The FIFA Weekly Issue #58

ISSUE 58, 28 NOVEMBER 2014

ENGLISH EDITION

Fédération Internationale de Football Association – Since 1904

FIFA WORLD FOOTBALL MUSEUM GRAND OPENING DRAWS NEARER

SULEYMAN KOC FROM PRISON TO THE BUNDESLIGA

ICELAND

INDOOR TRAINING BRINGS SUCCESS

High-tech training

PLAYER OF THE FUTURE W W W.FIFA.COM/ THEWEEKLY

THIS WEEK IN THE WORLD OF FOOTBALL

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S epp Blatter The FIFA President congratulates the Asian Football Confederation on its 60th anniversary.

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F IFA World Football Museum CEO Martin Schlatter and creative director David Ausseil provide an update on construction of the FIFA World Football Museum.

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“ I was driving the getaway car” Suleyman Koc spent a year behind bars for his part in a series of robberies. His first match after imprisonment was an emotional moment.

Player of the future Our cover, illustrated by Gregory Gilbert-Lodge, shows a player training in the Footbonaut.

Thomas Schweigert (photo)

The number of teams taking part in the final competition has been fixed at 24, to be apportioned among the confederations as follows: AFC: 5 Teams, CAF: 3 Teams, CONCACAF: 3,5 Teams*, CONMEBOL: 2,5 Teams*, OFC: 1 Team, UEFA: 8 Teams, Host: Canada *The fourth-ranked team from the CONCACAF preliminary competition will compete in a play-off (home and away) against the third-ranked team from the CONMEBOL preliminary competition for a slot in the final competition.

South America 10 members www.conmebol.com

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Iceland Discovering new strengths through indoor football.

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Gunter Netzer “Stricter punishments are not feasible in football.”

Qualified Costa Rica Mexico USA

Qualified Brazil Colombia

Play-off (Second Leg) 2 December 2014 Trinidad and Tobago – Ecuador

Play-off (First Leg) 8 November 2014 Ecuador – Trinidad and Tobago 0:0

Canada (Host)

Getty Images (2), imago, Sun Pegasus F.C.

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North and Central America 35 members www.concacaf.com

The Footbonaut Borussia Dortmund’s training ground plays host to an enclosed high-tech facility capable of making good footballers even better – the Footbonaut. Inside its walls, players must control and return balls fired in from different angles. Our reporter Ronald Duker paid this strange footballing robot a visit.

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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Hong Kong League leaders Sun Pegasus are a symbol of the spirit of optimism within the Chinese special administrative region’s Premier League.

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Russia Coach Fabio Capello sings Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s praises.

The FIFA Weekly Magazine App The FIFA Weekly Magazine is available in four languages as an e-Magazine and on your tablet every Friday. http://www.fifa.com/mobile

Qualified Germany England France Norway Sweden Switzerland Spain + Playoff Winner

Qualified Côte d’Ivoire Cameroon Nigeria

Qualified Australia China PR Japan Korea Republic Thailand

Qualified New Zealand

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

#AllTimeGreats youtube.com/emirates

Hello Tomorrow

UNCOVERED

“Football Machine” Wolverhampton Wanderers test a high-tech device designed to provide long balls and crosses in 1938.

Indoor pursuits

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ootball is no stranger to the fusion between man and machine. Training sessions from grassroots to elite level incorporate all manner of devices, from free-kick dummies, hurdles and coordination ladders to pendulums, trampolines and tyres. In 2012, Borussia Dortmund took this technological interaction to a new level by acquiring a “miracle machine” named the Footbonaut. Designed by Christian Guttler from Berlin, the facility looks like the inside of a spaceship, operates like a video game and can simulate every conceivable shot or pass – all set to the soundtrack of an authentic stadium atmosphere if required. Ronald Duker paid BVB’s high-tech chamber a visit, and you can read his report from page 6 onwards.

A Fred Morley / Getty Images

lthough Icelandic football is on the rise, as demonstrated by the national team’s 2-0 home win over the Netherlands on 13 October 2014, their recent success should come as no surprise.

Thanks to an initiative launched 15 years ago by the Football Association of Iceland, the KSI, the country now has access to more than 15 full-size indoor football fields and over 100 mini ­a rtificial pitches. The story of their success begins on page 24 and explains how these new facilities have dramatically changed the technique and style of Icelandic football.

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his Sunday, the Asian Football Confederation – the AFC – celebrates its 60th anniversary in Manila. In his weekly column on page 23, FIFA President Blatter expresses his congratulations, praises Asian football for its vital role as a school of life and highlights its integrative power. Å Richie Kroenert

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Nimble-footed Dortmund chief analyst Sven Mislintat in the Footbonaut.

The Footbonaut: revolutionising the beautiful game 6

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A musician has transformed training methods in football by designing an unusual high-tech indoor training facility.

We travelled to Dortmund for a closer look.

Ronald Duker (text), Thomas Schweigert (photos), Dortmund and Gregory Gilbert-Lodge (illustrations) T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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High-tech equipment

Visionary

Shooting technique can be improved by using the adidas micoach smart ball.

Strobe glasses help players improve their concentration levels.

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f humans looked the way ancient philosopher Plato imagined they would, as spherical-shaped beings inhabiting a better world, then perhaps the gods would play football with them.

Yet humans are not spherical, but instead have extremities: two hands and two feet which are suited to very different tasks. And the gods do not play football anyway; it is a game man invented for himself. The tricky thing about it, however, is that it requires the greatest levels of skill from the least suitable bodily parts. For instance, goalkeepers are the only players allowed to use their hands, the most dexterous appendages, and as such catching the ball and throwing it out again is not a physically difficult task for the human body to complete. Yet using the feet to control a ball flying towards you at pace and then dribbling forwards with it, while running at a speed needed to skip past an opponent, is the equivalent of trying to climb a ladder while simultaneously playing the flute. Or, to continue the musical theme, like trying to play the piano with all ten toes as competently as a professional pianist using his fingers.

In short, then, football effectively forces the body to make unnatural movements, and that is precisely what makes the beautiful game so beautiful. It can be played elegantly, with the ball seemingly sticking to a player’s foot before he delivers a perfectly weighted a pass into a team-mate’s path. And when such an unlikely series of seemingly magical events takes place, those who witnessed it sense that it is something that goes against the laws of nature. The opposite of nature, though, is art, so one could claim that football is an art form.

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Magic and sweat Perhaps talk of magic is misplaced here because it is talent, rather than any kind of supernatural power, that is football’s lifeblood. Of course players like Lionel Messi, Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo, Marco Reus, Mario Gotze and Thomas Muller possess unique and extraordinary abilities, but even they occasionally miscontrol the ball. That is why whenever they are not playing a competitive match their lives primarily revolve around training. Most fans are unaware just how important training methods are and how these have developed over the years thanks to technological innovations. Perhaps the most undervalued element of professional training is the use of robots. Yes, robots. They are similar to Plato’s concept of spherical humans in that they are beings from a better world, one where increasingly little is left to chance in the hope that one day it will be eliminated altogether. The robots’ feet, which were originally designed for the basic purposes of walking or standing, become manoeuvrable, high-speed instruments of precision.

Less surprising is perhaps the fact that today’s generation of players, who grew up with the internet and video games, also enjoy virtual football on their consoles. For instance, Messi and Neymar have battled against each other on the recently-released FIFA 15 game, each incidentally choosing his own digital double on screen. It has not yet been scientifically proven that playing video games sharpens the senses and improves reaction times, but as a working hypothesis it at least sounds plausible. Such games are progressively becoming more life-like and portray reality in such a way that soon the differ-

THE FUTURE OF FOOTBALL

In-game statistics The adidas techfit elite shirt, modelled here by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, provides real-time data about the wearer.

Techno? No, the Footbonaut is no entertainment gimmick. ences will be almost imperceptible; like the difference between watching a game in a stadium and watching it on television.

Introducing the Footbonaut But is it possible for the opposite to be true as well? For reality to imitate the gaming world? For the older readers among you, it is as abstract an idea as the one the video game Tetris is based on: of forming lines without any gaps by moving different shaped blocks left and right as they fall into a shaft. What happens when an idea that has only ever existed on screen is suddenly given a three-dimensional form? And what happens if real-life footballers train as hard as they can in a high-tech room that appears to be from another world? Such a place does actually exist: the Footbonaut. We travelled to Dortmund to take a closer look.

En route to Borussia Dortmund’s training ground from the train station, the scenery alternates between newly constructed buildings and weathered, functional architecture from the post-war era which, combined with the drizzling rain, gives the day a feeling of dreariness. Yet here in the Ruhr region it soon becomes clear that weather is not what excites the locals’ passions. At one junction our taxi driver points out the ’Borsigplatz’ and recalls that after one of Dortmund’s title triumphs it was

the scene of a confrontation between police and fans holding buckets of paint who were determined to cover the whole square in the club colours of black and yellow. Those colours only become visible on the outskirts of the city as we enter the district of Brackel, which is where Dortmund’s training complex - including the Footbonaut - is located.

Any thoughts that such a grand name might overstate the facility are quickly dispelled upon entering it, at which point you are immediately struck by the impression of being in a science fiction film. Click, click, click: a metallic sound and alternating flashing lights on the individual windows inside the machine serve as a countdown. But what exactly is about to happen? Will a smoke machine cause the colourful lights to mysteriously fade away, before gradually clearing to reveal dancers descending from the roof? Or is techno music about to fill the room like on a disco dance floor? No, the Footbonaut is no entertainment gimmick but a well designed training tool that is equipped relatively simply. An artificial indoor pitch measuring 14 metres squared is surrounded on all sides by a wall covered in 72 square targets, each of which can light up.

On each side of the wall is a machine that can fire balls from one of two hatches that lie on top of each other. In total there are 240 balls available to be used and they travel at speeds of up to 120 kilometres per hour towards the player standing in the centre circle. They come at different heights so that control with the feet, chest or head can be practised. The procedure is as follows: a loud beep signals that a ball is about to be released and the window it will come from lights up red so that the player knows which way to face. A second beep sounds and a different window turns green to indicate the target where he must return the ball.­ T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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Messi’s new boots

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hen Lionel Messi laces up his new custom-made boots for the first time prior to Barcelona’s game against Valencia on Sunday, the four-time Ballon d’Or winner will not be the only one enjoying the moment: the huge team of specialists behind the adidas ’Messi mirosar10’ will be smiling with him. Alongside product developers and designers, an ’innovation team’ works in an isolated research laboratory on technology and materials for the boot that is meant to provide its wearer with an edge out on the pitch. The development process has taken approximately three years to get to this stage, and during that time the boot has undergone a series of tests and been improved as researchers discover new findings. The ’mirosar10’ is one of four adidas designs that are tailored to a specific type of player. Messi’s new boot is suited to agile, quick players who are similar in style to the Argentinian and prefer lightweight footwear.

Close collaboration with players is decisive when creating new boot models and Messi has been involved in developing the ’mirosar10’ since day one. He receives blacked-out prototypes from adidas at regular intervals and tests them at Barcelona’s training complex before giving the company his feedback. If the boot is too tight, too unstable or the touch does not feel right then it will be honed back in the laboratory. Even the smallest detail of the boot is tailored to Messi’s needs, which is why developers study his playing style so meticulously.

Messi tests anywhere between five and ten prototypes of a new boot during its development. Furthermore, the boot is also assessed by a pool of several hundred amateur players on different surfaces on each continent.

Continuous improvement Adidas

Something both Lionel Messi and his boots have in common.

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Marco Muller, product manager at adidas Football, is one of many people to play a crucial role in the development process and is involved every step of the way, from conception through to the finished article. “Messi is not the kind of player who wants to stand out because of his boots,” Muller said of the Argentinian’s aesthetic preferences. “He wants to stand out because of his performances.” That desire is reflected in the design of the new adidas ’Messi mirosari10’, which gets its name from ’my Rosario’, the name of Messi’s native city, and the number 10 on his shirt.

“Messi has been involved since day one.”

According to Muller, Messi’s enthusiasm for a new pair of boots has never waned, despite having been involved in the creation of over ten custom-made models: “It’s fascinating. Messi’s eyes light up whenever we surprise him with a new prototype in Barcelona.”

This weekend all eyes will be trained on the Barcelona star and his new boots as he aims to build on his record of 253 league goals in Valencia. (dek)

THE FUTURE OF FOOTBALL

Ready, aim, fire Another ball is about to be launched in the Footbonaut.

A light sensor detects if it passed through the window correctly and times how long it took from the moment the ball was released until reached its destination. The quicker it is done the better, and on average a professional needs less than two seconds from start to finish.

“If you want to, you can really put the lads through their paces in here,” said Sven Mislintat, Dortmund’s head scout and chief analyst, before going on to explain that, “anything that demands too much of you in here makes you calmer and better out on the pitch.” The 42-yearold is an expert when it comes to tactics and training methods and demonstrates just how the Footbonaut is used by both youth players and seasoned professionals. Mislintat skips around the middle of the pitch on high alert: the sound chimes, followed by the light and then the ball, which he buries into the highlighted target. He does the same with the next one and the subsequent 20 balls that are hurled towards him. On more than one occasion, our photographer, also positioned in the centre of the pitch, only just manages to save his camera from a ball fizzing towards it. There are countless variations that can be implemented and the intensity can always be increased, although the machine is never actually programmed to launch the balls at 120 km/h because even the player blessed with the most velvet of touches would not be able to control it. Speeds of 75-80 km/h are customary and even that is far from easy when the ball comes at you from a distance of just seven metres.

Practice makes perfect The aforementioned disco feeling was perhaps not too wide of the mark.

Alongside the acoustic signals to indicate the arrival of a new ball, a

stadium atmosphere can also be replicated in here. Mislintat demonstrates this by playing recordings of fan chants and celebrations from either a home or away environment, and the volume can, of course, be adjusted as desired. “If you turn it up to 100 decibels the player isn’t aware of anything other than the visual signals,” Mislintat said. “And when he gets used to that, then the real-life situation in a stadium won’t be as stressful for him. The Footbonaut makes players calmer.” It also makes them quicker and more accurate, while simultaneously honing the quality of their passing, speed on the ball and awareness, all of which are the core aspects of Footbonaut training, according to Mislintat. In other words, if a player previously needed 2.5 seconds to pass the ball through a target window and manages to shave his time down to 1.7 seconds, that difference could be decisive in a real match. Success through repetition, then, is the core idea behind the Footbonaut. If a player receives 100 balls at what Mislintat describes as a “furious rate”, controlling it each time and passing it on, he will have 200 touches of the ball spread across a seven to eight minute period. That is far more than most outfield players have over the course of an entire match.

The Footbonaut is not only suited for individuals, however, as groups can also use it to work up a sweat. Team games, football tennis and

“You can really put the lads through their paces in here.”

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The Footbonaut workflow: Beep, light, ball, goal.

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goalkeeping exercises are also available. “In reality you can do lots of things in here that you can do on the outside training pitches,” said Mislintat. What makes the Footbonaut truly special, however, is that its laboratory conditions mean specific game situations can be trained in isolation and adapted to an individual’s needs better than they can anywhere else. If a player has a weaker foot then he is given the task of only controlling or passing the ball with that foot. Mislintat insists that in this way, players who previously had a weaker foot have since become almost completely two-footed. Marked improvements are only noticeable over a long period of time, though. Dortmund have been using the facility since March 2012 and every player has their own individual Footbonaut profile. When youth players are able to see the scores chalked up

by Reus, for instance, then they have a clear idea of how far they still have to go. High scores make legends; in a sense it is football by numbers.

Alternative eyewear The Footbonaut may work like a video game and look like a space ship but in the world of football it is not the only unusual analytical tool available. Atletico Madrid assistant coach German Burgos has been seen sitting in the dugout wearing a pair of Google Glass spectacles that feed him real-time statistics on possession percentages, the number of tackles won, and passes completed. Former Switzerland international goalkeeper Diego Benaglio also used unconventional eyewear in preparation for the last World Cup by donning a pair of strobe glasses in training. The device provides disco lighting-like distractions so that the custodian could only see movements and the flight of the ball in choppy, mini sequences. The increased stress caused is said to heighten awareness and improve concentration.

Furthermore, there are so-called smart balls that look identical to normal balls from the outside but are fitted with sensors that use Bluetooth to transmit data on the force it was kicked with and how straight its flight path was in order to analyse and improve the way set-pieces are taken. A final example of curious sporting apparel is a kind of sports bra used not only by female players but also by their male counterparts: Zlatan Ibrahimovic has already been spotted wearing one. High-tech underwear is also worn in the Footbonaut: it measures players’ heart rates to record how they react to the stress of the test environment, as well as the visual and acoustic signals they are subjected to.

But where will this constant stream of developments take us? Will it eventually turn players into machines? The next day we travelled to Berlin to speak to Christian Guttler, who was initially taken aback by our request to talk to him about the use of robotics in football training.

Guttler is the son of world famous trumpet player Ludwig Guttler, and is an all-round talent himself, having studied music at one point, as well as working in the film and advertising industries. Yet Guttler is most famous as an inventor and the Footbonaut was his brainchild. “I don’t really like the term robotics,” he said. “It sounds a bit like mindless repetition. That’s no way to achieve success.”

Anticipation and interaction It is not easy to find a common thread in Guttler’s response to the question of what the right path to success is, as he branched off in various directions during his answer: he praised Alberto Guerrero, teacher of world-renowned pianist Glenn Gould, because all he taught him was the ability to discover his own technique. Guttler also hailed tennis coach Nick Bollitieri, who counts Andre Agassi and Tommy Haas among his alumni, because of his unrivalled eye for spotting good motor skills. He even touched on the ’Mozart Therapy’ doctor Alfred A. Tomatis used to help rid Gerard Depardieu of his stutter. Pressed as to whether the average football coach should be aware of such a wide span of concepts, Guttler replied: “If you have 11 players who can hit a fly off the goalpost from 40 metres then you’re pretty much unbeatable.” In a real match, however, skills such as anticipation, the ability to read the game and knowing how to interact with team-mates and op-

ponents are what are called for. And one of the things that makes football so special is that it is a reflection of life itself: while certain probabilities exist, nothing is predictable. It is like a desperate mathematician trying to calculate the paths of billiard balls after the initial break. Guttler believes the best summary of the nature of football was provided by Arsene Wenger, who said the game is no more than the art of “adapting to a random situation as well as you can”. Or, to paraphrase Bruce Lee: take things as they are and you will find a solution for everything that comes your way.

Guttler is no philosopher, at least not primarily. He has no fewer than 20 employees at his company CGoal, which runs its own Footbonaut in a centre in Berlin to provide demonstrations to interested parties from across the globe and to be able to constantly continue researching. He calls his method the “Digital Motoric Fingerprint” and gives the example of inviting 400 local 16-year-olds to use the Footbonaut and being able to correctly identify in which division almost all of them played simply by looking at their statistics.

Where does the game go from here? Hoffenheim recently followed Dortmund’s lead by investing in a Footbonaut and Guttler is pleased that they work with “greater meticulousness and scientific interest” there. The Aspire sports academy in Qatar also houses a Footbonaut.

Asked how he would compare Dortmund’s style of play with that of Bayern Munich in musical terms, Guttler replied: “Dortmund are Nirvana. Bayern are Metallica.” Perhaps a football-to-music translation app for Smartphones would be able to decipher what exactly he meant by that. But someone would have to develop it first. Å

F I F A 15 : E m o t i o n a n d d r a m a The latest instalment in the EA SPORTS FIFA football simulation series released this autumn gets fans closer to the emotion and drama of the beautiful game than ever before. FIFA 15 brings this virtual footballing world to life with an impressive level of detail that lets gamers feel the intensity of the sport. Each stud and sliding tackle leaves its mark in FIFA 15, a game so realistic that the player is placed at the centre of proceedings as man and machine merge into one.

Fans are not the only ones to regularly challenge each other to console showdowns. Professional footballers including Gareth Bale, Lukas Podolski, Lionel Messi and Neymar also like to reach for the controllers in their spare time.

Anyone hoping to be crowned the official world champion of FIFA 15 faces strong competition from around the globe at the FIFA Interactive World Cup, which since 2010 has been officially recognised as the world’s largest gaming tournament. The 11th edition of this virtual football competition kicked off in October 2014 as the first of six seasons of online qualification got underway. This round marks the first stage on the path to the Grand Final of the FIWC 2015.

Millions of gamers worldwide will try and stake their claim for a place in this ultimate showdown until April 2015. At the Grand Final, Danish defending champion August Rosenmeier will battle it out with the best 16 players from online qualification as well as the three winners of the live qualification events for the EA SPORTS FIFA 15 world title. The FIWC 2015 champion will receive $20,000 in prize money and a trip to the FIFA Ballon d’Or ceremony in Zurich. (dek) Learn more about FIWC 2015 at www.fifa.com/interactiveworldcup

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TALK ING POIN T S

T H E

Hong Kong Premier League

Mov i n g i nto a new era Roland Zorn is a Frankfurt-based

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s­ tadiums in which the nine best teams from this special administrative region of China compete are far from full. Average crowds of around 1,000 gather to watch games featuring Sun Pegasus, Kitchee, Eastern or South China, the top teams in the world’s smallest Premier League.

football correspondent.

The people of Hong Kong are captivated by the Premier League, albeit the original English one. As in many other Asian countries, its twists and turns have been a weekly television highlight for this former British crown colony for years.

The Hong Kong Premier League kicked off its inaugural season in September and is still some way from being considered a crowd puller. The matches broadcast on domestic television provide only limited appeal for the vast majority of sports fans, while the

None of the locals in this economic and financial metropolis on the People’s Republic of China’s south coast are particularly ­surprised by this lack of interest, because although the championship is keen to make a name for itself as a showcase for football “made in Hong Kong”, it still lacks charisma.

Launched by the region’s football association, the Premier League is still too reminiscent of the First Division that crowned its final champions, Kitchee, back in May. Add to this the fact that Hong Kong’s national team rarely records a win and currently stands 159th in FIFA’s world rankings, and it becomes clear that it will be some time before the new

championship can build its own profile and generate genuine popularity in this city of seven million inhabitants.

For the time being though, frontrunners Sun Pegasus, with their winged horse club emblem, symbolise this hope of ushering in a new era, but right now the Hong Kong Premier League can only dream of flying so high. Å

Stalemate Michael Campion (centre) and league leaders Sun Pegasus could only manage a goalless draw against bottom-of-the-table Wofoo Tai Po. 14

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Sun Pegasus F.C.

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Cup winners Coton Sport Kingue Mpondo (left) scores his side’s second goal shortly before the end of the final against Panthere du Nde.

C a m e r o o n ’s E l i t e O n e

A ye a r o f t r iu m p h Mark Gleeson is a Cape Townbased journalist and football

Camfoot

commentator.

Their real mastery is in the championship, however. Coton Sport have won 12 of the last 17 Cameroon league titles. In the last decade, they have won an overwhelming eight times.

This from a club only founded in the mid-80s and based away from the capital of Yaounde and commercial centre Douala.

Few clubs in Africa have proven as dominant over a consistent period in their national championship as Coton Sport Garoua, who are on the brink of yet another Elite One title and last weekend won the Cameroon Cup final.

Coton Sport sit comfortably ahead of the other 18 teams in the Elite One, having overcome a murderous schedule of 19 games in a six week period to effectively run away with yet another title. Only Cosmos de Bafia now have any chance of catching them.

The provincial club from the arid north of the country effectively need one point from their last three games to ensure they complete the league and cup double to extend what has already been days of celebration.

It has been a year of triumph for Coton Sport’s 45-year-old French coach Didier Gomes da Rosa, who arrived in January after winning last year’s league in Rwanda with Rayon Sport.

Their cup success was not unexpected, beating Panthere du Nde comfortably in Yaounde with goals from their Niger international Daouda Kamilou and substitute Kingue Mpondo – two of their consistent performers over the last years. Coton Sport won their first cup title in 2003 but in the 11 years since have now added five more.

His task now will be to translate domestic dominance into success in pan-African competition. Coton Sport will return to the CAF Champions League next year, again ­seeking the ultimate continental crown.

they narrowly missed out on a second final ­appearance, only being beaten in a marathon penalty shootout. This year they got knocked out in the second round, missing out on the money-spinning group stage.

No Cameroon club has won the top prize in African competition since Canon Yaounde in 1980, making this an increasingly desperate quest. Å

It has been a barren quest to date, although they were runners-up in 2008. Last year 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

IN BRIEF

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isitors to the San Siro in Milan back in 1989 instantly recognised something big in the making. A towering structure in the final phase of construction, a golden period for Serie A, a World Cup on the horizon, and genuine stars plying their trade on the pitch - the likes of Lothar Matthaus and Walter Zenga for Inter, Roberto Donadoni and Marco van Basten for AC. Of course, these are less prosperous times for the Italian game. The top players and the best football are currently to be found in Spain, Germany and England. So that made the news that crossed sports editors’ desks last weekend all the more interesting: a crowd of 79,173 watched the 213th Milan derby between AC and Inter, generating record ticket sales revenue of €3,324,594. The spectators were not exactly spoiled by a mundane 1-1 draw, but at a time of crisis derbies like these are balm for the soul. Å Alan Schweingruber

Valerio Pennicino / Getty Images

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arrying shots, intercepting crosses and directing the defence are all fundamental requirements for goalkeepers, but Manuel Neuer’s impressive displays at last summer’s World Cup in Brazil demonstrated that modern shot-stoppers must have more than just these three key skills in their repertoire. Nevertheless, even the recently crowned world champion could only marvel at recent event in Iran’s top flight, the Persian Gulf Pro League. In the 56th minute of a top-of-the-table encounter between Naft Tehran and frontrunners Tractor Sazi, Naft custodian Alireza Beiranvand calmly plucked a cross from the right out of the air, dashed to the edge of his area as if bitten by a snake and hurled the ball forward in a tremendous display of strength. It flew roughly 60 metres to fall perfectly at the feet of striker Gholamreza Rezaei, who briefly let it bounce before half-volleying it into the opposition’s goal from 30 metres out. The through-ball and finish were not only spectacular but vital, securing a 2-1 victory for Naft Tehran to bring them within a point of Tractor Sazi and move them up to second in the league. Å Tim Pfeifer

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ong-serving Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger was forced to accept a 2-1 defeat in his team’s last Premier League home match against Manchester United and has generally been having a tough time with the Gunners of late. On the eve of the game against Louis van Gaal’s side, the Frenchman once again reminisced about a time when he had practically unlimited resources to call upon. He publicly admitted having offered Lionel Messi a transfer to Arsenal back in 2003 when signing Barcelona academy team-mate Cesc Fabregas, but the young Argentinian had other ideas. Wenger, who also let Gerard Pique, another La Masia graduate, slip through the net around that time said “I refused nothing” by way of explaining that the deal was not scuppered because the club failed to buy the then 15-year-old’s family a flat in south Hertfordshire. Rather, the reason was that “Messi was comfortable at Barcelona.” Other players the otherwise extremely successful Wenger would gladly have shepherded to North London as youngsters include Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Yaya Toure – about as potent a strike force as it is possible to imagine. One thing is for sure: a player like Messi would be extremely useful at the Emirates Stadium right now. Å Perikles Monioudis T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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Name Fabio Capello Date and place of birth 18 June 1946, San Canzian d’Isonzo, Italy Position played Midfielder Clubs played for 1964–1967 SPAL 1967–1970 Roma 1970–1976 Juventus 1976–1980 AC Milan Italy national team Teams coached 1991–1996, 1997–1998 AC Milan 1996–1997, 2006–2007 Real Madrid 1999–2004 Roma 2004–2006 Juventus 2007–2012 England since 2012 Russia

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Rudy Waks / Presse Sports

1972–1976 (32 caps)

THE INTERVIEW

“Ibrahimovic has trained very hard” Fabio Capello wants to lead Russia to EURO 2016 – a difficult task given their shaky start to qualification. The iconic Italian coach spoke to The FIFA Weekly about Zlatan Ibrahimovic, modesty and the 2014 World Cup.

Mr Capello, your contract as Russia coach runs until the end of 2018. What are your objectives with the team?

Fabio Capello: My objectives are to have a good World Cup on home soil in four years’ time and for the team to perform at a high level there. The main aim, though, is to put together a competitive side, which means we need players who are capable of doing big things.

Alexander Kerzhakov recently became Russia’s highest goalscorer of all time. How important is he to your plans?

There’s no doubt that Kerzhakov is one of our best goalscorers. He’s 31 now and he works really hard too. He’s a great example for the younger players coming through.

What I’m hoping for, then, is that he keeps on setting that example and scoring goals (laughs).

You’ve brought a few of those youngsters through in recent times, such as Dmitriy Poloz, Denis Cheryshev, Magomed Ozdoev and Artem Dzyuba. How important is it for you to blend youth and experience?

It’s very important to mix the two, though what matters most of all is blending qualities and attributes. That’s what counts, and I can see that these young players have got quality.

Russia have qualified for the last three European Championships. How confident are you of reaching the 2016 finals in France too?

We’re in a very difficult group, with Sweden and [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic, Austria, who are a really good side, and Montenegro, who could cause their opponents problems.

It’s a long road, but we’re bringing young players into the team and they’re starting to bed down. We’re hoping to push on now.

You mentioned Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s Sweden.

He’s always said that you helped him a great

deal with his development when he was at Juventus.

Ibrahimovic has an awful lot of natural talent and it’s not hard at all to turn someone that gifted into a successful striker. All it took was to explain a few things to him. The rest is down to training hard every day, which is something he’s always done. He always did a lot of work on his finishing. When he started out he could kick the ball very hard but the quality wasn’t quite there. He wasn’t that great in the air either, so what he did was practise his heading over and over. His game really came on as a result.

What specific tips did you give him?

I called him over one day and I said to him: “You’re as good as Marco Van Basten.

You’ve got the potential to be right up there with him, but I’m going to show you how he did it.” I had someone make a video with all of Van Basten’s goals. I showed it to him and I said: “You never get close to goal. If you want to score, you have to get close to the opposition goal. You’re always far away. You have fun creating play and you’re great at setting up your team-mates, but if you want to be a goalscorer, you’re going to have to play closer to the area.” He understood the message.

When you come up against a matchwinner like that do you have to change the way you play?

That’s a tough question... [pause] When you’re a coach you try to cover every angle, but the players are the ones who go out on the pitch. You try to explain things, but then you have to look closely and try to see if the charisma and the sheer presence of a player like that can lead to mistakes being made. And there’s no doubt that with someone like Ibrahimovic you absolutely have to be on your guard.

Obviously you can’t talk about Sweden and not mention Ibrahimovic. And when you talk about Austria, it’s the team you focus on.

They’re an organised side and they play strong, high-quality football. As for Monte­ negro, their biggest asset is the individual quality they’ve got. They have some really exceptional players. They’re all teams that, in one way or another, command a lot of respect from us.

Is there still more that a coach with your experience can learn?

I note down everything that is said that seems interesting to me. There are always things you can learn. If you don’t want to learn new things, then you should go and do something else. You need to keep your feet on the ground and have respect for others. Those are both fundamental things.

When carrying out a technical analysis of the 2014 World Cup, did you see any innovations or new trends?

What caught my eye most in comparison to South Africa and the European qualifiers was just how fast the pace of play was. Every team played the game in a very fast, aggressive and technically adept way. It was probably the best World Cup in recent times in terms of technique and tactics. Å As told to Fifa.com

You’ve said on many occasions that Russia were given a tough group in the European Championship qualifiers.

Well, my thinking has always been that you have to respect every team you play.

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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First Love Place: Knysna, South Africa Date: 6 Januar y 2010 Time: 11.37 a.m.

Mark Lanning

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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

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

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

T HE DEBAT E

PRESIDENTIAL NOTE

FIFA lend administrative expertise to Chinese FA

W

ith its target of developing football across the globe, FIFA has long embarked on the football management programme “Performance” to provide its member associations with off the pitch capacity building. As the year draws towards an end, the world’s football governing body staged a course in China recently as the world’s most populous nation are aiming to improve their management levels.

The 2014 FIFA-CFA MA General Secretaries’ Seminar lasted four days from 16-19 November in Chengdu, China, a footballing city and a venue at the FIFA Women’s World Cup China 2007. A seven-person FIFA delegation offered expertise on administration in front of an 80-strong audience featuring officials from Chinese Football Association (CFA) President Cai Zhenhua to its 47 member associations leaders. Also gracing the occasion were three Japanese Football Association officials headed by Vice-President Kohzo Tashima, who shared their administrating experiences with their East Asian colleagues at the invitation of the hosts.

“This seminar, as part of the ‘Performance’ program designated for China under the Action Plan of Cooperation between FIFA and CFA, is of significant help to us,” CFA Presidient Cai Zhenhua told FIFA.com. “One of the keys to China’s football development is to have a group of football managers and administrators who can meet all the requirements of today’s game. So this seminar has offered us timely help.”

Vice-President of the CFA and the seminar’s chair-person Mr. Lin Xiaohua expressed his pleasure at the seminar’s success. “This was another great seminar for the CFA Member Association General Secretaries following last year’s first edition in Wuxi,” he said. “It provided us local administrators with not only the big picture of football development, but also the much-needed administrative know-how. Like the FIFA instructors said, this is so sweet a sport that we should get armed with the most advanced managing knowledge to deal with it.”

Aspiration for perfection With China’s fast-developing economy, the game has grown at an unprecedented pace.

The Chinese Super League, averaging an ­attendance of 18,986 per game over the past season, is among Asia’s best, attracting

­stablished figures like Fabio Cannavaro, e who recently took over from Marcello Lippi in charge of Chinese champions Guangzhou Evergrande. The national teams, both of men and women, have captured increasing attention. However, the local authorities are lacking in managing experiences, which prompted them to ask for help from FIFA. As many as 14 subjects were covered during the four-day event and conference attendees were pleased with what they had been taught. General Secretary of the CFA Mr. Zhang Jian, also expressed his pleasure of the seminar’s success. “We have now a deeper ­u nderstanding of football development, today modern football is more than just about competition and sport. It has a greater significance which is ranging from grassroots football, youth development to national ­ teams build-up. A general secretary is just like a team captain with the role of achieving ­administrative success.” Å

Happy Birthday AFC!

T

he Asian Football Confederation is 60 years old. The milestone anniversary will be celebrated at a Gala in Manila this Sunday.

Twelve associations became founding members in the Philippine capital in 1954 under the chairmanship of president Man Kam-loh. The first Asian Championship took place in Hong Kong just two years later. Japan and South ­Korea raised the bar in 2002 by hosting the World Cup finals. The continent, home to twothirds of all humanity and boasting a total of 47 national associations, plays a leading role in international football.

The ability and potential in Asian football is amply evident in the women’s game. Japan won the Women’s World Cup in 2011 and took the silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics, with their youth side also winning this year’s U-17 World Cup. China have hosted the Women’s World Cup twice and were Olympic silver medallists in 1996. The North Koreans emerged triumphant at the U-20 level in 2006 and two years later in the U-17 age group, with South Korea succeeding them as U-17 world champions in 2010. Last but not least the Chinese U-15 girls triumphed at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games. Asia has also provided a world champion in the men’s youth game when Saudi Arabia emerged victorious from the U-16 World Championship in 1989.

Nowadays, the Asian Confederation under president Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa strongly promotes the importance of football as a school of life and an integrative force in promoting social equality. For these and many other reasons, Asia is of central significance for the future and globalisation of our sport.

Happy Birthday AFC!

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

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ICELAND

EgilshĂśll Indoor football in Reykjavik.

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T H E F I FA W E E K LY

Success via improved facilities An Icelandic FA long-term project revolutionized the game through 15 full-size indoor football halls.

Svend Frandsen

Remarkable development In order to trace the remarkable development within Icelandic football, one needs to go back around 15 years. Back then the sport was hampered by poor opportunities in schools and clubs, where players were often forced to train on gravel, while the leagues suffered

greatly from the constant windy conditions and long hard winter. At the same time the level of coaching was not up to standard on an island which prided itself on the accomplishments of its national handball, not football team. Given that background, it was hardly surprising that most of the players in

Fotbolti.net

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ne could hardly blame people for associating Iceland with sagas, volcanic islands and pop artist Bjork. For a nation located far to the north in the middle of the Atlantic with a small population of only 323,180 inhabitants, it seems an impossible dream for football ever to be considered one of its trademarks. Indeed, Iceland have never qualified for a major senior tournament yet four games into the current European qualifying campaign the Nordic nation occupies second spot in Group A ahead of well-established nations like Holland and Turkey.

In fact it is only around a year ago that the Scandinavian minnows only just missed out on a spot at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil by narrowly losing out to Croatia in the play-offs.

And just to confirm their bright form of late, Iceland rocked the football world by recording the finest result in their history when on 13 October 2014 they recorded a sensational 2-0 win at home against Guus Hiddink´s Dutch giants. That was some turnaround for a football nation who at the end of the last European Championship qualifying campaign found themselves ranked 121 in the world behind nations like Azerbaijan, Liechtenstein and Faroe Islands.

Daniel Nielsson

ICELAND

the national squad earned their bread and butter in domestic outfits like Breidablik, Stjarnan or Fylkir.

However, the Football Association of Iceland then launched a successful partnership with the various municipalities to improve facilities, an initiative which has worked wonders. The results have been astounding. Today Iceland boasts 15 full-size indoor football halls, 4 half-size indoor football halls, 22 outdoor artificial pitches and no less than 111 mini artificial pitches located next to schools. This longterm project has practically revolutionized the game in the country.

“The first indoor hall was built in Keflavik and when that was up, people saw the benefits of having a shelter from the weather which can often be quite problematic for us with it being very windy all year round”, says Omar Smarason, Marketing and Media Manager for the Icelandic FA. “When the hall in Keflavik was built it helped pave the way for even more artificial pitches to be built. And then when we introduced the mini pitch project, we really put pressure on many municipalities to build these at many schools ­because the problem is the same all over Europe that young kids in general lack space to play”, says Smarason.

Everyone’s a winner While the majority of the indoor halls contain dressing room facilities, a lounge and of course a brilliant full-size pitch, they do not stop there. They also hold spectators as well as media facilities to improve the match-going experience and complete a very professional set-up.

Consequently league sides are no longer forced to play their matches outside, players remain motivated, spectators do not lose interest and the media has all the modern facilities at hand.

Everyone’s a winner.

However, the increasing investment in facilities would have been fruitless had the Icelandic FA not at the same time emphasized the need to educate coaches. So when UEFA

Today more than 70 Icelandic players are contracted to clubs all over Europe.

launched its Club Licensing Project at the beginning of the millennium, it also marked the signal for the Icelandic FA to invest heavily in the training of coaches.

“The benefits of having top class facilities can only be maximized if you have the knowledge to get the most out of them. Even the youngest children starting their football training at ages 5 or 6 have well educated coaches, generally people with UEFA-B or UEFA-A level degrees. This means they are already in the hands of people who know what they are doing, teaching them the basics of football”, says Smarason.

National team coach Lars Lagerbäck knows a thing or two about steering football outsiders to major tournaments. The 66-year old Swede rejoices at the effect the improvement in facilities and level of coaching has had on the quality of Icelandic players.

“It has been a very long process but the players that I am in charge of now of course had the chance to practise indoors when they were young which is a possibility that the former generation did not have. And of ­ course today we are harvesting the benefits of those improved facilities”, says Lagerbäck.

“They practise and train all year round and indoor halls and artificial pitches are open

Hasteinsvollur A pitch next to mountains and a volcano.

T H E F I FA W E E K LY 25

ICELAND

for everyone to use, public schools, clubs, etc.

So of course football in general is being played to a much higher degree now than before and that has benefitted the level of the game in Iceland because now we have a bigger group of players that we can select the prime talent from,” says Lagerbäck.

Elmar Bjarnason, the 27-year old former Celtic midfielder who today plies his trade with Randers FC in the Danish Superliga, acknowledges the massive investment in facilities and coaching has had a profound effect on Icelandic football in terms of added competition.

Difference in mentality and style “Perhaps the most significant change I have witnessed is in the mentality because everything has become more competitive, so already at 7-9 years old the focus is on winning. For some youngsters that might be hard to take in the beginning but no question it has created a strong competitive instinct among them”, says Bjarnason whose grandfather Theódór Jakob Guðmundsson played for KR Reykjavik against Liverpool in the 1964 European Cup. The overall results of the changes are remarkable. Today more than 70 Icelandic players are contracted to clubs all over Europe and whereas the former Barcelona-striker Eidur Gudjonsson used to be the only star in the Icelandic national team, the squad today boasts big names like Ajax’s Kolbein Sigthorsson, Real Sociedad’s Alfred Finnbogason and Swansea’s Gylfi Sigurdsson, players who were all key members of the side that qualified for the 2011 Under-21 European Championships in Denmark.

At the same time, the Icelandic players have today embraced a more technical style of play in contrast to the never-say-die attitude and physical strength that used to be the main characteristics of the typical Iceland player.

Fotbolti.net, Halldor Kolbeins / AFP

FIFA in Iceland FIFA has provided support for investments in Icelandic football. The headquarters of the Football Association of Iceland in Reykjavik received financial assistance totalling $1.2 million between 2004 and 2008, with FIFA investing a further $850,000 in the Association’s football academies in 2010 and 2013.

Iceland crowned its recent strong showings by taking part in the finals of a FIFA tournament for the first time at the Boys’ Youth Olympic Football Tournament Nanjing 2014, where they managed a well deserved third-place finish.

Football hall Breiðablik youth players from Kópavogur.

New triumphs Gylfi Thor Sigurdsson (l.) scores in the Euro 2016 qualifier against the Netherlands (2-0 on October 13, 2014).

“The improved technical skills are the biggest difference compared to the Icelandic sides I faced when I was coach of Sweden about ten years ago when they were mostly known for their fighting spirit,” says coach Lagerbäck.

“Definitely you can see it in players like Gylfi (Sigurdsson) and Kolbein (Sigthorsson) because our strikers are the ones who have improved the most in terms of the technical level. Earlier when they were training on gravel, the Icelandic style of play was much more linked to the character of the players but now the improved conditions for the players enable them to shine through their technical abilities which has added another dimension to our game”, says Lagerbäck.

Today wins against the Czech Republic, Turkey and Holland have created a football

­ uphoria never seen before on the volcanic ise lands to the joy of Elmar Bjarnason. “We had no less than around 1,000 fans travelling with us for the qualifying match in the Czech Republic and both our home matches against the Czechs and Holland were sold out and that has never happened before. People are going football-crazy up there now,” says Bjarnason. Å

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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F I F A ’ S 11

Women’s World Cup: The best teams

1

USA 27 wins 6 appearances at a Women’s World Cup World champions 1991 and 1999

2

Germany 23 wins 6 appearances at a Women’s World Cup World champions 2003 and 2007

3

Norway 20 wins 6 appearances at a Women’s World Cup World champions 1995

The invisible hand 4 of fate Alan Schweingruber

S

ome hot-headed driving instructors put their mugs of hot coffee on the dashboard while their pupils steer the learner vehicle around the neighbourhood. According to this method, the student is ready for his or her driving test when not a single drop spills from the cup. At first this is a challenge, but it ends up being child’s play compared to your very first driving lesson. Grasping the wheel with clammy palms, the first hour is spent never looking at any obstacle in case the vehicle steers directly into it as if guided by an unseen hand.

On the face of it, all this has very little to do with football, but this same effect can regularly be observed out on the pitch. As the year draws to a close, the most memorable of these unfortunate moments will be replayed to us, be it a striker thumping the ball against the crossbar from three metres out rather than into the empty net, or a ball slipping through a goalkeeper’s gloves before ricocheting against the inside of the post, off the back of the hapless custodian’s head and into the goal.

It is worth mentioning that goalkeepers do not have an easy job. A momentary lapse in concentration can cause their team to fall behind. Keepers can suffer even when there is less for them to do during a match, as they are still required to try and save the most unstoppable of balls on the few occasions they are tested.

Manuel Neuer is the sole exception to this rule. Neuer generally stops every shot that comes his way and reverts to the role of an outfield player in moments of boredom.

Vjekoslav Andric, custodian for Slovenian club NK Radomlje since 2013, seems to have been a little too inspired by the German international’s displays recently. The 22-yearold attempted to block off a counterattack near the halfway line, not only failing to win the ball but also receiving his marching orders for felling his opponent in the process.

To return to the driving school image: the overexuberant Andric steered the car directly and decisively into the nearest obstacle.

Of course, there are also unruly athletes who seem fully aware of the mistakes they make, such as American Mickey Rourke. The 62-year-old actor has regularly ventured into unfamiliar territory during his career. Having previously enjoyed a successful stint as a boxer, he is now returning to the ring for an exhibition bout in Moscow against 29-year-old professional Elliot Seymour. Although the learner driver analogy may not be appropriate here, it seems that same invisible hand of fate is still at work nonetheless. Å

The weekly column by our staff writers

Sweden 18 wins 6 appearances at a Women’s World Cup Runners-up 2003

5

Brazil 15 wins 6 appearances at a Women’s World Cup Runners-up 2007

6

China PR 13 wins 5 appearances at a Women’s World Cup Runners-up 1999

7

Japan 7 wins 6 appearances at a Women’s World Cup World champions 2011

8

England 5 wins 3 appearances at a Women’s World Cup Quarter-finalists 1995, 2007 and 2011

9

Canada 4 wins 5 appearances at a Women’s World Cup Fourth place in 2003

10

Australia 3 wins 5 appearances at a Women’s World Cup Quarter-finalists 2007 and 2011

11

Russia 4 wins 2 appearances at a Women’s World Cup Quarter-finalists 1999 and 2003

Source: FIFA (FIFA, Statistical Kit, 20.11.2014) T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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FIFA WORLD FOOTBALL MUSEUM

The hotspot of fans all over the world The FIFA World Football Museum is a tremendous endeavour and a great idea. But most of all, it is a football temple in the heart of Europe.

It will celebrate its Grand Opening in early 2016.

On target for the Grand Opening CEO Martin Schlatter in the centre of Zurich.

S

ince FIFA president Joseph Blatter laid the foundation stone of the museum in April 2013, a lot has happened at the construction site in Zurich. Martin Schlatter, CEO at the FIFA World Football Museum, and David Ausseil, its creative director, talk about why, when and how it came about.

Mr Schlatter, is the hard hat and the orange vest your new business casual?

Martin Schlatter: It is fascinating to be here on the ground in the Haus zur Enge. The museum is beginning to come to life. Every time I come here, there is something new. I visit the site at least three to four times a week.

Mr Ausseil, will the museum be the right place to hold all the football artefacts you are collecting around the world?

David Ausseil: Definitely. It is a very big place here, over 3000 m2 of exhibition space. There are a lot of stories that are to be told here.

Can you see the museum in your minds eye yet?

Schlatter: I know where things will be and see how things come to life. I am very positive, and we are on track. I really look forward to return right here where the Pinball experience will be situated. You can actually play ball here.

Ausseil: The Pinball will be like a real pinball but with a football inside. We have five different attractions where kids and grown-ups alike will be able to kick a ball, and the ball will be bumping from one target to another. In the game area of the museum much fun will be happening.

Schlatter: The timeline we chose is achievable, but yet quite ambitious. We like ambitious targets. The same goes pretty much for the budget. But sometimes you have to decide where to put the investment and where the tradeoff is. If we can enhance the football experience for the visitors, that’s where the money should go.

How much is the museum going to cost?

Schlatter: It is a significant investment from FIFA. We don’t disclose the figures. There is also investment from Swiss Life who owns the building. We want to create 30

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

Daniel Auf der Mauer / 13 Photo, FIFA TV

Do you have sleepless nights because of the budget or the timing?

FIFA WORLD FOOTBALL MUSEUM

something that is great, that’s why we invest significantly.

We actually want to create the greatest football museum in the world.

What is important during the construction phase when it come to the exhibition pieces?

Ausseil: When we come here now we get the sense of dimensions. We think of the museum in a way that we project ourselves here and think of what visitors will expect. Actually, maybe half of the impressions you get in the museum come from the architecture, the space, the volume of the area in which you are.

How does the cooperation between you work?

Schlatter: Really well. We have complementary skills and know our territories. But also we discuss a lot and usually come back with a good decision.

Ausseil: We both have in mind at all times the ultimate satisfaction of the visitors. It is not a museum we do for FIFA nor for anybody particular, but for the visitors who will come here. Both physical visitors – so to say in flesh and bones – and digital visitors. It is difficult in today’s world to imagine a museum that would not have a digital window for the millions out there who love football but are not able to come to Zurich.

A new landmark for world football The FIFA World Football Museum is taking shape.

What will the visitors experience in the museum?

Ausseil: You have three floors. You enter on the ground floor and take the stairs to the lower ground floor and then the elevator to the first floor here and finally end up with the cafeteria and the store on the second floor. You always have a contact with football, because the main theme throughout the museum of course is the game.

There are three driving ideas, basically: “football connects the world”, “celebrate the rich heritage of football” and finally “football inspires the world”. The ground floor is meant to give a quick history of the game, the main landmarks like the birth of the laws of the game, creation of FIFA and so on. The Underground will have a chronological display of each of the 20 World Cups and then of course the Woman’s World Cup. This is where the memorabilia will be most on display.

FIFA TV on the construction site Ready to talk to the museum directors.

Where did you find these?

Ausseil: The most important part is the collection, we need to build a collection for the fans to admire and to evoke the great history of the game. Also, we need to create content that will accompany these memorabilia.

That’s quite hard since confirming the authenticity is sometimes very difficult. It takes a lot of people to certify these objects.

Schlatter: People will remember stories a lot better than they will remember information or a list of things.

So for us it’s a combination of the right memorabilia to see and to tell the stories. We want to tell the relevant stories to evoke the relevant emotions. Å Martin Schlatter and David Ausseil were speaking to Francesca Giardina

“For the ultimate satisfaction of the visitors” Creative director David Ausseil.

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MIRROR IMAGE

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H

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St. Peter Ording, German North Sea coast

1963

Slg. Raiss / fotogloria

A great shot...

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MIRROR IMAGE

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Le Lavandou, Côte d’Azur, France

2013

Slg. Raiss / fotogloria

...and a good save.

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FIFA WORLD R ANKING Rank Team

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 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 56 58 59 60 61 62 62 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77

34

Change in ranking Points

Germany Argentina Colombia Belgium Netherlands Brazil Portugal France Spain Uruguay

0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 -2

1725 1538 1450 1417 1374 1316 1160 1160 1142 1135

Italy Switzerland England Chile Romania Costa Rica Czech Republic Algeria Croatia Mexico Slovakia Tunisia Austria Côte d'Ivoire Greece Ukraine Ecuador USA Bosnia and Herzegovina Denmark Russia Israel Iceland Wales Senegal Scotland Ghana Guinea Cape Verde Islands Poland Cameroon Nigeria Sweden Hungary Slovenia Serbia Northern Ireland Turkey Mali Albania South Africa Peru Japan Trinidad and Tobago Congo DR Panama Iran Montenegro Congo Egypt Republic of Ireland Zambia Togo Gabon Burkina Faso Bulgaria Norway Haiti Korea Republic Finland Jamaica Honduras Guatemala Uzbekistan Paraguay Libya Armenia

0 0 7 -1 6 0 5 -3 -5 -3 3 9 6 1 -7 -7 0 -5 -3 2 -1 13 -5 0 6 1 -2 17 -6 4 -1 0 -4 6 -9 0 -4 -2 9 -2 6 2 -1 -5 5 0 -5 6 3 -22 0 16 -10 3 6 -7 1 25 -3 -7 42 -3 -1 -9 1 -3 -2

1103 1091 1032 1022 1014 995 987 948 946 913 891 867 863 861 856 854 852 836 808 804 789 788 761 748 734 729 714 698 693 684 664 656 646 632 622 617 615 604 603 577 568 565 563 553 548 547 547 537 529 527 519 516 516 511 510 506 500 484 481 468 467 461 458 448 438 437 436

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

Ranking 06 / 2014

07 / 2014

08 / 2014

09 / 2014

10 / 2014

11 / 2014

1 -41 -83 -125 -167 -209

78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 91 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 106 108 109 110 110 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 131 133 133 135 135 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144

Top spot

Biggest climber

Uganda Cuba Antigua and Barbuda Angola Morocco Estonia Sierra Leone United Arab Emirates Jordan Bolivia Cyprus Venezuela Rwanda Benin Dominican Republic El Salvador Malawi Lithuania Oman Latvia Qatar China PR Mozambique Belarus Australia FYR Macedonia Iraq Faroe Islands Saudi Arabia Zimbabwe Botswana Namibia Ethiopia Canada Tanzania Palestine Kenya Sudan Niger St Kitts and Nevis St Vincent and the Grenadines Equatorial Guinea Moldova Liberia Lesotho Kuwait Burundi Bahrain Georgia Lebanon Philippines Luxembourg Liechtenstein Guinea-Bissau Aruba New Zealand Afghanistan Azerbaijan Tajikistan Korea DPR Vietnam Kazakhstan Myanmar Mauritania Maldives Barbados Thailand

6 33 -10 6 6 5 -7 -6 -12 16 8 -4 5 -5 -11 -11 15 -3 -13 2 -10 -11 -3 5 -8 -4 -23 82 -9 -5 -6 4 1 12 -2 -5 2 -8 5 -2 -13 6 -1 2 -4 -3 4 -21 -9 -3 1 -3 25 -1 1 -2 1 -9 -1 11 -2 -7 -3 -1 0 3 21

Biggest faller

425 423 413 394 393 390 387 385 382 375 372 369 367 361 361 358 357 355 351 339 338 336 334 331 327 324 321 317 314 314 309 295 287 287 285 276 271 265 261 258 256 251 250 249 247 246 245 243 239 238 231 230 219 218 218 216 216 215 215 211 206 205 202 195 184 183 182

145 146 147 148 148 148 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 159 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 170 170 173 174 174 174 177 178 179 180 180 180 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 192 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 202 204 204 206 206 208 209

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

-7 -2 -6 9 -10 -5 0 -7 -3 -1 1 -9 0 3 -5 4 -2 2 13 -15 -3 0 1 2 5 -11 5 -18 -1 4 -6 -3 -10 -1 0 -8 28 5 -1 -4 -3 -2 -7 0 -3 0 0 0 -3 -1 -1 -2 0 0 0 -6 1 1 -2 -3 1 -3 -1 -1 -1

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

179 178 172 166 166 166 148 147 146 142 137 127 126 123 120 120 119 113 111 109 105 100 90 86 85 84 84 84 77 75 75 75 74 66 58 55 55 55 54 53 51 49 48 47 43 33 32 30 30 29 26 17 16 15 13 12 9 8 8 5 5 4 4 2 0

NET ZER KNOWS!

Do serious fouls deserve harsher punishment?

Question from Klaus Wolf, Dortmund

Now for management Gunter Netzer in 1978.

pixathlon

A

fter the tough tackle on Marco Reus, there is one solution to the question that people are debating: Should a player be suspended for as long as the fouled player is out injured. The idea is appealing, but impractical.

When is a player ready to return? When they have completely recovered from their injury? When the club doctor gives the player the green light? And is a player healthy if they train with the team, but don’t feature on the pitch having lost their starting spot?

In my opinion, rules and regulations in football should leave no room for debate. Clarity must be reached. In this case, as fair as the solution might sound, it would only lead to disagreement. It’s also worth noting that not every foul is completely the fault of an opponent. An injury-prone footballer can sometimes fall unfortunately and injure themselves. What happens then? A three-month suspension for a shove?

Fouls in football shouldn’t receive tougher punishments. The game has got faster and is far more physical.

It is very different now. Considering a tackle from behind was a trivial offence in the 1970s, it’s clear to see the game is progressing the right way. Å

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

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

instinct takes over

#predatorinstinct

adidas.com/predator

TURNING POINT

“I was driving the getaway car” Suleyman Koc was a member of Berlin’s “Machetenbande”, a gang of burglars that targeted casinos. He was arrested, ­convicted and sent to prison at the age of 22, but now Koc is setting the Bundesliga alight with Paderborn.

Charles Junck

A

s a child, I’d always dreamt of the Bundesliga and desperately wanted to turn professional. I had the talent – at 20, I was playing for Babelsberg 03 in the third division. I grew up in Berlin­ Moabit, an area where there was a lot of crime. I lacked self-confidence in my younger years and struggled to say no to people. That’s how I ended up driving the getaway car during six robberies on casinos. I was the only one with a driving license. I felt bad about it at the time and wanted to get out of the car, but I wasn’t able to.

In April 2011, I was arrested and given a sentence of three years and nine months. I was cooped up in a seven-square-metre cell in a closed prison for almost a year. I could barely move for 23 hours a day. Every two weeks I was allowed into the weights room where there was a rickety old bicycle, but sometimes even those sessions were cancelled. On a couple of occasions a good-natured guard ­ would let me onto the prison’s artificial pitch.

It was a kind gesture, because not being able to stay active was horrific. When I was switched to an open prison for good behaviour, I weighed 106 kilos.

I was lucky that the people in charge at Babelsberg didn’t give up on me. Coach ­Dietmar Demuth told me he was relying on me. That gave me strength. When talk of a

return started to gather momentum, chairman Almedin Civa decided to give me a second chance for which I will be forever ­ grateful. There was only one thought in my mind back then: “I will make the most of this.”

I trained hard and never let the goal of turning professional out of my sight. Nowadays, I’m convinced that football saved my life. It was meaningful to me.

My first game back was in Chemnitz. We lost 1-0, but it was a huge victory for me. To be back on the pitch after everything that had happened was very emotional and I enjoyed every minute of it. Unfortunately I was unable to prevent our relegation to the fourth ­d ivision. I couldn’t leave the club either as I had to be back in my cell at 11 o’clock every evening.

On 1 January 2014 I was released from prison, having served my punishment, and transferred to Paderborn soon afterwards.

The move did me good because I was able to get some distance from what had happened. I would never have gone back to my old ways, but in Paderborn I can completely focus on football. That helps me a lot.

Nowadays I feel better than ever before.

I’ve been seeing a psychologist on a regular basis for the past two years, which has helped me become more confident and learn to make my own decisions. I try to share my

experiences with others and make youngsters ­u nderstand that a life of violence and crime is not the answer. I want to prove myself in the Bundesliga with Paderborn. I don’t know where my football career will take me, but my dream has already come true. Å Recorded by Nicola Berger

Name Suleyman Koc Date and place of birth 9 June 1989, Berlin Position Midfielder Clubs Berliner AK 07, Turkiyemspor Berlin, Babelsberg 03, Paderborn

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

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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

Feel the Beauty

BE MOVED

THE NEW 4K LED TV

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

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

FIFA QUIZ CUP

Three last goals, a semi-final sensation and the derivation of a name – test your knowledge!

1

It was his last match – and an opposing player celebrated by scoring a hat-trick against his team.

Who was the unlucky recipient?

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

B

2

Art Direction: Catharina Clajus

R

T

W

The Laws of the Game use metres and yards as units of measurement. A metre is a little longer than a yard: the goals are 7.32 metres or 8 yards wide, and penalties are taken from 11 metres or 12 yards. But where does 1 metre = 1 yard?

Picture Editor: Peggy Knotz Production: Hans-Peter Frei Layout: Richie Krönert (Lead), Tobias Benz, Marianne Bolliger-Crittin, Susanne Egli, Alissa Rosskopf Proof Reader: Nena Morf, Kristina Rotach

A

3

E

O

U

This team was renowned for a certain style of play. What is the style named after?

Contributors: Sérgio Xavier Filho, Luigi Garlando, Sven Goldmann, Hanspeter Kuenzler, Jordi Punti, Thomas Renggli, David Winner, Roland Zorn Contributors to this Issue: Ronald Düker, Svend Frandsen, Francesca Giardina, Mark Gleeson, Andrés de Kartzow, Andreas Wilhelm Editorial Assistant: Honey Thaljieh Project Management: Bernd Fisa, Christian Schaub

A

4

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N

S

The World Cup semi-finals may seem like a European and South American lockout, but it’s not true: South Korea made it to the last four – and who else?

Translation: Sportstranslations Limited www.sportstranslations.com Printer: Zofinger Tagblatt AG www.ztonline.ch

E

K

S

T

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

Send your answer by 3 December 2014 to feedback-theweekly@fifa.org.

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

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

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L A S T W E E K’S P O L L R E S U LT S Which of these clubs will win the 2014-2015 UEFA Women’s Champions League?

33+28+1187643

T HIS WEEK’S POLL

Which of these stars will shine brightest at the FIFA Club World Cup?

4% 3%

6%

33%

7%

8%

11%

28%

≠ ≠ ≠ ≠

Wolfsburg (GER)

Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) Frankfurt (GER) Brondby (DEN)

≠ ≠ ≠ ≠

Rosengard (SWE)

Bristol Academy (ENG) Linkoping (SWE)

Glasgow City (SCO)

· Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) · El Hedi Belameiri (ES Sétif) · Tomi Juric (Western Sydney Wanderers) · Martin Cauteruccio (San Lorenzo) · Mariano Pavone (Cruz Azul) · Emiliano Tade (Auckland City) · Zouhair Naim (Moghreb Tétouan) Cast your votes at: Fifa.com/newscentre

“I didn’t sleep for two weeks after I got called up. Scoring was a unique emotion. Well, I guess I won’t sleep for another month now!”

WEEK IN NUMBERS

400

2

hat-tricks and two major records have been claimed by Lionel Messi recently.

The first came in a 5-1 win

Serie A games played, for 200 Serie A goals

over Sevilla, when the

scored, were the neatly symmetrical milestones

Barcelona star sur-

reached by Antonio Di Natale after he found the

passed Telmo Zarra’s

net in Udinese’s 1-1 draw with Chievo. His

59-year-old La Liga

859

minutes without a goal, the longest drought of his Bundesliga career,

latest strike, which came

scoring record and set a

12 years, two months and

new benchmark of 253

was the run that came to an end for

goals in the Spanish top

Stefan Kiessling. The Bayer Leverk-

flight. Furthermore, he

usen striker found the net for the

took Raul’s crown as

first time since his team’s opening

all-time UEFA Champi-

match of the season in a 3-1 at

ons League top scorer by

Hannover, and he was far from the

taking his tally to 74

only player in Germany experienc-

against APOEL Nicosia.

ing such relief.

nine days after the veteran striker’s first-ever top flight goal against Como, saw him become just the seventh player in Serie A history to reach the double century.

Miguel Tovar / Getty Images, Getty Images (2), imago

Midfielder Roberto Firmino after scoring on his Brazil debut