09 Jun

ROKK TALK by Lazarus Rokk - June 4, 2006 GUTEN Morgen, Malaysia, welcome to the winter FIFA World Cup Germany 2006. It’s so cold in some host cities here, that the prospect of a “White World Cup” may not be all that outlandish as it would seem. And that won’t be much fun, as apart from having to cope with the cold and the rain, all the gorgeous women – particularly the samba queens – who will be arriving from 31 countries around the world will be covered from head to toe. Like it or not, they make every World Cup more attractive...

04:07 / International / Local / Sports
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09 Jun

SIVAJI the "BOSS" is a well known movie in the Indian Industry, and when super star Rajnikanth acted in the movie he truly carried out the role of the BOSS" very well. From June 14-28, South Africa who will hosting the FIFA Confederations Cup, will also have a new boss who will oversee the progress and development of the FIFA World Cup. FORMER FAM Head of Research & Development and AFF Technical Assistant Windsor John has been appointed by FIFA as the Confederations Cup "SUPREMO". Windsor will be in South Africa for 1 month to oversee the entire running of the...

03:21 / International / Local / Sports
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08 Jun

LIFE on Planet Football must be going back to normal again as its 4.5 billion inhabitants, inarguably suffering from withdrawal symptoms, savour those magical moments of the greatest show on earth – The FIFA World Cup Germany 2006. The rest of the world would remember this World Cup more for that Zinedine Zidane-Marco Materazzi incident but my thoughts would be on those up-close-and-personal moments with players and coaches as a FIFA media officer. I don’t know what thoughts were running in Zidane's head as he trooped down the stairs (where I stood just two feet away) leading to the locker room. He was...

02:14 / International / Sports
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30 May

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) fully utilised its finances for the promotion of the game, inviting a battalion of 11 Pakistani officials, five of them as ‘guests,’ for Congress meeting in Kuala Lumpur earlier this month. According to a top Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) official, apart from three delegates – PFF secretary Col Ahmad Yar Lodhi (retd), executive committee members Saeed Khan (NWFP) and Salahuddin Dogar (Punjab) – AFC especially invited five more officials as guests. Those who went as AFC guests were either PFF or provincial association officials. Among the so-called guests were Col Rana Shujaat Ali, Khadim Ali Shah, Ayaz...

11:16 / International / Sports
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09 May

FIFA President Joseph S Blatter believes that the Asian Football Federation (AFC) should amend its statutes to ensure the AFC President is automatically made FIFA Vice President. “What we have to do is to make sure that all presidents of confederations are members of the FIFA Executive Committee in the position of vice president,” Blatter told journalists after the 23rd AFC Congress. Currently, AFC's representative as FIFA Vice President is Korea Republic's Chung Mong-joon. Also sitting on the FIFA executive from Asia is AFC President Mohamed Bin Hammam, who was re-elected to his seat on Friday, Thailand's Worawi Makudi and Japan's Junji Ogura. AFC...

12:12 / International / Sports
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09 May

By the very closest of margins, after one of the most bitter Asian football elections, Mohamed bin Hammam won by a 23-21 voting to be the FIFA Executive Committee member (West Asia). The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president beat Bahrain’s Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa in a poll of the 46-member confederation at the AFC Congress at the Mandarin Oriental in Kuala Lumpur. There were two spoilt votes. “It’s a very close call in a very democratic election,” said Sheikh Salman, the Bahrain Football Association president, who campaigned on the refreshing platform of “Asia for Change”. “I accept the decision. I believe it is...

12:07 / International / Sports
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06 May

Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah has called for an united show of Asian solidarity as a partition of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) seems imminent in the run-up to Friday’s AFC Congress in Kuala Lumpur. “The division of the Asian football family saddens me very much. The situation is very serious and there will be global sporting repercussions to the present disunited stand in Asia,” said the president of the Kuwait Football Association. Up for grabs on Friday: The post of FIFA Executive Committee (West Asia) with two Arab candidates, Mohamed Bin Hammam of Qatar and Bahraini Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa, once...

10:19 / International / Sports
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06 May

The continued in-fighting within the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) could result in the suspension of the world’s second largest confederation. Dato’ Peter Velappan warned that FIFA, the world football controlling body, may even withhold recognition of a split AFC. Painting out the worst-case scenario ahead of Friday’s AFC Congress in Kuala Lumpur, Velappan, the longest-serving AFC former general secretary (1978-2007), said the consequences of the prolonged disunity among the 46 member associations can have unprecedented repercussions. “If Friday’s AFC Congress gets out of hand, there could be a split right down the middle especially if the AFC president (Mohamed bin Hammam) puts his...

10:16 / International / Sports
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03 May

More than half of Asia’s 46-member football confederation in calling for “Fair Play” have beseeched FIFA to intervene and monitor the May 8 Asian Football Confederation Congress, which they believe could be tainted with unethical conduct. A total of 24 countries signed a joint memorandum to the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, addressed to president Joseph Blatter, expressing their “fear and concern” over Friday’s upcoming election for a FIFA Executive Committee seat. Their main grouse is their fear that closed circuit cameras could be placed strategically near or over the “voting booths”. The concerned delegates believe that their fears are not unfounded. Lashing out...

10:09 / International
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02 May

The Kuwaitis were told they would be excluded from voting in Friday’s AFC Congress in Kuala Lumpur because the confederation did not recognise the temporary committee formed to run the sport's affairs in the country. Five other nations -- Afghanistan, Brunei, Laos, East Timor and Mongolia -- were also barred as a result of not having played in enough of the confederation's competitions over the last two years. AFC insiders said Kuwait were allowed to vote at the last AFC Congress and this sudden change to bar them smacks of “sporting foul play”. “Kuwait are being penalised because they’re campaigning for Sheikh Salman...

10:01 / Sports
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