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.

The associations of Argentina and Brazil recently sent an unequivocal message that they were going to Beijing in search of gold at the Olympic Football Tournament. Argentina, who are out to recapture the title they won in Athens 2004, named an all-star set-up of U-23s, including Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero, and three proven older players in the shape of Juan Roman Riquelme (Boca Juniors), Martin Demichelis (Bayern Munich) and Javier Mascherano (Liverpool). Argentina appointed former 1986 world champion Sergio Batista as their coach. Brazil, for their part, will be hunting the only title that has so far escaped them, in view of which senior team coach Dunga decided to take on the challenge personally. He also chose a star-studded squad alongside three formidable stalwarts over the age of 23: defender Juan, Kaka and Robinho. It feels like a South American final is already on the cards.
The Colombian football association announced that it would launch the Copa Colombia this year, along the lines of the European equivalents, in which 36 teams – 18 each from the first and second divisions – would compete against one another. The tournament will be played from March to November and the prize will be a place in the Copa Sudamericana.
Colombia’s U-17 women’s team received an exuberant welcome home after winning the South American championship in Chile on 30 January. Crowds of fans, relatives and friends swarmed into Bogota’s El Dorado airport to cheer their young heroines, who had won a place in this year’s FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in New Zealand. “This reception, this joy reflect the passionate way we play because Colombian people are just warm¬hearted, likeable and very welcoming,” declared coach Pedro Ignacio Rodriguez, obviously moved.
The Peruvian football association has decided to increase the number of teams in the first division to 14. Ecuador has also increased the number to 14 (from 12). And in Paraguay, two champions a year will be crowned – the winners of the Apertura and Clausura.