Capital Balls FIFA football balls

With seven months to go until the kick-off of the FIFA Women’s World Cup China 2007, the Committee for Women’s Football and the FIFA Women’s World Cup, chaired by Worawi Makudi (Thailand), met at the home of the football’s governing body in Zurich on 2 February. A delegation from the Chinese Local Organizing Committee (LOC) led by its new executive general secretary, Lily Xue, who is also vice-president of the Football Association of the People’s Republic of China, presented a detailed and exhaustive report on the current status of preparations for the tournament, which was extremely well received. The draw for the FIFA Women’s World Cup China 2007 will take place in Wuhan, one of the five venues chosen for the tournament, on 22 April. The draw will be preceded by a match between the FIFA Women’s World Stars and the Chines national team at the Wuhan Sport Center Stadium on 21 April. Also, for the first time as part of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, doping controls will be carried out prior to the competition. In addition, the fourth FIFA Women’s Football symposium will be held in Shanghai on 28 and 29 September. The development of women’s football within FIFA member associations will be the main topic of the forum, which will attract several hundred participants.

January was a busy month for the Oceania Football Confederation with the 19th Ordinary Congress in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea seeing Reynald Temarii win another four-year term as OFC President after standing unopposed. New Caledonia’s Claude Fournier was elected to the OFC Executive Committee as treasurer, with former New Zealand international footballer Fred de Jong elected as OC vice-president. Papua New Guinea president David Chung was made OFC senior vice-president. FIFA President Josaph S. Blatter oversaw the OFC Congress and paid tribute to Reynald Temarii’s success in unifying the confederation before naming him as a FIFA vice-president, the first time that an OFC official has held such as prestigious post.

OFC and FIFA delegations then traveled to the Kila Kila secondary school for the inauguration of the OFC-funded mini-pitch. Temarii’s vision of using football as a development tool in the biggest member association in the region was praised by Papua New Guinea Minister of Community Development Dame Carol Kidu, who said that the mini-pitch was not only a boost for football but for the entire community, encapsulating peace and unity in such a diverse country.

New Zealand were crowned OFC youth (U-20) champions after a nail-biting 1-0 over New Caledonia in Auckland. New Zealand – who missed two first-half penalties through Fulham midfielder Chris James – finally secured their spot at the FIFA U-20 World Cup Canada 2007 nearly four minutes into injury time when James atoned for his earlier spot-kick woes. Fiji needed a win to keep the pressure on New Zealand but slumped to an unexpected 2-0 defeat against the unpredictable Tahiti. Fiji dominated the early rounds of the round-robin competition but faded following their controversial 3-2 defeat at the hands of the host nation.

Haiti claimed the 2007 Digicel Caribbean Cup after defeating hosts Trinidad & Tobago 2-1 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain on 23 January. This is the first tournament crown won by Haiti since capturing the 1973 CONCACAF Campeonato de Naciones, which also gave them the confederation’s qualification berth for the FIFA World Cup TM in West Germany in 1974.
In the Digicel Caribbean Cup third-place encounter in Port of Spain, Cuba posted a 2-1 win over Guadeloupe.
Cuba, Guadeloupe, Haiti and Trinidad & Tobago are also the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup, which will run in six venues across the USA from 6 to 24 June.

CID Necaxa and Club America advanced as two of the three clubs from Mexico invited to play in South America’s 2007 Copa Libertadores, after eliminating Jaguares and Tigres UANL respectively in a qualifying event in Carso (USA) on 13 January.
The eight-team tournament concluded at Carson’s Home Depot Center as Necaxa and America earned the allotted Mexico 2 and Mexico 3 spots respectively in the Copa Libertadores. Necaxa and America will join CD Toluca, who had already claimed the Mexico 1 berth in the 2007 CONMEBOL event.

El Salvador ended a 12-game winless streak when they defeated visiting Denmark 1-0 in an international friendly at the Cuscatlan Stadium in San Salvador on 24 January. After a goalless first half, the crowd of 18,000 saw Eliseo Quintanilla score the winner for El Salvador, giving them their first victory since 18 August 2004.

Former Colombian national team coach Reinaldo Rueda was recently appointed as the new coach of Honduras. Having signed a contract over 40 months, Rueda’s aim is to ensure Honduras qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa TM. Honduras’ first and only World Cup finals participation was in Spain in 1982.