Figure of the month 1
World Soccer recently published j a ranking of the 100 names f most closely associated with the 1 development of world football. The j magazine’s sports journalists put FIFA I President Joseph S. Blatter top of J the pile, followed by UEFA President Michel Platini and AFC President Mohamed bin Hammam. Explaining the criteria used for its selection, the magazine said its aim had been to identify the most influential figures in the world of football, the decision-makers, kingmakers and icons who have changed the way we look at the world’s number one sport. In describing Blatter, the magazine wrote “Blatter is not only the most powerful and influential man in world football today and tomorrow, he is the most powerful and influential of all time.”

At its meeting in Sydney on 26 and 27 May 2008, the FIFA Executive Committee expressed its unanimous support for the objectives of “6+5″, which was also one of the main points on the agenda for the 58th FIFA Congress, which was also held in the Australian city (see pages 44 to 47).
Another major decision taken by the Executive Committee was to award the 2009 and 2010 editions of the FIFA Club World Cup for the first time to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the following two events, in 2011 and 2012, to Japan, where it has been played since 2005 and will be again in December this year. Since its relaunch in 2005, the competition has grown significantly to become one of the FIFA’s major tournaments. The Executive Committee also agreed that a share of the profits from this competition would be reinvested in club football around the world.
The FIFA Executive Committee was also updated on the status of preparations for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™, most notably with reports on the meeting of the Board of the Local Organising Committee in South Africa on 5 and 6 May as well as the recent xenophobic acts in South Africa. The executive reiterated its trust in the authorities to keep the security situation under control and asserted once again its full confidence in South Africa’s organisation of the next World Cup. It took note that the Final Draw would be held in Cape Town.
Numerous decisions
Furthermore, the executive approved the new World Anti-Doping Code, which was then submitted to and ratified by the FIFA Congress (see inset).
The Executive Committee also agreed to suspend the decision to impose an upper altitude limit for matches in FIFA competitions – taken at its meeting in December 2007 – until the full results of FIFA’s ongoing study into football in extreme conditions (e.g. extremes of temperature, humidity, altitude) have been presented.
The members of the Executive Committee received information on the meetings of the Internal Audit Committee and the Finance Committee, which were also held in Sydney, and approved a
proposal from the Finance Committee to donate USD 310,000 from FIFA’s Humanitarian Support Fund to three countries recently affected by natural disasters (USD 200,000 to China, USD 100,000 to Myanmar and USD 10,000 to Chile).
Other Executive Committee decisions included:
• Mexico was named as the host country for the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2011, with Colombia designated as the hosts of the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2011;
• The Trinidad & Tobago Football Federation will host the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2010 provided that it submits
all outstanding mandatory bid documentation in the coming months;
• The FIFA U-20 World Cup Egypt 2009 will be played between 25 September and 16 October;
• There will be an extra session exclusively for medical matters at the 2009 FIFA Congress in the Bahamas;
• UEFA’s request for the August dates for friendly matches in the international calendar to be moved forward by one week in each year between 2009 and 2013 was approved;
• The executive agreed that an amendment to the wording of article 17, paragraph 1 (d) of the Regulations Governing the Application of the Statutes would be submitted to the Congress, whereby any player who assumes a new nationality shall be eligible to play for the new representative team only after having lived continuously for at least five (not two) years after reaching the age of 18 on the territory of that association and that this restriction would be enforced immediately;
• The discussion about football at high altitude would be removed from the Congress agenda as the Bolivian football association had withdrawn its request.

Nashat Akram is not giving up on his dream of playing in England’s Premier League soon. Last year, the British government refused him a work permit, thus preventing him a move to Manchester City that had been all but concluded. Akram, one of the stars of the Iraqi national team that upset the odds to win the Asian Cup 2007, currently plays for Qatari champions Ai Gharafa and hopes to move from there to England. “I would love to play in the Premier League – it’s the best league in the world,” says Akram. The 23-year-old now plans to reapply for the coveted work permit that would enable him to shine in Manchester City’s midfield soon.