Sport in general and football in particular remain top of the TV viewing ratings, despite there being no main event like a World Cup in 1995. This was the result of a survey conducted last year by Eurodata TV, who looked at viewing habits in 17 European and 10 overseas countries, with a total of 194 different channels. Unchallenged at the top of the sports section was football; it was ranked among the most popular sports in two thirds of the countries surveyed.
 Angelique Kidjo, A singer from Benin. |
FIFA means peace - literally. "FIFA" is the title track from an acclaimed new album by singer Angelique Kidjo, from Benin in west Africa, and means "peace" in her native language, Fon. The theme of Angelique's new album lives up to the title: anti-violence and the protection of human rights.
Wide-eyed and welcome visitors to FIFA House recently were members of the renowned Tahuichi youth football school of Bolivia, who were touring Europe for a series of friendly matches. The Tahuichi project has earned widespread acclaim for its social importance of giving young people the chance of a bright and positive future through football, and bred several members of the 1994 Bolivian World Cup side. The group leaders also took the opportunity of their visit to FIFA headquarters to discuss the question of matches at the high altitude of 4,000 metres in La Paz.
 Eidur-Smari (l.) with his father, Arnor Gudjohnson. |
We have seen sons following in their father's footsteps in football before, but there was a special case at the end of April in Tallin, where Estonia were playing Iceland in a friendly match. The Icelandic squad included 35 year-old Arnor Gudjohnson and his 17 year-old son Eidur-Smari. It was also one of the rare occasions when the two can meet. The father earns his keep playing for Orebro in the Swedish first division, while his son is under contract to PSV Eindhoven in Holland. Against Estonia, Eidur came on in place of his father in the 62nd minute. But the Gudjohnson family efforts were not enough - Iceland lost the match 0:3.
As part of a campaign to help young people, initiated by President Joćo Havelange, FIFA has been supporting the SOS Children's Villages world-wide, both spiritually and materially and in Jürgen Klinsmann they have a very popular ambassador. The children in the SOS children's village in Lembang, in Indonesia, also have another idol at the moment: Gatot Prasetyo, goalkeeper of the national team. He is a hero countrywide, but grew up in Lembang and so the SOS children look on him as a famous older brother.
 FIFA Director Keith Cooper (second from left) and guests on Swiss press day: Glen Kirton, Hansi Müller and Artur Jorge. |
Cowbells were presented to guests Glen Kirton, Director of EURO 96, and to Swiss team coach Artur Jorge, as a preview of the peaceful invasion Wembley could expect when Switzerland meet the hosts in the opening match. Also taking part in the round table was former German star Hansi Müller. Some 30 leading Swiss journalists had earlier had the opportunity to catch up on latest FIFA news in an open discussion with General Secretary Sepp Blatter.
A new move by the Dutch Football Association: the TV rights for the next seven years have not been sold either to the public corporation channel, or to a private station, but to the association itself, and it quickly set up its own transmitter for the purpose. A consortium will pay 850 million Swiss francs to the association. The clubs will receive two million CHF each and 50,000 CHF for each point. The new sports channel, which will show games from the first division, will go into operation next season and will be available via cable at a cost of one and a half Swiss francs per month.
 Willi Treml.
PICTURE: ULRICH TANNER |
Switzerland's most successful club, Grasshoppers of Zurich, said a final goodbye to a former coach, Willi Treml, who died on 3 April at the age of 86. Treml was German and the high point of his spell with the Grasshoppers (1950 - 1955) was the double in 1952. Not only is he remembered for his successes on the pitch, but he was probably the first trainer to take his team on a world trip. In a 54-day period between 26 December 1954 and 17 February 1955, the Grasshoppers visited 21 different countries and earned what was a lot of money in those days. A match in Rio brought in 100,000 SFR, with which the club built the west stand in their Hardturm stadium.
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 Jorge Campos: suddenly the greatest - with a little bit of help.
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Has Jorge Campos grown? A first glance at the recent team picture of the Mexican national squad seems to show that the colourful goalkeeper, well known also for his appearances as a striker most recently with LA Galaxy but also familiar for his relatively diminutive stature, has grown several centimetres. But take another closer look at Campos (number 19 in the picture) to see why....
In the Sćo Paolo championship (Brazil), the 16 teams made use of time-out no less than 121 times during the first half of the season. This figure is over 50% of the possible number of times, and is way above that for the Women's World Cup in Sweden last year (38.5%) and for the U-17 World Championships in Ecuador (35.2%), when the idea of allowing each team two time-out opportunities per match was tried on an experimental basis. As in Sweden and Ecuador, there was a significant difference between individual teams, two teams claiming time-out on 12 out of 15 possible occasions, and three only using it two or three times.
 US Soccer Federation president, Alan Rothenberg, congratulates Joy Fawcett of the USA on reaching 100 caps. Following presentation, the USA went on to capture Gold at the women's Olympic final.
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Playing with numbers for sure, but interesting all the same: the 100's club of former and still active women players actually contains a superb full world team, with each player in her normal position at that. As of 9 March 1995, the team would look like this: Elisabeth Leidinge (Sweden, 112 caps); Gunn Nyborg (Norway, 110), Heidi Store (Norway, 137), Pia Sundhage (Sweden, 135); Mia Hamm (USA, 106), Lena Videkull (Sweden, 104), Silvia Neid (Germany, 103), Christine Lilly (USA, 106); Carolina Morace (Italy, 136), Elisabette Vignotto (Italy, 110), Carin Gabarra (USA, 103). This "team of the hundreds" adds up to a total of 1,262 international matches. With the exception of Vignotto they are all still active, at least for their clubs, or exclusively with the national team in the case of the three US girls.
 A handshake back in 1974: Dr. Henry Kissinger welcomes Dr. Joćo Havelange. |
Dr. Henry Kissinger will be among the individuals honoured with the FIFA Order of Merit at the 50th Ordinary Congress in Zurich on July 3. Dr. Kissinger's enthusiasm for the game is legendary, and he has never been slow to give his direct and active support on a diplomatic level. As our picture shows, the former Secretary of State was among the first to greet the newly-elected President Joćo Havelange during the 1974 World Cup in his native Germany.
July 14 is the big day at the Giants Stadium in New Jersey as FIFA holds its traditional charity match between the World Champions and a world stars team. Brazil will confront a selection of stars including World Player of the Year George Weah and Germany's Jürgen Klinsmann, both spokesmen for the FIFA For SOS Children's Villages project which will be the principal beneficiary of the match. As a curtain raiser to the main event (which will also feature Pele and Franz Beckenbauer as honorary captains), the programme features an all-star game between the best players of the East and West sections of Major League Soccer.
A battle waged in the British media over the whereabouts of the ball used in the 1966 World Cup Final ended peacefully and to general satisfaction when Germany's Helmut Haller surrendered the ball he had picked up and carried off at the end of the memorable match at Wembley Stadium 30 years ago. Tradition has it that any player who scores a hat-trick should get to keep the match ball, but England's Geoff Hurst, who achieved that honour that day, has only just received his rightful possession after a media campaign that dominated front pages for days. FIFA was ready to intervene on Hurst's behalf - after all, the ball really belonged to FIFA, as organisers of the World Cup. And in response to queries where is the ball from the 1994 World Cup Final in Pasadena (not claimed by any goalscorer after the 0-0 draw): Hungarian referee Sandor Puhl claimed it, as is his right, after blowing thefinal whistle two years ago.
Finally... In the Jungle Cup Final, the Lions and the Ants were drawing 0-0 with five minutes to play. Then the Ants brought on a centipede as substitute. Three times he dribbled through the Lions defence and scored a hat-trick for a 3-0 victory. After the game, the Lions captain said to the centipede: "That was brilliant. But why didn't you come on as a sub earlier?" To which the centipede replied, "I was still putting on my boots."
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The Los Angeles Galaxy footballer, Andrew Shue, is an actor in the television series "Melrose Place" as well.
FIFA Handbook