The FIFA Weekly Issue #46

ISSUE 46, 5 SEPTEMBER 2014

ENGLISH EDITION

Fédération Internationale de Football Association – Since 1904

Algeria

ON THE WAY UP

EGYPT HASSAN SHEHATA’S COACHING STYLE

PARAGUAY A STAR IS BORN

SEPP BLATTER WE MUST NOT LOOK THE OTHER WAY W W W.FIFA.COM/ THEWEEKLY

THIS WEEK IN THE WORLD OF FOOTBALL

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North and Central America 35 members www.concacaf.com

Algeria: Triumph and tragedy Algeria were the surprise package at the World Cup with high-quality play and astute tactics, but where does the national team really stand today? Mark Gleeson reports on Algerian football.

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Italy The inaugural Interreligious Match for Peace initiated by Pope Francis and Inter Milan vice-president Javier Zanetti was an unqualified success with some 50 stars thrilling the crowd at the Olympic Stadium in Rome. The event sent out a strong message for peace and also raised funds for charity.

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S epp Blatter Following the tragic death of Cameroonian player Albert Ebossé, the FIFA President focuses on the imperative need for safety at football matches and calls for coordinated and forceful action.

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Germany Jurgen Sparwasser, scorer of the only goal of the game for East Germany in their group stage meeting with West Germany at the 1974 World Cup, recalls the near-perfect strike that was to prove both a blessing and a curse.

South America 10 members www.conmebol.com

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Paraguay In the showdown between the champions and the team lying second in the Primera Divison, rising star Fernando Fabian Fernandez Acosta fired a hat-trick.

On the way up Our cover shows Rafik Halliche celebrating his goal during Algeria’s 4-2 group stage win over Korea Republic at the 2014 World Cup.

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.

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Club Guarani / Getty Images

Lee Jin-man / Keystone / AP

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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Korea Republic Sangju Sangmu, South Korea’s official army club, comprises elite footballers performing their military service.

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imago / Sangju Sangmu

Hassan Shehata The coaching legend discusses the success of the Egyptian national team.

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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UNCOVERED

In North Africa

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t the 2014 World Cup, Algeria very nearly defeated eventual champions Germany. The country’s fans were overjoyed and the team were given a magnificent reception back on the streets of Algiers after the tournament. Triumph turned to tragedy just weeks later when a player, Albert Ebossé, died at the end of a league match after being struck on the pitch by a sharp object thrown from a section of the crowd supporting his side. On page 6, Mark Gleeson writes about Algerian football.

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eacting to Ebossé’s death in his weekly column on page 23, FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter says: “We owe it to the player to learn the lessons from this incident and to resolutely call all those involved to account.”

he Egyptian national team have also made a name for themselves over the last two decades. Under the guidance of coach Hassan Shehata, the Pharaohs won the Africa Cup of Nations on three consecutive occasions between 2006 and 2010. However, since the tragedy of Port Said in 2012 when over 70 people died, matches have been played behind closed doors in the country. Shehata reveals the secrets to his success and on Page 24 speaks about the delicate ­situation in his homeland. Å Perikles Monioudis

Heroes’ welcome Algeria’s World Cup stars were given a rapturous reception on their return home to Algiers after the tournament (2 July 2014).

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EPA / Keystone

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ALGERIA

TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY

The Algerian national team 足proved a 足positive surprise in 足Brazil, but where does football really stand in Algeria today?

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Ramzi Boudina / REUTERS

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Fans in Algiers The 2014 World Cup brought people out onto the streets.

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ALGERIA

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Mark Gleeson

ermany might have had a mega party near the Brandenberg Gate in Berlin when the World Cup came back with their team from Brazil but the reception for Algeria, who they knocked out in the second round, was just as passionate and emotive, reflecting the unbridled joy of a football-mad populace. Thousands lined the streets of Algiers to greet the squad on its return as they paraded through the palm-lined avenues on an open top bus. Hundreds ran after the bus and, at times, hundreds more hindered its progress as the outpouring of delight descended into joyfully, near-riotous scenes. Fans danced, waved flags

and screamed their joy to the players, who had taken ‘Les Fennecs’ past the first round of the World Cup for the first time and given a brave display against Germany in Porto Alegre before being eliminated in extra-time.

Algeria had not seen anything thing like it since they won the CAF Africa Cup of Nations in 1990 at the end of a golden era for the north African country’s football that is only now showing signs of being matched. The latest generation of ‘Fennecs’ has restored the once-fearsome Algerian reputation and made them among the early favourites for the next Nations Cup. Fortuitously, the tournament in January is being played in neighbouring Morocco and offers Algeria a very real chance to win only their second-ever title, a quarter-century after the first.

Although the coach of the team has changed, with Vahid Halilhodzic departing

amid tears of joy and Frenchman Christian Gourcuff offering a more sober approach to a job notoriously weighed down by the pressure of unchecked expectation, the other elements of the squad have not. Continuity is now a key word as Algeria seeks to build on the confidence gained in Brazil and return to the summit of the African game. “From now on we will be respected again,” said the captain Madjid Bougherra straight after the 2-1 loss at the Estadio Beira-Rio, and he is right.

Back for more?

It is a glimpse again of better days. Qualifying for the World Cups in 1982 and 1986, and winning the African title on home soil in 1990 ensured ’superpower’ status for Algeria in African competition, enhanced by their club teams also consistently winning continental titles. The era

Flying the flag with pride Football’s popularity is growing.

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ALGERIA

Louafi Larbi / REUTERS (2)

of Rabah Madjer, Lakhdar Belloumi, Djamel Menad and Mahmoud Guendouz proved a golden time for the country.

But from 1992, when their defence of their Nations Cup flopped embarrassingly in the tropical heat of Senegal, their fortunes rapidly floundered, with the country’s sudden political and social turmoil contributing significantly to the slide. From being a feared opponent, Algeria quickly descended onto the list of also rans as they faded from contention in all the major finals and in World Cup qualifying.

By 2008 they were at their lowest ebb, dropping out of the top 100 on the FIFA rankings for a brief period to register their worst ever position in world football. They missed out on both the 2006 and 2008 Nations Cup finals and had embarrassingly lost twice in vital qualifiers to the Gambia, whose population of just

on 1.5 million people could fit easily into the capital Algiers.

In the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, Algeria were never among the fancied contenders but benefitted from a surprisingly scatty performance from then African champions Egypt and found themselves at the end of the qualifying campaign with an identical overall and head-to-head record. It meant the drama of a rare play-off to decide a place at the finals. Even though the game was played in neutral Sudan, Algeria were still underdogs up against an Egyptian side who had won back-to-back Nations Cup titles and who were soon to win a third in a row.

But, as so often with change, a single moment turned their fortunes. Antar Yahia’s goal on November 19, 2009 is now the stuff of Algerian legend, not only for its breathtaking beau-

ty but also for the role of catalyst it has proven.

The centre back ghosted into the Egyptian penalty area, peeling off the back of the opposing defence to make space for himself and from the tightest of angles volleyed the ball into the back of the net, not dissimilar to the effort of Marco van Basten against the Soviet Union at the 1988 European Championships.

Suddenly Algeria had been catapulted back to the top of the Africa game as one of five World Cup finalists for South Africa in 2010, a feat they repeated again for Brazil.

New reservoirs Yahia is a player with a special place in FIFA history, too, as the first to be given permission to change his footballing nationality once the rules on international eligibility were changed by the FIFA Congress in Doha in 2003.

Off to the 2010 World Cup Goalscorer Antar Yahia (left) after the play-off win against Egypt on 18 November 2009.

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ALGERIA

Algeria, keep to tap into the reservoir of immigrant talent in France and elsewhere in Europe that had already produced the likes of Zinedine Zidane, had been the prime movers of the rule change and jumped into action first.

By Christmas of that year they had three former French junior internationals committed to their cause. It was Bastia defender Yahia, who had played for France at a U-18 European Championship, who became the first to benefit from the new rule, debuting for the Algerian U-23 side in an Olympic Games qualifier against Ghana on January 2, 2004. His senior debut came two weeks later.

Since then Algeria have turned repeatedly to the Diaspora to bolster their side and been able to ensure a harmonious mix of those born and brought up in Europe, with the local players. Algeria are desperate not to miss out on a Zidane again, or a Karim Benzema and Samir Nasri. They have proven very successful in recent years in persuading many French under-21 internationals, who qualify for dual nationality because of their Algerian heritage, to throw in their international future with the ‘Fennecs’ and resultantly had a side in Brazil that bristled with exciting talent. The 23-man squad at the World Cup finals had more players born in France than in Algeria.

The likes of Yacine Brahimi and Sofiane Feghouli caught the eye of the world with their performance in Brazil and were backed by a determination that had been missing for many years when Algeria were devoid of the necessary confidence to achieve. “We had moments of history in Brazil and it has given us massive confidence,” said key striker Islam Slimani this week as he joined up again with the national

A l g er ia n F oo t ba l l F e d er a t io n

FIFA in Algeria

Founded: 1962 Joined FIFA: 1963 Joined CAF: 1964 Confederation: CAF President: Mohamed Raouraoua Official website: www.faf.org.dz Registered players: 203,900 Clubs: 2,090

At the end of 2002, FIFA financed new headquarters for the Algerian Football Association, FAF, for $2,100,000 before extending it via a further $500,000 in 2012. Between 2008 and 2012, FIFA ran courses and seminars including five for women in football in Algeria and organised a girls' football tournament at the end of 2012.

“Unacceptable proportions”

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ameroon-born forward Albert Ebosse was struck on the head by an object allegedly thrown from a section of his club JS Kabylie’s own fans as the players left the field at the end of a 2-1 defeat to USM Alger in Tizi Ouzou two weeks ago, a match in which he had scored his side’s goal.

Ebosse died of blunt object trauma after a sharp object caused internal bleeding, said preliminary autopsy reports.

JSK have been ordered to play home games for the rest of the season outside of the Tizi Ouzou province while the stadium will be closed until an investigation into the incident is complete.

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All matches in Algeria the following weekend were cancelled as a sign of respect to the player and also to protest “the irresponsible action of fanatics and hooligans who perpetuate violence in stadiums which has reached unacceptable proportions,” said the Algerian Football Federation.

Mark Gleeson

Fadel Senna / AFP, Matthias Hangst / Getty Images, Bertrand Langlois / AFP, Damir Sagolj / REUTERS, Louafi Larbi / REUTERS

Big ambitions The Algerian women’s team have set their sights on success.

ALGERIA

side for the first time since the triumphant parade through the Algiers streets.

A 1-1 draw with Russia Sofiane Feghouli (left) and Yacine Brahimi after the 2014 World Cup group match.

Beyond the sea Algerian fans in Marseille follow their team’s games.

Reaching the knockout stages Coach Vahid Halilhodzic hit his 2014 World Cup targets.

“More f luidity” Gourcuff takes over a side that now sits on the cusp of being able to achieve regularly in African competition and qualifiers, and he has immediately made it clear that he intends to build on the work of Halilhodzic, who enjoyed a love-hate relationship with officials and sparred acrimoniously with the media but was lionised by his players. The new coach debuts against Ethiopia in Addis Ababa on Saturday afternoon in the first qualifier for the 2015 Nations Cup and promised “the priority for the Algerian team is having a team play well with the style of play 4-4-2”.

“I want to get the team to play with more fluidity; recover the ball quickly and display a style, but for the collective rather than the individual,” explained the Breton, who last worked at Lorient in Ligue 1. The 59-year-old Gourcuff has kept almost all of the players that Halilhodzic picked for Brazil and categorically said: “I will not mess up the work that was done by my predecessor.” That is an ominous warning for Ethiopia, Malawi and Mali, who share the same qualifying group. But Gourcuff’s target extends beyond just the next three months of preliminary matches.

“I’m a man of challenges, I have a big project that I want to achieve. Algeria are favourites to win the Nations Cup next year and I will work for that to win every game we play.” Exciting players like Saipher Taider, Abdelmounene Djabou, Faouzi Ghoulam and new cap Medhi Zeffane promise an extended run at the top. Algeria are now ranked in the top 25 in world football and head the list of African nations.

The new coach is also mandated to work with the country’s youth teams. But here there is much to be done as both Algeria’s under-20 side and under-17 team did not enter the qualifiers for next year’s U-20 World Cup in New Zealand and U-17 World Cup in Chile. Algeria had hosted the 2013 African Youth Championships with high hopes of going onto the World Cup in Turkey but finished bottom of their group, precipitating a respite for the junior sides and period of reflection.

By moving to Algeria, Gourcuff will also spend much time watching domestic Ligue 1 action, seeking to unearth talent for the future.

Oftentimes expatriate coaches are tempted to stay at their homes and watch only the top players performing for their clubs in the leading European leagues, venturing only to Africa when the national team plays.

Algerian soul-searching Algerian club football has produced a consistently high level but is regularly marred by vioT H E F I FA W E E K LY

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Legend and icon Zinedine Zidane’s image adorns a billboard in ­Mostaganem.

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Mauritius Images

ALGERIA

ALGERIA

Jacques Langevin / Presse Sports

lence on the terraces and clubs are frequently punished and forced to host matches behind closed doors. The death of the 25-year-old striker Albert Ebosse from a head trauma caused by being struck by a projectile thrown from the stands last month has been a major blow to the country’s reputation and led to extensive soul-searching. His club JS Kabylie have been banned from playing at home for the rest of the season and their stadium in Tizi Ouzou closed.

It also takes the gloss off the achievement of Entente Setif, who are through to the semi-finals of the CAF Champions League and take on TP Mazembe Englebert of the Democratic Republic of Congo in a two-legged tie later this month as they seek to advance to the FIFA Club World Cup at the end of the year.

Setif finished unbeaten in their group and will have realistic hopes of success. They are led

by Kheireddine Madaoui, who makes up for a lack of experience with a canny approach. The last time an Algerian club won the top club title in Africa was in 1990 when JSK needed post match penalties to edge past Zambian club Nkana Red Devils to the winners’ podium.

Setif were winners of the old style African Champions Cup in 1988 and won two of the last three Algerian league titles. But traditionally the competition is fiercely contested with little of the two or three club domination that is characteristic of many major leagues. In May USM Alger won the title for the first time in almost a decade and JSK were second. In the last 20 years, a total of nine different clubs have emerged as champions, further evidence of the competitive nature of a league that imports many talents from around the African continent and regularly attracts coaches from France, Belgium and elsewhere in Europe. Play-

ers see it as a stepping stone to Europe and there have been many who have transitioned through Algeria to bigger leagues in Europe.

More success for Algeria is the progress of the women’s national team to the eight team African Championship in Namibia next month (October) from where the top three will go to Canada next year. Reaching the African Championship was the main goal set by coach Azzedine Chih and having achieved this they can now reset their sights as they seek to improve their ranking and gain much needed experience. “We’ll be facing the best of women’s football in Africa with the standard at this level being very high. We are aware that mistakes at this level will be punished but we plan to be on our guard and leave nothing behind. We won’t have too much pressure on us and therefore we can look to do our best and see how far we go,” said Chih. Å

Off to football school!

Children in the Hydra district of Algiers.

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IN T ERRELIGIOUS M AT CH FOR PE ACE

Coming together for world peace

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he first Interreligious Match for Peace was held last Monday evening at the request of Pope Francis. For the Pontiff, this sporting event was a symbolic gesture to show that peace is possible. Around 50 footballing stars captivated the sizeable crowd gathered at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico while the Handshake for Peace, a joint campaign between FIFA and the Nobel Peace Center in Norway, was also promoted during the event.

At an audience with the Pope at the Vatican, a FIFA delegation attending on behalf of the FIFA President reaffirmed the governing body’s commitment to using football as a way to build bridges. Football brings people together across all religious, political and social divides. Å To see more pictures from the event, visit: www.tinyurl.com/k7ypcmj

Fotografia Felici, Getty Images, Reuters, imago, Match for Peace

The evening’s stars gather for a photo. Organiser Javier Zanetti (centre) presents the winners’ trophy, a silver olive tree.

FIFA pays the Pope a visit Walter De Gregorio (right; Director of Communications), Giovanni Marti (centre; Media) and Lars Sternmarker (Handshake for Peace).

Committed and fair: Former global star Roberto Baggio (left) goes up against current Uruguayan international Diego Lugano.

Handshake for Peace between team captains Roberto Baggio (left) and Javier Zanetti. Representatives from each religion symbolically plant the olive tree of peace.

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TALK ING POIN T S

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T H E

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South Korea: K League Classic

Scor i ng i n the l i ne of dut y Nicola Berger is a journalist based in Zurich.

There could be tearful farewell scenes when Sangju Sangmu travel to league leaders Jeonbuk on Saturday, with no fewer than ten players set to take their leave of the away team after the final whistle. That they are departing in the middle of the season with just 24 of 33 Matchdays played is an unorthodox although not entirely original occurrence in one of the world’s most unconventional leagues. Sangmu are the official team of the South Korean army: they do not buy or sell any players, nor do they employ foreigners. Instead, the club is made up exclusively of players from other teams who are doing their obligatory 21-month military service. The only people excused from duty are athletes who have won an Olympic medal or been successful at the Asian Games. Due to the ongoing tensions with their North Korean neighbours, exemptions are rare, as 39-year-old former professional baseball player Cho Jin-Ho found out first hand. The one-time Boston Red Sox star attempted to avoid military service in 2004 by manipulating his urine test, only to be discovered and thrown in jail.

The side currently lie in ninth in the standings with just a three-point cushion separating them from bottom club Busan. The second half of the season could prove to be very tough for the promoted outfit once the players that make up the core of the team have returned to their parent clubs.

Sangmu will feel the absence of 29-year-old Lee Keun-Ho most keenly. The forward, who 16

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Standing to attention Lee Keun Ho after putting South Korea 1-0 up against Russia at the World Cup in Brazil.

was named Asian Player of the Year in 2012, opened the scoring for South Korea in their 1-1 draw with Russia at the World Cup in Brazil and celebrated his goal with a salute.

He will only don Sangmu’s colours twice more before returning to Ulsan on 16 September.

And while Sangmu will therefore be focusing their efforts on avoiding the drop, at the other end of the table the title race is intensifying between reigning champions and three-time AFC Champions League winners Pohang Steelers, and the Hyundai-backed club Jeonbuk. Both are currently level on points at the top and meet in Pohang on 28

September. Sangmu could yet play a decisive role in the championship though, as four players, Kim Min-Seok, Lee Seung-Hyeon, Jung Hoon and Kim Dong-Chan all return to Jeonbuk next week. Å

imago

There is, then, no shortage of talent for Sangmu to choose from, even if there are very few players who readily forego two years of their careers. According to the Korean Times, Sangmu players do not receive a salary but instead are paid 82,000 Won (approximately $78 USD) as a soldier or 108,300 Won as a sergeant. Such low wages are probably behind the involvement of numerous Sangmu players in the huge betting scandal that shook South Korean football in 2011.

Paraguay: Primera Division

H at-t r ic k fo r h o m e g r ow n h e r o Sven Goldmann is a leading football correspondent at “Tagesspiegel” newspaper in Berlin.

It was the match of the season, a duel between the reigning champions and the league’s second-placed side. El Gumarelo, as they call Club Libertad in Paraguay, and El Aborigen, the pseudonym of local rivals Club Guarani, battled it out for bragging rights in Asuncion. Although this meeting also provided a prime opportunity for Libertad to prepare for their second-round Copa Sudamericana game against Ecuadorian side Barcelona Sporting Club a couple of days later, their dress rehearsal did not go to plan as Guarani emerged 5-1 winners on the sixth matchday of the Torneo Clausura.

Club Guarani

Antonio Bareiro put the champions ahead within the first minute of the encounter at

Estadio Rogelio Livieres before Guarani took charge of the game. Ivan Gonzalez Ferreira quickly grabbed an equaliser before adding a second a short time later, but the real star of the show was 22-yearold homegrown star Fernando Fabian Fernandez Acosta, who netted a hat-trick.

Just a year after plying his trade for the club’s reserve team, Fernandez now leads the Primera Division’s top scorers’ list with five goals.

With 16 points from six matches, Guarani have taken a commanding lead in the championship. Libertad are already six points behind them in third place and must now welcome recordbreaking domestic champions Club Olimpia to the Estadio Dr Nicolas Leoz. As both sides play in black and white shirts, the fixture is known across Paraguay as the Clasico Blanco y Negro.

Olimpia are the country’s most successful team of all time with 39 championships to their name, ahead of Cerro Porteno on 30, Libertad on 17 and Guarani with 10.

Nevertheless, their most recent trophy is beginning to gather dust, dating from when Olimpia last won the Clausura back in 2011.

Football in Paraguay has traditionally been the preserve of Asuncion’s biggest clubs from the Las Mercedes, Mariscal Lopez, Dos Bocas or Obrero districts, who have shared the championship title between them for more than half a century now. Of the Primera Division’s 12 clubs, seven are located in the capital, occupying first to seventh place in the 2014 Torneo Apertura.

The last champions from outside Asuncion were Club Sportivo Luqueno in 1953. The team from Luque play in the Primera Division to this day and won the Torneo Apertura in 2007, although this was not regarded as a championship in its own right at that point.

The title that year ultimately returned to the capital once more, after Clausura champions Libertad overcame Sportivo Luqueno in the two-leg championship final. Å

A Star is born Fernando Fabian Fernandez Acosta receives the adulation of his teammates.

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Rank Team

Change in ranking

Points

1 USA

0 2193

2 Germany

0 2168

3 Japan

0 2081

4 France

0 2046

5 Sweden

0 2028

6 Brazil

0 2008

7 Canada

0 1976

8 England

0 1966

9 Australia

2 1957

10 Norway 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 51 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67

Korea DPR Italy China PR Netherlands Denmark Spain Iceland Korea Republic Switzerland New Zealand Scotland Russia Finland Ukraine Mexico Austria Belgium Czech Republic Thailand Poland Colombia Republic of Ireland Vietnam Nigeria Argentina Romania Wales Chinese Taipei Hungary Costa Rica Portugal Chile Uzbekistan Serbia Belarus Myanmar Slovakia Ghana Cameroon India South Africa Equatorial Guinea Jordan Iran Israel Haiti Croatia Slovenia Northern Ireland Turkey Côte d'Ivoire Bulgaria Kazakhstan Panama Hong Kong Venezuela Albania

0 1955 -2 0 3 0 -2 -1 -1 0 3 0 -2 -1 0 0 0 3 -1 -1 1 3 1 -2 -5 0 0 0 0 1 -1 0 2 -1 1 2 -3 -1 0 2 0 1 1 2 1 1 5 0 6 0 -2 6 7 -4 3 -2 -2 -1 -6

1954 1891 1873 1872 1868 1854 1834 1828 1814 1811 1809 1799 1780 1763 1761 1691 1685 1665 1661 1645 1641 1636 1628 1623 1620 1617 1614 1573 1572 1566 1565 1559 1548 1539 1532 1524 1521 1467 1457 1431 1425 1425 1420 1412 1399 1398 1396 1383 1382 1379 1376 1366 1364 1363 1361 1360 1347

Rank Team 68 69 70 71 71 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 89 91 92 93 94 95 95 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 110 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124

Greece Algeria Indonesia Uruguay Bosnia-Herzegovina Faroe Islands Morocco Tunisia Guatemala Estonia Philippines Bahrain Laos Egypt Malaysia Senegal Lithuania Bolivia Montenegro Cuba Zimbabwe Mali Palestine El Salvador Latvia Singapore Ethiopia Suriname Honduras Malta Luxembourg Kyrgyzstan Puerto Rico Nicaragua Nepal Georgia Cyprus FYR Macedonia Namibia St. Vincent and the Grenadines Zambia Bangladesh Lebanon St. Kitts and Nevis Bermuda Maldives Tanzania Mozambique Kuwait Qatar Cayman Islands Swaziland Lesotho Belize Antigua and Barbuda Aruba Botswana United Arab Emirates ** Trinidad and Tobago ** Ecuador ** Papua New Guinea ** Peru ** Paraguay ** Azerbaijan ** Jamaica ** Tonga ** Fiji ** Guam ** Guyana ** Congo ** Tahiti ** Dominican Republic ** Solomon Islands ** New Caledonia ** Benin ** Moldova ** Cook Islands **

Change in ranking

Points

1 5 2 2 9 -3 3 -4 0 -2 1 -1 1 1 1 1 2 2 -1

1344 1334 1330 1329 1329 1318 1316 1314 1313 1310 1309 1302 1283 1273 1269 1257 1236 1235 1231 1206 1193 1191 1191 1184 1182 1177 1154 1152 1152 1146 1145 1136 1108 1106 1104 1100 1096 1090 1020 1000 987 979 955 955 948 942 931 873 870 864 849 838 836 825 768 758 736 1665 1509 1484 1476 1450 1430 1341 1339 1316 1306 1294 1256 1238 1238 1226 1195 1188 1187 1177 1170

0 0 2 2 -2 -1 0 2 -2 -2 -1 -1 -1 0 0 0 0 2 -2 -1

-2 -1 0 0 0 -1 -1 -1

-2

Rank Team

Change in ranking

Points

Vanuatu ** Angola ** Congo DR ** Bahamas ** Samoa ** Armenia ** American Samoa ** Guinea ** St. Lucia ** Eritrea ** Gabon ** Grenada ** Uganda ** Sri Lanka ** Pakistan ** Guinea-Bissau ** Syria ** Dominica ** Afghanistan ** Iraq ** British Virgin Islands ** Malawi ** Curaçao ** Bhutan ** Sierra Leone * Burkina Faso * Barbados * Rwanda * Liberia * US Virgin Islands * Kenya * Comoros * Turks and Caicos Islands *

1139 1134 1132 1111 1110 1104 1075 1063 1061 1060 1031 1029 965 965 937 927 927 906 899 882 867 840 831 785 1132 1038 997 996 877 852 816 761 704

** Inactive for more than 18 months and therefore not ranked. * Provisionally listed due to not having played more than five matches against officially ranked teams.

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First Love

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Place: Aelggi Alp, Sw itzerland Date: 16 June 2012 Time: 2.35 p.m.

Urs Flueeler/Keystone

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Developing football everywhere and for all

Organising inspiring tournaments

Caring about society and the environment

For the Game. For the World.

FIFA is committed to developing football for the benefit of all. Our mission is to: Develop the game FIFA’s primary objective is to develop the game of football in our 209 member associations. The FIFA World Cup™ gives us the resources we need to invest USD 550,000 per day in football development across the globe.

Touch the world FIFA’s aim is to touch the world through its international football competitions and events, uniting and inspiring people everywhere.

FIFA.com

Build a better future Football is much more than just a game. Its universal appeal gives it a unique power and reach which must be managed carefully. FIFA believes it has a duty to society that goes beyond football.

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PRESIDENTIAL NOTE

FIFA.com users voice their opinions on what could be done to make football matches safer: A set of firm rules must always be implemented to protect players from reckless challenges/tackles that could endanger players’ careers. Players and coaches from the grassroots level all the way to the top must be encouraged to respect each other and respect the referees and the match officials.

The rule of three substitutions per match must be re-analysed when dealing with special cases such as head injuries. Finally, the clubs and football federations must actively educate the supporters regarding the danger of throwing objects into the pitch.

Linesmen should be given the power to tell the referee to give red or yellow cards for heavy tackles and misbehaviour. Before giving a card the referee should ask the opinion of the linesman and should respect and respond to what the assistant says. After the match is over, the referee and linesmen should discuss the discipline of the players and if there were any dangerous tackles, misbehaviour or racism in that match the referee and linesmen should be given the right to ban the player for at least five matches.

SUPERKIA1459, Indonesia

Build bigger stadiums and restrict the size of the crowds. xbeasty007, England

“Punishments should be lifelong.”

The rules for punishing offenders should be more flexible and punishments should be lifelong. Not only would these measures help in removing racists, neo-Nazis, homophobes, perpetrators of violence, rioters and hooligans, they would also scare those who intend to spoil the world’s most beautiful game. Just enjoy what’s happening on the field, guys. Of course football is fantastic, but in the end it’s just a game …

GioGyan, Laos

MOHAMEDFAIZA, India

All stadiums must pass quality controls including construction, security, crowd-control management, emergency procedures etc. Constant dialogue must be conducted regularly between the representatives of the football federations, the clubs and the supporters. This is important to ensure matches are safe for everybody to attend.

Agafur, Indonesia

Learn from England! sa’id17, Iran

Just as football is a standard-bearer of hope and transcends borders, it can also be a vehicle for violence and fanaticism. The most important thing is never to forget the boundary between the greatest game in the world and politics. Passion should never be blind and frenzied. If it is, even the safest stadium won’t help. tablenight99, Germany

We have to be realistic and accept a football match isn’t what it once was. Organising a tournament demands new security concepts and more rigorous measures. Organisation makes the difference! nael73, Belgium

“Of course football is fantastic, but in the end it's just a game.”

We must not look the other way

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he death of Cameroonian Albert Ebossé on 23 August 2014 in Algeria is one of the bleakest chapters in football. There are basically no appropriate words for this tragedy, and yet we must try and find the words, because the biggest mistake would be not to talk about it.

Time and time again, football has been shaken by appalling catastrophes: Lima 1964, Moscow 1982, Heysel 1985 and Hillsborough 1989 were black moments. Apart from the tragedy itself, these incidents had other things in common: they were attributable to organisational deficiencies and errors of judgement by security personnel. They also caused football to look itself in the mirror and triggered many far-reaching changes.

This finding is no consolation to the victims and the bereaved. It might even sound cynical, and this includes the case of Albert Ebossé. But we owe it to the player to learn lessons from this incident and to resolutely call all those involved to account.

Potential dangers must be identified not just at but in the vicinity of the stadium. If there are no rocks or iron bars lying around they will never find their way into the stands.

I therefore appeal to all the authorities involved – the associations, clubs, spectators, security forces and police – and call for a strong and coordinated response.

However, prevention begins at an earlier stage, because football reflects society, and we can actively contribute to improving this society by not looking the other way. Instead we must set a good example and demonstrate social skills. We owe this not only to Albert Ebossé and his family, but also sport as a whole and our game of football.

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

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EGYPT

Overjoyed Hassan Shehata celebrates the first of his three Africa Cup of Nations triumphs in 2006 following a 4-2 penalty shoot-out victory over Côte d'Ivoire in Cairo.

Egypt narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 2014 World Cup. Despite the national team boasting several talented players, the Pharaohs find themselves in a difficult situation. The Port Said tragedy of 2012, when 70 football fans lost their lives, and domestic political unrest have taken their toll. We spoke to coaching legend Hassan Shehata about the Egyptian game.

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Karim Jaafar / AFP Photo

“We came up with solutions together”

EGYPT

Horror-struck Al-Ahly supporters outside the club grounds after 21 people were sentenced to death by an Egyptian court (9 March 2013).

Hassan Shehata, you have won major titles both as a player and a coach. What drives you on nowadays?

Hassan Shehata: I have to work, I need it, although I sometimes have the feeling that I’ve done enough. I simply have to be out on the pitch, I can’t be without a ball.

Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters

You are still a striker.

I hope so. Yes, I’m still a goalscorer. I like to join in whenever there’s a game, whether it’s with the team I’m coaching, with my children or grandchildren. I like playing football with anyone, I love it.

But now your main role is as coach, and you have been very successful.

I’m a coach, yes. I had other offers in football but I still prefer training a team to anything else.

At the start of the season you accepted an offer from Moroccan side El Jadida and kicked off the new campaign with a goalless draw away to Renaissance de Berkane.

At El Jadida, a city which is close to Medina, I’m trying to improve on last season’s fifth-placed finish. I want to be successful and I’m doing everything I can so that we play as a team and have good quality. There’s still a lot of work to do though. A coach is one hand, so to speak, but he needs the other hand, the team itself, in order to be successful.

The championship only began in September this year because Morocco will host the Africa Cup of Nations, a tournament you have good memories of with Egypt after winning the title in 2006, 2008 and 2010.

A lot of hard work went into that and a few intermediate targets had to be reached

first. The most important thing was that the Egyptian people got behind the team, regardless of whether they were normally supporters of Al-Ahli, Zamalek or Ismailija. I knew that in order to achieve anything we needed to have every Egyptian behind us, but it wasn’t easy. It was only when we started winning matches that we received the necessary support. People started believing in the team and that in turn gave the players a boost. There would be 100,000 fans in the stadium and they were all waving flags.

So togetherness was the key to success?

People in Egypt asked themselves what I had done to make the national team so successful. I just wanted everyone to get behind the team and their coach. That was only possible when people felt Hassan Shehata was working for the team and for his T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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EGYPT

Name Hassan Shehata Date and place of birth 19 June 1949, Kafr el-Dawwar (Egypt) Position as a player Striker Clubs played for 1967–1968, 1971–1983 al Zamalek SC 1968–1971 Kazma SC (Kuwait) Selected clubs coached 1983–1985, 2011–2012 al Zamalek SC 2004–2011 Egyptian national team since 2014 El Jadida (Morocco)

As a former striker do you put extra emphasis on attacking play?

You know, Egypt weren’t necessarily the best team in Africa. We had to come up with a strategy out on the pitch but to do that it wasn’t a case of me telling the side what they needed to do in our training sessions. Instead, I spoke to the players and together we came up with solutions. We debated things and wanted to find out what would work best for us. I’m no dictator; I talk to my players. I

believe that is a vital component of achieving success.

Egypt missed out on qualifying for the 2014 World Cup after losing the play-offs to Ghana, who are 38th in the FIFA Rankings. When will the country manage to reach a World Cup again?

Egypt have a good team. They won all their qualifying matches and perhaps were a bit over-confident in the play-off with Ghana.

We have a lot of good players but due to the political situation in the country, training and friendly matches have become harder for the national team over the last three or four years.

“I’m no dictator; I talk to my players.”

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There was also the tragedy in 2012 when over 70 fans lost their lives in Port Said. Since then games in Egypt have been played behind closed doors, although occasionally exceptions are made for the national team, such as for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against Tunisia later this month. Given that backdrop, do young people still show an interest in the game?

That’s what’s missing in Egypt. Player development isn’t coordinated closely enough.

There isn’t enough cooperation between the youth teams, the Olympic side and the national team. They don’t support each other.

On top of that we don’t exactly have many players who are at European clubs, compared to Ghana, Cameroon and Ivory Coast for example. Those countries have almost their entire squad at European sides. So before we can even start thinking about a sophisticated playing style we need to work on our players, on honing technique.

How are young players trained in Egypt?

The youth system still isn’t very good.

We discover talented players at lower league

imago

country, rather than just for his own benefit.

The players and I tried to give our all for our country. People could sense that and they gave us tremendous support.

EGYPT

Title hat-trick Hassan Shehata’s side following their success at the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations.

clubs, give them a contract and train them at a better club. But there’s huge competition for places because in the top two divisions there are a lot of foreign players. However, another reason why gifted Egyptian players don’t make it to Europe is that they lack the necessary desire to go all the way.

I needed to change something during the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations semi-final against Senegal. I took Mido off the pitch and seconds later his replacement Amr Zaki scored with his first touch of the ball. If he hadn’t done so I would have looked foolish but I felt it was the right thing to do, so I did it. Our success proved me right. Å

So it all comes down to ambition?

Yes, and us Egyptians also prefer to live with our families than to live abroad by ourselves.

Barry Aldworth / Keystone / PA

The same is true for the majority of players around the world.

It’s especially deep-rooted for us. That said, a few have made it, such as Hossam Hassan, Hani Ramzi, and Mohamed Zidan in the Bundesliga and Mohamed Salah, who was in Switzerland and is now at Chelsea.

Hassan Shehata was speaking to Perikles Monioudis

Eg y p t ia n F oo t b a l l A s s oc ia t io n Founded: 1921 FIFA member since: 1923 Confederation: CAF President: Mohamed Gamal Official website: www.efa.com.eg World Cup appearances: 1934, 1990 African champions: 1957, 1959, 1986, 1998, 2006, 2008, 2010 Registered players: 52,110 Number of clubs: 608

During a game you once had an altercation with Mido, who used to play for Ajax, Celta Vigo, Marseille, Roma and Tottenham Hotspur before coaching top Egyptian side Zamalek for a year.

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

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

IN BRIEF

“ALS Ice Bucket Challenge” Rio Ferdinand gets involved.

I

sat there like a drowned rat as the bucket was hoisted over my head as both of my kids – one in a Stefano Borgonovo shirt, the other wearing the name of Johan Cruyff, Stefano’s favourite player – cheered. The ‘ALS Ice Bucket Challenge’, in which a bucket full of freezing water is poured over the challenger’s head, has been all the rage recently. From George Bush, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg to Mario Gotze and Cristiano Ronaldo, prominent public figures across the globe have gone along with the trend in the hope that ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), an incurable and largely unresearched neurodegenerative disease, can soon be tackled once and for all. Borgonovo, once a European Cup winner with AC Milan, died in 2013 after an eight-year struggle with the condition. Ex-1860 Munich striker Bernd Geesdorf passed away two years after his diagnosis, while former Rangers star Fernando Ricksen is another former footballer now battling this dreadful disease. Once diagnosed, sufferers have a life expectancy of one to three years. As a prime example of a viral Internet hit, the ‘ALS Ice Bucket Challenge’ has prompted much discussion among media experts, but for ALS patients the campaign simply offers a unique opportunity to draw attention to this terrible illness and thus increase public awareness. “I feel like a crusader for the unknown,” Borgonovo once said. “Something just has to be done. Ignorance doesn’t help, it just isolates.” That fact alone makes the cold shower worthwhile. Å Bernd Fisa

imago

E

lton John once set a footballing trend as chairman of Watford; Robbie Williams took to the sporting stage as the main shareholder of Port Vale; fellow musician Fatboy Slim lent more than just his voice to Brighton & Hove Albion, while two months ago English teen idol Louis Tomlinson bought his beloved club Doncaster Rovers.

Meanwhile, SG Sonnenhof Grossaspach are also striking the right note on the continent. Tracing its roots to an amateur team founded by local hotelier Uli Ferber in 1976, this provincial club from southwest Germany has since climbed to the country’s third tier and turned professional. In sporting terms, the team with the league’s smallest budget is somewhere in the middle of the pack, but when it comes to rubbing shoulders with pop stars, Sonnenhof top the table.

Ferber’s partner is German singer Andrea Berg, whose tunes explore feelings every football fan knows all too well – everything from desperate longing and adoration to emotional highs and lows. She has taken the charts by storm and has more golden accolades to show off than all German footballers put together. When she crossed the divide between music and sport to give a fundraising concert at Grossaspach’s stadium recently, the club had to increase capacity from 10,000 to 15,000 seats, and unlike in football (and real life), the spectators knew exactly what they were in for. After all, the sun always shines in the pop business, and a happy ending is guaranteed. Å Thomas Renggli

T

he Champions League may only begin in eleven days’ time in Europe but in Asia the competition is already in the final straight.

That was enough to trigger a flutter of panic among defending champions Guangzhou ahead of the quarter-final return legs last week. The Chinese outfit have the biggest budget in the competition, boast Alberto Gilardino in attack and have Marcello Lippi as coach, but they still lost 1-0 to Western Sydney Wanderers in the first leg.

According to Australian media reports, that led to a campaign being started to make life as uncomfortable as possible for the Wanderers in China prior to the return fixture. There are said to have been persistent telephone calls during the night and loud banging on the players’ bedroom doors. 30-year-old right-back Shannon Cole even claimed the team were involved in a staged traffic accident: “On the way to the stadium a car deliberately cut us off and caused a crash.

Fortunately a replacement bus came within five minutes.” Despite winning the match 2-1, Guanghzou, who are backed by Chinese internet giant Alibaba, crashed out of the competition to the Australian underdogs on the away goals rule. World Cup winning coach Lippi had been sent to the stands for abusive language shortly before the final whistle in the first leg. The Wanderers, meanwhile, have their sights set on reaching the Club World Cup in Morocco, but first face FC Seoul in the semi-finals. Å Nicola Berger T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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XX. Monat 2013

English edition

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F I F A ’ S 11

Teams with the most wins at the U-20 Women’s World Cup

Humility in victory Perikles Monioudis

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he stadium was a sell-out as Germany and Argentina took to the pitch for their match.

The teams exchanged goalscoring opportunities, and then Argentina scored first. Clearly we are not talking about the 2014 World Cup Final in Rio de Janeiro, when Germany netted the only goal of the match in extra time to get their hands on the World Cup Trophy. Instead, seven-and-a-half weeks later the action continued in Dusseldorf where, despite having some promising chances in the early stages thanks in large part to Mario Gomez, the new world champions were forced to accept a 1-0 deficit.

They then quickly conceded second and third goals – and even a fourth.

Although the overall performance could not reasonably be compared to Die Mannschaft’s 7-1 thrashing of hosts Brazil in the World Cup semi-final, it called to mind the moment in that fateful game when it appeared that the proud Brazilian team were trapped in a downward spiral while practically every move the eventual champions created ended with another goal. Eventually, an air of humility settled over the Germans in that match; embarrassed by their ability to take a 5-0 lead into the half-time break, they dropped back sufficiently far in the second half to ensure that victory was never under threat while refusing to heap extra humiliation on an opponent so clearly indisposed that evening.

Humility was once again a factor in Argentina’s 4-2 win over Joachim Low’s side in the World Cup Final rematch in Dusseldorf, but not because La Albiceleste, playing without the recuperating Lionel Messi, lost the urge to push forward after scoring their fourth goal. Instead it could be argued that Germany played this rematch with the same mindset as in the latter

stages of that memorable semi-final. Having beaten Argentina in the “first half” – the World Cup Final in Rio, in this case – they limited themselves to being polite hosts in the “second half” at the Dusseldorf rematch, just as they had been polite guests in the latter stages of that 7-1 victory. After all, the fans had already given world champions Philipp Lahm, Miroslav Klose and Per Mertesacker a rousing send-off from the national team before the game, all the while applauded by the visiting South Americans. The mood was certainly one of celebration as Germany played in front of a home crowd for the first time since their World Cup triumph, even though only four of the starting line-up held the Trophy aloft in Rio. Then again, when it comes to humility, victory and adopting the right mindset, perhaps coach Joachim Low and his team were simply already focused on their upcoming match against Scotland and the start of their qualifying campaign for EURO 2016 in France. Å

The weekly column by our staff writers

1

29 wins Germany Matches played: 40 Goals scored: 112

2

28 wins USA Matches played: 38 Goals scored: 86

3

17 wins Korea DPR Matches played: 26 Goals scored: 64

4

14 wins Nigeria Matches played: 33 Goals scored: 57

5

13 wins Brazil Matches played: 31 Goals scored: 52

6

11 wins Canada Matches played: 23 Goals scored: 50

11 wins France Matches played: 22 Goals scored: 41

8

10 wins China PR Matches played: 21 Goals scored: 29

9

9 wins Japan Matches played: 17 Goals scored: 34

10

8 wins Korea Republic Matches played: 17 Goals scored: 25

11

4 wins Mexico Matches played: 20 Goals scored: 28

Source: FIFA (U-20 Women’s World Cup all-time ranking, 25 August 2014) T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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MIRROR IMAGE

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Filbert Street, Leicester, England

1965

Chris Morphet / Redferns / Getty Images

Leicester City keeper Gordon Banks apprehends a pitch invader.

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MIRROR IMAGE

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Arena Thun, Thun, Switzerland

2013

Marcel Bieri / Keystone

A pine marten struggles in the clutches of FC Zurich’s Loris Benito during a league fixture.

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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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

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

→ http://www.fifa.com/worldranking/index.html

Change in ranking Points

0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0

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

04 / 2014

05 / 2014

06 / 2014

07 / 2014

08 / 2014

1 -41 -83 -125 -167 -209

78 79 80 81 81 83 84 85 86 87 88 88 90 91 92 93 93 95 95 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 107 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 115 117 118 119 120 120 122 123 124 124 126 127 128 129 129 131 131 133 134 134 136 137 138 139 140 140 142 143 144

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

NET ZER KNOWS!

THE OBJEC T

Should club owners be allowed to interfere in coaching matters?

Question from Brandon Bloom, Toronto

Perikles Monioudis

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Günter Netzer in training ahead of a friendly in January 1973.

imago, FIFA Sammlung

F

or a club to be successful, several elements have to come together. One such factor is the role of the owner. As the head of the “organisation”, he bears the burden of responsibility and lays the foundations for success. Usually, a chairman or president knows the areas he has to steer clear of. One of these is everything that falls under the remit of the coach.

In this day and age, there are plenty of owners who invest a lot of money in a football club. They want to see results and indeed are entitled to do so. But their impatience and passion can be counterproductive. You often read or hear about owners having a go at their team or even their coach following a poor result. That is quite unacceptable. A coach’s

authority must never be undermined. It’s detrimental to both the team and the club.

A chairman who turns up in the changing rooms when a team isn’t performing well on the pitch is overstepping the mark. On no account should a coach have to tolerate such actions. They’re degrading and demeaning. In such a situation, the coach should do the honourable thing and clear his desk. Å

et’s lace up our boots, lads! This hearty cry sounds a trifle archaic, even if most football boots do still require laces. However, the heavy leather clodhoppers of yesteryear have vanished for good. The latest boots weigh practically nothing and are so pliable and (as it were) cuddly, that they are virtually worn like gloves.

Nowadays, no-one would dream of taking a brightly-coloured, ultra light and highly supple football boot on and off with the help of a lacing tool. The example pictured above and drawn from the FIFA collection is a little over 100 years old, made of brass and decorated at the top end with a foot kicking a ball.

The bottom end is bent into a hook for manoeuvring the bootlace between the holes and allowing the laces to be loosened or tightened.

A lacing tool like this would surely have been a de rigueur personal accessory for anyone who fancied himself a bit as a player. We can easily imagine the received wisdom at the time: a perfectly laced-up boot made the wearer a better and more capable player.

At the very least the player could no longer roll out the excuse that his footwear had let him down at the critical moment, when poised to shoot for example. The player had only himself to blame if he wasn’t good enough, because it could not have been the fault of his boots.

For its part, this fact might have led to the player genuinely getting better, presumably afraid that his personal failings were now clearly demonstrable. A lacing tool for today’s game? Bring it on! Å

What have you always wanted to know about football? Ask Gunter Netzer: feedback-theweekly@fifa.org T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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Years of phenomenal growth FIFA decided to stage the first FIFA Women’s World Cup™ in 1991 (China PR) to give the best female players in world football the opportunity to play on a world stage, thus marking a milestone for the growth of women’s football all around the globe. Around half a million spectators attended the matches. Since then, the women’s game has taken huge strides forward in every aspect, whether in terms of the players’ technique, physical fitness and tactics, or the media coverage, TV viewers and sponsorship interest.

One of the pillars of FIFA’s mission is to touch the world through our tournaments. We take great pride in staging these entertaining and unique festivals of football across the globe.

The FIFA Women’s World Cup™ is a shining example of our commitment to ensuring that women’s football goes from strength to strength in the future.

TURNING POINT

“My World Cup goal was both a blessing and a curse” Jurgen Sparwasser scored the only goal of the game in East Germany’s victory over their western neighbours at the 1974 World Cup, ultimately prompting his defection to the West.

Alex Kraus / laif

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ast Germany’s only World Cup appearance came in 1974, where we were drawn against West Germany, of all teams, in the first group stage. It was a fantastic draw that we needed a while to digest.

The West Germans had a score to settle with us after the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, when they lost 3-2 to us in the second round despite Ottmar Hitzfeld’s headed goal.

I was on an emotional high going into the 1974 World Cup, having just won the East German championship with 1. FC Magdeburg before ­beating AC Milan in the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup. We faced Helmut Schon’s side in Hamburg in our third and final World Cup group match. We ­weren’t put under any pressure by the DDR regime before the game and all the talk about a Bruderkampf with East and West fighting for their ­nation’s honour was total rubbish.

The longer the score stayed at 0-0, the more restless the Hamburg crowd became. In the 78th minute, my team-mate Erich Hamann knocked a long diagonal pass in my direction, with the West German defensive bastion of

Berti Vogts, Bernd Cullmann, Horst-Dieter Hottges and goalkeeper Sepp Maier lying in wait ahead of me. Despite their numerical ­advantage, I threw myself into the throng with the intention of bringing the ball down on my chest, but instead I caught it on my nose. ­A lthough I was briefly startled, I benefited from the ball’s unexpected change of direction and suddenly found myself with only Maier to beat. I feinted a shot, paused, waited until he hit the deck and then chipped the ball over him and into the net. That goal proved to be the difference in our match against the eventual world champions. For helping us qualify for the next round, I received a bonus of 2,500 West German marks. I later learned this was the smallest amount any of our players received, something that galls me to this day.

The goal was both a blessing and a curse for me and changed my life forever. It made me famous and anointed me a national hero in the DDR. It was one of the best goals I ever scored; even Franz Beckenbauer said it was a textbook strike. I received offers from some of the Bundes­liga’s top clubs, not including Bayern Munich, but I did not want to leave my wife and daughter behind in East Germany under any circumstances. Yet the goal was also the trigger for our eventual escape. After my playing ­career ended in 1979, I turned my attention to academic pursuits at Magdeburg’s teacher training college and planned to submit a ­doctoral thesis relating to football. On several occasions during that period, party officials tried to force me to become the coach of

Name Jurgen Sparwasser Date and place of birth 4 June 1948, Halberstadt Position Striker Clubs played for SC Aufbau Magdeburg / 1. FC Magdeburg 1966–1979 East Germany (DDR) national team 53 caps, 15 goals

1. FC Magdeburg, thinking that I was the right person for the job because of my goal against West Germany, but I always turned it down for family reasons. As a result, I was abruptly ­excluded from a research project at the university, while doctoral seminars I was meant to be involved with were cancelled without comment. I could forget any hopes I had of submitting my dissertation. At 40, I could no longer see any future in East Germany.

Amazingly, a lack of vigilance from the ­authorities meant my wife and I were able to travel to the West at the same time in January 1988. I played for Magdeburg’s veterans’ team in Saarbrücken and then defected. We didn’t want to go back after reunification, and I eventually found fulfilment by working in youth football in Frankfurt am Main. My brief spell in charge of second-tier side Darmstadt 98 in the early 1990s showed that I was not suited to coaching a top-flight professional team. My health suffered considerably, though luckily with no lasting effects. Å As told to Peter Eggenberger

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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Connecting every fan of the game Make new friends and discover shared passions in the Emirates A380 Onboard Lounge.

#AllTimeGreats youtube.com/emirates

Hello Tomorrow

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

Clubs who don’t mention their home and the original “supremo” – test your knowledge!

1

A handful of outstanding sporting personalities have acquired the label “supremo”, but who is the original “supremo”?

President: Joseph S. Blatter Secretary General: Jérôme Valcke Director of Communications and Public Affairs: Walter De Gregorio Chief Editor: Perikles Monioudis Staff Writers: Alan Schweingruber, Sarah Steiner

B

2

H

M

R

This reminds us of which World Cup?

Art Direction: Catharina Clajus

E 1958 O 1986 H 1970 R 2002

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

3

Whose headquarters are named after a date?

Proof Reader: Nena Morf, Kristina Rotach Contributors: Sérgio Xavier Filho, Luigi Garlando, Sven Goldmann, Hanspeter Kuenzler, Jordi Punti, David Winner, Roland Zorn Contributors to this Issue: Nicola Berger, Peter Eggenberger, Mark Gleeson, Giovanni Marti, Thomas Renggli, Andreas Wilhelm Editorial Assistant: Honey Thaljieh Project Management: Bernd Fisa, Christian Schaub Translation: Sportstranslations Limited www.sportstranslations.com

A

4

I

O

R

Real Madrid come from Madrid, obviously. But where will you find a dozen or so professional football clubs none of which mention the home city in their name?

D Turin R London M Montevideo X Johannesburg

Printer: Zofinger Tagblatt AG www.ztonline.ch 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 YARD Detailed answers on www.fifa.com/theweekly Inspiration and implementation: cus

Send your answer by 10 September 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

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A S K T H E W E E K LY

T HIS WEEK’S POLL

In the Champions League play-offs, defender Cosmin Moti ended the match in goal for Ludogorets Razgrad, but has a goalkeeper ever taken over from an outfield player during a match?

Samuel Lehmann, Lemington Yes, although only very rarely. In the first-ever recorded international fixture between Scotland and England in 1872, keeper Robert Barker and striker William Maynard swapped positions in the second half. Barker had only been named keeper due to his huge frame and his background as a rugby player. Some 133 years later, something similar happened in the Premier League when Manchester City played Middlesbrough: for the last few minutes, City midfielder Claudio Reyna was replaced by backup keeper Nicky Weaver, and firstchoice keeper David James was ordered up front. It was all in vain as City failed to snatch a winning goal. “I confused everyone – our opponents, and us as well,” commented City boss Stuart Pearce. (thr)

Which of these previous winners was drawn into the most difficult 2014/15 UEFA Champions League group?

Make your choice from the following: · Bayern Munich · Benfica · Porto · Juventus · Chelsea · Borussia Dortmund Cast your votes 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 AFC Champions League in 2014?

82% � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � Al-Hilal, Saudi Arabia 9% � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � FC Seoul, Korea Republic 5% � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates 4% � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � Western Sydney Wanderers, Australia

250

league goals was the career

landmark reached by Zlatan

2

Ibrahimovic on Sunday.

goals up was the

goal and one own goal contri-

The Paris Saint-Germain star

position from which

buted by teenager Tin Jedvaj to

arrived at this milestone

Real Madrid crashed

Bayer Leverkusen’s match with

after scoring a hat-trick

to a 4-2 defeat at Real

Hertha Berlin on Saturday.

– his sixth for the French

Sociedad on Sunday. It was

Fortunately for the Croatian

club – in a thumping

the first time in over eight

5-0 victory over

years – since a 4-3 defeat

­Saint-Etienne. The win

at Sevilla in May 2006 –

4-2 win and consigned Hertha to

was PSG’s tenth in 11

that the Spanish giants

their 400th Bundesliga defeat in

home Ligue 1 matches

had gone on to lose

the process.

this year.

after being two up.

youngster, his strike at the right end helped Leverkusen to a

imago (3), Getty Images

1

WEEK IN NUMBERS