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Following the conclusion of the EURO 2008 qualifiers, a good number of associations decided to replace their head coach. Besides England, who recruited the renowned Italian Fabio Capello, Albania brought in former Dutch international Arie Haan to oversee their qualifying campaign for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. Armenia meanwhile gave the reins of their national team to Jan Poulsen, who was on the coaching staff of Denmark’s European Championship-winning side of 1992. Scotland, by contrast, opted to draw on homegrown talent by naming former Ipswich Town, Heart of Midlothian and Southampton manager George Burley as their new head coach.
The modernisation of stadiums remains a key issue for many associations and is taking shape in the renovation of old arenas such as the Vazgen Sargsyan (Republican) Stadium in Armenia, where work began in January. The stadium will be equipped with a new playing surface, floodlights and ViP facilities.
Other countries have brand-new stadiums in the pipeline. In Sweden, the new national stadium will be built just a few kilometres away from the Rasunda stadium, which is due to be demolished. The new Swedbank Arena will house 50,000 spectators, rising to 60,000 for concerts. Work on the new stadium will begin this year and its inauguration is scheduled for 2012. Meanwhile, thanks to the municipal authorities of Bratislava, who have donated a plot of land to the city’s three main clubs, Artmedia, Inter and Slovan, Slovakia’s dream of a national stadium could soon become reality. The Slovakian FA will team up with the three clubs in question and all being well, the new arena will be inaugurated in 2010.

The OFC, the Papua New Guinea Football Association and two TV channels (MTV and Fiji TV) have struck an agreement to televise the OFC Men’s Olympic Football Tournament Fiji 2008. The OFC, UNAIDS and the Oceania National Olympic Committees have joined forces to use football to educate people about HIV prevention on matchday 4 when the team captains of the competing nations will read a statement in support of the UN’s AIDS education programme. Fiji TV will show Fiji’s matches delayed on Fiji 1, with EMTV, Papua New Guinea’s only television station, agreeing to carry live coverage of the OFC women’s Olympic play-off between Papua New Guinea and New Zealand to mark International Women’s Day. It will be the first time in Papua New Guinea history that a women’s football match has been televised live.
Vanuatu midfielder Francois Sakama has returned to Port Vila and Tafea FC after an unsuccessful professional trial in Israel. Sakama will captain the U-23 national team at the OFC Men’s Olympic Football Tournament in Lautoka, Fiji, where his team will face the Cook Islands, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

Ecuador have finally appointed a new national team coach. One hundred and one days after the resignation of Colombian Luis Fernando Suarez, who led La Tri to qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™, the Ecuadorian football association (FEF) appointed 47-year-old local man Sixto Vizuete, who has little experience but enjoys massive popular support after coaching Ecuador to a gold medal at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro. Vizuete, who never played football professionally and has never coached a first-division side, was in charge for Ecuador’s most recent qualifying match for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™, a 5-1 win over Peru.
CONMEBOL has appointed Argentina as host of the Copa America 2011 and following a rumour that Brazil was interested in organising the tournament that year, the Brazilian football association (CBF) has strongly denied any involvement in the matter.
The Chilean football association (FFCH) recently celebrated the first use of floodlights on pitch no. 1 of its headquarters in Quilin, Santiago. The FFCH now aims to build a 1,200-capacity stand around the pitch for the women’s football league, which is exciting great interest in the Andean nation.
A vast mural by renowned artist Carlos Paez Vilaro has been added to the Uruguayan museum of football, which is located under one of the stands of the Centenario stadium. The work, which originated from an idea by CONMEBOL vice-president Eugenio Figueredo, was inaugurated at an event attended by sporting and government officials, including the Uruguayan Minister of Tourism and Sport. The donation by the 84-year-old Paez Vilaro combines two of Uruguay’s great passions, candombe music and football.