The FIFA Weekly Issue #49

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ISSUE 49, 26 SEPTEMBER 2014

ENGLISH EDITION

Fédération Internationale de Football Association – Since 1904

ARGENTINA LA MAQUINA RUNNING IN HIGH GEAR SEPP BLATTER COMMON SOLUTIONS TO GLOBAL PROBLEMS CHRISTOPH DAUM YOU’VE GOT TO BE ABLE TO LISTEN

MALMO ARE BACK

W W W.FIFA.COM/ THEWEEKLY


THIS WEEK IN THE WORLD OF FOOTBALL

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A breakthrough in sky blue Malmo FF’s surprise return to the Champions League was the result of good youth development and a meticulous transfer policy. Svend Frandsen visited the southern Swedish club and explains Malmo’s immigrant effect on page 12.

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North and Central America 35 members www.concacaf.com

South America 10 members www.conmebol.com

Czech Republic Recent developments in the Synot Liga have provided cause for optimism, with eight of the league’s 16 clubs challenging for the title and excitement guaranteed every weekend.

Sepp Blatter 70 days after the World Cup Final in Rio de Janeiro, the global footballing community came together in Zurich. “The regular dialogue between the associations delivers the foundation for our development programmes,” the FIFA President says in his weekly column.

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Prison football Once a year, an intriguing tournament takes place behind the walls of the prison in Joao Pessoa, Brazil.

Herbert Prohaska The Austrian was not supposed to play in his country’s decisive World Cup qualifier against Turkey in 1977. But when compatriot Josef Hickersberger had to undergo an appendix operation, Prohaska stepped up to secure Austria’s first World Cup place in 20 years.

Malmo are back Our cover image was taken on 21 September 2014 and shows a young Malmo fan during his team’s home game against Helsingborg.

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River Plate The team from Buenos Aires are currently playing with merciless precision.

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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imago, Nicoló Lanfranchi

Mikkel Ostergaard / Panos Pictures


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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Zlatan Ibrahimovic His impressive career gives hope to children from impoverished backgrounds in Malmo.

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imago (2)

Christoph Daum The great motivator discusses modern coaching, emotions in football and paying attention to detail.

FIFA Club World Cup 10 – 20 December 2014, Morocco

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

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

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

instinct takes over

#predatorinstinct

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UNCOVERED

Knäckebröd, rice and beans

A league match at Swedbank Stadium Malmo FF are also keen to establish themselves in Europe.

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ast November, Sweden’s national team were forced to admit defeat against Portugal in their 2014 World Cup qualifying play-off. To put it another way, Zlatan Ibrahimovic could do little but watch as Cristiano Ronaldo worked his magic, practically defeating the Swedes singlehandedly in their own country. Although Ibrahimovic scored twice, Ronaldo went one better to consign the hosts to a 3-2 loss. Nevertheless, the Malmo-born striker has every reason to be cheerful when it comes to domestic football. His first club and 1979 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup finalists Malmo FF are reinvigorated and representing Sweden in the UEFA Champions League this season. Svend Frandsen paid a visit to the southern reaches of this Scandinavian country to experience some of the revival for himself, the story of which starts on page 6.

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t the Geraldo Beltrao maximum-security prison in Joao Pessoa, capital of the Brazilian state of Paraiba, the inmates spend a week taking part in a football tournament. Each cell can form a five-a-side team and the winning team receive extra rations of rice, beans and other provisions, and a chance to compete against their guards. Our photo reportage begins on page 24.

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n his weekly column, FIFA President Blatter discusses the Committee Week held recently at the Home of FIFA. As well as the 27 members of the Executive Committee, 251 delegates from 132 countries were welcomed to Zurich. “All of them had the right to voice their opinions, and everyone received a hearing. The most important insight also shows us the path we must follow: we can only solve global problems by working together,” the FIFA President explains. Å

Mikkel Ostergaard

Perikles Monioudis

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MALMO FF

A breakthrough in

Swedbank Stadium The league leaders prepare to face Helsingborg on 21 September 2014, ultimately drawing 1-1.

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MALMO FF

sky blue Historic club Malmo FF are back in the Champions League. The success of the Himmelsblått is the result of a long-term strategy. The FIFA Weekly paid a visit to find out more.

Svend Frandsen, Malmo (text), Mikkel Ostergaard (images)

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fter they receive their final words of instruction from coach Age Hareide and get pumped up before the start of a match, the Mamo players make their way towards the tunnel where they are met by a large two-sided door carrying the image of a mass of blue-and-white coloured flags from the 1979 European Cup Final (now the UEFA Champions League) when Malmo faced Nottingham Forest in Munich. Then, when the doors open, the team come face-to-face with an inscription on a beam located just above a set of stairs right in front of the pitch. The inscription reads: “Vi står som en för klubben alla, vi segra skall men inte falla,” (“We stand as one for the club, we shall win and not fall”). Often, the players will reach up and touch the inscription, just as Liverpool do with the “This is Anfield” sign before running out on to the pitch. The image on the door and the inscription on the beam are testimony to a club with a clear vision, a legacy and a long-lasting tradition which is not only history but is also used to continuously develop the club on all levels. Uneven odds Malmo reached the European Cup Final with a team consisting exclusively of homegrown players. Such a scenario would be unheard of today. The large financial resources of top clubs, the Bosman ruling and the free movement of workers within the EU have created a melting pot of footballers from a wide range of nations within a large number of football sides worldwide. However, despite the uneven odds, Malmo have remained faithful to their ideology of establishing a first team largely based on homegrown players. T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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MALMO FF

Ready to go Players focus on the task ahead before a match against Mjallby U-19s. 8

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Mikkel Ostergaard / Panos Pictures

Final preparations Malmo’s U-19s warm up in Hallevik.


MALMO FF

This is still very much part of the club’s ideology today. Malmo’s current Champions League squad holds no fewer than ten players (Markus Rosenberg, Agon Mehmeti, Amin Nazari, Filip Helander, Simon Kroon, Pa Konate, Petar Petrovic, Sixten Mohlin and Pawel Cibicki) raised by the club themselves. In addition, Malmo’s qualification for the group stage means the club’s newest crop of youngsters will now get the chance to show off their potential in the UEFA Youth League – which in turn will enhance the possibilities of more in-built success in the future. Today there are a large number of factors why Malmo have been so successful in grooming their own players. The development goes back to 1999, a milestone in the club’s history. At that time the team was relegated into the second Swedish tier, an event that served as a wake-up call for the club, the city and the region, who vowed never to allow it to happen again. Consequently, the plans for a new financial structure to rejuvenate the club were laid down. At the same time, Staffan Tapper, captain of their famous 1979 team, along with chairman Hasse Borg took the first steps towards building a fine network with all the other clubs in the region. This was done to establish a system where Malmo could profit from all the talent-building in the region and offer the most talented young footballers within the community free education and a chance to test their abilities at the highest level.

Isolation proves an advantage Mats Engqvist, head of the Malmo youth academy admits that the southern Swedish club enjoys a bit of luxury in being able to pick the best talents for their academy through its geographical isolation compared to other clubs. “We are a bit isolated because there are really no big other clubs in the area,” says Enqvist. “We are the only big club in an area of around 500,000 inhabitants, so if youngsters from this region have a dream of playing in the Allsvenskan or in Europe, they have to come to us. In Stockholm or Gothenburg they compete for players all the time but we don´t have that problem. We can just say ”you, you and you – you play for us. At the same time it probably also means that the players we enrol do everything to live up to our standards because they know there is no alternative. So, really with that background, we should be good,” he adds. Pupils enrolled at the academy immediately have a tough task because they have to show their potential against older players. This is part of the academy ideology in order to develop players. “In Sweden we are allowed to play against sides that are one year older,” explains Enqvist. “Our 13 year-old group never wins the championship because we are playing against 14 year-olds, but at the end of the day we think it’s the right way to go about it as it develops the players a lot to play against sides who are one year older,” he says. In the autumn of 2013, Malmo FF won the Swedish title for the 13th time, but in the months to follow about half the team left the club. Former captain Daniel Andersson took over as new sports director and after coach Rikard Norling decided to step down, he was replaced by the former Norwegian international defender Age Hareide. The club has consequently undergone a virtual revolution in the past year in its quest to put out a side good enough to qualify for the UEFA Champions League. Players like Pontus Jansson and Miko Albornoz said goodbye to the club, but in his new role as sports director Andersson immediately proved he maintains good relations with former players by prompting Guillermo Molins, Agon Mehmeti and none other than Markus Rosenberg to return to the club. At the same time Hareide did not waste any time in putting his footprint on club proceedings by changing Roland Nilssons and Rikard Norlings’ Spanish-inspired possession-based football into a more direct approach.

Inspiration Norwegian coach Age Hareide has successfully implemented his ideas.

Malmo were relegated in 1999, an event which served as a wake-up call for the club, the city and the region. Adapting to modern football “I wanted us to adapt to the way modern football is played today. You need to put pressure on your opponents, and then break very quickly when you get the ball. And then when you lose it, you’ve got to get organized very quickly again. This is the way you’ve got to play because most teams in Europe today are well-organized and difficult to break down. In Sweden it might work to hold the ball for long periods of time but if we play like that in Europe we are going to get punished because if you play in a central position and you lose the ball then you are dead and that is why we want to play in between and behind a lot,” says Hareide about the new tactical approach he has taught his players with great success over the past year. Indeed the tactical changes were implemented so successfully that Malmo were able to overcome Ventspils, Sparta Prague and Red Bull Salzburg in the qualifying matches for the Champions League. That is an accomplishment no other Swedish club had been able to pull off for 14 years since the southern Swedish neighbours of Malmo, Helsingborgs IF, last qualified for the prestigious tournament at the expense of T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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MALMO FF

A bright future A young fan outside the club’s stadium, built in 2009. 10

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Getty Images

On the up MFF have achieved a great deal under captain Markus Rosenberg (left).


MALMO FF

Inter Milan in 2001. But unless Malmo succeed in qualifying for the tournament two or three times in a row, they will not manage to make it to the next level, according to Malmo’s prolific striker Markus Rosenberg. “The problem for Scandinavian sides when they reach the Champions League is to uphold their challenge on the domestic front because they don´t yet have the funds to invest in a larger squad,” says Rosenberg. “And that is necessary because of the extra physical and mental pressure on the players due to the compressed schedule of games. That is why it is so crucial to reach the Champions League in successive seasons,” adds the striker, who has made a huge impact on the side since rejoining the club from West Bromwich Albion having made a name for himself at Ajax and Werder Bremen. Reaching a milestone Reaching the Champions League of course represents a milestone in club history for Malmo but the management is aware of the dangers ahead as many clubs have struggled to invest the extra funds wisely and deal with the additional responsibilities of becoming a Champions League club. So while it was a huge mental and physical barrier to overcome for the players to break into Europe’s finest club tournament, the pressure is now on the club management to deliver the goods in terms of making the right financial decisions to lay down the path for Malmo to remain at the highest European club level in the years to come. And that is of course best achieved by making the club independent of the funds earned through the Champions League, underlines managing director Niclas Carlnén. “Our goal is to get a turnover that is in balance without the funds of the Champions League, so we see it as an extraordinary income that we can use to develop the organisation,” explains Carlnén. “For instance we can invest in a cover for the football field so that we can save money on heating up the pitch. So we try to find investments in

The club managed to use its past to build a successful future. the stadium but also in the organisation. We want to develop the youth academy further and perhaps we can keep our best players for a longer time and when they leave the club perhaps their market value will have gone up.” Today the club has been able to make the past work for the future by allowing former greats to occupy key positions at the club while forging a close relationship with the city of Malmo. This strategy has not only created a unique bond between spectators and the club but also opened new ways of finding sponsors. In 2009, the new ­Swedbank Stadion replaced the club’s old stadium (which hosted matches at the FIFA World Cup finals in 1958). The move has created a more intense atmosphere at games as the new arena has no running track and enables a greater level of service for sponsors. It was here that Malmo came to the attention of the whole football world by staging sensational comebacks against Sparta Praha and Red Bull Salzburg. Surely this is just the beginning for a club with such an enormous fan base, a finely tuned organisational structure, a well-­developed youth department and a squad with the potential to put Scandinavian club football solidly back on the world map. Å

Plenty of support Malmo’s locals get behind their club. T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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MALMO FF

The immigrant effect

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ts impossible to think of Zlatan Ibrahimovic without Malmo coming to mind. The famous Swedish Paris Saint-Germain striker grew up in the city’s less-than-affluent neighbourhood of Rosengard and went on to make it on the world stage partly thanks to the football education he got inside Malmo’s youth academy. As such he has given hope to a huge number of second- and third-generation immigrant children living within troubled neighbourhoods in Malmo to use football to get out of poverty and at the same time get an education and build a life for themselves. Zlatan’s importance cannot be underestimated, says Mats Engqvist, head of the MFF youth department. “As for Zlatan he might be even bigger than

what I understand,” says Engqvist. “In Rosengard where he grew up he is huge but also among the Swedish players he is big. He represents something which they all think they can reach. You might think that it was only the second and third generation immigrants who talk about him but it is really everybody, also the Swedish boys.” At a time when the integration of immigrants is playing such a huge role in Scandinavian countries, the Malmo FF youth department is leading by example. The club is often contacted by reporters or people working within social administrations to explain what their secret is to create optimistic future perspectives for all immigrants of

different cultural backgrounds. And the answer is quite simple. “We don´t do anything special. Fifty percent of the pupils in our schools are second- or third-generation immigrants. If you are born in a troubled neighbourhood in Malmo, we can offer you a good football education and a good schooling education. So we really give them the chance and I get the feeling that they really want the chance. It’s great that within a small group of players we can have a lot of cultures mixed together, so you can hear questions like “What do you eat in Turkey?” or “So you really speak Slovenian?” So a lot of cultures come together under the Malmo roof”, ends Engqvist.

Famous son Zlatan Ibrahimovic in 1999 before his dramatic rise to global fame.

Malmo FF Established: 1910 Stadium: Swedbank Stadion (Capacity: 24.000) Coach: Åge Hareide Chairman: Håkan Jeppsson Nickname: Di Blåe (The Blues), Himmelsblått (The Sky Blues) Allsvenskan League titles: 17 (2013) Swedish Cups: 14 (1989)

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Arne Forsell / Bildbyrån

Facts & Figures


MALMO FF

Across the generations MFF fans at an open training session.

Team spirit Agon Mehmeti (no. 21) and Markus Rosenberg (9) in the lead. T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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

Feel the Beauty

BE MOVED

THE NEW 4K LED TV

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


Lukas Maeder / 13 Photo

CHRIS TOPH DAUM

“You’ve got to be able to listen” Successful German coach and gifted motivator Christoph Daum seeks to help players understand themselves. T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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CHRIS TOPH DAUM

You became a Bundesliga head coach at Cologne in your early 30s. What are your memories of 1986? Christoph Daum: Back then, opting to hire such a young coach who had never been a professional player was almost revolutionary, but it was initially planned as an interim solution rather than a long-term appointment. Names such as Pal Czernai or Kalli Feldkamp were mentioned at the time; they should really have taken over but weren’t available at short notice.

So to some extent you were filling in. I was meant to do the job until Christmas, but I made such good use of that interim period that it became a longer-term arrangement.

In doing so, you broke new ground and are considered to have pioneered a new way of coaching. What do you make of coaching in ­Germany today? Football changes just as rapidly as other areas of life. When you consider the way in which injured players were operated on with something similar to a kitchen knife 25 years ago and compare that with the micro-invasive techniques used today, it’s clear that a huge amount has changed. Back then we still sent slow faxes, whereas today information can be exchanged across the globe within seconds.

Everything has got faster, including football. The game is quicker, and the physical and conditioning demands are immense nowadays. Of course, as the world gets smaller, technical skills have to increase. Football will always continue to develop when it comes to coaching methods, match analysis and the way players are looked after. Science puts so many things at our disposal these days that I sometimes feel we’re overloaded with information. You’ve got to carefully select the elements that are most suitable, provide real benefits and help individuals to develop.

Sporting the sponsor’s colours Bayer coach Christoph Daum on 12 August 2000.

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Despite all the science, expertise and practicality, football is and will always be a game of emotions. A well-educated coach must be aware of and be in control of as many of these areas as possible, even though it is always good to consult experts. One of the most important components of leadership is also emotional intelligence. As a coach, you’ve got to oversee a group of 24 or 25 individual ‘entrepreneurs’, each with annual salaries running into the millions. The aim is to form a kind of ‘parent company’ with a common denominator that creates an identity. This identity must rub off on the

Goffe Struiksma

Given all this, what new roles do coaches now have to fulfil in order to successfully steer a team?


CHRIS TOPH DAUM

“Despite all the science, expertise and practicality, football is and will always be a game of emotions.” entire team and beyond to the board and the club as a whole. That’s why a coach’s responsibilities now stretch far beyond what they were 25 years ago.

You’re regarded as a great motivator with some unorthodox methods, such as letting your team walk over burning coals. How has the concept of motivation changed over the years? Not much at all for me, really. Motivation is simply effective communication. For a start, that means I have to be able to listen to what drives my players: their ambitions, their dreams and any barriers or blockades that may lie in their path. Then, together with a mental coach, I can use my knowledge to discuss these things with the players and work out where they can find the greatest motivation. The goal must always be to help players to help themselves. They have to understand everything themselves, train with total commitment and stay motivated even when they don’t make the starting line-up or the matchday squad for the next game.

survival camp or at climbing camp, is followed by a large number of meetings and talks to discuss aspects of the team’s performance. Long-term development is vital here; you’ve got to review everything and ask the player what he has actually taken away from it all. If I listen, he can explain things to me and then I know he has understood it.

The same is true during periods of success.

That takes attention to detail.

Players need to stay highly motivated and make sure they don’t rest on their laurels even when they’re in great form. There are so many ways to support a player and ensure he is in the best possible mental and emotional shape so that he feels happy and satisfied enough to do everything in his power to be as successful as he can.

Every coach works on fine details. They carve out the best possible role for a player within his club and particular environment by using his existing individual strengths to enable him to contribute as effectively as possible to the team. There’s nothing new about that particular task; it’s still the same as ever.

Are players patient?

Talking of delayed gratification, what ambitions are you still striving to achieve?

It’s important for young players to learn the importance of delayed gratification. They want to satisfy their needs straight away by playing matches and showing what they can do as early as possible, but they’ve got learn to wait for that particular Christmas present. (laughs)

Although the process begins with individual players, what is the key to moulding these players into a team?

I would be very happy to work in the Premier League. I was in England recently and was able to do a little networking, but it’s very difficult to get into football there. That said, I would also very much like to manage internationally after 30 years in club football. I recently turned down the opportunity to coach Nigeria’s national team, but I’m sure something else will come up soon enough. Å

Long-term development is just as important as team-building measures. Any team event, such as solving a common problem at

Christoph Daum was speaking to Perikles Monioudis

Name Christoph Daum Date and place of birth 24 October 1953, Oelsnitz/Erzgebirge Clubs coached (selection) 1981-1985 1. FC Köln amateurs 1985-1986 1. FC Köln (assistant coach) 1986-1990, 2006-2009 1. FC Köln 1990-1993 VfB Stuttgart 1994-1996, 2001-2002 Besiktas 1996-2000 Bayer Leverkusen 2002-2003 Austria Wien 2003-2006, 2009-2010 Fenerbahce 2011 Eintracht Frankfurt 2011-2012 Club Brugge 2013-2014 Bursaspor Championship titles won

Walkabout Fenerbahce coach Christoph Daum celebrates championship glory on 10 May 2004.

1992 VfB Stuttgart 1995 Besiktas 2003 Austria Wien 2004, 2005 Fenerbahce T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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TALK ING POIN T S

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Czech Synot Liga

Hope springs eternal Roland Zorn is a football expert who lives in Frankfurt am Main.

Czech Republic’s 2-1 victory over the Netherlands in their opening UEFA EURO 2016 qualifier sent shock waves around Europe. The last-gasp success on 9 September clearly took Czech supporters by surprise too, given the fact that Sparta Prague’s 21,000-capacity stadium was not even sold out for the clash against the 2014 World Cup bronze medalists. Rather than hail the win as the turning point in Czech football, which has fallen far behind its competitors in recent years, experts view the narrow victory as the first tentative step on the long road to recovery.

I N S I D E

There are indeed signs that national interest in football, the country’s second most popular sport after ice hockey, is growing once more. Attendance figures in the Czech first division have been rising steadily, if not spectacularly, since the 2010/11 season. Record titleholders Sparta boast the highest average attendance in the league (11,340), followed by rivals Viktoria Plzen (10,090). However, the average attendance across the whole of the first division was a mere 5,086 last term. In June this year Czech Republic-based lottery and betting provider Synot replaced Gambrinus, a beer brand that had held the naming rights to the top flight for 17 years, as the league’s main sponsor. Synot’s contributions, though dwarfed by the astronomical sums being spent in Europe’s major leagues, are certainly not to be sniffed at when put into context. Since the division of Czechoslovakia in 1993, the Czech first division has been made up of

just 16 clubs. Sparta have won four times as many titles (12) as their closest challengers Slavia Prague and Slovan Liberec, who have both been crowned champions on three occasions. Viktoria have enjoyed some success in recent years, winning two championships and taking part in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League in 2011/12. Overall though, Czech Republic’s contribution to Europe’s top table has been minimal. Sparta, who won their first league title in four years last season, are the country’s only representatives in European competition this campaign, but lost their opening UEFA Europa League game 3-1 to Napoli. Given its lack of financial clout, stars and glamour, the league’s bid to enhance its standing remains onerous. Infrastructure damage, poor marketing, corruption scandals and outbreaks of violence inside stadiums have done little to help the cause. However, more recent developments have provided some cause for cautious optimism. Though Sparta and Viktoria remain overwhelming favourites for the title this season, the start to the campaign has thrown up more than the odd surprise. With just four points separating first-place Plzen and Dukla Prague in eleventh, there has been no shortage of excitement so far, despite the dearth of up-and-coming talent in a country that has produced the likes of Petr Cech, Pavel Nedved, Tomas Rosicky and Karel Poborsky in recent times.

Eyes on the title Sparta Prague’s Ladislav Krejci. 18

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Alejandro Pagni / afp

That does not mean things can’t change for the better, though. Perhaps the 2-1 victory over the Netherlands was a sign of things to come. Å


A r g e n t i n a ’s P r i m e r a D i v i s i o n

Free-flowing River Sven Goldmann is a football correspondent at “Tagesspiegel” newspaper in Berlin.

At present there seems to be no stopping ‘The Machine’, as Club Atletico River Plate are known, even if they are of course not as spectacular as the side of the early 1940s. Back then, they arguably had the best team in the world, led by Adolfo Pedernera and Angel Labruna, who are still revered by the River faithful to this day. Fast forward 70 years and fans in Buenos Aires frequently mention that golden era in the same breath as the present side, as River are playing with a merciless precision the Estadio Monumental has not witnessed in many a year. In the seventh round of matches of the Primera Division’s Torneo Transicion, River recorded their sixth successive victory with a 4-1 triumph over Atletico Independiente. River have already scored 19 goals and only conceded three this season; they are a true footballing machine.

imago

The match against Independiente was supposed to be a top-of-the-table encounter, as the promoted side from Avellaneda went into the game away to River just a point behind their hosts after winning their four previous fixtures. Yet what transpired was a demonstration of River’s elegant attacking football. Leonardo Pisculichi and Ariel Rojas fired the home side into a first-half lead, only for Federico Mancuello to reduce the deficit on the hour mark. However, any hopes that may have given Independiente were dashed shortly afterwards when Colombian striker Teofilo Gutierrez hit his seventh of the season to make it 3-1 and go top of the domestic goalscoring chart. Uruguay’s Rodrigo Mora added a fourth later on. The upturn in River’s form is largely down to coach Marcelo Gallardo, who was initially only appointed as a stop-gap solution after club legend Ramon Diaz surprisingly stepped down in the spring following the Millonarios’ 36th league title celebrations. Diaz won the championship with River as a player and did so later five times as coach, as well as securing the Copa Libertadores and Supercopa Sudamericana trophies. In the wake of the

Coach Marcelo Gallardo No longer a mere stop-gap solution at River Plate.

team’s victory in the Torneo Final, just three years after the embarrassment of the club’s maiden relegation, Diaz unexpectedly resigned in May.

recognise a player is intelligent if he implements his coach’s ideas quickly,” Gallardo said. “And I have a very intelligent team!” That is precisely why River’s new football machine is so well-oiled at present. Å

River’s technical director Enzo Francescoli, likewise an icon in Belgrano, the Buenos Aires district the club call home, reacted quickly and named Gallardo as Diaz’s successor. The new man in charge has long been part of the River family, having come up through their youth ranks and made his Primera Division debut as a 17-year-old. His first role as coach led him to Montevideo, where he immediately won the Uruguayan championship with Nacional. Now 38, he still seems as youthful as he was when he pulled the strings in midfield for River and the Argentinian national team. That has helped his side to play with even greater maturity. “You can T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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First Love

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Pl ace: Cap e Tow n , Sout h A f r ica Date: 29 September 2012 Time: 5.12 p.m. Alexia Webster, Keystone

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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.


COMMIT TEE WEEK

PRESIDENTIAL NOTE

FIFA to implement two new development programmes

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he setting-up of two new development programmes to promote participation in the FIFA U-17 World Cup qualifiers and to develop domestic youth competitions respectively, and the approval of the first-ever ‘Goal’ projects for the USA, Italy and Sweden were among the main outcomes of the FIFA Development Committee meeting held 23 September 2014 under the chairmanship of Issa Hayatou at the Home of FIFA. Promoting young talent The new initiative aimed at U-17 male and female teams will enable member associations that fulfil specific criteria to receive FIFA’s ­fi nancial support for the organisational expenses of home matches as well as for the travel costs of away games in order to increase participation in FIFA youth competitions. In the area of domestic youth tournaments, FIFA’s objective will be to help member associations to increase the number of youth competitions in different age groups by means of specific education programmes, teaching material and equipment. Member associations will be requested to provide a four-year development plan under the guidance of a technical director to be entitled to

receive FIFA’s support. “Both programmes are very much in line with FIFA’s intention to ­support male and female youth football competitions during the upcoming financial cycle in order to increase participation opportunities and subsequently quality,” commented Hayatou. 32 ‘Goal’ projects were approved by FIFA’s Development Committee. Among the new initiatives are the building of headquarters for the Congolese Football Federation, the upgrade of the technical centre in Papua New Guinea, the support to the national football academy in India ahead of the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup and the construction of a football pitch in ­Bhutan’s district of Tsirang. Increased budget The 2015-2018 period will see the current development budget of USD 800 million increase by USD 100 million, with a further improvement of the financial governance of FIFA development funds, an increase of Goal allocations (by 50% since 2010 – from USD 400,000 to 600,000), the doubling of women’s football ­development funds, and a fivefold enlargement of the capacity to provide football equipment as some of the main priorities. Å

32 ‘ Goal’ projects were approved by FIFA’s Development Committee.

251 delegates from 132 countries

E

xactly 70 days after the World Cup Final in Rio de Janeiro the global footballing community came together this week in Zurich for the FIFA Committee Days. There was no cup to be won and no awards either, but the strategic importance of the quarterly get-together is almost on a par with the global showdown. The regular dialogue between the associations, and the discussions about everyday problems in technical, logistical, medical, infrastructural, legal and sporting areas form a direct link to the grassroots of our sport and deliver the foundation for our development and aid programmes such as “Football for Health”, ­ “11 for Health” or “Football for Hope”. In regions where the people lack even the basic necessities, football can act as an important foothold, especially for boys: the game supplies the role models they may be lacking elsewhere. It is no coincidence that football is still being played even in these difficult times in crisis-hit countries such as Syria, Lebanon and Ukraine. The magnificent World Cup in Brazil serves, in a manner of speaking, as FIFA’s beacon. It is vital that the national associations take up the message it sends out. The 13 committees meeting at Home of FIFA held constructive and solution-oriented talks, and formulated proposals for the attention of the next Congress. Along with the 27 members of the Executive Committee we were pleased to welcome 251 delegates from 132 countries. All of them had the right to voice their opinions, and every one received a hearing. The most important insight also shows us the path we must follow: we can only solve global problems by working together, in football, but also in social and community matters.

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

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PRISON FOOTBALL

Goals in gaol

Cell 13 Winners of the 2013 tournament.

G BP INM AT E S Team name: Geraldo Beltrao Penitentiary Cell 13 Formed: 2013 Town: Joao Pessoa, Brazil League: Geraldo Beltrao Cup Coach: Pedro Nascimento Honours: Geraldo Beltrao Cup winners (2013)

24

T H E F I FA W E E K LY


PRISON FOOTBALL

The inmates at Brazilian maximum security prison Geraldo Beltrao contest an 足annual tournament. The winners then get to play the warders.

The guards at play Unarmed on the sand.

G BP GUARD S Team name: Geraldo Beltrao Penitentiary Warders Formed: 2013 Town: Joao Pessoa, Brasilien League: Geraldo Beltrao Cup Coach: None Honours: None

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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PRISON FOOTBALL

In the kitchen Training until the food’s done.

Prolonged battle The tournament lasts for a week.

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T H E F I FA W E E K LY


PRISON FOOTBALL

Each player on the winning team receives a box containing rice, beans and other goods. Luiz Romero (text) and Nicolo Lanfranchi (photos), Joao Pessoa, Brazil

P

layers warm up among mattresses and clothes hanging on lines, but the second they step outside, they’re stopped at a metal door and frisked by armed guards. After passing through another metal door, they arrive on the pitch. Any slip over the sidelines here is dangerous: the area is encircled by barbed wire. “We need to be calm, patient,” says one. “It’s our hot heads that got us into this place.” Outsiders are barred from the match. Once it ends, the players file back inside, saluted by hands that stretch into the corridor through steel bars. Their cell doors lock and screams of celebration echo through the prison. Since 2012, this football tournament has been played every year inside Geraldo Beltrao, a maximum-security prison in Joao Pessoa, capital of Paraiba, Brazil. Each cell may form one team of five prisoners. After a week of continuous matches, each player on the winning team receives his prize: a box of food containing rice, beans and other goods, usually later sent to his family. The winning team also gets to play against the

prison guards. This is a special match in which daily tensions sometimes creep onto the pitch. “Bring a bag to carry all the goals home,” one inmate teases, and then quickly apologises. Once the match is over, only one team will be armed. This year’s winners were Cell 15. Å

The full article first appeared on 16 May 2014 in Colors Magazine (Italy). Colorsmagazine.com

The 2014 winners This year’s ­tournament was won by Cell 15.

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.

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Hello Tomorrow


IN BRIEF

I

t was 29 June 2014 and my son had reached the regional cup final with his lower-league youth side. In the first half the match was an attractive affair with some eye-catching team moves and fierce tackling. After one such challenge the referee showed my son a yellow card for foul play, a fair decision. Not long after the break his side went 1-0 up and a surprise victory appeared to be on the cards. With the wind in their sails, the team kept pushing forward and a few minutes later even managed to score again, sparking loud cheers from the travelling support and unbridled joy in the scorer, who celebrated next to the corner flag. Overcome with emotion, my son kicked the flag and was shown a second yellow card for excessive goal celebration. The opposition took full advantage of the sense of shock that descended on his side and, after levelling the score at 2-2, went on to win the final on penalties. Plagued by guilt, my son was in tears, and we returned home downhearted to watch the World Cup Round of 16 tie between the Netherlands and Mexico. Shortly before the final whistle Klaas-Jan Huntelaar netted a match-winning penalty to make it 2-1, and subsequently sprinted to the corner of the pitch where he kung-fu kicked the flag. He was not booked for doing so: the decision falls under the discretionary powers of referees. That is also something we must simply accept. Å Richie Kroenert

imago

T

here are moments in football when even the greatest sport of all fades into insignificance. Jonas Gutierrez from Premier League club Newcastle United shocked the club’s fans when he revealed in an interview he is being treated for testicular cancer. The former Argentina international also said he had been undergoing treatment in his home country for a while, but kept his condition a secret for months. “This is the toughest match of my life,” the 31-year-old said. The Magpies’ first home match following Gutierrez´ shock news was an emotional occasion. Papiss Cisse struck a brace to secure a point in a 2-2 draw with Hull City and dedicated both goals to his stricken team-mate. The Senegalese striker revealed a message of encouragement on a vest under his shirt, reading “Always looking forward Jonas”. Cisse has hardly had an easy time of it himself recently as he spent months on the sidelines with a fractured patella. However, Cisse’s stirring comeback provided a mere footnote on the day, in line with one of Gutierrez’ statements: “When you’re battling cancer, every other problem becomes unimportant.” Å Tim Pfeifer

T

he way a story is told often causes more of a stir than the story itself. It provides the listener with food for thought and can be a liberating experience for the storyteller. Reports recently surfaced in British newspapers claiming that Fulham’s recently released manager Felix Magath ordered a player to spend an afternoon with cheese pressed to his knee to help him recover from an injury. The anecdote came directly from several of the Cottagers’ players after the 61-yearold German had been dismissed from his post, otherwise their punishment would have been even tougher training sessions than usual. Alternatively, perhaps Magath would have brought his own Emmental compress to the training ground after seeing such reports in the newspaper. According to his former charges, the former Schalke boss disliked lighthearted banter after defeats and trained the players almost to the point of collapse. Since his departure, life at Craven Cottage has begun to return to normal. Last Tuesday Fulham won at last, defeating lower-league opponents Doncaster Rovers in the League Cup without needing to call upon Magath or his cheesy prescriptions. The team and their caretaker manager Kit Symons didn’t put a foot wrong – according to several observers’ version of events, at least. Å Alan Schweingruber T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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F I F A ’ S 11

Highest-scoring Golden Boot winners

A

10

g oals Gerd Muller West Germany Mexico 1970

8

g oals Ronaldo Brazil Korea / Japan 2002

At ease once more

7

g oals Grzegorz Lato Poland West Germany 1974

6

g oals Mario Kempes Argentina Argentina 1978

Tim Pfeifer

6

g oals Paolo Rossi Italy Spain 1982

6

g oals Gary Lineker England Mexico 1986

6

g oals Salvatore Schillaci Italy Italy 1990

6

g oals Oleg Salenko Russia USA 1994

6

g oals Hristo Stoichkov Bulgaria USA 1994

6

g oals Davor Suker Croatia France 1998

6

g oals James Rodriguez Colombia Brazil 2014

fter a lengthy absence, the most distinctive smile in world football was finally visible once again as Ronaldinho led his new club, Mexican first division outfit FC Queretaro, to a 4-1 victory away to Chivas Guadalajara by scoring a penalty and providing an assist. For the two-time World Player of the Year it not only represented his first goal on his league debut for Los Gallos Blancos (the White Roosters), but more importantly it marked a return to his effortless playing style of old. Following an initially successful but increasingly unsatisfactory spell at Brazilian giants Atletico Mineiro, and after former national team coach Luiz Felipe Scolari excluded him from his World Cup squad, Ronaldinho terminated his contract in order to search for a new challenge and to rediscover his old form abroad. For years he dazzled football fans across the globe with his inspired solo runs and spectacular tricks, the like of which had never been seen before. Yet recently the Brazilian appeared to have fallen out of love with the game a little. However, the nimble-footed samba dance with which the 34-year-old celebrated his debut goal, as well as the stunning pass to set up Camilo Sanvezzo to put Queretaro 2-0 ahead, provided ample evidence that the veteran has lost none of his flair and that he is on track to recover his former finesse and enthusiasm. The playmaker also seems to be fully motivated despite being in the twilight of his career. “So far I’ve won the league with all of my clubs and I hope to continue that here too,” Ronaldinho said at his unveiling. “I haven’t won a trophy in Mexico yet, that’s why I’m here.”

If he can stay true to his word and build on his impressive first outing, it is not hard to imagine a broad smile returning not only to his face, but also to those of football enthusiasts around the world. There would not be many people who would begrudge him, or lovers of the beautiful game, that pleasure. Å

The Golden Boot is awarded to the World Cup’s highest goalscorer.

Source: FIFA The weekly column by our staff writers

(FIFA World Cup, Milestones & Superlatives, Statistical Kit, 23/09/2014) T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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MIRROR IMAGE

T

H

E

N

Mallorca, Spain

1972

William Lovelace / Getty Images

George Best in fashionable swimwear.

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T H E F I FA W E E K LY


MIRROR IMAGE

N

O

W

Ibiza, Spain

2014

Dukas

Mario Gรถtze, a week after his winning goal in the World Cup Final.

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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F I F A’S WO M E N WO R L D R A N K I N G

→ http://www.fifa.com/worldranking

The September edition of the Women’s World Ranking has been heavily shaped by many qualifying matches, particularly for next year’s Women’s World Cup in Canada. The ranking points awarded for these games have seen three South American teams – Peru (52nd), Paraguay (54th) and Ecuador (49 th) – return to the ranking,

Rank Team

Points

1 USA

0 2185

2 Germany

0 2179

3 Japan

0 2081

4 France

0 2067

5 Sweden

0 2021

6 Brazil

0 2002

7 England

1 1994

8 Canada

-1 1970

9 Norway

1 1960

10 Australia

-1 1957

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 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 58 60

34

Change in ranking

Korea DPR Denmark Italy China PR Netherlands Spain Korea Republic Switzerland New Zealand Iceland Scotland Russia Finland Ukraine Mexico Austria Belgium Czech Republic Republic of Ireland Thailand Colombia Wales Poland Vietnam Nigeria Romania Argentina Chile Chinese Taipei Costa Rica Portugal Hungary Uzbekistan Serbia Myanmar Trinidad and Tobago Slovakia Belarus Ecuador Ghana Cameroon Peru India Paraguay Equatorial Guinea South Africa Jordan Croatia Iran Haiti

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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

1954 1892 1890 1869 1868 1865 1835 1825 1815 1814 1807 1779 1778 1771 1760 1700 1688 1669 1664 1654 1646 1633 1631 1626 1623 1618 1605 1579 1574 1566 1565 1560 1548 1535 1530 1505 1501 1496 1495 1467 1457 1442 1433 1431 1425 1423 1418 1412 1412 1393

which means that all ten CONMEBOL teams are in the table once again, quite a turnaround in fortunes as only three South American teams were in the ranking in the second half of 2013. Once again there are no changes at the very top, although Germany have cut the USA’s lead

Rank Team 61 62 63 64 64 66 67 68 69 70 71 71 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 92 94 95 96 96 98 99 100 101 102 102 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130

Turkey Israel Venezuela Northern Ireland Côte d'Ivoire Slovenia Panama Hong Kong Bulgaria Kazakhstan Bosnia and Herzegovina Jamaica Albania Greece Algeria Indonesia Morocco Tunisia Guatemala Philippines Uruguay Faroe Islands Bahrain Estonia Guam Laos Egypt Malaysia Senegal Lithuania Bolivia Dominican Republic 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 St. Lucia Zambia Bangladesh St. Kitts and Nevis Lebanon Bermuda Maldives Tanzania Mozambique Kuwait Qatar Cayman Islands Swaziland Lesotho Belize Antigua and Barbuda

Change in ranking

Points

-1 -7 3 -5 -3 -8 -3 -3 -7 -7 0

1389 1387 1381 1376 1376 1374 1363 1360 1359 1356 1354 1354 1345 1341 1334 1330 1316 1314 1313 1309 1308 1305 1302 1297 1294 1283 1275 1269 1257 1236 1231 1219 1219 1206 1195 1191 1191 1184 1182 1177 1154 1152 1152 1147 1145 1136 1108 1106 1104 1100 1096 1092 1021 1000 991 986 979 956 955 943 940 931 873 870 864 849 838 836 825 767

-6 -6 -6 -6 -3 -3 -3 -2 -10 -9 -4 -7 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -8 -8 -8 -9 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8

to a mere six points. World champions Japan are also looking over their shoulders in third place as France are now just 14 points behind them. It is therefore possible that the next edition of the ranking in December 2014 will reveal some movement in the top three.

Rank Team 131 Aruba 132 Botswana United Arab Emirates ** Papua New Guinea ** Azerbaijan ** Tonga ** Fiji ** Guyana ** Congo ** Tahiti ** Solomon Islands ** New Caledonia ** Benin ** Moldova ** Cook Islands ** Vanuatu ** Angola ** Congo DR ** Samoa ** Armenia ** American Samoa ** Guinea ** Eritrea ** Gabon ** Grenada ** Uganda ** Sri Lanka ** Pakistan ** Guinea-Bissau ** Syria ** Dominica ** Afghanistan ** Iraq ** Malawi ** Curaçao ** Bhutan ** Sierra Leone * Burkina Faso * Barbados * Rwanda * Macao * Liberia * British Virgin Islands * US Virgin Islands * Kenya * Andorra * Comoros * Turks and Caicos Islands *

Change in ranking

Points

-8 -8

758 735 1665 1476 1341 1316 1306 1256 1238 1238 1195 1188 1187 1177 1170 1139 1134 1132 1110 1104 1075 1063 1060 1031 1029 965 965 937 927 927 906 899 882 840 831 785 1132 1038 997 996 922 877 867 852 816 791 761 704

** 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.


THE SOUND OF FOOTBALL

THE OBJEC T

Perikles Monioudis

W

Disco with Roger Hanspeter Kuenzler No-one danced round a corner flag as evocatively as Roger Milla. After his hit role at the 1990 World Cup, it is no wonder the Cameroonian also felt the urge to sing.

Sion Ap Tomos

T

hanks to Roger Milla’s four goals at Italia ’90 Cameroon became the first African team to reach a World Cup quarter-final. However, the iconic player’s most important contribution to footballing history was undoubtedly the dance round the corner flag, his trademark goal celebration performed with a broad grin and a coquettish wiggle of the ­buttocks. Even now, any team worthy of the name has a “Milla-lite” in its ranks, who is not afraid to lift the communal spirits with ever more absurd dance routines. A less well-known fact is that Roger Milla attempted to translate his rhythmic talent to the world of music. He released three singles in 1990 and 1991, and an album entitled “Saga Africa”. The music was provided by a Franco-Belgian studio team, although Milla did have a hand in writing the lyrics. We cannot blame him for devoting no fewer than two of the tracks to his two talents: “Dance With The Lion” is the one (“Come on Roger, Dance With The Lion!”), “The Milla Move” is the other (“Pump it up/the Milla Move/Exact”). Milla’s

voice bears a distant resemblance to that of Barry White, although it is not quite as supple. Despite the album title, his musical heart seems to beat more in time to Europop and disco rather than the sounds of his homeland. The dominant influences at the start of the album are disco beats, guest vocalists and Cameroonian master Manu “Soul Makossa” Dibango on sax. Later, the rhythms become less frantic and the sounds more atmospheric as Milla comes closer to the microphone, speaking rather than singing as he celebrates the joys of fatherhood, or to recite Rudyard Kipling’s seminal poem “If”. The album and a singing career close with a form of negative ode to aerodromes: “Airports, again and again...” The artist takes up the subject in his sleeve notes: “The aircraft takes the player away from his country, but his heart will always stay behind.” As it happens, Roger Milla did actually make it into the hit parade in 1991 thanks to tennis ace Yannick Noah, who stormed the French charts with a single curiously also entitled “Saga Africa”. Noah’s lyrics include a tribute to Milla and his Cameroonian colleagues François Omam-Biyik and Thomas Nkono. Æ

hen the World Cup was yet to be transmitted in full, globally and in colour on TV, but was instead covered in radio broadcasts of epic length, a certain requisite took on central importance: the microphone. The sceptre in a telephonic ceremony, it was entrusted for the duration of a football match to those who were deemed best qualified: the best chroniclers, the best storytellers, the best formulators. In short, it was handed to a magician who understood the secret of rousing the listeners clustered round their radio sets at home. From the early 1950s to the mid-1960s, and primarily from the World Cups of the time, FIFA made recordings using the 41 cm long ENG microphone manufactured by RCA, the Radio Corporation of America, and depicted above. This microphone was eventually ­presented as a gift to the general secretary of the Spanish association, whose museum loaned it to the museum run by their Argentinian counterparts in 1968. Not only in the world of radio reporting, heavyweight tabletop microphones with stately Bakelite pedestals rapidly gave way to headsets, which hardly weigh anything – in physical terms, you understand. Spoken words can still carry the most weight of all. Å

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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Football is a brotherhood. It’s peace.

© 2014 Visa. All rights reserved.

Oscar Arias Nobel Peace Laureate


TURNING POINT

“I wasn’t supposed to be playing” Herbert Prohaska made a name for himself on the international stage by prodding home the goal that secured Austria’s passage to the 1978 World Cup.

Kurt Pinter / Contour by Getty Images

I

hadn’t been in the starting eleven during our 1978 World Cup qualifying campaign, and I wasn’t supposed to face Turkey in Izmir ­either. But when Josef Hickersberger was forced to undergo an appendix operation just days before the match on 30 October 1977, I was drafted in to replace him. It was my first start of the campaign – and it came in our all­important qualifier against the Turks. The atmosphere was intense. The Turks had already tried to disrupt our preparations by giving us a training pitch without floodlights and a noisy hotel to stay in. We were even forced to borrow shirts from our opponents just prior to kick-off when they suddenly decided that they wanted to play in red. We didn’t have a white strip with us, so our kitman had to remove the Turkish half-moon from each individual shirt. It might’ve caused chaos, but it didn’t help them in the slightest. Luck was on our side that night. Chances were few and far between until the 71st minute, when the Turks hit the post with a header. We responded by quickly launching the decisive counterattack, with Hans Krankl making a 60-metre surge down the left. His pass was intended for the onrushing Willy Kreuz, but Fatih Terim, the Turkish sweeper, deflected the ball into my path as he attempted to block the cross. The chance was presented to me on a plate, and I managed to get a toe on the ball to prod it home ‘Tipp-Kick’ style – not the way I would usually shoot at all. I’ll never forget what happened next. I turned to my left in celebration and was quickly mobbed to the ground by my team-mates on the running track surrounding the pitch. The only problem was that I’d sprinted directly

Name Herbert Prohaska Date and place of birth 8 August 1955, Vienna Position Midfielder Clubs 1972–1980, 1983–1989 Austria Vienna 1980–1982 Inter Milan 1982–1983 AS Roma Austrian national team 84 appearances, 12 goals

towards the Turkish fans, all 72,000 of whom seemed consumed by rage. Oranges and mandarins rained down on us. The fans threw virtually everything they could get their hands on at us, but I couldn’t have cared less at that point. They could have bombarded us with ­tomatoes too for all I cared. My goal didn’t just seal a 1-0 win for us; it also meant that Austria qualified for their first World Cup finals in 20 years. And that toe poke in Izmir was the making of me. From that point onwards there were no more discussions about whether Prohaska would play or not. From that day on I always featured in the starting line-up. The side story with the hat was also quite funny. While the fans were parading me on their shoulders after the final whistle, I suddenly found myself wearing a huge red and white

top hat. The image became famous all over the world. In fact, I’ve still got a picture of it hanging on the wall at home. On the flight home I left the hat on the plane, but it suddenly reappeared many years later. It has since been put on display at the museum of the Austrian ­Football Association. Å As told to Bernd Fisa

In Turning Point, personalities reflect on a decisive moment in their lives. T H E F I FA W E E K LY

37


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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

An unfortunate national team, a club playing in the wrong country and a country lacking talented youngsters – test your knowledge! 1

Which stadium is home to two Champions League-winning clubs?

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

Chief Editor: Perikles Monioudis Staff Writers: Alan Schweingruber, Sarah Steiner, Tim Pfeifer

2

S

A O E U

Picture Editor: Peggy Knotz Production: Hans-Peter Frei

3

F Peru L Portugal N Australia R Algeria

Contributors: Sérgio Xavier Filho, Luigi Garlando, Sven Goldmann, Hanspeter Kuenzler, Jordi Punti, David Winner, Roland Zorn

Editorial Assistant: Honey Thaljieh

Central America North Africa East Asia Southern Europe

Which unlucky team exited the World Cup after the group stages despite winning two matches?

Proof Reader: Nena Morf, Kristina Rotach

Contributors to this Issue: Svend Frandsen, Thomas Renggli, Luiz Romero, Alissa Rosskopf, Andreas Wilhelm

W

Only one country in the world cannot field an U-17 national team as it does not have enough eligible players in that age group, but where is this nation located?

Art Direction: Catharina Clajus

Layout: Richie Krönert (Lead), Tobias Benz, Marianne Bolliger-Crittin, Susanne Egli

T

4

English side Berwick Rangers play in the Scottish league, but which club in the English Premier League is not located in England?

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

E

F

N

K

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

Send your answer by 1 October 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 Who will win the CAF Champions League and represent Africa at Morocco 2014?

41+29+15 15%

41%

15%

T HIS WEEK’S POLL

Who of the following forwards will impress most in the FIFA Club World Cup Morocco 2014?

29%

≠  ≠  ≠  ≠

ES Setif (Algeria)

TP Mazembe (Congo DR) AS Vita Club (Congo DR) CS Sfaxien (Tunisia)

Take your pick from the following players: · Mouhcine Iajour (Moghreb Tetouan) · Mauro Matos (San Lorenzo; pictured) · Mariano Pavone (Cruz Azul) · Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) · Emiliano Tade (Auckland City) Cast your vote at fifa.com/newscentre

“Iniesta is the most talented Spanish player in history. But when I see Pirlo I think he’s wonderful. I watch Juventus just to see him.” Xavi, Barcelona midfielder

83 8 39 WEEK IN NUMBERS

impressive run that has

distance from which Moritz

taken Zenit clear at the

Stoppelkamp scored a re-

summit of the Russian

different teams, a

cord-breaking Bundesliga goal

Premier League. In beating

new record, have

on Saturday. The Paderborn

Rostov 5-0 on Saturday to

conceded to Frank

midfielder found the net from

extend this fine run, the

Lampard in the

just outside his own penalty area

four-time national champions

Premier League after the midfielder added former

after Hannover keeper

became the first club in the

club Chelsea to the list. The 36-year-old came off the

Ron-Robert Zieler had

post-Soviet era to begin their

bench to score the equaliser in Manchester City’s 1-1

come forward to contest a

campaign with eight successive

draw against a team with whom he spent 13 years

stoppage-time free-kick.

victories (pictured Hulk).

and scored a club-record 211 goals.

Javier Garcia Martino / imago, imago (3)

games, eight wins is the

metres was the incredible


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