FIFA and the international football fam¬ily are mourning former West Germany coach Jupp Derwall, who passed away on 27 June 2007 at the age of 80 after a short illness.
FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter paid tribute to Derwall in a letter of condo¬lence addressed to Theo Zwanziger, the President of the German football associa¬tion (DFB), calling Derwall “a legendary figure and a greatly respected coach”. Blatter also noted that Derwall had been responsible for helping to build the excellent football relationship currently enjoyed by Germany and Turkey. As the coach of Galatasaray and the first in a long line of German trainers to work in Turkey, Derwall won the Turkish league twice as well as the Turkish cup.
Zwanziger was also glowing in his praise: “In the 1970s and 1980s, Der¬wall played a major part in the success of the West German national team. His optimistic and conciliatory outlook won him many friends and his expertise was never in doubt. In Jupp Derwall, the DFB and German football have lost a wonderful coach who commanded im¬mense international respect during his career.”
Derwall stepped in to replace Hel¬mut Schon after the 1978 FIFA World Cup™, having served as his assistant from 1970 to 1978. Derwall will forever be remembered as the coach who led West Germany to the 1980 European Championship title in Italy and second place in the FIFA World Cup™ in Spain two years later.

The Executive Committee also confirmed the principle of a decision taken on 27 May 2007 to prohibit FIFA national team matches being played at an altitude of more than 2,500 metres above sea level for medical and sports-ethical reasons, with the tolerance set at under 3,000 metres. In accordance with a specific request by the Bolivian football association, which CONMEBOL has backed unanimously, permission has been granted on this occasion for it to stage the home matches of the Bolivian national team at the Hernando Siles stadium in La Paz. Furthermore, the executive decided that the conference on sport at altitude, which is due to be held in Zurich from 25 to 28 October 2007, should also focus on how aspects such as heat, cold and humidity can affect a player’s health.
Blatter and Issa Hayatou (Cameroon), CAF President and chairman of the Organising Committee for the FIFA World Cup™, also informed the committee about their visit to South Africa on 18 and 19 June and reported on the very positive impressions that they had gained from witnessing the current status of preparations for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. The Executive Committee also took note of a report on the inaugural meeting of the Bureau of the Organising Committee for the FIFA World Cup™ on 26 June and the following decisions:
• the format of the confederations’ World Cup preliminary competitions has been approved;
• the preliminary draw will now be held in Durban on Sunday, 25 November 2007;
• the opening match and the final will be played at Soccer City in Johannesburg;
• South Africa, will be seeded as team A1 in the final competition.

Frenchman Jerome Valcke is the new FIFA General Secretary. His appointment was ratified at a meeting of the FIFA Executive Committee on 27 June 2007 chaired by President Joseph S. Blatter. Markus Kattner, Director of Finance & Controlling, is the new Deputy General Secretary.
Valcke, who joined FIFA as Director of Marketing & TV in the summer of 2003, assumed his new position with immediate effect, thereby replacing Urs Linsi, who resigned on 11 June 2007. FIFA’s new Deputy General Secretary, Kattner, hails from Germany and has been FIFA’s Dire tor of Finance & Controlling since 2005.
Valcke has already enjoyed a successful career with a number of companies Having joined French television channel Canal+ as a journalist in 1984, he was appointed assistant head of sport in 1991. In 1997 he switched to Sport+ in the role of CEO, a position he occupied until 2002. He then spent a year as chief-operating officer at Sportfive. Valcke is 46 years old, married and the father of two children. In addition to his mother tongue French, he also speaks English, German and Spanish.