Capital Balls FIFA football balls

A delegation from FIFA, CAF and UEFA undertook a four-day visit to Ghana as part of the Africa Cup of Nations that was staged between 20 January and 10 February. Headed by Presidents Joseph S. Blatter, Issa Hayatou and Michel Platini, the delegation was received with welcoming arms by Ghanaian President John Agyekum Kufuor on 17 January. The opening ceremony for the 30th CAF General Assembly, held at the International Convention Centre in Accra one day later, was a colourful event interspersed with local music and dance. During the course of the evening, President Blatter was awarded the medal of honour by the Supreme Council of Sports in Africa for his contribution to the development of football on the continent. Blatter promised to develop African football even further, mentioning two major projects of FIFA, namely Win in Africa with Africa and support for the domestic leagues, designed to ensure that the entire continent would benefit from the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. Blatter and Hayatou then visited Kumasi (240km northwest of Accra), where they were received by Mayor Patricia Apiagyei and were able to see the new Baba Yara Stadium, an impressive venue with a capacity of 40,500 that was built with FIFA’s help along with three other stadiums especially for the Africa Cup of Nations.
The next item on the agenda was the inauguration of two Goal projects and a football turf pitch.

The turn of the year is traditionally a time for taking stock and conferring honours. In Bulgaria for example, national team striker Dimitar Berbatov, who plays for Tottenham Hotspur at club level, was named player of the year for 2007 by a panel of journalists and experts. In Latvia meanwhile, Skonto Riga captain and national team member Vitalijs Astafjevs was chosen as his country’s top player of the past year. In Moldova, national team coach Igor Dobrovolsky was named coach of the year, while in Serbia, this honour was claimed by Miroslav Djukic, who coached the Serbian U-21 side to a runners-up spot in the 2007 European Under-21 Championship in the Netherlands and was appointed coach of the senior side last December.
The Football Association of Serbia is not the only one to have changed the coach of its national team. In Iceland, Olafur Johannesson has taken over the reins of the Icelandic senior side, while Bosnia-Herzegovina went even further by dismissing the head coach of every single age group except one. The position of head coach of the senior side has been entrusted to former captain Meho Kodro. In Cyprus, by contrast, there has been recognition for the work of Angelos Anastasiades, who inspired his charges to pick up 14 points in their EURO 2008 qualifying matches, a record for the Cypriot national team. This has earned Anastasiades a contract extension until 2010.
To question of how to fill the gap left by the winter break also affects women’s football. The Football Association of Slovenia has turned to futsal for a solution. For the first time, the association recently organised a futsal competition in three age groups with a view to running a women’s futsal competition throughout the year should the experiment prove a success.

Waitakere United and Auckland City are both making strong cases to be crowned champions in New Zealand’s Football Championship (NZFC). Waitakere beat three-time NZFC champions Auckland City 2-0 (the first time in 15 on-field encounters) to go top of the league but then threw away a two-goal lead a week later to lose to Youngheart Manawatu 3-2. Auckland took advantage of Waitakere’s slip-up and now sit in pole position with eight matches remaining. Solomon Island international Benjamin Totori heads the league’s golden boot race with nine goals from twelve games for Waitakere United. The 21-year-old has amassed an incredible 42 goals from 45 NZFC matches in his short career.
AS Magenta have stretched their unbeaten run in New Caledonia’s Super Ligue competition to eleven matches but only hold a two-point lead over nearest rivals JS Baco after three points were deducted for breaching competition regulations.
Ba dominated the Fiji Football Association annual awards in Suva, with the squad winning awards for Team of the Year, Player of the Year (Malakai Kainihewe) and Coach of the Year (Yogendra Datt).
The Vanuatu Football Federation (VFF) has increased its number of FIFA-qualif ied referees from six to nine. A ceremony was held at the VFF office to award the badges and recognise the progress achieved in Vanuatu football.
The Federation Tahitienne de Football (FTF) kicked off two grassroots development programmes in different parts of Tahiti. In Mahina, over 27 football clubs were represented by junior members during a series of fun-orientated technical training sessions while an education course in Moorea has started with an emphasis on helping coach youngsters between the ages of six and twelve.