Cebu: 3 Cebu coaches attend Fifa seminar

by Cheska D. Geli
CEBU football coaches are set to attend the Fifa Grassroots Pro-Active Instructors Course hosted by the San Carlos Negros Football Club on June 20-28.

Eleazar Toledo, Oliver Colina and Bro. Jose Mari Aberasturi will be joining 33 other grassroots managers nationwide under the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) in a series of lectures at the Algers Community Center and practical sessions at the San Julio Realty Football Club.
The three Cebuanos actively promote football in the municipalities of Cebu as they conduct clinics and help form clubs that will be supported by the Local Government Units.

That program will culminate with a province wide Governor’s Cup for the 12- and 10-Under teams.

Blatter asks opera star Domingo to be FIFA adviser

LONDON— FIFA President Sepp Blatter says he has asked opera great Placido Domingo to join a new committee intended to help clean up world football’s governing body.
Blatter hopes the 70-year-old Spanish tenor will sit on a “council of wisdom” alongside former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger and former Netherlands player Johan Cruyff.
Blatter told CNN on Monday that “these gentlemen are more or less advisers, they are not the experts.”
Defending the decision to approach the 88-year-old Kissinger, Blatter said: “He is an old man, but he is a wise man.”
The committee will have the power to investigate and suggest solutions to problems as FIFA recovers from a bribery scandal, which saw executive committee members Mohamed bin Hammam and Jack Warner suspended. Source

FIFA re-elects Blatter as president

ZURICH— Sepp Blatter was re-elected FIFA president on Wednesday after a major bribery scandal left him as the only candidate to deal with a sport reeling from a wave of corruption allegations.
Blatter, a 75-year-old Swiss executive who has been in office since 1998, was handed a final four-year term as head of football’s governing body in a vote at FIFA’s congress.
He won 186 votes out of 203 ballots.

Ethics committee member calls for FIFA overhaul

SYDNEY (AP) - The only Australian member of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) ethics committee said football's world governing body urgently needs "complete structural" reform.
Veteran football broadcaster Les Murray, one of 13 members of the committee, attended Sunday's hearing at which executive committee members Mohamed bin Hammam and Jack Warner were provisionally suspended amid bribery allegations.
Asian Football Confederation president bin Hammam, who withdrew from the FIFA presidential race, CONCACAF chief Warner and two other Caribbean officials have been stood down pending an investigation.
Murray tells the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper the "reform has to be very deep ... there probably has to be complete structural and also constitutional reform." Source

PFF President: off to crucial FIFA congress

by Cedelf P. Tupas

MANILA—Philippine Football Federation president Mariano “Nonong” Araneta left for Zurich yesterday to attend the International Football Federation Congress and seek help for the grassroots development program of the sport in the country.
Araneta, who flew to the Swiss city together with secretary general Ramon Manuel, said he has also scheduled a trip to Germany to meet with officials of the German Football Association (DFB) and explore the possibility of a partnership to boost the PFF’s search for more talents nationwide.

The Japan Football Association had earlier offered to help the PFF, including an aid of $20,000, but Araneta said he’s not expecting much with the disaster-hit country still rebuilding from the earthquake early this year.
“Japan has been helpful to us but we also don’t want to bother them because they are also rebuilding their country,” said Araneta.
Araneta said Saturday that he has yet to decide on his choice as Fifa president, who will be elected during the congress.

FIFA calls Sepp Blatter to face ethics hearing

GENEVA— FIFA placed its own president under investigation Friday in a widening bribery scandal just days before Sepp Blatter is scheduled to face re-election against Mohamed bin Hammam.

FIFA said Blatter, who is accused of turning a blind eye to alleged bribes being paid to Caribbean voters, must submit a statement by Saturday before facing an ethics committee hearing in Zurich on Sunday.

“I cannot comment on the proceedings that have been opened against me. The facts will speak for themselves,” Blatter said in a statement released by his campaign advisers.

Football out of SEA Games?

DESPITE problems confronting the Football Association of Indonesia, which may affect Indonesia’s hosting of the 26th Southeast Asian Games, Philippine Football Federation president Mariano “Nonong” Araneta said the national under-23 football team will still continue their preparation for the biennial meet.

Araneta’s statement came in the wake of reports that the International Football Federation may suspend the membership of the Football Association of Indonesia for its failure to elect a new set of leaders during its congress last Friday in Jakarta.
“There is a problem in the hosting of the SEA Games. Baka sila ma-suspend at hindi matuloy ang SEA Games football sa Indonesia,” said Araneta after he was told by PSSI secretary general Joko Driyono that Indonesia has a “2000 percent chance of getting suspended by the

FIFA investigates bin Hammam, Warner for bribery

ZURICH (AP)—One week before FIFA’s presidential election, a new bribery scandal erupted that could destroy the candidacy of Sepp Blatter’s only rival and punish one of the federation’s longtime power brokers.
FIFA on Wednesday summoned Asian Football Confederation leader Mohamed bin Hammam and FIFA vice president Jack Warner to an ethics hearing Sunday to face allegations of corruption during the Qatari official’s campaign visit to Trinidad two weeks ago. The timing and the source of the allegations, longtime Warner ally Chuck Blazer of the United States, gives them a gravity not seen with FIFA’s other scandals.

Bin Hammam hopes to end Blatter’s 13-year presidency in a June 1 vote of FIFA’s 208 national members. But he could wind up barred from the vote in Zurich if the ethics panel decides to

Football: Bin Hammam vows to restore FIFA 'pride'

SINGAPORE - FIFA presidential candidate Mohamed Bin Hammam on Monday vowed to "restore pride" in football's world governing body as fresh corruption claims swirled before next month's leadership vote.
"Time for a fresh approach," Asia's football chief tweeted in capital letters, before adding: "Time to restore pride in FIFA" just a minute later.
FIFA has been beset by allegations of corruption in the run-up to the June 1 election, when Bin Hammam will challenge former ally Sepp Blatter, who is seeking a fourth and final four-year term.

FIFA to interview whistleblower over 2022 allegations

ZURICH - FIFA is to interview a whistleblower at the center of newspaper allegations that Qatar paid two members of the executive committee to vote for their bid to host the 2022 World Cup

Goal-line technology testing process continues: FIFA

At the 125th International Football Association Board (IFAB) Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Wales on 5 March this year, the Board agreed to the further extension of experimentation with goal-line technology (GLT).

The IFAB appointed FIFA to further evaluate the current technology status. An independent testing institute will verify the accuracy and functionality of different technology providers’ systems, in line with the principles laid out in October 2010 by the IFAB (see the media release 'IFAB agrees to re-examine goal-line technology').

In order to evaluate the current technologies available, FIFA is hereby inviting interested GLT providers, including those who took part in tests carried out at the Home of FIFA in February this year, to participate in the further extension of experimentation with GLT.

The tests will be conducted in two phases at a football stadium selected by the respective technology providers, in consultation with FIFA. Companies have until 3 June 2011 to submit their expression of interest to FIFA via e-mail to: glt@fifa.org. Following this initial process, interested parties will be required to confirm their participation via a formal registration concluding on 7 July 2011.

During the first testing phase (September to December 2011), each individual system will be scrutinised using stringent pass/fail criteria, both during daylight and at night under floodlights. These criteria include:

• A goal indication to referee’s watch (automatically displayed by vibration and visual signal)
• Signal range (full coverage of the pitch and technical areas)
• Free shots on goal (100% recognition)
• Static accuracy test (minimum 90% correct recognition in this first phase)
• Dynamic accuracy test (minimum 90% correct recognition in this first phase)

Further technical specifications regarding the testing can be found in the PDF document ('Goal-line technology (GLT) specifications' on the right). 

Following the first phase, the test institute, in consultation with the IFAB, will establish a shortlist of companies who will proceed to the second testing phase, based on the above criteria.

In the event that a company is admitted and proceeds to the second testing phase (March to June 2012), a higher volume of tests will be conducted to ensure a more precise evaluation of the fitness of a technology and to provide a full statistical analysis. This will include more simulated match scenarios as well as other factors including: software reliability; transmission signal quality; performance under changing weather conditions as well as on different pitch surfaces.

The final results of this evaluation will be presented to the IFAB at a special meeting in July 2012. 

FIFA