The FIFA Weekly Issue #40

ISSUE 40/2015, 9 OCTOBER 2015

ENGLISH EDITION

Fédération Internationale de Football Association – Since 1904

SOUTH AFRICA THE MULTI-TALENTED DARIUS DHLOMO BARCELONA NO MESSI, NO POINTS AUSTRALIA NO HOLLYWOOD GLITZ AS LEAGUE KICKS OFF

FIFA MONITORING SYSTEM

UNITED AGAINST DISCRIMINATION W W W.FIFA.COM/ THEWEEKLY

THIS WEEK IN THE WORLD OF FOOTBALL

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Australia The A-League is full of ambition as the new season gets underway. “We want to become one of the biggest leagues in the world,” says league boss Damien de Bohun.

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Algeria Newly promoted DRB Tadjenanet have demonstrated remarkable fighting spirit to become the league's surprise leaders.

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Zsanett Jakabfi The Hungarian striker reflects on how her desire to prove herself as a footballer ultimately led her to Wolfsburg.

United against discrimination Our cover image shows English footballer Joey Barton tying rainbow laces on his boots in support of a gay rights campaign in 2013.

South America 10 members www.conmebol.com

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Spain Villarreal remain at the summit of the Primera Division table after seven rounds of matches.

(Pictured: Roberto Soldado, left)

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Mohammed Gambo “The Nigerian league is the strongest in Africa,” says the Kano Pillars striker in an interview.

Ben Duffy

The FIFA Weekly app FIFA’s magazine The FIFA Weekly is published in four languages every Friday and is also available free of charge on smartphone and tablet. http://www.fifa.com/mobile 2

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FIFA U-17 World Cup 17 October – 8 November 2015, Chile

Clive Rose / Getty Images, Jose Jordan / AFP, imago, akg-images

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North and Central America 35 members www.concacaf.com

Fighting discrimination sustainably Discrimination should have no place in football.

To reinforce this principle, FIFA has developed a monitoring system to prevent and punish such indignity inside stadiums. Gerd Dembowski reports on the development of educational concepts, working with national associations and getting fans involved.

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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Auckland City It appears nobody in Oceania can find a way past this New Zealand club.

(Pictured: Ivan Vicelich)

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Darius Dhlomo The South African, who passed away in June, shone both on and off the football pitch.

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Chile

England

Australia

Belgium

South Africa

New Zealand

Croatia

Guinea

Germany

Mali

Costa Rica

France

Nigeria

Brazil

Mexico

Honduras

Korea DPR

Syria

USA

Korea Republic

Argentina

Ecuador

Russia

Paraguay T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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Š 2015 adidas AG. adidas, the 3-Bars logo and the 3-Stripes mark are registered trademarks of the adidas Group.

# B E T H E D I F F E R E N C E

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In no uncertain terms

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o kind of discrimination is ever funny, even if the words said initially appear to be harmless, or if, in some cases, there was no intention of causing offence. The sense of feeling offended or discriminated against is subjective, and that is precisely the point: there are no half-measures when it comes to derogatory comments or acts. Disparaging remarks are unambiguous and inexcusable.

Victims do not forget. In our report, Brazil’s Roque Junior says: “It’s difficult to talk about racism because no matter how much someone claims to understand the issue, experiencing it for yourself is a different matter altogether.“ FIFA has been tackling discrimination of all kinds for many years. Respecting others should be a matter of course. Turn to page 6 to read about our efforts in this regard, and about how the important observation system in stadiums works. Å

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Alan Schweingruber

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FIGHTING DISCRIMINATION SUSTAINABLY

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FIFA has a zero-tolerance approach to discrimination. Together with the Fare network, football’s world governing body is setting new prevention and sanctioning standards, writes Gerd Dembowski.

T Symbol of peace and harmony A rainbow seen during a Melbourne Victory training session in May 2015.

Scott Barbour / Getty Images

hey move undetected through the stadium, taking photos, notes and audio recordings. Never letting their eyes stray to the stars on the pitch, they instead spend most of their time with their backs turned to the main event, showing a far greater interest in everything from chants, banners, stickers and graffiti to symbols and codes on the spectators’ clothes.

Although they are familiar with fan culture in various nations, they have not come to the match to cheer on the teams, and while they examine spectator behaviour, they are not tasked with carrying out academic research. In fact, they are anti-discrimination match observers, part of the new FIFA Anti-Discrimination Monitoring System for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ qualifiers and the FIFA Confederations Cup Russia 2017.

Trained by the Fare network These monitoring activities are being coordinated by FIFA in collaboration with the Fare network, whose efforts to combat discrimination in football are world-renowned. “We have been running an observer system with similarities to the FIFA funded scheme since 2013,” says Fare’s executive director Piara Powar. “We have also trained CONCACAF diversity officers in match observation. This experience will be used in the delivery of the FIFA project.”

FIFA’s match observers will also receive tailor-made training from the Fare network to reflect the different forms discrimination can take depending on the region in which it occurs. The fact that aggressively deriding others is a social reaction means that it can also happen in football. Whether verbal or physical, discrimination is arguably as old T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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FIFA MONITORING SYSTEM

THE RAINBOW SYMBOL The rainbow is an impressive natural spectacle that unites sunshine and rain and, like football, transcends differences. The rainbow symbolises beauty, harmony and peace; as a result, since the 1970s it has also become synonymous with acceptance and recognition, particularly with regard to homosexuality and the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community.

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as the human race, and it would be naïve to believe that it can be completely stamped out.

It is for this reason that anti-discrimination match observers are now being deployed to support referees and FIFA match commissioners, with their observations enhancing the investigations of FIFA’s disciplinary bodies long after the final whistle has blown. “Our match observers look out for all types of discrimination,” explains Piara Power. “Their role is to objectively report any obvious manifestations of abuse. If an incident is heard or seen, they file a match report to FIFA within 24 hours.”

The work of these match observers plays a vital role in reinforcing the controls and potential sanctions FIFA can impose upon member associations in accordance with its Disciplinary Code and enables discrimination knowledge and development to be even more effectively assessed. In the long term, such monitoring can also shed light on the

Bob Thomas / Getty Images

An unflinching champion Liverpool’s John Barnes casually kicks a banana off the pitch in February 1988.

Mike Hewitt / FIFA via Getty Images

FIFA MONITORING SYSTEM

FIFA campaign England’s Wayne Rooney pledges his support in Rio de Janeiro in June 2014.

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Realising female potential

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nf or tuna tel y t her e ar e many indi v iduals w ho s till b elieve that f ootb all is a man’s game. E ve n t hough c ount le s s gir ls and women are intere s ted in the spor t, the f ac t remains that it is predominantly played, f ol lowed and managed by men, while women are s till under - repre sented on management and de c ision - mak ing c ommi t te e s . A c c or ding to the FIFA Women’s F o otb all Sur vey in 2014, only 8 per c ent of executive board member s at member as sociations were f emale, de spite the immense potential of fered by women both on and of f the pitc h.

W i t h all t his in mind, i t is high t ime t he i s s u e w a s a d d r e s s e d . D u r i n g t h e F IFA Wo m e n’s Wo r l d C up™ in C an a d a, w o r l d f o o t b a l l ’s g o v e r n i n g b o d y l a u n c h e d a programme to promote female leaders, building on exis ting FIFA initiative s aimed at of f er ing women and gir ls gr e ater f o otb all ing opp or tunitie s. Or ganised in c onjunc tion w i t h t he T HNK S c ho ol of C r e a t i ve L e ader s h i p, t h e p r o g r a m m e s e e k s t o i d e n t i f y, supp or t and enc our age s tr ong f emale le ad er s w ithin the sp or t .

T he bu d g e t f o r e a c h e di t io n o f t h e p r o gr amm e is ap p r ox im a t e l y $1 million. T his initiati ve to pr omote f emale le ader s is one o f nin e d e ve l o p m e n t p r o gr amm e s F IFA i s ­o f f er ing to it s memb er as so c iations dur ing the 2015 -2018 c yc le.

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Wistful Didier Drogba pays tribute to the late freedom fighter Nelson “Madiba” Mandela in December 2013.

positive ways in which fan groups regulate themselves and how to improve dialogue with these organisations.

Preventing individual incidents Rather than travelling to each and every match, these dedicated observers are deployed on the basis of a sensitive risk analysis of all 851 World Cup qualifiers and matches at the FIFA Confederations Cup Russia 2017.

Decisions are reached by asking questions such as: what is the shared history of the countries and fans involved in each game, how many and which fans will be travelling to each venue, and how great an impact did the previous game have on the overall competition? “On the way to the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Russia, an estimated 100 out of 851 qualifiers will be monitored,” says Powar. “We believe this is a new dimension in the global fight to tackle the all-too-common discrimination inside football stadiums.”

Getty Images

Second workshop in Zurich a success T hr ee wor k shop s, c ombined w ith loc al f ield wor k , ar e b eing he ld in t he sp ac e of nine mont hs to gi ve s ele c te d p ar t ic ip ant s f r om around the wor ld the exper tise they need f or f utur e le ader ship r ole s. W ith the help of a mentor, e ac h p ar t ic ip ant is developing an indi v idual pr oje c t that w ill make a r e al im p ac t on the women’s game.

T he f ir s t wor k shop was held in Vanc ou ver in July and was f ollowed by a sec ond mee ting in Z ur ich at the end of September. A mong t ho s e t ak ing p ar t was F e lic i t e Rwe malika, c hair of the women’s f ootball c ommit tee at the Rwandane s e F e der a t ion of A s s o c ia t ion Football. “I’ve been wor k ing in Rwanda to tr y and c hange the mindse t, so people see that women c an play f ootball too,” she explained.

“I c ame into t he sp or t ou t of p as sion and de ter mination f or our r ight s. Now, w ith this leader ship pr ogramme, we ar e lear ning new s trategie s on how to bec ome be t ter leader s and how to inc rease the number of women in leader ship po sitions in our c ountr ie s.” tfw

FIFA MONITORING SYSTEM

A World Cup free from discrimination

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Clear signals Gervinho and Lukas Podolski exchange a high five in October 2012.

Below, Japan captain Homare Sawa addresses the public in Frankfurt during the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011.

t i t s b e s t , sp or t is inc lusi ve and f unda m e n t all y mul t ic ul t ur al. Ye t r a c i sm an d disc r imination ar e all to o c ommon b oth on and of f t he f ield, all ar ound t he wor ld.

Non - disc r imination in sp or t is a f o cus ar e a o f t he Uni t e d Na t io n s O f f ic e o f t he High C ommis sioner f or Human R ight s (OHCHR), as sp or t is one of t he f ew human pur sui t s that c r o s se s all b oundar ie s.

OHCHR has initiate d a c ollab or ation w ith FIFA , i t s L o c al O r g anising C o mmi t t e e f o r t h e 2018 FIFA Wo r l d C up Ru s sia (t m) , t h e Rus sian Minis t r y of Sp or t and t he Rus sian F o o t b all Union (R F U) in or de r t o s e c ur e a disc r imination - f r e e tour nament . Fo otb all in Rus sia has b e en c onf r onte d w ith r ep e a te d inc ident s of r ac ism and disc r imination and the author itie s ar e under going the c omplex pr o c e s s of f ull y r e c o gnizing the ser iousne s s of t his c hallenge. S ome me asur e s ha ve al r e ad y b e en taken but the wor k mus t c ontin u e. Ra c ism is a s o c ie t al an d b e h a v iour al p r o b l e m t h a t t r an s c e n d s f o o t b all. A t t h e same time, it is c r itic al that f ootball author itie s admit that it is an is sue f or f ootb all as well, and tac k le r ac ism ade quatel y.

Uprooting racism is not an eas y task and c an only be f ur thered through c ons tant dialogue and re solute ac tion. In June 2015, in order to initiate suc h dialogue, OHCHR joined f orc e s with the Rus sian Minis tr y of Spor t and the RFU to organise a s takeholder s meeting - the f ir s t of it s k ind. It brought toge ther a number of inter national and national spor ting and f an or ganisations as well as r epr e sentati ve s of Rus sia’s author itie s and FIFA . Our O f f ic e will c ontinue it s engagement with a v iew to f ur ther the f ight agains t racism and discr imina tion at the 2018 FIFA Wor ld Cup and beyond, f or the spor t and f or the people.

Yuri Boychenko

Glyn Kirk / AFP, Getty Images (2)

FIFA’s efforts to combat the issue in arenas across the globe extend far beyond this project. Football’s world governing body has established a strategic approach encompassing everything from controls and sanctions to education and networking efforts with partners both inside and outside the sport, all aided by constant communication and based on FIFA’s constantly updated regulations.

The FIFA Good Practice Guide This aim of this strategy is to advise individual member associations, while the FIFA Good Practice Guide on Diversity and Anti-Discrimination also provides a range of practical examples. For example, this new handbook encourages players and coaches to sponsor schools and educational initiatives and influence the content of such projects, and also suggests that teams issue declarations of their commitment to combating discrimination. “Good campaigns don’t necessarily need

Yuri Boychenko Chief of Anti-Discrimination Section at OHCHR T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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to be expensive,” says FIFA’s Head of Sustainability Federico Addiechi.

Stadium announcements from long-serving players, rainbow-coloured laces against homophobia and football tournaments for blind and partially sighted footballers can all be equally effective.

“The important thing is that these initiatives make best use of the interests and expertise already available in each place,” adds ­Addiechi, whose many years of experience have taught him that “sporting success is also founded on enlightened social interaction”. The overarching objective of the Good Practice Guide is to collectively promote a social environment in which everyone can participate and feel at ease.

“Associations should also seize upon creative initiatives devised by the fans,” the FIFA sustainability chief continues. As well as involving supporters in campaigns, the Good Practice Guide highlights the need for central meeting points where fans can participate in social activities.

FIFA is convinced that willingness from associations is the catalyst for successful local diversity and anti-discrimination work. “Acknowledging

“Football is there for everyone – and not just on the pitch FIFA’s Head of Sustainability Federico Addiechi

that discrimination exists to a greater or lesser extent in your region is the first step to addressing the issue in a sustainable way,” says Addiechi.

This is not always easy, as discrimination is about more than just racism. The FIFA Statutes show that FIFA’s efforts in this area are focused not just on discrimination on the grounds of race but also ethnicity, nationality, social background, gender, language, religion, political or other viewpoints, birth or other status, sexual orientation or any other reason.

Presse Sports

Paris shows its support PSG fans at the 2010 French Cup final against Monaco. The capital city club won the match at the Stade de France 1-0.

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FIFA MONITORING SYSTEM

“It’s a deep-rooted, historical problem”

Roque Junior A world champion with Brazil in 2002.

A FIFA Wo r l d C up - w inne r in 20 02, Ro qu e Junior has c ar r ie d his inf luenc e wa y b eyond the f ootball pitc h as one of Brazil ’s mo s t ac ti ve voic e s in the f ight agains t disc r imina tion. We he ar d his v iews:

Getty Images, FIFA

Roque Junior, what do you think is the most effective way of combating discrimination in football?

Ro qu e Junio r : It ’s n o t e a s y, bu t t h e s e da y s you c an identif y the culpr it s and f or c e the c lub to take c er tain s tep s. You ha ve to shar e the r e sp onsibilit y. Both the gover ning b o d y and the se p e ople ha ve to b e held r e sp onsible in some wa y.

While Brazilian football has produced many great black players over the years, the vast majority of its coaches tend to be white. As someone who is now a coach, why do you think that is?

It ’s a de e p - r o o t e d, his t or ic al pr ob le m.

Pe o p l e ju s t t e n d t o t h i n k t h a t a b l a c k ex - pla yer doe sn’t ha ve w hat it take s to be in a management p o sition or b e a c o ac h. It ’s all to do w ith our his tor y. Pe ople some time s tr y to at tac h le s s imp or tanc e to it and pla y dow n the imp ac t it has, but it ’s a slow pr o c e s s that has to take plac e in the home, with t h e w h o l e id e a o f e qu ali t y b e in g p a s s e d from generation to generation. Govern ment s also ha ve to pur sue e duc ational p ol ic ie s t h a t gi v e o p p o r t uni t ie s n o t ju s t t o member s of the black c ommunit y but to peo ple on low inc ome s to o, a sec tion of so c ie t y t ha t b l a c k s ar e c omm onl y linke d w i t h f or that same his tor ic al r e ason.

Zero tolerance To make matters worse, discrimination can occur in less obvious ways, manifesting itself not only in violence but also through prejudice, stereotypes and jokes. “It is neither a laughing matter nor a natural expression of passion or rivalry in football,” states Addiechi. “Every type of discrimination is a violation of humanity.”

Although numerous players have experienced discrimination, Brazilian world champion turned coach Roque Junior believes their accounts of these experiences can be extremely helpful. “It’s difficult to talk about racism because no matter how much someone claims to understand the issue, experiencing it for yourself is a different matter altogether,” he says.

“You need to have gone through it personally to understand it. Not everybody fundamentally understands and believes what goes on.”

Anti-discrimination as an educational tool Anyone striving to understand this idea better would be well advised to listen to French world champion Lilian Thuram, who has established the Education Against Racism foundation. “Do you really think that sexism is part of human nature?” he once asked. “No, I think that sexism is the oldest of the hierarchies which exist between men and women, and it’s a construction used to exploit women. It’s exactly the same with racism,” he continued. “At a certain moment in history, the inferiority of nonwhite people had to be constructed in order to exploit them.”

FIFA’s work seeks to ensure that there is no place for such practices either on or off the pitch. The newly introduced FIFA Anti-Discrimination Monitoring System and Good Practice Guide on Diversity and Anti-­ Discrimination combine action, reaction and prevention by establishing the use of undetected anti-discrimination match observers while at the same time providing an educational tool for national member associations.

“Football is there for everyone – and not just on the pitch,” says Federico Addiechi, explaining that this diversity and anti-discrimination initiative provides an opportunity to learn from each other, draw on the players’ experiences and exchange ideas with external experts. Although FIFA has also identified further milestones to pursue, including the introduction of a special award and the appointment of a diversity and anti-­ discrimination ambassador, it is the associations – and, more importantly, their fans – who can best demonstrate how to live out these values. Å

FIFA’s diversity and anti-discrimination strategy The five key elements •Communication •Controls & Sanctions •Education •Regulation •Networking & Collaboration

Roque Junior was speaking to Bruno Sassi T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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Australia: A-League

A-League without the A-list Roland Zorn is a Frankfurt-based

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tralian football and rugby. He is confident that the A-League will make up ground in the long run, however. “More and more people are playing football in Australia,” he says, “and there’s no doubt that the sport will assume an increasingly important role here as our nation becomes ever more multicultural.”

since last season, raising high hopes of continuity in terms of results too. Victory are seeking to live up to their name and lift the championship trophy for a record-breaking fourth time, triumph in the domestic cup competition and win the AFC Asian Champions League to boot.

football correspondent.

Damien de Bohun, head of the Australian A-League, has ambitious plans: “We want to become one of the biggest leagues in the world. It’ll take us fifteen to twenty years to get there.” At the moment, the Australians are happy to rank 14th in terms of spectators – averaging 13,000 visitors a match.

One of de Bohun’s remits is to shape the prospects of a football league that has to compete with the more popular sports of Aus-

The 11th season of the A-League, a closed shop comprising ten football businesses that are guaranteed to avoid relegation regardless of any downturn in economic fortunes, gets underway on 8 October. Western Sydney Wanderers take on three-time champions Brisbane Roar in the opening fixture of the campaign, before reigning champions Melbourne Victory commence the defence of their title at Adelaide United a day later. The team featuring French defensive stalwart Matthieu Delpierre and Albanian goal-getter Besart Berisha has remained largely intact

“We want to become one of the biggest leagues in the world.”

Damien de Bohun, head of the A-League

The club attracts more spectators to its home matches than any of their rivals – some 25,000 during the regular 2014/15 season and around 40,000 for the play-off encounters that followed – and is also currently experiencing a boom in membership, with approximately 24,000 registered fans. Thus the current champions also lead the way in these two supporter categories, ahead of Sydney FC, last season’s runners-up and second-most popular club.

Quinn Rooney / Getty Images

Sydney, commonly regarded as Victory’s closest rivals, recently bought Slovakian Filip Holosko from Besiktas to compensate for the blow of losing the league’s top scorer, Austria’s Marc Janko (16 goals in 22 games), to FC Basel.

Holosko may not be one of the biggest names in football, but his signing reflects the regulations in force in the A-League, which leave it lagging some way behind the USA Major League Soccer (MLS) in financial terms. Even an A-League club’s two so-called marquee players, who are exempt from the league’s salary cap, can’t hope to earn as much as the likes of Italy’s Andrea Pirlo and Brazil’s Kaka, two all-time stars of the game, in the MLS. Former Danish national goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen is the best-known footballer to arrive in Australia this season, having completed a move to the A-League’s Melbourne City from English Premier League side Stoke City.

Football-mad With approximately 24,000 registered fans, Melbourne Victory are the A-League’s most popular club.

But the fact that no A-list superstars will be taking to the field in the A-League this season shouldn’t necessarily be seen as a bad sign.

Far more importantly, every one of the ten A-League clubs now has its own youth academy – definitely not the worst investment for a league seeking to make a name for itself in the long term. Å T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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Spain: Primera Division

Barça denied by the woodwork Annette Braun is a staff writer on The FIFA Weekly.

On matchday 7 in the Primera Division, Barcelona were left ruing their luck after striking the frame of the goal several times in their match against Sevilla. The most memorable of those occasions arrived in the 23rd minute when Neymar’s free-kick hit the right-hand post, bounced off Sevilla goalkeeper Sergio Rico and rolled along the goal line towards the other upright. There, Luis Suarez’s attempt to smash in the rebound ended with him hitting the post too.

Indeed, chance conversion has been a problem for Barcelona since the start of the season. After superstar Lionel Messi was ruled out for up to eight weeks due to an injury sustained in their league game with Las Palmas, Barça have been deprived of their most potent attacking weapon.

Nevertheless, Enrique is convinced his team will rediscover their scoring touch, even without Messi: “I have no doubt whatsoever that things will change.”

Barcelona’s defeat offered Real Madrid the opportunity to overtake their arch-rivals in the table, as only a point separated the two going into the matchday. The signs were good as Cristiano Ronaldo is currently in fine form and had scored his 500th and 501st career goals in the Champions League against Malmo during the week. Real got off to the perfect start in the Madrid derby 16

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Celebratory pose Karim Benzema put Real Madrid 1-0 up early on against Atletico.

away to Atletico, with Karim Benzema opening the scoring in the tenth minute before goalkeeper Kaylor Navas preserved their advantage by saving Antoine Griezmann’s spot-kick in the 21st minute.

Real subsequently became less adventurous in attack and concentrated on protecting their lead until the final whistle. That strategy was punished in the 83rd minute when Luciano Vietto equalised with his first ever goal for Atletico, earning them a point in a 1-1 draw.

Villarreal remain top – extending their ‘snapshot in time’ a while longer.

Elsewhere, Villarreal were in buoyant mood last week after beating Atletico 1-0 on matchday 6 to go ahead of the league’s more

illustrious sides at the top of the standings for the first time in their 92-year history. The club, based in a city of only 50,000 inhabitants, was in the second division just two and a half years ago and lost ten players over the summer, including their entire attacking line-up.

Villarreal coach Marcelino downplayed their league position as being a mere “snapshot in time” ahead of their encounter with Levante.

The club’s maiden fixture as leaders proved to be a tough one, as Bojan Jokic was sent off for a second yellow card in the 35th minute.

Playing with a man less for the majority of the match was too big an ask for Villarreal and they lost 1-0, but nevertheless remain top of the table on 16 points – extending their snapshot a while longer. Å

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After the match, Barcelona coach Luis Enrique bemoaned his side’s inability to convert their chances. “The big difference between a star and other players is their effectiveness,” he said. His team had 28 shots on goal but not even that was enough to earn victory over Sevilla, who ruthlessly exploited Barcelona’s poor defensive display to go 2-0 up through Michael Krohn-Dehli’s 58th minute strike and Iborra’s effort six minutes later. Neymar reduced the deficit with a 74th minute penalty but the Catalan outfit still slipped to a second successive away defeat.

Algeria: Ligue 1

Newcomers looking down on the rest Sarah Steiner is a staff writer on The FIFA Weekly.

You would have struggled to find a more exciting title race last season than Algeria’s top division. With four matches to go, the competition was so open that all 16 teams still had a chance of winning it, but in the end it was ES Setif who were crowned champions. The club also won the CAF Champions League and the CAF Super Cup in a season that will live long in the memory.

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The new season is not going so well for ES. In seven matches they have only collected eight points, find themselves in the bottom half of the table and are already out of the Champions League. “There is no need for panic yet but we need to react to these poor performances,” club president Hassan Hamar told the local press. Hamoudi Tribeche has been recruited to strengthen the backroom staff and assist head coach

Kheireddine Madoui. The club has also announced that over the winter it will take stock and release players who are not up to the standard required at Entente.

DRB Tadjenanet, on the other hand, are certainly meeting the standards of the top flight. The promoted team are the surprise leaders of Ligue 1 after a 3-2 win over MC Alger, their fourth victory of the season.

DRB were trailing twice in the game to goals from Kheiredine Merzougui (13) and Rachid Bouhenna (53), but showed excellent spirit to hit back both times with equalisers from Ali Guitoune (37) and Youcef Chibane (69).

It was Chibane who then netted the winning goal a few minutes from time after the hosts from the capital city had missed a penalty.

The capital’s other team, USM Alger, have enjoyed an almost perfect start to the season with four wins from five matches.

They find themselves in third place in the table having played two games less than the rest due to their progress in the CAF Champions League.

become the first team in the tournament’s history to win all six had they beaten Al Merreikh. Then in the semis Alger faced Al Hilal, and after a 2-1 victory in the away leg it was goalkeeper Mohamed Zemmamouche who was the hero in the return, pulling off a brilliant save from Abdullatif Boya five minutes from the end of a 0-0 draw. The sell-out crowd celebrated their place in the final and club president Ali Haddad said: “Now we can finally talk about winning the Champions League, not just for ourselves but for the people of Algeria. That is our aim.”

Over two legs on 30 October and 7 November.

USM will take on TP Mazembe, the four-time champions from DR Congo, to decide who wins this year’s Champions League and earns the right to become Africa’s representative at the FIFA Club World Cup™ in Japan in December. Å

USM have certainly proved themselves in the African competition. They won five of their six group matches and would have

Defeated despite leading twice Kheiredine Merzougui (left) scored to give MC Alger a 1-0 lead before DRB Tadjenanet turned the match around.

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THE INTERVIEW

“We regard ourselves as the Barcelona of Nigeria” Kano Pillars’ 27-year-old striker Muhammad Gambo is confident of making a successful return to the Nigerian national team one day.

In August your team, Kano Pillars, lost a home game for the first time in 12 years. How did you feel when it happened?

What is the secret that has allowed your team to establish such a long unbeaten home record?

Muhammad Gambo: What happened in the match against Nasarawa United, which we lost 2-1 in our stadium, affected and touched me deeply, just as it affected all my team-mates, the coach and our fans. I never expected to experience this defeat myself, we all saw it as something that would never happen to us. What’s more, I was born here in Kano and I know what the team means to my people. But we know full well that in football anything can happen, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.

We have a good coach, Mohammed Baba Ganaru, but above all we know each other very well. We know how to beat every team in our league, because by now we play by memory. We regard ourselves as the Barcelona of Nigeria, because we have a playing style that imitates that of the Blaugrana to a large extent. Another weapon that we exploit is our stadium; we play in front of up to 30,000 of our supporters. We are the club that has the most fans in all of Nigeria. We are the club that has the most fans in all of Nigeria.

Which team are the favourites in this edition of the Nigerian Premier League?

You’ve contested seven games and scored one goal with the Nigerian national team. In your opinion, how are the Super Eagles getting on at the moment?

How would you describe yourself? What are your characteristics as a player, having scored over 70 goals for Kano Pillars?

I love playing as a centre-forward, in the centre of the attack. I’m quick and have good ball control. I create goals from any position, with both feet. Scoring goals makes me happy and I’m really satisfied with my finishing abilities. When I don’t manage to score I’m not happy, because I like to find the net every time I go out on the pitch.

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Our national side is doing well lately. As for me, I can only think of getting back into the national team by putting in good performances with my club. I was injured for a long time, but now I’m fine and ready to get back on the pitch and I am sure that, with God’s help, sooner or later I’ll wear the green jersey of my country again. Å Muhammad Gambo was talking to Emanuele Giulianelli

AFP Photo / Lluis Gene

Despite the setback that we talked about and the distance between us and the top of the table, I’d say that we’re still the favourites.

Kano Pillars have won the last three editions of the competition and, for that reason, there’s no denying that we’re still the team to beat. Even so, it won’t be easy to do it again, because our league is, in my opinion, the best in terms of quality throughout the whole of Africa, where the continent’s best players are playing.

Name Muhammad Gambo Date and place of birth 10 March 1988, Kano, Nigeria Position Striker Clubs played for since 2006 Kano Pillars Nigerian national team 7 caps, 1 goal

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First Love Place: Monrovia, Liberia Date: 24 June 2015 Time: 2 p.m.

Photog rapher: Matthew Reamer

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fotogloria

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FOOTBALL FOR HOPE

Football for Hope is our global commitment to building a better future through football. To date, we have supported over 550 socially-responsible community projects that use football as a tool for social development, improving the lives and prospects of young people and their surrounding communities

To ďŹ nd out more, visit the Sustainability section on FIFA.com.

F I F A U -17 W O M E N ’ S W O R L D C U P 2 0 1 6

Jordan celebrates countdown to kick off A thousand-mile journey begins with a single step. For Jordan, this step was ­taken on the evening of Wednesday 30 September 2015 and represented a milestone on the road to the biggest event in the history of Jordanian sport.

O

Dominik Asbach / laif

n this occasion, it was not venues, players or matters on the pitch that were the centre of attention but an event, one that marked the beginning of the one-year countdown to the start of FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Jordan 2016. In a festive ceremony organized under the patronage of Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) launched a clock that represented the one-year countdown to the kick-off of the elite showpiece, which will be held between 30 September and 21 October 2016. Leading officials attended the event, including His Highness Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, the President of the Jordan Football Association (JFA), Moya Dodd, member of the FIFA Executive Committee, and a host of political, economic and sporting figures.

Queen Rania sends video message The ceremony started with a pre-recorded message from Her Majesty Queen Rania, in which she highlighted the importance of the tournament for Jordan. “This is a historic event for Jordan. It is a national achievement,” said Her Majesty. “All Jordanians will be proud to welcome the best teams in the world, who will be competing to win the World Cup here on our soil. We are all responsible for being fully prepared for the event and showing the world the hospitality of our nation. Let us all work together to make this unique event a success.”

In a speech given on behalf of the LOC, CEO Samar Nassar extended the Jordanian football community’s gratitude to the endless support of their Majesties, King Abdullah and Queen Rania Al Abdullah, in helping host a tournament which will generate great benefits for the country.

“Women’s football has received immense support in Jordan, since the creation of Jordan’s women’s national team in 2005. Throughout the past ten years, everyone has been working hard to advance women football,” said Nassar. “Hosting the U-17 Women’s World Cup is the result of hard work, and certainly represents a giant step on the road of development.

“This showpiece will be a turning point in the history of women’s football in Jordan and

will attract more attention to the sport,” she continued. “The positive impact of this global event will not be limited to young girls, but will extend to the whole football scene in the country, including developing stadiums that will make up a part of the tournament’s legacy.”

Advancing women’s football Moya Dodd added: “This is a unique opportunity to advance women’s football in Jordan and the wider region. This tournament will leave a legacy that will inspire a large number of young girls to play football. It will also play an important role in enhancing understanding between different cultures.”

The ceremony saw the announcement of the first two local ambassadors for the tour­ nament: Mohammed Al Wakeel, a television presenter, and Yasmeen Khair, star of Jordan’s national team and a former gymnastics champion.

Towards the end of the ceremony, His Highness Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, along with heads of municipalities of the three cities hosting the tournament, the two local ambassadors, and the captain of the Jordan’s U-17 women team, all took to the stage to launch the countdown clock amid rapturous applause from the crowd. Å tfw

Heading for a bright sporting future Jordan’s U-14 squad train in Amman.

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AUCKL AND CIT Y

Team mascot Kiwi never misses a match.

ATTENTION TO DETAIL 24

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No team has participated at the Club World Cup as often as Auckland City, a modest side who pay great attention to detail. It is precisely that quality which makes them great, writes Peter Smith.

AUCKL AND CIT Y

A

uckland City may only boast modest fame in global terms, but few clubs surpass the New Zealanders for success taking into account the relative resources at hand. The Navy Blues have been dominant at club and continental level winning six national titles in the past 11 years, and seven OFC Champions League crowns in just ten years.

Most significant of all, however, is their achievements on the world stage. The Aucklanders are set to feature in their seventh FIFA Club World Cup this December – more than any other side. They have won five of their 12 matches, three of which came last year, including two on penalties. Auckland City’s run at Morocco 2014 saw them go all the way to the semi-finals where they pushed South American champions San Lorenzo to the brink during extra time, before falling narrowly shy of an almost unimaginable match-up against Real Madrid.

Penalty shoot-out success Auckland City celebrate beating Moghreb Tetouan at the 2014 Club World Cup.

Weekly dinner with fans It is an incredible achievement considering the club is comprised of amateur players, most of whom spend their days in a variety of nine-to-five jobs, before heading to training.

That in itself is an unthinkable prospect for the headline names who feature annually at the Club World Cup.

“We make sure we have a weekly team dinner, including supporters.”

Shane Wenzlick / www.phototek.nz , Mohamed Mahmoud / AFP, Abdeljalil Bounhar / Keystone / AP

Club chairman Ivan Vuksich

So how does such a modestly resourced club consistently thrive under such circumstances? “There is a very strong sense of camaraderie at the club, and that comes from the board down,” said club chairman Ivan Vuksich. “We are a family type club, where players feel comfortable. There is a lot of respect both ways, and it is starting to show that if you have good things, and a good system, it rubs off.

“We make sure we have a weekly team dinner, including supporters. They are small things, but all those things can add up to be something important.”

Long and rich history The club’s lineage dates back some 50 years when it was formed by a group of Croatian migrants. Based in the inner suburbs of New Zealand’s largest city, Central United were a prominent club for many years, however the

Team spirit Captain Ivan Vicelich (top) leads by example.

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AUCKL AND CIT Y

franchise system adopted for the new national league in 2004 saw Auckland City created as a separate entity.

Most of the club’s founders came from Croatia’s Dalmatian coast, including the grandparents of the club’s seemingly ageless skipper Ivan Vicelich. “[Those migrants] had come to New Zealand and just wanted to somewhere to play,” said Vuksich, himself a third-generation New Zealander of Croatian heritage. “Over the years that Croatian influence really dwindled and probably now just five per cent of its members are probably Croatian. Now we would be one of the most cosmopolitan and diverse clubs in the country.”

While Auckland City compete in the summer-based national league, Central United – whose emblem features the distinctive Croatian red and white checks - still field teams in local competition during the winter months.

There is an unshakable connection between the two clubs, who share coaches and philosophy. While the Croatian connection may have dimmed, a Spanish flavour has permeated through the club over the past five years, and been a key component of the club’s success.

Building values and dreams While Auckland City compete in the summer-based national league, Central United – whose emblem features the distinctive Croatian red and white checks – still field teams in local competition during the winter months.

There is an unshakable connection between the pair who share coaches and philosophy.

While the Croatian connection may have dimmed, a Spanish flavour has permeated through the club over the past five years, and been a key component of the club’s success.

The man in charge Spaniard Ramon Tribulietx is coach of both Auckland City and Central United.

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“Our first Club World Cup was a huge eye opener for us, where we used to play very much a long-ball game,” explains Vuksich. “We quickly realised when we went to our first tournament in Japan (in 2006) that it is not only embarrassing, but you are not going to win playing like that. We reviewed our philos-

Shane Wenzlick / www.phototek.nz (2)

Spanish coach Ramon Tribulietx has proved a perfect fit for the club, and several of his compatriots have also found success at the Navy Blues.

AUCKL AND CIT Y

Bronze medal winners The players celebrate a successful end to the Club World Cup in Morocco.

ophy and moved to a possession-based game.

It takes a lot of time to perfect, and you need certain types of players.

“When we won two games at Abu Dhabi in 2009, we started to realise that our system could actually work. You have to believe in something and persevere. It is finally starting to really bear fruit.”

The Navy Blues’ Barcelona-born-and-raised coach Ramon Tribulietx has proved a perfect fit for the club’s values, and several Spanish players have also found success at the Navy Blues. “Ramon has proven very good at implementing that system, and we try to play the same system at Central United, and hopefully we can keep bringing these players through who are comfortable with that. Ramon is very much a believer in the philosophy, having been brought up on that.”

In September Auckland found out the obstacles which stand between them and repeat success at the end of the year, with the club drawn against either the J.League champions or the AFC Champions League runners-up.

“Last year in Morocco was an incredible result for us,” said Vuksich. “It was way beyond anyone’s imagination. But we like to dream and we believe in what might be possible.” Å

12 t h FIFA Club Wor ld Cup Tour nament da tes: 10 – 20 Dec ember 2015 Venue: Japan (Osaka and Yokohama) Reigning c hampions: Real Madr id Firs t tour nament edit ion: 20 0 0 A lread y quali f ied (4 c lubs): FC Barc elona (Spain, UEFA), CF A mer ic a (Mexic o, CONC AC A F ), Auck land C it y FC (OFC , New Z ealand), River Plate (A rgentina, CONMEBOL).

To be de ter mined (3 c lubs): A FC Champions L eague winner, C A F Champions L eague winner, Japane se J - L eague champions (hos t s) or A FC Champions L eague r unner s - up (if Gamba Osaka win the A FC Champions L eague).

Ma tc h sc hedule: w w w.f if a.c om/clubwor ldcup

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HISTORY

South Africa’s all-rounder As a footballer, boxer, tennis player, teacher and musician, Darius Dhlomo was a man of many talents. As if that was not enough, the South African also generated awareness of his country's struggle with apartheid in the Netherlands after his sporting career came to an end. He passed away in June at the age of 83.

W A powerful voice Darius Dhlomo was a passionate musician.

In the ring The South African footballer during a boxing match.

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hen Darius Dhlomo arrived for his first training session with Dutch club Heracles Almelo, his new team-mates realised that he was not in the dressing room as they were getting ready.

“Darius was so surprised that everyone, black and white, was using the same dressing room, that he thought he had to change outside,” remembers Henk ten Brink, who played with Dhlomo at Heracles.

Born in 1931 in Durban, Dhlomo grew up during apartheid and not surprisingly it had a huge influence on who he was. In an interview with sports historian Peter Alegi, Dhlomo explained how he ended up developing so many talents in so many different fields. “When I was still a young boy, in the period of apartheid, we had no other choice but to be creative. The best way to survive is do something!”

And do something Dhlomo certainly did. He played football for Baumannville City Blacks, was a competitive tennis player, became South African boxing champion in a middleweight division and showed off his musical talent as a drummer and blues singer – even earning the moniker the ‘singing boxer’. He was an outstanding footballer in an early stage of Africa’s relationship with the game. Former Moroka Swallows captain Chris Ngcobo remembers his compatriot as a player. “He was a hard-working and disciplined midfielder. At the time there was no national team.

But Ndoroo, as we used to call him, played in every representative team that he was eligible for. Had there been a national team at the time, he would’ve easily made it.”

Punching Mandela Jackie Motlogeloa had dealings with Dhlomo as a boxer. “He was a really good fighter. That is why he became South African champion. He often sparred with Nelson Mandela and he was one of the few South Africans who was allowed to punch the great leader,” the boxing promoter recalls.

Rather remarkably, Dhlomo even found the time to have a day job – as a teacher in the Lamontville township. However, he soon became disillusioned teaching a curriculum that officially was geared towards teaching ‘obedience ... acceptance of allocated social roles, piety and identification with rural culture’. “All my schooling was focused on being a teacher, but the government came with another approach. I said ‘No, I can’t, I don’t want to do it’. I can’t teach children things I know [have]

HISTORY

“We had no other choice but to be creative.

The best way to survive is to do something!”

Darius Dhlomo

via De Twentsche Courant Tubantia, akg-images / africanpictures (2)

nothing to do [with] their own development,” Dhlomo recalled in his interview with Alegi.

He left teaching and became an organiser with the YMCA in Durban.

At the same time, inspired by the success several other black South ­A frican footballers, like Steve Mokone, had in Europe, he wrote to clubs overseas, asking them for a trial, but found no takers and no way to convince them of his ability. Later, in 1958 when he was already 26, out of the blue he received a letter from the Netherlands inviting him to a trial with Heracles Almelo.

Loved by the Dutch His team-mate Ten Brink remembers that Dhlomo was immediately accepted on and off the field. “He was a very engaging person, friendly and always good-humoured. On the field he was a hard worker who was always leading the fight.”

Dhlomo not only played football in the Netherlands, he continued boxing and gave concerts – inviting his team-mates when he performed.

Former striker Ten Brink fondly remembers the South African's generous and spontaneous laughter, but also his serious side. “As long as I live, I will remember him as a committed man.” Dhlomo's commitment saw him become a teacher and social worker after retiring and he also spent several years in politics as a member of the Enschede municipal council.

Dutch sports historian Jurryt van de Vooren, who first met Dhlomo in 1985 when the former footballer campaigned against Apartheid, is not surprised that the player was a success in the Netherlands. “Professional football had just started in the Netherlands and everything was new. People liked him not only because he was different – he was a black man in a white country – he was also a very good player.”

Van de Vooren said that Dhlomo told him that after retiring he faced a choice. “He said he could either stay in the Netherlands and tell people about the evils of apartheid, or he could return to South Africa. He chose the former, even though he knew it meant that he would not be able to return to his home country until there had been political change.”

Fortunately, change occurred in Dhlomo’s lifetime and he could return to South Africa, where he was even reunited with his former sparring partner Nelson Mandela. He died in Enschede in June this year at the age of 83. Å

Aiming high Darius Dhlomo certainly knew what to do with a football.

Peter Auf der Heyde

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GRASSROOTS

FIFA inspiring girls and boys to play football FIFA’s Grassroots programme is the core foundation of our development mission, aimed at encouraging girls and boys around the world to play and enjoy football without restrictions. Grassroots focuses on the enjoyment of the game through small-sided team games, and teaching basic football technique, exercise and fair play.

For more information visit FIFA.com

FREE KICK

SPOTLIGHT ON

GENER AL INFORMATION Country: Albania FIFA Trigramme: ALB Confederation: UEFA Continent: Europe Capital:

Time for a drink?

Tirana

GEOGR APHIC INFORMATION Surface area:

Alan Schweingruber

Mario Wagner / 2Agenten

W

hen watching a game with plenty of goals, the spectator need not worry unduly at missing one, frustrating though it may be.

After all, everyone has felt that little itch in the nose and that sudden, overwhelming urge to sneeze. You rummage fruitlessly in your jacket pocket for a tissue, discarding old chewing gum wrappers and then it happens. Arms aloft, your fellow fans rise as one around you, taking you by surprise. A wet shirt, wet trousers and even sometimes a little cigarette ash in your hair hardly make for an enjoyable experience.

It is just as easy to miss the only goal of a game, although this is even more frustrating and not necessarily a story you want to tell afterwards. Fortunately, nowadays television ­offers the opportunity to watch the strike over and over again until you can convince yourself that you did actually witness it in the flesh.

The usual explanation for a spectator missing a goal is that they were attending to their basic human needs: thirst and a sudden pressure on the bladder can be powerful forces. In a large stadium where there are more people trying to fight such urges, the resultant long queues are understandable.

Indeed, people today do not like waiting, hence the unpleasantness of having to queue.

But to give the much-maligned queue its dues, in Munich recently it may have provided thousands of people with an amusing tale to tell on future sauna visits: “Then Robert Lewandowski came on at half-time and scored five goals in

28,748 km² Highest point:

nine minutes. I was in the stadium but had just gone to get a beer. I didn’t see a single goal!”

Cue laughter in the steam room.

So when is the right time to go and get a drink inside a stadium? After all, nobody wants to be one of those annoying people who stands up during an exciting period of play, inconsiderately blocking other spectators’ views by inching towards the stairs before sprinting to the bar when the ball goes out.

To avoid ever becoming that type of fan the following information might prove useful: goals often happen just before half-time, but most arrive in the final 15 minutes of a match.

The ideal time to go and get a drink, then, is just after kick-off. Statistically, another good time to head to the bar is during the first ten minutes of the second half. That said, the latter option does not come recommended when ­Lewandowski is playing. Å

Korabi 2,753 m m Neighbouring seas and oceans: Adriatic

MEN’S FOOTBALL FIFA Ranking: 32nd World Cup: No Appearances

WOMEN’S FOOTBALL FIFA Ranking: 78th World Cup: No Appearances

L ATES T RESULTS Men’s: Albania - Portugal 0:1 7 September 2015 Women’s: Croatia - Albania 3:1 2 September 2015

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MIRROR IMAGE

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Manchester, England

1980

PA / EMPICS / Alpha

Leyton Orient’s Stan Bowles shows off his balancing skills.

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MIRROR IMAGE

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Brighton, England

2014

PA / Press Association

Zhora Oganisyan from the Moscow State Circus manages a far more difficult balancing act.

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THE ART OF FOOTBALL

The stuff of legend Ronald Düker

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

“If I was two-and-a-half metres tall and didn’t know how to control a ball then I may have gone to England, but here the football’s more technical. It’s the best.”

Yehven Konoplyanka on rejecting Premier League offers to join Sevilla

“When you’re a young guy at the club, from the city, who’s never behaved badly towards anyone, to be treated like that … yes, it’s hurtful.

I’d just had my best season.”

Alexandre Lacazette feels he was treated poorly by Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas.

FPF

H

ow does a child become a hero? From Moses to Oedipus, that question has repeatedly been answered with stories that have remarkably similar outlines. The hero is born into privilege, as the son of a king for instance, but life is not easy for him. He falls victim to a catastrophe, which he miraculously survives, for example by washing ashore on a river bank or beach where nobody knows his name. The foundling is taken care of and somebody adopts him. Eventually, after a roundabout journey, the child finds his biological parents, overcomes important challenges and goes on to become king or a powerful ruler himself.

Is mythology now repeating itself in real life? Nobody can predict whether Martunis, a 17-year-old recently signed by Sporting Lisbon, will one day rise to the top of world football. After signing his contract in Portugal a few weeks ago, he informed journalists that his greatest dream was to follow in the footsteps of Cristiano Ronaldo, an aspiration that has much to do with his extremely unusual past.

Martunis is from north Sumatra in Indonesia and was only seven when the devastating tsunami struck there in December 2004, taking the lives of 230,000 people. He survived the disaster, and lived off food that washed ashore for 21 days before rescuers found him. They said he would probably not have lasted another 24 hours.

Even back then Martunis liked playing football, but above all he was a fan of the game. When he was found half-starved on

a beach, he was wearing an ill-fitting ­Portugal national team jersey that hung off his body. It had the number 10 and the name Rui Costa on the back.

The following summer provided what was perhaps the most important step in Martunis’ life: The Portuguese Football Association invited him to Europe, where he met the country’s internationals - players he had previously only ever seen on television. He also met head coach Felipe Scolari and the legendary Eusebio, but his highlight was likely to have been when Ronaldo received him like an adoptive son.

In the intervening years the two have met up again on numerous occasions, and both Ronaldo and the Portuguese FA sent money to Indonesia and helped reconstruct Martunis’ family home.

Now he is on the books at Sporting, where Ronaldo started his career. Martunis’ hair is already styled to look like that of his idol, but only time will tell whether he will be able to emulate his feats on the pitch too. It appears that the beautiful game is on the verge of writing the kind of story that is usually only found in art, ­l iterature and mythology. Å

“It’s not Leo Messi. It’s Hatem Ben Arfa. It’s me. I have qualities – my own. Let’s not compare. He plays for Barcelona and has the Ballon d’Or. I have nothing at all.”

Hatem Ben Arfa (OGC Nice)

“I’d give an arm to go back 30 years and play with Tevez. I love him and thank him for coming back to Boca.

I love Tevez. He’s just a guy who needs to be understood.”

Diego Maradona

“Birthdays, Christmas, Mother’s Day, all those days, we spent on the ground doing strenuous physical exercises.

Our coach Jesus Ramirez was like a father figure. Since our parents were not there, it is with him that we would talk about our problems. We could confide in him.”

Efrain Juarez on Mexico’s FIFA U-17 World Cup 2005 conquest T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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FIFA PARTNER

TURNING POINT

“I wanted to prove something to myself” A painful injury proved to be the catalyst for Zsanett Jakabfi to grow from a talented sporting all-rounder into a top-class footballer.

Getty Images

I

’ve always enjoyed doing sport and as a child I tried a lot of different kinds in my free time. I was really good at handball, but it was football that became my true love. That stemmed from watching my father play. One of his friends commented that it would be great for the kids to be good on the ball when they were older, and that stuck in my mind. That was what sparked my own personal ambition.

Eventually the time came when I had to choose between handball and football.

I struggled to make a decision initially, but in the end it was quite an easy choice. When I was 12 I hurt my knee playing handball – nothing serious, but it was really painful. It rankled with me so much that from then on I only focused on football. It dawned on me with increasing clarity that the other girls in handball were a lot stronger than I was and the game seemed more and more unsuited to me. Things can get rough in football too, but in a very different way.

I’m an ambitious person and I soon developed a desire to show I had talent in football too. I didn’t want to prove anything to anyone else; I wanted to prove it to myself. I’m very thankful that my parents didn’t try to hold me back but always supported me in my sporting aims. Maybe it helped subliminally that my brother wasn’t very interested in football. At any rate, my parents’ positive attitude still has an impact on me today: it’s become treasured ritual for me to call my dad briefly before each game.

It was thanks to my parents that I was able to play for MTK Budapest at the age of

14, even though the club was 200 kilometres away from our house. After scoring twice for MTK in a trial match I moved into their boarding academy. The club actually wanted to keep me there and then. After I moved there my parents constantly encouraged and supported me to help me cope with my homesickness. When I was 15 I won the championship with MTK and two years later I was a full international. Evidently my love of the game also came with the right amount of talent, so I think it was definitely the right decision to have chosen football. Å

Name Zsanett Jakabfi Date and place of birth 18 February 1990, Lengyeltoti, Hungary Position Striker Clubs 2004-2009 MTK Budapest Since 2009 VfL Wolfsburg Major honours German champion 2013, 2014 Champions League winner 2013, 2014 Hungarian Women’s Player of the Year 2008, 2009, 2010 Hungary national team

Zsanett Jakabfi was speaking to Rainer Hennies

26 caps, 12 goals

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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MEN’S WORLD R ANKING

Argentina (unchanged) Spain (6th, up 5) Romania (13th, down 6) 149 American Samoa, Cook Islands, Gabon, Samoa, Tonga (3 matches each) Norway (up 243 points) Liberia (up 65 ranks) Romania (down 134 points) Cyprus, FYR Macedonia (down 28 ranks each)

Leader Moves into top ten Moves out of top ten Matches played in total Most matches played Biggest move by points Biggest move by ranks Biggest drop by points Biggest drop by ranks Rank Team

+/- Points

Rank Team

+/- Points

Rank Team

+/- Points

Last updated: 1 October 2015 Rank Team

+/- Points

1 Argentina

0 1419

55 Guinea

8

582

109 Zimbabwe

-1

313

163 Myanmar

-1

147

2 Germany

1 1401

55 Japan

3

582

110 Georgia

37

308

164 American Samoa

35

145

3 Belgium

-1 1387

57 Jamaica

-5

576

111 Botswana

7

305

165 Puerto Rico

-13

134

4 Portugal

2 1235

58 Australia

3

567

112 St Kitts and Nevis

7

303

166 Cook Islands

39

132

5 Colombia

-1 1228

59 Trinidad and Tobago

-5

564

113 Burundi

21

302

167 India

-12

128

6 Spain

5 1223

60 Congo DR

5

563

114 Cyprus

-28

300

168 Mauritius

17

123

7 Brazil

-2 1204

61 Paraguay

-6

552

115 Aruba

22

299

169 New Caledonia

-3

120

8 Wales

1 1195

62 Mali

-2

546

116 Lithuania

-7

298

170 Timor-Leste

-7

118

9 Chile

-1 1177

63 Serbia

3

538

117 Cuba

-4

294

171 Malaysia

-2

111

10 England

0 1161

64 Finland

28

534

118 Belize

10

292

171 Indonesia

-6

111

11 Austria

2 1100

65 Gabon

-2

529

119 Dominican Republic

4

290

173 Bhutan

-9

106

12 Switzerland

5 1044

65 Panama

-6

529

120 Niger

-19

287

174 Dominica

-2

102

13 Romania

-6 1042

67 Equatorial Guinea

-5

510

121 Sierra Leone

-16

286

175 Chad

-4

100

14 Netherlands

-2 1004

96

15 Czech Republic

5

983

69 Venezuela

16 Croatia

-2

965

67 Bolivia

0

510

122 St Vincent and the Grenadines

-6

284

176 Maldives

1

-19

501

123 Syria

-2

283

177 Pakistan

-7

89

70 United Arab Emirates

0

491

123 Bahrain

-11

283

178 US Virgin Islands

-2

88

17 Italy

-1

962

71 Zambia

3

487

125 Namibia

-14

274

179 Laos

-5

85

18 Slovakia

-3

936

72 Montenegro

5

470

126 Central African Republic

42

271

180 Yemen

-5

82

19 Algeria

0

927

73 South Africa

-1

465

127 Madagascar

-6

262

181 Suriname

20 Uruguay

-2

919

74 Uzbekistan

2

464

128 Kuwait

-1

260

-15

79

182 Bangladesh

-9

77 69

21 Côte d’Ivoire

0

916

75 Uganda

-4

455

129 Korea DPR

-3

252

183 Chinese Taipei

-4

22 France

2

899

76 Burkina Faso

-3

427

130 Palestine

-11

246

184 Seychelles

8

67

23 Iceland

0

882

77 Haiti

10

418

131 Kenya

-15

245

184 Montserrat

-6

67

24 Ukraine

5

874

78 Bulgaria

-10

414

132 FYR Macedonia

-28

239

186 Cambodia

-6

66

25 Ghana

2

849

79 Togo

0

411

132 Moldova

-8

239

187 Brunei Darussalam

-5

61

26 Russia

6

845

80 Morocco

5

407

134 Philippines

-9

238

188 Tahiti

-6

60 59

27 Mexico

-1

842

81 China PR

3

405

135 Swaziland

0

224

189 Fiji

-8

28 Denmark

-6

835

82 Guatemala

16

401

136 Tanzania

4

218

190 Nepal

-5

51

29 USA

-1

807

83 Antigua and Barbuda

22

400

137 Guyana

17

210

191 Sri Lanka

-7

49

30 Bosnia and Herzegovina

0

787

84 Sudan

5

399

138 Bermuda

-6

209

191 Cayman Islands

-4

49

31 Ecuador

3

765

85 Iraq

-3

396

139 St Lucia

-8

208

193 Comoros

-3

48

-10

396

140 Lebanon

-7

201

193 Macau

-6

48

-7

388

140 Lesotho

-12

201

193 São Tomé e Príncipe

-3

48

32 Albania

-7

755

85 Faroe Islands

33 Hungary

4

741

87 Estonia

34 Norway

35

739

88 Saudi Arabia

5

384

142 Kazakhstan

3

199

196 San Marino

-3

35

35 Northern Ireland

6

724

89 Mauritania

25

379

142 Luxembourg

-1

199

197 Turks and Caicos Islands

-3

33

36 Tunisia

-3

722

89 Honduras

-8

379

144 South Sudan

54

198

197 Solomon Islands

-10

33

37 Turkey

9

717

91 Armenia

-8

377

145 Thailand

-8

196

199 British Virgin Islands

-4

27

38 Senegal

0

713

92 Qatar

2

365

146 Kyrgyzstan

9

195

200 Tonga

-1

17

39 Iran

1

703

93 Rwanda

-15

364

147 Guinea-Bissau

-5

193

201 Vanuatu

-4

13

40 Scotland

-9

702

94 El Salvador

13

363

148 New Zealand

-12

188

202 Eritrea

-1

8

41 Cape Verde Islands

15

701

95 Liberia

65

360

149 Vietnam

3

187

203 Mongolia

-1

6

42 Costa Rica

-3

691

95 Nicaragua

44

360

150 Afghanistan

-20

183

203 Somalia

-1

6

43 Poland

-9

680

97 Angola

-9

353

150 Guam

-4

183

205 Andorra

-3

5

44 Greece

0

676

98 Belarus

-1

350

152 Curaçao

-4

181

206 Djibouti

-1

4

45 Sweden

-9

672

99 Jordan

-8

348

153 Hong Kong

-2

180

206 Papua New Guinea

-1

4

46 Slovenia

-1

662

100 Benin

15

341

154 Barbados

-10

175

208 Anguilla

0

0

47 Israel

-1

659

101 Malawi

-5

339

155 Turkmenistan

-6

172

208 Bahamas

0

0

48 Cameroon

-6

640

102 Oman

-2

338

156 Liechtenstein

-6

170

49 Congo

-7

636

103 Latvia

-13

335

157 Singapore

0

164

50 Peru

-2

623

104 Canada

-2

333

157 Malta

3

164

51 Egypt

-2

620

105 Azerbaijan

5

328

159 Grenada

-1

159

52 Nigeria

1

600

105 Libya

-7

328

160 Tajikistan

-2

156

53 Korea Republic

4

590

107 Mozambique

-12

327

161 Gambia

-18

154

54 Republic of Ireland

-3

587

108 Ethiopia

-5

315

162 Samoa

34

152

38

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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

PUZZLE

Published weekly by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)

Acting President Issa Hayatou

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Acting Secretary General Markus Kattner

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Director of Communications and Public Affairs Nicolas Maingot (a. i.)

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Staff Writers Alan Schweingruber (Deputy Editor), Annette Braun, Sarah Steiner

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Contributors to this Issue Peter Auf der Heyde, Gerd Dembowski, Emanuele Giulianelli, Rainer Hennies, Bruno Sassi, Peter Smith

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HARD

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Contact feedback-theweekly@fifa.org

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

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Reproduction of photos or articles in whole or in part is only permitted with prior editorial approval and if attributed “The FIFA Weekly, © FIFA 2015”. 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.

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Internet www.fifa.com/theweekly

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Translation www.sportstranslations.com

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Project Management Bernd Fisa, Christian Schaub

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Publisher FIFA, FIFA-Strasse 20, PO box, CH-8044 Zurich Phone +41-(0)43-222 7777, Fax +41-(0)43-222 7878

The objective of Sudoku is to fill a 9x9 grid with digits so that each of the numbers from 1 to 9 appears exactly once in each column, row and 3x3 sub-grid.

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T H E F I FA W E E K LY

39

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