BERN, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss Football Association came down hard on Sion FC 30 December in the long-running battle of the Valaisan egos, between Sion owner Christian Constantin and Sepp Blatter, head of Fifa. The SFA fined Sion a total of 36 points, three for each game in which the team fielded an ineligible player this season, in a saga dating back to the 2008 signing of Egyptian goalkeeper Essam el-Hadary.
The fine moves Sion from third place in the Swiss Super League to last place with minus five points and almost certain relegation. The SFA was reacting to the threat from Fifa to suspend all Swiss teams from international competition, starting with Basel being expelled from the European Champions League match against Bayern Munich.
Had Basel been expelled Manchester United would have taken their place in the knock-out stages of Europe’s biggest club contest. FC Sion complaimed that the SFA had been cowardly in backing down in the face of blackmail by Fifa.
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Fifa has threatened Switzerland with expulsion from all Fifa events unless the Swiss Football Association punish FC Sion in the long confrontation over the Valaisan team playing unregistered players. The Sion chairman Christian Constantin responded in his own inimitable style by threatening to sue Sepp Blatter, the Valaisan head of Fifa. Unless the Swiss Federation react by 13 January 2012 the Swiss participation in the Champions League, as well as the national youth and senior matches, will be suspended, as will all the Swiss referees. FC Basel would be the first to suffer as they would be barred from playing in the Champions League match against Bayern Munich and would be replaced by Manchester United in the competition.
On the field Barcelona confirmed their place at the top by winning the Club World Championship by beating Brazilian team Santos 4-0 in Tokyo. In the Premier League Manchester city beat Arsenal 1-0 to regain their first place, ahead of Man United, 0-2 winners at QPR. Spurs are third after a 1-0 win over Sunderland. Chelsea fell back after a 1-1 draw at Wigan.
Links to other sites: TSR, Premier League, Guardian
KYIV, UKRAINE – The draw for the EURO 2012 Championships, held in Kyiv 2 December, set up some fascinating prospects. In footballing terms the pick is Group C with Spain, Italy, Croatia and Ireland. Group A has political matches between Poland, Russia, the Czech Republic and Greece. There are some fine games in prospect in Group B, which features Germany, The Netherlands, Portugal and Denmark. Group D has given England a relatively easy start, as they face Ukraine, Sweden and France.
The fun starts Friday 8 June, the games being divided between Ukraine and Poland, with the final to be held in Kyiv, Sunday 1 July 2012. The first two teams from each group go through to the quarter-finals. England will be without Wayne Rooney for the first three games as the Man United star was sent off in the last qualifying game.
Meanwhile the Fifa war on corruption faced a new blow when Transparency International withdrew in protest against the investigation process.
Blatter in South Africa in June 2010
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Fifa President Sepp Blatter will face football media and fans over bribes scandals again Friday 21 October, when he is expected to say that Fifa will make public closed files with information about attempts to bribe officials.
The BBC Tuesday night reported that he will ask the executive committee of the world football federation, at meetings Thursday and Friday, to reverse its decision and allow the documents to be published. The documents were sealed after Fifa paid a reported CHF5.5 million in May 2011 in court in Switzerland to settle a case where it may have been shown bribes were involved in awarding lucrative television rights in the 1990s. The case was linked to the failure of marketing firm ISL, which had the rights.
Blatter, whose re-election was marred by new bribery scandals this year, has promised to clean up Fifa. But The Independent in the UK writes today that Triinidad’s Jack Warner, long a Blatter ally until he resigned under a black cloud of investigations in June, is promising to release his own “tsunami” of charges and evidence.
The Guardian in the UK, which carries a lengthy report today with details of the information suspected to be in the closed files, says this of Fifa’s president: “As for Blatter, whose bluster was summed up by his now infamous ‘crisis, what is a crisis?’ soundbite in June, he has been made patently aware that he has to be seen to deal with the past before looking to the future.”
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Jack Warner, vice-president of the international football federation, Fifa, has resigned, of his own choice and effectively immediately, the Zurich-based organization announced late Monday 20 June. Warner has been active in Fifa and Caribbean football politics for nearly 30 years.
He has been under investigation as part of the web of corruption charges that has plagued Fifa in recent weeks. The group said, in a statement Monday, “As a consequence of Mr Warner’s self-determined resignation, all Ethics Committee procedures against him have been closed and the presumption of innocence is maintained.”
Warner will still be called as a witness in an ongoing bribery investigation, however.
The investigation remains closed as long as Warner stays out of international football. His resignation extends to his role as Concacaf, the Caribbean football confederation.
The Irish Examiner notes, curiously, that “Fifa have now ended the ethics committee investigation against Warner on the basis that under Swiss law they have no jurisdiction over people not in the organization,” although Fifa does not give this as an explanation.
NYON, SWITZERLAND – The 16 teams that make to the Euro 2012 football cup finals will take home at least €8 million and as much as €23 million, says European football federation Uefa, which announced Friday 16 June that it has set the prize money at €196m. The finals take place in Poland and Ukraine.
Uefa also issued a statement saying Fifa, the international football body, must implement reforms within three months of the corruption scandal that has plagued it for the past month.
Mohamed bin Hammam dropped out of the presidential race early Sunday and Fifa provisionally suspended him Sunday evening
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Fifa, the international football body, Sunday 29 May provisionally suspended four officials from any involvement in football worldwide while it continues it investigation into possible breaches of the organization’s code of ethics.
But the case against President Sepp Blatter was dismissed. Blatter appeared before the committee Sunday. He is now running for re-election, with no one else in the race.
Vice-president Jack A Warner and Fifa executive committee member Mohamed bin Hammam may not take “part in any football-related activity (administrative, sports or any other) worldwide after [the ethics committee examined] their cases in relation to alleged violations of the Fifa Code of Ethics linked to the upcoming FIFA presidential election”, the committee said in a statement issued Sunday evening in Zurich.
The election is scheduled for 3 June. “The allegation can be summed up as follows,” Petrus Damaseb, vice-president of the ethics committee said at a press conference after the all-day meeting. “The meeting was called to take place at the 10-11 of May in Port au Prince in Trinidad & Tobago, and at that meeting individuals there present were offered sums of money to vote for Mr bin Hamman, that is the essence of the allegation.” The sum in question was $40,000.
Petrus Damaseb, speaking for Fifa's ethics committee, led a press conference Sunday night
“The ethics committee considered that a provisional suspension was required while the investigation continues, taking into account the gravity of the case and the likelihood that a breach of the Fifa code of ethics and the Fifa disciplinary code has been committed. Meanwhile, regarding the ethics proceedings opened against Fifa President Joseph S Blatter at the request of Mohamed bin Hammam for a potential breach of the Fifa code of ethics, all charges were dismissed in full, as the ethics committee found that no breach of the code of ethics had been committed.”
Two Caribbean Football Union officials were also provisionally suspended: Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester. Their possible breaches of the code are also under investigation.
The members of the ethics committee panel reviewing the various accusations are: deputy chairman Petrus Damaseb (Namibia) and members Juan Pedro Damiani (Uruguay), Sondre Kaafjord (Norway), Les Murray (Australia) and Robert Torres (Guam).
Update 29 May 18:55 ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – (Ed. note: AFP is reporting Sunday evening, but it is not yet confirmed elsewhere, that Blatter has been cleared, bin Hammam has been suspended while the investigation continues, and the 1 June election is to go ahead)
The contentious vote for the new president of Fifa, the international football governing body, became a lot simpler Sunday 29 May, with current president Sepp Blatter remaining the only one running. Mohamed bin Hammam, who opposed him, declared on his web site in the early hours of Sunday that he is pulling out of the race.
The two appeared for hearings as part of an investigation by Fifa’s ethics committee, which is meeting Sunday 29 May.
“I cannot allow the name that I loved to be dragged more and more in the mud because of competition between two individuals. The game itself and the people who love it around the world must come first. It is for this reason that I announce my withdrawal from the presidential election,” he notes on his site.
“I will not put my personal ambition ahead of FIFA’s dignity and integrity. Besides, I believe my candidacy has been a catalyst for debate within FIFA and has brought change to the top of the agenda. I pray that my withdrawal will not be tied to the investigation held by the FIFA Ethics Committee as I will appear before the Ethics Committee to clear my name from the baseless allegations that have been made against me.”
Sepp Blatter (photo: Agencia Brasil, Roosewelt Pinheiro/Abr)
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Down to the wire, with less than a week to go in the election for the post of president of Fifa, world football’s governing body, and the fight for the job is sullied by allegations of corruption against both candidates. The Fifa ethics committee Friday 27 May agreed to summon President Sepp Blatter, who is standing for re-election, acting on yesterday’s request by executive committee member Mohamed bin Hammam.
Blatter is to appear before the committee Sunday, three days before the election.
Bin Hammam was summoned to appear before the committee Wednesday.
The committee is investigating charges made last week of alleged cash payments to delegations attending a special meeting of the Caribbean Football Union. The latest accusations of corruption against Fifa officials continue a string of scandals, as well as questions about how the 2018 and 2022 games were awarded.
Britain’s sport minister, Hugh Robertson, said in a statement Friday that “The Fifa presidential election campaign has descended into a farce,” Robertson said in a statement.” Robertson has “hinted” that national football/soccer bodies may want to break away from Fifa, Reuters reports.
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – The FA, England’s national football association, has decided against voting for the next president of Fifa, the Zurich-based International Football, saying in a brief statement issued Thursday afternoon 19 May that it cannot support either candidate. AP sports writers put it more baldly, saying that the FA is “unable to choose between two candidates tainted by allegations of corruption scandal”.
The statement issued by FA Chairman David Bernstein, in its entirety:
“There are a well-reported range of issues both recent and current which, in the view of The FA board, make it difficult to support either candidate.
The FA values its relationships with its international football partners extremely highly. We are determined to play an active and influential role through our representation within both UEFA and FIFA. We will continue to work hard to bring about any changes we think would benefit all of international football.”
The two candidates are Sepp Blatter, who is seeking a fourth term from 2012 to 2016 and Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar, who successfully obtained the 2022 World Cup Games for his country.
Blatter has headed Fifa while a scandal involving members of the executive board unfolded, while there have been charges that Qatar paid Fifa board members to vote for it.
Fifa and Interpol joined forces in anti-corruption fight 11 May: video at fifa.com/newscentre/video/video=1432804/index.html
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The international football federation, Fifa, Wednesday 11 May sent letters to Britain’s former Football Association Chairman David Triesman asking for a complete report linked to his report to the House of Commons yesterday alleging that Fifa executive committee members asked for bribes.
The allegations are linked to the UK’s failed bid to get the 2018 football World Cup.
Interpol to work with Fifa to stamp out football corruption; largest-ever private donation
The latest scandal broke just as Fifa and Interpol announced in Zurich 11 May that Fifa will donate $20 million to set up a 10-year joint programme to fight corruption in football.
The new programme will create a training centre at Interpol in Singapore, to focus on stamping out illegal betting.
It is the largest private donation Interpol has ever received.
FA says it will cooperate with Fifa investigation
The BBC reports Wednesday evening that the FA say a report is already en route to Zurich and a second report will follow shortly, with current FA Chairman David Bernstein expected to make a statement Thursday. The emphasis appeared to be on the FA’s desire to cooperate fully with a Fifa investigation.
The Guardian in December 2010 noted that David Bernstein would, in his new role as FA chairman, have some difficult tasks, including improving relations with Fifa.
Fifa Secretary General Jerome Valcke also sent a letter to The Sunday Times “to ask the newspaper to provide FIFA with any piece of evidence with regard to the statements made to MP John Whittingdale.”
Read more…
Chateau de Bethusy, Lausanne, where the CAS sports arbitration court, holds its hearings
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The CAS, the international arbitration court for sports in Lausanne, says it has accepted for review the appeals by two former officials of the international football federation, Fifa.
Former Fifa executive committee member Amos Adamu of Nigeria has asked that he be found not guilty and his three-year suspension overturned.
Ahongalu Fusimalohi of Tonga is asking that his ban be lifted.
The two were part of a group of six officials found guilty on various corruption charges linked to the 2018 and 2022 football World Cup bidding contests. Fifa in November 2010 handed out fines ranging from CHF5,000 to CHF10,000 and the officials were banned from participating in any football-related activities for a period of one to four years.
The CAS has not yet set a date for the hearings.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The world football federation (Fifa) is not ready to set dates for the controversial 2022 Qatar World Cup, but its president, Sepp Blatter, told journalists at the IOC (Internationasl Olympic Committee) in Lausanne 25 January that the Cup could be held at the start or end of the year.
Fifa has come under fire for saying the World Cup could be held in winter to avoid the summer heat of Qatar, since it will be held in a year when the Olympic Winter Games will be on. These run at the start of the year, normally beginning at the end of January. The 2022 Games will not be awarded until 2015.
Blatter was in Lausanne for a visit to the IOC by UN head Ban Ki-moon.
Chateau de Bethusy, Lausanne, home of the international sports arbitration court
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Oleh Oriekhov, the Ukrainian football referee accused of game fixing, has lost his appeal. He was handed a life ban “on exercising any football-related activity” by Uefa, the European football federation based in Nyon, in July 2010. Oriekhov took his case to Cas (international sports arbitration court) in Lausanne, which announced Tuesday 18 January that it has upheld the ban, citing repeated contacts between Oriekhov and “and the members of a criminal group involved in match-fixing and betting fraud”.
The referee, under Uefa regulations, should have immediately alerted the football federation when he was first contacted, and it was his failure to do so that is behind the court’s decision.
A 15 December Cas hearing showed that “it has been convincingly established” that Oriekhov had contacts before and after the specific match in question between FC Basel and CSKA Sofia, Cas notes in a statement. “The existence or not of an effective manipulation concerning the Europa League match between FC Basel and CSKA Sofia could not be established during the Cas procedure.”
“On 5 November 2009, the referee Oleg Oriekhov officiated a match between FC Basel and CSKA Sofia in group E of the 2009-2010 UEFA Europa League.
International sports, football
(video) Zurich, Switzerland (GenevalUnch) - Lionel Messi was awarded Fifa’s (international football federation) highest honour, the Ballon d’Or. The Argentinian told reporters afterwards that he felt his Barcelona teammates Xavi and Andres Iniesta deserved it as well. Messi received 22.65 percent of the vote, while Iniesta had 17.36 and Xavi 16.48 percent. Coaches and team captains as well as sports journalists from around the world vote for the winner.
Messi, 23, was not considered a frontrunner by some observers because of his failure to make a single goal in the 2010 World Cup, for Argentina, which was bumped in the quarter-finals. His 60 goals for the year, however, counted for something.
The Ballon d’Or award “was created following the merging of France Football magazine’s European Footballer of the Year prize with the Fifa World Player of the Year award,” notes the Guardian.
Links to other sites: Fifa, Guardian and Guardian March 2010 praise for Messi
Video, TSR (Fr)
Fifa named best for press facilities for 2010 World Cup by world sports journalists
Rafael Nadal wins US Open 2010 (photo, Ella Ling)
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The AIPS (International Sports Press Association) has named Rafael Nadal the world’s top male athlete and Blanka Vlasic the top female, in its annual sports awards. Nadal, Spanish is the number one tennis player in the world and Vlasic, from Croatia, has won 18 of 20 high-jumping competitions in 2010, and she currently holds the world indoor and European titles.
The AIPS named Fifa, the world football federation, as the organization providing the best media facilities, at the 2010 football World Cup matches in South Africa. The IOC, International Olympic Committee, was second, for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games. The AIPS and the IOC are both based in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Italian prime minister says he helped Russia win World Cup bid
Sochi, Russia and Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Russian news agency Ria Novosti reports Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as saying that he is happy with Russia’s decision to not demand visas for European Union visitors to the 2018 World Cup football championship.
Berlusconi told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev after Russia’s win was announced, that he had helped push through the Russian bid, according to the news agency, which says the two spoke Friday.
“‘We would like to create a special atmosphere during the tournament,’ Medvedev said after talks with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in Russia’s southern Black Sea resort of Sochi.”
Update 30 Novembr Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Lausanne-based IOC (International Olympic Committee) is reportedly asking the BBC to share with it proof that Issa Hayatou accepted bribes in the 1980s and 1990s. Hayatou is president of the Cameroon Football Association and a member of his country’s Olympic national committee. The bribe was mentioned on the BBC Panorama show that aired Monday evening 29 November.
The bribes scandal that Fifa (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) officials said in mid-November they hoped would not affect the selection process 1-2 December of World Cup host cities now threatens to overshadow voting, at least in world media. Swiss-German media over the weekend revealed details of what appears to be three more Fifa officials who also accepted bribes for their votes in the World Cup selection process.
Six officials were sanctioned 17 November for accepting bribes. Swiss sports officials have said they are reviewing the situation to see if laws were broken, given that Fifa is a Swiss-based non-profit organization.
Ricardo Teixeira, Brazil, Nicolas Leoz, Paraguay and Issa Hayatou, Cameroon were Monday 29 November named by Tagez-Anzeiger as the three officials mentioned by SonntagsZeitung on Sunday.
Bern and Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss Sports Office Director Matthias Remund is reported by The Guardian in the UK to be looking at the possibility of investigating Fifa, the international football body, in the case of the recent scandal over World Cup football votes. Fifa is a Swiss non-profit based in Zurich, and Remund told the newspaper he is looking into whether or not Swiss laws have been broken.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The ethics committee for the International football federation, Fifa, handed down what is being widely referred to as “strong sanctions” against those investigated for alleged bribery and corruption.
Six Fifa officials received fines ranging from CHF5,000 to CHF10,000 and were banned from participating in any football-related activities for a period of one to four years.
US former President Clinton to plead US case in Zurich
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Togo goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale, who played for French side Pontivy, before he was injured in an armed attack in January 2010, is to received $100,000 from Fifa, the international football federation. The 25-year-old football player was gravely injured when his team’s bus was attacked in Angola before the start of the CAF African Cup of Nations 8 January. The ambush took the lives of assistant coach Amelete Abalo and press officer Stanislas O’cloo, while Obilale himself is still continuing his rehabilitation, Fifa says. The federation announced earlier this year that Obilale would receive $25,000 but it has increased the sum. AP background story with photos
In other Fifa news, former US President Bill Clinton will visit Zurich 1 December as part of the group that makes a final presentation to the federation’s executive committee for the 2022 World Cup bids. Clinton is an honorary chairman for the US bid group.
Fifa will announce, 2 December, the cities that have been awarded bids for the 2018 and 2022 games.
International sports, football
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Fifa, the international football federation, has provisionally suspended two members of its executive board and four other Fifa officials, it announced Wednesday 20 October.
Amos Adamu of Nigeria and Reynald Temarii of France, board members, have been banned from taking part in any football-related activity (administrative, sports or any other) after their cases were heard today by the Fifa ethics committee in relation to the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 Fifa World Cups.
The two allegedly told undercover journalists working for the Sunday Times, UK, that they would be prepared to sell their votes in return for money they would invest in sports projects. The bids are to be decided 2 December 2010.
The journalists posed as US agents trying to secure bids. The Times has turned over all its video and other material to Fifa for the investigations.
Also suspended were Slim Aloulou, Amadou Diakite, Ahongalu Fusimalohi and Ismael Bhamjee “in relation to an alleged breach of the Fifa statutes, the Fifa code of ethics and the Fifa disciplinary code”, the group said in a statement.
It will also investigate possible collusion between bidders for the games: the rules specifically forbid two or more bidding groups to work together unless they are proposing a joint bid.
Fifa’s investigation is expected to be presented to an ethics committee meeting in mid-November, at which point decisions will be made on further action to be taken.
Board members cannot be fired, as they are elected by their federations, but if they are found to have broken the rules they can be suspended. Adamu, of the West African Confederation of Football and Temarii, of the Oceania Football Confederation, are both due for re-election within six months.
For 2018, in Europe, the countries in the running are: England, Russia and joint bids by Belgium-Holland and Spain-Portugal.
For 2022: the USA, Australia, Japan, Qatar and South Korea.
Links to other sites: Aljazeera, background 17 October, Fifa decision
FIFA President Joseph Blatter during the host city press conference on 6 June - Photo 2010 FWLOC
Zurich, Switzerland and Johannisburg, South Africa (GenevaLunch) – Sepp Blatter, president of World football body Fifa, has apologized to England and to Mexico for the refereeing errors in last Sunday’s knockout matches, at a press conference in Johannisburg 29 June.
“I have expressed to them apologies and I understand they are not happy and that people are criticising”, Blatter was quoted as saying.
He also said that Fifa would review its opposition to video reviews of goals at its July meeting. Fifa has consistently opposed any type of technological review methods to dispel doubts about goals, the offside rule and tackles, unlike other sports like tennis.
On Sunday, a clearly offside Carlos Tevez of Argentina scored the first goal against Mexico. The goal was allowed.
Earlier, a shot on goal by England’s Frank Lampard against Germany, which went into the goal after bouncing off the crossbeam, was not allowed.
International sports, World Cup football
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – Mexico walked away with a well-deserved win over France Thursday evening 17 June, with two goals to zero for the French.
Mexican substitutes Javier Hernandez and Cuauhtemoc Blanco were the heroes of the day, putting Mexico and Uruguay well ahead of France and South Africa in the standings, with the two Latin American countries itching to play each other.
Other results: Greece 2 Nigeria 1, and Argentina 4 South Korea 1.
Photo: 2010 FWCLOC
Follow GenevaLunch’s daily recap of the 2010 World Cup.
(video) Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Fifa, the world football federation, was not amused when a group of mostly blond, willowy women dressed identically in little orange dresses from a Dutch brewery, Bavaria, caught the eye of world cameras at a World Cup match between The Netherlands and Denmark. The 36 women were ejected and questioned to see if they had a link to the brewery, which says it offered the clothes in a gift package. Fifa, which is tough on advertisers and promoters who try to circumvent the strict rules that protect official sponsors, has told several media that the group was hired as part of an advertising campaign.
Budweiser is the official beer sponsor for the World Cup, and has paid millions for the privilege.
Fifa reportedly says it is considering legal action against the brewery, according to the BBC. The Star newspaper in South Africa reports that the stunt could contradict the country’s marketing laws and that in any case ambush marketing is a criminal offense, banned at World Cup games. It quotes a Dutch embassy official, who is looking into the situation, “Foreign Ministry spokesman Aad Meijer said three of the women were Dutch. ‘We are not aware of any South African legislation that allows people to be detained for wearing an orange dress.’” But if the stunt is indeed linked to a TV campaign in The Netherlands, the company may well find itself with a lawsuit brought by Fifa.
Up to 10 million Dutch people were expected to watch the televised match, according to Dutch News.
Media reports in the UK, The Netherlands and South Africa vary wildly, with no official confirmation, on how the young women were treated and whether or not their eviction was a police “detention”.
Links to other sites: BBC, Dutch News, The Star (subscription), IOL (Star reprint)
England preliminary team has “unlikely faces”
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The names of the 30 players who could play for Switzerland in the World Cup football matches in South Africa starting 11 June are now out. The squad of 23 plus reserves still requires approval by Fifa, the world football body.
Coach Ottmar Hitzfeld lists the preliminary team as:
Goalkeepers: Diego Benaglio (Wolfsburg/GER), Johnny Leoni (Zurich/SUI), Marco Woelfli (Young Boys/SUI)
Defenders: Mario Eggimann (Hanover/GER), Stephane Grichting (Auxerre/FRA), Stephan Lichtsteiner (Lazio/ITA), Philippe Senderos (Arsenal/ENG), Christoph Spycher (Eintracht Frankfurt/GER), Steve Von Bergen (Hertha Berlin/GER), Reto Ziegler (Sampdoria/ITA)
Midfielders: Tranquillo Barnetta (Bayer Leverkusen/GER), Valon Behrami (West Ham/ENG), Gelson Fernandes (St Etienne/FRA), Benjamin Huggel (Basel/SUI), Goekhan Inler (Udinese/ITA), Marco Padalino (Sampdoria/ITA), Pirmin Schwegler (Eintracht Frankfurt/GER), Xherdan Shaqiri (Basel/SUI), Hakan Yakin (Lucerne/SUI)
Strikers: Eren Derdiyok (Bayer Leverkusen/GER), Alexander Frei (Basel/SUI), Blaise Nkufo (Twente/NED), Marco Streller (Basel/SUI)
Reserves: Fabio Coltorti (Racing Santander/ESP); Francois Affolter (Young Boys/SUI), Fabian Lustenberger (Hertha Berlin/GER), Albert Bunjaku (Nuremberg/GER), Nassim Ben Khalifa (Grasshopper/SUI), Valentin Stocker (Basel/SUI).
Final England team to be named 30-31 May
Read more…
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The International Olympic Committee has backed Fifa’s (international football federation) decision to bar the Iranian girls’ football team from the Youth Olympic Games if they insist on the right to play wearing Islamic head scarves, the Associated Press reported 7 April. The IOC declared the ban was “in line with the rules of the game” in a statement issued Tuesday 6 April, according to the news agency, which says Iran’s place in the tournament will be taken by Thailand.
Links to other sites: IOC, FIFA, ESPN
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The world football federation’s (Fifa) disciplinary committee is holding a hearing Monday 18 January to consider Thierry Henry ‘s famous handball that gave France rather than Ireland a place in the World Cup. The executive committee of Fifa in December asked the disciplinary body to review the incident that caused an uproar and prompted the Football Association of Ireland to demand a replay or even to consider adding Ireland as a 33rd team.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Brazil’s Marta have been named best male and female football player of the year. The weather was glacial in Zurich, but the atmosphere warm at the city’s Kongresshaus Monday night 21 December, where the world football federation, Fifa, handed out its top annual honours. The Fifa Fair Play Award went to English player and coach Sir Bobby Robson, who died in July 2009; his wife accepted the award. Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo won the inaugural FIFA Puskás Award for the most outstanding goal of the 2008-09 season.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A referee who suspended in a football betting investigation has been cleared, reports the Canadian Press. Referee Anton Genov of Bulgaria was suspended by the Nyon-based Uefa (European football federation) after it spotted irregular betting patterns in a 14 November match between Macedonia and Canada, But Fifa, the Zurich-based international football body which has been working for the past six months with an early warning system, says it has found no evidence of suspicious bets.
