Joseph S. Blatter met a delegation from the Mauritanian football association in Durban on 24 November ahead of the preliminary draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™. At the meeting, President Mohamed Salem Boukhreiss and Deputy General Secretary Massa Diarra thanked FIFA for its development aid in recent years, firstly through the Goal Programme, which had made it possible to build a headquarters together with a technical centre and an artificial pitch, and more recently through the “Win in Africa with Africa” project, which has equipped the national stadium with an artificial pitch. “These comprehensive, targeted initiatives undoubtedly help to explain our national team’s good results recently, but more importantly, they have enabled us to organise youth competitions, which are crucial for the future of Mauritanian football,” said Boukhreiss.

4 February Zurich
Meetings of the Referees Committee, Futsal and Beach Soccer Committee and Football Committee
5 February Zurich
Meetings of the Associations Committee and Legal Committee
6 February Zurich
Meetings of the Goal Bureau and the Media Committee
7 February Zurich
Strategic Committee meeting
4 March Johannesburg
Meeting of the Board of the Local Organising Committee for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™
7-9 March Gleneagles (Scotland)
122nd Annual General Meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB)
10 March Zurich
Technical and Development Committee meeting
11 March Zurich
Organising Committee meetings for the FIFA U-20 World Cup and the FIFA U-17 World Cup
12 March Zurich
Meetings of the Organising Committee for the FIFA Club World Cup, the Internal Audit Committee and the Organising Committee for the FIFA Confederations Cup
13 March Zurich
Finance Committee and Players’ Status Committee meetings
14 March Zurich
Executive Committee meeting
17 March Zurich
Sports Medical Committee meeting
22 April Johannesburg
Meeting of the Board of the Local Organising Committee for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™
30 April – 1 May Zurich
70th Blue Stars/FIFA Youth Cup
25 May Sydney
Internal Audit Committee meeting
26 May Sydney
Finance Committee meeting
27 May Sydney
Executive Committee meeting
28 May Sydney
Confederations’ meetings
28 May Sydney
CONCACAF Congress
29-30 May Sydney
58th FIFA Congress
7-29 June Austria and Switzerland
UEFA EURO 2008™
8 July Johannesburg
Meeting of the Board of the Local Organising Committee for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™
17-27 July Marseilles
FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Marseilles 2008
6-23 August Beijing
Men’s and Women’s Olympic Football Tournaments
16 September Johannesburg
Meeting of the Board of the Local Organising Committee for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™

With the launch of the official emblem, the curtain on the FIFA Confederations Cup 2009 was officially raised during a ceremony at the International Convention Centre in Durban on 22 November 2007. Since 2001, the Confederations Cup has been played one year before the FIFA World Cup™ in the same host country as FIFA’s flagship event. Due to the nature of its participants, it is often referred to as the “Champions of Champions” tournament. In the 2009 edition, the champions of South America (Brazil), North and Central America and the Caribbean (the USA) and Asia (Iraq), as well as the champions of Africa, Europe and Oceania (to be determined this year) will join hosts South Africa and reigning world champions Italy to compete for the trophy.