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EuropeanClub Forum 03

EURO 2008qualifiers 06

Celebrationmatch inManchester 12

Huge run on tickets forEURO 2008 15

EuropeanClub Forum 03

EURO 2008qualifiers 06

Celebrationmatch inManchester 12

Huge run on tickets forEURO 2008 15

Zero tolerance of v iolence

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European Club Forummeets in Nyon 03

Review of the EURO 2008 qualifiers 06

UEFA Champions League replicas 08

Celebration match in Manchester 12

Amendments to the statutes on the agenda of the 10th extraordinary UEFA Congress 13

Huge run on ticketsfor EURO 2008 15

News from the member associations 16

Germany (Christoph Metzelder, in white) took an important steptowards a place at EURO 2008 by beating one of their toughest opponents, the Czech Republic (Milan Baros) in March.Photo: Klamar/AFP/Getty Images

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Messageof the presidentViolence may not be inherent in football, but it does, unfortunately, tend

to stick to it like a parasite that it cannot get rid of.

At both European and national level, numerous steps have been taken

to eradicate this scourge from the stadiums, especially since the Heysel tragedy.

However, when the measures taken leave the troublemakers with nowhere to vent

their aggression inside the stadium confines, the violence spills out into the neigh-

bouring streets. The lower divisions, and even youth football, are not immune either.

To counter these acts of violence, in whatever form they take, football’s

leaders absolutely need the help of the public authorities, which is why we are doing

everything we can to ensure effective cooperation with and between police forces

throughout Europe.

Even if it cannot overcome violence single-handed, football does have

full responsibility for its own area of activity. In this respect, as far as the behaviour

of players, coaches and club officials goes, there is no excuse whatsoever for seeing

players fighting on the field, club officials tolerating racism in their stadiums, or

coaches creating a climate of hatred by making inflammatory statements. Football

is not war, nor is it a battle. It is not a matter of life or death. There are no

“groups of death” in the competitions, and stadiums should not be “hellholes”.

Any act of violence, cheating and contempt must be punished with the utmost

severity. There is no room for tolerance of such behaviour.

Respecting the principles of the opponent, accepting that losing is part

of the game, and creating a festive atmosphere in the stadiums will certainly not be

enough to dissuade the hardcore troublemakers who use football as a pretext

for their antisocial behaviour.

But for everyone involved in our game, impeccable behaviour is more than

a need: it is a duty.

Michel PlatiniUEFA President

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T h e c l u b c o m p e t i t i o n su n d e r t h e s p o t l i g h t

T h e c l u b c o m p e t i t i o n su n d e r t h e s p o t l i g h t

European Club Forum

THE FIRST MEETING THIS YEAR OF THE EUROPEAN CLUB FORUM, WHICH

HAD BEEN POSTPONED FROM THE BEGINNING OF FEBRUARY, TOOK PLACE ON

19 AND 20 MARCH AT UEFA HEADQUARTERS IN NYON. THE MEETING,

CHAIRED BY KARL-HEINZ RUMMENIGGE, BROUGHT TOGETHER REPRESENTATIVES

FROM FOUR-FIFTHS OF THE 102 MEMBERS OF THE ADVISORY BODY,

WHICH IS MADE UP OF THE CLUBS INVOLVED IN THE UEFA COMPETITIONS.

“The football family has for too long been torn apart by internalsquabbles, and these rifts have allowedoutsiders to ‘move the goalposts’. Thishas simply got to stop,” stressed thepresident of UEFA, Michel Platini, in hiswelcome address. He therefore calledfor unity, which builds strength and isachieved by respect: “If we respect eachother, then football will be respected,”he assured the delegates, before goingon to present the Professional FootballStrategy Council, which the representa-

tives of the national associations will be invited to incorporate into the UEFAstatutes at the confederation’s tenth extraordinary congress in Zurich in May.This body is intended to be an expandedversion of the European ProfessionalFootball Strategy Forum, which met inJanuary, bolstered by the addition ofplayers’ representatives and representa-tives of the players’ union, FIFPro; theoriginal forum comprised the UEFA vice-presidents and club and league repre-sentatives. Each delegation would be

entitled to four representatives, makingup a body of 16 members, chaired bythe first vice-president of UEFA. Social dialogue, problems surrounding thefootball calendar and any other subjectlinked to professional football in Europewould pass before this body in an at-tempt to reach a consensus before thematter was submitted to the ExecutiveCommittee, which would obviously consider the recommendations and proposals of the council closely duringits decision-making process.

Club competitions 2009-2012The structure of the UEFA club

competitions for the period 2009-2012was one of the major topics on theagenda of the meeting. The participantsheard the thoughts of a working groupcomposed of representatives of national

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Karl-HeinzRummenigge (centre), chairman of theEuropean Club Forum, in conversationwith club representatives.

The participants showed their interest by their active involvement.

associations, leagues and clubs, and assisted by specialist agencies commis-sioned to research and study the three areas of the working group: the compe-tition formats, marketing and revenuedistribution. The group considered severalvariants and options before formulating a set of recommendations which werediscussed by the European Club Forum in four groups set up according to UEFA’snational association coefficients.

The proposal to keep the UEFAChampions’ League in its current formatmet with unanimous approval, but therewere some differences of opinion on theissue of whether the current qualifyingsystem should be kept or replaced by a different format. There was also wide-spread support from the club delegatesfor a UEFA Cup that included a groupphase consisting of 48 teams divided into12 groups of four. But once again, there

was some disagreement on the pro-posed format of the qualifying systemfor this competition.

The proposal to include thethird qualifying round of the Champi-ons League in the central marketingsystem met with general disapproval.However, the idea of reserving fourdates instead of two for the first knock-out round was better received, eventhough this plan could be bad news for the UEFA Cup.

The proposal to centralise the television rights from the groupstage of the latter competition wasgenerally well received. Full centralisa-tion would not occur until the directknockout rounds.

Access reserved for cup winnersalone

On the subject of access to the competitions, the participantslargely supported the principle that justthe winner of the national cup shouldbe entitled to take part in the UEFACup, and under no circumstances thelosing finalist. The number of clubs perassociation in the Champions League

and an increase in the number of national champions taking part in thiscompetition were issues that dividedthe forum, depending on whetherthey were in a high coefficient groupor not. The same was true of issueslinked to the distribution of revenue,where some participants were firmlyin support of the current regulationswhile others wanted to see solidaritypayments scaled up in proportion tothe rate at which the overall revenueis increasing.

The timeline for the proce-dure which will lead to the adoptionof the format for 2009-2012 havingbeen extended, the consultation period will now last until August, withthe Executive Committee not taking a decision until September, by whichtime the European Club Forum willhave met again.

New format for drawsTurning to the immediate

future, some proposed amendmentsto the regulations for the 2007/08competitions – which still have to beapproved by the Executive Committee

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The views of the working groups did not always concur.

05

– were presented to the club represen-tatives. Among them, a new format forthe quarter-final draw of the ChampionsLeague, under which teams would beseeded according to the results ofmatches in the same campaign – fromthe group phase and the first knockoutround. A victory in any of these matcheswould be worth two points and a drawone point, with the four highest-scoringteams according to this principle becom-ing the four seeds. The format for thesemi-finals would also be arranged tomake it impossible for the best twoteams of the season to meet each otherbefore the final. In this way, each gamewould assume added importance.

The forum also supported therecommendations of a working groupthat has been looking into the sale of new media rights. Technological developments and digital convergencehave rendered obsolete the division of sales by types of transmission (TV, internet, mobile telephony, and so on),and the working group thereforefavoured a time-based approach.

Various other topics roundedoff the meeting. There was an updateon the installation of the Football Ad-ministration and Management Environ-ment (FAME) IT platform, which willsoon replace the extranet network ofthe club forum. The meeting was alsoinformed of the range of possibilities offered by a computer tracking systemthat records such statistical data as thespeed of the ball, distance, and eventactical information, and constitutesboth an addition to the packages offered by television service providersand a useful aid to a better understand-ing of the game. Finally, informationwas provided about initiatives launchedby the European Parliament, the Euro-pean Commission and the Council ofEurope in parallel with the IndependentEuropean Sport Review.

“Cost control and salary caps” was the topic, presented first by EgonFranck, a professor from the University of Zurich, who then took on the role of chair of the roundtable and, when necessary, ‘devil’s advocate’. A generaloverview was presented of the situationin other sports, most notably in the UnitedStates, and some clarifications were neces-sary, such as to explain that it was not the capping of individual players’ salarieswhich was involved, but of the total salarybudget of the clubs, before the debateopened with a somewhat provocative

question: Why, when so many clubs are in financial difficulty, does footballcontinue as the exception and not introduce such measures?

Those who debated the issue concluded that the most obvious reasonwas the diversity of Europe itself – the large number of member states andthe differences between them that mean that a euro is not quite worth thesame in every country because taxes and charges vary from one place to thenext. Between the more liberal supporters of a system in which the clubs regulate themselves and those who could happily countenance a ceiling pro-portional to sporting revenue, it is also necessary to remember those clubswith annual budgets of less than a quarter of a million euros a year, whowould be forced to cease operations if they had to limit their salary budgetto a fixed percentage of their revenue.

Seen in this light, many see the club licensing system as an appropriateand adequate instrument for achieving the financial stability necessary forcompetitions to work properly, even if it does not go as far as to constituteperfect equality in means and therefore chances. The discussion also broughtto light the problems caused by tycoon owners with whole books of blankcheques, who can be at the same time a source of discouragement for goodmanagers and an incitement to massive investment, leading to debt. Such agonies are not just reserved for the most ambitious clubs, but can also affectthose seeking to avoid relegation at all costs.

Should the revenue distribution system be reviewed? How can thedownward investment-debt spiral be avoided? Should the regulations betightened? Or should separate competitions even be organised for clubs that are less well off? So many questions to which the roundtable did not try to offer answers, but which will be debated again in the future.

Animated roundtable discussionBefore chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge could begin to draw

conclusions from the forum’s two half-day sessions, the results of a round-table really set the meeting alight, provoking numerous contributions from club delegates.

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Prof. Egon Franck

Peter Lawwell (Celtic FC), David Dein (Arsenal FC), Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (FC Bayern Munich), Ferran Soriano (FC Barcelona), Ernesto Paolillo (FC Internazionale) and Prof. Egon Franck participated in the roundtable.

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Portugal struckhard againstBelgium but can still improvetheir consistency.

After reaching the2006 World Cup quarter-finals,Ukraine (Oleg Gusiev, No. 9) now have their sights set on a place at EURO 2008.

THE QUALIFYING CAMPAIGN FOR EURO 2008 IS VIRTUALLY AT THE HALFWAY

STAGE. ALMOST ALL THE GROUPS ARE VERY TIGHT AND THERE IS EVERY CHANCE

THAT WE WILL WITNESS SOME MAJOR SURPRISES. SO FAR, NONE OF THE FOUR

SEMI-FINALISTS FROM LAST YEAR’S WORLD CUP HAVE BEEN PARTICULARLY

CONVINCING, WHILE OTHER “BIG NATIONS” SUCH AS SPAIN AND ENGLAND HAVE

ALSO MADE DISAPPOINTING STARTS. THERE COULD BE AN INTERESTING LINE-UP

IN SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA IN 15 MONTHS’ TIME…

EURO 2008 qualifying groups

B i g b o y s i n t r o u b l e

In Group A, the only group witheight teams, four or maybe even fiveteams are still in with a shout. Portugal,who finished fourth in the 2006 WorldCup and reached the EURO 2004 final,are the group favourites. Figo and Pauleta,now retired from the international scene,have been replaced by Cristiano Ronaldo

several experienced players still available(Vieira, Thuram, Henry, etc.), made theirtask more complicated by losing in Scot-land. Team coach Raymond Domenechis under no illusions. “It is going to be a fight between four teams right to theend, just like in the World Cup quali-fiers,” he said. Two years ago, France,Switzerland, the Republic of Ireland andIsrael could not be split until the very lastround of matches. This time, Ukraine,World Cup quarter-finalists who have sofar only lost to Italy in the EURO 2008qualifiers, complete the quartet of hopefuls.

Group C: exile at an endThis is the only group that

already appears done and dusted.Turkey, who finished third in the 2002World Cup, and Greece, reigning European champions, have opened

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as the main talisman. His partnership with Quaresma, supported by Tiago, canproduce wonders, as they showed againstBelgium (4-0). But the Portuguese are inconsistent: they have drawn twice andlost in Poland. The Poles, now coached by globetrotter Leo Beenhakker, are onan upward curve. Five consecutive winshave made up for early disappointmentsagainst Finland and Serbia, although both these teams are still in contention.Finland coach Roy Hodgson would love to return to Switzerland, where he hasfond memories (having qualified for the1994 World Cup and EURO ‘96 with theSwiss national team). However, like theFinns (who were beaten in Azerbaijan), the Serbs, who are coached by SpaniardJavier Clemente and slipped up againstKazakhstan, have no more room for error.

Group B: worried finalistsThe two finalists of the last World

Cup in the same group! Yet neither Francenor Italy have set the world alight. Withnew coach Roberto Donadoni at the helm,the world champions only picked up onepoint from their first two matches (a homedraw against Lithuania and defeat inFrance). The Italians failed to qualify forthe European Championship that followedtheir previous World Cup victory (1982).However, their recent progress mightmean that lightning does not strike twice.France, now without Zidane but with

Turkey (Mehmet Aurelio, No. 7) bagged a clear win in Greece, but the reigning European champions are still in with a good chance to defend their title in 2008.

Kazakhstan(MaximZhalmagam-betov, No. 4, in an aerialchallenge with Serbia’sNikola Zigic)scored theirfirst goals athome and won their firstEuropeanChampionshipqualifyingmatch.

up a considerable gap at the top. Fatih Terim’s men are calling the shots thanksto their convincing 4-1 victory in Greece,but nearly put their foot in it a few days later. Trailing 2-0 to Norway, they onlyavoided defeat because of two incredi-ble errors by their opponents. Anotherreason for the Turks to be optimistic isthe fact that they will be able to play infront of their home crowd again againstHungary on 12 September. Their matchagainst Norway, played in Frankfurt, was the third and final time they willhave to play behind closed doors following the suspension imposed byFIFA because of the serious incidentsthat occurred after the match againstSwitzerland in November 2005. As for Greece, in spite of their lapseagainst Turkey, they have shown that

Croatia’s Luka Modricbreaks free fromhis opponentsagainst FYRMacedonia.

Adrian Mutu, a key force in a solidRomanian side.

they have not lost the realism and defensive strength that enabled them tolift the trophy in Portugal. Rehhagel’smen have won three of their four victories by the smallest of margins (1-0).

Group D: Germany maintain formGermany are continuing where

they left off in “ their” World Cup, inwhich they finished third. Continuity isthe watchword where the Germancoaching set-up is concerned, with Jür-gen Klinsmann having been replaced byhis assistant, Joachim Löw. Apartfrom a slip-up in Cyprus (1-1), the”Mannschaft” has performedconvincingly and boasts the bestattack and fourth best defence(behind Russia, England and theNetherlands) of the 50 teams involved inthe qualifying competition! Rarely usedby Bayern until Hitzfeld arrived, Podolskicontinues to shine for the national team(7 goals, making him the group’s topscorer). Moreover, Kevin Kuranyi, whowas not selected for the World Cup,made an astonishing return, scoringboth German goals in the summit mee-ting in the Czech Republic (2-1). Despitethis defeat and even though Nedved andPoborsky have retired from internationalfootball, the Czechs, EURO 2004 semi-finalists, remain favourites to take secondplace. However, their Slovak neighboursand the Republic of Ireland are not outof the running yet.

Group E: England in difficultyCroatia have come to terms with

their World Cup disappointment. Newcoach Slaven Bilic (who was still a playernot so long ago) has brought in someyoungsters and attacking duo Eduardoand Petric are performing wonders. Afterbeating Israel and England and drawingin Russia, the Balkan team are the newgroup favourites. England are having realproblems and will find it especially diffi-cult to qualify now that Russia appear tohave found a certain degree of stabilitywith the arrival of Guus Hiddink. As hispast World Cup record shows (with theNetherlands in 1998, South Korea in2002 and Australia in 2006), the Dutch-man rarely fails. Highly promising

goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev (21) has onlyconceded a solitary goal in the wholequalifying campaign. Nobody has a better record.

Group F: flying HealySpain and Sweden were the

favourites in this group, with Denmark a serious outsider. Then Northern Irelandcame along. Thanks to David Healy (27),the British side has defeated theSpaniards as well as Lagerbäck’s men.With nine goals, the Leeds striker, whose

club is battling to avoid relegationto the third division in England, isthe top scorer in the qualifyingcompetition! After a horrendousstart, Spain recorded two wins inMarch, although they were hardly

convincing. Despite losing in Spain, Denmark – who had to play with ten menfor 70 minutes after a player was sent off– are also still in with a chance. A 1-0friendly win in Germany on 27 Marchproved that Morten Olsen’s outfitare full of confidence. Anothernoteworthy result was Liecht-enstein’s second ever win inEuropean Championship quali-fiers, achieved with former Swissnational coach Hans-Peter Zaugg at thehelm. After losing in Vaduz, Latvia – whoreached the final round of EURO 2004 –will have a new coach in June after JurijsAndrejevs’ resignation.

Group G: three teams unbeatenThe absence of Van Nistelrooy,

frozen out by coach Marco van Bastensince the World Cup, has not preventedthe Netherlands from starting theircampaign well. With a few older players around them (Van der Sar, Van Bronckhorst, etc.), the youngsters(Babel, Emanuelson, Sneijder) are making progress. Nevertheless, theydo not always put on agood show andqualification is notyet a formality. Indeed, a solidRomanian side,inspired by anin-form AdrianMutu, avoided

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defeat in Holland and is still unbeaten.Bulgaria, coached by former Golden Ballwinner Hristo Stoichkov, have also yet to lose. However, the draw at homeagainst Otto Baric’s Albania may wellcount against the 1994 World Cup semi-finalists when it comes to the finalreckoning.

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David Healy outpacesLiechtenstein’s Christof Ritter. The Northern Irish striker is currently the competition’s leading scorer.

Lukas Podolski: on fire in the German attack.

Table tennis and volleyball have their own champions leagues.

”Like many UEFA initiatives, theChampions League is symbolic for us,”says Olivier Mottier, executive director ofthe European Volleyball Confederation(CEV), ”although we are not quite at thesame level”. Volleyball launched its ownChampions League in 2000 and createda similar event for women the followingyear. The Champions League is reservedfor league champions and cup winners,with other competitions organised forlower-placed clubs. The number of

UEFAChampions

LeagueA source of inspiration

THE SUCCESS OF THE UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE HAS INSPIRED

MANY OTHER SPORTS AND FOOTBALL CONFEDERATIONS TO GO DOWN

THE SAME ROAD, WITH SIMILAR RESULTS.

participants in the different cups is determined, as in the UEFA competitions,by rankings based on the results of the clubs from each federation. OlivierMottier explains: ”We have also been inspired by the UEFA club licensing system. Any team wishing to participatein our competitions is sent a 180-pagedocument setting out its rights and obligations. Like UEFA, we have created a standard format for the ChampionsLeague, including where broadcasting

is concerned: each sponsor is thereforeguaranteed a presence at 150 matches.Every participating team has to sign acontract with a television channel whichwill broadcast its matches. This was difficult at the beginning but it is begin-ning to bear fruit.” In fact, the number of men’s teams has grown from 16 to 24,while the women’s league, which hadeight teams at the outset, currently comprises 16 teams and will have 20 next season.

The CEV Champions Leaguestarts with a phase involving four groupsof six, in which each team faces its oppo-nents twice. The top three in each groupprogress to a knockout round. The fourbest teams then dispute the title via thefamous final four.

The CEV has acquired greaterstability thanks to the Champions League.It is also hoping that the media coverageof volleyball will attract more young players and enable it to broaden its membership base over the next five years.Volleyball has a long tradition of Euro-pean cup competitions. The first suchevent was held in the 1959/60 season.However, the sport has not developed

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The UEFA Champions League: an innovative concept uniting football, the broadcasters and the sponsors.

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In Asia and Africa

The Asian Football Confed-eration (AFC) has been organisingclub competitions since 1967, settingup the Champions Clubs’ Cup, CupWinners’ Cup and Asian Super Cup.It brought all these competitions together under the umbrella of anew Champions League in 2002/03.Unlike the UEFA Champions League,it is not open to all its member asso-ciations, but only the top 15: Iraq,Iran, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia,Syria, the United Arab Emirates,Uzbekistan, Australia, China, Indone-sia, Japan, South Korea, Thailand andVietnam. Twenty-eight teams aresplit into seven groups of four. Thegroup winners and the reigningchampions contest subsequentrounds by direct elimination.

at an equal rate across Europe. Russianclubs have enjoyed the lion’s share of success over the years. Russia, Poland and Italy are the main hotbeds where volleyball is concerned. ”These nationshave therefore attracted most attention,leaving other ambitious countries in theshadows. Now, if a club does well andqualifies for the Champions League, it becomes a more attractive proposition.The top players are no longer obliged tomove to Italy either.”

Turning to handball…Handball’s Champions League

was born in 1993/94, not long afterUEFA’s version. It has since undergoneseveral reforms. Originally played in twogroups of four, then in four groups offour, it has now doubled in size again and comprises eight groups of four clubs.The best teams qualify for the last 16,when they begin two-legged knockoutrounds. ”Next season, we are introducinga second group stage. We will be centralising the marketing from the second phase, whereas at the momentwe only do that from the first knockoutround, apart from the television rights,which we manage from the start of thecompetition,” explains Sian Rowland,communications manager of the European Handball Federation (EHF). The EHF Champions League is currently in a pivotal season. Its development, overseen by the company EHF MarketingGmbH, a subsidiary of the EHF, is acceler-ating. ”It is making a tremendous effortto improve the character of the event.We have also recently introduced certainobligations, such as the need for identicalsurfaces at all venues. Our competition is clearly benefiting from its name andfrom the identity that we have created by adhering to a strict regime, applicable

to all participants. The ChampionsLeague is generating significant interest amongst the main European TV stations. These matches must beheld at large venues.”

…and table tennisIn table tennis, La Villette

Charleroi are preparing to contest theirseventh successive Champions Leaguefinal. The sport used to have a Champi-on Clubs’ Cup, which was based on adirect knockout system. However, itdrew inspiration from UEFA in 1998/99,launching a Champions League withtwo groups of four clubs. In 2005/06,the competition doubled in size, withfour groups of four. The rest of the tournament is played in a two-leggedknockout format. Didier Leroy, technicaldirector of the Belgian Table Tennis Federation, assesses the impact of thisChampions League: ”The clubs havestructured themselves and become pro-fessional. They have to meet various re-quirements and pay fines if they fail todo so. Eurosport broadcasts the matchesfrom the semi-final stage onwards. Before that, the clubs can count on thelocal TV stations. We are seeing genuineprogress in our sport. There is more media coverage and standards are becoming more even across Europe. Atthe start, it was just German clubs andLa Villette. The number of clubs thatqualify from each country depends ontheir position in the table of nationalrankings, as in UEFA competitions. Germany and France, for example, canenter several clubs, not just their cham-pions. However, other countries, such asSpain, are emerging. Granada reachedthe semi-finals and La Villette will beplaying an Austrian club in the final.”

Pascale Pierard

The AFC organises the President’s Cup for emerging foot-ball federations. It is also develop-ing a plan, Vision Asia, to supportthe growth of football in Asia andprevent it splitting into differentspheres of interest.

The African Football Con-federation (CAF) has also drawn in-spiration from the UEFA ChampionsLeague. After several preliminaryrounds, the remaining eight teamsare split into two groups of four.The top two in each group contestthe semi-finals. The final is playedon a home and away basis, since a match at a neutral venue wouldnot attract enough spectators.

The Arab Champions Leaguewas introduced in 2003/04, stem-ming from the competitions organ-ised for domestic league championsand cup winners of the Arab countries. P.P.

A spectacular scene in the CAF Champions League match between Mangasport (Gabon) and JSK Dabo (Algeria).

The handballChampionsLeague continues to evolve.

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Michel Platini and José Manuel Barroso exchange views.

ON 12 MARCH, BRUSSELS WAS THE SETTING FOR AN EXCEPTIONAL MEETING

BETWEEN UEFA PRESIDENT MICHEL PLATINI AND THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION

PRESIDENT, JOSÉ MANUEL BARROSO. IT WAS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR THEM

TO DISCUSS THE GOVERNANCE OF SPORT IN EUROPE AND RAISE A NUMBER OF

ISSUES WHICH UEFA AND ITS MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS ARE CURRENTLY FACING.

Report from Brussels

M e e t i n g o f t h e p r e s i d e n t s

The two presidents expressedtheir respective viewpoints during a formal meeting and a working lunchbefore holding a joint press confer-ence.

Both described relations be-tween UEFA and the EU as “excellent”nowadays, and agreed on the need topromote the European model of sport.

White paperWith regard to the Commis-

sion white paper on sport, which is

due to be published this summer, theEU president gave assurances that thisdid not presage the adoption of anyCommunity legislation on sport –which in any case would be impossible.The white paper would simply be ameans for the Commission to indicateits position on the subject and, in par-ticular, the way in which Communitylaw should be applied to it – namely, by taking its specificity into account.

According to Mr Barroso, thismeant in practice that a balance had

to be found between, on the onehand, the social and educational values of sport and, on the other, the application of the major principlesof EU law to its economic aspects. In his view, the growing commerciali-sation of football and the transforma-tion of some clubs into business enti-ties meant that professional footballcould not escape EU rules.

As regards the Charleroi case,the European Commission president said that FIFA and UEFA had verystrong legal and political argumentsand he felt that the balance wasmore in their favour.

Training of young playersMichel Platini, for his part,

expressed his concern regarding the urgent need to place greater empha-sis on the training of young players in Europe, saying: ”Young playersshould be trained to play, not to bebought and sold.”

A commemorative shirtfor the president of theEuropean Commission, pictured with Michel Platiniand two famous names in European football, Sir Bobby Charlton andMarcello Lippi.

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The mini-pitch in Saint-Josse.Youth player training is crucial to the development and future of football.

Mini-pitch supported bythe European Commission

Since 2004, the year of its golden jubilee, UEFA has been funding the construction of mini-pitches in the territory each of its member associa-tions through the HatTrick programme.

By building mini-pitches in the heart of urban areas, UEFA hopes to help revive the tradition of street football, which used to be so popular, and is providing local communities with excellent facilities in which to play football.

In this context, the Belgian Football Association (URBSFA) and UEFAinaugurated a new mini-pitch on 16 March in the Saint-Josse district of Brussels. This initiative was unusual insofar as it was actively supported by the European Commission, which has recently moved part of its head-quarters into this locality.

In Belgium, most of the 40 or so mini-pitches that have been built to date are located in regions and districts where young people form a largeproportion of the population. The municipality of Saint-Josse is a good example, since almost half of its 24,000 inhabitants are under 25. Thanks to this newly built mini-pitch, they will all be able to enjoy a sports facility near where they live and play football to their heart’s content, since thepitch will not be part of the sporting infrastructure of any particular club.

José Manuel Barroso agreed that theBosman ruling had had some ”unfore-seen” consequences.

Finally, the UEFA presidentvoiced the idea of possible collabora-tion with the EU in order to step upthe fight against scourges such ashooliganism and money laundering – which considerably tarnish the image and values of football.

Opening with a short film tracing the major stages in the buildingof Europe and the history of European football, the press conference was the occasion for the two presidents to in-troduce the match scheduled for thefollowing day at Old Trafford betweenManchester United and a Europe XI. The gala match was staged to cele-brate a double golden jubilee: the 50thanniversary of the Treaty of Rome,which laid the foundations of the Euro-pean Union, and the 50th anniversaryof Manchester United’s first Europeancampaign.

Marcello Lippi, who won the2006 World Cup with Italy, then un-veiled the list of players selected forthe Europe XI, including England teamskipper Steven Gerrard, French inter-national goalkeeper Grégory Coupet,and Internazionale Milan’s prolificSwedish striker, Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Following this announcement,Michel Platini presented a commemo-rative European team shirt with thenumber 27 to José Manuel Barroso,drawing a round of applause from thegathered media representatives.

Attending as a representativeof Manchester United, Sir Bobby Charlton, who in 1966 was part of the England team that won the WorldCup as well as being European Foot-baller of the Year, closed the eventwith an inspiring message: ”Let’s beproud of Europe!”

Left to right: Jean Demannez, mayor of the Saint-Josse district of Brussels; Odile Quentin, European Commission director-general for Education and Culture; Michel Sablon, technical directorof the Belgian FA; and François de Keersmaecker, president of the Belgian FA.

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The official opening of the mini-pitch in Saint-Josse was attended by representatives of the four institutions which funded the project: the municipality of Saint-Josse, the URBSFA, the Directorate General for Education and Culture of the European Commission and UEFA. They were all delighted to have been able to contribute to such an initiative and notedthat the mini-pitch in Saint-Josse would have a particularly exotic dimension:the population of the municipality is composed of nationals of more than180 different countries, who all live together peacefully.

More than anyone else, these people have a wonderful opportunityto demonstrate football’s potential to promote intercultural dialogue…

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The playersand mascotscome onto the pitch.

Marcello Lippiand Sir AlexFerguson:relaxed for this specialmatch.

The success of the event can begauged from two figures. The match waswatched by a crowd of 74,343 – a recordattendance at Old Trafford for a non-com-petition match – and the game generated£1.2m (some EUR 1.8 million), ensuringthat the celebration match would be ableto leave a significant legacy in a variety ofcharity projects coordinated by the Man-chester United Foundation. In recognitionof the support received from Munich andBelgrade after the 1958 tragedy, revenuefrom the match was also earmarked forspecial projects in both cities. Another

50thanniversary ofthe Treaty of Rome

A G r e a t N i g h t a tt h e T h e a t r e

TUESDAY, 13 MARCH 2007 WAS A DATE TO REMEMBER AT OLD TRAFFORD,

A NIGHT WHEN MANCHESTER UNITED FC ENTERTAINED A EUROPE XI COACHED

BY WORLD CHAMPION MARCELLO LIPPI AND UEFA’S TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

ANDY ROXBURGH IN A CHARITY MATCH AT THE THEATRE OF DREAMS.

heartening figure is that the audiencecontained some 20,000 children. Each of the adults received, free of charge, a116-page souvenir match programmeproduced by UEFA.

For once, United did not have toworry about whether they won or lost.Their role was to host a very special occa-sion and they performed the role to per-fection. The European Commission trav-elled to Old Trafford to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome –and went home very happy about theway they had done it. UEFA supported

the event by helping to organiseit and by selecting the Europe XI,greatly appreciating the level ofsupport by the clubs and playerswho helped to make the event agreat success watched by mil-lions of viewers all over Europe.

It is legitimate to talkabout an ‘event’ rather than amatch. Prior to kick-off, Unitedtold their European story in pic-tures, projecting on giant screensinstalled in the stands speciallyfor the occasion, images whichprogressed from black-and-whiteinto colour as history unfolded.To bring the images to life,names from United’s past walked

Henrik Larsson (right): a farewell ovation.

on to the Old Trafford turf, starting withSir Matt Busby’s son Sandy and continu-ing with Bill Foulkes and Brian Kidd to relive the magical moments of the 1968win against SL Benfica; Denis Irwin fromthe team that won the 1991 EuropeanCup Winners’ Cup; Brian McClair, scorerof the goal that won the UEFA Super Cup a few months later; and Ole Gunnar Solskjær, whose last-gasp winnerclinched the dramatic UEFA ChampionsLeague victory in 1999. During the half-time interval, the story was continued by”Busby Babes“ Wilf McGuinness and SirBobby Charlton, while David Beckham,distraught by the knee injury which ruledhim out of the game, went onto thepitch to say goodbye to the fans whohad made his years at Old Trafford ”thebest of my career”.

Before the game, Michel Platiniand José Manuel Barroso, the presidentsof UEFA and the European Commissionrespectively, received commemorative fig-urines from Sir Bobby Charlton and fromUnited’s chief executive, David Gill, alongwith editions of the club’s Opus bookswhich measure a square metre and weighsomething approaching 40 kilos. Theplayers also received a commemorativegift box and UEFA was presented with a cheque for £25,000 for Terre desHommes, an organisation dedicated tothe welfare of children.

The celebration match itself wasall about exuberant football: moments ofstunning individual brilliance, great cama-raderie during a game played with suchfairness that German referee MarkusMerk was able to keep his cards in hispocket, and seven goals. Henrik Larssonearned himself a standing ovation as hesaid goodbye to the United fans wearingthe Europe XI captain’s armband – justone of many emotional moments on aspecial night at the Theatre of Dreams.

Manchester United – Europe XI 4-3 (4-1)Wayne Rooney (2), Wes Brown, Cristiano Ronaldo for Manchester Utd; Florent Malouda, El-Hadji Diouf (2) for Europe.

Dong Fangzhuo (left), playing for the ManchesterUnited, against England’sSteven Gerrard, playing forthe European XI.

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An extraordinarymeeting of theUEFA ExecutiveCommittee.

Meetings andother activities

Preparation of the tenthextraordinary congress

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WHY REVISE THE UEFA STATUTES THIS SPRING, WHEN A FULLY

REVISED VERSION IS DUE TO BE PRESENTED TO THE CONGRESS IN KIEV

AT THE BEGINNING OF NEXT YEAR?

■ The UEFA honorary president, Lennart Johansson, attended thismeeting of the ExecutiveCommittee, and took advantage of the opportunity to address the UEFA staff in the auditorium of the Houseof European Football. He was also presentedwith a gift by his successorto recognise the great contribution he made during his 17 years as UEFA president.

The answer to this question liesin the change of UEFA president. In hiselectoral campaign, Michel Platini clear-ly stated that he wished to be an ”exec-utive president” while, at the sametime, strengthening the authority of theelected representatives of the nationalassociations. Since the majority of thosesame representatives placed their confi-dence in him in Düsseldorf, the UEFAstatutes now have to take account ofthe wishes of the new UEFA president.

This was the main business onthe agenda of the extraordinary Execu-tive Committee meeting convened on26 March at UEFA’s headquarters inNyon. Although the amendments arebeing kept to a strict minimum, no fewer than 30 articles are still affected.During its meeting, the Executive Com-mittee therefore examined the amend-ments proposed by a working groupchaired by vice-president GeoffreyThompson, in order to decide on thetext that would be presented to the national associations’ delegates at anextraordinary UEFA Congress in Zurichon 28 May.

The articles in question con-cern, in particular, the UEFA organs (thepresident replaces the chief executive asan organ), the composition of the Exec-utive Committee (with the abolition ofco-opted members but an increase inthe number of members from 13 to 15,an amendment which would, however,not come into effect until 2009), theduties of the Executive Committee, thepowers of the president, the duties of

the general secretary (who replaces thechief executive) and the committees.

More committeesOn the subject of the committees,

two of the proposed amendments signal a return to the situation that existed be-fore the FORCE project and the subse-quent amendment of the statutes at thecongress in 2000, in that the committeeswould again be directly associated withthe Executive Committee and, in principle,chaired by its members. The number ofcommittees would also increase (from 11to 19), to allow a better balance and syn-ergy with the FIFA committees. The num-ber of members in each committee would,moreover, not be defined in the statutes.

A new article is also being pro-posed which testifies to UEFA’s desireto intensify dialogue within the wholeEuropean football family by incorporat-ing the Professional Football StrategyForum into the statutes. This body metfor the first time in January and, underthe revised statutes, would be knownas the Professional Football StrategyCouncil and expanded to include the”representatives elected by any suchplayers’ union recognised by UEFA as representing the interests of theprofessional players in Europe” (seepage 3).

The committee also approvedthe agenda for the tenth extraordinaryUEFA Congress, which will be devotedessentially to this partial revision of thestatutes.

The meeting was also informedthat David Taylor, outgoing chief execu-tive of the Scottish FA, would officiallytake up his appointment in charge ofthe UEFA administration on 1 June.

Last but not least, the commit-tee approved the procedure for desig-nating the hosts of EURO 2012 at itsmeeting on 17 and 18 April. It also not-ed that its summer meeting will nowtake place in Groningen (Netherlands)on 22 and 23 June, to coincide withthe final of the European Under-21Championship.

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Like in Parislast year, a large part ofthe ChampionsFestival inAthens will bereserved foryoung people.

Jim Boyce was assisted by Marc Wilmots in the draw for theEuropean Under-17Championship final round.

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United against violence

In his efforts to respond to the latest unfortunate incidentsin and outside European stadiums,the UEFA president, Michel Platini,invited police experts and govern-ment representatives from differ-ent European countries to tacklethis problem together on 21 March.

He had already discussed theissue at a meeting with the presidentof the European Commission, JoséManuel Barroso, whom he had askedfor the support of the EU memberstates in the fight against football violence.

The meeting participantsagreed that common goals could only be achieved through improvedcooperation between all the partiesinvolved. UEFA will therefore workmore closely in future with the EU’sPolice Cooperation Working Party,

which aims to promote sharing of information and international partner-ships between ministries responsiblefor security and police authorities. In this way, efforts will be made toharmonise existing preventative meas-ures and to develop a common legalframework for the prevention andpunishment of violence in Europeanfootball.

Festival of football in Athens

The club competitions are approaching their climax,which, in the case of the UEFACup, will take place at HampdenPark in Glasgow, on 16 May, with the UEFA Champions Leaguefinal taking place at the Olympic stadium in Athens a week later, on 23 May.

The UEFA Champions Leaguefinal in Athens will be preceded by a UEFA Champions Festival, which willstart the weekend before the matchand offer a whole host of activities to promote football, the UEFA Cham-pions League and its sponsors. Theplanned activities include a grassrootstournament for girls and boys aged 10 to 16, skill drills, training sessionswith well-known experts, a non-stop24-hour football match and othertypes of games organised by the

Under-17 draw in Brussels

Only three of the teamsthat took part in last year’s Euro-pean Under-17 Championship finalround are among this year’s final-ists: Belgium, who qualify automat-ically as final round hosts, Germanyand Spain.

The elite team was there-fore the stumbling blockfor several leading lightsat Under-17 level, notablythe reigning Europeanchampions, Russia, who

were knocked out in their group’smini-tournament in Portugal. On thelast day of the mini-tournament, Russiaended up ceding their claim on a placein the final round to Iceland after anunbelievable match in which Russiastarted the second half 6-0 down butmanaged to pull back five goals beforethe final whistle, with a final score of6-5 to Iceland! Last year’s other finalists,the Czech Republic, were also elimi-nated, beaten to a place in the finalround by Ukraine.

The draw for the final roundwas conducted in Brussels on 4 Aprilby former Belgian international MarcWilmots and the chairman of theYouth & Amateur Football Committee,Jim Boyce, and produced the followingtwo groups.

A: France, Spain, Germany,Ukraine;

B: Netherlands, Belgium, Iceland, England.

The final round takes placefrom 2 to 13 May and the best fiveteams qualify for the FIFA U-17 WorldCup in South Korea in August andSeptember.

■ The draw for the final roundof the European Women’s Under-19Championship will be made in Reyk-javik on 23 May. The tournament isscheduled from 18 to 29 July.

UEFA Champions League sponsors,while a Champions Gallery will tracethe history of the competition.

Participants united for the samecause: safety and security.

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LOOKING AHEAD TO EURO2008

●●●● Interest in tickets forEURO 2008 could hardly have beengreater: 600,000 football fans from142 countries have ordered a totalof 10.3 million match tickets.

Thus the total number of tickets requested for the final round is18 times greater than for the previoustournament in Portugal in 2004 and almost matches the figure for the 2006World Cup, which stood at 10.8 million.All 31 games are over-booked across allprice categories. “Simply unbelievable,”said a very happy Martin Kallen, chiefoperating officer of Euro 2008 SA. “Wedid not suspect such a rush. We wereestimating orders for four to five milliontickets.”

The list of the most sought-af-ter games is predictably topped by the

final (651,141 tickets ordered), followedby the two semi-finals (561,565 for Basleand 502,081 for Vienna). The most orderscame from Switzerland (29%), followedby Germany (27%) and Austria (21%).

All those who have ordered tickets will be informed by the end ofApril whether they have been successfulor not. A total of 1,050,000 tickets are available for EURO 2008, of which33% could be applied for between 1 and 31 March during the internet salesperiod on www.euro2008.com.

The national associations takingpart in the final round will provide a further opportunity to get tickets. Theywill receive 20% of the total number of tickets for each group game in whichtheir team is involved.

Huge run on tickets for EURO 2008 – 10.3 million ordered already

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U-20 World Cup in Canada

On 9 March, Toronto was the venue for the draw to form the groups for the FIFA U-20 WorldCup, which will be hosted by Canadafrom 30 June to 22 July.

Europe’s reigning Under-19champions, Spain, will be representingtheir continent, along with Scotland,

Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Portugal, as the best teams from lastyear’s European Under-19 Championshipfinal round in Poland.

The groups for the world cup in Canada are:

Group A: Canada, Chile, Congo, Austria;

Group B: Spain, Uruguay, Jordan, Zambia;

■ In the fifth UEFA Re-gions Cup, six teams havealready secured their placein the final round: Aveiro(Portugal), Tuzla Canton(Bosnia & Herzegovina),

Ivan Odessa (Ukraine), South-East Region(Bulgaria), Dolnoslazski (Poland) andBasse-Normandie (France). The remainingtwo finalists will be known by the end of April. The final round takes place in Bulgaria in June.

Group C: Portugal, New Zealand, Gambia, Mexico;

Group D: Poland, Brazil,South Korea, USA;

Group E: Argentina, CzechRepublic, North Korea, Panama;

Group F: Japan, Scotland,Nigeria, Costa Rica.

The title is currently held by Argentina.

A w a r d f o r U E F AAt a ceremony in London, ”Ultimate Stage”, the UEFA

Champions League brand concept for the 2006-09 cycle, won the prestigious Sport Industry Award 2007 in the category of Best Promotion of a Sport by a Governing Body.

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Lennart Johansson and Hans Reitinger.

A new look to the national team The national team of Bosnia and Herze-

govina made a good start to this spring’sround of qualifying matches for EURO2008, under the leadership of new headcoach Fuad Muzurovic. The Bosnians managed to surprise Norway, winning thematch at the Ulleval Stadium in Oslo bytwo goals to one.

After a weak start, with two home defeats at the Bilino Polje stadium in Zenica against Hungary and Greece, thereis now renewed hope that Bosnia andHerzegovina will be in the fight for one ofthe top two places in Group C.

What makes this win even sweeter isthat the crowd in Oslo welcomed a totallynew Bosnian team. Out of the 23 playersin the squad for the game, nine of themwere debutants (Vedad Ibisevic, MarioPandza, Ivan Radeljic, Ivan Bozic, DarkoMaletic, Edin Dzeko, Ajdin Maksumic, Adnan Custovic and Edin Pehlic) and fourof these even started the game. Five of the squad (Ibisevic, Pandza, Dzeko,Maksumic and Pehlic) played last autumnfor the Bosnia and Herzegovina Under-21team that reached the play-offs for theUnder-21 European Championship in theNetherlands this year, but failed to getpast the Czech Republic. And only five ofthe squad who faced Norway played in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s last matchagainst Greece (Zvjezdan Misimovic, Branimir Bajic, Mladen Bartolovic, MirkoHrgovic and Dario Damjanovic). Headcoach Muzurovic also recalled some play-ers after absence from the national team(Adnan Guso, Safet Nadarevic, Zajko Zeba,Admir Vladavic, Branislav Krunic andRomeo Mitrovic).

The match against Norway was the101st to be played by the Bosnian nationalteam, and reunited head coach Muzurovicand Vedin Music, both of whom also tookpart in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s first official match in Tirana, Albania on 30 November 1995.

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Top award for ÖFB honorarypresident Hans Reitinger

By reaching the semi-finals of the European Under-19 Championship inPoland in July last year, Austria qualifiedfor their first FIFA U-20 World Cup in 24 years. The draw for this tournament –one of the biggest events in Canadiansporting history – took place in Toronto atthe beginning of March. Austrian Under-20 manager Paul Gludovatz’s players willbe in the group with teams from host nation Canada, Congo and Chile whenthe tournament begins on 30 June. “In spiteof the tough opponents we are going toface, the objective remains qualification forthe last 16,” confirmed Gludovatz.

■ As far back as the end of January,Hans Reitinger, formerly both the presi-dent of the Austrian Bundesliga and vice-president of the Austrian Football Associ-ation (ÖFB), was presented the UEFA Order of Merit in ruby at the 31st UEFACongress in Düsseldorf by the outgoingUEFA president, Lennart Johansson, inrecognition of his services to Europeanfootball. Also present on this special daywere FIFA president Joseph S. Blatter andseveral stars of the 1954 World Cup.Moved by the award, Reitinger describedit as “a complete surprise and an honourthat I no longer expected at this point inmy life. I see this as confirmation that the

work I have done has been recognised at European level and am delighted to receive this order of merit.”

This top award was also acknowledgedslightly less formally in Düsseldorf by amixed delegation from Germany and Austria which included, among others, thelikes of Franz Beckenbauer, WolfgangNiersbach, Matthias Sammer, FriedrichStickler and Alfred Ludwig, who congra-tulated the ÖFB honorary president byraising their glasses of champagne in honour of this rare achievement.

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AUSTRIA

Election Conference The regular election conference of the

Belarus football association (BLS) tookplace on 4 March and the results saw current president Gennady Nevyglas re-elected for a new four-year term. Victor Novikov was elected vice-president,with Michael Vergeenko, Sergey Kunicaand Peter Juzhik becoming his assistants.The new staff of the BLS executive com-mittee was also confirmed and at its first working session appointed Leonid Dmitranica to the post of general director.

UEFA treasurer Marios Lefkaritis waspresent at the election conference and in his speech noted the high rates of Belarusian football development, wishinggood luck to the leadership.

The re-elected president of the BLSconfirmed that “the main association priorities – the development of children’sand youth football and the stabilisation ofthe material and technical infrastructure– are well-known to everyone. I think that

in these areas we have made considerableimprovements.”

“By working together, we have builtthree full-size football grounds and 40 mini-pitches with artificial turf. Thereare now seven standard synthetic pitchesin the country.”

The new headquarters of the BelarusFA have been completed and include amodern training facility that will contributeto the most effective development possi-ble. Furthermore, we have taken essentialmeasures to continue the process of club licensing: since this began in 2005, all teams in the first division have been licensed.

The last major changes to the machi-nery of the association have been com-pleted and its schedule modified. The lastfew years have shown that the associa-tion is a deserved member of UEFA andFIFA; our opinions have considerableweight and we are respected in the inter-national football family. The discussion ofthe problems associated with football inour mass media shows that we have succeeded in making football attractive tothe community.

Siarhei Novysh

BELARUS

England v Bosnia & Herzegovina in the elite round of the European Under-17 Championship.

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from member associationsNEWS

The national team has a new captainin Zvjezdan Misimovic, the 25-year-oldwho plays for German side VfL Bochumand is currently Bosnia’s top scorer of thecampaign.

Our Under-21 national team playedtheir first friendly match against Switzer-land in their warm-up for the qualifiers inthe 2007-09 European Under-21 Cham-pionship, winning 1-0. This was the firstmatch the team had played under newcoach Nikola Nikic.

Bosnia and Herzegovina are in thesame qualifying group as France, Malta,Romania and Wales for the Europeanchampionship.

The football association of Bosnia andHerzegovina (FF BHZ) hosted Group 3 inthe elite round of the European Under-17 championship in March, in partnershipwith the city of Sarajevo. As well as thehosts, this group consisted of Azerbaijan,England and Serbia. The matches wereheld in the biggest stadiums in the coun-try – the Asim Ferhatovic Hase Olympicstadium and the Grbavica stadium. Aftersome interesting contests, the team thatwill travel to Belgium was decided in thelast round. The winners of the competi-tion were England, who finished justahead of Serbia. The home team led bycoach Velimir Stojnic did not disappoint,despite finishing in last place in the group.

Fuad Krvavac

Four former stars at the head of the Bulgarian Football Union

Four members of the Bulgarian squadthat finished fourth in the 1994 WorldCup in the USA were appointed to lead-ing positions in the Bulgarian FootballUnion (BFU) in elections which took placeat the association’s congress in Sofia lastautumn. Borislav Michaylov, the formergoalkeeper who made a national record102 appearances for Bulgaria, 60 of themas captain, was elected president; JordanLechkov, the former midfielder who scoredfive goals in 45 caps for his country, wasmade first vice-president; Emil Kostadinov(former right winger, 60 matches and 26 goals) and Nasko Sirakov (former for-ward, 82 caps and 23 goals), who werealso in the squad that played in the USA,were elected as members of the associa-tion’s executive committee.

Jordan Lechkov is also currently themayor of Sliven – a city in south-easternBulgaria with a population of more than100,000. He is the first former interna-tional footballer in Bulgarian history whohas been elected to such a post.

The top management of the BFU areworking hard to achieve the main objec-tives for Bulgarian football as they were

outlined during the last congress. Theseare:

■ The financial independence of theassociation from the government

■ The implementation of FIFA andUEFA rules and requirements in all areasof football in Bulgaria

■ Providing support for the Bulgariannational team as it seeks to qualify for theEURO 2008 final round and ensuring thecontinued good performance of nationalteams from all age groups.

A delegation from UEFA led by firstvice-president Senes Erzik visited Bulgariaat the end of last month and had a veryproductive discussion with its hosts. MrErzik said that BFU projects under theUEFA HatTrick programme were makinggood progress and he was sure that greatresults would be evident very soon.

Borislav Konstantinov

BULGARIA

Education programme for referees

The referees´ and delegates´ commit-tee of the football association of theCzech Republic (CMFS) has prepared a new education programme for its pro-fessional referees, designed to make it easier for them to referee matches.

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The project aims to improve not onlyphysical condition, but also the technicalskills of the referees of the first and second divisions. The existing programmeof half-yearly seminars is now to be supplemented by monthly physical train-ing sessions in Prague and Brno under theleadership of Zdenek Sivek, a member ofthe UEFA Technical Instructors Panel. Theseare to be prepared on the basis of thetraining results of the individual referees,which will be sent weekly from heart ratemonitors.

The CMFS referees´ committee askedthe German Football Association (DFB) forits cooperation as it looks to improve referees’ technical skills and positioningduring matches. Talks subsequently tookplace between the chairman of the referees’ committee of the CMFS, Ludek

The referees are ready for the closing part of the season.

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Coaching course on the Solomon Islands

The Football Association’s Alan Gillettreceived a hero’s welcome when he delivered a coaching course to football instructors on the Solomon Islands inMarch.

Gillett coached the Solomon Islands in 2004 and secured a 2-2 draw with Australia, a result that is still regarded bymany as the national team’s greatestachievement. He was awarded a silvermedal for his contribution to sport on theislands and was delighted to have the opportunity to return to the small nationafter The FA signed a new cooperationagreement with the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC).

“I have always been looking for an opportunity to return and after I learntthat The FA had committed to assistingthe development of football in the OFC

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region, and specifically in Fiji and theSolomon Islands, I knew I would be back,”said Gillett.

Gillett worked alongside another FAcoach, Jamie Houchen, to deliver a week-long course focusing on various elementsof coach education and The FA Learningprogramme.

By the end of the workshop, hundredsof children turned up to take part in the

The coaches pay close attention to what Alan Gillett is saying.

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Macela, and Volker Roth, who is chairmanof the referees’ committees of both the DFB and UEFA, with positive results.A programme of regular consultations hasbeen established between the referees’committee of the CMFS and a former in-ternational referee and participant in theUEFA Talents and Mentors Programme,Aron Schmidhuber. His monthly sessions,in which he draws on his wealth of knowl-edge and years of experience, and givesupdates on the latest UEFA trends, areproving very helpful to Czech referees. Itis already possible to see an improvementin their current physical condition andtechnical skills from the results achievedand the tests carried out.

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Enthusiasm for women’s footballThe women’s national team reaching

the semi-finals of the European Champi-onship in England in 2005 created a lot ofenthusiasm for women’s football in Fin-land, and the team received tremendousmedia attention. The key players of thenational team became household names,many of them playing abroad and havingachieved international success with theirclub teams as well. The Finnish Women’sUnder-19 team was the first women’steam in the history of Finnish football toqualify for a FIFA tournament, the FIFAWomen’s Under-20 World Championshipsin Russia in 2006.

A club licensing system for the tenwomen’s league clubs, aimed at continu-ously improving the quality of club activ-ities, was implemented for the first timefor the 2007 season. Financial, sporting,infrastructure, legal as well as personneland administration criteria have been cre-ated together with the clubs, and every-one is very committed to the development

process. During the past few years, thenumber of girls playing football has grownby 10% a year, thus giving the clubs a lotof challenges and opportunities.

However, the biggest challenge for domestic football, men’s and women’s, isto increase the number of spectators attending football matches. There aremore than 112,000 licensed players in Finland, more than 20,000 of whom arefemale – and some 500,000 Finns claimto have football as their hobby, practisingit at least once a week. Getting these people into the football stands is one ofthe main goals of the Finnish clubs, alongwith encouraging and nourishing fan culture. Stronger club identities, fans clearly supporting and wearing their clubcolours, is what the Finnish football family is aiming for.

According to a survey conducted inJanuary 2007, all the women’s leagueclubs have sporting goals, but only a cou-ple have clear goals when it comes tocommunication, marketing and spectatorrecruitment. The FA is playing a strongerand stronger role in leading and coordi-nating the efforts of the clubs, creatingevent manuals, drawing up marketing andcommunication plans as well as produc-ing branded material in order to create apositive image and a strengthening brandidentity for the Finnish women’s footballleague. The vision for the developmentwork is a strong domestic league, a pop-ular women’s national team and a suc-cessful EURO 2009 tournament, makingwomen’s football the number one female sports topic in Finland.

Outi Saarinen

A first victory under the aegis of UEFA

During the period from 7 to 11 March,Shymkent city hosted the first ever national team Alma TV International Cuptournament. The participants in the tour-nament were the national teams of Kaza-khstan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbek-istan. The Kazakhstani team won the tournament, beating Kyrgyzstan 2-0 andAzerbaijan 1-0 along the way, and draw-ing 1-1 against the national team ofUzbekistan. All the proceeds from thetournament went to the AIDS foundationof the South Kazakhstan region.

The next match of the Kazakhstan national team was on 24 March withinthe framework of the EURO 2008 quali-fying matches. In Almaty, Kazakhstanis

played against the Serbian national teamand claimed their first victory under theaegis of UEFA. Goals from Kairat Ashir-bekov and Nurbol Zhumaskaliyev helpedKazakhstan to a 2-1 win.

“I would like to express my gratitudeto the football players. Today’s victory isfirst of all their accomplishment,” said the Dutch head coach of the Kazakhstan

A tournament to contribute to the fight against AIDS.

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KAZAKHSTANnational team, Arno Pijpers. “I am alsograteful to the Football Federation ofKazakhstan and its president, Rakhat Aliev.In order to build a team, time is essentialand time has been given to us. Last year,we carried out hard work, we the players,the coaches and the administration, andnow we are reaping its fruits.”

Alexander Keplin

coaching sessions conducted by local instructors, who will be left to continuethe good work started by The FA’s Gillettand Houchen.

“We want Solomon Islands coaches to go to FIFA,” added Gillett. “We wantSolomon Islands referees to become instructors in Oceania.”

“They have got the raw materials, players and coaches. And they have gotpeople who work at the grassroots levelin the country but they have got to keepit going.” Nada Grkinic

➜

Visit of UEFA presidentAfter his election, the new UEFA pres-

ident, Michel Platini, made his first offi-cial trip by visiting Georgia on 7 and 8 March. He spent two days familiarisinghimself with the football infrastructure inGeorgia.

With a delegation from the GeorgianFootball Federation (GFF) and its president,Nodar Akhalkatsi, Michel Platini visited the training base in Saguramo which isunder construction and the Basa tech-nical centre. He also visited the BorisPaichadze national stadium.

The GFF arranged for him to meetsome Georgian politicians, namely theprime minister, Zurab Nogaideli, as well asGiorgi Gabashvili, Minister of Culture,Monument Protection and Sport, andDavid Namgalauri, head of the Depart-ment of Sport and Youth Affairs.

During his visit, Michel Platini openeda women’s tournament organised by theGFF and the Georgian national team funclub at the Irao stadium in Tbilisi.

On the second day of his visit, the UEFApresident gave a press conference forGeorgian and foreign journalists accred-ited in Georgia.

Michel Platini assessed the achieve-ments of the GFF positively and expressedhis hope that the federation would con-tinue its good work.

Alexander Tsnobiladze

The UEFA president in a familiar role.

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The women’s cup got under way in January.

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GEORGIA

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UEFA helps with new stadium project in Riga

In mid-March, a UEFA delegation sawearly spring time in Riga. After touring thetwo largest Latvian stadiums, Daugavaand Skonto, a sketch of a proposed newstadium was examined and revised.

The UEFA representatives were theguests of the Latvian Football Federation(LFF), stadium architect Aigars Blazevicsand new project manager Guntars Indrik-sons. All of them were meeting to con-sider the best possible solutions for a new national base for football, athletics,hockey, and other sports on the Daugavasite, plans which will eventually be presented to the Latvian government.

For more than a year, the LFF has beentrying to convince the government andthe Latvian Ministry of Education and Science that the country needs a new,modern, reliable national sports basewhich meets all the requirements of all thesports federations that currently use thestadium. What is more, the LFF, togetherwith investors, is ready to build the newstadium and maintain it without any investment from the Latvian government.However, current stadium managers havea different view. They think that the government should maintain the currentstadium by making enormous investmentson its own and deny the LFF the oppor-tunity of renovating it, claiming that theLFF’s interests are purely commercial. Cur-rently, the Daugava stadium is in a criticalcondition and national team footballmatches are played at the Skonto club sta-dium.

Martins Hartmanis

LATVIA

A model of the new Daugava stadium.

LFF

A good year all roundThe general assembly of the Liechten-

stein football association (LFV) took placeon 20 March. Numerous guests both fromhome and abroad were present, alongsidetwo representatives from each of the seven member clubs. The meeting waschaired competently by the president ofthe association, Reinhard Walser.

He presented the annual report, men-tioning in particular the new offices inSchaan, the enlargement of the stadiumsat Vaduz and Eschen, the potential for improvement in youth football and the stable financial situation of the asso-ciation. The representatives passed the budget unanimously.

It was only a year ago that the clubpresidents decided on new regulations forthe cup competition. One clause of thedocument is now being changed again,so that in future the LFV board will be ableto seed teams up to the quarter-finals, instead of until the last 16 of the compe-tition, which is the case this year.

The vice-president of the LFV, Fredi Hilti,and the head of grassroots football, HeinzBiedermann, were both re-elected by a majority of the delegates for further

LIECHTENSTEINtwo-year terms. Georges Lüchinger, headof marketing, received the backing of allthe delegates and was unanimously re-elected.

The meeting also heard that the LFV isplanning to build a technical centre withtraining pitches. At present, discussionswith the public authorities are still in theearly stages. Beni Bruggmann, a rela-tively new face at the LFV, will be respon-sible for youth football, and plans to workclosely with the clubs in this area.

The former coach of the Liechtensteinnational team, Martin Andermatt, was honoured for his work. Likewise, the former president of FC Balzers, StefanWolfinger, was thanked for his many yearsof service in the post.

Judith Frommelt

Reinhard Walser, president of the Liechtenstein FA, chaired the general meeting.

LFV

Full support for HaralampieHadzi-Risteski

Out of the 56 delegates who attendedthe ordinary general meeting of the Foot-ball Federation of FYR of Macedonia heldin Struga on 17 March, 55 voted in sup-port of the current president, HaralampieHadzi-Risteski.

The delegates accepted the financialreport for the year 2006, as well as thebudget for 2007.

“We have information about the hugepressure put on delegates not to attendthe meeting,” said Mr Hadzi-Risteski, whoalso sent a written protest to the primeminister of the Former Yugoslav Republicof Macedonia, Nikola Gruevski, request-ing an end to the great pressure being put on the delegates, which was also described by the country’s media as polit-

FYR MACEDONIA

Full support for the president of the football association.

FSM

NEWSfrom member associations

ical influence on the game. At the sametime, Mr Hadzi-Risteski said that the answer given by the government agencyfor youth and sport, which tried to ques-tion the legitimacy of the meeting held in Struga, amounted to direct influence bypolitics on football.

As a result of all these actions, the attempts of the so-called “initiative board”for changes in the Football Federation ofFYR of Macedonia failed, due to the sup-port given by the delegates to the currentmanagement of the federation. In themeantime, football’s world and Europeangoverning bodies, FIFA and UEFA, have is-sued a joint letter stating that they recog-nise all the decisions taken at the gener-al meeting and giving their full support tothe federation’s president, Hadzi-Risteski,and his management team, expressingtheir great satisfaction at the way the fed-eration is running all its activities, makingit a rare example in Europe. Among theactivities mentioned were the very goodorganisation of qualifying tournaments in the UEFA competitions, the licensingsystem and the operations of the coacheducation centre, as well as the first UEFAmedia rights workshop to be held in theFormer Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,which was attended by representativesfrom six associations.

Zoran Nikolovski

20 uefadirect 5.07

Six clubs for a new women’s league.

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Women’s premiership – a historical step

ADO Den Haag, AZ, SC Heerenveen,FC Twente, FC Utrecht and Willem II willmake up the new women’s premiershipas of August. The six professional clubssigned an agreement last month, com-

mitting themselves to this ambitious project for at least three years.

This new step marks a historic momentfor women’s football: the long-desiredelite platform for top sports has finallybeen created, and top players can nowmake further steps in their development.“Internationally, we have never managedto qualify for the final round of the Euro-pean Championship, let alone the WorldCup,” says Vera Pauw, the national teammanager. “Thanks to this initiative, I amsure that we will now qualify for the finalround of the European Championship in 2009.”

The agreement signed by the clubsstates clearly what is required. A founda-tion has been set up to exploit the com-mercial interests of the women’s premier-ship. Neither promotion nor relegation applies, so the competition will effectivelybe a closed one, although it may well beopened up in the future. The new leagueis not a professional league – the playerswill all be amateurs, but will have their expenses paid.

“The main issue is the facilities,” asVera Pauw stresses. “We can benefit fromthe knowledge and expertise that the professional clubs have assembled overthe years. The current first division will remain as it is. Each professional club

Sponsor for the County Centres of Excellenceprogramme

The future of talented young foot-ballers in Northern Ireland was given a significant boost when the Football Association of Northern Ireland (IFA) announced airline Flybe as sponsors of theCounty Centres of Excellence programme.

The IFA’s youth strategy identified theimportance of developing the best youngtalent in Northern Ireland in order to increase the supply of elite players throughto the youth and senior internationalteams. It is vital for the success of our international teams that more NorthernIreland players play at the highest level inEngland, and in order to improve the like-lihood of this happening, the youth strat-egy proposed the establishment of an excellence programme.

The IFA Flybe/George Best Centres ofExcellence successfully began their sessions at the beginning of February,managed by the six highly qualified IFA county coaches. Each centre aims to

NORTHERNIRELAND

Andrea Hayes and Nigel Best deliver kit to one of the centres of excellence.

IFA

have 25 boys in each of the four agegroups and up to 30 girls across the fourage groups in the first year.

Flybe has recently launched a new kitfor all young footballers who take part inthe six county centres of excellence. Eachcentre will have a different colour of kit(light blue, yellow, sky blue, red, navy andwhite) which players will wear when county v. county competitions are played.

NETHERLANDS

AC Milan training in Malta.

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Training facilities in Malta a popular destination

In recent years, facilities at the MaltaFootball Association (MFA) national com-plex in Ta’ Qali have proved the ideal venue for both foreign clubs and nationalsquads to go on training camps.

The facilities are enhanced by well-equipped accommodation, situated con-veniently adjacent to the training grounds.A specially-appointed MFA board takesgreat care to ensure that the complexmeets the required standards.

Both the top Italian team AC Milan and the Austrian national squad have recently had productive one-week train-ing sessions at the complex, culminatingin friendly matches against the Maltese

champions Birkirkara and the nationalteam respectively.

During the last months, club sides fromSwitzerland, Germany, Denmark and Nor-way, as well as Finland’s Under-21 and theSwiss national women’s squads, have beenon the list of visitors to Malta, where mildweather makes for a welcome winter orpre-season break away from the severeclimatic conditions in some Europeancountries.

These trips to Malta are mutually beneficial: foreign teams take the oppor-tunity to combine their training campswith matches against local sides and theisland’s national teams in different cate-gories, giving Maltese sides valuable contact with top-class professionals.

More bookings from overseas squadsare on the itinerary, making the surround-ings at the national complex a veritablehive of activity throughout the year.

Alex Vella

MALTA

will be linked to a top amateur club in order to guarantee the flow of talent. A maximum of six players of the profes-sional club can play for the partner amateur club in any league game. Theprofessional clubs are free to cooperatewith an amateur club of their choice intheir region.”

Rob de Leede

21

Croke Park in Dublin.

FAI

NEWSfrom member associations

Locally trained player rule to be implemented in Norway

The executive committee of the Norwegian football association (NFF) hasdecided to introduce a locally trained player rule in Norwegian football. From2008 onwards, clubs in the Norwegiantop division, the Tippeligaen, will have tohave eight locally trained players out of asquad of 25. At the same time, the NFFhas distributed a paper to all memberclubs, which discusses how regulationsgoverning locally trained players can befurther developed in Norway.

A locally trained player is defined byUEFA as either a club-trained player or anassociation-trained player; in Norway, at least four of the eight must be club-trained.

“By introducing the locally trained player rule to Norwegian football we are preparing the ground for a bettercompetitive balance between the clubs,as well as giving young, talented playersa real opportunity to step up into profes-sional football,” said the president of theNFF, Sondre Kåfjord.

“One of our most important tasks is toensure that young players with talent andambition get an opportunity to developtheir potential within our sport. Footballclubs have an important social and edu-cational role both in their local communi-ties and beyond. In this context, the nurturing of local talent is not only bene-ficial for football as a sport, but also forsociety as a whole,” said Mr Kåfjord.

Of the 220 Norwegian players in Tippeligaen 2006, 150 originated fromNorwegian grassroots clubs. “These fig-ures show that local clubs are the mostimportant arenas for recruiting youngplayers. If we increase the chances foryoung players to succeed, it will stimulatethe clubs in local communities to workeven harder,” added Mr Kåfjord.

Roger Solheim

NORWAY

Lansdowne Road stadium

The FAI recently welcomed the decisionof An Bord Pleanála, the Irish planning appeals body, to uphold the decision ofDublin City Council to grant permissionto build Dublin’s new 50,000-capacity stadium on the site of the LansdowneRoad facility. The ambitious building programme at Lansdowne Road envi-sages having the stadium completed by the end of 2009. Work on the site isplanned to commence within the comingweeks.

March was a historic month in Irelandas the Republic of Ireland hosted Walesand Slovakia in the EURO 2008 Group Dqualifiers at Croke Park, the home of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) inIreland. The two games were played be-fore a capacity crowd of over 70,000, with

Steve Staunton’s side winning both games1-0 to leave the Republic of Ireland in apromising position ahead of the qualify-ing fixtures in the autumn.

The FAI is deeply appreciative of theGAA’s decision to allow football to beplayed at Croke Park in 2008 during thedevelopment of the Lansdowne Road stadium.

The announcement of an additionalEUR 1 million in funding to be allocatedby the Irish government to the associationtowards the technical development plan provides the association with the resources to further drive forward theplan, which is the foundation for the development of the game from grassrootsto elite level.

The extra funding will be utilised acrossthe range of 19 programmes within theFAI’s technical plan, which focuses on including everyone who wants to get involved in football. As the biggest sportin the country, the extra resources will beof great benefit to many of the 450,000who currently take part in football.

Fran Whearty

REPUBLICOF IRELAND

The kits were launched by Andrea Hayesof Flybe and the IFA’s high performancemanager, Nigel Best, at the George BestBelfast City Airport.

IFA chief executive Howard Wells recently visited an assessment session atCounty Down’s centre of excellence atQueens’ PE centre. The session consistedof 20 minutes covering coaching skills andtactics, followed by a number of small-sided matches.

Former Northern Ireland internationaland QPR defender Alan McDonald is dueto visit some of the centres in the next fewweeks.

Caroline Menary

NEWSfrom member associations

22 uefadirect 5.07

Joy at Under-17 victory“Let me be the first to get your auto-

graphs and when you’re stars I’ll beproud of them,” said the president of thefootball federation of Ukraine (FFU) at aceremony to congratulate and honourthe Ukrainian Under-17 team that quali-fied for the final round of the EuropeanUnder-17 Championship. Less than oneday after the triumphant win over Italy in the elite round of this competition, the Ukraine team was congratulated by the management of the FFU. YuriyKalitvincev’s players went to the federa-tion’s headquarters straight from Boryspilairport.

Highlights of the three matches thatthe team won in Udine (Italy) were playedon a large TV screen. “We are delighted

with your success. For me, the most important thing to come out of the deciding game against the Italian teamis not your qualification for the finalround of the 2006/07 championship, butyour faith in yourselves and the mentorsyou have had since childhood,” said Grigoriy Surkis.

Yuriy Kalitvincev told all those presentthe story of what, to his mind, has beenthe deciding factor in this achievement.“More than one and a half years ago,when we formed the team, we set ourguys the task of winning the U-17 WorldCup. As you know, it is possible to qual-ify for this through the European Under-17 Championship. Gradually, we arereaching this goal, and that’s why we’lltry to continue to improve.”

Every player and all the coaching staffof the Under-17 national team, some ofwhom are already well known, receivedgifts from the FFU.

Valery Nykonenko

Grigoriy Surkis, president of the Ukrainian FA, welcomes back the Under-17s from their successful tournament in Italy.

FFU

Swiss football association always looking to improve

To deal with the ever-growing list ofdemands in top-flight football today, the Swiss football association (SFV) andthe Swiss Football League (SFL) have created two new positions: in future, two new employees will take full responsibility for important areas of workat the heart of the association.

The SFV and SFL have already namedUlrich Pfister as safety and security officer. The 39-year-old has previously occupied various senior positions in suchareas. He takes up his new post on 1 July2007 and will be responsible for all mat-ters relating to safety and security in alldepartments of the SFV. In appointing

SWITZERLAND

UKRAINE

Double departure in view

The ScottishFootball Associa-tion (SFA) has ad-vertised for a newchief executive,after it was con-firmed that DavidTaylor was toleave the associa-tion to becomegeneral secretaryof UEFA.

Mr Taylor, who joined the SFA in August 1999, left at the end of March to take up his new role in Switzerlandwith European football’s governing body.

He said: “The Scottish FA is a very different organisation now from thatwhich I joined in 1999. It has been agreat pleasure to work with the board ofdirectors and the staff in the changeprocess. There is much still to do but I ampleased I can leave the SFA in a strong financial position and with long-termplans in place to strengthen the base ofour national game in the years ahead.”

The president of the SFA, John McBeth, will assume the duties of thechief executive on an interim basis untila successor is in place. Mr McBeth willalso be leaving the SFA in June, after fouryears as president, to become a vice-president of FIFA.

Andy Mitchell

Pfister to this position, the SFV is takinginto account the recent rapid increase ofviolence in Swiss football. This measureis also in accordance with the guidelinesof the Swiss Olympic association, whichinsists on a full-time safety and securityofficer.

The SFV has also decided to create afull-time position to oversee the educa-

DavidTaylorU

EFA

tion of referees. In doing so, senior association figures are following a direc-tive of the referees committee, with theaim of promoting a higher level of refer-eeing and consistency in the applicationof the rules. This measure also meansthat the SFV is now fully eligible to signthe UEFA referee convention.

Pierre Benoit

SCOTLAND

CommunicationsBirthdays – Calendars

UEF

A

Upcoming events

Birthdays

Meetings8-10.5.2007, Nyon

7th seminar for referee mentors and talents12.5.2007, Porto

Draw for the European Futsal Championship final round

13.5.2007, Nivelles (Belgium)Youth & Amateur Football Committee

15.5.2007, GlasgowJira Panel

16.5.2007, GlasgowTechnical Development Committee

23.5.2007, AthensClub Competitions Committee

23.5.2007, ReykjavikDraw for the European Women’s Under-19Championship final round

28.5.2007, ZurichExtraordinary UEFA Congress

30-31.5.2007, ZurichFIFA Congress

Competitions1/2.5.2007

UEFA Champions League: semi-finals (return legs)

2-13.5.2007, BelgiumEuropean Under-17 Championship final round

3.5.2007UEFA Cup: semi-finals (return legs)

16.5.2007, GlasgowUEFA Cup: final

23.5.2007, AthensUEFA Champions League: final

Lars Appelqvist (Sweden), a member of thegroup of former UEFA committee members,celebrates his 80th birthday on 18 May,while two referee observers have their 50th birthdays this month: Ladislav Gadosi(Slovakia) on 3 May and Karl-Erik Nilsson(Sweden) on 6 May. Match delegate Gaetano Degabriele (Malta) joins them at the same milestone on 19 May.

UEFA also wishes many happy returns to:● Mircea-Lucian Salomir (Romania, 1.5)● R. Campbell Ogilvie (Scotland, 1.5)● Peter Mikkelsen (Denmark, 1.5)● Johann Hantschk (Austria, 3.5)● Anghel Iordanescu (Romania, 4.5)● Selami Özdemir (Turkey, 4.5)● Eleonora Gambillara (Switzerland, 4.5)● Peter Gilliéron (Switzerland, 5.5)● Costakis Koutsokoumnis (Cyprus, 5.5)● Kenneth Ridden (England, 6.5)● Gudmundur Petursson (Iceland, 6.5)● Murat Jaha (Bosnia & Herzegovina, 7.5)● Pekka Luhtanen (Finland, 8.5)● Michel Pralong (Switzerland, 8.5)● Marc Dobbeleir (Belgium, 8.5)● Patrick Comninos (Greece, 8.5)● Haim Zimmer (Israel, 9.5)● Robert B. Valentine (Scotland, 10.5)● Armen Melikbekyan (Armenia, 10.5)● Arie Frost (Israel, 11.5)● Ernst-Peter Radziwill (Germany, 11.5)● Timo Huttunen (Finland, 11.5)● Jean-Marie Gantenbein (Luxembourg, 12.5)● Henrik Ravnild (Denmark, 13.5)● Carlos Manuel Ferreira Matos (Portugal, 14.5)● Hans-Jörg Eissmann (Germany, 15.5)● Piotr Maranda (Poland, 15.5)● Hakan Nyberg (Sweden, 15.5)● Nikolay Levnikov (Russia, 15.5)● Evzen Amler (Czech Republic, 15.5)● Angel Bungurov (FYR Macedonia, 16.5)● Svein Johannessen (Norway, 17.5)● Andreas Morisbak (Norway, 19.5)● Jozef Marko (Slovakia, 19.5)● Helmut Krug (Germany, 19.5)● Rune Pedersen (Norway, 19.5)● Michal Listkiewicz (Poland, 20.5)● Serge Muhmenthaler (Switzerland, 20.5)● Zvezdan Terzic (Serbia, 21.5)● Theo van Seggelen (Netherlands, 22.5)

● Mathieu Sprengers (Netherlands, 24.5)● Packie Bonner (Republic of Ireland, 24.5)● Ainar Leppänen (Estonia, 24.5)● Semen Andreev (Russia, 25.5)● Suheil Daood (Israel, 25.5)● Hans Cooman (Belgium, 25.5)● Robert Jeurissen (Belgium, 27.5)● Zdenek Sivek (Czech Republic, 28.5)● Patrick A. Daly (Republic of Ireland, 28.5)● Jim Stjerne Hansen (Denmark, 28.5)● Jean-Pierre Escalettes (France, 29.5)● Jacques Antenen (Switzerland, 29.5)● István Huszár (Hungary, 31.5)

Notices

Obituary

New publication

■ On 17 March, Avi Luzon was elected president of the Israel FA for a three-year term.

■ On 30 March, Aivar Pohlak waselected president of the Estonian FA.

■ Lars-Åke Lagrell has been re-elected president of the Swedish FAfor a further year.

■ Guntis Indriksons has been elected president of the Latvian FAfor a four-year term.

■ On 2 April, the Italian FA elected Giancarlo Abete as its newpresident.

■ Following the departure of Petr Fousek, Rudolf Bata has becomeacting general secretary of the Czech FA.

Ballkaniada 1946This book by Albanian author BesnikDizdari is dedicated to the Balkan

Games of 1946 held inTirana, when the Albaniannational team won theBalkan Football Cham-pionship for the first time.Apart from football, thegames – the first to be

played in Europe after the war – alsoconsisted of athletics. Besnik Dizdari’sbook provides a historical and statistical account of these games.“Rozafat”, Tirana 2007. Email: dizdarib@san.com.al

René Hüssy (Switzerland), a member of the circle of former UEFA committeemembers, passed away on 11 Marchaged 78. A former coach of the Swissnational team and a founder memberof the Swiss football coaches’ asso-ciation (USFT), René Hüssy also made his knowledge available to UEFA as a member of the Committee for Tech-nical Development from 1982 to 1996, a body which he served as vice-chair-man from 1992 until his retirement in1996. From 1992 to 1995, he also chairedthe study group for the introduction of a European coaching licence.

WE CARE ABOUT FOOTBALL The views expressed in signedarticles are not necessarily theofficial views of UEFA.The reproduction of articles or extracts of any informationpublished in uefadirectis authorised, provided thesource is indicated.

Official publication of theUnion des associationseuropéennes de football

Editor André Vieli

Produced by Atema Communication SA, CH-1196 Gland

Printed by Cavin SA, CH-1422 Grandson

Editorial deadline: 5 April 2007Communications and Public Affairs Division

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