFA President


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UEFA Futsal Cup

WITH A COMFORTABLE VICTORY AGAINST RUSSIAN HOSTS

MFK VIZ-SINARA EKATERINBURG, INTERVIÚ MADRID WON THE UEFA

FUTSAL CUP FOR A RECORD THIRD TIME.

The finals took place from 24 to 26 April in Ekaterinburg, in thefoothills of the Ural Mountains, withholders MFK Viz-Sinara Ekaterinburgdefending their title on home territo-ry and their fans turning out in suchnumbers they almost filled the4,600-capacity Palace of Sport.

Four finals and three titlesOnly once in the competition’s

eight-year history has a club lifted thetrophy at home. It was in 2003, whenPlayas de Castellón FS also became theonly defending champions to retaintheir title.

Unfortunately for Ekaterin-burg, Castellón’s records remain intact

after this year’s final, in which Spain’s Interviú Madrid beat the hosts and

defending champions 5-1, after hav-ing reached an unprecedented fourthfinal by defeating Kairat Almaty ofKazakhstan 5-0 in their semi-final. In the other semi, Ekaterinburg went

through after a tense 2-0 win over com-patriots MFK Dinamo Moskva.

Interviú’s top-class team gave ittheir all in terms of strength, knowledgeand skill to notch up five goals in the final (Daniel (2), Jordi Torràs, Schuma-cher and Juanra) and ensure that thetrophy would go to Spain for the fifthtime in eight years.

The Interviú players’ experiencein big international finals, for club and

country, proved too much for Ekaterin-burg. With this victory, Interviú move a title ahead of the only other repeatwinners, Spanish rivals Castellón. In thethird-place play-off, outsiders Kairatcreated an upset with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Dinamo Moskva.

Revamped teamJuan Luis Alonso, who took

over as Interviú coach at the start ofthe season, had every reason to beproud of his team: “It’s always specialto win a European title, especially aswe had revamped the team since lastyear, with six new players and a newcoach. The club had been very braveto make such changes, so we are allvery happy about this victory. It is myhappiest day as a futsal coach.”

Sergei Skorovich, Ekaterin-burg’s coach, was also satisfied with

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The public turned out in force to watch the final round.

Jordi Torras (in green, Interviú Madrid), up against Aleksei Mokhov (MFK Viz-Sinara Ekaterinburg) in the final.

CarlosMontovanelli (in red, KairatAlmaty) and AleksandrRakhimov(DinamoMoskwa) in the third-place play-off.

Next edition of the UEFA Futsal CupThe draw for the preliminary and main qualifying rounds

kicks off the 9th UEFA Futsal Cup on 2 July in Nyon.The preliminary round will be played in mini-tourna-

ments from 15 to 23 August.The main qualifying round of mini-tournaments then

runs from 26 September to 4 October, followed by a second drawon 13 October to determine the mini-tournament groups for the elite qualifying round, to be staged from 14 to 22 November.

The draw for the Futsal Cup finals will be held at the beginning of March 2010, with the four qualifying teamsscheduled to compete for the title from 22 to 25 April. The format for the final round stays the same, meaning the semi-finals, third-place play-off and final will all be contested in the same city.

European Futsal Championship

■ The 2009/10 European Futsal Championship also culmi-nates next year. The final round takes place in Hungary from

19 to 30 January, when the hosts welcome the nationalteams of Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Czech Republic, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia andUkraine. This will be the first time that the final round

of the competition has featured 12 teams.The final round draw is being held in Debrecen, Hungary,

on 24 September.

■ Four national associations have expressed an interest inhosting the 2011/12 European Futsal Championship: Belgium,Croatia, FYR Macedonia and Slovenia. They have until 15 Octo-ber to enter their bids. These will be evaluated and submitted to the Futsal and Beach Soccer Committee, which will then makea recommendation to the Executive Committee, for a decision in spring 2010.

the performances of his young, home-grown team: “My team tried hard andthat makes me happy. I can say that it is a great feeling to play in the finalsand in the final itself. We reached it through our own hard work. I con-gratulated my players after the matchand said they did a good job andcould be proud of themselves.”

24.04 Semi-finalsKairat Almaty v Interviú Madrid 0-5Ekaterinburg v Dinamo Moskva 2-0

26.04 Third-place play-offKairat Almaty v Dinamo Moskva 1-0

FinalInterviú Madrid v Ekaterinburg 5-1

At the end, all the teams andofficials who attended the finalsagreed on one thing: they were happywith the organisation of the tourna-ment and particularly pleased to seethat the host city of Ekaterinburg ishugely passionate about futsal. Seeingso many children playing was defini-tely an example to everyone. MFK Viz-Sinara Ekaterinburg runs a futsalacademy for some 600 young players!

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Juanra cherishes the trophy after Interviú Madrid’s third triumph in the UEFA Futsal Cup.

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… Sweden,Italy, Belarusand Serbia.

At the final rounddraw: the representativesof England,Finland,Germany, Spain…

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The host cities of Gothenburg,Halmstad, Helsingborg and Malmö, as wellas the entire local organising committee,have all been putting in an enormousamount of work, dedication and enthusi-asm to make sure the teams and the fanshave an enjoyable fortnight.

100,000 tickets already soldThe eight teams are divided

into two groups, with Sweden in Group Ain Malmö/Helsingborg along with Italy, Serbia and Belarus. Group B, playing in Gothenburg/Halmstad,involves Spain, Germany, Englandand Finland.

The group matches takeplace from 15 to 23 June, the semi-finals on 26 June in Gothenburg, and thefinal on 29 June in Malmö.

By late April, 100,000 tickets had already been sold for the 15 matches,and with many weeks still to go before the matches kick off, the scene is set for a celebration of football during bright Juneevenings.

The venuesThe Malmö New Stadium

was built in 2008 and has a capacity of21,000 seats.

Sweden's third-largest city is amodel of sustainable urban developmentand was named the fourth greenest city in the world by Grist Magazine in 2007.Several neighbourhoods have been trans-formed using innovative, eco-friendly design, exemplified by the 190m highTurning Torso, a spectacular twisting skyscraper in the city centre.

Main football club: Malmö FF

The Olympia Stadium in Helsingborg was built in 1898 and has a capacity of 12,500.

Situated at Sweden's closest point to Denmark, with Elsinore clearly visible 4km away on the other side of the Öresund Strait, Helsingborg remains

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European Under-21 ChampionshipF o o t b a l l c e l e b r a t i o n i n S w e d e n

THIS JUNE, THE FOCUS OF EUROPEAN FOOTBALL SHIFTS TO THE SOUTHWEST OF SWEDEN, WHERE THE FINAL ROUND

OF THE 2007/09 EUROPEAN UNDER-21 CHAMPIONSHIP WILL TAKE PLACE FROM 15 TO 29 JUNE.

one of the most important ports in Europe.In football terms, Helsingborg shares ahealthy rivalry with regional rivals Malmö FF.The Olympia is one of the oldest footballgrounds in Sweden, but has been mod-ernised regularly over the years.

Main football club: Helsingborgs IF

The Örjans vall stadium in Halmstad was built in 1922 with a capa-city of 7,500

Halmstad’s long and picturesquecoastline, with the famous Tylösandbeach, have made the city a popularsummer destination for Swedish andforeign holidaymakers alike. Halm-stad is also something of a Swedish

golf capital. There are 12 courses in andaround Halmstad, offering the opportunityto play long into the bright summerevenings. The Örjans vall football stadiumis steeped in football tradition and hasbeen renovated many times since it wasfirst built.

Main football club: Halmstads BK

Gamla Ullevi was built in 2008and has a capacity of 16,700 seats.

Industry and finance have beenthe focus for Sweden's second largest citysince it was founded in the 17th century.

While such sectors are still important for Gothenburg, tourism is also growing,and Liseberg – the biggest attraction inthe city – was named one of the top tenamusement parks in the world by ForbesMagazine in 2005.

Main football clubs: IFK Göte-borg, GAIS, Örgryte IS, BK Häcken

Fan zones and midsummer celebrations

There will also be plenty of entertainment for fans off the field. Allfour cities will have special fan zonesfilled with activities and with giantscreens broadcasting matches played inthe other cities. The biggest challenge for the organisers will be to attract fansto the two matches played in Malmö andHelsingborg on 19 June. That day hap-pens to be Midsummer’s Eve, the biggestholiday in the Swedish calendar, whenSwedes traditionally celebrate with familyand friends in the countryside. Malmö is planning a special midsummer party for fans of Serbia and Belarus, while Helsingborg will welcome ticket-holdersfor Sweden v Italy to the city’s traditionalmidsummer festivities in the grounds of the Fredriksdal museum.

Sujay Dutt

The stadium inGothenburg hopes to see a lot of exciting action.

Malmö New Stadium, the venue for the final.


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Jim Boyce, vice-chairman of the Youth andAmateur FootballCommittee,announces theresult of the draw at MihanoviçCastle.

The team representativeswith the organisers.

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UEFA Regions’ Cup

CROATIA IS HOSTING THE FINAL ROUND OF THE 6TH UEFA REGIONS' CUP,

WHICH TAKES PLACE THERE FROM 15 TO 22 JUNE.

The participants are the eightbest regional amateur teams of Europe,which were drawn into the following two groups at the draw held in TuheljskeToplice on 23 April:

Group A: Football Centre Zagreb(Croatia), Bratislava Region FA (Slovakia),Privolzhie (Russia) and Oltenia (Romania)

Group B: Podrucni fudbalskiSavez Gradiska (Bosnia-Herzegovina),Kempen (Belgium), Republic of IrelandRegion 1 (Ireland) and Castilla y León(Spain)

It will be the first time that theCroatian Football Federation has hosted aUEFA final round.

“This is a great and prestigiouscompetition in a sport which, both inCroatia and in most other Europeancountries, is the most popular one. Sinceour country achieved its independence,Croatia has missed out on taking part in amajor tournament only once (EURO2000), which makes us one of the great-est football nations in the world. One of

the reasons for that success is certainlythe fact that football in Croatia is playedand loved by everyone, from amateur toprofessional level. I am certain that thiscompetition will prove that amateurfootball is the foundation and extremelyimportant prerequisite for top footballachievements and results,” said VlatkoMarkovic’, president of the CroatianFootball Federation, adding that theeight teams in question will have achance to confirm that.

Sports traditionCroatia is a tourist country with

great cultural and sports traditions.There is no doubt that all those involvedin the preparation of this sporting eventare going to do their utmost to ensurethat all the participants enjoy their stayand that the quality of the organisationis of the highest possible standard. Allthe participants will be accommodated

in well-known Croatian tourist destina-tions: one group in Tuheljske Toplice, at the Terme Tuhelj hotel, and the otherin Stubicke Toplice, at the Matija Gubechotel. Both destinations are locatedabout 50km or a 45-minute drive fromZagreb international airport. We areconfident that our guests will have apleasant and comfortable stay.

Besides excellent hotel services,the teams will be provided with all the necessary technical facilities. They will have training fields within 15 minu-tes of their respective hotels. Thematches will be played at smaller stadi-ums used by the Croatian first and second division teams from the Zagrebregion in the towns of Vrbovec, Jastrebarsko, Samobor, Velika Gorica,Lucko and Zapresic, the latter beingchosen to host the final match on 22 June.

“The Croatian Football Federa-tion, as the umbrella organisation ofCroatian football, has taken all neces-sary measures in order to stage thisUEFA tournament at the highest leveland to the great pleasure of all partici-pants. We are taking care of the tiniestdetails, and as far as the organisationalaspect is concerned, the tournamentcan already start tomorrow,” saidZorislav Srebric from the local organisingcommittee, also general secretary of theCroatian Football Federation.

Davor Gavran

Match Schedule15.06 Vrbovec Zagreb v Bratislava

Velika Gorica Privolzhie v OlteniaZapresic Region 1 v Castilla y LeonLucko Gradiska v Kempen

17.06 Samobor Gradiska v Region 1Velika Gorica Bratislava v OlteniaJastrebarsko Kempen v Castilla y LeonLucko Zagreb v Privolzhie

20.06 Vrbovec Bratislava v PrivolzhieSamobor Kempen v Region 1Velika Gorica Oltenia v ZagrebJastrebarsko Castilla y Leon v Gradiska

22.06 Zapresic Final

Final round heads to Croatia for the first time


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The unexpectedly high number ofspectators who attended the four matches(2,900 in all) and the positive feedbackfrom all participants encouraged theUEFA administration to strengthenits efforts in all areas in order toheighten the appeal of this event for everyone, with the ultimate goalof attracting more spectators thanlast year.

Immediately after the final whistleof the last championship, and with thenew challenges in mind, the UEFA adminis-tration started preparing for the next edi-tion and has already achieved many of itsgoals.

Reto Ziegler, who started his foot-ball career in the Nyon region, will act asthe tournament ambassador. He is current-ly playing at Sampdoria in Italy’s Serie A, as well as for the Swiss national team. In 2002, he took the decisive penalty kickthat gave the Swiss Under-17 nationalteam the European championship crown.He has agreed to help to promote thetournament and will be available for inter-views and an autograph session on the final day.

Getting schools involvedSince the spectator target group

is schoolchildren, three of the four matcheshave been scheduled during school time.UEFA is very pleased that two important institutional partners – the cantons of Vaudand Geneva – have agreed to help us inour efforts to attract school classes to thematches. By means of an official letter,

Women’s Under-17 final round in Nyon

A l l t h e a c t i o n o n t h e d o o r s t e p o f t h e H o u s e o f E u r o p e a n F o o t b a l l

LAST YEAR’S FINAL ROUND OF THE INAUGURAL EUROPEAN WOMEN’S UNDER-17 CHAMPIONSHIP, WHICH WAS STAGED IN NYON,

WAS THE FIRST TIME EVER THAT THE UEFA ADMINISTRATION HAD HOSTED THE FINAL ROUND OF ONE OF ITS CHAMPIONSHIPS.

the primary and secondary schools of both cantons (over 300 schools) have beeninvited to attend the matches.

Furthermore, tailor-made sport-ing and educational activities will beprovided in cooperation with a sportsarticles manufacturer, the Swiss Foot-ball Association and the Geneva andVaud regional football associations.

This programme includes football skill stations, quizzes and a World Wild Fundfor Nature exhibition on environmental issues. In addition, school classes will alsohave the possibility to visit UEFA’s head-quarters and to take photographs in frontof the different UEFA trophies. Admissionto matches will be free this year again,and all spectators will be offered free softdrinks and receive a souvenir T-shirt.

Eight local sponsors on board

UEFA is also very pleased thateight two-year sponsorship deals with localcompanies have been concluded, includ-ing with a well-known radio station and areputable daily newspaper. These partnerswill provide considerable financial and material contributions, while the audio and media partners will ensure an exten-sive promotional programme during the build-up to the tournament. UEFA’s TVpartner for youth football, Eurosport, willbroadcast the final live.

Like last year, the towns andtourist offices of Morges, Rolle and Nyonwill cooperate with UEFA on various pro-motional activities.

... working meeting at the House of European football in Nyon.

The poster for the final

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The local organising committee at a...

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In addition, invitations havebeen sent to all football clubs in Vaudand Geneva, as well as to the localembassies of the four qualified teams,tourist offices in the neighbouring regions of France, private schools, etc.

Germany (reigning champi-ons), France (last year’s losing finalists)and the newcomers Norway andSpain will take part in this year’s finalround.

Excitement on and off thefield is guaranteed and the secondsemi-final, featuring last years’ finalists,will certainly be a highlight of this final round.


Since the European Cup Winners’ Cup became part of the UEFA Cup, the winners have played in the UEFA Super Cup in Monaco, successfully in the case of Galatasaray, (right) against RealMadrid in 2000, and Valencia, against FC Porto in 2004.

“It is true that we did not expect the UEFA Cup to become so im-portant,” says Gerhard Aigner, former UEFA chief executive. “The main

reason for its success was the television revenue. The major countries,which were able to enter several teams under the competition

regulations, were also those with lucrative television markets.A club competing in the UEFA Cup was therefore more

likely to be drawn against attractive opponents than in the other two competitions in which, in principle, each association only had one rep-resentative. Also, since there were no fixedkick-off times, in some countries you could

watch the UEFA Cup matches involving all thecountry's teams on the same day, which couldmean football being broadcast from the early

afternoon until the evening. Arranging kick-offtimes had become very difficult and was often

the subject of lengthy haggling between the clubs concerned, who wanted to avoid

clashing with other matches. Thanks tothese broadcasts and the income they

generated, the UEFA Cup graduallybecame more successful than theother two club competitions.”

Creation and growth of the UEFA Champions League

“You could therefore say that it was television that pulled the competitions in a new direction. In order to maintain interest in thechampions' competition and to coun-terbalance the growing importance

of the UEFA Cup, we began by creatingthe UEFA Champions League, which

ensured that clubs – barring slip-ups –would play several matches and, at the same

time, gave the champions a broader platform

CREATED TO REPLACE THE INTER-CITIES FAIRS CUP, THE UEFA CUP QUICKLY

ESTABLISHED ITSELF AS A TOP UEFA CLUB COMPETITION, TO SUCH AN EXTENT THAT

IT BEGAN TO OVERSHADOW THE CUP WINNERS' CUP AND EVEN

THE CHAMPION CLUBS' CUP.

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Evolution of theUEFA Cup

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Lennart Johansson, president of UEFAat the time, presents GerhardAigner with hisUEFA honorarymember’s diplomaat the UEFACongress in 2004.

thanks to a new television and spon-sorship strategy.”

Originally comprising twogroups of four teams, the ChampionsLeague was expanded to 16 teams in1994/95 and then, in 1997/98, wasopened up to the runners-up from the eight best national associations(via a qualifying round). The 24 teamswere then split into six groups.

“Then,” explains GerhardAigner, “in 1998, the threat of a 'super league' forced us to increasethe number of teams in the Champ-ions League group stage to 32, withthe best associations each representedby up to four clubs”.

Merger of UEFA Cup and Cup Winners' Cup

The UEFA Cup was thereforedeprived of the main challengers tothe national champions. This loss waspartially offset by the merger of theUEFA Cup and the European CupWinners' Cup, which was approvedby the Executive Committee at itsmeeting in Lisbon on 6 October 1998.“The Cup Winners' Cup had becomeless important over the years,” recallsGerhard Aigner. “Many nationalchampions also won their domesticcup competition and it was thereforethe beaten finalists who entered theCup Winners' Cup. In addition, thenational cup competitions were in crisis: following the introduction of aleague cup in some countries, theyhad become less important and lessattractive for the clubs. On more than one occasion, relegated or evensecond division clubs therefore quali-fied for the Cup Winners' Cup. Sincepart of the UEFA Cup had been lost to the Champions League, it wastherefore compensated by the inte-gration of the Cup Winners' Cup intothe UEFA Cup.”

Transfer from one competition to the other

Another new measure wasadopted: clubs finishing third in theirChampions League groups droppedinto the UEFA Cup, as was already

the case for clubs eliminated in theChampions League third qualifyinground. “In sporting terms, this measureis certainly open to criticism,” says Ger-hard Aigner, “but the result is positivebecause it adds extra interest and the eliminated clubs often offer goodvalue.” Galatasaray in 2000, Feyenoordin 2002 and CSKA Moscow in 2005 all proved the point by winning theUEFA Cup having begun the season inthe Champions League.

The UEFA Cup, the final ofwhich had become a single matchrather than a two-legged affair in1998, was revamped in the 2004/05season with the introduction of a

“Football's situation haschanged radically”

Having joined the UEFA administration in 1969, Gerhard Aigner became general secretary in 1989 and was then chief executive betweenDecember 1999 and his retirement in December 2003. He was appointed an honorary member of UEFA at the 2004 UEFACongress in Cyprus. Since then, following the adviceof Voltaire's Candide, he has been cultivating his gar-den, although he also enjoys playing golf, a hobby he sometimes combines with his love of travelling. Hehas clearly not lost his love of football and is oftenfound on the touchline, supporting his sons, who playin a youth team for a club on the shores of LakeGeneva, not far from UEFA’s headquarters. Drawingfrom this experience, he points out that: “It is gettingharder and harder to find volunteers to work forclubs. Since the Bosman ruling in December 1995,football's situation has changed radically. Playersleave at an increasingly young age, lured by the money offered by the big clubs, and the volunteers barely get to see the fruit of their work.”“We cannot turn back the clock,” he continues, “but the sport's governingbodies should be allowed to impose limits on the materialism that has infiltrated sport.”

Gerhard Aigner participated in many UEFA Cup draws, including this one in Monaco in 2002, at which he is pictured with Jean-Fournet Fayard.

phase involving eight groups of fiveteams. Five years on, the competitionis about to enter a new era, under a new name – the UEFA EuropaLeague – with a phase of 12 groupsof four teams. “It is good that the financial aspect will be centralisedand the format is easier to under-stand. The dates are available, it isright to use them to give the compe-tition a greater impact and offer alarge number of clubs more matchesat European level. But we must not forget that the European com-petitions should remain, above all, complementary to the nationalchampionships.”

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Mircea Sandu, president of the RomanianFootball Federation and a member of the UEFA Executive Committee, had the idea of producing a commemorative book.

IT WAS IN NOVEMBER 2003, IN THE OFFICE OF MIRCEA SANDU, THE PRESIDENT OF THE ROMANIAN

FOOTBALL FEDERATION (FRF), THAT THE IDEA FOR A COMPLETE HISTORY OF ROMANIAN FOOTBALL WAS BORN –

TO BE PUBLISHED IN 2009, TO MARK THE FEDERATION’S CENTENARY.

Alongside Mircea Sandu wasMircea Angelescu, former president ofthe FRF, and Dan Cristea, chairman of the history and statistics committeesince 1990.

Straight away it was unani-mous: a book would be produced onthe history of Romanian football. It wascompleted in November last year (that is five years later). In two volumes, itruns to almost 1,100 pages and is illus-trated with more than 900 photos.

Collecting the informationIt was obviously not decided

there and then how the book would bestructured and who would pen it. In theend Mircea Angelescu and Dan Cristeabecame the coordinators, working withthree sports journalists as co-authors:Razvan Toma, Victor Partan and MihaiCiuca. Razvan Toma also happens to be vice-chairman of the federation’shistory and statistics committee.

The first step was to collect as much information as possible on thehistory of Romanian football, as well as on the broader history of the countryover the last 100 years and the evolu-tion of the game as a whole.

Extensive library research wastherefore carried out into everythingpublished in Romania on sport in gen-

eral and football in particular. Each authorwas assigned different periods and topicsto study. Great importance was attachedto meetings with the people who actuallycreated or experienced at first hand thefootball history under review, whether asplayers, managers or spectators. Discus-sions were also had with the descendantsof central characters, who shared lots of information and photos.

We also benefited from the support of FIFA, UEFA and the Interna-tional Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS).

We would also like to thank the Romanian clubs that provided us with photos (particularly recent ones) and Nicolae Profir, the official FRF photo-grapher, who provided colour photosfrom the last 20 years as well as photo-copies of libraries’ newspapers and old magazines.

A tale of two halvesOnce a clearer picture of the

last 100 years of Romanian football hadbeen uncovered, we decided to structurethe book in two volumes, one on the period from 1909 to 1944 and the otherfrom 1944 to 2009.

We decided to include an ex-haustive presentation of each significantperiod in Romanian football. Volume

one has five chapters, each of whichcontains a general overview, profiles ofthe people who marked the period andcompetition information – i.e. each ofthe national team’s matches, completewith match factsheet and a brief ré-sumé; the national championships, withsome background information and,since the introduction of the league system in 1932, synoptic tables; the national cup competition since 1993/94;and Romanian clubs’ performances inthe Mitropa Cup. There are also somevery interesting appendices, includingthe history of the people and structuresof the federation.

Volume two comprises sevenchapters plus appendices and, in addi-tion to the above information about the national team, championships andcups, presents Romania’s youth footballscene, its participation in the OlympicFootball Tournament and a full accountof its clubs’ participation in UEFA com-petitions.

These two volumes provide an opportunity to better get to knowthe heroes of Romanian football, ofwhich there have been many alongsideGheorghe Hagi, Gheorghe Popescu,Dan Petrescu and Florin Raducioiu, bignames of the 1990s.

Dan Cristea

Football federationcentenary

A R o m a n i a n f o o t b a l l n a r r a t i v e

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A selection of milestones and anecdotes■ Legend has it that the first football

was brought to what was then the king-dom of Romania by Mario Gebauer (pro-bably born in 1880), when he was studyingin Lausanne, Switzerland. He played for SC Olympia Bucharest, winners of the firstnational cup [Romanian athletics associa-tion cup (ASAR)] in 1909/10.

On 1 December 1914, Gebauer was elected chairman of the national foot-ball committee.

■ On 1 December 1912, the Romanianfederation of sports associations (FSSR) was founded to represent all existing sportsassociations, including the ACFR (Romanianfootball clubs association, as the ASAR wasnow known). The FSSR comprised 12 sportscommittees, one of which was dedicated to football.

■ The main Romanian football com-petition is the national championship. There have been three distinct periods in its history:

1) The cup years (1909-21, with a breakfrom 1916-19 while Romania was involvedin the first world war).

2) The national championship years,with regional competitions and final tour-naments played under the knockout systemfrom 1921 to 1932. The most famous teamfrom this period was Chinezul Timisoara,who notched up six consecutive champion-ship titles between 1921/22 and 1926/27.

3) The period of the league system, in-troduced in 1932/33 and still in place today.

■ On 20 May 1923, Romania, represen-ted by the FSSR’s football committee, wasaccepted as a member of FIFA at the worldbody’s congress in Geneva. The Romaniandelegate was Mario Gebauer.

■ Gebauer was thrown out of theFSSR and forced to resign as chairman ofthe football committee for trying to esta-blish an independent football association.

■ As a FIFA member association, Romania was able to participate in the1924 Olympic Football Tournament in Paris, where they were thrashed 6-0 by the Netherlands.

■ The Romanian national team’s firstmatch was against Yugoslavia in Belgradeon 8 May 1922, to celebrate the marriagebetween Princess Maria of Romania andKing Alexander I of Yugoslavia. Romaniawon 2-1. Its team was made up entirely of Transylvanian players (Hungarians, Ger-mans and Jews, with just one Romanian,the right-winger Aurel Guga – team cap-tain and scorer of the winning goal).

■ In September 1929, the Romanianparliament voted a new law on physicaleducation which completely changed thestatus of Romanian football. Previously ithad been a bastion of amateurism, at leastofficially, but it was not respected by thebig clubs, particularly those in the east ofthe country. The new law made way for an independent association for each sport,united under the umbrella of the union of Romanian sports associations (UFSR),which succeeded the FSSR.

■ On 16 February 1930, the nationalfootball committee became the RomanianFootball Federation (FRFA). Aurel Leucutiaand Octav Luchide, chairman and generalsecretary of the committee respectively, assumed the same functions within thenew FRFA.

■ Romania took part in all threeWorld Cups in the 1930s, a record matchedby only Brazil, Belgium and France. Theonly Romanian player who took part in allthree was Nicolae Kovacs, a right-winger

or inside-right and older brother ofStefan Kovacs, the famous AFC Ajaxcoach of the 1970s.

■ In May 1931, the FIFA Congressapproved a proposal by the generalsecretary of the FRFA, Octav Luchide,to extend to three years the periodfor which a player that had changednationality had to wait before playingfor his new country. The first victimsof the new rule were the Romaniansthemselves. In 1933, in a FIFA WorldCup qualifier against Switzerland in Berne (2-2), Romania fielded IuliuBaratky, a Romanian citizen of Hun-garian origin who had played forHungary in May 1933 against Sweden.The Swiss lodged a complaint withFIFA, who declared the match to be forfeited and awarded a win toSwitzerland.

Gheorghe Hagi, one of the heroes of Romanian football.

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Dan Cristea, one of the masterminds behind the commemorative book.

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The scheme, whereby up-and-coming referees (talents) are givenexpert guidance by former top referees(mentors), was introduced in the UEFAreferee development programme in 2001.Since then it has gone from strength to strength. The mentors and talents arein constant contact, with the seasonedreferees advising the young hopefuls notjust on their performance on the field,

Talents and MentorsN i n t h s e m i n a r i n N y o n

A SEMINAR FOR UEFA REFEREE AND ASSISTANT REFEREE TALENTS AND MENTORS

WAS HELD FROM 29 APRIL TO 1 MAY IN NYON. IT WAS UEFA’S NINTH TALENTS

AND MENTORS SEMINAR BUT THE FIRST TO INCLUDE ASSISTANT REFEREES.

but in other areas too. Angel María Villar Llona, chairman of the UEFA Refer-ees Committee, summed up the philos-ophy behind the concept: “The future is in young people. But young peoplealso need good guidance, from goodguides and instructors.” This year’s semi-nar was attended by 17 referee talents(13 men and 4 women), 8 assistant referee talents (10 men and 4 women)and 9 mentors.

Penalty area situations and physical challenges

The UEFA Referees Committeeused part of the seminar to impart

instructions and advice. “The penaltyarea is the most important area of thepitch,” David Elleray said. Decisionshere could have a huge impact on thegame. The participants were shownvideo clips of various scenes in whichthe referee made a good or bad call.They then went away in small groupsto discuss which of the criteria – clearview, concentration, cooperation,

The same principles areapplied in the classroomas on the pitch.

Decisions were immediatelyanalysed on screen.

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confidence and courage – were orshould have been brought to bear ineach decision.

On the topic of excessivelyphysical challenges, Marc Batta sin-gled out tackles and the use of arms.In each case, he told the referees howimportant it was to distinguish be-tween players who were genuinelyjust trying to get the ball and thosewho were willing or even intended to injure their opponent in theprocess. Once again, the participantswere shown various scenes from UEFA matches, which invited different verdicts.

Practical sessionsThere were also practical

sessions, in which talented youngfootballers from the canton simulatedcontentious match scenes and the referees had to decide what to do. Afterwards, they were given an op-portunity to analyse the action on filmand were given feedback from thementors. Special attention was paid to positioning, body language andconcentration. The assistants weregiven exercises in areas such as run-ning technique, use of flags and eyecontact with the referee. Finally, allparticipants were given warm-up, running and stretching exercises andtips on avoiding injury.

Strategies to improve teamworkMattia Piffaretti, a sports

scientist, gave an inspiring presenta-tion on the psychological factors thatcome into play in a refereeing team.He explained how the relationship between the referee and his assistantshad evolved. The main referee was no longer the undisputed leader, butrather a manager: he managed thedecision-making powers delegated tothe different members of the referee-ing team, including the fourth official.This required a lot of mutual trust. The referee had to be able to rely fullyon his assistants, in case of offsidesfor example. Team cohesion could beachieved, Piffaretti said, through col-lective physical and tactical training,clear allocation of roles, whereby the strengths of each member of theteam were put to best possible use,in-depth pre-match team talks and a fixed team warm-up procedure. He said that referee communicationwas also important. The more coordi-nated and well-rehearsed the team,the more convincing they were as a unit. This, too, was reflected in theirperformance.


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News fromBrussels

European elections are being held between 4 and 7 Junein the 27 member states of the EU.The time has come for Europeancitizens to select the people theywant to represent them in the European Parliament until 2014.This is an exciting occasion for us all because members of the European Parliament carry consid-erable political weight and haveshown a distinct interest in foot-ball over the last few years.

Representing the people of Europe

The European Parliament is a representative assembly for thecitizens of the EU member statesand, as such, a vital source of dem-ocratic legitimacy. Its membershave been elected by direct univer-sal suffrage since 1979. It has seatsin two cities: 12 plenary sessions ayear are held in Strasbourg and alladditional sessions and parliamen-tary committees meet in Brussels.

MEPs do not sit in nationaldelegations, but form transnationalpolitical groupings. Two of thebiggest are the Party of EuropeanSocialists and the European Peo-ple’s Party.

Greater powers with each new treaty

Due to its democratic legiti-macy, the European Parliament hasseen its powers steadily increasedwith each treaty signed, from thefounding Treaty of Rome to thecurrent Treaty of Nice. It now hasan active role in regulatory mattersby virtue of the codecision proce-dure, which gives it genuine leg-islative powers. And were the ➜

Meetings andother activities

EURO 2012 host city decisions

The first Executive Committee meeting in Bucharest.

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ON 12/13 MAY IN BUCHAREST, THE UEFA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

HELD ITS FIRST MEETING IN ROMANIA AS THE ROMANIAN FOOTBALL FEDERATION

CELEBRATES ITS CENTENARY.

Under the stewardship of theUEFA president, Michel Platini, this wasalso the Executive Committee’s first meeting since the elections in March(apart from a brief constitutive meetingfollowing the congress in Copenhagen).The committee discussed topical Euro-pean football matters and dedicated day two of its meeting to EURO 2012,with the designation of the host cities on the agenda.

After carefully examining the situation, not just in terms of stadiums,but also airports, transport and accom-modation, the Executive Committee confirmed Warsaw, Gdansk, Poznan andWroclaw as host cities in Poland. InUkraine, it was decided that Kiev wouldhost group, quarter-final and semi-final matches, while Donetsk, Lviv andKharkiv were given until 30 November

A f irm standagainst rac ism

Sharing the UEFA president’sindignation at racist incidents invarious stadiums in Europe, theExecutive Committee approved arecommendation, based on theLaws of the Game, to allow thereferee to stop, suspend or ulti-mately abandon a match. Concretemeasures will be defined at thenext Executive Committee meetingin Vilnius, Lithuania, in July.

New members Allan Hansen, Abraham Luzon, Liutauras Varanavicius, Theo Zwanziger, Michael van Praag, Frantisek Laurinec and Giancarlo Abete attend their first Executive Committee meeting.

to meet specific stadium, transport, airport and accommodation require-ments. Kiev also has until 30 Novemberto demonstrate that it is in a positionto host the final. The Executive Com-mittee will take a decision on thesecities in December.


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➜ Treaty of Lisbon to enter intoforce, the European Parliamentwould become a co-legislator,with the Council of the EuropeanUnion, in 90% of EU laws. Whatis more, Article 165 of the Lisbontreaty takes the historic step of introducing sport as an area of EU competence and names the European Parliament as oneof the decision-makers when itcomes to EU action in this field(see uefadirect No 70). That is asatisfaction guarantee becauseMEPs are aware of the concernsand expectations of the sportsmovement. They are our naturaldiscussion partners at Europeanlevel, thanks, in particular, to the Sports Intergroup, a Euro-pean Parliament working groupdedicated exclusively to sportsmatters.

A substantial contribution to football

Over the years, UEFA has worked hard to establish arelationship of mutual trust witha hard core of MEPs that meetregularly in the informal Friendsof Football working group. Theycommunicate UEFA’s position onthe specificity of sport and itsstructures to the European Parlia-ment. Their valuable contributionhas materialised in recent years in the form of three importantresolutions based on the Belet report on the future of profes-sional football in Europe (see uefadirect No 59), the Mavrom-matis report on the White Paperon Sport (see uefadirect No 75)and the Schaldemose report onthe integrity of online gambling(see uefadirect No 85).

As half of the faces in the European Parliament are ex-pected to be new after the bal-lots in June, UEFA will have to resume its efforts to establish agroup of natural allies within theinstitution and identify new dis-cussion partners that are recep-tive to the idea of good footballgovernance for the future.

Michel Platinipresents the UEFA Cup to the mayor of Istanbul,alongside FC Zenit St. Petersburg’sAnatoliyTymoshchuk.

The cup handover ceremony in Rome.

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Workshop for EURO 2016 candidates

Representatives of the fourcandidates to host UEFA EURO 2016(France, Italy, Turkey and Norway/Sweden) were invited to a seminarat the House of European Footballin Nyon, Switzerland, at the end of April.

The aim of the meeting was togive the candidates a general overviewof how a European Football Champi-onship final tournament is organisedand to provide them with more detailedinformation about the bid requirements.

In small groups and plenary sessions, the participants consideredtopics such as security, transport, accommodation, legal matters and TVbroadcasting.

Other meetings will follow to help the associations flesh out theirbid dossiers and benefit from the expe-rience UEFA has gathered in previoustournaments. They have until 15 Febru-ary 2010 to submit their bid dossiers to the UEFA administration. These willbe examined and the UEFA ExecutiveCommittee will make a final decisionaround the end of May 2010.

From one UEFA club competition seasonto the next

The UEFA Champions Leaguefinal between Manchester Unitedand Barcelona in Rome on 27 Maymarks the end of the 2008/09 UEFAclub competition season.

There is less than a month,however, before the start of the next.On 22 May, the draws in Nyon for thefirst two UEFA Champions League andUEFA Europa League qualifying roundskick off the 2009/10 season. What ismore, they signal the start of a newthree-year club competition cycle fea-turing a new UEFA Champions Leagueaccess list and the all-new UEFA EuropaLeague in place of the UEFA Cup, with12 groups of 4 teams in the group stage and no more UEFA Intertoto Cupfeeding into the qualifying stage.

FIFA Women’s World Cup –Teams look to Germany

While the 12 qualifiers eagerly await the final round of theEuropean Women’s Championship in Finland from 23 August to 10 Sep-tember, the other European women’steams are already turning their attention to the 2009–11 qualifyingcompetition for the next FIFAWomen’s World Cup.

The draw for the Europeanqualifying competition was held in Nyonon 17 March, resulting in the follow-ing seven groups of five and one groupof six:

The group matches start inmid-September this year and will con-tinue until August next year. Play-offsbetween the eight group winners will then be held on 11/12 and 15/16September 2010, to decide which four qualify for the final tournament,which is being held in Germany, homeof the current world champions, from26 June to 17 July 2011.

Group 1 Group 2France NorwayIceland NetherlandsSerbia BelarusNorthern Ireland SlovakiaCroatia FYR MacedoniaEstonia

Group 3 Group 4Denmark UkraineScotland PolandGreece HungaryBulgaria RomaniaGeorgia Bosnia-Herzegovina

Group 5 Group 6England RussiaSpain Republic of IrelandAustria SwitzerlandTurkey IsraelMalta Kazakhstan

Group 7 Group 8Italy SwedenFinland Czech RepublicPortugal BelgiumSlovenia WalesArmenia Azerbaijan


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Representatives of the bidders with the Henri Delaunay trophy.

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Women’s Under-19 finalists line up

The six group winners (Iceland, Norway, France, Germany,Switzerland and England) and the

best runners-up (Sweden) in the second qualifyinground of the 2008/09 Euro-pean Women’s Under-19Championship have

made it through to join the hosts, Belarus, in the finals from 13 to 25 July. This is the first time Belarus has hosted the final round of a UEFA competition.

Last year’s champions, Italy, will not be defending their title, havingbeen knocked out in the second round of qualifying. Germany, however, will bedoing all they can to win back the trophythey won in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006 and 2007. The same goes for Sweden,who won the championship in 1999, and France, who took the title in 2003.Of course, the five other finalists will also be hoping to add their names to the European Women’s Under-19 Cham-pionship honours list.

This final round will also decidewhich four countries represent Europe in the 2010 FIFA U-20 Women’s WorldCup alongside Germany, who qualify automatically as hosts.

A draw was held in Minsk on 12 May to determine the final roundgroups:

Group A: Belarus, Switzerland,France, Germany

Group B: Sweden, England, Iceland, Norway

The group matches will be con-tested from 13 to 19 July, with the semi-finals on 22 July and the final on 25 July.

Fair play – Final rankings confirmed

Norway, Denmark and Scotland have finished first, secondand third in the UEFA 2008/09 fair play table (part of the Respectcampaign). Having topped the tableat the end of 2008, they managed to maintain their positions to the last, earning the right to enter an additional team in the first qualifyinground for the 2009/10 UEFA EuropaLeague.

The rankings are based on fairplay assessments from all UEFA club andnational competition matches played between 1 May 2008 and 30 April 2009,but only associations represented in atleast 30 matches are included in the table.This threshold was established by dividingthe total number of UEFA matches by the number of member associations.

Norway, Denmark and Scotlandmust each allocate their additional UEFAEuropa League place to the winner oftheir national fair play competition. If thewinner has already qualified for a UEFAcompetition, the place goes to the runner-up, and so on.

The top five in the final rankings:1. Norway 8.3722. Denmark 8.1893. Scotland 8.1694. Sweden 8.1555. France 8.098

Special Olympics in NyonSpecial Olympics Europe/Eurasia, a UEFA partner organisation,

held its ninth international football week from 25 April to 3 May. Right acrossEurope, some 50,000 players with intellectual disabilities got involved.

Traditionally, the men and women of the UEFA administration like to mark the occasion with a UEFA-Special Olympics unified match, for which mixed teams are formed of players withand without disabilities.

This year was no excep-tion – the showcase match was heldon 27 April at Colovray Stadium,opposite UEFA’s headquarters inNyon, Switzerland.

The hosts then invited thevisitors back to the House of Euro-pean Football for some post-matchrefreshments.

Those defeated in the play-offs will contest another series of two-leg ties for a place in theUEFA-CONCACAF play-off – their lastchance to enter the 2011 Women’sWorld Cup.

Special Olympics players and the UEFA administration come together

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President’s Award for Sir Bobby Charlton

The UEFA President’s Award was introduced in 1998 to honouroutstanding individuals who havemade a significant contribution tofootball in various areas. In April, SirBobby Charlton, former ManchesterUnited player and England interna-tional, became the latest recipient.

Sir Bobby was presented with his award at Old Trafford on the dayof the UEFA Champions League firstleg semi-final between ManchesterUnited and Arsenal. In keeping withlast year’s choice of Alfredo di Stefano,the UEFA president wanted to paytribute to a former player turned European football legend, not just for the results he had achievedthroughout his brilliant career butalso for his impact on the game, hischarisma and his exemplary attitude.“Around Europe, [Sir] Bobby Charlton’sname means respect. He showed great respect for his opponents and for the public in his conduct,” said the UEFA president.

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Leo Windtner elected ÖFB presidentThe Austrian

Football Associationheld an extraordinarygeneral meeting inVienna on 28 Febru-ary. The main pointson the agenda werethe election of a newpresident and struc-tural reforms withinthe association. LeoWindtner (58) wasunanimously electedby acclamation.

AUSTRIA• PETER KLINGLMÜLLER •

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AZERBAIJAN• MIKAYIL NARIMANOGHLU •

Fun first.

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Qualifying matches for the next DanoneNations Cup have been held in Azerbaijan.The final stage of the competition will takeplace in September in Brazil.

Ten teams from nine regions within thenorthwest regional football association par-ticipated in the latest stage of the qualifyingcompetition. The teams were divided intotwo groups of five. Gabala and Mingachevir-2qualified for the play-off, which Mingachevir-2won 2-0 to enter for the final qualifyinground. After the matches, the AFFA presented

BELARUS• YULIA ZENKOVICH •

Visit to rehabilitation centreFootball is not only about kicking the ball

and making big money. On the eve of their2010 World Cup qualifier against Kazakh-stan, four players from the Belarus nationalteam (Alexandr Hleb, Vitaliy Bulyga, AleksandrYurevich and Igor Shitov), alongside the national team assistant coach, Harald Irmsher,paid a visit to a rehabilitation centre for children who have problems with their mus-culoskeletal system. The visit began with an improvised press conference, where theyoungsters proved to very curious and askedlots of questions. Then the footballers got achance to see the centre’s facilities and talkto its little patients. The children were, fortheir part, extremely happy to have their pictures taken with their idols. It seemedthat the line of those wishing to get an autograph would never end. Shirts, cards,pieces of paper… every single patient got a cherished autograph.

The visit brought a smile to the faces of theyoungsters at this rehabilitation centre.

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Windtner was previously ÖFB vice-presidentand president of the Upper Austria regionalassociation that successfully hosted the2007 European Under-19 Championshipfinals. His election in February followed thesurprise resignation last November ofFriedrich Stickler, now ÖFB honorary presi-dent. The new president entered office fullof ambition and announced to the 100 or so present at the general meeting (includingUEFA vice-president Senes Erzik) “an energyboost for Austrian football and renewed national passion”. With a majority of morethan 84%, structural reforms to the ÖFBwere also approved, to strengthen the administration. The association’s daily busi-ness will no longer be run by the presidentand executive committee. Instead it will bethe full responsibility of the general secre-tary, or chief executive as he will now beknown (currently Alfred Ludwig). He willthen appoint directors in charge of differentdomains.

all the teams with football kits and sponsor’sproducts.

Mingachevir-2 are the fourth team toqualify for the final qualifying round. Theother three are the team from Imishli, winners of the qualifying round held withinthe central regional football association;Tokhuju, winners of the tournament organ-ised by the Ganja regional football associa-tion; and Pambigchi, winners in the Garabagregion. The next regional qualifying matchesare being held on 25/26 April in Aghstafa,within the west regional football association.

The Danone Nations Cup qualifyingmatches in Azerbaijan involve 11–12 year-olds from all parts of the country. The finalqualifying tournament in Baku will involvethe winners from the regions and premierleague club youth teams. The winners of this tournament will be the first team fromAzerbaijan to compete in this internationaltournament. ■

A board has also been created, compris-ing six members with voting powers (theÖFB president, one representative each ofthe east, west and central regional associa-tions, the Bundesliga president and one other Bundesliga representative). The ÖFBchief executive and Bundesliga executive will also have seats.

The board will be responsible for on-going controlling of budget preparations,the joint ÖFB-Bundesliga agendas and theappointment of head coaches, sporting directors and chief executives. It can call inoutside experts in different fields as neces-sary.

The executive committee will act as acontrol and supervisory body and, as such,will take sports-political decisions and super-vise the whole administration. Naturally, thecommittee will be lead by the ÖFB president,but it was unanimously agreed to dispensewith the positions of vice-president (currentlyfour) as part of the structural reforms. ■

The visit was very emotional. Player Vitaliy Bulyga was very touched and said:“I’ve visited so many children’s hospitals, butthis place is something special. If we win inKazakhstan I’ll dedicate our victory to all the patients at this rehabilitation centre.”Belarus went on to win their qualifier 5-1,and there is no doubt that every patientwho met the national team that day felt thatthey were part of that brilliant victory. Whenthe visit was over, the children’s eyes wereshining with happiness and the guests lefthoping that this little gesture that was so

important for the patients would help themto overcome their serious health problems.

■ In other news, two important seminarswere organised by the Belarus Football Federation (BFF) in April: one dedicated tosafety and security, with the participation of UEFA experts, and the other a medical seminar.

Although Belarus fans are not aggressive,it is always better to prevent a problem before it occurs. Therefore, the BFF organ-ised a seminar where European and Belaru-sian experts could share best practices anddiscuss common issues.

The medical seminar was attended notonly by football doctors but by other sportsmedicine specialists as well. Jens Dehmelt, aGerman physiotherapist who works with theBelarus national team, shared his valuableexperience with his Belarusian colleagues.

April also marked the start of a new football season. The fans were anxious to resume supporting their teams and going tothe stadiums. The season is going to be veryinteresting. Will BATE Borisov defend their title? Will Dinamo Minsk and other clubs beable to challenge the titleholders? The fansare impatient to know the answer and areexpecting some exciting football. ■


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BELGIUM• PIERRE CORNEZ •

Philippe Vande Walle (left) and Gilles De Bildewhen the announcement of the creation of anational beach soccer team was made.

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• FUAD KRVAVAC •

Beach soccer is a hit in BelgiumA second edition of the Belgacom Beach

Soccer Championship @ Citibank City is being organised in various towns and villagesin Belgium this summer. The events, whichrun from June to August, are free and beachsoccer takes centre stage, but there are lotsof other activities on offer too, with the aimof achieving a clever mix of sport and enter-tainment.

In 2008, all FIFA member associationswere given the task of organising a nationalbeach soccer competition and creating theirown national team. This was the launch padfor the Belgian Beach Soccer League, an offi-cial body that has been responsible, since itscreation last year, for coordinating and organ-ising all beach soccer activities in Belgium,with a view to promoting the sport as effec-tively as possible.

The Belgian league enters its second sea-son this year and its summer campaign is theperfect way to bring the traditional footballseason to a close. Beach soccer is consideredyoung, trendy, energetic, dynamic and enter-taining.

This time around, a division B has been set up to complement the year-old division A.As the official Belgian championship, divisionA is supported by the Belgian Football Asso-ciation. This year, 12 teams compete for thetitle, won last year by SKDB Braine.

Below division A, division B is supportedby the Belgian Beach Soccer League and isopen to anyone who wants to give beachsoccer a go. The club that finishes the seasonbottom of division A is automatically relegatedand the winners of division B are promoted.Meanwhile, the second-to-bottom club in division A and the runners-up in division Bmust compete for the last remaining slot inBelgium’s premier beach soccer league.

On the fringes of this year’s national com-petition, various events are being organised,including a cheerleading competition, stageshows and activities for children and adults.At division A matches there will be coursesand introductory sessions for 8 to 14-year-olds, where the youngsters are invited to par-ticipate in skills training led by professionalcoaches from the Belgian Football Associationand top-level players.

Belgium also has a national beach soccerteam, which is heading to Castillon (Spain) inJune to compete in a qualifying mini-tourna-ment for the 2009 FIFA Beach Soccer WorldCup in Dubai from 16 to 22 November. The best players from division A have joinedforces with former Red Devils such as GillesDe Bilde, Gert Verheyen and Philippe VandeWalle to form an impressive side that is aiming for equally impressive results. ■

A double against Belgium for the national team of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

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Successful football springFootball has again become a number

one topic in Bosnia-Herzegovina, thanks totwo wins against Belgium in the 2010 WorldCup qualifiers. Head coach Miroslav Blazevicand his squad have restored faith in footballand hope that the autumn will see us in second place in the standings and thus qual-ified for the play-offs for a place in the finals in South Africa.

The Bosnia-Herzegovina national teambeat Belgium 4-2 at the Crystal Arena inGenk, and just four days later, at Bilino Poljein Zenica, the Bosnians were again betterthan Belgium, this time winning 2-1. Thehero of both matches was Edin Dzeko,who scored three of the six goals in bothmatches.

The Under-21 national team have alsostarted preparing for the beginning of theirqualifying campaign for the 2011 Europeanchampionship in Denmark. The young Bosnian‘hopefuls’ are in the same group (Group 3)as the favourites, Italy, along with Hungary,Luxembourg and Wales. The first gatheringof Branimir Tulic's squad has taken place in Velika Kladusa and their first qualifyingmatch is scheduled for 4 September, whenthey play host to Luxembourg. Before theend of the year they will play three morematches, with two away – in Wales and Italy– before welcoming Wales at home. The rest of the matches will be played next year.

BULGARIA• PAVEL KOLEV •

The seminar on medicine and football.

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fact that most prohibited substances are currently detected in urine. It will take someyears but we are confident that, in the future, blood will be the major material usedto detect prohibited substances,” MarcVouillamoz said. The main goal of the UEFAanti-doping programme in 2009 is to con-tinue the testing programme but also to stayfocused on education and prevention by developing a lot of tools, including internetplatforms. The UEFA representative had theopportunity to meet colleagues from theBulgarian national anti-doping committeeand to exchange information and ideas withthem. “I think the level of the Bulgarian anti-doping programme is very well estab-lished but there are definitely a few stepsforward that can still be made. We will cooperate and coordinate the testing pro-gramme with the Bulgarian national anti-doping committee when it comes to testingBulgarian football teams,” he said. ■

Anti-doping seminarFor the fourth year in a row, the medical

committee of the Bulgarian Football Unionhas organised an international seminar onmedicine and football. The focus of thisyear’s event, held in Sofia, were the latestimprovements in UEFA’s anti-doping cam-paign. Marc Vouillamoz, head of competi-tion administration at UEFA, made a veryuseful and educational presentation to thegathering of more than 80 team doctorsfrom Bulgaria, Poland, Romania and Azer-baijan. “The future of testing will definitelylie in collecting blood material in spite of the

It was, however, the national futsal teamwho made the first appearance on the inter-national stage this year. In Ostrava, in theCzech Republic, they played in the Group 3qualifying tournament for the 2010 Euro-pean championship final round. Unfortu-nately, they finished in bottom place, after a 2-2 draw against the hosts and 3-2 and2-0 defeats against Croatia and Latvia respectively.

The amateur team Savez Gradiska AMAhave qualified for the final round of the 6th UEFA Regions’ Cup in Tuheljske Toplice,near Zagreb, the Croatian capital. The Bosnian representative will play in Group Bagainst Kempen (Belgium), Region I (Repub-lic of Ireland) and Castilla y Leon (Spain) inthe tournament that starts on 15 June. Thisis the third time that this Bosnian team willhave taken part in a UEFA Regions’ Cup final round.

The women’s national team will also be starting their qualifying campaign for the 2011 Women’s World Cup in Group 4,where they will meet Hungary, Poland, Romania and Ukraine. Their first match willbe against Hungary at home on 19 Septem-ber. Before the end of the year, the Bosnianwomen’s team will play away against Romania and Ukraine, and then play host to Poland. ■



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CYPRUS• KYRIAKOS GIORGALLIS •

20th national title for Apoel NicosiaApoel Nicosia FC claimed their 20th divi-

sion A title on Saturday, 25 April, securing the point they needed against last year’schampions, Anorthosis Famagusta FC. IvanJovanovic's men have now opened up a seven-point gap over second-placed OmoniaNicosia FC with two matchdays still to go,giving them the chance to start the celebra-tions without further ado.

Apoel, with the title already under theirbelts, can now fully turn their attention tooverturning their 2-0 deficit in the Cypriot Cup semi-final at home to APOP/KinyrasPeyias FC on 6 May. On the same day,

The youth competitions are still in full swing.

CFA

DENMARK• PIA SCHOU NIELSEN •

More women, please!In Denmark, girls’ and women’s football

is booming, now the biggest sport for girlsunder the age of 19. But the growing num-ber of players is, unfortunately, not reflectedin the boardrooms around Denmark.

Therefore, the Danish FA has started acampaign to also recruit more women to political posts in Danish football clubs and the FA. One of the objectives is to train morewomen to be prepared for the challenges in a still male-dominated area.

“Women’s and girls’ football is growingvery fast in Denmark. We have never had somany girls playing our sport, and it is only

A conference to encourage more women into football administration.

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ENGLAND• DERMOT COLLINS •

Respect courseThe FA staged its first ever international

Respect course last week in Santiago, Chile.Following a request from the Chilean govern-ing body and CONMEBOL, the FA sent outDermot Collins, FA Respect manager; LuciaSanchez, international relations; and Lee Mason, Premier League referee, to deliver aseminar sharing the experience of the firstyear of the Respect programme in England.

Delivering to an audience of referees, club captains, coaches and journalists, the FAtutors soon discovered that football in Chilefaces many of the same behavioural problemsas in England. Based on the English experi-ence, the seminar allowed the Chilean dele-gates the opportunity to design their ownversion of the Respect programme. TheChilean referees in particular revelled in thepractical sessions delivered by Lee Mason

The course run by The FA in Chile.

The

FA

FAROE ISLANDS• INGI SAMUELSEN •

Irishman at the helm in the Faroe Islands

On 6 April, the Faroe Islands FA (FSF) appointed Brian Kerr (56) as the new nationalcoach. The Faroe Islands national A team hasbeen without a head coach since October,when Jógvan Martin Olsen decided to standdown to take up the position of club coachwith local team Víkingur instead.

Brian Kerr is familiar with Faroese foot-ball from his time as national coach of theRepublic of Ireland, which he served in thiscapacity from 2003 to 2005. The Republic ofIreland and the Faroe Islands met each otherin the qualifying competition for the 2006FIFA World Cup, in which Kerr’s team wonboth matches.

From 1996 to 2002, Brian Kerr wasresponsible for the Irish national youth teams,including the Under-17 and Under-19 teams

Apollon Limassol FC face AEL Limassol FC,both teams having a lot to do in Limassol aftera 1-1 draw in the first leg.

March was a significant month for thecoach education department of our associa-tion as Howard Wilkinson, member of UEFA’s

natural, that this also should be reflected inthe number of women in other areas such asmanagement and political boards, wheremen still dominate. This will give a better andmore healthy balance,” said the president ofthe Danish FA, Allan Hansen, as he opened aconference aimed at recruiting women inparticular for a new training course in politi-cal management. And the president of theDanish FA had a very clear personal goal:“When I finish my term as Danish FA presi-dent, my hope is that there will be three orfour women on the board of the Danish FA.That is my clear aim!” He also made it clearto the 100 or so men and women attendingthe conference that networking is a very, ifnot the most important way to ensure thesuccess of the campaign.

At the conference, only the secondwoman to have been appointed to the boardof the Danish FA, Mette Bach Kjaer, elected in February 2009, told of her experience as awoman in a man’s world, while Hege Leifallfrom Norway gave an insight into the situa-

Jira Panel, visited our association for a three-day preparatory visit and final discussions for the implementation of our first UEFA Prodiploma. Now we have the pleasure and honour of preparing to host our first everUEFA Pro licence course (phase A) from 18 to 30 May in Nicosia.

During the course, Jerzy Engel, on behalfof UEFA, will be present as mentor. He is wellknown and popular in Cyprus from the dayswhen he served as head coach of various localclubs. Howard Wilkinson and Jerzy Engel,representing UEFA, as well as John Bilton andMartin Hunter, will be the main instructorsfor the course.

Meanwhile, the Cyprus FA football devel-opment championships are still under way,with more than 1,300 children competing infour age-group divisions, i.e. born after 1997,born after 1998, born after 1999 and bornbetween 2000 and 2001. These competitionsstarted regionally and now all the qualifiedteams are playing their matches in Nicosia todetermine the champions. ■

tion in Norway. The conference also producedmany discussions and constructive debatesabout how to get more women interested infootball, not only as players, but also to influ-ence the development of Denmark’s favouritesport. ■

based on his experience of taking control ofsome of the Premiership’s fiercest matches.

While in Santiago, the English delegationwere able to witness first-hand the difficultiesexperienced by referees as guests at the crucial Chile v Uruguay World Cup qualifier.

The seminar received a positive response,with a commitment from the Chilean FA todevelop a similar initiative as part of its on-going education programme. The visit con-cluded with a final presentation to an elitegroup of 80 referees.

The Respect seminar is the third course to be delivered by The FA in South Americathis year as part of its commitment to CON-MEBOL to assist the development of footballin South America. ■


19

Høgni i Stórustovu, president of the FSF (left), and Brian Kerr, the new national coach.

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FRANCE• XAVIER THÉBAULT •

A charm offensive for women’s football.

FFF

GERMANY• NIELS BARNHOFER •

New women’s football spectator record

There was a celebration of women’s football on 22 April, when the 2007 FIFAWomen’s World Cup final was recreated for 44,825 spectators in Frankfurt’s Commerz-bank Arena. This time the runners-up, Brazil,held the world champions, Germany, to a 1-1draw and the spectators set a Europeanrecord for the women’s game. The previousbest was from the opening match of Women’sEURO 2005, when 29,092 watched Englandbeat Finland at the City of Manchester Stadium.

The sellout in Frankfurt was a dream come true for the 2011 Women’s World Cuporganising committee in particular. You couldalready sense the World Cup atmosphere atthis first test, 795 days before the openingmatch. “It was a giant step towards the 2011World Cup. It was the best possible advert,not just for the World Cups next year and inGermany the year after, but for women’sfootball as a whole,” said Steffi Jones, whochairs the FIFA 2011 World Cup OrganisingCommittee.

Theo Zwanziger, president of the GermanFA (DFB), added: “I’m a fan of women’s andgirls’ football, but I'm also a realist and knowfull well that it’s not easy to get that manyspectators at a women’s international. It didn’tjust meet our expectations; it far exceededthem. I think this match attracted people youwouldn’t normally see at the stadium formen’s games. This is an interesting, new audience for the DFB.”

The DFB general secretary, WolfgangNiersbach, who watched the match alongsideFranz Beckenbauer, member of the FIFA Executive Committee, said: “The best thingfor me about this brilliant evening was the realisation that we really can look forward toanother fairytale summer in two years’ time.The children’s enthusiasm, the peaceful, joyful, trouble-free atmosphere, the packedstands and our team’s excellent performance– it all reminded me of the fantastic spirit of summer 2006. We need to keep this up aswe count down to the 2011 World Cup!” ■

ISRAEL• NIMROD SUZIN •

Grassroots activityThirty teams comprising hundreds of

young football enthusiasts aged 10 and 11participated in the annual children's footballfestival organised by the Israel Football Asso-ciation (IFA) as part of the children’s nationalcup competition.

The children’s cup competition attracts alarge crowd every year, and this festival wasno exception, with parents, families and chil-dren turning up to watch the matches stagedat the Israeli national team training ground.

The seven-a-side football tournament tookplace in an excellent spirit. Four matcheswere played concurrently on two footballpitches (35 minutes each half), to determinewho would go through to the next round.

At the end of May, at the Ramat Gan na-tional stadium, the IFA will for the first timehold all the finals – in five age groups – insuccession, at a festive event for children and families that will be open to the generalpublic.

The children’s football festival was enjoyed by all.

IFA

which won their respective European cham-pionships in 1998 for the first time in the his-tory of Irish football. As manager of St. Patrick’sAthletic from 1986 to 1996, Brian Kerr twicewon the domestic championship.

The FSF president, Høgni í Stórustovu, is looking forward to working with the Irish-man:

“Brian Kerr’s record shows that he can be successful and achieve results as well asbuilding foundations for the future. We haveno doubt that he will bring his enthusiasmand passion to the national team and we aredelighted that he has agreed to become thecoach,” he said. ■

Gaétane Thiney, midfielder. “Clearly the an-swer is yes, because this is what it has cometo. I hope it isn’t the only thing people remem-ber. I wanted to do these photos because theyare the starting point for a campaign thatcould do a lot for our sport.” Sarah Bouhaddi,goalkeeper for Les Bleues said: “I was very anxious about posing nude. In the end it was a great experience.” Team-mate Corinne Franco, who also plays for Olympique Lyonnais,agreed: “We know it will take a lot more thanphotos to get 30,000 people to a stadium butit’s a start. We just want to encourage peopleto take an interest in women’s football, ourteam and our games.”

Sandrine Soubeyrand, team captain,added: “A good performance at the EUROwould be the best thing to accompany thismedia campaign.”

Let’s hope we see Les Bleues on the frontpage of a big sports daily soon, fully clothedthis time. ■

Women’s team uncoveredAt the beginning of March, the French

Football Federation (FFF) kicked off a big media campaign involving the French women’steam, who have qualified for the UEFAWomen’s EURO 2009. Women’s football inFrance has a woefully low profile and thiscampaign is designed to give it a boost.

The FFF’s head of communication joinedforces with Hémisphère Droit et Pauce, a pro-fessional photography agency, to organise a special photo shoot: four members of thenational women’s team agreed to pose for aseries of high-class nude photos. The aim isto increase media coverage of the women’steam, change the public image of women’sfootball and, ultimately, get more spectatorsin the stands.

The photos are accompanied by the slogan:“Do we have to go to these lengths so youcome to watch us play?” It challenges and criticises a real lack of interest from the mediaand public. “We are asking if we really have toget naked to attract a bit of attention,” said

The IFA is continuing to work with chil-dren and young people to draw them intothe game and thereby increase the numberof active players. The IFA also runs a fair playcompetition that ranks individual players andyouth teams, and a sports sociologist lecturesteams on the relationship between parents,players and coaches. ■

KAZAKHSTAN• ALEXANDR KEPLIN •

Youth talents’ festivalFrom 25 to 30 April, the second edition

of the Republic of Kazakhstan president’s cup– an international youth tournament – was held in Almaty, the country’s former capital.For five days, talented Under-17 footballersfrom football academies such as Rubin,CSKA, Spartak (all Russia), Ole Brazil (Brazil),Ado Den Haag (Netherlands), Abdysh-Ata(Kyrgyzstan), Academia (Azerbaijan) and Semey-93, the winners of last year’s Kazakh-stan Under-17 championship, competed for the trophy.

The inaugural tournament was held lastyear and was won by Besiktas from Turkey.

“The main result of last year’s tournamentwas that the Kazakhstan Under-17 team ➜


20 uefadirect 6.09

Semey-93 with the FIFA president, Joseph S. Blatter,and the president of the FFK, Adilbek Dzhaksybekov.

KFF

LATVIA• MARTINS HARTMANIS •

Computerisation of everyday workThe Latvian Football Federation (LFF) has

been constantly improving its IT database andhardware since moving to new premises.Thanks to financial support from UEFA andbright minds at the federation, the LFF hasbought a server, computers for each work-space and software, and as much as possibleuses free, open-source programs for internalwork. The next step is to make effective use of all these possibilities.

In cooperation with FirstSports Interna-tional, the LFF is involved in an enormousrolling project called the federation manage-

Going digital.

LFF

LIECHTENSTEIN• ANTON BANZER •

Bodensee CupFour teams from Liechtenstein took part

in the first edition of the Bodensee Cup on14/15 May in Vorarlberg, Austria. The teamscomprised Special Olympics athletes andsports students, and the Liechtenstein Foot-ball Association was responsible for theirtournament preparations.

The Bodensee Cup is a four-year projectinvolving Germany, Austria, Switzerland andLiechtenstein. It was sparked off by the 2008Special Olympics Football Cup, the idea beingto bring together people with disabilities andthose without.

On 14/15 May, two-day competitions in various sports were organised in the fourcountries. One of the sports was football, orrather seven-a-side unifiedfootball. TheLiechtensteinFootball Associ-ation was, onceagain, delight-ed to have theopportunity to bring thebinding forceof football tobear and helpbring together

Daniel Hasler, formerLiechtenstein international, running a training session. LF

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LUXEMBOURG• JOËL WOLFF •

A scale model of the new national stadium.

FLF

FYR MACEDONIA• ZORAN NIKOLOVSKI •

New buildingsIn September, the Football Federation of

FYR Macedonia, with support from UEFA andthe government of FYR Macedonia, will startbuilding a new training centre and adminis-trative building.

After the visit of the UEFA president,Michel Platini, to FYR Macedonia and hismeeting with the prime minister, NikolaGruevski , the government immediately com-mitted itself to investing in the project.

“The project is ready and work will beginin a few months’ time,” said a satisfied NikolaKostov, general secretary of the Football Federation of FYR Macedonia.

This project will be completed by the endof 2010. It consists of three grass pitches,one with artificial turf and a mini-stadiumwith electricity and 5,000 seats.

➜ reached the elite round of their Europeanchampionship for the first time ever. Theseyoungsters are our future prospects. First ofall, this tournament will help to increase thepopularity of football, as well as enabling ourboys to play against strong competitors andgiving them more confidence,” said AdilbekDzhaksybekov, president of Football Federa-tion of Kazakhstan, on the eve of the tour-nament.

A guest of honour at the event was theFIFA president, Joseph S Blatter, accompaniedby a FIFA delegation. They arrived in Kazakh-stan on the morning of 29 April. The firstpart of the day was devoted to a meetingwith federation representatives, while in theafternoon, the FIFA president met the presi-dent of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev,who presented the FIFA president with theDostyk order for the development of football,support of football and active internationalactivity. This is the highest government awardfor foreign citizens.

After visiting the head of state’s residence,Mr Blatter held a press conference, and in the evening he attended the president’s cupmatch between Semey-93 and Rubin.

The FIFA president congratulated Kazakh-stan and its football federation on their efforts to develop the game. “Football inKazakhstan is on the right track. The federa-tion has done a great deal for football devel-opment in recent times,” he said.

The eight participating teams were dividedinto two groups. At the end of group stage,the teams’ places were determined in play-offs.In Group A, there turned out to be no equalsto CSKA from Russia, while in Group B, itwas Ole Brazil who went through to the final,in which prize money of USD 10,000 was atstake. At the central stadium in Almaty, theBrazilian team scored the only goal of thematch to lift the trophy. ■

ment system (FMS), which will electronicallystore details of all LFF registered players inone database and create their player profiles,which, once generated, will follow themthroughout their careers. Clubs, matches,cards, different kinds of statistics, fixtures anddisciplinary sanctions – all this informationcan be tracked and found if the system isproperly run. The FMS is not only about players; it can also hold other databases suchas referee profiles and appointments, andmedia modules, while a special part of thesystem can be allocated for club use.

The LFF realises that there are unlimitedpossibilities for using IT effectively in everydaywork and these IT systems are winning overmore supporters every week. Internal com-munication, an internal calendar for tasks,holidays and business trips, twitter – theseare just a few applications for which open-source programs can be found and used effectively in the organisation.

Another important IT project is the LFF online souvenir shop. The LFF has establishedand fully owns the Football Agency limited liability company that runs the business.Shortly, the LFF will launch its internet ticket-sale outlet for national team matches.“Hopefully we are not running ahead of thetrain but preparing the ground for futuregenerations. I am fully in favour of this,” saidthe LFF general secretary, Janis Mezeckis. ■

people who, in other circumstances, wouldperhaps never have met. Under the guidanceof former Liechtenstein international DanielHasler, Special Olympics athletes and youngtalents from Schaan secondary school met forweekly training sessions and joint prepara-tions for the tournament in Vorarlberg.

Both the training and tournament weresuch a great experience for the players thatthe excitement is already mounting ahead ofnext year’s Bodensee Cup. ■

New national football stadiumThe wait is finally over for Luxembourg

football fans, whose dream of a new nationalfootball stadium is actually going to becomea reality.

Details were unveiled at a joint press con-ference given by the ministry of sport and theLuxembourg Football Federation (FLF):

■ The new stadium will be in Livange,about 10km from the city of Luxembourg.

■ It will form part of a new business park. ■ It will have 10,000 covered seats.■ It will be easy to reach by both public

and private transport.■ Work on the new stadium, which will

meet all FIFA and UEFA requirements for in-ternational matches, is expected to begin in2011. ■


21


The plan of the new training centre.

FSM

MALTA• ALEX VELLA •

Catching them youngConscious of the importance of preparing

footballers properly from a tender age, theMalta FA has been devoting itself fully to thedevelopment of youngsters on a wide basisfor several years, through its grassroots pro-gramme and on the initiative of UEFA.

The recently set up regions project fornurseries, which is aimed at coordinating thedevelopment work of these establishments in various parts of the country, is reaping thedesired results in that talent is being identi-fied and monitored on a national scale.

The school futsal festival was a great success.

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MOLDOVA• VICTOR DAGHI •

Visit of the FIFA presidentAfter the visit of the former famous player

and now president of UEFA, Michel Platini, on 5 March, another important person, Joseph S.Blatter, the FIFA president, visited Moldova from30 April to 1 May at the invitation of Pavel Cebanu, president of the Football Associationof Moldova (FAM).

It was the second visit to our country by theFIFA president, the first being in August 2002,when he inaugurated an artificial turf pitch laidat the Vadul-lui-Voda technical centre.

During his short stay, the FIFA president, accompanied by Pavel Cebanu, met VladimirVoronin, president of Moldova. Their discus-sions focused on the football achievements ofrecent years, FIFA projects which had been implemented in Moldova and possibilities forthe development of Moldovan football. At theend of their meeting, Vladimir Voronin receivedthe FIFA presidential medal in recognition of hiscontribution to the development of Moldovanfootball.

Next stop for the FIFA delegation was theMoldovan Orthodox Church for a meeting withMetropolitan Vladimir, head of the metropolisof Chisinau and all Moldova. The FIFA presidentwas awarded with the order of Stefan cel Maresi Sfint, the highest distinction of the MoldovanOrthodox Church. This distinction was con-ferred on the FIFA president for his special con-tribution to the creation of a world of peacethrough football.

The FIFA president’s visit also included stops at the FAM offices, where he met thestaff and FAM executive committee members,and the Vadul-lui-Voda technical centre, now restored after the 2008 summer floods.

“It was a pleasant surprise to see how thetechnical centre looks now! And, believe me, nota lot of associations have such facilities for theirnational teams as you do. You can be proud of itand FIFA is also proud to have invested funds inthis centre,” Mr Blatter said at the press confer-ence for Moldovan journalists. ■

Left to right: Pavel Cebanu, president of the FAM, Vladimir Voronin, president of Moldova,and Joseph S. Blatter, president of FIFA.

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MONTENEGRO• IVAN RADOVIC •

First women’s competition The Football Association of Montenegro

(FSCG) has introduced its first ever women’scompetition. It will be a pilot for the creationof a domestic women’s championship. Ourassociation has helped the development ofwomen’s football in our country throughmany friendly football and futsal tournaments,but this is the first to be officially organisedby the association.

Four teams are participating in the tourna-ment: Palma from Podgorica, Ekonomist fromNiksic, Durmitor from Zabljak and Sport Unofrom Bijelo Polje. The competition will consistof six rounds, one every Sunday until the end of May.

The women’s teams are among the first –besides the national teams – to use the pitchesat the FSCG’s training ground in Podgorica.All the competition expenses are being cov-ered by the FSCG, including transport, foodand water, and officials.

After the first round, it seems that the title fight will be a two-team race, with Palma having defeated Sport Uno 8-0 andEkonomist win-ning 7-0 againstDurmitor.

On the sub-ject of the FSCGtraining centre,we are proud toannounce thatthe new flood-lights have beeninstalled aroundthe main pitchand that theywill be used forthe first time atthe final of thenational Under-19 cup in a couple of weeks’time. ■

Action from the match between Palma and Sport Uno.

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There will be a kit building, mini-hotel, spacentre, etc.

“It is very important for us that UEFA hasalready approved our project and we can usemoney from the HatTrick programme,” saidHaralampie Hadzi-Risteski, president of thefederation. ■

The footballing skills of youngsters inschools are also being tapped through vari-ous other initiatives, the most recent being a futsal festival which attracted the participa-tion of several schools on the island andhence a handsome number of budding foot-ballers.

This nationwide five-a-side activity, madepossible thanks to the joint efforts of thetechnical department of the Malta FA and theparliamentary secretariat for youth and sportwithin the ministry of education, was such anunqualified success that it is planned to holdthis festival on a bigger scale next year.

In this way young footballers, besides being given the opportunity to express theirtalents while enjoying themselves, can bespotted at an early age and their qualities developed along proper lines.

The Maltese association is aware that it is this policy of ‘catching them young’ thatlies at the core of a sound and holistic prepa-ration of future footballers. ■

NORTHERN IRELAND• SUEANN HARRISON •

Sammy backs summer schools’ programme

Northern Ireland’s Sammy Clingan is call-ing on all budding young footballers to getready for a summer full of football fun! The25-year-old, who has been capped 21 timesby the senior national team and played for his country at all levels, has given his backingto the Irish FA’s Nutty Krust Summer SoccerSchools Programme which will run duringJuly and August.

Coordinated by the Irish FA’s grassrootsdevelopment officers and staffed by qualifiedcoaches, the schools are the ideal way to getchildren active over the summer months.“The Irish FA Nutty Krust Summer SoccerSchools provide boys and girls with an excel- ➜


22 uefadirect 6.09

Two youngsters eager for the football schools to start, pictured with Lee Carrol (head of grass-roots football at the IFA), Ireland internationalSammy Clingan and Michael Murphy (sponsor’srepresentative).

IFA

Practising on the mini-pitches.

FPF

Vincent Butler retires after many years spentcoaching Irish youth teams.

FAI

PORTUGAL• FILIPE FÉLIX •

Embracing sportThe second stage of the mini-pitch con-

struction project in Portugal is proving to be ahuge success, demonstrating that the countrywarmly embraces all projects connected withthe promotion of sport, physical health andsocial inclusion.

After the first stage of the project – a part-nership between UEFA (through its HatTrickprogramme), the Portuguese government/IDP(Portuguese sports institute) and the Por-tuguese Football Federation – during whichmore than 100 grounds were built, the second stage involves the construction of approximately the same number again, so that mini-pitches will reach every corner of the country.

“The great readiness and interest shownby the municipalities make us very proud andpleased to be part of this promotion chain in

Retirement of Vincent Butler The Republic of Ireland’s youth manager,

Vincent Butler, has retired from internationalmanagement after 16 years of service for the Irish U15 and U16 sides. Having managedthe U16 side for four years in the 1970s and1980s, Butler returned to the fold in 1996 andhad been in charge of the U15s and U16s forthe last 12 years, during which time he hasseen 19 players go on to become full interna-tionals while 79 have been capped at U21 level. The recent U16 invitational Gradisca tour-nament in Italy was Butler’s last official assign-ment as Ireland U16 manager before he hand-ed over the reins to the newly appointed U15and U16 manager, John Morling, who had al-ready started work managing last season’s U15group. John Morling, the current player devel-opment manager for the Football Associationof Ireland (FAI) is an ex-Norwich trainee who had a long and successful spell with Peterborough United, where he held a numberof coaching positions, including first-teamcoach and reserve manager.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND• FRAN WHEARTY •

UKRAINE• IVAN DYVAK •

Perfect present for schoolchildrenAlthough preparations for EURO 2012 are

naturally the main focus of its attention at themoment, the Football Federation of Ukraine(FFU) is still running its many social pro-grammes, one of the most important of whichtargets the development of youth football.

Thus, within the framework of the nationalOur Future programme, a new multipurposepitch with artificial turf has been opened in thetown of Borodyanka, near Kiev, and, in keepingwith the programme, it was presented to thenearby secondary school. Vitaliy Pylypenko,head of the Ukrainian student football associa-tion and a member of the FFU executive com-mittee, was the major investor in the project.

“It’s not the first time we’ve started to develop football infrastructure in our town,” hesaid. “Borodyanka already has the specialisedBorex football complex, for example, which is apotential training base for EURO 2012. In fact,the new pitch is a structural part of the com-plex, even though it belongs to the secondaryschool, giving more than 200 children thechance to play their favourite game in excellentconditions.”

Commenting on the modest 40 x 40m di-mensions of the new pitch, Oleksandr Lekhno,director of the Borex complex, said: “Originallywe planned to build a pitch 30m wide and60m long, but then we met the wishes of theschool’s PE teachers, who wanted to use thepitch for handball as well. In its existing size, itcan easily be divided into two handball courts.”

The FFU will continue to pay close attentionto the development of the Our Future pro-gramme (more than 800 pitches in all regionsof the country have been built within its frame-work), as well as to other social projects aimedat promoting children’s/youth and grassrootsfootball. It is well known that Ukraine is consid-ered one of the world’s leaders in this area. Last year UEFA awarded Ukraine five-star statuswithin the UEFA Grassroots Charter. ■

lent opportunity to learn new skills and developas players,” said Sammy. “The programme isa vital component in the Irish FA’s grassrootsstrategy and introducing children to thegame at an early age and providing themwith a fun and positive experience will hope-fully in turn generate an interest which willkeep them involved in football for life.”

Encouraging budding young players fromacross the country to take part in this year’sprogramme, the international midfielder said:“I would encourage all boys and girls to goalong to their local Summer Soccer School.The coaches will help you improve all aspectsof your game like dribbling, control andshooting. To improve as a player it is impor-tant that you listen to the coaches on schemeslike this, as they have the experience andknowledge on what is needed to make you a better player.”

Lee Carroll, Irish FA head of grassrootsfootball, said: “We really encourage all par-ents to get their kids along to one of oursummer schools. The kids are guaranteed tolearn new skills, make new friends and, mostimportantly, have a great time.” Michael Murphy, Irwin's commercial controller, added:“Irwin’s Bakery is proud to enter into thethird year of sponsorship with the Irish FA forthe Nutty Krust Summer Soccer Schools. We are looking forward to a great summerwith more than 5,000 kids expected to havea great time developing their football skills,fuelled by Northern Ireland’s favourite gro-cery product.”

The Summer Soccer Schools, which are for children aged six and above, will run atvenues across Northern Ireland and will be attended by thousands of boys and girls. ■

favour of sport and, in particular, football,”says the Portuguese Football Federation gen-eral secretary, Ângelo Brou, who has beenmaking numerous trips in the last two yearsto inaugurate these amenities.

“Unfortunately, but understandably, it has not been possible to meet all the requests,as the number of bids has been five timeshigher than the supply available. Therefore,we have been undertaking, in close coopera-tion with the government/IDP and the region-al football associations, a rigorous selectionprocess, taking into particular considerationthe specific needs of each region and tryingto choose the most deprived ones,” he explained.

Ângelo Brou has no doubts that Portugalis now “a country which is more aware of the importance of the role of sport in youthdevelopment and in enhancing physical andpsychological wellbeing. Our commitment to implementing this mini-pitch project is notonly in order to try to find Cristianos Ronaldos.Above all, we want to accomplish our missionas an association to make young peopleaware of the benefits of playing sport and,ultimately, to help future generations to growup healthier and happier,” he concluded.

Mention should also be made of the sup-port from our sponsor, BES, which has investedin the construction of 13 mini-pitches and intends to continue in 2010, with a new facil-ity already having been allocated. We hopethat, in the context of social responsibility,other sponsors will join this programme. ■

■ Also, last month saw the announcement of a new pilot Stay Active league initiative for the unemployed that will be rolled out in Dublinover the coming weeks. The initiative, the first of its kind to be implemented by a sportsgoverning body in Ireland, is aimed at men andwomen over the age of 18 who are currentlyunemployed and would like to stay active andengaged through football.

The leagues, which will be held in four loca-tions in Dublin throughout May and June, are organised by FAI development officers, who areco-funded by Dublin City Council, Fingal CountyCouncil and South Dublin County Council, andwill also offer coaching and referee courses tothose interested so that they can continue to beactive within their communities. Depending onthe success of the pilot schemes, the initiativemay be extended throughout the country. ■

➜


CommunicationsBir thdays – Ca lendar

UEF

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Forthcoming events

Birthdays

Meetings2/3 June, Nassau, Bahamas

Ordinary FIFA Congress10 June, Nyon

Finance Committee12 June, Donetsk

Draw for the final round of the 2008/09 European Under-19 Championship

22 June, NyonDraws for the first and second qualifying rounds of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League

24 June, NyonDraw for the qualifying round of the UEFA Women’s Champions League

Competitions14–28 June, South Africa

FIFA Confederations Cup15–22 June, Croatia

UEFA Regions’ Cup final round15–29 June, Sweden

European Under-21 Championship final round

22–25 June, NyonEuropean Women’s Under-17 Championship final round

30 June/1 JulyUEFA Champions League first qualifying round (first legs)

Referee observer Franz Wöhrer (Austria) turns 70 on 5 June. On 6 June, security officerFrancesco Tagliente (Italy) celebrates his 60th, followed the next day by Sandor Berzi (Hungary),a vice-chairman of the Control and DisciplinaryBody, and on 11 June by referee observer Nathan Bartfeld (Moldova). Jean-Jacques Schonckert (Luxembourg), a member of thePlayers’ Status, Transfer and Agents and Match Agents Committee, celebrates his 50th birthday on 24 June.

UEFA also wishes many happy returns to:● Wilfried Gerhardt (Germany, 1.6)● Ivaylo Ivkov (Bulgaria, 3.6)● Klara Bjartmarz (Iceland, 3.6)● George Courtney (England, 4.6)● Rolf Haugen (Norway, 4.6)● Alastair L. Cox (England, 4.6)● Jean-Samuel Leuba (Switzerland, 4.6)● Marie-Claire Maney (Northern Ireland, 4.6)● Ludovico Micallef (Malta, 5.6)● Jaap Uilenberg (Netherlands, 5.6)● Leon Straessle (Switzerland, 6.6)● Michael Joseph Hyland (Republic of Ireland, 6.6)● Theo Zwanziger (Germany, 6.6)● Stefano Braschi (Italy, 6.6)● Lars-Åke Bjørck (Sweden, 7.6)● Kenneth J. Hope (Scotland, 7.6)● Michel Sablon (Belgium, 7.6)● Sondre Kåfjord (Norway, 7.6)● Yury Dupanau (Belarus, 7.6)● Johannes Scholtz (Netherlands, 8.6)● Robert Anthony Boggi (Italy, 8.6)● Bryan Drew (England, 8.6)● Jesper Møller Christensen (Denmark, 9.6)● Hans Bangerter (Switzerland, 10.6)● Alun Evans (Wales, 11.6)● Leonardo Grosso (Italy, 11.6)● Kyros Georgiou (Cyprus, 11.6)● Thórir Hakonarson (Iceland, 11.6)● Alain Courtois (Belgium, 12.6)● Jørn West Larsen (Denmark, 12.6)● Sergejus Sliva (Lithuania, 12.6)● Arben Bici (Albania, 12.6)● Roland Coquard (France, 13.6)● Ante Vucemilovic-Simunovic Jr (Croatia, 13.6)● Giulio Campanati (Italy, 15.6)● Viacheslav Koloskov (Russia, 15.6)● Pavel Mokry (Czech Republic, 15.6)● Muhittin Bosat (Turkey, 15.6)● Michael Joseph Maessen (Netherlands, 17.6)● Stephen Thomas (England, 17.6)● Markus Nobs (Switzerland, 17.6)● Philippe Piat (France, 18.6)● Hannelore Ratzeburg (Germany, 18.6)● Elkhan Mammadov (Azerbaijan, 18.6)● Gaioz Darsadze (Georgia, 19.6)

● Brian Barwick (England, 21.6)● Michel Platini (France, 21.6)● Peter Peters (Germany, 21.6)● Zoran Cvrk (Croatia, 21.6)● Keith Stuart Hackett (England, 22.6)● Zvi Rosen (Israel, 23.6)● Vladimir Antonov (Moldova, 23.6)● Leslie Irvine (Northern Ireland, 23.6)● Georg Pangl (Austria, 23.6)● Rene J. Temmink (Netherlands, 24.6)● Emanuel Zammit (Malta, 24.6)● João Rocha (Portugal, 24.6)● Jeannette Saarinen (Finland, 24.6)● Reinhard Walser (Liechtenstein, 25.6)● Marcel Lica (Romania, 25.6)● Foppe de Haan (Netherlands, 26.6)● Barry W. Bright (England, 27.6)● Sigurdur Hannesson (Iceland, 27.6)● Wim Koevermans (Netherlands, 28.6)● Ivan Borissov Lekov (Bulgaria, 29.6)● Joan Laporta i Estruch (Spain, 29.6)● Orhan Erdemir (Turkey, 29.6)

Notice

Match agents

Publications

In April the Turkish Football Associationmoved to:Istinye Mah. Darüssafaka Cad. No. 45,Kat 2, 34330 Sariyer Istanbul TurkeyTel.: +90 212 3622222Fax: +90 212 [email protected]

Eat for Goals!Produced by UEFA in collaboration with the European Commission and theWorld Heart Federation, this cookbook

for 5 to 11-year-olds(see uefadirect No 78)is extending its reach.Originally publishedin the three officialUEFA languages (English, French andGerman), it is nowalso available in

Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and Russian.The aim of the book is to help youngpeople better understand the importanceof exercise and a healthy, balanced diet(see uefa.com).

Górnik ZabrzeAs part of their collection on footballclubs, the publishers of the EncyklopediaPilkarska FUJI have released a volume on the Polish club Górnik Zabrze, whichcelebrated its 60th anniversary last year.The book contains the clubs’ results, a list of all first-team players with infor-mation about their careers, and lots of photos, including one of the first teameach season since the late 1950s ([email protected]).

Two new UEFA match agent licences have been granted:

Raymond AkakpoISM – 7, avenue Henri Becquerel,93420 Villepinte, FranceMobile: +33 6 11 46 52 84Fax: +33 1 48 60 15 [email protected]

Behçet Menkaloglu Boheme Travel Agency – Nilgün Sok. 11/2,Çankaya, Ankara 06680, TurkeyTel.: +90 312 427 67 74Fax: +90 312 427 67 [email protected]

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 the source is indicated.

Official publication of theUnion des associationseuropéennes de football

Chief editor André Vieli

Produced by Atema Communication SA, CH-1196 Gland

Printed by Artgraphic Cavin SA, CH-1422 Grandson

Editorial deadline: 13 May 2009C o m m u n i c a t i o n s D i v i s i o n


UEFARoute de Genève 46 Union des associationsCH-1260 Nyon européennes de footballSwitzerlandPhone +41 848 00 27 27Fax +41 848 01 27 27uefa.com

SQS-COC-100155


Documents

Including - UEFA · 2015. 4. 10. · No 58 – Février 2007 6.09 No 86 – June 2009 Interviú Madrid win the UEFA Futsal Cup 03 Seminars for referees and mentors in Nyon 12 EURO