The FIFA Weekly Issue #43

ISSUE 43, 15 AUGUST 2014

ENGLISH EDITION

Fédération Internationale de Football Association – Since 1904

USA MLS ON THE UP SEPP BLATTER THE CASE FOR VIDEO REPLAYS CAMEROON TV BREAKTHROUGH AT ITALIA 90

New Horizons India

W W W.FIFA.COM/ THEWEEKLY

THIS WEEK IN THE WORLD OF FOOTBALL

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English Premier League kicks off The new Premier League season begins this weekend and promises to be one of the best yet, with at least five clubs in the hunt for the top spot.

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Iceland flourishing The Nordic nation only narrowly missed out on the 2014 World Cup finals after defeat to Croatia in the play-offs. This respectable performance was no coincidence, as football is also flourishing in the country’s top flight, the Urvalsdeild.

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North and Central America 35 members www.concacaf.com

New horizons for India Hopes are high that a new influx of talented veterans from around the globe will enhance interest in the sport across India. Modelled on cricket’s Indian Super League, the Indian Premier League kicks off in October, offering a fresh start that could also benefit the country’s national team.

S epp Blatter The FIFA President supports the introduction of video evidence in football. The recent example of goal-line technology has shown how the sport can be enhanced by new innovations.

South America 10 members www.conmebol.com

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Kevin Pezzoni Once captain of Germany’s U-18 side, Pezzoni’s professional career took an unexpected turn after an attack by a fan.

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Major League Soccer The MLS is hoping to build on the momentum generated by Team USA’s impressive showing at the World Cup – with a little help from David Beckham in Miami.

New Horizons Football is currently enjoying a surge in popularity in India. Our vintage cover shows Indian footballers training in Uxbridge, Middlesex, during the 1948 Olympic Games in London.

Getty Images

FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup 5 – 24 August 2014, Canada

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Youth Olympic Football Tournaments 14 – 27 August 2014, Nanjing

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The FIFA Weekly Magazine App The FIFA Weekly, FIFA’s magazine, is available in four languages as an e-Magazine and on your tablet every Friday.

THIS WEEK IN THE WORLD OF FOOTBALL

Europe 54 members www.uefa.com

Africa 54 members www.cafonline.com

Asia 46 members www.the-afc.com

Oceania 11 members www.oceaniafootball.com

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Mixu Paatelainen Finland’s national coach discusses lessons from the World Cup and his team’s chances of qualifying for EURO 2016.

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imago (1), freshfocus (1)

Football TV in Cameroon Roger Milla’s four goals at Italia 90 heralded the start of World Cup football broadcasting in Cameroon from the capital Yaounde.

FIFA Club World Cup 10 – 20 December 2014, Morocco

FIFA U-20 World Cup 30 May – 20 June 2015, New Zealand

FIFA Women’s World Cup 6 June – 5 July 2015, Canada

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Š 2014 adidas AG. adidas, the 3-Bars logo and the 3-Stripes mark are registered trademarks of the adidas Group.

instinct takes over

#predatorinstinct

adidas.com/predator

UNCOVERED

Full house The August meeting between Real Madrid and Manchester United in Ann Arbor, Michigan, drew a massive crowd.

American Football

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merican Football is the name of a sporting discipline in which the ball is in fact played mainly with the hand and is immensely popular in North A ­ merica.

That said, association football is increasingly and seemingly inexorably ­forcing its way towards the front of the world’s biggest sporting stage. Is it now only a matter of time before the phrase ‘American Football’ starts to mean the domestic version of the world’s favourite game? That is more than unlikely, but especially in the wake of the World Cup, football seems poised to take a great leap forward in the USA, as Randy O. Williams reports from Los Angeles.

M Paul Sancya / Keystone / A P

oves are afoot to transform the game in India too, where a league peppered with big-name veteran stars is set to boost the sport’s awareness and appeal. India is in fact the fastest-growing market for football on the planet, and will host the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2017. Santosh K.A reports from the vast subcontinent.

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n his weekly column, FIFA President Sepp Blatter recalls the entirely positive experience with goal-line technology at the World Cup in Brazil and again speaks out strongly in favour of the strictly regulated introduction of video. Å Perikles Monioudis

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India A street scene in Kolkata.

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Atul Loke / Panos

INDIA

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AT THE CROSS ROADS

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India was once Asia’s top footballing nation, but the vast country of more than 1.2 billion now trails the likes of Afghanistan and Vietnam.

Hopes of a change in fortune rest on a new league.

Santosh K.A., Kannur (Kerala), India

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Many reasons for decline The reasons for this precipitous decline are the subject of long and heated debate. This vast country with its population of more than 1.2 billion was Asia’s leading footballing nation at one time but now lie a lowly 150th in the World Ranking, trailing the likes of Afghanistan and Vietnam in joint 129th place.

FIFA IN INDIA In 2012 a Memorandum of understanding was signed between FIFA and AIFF. This MoU formalizes the objectives and priorities of AIFF for its development, and outlines FIFA’s and AIFF’s roles in achieving these objectives.

FIFA supported the creation of AIFF’s strategic plan and the reviews of their organisational structures and financial management, and provided support in the consequent restructuring. Since 2012, eleven FIFA courses have been organised – for refereeing, grassroots football, youth football, and coaching. FIFA is also involved in the definition of their U17 legacy programme. In total since 1999 FIFA has invested more than USD 14 million in India through FAP, Goal, and Win in India programmes.

So what are the reasons? They are many and varied, starting with a lack of support from the government despite the game being run by politicians. There has been no meaningful progress in establishing a youth development programme and ball skills are not taught at school level.

There was once a wide range of local and regional tournaments but they have vanished into oblivion one by one. Pitches and playgrounds have been allowed to fall into disrepair. And if a player sustains a serious injury, it means not only the end of his career as a footballer but can also adversely affect his chances of employment later in life. The only solution is to play as a fully-fledged professional, but the chances of that in India are not especially high.

Milestone in 1996 FIFA first launched an initiative to help the Indian game in 1992 when two members of the FIFA Technical Committee conducted a tour of inspection to diagnose and analyse the fundamental issues. A milestone moment occurred in December 1996 when the Indian FA (AIFF) launched the National Football League, the country’s first-ever national league competition.

The next major move made by FIFA for Indian football was the opening of its Development Office in New Delhi in 2012.

Within the scope of the FIFA Goal Football Academy Project, five regional academies have been established, one each in Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore and two in Goa. And as part of the ’Win in India’ project approved in 2008, artificial turf pitches have been installed in Mumbai, Shillong, Imphal, Bangalore, Goa and

Nimish Jain, Rajesh Kumar Singh / Keystone / AP,

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he late Sir Stanley Rous, secretary of the English FA at the time, thought he had glimpsed a new future after watching the Indians play at the 1960 Olympics at Rome: “The time is not far away when the Asian powers like India will beat the Latin American and European super powers,” the former FIFA President declared.

India narrowly lost 2-1 to Hungary and held France to a 1-1 draw, before falling 3-1 to Peru on 1 September 1960.

Fifty-four years have passed since striker Simon Sunder Raj struck India’s goal in that match with a long range shot, and in all that time the Indians have never qualified for the Olympic Football Tournament again. The team led by P.K. Banerji and coached by S.A. Rahim is still considered to be the best of all time.

Turning the clock back even further into the past, it is clear that Indian football struggled to gain a toehold in the international game from the start. India had the opportunity to participate in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil but withdrew as they were used to playing in bare feet only: the world governing body stipulated the mandatory wearing of boots. It was 1985 before India made an attempt to qualify for the World Cup, but they fell at the first hurdle on the road to the 1986 edition in Mexico.

The history of the Indian game does include one notable success at a continental level, as they finished Asia Cup runners-up in 1964 after a 2-0 defeat to Israel in the final.

INDIA

Bengaluru FC The team from India’s third-largest city have every reason to celebrate.

Allahabad University Young Indian students enjoy an afternoon kickabout.

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Those were the days Kids playing football in the Himalayas in 1921.

Daily workout Stretching exercise in Kolkata’s Maidan Park.

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INDIA

There was once a wide range of domestic tournaments but they have vanished into oblivion.

Corbis (2), Atul Loke / Panos

Kolkata. Cooperage Football Ground in Mumbai is being renovated with the installation of floodlighting, a viewing gallery, changing rooms, a media stand, offices, conference rooms, spectator facilities and so on.

Vital phase for the league Another new development in Indian football is the advent of the Indian Super League, modelled on cricket’s wildly successful Indian Premier League. Cricket celebrities Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly were among the high-profile winning bidders when the organisers unveiled the eight franchises for the event. AIFF President Praful Patel called it “the most exciting period in the history of Indian football.”

Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Frederik Ljunberg, Dwight Yorke and Louis Saha are among the foreign players slated for the event due to start in September this year. And the latest surprise is the official naming of the Saurav Ganguly-owned franchise as Atletico de Kolkata, after the team’s Spanish co-owners Atletico de Madrid. Atletico de Kolkata’s players will be sent abroad for training before the first season begins, so there are promising signs of a resurgence in Indian football.

However, former secretary of the All-India Football Federation and FIFA appeals committee member P.P. Lakshmanan has issued a timely and prescient reminder: “In the Super League we can see world class footballers, and fans may flock to the stadiums. But to revive Indian football one has to start from the school level.” Å

INDIAN SUPER LEAGUE GEARING UP

Euphoric East Bengal’s players celebrate victory in the semi-final of the 2013 IFA Shield.

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he new season of the actual Indian league, the I-League, will begin after the Indian Super League gets underway. The ISL is an extremely short, two-month competition that will run concurrently with the traditional Indian league, making it closer in style to a tournament and sparking much discussion across India. Despite this, the ISL has managed to attract several noteworthy new arrivals.

The latest arrivals are former European Champions Feyenoord Rotterdam, following in the footsteps of Spanish giants Atletico Madrid, who on 7 May this year became the shareholders of the Kolkata franchise Atletico de Kolkata. The Dutch club have made an alliance with the Delhi based franchise Delhi Dynamos, under the terms of which they will help the overall development of its partner by providing players and technical staff in the inaugural season slated from October to December. The alliance and name of the outfit was announced on July 17, at the Nehru Stadium, New Delhi, the home stadium of the Dynamos.

Gido Valder, Head of International Relations at Feyenoord hoped that the assistance they are providing will help to improve the standard of the game in India. Later Harm van Veldhoven was appointed as their Chief Coach. Earlier, former

Bolivia, Atletico Madrid and Valencia coach Antonio Lopez Habas became the first Chief Coach to be signed in the history of the Indian Super League when he was appointed by Atletico de Kolkata on 7 July 2014.

The ISL regular season will run between October and November with the final series being played in November and December. Each team will play on home and away basis twice in the regular season. The top four teams will qualify for the final series. The semi-finals will be played in a two legged format and the winner decided by one final. Each team must sign one marquee player while they must also sign seven other foreign players. Of these seven foreigners, only two can be signed directly by the club with the other five coming from the foreign player draft. Each team must have 14 domestic players, four of whom are local players from the club’s city. UEFA Champions League winner Luis Garcia was the first marquee signing in the ISL by Atletico de Kolkota on 8 July, 2014, followed by Spanish World Cup winner Joan Capdevila who signed for Guwahati’s North East United and another World Cup winner David Trezeguet for FC Pune City. More signings are to be expected in the days ahead.

Amlan Chakraborty.

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© 2014 Visa. All rights reserved. Shrek © 2014 DreamWorks Animation L.L.C. All Rights Reserved.

The FIFA World Cup™ is where all of us want to be.

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Will fading stars shine on?

Giving the ISL extra sparkle France’s world and European champion Robert Pires is on his way to India.

Paul Gilham / Getty Images

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obert Pires and Joan Capdevila will add a modicum of star quality to India’s new franchise-based soccer league but critics believe the presence of such European veterans is unlikely to help develop the sport in the country. Pires became the latest big overseas name to sign up for the tournament on Monday when the former France international joined ex-Arsenal team mate Freddie Ljungberg in the eight-team Indian Super League (ISL) scheduled from October 12 to December 20, 2014.

While the 40-year-old Pires has yet to be confirmed on the roster of a specific team, Spanish World Cup-winner Capdevila agreed to join North East United on July 16. Capdevila’s compatriot Luis Garcia will represent the Kolkata franchise, co-owned by Atletico Madrid, while the former Liverpool and England goalkeeper David James has also committed to playing in the league.

“I am very happy to be part of the new league when passion for football in India is on the rise,” ISL’s official Tweeter feed (@IndSuperLeague) quoted Pires as saying. “It will be great to play in

front of enthusiastic Indian fans as well as share my knowledge with my team mates,” the former Arsenal midfielder added.

Not everyone is convinced that the marquee players, all well past their prime, can impress either the fans or local players. “It’s a good marketing strategy but in the end, it all boils down to the standard of football,” former India player Satyajit Chatterjee commented. “Young fans want good football and they’ve grown up watching the English Premier League, La Liga and the Bundesliga.

They won’t settle for anything less. I don’t think over-the-hill players can dish out that kind of football,” said Chatterjee, considered one of India’s best attacking midfielders. “The first season will have a novelty factor but how do you sustain the interests of fans who have sampled top class soccer? They are likely to feel disappointed. I still believe the organisers should have roped in current players from Europe or Latin America, even if it’s not a (Lionel) Messi. It’s a new effort and I welcome it. But I’m not sure having retired footballers as your marquee player is a great idea,” said

Chatterjee, who played 15 consecutive years at Mohun Bagan until 2000 and briefly coached the club as well.

Soccer writer Jaydeep Basu felt ISL, modelled on the Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament, was a natural destination for the ageing players. “They are done with top class soccer and the space is shrinking for them. Good money and the comparatively brief duration of the tournament make ISL a natural choice for them,” Basu said. “We should have reasonable expectations from them. Football is not a place for a one-man revolution. They can’t lift the standard of the game here, which depends on so many other factors.”

Cricket is firmly established as India’s number one sport while the country of 1.2 billion languishes 150th in the latest FIFA world rankings.

“Even the ISL seems beset with teething problems. They already have had three postponements and beyond their marketing drive, they are yet to establish a concrete structure with technical personnel,” Basu lamented.

Amlan Chakraborty, New Delhi

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TALK ING POIN T S

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Copa Libertadores

Fans in high places Sven Goldmann is a football

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Club Nacional 1-0 in the second leg of the final. This scoreline was enough to secure an aggregate victory after a 1-1 draw in the first leg in the Paraguayan capital one week earlier.

expert at Tagesspiegel newspaper

The end of the Argentinian winter brought with it a happy ending, particularly for the country’s most prominent football fan. Jorge Mario Bergoglio was away on official business in South Korea when his beloved team sealed their status as South America’s best club side at home in Buenos Aires. In Argentina and across the globe, Jorge Mario Bergoglio is better known as Pope Francis, whose heart has belonged to Club Atletico San Lorenzo de Almagro since childhood.

Almost 50,000 fans celebrated amid a sea of blue and red at Buenos Aires’ Estadio Pedro Bidegain. In a twist of fate, the scorer of the winning goal was Argentina-born Paraguay international Nestor Ortigoza, who converted a spot-kick just after the half-hour mark.

Although Diego Maradona once hoped to include the midfielder in the Albiceleste squad, Ortigoza ultimately chose to represent the country of his father’s birth and represented Paraguay at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa – but on the night of the Copa Libertadores final he was once again well and truly Argentinian.

On Wednesday, San Lorenzo lifted the Copa Libertadores trophy for the first time in their 106-year history after defeating Asunción’s

Far away in Seoul, Pope Francis was also celebrating. Club Member Number 88,235 pays his membership dues each season

in Berlin.

without fail and can perfectly recall every match of the team’s championship-winning 1946 season. In 2008, he held a large mass to celebrate the club’s centenary as the then-Archbishop of Buenos Aires. His papacy was barely a year old when San Lorenzo clinched their first title under the watchful eye of His Holiness in the Primera Division’s Torneo Inicial in December 2013.

At this summer’s World Cup in Brazil, Argentinian fans from all clubs were pinning their hopes on divine intervention, carrying banners on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach that read: “We’ve got Messi and the Pope”.

Pope Francis played along too, symbolically declaring war on his Swiss Guards for 90 minutes ahead of his country’s Round of 16 match against Switzerland. The Holy Father ultimately remained neutral for the Final, particularly as it featured Germany, the team of his predecessor Benedict XVI. The rest is history. Å

The coveted cup San Lorenzo’s players show off the Copa Libertadores trophy.

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imago

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English Premier League

Hold on to your seats Andrew Warshaw writes for Inside World Football.

It is the most eagerly anticipated domestic league in world football, watched by millions of fans throughout all six continents.

And this season, which kicks off this coming weekend, promises to be one of the most mouth-watering on record. One look at the leading contenders and you can understand why there is no clear favourite to lift the English Premier League title and why no fewer than five clubs are likely to battle for supremacy – not only to be crowned titleholders but also in the race for the four available Champions League spots. Five into four, of course, doesn’t go which makes the next nine months all the more intriguing.

Darren Walsh / Keystone / AP Chelsea FC

Manchester City were once jokingly referred to by United fans as the “noisy neighbours”, a club whose glory days were long gone but who maintained a loyal and passionate fan base. That, of course, all changed with the arrival of Middle Eastern backers who poured money and resources into City and turned them into one of the richest clubs in Europe.

With the sudden affluence came long overdue success. Under Manuel Pellegrini City won the league title last May – their second in three years. But can they do it again? Compared to previous years, City have been relatively frugal in the transfer market. Many pundits believe their number one ambition will be to have a genuine crack at the Champions League but they are still a mighty force domestically and any team that finishes above them will probably be crowned champions.

But who will that team be? The reason this is so hard to answer is that all the usual suspects have strengthened. No team’s fans were as heartbroken last season as those of Liverpool who came so close to winning the title for the first time, remarkably, since 1990.

Having come so close, the chance may have gone but having sold 31-goal Luis Suarez to Barcelona, Liverpool have been rebuilding like there is no tomorrow, sealing deals for Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert, German Under-21 midfielder Emre Can, Serbian winger Lazar Markovic and Croatia defender Dejan Lovren.

If I were a betting man, which I only occasionally am, I might put a couple of Euros on Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea who have reinforced their squad in key positions, raiding the Spanish market for defender Felipe Luis, former Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas and, in attack,

Diego Costa from La Liga champions Atletico Madrid. Having returned for a second spell in charge at Stamford Bridge, Mourinho had to be content with finishing third last season but is desperate to disprove the theorists who say you should never go back.

In years gone by, the criticism levelled at Arsenal, with one of the biggest stadiums in the country, is that they sold their best players but didn’t replace them with sufficient quality. Now, at last, the money generated from ticket sales is being spent, the most exciting purchase being that of Chilean striker Alexis Sanchez. In midfield, as ever, Arsenal look ominously potent but it’s at the back where they may get found out over a long and gruelling campaign.

Which brings us, conveniently, to Manchester United. As night follows day you can guarantee, with the experienced and much-travelled Louis van Gaal now on board, United will improve on last season’s disastrous seventh place by their own high standards. Van Gaal, whose tactical nous took Holland to the World Cup semifinals, seems certain to restore a winning mentality to Old Trafford. Finishing outside the top four again is surely unthinkable for a club as prestigious and successful as United but someone has to. As I say, five into four don’t go. Hold on to your seats .... Å

Title ambitions Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho.

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Football no joke in Iceland Lucerne-based writer Nicola Berger on Icelandic football.

Iceland made it as far as a World Cup qualifying play-off against Croatia last autumn and only narrowly missed out on a maiden appearance at the finals. That was a remarkable achievement and no accident either, because football on the island is currently enjoying a boom centred around the domestic Urvalsdeild (Premier Division). Mention Iceland and most people immediately think of geysers and stark natural beauty, but if the country’s club football now also appears on the fringes of that list it is mainly because of UMF Stjarnan. The top-flight outfit from Gardabaer, a suburb of capital city Reykjavik, racked up a million clicks on Youtube in 2010 with their outlandish goal celebrations. The unorthodox methods adopted by the players included posing as bobsled riders or on another occasion as fishermen. Yet what they were really celebrating was their sense of identity as a group.

Stjarnan are no longer entirely unknown to the footballing world then, but the club’s

Can you hear me?

Johann Laxdal and his Stjarnan team have a reputation for larking about 16

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playful facade tends to mask the truth of many long years of hard work behind the scenes. In footballing terms Iceland offers way more than teams larking about on the internet. The state has invested in youth development and constructed indoor sports facilities, because outdoor training in the far north is unthinkable in the winter months when temperatures plummet as low as -30°C. The resurgent national team coached by Lars Lagerback is only one of the beneficiaries of the investment programme. Standards in the Urvalsdeild have undoubtedly improved, although that is within the context of the demographic limits set by a nation of only 320,000 and a league with an average attendance of 1,057 in the 2013 season. The semi-professional top flight is an impressive 97 years old, with a 22-match summer season lasting from May to October and comprising 12 teams, six of them from Reykjavik. Champions KR Reykjavik are the nation’s most successful club with 26 league titles. The star of the 2013 campaign was KR’s 23-year-old centre forward and former Middlesbrough youth product Gary Martin who finished top scorer on 13 goals. It was an Englishman who fired KR to the title then, and that would surely have met with the approval of the club’s founding fathers, as the inspiration for the side’s black and white striped home kit worn since the early years of the 20th century

came from the club they revered more than any other, Newcastle United.

In the current campaign KR fell to Standard Liege in the early rounds of Champions League qualifying, a result symptomatic of a much tougher season so far for Martin and company. However, the title race is far from over after undefeated leaders Hafnarfjordur dropped points last Sunday in a 1-1 draw with second-from-bottom Vestmannaeyjar, the club where former England keeper David James plied his trade in 2013. KR took advantage by defeating Keflavik 2-0 and moving to within six points of the top two with eight matches to play.

The top two sides include the YouTube stars from Stjarnan, who are themselves strong title candidates this year and are level at the top with Hafnarfjordur on 32 points.

Should they claim the crown it would be a long-awaited first title for the club, as the 96 previous championships have been shared among a total of ten other teams. The race for the title could go all the way to the wire and the final match on 4 October, when Stjarnan visit Hafnarfjordur for a potential winnertakes-all showdown. That might yet cause even more of the footballing world to sit up and take notice of Icelandic football, probably via Youtube. Å

foto Visir

Iceland Pepsideild

FREE KICK

F I F A ’ S 11

Players with the most senior international appearances

Ouagadougou not Oslo Thomas Renggli

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he world’s most famous agent is Bond – James Bond. He has a licence to kill. But the football business is nowhere near as brutal.

Although the agents also have a massive part to play, their fingers linger over the keys of a mobile phone rather than near the trigger of a pistol.

Football agents, also known as player advisors, consultants or lawyers, need neither to have graduated from school nor a track record to get down to business. Simply having a player as a relative can open the door to the transfer market for them. But a good knowledge of geography is certainly an advantage! The ­ ­d ifference between Oslo and Ouagadougou can be absolutely crucial. While on the continental European market, slightly damaged goods (with a torn ligament or a damaged meniscus) are still on offer at overly expensive prices, in Africa, there are often bargains to be found who are both willing and able, and in perfect shape. The promise of a salary big enough to support their families is often enough to make Africans jump aboard the next plane. It just goes to show that football agents are benefactors for developing countries.

The preferred offices for these men lurking in the background are the stands. They sit there at a safe distance, as far away as possible from the club presidents, with whom they are rarely on friendly terms. Disguised in dark glasses, they watch the main attractions down on the field like hawks. As soon as a player completes a five, or even a ten centimetre pass, strikes a shot which drops just wide, or loses the ball after dribbling past a player, the agent springs into action. He makes a note of the number on the back of the player’s shirt, approaches him at the end of the game and offers

his hugely profitable services. “I’ll double your market value!” But the same player has probably already been approached with promises of having his value tripled by one or more of the 20 other agents who are at the same match.

Agents are just as important as the ball or the referee in modern football. Without them, it would all grind to a standstill. Players who often have to labour with the ball for up to 20 hours a week are under no circumstances ­a llowed to do any additional work for the other 148 hours.

The poor players also have to find time to play computer games, use Skype, make phone calls, flirt, have lie-ins and visit their favourite tattoo studios. That’s why they prefer to have an agent creaming off their incomes. The agents can also show them the best nightclubs within a 50km radius, buy them the biggest offroad vehicles with multi-coloured wheels and have access to the latest games consoles. The really clever footballers employ various agents, who, without each other’s knowledge, tout their player around multiple football clubs and feed the media different rumours in order to keep business running and to push up their value. Of course, this means that more than one mobile phone is also required! The rule at this footballing bazaar is ’no news is bad news’.

And anyone pushing down prices is persona non grata! Å

The weekly column by our staff writers

1.

184 appearances Ahmed Hassan, Egypt Years in the national team: 1995–2012

2.

178 appearances Mohamed Al-Deayea, Saudi Arabia Years in the national team: 1993–2006

3.

177 appearances Claudio Suarez, Mexico Years in the national team: 1992–2006

4.

169 appearances Hossam Hassan, Egypt Years in the national team: 1985–2006

5.

166 appearances Ivan Hurtado, Ecuador Years in the national team: 1992–2010

6.

165 appearances Vitalijs Astafjevs, Latvia Years in the national team: 1992–2010

7.

164 appearances Cobi Jones, USA Years in the national team: 1992–2004

8.

163 appearances Mohammed Al-Khilaiwi, Saudi Arabia Years in the national team: 1992–2001

9.

161 appearances Adnan Al Talyani, United Arab Emirates Years in the national team: 1984–1997

1 0.

156 appearances Martin Reim, Estonia Years in the national team: 1992–2009

156 appearances Sami Al-Jaber, Saudi Arabia Years in the national team: 1992–2006

Source: FIFA (FIFA Ranking & Statistics, Statistical Kit, 16 July 2014) T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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Name Mixu Paatelainen Date and place of birth 3 February 1967, Helsinki Position played Striker Clubs played for (selected) Dundee, Aberdeen, Bolton Wanderers, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Hibernian, RC Strasbourg, St. Johnstone, St. Mirren, Cowdenbeath Finland national team 70 caps, 18 goals Clubs coached

Kari Santala, Keystone, Lehtikuva

Cowdenbeath, Turku PS, Hibernian, Kilmarnock, Finland

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THE INTERVIEW

“The Nordic countries will be back!”

Mixu Paatelainen struck fear into the hearts of defenders during his career as a striker.

As Finland coach, he is now guiding his team into the upper echelons of international football, determined to help them qualify for their first World Cup finals.

The World Cup in Brazil was an exceptional tournament. How did you rate the football on offer?

Mixu Paatelainen: It was very attacking,

positive football. Previously most teams played with two men in a central defensive midfield role and concentrated on keeping possession of the ball, but those days are over. Keeping the ball for the sake of it achieves nothing. Teams have learned to switch the ball quickly. The key to success in modern football lies in transition play.

2.7 goals per game is a tremendous rate for the World Cup finals.

But what delights the crowds surely gives coaches pause for thought. After all, for the strategists standing on the touchline, control and organisation are more important than anything else…

Every coach thinks about both attack and defence. Nobody wants to rush forward blindly – that makes no sense. We saw what can happen in that scenario during the World Cup semi-final between Brazil and Germany.

The key is to find a balance between attacking and defending. In addition, today’s top stars are prepared to put in a shift at the back – even Messi, Neymar and James are totally committed to the needs of the team.

Generally it must be said that the field of competitors is increasingly levelling out, and many matches are decided by small details.

Nowadays, most teams play at a similar level in tactical and organisation terms, and it is the exceptional individuals who often make the difference.

As national team coach for a small football association, what can you take away from the World Cup? An awful lot. We can pick up the latest trends and see where football is headed.

As I’ve already mentioned, simply having possession of the ball is no longer enough; you need to pressure your opponents immediately and ensure they don’t have an opportunity to reset their defence. Finland is certainly a comparatively small footballing nation, but we play an attacking, optimistic brand of football; we seek to take the initiative and pile pressure on our opponents.

In that respect, we’re on trend.

And the World Cup shows that there are no longer any small footballing nations…

Exactly. Outsiders no longer concede four or five goals a game. There were only three extreme results in Brazil, and the victims of two of those were defending champions Spain and hosts Brazil. The small teams learned a lot – Costa Rica are the best example. They’re an extremely well organised team playing from a solid defensive foundation, but they have the ability to switch play quickly and throw their opponents out of balance with their technique and pace.

Are South and Central American teams also benefiting from European influence?

Definitely – the football world has shrunk significantly. The best players from all over the world ply their trade in Europe’s top leagues. Every day they play with the same rhythm and at the same level of intensity.

Why do you think the World Cup produced such attacking football? Some have suggested that it was down to the atmosphere, the weather and the Brazilian attitude to life… (laughs) That’s a romantic way of looking at it, but I see things from a more rational perspective. In Brazil we saw fewer teams pressing high up the pitch. Teams like Germany and Holland stayed back behind the halfway line and put their opponents under pressure from there. If they won possession in that position, they had a huge amount of space, which gave them the opportunity to get behind the opposing team’s defence with relative ease. That makes for more open play.

The prime example of this was the semi-final between Brazil and Germany. After the match, everyone was talking about a Brazilian collapse, but my lasting impression was of an exceptional tactical performance by the Germans. Coach Joachim Low did a fantastic job, and the players implemented his tactics perfectly. What really surprised me was the high tempo in almost every game. Few would have expected that in that kind of climate.

Could you say a little more about the Brazilians?

I don’t want to talk about negative things.

Sometimes I had the feeling that the Brazilians put too much emotion into their

performances just by watching the way they sang their national anthem. It seemed to me that they were pushed to their emotional limits before their matches even began. There was too much passion and feeling packed into it.

Spain failed to progress past the group stages.

Did this World Cup mark the end of their tiki taka playing style?

I wouldn’t go that far. As I’ve already said a couple of times, possession is no longer everything; after all, Brazil had more of the ball during their semi-final against Germany.

What matters is what you do with the ball.

The key is to create space. Actually, Germany’s playing style was a kind of advanced form of tiki taka; six of the best passers at the tournament were German. Their traditional discipline and efficiency was crucial too.

Finland’s next objective is to qualify for EURO 2016. Are you particularly pleased that the number of participants at the finals has been increased to 24 teams?

I’m happy about that, of course, but it won’t be easy for us. To qualify directly, you have to finish in the top two of your group.

The third-place finishers have a further chance to qualify via the play-offs, but that’s Russian roulette. We’re up against Greece, Romania, Hungary, Northern Ireland and the Faroe Islands. There are no easy games there, even against the Faroes; they’ve got an extremely well organised team and know how to defend. We’ll approach these qualifiers calmly and won’t get carried away.

We certainly know what we can do and believe we have a chance, but there’s always an element of luck in a process like this.

No Nordic team was able to qualify for this summer’s World Cup in Brazil. Why do you think that was?

That’s just what happens in football.

Denmark have a fantastic team, Norway have quality too, and the Swedish team were just unlucky to be drawn against Portugal in the play-offs. It was a string of unfortunate circumstances and coincidences. I promise you: we’ll be back! Å Mixu Paatelainen was talking to Thomas Renggli T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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WOMEN’S FOOTBALL HAS FLOURISHED IN RECENT DECADES, AND FIFA IS HELPING TO PROPEL THE SPORT FORWARD AROUND THE WORLD

USA winning team at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Japan 2012

A springboard to the seniors The success of women’s football worldwide and the fact that a youth competition helps to further strengthen the top level led to the launch of the U-19 Women’s World Championship in Canada in 2002, which later became the current FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. The USA girls won the first edition by defeating the hosts in a “dream final” watched by a bumper crowd of almost 50,000.

Many of the best players in the world, such as Marta (BRA), Alex Morgan (USA) and Alexandra Popp (GER), have made the leap from this competition to the senior FIFA women’s tournament or the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament.

FIFA U-20 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP (staged every two years)

TM©

T HE DEBAT E

PRESIDENTIAL NOTE

FIFA.com users share their thoughts on video technology: Definitely! One of the officials should be given an elevated view and immediate access to video replays. He could then contact the referee and tip the scales in his favour in terms of the correct decision being made. Too many things are affected by human error and it’s obvious that further tools are needed to prevent football from losing its integrity. As an example, Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ would never have happened!

Football really doesn’t need video technology. Who is supposed to step in when fights break out between the players? usmankhanmes, Canada

We have to put a stop to unfair conduct by using realistic measures. One of the most important aspects of the beautiful game we call football is fair play – and it has to be enforced!

realdeal99, Switzerland

Jko225, Korea Republic

“Football has to keep up with other sports.”

Yes, football has to keep up with other sports. This can only happen through the use of technology, which will help minimise errors by officials.

Bogdan_USA, Great Britain

I would be really disappointed if video technology were to be introduced. The future of fair play doesn’t lie in new rules and technology, but in the minds of players and coaches. caroneiro96, France

In my opinion, video technology shouldn’t be introduced! A game of football shouldn’t be tarnished by technology – the magic would disappear. The fact that referees make decisions based on what they’ve seen makes the sport all the more exciting. Don’t rob football of its humanity!

Referees make too many mistakes that influence the outcome of games. But video technology should only be used for handball incidents, penalties, goals, red cards and offside decisions. I think it would help referees a great deal.

Teito13, Colombia

“Don’t rob football of its humanity.”

TruSake, USA

No need to fear video

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oal-line technology at the World Cup was a complete success. It will be introduced in all the top leagues sooner or later. The vanishing spray for referees, mocked as a quaint ­oddity not so long ago, has become an overnight success, ready to be deployed at the push of a button. It will be used in England, France, Spain and Italy as of this season. UEFA wants to equip its referees with the spray for competitive ­fi xtures, and the debate in the German Bundesliga is not about if, but only when, it should be introduced.

These examples demonstrate that technological aids can help us progress in football.

This is why I would like to bring another idea into play, the one I raised at the Congress in Sao Paulo on 11 June: the option of video challenges for coaches in the case of disputed decisions.

Fears that this innovation could change the character of the game are unfounded, provided this technical aid is treated with caution and with suitable restrictions. I am speaking of up to two “calls” per match per coach, for a maximum of four per match.

These interventions would only be possible when play has already been stopped, i.e. when the referee has blown his or her whistle and actively taken a decision. This would not cause any additional interruptions and would barely disturb the flow of the game. After all, we’ve just experienced what must be the best World Cup in history, even though it included additional cooling breaks.

I too rejected technological aids in the past.

But there is no use sticking to entrenched ­positions and clinging to principles for the sake of it. Our objective must be to make football more transparent and credible, and to support referees in their difficult task.

Best wishes, Sepp Blatter T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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New-found confidence USA supporters at the FIFA Fan Fest in Rio de Janeiro during the 2014 World Cup.

Will The South Rise Again?

Football has struggled to put down roots in the southeast of the United States, but there are compelling reasons why three new MLS franchises in the region could now thrive.

Mario Tama / Getty Images

Randy O. Williams, Los Angeles

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ith the earlier failures of Tampa Bay and Miami (2001), professional soccer has not done particularly well in the southeastern region of the United States, yet in recently announcing the addition of three new franchises in this area (Orlando debuts next season, Atlanta in 2017 and Miami possibly in 2017 pending their stadium deal), Major League Soccer and the new franchise owners feel, ’the times, they are a changin’.

“More than past franchise failure, it is more about the league. MLS is a much better league these days. It was the quality of the product that was poor in the past,” Marcelo Claure, a partner in the new Miami franchise says.

“I don’t think it is as much about what has changed in the region as much as what is happening across the country,” notes Phil Rawlins, president of the Orlando franchise. “The failures of Miami and Tampa Bay came at a very different time of the sport in this country.

­ oday it is on a far greater and much more T ­impressive growth curve”.

Soaring expansion fees Indeed, when Chivas USA and Real Salt Lake came into the league in 2005 they paid a $7 million expansion fee. Recently New York City FC paid $100 million. Atlanta has paid $70 million so times have changed. Moreover, MLS has gone from 13 teams in 2007 to 19 presently with no signs of slowing down.

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European ambassador Former star David Beckham is a big investor in the US game.

Arthur Blank, owner of the National Football League’s Atlanta Falcons, has been waiting for the right time to secure a soccer franchise in that same city. “We’ve been looking at MLS close to 10 years now and we love where it is at.

To see the growth of the quality of play and leadership under Don Garber, we are excited that we are bringing an urban soccer experience at a high level that will make all soccer fans very proud and are glad to have this opportunity to do so”.

In going from having no teams in the Southeast to suddenly announcing three, what are the crucial factors, both shared and unique to each city, that the league and new owners are counting on to ensure their success? One is the changing demographics and that means primarily the young professionals (aka Millennials) and Hispanics and a combination of that which are rapidly populating each of these three cities.

There is an influx of people into that region from Latin America. Georgia consistently ranks among the Top 3 states in growth of Hispanic population. Miami has long had a sizable Hispanic community and the Orlando area’s Hispanic population has more than doubled since 2000, making it the nation’s fourth fastest-growing Latino market.

“It not only has one of the fastest growing Hispanic markets, Orlando is simply growing as one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the US. Coming from Europe, Caribbean, Central America, so many that plant roots here come from a place where they have grown up with the game,” Rawlins, the Orlando team owner says.

Regarding the younger generation, recent marketing surveys have shown that indeed in America they are really taking to the game in droves.

Atlanta franchise unveiled The Terminus Legion supporters’ group are passionate about local soccer.

Surge in popularity Professional studies from a wide variety of independent research groups said soccer is now tied with the NBA as the second most popular sport (behind the NFL) among 18-34 year olds.

Another survey just within 60 days revealed that among 12-17 year olds, MLS was now tied with Major League Baseball. So it really is a changing world for habits among a younger generation. “There have been massive changes concerning the demographics of the entire Southeast, especially with the influx of the Millennial population that grew up with the game. Those who don’t know life without Major League Soccer,” MLS Executive Vice President, Dan Courtemanche says. “The league is now 19 years old and those aged 25 just don’t remember life without MLS”.

Jim Smith, Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer for A&B Sports

MLS expansion Orlando City Soccer fans are gearing up for top flight football in the city.

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David Manning / Reuters, Andrew Innerarity / Reuters, David Goldman / Keystone / A P

MA JOR LEAGUE SOCCER

MA JOR LEAGUE SOCCER

MLS is benefiting from a growing rivalry in the northwest between Portland, Vancouver and Seattle. ­ ntertainment, working under Arthur Blank, E explains why those surveys are right on the money. “The young professional demographic are fertile ground for any sports marketer to tap into. Their loyalties to a professional team either have not been developed or the costs of other sports prohibit that loyalty from growing. And I think soccer fills that void perfectly.

And it will here in Atlanta. I also feel an advantage that many of the young generation have now grown up with MLS and now that they have their own discretionary income and a natural affinity for the sport I think they are a natural target for us. It is on us to do all the right things to make them feel that this is their franchise, not their dad’s franchise”.

Exploiting opportunities While Orlando, Atlanta and Miami share advantages of favorable demographics, each city also has separate factors going for them as well. For example, Atlanta and Miami enjoy a robust tourist trade, but nothing can compare to Orlando’s built-in global attraction – Disney World.

“We are the most visited city in the world.

This year Orlando will surpass 60 million visitors. That gives us an opportunity that frankly very few clubs around the world have. We will absolutely tap into that massive marketplace,” Rawlins explains.

“The NBA’s Magic does well in that regard.

About 16% of their live gate are actually visitors to the city. When you think that basketball is nowhere near the global popularity platform that soccer is, it shows we have a huge opportunity here to supplement our growing local fan

base, many coming from soccer-loving nations.

Our goal is for Orlando to be everyone’s second favorite team around the world. If we can attract just a small % of Orlando’s 60 million annual visitors, we will be on our way to our goal”.

With World Cup television ratings in Orlando higher than those of New York City and over 7,500 season tickets sold – more than half the anticipated season ticket capacity, there is no denying there is a strong passion for ­professional soccer here.

For Atlanta it is not only a brand new world class stadium that is designed to accommodate soccer, but combined with its historically strong support for the sport, it will also “put us in a position to have friendly matches in regional cities like Birmingham, Charlotte, Chattanooga that allows us to spread that soccer enthusiasm around the region,” says Blank.

Atlanta recently broke ground to begin ­construction of the new stadium.

In Miami, Mr. Claure only has to turn to his partner who has significant drawing power – David Beckham. “To give you an example of David’s global reach, when he and I announced our partnership (along with Simon Fuller), the number of calls we have received from Europe and the best players in the world has been ­numerous.

They have told David they’d like to play for us in Miami. That makes it very special”.

Claure, son of a United Nations geologist who grew up in Bolivia before making his fortune in the cell phone industry in America and a former general manager of the Bolivian national team, knows having a former superstar in the owners group will also help in getting their stadium deal in place.

Atlanta’s Blank agrees that Beckham is good for business league-wide. “David along with other players have helped raise not only the level of play, but also the media interest and hence help drive new deals that MLS has made including television coverage (a new 8-year $720 million national television contract)”.

The benefits of local rivalry One of the important keys to success for the new teams in the South will be something that drives team sports around the world and that is rivalries. The MLS is really benefiting from a growing triangular rivalry in the Northwest between Portland, Vancouver and Seattle. Rivalries are a proven way to build loyalties among your fan base and the new owners foresee the potential for a similar thing emerging kitty corner in the southeast.

“The rivalry potential here in the southeast could serve I think as a terrific bookend for MLS to that of the northwest, ” Orlando’s Rawlins explains. “I can see it being a great rivalry, (like college football), between Georgia and Florida. With Atlanta, Miami and ourselves

I think it will make for a great triangular rivalry for years to come. It is a great opportunity to mirror what the northwest is doing with the Cascadia Cup. I certainly can see a Cup competition between the three teams down here.

There is never any love lost between Georgia and Florida for sure, nor between Miami and Orlando either! That certainly bodes well for the future of the league”.

“The times, they are a changin’, and that bodes well for MLS soccer in the South. Å

Major League Soccer The USA’s professional football league, Major League Soccer (MLS), was founded in 1993 and officially launched with ten teams in 1996. Today the MLS is made up of 19 teams (16 from the USA, three from Canada) and will welcome two further franchises in 2015. There is no relegation or promotion to the league, with membership instead governed by franchising. The championship’s regular season is played in Eastern and Western Conferences. At the end of the regular season, the most successful team is awarded the MLS Supporters’ Shield, and the top ten sides contest the MLS Cup Playoffs to reach the championship final, the MLS Cup. The winner of the MLS Cup is crowned champion and qualifies for the CONCACAF Champions League with the MLS Supporters’ Shield winner.

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IN BRIEF

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he battle lines have been drawn and opposition fans have passed judgement in a rare show of unity: RB Leipzig, sponsored by Austrian energy drink manufacturer Red Bull, but now officially known as RasenBallsport Leipzig, are without a doubt the black sheep of Bundesliga 2. Though regarded by many as nothing but a soulless marketing tool devoid of tradition and fan culture, their annual budget of € 30 million does give them considerable spending power. Last Sunday, the East Germans travelled to the Allianz Arena to face TSV 1860 Munchen, whose first and only Bundes­ liga triumph came in 1966. Those days of success are long gone, however, and supporters are practically forced to settle for mediocrity nowadays. In front of 32,000 fans in Bavaria’s capital city, Leipzig highlighted the sporting and economic chasm between the two sides by storming to a routine 3-0 victory. The home supporters’ protests during the match, which included a banner that read ‘Red Bull gives you wings until the red bubble bursts’, were nothing more than an expression of envy on their part. The two clubs are now separated by 14 places in the division and in the aftermath of the defeat, the Sechziger banished no fewer than five first-team regulars to the reserves. While the accusation that Leipzig are merely buying their success does not really hold water, the Munich Lions are in fact doing the exact opposite: they’re giving away points for free. Å Thomas Renggli

Matthias Hangst / Bongarts / Getty Images

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reativity is a loosely defined concept at the best of times, but hardly any Bundesliga player pushes the notion closer to its ac­ ceptable limits than Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Even before joining Borussia Dortmund he celebrated his goals for St. Etienne by donning a Spiderman mask. He felt he should make a change to mark his new start in Germany so the Gabon international had a Spiderman figure dyed into his hair instead. In the Champions League quarter-finals he sent out a provocative message to Real Ma­ drid by having five stars shaved into the left side of his hair and the initials BVB into the right. That went down less well, because it was the only thing anyone remembered about the player’s eminently forgettable display. Aubameyang returned to his roots in the Ger­ man Supercup clash a couple of days ago, celebrating his header to wrap up Dortmund’s 2–0 victory over Bayern by whipping out the Spiderman mask again. It was all for his son, he said, who turned three on the day. Å Sven Goldmann

B

efore stepping onto the field, the team’s leading goalscorer ­a lways kissed the team doctor’s bald head. He claimed it brought him luck, and who would argue with a superstitious striker in the form of his life? The result was a goal per game that soon guided the team to the top of the league table. The doctor – a somewhat ungain­ ly 74-year-old who volunteered at the club – was oddly proud of his part in this success. But one week the medic was consigned to bed with the flu, fearing the worst. The team faced a tough away game that weekend – would they be able to score without him? After the match, he was delighted to learn that his side had won 3-0. Before long, the doctor was fully fit and back in his usual position on the sidelines for the team’s next game. This time, however, the star strik­ er ran straight past him without saying a word. The rumour going around the club was that he had a new, more efficient ritual – to ignore the doctor altogether. The centre forward acted as if the phy­ sician wasn’t even there, just like in the last away match – when he scored all three goals. Å Alan Schweingruber T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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FOR THE WORLD

THE N AN M R E B O LES FI OF PA R T 2

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Broadcasting live from Cameroon Holger Obermann (l) and his colleagues in Yaoundé during Italia 90.

When the Lions roared Cameroon defeated reigning champions Argentina 1-0 in the Opening Match of the 1990 World Cup in Rome. As the Indomitable Lions continued their charge to the quarter-finals, Holger Obermann was working with Cameroonian television in Yaoundé.

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he view from my hotel room window revealed Yaoundé’s sea of houses with their pastel-coloured shutters, nestled in the hillside among the lush vegetation that envelops Cameroon’s capital. I enjoyed this panorama every morning at seven o’clock sharp, after the alarm clock had brought that night’s African dreams to an abrupt end.

Like me, Yaoundé also seemed to be stretching and yawning into life at that time of day, as the fruit and vegetable sellers set up their stalls, chatted to one another and began another morning of trading.

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I immediately felt at home in the city, having arrived there to carry out a special mission. I had been sent by the German Society for International Cooperation (then GTZ, now GIZ) to prepare Cameroon’s television crew for the 1990 World Cup, which was due to kick off in Italy two-anda-half months after my arrival. Before getting down to business I was invited to meet the head of the Cameroon Football Federation. I was warmly welcomed to the meeting and received the gift of a carved wooden mask.

“We wish the team in Italy, you, your editors and reporters the best of luck

Henri Szwarc / Getty Images, Holger Obermann, imago

FOR THE WORLD

and success,” said the Federation president. Lunch followed, comprising a wide range of delicious local specialities familiar to me from time spent in other African countries. Everyone and everything involved with Italia ’90 was extremely ambitious, including the television crew and their ­d irector, with whom I would be working side-by-side over the next few weeks. There were a total of 28 men and women on the team, not all of whom had a ticket to Rome given the amount of work that would need to be done at home.

There were several hurdles to overcome. Both English and French are spoken in Cameroon and the staff hailed from a variety of different ethnic groups, so problems were inevitable, especially as civil war had only just been avoided in the north-west of the country. Luckily for President Paul Biya, the upcoming World Cup in Italy was distracting almost all of his citizens from their political and economic concerns, if only temporarily.

It was President Biya who pressed for international veteran Roger Milla to be included in the squad at the last moment, and when Milla went on to score four goals in two games at the tournament, Biya said: “I always knew this man wasn’t too old to play for our national team.” The then 38-year-old, renowned for celebrating his goals by dancing with the corner flag, proved the president right and turned him into something of a footballing authority in the process.

I followed interviews with the national team’s players with great ­interest, as there was much room for improvement when it came to how the players answered questions and expressed themselves. I paid par­ ticularly close attention when Emile Mbou Mbou was interviewed, as whenever I came across him in the course of my work he always greeted me with a broad smile and asked me plenty of questions about football in Germany. In our spare time, we often met at a small local bistro for a chat.

Naturally, he was keen to know how I rated his chances of making it into Cameroon’s starting eleven. “Only the coach and the selection committee can decide that,” I answered.

Four weeks before the Indomitable Lions were due to play in the World Cup Opening Match against world champions Argentina in Rome, a situation arose to test Cameroonian football’s resolve. Goalkeeper Joseph-Antoine Bell criticised the Federation’s bonus system at a warm-up match in Yugoslavia and sparked widespread anger when his views were made public. “What we’re being offered here is pocket money for me in Bordeaux,” he told journalists, prompting his swift replacement by Thomas N’Kono as the Lions’ first-choice goalkeeper. There was much disharmony within the camp, not helped by the fact that Russian coach Valeri Nepomniachi lacked the language skills required to quell unrest within the dressing room. There was also rivalry between squad members who played their football overseas and those based in Cameroon; the former group earned up to $25,000 a month plus bonuses at professional clubs while the latter were forced to be content with salaries closer to $300 a month. But when it came to Italy, every single member of the team was united.

Our television crew worked around the clock. When the tournament began, the Lions’ 1-0 win against reigning champions Argentina caused a sensation, sparking indescribable scenes across the country. In most villages, up to 50 fans would watch the game in front of the same television set. After the final whistle blew, thousands of people stormed the TV studio to cheer, dance and celebrate their team’s greatest victory, and the images were beamed live across the country. Cameroon’s meteoric rise was only halted in the quarter-finals when England narrowly defeated them 3-2 after extra time. Had the Indomitable Lions prevailed, Germany would have been their opponents in the semi-final.

Of all the returning players, my friend Emile Mbou Mbou was particularly delighted and hugged me when he saw me. Years later I saw him again in Malaysia, where he had signed a lucrative contract with a club on the country’s east coast and I was leading a long-term project. Naturally our

conversation once again turned to the World Cup in Italy. “Do you think you would have had a chance against Germany if you hadn’t been so unlucky to lose the game against England?” I asked him. “I think we could have done it – with a bit of good luck, of course,” Emile replied confidently. After my retirement, I received a postcard from his homeland every now and again, and a small pennant from Cameroon still sits on my desk. Å

Dancing into the history books Cameroon’s Roger Milla, then 38, celebrates his fourth goal at Italia '90 by the corner flag.

Off to a winning start at the 1990 World Cup Thomas Libiih (centre) and Francois Omam Biyik celebrate in front of the cameras.

Born in 1936 in Kassel, Germany, Holger Obermann has worked in football for many years and on four continents. In 1990, he impar ted his exper tise on football broadcasting to local journalists in Cameroon on behalf of the German government. In a four -par t FIFA Weekly series we exclusively present excerpts from the German overseas coach’s manuscript “Mein Fussball hatte Flügel” (My football had wings).

PART THREE ON NEPAL WILL BE PUBLISHED IN OUR 29 AUGUS T ISSUE. T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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Merry Fiddlers Ground, Becontree Heath, Essex, England

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United Archives

Dagenham Ladies prepare to face a team from Hayes in Kent in the annual Good Friday contest for the Marino Cup.

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Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton, Canada

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Kevin C. Cox / FIFA via Getty Images

Brazil and USA parade onto the field for their meeting at the U-20 Women’s World Cup on 8 August 2014.

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FIFA WORLD R ANKING Rank Team

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 29 31 32 33 34 35 36 36 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77

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Germany Argentina Netherlands Colombia Belgium Uruguay Spain Brazil Switzerland France Portugal Chile Greece Italy Costa Rica Croatia Mexico USA Bosnia and Herzegovina England Ecuador Ukraine Russia Algeria Côte d'Ivoire Denmark Romania Scotland Venezuela Sweden Serbia Turkey Nigeria Hungary Czech Republic Ghana Armenia Egypt Slovenia Austria Wales Tunisia Honduras Japan Slovakia Iceland Paraguay Iran Montenegro Sierra Leone Uzbekistan Peru Norway Cameroon Finland Jordan Korea Republic Burkina Faso Senegal Mali Poland Libya Panama Guinea United Arab Emirates Republic of Ireland Oman Israel South Africa Albania Bolivia Bulgaria Azerbaijan Cape Verde Islands Angola FYR Macedonia Benin

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Change in ranking Points

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1736 1604 1507 1495 1407 1316 1241 1241 1218 1212

0 0 0 0 1 1 1 -3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 -1 1 0 0 0 1 4 0 2 5 -2 -2 3 3 0 -3 1 1 1 1 1 1 14 1 7 0 -1 0 1 -1 0 3 0 0 1 -30 -13 0 4 2 -1 -3 -3 0 0 0 1 4 -2 14

1152 1100 1092 1069 1023 964 942 937 925 915 910 901 899 880 840 818 740 738 724 724 723 711 673 656 650 648 648 645 643 624 623 617 596 593 584 573 564 563 553 533 528 522 512 507 502 500 499 493 491 488 482 475 474 471 464 448 447 439 438 437 434 429 413 411 408 407 405

Ranking 03 / 2014

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1 -41 -83 -125 -167 -209

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Top spot

Biggest climber

Congo Australia Trinidad and Tobago Morocco Uganda Saudi Arabia Zambia Jamaica Botswana Togo Palestine Belarus Zimbabwe Iraq Qatar Estonia Congo DR Northern Ireland Georgia China PR New Zealand Moldova Latvia Rwanda Gabon Lithuania Kenya Lesotho Malawi Bahrain Mozambique Luxembourg Tanzania Kuwait Ethiopia Equatorial Guinea Namibia Lebanon Sudan Haiti Niger Liberia Tajikistan Central African Republic Canada Guinea-Bissau Cuba Aruba Dominican Republic El Salvador Philippines Burundi Afghanistan Kazakhstan Suriname Mauritania Guatemala St Vincent and the Grenadines New Caledonia Turkmenistan St Lucia Vietnam Cyprus Chad Grenada Madagascar Kyrgyzstan

4 -3 4 -2 6 -5 -7 -2 13 1 -3 -7 8 -2 -6 -1 3 -6 1 -3 3 3 3 8 -9 1 -9 26 15 -2 7 -1 -4 -4 -2 -2 -2 4 0 -4 -19 -4 4 -3 -4 13 -4 -1 -1 -6 0 -3 0 -4 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 -10 -1 0 0 0 0

Biggest faller

395 391 384 381 381 377 375 373 371 365 363 363 358 357 348 344 344 341 341 334 330 325 324 318 311 306 305 302 295 289 289 288 285 280 275 270 269 263 263 262 261 260 252 252 250 242 233 233 230 223 221 217 217 213 213 204 203 203 199 197 195 192 184 184 182 179 176

145 146 147 148 149 150 150 152 153 153 155 155 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 173 175 175 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 186 188 189 190 191 191 193 193 193 193 197 198 199 200 201 201 203 204 205 206 207 208 208

Maldives Korea DPR Syria Gambia Antigua and Barbuda India Malta Singapore Guyana Indonesia Puerto Rico Malaysia Thailand Swaziland St Kitts and Nevis Myanmar Hong Kong Belize Guam Pakistan Montserrat Nepal Liechtenstein Dominica Barbados Bangladesh Tahiti Laos Solomon Islands Bermuda Nicaragua Comoros São Tomé e Príncipe Sri Lanka Chinese Taipei Seychelles Turks and Caicos Islands Curaçao Faroe Islands Yemen South Sudan Macau Vanuatu Mauritius Fiji Mongolia US Virgin Islands Samoa Bahamas Brunei Darussalam Timor-Leste Tonga Cayman Islands American Samoa Andorra Papua New Guinea Cambodia British Virgin Islands Eritrea Somalia Djibouti Cook Islands Anguilla Bhutan San Marino

0 1 -1 0 0 1 0 2 2 0 1 -4 0 1 -1 0 1 -1 11 1 1 -2 0 -1 0 -7 0 -2 2 0 0 -3 0 0 -1 2 0 1 1 -4 1 18 1 -3 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 0 0 0 0 0

174 167 161 157 156 143 143 140 136 136 134 134 126 125 124 121 118 117 102 100 99 95 94 93 92 87 85 84 83 83 78 78 72 71 70 68 66 63 61 59 43 41 41 37 31 29 28 28 26 26 26 26 21 18 16 14 13 13 11 8 6 5 1 0 0

THE SOUND OF FOOTBALL

THE OBJEC T

Perikles Monioudis

T Crème de la Crème Hanspeter Kuenzler

Football and Musette complement each other perfectly, as the memorably named ensemble Accordeon Football Club de France proved.

Sion Ap Tomos

T

he folksy piece on their second EP was entitled “Dribling Waltz” (sic), while the other three original compositions comprising Accordeon Football Club de France (A.F.C.F.)’s ­final record were named “Polkapitaine”, “Vive les Buteurs” and “Pasogoal”. By the time it was released in 1977, most of the group’s members were already veterans.

The record sleeve describes how, in the fifteen years since the establishment of the club, this “illustrious collection of band leaders” had somehow managed to find time each week to swap the keys and buttons of their instruments for shorts and football boots in between gala shows, television and radio appearances and recording sessions.

On the album’s cover, twenty players strike a familiar football pose, ten of them kneeling at the front leaning on their accordions while ten more stand behind, each with a ball in his hands or cradled casually under his arm. Whilst the accordion in one form or another can be found in many other parts of the

world, even a short burst of jazz-tinged Musette riffs will immediately conjure up ­ ­romantic images of a world of Bohemian existentialists, raucous sailors and generally the kind of heroes and villains that populate the novels of Georges Simenon.

The active members of A.F.C.F. were among the crème de la crème of the Musette scene. Marcel Azzola accompanied Boris Vian, Edith Piaf, Juliette Greco and Jacques Brel in their heydays. Bruno Lorenzoni ­recorded numerous albums and released a hot version of the Shadows’ biggest hit “Apache” in April 1961. Jean Dalo composed a march especially for footballing minnows Racing Club de Paris, while Claude Cavagnolo hailed from a family that had been producing accordions in France since 1923.

The link between the round ball and the round buttons of the squeezebox endures to this day. Recently, French international ­defender Laurent Koscielny made a sizeable donation to keep Tulle accordion manufacturer Maugein from going under. Æ

here is a proverb that says: “A pitcher that goes to the well too often will break,” while another decrees that all good things must come to an end. The porcelain jug pictured above was produced in 1900 and is part of the FIFA Collection. If you look closely at it, you can spot several hairline cracks, whether ­between the two players in the foreground or higher up, in the clouds looming overhead.

They are only small fractures but some have begun to break the glaze.

Water jugs such as this one were generally emptied into a glass for drinking or occasionally poured over the body during morning ­ablutions, for example. This particular vessel served both purposes in the world of football, either by providing much-needed hydration before or after physical exercise or by washing away sweat after on-pitch exertions. In the latter case, the water was caught by the same bowl in which the jug itself was stored after use.

Either way, this jug proudly displays its footballing pedigree, long since destined to hold memories from the sidelines, perhaps briefly remembered whenever the owner’s gaze swept over the wooden dresser and settled on the pitcher.

Nowadays there are few who could lay claim to such memories, as anyone able to remember an entire football match from ­ 1900 would have to be almost 120 years old – but the pitcher remains intact. Å

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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TURNING POINT

“The fans came after me”

Name Kevin Pezzoni Date and place of birth 22 March 1989, Frankfurt am Main Clubs FC Köln, Erzgebirge Aue, Saarbrücken, Wohlen National team Germany U-17 to U-21 (2005 – 2009) 23 appearances (2005 – 2009)

Kevin Pezzoni loved life as a professional footballer in Germany, until his own club’s so-called fans beat him up and sent him death threats.

Alex Kraus, laif

M

y personal nightmare began in the spring of 2012 when a couple of guys came after me at a carnival party.

You’ll always get a few fists thrown every now and then, but I was beaten up by fans of my own team, and that’s something else again. Fortunately I got off relatively lightly with just a broken nose.

But it soon turned out the brawl was just a precursor to something far more serious. Under coach Holger Stanislawski we made a poor start to the 2012/13 season in Bundesliga 2. I hardly ever got a game, but I’d been a target for criticism from a section of the fans for a long time, and I was clearly marked out as a scapegoat.

One day I found a note on my car windscreen: “Kevin, watch yourself after dark”.

When I arrived for training a few days later I saw the club headquarters swarming with police. I found out after our training session that the officers were there to protect me.

Someone had set up a Facebook group called “Let’s slap Kevin Pezzoni and Co.” They were openly calling for violence against my person.

Even now I find that hard to understand. I appreciate that fans get angry and express that in booing. Frankly I can even handle insults.

But death threats and physical violence? Come on! Football’s supposed to be fun.

Shortly after that a group of fans gatecrashed my home and had a go at me for 45 minutes. That was the last straw as far as I was concerned. I couldn’t go on. My confidence was shot, so I cancelled my contract and lost a lot of money in the process. The whole episode has been a millstone round my neck ever since, ­because German clubs who were interested in me ultimately said: we’re not going to take you, because what if the fans show up here?

I’ve been with FC Wohlen in the Swiss Challenge League since July. I spent the summer

watching the World Cup on TV. I played alongside a number of Germany’s World Cup winners in junior national teams, the likes of Badstuber, Boateng, Muller, Hummels and ­ Ozil. I was even U-18 captain, but unfortunately my career has taken a different course. People often ask me if I regret going to Cologne. I don’t, although I wouldn’t want anyone to go through what I’ve been through. It’s not funny when you don’t dare leave your house any more. But I met the woman who is now my wife in Cologne and made many lifelong friendships. I’ve now found a club in Wohlen who are

totally behind me, and I have a coach who has total faith in me. The problems in the past have taken my life in a new direction but they feel a long way off now. Å As told to Nicola Berger

In Turning Point, personalities reflect on a decisive moment in their lives.

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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EVERY GASP EVERY SCREAM EVERY ROAR EVERY DIVE EVERY BALL E V E RY PAS S EVERY CHANCE EVERY STRIKE E V E R Y B E AU T I F U L D E TA I L SHALL BE SEEN SHALL BE HEARD S H A L L B E FE LT

Feel the Beauty

BE MOVED

THE NEW 4K LED TV

“SONY” and “make.believe” are trademarks of Sony Corporation.

The FIFA Weekly Published weekly by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Internet: www.fifa.com/theweekly Publisher: FIFA, FIFA-Strasse 20, PO box, CH-8044 Zurich Tel. +41-(0)43-222 7777 Fax +41-(0)43-222 7878

FIFA QUIZ CUP

Soccer mania, Footh-Ball and a reconciliation – test your knowledge!

1

Who was photographed wearing the four-time French champions’ shirt?

President: Joseph S. Blatter Secretary General: Jérôme Valcke Director of Communications and Public Affairs: Walter De Gregorio B

Chief Editor: Perikles Monioudis Staff Writers: Thomas Renggli (Author), Alan Schweingruber, Sarah Steiner

2

C

F

Soccer mania grips the USA, where a match in 2014 attracted a crowd in excess of 100,000.

Another game of soccer also drew more than 100,000 spectators to a stadium in the States. Which one?

Art Direction: Catharina Clajus

LA Galaxy – Mexico France – Brazil Barça – MLS All-Stars Brazil – Italy

E L I R

Picture Editor: Peggy Knotz Production: Hans-Peter Frei Layout: Richie Krönert (Lead), Marianne Bolliger-Crittin, Susanne Egli, Tobias Benz

3

Proof Reader: Nena Morf, Kristina Rotach

O

These two were famously sent off in a World Cup Round of 16 clash. They later made up and appeared together in a TV commercial, but what were they wearing?

Contributors: Sérgio Xavier Filho, Luigi Garlando, Sven Goldmann, Hanspeter Kuenzler, Jordi Punti, David Winner, Roland Zorn Contributors to this Issue: Nicola Berger, Amlan Chakraborty Santosh K.A., Alissa Rosskopf, Andrew Warshaw, Andreas Wilhelm, Randy O. Williams

A

4

E

I

O

Which club originally had not Football but Footh-Ball in its name?

Editorial Assistant: Honey Thaljieh Project Management: Bernd Fisa, Christian Schaub Translation: Sportstranslations Limited www.sportstranslations.com Printer: Zofinger Tagblatt AG www.ztonline.ch

G

T

W

Y

Getty Images

Contact: feedback-theweekly@fifa.org Reproduction of photos or articles in whole or in part is only permitted with prior editorial approval and if attributed “The FIFA Weekly, © FIFA 2014”.

The editor and staff are not obliged to publish unsolicited manuscripts and photos. FIFA and the FIFA logo are registered trademarks of FIFA. Made and printed in Switzerland.

Any views expressed in The FIFA Weekly do not necessarily reflect those of FIFA.

The answer to last week’s Quiz Cup was SONG Detailed answers on www.fifa.com/theweekly Inspiration and implementation: cus

Send your answer by 20 August 2014 to feedback-theweekly@fifa.org.

Correct solutions to all quizzes published from 13 June 2014 onwards will go into a draw in January 2015 for a trip for two to the FIFA Ballon d’Or on 12 January 2015.

Before sending in answers, all participants must read and accept the competition terms and conditions and the rules, which can be found at: http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/af-magazine/fifaweekly/02/20/51/99/en_rules_20140613_english_neutral.pdf T H E F I FA W E E K LY

39

A S K T H E W E E K LY

T HIS WEEK’S POLL

Who will be the top scorer in the 2014 CAF Champions League?

Esperance’s star striker Ahmed Akaishi in a CAF Champions League match against Orlando Pirates.

Which countries supply the most foreign players in the big European leagues?

Nikolai Nabokov, Rostov (Russia)

2

Cast your vote at www.fifa.com/newscentre

L A S T W E E K’S P O L L R E S U LT S Who will win the 2014/15 French Ligue 1 title?

71% � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � Paris Saint-Germain 13% � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � Monaco 9% � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � Olympique Marseille 6% � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � Saint-Étienne 1% � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � Other

WEEK IN NUMBERS

14

By defeating Sevilla in the UEFA

71 Miroslav Klose ended his Germany career with 71 goals from 137

In the space of just two minutes,

Super Cup, Real Madrid have now

Vegard Forren first missed from

won 14 European titles to draw level with AC

matches, making him the sixth-highest goalscorer

the penalty spot, then scored

Milan. Barcelona occupy third place with 12

in international history. Only Ali Daei (109 goals in

an own goal to end Molde’s

continental trophies to their name, followed by

149 games), Ferenc Puskas (84 in 89), Pele (77 in 91),

dream of qualifying for the

Liverpool on 11. Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice to

Sandor Kocsis (75 in 68) and Bashar Abdullah (75

UEFA Europa League

seal his side’s 2-0 win in Cardiff, meaning that he

in 133) have a better tally than the 36-year-old

play-off phase.

has now scored in four finals decided over one leg.

Poland-born striker.

Sydney Mahlangu / BackpagePix, Imago (3), Getty Images

Clubs generally import players from countries close to their own, both geographically and in a cultural or political sense. In the English Premier League, which has the largest proportion of foreign players of all the big leagues at 66.5 percent, the biggest overseas contingent is French (32). The largest group of foreigners in Italy’s Serie A is Brazilian (41), and in Spain’s La Liga it is Argentinian (29). Ligue 1 in France features 20 players from former colony Senegal (20).

The largest groups out of the 242 non-German nationals in the Bundesliga are the Swiss (18), followed by Brazilians (16) and Austrians (15). (thr)

Take your pick from the following players: • Firmin Mubele, Vita • Ahmed Akaishi, Esperance • El Hedi Belameiri, ES Setif • Edward Sadomba, Al-Ahly Benghazi • Fakhreddine Ben Youssef, CS Sfaxien • Haythem Jouini, Esperance