CAF President Issa Hayatou was the guest of honour at the 2″- Accra Biennial Football Expo in the capital of Ghana from 15 to 17 January The three-day event was held under the auspices of RICS Consult Limited, a leading PR, sports marketing, event management and media relations consultancy in partnership with the Ghana Football Association (GFA.i and CAF. The programme, the inaugural edition of which was also held at the same venue, gave a platform to key local and international speakers from the areas of sports administration, technical development, organisation and promotion, ICT, law ano communications for incisive, innovative and interactive discussions on “Hosting the Africa Cup of Nations: a vehicle for socio-economic development in Africa”. Hayatou described the expo as a “worthwhile exercise”, which he and his colleagues at CAF had accepted as a tool for developing football in Africa. The CAF President said that he hoped that key stakeholders on the continent, including governments, would use the experience to build the necessary structures and invest sufficiently in human resource development in order to foilow the theme of the expo and use the tournament as a vehicle for socio-economic development in Africa.
Veteran Brazilian coach Jose Claudinei has been handed the task of steering Zimbabwe to the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ finals in neighbouring South Africa. Claudinei, 60, commonly known as “Valinhos”, was unveiled at a ceremony in the capital, Harare, by Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) patron Joseph Msika prior to signing his contract. The former coach of Brazil’s U-20 team replaces Charles Mhlauri who was dismissed after the Warriors failed to qualify for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana. Valinhos has also coached in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Morocco as well as in his native Brazil. Zimbabwe, who have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup™, have been drawn against Guinea, Namibia and Kenya in the preliminary competition for the 2010 tournament.

Saudi Arabia striker Yasser Al Qahtani was crowned AFC Player of the Year 2007 during a glittering award ceremony held at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney, Australia. AFC President Mohamed bin Hammarn presented the prestigious award TO A! Qahtani, who was joint-top scorer as he skippered his side to the final of the AFC Asian Cup 2007 Under the AFC’s points system for determining who walks away with the continent’s highest individual accolade for a player, Al Qahtani outscored Younis Mahmoud and Nashat Akram, both from Iraq. Mark Shield of Australia, who officiated in Iraq’s 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia in the AFC Asian Cup 2007 final, was named AFC Referee of the Year.The AFC Coach of the Year Av/ard, which is reserved exclusively for Asian nationals, went to Rauf Inileev after the 57-year-old oversaw an impressive Uzbekistan campaign at the AFC Asian Cup 2007. Kim Kum-il of Korea DPR took the Youth Player of the Year award with Yasuhito Morishima and Yoichiro Kakitani, both from Japan, second and third, respectively. Urawa Red Diamonds were crowned AFC Club Team of the Year. Vahid Shamsaee, who scooped his second AFC Futsal Championship MVP award after Iran beat Japan in the 2007 final, was named AFC Futsal Player of the Year, whiie the Iranians were also named AFC Futsal Team of the Year. Japan’s other prize of the evening was the AFC Fair Play Association of the Year, while the AFC Association of the Year award was presented to Easi Asian neighbours China.
AFC President Mohamed bin Hammamnas reiterated the importance of developing football in India and vowed to continue to give the South Asian nation the AFC’s full support through the Vision Asia initiative. “Historically, India has strong football roots. Some of the oldest clubs and competitions are in India. Some clubs have a fan following of more than 20 million fans, in and outside India. That is an indicator of the popularity of the game.” India is one of seven pilot countries in the Vision Asia development project along with Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran, Oman, Vietnam and China, who are already seeing the positive effects of the programme.

97 Uganda -21 346 -71
98 lamsica -1 345 -3
99 United Arab Emirates + 1 341
100 Bahrain +2 340 +1
101 Botswana +2 333 0
Tanzania -12 333 -50
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104 Syria +3 329 +12
105 Guatemala +1 323 -1
106 Bolivia +2 313 0
107 Thailand +14 312 +51
108 Kazakhstan +4 308 +24
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110 Cape Verde Islands +1 301 0
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112 Burkina Faso +1 283 C
Jordan +8 283 +20
Mauritania + !8 283 +71
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118 Liechtenstein +4 260 0
119 Kenya -9 257 -49

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121 Burundi -12 255 -52
122 Solomon, Islands +1 250 0
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124 Estonia 0 231 +2

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126 Singapore 0 227 +3
127 Korea DPR -12 225 -50
128 Turkmenistan -1 222 C

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132 Indonesia +1 207 +18
133 Lebanon +1 205 +17
134 Eritrea -? 203 4-4
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Liberia + 1 152 0

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168 Bangladesh C 78 -1

Chinese Taipei +1 78 o
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St. Lucia .; 31 -3
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Comoros -4 13 -13
193 Bniish Virgin Islands -1 12 -1
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