Asia's status as the world's fastest growing economic region will boost Australia's chances of winning the right to host the football World Cup, an official said Wednesday.
Football Federation Australia chairman Frank Lowy, who wants the global sporting event held Down Under in 2018 or 2022, said more money would come to the sport from holding the contest in Asia-Pacific than from anywhere else.
"We are able to show that bringing the game to Australia and having the Asian continent with us at the same time zone will benefit not only Australia, not only Asia, but the whole football world," Lowy told a lunch in Melbourne.
"Because the income that's been projected for the television rights and other income will be larger than if they go anywhere else... Nobody can offer what we can offer."
Lowy said FIFA could be tempted to allow Australia, which hosted the Olympics in 2000, to hold the event because "we are the backyard or frontyard for Asia."
He is hoping Australia wins out over England, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Qatar, Russia and the US, which have all expressed an interest in hosting the contest in coming years.
Asia also held the promise of being a rich development opportunity for football, said Lowy.
"Asian development in sport is such that if the World Cup comes to this part of the world then I think they will be able to cash in and sort of monopolise with football, because the other sports haven't taken off yet," he said.
To host the World Cup in Australia, where the round ball sport often ranks behind other forms of football, would be a "nation-changing event," he said.
"From the moment Australia is announced as the host for a World Cup the interest level in football here will go through the roof," Lowy said.
The hosts for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments will be chosen in December 2010.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
World Cup - Terrorism or Safety?
Germany's football stars have been warned to expect to wear bullet-proof vests at next summer's World Cup in South Africa.
Germany's national football team
Germany's footballers may have to take extra security measures
The head of a security firm said players, like Michael Ballack, would need such protection if they ventured away from the team's Pretoria hotel amid safety fears.
Guenter Schnelle from BaySecur said: "The possibility for the players of moving outside of the hotel boundaries should be kept to a minimum."
"Otherwise there must be a full escort: armed security guards and bullet-proof vests for the players," he told German magazine Sport-Bild.
BaySecur looks after the German Football Federation (DFB) and their guests when the national team plays away from Germany.
It is one of the firms expected to be employed by the DFB while the team is involved in the tournament which begins on June 11.
The final will be held on July 11 at Johannesburg's Soccer City stadium.
The DFB is already looking to step up security around the team's five-star hotel and is set to recruit 20 extra security guards.
South African police shoot rubber bullets as they try to disperse groups of rioters in Johannesburg.
Fears about high crime levels in South Africa
There are also worries about security at the Brazil World Cup in 2014.
Due to the high crime rates in South Africa, the DFB is taking no risks, its security boss Helmut Spahn has said.
Private bodyguards will protect the players both in and around the Velmore Grande hotel in the province of Gauteng.
"We will probably use more personnel than we would normally have," said Mr Spahn, who will spend four days in South Africa next week looking at security arrangements.
"We need to first of all get an idea of what security arrangements are already in place for both the team and the media.
"Then we will decide whether to improve the security measures or whether they are sufficient."
According to Mr Spahn, there is little chance the DFB will rely only on local security guards in South Africa and Germany's federal police force are in talks with the DFB on the issue.
Germany's national football team
Germany's footballers may have to take extra security measures
The head of a security firm said players, like Michael Ballack, would need such protection if they ventured away from the team's Pretoria hotel amid safety fears.
Guenter Schnelle from BaySecur said: "The possibility for the players of moving outside of the hotel boundaries should be kept to a minimum."
"Otherwise there must be a full escort: armed security guards and bullet-proof vests for the players," he told German magazine Sport-Bild.
BaySecur looks after the German Football Federation (DFB) and their guests when the national team plays away from Germany.
It is one of the firms expected to be employed by the DFB while the team is involved in the tournament which begins on June 11.
The final will be held on July 11 at Johannesburg's Soccer City stadium.
The DFB is already looking to step up security around the team's five-star hotel and is set to recruit 20 extra security guards.
South African police shoot rubber bullets as they try to disperse groups of rioters in Johannesburg.
Fears about high crime levels in South Africa
There are also worries about security at the Brazil World Cup in 2014.
Due to the high crime rates in South Africa, the DFB is taking no risks, its security boss Helmut Spahn has said.
Private bodyguards will protect the players both in and around the Velmore Grande hotel in the province of Gauteng.
"We will probably use more personnel than we would normally have," said Mr Spahn, who will spend four days in South Africa next week looking at security arrangements.
"We need to first of all get an idea of what security arrangements are already in place for both the team and the media.
"Then we will decide whether to improve the security measures or whether they are sufficient."
According to Mr Spahn, there is little chance the DFB will rely only on local security guards in South Africa and Germany's federal police force are in talks with the DFB on the issue.
Domenech - Can He Brings Glory for French?
He didn’t jump. They didn’t sack him, and if France can overcome Ireland and qualify for South Africa he’ll almost certainly, incredibly, be the man leading them there. Yet there’s just something so unlovable about the man isn’t there?
Throughout his tenure in charge of Les Bleus Domenech has been accused for his lack of leadership, having a difficult personality, his astrology-inspired selections and non-selections, his complete indifference of his players towards him, and overall displaying man management skills to compete with Roy Keane’s. Time wasting against the Faroes? We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on that one… just.
To be fair to Domenech though, he’s had the unenviable task of taking over in the wake of the team’s limp elimination from Euro 2004.
Following the retirements of Zizou, Makelele and Thuram, the quality and pedigree at Raymond’s disposal was severely depleted; players like Gourcouff and Benzema, and even Ribery, were not yet prepared for the international step.
They stumbled their way through qualification for the 2006 World Cup, until the heroic return of Les Trois Mousquetaires (the recently retired trio above), eventually qualified and should have gone on to win that tournament. It is widely accepted however, that the old guard gradually took control of the dressing room during the tournament, with Domenech effectively relegated to naming a team that picked itself. He can’t have become too bored during team talks however; he surely lent fellow artist Vikash Dhorasso a hand with the editing of his bizarre film about the lonely life of the substitute. (Dhorasso was incidentally selected ahead of Ludo Giuly, who had just won the Spanish League and Champions League double with Barcelona. A borderline sackable offence in itself.)
Post 2006 and the old guard bade a final adieu. Enter Ribery, Benzema and Nasri, among others. The new generation, backed by a moody Henry, a creaking Thuram and a by now severely jaded Makelele, failed to inspire during qualification.
They then pathetically crashed out of Euro 2008 without so much as a whimper, and when Raymond had the audacity to propose to his partner Estelle Denis in the immediate aftermath (which she famously rejected), it was considered a formality before the amateur astrologer was summoned to Le Federation headquarters and duly sacked. Au contraire. They took the baffling decision to keep him on for one more tournament qualification, citing the age profile and potential of the team, and that the man in charge was only half way through his mission.
The more likely explanation was stubbornness – replacing him with national hero Didier Deschamps would have appeared like a submission to the lobbying by the 98/00 generation, who still carry significant clout in French football circles.
Ever since Domenech has lived every breathing moment of this qualification on a perpetual tightrope, always seemingly just a draw or a goal away from being ousted. Home games became advantageous to the opposition such was the lack of support from the home crowds, with the fans generally more interested in protesting over Domenech’s continued management of the national team. The hysteria reached its zenith in the build up to the “must win” game away to Romania, with his buddies at the Federation no longer refuting the claims.
The comeback from 2-0 to secure a draw in that match proved a surprising turning point though, and the media as well as the public had a sudden change of heart, or maybe they were just worn out from the incessant blood baying of the previous 14 months.
“Sometimes you forget the man is a human being,” Titi Henry told the media afterwards.
They have performed solidly since then without ever managing to dispel the criticism. Complaints about a blatant lack of style, as well as an insistence on fielding two anchor men in midfield, usually Lassana Diarra and Jeremy Toulalan, appear justified. Particularly when said pairing is fielded at home to Lithuania.
In the much maligned man’s defence, the current crop’s commitment and identity has been reasonably questioned. There is a subconscious acknowledgment that the team’s current Afro/Caribbean ethnic makeup is somewhat at odds with the wider public outside of Paris; that perhaps some of the players aren’t “French” enough. This of course goes deeper than man management and tactics. The Federation attempted all too tangibly to address this identity crisis with a hasty Adidas campaign, in which the players recited a poem about the pride they take in wearing the jersey. (I don’t wear the jersey, it wears me).
La Marseillaise is regularly sung with all the gusto of a detention-bound schoolboy, and attendances and interest in the team have steadily been on the wane since the successive retirements of the last generation.
If they are to qualify for South Africa via the play-offs next month, the French team will have qualified for three consecutive tournaments under Domenech’s management, a feat last achieved by 1984 European champion Michel Hidalgo, but he won’t be hanging around the mixed zone expecting any praise or congratulations. He knows he´s overstayed his welcome.
Every defeat of his reign has been down to him, every victory down to the players.
If they qualify for the World Cup next June, re-energise squad moral and rediscover some Gallic flair, it will probably still be in spite of him rather than thanks to him. Actually, definitely in spite of him. Bon chance Raymond.
Throughout his tenure in charge of Les Bleus Domenech has been accused for his lack of leadership, having a difficult personality, his astrology-inspired selections and non-selections, his complete indifference of his players towards him, and overall displaying man management skills to compete with Roy Keane’s. Time wasting against the Faroes? We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on that one… just.
To be fair to Domenech though, he’s had the unenviable task of taking over in the wake of the team’s limp elimination from Euro 2004.
Following the retirements of Zizou, Makelele and Thuram, the quality and pedigree at Raymond’s disposal was severely depleted; players like Gourcouff and Benzema, and even Ribery, were not yet prepared for the international step.
They stumbled their way through qualification for the 2006 World Cup, until the heroic return of Les Trois Mousquetaires (the recently retired trio above), eventually qualified and should have gone on to win that tournament. It is widely accepted however, that the old guard gradually took control of the dressing room during the tournament, with Domenech effectively relegated to naming a team that picked itself. He can’t have become too bored during team talks however; he surely lent fellow artist Vikash Dhorasso a hand with the editing of his bizarre film about the lonely life of the substitute. (Dhorasso was incidentally selected ahead of Ludo Giuly, who had just won the Spanish League and Champions League double with Barcelona. A borderline sackable offence in itself.)
Post 2006 and the old guard bade a final adieu. Enter Ribery, Benzema and Nasri, among others. The new generation, backed by a moody Henry, a creaking Thuram and a by now severely jaded Makelele, failed to inspire during qualification.
They then pathetically crashed out of Euro 2008 without so much as a whimper, and when Raymond had the audacity to propose to his partner Estelle Denis in the immediate aftermath (which she famously rejected), it was considered a formality before the amateur astrologer was summoned to Le Federation headquarters and duly sacked. Au contraire. They took the baffling decision to keep him on for one more tournament qualification, citing the age profile and potential of the team, and that the man in charge was only half way through his mission.
The more likely explanation was stubbornness – replacing him with national hero Didier Deschamps would have appeared like a submission to the lobbying by the 98/00 generation, who still carry significant clout in French football circles.
Ever since Domenech has lived every breathing moment of this qualification on a perpetual tightrope, always seemingly just a draw or a goal away from being ousted. Home games became advantageous to the opposition such was the lack of support from the home crowds, with the fans generally more interested in protesting over Domenech’s continued management of the national team. The hysteria reached its zenith in the build up to the “must win” game away to Romania, with his buddies at the Federation no longer refuting the claims.
The comeback from 2-0 to secure a draw in that match proved a surprising turning point though, and the media as well as the public had a sudden change of heart, or maybe they were just worn out from the incessant blood baying of the previous 14 months.
“Sometimes you forget the man is a human being,” Titi Henry told the media afterwards.
They have performed solidly since then without ever managing to dispel the criticism. Complaints about a blatant lack of style, as well as an insistence on fielding two anchor men in midfield, usually Lassana Diarra and Jeremy Toulalan, appear justified. Particularly when said pairing is fielded at home to Lithuania.
In the much maligned man’s defence, the current crop’s commitment and identity has been reasonably questioned. There is a subconscious acknowledgment that the team’s current Afro/Caribbean ethnic makeup is somewhat at odds with the wider public outside of Paris; that perhaps some of the players aren’t “French” enough. This of course goes deeper than man management and tactics. The Federation attempted all too tangibly to address this identity crisis with a hasty Adidas campaign, in which the players recited a poem about the pride they take in wearing the jersey. (I don’t wear the jersey, it wears me).
La Marseillaise is regularly sung with all the gusto of a detention-bound schoolboy, and attendances and interest in the team have steadily been on the wane since the successive retirements of the last generation.
If they are to qualify for South Africa via the play-offs next month, the French team will have qualified for three consecutive tournaments under Domenech’s management, a feat last achieved by 1984 European champion Michel Hidalgo, but he won’t be hanging around the mixed zone expecting any praise or congratulations. He knows he´s overstayed his welcome.
Every defeat of his reign has been down to him, every victory down to the players.
If they qualify for the World Cup next June, re-energise squad moral and rediscover some Gallic flair, it will probably still be in spite of him rather than thanks to him. Actually, definitely in spite of him. Bon chance Raymond.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
World Cup 2010 - Road To Africa
The FIFA World Cup, occasionally called the Football World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, because of World War II.
The current format of the tournament involves 32 teams competing for the title at venues within the host nation(s) over a period of about a month – this phase is often called the World Cup Finals. A qualification phase, which currently takes place over the preceding three years, is used to determine which teams qualify for the tournament together with the host nation(s). The World Cup is the most widely-viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 final.[1]
Of the 18 tournaments held, seven nations have won the title. Brazil are the only team that have played in every tournament and have won the World Cup a record five times. Italy are the current champions and have won four titles, and Germany are next with three. The other former champions are Uruguay, winners of the inaugural tournament, and Argentina, with two titles each, and England and France, with one title each.
The most recent World Cup was held in Germany in 2006. The next World Cup will be held in South Africa, between 11 June and 11 July 2010, and the 2014 World Cup will be held in Brazil.
The current format of the tournament involves 32 teams competing for the title at venues within the host nation(s) over a period of about a month – this phase is often called the World Cup Finals. A qualification phase, which currently takes place over the preceding three years, is used to determine which teams qualify for the tournament together with the host nation(s). The World Cup is the most widely-viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 final.[1]
Of the 18 tournaments held, seven nations have won the title. Brazil are the only team that have played in every tournament and have won the World Cup a record five times. Italy are the current champions and have won four titles, and Germany are next with three. The other former champions are Uruguay, winners of the inaugural tournament, and Argentina, with two titles each, and England and France, with one title each.
The most recent World Cup was held in Germany in 2006. The next World Cup will be held in South Africa, between 11 June and 11 July 2010, and the 2014 World Cup will be held in Brazil.
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