11-21 December – FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2008
18 December Tokyo – Meetings of the Club Football Committee and the Finance Committee
19 December Tokyo – Executive Committee meeting (1-1 part)
20 December Tokyo – Executive Committee meeting (2″d part)
12 January 2009 Zurich – FIFA World Player Gala

The FIFA Emergency Committee has decided to suspend the Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) due to the non-compliance of the EFF with the roadmap agreed in February 2008 by FIFA, CAF and the EFF in order to normalise the situation of the federation.
One of the main points established by the roadmap was the organisation of an extraordinary general assembly to deal with the motion of dismissal.
In addition, the EFF offices were to be handed over to the recognised leadership of the association. Despite several reminders sent by FIFA in recent months, none of the steps established in the roadmap have been taken.
The suspension of the EFF and the consequences provided for in article 14, paragraph 3 of the FIFA Statutes came into force on 29 July 2008, the day on which the federation was officially notified of its suspension.

The Professional Football Players Observa¬tory, created with the support of FIFA in partnership with the International Center for Sports Studies (CIES) in Neuchatel (Switzerland) and the University of Franche-Comte (France), published the third edition of the Annual Review of the European Football Players’ Labour Market on 14 August. The review’s most revealing finding is the consistent increase in the percentage of foreign players with clubs in the top flight of each of the
five main European leagues (Germany, England, Spain, France and Italy).
The research shows that foreign players made up 42.4% of all players employed by English, Spanish, Italian, German and French clubs during the 2007-08 season. This represents a 3.5% increase over the previous season. The figure reached 59.5% in the English Premier League, 52.6% among the top five clubs in each league and 50.5% among strikers. For the first time, foreign players scored more than half of the total number of goals (51.9%).
The number of Latin Americans among the foreign players rose by 2%; non-European players now represent 50% of the total number of foreign players. This percentage was only around 30%
before the introduction of freedom of movement in European football. By far the greatest number of foreign players came from Brazil, which exported 158 players. Their contingent has increased by 12.9% compared to the previous season (+18 players).
The publication also shows that the percentage of locally trained players on clubs’ books continues to decrease, while player’s mobility is steadily in¬creasing.
In view of these figures, the FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter has highlighted the need to have solidarity and maintain a balance in football. He is convinced that the introduction of “6+5″ will redress the balance in sporting terms. Blatter’s proposal has the backing of many associations: “Continents like South America and Africa are behind us on this, as they are the main suppliers for big European clubs and they are suffering from the exodus of their players.”