Capital Balls FIFA football balls

20 QUESTIONS, 20 ANSWERS

Born: 25 October 1977 in Frankfurt am Main (Germany)
Nationality: German
Height: 1.79m
Weight: 76kg
Position: striker
Clubs: Dorningheimer SV, FC Hochstadt, FSV Frankfurt, 1. FFC Frankfurt (similtuaneously with Carolina Courage, USA, for part of time).
Honors: FIFA Women’s World Cup winner 2003; European Championship winner 1995, 1997, 2001 and 2005; Olympic bronze medallist 2000 and 2004; UEFA Cup winner 2002 and 2006; WUSA champion 2002; seven-time German league champion; seven-time German cup winner; FIFA Women’s World Player 2003, 2004 and 2005; six-time German player of the year. Germany’s most capped women’s international with 155 caps and top scorer with 101 goals.
Miscellaneous: In 2003, Italian club Perugia wanted to sign Prinz for their men’s team, but she turned down their offer.

1. What does football mean to you?
It is a huge part of my life.
2. Which football club did you support as a child?
Eintracht Frankfurt.
3. Did you ever have an idol?
No.
4. What is your fondest footballing memory?
I have had so many great moments during my career that it would be very hard to pick out just one.
5. What has been your biggest disappointment in football?
Losing 2-0 to Norway in the final of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1995. I was taken off early in the game too, which made it twice as painful for me.
6. If you had not become a professional footballer, what would you have become?
I’ve actually already learnt a profession. I’m a physiotherapist and I am currently studying psychology.
7. What is your favorite type of music?
Whatever’s on the radio.
8. And your favorite book?
I read too much to choose one book in particular.
9. Your favorite film?
I rarely go to cinema.
10. Your favorite city?
Kalmar in Sweden.
11. What is your favorite food?
It depends. Sometimes pasta, sometimes salad, sometimes a good dessert.
12. What is your favorite hobby?
I do lot of different things in my spare time.
13. What do you spend most of your money on?
Filling up my car – petrol is very expensive in Germany.
14. What was your first job?
Delivering newspapers.
15. Who has been the most influential figure in world history?
I always find it hard when it comes to superlatives and singling out the best, the most beautiful or other things like that.
16. What are you afraid of?
That’s personal.
17. What was the most embarrassing moment in your life?
That’s even more personal …
18. How do you see the future of the world?
Hopefully it will be better than many people currently think.
19. Where would you like to go on holiday?
New Zealand.
20. Who would you most like to meet?
My dream man.

YES OR NO?
Are you a patient person? Yes.
Are you superstitious? No.
Are you happy with your pay packet? Yes.
Would you like to coach one day? Don’t know.
Will Germany win the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2007? No comment.

“FOOTBALL IS ALL I HAVE LEFT”

In October 2005 some 100,000 people died in an earthquake in Kashmir. Thanks to the efforts of FIFA and the football family, among many others, happiness is returning to the lives of those living in the earthquake zone.

The biggest earthquake to hit Kashmir in 100 years killed more than 100,000 people. As part of its successful Goal development programme, FIFA sent a team of experts to the devastated region in a bid to use football to bring hope and happiness back to the local people, especially traumatized youngsters.
One of the worst affected areas was the provincial city of Muzaffarabad (population: 750,000), the epicenter of the quake. It is the home of Safer Giliani, a 15-year-ild schoolboy for whom it has been an awful experience.
On 8 October 2005 a new day had just begun for the eight-member Giliani family in Wadi Naleem near Muzaffarabad when the village was struck by a violent earthquake at 8.50 am local time. Safer escaped the disaster because he was visiting his grandparents in Islamabad, the Pakistan’s capital, at the time, but in one fell swoop he lost his entire family, with whom he had lived in a small clay house.
“We were a family who loved sport,” the boy explains. He now lives with an aunt in Muzaffarabad, and along with 150 other orphans was recently invited by his school, which has been converted to a tent city, to take part in FIFA tournament lasting several weeks. The world governing body helped not only to organize the tournament, but also to build two schools and a sport ground. In addition, FIFA provided food and drink for the youngsters, who thanks to the tournament were able to forget their suffering and the difficulties of daily life for a while. Drinking water, still a major problem in the Kashmir region, proved especially popular.

EVERYTHING LOST
Before the earthquake, Safer played as a striker for his village team in Wadi Naleem and scored lots of goals. Only one of his team-mates survived the disaster. Safer still appears traumatized, and like many of the victims who survived the earthquake he suffers from memory loss. Occasionally he tells his coaches stories about his parental home and school. When he talks about football, his eyes light up. On the pitch he sometimes looks apathetic, but then suddenly bursts into a sprint, sidesteps a few opponents and shoots for a goal.
On the evening of the first day of the tournament, Safer carefully packs away the kit and boots he has been given by FIFA. He pauses to think for a moment. “I’ve lost everything, football is all I have left,” he tells the coaches.

BRUTALLY HOT AND BITTERLY COLD
Kashmir, for decades riven by violent conflict, had witnesses the deaths of many thousands of people even before the earthquake. Bomb attacks, assassinations in broad daylight – all things that Safer has experienced, things that have shaped and left their mark on him. “But all we want to do is live in peace,” he says.
After the tsunami tragedy in 2004, FIFA launched the Football for Hope movement, whose prime aim is to reconstruct damaged or destroyed football facilities and bring hope and solace to traumatized children and young people through football. To date, FIFA’s relief efforts have reached some 5,000 youngsters and their parents in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia and Pakistan.
In Muzaffarabad, too, the children have long known what FIFA is and what it does, especially since the World Cup in Germany. Thanks to the satellite dishes hurriedly erected on apartment blocks, houses and even tents and wooden sheds during the reconstruction phase, the tournament was also watched in the destroyed towns and villages. The people of Muzaffarabad gathered in their hundreds, often around a single old television set, even for matches that kicked off in the early hours.
Some 40 percent of the city’s population still lives in tents or emergency accommodation provided by the United Nations, UNICEF and other humanitarian organizations. The summer months are scorching, as hot as 40° C, and the winter is even less merciful, repeatedly claiming lives as the temperature falls as low as minus 25° C.
Yet probably the biggest problem facing the region is the high level of unemployment. Even those who do have a job usually live from hand to mouth. There is little to buy in any case, as only a few food shops have reopened, but at least there is a plentiful supply of fruit and vegetables in the region. And the only bakery in Muzaffarabad is now selling bread and other baked foods again.

SAFER SMILES AGAIN
Once a week Safer goes shopping for his aunt, who has a walking disability. Most importantly, though, he is going to school again. He finds it difficult to concentrate on lessons, in stark contrast to before, when he was one of the best in his class. Safer often thinks back to his old home and his modest life with his family. The loss is still very painful, almost as much as it was a few days after the earthquake, when he was driven to the edge of the disaster area on the initiative of Turkish aid workers to say his goodbyes to his family and friends. He broke down in tears and it took him hours to recover his composure. A giant pile of rubble was all that was left on his village.
Almost all the 150 schoolchildren who were invited to the tournament lost their friends. The programme gives them a feeling of togetherness and an opportunity to exchange experiences. It does all of them good. To keep the youngsters occupied, the FIFA instructors came up with the original idea of organizing a mini World Cup. Small pitches were drawn on a former campsite along with goals and brightly colored markings around the touchlines. The teams were allowed to choose the World Cup nations they wished to represent. Brazil, who did not exactly shine in the “real” tournament, was the most popular choice among the children, followed by Germany.
The matches were played with great passion. For some of the boys winning were more important than the food after the game, which is saying something in a region where children are still dying of malnutrition. “Our children would be a lot worse off if we didn’t have football,” says a teacher who works for an aid organization and is released by his employer so he can attend the afternoon training sessions.
Safer goes home with a spring in his step that day. His team, France, have won and he scored the winning goal. Tomorrow a new day begins. The FIFA team will be leaving soon, with the hope that their local partners will continue their work and, with the help of football, give the youngsters new courage to face life.
The FIFA delegation know only too well, of course, that what the region needs most of all are new schools, hospitals, bridges and roads. Yet they are convinced they can make a difference and leave a mark here – thanks to football, which is bringing new hope to an entire region.
Everyone goes home in a cheerful mood that evening, not just Safer. He has a smile on his face, which does not happen very often. After starting to walk away, he comes back again, unsure of whether to approach one of the coaches. But then he plucks up the courage and asks if he can take a ball home with him. The man in the FIFA tracksuit nods. Safer smiles, everything is fine again – at least for now.

“THIS TEAM WILL BE UNBEATABLE”

2006 was a good year for football in Qatar with the Gulf state qualifying for the AFC Asian Cup 2007, claiming gold at the Asian Games in Doha and climbing from 95th to 58th in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking. Dzemaludin Musovic on his work as Qatar coach and his aims for the future.

Q: Tell us a little bit about the Qatar national team…
Dzemaludin Musovic: A new generation of players has emerged the last two years and we now have a young team that should be able to stay together for the next seven or eight years’ time. We have young, talented players, and I am confident that in another three four years’ time, Qatar will be one of the best teams of Asia. We have qualified for the Asian Cup later this year, and we also won gold at last year’s Asian Games in Doha. We certainly want to give a good account of ourselves in the Asian Cup, but our main target is to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup TM in South Africa, I believe that we have a good opportunity to qualify for our first FIFA World Cup because there is so much potential in this team. I also think that in a few years’ time, we will be unbeatable in Asia.

Q: How popular is football in Qatar?
Dzemaludin Musovic: I don’t think there is anywhere in the world that can match the investment that Qatar is currently pumping into sport in general, and football in particular. The whole country has a keen interest in football, especially Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, his heirs Sheikh Tamin Bin Hamad Al-Thani and Sheikh Jassim Bin Taner Al-Thani, and indeed the whole ruling family, and we are therefore seeing significant investment at the moment. New stadiums and training centers have been built, and not only because of the 15th Asian Games in Doha last year (reports suggest that Qatar invested 3 billion USD in the Asian Games and that they also bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games). Qatar has also set up its own professional league, and many foreign stars such as Gabriel Batistuta, Stefan Effenberg, Marcel Desailly and the De Boer brothers have played in the Q-League, helping to promote it and encourage more and more Qatari fans to watch domestic action. Foreign coaches have also helped to improve the standard of football, but we have now entered what you might call the “second phase” with foreign players, as the tendency now is to recruit younger players with more to offer as opposed to stars in the twilight of their careers. These players usually come from Africa, South America or from other countries in Gulf region such as Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait or Iraq.

Q: You really are enthusiastic about football in Qatar…
Dzemaludin Musovic: There are many good things happening here at the moment. The people in charge of football here have realized that success will only be achievable if they change how they think and how they act. The country is now planning for the long term, and young Qataris, educated abroad, are starting to accept management positions. Much-needed football academies will be built soon, and that can only have a positive effect on the domestic league and the Qatari national teams.

Q: Is there anything you don’t like about Qatari football?
Dzemaludin Musovic: Yes, the lack of patience shown by the clubs, who expect results and immediate success. Coaches in Qatar and the other Gulf states are seldom left to work independently towards long-term goals. All it takes is a couple of defeats and a coach can expect the sack. As for the players here, they still have disciplinary problems and their attitude isn’t very professional either. Young players often rest on their laurels instead of being determinate to develop further by battling and striving to reach greater heights. It must be said that some footballers in Qatar do not have the determination and drive to succeed.

Q: What kind of influence do the sheikhs have on the clubs and the national team?
Dzemaludin Musovic: That depends on the club and on the reputation of the coach concerned. One thing is for sure: the situation here is better than it is in Saudi Arabia, where coaches are often dismissed for trivial reasons, such as a sheikh not agreeing with a team selection, for example. The people who run clubs always influence coaches, even in Europe, the only difference is that it is not quite as brutal in Europe as it can be here. There are certain situations here that require tact and sensitivity. Of course, coaches can receive advice that is actually acceptable and even useful, but you really do have to try to establish yourself from the word go. During one of my previous coaching jobs in Qatar, I said to the club president, “If you really think you can do better, it would be much cheaper to you to coach the team yourself rather than having to pay me”. Having said that, football is generally the same wherever you go. If you are successful, everything is fine. If you aren’t, you can expect pressure and criticism from everyone.

Q: So who are Qatar’s great hopes for the future?
Dzemaludin Musovic: Khalfan Ibrahim, a 19-year-old midfielder who was named Asian player of the year in 2006, is a wonderful talent. He has quick feet, he is fast, he has excellent technique and he is lethal in front of goal. His father was a good player too. Waleed Jassem Abdulla is 20-year-old striker of immense promise, but unfortunately he does not seem to have the right attitude. He was quite brilliant a couple of years ago, but now he is warming the bench at Al Rayyan because he doesn’t apply himself, as he should. I won’t leave Waleed in the lurch though, as it would be a shame to lose him. That is why he is still in the national squad and why he is still getting his chance to impress me. He has a wonderful shooting technique and he is very dangerous from free kicks. Other talents are Rajab, a 22-year-old central defender who is fast and strong on the ball, Majdi, a 23-year-old midfielder with excellent technique, and Ahmed Ali, a 19-year-old kid who is blessed with pace and that little bit of impudence that all good strikers need.

Q: Your team also has three players with roots abroad. Are there any plans to naturalize other footballers in order to strengthen the Qatar team?
Dzemaludin Musovic: We have to be careful that we don’t take it too far. Artificial things are not good. The three players you have mentioned have all been in Qatar for a while now, and they have all decided to play for us. They are key players in my team. Our goalkeeper, Ahmed, is from Senegal, as is Koni, our defensive leader and captain, whereas Sebastian Quintana is originally from Uruguay.

Q: There are also rumors that Brazilian striker Marcio Emerson Passos will be playing for Qatar soon.
Dzemaludin Musovic: The truth is we do not know yet. Emerson has been playing for Al Saad for 18 months now. He is an excellent footballer, and he seems to like it here. As far as I know, Japan also wanted him to play for them, but Emerson, who used to play for Urawa Red Diamonds, turned them down.