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Curtain-raiser to EURO 2012in Warsaw 03

Spain remainEuropean futsalchampions 06

Referee courses in Malta 15

Curtain-raiser to EURO 2012in Warsaw 03

Spain remainEuropean futsalchampions 06

Referee courses in Malta 15

Destination number 31

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EURO 2012 qualifyingdraw in Warsaw 03

Spain retain Europeanfutsal crown 06

Cities sign goodwilldeclaration 08

New European TeamSports association 10

Centre of refereeingexcellence in Nyon 12

Referee coursesin Malta 15

News from memberassociations 16

The curtain was raised on the 2010–12 European Football Champi-onship on 7 February in Warsaw with the draw to determine the ninequalifying groups.Photo: UEFA-Woods

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Messageof the presidentSince its earliest days, UEFA has chosen to vary the destinations

of its congresses, visiting the countries of each of its member associations in turn.

Since 1955, 30 cities have thus hosted the general meeting of European football’s

governing body. The most common destinations have been big capital cities such

as Rome, London and Paris, but others include cultural centres such as Dubrovnik

and Dresden, and tourist hotspots such as Cascais and Limassol.

From a purely operational perspective, it would, of course, be easier

to bring together the delegates of the member associations in the same place each

year. But moving from one city to another has its own advantages: it enables

the host associations to contribute actively to one of UEFA’s biggest events and gives

them an opportunity to demonstrate their organisational expertise, while raising

their country’s profile and prestige among the delegates of the other associations.

For the delegates, these roaming congresses offer enriching cultural experiences,

as well as opportunities to see the other associations at work.

Moving from one city to another also reflects the dynamic character

of European football, ever ready to rise to new challenges and adapt to constant

changes. It is also a means of reinforcing the unity of our confederation, by reminding

our members that they all have a role to play and are all equally important to the

smooth running of the organisation.

I look forward to joining the representatives of our associations in Tel Aviv,

the 31st stop on the UEFA congress circuit.

Michel PlatiniUEFA President

03

The curtain rises in Poland

IT’S 12.45 ON SUNDAY, 7 FEBRUARY 2010. AT THE QUALIFYING ROUND DRAW

IN THE PALACE OF CULTURE AND SCIENCE IN WARSAW, THE CURTAIN HAS JUST

COME DOWN. BUT IT HAS JUST BEEN RAISED ON EURO 2012.

The spectacular 45-minuteceremony screened by 70 TV net-works and watched by millions allover Europe heralded the firstmajor event attached to thecompetition. And it was a majorevent. Preparations initiated inMarch 2009 gained momentumwhen the venue in Warsaw wasconfirmed a month later. Thebackstage teams from UEFA andPoland met at five site visits to pushthe project steadily towards comple-tion, while the UEFA team assigned to the event gradually increased from5 to nigh on 100.

These preparations illustratethat the qualifying draw is one of the truly big dates in the UEFA calen-dar – not least because it involves all

53 member associations. As it repre-sents such a rare gathering of thefootball family, it’s a tradition to stage

a dinner on the eve of the draw,which added a further dimen-sion to the Warsaw logistics. All in all, some 600 guests weredivided into various targetgroups, rooms were booked atfour hotels in the city, a massive

transport project was implemented,and accreditation procedures were designed to cope with 1,083 peopledivided into nine different categories.One such category was ‘volunteers’ –the people who make the big eventstick. In Warsaw, over 600 applied forplaces in the squad and 163 were selected for a variety of crucial back-stage roles.

A lot of sub-eventsAs for the draw hall itself,

work on the design of the stage hadbegun in July 2009 but couldn’t becompleted until after the official unveil-ing of the EURO 2012 logo in Decem-ber. The ceremony was the first publicouting for the final tournament brand-ing, so it was logical to invite commer-cial and broadcast partners to samplethe look and feel of it during a sponsorinformation session on the Saturday afternoon – one of many sub-eventspegged to the draw. Warsaw provideda first opportunity to see the strikinglycolourful branding at work on a seriesof products ranging from backdropsand TV graphics to placemats and welcome bags.

By Saturday, back-up serviceswere fully operational. Welcome deskshad been set up at Warsaw airport and the four hotels, the accreditationcentre was in top gear, security andmedical services were up and running,

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. . . a f t e r a l o t o f b a c k s t a g e w o r k. . . a f t e r a l o t o f b a c k s t a g e w o r k

A meeting of the commercialpartners

A special textile was

used for thecountry names.

hospitality areas were being set up andequipped, and all the behind-the-scenesoperations, such as catering for the volunteers, were also up to speed. This all added up to a grandiose operation.

Big challengesGrandiose might also be a good

adjective to apply to the Palace of Cultureand Science as well. To give the enor-mous monument a EURO 2012 feel, thesignage teams had been at work sincethe previous Monday. The media dimen-sions of the event were highlighted bythe two compounds for high-definitionTV broadcast trucks and satellite uplinks –one inside the massive structure and the other amid the heaps of snow out-side. The dimensions of the building hadthrown up challenges that the viewingpublic would never dream of. For exam-ple, the kilometres of cabling from thebroadcast compound to the draw hallhad to be minutely plotted and wovenlike skeins of wool to avoid them disrupt-ing normal life in parts of the buildingwhich were unaffected by the big draw.As at EURO 2008, UEFA Media Technolo-gies were in charge of producing the TVsignal – this time in conjunction with Pol-ish network TVP. In the gallery just up thestairs from the draw hall, a spectacular in-terview area had been constructed for 70rights-holding TV and radio stations, 72non-rights holders, 46 photographers and166 written-press and website reporters.

Two rehearsalsIn the auditorium, serious pre-

parations for the draw ceremony beganearly on the Saturday morning. In a smallbackstage room, the names of the 51 national associations going into the drawwere carefully rolled up and inserted into the plastic balls. This time, instead of paper, a special textile material wasused so that, when the name was dis-played to the audience and the cameras,it didn’t appear creased and crumbled.Three complete sets had to be compiled –one for the draw itself and one for eachof the two rehearsals scheduled for theSaturday.

At the first, lighting levels werescrupulously tested; it was decided thatthe trophy was better positioned on oneside of the stage rather than the other;the departure of the AudioFeels group (as impressive in rehearsal as during theceremony itself) from the stage throughthe audience was slightly reorganised;

it was felt that the pots could be better positioned on the two tables;presenters Masha Yefrosinina and Piotr Sobczynski looked slightly differ-ent from their Sunday lunchtime versions (but equally relaxed) in theirwinter street clothes; and, in the dummy draw, there was laughterwhen England and Scotland weredrawn together in Group F.

Tournament ambassadorsMichel Platini, one of a hand-

ful of spectators at the first rehearsal,braved the sub-zero temperatures to record his welcome message on thesteps of the palace and, in the after-noon, faced dozens of reporters and19 TV cameras in the press conferenceroom. In the meantime, he had foundthe time to watch the second rehearsal,at which, instead of TV personnel with huge name tags on strings roundtheir necks, the genuine tournamentambassadors were on stage to helpUEFA’s general secretary, Gianni Infan-tino, with the draw. This time, Zbig-niew Boniek, Andrzej Szarmach, OlegBlokhin and Andriy Shevchenko raiseda laugh by drawing France and the Republic of Ireland into the samegroup. By early evening, the ceremonylooked good enough for efforts toconcentrate on helping the guests toenjoy the traditional dinner in the impressive Polytechnika building.

But there were few late nights.At 06.30 on the Sunday morning,

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The first issue of Alive, the officialEURO 2012newsletterpublished inEnglish, Polish andUkrainian, was distributedin Warsaw.

The UEFA president, Michel Platini, recording hiswelcome message

The cameras are levelled at the stage.

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The tournament ambassadors, Ukraine’sAndriy Shevchenko and Oleg Blokhin andPoland’s Andrzej Szarmachand Zbigniew Boniek,helped to conduct the draw.

The positionof the trophyon stage was a matterof muchdeliberation.

stewards, volunteers and medical staffwere being briefed. By that time – bear-ing in mind that the Polish prime minis-ter, Donald Tusk, was among the bignames involved – tight security was inplace. By 08.00 the huge media centreand broadcast compound were open.Staff were checking the nine meeting

rooms where administrators of theteams in each group could sit downafter the draw to thrash out fixturelists and logistics. Waitresses, beauti-fully dressed in traditional Polish style,worked with caterers to bring thehospitality areas to life and welcomevisitors into a custom-built area where

G R O U P A G R O U P B G R O U P CGermany

Turkey

Austria

Belgium

Kazakhstan

Azerbaijan

RussiaSlovakiaRepublic of IrelandFYR MacedoniaArmeniaAndorra

ItalySerbiaNorthern IrelandSloveniaEstoniaFaroe Islands

G R O U P D G R O U P E G R O U P FFranceRomaniaBosnia-HerzegovinaBelarusAlbaniaLuxembourg

NetherlandsSwedenFinlandHungaryMoldovaSan Marino

CroatiaGreeceIsraelLatviaGeorgiaMalta

G R O U P G G R O U P H G R O U P IEnglandSwitzerlandBulgariaWalesMontenegro

PortugalDenmarkNorwayCyprusIceland

SpainCzech RepublicScotlandLithuaniaLiechtenstein

The group winners and best runners-up qualify automatically for the final round; the other eight runners-up will contest play-offs for the remaining four places at EURO 2012.

the eight host cities displayed whatthey will be able to offer to the fans injust over two years’ time.

Press conferenceIn the draw hall, UEFA’s team

of media officers marked out positionsfor photographers and rehearsed allthe frantic post-draw manoeuvringaimed at getting the coaches on stagefor group photos immediately afterthey had discovered their opponentsand then moving them upstairs toplace them in front of the right cam-eras, microphones and reporters at theright time. At 10.00, the TV commen-tators got together in the press confer-ence room to run a fine-tooth combthrough the ceremony running order,to check access routes between commentary and interview positions,and to pass on their requests for post-ceremony interviews.

By this time, the big nameswere arriving. Joachim Löw and BertiVogts were saying hello, unaware thatthey would be drawn into the samegroup. The same applied to Bert vanMarwijk and Erwin Koeman. And, asthe guests made their way into the auditorium, Giovanni Trapattoni wasbusy greeting coaches who had oncebeen his players. At 11.45, everybodyhad somehow been persuaded to taketheir seats and, spot on 12.00, thefirst-night nerves were finally calmedas the show got under way. The rest,as they say, is history…

Fabio Capello answers journalists’ questions in themixed zone.

UMET was in charge of producing the images.

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The third-placeplay-offbetween theCzech Republic(MartinDlouhy, in red)and Azerbaijan(Felipe)

Michel Platinipresents Spain withtheir winners’medals.

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European Futsal Championship in Hungary

S p a i n m a k e i t f i v e i n f i v e - a - s i d eSPAIN’S VICTORY OVER PORTUGAL ON 30 JANUARY IN THE HUNGARIAN CITY OF DEBRECEN GAVE THEM THEIR

FOURTH GOLD MEDAL IN THE SIX OFFICIAL CHAMPIONSHIPS THAT HAVE BEEN DISPUTED TO DATE. BUT THEIR TRIUMPH

IN THE FIRST EUROPEAN TOURNAMENT TO BE PLAYED UNDER UEFA AUSPICES IN 1996 GIVES THEM LEGITIMATE

CLAIMS TO HAVE SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED THEIR POKER HAND IN THE INDOOR GAME.

Although the final outcomemay have been familiar, Hungary 2010represented a radically different eventcompared with previous editions. It wasthe first final tournament to feature 12 teams, with the opening phase con-ducted in four groups of three.

The results in Hungary providedsome compelling evidence. Azerbaijan –one of the newcomers – emerged asthe dark horses of the tournament: after they had been beaten by Portugalin the penalty shoot-out which decidedtheir semi-final, they lost the third-placematch to the Czech Republic, who, by going home with bronze medals,recorded their best ever performance ina final tournament. Prior to the knock-out stages, the revolutionary format had been endorsed by final matchdaysin which no fixtures were meaningless

and, on the contrary, had turned out to be highly competitive.

Other novelties For the first time, the final tour-

nament was staged in two cities – Buda-pest and Debrecen – more than 200kmapart. This measure took futsal out intothe country and the Hungarian associa-tion was rewarded by attendance figureswhich averaged out at over 2,800 pergame – a significant increase on the 2007finals played at venues of lesser capacity.

Talking about the hosts, the contribution made by the Hungarian national association warrants a round ofapplause. The tournament was impec-cably organised and laid benchmarks in several areas – not least the levels of en-tertainment offered to spectators beforematches, during the half-time break

and even during the 60-second time-outs. These spectators, along with theviewing public which tuned into thematches screened by Eurosport, werealso witnesses to another ground-breaking feature – the black playingsurface adorned with a centre circle inthe form of the tournament logo.

HighlightsThe new format (four groups

of three followed by quarter- and semi-finals) meant that 20 matches wereplayed at Hungary 2010. So thesepages don’t set out to provide reportson all of them, but just to mentionsome highlights.

Czech Republic v Hungary inGroup A, for example. Both had beensoundly beaten by Azerbaijan in theiropening matches, leaving them to battle for second place in the finalgame. The hosts, with a more favour -able goal difference, required only adraw. With only 15 minutes remaining,they were doing substantially betterthan that. They were 4-0 up. TomasNeumann’s team hit back – 5 times in 13 minutes – but the worm turnedagain, with Zsolt Gyurcsanyi scoring,with 39 seconds remaining, theequaliser that earned the home fansthe prospect of a quarter-final place.Before the cheering subsided, thathope was dashed, with Marek Kopeckygiving the Czechs a 6-5 advantage 19 seconds before the end!

This may have been the moststriking example of brinkmanship but it was by no means the only one.

In the second Group D fixture,Portugal seemed to be cruising after

The quarter-final betweenAzerbaijanand Ukrainealso went to a penaltyshoot-out.

Russia’s PavelChistopolov is cornered by twoSpaniards intheir goallessquarter-final.

Italy’s Saad Assis (in blue) up against Marek Kopecky of the Czech Republic in the quarter-finals.

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taking an early 2-0 lead against a Belarus side which had been ham-mered 9-1 by Spain on the openingday. But the debutants fought backwith 4 goals in 15 minutes, which leftthe Portuguese less than 9 minutesfrom an early exit. Back from the brinkthey came, to go 5-4 up with 69 sec-onds on the clock… only to concede anequaliser from the double-penalty markjust a second from the final whistle.

This draw meant that the Belarus squad stayed in Debrecen foranother couple of days on the outsidechance that the Portuguese would loseto Spain by eight goals or more. WhenOrlando Duarte’s side fell 5-1 behindmidway through the second half, theBelarus contingent behind the Spanishgoal became quite lively… only for Por-tugal to play out a 6-1 defeat whichsent them into the competition’s recordbooks as the only side to have qualifiedfrom a group phase with one point.

That wasn’t all. A day earlier,the Russian team which had beaten theSlovenians 5-1 in their opening game,appeared to be cruising when theytook a 2-0 lead early in the second halfagainst Serbia and maintained it untiljust over ten minutes from time. Butthe Serbs back came with four goals in six minutes. Although the Russiansdeployed a flying goalkeeper, their onlyreward was a 4-3 defeat. Spain andRussia, instead of respecting the pun-

dits’ prediction that they would play the final, were to meet in the last eight.

It was at this stage that brink-manship was taken a step further. Of thesix knockout matches played during therun-up to the Hungary 2010 final, fourwent to penalty shoot-outs.

The first two decreed unex-pected exits for Italy (champions in 2003) and Ukraine (silver medallists in 2001and 2003). The Italians – solid winnersagainst Belgium and Ukraine – could dono better than 3-3 against the Czechsand went home unbeaten. The Ukraini-ans, after an identical scoreline, suffereda shoot-out defeat against Azerbaijan.On the following day, there was evenmore drama in the shoot-out which followed a tense, goalless stalemate be-tween the Russians and Spaniards.

After hammering the ninthpenalty over the head of Russian keeperSergii Zuev, Spain’s captain, Javi Rodrí-guez, wheeled away to celebrate with histeam-mates – only to realise that thematch officials had disallowed his ‘win-ning goal’. When the shoot-out resumed,the disconcerted Spaniards were notfavourites to win. But it spoke volumesfor their experience and their ability tomanage critical moments that they con-verted three more spot kicks before LuísAmado, once again a key performer be-tween the posts, made the winning save.

The odd one out in the quarter-finals was a 5-1 winover Serbia whichsuggested that thePortuguese had,

in psychological and sporting terms, successfully come back from the group-phase brink. And, in the semi-final, they twice came from behind against a talented Azerbaijani side which was led by Brazilian coach Alesio and whosedressing room was rich in naturalisedBrazilian accents.

The Czechs, in one of the fewgames which respected the form book,had valiantly restricted Spain to an 8-1scoreline in the other semi-final. “Theirfutsal is of a far higher level than ours,”the Czech coach, Tomas Neumann, admitted.

The result set up an all-Iberian final which was disputed with all the ten-sions of a local derby and which respectedthe tournament norm of having a sting in the tail. After Carlos Ortiz and Javi Rodríguez had given José Venancio’s de-fending champions a 2-0 half-time lead, it looked like game over when Lin addeda third with just over four minutes to play.Not in this tournament. With the flyinggoalkeeper directing operations, Portugalhit back with two goals in 39 seconds tohint at further exploits in brinkmanship.Yet just when an equaliser seemed on the cards, Daniel turned them over againby ramming the ball in at the other endto make it 4-2 with only 22 seconds toplay. It was an appropriate finale to atournament where the results might hintat the slender margins between victoryand defeat but cannot begin to reflect the dramas which underlay them.

Q U A R T E R - F I N A L S25.01 in Budapest Azerbaijan – Ukraine 3-3*25.01 in Debrecen Czech Republic – Italy 3-3*26.01 in Budapest Serbia – Portugal 1-526.01 in Debrecen Russia – Spain 0-0*S E M I - F I N A L S28.01 in Debrecen Azerbaijan – Portugal 3-3*28.01 in Debrecen Czech Republic – Spain 1-8T H I R D - P L A C E P L AY- O F F30.01 in Debrecen Azerbaijan – Czech Republic 3-5F I N A L30.01 in Debrecen Portugal – Spain 2-4* after penalty kicks

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Jim Battle of Manchester city council signs the goodwilldeclaration.

Jaime Lissavetzky, Jordi Hereu, Senes Erzik and Joan Laporta

Fan hosting seminar in Barcelona

Promotion of fair play and respectEUROPEAN CLUB FOOTBALL HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR MORE THAN 50 YEARS. WHY HAS THERE

NEVER BEEN A MEETING LIKE THIS BEFORE? THAT WAS THE MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION AS CLUBS,

CITIES AND UEFA TEAMED UP IN BARCELONA FOR A GROUNDBREAKING SEMINAR.

The inspiration for the eventdates back to a conversation betweenMichel Platini and the mayor of Barce-lona, Jordi Hereu. The Catalan capital regularly stages high-profile Europeanmatches and, as the city’s councillor for prevention and security, AssumptaEscarp, was later to explain, a gameplayed two seasons ago represented aturning point. The city was left to footthe bill for damage to public propertyand a massive mop-up operation. TheBarcelona authorities decided to turn‘crisis’ into opportunity and the resultwas a decision to take a proactiveapproach and to implement a new phi-losophy on how fans could best be wel-comed to the city. That was the themeof the conversation between the mayorand the UEFA president – and the leit-

motiv of a unique encounter between representatives of major clubs and cities.

Public ceremonyThe event on 1 and 2 February

consisted of two distinct segments underthe banner ‘football, host cities and respect’. The first was a public ceremony in the city hall which attracted 31 pho-tographers and 11 TV crews. On stagewas UEFA’s first vice-president, SenesErzik, alongside the president of FC Barcelona, Joan Laporta, Spain’s secretary of state for sport, Jaime Lissavetzky, and Jordi Hereu.

The ceremony itself was for the signing by the city and club represen-tatives of a goodwill declaration promot-ing fair play and respect in cities whereinternational matches are staged. The

autograph hunters and photographersfocused on former stars such as Luís Figo and Emilio Butragueño, who wereappearing for FC Internazionale and Real Madrid CF, yet, on this occasion, thethousand words were worth more thanthe picture.

The four speakers transmittedthe same message. Senes Erzik remarkedthat welcoming groups of visiting sup-porters often boils down to preventingdamage, identifying troublemakers,avoiding incidents and segregating fansfrom the local population – negative aspects, each and every one of them. He summed up the core theme of thegathering by asking “do we segregate or integrate?”

Jordi Hereu, reflecting on Bar-celona’s change of policy, commented“the time has come to focus on enjoyingfootball and enjoying the experience ofvisiting a foreign city.” Jaime Lissavetzkyadded: “Spain wants to be a referencepoint in terms of positive behaviour andthe best way to achieve this is to makerespect and passion for the game com-patible on the pitch, in the stadium andin the city.” Joan Laporta told the audi-ence that FC Barcelona was workinghand in hand with UNESCO to eradicateracism and violence and “this is the moment to promote football matches as social opportunities”.

This theme was carried into the second part of the event – a seminarstaged the following morning. RichardGiulianotti, a professor at Durham Uni-versity in the UK and a researcher intofans’ behaviour for a couple of decades,

A perfect setting forthe ceremony

UEFA vice-president Senes Erzik and Luis Figoshake hands.

Emilio Butraguenolent his support to the ‘fan hosting’initiative.

commented: “Today’s supporters are often experienced travellers within an‘imagined community’ united by their allegiance, their memories, their rivalriesand their friendships. While they are protective of their collective identity, theyare open to cultural exchanges. There is no single formula for achieving this, but UEFA could certainly follow up thismagnificent initiative by establishing a network of information based on thestrategies adopted by different cities.”

Different strategiesAnd there will be different stra-

tegies, with clubs and cities aiming to finda way of recreating the sort of fan-parkatmosphere that converted EURO 2008into a fiesta. Assumpta Escarp told thegathering that Barcelona’s approach wasto offer, with the collaboration of publicand private bodies, leisure activities, music, food and refreshments as well asmaking sure that signage and publictransport were user-friendly to visitingfans. The mayor of Glasgow, Bob Winter,added that, although policing policiesand attitudes remained core elements athigh-risk matches, his city had also in-vol ved various partners in a Team Glasgowproject aimed at creating a welcoming atmosphere – which often started withmementos being handed out as soon asfans arrived at the airport. “This is two-way traffic,” he said, “based on intensivecontacts with other cities. We make ourown population aware of the identity andculture of the supporters who are visitingour city and, at the same time, we try todisplay Scottish culture to the visitors. The emphasis is on them enjoying the visit as well as enjoying the match.”

Willie McDougall, one of UEFA’ssecurity officers and, as the name mightsuggest, a fellow Scotsman, endorsed the value of giving something, howeversmall, to supporters who might then bemore prepared to give something back interms of behaviour. “The policing elementwill always be there,” he commented,“and forward planning is crucial. Youneed to create a safe venue and managethe crowd in a secure manner, but a lotcan be done to generate positive waves.For example, empowering ‘friendly’ sup-

porters can help to marginalise the bad guys.”

Daniela Wurb, representingthe FSE (Football Supporters Europe)network, feels that “there is anoveremphasis on the behaviour of aminority and something must be doneto change a climate in which fans are sometimes prevented from seeing the city they are visiting.” Karl Evans of Manchester United FC and MikeStorey, the lord mayor of Liverpool,agreed that there was a tendency toover-concentrate on negatives or to underestimate or disregard informa-tion provided by the fans themselves. However, both reported that clubswere now making determined efforts

to engage with communities as well astheir established fan groups.

The seminar and the signing ofthe declaration of goodwill in Barcelonawere regarded as milestone events interms of reviewing the way visiting fansare treated. But reaching a milestone haslittle significance if the travellers sit downto admire it. The challenge is to take the fan hosting concept a stage further –and the city of Barcelona insisted thatfurther invitations would be issued witha view to monitoring progress.

The diversities within Europeand European football mean that, as Willie McDougall put it, “there is nosingle blueprint. But by working alonewe will achieve nothing.”

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All European sports organisationshave certain things in common, be it intheir everyday activities, such as the organisation of competitions, or in issueslinked to their politico-economic environ-ment. It was this realisation that ledthem, early in the new millennium, tocome together for informal discussionson points of common interest.

Regular meetings of this sorthave been organised by the basketball(FIBA Europe), handball (EHF), ice hockey(IIHF), volleyball (CEV) and football (UEFA)federations, which were later joined bytheir rugby counterparts (FIRA-AER). The next step was taken on 8 December,when the group strengthened their relationship by creating the EuropeanTeam Sports association (ETS).

Team sports combine forces

European Team Sports association takes shape

TEAM SPORTS RELY, IN ESSENCE, ON COLLECTIVE EFFORT, SO IT IS ONLY NORMAL THAT THE FEDERATIONS

THAT ORGANISE AND MANAGE THEIR ACTIVITIES SHOULD FOLLOW SUIT.

There are no plans at pre-sent for this new association to have its own permanent headquarters. Instead, the member federations willcontinue to take turns to host meet-ings, chaired by the president of thehost federation. It is conceivable thatother team sports will join the move-ment, which will work in harmonywith other sports organisations.

EU mattersThe objective of the ETS is to

promote, develop and represent theinterests of European team sports andto increase the exchange of informa-tion between its members. Clearly, issues linked to the EU are a key areaof concern for the ETS, as underlined

in the association’s inaugural media release: “The European Team Sports express their satisfaction with the newly recognised status of sport in theLisbon Treaty. As responsible, profes-sional, democratic and representativeEuropean partners, the European Team Sports also express their desire to work in partnership together with their direct institutional counterparts,namely the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission, in order to shape a healthy future forEuropean sport.”

Since the Bosman case, whichaffected not only football but also other team sports in Europe, numerousquestions have been raised by Euro-pean legislation and the stability of sport has been jeopardised by theuncertainties that have emerged as regards the conformity of sports regulations with EU law.

As in the Bosman case, all deci-sions taken by the Court of Justice ofthe European Union against the sport-ing regulations of a European federa-tion can have a kind of snowball effectthat comes to bear on other sports. It is therefore particularly importantthat the federations should have a suit-able platform for sharing informationand experiences, and adopting com-mon positions and strategies.

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The logos of the six members of the European Team Sports association: basketball, rugby, handball, football, volleyball and ice hockey

In this context, the ETS has clearly explained its position:“As regards EU law and sport, the Euro-pean Team Sports support the view that the specific nature of sport shouldbe fully acknowledged by all Europeaninstitutions.”

Various subjectsNumerous issues that could

be affected by EU law have yet to be resolved, including the development ofthe federations and the pyramid struc-ture of the European sports model, theprotection of national teams and vitalquestions linked to the commercialrights of the federations which, in turn,finance grassroots sport in Europe.These are all areas in which the ETS willbe able to adopt a common approach.

However, the activities of theETS will not be limited to EU matters.The federations can learn from eachother's experiences in fields includingcompetition regulations and formats,marketing of their competitions, rela-tions between continental and worldfederations, match calendars, medicalmatters and even refereeing issues, suchas numbers of referees per match. It should also be noted that four of thesix ETS member federations support the MESGO programme, which aims to deliver an Executive Master in Euro-pean Sport Governance (cf. uefadirect,January 2010).

The ETS could also discuss thestructures of the federations themselves,their licensing systems and their discipli-nary measures. In all of these areas,each federation has its own experienceand has sought its own solutions. Pool-ing the lessons they have learned canonly be good for all European teamsports and help to strengthen their unity,while at the same time consolidatingthe position of sport as a whole in European society.

News from BrusselsOn Tuesday, 9 February, the European Parliament officially voted

in a new college of commissioners, who will hold office for the next fouryears under the continued presidency of José Manuel Barroso. As before, sport will fall within the remit of the commissioner respon-sible for education and culture.

Composed of one commissioner per EU member state, the EuropeanCommission is one of the most important institutions of the EU. Its main role is to propose and put in place EU policies and ensure thatthey are duly applied throughout the union.

Having been initially nominated by their heads of state and govern-ment, the European commissioners were appointed on 27 November. The college was then approved by the European Parliament last month,with 488 votes for, 137 against and 72 abstentions.

The new commissioners and their portfolios are as follows:

Austria: Johannes Hahn – Regional PolicyBelgium: Karel De Gucht – TradeBulgaria: Kristalina Georgieva – International Cooperation, Humani-tarian Aid and Crisis ResponseCyprus: Androulla Vassiliou – Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth (including sport)Czech Republic: Stefan Füle – Enlargement and European Neighbour-hood PolicyDenmark: Connie Hedegaard – Climate ActionEstonia: Siim Kallas (Vice-President) – TransportFinland: Olli Rehn – Economic and Monetary AffairsFrance: Michel Barnier – Internal Market and ServicesGermany: Günther Oettinger – EnergyGreece: Maria Damanaki – Fisheries and Maritime AffairsHungary: László Andor – Employment, Social Affairs and InclusionIreland: Máire Geoghegan-Quinn – Research and InnovationItaly: Antonio Tajani (Vice-President) – Industry and EntrepreneurshipLatvia: Andris Piebalgs – DevelopmentLithuania: Algirdas Semeta – Taxation and Customs Union, Audit and Anti-FraudLuxembourg: Viviane Reding (Vice-President) – Justice, FundamentalRights and CitizenshipMalta: John Dalli – Health and Consumer Policy Netherlands: Neelie Kroes (Vice-President) – Digital AgendaPoland: Janusz Lewandowski – Financial Programming and BudgetPortugal: José Manuel Barroso – PresidentRomania: Dacian Ciolos – Agriculture and Rural DevelopmentSpain: Joaquín Almunia (Vice-President) – CompetitionUnited Kingdom: Catherine Ashton (Vice-President) – High Represen-tative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security PolicySlovakia: Maros Sefcovic (Vice-President) – Inter-Institutional Relations and AdministrationSlovenia: Janez Potocnik – EnvironmentSweden: Cecilia Malmström – Home Affairs

Androulla Vassiliou, born in Cyprus on 30 November 1943, was previously commissioner for health. In this capacity, she worked withUEFA on the Eat for Goals! cookbook, launched on 30 September 2008 (cf. uefadirect, No. 78).

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The ExecutiveCommittee wasreceived by the president of Malta and former president of the Malta Football Association,George Abela.

Meetings andother activities

Creation of a centre of refereeing excellence

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FLORIANA, NEAR TO MALTA’S CAPITAL, VALLETTA, WAS THE VENUE FOR

THE UEFA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE’S FIRST MEETING OF 2010, HELD ON 28 JANUARY

WITH THE UEFA PRESIDENT, MICHEL PLATINI, IN THE CHAIR.

Preceded by visits to the coun-try’s prime minister, Lawrence Gonzi,and president, George Abela, the Exec-utive Committee meeting was organ-ised in Malta as part of the celebrationsto mark 100 years of national footballcompetitions on the island and 50 yearsof the Malta Football Association being a full member of UEFA and FIFA.

In a meeting lasting just overfour and a half hours, the ExecutiveCommittee dealt with a huge range ofbusiness, from the UEFA Regions’ Cup

to the European Football Champion-ship, not to mention the restructuring of the UEFA administration and budget-ary matters.

National team competitionsIn national team competition

matters, the committee began by set-ting the timeline for the EURO 2016 bidprocedure. Following the withdrawal atthe end of 2009 of the joint bid of Norway and Sweden, three countries remain in the running: France, Italy and

Turkey. Their bids were to be handedover to UEFA in Nyon on 15 February,while on 27 May – also at UEFA’s head-quarters – the candidates will presenttheir bids to the Executive Committee,which, based on the recommendationsof the National Team CompetitionsCommittee, will take its decision thefollowing day and then announce it in Geneva.

Turning to other national teamcompetitions, the committee received a progress report on preparations forEURO 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. It also adapted the autumn dates in the2009–11 European Under-21 Champi-onship in accordance with the changesto the double-date system (Friday and Tuesday instead of Saturday andWednesday). These date changes con-cern mainly the play-offs, which willnow take place on 8/9 and 11/12 October 2010. Finally, the ExecutiveCommittee approved the regulations of the 2010/11 UEFA Regions’ Cup,which 39 associations have entered.

Turning to club competitionsand, more precisely, the UEFA FutsalCup, SL Benfica were chosen to host the finals, which will therefore

At its meeting in Malta, the Executive Commit-tee appointed Theodore Theodoridis as UEFA’s newdeputy general secretary, to sup-port the general secretary, GianniInfantino. A former member ofthe Stadium and Security Commit-tee and former vice-chairman ofthe Club Competitions Committee,Theodore Theodoridis joined the UEFA administration in Janu-ary 2008 as director of the national associations division, a position that he will continue to hold alongside hisduties as deputy general secretary.

The general secretary, Gianni Infantino, also pre-sented the new structure of the UEFA administration,which now consists of six divisions: joining existing directors Steve Aeschlimann (services), Josef Koller (finance), Giorgio Marchetti (competitions) andTheodore Theodoridis (national associations), AlasdairBell has been appointed director of legal services/

C h a n g e s i n t h e U E FA a d m i n i s t r a t i o ngeneral counsel, while Alexandre Fourtoy takes chargeof communications.

Alasdair Bell first became involved with UEFA as part of theteam that represented it in theBosman case. Since then he has under-taken many other UEFA assignments.He also has vast experience of EU com-munity and competition law. He tookup his new position in mid-February.

Until the creation of the new subsidiary UEFA Events SA, Alexandre Fourtoy, who joinedUEFA in August 2001, was chief executive of the subsidiary UEFAMedia Technologies (UMET) andthe leading force behind the entiredevelopment of the uefa.com website, which now falls under thecommunications division.

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Interviú Madrid, last year’s winnersof the Futsal Cup,will be trying to defend their titlein Lisbon.

Referee ConventionAnother five national associ-

ations have met the require-ments of the convention andbeen accepted by the ExecutiveCommittee as signatories. They are the football associa-tions of Cyprus, Italy, Lithuania,Moldova and Wales.

This brings the number of associations that have signed the convention to 30,leaving 23 which are still underevaluation.

UEFA Women’s Champions League

Although no action has taken place in the UEFA Women’sChampions League since the roundof 16, a disciplinary decision hasbeen taken that changes the face ofthe quarter-finals.

Fortuna Hjørring lostboth legs of their roundof 16 tie againstOlympique Lyonnais (1-0 in Denmark and

5-0 in France); however, the Danishclub protested that the French side hadfielded two ineligible players in the return match. The UEFA Control andDisciplinary Body rejected the initial

Sweden head fair play rankings

Under the banner of respect,the UEFA fair play rankings have become a long-established practicesince they were introduced more than 16 years ago, in the1993/94 season.

The purpose of the rankings is to reward the national associationswhose teams (national and club) showthe greatest respect for the spirit of the game by giving them an extra berthin the European competitions, pre-viously in the qualifying stage of theUEFA Cup and now in the same stageof the UEFA Europa League.

Three associations enjoy thisprivilege, i.e. the top three in the UEFArankings at the end of the season. At the midway point at the end of lastyear, Sweden (8.263 points), Denmark(8.169) and England (8.168) headed thetable, followed by Finland, Republic ofIreland, Norway, Scotland and Germany,all on more than 8.1 points.

take place in Lisbon from 22 to 25 April. In addition to the host club, the other finalists are Araz Naxçivan (Azerbaijan),Luparense Calcio A5 (Italy) and title- holders Interviú Madrid (Spain).

Centre of refereeing excellence in Nyon

Fulfilling the wish of the UEFApresident to give the UEFA headquartersin Nyon not only an administrative char-acter but also a sporting one, the Execu-tive Committee agreed to UEFA takingover the management of the Colovraysports centre opposite its headquarters.The lease concluded with the Nyon authorities runs for 49 years. On 1 April,UEFA will take on the development,maintenance and running costs, guaran-teeing Nyon’s sports clubs the same con-ditions of use as before. UEFA will also organise sports activities at Colovray. Thefirst step will be taken this autumn withthe creation of a centre of refereeing excellence, where young referees from allits member associations will be invited to further their training with the help ofleading experts. The Executive Commit-tee approved the necessary financial resources for this pilot project until at least 2012.

The committee also accepted theFinance Committee’s proposal to investsome of UEFA’s reserves in bricks andmortar by constructing a new administra-tive building in Nyon and thereby furtherextending UEFA’s headquarters. While thisthird building is under construction, thevilla La Falaise will be converted to receiveguests.

! The Executive Committeeagreed to donate ! 270,000 to the CzechFootball Association as a contribution towards the cost of repairing the footballinfrastructure of 21 clubs in Bohemia andMoravia that was damaged by the floodsthat struck these regions last July.

! It also allocated ! 45,000 to theIcelandic Football Association for a pilotproject to install a mini-pitch at a prison.

The Colovraysports centrewill be hometo a centre of excellencefor youngreferees.

protest, but the Appeals Body thenannulled that decision and ruled infavour of Fortuna Hjørring. The resultof the second-leg game was thereforeamended to a 3-0 win for the Danes,who thus qualify 3-1 on aggregateand will now meet ASD Torres Calcioof Italy in the quarter-finals.

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The youth teamsalso contribute to their nationalassociations’ fairplay rankings,which can resultin an extra placein the UEFAEuropa League.

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The Only a Game?exhibition has opened in Istanbul.

Only a Game?moves to Istanbul

Only a Game?, the interac-tive exhibition designed by OlivierGuibaud, opened its doors in Istanbul on 21 January, followingvery successful runs in Brussels in2007 and Liverpool in 2009.

UEFA, the Turkish FootballFederation (TFF) and the city of Istan-bul have joined forces to present thisexhibition in the Turkish city to markits year as a European Capital of Cul-ture. For this third showing, the exhi-bition, which explores the links be-tween football and European societyduring the last 50 years, has also beenable to count on the support of themuseums of Istanbul’s three greatclubs, Besiktas JK, Fenerbahçe SK andGalatasaray AS, which enables it toassociate the heritage of Turkish foot-ball with the game’s European roots.

“The exhibition is the perfectplatform to convey an important so-cial message, and we are very proudto host the exhibition in Istanbul, thecapital of diversity,” declared SenesErzik, first vice-president of UEFA andhonorary president of the TFF, who attended the inauguration of the exhi-

Obituary –Sándor Barcs

Sándor Barcs, former presi-dent of the Hungarian FootballFederation, passed away on 8 Janu-ary at the age of 97, which madehim the oldest surviving formermember ofthe UEFA ExecutiveCommittee, to which hewas elected in1962. In July1972, as firstvice-presidentof UEFA at thetime of the death of its president,Gustav Wiederkehr, Sándor Barcsbecame caretaker president ofUEFA until the extraordinary con-gress held in Rome on 15 March1973, when Artemio Franchi waselected president.

A leader of great stature, Sándor Barcs contributed signifi-cantly to the work of UEFA, which,in recognition of his distinguishedservices, made him an honorarymember at the 1980 UEFA Congressin Rome, following his retirementin 1978 from the Executive Com-mittee, on which he had served for16 years as vice-president.

Sándor Barcs also belonged tomany other UEFA committees in histime, contributing, in particular, to the UEFA club competitions andplaying a major role in the creationof the European Cup Winners’ Cup.

In Malta, the Executive Committee paid tribute to him by observing a minute’s silence in his memory at the start of its meet-ing on 28 January.

As part of the MOVE project supportedby UEFA and set up by the organisa-tion Terre des Hommes, a gatheringof more than 250 children and 150adults (parents, officials and teachers)took place in Durres, in Albania.

On 20 November, UniversalChildren’s Day, this gather-ing offered the participantsa series of activities, includ-ing a fair play football tour-

nament. It involved mixed teams of chil-dren from different communities and wasplayed according to special rules, withonly goals scored by girls counting andthe referee being replaced by a mediatorwhose role was also to encourage con-tact before and after the matches and tohelp the players to express their feelings.The tournament thus proved to be agood way to encourage respectful com-munication. It also helped the children toimprove their self-esteem and to developtheir sense of belonging.

In 2008, UEFA committed itselfto the MOVE project for four years. Theaim of the project is to help leaders to im-prove their personal, social, methodologi-cal and technical skills to enable them to then improve the psychosocial devel-opment of children in Albania, Moldovaand Romania through games and sport. Match against

poverty in Lisbon

UEFA backed amatch against povertyin Lisbon on 25 January,in which many past andpresent internationalfootball stars took part.

All the proceeds fromthe match – an initiativeof the United Nations Development Programme(UNDP) – are being directed towards reliefand reconstruction efforts in support of the Haitiearthquake victims.

bition with the president of the TFF,Mahmut Özgener, the mayor of Istanbuland other figures from the worlds ofsport, politics and culture.

The exhibition is being held at the Taksim Cumhuriyet Sanat Galerisiand is open from 10.00 to 22.00 everyday except Monday until the end of April.

Over 50,000 spectatorswatched the ex-interna-tionals (Patrick Kluivertin blue) and SL Benfica’sAll-Star XI draw 3-3.

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Fitness is crucial for bothnew refereesand their more seasoned counterparts.

In point of fact, the course con-sisted of two overlapping events involv-ing, firstly, the 52 new European refereeson the FIFA list and, two days later, theexperienced match officials in the eliteand premier categories. The venue wasFloriana, near Valletta (Malta), where the course formed part of the commem-orations of a century of league footballon the island and half a century of fullFIFA and UEFA membership.

Two coursesAs usual, the introductory course

focused firstly on assessing the new refer-ees’ physical, medical and mental condi-tion via fitness tests, individual examina-tions and sessions on mental preparation.One of the novelties later in the coursewas a practical session led by referee instructors Valentin Ivanov and Steve Bennett aimed at exercising the partici-pants’ judgement and positioning in player simulation situations and assessingtheir reactions in terms of how offencesshould be most appropriately punished.

On the advanced course, one of the major features was a session dedi-cated to the ongoing experiment involv-ing two additional assistant ‘goal-line’ referees. As the pilot testing has nowbeen extended into the knockout roundsof the UEFA Europa League, the ad-vanced referees needed to be primed fora role which they may need to play forthe first time in their careers. In the pres-ence of International FA Board memberDonald McVicar and FIFA’s Fernando Tresaco, they watched clips from groupmatches and were quick to realise that,for officials accustomed to covering lots

READING THE GAME WAS ONE OF THE CORE THEMES WHEN

103 INTERNATIONAL REFEREES MET IN MALTA FOR THE ANNUAL WINTER

COURSE WHICH RAN FROM 1 TO 4 FEBRUARY.

International referees course

Reading the game

of ground and keeping up with play, the goal-line role represents a radicallydifferent modus operandi.

Common elementsThere were, however, elements

which were common to both courses, including extensive DVD analysis aimedat unifying criteria and reactions to certain types of infractions or incidents.The emphasis was on protecting playersfrom reckless or overzealous challenges,appropriate punishment for holding,pulling and pushing offences in thepenalty area, and the best-practice ap-proach to detecting and dealing withsimulation.

This is where one of the othersessions was of special relevance. UEFA’stechnical director, Andy Roxburgh, waswith both groups to discuss the impor-tance of reading the game and ways to improve this ability. The sessions fea-tured DVD clips from EURO 2008 andthe UEFA Champions League which illus-

trated the importance of positioning –and, in refereeing, ‘positioning’ is allabout making the right runs at the righttime. But, whereas a player’s running is all about making the best angles to receive passes, the referee’s is aboutmaking the best angles to achieve aclear vision of play. In Malta, the refereeswere invited to review a number of situ-ations where they needed to be on ‘redalert’ at set plays, with Andy Roxburghexamining examples of legitimate andnot-so-legitimate blocking manoeuvresemployed to gain space for an attackingteam-mate at corners or free-kicks.

“The better you are at readingthe game,” he commented, “the easierit is to make the right calls and thegreater the chance of the game beingexciting, fair and spectacular.”

Ten European referees for the World Cup

A postscript to the event waswritten within hours of the ad-vanced course referees travellinghome from Malta. Congratulationson being included in the pre-tour-nament list for the FIFA World Cupare due to ten European referees:Olegário Benquerença (Portugal),Massimo Busacca (Switzerland),Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium), Martin Hansson (Sweden), ViktorKassai (Hungary), Stéphane Lannoy(France), Roberto Rosetti (Italy),Wolfgang Stark (Germany), Alberto Undiano Mallenco (Spain)and Howard Webb (England).

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CommunicationsB i r thday s – Ca lendar

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Forthcoming events

Birthdays

Meetings2.3.2010, Nyon

Club Licensing Committee19.3.2010, Nyon

Draws for the quarter- and semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League

23/24.3.2010, Tel AvivExecutive Committee

25.3.2010, Tel AvivOrdinary UEFA Congress

Competitions9/10.3.2010

UEFA Champions League: round of 16 (return legs)

10.3.2010UEFA Women’s Champions League: quarter-finals (first legs)

11.3.2010UEFA Europa League: round of 16 (first legs)

16/17.3.2010UEFA Champions League: round of 16 (return legs)

17.3.2010UEFA Women’s Champions League: quarter-finals (return legs)

18.3.2010UEFA Europa League: round of 16 (return legs)

30/31.3.2010UEFA Champions League: quarter-finals (first legs)

Josep Lluis Vilaseca Guasch (Spain), member of the circle of former UEFA committee members,turns 80 on 8 March, while on the same day Giorgio Crescentini (San Marino), vice-chairmanof the Futsal and Beach Soccer Committee, cele-brates his 60th. Ginés Meléndez (Spain), memberof the Jira Panel, also turns 60 on 22 March, followed by Anton Ondrus (Slovakia), member of the Football Commission, on 27th. Andrea Lastrucci (Italy), match delegate, celebrates his50th on 23rd.

UEFA also wishes many happy returns this month to:" Benny Jacobsen (Denmark, 1.3)" Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain, 1.3)" Damir Vrbanovic (Croatia, 2.3)" Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder (Germany, 3.3)" Esa Antero Palsi (Finland, 4.3)" Zoran Bahtijarevic (Croatia, 5.3)" Boris Durlen (Croatia, 6.3)" Liana Melania Stoicescu (Romania, 6.3)" Pedro Maria Aurteneche Vinegra (Spain, 7.3)" Dusan Maravic (Serbia, 7.3)" Kenneth Scott (Scotland, 7.3)" Tomás Gea (Andorra, 7.3)" Alexis Ponnet (Belgium, 9.3)" Vladimir Aleshin (Russia, 9.3)" Hendrik Kesler (Netherlands, 9.3)" Ruben Hayrapetyan (Armenia, 9.3)" Herbert Fandel (Germany, 9.3)" Joseph S. Blatter (Switzerland, 10.3)" Mateo Beusan (Croatia, 10.3)" Lucien Kayser (Luxembourg, 11.3)" Olga Zhukovska (Ukraine, 11.3)" Jean-François Crucke (Belgium, 12.3)" Vlastibor Minarovjech (Slovakia, 13.3)" Thomas Partl (Austria, 13.3)" Ivan Curkovic (Serbia, 15.3)" Markus Merk (Germany, 15.3)" Cornelius Bakker (Netherlands, 17.3)" Liutauras Varanavicius (Lithuania, 17.3)" Christakis Skapoullis (Cyprus, 18.3)" Marcello Nicchi (Italy, 18.3)" Andreas Georgiou (Cyprus, 18.3)" Marina Tashchyan (Armenia, 18.3)" Hogni i Storustovu (Faroe Islands, 19.3)" Helmut Spahn (Germany, 19.3)" Antal Dunai (Hungary, 21.3)" Jim Boyce (Northern Ireland, 21.3)" Chris Georghiades (Cyprus, 22.3)" Michail Kassabov (Bulgaria, 22.3)" Franz Krösslhuber (Austria, 23.3)" Miroslaw Malinovski (Poland, 23.3)" Mahmut Özgener (Turkey, 23.3)" Outi Saarinen (Finland, 23.3)" Fernando Ruiz Hierro (Spain, 23.3)

" Daniel Prodan (Romania, 23.3)" Maurizio Laudi (Italy, 24.3)" Michael Kirchner (Germany, 25.3)" Wilfried Straub (Germany, 26.3)" Kemal Kapulluoglu (Turkey, 26.3)" Konstantin Vikhrov (Ukraine, 27.3)" John McClelland (Scotland, 27.3)" Joseph Gauci (Malta, 27.3)" José Antonio Casajus (Spain, 27.3)" Armen Minasyan (Armenia, 27.3)" Pavel Cebanu (Moldova, 28.3)" Edgar Obertüfer (Switzerland, 29.8)" Ian Beasley (England, 29.3)" Stefan Ormandjiev (Bulgaria, 29.3)" Alan Snoddy (Northern Ireland, 29.3)" Bernadette Constantin (France, 29.3)" Miriam Malone (Republic of Ireland, 29.3)" William Hugh Wilson (Scotland, 30.3)

Notices

New publication

! Mircea Sandu, member of the UEFAExecutive Committee, was re-elected on25 January for a sixth term as presidentof the Romanian Football Federation.

! On 3 February, an extraordinary gen-eral meeting of the Russian FootballUnion elected Sergey Fursenko as presi-dent for a five-year term.

! Mikael Santoft was appointed general secretary of the Swedish Foot-ball Association on 1 January.

! Paul Glomsaker was appointed gener-al secretary of the Football Associationof Norway on 1 February.

100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NATIONAL LEAGUETo mark the centenary of the nationalfootball league of Malta, Albert Fenech

was commissioned by the Malta Football Associa-tion to produce a book,the simple layout of whichhighlights the quality ofthe images and informa-tion. After some 70 pageson the history of Maltese

football, its most famous players, its lead-ers and its infrastructure – all beautifullyillustrated, with many archived photos –comes a detailed statistics section, containing lists not only of competitionwinners, but also of Malta’s top scorersand players of the year.

UEFA match agent licences have been issued to:

Julius Owen IghodaroJowens Sport Management20A Jos Van Gellaan2100 Deurne Antwerp, BelgiumMobile: +32 488 278 245Fax: +32 332 42 310juwens01@yahoo.ca

Stephen Tennent A Life in Sport Limited10 Sandyford PlaceGlasgow G3 7NB, Scotland+44 7801 719 397st@alisgroup.com

Match agents

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

Chief editor: André Vieli

Produced by Atema Communication SA, CH-1196 Gland;CO Créations, CH-1262 Eysins (News from member associations)

Printed by Artgraphic Cavin SA, CH-1422 Grandson

Editorial deadline: 10 February 2010

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