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A reward and an incentive

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Spain win EURO 2008 03

Youth training in Kiev 08

Meeting of presidentsand general secretariesin Vienna 12

Document for the EU 13

2008/09 UEFA club competition dates 15

News from memberassociations 16

Cesc Fàbregas and Iker Casillas show off the new EuropeanChampionship trophy: it is 44 years since Spain’s only other EuropeanChampionship victory.Photo: Silz /AFP/Getty Images

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Messageof the presidentYears spent putting the finishing touches on the organisation of the

event, right down to the tiniest detail, followed by a period of less than a month, so intense that it is gone before you realise it. Already, it is time to look back and analyse.

Let us leave the technicians to identify the tactical trends, the economists to assess the financial impact, the statisticians to describe the matches and tournament in figures, and everyone to draw their own personal conclusions fromEURO 2008.

The limited space available in this editorial is hardly sufficient for such exercises, but it does enable me to thank everyone – starting with the Austrian andSwiss host associations – who helped to make this tournament such a great success.For that is the main conclusion: EURO 2008 was a magnificent success at every level and the call for respect was well and truly answered. The competition’s sloganpromised emotions and it certainly did not fail to deliver: plenty of surprises, gamesturned on their heads in the last few minutes, penalty shoot-outs, tears of joy anddespair among the supporters and, above all, a festive atmosphere in the stadiums,fan zones and cities. In short, a whole series of impressions, images and anecdotesto be remembered and whet the appetite for football’s next major tournament. And a priceless reward for all the hours spent in meeting rooms and on footballpitches, preparing for the tournament and all that went with it.

Such a successful tournament leaves no doubt that football is a fantasticsport and that the passions it generates are simply phenomenal. Is there any better incentive than this for us who are charged with overseeing its developmentand wellbeing?

In conclusion, I would like to congratulate Spain, brilliant European champions, and all the players and coaches who helped to give European footballsuch a positive image: attacking play, a sporting, dignified attitude in victory as well as defeat, matches which were compelling often right to the final whistle. In essence, a true festival of football!

Michel PlatiniUEFA President


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SINCE BEATING THE USSR TO BECOME EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS IN 1964,

SPAIN HAD FAILED TO WIN A SINGLE TITLE AT SENIOR LEVEL, DESPITE THEIR

OBVIOUS POTENTIAL. BUT NOTHING GOES ON FOREVER AND THE SPANIARDS

EMERGED FROM THE WILDERNESS ON SUNDAY 29 JUNE, WHEN THEY DEFEATED

GERMANY IN THE FINAL OF EURO 2008.

This fully deserved victorystands in stark contrast with the disap-pointing performances of several majornations, including World Cupholders Italy, and France. Not for-getting the inglorious exit of theprevious edition’s shock winners,Greece.

Unanimously acknowledged asthe best team at EURO 2008, Spain finished the tournament with an impec-cable record of results. Not only did they remain unbeaten throughout thecompetition, but they were also the only

group winners to survive the quarter-final stage. The Spaniards set the toneright from the outset with a convincing

4-1 win against Russia. They thendisposed of Sweden – admittedlywith much more difficulty – beforebeating Greece in order to finishtop of group D with maximumpoints. Facing Italy in the quarter-

finals, Luis Aragonés’ team waveredslightly before winning on penalties,their first competitive victory against theItalians for 88 years! In the semi-finals,Russia had vowed to take revenge fortheir defeat in the group stage, but the

Spanish once again confirmed their superiority and rightly booked their placein the final.

Germany: fighting spirit not enough

The final itself remained in thebalance right until the final whistle, sinceFernando Torres was the only player to find the net. Nevertheless, Spainwere clearly the better side, in terms ofboth organisation and individual tech-nique. Despite their legendary fightingspirit, Germany were left licking theirwounds. The qualities that had enabledthem to reach the final were not enoughat this stage of the competition. JoachimLöw can nonetheless take pride in histeam’s performance, since they showedplenty of spirit, despite losing to Croatiain the group phase. A few weaknesseswhich had been evident at various stagesof the tournament, particularly defen-

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Switzerland (in red) beatPortugal but still failed to reach thequarter-finals.

sively, cost them victory in the final, whenthe brilliant Fernando Torres eluded theGerman defence twice, first hitting thepost with a header and then scoring thewinning goal. He fully merited a memo-rable kiss from the Queen of Spain atthe trophy presentation. The Germanssimply could not find a way past a solidSpanish defence and the superb IkerCasillas. For Spain, the crucial depart-ment was the midfield, where Xavi, supported by team-mates who comple-mented each other very well, was deservedly named player of the tourna-ment thanks to his tenacity and passingability. Even though he missed the final,David Villa can console himself with thetitle of the competition’s top scorer withfour goals. His absence in thefinal was inconsequential,proving that Luis Aragonéshad a highly talented squadwith a number of excel-lent players in reserve.For the Spanish

coach, who had been the target of criticism for a long time, particularlywhen he decided to leave Raul athome, this triumph must be particularlysatisfying. Even at 70 “Zapatones”showed that he still had something tooffer. His efficient playing system,which was hard to break down, attractednothing but praise. Even the decision tobring in the genial Cesc Fàbregas as aluxury replacement was a total success.Finally, and this is something that may

not have been given sufficientrecognition, Spain has reaped

the rewards for its tremen-dous efforts to train young

players. Its numerousworld andEuropean

youth titleswere bound to lead to success at seniorlevel sooner or later.

Italy, France, Portugal and the Netherlands: bitter disappointment

Italy’s elimination by the futurechampions in the quarter-finals was a major disappointment not just inItaly itself. The Italians’ problems hadbegun in their opening match, whenthey were heavily defeated by a

dazzling Dutch side. Unable to get thebetter of Romania in their secondmatch, the “squadra azzura” came very

close to going out altogether

when Buf-fon savedMutu’s

penalty to keep his side in the competi-tion. They then beat France rather un-convincingly, defeating opponents whowere reduced to ten men early on, be-fore losing to Spain on penalties. Theabsence of Pirlo, a cornerstone of theteam, in their final match certainly didnot help the Italians, whose midfield,playing under the shadow of a certainFrancesco Totti, failed to reach the expected standards. In attack, Luca Toni’stireless running was too often unre-warded. The World Cup already seems a distant memory.

The same could be said forFrance, whose defensive solidity wassupposed to be their strength at thistournament. However, they were onlyable to secure a single point against Romania before collapsing against theNetherlands and Italy. The limitations ofan ageing back line were well and trulyexposed. Meanwhile, in the attackingdepartment, France also had to deal

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Xavi, an often decisive element in the Spanish midfield.

Thierry Henry tackled by Giorgio Chiellini: neither France nor Italy could reproduce their2006 World Cup performances at EURO 2008.

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Germany (MiroslavKlose, 11) struggledagainst Austria butthen found themeans to go all theway to the final.

Turkey v Croatia in the quarter-finals: a last-minute goal by Semih Senturk (9)took the game intoextra time followedby penalty kicks, from which Turkeycame out on top.

with inadequacies that were certainlynot helped by the early exit of FranckRibéry, their most exciting and creativeplayer, during the match against Italy.With one goal scored and six concededin three matches, Raymond Domenechcan hardly blame mis-fortune for his team’spoor results.

Following awonderful opening winagainst Turkey, Portugal made sure oftop spot in their group by beating theCzech Republic in their second match.Luis Felipe Scolari’s men were thereforeable to take their foot off the pedal intheir third fixture, allowing Switzer-land to save face. However, after being tipped as favourites, the Por-tuguese failed to reproduce their earlier form in the quarter-finals. Itshould be said that they came upagainst a remarkably well-organisedGerman team which pulled off a per-fect tactical masterstroke, particularlyby denying Cristiano Ronaldo thespace on which he normally thrives.Against all expec-tations, Ronaldothereforebowed out of

the tournament ten days before the final. The sense of anguish was huge inPortugal, where there had been highhopes for the team that was undoubt-edly the nation’s best since the era ofthe legendary Eusebio.

It also all ended in tears for theDutch, who some thought were des-

tined for the title aftera highly convincingopening win overItaly. Marco vanBasten’s men cer-tainly strolledthrough the group

phase very

impressively. However, in the quarter-finals, the “Oranje” fell to pieces, fallingto the thrusts of a Russian team whichhad rediscovered its best form followingthe return of Zenit St. Petersburg’s impish forward, Andrei Arshavin.

Russia and Turkey: surprise packages

However, having establishedthemselves as credible pretenders to thethrone, the Russians failed to measureup in the semi-final against Spain. Theycan nevertheless be pleased with theirbest performance for many years andconsider their tournament a success.The same is true of a Turkey side whichwas urged on with a rare degree of success by Fatih Terim, notably resultingin late wins in two of their three group

matches as well as a last-minuteequaliser in the quarter-finals,

before an honourablesemi-final defeat at thehands of the Germans.

Turkey’s victims includedCroatia, who had previously won alltheir matches and undoubtedly had thepotential to progress further. As far asthe other participating nations are con-cerned, the Czech Republic will rue the two goals they conceded in the lastthree minutes of their match againstTurkey, when they seemed to have aquarter-final place in their pockets.Greece, as already mentioned, Polandand, to a lesser degree, Sweden wereall eliminated without distinguishingthemselves. As for the host countries,Switzerland and Austria, their per-

formances on the pitch were farfrom brilliant. They will con-

sole themselves with theunanimous complimentsthey received for their excel-lent organisation of the

tournament.André Winckler

Russia’s AndreiArshavin, pictured getting the better of John Heitinga(Netherlands), was one of the outstanding players of EURO 2008.

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Group A

Switzerland – Czech Republic 0-1Portugal – Turkey 2-0Czech Republic – Portugal 1-3Switzerland – Turkey 1-2Switzerland – Portugal 2-0Turkey – Czech Republic 3-2

1. Portugal 3 2 0 1 62. Turkey 3 2 0 1 63. Czech Republic 3 1 0 2 34. Switzerland 3 1 0 2 3

Group B

Austria – Croatia 0-1Germany – Poland 2-0Croatia – Germany 2-1Austria – Poland 1-1Poland – Croatia 0-1Austria – Germany 0-1

1. Croatia 3 3 0 0 92. Germany 3 2 0 1 63. Austria 3 0 1 2 14. Poland 3 0 1 2 1

Group C

Romania – France 0-0Netherlands – Italy 3-0Italy – Romania 1-1Netherlands – France 4-1Netherlands – Romania 2-0France – Italy 0-2

1. Netherlands 3 3 0 0 92. Italy 3 1 1 1 43. Romania 3 0 2 1 24. France 3 0 1 2 1

IN PICTURES

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Various other activities were organised during EURO 2008: theUnite Against Racism logo was givena high profile on advertising boards,the captains’ armbands and the matchtickets, and an advert was broadcastat each match. The campaign reachedits climax at the semi-finals in Baseland Vienna, when each of the foursemi-finalist captains read out anti-racism messages that were therebybroadcast the world over.

The Turkish captain, Recber Rüstü, reading an anti-racism message before theGermany v Turkey semi-final.

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Group D

Spain – Russia 4-1Greece – Sweden 0-2Sweden – Spain 1-2Greece – Russia 0-1Greece – Spain 1-2Russia – Sweden 2-0

1. Spain 3 3 0 0 92. Russia 3 2 0 1 63. Sweden 3 1 0 2 34. Greece 3 0 0 3 0

Quarter-finals

Portugal – Germany 2-3Croatia – Turkey 1-1**Netherlands – Russia 1-3*Spain – Italy 0-0*** after extra-time

** Turkey (3-1): after penalty kick** Spain (4-2): after penalty kick

Semi-finals

Germany – Turkey 3-2Russia – Spain 0-3

Final

Germany – Spain 0-1

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Respect and the fightagainst racism

The European Championship final round’s audience and influencemake it the ideal platform fromwhich to put across messages thattranscend football.

With this in mind, UEFA usedEURO 2008 to launch its RESPECTcampaign, which incorporates fairplay and the awards traditionallypresented to the team that demon-strates the most sportsmanship andrespect for the Laws of the Game.

At EURO 2008, Sweden finishedtop of the fair play table with an average of 8.416 points. Four otherteams achieved an average of 8 ormore, including the two finalists,Spain and Germany, which proves yetagain that sportsmanship and successare perfectly compatible.

The top five1. Sweden 8.416 points in 3 matches2. Netherlands 8.312 43. Spain 8.291 64. Germany 8.000 65. Russia 8.000 5

EURO 2008 was also another opportunity to put the fight againracism in the spotlight, with UEFAgiving its backing to the FARE net-work (Football Against Racism in Europe), which is also supported byFIFPro, the International Federationof Professional Footballers’ Associa-tions. FARE sent observers of 12 dif-ferent nationalities into the stadiums,fan zones and streets around thestadiums to watch for any racist ordiscriminatory behaviour and reportback to UEFA. Only isolated incidentswere encountered.


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Youth training in Kiev

The Valery LobanovskiyAcademy

HE REMAINED IMPASSIVE NO MATTER WHAT. HIS COOL FACE NEVER

ONCE GAVE ANY SIGN OF EMOTION REGARDLESS OF WHAT WAS HAPPENING

IN THE MATCH. VALERY LOBANOVSKIY, WHO PASSED AWAY IN MAY 2002,

HAS BECOME A FOOTBALLING LEGEND.

It was during the 1970s that the famous Ukrainian coach developedhis revolutionary tactics, fielding a teamwithout a sweeper and with two rows of four instead. His team was compact,reliant on its collective strength albeitwith some sparks of brilliance from a fewstar players. Lobanovskiy took a scientificapproach to football. Under his leader-ship, Dynamo Kyiv broke the mould ofthe Russian clubs and won numerous titles and cups in the USSR. The teamalso proved itself on the European scene,taking the UEFA Cup Winner’s Cup trophy

in 1975 and 1986, and the UEFA SuperCup in 1975. Lobanovskiy, the “master”,led Dynamo Kyiv over 17 seasons from1974, and in his time produced stars suchas Belanov, Blokhine and Schevchenko.The Ukrainian club’s success turned againsthim after the fall of the Iron Curtainwhen his stars headed west to capitaliseon their talents. Lobanovskiy followedsuit and went to train the national side of the United Arab Emirates and subse-quently Kuwait. But he couldn’t resist the call of his former club. He returned in 1997, pulled it out of trouble and led

it to yet more titles and cup victories in Ukraine, as well as to UEFA Cham-pions League success in 1999, whenDynamo Kyiv faced Bayern München in the semi-finals.

A grassroots clubLast autumn, Dynamo Kyiv cel-

ebrated its 80th birthday. It continues tobe a regular feature in the ChampionsLeague. True to its traditions, it remainsa grassroots club. Its youth academy has 1,500 pupils, all of whom enjoy thebest possible care from doctors, teach-ers, physiotherapists and the 22 coach-es. Dynamo Kyiv has named its trainingcentre after its beloved coach. Estab-lished at the end of the 1950s, the cur-rent Valery Lobanovskiy Academy hasbeen newly renovated: always lookingto the future, at the end of the 1990sthe club recognised that its centre was in need of more modern facilities.On 2 October 2003, the ultramoderncomplex was inaugurated in the pres-ence of the Ukrainian president, LoenidKuchma, and Igor Surkis, president ofDynamo Kyiv. With both grass and arti-ficial pitches, a covered stand and excel-lent floodlighting, the young footballersenjoy some of the best training condi-tions around. Due to the often harshUkrainian climate, the pitches are evenequipped with electric heating. A four-

First-rate facilities for the students at the academy.

95% professional95% of the players who suc-

cessfully complete their trainingat the academy go on to com-pete in professional level cham-pionships, for Dynamo or else-where in the Ukraine, or indeedabroad. The Dynamo “A” teamcontains several home-grown talents, most of whom have reached international level: e.g.Alexander Shovkovski, Tars Lutsenka, Alexander Ribka, Vladislav Vachouk, Sergiy Rebrov.Many others are coming upthrough the reserves, either withDynamo-2 (first division) or Dynamo-3 (second division).The young players in Kievspend nearly three hours

a day on the pitch.


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Football was not the only outdoor activity.

storey building which covers 3500m2

houses four changing rooms completewith massage room, a sauna, swimmingpool and lounges. The first floor is hometo the gym, the canteen and a classroomkitted out with audio-visual materialused for tactical training. The complexprovides accommodation for 54 boardersin 20 rooms, measuring 850m2 in totaland equipped with every modern con-venience. 50% of the academy’s intakeis originally from in and around the capi-tal city. However, thanks to the boardinghouse, Dynamo Kyiv is also able to re-cruit young talent from across Ukraineand abroad.

Health takes top priorityAt all levels, the emphasis is on

pupils’ health: all the young footballersare provided with both medical care and health advice. The aim is to producewell-rounded individuals, not just foot-balling prodigies. The pupils continuetheir schooling at the 175 school in Kiev.They live together, try their luck togetherand make use of the weights room andswimming pool together. It is this com-munal lifestyle which sparks healthycompetition. Those who do not wish to enter professional football have thechance to blossom in other ways; theirtraining does not narrow their future options.

During their courses, the youngfootballers are confronted with differenttraining styles and regularly find them-selves up against competitors of a higherstandard. The number of training ses-sions depends on the age of the pupils.By way of example, the U17s have two45-minute group training sessions per

day. In addition, the coaches providethem with one hour of individual train-ing, to help develop their physical capa-bilities, technique or tactical awareness.They, therefore, spend approximatelythree hours per day on the pitch.

The success storiesIn 2007, the youths of Dynamo

Kyiv recorded several victories in pres-tigious international and Ukrainian tour-naments. Certain individuals stand out above the rest, such as goalkeeperAndreï Citnikov and defenders TimourPartsvania (born in Tbilissi but now aUkrainian national) and Alexeï Prilekov(originally from Karkov), all of whom arecoached by Anatoly Bouznik. DynamoKyiv is marked by a burning desire towin: the Ukranian capital’s home sidewants to attract and produce the verybest footballers. Youri Semin, head coachof the flagship team, does not hesitate to refer to the “golden Dynamo youth”.He wants to revive the successes of thepast both within Ukraine and on the European stage, and applauds projectsby the Ukrainian Football Federation to limit the number of outside signingsand introduce an obligatory percentageof youth players who must be trained by the top division clubs themselves. Theaim is that every professional team bemade up of between 70 and 80% home-grown players in the broadest sense.

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Seven years and overDynamo Kyiv opens its

doors to children from the ageof seven. Tests are organisedtwice a year which include med-ical examinations, as the clubplaces great emphasis on health.Throughout the young foot-ballers’ training, the club aims todevelop what it calls an “aware-ness of football”. To maintainstandards across its teams, fur-ther tests are carried out, whichbecome progressively more vigorous over the years.

■ The 7- 9 year olds mustdemonstrate their agility, coordi-nation, psychomotricity andspeed.

■ The 10-12 year olds under-take the same tests as well asball control exercises.

■ The 13-15 year olds musthave attended a sports schoolfor three years, have partici-pated in tournaments and pos-sess the necessary physical capabilities.

■ The 16-17 year olds con-test junior tournaments. Theymust be in excellent physicalcondition, highly skilled techni-cally and have developed a certain level of tactical ability.

P.P.

Young people also need to be happy and have fun if they are to succeed.


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A SpecialOlympicsGeorgia assistant coach,Rishi Kokoev (18 years old)looked after the Under-11s.

The players of WislaKraków donSpecialOlympics shirts for achampionshipmatch.

A special “Be a fan” T-shirt forMoldova’sSpecialOlympics players.

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Special OlympicsEuropean Football Week

Emphasis on community-based initiatives

This year the focus was oncommunity-based initiatives with anemphasis on volunteer coach recruit-ment and training and bringing youngpeople with and without disabilities together to build awareness and toler-ance. Football associations and profes-sional clubs continued to show theirsupport for Special Olympics players.

In Armenia 120 young Special Olympics players competed insix local competitions. In Moldova a series of local competitions involvedover 400 Special Olympics players. InRussia 42 teams from 30 regions par-ticipated in a national tournament,while local competitions and coachingseminars were organised in 45 regions. In Turkey 700 young players competedin tournaments in seven cities and onecity organised a beach tournament.

In Kazakhstan 14 regional tourna-ments were held. In France over 2,000players competed in 24 competitions.In Lithuania over 400 players com-peted in mini-competitions. In Latviaover 2,200 players competed in re-gional events. In Ukraine 2,900 play-ers competed in events in 17 regions.

Unified matches and other activities

Unified football, where playerswith and without intellectual disabili-ties compete on the same team, wascelebrated in a big way in Slovakiawith 350 players competing in tourna-ments in 16 cities. In Italy three uni-fied tournaments were held with over 130 teams from more than 60 schools.A unified tournament was also held in Cyprus.

In FYR Macedonia familiescame out to support 100 SpecialOlympics players at a national tourna-ment. In Montenegro 112 playerstook to the pitch in a national competi-tion. In Bosnia-Herzegovina 19 Spe-cial Olympics clubs took part in a national competition. In Georgia, at a tournament for 110 young players in Tbilisi, Special Olympics athletes who had trained to become assistantcoaches demonstrated their new skillsin warming up the players. In Irelandthere were a series of football blitzes,half-time matches and cup competi-tions with an estimated 650 athletesparticipating. In Serbia a women’stournament was held for 90 players.

Cooperation of football clubsIn Azerbaijan premier league

club Inter Baku opened its grounds to18 Special Olympics teams who com-peted in a national tournament. In Belarus FC BATE Borisov and the cityof Borisov hosted a unified tourna-ment. In Germany 16 clubs from thefirst to the fourth divisions organisedtraining sessions for 400 Special Olym-pics players. In Poland a cooperationagreement was signed between SpecialOlympics Poland, the Polish FootballFederation and Ekstraklasa SA, while all first division clubs wore SpecialOlympics T-shirts prior to major matches.In Hungary Special Olympics playerswalked onto the pitch with professionalplayers at the start of first divisionmatches. In Switzerland a match between UEFA staff and a local SpecialOlympics club was held in Nyon.

THE EIGHTH ANNUAL SPECIAL OLYMPICS EUROPEAN FOOTBALL WEEK WAS HELD ON 3 TO 10 MAY. AN ESTIMATED

50,000 PLAYERS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES PARTICIPATED IN EVENTS IN OVER 50 COUNTRIES IN EUROPE/EURASIA.

Maik Franz of SC Karlsruhe with the players of SpecialOlympics Germany.


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Roël Liefden(2), one of the key players on theDutch team.

Beach soccer:fun for spectators andplayers alike.

THE ROYAL NETHERLANDS FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION (KNVB) AND GO! MARKETING

RECENTLY FOUNDED A NEW ORGANISATION CALLED KNVB BEACH SOCCER.

Go! Marketing is the sportsmarketing and event agency that introduced beach soccer in the Nether-lands ten years ago. Managing direc-tor Dave Offenbach signed an agree-ment with the KNVB CEO for amateurfootball, Ruud Bruijnis, on 23 June toofficially launch the legal entity KNVBBeach Soccer. With the introduction of the new organisation, the DutchBeach Soccer Association (NBSB) hasbeen wound up after eight explorativeand exciting years. The NBSB used torun all beach soccer competitions andevents. Three members of the board ofthe former NBSB attended the launchof the new organisation and were morethan happy that their association hadlaid the foundations for another majorstep in Dutch football.

Tremendous boostThe official signing was also

attended by the national beach soccercoach, Niels Kokmeijer, who unfortu-

Beach Soccer inthe Netherlands

A new official organisation

nately became a celebrity overnight in the Netherlands when he had to quithis professional career four years agoafter breaking his leg in a first divisionmatch. He is now involved in beachsoccer full-time and a highly appre-ciated ambassador of the game. “Thefact that we are now recognised by theKNVB and able to start as an integratedorganisation is a tremendous boost for beach soccer in the Netherlands,”Offenbach said after the official cere-mony. ”We now have a serious chanceto further develop the sport and workon all aspects of the game.”

Go! Marketing will still run all the beach soccer events and will alsohave organisational responsibility withinthe new body, KNVB Beach Soccer. On 20 July, the11th national beachsoccer championship was staged in thebeach stadium in Scheveningen. For thefirst time this event was held under the KNVB banner.

Rob de Leede

Leo Koswal(10) was a professionalfootballerbefore turning tobeach soccer.

Beach soccer background

Beach soccer has been played for many years on beaches all aroundthe world. In 1992 the first rules ofthe game were put down on paper.The first international beach soccerevent took place on Miami Beachwith teams from Brazil, the UnitedStates, Argentina and Italy. The firstunofficial world championship wasstaged in 1995 and the first officialEuropean competition started exactlyten years ago in 1998.

Go! Marketing organised thefirst-ever beach soccer matches inthe Netherlands in 1997. Three yearslater, the Dutch Beach Soccer Associ-ation (NBSB) was founded in cooper-ation with the kids’ sections of anumber of professional footballclubs such as PSV Eindhoven, Ajaxand Feyenoord. The first interna-tional beach soccer tournament inthe Netherlands, co-hosted by theNBSB and Beach Soccer Worldwide,was held in Scheveningen in 2003.FIFA officially recognised beach soc-cer in 2005, the same year that theKNVB officially and exclusivelyrecognised the NBSB. The sport hasgrown rapidly in the Netherlandsand twice the original number ofteams competed in the preliminaryrounds of the national league in2006. The well-known seaside resortof Hoek van Holland then stagedthe first beach soccer champions’league for national champions fromsix European countries.

The national Olympic commit-tee, NOC*NSF, officially recognisedthe top level of the NBSB in 2007. In cooperation with the Dirk KuytFoundation (set up by the Dutch international currently playing forLiverpool FC), a competition for dis-abled players was also launched.Dutch beach soccer’s top division hasnow grown from 8 to 12 teams andthe Dutch national team is amongthe best in Europe, although theyunfortunately failed to qualify forthe FIFA Beach soccer 2008 in Mar-seille. With a few hundred kilome-tres of beaches in the country, beachsoccer has a bright and sunny futurein the Netherlands.

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Meetings andother activities

The presidents and general secretaries of UEFA member

associations met in Vienna

Some lightreadingbefore themeeting.

The futureEuropeanChampionshipformat was a hot topic.

David Taylortalked aboutrelationsbetween UEFAand football’sother majorstakeholders.

ALL 53 UEFA MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS WERE REPRESENTED AT THE MEETING

OF THEIR PRESIDENTS AND GENERAL SECRETARIES HELD IN VIENNA THE DAY

BEFORE THE FINAL OF EURO 2008.

There were three subjects on the agenda, two to bring the participantsup to date and the third for consultativepurposes.

After a minute’s silence in honourof Mathieu Sprengers, the late member ofthe Executive Committee who passedaway in April, the UEFA general secretary,David Taylor, reviewed the status ofUEFA’s relations with the leagues, clubsand professional players. In this context,he mentioned the Professional FootballStrategy Council (PFSC), which had beenset up to contribute, through dialogue, tounity in European football. It comprisedan equal number of representatives ofthe national associations (in the first fourUEFA vice-presidents), the leagues, theclubs and the professional footballers’ association. Since its creation a year ago,the PFSC had held four plenary meetings,

as well as a number of working groupmeetings. Among the topics it had discussed were the UEFA club competi-tions, the specificity of sport as regardsthe European Union, social dialogue in football, the protection of minors and the prospect of a European FootballCharter.

As far as UEFA’s relations withthe professional leagues and their um-brella organisation, the EPFL (Associationof European Professional Football Leagues),were concerned, the aim was to con-clude a new memorandum of under-standing by the end of September.

More than 100 clubs, represent-ing all 53 of UEFA’s member associations,were now assembled within the Euro-pean Club Association (ECA), whose firstgeneral meeting was set to take place in Nyon on 7 and 8 July. A memorandum

of understanding between UEFA andthe ECA had already been signed.

A memorandum of under-standing between UEFA and FIFPro Europe, representing the players, was also already in place.

Social dialogue UEFA’s deputy general secretary,

Gianni Infantino, then gave a presenta-tion on the current status of EU-relatedmatters, including the document whichis to be submitted to the French presi-dency of the EU at the request of theDutch and French ministers for Euro-pean affairs (see page 13).

The deputy general secretary’spresentation also covered the subject ofsocial dialogue, in respect of which heannounced the creation of an EU SocialDialogue Committee for the profession-al football sector on 1 July, in whichUEFA has a key role, with its president,Michel Platini, in the chair. The EPFL and the ECA are the employers’ repre-sentatives on the committee, while theemployees are represented by FIFPro Europe.

EURO formatHaving been raised at the UEFA

Congress in Düsseldorf in January 2007,the idea of expanding the field of par-ticipants in European Football Champi-onship final rounds has been the subjectof feasibility studies and reports. In hispresentation, the director of the UEFAadministration’s competitions’ division,Giorgio Marchetti, told the meeting thatthe Executive Committee would take adecision on this matter at its meeting inBordeaux in September, before which itwas keen to receive the views of the national associations. After his presenta-tion, a dozen or so delegates took thefloor and all expressed their support foran expanded final round, preferably involving 24 teams split into six groupsof four, and as evenly balanced as possible in terms of the duration of the group stage and direct knockout matches, which, contrary to the currentformat, would involve a round of 16.

At the same time, however, the contributors were keen for the ap-peal and value of the qualifying matchesto be maintained. Any new format, ifadopted by the Executive Committee inSeptember, would not be introduceduntil 2016.Ph

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News fromBrusselsOn Wednesday 28 May, the

European Commission gave itsformal backing to UEFA’s rule onlocally trained players which aimto encourage training and pro-mote competitive balance. In anofficial joint statement, VladimírSpidla, member of the EuropeanCommission responsible for Employment, Social affairs andEqual Opportunities, and Commis-sioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth Ján Figel endorsed the measures which pursue “legitimate objectives ofgeneral interest”. This is an impor-tant achievement for both UEFAand its national associations.

The locally trained player ruleis one part of UEFA’s response to a number of developments thatthreaten to damage the long-terminterests of our sport. One of thebiggest challenges facing Euro-pean team sports is that, since the European Court of Justice’sBosman ruling of 1995, the richestclubs have been able to stockpilethe best players, which makes it easier for them to dominateboth national and European com-petitions.

At the same time, clubs havefewer incentives to train their ownplayers or give a genuine chanceto young players from their region.This trend is exacerbated by theunreliable financial rewards oftraining young players and theability of many European clubs to‘poach’ young players from theage of 16 from anywhere in theEuropean Union.

UEFA’s rule aims to encouragethe local training of young playersand increase the openness andfairness of European competitions.It is a modest first step, but onethat goes in the right direction.The European Commission itselfrecognises that the “training ofyoung talented sportsmen andsportswomen in proper conditionsis crucial for a sustainable devel- ➜

The last meeting forGiangiorgioSpiess…

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Executive Committee in Vienna

D o c u m e n t f o r t h eE u r o p e a n U n i o n

THE UEFA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, WITH THE UEFA PRESIDENT IN THE CHAIR,

MET IN VIENNA TWO DAYS BEFORE THE FINAL OF EURO 2008.

Matters related to the EuropeanUnion and EU legislation were onceagain a major item on the agenda. Thistime, the subject of the discussions wasa document drafted by the main Euro-pean team sport federations (basketball,football, handball, ice hockey, rugby and volleyball), which the committee approved for submission to the Frenchpresidency of the European Union.

The document calls for the European Commission “to finally imple-ment, together with the team sport federations, the most effective means torecognise the specificity of sport withina clear legal framework”. It sets out themost important matters that need to be addressed, including the followingpriorities:

■ training and education, based on the principles of “dual training”(sports and academic/vocational training)for players, home-grown players, andthe protection of young players andtraining clubs;

■ club licensing, proposing the creation of a European financialmanagement control body;

■ agents, proposing improvedregulation of their activities by thesports federations, possibly in conjunc-tion with appropriate measures at EU level.

These measures are combinedwith strict adherence by the European

The Executive Committee in Vienna.

team sport federations to the principles of good governance.

Co-opted members bow outAlthough EURO 2008 was still

awaiting its climax – the final – the Execu-tive Committee nevertheless reviewed cer-tain aspects of the event and was pleasedby its many positive qualities. The Execu-tive Committee meeting was also an op-portunity for the UEFA president to thankthe representatives of the two host associ-ations on the committee, Friedrich Sticklerfrom Austria and Giangiorgio Spiess fromSwitzerland, whose terms as co-optedmembers ended at this meeting.

Moving from one EURO to thenext, the Executive Committee is keepinga close eye on preparations for EURO2012 in Poland and Ukraine. Following apresentation by the UEFA general secre-tary, David Taylor, the committee heardthat a UEFA delegation led by the presi-dent would visit the two countries at thestart of July, to allow the Executive Com-mittee to take a decision at its first meet-ing after its summer recess, in September.

Last but not least, the committeeapproved UEFA’s consolidated operationalbudget for 2008/09, as well as the regu-lations for the 2009/10 European FutsalChampionship, the main change to whichconcerns the final round, which will becontested by 12 teams instead of eightfrom now on.


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➜ opment of sport at all levels.” (Euro-pean Commission’s White Paper onSport, p. 6; see uefadirect No. 64 and 65).

UEFA’s rule obliges clubs partici-pating in UEFA competitions, i.e. theUEFA Champions League and theUEFA Cup, to include a minimum number of players in the squad of 25players that are locally trained, inde-pendent of their nationality. A locallytrained player is defined as havingbeen trained by his club or anotherclub from the same national associa-tion for at least three years betweenthe age of 15 and 21. The rules havebeen implemented gradually, in stages,to give clubs time to adapt: a mini-mum of 4 out of 25 for the 2006/07season, 6 for the 2007/08 season and 8 in 2008/09, which brings to an endthe phased introduction.

UEFA has left all of its 53 nationalassociations free to implement the ruleat national level – or not, as the casemay be. So far, a number of nationalleagues apply the rule, or some adap-tation of it, including Belgium, CzechRepublic, Germany, Hungary, Ireland,Italy and Portugal. National associa-tions are encouraged to implement it at domestic level to help developtheir young talent.

Article 39 (2) of the EC Treatyclearly forbids any form of quota whichlimits the number of non-national EUcitizens authorised to play for Euro-pean clubs. This was laid down explic-itly and unequivocally in the Bosmanruling. UEFA’s rule fully complies withthe principle of non-discrimination asit states that the nationality of locallytrained players is irrelevant.

Both the European Commissionand the European Parliament havenow clearly endorsed the rule and itsobjectives.

Back in March 2007, the Euro-pean Parliament, in its resolution onthe future of professional football in Europe (see uefadirect No. 59) expressed its “clear support” of suchmeasures and called on “professionalclubs to strictly implement this rule”(paragraph 32). In a similar vein, theresolution on the White Paper on Sport(see uefadirect No. 75) has recognisedthat the UEFA rule “can serve as an example to other federations, leaguesand clubs” (paragraph 34).

All of this demonstrates, on a larger scale, that sports governingbodies are able to create new policiesthat encourage training and promotecompetitive balance, while respectingEU law.

Artemio Franchi (left),alongside then FIFA president, João Havelange, on UEFA’s 25th anniversary, in 1979.

Zenit St. Petersburgwill contest its first UEFASuper Cup having wonthe UEFA Cup.

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UEFA Super Cup – A first in MonacoMonaco has been home to the UEFA Super Cup for the last ten

years – after the waters were tested back in 1987 – and the venue will notchange until at least 2011, the UEFA Executive Committee decided at its recent meeting in Vaduz.

In the last decade, Monaco’s Stade Louis II has hosted teams from sevendifferent national associations for the traditional pre-season showcasebetween the winners of the UEFA Champions League and the EuropeanCup Winners’ Cup, or UEFA Cup since 1999. The Spanish have dominateduntil now (seven appearances with four clubs), ahead of England and

Italy (both on five appearances with three clubs) and Portugal (two with one club).The attendance sheet also includes one German, one Dutch and one Russian side.Fourteen clubs have featured in the Super Cup in the last ten years, with recordparticipation by Real Madrid (3) and record wins by AC Milan and Liverpool (2).

In a new twist, this year’s fixture will unite old and new, with ChampionsLeague titleholders Manchester United, who were in Monaco in the same capacityin 1999 (when they lost against S.S. Lazio, winners of the last-ever European Cup Winners’ Cup), facing newcomers Zenit St. Petersburg, winners of the UEFACup in May.

The match will wrap up a few days of intense activity in Monaco, includingthe draws for the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup and meetings in prepara-tion for the new season.

Artemio Franchi memorial in Florence

Elected as UEFA president at the Extraordinary UEFA Congressin Rome in May 1973, Italy’s ArtemioFranchi held the reins of the Unionof European Football Associationsuntil he died in a road accident on12 August 1983.

It will soon be 25 years sinceArtemio Franchi’s death. To pay tributeto the football administrator who took UEFA into a new era of moderni-sation after the early days of the 1950sand a period of consolidation in the1960s, a commemoration is being held on 30 July in Florence with a galamatch between ACF Fiorentina and FC Barcelona. It was in Florence, hishome town, that Franchi embarked on his career as an official, first in refer-eeing, then as ACF Fiorentina secretary. In 1967 he became president of theItalian Football Federation and a yearlater he was elected vice-president of UEFA.

Franchi was “a diplomat whoalways managed to find the means formediation and conciliation,” accordingto Jacques Georges, who succeeded

Inaugural meeting of the European Club Association

Founded in January and comprising 103 top clubs from all of UEFA’s member associations, the European Club Association (ECA)has taken over from the EuropeanClub Forum as UEFA’s partner repre-senting the clubs. Unlike the forum,however, the ECA is an independentassociation.

For its first plenary meeting, the ECA was the guest of UEFA at theHouse of European Football on 7 and 8July. The main item on the agenda wasthe formation of the Executive Board, to which the following 11 members were elected: Karl-Heinz-Rummenigge(FC Bayern München), Ernest Paolillo (FC Internazionale), Fernando Gomes (FC Porto), Rick Parry (Liverpool FC),

him as UEFA president. The Fiorentinav Barcelona match will take place atthe Artemio Franchi stadium. UEFA isbacking this memorial event, whichwill be attended by the current UEFApresident and Executive Committee.

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The Futsal Cupdraw also took place in Nyon.

The European ClubAssociationheld its first meeting in Nyon.

Futsal Cup drawA record 45 clubs have

entered the eighth edition of theUEFA Futsal Cup.

The draw held in Nyon on 2July split 23 of these clubsinto six groups for the pre-liminary round, which will becontested from 9 to 17

August in the form of mini-tournaments.Group A: Politechnik Yerevan,

FC Parnassos, Roubaix Futsal, Vídir GardiGroup B: FK Nikars Riga,

1. FC Graz, FC Madriu, FC Seefeld ZürichGroup C: FC Nadin Sofia,

KMF Elita Tetovo, Ipswich WolvesGroup D: Nautara Kaunas,

KF Tirana, CSC Dinamo Chisinau, Albertslund IF

Group E: KMN Gorica, GoldenFutsal Team Espoo, Saint Patrick’s AFC,Scandals Futsal FC

Special Olympics teamplays before EURO 2008quarter-final

Eleven Special Olympics Austria players and a team representingthe Austrian disability group ÖBSVplayed at Vienna’s Ernst Happel stadiumbefore the Croatia v Turkey EURO 2008quarter-final on 20 June. They played a 14-minute exhibition match as part of UEFA’s Football for All campaign topromote disability sport.

Special Olympics Austria tookthe lead in the first seven minutes andtwo quick strikes after the break gavethem a 3-0 victory.

The Croatian and Turkish national team players, who were waitingfor their game to start, took the time to watch the players with intellectualdisabilities. After the match the partici-pants stayed to take photos with nationalplayers. UEFA President Michel Platiniwatched the match and congratulatedboth teams.

UEFA Champions League15/16 July 2008: first qualifying round, first legs22/23 July: return legs29/30 July: second qualifying round,first legs1 August in Nyon: draw for the thirdqualifying round5/6 August: second qualifying round,return legs12/13 August: third qualifying round,first legs26/27 August: return legs28 August in Monaco: draw for thegroup matches16/17 September: group matches,matchday 1 30 September/1 October: matchday 221/22 October: matchday 34/5 November: matchday 425/26 November: matchday 59/10 December: matchday 619 December in Nyon: draw for thefirst knockout round24/25 February 2009: first knockoutround, first legs10/11 March: return legs20 March in Nyon: draws for the quarter and semi-finals7/8 April: quarter-finals, first legs14/15 April: return legs28/29 April: semi-finals, first legs5/6 May: return legs27 May in Rome: final

UEFA Cup17 July 2008: first quali-fying round, first legs31 July: return legs1 August in Nyon: drawfor the second qualifying round 14 August: second qualifying round,first legs28 August: second qualifying round,return legs29 August in Monaco: draw for thefirst round18 September: first round, first legs2 October: return legs7 October in Nyon: draw for thegroup matches23 October: group matches, matchday 16 November: matchday 227 November: matchday 33/4 December: matchday 417/18 December: matchday 519 December in Nyon: draws for therounds of 32 and 1618/19 February 2009: round of 32, first legs26 February: return legs12 March: round of 16, first legs18/19 March: return legs20 March in Nyon: draws for the quarter and semi-finals9 April: quarter-finals, first legs16 April: return legs30 April: semi-finals, first legs7 May: return legs20 May in Istanbul: final

2008/09 UEFA clubcompetition dates

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Michel Platini with Special Olympics players.

Group F: MNK Orlic Sarajevo,Carillon Boys Beverwijk, UFC Münster,FC Betoon TallinMini-tournament host clubs in bold.

The six group winners will qualify for themain round, where they will be joined by the other 35 teams in the competition.The main round draw was also held on 2 July (see uefa.com). These matches willbe played from 6 to 14 September andwill be followed by another draw on 25September, for the elite round, where title-holders Viz-Sinara Ekaterinburg, plus Dinamo Moskva, Interviu Madrid and KairatAlmaty, will join the six group winners andrunners-up from the main round.

The ECA Executive Board.

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Itamar Chizik (Maccabi Haifa FC), Damir Vrbanovic (NK Dinamo Zagreb),Jean-Michel Aulas (Olympique Lyonnais),John McClelland (Rangers FC), Michel Verschueren (RSC Anderlecht), RamonCalderon (Real Madrid FC) and Nils Skutle(Rosenborg BK). Also on the board are the four members who represent the ECA on the Professional Football StrategyCouncil, namely Maarten Fontein (AZ Alkmaar), Umberto Gandini (AC Milan),Peter Kenyon (Chelsea FC) and Joan Laporta (FC Barcelona). The new ECA Executive Board subsequently elected Karl-Heinz Rummenigge as its chairman, Joan Laporta as first vice-chairman andUmberto Gandini and John McClelland as vice-chairmen.


N E W S F R O M M E M B E R A S S O C I A T I O N S

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New supplier for the national association

The Albanian Football Association (AFA)and international sportswear manufacturerNike have signed a contract making Nikethe AFA’s official kit supplier.

The contract was signed by the AFApresident, Armand Duka, who said that the

The president of the Albanian FA, Armand Duka(right), and Igor Milojevic of Nike Balkans presentthe new Albania national team shirts.

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ALBANIA• LYSIEN NURISHMI •

International tournaments May and June in Andorra are associated

with good weather and an abundance offootball competitions throughout the coun-try in the grassroots, women’s and disabilitycategories.

One such tournament that we organ-ised was the annual, international FrancescVila memorial competition. Now in its ninthyear, it involved 12 Under-9 teams and 12Under-11s. The Under-9 champions wereFC Barcelona and the Under-11 winnerswere the regional side of Haute-Garonne.

ANDORRA• PRESS OFFICE •

A Special Olympics football tournament in Andorra.

FAF

We also had the tenth Escaldes-Engor-dany Under-12 tournament, which waswon by Atlético de Madrid, and an inter-national Special Olympics tournament,which involved representatives of Monaco,Catalonia and Andorra.

Finally, in the sixth women’s interna-tional tournament, RCD Espanyol came out on top in the Under-14 age range andUE Estarit in the Under-19. The women’sfootball season was rounded off by a three-a-side competition to promote thewomen’s game.

The presence of families from all overEurope alongside spectators from Andorraturns these tournaments into real festivalsof football, and celebrations of cross-borderfriendship. We are already working on nextyear’s competitions, with particular empha-sis on the tenth anniversary edition of theFrancesc Vila tournament. ■

A new DVD of 274 exercisesAhead of EURO 2008, conditioning

coach Roger Spry and technical director ofthe Austrian FA (ÖFB) Willi Ruttensteiner presented a new DVD, the fruit of manymonths work, entitled “Conditioning train-ing – The Austrian way”. Available in Ger-man and English, the DVD demonstrates atotal of 274 exercises.

“The exercises are suitable for six-year-old beginners and professionals alike, andfor coaches and players,” explained Spry.“[The DVD] is not designed to replace nor-mal training sessions, but to complementthem. When I started out, I would haveloved to have something like this. It wouldhave made life much easier.”

“At some point I will leave Austria. It could be straight after EURO 2008 or itcould just as easily be in a few years’ time.With this DVD I can leave something lastingbehind for Austrian football that I’m reallyproud of,” the internationally renownedBritish conditioning coach continued. RogerSpry is also responsible for the music on the DVD, which is now available for EUR 25

AUSTRIA• PETER KLINGLMÜLLER •

Roger Spry (left) and Willi Ruttensteiner presenttheir conditioning training DVD.

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Albanian national team was proud and honoured to wear this internationallyrenowned brand. The AFA is also excitedabout having Nike as a partner.

Likewise on the Nike side, Igor Milo-jevic, the representative for the Balkans,was very pleased with this deal, especiallyafter the big interest shown by the AFA in Nike.

This contract for the national team kits covers the qualifying round for the2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

As a result of the deal, the AFA will alsouse the official Nike ball for its officialmatches. ■

Summer starts with beach footballtournament

The first Azerbaijan Beach Soccer Cham-pionship for amateur teams has drawn to aclose. The Olympic-style competition beganwith 58 teams. Kodak and Escort met in the match for third place, where they werelevel on 5-5 after 90 minutes. In extra timeKodak scored one more goal and took third.In the final, Novco Sport managed an 8-6win against Olimp to become champions.

At the award ceremony, the AFFA gen-eral secretary, Elkhan Mammadov, and thepresident of the Beach Soccer Federation,

AZERBAIJAN• ELKHAN ASADOV •

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from the ÖFB and the nine Austrian regionalassociations. “I composed the soundtrackand played all the instruments myself. Youcan love it or hate it,” added Spry with atypically British sense of humour.

Willi Ruttensteiner, co-author of the DVD,hopes there will be a ripple effect: “It’s agreat product, which we may well be able tomarket outside Austria too. Special thanksmust go to our sponsors and the UEFA Hat-Trick programme, without which this projectwould not have been possible.” ■

Farid Novruzi, congratulated the winnersand wished them luck in their forthcomingmatches. It should be noted that AFFA has established a prize fund for the cham-pionship. The winners were awarded a trophy and AZN 10,000, the runners-upreceived AZN 5,000 and the team in thirdplace took away AZN 3,000. ■

A beach soccer cup for amateur players.


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A star has passed away“Sometimes, when one person is miss-

ing, the whole world seems empty.” ThisAlphonse de Lamartine quotation sums uphow many in Belgium felt on 8 May whenthey learnt of the death of FrançoisSterchele, Club Brugge striker and one ofthe country’s best players. Sterchele, aged26 and from Liège, died in a car accident at the height of his footballing career.

François Sterchele was a unique playerwho successfully worked his way throughthe lower divisions before making a splashin the premier league. His cunning and self-confidence on the pitch never failed to cause a stir, but his good nature, smileand helpful character helped him win manyhearts. The tribute paid to him in the stadiums on the last matchday of the pre-mier league, a few days after his death,was a testament to this.

BELGIUM• PIERRE CORNEZ •

François Sterchele, a formidable striker taken too young.

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François Sterchele played for various clubsin his home region of Liège. He started youngat Loncin, before moving to RFC de Liège. His career really took off when he joined RFCUnion La Calamine in 2001. It was at thisfourth division club that he established him-self as a goal-getter (49 goals in 84 matches),a reputation that stuck with him.

His 2004 transfer to Oud Heverlee-Leuven, a third-division club, was an excel-lent move: he scored 29 goals in 33 matchesand caught the attention of the premierleague. After just one season at the Flemishclub, Sterchele moved to Royal Charleroi

NK Zrinjski won Bosnia and Herzegovina Cup

NK Zrinjski from Mostar won the Bosniaand Herzegovina Cup this season, beatingFK Sloboda Tuzla. Sloboda won the firstmatch 2-1 in Tuzla, while Zrinjski managedthe same result at home in Mostar. Afterpenalties Zrinjski lifted the cup and joinedZeljeznicar, Sarajevo, Modrica and SirokiBrijeg on the list of teams that have wonboth the championship and cup.

The young players at NK Orasje re-tained the Bosnia and Herzegovina Cup inthe Under-19 competition, beating theirpeers from Bosna Visoko 4-1 in the final inMedjugorje. The Under-19 championshipwas won by the juniors at Sloboda Tuzla.In the final tournament in Visoko, Slobodabeat Siroki Brijeg 4-2, while third place

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA• FUAD KRVAVAC •

went to hosts Bosna Visoko, who beatZrinjski 4-1.

The Sloboda Tuzla cadets (Under-17)also won their championship, after beatingSarajevo. The score was 0-0 at the end of normal time but Sloboda claimed victory after penalty kicks. Zeljeznicar took thirdplace by beating final-tournament hostsDrina Zvornik 3-1.

Kozara from Bosanska Gradiska won thepioneers title (Under-15). They beat Zvijezdafrom Gradacac 2-1 in the final, while thethird place went to Novi Grad from Sarajevo,who beat Tomislav 3-1. The final tourna-ment was played in Tomislavgrad.

The women’s champions of the seasonwere the players of SFK 2000 from Sarajevo,who in the final tournament beat Iris fromZenica 5-0 and Leotar from Trebinje 4-0.Leotar finished in second place with a 2-2draw against Iris.

The top two teams in the women’schampionship, SFK 2000 and Leotar, con-tested the Bosnia and Herzegovina Cup final at the Grbavica stadium in Sarajevo,where SFK 2000 got their second title thisseason with a 2-0 win. ■

Sporting Club (9 goals in 31 matches) before carrying on to Germinal BeerschotAntwerpen the following season, where hefinished as the top goalscorer of 2006/07(21 goals in 32 matches). His composureand precision in front of goal drew atten-tion from the biggest clubs in Belgium andEuropean circles, but Sterchele chose topursue a career on home turf, joining ClubBrugge KV in July 2007 and scoring 11 goalsfor them in 31 league matches.

Sterchele’s terrific progress soon caughtthe eye of Belgium coach René Vandereyckentoo, who first called him up for a EURO2008 qualifying match on 24 March 2007against Portugal in Lisbon. Sterchele wascapped six times in all. He had yet to scorefor the Red Devils but with his incredibleability to adapt, it would certainly not havebeen long before he turned this around.

François Sterchele dreamt of meetingItaly on 30 May, in the friendly that wouldhave taken him back to his familial roots andhis hero, Luca Toni, who inspired Sterchele’sgoal celebrations. He did not get thatchance. Sterchele was a star on the pitchand he will continue to shine. Rest inpeace, François. ■

ENGLAND• MATT PHILLIPS •

English FA puts equality at the top of the agenda

The EnglishFootball Asso-ciation (The FA)is proving thatfootball canbring down bar-riers with a series of break-through eventsthis year.

The Inter-national Gayand Lesbian FA(IGLFA) World Championships are takingplace in London this summer while LordHerman Ouseley has become the first blackmember of the FA Council, the “parlia-ment” of English football.

The push for equality does not stopthere, with Manchester hosting the Learn-ing Disability European Championships and the Blind and Cerebral Palsy nationalsquads, backed by The FA, competing atthe Beijing Paralympics this September.

The IGLFA World Championships willtake place in London’s Regent’s Park in August with teams travelling from acrossEurope and the Americas to take part inthe annual event.

The FA has been advising tournamenthosts, Left Footers FC, as part of a widercommitment to stamping out homophobiain all areas of football. The FA’s equalitymanager, Lucy Faulkner, commented: “LikeUEFA, we believe that football has a duty tochallenge all discrimination within the ➜

Herman Ouseley, new member of theFA Council. Th

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NK Zrinsjski, winners of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Cup.

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➜ game. One of our key messages is ‘Get into Football’ and our aim is to con-front aggressive issues such as homophobiawhile making the game family friendly.”

Former England captain, Paul Ince, madehistory recently when he became the Pre-mier League’s first black English manager atBlackburn Rovers and The FA has made agroundbreaking appointment of its own withLord Herman Ouseley nominated to the FA Council. The 63-year-old, who foundedanti-racism organisation Kick It Out, headsup The FA’s Racial Equality Advisory Groupwhich aims to boost football participationin black and ethnic minority communities.

Lord Ouseley said: “There’s a lot of goodwork going on such as black and ethnic mi-nority supporters getting involved as Englandfans. Black and Asian supporters want to beseen as England fans. When we qualify formajor tournaments then you’ll see that visi-bility. They’ll wear the shirts and fly the flagsfrom their cars and it’s great to see.” ■

Turkey claims victory in EstoniaTurkey’s national team celebrated

victory at the UEFA women’s friendly mini-tournament held in Estonia between 27 June and 2 July. Besides the hosts andthe winners, Croatia and Malta were represented.

The tournament was held in Rakvereand Paide, two cities where football isclimbing to new heights in Estonia.

“Our aim is to help to boost the devel-opment of football in general and also its infrastructure, not only in the biggestcities, but in the smaller ones too. The local authorities in Paide and Rakverehave shown great initiative in their effortsto help develop the game,” said TõnuSirel, the Estonian Football Association’sgeneral secretary.

On the tournament’s first matchday,favourites Croatia and Turkey claimedconvincing 3-0 and 6-0 victories over Malta and Estonia respectively. The sec-ond matchday featured a fascinating battle between the two top sides, withTurkey coming from behind to clinch avaluable 4-2 win. Meanwhile, Maltafought hard against the hosts to beatthem with a goal by Ylenia Carabott just11 minutes from time.

The last games were held on 2 July,when Malta and Estonia gave a hard timeto the pre-match favourites. It took a longtime for Turkey to translate their pressureinto goals and seal a 3-0 win.

Croatia took a 3-0 lead before the interval, but Estonia’s Margarita Zernose-kova managed to score just four minutesinto the second half, which put the hosts back in the game. Both teams hadchances afterwards, but the score stayedput at 3-1.

ESTONIA• MIHKEL UIBOLEHT •

UEFA match on artificial grassSunday 22 June was a historic day in

Faroese football. It was the day HB Tórshavnplayed at home against Swedish team IF Elfsborg in the first round of the UEFA Intertoto Cup. This match was special because it was not played at either of thetwo stadiums normally used for the inter-national matches on the island, but at theGundadalur stadium (Ovari Vøllur), not farfrom the international Tórsvøllur stadium in the capital of Tórshavn.

Gundadalur is where local clubs HB andB36 usually play their matches in the topFaroese league, the Formuladeildin. Earlierthis year, Gundadalur’s artificial two-starpitch, provided by Polytan SportstättenbauGmbH, was certified by FIFA. HB Tórshavntook the opportunity to send a request tothe Faroese FA for permission from UEFA to play their Intertoto match on familiarground. B36, the other Tórshavn club, havealso submitted the Gundadalur stadium as the venue for their first UEFA Cup quali-fying match at the end of July.

Several improvements were made at theGundadalur stadium before approval wasgiven. Among other things, around 2,000

FAROE ISLANDS• INGI SAMUELSEN •

Sweden’s Elfsborg won the first international matchplayed on an artificial pitch in the Faroe Islands.

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Farewell match for Shota Arveladze Shota Arveladze, one of the best strikers

the Georgia A team has ever known, saidgoodbye to professional football on 3 June.His farewell match turned out to be a bril-liant, beautiful event.

Some 35,000 football supporters witnessed this unforgettable game betweena Georgia line-up and Shota’s foreign team-mates, with the foreign friends winning the game 9-6. There were many goals,some beautiful football and lots of joy andsorrow, which is natural for matches of this kind.

Shota’s farewell match took place at the Boris Paichadze National Stadium. Thelast goal was scored by none other thanGiorgi Arveladze, Shota’s son.

Before the start of the match, NodarAkhalkatsi, president of the Georgian Foot-ball Federation (GFF), announced that fromnow on, in honour of Shota Arveladze, noone in the Georgia national A team wouldwear the number 11.

■ DIA 2008, this year’s awards cere-mony organised by the Georgian Profes-sional Football League, took place at theKote Marjanishvili State Theatre on 9 June.

Top GFF officials, actors, football special-ists and supporters attended the ceremony.Giorgi Merebashvili, one of FC Dinamo Tbilisi’s best players, took home two awards:best midfielder and best player in the Georgian national championship.

GEORGIA• LASHA GODUADZE •

The president of the Georgian Football Federation, Nodar Akhalkatsi, presents a souvenirshirt to Shota Arveladze.

GFF

EFA

Turkey (in red, against Estonia) won all their games.

seats were installed in the stands aroundthe pitch, where previously there had beenbenches.

Any advantage HB might have gainedfrom its artificial pitch could not be seen inthe match, which the Swedish side won 4-1.As a matter of fact, the artificial turf wasnothing new for IF Elfsborg, as they have thesame underlay at their home ground, theBorås stadium. ■

Turkey finished the tournament withthe maximum nine points, while Croatiawas second on six and Malta third withthree. The hosts were left in fourth place.

Turkey’s captain and top goalscorer, Bilgin Defterli, was named best player ofthe team. ■


19

FC Daugava wins Latvian Cup FC Daugava won the Latvian Cup after

beating league champions and previous cup-holders FK Ventspils on penalties (3-0). Thescore was 1-1 after 120 minutes in the Skontostadium in Riga. FC Daugava are championsfor the first time in the club’s history, but fortheir coach, former Latvia international andSkonto FC defender Mihails Zemlinskis, this wasthe second big title in six years. FC Daugavahave earned a place in the UEFA Cup.

In other news, the TrioBet Baltic League organisers have released the first issue of an e-magazine available at www.balticleague.com.From now on, the e-magazine will be issuedeach month and filled with photos, videos andaudio material as well as short interviews andoverviews of the latest developments in the

LATVIA• MARTINS HARTMANIS •

Coach MihailsZemlinskis celebrates withhis team aftertheir win in the national cupcompetition.

Kakha Kaladze, AC Milan defender and captain of the Georgia A side, wasnamed best Georgian football player forthe first time.

The awards:Best Goalkeeper: Didie Ovono

(FC Dinamo Tbilisi)Best Defender: Ucha Lobjanidze

(FC Zestafoni)Best Midfielder: Giorgi Merebashvili

(FC Dinamo Tbilisi)Best Forward: Dimitri Tatanashvili

(FC Ameri Tbilisi)Best Youth Player: Mate Vatsadze

(FC Dinamo Tbilisi)Best Coach: Nestor Mumladze

(WIT Georgia)Best Referee: Levan Paniashvili Best Project: TV company “Kolkhida”Best Player in the Georgian

Championship: Giorgi Merebashvili (FC Dinamo Tbilisi)

Best Georgian Player: Kakha Kaladze(AC Milan)

In another first, FC Borjomi forward GiaMegreladze received the award for scoringthe best goal. ■

Girls take to the pitchesLiechtenstein’s football pitches were

dominated by girls’ football on the eve ofthe long summer break. On Wednesday, 25 June, girls in years two to five at all primary schools across the principality wereoffered an introductory two hours of assorted training at the grounds in Balzers,Triesen, Triesenberg, Vaduz, Schaan, Eschenand Ruggell.

The taster sessions, organised by theLiechtenstein Football Association in closecooperation with its seven football clubs,were certainly a first, successful attempt atpromoting football among girls in Liechten-stein. Certain points need reconsidering for next time though, for example the tim-ing so close to the summer holidays andthe role of the schools, who should bemore closely involved in future so that foot-

LIECHTENSTEIN• JUDITH FROMMELT •

Girls to start football as young as possible

in Liechtenstein.

ball for girls canbe promotedmore intensivelyin the classroomsof Liechtenstein.A plus factor wascooperation withthe clubs, whowent to greatlengths to provide the girls with good facilities. Given the girls’ happy faces, im-mense team spirit and enthusiasm, there is no doubt that the coaches and assistantswill continue to support girls’ football inLiechtenstein.

The introductory sessions were not organised as a one-off. The idea is to estab-lish a girls’ competition after the summerbreak which would provide a new andunique platform for girls’ football in Liecht-enstein. At the moment, the only girls’teams are in Ruggell, Triesen and Balzers. In the lowest age ranges (up to 10 years), a few girls play with the boys. Now, theLiechtenstein Football Association – workingclosely with its seven member clubs – is going to offer young girls the opportunityto play in all-girl teams. ■

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TrioBet Baltic League. “The e-magazine repre-sents a new way of publishing information in this electronic age,” says Christian Happel,manager of the league. “It’s colourful, nice toscroll through and read and made with a loveof football,” Happel adds. The editor in chiefof the e-magazine is Martins Hartmanis, a Latvian Football Federation and TrioBet BalticLeague press officer. The TrioBet Baltic Leaguewebsite has also been redeveloped and isnow available at www.balticleague.com.

The Latvian Football Federation is movingto new offices at the Olympic Sports Centrein Riga while its old premises at the Daugavastadium are renovated. There are, however,some delays in talks with the governmentabout the possibility of renovating the wholestadium.

The national LMT Virsliga peaks in Au-gust as it enters its second phase. The firstsix teams will play for the championship’stop six places, while the remaining four clubswill contest the bottom four and the right tostay in Latvia’s top division when the 2008season ends on 9 November. ■

LFV

National football academy Although the main purpose of the acade-

my is to select the most talented young foot-ball players from across Lithuania, it is alsovery important that these players make goodprogress. All year round, the academy alsoseeks to educate them as healthy, strong andpatient individuals.

At present, there are three age groups atthe national football academy (15/16, 16/17and 17/18 years). All the training technology,distribution of physical workload, post-injuryrehabilitation methods and other importantelements of the programme are of the higheststandard.

For the youngfootball players toimprove, the acad-emy must offer thebest possible condi-tions. A lot of train-ing sessions are or-ganised in Ger-many, Poland andthe Czech Repub-lic, and good relationships are fostered withother academies in various countries. TheLithuanian Football Federation hopes that after five or six years of careful, sound educa-tion, the young players will provide promisingnew talent for the national teams. The idea of creating an academy to establish a new, talented football generation in Lithuaniastemmed from the deplorable current situa-tion among the country’s youth.

The staff at the national academy is busylooking for opponents for the young foot-ballers because the most important thing isfor them to get practice against strong, rep-utable opponents. ■

LITHUANIA• VAIVA ZIZAITE •

LFF

One goal: giving young people the best possible training.



20 uefadirect 8.08

FYR MACEDONIA• ZARKO IGNJATOVSKI •

The president, Haralampie Hadzi-Risteski, leads the general meeting.

FSMLooking to the future

The general meeting of the Football Fed-eration of FYR Macedonia (FSM) was held atthe end of May, when the current manage-ment reported on the federations’ financialresults for 2007 and announced the budgetfor 2008.

Even though 2007 was a turbulent yearfor the FSM, with attempts, in breach of thestatues, to change the country’s footballmanagement and division among delegates,the tension had eased and the situation inthe federation was back to normal. Virtuallyall the delegates were present at the general

meeting, where they welcomed the financialreport.

“It is obvious that the turbulence men-tioned affected our planned activities, butwe have to agree that in this period we havelearned a lot and we have used what hap-pened to further strengthen the federation,with the aim of providing future generationswith protection from political influencethrough our statutes and regulations.

Record number of matches in2007/08

The curtains closed on the 2007/08 season after a record number of matchesbetween the 51 clubs in the four divisionsof the Bank of Valletta National League.

The Malta FA, which is responsible fororganising all the main competitions in the country, had a mammoth task in seeingthrough the programme.

Valletta FC returned to winning wayswhen they landed the BOV premier leaguechampionship, an honour the team repre-

MALTA• ALEX VELLA •

Valetta FC, 2007/08 champions in Malta.

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senting the capital city of Malta has nowwon for the 19th time in their history, thusenriching their pedigree as one of mostsuccessful club sides in the country.

The last time Valletta won this top titlewas in 2001, when they also clinched thecup for the double.

This time around, the knockout com-petition, now sponsored by Maltco andknown as the U*BET FA Trophy, hadBirkirkara breaking out the champagnewhen they beat Hamrun Spartans 2-1 inthe final. This cup success is the fourth in the history of the club.

The Malta FA, under the stewardship of long-standing UEFA Executive Commit-tee member Joseph Mifsud, passed severalmilestones in the season just ended.

Changes in the association’s statutes regarding several clauses in its regulations,the enhancing of technical facilities and

MOLDOVA• VICTOR DAGHI •

Nicolai Cebotari, general secretary of the FA of Moldova, presents the trophy to the Belarus captain.

FMF

“We have got a new strength that will en-able us to look to the future and focus only onactivities for the good of Macedonian footballand its rapid development,” said HaralampieHadzi-Risteski, the president of the FSM inhis introductory speech at the meeting.

The summer months are reserved foryouth football camps. The first took place at the sport centre in Dojran, on the banksof the beautiful Dojran lake, and the nextare planned by the Lake Ohrid. These sum-mer grassroots camps are taking place underthe patronage of the FSM and involve morethan 1,200 children from 96 clubs that par-ticipate in the official competition system of the FSM.

For the first time, 100 girls aged 13 to 14are also taking part in these camps. The boysand girls are led by 120 football coaches.The camps are universal, with children fromall ethnic communities in FYR Macedoniagetting involved. ■

infrastructure at the national complex,measures to address the needs of the youthand coaching sectors and the launching ofan ambitious UEFA-assisted project to pro-vide many clubs all over Malta and Gozowith upgraded playing facilities will go downas major cornerstones when the 2007/08season is reviewed. ■

FA of Moldova CupThe ninth edition of the FA of Moldova

Cup was held from 17 to 21 June, with sixnational Under-17 teams participating.This year, the national team from Belarus(coach: Pavel Rodneno) beat their counter-parts from Latvia (coach: Janis Dreimanis)2-1 in the final.

Romania and Azerbaijan contestedthird place and a 1-1 scoreline forced theteams into penalty kicks, which Azerbaijaneventually won 3-2. The host teams,Moldova I and Moldova II, were left tobattle it out for fifth place, which was taken 3-2 by Moldova I.

While in Moldova, the tournament participants took the opportunity to gosightseeing around Chisinau and everyevening they followed the EURO 2008

matches. In all likelihood, the FA ofMoldova Cup participants will themselvesplay in future European Championship final rounds.

During the awards ceremony, NicolaiCebotari, general secretary of the FA of

Moldova, and Oleg Molceanov, tourna-ment director, presented the participantswith their well-earned medals and tro-phies. The FA of Moldova also announcedthe awards for the best players of thetournament, which went to AndreyPopovich (goalkeeper, Azerbaijan), ArtiomHaciaturov (defender, Moldova I), AliakseiLehchylin (midfielder, Belarus) and DenissRakeles (forward, Latvia). The goal-getterof the tournament was Robert Vaduva(Romania) and the overall best player ofthe tournament was Artiom Buloichuk(Belarus). All the winners were presentedwith gifts.

All the costs associated with the organ-isation and running of this tournamentwere covered by the FA of Moldova. Themain aim of the competition is to providea training platform for junior teams with a view to the European Under-17 Champi-onship qualifiers. It is the third time thatthis tournament has been won by Belarus,while Ukraine, Moldova and Romaniaeach have two victories to their names.Next year will see the tenth anniversaryedition of this tournament. ■


21

Young footballers put their bestfeet forward

Over 800 children and young people of all ages and abilities descended on the Billy Neill Centre in Dundonald for the ‘Best’Way Forward Day. Northern Ireland man-ager, Nigel Worthington, and ManchesterUnited and Northern Ireland Under-21 international, Craig Cathcart, joined the organisers to help kick off the event.

Spearheaded by the George Best Foun-dation, in partnership with Ulster Bank and in association with the Irish FootballAssociation (IFA), the ‘Best’ Way ForwardDay encouraged mass participation, withthe aim of providing football opportunitiesto children and young people. The eventwas also used to encourage wider partici-pation in sport by girls and people with disabilities, as well as improving communityrelations by encouraging cross-communityinvolvement.

NORTHERN IRELAND• SUEANN HARRISON •

An event to enable young people to sample the delights of football.

IFA

The project was also designed to helpeducate and improve the health of allchildren and young people and to help reduce health inequalities by promotinghealthier living and regular exercise.

Children and young people from north,south, east and west Belfast, Portadown,Lurgan and Newry took part in the eventand on the day all the participants werekitted out with specially designed shirts –half wore a green number 11 shirt and theother half wore a red number 7 shirt – torepresent Northern Ireland and ManchesterUnited – the two teams George Best wasproud to represent.

An ‘information marquee’ played a significant role in promoting social valueswhich should act as a deterrent to thosewho may be lured into alcohol, tobacco oreven drug abuse. The IFA’s Child Welfareand Community Relations departmentswere there offering support which can beinstrumental in the fight against bullying,child abuse, discrimination, racism andsectarianism. Others involved in the dayincluded the Life Education trailer, FASA(Forum for Action on Substance Abuse)and similar youth bodies. ■

A close race for the titleBohemians have set their stall out as

favourites to land the eircom League of IrelandPremier Division, with Pat Fenlon’s side sitting at the top of the table at the halfway point inthe season.

The race for the premier division title looksto be between two Dublin sides, with St.Patrick’s Athletic the closest challengers to Bo-hemians. However, Cork City and Derry City arein fine form and will both still feel that theyhave a chance of landing the title. Currentchampions Drogheda United are in fifth spot.

Bohemians have been in excellent shape so far, progressing to the second round of theUEFA Intertoto Cup with a 9-3 aggregate victory over Welsh side Rhyl FC.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND• EOGHAN RICE •

Bohemians were top of the table at the halfway point

in the national championship.

FAI

The Dublin club also recently announced a link with Dublin City University, one of Ireland’s largest universities, which will seeyoung players awarded sports scholarships.The university has also agreed to sponsor theBohemians’ youth programme.

The first division looks very close this sea-son, with four clubs with real chances of tak-ing the silverware. Shelbourne are currentlytop of the table, with Waterford United, Dundalk and Sporting Fingal all close behind.

With the premier division reduced from 12 to ten teams for the 2009 season, just oneteam can win promotion to the top flight atthe end of this season, while three clubs willdrop in the opposite direction. ■

International youth tournamentFrom 25 April to 2 May, Slovakia played host

to one of the continent’s most important inter-national youth tournaments. Eight Under-18teams competed for the trophy in the 19th edi-tion of the Slovakia Cup: Croatia, Poland andFrance joined hosts Slovakia in Group A, whileUkraine, Turkey, Hungary and the Czech Repub-lic formed Group B. The young players whostepped onto the pitches of western and centralSlovakia definitely showed great promise, withadmirable skills and attractive football.

In the opening matches of Group A, Slova-kia beat France 3-2 and Croatia overpoweredPoland 2-0. The next day, the Poles defeatedSlovakia 1-0 while the France v Croatia tie ended0-0. Finally, a 1-0 for Slovakia against Croatiaand the same for France against Poland sent the

SLOVAKIA• IVAN CEREDEJEV •

young Slovaks into the final, while runners-upCroatia (equal on points with France but witha better goal difference) awaited their GroupB counterparts for the third-place match.

In Group B, the Czech Republic andTurkey drew 2-2, while Ukraine sent Hun-gary away with a 3-0 defeat. The next day,the Czechs beat Hungary 2-0 and the Turksdrew 1-1 with Ukraine. Two days later, theTurks beat Hungary 3-1 and the Czechs drew0-0 with Ukraine. Three teams finished onfive points, but the teams’ goal differencesent Ukraine to meet Slovakia in the final inPeievidza and Turkey to Novaky to playCroatia for third place.

On the final day of the tournament, the young Croatians beat the Turks for thirdplace and Ukraine confirmed their quality bybeating Slovakia 3-1 for the trophy. Needlessto say only one team can win, but the com-petitive atmosphere, good conditions and,last but not least, good organisation of thetournament were an excellent invitation toall involved to try for the Slovakia Cup againnext year. ■

Launching HatTrick IIIn cooperation with UEFA, the Ministry of

Education and Sport, the foundation for fi-nancing sports organisations in Slovenia, andlocal communities, the Football Association ofSlovenia (FAS) has completed its first HatTrickproject and is now embarking on HatTrick II.The HatTrick I project was a big success inSlovenia as it raised both conditions for clubsand awareness among people in prominent

SLOVENIA• MATJAZ KRAJNIK •

New pitches for young footballers courtesy of the HatTrick programme.

NZS

positions in local communities, who realisedthe impact football had on youth develop-ment. During the first project, the FAS and its partners built 40 mini and ten full-sized artificial grass pitches, which are now all managed by local communities for use byyoung people, clubs and other interestedgroups. The entire investment is valued ataround EUR 8 million.

The second part of this project will takeplace between 2008 and 2012 and is con-sidered as the next step in providing young players with the best possible conditions fortraining and development. The main aim ofbuilding 30 small artificial grass pitches (tenper year) is to get an influx of new, young talent into the football family and possibly establish a generation which could takeSlovenian football back into the big interna-tional tournaments. Even if that is not thecase, if the new pitches help get youngstersinto football and off the streets, the invest-ment will have been well worth it. ■



22 uefadirect 8.08

A summer of several milestonesLars-Åke Lagrell, president of the

Swedish FA, has expressed his gratitude forand admiration of the faithful supportshown by the Swedish fans at EURO 2008.Tens of thousands of fans travelled toSalzburg and Innsbruck and helped to create a great, friendly atmosphere before,during and after the games there.

The Swedish national team has reachedseveral milestones this summer:

■ Our 900th intern

uefadirect-76-fichier•e...the trophy presentation. the germans simply could not find a way past a...

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