The FIFA Weekly Issue #48

ISSUE 48, 19 SEPTEMBER 2014

ENGLISH EDITION

Fédération Internationale de Football Association – Since 1904

Inside

redancard d yellow card

AZERBAIJAN NEFTCI PESEKAR’S AMBITIONS BRUCE GROBBELAAR A FATEFUL BUS RIDE IN YAOUNDÉ SEPP BLATTER FIFA AND THE UN UNITE AGAINST EBOLA

Careers without red cards

GENTLEMEN

W W W.FIFA.COM/ THEWEEKLY

THIS WEEK IN THE WORLD OF FOOTBALL

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Sepp Blatter The FIFA President discusses responsibilities and duties in the face of the Ebola epidemic.

“A response is needed from the entire international community, and from football too,” he says in his weekly column. “In partnership with the UN, FIFA is actively involved in the battle against the disease.”

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Gunter Netzer Our columnist does not believe a team would deliberately play badly to undermine their own coach, “because professional morals would not permit it.”

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North and Central America 35 members www.concacaf.com

The cards When the referee reaches for his pocket, it usually means a player is about to see a yellow or red card. But why those colours? And how did Gary Lineker manage to get through an entire career without once seeing a yellow let alone a red card? Jordi Punti on the history of the colour-coded disciplinary system.

South America 10 members www.conmebol.com

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Gordon Banks At the 1970 World Cup the England number one became the first keeper to wear gloves all the way through the tournament.

Bruce Grobbelaar The Liverpool goalkeeping legend never remotely considered the possibility of coaching until he became caught up in a conversation on a bus.

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New York Cosmos Marcos Senna and his team-mates are aiming to play Major League Soccer as soon as possible.

Gentlemen Our cover shows Welshman Ryan Giggs, who was never shown a straight red card in his career.

Mario Wagner (cover illustration)

Getty Images (2)

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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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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Azerbaijan Neftschi and their Brazilian talisman Flavinho are gunning for a tenth domestic league title.

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imago (1), Sabir Cebrayilov / pfl.az (1)

Fairness In his 20-year career, Spanish striker Raul never once saw a red card.

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

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UNCOVERED

The early bath

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he idea of yellow and red cards came to enthusiastic and committed referee Ken Aston while he waited at a set of traffic lights in London. That was a long time ago, and bookings and sendings-off are nowadays as much a part of the game as the ball and the goalposts. On page 6, Jordi Punti examines the history of the coloured disciplinary cards and names the players who would make it into a “fairest players club”.

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n page 24 we look at the reasons why a keeper playing with his bare hands would stand no chance whatsoever in the modern game. Gordon Banks was the first man to play an entire World Cup wearing gloves back in 1970, although this now essential accessory resembled a piece of gardening equipment at the time, as we document in pictures. n his weekly column, Sepp Blatter considers the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. “Africa’s fate concerns us all,” the FIFA President writes on page 23. “We must make our contribution towards helping those affected. And thanks to its strong appeal, football can give a great deal.” Å

Mario Wagner

Alan Schweingruber

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Ryan Giggs The only red he ever saw was the colour of his kit.

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WHEN RED MEANS GO A sending-off can change the entire course of a match, which is why clubs value players who not only know how to play good football but also are unlikely to let down the team in a moment of poor judgement.

Jordi Punti (text), Mario Wagner (illustrations)

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er Mertesacker recently announced his retirement from Germany’s national team. Given that he is only 29 years old, this appears to have been a carefully-considered decision. He explained that he wanted to make room for a new generation of defenders and was able to bow out having just lifted the World Cup Trophy on Brazilian soil. His cameo appearance in the Final against Argentina was the perfect conclusion to a ten-year international career.

Mertesacker made his debut for Die Mannschaft under Jurgen Klinsmann’s watchful eye in 2004, going on to win 104 caps and score four goals in the ensuing decade. The Arsenal player has one more remarkable statistic to his name: throughout all his years in a Germany shirt, Mertesacker was never dismissed from the field of play and picked up just one yellow card. His near-spotless record is all the more impressive when you consider that he is a central defender.

At the end of their careers, very few defensive players can claim never to have been sent to the dressing room for an early bath. When you also take into account that Mertesacker has only been dismissed three times in his entire club career – twice while at Werder Bremen and once since arriving in North London – it soon becomes apparent that the lofty German is a prime candidate for any ’Fair Play XI’.

Footballing history is awash with players who have left their mark for all kinds of different reasons, but the Fair Play sticker album includes only a few precious images. Heightened competition, a growing number of players, the increasing physical demands of the sport and ever-stricter referees are all factors threatening the existence of a rare species of footballers with impressive disciplinary records. These figures rarely emerge in statistics when assessing the success of an individual’s T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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his professional career, his status as a member of the 'Fair Play Club' is assured. This illustrious list could easily also contain Argentina’s Hernan Crespo, Parma’s most-capped player and now a youth coach at the Italian club. Crespo played in several different leagues including those of England, Italy and Argentina, and was never given his marching orders – a fitting tribute to a striker renowned for his fantastic positional play and spatial awareness.

Fair to the end England legend Gary Lineker was never sent off or even booked during his career.

career, despite the fact that they are just as vital as the number of goals scored or penalties saved.

Raul the mediator One good example is Spaniard Raul Gonzalez, who spent 16 years at Real Madrid before playing for Schalke 04 and Qatari side Al Sadd, and did not receive a single red card in his 20year career. The referees’ technical committee in Spain congratulated him for this achievement, naming him a “Role Model for Sportsmanship” and

thanking him for an “attitude of communication rather than confrontation”. He played 1,031 times during his professional career, scoring 456 goals along the way.

Another very similar instance is that of Welshman Ryan Giggs. Just like Raul, Giggs finally hung up his football boots this summer at the age of 40 and without ever having a straight red card brandished in his direction. He was sent off just once while on international duty for committing two bookable offences. Given that he spent an incredible 45,495 minutes on the pitch during

The card system was the brainchild of renowned British referee Ken Aston.

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Gary Lineker, Mr Fair Play Without a doubt the most formidable member of the Fair Play Club is England’s Gary Lineker, who has never been shown a single card in his entire life, not even a yellow. Between 1978 and 1994, Lineker made 546 competitive appearances, scoring 291 goals. He won the Golden Boot at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico but will perhaps be best remembered in the footballing world for never having been cautioned. This almost impossible achievement earned him FIFA’s Fair Play Award in 1990, since when he has forged a career as an exemplary sports broadcaster.

Looking back through videos of his matches, Lineker always appears to be a fully committed player who never stops chasing down the ball – a predator in the penalty box who went about his work with a distinctive enthusiasm and ease. “An important aspect of football is trying to behave and trying to play fair,” he once explained in an interview. “I think it’s about learning not to get provoked and not reacting in the wrong way. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with trying to achieve some sort of winning mentality. At the same time, not everyone can win and it’s a question of how you deal with it when you don’t.”

The red card has become iconic, something we frequently refer to in everyday life.

“Show Racism the Red Card” and “Red Card to Child Labour” are two specific initiatives using this symbol to raise awareness, not to mention the countless other ways in which

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A traffic light in London gave Aston the idea of red and yellow cards, an idea he then submitted to the FIFA Referees Committee.

the expression is used, both in banal and more significant situations.

But how did it all get started, and why is the red card red anyway? The history of cards in football is not a particularly long one when you consider that they were only introduced at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. The system was the brainchild of renowned British referee Ken Aston. Born in 1915, Aston worked as an English teacher and qualified as a referee in 1936. Reports suggest that he was also the first referee to wear the black uniform with a white collar that later became mandatory for all match officials (originally, referees wore a white shirt, golf trousers and a sports jacket). Known for his strong character, Aston was keen to change the way in which fair play was evaluated in football.

His inimitable style immediately set him apart from other match officials and enabled him to rise through the ranks to ultimately become chair of the FIFA Referees’ Committee.

1962 highlights need for change It is worth bearing in mind that there were still no cards in football at this point in time. Referees warned players verbally and dismissed them from the pitch in the event of any further rule infringements. Spectators only realised what was happening when a player began his long despondent or irate walk towards the tunnel.

Despite this system, games occasionally descended into chaos. At the 1962 World Cup, Ken Aston oversaw the encounter between hosts Chile and Italy, a match deemed risky even before kick-off thanks to the Chilean press’s efforts to whip the country into a frenzy.

The match ended with a 2-0 win for the hosts but was later dubbed the “Battle of Santiago” by a British television commentator.

Looking back at images from that day, it seems incredible that nobody ended up in hospital. The fouls were tantamount to assault, fights broke out almost every time players squared up to one another and vengeance

Honoured Raul was named a “Role Model for Sportsmanship” in Spain.

was immediately sought for every overzealous tackle.

Headbutting, punching and spitting was rampant.

Aston ran around frantically in an attempt to separate players and calm tempers, and sent off Italian players Mario David and Giorgio Ferrini, the latter of whom had to be led away

by Chilean police after refusing to leave the pitch. In another incident, Chile’s Leonel Sanchez broke Humberto Maschio’s nose with a left hook, but the referee did not spot it and Sanchez stayed on the field. Years later, Aston remarked: “I wasn’t

reffing a football match, I was acting as an umpire in military manoeuvres.”

In light of this infamous footballing conflict and a number of contentious incidents in other matches, Aston saw the necessity of introducing a clear visual system that could be easily understood by players and spectators alike.

While waiting at a traffic light in London, he came upon the idea of using a yellow card as a symbol for issuing players with their first warning and a red card to indicate their dismissal from the pitch. Aston presented

In 2000, Lee Todd was sent off for remarking on the volume of the whistle when the referee signalled for kick-off.

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The World Cup with the greatest number of red cards was Germany 2006, with 28 dismissals.

National team stalwart Per Mertesacker was cautioned just once in 104 games for Germany.

his idea to the FIFA Referees Committee, who approved the cards’ introduction at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. There, the Soviet Union’s Evgeni Lovchev became the first footballer ever to be shown a yellow card, but the fact that no red cards were brandished during the tournament suggests the new system had a positive effect. The first World Cup dismissal came in Germany four years later, when Chile’s Carlos Caszely was sent off for committing two ­yellow-card offences.

Seeing red after two seconds The Laws of the Game state that a team are not allowed to play if they have fewer than seven players on the pitch. It is therefore logical that a match in which five dismissals have been im10

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posed on the same side should be abandoned and the result awarded in favour of the team that ended the game with more players on the field. Nevertheless, in the course of history there have been games that ended with a huge number of sendings-off due to the fact that the referee also has the option to issue red cards after a match has ended. According to the Guinness Book of Records, the game with the largest number of red cards was contested by Atletico Claypole and Victoriano Arenas in Argentina’s Primera D back in 2011.

The encounter ended with a

2-0 win for the home team, but a mass brawl after the final whistle forced the match official to send off everyone involved. That meant issuing a total of 36 red cards for the players, bench substitutes and coaching staff.

Although it is almost impossible to produce global statistics for these events, the age of the Internet enables football’s most interesting anecdotes to be shared widely around.

This is how we came to discover how some of the fastest dismissals in the sport’s history came about – all within the first ten seconds of a match. One example took place in a duel between Ebbsfleet United and Farnborough in the Conference South, English football’s sixth tier, in February 2010. Straight from kick-off, one player passed back to a defender, who was promptly charged down by an opponent. A sloppy back pass to goalkeeper Preston Edwards caused the ball to run loose, and as a Farnborough player stormed in to gather it up, he was brought down by the keeper. Edwards was shown a red card for preventing a clear goalscoring opportunity, dismissed from the field and a penalty awarded to the visitors – all just ten seconds into the game and before many fans had even taken their seats. Edwards cursed at his team-mates and hurled his gloves to the floor in frustration as he walked back to the dressing room.

Nevertheless, these ten seconds seem like a lifetime compared with the four seconds it took for the referee to reach for his pocket during a match between Cruzeiro Belo Horizonte and Atletico Mineiro in Brazil in July 2009. Cruzeiro’s Ze Carlos shielded the ball from an opponent, threw out an elbow and was immediately given his marching orders.

Reports suggest that fastest red card in footballing

A journalist will remind a player that he has never been given his marching orders, and suddenly the spectre of dismissal looms larger than ever.

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history was issued to Lee Todd of English Sunday league side Cross Farm Park Celtic, even though there is no photographic evidence of the incident. Todd was dismissed just two seconds into the match for swearing at the referee, but it turned out to be something of a misunderstanding. As the whistle sounded to mark the start of the game, Todd exclaimed: “F*** me, that was loud,” a remark the referee construed as an insult.

Another contender for the quickest red card was the oft-criticised (and somewhat unjustified) card issued to Lionel Messi on his debut for Argentina’s national team. After fans demanded his inclusion in the Albiceleste side for months, coach Jose Pekerman finally gave Messi the nod for a friendly against Hungary in summer 2005 when La Pulga Atomica was just 18 years old. He was brought on as a substitute in the 63rd minute, immediately won the ball and began making a run towards goal.

Hungary’s Vilmos Vanczak hassled him the entire time, prompting Messi to make a jerky movement in an attempt to shake him off. The referee interpreted this as aggression and sent the prodigious youngster back to the dressing room after just 44 seconds. Messi spent the remainder of the match in tears on the bench, stunned by his misfortune.

Masks, sarcasm and violent outbursts Messi and Lee Todd’s examples illustrate that applying the rules does not always guarantee justice. As we have already seen in this report, the referee’s powers of discretion when interpreting the Laws of the Game can occasionally lead to completely unexpected decisions. Any montage of absurd or strange red cards – ideally accompanied by the theme music from Benny Hill’s sketch show – would surely include that of Chelsea’s Eden Hazard, who was given his marching orders for aggressive behaviour towards a ballboy who did not return the ball quickly enough during a game at Swansea’s Liberty Stadium.

Patrice Evra The Frenchman has never been given a straight red card.

The same video compilation might also include Newcastle United’s Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer, who threw punches at each other during a match against Aston Villa; Deportivo La Coruna’s Jose Andrade, who gave his friend Deco – then playing for Porto – a playful kick during a Champions League match; or Dnipro defender Samuel Inkoom, who took off his shirt as he made his way off the pitch after being substituted and was promptly given his second booking of the game. In a match for Argentina’s national team, Javier Mascherano kicked a medic who was

driving him off the pitch on a motorised cart.

The Barcelona midfielder later explained that the vehicle was moving too fast and the driver was ignoring his pleas to slow down. While playing for Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala, Moubarak Boussoufa hit the ball at the referee by mistake, prompting another red card. In a Copa Libertadores match, Neymar was dismissed for wearing a mask during a goal celebration. Cards are often issued to players for making ironic gestures, applauding the referee or inadvertently colliding with the official while running for the ball.

Lahm, Schwarzer, Hernandez, Evra: the list of candidates for the ’Fair Play Club’ is a long one.

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The art of provocation Often, but not always, the roots of a red card lie in an opponent’s provocation.

One of the most memorable disputes between two players arose during the 2006 World Cup Final.

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t is not hard to imagine what goes through a player’s mind when they are sent off – anything from anger and frustration to guilt, shame or a sense of injustice at it all. By the time the offender reaches the dressing room, feelings of regret have usually kicked in. It goes without saying, however, that not all red cards are the same. While some are the colour of blood, others take on the hue of a blushing face. In the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah recalls what the Lord said about repentance: “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

In the history of football perhaps the most significant of all red cards was the one doled out to Zinedine Zidane at the end of the 2006 World Cup Final in Germany. The story is well-known: with ten minutes of extra-time remaining and Italy and France locked together at 1-1, Zidane and Marco Materazzi began a verbal exchange in the Italian penalty box, as play went on around them. The difference of opinion continued as the pair made their way towards the centre-circle, whereupon the Frenchman spun around and headbutted the Italian in the chest.

The off-the-ball incident was seen by the fourth official, who alerted the referee, Horacio Elizondo of Argentina, who in turn brandished a straight red card at Zidane. It was the last game of the Frenchman’s career, the swansong of a legendary player, a balletic midfielder who had scored the most sumptuous goals and had one won World Cup for his country and come close to lifting another. Departing the stage for the last time, he left a stunned crowd behind him.

País: “What we will always remember is the beautiful ending that went horribly wrong. This is no Walt Disney film. It is (...)

John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle or one of Fritz Lang’s complex masterpieces, whose characters anticipate everything in the pursuit of their goals only to give up or fail at the last moment. What happened is a shame, to some extent, though we should also be grateful to the great Zidane that, in the final moments of his career, he has left us with a strange, ruptured tale full of depth and rough in texture rather than a predictable, polished yarn that we would have no wish to read again.”

Despite his sending-off and his team’s defeat in the penalty shootout that followed, Zidane was recognised as the most outstanding player of the 2006 World Cup. FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee nonetheless slapped a three-month suspension on him, which, in the immediate aftermath of his career, washed away like tears in the rain. Zidane later apologised for his actions and for having let down so many people, though not without adding: “I don’t regret what I did because that would mean that he was in the right when he said what he said.”

Not all red cards are the same.

While some are the colour of blood, others take on the hue of a blushing face.

“I don’t regret what I did” Zidane’s reaction invites comparisons with the heroes of Greek tragedy, masters of their own destiny who were unable to control their fate at the very last moment. The Frenchman’s headbutt was a dubious act that saw him return with a thud to the world of the mortals. As the writer Javier Marias observed in El

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Ode to defeat The blame lies with the player sent off and, on occasion, with the player doing the provoking. Whether we like it or not, provocation is part and parcel of the game at the highest level, and as Zidane pointed out at the time: “We always talk about the reaction, and there’s no question it had to be punished. But if there’s no provocation, then there’s no need to react.” Though Materazzi was not shown a card by Elizondo, FIFA later handed him a two-match suspension.

Zidane’s headbutt has since become part of France’s collective imagination, an “ode to defeat”, as it was termed by the artist Adel Abdessemed, who recreated the notorious incident in a five-metre-high bronze sculpture that now stands in a museum in Doha, Qatar. Zidane and Materazzi, together forever.

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Neymar was sent for an early bath in one match for celebrating a goal by pulling on a mask.

Keeping a spotless record It seems unlikely that players go into matches worrying about the prospect of being sent off; after all, the yellow card is intended as a warning and an indication that a little more restraint is needed. In contrast, a red card is usually the result of an improvised move, a misjudged tackle or an irrational reaction.

Some players become afraid of besmirching their record with red stains as their careers draw to a close. A journalist will remind a player that he has never been given his marching orders, and all of a sudden the spectre of dismissal begins to loom larger than ever before.

This may have been the case for Steven Gerrard, who received his first red card for England in 2012 at the age of 32, after winning 98 caps for his country.

If we take a look at current footballers aged 30 or over, we see there is an array of players with a good chance of joining the illustrious 'Fair Play Club' provided they do not have a bad day between now and retirement. All of these players can look back on successful careers for Hernan Crespo The sporting Argentinian understood exactly how to use the space around him.

Handshake for Peace The “Handshake for Peace” is a joint initiative by the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo and FIFA. The goal of the project is to combine the global reach and power of football in a simple gesture, the Handshake for Peace, as a symbol of friendship, respect and peace in society.

The Handshake for Peace is a component of the match protocol at all FIFA tournaments and was a great success at the World Cup in Brazil.

FIFA is also contributing to the Nobel Peace Center’s budget in support of its activities. www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/video/video=2243471/

club and country that have not yet been sullied by the ignominy of a straight red card. The list includes Miroslav Klose (36, Lazio), Xavi Hernandez (34, Barcelona), Michael Carrick (33, Manchester United), Patrice Evra (33, Juventus), Kolo Toure (33, Liverpool), Philipp Lahm (32, Bayern Munich), Marco Borriello (32, Roma), Mark Schwarzer (41, Chelsea), Yasuyuki Konno (31, Gamba Osaka), Stewart Downing (30, West Ham United) and Robinho (30, Santos).

There may be others to add to this illustrious band of professionals, but certainly not many. Looking at the players assembled above, the only reasonable conclusion that can be drawn is that playing for years without a dismissal requires the enthusiastic attitude and total focus required to succeed at the top level.

Perhaps we should conclude our round-up with a truly exemplary ambassador of the game: 39-year-old Juan Carlos Valeron, who now plays for UD Las Palmas, close to his birthplace on the Canary Islands. In the course of his remarkable career, Valeron was called up to Spain’s national side and lent his creative talent and likeable character to Deportivo La Coruna’s ranks for many years. He has never been shown a red card and continues to play as he always has – with a sense of fairness and a love of the game. Å

For more on Fair Play, read the interview with Massimo Busacca on page 18 T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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Dutch Eredivisie

Ta p p i n g i nto t h e O r a n j e m o m e nt u m Sarah Steiner is a staff writer at The FIFA Weekly

Five rounds of matches have been played in the 2014/15 Eredivisie season and in the wake of the Oranje’s impressive displays at the World Cup in Brazil, there is hope that attractive football is returning to the Dutch league, where the big three of Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven will jostle for domestic supremacy.

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The Netherlands’ success in Brazil was not only down to the country’s star duo Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie, but also the result of a strong collective and good performances by a new crop of players. The newcomers were all trained in Dutch football academies before cutting their teeth in the game in

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the Eredivisie. After the World Cup, several of them were highly sought-after in the summer transfer market.

Subsequently, Feyenoord especially were weakened going into the 2014/15 campaign after losing Bruno Martins Indi to Porto, Daryl Janmaat to Newcastle United and Stefan de Vrij to Lazio - a trio of departures difficult to compensate for. The Rotterdam-based club have picked up just five points from as many matches so far this term, despite technical director Martin van Geel stating that the season aim is to “compete for the title”. Their ability to do so will be put to the test this Sunday when they face Ajax.

The World Cup also left its mark in Amsterdam. Daley Blind followed national team coach Louis van Gaal to England, where he signed a four-year contract with Manchester United. His loss was a big setback to the defending champions and their start in the new campaign has not gone according to plan: following defeats to PSV and Gronin-

gen, Ajax are fifth in the standings with nine points on the board. Coach Frank de Boer is targeting a successful title defence, an achievement that would bring Ajax a fifth successive championship trophy.

Their main challengers this season are PSV, who managed to hold on to both Georginio Wijnaldum and Memphis Depay after their eye-catching performances with the national team in the summer. The club currently top the standings and have only dropped points in a 3-1 defeat to FC Zwolle, a match that also robbed PSV of the attacking talents of Depay, who will be sidelined for six to eight weeks with a groin injury. Nevertheless, coach Phillip Cocu, a name synonymous with PSV’s glory years, clearly intends to bring success back to the club.

It remains to be seen which team will be able to latch on to the momentum of the Oranje’s exploits, but perhaps one of the so-called smaller clubs can spring a surprise or two in the Eredivisie. After all, nobody predicted the Netherlands would do so well in Brazil. Å

Aiming high Coach Frank de Boer has been tasked with securing Ajax a fifth successive league title.

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N o r t h A m e r i c a ’s N A S L

E x p a n s io n t h e na me of the ga me Nicola Berger writes about football and lives in Zurich

New York Cosmos is a name with a real aura. Franz Beckenbauer played for the club back in the 70’s alongside Carlos Alberto and perhaps the world’s greatest ever player, Pele. That was the first golden era for football in the USA, but the initial enthusiasm for the sport could not be sustained after the Brazilian legend retired in 1977.

Cosmos had lost their charismatic figurehead, and the first North American Soccer League (NASL) went into a period of decline before folding in 1984.

The brand was reintroduced as of 2009 though and there is now a new wave of interest in it. Since 2011 the NASL has operated as the second highest division below the MLS. Other than name, there is no official connection to the original NASL, but three of the competing teams have kept the same name: Tampa Bay Rowdies, Fort Lauderdale Strikers and, of course, New York Cosmos.

In the balance Atlanta’s Kwadwo Poku (right) challenges Cosmos star Marcos Senna.

But that is not as simple as it sounds; like in all the big professional leagues in North America, there is no such thing as promotion or relegation. Rather, being taken on by the elite leagues is an armchair decision and last happened to an NASL side in 2011, when Montreal Impact were incorporated into the top division.

In the meantime, the Cosmos are making big steps towards the big time. Their most wellknown player is Marcos Senna, 38, who played in midfield for Villareal and was European champion with Spain in 2008. Their home games are played at the James M. Shuart Stadium, where the original team played between 1972 and 1974, and whose 16

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infrastructure shows just how long they have been around. In only their second season together, the Cosmos won their first title, defeating Atlanta 1-0 in the Soccer Bowl, which is played between the Spring and Fall Season Championships.

Cosmos faced Atlanta again last weekend in front of their home fans and ran out 3-2 winners, but San Antonio still have a six point lead at the top of the Fall table. The Texans look well set to reach the Final versus Minnesota.

The NASL is meanwhile focusing on expansion. Two new teams were added to the mix this season. One was Ottawa Fury, meaning that the league now has a second franchise from Canada as well as founding members FC Edmonton. Ottawa are currently bottom of the table, which may be down to the fact that their most famous staff member is their goalkeeping coach, 56-year-old former Liverpool cult hero Bruce Grobelaar.

The second new members are also finding the going tough. Coach Juergen Sommer’s Indy Eleven are currently eighth in the table, having finished down in tenth in the Spring Championship. But this has made no difference to the buzz around Indianapolis, where all of the club’s home games so far have been sold out.

League Commissioner Bill Peterson has high hopes that the example set by Indianapolis will catch on. In 2015, Jacksonville and Oklahoma will be added to the league, and one year later, they will be followed by Virginia.

By then though, they may not find themselves competing against New York Cosmos in the NASL. The club’s ambitious owners plan to build a USD 400 million stadium on the city boundary of Queens and Long Island, to be opened in 2016 and to seat 25,000 supporters, watching games in the MLS! Å

Mike Stobe / Getty Images

The latter have received the backing of some of the sport’s greats. Carlos Alberto is an ambassador, while Pele is Honorary President.

It is unclear who the money men are behind the club, but their intentions are clear; the Cosmos want to compete in the MLS as the second New York club along with Red Bull.

Azerbaijan: Premyer Liqasi

Re c o r d c h a m p io n s o u t fo r r e ve n ge Sven Goldmann is a football correspondent at “Tagesspiegel” newspaper in Berlin.

The record champions have had a tough time of late.

Neftci Pesekar Futbol Klubu may have won Azerbaijan’s Premyer Liqasi nine times, but the

Brazilian flair Flavinho after his spectacular winning goal for Neftci.

capital club finished last season twelve points and three places behind winners Karabakh Agdam FK. The fourth-place finish was a bitter pill to swallow for a club that has often set the pace in Azerbaijani football. After all, it was only two years ago that Neftci made it into the group stages of the Europa League, where they gained a memorable point in a draw away to Italian giants Inter Milan. Chilean Nicolas Canales, who scored the last-gasp equaliser to make it 2-2 in the Guiseppe Meazza, has enjoyed legendary status in Baku ever since, and the club agreed a deal to re-sign the striker from Santiago de Chile just a few weeks ago.

Back in the Soviet era, Neftci was the only side that remotely threatened the hegemony of the big clubs based in Moscow, Leningrad or Kiev, with their best league campaign culminating in a third-place finish in 1966.

When Azerbaijan’s domestic league was founded in 1992 following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Neftci swiftly established themselves as the dominant force. However, last season they were outdone by fellow Baku-based outfit Karabakh Agdam. The reigning champions actually hail from the town of Agdam in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, but a conflict with Armenia in 1992 forced the club to look for a new home and it has been based in the country’s capital city ever since.

Despite last season’s surprise, Neftci undoubtedly remain Baku’s number one club, and this season the domestic giants are looking to gain revenge by securing a tenth title triumph. They got off to a torrid start though, succumbing to a 3-0 defeat away to Araz Nahchivan in their opener. The result seemed to serve as a wake-up call to the record champions, who went on to win their next two games before overcoming Khazar Lenkoran last weekend in a hard-fought encounter in the small Ismat Gayibov Adina stadium.

Neftci’s Brazilian player Flavio Alex Valencio, nicknamed Flavinho, scored a spectacular diving header on the half-hour mark to break the deadlock. However, ten minutes later Neftci’s Serbian goalkeeper Sasa Stamenkovic was given his marching orders by the referee, who failed to spot a dive from Lenkoran striker Elnur Abdullajev. Fortunately for the home side, Galin Ivanov fired the resulting spot kick over the bar. The game hung in the balance as Lenkoran poured forward in search of an equaliser, but Neftci’s Latvian replacement shot-stopper Pavel Dorosev made a string of great saves. The visitors were then reduced to ten men in stoppage time when Flavio’s countryman Willian Thiego de Jesus was sent off for a second bookable offence.

Sabir Cebrayilov / pfl.az

Neftci’s third consecutive victory has seen them climb up to third place in the table and they now sit three points behind league leaders Sumqayit Futbol Klubu, who have played one game more. Å

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THE INTERVIEW

“I prefer to remember the clean games” Massimo Busacca, FIFA Head of Refereeing and a former world-class match official, on red cards and how it feels to show one.

What does it feel like to show a red card?

Massimo Busacca: It’s never nice showing a red card because you’re about to dismiss a player from the game. Personally, I’ve never had a great feeling about this card. Just before I pull it out, my heart starts beating faster. For the sake of sport, entertainment and respect, it would be nice if it never had to come to that. That’s why prevention before and during a match is essential. But when the fair play message doesn’t get through then there’s no alternative but to take it out.

It’s not nice to play with the intention of hurting an opponent, so it’s for the good of every competition.

What does it feel like to show a yellow card?

It definitely doesn’t compare with showing a red card. The player is punished but keeps on playing, he’s punished for having committed an offence. In my view, it’s a warning to change a player’s approach in the game. That’s why sometimes when I hand them out, I also have to talk to the player in question and make him understand that he has to change his attitude.

Who has done something wrong when a red card is shown?

Unfortunately, we sometimes forget that sport is about having fun. Too much adrenaline and the desperation to win at all costs lead some players to lose control over the 90 minutes. When that happens, it’s important to make them understand and improve for the next game.

Which red card do you remember most vividly? Why? I don’t easily remember the bad things. I prefer to remember the good, clean games. The one that stands out overall is the Champions League final in Rome between Manchester United and Barcelona, a game with few fouls and few cards. If there is respect in such an important game then I think we can have respect at all times. In answer to your question, I remember handing out a red card one minute and 30 seconds into a Super League game, for a nasty foul straight after kick-off.

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How can players manage to avoid falling foul of the rules throughout their entire career?

I think there are lots of players who have never received a red card. In all sincerity, I believe that around the world, at every level of the game, fair play greatly outweighs foul play. Let’s hope it stays like that and the offenders change their ways.

What would there be if there were no cards?

There was once a time when cards didn’t exist and the referee told players when they had committed an offence. Cards were introduced in the ensuing years, but simply for visibility reasons, so that everyone could see and understand the type of offence committed. Today I think they’re absolutely essential.

We need to protect the image of sport and football.

Those who don’t comply should be penalised.

Are any other cards needed? The green card was abolished ...how about blue or white cards?

I don’t think that football needs big changes.

If there is fair play then leave it at that, rather than introducing new cards. A yellow is a warning and a red means you’re off. In conclusion, I insist on two things that, for me, are essential: prevention and respect.

Massimo Busacca was talking to Giovanni Marti

Name Massimo Busacca Date and place of birth 6 February 1969, Bellinzona (Switzerland) Career as a referee 1996 – 2011 Super League referee 1999 – 2011 FIFA referee Some milestones as a referee · FIFA World Cup in Germany in 2006 and South Africa in 2010 · EURO 2008 in Switzerland/Austria · UEFA Champions League Final 2009 FC Barcelona – Manchester United · UEFA Cup Final 2007 FC Sevilla – Espanyol Barcelona · UEFA Super Cup Final 2010 Inter Milan – Atletico Madrid · 42 UEFA Champions League games · 45 UEFA Cup games · 245 Swiss Super League games Current professional position FIFA Head of Refereeing

Mike Hewitt / FIFA via Getty Images

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First Love

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Place: Busheh r, Ira n Date: 7 July 2013 T i m e : 7. 4 6 p . m .

Hossein Fatemi / Panos Pictures

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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.

T HE DEBAT E

PRESIDENTIAL NOTE

FIFA and the United Nations hand in hand to fight Ebola

F

IFA and the United Nations have decided to join forces in the effort to stop the spread of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. The football field at Monrovia’s Antoinette Tubman Stadium, donated by FIFA to the Liberia Football Association, will serve as the site for two urgently needed large-scale Ebola treatment units. After the World Health Organization (WHO) identified the FIFA football pitch as the most suitable location in terms of effectiveness and safety, FIFA – one of whose mis-

Ebola outbreak also has a tremendous impact on the sport community, ranging from health threats to the athletes themselves and restrictions of travel affecting competitions and the development of sport. National authorities, the UN and the world of sport need to work closely together in order to halt the spread of the disease. The commitment of sport organisations to support our efforts is very much welcomed and crucial. It is my hope that many will join in this fight. In particular I was very

“The commitment of sport organisations to support our efforts is very much welcomed and crucial.”

Wilfried Lemke, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General of the United Nations

sions is “to build a better future” – immediately expressed its support for the proposed action to convert the pitch into treatment units. FIFA President Blatter said that, “thanks to the continuous fruitful and fundamental collaboration between FIFA and the United Nations, today we can use the power of football to combat the Ebola epidemic. To allay any concerns regarding the impact of the treatment units on the recently installed pitch, FIFA has also proposed to cover the costs of any damage.”

Wilfried Lemke, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General of the United Nations on Sport for Development and Peace added, “The

pleased to note FIFA’s pledge to support health-related measures by agreeing to cover potential damages to the football pitch of the Antoinette Tubman stadium in Monrovia, Liberia that has been earmarked for the use for Ebola treatment centres.”

The collaboration will go beyond the lending of the Monrovia pitch. At its next Finance Committee meeting on 25 September, FIFA will propose to use resources from its solidarity fund to support the member associations of the affected countries (Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea) in the fight against Ebola. The additional financial support will have to be spent in solidarity with a local UN initiative.

Africa’s fate concerns us all

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he world is currently monitoring the situation in West Africa with grave concern as the Ebola epidemic assumes ever more dramatic dimensions. The people’s suffering and distress are near unimaginable to us, even more so as it is yet again the poorest of the poor who have been struck by this humanitarian catastrophe. According to Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), the most urgent requirements are for treatment centres, isolation units, mobile laboratories, protective clothing and qualified personnel. The support provided so far is incredibly valuable but it is far from enough.

A response is needed from the entire international community, and from football too. In partnership with the UN, FIFA is actively involved in the battle against the disease and is using all the means at its disposal to support the installation of two medical care centres at Antoinette Tubman stadium in the Liberian capital Monrovia. It goes without saying that we will take care of any possible damage to the stadium and the pitch at a later date.

I hereby guarantee our member associations Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone our maximum possible support. Together with the World Health Organisation (WHO) we will do everything we can to help bring the situation under control. There are moments when results and tables fade into insignificance; moments when football is required to shoulder its social and community responsibilities and demonstrate its humanitarian side.

Africa’s fate concerns us all, so we must make our contribution towards helping those affected.

And thanks to its strong appeal and infrastructural scope, football can give a great deal.

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

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GOALKEEPING GLOVES

Material gains Gordon Banks The English custodian’s gloves became one of the talking points of the 1970 World Cup.

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GOALKEEPING GLOVES

Time for a spot of gardening? No, Reg Matthews models the latest goalkeeping gloves in England in 1955.

Goalkeepers used to play with their bare hands, but that all changed when Gordon Banks decided to don a pair of gloves.

We trace the evolution of what is now a vital part of any shot-stopper’s kitbag.

Douglas Miller / Getty Images, Popperfoto / Getty Images

Thomas Renggli

o say that English goalkeepers have been ahead of their time in terms of their performances between the posts would be a bold claim, but when it comes to their influence on one of a modern custodian’s must-have accessories then there is no disputing that statement. At the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, Gordon Banks, who won the tournament with England four years earlier, became one of the first goalkeepers at the highest level to wear gloves. The specimens he chose, made of light-coloured fabric with dark stripes, looked more like present-day gardening gloves than sporting equipment, but they served their purpose perfectly. In a group stage game against Brazil, ’The Banks of England’, as he was dubbed, made a miraculous reflex save from a Pele header to deny the South Americans what looked to be a certain goal. Pele later called it

“the greatest save I’ve ever seen a goalkeeper make”. We will never know if Banks would also have kept the ball out had he not worn gloves, but what is certain is that his consistent use of gloves instigated a course of development that revolutionised goalkeeping to such an extent that playing the modern game would now be unthinkable without them. (See the interview on the next page but one).

From hard skin to wool Goalkeepers used to wear gloves for more trivial reasons, for example as protection against wind and rain. In the 1960s in Germany, Petar ’Radi’ Radenkovic, 1860 Munich’s former singing shot-stopper, used to don leather gloves for games played in bad weather and became one of football’s first trend-setters by ensuring that they always matched the colour of his shirt. At that time balls were still made of coarse leather, meaning even commercially available woollen gloves could be worn to good effect. However, T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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GOALKEEPING GLOVES

in general keepers normally just used their bare hands, complete with a thick layer of callused skin.

Determining who the first person to use gloves between the posts was is a disputed subject. In 1885 Britain’s William Sykes reportedly submitted a goalkeeping glove to the imperial patent office in Berlin, but failed to take it any further. Out on the pitch it was Argentina’s Amadeo Carrizo who was the first goalie to use gloves back in the 1940s. Indeed, the River Plate custodian was a pioneer in other areas too: he was the first keeper to leave his penalty area in order to become involved in his side’s play and was also the first to use his kick-outs as a tactical means of launching counter-attacks.

Casillas’ four-fingered gloves In Germany, Josef Dietrich ’Sepp’ Maier is commonly credited as the instigator of the breakthrough with goalkeeping gloves. The former Bayern Munich No1 stuck rubber pimples, simi26

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lar to those used on a table-tennis bat, on to his woollen gloves and in 1973, together with Gebhard Reusch – son of the founder of the sportswear company Reusch – developed the first goalkeeping gloves to go into mass production. It brought almost instant success: a year later Maier won the World Cup. It prompted a race to find the best material, and seemingly no textiles were off-limits: hexagonal-shaped rubber stamping, terry cloth, foam material – experiments were carried on almost everything. Latex eventually emerged as the substance the best-suited for the surface of goalkeeping gloves and in the mid 1970s Italy’s Dino Zoff was the first world champion to back its use. At the 1982 World Cup in Spain he became the oldest player in history to become a world champion – at the age of 40. His grey and black gloves with a red surface on the palm achieved cult status and in effect set the tone for the attire used by his successors. Today goalkeeping gloves are

high-tech products which are tailored to the individual needs of the wearer. Among others, windproof gloves and models for keepers allergic to latex are also readily available. Spain’s Iker Casillas won the 2010 World Cup with a pair of four-fingered gloves, with the ring finger and middle finger slotting into one space.

Goalkeeping gloves consist of up to eight layers of fabric, most of which are made of foam material to help provide a cushioning effect. The outer layers are formed of latex, although the exact specifications are kept secret. The gloves achieve their optimal efficiency in damp conditions, as the latex becomes elasticised, thus opening the surface structure slightly, while the dimples act as small suction pockets.

One thing has not changed since the era of Banks and Maier though: goalkeepers still have to catch the ball all by themselves. Å

Fred Joch / imago

Pioneer Bayern Munich goalkeeper Sepp Maier took goalkeeping gloves into mass production in the 1970s.

GOALKEEPING GLOVES

“A keeper’s gloves are no laughing matter” A former Swiss international goalkeeper, today Jorg Stiel works for a German glove manufacturer and is an expert on the tools of a custodian’s trade.

Jorg Stiel, up until the 1970s a lot of goalkeepers played without gloves.

Would that still be possible today?

Has the process of technological development come to an end?

No, it’s always evolving. The outer layers are becoming increasingly detailed and gloves are being more strongly tailored to different playing conditions. There are gloves for dry weather, for rain and also all-purpose gloves. Silicon reinforcements are used in the area around the fingertips. The aim of the developments is always to have the best grip possible and to have the best fit.

Jorg Stiel: No, not unless you want to voluntarily concede defeat.

You’d hardly be able to do anything with your bare hands.

Surely you are just saying that because you work for a company that manufactures goalkeeping gloves?

Absolutely not. Over the last 40 years football has gone through a massive period of development in Jorg Stiel “Bright colours terms of athleticism and tactics, but pull the ball also in terms of the materials used. towards them.”

Shots can reach speeds of up to 100 kilometres per hour so you need something to protect and stabilise your hands. On top of that, balls aren’t made from easy-to-grasp leather nowadays but are produced with synthetic materials and have smooth surfaces. Even with gloves it’s often difficult to keep hold of them.

It is said that goalkeepers forge a strong bond with their gloves and do not take them off even to go to bed. Was that true with you?

[Laughs] When you’re given your first pair of gloves as a child then it’s true that you take them to bed with you.

Goalkeeping gloves are just really cool and for most keepers they’re no laughing matter. I experienced that with Marc-Andre Ter Stegen in Monchengladbach. If you went anywhere near his gloves he would get aggressive.

Today a lot of keepers play with personalised gloves and some even have the names of their children stitched into them. But they’re also items of everyday use and a keeper can go through 30 to 40 pairs every season.

foto-net

Is there a temptation to opt for a bigger glove size?

There would be no point because if your gloves are too big then you lose your feel for the ball and you can’t hold it properly. The size all comes down to personal preference. Some keepers like more snug-fitting gloves while others prefer bigger ones, which is why our gloves have different cuts. But artificially increasing the surface area of your hand doesn’t work.

Technology is one aspect of goalkeeping gloves, but the psychological effect of the colours is another. Is research done into that area?

Of course, even if there’s always a bit of superstition involved. It’s said that bright colours distract players when shooting and almost pull the ball towards them, but I don’t want to give too much away to strikers here [laughs].

Fashion is another factor. There are plenty of goalkeepers who want their boots and gloves to be in the same colours.

The opposite was true for me. Even today I make sure that the colour of my gloves provides a contrast. Å Jorg Stiel was talking to Thomas Renggli

Name Jorg Stiel Date and place of birth 3 March 1968, Baden (Switzerland) Position Goalkeeper Clubs played for 1986–1990 Wettingen (Switzerland) 1990–1993 St. Gallen (Switzerland) 1993–1994 Toros Neza (Mexico) 1994–1996 Zurich (Switzerland) 1996–2001 St. Gallen (Switzerland) 2001–2004 Borussia Monchengladbach Swiss national team 21 appearances T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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IN BRIEF

T

here’s no place like home’ as the saying goes, encapsulating the feelings of warmth and security only offered by a familiar environment. The proverbial wisdom is just as applicable to football, as demonstrated last week by two players who shot to centre stage on returning to former stamping grounds. It is two years since Shinji Kagawa left Dortmund for Manchester United with the aim of advancing his career, but the sensitive Japan international never quite found his feet in the Premier League and generally ended up warming the bench. He has duly rejoined the club that made him famous and contributed a goal and an assist in his very first match back at Dortmund. Home comforts also seem to have done the trick for Konstantinos Mitroglou. The Greek striker never settled at Fulham and chose to resume his career in Piraeus with Olympiacos, where he led his side to victory over Atletico Madrid on the first group stage matchday in the UEFA Champions League. It all feels worthy of Hollywood, but as Dortmund midfielder Sebastian Kehl neatly put it: “These are the stories probably only football can write.” Å Tim Pfeifer

Ina Fassbender / Reuters

I

n English football, the lyrics to West Ham United’s club song ‘I’m forever blowing bubbles’ are widely known, and alongside Liverpool’s ‘You’ll never walk alone’ it is probably the most famous football anthem in the country. Arsenal fans interpreted their London rivals’ hymn in a unique way this past week on a visit to Dortmund ahead of their team’s Champions League match. In the city’s Alter Markt square, they unceremoniously turned the Blaserbrunnen fountain into a giant bubble bath by tipping washing powder into it. The stunt did little to help their team’s cause, as Arsenal lost 2-0 at the Signal Iduna Park. Perhaps the travelling fans should have taken the lyrics rather more seriously: “I’m forever blowing bubbles, pretty bubbles in the air. They fly so high, nearly reach the sky. And like my dreams they fade and die”. Å Sarah Steiner

A

human heart beats approximately 35 million times a year – a ­remarkable amount of energy. In Rio de Janeiro, technology is being developed for the first time to harness this human energy in a very special way. In the favela of Mineira, there is a football field with more than 200 panels of recycled material installed under the turf. These special sheets collect the kinetic energy generated by players and convert it into light. At night, the floodlights are powered almost entirely without need for traditional power networks while during the day, 80 per cent of the power needed to work the lights is gathered by solar panels on the roof of a samba school. The ground was opened by Brazilian legend Pele. There is just one snag to this new system – it costs a team around 50 reals ($21) an hour to use the pitch, while the price rises to 70 reals at weekends. This is a significant amount of money for favela residents, but the pitch’s creator Lawrence Kembell-Cook has promised that further development of the technology will ultimately bring costs down. Å Alan Schweingruber

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Football is a brotherhood. It’s peace.

© 2014 Visa. All rights reserved.

Oscar Arias Nobel Peace Laureate

FREE KICK

F I F A ’ S 11

The earliest red cards at World Cups

Born on 13 July Sarah Steiner

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he history of the World Cup dates back to 13 July 1930, when the French team overcame their Mexican counterparts 4-1 in the Opening Match in Uruguay. Eighty-four years later to the day the most recent edition of the competition drew to a close in Brazil as Germany beat Argentina 1-0 after extra time in the Final. Four intense weeks culminated in the crowning of the new world champions. It was a moment to remember.

I had spent practically all my time glued to the television, having followed the tournament every step of the way, seen almost every game, discussed many an incident, celebrated goals and admired players... And then I fell asleep.

During the World Cup Final I fell asleep!

Unforgiveable? Unthinkable?

Yes, I guess it was. But something else was also drawing to a close for me that day. For me, 13 July 2014 marked the end of 40 – not 4 – intense weeks. And it was certainly another moment to remember. On 13 July 2014 our daughter was born.

Suddenly everything was different. Priorities changed. Things that had once seemed important no longer were. Football was one of the few exceptions in that respect. Admittedly we might have stopped going to the stadium at weekends and my team losing might not have annoyed me for as long as it once used to, but football is and always will be a part of our lives.

At night our Malou sleeps peacefully in her pyjamas with an FC Zurich logo on the front, while she spends her days wearing an 1860 Munich shirt. And with our holiday in

the South of France now booked, her collection is soon set to include an Olympique Marseille babygrow as well.

Whether she one day chooses to don a pair of football boots - like her father - or is content to cheer on her favourite team from the stands - like her mother - is entirely up to her. But football will almost certainly play a role in her life. Her date of birth leaves her little choice. Å

The weekly column by our staff writers

1

55 seconds Jose Batista (Uruguay) Scotland - Uruguay 1986 World Cup Mexico

2

8 minutes Giorgio Ferrini (Italy) Chile - Italy 1962 World Cup Chile

3

14 minutes Zeze Procopio (Brazil) Brazil - Czechoslovakia 1938 World Cup France

4

19 minutes Miguel Bossio (Uruguay) Denmark - Uruguay 1986 World Cup Mexico

19 minutes Mohammed Al Khilaiwi (Saudi Arabia) France - Saudi Arabia 1998 World Cup France

6

21 minutes Gianluca Pagliuca (Italy) Italy - Norway 1994 World Cup USA

7

22 minutes Frank Rijkaard (Netherlands) West Germany - Netherlands 1990 World Cup Italy

22 minutes Rudi Voller (West Germany) West Germany - Netherlands 1990 World Cup Italy

22 minutes Carlos Paredes (Paraguay) Slovenia - Paraguay 2002 World Cup Korea / Japan

10

23 minutes Ndaye Mulamba (Zaire) Yugoslavia - Zaire 1974 World Cup Germany

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23 minutes 47 seconds Harry Kewell (Australia) Ghana - Australia 2010 World Cup South Africa

Source: FIFA (FIFA Report: Earliest red cards FWC, 16.09.2014) T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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MIRROR IMAGE

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Wembley Stadium, London, England

1972

Dukas / Rex

England’s first women’s national team relax after a training session.

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MIRROR IMAGE

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Bayil Stadium, Baku, Azerbaijan

2012

Getty Images

The Ghanaian U-17 women’s national team prepare for their next World Cup match.

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FIFA WORLD R ANKING Rank Team

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 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 34 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 48 48 48 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 73 75 76 76

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Change in ranking Points

Germany Argentina Colombia Netherlands Belgium Brazil Uruguay Spain France Switzerland

0 0 1 -1 0 1 -1 -1 1 -1

1765 1631 1488 1456 1444 1291 1243 1228 1202 1175

Portugal Chile Italy Greece Costa Rica Mexico USA England Croatia Algeria Ecuador Côte d’Ivoire Russia Ukraine Bosnia and Herzegovina Romania Denmark Czech Republic Scotland Wales Tunisia Sweden Ghana Serbia Iceland Senegal Nigeria Turkey Austria Slovakia Cape Verde Islands Cameroon Montenegro Iran Albania Bulgaria Peru Guinea Japan Burkina Faso Congo Armenia Slovenia Hungary Panama Honduras Guatemala Uzbekistan Mali Paraguay Egypt Republic of Ireland Korea Republic Israel Finland Venezuela South Africa Libya Jordan Poland Northern Ireland El Salvador Congo DR United Arab Emirates Sierra Leone Oman Norway

0 0 1 -1 0 1 1 2 -3 4 0 3 0 -2 -6 1 -1 7 -1 12 11 -3 3 -3 12 23 -4 -6 1 5 33 12 6 4 25 26 5 16 -4 10 30 -16 -14 -20 8 -13 77 -7 1 -13 -23 4 -6 4 -10 -37 2 -6 -13 -9 24 55 20 -8 -25 -9 -23

1150 1100 1068 1052 988 963 936 935 928 926 889 879 875 855 851 837 833 812 714 714 701 662 661 646 646 645 642 637 622 616 604 601 591 572 571 570 563 557 557 557 557 556 555 548 540 535 534 530 526 514 513 506 501 498 491 476 458 455 450 436 435 431 430 430 424 421 421

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Ranking 04 / 2014

05 / 2014

06 / 2014

07 / 2014

08 / 2014

09 / 2014

1 -41 -83 -125 -167 -209

78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 107 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 115 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 127 129 130 130 132 133 134 135 136 137 137 137 140 141 142 143 144

Top spot

Biggest climber

Benin Uganda Antigua and Barbuda Estonia Saudi Arabia Gabon Australia Cyprus Trinidad and Tobago Morocco Zambia Belarus Iraq Botswana Zimbabwe Rwanda Bolivia Azerbaijan Qatar China PR Malawi Latvia Jamaica Angola Palestine Lithuania Bahrain Moldova St Vincent and the Grenadines Dominican Republic Niger Mozambique Georgia Kenya FYR Macedonia Namibia Equatorial Guinea Tanzania Lesotho St Kitts and Nevis New Zealand Haiti Canada Lebanon Cuba St Lucia Kuwait Togo Liberia Luxembourg Kazakhstan Aruba Guinea-Bissau Burundi Ethiopia Sudan Philippines Afghanistan Tajikistan Grenada New Caledonia Central African Republic Mauritania Turkmenistan Vietnam Myanmar Chad

-1 2 69 12 1 19 -5 55 -6 -6 -4 -1 1 -5 -2 8 -23 -22 -4 0 8 1 -15 -26 -14 0 3 -6 28 19 11 -2 -15 -7 -36 1 -1 -5 -10 42 -20 -2 2 -6 2 15 -13 -38 -7 -18 4 -5 -7 -1 -20 -18 -6 -6 -16 5 -1 -17 -7 -4 -3 17 -4

Biggest faller

420 418 411 403 402 392 390 388 374 371 365 364 357 356 353 349 346 344 342 341 340 333 321 312 311 309 305 302 301 295 295 294 290 288 286 284 280 277 277 276 274 266 265 264 257 256 250 245 241 239 239 233 226 226 222 221 218 214 213 209 209 209 198 197 194 193 185

145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 158 160 161 162 163 164 164 166 167 168 169 170 170 172 172 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 193 193 193 193 198 199 199 199 202 203 204 205 205 207 208 208

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

0 -3 -16 34 3 -4 -7 -5 0 1 -5 -3 -2 -8 -1 -2 8 9 -1 -1 -3 -18 1 -3 3 3 5 -5 8 1 -11 2 0 1 4 1 -11 -9 -17 0 0 0 4 -2 -1 -1 -1 -1 0 0 0 5 0 -1 2 2 1 1 -4 0 0 1 0 0 0

183 180 175 164 163 160 158 154 148 134 133 130 126 116 116 114 112 106 103 102 102 101 89 86 84 83 83 81 81 80 77 76 72 70 67 66 65 64 62 58 43 41 37 33 32 30 29 28 26 26 26 26 26 23 13 13 13 11 9 8 6 6 1 0 0

NET ZER KNOWS!

THE OBJEC T

Could a team really play badly in order to undermine their own coach?

Question from Federico Bravo, Rosario (Argentina)

Perikles Monioudis

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Ferrari lover The FIFA Weekly columnist Gunter Netzer in 1972.

Horst Galuschka / imago

C

all me a romantic but even in cases like this I believe in the good in people. No, in my opinion it is almost impossible for a team to deliberately play against their own coach in professional football.

The reason is probably that poor individual performances, or even a bad team display, are often interpreted the wrong way. For instance if a good striker, on whom the club’s hopes rest in a crisis, consistently receives bad passes during a game, what are the reasons for that? Was he standing in the wrong place? Did his team-mate play the ball long on purpose?

To me it seems far more plausible that certain movements that should be second nature didn’t work. Or maybe the team is riddled with a lack of confidence. Fans often jump to quick conclusions, which is understandable in a bad patch, but unwise.

Of course, there would be reasons behind the shortcomings mentioned in the example above. If over a long period of time the team have trouble understanding the coach’s ideas then performances will suffer. That sort of

thing can creep up on you until all of a sudden you see a side, seemingly paralysed, that suffer one defeat after the next.

If a coach is no longer getting through to his players that usually leads to a change, but from my own experience I know that a professional footballer’s morals would not allow him to force his own boss out of the door by ­u nderperforming. Å

hildren are the future and therefore also the future of football. They possess an innocence that has served all manner of purposes. In tribal communities, for example, children are the first ones to advance when it comes to visiting a neighbouring tribe, thus acting as a living symbol of man’s peaceful intentions.

A copy of the porcelain statuette of a girl, above, was presented by FIFA to all the associations taking part in the 1938 World Cup in France. Apart from the original, only the figure belonging to Brazil’s governing body the CBF survives.

Amid the looming threat of war in Europe at that time, the aim of the World Cup was still to promote peaceful interaction with a pure heart – a sentiment echoed by the bow hidden behind the statuette. The piece was created after the model of Frenchman Etienne Maurice ­Falconet in 1875. Engraved on the cobalt blue base is a line from Virgil that reads: “You are not my master, you never were and never will be.”

This quote makes more sense when compared with that of a similar statuette of Cupid, which reads: “Whoever you are, here is your master; he was and always will be.” Cupid, Amor or Eros – in other words, Love – is claiming to be master of the soul – and we all know how that turns out. 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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TURNING POINT

“My coaching career started on the roof of a bus” Name Bruce David Grobbelaar Date and place of birth 6 October 1957, Durban (South Africa) Position Goalkeeper Playing career (selection) 1979–1980 Vancouver Whitecaps 1980–1994 FC Liverpool 1994–1996 FC Southampton Coaching career (selection) 1996, 1998 Zimbabwe Since 2014 Ottawa Fury (goalkeeper coach) International Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, 33 appearances

Zimbabwe’s goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar, who played for Liverpool for 13 years, never thought of coaching until a special bus ride in Cameroon.

Steven Kingsman / Icon SMI

I

t was 10 October 1993. We played a game with Zimbabwe’s national team in Cameroon in the second qualifying round for the World Cup 1994 in the United States. It was the decisive match and drew an attendance of 100,000 into the stadium in Yaounde. We lost 3-1 and Cameroon finished two points ahead of us and went to the World Cup as one of three African countries.

We were then coached by the German Reinhard Fabisch, who also worked as a Fifa instructor. He had taken over in 1992. On the way back from the stadium, I was sitting together with Fabisch and a teammate on the roof of our bus, with all our luggage around us. Fabisch told me while we were riding through the city: “Listen, Bruce, get ready to become a coach. You can be a very good coach.” He must have seen qualities in me that made him think that I could be as successful a coach as I was a goalkeeper, having won six league titles and the European Cup with Liverpool at that time. He probably noticed my unflappable confidence and my mental toughness that I had built up in my two-year service between 1975 and 1977 in the Rhodesian

army during the Bush War against the guerilla forces of Robert Mugabe. Without these qualities, I would not have survived.

I asked myself: “Why does Reinhard tell me this so early in my life?” I had just turned 36 and had been under contract with Liverpool since 1981. I did not think of being a coach at all but planned to keep on playing as a goalkeeper for many more years. From the moment Fabisch told me that on the roof of the bus, though, I couldn’t help thinking about his advice. I am grateful for it. Only then did I realize what could be my future career. Fabisch was an inspiration for me.

After Fabisch left Zimbabwe’s national team in 1995, I took over his duties as an interim coach for two games in which I also played one half in each as a goalkeeper. The second opponent was Sudan. It was an away game.

When we arrived, six Muslim players of Sudan were praying in the foyer of the stadium. I made our players wait instead of walking through them. I did this because Fabisch had taught me to always show respect to whomever I met regardless of their culture and religion.

Towards the end of my career as a player in 1998 I was the coach of Zimbabwe’s national team for another three games. Unfortunately, I have never coached a big team that was able to win a championship. Besides that, I have had many different experiences as a coach. I saved teams in South Africa’s highest league from relegation, left one team there through mutual agreement after a dispute over a player who was claiming a false age, coached kids in Newfoundland and have been, since this summer, for the first time a goalkeeper coach, with Ottawa Fury in the North American Soccer League.

I have not given up the hope of being allowed to lead a good team to a title. My favorite club would, without any doubt, be Liverpool.

The idea of being a successor to the famous coaches I have seen there as a player between 1981 and 1994 – especially Bob Paisley, Kenny Dalglish, Joe Fagan and Graeme Souness – is tempting. 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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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

You only lose twice and a silent rulebook – test your knowledge!

1

How many of the 32 teams at a World Cup are guaranteed to lose twice in a row?

President: Joseph S. Blatter

A 24 C 16 O 8 P 1

Secretary General: Jérôme Valcke Director of Communications and Public Affairs: Walter De Gregorio Chief Editor: Perikles Monioudis Staff Writers: Alan Schweingruber, Sarah Steiner, Tim Pfeifer

2

Which club has its training facility at a stadium boasting a capacity of more than 200,000?

Art Direction: Catharina Clajus Picture Editor: Peggy Knotz Production: Hans-Peter Frei Layout: Richie Krönert (Lead), Tobias Benz, Marianne BolligerCrittin, Susanne Egli

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3

Proof Reader: Nena Morf, Kristina Rotach

O E I A

4

R

S

The current Laws of the Game say nothing about which of these?

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, Alissa Rosskopf, Andreas Wilhelm

L

Height of the corner flags Weight of the ball Width of the lines Size of the penalty spot

When did FIFA invite more than 24 teams to a World Cup for the first time?

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

Y

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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 SIDE Detailed answers on www.fifa.com/theweekly Inspiration and implementation: cus

Send your answer by 24 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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L A S T W E E K’S P O L L R E S U LT S Which result from the recent round of international friendlies surprised you the most?

75+9+31 3%

3% 1%

T HIS WEEK’S POLL

Who will win the CAF Champions League?

9%

9%

75%

Choose from the following: · TB Mazembe (Congo DR) · ES Setif (Algeria) · AS Vita Club (Congo DR) · CS Sfaxien (Tunisia)

Germany 2-4 Argentina Serbia 1-1 France

Paraguay 0-0 United Arab Emirates Japan 2-2 Venezuela

Cast your votes at: www.fifa.com/newscentre

Uzbekistan 3-1 New Zealand Saudi Arabia 2-3 Australia

“I scored past Manuel Neuer!

Wow, I can’t even do that on FIFA!” Scotland winger Ikechi Anya

2000 German Bundesliga goals was

the landmark reached by Bayer Leverkusen on Friday in a 3-3 draw with Werder Bremen. In grabbing his side’s opener,

8 72

WEEK IN NUMBERS

successive Madrid derbies in La Liga – a record – have now passed without Atletico tasting

Tim Jedvaj was responsible for

shutouts is the impressive tally that enabled Hope

defeat against Real,

the milestone strike, which

Solo to set a new record for USA’s women’s national

Getafe or Rayo

came 35 years, one month and

team on Saturday. The 33-year-old surpassed

Vallecano. Saturday’s 2-1 win was their second

one day after Dieter Demuth had

former team-mate Briana Scurry in her 154th

consecutive triumph at the Bernabeu in Spain’s top

opened Leverkusen’s Bundesliga

international outing and vowed to a cheering Salt

flight – another feat never before achieved in the

account in August 1979.

Lake City crowd: “The best is yet to come.”

club’s history.

AFP, Getty Images (2), imago

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