In an appeal for sporting solidarity, on 7 February FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter urged Europe’s top clubs to consider favourably any requests to release players older than 23 years from the 16 associations that have qualified for the Olympic Football Tournament Beijing 2008. At a meeting with club representatives from all over the world as part of the FIFA Club Task Force, the FIFA President took the opportunity to broach this topic. While pointing out that the competition, to be played in Beijing and four other Chinese cities from 6 to 23 August 2008, was not specifically mentioned in the release provisions of the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players, Blatter appealed to the clubs to consider a flexible approach. “We are aware of our regulations,” he commented. “It is not compulsory to release players over the age of 23 for this competition. This is a matter between clubs and the associations. But players regard the Olympic Football Tournament as a highlight of their career and I hope that a solution can be found.” Club representatives noted in particular that the timing of the event – outside the international calendar -posed a problem for European clubs as, at that time, domestic leagues will be due to start again and qualification for the continental club competitions will be underway.

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.