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UEFAdirect-78-Fichier•E 16.9.2008 14:33 Page 1

The merits of dialogue

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New club competition season kicks off in Monaco 03

UEFA Champions League groups 06

Player awards 07

Zenit St. Petersburglift UEFA Super Cup 08

Elite Club Coaches Forumin Nyon 09

A book to promote health 12

News from member associations 16

A first for a Russian club: Zenit St. Petersburg captain Anatoliy Tymoschuk lifts the UEFA Super Cup trophy.Photo: Empics Sport /PA Photos

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Messageof the presidentReforming the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Cup, amending the

UEFA Statutes to give more power to the national associations, reaching agreements

with all members of the European football family and setting up the Professional

Football Strategy Council to give them a platform on which to debate essential

questions, not to mention organising a perfect EURO 2008 – these, in a nutshell,

are the main activities that have dominated recent months.

All these activities have one thing in common: they reflect a determination

to move forward together. They also – particularly the club competition changes –

demonstrate the importance of dialogue. In a family as complex as football’s, interests

inevitably diverge. Yet, for the sake of the game it is vital that issues are settled not

amid furore, but through dialogue. While football is fighting for recognition of its

specificity and a clear and stable legal framework within Europe, it is more important

than ever that it stands united.

Clearly, this unity is possible only if football has strong leadership, which

itself is achieved only through mutual respect. That means listening to one another

and resolving to solve problems by consensus and not obsolete authoritarianism.

Collective interests must always come first.

It is through dialogue that we must find answers to burning issues such as

the protection of young players in international transfers, the defence of training

clubs’ interests, or indeed financial checks, with a view not only to keeping clubs in

good financial health, but also to maintaining a level playing field for competitions.

There are no two ways about it – dialogue must always be the first choice

for problem-solving, whatever the problems may be.

Michel PlatiniUEFA President


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IT IS TEN YEARS NOW SINCE EUROPEAN CLUB FOOTBALL BEGAN MEETING

IN MONACO IN THE LAST WEEK OF AUGUST.

Of course, the annual get-together does not literally mark the kick-off of the new season, which actually began back in June, midwaythrough EURO 2008, and the 14th and last edition of the UEFA IntertotoCup has already been concluded.

However, it does represent thestart of the season insofar as Europe’sleading clubs are embarking on the adventure of a new season. The draw forthe group phase of the UEFA ChampionsLeague, followed the next day by theUEFA Cup first round draw, is one of thehighlights of this gathering in the Prin-cipality of Monaco. Like the UEFA SuperCup match on the Friday evening, whichbrings together the previous season’sUEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup

winners, it represents the transition between the old season and the new.The previous season is rounded offwith the presentation of awards to thebest players in club football, while thedraw whets the appetite of supporterswho can look forward to the matchesthat lie ahead in the new season.

A busy few daysHowever, the draws and the

Super Cup are certainly not the onlyitems on the agenda in Monaco. Thisyear’s packed timetable also included,in no particular order, meetings for security officers, representatives of theclubs involved in the UEFA ChampionsLeague, broadcasters, sponsors andlawyers, meetings of the Professional

Football Strategy Council and Club Competitions Committee, a lunch hostedby the UEFA president for media repre-sentatives, press conferences and a galaevening, not forgetting the numerous informal meetings through which newconnections were made or existing onesstrengthened. And this list is by nomeans complete.

Club Competitions CommitteeAs well as the matches for the

current season and the small number ofregulatory amendments that will enterinto force, such as the requirement foreight “locally trained” players in eachclub’s 25-man squad, discussions alsocovered the 2009/10 season, when thechanges to the UEFA Champions Leagueand UEFA Cup will take effect. At themeeting held in the afternoon followingthe UEFA Cup first round draw, the ClubCompetitions Committee, chaired by

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2008/09 club competition season


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A cheque for the ELAAnother (healthy) tradition at the Monaco gathering is the

presentation of a cheque for CHF 1 million to a charitable or humani-tarian cause.

Austria’s Friedrich Stickler, looked in particular at the recommendations pro-posed by a working group responsiblefor putting the finishing touches to certain aspects of the new system, such as the definition of the top seeds, cal-culation of club coefficients, distributionof income, match calendar and even the procedure and number of draws.

In the UEFA Champions League,moving the final from a Wednesday to a Saturday should be a way of pro-viding an even better showcase for thematch and for European football in general. “By moving to a Saturday, it willno longer just be a final, but an event,”repeated the UEFA president, Michel Platini. The whole week should be placedunder the banner of the final, with a focus on the competition and the hostcity and the presence of more youngpeople, including at the match itself.

As far as the UEFA Cup is concerned, the competition’s visualidentity and name were also discussed.The committee will consider these issues again at its meeting next Februaryand, one month later, after hearing the views of the Professional FootballStrategy Council, the Executive Com-mittee will take all the necessary decisions.

Handed over at the UEFA Champions League group phase draw, this year’s cheque was made out to the European Leuko-dystrophy Association (ELA) which, since 1992, has been fightingthis rare illness which affects the nervous system and can result

in total paralysis, blindness, deafness, inability to speak or eat normally, and even death.

UEFA's gift will help to fund a four-year project designed to set up a European information and exchange network. This network will help to improve communication between patients, their families, researchers andhealth professionals throughout Europe. It will also facilitate the distri-bution of information about the illness.

The ELA was represented in Monaco by its president, Guy Alba, and itsambassador, Zinédine Zidane.

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A lot of big football names and all manner of meetings at the club get-together in Monaco.

Michel Platini presents the cheque to Guy Alba and Zinédine Zidane.


Former Italy international Bruno Conti (right),ambassador for the2009 final in Rome,helps perform theUEFA ChampionsLeague group stagedraw.

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The football associationsof Belarus and Cyprushave never previouslybeen represented in European club football’sflagship competition.

Having both started in the first quali-fying round, FC BATE Borisov andAnorthosis Famagusta FC eliminatedValur Reykjavik, RSC Anderlecht andPFC Levski Sofia and FC Pyunik, SK RapidWien and Olympiacos CFP respectivelyin order to reach the group phase. The

UEFA Champions

League groupsA b r e a t h o f f r e s h a i r

THE PLAN TO OPEN UP THE UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TO CLUBS FROM

A HIGHER NUMBER OF ASSOCIATIONS FROM THE 2009/10 SEASON APPEARS

TO HAVE TAKEN EFFECT ALREADY, WITH THIS SEASON'S EDITION

INVOLVING FOUR NEW CLUBS AND TWO NEW NATIONAL ASSOCIATIONS.

number of different associations repre-sented since the Champions League wascreated has therefore risen to 31, 17 of which (two more than last year) haveat least one club participating in thisseason’s tournament. Since the Cham-pions League has involved a single 32-team group stage, only in the firstseason (1999/2000) have more associa-tions been represented (18). During thesame ten-season period, eight nationalassociations have been involved everyyear: Spain leads the way in terms of

the number of places (38) and clubs(11), followed by Italy (36/7), England(36/6), Germany (30/8), France (27/9),the Netherlands (19/5), Greece (18/3)and Turkey (14/3). This season, Spain,England and Italy all have the maximumnumber of representatives (4).

105 clubsAs well as BATE Borisov and

Anorthosis Famagusta, two other clubsare making their Champions League debut: FCR 1907 Cluj of Romania andZenit St. Petersburg, the Russian holdersof the UEFA Cup and, more recently, the Super Cup.

To date, 105 different clubshave participated in the ChampionsLeague. Manchester United FC and FC Porto remain the most frequent par-ticipants and are each now in their 14thChampions League season. They are followed by FC Barcelona, PSV Eindhovenand Real Madrid CF with 13. FC BayernMünchen, FC Dynamo Kyiv and this sea-son’s major absentees, AC Milan, have all now been involved 12 times.

Fifteen of this season’s partici-pants are current national champions.Nineteen have won UEFA competitionsin the past, including 11 previousChampion Clubs’ Cup/ChampionsLeague winners.

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Titleholders Manchester United FC are also, alongside FC Porto, the most frequent participantsin the UEFA Champions League.


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U E FA C h a m p i o n sL e a g u e : t h i s s e a s o n ’s p r i z e m o n e y

The prize money availableto the clubs participating in the2008/09 UEFA Champions League is the same as last season:

■ a fixed participation premium of EUR 3 million

■ EUR 400,000 per group match, ie EUR 2.4 million per club

■ EUR 600,000 for each groupmatch victory and EUR 300,000for each draw

■ EUR 2.2 million for reaching thefirst knockout round

■ EUR 2.5 million for each quarter-finalist

■ EUR 3 million for each semi-finalist

■ EUR 7 million for the winners,EUR 4 million for the runners-up

■ Each club also receives a share of the “market pool”.

FC BATEBorisov, new faces in the UEFAChampionsLeague (in yellow,against RSCAnderlecht).

UEFA Champions League calendar 2008/09Group A Group B Group C Group D

16.09 Chelsea – Girondins Bordeaux Panathinaikos – Internazionale FC Basel – Shakhtar Donetsk PSV Eindhoven – Atlético MadridAS Roma – CFR 1907 Cluj Werder Bremen – Anorthosis FC Barcelona – SC Portugal Olympique Marseille – Liverpool

01.10 CFR 1907 Cluj – Chelsea Anorthosis – Panathinaikos SC Portugal – FC Basel Liverpool FC – PSV EindhovenGirondins Bordeaux – AS Roma Internazionale – Werder Bremen Shakhtar Donetsk – Barcelona Atlético Madrid – Ol. Marseille

22.10 Girondins Bordeaux – Cluj Internazionale – Anorthosis Shakhtar Donetsk – SC Portugal Atlético Madrid – Liverpool FC Chelsea FC – AS Roma Panathinaikos – Werder Bremen FC Basel – FC Barcelona PSV Eindhoven – Ol. Marseille

04.11 Cluj – Girondins Bordeaux Anorthosis – Internazionale SC Portugal – Shakhtar Donetsk Liverpool FC – Atlético MadridAS Roma – Chelsea FC Werder Bremen – Panathinaikos FC Barcelona – FC Basel Ol. Marseille – PSV Eindhoven

26.11 Girondins Bordeaux – Chelsea Internazionale – Panathinaikos Shakhtar Donetsk – FC Basel Atlético Madrid – PSV EindhovenCFR 1907 Cluj – AS Roma Anorthosis – Werder Bremen SC Portugal – FC Barcelona Liverpool – Olympique Marseille

09.12. Chelsea FC – CFR 1907 Cluj Panathinaikos – Anorthosis FC Basel – SC Portugal PSV Eindhoven – Liverpool FC AS Roma – Girondins Bordeaux Werder Bremen – Internazionale Barcelona – Shakhtar Donetsk Ol. Marseille – Atlético Madrid

Group E Group F Group G Group H

17.09 Manchester Utd – Villarreal Steaua Bucuresti – Bayern München FC Porto – Fenerbahçe SK Juventus – Zenit St. PetersburgCeltic FC – Aalborg BK Ol. Lyonnais – ACF Fiorentina FC Dynamo Kyiv – Arsenal FC Real Madrid – BATE Borisov

30.09 Aalborg – Manchester Utd Fiorentina – Steaua Bucuresti Arsenal FC – FC Porto FC BATE Borisov – JuventusVillarreal CF – Celtic FC Bayern München – Ol. Lyonnais Fenerbahçe SK – Dynamo Kyiv Zenit St. Petersburg – Real Madrid

21.10 Villarreal CF – Aalborg Bayern München – Fiorentina Fenerbahçe SK – Arsenal FC Zenit St. Petersburg – BATE BorisovManchester Utd – Celtic FC Steaua Bucuresti – Ol. Lyonnais FC Porto – FC Dynamo Kyiv Juventus – Real Madrid CF

05.11 Aalborg BK – Villarreal CF Fiorentina – Bayern München Arsenal FC – Fenerbahçe SK BATE Borisov – Zenit St. PetersburgCeltic FC – Manchester Utd Ol. Lyonnais – Steaua Bucuresti FC Dynamo Kyiv – FC Porto Real Madrid CF – Juventus

25.11 Villarreal – Manchester Utd Bayern München – Steaua Bucuresti Fenerbahçe SK – FC Porto Zenit St. Petersburg – JuventusAalborg BK – Celtic FC ACF Fiorentina – Ol. Lyonnais Arsenal FC – FC Dynamo Kyiv BATE Borisov – Real Madrid CF

10.12 Manchester Utd – Aalborg Steaua Bucuresti – Fiorentina FC Porto – Arsenal FC Juventus – FC BATE BorisovCeltic FC – Villarreal CF Ol. Lyonnais – Bayern München FC Dynamo Kyiv – Fenerbahçe Real Madrid – Zenit St. Petersburg

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A rather English affair

Team sport par excellence,football nevertheless honoursthe achievements of individualplayers who make a particularcontribution to the game and itsprestige.

Since European club footballhas been kicking off each seasonin Monaco, UEFA has used theoccasion to present awards tothe best players of the year justpast. Originally part of the galaevening, since last year theawards have coincided with theUEFA Champions League groupstage draw.

With three English clubs in the Champions League semi-finals, there was an unsurpris-ingly English flavour to this year’sawards ceremony, with all the recipients playing in the EnglishPremier League.

■ Presented by Denmark’sPeter Schmeichel, the award forbest goalkeeper went to PetrCech (Chelsea FC) for the secondseason in a row.

■ Former AC Milan captain,Franco Baresi, presented JohnTerry (Chelsea FC) with theaward for best defender, whichTerry had picked up once beforein 2005.

■ Frank Lampard, also atChelsea, was selected as bestmidfielder, receiving his awardfrom Sir Bobby Charlton.

■ Manchester United FC attacker, Cristiano Ronaldo, wasawarded the best forward trophyby fellow Portuguese Eusebio, as well as the overall UEFA ClubFootballer of the Year award,presented by Zinédine Zidane.

The award winners were selected by the head coaches ofthe 16 clubs that reached theknockout stage of the UEFAChampions League from a list ofnominees compiled by the com-petition’s technical observers.

The German Football Asso-ciation is the best represented, withsix clubs still in the competition.England, the Netherlands, Portu-gal and Romania are only one behind with five. It is also a goodseason for the Cypriots, who, aswell as having Anorthosis Fama-gusta FC in the UEFA ChampionsLeague, have two clubs in the firstround of the UEFA Cup.

Of the 80 teams in the firstround, 16 entered via the third quali-fying round of the Champions League

THE 38TH UEFA CUP SEASON IS UNDER WAY AND WILL CULMINATE IN

THE FINAL IN ISTANBUL ON 20 MAY NEXT YEAR. THIRTY UEFA MEMBER

ASSOCIATIONS ARE REPRESENTED BY THE 80 CLUBS GOING INTO

THE FIRST ROUND FOLLOWING THE UEFA INTERTOTO CUP AND THE TWO

UEFA CUP QUALIFYING ROUNDS.

UEFA Cup firstround

A v e r y d i v e r s e f i e l d

and seven via the UEFA Intertoto Cup, while three held onto the places

they won through the fair playranking (Manchester City FC,Hertha BSC Berlin and FC Nords-jaelland).

The list of participatingteams features 18 former UEFAcompetition winners, including

AC Milan who, seven-time winners ofthe Champion Clubs’ Cup/ChampionsLeague, are aiming for their first vic-tory in the UEFA Cup, the only Euro-pean title they have yet to claim.

The UEFA general secretary, David Taylor,announces the results of the UEFA Cup draw,which Can Bartu, formerFenerbahçe SK playerand ambassador for the2009 final in Istanbul,helped perform.

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Award winners (left to right): John Terry, Cristiano Ronaldo, Frank Lampard and Petr Cech.

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The spectators at the StadeLouis II were treated to an enjoyableencounter between two teams capableof playing a well-constructed short-passing game. The Russians, coachedby Dick Advocaat, were more com-pact, while Sir Alex Ferguson’s mentended to leave bigger gaps betweentheir lines, with the defence slow tomove up the pitch on occasions.

The only thing that was needed to break the deadlock both onthe pitch and on the scoreboard wasthe ability to raise the tempo and pro-

UEFA Super Cup

Zenit enjoy the l imel ightONCE AGAIN THE UEFA SUPER CUP OFFERED A MOUTH-WATERING LINE-UP:

ON THE ONE SIDE, MANCHESTER UNITED, ONE OF THE BIGGEST NAMES

IN EUROPEAN FOOTBALL, WHO LIFTED THEIR THIRD EUROPEAN CUP IN

MOSCOW IN THE SPRING; ON THE OTHER, ZENIT ST. PETERSBURG, WINNERS

OF THE UEFA CUP IN MAY AND A SIDE THAT EMBODY THE RENAISSANCE

OF EASTERN EUROPEAN FOOTBALL.

duce bursts of acceleration capable ofunsettling the opposing defence. Theboisterous Tevez had a go just after thehalf-hour mark, exploding down thewing before pulling back a cross whicha team-mate failed to convert.

In the end, just before half-time, it was from a corner which theEnglish defence could have preventedthat Zenit took the lead with a goal byPogrebnyak. United’s back four did not do themselves many favours withZenit’s second goal either, after almostan hour: Danny, a recent addition to

the Russian team, was able to weavehis way through the defence with disconcerting ease before beating Vander Sar.

First Russian successArmed with this two-goal

lead, Zenit perhaps made the mistakeof taking their foot off the acceleratorsomewhat, or maybe the English teamrolled up their sleeves? Whichever was the case, the Argentine Tevez was finally rewarded for his ceaselessefforts when he fed Vidic, who pulleda goal back and set up a fascinating finale, although the Russians’ victory,the first in this competition, was neverin much doubt. Zenit’s success swungthe balance of power towards theUEFA Cup winners in their annual confrontations with the ChampionsLeague holders (with five victories andfour defeats).

National champions, UEFACup winners and now holders of theUEFA Super Cup, Zenit St. Petersburghave shown that they can play high-quality football capable of upsettingthe best teams in Europe and this vic-tory in Monaco will undoubtedly ignitetheir ambitions to do well in this sea-son’s UEFA Champions League.

As for Manchester United,who were without newly crownedUEFA Club Footballer of the Year Cris-tiano Ronaldo in particular, UEFA Super Cup success has continued toelude them since their 1991 home vic-tory over FK Crvena Zvezda. However,they will have further opportunities to add more silverware to their collec-tion, starting with the FIFA Club WorldCup, to be held in Japan from 11 to 21 December.

29 August 2008 – Stade Louis II de Monaco – 18,063 spectatorsManchester United FC – FC Zenit St. Petersburg 1-2 (0-1)Goals: 0-1 Pogrebnyak (44), 0-2 Danny (59), 1-2 Vidic (73)Referee: Claus Larsen (Denmark)

Danny (in blue) makeslight work ofthe Mancuniandefence toscore Zenit’ssecond goal ofthe match.

A successfulheader by PavelPogrebnyakopens the scoring.

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Carlos Tevez was very enterprising at the forefront of the English attack.


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Coaches come together to enhance the development of the game.

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“OBSERVATION, DECISION-MAKING AND, ABOVE ALL, CONTROL.” THAT WAS

THE SUCCINCT REPLY FROM SIR ALEX FERGUSON TO A QUESTION ABOUT THE KEY

COACHING QUALITIES REQUIRED IN THE MODERN-DAY DRESSING ROOM.

A s t r o n g s q u a d t o o k t h e f i e l d f o r t h e t e n t h

UEFA Elite ClubCoaches Forum

His comments acquired specialrelevance in a week when two of his Pre-mier League colleagues had stood downin response to situations in which theirdecision-making and control had beenundermined. Sir Alex, after a charity eventin Aberdeen the previous evening, hadbeen on the move before dawn to get toUEFA’s HQ for the second day of the annual Elite Club Coaches Forum. ThomasSchaaf rearranged his schedule at WerderBremen in order to be there; José Mourinhodrove from Milan and back to Inter’sfriendly match in Locarno in a single day.

It was a measure of their enthu-siasm for an event which has reached itstenth year and which represents an all too rare opportunity for Europe’s leadingcoaches to cast sporting rivalries asideand team up with the aim of, as ArsèneWenger humbly expressed it, “discussinghow our little contribution can help to improve the game.”

A strong squadThe dimensions of the “little

contribution” were outlined by an agendathat broached topics ranging from foot-balling trends to the technological toolsavailable to front-line coaches. The issueswere discussed by a strong squad which,working clockwise around the boardroomat Nyon from David Taylor, Giorgio Mar-chetti and Andy Roxburgh – the triumvi-rate who presided over the Forum – read:Arsène Wenger, Gérard Houllier, Claudio

Ranieri, Luciano Spalletti, ManuelJiménez, Manuel Pellegrini, ThomasSchaaf, Mirko Slomka, Paulo Sousa, Sandor Varga, Valeriy Gazzaev, JavierAguirre, Marius Lacatus, Christian Gross,Gordon Strachan, ‘Takis’ Lemonis, Laurent Blanc, Erik Gerets, Claude Puel,Paulo Bento, Jesualdo Ferreira, Luiz FelipeScolari, Dick Advocaat and (a nice anec-dote) a chair shared by José Mourinhoand Sir Alex Ferguson – on successivedays rather than simultaneously, we hasten to add. How many clubs can youwrite against the names on that roll of honour?

They were keen to discuss issueswhich affect the coach’s work – from theaway-goals rule to anti-doping control

procedures, touchline relationships withthe fourth official and the fine-tuning of the international calendar. But, ofcourse, what they most relished was thechance to get together and talk foot-ball. Why did they think the accumu-lated data from the UEFA ChampionsLeague and EURO 2008 registered asharp decline in goals stemming fromset play? Why has the counter-attackbecome such a key weapon in offensivearmouries? What are the factors mostlikely to make the difference in high-intensity matches? With the rigid 4-4-2an endangered species, has any parti-cular playing system provided a platformfor success?

Major challengesBy the way, don’t worry if

you failed to pencil a club alongside thename of Paulo Sousa. As a pilgrimtreading the route from playing tocoaching, he was invited to the forumto provide a player’s perspective on theleadership qualities required to success-fully perform a role described by ArsèneWenger as “demanding – and you canunderline ‘demanding’ three times.”His reflections on playing for the likes ofCarlos Queirós, Sven-Göran Erikssonand Marcello Lippi triggered discussionsabout the major challenges facing themodern-day coach. There are not enoughpages in uefadirect to do justice to thepoints raised during this lively and highlypositive two-day event.

A strong squad.


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Enticed by the idea, fourteachers from Portugal, Italy and Roma-nia (2) submitted the project proposalto the EU’s Comenius education programme. The originality of the topicand the varied objectives won over the national agencies of these coun-tries, who agreed to provide financialbacking. Five schools are taking part:the Realschule in Niederkrüchten (Germany), the Escola Profissional doAlto Minho Interior in Paredes deCoura (Portugal), the Instituto Com-prensivo 7° Circolo in Papanice de Crotone (Italy), the Lycée Sportif of

Vaslui and the Collège National d’In-formatique Traian Lalescu of Hune-doara (Romania). The following clubsare associated with the project: Borus-sia Mönchengladbach, SL Benfica, FC Crotone, FC Vaslui and PolitehnicaTimisoara.

Three-year projectScheduled to last three years

(2006/07 – 2008/09), the project hasclear-cut educational objectives, suchas team work, development of com-munication and IT skills, written articu-lation of thoughts and feelings, and

In Portugalwith theyoung fans.

The BorussiaMönchen-gladbachmascot.

The project alsoattracts media attention.

The effect of footballon our everday lives

FASCINATED BY NICK HORNBY’S FEVER PITCH – AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN

ARSENAL FC AND THE LIFE OF ONE OF THEIR FERVENT SUPPORTERS – HEINRICH SCHNEIDER, AN ENGLISH TEACHER

IN NIEDERKRÜCHTEN (NORTH RHINE-WESTPHALIA, GERMANY), CAME UP WITH THE IDEA FOR A PROJECT

ABOUT FOOTBALL’S IMPACT ON OUR EVERYDAY LIVES IN THE RUN-UP TO THE 2006 WORLD CUP.

direct contact with young people from other countries and with partnercountries’ school systems.

It also has specific footballobjectives:

■ promoting fair play every-where (inside and outside the stadi-ums, in the streets and on publictransport, between supporters, etc.);

■ encouraging respect forother teams’ symbols and supporters;

■ establishing ties with localclubs rather than big European ones;

■ getting the participants involved in the life of their partnerclubs by attending meetings betweenclub staff and players and their fans,accompanying the clubs on the road,having a say in the election of clubpresidents and other managers;

■ supporting their partnerclubs financially by buying and wear-ing their products;

■ systematically following the teams’ progress, with the youngfans producing their own technicaldata sheets for each match;

■ compiling information onthe towns the supporters visit, i.e. information that will greatly broadentheir cultural horizons, both in termsof football and generally.

End results To meet all these objectives,

there are interim objectives that haveto be met at each stage of the projectas well as final objectives:

Cultural outings complete the programme: a Romanian delegation in front of the Monument to the Discoveries in Lisbon.


■ a travelling exhibition presenting the five clubs and their activities, which was produced in the2006/07 academic year and enjoyedgreat success among the pupils at eachschool;

■ a travelling exhibition on fanwear;

■ a travelling exhibition enti-tled “The fascination with football”to which each school will contributeposters on fans and their involvementin football;

■ a book containing the tech-nical data sheets for all the five clubs’matches during the 2007/08 season;

■ project website (already on-line) where users can find informationabout the schools, towns and clubs in-volved and share their reactions and in-formation (www.comenius-football.de);

■ traditional souvenirs for the clubs, including posters, enamelbadges featuring the project logo, andan embroidered pennant with the emblems of each of the schools takingpart (in progress);

■ a book containing five shortstories from each school and artworkby the children, plus presentations ofthe schools, towns, countries and clubs,to be published in 2009 to mark theend of the project.

TravelAs well as all the activities

in the classroom and in the stadium, six get-togethers are being held in thetowns of the five schools (with two inNiederkrüchten, at the start and end ofthe project). The four trips completedso far (to Niederkrüchten, Vaslui, Pare-des de Coura and Hunedoara) havebeen real highlights, with busy sched-ules based around the travelling exhibi-tions and visits to the league matchesof the associated clubs. The theory partof the get-togethers involves discus-sions about the project schedule, prod-ucts and exhibitions, whereas the practical part in the schools focuses

on the travelling exhibitions, which are given a lot of media coverage andare very popular among the pupils, parents and teachers.

Before or after the matches in Mönchengladbach and Lisbon, the members of the five delegationswere able to inspect and admire themagnificent new facilities of BorussiaPark and the Estádio la Luz. Duringguided tours the participants got a glimpse of the economic side of modern-day football as well as the collection of trophies and museumpieces. They entered the revered chang-ing rooms and stepped out onto thepitch by the players’ benches. In Lisbonthey even met Vitoria, the club’s eaglemascot. These visits proved to be particularly useful for the Romaniandelegations, who saw how differentthese stadiums are from those of theirfavourite clubs.

Cultural excursionsDuring the matches, the dele-

gations saw for themselves the sup-porters’ involvement, the sense of fairplay that reigned in the stadiums, andeven some of the fans’ own routines.For the Romanians, another surprise

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Vitoria,the SL Benficamascot.

Heinrich Schneider, project initiator and coordinator.

Exhibition about SL Benfica. Ph

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was the massive supporter turnout despite the slumps that their teams wereexpe-riencing at the time.

The trips to Niederkrüchten,Vaslui, Paredes de Coura and Hunedoarawere well covered by the local press andsupported by the local authorities. Theclubs also got involved, providing guidedtours, match tickets and promotionalitems for the travelling exhibitions andpermanent project corners at theschools.

The travel programmes wererounded off by visits to local cultural andtourist attractions, such as museums,castles, squares, cathedrals, monasteries,etc. A special treat was reserved for thelast trip, to Hunedoara: a lively footballmatch between the teachers and pupilsinvolved in the project.

A huge social phenomenon,football touches the most diverse layersof modern society and makes a seriouscontribution to the education of school-age youngsters by rising abovegeographical, linguistic, economic, cultural and even worldly barriers.

George Gîsca

The stadium has to be experienced at first hand!


12 uefadirect 10.08

Steven Gerrard and Birgit Prinz’s pages.

Eat for Goals! has not beenpublished to compete with other recipebooks. Its purpose is to make childrenand their families more aware of theimportance of doing regular physicalactivity and achieving a balanced diet.

The European Commission’sWhite Paper Together for Health high-lighted how people’s diets have deterio-rated in all European countries over recent decades and the World Health

Eat for Goals!A b o o k t o

p r o m o t e h e a l t hAS PART OF ITS SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY PROGRAMME, UEFA HAS

JOINED FORCES WITH THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION AND THE WORLD HEART

FEDERATION TO PUBLISH A RATHER UNIQUE RECIPE BOOK.

Thirteen playersIn the face of this situation,

which is affecting more and moreyoung people, the message of Eat for Goals! is simple: a healthy life-

style depends on a healthydiet. In order to get the mes-sage across, 13 international

footballers – three women: Birgit Prinz (Germany), Cathrine

Paaske Sørensen (Denmark) and Kelly Smith (England); and

10 men: Abbas Suwan (Israel),Barry Ferguson (Scotland), Carles

Puyol (Spain), Fabio Cannavaro(Italy), Heurelho da Silva Gomes

(Brazil), Lukas Podolski and MiroslavKlose (Germany), Ruud van Nistel-rooy (Netherlands), Steven Gerrard(England) and Thierry Henry (France)– discuss their eating habits and

each even contribute a recipe forone of their favourite dishes,

including a detailed list of ingredi-ents, preparation guidelines and the nutritional value of each dish.The book also contains health advice.

Eat for Goals! is priced EUR 12.90 and can be ordered atFalkemedia e.K., An der Halle400, Nr.1, 24143 Kiel (Germany),www.falkemedia-shop.de.

For each book sold, UEFA willdonate EUR 1 to the World HeartFederation to support programmesencouraging children to engage in physical activity.

The World Heart Federation

is a non-governmental organi-

sation composed of 196 medical

societies and heart foundations

from more than 100 countries

across all the continents. Its mis-

sion is to help people achieve

a longer and better life through

prevention and control of heart

disease and strokes.

Organisation (WHO) estimates that chronic diseases (heart problems, diabetes,strokes) kill around 35 million people each year around the world.

The primary causes of thesechronic diseases are obesity, an unhealthydiet, smoking and a lack of physical activity. The many factors that result inobesity include the consumption of toomany foods rich in calories, proteins, fats,carbohydrates and sugars.


13

Only a Game?The UEFA exhibitionabout Europe andfootball

On Saturday 11 October at the World Museum Liverpool,Only a Game?, UEFA’s exhibitionabout football’s place in Europeansociety, will open to the generalpublic.

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TheProfessionalFootballStrategyCouncil in Monaco.

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Only a Game? is an interactiveexhibition for the whole familythat explores Europe and its mostpopular sport: football. Bringingtogether UEFA’s most prized tro-phies, historical artefacts from thelast 50 years, and stunning imagesfrom the great games, Only aGame? invites people of all ages to plunge into the emotions offootball.

UEFA, the Northwest Devel-opment Agency, the National Foot-ball Museum and National Museums Liverpool have workedtogether on the exhibition, whichmarks Liverpool’s year as EuropeanCapital of Culture.

This ground-breaking exhibi-tion explores the human face offootball. In our school playgrounds,amateur fields and professionalstadiums, dreamers, players andsupporters all seem to belong toExcellent physical shape is a must for referees.

Meetings andother activities

Two main topics for the Professional Football

Strategy Council

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THE PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL STRATEGY COUNCIL MET FOR THE

FIFTH TIME ON THURSDAY 28 AUGUST IN MONACO, EXACTLY ONE YEAR

SINCE ITS FIRST MEETING.

The strategy council was createdin 2007 to enable representatives of asso-ciations, clubs, leagues and players to discuss key issues relating to professionalfootball and then advise the ExecutiveCommittee.

There were two main topics onthe agenda of the meeting. Firstly, protec-tion of young players and training clubs;secondly, financial fair play in UEFA’s clubcompetitions.

The question of young playersand training clubs is one of the matters atthe top of the European football agenda.Firstly, there is the problem of minorscoming into Europe, often brought byagents, at a very young age.

Secondly, there is the issue thatmany clubs who have historically beenvery good at developing players are see-ing their players leave at younger andyounger ages. Many clubs are seriouslyquestioning whether it is worth them

continuing with their training centresif they cannot keep their players beyond the age of 15 or 16, at leastto have stability between the ages of 16 and 21. Different solutions tothese problems were discussed.

The second main topic was financial fair play in UEFA club compe-titions. It has become clear that theclubs playing in UEFA club competi-tions compete with different financialconstraints. On this topic, the Pro-fessional Football Strategy Councilconsidered the main current issuesand possible measures in response.

Finally, a short update reportwas heard on the European social dia-logue.

Referees’ annual summer gathering –Past, praise and future

From 2 to 4 September, Europe’s top referees held their annual summer meeting with UEFAand representatives of its RefereesCommittee to look back at lastseason and prepare for the chal-lenges ahead.

The jam-packed programme included meetings of the UEFA RefereesCommittee and several workinggroups, presentations by committeemembers to all the participants, group


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➜ one family. Football gives us asense of local and national iden-tity. But does it also open oureyes to other cultures? Throughfootball, can we see Europe in adifferent light?

Only a Game? is accessible to people of all ages and all back-grounds, from the football fanatic to anyone curious aboutthe social and cultural role ofmodern sport.

The exhibition offers inter-active elements that engageyounger visitors: they can mixfootball footage with theirfavourite music to create theirown video clip, and competeagainst their friends in a quiz.

For the football aficionado,as well as the more traditionalexhibition visitor, a selection ofprestigious artefacts, trophiesand memorabilia from 50 yearsof European football will ensurea special experience. UEFA’s most prestigious trophies will beon display: the UEFA ChampionsLeague, UEFA Cup, and Cup Winners’ Cup.

The National Football Museum, in Preston, England, has provided the shirts, medalsand trophies of great Europeanplayers such as Ferenc Puskas,George Best, Franz Beckenbauer,Bobby Moore, and Petr Cech.

Visitors will discover the cityof Liverpool’s own dramatic rolein European football. Specialitems from the Everton Collectionand from the Liverpool FC Museum will be on display.

Only a Game? ends with aquestion mark. The exhibition encourages visitors to reflect onthe social and cultural aspects of modern football. They shouldleave the exhibition with morequestions than answers. Why do I care about football? Whichemotions does football trigger?Does it strengthen my sense oflocal identity or introduce me tonew cultures, or both? What does‘Europe’ signify in all of this?

Only a Game? World Museum Liverpool11 October 2008 to 1 March 2009Free entrywww.onlyagame.info

Brazil put pressure on the Belgians in front of goal in the Olympic third place play-off.

Bronze medals and smiles all round for Germany.

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Olympic medal for Germany

The European teams had to be content with just one medal –a bronze – at the Olympic tourna-ment in Beijing. It was won by theGerman women’s team.

The team, coached by SilviaNeid, showed tremendous defensive solidity in their three group matches,keeping a clean sheet throughout toregister two wins and a draw againsteventual runners-up Brazil. In the quarter-finals, where they met anotherEuropean side, Sweden, the Germansagain did not concede, but needed extra time to secure a 2-0 victory.

Their second meeting withBrazil, in the semi-finals, was less auspi-cious: the South Americans were toolively for the German defence this time,scoring four goals and conceding justone in return. In the third place play-offagainst Japan on 21 August, the currentworld champions took a while to findtheir feet, but finally imposed their superiority in the second half, finishing2-0 up.

discussions and training sessions. Theparticipants spent some of the time ingroups to consider specific issues. Forexample, the assistant referees prac-tised spotting offside positions, whilethe referees dealt with the theme ofbody language.

The Referees Committeepraised the EURO 2008 match officialsfor their performances in Austria andSwitzerland. The referees were partic-ularly commended for their consistentinterpretation of the rules, for protect-ing the players and for their perform-ances in general. The tournament was characterised by a high level ofrespect between players and refereesand there were few controversial deci-sions and mass protests. Meanwhile,the assistants were praised for theirvigilance in tight offside situations.

UEFA’s message to its refereeswas clear: keep up the good work andall the best for the challenges ahead.There will certainly be no shortage of these, with a whole host of UEFAChampions League, UEFA Cup andWorld Cup qualifying matches on thehorizon.

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EuropeanFutsalChampionshipdraw in Nyon.

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Mountain footballFC Gspon, a club from a small mountain village in Valais

(Switzerland), organised a European Mountain Village Championship at an altitude of 2,008m back in spring.

Around 4,000 spectators watched the tournament, which was played on apitch that could only be reached by cable car. The competition brought together teamsof amateur footballers from Germany, Austria, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands,Sweden and Switzerland. The tournament was won by Spain (www.fc-gspon.ch).

The third European team, Norway, reached the quarter-finals aftera notable 2-0 win over the United States,who went on to win the gold medalagainst Brazil (1-0). It was Brazil whoalso knocked out the Norwegians in thequarter-finals (2-1).

In the men’s tournament, the title was successfully defended by Argentina, who had won gold in 2004.The South Americans beat Nigeria 1-0 in order to avenge their defeat in the 1996 final.

Belgium were the most success-ful of the four European teams. Afternarrowly losing to Brazil, they won theirother two group matches against ChinaPR and New Zealand. The Belgians elimi-nated another European team, Italy, inthe quarter-finals (3-2). However, theywere beaten by Nigeria in the semi-finalsand lost the third place play-off to Brazil.

The Netherlands, European Under-21 champions, qualified for thequarter-finals, where they lost to the future Olympic champions, Argentina,after extra time.

Serbia, who were in the samegroup as Argentina, did not progress beyond the first phase.

Women’s competition atthe Homeless World Cup

The Homeless World Cup, tobe played in Melbourne in November,will include a competition for women’steams for the first time.

Eight national teams with a total of 80 female players are expectedto participate in the tournament from 1 to 7 November. They will representCameroon, Colombia, Ivory Coast, Kyrgyzstan, Uganda, Zambia, Liberiaand Paraguay.

Futsal World Cup –Final round kicks off in Brazil

Six European teams willparticipate in the final round of the6th Futsal World Cup at the end ofSeptember.

Holders Spain and Italy, whowere runners-up last time round, will be joined by Portugal, the CzechRepublic, Russia and Ukraine.

A draw was held in Brasilia on10 July to determine the final roundgroups in a tournament which, for thefirst time, will involve 20 participants:

Group A: Brazil, Russia, Japan,Cuba, Solomon Islands;

Group B: Italy, Portugal, Thailand, Paraguay, United States;

Group C: Argentina, Ukraine,China PR, Guatemala, Egypt;

Group D: Spain, Czech Repub-lic, Iran, Uruguay, Libya.

The top two in each group willqualify for the next phase. The finalround will be played from 30 Septemberto 19 October in Rio de Janeiro andBrasilia.

Meanwhile, the Europeanteams also have their eyeson the next European FutsalChampionship, which will

conclude in Hungary in 2010.This edition will involve 39

associations (three more than in 2007).

Prize money breakdownfor Moscow and Manchester finals

At its meeting in Monaco,the Club Competitions Commit-tee was informed of the finalbreakdown of revenue for thetwo finals played last season. In Moscow, ticket sales for theUEFA Champions League finalgenerated EUR 2,722,890 foreach of the finalists, ManchesterUnited and Chelsea, in additionto the fixed sums of EUR 7 mil-lion and EUR 4 million that theyreceived respectively.

In Manchester, the two finalists, Zenit St. Petersburg and Rangers, each received EUR 921,552 from ticket sales, as well as the EUR 2.5 millionawarded to the winners and EUR 1.5 million to the runners-up.

The qualifying matches will be split intotwo phases. Sixteen teams will compete inthe preliminary round in February 2009.The draw, held on 10 September at UEFA’sheadquarters in Nyon, produced the fol-lowing four groups:

Group A: Kazakhstan, Cyprus, England, Republic of Ireland

Group B: Latvia, Armenia, Bulgaria, Estonia

Group C: Greece, Georgia, Albania, Malta

Group D: Israel, Finland, Turkey,MontenegroMini-tournament hosts in bold.

The matches will be played from14 to 22 February. The four group winnersand the two best runners-up will join theother 22 teams (Hungary have automati-cally qualified for the final round) in thequalifying round.


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Another win for Austria’s young players.

Hat trick for Under-17s The Austrian Football Association, with

the backing of Austrian Lotteries, has organised the International Youth Toto Cupfor Under-17s since 1988. This year’s com-petition was held in Burgenland, where the Austrians were joined by Switzerland,Slovakia and France.

Tournament between regional teams From 21 to 28 June, the Association of Foot-

ball Federations of Azerbaijan, together with theregional football federations, held a tournamentfor teams of 14 and 15 year olds. The main aimin holding this youth tournament was tostrengthen and popularise football throughoutthe country and scout for the national teams.

The Baku regional federation and the north-west regional federation met in the final, where the Baku team beat their opponents 3-1.Meanwhile, the northern regional federationbeat the central regional federation 3-2 and fin-ished third in the competition.

There are plans to hold similar eventsamong different age groups in the future. ■

Impressive fourth place for Olympic team

Having qualified for the 2008 BeijingOlympics by reaching the semi-finals of thelast European Under-21 Championship, theYoung Devils went into the Olympic tourna-ment with the aim of at least making it pastthe group stage. This was no mean feat, having been drawn alongside Brazil, one ofthe big favourites of the competition; China,the hosts; and New Zealand. However, Jean-François de Sart’s players exceeded all expec-tations and thrilled the entire nation.

Their first match was certainly no walk in the park, as they immediately faced Brazil,with star players such as Ronaldinho andDiego to name but two. The Young Devilsnevertheless showed what they were capableof and were on an equal footing with theiropponents until reduced to nine men. Hav-ing finished 1-0 down, they had to win theirlast two group matches if they were to quali-fy for the quarter-finals, which they did,beating China 2-0, with goals by MoussaDembélé and Kevin Mirallas, before defeat-ing New Zealand 1-0 thanks to Faris Haroun.

Having reached the quarter-finals, Bel-gium faced Italy, who had finished top oftheir group. On paper the match was atough one and it proved to be even harder

United youth league finally startedThe start of a new united youth league

for cadets (U17) and juniors (U19) cover-ing the whole territory ofBosnia-Herzegovina attractedgreat attention among footballfans. The youth premier leaguehas teams from all premierleague clubs competing in twogroups – north and south. Afterthe group competition, finalswill be played in both cate-gories. This competition systemwas warmly welcomed by theclub representatives, as well as by the young players, whonow have more chances to develop their skills and achievebetter results. Also, the nation-al team head coaches will have

The young Belgians are delighted with their win against Italy, securing themselves a place in the semi-finals.

Austria won their first Youth Toto Cup in2006 and successfully defended their titlein Carinthia in 2007. This year ex-interna-tional Hermann Stadler took over at thehelm and the team made it a perfect three.The Austrians, four of whom are undercontract with foreign clubs, opened with a2-1 win against Slovakia, which they fol-lowed up with a more decisive 3-0 againstSwitzerland on day two. FC BayernMünchen’s Christoph Knasmüller and DavidAlaba were among the goalscorers. Theyboth put in impressive performances, as didthe rest of Hermann Stadler’s side. On thefinal matchday, a 1-1 draw was all that was needed against favourites France, who had to settle for second place and thetitle of top scorer for Ngbakoto.

The best player award went to an Austrian. Bernhard Janeczek won over thejury and lifted his own special trophy onthe final day of the competition in BadTatzmannsdorf, the spa retreat that hostedthe Croatian team during EURO 2008.

Previous winners of the InternationalYouth Toto Cup for Under-17 nationalteams, held in Austria each year:

2008 (Burgenland): Austria; 2007 (Carinthia): Austria; 2006 (Tyrol): Austria; 2005 (Lower Austria): Hungary;2004 (Syria): Belgium; 2003 (Burgenland): Switzerland; 2002 (Carinthia): Germany; 2001 (Upper Austria): Switzerland;2000 (Vienna): Brazil. ■

when Thomas Vermaelen was sent off for a foul in the penalty area. The Italians furtherpunished the Belgium side by opening thescoring from their penalty but the Young Devils responded with outstanding courageand character. Their exceptional performancewas rewarded with two goals by MoussaDembélé and another one by Kevin Mirallas,putting the final score at 3-2.

The semi-final dream became a reality, with Belgium taking on Nigeria. Jean-Françoisde Sart’s side gave it everything they hadagainst their African opponents but wereforced to accept a 4-1 defeat, taking solacein a superb free kick by Laurent Ciman.

There was no time for reflection, though,as the team immediately faced a Bronzemedal match in which they were up againstBrazil, again. The team put in another good performance but failed to capitalise on their chances and were beaten 3-0.

Of course, to narrowly miss out on amedal was disappointing but the dominantfeeling, looking back on this Olympic tournament, is one of pride. The team’s superb performance proves that Belgium is home to plenty of talented players and that there is hope for a glistening future in Belgian football. ■

AUSTRIA• PETER KLINGLMÜLLER •

AZERBAIJAN• ULVIYA NAJAFOVA •

BELGIUM• PIERRE CORNEZ •

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA• FUAD KRVAVAC •

There will be more youthtournaments in the years to come.

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Czech goalkeeper schoolIn the course of its prosperous history,

Czech football has been blessed with world-class goalkeepers.

Frantisek Planicka and Viliam Schroijf weremajor pillars of the Czech national teams thatreached the World Cup finals in Italy in 1934and in Chile in 1962. It was these two extraor-dinary sportsmen who laid the cornerstone for the well-known Czech goalkeeper schoolthat was later joined by Ivo Viktor, Europeanchampion in Belgrade in 1976.

For 11 years, Viktor’s name has also beenassociated with Ivo Viktor’s Summer Camp forTalented Goalkeepers, which was held inRoudnice nad Labem this year. Forty selectedyoungsters aged between 11 and 13 from allover the country attended the camp to im-prove their skills in both practical and theo-retical sessions under the supervision of former league and international goalkeepers.

FA focuses on amateur football in Chile

The Football Association (FA) sent a two-man team to Chile in August to deliver afootball administration workshop aimed atsafeguarding and developing the amateurgame in the South American country.

The FA’s Nigel Hargreaves and John Folwell headed to the northern Chilean cityof Arica and led the two-day interactive sem-inar which was attended by over 80 dele-gates all of whom are involved in amateurfootball in Chile and neighbouring Peru.

The Chilean Football Federation president,Harold Mayne-Nicholls, is keen to ensurethat grassroots football continues to prosperand contributes to the development of

Petr Cech in action.

a better overview of young players whomight enter the Under-17 and Under-19national teams.

The Under-19 national team, which islead by head coach Zoran Bubalo, recentlyplayed two friendly matches against theirpeers from Serbia. The matches took placein Foca and Gorazde, two neighbouringtowns in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Serbswon both matches (2-1 and 3-1).

The Under-17 team played two friendly away matches against Slovenia in Kidricevo. Velimir Stojnic’s squad managed to win one match (2-1), whilethe second ended in a draw. The Under-21team, meanwhile, lost 2-1 in Koprivnicaagainst Croatia.

The recent highlight, however, was amatch between the Bosnia-Herzegovinaseniors and Bulgaria at the Bilino Polje stadium. This was a first appearance fornew head coach Miroslav Blazevic. Bulgaria won 2-1, but Blazevic’s debut wasnonetheless considered a success as histeam managed to get the spectators backin the stadium and showing their supportagain, which will be very important for thecoming 2010 World Cup qualifiers.

Bosnia-Herzegovina futsal champions,MNK Orlic from Sarajevo, were due to participate in Group F of the preliminaryround of the eighth UEFA Futsal Cup(2008/09) in Munster, Germany, wherethey were supposed to play hosts UFCMunster, Estonia’s FC Betoon Tallin andthe Netherlands’ Carillon Boys Beverwijk.Owing to visa problems, however, MNKOrlic were unable to travel to Germanyand, therefore, officially lost all theirmatches.

The Bosnia-Herzegovina teams all exited UEFA competitions without success.In the UEFA Champions League, the domestic champions, FK Modrica, were defeated twice by Denmark’s Aalborg BK(5-0, 2-1), after beating KS Dinamo Tiranaof Albania 2-0 and 2-1. In the UEFA Cup, NK Siroki Brijeg and NK Zrinjski made it tothe second qualifying round. In the first,Siroki Brijeg eliminated FK Partizani fromTirana (0-0, 3-1) and Zrinjski twice out-played FC Vaduz (2-1, 3-0). In the secondqualifying round, Besiktas JK of Turkey beatSiroki Brijeg in both their matches (1-2, 0-4)and Braga from Portugal knocked out Zrinjski (0-1, 0-2). In the UEFA Intertoto Cup,NK Celik were eliminated by OFK Grbalj ofMontenegro (3-2, 1-2). ■

“We focused especially on exercisesthat cannot be practised at the clubs owing to a lack of time. For the theoreticalpart we prepared a wide range of videomaterials featuring four world-classgoalies: Buffon, Cech, Van der Sar andCasillas,” said Ivo Viktor, who spent mostof his time with his protégés on the pitch.“We taught both conventional and modern goalkeeping skills, as footballnowadays requires the goalie to have atleast some outfield abilities,” the legendarygoalkeeper added.

Some of the former students from hisschool are today professional players ormembers of national youth teams, includ-ing Tomas Petr, who was a huge supportin reaching the final of the U-20 WorldCup in Canada last year and who nowplays for Italian club AC Parma. Anotherformer student, Tomas Vaclik, is one of theregulars in the Czech Under-19 nationalteam that just recently qualified for the2009 U-20 World Cup in Egypt.

By far the most famous graduate of Ivo Victor’s school is Chelsea’s PetrCech, who continually rejoins the campand his future successors during his summer breaks. ■

the professional game to the benefit of allChile’s national teams.

To this end, Mayne-Nicholls, who also acts as FIFA’s development officer in SouthAmerica, visited London at the end of July to discuss his plans for football in Chilewith The FA’s chairman, Lord Triesman.

Mayne-Nicholls was keen to acknowledgeThe FA’s efforts in sharing its expertise incountries such as Ecuador, Colombia andPeru and wanted Chile to benefit from TheFA’s International Development Programmeand its cooperation agreement with CON-MEBOL, the South American confederation.

Mayne-Nicholls was delighted with theoutcome of the two-day workshop and said:“We are very happy with the way Nigel andJohn conducted the course.

“The participants were really impressedwith all the information the FA instructorsprovided and we hope that will help to im-prove their level of organisation.”

The FA’s head of strategic development,Nigel Hargreaves, added: “The workshopwas very well received by those who took

CZECH REPUBLIC• VACLAV TICHY •

ENGLAND• NADA GRKINIC •

➜Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Under-19s assemble for a commemorative photo.

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Medals for four German Under-19 European champions

The most outstanding young players inGermany last season were awarded Fritz Walter medals at an afternoon ceremony on20 August in Nuremburg ahead of the seniorGermany v Belgium friendly.

At the awards ceremony in Nuremberg’shistoric town hall, Under-19 European cham-pions Dennis Diekmeier (SV Werder Bremen)took gold, Florian Jungwirth (TSV 1860München) silver and Marcel Risse (Bayer 04Leverkusen) bronze. In addition, Risse’syounger team-mate, Richard Sukuta-Pasu(Bayer 04 Leverkusen), who with three goalswas Germany’s top scorer in the EuropeanUnder-19 Championship final round, earnedhimself a Fritz Walter bronze medal in theUnder-18 category. The Fritz Walter medalswere presented by the chairman of the Ger-man FA’s youth committee, Peter Frymuth,and the event was hosted by Jörg Dahlmann.

To complete the Under-18 category, ToniKroos (FC Bayern München) picked up theFritz Walter gold medal and Sebastian Rudy(VfB Stuttgart) took silver ahead of RichardSukuta-Pasu. All three were selected bycoach Heiko Herrlich for the FIFA U-17 World Cup in South Korea in autumn 2007,where Germany finished third.

In the Under-17 category, gold went toManuel Gulde (1899 Hoffenheim), silver

A national team player in EnglandFor Liechtenstein international Franz

Burgmeier it is a dream come true: the 26-year-old from Triesen is now playing inEngland, having signed a one-year contractwith Darlington FC in League Two, thefourth highest division in the English footballleague system. “I’m delighted that the con-tract has been signed and I can move to theisland. I would, of course, like to play at ahigher level in the future and am confidentthat I will do so. But first I need to establishmyself by putting in good performances and show that I’m capable of bigger things.That’s why I see my move to Darlington as a great challenge and opportunity,”said Burgmeier, who has won 45 caps forLiechtenstein.

Darlington is located in County Durham,about 60 km north of York and only 100 kmfrom the Scottish border. Two games intothe season, Dave Penney’s men were 12th in the 24-team table. They were held to adraw by both Exeter City and Notts County.“Darlington are a good Challenge League

A new coach for the national teamBefore the start of their 2010 World Cup

qualifying matches, the Lithuanian FootballFederation (LFF) appointed José Couceiro of Portugal as the new head coach of theLithuanian nationalteam. The appoint-ment was confirmedby the LFF ExecutiveCommittee. JoséCouceiro’s debut was the internationalfriendly betweenLithuania and Mol-dova. During thismatch he took a su-pervisory role, withtwo assistants – Vitalijus Stankeviciusand Saulius Sirmelis –in control.

According to the LFF president, the newhead coach must adapt the way the presentLithuanian national team works:

“The main thing is that José Couceiro has decided and said that he likes to live inLithuania. This is very important to theLithuanian Football Federation because thehead coach of the national team must collab-orate with the players and coaches of theyouth teams as well. José Couceiro will workat Lithuania’s national academy. He will man-age the work of the Lithuanian Under-14s,15s, 16s, 17s, 18s, 19s and 21s. Shortly, the head coach will be responsible not onlyfor the senior national football team but for youth teams as well.”

José Couceiro met most of the LFF’s requirements. He has useful experience inwork with youth teams, having alreadycoached the Portugal Under-20 and Under-21teams. He has also coached FC Alverca, Vitoria FC, FC Porto and CF Os Belenenses.

The LFF expects that the new coach from a country with deep-rooted football traditions will bring new stimulus to Lithu-anian football. ■

Medalists Florian Jungwirth, Marcel Risse and Dennis Diekmeier with Under-19s nationalcoach Horst Hrubesch (left to right).

Time for presents at the closing ceremony.

part. There are many challenges facinggrassroots football in England so John and I were able to share our experiences withthe delegates.

“The seminar provided an excellent platform for the exchange of ideas andhopefully there will be greater communica-tion among all of the stakeholders involvedin grassroots football in northern Chile,from the clubs to the leagues and also theChilean Football Federation.”

The FA has also been asked to assist thedevelopment of women’s football in Chileahead of the U-20 Women’s World Cupthere in November. A team of instructors isdue to travel to Chile in October. ■

to Lennart Hartmann (Hertha BSC Berlin) andbronze to Hartmann’s team-mate Shervin Radjabali-Fardi (Hertha BSC Berlin), in recogni-tion of their achievements last season. In thewomen’s youth category, the Fritz Walter goldmedal went to goalkeeper Jana Burmeister of FF USV Jena. VfL Sindelfingen forward Kim Kulig, who is spending this season atHamburger SV, and Valeria Kleiner, the captainof the Under-17 national team from SCFreiburg, were awarded silver and bronze. ■

[second division] team and all the players arepros. They’re all in good shape physically.The style of play took me by surprise on Saturday, because it’s so different, with lotsof long balls. They press a lot,” explainedBurgmeier after watching the team’s secondgame from the stands. He started training in the north of England in August and on 20 August joined his national side in Tiranato represent Liechtenstein in a friendlyagainst Albania.

For Burgmeier the England move ends a period of uncertainty following his releasefrom FC Basel a year before his contract was due to expire. Coach Christian Grosshad made clear to the attacking midfielderthat he would no longer feature in his line-ups. While looking for a new club FranzBurgmeier kept active and trained with USV Eschen-Mauren. ■

José Couceiro

LIECHTENSTEIN• JUDITH FROMMELT •

GERMANY• MAXIMILIAN GEIS •

LITHUANIA• VAIVA ZIZAITE •

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Franz Burgmeier (11) ventures over to England.

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Competitions in full swingThe 2008/09 football season started

in August, with the 51 teams in the fourdivisions of the Bank of Valletta NationalLeague engaged in keen competition.There are also the knockout matches spon-sored by Maltco Lotteries Ltd under thenames of the U*BET FA Trophy for theteams in the top league and QUICK-Kenofor those in the lower divisions.

It has been an interesting campaign sofar in the BOV Premier League which has ten teams playing one another over

Football – Ambassador of PeaceThe main goal of the Football – Ambas-

sador of Peace project is to help settle thepolitical dissent in the Republic of Moldovathat arose after the conflicts in 1992 between the Trans-Dniester region andMoldova, using football to demonstrate theunity of people from all regions of thecountry, irrespective of religious, political,racial, sexual and national background.

The initiators of this project are theBritish Embassy in Chisinau, the Spirit ofFootball organisation, the Laureus Sport forGood Foundation and the Football Associa-tion of Moldova (FMF).

This year, the first phase of the projectconsisted in the FMF staging a C licensecourse (grassroots level). Thirty coaches (including 11 women coaches) were selectedfrom the different regions of Moldova for the training course from 12 to 16 May. Of these 30 coaches, only 12 were selected as instructors (among them fivewomen).

Michael van Praag elected president of KNVB

Michael van Praag was elected presidentof the Dutch FA (KNVB) on 27 August. Theformer president of AFC Ajax and currentvice-chairman of UEFA’s Stadium and Secu-rity Committee beat his rival, Jan WillemHoogndoorn, in the election race. It wasthe first time in the 119-year history of theKNVB that two candidates had run for the

two rounds. The participants are then split into two groups, the championshippool, comprising the top six teams in the standings, and the relegation pool,made up of the bottom four.

The competition enters this new stage inMarch, with two more rounds in each pool,

The second stage of the project involvedholding demonstration training sessions for children in all regions of Moldova. The group of instructors was led by ScottLee (Spirit of Football) and Ghenadie Scurtul(FMF).

During the whole of June, the group trav-elled over 3,000km throughout Moldova. At the end of each session, all the participantswere presented with souvenirs and speciallyproduced posters bearing the “Together weare a team” slogan.

As a part of this proj-ect, Daley Thompson,who won a gold medal at the 1980 and 1884Olympic Games, visitedthe city of Soroca on 25 June.

Overall, the projectwas highly successful, involving about 1,200children. It succeeded inproving that football isborderless, with childrenof different nationalitiesplaying together at thetraining sessions and hav-ing a great time. Thanksto this project, the chil-dren established manyfriendly relationships.

Furthermore, the organisers managedto draw the community’s attention to the project. While visiting the differentregions they were given the opportunity to meet with the local authorities. The project received widespread cover-age in both local and national media and by the end the initiators had reached an agreement for a follow-upproject in 2009 with a more compre-hensive format. ■

and comes to an end in late Mayafter nine months of intense tussles. To whip up interest, several matches in this division arescreened live on television.

While most of the PremierLeague matches are played at thenational stadium, there are differ-ent venues for the matches in the other three divisions, namelythe Hibernians Football Ground,the Victor Tedesco Stadium and

the Centenary Stadium. The knockout competitions are also

closely followed. The high level of interestshown by the Maltese was endorsed by a rise in attendances in 2007/08 overthe previous season.

Undoubtedly, the Malta FA can be satisfied with the volume of work done inseeing through these competitions. ■

presidency. The vacancy occurred follow-ing the death of Mathieu Sprengers inApril. A successor was due to be elected inDecember but in order to fill the gap morerapidly and to relieve the vice-pres-ident, Hans Lester-huis, an extraordi-nary general meet-ing was convened.

Michael vanPraag (who will turn61 this month) is awell-known figure inthe world of nation-al and internationalfootball. He is onlythe 14th president of

the KNVB since 1889. Like his father Jaap before him, Michael van Praag became pres-ident of Ajax and loyally served the club for 14 years from 1989 to 2003. Under hisreign, and with Louis van Gaal as headcoach, Ajax won the UEFA ChampionsLeague in 1995. Van Praag is best knownfor his continuous fight against hooligan-ism and his frequent meetings with thesupporters of Ajax in order to win theirconfidence and support.

Van Praag admits that he was never atalented player himself, but as a referee hemanaged to reach the second highest level in amateur football. One of his keyaims is to further develop the plans of theBelgian and Dutch FAs to bid to host the2018 World Cup. ■

Michael van Praag

NETHERLANDS• ROB DE LEEDE •

MALTA• ALEX VELLA •

MOLDOVA• GHENADIE SCURTUL •

Brought together by football.

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A scene from the Premier League game between Birkirkara and Tarxien Rainbows.


N E W S F R O M M E M B E R A S S O C I A T I O N S

20 uefadirect 10.08

A season of firstsWith the best will in the world and hard

work behind the scenes, even the best laid plans can be undone. The start of thenew all singing, all dancing JJB Sports Pre-miership was postponed due to a referees’strike. Then, in the second week, forces of nature in the form of torrential rain ledto the league programme being practicallywiped out. However it was third time luckyand, thankfully, the season is under way and the JJB Sports Premiership and IFAChampionship games are in full swing.

In spite of the initial setbacks, behindthe scenes a substantial amount of timeand financial investment has been put in bythe association.

For a number of years the Football Asso-ciation of Northern Ireland (IFA) has comein for some criticism with some fans believ-ing the association only cared about inter-

A new dawn for Irish footballA new stadium is rising, one which will

see the Republic of Ireland football teamtake its rightful place in one of the greatmodern stadiums of Europe – a state-of-the-art 50,000 all-seater stadium worthy ofhosting any world-class sporting event.

The Football Association of Ireland (FAI)is preparing to move to its new home in2010 and is hoping that, under the watchof Giovanni Trapattoni, the new stadiumwill become a fortress for Irish football.

The new stadium is a new dawn for Irishfootball and offers something to all fans.The association recently announced a pricefreeze on general admission tickets until2012, meaning that ordinary soccer fans

New scheme for coaching coursesHenrik Larsson captained Sweden in his

99th international when Sweden playedFrance in August, to commemorate the1958 World Cup. Larsson has since becomethe fifth Swedish player to reach a century of caps, after Thomas Ravelli (143),Roland Nilsson (116), Björn Nordqvist (115)and Niclas Alexandersson (109).

In other news, the Swedish FA has fin-ished a complete revamp of its coachingcourses. The courses and all their steps nowadhere completely to UEFA’s guidelines and are set to give coaches of all levels amore thorough education. The length of allcourses has been almost doubled.

“The advanced course used to be seven days long, now it’s 17. It’s a healthyincrease, but more importantly we have reworked the content and we give coaches more time at home to put theoryinto practice,” says Håkan Ericson of the Swedish FA. ■

Splendid post-EURO celebration on Lake Thun

Some 200 guests from the worlds ofbusiness, politics and sport enjoyed a won-derfully sunny “Berner Oberland” boat trip on Lake Thun, followed by an eveningmeal at Schadau Castle, where they reviewed the best bits of EURO 2008 andreminisced about the tournament.

In a well-received speech at theSchadau Castle, Ralph Zloczower, president

national football. The reality could not befurther from the truth. With the launch andrejuvenation of the domestic game this sea-son, hopefully the football family will seethat domestic football is also a key priorityfor the association.

With a decrease in the number of clubs,a vast improvement in club facilities andhigher financial gains at stake for clubs, this season will hopefully see an improve-ment in the standard of domestic footballand an increase in the number of specta-tors attending games. Noticeable change,development and progression will take time and patience, and the IFA have ap-proached this by instating a new domesticmarketing manager to help promote andmarket the new league.

This is a season of firsts: a new premier-ship, a new championship, a new InterimLeague, a new Co-Operative Insurance Cupformat, a new brand, a new marketingcampaign, and two new websites(ifapremiership.com and fachampionship.com).With five live games on Sky Sports and a highlights programme on BBC and UTV,and a fully integrated community relationsprogramme for the domestic game, the association is definitely taking the lead,

as it should be, in our local game.The association developed amuch-needed high-profile mar-keting plan which involves 48-sheet posters on hoardingsright across Northern Ireland, full-colour press advertisements,exciting radio publicity and bus-shelter displays, with many otherideas to follow.

The excitement is building butthe fans and the wider footballfamily need to be patient with thedevelopment of the local game;we are at the start of a long jour-ney. Domestic football in North-ern Ireland does not pretend tobe something it is not. No egos,no diving – just real football. ■

will enjoy unrivalled value and entertain-ment for their euro.

At the same time, the new stadium willreflect the demands of modern Ireland, offering premium seating and a prestigiousten-year package of matchday access.

The price freeze was announced to reward loyal fans of Irish football and to seethem settle into their new surroundings.With inflation on ordinary goods and serv-ices rising, the ticket price freeze meansthat in real terms the cost of tickets for Ire-land football matches is actually falling.

The new stadium will allow the FAI togenerate the money needed to bring Irishfootball forward. Every cent earned fromthe new stadium will go back into grass-roots football, meaning that the stadiumwill generate funds for clubs up and downthe country.

Even before a ball is kicked, the new sta-dium can earn clubs money. Thanks to theFAI’s incentive scheme, clubs who sell pre-mium level seating will be entitled to keepa percentage of the price of the ticket. ■

Henrik Larsson at the start of his 99th match,against France. He won his 100th cap againstAlbania in September.

Start of the JJB Sports Premiership.

NORTHERN IRELAND• CAROLINE MENARY •

SWITZERLAND• PIERRE BENOIT •

SWEDEN• ANDREAS NILSSON •

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND• EOGHAN RICE •

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Shirt exhibition creates big publicityThe Turkish Football Federation has

opened an exhibition in collaboration withthe prime minister, the Istanbul MetropolitanMunicipality and Mercedes Benz entitled“Milli Forma Milli Gurur Sergisi” which translates as “National shirt, national prideexhibition”.

The main focus of the exhibition is a pres-entation of the Turkish national team shirtsworn between 1923 and 2008. The exhibitionwill be held in 30 different cities in Turkeywith the shirts being accompanied by photos,video footage and newspapers from the past.

The opening ceremony of the exhibitonwas held in Istanbul on 15 September. Hundreds of football fans attended the pre-miere and a similar degree of interest is expected to last until the exhibition closes in mid-February. ■

Wales honours World Cup heroesThe Football Associa-

tion of Wales (FAW) honoured the survivingseven members of their1958 Sweden WorldCup squad at the recentinternational friendlyagainst Georgia inSwansea.

The seven players areTerry Medwin (Totten-ham Hotspur), StuartWilliams (WestBromwich Albion), Ken Jones (Cardiff City),Mel Hopkins (TottenhamHotspur), Cliff Jones(Tottenham Hotspur),Mel Charles (Arsenal)and Colin Baker (Cardiff City).

School football on agendaFIFA has asked the Football Federation

of Ukraine (FFU) for assistance in boostingthe popularity of school football in FIFAmember countries.

“FIFA rates highly the experience ofUkraine in the development of schoolfootball. Our national programme of foot-ball lessons at school is held as an exam-ple of work in this field,” said Evhen Stolitenko, who is responsible for this area of FFU activity. “In March I gave aspeech to the FIFA Technical Committee inZurich about Ukrainian achievements inschool football promotion. The figures are

impressive: five million schoolchildren taking part in the programme, 34 lessonsa year for pupils from the 1st to 12thgrade, professional retraining of 26,000teachers, etc.”

“FIFA has been thinking about the introduction of a Ukrainian-style system ofschool development in almost all of its associations,” Stolitenko said. “One of thefirst steps was made recently when, together with Eva Pasquier, FIFA’s footballdevelopment manager for Europe, we visited Albania and Armenia and met rep-resentatives of the football associations andministries for sports and education. It mustbe said that both countries were inter-ested in Ukraine’s experience and decidedto put it into practice themselves.”

“Our visits to Albania and Armenia arejust the first of many that are planned,”added FIFA’s Eva Pasquier. “And we arevery thankful to the FA of Ukraine for its

help in promoting schoolfootball all over the world.FIFA considers Ukraine to beone of the leading countriesin school football develop-ment. They were pioneers inthis area and now a lot ofother countries want to do asthey have done. For example,after our visits to Armeniaand Albania, the govern-ments and associations of both countries decided to provide experimentalUkrainian-style projects in 100 schools and 10 schools respectively, starting on 1 September. These are thefirst, but very important results of our joint work.” ■

Ukraine plays a pioneering role in the development of football in schools.

The players attended a pre-match din-ner with FAW president Peter Rees beforebeing presented to the crowd at half-time. Also at half-time, golden caps wereawarded to two recent former interna-tionals, Paul Jones (ex-Southampton) and John Hartson (ex-Celtic). Golden capsare presented to players who have won50 caps or more for Wales. ■

The seven surviving members of the glorious 1958 World Cup campaign.

TURKEY• TÜRKER TOZAR •

UKRAINE• DMYTRO SOBKO •

WALES• CERI STENNETT •

Final celebrations at Schadau Castle.

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The national team shirt for EURO 2008.

of the Swiss Football Association, onceagain thanked everyone who contributedto the success of EURO 2008. SamuelSchmid, federal councillor and Swiss sportsminister, was just one of the prominentguests welcomed in the Bernese Oberlandby the president of the Swiss FA. ■


22 uefadirect 10.08

Committeeweek in Nyon

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CommunicationsBirthdays – Calendar

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Birthdays

Meetings6.10.2008, Nyon

Draw for the 2007-09 European Women’sChampionship play-offs

7.10.2008, NyonDraw for the UEFA Cup group stage

17.10.2008, NyonWomen’s Football Committee

30-31.10.2008, NyonJira Panel

Competitions30.9-19.10.2008, Brazil

FIFA Futsal World Cup1.10.2008

UEFA Champions League: group matches(matchday 2)

2.10.2008UEFA Cup: first round (return legs)

21/22.10.2008UEFA Champions League: group matches(matchday 3)

23.10.2008UEFA Cup: group matches (matchday 1)

28.10-16.11.2008, New ZealandFIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup

UEFA wishes many happy returns to Pekka Hämäläinen (Finland), vice-chairman of the Legal Committee, who celebrates his70th birthday on 25 October, and to TrevorBrooking (England), member of the Devel-opment and Technical Assistance Committee,who turns 60 on 2 October. Birthday greetings also go out to:● Levent Bicakci (Turkey, 2.10)● Andrzej Wach (Poland, 2.10)● David Richards (England, 3.10)● Julius Kvedaras (Lithuania, 3.10)● Léon Schelings (Belgium, 3.10)● Wilfried Heitmann (Germany, 4.10)● Khennet Tallinger (Sweden, 4.10)● Silvo Borosak (Slovenia, 4.10)● Frank Coulston (Scotland, 5.10)● Albert Hendrik Korthals

(Netherlands, 5.10)● Terje Hauge (Norway, 5.10)● Kaare Inge Lindboe (Norway, 6.10)● Mark J. O’Leary (Rep. of Ireland, 6.10)● Angelo Carlos Brou (Portugal, 7.10)● Armand Duka (Albania, 7.10)● Jari Maisonlahti (Finland, 7.10)● Pierre Delaunay (France, 9.10)● Sergey Zuev (Russia, 9.10)● Ellert B. Schram (Iceland, 10.10)● Milovan Nikolic (Slovenia, 10.10)● Leonard Nokes (Wales, 10.10)● David Petriashvili (Georgia, 10.10)● Joan Gaspart (Spain, 11.10)● Frits Kessel (Netherlands, 12.10)● Bo Karlsson (Sweden, 12.10)● Willy Goovaerts (Belgium, 13.10)● George Brian Smith (Scotland, 14.10)● Tom van der Hulst (Netherlands, 15.10)● Michel Piraux (Belgium, 15.10)● David Blood (Rep. of Ireland, 16.10)● John Delaney (Rep. of Ireland, 16.10)● Jean-Marie Philips (Belgium, 17.10)● Frans Hoek (Netherlands, 17.10)● Aivar Pohlak (Estonia, 19.10)● Imre Bozóky (Hungary, 20.10)● Joseph Bertram Worrall (England, 21.10)● Paul Philipp (Luxembourg, 21.10)● Arie Wolf (Israel, 22.10)

● Philip Pritchard (Wales, 22.10)● Mircea Sandu (Romania, 22.10)● Jan C. Huijbregts (Netherlands, 23.10)● Michel Vautrot (France, 23.10)● Dragutin Karlo Poljak (Croatia, 23.10)● Christian Teinturier (France, 24.10)● Antonin Herzog (Czech Republic, 24.10)● Hugh Dallas (Scotland, 26.10)● Perry Gautier (Belgium, 26.10)● Michael Cody (Rep. of Ireland, 28.10)● Javier Lozano Cid (Spain, 28.10)● George W. Peat (Scotland, 29.10)● Rui Cacador (Portugal, 29.10)● Gijsbert van Oostveen (Netherlands, 30.10)● José Luis Astiazaran Iriondo (Spain, 31.10)

Notices

Match agents

New publication

■ In August, the Turkish Football Association elected Mahmut Özgener as its new president.

■ On 27 August, Michael van Praag became the new president of the RoyalNetherlands Football Association.

■ Gabor Elbert is the new secretary general of the Hungarian Football Federation.

■ The Football Union of Russia’s newcontact numbers are +7 495 926 13 00(phone) and +7 495 926 13 05 or 04 (fax).

Kupa e EvropësSixteen years after his first publicationdedicated to the European Championship,

Besnik Dizdari has released a new book on the historyof the competition from1996 to 2008. This new release (in Albanian) includesa lot of statistics, which evencover the summer’s 31 EURO2008 matches. In addition,the book features all of Albania’s qualifying matches

from 1964 to 2007, with the line-ups foreach game ([email protected]).

Three new UEFA match agent licences havebeen issued to:Christian Stübi FCS Betriebs AGFrauengasse 8, 8200 Schaffhausen, SwitzerlandTel.: +41 52 632 14 75 – Fax: +41 52 632 14 00 Mob.: +41 79 430 39 [email protected] van KooperenMuy Manero B.V., Schiphol Boulevard 387,1118 BJ, Schiphol Airport, NetherlandsTel.: +31 20 206 54 97 – Fax: +31 20 206 54 90Mob.: +31 6 501 20 [email protected] SkoglundPER PROMOTION, Box 103, 311 22 Falkenberg, SwedenTel.: +46 346 808 66 – Fax: +46 346 169 10Mob.: +46 708 78 78 23 – [email protected] addition, Mustafa Selim Usta (Turkey),Gaetano Marotta (Switzerland) and UlrichMappes (Germany) have had their licencesrenewed.Andrew Neil Scott (England) has had his licence withdrawn.

WE CARE ABOUT FOOTBALL The views expressed in signedarticles are not necessarily theofficial views of UEFA.The reproduction of articles or extracts of any informationpublished in uefadirectis authorised, provided thesource is indicated.

Official publication of theUnion des associationseuropéennes de football

Editor André Vieli

Produced by Atema Communication SA, CH-1196 Gland

Printed by Cavin SA, CH-1422 Grandson

Editorial deadline: 10 September 2008C o m m u n i c a t i o n s D i v i s i o n

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UEFARoute de Genève 46 Union des associationsCH-1260 Nyon européennes de footballSwitzerlandPhone +41 848 00 27 27Fax +41 848 01 27 27uefa.com


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